THE SECRET OF CHANEL NO. 5 : THE INTIMATE HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S MOST FAMOUS PERFUME
by Tilar J. Mazzeo

Within the fragance industry, it's known as le monstre: the monster. For ninety-one years, this particular perfume has had a life of its own. Considered to be the world's most seductive scent and bought by millions, Chanel No. 5 is known as the most famous and successful perfume ever created. The brilliant, flawed woman who created it would be unbelievably wealthy until the end of her life.
Gabrielle Chanel grew up as an orphan (her mother had died of tuberculosis) in a convent for girls. It was not a happy time for her, but it would define her future. Here, in Aubazine, France is where she learned to sew, where her keen scent took root (smells of cleanliness and flowers abounded), and where numbers were mystical to her (numerology was embedded in the ancient architecture).
At the age of eighteen, Gabrielle left the small village for the big city of Moulins (near Paris) and began work as a shopgirl and seamstress. She started meeting men who took her out to the cabarets which were pretty provocative. Gabrielle loved the shows so much that she decided to make a career of it herself. Her famous nickname, Coco, would be coined at this time. Soon enough, Coco Chanel would meet the first of many lovers (most supported her financially) who let her open up her own shop making hats and ten years later this less than astute businesswoman would launch Chanel No. 5.
What a terrific story! It's hard to believe that a perfume could be so interesting, but in Mazzeo's deft writing, you can't stop reading. Why the number five was used, how the scent was determined, where the specific elements were to be found, who made the formula and several pages discussing the chemistry of fragrance molecules called aldehydes keeps your eyes fixated on the pages.
While the perfume was exemplary, Coco Chanel was embroiled in controversies. During WWII, she had a Nazi lover and was accused of being a collaborator (Coco was a virulent anti-Semite). How ironic that she would sign away her rights to two Jewish brothers (Les Parfums Chanel) so that the perfume could be marketed in America and elsewhere.
A great tale that is not to be missed.
Highly recommended.

NOTHING LEFT TO BURN : A MEMOIR
by Jay Varner

Denton Varner was a volunteer fire chief in McVeytown, Pennsylvania. Everyone in the community knew him. He was thought of as a hero. His dedication to the fire department was extraordinary. Before his family, that came first. Denton's priorities were screwed up. When his pager sounded, off he went whether he had been eating dinner, working or sleeping. His family thought that he was obsessed by fire and took incredible risks. Consequently, his son, Jay, never had a father that he could do things with. Fire had some kind of allure for him just as it had for Lucky, Jay's grandfather. Whenever he showed up, Jay always felt uneasy and was afraid of him. He had reason to. Lucky was a serial arsonist.
What a legacy.
Nothing Left to Burn is a powerful memoir. It's both honest and painful. The writing is beautiful. A fast read (only took me two days) because you cannot put this book down. I loved it.
Very highly recommended.

THE INVISIBLE HARRY GOLD : THE MAN WHO GAVE THE SOVIETS THE ATOM BOMB
by Allen M. Hornblum

The qualifications to be a Soviet spy are: above-average intelligence, very good memory, detail-oriented, extremely motivated and a large capacity to lie. All of these attributes encompassed Harry Gold who spent fifteen years as an espionage agent supplying the Soviet Union with both industrial and military secrets. Physicist Klaus Fuchs, who worked on the atom bomb, gave Gold the plans which were then handed over to the Russians.
Gold was arrested in 1950 and spilled the beans. His testimony and confession were huge. Forty-nine people were named and brought to justice. His knowledge of all the Americans who had spied for the USSR during the 1930s and 1940s was a godsend to the FBI. For all of Gold's willingness to comply with the government, coming clean and telling everything he knew, his sentencing was severe.
How and why an innocuous, mild-mannered, shy, introverted, chemist became a master spy is finally brought to light in The Invisible Harry Gold. Scrupulous research from archives, congressional hearings, articles, books (sixty-one pages of Notes) plus interviews and a comprehensive Index shows that this is a serious portrait of a gullible man who went down the wrong path so that he could help out his family in a time of need.
An important read that is a real eye-opener. There has been no other book ever written on Harry Gold before. If you're nuts about spies, you won't be disappointed.
Recommended.

MY READING LIFE
by Pat Conroy

His mother turned him on to books at a very early age. She could tell stories like nobody else and was a voracious reader. At the age of five, she read him Gone with the Wind (it was this book that made him become a "Southern" novelist). Her voice mesmerized him by the way she spoke the words with her Georgian inflection. He then became so enthralled with the English language that he began to keep notebooks of words taken from other books that so entranced him.
Reading saved Pat Conroy's hellish life. Writing took him to another level.
My Reading Life is about who and what influenced him to become such a passionate storyteller.
Each chapter has a different theme. His English teacher, in high school, was truly an incredible man (loved by so many) who introduced Conroy to great literature and was more of a father to him than his own; the Old New York Book Shop in Atlanta where he learned how to be a collector of antiquarian books from the owner; taking a modern poetry course taught by James Dickey (he wrote Deliverance) because a book of his poems brought Conroy to his knees.
He talks about how he came to write his own books and the stories behind them. Conroy lists authors that have swept him away, such as Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace. (He could easily write another whole book just on his favorite writers.)
I have never read any of Pat Conroy's books before and this one blew me away. It is unflinchingly honest and extremely personal. His writing is gorgeous. One of the last chapters in the book "Why I Write" is absolutely fabulous. How he puts words together is awe-inspiring.
He can be very funny, also, and obviously has a great sense of humor.
So, either get this book from your local library or go out and buy it. Even though the size is small, it's definitely worth the price. Superb.
Very highly recommended.

PORTRAITS OF SUCCESS : CANDID CONVERSATIONS WITH 60 OVER-ACHIEVERS
by Burt Prelutsky

Not everyone knows how to interview people. You have to have the knack, technique, personality and good communication skills to extract information that is not usually forthcoming.
Being witty, having an open mind and knowing what to ask doesn't hurt, either.
Many books have been written on celebrities, but they have only scratched the surface and not dug deep enough.
In Portraits of Success author Burt Prelutsky uses his inimitable finely-tuned talents to reveal surprising facts about what makes 60 people more successful than others. They are from all walks of life, such as authors, professors, writers, athletes, ministers, governors, land developers, theater managers, etc.
Each entry is a couple of pages and is arranged alphabetically. It displays the profession, the name of the person, the birth date and a very funny paragraph about the interviewee which then leads into the question and answer format.
Their responses on their favorite book, what makes them laugh, best and worst advice they ever received, and what their fathers did for a living are truly fascinating. Whom they would choose to invite to a dinner party (eight people only), either living or dead, is revelatory.
If you like quirky stuff and are a trivia nut, there's enough here to satisfy. For example, comedian, David Steinberg, was a guest on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show 140 times; reporter/journalist, John Stossel, has had a stuttering problem; TV political commentator, Tony Blankley, was a child actor and taught violin.
Now, if you need an extra jolt and just can't squelch that inquisitiveness, you're in luck. Burt's previous book, The Secret of Their Success: Interviews with Legends & Luminaries, is just as rewarding and entertaining. It's set up the same way, but the beginning synopsis is made up of a couple of paragraphs. The profession is not listed in the entries; that is found in the CONTENTS pages. The questions are just as astute. Some of the entries have an addendum at the end, especially if it was the last interview ever given (Jack Lemmon, Dinah Shore, Henry Mancini).
Both books are quite enjoyable and I learned things that I wouldn't have known otherwise.
Recommended.

UNBROKEN : A WORLD WAR II STORY OF SURVIVAL, RESILIENCE, AND REDEMPTION
by Laura Hillenbrand

He never could sit still; his energy level knew no bounds. At the age of two (sick with pneumonia), he climbed out of his bedroom window and ran down the street chased by a policeman. Later, on a train, he jumped out of the moving caboose. He was a true juvenile delinquent constantly getting into trouble with daring feats and a clever mind. Eventually his defiance and energy would be channeled into running and he began training in high school. Soon he was shattering records and his next goal was the Berlin Olympics. But then, the war came and Louis Zamperini (known as Louie) enlisted and joined the Army Air Corps (ironically, as a child, he had gone up in a plane and it scared him so much that he never wanted to have anything to do with them) learning how to be a bombardier.
In May of 1943, Louie was in a B-24 bomber looking for a lost plane. He and the rest of the crew were flying in the Green Hornet which had seen better days and should never have gone back up in the air. The engines failed and the plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean. For forty-seven days, Louie and two other men drifted on a tiny raft dealing with thirst, starvation, and leaping sharks. When they finally spotted an island, they were overjoyed. It was short-lived.
Oh, my God, what a book! Seven years of research has produced quite a masterpiece. Author Laura Hillenbrand (her previous bestseller was Seabiscuit) can write a story of a forgotten hero that leaves you gasping, amazed, horrified, and inspired. It's absolutely riveting and truly a stupendous read.
Very highly recommended.

THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS
by Rebecca Skloot

Her cells have helped develop a vaccine for polio; been used for cloning, viruses; studied for appendicitis, sexually transmitted diseases; instrumental in creating medicines to treat hemophilia, leukemia; and have even gone up in space. There are billions of them in laboratories all over the world. They are known, to scientists, as HeLa cells and became the first "immortal" human cells grown in culture. The reason they are called immortal is because the cells have lived outside the body, have never died and have never stopped reproducing. They came from a poor black woman named Henrietta Lacks who had cervical cancer. Before she died, in 1951, samples of her cells were taken from her tumor without her knowledge.
Twenty years after Henrietta's death, her family found out and it was not a pretty picture.
Rebecca Skloot takes the reader on an incredible journey which started for herself when she was sixteen taking biology. It was here that she first heard of Henrietta Lacks and her amazing cells. Eventually, Rebecca would meet the family and through many years of research would uncover both devastating and remarkable stuff.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a stupendous story. Although a science writer, Skloot is able to explain all the intricacies of cells in such beautiful detail.
She writes about ethics, racism, poverty, experimentation as one story and intertwines the Lacks family as another story to create one magnificent tale.
I loved this book. It made me both laugh and cry.
Not to be missed.
Very highly recommended.