Novels Now

Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated by Alison Arngrim

Pages: 300 pages
First Published: June 15, 2010
Publisher: IT Books
Rating: 5/5

First sentence:

I always envy people whose detailed memories extend back to the womb.

Acquired: Received a review copy from Harper Collins Canada.

Reason for Reading: I’m a big fan of LHOTP. I read Melissa Gilbert’s memoir and was anxious to find out more and very excited when I saw Alison had a book out.

Alison Arngrim’s narrative is a pleasure to read. Just by reading the title we get a glimpse of what kind of attitude we can expect to find inside the covers. Arngrim is also a stand-up comedienne and with that knowledge it explains the easy going narrative style full of humour that made this book such a fun read.

Alison starts by telling of her childhood, brought up in an unconventional family, and of her s*xual abuse by her older brother. The meat of the book, though, concerns her life growing up on the Prairie and she provides fans with what was so sadly lacking in Melissa Gilbert’s book. We get a behind the scenes look at the filming and the actors. Alison is funny and no holds barred without being catty or dishing dirt. Yes, she tells what people were really like, if they were generally not liked she says so. She has many funny and sometimes just strange anecdotes to relate about the seven years she played Nellie Oleson. I really appreciated her tone. She talked about every major character on the show, all the children, and the adults that Nellie would typically have scenes with. So unfortunately Mr. Edwards, one of my favourites, was only mentioned briefly in passing. I was thrilled that Alison spoke of Jonathan Gilbert frequently and so fondly since Melissa had reduced him to a few sentences in the middle of her book. Melissa Sue Anderson gets the short end of the stick as worst personality on the show. Mary was always my favourite and I was startled that Melissa mentioned her in passing only three times in her book. Alison refers to her many more times and while never being mean or nasty does relate many instances which let us know why she was not fond of her and she outs Gilbert’s opinions of her as well. I would love Melissa Sue’s view of this but apparently her book doesn’t address any of this and is getting bad reviews so I’m not sure if I’ll read it or not, at this point. The Little House cast were Arngrim’s family and when she left the show she felt a real sense of loss without them in her day-to-day life. She and Melissa Gilbert became great friends on the show and remain so to this day.

The memoir then ends up with Alison’s life after the Prairie. Going on to her activism for AIDS, her two marriages (the second which has been successful) and her determined and relentless campaign on changing the laws on incest which at the time gave those perpetrators a loophole of not having to do any prison time. This involved her having to go public with her abuse on the Larry King show in 2004.

A very satisfying read. I always have a nonfiction book on the go and usually read a chapter, perhaps two, at night before settling in to read my current novel. But Confessions was written in such an easy, fun, narrative style that I couldn’t put it down after two chapters and read it as quickly as a novel. A great insider’s peek behind the scenes of the filming and especially the personalities who made up The Little House on the Prairie.

Celtic Treasure: Unearthing the Riches of Celtic Spirituality by Liz Babbs

Pages: 80 pages
First Published: Sept 1, 2009
Publisher: Lion Hudson
Rating: 4/5

First sentence:

I keep a box of ‘treasures’ in my attic.

Reason for Reading: I am Catholic and am interested in the early Church, especially the Saints.

Well, honestly, I didn’t know what to expect from this book. What was Celtic Spirituality? Was it some new age thing or Christian? Upon opening the little book I was immediately met with Scripture and St. Patrick’s Breastplate along with stunning photography of Christian ruins from the 1st millenium in Ireland and Scotland. This is a lovely, hand-sized gift book printed on quality paper. A delight to read and look at. The book is about the history of the Celtic Christians in the first millennium and though it is never mentioned this is, in other words, the early history of the Catholic Church in Ireland and Scotland. Everything that is mentioned, the history, the saints, the prayers, the places, the way of life are all from the beginnings of the Church in this part of the world, when the Celts were converted to Christianity. The book is full of scripture and Saint’s prayer’s (my favourite part), and even quotes from C.S. Lewis and Chesterton. The author herself has written her own prayers and poems which are very nice and full of Christian love. A nice book.

When I was finished I googled one of the modern day communities mentioned in the book that practiced Celtic Spirituality, just to know what it was. It’s not something I’m interested in but I’m happy we share the same history. My church is decorated with Celtic crosses on it’s outside architecture as our patron saint is Saint Patrick and we have his Breastplate inside the church.

The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession by David Grann

Pages: 334 pages
First Published: Mar. 9, 2010
Publisher: Doubleday
Rating: 4.5/5

First sentence:

Reporting, like detective work, is a process of elimination.

Reason for Reading: I loved David Grann’s debut book “The Lost City of Z” and really wanted to read this when I heard about it.

An extremely interesting book on a variety of different topics. A collection of previously published articles mainly from “The New Yorker” magazine, with three being from other magazines. These are investigative journalism where the author goes out to meet the people involved, shadow them as they go about their business, and interviews criminals in jail, in search of the truth behind a mystery that has never been solved or never quite to satisfaction or just why somebody would do what they do. It makes very fascinating reading. Each article gives a small one liner to let you know the topic of the article and to me personally, some of them I was eager to read, while others didn’t seem like they’d be my cup of tea.

However, out of the twelve stories there was only one I didn’t enjoy and that was one that was about a baseball player and the game. I don’t like sports and that story just had nothing else to offer so for me it was a dud. Otherwise, whether I initially thought the subject would interest me or not, I was fascinated with the remaining eleven articles. Even one which is about the old water tunnel system below New York City and the building of the third tunnel. Sounds like something engineering folks might like but I was fascinated with the history of the building of the tunnels which have been worked on since the early 1900s, the dangers, and the personal stories of the men who work down there, often generations of the same family. Other stories include the mysterious murder of a famous Sherlock Holmes scholar, a Frenchman who serially poses as orphaned teenage boys, trying to track down the truth of a man about to be executed for murdering his children who swears he is innocent, a man who was obsessed with capturing the first live giant squid, and the life story of a stick-up man who committed his last robbery at age 79 but who enjoyed escaping from prison more than committing the crimes, and so on.

The mysteries and murders I was immediately pulled into, knowing I’d enjoyed those stories. But even the first couple that made me wonder whether they’d be my thing also pulled me in quickly as David Grann is a wonderful writer. From that point on I was eager to read each and every story. He gets up close and personal with his subject; he follows the people he is writing about and he gets in there with them doing the things they do (or standing beside them, watching) and explaining how he feels. He’s been in more than one situation where he’s admitted that he was scared. He can also pick up on all the different angles of a story so that no matter where a reader’s interests lie they will find an angle that interests them. Most of the stories were riveting, the rest were very interesting, and, for me, I struck out with the baseball story. (There just was nowhere else Grann could go with that one and I realise that.)

I read the book slowly. Reading one story a night, taking the time to savour and appreciate each story. David Grann is certainly a talented writer who has a way with engaging his reader, and I do hope he is currently working on another book length story for us.

Rating: 4 Stars (Very Good)

Source: Review book provided by the publisher, Hawthorne Books.

I wake up earlier than the others, usually around 5 a.m., to perform the one household duty I have mastered. After posting the morning’s word, emptying the dishwasher, setting the table for the children’s breakfasts, and pouring the MultiGrain Cheerios or Froot Loops or Apple Jacks or Special K or Fruity  Pebbles, I prepare toast. I take out he butter to allow it to soften, and put three slices of Pepperidge Farm Hearty White in the toaster oven. Bubbies and I like plain buttered toast; Sammy prefers it with cinnamon, with the crusts cut off. When the bell rings, I shift the slices from the toaster to plates, and butter them.

Harris usually spends half the night in Bubbie’s little bed. When I go upstairs, around 6 a.m., Bubbies hesitates, but I give him a knowing look and he opens his arms to me. “Toast?” he says. - from Making Toast, page 17 of the ARC -

Roger Rosenblatt’s 38 year old daughter Amy – a pediatrician, wife and mother of three very young children – had a heart defect which went undiagnosed until it took her life, suddenly and unexpectedly, just weeks before Christmas in 2007. Rosenblatt and his wife Ginny responded in the only way they knew how – they packed up their things and rushed to Maryland to help their son-in-law Harris raise their grandchildren. Making Toast is Rosenblatt’s memoir of the weeks and months following Amy’s death as the family struggles to make sense of their loss while moving steadily through the daily events of a life which continues without her.

Written in a series of vignettes rather than a straight forward narration, the book is non-linear in nature. At first, I didn’t like this scattershot approach which seemed to keep emotion slightly distant. It felt disconnected to me. But, as I continued to read, the style began to make sense. For what is grief but memories of the brief slices of a life lived? What is recovery if not the simple act of getting up each day and sharing another person’s life? How do we see hope for the future except through the eyes of our children or grandchildren? For Rosenblatt, who clung to his anger against God and the fact that his only daughter had died from something which affects ‘less than two thousandths of one percent of the population,’ his one consolation was that he was doing what Amy would have him do – caring for her family.

Making Toast is heartbreaking, and yet its sadness is fleeting. I found myself laughing at the simple, every day moments which Rosenblatt shares. I found myself marveling at the depth of love that he and his wife had for not only their grandchildren, but Amy’s husband Harris. The human spirit is nothing but resilient in the face of tragedy – and yet it is still amazing to see it in practice.

Rosenblatt shares his grief without telling us outright that he is grieving. Time after time he declines to listen to Amy’s voice on a telephone answering machine, so when her recorded words show up in the narration toward the end of the book, we feel Rosenblatt’s pain. This is Rosenblatt’s style – to show us moments which transcend words.

Making Toast is about patience, love, faith (and the lack of it), grief, and the slow, torturous process of recovery. But perhaps it is mostly about what it means to be a family. Rosenblatt’s simple prose and his matter-of-fact presentation is surprisingly moving in the context of the story. It is a beautiful tribute to a daughter.

Highly recommended.

The Mayo Clinic Diet isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. Using clinically tested techniques, it puts you in charge of reshaping your lifestyle by adopting healthy new habits and breaking unhealthy old ones. – from The Mayo Clinic Diet, Introduction -

I don’t diet. Ever. I hate the idea of measuring out portions, following rigid guidelines, and being limited to a specific number of calories per day. I also know all the statistics that show that diets don’t work over the long haul.

So, I was very happy to see that The Mayo Clinic Diet is not like other diets out there. The weight experts at the Mayo Clinic have put together a book which is not only colorful and easy to read, but makes losing weight more about lifestyle changes than about hard and fast dieting.

The book is separated into three distinct parts.

The first section is a two-week “jump start” program that requires little preparation but claims to help you lose 6-10 pounds in two weeks. Essentially it sets you up to add five healthy habits (including things like eating breakfast every morning, adding whole grains to your diet and eating healthy fats), getting rid of five unhealthy habits (such as not watching television while you eat and not eating in restaurants), and adopting five bonus habits (things like writing down your goals and keeping an activity log).

The second section is a healthy lifestyle section which is focused on the long-term lifestyle changes which will help you maintain your weight (or continue to lose at a slower rate). Things I liked about this part of the book included visual representations of food servings (so you don’t need to measure out serving sizes), and a list of calorie burning activities to add to your life.

The final section of the book covers things like determining YOUR healthy weight, understanding nutrition and weight control, and barriers to weight loss (including motivational issues). There are some simple recipes and menus included in this last section as well, as well as a great section on adapting recipes for healthier eating.

All sections include colorful, simple diagrams or photos, and easy to understand language. The book has an accompanying journal to track your progress and activity.

Readers who have struggled with weight loss, or who don’t want just another fad diet, will most likely find information in The Mayo Clinic Diet which will appeal to them. Some may find it almost too simplistic, but I see that as more of a strength of the book than a weakness.

“Good race,” someone says.

“Thank you,” I say, because it was a good race. It wasn’t fast – the scoreboard referee writes my time on the board as two minutes and thirty-six seconds, exactly two minutes slower than the leading time – but it was a good race. Really good. I see Lydia’s mom. She smiles at me. I look around. No Lydia. It doesn’t matter. After this race I am sure I will be able to make the Paralympic team, sure I can keep training and trying and getting back up until I actually get that uniform[...]

- from Just Don’t Fall, page 194 -

Josh Sundquist was only nine years old when he was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma – a rare type of cancer which typically attacks the bone. In Josh’s case, he was given only a 50% chance of survival. He underwent a year of chemotherapy, spending most of that time in a hospital, and eventually lost his left leg to the disease. But he survived.

Just Don’t Fall is Josh’s story beginning shortly before his cancer diagnosis up to the 2006 Olympics. It is an inspirational story – not because Josh survived cancer and a leg amputation, but because of who he is as a person and how he got there. Raised in a conservative, Christian home and home schooled until his freshman year of high school, Josh Sundquist was surrounded by parents and siblings who loved him and a community who stepped up and gave their support when the Sundquist family needed it. Even still, the challenges were huge – financial, emotional, and physical. Josh’s mother, Linda, later was diagnosed with an incurable form of Lymphoma and his brother Matt struggled to find his own place in the world after growing up in the shadow of Josh’s cancer. Josh struggled to feel accepted by his peers as he grew from small boy into young man. Despite these challenges, Josh Sundquist had a dream. He had always imagined himself as a well known athlete, and becoming a ski racer on the Paralympic Team was the goal he set his sights on. In 2006 he skied for the United States Paralympic Team in Turino, Italy – an amazing accomplishment and a testament to courage, heart and perseverance.

I read Just Don’t Fall over a few short days and found myself completely charmed by the honest, heartfelt prose of a kid who overcame the odds to follow his dream. Josh Sundquist is funny, endearing, and genuine. In his memoir, he captures the innocent voice of his childhood which then evolves into the awkwardness of adolescence and finally into the insight of a mature young man. Just Don’t Fall is not only a story about how an individual overcame obstacles to become an accomplished athlete…it is about a family and a community, and the impact on them all with the devastating diagnosis of cancer. It is also a story of faith and doubt, and how one comes to terms with the fears and traumas of life while still believing in a larger purpose.

Josh Sundquist writes from the heart, and in doing so he pulls his readers deeply into his life. You will find yourself laughing, crying and eventually celebrating his accomplishments.

Recommended reading for those who enjoy well-written, touching memoirs with a message.

Listen to a guest Vlog by the author here on Caribousmom

It’s an old, old story: I had a friend and we shared everything, and then she died and we shared that, too. -from the ARC of Let’s Take the Long Way Home, page 1-

Years ago I read Pack of Two: The Intricate Bond Between People and Dogs by Caroline Knapp which is a memoir about Knapp’s recovery from alcoholism and the dog that helped her through it. I remember at the time being unable to put the book down for long. Knapp wrote with an honesty and insight that pulled me into her world…and her relationship with her dog Lucille resonated with me.

Gail Caldwell was Knapp’s best friend. They were drawn together through their mutual love of dogs (in Caldwell’s case a Samoyed named Clementine), their similar battle with alcohol and a need that neither one knew they had at the time…to find a friend who would balance their own strengths and weaknesses.

Finding Caroline was like placing a personal ad for an imaginary friend, then having her show up at your door funnier and better than you had conceived. Apart, we had each been frightened drunks and aspiring writers and dog lovers; together we became a small corporation. - from the ARC of Let’s Take the Long Way Home, page 13 -

When later Knapp was diagnosed and quickly succumbed to metastatic lung cancer, Caldwell was faced with what seemed the impossible – to go forward with her life without her best friend at her side. Caldwell’s memoir encapsulates the years of friendship she shared with Knapp – the long walks with their dogs, the hours of rowing on the Charles River in Boston, the late night phone calls – and the grief Caldwell waded through when Knapp died. But it is also a story about the importance of friendship in our lives, the depth of love we have for others (people and animals alike), and the risk of loss when we decide to love another.

Caldwell’s prose is wise and elegant. The passages she shares about her relationship with Clementine made me laugh and cry. When she wrote about bringing her puppy home for the first time, I felt my heart clench with memory of when I first brought Caribou into my life.

After the first sleep deprived  twenty-four hours of her invasion, I sat on the  back porch with her sprawled  asleep in my lap – she has white eyelashes! I thought – and tears started streaming down my face. I had had animals all my life, but never had my heart been seized with such unequivocal love. – from the ARC of Let’s Take the Long Way Home, page 37 -

I consumed this slim book in just over 24 hours, often with tears flooding my eyes. I could not seem to stop turning the pages even though dread sat on my shoulders. This was a tough book to read in many ways – sad and heartbreaking. But don’t let that stop you from reading it. It is also confirmation of the human spirit and our strength in the face of what feels like unbearable loss. We have all had loss in our lives – people who have been ripped from our lives before their time, spouses who have walked out on us, pets who have died – and it always feels insurmountable. Caldwell’s memoir is about surviving loss and moving forward; about embracing life; and about the special friendships that come into our lives when we least expect it but need them the most. This book is about taking risks of the heart and about discovering one’s inner strength.

Maybe this is the point: to embrace the core sadness of life without toppling headlong into it, or assuming it will define your days. The real trick is to let life, with all its ordinary missteps and regrets, be consistently more mysterious and alluring than its end. – from the ARC of Let’s Take the Long Way Home, page 180 -

Let’s Take the Long Way Home is a book which will stick with me. For those readers who are not afraid to open their hearts and immerse themselves in another person’s pain, but also their joy, this book is a must read.

Like memory itself, this book wanders back and forth between old recollections and new. Food is the thread that connects them, for food has always been my lens and my prism, my eye on the world. I may write about the smell of asparagus, the color of polenta, or the taste of figs still warm from the sun, but all of it is a personal shorthand for weighing hunger and love, health and nourishment, secrets and revelations, illness and survival, comfort and celebration, and perhaps above all, the joy and gift of being alive. – from Keeping the Feast, page 6 of the ARC -

When Paula Butturini and John Tagliabue met as foreign correspondents in Rome, they had no idea what the future held for them. Four years later, married and living in Poland during a time in Eastern Europe when communist rule was falling and violence was erupting, their lives were suddenly changed. As Butturini writes: ‘A single bullet started it all.‘ Recovering from a near fatal beating in Czechoslvakia only days earlier, Butturini was stunned when she received a phone call on Christmas eve that John had been shot in Romania, an event which led to a life threatening infection, repeated surgeries and months of hospitalization…and served as the catalyst for a slide into a debilitating depression.

Keeping the Feast, Butturini’s memoir of the years following the shooting, is a stunning, beautifully written celebration of how our traditions surrounding food, and the memories and comforts those bring, can speak not only to our physical cravings, but to our souls as well.

Italy still celebrates one of the most primordial rituals of the human community, the daily sharing of food and fellowship around a family table; what better place to take ourselves to heal? – from Keeping the Feast, page 15 of the ARC -

Keeping the Feast is not just about the horror of John’s injury and his slide into deep depression…at its core, this book is about the impact of our food traditions on memory, healing, and finding quiet comfort. Butturini begins each chapter with a childhood memory around food. Her descriptions are mouth-watering, consoling, and beautifully wrought. Who among us has not turned to a favorite childhood meal to find peace in a time of crisis?

To eat a food reminiscent of some childhood treat, to eat a food that nudges strong childhood memories, is to return to the country, town, neighborhood, and family – the very dinner table where we first encountered the edible world. – from Keeping the Feast, page 165 of the ARC -

For Butturini and her husband, a return to their genetic roots in Italy, where they had met and fallen in love, was the key to rediscovering peace and recovery. The simple ritual of getting up and walking to the local market to buy fresh fruit, vegetables, bread and meat was the balm for Butturini’s psychic wounds. The act of making a healthy meal of pasta and sitting down daily to share three meals a day proved not only a calming activity for Butturini, but also just what John needed to find his way out of the dark recesses of his depression.

I found myself completely engrossed in Butturini’s story. I have long found solace in food and its preparation. The first thing I wanted to do for my sister when she was diagnosed with cancer was to make her comfort food that would heal her body and soul. Food represents so much more to us than simple nourishment – it represents our family traditions, our nationalities, and the joy of being with others around a table. Butturini’s wonderful prose captures the joy and healing food can bring to our lives.

Keeping the Feast is an honest, heartfelt exploration of one couple’s journey from depression to wholeness. Its stunning depictions of Italy (and Rome specifically) will satisfy the reader who enjoys travel writing. Butturini’s love of food and her mouth watering descriptions of it will delight those readers who consider themselves “foodies.” It is Butturini’s ability to unite all three of these subjects into a cohesive, compelling story that will have readers praising this book.

Highly Recommended.

Read a guest post by the author (with recipe!) on my TLC Book Tour of this book.

My Word is My Bond, The Autobiography by Roger Moore, with Gareth Owen

Pages: 330 +index
First Published: Nov. 2008
Rating: 3.5/5

First sentence:

For years, people have said to me ‘Write your book,’ and for years I said, ‘No, there are too many people I’d have to write about, and eve if they’re dead, what I might say would be an intrusion on their privacy. And apart from that, I’m too lazy.’

Acquired: Borrowed a copy from my local library.

Reason for Reading: Roger Moore is the Bond I grew up with, the one I went to the movies to see as a teenager.

Comments: Right from the introduction Mr. Moore states that he will not be ‘dirt-dishing’ nor telling ‘tittle tattle’; he wants to write a fun book filled with memories the way he saw them and the wonderful people he met in his life but he promises that does not mean it will be a ‘fluffy book’ either. Roger Moore lives up to this statement giving the reader a very enjoyable look inside his life without trashing anyone. He does mention a couple of names that he simply hates with a straightforward reason why, he tells stories leaving the irritating one unnamed and he mentions names and follows the “if you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all rule” frequently. But Roger Moore is a charming fellow, very easy going, loves a prank or two, and can take a joke on himself as well so his book is filled with people he adored and those who adored him back.

Moore spends a good part of the book on his early life in England; his childhood, days in the army, acting on stage, becoming an actor in British movies. This was all very interesting and it’s hard to believe that Roger Moore is really that old to have been in WWII! Even when acting in Britain the famous names start knocking about such as David Niven (a lifetime friend) and Michael Caine. Then he comes to America and makes a name for himself on the small screen starring in Maverick (replacing James Garner as his British cousin), then his famous Simon Templar as The Saint and finally The Persuaders with Tony Curtis. Not until we are closing in on page 200 does Roger Moore get to James Bond and the book has been so interesting up to this point that Bond is not the vital part of the book. Even if you started to read the because of the Bond connection. I won’t go into any more details but from their Moore continues on with Bond, his wives, his other movies and work, ending finally with his long association with UNICEF.

Moore comes across just as I had expected him too. He keeps his debonair, suave, gentlemanly air about him but he also has his tongue firmly planted in cheek at the same time. Even as a child he behaved this way, he calls himself on it frequently saying “ever the poseur”. He tells some wonderful memories and anecdotes as he’s been with all the greats throughout his career: Elizabeth Taylor, Cary Grant, Gregory Peck, Noel Coward, Stewart Granger, Richard Burton and countless others.

The only thing I didn’t enjoy about the book was the last few chapters which mostly focused pretty heavily on his UNICEF activities that it began to feel like an infomercial. I will state I don’t support UNICEF for conscience reasons but I did enjoy hearing of the travel and good work he accomplished. But then it just seriously devolved into three chapters about UNICEF with Roger as the emcee. Otherwise, I had a very enjoyable read and certainly learned a lot more about the man who I previously only knew as The Saint and James Bond.

Paul McCartney: A Life by Peter Ames Carlin

Pages: 340 pgs. + notes, index
First Published: Nov. 3, 2009
Rating: 4/5

First sentence:

Paul McCartney is almost home.

Reason for Reading: I like the Beatles but I love Paul.

Comments: Normally, I steer away from biographies, trying to read memoirs instead unless the person in question is dead and never wrote their own auto-biography. Well, Paul is neither, but given his extremely private nature I find it doubtful he’ll ever write a memoir and if he did it would not be in-depth but more like musings of good memories. So I jumped on this book when it came out.

Again, I find when reading these types of biographies one has to be wary as the authors are often out to dig up every piece of dirt they can on the celebrity or they don’t particularly like said person and simply enjoy writing a book that trashes them. This is not what I want. I want to read a respectful, true account of the celebrity’s life and author Peter Ames Carlin delivers on all accounts.

Right from the start one can tell that the author respects his subject and throughout the book when the controversies arise he shows the reader a ‘pro-Paul’ position. But this does not mean that he paints a fake rosy picture. Paul McCartney is exposed here warts and all. He was egocentric during the Beatles days, always being the leader, creating rifts among the other members and yet not realizing it until years much later. The intensely close relationship between him and John Lennon is examined from all sides even during the years they publicly shunned each other and Yoko Ono’s influence over John. George and Ringo are given very little space in the book. The book is about Paul and his relationships with these two do not stand out much more than ‘mates’. Though we do get at inside look at Paul’s brotherly affection to George, which was not always appreciated.

Past the Beatles, the rocky years with Wings are covered in detail, Paul’s true love, once in a lifetime relationship with his beloved Linda, his semi-success in the 80s as a solo singer, his disaster of a marriage with the vengeful Heather Mills and his eventual settlement into simply being Paul McCartney, the last of the Fab Four (as nobody really counts Ringo). We also see Paul’s reactions to nthe deaths of both John and George. A very interesting, funny, informative look inside the life of a brilliant, sensitive, egocentric, perfectionist, caring, simple-life loving man who is one of the 20th century’s most recognizable and influential musicians.

The Photographer: Into War-Torn Afghanistan with Doctors Without Borders by Didier Lefevre & Emmanuel Guilbert. illustrated by Frederic Lemercier, introduction and translated by Alexis Siegel

Pages: 267 pgs.
First Published: May, 2009 (English translation) (2003-2006 orig. French)
Rating: 5/5

First sentence:

“I say good-bye to everyone.”

Reason for Reading: Cybils nominee

Summary: Photographer Didier Lefevre was offered to accompany the MSF (the original French version of Doctors Without Borders) on a 3 month mission to Afghanistan in 1986 when the Soviet-Afghan War was raging. The book tells of his journey from Pakistan to the mission site in Afghanistan, his stay and his decision to make the journey back to Pakistan alone which almost cost him his life.

Comments: An incredibly brilliant, powerful work of art! At first I thought this was going to be about current affairs in Afghanistan, so was quite surprised to find the memoir taking place during the Soviet era invasion of Afghanistan. The graphical presentation, the artwork is phenomenal. A very unique combination of cartooning and photographs have been combined together which at first, I admit, put me a bit off kilter but once I got used to the presentation I found myself seeing real life images even when I was looking at an illustration. An odd sensation but extremely well done. The authors/illustrator portray so much on the journey: the beauty of the land, the terror of illegally crossing the border, traveling under cover of night, watching for Soviet planes to drop bombs on them if sighted.

Then at the medical camp there is the large amount of local people coming for help for such things as a humongous cancerous tumour on a toe, a foot that is so rotted the man has pulled it off that morning and asks if they can put it back on for him; then the war wounded come in: a child with half his face blown off, a man with shrapnel in his back, a paralyzed girl with one tiny piece of shrapnel that has severed her spinal cord. The photographs, the text, the illustrations capture the spirit, the agony, the willpower, the drive of the doctors who come to work here in non sterile makeshift tents to treat these people, sometimes just so they can die with dignity.

Didier’s journey back is even worse than coming as he has had enough at the end of the three months when he finds that the team is going to be staying an extra week so with some guidance to a nearby town where he will be certain to get a guide he sets off on his to journey back to Pakistan. Didier finds that without the resources and experiences of the “pros” he accompanied on the way out there he is a walking target and with exposure to criminals, crooked cops and the elements he almost loses his life. A magnificent, compelling story that concentrates on human relations and interactions without getting political. The political situation is discussed in the beginnings of the book to set the reader in the situation as it is happening but the focus of the book is people, how they treat each other both good and bad in situations both large and small. Highly recommended!

High on Arrival by Mackenzie Phillips with Hilary Liftin

Pages: 292 pgs.
First Published: Sept. 23, 2009
Genre: non-fiction, memoir
Rating: 4.5/5

First sentence:

In the mid eighties, when I was on tour with the New Mamas & Papas, a porter brought two packages up to my hotel room.

Reason for Reading: I enjoy reading celebrity memoirs and was a big fan of One Day at a Time when the show was on. I had read Valerie Bertinelli’s recent memoir and knowing Mackenzie Philips’ checkered past figured she would have a very interesting memoir.

Acquired: I received a review copy from Simon & Schuster Canada.

Comments: Mackenzie Phillips is the daughter of John Phillips (the mastermind of the famous singing group The Mamas & The Papas) and is best known for her role as Julie Cooper on One Day at a Time. In this book Mack tells her own story from birth to the present. She was born into the psychedelic world of the sixties, partially raised by a man addicted to a plethora of drugs who let her and her older brother do as they pleased. Their exposure to drugs lead them both to become users as children, happily supplied by their father. Mackenzie’s life was to continue to be run by drugs for many, many years until she finally became clean for 15 years only to end up addicted to pain killers which led her straight back to the monster until she was arrested for possession in 2008. Once again clean, and pain free, Mackenzie tells all in this well-written biography.

Mackenzie’s voice is very down to earth and makes for an easy read. She tells her whole life story without leaving out the ugly parts. She has secrets to reveal and does name names most of the time. One can tell right from the start though that she has not set out to trash anyone. This is her story and she accepts all responsibility for all the wrongs she’s done in her life but also tells the wrongs done to her without attempting to blame anyone. I’m sure everyone knows the secret she reveals about her father (though I won’t mention it, in case you haven’t heard) and it is one of the creepiest, saddest, disgusting things one can read about and Mack’s journey from violated victim to drug induced willing participant is an uncomfortable story to read.

The book is written with respect to all; she doesn’t leave out parts, as in other memoirs I’ve read recently, about her siblings in so far as they concerned her life story. She stops at some point with each of them saying that it is that individual’s story to tell, not hers, but at least the family dynamics are fully explored. Much time was spent on the One Day at a Time years which I fully appreciated as I was sorely disappointed in that aspect of Valerie Bertinelli’s book.

Mackenzie has lived a hard life and excepts responsibility for it. Her son is the driving force behind her sobriety and staying clean. She shows how her life started on this route with the upbringing she had but as an adult she excepts making her own bad choices. It’s a miracle she has pulled through this life and come out the other side. A very interesting read about the sixties/seventies drug culture, the eighties coke obsession, filled with famous names but centering on the life of a little girl who had to grow up in the middle of it all. Recommended.

Up Till Now: The Autobiography by William Shatner with David Fisher

Pages: 342 + index
First Published: May 13, 2008
Genre: memoir, actor
Rating: 5/5

First sentence:

I was going to begin my autobiography this way: Call me … Captain James T. Kirk or Sergeant T.J. Hooker or Denny Crane Denny Crane or Twilight Zone Passenger Bob Wilson or the Big Giant Head or Henry V or the Priceline Negotiator or … Well, that’s the problem, isn’t it?

Reason for Reading: I love William Shatner and there was no doubt I’d be reading his autobiography!
Comments: William Shatner’s autobiography covers his entire life from growing up in Montreal, Canada to virtually the present with his thoughts on not being invited to participate in the recent new Star Trek movie. His childhood is briefly summarized though his acting ventures as a child, in high school and university and then book focuses on his career as an actor starting with his days on the Canadian stage at the Stratford Festival and moving right along to his current role as Denny Crane. In between he has had a career with many ups and downs. Though never any really big downs as he is the type of actor who accepts work when he needs it. Thus he has done a lot of B-grade movies (and proud of it) and played character parts on hundreds of TV shows and every now and then he hits it big. So big in fact he has become an icon in the industry and love him or hate him, who doesn’t know the name William Shatner?

I love Shatner’s sense of humour! He is dry, witty and most importantly doesn’t take himself seriously and plays that up to the media, who often take him seriously; reporting him that way and creating a false persona, “Bill Shatner”. It’s very funny to watch in real life when people actually take the guy seriously when he’s acting his famous Bill Shatner character. Maybe it’s a Canadian humour thing. He talks about these “pranks” and how he first told the media an outrageous made up story back in the early Star Trek days, of how it just popped into his head during an interview, he thought he was telling a joke but everyone actually believed him and so it all began. His humour shines through in the book, with pompous statements, one-liners and segues into commercials for priceline or promos for the book. It’s quite hilarious.

There’s also another side to Shatner though as he tells of his personal life. Such as his first two failed marriages and his faults as a husband that contributed to there demise; the tragic death of his third wife and the tumultuous marriage they had preceding that death; his thoughts and fears about growing old and realizing his own mortality is approaching; his thoughts on the negative opinions of his fellow Star Trek cast members (all except Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley).

The book is very satisfying covering everything you’d really expect to find in Shatner’s biography. The one thing not present is long meanderings on Star Trek as that material is covered in his first memoir, Star Trek Memories, which I read when it came out and also enjoyed. He still has a few stories to tell, though, and talks about the conventions, movies and such. I felt as if he gave Star Trek just the right amount of space in this book seeing as he’s already covered it in depth. I especially enjoyed his thoughts, and reminiscences on making Rescue 911, Invasion Iowa and Boston Legal. A very enjoyable read from an actor who is not-so-surprisingly a down to earth man at heart and a brilliant actor (and a bad singer, yes, he knows this!).

A.D. New Orleans After the Deluge by Josh Neufeld

Pages: 193
First Published: Aug 2009
Genre: nonfiction, graphic novel, biographical, current events, history
Rating: 3/5

First sentence:

Monday, August 22, 2005.

Reason for Reading: Cybil Awards nominee. Received from the library.

Summary: Follows the lives of seven individuals before, during and after Hurricane Katrina. Each of these people come from different walks of life giving very different experiences as they share the same devastation of a natural disaster.

Comments: The book is quite powerful, especially the beginning and middle. The coming of the storm is handled very dramatically with wordless panels and was my favourite part of the book. The story is told chronologically and flips between the seven people (5, technically as 2 are in pairs) this is a little confusing at first but once you get into the book the reader gets into the rhythm. Not all of the characters stay behind and while all characters are followed, inevitably those who stay are the ones with the most character development. I easily read the book in an afternoon and enjoyed the powerful firsthand view of survivors. Being Canadian this is actually the first book I’ve read on the topic.

There were a few things I didn’t like. Though the book is a firsthand account and not political, per se, it obviously has a slant that is noticeable very early on with an anti-Bush graffiti on a bathroom stall on page 26 and a very stilted, unnatural (not necessarily logical, imho) conversation near the end of the book (pg. 147/148) between two of the characters listening to a talk radio viewer questioning why so many people stayed behind. The inclusion of these two bits unobtrusively add a political slant. Secondly, there is one character who uses very foul language every time she opens her mouth, including the f-word. Her story is probably one of the most compelling but it was hard to get past the obscenities. These, though, are minor irritants to this reader and may not bother others at all. The book is certainly worth a read.

As to the book’s nomination for a Cybil, I’m going to have to say it does not, imho, qualify as having “kid appeal”. The book is written for an adult audience. There is one character who is a high school student, but he is the least significant character in the book and has little page time compared to the others. The story of his parents is more interesting than his own actually. I don’t think the stories of this group of adults are going to appeal to young teens and there is the problem with the foul language. The book would appeal to 17/18yos, but in my mind once you reach 17yo you are usually reading adult books anyway, making that a moot point.

The Lindbergh Child by Rick Geary
A Treasury of XXth Century Murder, Book 1

Pages: un-numbered
Ages: 14+
First Published: Aug, 2008
Genre: graphic novel, non-fiction, true crime
Rating: 4/5

First sentence:

Saturday, May 21, 1927 Charles A. Lindbergh becomes the hero of the age with his courageous solo flight across the Atlantic.

Reason for Reading: Next in the series, but actually I should say first in a new series.

Comments: Rick Geary moves on to the 20th century with this book taking a look at one of the most famous crimes of the century. Whether that still holds true because of the celebrity of the victim’s father or now the obvious failure of the justice system and obvious lack of evidence I don’t know. What can I say? This book gives exactly what one expects from Geary in his true crime books. Astounding art work. To be honest I’d read the phone book if he illustrated it! But fortunately the text is just as superior. A lot of research has gone into this volume. I’m quite familiar with the case and Geary covers a lot of information from all points of view even to the point of examining the plausibilities of various “whodunit” scenarios. While Geary’s last few books were good as usual, The Saga of the Bloody Benders in particular was lacking in details simply as they don’t exist; it’s good to see the wealth of detail come back as in earlier books such as The Borden Tragedy and The Beast of Chicago. One fervent hope I have now that Geary has moved onto the 20th century, he even has a new book* out already, is that he won’t forget his Victorian series as I for one would like to see more continue from that era as well. Mr. Geary, your readers can certainly handle keeping up with both series. {hint, hint}. Not much to say in this review, Geary at his best. Fans will be pleased to see Geary in top form and if you haven’t read Geary yet, why not?

*that link won’t work forever, let me know when it stops working and I’ll grab the new one when they move it.

Prairie Tale by Melissa Gilbert
Foreward by Patty Duke

Pages: 367
First Published: June ‘09
Genre: memoir, non-fiction
Rating: 3/5

First sentence:

My mother was nearly a month past her husband’s funeral when she turned her attention back to my desire to write a memoir.

Reason for Reading: I enjoy reading actor’s memoirs from my childhood back to the days of the silver screen and I am a huge Little House on the Prairie fan.

Comments: Melissa writes of her life from early days up to the present time. She explains her adoptive origins and goes on to give a brief synopsis of her adoptive parents’ background. Then she quickly moves onto her career which started at an early age and is really all she’s ever known. Her mother was a typical backstage mother and Gilbert has gone through a long healing process to reach the place today where she and her mother are friends. Her life was very interesting and while Gilbert was a TV Star she was the same age as the famous Brat Pack and was a behind-the-scenes member as Rob Lowe’s girlfriend and then fiance during that time of the eighties. There is plenty of name-dropping. She had a famous Uncle who wrote for Hollywood & television in the 40s and 50s making her accessible to some of the greats such as Frank Sinatra and Milton Berle. Also her years on Little House introduced her to many of Hollywood’s elite as they appeared as guest stars over the years.

Melissa specifically concentrates on the frenzied life of a child actor, her unhealthy relationship with Rob Lowe, her first marriage and her current marriage. All of which she does not hold back with the details. She also spends much time talking about Michael Landon, her experiences with him, her feelings for him and his role in her life. She also deals with her years of drug use, though she never seems to have hit bottom with that as an addiction. It was later in life that alcohol became her addiction that made her hit bottom and sent her to recovery to become sober. These and many other topics make up the whole of this book. Melissa Gilbert lead an interesting life and accomplished a lot more with her career than I hardly knew about.

What disappoints me about these memoirs is the lack of things which I was expecting. With a title such as Prairie Tales, I was hoping for a real in depth look, behind the scenes look, at her life growing up on the set of Little House on the Prairie. Yes, she does spend quite some time on those years of her life, but the Little House memories are brief and not in depth enough. Mostly Melissa spends these years telling the reader what TV movie she worked on during each summer hiatus of the show. Many actors of the show are never mentioned, others get a brief one-liner. As far as Melissa Sue Anderson is concerned it is pretty clear from Gilbert’s three short references that she took the “if you have nothing nice to say then don’t say anything at all” approach. She does mention her friendship with the actress who played Nellie Olson more than anything else. But all in all it was quite disappointing from a Little House on the Prairie point of view.

Melissa also holds back on talking about her siblings. She continuously says how much her sister Sara (from Roseanne) means to her, how much she makes an impact in her life and yet as far as the memoir goes they never do a single thing together. There are no memories of anything the two did together whatsoever. Sara is simply a name in the book. If you don’t already know who Sara Gilbert is, this book will make you no wiser. Her brother, Jonathan, who played Willie Olson on Little House, is barely referred to during those years in the book. I had expected to hear what it was like to work with your brother. Then at some time in the book Gilbert blurts out that she must mention that when he turned 18 he withdrew his money, packed up and left and never came back, the end, and she’s fine with that. Huh? I also must mention that the swearing was rather off-putting as well; I’m just not comfortable with swearing in a narrative.

All in all I think Melissa glossed over the Little House years and then decided to talk about what she wanted to tell her fans (that she had a career outside of the show) rather than what her fans would have wanted to know about. Which is, to say the least, disappointing. But now that I’ve said all that, none of it means that this book is not good or not worth reading if you want to know about Melissa Gilbert, the person. She comes across as a nice, caring person. She currently works with children’s hospice. She is not full of herself and tells a pretty much down to earth story of a girl growing up in the media spotlight. She grows from a naive girl overprotected by everyone to a teenager/young adult who gets in over her head to, finally, a mature woman who can take care of herself. Go ahead and read the book if it interests you, just don’t expect to meet all your Little House on the Prairie friends between its pages.