5 comments about A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland Indiana (Today Show Book Club #3).

1. I laughed so hard. It was so nice to read a memoir that was NOT depressing. Nothing too terribly horrible marred the past of the author and when there are a few set-backs and road-blocks, she chooses to tackle them with humor and a positive attitude. I am amazed at the detail with which she is able to recall and relate to the reader the childhood exuberance and eccentricities we all had but easily forget. Great read!



2. Zippy was loaned to me. After I read it, I knew I needed it in my house to savor as needed. The occasion and content of Zippy's first words are priceless, and I'm trying to memorize them. There's no self pity, no self-righteousness or judgment in this story of a self-possessed child sailing through what to others might be considered a precarious childhood. And it made me laugh, again and again.



3. This was a light hearted and hilariously funny book. It is refreshing every once in a while to read a story that doesn't have murder, major drama, or psychological problems. Zippy's story is from a small town where something you and I take for granted every day is described in a way to make you laugh and appreciate the small things in life. I bought the next Zippy book afterwards and loved it just as much.



4. This is the story of Zippy, an imaginative, precocious girl who grew up in the small town of Mooreland, Indiana during the 1960's and 1970's. She tells stories about her family members, childhood friends, eccentric neighbors, and various pets. Through it all, Zippy has a resilience of spirit and a positive attitude that shine through, even in situations that otherwise may not be ideal.
   
   This book is unusual in that it is written with a child's voice, but is interesting and humorous to adults. Haven Kimmel is really able to capture the feeling of being a child, and how even the most minor of events can have major importance. It was refreshing to read a memoir about a happy childhood, and I found myself reciting several sweet and funny passages out loud to various family members. I loved how Zippy shared the stories of the first memory she ever had, the first time she thought about family genes, and the first time she thought about the passage of time. The book is written in very simple prose, but has depth to it as well.
   
   I highly, highly recommend this book. It was an absolute joy, and I loved every minute of it. Do not miss this one!!!!



5. I concur with much of the praise that precedes me: "Zippy" is a lyrically written, thoughtful, engaging memoir that I read with great pleasure.
   
   And yet, in the end, it was the very pleasure of my reading experience that troubled me. A reviewer below notes, "It is refreshing every once in a while to read a story that doesn't have murder, major drama, or psychological problems." Yet the book is chock full of every one of those things, and then some: those themes are just so sugar-coated, the reader is hypnotized into overlooking them.
   
   A short list of thematic elements touched on by the book includes: depression, alcoholism, birth defects, child-neglect, child sexual abuse, murder, teenage pregnancy, animal cruelty (in abundance), mental illness, religious fanatacism, grinding poverty, gambling addiction, and the Mi Lai Massacre, for goodness' sake!
   
   And yet these themes are all presented in a filmy, dreamlike way that removes their sting and horror. One could argue that that is the theme of the book: the triumph of one child's powerful sense of self over adversity.
   
   However, as I turned the final page, I began to feel that I had been tricked into approving, even admiring, the "good old days" that never were. I believe the author could have and should have demanded more of the reader to connect the dots between events as seen from the child's point of view and the more stark light of adult reality. This book makes it all too easy for the reader to condone a world in which very serious issues are treated as light afternoon reading on the front porch swing.

5 comments about The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir.

1. The book didn't hold my interest at all. Perhaps if I'd grown up in the era of the book, it would have made all the difference in the world! I gave the book to my grandfather.



2. humorously brought back so many memories i didn't know i had of that time in my life. like me, bryson was born in the midwest (this occurs in des moines, IA) and in the 1950's.
   
   my husband & i found it hilarious.



3. Don't buy it unless you were born in Iowa in the 50s and 60s. Otherwise, you won't understand a single chapter, and there is not too much fun in it.



4. Every time I pick up a Bill Bryson book, whether it's this one or my other favorite A Walk in the Woods, I find myself giddy within seconds. Not in that "what a funny joke" sort of way, but in the "sitting around telling stories with your family until everyone is experiencing that intense kind of laughing where no sound comes out" sort of way.
   
   For whatever duration I'm reading--one hour, two hours, etc. I have this sappy, silly, stupid, involuntary smile plastered on my face for almost every moment of that time. And I'm not an overly happy guy. I can honestly say there is only one other activity in my whole life experience that produces the same effect, and it lasts nowhere near an hour. I'll go no further with that.
   
   He's a funny, funny man, and his stories ring so true to my life experience. I've even met one of the people he describes in A Walk in the Woods (Wes Wisson, the Appalachian Trail shuttler in Georgia). One of my very favorite authors. Buy this book.



5. Anyone born in the 50's can relate to the experiences of Bill Bryson. I began reading this book on an airplane and was laughing so hard, the people around me were smiling. Bill Bryson uses excellent humor to bring his story to life. You feel as though you know him or someone like him. Memories of my own childhood came flooding back. Excellent read. Never dull.

5 comments about Daughter of the Saints: Growing Up In Polygamy.

1. Daughter of the Saints is a long-time labor over a difficult subject and with many risks. Much of the intrique in the book is the unconscious recognition by the reader that this author is unusual in the sense that she'd even consider wrting about such a bizare upbringing. Anyone who has even considered expressing non-consenting views of one's own family and especially their religion---no matter how strange---must have a strong constitution, sense of conscience and determination. It takes great skill, sensitivity and fairness to pull off such an undertaking---and still there were tough repercussions from family and true believers. Though it was not the intent nor was it possible to give an in-depth evaluation or critique of of this unique American life style, the book goes a long way toward educating and bringing to awareness the wide-spread existence and practices of such Mormon beliefs, their many splinters and their considerable good-bad (?)influences in the lives of so many.
   David Allred
   Redding, Calif.



2. I tore through this memoir in a couple of days. I could not put it down. This woman's account of her life as a fugitive and a "trouble maker" is incredible and heartwrenching. It's so much more interesting to me if I know someone actually went through this. I can't imagine ever living in the kind of poverty this family did, or having to share my father or see my mother's hidden tears when her husband went off with another wife (or 6) a few nights a week. Allred does a pretty thorough job going through the genealogy and geographic movements of her family and it only serves to bring the tale even more to life. I'm sure I could go read newspaper articles about all she mentioned, and read the very journal Byron wrote in his travels. It's great to be able to trace everything all over the US and watch the world change around the family and the church and yet nothing ever really changes for them. I very much recommend this book to anyone looking to find out more about this controversial issue. See it from the eyes of a young girl lost in a sea of many.



3. The narrative of this work is touchingly honest and entirely realistic. I've read a few books during my Utah vacation, all about polygamy, and this one is the most tasteful and the most relevant as a complete story of how this lifestyle affects one's being. Highly recommended, more compelling and meaningful than the sensationalist Krakour [?] text.



4. This is the second book I have read about polygamy. This is completely foreign to my Protestant upbringing. I have seen people caught in a cult situation before. My neighbors when I was a young child were not allowed to celebrate Christmas, salute the flag, or celebrate any other holidays.
   I will not mention there religion. Inside their home terrible things were happening to their children. I didn't find out about it until I was a grown woman.
   
   This is the type of thing that Dorothy Solomon is talking about. She had a good mother. She was aware that the other children called them names. She knew other children had only one set of parents. Her father was married to 7 women. She believed as she was taught. She believed in polygamy. As she grows older she sees the sorrow in the women around her who are not honored by this state of affairs. Her parents had been arrested and they had to go into hiding as children. She even discusses incest in such an environment. It obviously is not a good environment for a woman to feel any equality with a man in. When more groups form a terrible thing happens to her father. The book is fascinating. A real page turner.
   She horrifies her family by joining the regular Church of the Latter Day Saints. She marries only once and has children. She is a strong person.
   Thank you for showing us a world that most will never see. You have without a doubt helped other women trapped in this situation.



5. This has been an excellent book to read. I was looking for material to inform myself better about polygamy. I found "Daughter of the Saints" and could hardly put it down until I finished. The author is so real, and has such a beautiful way of writing her feelings that it really got to me. I love the balance that comes out of all the narrative--the good and the bad. I admire the courage to tell these experiences, and to be so honest about it to us the readers. I learned a lot from this book, and really enjoyed it. It was a memoir that made me live the scenes. I found a deeper understanding for polygamy without having to read scandalous material, or a document biased completely towards the negative or positive aspects of it. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about polygamy--what better way than to read a book by someone who has lived it.

5 comments about Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood.

1. This is not a book is fascinating, though not the best pick for those with a weak stomach. It's painfully honest and that's why I loved it. The author has a really rich yet simple way of writing, so you feel, smell, see, taste the entire experience they had growing up in Africa. It's far from a comfortable way of life, and it's downright depressing in some parts, but that's part of its honesty and richness. I really respect someone who is able to write about their own life without glamorizing it nor condemning it.



2. Okay, now as a former and recovering English major I'm going to admit that Ms. Fuller is actually a decent writer, But I do want to point out a few things the other reviews don't cover.
   First, Ms. Fuller is stridently politically correct and distorts the historical facts of the former Rhodesia in an effort to demonize the whites. The distortion does border on reverse racism, however much I hate to trot out the r-word.
   Secondly, this woman is absolutely obsessed with toilet functions and other bodily things and takes any opportunity to describe them--particularly her own. She takes an almost narciscisstic delight in describing herself in these terms.



3. I just couldn't get into this book--even though I thought I would have been able too. I just moved on to another memoir........



4. This family is composed mainly of fighters, people who decided to forsake the clotted cream comfort of their native England for the thorny bush country of, what was then known as, Rhodesia.
   
   In poetic prose that the reader occasionally stumbles over, Fuller takes us on a dense tour of her life in Africa, thesaurus in hand, and describes the stunning beauty and hopeless squalor of the land with a series of adjectives and adverbs that occasionally seem shoehorned in but rarely off-the-mark. This makes for an occasionally jarring, though still beautiful, journey, much like what the young author must have experienced perched on the spare tire of her family's bucking Land Rover. Some of Fuller's descriptive metaphors, however, are quite luminous; they stay with you.
   
   Still, she hits home with her prose more often than not, and produces a thoroughly readable if somewhat detached report on the life of her family, and how they bear up as trauma eclipses joy after a series of dismal events, including the deaths of small children and runs for the border of several African nations as things (i.e., the political landscape, war) shift and change. These things would loom large in anyone's life, and they are told here with an air of inevitability and acceptance . . . even excitement.
   
   Here's a family who thrives on adventure.
   
   There were several times Fuller had me right there in the back of the Land Rover with her. I was unsettled and awed by what we saw together. She's an amazing writer when she gets going.
   
   Great read.



5. I found this in audio at an audio rental store. The front intrigued me so I read the back and decided to give it a go. I liked it so much that my husband decided he wanted to listen to it too! What an interesting life to have lead at such a young age!

5 comments about Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression.

1. I first checked this book out of the public library but once I started reading it I realized there were some really good home remedies and other info that I wanted forever so I bought a copy for myself. I also loaned it to my mother to read who enjoyed it as well - she said it brought up old memories for her. It is a wonderful book and it makes everyone want to tell their parents to write their stories down before they are forgotten or lost!



2. A five Star book for me!
   Even tho' I was born in SD in '42, I could relate to many of the chapters, but ours was a much less difficult time.
   I have sent copies of the book to 2 cousins and a close friend from Iowa who needed a good laugh to help him through some tough times. This book will definitely "take you away" and give you the therapy of many good laughs. You will also count your blessings that we live in this age.
   I compared it to Laura Ingalls Wilder books... with the tough times... except the Iowans were surrounded by generations of family in the same location; rather than a family alone moving from state to state enduring those hardships. What a heartwarming wonderfully written book that you just want to share with all, and hope that it brings them as many laughs and as much food for thought as you got while reading it.



3. Little Heathens is a near anthropological survey of life on a small family farm in Iowa during the 1930's, when there was no electricity, running water, bathrooms and very few if any "store bought" goods. It is today a world foreign in this age of convenience and Millie laments the loss of the "rich store of knowledge that had been bestowed on us by life on that simple farm," and the self-confidence and self-reliance it fostered. It's odd that this simple little memoir - nothing more than an elder grandparent retelling what life was like "when I was young" - has struck a chord with so many readers, it is one of the New York Times 10 most notable books of 2007. The Times attributes its success in part because so many memoirs today are about unsavory people doing scandalous things, it is a relief to read about a real person going about a "normal" life (if such a thing exists), someone you'd like to have as a relative or friend, or even to walk in her shoes (when she wore any). Partly it is Millie herself who is humble, sincere and likable.
   
   But it is also, I believe, about bigger current day issues: Global Warming, Peak Oil, Recessions, high food prices and other man-made slow motion train wrecks have many questioning if society is on the right track and naturally many are looking back to the past for answers. A return to the country, simplicity, slow pace of life, the values of thrift, honor and tradition are finding wides audiences in modern forms, such as organics, slow food, alternative energy. They say when you reach a certain age "everything old is new again" and Millies account of the 1930s is finding a lot of interest in these times. It's a beautiful book of substance and simplicity, I recommend it highly.



4. As you might expect of a former English professor and school teacher,
   the book is easy to read and is well-written. The author's reminiscences about growing up on an Iowa farm are interesting because her formative
   years were the difficult years of the Great Depression, when economy and making do with what one had were important virtues. She demonstrates the way in which the family was extraordinarily thrifty in saving and making use of every scrap of food, piece of clothing and spare bit of thread.
   Like a number of the books that have been written about people's lives in
   more exotic locations, like "A Year in Provence" or "Under the Tuscan Sun", the author also provides some recipes that she particularly enjoyed when she lived on the farm in addition to when she prepared meals for a
   family. The variety of home remedies are also fun to take a look at. On the whole, it is an entertaining book as well as a lesson in how times of thrift and privation needn't be unhappy.



5. Wonderful book. So full of the real side of life that is sorely missing in today's culture. Would love for my grandchildren to read it.

5 comments about Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood.

1. I read Persepolis the day it arrived from the bookstore. I sat down with a cup of coffee, some French downtempo, and proceeded to inhale the entire book, cover-to-cover, in a little over two hours. I reread it recently, and this time prefaced my reading with light research. I checked out an interview with Asia Source, took in a few literary reviews, and brushed up on the history of the ancient city of Persepolis, for which the novel's title is based. I tried to piece together the historical context of the book with the artistic process that inspired the author to write such heady material into a graphic novel.
   
   Let me preface by saying I don't think heady material is too good for graphic novels. I've read a few of these in the last few years -- this and Blankets are notable. I find graphic novels take the best of literature and film, combining them for an eloquent, visually striking experience. The use of light and dark as metaphor is the most compelling, and Persepolis uses this often, and best. The stark, unforgiving illustrations appear at once so bleak and in an instant so bright. In one frame the thick black gashes are the dark bags beneath a dead demonstrators vacant eyes, and in the next frame are innocent and child-like, a squiggling and unsteady black line framing a young Marji's equally gleeful, cherub face.
   
   Reading around I noticed this technique, both jarring and "immature", nearly turned off many a potential reader, and risked undermining the heady politics of the book. After reading Satrapi's interview with Asia Source, however, I understand its purpose: these thick swaths of black and white, with nary a shade of grey, are the same black and white rhetoric that shapes world politics and culture. The characters, sometimes barely more than a stick figure, are the caricatures politicians make of their foes. It's only in the subtle changes of facial expressions -- a widening of the eyes, a furrow of the brow -- that we can see some semblance of a human underneath, small but just as telling as the thought bubbles floating above their heads.
   
   The goal to separate and explain "the people and the terrorist/fanatacist/fundamentalist" stereotype is completely, totally achieved within the first two frames of the novel, where we are ambushed by a row of somber-looking little girls draped in black veils, the symbol of oppression and woman-fearing almost universally despised in the West. With one quick glance we could almost assume these are one portrait of one girl repeated over and over, except for the little whisps of bangs peering from beneath each of the shrouds -- some side-swept, some parted down the center, some curly, some straight. Within seconds we are reminded: these are real people, not soundbytes or 3-second video clips looped over and over for the horrified bemusement of Americans.
   
   Still, while Marji is shamelessly out to shatter the assumption that the Iran people or culture is fundamentalist or oppressive, she refuses to paint the people as shining examples of progressive open-minded goodness who have been unfairly categorized for the one or two freedom-hating fundamentalists. There is evidence of even the kindest, gentlest folk adhering to the more oppressive rules of the regime, but not out of a desire to oppress, but out of faith, tradition, and trust for those in power. Again, this is best exemplified only a few pages in, as we see an image of women demonstrating both for and against the veil. On one side the unveiled women stand erect and angular, eyes narrow yet full of furor, championing the freedom to literally let their hair down. Opposite, a row of veiled women "confront" them, their clenched fists slightly limp, their eyes closed and pious, little Madonnas suffering quietly our sins. The former look young and angry, the latter look almost ancient. They were likely a mixture of the two; there were just too many to tell.
   
   In the current political context, these images are the most striking: little clumps of dogged beliefs squaring off against one another, rows of protesters hurling rocks at soldiers, soldiers aiming guns at protesters, massacred demonstrators lying in the streets, ghostly figures pushing the Shah out of frame and out of power, hordes celebrating the exile of the Shah. Seeing this story unfold through of eyes of a young girl is a very singular, educating, and transforming experience, but even riveting notions like war-from-a-child's-vantage need a kick in the goods, and sometimes the blur of faces could snap me back to the reality the first-person singular was beginning to lose. Images of individuals of many ages, classes, and backgrounds uniting, and eventually overthrowing, a centuries-old monarchy gives a sense of urgency, audacity, and realness to this revolution, which was all but excluded from every single history book I ever read throughout almost two decades of schooling. It made it seem as huge as it was, and is, in a way that neither textbooks nor one little girl can quite describe.



2. "Persepolis" is a great read. In less than two hours, you'll know more about Iranian history than you probably ever did. I, for one, felt positively ignorant as I learned of the Shah, the Islamic revolution, the Communist sympathizers... all told through the eyes of a teenage girl who thinks she is a prophet. The book is informative, fun, and an easy read. It will dispel many stereotypes without resorting to political correctness. I'm very glad I opted for the book over the movie version currently in theaters. I'm often bored by animation, but the graphic novel is interactive and the story flows nicely. Read it... you won't regret it.



3. Please take the time to read this striking memoir and its sequel, Persepolis 2. The language is straightforward, as is the graphic style. Satrapi's very personal story speaks to both the difficulties of living in a straight-laced, dogmatically rigid society, and the many different stories and perspectives of those who live there. Iran is often portrayed in a reductionist manner in the West, and a close reading of these books serves to broaden and deepen our understanding.
   
   Additionally, Satrapi is currently near the end of a speaking tour in the U.S. IF you have the opportunity to hear her speak, take advantage of it. She is a cogent and compassionate speaker who will further deepen your understanding of the Iranian people.



4. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood and Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return by Marjane Satrapi are very well written novels that effectively describe the author's experiences while growing up in Iran during the Iranian Revolution, the Iran-Iraq War, as well as many other historical events. I really enjoyed reading Satrapi's childhood account of such dramatic events in Iranian history, and the comic book format made the memoirs even more enjoyable reads. The innocent and sometimes ignorant perspective of a child is a very positive way of broadcasting such terrible and negatively viewed events in a way that everyone can understand them. Satrapi definitely does an excellent job of enticing her audience while also giving them an accurate and perhaps new way of looking at history.
   I would recommend Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood and Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return to anyone, whether they are students wanting to learn more about historical events in the Middle East, westerners who do not comprehend the many struggles Iran has faced, or just an average person looking for a dramatic yet accurate read. The historical events that are depicted within these graphic novels are very easily viewed in the eyes of such a mischievous and driven child, and her account is one that anyone can associate with and learn from. Despite the apprehensive atmosphere created by the mounted unsettlement of Marji and her family as well as the captivating and simple drawings that accompany the text, Marji is always able to demonstrate great strength within her family, and becomes fully aware of the perils of her country through trial and error, just as the reader does when they witness the overwhelmingly inspiring account of a little girl growing up during such a divisive point in history. After reading such a powerful message, one comes away with not only a greater view of historical events of the world, but also has a greater respect for all storytellers, no matter how much of a minority they may appear to be.



5. I've never read a graphic novel until this book. I first learned about this book after reading the amazing reviews for the movie version of this book. I always make it a point to read the novel before seeing any movie so decided to pick this up. Having read quite a few fiction and history novels on post-WWII Iran(including Septembers of Shiraz recently), this was a topic that highly interests me.
   
   Last night I started this book and couldn't put it down until I was done. It is a captivating and immersive experience and I just ordered "Persepolis 2" and can't wait to read it as soon as it arrives from amazon. I loved the simplicity of this novel. The dialogue and story telling perfectly captures an adolescent Marjane in Iran through the crumbling of Shah Reza Pahlavi's regime and the initial promise and subsequent reality of the Islamic revolution. Satrapi effortlessly captures all of the emotions that she undoubtedly went through during these times, both in word and in picture. While I was somewhat skeptical about the illustrations, they once again added an additional layer of context and dimension that took this from a great book to an extraordinary book.
   
   If you've never thought of reading a graphic novel, do yourself a favor. Buy this book and enjoy -- it is a true treasure.

5 comments about Running with Scissors: A Memoir.

1. I read this book because I saw the preview for the movie. The book was wonderfully funny and superbly interesting. The movie - not so much.



2. Very funny and yet sad, too. Burroughs paints a clear picture of his youth, during a period when his mother sent him away to live with her disturbed analyst and his strange family. You'll feel for him and a few of the other characters. I highly recommend this great story. FYI - Don't waste anytime with the DVD; it simply doesn't give enough details.



3. This was my first Augusten Burrough novel, so I really had no idea what to expect as I began reading. Burrough quickly moves through back story to main plot line and begins shocking the reader. If you are like me, there will be points where you will cringe and want more than anything to put the book down, but somehow you won't be able to. As you continue, the mastery of the text becomes more apparent.
   
   I read this as part of a book group and it was interesting to see the variety of opinions, feelings and reactions brought up by this book. I truly think everyone will take away something unique from their read. There are so many emotions and situations that I think most everyone will be able to find something to relate to. Most interestingly, the novel makes you question things in entirely new ways.
   
   The technical style of the book is unique. I cannot remember any time I've read a memoir that read so closely to fiction as Running with Scissors. It leaves me with the impression that while the main themes might be true, Burroughs has taken artistic privilege in embellishing and elaborating on the details. Then again, perhaps not.
   
   I think Running with Scissors was enjoyable, but it certainly wasn't the best book I've ever read. If you choose this novel, be ready for the unexpected and don't bring too many preconceived notions. Of course, that is probably part of the message of the whole book.



4. Having read Augusten Burrough's 'Dry' this past week, and wanting more of the same acerbic wit and pathos from the same author, I worked my way through 'Running With Scissors' just a few days after.
   
   While I must admit that I completed the movie before the book (in fact, on the same day) I am grateful that I saw the film before indulging in the bulk of the story. The film leaves out some of the best, and most horrific, parts of the story that the author tells of his troubled childhood with his alcoholic father, mentally unbalanced mother, and eventually living with the psychiatrist's family that adopts him as their own.
   
   Burroughs begins his account with childhood memories of being his mother's constant companion, cutting school, polishing his allowance, and wrapping the family dog in aluminum foil (because he liked shiny things). From early on, Burroughs believes he is destined for 'greatness' (like his poetry writing mother) and sets a course to own and market a 'hair empire' from early on - imagining himself bigger than Vidal Sassoon eventually.
   
   But Burroughs' life takes an unexpected turn when his mother begins to suffer psychotic 'breaks', and no longer feels she can care for him. While the course of events after this are both entertaining and sad, in reading the description of the episodes with his mother, I found myself wondering what would have been worse for him? Being simply (as I saw it) a 'filler' for her life when it seemed to be lacking fulfillment (between a husband, a therapist, and other assorted lovers, as well as her poetry), or living with the strange and eccentric 'Finch' family, headed by Dierdre's therapist, and finding out that he wasn't quite so 'abnormal' after all, living amongst those that he did growing up.
   
   Wildly entertaining, though not as caustic in tone as 'Dry', Running With Scissors is an indulgent look at a 'life less ordinary' which might make readers appreciate 'normal' a bit more in comparison.



5. Running with Scissors evokes emotions: humor and disgust. However, the disgust overshadows everything else. I found myself flipping through pages to get to something interesting. Indeed, portions intrigue with moments that speak genius.
   
   But the book fails on two levels. First, certain chapters ponder pointlessness. If one agrees, given the premise, it still equals boredom.
   
   The second issue the protagonist addresses, "No one would believe it." It's a clever trick to divert attention, but a trick nonetheless. Does the memoir speak facts without fluffing? Maybe. But again, my disbelief stayed throughout the entire work.
   
   One item remained with me after finishing: Bookman. I'll not spoil the one plotline that did make me wonder afterwards.
   
   Running with Scissors fascinates on a 'cannot look away from a train wreck' level. If you want a visceral reaction, this memoir can do it. Yet, I cannot recommend.
   
   Wolfe

5 comments about The Lost Boy: A Foster Child's Search for the Love of a Family.

1. "After a few sweeps I shook my head `She`s gone! She`s not there!'" The book, The Lost Boy bye Dave Pelzer, is about a boy named David who goes into foster care. His mom, (who is the actual crazy person) thinks her son, David should go into a Mental Institution! I think that she has already punished him enough, but apparently she will still try harder. On page 203, Lillian (David's first foster parents) tells David how his mom has been trying to put him down since he went into foster care! She try's everything in her power to tell everyone that David is crazy. She tells lies about David like starting fires and much more! I think that ages 13 and older could read this book. I think that anyone under the age of 13 wouldn't really understand this book very well. The setting of the book is in a couple different places, in court, and in different foster homes. This Non-Fiction book tells a true story of how David Pelzer servives his life untill he is eighteen, when he has to move out on his own! It is an interesting book, and I believe that people will like it. (It is a very emotional book.)



2. I purchased this book for my girlfrind, and she loved it! The compelling story of this little boy and his fight for survival would motivate anyone to keep moving forward. It is a must read!



3. this is a good book! i love it when dave sees that kid and the kid says what you call my sister? then dave says a horror? then the kid punches dave, makes his nose bleed, and says don't you ever, ever, call my sister a whore again! read it if you liek dave pelzer as much as me!



4. This book will open your eyes to child abuse. You will forever remember and reflect on what you have read. We all have a need to be loved.



5. This book, along with another came in on time and for a great price. I Love this book.. I am now waiting to read the two books left that tells the rest of Dave's Story. There are 4 all together!

5 comments about The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir.

1. The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir
   
   Our memories tend to be unreliable :-) so Bill Bryson brings back all those funny things from childhood that I hadn't thought about in years! Nor had my mom, who thoroughly enjoyed it, too.
   
   And some things -- like the McCarthy era measures - I hadn't really read about at all. (Seems the more some things change, the more they stay the same.)
   
   A really good book - and a great present for every boomer on my list!



2. My primary motivation for buying this book is that I, like the author, grew up in Des Moines in the fifties (and left it for college and a career in the sixties), and I hoped that the book would be a pleasant trip down memory lane. In that regard, the author is largely successful in evoking a time and a place that I knew and loved. Indeed, I was surprised by his recall of Des Moines in the fifties, because when the curtain closed on that decade, Mr. Bryson, by my calculation, was in the third grade (I was in the eleventh).
   
   The book is well written, humorous (the result of more than a little comedic license, I suspect), and triggered some wonderful memories of Des Moines. (The author does not limit himself to Des Moines: he tries, with mixed success, to examine America in the fifties, as well.) But while many of his descriptions of places that I knew from my youth resonated, I could not identify with the author, who grew up in one of the more affluent neighborhoods of the city's Westside, the most affluent side of town, light years from the working class neighborhood I called home. As I read his story, increasingly I heard the voice of a privileged kid; a privileged kid whose arrogance got the better of him when, in describing Riverview amusement park, he had this to say: "Kids from the Riverview district went to a high school so forlorn and characterless that it didn't have a proper name, just a geographical designation: North High. They detested kids from Theodore Roosevelt High School, the outpost of privilege, comfort, and quality footwear for which we were destined." I graduated from East High School, the other Des Moines high school possessed of a mere geographical designation, and I admit to having detested kids from Roosevelt. After reading the above, I was surprised to learn, decades later, that I still do. Despite these feelings, I think that Mr. Bryson and I can agree on this: Des Moines was a great place, and the fifties a wonderful time, in which to grow up.



3. This is a very funny book and is a great view of growing up in the 50s and 60s. I loved it.



4. I found this book in a bookstore and was hooked from the first page! Bill Bryson writes a wonderfully humorous story that any child born in the 1950's can relate to. For Baby Boomers, the 1950's were an age of innocence, magic, discovery and wonder. Each chapter follows young Billy as he experiences and imagines his childhood world of Des Moines, Iowa. Bill captures the essence of each character in the book with wonderful detail, from parents to friends to teachers -- we all know people just like them all. Each chapter is a treasure and a great read for all.
   
   Note to readers: Read only one chapter a day. You don't want to rush through this gem!



5. Every so often, a book comes along that is so good, you don't want to reach the end. "Thunderbolt Kid" is just such a book. I found myself having to pause regularly to allow my sides to stop aching from laughter, and I read about half of the book out loud to my wife because I HAD to share it. You don't read this book; it just happens inside your head. The trees that died to print this classic must be quite proud of their demise.

5 comments about The Glass Castle: A Memoir.

1. This is what artistry is all about! Wells has written an American Masterpiece! As an aspiring writer, I can only say that Wells is such an inspiration!The Glass Castle: A Memoir



2. This memoir is a great read. When I wasn't reading it I was thinking of ways I could read it. She is a great story teller with an amazing story to tell.
   Can say this is one of my favorite reads ever.



3. I really loved this book, though I didn't feel any compassion for the parents of the author. I didn't care much for the West Virginia part of the story, as I found the earlier party of Jeannette's childhood to be more interesting in both action and storytelling. I would love to see a follow-up to this book and learn more about what became of the author's siblings, how her parents adjusted to an empty nest and more details about the author's adult life.



4. Wonderful book! I got this book to read as it was on the freshman reading list at a college - for kids to get in touch with their own lives and understanding them - and perhaps how to let it go and get on with it - which seems to be a problem these days! I found that it parralled with my own life - and helped me see through the hard times i experienced!
   Very thoughtful and insightful - well written.



5. While I would not call "The Glass Castle" high art, I did find it inspirational and, as others have said, courageously written.
   
   I also recently read "The Road," by Cormac McCarthy. Although I realize that was a novel, it seemed to me that the feelings it wanted to evoke, the human connections it was trying to make--but failed miserably, in my opinion--were fully realized in "The Glass Castle."
   
   If you are looking for a book that will move you and demonstrate just how much a child can love her parents, choose "The Glass Castle." It will stay with you for a long, long time after you turn the final page.