March 13, 2014 · 6:20 am
Title: American Saint: The Life of Elizabeth Seton
Author: Joan Barthel
Source: from publisher for review
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Review Summary: I liked the connection to modern women’s rights and enjoyed the descriptive writing but found the story disjointed and preachy.
Elizabeth Seton led a very full life. As part of an influential family, she interacted with many of the founding fathers and other important political figures. A brave voyage to Italy in search of a cure for her husband led to her conversion to Catholicism, despite the social stigma associated with being a Catholic. Both before and after her conversion, she helped lead charitable institutions devoted to helping women and as a Catholic, she fought for women’s rights within the church. Continue reading →
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
January 21, 2014 · 7:35 am
Title: Sex and the Founding Fathers
Author: Thomas Foster
Source: from publisher for review
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Review Summary: This book included a lot of interesting stories written in a not very interesting, not very organized way.
Sex and the Founding Fathers does not directly deal with sex and the founding fathers, as you might expect. Instead the author examines how people have remembered the founding fathers and their sex lives throughout history. He argues that how we view the founding fathers says something about our values. We like to imagine that the founding fathers were paragons of virtue. How we remember them shows what we think an ideal American should be like. Continue reading →
Filed under Biography, History, non-fiction
Tagged as american history, biographies, biography, book, book review, books, non-fiction, nonfiction, sex
November 14, 2013 · 9:38 pm
My Beloved World
Title: My Beloved World
Author: Sonia Sotomayor
Source: library
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Review Summary: It was fascinating to learn so much about the background of such a famous woman, but I didn’t feel the sense of connection I love about so many other memoirs.
This autobiography describes Sonia Sotomayor’s life from her earliest memories to the time when she became a judge. It carefully avoids touching on her political opinions, focusing instead on personally formative experiences. These include her close relationship with her grandmother and her only recently repaired relationship with her mother. It includes a ton of inspiring sentences that I could see underlined in my kindle version, each of which lets you see a little part of Sonia Sotomayor’s personality that must have been crucial in making her dreams a reality. Continue reading →
Filed under Memoir, non-fiction
Tagged as autobiography, biography, book, books, judge, memoir, non-fiction, nonfiction, politics, supreme court
August 4, 2013 · 8:48 am
Soundbites About Bossypants
Title: Bossypants
Author: Tina Fey
Narrator: Tina Fey
Rating (Story): ★★★★☆
Rating (Narration):★★★★☆
Given how much I loved How To Be a Woman, Bossypants was an obvious choice for my next audiobook. Both are written by a woman who has done well in the entertainment industry; are autobiographies mixed with some strong opinions and advice; and both are narrated by the author. This book was less specifically focused on feminism and being a woman, but that was definitely one of the themes of the book. Continue reading →
Filed under Biography, non-fiction, Soundbites
Tagged as audiobook, autobiography, biography, book, books, bossypants, non-fiction, nonfiction, review, reviews, tina fey
August 1, 2013 · 7:37 am
The King’s Speech – A Bookish Movie Review
This was one of the rare instances where I saw the movie before I read the book and almost as rarely, it was movie I liked enough to watch twice! It amazes me that a movie about King George VI’s stutter could be so moving and so fascinating. I think two things were done very well that made you feel so invested in the characters lives. Continue reading →
Filed under Biography, Book To Movie Challenge, History, non-fiction
Tagged as biography, book, books, king george vi, logue, movie, movies, narrative nonfiction, non-fiction, nonfiction, review, royalty
July 30, 2013 · 7:27 am
The King’s Speech
Title: The King’s Speech
Editor: Mark Logue and Peter Conradi
Source: library
Rating: ★★★★☆
Fun Fact: Stammering was referenced three times in the book of Isaiah and the Egyptians had a hieroglyph for it.
Review Summary: The amazing use of primary sources made this a moving story and a fascinating historical account.
As the Duke of York a stammer was difficult to live with so a speech therapist was essential. However, many were consulted without results until Lionel Logue, who attributed his progress to the Duke’s hard work and the rapport they established. In fact, the two became not only patient and therapist, but friends. This friendship lasted when the Duke’s older brother unexpectedly abdicated and he became King George VI. Logue’s help was invaluable in allowing the King to perform his duties and both men treasured their friendship throughout their lives. Continue reading →
Filed under Biography, non-fiction
Tagged as biography, book, book review, books, Britain, king, monarchy, non-fiction, nonfiction, review, reviews, speech therapy
