John O. Brennan, Former CIA Director on His Life: Undaunted (Book Review)
John O. Brennan does everything you’d expect in his 2019 memoir Undaunted: My Fight Against America’s Enemies, at Home and Abroad. He lived a CIA life. But this isn’t all clandestine stuff, like watching a season of Homeland. While there are some parallels, Brennan...The New Barack Obama Memoir: A Promised Land (Book Review)
I spent 30 hours listening to Barack Obama in November. Hint: It was the audiobook of his recently released memoir, A Promised Land. I consider it time well spent, as well as an enjoyable listen. And even though I was alive and politically aware during the events of...Legal Insights from Ruth Bader Ginsburg in My Own Words (Book Review)
Reading My Own Words by Ruth Bader Ginsburg is like dipping my toe into the world of judges and legal briefs. It’s a marginally vast compilation of lectures, briefs, interviews, and other writings from the Supreme Court Justice. They begin early in life—with a school...Mona Hanna-Attisha Fights for the Children in What the Eyes Don’t See (Book Review)
Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha wrote What the Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City to tell what happened in Flint, Michigan. But it’s not just her story. It’s the story of her clinic, her city, her state, and her country. And they are...From Paramahansa Yogananda: Autobiography of a Yogi—A Classic Memoir
Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda is exactly that. Yogananda details episodes in his spiritual and bodily life from childhood until the book’s publication around 1945. The stories are wide-ranging and vary between India and the U.S. But primarily,...Following Trump in 2016: Unbelievable by Katy Tur (Book Review)
What does it say about my reading habits that when I needed something easy, I picked up the 2017 book Unbelievable: My Front Row Seat to the Craziest Campaign in American History by Katy Tur? And that subtitle? It’s not holding up over time, if the state of the 2020...Brittany K. Barnett: A Knock at Midnight: A Story of Hope, Justice, and Freedom (Book Review)
Brittany K. Barnett tells a series of moving and disturbing stories in her new memoir, A Knock at Midnight: A Story of Hope, Justice, and Freedom. If you read social justice books like The New Jim Crow or Locking Up Our Own, you must get your hands on a copy of this...Book Review: We Are Indivisible by Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin
We are Indivisible: A Blueprint for Democracy After Trump is all politics. Authors Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin started a grassroots movement in the wake of the 2016 election results. In this book, they explain what led to those results, and what the potential...Book Review: Hollywood Park by Mikel Jollett
Musician Mikel Jollett didn’t have an easy childhood. In his upcoming memoir, titled Hollywood Park, he tells his story. It’s a moving exposition of many topics, from cults to chronic depression, addiction, and the power of family to both hurt and heal. Jollett’s...Book Review: Inheritance by Dani Shapiro
Dani Shapiro tells the true story of her DNA test journey in Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love. On a lark, she does a DNA test and unexpectedly discovers that her dad isn’t her biological father. She then allows her readers to be a fly on the...Book Review: Yes We (Still) Can by Dan Pfeiffer
Dan Pfeiffer is coming soon to a bookstore near me, promoting his new book, Un-Trumping America: A Plan to Make America a Democracy Again. Since I’m attending that event, I decided it was high time I read his first book. And I think I’ll be glad I read them closer...Book Review: Wild by Cheryl Strayed
Cheryl Strayed writes about her life-changing solo backpacking journey in Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail. It’s not a new book. In fact, it’s been on my digital shelves since 2014. So, I figured, it’s about time I give it a try. Strayed’s story has...Book Review: In Pieces by Sally Field
I am so impressed by Sally Field. In Pieces is a poignant, charming, and absorbing tale. And she lived it all. Although she never glosses over the difficult parts of her life, she intersperses them with her triumphs. Through it all, we learn just how hard a Hollywood...Book Review: From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death by Caitlin Doughty
If I’m going to read about death, let it be a book by Caitlin Doughty. And in this book, Doughty travels the world, investigating various death-related practices. She makes the topic fun, which obviously sounds different from how we typically perceive death. What I...Book Review: Know My Name by Chanel Miller
Chanel Miller went to a fraternity house party one evening, and woke up in the hospital the following morning. What happened in between is just one reason why she’s written a memoir. During the party, Miller got quite drunk and passed out. Her sister and friend...Bookshop.Org Affiliate
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