Five-Finger Discount: A Crooked Family History by Helene Stapinski | 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…
The Fur Person by May Sarton | Book Review
The Fur Person by May Sarton Original Publication Date: 1957 Genres: American Literature, Animals, Fiction, Memoir Source: I purchased this book Goodreads 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 freedom of street life for a…
Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding | Book Review
Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding Original Publication Date: 1996 Genres: British Literature, Fiction Source: I purchased this book Goodreads Bridget Jones’s Diary is the devastatingly self-aware, laugh-out-loud account of a year in the life of a thirty-something Singleton on a permanently doomed quest for self-improvement. Bridget resolves to: reduce the circumference of each thigh by 1.5 inches, visit the gym three times a week not just to buy a sandwich, form a functional relationship with a responsible adult and learn to program the VCR. With a blend of flighty charm, existential gloom, and endearing self-deprecation, Bridget Jones’s Diary has touched a raw nerve with millions of readers the world…
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 Original Publication Date: 1976 Genres: Adventure, Memoir, Non-Fiction 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…
A Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith | Book Review
A Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith Original Publication Date: 1943 Genres: Fiction, American Literature Source: I purchased this book Goodreads A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is an American classic about a young girl’s coming-of-age at the turn of the twentieth century. From the moment she entered the world, Francie Nolan needed to be made of stern stuff, for the often harsh life of Williamsburg demanded fortitude, precocity, and strength of spirit. Often scorned by neighbors for her family’s erratic and eccentric behavior—such as her father Johnny’s taste for alcohol and Aunt Sissy’s habit of marrying serially without the formality of divorce—no one, least of all Francie, could say…
