You may or may not know the name of Alan Jay Lerner, but there's a good chance you'll know at least some of the lyrics he wrote, even if it's just the one associated with John F. Kennedy: "...for one, brief, shinning moment ..." The Street Where I Live: a Memoir is a fun and cleverly written (given many of his lyrics, I guess this should come as no surprise) autobiography. Putting together a musical is a lot of hard work, late nights, re-writes, all of which are explained here. There are some wonderful anecdotes, too. Lerner once had a meal with the Queen where he was seated next to Prince Philip (who is a witty and amusing conversationalist). Lerner learned that Philip had learned to speak French from his English nanny. Who had a Cockney accent! Quite an enjoyable read.

Kristin Knight Pace was born in Texas which must have given her the desire for big, open spaces. She would spend time in Montana before ending up in Alaska. Her book this much country: a memoir, is about how she got there, and ended up running both the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod. Well written, but I was saddened by the use of a lot of bad language. I know, I know, it's the way books are written these days (or so I've been told more than once), but I just don't care for it and find it can get in the way of what was a wonderful description of something.

Reading Hermit With Dog