fathers

After an adult Halpern moves in with his parents, he starts tweeting things his Dad says. In short order so many people are following his tweets that the media contacts him for interviews and appearances. Those tweets are compiled and found in Sh*t My Dad Says.  While I found most of the things his father says hilarious, I appreciate that some people are disturbed, not only by the foul language he uses, but the manner in which he addresses his children. For me, what saves the book from condemnation is that when told in context, it is obvious that Halpern Sr. loves his children. This is not

This biography is an up-close-and-personal view of mental illness as a father watches his teenage daughter develop psychotic manic-depressive disorder. It is a quick read, like reading a very long newspaper article. It is difficult, too, because you want a happy ending but know from the beginning that there is no way to cure the disease.

I picked the book up based on reviews from others and an ongoing interest in both parenting and mental health issues. I appreciated the first-person narrative and empathized with the father, but also thought that he over-emphasized the randomness of the

Starting at a young age, Jack Acheson observes first-hand the development of Kings County, a fictionalized Johnson County, KS. Jack’s father, Alton Acheson, capitalized on the plans to build I-35 by buying property along the future highway, mostly through manipulation and by unscrupulous means. His father’s involvement with the principle players in Kansas City’s history positions Jack firmly in a circle of friends with influential parents. Alton is not above using unfortunate events to his advantage and is a driving force in the instigation of white-flight that turned Troost Avenue into a very

Along with the long-forgotten contents of the basement of the Panama Hotel, Henry Lee’s memories of 1940’s Seattle are unearthed.  When new hotel owners start to renovate the boarded up, old Japanese-designed building they discover the personal belongings of numerous Japanese families who were interned during WWII. As a resident of Seattle’s Chinatown, just the other side of the Panama Hotel from Japantown, Henry witnessed first-hand the removal of the Japanese. His friendship with a Japanese classmate leads him to hold a special interest in the dusty belongings of one family in particular

From the beginning, Ralph Truitt knew Catherine Land was not who she pretended to be. Expecting the “simple, honest woman” from the picture she had sent after answering his advertisement for “a reliable wife”, beautiful Catherine came as something of a shock. Thinking her act wholly convincing, Catherine plays the role of simplicity and innocence in hopes of accomplishing a deadly deception.

As Ralph and Catherine begin to live parallel lives in which they each punish themselves for their pasts, they find that in forgiving themselves they can find the happiness that has proven so elusive