An Idiot's Guide To Other People's Lives
A roundup of recent memoirs and biographies worth checking out.
October 4th, 2006
The Littlest Hitler | Seattle author takes a hilarious bite outta Left Coast suburbia.0 comments
September 6th, 2006
The Traveling Death And Resurrection Show | Portlander's debut novel shows promise, talent but falters.1 comment
August 16th, 2006
THE THINGS BETWEEN US | Between Lee Montgomery and her memoir lies only self-pity.7 comments
August 2nd, 2006
The Cantor's Daughter | When emotions are fragile, Scott Nadelson pushes them to the breaking point.0 comments
July 19th, 2006
Last Week's Apocalypse | Portlander Douglas Lain slings shovel-loads from our national midden.0 comments
July 12th, 2006
A Sense Of The World | A tour de force biography of a man who led the way in every sense but sight.0 comments
July 5th, 2006
The Whole World Over | Julia Glass' sophomore effort proves her 2002 National Book Award was no fluke.0 comments
June 28th, 2006
Girls In Peril1 comment
June 7th, 2006
Literary Threesome | A triple threat against the usual, boring beach book.0 comments
May 31st, 2006
The Unsettling: Stories By Peter Rock | A Reed College professor mines Portland's landscape for chills.0 comments
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[March 15th, 2006] The Bill from My Father, by Bernard Cooper (Simon and Schuster, 240 pages, $24)
Who it's about: Cooper, trying to make sense of his father as the vicious, distant lawyer succumbs to dementia. When he was 28, Cooper received a bill for paternal services rendered, totaling $2 million.
Free sample: "He used his charm to protect you from himself, which was, in the end, an act of kindness."
Who should buy it: Anyone who thinks their parents had a hand in messing them up will nod with each heartbreaking detail.
The Girl Who Walked Home Alone: Bette Davis, A Personal Biography, by Charlotte Chandler (Simon and Schuster, 348 pages, $26)
Who it's about: Bette Davis, queen of the silver screen and 10-time Oscar-nominated actress. After a long friendship with Chandler, she personally asked the noted biographer to write this volume.
Free sample: "Would you like to know about the first dick I ever saw?" Bette Davis asked writer Harry Haun.
Who should buy it: Nostalgics, film geeks and anyone looking for a throwback to Tinseltown's heyday.
White on Black, by Ruben Gallengo (Harcourt, 168 pages, $22)
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Who it's about: Gallengo, born with cerebral palsy, raised in state orphanages in the Soviet Union. Now available in English, this uplifting autobiography won the 2003 Russian Booker Prize.
Free sample: "I'm chewing a chocolate, and for some reason my head is spinning. I feel good. Happy."
Who should buy it: This lively, unapologetic and life-affirming book is a must for anyone who thinks they've got it rough.
Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping, by Judith Levine (Free Press, 274 pages, $25)
Who it's about: Levine, a political columnist who didn't buy anything for one year, save for bare necessities like food and medicine.
Free sample: "Indeed, in 2003 a study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry announced an 'effective treatment' for 'compulsive acquisition disorder': the antidepressant Celexa."
Who should buy it: For anyone in need of a lesson on the difference between a "need" and a "want," this informative and refreshing look at consumerism is—you guessed it—a "need."
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