📚Behind The Scenes in TV and Film. @SueBavey reviews #Memoir Misadventures in the Screen Trade: How Not to Make it in the Media by Alison Cubitt @lambertnagle

Today’s team review is from Sue.

Sue blogs here https://suelbavey.wordpress.com/

Rosie’s Book Review Team

Sue has been reading Misadventures in the Screen Trade: How Not to Make it in the Media by Alison Cubitt.

This memoir is a delightful description of Alison’s search for a satisfactory position in television. She starts at the bottom and works her way up, but occasionally has to go back down the career ladder and accept lesser jobs in order to stay within her chosen professional arena. Sometimes she gets to meet celebrities and her enthusiasm for these occasions suggest this in itself is a reward for her. She also meets her fair share of unsavoury characters in what was a very male-dominated world at the time.
Her jobs are located in many different countries, but this isn’t a travel memoir, working in media means long hours and time socializing with colleagues, not leaving much time for sight-seeing.

I really enjoyed reading about the behind the scenes aspects of a show I used to watch – The Big Breakfast. These first hand stories were absolutely fascinating, especially the time spent interviewing celebrities in LA, the pace of Alison’s life during this trip comes across as absolutely frenetic and not something I could imagine being able to sustain for any length of time.

Eventually Alison secures her dream job with Disney but before long becomes disillusioned by the company’s corporate culture. It becomes less of a dream and helps her to realize she would prefer a slower lifestyle with more autonomy.
Misadventures in the Screen Trade is a very interesting and somewhat out of the ordinary memoir – highly recommended for people who are intrigued to see behind the scenes in film/television!

Book description

A young woman in a man’s world takes on the media industry. Can she hit the heights of her dreams, or will she fall flat on her face?

Sydney 1981 Alison Ripley Cubitt couldn’t wait to make her mark. Having escaped her fractured New Zealand family only to end up dying of boredom behind a Mad-Men-era reception desk, she was determined to shatter the media’s glass ceiling. Thrilled to score an unpaid television internship in London, she still needed to survive alone…

Climbing her way up the career ladder, only to fall down again, Alison’s life-changing moment finally arrived when she landed her dream job at Disney. But after a documentary presentation to the masters of animation ended in disaster, the driven young woman refused to let her march to the top miss out on a spectacular finale.

In this entertaining true tale of the reality of working in the cutthroat world of show business, Alison shares the highs-and-lows of chasing bold goals. Navigating a patriarchial industry with wit and determination, her straight-to-the-point style will have you laughing out loud, and in awe of her courage.

Misadventures in the Screen Trade is a dazzling peek into one woman’s climb from rural New Zealand to Tinseltown. If you like fiery heroines, self-deprecating humour, and insightful tales from backstage, then you’ll love this spirited memoir.

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📚’A moving and amusing #memoir full of heart’. @OlgaNM7 Reviews Laugh Cry Rewind by @judyhaveson for Rosie’s #Bookreview Team #RBRT

Today’s team review is from Olga.

Olga blogs here https://olganm.wordpress.com/

Rosie’s Book Review Team

Olga has been reading Laugh Cry Rewind by Judy Haveson

I am not a big reader of memoirs. My preference is for reading fiction, mostly novels, perhaps because I’m always intrigued by how the authors came up with their ideas and how they chose to tell the story. The story itself is not an issue with memoirs (although the process of choosing what to include and what not must be really complicated), but the way the story is told is very important, especially because we’re unlikely to keep reading a narrative about somebody we don’t feel any connection with or any affinity and sympathy/empathy for. That might not be so crucial if the protagonist is somebody famous, as we might be interested in knowing about them even if we don’t particularly like them (or, precisely because we don’t like them, and we want to see if we are justified in our feelings for them), but if we don’t know the person, the author needs to be able to make us feel and connect with their story/history, at least in my opinion.

And Judy Haveson definitely does that. I checked a short sample of the book before deciding if I wanted to review it or not, and it was a quick decision. She and I might hail from different parts of the world (Texas, in her case), be born in fairly different families (hers is a Jewish family, and she had an older sister), have taken career paths with few similarities (she started as an intern at a radio station, then worked for a music publisher, gala dress company, a PR company looking after a variety of clients…), and her personal life is not close to mine either, but I could easily imagine chatting to her, listening to her tell her story (in the first person, of course), and, as the title goes, laugh, cry and rewind with her. Because, yes, there are moments in the story that made me cry (Judy goes through severe trauma when she is very young, then she experiences an unexpected loss that lives a void in her life that is never filled, and there are even more losses later in life), and many that made me chuckle as well. In her description, she talks about being witty, or perhaps sarcastic, and I think there’s a bit of both because sometimes she is unable to rein in her “wit” no matter how inconvenient the moment or how likely her words are to get her into trouble. Some of her comments make one gasp, but they are always funny, and those who know her appreciate her for it. (And it seems that she takes after her father in that aspect, although her mother shows her wit quite a few times as well).

I loved Judy’s voice. She never takes herself too seriously, never blames others (if anything, she tends to blame herself for things that go wrong even when she has no control over them), can be irritating one moment and delightful the next, and she knows how to tell a good story, for sure. On top of that, she is surrounded by wonderful people as well. I love her family, and I love the closeness between the three of them, and also with the rest of the family (her grandfather, her uncle, her cousins…). She has good friends with whom she shares great moments, and she is happy to let us into her thoughts and shows no interest in making herself appear in a good light. She doesn’t claim to have any great insights about how to live one’s life to pass on either, although she has learned to make the best of anything life throws at her and live life to the most. There are people she does not like, but she wastes no time in attacking them or trying to get back at them. She appreciates those she loves and who love her, and she keeps going in spite of the rest.

The book also includes some pictures that help readers imagine the scenes and situations described more easily, and there is also a section of acknowledgements that I recommend reading as well.

Readers who have suffered trauma due to sexual abuse/rape and/or have lost somebody close recently, and women who have had difficult pregnancies might need to be cautious when reading this memoir. The story is positive and ultimately uplifting, but I have already said it made me cry, and I suspect I am not alone in that.

I recommend this book to habitual readers of memoirs, especially those growing up in the 70s and 80s in the USA, although anybody who enjoys a non-fictional story with a lot of heart and a protagonist with a wicked sense of humour and a particular set of priorities (washing her hear beats going to watch a beautiful sunset, and a manicure beats almost anything…) should give it a try. You’re likely to be as amused, charmed, and moved as I was.

Book description

Growing up in 1970s and 80s suburban Houston, Judy Haveson is funny, sarcastic, and fiercely loyal, especially to her family, friends, and big sister, Celia. When she suffers a series of unimaginable traumatic events, her seemingly idyllic childhood comes to a halt, changing her life forever.

In Laugh Cry Rewind, Judy takes readers on her journey of self-discovery, sharing funny, touching, and heartbreaking stories from her childhood all the way to the birth of her son. Her experiences serve as a reminder that while life is not always fair, ultimately, the choice to surrender or keep on living is ours. Her message to others who have experienced loss or tragedy is this: stop waiting for the other shoe to drop. Let life go on, and good things will be waiting for you on the other side of the pain.

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📚#Memoir The Horrors Of Modern Warfare. Frank Reviews The Thin Blue-Yellow Line Between Love & Hate by Ukraine Writer @AntonEine #BookTwitter

Today’s team review is from Frank.

Find out more about Frank here https://franklparker.com/

Rosie’s Book Review Team

Frank has been reading The Thin Blue-Yellow Line Between Love & Hate by Anton Eine.

In the spring of 1941 my mother left London. She was accompanied by her mother and carrying me in her womb. She had spent much of the preceding 12 months working in Air Raid Precautions. She was present in London during the 58 days of the ‘Blitz’ in September and October 1940, when she not only saw the devastation caused by Hitler’s bombers but assisted with the organisation of shelters and providing food for families whose homes had been destroyed.

In the summer of 1943 my father was one of 50,000 aircrew involved in the bombing of German cities. He took part in the raids which generated a fire storm over Hamburg, as a result of which 2 million civilians are said to have fled that city. He lost his life when the bomber of which he was Flight Engineer was shot down during a raid on Mannheim in November 1943.

Since 1945 neither the UK or Europe has had first hand experience of such a conflict. Whilst many US Army, Navy and Air Force personnel participated in that conflict and many others since, North America has never been under attack. Two generations of citizens in what we usually refer to as the Western Democracies have no idea what it is like to be subjected to bombardment on such a scale.

Since February 24th 2022, the citizens of Ukraine have had to get used to daily bombardments. For the first weeks after that date many also had to suffer the brutality of occupation by an army of individuals whose behaviour, revealed once they were driven back, marked some as psychopaths.

Anton Eine’s book documents the first 100 days following the unprovoked attack. The story of his own escape from Kyiv, with his young family, to the relative safety of Lviv in the west of the country, is harrowing enough. He brings together the tales of many other families from around Ukraine, collected via email and the internet. He also provides much more detail about the terrorising of Bucha, and other towns and neighbourhoods liberated from Russian occupation, than were shown on UK television at the time.

The book has been translated into English and is shows Eine’s diversity as an accomplished writer adding to his stable of works which include science fantasy novels. In this book he talks candidly about the difficulty of shielding his 3-year-old son from news about the ‘good soldiers’ and the ‘bad soldiers’.

‘Bad soldiers’ is a sanitised version of what Eine calls the Russian army and their leader. In fact, the most striking thing about the book, is the visceral hatred of the Russian ‘Orcs’ that comes across in every paragraph.

It is plain that the damage caused by Putin’s ‘Special Operation’ extends way beyond the destruction of buildings and infrastructure and the unnecessary deaths of civilians, to the minds of the people, leaving a scar that it will take generations to heal.

Although, I did not finish the book, I would suggest that it is essential reading for anyone who has not experienced the realities of modern warfare. Which means every citizen under 75 in most of Europe and North America. For that reason I cannot rate it less than 5 stars out of 5.

Book description

A diary chronicling the hopes, pain and fears of ordinary Ukrainians collected during the current war. Frank, emotional and straight from the heart.

This book is about the first 100 days of fascist Russia’s perfidious and unfounded invasion of Ukraine. But it is not an account of the war and its battlefield engagements. It’s about people. About their feelings and emotions, their experiences, fears and pain, their suffering, hope and love.

I started writing this book one sleepless night in Kyiv when I had been kept awake all night by the roar of our aerial defense system and explosions nearby, listening out for approaching rockets and bombs and wondering whether I should take my wife and young son and run for the air-raid shelter. That night, I realized that I had a duty as a writer to act as a voice for those whose stories desperately needed to be told to other people in the world.

I wrote about what I saw and felt. About the stories, my relatives and friends shared with me. It became a chronicle, memoir, diary and confession. I set down our stories so that the whole world might know and understand what we have been through. So that the whole world might share our experiences of this war alongside us – in our trembling buildings, in our freezing cold basements, underground parking lots, bomb shelters and metro stations and in the ruins of our burning cities. So that the world might be given a glimpse into our hearts through the lacerated wounds that have been inflicted on them by this cruel and barbaric war.

AmazonUK | AmazonUS

🪑Ideal For Armchair Travel. Georgia Reviews Tales From The Hamlet by Cassandra Campbell-Kemp for Rosie’s #Bookreview Team #RBRT

Today’s team review is from Georgia.

Georgia blogs here https://www.georgiarosebooks.com

Rosie’s Book Review Team

Georgia has been reading Tales From The Hamlet by Cassandra Campbell-Kemp

Tales From The Hamlet by Cassandra Campbell-Kemp

After taking up a job which required this author to pack up and move to Italy, she was then made redundant 15 months later. Naturally this was terribly unsettling and left her unable to return home due to a lack of funds and the fact her own home was rented out. However, Campbell-Kemp is a gregarious character and although her dream of a new life appeared to be over and her belongings and aged Siamese cat had nowhere to go, a friend kindly offered them a home in his tiny converted barn in his family’s ‘Borgo’. This is a cluster of rustic properties around a late-Medieval manor house and this one is situated in the beautiful Apennines in northern Italy.

This book tells in detail the tale of the move to this new home, and the many explorations, both by car and culinary, undertaken by the author during her stay. She makes more friends and becomes well-known in the area being something of an oddity; a British woman with no husband, who drives too fast, apparently, in a right-hand car and who can speak Italian, as well as several other languages.

Campbell-Kemp writes well and honestly recounts the worries and issues she faced with her health, her lack of funds and the Italian bureaucracy. However, being a resourceful, intelligent woman, she once again finds her fortunes turning as another opportunity presents itself. Although even as this door opens the realisation that her living arrangements cannot continue as they are hits and things are about to change once more.

This memoir is richly descriptive and gives the reader a lot of information about the area, its history, culture, people and of course, mouth-wateringly delicious food. Recommended for all who like to experience different parts of the world from their armchair.

Book description

At the age of 61, Cassandra, a single and peripatetic Brit, was asked to pack up her house and move to Italy to take up the offer of a much-needed job. 15 months later she was made redundant, leaving her unnerved, broke and unable to return home. Her dream of a new life was rapidly turning into a nightmare and, saddled with all her belongings, her antique furniture, over 800 books and her aged Siamese cat she had nowhere to go.

A kind friend offered them sanctuary in a tiny converted former barn in his family’s ‘Borgo’, a cluster of rustic properties grouped around a late-Medieval manor House in the mountains; the beautiful and mysterious Emilian Appenines of northern Italy. There she was befriended and watched over by the owner; an eccentric octogenarian, his household ghosts and 14 semi feral cats.

The experience proved to be challenging yet deeply transformative as she struggled to recover her equilibrium and rebuild her life.

AmazonUK | AmazonUS

🐶Adventure Caravanning with Dogs: It Never Rains But it Paws by Jacqueline Lambert, is reviewed by @SueBavey for Rosie’s #Bookreview Team #RBRT

Today’s team review is from Sue.

She blogs here https://suelbavey.wordpress.com/

Rosie’s Book Review Team

Sue has been reading Adventure Caravanning with Dogs: It Never Rains But it Paws by Jacqueline Lambert.

Adventure Caravanning With Dogs by Jacqueline Lambert

Jackie’s writing is extremely witty and clever. She makes you feel like you are travelling alongside her and Mark and their four adorable dogs, due to her chatty and engaging nature. This comes across well in her “Adventure Caravanning with Dogs” series. In the case of “It Never Rains but it Paws”, the story takes place against the backdrop of Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is the fourth book in the series, but each one can be read as a standalone. The shortish chapters keep the story flowing as the couple and their four dogs travel around Europe. Jackie and Mark  are up against a deadline to set off before Brexit happens, in order to escape the bureaucracy caused by travelling with four dogs and a caravan around Europe. They aim to travel through France and spend the ski season in Italy. Delays due to family illness cause them to panic as their deadline looms nearer,, but eventually they are off on their way! Jackie includes plenty of historical detail and background information about the places they visit  to make you want to go to the locations on their trip, although possibly not during a pandemic!! Their experiences of lockdown in Italy, up a mountain in a deserted ski village with scarcely any Italian between them were eye opening.

A highly entertaining adventure!

Book description

Five years after giving up work to travel full time, Dog-ma Jacqueline (Jackie) and Dogfather Mark race against time to leave the UK before Britain exits the EU. If Brexit happens, their four Cavapoos (Cavalier/Poodle cross) Kai, Rosie, Ruby, and Lani will lose their puppy passports, and the Lambert Family will be unable to travel together. But Brexit isn’t their only obstacle. A few months into their adventure, the pandemic suddenly shatters their plans, and leaves them trapped in the epicentre of Europe’s No. 1 coronavirus hotspot.

The fourth road trip Europe adventure in author Jacqueline Lambert’s “inspirational and hilarious” series of true travel memoirs invites you to join the couple as they discover even more amazing and little-known places, this time in France and Italy. However, this isn’t just a priceless escape travel story filled with humorous mishaps and mountain adventure. The coronavirus pandemic separates the family from their loved ones at home, and leaves Jackie stranded alone during a blizzard in a remote Italian village, with Mark thousands of miles away, back in the UK.

Between terrible weather, political mayhem, and a global pandemic, Jackie and Mark try to take lessons from each hardship. Yet, even with a positive attitude, a sense of adventure, and a caravan full of loved ones, you can’t stop all the obstacles life rolls your way. These “amusing and informative” travel stories are certainly proof that It Never Rains… But It Paws! 

AmazonUK | AmazonUS

👮‍♂️’#Memoir of a Compton police officer’. Sherry reviews Black, White And Gray All Over by Frederick Reynolds, for Rosie’s #Bookreview Team #RBRT.👮‍♂️

Today’s team review is from Sherry.

She blogs here https://sherryfowlerchancellor.com/

Sherry has been reading Black, White And Gray All Over by Frederick Reynolds

Memoir

This memoir of a Compton police officer appealed to me for several reasons. First, the time period of the officer’s service which was partially during the Rodney King trial and the Los Angeles riots. Other important events were the gang wars and murders of rap and hip hop artists. Second, the officer grew up in Detroit and initially was headed down the wrong path and ended up turning his life around. He was a bright, sensitive child who was led astray when he got a bit older. Trying to find a way to fit in as well as to find a way to escape from his difficult home life.

The author did not try to sugarcoat his past or the difficulties he faced in his marriage and relationships with his children. The memoir was intriguing and educational. The fact that the author didn’t paint a rosy, perfect picture of himself was admirable. Not many people have the kind of insight to themselves as he does. He came from a hard background and grew up with issues between his parents and that seemed to lead to his desire to escape his reality that led him down the wrong path to start with.

I admire how he shared his journey and how we, as readers, were able to follow along and watch him grow and change. There’s a strength in that kind of honesty. He seems like he’d be a great person to sit down and share a beer or coffee with and chat long into the night. His front row seat at many events that shaped the world we live in is intriguing and being able to have a chat with him about those various events would be a great way to spend an evening. His perspective as a black man was enlightening to this reader. Race relations are volatile in our country (and have been for a very long time) and learning how people of other races see and interpret the world is vital. Those endeavors can hopefully go a long way toward peaceful coexistence in our time.

If I have one complaint about the book, it would be how it got bogged down with names and descriptions of all his coworkers and the perpetrators he arrested. There was way too much of that in the book. It dragged down the prose. The reader doesn’t need to know everyone in the room or at the crime scene or what they looked like—unless it adds to the story.

Overall, this is an interesting read and journey through a snapshot in time in the Midwest and along the west coast. Events that had national impact here in the United States. And it is, above all, the tale of one man’s story of the obstacles he faced on the way from anger and a life of crime to well-respected law enforcement officer, and ultimately, to his happiness and destiny.

From shootouts and robberies to riding in cars with pimps and prostitutes, Frederick Reynolds’ early manhood experiences in Detroit, Michigan in the 1960s foretold a future on the wrong side of the prison bars. Frederick grew up a creative and sensitive child but found himself lured down the same path as many Black youth in that era. No one would have guessed he would have a future as a cop in one of the most dangerous cities in America in the 1980s—Compton, California. From recruit to detective, Frederick experienced a successful career marked by commendations and awards. The traumatic and highly demanding nature of the work, however, took its toll on both his family and personal life—something Frederick was able to conquer but only after years of distress and regret.

AmazonUK | AmazonUS

A Police Officer’s #Memoir. Black, White, and Gray All Over by Frederick Reynolds, reviewed by @OlgaNM7, for Rosie’s #Bookreview Team #RBRT

Today’s team review is from Olga. She blogs here https://www.authortranslatorolga.com

Olga has been reading Black, White, and Gray All Over by Frederick Reynolds

This is a memoir, and as far from fiction as one could imagine. In fact, it is so full of facts and data that it can become overwhelming at times. The sheer number of events, of characters (well, not really characters, but real people: relatives, friends, neighbours, infantrymen, police officers, detectives, criminals, victims, local authorities, politicians…), of dates, of cases… make the book overflow with stories: sometimes those the author, Frederick Douglass Reynolds, participated directly in; others, stories providing background information to the situation or events being discussed or introducing some of the main players at the time of the action. I think anybody trying to recount even a small amount of what happens in the book would have a hard time of it, but anybody interested in the recent history of Compton law enforcement and local politics will find this book invaluable.

The author goes beyond the standard memoir, and although his life is the guiding thread of the book, he does not limit himself to talking in the first-person about his difficult childhood, his traumatic past, his petty criminal activities as a gang member in his youth, his time as a Marine Corps Infantryman, his less than stellar experience with personal relationships (until later in life), his allergy to compromise for many years (to the point of even refusing to get involved in the life of one of his children)… This well-read and self-taught man also offers readers the socio-historical-political context of the events, talking about the gangs, the rise of crack cocaine, the powerful figures moving the threads and holding authority (sometimes openly, and sometimes not so much), and he openly discusses the many cases of corruption, at all levels.

There is so much of everything in this book that I kept thinking this single book could become several books, either centring each one of them on a particular event, case, or investigation and its aftermath (for example. although Rodney King’s death didn’t take place in Compton, the description of how the riots affected the district makes readers realise that history keeps repeating itself unless something is done), or perhaps on a specific theme (as there is much about gangs, racism, corruption, the evolution of police roles and policing methods, violence in the streets, LA social changes and local politics, drugs…). Another option would be to focus on the author’s life and experiences growing up, on his personal life (his difficulties with relationships and alcohol, his PTSD…), and later his career, but perhaps mentioning only some of the highlights or some specific episodes, and with less background information about the place and its history (although some brief information could be added as an appendix or in an author’s note for those interested in knowing more).

This is a long book, dense and packed with a wealth of data that might go beyond the scope of most casual readers, but there are also scary moments (forget about TV police series. This is the real deal), heart-wrenching events (the deaths of locals, peers, colleagues, personal tragedies…), touching confessions (like the difficulties in his relationship with his son, becoming grandad to a boy with autism and what that has taught him), shared insights that most will find inspiring, and also some lighter and funny touches that make the human side of the book shine. Although Reynolds openly discusses his doubts, and never claims to be spotless, more upstanding, or better than anybody else, his determination to get recognition for his peers fallen in action, and his homage to those he worked with and who kept up the good fight clearly illustrate that his heart (and morals) are in the right place.

Most people thinking of reading this type of memoir are likely to know what to expect, but just in case there are any doubts, be warned that there is plenty of violence (sometimes extreme and explicit), use of alcohol, drugs, and pretty colourful language. 

I recommend this book to anybody interested in the history of policing in LA (particularly in Compton) from the 1980s, gangs in the area, local politics, corruption, and any major criminal investigations in the area (deaths of rappers included). It is also a book for those looking for an inspiring story of self-improvement, of managing to escape the wrong path, and helping others do the same, and it is a book full of insights, inspiration, and hope.

I wonder if the author is planning to carry on writing, but it is clear that he has many stories to tell yet and I hope he does.

From shootouts and robberies to riding in cars with pimps and prostitutes, Frederick Reynolds’ early manhood experiences in Detroit, Michigan in the 1960s foretold a future on the wrong side of the prison bars. Frederick grew up a creative and sensitive child but found himself lured down the same path as many Black youth in that era. No one would have guessed he would have a future as a cop in one of the most dangerous cities in America in the 1980s—Compton, California. From recruit to detective, Frederick experienced a successful career marked by commendations and awards. The traumatic and highly demanding nature of the work, however, took its toll on both his family and personal life—something Frederick was able to conquer but only after years of distress and regret.

AmazonUK | AmazonUS

‘Minute in detail, rich in history, and unflinching in personal reflection’. Jenni reviews #Memoir Black, White, and Gray All Over by Frederick Reynolds #TuesdayBookBlog

Today’s team review is from Jenni. Find her here https://jenniferdebie.com/

Jenny has been reading Black, White, and Gray All Over: A Black Man’s Odyssey in Life and Law Enforcement by Frederick Reynolds

As a young white woman, I’m not sure that this was necessarily a book written “for me”, but as an American, I can tell you that Federick Reynolds’ Black, White, and Gray All Over: A Black Man’s Odyssey in Life and Law Enforcement is a tale that all of us should sit up and pay attention to.

Opening with his tumultuous childhood in 1960s Detroit, Michigan, his time in the military stationed on the West Coast, and eventually documenting his life and career as first a police officer, and then a sheriff’s deputy in one of the most notorious cities in the country, Reynolds’ memoir is aptly named, he has lived an odyssey of a life. As much the story of a city, its various governing and policing bodies, and a very specific few decades in our nation’s history as it is the life and times of a single man, Black, White, and Gray All Over showcases many of the things that seem to have made Reynolds a great law enforcement officer.

Rich in the specific details of the crimes he investigated, the men and women he served with, and the pain he endured, this is a memoir that makes me wish I knew more about my country’s recent history so that I could comment more precisely on the accuracy of what Reynolds lays out. As it is, I can firmly tell readers that this is a harrowing piece of literature, documenting racism, violence, corruption, and those who stand in the gap despite it all.

Black, White, and Gray All Over swirls through time, moving fluidly through the years as Reynolds is able to look back over long-running investigations or cases with the clear-sightedness that comes from decades of separation. At times the moving back and forth in time can get minorly distracting, but Reynolds’ prose is engaging throughout, and the chronicle he gives us: one of good people, bad people, people who hide their true selves, and those who wear their truth on their sleeves, is breathtaking.

Through his eyes, Compton itself, the community he spent decades policing, becomes a living, breathing, bleeding character. One that has been a victim of corrupt officials, plagued by violence beyond reason, and yet Reynolds never loses sight of the people that lived and worked there during his tenure. Those who struggled, scraped, and fought to rise above what Compton had been to make it better for their children.

The success, or failure of those struggles, I will leave up to other readers with greater understanding of the full context to decide.

Minute in detail, rich in history, and unflinching in personal reflection, Black, White, and Gray All Over is unique memoir from a man who has, quite frankly, seen more than his fair share of sh*t and lived to tell the tale.

5/5

From shootouts and robberies to riding in cars with pimps and prostitutes, Frederick Reynolds’ early manhood experiences in Detroit, Michigan in the 1960s foretold a future on the wrong side of the prison bars. Frederick grew up a creative and sensitive child but found himself lured down the same path as many Black youth in that era. No one would have guessed he would have a future as a cop in one of the most dangerous cities in America in the 1980s—Compton, California. From recruit to detective, Frederick experienced a successful career marked by commendations and awards. The traumatic and highly demanding nature of the work, however, took its toll on both his family and personal life—something Frederick was able to conquer but only after years of distress and regret.

AmazonUK | AmazonUS

Home Boys is a memoir from therapist Seth Kadish, about the street gangs of Southern California.

Home Boys by Seth C. Kadish

4 stars

Home Boys is a memoir from therapist Seth Kadish about his experiences  while working in a boys home for probational teenagers in Southern California.

After a brief introduction we are guided through the cases of a variety of teenage boys who have been placed in the home. Many have come from city gangs and have seen violence from an early age. The boys, their peers and families have often been involved in substance abuse, shootings and have horrific tales about their youth.

Seth and his fellow workers use group work and individual therapy sessions to help the boys and to encourage them to make changes in their lives, many of whom have deep psychological wounds; some of the stories are hard to read.

Kadish has tried to keep the content of this book upbeat and the reader gets a good insight into each of his cases. It is heart-breaking to read about the gangland upbringing that many of these youngsters endured and I can only hope that some of them benefited from their time in the home with Seth.

View all my reviews on Goodreads

“Home Boys” is the poignant and humorous story of a beginning career psychologist learning about diagnosis and treatment, and more importantly, discovering ways to connect with troubled teens — manipulative Timothy, jokester Enrique, wanna-be gangster Antonio, and many more.

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Rosie’s #Bookreview of #Memoir 10 10 10: My 10 year journey from suicide attempt to ultra-marathon runner by Laura Bird

10 10 10: My 10 year journey from suicide attempt to ultra marathon runner by Laura Bird

4 stars

10 10 10: My 10 year journey from suicide attempt to ultra-marathon runner is the inspiring memoir of Laura Bird.

Aged eighteen, Laura attempted suicide after a culmination of events from a challenging childhood. While recovering in hospital, Laura took her psychological well-being into her own hands and decided that as she was offered another chance in life, she would take it.

Laura’s recovery wasn’t without its hardships and pain, but through it all Laura began building her own mental strengths. She went on to push both the barriers of her physical and psychological abilities while taking on some amazing tasks: marathons, triathlons, ironman, SAS: Who Dares Wins reality TV show and a mammoth ten marathons in ten days.

Throughout the book Laura speaks candidly about her own journey through mental health and talks about how she now deals with everyday life issues. I was very interested in her ten year turn around and how she is driven to keep on trying while accepting that we all need to fail at things so that we can learn valuable lessons.

A very interesting and moving story to read, and one that I would happily recommend to a wide reading audience.

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Fighting for her life after a suicide attempt, Laura ‘Birdy’ Bird ended her turbulent adolescence physically and psychologically broken.

Fast forward 10 years and she has run 10 marathons in 10 days to raise money for the people who saved her life.

Join Birdy on her moving and motivational 10-year journey from learning how to walk again, through the challenges of training for an Ironman, to taking on the brutal Directing Staff as a recruit on Channel 4’s SAS: Who Dares Wins. Culminating in taking on the biggest

ultra-marathon running challenge she has ever faced.

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