Life Itself : A Memoir
by Roger Ebert

I used to watch Roger Ebert when he was on television critiquing movies and totally enjoyed his comments. I wish I could say the same for his autobiography. His writing leaves me empty. There's no pizazz and I was bored. By the time I got to the third chapter about his father, I had had enough.
The book is in need of an editor and there's numerous spelling errors. Nothing else to say.
Not recommended.

The Mad Bomber Of New York : The Extraordinary True Story Of The Manhunt That Paralyzed A City
by Michael M. Greenburg

From 1940 to 1956 thirty-three bombs were set off in New York City and it took a massive manhunt to finally find the perpetrator. The book sounded interesting but alas it was not to be. I couldn't stand the writing (it bored me). Six pages was all that I could stomach. The author's previous book Peaches and Daddy was superb (it was about the Roaring Twenties and it's reviewed in my book-a-holics blog. I don't know why the writing style changed for his current tale.
Not recommended.

The Man Who Broke Into Auschwitz : A True Story Of World War II
by Denis Avey and Rob Broomby

I couldn't get into this book at all. At page 16, I quit. Part of the problem is the vocabulary used. Denis Avey is British and if you're not familiar with certain words (that are not explained), they just bounce right off. The book was obviously dictated but the writer doesn't exude any excitement (he's British too and worked for the BBC as a broadcast journalist).
The title is misleading because Avey did not break into Auschwitz but swapped places with a Dutch Jewish inmate. He experienced the cruelty and survived.
I think the story would have been better written in much abler hands and maybe then I would have finished the book.

Sleeping With The Enemy : Coco Chanel's Secret War
by Hal Vaughan

Here we go again with a book that is purported to be better than what was written before and yet is much less. I couldn't wait to get it and then, I couldn't wait to finish the damn thing.
Author, Hal Vaughan, writes about Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel's collaboration with the Nazis during World War II. His writing is plodding and interminably boring. There's so much dense detail with much of it repeated again and again. Not much of what Chanel exactly did for the SS is actually revealed so you don't really learn anything about her treachery.
There are better works written about Coco Chanel one of which I reviewed in my book-a-holics blog.
Sleeping With the Enemy was a big disappointment.
Not recommended.

Seven Seasons In Siena : My Quixotic Quest For Acceptance Among Tuscany's Proudest People
by Robert Rodi

Ugh, this book is horrendous. After only ten pages, I gave up.
The author goes to Siena, Italy, and tries to gain admittance and acceptance at this horseracing club (the jockeys ride bareback). Doesn't sound that interesting, does it? Ho hum. Who cares?
The most annoying aspect of his writing is the amount of similes he uses for every paragraph. I guess he didn't have enough information so he needed filler.
Not recommended.

Wendy And The Lost Boys : The Uncommon Life Of Wendy Wasserstein
by Julie Salamon

Wendy Wasserstein is the first woman playwright to have won a Tony Award. She also won the Pulitzer Prize. Though I never read anything that she wrote, I knew of her work. I was hoping that this biography about her would open her up to me. Unfortunately it did not fulfill my expectations. I lasted only seventy-seven pages. The writing is dry and plodding and it seemed as if the author just lifted everything from Wasserstein's writings. I was bored to say the least.
Not recommended.

Turn Right At Machu Picchu : Rediscovering The Lost City One Step At A Time
by Mark Adams

I should be congratulated for finishing this book (last night I considered stopping with forty more pages to go). But, no, I slogged through it all.
The premise is that Mark Adams, who has spent his career editing travel and adventure magazines, decides to follow the path of explorer Hiram Bingham III by going to Peru and retracing his path to Machu Picchu.
I didn't find the tale to be compelling, exciting, superb, amazing, entertaining as other reviewers apparently did. For me, there were too many details that were confusing especially with all of the different similiar-sounding names of cities.
Everything became tedious and downright boring.
Adams wrote a book called Mr. America in 2010 (reviewed in my book-a-holics blog) and that was superb. Too bad that he couldn't sustain that great writing with Machu Picchu.
Not recommended.