Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser

Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser

Everyone believes they know Laura Ingalls Wilder to a certain extent. But there are gaps left out of her famous Little House books, and author Caroline Fraser pulls from unpublished manuscripts, letters, diaries, and land and financial records to fills in those holes. Fraser explores every angle, from Laura's pioneering childhood to her turbulent relationship with her daughter, author and editor Rose Wilder Lane. 

640 pages.

Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty by Anderson Cooper and Katherine Howe

Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty by Anderson Cooper and Katherine Howe

At the age of eleven, Cornelius Vanderbilt set out to forge a path in the shipping and railroad industries, and he would eventually become the richest man in America. After his death in 1877, his heirs would quarrel over his vast wealth, creating discord among the remaining family members that can be felt as recently as 2018, when the last Vanderbilt was forced out of The Breakers, the enormous summer home built by Cornelius’s grandson. Anderson Cooper, the great-great-great grandson of the Commodore, as Cornelius was called, chronicles the rise and fall of his ancestors.

317 pages.

The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman

 Pages: 296

"Maus is a haunting tale within a tale. Vladek’s harrowing story of survival is woven into the author’s account of his tortured relationship with his aging father. Against the backdrop of guilt brought by survival, they stage a normal life of small arguments and unhappy visits. This astonishing retelling of our century’s grisliest news is a story of survival, not only of Vladek but of the children who survive even the survivors. Maus studies the bloody pawprints of history and tracks its meaning for all of us."

I am starting banned books week early this year with this difficult yet amazing graphic novel. The author does not hold back in describing the holocaust through his fathers experiences, and the experience of getting the story out of him. This is a book that I wish more people would read. It is so haunting and powerful in telling the duel stories, that of the holocaust survivor and their children trying to make sense of the past. 

The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist

The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist

by Adrian Tomine

Rated: 3 out of 5 stars

Pages: 200

 Adrian Tomine writes about his life as an award-winning cartoonist. He shares his questioning if his life is really worthwhile. He has a charmed career with awards and accolades but did the good out weigh the bad: the humiliation, slights and insults over the years by his own industry?

His memories remind him he is lucky to have a childhood dream as his career, but life still happens in between with chaotic book tours, disastrous interviews, awkward social interactions, and marriage. While his relationships give him fodder for his comics, do the comics give anything back? Illustrated to resemble an artist's sketchbook, he shares the ups and downs of  his life with you the reader.  

Rosa Parks: In Her Own Words by Susan Reyburn

A companion book to the latest Library of Congress exhibit, this is a great way to explore the collection without having to travel all the way to D.C. I didn't know how involved in the Civil Rights movement Rosa was, or that she was fierce activist all throughout her life. I loved reading the letters and narratives of her life written in her own voice.

A glimpse into an inspiring life!

82 pages

Grateful American: A Journey from Self to Service

 Grateful American: A Journey from Self to Service
by Gary Sinise
Pages: 272
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Gary Sinise shares his amazing story with you. From how he started his acting career, met the love of his life and then came a role that changed everything for him. He learned about veterans in America and how many live on the edge of homelessness and poverty. This inspired him to start a charitable foundation to help American's veterans and their families. He shares how this work has changed his view on what's really important in life and how we can all give something back.

The Life of Frederick Douglass: A Graphic Narrative of a Slave's Journey from Bondage to Freedom by David F. Walker

Wow. So I've heard of Frederick Douglass from history class. Famous abolitionist and writer, right? He is so much more than that. He was a slave, a father, a runaway, a freedman, an orator, a poet, a newspaper publisher, and the most photographed man of the 19th century. This book takes you through his entire life story, and it is a fascinating one. The art is beautiful, and the author clearly did a lot of research to make the fullest story possible. It offers a very honest and revealing look into the realities of slavery in the early 1800's. I'm probably going to go pick up Douglass' autobiographies now.

Amazing! Read this. Fascinating history.

192 pages

Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser

Summary: This book attempts to remove some of the mystique surrounding Laura Ingalls Wilder. Major events and relationships in her life are painstakingly set into their historical context. Myths are debunked. Family relationships are explored.

My Review: I found parts of this book thoroughly engaging and learned or relearned a lot of US history. Other parts of the book were repetitious and slow-moving. Nonetheless, I am looking forward to hearing the author speak at the Fox Service Center in Arnold on October 17, thanks to a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (#IMLSGrant).

Pages: 625          My Rating: 4 out of 5

Missouri’s Mad Doctor McDowell: Confederates, Cadavers and Macabre Medicine. By Victoria Cosner & Lorelei Shannon.

Missouri’s Mad Doctor McDowell: Confederates, Cadavers and Macabre Medicine. By Victoria Cosner & Lorelei Shannon. 2015. The History Press. ISBN-13: 9781467118880 (paperback).

Meet St. Louis’ eccentric surgeon, Dr. Joseph Nash McDowell (1805-1868): A man who held undying grudges and took his medical oath seriously. Warm and kind to his students, the doctor inspired such loyalty among them that they gladly accompanied him in his grave robbing escapades; such activities that would generate angry mobs outside of McDowell Medical College. He once sicced his pet bear on one such mob; the bear yawned and the mob fled.

Enhanced with photographs, illustrations and appendices, readers won’t be able to set down this engaging 144-page narrative about a doctor who sought to preserve his dead loved ones by encasing them in copper-lined cylinders filled with alcohol, and who took to wearing body armor in the streets of St. Louis. This was a great find in Barnes & Noble's regional section and can also be found in our Missouriana collection.

144 pages

 MOBIUS

I'd Like to Apologize to Every Teacher I Ever Had: My Year as a Rookie Teacher at Northeast High

 I'd Like to Apologize to Every Teacher I Ever Had: My Year as a Rookie Teacher at Northeast High
by Tony Danza
Pages:
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

What starts out as an idea for a documentary television series becomes a lesson in the real-life struggles of teachers and teens across America, especially in the inner cities. Actor, Tony Danza started college wanting to teach high school history before he discovered acting. Now he has the chance to teach for one-year in inner city Philadelphia. But only one class a day of Sophomore English with a teacher agreeing to sit-in and monitor everything he does. The school board wants to make sure their students still get an education while the tv cameras are rolling.

Tony learns that teaching is the hardest job is ever done, physically, mentally and emotionally. He becomes connected to his students and learns how times have changed since he went to school in the city. He also ends up working for half of the school year for free because he caught the film crew and producer talking the teens into making trouble just to "spice up" the footage. He and the principal demand they leave, but Tony is able to stay and finish out the year with the students.

Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch by Sally Bedell Smith

Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch by Sally Bedell Smith

In Elizabeth the Queen, readers are introduced to a young girl who was never meant to be queen. When her uncle, King Edward VIII, abdicates the throne to be with the woman he loves, Elizabeth's father is suddenly thrust into the spotlight. Now Elizabeth is "heiress presumptive," and her life is drastically changed and highly scrutinized. But Elizabeth would go on to meet all the hallmarks of a normal life during that time: falling in love, repairing army trucks during World War II, struggling to find a balance between motherhood and the demands of her job. With access to never-before-seen documents and interviews with those close to the Queen, biographer Sally Bedell Smith brings readers inside palace doors for a glimpse into the private life of a monarch who has led her country and Commonwealth with heretofore unseen grace, dignity, and intelligence.

663 pages.   

The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo by Amy Schumer
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I was kind of disappointed I thought this was going to be much better than it was. I found that I could only take a couple of sections at a time. It just was not at all what I was expecting.

View all my reviews

323 Pages

The Hare with the Amber Eyes: a hidden inheritance by Edmund De Waal

I was given this book for my birthday-something I probably would not have discovered on my own. I was immediately drawn into the story of one family and their collection of Japanese netsuke.  De Waal starts his family biography in Japan with the death of his great uncle Ignaz and his inheritance of the collection.  Then he takes us back to the beginnings of the collection in Paris during the 1870s when the craze for all things Japanese was just beginning.  De Waal traces back his family's start as wheat traders in Odessa, the accumulation of wealth, the establishment of the family banking business in Paris, and the expansion into Vienna.  The family's wealth did not insulate them from anti-Semitism. Their collection of netsuke and other fine arts was often their entree into high society. Sadly, the rise of Hitler marked the downfall of the family.  Many family members were murdered in the Holocaust and their wealth appropriated by the Nazis.  The netsuke collection was miraculously restored to the family thanks to a loving family servant. Today the netsuke are an actual, physical link to past family members. The miniatures were handled by them and each one evokes a family memory. In the end, the Hare with the Amber Eyes is a different kind of Holocaust memoir- one told by the silent witness of a family's lost possessions. 354 pages.

Genius in Diguise

Genius in Diguise
Thomas Kunkel

In a great paradox of American letters, the urbane and witty New Yorker was founded by a former tramp newspaperman from Colorado with a 10th grade education. Yet Harold W. Ross revealed an irrepressible spirit, an insatiable curiosity and a bristling intellect--all the qualities that distinguished The New Yorker (Amazon.com)

I have always liked the New Yorker magazine as well as the time period.  This book covered both topics.  Kunkel writes well and gives a well-rounded history of the man and the magazine.  I was struck by how many really famous writers got their start, or enhanced their reputations, with the New Yorker.  

The book is very readable...even the appendices, which reproduce some of the edit sheets that Ross did.  Very interesting.  497 pages.

Sex on the Moon: The Amazing Story Behind the Most Audacious Heist in History by Ben Mezrich

Thad Roberts is a genius, so how did he end up in prison? Thad Roberts one day decided to become an intern at NASA. He became known by his fellow pears as a thrill-seeking daredevil. One day he hears that scientists at NASA believe the moon rocks contained in the facility are considered "junk." After hearing this, Thad starts planning on how to steal the moon rocks. Little does he know that a potential buyer has connected with the FBI to try to catch Thad in the act. But selling "worthless" moon rocks couldn't possibly get Thad into trouble, right? Though everyone knows the end result, as the saying goes: "It isn't the destination; it's the journey."



I read this book as an audio book.
Narrator: Bill Delaney
Time: 9 hours, 21 minutes
ISBN: 9780385533928
Pages (Per ISBN connected with the book used to create audio book): 322

Dictionary of Missouri Biography Edited by Christensen, Foley, Kremer, Winn

(Posted for Paul Mathews)

It all starts with the letter A for Ace Goodman who with his wife Jane formed the comedy team the Easy Aces. Z is for Thomas Zimmerman who led the Assemblies of God from 1959-1985. James Hart Stark founded the Stark Brothers nurseries and Orchards. Harold Bell Wright wrote "Shepherd of the Hills" set in the Ozarks. Tennessee Williams plays and stories were shocking but show passion. Laura E. Wilder’s book are chronicling her childhood. Eugene Field in 1870 was noted for hijinks and good writings; he also worked for three Missouri newspapers. Samuel Clemons in Feb. 1863 in Carson City signed three articles Mark Twain a pseudonym he used. The Yocum brothers of the Ozarks laundered their profits from  alcoholic sales by making own silver dollars  known as “Yocum Dollars."

Audio:  85 hours, 52 min.
Print:  824 pages

Love, Janis by Laura Joplin

(Posted for Paul Mathews)

Her sister Janis was a hippie at heart, a blues singer, and a loyal and loving member of her family at home.  Many stories from the time she left home to her death. 

Audio:  14 hrs. 16 min.

Print:  394 pages

The Bridge: the life and rise of Barack Obama by David Remnick

Everything you wanted to know about President Obama but were afraid to ask.  I really had to slog through this biography but it was worth it.  I feel I have a better understanding of who President Obama is from reading about where he came from and what he's done to be elected President of the United States.  What are my takeaways from this biography?  Obama is above all a pragmatist.  He almost left politics because of his need to secure his family's financial security.  So he wrote two books, Dreams of My Father and The Audacity of Hope, to make it possible to generate more income, gain more exposure, and stay in politics.  He alienated some folks in the Democratic party on the way to the Presidency because he refused to follow  protocol and "wait his turn."  Early on he attracted the attention of people with lots of money who made it possible for him to build an effective campaign organization.  He's not afraid to surround himself with the best and brightest minds.  I guess history will  judge how effective Obama has been as President.  Remnick's biography makes it clear that whatever his legacy, Obama is following in the tradition of Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt-a complex man who brought a unique set of personal qualities and professional skills to meet the national crisis of his time. 672 pages.

The Man Called Brown Condor by Thomas E. Simmons

(Posted for Paul Mathews)

The seven year old boy saw the airplane in 1911 and knew he wanted to fly, he left the south to Chicago, learned to fly, started a flying school. Later to prove black men could fly he served in Ethiopia as a pilot as the fought Fascist Italy in 1936.

288 pages.

Mom & Me & Mom

Author: Maya Angelou
Pages: 224

The story of Maya Angelou’s extraordinary life has been chronicled in her multiple bestselling autobiographies. But now, at last, the legendary author shares the deepest personal story of her life: her relationship with her mother.

For the first time, Angelou reveals the triumphs and struggles of being the daughter of Vivian Baxter, an indomitable spirit whose petite size belied her larger-than-life presence—a presence absent during much of Angelou’s early life. When her marriage began to crumble, Vivian famously sent three-year-old Maya and her older brother away from their California home to live with their grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. The subsequent feelings of abandonment stayed with Angelou for years, but their reunion, a decade later, began a story that has never before been told. In Mom & Me & Mom, Angelou dramatizes her years reconciling with the mother she preferred to simply call “Lady,” revealing the profound moments that shifted the balance of love and respect between them.


I have read several of Maya Angelou's books and have loved them all. She is a fantastic teller of her story and this book is just as great as the others.