The Boys A Memoir of Hollywood and Family

 Title:  The Boys A Memoir of Hollywood and Family

Author:  Ron Howard and Clint Howard

Genre: Nonfiction

Summary: “What was it like to grow up on TV?” Ron Howard has been asked this question throughout his adult life. In The Boys, he and his younger brother, Clint, examine their childhoods in detail for the first time. For Ron, playing Opie on The Andy Griffith Show and Richie Cunningham on Happy Days offered fame, joy, and opportunity—but also invited stress and bullying. For Clint, a fast start on such programs as Gentle Ben and Star Trek petered out in adolescence, with some tough consequences and lessons.

With the perspective of time and success—Ron as a filmmaker, producer, and Hollywood A-lister, Clint as a busy character actor—the Howard brothers delve deep into an upbringing that seemed normal to them yet was anything but. Their Midwestern parents, Rance and Jean, moved to California to pursue their own showbiz dreams. But it was their young sons who found steady employment as actors. Rance put aside his ego and ambition to become Ron and Clint’s teacher, sage, and moral compass. Jean became their loving protector—sometimes over-protector—from the snares and traps of Hollywood.

By turns confessional, nostalgic, heartwarming, and harrowing, The Boys is a dual narrative that lifts the lid on the Howard brothers’ closely held lives. It’s the journey of a tight four-person family unit that held fast in an unforgiving business and of two brothers who survived “child-actor syndrome” to become fulfilled adults.

Rating: Very good.

Why I Like It:  It was very easy and interesting to listen to.  Especially since I grew up with their tv shows and movies.

Other: Kathy read the book and recommended to me and I listened to the audio version.

Reviewer: Nancy

YOU DON'T BELONG HERE

 

Title: YOU DON'T BELONG HERE

Author: Elizabeth Becker

Genre: nonfiction

Summary: Excerpts from the inside cover: The story of three women who arrived in Vietnam with starkly different life experiences but one shared purpose: to report on the most consequential story of the decade. At a time when women were considered unfit to be foreign reporters, they challenged the rules imposed on them by the military, ignored the belittlement of their male peers, and ultimately altered the craft of war reportage for generations.

The author uses these women's work and lives to illuminate the Vietnam War from the 1965 American buildup, the expansion into Cambodia, and the American defeat and its aftermath. Arriving herself in the last years of the war, Becker writes as a historian and a witness of the times.

Rating: Very good
Why I Like It: Easy to read and understand. Provided a lot of good back ground information. At that time I was just beginning to be aware of what was going on in our government and the world. Reading about these women and more about what really went on in Vietnam was very interesting.

Name: Kathy

ME BEFORE YOU

Title: ME BEFORE YOU

Author: Jojo Moves

Genre: fiction, romance

Summary: From back of book: 'Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an exceedingly ordinary life who has barely been farther afield than her tiny village. She takes a badly needed job working for ex-Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair-bound after an accident. Will has always lived a huge life—big deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel—and he is not interested in exploring a new one.

Will is acerbic, moody, bossy—but Lou refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, Lou sets out to show him that life is still worth living.'

Rating: Very good

Why I Like It: The story is about a difficult subject, but draws you in with humor and romance. It is not morbid or predictable.

Other: A movie was made based on the book, but I have not seen it yet. The book takes place in England.

Name: Kathy

THE POPPY WIFE

Title: THE POPPY WIFE

Author: Caroline Scott

Genre: historical fiction

Summary: From back of book: '1921. Survivors of the Great War are desperately trying to piece together the fragments of their broken lives. While many have been reunited with their loved ones, Edie's husband, Francis, has not come home. Francis is presumed to have been killed in action. But when Edie receives a mysterious photograph, she begins to think he might still be alive and embarks on a journey to find him.'

Rating: Very good

Why I Like It: Although about a difficult subject, the book is very well written and hard to put down. Very interesting as you get to know the characters and their stories come out. There is also hope for recovery and for the future. The author is a historian specializing in World War I and woman's history.

Reviewer: Kathy

The Kopp Sisters Series

Title: The Kopp Sisters Series

Author: Amy Stewart

Genre: historical fiction/mystery

Summary: These novels are about the three Kopp sisters and their lives in the early 1900's. The characters are based on real people involved in real events. I heard the author speak and was really impressed with her historical knowledge and the amount of research that she does for the books. She does have to change some time lines and add some fiction to make a good novel. She gets a lot of her information from newspapers from that time and the titles of the books are all newspaper headlines.

Rating: Very good

Why I Like It: Interesting and easy to read. Not a typical mystery novel. Actually, it seems more of a historical fiction then mystery.

Reviewer: Kathy 

Becoming

Title: Becoming

Author: Michelle Obama

Genre:   autobiography                  

Summary:  Michelle Obama tells her story from growing up on the South Side of Chicago, through college, various careers, meeting Barak Obama, and her experience as First Lady. 

Rating: Very good

Why I Like It:  Very interesting to see things from her point of view.  Not dry at all.  She is very introspective and interested in the world around her and in other people.  Very little politics. 

Reviewer: Kathy 

ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK

Title: ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK

Author: Piper Kerman
Genre: nonfiction                

Summary:  “With a career, a boyfriend, and a loving family, Piper Kerman barely resembles the reckless young woman who delivered a suitcase of drug money ten years before.  But that past has caught up with her.  Convicted and sentenced to 15 months at an infamous federal correctional facility the well-heeled Smith College alumna is now an inmate.  From her lst strip search to her final release, Kerman learns to navigate this strange world with its strictly enforced codes of behavior & arbitrary rules.  She meets women from all walks of life. 

Rating: Very good

Why I Like It:  Although author is writing from her personal experience the book is more about the other people she encounters and the whole prison experience.  She shows respect for other prisoners and learns from both bad and good events.  Interesting look at the prison system.  Realistic, not stereotypes you see on TV shows.

Reviewer: Kathy 

WE BAND OF ANGELS

Title: WE BAND OF ANGELS

Author: Elizabeth Norman Genre:  Historical Non-fiction, World War 2

Summary: “From diaries, letters and interviews with aging survivors, author has filled in a vital but missing chapter in the history of WWII: the heroism of women. Bombing raids. Malaria, Starvation. Capture. Survival. Here is the little-known story of the Army & Navy nurses caught in the brutal retreat of U.S. Forces from Manila to Bataan to Corregidor, and eventually a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp.”

Rating: Very good

Why I Like It: Very interesting with a lot of personal stories. Told from perspective of the women who had not been trained for and never expected to be in such a brutal situation. How they handled it and persevered.

Added note from Kathy’s email message to me (Patsy): Seems like I've been reading a lot of wartime books lately, but they've been interesting and very educational.  Mom would have been in the Pacific when some of this took place. 

Reviewer: Kathy

THE HELLO GIRLS

Title: THE HELLO GIRLS

Author: Elizabeth Cobbs

Genre: nonfiction

Summary: Story of how America's first women soldiers helped win WWI, earned the vote & fought the army for veteran's recognition. In 1918, the U. S. Army Signal Corps sent 223 women to France. They operated telephone switchboards which provided the only communication between troops under fire and commanders.

Rating: Very good

Why I Like It: A little slow at first, but well worth reading. A lot of interesting background info that I wasn't aware of or had forgotten. Also, amazing to think that 100 years ago at this time Grandpa Dunipace was serving in this situation in France.

Reviewer: Kathy

A LONG WAY HOME

Title: A LONG WAY HOME  

Author: Saroo Brierley  

Genre: nonfiction 

 Summary: As a five-year-old in India, the author got lost on a train. Twenty-five years later, from Australia, he found his way back. This is what happened in between. 

Rating: Very good  

Why I Like It: Amazing story. Also get a look at a whole different culture and way of life.  

Reviewer: Kathy

A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW

Title: A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW
Author: Amor Towles
Genre: Fiction/Historical fiction
Summary: In 1922, 30-year-old Count Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal and is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel. Rostov, an indomitable man of erudition and wit, must now live in an attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history are unfolding outside the hotel's doors.
Rating: Very good
Why I Like It: The book is very different and contains many interesting characters and some surprises. Also, the backdrop of Russian history was interesting. It took awhile to really get into the book, but well worth it.
Other:
Reviewer: Kathy

HIDDEN FIGURES

Title: HIDDEN FIGURES
Author: Margot Shetterly
Genre: Nonfiction
Summary: “True story of the black female mathematicians at NASA whose calculations helped fuel some of America's greatest achievements in space.”
Rating: Very good
Why I Like It: The books actually begins in the 40's with the government's research and development of air planes for WWII. There was a great need for mathematicians and many black women were hired. A lot of background on segregation and the treatment of blacks. This tells the personal stories of some of the women. Very interesting and easy to read.
Other:
Reviewer: Kathy

All The Light We Cannot See

Title: All The Light We Cannot See
Author:  Anthony Doerr
Genre: Historical Fiction      

Summary: Story interweaves the lives of a blind girl from Paris and a young man from Germany before and during WWII.  Although the characters are fictional, there are events in the story that actually happened in France and Germany, especially the bombing of the city of Saint-Malo. 
Rating: Very good

Why I Like It:  The story takes place during a war, but is not your usual war story. 

Reviewer: Kathy