Category Archives: Bios and Memoirs
24: What Can Happen in a Day – Michael Ford Jr
(Reviewed by Heidi A. Swan) “I exit the vehicle and move swiftly to the point of the accident to find something I have never seen in my five years in the [fire] department. There is the man…still smashed between the … Continue reading
Posted in Bios and Memoirs, Non-fiction
Tagged autobiography, firefighters, Religion
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Gigolo: Inside the Secret World of the Super Rich – Ben Foster, Clifford Thurlow
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “…I had plenty of money but always needed more. I had thought of myself as a healer when I started work at the spa. I had turned into a total slut. I played every client until … Continue reading
Posted in Bios and Memoirs, History, Politics
Tagged Britain, class, massage, prostitution, rich, society
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From Cold War to Hot Peace: An American Ambassador in Putin’s Russia – Michael McFaul
(Reviewed by Cathy Carey) “I have spent the greater part of my life trying to deepen relations between Russia and the United States. But in 2014 all these efforts seemed for naught. Heightening my sense of frustration, I was banned … Continue reading
Posted in American Politics, Bios and Memoirs, Non-fiction, Our Best, Politics
Tagged cold war, diplomacy, Obama, Putin, Russia, treason, Trump
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Dark Chains – LaTasha “Tacha B.” Braxton
(Reviewed by Jeyran Main) Sometimes what we lose or do not achieve in life does not necessarily set us back. We strive forward and if in fact, we fail in receiving love, given the situation, we love back more. This … Continue reading
Posted in Bios and Memoirs, Your Best Self
Tagged child abuse, family dysfunction, memoirs
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Bella Figura: How to Live, Love, and Eat the Italian Way -Kamin Mohammadi
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “ Now that I was living without all the relics of my former identity, there was a glimmer of something new. The heady possibly of freedom.” Kamin was thirty-two and seemed to have it all: a … Continue reading
Maharishi & Me: Seeking Enlightenment with the Beatles’ Guru – Susan Shumsky
(Reviewed by Pat Luboff) “Merely by being in his presence, we disciples entered an utterly timeless place and rapturous feeling, and, at the same time, realized the utter futility and insanity of the mundane world.” I don’t know why I … Continue reading
Posted in Bios and Memoirs, History, Philosophical reads, Spiritual/mystical
Tagged Maharishi, philosophy, spirituality, TM
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Lunacy and Death: A perspective developed over thirty years of working in mental health and death investigation – Tom Dombrock
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “They plant little beasties in your psyche that love nothing more than to dart out from the holes they’ve bored into your brain, race around inside your skull, flipping switches, overturning tables, and playing the stereo … Continue reading
Posted in Bios and Memoirs, Non-fiction
Tagged death, mental illness, Non-fiction
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Sexographies – Gabriela Wiener (translated from the Spanish by Jennifer Adcock and Lucy Greaves)
(Reviewed by JD Jung) Gabriela Wiener is not just any journalist. This Peruvian-born writer prefers to experience topics first-hand. That may even involve putting herself in extreme and often risky situations and then writing about her participation. So when it … Continue reading
Posted in Bios and Memoirs, Latin American Literature, Non-fiction, World Literature
Tagged love, Peru, sex, SMBD, Spain
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The Ghetto Swinger: A Berlin Jazz-Legend Remembers – Coco Schumann (Author), John Howard (Translator)
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “I am a musician, a musician who was imprisoned in a concentration camp, not a concentration camp inmate who also plays some music. The camps and the fear fundamentally changed my life, but it was shaped … Continue reading
Posted in Bios and Memoirs, Jazz & Blues, Non-fiction, Our Best, WWII
Tagged anti-antisemitism, Berlin, Germany, jazz, music, Nazism
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A Tongue in the Sink: The Harrowing Adventures of a Baby Boomer Childhood – Dennis Fried
(Reviewed by Pat Luboff) I swear I am going to die laughing if I have enough wits about me as I breathe my last to remember one particular sentence in this book! I’m not going to tell you which one, … Continue reading
Posted in Bios and Memoirs, Humor & Satire, Our Best
Tagged baby-boomers, New York
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