Book Trailer Friday [@RandomHouse @TransworldBooks]

Beth Dorey-Stein's From the Corner of the Oval - a tale of being the White House stenographer during the Obama administration will be released on the tenth. Any book (or book trailer) that can suggest looking like, "a librarian . . . or a well paid prostitute," has me curious to what the author (and her life) are like. Here's the trailer:

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about From the Corner of the Oval:

The compulsively readable, behind-the-scenes memoir that takes readers inside the Obama White House, through the eyes of a young staffer learning the ropes, falling in love, and finding her place in the world.

In 2012, Beck Dorey-Stein was just scraping by in DC when a posting on Craigslist landed her, improbably, in the Oval Office as one of Barack Obama's stenographers. The ultimate DC outsider, she joined the elite team who accompanied the president wherever he went, recorder and mic in hand. On whirlwind trips across time zones, Beck forged friendships with a tight group of fellow travelers--young men and women who, like her, left their real lives behind to hop aboard Air Force One in service of the president. But as she learned the ropes of protocol, Beck became romantically entangled with a consummate DC insider, and suddenly, the political became all too personal. Set against the backdrop of a White House full of glamour, drama, and intrigue, this is the story of a young woman making unlikely friendships, getting her heart broken, learning what truly matters, and discovering her voice in the process

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Spiegel & Grau // July 10, 2018 // 352 pages // Goodreads // Book Depository // Amazon

Manderley Forever: A Biography of Daphne du Maurier ~ Tatiana de Rosnay review [@tatianaderosnay @StMartinsPress]

Manderley Forever: A Biography of Daphne du Maurier
Sam Taylor, translator
St Martin's Press
April 18, 2017
340 pages
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The nonfiction debut from beloved international sensation and #1 New York Times bestselling author Tatiana de Rosnay: her bestselling biography of novelist Daphne du Maurier.

“It's impressive how Tatiana was able to recreate the personality of my mother, including her sense of humor. It is very well written and very moving. I’m sure my mother would have loved this book.” ― Tessa Montgomery d’Alamein, daughter of Daphné du Maurier, as told to Pauline Sommelet in Point de Vue

As a bilingual bestselling novelist with a mixed Franco-British bloodline and a host of eminent forebears, Tatiana de Rosnay is the perfect candidate to write a biography of Daphne du Maurier. As an eleven-year-old de Rosnay read and reread Rebecca, becoming a lifelong devotee of Du Maurier’s fiction. Now de Rosnay pays homage to the writer who influenced her so deeply, following Du Maurier from a shy seven-year-old, a rebellious sixteen-year-old, a twenty-something newlywed, and finally a cantankerous old lady. With a rhythm and intimacy to its prose characteristic of all de Rosnay’s works, Manderley Forever is a vividly compelling portrait and celebration of an intriguing, hugely popular and (at the time) critically underrated writer.

"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again."So beings Daphne du Maurier's novel Rebecca. It is probably one of the best known first lines of a book ever but I did ot know very much, at all, about the author. Written by Tatiana de Rosnay, the author of Sarah's Key and other novels, Manderley Forever is the first (at least according to the text) French biography of du Maurier.

This biography tells Daphne du Maurier's life story using the houses she lived in and loved. A fitting method considering Manderley has to be one of the best known hones, fictional or otherwise.

I loved finding out about Dapne's famous grandfather, her famous actor father, their family's relationship with J.M. Barrie and the Llewelyn Davies. It's always interesting to be able to fit pieces - and people - of history that you knew of separately, together. From her childhood relationships with her parents and sisters their governess and friends/society Daphne is expected to behave a certain way around, we learn a lot about the little girl, her love of storytelling, and distaste for conventional gender roles. It is especially interesting and thought provoking when we see how those same relationships transform (or sometimes, don't) as du Maurier ages.

Possibly in part because this book was originally published in French, likely just because its fact, there is a lot of focus on the du Maruier's connections and visits to France. Whether it's because of where the book was first published or not, I really appreciated those parts of the story, what it said about Daphne, her family's past and then their present/future.

It works surprisingly well that de Rosnay does not try to provide a modern context or interpretation to many occurrences, statements, writings, etc that readers are shown in the novel. Things are written in such a way that they speak for themselves and readers are able to draw their own inferences, have their own interpretations.

There is quite a bit of description of the plot of du Maurier's (and her grandfather's, as well) writings so if you are someone who has not read them (and wishes to) you may want to skim those passages.

Manderley Forever gives readers a very real, truly human look at the life of Daphne du Maurier, from her childhood playing Peter Pan with her sisters, to her walks along the beach in Cornwall with her dogs, from her marriage and children to her publishing successes and failures. Tatiana de Rosnay has written a biography that is both compelling and complete.

Action Presidents: Abraham Lincoln~ Fred Van Lente & Ryan Dunlavey [@HarperChildrens @fredvanlente]

Action President #2: Abraham Lincoln
Ryan Dunlavey, illustrator
HarperCollins
February 06, 2018
129 pages
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Where the history is real and the jokes are fake!

The second Action Presidents book is just as fun—and funny—as the first. Legendary lumberjack and paramount president Abraham Lincoln practically jumps off the page.

Wimpy Kid meets the Who Was… series in these hilarious new graphic novels from New York Times bestselling comic book author Fred Van Lente and award-winning cartoonist Ryan Dunlavey.

Did you know that Lincoln never went to college, and that he kept important documents in his famous top hat? Even the most reluctant reader won’t be able to put this graphic novel down, and they’ll learn about an American icon along the way.

U.S. history comes to life like never before! Historically accurate and highly entertaining, Action Presidents is perfect for curious minds. With timelines, maps, charts, and more, readers will keep learning until the last page.

The critics agree that the Action Presidents should not be missed. "A delightful, educational spin on history—and plenty of jokes," said School Library Journal of the first book in the series, George Washington. "Sheer joy," praised Booklist in a starred review.

The second installment of the Action Presidents series tells readers the story of Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president of the United States. The book does a great job - starting with the back cover - of letting you know, right away, that it includes information you, likely, do not already know.

The blending of things you probably did not already know about Lincoln - even small things like why he grew a beard - with the more known facts of his presidency with his early career really help readers to assemble a full picture of who Abraham Lincoln was. Both the public, political figure and the man he was in private.

There are smart descriptions of the whys, wheres and hows of not only the start of the Civil War, but its battles, strategies, leaders, victories and defeats (both Union and Confederate). The telling does keep the age of its intended readers in mind but doesn't gloss over things or try to sanitize them - something that seems especially important at present.

Readers, beyond the eight to twelve-year-old range, will like being able to learn more about both President Lincoln and the Civil War in a format other than a more in depth, denser nonfiction book.




Action Presidents #3: Theodore Roosevelt! will be released July 24th





finished copy received from publisher, for review consideration

Action Presidents: George Washington ~ Fred Van Lente & Ryan Dunlavey [@HarperChildrens @fredvanlente]

Action Presidents #1: George Washington
Ryan Dunlavey, illustrator
HarperCollins
February 06, 2018
128 pages
add to Goodreads/buy from Book Depository/or Amazon

Where the history is real and the jokes are fake!

The first Action Presidents book will turn even the most reluctant reader into a history buff. George Washington, ultimate founding father and awesome American, practically jumps off the page.

We all know that George Washington was our first president and a hero of the American Revolution, but did you also know that he didn’t want to be president and had teeth so bad that he hated to smile?

Wimpy Kid meets the Who Was … series in these hilarious new graphic novels from New York Times bestselling comic book author Fred Van Lente and award-winning cartoonist Ryan Dunlavey.

U.S. history comes to life like never before! Historically accurate and highly entertaining, Action Presidents is perfect for curious minds. With timelines, maps, charts, and more, readers will keep learning until the last page.

This series has the weirdest narrator: a turkey named Noah the Historkey. There is an explanation for his name and why he's off telling these kids about history and the presidents - but it's still odd. Odd that gets your attention and makes the book a bit different, though.

This first Action Presidents has a logical choice for its subject, the first United States President, George Washington. While 'Presidents' is in the title, the book starts with Washington's early life. I will admit to knowing very little about his childhood (other than the infamous - and fictional - story of George Washington and the Cherry Tree). I liked that the book started there and told readers both that it was untrue and how it came to to be.

The book addresses Washington's adolescence,  his time in the Revolution and then as President. There was a good mix of his military life, accomplishments and setbacks and his personal life - his marriage to Martha, how his career impacted their lives, etc.

Action Presidents #1: George Washington will probably appeal more to boys than girls (at least the dysentery jokes) but is a good way to introduce or refresh American History to readers not likely to read it in other forms. (And as a fun way to get toe information, even if you will read/learn it elsewhere.)

I do wish these books had page numbers. It is easier to keep track of where you are in a book or to remember where in the book a bit of information was that you wanted to remember or share with someone.



Action Presidents #2 focuses on Abraham Lincoln . .






finished copy received from publisher, for review consideration

We Can't Be Friends ~ Cyndy Etler (earc) review [@SourcebooksFire @cdetler]

We Can't Be Friends: A True Story
Sourcebooks Fire
October 03, 2017
304 pages
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The companion to The Dead Inside, "[An] unnerving and heartrending memoir" (Publishers Weekly)

This is the story of my return to high school. This is the true story of how I didn't die.

High school sucks for a lot of people. High school extra sucks when you believe, deep in your soul, that every kid in the school is out to get you. I wasn't popular before I got locked up in Straight Inc., the notorious "tough love" program for troubled teens. So it's not like I was walking around thinking everyone liked me.

But when you're psychologically beaten for sixteen months, you start to absorb the lessons. The lessons in Straight were: You are evil. Your peers are evil. Everything is evil except Straight, Inc.

Before long, you're a true believer.

And when you're finally released, sent back into the world, you crave safety. Crave being back in the warehouse. And if you can't be there, you'd rather be dead.

 “This is what happened to my mind and my heart and my soul and my relationship with humanity.”

-Cyndy Etler (Mooresville Weekly article, May 31, 2013*)

Everything that you wanted to hope was going to be okay or fixed or normal after the ending of The Dead Inside for Cyndy Etler's life? We Can't Be Friends shows you just how much it is not.

The present tense narration continues in this follow-up/companion to The Dead Inside. Reading it as if it is currently happening, not something from years ago (even as you know it's in 1989/1990) makes everything that much more real. What's happening is something Cyndy - and you as the reader - are experiencing. You feel one less step removed from things.

So, so many times I wanted to ask the people in her life if they really, truly believed what they were saying, what they seemed to think of Cyndy. If they actually thought it was appropriate or remotely logical.  (Though there was one adult I did want to thank or hug or something.)

I appreciated that the author didn't try to just tie a big bow on things and pretend it was all neat and tidy once she left Straight. There is no way to spend sixteen months - especially not as young as the author was - under those circumstances, with that kind of daily treatment and not have it mess with your head. This memoir is incredibly honest and we see all the stupid, misunderstood, painful, confused, naive and needy things she does.

I understood Cyndy's mother even less here than I did in The Dead Inside. Cyndy could have a horribly low opinion of herself, but when people have spent sixteen months convincing you you're 'a druggie whore' and that you're always one step away from slipping back into addiction, it's kind of hard to think you're great. We Can't Be Friends shows you just how much Straight Inc harmed Cyndy Etler (and so many others) but also how much of a difference a few people (or birds, even) can make.

I applaud the author for giving us two such honest, real memoirs. She doesn't shy away from things that might make her look 'bad' and it means we really get the full story, as painful, heartbraking, ahd hopefully, ultimately, hopeful as it is.






*the author originally published her memoir Straightling in 2012


digital review copy received from publisher, via NetGalley

Dear World ~ Bana Alabed (earc) review [@AlabedBana @SimonSchuster]

Dear World: A Syrian Girl’s Story of War and Plea for Peace
Simon & Schuster
October 03, 2017
224 pages
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“A story of love and courage amid brutality and terror, this is the testimony of a child who has endured the unthinkable.” —J.K. Rowling

“I’m very afraid I will die tonight.” —Bana Alabed, Twitter, October 2, 2016
“Stop killing us.” —Bana Alabed, Twitter, October 6, 2016
“I just want to live without fear.” —Bana Alabed, Twitter, October 12, 2016


When seven-year-old Bana Alabed took to Twitter to describe the horrors she and her family were experiencing in war-torn Syria, her heartrending messages touched the world and gave a voice to millions of innocent children.

Bana’s happy childhood was abruptly upended by civil war when she was only three years old. Over the next four years, she knew nothing but bombing, destruction, and fear. Her harrowing ordeal culminated in a brutal siege where she, her parents, and two younger brothers were trapped in Aleppo, with little access to food, water, medicine, or other necessities.

Facing death as bombs relentlessly fell around them—one of which completely destroyed their home—Bana and her family embarked on a perilous escape to Turkey.

In Bana’s own words, and featuring short, affecting chapters by her mother, Fatemah, Dear World is not just a gripping account of a family endangered by war; it offers a uniquely intimate, child’s perspective on one of the biggest humanitarian crises in history. Bana has lost her best friend, her school, her home, and her homeland. But she has not lost her hope—for herself and for other children around the world who are victims and refugees of war and deserve better lives.

Dear World is a powerful reminder of the resilience of the human spirit, the unconquerable courage of a child, and the abiding power of hope. It is a story that will leave you changed.

Bana Alabed's Dear World does what all of the news reports and articles cannot really do: it shows you what life in Syria was like before the before the war. And how the war impacted people. Not the grand, big picture idea of 'the Syrian people,' but their family, their friends, their neighborhood. It allows you to see things on a more human, individual level.

Of course, many pieces of  life in Syria were different than in the United States or England or France or wherever but reading how Bnaa liked to go to the pool with her father or about their family's bedtime routine shows how much was the same, too.

I really liked that while most of the story was told by Bana, there were sections from her mother, as well. Having that adult perspective on some of the same matters put some things into a different light or allowed you to really see the child's interpretation versus the parent's, the mother's.

There is something unbelievably honest about how children see the world - even those things that they should never have to see. That absolute honesty, the way that Bana's telling of what she experienced, what happened to people in Syria, what her family endured and how it isn't rephrased or muted (nor does it seem overdone or trying to shock) makes things resonate that much more. It makes it all that much harder to read and to grasp that those things could actually have happened.

This is a book you are not likely to forget. It shows us what life in Syria, for one family, was like before the bombings, before the war. And it shows us what life was like during those bombings, how, in particular, one young girls' life was impacted.


"I hope you like my book. I hope it makes you want to help people."
-Dear World Author's Note






digital review copy received via NetGalley, from publisher

Escape from Camp 14 ~ Blaine Harden review [@VikingBooks] (repost)

This is a repost of an earlier published Book Sp(l)ot Reviews review. (The original post.)


Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West
Viking Adult
March 29, 2012
224 pages
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The only person known to have been born and raised in one of North Korea's prison camps and then escape* (others, brought to them have been released after some years), Shin Dong-hyuk lived more than two decades in North Korea's Camp 14.

Estimates have between 150,00-200,000 people living in North Korea's political prison camps. Isolated, starving, routinely beaten and cut-off even from the rest of their country, those living in these camps know very little (if anything) of the outside world. While most in North Korea are taught of South Korea and the United States' evil, growing up in Camp 14, though, Shin heard none of this. Expected to work long 15 hour days from a young age (10-year-olds worked together to push two-ton coal cars up a hill), prisoners subsisted (just barely) on corn, cabbage and salt.

Beatings were routine - from the guards, from family members, from other prisoners - and life was beyond hard, everyone sold everyone else out.

It would be no wonder that people wanted to escape. But few seemed to dream of it and even fewer try. Those, like Shin, who has always known this life didn't know there was a better world - with more food, something called love and friendship and trust. Not only that, the consequence for escape, attempting it, or even talking about it made it, often too dangerous: death.

Until the idea for escape did form in his mind. And he acted on it.


While the reading level of Escape from Camp 14 is not difficult (especially compared to many nonfiction books), it's the content that makes reading Shin's story hard at times.

Harden admits, quite frequently, that there is not, truly, a way to fact check Shin's story. He can't go to the camp and do interviews, he can't call anyone up and ask them questions, he can't even go into North Korea. While this does make the reader slightly dubious of Shin's story - especially when it's acknowledged that the story has changed in some dramatic places - the tale has been vetted in a way. Other memoirs have been published about people's experiences in the camps (those that were released or former guards) and different groups have led investigations/inquiries. These individuals and groups do contend that Shin's recollections are  in line with what happens in the prison camps. He has the physical scars, as well.

Harden's background as a reported and knowledge of the area adds some great extra information to the book. I learned a lot more about not only North Korea and its politics, history, and practices but also about South Korea and China as well (including their relationships with North Korea and its defectors).

While Shin's life and the life of those in Camp 14 was so separate from what was happening elsewhere in North Korea, it was very nice to know what was happening concurrently in the rest of the country.

The book doesn't wait for a nice, neat ending; it shows us how Shin's life is today. How he's adjusting to life, learning about being a regular human being whose life is not completely controlled, under constant threat of violence by prison guards. I wish him well.





*This according to the book, the synopsis on Goodreads makes it sound as if there are others, so if my review is wrong, I apologize. I'm basing it on the text of the book.

One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter ~ Scaachi Koul (earc) review [@picadorbooks @Scaachi]

One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter: Essays
Picador
May 02, 2017
256 pages
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For readers of Mindy Kaling, Jenny Lawson and Roxane Gay, a debut collection of fierce and funny essays about growing up the daughter of Indian immigrants in Canada, "a land of ice and casual racism," by the irreverent, hilarious cultural observer and incomparable rising star, Scaachi Koul.

In One Day We ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter, Scaachi deploys her razor-sharp humour to share her fears, outrages and mortifying experiences as an outsider growing up in Canada. Her subjects range from shaving her knuckles in grade school, to a shopping trip gone horribly awry, to dealing with internet trolls, to feeling out of place at an Indian wedding (as an Indian woman), to parsing the trajectory of fears and anxieties that pressed upon her immigrant parents and bled down a generation. Alongside these personal stories are pointed observations about life as a woman of colour, where every aspect of her appearance is open for critique, derision or outright scorn. Where strict gender rules bind in both Western and Indian cultures, forcing her to confront questions about gender dynamics, racial tensions, ethnic stereotypes and her father s creeping mortality all as she tries to find her feet in the world.

With a clear eye and biting wit, Scaachi Koul explores the absurdity of a life steeped in misery. And through these intimate, wise and laugh-out-loud funny dispatches, a portrait of a bright new literary voice emerges."

I owe this book's cover and title a thank you. I don't read very much nonfiction that isn't historical  biography or memoir nor do I read many books of essays but because of the title and cover, I read this one - and really enjoyed it.

Through her essays, Scaachi Koul (a writer I was not previously familiar with) covers a lot of pertinent, current topics and issues. It is all through stories of her life: growing up, college, work, family, family vacations, clothes shopping, etc. Each essay finds a way to not  only give you a glimpse into her life, into who she is and how she's experienced the world, but to also highlight some 'issue,' all while being relevant to nearly everyone, in one way or another. Oh, and it is incredibly funny nearly the whole while.

From body image (weight, hair) to racism and sexism to rape culture to xenophobia to talking about yoga (versus, well, doing it), One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter covers tackles a lot of those hot button issues through how they've played a part in Koul's life but also how the affect us all. Her life, her story includes immigrant parents, being Indian, being a woman but none of that has to be true for the book to be relevant (and entertaining) to you. My grandmother lived her whole life in the Southern United States but several thing Koul's mother did or said, I could absolutely hear her saying or doing. (Especially the part around bust measurements.)

If you already read Scaachi Koul's BuzzFeed articles you likely know her writing - including about her father and his emails which are fantastic - but if not, do yourself a favor and pick up One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter.

Scaachi Koul's website & BuzzFeed articles

digital copy received for review from publisher, via NetGalley

The Dead inside ~ Cyndy Drew Etler (earc) review [@SourcebooksFire @cdetler]

The Dead Inside
Sourcebooks Fire
April 04, 2017
288 pages
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For readers of Girl Interrupted and Tweak, Cyndy Etler's gripping memoir gives readers a glimpse into the harrowing reality of her sixteen months in the notorious "tough love" program the ACLU called "a concentration camp for throwaway kids."

I never was a badass. Or a slut, a junkie, a stoner, like they told me I was. I was just a kid looking for something good, something that felt like love. I was a wannabe in a Levi's jean jacket. Anybody could see that. Except my mother. And the professionals at Straight.

From the outside, Straight Inc. was a drug rehab. But on the inside it was...well, it was something else.

All Cyndy wanted was to be loved and accepted. By age fourteen, she had escaped from her violent home, only to be reported as a runaway and sent to a "drug rehabilitation" facility that changed her world.

To the public, Straight Inc. was a place of recovery. But behind closed doors, the program used bizarre and intimidating methods to "treat" its patients. In her raw and fearless memoir, Cyndy Etler recounts her sixteen months in the living nightmare that Straight Inc. considered "healing."

The Dead Inside is one of those books that you want to pretend is fictional, but you know it is not. You want to believe it wouldn't be possible for that many people to act that wrongly, but, again, you know that they did.

The things the author describes as having happened at Straight are things I not only never would have imagined but had difficulty even imagining how they came to be. They weren't things where you (or I, at least) could see the good intentions they'd begun with and understand that they'd degraded or diverged into their present state. These were things that I couldn't interpret some other, more benign, not abusive and manipulative way.

I appreciated that the author gave us a look at her life prior to entering Straight, Inc at fourteen. We really got to see who she was, what she was facing at home, how she was dealing with it, and how it all affected her. It made it even more disheartening or, rather, heartbreaking, when you then read what she experienced at Straight. Even if it had been a 'proper' drug rehabilitation, it's hard to imagine she had any place there.

I loved that this memoir is presented in the present tense. Reading as if Cyndy is currently experiencing these things, rather than an adult recollecting them really gives it that much more impact. It also allows us to really understand her mindset and how Straight, their practices and her time spent there got into her head. (And how abuse had shaped her way of thinking and reacting even before she was sent there.)

It is a bit like if you took The Program, removed all of the nice or sanitized or logical pieces, then made it both worse and real . . . then you might have something almost close to Straight, Inc and what the author endured. Knowing this was all fact made for a troubling read but one I think you really do need to read.






digital review copy received from publisher, via NetGalley

Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis: The Untold Story ~ Barbara Leaming (audio) review [@StMartinsPress @barbaraleaming]

Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis: The Untold Story
Thomas Dunne Books
October 28, 2014
368 pages
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The instant New York Times and USA Today bestseller!

The untold story of how one woman's life was changed forever in a matter of seconds by a horrific trauma.

Barbara Leaming's extraordinary and deeply sensitive biography is the first book to document Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' brutal, lonely and valiant thirty-one year struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that followed JFK's assassination.

Here is the woman as she has never been seen before. In heartrending detail, we witness a struggle that unfolded at times before our own eyes, but which we failed to understand.

Leaming's biography also makes clear the pattern of Jackie's life as a whole. We see how a spirited young woman's rejection of a predictable life led her to John F. Kennedy and the White House, how she sought to reconcile the conflicts of her marriage and the role she was to play, and how the trauma of her husband's murder which left her soaked in his blood and brains led her to seek a very different kind of life from the one she'd previously sought.

A life story that has been scrutinized countless times, seen here for the first time as the serious and important story that it is. A story for our times at a moment when we as a nation need more than ever to understand the impact of trauma.

This book was published before the author's book about John F Kennedy's sister Kick Kennedy (2016's Kick Kennedy: The Charmed Life and Tragic Death of the Favorite Kennedy Daughter) but I am glad that I read it first. Though the two women didn't know each other and, in fact, most of Kick's story and life took place before much of Jackie's, they did know some of the same people, go to some of the same places, etc. It felt more natural to find out who those people were in Kick Kennedy and to already know the role they played in her life when they were mentioned again in Jackie.

(Though you don't need to know who they are, at all, before starting the book. Or to read one or the other first.)

I really enjoyed that this book wasn't focused on just Jackie Kenendy, First Lady. We meet her prior to all of that, when she's just a young girl in Rhode Island. If you just want a political biography, or to know her role in the life of the Kennedy's, you may not like knowing about her relationship with her father, or boys she dated, etc. It really does help form a fuller picture of who she was then and what she wanted out of life.

Which, then, only increases the contrast you're able to see between that girl, what she hoped for out of life and who she became later, what she wanted from life then.

Through letters, phone calls, conversations, media reports and records Leaming shows us how much being (right) there when her husband was assassinated affected Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. Having a better understanding of all that she was going through allows you to see the different public reactions, news stories, etc in a very different light. You really can relate to her and empathize with her.

The book includes all of the major (and many of the not so major) events of Jackie Kennedy Onassis's life but the focus is more on her, her emotional and mental state, how and why she did what she did or reacted as she did. It feels like a very insightful biography and causes you to reexamine some of what you thought you knew.

I hope that this author will write more biographies of, either, women within the Kennedy family or social circle, or those of the era.

(I listened to the audio version of this and enjoyed that. I can usually get into and follow nonfiction books better this way and like having the proper pronunciations of names and places.)

Zayn: The Official Autobiography ~ Zayn review

Zayn: The Official Autobiography
Penguin
November -1, 2016
288 pages
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The first and only official book from ZAYN. Global superstar ZAYN shares a photographic journey of his life since leaving One Direction.

ZAYN opens up with this collection of thoughts, inspiration, and never-before-seen personal photographs. After five years of massive success with One Direction, ZAYN launched his career as a solo artist with Mind of Mine, becoming one of the most successful artists in the world. Now, for the first time ever, ZAYN is going to tell and show all in this intimate and raw scrapbook of his life. Never-before-released photos give readers insight to ZAYN, no-holds-barred. Gorgeously designed with hundreds of full-color photographs and Zayn's notes, drawings, song lyrics, and personal stories, the book captures Zayn's most private moments and his candid feelings on fame, success, music, and life. The next chapter of ZAYN'S evolution into global superstar, told by the artist who is living it.

The title of this book is very misleading; this is really not an autobiography since it covers only a few years and not his whole life. It does feel more than a bit like a PR move: here's why I left, here's what I'm doing, here's why it's good (for him, in general) and what I'm doing now.

I should admit that I don't really have any feelings one way or the other about One Direction or any of its current or former members, so I'm really not the target audience for this book but I wanted to give it a shot, anyway. (And I was not a little bit curious about it being by 'ZAYN' and if he was really doing the Madonna/Prince/Cher/Adele mononymous name thing.)

The book did do a good job laying out why he left One Direction, why he felt he needed to, what happened afterward, how he started working on his solo music, how the album came together and what's next. He does a nice job touching on his anxiety, how it's affected him and why he didn't want to keep it a secret.

The photographs were also different than I was expecting. Part of why I did read the book was because I was curious about the 'photographic journey of his life' aspect. I thought that would be more candid photos or those taken by him, but the vast majority are from photoshoots (with three or four photos from several of them). That element was less personal than I would have liked. (There were some polaroids or images of his graffiti, too but not to the extent I wanted.)

I don't know if it was to make it sound more 'written by Zayn' but there seemed to be a lot of swearing in the book. (Like 'shit' and 'fuck' each used at least 25 times in not a whole lot of writing.)

I know I'm not who they were trying to get to read this book, but I was disappointed that it wasn't the 'intimate and raw scrapbook of his life' it ascribed itself to be. If you are a fan of Zayn Malik and/or One Direction and want to know more about why he left the group, what his album's songs mean, how he worked with a specific producer, or the shed he's turned into a bar then this probably is worth a read. If you're not, then, probably not?




(And a link because I kept hoping the wonky capitalization in song titles would addressed in the book, but it wasn't.)

Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography ~ review [@actuallynph @CrownPublishing]

Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography
Crown Archetype
October 14, 2014
294 pages
add to Goodreads/buy from Book Depo/or Amazon

Tired of memoirs that only tell you what really happened?

Sick of deeply personal accounts written in the first person? Seeking an exciting, interactive read that puts the “u” back in “aUtobiography”? Then look no further than Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography! In this revolutionary, Joycean experiment in light celebrity narrative, actor/personality/carbon-based life-form Neil Patrick Harris lets you, the reader, live his life. You will be born in New Mexico. You will get your big break at an acting camp. You will get into a bizarre confrontation outside a nightclub with actor Scott Caan. Even better, at each critical juncture of your life you will choose how to proceed. You will decide whether to try out for Doogie Howser, M.D. You will decide whether to spend years struggling with your sexuality. You will decide what kind of caviar you want to eat on board Elton John’s yacht.

Choose correctly and you’ll find fame, fortune, and true love. Choose incorrectly and you’ll find misery, heartbreak, and a guest stint on Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew. All this, plus magic tricks, cocktail recipes, embarrassing pictures from your time as a child actor, and even a closing song. Yes, if you buy one book this year, congratulations on being above the American average, but make that book Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography!

I loved the 'choose your own adventure' books when I was a kid. Sure, I may have cheated and either peeked  at what the path I didn't choose led to, or tried for horrible deaths, but they were fun.

While Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography is not a children's book, it is done in that same fun way. With some choices leading to horrible deaths.

Right from the start, with Neil's childhood (your childhood in NPH: CYOA) you are presented with choices as to what direction you would like his (your) life to take. Do you want a happy, well adjusted childhood? Or should hobos be present?

Each path is interesting to read about and contain the humor Harris is known along with candor, honesty and fantastic storytelling. As your life progresses, you'll learn things about yourself, Neil Patrick Harris, that you did not previously know. Either because they aren't well known or they're not at all true.

Both the format of this autobiography as well as its subject drew me to it. While I would likely have read a more traditional autobiography of Neil Patrick Harris, as well, this was so much better. The style fit the author and provided an opportunity for more things to be a part of the book than would have fit in the usual autobiography. You're able to read about the confrontation with Scott Caan while maintaining the humor.

I really appreciated all that was included in this autobiography. From his childhood, his introduction to theater, his first jobs and what came with that fame to understanding his sexuality, his family and his children, this is a very candid tale. You never feel like Harris is (or you are, as the book presents it) oversharing, but you get a fuller picture of who he is, what his life is like and what it has been like than I had imagined.

Some adult content (part of his life and his story) do make this not a kid friendly book - despite the format - but the combination of the format and the content (adult and not) make it a great read for older readers. Fans of Neil Patrick Harris or even people kind of aware of that Barney Stinson dude or who watched Doogie Howser and who liked Choose Your Own adventure books, need to get this one.


A note on format/layout: This was a really well done ebook. At the end of each chapter there were links to your possible choices. It would be easier, I imagine, to flip back and try the other path or to look for parts you missed in a print book. Using bookmarks does help, though. It also seemed that the linking was all done correctly with nothing leading to an incorrect location.