by Elizabeth Hess |
CRITIC'S CHOICE
REVIEWED BY CAROLINE LEAVITT
NON-FICTION
Loving your research subject is a no-no in science, but as journalist Hess's Greek tragedy about ape-human communication shows, it can be tough to avoid. Meet Nim, a chimp taught sign language as part of psychologist Herbert Terrace's 1970s attempt to disprove Noam Chomsky's assertion that only humans can learn language. Raised by Columbia University grad student Stephanie LaFarge and her family in their brownstone, Nim could sign over 100 words, do laundry and, apparently, enjoy his celebrity. But Nim grew belligerent as he aged, and the project lost funding. Taken from the humans he loved, he was eventually relegated to a cage at the Institute for Primate Studies in Oklahoma. Shortly afterward, scientists concluded Nim didn't understand what he was signing, and he was sold to a vaccine-testing facility before being rescued by a group spearheaded by Terrace and LaFarge. He spent his remaining years on a Texas ranch in a kind of half life, "too wild for a house and too human for a cage." Hess's fascinating book makes Nim seem so heroic that readers will find themselves weeping, both for this extraordinary chimp and for the way we humans failed him.
by Margaret B. Jones |
REVIEWED BY NATALIE DANFORD
MEMOIR
In prose that has the shocking, sudden impact of a gunshot, Jones recalls her childhood in South Central Los Angeles' gang territory. At age 8, after a long line of foster homes, she landed in the loving arms of churchgoing "domestic superwoman" Big Mom, who was already raising four grandchildren. But Big Mom's good intentions couldn't compete with the lure of the Bloods, and soon Jones was selling drugs and making prison visits. Family life intersected with violence and crime: For her 13th birthday, she received a homemade cake, a Run-DMC cassette and her own .38. At the encouragement of a teacher she applied to college, eventually graduating from the University of Oregon. Now 33, Jones lives in Oregon, mentors inner-city youth and keeps in touch with former comrades still caught up in a pattern she describes as "slow-motion genocide." That she escaped to tell this raw, compelling, important tale is a gift to us all.
by Sophie Kinsella |
REVIEWED BY CLARISSA CRUZ
NOVEL
Londoner Lexi's loser beau just stood her up, and her job as an associate junior sales manager (flooring) is going nowhere. But as the 25-year-old runs for a cab, she slips, falls ... and wakes up three years later—with a gorgeous husband, a fab job, designer duds and no memory. The story line may be different, but fans of the fizzy Shopaholic series will find a familiar plucky charm in Kinsella's latest label-loving heroine.
AUDIO BOOKS WE LOVE
THE GIRL WHO STOPPED SWIMMING by Joshilyn Jackson
Read by the author, this novel about estranged sisters reunited by a mysterious death is a treat.
A SLAVE NO MORE by David W. Blight
Actors Richard Allen and Dion Graham bring the poignant, previously unpublished memoirs of two escaped slaves to life.
THE SILVER SWAN by Benjamin Black
Timothy Dalton reads this intriguing mystery about an Irish woman's apparent suicide. It'll keep you awake at the wheel.
In Holding Her Head High, the former Northern Exposure star—now 45 and raising daughter Juliette, 10, in Texas and New York—profiles historic women who did it all while parenting their kids solo
WHY WRITE THIS BOOK? I'm a single mom, and we all have days when life seems overwhelming. I wanted to share a message of hope: We're not alone—women have done it for centuries.
WHAT HAS YOUR JOURNEY BEEN LIKE? I never intended to be a single mother, but when I discovered around the eighth month of my pregnancy that I'd be pretty much on my own, it was like "Okay. We're gonna do this." We see her father occasionally, and it's nice when we do. We are on good terms.
HOW HAVE YOU BALANCED IT ALL? Trying to pay bills and make the right decisions for Juliette gets challenging. I stepped back from Hollywood in '02 to homeschool her in Texas—my family is there. But when it's just the two of you, there's a very sweet bond.
DO YOU BOND OVER NORTHERN EXPOSURE RERUNS? We watch now and then. She has fun. It's like watching family movies: nostalgic, but at the same time it's like, "What am I wearing?"
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
