Book Review: Life Before the Internet

A fascinating look back at a slower, simpler time, when Amazon was just a river.

There was life before Google and smartphones, but few would recognize it today. We had more free time, as we didn't spend hours on social media. Our children roamed free and learned to fend for themselves. We enjoyed the freedom and space that came from being unreachable, and we couldn't take work home. We didn't need to invent slow living; it was part of the deal! See how the last unconnected generation used to live. Catch the tempo of everyday life, from home and school to work and leisure - and perhaps reflect on what we might learn.

Book Review: The Needle and the Lens

What movie do you think of when you hear “The Sound of Silence”? Better yet, what song comes to mind when you think of The Graduate? The link between film and song endures as more than a memory. It is, in fact, a sort of cultural symbiosis that has mutually influenced movies and pop music, a phenomenon Nate Patrin tracks through the past fifty years, revealing the power of music in movies to move the needle in popular culture.

These commentaries run the gamut from comedic irony to cheap-thrills excitement to deeply felt drama, all of which Patrin examines in pairings such as American Graffiti and “Do You Want to Dance?”; Saturday Night Fever and “Disco Inferno”; Apocalypse Now and “The End”; Wayne’s World and “Bohemian Rhapsody”; and more.

Book Review: The Fiction Writer

The once-rising literary star Olivia Fitzgerald is down on her luck. Her most recent novel, a retelling of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, was a flop, her boyfriend of nine years just dumped her and she’s battling a bad case of writer’s block. So when her agent calls her with a high-paying ghostwriting opportunity, Olivia is all too willing to sign the NDA.

At first, the job seems too good to be true. All she has to do is interview Henry “Ash” Asherwood, a reclusive mega billionaire, twice named People’s Sexiest Man Alive, who wants her help in writing a book that reveals a shocking secret about his late grandmother and Daphne du Maurier. But nothing is as it seems. The more Olivia delves into the past the more questions she has. Before she knows it, she’s trapped in a gothic mystery of her own.

Book Review: If You Would Have Told Me

We think we know John Stamos. The beloved actor of television (Full House, ER, General Hospital), film, and Broadway grew up in front of the cameras and drummed his way into our hearts as an honorary Beach Boy. In a candid memoir, readers can peek into the heart of this familiar face. It's a rollicking insider look at Hollywood, fame, fortune, and failure. It's a tender treaty on love, friendship, and fatherhood. Throughout it all, Stamos maintains a sense of wonderment captured in the title If You Would Have Told Me.

Book Review: Inside Out

For decades, Demi Moore has been synonymous with celebrity. From iconic film roles to high-profile relationships, Moore has never been far from the spotlight – or the headlines.

Even as she was becoming the highest paid actress in Hollywood, however, she was always outrunning her past, just one step ahead of the doubts and insecurities that defined her childhood. Throughout her rise to fame and during some of the most pivotal moments of her life, Demi battled addiction, body image issues, and childhood trauma that would follow her for years – all while juggling a skyrocketing career and at times negative public perception. As her success grew, Demi found herself questioning if she belonged in Hollywood, if she was a good mother, a good actress – and, always, if she was simply good enough.

Book Review: In Pieces

One of the most celebrated, beloved, and enduring actors of our time, Sally Field has an infectious charm that has captivated the nation for more than five decades, beginning with her first TV role at the age of seventeen.

With raw honesty and with all the humility and authenticity her fans have come to expect, Field brings readers behind-the-scenes for not only the highs and lows of her star-studded early career in Hollywood, but deep into the truth of her lifelong relationships--including her complicated love for her own mother. Powerful and unforgettable, In Pieces is an inspiring account of life as a woman in the second half of the twentieth century.

Book Review: Robert B. Parker's Broken Trust

Andrew Crain has it all: his groundbreaking work with lithium has made him one of the world’s richest men. He is universally adored and admired; that is, until Crain’s beautiful wife, Laura, comes to Spenser hoping that he can find out what skeletons lurk in her husband’s closet. Though Crain is a generous philanthropist and loving family man, she is concerned—he has recently become secretive, bordering on paranoid, and prone to violent outbursts. Laura wants Spenser to find out what has gotten into her husband, before it’s too late.

As Spenser digs into the billionaire’s past, he realizes that the man may have done terrible things on his rise to the top—but he also may have had good reason to. With no clear answers, what Spenser discovers will cause him to question his own views on morality—and place him in grave danger.