Category Archives: Biography
My Nest Isn’t Empty, It Just Has More Closet Space
Subtitled The Amazing Adventures of an Ordinary Woman, this hilarious collection of essays by crime novelist Lisa Scottoline is so much fun to read (even if your nest isn’t empty). Writing alongside her is Scottoline’s daughter Francesca Seritella, with her … Continue reading
Filed under Adult nonfiction, Biography, humor, relationships
The Man in the Rockefeller Suit: The astonishing rise and spectacular fall of a serial imposter
“Oh what a tangled web we weave…” Sir Walter Scott had some good advice for dedicated poseur Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter aka Christopher Crowe aka Chris Chichester aka Clark Rockefeller aka Chip Smith. Born and raised in Germany, Gerhartsreiter fashioned his persona … Continue reading
Filed under Biography
John Lennon: The Life (audiobook)
Although John was my favorite Beatle by far, I hadn’t read much about his life until now. Philip Norman has written a thoroughly entertaining and detailed recounting of this fascinating man’s life, from his parents’ vaudevillian aspirations in Liverpool, through his disturbing childhood … Continue reading
Filed under Audio books, Biography
The Immortal Life of HEnrietta LAcks
Henrietta Lacks was a young, poor, tobacco-farming, African-American woman who died in 1951 of cervical cancer. During her treatments and after her death at Johns Hopkins, cancerous cells were taken from her body and grown in the lab. Amazingly, unlike most … Continue reading
Filed under Adult nonfiction, Biography, science
Crazy For The Storm: A Memoir of Survival
A while back I wrote about the importance of fathers after reading a couple of books that involved young men with rejecting fathers. This memoir, by Norman Ollestad, is in some ways the opposite: an overly involved father who pushes … Continue reading
Filed under Adult nonfiction, Biography, parenting
No Angel: my harrowing undercover journey to the inner circle of the Hells Angels
When I was in 6th Grade, my teacher, Mr. Dvorak, asked everyone in the class to stand up and tell what they wanted to be when they grew up. I said I wanted to be an undercover cop. The class … Continue reading
Filed under Biography
Larry’s Kidney
My husband, also named Larry, became a little concerned when he saw this book sitting on the kitchen table, especially when I told him it was a cook book. But he had only to read the subtitle of this memoir by … Continue reading
Filed under Adult nonfiction, Biography
Dry: a memoir
This story of addiction by Augusten Burroughs is a grim, honest and hilarious look at the author’s life as a young New York ad writer and alcoholic. Anyone who has been touched by addiction in some way can relate to the … Continue reading
Filed under Adult nonfiction, Biography
The Zookeeper’s Wife: a war story
This winner of the 2008 Orion Book Award by Diane Ackerman tells the true story of Antonina Zabinski and her husband Jan, who ran the Warsaw zoo before and during the Nazi occupation of Poland. The author, a renowned naturalist writer … Continue reading
Filed under Adult nonfiction, Biography
