A heartwarming ode to a father’s love for his son and the road-trip experiences they’ve shared.
Football connects family members in Gardner’s memoir of love, life, and unexpected challenges.
In the American college football circuit, each team and campus is anchored by traditions and mythmaking that can span generations and foster unbreakable bonds. That spirit permeates this memoir, which combines a father’s journey with his son, who has Down syndrome, and a study of aspects of American history. When Daniel was born in Ohio in 1998, the author wondered what the future might look like for his child, particularly when it seemed that so many were ready to write off a person with a genetic disorder. At the age of 12,Daniel joined the first of what became regular “guy trips” with his father, grandfather, and uncle. Together, they visited several Southern college towns to watch football games and soak up the local color. The trips ended up being about so much more than just gridiron action; in this recounting, the author shares the background of Tusk VI, the Arkansas Razorbacks’ beloved Russian boar mascot; descriptions of William Faulkner’s home, Rowan Oak, in Oxford, Mississippi; and information on the founding of the first presidential library—the James A. Garfield National Historical Site in Mentor, Ohio—among other bits of history. The book also effectively serves as a guide to the culinary gems of the South; the author showcases the Gardners’ appreciation for good food and offers mouthwatering accounts of meals in places such as the Mississippi-based hot-tamale joint, Doe’s Eat Place, and award-winning chef Hugh Acheson’s restaurant, Five & Ten, in Athens, Georgia; there’s even a recollection of a memorable breakfast at a Waffle House in Clemson, South Carolina. The “guy trips” are really about creating memories, and, as such, the book overflows with beautiful and tender reminiscences. Throughout, the author is open about grappling with the challenges of raising a son with Down syndrome, but Daniel’s joys and ambitions effectively shine through the entire work.
A heartwarming ode to a father’s love for his son and the road-trip experiences they’ve shared.Pub Date: Aug. 19, 2025
ISBN: 9798218740399
Page Count: 382
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Oct. 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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 juicy story with some truly crazy moments, yet Anderson's good heart shines through.
The iconic model tells the story of her eventful life.
According to the acknowledgments, this memoir started as "a fifty-page poem and then grew into hundreds of pages of…more poetry." Readers will be glad that Anderson eventually turned to writing prose, since the well-told anecdotes and memorable character sketches are what make it a page-turner. The poetry (more accurately described as italicized notes-to-self with line breaks) remains strewn liberally through the pages, often summarizing the takeaway or the emotional impact of the events described: "I was / and still am / an exceptionally / easy target. / And, / I'm proud of that." This way of expressing herself is part of who she is, formed partly by her passion for Anaïs Nin and other writers; she is a serious maven of literature and the arts. The narrative gets off to a good start with Anderson’s nostalgic memories of her childhood in coastal Vancouver, raised by very young, very wild, and not very competent parents. Here and throughout the book, the author displays a remarkable lack of anger. She has faced abuse and mistreatment of many kinds over the decades, but she touches on the most appalling passages lightly—though not so lightly you don't feel the torment of the media attention on the events leading up to her divorce from Tommy Lee. Her trip to the pages of Playboy, which involved an escape from a violent fiance and sneaking across the border, is one of many jaw-dropping stories. In one interesting passage, Julian Assange's mother counsels Anderson to desexualize her image in order to be taken more seriously as an activist. She decided that “it was too late to turn back now”—that sexy is an inalienable part of who she is. Throughout her account of this kooky, messed-up, enviable, and often thrilling life, her humility (her sons "are true miracles, considering the gene pool") never fails her.
A juicy story with some truly crazy moments, yet Anderson's good heart shines through.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2023
ISBN: 9780063226562
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
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