5 comments about I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After 20 Years Away.

1. With "I'm a Stranger Here Myself" Bill Bryson proved to me that I was wrong thinking that "A Walk in the Woods" was unsurpassable. This collection of essays about the United States of America and the lifestyle and often puzzling habits of its inhabitants is a true gem. Now, I might be biased, because I found a lot of my own experience as a foreigner living in America very similar and therefore enjoyed Bryson's reflections, but his usual sharpness and wit, his ability to ponder on small things and point out details are important factors contributing to the objective value of this book.
   
   Bryson returned to America after twenty years abroad, moving to Hanover, New Hampshire with his British wife and British-born children. He was surprised to see how much the country of his childhood had changed and also, how different it was from what he was used to in Europe. The newspaper column was, however, his friend's idea, Bryson's reluctance stemming from the fact that the column was weekly... Luckily, he agreed and produced the articles collected in "I'm a Stranger Here Myself". The collection spans different topics, from driving everywhere, through food, exercise, holidays (a hilarious piece on the Presidents' Day) to immigration procedures. Bryson criticizes and wonders without prejudice, giving his personal opinions about many hot issues, at the same time writing lightly and in a greatly amusing manner. The loving, tender relationship of the author with his country is visible even in his most scornful and negative remarks, in the cruelest jokes. Because of his great, flowing, casual style, even the most mundane and trivial musings are a joy to read.
   
   As I mentioned above, I found many of Bryson's notes reflect my own feelings about America and my own observations - of course he put them into writing much better than I ever could. It may be because of the specificity of New England (I am sure other regions of this country are different still, as Bryson concludes comparing New Hampshire to Iowa of his childhood), but I loved this book and it convinced me that all Bryson's writings are worth the time.



2. I laughed out loud. Bill Bryson's description of his "re-experiencing" of America is funny, informative, cynical, eye-opening. intelligent, and so relatable. I found myself constantly saying, "Okay, just one more chapter..." I could never put it down!



3. Bill Bryson can look at anything and find the humor in it. His down to earth style makes even the most simple or common situations interesting and fun, and he has an interesting way of making almost everything relevant.



4. Bill Bryson brilliantly weaves in American values and culture into social issues, current events, and daily lives. One of the themes Bryson focuses on is the interaction between the average citizen and the U.S. government. The government, at times, can have an approachable face; his local postal office provides free donuts on customer appreciation day, and a Social Security Administration employee calls him Bill and tells him how to get strawberry pop stains out of his shirt. In most cases, however, the government is depicted as an inefficient and faceless organization that never has a real person on the line when you call its services for help. When there is a problem, people hold the government responsible; therefore there is not a single branch in the enormous bureaucracy to blame because it is everyone's fault. American culture brands the government as a big, clumsy bureaucracy and thus heightens the sense of inefficiency and distrust of the government among the people. We should recognize the fact that the government did not intend to be labeled as an inefficient organization by questioning a five year old girl at the immigration office whether she intends to practice polygamy in the U.S and such; it genuinely attempts to improve the lives of its citizens. For example, it tried to enhance security in Milwaukee airport by training the local sheriff's deputies to detect hidden explosives, which, by the way, failed miserably because the deputies forgot where they hid the explosives.



5. This is my 3rd Bill Bryson book and possibly my favorite of his so far. The super short segments (compiled from past published articles) make this book extremely easy to pick up, put down and pick up again. His writing style is exceptionally intelligent, and he finds hilarity in the most mundane of situations. He has a way of making the reader reconsider just how silly much of our lives actually are, while interjecting a few heartwarming and philanthropical comments here and there. Would love a second edition of this!

5 comments about Travels with Charley in Search of America: (Centennial Edition).

1. (4.5 stars) When John Steinbeck obeys a life-long urge to drive from coast to coast in 1960, he little anticipates the variety of the "American experience." Beginning in Maine and traveling along the northern states through Wisconsin, the Badlands, Montana, and all places in between, to Washington and Oregon, Steinbeck then decides to visit his childhood community of Salinas, in northern California. After meeting with friends there, though many have died, he then drives southward through the length of California and then eastward through the southwest desert to Texas, Louisiana, and eventually up to Virginia before returning to New York.
   
   Carrying the reader along with him as he reconstructs this journey for publication in 1962, Steinbeck observes people and human nature, being careful not to draw conclusions about an entire area based on the individuals he meets along the way. Often it is their reactions to Charley, his aging standard poodle, which stimulates their conversations and allows Steinbeck glimpses of their thinking and ways of life. From the terminally gloomy waitress in Maine to the evil-looking mechanic in Oregon (who turns out to be the kindest and most generous of men), Steinbeck explores attitudes toward life (and strangers). Steinbeck's high school buddy (who almost comes to blows with him) shows him that you really can't go home again, and "the cheerleaders" of New Orleans, a group of white-supremacist women who taunt and scream obscenities at a tiny black girl integrating one of their schools, shows him how much work the human race still has left to do.
   
   As he travels in his truck with a house attached to its bed (a pre-camper invention), he notes the changing landscape, the disappearance of treasured aspects of the environment, and the growth of new trends--including the increasing popularity of the mobile home and the contemporary loss of "roots." He is genuinely frightened by the Badlands, until night falls, when it becomes beautiful. He adores Montana, and he hurries through the almost blank southwestern desert where he learns something new about shooting. Though Steinbeck gets tired of travel before the end of the trip, he still manages to record signal moments which resonate with the reader.
   
   What elevates this book especially is the glimpses it gives of Steinbeck himself, a far more upbeat man than one would expect from novels like Cannery Row, Of Mice and Men, and Grapes of Wrath. His observations of life in the early 1960s capture the country at pivotal moments of history--the time of Sen. John Kennedy and freedom rides. In this respect, Steinbeck creates a time capsule for future generations and a picture of himself that lovers of his writing will treasure. n Mary Whipple
   
   Of Mice and Men (Steinbeck Centennial Edition)
   John Steinbeck, Writer: A Biography



2. In this book, John Steinbeck shows patriotism at its best. He travels through the United States, and experiences all the beauties of this nation in a marvellous way. He shows no arrogance as he appreciates his homeland. Instead, he shows this nation's beauty and riches in an amicable way, and invites others to travel and experience the beauty of this nation. The hymn "America The Beautiful" comes to the reader's mind.



3. TRAVELS WITH CHARLEY gives us a chance to move to an up-close-and-personal position with the aloof, John Steinbeck, At the age of 60 in the fall of 1960. Steinbeck acquired a primitive pickup-style recreational vehicle, packed up a few belongings, and loaded his faithful poodle. He drove throughout the United States to reconnect with the inhabitants of the nation.
   
   Like any other tourist who travels too far too fast, he was unable to see everything, and he skimmed over many details in his tale. He delineated some of his stops in sufficient detail. Most of the travel log is a glazed-over account.
   
   Steinbeck wrote with the voice of a mature senior citizen, who was disappointed with much of what he saw in the nation. When I first read this book, I was in college. Now that I am in the age group of Steinbeck when he wrote it, I wonder what he would think of our nation today. He showed some of the good, such as the idyllic farms with friendly people, and some of the bad, such as people who were prejudiced and unkind. I believe if he could see our country today he would find something positive. He always expressed trust in the underlying goodness of our people.



4. In Travels with Charley, Steinbeck is on a journey to discover if he still knows the country he memorializes in almost all of his other works. Steinbeck manages to express in this memoir of his journey through America a whole host of emotions that many of us still feel today, a conflicting love for our country and disgust with our countrymen, appreciation for our past and worries about what we have become. Like all of his best works, the writing is natural, warm, and often funny. This is a beautiful book that captures America, both the good and the bad, in it's pages.



5. Steinbeck's Travels with Charley was his last book I believe. This is a memoir of John Steinbeck's drive from Long Island, New York to the tip of Maine to California and back to Long Island. Of course it's well written, as you'd expect from any Nobel Prize winner in Literature, but it also captures that turbulent time in the early 1960s when Martin Luther King Jr. was trying to achieve Civil Rights and Khrushchev was banging his shoe in the United Nations.

5 comments about They Cage the Animals at Night (Signet).

1. I could not put this book down once I started reading it. From page one it drew me in and took a hold of me in this young mans life and his family's ordeals. I never have felt more grateful for my own upbringing since having lived through Jennings eyes. He only had his "doggy" and that was his only escape from the cruel world around him. After I was done reading the book I was so offended by orphanages and the way the treated children I wanted to find out where he was at, who were the nuns who hurt him, I was angry and really wanted revenge for him. I think we all need to open our eyes to the system and help these children out and make sure this abuse does not happen these children belong to all of us and do not deserve this, they all deserve a better place with some family. Jennings deserved a home with a real doggy from the start and I ached for him.



2. I just finished this book--what an emotional ride. I was worried it was a story about parents who actually put their child in a cage. But it is not about parents abusing children; more about a child's survival, love, and connection, all while living in a harsh and deadening world.
   
   If you are going to read this book, be ready for it to open your heart, bring about deep-seated emotions, and be impossible to put down.



3. It really sucks when you have to struggle and this poor woman was sick and couln't help what she had to do. But they way children are treated in orphanages and foster homes are outrageous. People wake up these children just need love and compassion.



4. Since I first read this book over 15 years ago I've read the book over 10 times. I read it three times the first year. I felt it was an amazing story, very touching, and able to tug at me each time I read it. The strength and courage that the author had was amazing.



5. I could not put this book down! It made my cry a couple of times but it does have a happy ending.

5 comments about Memories, Dreams, Reflections.

1. Jung's work is often difficult to read. This is an excellent introduction to his thinking, and a fine outline of his life. Man and his Symbols is also a good intro to Jungian thought.
   
   However, over long, somewhat pompous comments are really not appropriate. Jungians would call this inflation.



2. This book is sublime, a GEM. In his subjective view of the world -"with half closed eyes and somewhat closed ears, to see and hear the form and voice of being" he arrived at an inspiring insight about life: supreme meaning of being can consist only in the fact that is,not that it is not or is no longer; nature, the mystery of love, the psyche, life, human beings, a state of lively contemplation of images is divinity unfolded (the greatest of miracles)-being conscious of this can come to you not through emptiness, imagelessneess or wanting to be freed from nature or yourself.
   Here's a passage of the book that reflects the quintessence of his wisdom:
   No language is adequate for this paradox. Whatever one can say, no words reflect the whole; for only the whole is meaningful...love "bears all things" and "endures all things". These words say all there is to be said; nothing can be added to them. For we are in the deepest sense the victims and the instruments of cosmogonic "love"- a unified and undivided whole. Being a part man cannot grasp the whole. He is at its mercy. He may assent to it, or rebel against it; but he is always caught by it and enclosed within it. He is dependent upon it and is sustained by it. Love is his light and his darkness, whose end he cannot see. "Love ceases not"-whether he speaks with the "tongue of angels", or with scientific exactitude traces the life cell down to its uttermost source. Man can try to name love, showering upon it all the names at his command, and still he will involve himself in endless self-deceptions. If he possesses a grain of wisdom, he will lay down his arms and name the unknown by the more unknown- ignotum per ignotius-that is, by God. That is a confession of his subjection, his imperfection, and his dependence; but at the same time a testimony to his freedom to choose between truth and error.
   If we understand and feel that here in this life we already have a link with the infinite, desires and attitudes change.



3. As much as I would have liked to learn about Jung's life I just couldn' finish this book. Jung comes across as so incredibly self-absorbed - it's only me, I, me, I and me again. He writes hundreds of pages about his most detailed inner experiences, yet there is not a single word about his relationship to his wife, children and mistresses. If I hadn't known that he was married with five children I would have assumed he was a complete hermit. Loving relationships seem to have meant nothing to this man. I honestly wonder how he could have been a good therapist. I also wonder why so many women have followed his teachings when quite obviously he held them in such low regard. I only hope that the reality was better than this book makes him out to be.



4. Wow!
   
   I've always admired Carl Gustav Jung, and this book, a biography of his inner life, has helped me to understand him much better. It was fascinating to read about his boyhood, his adolescence, his days as a student, his time as a doctor (most all of his adult life) and his travels. And the best part was the insights he shared about his inner life.
   
   Perhaps the biggest surprise in reading this book was the extent to which I identified with him. As a child I had a rich imagination and sometimes thought that I was some kind of an odd-wad. And like Jung, not only did I have trouble with algebra when I was in junior high, I also, like Jung, had thought it was a plot! It was nice to find out that a highly intelligent person like Jung had experienced many just-like-it-only-different events as I had.
   
   The biggest thing I appreciate about Carl Jung is his attitude towards the individual. I think he has one of the best treatments of individualism that I've read. The "individuating" process he outlines will make us better members of the community. Like Jung, I have always felt that the community is only as healthy as the individuals in it.
   
   I continue to learn about his approach to dreams and to learn new insights from this book. It's very much worth reading.



5. "Memories, Dreams, Reflections" is the most insightful autobiography of Carl G. Jung's life and his humble experiences. I have read his other works, including Man and His Symbols and Dreams, and never fully understand them until I read this last book of his to which brings it all together in terms of his scientific approach. This 400-page book is a window into his inner world, and it is such a remarkable read.
   
   In this book, Jung revealed much wisdom and insights from his early years up to his remainder of his life. One even can learn about oneself from his life. It is very much worth reading. It is both fascinating and inspiring.
   
   My favorite line of Jung from this book:
   
   "As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being."

5 comments about The Seven Storey Mountain.

1. The Seven Storey Mountain is a true classic written by a humble genius. It is extremely well written and laid out. Thomas Merton being a highly intelligent man wrote it is a highly intelligent manner, and you can not help but sink into his wonderful narrative style and logical manner. It was written over half a century though and I at times had to reread sections because his writing style and use of words was not very familiar to me, and I wanted to insure I was understanding what he was saying.
   
   What really sets the Seven Storey Mountain apart is it gets better after reading it. It is often times in the years after my first read where idea and seeds that were planted when I first read the novel make themselves known. Thomas' search and discovery for religion and purpose will appeal to a wide audience, not just the uber religious. It is a wonderful novel of self discovery and change.



2. I just bought a copy of this book. It is so beautiful I finished reading
   it word for word from cover to cover in 2 days. I am hooked on Thomas Merton! Looking forward to more of his works.



3. This excellent book has been on my 'must-buy'list for some time. It is beautifully written - goes straight to the heart. I have read it twice, and always find something new, and interesting. ( I had the advantage of a borrowed copy). I read in the'Note to the reader'at the beginning of
   the book that some would have difficulty in understanding the 'outdated religious atmosphere' that pervades the book. I think that the reader would find it a part of its charm (if that is the word).



4. "The Seven Storey Mountain" is that rarest of gems: an articulate book about a lifelong spiritual quest.
   
   Its author, Thomas Merton, tells the story of his life, how his vague unease about spiritual questions eventually led him not only to Catholicism but to the narrow walls of a Trappist monastery in Kentucky.
   
   The writing is rich and thoughtful. Whatever your opinion of Merton's conclusions, you find yourself admiring his bravery and honesty.
   
   Surprisingly, the book is actually quite the multi-textured rumination on life in America in mid-century as much as it is the story of Merton's life. His gallery of characters and evocative prose never disappoint. Here's a sample:
   
   "It was a bright, icy-cold afternoon when, having passed Nantucket Light, we first saw the long, low, yellow shoreline of Long Island shining palely in the December sun. But when we entered New York harbor the lights were already coming on, glittering like jewels in the hard, clear buildings. The great, debonair city that was both young and old, and wise and innocent, shouted in the winter night as we passed the Battery and started up the North River. And I was glad, very glad to be an immigrant once again." (p. 151)
   
   I would recommend "The Seven Storey Mountain" to anybody who finds himself restless about spiritual matters, even if he has no particular interest in Catholicism or even Christianity. The book's reach is much deeper than that.



5. 
   
   Today I delivered a gift copy of this book to a widow, "Grace" whose husband had been my late father's closest childhood friend. A week earlier, Grace had asked: "Have you ever read Thomas Merton's SEVEN STOREY MOUNTAIN? I read it in 1953; and found it very moving. I'd love to find a copy and read it again."
   
   When I presented her with a new copy of this edition, I asked if I could read aloud my favorite passage (early in the book) concerning Thomas Merton's `little brother' John Paul (five years younger) who, like his older brother was a French-born, American citizen.
   
   Late in the book Thomas Merton tells us how John Paul was compelled early in WWII to join the Royal Canadian Air Force (and trained right here in Manitoba! John Paul Merton had been flying bombing runs over a real sandy desert on the prairie just outside nearby Camp Shilo, where today's Canadian Artillery Officers still train. My late father was flown at Canadian Army expense each year, late in life, to address the graduating officers at that camp: Small world!)
   
   Just before leaving for overseas, John Paul flew to see his older brother Thomas and, not incidentally, be Baptized, and welcomed into the Catholic faith. Then he left for England (and was killed in action the next year, when his RAF bomber went down over the English Channel).
   
   His death provides the moving culmination to this book - bringing the reader `full circle' from the moment (back on page 25) when Thomas Merton introduces us to John Paul. (What follows is the passage that moves me to tears when I read it aloud to a friend.)
   
   ------
   
   "One thing I would say about my brother, John Paul: My most vivid memories of him, in our childhood, all fill me with poignant compunction at the thought of my own hard-heartedness, and his natural humility and love.
   
   "I suppose it's usual for elder brothers, when they are still children, to feel themselves demeaned by the company of a brother, four or five years younger, whom they regard as a baby, and tend to patronize and look down upon.
   
   "So when Russ and Bill and I (older brothers all) made huts in the woods out of boards and tar paper . . . we severely prohibited John Paul, and Russ' younger brother Tommy and their friends from coming anywhere near us. If they did try to come and get into our hut, or even to look at it, we would chase them away with stones.
   
   "When I think now about that part of my childhood, the picture I get of my brother John Paul is this: standing in a field a hundred yards away from our hut, is this little perplexed five-year-old kid in short pants and a kind of leather jacket, standing quite still; his arms hanging down at his sides.
   
   "He is gazing in our direction, afraid to come any nearer on account of the stones, as insulted as he is saddened, and his eyes full of indignation and sorrow. And yet he does not go away. We shout at him to go away, beat it, go home, and wing a couple more rocks in that direction. We tell him to play some other place. He does not move.
   
   "And there he stands, not sobbing, not crying, but angry and unhappy and offended and tremendously sad. And yet he is fascinated by what we are doing, nailing shingles all over our new hut. And his tremendous desire to be with us and to do what we are doing will not permit him to go away.
   
   "The law written in his nature tells him he must be with his elder brother and do what he is doing, and he cannot understand why this law of love is being so wildly and unjustly violated in his case.
   
   "Many times are like that, and in a sense, this terrible situation is the pattern and prototype of all sin: the deliberate and formal will to reject disinterested love for us, for the purely arbitrary reason that we simply do not want it. We `will' to separate ourselves from that love; we reject it entirely and absolutely, and will not acknowledge it, because it does not please us to be loved . . . "
   
   [Thomas Merton immediately recalls an astounding event] "when our `gang' tried to antagonize the extremely tough Polish kids who had formed a gang in nearby Little Neck (approaching their headquarters) and "from a very safe distance we would challenge them to come out and fight" (but) "nobody came out - perhaps (that day) there was nobody home."
   
   But then came the day, Merton recalls, "one cold and rainy afternoon, when we observed that numbers of large and small figures, varying in age from 10 to 16, most of them very brawny" gathered outside the Merton home, "20 or 25 of them. There were four of us."[hiding inside].
   
   "The climax of the situation came when Frieda, our German maid, told us that she was very busy with housecleaning and we must all get out of the house immediately. Without listening to our extremely nervous protests, she chased us out the back way . . . we made our way through back yards to the safety of Bill's house" [a block away, with a clear view across a field, of the Merton home].
   
   "And then an extraordinary thing happened. The front door of our house opened. My little brother John Paul came walking down the steps with a certain amount of dignity and calm. He crossed the street (and) walked toward the Little Neck gang. They all turned towards him. He kept on walking and walked right into the middle of them.
   
   "One or two of them took their hands out of their pockets. John Paul just looked at them, turning his head to one side and then the other. And he walked through the middle of them and no one ever touched him.
   
   "And so he came to the house where we were. We did not chase him away."
   
   -------
   
   The book closes with a poem written by Thomas Merton upon learning of his brother's death in the North Sea: "I learned that John Paul was severely injured in the crash but managed to keep himself afloat, even tried to support the pilot who was already dead.
   
   "He was very badly hurt; maybe his neck was broken. He lay in the bottom of the dinghy in delirium. He was terribly thirsty. He kept asking for water. But they didn't have any. It didn't last too long. He had three hours of it and then he died. His companions had more to suffer, and were finally picked up and taken to safety five days later. On the fourth day they had buried John Paul at sea."
   
   The chapter concludes with Thomas Merton's poetic requiem for his "dear brother" asking their Maker to,
   
   "Take my breath . . .
   and buy yourself a better death . . .
   And buy you back to your own land
   The silence of Whose tears shall fall
   Like bells upon your alien tomb.
   Hear them and come,
   They call you home."
   
   Thomas Merton died 40 years ago (on the 20th anniversary of his book's first publishing) while attending a conference of Eastern and Western monks in Thailand (electrocuted by a faulty table lamp in his Bangkok hotel room).
   
   This "Fiftieth Anniversary Edition" includes a delightful "Note to the Reader" from William H. Shannon, founding president of the International Thomas Merton Society, who recalls that, from the very first day in print (October 4, 1948) the book was "an instant success: Hailed as a modern day version of the `CONFESSIONS' of St. Augustine, it has continued to sell and sell and sell."
   
   As Evelyn Waugh, no easy critic, wrote prophetically: It "might well prove to be of permanent interest in the history of religious experience."
   
   Buy a copy and see for yourself (I highly recommend this edition).
   
   Mark Blackburn
   Winnipeg Canada

5 comments about In the Eye of the Storm: Swept to the Center by God.

1. Gene Robinson is known worldwide for one thing - his sexuality - and this book seeks to show that his ministry is rather more than just being part of the storm over gay priests in the Anglican church. The book is a series of reflections on different aspects of ministry, not offered in any particularly logical order but growing out of his experiences as a priest and then bishop over three decades. It's not an autobiography and there are many parts of his life alluded to but not really explained; instead he uses the pages to show how people's attitudes towards gay and lesbian people can be similar to those towards women, non-whites and disabled people, and how difficult it is to know, if we are part of a majority group, what it's like to be in the minority and how hard it can be to be treated fairly.
   
   What's remarkable about the book is the way in which Gene Robinson does not come across as bitter against his many detractors; he sees his ministry as the most important and overriding thing, such as in the local women's prison where he is a regular visitor. The final chapter, discussing the forthcoming Lambeth concert in 2008, is a plea for those in the church to genuinely listen to lesbian and gay members but is a plea that appears to have fallen on deaf ears. This is a sobering and at times moving book which doesn't really seek to discuss the issue of homosexuality and the Bible per se, but more looks at congregations in the church, Jesus's words that all are welcome, the difficulties for homosexual people within the church and the need for genuine discussion about the issues.



2. Outstanding reading. Bishop Robinson combines his knowledge of things biblical with compassion and wit; honesty and reverence. This mans gift of humaneness, logic and loving leadership are outstanding. To those dedicated but errant followers of the old way I say, "Wake up and smell the coffee." This is our chance to be part of a challenginly new and honestly loving rebirth of our church..



3. Even if you're not Anglican/Episcopalian, or not even Christian this book is definately an important read. At it's heart is the real life experience of what it's like to be a person who has integrated sex, intimacy and love facing down institutions led by people who can't even imagine sex, intimacy and love together. Gene Robinson stumbles into an age old conflict in the church. Celebacy, amputating one's sexuality to achieve holiness vs. the idea that God (being love) is always present in the love between sexually bonded couples. Is Christianity an anti-sex cult that holds that love making can not exist in human sexuality and only reproduction can justify it? Or will Christians embrace the idea that God IS love and all love comes from God including sexual intimacy? Gene's story puts the reader in a very interesting place to view the question of whether making love is holy, God filled and inspired or whether it's vile, the enemy of holy love and only the possibility of reproduction make it acceptable for people trying to live good lives.



4. Bishop Robinson has written a book that is filled with faith, hope and joy! The day I recieved it, I read it cover to cover. I reread it 3 times before I lent it to my Mom.
   He covers the subject of homophobic behavior by the Anglican Church and other's by reminding us, of Jesus's constant reminders "to love one another and to forgive each other, not 7x7,but 70x7".



5. Gene Robinson's book is a must read for people of all circumstances. He compassionately tells his story and that of his Biblical understanding with regard to the love Jesus came to tell of and asked us to live out.
   Before you draw conclusions or are held back by preconceived notions about this subject, please read the "human" side of this devout, deeply Christian man.
   Robinson lives out his faith and accepts the challenges he has been given as a child of God. This is a call for us to make our way into a more compassionate response to this and others who seek to live out their faith as God has called them and us to do.

5 comments about Hollywood Babylon--It's Back.

1. I really enjoyed this book! It was a great follow-up to Hollywood Babylon. There are lots of secrets revealed. I recommend it to everyone.



2. I definitely enjoyed KENNETH ANGER's two books that this book is riding the coattails of. I also enjoy gossipy tell-alls, and have no problem with a tall tale. However, HOLLYWOOD BABYLON IT'S BACK is dubious trashy tidbits, obsessed with celebrity endowments, apparently written over many years, and poorly cobbled together with no real editor's discerning eye. Stars of yesteryear are "quoted" amusingly and then the same "quotes" are retooled with the essential tidbits changed to suit another chapter. NICK ADAMS' reputation is mercilessly trashed, and inaccurately (uhm... how could he have been servicing ELVIS when THE KING was watching the moon landing? ADAMS had been dead nearly a year and a half, as the book itself reports!!) Every stupid, groundless rumor you've ever heard about dead stars is offered as fact, though not a single principal is left to defend themselves. Half of Hollywood is gay and the other half bisexual, and the authors enjoy pointing out who did NOT have an affair with who as if that is intended to lend credibility to the incredible. Over 350 pages, by page 126, I was appalled! Here's a quote: "In 1951 (HARRY) COHN offered (LUCILLE BALL) a trashy part in The Magic Carpet...With her commitments at Columbia finished, LUCILLE landed at RKO in 1935." So LUCILLE BALL finished up at Columbia in the early 1950s and "landed" at RKO in 1935...? Huh? I don't think these authors or their editor went over this book very well to at least cleanup the contradictions and obvious errors. This could have been better, but instead, HOLLYWOOD BABYLON IT'S BACK makes BOZE HADLEIGH appear reliable.



3. I enloyed this book because I could relate to all of the people discussed. I have been a movie fan (films of the 20', 30's and 40's) for over 60 years I was shocked to read how most of my favorite stars acted. Hollywood, during that peroid, was nothing but a glamorized whorehouse. Stars, no matter how famous or unknown, had to sleep with director, producers or anyone else connected with the making of a film, to get parts.
   
   The most shocking, to me anyway, was how Lucille Ball said "She never met a man she didn't sleep with. And her husband Desie Arnes was no better. I enjoyed the many photographs, nudes included, of the stars and other people involved in the picture business. I really couldn't put the book down.............



4. I would like to apologize to the trees who gave their lives for this piece of trash. The pictures are either dark, blurry or worse, obviously photoshopped. There are items written as fact, which were proved to be false years before this piece of trash was thrown together. Some stories are so completely made up it's embarrassingly obvious no thought was given to making them even appear to be honest or true. This "book" is quite simply, nothing but trash. Save your money and buy Globe Magazine or the National Enquirer. You'll get alot more honesty in journalism from either of these supermarket rags. I was looking for reliable, well researched, entertainment history. Instead I received a book with obvious mistakes, pictures clearly "put together" and essenitally stories without any credible references at all. Hollywood Babylon -- It's Back is a long and nasty tabloid, in the worst sense of the word. What a waste of money!



5. Honestly didnt like this book too much, almost sent it back. Just flipped through it, bit too gory for me.

5 comments about My Life With the Saints.

1. This book was not for myself. I was asked to order it for a relation of mine who is a catholic priest. He was quite pleased with it.Its a nice pleasent read he says. If you are into reading the history of the church or the life of the saints this book is for you.



2. James Martin gives us brief biographies of many saints (some canonized, some not) interspersed with his accounts of how these saints have been present in his own life. It's an excellent introduction to these saints. The bios are short, hitting the highlights of how they became saints, but well-written and still able to convey a full life. His own memoirs are spiritual and entertaining. It's nice to find a book that is light and easy to read that still has something more important to offer. This one is definitely worthwhile.
   
   Amanda Hamm, author of Dear Jane Letters



3. This author and book are absolutely fantastic. I have been recommending this book to every person I know. I thank God for James Martin, SJ and and for the Saints.



4. I love this book for two reasons:
   1. It makes the saints acessible.
   2. It makes religious life, like James Martin's, sound exciting and, dare I say, FUN!
   
   1) It makes saints accessible. They are unique - each with their own faults (mostly the dudes). I feel like I can relate to them, just like Martin does in this book. He connects their struggles to his, their strengths to his.
   
   2) James makes religious life sound so fun! It's not second rate to the married life, as Martin believed (and I). One instance he's at a retreat running, literally, with his buddies to the next contemplative service, laughing along the way; another time he talks about really good cheese at St. Merton's monastery in Kentucky. James is the kind of guy who's cool to grab a beer with and watch a movie.
   
   I'm not done with the book yet. But I'm loving it! James, good work.
   
   PS "I'm a Saint in the Making" is a song by Jacob and Matthew



5. Father Martin has given us a personal look at his relationships with the saints included in this collection. For everyone who grew up with the idea that saints were holy-card perfect, this book provides a healthy alternative look at people whom we all might hope to imitate. His approach--to include those holy men and women (some not yet canonized) who play a personal role in his own life--is a helpful way to consider the communion of saints. Highest recommendation.

3 comments about Gaspipe: Confessions of a Mafia Boss.

1. I got this book July 1st AM (the day it was released) and once I started reading it I couldnt put the book down.
   
   What I like about the authors style is he never sits on one subject too long and there isnt a moment that I feel like saying "oh this is getting boring".
   
   Being from Brooklyn NY and reading the local newspapers all the time I thought I knew everything there is to know about gaspipe but this book really blew my mind, real stories real crimes that happened not too long ago and the author is very strict about giveng details like street names and other data bringing the book to life even more.



2. ***************************************************************** ANTHONY "GASPIPE" CASSO, FORMER HEAD OF THE LUCCHESE CRIME FAMILY IS CURRENTLY SERVING *THIRTEEN* CONSECUTIVE LIFE-SENTENCES "PLUS" 455 YEARS IN THE ADX FLORENCE PRISON, THE SUPERMAX PRISON IN FLORENCE, COLORADO.
   ******************************************************************
   
   Anthony was born into the "life", a synonym for being a Mafioso. His Father, Michael Casso's nickname was "Gaspipe" because he always carried an eight-inch length of lead gaspipe that he used like a blackjack, or held in his fist to add additional destructive power when he threw a punch. Anthony inherited his Father's nickname and it was attached to him for life. His Father took him everywhere with him including the mafia "social-clubs" where he learned firsthand how a man of "respect" was treated. Anthony said "his best friend in life was indisputably his Father." It was only natural that while other kids his age dreamed of being doctors, lawyers, or firemen, Anthony dreamed of being a "made-man". "Gaspipe" became part of an organization filled with men with names like: "Kid Blast", "Crazy Joe", "Ducks", "Mad Dog", "Blackout", "The Horse", "Sally Dee", "Beansy", "The Bull", "Fat Pete", "The Bug", "Pep", "The Iceman", "Quack Quack", "The Chin", and countless others.
   
   "Gaspipe" grew from an independent criminal with his own crew originally specializing in "B&E" (breaking and entering) into a full-service killing/torturing/bank-robbing/money-making machine whose talents were highly coveted by all the mafia families. Despite offers from multiple "families" "Gaspipe" chose the Lucchese family. In rapid fashion "Gaspipe" became known as a man of his word who shouldn't be messed with, as he would just as soon kill you, as allow you to become a bothersome loose end he may have to fret about. Just as important as all of that, is the fact that he became an envied "EARNER". By the very nature of the way the mafia did business, it would be logical that the La Cosa Nostra would be infested with cold-blooded murderer's... but within this select group Casso stood out, and was feared and respected as a "SECRET SWEEPER." "GASPIPE" KILLED THOSE WITHIN THE MAFIA'S COMMUNITY WHO NEEDED KILLING. HE WAS "A-KILLER-OF-KILLERS". Concurrently with the rapidly growing number of murders, Casso like most other "made-men" were loving Fathers and husbands, and families were always of utmost importance, creating perhaps the greatest dichotomy within the La Cosa Nostra.
   
   The mafia commission did not want any of the families involved in drugs. Not because of any altruistic values, but because the punishment was too severe. One mafia member "faced twenty to twenty-five years in jail-basically a life sentence" for selling a pound of coke. The old-school mafia leaders felt men so condemned, would be tempted to turn on their own. Despite the mafia ban on drugs, many members sold drugs "off-the-record", and none did it more successfully than "Gaspipe"! He was selling so much grass, cocaine and heroin, that "he bought three shrimp trawlers to bring more grass over from South America, and trucks with secret compartments to transport the grass. He even bought a 707 cargo plane to bring drugs over from South America. This was in addition to his growing fortune from his B&E crew, loan sharking, drug dealing, no-show jobs at the docks, and an interest in five after-hour clubs.
   
   The mafia was starting to change, as unauthorized internal "hits", such as the John Gotti organized murder of Gambino boss Paul Castellano highlighted; century old rules were being broken. A power struggle between Gotti and "Gaspipe" that involved respect and old-school ways, as much as anything else, led to a failed assassination attempt on September 16, 1986 when Casso was shot six times, but "Gaspipe" escaped death. "Gaspipe's" plan of "REVENGE" included mafia "owned" cops and mafia "owned" FBI agents leading "Gaspipe" to the failed assassin. Twenty-two days later the "mafia-cops" delivered a car to Casso with a package in the trunk. Casso drove the car with his gift in the trunk to a "safe-house" and opened the trunk. "Trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey was a big, blonde-headed man. His wrists and ankles were cuffed tightly, his mouth taped shut. When he saw Casso, his eyes nearly popped out of his head, cartoonlike." Casso lifted him out of the trunk, carried him into the house, and laid him on a tarp covered floor. "Gaspipe" would not rest till he found out who ordered the "hit". "He took out a knife and cut off the victim's clothes. He drew out a 16 shot .22 automatic fitted with a silencer. He didn't want to kill him, but he wanted to make him suffer, make him talk." "With a hand as steady as a diamond cutter's, Casso began the torture. The first bullet he put through the victim's left kneecap, the next through his right knee, and the third through the space midway between his ankle and knee. POW! POW! Suddenly there were bullet holes in each of the victim's shins. He then took aim at the space where Christ had been crucified, the area just above the metatarsals, and fired. The man furiously twisted and turned to no avail. The amazingly well-placed .22 slugs continued to drill holes in him-the left and right elbows, the wrists, and the shoulders were pierced. Satisfied that he had hit most of the major bones of the man's body, Casso moved on to his large muscles. He shot holes in the biceps, the calves, the thick thigh muscles. He then scrupulously took sight of the folded mushroom that was his "manhood". He pulled the trigger. The man's shriveled up sex organ seemed to explode. It was suddenly no more. Calmly Casso reloaded the gun. He would leave the man alone for a while; he'd allow the wounds to swell and fester, the symphony of pain to begin... a Beethoven's fifth of suffering." "Silently, with the quiet stealth of a large cat, Casso turned and walked away, feeling whole and complete for the first time since he'd been shot. When, several hours later, Casso returned, be began the questioning... "WHO", he demanded in little more than a growl, "hired you?"
   
   Today the mafia is basically no more. What happened? The simple code... the entire heart... of what the entire mafia had been built on... oh so many years ago... the most powerful word in organized crime for generations... **** "OMERTA" **** "THE CODE OF SILENCE"****... existed no more! More Mafia rats began "singing" in the last decade-and-a-half, than had sung in every opera since time immemorial. If only all the "made-men" and their associates had truly taken to heart the old organized crime mantra:
   
   ********************************************************************
   "IF ALL THE FISH IN THE SEA KEPT THEIR MOUTHS SHUT, THEY'D NEVER GET CAUGHT!"
   *******************************************************************



3. this book is very poorly written. i thought there was gonna be a long interview with gaspipe, no. Author just wrote about what was wrote in the book 5 families. I wish i could get my money back. nothing exclusive or anthing new. It stinks.The author is like proud of the killer to its weird. dates and peoples names are all screwed up. bad editor. dont waste your money

5 comments about The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn.

1. I think that this book was very infomative. I didn't need to do anymore research to find the answers I was looking for. This book had it all.



2. Eric Ives's book about Anne Boleyn is absolutely the best study of her life and death I have ever read -- and I've read quite a few. Finally, Henry VIII's rejection of his "entirely beloved wife" makes sense, given the whole story of Anne's involvement with the religious reformers; the factions at court; and the loss of power that Thomas Cromwell faced because of her. Ives's depiction of Cromwell's engineering of Anne's arrest reads like a thriller. It was not as simple as Henry's wandering eye and Anne's "miscarriage of her savior". A very complex and moving book.
   
   Caitlin Scott-Turner
   (author, The Queen's Fencer)The Queen's Fencer



3. From all the books I've ready about Anne Boleyn, this is by the far the best in all aspects. Ives really gives the reader an inside glimpse as to who Anne Boleyn was and not just known as the second Queen of England that brought down Katherine of Aragon and was beheaded. I would recommend this book highly to any avid readers of Tudor history. Excellent, factual and well-researched!



4. If you are interested in historical content as well as an interesting read then this book is for you. If you were lucky enough to watch Showtime's "The Tudors" it makes the book even more enjoyable. While Showtime took certain historical liberties with the series, the book does not. It is a definite page turner. Mr. Ives has managed to help the reader appreciate this particular period of history that comes alive with the cast of characters, intrigue, love and death. Well done Mr. Ives.



5. Anne Boleyn continues to fascinate. A woman of wit, intelligence and a feminist in her time. She won a king's heart but incurred his wrath. A life cut short, a child deprived of her mother. A true tale of intrigue, corruption and manipulation. A cast of interesting characters vieing for power, wealth and fame.