On My Radar:

Poking A Dead Frog: Conversations with Today's Top Comedy Writers
Mike Sacks
Penguin Books
Trade Paperback

From the publisher's website:

Amy Poehler, Mel Brooks, Adam McKay, George Saunders, Bill Hader, Patton Oswalt, and many more take us deep inside the mysterious world of comedy in this fascinating, laugh-out-loud-funny book. Packed with behind-the-scenes stories—from a day in the writers’ room at The Onion to why a sketch does or doesn’t make it onto Saturday Night Live to how the BBC nearly erased the entire first season of Monty Python’s Flying Circus—Poking a Dead Frog is a must-read for comedy buffs, writers and pop culture junkies alike.

On My Radar:

Southbound: An Illustrated History of Southern Rock
Scott B. Bomar
Backbeat Books
Trade Paperback

From the publisher's website:

 Many of the architects of rock and roll in the 1950s, including Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Little Richard, were Southerners who were rooted in the distinctive regional traditions of country, blues, and R&B. As the impact of the British Invasion and the psychedelic era faded at the end of the following decade, such performers as Bob Dylan and the Band returned to the simplicity of American roots music, paving the way for Southern groups to reclaim their region's rock-and-roll heritage. Embracing both Southern musical traditions and a long-haired countercultural aesthetic, such artists as the Allman Brothers Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd forged a new musical community that Charlie Daniels called “a genre of people more than a genre of music.”

Focusing primarily on the music's golden age of the 1970s, Southbound profiles the musicians, producers, record labels, and movers and shakers that defined Southern rock, including the Allmans, Skynyrd, the Marshall Tucker Band, Wet Willie, the Charlie Daniels Band, Elvin Bishop, the Outlaws, the Atlanta Rhythm Section, .38 Special, ZZ Top, and many others.

From the rise and fall of the mighty Capricorn Records to the music's role in helping Jimmy Carter win the White House and to its continuing legacy and influence, this is the story of Southern rock.

BookSpin Giveaway

Let the Tornado Come: A Memoir
Rita Zoey Chin
Simon & Schuster
Hardcover

Simon & Schuster has graciously allocated several copies of Let the Tornado Come for giveaway on BookSpin.  To enter to win, please retweet my tweets about the giveaway.  My twitter name is @Book_Dude. US entries only, please.

From the publisher's website:

From an award-winning poet comes this riveting, gorgeous memoir about a young runaway, the trauma that haunted her as an adult, and the friendship with a horse that finally set her free.

When she was eleven years old, Rita began to run away. Her father’s violence and her mother’s hostility drove her out of the house and into the streets in search of a better life. This soon led her into a dangerous world of drugs, predatory older men, and the occasional kindness of strangers, but despite the dangers, Rita kept running. One day she came upon a field of horses galloping along a roadside fence, and the sight of them gave her hope. The memory of their hoofbeats stayed with her.

Rita survives her harrowing childhood to become a prize-winning writer and the wife of a promising surgeon. But when she is suddenly besieged by terrifying panic attacks, her past trauma threatens her hard-won happiness and the stable, comfortable life she’s built with her husband. Within weeks, she is incapacitated with fear—literally afraid of her own shadow. Realizing that she is facing a life of psychological imprisonment, Rita undertakes a journey to find help through a variety of treatments. It is ultimately through chasing her childhood passion for horses that she meets a spirited, endearing horse named Claret—with his own troubled history—and together they surmount daunting odds as they move toward fear and learn to trust, and ultimately save, each other.

BookSpin Guest Post

A Phone Call to the Future: How I Knew My Memoir Would be Published

Guest post by Cea Sunrise Person

(Cea Sunrise Person is the author of the delightful new memoir North of Normal.  Below this equally wonderful guest post you will find a synopsis of the book.) 

I sat in my living room, clutching the phone in one hand and a glass of white wine in the other. Gathering my courage and pushing aside my pride, I spoke. “So, here’s the thing,” I said to the faceless woman on the other end of the line. “There’s this book I’ve been writing, and I think it’s pretty good. It’s about my life. So I’m wondering…will it be successful? Will it get published? And, like…when do you see that happening?”

“Ah. Just a moment, my dear. I will consult with my guides.” The line went silent, so I took the opportunity to guzzle several gulps of wine. I felt like everything in my world depended on the answer I was about to receive.

It was August of 2008, and my life was a shambles. Eleven months earlier, my husband and I had packed up our lives (including our baby son) and moved across the country from Vancouver to Halifax, a city where we didn’t know a soul. Although it remained unspoken between us, we both knew that this move was one final, desperate attempt to “start fresh” with both our marriage and his career. The result had been less than ideal. Our marital relationship reached an all-time low with James absent much of the time. To make matters worse, with no child care and no support network, I was finding myself unable to continue singlehandedly running my swimwear company, which after initial success building up the brand now required additional staff. Bills were piling up, we could barely make our mortgage payments, one of my closest family members had recently fallen terminally ill, and I didn’t even have a friend to share my anguish with. Seven months before, I had begun to write my life story down in the hope that it would give me something more to live for besides my son and my nightly bottle of wine. I had even come up with a snappy title for it—North of Normal. A 99% rejection rate for first-time authors? It wouldn’t apply to me, I told myself, and secretly fantasized that my memoir would sell for a huge advance and propel me out of my miserable life and marriage. But one week ago, that dream had died when I received my final rejection letter from the literary agents I’d queried. The crawling feeling of desperation I had woken up with each day since had finally driven me to do something I wouldn’t have normally considered: I’d called a psychic. Not just any old psychic picked off a Google search, of course; Laura had come highly recommended, but she was a clairvoyant all the same--one who spoke to spirits in the ether and reported their messages back via cell phone.

I heard a rustle at the end of the line. “I’ve heard from my guides,” Laura said, returning to the phone. “They have an answer for you. But before I reveal it, they want me to deliver another message to you.”

“Um, okay,” I said, holding my breath.

“It’s about your husband. Your relationship is at its end, no?”

I swallowed hard. “Well…yes, as a matter of fact. We’ve been very unhappy for a long time.”

“I see. Do not despair, as you were never well suited. My guides see another man. Your next husband, and your final one. Tall. Salt and pepper hair. Extremely outgoing, very successful. You will meet and marry quickly. He has no children, but I see you having two together. He will be a wonderful stepfather to your son.”

I laughed nervously. “Wow! That sounds amazing, but it also sounds a little too good to be true. Almost…cliché perfect.

“I only repeat what I am told,” she replied curtly. “Now, back to your question. About your book…”

“Yes,” I said, squeezing my eyes shut.

“It will be published by a major publisher. It will be very successful. There will even be a movie deal.” My heart leaped happily. It was all going to come true! “But…” she continued.

I gripped the phone. “But what?”

“It will take time. At least five years. So don’t give up!” she added cheerily.

I was devastated, of course. Patience has never been my strong suit. Still, Laura gave me reason to think I could actually achieve my dream, and boosted my belief in myself when I felt like I had failed and life had failed me. When you read my book, you will understand that the background I came from was anything but conducive to instilling a sense of self-worth.

I persevered, writing draft after draft through another cross-country move, a death, the dissolution of my company, and a separation from my husband. And less than a year after that phone call, I met the man of which Laura had spoken. He was tall with salt and pepper hair, outgoing and successful. It was cliché. We spent virtually every day together from the moment we met, got pregnant within a year and married a few months later. He is a wonderful father to all three of our children. Sometimes, when I was particularly down in the dumps as I tried again and again to find an agent and a publisher, it was the memory of that psychic’s prediction that carried me through. She had been spot-on about Remy, so she must be right about my book, too. I continued to slog away, and finally, six years after I wrote my first draft, I landed my dream agent. Within a week of sending out my manuscript to publishers, she sold it with multiple offers.

I probably won’t consult with a psychic again. I believe deeply in the world of spirits, and for the most part I think they should be left alone unless they call to us. But on a night in 2008, when I needed it most, a woman named Laura in Michigan changed my life. Would I have continued writing if I hadn’t had that conversation with her? I can’t say for sure. What I do know is that with that phone call to the future, an angel picked up on the other side.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

North of Normal: A Memoir of My Wilderness Childhood, My Unusual Family, and How I Survived Both
Cea Sunrise Person
Harper 
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:


In the late 1960s, Cea Sunrise Person's subversive family fled to the Canadian wilderness to grow pot, embrace free love, and live off the land. A riveting memoir of growing up off the grid amid multiple generations of dysfunction, North of Normal chronicles one woman's journey to reclaim her life on her own terms.

Determined to abandon civilization for a hand-to-mouth existence in the wild, Cea Sunrise Person's charismatic grandfather Papa Dick uproots the Person clan from suburban California to the forests of Canada when she is just a baby. Together with her teenage mother, Michelle—her father long gone—Cea will spend the next decade of her life living in and out of canvas tipis with neither electricity nor running water, at the mercy of fierce storms, food shortages, and an array of grown-ups more interested in having a groovy time than in parenting a child.

As a young girl who knows no other world, Cea is happy enough playing in the meadows and snowshoeing behind the grandfather she idolizes. But for Michelle, one crucial element is missing: a man. When Michelle strikes out to look for love, spinning from one boyfriend to the next, Cea is forced along for the ride—and into a harsh awakening. Consumed by a desire for a more normal life, she begins to question both her highly unusual world and the hedonistic woman at its center. But the escape she finds, a career as an internationally successful model, brings its own challenges.

Shocking, heartbreaking, yet often funny, and infused with warmth toward her damaged family, North of Normal is Person's singular story of her desire to live life on her own terms—no matter what it takes. Her journey of self-discovery and acceptance, which comes full circle after she has children of her own, is profoundly moving. Eloquently navigating the minefields of regret, longing, and family, North of Normal celebrates the strength we all carry within us to shape our own destiny.

In My TBR Stack:

   Zoom: How Everything Moves - From Atoms and Galaxies to Blizzards and Bees
Bob Berman
Little, Brown and Company
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

From the speed of light to moving mountains--and everything in between--ZOOM explores how the universe and its objects move.

If you sit as still as you can in a quiet room, you might be able to convince yourself that nothing is moving. But air currents are still wafting around you. Blood rushes through your veins. The atoms in your chair jiggle furiously. In fact, the planet you are sitting on is whizzing through space thirty-five times faster than the speed of sound.

Natural motion dominates our lives and the intricate mechanics of the world around us. In ZOOM, Bob Berman explores how motion shapes every aspect of the universe, literally from the ground up. With an entertaining style and a gift for distilling the wondrous, Berman spans astronomy, geology, biology, meteorology, and the history of science, uncovering how clouds stay aloft, how the Earth's rotation curves a home run's flight, and why a mosquito's familiar whine resembles a telephone's dial tone.

For readers who love to get smarter without realizing it, ZOOM bursts with science writing at its best.

From the speed of light to moving mountains--and everything in between--ZOOM explores how the universe and its objects move.

If you sit as still as you can in a quiet room, you might be able to convince yourself that nothing is moving. But air currents are still wafting around you. Blood rushes through your veins. The atoms in your chair jiggle furiously. In fact, the planet you are sitting on is whizzing through space thirty-five times faster than the speed of sound.

Natural motion dominates our lives and the intricate mechanics of the world around us. In ZOOM, Bob Berman explores how motion shapes every aspect of the universe, literally from the ground up. With an entertaining style and a gift for distilling the wondrous, Berman spans astronomy, geology, biology, meteorology, and the history of science, uncovering how clouds stay aloft, how the Earth's rotation curves a home run's flight, and why a mosquito's familiar whine resembles a telephone's dial tone.

For readers who love to get smarter without realizing it, ZOOM bursts with science writing at its best. - See more at: http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/bob-berman/zoom/9780316217422/#desc

From the speed of light to moving mountains--and everything in between--ZOOM explores how the universe and its objects move.

If you sit as still as you can in a quiet room, you might be able to convince yourself that nothing is moving. But air currents are still wafting around you. Blood rushes through your veins. The atoms in your chair jiggle furiously. In fact, the planet you are sitting on is whizzing through space thirty-five times faster than the speed of sound.

Natural motion dominates our lives and the intricate mechanics of the world around us. In ZOOM, Bob Berman explores how motion shapes every aspect of the universe, literally from the ground up. With an entertaining style and a gift for distilling the wondrous, Berman spans astronomy, geology, biology, meteorology, and the history of science, uncovering how clouds stay aloft, how the Earth's rotation curves a home run's flight, and why a mosquito's familiar whine resembles a telephone's dial tone.

For readers who love to get smarter without realizing it, ZOOM bursts with science writing at its best. - See more at: http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/bob-berman/zoom/9780316217422/#desc

From the speed of light to moving mountains--and everything in between--ZOOM explores how the universe and its objects move.

If you sit as still as you can in a quiet room, you might be able to convince yourself that nothing is moving. But air currents are still wafting around you. Blood rushes through your veins. The atoms in your chair jiggle furiously. In fact, the planet you are sitting on is whizzing through space thirty-five times faster than the speed of sound.

Natural motion dominates our lives and the intricate mechanics of the world around us. In ZOOM, Bob Berman explores how motion shapes every aspect of the universe, literally from the ground up. With an entertaining style and a gift for distilling the wondrous, Berman spans astronomy, geology, biology, meteorology, and the history of science, uncovering how clouds stay aloft, how the Earth's rotation curves a home run's flight, and why a mosquito's familiar whine resembles a telephone's dial tone.

For readers who love to get smarter without realizing it, ZOOM bursts with science writing at its best. - See more at: http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/bob-berman/zoom/9780316217422/#desc

On My Radar:

Now I See You: A Memoir
Nicole C. Kear
St. Martin's Press
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

At nineteen years old, Nicole C. Kear's biggest concern is choosing a major--until she walks into a doctor’s office in midtown Manhattan and gets a life-changing diagnosis. She is going blind, courtesy of an eye disease called retinitis pigmentosa, and has only a decade or so before Lights Out. Instead of making preparations as the doctor suggests, Kear decides to carpe diem and make the most of the vision she has left. She joins circus school, tears through boyfriends, travels the world, and through all these hi-jinks, she keeps her vision loss a secret.

When Kear becomes a mother, just a few years shy of her vision’s expiration date, she amends her carpe diem strategy, giving up recklessness in order to relish every moment with her kids. Her secret, though, is harder to surrender - and as her vision deteriorates, harder to keep hidden. As her world grows blurred, one thing becomes clear: no matter how hard she fights, she won’t win the battle against blindness. But if she comes clean with her secret, and comes to terms with the loss, she can still win her happy ending.          

Told with humor and irreverence, Now I See You is an uplifting story about refusing to cower at life’s curveballs, about the power of love to triumph over fear. But, at its core, it’s a story about acceptance: facing the truths that just won't go away, and facing yourself, broken parts and all.

On My Radar:

Cowboys and Indies: The Epic History of the Record Industry
Gareth Murphy
Thomas Dunne Books
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

Cowboys and Indies is nothing less than the first definitive history of the recording industry on both sides of the Atlantic.

From the invention of the earliest known sound-recording device in 1850s Paris to the CD crash and digital boom today, author and industry insider Gareth Murphy takes readers on an immensely entertaining and encyclopedic ride through the many cataclysmic musical, cultural, and technological changes that shaped a century and a half of the industry.

This invaluable narrative focuses especially on the game changers---the label founders, talent scouts, and legendary A&R men. Murphy highlights:

·         Otto Heinemann’s pioneer label Okeh, which spread blues and jazz “race” records across America

·         how one man, Henry Speir, discovered nearly all the Delta blues legends (Robert Johnson, Charlie Patton, Son House, Tommy Johnson)

·         Sam Phillips’s seminal work with Chess and Sun Records

·         John Hammond’s discoveries (Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Bruce Springsteen)

·         the behind-the-scenes players of the British Invasion

·         Clive Davis, Ahmet Ertegun, David Geffen, and the corporate music machine

·         the Machiavellian moves of punk impresario Malcolm McLaren (Sex Pistols)

·         Chris Blackwell’s triumphs for Island Records (Bob Marley, U2)

·         Sylvia Robinson and Tom Silverman, the hip-hop explorers behind the Sugarhill Gang, Grandmaster Flash, and Afrika Bambaataa

…and much, much more. Murphy also offers a provocative look at the future through the ruminations of such vanguard figures as Martin Mills (4AD, XL Recordings, Matador, Rough Trade) and genre-busting producer Rick Rubin (Run-D.M.C., Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica, Johnny Cash).

Drawing from memoirs, archives, and more than one hundred exclusive interviews with the legends of the record industry, including the founders and CEOs of Atlantic, Chrysalis, Virgin, A&M, Sub Pop, and Sire, this book reveals the secret history behind the hit-making craft. Remarkable in scope and impressive in depth, Cowboys and Indies chronicles the pioneers who set the stylus on the most important labels and musical discoveries in history.

In My TBR Stack:

Cooking With Amar'e: 100 Easy Recipes for Pros and Rookies in the Kitchen
Amar'e Stoudemire and Chef Maxcel Hardy III with Rosemary Black
It Books (Dey Street Books)
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

An All-Star on the court and in the kitchen

New York Knicks power forward Amar'e Stoudemire receives loud cheers from excited fans when he's on the court, and he wanted to receive those same cheers when he's in the kitchen at home cooking for his family. After one particularly unsuccessful day of grilling for his kids, the frustrated hoops star called his personal chef, Maxcel Hardy III, who tried his best to explain some of the finer points of cooking on a charcoal grill.

The dinner was not a hit with his family, but it was important milestone for Amar'e. Though his cooking experience up until then had been more limited to the basics, the popular pro ball player resolved to learn to cook crowd-pleasing, healthy meals for his family. And he wanted Chef Max to teach him.

Cooking with Amar'e expands upon the in-home cooking lessons that began to take shape as Chef Max guided Amar'e through basic kitchen skills and techniques, ultimately imbuing him with enough know-how to host a dinner party for family and friends—and brag that he'd cooked the meal himself.

An engaging chronicle of their seasons, Cooking with Amar'e features stories and more than 100 recipes, tips, and instructions on cooking techniques and preparation for home cooks at all levels. With delicious and easy-to-replicate meals, it allows beginners and practiced cooks to hone their kitchen skills and master dishes at their own pace. Amar'e proves that dads everywhere can be superstars in the kitchen.

In My TBR Stack:

Remember the Time: Protecting Michael Jackson in his Final Days
Bill Whitfield and Javon Beard with Tanner Colby
Weinstein Books
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

Hounded by the tabloid media, driven from his self-made sanctuary at Neverland, Michael Jackson spent his final years moving from city to city, living with his three children in virtual seclusion -- a futile attempt to escape a world that wouldn't leave him alone. During that time, two men served as the singer's personal security team: Bill Whitfield, a former cop and veteran of the security profession, and Javon Beard, a brash, untested rookie, both single fathers themselves.

Stationed at his side nearly 24/7, their job was to see and hear everything that transpired, and to keep everyone else out, making them the only two men who know what 60 million fans around the world still want to know: What really happened to the King of Pop?

Driven by a desire to show the world who Michael Jackson truly was, Whitfield and Beard have produced the only definitive, first-person account of Michael Jackson's last years: the extreme measures necessary to protect Jackson and his family, the simple moments of happiness they managed to share in a time of great stress, the special relationship Jackson shared with his fans, and the tragic events that culminated in the singer's ill-fated comeback, This Is It. The truth is fare more compelling than anything you've yet heard.

An indispensable piece of pop-culture history, Remember the Time is the story of a man struggling to live a normal life under extraordinary circumstances, the story of a father fighting to protect and provide for his children. Remember the Time is the book that dismantles the tabloid myths once and for all to give Michael Jackson back his humanity.

- - - - - - -

Experts in the field of private protection, Bill Whitfield and Javon Beard served for two and a half years  as the personal security team for Michael Jackson and have worked with numerous other high-profile clients, including Sean "P.Diddy" Combs, Alicia Keys, and Shaquille O'Neal.

Cowriter Tanner Colby, is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Chris Farley Show: A Biography in the Acts, Belushi: A Biography, and Some of My Best Friends are Black: The Strange Story of Integration in America, which was nominated for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction by the American Library Association. He is also a frequent contributor to Slate magazine.

On My Radar:

The Buy Side: A Wall Street Trader's Tale of Spectacular Excess
Turney Duff
Crown Business
Trade Paperback

From the publisher's website:

The Buy Side, by former Galleon Group trader Turney Duff, portrays an after-hours Wall Street culture where drugs and sex are rampant and billions in trading commissions flow to those who dangle the most enticements.  A remarkable writing debut, filled with indelible moments, The Buy Side shows as no book ever has the rewards – and dizzying temptations – of making a living on the Street.

Growing up in the 1980’s Turney Duff was your average kid from Kennebunk, Maine, eager to expand his horizons. After trying – and failing – to land a job as a journalist, he secured a trainee position at Morgan Stanley and got his first feel for the pecking order that exists in the trading pits.  Those on the “buy side,” the traders who make large bets on whether a stock will rise or fall, are the “alphas” and those on the “sell side,” the brokers who handle their business, are eager to please.

How eager to please was brought home stunningly to Turney in 1999 when he arrived at the Galleon Group, a colossal hedge-fund management firm run by secretive founder Raj Rajaratnam.  Finally in a position to trade on his own, Turney was encouraged to socialize with the sell side and siphon from his new broker friends as much information as possible.  Soon he was not just vacuuming up valuable tips but also being lured into a variety of hedonistic pursuits.  Naïve enough to believe he could keep up the lifestyle without paying a price, he managed to keep an eye on his buy-and-sell charts and, meanwhile, pondered the strange goings on at Galleon, where tens of millions were being made each week in sometimes mysterious ways.

At his next positions, at Argus Partners and J.L. Berkowitz, Turney climbed to even higher heights – and, as it turned out, plummeted to even lower depths – as, by day, he solidified his reputation one of the Street’s most powerful healthcare traders, and by night, he blazed a path through the city’s nightclubs, showing off his social genius and voraciously inhaling any drug that would fill the void he felt inside.

A mesmerizingly immersive journey through Wall Street’s first millennial decade, and a poignant self portrait by a young man who surely would have destroyed himself were it not for his decision to walk away from a seven-figure annual income, The Buy Side is one of the best coming-of-age-on-the-Street books ever written.

On My Radar:

Perfectly Miserable: Guilt, God, and Real Estate in a Small Town
Sarah Payne Stuart
Riverhead Books / Penguin
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

At eighteen, Sarah Payne Stuart fled her mother and all the other disapproving mothers of her too perfect hometown of Concord, Massachusetts, only to return years later when she had children of her own. Whether to defy the previous generation or finally earn their approval and enter their ranks, she hurled herself into upper-crust domesticity full throttle. In the twenty years Stuart spent back in her hometown—in a series of ever more magnificent houses in ever grander neighborhoods—she was
forced to connect with the cultural tradition of guilt and flawed parenting of a long legacy of local, literary women from Emerson’s wife, to Hawthorne’s, to the most famous and imposing of them all, Louisa May Alcott’s iconic, guilt-tripping Marmee.

When Stuart’s own mother dies, she realizes that there is no one left to approve or disapprove. And so, with her suddenly grown children fleeing as she herself once did, Stuart leaves her hometown for the final time, bidding good-bye to the cozy ideals invented for her by Louisa May Alcott so many years ago, which may or may not ever have been based in reality.

In My TBR Stack:

The Cringe Chronicles - Mortifying Misadventures with my Dad: A Memoir
Kristin Tougias & Michael Tougias
Black Rose Writing
Trade Paperback


From the publisher's website:

Told from two different perspectives, The Cringe Chronicles is a unique father-daughter memoir following teenager Kristin Tougias on her teenage tribulations and strange family vacations. Kristin’s father, author and travel writer Michael J. Tougias, is a bit eccentric and a true non-conformist who inadvertently adds to Kristin’s woes. At the end of each chapter chronicling their misadventures, Kristin’s father Michael gives his personal and humorous point of view, often quite different than his daughter’s. 

All teenagers are at times embarrassed by the actions of their parents, but because of Kristin’s father’s odd lifestyle, she is in a league of her own when it comes to cringe-worthy moments. Join Kristin and Michael on this very unique father-daughter journey! 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - 

This Father’s Day Look Back and Laugh

by Michael Tougias

Not many teenagers on the planet think their parents are cool. In fact, most probably think dear old dad is clueless on a number of fronts, from fashion, social issues and relationships to what really happens at school, and everything in between. When my daughter Kristin was a teenager she placed me in this clueless category, but Kristin was faced with an even greater challenge: I’m a bit eccentric, a non-conformist, and well known in our hometown because I’m an author and hosted a television show. Teens want their parents to blend in but try as I might, it’s just not in my DNA.

Part of my problem is that I’m frugal.  Let’s start with my clothes: I thought it was perfectly acceptable to apply Vaseline petroleum jelly to my sneakers to make them water-proof, to wear my short-shorts from the 1980’s because they were still in one piece, and to wear a pink-and-turquoise belly shirt of similar vintage when cutting the lawn.  And on really hot days, I’ll often wear no shirt at all. All of this, according to Kristin, is simply not acceptable for any father, but especially not for me because I have no belly-button.  Yes, it’s true: my umbilical cord broke away from my stomach during birth. If someone, such as one of Kristin’s friends, notices this lack of a belly button, I just say, “I was hatched.”  The friend would politely excuse herself, and of course later would ask Kristin what’s up with your Dad.  

Another item that seems to be important to teens but less so to me is the family car.  Kristin wanted the car to be a newer model, preferably an expensive one, but she would have settled for non-descript sedan as long as it was clean. My car, however, is neither.  I like to think of my ancient Subaru as my home on wheels because I travel so much researching, giving presentations or pursuing my outdoor hobbies such as fishing and gardening. Consequently the car has a bit more “stuff” in it than most. It always has a stash of food, ranging from spaghetti to M&M’s to watermelon. Some of the food invariably falls on the floor, where it might mingle with a freshly caught trout (or one I overlooked to remove from the car), a holly tree dug from the woods, or a bag of manure.  I also keep my electric shaver, dental floss, and a self-made “car bib” in the Subaru to keep myself well groomed and stain free. 

Having “mortified” my daughter with my outfits and cars, I now feel I can advise other Dads whose children will soon become teenagers: it’s not cool to pull up to your kid’s high school to pick them up in a smelly jalopy with plants coming out the windows.  And you should never exit the car, especially when you’ve just Vaselined your sneakers and have your favorite pair of short-shorts on.  You might get noticed – and that is not what your kid wants.  

Kristin claims that family vacations were especially tough on her, because we’d go stay at some god-forsaken place in the hills of northern new England which would take her away from her all-important social events like Jade’s pool party or Sara’s barbecue.  These, Kristin told me, are the places to be “seen” and also where the boys would be.  

It was during one these vacations up north where Kristin started recording in her journal just how bad the trip was.  She’d describe how the food was “glop,” how the pool was closed because some kid pooped in it, and how our cabin turned out to be a scorching “tin-can” mobile home. She expanded the journal to cover all our trips, and a few years later when she was 19 and in college (and away from Dear Old Dad) she read me parts of recollections and we both cracked up. That’s when we had the idea to write the Cringe Chronicles: Mortifying Misadventures With My Dad. Kristin wrote each chapter from her point of view, but I’d have my say too in “A Dad’s View.”

It took us a couple years to write the book, but something magical happened during that time.  Kristin’s teenage embarrassment over her father’s odd lifestyle was replaced by a combination of humor and appreciation. Instead of dreading a vacation with Dad, she actually encouraged me to join her (as long as she could plan the itinerary). Instead of cringing at the misadventures I caused, she embraced them, knowing even a “bad” trip is better than a boring trip.

So to all you Dads out there whose teenager thinks you’re a dork, hang in there. Your child just might surprise you when they are out on their own and emerge from the teen angst with a sense of humor.

(Michael Tougias is the author and co-author 23 books including Derek’s Gift: A True Story of Love, Courage and Lessons Learned, The Finest Hours --soon to be a Disney movie—and Rescue of the Bounty: Disaster and Survival In Superstorm Sandy.  The Cringe Chronicle is his first father/daughter collaboration.  www.michaeltougias.com) 

In My TBR Stack:

What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding: A Memoir
Kristin Newman
Crown Publishing / Three Rivers Press
Trade Paperback


From the publisher's website:

Kristin Newman spent much of her twenties and thirties buying dresses to wear to her friends' weddings and baby showers. Not ready to settle down and in need of an escape from her fast-paced job as a sitcom writer, Kristin instead traveled the world, often alone, for several weeks each year. In addition to falling madly in love with the planet, Kristin fell for many attractive locals, men who could provide the emotional connection she wanted without costing her the freedom she desperately needed. 

Kristin introduces readers to the Israeli bartenders, Finnish poker players, sexy Bedouins, and Argentinean priests who helped her transform into "Kristin-Adjacent" on the road–a slower, softer, and, yes, sluttier version of herself at home. Equal parts laugh-out-loud storytelling, candid reflection, and wanderlust-inspiring travel tales, What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding is a compelling debut that will have readers rushing to renew their passports. 

In My TBR Stack:

Beauty Queen: Inside the Reign of Avon's Andrea Jung
Deborrah Himsel
Palgrave Macmillan
Hardcover


From the publisher's website:

Andrea  Jung, the glamorous former  head of Avon, was arguably the world’s  most charismatic and effective CEO, credited with the astonishing turnaround  of the venerable brand. Avon’s  board was filled with tough-minded, successful CEOs and other high achievers, but when Jung walked into a room wearing her Chanel suit, custom- blended lipstick  and signature pearls, every head  turned  and she had them eating out of her hand. She seemed incapable of making a wrong move, until, amid declining sales, an investigation by the SEC, and a brand in crisis she stepped down in late 2012. In Beauty Queen, former Avon VP Deborrah Himsel uses Jung’s story as a case study for two timeless leadership questions: What  makes great leaders great? And what makes them fail? She explores both Jung’s early years of success as well as the combination  of missteps that led to her downfall, including her failure to nurture  Avon’s  direct selling channel, the erosion of trust that occurred as a result of frequent decision reversals, and her ignorance of operational details, including  how her people secured a license to conduct door-to-door  sales in China, that led to a federal investigation. Through  interviews with other CEOs, Avon executives past and present, and leadership experts, she explores the unique challenges Jung faced as a female Fortune 500 CEO; the thin line between pride and hubris; and the danger of the so-called “halo effect” in our high-stakes times.

In My TBR Stack:

The Yankee Way: Playing, Coaching, and My Life in Baseball
Willie Randolph
It Books / Dey Street Books
Hardcover


From the publisher's website:

From a dusty diamond in Brooklyn to the hallowed grounds of Yankee Stadium, Willie Randolph has always loved the game of baseball, and over the course of his storied career, he has amassed a remarkable list of accomplishments—All-Star second baseman, World Series champion, manager—but, above all, he has been a Yankee. For almost thirty years, Randolph was a part of Yankee lore and mythology, whether playing with the legends Thurman Munson and Reggie Jackson and witnessing the infamous Bronx Zoo at its rowdiest, or coaching as the Core Four of Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, and Jorge Posada rose to fame and ushered in a new era of Yankee dominance.

In his long-awaited memoir, Willie Randolph shares stories from his life in pinstripes, opening up about the team that raised him and the city that molded him. With unparalleled perspective into three generations of team history, the former Yankee captain offers fresh, firsthand insight into some of the greatest players to ever play the game and the greatest teams ever to call the Bronx their home. From Don Mattingly to Bernie Williams, Goose Gossage to Mariano Rivera, and Billy Martin to Joe Torre, Randolph presents a view of baseball history from the inside, describing how teams became dynasties and managers became legends—all in the shadow of the man who brought them together, the Boss, George Steinbrenner.

But though Randolph is a Yankee through and through, he is first and foremost a quintessential New Yorker. Brooklyn raised and groomed, he shares memories of a rise that could only happen in the Big Apple—from the projects of East New York to the house that Ruth built. Along the way, he discusses his triumphs and struggles on and off the field, as well as his time spent as manager of the Mets.

As fascinating and thoughtful as Randolph himself, The Yankee Way is a moving portrait of a legendary team, a unique city, and a remarkable man.

BookSpin Giveaway!

The Todd Glass Situation: A Bunch of Lies about My Personal Life and a Bunch of True Stories about My 30-Year Career in Standup Comedy
Todd Glass with Jonathan Grotenstein
Simon & Schuster
Hardcover


I have several copies to give away on BookSpin. To enter to win, retweet my tweets about the give away. My twitter name is @Book_Dude. US entries only, please.


Link to an excerpt from The Todd Glass Situation courtesy of Simon & Schuster


From the publisher's website:

A hilarious, poignant memoir from comedian Todd Glass about his decision at age forty-eight to finally live openly as a gay man—and the reactions and support from his comedy pals, from Louis CK to Sarah Silverman.

Growing up in a Philadelphia suburb in the 1970s was an easy life. Well, easy as long as you didn’t have dyslexia or ADD, or were a Jew. And once you added gay into the mix, life became more difficult. So Todd Glass decided to hide the gay part, no matter how comic, tragic, or comically tragic the results.

It might have been a lot easier had he chosen a profession other than stand-up comedy. By age eighteen, Todd was opening for big musical acts like George Jones and Patti LaBelle. His career carried him through the Los Angeles comedy heyday in the 1980s, its decline in the 1990s, and its rebirth via the alternative comedy scene and the explosion in podcasting. But the harder he worked at his craft, the more difficult it became to manage his “situation.” There were the years of abstinence and half-hearted attempts to “cure” himself. The fake girlfriends so that he could tell relationship jokes onstage. The staged sexual encounters to burnish his reputation offstage. It took a brush with death to cause him to rethink the way he was living his life; a rash of suicides among gay teens to convince him that it was finally time to come out to the world.

Now, Todd has written an open, honest, and hilarious memoir in an effort to help everyone—young and old, gay and straight—breathe a little more freely. Peppered with anecdotes from his life among comedy’s greatest headliners and tales of the occasionally insane lengths Todd went through to keep a secret that—let’s face it—he probably didn’t have to keep for as long as he did, The Todd Glass Situation is a front-row seat to the last thirty plus years of comedy history and a deeply personal story about one man’s search for acceptance.

On My Radar:

Within Arm's Length: A Secret Service Agent's Definitive Inside Account of Protecting the President
Dan Emmett
St. Martin's Press
Hardcover


From the publisher's website:

Dan Emmett was just eight years old when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. The events surrounding the President's death shaped the course of young Emmett's life as he set a goal of becoming a US Secret Service agent—one of a special group of people willing to trade their lives for that of the President, if necessary. 

Within Arm's Length is a revealing and compelling inside look at the Secret Service and the elite Presidential Protective Division (PPD). With stories from some of the author's more high-profile assignments in his twenty-one years of service, where he provided arm's length protection worldwide for Presidents George Herbert Walker Bush, William Jefferson Clinton, and George W. Bush, both as a member of the PPD and the Counter Assault Team, Dan Emmett describes the professional, physical and emotional challenges faced by Secret Service agents. Included are never before discussed topics such as the complicated relationship between presidents, first ladies and their agents, the inner workings of Secret Service protective operations as well as the seldom-mentioned challenges of the complex Secret Service cultural issues faced by an agent’s family. Within Arm's Length also shares firsthand details about conducting presidential advances, dealing with the media, driving the President in a bullet-proof limousine, running alongside him through the streets of Washington, and flying with him on Air Force One.

Within Arm’s Length is the essential book on the United States Secret Service. This revealing and compelling inside look at the Presidential Protective Division, along with spellbinding stories from the author’s career, gives the reader an unprecedented look in to the life and career of an agent in America’s most elite law enforcement agency.

Now in Paperback:

Run, Brother, Run: A Memoir of a Murder in My Family
David Berg
Scribner Books
Trade Paperback


From the publisher's website:

A searing family memoir, hailed as “remarkable” (The New York Times), “compelling” (People), and “engrossing” (Kirkus Reviews), of a trial lawyer’s tempestuous boyhood in Texas that led to the vicious murder of his brother by the father of actor Woody Harrelson.

In 1968, David Berg’s brother, Alan, was murdered by Charles Harrelson, a notorious hit man and father of Woody Harrelson. Alan was only thirty-one when he disappeared (David was twenty-six) and for more than six months his family did not know what had happened to him—until his remains were found in a ditch in Texas. There was an eyewitness to the murder: Charles Harrelson’s girlfriend, who agreed to testify. For his defense, Harrelson hired Percy Foreman, then the most famous criminal lawyer in America. Despite the overwhelming evidence against him, Harrelson was acquitted.

After burying his brother all those years ago, David Berg rarely talked about him. Yet in 2008 he began to remember and research Alan’s life and death. The result is Run, Brother, Run: part memoir—about growing up Jewish in 1950s Texas and Arkansas—and part legal story, informed by Berg’s experience as a seasoned lawyer. Writing with cold-eyed grief and a wild, lacerating humor, Berg tells us first about the striving Jewish family that created Alan Berg and set him on a course for self-destruction, and then about the miscarriage of justice when Berg’s murderer was acquitted.

David Berg brings us a painful family history, a portrait of an iconic American place, and a true-crime courtroom murder drama that “elegantly brings to life the rough-and-tumble boomtown that was 1960s-era Houston, and conveys with unflinching force the emotional damage his brother’s death did to his family” (The New York Times).

BookSpin Giveaway!

Sundays at Eight: 25 Years of Stories from C-Span's Q&A and Booknotes
Brian Lamb
Public Affairs
Hardcover

Public Affairs has graciously provided 3 copies of Sundays at Eight for giveaway on BookSpin.  To enter to win tell me your favorite nonfiction book of all time in a tweet.  My twitter name is @Book_Dude.  US entries only, please.

From the publisher's website:

For the last 25 years, Sunday nights at 8pm on C-SPAN has been appointment television for many Americans. During that time, host Brian Lamb has invited people to his Capitol Hill studio for hour-long conversations about contemporary society and history. In today’s soundbite culture that hour remains one of television’s last vestiges of in-depth, civil conversation.

First came C-SPAN’s Booknotes in 1989, which by the time it ended in December 2004, was the longest-running author-interview program in American broadcast history. Many of the most notable nonfiction authors of its era were featured over the course of 800 episodes, and the conversations became a defining hour for the network and for nonfiction writers.

In My TBR Stack:

Alive! Extraordinary Stories of Ordinary People Who Survived Deadly Tornadoes, Avalanches, Shipwrecks and More
Reader's Digest
Hardcover

From the book publicity:

Alive! is a heart-stopping collection of survival stories from the archives of Reader’s Digest’s ‘Drama in Real Life’ series. Readers will be on the edge of their seats as they are drawn into the dramatic tales of everyday people suddenly cast into life or death situations.

Editors have mined the Reader’s Digest archives to bring readers Alive! Extraordinary Stories of Ordinary People Who Survived Deadly Tornadoes, Avalanches, Shipwrecks and More. In “Super Storm,” Rick Gregory, an off-duty patrolman watches an F3 tornado ravage his small Tennessee town where split-second decisions make the difference between life and death. In “Avalanche!” Luke Edgar, a young father and backcountry snowboarder goes out with a buddy for a fun day on Mt. Rainier and gets buried alive in an avalanche. “Swarm,” tells the story of the Walker family, out for a day trip in the Florida marsh when they get entangled in a yellow-jacket nest. The mother, Debbie, fighting anaphylactic shock must leave her injured husband and children in order to find help as time runs out. Adventure writer Tim Cahill recounts how he barely survives the extreme heat of Death Valley despite his experience as an outdoorsman in “Across the Valley of Fire”; and in “Pacific Cyclone,” Tony Farrington tells the harrowing story of the crews of three sailboats who run into an unimaginable storm in the normally calm South Pacific. Whether out on a planned adventure or simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, the heroes of these stories are connected by their fierce desire to survive against all odds. Wildfires, blizzards, attacks by grizzlies, jet crashes in the jungle, are just some of the conditions people face in these stories of survival. Readers will be on the edge of their seats as they follow adventurers and laymen alike as they face down nature’s fury in the most extreme circumstances, and find strength they didn’t know they had, proving the depth and resilience of the human spirit. As Tim Cahill so elegantly puts it, “Then I knew, really knew, that there is a way to get from one extreme to the other, the peaks and valleys. And there is a beauty so fierce only savage emotions like fear and triumph allow us to see it.” 

On My Radar:

Good Hunting: An American Spymaster's Story
Jack Devine with Vernon Loeb
Sarah Crichton Books
Hardcover


From the publisher's webpage:

Jack Devine ran Charlie Wilson’s War in Afghanistan. It was the largest covert action of the Cold War, and it was Devine who put the brand-new Stinger missile into the hands of the mujahideen during their war with the Soviets, paving the way to a decisive victory against the Russians. He also pushed the CIA’s effort to run down the narcotics trafficker Pablo Escobar in Colombia. He tried to warn the director of central intelligence, George Tenet, that there was a bullet coming from Iraq with his name on it. He was in Chile when Allende fell, and he had too much to do with Iran-Contra for his own taste, though he tried to stop it. And he tangled with Rick Ames, the KGB spy inside the CIA, and hunted Robert Hanssen, the mole in the FBI.

       Good Hunting: An American Spymaster’s Story is the spellbinding memoir of Devine’s time in the Central Intelligence Agency, where he served for more than thirty years, rising to become the acting deputy director of operations, responsible for all of the CIA’s spying operations. This is a story of intrigue and high-stakes maneuvering, all the more gripping when the fate of our geopolitical order hangs in the balance. But this book also sounds a warning to our nation’s decision makers: covert operations, not costly and devastating full-scale interventions, are the best safeguard of America’s interests worldwide.

       Part memoir, part historical redress, Good Hunting debunks outright some of the myths surrounding the Agency and cautions against its misuses. Beneath the exotic allure—living abroad with his wife and six children, running operations in seven countries, and serving successive presidents from Nixon to Clinton—this is a realist, gimlet-eyed account of the Agency. Now, as Devine sees it, the CIA is trapped within a larger bureaucracy, losing swaths of turf to the military, and, most ominous of all, is becoming overly weighted toward paramilitary operations after a decade of war. Its capacity to do what it does best—spying and covert action—has been seriously degraded.

       Good Hunting sheds light on some of the CIA’s deepest secrets and spans an illustrious tenure—and never before has an acting deputy director of operations come forth with such an account. With the historical acumen of Steve Coll’s Ghost Wars and gripping scenarios that evoke the novels of John le Carré even as they hew closely to the facts on the ground, Devine offers a master class in spycraft.

BookSpin Giveaway!

Good Manners for Nice People Who Sometimes Say F*ck
Amy Alkon
St. Martins Griffin
Trade Paperback

I have one copy of GOOD MANNERS to give away on BookSpin.  To enter to win, tweet me the one rude thing other people do that drive you nuts.  My twitter name is @Book_Dude.  US entries only.

From the publisher's website:

We live in a world that’s very different from the one in which Emily Post came of age. Many of us who are nice (but who also sometimes say "f*ck") are frequently at a loss for guidelines about how to be a good person who deals effectively with the increasing onslaught of rudeness we all encounter. 

To lead us out of the miasma of modern mannerlessness, science-based and bitingly funny syndicated advice columnist Amy Alkon rips the doily off the manners genre and gives us a new set of rules for our twenty-first century lives. 

With wit, style, and a dash of snark, Alkon explains that we

now live in societies too big for our brains, lacking the constraints on bad behavior that we had in the small bands we evolved in. Alkon shows us how we can reimpose those constraints, how we can avoid being one of the rude, and how to stand up to those who are. 

Foregoing prissy advice on which utensil to use, Alkon answers the twenty-first century’s most burning questions about manners, including:

* Why do many people, especially those under forty, now find spontaneous phone calls rude?

* What can you tape to your mailbox to stop dog walkers from letting their pooch violate your lawn?

* How do you shut up the guy in the pharmacy line with his cellphone on speaker?

* What small gift to your new neighbors might make them think twice about playing Metallica at 3 a.m.?

Combining science with more than a touch of humor, Good Manners for Nice People Who Sometimes Say F*ck is destined to give good old Emily a shove off the etiquette shelf (if that’s not too rude to say).

BookSpin Giveaway!

Trauma Red: The Making of a Surgeon in War and in America's Cities
Peter Rhee with Gordon Dillow
Scribner
Hardcover

Scribner books has graciously allocated two copies of TRAUMA RED for giveaway on BookSpin.  To enter to win, please retweet my tweets about the book.  My twitter name is @Book_Dude.  US entries only, please.

From the publisher's website:

The incredible life story of the trauma surgeon who helped save Congresswoman Gabby Giffords­—from his upbringing in South Korea and Africa to the gripping dramas he faces in a typical day as a medical genius.

Congresswoman Gabby Giffords is a household name: most people remember that awful day in Arizona in 2011 when she was a victim of an act of violence that left six dead and thirteen wounded. What many people don’t know is that it was Dr. Peter Rhee who played a vital role in her survival.

Born in South Korea, Rhee moved with his family to Uganda where he watched his public health surgeon father remove a spear from a man’s belly—and began his lifelong interest in medicine. What came next is this compelling portrait of how one becomes a world class trauma surgeon: the specialized training, the mindset to make critical decisions, and the practiced ability to operate on the human body. Dr. Rhee is so eminent that when President Clinton traveled to China, he was selected to accompany the president as his personal physician. In Trauma Red we learn how Rhee’s experiences were born from the love and sacrifices of determined parents, and of Rhee’s own quest to become as excellent a surgeon as possible.

Trauma Red chronicles the patient cases Dr. Rhee has handled over two decades on two distinct battle fronts: In Iraq and Afghanistan, where he served as a frontline US Navy surgeon trying to save young American soldiers, and the urban zones of Los Angeles and Washington, DC, where he has been confronted by an endless stream of bloody victims of civilian violence and accidents. Tough and outspoken, Dr. Rhee isn’t afraid to take on the politics of violence in America and a medical community that too often resists innovation. His story provides an inside look into a fascinating medical world, a place where lives are saved every day.

BookSpin Giveaway!

The Fixer: The Notorious Life of a Front-Page Bail Bondsman
Ira Judelson with Daniel Paisner
Touchstone Books
Hardcover

Touchstone Books has graciously allotted several copies of THE FIXER for give away on BookSpin.  To enter to win, please retweet my tweets about the giveaway.  My twitter name is @Book_Dude. US entries only, please.

From the publisher's website:

From New York’s foremost bail bondsman with “over $30 million on the street” comes the story of a modern-day “fixer” who walks a fine line between hustler and humanitarian with clients ranging from the rich and famous to the mafia and gangs of New York.

With from-the-gut prose, Ira Judelson sheds light on the highs and lows of the bondsman life. But Judelson is no process server. He sees himself as a sort of modern day “macher”—using his juice as a bail bondsman to help friends old and new out of jams wherever he can. He is also a keenly observant and wildly charismatic insider who’s seen it all.

Prepare to be shocked, but also informed in The Fixer as Judelson reveals the unwritten laws of the courtroom and even prison—not to mention the shameless activities of his unbelievable list of clients, including former New York Giants Plaxico Burress and Lawrence Taylor; rappers Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Ja Rule, Lil’ Wayne, and DMX; comedian Katt Williams; notorious Manhattan madam Kristin Davis; and former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn. You’ll see why the New York Times describes Judelson as “an inevitable entry in the BlackBerrys of New York defense lawyers, an ATM for desperate rappers, actors, athletes, executives, and madams with pocketbooks much fatter than his.”

The Fixer is a rollicking narrative that follows Judelson as he learns the ins and outs of the down-and-dirty world of bonds: which judge might let you slide, which ones have zero tolerance, which lawyers do pro bono for the right case, and the cops and DAs who believe in second chances. Judelson illuminates a world almost entirely opaque to the general public, but also entertains and informs with the inside scoop on the underbelly of the justice system.

On My Radar:

Carsick: John Waters Hitchhikes Across America
John Waters
Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

John Waters is putting his life on the line. Armed with wit, a pencil-thin mustache, and a cardboard sign that reads “I’m Not Psycho,” he hitchhikes across America from Baltimore to San Francisco, braving lonely roads and treacherous drivers. But who should we be more worried about, the delicate film director with genteel manners or the unsuspecting travelers transporting the Pope of Trash?

     Before he leaves for this bizarre adventure, Waters fantasizes about the best and worst possible scenarios: a friendly drug dealer hands over piles of cash to finance films with no questions asked, a demolition-derby driver makes a filthy sexual request in the middle of a race, a gun-toting drunk terrorizes and holds him hostage, and a Kansas vice squad entraps and throws him in jail. So what really happens when this cult legend sticks out his thumb and faces the open road? His real-life rides include a gentle eighty-one-year-old farmer who is convinced Waters is a hobo, an indie band on tour, and the perverse filmmaker’s unexpected hero: a young, sandy-haired Republican in a Corvette.

     Laced with subversive humor and warm intelligence, Carsick is an unforgettable vacation with a wickedly funny companion—and a celebration of America’s weird, astonishing, and generous citizenry.