MEMOIR – Looking For a Good Book

November 28, 2025

BOOK OF LIVES: A MEMOIR OF SORTS – Margaret Atwood

What a joy to read Margaret Atwood. “A Memoir of Sorts” is a great subtitle for this book. Part autobiography, part memoir, part journal, part reflection on friends and loves, part essays on a wide variety of topics this book is hard to classify but what comes through is Atwood’s easy, conversational style of writing. Continue reading

MEMOIR, NON-FICTION

5 Stars, Biography, Book Reviews, Books, Memoir, non-fiction, Reviews

December 20, 2023

DREAMING THE BEATLES – Rob Sheffield

I read a lot of books about The Beatles and it just never ceases to amaze me how much their legacy endures that people are still writing and reading about them. It seems that anyone who’s ever listened to their music and felt as though their lives were affected by the band, has something to Continue reading

MEMOIR, NON-FICTION, Uncategorized

3 Stars, Book Reviews, Books, Music, non-fiction, Reviews

December 5, 2022

BOLDLY GO – William Shatner (with Joshua Brandon)

It seems like, as people get older, they typically fit into two categories … the cranky and the reflective. Here, actor/author/singer/songwriter William Shatner gets reflective. Philosophically reflective. And why not? Shatner has had a good, long life to look back on. There’s not much about William Shatner that we don’t already know. A star from Continue reading

MEMOIR, NON-FICTION, Uncategorized

4 stars, Book Reviews, Books, Memoir, non-fiction, Reviews

October 21, 2022

BURNING QUESTIONS – Margaret Atwood

Burning Questions is a collection of essays, speeches, book reviews, book forewords, and other non-fiction miscellany from the pen and wit of the incredible Margaret Atwood. Collected works starting from 2004 and on up through 2021, the range of material here is so vast it practically defies description. It is most fascinating to see the different Continue reading

MEMOIR, NON-FICTION, Uncategorized

5 Stars, Book Reviews, Books, essays, Memoir, non-fiction, Reviews

April 15, 2022

SOUND MAN – Glyn Johns

When you are one of the most influential sound engineers/music producers ever, it would be difficult to write a biography or memoir without a whole heck of a lot of name-dropping … as evidenced by Glyn Johns’ memoir, Sound Man. Seriously … Johns worked with groups like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Steve Miller Continue reading

MEMOIR, NON-FICTION, Uncategorized

3 Stars, Book Reviews, Books, Entertainment, Memoir, Music, non-fiction, Reviews

April 11, 2022

THE LETTERS OF SHIRLEY JACKSON

Wow. This is a really remarkable book. In so many ways, reading these vast collection of letters – both personal (to her boyfriend [later her husband] and to her parents) and professional (to her agent and to publishers) – is a better autobiography than if she’d sat down to write specifically about her life. We Continue reading

MEMOIR, NON-FICTION, Uncategorized

5 Stars, Book Reviews, Books, Memoir, non-fiction, Reviews, writing

March 16, 2022

SOUL SERENADE – Rashad Ollison

I was 100% attracted to this book because of the sub-title: Rhythm, Blues & Coming of Age Through Vinyl. The effect of music, particularly in the age of vinyl, holds a lot of interest to me. What I was expecting, then, was a memoir addressing the role music played in the life and growth of Rashod Continue reading

MEMOIR, NON-FICTION, Uncategorized

2 Stars, Book Reviews, Books, Memoir, Music, non-fiction, Reviews

December 15, 2021

A PRIVATE WILDERNESS: THE JOURNALS OF SIGURD F. OLSON – David Backes, editor

Nature writer, environmentalist, essayist, educator, conservationist, and former president of the National Parks Association, Sigurd F. Olson had a long career working in wilderness areas. For some, such as myself, he is best remembered for his gentle, thoughtful reflections of nature found in books like Listening Point, The Singing Wilderness, or Runes of the North (among others). Editor David Continue reading

MEMOIR, NON-FICTION, Thoughts, Uncategorized

5 Stars, Biography, Book Reviews, Books, Memoir, Nature, non-fiction, Reviews

October 4, 2021

OTTO BINDER – Bill Schelly

Otto Binder was science fiction, science, U.F.O., and comic book author who wrote in the early days (Golden Era) of comic books (specifically the 1940’s) and the New Wave of science fiction (the 1960’s-1970’s). He is credited with truly defining Captain Marvel (Shazam) and wrote nearly 1,000 (of the 1,700) stories in the Marvel Family Continue reading

GRAPHIC NOVEL, MEMOIR, NON-FICTION, Uncategorized

5 Stars, Biography, Book Reviews, Books, non-fiction, Reviews

September 24, 2021

I AM SOPHIE TUCKER – Susan & Lloyd Ecker

Sophie Tucker, known as “Last of the Red Hot Mamas,” was an entertainer (vaudeville, radio, film, theatre) who was popular in the early-to-mid 1900’s. She was known for her risque and comic songs and her big, belting voice. Think, cross between Mae West and Ethel Merman. Authors Susan & Lloyd Ecker has chosen to tell Continue reading

ENTERTAINMENT, HISTORICAL FICTION, MEMOIR, Uncategorized

3 Stars, Book Reviews, Books, Entertainment, Memoir, Reviews

September 22, 2021

ROCK AND ROLL WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE – Steve Almond

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of Steve Almond’s work. I religiously buy everything he publishes, and even have purchased anthologies with strange themes just to read an Almond story. And it was all I could do to not behave like a Raving Fan Boy when he was speaking at my local bookstore a Continue reading

ENTERTAINMENT, MEMOIR, NON-FICTION

5 Stars, Book Reviews, Books, Memoir, Music, non-fiction, Reviews

March 3, 2021

THE GLASS TEAT – Harlan Ellison

As a teenager I was completely and utterly enthralled with Harlan Ellison and his writing. I’ve read everything he wrote that i could get my hands on. I met him at book signings and conventions and easily rated him as my favorite author. Ellison’s anger and angst and pomposity was fun, or at least identifiable Continue reading

ENTERTAINMENT, MEMOIR, NON-FICTION, Uncategorized

4 stars, Entertainment, essays, non-fiction, Television