Biography, Autobiography, Memoir discussion

Reading anything good?

Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China by Leslie Chang. I have been deluged with books about China so am reading the last of them. Its pretty interesting so far. Never been there, but naturally curious about the land of my ancestors.

Started reading a YA book called The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Knud Pedersen and the Churchill Club by Phillip M. Hoose. Very interesting.

Armstrong: The Adventurous Journey of a Mouse to the Moon
by Torben Kuhlmann
3/5 stars
This is a children's book about a mouse who builds a space ship to travel to the moon. I was extremely impressed with the beautiful art work but the story was just okay for me.

Loving The Devil You Know by Mike Carey. Loopy tale about a failed English major who wound up working as an exorcist after all the dead people in the world started coming back as ghosts. It's quite witty. Reminds me a lot of Midnight Blue: Sonja Blue Collection.

Settle for More by Megan Kelly.

Loving Winged Obsession: The Pursuit of the World's Most Notorious Butterfly Smuggler. The story is told from the POV of a real-life US Fish & Wildlife Service agent going undercover to catch an incredibly slippery smuggler of rare insects. Both of them are very interesting, unusual characters, even though the smuggler is a guy you want to take a shower after reading about.

Just started reading "Insectual - The Secret of the Black Butterfly" by Barbara Sala. Really looking forward to the read!

Counting by 7s
Holly Goldberg Sloan
4/5 stars
Willow Chance is a unusually smart girl who is interested in plants and medical syndromes but not so much in making friends. This all changes when tragedy befalls her and she has to rely on the few friends she has to help her get through it. Funny and smart read-not just for teenagers.

To Love and to Kill by M. William Phelps
3 stars

M. William Phelps is the master of True Crime. At over 400 pages we know that there are going to be a lot of details. There are some things I loved and some things I hated about this book. The thing I hated the most was that the story was the same old, done a million times plot of husband kills wife to get custody of the kids. There is nothing really unusual about this book. Another thing I didn't like is that it jumps back and forth in time. Sometimes I was left thinking "Wait a minute, she was dead, now she's alive". Phelps is a master at getting into the minds of the killers. It says this on the cover so we know it must be true. But seriously, that is when I liked the book the best. The last 2 chapters were the best ones in the book. The other thing I liked was the short chapters. Perfect if you are like me and will pick up a book when you just have a few minutes to read.

I gave JonBenet: Inside the Ramsey Murder Investigation 5 stars. It's riveting.

Started Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.

Four Seasons in Rome: On Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World
I enjoyed this memoir enormously. In it, the author toggles between Rome and his infant twin children, born shortly before he and his wife go to Rome so he can spend a year on a writing fellowship. For anyone who knows and loves the city, it is enjoyable to read about the people he gets to know and the neighborhoods and food. The other thread of the memoir is on being a new father. He makes it clear that he is always exhausted as one is with small children to look after. The writing is what I have come to expect from Anthony Doerr - beautiful. A real treat.
Susan

Ready Player One
Ernest Cline
4/5 stars
Set in 2044, the world is a dark and horrible place to live in for most people. People rarely go out now but live, go to school and work on the internet and in OASIS, a virtual world. When a challenge is announced that someone will win millions of dollars in a game set up by the now deceased creator of OASIS, James Halliday, the world goes berserk in trying to find the prize. The book follows Wade Watts and a few of his online friends as the take up the challenge to be the first to find the prize.
This was a fast, hard to put down book. Looking forward to seeing the film coming out in 2018.

Greatly enjoyed The Homing, and gave it 5 stars.

What a wonderfully chilling story. And insurance claims investigator finds himself investigating why his psychology-grad-student daughter -- who used to be a witty maverick like himself -- has married a crewcut thud of a schoolteacher and started planning a family and attending church. The story gets creepier and creepier as it proceeds without ever descending to the level of the typical sex-and-violence fare I associate with the fiction writing of this era. Well-thought-out and effectively presented. Well worth seeking out.

Murder on Shadow Mountain by Jimmy Dale Taylor
5 stars
A while back in the true crime group we had a question asking if there was a likeable criminal. I would say this would definitely be one. The criminal was Jimmy Dale Taylor and the crime happened 21 years before his arrest. I could not put this down. First, it had an interesting story that was out of the ordinary, there was little courtroom or facts just taken from documents and it made me feel something for the murderer and his family. Not wanting to give anything else away, you will just have to read it to find out. I thought the book had a perfect ending.

Two books: Happy by Derren Brown, a book about the industry of Happieness, the history of the persute of happieness and how the stoic writers offer some of the best advice on being happy. The other is SAS Rogue Heroes about the SAS in the 2nd World War.

Cruising, Gerald Walker
3 stars

This slasher novel was (quite loosely) based on a real series of leather-bar murders in NYC, but the author focused entirely on the internal mental states of the fictional killer and the fictional investigators. Well-written, with a lot of densely-layered metaphors that might remind you of Jack Torrance wrestling with his demons in The Shining or the characters in Carrie. Some of the twists in this story were so clever they made me laugh out loud. Long out of print but well worth seeking out.

Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops?: The Lost Toys, Tastes, and Trends of the 70s and 80s by Gael Fashingbauer Cooper and Brian Bellmont
5 stars

If you grew up in the 70's and 80's, this book will make you smile and even a few laughs. Funny, without being condescending, it is a short book with a couple of pages devoted to each thing. There were a few items I had never heard of. There seems to be an emphasis on candy. I'm really surprised there is no mention of pet rocks. This is just a cute, feel good book that will only take you a few hours to read.

Koren wrote: "Reading anything good?"

Currently, I'm reading William Shatner's biography of his friend Leonard Nimoy. It's very detailed about Leonard's character, regrets and accomplishments. (see my Goodreads review??) It also tells its reader a little bit of Shatner's character, regrets and accomplishments.

E.M. wrote: "Koren wrote: "Reading anything good?"

Currently, I'm reading William Shatner's biography of his friend Leonard Nimoy. It's very detailed about Leonard's character, regrets and accomplishments. (se..."


Title?

Fishface wrote: "E.M. wrote: "Koren wrote: "Reading anything good?"

Currently, I'm reading William Shatner's biography of his friend Leonard Nimoy. It's very detailed about Leonard's character, regrets and accompl..."

Leonard: My Fifty-Year Friendship with a Remarkable Man

I am reading "Whisky Tango Fox Trot." Who new it was a memoir?

Lady♥Belleza★✰ wrote: "Fishface wrote: "E.M. wrote: "Koren wrote: "Reading anything good?"

Currently, I'm reading William Shatner's biography of his friend Leonard Nimoy. It's very detailed about Leonard's character, re..."


TY!

Koren wrote: "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops?: The Lost Toys, Tastes, and Trends of the 70s and 80s by Gael Fashingbauer Cooper and Brian Bellmont
5 stars

If you grew up in the 70's and 80's..."

Did it have...
my little pony
cabbage patch kids
viewfinder toy
walkman
bike pants
flouro
legwarmers

? stuff I remember from the 80s. Although we didn't have pudding pops. We had push pops. I think candy or lollies have stayed the same though.

Tell the Wolves I'm Home
Carol Rifka Brunt
4/5 stars

This is a coming of age story of fourteen year old June Elbus in 1987. Her favorite person in the whole world was her Uncle Finn, a well-known painter and he too was in love with her. After his death from AIDs, the whole family falls apart. June and her sister Greta are fighting. Her parents are working too much and she has no real friends at school. Toby who was Finn's partner was persona non grata in regards to the family. But one day Toby sends her a gift and she agrees to see him though she is supposed to hate him. They begin a covert friendship but someone else knows about it. This was beautifully written and the angst of lost and heartache was palpable.

Selina wrote: "Koren wrote: "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops?: The Lost Toys, Tastes, and Trends of the 70s and 80s by Gael Fashingbauer Cooper and Brian Bellmont
5 stars

If you grew up in the..."

Selina wrote: "Koren wrote: "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops?: The Lost Toys, Tastes, and Trends of the 70s and 80s by Gael Fashingbauer Cooper and Brian Bellmont
5 stars

If you grew up in the..."

Strangely, the only thing on your list that was in the book was View Master. How could they not include Cabbage Patch Kids!!! I think this book could have been a lot longer. What is flouro?
You know, I didn't think legwarmers would ever completely disappear. They were great for the elderly who are always cold. Sadly, I think sweat pants are on their way out. The only place I could find them was Walmart.

Koren wrote: "Selina wrote: "Koren wrote: "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops?: The Lost Toys, Tastes, and Trends of the 70s and 80s by Gael Fashingbauer Cooper and Brian Bellmont
5 stars

If you..."

Flouro is like florescent glow in the dark colours for clothing. Like those highlighter pen colours but as tops and shorts etc..and bike pants.

E.M. wrote: "Koren wrote: "Reading anything good?"

Currently, I'm reading William Shatner's biography of his friend Leonard Nimoy. It's very detailed about Leonard's character, regrets and accomplishments. (se..."

It's entitled, "Leonard" by William Shatner (Captain Kirk)

The Lemoncholy Life of Annie Aster
Scott Wilbanks
3.5/5 stars
Lemoncholy means to make the best of a bad situation and that is the philosophy of Annie Aster. In this story we find Elsbeth Grundy living in Kansas in the year 1895. One day she wakes up and finds that in her far backyard stands a home in her wheat field. She writes a letter to the occupant of the home and leaves it in her mailbox and thus begins a correspondence with Annie, a young woman living in a home in San Francisco in the 21th century that faces Elsbeth's home. But this is not a coincidence and they have more in common then they both know. You have to be able to suspend disbelief in this far fetched but exciting tale of the two women who are destined to change their future.

E.M. wrote: "E.M. wrote: "Koren wrote: "Reading anything good?"

Currently, I'm reading William Shatner's biography of his friend Leonard Nimoy. It's very detailed about Leonard's character, regrets and accompl..."


Added, thanks!

reading Times Square Torso Ripper: Richard Cottingham: Sex and Death on the Forty-Deuce

Lady♥Belleza★✰ wrote: "reading Times Square Torso Ripper: Richard Cottingham: Sex and Death on the Forty-Deuce"

Cannot. Wait. For. That. Review.

I've been putting this one off, but I am currently reading Bazaar of Bad Dreams by Stephen King and True Crime Stories Volume 5: 12 Shocking True Crime Murder Cases (True Crime Anthology)
by Jack Rosewood. Also a YA book The Alien Club by Trel W. Sidoruk. Never happy reading just one book at a time.

Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd
Alan Bradley
3/5 stars
Flavia de Luce has returned to her home in England only to find her father in the hospital and herself embroiled in another mystery over the death of a woodcarver in his home where she was sent to deliver a message. While I enjoy Flavia's ability to solve crimes, I despair to see the continued hatred of her sisters towards her and the way Bradley handled her father's illness. Will there be no love or sympathy ever in her family for Flavia?

Fishface wrote: "Lady♥Belleza★✰ wrote: "reading Times Square Torso Ripper: Richard Cottingham: Sex and Death on the Forty-Deuce"

Cannot. Wait. For. That. Review."

Gave it 4 stars. Review is not showing up though.

You are a hard grader, too. That must be quite a good book.

A Checklist for Murder by Anthony Flacco
5 stars and a heart

I know I said I was getting tired of the same ol', same ol' when it comes to the husband and/or wife kills spouse True Crime book, but this book was different. First of all, the murderer tried to kill his wife and his daughter. One of them survives to implicate him. The killer is bizarre, beyond bizarre. His courtroom antics keep you interested and wanting to keep reading to see what else he can come up with. The survivor is so loveable, you keep reading in the hopes that everything turns out all right with her. This author could give lessons on how to write a True Crime book. He doesn't get bogged down in small details. He doesn't give word for word testimony. He does a great follow-up at the end of the book, getting into the minds of the characters. You also come to know and love the detective and the two prosecutors and how they went above and beyond to help the survivor and put this killer where he belongs. The author also wrote The Road Out of Hell: Sanford Clark and the True Story of the Wineville Murders, another five star book for me. He is rapidly becoming one of my favorite True Crime writers.

You convinced me Koren!

I just finished Step into My Parlor: The Chilling Story of Serial Killer Jeffrey Dahmer by Ed Baumann, about Jeff Dahmer. He got in on the ground floor but only covered the story up to the point where the trail was just about to start. I love the same author's Murder Next Door: How Police Tracked Down Eighteen Brutal Killers, but this one was not quite as satisfying; he went so deeply into Dahmer's relationships with his neighbors and the lives of the victims that I think that if he had followed the case longer this would have been a real blockbuster. With all that said, I gave it 3 stars.

I'm reading The Kindness of Strangers by Mike McIntyre
It's good so far. He's traveling across the country with no money; interesting descriptions of the people he meets along the way.

and I recently Finished: On Living by Kerry Egan A Hospice Chaplin, it's a beautifully written book, she describes herself as a story keeper - and with permission relays the poignant journeys her dying patients have entrusted her with, as well as her own time of struggles. It is not preachy, and full of meaning and food for thought.

Reading The Permaculture Handbook: Garden Farming for Town and Country only thing is, wish there was one specific to New Zealand as this is North American publication. I know the same kind of things affect NZ but not to the extent those in North America have industrialised their farming to monocultures. I just think of all those prairies and acres and acres of corn as far as the eye can see. Did nobody learn from the dustbowls of Oklahoma?

Fishface wrote: "Lady♥Belleza★✰ wrote: "reading Times Square Torso Ripper: Richard Cottingham: Sex and Death on the Forty-Deuce"

Cannot. Wait. For. That. Review."

Finished the book, wrote a "quick and dirty" review. I was on the subway. Anyway, hopefully I will write a better one soon.

Oh, 4 stars. eh .... 3.5 stars

Selina wrote: "Reading The Permaculture Handbook: Garden Farming for Town and Country only thing is, wish there was one specific to New Zealand as this is North American publication. I know the sa..."

Selina, I live in corn country. I am not a farmer but I think quite a few farmers are doing conservation methods. As far as prairie, there isn't much left anymore.

I am starting That's Amore: A Son Remembers Dean Martin by Ricci Martin.

A co-worker sent me The Case of Charles Dexter Ward: A Graphic Novel by interoffice mail. It was fun. I confess I was irritated by all the anachronisms in the dialogue. But nothing says "Happy Valentine's Day" like a comic book about a man robbing graves so he can re-animate the corpses and interrogate them with a view towards world domination.

Koren wrote: "Selina wrote: "Reading The Permaculture Handbook: Garden Farming for Town and Country only thing is, wish there was one specific to New Zealand as this is North American publication..."

Now onto...

Do you eat the corn? Or is it all GE?

Selina wrote: "Koren wrote: "Selina wrote: "Reading The Permaculture Handbook: Garden Farming for Town and Country only thing is, wish there was one specific to New Zealand as this is North Americ..."

It's mostly what we call 'field corn' meaning it is mostly grown for animals and quite a bit of it goes to the ethanol plant to make fuel (gasoline). Not many here grow corn for human consumption as we have no factories close by anymore.

Wow never knew I love sweetcorn as a vegetable, is it not that edible kind?

Do most american cars run on ethanol gasoline now? I think over here we still get gasoline (or we call it petrol) it from oil, although I'm not the expert on what's really in unleaded 91. I should find out really.

Selina wrote: "Wow never knew I love sweetcorn as a vegetable, is it not that edible kind?

Do most american cars run on ethanol gasoline now? I think over here we still get gasoline (or we call it petrol) it fr..."

**offtopic** The street fairs in NYC serve grilled sweet corn on the cob. SOOOOO GOOOOOOD

**ontopic**

I really liked the memoir Turn Here Sweet Corn: Organic Farming Works