Nothing Left to Burn by Jay Varner

I am a sucker for memoirs with troubled father-son relationships; you can guess why....

If a book is compared to Rick Bragg's All Over But the Shoutin' on the back cover, well, it would be difficult for me to not consider reading it.

I recently finished Jay Varner's NOTHING LEFT TO BURN, and it was a thought-provoking book. As a boy, Varner resented the fact that his father wasn't around more -- he was the town's Fire Chief and was always having to rush away to fight fires, control emergency situations or attend to fire hall business. Even on those few opportunities when he and his father would do something together, it seemed like dear old dad would be called away.

Add to this the ironic family dynamic that his dad's dad was an arsonist and the real conflict in the memoir begins. Varner's grandfather, called "Lucky," along with being an arsonist is depicted as an anti-grandfather of sorts, certainly not made for the role of male role model.

Then, a heart-wrenching family secret is revealed, and Varner has to reconsider all he thought he knew about his dad, his family, and himself. I will be thinking about this book for a long time.

Jay Varner has crafted a touching memoir of a boy who longed for his dad's attention and I highly recommend it for anyone who loves well-written narrative non-fiction.



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Tying up some loose ends from books that came out last week that looked interesting to me:

BOB DYLAN: Writings 1968 - 2010 by Greil Marcus

WHY NOT SAY WHAT HAPPENED? by Ivana Lowell

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF THE BEATLES by Don McCullin

STARTING OVER: The Making of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Double Fantasy by Ken Sharp

THE MAN WHO SHOT THE MAN WHO SHOT LINCOLN by Graeme Donald

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And finally, my current book giveaway is ending soon. For your chance to win please follow me on twitter -- http://www.twitter.com/bookstoredude -- and retweet (RT) the following:

LONG WAY HOME: On The Trail of Steinbeck's America by Bill Barich Win a copy! details here: http://bit.ly/cmHO1l #bookgiveaway

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