Triumphs of a Herd's Girl

Madam Leah's Life Against All Odds
by Catherine Makhanu
CreateSpace
Trade Paperback

From the publisher's website:

Educational opportunities were few and far between for rural Kenyans living under British colonial rule in the 1940s. For women, such opportunities were practically nonexistent.

As a young girl watching over her father’s cattle, sheep, and goats, Madam Leah longed for an education. At thirteen, she made the daring decision to pursue learning, despite the odds in her way.

Her age and gender were obstacles. Her impressive height led to bullying and teasing from her fellow students, but Madam Leah persevered. She valued education too much to fail.

Triumphs of a Herd’s Girl recounts Madam Leah’s journey from humble goatherd to teacher, eventually serving twenty years as headmistress of a local primary school, cofounding women’s organizations, and helping needy children receive the education they so desperately needed.

Catherine Makhanu, Madam Leah’s oldest daughter, remembers her mother in this inspiring memoir: A woman who ensured her seven children all received college educations. A woman who was an exceptional farmer, teacher, and humanitarian. A woman who began as a young girl watching over her father’s herds and dreaming of a better life.

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Whatever...Love is Love

Questioning the Labels We Give Ourselves
by Maria Bello
Dey Streeet Books
Trade Paperback

From the publisher's website:

The acclaimed actress and dedicated activist shares her personal journey of discovery, and destroys outdated ideas about partnership, love and family that will resonate with anyone in an unconventional life situation.

Actress and activist Maria Bello made waves with her essay, “Coming Out as a Modern Family,” in the New York Times popular “Modern Love” column, in which she recalled telling her son that she had fallen in love with her best friend, a woman—and her relief at his easy and immediate acceptance with the phrase “Whatever Mom, love is love.” She made a compelling argument about the fluidity of partnerships, and how families today come in a myriad of designs.

In her first book, Bello broadens her insights as she examines the idea of partnership in every woman’s life, and her own. She examines the myths that so many of us believe about partnership—that the partnership begins when the sex begins, that partnerships are static, that you have to love yourself before you can be loved, and turns them on their heads. Bello explores how many different relationships—romantic, platonic, spiritual, familial, educational—helped define her life. She encourages women to realize that the only labels we have are the ones we put on ourselves, and the best, happiest partnerships are the ones that make your life better, even if they don’t fit the mold of “typical.”

Throughout this powerful and engaging read, Bello shares intimate stories and lessons on how she has come to discover her happiest self, accept who she is, and live honestly and freely, and tells the stories of those who came to her after her Times’ columns, grateful that someone gave voice to their life choices.

Whatever...Love Is Love is not a memoir about an actress. It is a frank, raw, and honest book about the way every woman questions the roles she plays in love, work, and life, filled with wisdom, questions, and insights relevant to us all.

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Diary of a Madman

The Geto Boys, Life, Death, and the Roots of Southern Rap
by Brad "Scarface" Jordan with Benjamin Meadows-Ingram
Dey Street Books
Trade Paperback

From the publisher's website:


From Geto Boys legend and renowned storyteller Scarface, comes a passionate memoir about how hip-hop changed the life of a kid from the south side of Houston, and how he rose to the top-and ushered in a new generation of rap dominance. 
Scarface is the celebrated rapper whose hits include "On My Block," "Mind Playing Tricks on Me" and "Damn It Feels Good to be a Gangsta" (made famous in the cult film Office Space). The former president of Def Jam South, he's collaborated with everyone from Kanye West, Ice Cube and Nas, and had many solo hits such as "Guess Who's Back" feat. Jay-Z and "Smile" feat. Tupac. But before that, he was a kid from Houston in love with rock-and-roll, listening to AC/DC and KISS.


In Diary of a Madman, Scarface shares how his world changed when he heard Run DMC for the first time; how he dropped out of school in the ninth grade and started selling crack; and how he began rapping as the new form of music made its way out of New York and across the country. It is the account of his rise to the heights of the rap world, as well as his battles with his own demons and depression. Passionately exploring and explaining the roots and influences of rap culture, Diary of a Madman is the story of hip-hop-the music, the business, the streets, and life on the south side Houston, Texas.



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Life is Not an Accident

A Memoir of Reinvention
by Jay Williams
Harper Books
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

This big-hearted memoir by the most promising professional basketball player of his generation details his rise to NBA stardom, the terrible accident that ended his career and plunged him into a life-altering depression, and how he ultimately found his way out of the darkness.

Ten years ago, Jay Williams was at the beginning of a brilliant professional basketball career. The Chicago Bulls’ top draft pick—and the second pick of the entire draft—he had the great Michael Jordan’s locker. Then he ran his high-performance motorcycle head-on into a light pole, severely damaging himself and ending his career.

In this intense, hard-hitting, and deeply profound memoir, Williams talks about the accident that transformed him. Sometimes, the memories are so fresh, he feels like he’ll never escape the past. Most days, he finds a quiet peace as a commentator on ESPN and as an entrepreneur who can only look back in astonishment at his younger self—a kid who had it all, thought he was invincible, and lost everything . . . only to gain new wisdom.

Williams also shares behind the scenes details of life as an All-American. He tells it straight about the scandalous recruiting process and his decision to return to Duke and Coach K—a man who taught him about accountability—to finish his education. He also speaks out about corruption—among coaches, administrators, players, and alumni—and about his time in the NBA, introducing us to a dark underworld culture in the pros: the gambling, drugs, and sex in every city, with players on every team.

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Happy Habits

Energize Your Career and Life in 4 Minutes a Day
by Vicki Morris

Inspired Work LLC
Trade Paperback

From the publisher's website:

Have you been looking for a something new like a new job, a new company or a new career to make you happier and still feel the same a few months after you get it?

If so, then maybe it’s time to try a new approach. Author and Career Happiness Coach, Vicki Morris, is here to show us that we have the power to be happy now –within ourselves in the present moment. All we have to do is change our mindset and a few daily habits.

The key to success is to build energy-raising habits into our day so that we can become happier – no matter what our job or career situation is. Once we get in touch with our happiness within we will experience more happiness at our current job or be able to attract a new career that will keep us happy. Skipping this critical step is likely to result in the same cycle of unhappiness.

Happy Habits provides a fast, easy and effective way to deliver the needed energy and happiness boosts in just 4 minutes a day. The Happy Habit Method™ works because it combines proven happiness practices with a scientific habit creation method, which has been tested in the real world.

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The Narrow Door

A Memoir of Friendship
by Paul Lisicky
Graywolf Press
Trade Paperback

From the publisher's website:

In The Narrow Door, Paul Lisicky creates a compelling collage of scenes and images drawn from two long-term relationships, one with a woman novelist and the other with his ex-husband, a poet. The contours of these relationships shift constantly. Denise and Paul, stretched by the demands of their writing lives, drift apart, and Paul’s romance begins to falter. And the world around them is frail: environmental catastrophes like the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, natural disasters like the earthquake in Haiti, and local disturbances make an unsettling backdrop to the pressing concerns of Denise’s cancer diagnosis and Paul’s impending breakup. Lisicky’s compassionate heart and resilience seem all the stronger in the face of such searing losses. His survival—hard-won, unsentimental, authentic—proves that in turning toward loss, we embrace life.

The Book of Love

Improvisations on a Crazy Little Thing
by Roger Rosenblatt
Ecco Books
Trade Paperback

From the publisher's website:

The beloved New York Times bestselling author Making Toast and Kayak Morning returns with a powerful meditation on a universal subject: love.

In The Book of Love, Roger Rosenblatt explores love in all its moods and variations—romantic love, courtship, battle, mystery, marriage, heartbreak, fury, confusion, melancholy, delirium, ecstasy; love of family, of friends; love of home, of country, of work, of writing, of solitude, of art; love of nature; love of life itself.

Rosenblatt is on a quest to illuminate this elusive and essential emotion, to define this thing called love. Cleverly using lines from love songs to create a flowing ballad—as infectious and engaging as a jazz riff—he intersperses fictional vignettes that capture lovers in different situations, ages, and temperaments along with notes addressed to “you,” his wife of fifty years. “The story I have to tell is of you. Of others, too. Other people, other things. But mainly of you. It begins and ends with you. It always comes back to you.”

Lively yet profound, poignant yet joyous, The Book of Love is a triumph of intellect and imagination: a personal discourse on love that is both novel and timeless.

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The Road to Little Dribbling

Adventures of an American in Britain
by Bill Bryson
Doubleday
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

Twenty years ago, Bill Bryson went on a trip around Britain to discover and celebrate that green and pleasant land. The result was Notes from a Small Island, a true classic and one of the bestselling travel books ever written. Now he has traveled about Britain again, by bus and train and rental car and on foot, to see what has changed—and what hasn’t.

Following (but not too closely) a route he dubs the Bryson Line, from Bognor Regis in the south to Cape Wrath in the north, by way of places few travelers ever get to at all, Bryson rediscovers the wondrously beautiful, magnificently eccentric, endearingly singular country that he both celebrates and, when called for, twits. With his matchless instinct for the funniest and quirkiest and his unerring eye for the idiotic, the bewildering, the appealing, and the ridiculous, he offers acute and perceptive insights into all that is best and worst about Britain today.

Nothing is more entertaining than Bill Bryson on the road—and on a tear. The Road to Little Dribbling reaffirms his stature as a master of the travel narrative—and a really, really funny guy.

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50 Plus!

Critical Career Decisions for the Rest of Your Life
by Robert L. Dilenschneider
Citadel Press
Trade Paperback

From the publisher's website:


Age Is No Barrier to Success.

The rules of the business world are being rewritten—again—and Americans over 50 need to refresh their skill sets to meet the challenge of competing in a changing job market. Renowned workplace communications expert Robert L. Dilenschneider has completely revised and updated this indispensable guide to getting ahead in today’s volatile economy. 

50 Plus! offers essential guidance to help those at or near the mature stage of their careers. In these pages, you’ll learn how to: 

Use new technology platforms effectively to find your next job

Master emerging communications tools to position yourself for a winning interview

Whether you intend to find a new career direction, grow within the field you know, start your own business, or are finally ready to realize a long-held dream, this inspiring and fact-filled guide provides a game plan for success.

BookSpin Review

Walking Distance: Pilgrimage, Parenthood, Grief, and Home Repairs
by David Hlavsa
Michigan State University Press
Trade Paperback

As every reader knows, every once in a while a book takes you by surprise.

I don't know about you, but when I begin reading a book I do so with preconceived notions. I can be really excited to read it and have high expectations for its goodness, or I can be reading it because I have promised to consider writing a review and therefore do not have the same high hopes.  A third option occurs to me: the reader's lament.  Sometimes there is nothing better to read to be found after a thorough search of the house so we are forced to pick up whatever tome is close at hand.  This third option is often barely preferable to a nap.

When I promised to take a look at WALKING DISTANCE, I wasn't expecting to be charmed, but I was. The subtitle, "Pilgrimage, Parenthood, Grief, and Home Repairs," caused a wrinkled brow and a smidge of curiosity. From my own perspective I can see parenthood and grief co-mingling, but pilgrimage and home repair weren't easily linked in my lazy brain.

But, charmed I was. David Hlavsa achieves what I see as the most difficult task for a non-famous memoirist.-- he makes the reader care about his life story. To be more precise, the story of his and his wife's walk of the Camino de Santiago and their life before, during, and after the more than 400-mile journey.

A perfect blend of real-life, humor, and breadcrumbs of emotion make WALKING DISTANCE a terrific read. A real test of a book for me is if I can't wait to get back to reading after a break (sleep, work, etc.) and  if I'm sad there isn't a sequel when I'm done.  This book succeeds every step of the way.

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Skeptic

Viewing the World with a Rational Eye
by Michael Shermer
Henry Holt and Co.
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

For fifteen years, bestselling author Michael Shermer has written a column in Scientific American magazine that synthesizes scientific concepts and theory for a general audience. His trademark combination of deep scientific understanding and entertaining writing style has thrilled his huge and devoted audience for years. Now, in Skeptic, seventy-five of these columns are available together for the first time; a welcome addition for his fans and a stimulating introduction for new readers.

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The Right Kind of Crazy

A True Story of Teamwork, Leadership, and High-Stakes Innovation
by Adam Steltzner with William Patrick
Portfolio Books
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:



The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is home to some of history’s most jaw-dropping feats of engineering. When NASA needed to land Curiosity—a 2,000-pound, $2.5 billion rover—on the surface of Mars, 140 million miles away, they turned to JPL. Steltzner’s team couldn’t test their kooky solution, the Sky Crane. They were on an unmissable deadline, and the world would be watching when they succeeded—or failed.

At the helm of this effort was an unlikely rocket scientist and accidental leader, Adam Steltzner. After barely graduating from high school, he followed his curiosity to the local community college to find out why the stars moved. Soon he discovered an astonishing gift for math and physics. After getting his Ph.D. he ensconced himself within JPL, NASA’s decidedly unbureaucratic cousin, where success in a mission is the only metric that matters.

The Right Kind of Crazy is a first-person account of innovation that is relevant to any­one working in science, art, or technology. For instance, Steltzner describes:

·How his team learned to switch from fear-based to curiosity-based decision making
·How to escape “The Dark Room”—the creative block caused by fear, uncertainty, and the lack of a clear path forward
·How to tell when we’re too in love with our own ideas to be objective about them—and, conversely, when to fight for them
·How to foster mutual respect within teams while still bashing bad ideas

The Right Kind of Crazy is a book for anyone who wants to channel their craziness into creativity, balance discord and harmony, and find a signal in a flood of noise.

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The Past

A Novel
by Tessa Hadley
Harper Books
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

In her most accessible, commercial novel yet, the “supremely perceptive writer of formidable skill and intelligence (New York Times Book Review) turns her astute eye to a dramatic family reunion, where simmering tensions and secrets come to a head over three long, hot summer weeks.

With five novels and two collections of stories, Tessa Hadley has earned a reputation as a fiction writer of remarkable gifts. She brings all of her considerable skill and an irresistible setup to The Past, a novel in which three sisters, a brother, and their children assemble at their country house.

These three weeks may be their last time there; the upkeep is prohibitive, and they may be forced to sell this beloved house filled with memories of their shared past (their mother took them there to live when she left their father). Yet beneath the idyllic pastoral surface, hidden passions, devastating secrets, and dangerous hostilities threaten to consume them.

Sophisticated and sleek, Roland’s new wife (his third) arouses his sisters’ jealousies and insecurities. Kasim, the twenty-year-old son of Alice’s ex-boyfriend, becomes enchanted with Molly, Roland’s sixteen-year-old daughter. Fran’s young children make an unsettling discovery in a dilapidated cottage in the woods that shatters their innocence. Passion erupts where it’s least expected, leveling the quiet self-possession of Harriet, the eldest sister.

Over the course of this summer holiday, the family’s stories and silences intertwine, small disturbances build into familial crises, and a way of life—bourgeois, literate, ritualized, Anglican—winds down to its inevitable end.

With subtle precision and deep compassion, Tessa Hadley brilliantly evokes a brewing storm of lust and envy, the indelible connections of memory and affection, the fierce, nostalgic beauty of the natural world, and the shifting currents of history running beneath the surface of these seemingly steady lives. The result is a novel of breathtaking skill and scope that showcases this major writer’s extraordinary talents.

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How to Be Alive

This book currently resides in my TBR stack.  I hope to read and review this book very soon.  Stay tuned....

A Guide to the Kind of Happiness That Helps the World
by Colin Beavan
Dey Street Books
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:



“This is the book where self-help turns into helping the world—and then turns back into helping yourself find a better life. Fascinating and timely!”—Bill McKibben, author of Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet

What does it take to achieve a successful and satisfying life? Not long ago, the answer seemed as simple as following a straightforward path: college, career, house, marriage, kids, and a secure retirement. Not anymore. Staggering student loan debt, sweeping job shortages, a chronically ailing economy—plus the larger issues of global unrest, poverty, and our imperiled environment—make the search for fulfillment more challenging. And, as Colin Beavan, activist and author of No Impact Man, proclaims, more exciting.

In this breakthrough book, Beavan extends a hand to those seeking more meaning and joy in life even as they engage in addressing our various world crises. How to Be Alive nudges the unfulfilled toward creating their own version of the Good Life—a life where feeling good and doing good intersect. He urges readers to reexamine the “standard life approaches” to pretty much everything and to experiment with life choices that are truer to their values, passions, and concerns.

How do you stop placing limits on your potential impact? How do you make your choices really matter in everything from your clothing purchases to your career? How do you find the people who will most support you in your quest for a good life? To answer these questions and more, Beavan draws on classic literature and philosophy; surprising new scientific findings; and the uplifting personal stories of real-life “lifequesters”—people who are breaking away from those old broken paths, blazing fresh trails, and reveling in every step along the way.

“There is a movement afoot for a better life and Colin Beavan is its prophet, with a new book as powerful as his already classic No Impact Man.”—John de Graaf, coauthor of Affluenza


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