McBride, James. The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother Riverhead Books, 1996Hardcover, 228 pagesISBN 1-57322-022-1 Recommended As a young boy James McBride recognized that his mother was different: “Gradually . . . I began to notice something about my mother, that she looked nothing like the other kids’ mothers. In fact, […]
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McCourt, Frank. Angela’s Ashes: A Memoir Scribner, 1996Paperback, 364 pagesISBN 0-684-87435-0 Highly Recommended Frank McCourt’s memoir about his childhood well deserves all the accolades that have been heaped upon it. When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I survived at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly
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Darden, Christopher, with Jess Walter. In Contempt HarperCollins, 1996Hardcover, 387 pages ISBN 0-06-039183-9 Other than the victims’ families, few people were as visibly shaken by the verdict in the O.J. Simpson trial as prosecutor Christopher Darden. For him, that trial was a true trial by fire, not merely his job but an undertaking that forced him to
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Rule, Ann. Dead by Sunset Simon & Schuster, 1995Hardcover, 429 pagesISBN 0-684-80205-8 In this true-crime book Ann Rule tells the story of Cheryl Keeton, who was bludgeoned to death and left in her Toyota van on the highway so that an accident would cover her murder, in September, 1986, in Portland, Oregon. Rule also tells the
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Hawthorn, Jeremy. Studying the Novel: An IntroductionEdward Arnold, 2nd edition (1992, reprinted 1996)Paperback, 146 pages ISBN 0-340-56403-2 This slim volume is a good choice for book-discussion group members who appreciate good books but want to sharpen their reading and discussion skills. The premise of Hawthorn’s book is that “in the course of studying novels we must
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Fishman, Steve. A Bomb in the Brain: A Heroic Tale of Science, Surgery, and Survival Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1988Hardcover, 318 pages ISBN 0-684-18706-X Recommended Journalist Steve Fishman was stalking a story in Central America when a bomb in his brain exploded. His book leads the reader through that experience and through the brain surgery necessary to prevent
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