My friends at Smith Publicity sent me this small volume to read and review. ON MOUNTAINEERING is part memoir, part travel guide, part tips and suggestions all related to mountain climbing. Radford West started mountain climbing after returning from duty in Vietnam in the early 1970’s. He covers seven different climbs, complete with pictures and his personal journal entries from the times he climbed them. Since they read almost like individual vignettes, you can easily pick up this book for a short time and revisit it later without losing the flow. The entire volume is only a bit over 100 pages.
Inspiring, interesting, and informative, ON MOUNTAINEERING is a fine read for those interested in mountain climbing – both in real life and through armchair travel!
Thank you, Kendell at Smith Publicity, for my copy.
This YA read is subtitled The True Story of a Mengele Twin in Auschwitz. Jewish twins, Eva Mozes and her sister Miriam, along with their parents and sisters, are sent to Auschwitz in 1944 from their home in Romania. While their family is sent to the gas chambers, Eva and Miriam are selected to be part of Mengele’s study group of twins. While their treatment is considered better than the regular prisoners (but don’t kid yourself- this is a concentration camp and no one is treated well!), Eva’s determination to protect Miriam and survive the war gives her an incredible resiliency and strength to carry on.
This was a very short read for me – less than 200 pages – and it follows Eva and Miriam’s story from being taken to the camps, to their experience there, to their survival after the war. Aimed for a middle to high school audience, the book is less graphic than other Holocaust stories, but it is understandably still highly disturbing. The inclusion of pictures from before and after the war are a nice touch. Written as a memoir, we get Eva’s voice throughout. Particularly touching in this book is how Eva found forgiveness in her heart years after her war experience was over.
Thank you, Net Galley and Tanglewood Press, for my review copy.
I was recently contacted by Rachel, the publicist for SECRET STORMS, to see if I’d like to read and review this novel. It sounded interesting — a mother and daughter reunited 43 years after the young mother had given her baby up for adoption. It was a true story, too, and I said yes.
Once I started SECRET STORMS I could not put it down! I read 300 pages the first afternoon and finished it the next day. SECRET STORMS (which is subtitled: A Mother and Daughter: Lost then Found) starts in 1963 with teenage, Philadelphia debutante Julie Mannix being admitted into a psychiatric hospital. She is nineteen and pregnant. Her parents feel that hospitalizing her for the extent of her pregnancy is for her own safety and well-being, and they really want her to have an abortion, but she refuses. So Julie experiences her pregnancy while living with some interesting characters who are suffering from various psychiatric illnesses, oddly reminiscent of Girl, Interrupted. Upon having her baby girl, the baby is taken away for adoption and Julie goes home and tries to return to a “normal” life (though her family life is far from normal). Julie continues with acting and has a growing career as a stage and screen actress. She marries the father of her child and they start a life together. However, she never is able to forget her first baby, or truly forgive herself.
Meanwhile, baby “Aimee” grows up as “Kathy”, in a loving family with two brothers. Sadly, her adoptive mother dies from cancer when the three children are all less than ten years old. This is a devastating loss for the family and one from which they never truly recover. Her father tries to keep it together, with first his parents living with them and then by remarrying the beautiful but unpredictable and abusive Gloria. I felt for this family so much. This poor man lost his wife, then had a disastrous marriage, then lost his job and his house and a lot of his income. The kids were amazingly resilient, but it was a sad story.
Eventually, though, Julie and Kathy’s paths cross, and they finally build a life together as mother and daughter.
This was one of those books that I just couldn’t put down. I felt so much for little Kathy growing up and all the hardships she faced. I was also fascinated with the unique childhood that Julie had with her somewhat eccentric parents and their lifestyle. It seemed incredible to me that, with a little luck, Kathy was able to find her mother in about 15 minutes using the Internet. If this wasn’t a true story I would have said that was unbelievable!
I highly recommend this story for those who enjoy this type of family drama and memoir.
I had heard of Suzy Becker – we live in the same small town – so I was happy to see ONE GOOD EGG pop up on Net Galley. I downloaded a galley to read and also contacted Suzy (I hope to follow up this review with an author interview!).
ONE GOOD EGG is Suzy’s very personal story of finding her life partner and wife, Lorene, and their quest to have a baby. Suzy’s struggles with infertility and their journey to motherhood is the basis of this book – often told so humorously it had me laughing aloud. Suzy has illustrated this memoir with line drawings, most of which are witty, too. Beyond the “top story” of Suzy’s journey through life decisions, infertility, fertilization (from donor friend Steve), pregnancy, and childbirth, is a touching and very candid look inside a very likable and honest woman.
While some readers may find this book’s honesty about Suzy’s pregnancy too personal, others will be nodding their heads in recognition of a journey that was similar to their own.
Thank you, Suzy, for sharing your very personal experience with us -and the offer of an author interview still stands! 🙂
Thanks, Net Galley and Bloomsbury USA, for my digital download!
Several weeks ago, Scott Bishop contacted me to ask if I would like to read and review his book, “A Soul’s Calling”. Termed a memoir, this novel tells Scott’s own story to climb to base camp on Mount Everest as part of a physical and spiritual journey. I’ve always liked the “journey to find oneself” theme, so I said yes.
Scott is not a mountaineer. In fact, he is a lawyer in New Jersey with limited wilderness experience. Additionally, Scott’s spirituality plays a huge part in who he is. In a nutshell, Scott sees and talks to spirits – entities from the “other side”. These spirits guide Scott and control him to an extent. They compelled him to go on this trek. Scott is also well versed in Shamanism.
I have to say that I found the journey to Everest the most interesting part of this book. I always have the utmost respect for folks who do these amazing physical treks. Personally, I would never ever be able to do it – not would I want to. It sounds downright miserable — rewarding once you get these and once it’s over — but seriously miserable. I found Scott’s “travelogue” so to speak interesting and I only wish there were pictures as it sounded like it would be visually stunning. I also was intrigued with the relationship between Scott and his porter and his guide. Both of these men, locals, adhered to stringent “social codes” designated by their position in their society/culture. I found the rigid mores held in the local culture there so interesting. i would have liked to hear more about the people!
While I generally find people’s beliefs and spirituality interesting to read about, this whole aspect of the book did not speak to me, and instead bogged me down in my reading. With the exception of an interesting passage where Scott explains the tenets of Shamanism to a fellow traveller, I found Scott’s struggles with darkness and malevolent forces distracting me from the Everest storyline. There was a lot of darkness/angst/tears/fear/torment. At one point I wondered how Scott ever got a good night’s sleep as he always seemed to be tormented by spirit that he was fighting and that had made him go on this journey.
All in all, an interesting read – and I have to say that Scott seems like a genuinely good guy. Thanks for sharing your book with me, Scott!
My friend Alison suggested I read Cheryl Strayed’s new book “Wild” (thanks, Al!). I tend to stay away from Oprah book club suggestions (purely because I find EVERYONE is reading them and talking about them) but this one looked so intriguing that I purchased it from Amazon.
You probably have already heard about this book, but in case you haven’t, “Wild” follows Cheryl Strayed’s trek along 1,100 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail (the western cousin to the East’s Appalachian Trail) as she seeks to heal and redefine her life. At the start of the book we find Cheryl as a lost soul. Her mother has died (which devastates her), her relationship with her family of origin is shaky, her biological father is out of the picture, and she’s recently divorced her husband (who seems like he’s still a steady “beacon” in the mire her life has become). She’s been dating a guy who gets her into heroine. She’s openly honest about her sexual promiscuity. In a word, Cheryl is a bit of a mess. Then she decides to hike the Pacific Crest Trail as a way to save and heal herself. It’s a classic “journey to find oneself” story, but it’s Strayed’s own memoir.
I have to say when I started reading this novel, I did not relate to or care for our protagonist. She seemed incredibly self-centered, to the point of hedonistic. She was drifting around her in her life, making bad decisions. She was suffering but dealing with her suffering through self-indulgence. Then she almost randomly decides to hike the PCT with little to no preparation or experience. I actually found that part funny. It was then that I started to connect with Cheryl as her first hiking days were basically bumbling and mishaps. I’d think to myself: “Gee, that would probably be my experience, too: blisters, rattlesnakes, a too-heavy pack, and band-aids that blow away”. By the time Cheryl got to Northern California I was rooting for her to finish. I was hoping she stayed safe (personally, the thought of trekking 1,100 miles alone is terrifying). I was hoping she figured out that her drug use and abuse and her sexual behaviors were not the way to deal with her pain and grief. I was hoping she would come through the journey stronger and wiser and healed.
I’ll leave it to you readers to discover how Cheryl makes out!
Beth's Book-Nook Blog 