Biographies and Memoirs

Field of Memories: A Tapestry of Heartwarming Short Stories

D. L. Norris | Biographies and Memoirs

Field of Memories: A Tapestry of Heartwarming Short Stories by D. L. Norris is a tender autobiographical collection that unfolds as a mosaic of the author's life, spanning childhood innocence to mature reflections. D. L. Norris structures her memoir not as a linear chronicle but as vignettes—each a self-contained memory that captures formative moments, family rituals, and encounters with historical currents that shape her worldview. From early recollections of kitchen-table conversations to coming-of-age milestones punctuated by loss, the narratives progress fluidly across decades. Anchoring the collection is the steadfast presence of Norris's mother, whose wisdom permeates every chapter, an...

Continue Reading

Most Recent Reviews

EXIT TICKETS: A NOVEL

Kenneth Chanko (Luminare Press)

| Reviewed by Elena Enger

Exit Tickets by Kenneth Chanko offers a raw, multi-perspective portrait of a tumultuous year at P.S. 961, a District 75 special education school on Manhattan's Upper East Side during 2007-2008. The story of Martin “Mr. J” Jordanowski, a first-year white teacher from Indiana who joins NYC's Teaching Fellows program following his sister Cassie's overdose death. His well-intentioned but boundary-crossing relationship with Kandra, a vulnerable 15-year-old student processing maternal loss and family instability, spirals when she writes a disturbing...

DOUBLE

Gerry Burke (iUniverse)

| Reviewed by Meg McKinnon

Gerry Burke’s Double is a tongue-in-cheek espionage thriller that combines two novellas to deliver a rollicking ride for fans of the genre. Sunbeams from Siberia begins with the brutal murder of Delia Deschamps in the quaint English village of Omelette. What appears to be a simple countryside homicide unravels into an elaborate Russian plot to detonate a dirty bomb at Oxford University. Delia, it turns out, was an MI5 operative planted in the village post office to monitor suspicious mail. Her murder connects to a conspiracy involving smuggled...

Mind Odyssey: A Doctor's Guide to Training Your Brain for Purpose, Balance, and Fulfillment

Spyros Papapetropoulos (Advantage Books)

| Reviewed by Sarah Harkness

Mind Odyssey by neurologist and biopharmaceutical executive Spyros Papapetropoulos presents a neuroscience-grounded framework for navigating professional life through three interconnected principles: purpose, balance, and fulfillment. Drawing on Homer’s Odyssey as an extended metaphor, Papapetropoulos argues that like Odysseus sailing toward Ithaca, professionals need a clear “why,” understood as purpose, the emotional equilibrium to weather storms (balance), and a sustainable sense of contentment (fulfillment) rather than chasing fleeting happ...

Curiosity Redefines the Limits Advantages Gained from Life, the Workplace, and the Boardroom

Rodney C. Adkins (Forbes Books)

| Reviewed by George Buehlman

In Curiosity Redefines the Limits, Rodney C. Adkins chronicles his remarkable journey from a premature birth in 1950s Miami to becoming IBM's senior vice president overseeing global systems and technology. Structured in six thematic sections, the memoir traces his evolution through childhood curiosity and martial arts discipline, his formative college years at Rollins and Georgia Tech, including founding a Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity chapter, his thirty-three-year IBM career navigating PCs, UNIX systems, and corporate transformation, and his int...

Blogs

Dear Book Lover!

Welcome to The Book Commentary, home of the Best Books in over 200 categories. Thousands of books are published every month and we pick the best for you. We only recommend and publish reviews for books with ratings of 4-5 Stars. Join our growing community of thousands of readers, booksellers, and librarians and discover books that delight and shape readers like you!

About Us

The Book Commentary

The Book Commentary reviews and recommends books that are independently and traditionally published, as well as pre-publication manuscripts. We take pride in uncovering notable books from small presses that readers should pay attention to. We want readers to discover new books and talk about them. Our reviews are carefully crafted to highlight the strengths of the books and why readers should read them.

Authors can reprint their reviews on all their marketing materials and book covers, in whole or in part (provided no words are changed, and The Book Commentary is credited). The Book Commentary only publishes reviews that are rated 4-5 Stars. This means they only publish those reviews for books they strongly believe are worth readers' investments.