Ask Me Why I Hurt: The Kids Nobody Wants and the Doctor Who Heals Them Review

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Ask Me Why I Hurt: The Kids Nobody Wants and the Doctor Who Heals Them ReviewI don't think I've ever read a book that made me feel more like a slug than this story of Dr. Randy Christensen and his work among homeless teens in a mobile medical clinic in Phoenix.
When his hospital begins to talk about founding a mobile medical van to reach homeless children, Dr. Christensen jumps at the chance to start the work. He motors around the bad parts of town aboard his converted Winnebago, battles skeptical medical and government bureaucracies and fundraises for grants and donations to keep the perpetually cash-strapped medical van going. He works at a camp for diabetic children and dutifully does his rounds at the hospital. He works from sunup to way past sundown, dragging his tired and hungry self home day after day, burdened by the sorrows he sees on the street.
What amazed me most was that Dr. Christensen came to his calling in his 30s, after he has finished his medical training, married and is starting his practice and a family. While your 30s can certainly be considered young, it is also the time of life when most of us have already immersed ourselves in our marginally meaningful lives and couldn't summon up the energy to do just one of the things Dr. Christensen does with his life. More power to him!
This is an inspiring story of one man's battles with the pull of the street, the intractability of the healthcare system and government safety nets that are failing his kids, and the daily challenges of a cutting edge medical mission. His stories of kids like Nicole, Sugar, Matt, Donald and Nizhoni will linger in your heart long after you've closed the book. The stories of their successes are inspiring, but the stories of lives that end in tragedy are equally heartwrenching.
Toward the end of the book, I began to feel sorry for the doctor's family, as his wife and three kids obviously took a back seat to his work. I could barely read the story of one of his wife's miscarriages and Dr. Christenson's near-fatal neglect. I'm glad I read to the end of the book, though, as on the tenth anniversary of the mobile clinic he seems to have realized that he needed to cut back and attend to his own family. Again, more power to Dr. Christensen!Ask Me Why I Hurt: The Kids Nobody Wants and the Doctor Who Heals Them Overview

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The Cat Who'll Live Forever: The Final Adventures of Norton, the Perfect Cat, and His Imperfect Human Review

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The Cat Who'll Live Forever: The Final Adventures of Norton, the Perfect Cat, and His Imperfect Human ReviewI admit I bought this book for extremely self serving reasons. Our cat Bill was put to sleep in March 2002 when the tumor on his tongue abscessed and he basically began to die from starvation. And having never had to have a pet put to sleep and it being so damn painful and so final I was looking for a book that might help my husband and I deal with this profound loss. Bill had been given to us as a kitten and had literally helped Ron out of a coma after being hit by a dunk driver. So I needed a book by someone who would understand what we had in Bill and why the pain was like a knife in the heart.
And I cannot recommend this book highly enough and plan on reading the other books about Norton. Because the author "gets it." Understands the wondrous gift a cat can be and that a cat is such a member of the family and not a "pet."
We read the book aloud and laughed and cried. Loved hearing of the people like Harrison Ford, Mel Gibson, Sir Anthony Hopkins, sports legends, and the wee small black cat that won Norton over and continued to grieve after Norton died.
The Lauen Bacall story is a keeper and found Ron and I lughing hysterically.
But I guess it was finding a kindred soul in Peter Gethers the author and knowing that we werent such square pegs in a round hole when it came to caring for a sick and dying member of the family who happened to have four legs that has helped us in our grieveing process. Reading that yes, someone else dealt with medicine and bad bowels and bladders and trying to get pills down a cats throat and drinking out of a toilet when Norton got so sick. I have a picture taken a month before Bill died of him drinking out of the toilet with his insatiable thirst. And like Norton who loved the heated car seat Bill craved the heating pad we kept on the back of the sofa where he would lay near us as we read or watched television.
Thank you Peter Gethers we will probably never meet you in person but you have done what no physician or psychologist has been able to do. Understand and connect. Bless you.The Cat Who'll Live Forever: The Final Adventures of Norton, the Perfect Cat, and His Imperfect Human Overview

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Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life Review

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Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life ReviewEncyclopedia of an Ordinary Life is an extraordinary idea, which is amusing, perfectly executed, and well-written. It is exactly what the title says: an encyclopedia (A to Z) of the author's life. Entries are not comprehensive, of course, and are purely the author's choosing, encompassing things such as her husband, how she feels about her name, and her observations and feelings about birthdays.
The book reads like an encyclopedia that is slightly non-sensical, as the entries sometimes offer definitions, sometimes offer childhood memories, and sometimes offer observations or ideas. It is illustrated here and there with photos from the author's life, drawings by an encyclopedia illustrator, and other bits and pieces. Although some of the entries are not as engaging or interesting as the rest, overall, the book offers a no-frills, unique look at an ordinary person living an ordinary life. Of course Amy is extraordinary in her own way - she would have to be to write a book like this and for a book like this to be interesting. Her ideas are fun and funny, and I'm sure that many readers will try them out (such as leaving envelopes with change for strangers to find). She is also insightful, and one of the more fascinating aspects of the book is the juxtaposition that occurs between Amy's life and experiences and the reader's own. With a life mapped out in the manner of an encyclopedia, it is easy to draw such comparisons. I can't say that this is a book I'd read over and over again, but it is definitely one I will keep and one I will pass around among my family and friends.Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life Overview

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Last Night I Dreamed of Peace: The Diary of Dang Thuy Tram Review

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Last Night I Dreamed of Peace: The Diary of Dang Thuy Tram Review"Last night I dreamed that Peace was established," Dang Thuy Tram confided to her diary. "Oh, the dream of Peace and Independence has burned in the hearts of thirty million people for so long. For Peace and Independence, we have sacrificed everything. So many people have volunteered to sacrifice their whole lives for these two words: Independence and Liberty. I, too, have sacrificed my life for that grandiose fulfillment." Thuy never saw the fulfillment of her dream. She was only twenty-seven when on June 22, 1970 American soldiers put a bullet through her forehead.
Dang Thuy Tram (b. November 26, 1942) was a surgeon fresh out of medical school who headed a field hospital in the remote, mountain jungles of Vietnam. She operated without anesthesia, rebuilt her clinic every time it was bombed, tended to the peasants whose villages had been burned and bull-dozed, hid in her underground shelter, and suffered the atrocities of war -- kids stepping on land mines, helicopter gunships in the middle of the night, forests stained yellow by toxic defoliants, napalm bombs, amputees, and patients like Khanh, a twenty-year old victim of a phosphorous bomb whose charred body, burned to a crisp, still smoldered with smoke an hour after it was admitted to her clinic.
The sparse possessions found with Thuy's body included some medicines, a rice ledger, a Sony radio, and this diary. When the American soldier Fred Whitehurst found the diary during the mop-up, he violated military regulations, kept the diary, and took it home with him in 1972 after three tours of duty in Vietnam. In April 2005 he was able to deliver the diary to Thuy's eighty-one-year old mother and three sisters, who published it in Hanoi on July 18, 2005. In the following eighteen months Thuy's diary sold 430,000 copies -- in a country where two-thirds of the citizens were born after the war ended and where books rarely sell more than 5,000 copies.
Much like Clint Eastwood's film Letters from Iwo Jima, Thuy's diary tells the story of Vietnam from the perspective of our "enemy." She's a fervent patriot devoted to Vietnam's revolutionary resistance. She longs for acceptance with the Communist Party which suspects her admitted bourgeois background and attitudes (her father was a surgeon and her mother a university lecturer). She rages with hatred against the American invaders, those "imperialist killers, vicious dogs, bloodthirsty devils, and terrible, cruel people who want to use our blood to water their tree of gold." More importantly, Thuy's diary reveals the longings of a fellow human being who misses her mom and dad and aches with loneliness for her boyfriend. FitzGerald's introduction, numerous footnotes that explain historical details, and two dozen family photographs complement Thuy's deeply human dream of peace.Last Night I Dreamed of Peace: The Diary of Dang Thuy Tram Overview

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A Reason to Believe: Lessons from an Improbable Life Review

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A Reason to Believe: Lessons from an Improbable Life ReviewGovernor Patrick's quintessential Horatio Alger story qualifies him as a genuine embodiment of America's best virtues. Raised by a single mother in Chicago's storied south side, his natural gifts and hearty determination led him through an elite education to a career fighting for those who can't fight for themselves. Moving from activism, to government, to corporate life, to elective office, he has kept his composure while fighting for his beliefs.
This memoir smacks a bit of a political autobiography; betcha the Governor plans to run for Senate in 2012. But considering what snoozers most political autobiographies are, Patrick infuses his with energy and humor. He doesn't blush to admit he didn't like his father growing up, and that he struggled to keep one foot in his heritage while studying in prestigious East Coast schools. He doesn't make himself a saint.
I wish Patrick added certain details in his life. For instance, he mentions first meeting Bill Clinton when they squared off during a lawsuit. What was it, and how did they reconcile? But he never mentions the incident again. Similarly, he discusses deceased parents and mentors in greater detail than living family and colleagues. His past is very detailed, his present more vague. Whose toes is he avoiding treading on?
But that's the genre. Patrick is selling his life lessons for true believers, not writing a celebrity tell-all. Despite genre limitations, I found myself eagerly devouring this book. Patrick tells a lively, spirited story, making his accomplishments sing while keeping himself at human scale. You could imagine yourself sitting down to coffee with him, sharing stories of life accomplishments and goals. I bet you'd be glad for that cuppa, too.A Reason to Believe: Lessons from an Improbable Life Overview

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Everybody Was So Young: Gerald and Sara Murphy: A Lost Generation Love Story Review

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Everybody Was So Young: Gerald and Sara Murphy: A Lost Generation Love Story ReviewIf anyone could be said to have lived a charmed life, it would be Gerald and Sara Murphy. They were wealthy, artistic and talented, with three beautiful, loving children and a circle of friends who became famous and accomplished in their own right. They gave wonderful parties that are still remembered a half-century later, were generous to those in need, and best of all, Gerald and Sara loved each other deeply, with an affection that grew as they lived their lives to the inevitable, bitter end.

Anyone who has read into the lives of Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Picasso and the other expatirot residents of Paris in the 1920s will recognize Gerald and Sara, perhaps unfavorably as hanger-ons who supplied the money the others lived on. That unfair assessment is turned on its head in Amanda Vaill's dual biography of the couple.
The Murphys were more than a bank account who gave parties; celebrity bottom feeders more interested in status than in accomplishments. They were something of an oddity. Both were from wealthy families, yet both wanted more than the family life they craved. Gerald had an eye for art, music and decorating; it was amazing to learn he was first to boost many artists who later became famous; "Grandchildren," he said as he showed them a copy of "Meet the Beatles." "Pay attention. These young men are going to be very, very important."
From their village in the Antibes, which was a backwater when they discovered it, they befriended people like Hemingway and Fitzgerald, John Dos Passos, Archibald Macleish, Lillian Hellman and Dashiell Hammett as well, while Gerald became famous in his own right for his finely detailed studies of mechanical devices: a watch, a machine, of a boat deck and smokestacks.
But if there's anything experience teaches us, it's that no one really leads a charmed life. It's all filled with day-to-day worries, irritations, tragedies and, with luck, some glory. But Gerald and Sara came close -- the 20s were their time -- and it's a fine thing to finish a biography of someone and find that you like them even more than before.Everybody Was So Young: Gerald and Sara Murphy: A Lost Generation Love Story Overview

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A Journal for Jordan: A Story of Love and Honor Review

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A Journal for Jordan: A Story of Love and Honor ReviewThis is a touching true story of two very different people who were probably not ideal for each other when they met... yet eventually fell in love... planned a family... planned a marriage... planned a life together... with some of these plans being fulfilled... while others... will remain heartbreakingly... unfulfilled for all eternity. The author is New York Times journalist Dana Canedy who shares her innermost thoughts and feelings... that encompass not only her falling in love with First Sergeant Charles King... but also is honest in the fact that this happened... *despite* the fact... that she was her own worst enemy in the early going... convincing herself in any way possible that Charles was not the right man for her... So she put up personal roadblocks... that ranged from saying she'd never be involved with a military man... because of her Father... she didn't want to become a victimized wife... like her Mother... she even convinced herself that Charles didn't have a good enough vocabulary to be around her cohorts at work. Yet through it all... she couldn't deny that Charles treated her better than she'd ever been treated. He treated her like his queen.
Charles was the epitome of a good hard working man... with pride in what he did... the goals of always working harder than the next guy. As a drill instructor he took the lives of his men... on and off the battlefield seriously... he felt he had to be a stern taskmaster when needed... and also had to be a concerned Father figure when the situation called for it. Charles had multiple tours in battle and they decided to try to "create" a baby when he came home on leave between battle assignments. Miraculously, even though Dana was forty-years-old... they accomplished their goal. Before Charles went back to war... Dana gave him a gift of a journal... in which there were pre-printed questions for a prospective Father to answer. Charles took it so seriously to heart... that he even crossed out and added some questions that he wanted to tell his unborn son... in case he didn't make it back... which tragically... after seeing him on leave... once for two weeks... he didn't. Two major themes that the author performs exquisitely through her writing are: the way she interjects paragraphs that look like they were cut out of the journal... and pasted in... like in a scrapbook... at just the right places... at just the right time... to magnificently hammer home a salient point... and the second admirable trait provided by the author... is the truth... about how much time and love... the two most valuable things we have on earth... was wasted... as she refused to see... and accept... what a wonderful and loving man Charles truly was. This book... is such a unique combination of themes... that are so perfectly pieced together by the author. This is a war book... without it really being all about war... it's a romance book... without being all about love... it is a newspaper reporter story... without being about business... it is a Father and Son book... that unfortunately was cut short.
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Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home Review

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Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home ReviewPiers Paul Read wrote the great book Alive and after an excellent movie it could be thought there was little more left to the actual story. Wrong. Nando Parrado adds much much more to this survival story and doesn't re-tell like Read but lets you know what happened to him and his emotions on the mountain. This is a great companion to the classic book. Most (myself included) wanted to be Nando - he was strong, and saved his friends through unreal internal fortitude - he's a genuine hero. His is one of the most compelling survival stories in recorded history and this is a worthy memoir.
Where Read lets you know what happened Parrado lets you know the why's and how's they survived - the real heart of this story. He let's the reader know in more detail the miserable existence on the mountain. When you read his thought "tears waste salt" it might sound cold hearted but it was the RIGHT thought and you begin to understand his inner strength. His thoughts about his family are touching, his feelings about his great father are insightful - what a fortunate son, what a fortunate father. Without his father the disappearance of the plane would remain a mystery.
In an interview Roberto Canessa once said the survivors know each other better than anyone. I really didn't understand that until reading this book. Parrado also sheds light on some negative depictions of survivors in Read's book and it helps the reader understand their actions. I also enjoyed reading what happened to Parrado after the incident and how the words and behavior of his friends who died on the mountain has influenced him. It took Parrado a long time to realize how inspirational his story is and it's great he's written his story. Make no mistake; this story is not about cannibalism, it is about love, survival and determination. I'm a better person for having read this book.Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home Overview

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The Eaves of Heaven: A Life in Three Wars Review

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The Eaves of Heaven: A Life in Three Wars ReviewSometimes a reader is privileged enough to read a book in which the words, sentences, and stories just wash over and envelop you, like a gentle beach wave. This is such a book. I enjoyed Pham's earlier "Catfish" so much that I awaited this latest book of family stories with great anticipation; and I was rewarded. Whether I read this on the subway, a bench, or at home, I was immediately transported to Vietnam, where Pham skillfully describes the villages and cities, the triumphs, pains, tastes, loves, corruptions, kindnesses, terrors and fears of his father's early life (or perhaps lives.) Along the way, I learned more about Vietnamese history and village life than I ever knew before. Pham orders the chapters so that the reader moves back and forth between the decades of his father's childhood and adulthood, all the while progressing to the point we all expect, the fall of Saigon to the VC.
As his grandmother taught, the eaves of heaven dealt good and bad in cycles. Devastating floods brought death but fertile harvests, childbirths brought the risks of a mother's death, and lovely days brought future storms. The lyrical sentences allow you to nearly taste the peach melba ice cream eaten during a courtship, but also let you live the terror of re-education and being pinned down by VC troops in a life or death firefight. The pure childhood enjoyment of eating treats and having cricket fights is a pleasure to read. But one will never again care for the fabled glory of the French Foreign Legion after finishing this book. I finished the final chapter just as NBC began to telecast the Miss Universe pageant from a colorful and cosmopolitan Ho Chi Minh City and Nha Trang, and all I could do is ponder the tribulations of this memoir and the amnesia of the telecast. Luckily this book captures a forgotten past with all the aspects that the eaves leave in shadows.The Eaves of Heaven: A Life in Three Wars Overview

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The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr Review

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The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr ReviewThis book, nearly 800 pages, analyzes in exhaustive detail Ken Starr's investigation as independent prosecutor of President Clinton.
Two things stand out about this book.
First, the colossal amount of research that went into it. Gormley interviewed not only all the major players in the events, including Starr, Clinton, and Monica Lewinsky, but also hosts of minor characters, relatives, attorneys, and the like. I have rarely read any book on any subject that interviewed so many different people in so much depth, many of them ordinarily difficult to find.
Gormley's extreme diligence pays off as he uncovers tragic but mesmerizing details that are not widely known. For example, he has a detailed account of Jim McDougal's death in solitary confinement including information based on his interviews with McDougal's prison psychologist. He also uncovered a report highly critical of the prosecutors' interrogation of Monica Lewinsky, which criticizes the prosecutors for continuing to question her after she had requested an attorney. What was particularly interesting is that the report was never released because, allegedly, its release would have violated the privacy, not of Lewinsky - but of her prosecutors! One of the most interesting features of this book is that while the FBI was devoting enormous investigative resources to the question of whether the president committed perjury in his Jones deposition, Clinton was sending missiles against al-Qaeda threats in Afghanistan. Some of the participants expressed exasperation that law enforcement did not consider anti-terrorism investigation a higher priority than the Jones deposition issues.
The second great thing about this book is that it's so clear and easy to read. Although it covers events over twenty years, innumerable legal proceedings and lawsuits, it's paced so that it's nearly impossible to put down. It's one thing to collect all this information, but the author also managed to have it tell an incredible tale: at times tragic, at times infuriating, at times laughable - but always fascinating.
Nevertheless, the book had a few weaknesses.
One omission generally was that the details of the legal arguments tended to be glossed over.
For example, there is no analysis of Clinton's arguments that he did not commit perjury in his testimony in the Paula Jones deposition, which are important to understand the merits of his defense. In general, the author sometimes appears to conflate similar terms for specific acts in ways the confuse the issue about perjury.
As the legal discussion, on page 172 the author describes a bill that would allow certain private litigants to sue sitting presidents as one that would "almost certainly have violated the U.S. Constitution's command against bills of attainder and ex post facto laws." This statement seems too strong. Ex post facto laws do not ordinarily circumscribe civil liability, and a bill as described could probably be drafted so as to withstand a bill of attainder challenge.
I would also have wanted to read a more detailed analysis of the legal arguments of Clinton v. Jones or Morrison v. Olson, the two key cases that led to the scandal. Interestingly, the author does include an interview with a Supreme Court justice defending the claim in Clinton v. Jones that allowing a private lawsuit against a sitting president would be unlikely to be distracting. Although the author suggests at one point that Justice Scalia supported the independent counsel, it would have been interesting to note that Scalia was the lone dissent in Morrison v. Olson, the case authorizing the law. Indeed, Scalia predicted, in his dissent in Morrison v. Olson, that the independent counsel law would gravely damage the republic because it violated the separation of powers.
The writing itself is excellent. It's clear, well-paced, and hard to put down. Still, there were some issues in the way of copy editing. On pages 88 and 554 the author misuses "bold-faced" in the phrases "bold-faced liar" and "bold-faced deception". Even if this unfortunate usage has been sanctioned by popularity, it's still better to use "bald-faced" instead. The author similarly misuses "fulsome" to mean "full" on pages 135 and 567 ("draft a more fulsome four-count complaint"; "Starr had taken in compiling a fulsome report.").
Some readers may find that portions of the book take a more supportive view of the independent counsel than the narrative suggests, but since the narrative contains the facts for the reader, the treatment cannot be said to be unfair.
In conclusion the book is well-written, well-researched and interesting. It's a superb example of journalism and an important contribution to the literature.The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr Overview

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My Lobotomy Review

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My Lobotomy ReviewI read a review of this book in my local paper. What prompted me to buy it was the outrage of all those who heard Mr. Dully on NPR, causing their website to crash. Not hearing his intereview, I knew I had to read "his story."
While ultimately one rejoices with Mr. Dully, this is such a painful book to read. One will surely feel outrage towards all those who were involved with the horrors perpetrated against Dully.
Not only a powerful memoir on how people can rise above even the worst scenarios and the indomitability of the human spirit, this book gives a small window into what can happen when "agencies," and other "institutions" come into the fray and take over, and how one's life can be so diabolically altered by just one professional's own bizarre beliefs.
This book will also give one a whole new appreciation for anyone labeled "mentally ill" or "mentally unstable."
This reader hopes Dr. Freeman is rotting in hell.My Lobotomy Overview

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The Outsider: A Journey Into My Father's Struggle With Madness Review

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The Outsider: A Journey Into My Father's Struggle With Madness ReviewAt a time when far too many memoirs either wallow in psychobabble and sentimentality, or retreat to a smug and shallow irony, Nathaniel Lachenmeyer's The Outsider proves a welcome exception. Thoughtful and heartfelt, this book shows what is possible when one focuses one's intelligence on a subject that is both personal yet outside oneself. Lachenmeyer attempts to understand his father. Does he succeed? In many ways, yes. Does he learn something of himself? Certainly. But more importantly, as he takes an unflinching look at his father's schizophrenia, as he chronicles his father's delusions, Lachenmeyer is able to honor him. He offers a study of madness that is remarkable in its lucidity.The Outsider: A Journey Into My Father's Struggle With Madness Overview

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My Life from Scratch: A Sweet Journey of Starting Over, One Cake at a Time Review

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My Life from Scratch: A Sweet Journey of Starting Over, One Cake at a Time ReviewI work in a bookstore and read soooooooooo many books that and often I lose interest and toss the book aside to move on to the next one.
Well. I LOVED this book. I read it in two days and found myself making home made bread and vanilla cake (which was THE BEST EVER).
This is the story of Sandra Bullocks's sister, Gesine, who worked in Hollywood for her sisters production company and gave up a career most American's would drool over. Famous Stars - check! Fabulous clothes - check! Lunch/dinner dates - check!
First class travel - check!
Gesine chucked all the "phoniness" of LA to follow her passion for baking and ended up opening her own bakery - due mainly to an offhand comment her sister made about Gesine's fabulous macaroons.
If you love to bake (or eat) hurry and place your order for this book. If you're not a foodie but your doing a job that drains you and long to do something else, buy this book!
It's a heartfelt, easy, inspiring, read.
Truly the best book I've read all year. I will not be loaning my copy to ANYONE. And I rarely keep books I read (I usually pass them on). I have ONE SHELF that holds favorite books (6 in all) - and this takes first place.
Did I mention I LOVED this book! Funny. Heartwarming. Inspiring. Funny.
And there's recipes!!!!
My Life from Scratch: A Sweet Journey of Starting Over, One Cake at a Time Overview

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Ever By My Side: A Memoir in Eight Pets Review

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Ever By My Side: A Memoir in Eight Pets ReviewWhere have I been? I was astounded when I realized there was a new British animal vet publishing stories about his charges. Enthralled with all things Herriot (yes, I have even toured his surgery in Thirsk) I was delighted to find another British vet picking up Herriot's mantle.
Dr Trout need not worry about my comparisons to James Herriot, his father was a true Herriot groupie, infusing his son with all things bright and beautiful in hopes it would influence Nick's choice of surgery location and a farm animal practice. In fact, their only family holiday was a trip to the Yorkshire Dales, viewing the television show's exterior locations with their own visit to Thirsk, where they met James Wight (James Herriot's alter ego). Mum and Dad even bought a retirement cottage in the Dales. How could their son not set up a vet practice, managed by the retired Dad, in such a beautiful location?
Dr. Trout has a mind and destiny of his own. Moving across the pond to Boston to advance his surgical training, he finds his future wife and family. Pets mark the important passages of his family and parents lives. From his boyhood's German Shephard (dog lovers will go wild over the abundance of endearing stories) to his daughter's cat that owned the 'hood. Throughout he relates how pets drew him closer to his parents, his own children and them to him. Although our furry family cannot stay with us forever, their memories and impact always do.
Nick's memoir is centered on the impact the love of animals have on humans throughout our lives. His is not an overly sentimental, sugary story. He takes a compassionate view of his charges and their humans. Showing us the unconditional love our furry friends bring to us. They round us out, plump us up and make our lives better. They help us realize how important other people are to us. That is no small feat.
Herriot who?
Enjoy the read!Ever By My Side: A Memoir in Eight Pets Overview

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Love Is the Best Medicine: What Two Dogs Taught One Veterinarian about Hope, Humility, and Everyday Miracles Review

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Love Is the Best Medicine: What Two Dogs Taught One Veterinarian about Hope, Humility, and Everyday Miracles ReviewDr. Nick Trout works as a veterinary surgeon in a state-of-the-art
veterinary hospital. If there are miracles in veterinary medicine--and sometimes
there are!--he occasionally gets to see them. But he is not the least bit
arrogant about that. He soul-searches diligently to try to determine if he is
doing the right things.
He also appreciates the qualities of dog and cat owners and what their
relationships with their animals mean. He expresses what we know about those
relationships, and clearly sees that there is much more to the relationships
than we can truly understand. He has great respect for the animals and the
people.
There are tears in the book, but not unduly. There is joy in the book. And
what he says about chocolate Labradors is very funny!
I'm so glad I got this chance to read this book. I'm sure you will be, too!Love Is the Best Medicine: What Two Dogs Taught One Veterinarian about Hope, Humility, and Everyday Miracles Overview

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No Angel: My Harrowing Undercover Journey to the Inner Circle of the Hells Angels Review

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No Angel: My Harrowing Undercover Journey to the Inner Circle of the Hells Angels ReviewI remember thinking, years ago, when I first heard about this case, "Man, that'd make a heck of a good book!" And it did.
I'm not going to rehash the plot line, several of the other reviews have covered that nicely. What I will say is that the book holds your attention through every page, only slowing down as you realize that the case is coming to an end. I read the whole thing during one Saturday spent waiting for my daughter to finish her dance lessons - it is that interesting a book.
What always amazes me in these true stories (I'm in the middle of reading William Queen's Under and Alone) is how these hyper-paranoid outlaws are repeatedly infiltrated by guys who, essentially, just show up and hang around. If I were looking to setup an OMC (outlaw motorcycle club) I'd have a hard-rule: you must commit a serious felony in our presence - one arranged by the club. They'd still get infiltrated, it'd just be a little harder.
And another point it's not always clear to me is what exactly the 81's are doing that amounts to serious big time crime. I understand that they're violent, use drugs, work hard at being social outcasts, etc., but in this story, most of the crimes depicted amount to selling one or two guns at a time, some drugs and random acts of violence. After having read of the massive and profitable drug operations mounted by the Hells Angels' Canadian chapters I'd expected some of that here.
This is not the complete story of this interesting case: It's Jay Dobyns' story and the other case agents, his family, and ATF supervisors are less real that Jay Bird and his Red & White targets. There are some serious tales to be told by people in this book who make appearances and fade away, props used as set decoration where Jay is definitely the star.
Jay Dobyns is a fascinating guy. In the media blitz surrounding the release of this book, I've listened to hours of interviews on podcasts and late night talk radio and he's interesting and very articulate. Given that the book is about a third profanity (okay, I'm exaggerating) I hadn't expected that. He's also incredibly patient. I was listening to one pod-cast interview where the interviewer was slow, rambling, interrupted and generally irritated the heck out of me. Dobyns answered with patience and serious consideration to even the weirdest utterances by the host. Personally, I wanted to check the guy's pupils.
In the book, Jay is brutally honest particularly about himself and his failures to his family and friends. As I read it there were parts where I wondered if he understood that his wife might also read this book! He must have at some point, because his interaction with his undercover "girlfriend", Jenna "JJ" Maguire, is glossed over to the point of almost non-existence.
It's in those interviews that you get to hear about the aftermath of Operation Black Biscuit and I urge Dobyns to write the other half of the story: the prosecution that fell apart and, more ominously, the ongoing threats to him and his family. In August 2008 his house burned to the ground and his wife and children barely escaped with their lives.
The story of the ATF infiltration into the most famous of the self-described Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs deserves a wider and more documentary accounting, something along the lines of Lou Cannon's Official Negligence, everything you ever wanted to know about the Rodney King incident and it's aftermath. I'm left wondering what happened to JJ? As a woman agent in the middle of the male-dominated Hells Angels, her side of the story would be something worth reading.
So, this is a great, though incomplete, telling of Operation Black Biscuit. I hope some enterprising journalist find the time and support to put together what the late Paul Harvey called, "the rest of the story."No Angel: My Harrowing Undercover Journey to the Inner Circle of the Hells Angels Overview

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Tales of Graceful Aging from the Planet Denial Review

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Tales of Graceful Aging from the Planet Denial ReviewNicole Hollander's comic strip "Sylvia" is a classic. This book takes a humorous look at how those of us of a "certain age" are dealing with the passage of time.
60 is the new 40, right? Hollander writes lots of vignettes and commiserates with her girlfriends about all those things that we feel as the world just keeps getting younger around us.
There are some serious flashes of Erma Bombeck here. Don't call'em hot flashes. They are WAY cool.Tales of Graceful Aging from the Planet Denial Overview

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I'm Looking Through You: Growing Up Haunted: A Memoir Review

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I'm Looking Through You: Growing Up Haunted: A Memoir ReviewA quick glance of Jennifer Finney Boylan's latest memoir, I'M LOOKING THROUGH YOU, would give the impression that the book focuses on growing up in a haunted house. But a closer look reveals, as the subtitle states, that it is about "growing up haunted." This is an important distinction.
Boylan did live for many years in a house, aptly named the "Coffin House" after the family who built it, that she took to be haunted. Her family moved there in 1972, just as she was entering her teenage years. On her first visit she received a big electrical shock, followed by another surprise: she was to sleep in a spooky third floor bedroom while the rest of her family would get their shut-eye on the floor below. From that first day exploring her new home, Boylan felt the presence of ghosts, and her nights there were full of disembodied footsteps and floating specters. As her story unfolds, it becomes more complex and nuanced. She moves readers back and forth in time, telling stories of the Coffin House, her adventures with "ghostbusters" later in life, and, most especially, her personal hauntings.
As she wrote in her earlier bestselling memoir, SHE'S NOT THERE, Boylan was born "James" but always knew herself to be "Jenny." It wasn't until after she was grown, a college English professor married with two sons of her own, that she came out as transgendered and began the process of becoming a woman physically. Her time in the Coffin House coincided with her teenage years, and she relates her frustration and uncertainty with honesty and grace. "Back then," she writes, "I knew very little for certain about whatever it was that afflicted me, but I did know this much: that in order to survive, I'd have to become something like a ghost myself, and keep the nature of my true self hidden." In fact, later, returning to the house as an adult woman, after the place had been remodeled and filled with the laughter of the next generation, she wonders if she had indeed haunted herself. Was the starry-eyed woman she saw, as a teenage boy, over her shoulder in the mirror really her future self still trapped and lonely in the male body?
There are other figures who haunt this tale as well. Boylan mourns the loss of her father and older sister, neither of whom get to know her as Jenny. Her family factors large in this memoir, of course. They are an eccentric Irish bunch: a crass and loving grandmother and her refined English sidekick, a perpetually cold aunt, a mystical cousin and others support the story of the immediate Boylan clan, including Jenny's smart older sister, musical father, and religious and accepting mother.
In the post-Frey era, memoirs are read with a critical eye. Like many others today, I'M LOOKING THROUGH YOU is prefaced with the disclaimer that there are elements of invention in the book, including some of the dialogue, and that she played a bit with the timeline. For readers of memoirs this may seem obvious (for who can remember the exact words of a conversation 30 years ago?), but it frees the author and allows her a creativity that only strengthens the story she is trying to tell. And Boylan's style is creative --- light-handed and readable, funny and wise, conversational and intimate, and yet polished.
Sprinkled with philosophy, without sounding snobby, and pop-culture references without being silly, I'M LOOKING THROUGH YOU is an enjoyable and memorable read. Boylan's story is at once singular and familiar --- the right combination for a successful memoir. While the Coffin House provides the bones of the book, it is lovingly fleshed out, with a personal, often bittersweet examination of family, loss, identity and change.
--- Reviewed by Sarah Rachel EgelmanI'm Looking Through You: Growing Up Haunted: A Memoir Overview

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A Freewheelin' Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties Review

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A Freewheelin' Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties ReviewLike almost all the reviewers so far I loved this book, and like some I was also in the same neighborhood as the events recorded in this wonderful book. In every instance where I knew someone or hung out at a place mentioned, the version here coincides exactly with what I remember but there is so much more I didn't know and so many people I only knew about second hand. This is a generous and kind book but also a starkly honest one. If you want to know what it was like then in Greenwich village in the 60s, then this is the best source I know of. Bob Dylan's persona in various documentaries comes off to many as arrogant but you will gain a new appreciation for him both as an artist and as a person from one who was closer to him than any other in his first years as an artist (1961 to 1964), when most of the events in the book take place. You will also understand what attracted him to Suze Rotolo. My memory of her was of a radiant smile and personality, but you will understand clearly from this book, as did Bob Dylan, that there was solid substance behind her wonderful smile.
I also want to recommend this book to today's generation, those under the age of 25 or so. There is a new spirit of idealism and creativity and I think you would find it profitable to read an account of an earlier era that also was pregnant with that kind of promise that had yet to come to fruition. As Suze Rotolo makes clear, it was a time when the exploding creativity and freedom of the sixties was still living within the husk of an older and much darker world. The old ways affected everyone, even the most bohemian denizens of Greenwich Village. There is great wisdom here about the conflicts and struggles that come when a young woman instinctively knows that conventional ways are limiting and stunting her as a person but there is no vocabulary and not yet the support of the nascent women's movement to help her.
If you have any interest at all in Bob Dylan, in Greenwich Village in the sixties, in the folkmusic revival of that period, in the struggles of politically and socially conscious young women in the immediate pre-feminist period or if you just want to enjoy yourself or learn some lessons for the present from experiences of the past you owe it to yourself to read this terrific book.A Freewheelin' Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties Overview

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Confessions of a Mormon Boy: Behind the Scenes of the off-Broadway Hit Review

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Confessions of a Mormon Boy: Behind the Scenes of the off-Broadway Hit ReviewSteven Fales created quite a stir with his one-man stage show, "Confessions of a Mormon Boy", which debuted originally in Salt Lake City, not far from the headquarters of the LDS Church, which had excommunicated him just over a year earlier for his homosexuality. In a refreshingly nonjudgemental way, his show relates episodes in his life that led up to that day, which also resulted in leaving his wife and two children behind, as well as his subsequent life as a wannabe actor in New York City, who resorted to becoming a popular male escort to survive financially and drugs to deaden his depression over the direction his life had taken.
The stage show has evolved over the years, and this book includes the "script" for the most current, off-Broadway version, as well as the original (more Mormon-oriented) version he performed in Utah. There are also photos, copies of the communication from the LDS church that excommunicated him, and various personal observations on how doing "Mormon Boy" has been therapeutic for him.
Prior to reading this, my sole impression of how the LDS church dealt with gays was based on having seen the film "Latter Days", which the author here is quick to point out was not accurate. While the Mormon church is still bigoted against homosexuals, the author still found empathy and support among its members and some of its leaders, who were also among the financial backers for his show. He also mentions Affirmation, the support group for gay Mormons, and other similar groups are listed in a directory in the book.
An interesting, witty and heartfelt look at a world few of us know, from a talented writer who benefited the most from this work.Confessions of a Mormon Boy: Behind the Scenes of the off-Broadway Hit Overview

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