An American Tragedy

 Title:  Fire in Paradise:  An American Tragedy

Author:  Alastair Gee, Dani Anguiano

Genre: Nonfiction

Summary: The harrowing story of the most destructive American wildfire in a century.
There is no precedent in postwar American history for the destruction of the town of Paradise, California. On November 8, 2018, the community of 27,000 people was swallowed by the ferocious Camp Fire, which razed virtually every home and killed at least 85 people. The catastrophe seared the American imagination, taking the front page of every major national newspaper and top billing on the news networks. It displaced tens of thousands of people, yielding a refugee crisis that continues to unfold.

This is the story of a town at the forefront of a devastating global shift—of a remarkable landscape sucked ever drier of moisture and becoming inhospitable even to trees, now dying in their tens of millions and turning to kindling. It is also the story of a lost community, one that epitomized a provincial, affordable kind of Californian existence that is increasingly unattainable. It is, finally, a story of a new kind of fire behavior that firefighters have never witnessed before and barely know how to handle. What happened in Paradise was unprecedented in America. Yet according to climate scientists and fire experts, it will surely happen again.

Rating: Very good.
Why I Like It:  I did not know anything about the wildfires in the west and I learned a lot about how they happen.  But, it is a sad story about destruction and death caused by this fire.

Other: I listened to it on audio.

 
Reviewer: Nancy Bucher

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

Pride of America, We're With You: The Letters of Grace Anderson U.S. Army Nurse Corps, World War

Title: Pride of America, We're With You: The Letters of Grace Anderson U.S. Army Nurse Corps, World War I (American Voices Series)

Author: Shari Lynn Wigle (Editor), Grace Anderson

Genre: biography, historical non-fiction, WWI

Summary: All of our strength we'll gladly give you ... In their unit song, Grace Anderson and the Base Hospital No. 115 nurses promised the soldiers: "Pride of America, we're with you, all of our strength we'll gladly give you ." More than ten thousand World War I army nurses volunteered for a perilous overseas venture. They aided the troops in the fight for democracy before American women had the right to vote. Grace, a nurse anesthetist, helped save lives in the operating rooms and hospital wards. She healed "our boys" and her own heartaches-a life-changing romance and the tragic loss of a loved one. Her 1917-1925 letters follow her from Camp Pike training to France, occupied Germany, and her return home. The narrative interweaves her correspondence with World War I history and her personal life, including her secret relationship with an army surgeon. The true story focuses on the human side of the Great War and recounts Grace's challenges in the postwar years. About the Author During a home remodeling project, Dana and Lynn Swan found the World War I letters of his grandmother, Grace Anderson, a U.S. Army nurse. The serendipitous event led Shari Lynn Wigle on a journey back to the Great War and offered her a new adventure in research and writing. About the Author: Shari Wigle has had many articles published in magazines and newspapers. Her career also includes newspaper reporting, film production, and corporate publications/publications. A graduate of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College in Indiana and the University of California, Los Angeles, she lives in Westlake Village, California. Pride of America, We're With You is the author's first book.

Rating: Excellent!

Why I Like It: So easy to read, interesting, learned so much in many different areas of WWI. Photos included through out the book.

Reviewer: Patsy

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

The Anthropocene Reviewed

 

Title: The Anthropocene Reviewed

Author: John Green
Genre: Non-fiction, History, Memoir, Short stories, Science, Essays

Summary: A deeply moving and insightful collection of personal essays.

The Anthropocene is the current geologic age, in which humans have profoundly reshaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this remarkable symphony of essays adapted and expanded from his groundbreaking podcast, bestselling author John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet on a five-star scale—from the QWERTY keyboard and sunsets to Canada geese and Penguins of Madagascar.

Funny, complex, and rich with detail, the reviews chart the contradictions of contemporary humanity. As a species, we are both far too powerful and not nearly powerful enough, a paradox that came into sharp focus as we faced a global pandemic that both separated us and bound us together.

John Green’s gift for storytelling shines throughout this masterful collection. The Anthropocene Reviewed is a open-hearted exploration of the paths we forge and an unironic celebration of falling in love with the world.

Rating: Excellent

Why I Like It: So interesting! Kept my attention & learned so much. Indianapolis was mentioned a lot.

Other: Audio, read by the author

Reviewer: Patsy

The Tattooist of Auschwitz

Title: The Tattooist of Auschwitz

Author: Heather Morris

Genre: historical fiction

Summary: In April 1942, Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew, is forcibly transported to the concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau. When his captors discover that he speaks several languages, he is put to work as a Tätowierer (the German word for tattooist), tasked with permanently marking his fellow prisoners.

Imprisoned for more than two and a half years, Lale witnesses horrific atrocities and barbarism—but also incredible acts of bravery and compassion. Risking his own life, he uses his privileged position to exchange jewels and money from murdered Jews for food to keep his fellow prisoners alive.

One day in July 1942, Lale, prisoner 32407, comforts a trembling young woman waiting in line to have the number 34902 tattooed onto her arm. Her name is Gita, and in that first encounter, Lale vows to somehow survive the camp and marry her.

A vivid, harrowing, and ultimately hopeful re-creation of Lale Sokolov's experiences as the man who tattooed the arms of thousands of prisoners with what would become one of the most potent symbols of the Holocaust, The Tattooist of Auschwitz is also a testament to the endurance of love and humanity under the darkest possible conditions. 

Rating: Very good.

Why I Like It: Once I started to read this book it was hard to stop. For such a difficult subject, it was easy to read.

Reviewer: Nancy Bucher

The Last Garden in England

Title: The Last Garden in England

Author: Julia Kelly
Genre: Gardening, historical fiction, romance

Summary: Present day: Emma Lovett, who has dedicated her career to breathing new life into long-neglected gardens, has just been given the opportunity of a lifetime: to restore the gardens of the famed Highbury House estate, designed in 1907 by her hero Venetia Smith. But as Emma dives deeper into the gardens’ past, she begins to uncover secrets that have long lain hidden.

1907: A talented artist with a growing reputation for her ambitious work, Venetia Smith has carved out a niche for herself as a garden designer to industrialists, solicitors, and bankers looking to show off their wealth with sumptuous country houses. When she is hired to design the gardens of Highbury House, she is determined to make them a triumph, but the gardens—and the people she meets—promise to change her life forever.

1944: When land girl Beth Pedley arrives at a farm on the outskirts of the village of Highbury, all she wants is to find a place she can call home. Cook Stella Adderton, on the other hand, is desperate to leave Highbury House to pursue her own dreams. And widow Diana Symonds, the mistress of the grand house, is anxiously trying to cling to her pre-war life now that her home has been requisitioned and transformed into a convalescent hospital for wounded soldiers. But when war threatens Highbury House’s treasured gardens, these three very different women are drawn together by a secret that will last for decades.

Rating: Very Good

Why I Like It: This book was very interesting because it covered a range of topics: garden design, gardening, war history, land girls, etc.

Reviewer: Nancy Bucher