The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken: A Search for Food and Family by Laura Schenone | Book Review
The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken: A Search for Food and Family by Laura Schenone Genres: Food, Memoir, Non-Fiction Original Publication Date: 2007 Source: I purchased this book Goodreads Find the Author: Goodreads, Amazon Laura Schenone undertakes a quest to retrieve her great-grandmother’s ravioli recipe, reuniting with relatives as she goes. In lyrical prose and delicious recipes, Schenone takes the reader on an unforgettable journey from the grit of New Jersey’s industrial wastelands and the fast-paced disposable culture of its suburbs to the dramatically beautiful coast of Liguria―the family’s homeland―with its pesto, smoked chestnuts, torte, and, most beloved of all, ravioli, the food of celebration and happiness. The Lost Ravioli…
Five-Finger Discount: A Crooked Family History by Helene Stapinski | Book Review
Five-Finger Discount: A Crooked Family History by Helene Stapinski Genres: Crime, Memoir, Non-Fiction Original Publication Date: 2001 Source: I purchased this book Goodreads Find the Author: Website, Twitter, Goodreads, Amazon With deadpan humor and obvious affection, Five-Finger Discount recounts the story of an unforgettable New Jersey family of swindlers, bookies, embezzlers, and mobster-wannabes. In the memoir, Mary Karr calls “a page-turner,” Helene Stapinski ingeniously weaves the checkered history of her hometown of Jersey City—a place known for its political corruption and industrial blight—with the tales that have swirled around her relatives for decades. Navigating a childhood of toxic waste and tough love, Stapinski tells an extraordinary tale at once heartbreaking…
The Fur Person by May Sarton | Book Review
The Fur Person by May Sarton Genres: American Literature, Animals, Fiction, Memoir Original Publication Date: 1957 Source: I purchased this book Goodreads Find the Author: Website, Goodreads, Amazon In The Fur Person, May Sarton fictionalizes an account of her cat Tom Jones’s life and adventures prior to making the author’s acquaintance begins with a fiercely independent, nameless street cat who follows the ten commandments of the Gentleman Cat—including “A Gentleman Cat allows no constraint of his person, not even loving constraint.” But after several years of roaming, Tom has grown tired of his vagabond lifestyle, and he concludes that there might be some appeal after all in giving up the…
Tisha: The Wonderful True Love Story of a Young Teacher in the Alaskan Wilderness by Robert Specht | Book Review
Tisha: The Wonderful True Love Story of a Young Teacher in the Alaskan Wilderness by Robert Specht, Anne Hobbs Purdy Genres: Adventure, Memoir, Non-Fiction Original Publication Date: 1976 Source: I purchased this book Goodreads In the unusual memoir Tisha, Anne Hobbs came to teach in harsh and beautiful Alaska in 1927. Running a ramshackle schoolhouse would expose her to more than just the elements. After she allowed Native American children into her class and fell in love with a half-Inuit man, she would learn the meanings of prejudice and perseverance, irrational hatred, and unconditional love. “People get as mean as the weather,” she discovered, but they were also capable of…
Drinking: A Love Story by Caroline Knapp | Book Review
Drinking: A Love Story by Caroline Knapp Genres: Memoir Original Publication Date: 1996 Source: I purchased this book Goodreads Find the Author: Goodreads, Amazon Fifteen million Americans a year are plagued with alcoholism. Five million of them are women. Many of them, like Caroline Knapp, started in their early teens and began to use alcohol as “liquid armor,” a way to protect themselves against the difficult realities of life. In this extraordinarily candid and revealing memoir, Knapp offers important insights not only about alcoholism but about life itself and how we learn to cope with it. Drinking: A Love Story is a book about alcoholism and about one woman’s fight…
