Review: She’s All Caught Up by Jamila T. Davis ★★★★★
This memoir of a childhood and young-adult life spent advancing inexorably toward disaster was written from federal prison. Jamila Davis is currently serving a 151-month sentence for bank fraud. This memoir serves as both cautionary tale (for young people as well as their parents) and sociological profile. The cautionary tale is powerful, the sociological profile perplexing.
After an exciting opening that shows what is to come, the book is an extended flashback of Davis’s childhood, even giving some background on her parents’ origins. The book is well-written and engaging. Davis is a spunky and charming child, and her family is […]
Beyond the Horizon is Marvin Wilmes’ moving memoir about growing up in the turbulent sixties and trying to maintain his Catholic face amid family tragedy. It can be said that every life is worthy of a memoir. Every life is dramatic – every family likely faces illness and certainly faces deaths of loved ones. Wilmes certainly had a storied life and he has crafted an uplifting tome that should help readers navigate through their own troubled times.
An Animal Life: A Chance to Cut is the second book in Howard Krum’s award-winning series about life as a vet. Part 2 follows a group of veterinary students in their second semester, focusing on Mike London, a cocky vet school senior who nearly ends a dog’s life and tries to rebuild his life. The phrase “A chance to cut” is a surgeon’s motto: “A chance to cut is a chance to heal,” so London tries to mend his life through medicine, humor and romance.
Icarus Falling: The True Story of a Nightclub Bouncer Who Wanted to Be a F*cking Movie Star But Settled for Being a F*cking Man is the raucous, often hilarious, memoir of Christopher Paul Meyer’s time working as a bouncer in what was then the “most popular nightclub in Los Angeles.” Given the number of bars in L.A. that’s really saying something, so Meyer comes toe to toe, and fist to fist, with an entertaining assortment of drunks, celebrities, homeless people and everything else L.A. has to offer.
Shattered by the Wars, by Hi-Dong Chai, should be required reading. This powerful coming of age memoir is a story of love, faith, suffering, and sacrifice.
Mom On The Road, by Allyson Primack, is a humorous look into the life of Maggie Stevens.
Sex, Drugs & Islam is the provocative and controversial memoir by Pakistani author, Dari Ghaznavi. In a conversational style, Ghaznavi tells tale of his time in the military, running drugs and other criminal activity, traveling the world, and, especially, chasing women. Despite its dark topics, the narration is breezy and spirited. Dari Ghaznavi really has lived a life like no other.