May 22, 2014 · 6:38 am
Title: Save the Date: The Occasional Mortifications of a Serial Wedding Guest
Author: Jen Doll
Source: from publisher via LibraryThing
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Review Summary: This memoir was like a collection of short stories which were hit-or-miss for me, with some funny or thought-provoking and others which were simply unrelatable.
Always the bridesmaid and never the bride, Jen Doll has been to a lot of weddings. As a bit of a party girl willing to do anything for a story, her wedding-going antics have given her many wild stories to tell. She uses these stories to thoughtfully ponder what weddings mean to us and what she wants out of life, while relating many humorous anecdotes.
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April 16, 2014 · 6:43 am
Title: The Know-It-All: One Man’s Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World
Author: Susan Gloss
Source: PaperBack Swap
Rating: ★★★★☆
Review Summary: I thought A.J. Jacobs might be too irreverent for me, so I was surprised to find his passion for knowledge and success both relatable and fascinating.
The Know-It-All is a classic stunt memoir, in which author A.J. Jacobs attempts to read the entire print version of the Encyclopedia Britannica… all 33,000 pages of it. Organized by letter, A.J. shares fun facts he learned in each section as well as words that were relevant to his life while he was reading. This included things relating to everything from his job to his attempts to have baby, from his drive to accomplish something to his relationship with his father. Along the way, he also explores the nature of intelligence, testing different definitions with activities like joining Mensa and auditioning for Jeopardy. Continue reading →
March 19, 2014 · 8:43 pm
Title: Mister Owita’s Guide to Gardening
Author: Carol Wall
Source: from publisher for review
Rating: ★★★★☆
Review Summary: Although the author deals with big issues, she does so in a relatable and optimistic way which made this book a very easy and enjoyable read.
Since a tragic event in her childhood, Carol has been a bit afraid of gardening. Following a cancer scare, she became more timid about life as well. A chance encounter with her neighbor’s gardener, Mister Giles Owita, leads to a deep and surprising friendship. As they get to know each other, Mister Owita ends up “transforming not only Carol’s yard, but her life.” (quote from goodreads)
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Filed under Memoir, non-fiction
Tagged as book, books, change, gardening, happiness, hope, memoirs, non-fiction, nonfiction
February 20, 2014 · 6:35 pm
Title: The Husbands and Wives Club
Author: Laurie Abraham
Source: library
Rating: ★★★★☆
This is the story of five couples doing group marriage counseling and of one author who sat in on the sessions. I liked that it became a story that was a little bit about the author too. This could easily have turned into a detached third-person narrative. Instead, it’s clear that the author connected with the couples, so it’s easy for the reader to connect too. That does make this some very unobjective non-fiction though. The author isn’t shy about inserting her own speculations about the couples’ feelings. However, she generally makes it clear when she’s speculating, so I didn’t mind too much. I think a similar fictional story could be a great character driven narrative, but I liked that this was non-fiction. It made the story more interesting that it was true. It made it easy for the author to hold information back without being manipulative because she shared information in the order she found it out. And of course, it made for a very believable story. This is in part due to the author’s ability to convey the personalities of the people involved, but I’m sure the fact that they were real people didn’t hurt either! Continue reading →
Filed under Biography, Memoir, Narrative Non-Fiction, non-fiction, Science, Self-Help
Tagged as applied science, biography, book, book review, books, counseling, education, essay collection, essays, evolution, memoir, non-fiction, nonfiction, science, science education
February 13, 2014 · 3:29 pm
Title: The Long and Whining Road
Author: Simeon Courtie
Source: from publisher for review
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Review Summary: For me, the first half of this book dragged a bit, but the second half flew by with fantastic place descriptions and a great message.
The Long and Whining Road is about one of the craziest road trips you can possibly imagine. Simeon Courtie and his wife, along with their three children, took one year to circumnavigate the globe…in a VW camper van! By the end of their journey they had driven over 18,000 miles, visited 17 countries, and sung sounds by The Beatles in most of them to raise money for UNICEF. This is the story of the many amazing places they visited and the great people they met along the way. Continue reading →
Filed under Humor, Memoir, non-fiction
Tagged as book, books, humor, memoir, nonfiction, travel, travel memoir
February 4, 2014 · 7:10 am
Title: Paris Letters
Author: Janice Macleod
Source: from publisher for review
Rating: ★★★★☆
Review Summary: Although this story was lighter and more happily-ever-after than I expected a memoir to be, I ended up enjoying it for what it is – the non-fiction version of chick-lit.
Janice Macleod is tired of her life. Although she has achieved success at her dream job as an advertising executive, she feels personally and professionally unfulfilled. A chance conversation leads her to the realization that simply saving $100/day could buy her a year of freedom in Europe. After saving and selling to make her dream come true, she finally moves to France where she begins to piece together the life she didn’t know she was looking for. Continue reading →
January 14, 2014 · 7:57 am
Title: Saturday Night Widows
Author: Becky Aikman
Source: from publisher for review
Rating: ★★★★☆
Review Summary: I was blown away by how emotional this book and by how well I felt like I knew each women in the group by the end.
As a young widow, Becky Aikman is looking for help moving on with her life. After attending a disastrous support group meeting at which everyone is depressed and angry, she decides to start her own group. Through friends and acquaintances, she finds a group of six young, recently widowed women. Since Saturday night is a tough night to be alone, that’s when she convenes her first group of the Saturday Night Widows. This inspiring story is about not only helping each other survive their grief, but also about going on to make a new beginning together. Continue reading →
