Good Luck Chestnut: And Other Lucky Colors of the World by Linda Gruenberg
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Contemporary, Children’s
Rated: 5 stars
Reviewed by Snapdragon
Good Luck Chestnut is a picture book full of colorful horses and colorful kids. In theory, the watercolor paintings illustrate horse colors, but in practice, they also capture the way children use horses as jungle gyms. The children sit backwards, hop on by leapfrogging, belly-flop off the horse into water, everything but sit forward in a saddle, riding-lesson proper. The names of horse colors are embedded in the text, while the various nationalities of the children visually round out the book’s concept. Any child should find themselves somewhere in the illustrations. This book is just yearning to be read aloud. The whole thing is a playground of rollicking slant rhymes hurtling itself toward the last simple message that every child deserves to hear.
Book of the Month Poll Winner ~ Good Luck Chestnut: And Other Lucky Colors of the World by Linda Gruenberg
The Girl Who Fell to Earth by Sophia Al-Maria
The Girl Who Fell to Earth by Sophia Al-Maria
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Genre: Historical, Memoir, Non-Fiction
Rating: 5 stars
Reviewed by LavenderAward-winning filmmaker and writer Sophia Al-Maria’s The Girl Who Fell to Earth is a funny and wry coming-of-age memoir about growing up in between American and Gulf Arab cultures. With poignancy and humor, Al-Maria shares the struggles of being raised by an American mother and Bedouin father while shuttling between homes in the Pacific Northwest and the Middle East. Part family saga and part personal quest, The Girl Who Fell to Earth traces Al-Maria’s journey to make a place for herself in two different worlds.
Sophia is a young woman caught between two worlds. She was born in America to an American mother and a Bedouin father and goes back and forth between the Seattle area and the Middle East, specifically Qatar. Sophia’s comments on her experiences are brutally honest, at times humorous, and at others, tragic.
Her delightful insights allow readers to get a feel for what it is like growing up with two very different value systems pulling at her. She is strong, independent, and takes chances, based on her internal callings. Her father wishes for her to be more traditional, and when she lives with his family, she resents being constrained due to her gender and does something about it. Her father’s people are minorities in their own land though. Other more modern groups see them as “backwards,” and Sophia has to manage her feelings about this.
It is gripping to follow along and see how Sophia handles the cultural clashes and especially situations with young men. The other characters are so realistically drawn that readers can feel what Sophia feels in encountering and interacting with them. The author’s descriptions of the two worlds are stark and bring her point across well.
As Sophia grows up, goes to college in Egypt, and continuously tries find herself, readers will be entertained, surprised at times, and moved emotionally by the talented author telling her story.
This was an enjoyable book, and I would recommend it to others. I would definitely read more from this author.
Mrs. Kennedy and Me by Clint Hill
Mrs. Kennedy and Me by Clint Hill
Publisher: Gallery Books
Genre: Historical, Memoir, Non-Fiction
Rating: Four Stars
Reviewed by NymphaeaIn those four years, Hill was by Mrs. Kennedy’s side for some of the happiest moments as well as the darkest. He was there for the birth of John, Jr. on November 25, 1960, as well as for the birth and sudden death of Patrick Bouvier Kennedy on August 8, 1963. Three and a half months later, the unthinkable happened.
Forty-seven years after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the one vivid image that never leaves Clint Hill’s mind is that of President Kennedy’s head lying on Mrs. Kennedy’s lap in the back seat of the limousine, his eyes fixed, blood splattered all over the back of the car, Mrs. Kennedy, and Hill as well. Sprawled on the trunk of the car as it sped away from Dealey Plaza, Hill clung to the sides of the car, his feet wedged in so his body was as high as possible.
Clint Hill jumped on the car too late to save the president, but all he knew after that first shot was that if more shots were coming, the bullets had to hit him instead of the First Lady.
Mrs. Kennedy’s strength, class, and dignity over those tragic four days in November 1963 held the country together.
This is the story, told for the first time, of the man who perhaps held her together.
He’s the kind of bodyguard we all need.
Clint Hill had a tough job. He protected the First Lady, Jackie Kennedy. I can’t imagine how hard that was based solely on her popularity. People wanted to see her. How do you keep someone like that safe?
It requires full devotion, that’s for sure. I have to give Clint Hill credit, but also his wife deserves a lot of credit, too. He spent a lot of time away from his family while protecting the First Lady. He missed out on a lot. I get that he was devoted to them and did his job without question, but man…he went through a lot and it showed on each page. I felt his struggle to balance everything, his occasional frustration with being pulled in a lot of directions and the love he felt for this family. It was interesting to read his insights on how the daily lives were conducted and how he handled the stress. This story is from his perspective and should be read as such. He’s going to have a certain slant to the story that’s positive toward the family and that’s okay.
If you’re interested in reading about the Kennedy family from someone who was there and isn’t going to varnish his thoughts, then this might be the story for you.
Nancy Love and the WASP Ferry Pilots of World War II by Sarah Bryn Rickman
Nancy Love and the WASP Ferry Pilots of World War II by Sarah Bryn Rickman
Publisher: University of North Texas Press
Genre: Historical, Biography, Non-Fiction
Rating: Four Stars
Reviewed by NymphaeaShe flew the swift P-51 and the capricious P-38, but the heavy, four-engine B-17 bomber and C-54 transport were her forte. This is the story of Nancy Harkness Love who, early in World War II, recruited and led the first group of twenty-eight women to fly military aircraft for the U.S. Army.
Love was hooked on flight at an early age. At sixteen, after just four hours of instruction, she flew solo “a rather broken down Fleet biplane that my barnstorming instructor imported from parts unknown.” The year was 1930: record-setting aviator Jacqueline Cochran (and Love’s future rival) had not yet learned to fly, and the most famous woman pilot of all time, Amelia Earhart, had yet to make her acclaimed solo Atlantic flight.
When the United States entered World War II, the Army needed pilots to transport or “ferry” its combat-bound aircraft across the United States for overseas deployment and its trainer airplanes to flight training bases. Most male pilots were assigned to combat preparation, leaving few available for ferrying jobs. Into this vacuum stepped Nancy Love and her civilian Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS).
Love had advocated using women as ferry pilots as early as 1940. Jackie Cochran envisioned a more ambitious plan, to train women to perform a variety of the military’s flight-related jobs stateside. The Army implemented both programs in the fall of 1942, but Jackie’s idea piqued General Hap Arnold’s interest and, by summer 1943, her concept had won. The women’s programs became one under the name Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), with Cochran as the Director of Women Pilots and Love as the Executive for WASP.
Nancy Love advised the Ferrying Division, which was part of the Air Transport Command, as to the best use of their WASP ferry pilots. She supervised their allocation and air-training program. She proved adept at organizing and inspiring those under her command, earning the love and admiration of her pilots. Her military superiors trusted and respected her, to the point that she became Ferrying Division commander Gen. William H. Tunner’s troubleshooter.
By example, Love won the right for women ferry pilots to transition into increasingly more complex airplanes. She checked out on twenty-three different military aircraft and became the first woman to fly several of them, including the B-17 Flying Fortress. Her World War II career ended on a high note: following a general’s orders, she piloted a giant C-54 Army transport over the fabled China-Burma-India “Hump,” the crucial airlift route over the Himalayas.
Nancy Love believed that the women attached to the military needed to be on equal footing with the men and given the same opportunities to prove their abilities and mettle. Young women serving today as combat pilots owe much to Love for creating the opportunity for women to serve. Her foresight and tenacity nearly seventy years ago helped ensure their future. Now author Sarah Byrn Rickman, aviation historian, presents the first full-length biography of Nancy Love and her role in the WAFS and WASP programs. Her book will appeal to all with a love of flight.
There is so much to love about women pilots.
I had no idea who Nancy Love was until I picked up this book and that’s a shame. She’s quite an accomplished pilot and should be well-known. I had no idea there were women ferry pilots who took planes to the soldiers in WWII. It’s just not touched on in school. That’s a shame. Really. It should be taught.
Nancy Love knew she wanted to fly and her love of flying shows on every page. She wanted to make it possible for other women to fly as well. I liked how she believed there was no reason a woman couldn’t handle a plane, couldn’t make a difference and have a military career. She flew some of the biggest planes of the time and it was like any other day at the office for her.
The book flows well and engrossed me from the start. I learned a lot and I’m glad I did. This was a great book and should be read by everyone.
Just as I Am: A Memoir by Cicely Tyson
Just as I Am: A Memoir by Cicely Tyson
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishing
Genre: Contemporary, Historical, Memoir, Non-Fiction
Rating: 5 stars
Reviewed by Nymphaea“Just as I Am is my truth. It is me, plain and unvarnished, with the glitter and garland set aside. In these pages, I am indeed Cicely, the actress who has been blessed to grace the stage and screen for six decades. Yet I am also the church girl who once rarely spoke a word. I am the teenager who sought solace in the verses of the old hymn for which this book is named. I am a daughter and a mother, a sister and a friend. I am an observer of human nature and the dreamer of audacious dreams. I am a woman who has hurt as immeasurably as I have loved, a child of God divinely guided by his hand. And here in my ninth decade, I am a woman who, at long last, has something meaningful to say.” –Cicely Tyson
Unvarnished and honest.
I never read much about Cicely Tyson. I knew she was an actress and beautiful, but it’s not until I got into this book that I realized how cool she is. I don’t mean cool as in hard to talk to, but cool as in: she’s awesome. She’s not pretentious and tells things how they are without being mean. This book was like reading something a friend would tell me. It’s just her life how she saw it and how she felt while it happened. Some might call it simple, but I consider it engrossing.
Cicely Tyson is definitely someone who deserves more air time. It’s brilliantly written and shows how much she cares for her friends and even past lovers. I felt smarter by reading the book. I also realized the empathy she has while writing this. Her life wasn’t easy. She had troubles and some of her hardest times are what she writes about so eloquently.
If you’re looking for a Hollywood autobiography, then this might be the one to choose. I’m glad I did.
The Comeuppance Of Charlotte Rose: Book One by Catherine Dolore
The Comeuppance Of Charlotte Rose: Book One by Catherine Dolore
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Historical, Erotic Romance, LGBTQ
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by NymphaeaA thorny English rose gets pruned with precision in propriety’s void of Master Fabrizzio’s Vault.
She’s saucy and she’s about to meet her match.
Charlotte is no wallflower. She likes bedroom antics and they don’t even have to be in the bedroom. This is a quick story and features Charlotte’s interactions with Lina. This is certainly a hot story, but it’s very short. It reads like a preview, but if one wants a short, hot story for a quick afternoon read, then this is it.
The writing is a tad choppy and would benefit from an editor. There were words missing and it was jarring at times because of that. I didn’t get a real sense of how Charlotte or Lina felt during the story and would’ve liked more emotion from them. Also, this is supposed to be a historical book, but there were times when modernity slid in and made getting lost in the story harder. I know it’s hard to write historical, but the modern slips might be jarring to historical readers.
That said, this is a story that’s true naughtiness. If you’re looking for a short story that’s packed with heat and moves fast, then this might be the one for you.
Nothing General About It by Maurice Benard
Nothing General About It: How Love (and Lithium) Saved Me On and Off General Hospital by Maurice Benard
Publisher: William Morrow
Genre: Contemporary, Memoir, Non-Fiction
Rating: 5 stars
Reviewed by NymphaeaMaurice Benard has been blessed with family, fame, and a successful career. For twenty-five years, he has played one of the most well-known characters on daytime television: General Hospital’s Michael “Sonny” Corinthos, Jr. In his life outside the screen, he is a loving husband and the father of four. But his path has not been without hardship. When he was only twenty, Maurice was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
In Nothing General About It, Maurice looks back to his youth in a small town and his tenuous relationship with his father. He describes how his bipolar disorder began to surface in childhood, how he struggled to understand the jolting mood swings he experienced, and how a doctor finally saved his life. For years Maurice was relentless in his goal to be a successful actor. But even after he “made it,” he still grappled with terrifying lows, breakdowns, and setbacks, all while trying desperately to maintain his relationship with his wife, who endured his violent, unpredictable episodes. Maurice holds nothing back as he bravely talks about what it was like to be medicated and institutionalized, and of how he learned to manage his manic episodes while on the set of GH.
Nothing General About It is also an incredible love story about an enduring marriage that demonstrates what those vows—for better, for worse, in sickness and in health—truly mean. Maurice also pays tribute to the community that has been there for him through thick and thin, and ruminates on the importance of both inherited and created family.
A shocking, riveting, and utterly candid memoir of love, adversity, and ultimately hope, Nothing General About It offers insights and advice for everyone trying to cope with mental illness, and is a motivational story that offers lessons in perseverance—of the importance of believing in and fighting for yourself through the darkest times.
A man fighting his demons and so much more.
I’ve loved watching General Hospital for ages. I remember the old storylines and the intrigue…plus the hot scenes. I remember well when Maurice Benard showed up on the scene as Sonny Corinthos. I’ll never forget the scene where Sonny and Brenda are on the plane together and the chemistry leapt off the screen. Watching that was part of the reason I picked up this book.
Maurice Benard is a complicated man and it shows on every page. It’s like reading a story by an old friend. It’s easy to follow, plain speaking and written from the heart. I liked how the author peppered in stories from the show. Benard writes well and I couldn’t stop reading. It was heartening to read a story about someone who admits to their demons and how they’re dealing with them. He’s bipolar and needed lithium to control it. He’s blunt about his struggles and how he’s dealing. It gives hope to those who have such issues and shows you can be yourself while being true to yourself.
If you’re a fan of General Hospital, Sonny Corinthos or just want to read a great book about someone with human issues and how they’ve learned to deal, then this might be for you.
George Harrison: Be Here Now by Barry Feinstein
George Harrison: Be Here Now by Barry Feinstein
Publisher: Rizzoli
Genre: Memoir, Non-Fiction
Rating: 5 stars
Reviewed by NymphaeaNever-before-seen candids and ephemera of “the quiet Beatle” during his meteoric solo career, as captured by his friend and famed photographer Barry Feinstein.
On hand from 1970 to 1972 for Harrison’s blockbuster “Triple Crown”–the release of All Things Must Pass; The Concert for Bangladesh; and Living in the Material World, which helped make Harrison the best-selling post-breakup Beatle, Barry became good friends with George during the three-plus years they worked together. Feinstein captured George Harrison at home, in his garden, onstage, and in the studio. Nearly all the images are previously unpublished.
The book contains never-before-seen ephemera related to these seminal releases during George’s most richly creative time post-Beatles, including handwritten letters talking about album ideas, album-cover
thoughts, and putting together the Concert for Bangladesh. This collection also features beloved performers that George convened for that Concert for Bangladesh–where Barry was the only sanctioned photographer onstage–including George’s friends Bob Dylan, Ravi Shankar, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Leon Russell, and Billy Preston.The book coincides with the fiftieth anniversary of All Things Must Pass. George Harrison: Be Here Now is a deeper visual dive that the significantly large and passionate Beatles/George Harrison fandom will want to add to their collection.
Fifty years since All Things Must Pass released and this is the best way to celebrate.
I have a soft spot for George Harrison, the quiet Beatle. Why? I don’t know. He’s always been my favorite. Maybe it’s because he didn’t seem to have as much to say during the Beatle years and he showed his creativity big time afterwards.
This book is mainly photographs, but if you have heard the records Harrison recorded at the time, All Things Must Pass, The Concert for Bangladesh and Living in the Material World, seeing these pictures illustrates what was going on at the time. I liked the photos from the concert, mostly because I’ve never actually seen the concert. It’s amazing to realize Harrison put together the biggest, considered by most as the granddaddy of all benefit concerts, bash, all to benefit the starving people in Bangladesh. He knew how to get people together to work on such things and these pictures show that.
I enjoyed the introduction by Donovan and would’ve liked to have had some recollections from George during this time, but it’s still a great book.
If you’re interested in seeing photos from the this period in Harrison’s life, then pick it up and enjoy!
The Secret Runners by Matthew Reilly
The Secret Runners by Matthew Reilly
Publisher: Pan McMillan Australia
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Action/Adventure, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, YA
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by FernGossip Girl meets Mad Max in this breakneck thriller where the line between rich and poor is the line between life and death. You can’t buy your way out of the end of the world in this edge-of-your-seat adventure from an internationally bestselling author.
Rich vs. Poor. Life vs. Death.
When Skye Rogers and her twin brother, Red, move to Manhattan, rumors of a coming global apocalypse are building. But the ultra-wealthy young elites at their prestigious school keep partying like there’s no tomorrow–while the city around them starts to fall apart.
Then Skye and Red are invited to join the Secret Runners, an exclusive group that has access to horrifying truths about the future. Can that insider information save them? Or is this the only time even one-percenters can’t buy their way to safety?
Skye and her twin brother Red have moved to Manhattan with their mother and step-father and are starting their junior year at the most exclusive school – The Monmouth School. Full of the richest and most elite children even in a city known for their wealth, Skye and Red still find the usual high school dramas everywhere. Cliques. Bullying. Home work and classes. Yet when Red, and then later Skye, are invited to join the most elite and secret club of them all, neither know just how dramatically it will change their lives.
I’ve had this book on my to-be-read pile for a long time. Matthew Reilly is one of my top favorite authors and I always love his work. So when I needed a change of pace and something a little lighter and more adventurous I was delighted to re-find this on my pile. Known for his massive (and slightly crazy) adventure and action sequences as well as his rocket-fast pace I loved how this was clearly the author flexing some of his considerable skill and stepping a shade or two outside his usual routine. While the last third or so of the book is absolutely lightning paced and full of adventure and thrills (and I actually squealed with laughter when the ever-present grappling hook made an appearance), the book as a whole is a delightful and refreshing change of pace with a steady character and society type of set up and not instant crazy action from the first page. I feel the author handled this really well and while definitely a step out of the norm for him I still absolutely loved this book.
In many ways this read a little to me like a YA book – but one of the best sorts, one that an adult can thoroughly and shamelessly enjoy. Skye is a teenage girl and Reilly didn’t shy from that but also didn’t wallow in it either. The angst of teenage years and high school cliques, the drama of boys and periods and bullying and social status is all present but they are there to support and aid the story – not to BE the story. I loved this balance and personally found it really well handled. I totally get this won’t be every reader’s cup of tea – particularly some men who want a Jack West Jr (or Scarecrow) style of action/military style of story which is Reilly’s staple. But for me, personally, I really enjoyed it and found the different style and plot was a delightful breath of fresh air.
My only quibble (and it’s a small one) was that for the first half or so of the book I didn’t feel the relationship between Red and Syke as siblings/twins was really used to its full potential. While clear the two loved and supported each other, they pretty much led divergent lives – Red fitting easily in with the cool kids and dating one of the “mean girls” and Skye on the outside fringes. I found it somewhat odd that Red happily went his own path with the elite crowd and didn’t think much of dating a mean girl who clearly didn’t like Skye at all. I found myself frequently hoping that Red would share more of his experiences with Skye and open his world to her a little more and found it puzzling when for much of it (with a few notable exceptions) this didn’t come to pass. Admittedly once Skye was let into that clique about half way through the book, this did come to pass, but I couldn’t help but feel there was a lost opportunity for Skye and Red to have shared more of those secrets earlier on in the book.
For the final third or so of the book everything comes to a head and man it was a thrilling rush to the end of the story. Many of the plots and sub-plots that had been so carefully woven and created in the first two thirds of the book all come crashing together and the true Reilly style came out to play. I read the final part of the book late into the night, simply unable to put it down. It exceeded my expectations and I can’t wait to dive back in and re-read it and catch all those smaller tidbits you always miss on the first reading.
Exciting and adventurous, slightly futuristic but all too relevant and modern this is an exceptional story and an amazing read. Highly recommended.
Period Power by Nadya Okamoto
Period Power: A Manifesto for the Menstrual Movement by Nadya Okamoto
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Young Readers
Genre: Non-Fiction, YA, Middle Grade
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by NymphaeaPERIOD founder and Harvard College student Nadya Okamoto offers a manifesto on menstruation and why we can no longer silence those who bleed—and how to engage in youth activism.
Throughout history, periods have been hidden from the public. They’re taboo. They’re embarrassing. They’re gross. And due to a crumbling or nonexistent national sex ed program, they are misunderstood. Because of these stigmas, a status quo has been established to exclude people who menstruate from the seat at the decision-making table, creating discriminations like the tampon tax, medicines that favor male biology, and more.
Period Power aims to explain what menstruation is, shed light on the stigmas and resulting biases, and create a strategy to end the silence and prompt conversation about periods.
I wish there had been a book like this when I was a teen.
There are a lot of things we aren’t always told when we’re younger. When I was a teen, my mother was shy about explaining my period. I might have gotten mine later than most of my friends, but I remember being mystified and embarrassed about it. I also wish there hadn’t been such a stigma about getting ‘feminine protection”. This book does a lot to explain to people in plain speak what the heck menstruation is and why it’s not a bad thing. I also liked that the author encompasses those who menstruate–all of us that do.
This book is geared toward the YA audience, but can be enjoyed by all ages, young adult and up. There are some sections that come across as a bit political, but if read with an open mind, it’s easy to see the author isn’t going the political route, bur rather the educational one.
If there’s anything you’ve ever wanted to know about periods, then this is the book to get and give.
