![]() Bess Kalb writes this cutie book in the voice of her grandmother, recently passed away. The reader hears about Grandma Bobby's mother, her childhood, her children, and even the author herself. Interspersed in the narration are actual voicemails and phone calls from Grandma Bobby to the author, Bess Kalb. There is a lot of heart in this book and some very relatable grandmother-granddaughter moments. It is that last point that endears me to this book. I see both of my own grandmothers in Grandma Bobby and I treasured celebrating them as I read. I think this book was recommended on a weekly newsletter I get, and so I patronized Nicola's Books to get ahold of it. A quick read, this book was lovely and I will pass it along to as many others as will read it!
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![]() In her premier memoir, Beck Dorey-Stein was surprised to find that the stenographer gig she applied for was actually a position at the White House. She got the job towards the end of President Obama's first term and stayed on through his second. As a stenographer, Dorey-Stein writes a bit about the meetings she sits in on and the travel she does with the president. However, this book is dominated by Dorey-Stein's personal life. When she starts hooking up with a staffer at the office, he takes over much of her decision-making and many, many pages of this book. The book was recommended to me by my mother and when it came in at the library, my best friend snagged a copy, too, and we read it in a little book club. I found the beginning of the book to be very relatable as Dorey-Stein is a 26 year old in Washington DC, just trying to figure out what to do with herself. However, once the narrative is taken over by hooking up with "Jason," it was hard to reconcile how smart this woman is with how much she gives to this man. Regardless, this was an intriguing read and I would not write off Dorey-Stein yet. ![]() In this memoir from Walter Dean Myers, he remembers his childhood spent mostly in Harlem, New York. Myers refers to himself as a "bad boy" for his reluctance in school (despite being placed in a special class for advanced students) and his propensity for fighting, talking back, and being privy to drug deals. A dedicated writer as a child, Myers fondly remembers his teacher who encouraged him to stick with the hobby, later of course turning it into a career. I read this book because Walter Dean Myers is a renowned author and this memoir has been on my book cart for years. It was finally time to give it a go. However, I did not enjoy this book tremendously. I found his storytelling to be a bit bland and without the kind of action and dialogue that I find gripping. On the other hand, having visited New York City and Harlem just last summer, I enjoyed how much Myers includes his neighborhood and greater Manhattan in the book. ![]() This collection of "notes" from Jose Antonio Vargas tells his story as an undocumented citizen in the United States. Vargas' mother organized for him to fly to the United States from the Phillippines when he was eleven years old. It wasn't until years later when he went to get his driver's license that he learned that his mother and grandparents had used fake documentation for Jose to get into the U.S. and that he was technically undocumented. Vargas goes on to become a successful and high profile journalist in the United States, but he trusted only a few people with his status along the way. Clearly, Vargas has revealed his status to the world now and lives with a great uncertainty. My mom recommended this book to me. I found it easy to read and a really important story to hear. Coincidentally, I am learning about the immigration process through a few avenues right now, and Vargas' voice is central to that learning. He quite clearly articulates what it like to feel American yet be denied American-ness. While some parts of Vargas' story were more tense and intriguing than others, they are all essential to his narrative. Highly recommend. ![]() In this book, Wooden shares his life story from his farm beginnings through his retirement from coaching at UCLA. He tells a bit about his philosophy but even more about the individuals he has worked with over the years who helped him develop that belief system. This book was recommended to me by a colleague and accomplished coach after I brought up my interest in sports psychology. I borrowed They Call Me Coach and two others of Wooden's books from the library. Honestly, this first one was a bit dull because I didn't know almost any of the players Wooden references nor have I seen the seasons he details so closely. However, Wooden seems like a cool guy and I am already enjoying this next book much more. ![]() This memoir from Patricia Lockwood tells the story of the author and her husband moving back in with her parents due to some financial struggles. Uniquely, Lockwood's father is a Catholic priest who was ordained after marriage and five kids, but even more peculiar is his personality. Lockwood writes with the scathing love of a feminist daughter to her conservative father, sprinkles her stories with her mother's adorable -isms, and includes tales of her childhood and even larger issues of Catholicism she has pondered. A friend recommended this book to me and told me it was funny. So I got it from the library and promptly did not laugh through the first third of the book, followed by some chuckles in middle the third and some serious consideration in the final section. Lockwood's voice is clear and odd. She does revels in the outlandish and wholeheartedly loves to write. Overall, I enjoyed this book and would recommend. ![]() Former First Lady Michelle Obama's memoir starts with her life in South Chicago and takes the reader all the way to her last days in the White House. She tells vivid stories with tremendous heart. While there may still be some secrecy and discretion about some things political, this memoir feels wholeheartedly authentic. This book is on everyone's radar. After a few people told me they read it, I got on that AADL waiting list in the 400th position. Thankfully, my cousin-in-law had a copy I could read so I didn't have to wait a year at the library. I loved this book. I loved the first two sections about Michelle Obama's childhood-young adulthood and then the early years married to Barack Obama. I found her so relatable, inspiring, and powerful. She nearly brought me to tears a number of times throughout the book and I know I will be thinking and talking about this one for quite some time. ![]() In this latest book from celebrity Chelsea Handler, she opens up about her transition towards having a more serious impact in this world. Handler's book is structured around her progress with a new therapist in the years between her E! show and new Netflix ventures. I have been a fan of Chelsea Handler since her E! show for her apparent honesty amidst the veil across the celebrity community. Her words pack a punch and they continue to do so in this book. Handler's writing is relatable and entertaining. ![]() This book might be called a memoir or an autobiography. It is definitely a testimony. Chris Wilson grew up around Washington DC and started with a safe, happy childhood. Then some things changed. He ends up getting sentenced to life in prison at the age of seventeen. Despite his terrible odds of getting out of prison, Wilson works his butt off in the system, wins the court-date lottery, returns to civilian life in his thirties, and now has a few successful businesses. His story is incredible. A colleague recommended this book to our entire department, so I requested it at the library. The Master Plan was a quick read for me in part because the text isn't terribly difficult, but also because Wilson is so impressive, relatable, and compelling that I needed to read to the end. One of his lessons that has stuck with me already is the idea of proving yourself. It's his belief that people imprisoned should work to improve their skills and themselves while behind bars so that when they get out, they will have a positive track record for employment. While I did not explain that lesson as well as Wilson does, I see it as creating a platform of responsibility so that when you ask for things, others know they can trust you. I live this lesson with students often. Many students do not build a platform of responsibility before asking for exceptions, then are upset when they aren't granted special requests. But that is not how this works. Anyway, the book is great and a few students have already zipped through it and loved it. Highly recommend. ![]() Tara Westover grew up in a paranoid, survivalist, Mormon family on a mountain in Idaho. She did not step into a classroom until she was 17 years old, yet has earned at least three degrees of increasing prestige since then. This memoir takes the reader into her, at times, outlandish and dangerous upbringing. This book is a hot read right now, so I requested it at AADL like three months ago. It is much sadder than the books I typically choose to read, but once I began, there was no stopping. The way Westover narrates the events of her life give real voice to the thoughts of a person experiencing abuse and the challenges of changing an entire worldview. While jarring, this makes the memoir powerful and gripping. |
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June 2020
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