The Adventures of a Love Investigator

The Adventures of a Love Investigator: 527 Naken Men and One Woman by Barbara Silkstone
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I expected this to be a light read, wow was I surprised. Barbara Silkstone's interviews of over 500 men revealed both a desire for intimacy and a complete inability to figure out how to acheive it. The burden Barbara picked up and carried for these men made for interesting reading but I don't envy her the experience of bearing it.

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Bound for the Promise-Land

Bound for the Promise-Land by Troy D. Smith
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have had the pleasure of calling Troy D. Smith a friend since we were in middle school and I owned Bound for the Promise-Land in paperback when it first came out. I hadn't re-read it in years but when it came out for kindle it was one of my first purchases. Troy has a true gift for historical fiction...his characters, whether fictional or factual, are believable and fully "human" in the best sense of the word. Alfred Mann is one of my favorite characters. His evolution throughout the book is compelling. His search for his own humanity, for what it means to be "a man", for where God is in all he has endured, for what it means to be truly free is something anyone who has experienced love and loss, hurt and injustice can identify with. I highly recommend this book.

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I Want it Now! A Memoir of Life on the Set of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory by Julie Dawn Cole
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I adore the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory so when the opportunity to grab it for my kindle came along I jumped on it. I am so glad I did. Julie Dawn Cole, the original Veruca Salt, has written a wonderful memoir that takes the reader behind the scenes and makes one feel as if they are one of the "Wonka Kids" themselves. The photos alone are a delicious treat for any fan of the movie. I thoroughly enjoyed this glimpse into the real person behind the nasty Veruca.

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The Secret Holocaust Diaries

The Secret Holocaust Diaries: The Untold Story of Nonna Bannister by Nonna Bannister
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When I grabbed this book off the recommendation from PixelofInk I didn't expect to find a hometown connection and a story of the Holocaust from a perspective I had never before encountered but that was just what I found and what kept me engaged throughout the book. I had a fascination with WWII in high school and I read many survivors accounts from the German perspective and the Jewish perspective over the years. I had never before encountered one from the Russian perspective. This is an important piece of history and I hope that the free kindle edition's availablity will give it a broad readership. These first person accounts become ever more important as the last of the survivors of the Holocaust and of the war itself are aging and dying. I wish I could have given it more than four stars. I think the parenthetical information inserted within the text to explain certain word choices or historical context interrupted the flow and would have been better if provided as end notes or in the case of this kindle format even as clickable links. Other than that I found this a very good read and an important piece of history.

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Cybill Disobedience by Cybill Shepherd
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Memphis and Cybill Shepherd are forever tied together. This was an interesting read because of the hometown connections.

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First book of 2012

My Emily by Matt Patterson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The tender story of the brief life of Emily Patterson written by her father Matt. Emily was born with Down's Syndrome and then stricken with ALL. Despite the shortness of her life, the legacy she left behind is beautifully memoralized in her father's book.

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