Boys in the Trees by Carly Simon

Boys in the Trees by Carly Simon

Posted by Anonymous

Reviewed by: Jim Patrick

What I Read: Boys in the Trees: A Memoir by Carly Simon

Find It @YCLD: Here!

What It's About: Now 70 years old, singer Carly Simon reflects on the first half of her life in Boys in the Trees: A Memoir.  The book is so brave and revealing that perhaps another Carly Simon song title would have been more fitting: We Have No Secrets.  

Thanks to an astonishing memory for details—aided by a lifetime of diary writing—Simon recounts incidents from her childhood up to the end of her marriage to singer James Taylor in 1981.  Far from her image as a spoiled rich girl—her father was the Simon of Simon and Schuster publishing—Carly Simon’s youth was scarred by her parents’ unhappy marriage and her own poor self-image.  As a pre-teen, Simon was physically molested by a family acquaintance.  She suffered for years with a stuttering impediment, and she has been treated for depression throughout her life.

Her success as a singer, originally as a duo with sister Lucy, seems to have taken Carly by surprise, and given her lifelong stage fright, Simon’s fame was a mixed blessing.  Her stardom did bring her in contact with others in the entertainment industry, and much of the book details romantic encounters with familiar icons such as Warren Beatty, Kris Kristofferson, Mick Jagger, and Cat Stevens.  And, yes, the mystery inspiration of Simon’s “You’re So Vain” is at least partially answered: Warren Beatty inspired one of the verses.  The latter part of the book details the decade-long marriage to James Taylor, a brilliant musician who was plagued by a heroin addiction throughout his years with Carly Simon.

What I Thought: Since this is not a “breezy” show business memoir, it does not always make for easy reading.  Carly Simon shares painful and unflattering episodes from her life, along with personal and professional joys and successes.  There were times when I would have preferred fewer intimate details (e.g. the description of her 1981 onstage panic attack in Pittsburgh), but overall I came away admiring Simon’s honesty and perseverance.  As a baby boomer who closely followed the music of Carly Simon and James Taylor at the height of their popularity, I would have liked more behind the scenes accounts of that musical era.  Although that was not the primary focus of Simon’s book, I did enjoy the musical anecdotes that were included.  And I look forward to reading the sequel.  

Readalikes: Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon—and the Journey of a Generation by Sheila Weller; Sweet Dreams and Flying Machines: The Life and Music of James Taylor by Mark Ribowsky

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Train Go Sorry by Leah Hager Cohen

Train Go Sorry by Leah Hager Cohen

Posted by Anonymous

Reviewed by: José Beltrán

What I Read: Train Go Sorry: Inside a Deaf World by Leah Hager Cohen

Find It @YCLD: Here!

What It's About: Leah was one of the first hearing children who attended the Lexington School for the Deaf in Queens, New York. She felt she had missed the boat to belonging to the deaf. “I’m so hearing,” she lamented. She so wanted to share in their intimacy. Her parents were engrossed in the school: her Jewish father, Oscar, was principal then director and her Protestant mother was a nursery school teacher. Oscar was a CODA (hearing child of deaf adults).

Leah’s family was also a cultural microcosm of religions, races, hearing, and deaf. Her parents were hearing. Her grandparents Sam and Fanny Cohen were deaf. Had Sam’s deafness been detected at Ellis Island, he would not have been allowed to enter the USA. In 1916 they were called Deaf-Mutes, more familiarly Deaf Dumb. The insensitivity of the past is erased as cultures and societies evolve. The personal tragedy of the Cohen family was that the hospital did not provide an interpreter to Sam or his wife Fanny, or allow their bicultural son to communicate with the doctors after Sam’s heart attack.

What I Thought: “Train go sorry” is a Deaf idiom for “missing the boat, missed connections, lost opportunities”. This book is an impassioned plea for the civil rights of Deaf culture. The Deaf should be the ones to decide what is best for them instead of being expected to conform to hearing culture or communicating like hearing people. About 1 in 20 Americans are Deaf or hard of hearing (deaf). There are over 4 million Deaf people in the United States. Sign language is used by about 70 million people worldwide and is the fourth most used language. ASL is accepted by many schools for fulfillment of foreign language requirements.

Still many Deaf people feel isolated! Deaf Melissa testified that she had first attended a hearing school then transferred to a deaf school. At the hearing school she was isolated, shy, and passive, unable to participate. In the deaf school, her participation soared as cheerleader, peer counselor, choreographer, and as the lead in the Deaf school play.

The Deaf like all people yearn for connection. But they find themselves confined to the small world of those who know ASL. You can make the world of the Deaf larger by learning ASL. The Yuma County Library District have books and DVDs for learning ASL. Look at the eyes! Use peripheral vision for the hands. Join a Deaf Club!

Readalikes: Deaf Again, Children of a Lesser God, The Mask of Benevolence: Disabling the Deaf Community, When the Mind Hears

Or look this book up on NoveList!

Voices in the Ocean by Susan Casey

Voices in the Ocean by Susan Casey

Posted by Anonymous

Reviewed by: Becky Brendel

What I Read: Voices in the Ocean: A Journey into the Wild and Haunting World of Dolphins by Susan Casey

Find It @YCLD: Here!

What It's About: After encountering a pod of wild dolphins while swimming, Casey, a journalist, felt captivated and healed by these unique and mysterious sea creatures. She set about traveling the world to learn as much as she could about the dolphins themselves, the people who love them, and the ways the human and marine worlds interact.

What I Thought: I picked up this book because I was looking for something "different" to read and realized that I, like Casey at the beginning of the book, knew very little about dolphins. There's certainly plenty of marine biology in this book, but its standout feature is how Casey makes a point of tracking down and interviewing all kinds of people whose lives intersect with the dolphins'. Keeping an open mind and always wanting to hear a person's side of the story in their own worlds, she visits everywhere from an infamous marine theme park in Canada to an Irish village "adopted" by a wild dolphin to the Japanese town featured in the award-winning documentary The Cove, where much of the population's income is derived from the killing (and live selling) of the local dolphin population. She consorts with millionaire and New Age mystics - and tags along to plenty of protests.

This is not an easy book to read. Humans are only just beginning to understand how much we don't understand about dolphins, and this ignorance has led to the torture and death of dolphins even at the hands of scientists passionate about the species. Collateral damage from the various activities humanity carries out in the sea - everything from commercial fishing to military sonar testing - has taken its toll as well. Casey, though sympathetic to the dolphins' plight, is careful not to outwardly demonize many of the humans she sees inadvertently causing dolphins harm; she simply wishes they would be more considerate. Her true horror's reserved for the mass slaughter of dolphins and their inhumane treatment at unscrupulous theme parks.

If anything, I still wish there were more actual stories of dolphins in this book; it's much easier to track down and talk to people who care about dolphins than it is to find wild dolphins themselves. But that makes this book an excellent introduction to the subject - it left me wanting more. I'll probably check out a more scientific book on dolphins next, but as a primer, and as an overview of how humans and dolphins interact, this was an excellent "first read".

Readalikes: The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner, for another travel memoir based around a specific subject; Chrysalis by Kim Todd, for another accessible story of natural science & scientists

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Mess by Barry Yourgrau

Mess by Barry Yourgrau

Posted by Anonymous

Reviewed by: Laurie Boone

What I Read: Mess: One Man's Struggle to Clean Up His House and His Act by Barry Yourgrau

Find It @YCLD: Here!

What It's About: The author writes a memoir about hoarding and clutter from his own perspective as both a hoarder and investigative reporter. He interviews psychologists, hoarders, and even spends time with a decluttering service and in anti-hoarding group therapy. His longtime girlfriend gives him an ultimatum: clean up his mess and his life or jeopardize their relationship.

What I Thought: For those who find the problem of hoarding a fascinating topic and for those who could use some incentive to clean up their cluttered lives, this book delivers. Barry Yourgrau is an endearing, clever, well-traveled and well-read hoarder who is in denial about his issues. He is never pathetic and I was rooting for him throughout. It is a funny and inspiring read.

Readalikes: Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things by Gail Steketee

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