A joyous book of Italian history, traditions, and food that’s worth savoring.
A cultural and gastronomic tour through Italy by train, car, and ferry with culinary delights at every turn.
Bumpus explains how a 1998 visit to Italy with her husband, Winston, inspired her Savoring the Olde Ways culinary travelogue series. Although this is the third and most recent volume, it is, in fact, the story of where her journey began. In Italy, she discovered that “traditional foods bring European families together in a manner not experienced in the U.S.—not only for holidays, but for every day of their lives.” While planning a trip to celebrate Bumpus’ retirement from her psychotherapy practice, she and her spouse fortuitously happened upon a rental ad for a Tuscan farmhouse. The owner, Lisa Young, helped them in their quest to fully experience the local culture. They arrived in the tiny village of Poderi di Montemerano on the first weekend of September, just in time to partake in the annual harvest festival, set to start on their very doorstep. The couple joined the revelers, winding their way down the mountain to the fairgrounds: “Smoke from the pits of braising meats tantalized us, along with the intoxicating aromas of simmering pasta sauces.” It’s an enticing beginning to an account of a month that took them not only through Tuscany, but also Compania, Apulia, and the Lazio region, where Rome is located. Much of this book is devoted to exploring the Etruscan and Roman ruins that defined the country’s early history. As a result, there are fewer family-centered stories than in the first two volumes, but there are still plenty of engaging cultural tidbits, both ancient and current. Of Poderi, for example, Young tells Bumpus, “people still have an affinity to their own regional cultures, traditions, dialects, and foods. That is what defines who they are.” Recipes, the book notes, are handed down through generations, and each family rigidly follows their unique methods of preparation. Elaborate descriptions of almost every meal and snack turn this compelling travel book into an enjoyable vicarious experience. Readers should make sure not to overlook the final section, which contains 19 mouthwatering recipes.
A joyous book of Italian history, traditions, and food that’s worth savoring.Pub Date: April 27, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-63152-727-2
Page Count: 272
Publisher: She Writes Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.
A former New York City dancer reflects on her zesty heyday in the 1970s.
Discovered on a Manhattan street in 2020 and introduced on Stanton’s Humans of New York Instagram page, Johnson, then 76, shares her dynamic history as a “fiercely independent” Black burlesque dancer who used the stage name Tanqueray and became a celebrated fixture in midtown adult theaters. “I was the only black girl making white girl money,” she boasts, telling a vibrant story about sex and struggle in a bygone era. Frank and unapologetic, Johnson vividly captures aspects of her former life as a stage seductress shimmying to blues tracks during 18-minute sets or sewing lingerie for plus-sized dancers. Though her work was far from the Broadway shows she dreamed about, it eventually became all about the nightly hustle to simply survive. Her anecdotes are humorous, heartfelt, and supremely captivating, recounted with the passion of a true survivor and the acerbic wit of a weathered, street-wise New Yorker. She shares stories of growing up in an abusive household in Albany in the 1940s, a teenage pregnancy, and prison time for robbery as nonchalantly as she recalls selling rhinestone G-strings to prostitutes to make them sparkle in the headlights of passing cars. Complemented by an array of revealing personal photographs, the narrative alternates between heartfelt nostalgia about the seedier side of Manhattan’s go-go scene and funny quips about her unconventional stage performances. Encounters with a variety of hardworking dancers, drag queens, and pimps, plus an account of the complexities of a first love with a drug-addled hustler, fill out the memoir with personality and candor. With a narrative assist from Stanton, the result is a consistently titillating and often moving story of human struggle as well as an insider glimpse into the days when Times Square was considered the Big Apple’s gloriously unpolished underbelly. The book also includes Yee’s lush watercolor illustrations.
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-27827-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2022
A charming and often poignant valediction from rock ’n’ roll’s Prince of Darkness.
The late heavy metal legend considers his mortality in this posthumous memoir.
“I ain’t ready to go anywhere,” writes Osbourne in the opening pages of his new memoir. “It’s good being alive. I like it. I want to be here with my family.” Given the context—Osbourne died on July 22, 2025, two weeks after the publisher announced the news of this book—it’s undeniably sad. But the rest of the text sees the Black Sabbath singer confronting the health struggles of his last years with dark humor and something approaching grace. The memoir begins in 2018; he wrote an earlier one, I Am Ozzy, in 2010. He tells of a staph infection he suffered that proved to be the start of a long, painful battle with various illnesses—soon after, he contracted a flu, which morphed into pneumonia. A spinal injury caused by a fall followed, causing him to undergo a series of surgeries and leaving him struggling with intense pain. And then there was his diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease, the treatment of which was complicated by his longtime struggle with alcohol and drug addiction. Osbourne peppers the chronicle of his final years with anecdotes from his past, growing up in Birmingham, England, and playing with—and then being fired from—Black Sabbath, and some of his most well-known antics (yes, he does address biting the heads off of a dove and a bat). He writes candidly and regretfully about the time he viciously attacked his wife, Sharon—the book is in many ways a love letter to her and his children. The memoir showcases Osbourne’s wit and charm; it’s rambling and disorganized, but so was he. It functions as both a farewell and a confession, and fans will likely find much to admire in this account. “Death’s been knocking at my door for the last six years, louder and louder,” he writes. “And at some point, I’m gonna have to let him in.”
A charming and often poignant valediction from rock ’n’ roll’s Prince of Darkness.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781538775417
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
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