77. Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro

listened on Audible borrowed from the library
read by the author
Unabridged audio (6:44)
2019, Knopf
252 pgs.
Adult Memoir
Finished 8/15/2019
Goodreads rating:  3.99 - 16,455 ratings
My rating:  4
Setting: Contemporary

First line/s:   "When I was a girl I would sneak down the hall late at night once my parents were asleep."

My comments:  A memoir, read by the author, which is pretty cool.  I've always understood that the difference between a memoir and an autobiography is that in memoir you reflect on the things that happened in your life.  This memoir seemed to have a great deal of reflection, and had I been reading instead of listening I might have abandoned it.  I guess I'm not a philosopher.  However, the weaving of story and philosophy IS extremely well done.  And although I realize that I'm still not a nonfiction fan, I finished this and enjoyed both the story and the writing (though perhaps not quest so much the philosophical stuff, lol)

Goodreads synopsis:  The acclaimed and beloved author of Hourglass now gives us a new memoir about identity, paternity, and family secrets—a real-time exploration of the staggering discovery she recently made about her father, and her struggle to piece together the hidden story of her own life.
          What makes us who we are? What combination of memory, history, biology, experience, and that ineffable thing called the soul defines us?
          In the spring of 2016, through a genealogy website to which she had whimsically submitted her DNA for analysis, Dani Shapiro received the stunning news that her father was not her biological father. She woke up one morning and her entire history—the life she had lived—crumbled beneath her.
          Inheritance is a book about secrets—secrets within families, kept out of shame or self-protectiveness; secrets we keep from one another in the name of love. It is the story of a woman’s urgent quest to unlock the story of her own identity, a story that has been scrupulously hidden from her for more than fifty years, years she had spent writing brilliantly, and compulsively, on themes of identity and family history. It is a book about the extraordinary moment we live in—a moment in which science and technology have outpaced not only medical ethics but also the capacities of the human heart to contend with the consequences of what we discover.
          Timely and unforgettable, Dani Shapiro’s memoir is a gripping, gut-wrenching exploration of genealogy, paternity, and love.

31. Finding Family: My Search for Roots and the Secrets of My DNA by Richard Hill

read the book, came all the way from a college library in Indiana through interlibrary loan
2012, Creative Space Independent Publishing
249 pgs.
Adult nonfiction
Finished 4/4/18
Goodreads rating:   4.24 - 446 ratings
My rating: 4
Setting:  Michigan, USA

First line/s:  "All families have secrets, some bigger than others.  My family's secret leaked out in 1964, tee year I graduated from high school."

My comments:  I have worked on my own family tree since my late teens and really love genealogy.  So reading Mr. Hill's memoir has been fascinating, watching this mystery unfold in story form!  I can only imagine how he felt finding out about each new relation (he was adopted and new absolutely nothing about his birth parents or family) he discovered.  His story is clear and well written, interesting and thought-provoking.  Couldn't put it down.

Goodreads synopsis: Finding Family: My Search for Roots and the Secrets in My DNA is Richard Hill's true and intensely personal story of how he pieced together the long-kept secret of his own origins. This highly suspenseful book is a page-turning saga of personal detective work that will appeal to anyone who loves a good mystery. But this isn't fiction. It's an engrossing account of an adoptee trying to reclaim the biological family denied him by sealed birth records. This fascinating quest, including the author's landmark use of DNA testing, takes readers on an exhilarating roller-coaster ride and concludes with a twist that rivals anything Hollywood has to offer. Easy to read and hard to put down, Finding Family is the first book to chronicle the paradigm-shifting application of genetic genealogy to adoption search. Whether you're searching for your own roots or just craving a darn good read, Finding Family is a book you will likely devour in one sitting...and wholeheartedly recommend to others. In the vein of a classic mystery, Hill gathers the seemingly scant evidence surrounding the circumstances of his birth. At his adoptive father's deathbed, he discovers shocking information that leads him to methodically chase down leads, which sometimes yield poignant glimpses of his birth parents, sometimes garner resistance, and as frequently flat-line in disappointment. As his resolve shores up, the author also avails of new friends, genealogists, the Internet, and the latest DNA tests in the new field of genetic genealogy. As he closes in on the truth of his ancestry, he is able to construct a living, breathing portrait of the young woman who was faced with the decision to forsake her rights to her child, and ultimately the man whose identity had remained hidden for decades. During the course of Hill's mission, Finding Family offers guidance, insight, and motivation for anyone engaged in a similar mission, from ways to obtain information to the many networks that can facilitate adoption searches. Best of all, the author demystifies how DNA and genetic genealogy can produce irrefutable results in determining genetic connections. In an intimate, personal voice, Hill sheds light on this new science that is helping adoptees bypass sealed records and similar stumbling blocks. It is certain to inspire those who are in search of their birth parents as well as others who are uncertain of their biological ancestry. Richard Hill's groundbreaking use of DNA testing in adoption search was featured on the front page of The Wall Street Journal. His DNA Testing Adviser web site makes genetic genealogy understandable to all. Now retired from careers in science and marketing, Richard serves on the Advisory Board of the Mixed Roots Foundation where he is Co-Director of the Global Adoptee Genealogy Project.

34. In the Blood - Steve Robinson

#1 Jefferson Tayte Genealogical Crime Mystery

read on my phone through Kindle each night on my trip east in June, 2014

2011

394 pgs.

Adult Murder Mystery

Contemporary Cornwall, England, with flashbacks to 1783 - 1803

Goodreads Rating: 3.82

My Rating: 2.5 Some of the time it was okay, some it wasn't, others it was good....never great, unfortunately (sorry Mr. Robinson...though I will probably try another because I love the concept)

1^st sentence/s: PROLOGUE:  "1803.  Helford Passage, south-west England.  Mawgan Hendry was dying.  If he'd seen it coming then he might have had some chance to prevent it." 

 CHAPTER ONE:  "Air horns screamed!  The air inside the car resonated, buzzing the dash, forcing Jefferson Tayte's eyes wide open."

My comments:  I liked the protagonist, Jefferson (JT) Tayte, a thirty-something, slightly overweight loner who hates to fly and is a genealogist - a really good genealogist, which is his work.  He is self-employed and tracks down hard-to-find ancestors for people. He gets himself into all sorts of crazy, unbelievable situations and then gets out of them somehow.  The plot was a little thin, the characters predictable, the outcome unsatisfying because there were no surprises.  But this was the first in this series, I'll happily try another.

Goodreads Review: Two hundred years ago a loyalist family fled to England to escape the American War of Independence and seemingly vanished into thin air. American genealogist Jefferson Tayte is hired to find out what happened, but it soon becomes apparent that a calculated killer is out to stop him.
          In the Blood combines a centuries-old mystery with a present-day thriller that brings two people from opposite sides of the Atlantic together to uncover a series of carefully hidden crimes. Tayte's research centres around the tragic life of a young Cornish girl, a writing box, and the discovery of a dark secret that he believes will lead him to the family he is looking for. Trouble is, someone else is looking for the same answers and will stop at nothing to find them.