Lemuria Bookstore Blog

Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow (Penguin, 2010) This is not your daddy’s biography on Washington…it’s Ron Chernow’s. If that name doesn’t ring a bell, maybe some of his former books will. His first book was The House of Morgan which won the National Book Award. He followed that with biographies on Alexander Hamilton and [...]

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Well, I know one thing. I won’t be forgetting this book or this man for a very long time. I also think that everybody needs to read it and here’s why. It seems to me that we are living in a very strange time. There are wars happening all around us and to us–the economic [...]

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All I can say is wow. I have been noticing this book for several weeks but I felt it too intimidating to actually read. Then my dear friend and bookstore colleague, Pat, told me she was reading it and not wanting to be outdone, I decided that I would as well! The book is: Bonhoeffer: [...]

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As I was straightening some bookshelves this week, I came upon a new memoir: Let’s Take the Long Way Home by Gail Caldwell. Everyone knows that I am a sucker for memoirs, especially sad ones, so I grabbed it and started reading. It is the story of a friendship between Gail Caldwell and Carolyn Knapp. [...]

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I went to hear Mary Karr read at Lemuria Wednesday night. I was familiar with her name but had never read any of her memoirs or poetry. Her latest book, LIT, had caught my eye with its fabulous front cover and knowing she was coming soon, I picked it up last week. I finished it [...]

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“Those who do not have power over the story that dominates their lives, power to retell it, rethink it, deconstruct it, joke about it, and change it as times change, truly are powerless, because they cannot think new thoughts.” (Salman Rushdie, “One Thousand Days in a Balloon,” New York Times, December 12, 1991) This was [...]

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There is a special category of non-fiction books that I call just simply great books. You know the ones that you read and you don’t think “this is a book for a gardening person, or a sports fan, or the outdoor type” but instead you say this is a great book. Like I said this [...]

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If, as one reviewer claims, the best criteria for judging a memoir is whether it’s as good as a novel, then Mary Karr’s latest memoir, Lit, definitely makes the cut. Displaying the precise insights of the poet that she is, along with her trademark wit, Karr once again proves what an amazingly gifted writer she is. [...]

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Since 2006, many of us have read the The Blind Side by Michael Lewis, and since this past fall, many of us have seen the movie “Blind Side” with Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw and Quinton Aaron. Many of us have also followed the amazing football career of Michael Oher as he played for Ole Miss [...]

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wow.  i’m not too sure what to say about this one.  i know that i can’t get enough of chelsea handler.  i’ve read her two previous books and laughed my ass off the whole way through.  i truly hope that she doesn’t make this stuff up and at the same time can’t imagine a life [...]

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