An unlikely and enjoyable call to “live life like a Leppard.”
A motivational take on the career of a famous rock band.
The title of Nudo’s nonfiction debut comes from a 2011 song of the same name by the rock band Def Leppard, and that band—and what it means to the author—is at the heart of his book. He relates how he was introduced to Def Leppard when he was watching MTV as a little boy in 1983 and became immediately enamored with the band’s song “Rock of Ages,” which, he quips, “probably shaved off 60% of my innocence in the space of seconds.” The sound of lead vocalist Joe Elliott shouting “It’s better to burn out than fade away” galvanized the young Nudo, and the music of Def Leppard became the soundtrack of his life. In these pages, he tells the story of the band and analyzes their career album by album, drawing broader lessons from their story that can be applied to life outside the auditorium. He distills this wisdom into a rough dozen observations about the band, such as “They had a vision and have always worked hard,” “They are open-minded, innovative, and were widely appealing from the start,” “They overcome obstacles,” and “They evolve.” Nudo writes with the infectious zeal of a superfan. In a typically emphatic passage, referring to Def Leppard as “one of the best live rock bands the world has ever seen,” the author reminds the reader that “your ‘live performance’ is your delivery—the quality of your presentations, the reliability of your service, and the execution of your core job.” The sheer enthusiasm that runs through the work is ultimately convincing; the book is so winningly earnest that it can’t fail to work on readers looking for real-world examples of how to grit their way to success. Nudo describes the band’s never-give-up attitude as a model to be adopted, “a masterclass in strategic evolution,” and by the final page, even the most skeptical of readers might believe it.
An unlikely and enjoyable call to “live life like a Leppard.”Pub Date: Feb. 8, 2026
ISBN: 9798246720301
Page Count: 187
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.
A coffee-table book celebrates Michelle Obama’s sense of fashion.
Illustrated with hundreds of full-color photographs, Obama’s chatty latest book begins with some school portraits from the author’s childhood in Chicago and fond memories of back-to-school shopping at Sears, then jumps into the intricacies of clothing oneself as the spouse of a presidential candidate and as the first lady. “People looked forward to the outfits, and once I got their attention, they listened to what I had to say. This is the soft power of fashion,” she says. Obama is grateful and frank about all the help she got along the way, and the volume includes a long section written by her primary wardrobe stylist, Koop—28 years old when she first took the job—and shorter sections by makeup artists and several hair stylists, who worked with wigs and hair extensions as Obama transitioned back to her natural hair, and grew out her bangs, at the end of her husband’s second term. Many of the designers of the author’s gowns, notably Jason Wu, who designed several of her more striking outfits, also contribute appreciative memories. Besides candid and more formal photographs, the volume features many sketches of her gowns by their designers, closeups on details of those gowns, and magazine covers from Better Homes & Gardens to Vogue. The author writes that as a Black woman, “I was under a particularly white-hot glare, constantly appraised for whether my outfits were ‘acceptable’ and ‘appropriate,’ the color of my skin somehow inviting even more judgment than the color of my dresses.” Overall, though, this is generally a canny, upbeat volume, with little in the way of surprising revelations.
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593800706
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
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
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