ANTONIA And Her Daughters : Secrets, Love, Friendship and Family In Tuscany
by Marlena de Blasi

Marlena de Blasi has written four previous books on living and cooking in Italy. She and her husband, Fernando, have recently moved and their new place is being renovated. It's too noisy to write amongst all of the contractors so Marlena decides that she needs solitude and ends up living in a small one-room house in the woods of western Tuscany. It's in this environment that she meets Antonia who at eighty-two is still beautiful, vibrant, and forceful. The two of them clash, at first, and then become friends. Antonia is the matriarch of four generations of gorgeous, blue-eyed women who each have their own story to tell. But it is Antonia who has hidden secrets that the family doesn't know about and over time, she reveals them to Marlena.
Having read four of de Blasi's previous works on Tuscany, I eagerly jumped on this book. Her writing is always lush with descriptions of the countryside, the people, the culture. When she talks about food and cooking, you just salivate (recipes are always included). Antonia and Her Daughters includes this stuff but the bulk of the book is about Antonia. It was a disappointment and doesn't come close to her others. The story drags on and many times, I almost quit reading but I continued as I wanted to see what happened and how the book would end. Much of what is written is repetitious concerning Tuscany, the food, etc., so there's much padding (filler).
I'm sure that many people would enjoy reading this book especially if they're a fan of de Blasi's and Tuscany.

The End Of Your Life Book Club
by Will Schwalbe

In 2007, Mary Anne Schwalbe was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She had just returned from a humanitarian trip to Afghanistan and didn't feel so great. The doctors first thought it was hepatitis. Not knowing how much longer she had to live, Will Schwalbe (her son) started a "book club" with just the two of them. They both were avid readers and would discuss the books when they were done.
Mary Anne had an amazing life. So many people idolized her for what she did for them. She didn't let her illness and pain stop her from continuing to travel and help others less fortunate.
I almost didn't finish the book. It started out well enough but then I thought it became tedious and boring. The writing isn't that great. I think the author should just stick to editing other published books and not write anything else.
Many reviews have been quite positive with five stars. I wouldn't give it that; more like two. 

 

 Treacherous Beauty : Peggy Shippen, The Woman Behind Benedict Arnold's Plot To Betray America
by Mark Jacobs and Stephen H. Case

Peggy Shippen was born in Philadelphia in 1760. Her family was quite wealthy and they lived in the best neighborhood (Society Hill). Peggy became quite the society girl. Men were infatuated with her calling her the most beautiful woman in North America. But she was not dumb. She was quite savvy with finances and had a clear-eyed view of both political and social situations. When it came to marriage, though, Peggy was not so astute. She fell in love with a scoundrel: her husband was Benedict Arnold. Peggy joined Arnold in a treasonous plot and was able to convince George Washington and other high-ranking men of her innocence.
The authors believe that she was the instigator but there is no concrete evidence. All of her papers were destroyed so it's just conjecture. Most of the book, actually, is about Arnold and the fighting between the British and the Americans. There's some interesting trivia about the Shippens and Philadelphia. Several times, I almost stopped reading it because the writing is extremely dry. But I continued with the book because it is the only nonfiction ever written about Peggy Shippen and I thought I would learn something. If you like stuff on the American Revolution, give this a try.

The Little Red Guard : A Family Memoir
by Wenguang Huang

As Wenguang Huang was growing up in Xian, China, his entire family was obsessed with the proper burial of the grandmother. She thought that she would die relatively early but she lived longer than anybody thought. Wenguang's father built her a coffin and it stayed inside the house for fifteen years. She didn't want to be cremated which was the traditional practice in China and hoped to be buried in her home village.
The most interesting parts of this book are reading about China under Mao, being a Communist Party member, and China today. Unfortunately, Wenguang doesn't write very cohesively and he jumps around with different time periods all at the same time. There's also problems with misspellings, misplaced words, and missing punctuation.
Wenguang is a translator and I think that he should just stick to that profession and forget about doing any more writing.

Yes, Chef
by Marcus Samuelsson

Marcus Samuelsson was originally born in Ethiopia. When he was three, he contracted tuberculosis along with his sister and his mother. They walked seventy-five miles (Marcus was on his mother's back) to reach Addis Adaba for a hospital to treat all of them. Marcus and his sister survived but their mother died. The two of them would go into an orphanage and one year later be adopted by a Swedish family. Marcus thought that he would become a professional soccer player but he was considered too small. Instead, inspired by his grandmother's cooking, his passion for food would sustain him for the rest of his life. He went to cooking school and then apprenticed at restaurants in Switzerland and in France. Marcus ended up in New York and eventually opened up his own restaurant in Harlem.
There are so many cooking memoirs that are quite good but I can't say that about this book. I found the writing to be lacking in warmth and just stating facts. Marcus is not the true author because he used a ghost writer and it shows. He should just stick to cooking.

Lady Almina And The Real Downton Abbey : The Lost Legacy Of Highclere Castle
by The Countess of Carnarvon

At the age of nineteen, Almina Wombwell married George Herbert, the 5th Earl of Carnarvon in 1895. The marriage took place on the Earl's twenty-ninth birthday. He had grand estates, magnificent paintings and beautiful furniture. The Earl was born into aristocracy. Almina, on the other hand, was from quite a different background. Her mother was French and her father was Alfred de Rothschild. Almina was illegitimate but her father's wealth protected her and it bought social acceptance and respectability.
After their honeymoon, they moved to Highclere Castle which was the family home of the Earls of Carnarvon.
Having never seen the PBS show, Downton Abbey that people have raved about, I was curious about this book. Parts of it are quite interesting and most of it is not. You don't get a sense of what Almina was really like. Her character was not quite fleshed out. Most of the book centers on World War I.
There's way too much filler and not enough substance.
I did read the entire book but it did nothing for me.

Juliette Gordon Low : The Remarkable Founder Of The Girl Scouts
by Stacy A. Cordery

Juliette Gordon Low was born during the Civil War. She grew up in Savannah where education, culture and duty was stressed. Juliette, known as Daisy, was extremely extroverted and very popular in school. She was quite talented in art: painting, sculpture, illustration, to name a few. Daisy also excelled in shooting, fishing, hiking, building campfires (all of these attributes would be used in her future).
She would marry a man named William Mackay Low (her parents did not like him), an aristocratic Englishman who inherited his father's wealth. He ended up being quite a louse and she planned to divorce him, but he died before that happened.
Daisy could not ever sit still and wanted to do something that had some kind of purpose. When she met Robert Baden-Powell, in Britain (who created the Boy Scouts and the Girl Guides), she knew that she had found her calling. Returning to the United States, Daisy would, single-handedly, form the Girl Scouts and led the organization for eight years.
The best part of this book is the first two thirds when you read about Daisy's life, her struggles with her health (she had hearing loss), her personality, her strengths, her joie de vivre. Ironically, as soon as the Girl Scouts materialized, the writing became plodding and boring with too many statistics and names. I thought about not continuing because it was driving me crazy, but finished it anyway. Even the ending is flat.
I had recommended the book to a friend early on before I had hit the uninteresting parts. I almost feel guilty since the latter section is just awful.
The author is a history professor so there's an inordinate amount of details that you have to slough through and that is what drags this book down, which is unfortunate.