For those of you who are only familiar with the works of L. Frank Baum through the MGM movie, The Wizard of Oz, I must correct a terrible misconception. Dorothy didn’t dream Oz. Oz is real. 26 novels real. And The Wonderful Wizard of Oz on which the MGM extravaganza is based isn’t even the best ... [Continue Reading]
The Blind Sideby Michael Lewis
A year or so ago, I read an article by Michael Lewis in The New York Times entitled “The Ballad of Big Mike.” The article, which was adapted from Lewis’s book, The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game, concerns a poor, black teenager adopted by a white family in Memphis. The story, while interesting, ... [Continue Reading]
Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret by Craig Brown
If you are a fan of The Crown and enjoy Royal gossip, I recommend Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret, which for lack of a better description, is an unconventional biography. Brown has assembled in no particular order ninety-nine vignettes of the controversial princess taken from ... [Continue Reading]
The Crown in Crisis, Countdown to the Abdication by Alexander Larman
I was disappointed in The Crown in Crisis, Countdown to the Abdication, a day-by-day account of the last month of King Edward VIII’s reign. The author claims to have unearthed unseen archival material and interviews about the crisis in which the king renounces the throne for the woman he loves, the ... [Continue Reading]
The Man Who Ate Too Much by John Birdsall
In 1938, thirty-five-year-old James Beard, college dropout and struggling actor, returned to New York City from his home in Oregon to give acting one last try. Residing with a wealthy roommate at 14 Washington Place, Beard’s theater career never got off the ground, but his side hustle catering ... [Continue Reading]
Manhunt by James L. Swanson
On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth entered the State Box at the Ford Theater in Washington D.C, and shot Abraham Lincoln, who was enjoying a performance of Our American Cousin with his wife and their two guests. Booth then dramatically jumped from the State Box to the stage and escaped by the ... [Continue Reading]
The Diary of a Bookseller and Confessions of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell
So You Want To Own A Bookstore? In 2001, Shaun Bythell bought a second-hand bookshop in Wigtown, a tiny town located on a peninsula in southwest Scotland. A few years into the enterprise, a friend suggested that he keep a record of memorable customer interactions and behind the scenes activity. ... [Continue Reading]
When a Toy Dog Became a Wolf and the Moon Broke Curfew… By Hendrika de Vries
A WWII Memoir When a Toy Dog Became a Wolf and the Moon Broke Curfew… is a moving memoir about the author’s childhood in Amsterdam, during and in the immediate aftermath of the war. Although the Germans invaded and occupied the Netherlands in 1940, little Hendrika, born in 1937, was too young to ... [Continue Reading]
Lady in Waiting by Anne Glenconner
For Fans of The Crown Anne Glenconner had an idyllic childhood. In her memoir, Lady in Waiting, she describes growing up at Holkham, the 27,000-acre estate of her father, the 5th Earl of Leicester. Her boon companions were the Princess Elizabeth and the Princess Margaret. There were Christmases ... [Continue Reading]
Self-Made: Inspired by the Life of Madame C.J. Walker Netflix
This TV series was a disappointment, which is a shame because Walker, a 19thC self-made, African American millionaire, is such an interesting character. Born in 1867 on a plantation in Louisiana, Walker was the only one of her parents’ numerous children who was born free. Walker married three ... [Continue Reading]