Memoir Book Reviews | Self-Publishing Review

Review: A Walk Through Minden by Lillian Frazer

A Walk Through Minden: In the Lives of the Crone and Vegh Families, by Lillian (Sissy Crone) Frazer, is a treasure trove of facts for historians and those interested in Minden and West Virginian coal mining families.

Frazer traces her immigrant ancestors from their earliest beginnings in the United States and their travels to Minden, a small mining camp situated in the mountains of West Virginia. The family endures hardships as mining, the company, and the camp change over the decades. Throughout it all, the family and neighbors maintain strong relationships. Life in Minden is never easy, but the […]

T B Markinson2019-02-11T09:32:50+02:00February 12th, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: History Book Reviews, Memoir Book Reviews|

Review: Stripping Down to the Bones by Merry Clark ★★★★

Stripping Down to the Bones by Merry Clark

Either you get a job, get married, and have kids, or you go to Hollywood. Or you join a cult. It appears there really aren’t that many options in life after all.

Stripping Down to the Bones: A Memoir by Merry Clark is an honest, engaging, funny, and heartfelt read.

This memoir is about a woman who grows up in the Midwest. She’s attractive, educated, funny, and caring, but she can’t seem to find her place in life. Her story takes place at the University of Michigan, Colorado, Los Angeles, and the backwoods in Michigan. During the course of the […]

T B Markinson2016-02-10T10:34:44+02:00February 3rd, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Memoir Book Reviews|

Choosing Differently: A Memoir of a Software Entrepreneur’s Wife by J.S. Joseph

Choosing Differently: A Memoir of a Software Entrepreneur’s Wife by J.S. Joseph Choosing Differently: A Memoir of a Software Entrepreneur’s Wife is the candid story of a divorce. It’s also a story of an internet startup, which ultimately failed, so the story is about heartache and poor decisions on two fronts. Choosing Differently is at once sober and heartfelt, as Joseph tackles the problems in her life with a deepening sense of self-respect and adventure, while giving an interesting front-row seat to the competitive, and oft-times disappointing, world of software development.

What could have been a memoir of airing dirty laundry, it never succumbs to this, as Joseph is equally candid about […]

Lysa Grant2016-02-02T06:16:45+02:00February 2nd, 2016|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Memoir Book Reviews, Non-Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: The High Price I Had To Pay by Jamila Davis

★★★★★ The High Price I Had To Pay

If you are not already privy to the race/class imbalance of the USA, this amazing story will make your eyes pop out of your head in disbelief – if you are, like most of us, this tale is just about the seal on the deal. A 25-year-old woman without a college degree at the time, gets accused of bringing down Lehman Bank for millions of dollars. Yes, actually breaking a huge investment bank. Her male, white bosses get paltry sentences while she gets 12.5 years in jail.

Jamila Davis, an African American from New York, was seen all over […]

Naka Jackson2016-03-04T02:40:51+02:00January 29th, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Memoir Book Reviews, Non-Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: Pardon Me While I Close The Door by Marjan Sierhuis ★★★★

Pardon Me While I Close the Door, by Marjan Sierhuis, is a frank memoir about loss and a toxic relationship.

The author goes for a walk to clear her head and to contemplate the deaths of her father and mother, her relationships, including the memory of a toxic relationship, and the ups and downs in her life. The journey to overcome grief can take time, but it is possible for one to move on.

Opening up one’s heart and soul and pouring words on pages for all to read takes courage. Even more so when an author is penning […]

T B Markinson2016-02-05T06:43:41+02:00January 22nd, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Memoir Book Reviews|

Review: My Father’s Son: A Memoir by John Davis

★★★★½ My Father's Son: A Memoir by John Davis

My Father’s Son: A Memoir by John Davis is the harrowing yet riveting story Davis’ tumultuous and abusive childhood at the hands of his father, who was a high-powered cocaine dealer in Brooklyn, and a complete tyrant with Davis at home. Even after his father left the house, he gets replaced with a series of other tyrants, so Davis never had it easy, but still managed to come out ahead with an amazing strength and warmth of spirit. My Father’s Son is at once heartbreaking and uplifting with a dramatic climax that you’ll never see coming.

What makes the […]

Henry Baum2016-03-04T03:53:18+02:00December 30th, 2015|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Memoir Book Reviews, Non-Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: Art on the Human Heart by Paul C. Ho, M.D. ★★★★

Art on the Human Heart by Paul C. Ho is the story of a cardiologist who has a heart attack, which makes him re-evaluate his life. It also makes him re-evaluate the medical profession, as he attempts to understand what affects the human heart well beyond medical science. Going through his life as a young immigrant, a failed relationship, a stint being a doctor in the Alaskan wilderness, his personal mysticism, and more, the doctor comes to a greater understanding of the human heart than he had before his illness.

The blurb for this novel, and the title, suggest that […]

Henry Baum2017-03-24T06:29:40+02:00December 24th, 2015|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Contemporary Fiction Book Reviews, Medical Book Reviews, Memoir Book Reviews|

Review: Candlelight in a Storm by Naveen Sridhar

Candlelight in a Storm by Naveen Sridhar

Candlelight in a Storm by Naveen Sridhar is the historical biography of his wife. Born during World War II and fleeing the violence there, later fleeing communist regimes as a teenager, and traveling the world, meeting her husband in Berlin, her story is at once colorful and harrowing. John F. Kennedy came to Germany and said “Ich bin ein Berliner,” signifying that Germany did not need to be forever tarnished with the legacy of the Nazi party, and there was a generation of Germans looking to establish peace and freedom in the country. Candlelight in a Storm is the ode […]