Grace After Midnight
Felicia Pearson and David Ritz
Grand Central, Nov 13 2009, $13.99
ISBN: 9780446195195
In Baltimore, Felicia Pearson was born to a drug addict. Although the infant mortality rate is high for that class of baby, she survived overcoming illness. She was raised by foster parents who cared about her, but she could not accept their loving kindness. Instead she turned to the streets where she worked the crack trade under the tutelage of "Uncle" and "Father". At fifteen she killed a woman in self defense but spent several years behind bars. At the same time Uncle is killed street style and father goes to jail for life. Not wanting to emulate them any longer, upon parole Felicia accepts work on an assembly-line but her criminal past kept her from going straight. The Wire saved her in a Hollywood only happy ending as Felicia Pearson keeps the hope alive fueled by the regrets of the harm she had caused.
This autobiography pulls no punches as Felicia Pearson tells her past with an open eyed honesty; not often seen in memoirs. Using street vernacular, Ms. Pearson leaves nothing to the imagination as she explains her street life childhood in spite of a loving foster mom and Pop. Profound and profane made even deeper by the street vernacular, Ms. Pearson has in deed come a long way from working the corners to Hollywood, but has not lost who she is. Grace After Midnight is inspiring for it’s in your face from the heart honesty.
Harriet Klausner
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Everything But A Christmas Eve-Holly Jacobs
Everything But A Christmas Eve
Holly Jacobs
Avalon, Dec 2009, $23.95
ISBN: 9780803499843
In Erie, Pennsylvania Hungarian expatriate Nana Vancy Salo has spent a lifetime fighting the Salo Family Wedding Curse that haunted her descendents whenever one of her blood relatives was about to marry. However, the curse has been broken and all of her grandchildren happily married. Instead of resting and enjoying life, she feels lost with no purpose.
Nana Vancy tells her Silver Bells friends Isabel Henning and Annabelle Connor that she is bored though she is elated the curse has ended as she feared she would never see that day. Annabelle suggests Vancy become a matchmaker as she shown a propensity with her grandchildren (see Everything But a Groom, Everything But a Bride and Everything But a Wedding). Liking the idea, she thought she would try matching up her husband’s office manager Eve Allen and next door neighbor TC Potter with plans of wedding bells for Christmas. After interrogating a bewildered Eve, she invites her to a family holiday dinner in which TC Potter is also invited after the hostess interrogated him re his status and learns of their past connections in kindergarten and high school.
This is a wonderful Christmas surprise (and not just for the confirmed bachelor who finds love with his Christmas Eve) as Holly Jacobs spins beyond the tale of the Salo Curse into a new matchmaking direction for Nana and the Silver Bells. Fans will enjoy this lighthearted frolic as the three BFFs orchestrate the Twelve Days of Christmas.
Harriet Klausner
Holly Jacobs
Avalon, Dec 2009, $23.95
ISBN: 9780803499843
In Erie, Pennsylvania Hungarian expatriate Nana Vancy Salo has spent a lifetime fighting the Salo Family Wedding Curse that haunted her descendents whenever one of her blood relatives was about to marry. However, the curse has been broken and all of her grandchildren happily married. Instead of resting and enjoying life, she feels lost with no purpose.
Nana Vancy tells her Silver Bells friends Isabel Henning and Annabelle Connor that she is bored though she is elated the curse has ended as she feared she would never see that day. Annabelle suggests Vancy become a matchmaker as she shown a propensity with her grandchildren (see Everything But a Groom, Everything But a Bride and Everything But a Wedding). Liking the idea, she thought she would try matching up her husband’s office manager Eve Allen and next door neighbor TC Potter with plans of wedding bells for Christmas. After interrogating a bewildered Eve, she invites her to a family holiday dinner in which TC Potter is also invited after the hostess interrogated him re his status and learns of their past connections in kindergarten and high school.
This is a wonderful Christmas surprise (and not just for the confirmed bachelor who finds love with his Christmas Eve) as Holly Jacobs spins beyond the tale of the Salo Curse into a new matchmaking direction for Nana and the Silver Bells. Fans will enjoy this lighthearted frolic as the three BFFs orchestrate the Twelve Days of Christmas.
Harriet Klausner
Love In Translation-Wendy Nelson Tokunaga
Love In Translation
Wendy Nelson Tokunaga
St. Martin’s Griffin, Nov 24 2009, $13.99
ISBN: 9780312372668
Thirty three year old Celeste Duncan extrapolates her present into the future and what she sees is ennui. She needs a change with her job and with her sort of boyfriend, but the wannabe singer fears taking the first step professionally or personally.
However, Celeste receives an odd phone call and a box arrives filled with heirlooms; clues to the unknown father she never met. On a whim based on these new items being omens, she flies from San Jose to Japan in a ten hour airborne sardine can flight to meet her father. When she meets her English-speaking homestay “brother” Takuya she wants to kiss him senseless, but holds in check the desire. He helps her follow the clues especially with translating Japanese into English. As they travel across Japan, Celeste finds she is falling in love with her twenty-eight tears old guide, but his mom has his former girlfriend in mind for a daughter-in-law. As the trek increasingly looks futile, a despondent Celeste wonders if it is time to return the land of boredom.
This is a fun yet profound tale due to the lead female who uses self deprecating amusing metaphors to describe her despondency over her life back in the States and her seeming failures in Japan. The story line is character driven as the audience will enjoy Celeste’s fumbling with the culture starting with her practiced words in Japanese that she thought meant thank you for welcoming her, but instead her teacher tricked her and she proposed. Fans will enjoy An American in Japan falling in love with her homestay brother, the culture and the people as she searches for her biological father.
Harriet Klausner
Wendy Nelson Tokunaga
St. Martin’s Griffin, Nov 24 2009, $13.99
ISBN: 9780312372668
Thirty three year old Celeste Duncan extrapolates her present into the future and what she sees is ennui. She needs a change with her job and with her sort of boyfriend, but the wannabe singer fears taking the first step professionally or personally.
However, Celeste receives an odd phone call and a box arrives filled with heirlooms; clues to the unknown father she never met. On a whim based on these new items being omens, she flies from San Jose to Japan in a ten hour airborne sardine can flight to meet her father. When she meets her English-speaking homestay “brother” Takuya she wants to kiss him senseless, but holds in check the desire. He helps her follow the clues especially with translating Japanese into English. As they travel across Japan, Celeste finds she is falling in love with her twenty-eight tears old guide, but his mom has his former girlfriend in mind for a daughter-in-law. As the trek increasingly looks futile, a despondent Celeste wonders if it is time to return the land of boredom.
This is a fun yet profound tale due to the lead female who uses self deprecating amusing metaphors to describe her despondency over her life back in the States and her seeming failures in Japan. The story line is character driven as the audience will enjoy Celeste’s fumbling with the culture starting with her practiced words in Japanese that she thought meant thank you for welcoming her, but instead her teacher tricked her and she proposed. Fans will enjoy An American in Japan falling in love with her homestay brother, the culture and the people as she searches for her biological father.
Harriet Klausner
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Sand Castles-Nancy Gotter Gates
Sand Castles
Nancy Gotter Gates
Five Star, Nov 2009, $25.95
ISBN 9781594148262
In Columbus, Ohio, setting up a surprise retirement party for her sixty-two years old spouse Leland, Virginia “Ginny” McAllister takes a nasty fall. She is taken to the hospital where she undergoes knee surgery. While recovering in the hospital, Ginny and her “gimp twin” roommate Joy Wentowski becomes friends and she tries to help her new buddy through a bad time.
Her efforts lead to a confession from Leland that upsets Ginny. After his wife leaves the hospital, Leland relocates them to a Sarasota, Florida retirement community. However, instead of quality time together, he is off playing golf or fishing all the time while she feels like a widow whose friends and family are all back home. When she meets Nicholas at a poetry group meeting, Ginny considers ending her long marriage to Leland as her new “beau” is there for her while her husband is not. A hurricane that traps her and her sister Melba pushes Ginny to decide.
This is an interesting retirement age tale as two snowbirds move south, but drift apart as neither adjusts to their new situation; in fact each runs from the changes in their relationship. Although lacking any twists as the plot is obvious, fans will enjoy a different type of coming of age as two retirees must decide what each wants out of what is left in their lives and with whom.
Harrier Klausner
Nancy Gotter Gates
Five Star, Nov 2009, $25.95
ISBN 9781594148262
In Columbus, Ohio, setting up a surprise retirement party for her sixty-two years old spouse Leland, Virginia “Ginny” McAllister takes a nasty fall. She is taken to the hospital where she undergoes knee surgery. While recovering in the hospital, Ginny and her “gimp twin” roommate Joy Wentowski becomes friends and she tries to help her new buddy through a bad time.
Her efforts lead to a confession from Leland that upsets Ginny. After his wife leaves the hospital, Leland relocates them to a Sarasota, Florida retirement community. However, instead of quality time together, he is off playing golf or fishing all the time while she feels like a widow whose friends and family are all back home. When she meets Nicholas at a poetry group meeting, Ginny considers ending her long marriage to Leland as her new “beau” is there for her while her husband is not. A hurricane that traps her and her sister Melba pushes Ginny to decide.
This is an interesting retirement age tale as two snowbirds move south, but drift apart as neither adjusts to their new situation; in fact each runs from the changes in their relationship. Although lacking any twists as the plot is obvious, fans will enjoy a different type of coming of age as two retirees must decide what each wants out of what is left in their lives and with whom.
Harrier Klausner
Monday, November 2, 2009
Lit: A Memoir-Mary Karr
Lit: A Memoir
Mary Karr
Harper, Nov 3 2009, $25.99
ISBN: 9780060596989
This is a fascinating memoir as writer Mary Karr obviously has come a long way. In Texas her parents were alcoholics who when sober were psychotic, but when drunk were beyond the fringe. However, much of that period is in her previous autobiographies The Liars’ Club as a preadolescent and Cherry as a teen. Instead Ms. Karr picks up her saga in her late teens and takes it to her current age of fifty years old. She left for college on the west coast, but though bored tried to desperately to prove she belonged at school and with her boyfriend’s affluent parents. Like her parents she turned to alcohol to numb her past so those demons would not harm her present. When she became a devout Catholic Ms. Karr feels that changed her emotionally so that she can feel good about living inside her skin as even Harvard failed to give her the inner confidence of belonging she desperately sought.
Well written with incredible insight and yet filled with self deprecating humor, Mary Karr explains her obsessive human need for self actualization and acceptance. Ms. Karr’s third memoir looks deep at herself seemingly even more so than before; perhaps because this time the adult cannot use the unintended consequences of the shield of a child (The Liars’ Club) or a teen (Cherry ) to garner empathy from her readers. This is a winner of a courageous person overcoming her roots to make it in her mind.
Harriet Klausner
Mary Karr
Harper, Nov 3 2009, $25.99
ISBN: 9780060596989
This is a fascinating memoir as writer Mary Karr obviously has come a long way. In Texas her parents were alcoholics who when sober were psychotic, but when drunk were beyond the fringe. However, much of that period is in her previous autobiographies The Liars’ Club as a preadolescent and Cherry as a teen. Instead Ms. Karr picks up her saga in her late teens and takes it to her current age of fifty years old. She left for college on the west coast, but though bored tried to desperately to prove she belonged at school and with her boyfriend’s affluent parents. Like her parents she turned to alcohol to numb her past so those demons would not harm her present. When she became a devout Catholic Ms. Karr feels that changed her emotionally so that she can feel good about living inside her skin as even Harvard failed to give her the inner confidence of belonging she desperately sought.
Well written with incredible insight and yet filled with self deprecating humor, Mary Karr explains her obsessive human need for self actualization and acceptance. Ms. Karr’s third memoir looks deep at herself seemingly even more so than before; perhaps because this time the adult cannot use the unintended consequences of the shield of a child (The Liars’ Club) or a teen (Cherry ) to garner empathy from her readers. This is a winner of a courageous person overcoming her roots to make it in her mind.
Harriet Klausner
The Interrogative Mood-
The Interrogative Mood
Padgett Powell
Ecco, Oct 2009, $21.99
ISBN: 9780061859410
This is an odd yet fascinating book as there are no declarative sentences. Instead every line is a question that goes deeper and deeper in profundity and acerbity. Starting with a childlike innocence re “Are your emotions pure?” and asking seemingly silly questions like “Would you eat a monkey? and ending with the seemingly finish to a relationship between the interrogator and a silent responder (can that be readers?) whose lack of resonances implies much with “Are you leaving now? Intriguing with a weird psychological spin, recommend those who appreciate a deep internal look at one’s self, answer the questions; just do it over a few weeks or your loved ones will ask are you crazy especially at $21.99? Hopefully yours do not answer that.
Harriet Klausner
Padgett Powell
Ecco, Oct 2009, $21.99
ISBN: 9780061859410
This is an odd yet fascinating book as there are no declarative sentences. Instead every line is a question that goes deeper and deeper in profundity and acerbity. Starting with a childlike innocence re “Are your emotions pure?” and asking seemingly silly questions like “Would you eat a monkey? and ending with the seemingly finish to a relationship between the interrogator and a silent responder (can that be readers?) whose lack of resonances implies much with “Are you leaving now? Intriguing with a weird psychological spin, recommend those who appreciate a deep internal look at one’s self, answer the questions; just do it over a few weeks or your loved ones will ask are you crazy especially at $21.99? Hopefully yours do not answer that.
Harriet Klausner
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Rules of the Game-Neil Strauss
Rules of the Game
Neil Strauss
!T Books (HarperCollins), Oct 2009, $16.99
ISBN: 9780061911699
Although the book is focused on becoming a successful pick up artist, it actually is a well written relationship primer on interrelation dynamics regardless of gender and scenario. The book is divided into three sections. The first “The Stylelife Challenge” consists of breaking bad habits and replacing them with good routines. This needs to occur over thirty days so as Mr. Strauss points out follow the instructions strictly and read each day the applicable section over the month in order to kick out the bad and bring in the win. The second chapter “The Routines Collection” is perhaps the most applicable to the male PUA as it describes different pick up scenarios. To us targets, this section is amusing as women will recognize some of the trite devil spawned pick up tries and some new at least to this retired target. The third and final chapter “The Style Diaries” once again is useful to kick any bad habit as keeping score is critical regardless whether it is to meet women or diet.
Not for everyone but more than just for those penis envy wanting to play the Game played at the level of a master PUA, Rules of the Game gives easy to read and applicable tips though difficult to achieve dynamics. A successful relationship depends on get ridding of the bad habits by replacing them with good ones. Mark Twain said: "It's easy to stop smoking. I stopped a thousand times."
Harriet Klausner
Neil Strauss
!T Books (HarperCollins), Oct 2009, $16.99
ISBN: 9780061911699
Although the book is focused on becoming a successful pick up artist, it actually is a well written relationship primer on interrelation dynamics regardless of gender and scenario. The book is divided into three sections. The first “The Stylelife Challenge” consists of breaking bad habits and replacing them with good routines. This needs to occur over thirty days so as Mr. Strauss points out follow the instructions strictly and read each day the applicable section over the month in order to kick out the bad and bring in the win. The second chapter “The Routines Collection” is perhaps the most applicable to the male PUA as it describes different pick up scenarios. To us targets, this section is amusing as women will recognize some of the trite devil spawned pick up tries and some new at least to this retired target. The third and final chapter “The Style Diaries” once again is useful to kick any bad habit as keeping score is critical regardless whether it is to meet women or diet.
Not for everyone but more than just for those penis envy wanting to play the Game played at the level of a master PUA, Rules of the Game gives easy to read and applicable tips though difficult to achieve dynamics. A successful relationship depends on get ridding of the bad habits by replacing them with good ones. Mark Twain said: "It's easy to stop smoking. I stopped a thousand times."
Harriet Klausner
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