2008 Highlights: Personal Portraits

"Sheila Weller's story of three of the most important women in the history of pop music -- Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon -- captures the '60s better than any novel, recalling the stories and songs that have become ingrained in the psyche of America's soul. I would rate this book a 98 -- it has a great beat and you can dance to it." --Jerry Brown, The Bookstore, Radcliff, KY

"Great memoirs tend to be stranger than fiction, and David Giffels' riotous recollection of human willpower versus decaying architecture, contemptible rodents, and one stubborn octogenarian is no exception. An utterly unforgettable chapter in one young man's life." --Katie Capaldi, McLean & Eakin Booksellers, Petoskey, MI

"Larry McMurtry's memoir of his life in books -- buying, selling, bidding, and lusting after -- is full of characters and delights that may never have been seen by the 'average' bookseller, but what many of us wouldn't give for the chance! McMurtry is generous with specifics and musings, personal history, whimsy, and speculations." --Becky Milner, Vintage Books, Vancouver, WA

"Here is an intimate account of a woman, both her career as a midwife and her life as the wife of a doctor in West Virginia. Her patients' lives are stories of hope and loss; her marriage is a story of love and faith accompanied, too by debt and tension. Well written and heartfelt." --Annie Philbrick, Bank Square Books, Mystic, CT