NON-FICTION – Looking For a Good Book

December 8, 2025

DON’T STOP – Alan Light

I am not an ardent Fleetwood Mac fanatic. I have perhaps four of their albums, purchased between the mid-1970’s and mid-80’s and of course I listened to them on the radio back in those pre-internet days. And while they are someone I listened to, they definitely took a backseat to bands like the Beatles, the Continue reading

ENTERTAINMENT, NON-FICTION

4 stars, Book Reviews, Books, Entertainment, Music, non-fiction, Reviews

December 4, 2025

SPACE SHIPS! RAY GUNS! MARTIAN OCTOPODS! – Richard Wolinsky, editor

Science fiction readers of a certain age (let’s say 60 and older) are probably going to really enjoy this because the authors (and artists) interviewed are generally authors we grew up with (Theodore Sturgeon, Ray Bradbury, Robert Bloch, C.L. Moore, Philip K. Dick, Roger Zelazny, Kelly Freas, Anne McCaffrey, Frank Belknap Long, and many, many, Continue reading

NON-FICTION, SF/FANTASY

5 Stars, Book Reviews, Books, non-fiction, Reviews, SF/Fantasy

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

October 31, 2025

STEPHEN SONDHEIM’S SWEENEY TODD: BEHIND THE BLOODY MUSICAL MASTERPIECE – Rick Pender

Back in 1980, as I was finishing my freshman year of college, I changed my college major to Theatre Arts. I note this because the biggest topic of discussion among my peers at this time was the very unusual, dark musical that had very recently opened on Broadway, called Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Continue reading

ENTERTAINMENT, NON-FICTION

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

October 27, 2025

THE FANTASTIC ART OF ROY G. KRENKEL – Craig Yoe

I am the person for whom this book is intended. I have been a fan of Roy Krenkel’s art work since the 1970’s. As a high school student, I thought I was destined for a career in art and my preferred medium was pen and ink and while I loved Frank Frazetta’s work, it was Continue reading

ENTERTAINMENT, NON-FICTION, OTHER

5 Stars, Art, Book Reviews, Books, Reviews

September 23, 2025

KING ARTHUR – Daniel Mersey

This is one of, if not THE, oldest ARC on my Kindle. I’ve slowly been making my way through my backlist as I request fewer new books to be read. I have had a fascination with King Arthur since I was a young teen (so, more than 50 years). I have a marvelous collection of Continue reading

NON-FICTION, YA

5 Stars, Book Reviews, Books, Middle Grade, non-fiction, Reviews, Young Adult

September 8, 2025

DRESSED IN BLACK: THE SHANGRI-LAS AND THEIR RECORDED LEGACY – Lisa MacKinney

My Sirius Radio is almost always tuned to the 1960s hits channel. I grew up listening to this music and I still enjoy it today. But with a few exceptions, I know vey little about many of the artists of this era that I enjoy so much, so when I see a book like Dressed in Continue reading

NON-FICTION

4 stars, Book Reviews, Books, Entertainment, Music, non-fiction, Reviews

August 11, 2025

THE MUSICALS OF COLE PORTER – Bernard F. Dick

Here’s what I knew about Cole Porter prior to reading this book: 1) the lyrics in all the songs in Anything Goes were often repeated by my fellow theatre students back in my college days, 2) Cole Porter was my theatre professor’s favorite composer & lyricist, 3) I thought he was only a Broadway artist whose work Continue reading

NON-FICTION

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

August 7, 2025

JUST ADD WRITER – Tim Waggoner

It’s about time someone wrote this book! I have been reading tie-in novels since the mid-1970’s. I’m not sure if the first one was a Partridge Family novel (oh, yes, they had them and I read them!) or one of the two Gerry Anderson UFO novels (why only two!?) or, quite likely, one of those James Blish Star Trek adaptations. I Continue reading

NON-FICTION, Uncategorized

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

June 30, 2025

THE MAN THAT GOT AWAY – Walter Rimler

Harold Arlen is not a household name – not in the average home, anyway. Yet Harold Arlen was the composer to some songs that are still well known nearly 90 years after they were first written. Not sure who he is yet? Have you ever heard or sung the song “Stormy Weather”? Maybe, maybe not? Continue reading

ENTERTAINMENT, NON-FICTION, Uncategorized

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

May 5, 2025

SLOPPY – Rax King

I’ve never heard of Rax King or read anything by her prior to this, but I do enjoy essays and yes, the quote from The Washington Post on the cover of the book “Bettie Page meets Carrie Bradshaw” helped to sell me on this. I was incredibly impressed very early on with the first few essays. I connected with Continue reading

NON-FICTION, Uncategorized

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

May 1, 2025

A FEARLESS EYE: THE PHOTOGRAPHS OF BARBARA RAMOS

I have such an affinity for photography. I especially like the grittiness and rawness that one can get with black and white photography. When I saw that these photos were from the 1970’s in California (mostly San Francisco), I really wanted to take a look. The book opens with three essays – one each by Continue reading

NON-FICTION, Uncategorized

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