My Mother's Wars
by Lillian Faderman

Mary (the name she is given in America) came to the United States, in 1914, at the age of seventeen from Latvia. She was sponsored by her sister and brother-in-law and lived with them for a while. Mary's goal is to be a dancer but that is not practical so she works in the New York Garment District with squalid conditions and measly pay. Bored with her life at home, she goes dancing every night with a friend from work. Her brother-in-law is scandalized by her behavior and kicks her out.
When Mary is thirty-five and still barely making ends meet, she falls in love with a man who is ten years younger than her. Marriage is what she wants but that will never happen (he's got a girl in every port). While her romance is going on, Mary frets about the rest of her family still in Latvia where the storm troopers and Hitler are moving towards. She wants to get them out but doesn't have the amount of money that is needed to do that monumental task. 
Lillian Faderman (the name should actually be spelled as Federman) wrote her mother's story because Mary was illiterate in both reading and writing English. It's a quick read (three days for me) and interesting enough but they style is not very good and she just replicates what her mother told her even though, apparently, Lillian did historical research. 
The most annoying thing about the book is the extensive, over-the-top use of similes. I almost quit reading early on because of them but decided to grin and bear it and finish to the end.
 

Where The Peacocks Sing : A Palace, A Prince, And The Search For Home
by Alison Singh Gee

Alison Gee (a Chinese-American) was an entertainment writer for AsiaWeek living in Hong Kong. She meets Ajay Singh, a journalist from India and they fall in love. Her lifestyle is hectic running all over the place, dealing with deadlines, going to parties, never relaxing. They travel to India so that Alison can meet his family. It turns out that Ajay grew up in a palace but it has deteriorated. Virtually no plumbing, plaster falling off, peacocks screeching (they're actually singing), not the most friendly relatives makes the stay very uncomfortable. They plan to get married but Alison has to come to terms with this new culture and figure out how she can possibly fit in.
This book has had many positive reviews with people saying that the writing is gorgeous, an absolute delight, wonderful, riveting read, etc. I disagree. Alison writes like a reporter and throws in way too many similes. There's really not much substance here; it's mostly fluff. Alison seems quite naive and shallow. Some of the stuff that she writes about India is interesting such as the Taj Mahal and the village Mokimpur and its inhabitants. I sloughed through and was happy when I finished.
This is the kind of book to take on a vacation; it's a light read that can be passed around to others.

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.