I like to think that if I were as an accomplished diarist as Sedaris, I too would release my diaries. But first, I should have written them. A long look into someone else's life is always fascinating to me, much like a type of voyeurism, but socially acceptable. I find I have much to relate to in Sedaris' diaries. Not all of it of course, but enough that I can empathize with his conflicts with family, money problems, self doubt and small successes. I enjoy that he can see the funny sides of absurd situations, perhaps faster than I ever can. It makes one's life lighter. Laughing at the absurdities of one's life makes everything more bearable.

This was an amazing read. If you only know Mr. Noah from his Daily Show or comedic appearances you will see a whole other side of him here. He's still witty and intelligent but this is his recounting of his childhood living under apartheid, and after apartheid, in South Africa with his mother. According to apartheid law and being the child of a white father and black mother, he actually was born a crime. American racism must seem like such a simple construct after what he and his mother lived through. And not only the racism, but the violence and poverty caused by that racism. Imagine walking to school and seeing a burned corpse on the side of the street, and not thinking it was particularly out of place. The domestic violence his mother endured from his stepfather because the local police did not want to deal with it, and took the side of Noah's step-father who ultimately ends up shooting his mother through the head. And yet, what comes through is the strength and love his mother gives him at all times. This is a biography I'm going to remember for a long time.
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While I found this an interesting book to read, I can't say I enjoyed it. It did give me a lot to think about. This is a compilation of short stories about the end of the world as we know it. There are a couple that were written in the late 1800's, one written in 1872 about global warming that is prescient. W.E.B DuBois' story of the last white woman and black man left in the world breaks my heart. Several other stories are written by acknowledged masters of sci fi and fantasy literature. There is not one ray of hope in this stories, but they are all remarkable stories.

I truly enjoy this man's work. His brain provides points of view from so many odd angles. This is a compilation of his short stories, of which I think he handles masterfully. These stories have been previously published in other venues of Science Fiction, like Tor, Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and Asimov's Science Fiction to name a few. I particularly liked An Empty House with Many Doors that speaks of heartbreak and parallel dimensions. And Of Finest Scarlet was her Gown where a daughter travels to Hell to bargain with the Devil for her father's soul. And the Man in Grey is incredibly interesting to think about, in a way illustrating Shakespeare's "All the world's a stage. And men and women merely players" the poem from As You Like It. Good fun. Interesting reading. Don't miss it.

Barry certainly has a way with telling a story. Here we have modern Salem, touting witchery and the Witch Trials to build tourism. And it's Halloween, perfect for an other worldly murder mystery....maybe. There's the crazy old homeless lady who rails of banshees coming for the dead. And there's the little girl, now grown, the only surviving victim of a gruesome murder when she was only 5. There are hints of the mystic throughout the story, but what else would one expect of such a place setting. Barry's storytelling voice draws one in and wraps one in a blanket of suspended belief.

If you are a fan of Sarah Addison Allen, you're going to like Barry's taletelling.

I think, first of all, don't choose this book if you think it's going to be like his later works, ie: The Magicians. This is a more reflective work and doesn't follow traditiopnal plot line. Once, I got past the expectation (which I shouldn't really have had) the work is intriguing. It's more along the lines of Salinger's Catcher in the Rye. It's a slice of life of a young man living in the city who hasn't, and perhaps never will, find his motivation in life. I believe it's a reflection of those periods in everyone's life where we're just going through the motions of living, not interested in anything and pushed along by one's friends or acquaintances. The book ends with the glimmer of possible life motivation on the horizon. It pulled me in immediately and left me wondering: Will the protagonist take the risk? or maybe not?

Free Review Copy from GoodReads for objective review.

Author quote from the chapter of Guam: "You cannot write an honest narrative of the United States of America without including the territories as key components. And you cannot write an honest narrative of the territories without feeling acutely uncomfortable about the United States and its continuing struggles to live up to it's own ideals."

This is a fascinating travel work about the U.S. territories. It's entertaining and educational, and raises a lot of questions about America's goals around the world. American territories are a small but important part of our history as a country, but can you name all of them? If someone even mentioned their name would you even recognize it as a U.S. possession, and ruled under the U.S. constitution? I know I couldn't, There is rarely news about them, but you as a U.S. citizen can travel there without a passport or re-locate there as if you were moving to another state, if......and that's a big IF. If you are at all interested in world affairs this should be on your reading list.

Etitle provided by Netgalley in return for a review.

Autobiographies; where we peek into someone else's life with no shame. Wilson's story was a thoroughly enjoyable read, even though I empathized as Ms. Wilson discusses her personal anxieties and obsessions, and later discovering that they are treatable. But I particularly like how she discovers that her true love is telling stories and doing stand-up story telling. She speaks to how being a very young actor sets up expectations in later life, within herself and with others who saw her movies. And she talks about, even though she was considered |cute" by casting directors in her youth, she is not considered "pretty enough" as she grows into her teens, giving no credit to her acting talent. I mean, really, how many of us were pretty in our teens? She speaks of some of the people she worked with, especially her love of Robin Williams. She takes these stories as her stand up material giving them a wry, comedic twist, making the folly of our human experiences comparable.

Absolutely captivating story in the genre of Magical Realism; where the story is placed in a realistic universe yet edges into those mysterious happenings we all experience that can't be casually explained. What determines a haunted house? Isn't it more our perception than any real provable fact? Here the Witch House is called such mostly because of the women who have inhabited it. For the most part these women are singular in that their actions and temperament do not fit with the social norms of a small village. They are outsiders, hence witches. So for some visitors to the house it is a sinister and unwelcoming place, where others find it a home like any other.

This is a story of women in a family from the time the house was built to present day when it becomes occupied the new heirs to the family's fortunes. Not money, but those situations that developed that created the home and family's karma. An excellent read, tho a bit dark and spooky.

Recommended for those who like the authors: Alice Hoffman, Sarah Addison Allen, Neil Gaiman, Isabel Allende and other authors of Magical Realism.

Grief and loss....like falling helplessly, hopelessly into a black hole. All the "what ifs..." and the "I should haves..." that run through one's mind, examining all ways that this mindnumbing loss could have been prevented. Having been through this type of loss four years ago when my mother passed, I easily recognized the desolation Shelby feels when her best friend is left comatose, after a black ice incident when Shelby had been driving. Reliving the incident in every moment endlessly on some type of hideous loop of self destruction and self recrimination.

And yet, this story is not the sad descent into hopelessness that one may expect. It's the powerful story of the support of family and friends, and even strangers. Working one's way through grief and again finding worth in your own being. Being faithful to the person you've lost and to yourself. Dealing with Grief can take years, and it never really goes away. One just gets better at dealing with it in microsteps. And one can find truths in one's own hidden depths. This is a touching story, full of hidden hope. Don't miss it.

13th title in the warm, wonderful Mitford series. To be honest I haven't read a Mitford book in several years and I wondered if I would feel the same about this little town in North Carolina. GoodReads and Putnam helped me solve this dilemma by sending me a copy for an unbiased review. And I have this to say....

Reading a Mitford novel is like slipping into a warm, silken, scented bath with a glass of good wine. It's like wrapping yourself in a warm blanket on a cold night, with a cup of hot cocoa. This is a group of charcters one truly wishes were real, and that we could go live with them forever. Nothing every really chaotic happens in a Mitford novel, more it's a small town where people take care of their own, where a true celebration is the wedding of two young people who grew up here. Mitford is a perfect place to escape when the real world just becomes too much.

This addition to the story is that of two young people who have had their joys and troubles, yet have fallen deeply in love and are to be married. This is a story of how a wedding can be simple yet chaotic, how family dramas come out into the open and sometimes are solved, of realizing how much we love and despair over our families and yet how much we need them.

This is a perfect series for those looking for a Christian theme, but yet not overpowering for those who look more for story. Guess it's time to go back and read those few Mitford novels I missed.

As soon as I began reading I fell into this powerful story and didn't awake into reality until some 8 hours later with a shiver of emotion. I vaguely remember my husband warming something up for me to eat. He knows how I get.

The story is told first person by Matt, a NY singer, dancer and actor who is invited to participate in an off-off Broadway show where he meets Ray, the writer and composer of a play about the ghosts of love and loss, in the backwoods of a mountain community. Mr. Bledsoe has an absolutely marvelously talented skill of putting you right there with the characters, their hope and heartbreak. There is magic in this story, a little bit of the magic from his other Tufa clan stories, but also the ephemeral magic of romance and of the human beings' drive of curiosity.

If you are a fan of Sarah Adderson Allen books, Alex Bledsoe can't be missed.
If you are looking for a tender, heartful gay male romance this is a must read.
I obtained this ebook work from NetGalley for an unbiased review.

This is an absolutely fascinating account of the 1901's World's Fair in Buffalo, NY. This is the Fair where Tesla and Edison competed to establish their particular contribution's to electric current; where "civilization" was promoted over the "natural" world; where President McKinley was stalked and assassinated by an anarchist, where 3 women went over Niagara Falls in a barrel, and a variety of other varieties of graft and pageantry were daily happenings. Meticulous research by way of local and national news articles, legal and medical records, scholarly literature, and the memoirs and souvenirs of a teacher who visited the spectacle 33 times. Riveting reading.

My Favorites: the White Piano by David Gerrold; a good old fashioned ghost story.
Also Caspar D. Luckinbill, What are you going to do by Nick Wolven; about media terrorism.
Totally captivated by the Science article, Welcome to Pleistocene Park by Pat Murphy and Paul Doherty which talks about some of the extra effects of Global Warming that we should know about, and possibly how to solve some of it. If you get a chance to read this one article, do it.

Loved this series as a teenager, and was so glad to find she had written a fourth novel. Of course, I would be totally open to her continuing the series.

Fascinating biography of a pop star. One more story of how being a media star both is and is not what one might want it to be. Good to read if you were infatuated with him when you were a teenager. He's completely candid about his bouts with depression and sex addiction. And he reates dogs as being some of the best personalities on the planet.

Absolutely remarkable work, especially in light of the recent South Caroline shootings. This is a highly readable account of the growth of slavery in one man's family.

South Carolina, and Charleston in particular was the major port where Africans were brought in to be sold as slaves. The author, who grew up knowing his family had large plantations and was part of a family who used to be very wealthy. But he was never taught about his family gained and kept that wealth. This is his investigative journey to finding out that his ancestral family was one of the largest slaveholders in the country, having up to 4000 slaves. As luck would have it, h is family kept records of their business, archived in several collections, and the author was able to piece together a history, and a genealogy of his white ancestors, and their black holdings. The author also seeks out the black and mulatto descendants of his family's plantations.

While we as Americans, know about slavery in our history, this work brings us closer to understanding it, and how it worked and the impact it left. This copy of the book which I received through the GoodReads program, is a 2014 revised edition of the 1998 work. It won the National Book Award, and I don't think enough superlatives can be attached to it. It was a work taking a lot of courage and understanding.

While this was a satisfactory read, I thought there was too much overt magic in it. What I really enjoyed about her other works was her subtle mentions of magic, maybe it was there or maybe it wasn't; maybe it was heightened senses. The story was good, but the magic was just a little too convenient to drive the story along.

This is the second volume in Charlaine Harris' new series about the town of Midnight, TX. It was a satisfying read and provided a little more background about the small town residents, who are distinctly odd. I like how she pulls in her characters from her other series as by-stories; from the Lily Bard mystery stories to the Sookie Stackhouse paranormal series, and from her Harper Connelly series. It makes it fun. While there are several side-stories the basic theme is a straight-forward who-dun-it. New resident of Midnight, Manfred Bernardo, psychic, is about to give a reading to one of his best and wealthiest clients, when she drops dead in front of him. Enter her greedy, paranoid son who accuses Manfred of stealing his mother's jewelry from her purse, after doing away with his mother. I didn't see the reveal coming at all. Any Charlaine Harris reader will not be disappointed.
Note: I was given an ARC of this book through the NetGalley Program.

Superficially, this is the story of a gay man and his dog traveling around America, a la Steinbeck. But there is just so, so much more. The author explains the reason for spending 4 months in an RV traveling with his dog is to create a better bond with his dog of 8 years, Casey. And what he discovers, is some peace in his own soul. Along the way he investigates all kinds of dog related people and things, and what it's like to be a dog in America. Be warned: the sections describing dogs on the Reservations, and in the innner city will bring hearbreak to your soul. However, the cast of characters, both human and dogs, is incredibly entertaining. I think the most interesting discussion in the book however, is the one of why we have such a close relationship with our dogs in the first place. There are many theories of course, ranging from all parts of the human psychological spectrum, but perhaps it boils down to: Our relationship with dogs gives us something to think about other than ourselves. Anyway, this is a wonderful read. I thank the author and publishers for including a section of Notes/Bibliography and an INDEX! So many writers or publishers (I don't know which) don't realize how important these last two items are, because of course I'm going to find other articles and books this author has used to inform himself and read them for myself.

This was a GoodReads Reader Review Giveaway, but I certainly am recommending this to all my friends, especially those that I know show more have dogs as part of their family.

P.S. While I also have a husband, a daughter, and 5 cats, and some fish; the idea of taking an RV road trip and my two dogs is a wonderful dream. show less

This is one of those books that stick with you. There are those books that are great reads, but after they're finished they sort of flow out of your brain. Then there are those that you find yourself thinking about while you're lying in bed in the morning, or your putzing around the house, or driving in the car. You have become AWARE. This is one of those books. You've become aware and consider things just a bit differently. I won this in a GoodReads Review Giveaway, and I truly enjoyed it. It doesn't glamorize the vet's profession, but it does spotlight human empathy. Something I've found that seems to be in short supply. And it's a reflection of a real Life; never as clean, organized, or as crap-free as you'd like it to be. One of the fun things about this book is that it hasn't been "dressed up". As you read you can hear Dr. Pol's voice clearly speaking to you. This is a unique way of speaking if you've ever seen his show on Nat Geo Wild. Or if you read this book and then watch the series, you will find it very familiar. His personality clear comes through.

Fascinating read. During the years I was growing up in my own small home town, Mrs. Mayfield was growing up in her small town in Kentucky as the daughter of one of the town's undertakers. My life was not half so interesting. Her family lived on the top floor of the family business, a funeral home. If you were a fan of Six Feet Under, I think you'd really like this read. While the goings on in a mid-century funeral home are morbidly fascinating, I found mostly that this is a story of a father and daughter. While she admires her father as any little girl would, she finds that there are cracks beneath the persona of the caring, repectful undertaker. That her father is a human being with flaws and a troubled past. I found it a fascinating character study.

I've been meaning to read this autobiography for several years, as the reviews have always been good. It happened to fall in my lap and I decided it was a sign. I didn't know what I had been missing. It was a great read. I laughed and I sympathized. It's basically the story of a little girl who doesn't fit in anywhere. She's curious, she's adventurous and she certainly doesn't conform. Her parents are a hoot, and I can empathize with her mother, who lets the housework go and reads science fiction. She actually tells her young daughter that she was purchased from the wild gypsies, confiriming Zippy's exact thoughts. Don't wait like I did. Read it very soon.

First off, I love the character Flavia, and she stays true to form in this book. She's been shipped off to Toronto, Canada to attend her mother's boarding school, and finds a burned corpse stuffed up the chimney of her room. Once again she searches out the clues, and finds out who the corpse is and who murdered her. I actually really enjoyed this book except for two things: First, Flavia has been informed by her aunt (in the last book) that her mother was a type of secret agent, and the school the Flavia has been sent to is her training ground to also become a secret agent. All the boarders are in-training, and the day girls don't know anything about it. I can suspend belief for just about anything, but this just doesn't work. It seems too orchestrated, too far-fetched. The second thing is that once Flavia solves the case, she is shipped back to England. Unless there is some further development in the next book, her trip to Canada is really just a waste of time. She's come all that way, and now she's going back? Oh well, I enjoyed it anyway and am looking forward to the next installment.

How many times have you watched the movie "The Princess Bride?" If it's one of your favorites you're going to love this book by Cary Elwes who plays Westley, the romantic hero. This year is the 25th anniversary of the movie release, and Elwes' book recounts the development and filming of the project. There are numerous interviews with the actors involved, and with the director Rob Reiner. This is a fairly quick read, but it still makes you feel like you want to have been on the set. Fascinating and entertaining. After reading it, go to Youtube and check out some of the outtakes and interviews.

The premise of the Zahn's new novel involves the concept of being able to save one's soul, not in the religious sense, but in the actual physical (electronic?) sense. Two medical researches, one who has lost a five year old son in an accident, work together to find a way to catch a person's soul as he dies. The soul can then be held in a type of limbo until the body is repaired, and the soul can be re-introduced - bringing that person back to the world. The second researcher is driven by the need to be immortal and to develop the Soulminder system to that end. The chapters of the books are not so much divisions of the novel, but each is its own separate story of dealing with the ways that people can twist something developed as a Life saving medical procedure, and warp to fit their own selfish and evil ends. Although the author doesn't delve into what he thinks a soul really might be, he seems to equate it with a human's consciousness. This was a fascinating read, and I actually liked the way the chapters were used. It was different, and provided a wider range of perspective on the whole process of Soulminding. Hard science concepts aren't used, just enough to get the point across, which makes it an easier read for many.

I have a secret, but it's probably one shared with millions of people worldwide for over 40 years, that Billy Joel's music never seems to get old. It's always like I'm listening to it for the first time. Joel can go from cockey, to romantic to wistful and it all works. A listener can tell Joel is speaking from his own life or heart - very personal, and probably very painful. So when I saw that this Biography was available on NetGallery, I had to read it; and I wasn't disappointed in it, not for a minute.

While there are several Joel biography's out there, this one is the one that Joel started and then had his biographer finish. There are over 100 hourse of interviews with Joel himself, and hundreds of hours of interviews with his friends, three ex-wives, co-musicians, etc. It comes across with a lot of names, and dates, concert venues and other data which had times can be overwhelming. A bit of an information overload. The author also used the Billy Joel archives (who knew?) and other sources. It really is very thorough, although I sometimes felt like I was seeing his career through a glass wall in a museum. I can't describe what that personal touch that was missing is, however. Perhaps it was that is biographer was trying to stay objective about his subject. Lyrics to particular songs are included, especially those ones that were very personal to Joel. It would be great if the ebook version of this was supplemented with the audio, but I played my cds instead. All in all, show more it was a very satisfying read. show less

Basically, I was THOROUGHLY caught up in this book. It's a long read, over 500 pages but completely worth it. The author based this book mostly on information he retrieved from articles, previous interviews from Cosby, and interviews from many people who know him. He only spent about 5 hours talking to Cosby, in bits and pieces, mostly over the phone. And Cosby read the final draft. Not only chronicling Cosby's life, he also places that life in the context of the times, including types of comedians, show business and the television industry, and racism. He talks about Cosby's style of comedic delivery, and that he never used a "canned" routine. Whitaker compares Cosby's comedy to Jazz, that Cosby would just riff on a theme in his laid back easy style and just seemed to enchant people of all races..I found it fascinating that there was so much back story of he and his wife's family, his friendship with Robert Culp, and other media stars and how the movie and tv industry worked. The author talks about Cosby's continuing philanthropy of historic black colleges and education standards for the poor. Also, of interest is knowing those comedic stars that he influenced, among them Jerry Seinfield and Ray Romano. The author notes that Chris Rock says that he was turned on to Cosby by Eddie Murphy who told him that if he ever wanted to be a comedian he needed to listen to Cosby's album "To Russell my brother, whom I slept with." The author does not ignore Cosby's human faults, and show more even Cosby doesn't want to dwell on them, but they are noted. This has become one of my favorite all time books, ....and now I'm going to find all my old Cosby recordings and play them again. I encourage you to do the same. show less

This was a fascinating read. The setting is the SteamPunk alternate universe, and 1900's Eire (Ireland) is the superpower of the world. And time travel has been discovered. But the best part is that time travel relies on mathematics, especially prime numbers. Mathematics is seen as almost a type of magic in the vein of "a primitive culture will see any technology as magic" The author also explores time fractures that come about when mathematics are being manipulated in their special way, and that a character can then remember several conflicting lifetimes at once. My mind just stretched....Some characters go mad, or maybe not. Some characters are murdered, or maybe not, depending on the time frame and what has gone on. And then radicals begin planting bombs in the future, which means the government forces may be able to find where the bomb goes off, but not when it will go off. The conclusion of the story is a satisfying one, and believable although the narrator, the Queen, at this point recognizes that there can not be any true resolution of the problem. I enjoyed the way the author used the Irish, Roman or whoever and whatever place and character names, although (and this is a minor quibble) I would've like to know how to pronounce some of them.

Once upon a time a rock star and a popular gothic author met and created an album and a story about a young boy coming of age in a small town in an uncertain time. This work,this creation by Alice Cooper and Neil Gaimon has been full remastered and newly colored to be presented on it's 20th anniversary of publication. It includes a new afterword by Eisner Award winning graphic artist Michael Zulli and several new pieces of art for this tale. It also includes Gaiman's first letter to Cooper fleshing out the story, and Gaiman's original outline. The script that Gaimon sent to Zulli. and several of Zulli's inked final pages.

This would be a great read for any tween age boy, and while I realize the book was created 20 years ago, I'm a little sorry a girl couldn't have been included somehow in the re-update, as they too face the same uncertainties in their futures. The artwork is beautiful and eerie, bold and subtle. Gaiman's narration is meant to give one the experience of Ray Bradbury's October Country - that time of one season ending, going dormant and falling away. The story takes place at Halloween, and it's too bad the new edition is being released in mid-November as it would be a perfect work for the October season. However, it is till a worthy addition to anyone's graphic novel library.