Memoir Book Reviews | Self-Publishing Review

Review: Across the Divide by Elizabeth Bernays

Across the Divide by Elizabeth Bernays

A charming memoir by entomologist and writer Elizabeth Bernays, Across the Divide: The Strangest Love Affair explores new forms of love later in life. Joyful, but also profound and reflective, the book is an enchanting and memorable read that mixes levity with deep emotion.

With eloquent and engaging prose, Bernays tells of her complex and beautiful relationship with a married woman in her 50s. Linda and Elizabeth fell in love despite their differences, after both had been married to men. Both of them led successful careers and had experienced loving marriages, but they couldn’t be more different as people, and […]

Marina Dora Martino2023-08-24T13:31:57+02:00June 29th, 2023|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: LGBTQI+ Book Reviews, Memoir Book Reviews|

Review: Thank Goliath by Domenic Aversa

Thank Goliath by Domenic Aversa

A memoir spanning the author’s childhood to his later years, Thank Goliath by Domenic Aversa is both fun and tragic, emotional and entertaining. With cutting intelligence and the wisdom acquired with age, Aversa sews his memories together and offers readers the portrait of a bright, sensitive, and resilient man.

Adversity has repeatedly shown itself in Aversa’s life like a giant, which made him feel as little and unprepared as a child, but he has learned through these trials to face hardship. As in the story of David and Goliath, he has dealt with issues that seemed much larger than himself, […]

Marina Dora Martino2023-08-02T07:56:30+02:00May 11th, 2023|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Memoir Book Reviews|

Foot Soldier in the Fourth Industrial Revolution by Jeffrey Cooper

Foot Soldier in the Fourth Industrial Revolution by Jeffrey Cooper Looking at the history of computing, cultural transformation, and the rise of internet technology through his own life and work, Jeffrey Cooper delivers a stirring and timely memoir with Foot Soldier in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Over the course of nearly fifty years, Jeffrey Cooper reliably sought and found himself on the cutting edge of technological advances that have shaped our 21st-century world. The fact that Cooper’s career at GE started four years after the first microprocessor was released, and has stretched well into the modern age of VR, AI, and quantum supercomputers demonstrates the breadth of the author’s […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2023-04-21T12:21:09+02:00April 19th, 2023|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Memoir Book Reviews|

The Kitchen and the Studio by Mallory M. and John A. O’Connor

The Kitchen and the Studio by Mallory M. and John A. O’Connor The Kitchen and the Studio: A Memoir of Food and Art by Mallory M. and John A. O’Connor is a unique take on the memoir – a life told not just through words, but also through paintings, photos, and recipes, for an enchanting combination of media. The O’Connors share their original journey across the years and places of their lives, punctuated by artwork by themselves or their friends, and by recipes taken from a moment or incident at a specific point in their enduring story.

Mallory “Mal” O’Connor narrates the book, covering her early life on a California ranch in […]

Marina Dora Martino2023-04-05T16:20:08+02:00April 4th, 2023|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Art Book Reviews, Cookery Book Reviews, Memoir Book Reviews|

Review: Sojourner to Stoner by Gordon Schwerzmann

Sojourner to Stoner: The Journal

Sojourner to Stoner: The Journal by Gordon Schwerzmann is the second exhilarating installment of the author’s travel adventures, a mix between a memoir, guidebook, and travelogue. This memorable piece of non-fiction feels like a visit to a far-off place, as the best travel memoirs do, full of enchanting and exotic anecdotes, and people who seem like fictional characters.

After Soldier to Sojourner, this book recalls the second phase of Gordon Schwerzmann’s longstanding relationship with traveling the world. Journeying through Southeast Asia in the ’70s, the author breaks down his journeys in snappy episodes, while also allowing himself to linger […]

Marina Dora Martino2023-04-07T11:28:15+02:00March 17th, 2023|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Memoir Book Reviews, Travel Book Reviews|

Review: African Graffiti by Lokhilesh Takoor

African Graffiti by Lokhilesh Takoor

Following the author’s wandering career and adventurous spirit, African Graffiti by Lokhilesh Takoor offers a thoughtful story of self-reliance, courage, and the ageless search for belonging.

Takoor’s journey begins in Madagascar, where his work as a field engineer opened doors for advancement, while his affable personality gained him strong connections. However, the uncertain nature of politics and quick twists of societal opinion forced him to leave, once again seeking new open spaces and safer shores to explore.

The author’s professional skills took him across various African nations, giving him a broad-spectrum introduction to a variety of cultures, work practices, cuisines, […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2023-04-05T15:45:45+02:00March 2nd, 2023|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Memoir Book Reviews|

Review: Dreaming in Chinese by William Tsung

Dreaming in Chinese by William Tsung

Raw and unflinching, Dreaming in Chinese: Memoirs from a Taiwanese Prison by William Tsung is an unforgettable tale of injustice and perseverance.

When Tsung landed back in Taiwan for a short trip from Los Angeles, he had no idea that his freedom was about to be taken from him. After being caught with marijuana-infused snacks that he relied on for anxiety, he was dropped into the faceless machine of Taiwan’s overcrowded prison system. Tsung was quick to adapt to life behind bars, and found use as a translator, but this behind-the-scenes peek reveals just how dehumanizing, dangerous, and depressing prison […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2023-03-28T10:52:26+02:00February 16th, 2023|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Memoir Book Reviews, Prison Book Reviews|

A Date with Lima by Dr. Michael Abraham

A Date with Lima by Michael Abraham A sensational and gripping memoir, A Date with Lima: Dreams Not Surrendered by Dr. Michael Abraham recounts the author’s tireless efforts to find his two young daughters when he discovered that their mother abducted them.

In July 1997, Brigitte Abraham told her ex-husband, a doctor and recovering alcoholic twenty years her senior, that she was taking their two children – Stephanie, age 9, and Lia, age 7 – on a vacation to her native Germany. What she did not tell him was that with the help of her boyfriend, a Peruvian foreign diplomat, she planned to disappear with the girls […]

SPR2023-01-24T17:44:01+02:00January 24th, 2023|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Memoir Book Reviews|