theresidentbookworm's reviews
3256 reviews

Where found: I found this at Greenfield Village. If you're ever in Michigan and heading towards the Detroit suburban area, go check this place out. Not only does it have a lot of old historical buildings from all over the country, but it also has an great gift shop with an awesome selection of books on American history. All my favorite president fact books and biographies are from there.

Positive: This was a very in-depth look at the Booth family and specifically the Booth brothers. It really helped me understand John Wilkes Booth and why he did what he did. Booth wasn't from the South, but he made it his home as an adult. Booth fell in love with the South and vowed to make himself a proper Southern actor. His loyalty to his state only led him to do what he though of as avenging the South. I also found it interesting that mental illness ran in the Booth family. Junius Booth suffered from fits of insanity, and Edwin admitted periods of depression to a close friend. It makes one wonder how guilty John Wilkes Booth really was. Very detailed and an over-all good read. I also enjoyed reading about the impact of what John Wilkes Booth did had on his family and specifically Edwin.

Negative: Not too many bad things to say about this one. Of course, if you're a die-hard Yankee, you might not enjoy this one. It takes away the illusion of John Wilkes Booth being a cold-heart killer. Every story has two sides, and this side isn't the popular one.

Recommendation: If you're a Civil War buff, this is definitely for you. You'll love the new perspective. If you're a high school history student, read this and randomly drop facts from it while studying Lincoln's assassination. Your teacher will think you're brilliant, trust me.

An excellent and surprisingly interesting Ben Franklin bio. Detailed without being too boring. Not a glorified version of history. Recommended. (P.S. I am way too tired to write long reviews. Shoot me.)

If you know me at all (Or have read any of my reviews, which is close enough on Goodreads), then you know I am a 1920s nut. I love everything about it, and I never hesitate to read anything, fiction or nonfiction, about that era. It felt like fate when I found Flappers because my APUSH class was on its 1920s chapter on the time.

I gave Flappers three stars reluctantly. I wish it could have been a four. In terms of people and storytelling, it was splendid. Flappers focused on six women: Josephine Baker, Tallulah Bankhead, Diana Cooper, Nancy Cunard, Zelda Fitzgerald, and Tamara de Lempicka. I had only heard of two of them before so it was a learning experience for me. I liked the diversity of these women's stories. Diana and Nancy were English-born aristocrats, Zelda and Tallulah Alabama belles, Tamara a Russian refuge in Paris and Josephine a refuge from racism in the U.S., and yet all of them together embody just who the flapper really was. Nancy's story was probably the most compelling to me, but I also enjoyed knowing more about Zelda and Josephine. The only problem with Flappers is that the number of women profiled cuts away from the time spent on each. The stories are inter-cut together, and I would have rather had one story completely told and then move on to another profile. I would forget what had happened in the last part of one woman's story since it had been a few chapters of information away. I also deducted points because while Flappers was meticulously detailed, it also lagged on a bit. The number of side people and details could have been cut down a bit.

I'd recommend Flappers if the things I just mentioned don't bother you.

Poor Mark Zuckerberg! First, his former best friend and three old classmates sue him. Then said best friend helps with the research of a book that turns him into a jackass. THEN that book gets made into a Academy Award nominated movie that makes him really look like a jackass. I'm not even sure what really happened because I've never heard Zuckerberg's side anywhere. All I know is that The Social Network was amazing and the reason I finally got a Facebook. The Accidental Billionaires, something I read after seeing the movie, was equally enjoyable if not nearly as scandalous. Recommended!

I wish I could say I thoroughly enjoyed this biography, but I can't. Ms. Heiligman tells the story of Charles and Emma excellently. It's more like reading a novel than a biography, actually. For once, I felt like Charles Darwin was a real person and not a name in my textbook. It's no flaw of hers that I can't enjoy this book. It's just my complete lack of interest in any science relate subject. Others might find this more enjoyable than I.

Let me start by saying that I love Ayn Rand's work. I love her novels, particularly We the Living. I usually try to ignore the crazy philosophy aspect and concentrate on the story and the characters. Rand was a truly great wonder, and there's a lot to be found in her work, but her whole Philosophy is crazy. She's basically an extreme Republican, which I can understand coming from Soviet Union, but still. I still can't believe that so many people flocked to her and basically turned over their lives to her. I felt so bad for Frank. His wife overshadowed him, and yet he still tried to love her and live a peaceful life. I hated her view on religion since I'm a strong Catholic. In Ayn Rand's world, you should work for what you want and screw everyone else. People who try to do things for someone are selfish. Seriously? Society could never realistically function like that. Hate to burst any bubbles, but it's true.

Still, a very interesting insight into Ayn Rand. It's definitely a good read.

Here's my dirty little secret: I was never into Nancy Drew mysteries. I was ten or eleven by the time I read the first one, and I was already beyond that reading level. I've never been one for mysteries, and after the first four I figured out the formula to the books. Needless to say, I didn't finish the series. Still, when I spotted this at Bargain Books for a ridiculously low price, I had to get it. Regardless of my opinion of her, Nancy Drew is a part of literary history.

I was more enthralled with the history of Nancy Drew than I ever was with her mysteries. Melanie Rehak takes you from the late 1800s when Edward Stratemeyer, the founder of the Startemeyer Syndicate, was born to 2002 when Mildred Wirt Benson, original ghostwriter of Nancy Drew, dies. This is not just a history of Nancy Drew and the women who created her as the title proclaims. It is a history of the women in America: their struggle to earn the vote, their adventures in the '20s, their emergence in the workforce during World War II, and their renewed interest in women's rights in the 1960s. It is also a history of juvenile fiction publishing, how the market worked, and how the Startmeyer Syndicate operated. I found all of this extremely fascinating. I knew Nancy Drew was written by various authors, but I didn't know much else. Two women are key to Nancy: Mildred Wirt Benson and Harriet Startemyer Adams. Of the two, I preferred Mildred. She was spunky, hardworking, and unwilling to compromise Nancy's independent spirit. I was interested in hearing about the University of Iowa's journalism bachelor degree and how it got started. As a writer, I felt frustration along with Mildred when she didn't get the credit due to her. I liked Mildred so much I was mad when I read that her second husband died. I thought to myself, "How many times can a kickass woman like that be widowed?" Still, Harriet did play a crucial rule in Nancy Drew's history, and I have to give her props for running a company at a time where it was taboo for a married mother to work. She guarded her father's work and his company fiercely, which is admirable no matter what you think of her management skills.

I enjoyed Girl Sleuth much more than I thought I would. I definitely recommend, and I just might have to go back to the original 1930s Nancy Drews for a reread. Maybe I'll see her differently now.

Long story short, this book is well-written and researched by someone who clearly knows what they are talking about, but it holds absolutely no interest for me. It's more of something I'd like to read in a quick newspaper article than a 300 page book. I did learn some interesting tidbits though. I'll share some with you.

1. Franklin Pierce, our 14th president, was good friends with Nathaniel Hawthorne. In fact, he was with him on a trip when Hawthorne died.

2. Hawthorne and Herman Meville were also friends for a time.

3. Many writers from the 19th and 20th century would probably be diagnosed with some kind of mental illness, social phobia, or Asperger's syndrome.

4. TB probably killed all the Brontes.

5. Ezra Pound had some kind of really weird three way relationship with his wife and mistress and was also a huge Fascist.

Okay, moral of the story in Manson? Charles Manson was always going to be a f-ed up psychopath, and sympathy for him is really wasted. Guinn does a fabulous job of taking you through all the stages of Charlie's life, and it reads more like a novel than a biography at times. He weaves in entertainment history along with drug use history and other fascinating tangents into Charlie's story seamlessly, immersing you in the time period. It is a little tough to read emotionally, and I had to put it down once or twice. The actual murders aren't described too graphically so don't worry about being freaked out by them. In fact, the scariest thing about this book is the actual psychology of Charles Manson and the total manipulation and brainwashing he implemented on his "Family". Definitely a great read if you are interested in head cases and serial killers. Just be warned that you will need a nice really light novel to read afterward to clear your head.

I discovered Furious Love through a People's book review. As soon as I saw the review, I knew I had to read this. It was a few weeks later when I was at the bookstore and convinced my mom to buy me it. I practically devoured the thing.

Furious Love tells the in-depth love story of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, a relationship that is famous for being the first ever "It" relationship, not to mention the scandal that followed it. The couple married, split, and remarried, splitting again shortly afterwards. Still, they always loved each other through it all. Sometimes they weren't a perfect match. Both were alcoholics, and they fought constantly. Still, there was passion, and things were certainly never boring. Even though the relationship couldn't last, the love always did. A few days before his death, Richard Burton mailed a love letter to Elizabeth said that home was where she was and that he wanted to come home. Pictures of Elizabeth at Richard's grave after his death were all over the media. She was asked by Richard's wife Sally not to attend the funeral, which she didn't. Still everyone was talking about Liz and Dick. Elizabeth Taylor would never talk about Richard Burton in any interview the rest of her life. She kept that letter he sent her by her bedside the rest of her life.

Though Elizabeth Taylor did die after this book was published, I don't think much was different. She married once more to a construction worker, but it didn't last. She once said that every man after Richard was just someone to carry her bags. It truly was a love story for the ages, and one I immensely enjoyed reading about.

Extremely recommended! Go get a copy now!