Update: April 2022 When Lucy Grealy died in December 2002 at the age of 39, her death was ruled an accidental overdose. Later her close friend, novelist Ann Patchett, commemorated their relationship in the memoir Truth and Beauty: A Friendship. I wrote my review (below) of Grealy’s memoir before her death. Books by Lucy […]
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O’Connell, Carol. The Man Who Cast Two Shadows (1995) Jove Books, 308 pages, $6.99 paperback ISBN 0 515 11890 7 After a short prologue, the first chapter of this book opens with a page about the young child Kathy who had a phone number written on her hand. The first three digits of
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Woods,Stuart. Swimming to Catalina (1998) HarperCollins, 311 pages, $25.00 hardcover ISBN 0 06 018369 1 In his latest adventure Stone Barrington travels to Hollywood at the request of the country’s hottest movie star, Vance Calder. Vance is now married to writer Arrington Carter, Stone’s former lover. When Vance tells Stone that Arrington is
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Sandford, John. Secret Prey (1998) G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 392 pages, $24.95 hardcover ISBN 0 399 14382 3 After an interlude with Anna Batory on the West Coast, in Secret Prey John Sandford puts detective Lucas Davenport back to work in Minneapolis. Daniel S. Kresge, chairman of the board, president, and CEO of the
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O’Connell, Carol. Mallory’s Oracle (1994) Jove Books, 310 pages, $5.99 paperback ISBN 0 515 11647 5 NYPD detective Louis Markowitz has been tracking a serial killer who preys on elderly women. Now Markowitz has been murdered, his body found near that of the killer’s latest victim. One of the officers who arrive on
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Zinsser, William (ed.). Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of MemoirHoughton Mifflin Company, 1987Hardcover, 166 pagesISBN 0-395-44526-4 This book originated as a series of talks sponsored by the Book-of-the-Month Club, Inc., and presented at The New York Public Library in the winter of 1986. The book contains a memoir and introduction by William Zinsser,
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Conway, Jill Ker. When Memory Speaks: Reflections on Autobiography Alfred A. Knopf, 1998Hardcover, 205 pagesISBN 0-679-44593-5 This book opens with the question “Why is autobiography the most popular form of fiction for modern readers?” (p. 3). The reason, Conway tell us, is that “We want to know how the world looks from inside another person’s experience,
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Grafton, Sue. “N” is for Noose (1998) Henry Holt and Company, 289 pages, $25.00 hardcover ISBN 0 8050 3650 4 Sue Grafton’s new novel finds Kinsey Millhone ready to leave Nevada after caring for Dietz, her off-again, on-again lover, for a couple of weeks after his knee-replacement operation. Dietz refers Kinsey for a
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Grafton, Sue. “J” Is for Judgment (1993) Fawcett Crest, 360 pages, $6.99 paperbackISBN 0 449 22148 2 A little over five years ago Wendell Jaffe disappeared from his sail boat, leaving behind a suicide note and a failed, fraudulent investment company. Jaffe also left behind a business partner who went to jail for fraud, a
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Karr, Mary. The Liars’ Club: A Memoir Viking, 1995Hardcover, 320 pagesISBN 0-670-85053 Recommended Poet Mary Karr grew up in an East Texas town, where her Daddy, like everyone else’s daddy, worked at the oil refinery. After work the men would congregate at the American Legion Bar and swap stories, a gathering that became known as the
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