3 Stars. I loved Without Reservations, Steinbach’s first book. I admired her courage in packing up and traveling solo. I liked her thoughts and observations and felt that she is someone that I’d like to know and befriend in real life. I didn’t like Educating Alice quite as much. I felt that the author was trying a little too hard […]
2.5 Stars. When I have daydreams about packing up and moving to a new country, Spain is always the one that comes to mind. We visited in 2010 and just loved it. We felt welcome everywhere we went, the people seemed happy, and it just fit. Plus, my husband’s bilingual. At least one of us could speak the language. When I saw this as a free […]
So, we all learned something about the Lewis & Clark expedition in school, right? They were the first official group to travel all the way to the Pacific coast and back, with brave Sacagawea leading the way, papoose strapped to her back. That’s honestly pretty much all I knew. But there’s got to be so […]
4.5 Stars. Mostly what I took away from this book is humor and grace. Somehow Rick Bragg’s first memoir is the last one I’ve read and I have literally laughed ’til I cried in every one. I’ve read my family members bits here and there and retold stories I remember and made everyone listening to me laugh too. Maybe they’re just […]
Rory Stewart walked through India, Pakistan and Nepal in 2002, a time that was very unstable given the events of 2001 and the subsequent war. He decided that he wanted to walk through the heart of Afghanistan as well. He met with a lot of bureaucracy, but he was eventually given permission to undertake his […]
In this graphic novel memoir, Alison Bechdel explores her relationship with her father, who later admitted to being homosexual; his suicide; her childhood; and her early years after coming out as a lesbian. I really kind of hate reviewing these kinds of books. They’re so intensely personal. Who am I to judge the work of […]
Malala Yousafzai was only fifteen when she was shot in the head by a member of the Taliban for speaking out for education for everyone around the world, but especially for girls, and especially in Muslim countries. She miraculously survived and now has an even larger audience for her message. I think I’d heard a […]
Mariatu Kamara was twelve years old when she was caught up in the civil war in Sierra Leone. Most of her village was killed in a raid. Boy soldiers cut off both her hands but let her go. She shares the story of how she learned to cope in the new world she found herself […]
As the “gay marriage debate” was heating up back in oh, 2005, Dan Savage and his boyfriend (they dislike the word partner) were in the middle of their own debate. Should they or shouldn’t they? They’d been together ten years, they’d adopted a son together, neither had any intention of leaving the relationship, they fully […]
Torey Hayden is what I can only call a special ed teacher. At some less-politically-correct point in her career, she agreed to teach the “garbage class” (her words, not mine) that consisted of the abused, unteachable, unreachable kids. The class of eight students, a teacher’s aide who lacked even a high school diploma, a high […]
Mitch Moxley hits a personal low in his mid-twenties. His career is pretty much nonexistent and he’s tired of the cold, gray Toronto winters. He starts looking for jobs overseas and stumbles on a job working for a state newspaper in China, the China Daily. He applies and lands himself a one year contract. He […]