*THE DRESSMAKER* by Elizabeth Birkelund Oberbeck

In the rural French town of Senlis, mild-mannered, middle-aged tailor Claude Reynaud fashions wedding gowns, dresses and suits for Parisian women in the know; for the locals, he repairs torn seams, sews on buttons and alters hemlines. Claude's predictable life turns upside down when the charming parisienne Valentine de Verlay commissions him to make her wedding dress, and he falls in love with her. Claude's wife left him eight years ago (but, we learn early on, no divorce papers have been signed), and Valentine's fiance, Victor, is a singularly unlikable, one-dimensional character (whose last name, of all things, is "Couturier"). Claude and Valentine couple early on, but, despite being in love with Claude, Valentine stays on track for the marriage to Victor. When Claude joins up with a major Paris designer to be closer to Valentine, former Cosmopolitan columnist Oberbeck cleverly portrays Claude's entr e into high fashion, but she makes a weak case for Claude's dislike of all the attention. An inexplicably tragic side plot involving the teenage girlfriend of one of Claude's nephews further derails the proceedings. Oberbeck successfully creates the intrigue one wants for a wedding gown designer who falls in love with his client and vice versa, but doesn't manage it all the way through to the principals' New York collision.

***Rate this a 3/5. Although this book started out so well, it sagged in the middle and totally fizzled out in the end. I don't know why I finished it..............disappointing!

*ELIZABETH* by J. Randy Taraborelli

For more than six decades Elizabeth Taylor has been a part of our lives. Now acclaimed biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli looks past the tabloid version of Elizabeth's life and offers the first-ever fully realized portrait of this American icon. You'll meet her controlling mother who plotted her daughter's success from birth...see the qualities that catapulted Elizabeth to stardom in 1940s Hollywood...understand the psychological and emotional underpinnings behind the eight marriages...and, finally, rejoice in Elizabeth's most bravura performance of all: the new success in family, friendships, and philanthropy she achieved despite substance abuse and chronic illness. It's the story of the woman you thought you knew--and now can finally understand.

****Rate this 4/5. An amazing and thorough account of one of my favorite actresses, Elizabeth Taylor. What a beautiful woman she truly is, both inside and out. Her life, her loves, her career and her kindness towards the unfortunate are legend. I truly admire her and I always will.

*MICHAEL JACKSON: THE MAGIC & THE MADNESS by J. Randy Taraborrelli

So much has how been said and written about the life and career of Michael Jackson that it has become almost impossible to disentangle the man from the myth. This book is the fruit of over 30 years of research and hundreds of exclusive interviews with a remarkable level of access to the very closest circles of the Jackson family - including Michael himself. Cutting through tabloid rumours, J. Randy Taraborrelli traces the real story behind Michael Jackson, from his drilling as a child star through the blooming of his talent to his ever-changing personal appearance and bizarre publicity stunts. This major biography includes the behind-the-scenes story to many of the landmarks in Jackson's life: his legal and commercial battles, his marriages to Lisa Marie Presley and Debbie Rowe, his passions and addictions, his children. Objective and revealing, it carries the hallmarks of all of Taraborrelli's best-sellers: impeccable research, brilliant storytelling and definitive documentation.

****Rate this 4/5. I think I like Mr. Taraborelli's biographies more than any one else who writes biographies. This is due to the fact that he carefully researches his star and his sources, and does not speculate, but gives hard facts. He makes an interesting biography regardless of whoever he writes about. I had read this book long ago, but in light of Michaels' recent passing, I wanted to read it again. My next 2 books will be by Randy as well about Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe.

*MY REMARKABLE JOURNEY* by Larry King

In this humorous, anecdotal account, King at 75-plus marvels good-naturedly at his staying power for a half-century as a talk-show host for radio and TV. Born in Brooklyn in 1933 to Jewish immigrant parents, young Larry Zeiger was profoundly influenced at age nine by the untimely heart-attack death of his father and by the medium of radio. Rejected by the army for bad eyesight and uninterested in going to college, he got his break filling in for a deejay at a radio station in Miami, where he took the name King in a pinch. His early scrapes are hilarious, especially with women (he married eight times), and he had an uncanny ability to snag famous personalities like Jackie Gleason, Frank Sinatra and Richard Nixon to be interviewed on air. By simply being curious and unassuming, King could make anyone seem fascinating, from a plumber to the famously laconic Robert Mitchum. Despite being fired in 1971 for financial shenanigans, King swept back on the air in Washington, D.C., before being hired to host a show for Ted Turner's fledgling CNN in 1985, where he has been following current affairs for the past 25 years. King, writing with Fussman (After Jackie), has produced a cultural history as much as a personal testimony, touching on world-shaping events over the last 50 years and sharing, with inimitable humor and grace, some quirky POVs from King's family and friends.

****Rate this 4/5. I love Larry King, and I loved this autobiography. I don't think there is anyone better than Larry when it comes to interviewing people. This was a very enjoyable and funny book to read. I especially loved his take on all the different presidents he has known and interviewed, very interesting and informative.

*AFTERMATH, INC. Cleaning Up After CSI Goes Home by Gil Reavill

In this grisly, swaggering tale of gut-churning crime scenes and the men who clean them up after the forensics team is done, veteran true crime scribe Reavill (Beyond All Reason: My Life with Susan Smith) holds nothing back. From descriptions of crimes ("The fusillade of bullets tore through Johnson's body.... Blood, bits of flesh and bone fragments exploded everywhere") to hepatitis C "bleed-outs" ("All four walls of the bathroom looked like someone had taken a blood hose and turned it on them"), Reavill grabs the reader by the throat and doesn't let go. He follows the techs from Aftermath, Inc.—a bioremediation outfit in suburban Chicago—as they make the rounds of shotgun suicides, multiple murders and meth lab cleanups; dealing not only with the gross-out of the work but trying to stay sane doing it. While some black humor seeps in around the edges, Reavill mostly depicts a cadre of low-key, hardworking men doing a horrible job with respect and compassion. The narrative pace flags a bit in the last 50 pages when Reavill tries to connect Aftermath's work with larger moral issues, but otherwise, if anything can get CSI watchers to flip off the tube and pick up a book, this is it.

***Rate this 3/5. An interesting book on an occupation that I have always wondered about. I wondered what type of people do the job, what they charge ($250/hr) and how they do it. This is not a book for people with a queasy stomach as it is very descriptive, but it was worth the read. Sometimes, you have to just read this type of book, ya know!

*YANNI IN WORDS* by Yanni with David Renson

Yanni is practically a force of nature. Not only has he sold over 20 million albums worldwide, and earned 35 gold and platinum awards, this inspirational artist has entertained millions more with his groundbreaking concert events at the Acropolis, in Athens, at India's Taj Mahal, and in China's Forbidden City. No wonder the Washington Post called Yanni's career "a miracle, a lesson in pluck that could be taught in business school, preached from pulpits and woven into bedtime stories." And yet, even Yanni's greatest fans know very little about the man behind the music.
Yanni in Words is the remarkably forthright, never-before-told story of the critically acclaimed musician's personal odyssey: from his childhood under a Greek military dictatorship to success as his country's national 50-meter swimming champ at fourteen; from his college years at the University of Minnesota, where he earned a degree in psychology; to his wild years playing rock and roll across America before going solo. Yanni openly discusses his intense nine-year relationship with Linda Evans (Linda herself contributed to the book); his battle for respect from critics and a music industry bewildered by his new style of contemporary instrumental music; the journey through a burn-out depression that threatened to derail his career and prevented him from touching a piano for a year; and his eventual recovery and return. This is a story of how a single-minded musical vision and indomitable will to be heard became the source of Yanni's biggest frustrations, greatest triumphs, and deepest insights about creativity.
Yanni in Words is also a love letter to his parents, under whose enlightened and gentle guidance he learned lessons about love and truth that have lasted a lifetime. It is brimming with a clear-eyed understanding of the human condition, the rewards of original thinking, and the secrets of satisfaction -- all of which evolved as Yanni confronted challenge after challenge in pursuit of his musical dreams. Yanni in Words also includes an exploration of the creative process by which Yanni composes his unique music -- and that anyone can use to pursue their own creativity. As poignantly memorable as it is unprecedentedly candid, this is the story everyone has been waiting to read. Yanni in Words is heartfelt, open, inspirational, honest, and emotional. Just like Yanni's music. Only in words.

****Rate this 4/5. I adore Yanni's music....it was interesting to read his book. He is very frank about his lovelife and Linda Evans, but the part I enjoyed the most was how and why he writes the beautiful music that he does. It contains so much soul and love, and as he explains, that is how and why he writes it. He had a dream, and he fulfilled it, and I am happy that he did.

*A RELIABLE WIFE* by Robert Goolrick

Rural Wisconsin, 1909. In the bitter cold, Ralph Truitt, a successful businessman, stands alone on a train platform waiting for the woman who answered his newspaper advertisement for "a reliable wife." But when Catherine Land steps off the train from Chicago, she's not the "simple, honest woman" that Ralph is expecting. She is both complex and devious, haunted by a terrible past and motivated by greed. Her plan is simple: she will win this man's devotion, and then, ever so slowly, she will poison him and leave Wisconsin a wealthy widow. What she has not counted on, though, is that Truitt — a passionate man with his own dark secrets —has plans of his own for his new wife. Isolated on a remote estate and imprisoned by relentless snow, the story of Ralph and Catherine unfolds in unimaginable ways. With echoes of Wuthering Heights and Rebecca, Robert Goolrick's intoxicating debut novel delivers a classic tale of suspenseful seduction, set in a world that seems to have gone temporarily off its axis.

*****Rate 5/5! If I could have rated this at a 6 or 7 on a scale of 1 to 5, I would have. I enjoyed this book so much. A 'read in one sitting book', I was up until 1:00AM finishing it. A beautifully written thriller that keeps one turning the pages.