New Blog Tour: In Stitches by Dr. Anthony Youn

In Stitches:  A Memoir
Author:  Dr. Anthony Youn
Publication Date:  April 26, 2011
Publisher:  Gallery

Donated by:  Marni, Sneak Attack Media

From the book's website:

Scrubs meets David Sedaris in this hilarious fish-out-of-water memoir about a young Korean-American nerd turned renowned plastic surgeon.

Dr. Tony Youn grew up one of two Asian-American kids in a small town where diversity was uncommon. Too tall and too thin, he wore thick Coke-bottle glasses, braces, Hannibal Lecter headgear, and had a protruding jaw that one day began to grow, expanding to an unthinkable, monstrous size. After high school graduation, while other seniors partied at the beach or explored Europe, Youn lay strapped in an oral surgeon’s chair where he underwent a life-changing jaw reconstruction. Ironically, it was this brutal makeover that led him to his life’s calling, and he continued on to endure the four horrific, hilarious, sex-starved, and tension-filled years that eventually earned him an M.D. Offering a window into a side of medicine that most people never see, Youn shares his bumpy journey from a shy, skinny, awkward nerd into a renowned and successful plastic surgeon.

Now, Youn is the media’s go-to plastic surgeon. He appears regularly on The Rachael Ray Show, and his blog, Celebrity Cosmetic Surgery, is widely read and the most popular blog by a plastic surgeon in the country. But it was a long road to success, and In Stitches recounts Dr. Youn’s misfit adolescence and his four tumultuous years in medical school with striking wit, heart, and humility.

For anyone who has ever experienced the awkward teenage years, who has struggled to find his or her way in college, who has been worried that their “calling” would never come, who wants to believe that their doctor really cares, or is just ready for a read that will make you laugh and cry at the same time, this book is for you.

Tour Sign-ups Open to USA Residents.

Leave your NAME, E-MAIL, BLOG NAME, and STATE abbreviation in the comments.

7 DAY LIMIT PER PERSON

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Participants:
Betty - Reflections with Coffee

The House on Teacher's Lane

The House on Teacher's Lane: A Memoir of Home, Healing, and Love's Hardest Questions
Author:  Rachel Simon
Publisher: Penguin Plume
Publication date:   May 25, 2010

Donated by:  Penguin Plume

The bestselling author of Riding the Bus with My Sister shares an illuminating and beautifully woven memoir about the unexpected ways a home renovation can repair a heart

When Rachel Simon and her architect husband begin to renovate their house on Teacher's Lane, she braces herself for the ups and downs that often accompany such projects. But to her surprise, as the old walls fall and new paint appears, she is propelled into a transformative journey as she confronts forgotten memories and repairs fractured bonds with those closest to her. This compassionate and humorous book shimmers with insights into the healing power of forgiveness, the struggle to find meaning and purpose, the compatibility of imperfection and happiness, and the ways that lost relationships-with friends, parents, siblings, spouse, and even self-can be rekindled.

Fans of Riding the Bus with My Sister and new readers alike will be drawn to Simon's masterful storytelling and profoundly life- affirming tale. Her story will resonate with anyone who's ever experienced the most universal human emotion-love, in its many forms- and wrestled with its hardest questions.

• Tour Sign-ups Open to USA Residents; Leave your name, e-mail and STATE abbreviation in the comments.

• 14 DAY LIMIT PER PERSON

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 Participants

Denial: A Memoir of Terror

Denial:  A Memoir of Terror

Author:  Jessica Stern

Publication Date:  June 22, 2010

Publisher:  Ecco

Donated By:  Jen (Crazy-for-Books)

"I have listened and I have been quiet all my life. But now I will speak."

One of the world's foremost experts on terrorism and post-traumatic stress disorder investigates her own unsolved adolescent sexual assault at the hands of a serial rapist, and in so doing, examines the horrors of trauma and denial.

Alone in an unlocked house in a safe neighborhood in the suburban town of Concord, Massachusetts, two good, obedient girls, Jessica Stern, fifteen, and her sister, fourteen, were raped on the night of October 1, 1973. The girls had just come back from ballet lessons and were doing their homework when a strange man armed with a gun entered their home. Afterward, when they reported the crime, the police were skeptical.

The rapist was never caught. For over thirty years, Stern denied the pain and the trauma of the assault. Following the example of her family, Stern—who lost her mother at the age of three, and whose father was a Holocaust survivor—focused on her work instead of her terror. She became a world-class expert on terrorism, a lauded academic and writer who interviewed terrorists around the globe. But while her career took off, her success hinged on her symptoms. After her ordeal she could not feel fear in normally frightening situations.

Stern believed she'd disassociated from the trauma altogether, until a devoted police lieutenant reopened the sisters' rape case and brought her back to that harrowing night more than three decades past. With the help of the lieutenant, Stern began her own investigation—bringing to bear all her skills as a researcher—to uncover the truth about the town of Concord, her family, and her own mind. The result is Denial, a candid, courageous, and ultimately hopeful look at a trauma and its aftermath. 

Read Jen's review HERE.

TOUR IS NOW CLOSED.  THANKS FOR PARTICIPATING!

Tour Participants:

1. Tracee - done

2. Nancy - done

3. Christa - done

4. Heather -done

5. Margaret -done

6. JHS - done

7. Tiffany - done

REVIEWS:

1. Tracee - Review from Here

2. Nancy - Amusing Reviews

3. Christa - Mental Foodie

4. Heather - Proud Book Nerd

5. Margaret - The Art of Reading

6. JHS - Colloquium (DNF - no review)

7. Tiffany - Tiffany's Bookshelf

One More Theory About Happiness: A Memoir

One More Theory About Happiness:  A Memoir

Author:  Paul Guest

Publication Date:  May 2010

Publisher:  Ecco

Donated By:  Alex from Tales of a Teenage Book Lover

Paul Guest was 12 years old, racing down a hill on a too-big, ancient bicycle when he discovered he had no brakes. Trying to steer into anything that would slow down the bike, he hit a ditch, was thrown over the handlebars, and broke his neck.

One More Theory about Happiness follows a boy into manhood, his path suddenly circumscribed by disability and its attendant complications: rage and despair, as well as a hard-earned acceptance and biting sense of humor. In incisive and lyrical prose, he captures the seesaw of setbacks and successes that define his life: His arms and hands completely useless, Paul initially learns to drive a “sip and puff” wheelchair by means of his breath; he later uses a mouthstick to type. Alone in an elevator with a stranger, he’s mugged, helpless to fight back. One caretaker packs Paul’s fridge with the Pepsi his wife forbids at home and declares he can cure Paul’s injured ankle by setting him on fire. And when desire leads to a long-awaited intimacy, it is an experience more complex and bittersweet than he ever would have imagined.

Yet with each challenge, Paul thrives. Completing high school, leaving his family behind to attend college then graduate school, Guest cultivates a rich life for himself. He also cultivates his art, transforming his gift for language into award-winning poetry—deemed “wonderful,” by John Ashbery; “Guest is a spirit to be reckoned with,” proclaims Mary Karr—marked by raw wit, grace, and unnerving honesty.

An unprecedented story, a unique fusion of the deeply-felt prose of Joan Didion or Lucy Grealy with the irreverent edge of Nick Flynn or Dave Eggers, Guest’s memoir takes us from a body irrevocably changed to a life fiercely cherished. 

Signups Open to USA Residents; Leave your name, e-mail, and STATE abbreviation! 

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Tour Participants

1.  Betty  -- mailed 7/29/10 DC # 0309 3220 0002 3278 9446

Review

Betty