I’m not a football fan, but in this case, I’ll make an exception. Most everyone was inspired by Tedy Bruschi’s amazing comeback from a stroke to play football again. This biography, co-authored with Michael Holley details the severity of the Patriots player’s attack precipitated by an undetected heart condition. His perseverance and courage in the…
Raise your hand if you thought that The Animals were the only ones to record “House of the Rising Sun”? Even if you knew better, you just might be surprised to find out how rich the history of this song truly is. Anthony traces its origin as far back as he can, managing to sweep…
This is a very nice looking book with short essays by over sixty authors. They talk about where they write, how they get started and any talisman’s they like to have on hand when writing. My father was a supremely organized man. After he died, my three sisters and I read through countless letters, papers…
I love to read book lists, best of lists or who’s reading what lists, so I was intrigued when I saw the following two books: The Book That Changed My Life: 71 Remarkable Writers Celebrate the Books That Matter Most to Them edited by Roxanne Coady and Joy Johannessen is what the subtitle says a…
This author of Ten Hours Until Dawn has written another compelling account of a disaster at sea. Two small fishing boats set out to Georges Bank in November 1980 on what marine forecasts lead them to believe is typical fall weather for that day. Due to a malfunctioning weather buoy, both vessels encounter a storm…
You might like this book if you are into Alternative/Indie Rock. You would like it even more if you are a GenXer, particularly if you were born in 1970 and were obsessed with the band Guided By Voices. This is a memoir of Sellars’s coming of age in music. The best part of the book…
Here’s a book that Charlotte highly recommends: Acclaimed explorer Ian Baker’s long-awaited memoir of his successful quest to reach a legendary waterfall in the unexplored heart of the Himalayas’ deepest gorge, a place long held by Tibetans to be the portal to an earthly paradise and the origin of Shangri-la
This fun little book is a memoir about working in bookstores and a history of bookselling. Even though he has worked in the industry for years, Buzbee still loves walking into a bookstore. His passion for books is infectious and unprententious. He spends a fare amount of time talking about the birth of “booklust.” Here’s…
Walking on Eggshells by Jane Isay is a must read for any parent who has ever had trouble relating to their older offspring and their significant others. Some topics : how to deal with an empty nest, how to get along with your daughter/son-in law, how to be a good grandparent. She includes stories from…
I already had extreme respect for this baseball player. Reading his biography only increased this respect. He gives credit to his family, especially his dad, who taught him to overcome disappointments by working harder. He is a genuine nice guy who still can’t believe his success.
For those of you who like biographies, here’s a review from Julie: Lately I’ve been reading some of Reeve Lindbergh’s books. Anne Morrow Lindbergh was (is? how would you put it when the writer is dead (thus was), but you’re still enjoying her books (thus is)? anyway…) one of my favorite writers. I read her…
jmcg is a staff member who, with insistent prompting from ta and inkonvellum, will hopefully be providing more recommendations for Read This! She may even be tempted to write a profile! But for now, this is what she’s got for you… Television Without Pity: 752 Things We Love to Hate (and Hate to Love) About…
Margaret Bradham Thornton has edited and annotated Tennessee Williams “notebooks.” The compilation has received rave reviews: From Booklist: “The greatest American playwright? Regardless of one’s personal thoughts on his ultimate ranking, Tennessee Williams was inarguably great. For the first time, and for dedicated aficionados of his work, his complete journals are now being published. Kept…
Walking Zero is the latest offering from Raymo, Science Professor at Stonehill College and former columnist for the Boston Globe. His walk along the Prime Meridian is the backdrop for an exploration of the history of astronomy, geology and paleontology. The Meridian is surprisingly close to a number of hot spots such as Darwin’s home…
Okay, so this isn’t your cozy up to the fireplace with a nice cup of tea reading, but it was a very interesting book. Sunderland bases her research on scientific studies and brain scans. She explores how parenting choices can effect a child’s brain development. Most new parents look at their babies and wonder, “what…
A patron told me this was won of the two best books she read last year. Here’s a quote from Publisher’s Weekly: “If you’re going to read just one book about alien abductions, make it this one. And if you think alien abduction stories aren’t worth considering seriously, Clancy will convince you otherwise. A postdoctoral…
I don’t know when NPR started to takeover, but it seems to be always on at my house. This book profiles a number of NPR newscasters including some of my favorites like Scott Simon and Nina Totenberg. Phillips explores how veteran NPR personalities ended up in radio and the reader gets a sense of what…
Let me start by saying I don’t like motorcycles. I really don’t like motorcycles. That being said, I enjoyed this book by Ted Bishop about motorcycles and books. Bishop road from Alberta to Austin for a sabbatical project about Virginia Woolf. So the book is about motorcycles and motorcycle culture, a little bit about Virginia…