A memorable look at what motivates endurance athletes and the hazards of letting physical feats define your success.
A trail runner tests his physical and emotional limits with an ultramarathon in Hopkins’ uplifting memoir.
An endurance athlete and coach, the author recounts everything that led to his successful completion of the Bigfoot 200-mile race through the Cascade Mountains in 2017—and the immediate aftermath. The Oregon-based writer took up running in his early 30s as a way to get his health back on track. “I had no strategy,” he admits of his first few attempts on a treadmill. “I ran until I couldn’t.” The activity quickly became an outlet for exploring nature, but also a balm for his self-esteem issues. With each running achievement, he felt he was proving his value not just to himself, but also to his two kids, his girlfriend, Jenni, and his extended family. When he learned of the Bigfoot race, he saw it as the “ultimate test of strength,” one that would bring him “lasting confidence.” Nearly the entirety of Hopkins’ personal story unfurls as contemplative thoughts between footfalls. Hours of training led to deep, challenging self-reflection, which he tries to mirror on the page. Most of the time, this structure works, though sometimes the transitions from one remembrance to another are loose at best. He remembers his first date with Jenni, for example, and writes that “this warm thought accompanied me to a river crossing.” After almost withdrawing from the race, he made it to the starting line with his loved ones in tow, along with his most “reliable companion”: fear. The passing miles continued to bring up childhood memories, failures, and desires. Climbing through dunes, he recalled a fight he and Jenni had had over laundry and wondered if their relationship would last. Over 100 miles into the race, he thought of his kids and “wished I could have been the dad they deserved.” Despite the occasional corny insight, Hopkins manages to show the delicate balance between healthy and unhealthy exercise. Similarly, he captures twin feelings of elation and terror waiting at the finish line: “Is it really over?”
A memorable look at what motivates endurance athletes and the hazards of letting physical feats define your success.Pub Date: June 16, 2026
ISBN: 9798901742426
Page Count: 210
Publisher: Atmosphere Press
Review Posted Online: June 11, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2026
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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