Showing posts with label nonfiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nonfiction. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 31, 2017

To Read Tuesday



I have to admit, over the past couple of months, my To-Read pile has been getting bigger and bigger. And I haven’t been doing much reading to tackle it. The holiday months seem to just be so busy that I don’t get to take much time out to read. Now that my calendar has slowed down a bit though, I’m getting back to it!

If you saw my Game of Thrones Book Club post, you know that I decided to finally read the book series. Game of Thrones was one of those incredibly rare times where I watched the show BEFORE reading the books. My husband and I both really enjoy watching the show and he didn’t want me to know what happens by reading ahead, so I agreed to wait. Aren’t I sweet?

Anyways – back to what else is on my To-Read list!

Here are two books that I received for Christmas that I can’t wait to dive into.




Robin Sloan

Amazon’s Description:

The Great Recession has shuffled Clay Jannon away from life as a San Francisco web-design drone and into the aisles of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. But after a few days on the job, Clay discovers that the store is more curious than either its name or its gnomic owner might suggest. The customers are few, and they never seem to buy anything―instead, they "check out" large, obscure volumes from strange corners of the store. Suspicious, Clay engineers an analysis of the clientele's behavior, seeking help from his variously talented friends. But when they bring their findings to Mr. Penumbra, they discover the bookstore's secrets extend far beyond its walls. Rendered with irresistible brio and dazzling intelligence, Robin Sloan's Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore is exactly what it sounds like: an establishment you have to enter and will never want to leave.



Les Parisiennes – Anne Seba

Amazon’s Description:
Paris in the 1940s was a place of fear, power, aggression, courage, deprivation, and secrets. During the occupation, the swastika flew from the Eiffel Tower and danger lurked on every corner. While Parisian men were either fighting at the front or captured and forced to work in German factories, the women of Paris were left behind where they would come face to face with the German conquerors on a daily basis, as waitresses, shop assistants, or wives and mothers, increasingly desperate to find food to feed their families as hunger became part of everyday life.
When the Nazis and the puppet Vichy regime began rounding up Jews to ship east to concentration camps, the full horror of the war was brought home and the choice between collaboration and resistance became unavoidable. Sebba focuses on the role of women, many of whom faced life and death decisions every day. After the war ended, there would be a fierce settling of accounts between those who made peace with or, worse, helped the occupiers and those who fought the Nazis in any way they could.




Sunday, March 20, 2016

The Possibility Dogs






The Possibility Dogs by Susannah Charleson
Publisher - Mariner Books
Publish Date - June 2014
Genre - Non-Fiction
















My Rating:






I was gifted this book for Christmas by a co-worker. We are both dog lovers and many of our conversations seemed to find their way back to our four-legged friends. I don't read a whole lot of non-fiction but my co-worker raved about Charleson's other book "Scent of the Missing" and thought I would enjoy this one.

The Possibility Dogs is about how Charleson learns that her relationship with her search and rescue dog,
Puzzle, is much deeper than just a work relationship. This realization inspires her and she begins to delve into the world of service dogs.

She not only learns and gets involved with the service dog world, she focuses on taking abandoned shelter dogs and pairing them with people who could benefit most from a service dog pairing.

Charleson tells so many heartwarming stories about dogs she meets in shelters, people that already have service dogs and of her own dogs, Puzzle included. 

She ends up with an unlikely friend and service partner in Jake Piper, a scraggly, abandoned stray that was given a second chance at life. It's Jake Piper who turns out to be just what Charleson needed in her life.

This book was so much more than just the science
and process behind how a service dog comes to be. It makes you think, it makes you laugh and it makes you cry. The way that Charleson tells her stories and the dog's stories is captivating. It makes you really feel and understand the depth and importance of dog/human interaction. 

If you love dogs, want to know more about the healing powers they can bring or just love a heartwarming true story then read this book. You simply won't be able to put it down.


Pair This With: Portrait of a Mutt Zinfandel


I had to find a good "doggie" wine out there to share with you all and this Zin is just the ticket. It's fruit forward, medium-bodied and smooth. This wine comes from Mutt Lynch Winery and a portion of proceeds from every bottle sold goes to help local rescue organizations - how can you go wrong!?

Monday, May 18, 2015

Tail's From Cyprus - Kirk Bertram

Tail's From Cyprus
After a brief hiatus for a much needed vacation – I’m back! The great thing about a relaxing beach vacation is that it gave me plenty of time to really knock out some reading. Now I’ve got some good reviews to send your way!
First up is actually a book that I finished right before I left for our trip. Tail’s From Cyprus was an interesting read for me because I am friends with one of the people in the book! That is most definitely a first for me. This novel takes you on a voyage around the world with Emmy, Linz, the Captain and their two cats Snowy and Liza. The entire story is told from the point of view of Liza who is a very smart cat!
The family rescued Liza as a small kitten from the shores of Cyprus when they were docked there as part of their 5-year trip around the world. Liza quickly learns how to live life at sea and she and Snowy get into all sorts of adventures together. Not only does the story describe the cat’s daily life, but it catalogs the human’s journey as well – their struggles, successes and what life is like living on a 45-foot boat.
Liza’s story takes you from the island of Cyprus, across the Atlantic and eventually to Richmond, VA where she settles in to her “mainland” life with the family. This story did leave me a bit torn because I really wanted to hear more details about the family’s adventures at each port they traveled to. When you think about it though, since it’s told from the cat’s perspective, it makes sense that only a certain amount of detail can be shared since Liza rarely traveled off the boat. If you can make peace with that, then I think you'll enjoy the story.
This is a heartwarming, light-hearted story told from a very unique perspective. If you have a good imagination and love animals, get your copy and follow along on Liza’s journey.
Rating: Good 7 out of 10

Monday, January 19, 2015

Wild - Cheryl Strayed

I first heard about Wild a few months after its release in 2012 when Oprah selected it as the first book of her book club 2.0. The story immediately captured my interest but for whatever reason, I never picked it up. When I saw that Hollywood made the book into a movie, I knew that I needed to finally read it. Not because I was excited to see the movie, but because I needed to make sure I had read the book before I could possibly have the opportunity to see the movie. Because let’s face it, Hollywood does not have a great track record of creating amazing movies based off of books.
Wild is the true story of Cheryl Strayed’s life-changing journey along the Pacific Crest Trail. After losing her mother to cancer at the age of 22, Cheryl’s life spirals out of control. She divorces her husband and attempts to deal with her emotions through sex and heroin. Four years after her mother’s death, she still had not come to grips with her reality. So, she packs a bag (tenderly named “Monster”) and hits the Pacific Crest Trail for a bit of self discovery. Having never seriously hiked a day in her life, it was both a spontaneous yet well-planned decision.
Over the course of her 1,100 mile hike, Cheryl faces rattlesnakes, bears, searing temperatures in the desert, record snowfalls in the mountains and failed hiking gear. She meets an incredibly diverse and entertaining group of characters along her hike with whom she develops unique bonds through their shared experience. Her story unravels as she makes her way along the trail and her mother’s ghost is an inevitable companion each day and each night. The memoir takes you from her very first monumental steps on the trail when her legs were wobbly and she could barely carry her pack to the time when her legs were muscular, hairy and steady.
Perhaps my favorite part of Cheryl’s journey was the relationship she had with her books while on the trail. Every night (when she wasn’t absolutely wrecked with exhaustion) she would sit with her bowl of dehydrated noodles and read with her headlamp under the stars. As she read, she would tear out the completed pages and use them as kindling for her fires. It seemed, that the books and both practical and symbolic burning of the pages helped pull Cheryl back to sanity. This in particular really stuck with me as many books over the years have helped bring me back to a place of balance and peace in my life.
The journey that Cheryl takes you on through her prose is intense, captivating and emotional. You can feel her world slowly starting to come back together through her words. She not only begins to heal from her mother’s death, but begins to realize who she is and love that person.
I can’t say that I really had any expectations for this book before I began reading it. However, I can say that I did not expect it to have the profound effect on me that it did. I related to so many pieces of her life and her journey, not necessarily in exact physical ways but definitely emotionally. It is a refreshing piece of reality that will help you realize that the obstacles you have overcome in your own life are not so different to other people’s. It was a real, raw story of life, love and loss that will leave you a changed person after turning that last page.
Rating: Amazing – 10 out of 10

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

The Color of Water - James McBride

As I make my way through this list of books, I’m choosing only by title. I am not reading any synopsis or review before choosing my next book – I thought this would make it more interesting. I’ll be honest, when I downloaded “The Color of Water” onto my Kindle and read what it was about I thought I was going to be in for another long read. Boy was I wrong. I couldn’t put this book down and FLEW through it in about 4 days!
McBride does a sort of split narrative with this novel. His mother, Ruth, narrates half of this book (her chapters are in italics) and tells the mysterious and surprising story of her past. McBride narrates the other half and tells the story of his childhood and growing up with a black father and a white mother in the 1960’s.
Ruth immigrated to America as a young girl with her Polish Jewish family. Her family led a strict Jewish lifestyle as her father was a traveling Rabbi. They eventually settled in Suffolk, Virginia where her father opened a small convenience store where the entire family put in tireless hours. Ruth’s childhood was full of many struggles and she was constantly searching for her place among a people that she never fully connected with. She eventually cuts ties with her family and runs off to New York where, in 1942, marries Dennis, a black man.
These years, spent in the projects of New York, are described as the happiest years of Ruth’s life. Together, they have 8 children and start up a church, where Dennis preaches. While Ruth is pregnant with their 8th child, Dennis is diagnosed with lung cancer and dies soon after. Left with 8 children to take care of, Ruth struggles to find a way to support her family. She then meets Hunter Jordan, falls in love and marries. Together, they have 4 more children.
James, the 8th child, grows up in a chaotic family of 14 and weaves his story in with that of his mother’s. Much like his mother, he struggles to find his place in a fast-changing world who still does not accept his mixed race family. His mother was the absolute leader of their family and instilled education, values and religion on each of her children. Race was never an issue for Ruth and did her best to influence the same belief on her children. This was a difficult task during a time when the civil rights movement was in full force.
I was completely enthralled with this story from the first page. It was an incredibly interesting dynamic to see the life of a young, white Jewish girl pinned side by side with the struggles of a young, mixed race child growing up in the 1960’s. Ruth is a compelling character who despite the obstacles she was faced with, manages to raise 12 children and send each and every one of them to college during an extraordinarily, racially charged time in American history. I found myself cheering on Ruth and her family and being completely amazed at how James narrated the chaos of his childhood.
If you are in the mood, for a surprising and uplifting family story full of love, heartache, triumph and struggle – go pick up this book and get reading.
Rating – Excellent – 9 out of 10

Sunday, March 9, 2014

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Book #2 that I chose to read off the list told me of a true story that I had never heard of before. Rebecca Skloot introduces us to Henrietta Lacks, her family and her immortal cells.
Henrietta grew up in rural Virginia as a poor, black farmer during the earlier half of the 20th century. Though she never had much, she always had a smile on her face and perfectly manicured nails. At the age of 14, Henrietta found herself pregnant with her first child. A few years later she would give birth again and soon after, marry "Day", her first cousin (and father of her children). In 1941, the Lacks family moves to Maryland where Henrietta and Day would eventually have 3 more children.
About four months after the birth of her 5th child, Henrietta visited her doctor complaining of a knot in her stomach. Her doctor referred her to Johns Hopkins for further treatment. Johns Hopkins was their only choice of hospital as it was the only one in proximity to treat black people. Henrietta's diagnosis from her doctors there came back as cervical cancer. Because of complications from other illnesses (like HPV and syphillus) her cancer would prove to be aggressive and deadly.
During her treatment, small samples of her cervix were removed without her knowledge or permission. These are the cells that would eventually become the famous HeLa immortal cell line. Skloot quickly takes you through this part of the story, to Henrietta's death in 1951 and then jumps ahead in time and introduces you to Henrietta's (now grown) children. It is through them - mainly Deborah, the 4th of the 5 children - that Skloot attempts to piece together the story of Henrietta and her famous cells. It's not an easy task as at this point, the Lacks family has been treated very unkindly by people in the medical field when it came to their mother's famous cells.
I'll be honest - this story was not what I expected it to be. I was anticipating a story about Henrietta Lacks, her life, her struggles and how she lived before succumbing to cancer. To me, this part of the story was short and relatively glazed over. The novel was heavy on scientific facts like what cells are, how they work and how research is conducted using HeLa cell lines. It also focused heavily on how our medical system was structured in the 1950's and how it progressed through the decades - especially concerning human tissue, ownership and informed consent. While this was interesting, it left me feeling bored and wondering when the story would pick back up.
As I forged ahead through the novel, I felt more and more like Skloot was mainly concerned with illustrating HOW she got the story of Henrietta, rather than actually sharing that story with us. She would mention tidbits of things she found in her investigations like what Henrietta did or how she acted but never divulged that information.
By the end of the novel I was frustrated and felt a lot more connected to Deborah than I did to Henrietta. While it was terrible how the Lacks family was treated by Johns Hopkins and the doctors involved in the HeLa cell line development and commercialization, I felt a lack of compassion for them. The constant rollercoaster of changing opinions and emotions surrounding their mother's cells was exhausting and I think it's a result of how the story was delivered.
All in all, I learned a lot about HeLa cells and how they have helped advance the field of medicine today. But, I also feel like most of what I took away from the book was about Skloot and her journey to collect this story - which was disappointing.
Rating: 4 out of 10 - Alright