Anne Robinson was the weakest link in her own life matters for a very long time.

Her autobiography, which I've only read recently and is probably a bit outdated by now, is written as one would expect her to, a sort of mirror image of the character we are used to watch on TV. Lucid, cool, a bit acerbic with a hint of dark humour. And yet, here we discover the other side of the story.

After an honest description of her Irish family and background, Anne takes us through a journey describing her life in England as a journalist, young spouse, mother, divorcée and, eventually, the spiral leading her to be hopelessly alcohol dependant. A drunk. The wound, immense, of having had her young daughter Emma, then aged two, taken away from her. We see her struggling and eventually coming to terms with her addiction, a years-long battle made even worse by the raw knowledge of loss. Loss of Emma's custody, loss of her work, loss of self-respect. Loss. But she struggles. And survives. And gets better and better. She marries again and a new life starts, the wheel finally turning in the right direction.

This is also an interesting insight of the struggle of women in 1940's Ireland and 1960's England, despite feminism starting to take off back then.

Back to Ms. Robinson, I am glad that her ordeal and battles against her alcohol addiction were successful and that throughout it all, she was able to retain Emma's love and respect, the most precious gift of all. Definitely NOT the weakest link any longer, well done.

Belpher Castle, home of widowed Lord Marshmoreton. Both his children Percy and Maud, in their twenties, and his sister, Lady Caroline, along with her step-son Reginald, live at the castle, surrounded by their faithful butler Keggs, page-boy Albert and several other servants.
Maud is desperately in love with an American young man whom nobody has ever met and Lady Caroline, her aunt, resents and rejects the whole affair as it does not suit the family's aristocratic position, plus she wants her to marry Reggie, her step-son. Lord Marshmoreton, Maud's father, is actually more interested in his garden rather than in any direct involvement with his daughter's scandalous love "emergency" shall we say, but is forced to face the facts by his sister Caroline, who rules the castle (and tries to rule all their lives too) with an iron-fist hidden beyond her aristocratic subtle tones and smile.
George Bevan is an American composer in town with his show and in a case of mistaken identity, his life becomes muddled up with Belpher Castle and its inhabitants.

Firstly published in 1919, this comedy of errors is a classic and makes you laugh out loud to this day. Simply delightful British humour by the unforgettable P.G. Wodehouse.

Un percorso autobiografico che nasce da un mal di schiena e sfocia in un collage di affascinanti esperienze, di viaggi e conoscenze interessanti e coinvolgenti.

L'autore e giornalista Carlo Pizzati, da anni sofferente di mal di schiena, decide, una volta per tutte, di scoprirne l'origine per potersi finalmente curare. Il percorso inizia da un posturologo a Vicenza e prosegue via via in posti sempre più lontani, alla ricerca della giusta cura. Ma questa cura, esisterà?

Reduce inoltre da una separazione coniugale e con un figlio piccolo verso il quale si percepisce l'amore profondo, indissolubile, che li lega, Pizzati inizia quindi un percorso davvero inusuale. Il tragitto non è del tutto "tecnico" come potrebbe suggerire l'immagine di copertina. Piuttosto, il desiderio di guarigione dal mal di schiena fa da "apripista" ad un diverso modo di concepire le cose, srotolando come un tappeto un mondo di cure e concetti che fanno davvero pensare, meditare, incuriosire.

Vari incontri si susseguono, tra macchinari improbabili, cure esoteriche, palliativi, dall'Italia agli USA, all'America Latina, fino in India... incontri di ogni tipo, passando attraverso medici, sciamani veri e propri, anche attraverso qualche ciarlatano oserei dire!, il tutto per guarire un dolore, che, a questo punto, più che fisico mi è sembrato psicologico. Alcuni capitoli sono pregni di emozioni, credo proprio siano il riflesso di una ricerca di serenità emotiva in un periodo di malessere generale. Accompagnato ovunque da uno pesante zaino portato sulle spalle che, secondo me, ha anche un valore simbolico e rappresenta la vita.
Non mancano tuttavia parecchi episodi molto spassosi; situazioni improbabili che fanno davvero sorridere (anzi, talvolta ridere ad alta voce!), il tutto descritto da una placida ironia, molto "British" e divertente, ove l'autore è semplicemente una cavia, alla mercé del curatore di turno...

Se alla fine il mal di schiena gli è passato o se è possibile coniugare la tecnologia moderna con la spiritualità, starà ai lettori scoprirlo. Certo è che si resta coinvolti un viaggio affascinante. Immagino che il descrivere certe esperienze possa aver rappresentato per l'autore anche uno "sfogo" ed un conforto ed ecco la nascita di questo libro: davvero imperdibile. La narrativa scorre veloce, ricca di dettagli, spiritosa, ironica, talvolta commovente, pagina dopo pagina; impossibile da posare, si legge tutto d'un fiato. Il mio voto: 10 stelle Amazon (se si potesse). Non vedo l'ora di leggere il prossimo libro! Nel frattempo "Tecnosciamani" è vivamente consigliato: buona lettura!

Anthony Kiedis. Red Hot Chili Peppers. It was interesting to read Anthony's autobiography and understand the meaning beyond some of the lyrics he has written so far. I do need to separate book from "facts" however.

The book: 465 pages in tiny print describing a life of excesses in every sense became at times a tedious read, mainly because Anthony's life is self-described and delivered by what I define a rather flat narrative. A repetition of events -and most often, a vicious circle, literally- that failed to engage me in full in a few parts. That does not mean that I did not "appreciate" the content. If anything, his is an often brutal testimony of what a serious drug addiction can do to a human being (I felt that this book was more about his drug addiction than about his life or the RHCP).

The "facts": oh, I would have a thing or two to say about his upbringing, I am itching to do it. But. Anthony comes out to be so non-judgemental, so not-critical, so loving towards his family, which he clearly loves to bits to this day, that I am discouraged to say anything more about it. And I respect him for not pointing any accusing finger, about back then or later on. He is not blaming anyone, or at least, that's the way I have perceived the core of this book. In his words, it was mostly all about "the shortcut", which brought him to jump fences instead of walking on a proper path, figuratively and literally. The drugs, his love stories, his songs, the band, the friends he has lost to drugs, the rehabs, and drugs again... An indefinable sense of hopelessness, sometimes peppered with sober, more productive moments, where the love towards life shines in full. I think that it is at this point that he chose to write the book, after a few years of sobriety. And I hope the process of retracing his past has added to the self-healing and helped to stay clean and sober, appreciating life to the full.

Would Anthony have become what he is without experiencing what he went through? I do not know. We are what we do, or so they say. But as much as this book conveys the dispiritedness, desolation and utter despair connected to drug addiction, it is uplifting to see that it is POSSIBLE to get out of it. Tough, difficult, hard, but possible. An inspiration for those ones who are still struggling.

At home. Breakfast time. Another ordinary day. But everything changes in the space of a minute. Plastic surgeon Marc is shot at and is left for dead. His wife Monica is shot at too and IS dead. Their baby, 6-month old Tara, is missing. Vanished.
Marc wakes up in the hospital and learns the terrible truth. What happened? Why? Where is his precious, lovely baby? The police investigate. His lawyer and best friend Lenny tries to help. But nothing comes up, only theories, and Marc is also under investigation as prime suspect. Time drags by. It dilates and expands frustratingly. A request for ransom ignites hope. And things start to change. But nothing could prepare Marc for what is in store for him.

Another brilliant mystery by Harlan Coben. As the title suggests, no second chance for Marc but indeed many more chances for Coben, who is able to grab the reader's attention with a fast-paced, edge-of-the-seat narrative, nothing is what it seems but in the end everything is clear, every little details falls into the right place and there are no questions left unanswered. Great entertainment!

Another Anita Shreve's hit, sober, heart-wrenching and full of texture. I had no idea it had a connection to one of her previous books, "The Weight Of Water", which I read years ago (and liked very much). It connects us with one smaller character in that book, Linda, but it is not necessary to read its predecessor to get into this one, as it is not a sequel.

Linda and Thomas meet and fall in love as teenagers, but the story unfolds backwards, after a chance meeting in Toronto, when they are both in their fifties. They have not seen each other in twenty-six years. Their past life with all its joys, flaws and pains resurfaces. The anatomy of a very deep, moving true love is described with such emotional substance, its essence never lost to the reader.

And the end. The surprising ending. I found this novel to be a page-turner and possibly the best one I've read by this author (I've read almost everything written by Ms. Shreve). A love story to be remembered.

I'll admit I'm not so much into nature-related books, but this tale took me completely by surprise, and a very pleasant one at that! My first book by Barbara Kingsolver and a discovery in every sense. Three different stories run on parallel grounds in the space of a summer and unbeknownst to the characters, they are all intertwined by the magic power of love and nature.

Three tales that gracefully connect with each other without ever being confusing for the reader, starting from Deanna, a reclusive forest ranger in the Appalachian mountains who loves her solitude and job but is taken aback by the unexpected meeting of a young hunter with whom she falls, reluctantly, in love. Then there are Lusa and Cole, newly married and living on his inherited farm. A twist of fate and Lusa's life changes dramatically and unexpectedly. And finally, old and widowed Mr. Walker (my own favourite character), a grumpy man in his eighties obsessed by his neighbour, Miss Rowley, whose attitude to life in general combined with her numerous apple trees seem to be there just to annoy him.
These are the cores of the tales, but all is layered by a triumphant description of mountain/farm/country life.

Different subjects are explored, loss, love, affection, strength, fragility, our place and meaning on this planet, as important and valuable as the one of a single little bug living under a leaf. All is delivered by a poetic and effective prose, embracing colours, smells, sensations and feelings in a powerful, yet delicate, way. Some episodes are definitely humorous, others so wise and profound, they bring tears to your eyes. Very touching.

A wonderful tale which celebrates life in all of its forms, a positive message and a hidden reminder that we should all be more appreciative of what, and whom, we are surrounded by.

The main theme in this book is about coping with the loss of a loved one, in this case Holly's husband Gerry, who died prematurely due to a terrible illness.
I shall not go through the whole synopsis as many of the reviewers have done so before me and the book description above is also explanatory. At the risk of sounding unpopular (I see many voted with 5 stars) my own 2 stars refer to what I think was a poorly executed book. The concepts of loss and love are interesting and some of the ensuing situations are even described humorously despite the sad main subject. However all the characters, with the exception of Holly perhaps, are underdeveloped, most descriptions repetitive and the storyline predictable at best.

Perhaps my negativity about this book is due to the fact that I was expecting not Shakespeare certainly, but something more maturely written, as it belongs to one of the `adult' categories of Amazon. I think that the age target here is between 15 / 20 year-olds. Nothing wrong with that however. If you are reading me and you fall into that age group, I think you might enjoy it much more than I did.

Detective Harry Bosch from LAPD is back trying to unravel a 13-year-old mystery which has haunted him since it happened, in connection with the disappearance of a young lady, Marie Gesto. Someone has recently been arrested and is allegedly going to indicate her whereabouts. In a whirl of politically connected events and fast-paced actions, Bosch tries to extricate the truth and is helped in this process by his close friend Rachel from the FBI. They will discover some uncomfortable truths and their lives, especially Bosch's, are consequently at stake.

This is yet another case where an Amazon "half mark" would be handy (3 1/2 stars), but as it is not possible, the mark goes back to 3 stars. I have read other books by the same author ("The Lincoln Lawyer", "Void Moon", "Lost Light", which I would generally rate with 4 stars), but I do not think this book deserved it in full. Although it was quite fast-paced and intriguing, I also found its plot a trifle too far-fetched, especially towards the end.

This is indeed a remarkable biography/autobiography, so I would only add my praise for such a loving, touching homage to a very special lady and her remarkable family. I loved the forthright descriptions of this numerous mixed-race family and was touched by Mrs. McBride Jordan's personal tale, kept inside for so long. Her buried past and the author's own reminiscences entwine flawlessly, making this an emotion-stirring book. By writing it, James McBride is finally able to piece together his own past and that of his mother, thus quenching his desire to learn more about his origins.

The difference with the original edition (I actually just read "The Color of Water, 10th Anniversary Edition" available on Amazon.com) is an interesting Afterword, summarizing the 10 years since its first publication (1996) and the impact its success had on the author himself, his family and, above all, his mother. I shall not disclose anything here, but it is worth to look into.

I truly think this is a standout among the various memoirs I have read so far, an inspiring and remarkable contribution to race-related literature.