Category: Nonfiction

A Florida State of Mind: An Unnatural History of Our Weirdest State

On By upstateasbIn History, Nonfiction, Outdoors & Nature, Travel LiteratureLeave a comment

Had a sampling good time (admittedly not front to back), and “weirdest state” is the author’s opinion, not mine!  However, we had an aunt in Florida, married several times, who had a dog she named Mister.  It gave her a kick to go to the door and call, “Here, Mister, Mister,” she said.  A little weird, I guess.  Mr. Wright lives in Florida and calls this “…a collection of factoids, oddments, stories, and backstories…”.  I call it fun.  Let’s see.  Florida remained loyal to Britain during the Revolution, so no fourteenth colony.  How “oh wow” rich is that laid back Jimmy Buffet who, we’re told, is Warren Buffet’s distant cousin?  What happened to the Florida of Fifties and Sixties vacations, Silver Springs and glass-bottomed boats, the mermaids of Weeki Wachee?  Did Gore or Bush win the contested 2000 Presidential race in Florida, and how many types of “chads” were there?  Ha, there were four identified and named!  One was a swinging chad.  Didn’t you date him?  Florida is known as the “Road Kill State”, and there’s an interesting flipside.  White-tailed deer kill more humans than sharks, alligators, bears, snakes and insects combined.  A recipe for Tang pie is here too.  Check it out on April 30!

Full Disclosure: A review copy of this book was provided to me by St. Martin’s Press / Thomas Dunne Books via NetGalley. I would like to thank the publisher and the author for providing me this opportunity. All opinions expressed herein are my own.

The Sun Is a Compass: A 4,000-Mile Journey into the Alaskan Wilds

On By upstateasbIn Memoir, Nonfiction, Outdoors & Nature, Travel Literature1 Comment

Caroline Van Hemert, a biologist, and her husband Pat Farrell (artist, outdoorsman, builder) dream a simple dream, yet one so daunting in scope that few could dream it – a trek of 4,000 miles from Bellingham, Washington to a far, far speck in the Alaskan Arctic, Kotsube.  Ever been there?  Me, either.  Without snowmobiles, ATVs, sponsors.  No planes, no trains, no hitched rides.  After four months intense planning, they leave Bellingham in two rowboats built by Pat, traveling up the Inside Passage then across mountains, glaciers, rivers, delta, and tundra on foot, on skis, by canoes and pack rafts.

This challenge was undertaken, I felt, in the spirit of a quest, though perhaps not consciously so; and it is recounted here in all its harshness, dreamy beauty and overriding love of the wilderness.  In a stunning episode, we’re practically part of a migrating caribou herd, and the astounding migratory flights of birds weave in and out of the narrative as a counterpoint to the journey.  The lovely title is, in fact, a reference to migratory bird navigation.  So, readers, travel and grow with this intrepid young couple.  Well-worth anyone’s time.

Take the trip now at Amazon.com or shop your local indie bookstore.

Full Disclosure: A review copy of this book was provided to me by Little, Brown and Company / Little, Brown Spark via NetGalley. I would like to thank the publisher and the author for providing me this opportunity. All opinions expressed herein are my own.

The Accidental Veterinarian: Tales from a Pet Practice

On By upstateasbIn Animals, NonfictionLeave a comment

A pleasant interlude of a book for those of us who love our animals and rely on the vets who care for them.  Canadian vet Phillipp Schott’s calm voice, practical point of view, and gentle humor is so like the vets I’ve known through many years and wonderful pets – hermit crabs (funny little fragile things) to horses (funny big fragile things) and variously-sized dear things in between.  Dr. Schott raises our awareness of the challenges unique to veterinary practices, clinics encompassing nearly the entirety of medicine in one hectic place, and he includes practical and interesting tips for neophytes and the seasoned as well:  when to call a vet, what to expect, advice on fleas and ticks, what chocolate actually does to dogs, “natural” food, supportive wisdom on end-of-life eventualities.

Good stuff, and, of course, plenty of the anecdotes we all enjoy so much.  Petit Choux, the pet rabbit of a French Canadian client, heard by the receptionist as Petty Chew.  The interesting observation/opinion that U.S. clients complain less about veterinary costs than Canadians do because, perhaps, they are aware of the cost of medicine for human beings.  Hmmmm.  And the child who wrote the good doctor about his ambition to be a “vat”.  Dr. Schott muses that he too once dreamed of becoming a “large container”, but decided to become a vet instead.  Glad he did.

Set for release on April 23 from ECW Press.

Full Disclosure:  A review copy of this book was provided to me by ECW Press via NetGalley.  I would like to thank the publisher and the author for providing me this opportunity.  All opinions expressed herein are my own.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez: I’m Not Here to Give a Speech

On By upstateasbIn Commentary, Essays, NonfictionLeave a comment

As for me, I’d grovel shamelessly before this man’s brain in a jar.  Spend some time with the galactic genius of Gabriel Garcia Marquez in this collection of speeches spanning sixty-three years (1944-2007) and beginning with a speech he gave at seventeen to his graduating class.  Speeches, according to Marquez, are “the most terrifying of human commitments”, and he tells us, “I began to be a writer in the same way I climbed up on this platform, I was coerced.”  But how blessed are we to visit with him once more.  Spend as much time or as little as you want.  Dip in, especially when you need to be reminded that the human race can produce such a one.

Full Disclosure: A review copy of this book was provided to me by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group / Vintage via NetGalley. I would like to thank the publisher and the author for providing me this opportunity. All opinions expressed herein are my own.

My Young Life: A Memoir

On By upstateasbIn Memoir, NonfictionLeave a comment

Award-winning author Frederic Tuten recounts twenty or so years of his youth (early 1940’s to the 60’s) and does not spare himself.  Reared in the Bronx, he longs for his on-again, off-again father; and, like many (most?), he struggles with agonizing uncertainty while, at the same time, is sure he’s far superior to, well, just about everybody.  Seems he’s not going to be an artist after all, so he gets into and out of college by the skin of his teeth and now desperately wants to write, but you see, his work must be the best anyone has ever seen, must be because….hmm….well, it’s his.  Paralyzing, you know, and always gets in the way of headway.  He tells us, too, openly and in detail, that sex pretty much tops his needs list, and he is in love and lust through a variety of affairs, life consuming chunks.

Along the way, to his good fortune….and credit, Frederic meets so many who see his promise.  They nudge him along and/or back onto his bumpy, twisty path, and we are privileged to meet them as well.  But my favorite and, I think, the most influential character in this young man’s life is New York, the wondrous city itself.  Tuten’s writing is lean, quirky, and rings like a bell, so even though there were times when I wanted to give Fred a good shake and a talking-to, I was engrossed and pulling for him all the way.

Click here to order from Amazon or support your local indie bookstore by clicking here to order.

Full Disclosure: A review copy of this book was provided to me by Simon & Schuster via NetGalley. I would like to thank the publisher and the author for providing me this opportunity. All opinions expressed herein are my own.

Why To Kill a Mockingbird Matters: What Harper Lee’s Book and America’s Iconic Film Mean to Us Today

On By upstateasbIn Commentary, Literary Criticism, Nonfiction, Southern LiteratureLeave a comment

Don’t have to tell you what this book is about, now do I?   Does it satisfy us with its answers to those questions is what we want to know, I suppose.   From the accessibility of Harper Lee’s beautiful book to its timing in relation to the civil rights movement, from the perfect casting of the movie and its quiet intensity, we are encouraged and provoked by the literal and the figurative, delighted and horrified, and, of course, of course, we have never been the same.  Mr. Santopietro’s book is not only scholarly and thoughtful, but, an added bonus, it is a delightful read as well.

Full Disclosure: A review copy of this book was provided to me by St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley. I would like to thank the publisher and the author for providing me this opportunity. All opinions expressed herein are my own.

A Torch Kept Lit: Great Lives of the Twentieth Century

On By upstateasbIn Biography, History, NonfictionLeave a comment

Great lives eulogized by Mr. W.F.  Buckley, Jr., himself a true Renaissance man, and collected here for us by James Rosen.  These artful essays are shaped by Buckley’s unique intelligence and insights and, to quote Mr. Rosen, his “…oceanic view of the world…”.  With elegance, humor, irony and his hellacious vocabulary, Mr. Buckley shares with us the famous and infamous, friends and family, presidents and artists, the sanctified and the damned.   From those who changed the course of history to history’s footnotes, praise is given, puffery is punctured, evil is recognized….according to Mr. Buckley.

Full Disclosure: A review copy of this book was provided to me by Crown Publishing / Crown Forum via NetGalley. I would like to thank the publisher and the author for providing me this opportunity. All opinions expressed herein are my own.

The Trial of Lizzie Borden: A True Story

On By upstateasbIn American History, Biography, History, Nonfiction, True CrimeLeave a comment

Meticulously researched, carefully crafted and no detail is overlooked.  Particularly loved the commentary of the journalists attending the trial.  But did she or didn’t she?  I know what I think, but what I know for sure is as follows.  It wasn’t 40 whacks or even 41.   Lizzie bought herself a really nice house.  She finally pissed off her sister, and she lived oddly ever after.  With Boston terriers.  And I know for sure that if it’s about Lizzie Borden, I’m all up in it.  Enjoy.

Available now from your local indie bookstore or at Amazon.com.

Full Disclosure: A review copy of this book was provided to me by Simon & Schuster via NetGalley. I would like to thank the publisher and the author for providing me this opportunity. All opinions expressed herein are my own.

Truevine: Two Brothers, a Kidnapping, and a Mother’s Quest: A True Story of the Jim Crow South

On By upstateasbIn History, NonfictionLeave a comment

Truevine is a small town in Virginia, and this superb nonfiction work from Beth Macy is the story of the Muse brothers, African-Americans with albinism, who were born there, and into poverty, around the turn of the last century.   As small children, they were lured away/kidnapped/sold to be exhibited in circuses and sideshows as freaks, anything from wild men to Martians.  This was the only life they knew as they grew to manhood and beyond, ultimately lost from family, but never forgotten.  Exhaustively researched and sensitively told.  Loved it.  We wonder, from this vantage point, what life would they have chosen if the choice had been theirs to make.

Full Disclosure: A review copy of this book was provided to me by Little, Brown and Company via NetGalley. I would like to thank the publisher and the author for providing me this opportunity. All opinions expressed herein are my own.

The Mathews Men: Seven Brothers and the War Against Hitler’s U-Boats

On By upstateasbIn History, NonfictionLeave a comment

An absorbing non-fiction work based on a subject that, I daresay, is unfamiliar to most of us – the role of the Merchant Marine in World War II.  From unarmed vessels, these heroes supplied our troops throughout the war and saved Britain’s bacon by supplying them before we ever joined the fight.  All the sacrifice, none of the honor.  Who knew?  The seven Mathews sons serving as merchant seamen during the war personalize the story.  If this sounds iffy for your taste, just trust me.  Deserves to be told, deserves to be read.

Full Disclosure: A review copy of this book was provided to me by PENGUIN GROUP Viking / Viking via NetGalley.  I would like to thank the publisher and the author for providing me this opportunity.  All opinions expressed herein are my own.