This review is part of my New Year’s Clean Up My Review Pile project. I finished this book months ago, but somehow never quite got around to the review. Something always came up – something else to review, or my Kindle had a dead battery, or something. But I came across it on the finished list a couple of weeks ago… Read more
This was a very personal read for me. I am approaching a landmark birthday and I am single and childless, and I’m not depressed about any of it. I am not afraid of getting older, since I don’t feel old. I would very much like to meet someone special, but I am not pining away, nor am I desperate and… Read more
I love survival books! They’re all part of my plan to be prepared for the Zombie Apocalypse. And after reading Extreme Food: What to Eat When Your Life Depends on It by Bear Grylls, I know which bugs I can cook, which mushrooms to avoid, and that if the situation is ever so dire that my best food source is a… Read more
A Bowl of Olives: On Food and Memory is a lovely little book, beautifully illustrated with tiny watercolor paintings of olives and figs and rabbits and vegetables and wine bottles. The emphasis is on the word little – on some pages, the writing is so small that it is almost impossible to read. The pages are full of tiny watercolors, small-scale photographs, leaves… Read more
I have heard a lot of great things about Flash Boys by Michael Lewis, so I picked it up at the airport in New York (a little insurance policy, since Id already finished one book on the flight). Surprised one of my coworkers (he never did explain why he thought I wouldn’t be reading it), but I am looking forward to… Read more
First off, let me say that Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery by Robert Kolker was not exactly the book I was expecting. I enjoy true crime novels and I have always been fascinated by the procedural part of the story – how the authorities track down their killer. In this case, the killer was never caught and it looks like… Read more
I am a huge Walking Dead fan and I was really looking to reading the essays in We’re All Infected: Essays on AMC’s the Walking Dead and the Fate of the Human. I have spent hours debating with friends, discussing the meaning of key points on the show, discussing what zombies have to say about our culture, what causes some supernatural… Read more
I was a Kiss fan as a teenager, so I was really looking forward to reading Nothin’ to Lose: The Making of KISS (1972-1975). Author Ken Sharpe has pulled together an amazing series of interviews with former band members, roadies, industry and media people. In addition, there are a host of more recognizable names: Joe Perry (Aerosmith), Iggy Pop, Ted… Read more
Due to my background in Equity-eligible shows and a little movie work, I was keen to learn about auditioning from a casting director’s point of view. So often, performers are left in the dark about those tips for success that go beyond mere etiquette. Could Jen Rudin provide the resources to ace your next audition? As a former casting director… Read more
While the Kindle version is half the cover price, Princesses Behaving Badly: Real Stories from History Without the Fairy-Tale Endings is a hard-backed treasure you’ll want on your shelves for inspiration over the years to come. Douglas Smith’s woodcut designs grace the header for each narrative, which ties the stories together. McRobbie’s goal for this book is to make these… Read more