In My TBR Stack:

The Wars of the Roosevelts: The Ruthless Rise of America's Greatest Political Family
by William J. Mann
Harper Books
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

The award-winning author presents a provocative, thoroughly modern revisionist biographical history of one of America’s greatest and most influential families—the Roosevelts—exposing heretofore unknown family secrets and detailing complex family rivalries with his signature cinematic flair.

Drawing on previously hidden historical documents and interviews with the long-silent "illegitimate" branch of the family, William J. Mann paints an elegant, meticulously researched, and groundbreaking group portrait of this legendary family. Mann argues that the Roosevelts’ rise to power and prestige was actually driven by a series of intense personal contest that at times devolved into blood sport. His compelling and eye-opening masterwork is the story of a family at war with itself, of social Darwinism at its most ruthless—in which the strong devoured the weak and repudiated the inconvenient.

Mann focuses on Eleanor Roosevelt, who, he argues, experienced this brutality firsthand, witnessing her Uncle Theodore cruelly destroy her father, Elliott—his brother and bitter rival—for political expediency. Mann presents a fascinating alternate picture of Eleanor, contending that this "worshipful niece" in fact bore a grudge against TR for the rest of her life, and dares to tell the truth about her intimate relationships without obfuscations, explanations, or labels.

Mann also brings into focus Eleanor’s cousins, TR’s children, whose stories propelled the family rivalry but have never before been fully chronicled, as well as her illegitimate half-brother, Elliott Roosevelt Mann, who inherited his family’s ambition and skill without their name and privilege. Growing up in poverty just miles from his wealthy relatives, Elliott Mann embodied the American Dream, rising to middle-class prosperity and enjoying one of the very few happy, long-term marriages in the Roosevelt saga. For the first time, The Wars of the Roosevelts also includes the stories of Elliott’s daughter and grandchildren, and never-before-seen photographs from their archives.

Deeply psychological and finely rendered, illustrated with sixteen pages of black-and-white photographs, The Wars of the Roosevelts illuminates not only the enviable strengths but also the profound shame of this remarkable and influential family.

In My TBR Stack:

Krazy: George Herriman, A Life in Black and White
by Michael Tisserand
Harper Books
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

In the tradition of Schulz and Peanuts, an epic and revelatory biography of Krazy Kat creator George Herriman that explores the turbulent time and place from which he emerged—and the deep secret he explored through his art.

The creator of the greatest comic strip in history finally gets his due—in an eye-opening biography that lays bare the truth about his art, his heritage, and his life on America’s color line. A native of nineteenth-century New Orleans, George Herriman came of age as an illustrator, journalist, and cartoonist in the boomtown of Los Angeles and the wild metropolis of New York. Appearing in the biggest newspapers of the early twentieth century—including those owned by William Randolph Hearst—Herriman’s Krazy Kat cartoons quickly propelled him to fame. Although fitfully popular with readers of the period, his work has been widely credited with elevating cartoons from daily amusements to anarchic art.

Herriman used his work to explore the human condition, creating a modernist fantasia that was inspired by the landscapes he discovered in his travels—from chaotic urban life to the Beckett-like desert vistas of the Southwest. Yet underlying his own life—and often emerging from the contours of his very public art—was a very private secret: known as "the Greek" for his swarthy complexion and curly hair, Herriman was actually African American, born to a prominent Creole family that hid its racial identity in the dangerous days of Reconstruction.

Drawing on exhaustive original research into Herriman’s family history, interviews with surviving friends and family, and deep analysis of the artist’s work and surviving written records, Michael Tisserand brings this little-understood figure to vivid life, paying homage to a visionary artist who helped shape modern culture.

In My TBR Stack:

The Well Life: How to Use Structure, Sweetness, and Space to Create Balance, Happiness, and Peace
by Briana and Dr. Peter Borten
Adams Media
Trade Paperback

From the publisher's website:

Three simple principles for creating a balanced and satisfying life! 

The secret to living an exceptional life--with fulfilling work and leisure, meaningful relationships, and time for oneself--is finding balance. Briana and Dr. Peter Borten have the strategies you need to achieve this all-important balance in your life--even in the face of chaos. 

The Bortens focus on three fundamental principles of a satisfying life:

• Sweetness: Learn the importance of feeding your life, body, and soul
• Structure: Find out how intelligent structure can give you more spontaneity and freedom, and liberate you from an excessively busy existence
• Space: Carve out purposeful space, which allows for perspective--an understanding of the big picture and your place in it

By adding and maintaining sweetness, structure, and space to your life, you will be able to let go of the stress and tension that gets in the way of being happy, authentic, and fully present--living The Well Life. 

In My TBR Stack:

Metaphors Be With You: An A to Z Dictionary of History's Greatest Metaphorical Quotations
by Dr. Mardy Grothe
Harper Books
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

For 3,000 years, great thinkers and writers have relied on the device of metaphor to articulate profound thoughts, give voice to powerful emotions, and creatively explain complex ideas.  But metaphorical language is not the sole province of poets, philosophers, and playwrights.  If you’ve ever tried to describe a broken heart, a thankless child, or a glorious triumph, you know how valuable—and compelling—the perfect metaphor can be. 

In Metaphors Be With You, respected quotation anthologist Dr. Mardy Grothe has created the definitive collection of history’s greatest metaphorical quotations.  While crafting his lists of “The Ten Best Things Ever Said” on 250 topics of deep human interest, Dr. Mardy examined more than five million metaphorical observations from literature, politics, philosophy, religion, history, pop culture, and more.

Essential for writers, readers, and language aficionados, this remarkable sourcebook breaks new ground by using QR Codes to digitally integrate it with “Dr. Mardy’s Dictionary of Metaphorical Quotations” (DMDMQ), the world’s largest online database of metaphorical quotations. The elegant synergy between print and technology provides curious readers with detailed source information for all quotations, innumerable “Error Alerts,” countless quotation backstories, and a wealth of other quotations to further their knowledge and deepen their understanding of favorite quotations.

Whether you’re crafting a speech, writing a novel, or simply searching for new ways to express yourself, this meticulously curated compendium is as delightful to read as it is invaluable to own—and sure to inspire with the perfect metaphor every time.

In My TBR Stack:

Searching for John Hughes: Or Everything I Thought I Needed to Know about Life I Learned from Watching '80s Movies
by Jason Diamond
William Morrow
Trade Paperback

From the publisher's website:

For all fans of John Hughes and his hit films such as National Lampoon’s Vacation, Sixteen Candles, and Home Alone, comes Jason Diamond’s hilarious memoir of growing up obsessed with the iconic filmmaker’s movies—a preoccupation that eventually convinces Diamond he should write Hughes’ biography and travel to New York City on a quest that is as funny as it is hopeless.

For as long as Jason Diamond can remember, he’s been infatuated with John Hughes’ movies. From the outrageous, raunchy antics in National Lampoon’s Vacation to the teenage angst in The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink to the insanely clever and unforgettable Home Alone, Jason could not get enough of Hughes’ films. And so the seed was planted in his mind that it should fall to him to write a biography of his favorite filmmaker. It didn’t matter to Jason that he had no qualifications, training, background, platform, or direction. Thus went the years-long, delusional, earnest, and assiduous quest to reach his goal. But no book came out of these years, and no book will. What he did get was a story that fills the pages of this unconventional, hilarious memoir.

In Searching for John Hughes, Jason tells how a Jewish kid from a broken home in a Chicago suburb—sometimes homeless, always restless—found comfort and connection in the likewise broken lives in the suburban Chicago of John Hughes’ oeuvre. He moved to New York to become a writer. He started to write a book he had no business writing. In the meantime, he brewed coffee and guarded cupcake cafes. All the while, he watched John Hughes movies religiously.

Though his original biography of Hughes has long since been abandoned, Jason has discovered he is a writer through and through. And the adversity of going for broke has now been transformed into wisdom. Or, at least, a really, really good story.

In other words, this is a memoir of growing up. One part big dream, one part big failure, one part John Hughes movies, one part Chicago, and one part New York. It’s a story of what comes after the “Go for it!” part of the command to young creatives to pursue their dreams—no matter how absurd they might seem at first.

On My Radar:

George Harrison: Behind the Locked Door
by Graeme Thomson
Overlook Press
Trade Paperback

From the publisher's website:

As a Beatle, Harrison underwent a bewilderingly compressed early adulthood, buffeted by unprecedented levels of fame and success. The notoriously shy performer mostly ceded the spotlight to his more flamboyant band mates John, Paul, and Ringo, but after the band’s breakup, Harrison charted a new path all his own. In this elegant, in-depth biography, renowned music journalist Graeme Thomson tracks Harrison assiduously through his many changes and conflicts, from schoolboy guitarist to global superstar, God-seeker to independent filmmaker, and marks the perennial struggle of a man attempting to walk a spiritual path lined with temptation.

Drawing on scores of new interviews with close friends and collaborators, rigorous research and critical insight, Behind The Locked Door is a fascinating account of the motives and varied achievements of an often misunderstood man.

- - - - - - 

Graeme Thomson is one of Britain's leading music writers. He is the author of critically acclaimed and definitive biographies of Elvis Costello, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, and Kate Bush. He has written for Time Out, MOJO, the Guardian, and Rolling Stone.

In My TBR Stack:

Hidden by the Leaves (Book One of the Hidden Trilogy)
by S D L Curry
Sky Dove Media Ltd.
Trade Paperback

From the book publicity:

Amid an epic story of good vs. evil, a small village defies an oppressive regime and finds freedom through the power of faith.

When European Jesuits first arrived in Japan in the 1540s, the island nation was open to new people bringing new ideas and beliefs. Within just a few decades, more than 100,000 Japanese converted to the Catholic faith. But in 1614, Christianity was banned by the shogun; all those who did not either recant their faith of obey the banishment would be annihilated. 

In HIDDEN BY THE LEAVES, Father Joaquim Martinez represents the Jesuits in Japan at the time. Living in a small peasant village within the much larger Hizen-province, ruled by the cruel, self-serving warlord Matsukura Shigemasa, Father Joaquim and his two young catechists, Miguel and Tonia, choose to risk their lives by defying the banishment order to stay and help the villagers who have become their family.

HIDDEN BY THE LEAVES chronicles Father Joaquim's and the villagers' miracle-filled attempts to escape the clutches of the vicious shogun, the relentless warlord, and their hordes of powerful samurai.

In My TBR Stack:

Sometimes Brilliant: The Impossible Adventure of a Spiritual Seeker and Visionary Physician Who Helped Conquer the Worst Disease in History
by Larry Brilliant
Harper One
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

When a powerful mystic steps on the hand of a radical young hippie doctor from Detroit, it changes lives and the world. Sometimes Brilliant is the adventures of a philosopher, mystic, hippie, doctor, groundbreaking tech innovator, and key player in the eradication of one of the worst pandemics in human history. His story, of what happens when love, compassion and determination meet the right circumstances to effect positive change, is the kind that keeps hope and the sense of possibility alive.

After sitting at the feet of Martin Luther King at the University of Michigan in 1963, Larry Brilliant was swept up into the civil rights movement, marching and protesting across America and Europe. As a radical young doctor he followed the hippie trail from London over the Khyber Pass with his wife Girija, Wavy Gravy and the Hog Farm commune to India. There, he found himself in a Himalayan ashram wondering whether he had stumbled into a cult. Instead, one of India’s greatest spiritual teachers, Neem Karoli Baba, opened Larry’s heart and told him his destiny was to work for the World Health Organization to help eradicate killer smallpox. He would never have believed he would become a key player in eliminating a 10,000-year-old disease that killed more than half a billion people in the 20th century alone.

Brilliant’s unlikely trajectory, chronicled in Sometimes Brilliant, has brought him into close proximity with political leaders, spiritual masters, cultural heroes, and titans of technology around the world—from the Grateful Dead to Mikhail Gorbachev, from Ram Dass, the Dalai Lama, Lama Govinda, and Karmapa to Steve Jobs and the founders of Google, Salesforce, Facebook, Microsoft and eBay and Presidents Carter, Clinton, Bush and Obama. Anchored by the engrossing account of the heroic efforts of the extraordinary people involved in smallpox eradication in India, this is a riveting and fascinating epidemiological adventure, an honest reckoning of an entire generation, and a deeply moving spiritual memoir. It is a testament to faith, love, service, and what it means to engage with life’s most important questions in pursuit of a better, more brilliant existence.

In My TBR Stack:

Wicked Strategies: How Companies Conquer Complexity and Confound Competitors
by John C. Camillus
Rotman-UTP Publishing
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

In business, some problems are so complex, intractable and threatening to organizations—or entire industries—that they are best described as “wicked.” These problems appear to be unsolvable and they render traditional analytical tools of strategy virtually impotent.

Wicked Strategies offers a comprehensive framework for identifying, responding to and profiting from wicked problems. John C. Camillus, drawing on detailed, real-life examples from companies across the globe, has skillfully woven together the analytical techniques, processes and organizational designs that will enable managers to navigate a disruptive marketplace.  His feed-forward framework for fashioning wicked strategies empowers firms to presciently transform their business models before they are made obsolete by the competition. Wicked Strategies is a practical and evocative guide that demonstrates how business leaders can profitably capitalize on unknowable futures.

In My TBR Stack:

I Am the Ocean
by Samita Sarkar
Blossoms Books
Trade Paperback

From the book publicity:

Samita Sarkar thought she was destined to spend her entire life running.

Never giving herself a moment's rest, she studied hard and graduated from university with top grades, and then promptly began a tireless job search. But although she thought that she had done everything by the book, life still hadn't given her any answers. She knew that God had a plan, but what was it?

Stricken with anxiety while facing midsummer heat and sizable life decisions, the thrifty twenty-something Canadian -- who had never before traveled for travel's sake -- purchased a discount bus ticket for what she thought would be a few weeks of reprieve in the United States. Embarking on her journey with nothing but a small suitcase, a broken handbag, a killer manicure and a copy of "The Bhagavad Gita," Samita would spend her days wandering streets and beaches, and her nights in jostling buses or on cramped couches. Marveling at the beauty around her, Samita finally discovered what the world has to offer to those who stop running, while learning lessons that would set the course for the rest of her life.

In My TBR Stack:

Under the Influence
by Joyce Maynard
William Morrow Books
Trade Paperback

From the publisher's website:

The New York Times bestselling author of Labor Day and After Her returns with a poignant story about the true meaning—and the true price—of friendship.

Drinking cost Helen her marriage and custody of her seven-year-old son, Ollie. Once an aspiring art photographer, she now makes ends meet taking portraits of school children and working for a caterer. Recovering from her addiction, she spends lonely evenings checking out profiles on an online dating site. Weekend visits with her son are awkward. He’s drifting away from her, fast.

When she meets Ava and Swift Havilland, the vulnerable Helen is instantly enchanted. Wealthy, connected philanthropists, they have their own charity devoted to rescuing dogs. Their home is filled with fabulous friends, edgy art, and dazzling parties.

Then Helen meets Elliott, a kind, quiet accountant who offers loyalty and love with none of her newfound friends’ fireworks. To Swift and Ava, he’s boring. But even worse than that, he’s unimpressed by them.

As Helen increasingly falls under the Havillands’ influence—running errands, doing random chores, questioning her relationship with Elliott—Ava and Swift hold out the most seductive gift: their influence and help to regain custody of her son. But the debt Helen owes them is about to come due.

Ollie witnesses an accident involving Swift, his grown son, and the daughter of the Havillands’ housekeeper. With her young son’s future in the balance, Helen must choose between the truth and the friends who have given her everything.

.On My Radar:

Relentless Spirit: The Unconventional Raising of a Champion
by Missy Franklin, D.A. Franklin, and Dick Franklin, with Daniel Paisner
Dutton Books
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:


What does it take to become a champion? Gold medalist Missy Franklin, along with her parents, D.A. and Dick, tell the inspirational and heartwarming story of how Missy became both a legendary athlete and a happy and confident woman, something they accomplished by doing things their own way and making the right choices for their family. 

The word relentless has many meanings for swimmer Missy Franklin.  In the pool, it reminds her to remain steady and persistent, unyielding in intensity and strength.  In life, it tells her to reach down for her very best, even when it feels like there’s nothing left.  The motto “don’t quit” doesn’t do it for Missy, but relentless gets her where she needs to be. And when Missy faces a challenge or a setback, her relentless spirit is what empowers her to learn, adapt, and move forward into the future.
 
In Relentless Spirit, Missy and her parents, D.A. and Dick Franklin, share the story of how Missy became the athlete she is today, a six-time Olympic medalist, five of them gold. Since her Olympic debut in London’s 2012 games—when Missy was just seventeen—people who have met the Franklins or seen them on TV have wondered what it was like to raise such a champion. What was the training like? How did Missy handle school? How did the family find the right facilities, coaches, and support network? 
 
The story that Missy, and her parents, share inside is both inspiring and heartwarming, explaining how she became both a legendary athlete and a happy and confident woman, something they accomplished by doing things their own way and making the right choices for their family, which includes Missy’s faith journey, something she writes about with inspirational candor.

Including the highs, the tough moments, and everything in-between, Relentless Spirit tells the story of a woman - and a family - full of love, heart, faith, and resilience.  

What does it take to become a champion? Gold medalist Missy Franklin, along with her parents, D.A. and Dick, tell the inspirational and heartwarming story of how Missy became both a legendary athlete and a happy and confident woman, something they accomplished by doing things their own way and making the right choices for their family. 

The word relentless has many meanings for swimmer Missy Franklin.  In the pool, it reminds her to remain steady and persistent, unyielding in intensity and strength.  In life, it tells her to reach down for her very best, even when it feels like there’s nothing left.  The motto “don’t quit” doesn’t do it for Missy, but relentless gets her where she needs to be. And when Missy faces a challenge or a setback, her relentless spirit is what empowers her to learn, adapt, and move forward into the future.
 
In Relentless Spirit, Missy and her parents, D.A. and Dick Franklin, share the story of how Missy became the athlete she is today, a six-time Olympic medalist, five of them gold. Since her Olympic debut in London’s 2012 games—when Missy was just seventeen—people who have met the Franklins or seen them on TV have wondered what it was like to raise such a champion. What was the training like? How did Missy handle school? How did the family find the right facilities, coaches, and support network? 
 
The story that Missy, and her parents, share inside is both inspiring and heartwarming, explaining how she became both a legendary athlete and a happy and confident woman, something they accomplished by doing things their own way and making the right choices for their family, which includes Missy’s faith journey, something she writes about with inspirational candor.
 
Including the highs, the tough moments, and everything in-between, Relentless Spirit tells the story of a woman—and a family—full of love, heart, faith, and resilience.

On My Radar:

George Lucas: A Life
by Brian Jay Jones
Little Brown
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:


On May 25, 1977, a problem-plagued, budget-straining independent science-fiction film opened in a mere thirty-two American movie theaters. Conceived, written, and directed by a little-known filmmaker named George Lucas, the movie originally called The Star Wars quickly drew blocks-long lines, bursting box-office records and ushering in a new way for movies to be made, marketed, and merchandised. It is now one of the most adored-and successful-movie franchises of all time.

Now, the author of the bestselling biography Jim Henson delivers a long-awaited, revelatory look into the life and times of the man who created Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Indiana Jones. 

If Star Wars wasn't game-changing enough, Lucas went on to create another blockbuster series with Indiana Jones, and he completely transformed the world of special effects and the way movies sound. His innovation and ambition forged Pixar and Lucasfilm, Industrial Light & Magic, and THX sound. 

Lucas's colleagues and competitors offer tantalizing glimpses into his life. His entire career has been stimulated by innovators including Steven Spielberg and Francis Ford Coppola, actors such as Harrison Ford, and the very technologies that enabled the creation of his films-and allowed him to keep tinkering with them long after their original releases. Like his unforgettable characters and stories, his influence is unmatched.