The Shakespeare Thefts : In Search Of The First Folios
by Eric Rasmussen

In 1623, the first edition of William Shakespeare's collected works, known as the First Folio, was published. Fellow actors of Shakespeare compiled it. According to author Eric Rasmussen, there are over four hundred copies floating around but only two hundred have been identified. The other ones have been either stolen or lost.
Rasmussen and his team embark on an adventure around the world to try and track down the known copies.
Although the reviews for this book have been congratulatory, I beg to differ. Every chapter is a different anecdote of what Rasmussen found and none of them are connected. After a while, I became bored. The writing is dull and tedious.
Not recommended.

Eva Braun : Life With Hitler
by Heike B. Gortemaker

According to the publisher, Eva Braun was not supposed to be an insignificant figure in Hitler's life but more involved with his rule and his cohorts. Alas, I didn't get far enough to find out the so-called truth about her. The writing is very pedantic and boring and mainly talks about the high-ranking Nazis that were constantly around.
The book was translated but I don't believe that is the problem. Not too many people would be interested in reading it due to its heaviness and plodding text.
Not recommended.

The Boy Who Went To War : The Story Of A Reluctant German Soldier In WWII
by Giles Milton

This should have been a promising book but it, unfortunately, fell short of its goal. Giles Milton writes about his family and father-in-law living under Hitler's regime. Since they were Christians, it's interesting to see how they viewed the Fuhrer. The entire family was anti-Nazi and they got away with it for as long as possible.
I couldn't tolerate the writing. It seems quite juvenile and is loaded with grammatical and spelling errors. The author is no slouch in writing books; he has written quite a few and I have read many of them. The Boy Who Went To War is not like his others, which is a shame.
Not recommended.

Fiction Ruined My Family : A Memoir
by Jeanne Darst

"Cursing Ruined This Book" would be more appropriate as a title for the above. In just one paragraph, the author uses f*** three times. Between the excessive use of profanity and the constant whining about the parents, I stopped reading after 70 pages.
Not recommended.

The Gorilla Man And The Empress Of Steak : A New Orleans Family Memoir
by Randy Fertel

I should feel guilty due to the fact that no library in the county had this book on their shelves and I requested one of them to buy it. The reviews were what made me want to read the book in the first place. The title alone is enough to draw you in. Randy Fertel's mother founded Ruth's Chris Steak House and his father (who never worked a day in his life) ran for mayor of New Orleans and bought a pair of gorillas for the zoo.
Louis Armstrong lived a block away from the Fertels and there's some interesting information written about him. The whole history of jazz is incorporated within the story and you really get the flavor of New Orleans in the early part of the century.
Unfortunately, I couldn't stand the style of writing. It was all over the place and seemed disjointed. Too many characters abounded and started to collide. I only reached page 114 and that was enough for me.
Not recommended.

The Man Who Couldn't Eat : A Memoir
by Jon Reiner

If you enjoy reading about a man's struggle with Crohn's disease who spends, it seems, most of the book in the hospital where he is not allowed to eat anything by mouth for three months, be my guest.
Jon Reiner loves food so much but because of his illness, he has to take a different path.
I actually read the entire book because I wanted to see the end results. It wasn't worth it. I should have stopped earlier. What really ruined his story were the excessive amounts of similes (hundreds of them). His descriptions were vivid enough that you didn't need useless fodder.
Not recommended.

How To Survive The Titanic Or The Sinking Of J. Bruce Ismay
by Frances Wilson

If I had a rating system where five stars would be the best and one star the worst, I would give this book two stars. It's a shame because, for the most part, I really enjoyed most of it. What destroyed the book was constant references to Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim, where a sailor abandons his sinking ship leaving behind hundreds of passengers. I can see why the author did this although she is comparing fiction with fact but after a while, it became so tedious that I wanted to throw the book across the room.
I didn't know anything about J. Bruce Ismay, the owner of the Titanic, but what is written here becomes repetitious. Ismay was never a happy camper and after the catastrophe, he became a recluse. Obviously, the author didn't have enough material for all I read about Ismay is his depression, being morose, unhappy, untalkative, his horrible marriage and ignoring his children, etc.
The two inquiries, British and American, on why Ismay jumped into a lifeboat with women and children and his problematic answer along with the survivors that testified, is very interesting but is not enough to sustain an entire book.
The title is not appropriate either. Put this all down as one big mess.
Not recommended.