In the Mail: Grab bag edition

–> [amazon-product region=”us” text=”Who Do You Think You Are by Alyse Meyers” type=”text”]1416543066[/amazon-product]

Description

Shortly after Alyse Myers’s mother dies, Alyse and her sisters are emptying her mother’s apartment, trying to decide what to discard and what to keep. Alyse covets only one thing — a wooden box that sits in the back of a closet. Its contents have been kept from Alyse her entire life. That box, she hopes, will contain answers to her questions: Who were her parents really, and why did her mother settle for so very little in her life?

Growing up during the 1960s in a working-class neighborhood in Queens, New York, Alyse’s home is not a happy one. Her parents argue constantly and after the death of Alyse’s father, her mother at age thirty-three is left with three young girls. While her mother retreats to the kitchen table with her cigarettes and bitterness, determined to stay there forever, Alyse yearns for more in life, including the right to escape. After a childhood of harrowing fights, abject cruelty, and endless uncertainty, Alyse adamantly rejects everything about her mother’s life, provoking her mother’s infuriated demand, “Who do you think you are?”

With candor and eloquence, Alyse Myers explores the profound and poignant revelations that so often come to light only after a parent has died. Balancing childhood memories with adult observations, Who Do You Think You Are? is a heart-wrenching and ultimately uplifting portrait of a mother and daughter. No matter what your relationship with your own mother is like, this book will stay with you long after you put it down.

–> [amazon-product region=”us” text=”Royal Blood by Rona Sharon” type=”text”]0758228589[/amazon-product]

Description

In the Tudor Court of 1518, your friends and enemies can be one and the same…During the annual celebration of the Order of the Garter, Sir Michael Devereaux arrives in King Henry VIII’s court on a mission for his benefactor. The celebration’s endless feats and sumptuous women delight the charismatic newcomer, who becomes captivated by the enigmatic Princess Renee of France. But evil, it seems, has followed Michael to the court. Shortly after his arrival, an unknown killer claims several victims, including the Queen’s lady-in-waiting, and the powerful Cardinal Wolsey asks Michael to help with the investigation. As he searches for the killer, Michael is haunted by disturbing images of the victims – flashes of violence that lead him to doubt his own sanity. Michael soon realizes that the key to solving the crime is connected to both the Pope’s Imperial vault in Rome and a mystery from Michael’s own past – revealing a secret that is so damning, it could forever alter the future of mankind.

–> [amazon-product region=”us” text=”Teenagers Suck by Joanne Kimes and R. J. Colleary” type=”text”]1598698982[/amazon-product]

Description

Moodswings? Check. Eye rolls? Check.Slamming doors and easily annoyed teens? Check. Check.

Let’s face it: Teenagers Suck. Tacklers of Teenage Terrors R.J. Colleary and Joanne Kimes take readers on a humorous but helpful ride through teenage troubles, such as how to:

  • Pick their battles (do you ignore or forbid the bellybutton ring and lower back tattoo?)
  • Tackle the oh-so-uncomfortable but very important topic of teen sex
  • Address peer pressure (because their friends are doing way worse things that jumping off that proverbial bridge!)

With an equal dose of empathy and humor, Colleary and Kimes will expertly guide parents through this traumatic, tender, and (dare we say it) sometimes terrific part of raising kids.

–> [amazon-product region=”us” text=”The Politically Incorrect Guide to The Great Depression and the New Deal by Robert P. Murphy” type=”text”]1596980966[/amazon-product]

Description

In this timely new P.I. Guide, Murphy reveals the stark truth: free market failure didn’t cause the Great Depression and the New Deal didn’t cure it. Shattering myths and politically correct lies, he tells why World War II didn t help the economy or get us out of the Great Depression; why it took FDR to make the Depression Great; and why Herbert Hoover was more like Obama and less like Bush than the liberal media would have you believe. Free-market believers and capitalists everywhere should have this on their bookshelf and in their briefcase.

Kevin Holtsberry
I work in communications and public affairs. I try to squeeze in as much reading as I can while still spending time with my wife and two kids (and cheering on the Pittsburgh Steelers and Michigan Wolverines during football season).

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