5 comments about The Amorous Busboy of Decatur Avenue: A Child of the Fifties Looks Back.

1. The Amorous Busboy of Decatur Avenue is Robert Klein's memoirs of growing up in the Bronx in the 1950s. Born in 1942, Klein writes affectionately of the basic influences of his youth during the years 1951 to 1966. Each chapter begins with a picture of Klein during the period discussed.
   
   His parents were children of immigrant Jews who were "careful, cautious, wary people" and passed on their concerns to Klein and his sister. His bedroom was a Castro convertable ottoman in the living room of their small 6th floor apartment.
   
   The first four chapters cover his life in junior high and high school in the Bronx. Having grown up in the Bronx myself during this time, I found these very well written and full of delightful details.
   
   The next five chapters are about his life at Alfred University in rural upstate New York. Here he confronts anti-Semitism and develops a love of acting and comedy. He also works summers in the Catskill Mountain resorts made famous in the movie "Dirty Dancing." He is no Patrick Swayze, and his amorous nature is mostly unfulfilled.
   
   The last six chapters tell the story of his breaking into show business. His first success in Chicago's Second City and his friendship with Rodney Dangerfield are highlights of this section.
   
   One of the recurring themes of the work is his sexual relations over time. Beginning with his losing his virginity to a 112th Street prostitute, Klein reminisces about the women in his life and the sexual and sometimes loving relations he had with them. Although he is not very graphic in his descriptions, this male oriented portrayal of sex in the 50s and early 60s may seem insensitive by modern standards. Yet it is his very honesty at representing the male attitudes of the time that makes this aspect of the book especially interesting. He says he writes "not to titillate but to communicate the excitement that sex held for me and its importance in my life." This was a time of great changes in sexual attitudes and his depictions of his and his friends' sexual interests over these 16 years shows how radical the change was.
   
   All in all this is a wonderful memoir of New York life in the 1950s. It is also an insightful portrayal of college life at the time, especially in an era when Jews were still being discriminated against in fraternities and other aspects of academia. Lastly, Klein does a great job of describing his beginning career as an actor. How he learned his craft, the problems he faced, and the people he knew are all well represented.



2. It's a joy to read. Funny, funny, funny. Great stories, and he truly makes you feel like you know all of the people in his life. A true gem of a book.



3. I have liked Robert Klein since I saw him live around 1975. This memoir of his early years is a lively read that gives a lot of background on what made his comedy what it is. He is unsparing about his insecurity, need to belong, tendency to overdramatize, and attitudes towards women. The result feels both honest and entertaining.
   
   Why are people giving this book negative reviews for not covering his marriage, children, HBO specials, the Dukakis campaign, or whatever else? Klein was writing only about his youth to the age of 25, with much clarity about the manners, prejudices, and sexual mores of the late 50s and 60s, and he succeeded admirably in making them vivid to someone who was born in 1959. Would I like to read more about his later years? Yes. Hope he writes another book. But it makes no sense to rake this one over the coals for things it didn't try to do.
   
   I take particular exception to the reviewer who even threw in complaints about the omission of topics Klein *did* touch on, including campus anti-Semitism, his difficulties with the talented but scene-stealing David Steinberg, and descriptions of the early careers of performers he met, including Rodney Dangerfield and Bette Midler. Did Klein explicitly say why his comedy seems based on middle-aged angst? No, but growing up with preternaturally cautious and conservative parents accounts for it. If you don't rebel against your parents, you are liable to imitate them.
   
   In sum: this book is well worth reading if you are prepared to accept it for what it is.



4. Robert Klein's unique sense of humor makes for a great read...of course, it might be even more appealing to read his material if you are already a huge fan of his as I am. This book is not a "laugh out loud" type of book say like say an Al Franken book, but it's funny in other ways and quite enjoyable.



5. Like many of the other previous reviewers, I think the world of Robert Klein as a comedian, so I had high hopes when I purchased "Amorous Busboy." Unfortunately, unlike other recent memoirs I've read (Billy Crystal's and Alan Alda's), Klein's was sorely lacking in humor. Not to say that he wasn't funny when he tries, it's just that Klein rarely makes even the attempt at humor throughout this overly detailed book. The most interesting parts, not surprisingly, deal with the development of his talent and career, but that constitutes a relatively small portion of the book, the lion's share having to do with his sexual development. This book was a big disappointment!

5 comments about Dress Codes: Of Three Girlhoods--My Mother's, My Father's, and Mine.

1. I bought this book in the "on sale" part of Amazon one day, because it was the cheapest book that could get me over the "free shipping" hump. I thought, "It sounds alright -- maybe I'll find time to read it one day."
   
   Well that one day happened while I was rearranging furniture last week. Dress Codes fell out of my bookshelf so I picked it up and said, "Huh! I forgot all about this book!" I sat down on my office chair and flipped to a random page in the book to see if it was any good. Six hours and a damn good story later, I went to bed.
   
   The book weaves an interesting twist of biographical stories from the view point of her parents as children, along with her own childhood story. She explores the characters in her family with depth and humor. Each chapter leaves you hungry for more.
   
   Enjoy the author's communist grandfather, socialite grandmother, goes-along-with-anything mom, and her grumpy dad with his humorous efforts to prove his masculinity!



2. The local school system is considering dress codes as parents today don't care what the older kids wear in public so, when I found this book at the library surplus sale, I took it without checking the contents. Was I in for a shock!
   
   This unusual memoir concerns a totally different matter. The female writer grew up in an unorthodox family situation. The photos show a normal looking childhood and ordinary people. However, there was nothing normal about their life, after a time. The last photo shows her with two women, the taller is her father Richard (now Christine) who is shown as a beauty contestant. He'd been an advertising writer and part time actor, and tried to stifle his desires with alcohol; to beat it all, he was only 5'10".
   
   He and Dinah had been high school sweethearts in Cleveland, Ohio. He kept his distance from daughter, Noelle, and she avoided being in his presence. Children know instinctively when things aren't right. She learned at the age of fourteen that her father had a real problem which they'd have to live with, or acccept whether they wanted to or not. He'd implied as much in 1962 before the wedding to Dinah, but she didn't take the warning. She heard what she wanted to hear by changing the subject.
   
   This girl lived through emotional and mental distress because of the consequences. There was never any guilt involved, only a determination to become what he wanted, no matter who got hurt. Noelle wasn't successful in sticking with anything she tried, giving up in the early days of a college education, or a job abroad, and suffered a misery only hinted at. It's a miracle she came out as "normal," with the happenings the next ten years after her mother explained the reason for the divorce. She remarried and Richard had operations to appear feminine and have his own way of living. It's sad to put that burden on an adolescent who developed a split personality in high school.
   
   She'd written an earlier book, OUT OF THE ORDINARY, with Ellen Samuels, prepping for this family revelation.



3. The true story of a woman who grew up with a cross-dressing dad, who later became a transgendered woman, is bound to be an attention getter. I picked this up expecting to get some nice shocking details about alternative lifestyles, but instead I was touched with a very complete family portrait. Howey dove deep into her mother's and her father's childhoods, their formative sexual relationships, and how they were shaped into who they were as adults. She paints a complete picture of three different transformations into womanhood--those of her mother, herself, and her father.
   
   This isn't a train wreck of a journey--the reader will come away surprised at how natural all this growth and transformation seems. Howey captures the larger attitudes and issues around transsexualism, as well as how it affected her small family. Her insight and wisdom make this book an excellent resource, and this book should be remembered as a portrait of attitudes about sexuality over the last 25 years.



4. When I saw this book, I expected it to be facinating. Afterall, how could it fail? Somehow, it did for me. I was very disappointed, because I wanted to compare this family with another. A good friend of mine went though the process of changing gender from male to female and since we worked nights together, I spent a lot of time talking to her about the process. Although I did finish the book, it won't be one that I'll need to talk about. Howey seemed to have left the characters incomplete. I found the end to be rushed. Howey dealt with her major depressive episode in the last 30 pages! Not one of my favorite books and not one I'd recommend for others.



5. I am a great fan of using humor to deliver painful truths in writing, but this book goes too far in that direction. The writer's tone is unbearably flippant at times. She seems to hold her life and the lives of her parents at arm's length where she can giggle at it all with shoulder-shrugging, eye-rolling smirks. When dealing with her own childhood, that approach is fine, but I was taken aback by the writer's overly jokey tone when talking about her mother's adolescence and her father's painful childhood. That is probably one way of dealing with the confusion and pain of her father's life and the distance that caused in their relationship. Thankfully, late in the story, her father goes through his transformation and so does she. When her humor finally fails her, she also relaxes her frenetic "let's-play-it-for-laughs" posture. As a reader, I was relieved. All in all, this is a fascinating story about gender that raises as many questions as it answers. The writer's eye for telling detail brings her past alive, and she is one funny woman, so I do recommend it despite the snarky tone. Also, how many other people can tell this story? That alone makes this book worth it.

No comments about The Real Oliver Twist: Robert Blincoe: A life that Illuminates a Violent Age.

4 comments about Hope for Carsonville.

1. First, I have to admit that the author is a friend, and that I read a lot of the book before it was published. But it IS a great book. Her family was dysfunctional, but she shows how a child can grow up with love and faith despite a less-than-perfect, non-suburban, non-Yuppie childhood.
   
   Parts are hilarious and parts are sad. It's a lot like real life.
   
   I have read a lot of books, and highly recommend this one.



2. SIMPLY AMAZING! I'll admit, I'm partially biased: my aunt Erin wrote this book, but I read a lot and know great writing when I see it. Outsiders might not comprehend our tight family bond, but read the stories and share in the laughter, tears and memories.
   
   I'm just waiting for the sequel, when she shares her adventures babysitting her favorite neices.



3. I would highly recommend this book. It is a collection of short stories that will make you laugh, cry, and remember things from your own childhood. When I finished the book, I flipped it over to the beginning and started reading it all over again! I cannot wait for this author to get her next book out!



4. Erin Q. Hartman, author, was born in 1957 in the cozy ambiance of a home in Carsonville, which produces rich, childhood memories. Erin Hartman, one of twelve children, grew up in the home of a sick, alcoholic mother. But what Hartman's parents lack in material wealth, they make up for with family cohesiveness and love.
   
   I was able to connect with this book on many levels. Like Hartman, I was born in 1957, so I have memories similar to those that she so intimately shares with us. Her language is so vivid that I found myself present in the lives of this quirky, yet loving and loyal family. Imagine attending church wearing toilet paper as a scarf on your head! Hartman sums it up: "What I love about Sunday dinner is that my father is home and we are truly a family. It doesn't matter how my funeral scarf looks or how stupid my sisters look with toilet papers on their heads. God knows we are doing the best we can." Hartman portrays well the awkward situations that surface through childhood innocence and harmless childhood pranks.
   
   Although Hope (Hartman's mother) might not be considered the ideal parent by today's standards, the children find her loads of fun. A child at heart, she takes seriously her run for town council in Carsonville. Her values are rich as she teaches her children to help those who are less fortunate by inviting them in for a rich, home-cooked meal. In addition, she never runs out of resourceful ways to entertain her children, like "The Abandoned House Game," where she and her children try to imagine what took place within the walls of abandoned homes. She may seem outlandish, but her adventuresome spirit makes her the envy of Hartman's friends.
   
   Hartman concludes her memoir in just the right way by celebrating joyful memories of the close-knit family's experiences. Some are poignant, but most are endearing and unforgettable.
   
   by Sharon Blumberg
   for Story Circle Book Reviews
   reviewing books by, for, and about women

3 comments about Boston Boy: Growing up with Jazz and Other Rebellious Passions.

1. Nat Hentoff, who later became famous as a writer about jazz and civil liberties, describes his "coming of age" and discovery of jazz in the Boston of the 1940s. A very enjoyable read.



2. It's great to see a book like this. As another Boston boy, I had many similar experiences that have been hard and perhaps confusing to explain to someone who grew up in another time and place.
   My wife feels that she understands me better now after reading Boston Boy. We are giving copies to our sons.
   The book for me is nostalgic, poignant, and somewhat reassuring. Helps to understand that generation, that time, and that place. We made it in spite of the bastards.



3. Once, jazz was a real and pervasive presence in Boston and in the dim and scruffy clubs of the South End, this American Music-par-excellence thrilled thousands of afficionados, while yet rarely affording its dedicated and colorful creators a living.
   It was the Twenties and the Jazz Age; it was the Thirties and the age of the Big Bands; it was the wartime Forties, the age of The Savoy on Mass Ave and of Sidney Bechet; it was the baby-boom Fifties and the age of Storeyville in Kenmore Square...
   There were Big Bands and great ballrooms but there were, as well, many talented smaller bands, playing inspired improvised jazz and struggling to survive as they enthralled more limited audiences in more limited venues.
   Nat Hentoff eloquently reminisces about a time when the soulful sound of trumpet and clarinet, piano and bass - pained, glorious, yearning, introspective, challenging, alien even - could inadvertently reach out of the smoky, dark, cave-like clubs of Washington and Columbus Avenues, and so mesmerize a young boy that it could change his life.
   Nat Henhoff blends this tale of a city, its cultural glories and its social sins, with the story of the music, light and dark, somber and witty, pure and besmirched - the faithful mirror of the human soul.
   He leaves one desolate that - much too soon! - things changed, and he leaves one wondering why Boston let it happen; why the city - host to The Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory, the Symphony as well as The Boston Pops - couldn't swiftly rally to support and, in time, to save a once-thriving Jazz community...
   Oh, economics and changing taste are the answer, of course, but one is left wishing that Boston had been able to sustain its local jazz scene and, failing that, wishing that it should presently choose, at the least and at last, to honor it with a South End Jazz Museum.
   Many of the greatest Jazz Musicians played there once and their presence or passage should not be forgotten.

4 comments about My Fathers' Houses: Memoir of a Family.

1. Steve Roberts has written a charming memoir that celebrates his family and an era gone by. Roberts grew up in Jersey City, an area usually reserved for punch-lines of stupid jokes, but Roberts captures all that is to be valued in his hometown. It is refreshing to read a memoir that is not so much motivated by anger and discontent. MY FATHER'S HOUSES is a memoir written to give credit where it is due.



2. First: I'm a big fan of Team Roberts. But I was not expecting the depth of emotion and connection this book evoked in me. I'm a bit younger than Steve, grew up on the West Coast in a WonderBread world, but his descriptions of his background and growing up, full of all the anguish of the less-than-perfect teenager, were astonishingly affirming. I have passed the volume on to another, and expect it will continue to make the rounds. I'm hoping for volume two that picks up at the time they were married and carries on, since there are surely many more stories!



3. I cannot imagine wasting nearly a year of ones life to write a silly and superficial book about a very small and plain vanilla family. Like millions of immigrant families, Roberts' family came to the US, set up shop, had kids, worked hard and passed on their genes. For Steve Roberts, his very ordinary and undistinguished career as a writer for The New York Times and other publications was only made significant by his marriage to Cokie Boggs, whose only claim to fame was being the daughter of a big time pol from the south before he died. She then spent a lot of time at ABC as the classic liberal reporter before she got dumped for George Stepyounopulous, Clinton's mouthpiece.
   Luckily this book won't take long to read if you want to, but I keep asking myself why I wasted an hour of my life to read it. I guess the high point of the book is that Barney Frank is his good buddy and got him to apply to Harvard. That's about it. Oh, and he was a bag boy for Scotty Reston. Wow. To think some poor tree died for this.



4. I am not Jewish, I did not grow up in New Jersey, and I was born the year the author graduated from Harvard. How can I explain the reasons I loved this book? Perhaps the reviewer below summed it up best: it IS refreshing to read a memoir that is not fueled by anger, contempt, or confession. This is a very pleasant visit to a time and place that, while not my own, echo a love of family connections and triumphs. I hope there will be a sequel and I applaud Mr. Roberts for taking the time to reflect upon and share his childhood. We need more books that aren't someone else's therapy.

2 comments about Not the Germans Alone: A Son's Search for the Truth of Vichy (Memoir Holocaust Studies).

1. This is a very beautiful and honest book about what happened to the Jews in France during WWII. It gives rare details about the French quiet acceptance of the deportation of Jews. It also reveals how difficult it is to get basic information from the French archives 50 years after the facts.

   A must read for everybody who desires to know.




2. How does it feel to be left alone as a seven year old. Your mother is taken by the authorities and your father is away in an interment camp and you are left in a cherry orchard in southern France. Isaac Levendel captures his feelings and shares them with us in his spell binding book, "Not The Germans Alone" published by Northwestern University Press (ISBN 0-8101-1663-4).. The amazing reality of the roundups after the invasion of Normandy rings with the madness of the Germans and the French establishment. Levendel gives us insights into the workings of Vichy France and the large amount of collaboration. While we were led to believe that most French were in the resistance, Levendel's book makes it clear that very few Frenchmen were in the underground and very few Frenchmen helped Jews escape the Nazis. Those few that risked their lives were simple people acting honorably. What I found most interesting is the description of his emotions about his mother and the description of her actions are sometimes inconsistent. He shows her virtues and her flaws. He writes about her love, her intelligence, her caring, her stubbornness, her bad judgement in not fleeing sooner, her mistake not taking all her money with her, and then going back to get it. I got the whole picture of her and that makes the book rich and touching. Levendel describes the peasant family that adopted him. They were heroes who risked their lives to help. Some scatological material gives us an earthy feeling of these people struggling to feed themselves as they helped others and thought nothing of it. They were truly pious. l loved how Levendel writes about his experience during allied bombings, "The bombardment did not feel or sound like it does in the movies. The heavy smoke smelled like dust and fire. The explosions were much more violent that I expected. The earth trembled under my body, and I could feel the shock wave of the explosions on my neck and chest, as if the bombing were happening inside my shirt. There was nowhere to hide. My mother had reached the limits of her power and could do nothing more to help me." The tracing of the official Vichy documents to verify what really happened is itself a real mystery story.

5 comments about The Lost Night: A Daughter's Search for the Truth of Her Father's Murder.

1. William Grimes has always been one of my favorite NY Times reviewers. Although he tends to be negative, when he waxes effusive, I take notice. When I saw this....
   ------
   "As a memoirist, she succeeds BRILLIANTLY. "The Lost Night" is ENTHRALLING, a skillfully narrated story that begins as a tale of detection but quickly becomes something more."
   --William Grimes, NEW YORK TIMES
   
   I figured I'd take a chance. Well, it's been sitting on my nightstand for 6-months now and damn if it's not enthralling. Although I was hoping for a bit of a who-done-it, I couldn't put it down. The descriptions of the messed-up Central Valley(to put it delicately)were terrific. With some sex, drugs, and even some 80s Rod Stewart in the mix, for good measure, it was a joy to read.



2. Lost and Found - a past reclaimed
   
   I finished Rachel Howard's "the lost night" at 3 this morning. From the minute I cracked its spine, the pages turned themselves, inviting me to ignore every routine chore of mine: dirty dishes, daily exercise, even meals (though I did manage to go to work and feed the cat).
   
   Masterfully written, the book tells a riveting story of the murder of Rachel's father when she was only 10 years old. How she handled the loss of this beloved man, her protector and playpal, is a glimpse into how children cope with tragedy of this magnitude. The experience retrospectively defined Rachel, her relationship with her family and also with her stepmother Sherry, her father's third wife when he was murdered. Rachel, the product of divorce, was spending a few summer weeks at her father's home during this time. She was witness to his last waking minutes and remembered details that would replay themselves with increasing vividness as time went by.
   
   But memory is elusive...and selective. The author comes to realize that her memories were circumscribed by the limited frame-of-reference of a young life.
   
   What I found so compelling here is the child's perspective. I have read (and probably own!) just about every true-crime/courtroom/forensic book that exists, yet I never read such an account from a 10-year-old point-of-view. Rachel illustrates the sometimes graphic, sometimes muted terror-of-the-night children of murdered parents are heir to, their wispy and unexpressed--indeed unconscious--suspicion of significant-others, and their necessary dependencies on adults who, often not comprehending the nuances involved, believe that by trotting the kid to therapy, they absolve themselves of the pain of revisiting the circumstances themselves. In Rachel's case, her father's family remained largely silent with her about that night. They may have felt that openly speaking about the murder with someone so young would somehow legitimize it for her. In fact, their passivity had the opposite, and quite damaging, effect on a young mind hungry for assurance and validation.
   
   Palpable throughout Rachel's memoir is its raw honesty. The writing is often brutally introspective, devoid of the self-pity and lachrymose language which the author might easily --and justifiably-have indulged. She is seeking information and answers, and by the last page, I realize she has found those things, and some peace along the way.
   
   Therese Hercher



3. This is a wonderful combination of memoir and true crime. I felt as though I realy got to know the author. Her willingness to examine the fragility of memory and adjust her conclusions accordingly made her more appealing. The change in her attitudes toward the people in her life caused me to re-examine my own feelings toward people in my life. This book is a definite addition for anyone's library.



4. Met the author at a book signing and was impresssed by her impeccable poise and story-telling ability. Then I went home and read the book. Wow. I had the same experience as the other readers. This is an excellent and poignant memoir.
   One feels the you-are-there quality of a little girl awakening in the middle of the night to see her father covered with blood on the floor. The people in her book are like characters in a Dickens novel, yet they are (were) all very real. Howard captures the cultural milieu of Merced California in the mid '80's. Her father loved Rod Stewart with a passion and the lyrics of his songs weave through the true story of a child trying to make sense of what is going on around her.
   The child matures into an adult and becomes a writer! What an awesome contribution to the memoir genre. I do hope that the killer is eventually caught.



5. Rachel Howard tells a compelling story in "The Lost Night," a memoir that reads like an extended episode of crime documentary shows like "48 Hours Mystery." A pre-teen when her father was stabbed to death in what seemed like a botched break-in, the loss haunts Howard until she can find a way to make sense of it. Suspicion surrounds Howard's step-mother, whose brother is questioned by police, but it is eventually cold cased. As an adult, Howard investigates further, a decision which brings her back in contact with both her father's family and her dreaded step-mother (who has since married again and moved away.)
   
   The book effectively sets the scene in California's Central Valley, and Howard successfully plumbs the psychological effects of growing up without a murdered parent. She is candid about many of her struggles with men as a result of the loss, although she is slightly dreamy about her wedding and happy relationship with her husband. (This aspect of the memoir seemed overly one-sided and idealistic.) Her father's murder is never solved, but Howard does find a way to come to peace with it, including an acknowledgment of her own biases against her former step-mother, who makes a memorable reappearance in some of the book's best latter moments.
   
   What we end up learning about in "The Lost Night" is the effect of crime on those left behind, and the mysteries that remain when crimes aren't solved. Although the writing is no where near the quality of classics of the true crime genre, this is a worthy effort and worth a read.

3 comments about Brooklyn Dodgers The Last Great Pennant Drive, 1957.

1. The Weekender, June 20, 2007
   by Alison Myers
   
   After first considering the idea of writing a book about his favorite baseball team in 1997, and beginning research in 2005, historian John Nordell's book about the Brooklyn Dodgers' last year in Brooklyn has finally come to life in "Brooklyn Dodgers: The Last Great Pennant Drive, 1957."
   
   Nordell, an Old Forge resident whose primary interest is on military and diplomatic history, had been thinking about writing his book for years and originally wanted to write it in 1997, the 40th anniversary of the last Brooklyn season. He first became interested in baseball back in 1956 while watching a game between the Dodgers and the New York Yankees. He began following Brooklyn in the beginning of the 1957 season.
   
   The center of the story surrounds a game Nordell saw at Ebbets Field on July 18, 1957 between the Dodgers and the St. Louis Cardinals. The game made such great history that, according to Nordell, the Sporting News later referred to the ninth inning as "the most fantastic inning of the season." Although the main highlight of the book is the Dodgers' memorable year, it also discusses the decision makers and factors involved in deciding to move the franchise to Los Angeles at the end of the season.
   
   "It was a truly amazing game, and seeing it was the most exciting thing I have ever experienced." Nordell wrote in an e-mail. "I was determined that I was not going to let the 50th anniversary of the Dodgers' last year in Brooklyn go by without telling this story."
   
   The season also featured some of the all-time best professional baseball players, including Duke Snider, Gil Hodges, Carl Furillo, and Roy Campanella.
   
   In order to obtain further information for his writing, Nordell used books already written about the Dodgers and then began looking up primary sources in August 2005. He explored microfilms at the Osterhout Free Library in Wilkes-Barre and the Albright Memorial Library in Scranton. He also traveled to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, and the New York Public Library. There, he found a baseball website called Retro Sheet (http://www.retrosheet.org). The idea behind the website is to give box scores, narratives, transactions, and other data from as many Major League Baseball games prior to 1984 as possible.
   
   Nordell already had research materials of his own, including books, magazines and personal memories. The writing of the book was completed in spring 2006, but he worked on researching photographs well into the summer and fall. "Photos add greatly to a book and my book on the Dodgers has 37." Nordell said.
   
   He describes the process of writing a book as "tremendously satisfying." In order to put together such a project, he says one should have an eye for detail, an organized filing system, and a love for the project they are working on. Having a word processing system is a big help as well.
   
   For those interested in purchasing a copy, Nordell hopes to take them back to the excitement the Dodgers provided for their fans right up until they left Brooklyn.
   
   "Virtually lost to history was the Dodgers' mid-season surge in the standings during that last year. The memories that I have of Brooklyn's last pennant drive, along with the game that I saw, also gives the book a personal dimension that I think readers will enjoy."
   
   "Brooklyn Dodgers: The Last Great Pennant Drive, 1957" is available at local bookstores or online through http://tribute-books.com. Anyone wishing to find out more about the book can visit http://www.brooklyndodgersbaseball.com
   
   What: John Nordell Book Signings
   
   Where: Barnes and Noble stores and Borders near the Viewmont Mall
   
   When:
   June 28
   Barnes and Noble
   7 South Main St. in Wilkes-Barre (11:30 a.m.)
   August 11
   Barnes and Noble
   421 Arena Hub Plaza in Wilkes-Barre Township (2-4 p.m.)
   September 1
   Borders
   100 Viewmont Mall, Scranton (2-4 p.m.)
   
   For more information: Visit http://www.brooklyndodgersbaseball.com



2. John Nordell's tribute to one of baseball's most storied and inspirational teams, reaching its zenith in one of the sport's greatest
   eras, has lots to recommend it to the aficionado. Brooklyn Dodgers, The Last Great Pennant Drive, 1957, is a work of art on a couple of levels.
   Precisely and painstakingly researched - the sense of "play by play" is
   both engaging and eerie - it has at least as much charm, never losing sight of the fact that this book speaks to both history and American folklore. The Bums - that is the boys - from Brooklyn: Gil, Duke, Junior, Carl, and Johnny - well, all of them, are nothing if not folklore.
   His attention to statistics could cause a CPA to nod appreciatively, but Mr. Nordell's book is also personal narrative. He includes numerous photos of the team in action, on and off the diamond, many of which he
   took with his family at one big game. All this adds to the charm of a book that will stand alone as the quintessential telling of one magical year in the sport.



3. Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1EIEQOIOW3D1R Call Me Sonya Grey

5 comments about A Daughter of the Samurai.

1. I didn't want this book to finish so soon. I loved the style and became involved in the characters. I want to know how her children re-adjusted back to life in the USA - how did she manage as a single Japanese mother alone in the USA.

   Nothing tumultuos happens, no sex, no violence - just a peek into the not-so distant past!

   Especially interesting for me since I am a Brit who has lived in the USA and now living in Japan.

   Can anyone reccomend more books of this calibre?




2. I was completely charmed by this beautifully written autobiography! I couldn't put it down! Not only did I learn some rich social history of Japan, but I was able to see into the Japanese heart for the first time. Although many of the customs mentioned are now outdated, they show the foundation that shaped and molded the Japanese people of today. I can now say that I have a much clearer understanding of the Japanese. Apart from what I learned of Japan, I also got a glimpse of America and how we haven't changed much over the years in our attitudes. I saw into the heart of the immigrant and the adjustments and readjustments they must face. I was awed and inspired!



3. Unfortunately, out of print - but seek it out any way you can. A fascinating, wonderful, and truthful account of the life of a daughter of the Samurai class, which had existed for centuries, just at the time when it was beginning its decline. Much of what you read in this book will explain the behaviour of modern-day Japanese. As an American living in Japan, that has proved invaluable. The book is well-written, focused, imaginative, whimsical, and resourceful, just like the author herself. If you can get your hands on a copy, be prepared to fall in love with Etsu-bo!



4. Unfortunately, out of print - but seek it out any way you can. A fascinating, wonderful, and truthful account of the life of a daughter of the Samurai class, which had existed for centuries, just at the time when it was beginning its decline. Much of what you read in this book will explain the behaviour of modern-day Japanese. As an American living in Japan, that has proved invaluable. The book is well-written, focused, imaginative, whimsical, and resourceful, just like the author herself. If you can get your hands on a copy, be prepared to fall in love with Etsu-bo!



5. A great book if you are interested in old Japanese ways. Well written, but not hard to understand. Would recomend to anyone