In Such Good Company: Eleven Years of Laughter, Mayhem, and Fun in the Sandbox by Carol Burnett

In Such Good Company: Eleven Years of Laughter, Mayhem, and Fun in the Sandbox by Carol Burnett. Crown Archetype, Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, 2016. Memoir.

 

If you need to put a smile on your face, this is the book for you! The eleven years that Carol Burnett performed her weekly variety show were memorable ones for many Americans. In preparing for this book, Carol watched all 276 episodes herself. The resulting nonfiction work makes a great handbook to watching them all yourself. Carol tells how she and the cast, crew, writers, and guest performers came together to make fun in “the sandbox”.

The tone is light and reads almost like if Carol were sitting across from you at your breakfast table and just telling you about the show. She focuses on select scenes and bits in some chapters, on friends and performers in others. All the shows are listed in chronological order at the end with dates, short descriptions, and names of key people. Small black-and-white photos and video stills provide visual interest and will jog the memories of readers or give background to those unfamiliar with the Carol Burnett Show.  Highly recommended for those who know and love humor…and isn’t that everyone?  I received this book from www.bloggingforbooks.com  in exchange for an honest review.

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The Hamilton Affair: A Novel by Elizabeth Cobbs.

The Hamilton Affair: A Novel by Elizabeth Cobbs. Arcade Publishing, 2016. Historical fiction.


    Many Americans are caught up in the excitement of Lin Manuel Miranda's Broadway smash hit about Alexander Hamilton. This historical fiction tells the story of Hamilton's early life and his rise to success in the American Revolution as well as about his love, Eliza. While utilizing many historical resources and truths, Cobbs chooses to create a fictional young African-American named Ajax to showcase Hamilton's true feelings about slavery and the worth of all human beings. The first half of the book moves smoothly, but the second half gets a little complicated after the war. The story moves past the Hamilton-Burr duel and tells what happens to Eliza and their family.  If you are among the Hamilton obsessed, you will definitely want to read this one.

Leaving Lucy Pear by Anna Solomon

Leaving Lucy Pear by Anna Solomon.
                                  Viking, 2016. Adult fiction.


     In 1917, Bea Haven, a Jewish young woman, has a baby daughter and gives her up by leaving the baby in the pear orchard until someone else claims her. Bea intends to pursue her brilliant piano career at Radcliffe and leave the past behind her. But, ten years later, she is unfulfilled in many ways and taking care of her uncle in the same location where she had the baby. Circumstances bring many threads of their lives together as Emma Murphy, the Catholic mother who has raised Bea's daughter for ten years, comes to help  with the uncle's care. The whole story explores what it means to be a mother, a woman, a daughter, and how each person can change another's life in small as well as large ways.

The Poet's Dog by Patricia MacLachlan.

 The Poet's Dog by Patricia MacLachlan. Katherine Tegen Books (an imprint of HarperCollins, 2016. Children's chapter book.


When dogs speak, only poets and children can hear according to MacLachlan. In this poignant tale, a dog, Teddy, rescues two children from the snow. The dog has been carefully taught by his master, Sylvan, a poet, and can communicate. In the thirteen short chapters (only 88 pages in the book), readers learn about Sylvan and Teddy's lives as well as about Flora and Nickel, the children. Love, loss, friendship and the impact of simple things are woven into the sparse, but beautifully worded, text. If you love dogs, words, children, and great writing, just read this magical story.