Category Archives: Biography

How to Be a Family: the Year I Dragged my Kids Around the World to Find a New Way to Be Together by Dan Kois

14 Friday Feb 2020

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Heartwarming, funny, full of good intentions, journalist, Dan Kois is determined to break out of the East coast parenting bubble to find a better quality lifestyle for his wife and two preteen girls.  One year, four locations:  New Zealand, the Netherlands, Costa Rica, and small town Kansas.

“In this highly entertaining and wryly insightful book, Dan Kois shows how elastic the very concept of family is. As he recounts his family’s encounters with four foreign cultures, he illuminates not only those other societies, but also our own. He argues persuasively that we have much to learn from divorcing ourselves from our own assumptions.”―Andrew Solomon, author of Far and Away and Far From the Tree

“Lots of people talk about pulling up stakes and traveling for a year. Dan Kois and his family actually did it. He’s funny and honest about how it all turned out.”―Pamela Druckerman, author of Bringing Up Bébé and There Are No Grown-Ups

“This sometimes hair-raising adventure in family togetherness across many continents took courage even to attempt, and a lively sense of humor to describe. Kois has produced a delightful and eye-opening book about what it means to be a family in the modern world.”―Ian Frazier, author of Family and Coyote V Acme

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Rough Magic: Riding the World’s Loneliest Horse Race by Lara Prior-Palmer

27 Friday Dec 2019

Posted by in 20th century, Biography, Non-fiction

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If you can accept that there are no maps. no pictures, and 19-year-old Brit “wit/slang” descriptions, you are in for a reading experience (much like Wild and Educated and  A House in the Sky) where a courageous woman takes on big risk, totally unprepared, and out of sheer determination manages to win the 1,000 kilometer horse race (riding 25 horses) in Mongolia.  Fascinating read!

“An inspirational tale of struggle―dehydration, injury and isolation―ultimately overcome through grit and sheer willpower.” ―Thomas Gebremedhin, Wall Street Journal Magazine,

“First-time author Prior-Palmer transforms from hopeless 19-year-old underdog into surprising champion of the grueling 2013 Mongol Derby in this exhilarating, visceral account of her attempt to win a 1,000-kilometer horse race across the Mongolian countryside . . . Filled with soulful self-reflection and race detail, this fast-paced page-turner is a thrill ride from start to finish.” ―Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Excellent prose and rigorous honesty . . . An unusual pleasure to read . . . Prior-Palmer writes with a dash and boldness few writers possess; her language seems sui generis . . . Her narrative alchemy is remarkable; in every chapter, she turns boredom to suspense and back again. The Derby is at once heart-stoppingly close and a miserable slog to which we already know the ending. That shifting―heroism to comedy, glamour to stinking holes in the ground―creates a tension far more interesting than the question of who’s going to win the race, or how.” ―Lily Meyer, NPR

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Travel Light, Move fast by Alexandra Fuller

10 Tuesday Dec 2019

Posted by in Biography, memoir, Non-fiction

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This is her 4th memoir about her eccentric English family growing up in Africa.  I recommend all the earlier ones: Don’t Lets Go to the Dogs Tonight, Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness, and Leaving Before the Rains Come.  This one is her good-by to her father.  Try them all.  Gutsy, humorous, not a bit sentimental.

“Travel Light, Move Fast is a sensitive, meticulously wrought portrait of one family’s sometimes-challenging dynamics, set against an unforgiving African backdrop. Fuller’s beautiful prose juxtaposes the grieving process with the lessons she learned from the man whose adventures shaped her.” —BookPage

“[Fuller’s] family remains endlessly fascinating and delightful companions for long-time readers and new ones alike. . . A gorgeously written tribute to a life well lived and the resilience of the human spirit in the face of unimaginable loss and grief.” —  Booklist, starred review

“[Fuller] sifted through a lifetime of memories in order to pen this celebration of the man whose profound influence helped shape her own worldview. [She]writes gracefully about embracing grief as an indelible part of the human experience. Another elegant memoir from a talented storyteller.” — Kirkus Reviews

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The Yellow House: a Memoir by Sarah M. Broom

25 Monday Nov 2019

Posted by in 20th century, Biography, memoir, United States

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****Winner of THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR NONFICTION****

A brilliant memoir about place, race, and class, Sarah Broom escaped East New Orleans (often just blank space on early maps) to become a successful journalist yet feels that monstrous pull to return to her home with 11 siblings in the yellow shotgun house that was wiped off the map by Hurricane Katrina.  Meet her vibrant family and breathe in the quirky French Quarter where, as a child, she never knew existed.

“A heartfelt but unflinching recovery project . . . Broom’s lyrical style celebrates her family bonds, but a righteous fury runs throughout the narrative at New Orleans’ injustices, from the foundation on up. A tribute to the multitude of stories one small home can contain, even one bursting with loss.”―Kirkus Reviews

“A great, multigenerational family story . . . Broom is an engaging guide; she has some of David Simon’s effortless reporting style, and her meditations on eroding places recall Jeannette Walls. The house didn’t survive Katrina, but its destruction strengthened Broom’s appreciation of home. Broom’s memoir serves as a touching tribute to family and a unique exploration of the American experience.”―Publishers Weekly

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Know My Name: a Memoir by Chanel Miller

21 Monday Oct 2019

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In 2015, Chanel Miller was sexually assaulted by Brock Turner on Stanford’s campus. She was known as “Emily Doe” during the trial, and her victim impact statement was read by millions of people when it was posted online just after Turner’s controversial sentencing. In Know My Name, she reveals her identity and writes about all of the ways her life — and the lives of her loved ones — changed, and the journey to put herself back together. A powerful, beautifully written memoir.

“She has written a memoir that converts the ongoing experience of sexual assault into literature…Beautiful…“─The Atlantic

“Know My Name is a blistering, beautifully written account of a courageous young woman’s struggle to hold a sexual predator accountable. Stand back, folks: This book is going to give a huge blast of momentum to the #MeToo movement.”─Jon Krakauer

“She writes exquisitely of her pain, makes us feel every fragment of it, but also expounds on the kindness that nourished her spirit…Miller matters. Readers will see every victim matters.” ─USA Today

“In a perfect world, Know My Name would be required reading for every police officer, detective, prosecutor, provost and judge who deals with victims of sexual assault.” ─LA Times

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Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro

05 Monday Aug 2019

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Through a DNA website, Dani’s husband submitted their DNA as a lark. And in one day Dani’s life as she ever had known it was turned upside down.  With the speed of the Internet and You-Tube, her personal mystery unravels at top speed!

“Fascinating… With thoughtful candor, [Shapiro] explores the ethical questions surrounding sperm donation, the consequences of DNA testing, and the emotional impact of having an uprooted religious and ethnic identity. This beautifully written, thought-provoking genealogical mystery will captivate readers from the very first pages.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“For all the trauma that the discovery put her through, Shapiro recognizes that what she had experienced was ‘a great story’—one that has inspired her best book.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Page after page, Shapiro displays adisarming honesty and an acute desire to know the unknowable.” —Booklist (starred review)

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How to Be a Good Creature: A Memoir in Thirteen Animals by Sy Montgomery and Rebecca Green

01 Monday Jul 2019

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Sy is the author of the Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness and one of her best friends is Vicki Croke who wrote one of my favorite books, Elephant Company: the inspiring story of an unlikely hero and the animals who helped him save lives in World War.  I knew I was in for a treat.  Animals have so much to teach us about being better humans.

“How to Be a Good Creature is a rare jewel, full of empathy and the profound wisdom Sy has received from animals she has loved over her extraordinary lifetime. This sweet book is a triumphant masterpiece that I’m recommending to everyone.”—Stacey O’Brien, author of Wesley the Owl

“I don’t know anyone whose animal empathies and scientific bona fides I admire more than Montgomery’s—from the curiosity she holds for a tarantula to the tender longing she has for an octopus. Told with characteristic humility and gorgeous language, How to Be a Good Creature is a remarkable achievement.”—Eliot Schrefer, author of Endangered, a National Book Award finalist

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Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb

12 Wednesday Jun 2019

Posted by in Biography, memoir, Non-fiction

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In this page-turning memoir, therapist Lori Gottlieb describes her work helping patients, as well as her experience visiting a therapist. Gottlieb writes with humor and empathy about her patients and herself, and I became invested in all of her characters.

Now being developed as a television series with Eva Longoria and ABC!

*An O, The Oprah Magazine’s Best Nonfiction Book of 2019*  

*A People Magazine Book of the Week*
*An Apple Best Books Pick for April*
*An April IndieNext Pick*
*A Book of the Month Club Selection*
*A Publishers Marketplace Buzz Book*
*A Newsday, Apple iBooks, Thrive Global, Refinery29,
and Book Riot Most Anticipated Book of 2019*

“An irresistibly addictive tour of the human condition.”–Kirkus, starred review

“Rarely have I read a book that challenged me to see myself in an entirely new light, and was at the same time laugh-out-loud funny and utterly absorbing.”–Katie Couric

“This is a daring, delightful, and transformative book.”–Arianna Huffington, Founder, Huffington Post and Founder & CEO, Thrive Global

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Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal by Ben Macintyre

29 Friday Mar 2019

Posted by in Biography, History, Non-fiction

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During World War II, Englishman Eddie Chapman is recruited by Germany to become a spy, only to turn himself in and become a double agent for England. This work of nonfiction contains characters as colorful as any in fiction. A true story that often seems too incredible to be real.

“Agent Zigzag is a true-history thriller, a real spy story superbly written. It belongs to my favorite genre: the ‘Friday night book’–start it then, because you will want to stay with it all weekend.” —Alan Furst

“A portrait of a man who double-crossed not only the Nazis, but just about every other principle and person he encountered. In doing so, Eddie Chapman made all thriller writers’ jobs harder, because this spy tale trumps any fiction.” —Men’s Journal

“Superb. Meticulously researched, splendidly told, immensely entertaining and often very moving.”—John le Carré

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Small Fry: a Memoir by Lisa Brennan-Jobs

04 Friday Jan 2019

Posted by in 20th century, Biography, memoir, Non-fiction, United States

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A tender coming of age story about a young girl trying to reconcile two very different lifestyles between her mother and father….. who just happens to be Steve Jobs.   This is not a celebrity biography.  She is true to her young voice throughout plus you will fall in love with her snapshots of 1970’s-80’s northern California.

“Entrancing… Brennan-Jobs is a deeply gifted writer… Her inner landscape is depicted in such exquisitely granular detail that it feels as if no one else could have possibly written it. Indeed, it has that defining aspect of a literary work: the stamp of a singular sensibility… Beautiful, literary, and devastating.”―New York Times Book Review

“Brennan-Jobs skillfully relays her past without judgement… staying true to her younger self. It is a testament to her fine writing and journalistic approach that her memoir never turns maudlin or gossipy. Rather than a celebrity biography, this is Brennan-Jobs’s authentic story of growing up in two very different environments, neither of which felt quite like home.”―Booklist (starred review)

“Brennan-Jobs’s narrative is tinged with awe, yearning, and disappointment… Bringing the reader into the heart of the child who admired Jobs’s genius, craved his love, and feared his unpredictability.”―Publishers Weekly (starred review)

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