When I Die, Take My Panties:
Turning Your Darkest Moments
into Your Greatest Gifts
Jennifer Coken. Persona, $16.95 trade paper
(246p) ISBN 978-0-9833715-3-3
Coken’s debut memoir provides a close-up and, at times, funny view of dealing with
the illness and death of her mother while
her own life continued on. Her chronicle
of her mother’s ovarian cancer is dotted
with emotional retellings of key moments
throughout their relationship, including a
cross-country road trip, the support her
mom offered her while Coken was getting
a divorce, and the last night they got to
spend together; both big and small
moments carry meaning in Coken’s life.
The depth of this memoir comes from
the way her relationship with her mother
grew and the closeness she developed with
her stepfather, but the focus remains on
Coken’s feelings and thoughts as she comes
to terms with letting go. Unfortunately,
the book shifts quickly from one point or
scene to the next with little flow and the
story feels disjointed. Coken’s friends are
often introduced at random, and many of
her conversations feel redundant or don’t
contribute to the bigger issues she’s trying
to tackle. The relatable content and all-too-familiar story line make this an easy
book to engage with, though, and Coken’s
honesty is genuine. Those who take the
time to journey with Coken will likely
find comfort and a lesson at the end, much
as she found through her experiences.
(BookLife)
Lifestyle
Food
River Cottage A to Z: Our Favourite
Ingredients and How to Cook Them
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, et al. Bloomsbury,
$65 (708p) ISBN 978-1-4088-2860-1
The latest, and most expansive, tome
from the team at Fearnley-
Whittingstall’s Devon, England–based
River Cottage cooking school and restau-
rants is an alphabetical guide to some of
their most commonly used ingredients,
with accompanying recipes. Each entry,
from alexanders to zander (zucchini
appear under their British name of cour-
gettes) receives a profile, tips on selection
and seasonality, and a single recipe show-
and-burn story, a slow-motion train wreck
rescued from mere voyeurism by Marnell’s
wit, impressive memory for people and
vivid scenes, devastating honesty, and true
gift with words. In the high-rise towers
of Manhattan publishing, Marnell attends
meetings on topics such as ”blonzer” (a
beauty marriage between bronzer and
blush); in the course of her work she meets
her idol Courtney Love; but in her spare
time she’s doctor-shopping, scoring any
substance she can, and engaging in days-
long benders that are exhausting and
horrific simply to read about. Eventually,
her memoir explains how a privileged,
highly educated woman from a respectable
family dug her way out from under the
sheer volume of pills, coke, heroin, dan-
gerous joyless sex, insecurity, depression,
addiction, and next-level self-loathing
exhaustively recorded here. (Jan.)
The Journey of Not Knowing:
How 21st Century Leaders
Can Chart a Course Where
There Is None
Julie Benezet. Morton Hill, $18.95 (266p)
ISBN 978-0-9978139-0-6
Former Amazon executive Benezet’s
book works as an effective pitch for the
author’s consulting firm but has less to
say about the future of business as a whole.
The book begins with a brief look at
Benezet’s career at Amazon, revealing how
she handled difficult real estate acquisitions
during the company’s early expansion. This
section is the most relevant and clearly
written explanation of Benezet’s argument
that true leaders are comfortable with new
challenges and even welcome their associated discomfort. Elsewhere, the book is
light on practical details. A large portion
is taken up by a short story, based on an
amalgamation of true stories, about a company trying to land a much-needed contract.
The drawback of this section is that, as a
work of fiction, its happy ending is preordained. A reference to Nelson Mandela
also strikes a dissonant note, since most of
Benezet’s advice is aimed squarely at business leaders. The essential message for
leaders—to embrace the unknown and
get out of their own way—is a smart one,
but readers might prefer it to be delivered
with fewer quotations and buzzwords.
(BookLife)
to the existing record, opting to rely on
earlier historians and meld their work
“into a single narrative of what is now
known.” Fortunately, Meyer succeeds
brilliantly with his basic narrative
approach, and any reader who wants to
learn about American participation in the
war will benefit from this book. (Mar.)
The President Will See You Now:
My Stories and Lessons from
Ronald Reagan’s Final Years
Peggy Grande. Hachette, $28 (256p)
ISBN 978-0-316-39645-5
With this glowing photo-packed memoir
of President Ronald Reagan’s last
California years, Grande, a veteran
member of Reagan’s staff, fondly shares
remembrances of the conservative icon at
work and play. Grande came to the White
House as a college student and quickly
rose to executive assistant from 1989 to
1999. She writes that her work with
Reagan strengthened her optimism,
values, and patriotism. From a staunch
Republican view, she chronicles the failures
of Democratic leadership, past and present,
and lauds the vitality, humility, traditional
beliefs, and vision of the popular 40th
president. Grande describes the Great
Communicator as “a man who knew himself, knew his mind, confident in his abilities.” In addition to describing Reagan’s
meetings with Hollywood friends, political
leaders, and citizens, Grande reveals the
powerful bond the president had with his
wife Nancy, his key adviser and protector.
This is an impassioned, highly enjoyable
memoir that includes candid behind-the-scenes photos of the Reagans after their
withdrawal from public life. (Feb.)
How to Murder Your Life: A Memoir
Cat Marnell. Simon & Schuster, $29.99
(384p) ISBN 978-1-4767-5227-3
Marnell, a former beauty editor at Lucky
magazine, devoted several decades and
many tens of thousands of dollars to living
a double life, captured in forensic detail in
this “amphetamine memoir.” As a beauty
intern, writer and later editor for Nylon,
Teen Vogue, Glamour, and Lucky, Marnell
inhabited a rarefied, high-heeled, and
high-fashion world, but while doing so
she was constantly high. Beneath her
eating-disorder-thin figure beat the heart
of a true addict. Hers is a New York crash-
