Moving examples of everyday courage and achievement, sure to motivate readers on their own personal journeys.
Real-life stories of women who’ve triumphed over adversity and achieved personal and professional success.
Hipsky (Education/Robert Morris Univ.; The Missing Piece in the Law of Attraction, 2015, etc.), a radio show host and college professor, has interviewed numerous inspiring women over the years, including cancer survivors and successful businesswomen. In this volume, the first of a trilogy, she shares some of their life stories with the goal of helping readers to find their own inspiration. Different sections cover broad themes, such as identifying one’s purpose, finding one’s passion, overcoming life’s obstacles, and the power of faith. The women featured here are diverse, including Lisa Lakenan of the Goodwill Healthy Start House for homeless single moms; successful TV actress Brianna Brown; children’s book author Sheri Fink; food blogger Lisa Fetzko Kozich; and Mary Amons of Bravo’s Real Housewives series. Although each woman’s experience is unique, some common threads emerge. Many have experienced abuse at the hands of husbands or boyfriends, and a significant number have gone through divorces; others have started businesses or nonprofit organizations. Most have “beat the odds” and overcome significant challenges on their journeys to fulfillment. The stories are most engaging when Hipsky lets the women speak for themselves; when she occasionally inserts herself into the narrative, the effect is distracting, as when she brags that one woman “calls me her Fairy Godmother.” But for the most part, the personality of each woman shines through. The stories are brief but effective, and readers looking for doses of inspiration will definitely find them here. Most readers will be impressed by the likes of Mary K. Hoodhood, whose efforts to feed hungry children earned her a Presidential Citizens Medal; Tamara Fielding, a former refugee who spent three years in an Indonesian concentration camp during World War II; or Alicia Kozakiewicz, who survived a kidnapping as a teenager and has started her own organization to educate parents and kids about online safety. Whatever their personal histories, all of Hipsky’s subjects once doubted their own power, but perseverance and hope allowed them to thrive, even in difficult circumstances.
Moving examples of everyday courage and achievement, sure to motivate readers on their own personal journeys.Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5136-0422-0
Page Count: 200
Publisher: The Missing Piece Publishing
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
BOOK REVIEW
IN THE NEWS
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
