Memoir Book Reviews

Being Different by Ada Glustein

Being Different by Ada Glustein Being Different: From Friday Night Candles to Compassionate Classroom by Ada Glustein is a deeply moving memoir about childhood, education, and the challenge of fitting in.

Ada Glustein was born in Canada into a devout Jewish family who had migrated decades before from Europe. Excluded at school and at times bullied for being Jewish, Ada was painfully aware of how different she was from her peers. However, her experience taught her to be inquisitive, curious, and compassionate – the opposite of those who made her feel left out. Ada always chose to embrace diversity and learn from these early struggles, […]

2022-12-20T14:11:34+02:00December 20th, 2022|Categories: New Releases|Tags: , |

Review: Midpoint by Patricia Angeles

Midpoint by Patricia Angeles

An engrossing memoir telling the story of a formidable woman who has never turned down a challenge, Midpoint by Patricia Angeles is a heartwarming story about an inspiring businesswoman, mother, and author.

As the title hints, this is not a standard memoir – instead of looking back on a life already lived, Angeles is a woman in her prime who decides to take a moment to observe the present life she has built, reflect on her key memories, and her plans for a future that is still a blank page. An inspiring example of finding yourself through the act of […]

2023-02-10T16:55:33+02:00December 20th, 2022|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: |

Review: Kidadkill by David Chick

Kidadkill by David Chick

Launching a scathing rebuke of the family law system in England, David Chick details his own harrowing battle against this secretive bureaucratic nightmare in Kidadkill: Spiderman of Tower Bridge.

More than 20 years ago, the author’s life was turned upside down when his relationship with his partner Jo began to break down. As an unmarried father to his beloved daughter Lauryn, he had very few rights to protect, house, and safeguard her. Instead, backed up by bogus claims of violence and abuse, Jo was able to control the narrative and prevent David from seeing his daughter for extended periods […]

2023-01-09T13:45:09+02:00November 29th, 2022|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: , |

Review: Soldier to Sojourner by Gordon Schwerzmann

Soldier to Sojourner by Gordon Schwerzmann

Soldier to Sojourner: The Journal – Traveling on the 1970s Asian Hippie Trails is a compelling personal and historical travelogue of Gordon Schwerzmann’s time in the military and as a tourist in Asia.

Beginning with his stint as an Army officer in Korea in 1970 and continuing through civilian trips to Japan, Nationalist China, Hong Kong, Macau, the Philippines, and Burma, the book is a wild and varied trip through exotic locales. Schwerzmann, a photojournalist and travel writer, documents his experiences through detailed descriptions, historical discourse and extrapolated musings, recollections of people he met, and a wide range of photographs […]

2023-03-20T16:58:22+02:00November 22nd, 2022|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: , |

Review: The Ordeal by Josephine Walden

The Ordeal by Josephine Walden

A tender memoir covering events that will surprise the reader as much as they did the author, The Ordeal: A Journey from Misfortunes, Illness and Betrayal to Truth by Josephine Walden inspects the reliability of memory and reveals the bitter pull of greed.

Josie Walden was a nurse and psychiatric nurse-counselor whose mysterious, debilitating illnesses often rendered her incapable of doing her job, On top of that, she also experienced unanticipated natural disasters that drained her finances. It was during these years that she and her older sister, Julie, were faced with their parents’ declining health, eventual deaths, and the […]

2022-11-09T13:12:00+02:00November 8th, 2022|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: |

Review: ’53 on 35th: A “Silent Boomer’s” Recollections by J. Conran Meyer

In ’53 on 35th: A “Silent Boomer’s” Recollections, J. Conran Meyer endearingly recalls a bygone time before technology and social media replaced a child’s reliance on fantasy and invention for fun and entertainment.

1953 was a seminal year for Meyer – at ages 8 and 9, he was powered and defined by his imagination, and that of his 35th Avenue neighborhood gang, including his younger brother, Nick, and his best friend, Billy. With folksy humor, elaborate tales, and obvious affection, Meyer recreates growing up in Sacramento, CA in great detail, complimenting the narration of his childhood experiences with commentary and […]

2022-10-21T16:27:39+02:00October 18th, 2022|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: |

Review: Martini Alley and Other Swashbuckling Adventures of a Certified Klutz by Diane Klutz

Martini Alley and Other Swashbuckling Adventures of a Certified Klutz by Diane Klutz

Diane Klutz’s Martini Alley and Other Swashbuckling Adventures of a Certified Klutz is a lighthearted diaristic memoir recounting Diane and Steve Klutz’s comical, incredible, almost surreal adventures around the USA, both on land and water.

Both fresh from Vietnam, nurse Diane Mumper and soldier Steve Klutz met at a military camp called Fort Gordon in Georgia in 1971. After a skinny-dipping slipup that almost cost them their positions, and a rumbling escape from a dangerous bar that almost cost them a trip to the hospital, the two unexpectedly fall in love and soon decide to marry.

Though before leaving for […]

2022-11-30T15:34:03+02:00October 10th, 2022|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: |

Review: Family Matters by Lance Lee

Family Matters by Lance Lee

In a memoir that does double duty as a multi-generational history of dysfunction and the effort to define a life shaped by deceptions, Lance Lee unmasks the myths his parents clung to in Family Matters: dreams I couldn’t share and how a dysfunctional family became America’s Darling, The Addams Family.

Lee and his sister, Linda, endured a turbulent childhood controlled by their father David “Gar” Levy, a self-absorbed, generally distant, often emotionally abusive patriarch. A high-powered advertising and television network executive, Gar created the sitcom, “The Addams Family,” which Lee believes Gar infused with his own parents’ dysfunction and […]

2022-10-07T15:00:03+02:00October 6th, 2022|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: , |
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