The Elephants of Thula Thula

The Elephants of Thula Thula

By: Francoise Malby-Anthony
Read by the author

Published 25 April 2023
my review 4 out of 5 stars

Françoise Malby-Anthony's The Elephants of Thula Thula is a powerful, gripping story about an extraordinary herd of elephants and the woman dedicated to keeping them safe.

‘Somehow, the elephants got into my soul, and it became my life’s work to see them safe and happy. There was no giving up on that vision, no matter how hard the road was at times.’

Françoise Malby-Anthony is the owner of a game reserve in South Africa with a remarkable family of elephants whose adventures have touched hearts around the world. The herd’s feisty matriarch Frankie knows who’s in charge at Thula Thula, and it’s not Francoise. But when Frankie becomes ill, and the authorities threaten to remove or cull some of the herd if the reserve doesn’t expand, Françoise is in a race against time to save her beloved elephants . . .

The joys and challenges of a life dedicated to conservation are vividly described in The Elephants of Thula Thula. The search is on to get a girlfriend for orphaned rhino Thabo—and then, as his behaviour becomes increasingly boisterous, a big brother to teach him manners. Françoise realizes a dream with the arrival of Savannah the cheetah—an endangered species not seen in the area since the 1940s—and finds herself rescuing meerkats kept as pets. But will Thula Thula survive the pandemic, an invasion from poachers and the threat from a mining company wanting access to its land?

As Françoise faces her toughest years yet, she realizes once again that with their wisdom, resilience and communal bonds, the elephants have much to teach us.

While I received a copy of this audiobook in exchange for a review, all opinions remain my own. This is the story of a woman caretaker of a wildlife preserve in South Africa. It includes the details of how she was able to not only survive the covid-19 pandemic (not losing her business, the elephant preserve) but thrive. They were able to expand the preserve to his current status. I loved the stories not only about the elephants and other animals, but about the people. I plan on checking out the first book written by Malby-Anthony soon. Seeing what she's done to help preserve the wild elephants in South Africa is just amazing.

Good Girls Don't

Good Girls Don't

By Mara Wilson

Published 18 April 2023

Narrated by the author 

My review: 3.75 out of 5 stars 

In this candid and illuminating Scribd Original, writer-actor Mara Wilson navigates the good-girl-versus- bad-girl tropes from early childhood through adolescence and teen life. Good Girls Don’t is a coming-of- age memoir that bravely examines both the friendships Wilson formed as a child actor in Hollywood and the complex family relationships that shaped her.

Looking back on her experiences on and off the set of notable family-friendly films including Matilda, Mrs. Doubtfire, Miracle on 34th Street, and A Simple Wish, Wilson shares the challenges and joys of growing up in the public eye while enduring the very personal grief of losing her mother to cancer when she was just eight. She describes periods of acting out to assuage her own sadness, as her contentious grandmother stepped in and her hardworking, grief-stricken father grappled with raising a young daughter and her four siblings.

Wilson also shares intimate thoughts about religion and her struggle to adhere to the learned family values of her “Conservadox” upbringing while exploring clandestine friendships, such as with “bad girl” classmate Skye, that went against the “good” behavior her parents tried to instill in her. We discover the TV shows, films, and risqué pop and rock music that influenced her and hear fascinating, hilarious details of life on movie sets as seen from the perspective of a highly intelligent and emotionally vulnerable child.

And, as Wilson seeks to discard a people-pleasing mentality, she digs into past experiences with fans. We learn about the challenges of maintaining a significant fan base — including her complicated relationship with Edward, the college-age young man who administered a website to engage them — in addition to the ongoing anxiety over others’ opinions of how any move she made would be perceived.

With the transition to adulthood, Wilson reflects on the moments that led up to this next phase of her life. Forging solid friendships as a theater student at New York University, she begins to accept her extraordinary past while finally realizing what being “good” means to her.

While I received a copy of this book in exchange for a review, all opinions remain my own. Thank you Net Galley and Scribd for the opportunity to read this story.

As a child I loved Matilda. It was one of my favorite books and then when the movie came out, I really felt a connection to the actress who played Matilda, Mara Wilson. Her journey is chronicled in this memoir. When I was older, I heard the stories about her mom passing away during the filming, how other famous people stepped into her life and stepped up. This story made me sad for her. I totally relate to her "good girls don't" upbringing. I was always the one in my friends group trying to stay the good girl. How much harder it would have been as someone living in the literal spotlight.

Starter Dog

Starter Dog: My path to joy, belonging and loving this world 

By Rona Maynard 

Narrated by the author 

Published April 18, 2023 

My review: 3.5 out of 5 stars 

An irresistible tale of reluctant dog ownership full of heart, humor, and wisdom

Rona Maynard wants to love her life again. Stuck in the what-next doldrums after quitting a big job, she needs a new bridge to the world. So, well into their married life, she lets her husband talk her into their first dog, a rescue mutt named Casey. Rona frets about shedding, lost travel opportunities, and arguments about walking duty. She doubts she can love a dog. But when Casey romps through her door, Rona falls hard. Over time he gives her what no human could—a new way of seeing and a pathway to the heart of a moment. Her downtown neighborhood reveals its true face as she explores it with Casey, making new friends and discovering hidden beauty spots. She learns to have adventures on her own stomping ground. Through Casey, Rona falls in love with the world and her place in it, an animal among other animals.

Although I received a copy of this audiobook in exchange for my review, all opinions remain my own. Thank you NetGalley and ECW Press Audio for the opportunity to listen.

This book is about a reluctant dog owner's journey both to getting a dog and then figuring out that she was in fact a "dog person" and her life would never be the same without Casey. I loved seeing Rona's opinion of dogs slowly change through this book. I loved how Casey rubbed off on her and showed her how much the world had to offer. Casey, a rescue dog, rescued her and her husband from a boring retirement and showed them a new reality through his eyes. This was a quick listen and mostly uplifting. The best part, the book ends and the dog is still living! :D

I Am in Here: The Journey of a Child with Autism Who Cannot Speak But Finds Her Voice

I Am in Here: The Journey of a Child with Autism Who Cannot Speak But Finds Her Voice

by: Elizabeth M. Bonker, Virginia G. Breen

Narrator: Cassandra Campbell

Release date: November 10, 2011

Listening length: 5 hours, 12 minutes 

Read date: April 28, 2023

My review: 3 out of 5 stars

"She looked into my eyes and blinked hers slowly and deliberately, like a stroke victim, to show me that, although she couldn't speak, she understood what I was saying to her. I stroked her hair softly. 'I know you're in there, honey,' I told her. 'We'll get you out".

Despite the horror of seeing 15-month-old Elizabeth slip away into autism, her mother knew that her bright little girl was still in there. When Elizabeth eventually learned to communicate, first by using a letterboard and later by typing, the poetry she wrote became proof of a glorious, life-affirming victory for this young girl and her family.

I Am in Here is the spiritual journey of a mother and daughter who refuse to give up hope, who celebrate their victories, and who keep trying to move forward despite the obstacles. Although she cannot speak, Elizabeth writes poetry that shines a light on the inner world of autism and the world around us. That poetry and her mother's stirring storytelling combine in this inspirational book to proclaim that there is always a reason to take the next step forward - with hope.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. What I didn't love was the author implying that vaccines caused her children's autism. It is something I almost put the book down over. If she had gone much deeper into her belief of that, I might have put the book down, but the mentions were brief and thankfully she focused this book on her non-verbal daughter and not how she thinks she "contracted" autism. It was interesting to read about the different treatments they were trying with both Elizabeth and her son, also autistic. I also really enjoyed seeing the world through Elizabeth's poetry. Though non-verbal, she uses a word board to communicate. Being able to "see" how she thinks of things, makes you change your perspective a little bit.

Gender Queer: A Memoir

Gender Queer: A Memoir

Written and illustrated by: Maia Kobabe

Print length: 240 pages

Publication date: May 28, 2019

My review: not rated 

In 2014, Maia Kobabe, who uses e/em/eir pronouns, thought that a comic of reading statistics would be the last autobiographical comic e would ever write. At the time, it was the only thing e felt comfortable with strangers knowing about em. Now, Gender Queer is here. Maia’s intensely cathartic autobiography charts eir journey of self-identity, which includes the mortification and confusion of adolescent crushes, grappling with how to come out to family and society, bonding with friends over erotic gay fanfiction, and facing the trauma and fundamental violation of pap smears.
Started as a way to explain to eir family what it means to be nonbinary and asexual, Gender Queer is more than a personal story: it is a useful and touching guide on gender identity—what it means and how to think about it—for advocates, friends, and humans everywhere.

"It’s also a great resource for those who identify as nonbinary or asexual as well as for those who know someone who identifies that way and wish to better understand." — SLJ (starred review)


I don't feel comfortable giving someone's memoir about their journey a star rating, so I will just leave it at my personal review. Content warnings taken from common sense media: "Explicit but not erotic illustrations of sexual activity include masturbation, oral sex, sex toys, kissing in an implied sex position, erections, and a fantasy image of a man holding another's penis. There are no violent acts, but there are a few bloody, nightmarish pictures showing fear and trauma surrounding menstruation and getting a Pap smear. Strong language includes "d—k," "c—k," "f—k," and "s—t."

I found this to be a very informative book about one person's journey to find themselves. Kobabe was candid about both eir gender and sexuality. I can see why some parents would want this book banned in schools, but that is the exact reason this book should be available to anyone. 

Can you imagine if this book had been available when Kobabe was young, how it could have helped them to understand a little bit more about their gender and sexual identity. 

The drawings and way that Kobabe illustrated eir thought process in this book was just perfect. I wish there was a way to capture and share them with my family. It would be an easier way to share about gender identity that I wouldn't have thought of before. 

Parents need to be aware of what is in the book and know what is appropriate for their child to read. My 13-year-old has read this book and we were able to have candid discussions about sex and gender as well as sexual identity after reading. I feel more educated after reading this book and feel it is something that should never be removed from a school library.

The Day My Brain Exploded A True Story

The Day My Brain Exploded

By Ashok Rajamani

Read by the author

Listening length: 5 hours, 53 minutes

Published: January 9, 2015

My review 4 out of 5 stars

Read for my March 2023 Reading challenge, bonus prompt number 4: disabled author for National Disabilities Awareness Month. Mr Rajamani is partially blind and suffers from epilepsy as a result of his TBI. 

After a full-throttle brain bleed at the age of 25, Ashok Rajamani, a first-generation Indian American, had to relearn everything: how to eat, how to walk and speak, even things as basic as his sexual orientation. With humor and insight, he describes the events of that day - his brain exploded just before his brother's wedding - as well as the long, difficult recovery period. In the process, he introduces listeners to his family - his principal support group, as well as a constant source of frustration and amazement.

Irreverent, coruscating, angry, at times shocking but always revelatory, his memoir takes the listener into unfamiliar territory, much like the experience Alice had when she fell down the rabbit hole. That he lived to tell the story is miraculous; that he tells it with such aplomb is simply remarkable.

More than a decade later he has finally reestablished a productive artistic life for himself, still dealing with the effects of his injury - life-long half-blindness and epilepsy - but forging ahead as a survivor dedicated to helping others who have suffered a similar catastrophe.

Hearing stories of miraculous survival has always been something that I love hearing. This story is now one I can add to that list. Though a start I wasn't quite expecting, this book had me hooked. The day of his brother's wedding, Rajamani suffers a "full-throttle brain bleed." His story has the perfect mix of medical and personal stories in it. My heart broke while hearing about some of the treatment he suffered while during his initial hospitalization. Then seeing his connections with other TBI sufferers was just remarkable. I loved hearing this book from his voice too, as I listened to the audiobook. It was a quick listen and quite informative. Four stars from me.

I'm Glad My Mom Died

I'm Glad My Mom Died

by Jeannette McCurdy

Narrated by the author 

Listening length 6 hours, 26 minutes 

Publicizations date August 9, 2022

A heartbreaking and hilarious memoir by iCarly and Sam & Cat star Jennette McCurdy about her struggles as a former child actor—including eating disorders, addiction, and a complicated relationship with her overbearing mother—and how she retook control of her life.

Jennette McCurdy was six years old when she had her first acting audition. Her mother’s dream was for her only daughter to become a star, and Jennette would do anything to make her mother happy. So she went along with what Mom called “calorie restriction,” eating little and weighing herself five times a day. She endured extensive at-home makeovers while Mom chided, “Your eyelashes are invisible, okay? You think Dakota Fanning doesn’t tint hers?” She was even showered by Mom until age sixteen while sharing her diaries, email, and all her income.

In I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette recounts all this in unflinching detail—just as she chronicles what happens when the dream finally comes true. Cast in a new Nickelodeon series called iCarly, she is thrust into fame. Though Mom is ecstatic, emailing fan club moderators and getting on a first-name basis with the paparazzi (“Hi Gale!”), Jennette is riddled with anxiety, shame, and self-loathing, which manifest into eating disorders, addiction, and a series of unhealthy relationships. These issues only get worse when, soon after taking the lead in the iCarly spinoff Sam & Cat alongside Ariana Grande, her mother dies of cancer. Finally, after discovering therapy and quitting acting, Jennette embarks on recovery and decides for the first time in her life what she really wants.

Told with refreshing candor and dark humor, I’m Glad My Mom Died is an inspiring story of resilience, independence, and the joy of shampooing your own hair.


This book just made me sad. The whole time listening, I could see the abusive relationship Jeanette had with her mother (probably the reason the book is titled "I'm glad my mom died") but it made me miss my mom even more. Not a great time for me to have read this book (over my own mother's birthday, the 9th she is celebrating in Heaven). McCurdy points out that we tend to put mother's on a pedestal and I can see that... I don't want to take mine off of hers! 

I'm glad that McCurdy was able to get the peace she needed with the relationship she had with her mom, I can't imagine how hard her life was (despite the luxury we might have seen from the outside). Sharing her story can't have been easy for her, but I hope, in some way, she was able to find healing in this and that maybe (just maybe) her story might help someone out of a similar situation. If not with the mother-type relationship, then maybe with the eating disorder. I think it's a book worth reading for sure. McCurdy defiantly has some lessons to teach others through the hard times she has been forced to live through. Hope to see some lighter stories from her someday!

The Daughter of Auschwitz

The Daughter of Auschwitz: A Memoir

By Tova Friedman and Malcolm Braban
Narrated by Saskia Maarleveld
Publishication date: September 6, 2022
Listening length: 7 hours, 53 minutes
My review: 4 out of 5 stars 

Read for my March 2023 Reading challenge, bonus prompt 3: Memoir by a woman or no-binary person. 

A powerful memoir by one of the youngest survivors of Auschwitz, Tova Friedman, following her childhood growing up during the Holocaust and surviving a string of near-death experiences in a Jewish ghetto, a Nazi labor camp, and Auschwitz.

"I am a survivor. That comes with a survivor's obligation to represent one and half million Jewish children murdered by the Nazis. They cannot speak. So I must speak on their behalf."

Tova Friedman was one of the youngest people to emerge from Auschwitz. After surviving the liquidation of the Jewish ghetto in Central Poland where she lived as a toddler, Tova was four when she and her parents were sent to a Nazi labour camp, and almost six when she and her mother were forced into a packed cattle truck and sent to Auschwitz II, also known as the Birkenau extermination camp, while her father was transported to Dachau.

During six months of incarceration in Birkenau, Tova witnessed atrocities that she could never forget, and experienced numerous escapes from death. She is one of a handful of Jews to have entered a gas chamber and lived to tell the tale.

As Nazi killing squads roamed Birkenau before abandoning the camp in January 1945, Tova and her mother hid among corpses. After being liberated by the Russians they made their way back to their hometown in Poland. Eventually Tova's father tracked them down and the family was reunited.

In The Daughter of Auschwitz, Tova immortalizes what she saw, to keep the story of the Holocaust alive, at a time when it's in danger of fading from memory. She has used those memories that have shaped her life to honour the victims. Written with award-winning former war reporter Malcolm Brabant, this is an extremely important book. Brabant's meticulous research has helped Tova recall her experiences in searing detail. Together they have painstakingly recreated Tova's extraordinary story about the world's worst ever crime.

Another amazing story of survival in the face of tremendous tragedy. As Americans, I don't think we can begin to imagine what the people went through during the Holocaust, but this is one way we can try to understand, by reading first-hand accounts. Tova is one of the youngest survivors to come out of Auschwitz. This is her story. 

If you can listen to nothing else, listen to the foreword of this book. The author has a warning for us: 

“in this age of warp-speed internet, change can happen much faster than it did eighty years ago. We need to be constantly vigilant and brave enough to speak out."

Some of my the most shocking revelations to me were from the introduction. Tova mentions a Survey commissioned by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, published in September 2020: in a survey of young Americans two-thirds of people interviewed didn't know how many Jews died during the Holocaust (over six million), almost half couldn't name a single concentration camp or ghetto, 23% believed the Holocaust had been a myth or exaggerated, and 17% said it was acceptable to hold neo-Nazi views. 

as American philosopher George Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” We need to remember what has happened so that we don't ever have anything like this happen again. 

When asked how our current world compares to the Europe of the 1930's, Tova writes: 

It's true that no government in the world today has such a doctrine enshrined in law and supported by the population at large. Nevertheless, we all know countries where discrimination is prevalent and perhaps even tolerated. 

Only 80 years ago, over 6 million Jewish people were murdered simply because they were Jewish and there is every possibility that we could be headed down a very similar road today. In this book, Tova tells of the many things that her brave mother did to ensure her safety, her survival. It is apparent that without her, the story would have come out quite differently. Now in her mid-80s, Tova sees it as her responsibility to speak out about the Holocaust, to represent the 1.5 million Jewish children who never lived to see the end of the war.  

The holocaust, the worst crime in the history of mankind, happened less than 80 years ago, and it is fading from memory already... that, quite frankly, is appalling. 

You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost)

You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost)

Written and narrated by: Felicia Day

Listening length: 6 hours, 48 minutes

Published August 11, 2015

My review 4 out of 5 stars

The instant New York Times bestseller from “queen of the geeks” Felicia Day, You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) is a “relentlessly funny and surprisingly inspirational” (Forbes) memoir about her unusual upbringing, her rise to internet stardom, and embracing her weirdness to find her place in the world. When Felicia Day was a girl, all she wanted was to connect with other kids (desperately). Growing up in the Deep South, where she was “home-schooled for hippie reasons,” she looked online to find her tribe. The Internet was in its infancy and she became an early adopter at every stage of its growth—finding joy and unlikely friendships in the emerging digital world. Her relative isolation meant that she could pursue passions like gaming, calculus, and 1930’s detective novels without shame. Because she had no idea how “uncool” she really was.

But if it hadn’t been for her strange background—the awkwardness continued when she started college at sixteen, with Mom driving her to campus every day—she might never have had the naïve confidence to forge her own path. Like when she graduated as valedictorian with a math degree and then headed to Hollywood to pursue a career in acting despite having zero contacts. Or when she tired of being typecast as the crazy cat-lady secretary and decided to create her own web series before people in show business understood that online video could be more than just cats chasing laser pointers.

Felicia’s rags-to-riches rise to Internet fame launched her career as one of the most influen­tial creators in new media. Ever candid, she opens up about the rough patches along the way, recounting battles with writer’s block, a full-blown gaming addiction, severe anxiety, and depression—and how she reinvented herself when overachieving became overwhelming.

Showcasing Felicia’s “engaging and often hilarious voice” (USA TODAY), You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) is proof that everyone should celebrate what makes them different and be brave enough to share it with the world, because anything is possible now—even for a digital misfit.

Another celebrity memoir read by themselves. I can't seem to get enough of these. This one is by the queen of geeks herself, Felicia Day. I just love her. This book delves into her life before acting and what brought her to the west as well as her start in "the business." I loved hearing how she kind of paved her own way with a web series and how that made a way for a new form of entertainment. Before her show, there wasn't really anything like that. Then to come onto netflix and become so much more then it was. I really just loved hearing how it evolved. One thing about this book I wasn't expecting was the chapter about the book tour. I'm assuming she added it later but it was really interesting to hear about her thoughts about it.

The Possibility Dogs: What a Handful of "Unadoptables" Taught Me about Service, Hope, and Healing

The Possibility Dogs: What a Handful of "Unadoptables" Taught Me about Service, Hope, and Healing

Written and Narrated by: Susannah Charleson

Listening length: 11 hours, 18 minutes 

Published June 4, 2013

My review 4 out of 5 stars 

From the author of the critically acclaimed bestseller, Scent of the Missing, comes a heartwarming and inspiring story that shows how dogs can be rescued and can rescue in return.

For her first book, Susannah Charleson was praised for her unique insight into the kinship between humans and dogs, as revealed through canine search and rescue. In The Possibility Dogs Charleson chronicles her journey into the world of psychiatric-service and therapy dogs trained to serve the human mind, a journey that began as a personal one. After a particularly grisly search led to a struggle with PTSD, Charleson credits healing to her partnership with search dog Puzzle. Inspired by that experience and having met dogs formally trained to assist in such crises, Charleson learns to identify abandoned dogs with service potential, often plucking them from shelters at the last minute, and how to train them for work beside hurting partners, to whom these second-chance dogs bring intelligence, comfort, and hope.

From black Lab puppy Merlin, once cast away in a garbage bag, who stabilizes his partner's panic attacks to Ollie, the blind and deaf terrier who soothes anxious children, to Jake Piper, the starving pit bull mix who goes from abandoned to irreplaceable, The Possibility Dogs illuminates a whole new world of canine potential.


This is such an interesting book. Susannah spends most of her life working with dogs in search and rescue for years. In this book she speaks of the possibility of using dogs, specifically those rescued, to be trained to help as psychiatric service and therapy dogs. Susannah shares not only her work with many of her personal dogs but also a very special puppy she has. In this book are also the stories of several other psychiatric-service dogs who do an invaluable service to their owner-trainers and help them live a richer and fulfilled life. This book shines a light on a service that dogs can do that isn't very often talked about. Too often the "working dog" is questioned, when what we should really be doing is helping to make sure that these dogs are given the respect they deserve. It is unbelievable what some of these once abandoned dogs learn to do in their new lives. As the back of the book says, "dogs can be rescued and can rescue in return." I can say from personal experience, even dogs not trained to be in service, are emotional support animals. <3

Visiting Hours: A Memoir of Friendship & Murder

Visiting Hours: A Memoir of Friendship & Murder

Written by: Amy Butcher 

Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller

Published April 7, 2015

Listening time: 6 hours, 57 minutes 

My review: 3.5 out of 5 stars 

With echoes of Darin Strauss' Half a Life and Cheryl Strayed's Wild comes a beautifully written, riveting memoir that examines the complexities of friendship in the aftermath of a tragedy.


Four weeks before their college graduation, 21-year-old Kevin Schaeffer walked Amy Butcher to her home in their college town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Hours after parting ways with Amy, he fatally stabbed his ex-girlfriend, Emily Silverstein. While he awaited trial, psychiatrists concluded he had suffered an acute psychotic break. Amy was severely affected by Kevin's crime but remained devoted to him as a friend. Over time she became obsessed - determined to discover the narrative that explained what Kevin had done, believing that Kevin's actions were the direct result of his untreated illness.

The tragedy deeply shook her concept of reality, disrupted her sense of right and wrong, and dismantled every conceivable notion she'd established about herself and her relation to the world. Amy eventually realized she'd never have the answers or find personal peace unless she went after them herself. She drove across the country, back to Gettysburg for the first time in the three years since graduation, to sift through hundreds of pages of public records - mental health evaluations, detectives' notes, inventories of evidence, search warrants, testimonies, even Kevin's own confession.

This is Amy Butcher's deeply personal, heart-wrenching account of the consequences of failing her friend when perhaps he needed one most. It's the story of how trauma affects memory and the way a friendship changes and often strengthens through seemingly insurmountable challenges. Ultimately it's a powerful testament to the bonds we share with others and the profound resiliency and strength of the human spirit.

This one was different then I was expecting. It is not only the story of a girl dealing with the aftermath of her friend killing someone, but her dealing with the idea of being friends with a murderer. It isn't something many of us think about, what we would do if someone we loved committed an unspeakable crime like murder... but Amy has to do just that when her college friend Kevin stabs his then girlfriend to death. This book is her reflection of how she dealt with the trauma of that night and how she felt like she failed him when maybe he needed her most... I think we all wonder what we could have done differently when bad things happen. This would be no exception. I found it really interesting to hear the facts about mental health and violence. Though I knew many of them, hearing them aloud in this context is always shocking, heartbreaking because we allow this to happen with the limits we place on access to mental health resources.

The Good Neighbor: The Life & Work of Fred Rogers

The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers

By Maxwell King

Audiobook Narrated by: LeVar Burton 

Published September 4, 2018

Length 14 hrs and 7 minutes 

My review 4 stars out of 5

I read this book to complete a prompt in the Story Graph Genre Challenge: a biography about someone you don't know much about. 

The definitive biography of Fred Rogers, children’s television pioneer and American cultural icon, an instant New York Times bestseller

Fred Rogers (1928–2003) was an enormously influential figure in the history of television. As the creator and star of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, he was a champion of compassion, equality, and kindness, fiercely devoted to children and taking their questions about the world seriously. The Good Neighbor is the first full-length biography of Fred Rogers.

Based on original interviews, oral histories, and archival documents, The Good Neighbor traces Rogers’s personal, professional, and artistic life through decades of work. It includes his surprising decision to walk away from the show in 1976 to make television for adults, only to return to the neighborhood to help children face complex issues such as divorce, discipline, mistakes, anger, and competition. The Good Neighbor is the definitive portrait of a beloved figure.

I really enjoyed this look at the life of Fred Rogers, the man behind the character we all know as Mr. Rogers. It seems he really was this genuinely nice man. 

I loved seeing how he grew up, how he gained his education and got his start in television. Though his family came from money, and he was granted many opportunities, he never became a spoiled rich kid. I love that he used his musical abilities all his love to help others. 

This story delves into every part of his life. From when and where he was born, his childhood, and his eventual death. If you have the chance, grab the audiobook. It is read by LeVar Burton (of Reading Rainbow) so it really took me back to that time in my life where I watched Mr Rogers and then just stayed on the couch and listened to a story read to me by LeVar. It was a simpler time. 

We could all use a little more Mr Rogers in our life about now.

How Y'All Doing?

How Ya'll Doing? Misadventures and Mischief from a Life Well Lived 

By Leslie Jordan

Audiobook read by the author

208 pages 

Published April 27, 2021

My review 4.5 out of 5 stars

I read this book to complete a prompt in the Story Graph Genre challenge: a nonfiction history book about an LGBTQIA+ issue or person. 

Viral sensation and Emmy Award-winner Leslie Jordan regales fans with entertaining stories about the odd, funny, and unforgettable events in his life in this unmissable essay collection that echoes his droll, irreverent voice.

When actor Leslie Jordan learned he had “gone viral,” he had no idea what that meant or how much his life was about to change. On Instagram, his uproarious videos have entertained millions and have made him a global celebrity. Now, he brings his bon vivance to the page with this collection of intimate and sassy essays.

Bursting with color and life, dripping with his puckish Southern charm, How Y’all Doing? is Leslie doing what Leslie does best: telling stories that make us laugh and lift our spirits even in the darkest days. Whether he’s writing about his brush with a group of ruffians in a West Hollywood Starbucks, or an unexpected phone call from legendary Hollywood start Debbie Reynolds, Leslie infuses each story with his fresh and saucy humor and pure heart.

How Y’all Doing? is an authentic, warm, and joyful portrait of an American Sweetheart— a Southern Baptist celebutante, first-rate raconteur, and keen observer of the odd side of life whose quirky wit rivals the likes of Amy Sedaris, Jenny Lawson, David Rakoff, and Sarah Vowell.

Loved this collection of essays by Leslie Jordan. 

Bittersweet after his passing to know there won't be any new stories from this amazing man. He's a treasure to the world. I'm glad that he wrote this book to be treasured by those who loved him. You can literally see him in your head telling these stories. I listened to this one in two sittings, just laughing along with his infectious giggle. 

I would say this one is worth picking up the audiobook to listen to, just to hear his voice telling his stories.

When Breath Becomes Air

When Breath Becomes Air

By Paul Kalanithi 

Narrated by: Sunil Malhotra

231 pages

Published January 12, 2016

My review: 4.25 stars out of 5 stars

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST - This inspiring, exquisitely observed memoir finds hope and beauty in the face of insurmountable odds as an idealistic young neurosurgeon attempts to answer the question What makes a life worth living?

NAMED ONE OF PASTE'S BEST MEMOIRS OF THE DECADE - NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review - People - NPR - The Washington Post - Slate - Harper's Bazaar - Time Out New York - Publishers Weekly - BookPage

Finalist for the PEN Center USA Literary Award in Creative Nonfiction and the Books for a Better Life Award in Inspirational Memoir

At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade's worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi's transformation from a na ve medical student "possessed," as he wrote, "by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life" into a neurosurgeon at Stanford working in the brain, the most critical place for human identity, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own mortality.

What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future, no longer a ladder toward your goals in life, flattens out into a perpetual present? What does it mean to have a child, to nurture a new life as another fades away? These are some of the questions Kalanithi wrestles with in this profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir.

Paul Kalanithi died in March 2015, while working on this book, yet his words live on as a guide and a gift to us all. "I began to realize that coming face to face with my own mortality, in a sense, had changed nothing and everything," he wrote. "Seven words from Samuel Beckett began to repeat in my head: 'I can't go on. I'll go on.'" When Breath Becomes Air is an unforgettable, life-affirming reflection on the challenge of facing death and on the relationship between doctor and patient, from a brilliant writer who became both.

This is just a beautiful story about a doctor who goes from his job of being a neurosurgeon (nearly done with his residency) to being a cancer patient, one with stage 4 lung cancer. 

It is sad, but it is also a moving story about the relationship between doctors and patients. The way that changes when you are the doctor and how that makes treatment different (or the same). You hear at the end from his wife and I thought that was just a beautiful touch.

Brain on Fire

Brain on Fire: My Month Of Madness 

By Susannah Cahalan

Published November 13, 2012

My review: Four stars out of five

An award-winning memoir and instant New York Times bestseller that goes far beyond its riveting medical mystery, Brain on Fire is the powerful account of one woman’s struggle to recapture her identity.

When twenty-four-year-old Susannah Cahalan woke up alone in a hospital room, strapped to her bed and unable to move or speak, she had no memory of how she’d gotten there. Days earlier, she had been on the threshold of a new, adult life: at the beginning of her first serious relationship and a promising career at a major New York newspaper. Now she was labeled violent, psychotic, a flight risk. What happened?

In a swift and breathtaking narrative, Cahalan tells the astonishing true story of her descent into madness, her family’s inspiring faith in her, and the lifesaving diagnosis that nearly didn’t happen.

What Susannah went through is terrifying. I cannot imagine. Then to take a step back and look at all the things that had to go right for her to get the correct diagnosis, for her to be able to have a chance a healing, it is nothing short of a miracle. The idea that so many could be suffering with autoimmune problems that are being mistakenly diagnosed as mental illnesses is absolutely terrifying. This book opened my eyes to what could really happen if we had open access to not only the diagnostic tools and knowledge of specialists (no matter our insurance coverage, income or social status) but the ability to get the life-saving treatments, regardless of the cost. Susannah was beyond BLESSED to have the ability to pay that not many people would be able to do today. This book is eye opening for sure. Her book is written with help from her family, interviews with her doctors, hospital records and even journals from her parents from her month in the hospital. Gripping story you will want to finish!

Cats Find You.

Hope, Happiness and a Cat Called Sticky

by Chuck Hawley and Nadya Siapin

Published December 8, 2022

My review 4 out of 5 stars

I read this book to complete a prompt in the Boise Public Library Ultimate Book Nerd challenge: Read a book by a Pacific Northwest Author

Sticky the Kitty won the hearts of people around the world… But what is the deeper story behind this beloved cat?

When Chuck Hawley left his house on October 19, 2019, he could have never imagined a kitten was about to change his entire life. But change his life, it did.

Chuck believes that kindness keeps the world turning. Through the unconditional love of his grandmother and family, he learned the lessons that he now lives. In this powerfully personal memoir, he shares:
- The highs and lows of teenage stardom
- The struggles of single parenting
- Finding peace with himself
- How our actions create a ripple effect on the world around us

This story is about hope, kindness, believing you have a purpose, magic and even angels… but most importantly, it’s about you. If this random guy and this thrown away kitten can do all of this, what might you be able to do?

You might have heard the story, back on October 18, 2019, Chuck was on his way to work on a regular day when he found a kitten GLUED TO THE ROAD. After he took that kitten home and saved it, he became the hero the world needed. 

Chuck's story isn't just the tale of finding Sticky that foggy October morning, but the before and the after. His coming into fame and how he dealt with it. How the Sticky Foundation came to be and how he is using his influence to spread joy. 

This is really just an inspiring story of how one man used a good deed to spread good around the globe in a time when it was so desperately needed. Filled with many short stories of people who also touched his life (while he also was touching theirs). Plus, a cute kitty named sticky. What's not to love?

I found this story especially fun because I lived about 45 minutes from where Sticky was rescued. It was literally in my backyard and exploded into a global story. 

Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out

A groundbreaking work of LGBT literature takes an honest look at the life, love, and struggles of transgender teens.

Author and photographer Susan Kuklin met and interviewed six transgender or gender-neutral young adults and used her considerable skills to represent them thoughtfully and respectfully before, during, and after their personal acknowledgment of gender preference. Portraits, family photographs, and candid images grace the pages, augmenting the emotional and physical journey each youth has taken. Each honest discussion and disclosure, whether joyful or heartbreaking, is completely different from the other because of family dynamics, living situations, gender, and the transition these teens make in recognition of their true selves.

This is a collection of stories about several transgender teens. I'm purposely not putting a star rating on this because I don't feel it appropriate to put a rating on their stories, because they are just that their stories. Seeing the journeys that each of these people have gone through is something that has helped me to grow as a person. I've tried to explain to my husband why it is so important for me to be gender affirming to those who are in this situation (or anyone for that matter) and this book just gives me more reasons to do so. You never know what someone is dealing with. If I can help one person to feel like themselves in their own skin by using pronouns that make them comfortable, I'm going to do that. This book (and others that I've read recently) are opening my eyes to the people who have been too long kept in the shadows or the closet. Let them out and let them be who they are. 

A Bookshop In Berlin

The memoir of a Jewish bookseller on a harrowing fight for survival across Nazi-occupied Europe.
In 1921, Françoise Frenkel--a Jewish woman from Poland--fulfills a dream. She opens La Maison du Livre, Berlin's first French bookshop, attracting artists and diplomats, celebrities and poets. The shop becomes a haven for intellectual exchange as Nazi ideology begins to poison the culturally rich city. In 1935, the scene continues to darken. First come the new bureaucratic hurdles, followed by frequent police visits and book confiscations.

Françoise's dream finally shatters on Kristallnacht in November 1938, as hundreds of Jewish shops and businesses are destroyed. La Maison du Livre is miraculously spared, but fear of persecution eventually forces Françoise on a desperate, lonely flight to Paris. When the city is bombed, she seeks refuge across southern France, witnessing countless horrors: children torn from their parents, mothers throwing themselves under buses. Secreted away from one safe house to the next, Françoise survives at the heroic hands of strangers risking their lives to protect her.

Published quietly in 1945, then rediscovered nearly sixty years later in an attic.

This was a simply beautiful story of survival during WWII. Maybe I'm the only one that never heard of all these other biographies published of survivors and those who lived through these horrific times. This woman was made to flea all over the countryside to avoid capture by the Germans. From Paris to the south of France, from safe house to safe house. Relying on the kindness of strangers to remain free, Francoise takes things day by day. It really is an amazing story. 

This Star Won't Go Out: The Life and Words of Esther Grace Earl

A collection of the journals, fiction, letters, and sketches of the late Esther Grace Earl, who passed away in 2010 at the age of 16. Photographs and essays by family and friends will help to tell Esther’s story along with an introduction by award-winning author John Green who dedicated his #1 bestselling novel The Fault in Our Stars to her.

My rating: four of five stars

This book is a story about a girl with thyroid cancer, but it is so much more than that. I love the style of this book. It is a compilation of Esther's journal posts, drawings, pictures and letters as well as updates posted by her parents. This book showed her life, what she loved, what she was passionate about. I love that it included lots of pictures. Esther lived a short but full life. Going in to the book I knew it would be sad, but I had to read about this girl who impacted so many lives in her short 16 years.