5 comments about If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor.

1. If you want intreague, laughs, and weather your a Campbell fan like myself or not this book can be enjoyed on so many levels. Best book i've ever read.



2. Campbell, Bruce. "If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor". LA Weekly, 2002.
   
   What a Book!
   
   Amos Lassen
   
   Bruce Campbell has written quite a book with "If Chins Could Kill". He writes as if we are having a conversation with him and he gives some very interesting and provocative information.
   Campbell begins with his childhood in Michigan and how the Raimi brothers transformed his life when he was still in high school. He tells us of the various friends he had as a kid and about backstabbing and betrayals which probably are the reason as to why he never became a big star. Eventually he and the Raimis got together and began to produce "The Evil Dread" which quickly became a cult horror classic.
   Campbell has no glamour whatsoever but he is a ham. He does his own stunts, has never studied acting yet he has had a job in the film industry for almost 30 years. He is a hard worker and few of us have any idea of who he is except for those that make "B" movies. In his book he shows us blue collar Hollywood. He is offbeat and he works cheap--but, he works. Campbell makes no pretense about being a god writer but he is honest.
   In following Campbell's career, he tends to be a little private about his personal life but wide open about his career. I have the feeling that he is a very human and down to earth guy. His book is funny and satiric and I had a great time reading it.



3. I gave this as a gift to a friend who is a HUGE Bruce Campbell fan.
   She loved it! Definitely worth checking out for anyone who enjoys his work. Hilarious guy, Awesome book!



4. Such a great read, I mustve recommended it to at least 100 people who have all enjoyed it. Such a fun time to be had making your way through this one. I love the emails from fans he has included too. Also the paperback has a bonus chapter updating you on his book tour from when the hardback came out.



5. Great background info on the making of everything up to and including Evil Dead (well, and many subsequent flicks and tv shows). Campbell, silly to the core with serious on the side, celebrates the B movie world in all of its glory. Lots of fun facts about Sam Raimi included. I'm guessing, though, that a reader's enjoyment of this material is directly proportional to his/her appreciation level of Campbell's ouvre (i.e., not for everyone, but if you get a kick out of Cambpell, it's a must-read).

5 comments about The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir.

1. This book is an adventure story and a brilliant love story. I was very touched and enlightened reading this book. Ms Yang is a very talented writer because she is able to write from her heart without being overly dramatic or sentimental. I live in Thailand and attend the Hmong New Year festival in the mountains each year with my husband. From time to time we meet Hmong people from Minnesota and wonder about them. This book has done a great deal for my understanding the who's, what's, and why's of their lives. With writers like Ms Yang I have greater hope for the world and for families and for literature in general.
   Thank you,
   Pat Riblet



2. This is a stunning book, beautifully written by a courageous, young woman with incredible talent as a writer. The best non-fiction book I've read this year and I read a lot of them. Kalia shares the emotional and physical realities of her family's life in Laos during the secret war and the attempted genocide of her Hmong people, the difficulties of life as a refugee and the camps where they live, and the immigrant experience in adjusting to a very different life in America. Also a fascinating insight into the culture of a group that is overlooked in the immigrant stories and experience in the US.



3. Living as a young child in a Hmong refugee camp in Thailand in the 1980s, Kao Kalia Yang says she "discovered the shapes of stories, how to remember them, and how to tell them." Her memoir, The Latehomecomer, is a heartrending account of those stories, from her parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins and siblings--a chronicle of a people who "had not had the opportunity to write their stories down" and whose history is shamefully absent from American accounts of the Vietnam War. The Latehomecomer is also an insightful narrative of Yang's own formation: an émigré becoming an American and a sad, silent child becoming a writer of remarkable wisdom.
   
   The Latehomecomer is a triumph--a testimony to the most beautiful and the most terrible of our humanity. Yang writes with the confidence of one who knows that her family's story is one worth telling. Her story is compelling in its scope of historical events alone. It is a must-read for its lucid portrayal of Hmong immigrants, the lasting effects of the Vietnam War, and the struggles of a people betrayed by our nation's failures during and after that war. But what makes Yang's memoir astonishingly beautiful is the rendering of those events by someone who has been learning from her first years of life how to be a truly gifted storyteller.



4. The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir
   
   The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir
   
   The Hmong are an indigenous Lao people who were uprooted after the Vietnam War. Many of them immigrated to the upper Midwestern United States, where they encountered culture shock, rejection and sometimes violence. In her intimate memoir "The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir" Kao Kalia Yang recounts her experiences coming to Minnesota in the 1970's. She and her sister spoke no English and couldn't read, so they were shunted from school to school. Her family was placed in a converted military barracks with other refugees. Relying on clan and family associations, they established their own diaspora. Food, clothing and transportation were in short supply.
   The experience of the Hmong mirrors that of many immigrants, from those who arrived from Russia, Poland and Ireland in the first wave of immigration in the last centtury to those now arriving from Mexico, El Salvador and the Caribbean.
   Like the second and third generation of other immigrants, the Hmong have established themselves in the professions, academia and business. Yang herself graduated from college and graduate school and has a start-up business providing service to other immigrants. She has written a heartfelt and moving memoir of her life as a refugee from the tropics of Southeast Asia to the snowswept prairies and lakes of Minnesota. I highly recommend her book, as well as "I Begin My Life All Over: The Hmong and the American Immigrant Experience."
   I Begin My Life All Over: The Hmong and the American Immigrant Experience



5. If you're Hmong, it's a must read. If you're not, it's still a must read.
   
   Why? Yang's writing style warms the heart and soul. The personal journey, the family journey, and the journey of reading this book will make many of us a better human being--for it reminds most of us of the things we forget: life is precious, family is precious, and the ability to turn one's dream (publishing the book) into a reality that others are touched by is too, precious...and priceless.
   
   Looking forward to the next book.
   
   Patch Xiong

5 comments about Life Laughs: The Naked Truth about Motherhood, Marriage, and Moving On.

1. I finished this book in two days it was that funny. I even told my husband some of the stories from the book! I won't go into much , just read the book!



2. This book is a laugh out loud kinda book. I think it can be enjoyed by anyone!



3. Jenny is refreshingly honest, and blunt about life. The fun of it is even if we don't have the courage to talk of these issues, we know we have been through some or all of them.



4. this is a great book. i have never laughed so much while reading a book. lots of real life everyday, big and small issues and she makes you laugh about them and you will nod your head in agreement to so much of it! i love it



5. I loved this book. It had so many true parts in it, yet had such a funny way of talking about them. If you need a good laugh you have to read this book. She has such a way with writing. I just love her books.

5 comments about My Trip Down the Pink Carpet.

1. I am one of the survivors of the same generation as Mr. Jordan, even though we are in different walks of life and living in very different communities. I'm impressed with the author's ability to tell a story from his life with such accuracy while being both moving and funny. I hope volume two is on the horizon.



2. This was definitely a fun read. Little man, big character, voicing what's lost and gained in life through struggles of sexuality, drugs, sobriety and spirituality. Being a gay man myself, the only non-funny part about this read was my own life reflected. Not yet sober, still falling, but the gravity always gets lighter with each new edification. The last chapter of this book really struck home. No better way though, than to deliver our blunders in a light of comedy. I hope to be as strong as this man someday.
   
   Thanks, Leslie.



3. A very funny and quick summer read. I picked it up in the morning and had finished it that same evening. I found myself laughing outloud several times. Tons of fun



4. the stories are very funny, and I enjoyed the book. Even though the name dropping gets a little deep, his charm goes a long way! Buy this book, it really is a great glimpse into leslie jordans life, and you get to see some famous people from a different point of view.



5. Whilst most TV audiences may only know the very gifted comic actor Mr Leslie Jordan as a regular guest star on "Will & Grace" (for which he won an Emmy Award) and "Boston Legal", there is oh so much more to him, as he reveals in his "autobiography" - MY TRIP DOWN THE PINK CARPET. The openly gay actor has had a very diverse career on stage, film and television. But indeed his life off the stage & screen has certainly been a wild ride, and one well worth documenting. Brought up as a Christian in the Deep South, self-tortured by his gay demons and unlucky in love, he turned to a variety of addictive substances that he thought would help him cope with life. Welcome to Hollywood! But he rose above all of that and now has his life and career well and truly back on track. He is happy and comfortable with who he is. As Mr Jordan says in his book, the secret of a healthy life is learning to love oneself. For those who like showbiz autobiographies - this is a great read. For those who might be having trouble coming to terms with their sexuality - this is a MUST read!

5 comments about The Long Loneliness.

1. I was required to read this book for school this summer and it was by far the worst book I have read in my life. Its only a 280 page book, but her style of writing makes it seem as if it was about a thousand. She fills the book with useless information (i.e. she writes an in depth account of a cover of a book her brother brought home one day and then wonders what it was about. That was completely pointless and failed to advance the plot at all.) Instead of sticking to the core story, which might have been interesting she rambles off about random occurences constantly.



2. Catholic faith fascinates people. How did her spiritual life develop, and how did it influence the remainder of her life? Many wonderful authors, including but not limited to people such as William Miller, Robert Coles, and most recently Paul Elie, have written extensively about Dorothy Day and help us understand this amazing and complex woman, but nothing is more rewarding than reading the writings of Day herself.

   THE LONG LONELINESS is a classic spiritual tome and is often referred to as Day's spiritual autobiography. In many ways it is similar to Thomas Merton's SEVEN STOREY MOUNTAIN, and it is easily a close second in popularity with many Catholics. Though Day's writing style is much drier than Merton's writing and her story is not quite as spellbinding as the artist and aspiring writer turned monk, the reader can sense God working powerfully in Day's life. If the book were published today, it would probably be categorized as a memoir, rather than an autobiography since day does not as much tell her story as reflect on how God called her to a life of faith.

   The book is a "must read" for anyone who loves and admires Dorothy Day. It is also a book that will interest people interested in religious social activism. Yet the book may speak most powerfully to those who are on a spiritual quest themselves, either knowingly or unknowingly.




3. This book is Dorothy Day's own autobiography. I know she was a remarkable woman. Everything that I have seen and heard about her has been outstanding. I was excited when I found this book.
   However, I felt disappointed by this book. It was rather boring and dry. Dorothy must have been very humble, because she writes about herself in a mundane fashion. It sounds like this is the diary account of her life. I guess she must not have realized how heroic she really was. She also experienced significant pain and isolation in her life, hence the title.



4. "The Long Loneliness," is one of the most enriching testimonies of an individual's search and discovery of faith that I have ever read, although I found the first 60 pages a bit slow (about her background and coming of age). I am very happy I persevered, because it only got better and more inspirational, as she began to perceive glimpses of God and tried to learn how best to follow Him.
   
   Dorothy Day was a journalist who lived in the early 1900s and died in 1980. She was raised an agnostic. Her family did not practice a religion. Early in her life she attended churches with neighbors, and loved the feeling of communal worship, but felt discouraged by so many people who attended church only on Sunday and thought that was the end of their religious obligation to others.
   
   An early memory that had a great impact on her was an earthquake during her childhood, in which the families who retained their houses opened their homes to those who had lost theirs, and the community banded together to help each other in brotherly love. She lived her life searching for this sense of community. During her college years she began an activist involved in political causes such as women's voting rights, and labor rights for women and children, and had sympathies with communist organizations, that, from her perspective, seemed to assist the needs of the poor more than any Christian church.
   
   This is a conversion story, much similar to Thomas Merton's "Seven Story Mountain," but which inspired me much more than his good work. She felt an incredible need to worship God, so much that she believes that human beings have a deep psychological need to worship and when their devotion is misplaced on humans rather than the divine, it is a recipe for disaster. The First World War and the Great Depression was the background for her conversion. She worked as a nurse during the War and began attending church with a colleague, but latter returned to writing in an environment where there was less church, but she continued to pray.
   
   She had a common law marriage with a man, whom she loved dearly, but when she became pregnant, she decided that she must have the child baptized so that her daughter would not experience the lack of spiritual support that caused her so much confusion and soul searching. She felt such great love durign her preganancy, that she believed she required a supernatural channel to channel the love. She had hoped to enter a church with her partner as a marriage before God, but he was adamantly opposed to religion and perceived it as a form of imperialism. She left him with her daughter, in order to follow a life that she believed would be pleasing to God. It was not an easy situation for her, as she had hoped for a traditional life, and being a single mother is never and easy vocation in any time period. The anguish she described when she reached the conclusion of what she must do was only a page but it moved me to tears. The situation that the decision evoked was not easy, but reaching the decision for her seemed to be a simple matter, because of her great faith. She wrote about it as occasionally God offers s the same proposition to us that he gave Abraham; to sacrifice something we love in pursuit of Him, whom we should love above all created things. She worte too, that staying with him felt natural, but that she was aspiring for a supernatural life, which requires different considerations when making decisions. I would like to hope that I would have the same faith and courage in a similar situation, but I don't know.
   
   The time period following her separation was difficult for her, and she experienced loneliness, as she searched to discover what would be her niche in the world, according to God's plan. She believed that the antidote for loneliness is involvement in community life. She started the "Catholic Worker" with Peter Maurin (who she felt was sent to her by God as a response to her prayers for guidance in her vocational quest), a paper which reported about the injustices confronted by the poor and that presented articles of helpful advice for struggling families. The paper is still in existence.
   
   She also started a hospitality house that offered food and shelter to those who need it, and a space where people can find a voice. Eventually a chain of such houses grew and now are operating not only across the US, but across the world. Some became retreat centers. Day's life is a perfect testimony of an individual discovering God's love and learning to return the love with faith, not only through worship to God, but also through offering love and help to others.
   
   This is a great book for people seeking to understand what is faith and how does it move people, and a great book for people dealing with difficult situations in their lives when they are seeking to find what it is that they are meant to do with their lives. I recommend her story to every one.



5. The Long Loneliness by Dorothy Day has long been held to be an important social document as well as a meaningful written Catholic memoir, because it delves deeply into the intimate conversion experience whereby there is a moving epiphany that changes that person so completely and totally. And The Long Loneliness illustrates that point quite clearly. Even before the Catholic Worker was ever founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, their approach to religious activism was almost on par with other lay Catholic social orgaizations, mirroring the motto of Catholic Action, founded in 1868, the best, whose battle cry is: Prayer. Action. Sacrifice. However, what makes this memoir so appealing is that it is outlined in a belief framework of pragmatic thought and a consistent work ethic, like Opus Dei. Dorothy Day, in the recounting of her conversion and the afteraffects of it, is not given to flights of supernatural fancy or prone to self-created mystical experiences or visions, which, when people do have them, are psychosomatic or psychotic, at best.
   
   There are various reasons why people enter the Catholic Church, and for Day, she wanted her daughter-Tamar-to not flounder in a life of sexual radicalism and voracious wantonness, both of which wounded her quite grievously before she had her conversion experience. Before she became Catholic, Dorothy Day was a doer rather than a sayer; she put action behind her words, and she found comfort in the Gospel: feeding the hungry and clothing the poor. The latter was the very impetus for why The Catholic Worker was established, to make it real, living and vibrant for others. What is recounted in the Long Loneliness is not any caliber of theological scholarship or penetrating analysis of the Gospel. Rather, besides being lived, Catholicism in conjunction with pacificism, economics, helping the downtrodden and the labor movement is thoroughly explored. And yet, simplicity, simplicity, simplicity is exemplified throughout. Through her collected writings, especially her memoir, Dorothy Day illuminated that in accepting the Catholic ideal, everyone must carry their cross if they want the world to be even a slightly better place and that the Catholic faith is not one to take lightly.

5 comments about Murder of a Medici Princess.

1. This is the fascinating true story of Isabella de Medici, the spunky socialite of Renaissance Florence. She seems like the type of girl you'd want as a friend--independent, interested in the arts, and quite a flirt. The writing is very fluid--you cheer as Isabella runs the show and gasp at her husband's bold violence.



2. At first, I scoffed at the title, thinking that this might be a work of fiction, and a real potboiler at that. And to be honest, despite my fondness for historical novels, nearly every other novel set in the sixteenth century seemed lately to be centered on either Tudor England or Renaissance Italy -- and both of them done to death.
   
   But in spite of my misgivings, this turned out to be a stunning read. Caroline Murphy, author of a previous book on women and politics, has continued her stories of women who played an influental role in the backgrounds of Italian history. This time, the focus is on the city of Florence and the powerful Medici family.
   
   Begining with the fall of the Medici, the book focuses on a member of the junior branch of the family who brought the glory back to Florence. Cosimo de' Medici was a consummate politican and manipulator, but also a fervid patron of the arts and architecture. With his wife, the beautiful Eleonora di Toledo (who was known as La Fecundissima) they had eleven children, many of them sons, but Cosimo's favourite was his daughter Isabella.
   
   A middle child in a huge brood of offspring, she was closest to her brother, Giovanni, and they could be found together constantly, playing games and partnering each other in dancing lessons. Several paintings survive of the princess, a lovely dark haired child with expressive eyes and nearly a smirk on her lips as she surveys the world before her. Clearly she is her father's darling, and knows it. When it came time for her to marry, her father brokered a deal with the Orsini family, based in Rome, and a wedding to Paolo Giordano d'Orsini, a young man with an itch for power and money, and seemingly in love and adoration with Isabella to judge from his letters.
   
   But Cosimo slipped a small clause into the wedding contract -- Isabella would only accompany her husband to his home in Rome if she wanted to. It was a curious condition to the marriage, especially in a time where women were considered to be not much more than two legged birthing machines and subject to abuse and violence from their spouses. For a time, all went well between the couple -- Paolo was off working for advanage of both the Medici and the Orsini, with Cosimo supplying plenty of money for his spendthrift son, and keeping his daughter by his side. He indulged her as best he could, supplying her with the trappings of the high life in the artistic capital of the world.
   
   Isabella created a world of poets and music, sending a steady supply of letters to her husband, letters that were filled with assurances of her love and devotion. But read between the lines, and something else emerges. There's a sly quality to the letters, something that bothers the reader, and if read carefully enough, it becomes clear that Isabella doesn't care very much for her absent husband, and is determined to live her life as she chooses. Even if that means having a lover or two.
   
   The story takes on a much darker tone as it progresses. Her beloved brother, Giovanni, dies of malaria along with another brother and their mother, word comes of Paolo's affairs with various prostitutes in Rome, and Isabella's own growing irritation of her husband. And when Cosimo dies, Isabella tries to keep her glittering fantasy of a life going, but it might already be too late...
   
   This is a tale that is not for the squeamish, as Murphy doesn't hold back on the lives, and especially the deaths, of various members of the Medici family, and also of more ordinary folks. The book is filled with details about daily living, clothing, food, the art of spectacle, and the role of servants and those unseen. What I found very interesting was that the book shifts the focus to women, who usually get shoved to the background of most history. And the subject of the book, Isabella de' Medici, I had never heard of before.
   
   I happily recommend this book for anyone interested in Renaissance Florence, especially for life after the heyday of Lorenzo di Medici. Caroline Murphy has created a story full of life here, creating a woman that is very vivid and aware. The use of family letters is very effective, giving insights into how their minds works, their hopes and moving them beyond the surviving images that have come down through the centuries.
   
   Along with the story, the book is full of black and white drawings taken from the time, which give little snapshots of the world that the Medici moved in. A map of Florence at the time give a sense of place. A genealogical chart sorts out the many branches of the Medici family, and helps to keep everyone straight. Along with the illustrations in the text, there is a gorgeous collection of colour plates, with several paintings of Isabella along with the other players in the story. An extensive bibliography gives enticing suggestions for further research, along with footnotes and an index.
   
   I suspect that this is a book that is going to hit one of my top-ten book lists for 2008. It is a stunning story that breathes new life into what I had thought was a stale topic, and has renewed my interest in Renaissance life and culture.
   
   Caroline Murphy has also written The Pope's Daughter, which does have a tie-in to this story, as Paolo is the grandson of Felice della Rovere, another woman of the Renaissance who was able to hold her own and more in what was very much a man's world.
   
   Five stars overall.



3. I knew very little of this family and this book is easy to read, easy to follow and yet, it was FILLED with history and facst. WONDERFULLY written!



4. Caroline Murphy's new book is another "must have" for lovers of remarkable lesser-known royal stories. One is taken into the extraordinarily "ahead-of-her-time" life of Isabella de Medici, a Renaissance princess and daughter of the first Grand Duke of Tuscany. A thoroughly gifted, cultured and independent individual with an interesting personality that still resonates after 500 years, Isabella was unique among female royal women of the time in her ability to live her life on her own terms, even as a married woman, which truly defied all convention. From the title, obviously things do not go well in the end, and with recent tomb excavations mentioned in passing at the end, the full extent of murderousness in this generation of the Medici is only nowadays fully coming to light. If you think your family is dysfunctional, you will feel as though you grew up in the very bosom of normality after learning what eventually happened within this once-upon-a-time "big happy family."



5. 
   This book is more than a story of Isabella's murder, in fact, very few pages are devoted to the actual murder. The murder is the culmination of the family relationships that brew from page one.
   
   Through this story we learn of the people and their times. We come to appreciate Cosimo Medici, who rebuilt his family dynasty through politics and strategic marriages. We come to appreciate even more his extraordinary daughter.
   
   Not being steeped in the history of Italy at this time, I found the first few chapters hard going. The genealogies of Medicis and the other European monarchs are complex and difficult to follow. After this, as the personalities get drawn and the story unfolds it becomes a page turner building to the actual murder.
   
   The book built my interest Italian history. I will be reading more Italian history.

5 comments about The Pimp.

1. I just finished reading this book for the second time, cover to cover in 2 days this time, it is possibly one of the best books I have ever read and keeps you enthralled throughout the whole read.Everyone should read this book because it really gives an insight into a world that most will never see.I have read all of the man's books and this is by far his best work although Mama Black Widow and Trick Baby are up there as well they just don't equal this masterpiece.They only have a 5 star rating but if I could this book would rate 10 stars.



2. "Pimp" is a dark, ugly book. It's author Robert Beck, aka Iceberg Slim spent much of his life as a pimp. It's written to leave a bad taste in your mouth. That is the intent of the author. This is a chronicle of how he wasted twenty-five years of his life.
   
   Maya Angelou's brother told her a pimp is one of two kinds of men. Either he hates women or he fears women. The process of encouraging, enforcing a woman to sell her body is neither sexy or romantic. The life of a hooker, especially one working the streets is harsh and degrading. A `good' pimp only cares about using his women until they have no more left to give. Only someone who hates or feels the need to control women would make a `good' pimp.
   
   Iceberg Slim hated women.
   
   His father deserted them while he was a baby. Bobby and his mother lead a hand-to-mouth existence for his early years. Early on he is sexually abused by his babysitter. Stability came into his life when his mother marries an older man who was a successful businessman. Young Bobby loved his stepfather. They lead a comfortable upper middle-class existence until his mother runs off with another man.
   
   The image of his stepfather crying in the street begging his mother to stay is repeated throughout the book. He took his hatred of his mother out on women - as a pimp.
   
   Of course things go down hill for his mother. Eventually she gets her act together. But even though stability is restored in his life, Robert wants to be a pimp. Possessing a superior I.Q. (175), he was a straight-A student. In a time of blatant racial discrimination (the 1920s, 30s, 40s) he is given a college scholarship. But his path is set, the seeds of hatred planted years before take root and flourish.
   
   For more details about his descent into depravity and his redemption - read the book.
   
   His writing style is not polished. His language is not refined. But his imagery is stunning. He induces mood and feeling brilliantly. Mood and feeling are enhanced by his lack of polish.
   
   The reader may have trouble with his slang. It's been out of style for 80 years. For example, "vines" means clothes. A woman "georgias" a man when she uses him for sexual gratification without paying. A "square" is a cigarette, etc.
   
   I have noticed a disturbing trend. The black pimp is a role-model for some segments of society. Performers such as Ice-T extol the pimp lifestyle. Iceberg Slim is 'the man'. Whenever this book is discussed as a movie project, the gangsta rappers start lobbying for the part. These guys want to be like him. But not the man he became but the man he was - a depraved parasite. Some of them talk about this book as though it's the Bible.
   
   While this is an excellent book, it is ugly. Richard Beck wanted it that way. He wanted to send a message against pimping and it's lifestyle.
   
   Sometimes I wonder if these pimp wannbes can read.



3. a fascinating read, the ultimate anti hero. a copmelling insigth into a real life character that is both praised and vilified. the best feature is the sincerity of the storytelling and the portrayal of the life of the pimp as neither a positive nor necesarily a negative.



4. This is a good book. Its written from the (hipsters) point of view. You take what you can from it.



5. Robert Maupin Beck, AKA, Iceberg Slim, one of the immortals produced from the black man's expierience in america, reminds me of many (not all) black men in america. He made a choice from the few choices he had and pursued it. Mack man.The difference between his book "Pimp" and all others, is that he purged and bared his soul. He saw his faults late in life, but yet and still, faced them. and denounced them. If any of us were in the same situation, could or would we do so? If other choices and conditions in his life were different,I feel he would be a success in whatever he chose. A BRILLIANT,BRILLIANT writer, I truly respect the man. In the times and conditions he grew up in, would any of us did different? How many of us would be willing to write a book as graphic and title it, "..........." the story of my life?
   
   Thanks Mr.Beck

5 comments about Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back.

1. A book, I think, that is easily misunderstood. I'm glad he wrote it. I'm glad I read it.



2. For me, "Crazy for God" was very worth reading on a number of levels. Granted, some sensitive souls (me included) may need to take the AA sharing approach of "Take what you like and leave the rest". Frank is a very good writer. The book flows easily from chapter to chapter, and I found it hard to put down. As I tried to read Chapter 56 aloud to my wife about Frank's last time with his Dad in the hospital remembering skiing together, I kept having to stop reading, I was so choked up. In Chapter 57 Frank revisits the abortion issue, and the way we Evangelicals over-simplify (to our shame and detriment) complex ethical problems, be they abortion, capital punishment or so called "justified" wars. It's an excellent chapter, the thoughts expressed ought to be required reading. For me it was the heart of the book.
   
   Unlike Frank, or my own adult children, or my wife, I did not grow up in a practicing Christian home. I was a "Jesus Freak" of the early 70's from a very, very dysfunctional background. Somehow it just seems that those of us who find and surrender to Jesus after a childhood without him, go on relating to Him differently than those who were "inoculated" to Christianity from the beginning. Frank, like my own own children, is one of these. Could it be something to do with Jesus' words that those that are well don't need a physician, that He came to seek and to save those (like me at 19) who are lost? I still haven't figured this out. But, Crazy for God has helped me get a better feel for what my children must be struggling with trying to relate to (and take ownership of) the faith they grew up with.
   
   Finally, I was a teenager in both local Swiss and then international schools from 1965 to 1969, learning to smoke dope in Geneva at the same time as young Frank. And like Frank, my parents were too occupied to make a difference. This part of the story was just fun to read. It blows my mind now to realize that all this L'Abri fellowship stuff was going on just a few miles away!



3. Written in a way that keeps you stuck in the book for hours, Frank's story is so unusual, so unique, everyone should read it.



4. I first read Frank Schaeffer's book "Baby Jack The Novel" and felt it was a brilliant story and well written. I never realized that this author was the also the same guy who was one of those fundamentalist leaders who helped marry the religious right to the GOP. In his newest book "Crazy for God" the author writes a very personal and brutally honest memoir, that opens up and exposes the underbelly of the evangelistic movement; where he was a big mover and shaker in that christian community.
   
   His book takes us on an emotional journey with his dysfunctional family. He shares what it was like growing up in a community in Switzerland founded by his evangelical parents. His father was a leader in that religious community and it seemed to be his predetermined destiny that he would follow that same route himself. The book is so full of side stories and insights on his earlier life that the book almost comes across as a novel.
   
   His story is fascinating and full of authentic introspection - almost too honestly written. The authors leaves himself totally exposed with all his warts and blemishes. He gives the reader a rare and different look at some of various leaders of the fundamentalist moment, like Jerry Farwell, and Pat Robertson. The book may open some eyes and minds about the dangers of politics and religion; but for those who are deeply into the faith, I think they may not too impressed by the authors concerns. Personally, I found this book fascinating on many different levels- politics, religion, family, sex, social relationships, power and the ever present egos.
   
   The book is as much about family life, as it is about religion and belief systems. In the end, one comes away believing that the author is still evolving and seeking answers. His quest seems much more open and honest then it ever was in his earlier life. I learned a lot about the author that I liked and it only deepens my appreciation and respect for him even more as a novelist today.
   
   "Crazy For God" could become a must read book for serious seekers looking for their own authentic path to enlightenment, or at least some inner peace. The book is an eye-opener, from someone who was on the inside and was one of their respected leaders. I highly recommend this book!



5. Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back-by Frank Schaeffer, like all of the authors books, is well written and an easy read. But, wait, RELAX, Don't Do IT! This quasi auto-biography is long on "look how wonderful and enlightened I am" and short on any real substance. It's MOMMY DEAREST for the born-again liberal crowd, except this mommy is no over the top Hollywood actress, just the woman behind the fundamentalist man, in this case the late, and I feel great, Francis Schaeffer. If you haven't figured out by the prologue Frank Schaeffer is the only son of theologian/cultural commentator Francis Schaeffer.
   
   Just so readers of this review will know where I am coming from I am a practicing Catholic (whose gonna keep practicing until he gets it right) and one who enjoys Frank Schaeffer's writing, especially his novels. I have followed his career since the 1990s. I was there when he converted from Fundamentalist Christian to Orthodox attack dog polemicist, though in this book you find out that the fire has gone out. I subscribed to his now defunct, but always interesting (at least the articles written by his guest writers) Christian Activist periodical. If I remember I think in passing I also saw his movie, on late night TV, Baby on Board. So I am familiar with Mr. Schaeffer.
   
   Simply, he is bitter, he has always been bitter, and now he is more burnt out than bitter. So who does he blame, MOM and DAD. Not really very original. And, that is the problem with this book, there is no truth in advertising. You really never find out what it was like in the early days of the organized religious right, you just find out that the author thinks that the likes of the late Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, James Dobson, etc. are terrible, misguided, evil, or all of the above. And which thinking person on the right or left doesn't think the above three are misguided to some degree? In other words you only get a cursory idea of Frank Schaeffer's brushes with these folks, no details, and a lot of hand wringing from the author. To hear him (or in this case read him) tell it if it was not for Frank Schaeffer no one would have heard of any of the stars of the American Religious Right. So, you are not there in the beginning.
   
   What you do get a lot of is if it wasn't for my parents I would have been the greatest artist, film director, writer and all about cultural icon that ever lived. And, you find out he masturbated a lot, and lusted after any and all females under the age of 30 who visited L'Abri, the cultural discussion hostel in Switzerland founded by his parents. And, oh yeah, now that dad is dead and mom is senile and blind his parents were (and still are, in the case of mom) great people and he loves them. But, and I did say he is a talented writer, dig deeper, beyond the literary pats on the back the author gives himself and you will find his parents had feet of clay, whose doesn't, they loved him and most of all they indulged him. While Mr. Schaeffer is loathe to admit it, until he knocked up his wife, and even after that, this guy led a charmed life, with no demands. He got to paint, make movies, meet Led Zeppelin, oh yeah, the writer drops names like a dying oak. This reminds me of the old Steve Martin routine "Sammy Davis Jr., personal friend of mine." So this now begs the question, after reading this tome, why is he mad and why should I care that he is mad? Hey Frankie, count your blessings you smuck. You never had to get a real job, oh yeah, I know you do tell us in the book how when you were a starving artist you stole pork chops. But, this is actually a literary device, much like "it was a dark and stormy night" that I know I read somewhere else. In the book you tell us that when you were a teenager you painted and a bit later sold your work to folks like the Rockefellers. Also, had showings at well known galleries in Europe and New York, all because of the connections you made because of your father. This, while the rest of us slobs, were flipping burgers at MacDonalds, and running the ditto machine in some college work study program. So, what the hell are you complaining about in this book?
   
   In closing there is no real insight or history here. Just a lot of the usual Frank Schaeffer bitterness and regret. He's a still a sensitive lad you know, at least according to this book. I really expected him to quote the song My Way, by the end of the book. All this being said like all Frank Schaeffer books it is well written, easy to read, and entertaining. But only if you can push aside all the "my childhood was really messed up" stuff. You see, Frank Schaeffer, apparently, according to this book, was an angry young man who now is just tired.

5 comments about Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood.

1. I read Smashed while stuck at an airport half the night due to a tornado in the area and managed to finish it on the airplane on my way back home. While I have to admit the book kept me distracted from my situation, I didn't particularly care for her writing style. The absurd amount of metaphors she used were a bit distracting.
   
   My main problem with the book is that she seems to be glorifying what she went through. She insists she is not an alcoholic and I simply cannot understand that. I am speaking as a person who has much knowledge in alcoholism. There are two forms:
   
   1. Heredity (born addicted)
   2. Alcohol abuse that becomes addicting over a period of time.
   
   The author of this book had her stomach pumped and continued to drink. She experienced black outs, lost her best friend and believes she was possibly date-raped. A person who simply abuses alcohol for pleasure would stop when drinking stops becoming pleasurable. Koren Zailckas did not stop.
   
   I also find it highly doubtful that a therapist on-line would diagnose her condition without ever meeting her. This is extremely unprofessional and unethical. A true and liscenced psychiatrist / counselor / physician would have her schedule an appointment and get her screened. The doctor would also have to run tests and a medical check-up to make sure her health has not deteriorated after a decade of binge drinking (liver damage).
   
   I gave the book two stars because I did find the book mildly entertaining. Her book has a nostalgic tone to it and I did find myself almost reliving my adolescence in certain chapters. My annoyances in the book mostly stemmed from the obviously inexperienced writing style and the obvious lack of maturity from the author.



2. 
   
   I read this in conjunction with 'Blackout Girl'. Both books suffer from the same disease...that the authors think the facts of their life story are interesting in and of themselves. But they are not. Tales of dysfunctional parents and wild debauchery may make for a good hour on the Jerry Springer Show, they do not necessarily make interesting reading.
   
   The other issue is that most of the writing is cliched and trite to the point of exhaustion. It did get to the point where I could not finish this book....it no longer seemed worth the investment of time.



3. When I first picked up the book I thought it was fiction. I got into bed and at first was disappointed to find out it was not. However I decided to give it a chance. I was hooked right away. My breath was stolen while I connected to the writer. At my age now I look at my adolescence and young adulthood as if it was someone else but while reading that book it brought back so much emotion. I encouraged my friends and sister to read it because I felt we all could relate and everyone has loved this book. The stories may be shocking, sad, and/or appalling but it happens. It is very real.



4. This book isn't about alcohol abuse, really. It's about a girl from a priviledged family who grows up with lots of friends, becomes a college cheerleader/sorority sister, interns in New York, makes and maintains friendships along the way, and should be an all-around productive, happy citizen. But this girl, from an early age, wants to be a writer. She is especially awestruck by tortured female writers, like Sylvia Plath and Virginia Woolf. I think she assumed that to be a great writer/poet, suffering is essential. Her driving force isn't alchohol, it's the pretense of alcohol abuse because it makes her appear to be tortured. She thinks misery drives creativity. Many great writers/artists are and were indeed lost souls, many with mental health problems. But the author's problems are all self-inflicted. "Look at how much I drink...I'm so tortured! Feel sorry for me!"
   The more I read this book, the more I got the feeling that she had created a character in her own mind and was living it out. Maybe she should have gone into dramatic performance instead of writing. I wonder if the feminists she so hopelessly wants to impress with her smug treatment of men, are indeed impressed by her? She is certainly impressed enough with herself, blaming her actions on everyone around her.
   I got the impression that once she felt that she had suffered enough, she had a book to write. If you continually choose to place yourself in stupid situations, that just makes you stupid, not deep. If you continually remain emotionally and physically detached from "boys," and play mind games with them, guess what, they're not going to stick around. It doesn't make you smarter than them, just more pathetic. This story is like a whiny love letter the author wrote to herself--"See, you are so tortured and filled with angst, you have suffered so greatly, you are a writer!" Making stupid choices and employing the overuse of simile and metaphor doesn't create a great writer...just an annoying story that is written in an annoying manner.



5. I definitely had my party years and some of Koren's life experiences seem to match my own. She doesn't hold back anything and her honesty about the Greek system is accurate. I feel a little less guilty now that I know someone else had the same thoughts running through their head that I did during these less than virtuous moments. I enjoyed this book, but there is a constant sadness in her writing that makes you want to hug yourself and say, "It will be better tomorrow." If you like reading about Greek Life,then you should also read COLLEGE LIFE EXTREME: Lies, Sex, Drugs and Violenceand Pledged: The Secret Life of Sororities. Thanks Koren for sharing so much about your life with us! Your book will always have a special place on my bookshelf.

5 comments about Leaving Dirty Jersey: A Crystal Meth Memoir.

1. this book is scary, it opens your eye to the love familys have even when your child is slowly killing himself with drugs. the author has a great talent, and is so very hot! the book does not let you put it down. again a great book.



2. Salant's book is by far the best memoir of drug addiction I've ever read.
   
   It's precisely the relative absence of shock-for-shock's sake that made this book such a satisfying read. As described by Salant, a drug addict's world isn't exciting; it's just sordid (which Salant acknlowedges in recounting some of the gross and/or unsavory things he did while addicted. Those of us who like to read about unsavory things done by other people - and I'm one of them - do get their money's worth in this memoir). But it's his writing that struck me as singular.
   
   Told by a less talented writer, this story could have been ho-hum. But Salant writes with great clarity and economy, and seems objective as he can be in a book about himself. He does talk about writing poetry in the book, though sometimes he lied about that so his parents would send him money, so I'm not sure how much poetry he actually wrote!
   
   But as for his prose, Salant writes as if he's been writing forever - he's that good. He's an extremely talented young writer, and thanks to that, this book wasn't the cobbled-together addiction exploitation book it very easily could have been.
   
   Another reviewer said he (or she) would have liked more about his recovery. I think that might have been too much; I think Salant was right in leaving off where he did. And for an addict or alcoholic, there is always the chance of relapse; it's risky talking about your "recovery" when you're still in your early 20s. That's just my view, of course.
   
   But this one's absolutely well worth reading.



3. Bored, tired of reading books with facts and statistics? Yes, so was I.
   
   This book is a great, fun read. The main character Jim (the author James Salant) keeps you on the edge of your seat.
   
   James doesnt waste your time trying to give you statistics on drugs, drug use or even how meth is produced.
   
   This is his story of addiction, from beginning to end. Its not a pretty journey through the countryside, but rather a long walk down a dirty, dangerous back alley.
   
   Meth use is a disgusting, but growing problem in the U.S. This book gives you one mans glimpse of what it was like being hooked on it!!!



4. i was blown away by how interesting and inspiring a book about the life of guy on drugs could be. He was so detailed in his writing that you can tell that he has a gift as a writer and an amazing story to go along with it. It was a very hard book to put down and there was never any moments in the book that i just wanted to skip ahead because i was being bored with unnecessary details. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a good read!



5. This was for sure one of the best memoirs I've read, and the best addiction books out there. It stays with you after. I've read A LOT of addiction books to try to understand a friend I had that was an addict. I can't believe how the author got out alive and how honest he is! The things he encounters are not pretty and shamfeful and embarrassing, yet he eloquently describes his experiences without holding back.
   
   This book is well written, a page turner, and extremely graphic and real. He's so young to have gone through so much and I liked at the end how he told the readers how hard it was for his family and gf to read it. Very compelling and a vdifferent from the self pity addiction books like "Blackout Girl" that I've been reading lately.