Biography Summaries and Reviews
K. Brooks’
Biography Reviews
Great Memoirs
African American
A Piece of Cake
by Cupcake Brown
Cupcake Brown has been through it all. Her mother dies at the age of 34. She along with her brother can't live with her stepfather but are remanded to the custody of her biological father, who has never spent any time with them or supported them in any way. Their father is anticipating a big insurance payout and when that falls through, he send both kids to foster care. Cupcake lives with Diane, a very mean lady with other foster care children. At this home, she is beaten and raped. She runs away and her life goes downhill from there. She is homeless, drug addicted and penniless. Former drug addicts come to her rescue and she eventually turns her life around, but not without many relapses. This book is for anyone who has family members that are struugling with demons such as drugs, alcohol or homelessness, to have hope and to understand that you can turn it around, with support. I give this book **** out of five stars.
Celebrities
Living in a Foreign Language: A Memoir of Food, Wine and Love in Italy
by
Michael Tucker
This is a really good book for anyone that loves good food and travel. Michael and his wife actress Jill Eikenberry eat their way through Italy stopping occasionlly to smell the flowers and take in the view of the coutryside. Some of the friends they meet along the way are offbeat which makes for an enjoyable read. While on this very long excursion they are renovating a very old house to its historic roots. I never new you could cook a whole meal in a fireplace but with modification from junk pieces of metal you can. I absolutely loved this book. I give it **** out of five stars.
Drugs/Alcohol
Tweak
by Nic Sheff
This is the memoir of Nic Scheff, who was the focus of David Scheff''s book Beautiful Boys. Tweak is a personal account of what was going on with his addition to heroin, crack and his drug of choice meth. He takes the reader on a wild ride with seedy characters and very close calls. He is very blunt and candid in his recall and the reader will probably have a hard time putting this book down. It is more detailed than Beautiful Boy, and it is much more interesting. I give it **** out of five stars.
Gangs
Always Running
by Luis J. Rodriguez
This is what happens when Karma rears it's ugly head. When Luis was a teen he ran with gangs, sold drugs and even killed a man as part of a gang initiation. He served his time and turnes his life around. Now he has a son who is determined to go down the path his father has fought so hard to change. This gripping tale will hit home to parents who have teenagers that may have a glamorized view of what ganglife and streetlife are all about. Reading this book just might change the mind of a teenager who may not know what really happens in this world, where very few get out alive or unscathed. I give it **** out of five stars.
Gay/Lesbian
A Wolf at the Table
by Augustine Burroughs
If you have not read an Augusten Burroughs book before you are in for a treat. His wit is distinctive and will have you laughing out loud. His humor is limitless and his books share a common denominator, funny, funny, and funny. Most of his books are about his relationship with his mother and her crazy psychiatrist, who helped raise him. But this book takes a departure from all of that and looks at his father and his role in Augusten's dysfunction. His father never gave him the love he needed and he craved it his whole life. This book is sad and it never becomes the upbeat book that Augusten is so famous for. His father who is a college professor is cruel and an alcoholic. He plays mind games with Augusten and is directly responsible for the death of several of Augusten's pets. The author keeps us in suspense throughout most of the book with lines drawn between what is real and what are dream sequences. I give it **** out of five stars.
Hiv/Aids
Out of Bounds
by Roy Simmons
Roy Simmons was an Offensive Lineman for The New York Giants. But that was not all he was, he was drug addicted, bi-sexual and in the closet about it all. This very raw, candid, explicit at times, pageturner is an inside peak into the life of this pro-football player on and off of the field. From romps with strangers in elevators, to orgies at his sprawling estate, this author leaves no stone unturned. Even if you are not a fan of football, you will not want to put this book down. The language is explicit and not appropriate for young adults because there is never a lesson learned. This author almost glorifies all of his conquest, even with the onset of HIV, he never shows any remorse for young readers. I give it *** out of five stars.
Foster Care
Three Little Words
by Ashley Rhodes-Courter
This is foster care at it's worst. Ashley tells a haunting tale of living in fourteen foster homes in nine yeaars. Some of the homes were nice but many were not. Ashley was four when she was placed in foster care along with her little brother In the beginning they were placed together but as Ashley becomes older and more vocal they begin to go to separate foster homes. The book is well written and is sometimes difficult to put down. I give it **** out of five stars.
Bi-Racial
The Color of Water
by James McBride
A very good read of a black man and his Jewish mother's struggles. James' father was a black man who maried his mother when interracial marriage was shunned by both the black and white community. His father died early in his life but his mother married another black man, who helped raise elevan children and send them all to college. His love for his mother comes through in this pageturner. I give it **** out of five stars.
Men
Tis
by Frank McCourt
Angela's Ashes ended with young Frank arriving in America. If you ever wondered what happened to Frank and his family after the first novel or movie you will want to read this book. This book explores the next chapter in the McCourt family adventures. Frank joins the military and becomes a public school teacher. But there is much more to the story. I give it *** out of five stars.
Comfort Me with Apples
by Ruth Reichl
Ruth Reichl missed her calling as a comedian. The first and last book in this series is about her mother who was hilarious. This second book is more about her career and love life. Ruth was the food critic for the New York Times and she traveled around the world to interview and taste the food of the great chefs of our time. She will try almost anything and she takes the reader along as she eats squid, jellyfish, slugs, octopus, brains and a host of other things. She is unfaithful to her husband but comes clean to her husband only to find out that he has had more conquest than she has. Ruth is presently the editor of Gourmet Magazine. This book is part of a trilogy and it is very funny. I give it **** out of five stars.
What am I Reading Now?
Quiet Please
by
Scott Douglas
My Top Ten Favorite Books (This Week)
1. Don't Let My Mama Read This by Hadjii
2. Foster Care Odyssey: A Black Girls Story by Theresa Cameron
3. The Black Girl Next Door by Jennifer Braszille
4. Living in a Foreign Language by Michael Tucker
5. Comfort Me with Apples by Ruth Reichl
6. A Journal for Jordan by Dana Canedy
7. Three Little Words by Ashley Rhodes Courter
8. Jesus Land by Julia Scheeres
9. Fish by T.J. Parsell
10. Audition by Barbara Walters