Respect: The Life of Aretha Franklin

by David Ritz    (Get the Book)
 With an outsize musical talent and a troubled family life, Franklin has worked to keep her painful history hidden and has poured everything into her singing. She was the gospel prodigy of the charismatic Baptist preacher C. L. Franklin; her mother separated from the family and died at an early age. Franklin started her career singing in the gospel circuit, one every bit as steeped in earthly temptations as any other genre, before moving into R & B. She was a legend—and a young mother—by her teens, eventually earning for herself the title of Queen of Soul, and she struggled to hold on to it through changes in popular music and challenges by younger singers. Despite tumultuous marriages, bouts with alcoholism and depression, and a reputation as a demanding diva, Franklin has maintained her stature on the strength of her talent and her support for civil rights. She has also been steadfast in protecting her image and her secrets, even in her biography, From These Roots (1999), ghostwritten by Ritz. Some 15 years later, this is his unauthorized attempt to get at the elusive Franklin, the one who so skillfully hid her pain in her music. Drawing on previous work and interviews with those close to Franklin, Ritz offers a portrait of a woman for whom faith and respect are essential. --Booklist

The Mad Boy, Lord Berners, My Grandmother and Me: An Aristocratic Family, a High-society Scandal and an Extraordinary Legacy

by Sofka Zinovieff      (Get the Book)
After discovering a photograph of her grandparents—socialites Robert "the Mad Boy" Heber-Percy and Jennifer Fry—with both their newborn daughter and Robert's longtime and significantly older boyfriend, Lord Berners, journalist Zinovieff was determined to find out what brought them all to live together as an unconventional, yet brief, threesome at the lively Faringdon House. The intrigue surrounding these unusual and formidable individuals is an instant hook, which is only enhanced by their personal histories and struggles. The narrative is also peppered with many creatives of the time—artist Salvador Dalí and authors Evelyn Waugh and Gertrude Stein, to name but a few—who brought with them their own dramatic trysts and pasts during their visits to Faringdon. The cast of characters can feel overwhelming at times; however, brief confusion is well worth the tidbits gleaned from a group with such diverse sexual and political leanings. No one fit the social norm of 1930s and 1940s England, and readers will be eager to gobble up the next piece of gossip. VERDICT While highlighting eccentricities, glamour, and downright debauchery, Zinovieff is also able to capture the humanity in what is a fascinating and eye-opening ancestral history. --Library Journal

The Rainman's Third Cure: An Irregular Education

By Peter Coyote       (Get the Book)
Besides having an unusual upbringing—influenced greatly by a wealthy, angry father and depressed mother; a brave, smart, and thoughtful housekeeper; a taciturn, skilled groundskeeper; and bebop jazz player Buddy, who taught him that “life could be improvised”—actor-writer Coyote was an astute, remarkable young man, able to hear animals speak and aware, early on, of the separation of mind and body. But he was also crippled by a vow never to “play,” to compete. This engagingly written exploration of his life has a few, sometimes disorienting blank spaces, but those are “covered in detail,” Coyote points out, more than once, in his memoir Sleeping Where I Fall (1998), and readers may prefer to start there for the full story. Still, there’s plenty here, in anecdotes of caring for the hungry in his Digger kitchens in Haight-Ashbury, befriending and learning from Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Gary Snyder (and then following Buddhism for more than 40 years), becoming a respected actor, and raising his own family with the wisdom he carefully garnered as a youngster. --Booklist

Mashi

by Robert K. Fitts     (Get the Book)
Baseball has been and always will be a game of firsts—the first no-hitter, the first night game, the first African American to play in the major leagues. Hidden among those firsts is Masanori Murakami—Mashi—the first native of Japan to play in the major leagues. Called up from the minors in 1964, Mashi pitched only two years for the San Francisco Giants. In 1964 and 1965, he pitched in 54 big league games, all but one in relief, winning five and losing one with nine saves—far from Hall of Fame statistics. But Mashi's rise is a fascinating story, as much off the field as on. Baseball historian Fitts (Banzai Babe Ruth; Wally Yonamine) traces the evolution of baseball in Japan as well as the player's development. Mashi's two seasons with the Giants were closely followed with great pride in Japan, which Fitts so aptly details, meshing baseball with the social impact in America and Japan. He returned to Japan in 1966 and pitched in more than 550 games in a solid career. VERDICT A thoughtful baseball biography of interest to fans of the game, especially considering the increasing number of Japanese players at all levels. --Library Journal