DOUGH: A MEMOIR
by Mort Zachter

Mort Zachter grew up in Brooklyn, in the 1960s, and lived with his parents in a small tenement apartment. His mother, Helen, worked in her brothers' bakery where day-old bread was sold. Nothing was ever baked in this shop. Uncle Harry and Uncle Joe kept the store open seven days a week.
The family struggled to make ends meet. Zachter put himself through school and got help, financially, from relatives and loans.
Everything changed with just one phone call.
Dough is a quirky, funny story.
A terrific read!

THE INVISIBLE WALL: A LOVE STORY THAT BROKE BARRIERS
by Harry Bernstein

In this charming memoir, Harry Bernstein writes about growing up in a small mill town, in England, before World War I. His family is very poor and there's a whole brood of children. The father works in a shop as a tailor and gives very little of his wages to the mother. Most of the money he throws away on drink, every night, at the pubs and comes home roaring drunk.
Harry's mother dreams about the whole family going to America. Perhaps they will have a better life there.
Bernstein wrote this book when he was ninety-three years old. The writing is fluid and draws you in to all of the individual characters that made up this working-class neighborhood.
It's a great read.

BOARDWALK OF DREAMS: ATLANTIC CITY AND THE FATE OF URBAN AMERICAN
by Bryant Simon

Atlantic City used to be known as the resort where middle-class Americans would vacation back in the first half of the twentieth century. Men and women would dress in their finest and stroll up and down the boardwalk or be pushed along in wicker rickshaws and feel like royalty. It was important to be seen.
They stayed in hotels with beautiful chandeliers and expensive furniture at affordable prices. In the evenings, the vacationers could attend performances of Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Dean Martin, to name a few.
Everything changed by the end of the 1960s.
In Boardwalk of Dreams Simon, who is a professor of history at Temple University, writes about urban decay, exclusion, greed, desegregation, racism and tarnished dreams.
The narrative is meticulously researched with a wealth of details. There's some neat tidbits of trivia, such as who the boardwalk was named after; the creator of the Monopoly game where one of the properties was misspelled; why Reese Palley was called the "merchant of the rich."
Anyone with memories of Steel Pier, saltwater taffy, diving horses, the Breakers Hotel, the Apollo Theater would, thoroughly, enjoy this book.

THE PALACE OF THE SNOW QUEEN: WINTER TRAVELS IN LAPLAND
by Barbara Sjoholm

In the middle of November, 2001, Sjoholm sets off from Port Townsend, Washington and travels to Lapland, where the there's only one hour of daylight and the average temperature is -13 degrees F.
She watches the construction of the Icehotel, a yearly, temporary structure built of snow and ice, created by architects and artists, before it melts in the spring; goes dogsledding and then decides it's not for her after falling off and injuring herself; attends an outdoor ice theatre to see Macbeth performed; explores the rich culture of the indigenous Sami people, who have 200 words for snow and whose way of life is being compromised by tourism.
The Palace of the Snow Queen is the power of snow, the color blue, the deep silence, and the beauty of the far North.
A captivating memoir.

TRAIL OF CRUMBS: HUNGER, LOVE, AND THE SEARCH FOR HOME
by Kim Sunee

When Kim Sunee was three years old, her mother abandoned her, in a Korean marketplace. Adopted by a less-than-perfect family in New Orleans, she learns about Cajun cooking from her grandfather.
In her early twenties, Sunee goes to France and becomes involved with multimillionaire Olivier Bausson, a very controlling entrepreneur. She leads a charmed life, but is not happy. Only through food does she find solace.
Trail of Crumbs is a sensuous, lyrical, intimate memoir, with mouth-watering descriptions of gorgeous meals that she prepares in Provence. The recipes are at the end of chapters.
A beautifully written book.

THE GLASS CASTLE: A MEMOIR
by Jeannette Walls

Jeannette Walls had a chaotic upbringing. Her mother, Rose Mary, was an eccentric artist, who could care less about taking care of children and a house, while Rex, her father, was a self-made man, who was not able to keep a job and was known as the town drunk.
Walls, along with her siblings, had to be resourceful. When there was no money, they foraged in trashcans for food and used markers for their skin, so that the holes in their pants wouldn't show.
The Glass Castle is an incredible story of poverty, survival, hope, and love.
Highly recommended.

MY LIFE AS A TRAITOR
by Zarah Ghahramani

In 2001, while walking home from the university, Ghahramani was arrested and taken to the infamous Evin Prison in northern Tehran. Her crime? Protesting against the severe regime in Iran. For the next thirty days she endured both psychological and physical torture, with grueling interrogations and sadistic beatings.
Nothing from her sheltered upbringing prepared her for such a brutal ordeal.
My Life as a Traitor is a harrowing memoir of bravery and survival.
To understand Iran, read this book.