tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61335562008-07-15T09:52:23.728-07:00elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02782128510719136642noreply@blogger.comBlogger149125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133556.post-2132467431434511732008-07-15T09:47:00.000-07:002008-07-15T09:52:23.755-07:00

Designated Daughter is a tandem memoir between Fulford and her mother. After the death of her father, Fulford stepped in to help her eighty some year old mother. Each chapter concludes with reflections from her mom. The book is by turns touching and funny. The two share a wonderful mother daughter relationship; although both are very different. As a designated daughter myself, this memoir

elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02782128510719136642noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133556.post-24108878394133720512008-07-14T06:13:00.000-07:002008-07-14T06:41:21.620-07:00

Greetings from Bury Park is Sarfraz Manzoor's tale of being the rebellious son of Pakistani immigrants. His rebellion is fairly mild by most standards, but seems rather wild to his Pakistani parents. The soundtrack of his life is the work of another son, who was singing about conflict with parents etc - Bruce Springsteen. Manzoor, a journalist and documentary filmmaker, writes of the conflict

elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02782128510719136642noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133556.post-47525480198397830732008-07-03T09:16:00.000-07:002008-07-03T09:33:22.729-07:00

Choosing You is Alexandra Soiseth's story about choosing to be a single mom. As a woman , who also chose to be a single mom, I had thought I would enjoy this book. I don't know why, but I couldn't get into it. For someone who chose to be a single mom, perhaps I thought she was a bit whiny. Soiseth decided that she isn't waiting for Mr Right anymore and does artificial insemination. She does not

elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02782128510719136642noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133556.post-3412920896291754462008-06-28T07:52:00.000-07:002008-06-28T07:57:37.120-07:00

Mary Roach has dissected the world of Cadavers and haunted the world of the afterlife. Now she explores the scientists, who study sex. Bonk is not a sex manual, but an exploration of what science has thought of sex over time and how we evaluate issues relating to sex. The book is always interesting and sometime very funny.

elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02782128510719136642noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133556.post-22346808818517192422008-06-28T07:41:00.000-07:002008-06-28T07:52:27.347-07:00

Following up on his first memoir, Hills of Tuscany, Ferenc Mate has chronicled his catching the wine making bug. A Vineyard in Tuscany tells of the hunt for land to plant a vineyard and then some how making an overgrown hillside fullfill your dreams. I enjoyed the first book, but the second is even better. Mate really had me smiling as I read about his trials and tribulations whether it was

elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02782128510719136642noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133556.post-19100292902290078682008-06-23T07:07:00.000-07:002008-06-23T07:25:05.972-07:00

Ronnie Wood is long time member of the Rolling Stones. I saw him talking about his biography , Ronnie, on Top Gear and decided to give it a try. Raised in council flats near London's Heathrow airport, Wood grew up in a working class family, who knew how to have a good time. The family also had a very strong musical and artistic bent. Wood learned the guitar and played in a series of

elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02782128510719136642noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133556.post-28342138910508140292008-05-19T07:44:00.000-07:002008-05-19T07:49:55.398-07:00

Firoozeh Dumas has returned with a new memoir Laughing without an Accent. As with her first set of recollections, she moves back and forth in time between her youth in Iran and southern California and her life as a parent and author. I really liked this new set of memories. Perhaps as a fellow parent, I enjoyed it even more as I agree with her about raising kids in our society. Still funny

elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02782128510719136642noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133556.post-23167899107026643282008-05-15T09:56:00.000-07:002008-05-15T10:08:44.384-07:00

Steve Lopez and Nathaniel Ayers were unlikely to be friends, but once they became friends the friendship changed both of their lives. The Soloist is based on columns that Lopez, a reporter for the LA Times, wrote. Lopez ran across a street person playing a violin. The performance seemed more extraordinary when he realized the artist had only two strings on his violin. Lopez learned that

elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02782128510719136642noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133556.post-71157511747472311252008-05-02T06:44:00.000-07:002008-05-02T06:50:32.655-07:00

I was drawn to Gilded Lili, a biography of striptease artist Lili St. Cyr, because of Rocky Horror. One of the songs mentions her name and the title caught my eye. Lili St. Cyr was a striptease artist of the 50s, who was born into poverty and took stripping as a way out. She found the fame and fortune that she was looking for. Unlike todays strippers, she was an artist with storylines and as

elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02782128510719136642noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133556.post-34955609811418288962008-05-02T06:24:00.000-07:002008-05-02T06:41:01.852-07:00

Debbie Macomber visits Blossom Street again in her new book Twenty Wishes. This time the focus is off of the yarn store owned by Lydia. The focus this time is on Anne Marie, owner of the bookstore and three other widows. The group meets on Valentine's Day. As part of their conversation the idea of making a list of twenty wishes comes up. Each woman has different goals. As with most of the

elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02782128510719136642noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133556.post-90511947961974844152008-04-30T06:51:00.000-07:002008-04-30T06:56:19.234-07:00

I recently checked out Taking Back Childhood by Nancy Carlsson-Paige. The book outlines how the media is taking away childhood. She explains how it effects play and cognitive develoment. The book is very well written. She avoids the textbook trap, which some scholars fall into. Having said that, I couldn't finish the book. I agree with much of what she says, but it just made me feel like a

elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02782128510719136642noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133556.post-16990124858159841552008-04-07T13:41:00.000-07:002008-04-07T13:48:59.649-07:00

Okay I've talked about several Starbucks based books lately and didn't mean to read another. However a patron recommended How Starbucks Saved My Life very vigorously, so I got on the hold list. Gill was the archtypical adman - the travel, the big accounts, the pressure, etc. Then he got to old for a young man's game, at least in the eyes of the young men. Loosing his job, his marriage, etc in

elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02782128510719136642noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133556.post-84794999288761933282008-04-07T13:34:00.000-07:002008-04-07T13:40:42.857-07:00

I am intrigued by Indian culture. I listen to BBC Asian from time to time. I own Bhagra CDs. I've turned my fair share of old sari's into curtains etc. So when Michael Wood wrote a book called India, I had to give it a try. I really enjoyed it and now want to find some accesible translations of some of the poetry/oral histories he talks about. It covers a very wide swath of time and

elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02782128510719136642noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133556.post-88194538879641900962008-03-27T06:20:00.001-07:002008-03-27T06:26:36.059-07:00

Kelly Corrigan is a daddy's girl. Her father is a larger than life personality, who has influenced her view of life. The Middle Place is the story of how in her 30's Kelly's discovery of her breast cancer. Shortly afterwards she learns her father's cancer is back. She explores her life and her journey into being a wife, parent and an adult. While the subject of cancer is sad, her book is an

elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02782128510719136642noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133556.post-35920038115932079872008-03-27T06:05:00.001-07:002008-03-27T06:15:40.092-07:00

Books about Starbucks interest me. They are an interesting company. Beloved by their patrons. Studied for their customer service style. Vilified for "Starbucking" a neighborhood. Starbucks is in the midst of a shake up and refocusing after being hit by the current economic slump. They recently showed up in Alex Frankels book on front line service experiences. The Starbucks Experience by

elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02782128510719136642noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133556.post-63349742603788297982008-03-27T06:01:00.000-07:002008-03-27T06:05:04.658-07:00

I got hooked on veterinary memoirs with Herriot. I've enjoyed many over the years. Nick Trout is a British vet, who practices in the Boston area. Tell me where it hurts takes a number of his best animal stories and wraps them together into a day in the life of a vet. I enjoyed parts of this memoir a lot, but I think I like the animal stories best and didn't enjoy the parts where he discusses

elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02782128510719136642noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133556.post-9215394055843368512008-01-07T12:36:00.000-08:002008-01-07T12:48:04.736-08:00

I read Jan Karon's books about Mitford and Father Tim regularly. I stayed up late last night to finish Home to Holly Springs. In it Father Tim receives a mysterious unsigned message asking him to "come home". With his wife's blessings, he and his dog Barnabas drive to Mississippi. I enjoyed this book and visiting with characters I care about. However I think it tries to wrap up too many

elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02782128510719136642noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133556.post-49994119016805652982008-01-07T12:30:00.000-08:002008-03-27T06:33:19.856-07:00

Alex Frankel worked the front lines at a number of major companies - UPS, Enterprise Rent A Car, the Gap, Starbuck, etc. He chronicles his experiences in the various corporate cultures in Punching In. As a journalist, he felt like an outsider in many of the jobs and at others he clicked. He also examines the new wave electronic screening during hiring, group interview techniques, etc. I really

elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02782128510719136642noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133556.post-50333384445124988652007-11-13T13:18:00.000-08:002007-11-13T13:39:47.541-08:00

The cost of health care drives the lives of so many Americans and ruins the lives of many more. Howard Staab is no different. As a self employeed contractor, he was uninsured. And he earned too much to get apply for medicare. So when he needed heart valve surgery costing $200,000 with a $50,000 down payment day of, what was he to do? Maggi Ann Grace, his girlfriend, and he investigate the idea

elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02782128510719136642noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133556.post-54935446264295125082007-09-21T09:56:00.000-07:002007-09-21T10:17:43.978-07:00

You should know up front that nuns are part of my life. I learned to read from the fabulous Sister Barbara Ann of Sacred Heart grade school in New Brunswick, NJ 1966. (Just in case she surfs the net and should see this, you rock and I'm forever in your debt.) This was an up hill battle on her part, so she deserves a mention. Also I had a stash of Dominican vocational pamphlets in my dresser

elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02782128510719136642noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133556.post-64433852650934642062007-09-04T09:54:00.001-07:002007-09-04T10:06:01.544-07:00

It is probably telling about where I stand in this economy that my bookmark for a book on the very, very rich was a Taco Bell receipt. Richistan chronicles the almost separate world of the boom in millionaires. Frank began the book as an article for the Wall St. Journal. He chronicles their views on themselves as much as the perks of their wealth. I enjoyed the chapter with the philanthropy -

elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02782128510719136642noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133556.post-54632112052502940682007-09-04T09:42:00.000-07:002007-09-04T09:54:18.714-07:00

Several years ago I fell in love with Cunningham's book Crowns, which was the stories of women in their Sunday church hats and a story in their lives. It was a wonderful book that just touched me deeply. Cunningham has teamed up with noted author Connie Briscoe for Jewels: 50 phenomenal Black women over 50. The format is the same - a black and white portrait and a two or three page story

elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02782128510719136642noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133556.post-994177701618218512007-08-31T08:19:00.000-07:002007-08-31T08:32:40.021-07:00

I just finished Bright Lights, Big Ass by Jen Lancaster. Her first book was Bitter is the new black. The book is a combination of essays, letters of complaint and emails to her friends and husband. Downwardly mobile Chicagoan Lancaster is a funny woman, who rants on her life, weird neighbors, temp jobs and life not being Sex in the City. She does not suffer fools lightly. Her job interview riff

elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02782128510719136642noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133556.post-91597842723225409492007-08-20T09:41:00.000-07:002007-08-20T09:46:38.872-07:00

I fell in love with the title Why Animals Sleep So Close to the Road and other lies I tell my children. Konig has written a quick read on raising kids, backed up sewer lines, the suburbs and marriage. It was a lot of fun and I had de ja vu moments. If Mewshaw, my last read was possibly for men, this is a fun book for women to try.

elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02782128510719136642noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133556.post-43605910328281397472007-08-20T09:11:00.000-07:002007-08-20T09:26:24.068-07:00

I finished Mewshaw's memoir If You Could See Me Know. Mewshaw is an established writer, who receives a call from the past - a young woman is looking for her father. The rest of the memoir weaves back and forth between his passionate affair with her mother in the early 60's and his trying to help Amy contact her mother and the man who is really her father. I finished the book, but must admit

elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02782128510719136642noreply@blogger.com