by Jane Lee Rankin ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A
A deeply felt but uneven memoir of a major life change.
Rankin presents her story of founding an alpaca farm in North Carolina.
The author writes that she was inspired to write this book when a tourist asked her how and why she founded Apple Hill Farm in North Carolina, where she raises alpacas and other animals. In 2000, she was a cancer survivor, cookbook author, and single mom of a 1-year-old when she met her first alpaca, and she was smitten. Before long, she sold her houses in Kentucky and New York and bought a farm in North Carolina so she could raise the companionable animals. However, her venture didn’t develop smoothly; she had no farming experience, and three of her first five alpacas were killed in a horrific animal attack. She and her livestock survived hurricanes and the hard winter of 2009–2010, but medical bills for her animals, which eventually also included donkeys, horses, goats, llamas, and dogs, drained her finances. Rankin found new purpose in learning how to create the symbiotic community necessary to keep all her animals safe. To cover expenses, she currently gives tours and sells products made from alpaca wool. Over the course of this memoir, Rankin does an excellent job of explaining the care and maintenance of the farm’s inhabitants without providing excessive or unnecessary detail. She relates the story of the animal attack, the deaths of the alpacas, and the investigation into what happened particularly well: “My conversations with hunters or farmers confirmed that mountain lions did exist in the area, and that was probably what attacked the alpacas. These men grew up here, they knew.” She also makes clear the strong bonds she has with all her animals and the respect she developed for one wild beast in particular. However, one may wish that the work focused more tightly on the origins and the workings of the farm; Rankin also tries to weave in stories of family conflict and of a contractor’s death by overdose but doesn’t sufficiently explain why this material is included.
A deeply felt but uneven memoir of a major life change.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 9798988589815
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Nov. 6, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Bob Woodward ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 15, 2024
An engrossing and ominous chronicle, told by a master of the form.
Documenting perilous times.
In his most recent behind-the-scenes account of political power and how it is wielded, Woodward synthesizes several narrative strands, from the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel to the 2024 presidential campaign. Woodward’s clear, gripping storytelling benefits from his legendary access to prominent figures and a structure of propulsive chapters. The run-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is tense (if occasionally repetitive), as a cast of geopolitical insiders try to divine Vladimir Putin’s intent: “Doubt among allies, the public and among Ukrainians meant valuable time and space for Putin to maneuver.” Against this backdrop, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham implores Donald Trump to run again, notwithstanding the former president’s denial of his 2020 defeat. This provides unwelcome distraction for President Biden, portrayed as a thoughtful, compassionate lifetime politico who could not outrace time, as demonstrated in the June 2024 debate. Throughout, Trump’s prevarications and his supporters’ cynicism provide an unsettling counterpoint to warnings provided by everyone from former Joint Chief of Staff Mark Milley to Vice President Kamala Harris, who calls a second Trump term a likely “death knell for American democracy.” The author’s ambitious scope shows him at the top of his capabilities. He concludes with these unsettling words: “Based on my reporting, Trump’s language and conduct has at times presented risks to national security—both during his presidency and afterward.”
An engrossing and ominous chronicle, told by a master of the form.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9781668052273
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2024
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by Stephanie Johnson & Brandon Stanton illustrated by Henry Sene Yee ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 12, 2022
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.
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New York Times Bestseller
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
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