Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee: From Scout to Go Set a Watchman | Book Review
Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee: From Scout to Go Set a Watchman by Charles J. Shields Original Publication Date: Originally published 2006, this edition 2016 Genres: Biography, Non-Fiction Goodreads To Kill a Mockingbird—the twentieth century’s most widely read American novel—has sold thirty million copies and still sells a million yearly. In this in-depth biography, first published in 2006, Charles J. Shields brings to life the woman who gave us two of American literature’s most unforgettable characters, Atticus Finch and his daughter, Scout. Years after its initial publication—with revisions throughout the book and a new epilogue—Shields finishes the story of Harper Lee’s life, up to its end. I recently re-read…
Five-Finger Discount: A Crooked Family History | Book Review
Five-Finger Discount: A Crooked Family History by Helene Stapinski Original Publication Date: 2001 Genres: Crime, Memoir, Non-Fiction Source: I purchased this book Goodreads 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 and hysterically funny. Five-Finger Discount Is About…
Tisha: The Wonderful True Love Story of a Young Teacher in the Alaskan Wilderness | Book Review
Tisha: The Wonderful True Love Story of a Young Teacher in the Alaskan Wilderness by Robert Specht, Anne Purdy Original Publication Date: 1976 Genres: Adventure, Memoir, Non-Fiction Source: I purchased this book Goodreads Anne Hobbs was only nineteen in 1927 when she came to harsh and beautiful Alaska. 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 great good. As…
February House: The Story of W. H. Auden, Carson McCullers, Jane and Paul Bowles, Benjamin Britten, and Gypsy Rose Lee, Under One Roof in Brooklyn | Book Review
February House: The Story of W. H. Auden, Carson McCullers, Jane and Paul Bowles, Benjamin Britten, and Gypsy Rose Lee, Under One Roof in Brooklyn by Sherill Tippins Original Publication Date: 2005 Genres: Biography, Non-Fiction Source: I purchased this book Goodreads February House is the uncovered story of an extraordinary experiment in communal living, one involving young but already iconic writers — and the country’s best-known burlesque performer — in a house at 7 Middagh Street in Brooklyn during 1940 and 1941. It was a fevered yearlong party fueled by the appetites of youth and by the shared sense of urgency to take action as artists in the months before…
The Letters of Sylvia Plath, Volume 1: 1940-1956 | Book Review
The Letters of Sylvia Plath, Volume 1: 1940-1956 by Sylvia Plath Original Publication Date: 2017 Genres: Non-Fiction Source: I purchased this book Goodreads A major literary event: the first volume in the definitive, complete collection of the letters of Sylvia Plath—most never before seen. The Letters of Sylvia Plath includes her correspondence from her years at Smith, her summer editorial internship in New York City, her time at Cambridge, her experiences touring Europe, and the early days of her marriage to Ted Hughes in 1956. Most of the letters are previously unseen, including sixteen letters written by Plath to Hughes when they were apart after their honeymoon. This magnificent compendium…
