2 comments about Jesus Sound Explosion (Association of Writers and Writing Programs Award for Creati) (Association of Writers and Writing Programs Award for Creati).

1. I purchased "Jesus Sound Exposion" yesterday and became quickly captivated by Anderson's engrossing memoir of navigating his adolescence and young adulthood between the twin poles of Evangelical Christianity and Rock n Roll.

   Anderson transports his readers to a parallel universe riddled with dualisms: Heaven or Hell, Jesus or Satan, chastity or making out, etc. The book presents an honest look at the conservative end of the Christian spectrum and the narrow-minded worldview that accompanies it. Picture a typical 17-year-old boy compelled to share "The Four Spiritual Laws" with his high school classmates, motivated by visions of hellfire awaiting the unrepetant.

   But Anderson leavens the tale with humour and musical discoveries while dispensing grace to his parents, siblings, and Sunday School teachers. While no longer a believer per se, Anderson reveals a significant amount of personal growth and maturity, eschewing fundamentalism and black/white thinking for a catholic (little c) worldview that encompasses divorce, teaching, retail work, and the horns blaring out on Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run."




2. Mark Anderson's account of his life growing up in the 60s and 70s and his relationship to pop music, Christian music, God and teen sin is immensely fun and entertaining. I hope he writes another book soon!

5 comments about Back to Mississippi: A Personal Journey Through the Events that Changed America in 1964.

1. I chose to read this book because I thought that Ms. Winstead was going to write about the slayings of the Civil Rights Workers (Andrew Goodman, James Earl Chaney, and Michael Henry Schwerner). She did, but a little less than 1/3 of her book was actually about their slayings and how her great uncle was involved with the slayings.
   
   I was really very disappointed. She talked mostly about her racist family that lived in the state of Mississippi and the 'N' word was used way too much.
   
   If you haven't purchased this book yet, good..if you did...oh well!!!
   
   Hint (If this book was so good, then why are so many people selling theirs?)...
   
   Thank You.



2. This was a good memior of her life
   and her family history.
   Mrs.Winstead's courage in writing
   this book is to be applauded.
   All Americans should read this book.
   By the way,I got a chance to talk
   to the author via phone.
   She was friendly and cordial.



3. Living in Minnesota, Mary Winstead becomes fascinated by her father's stories of growing up in Mississippi in the 1920s and 1930s. Deciding that she must preserve these stories, she digs a little deeper into the Southern side of her family, who reside in and near Philadelphia, Mississippi, site of the infamous 1964 murders of three civil rights workers, Andrew Goodman, J.E. Chaney and Michael Schwerner.
   
   She is welcomed warmely, until she gets close to the family secret: They are related to Edgar Ray Killen, the alleged mastermind behind the murders, who at the time of the writing (about 2001, 35 years later) had not yet faced murder charges.
   
   Part personal memoir, part history of the murders, this book explores Winstead's travels to Mississippi and family relations, starting from her childhood, to the present day. It also delves into her personal coming to terms with her family's past and struggles with keeping and perpetuating family secrets and honoring a culture of silence that she cannot subscribe to.
   
   I grew up in the upper midwest and now live not far from Philadelphia, MS. I think Winstead has accurately captured the attitudes of both cultures, and she has wonderfully voiced her inner struggle.
   
   This book was written before the 2005 conviction of Killen on three counts of manslaughter. But, as Winstead said, the book isn't really about civil rights, it's about her family, so perhaps the conviction doesn't matter for the purposes of this book.



4. I was riveted with the stories Ms. Winstead's father told, and her trips South. For that alone, the book is worth something, also for some insights into isolation of Northern suburban living, something I could relate to, growing up in similar protected surroundings.
   
   But the story all became confusing and I became as confused as she was, about all of the issues and it all turned into a muddle. I did not see the story lines integrated well; the jumps between her personal crises, the family stories and the stories of the murders in Neshoba County all remained separate and jarring, - not fully integrated at all. She has a lot to say about these things, but she is not saying them well, giving each half the treatment they deserve. Maybe this should really be 2 or 3 books.



5. I wanted to make a correction for page 131, there is no George Herbert Lee who was lynched in 1961.
   You mean Herbert Lee, my grandfather and father of nine, who was shot in 1961 by EW Hurst, but the witness to the shooting was Lewis Allen.

5 comments about Hooligan: A Mormon Boyhood.

1. I enjoy memoirs, so I wanted to like this book. The title was intriguing. "Hooligan" made me think of the McCourt lads, and some boys I knew in my childhood--the ones our parents used as Bad Examples, because they were always in some kind of minor trouble that pre-disposed them to entanglement in the bigger and more dangerous kinds. "A Mormon Boyhood" suggested I would learn things about growing up Mormon in Utah that would be different from growing up Methodist in Pennsylvania. Not only did the book fail to live up to its title, it failed almost completely as a memoir. Yes, it is full of recollections, in general terms, of boyhood in Provo, Utah, in the years just before World War II. But most of these recollections, far from being in any sense personal, enlightening or unique, could have come from the memory of my brother, whose boyhood was spent at the other end of the country, 3 decades later.
   
   Hooligan is not a story, in any sense, and it lacks a main character. This memoir's biggest failing, for me, is the total absence of the author as a person. I didn't know who Douglas Thayer was when I began reading, and I still had no idea who he was when I finished. I did know there was very little of the "hooligan" about him. Life events that must have been critical to the boy Doug, and that could have been moving or revealing to the reader are treated as asides; his parents' divorce, his father's death, the accidental shooting death of another boy, the coming of the war are mentioned, but in a detached and general manner that gives us no insight into their formative effect on the author.
   
   For a teacher of creative writing, Thayer has a rather monotonous style. His childhood is often reduced to laundry lists of activities, foods, and common mothering expressions without particular context. ("You'll put your eye out," was funny in A Christmas Story. Here, it's just another cliché in a basketful.)
   
   Only in rare passages does the child of this narrative come alive, and these few instances are remarkable. Thayer's description of riding his bicycle out of town to go fishing alone (in Chapter 10) made me catch my breath and wonder if I just hadn't been paying attention up to that point. Most of the book is written in the first person plural, as if the author were part of a collective, or in the second person, which distances him even further from his own life. When Thayer lapses (and it does feel like inadvertence) into using "I", there is a suggestion of potential brilliance in his writing, and I got the feeling he might be capable of conveying so much more. But in a little under 200 pages, I marked less than half a dozen paragraphs for their lasting impact. Here's one of them: "All summer in our trips down to the fields we'd watched for pheasants, especially after the hay and grain were cut and you could see the flocks along the edges of the fields in the early evening, maybe twelve or fifteen hens and three or four roosters. If the setting sun was just right and the rooster turned, his whole breast shone like fire. Riding our bikes down the lanes, we heard the rooster cackling, the sound sharp, sudden and thrilling." If only he'd given us more of that and less of this: "Pick-and-shovel work was considered the least skilled and hardest of manual labors, and you were warned that it was what you would end up doing for the rest of your natural life if you didn't get a good job, the rest of your natural life being somehow longer and worse than just your life. Working on the railroad as a section hand laying track was also considered quite limited...You were constantly told you needed to amount to something, but you were never told what..."
   
   When I read, I sometimes hear a voice in my head speaking the words. In this book, it was Andy Rooney's voice I heard. I realized that the style of Thayer's memoir reminded me of Mr. Rooney's style in the short pieces he does at the end of "60 Minutes", where it works quite well. Over the course of a full-length book, it wears very thin.
   
   A blurb on the back cover of Hooligan asserts that Mr. Thayer is "known in some circles as a Mormon Hemingway." Another touts him as "One of the finest writers the LDS Church has yet produced". I don't much like Hemingway, but I don't see the parallels, either. I can't dispute the latter claim, because I don't know of any other writers "produced" by the LDS church. In a genre that includes works by Annie Dillard, Bobbie Ann Mason, Rick Bragg, Russell Baker, Robert MacNeil, Pete Hamill, Joan Didion, Elie Wiesel (I, too, can make lists), Hooligan falls far from the standard of excellence. Read An American Childhood, or A Drinking Life. You'll learn something, you'll feel something. You'll wish you could meet the author. That's what reading a memoir should do for you.



2. This memoir is truly a boy's story. The narrator tells the story from a boy's point of view with vivid details and wonderful vignettes. From the first page, where he comments "We were to be seen and not heard.", the narrative is filled with moments that resonated for me even though my own boyhood was much different than the author's. I found the episodic style another aspect that made this like a boy's story for it seemed more natural that he would tell it in this, somewhat unorganized, manner. Nevertheless I looked forward to each chapter and the new events and information that it would bring. The characters and events seemed real even when we learn few details about them.
   
   The memoir provided sufficient detail to bring a different place and time alive. The accumulation of episodes and events led to a rich picture of another era when things were truly simpler. Again this rang true to me based on my own boyhood. The narrator includes changes in his life like the separation of his parents and his school experiences that provide an additional layer of meaning for the memoir. While there was a certain detachment of the narrator from all of this, the result for this reader was that the memoir took on a dreamlike quality that enhanced the feeling of difference in this particular place.
   
   Through its presentation as an episodic boy's story the overall effect was one that made me feel that I was a participant in this story. I was satisfied as the narrative ended that I had shared some part of this interesting boyhood.



3. Childhood is rich with feelings and with things; ideas come later. The "hooligan" of Doug Thayer's memoir has few ideas, most of them gleaned from adults and skewed because who can understand grown-ups anyway? ("Stark naked" is worse than "buck naked," but why?) The feelings and the everyday things are his own, however, and given to us with a richness and a clarity readers will treasure.
   
   It's all here--from the chores a boy must finish before he can burst out into the day, to the underwater wonder of swimming (buck naked) with the fish he can emulate if not yet catch. Comparisons to Twain's Tom Sawyer are inevitable and appropriate; in addition, I keep thinking of Thornton Wilder's Our Town and The Happy Journey--simple narratives that include "nothing less than everything": family life, food, work, nature, the stars, sickness and health, death and faith, sexuality, mystery, war--and all of it offered up in immediate, boy-sized images. (The hand-made slingshot, the ice pan beneath the ice box that required more tending than a young puppy, the indignities of the doctor's examination.)
   
   This book is a gem: months after reading it, you will remember some detail with such fondness and clarity you'll think it was a memory of your own. To make a work both universal and unique is the epitome of art, and with this book, Douglas Thayer has achieved just that.



4. 
   Hooligan: A Mormon Boyhood is the memoir of author Douglas Thayer, a.k.a. "Mormon Hemingway", who grew up in Utah Valley during the Great Depression and World War II. Brimming with nostalgia for an era when life was simpler, and boyhood was filled with mysteries, delights, and dreams, Hooligan is a cheerful tale of adventure and surprisingly ingenious pastimes. "The best material for a hand grenade was the dust from a vacuum cleaner, wrapped in toilet paper and tied with a string. The idea was to hit the enemy on the head so the hand grenade exploded and blinded him temporarily. This was hard, but it could be done. The effect was well worth the effort." Recommended for a pleasant and leisurely stroll down memory lane.



5. This is a fun book that talks about life in small-city Utah in the 1910s and 1920s. This author has a very warm, flowing style that adds a lot of fun life and nostalgia for the time when he could easily wander the streets as a harmless hooligan. There were a lot of implicit rules that boys of that era followed, and Douglas Thayer spells out those rules in a way that makes you feel as though you were really there. Although life was hard growing up, he didn't really notice because of the freedom and safety that his era allowed.

5 comments about Beating the Odds: A Boyhood Under Nazi-Occupied France.

1. "Beating the Odds" by George Burnell is the exciting autobiography of a youngster growing up in Nazi-occupied France during WWII. In 369 action packed pages, the author traces his journey from Strasbourg, France in 1939 until the end of WWII in May, 1945. "Beating the Odds" is a real page turner that reads like a novel full of twists and turns. As an adolescent French Jew, George with his family lived in constant fear of discovery by the Nazis and moved frequently to ellude them. Despite these risks, he manages to join his Uncle David, a Dentist, and others in the French Resistance and narrowly escapes with his life. This fascinating memoir gives the reader an interesting and unique perspective on WWII in France and I highly recommend it to you.



2. This is a well written, interesting memoir of a Holocaust survivor in France. The sections on political events are well placed and provide appropriate historic background to contents of the book.
   Myself a Holocaust survivor, I learned from it a lot about life in France during those years and enjoyed reading it.



3. Dr. Burnell tells a story of fear, brutality, resourcefulness, courage, and sensitivity. These emotions are the backdrop to his autobiographical tale of growing from just-past-childhood to near-adulthood in Nazi-occupied France during WW 2. Burnell describes how he and his mother survived the relentless threat of the Nazis as they fled from city to city in France just barely ahead of the Nazi persecution. From Strasbourg in the eastern part of the country to Paris to Bordeaux and finally to Lyon in the south. Along the way his stepfather was consumed by the Holocaust and by the end Burnell was fighting back by working for the French Resistance. The writing is clear, personal, and carries the read along swiftly. I could barely put it down- thus I read it in just a few nights.



4. Seeped into the depths of war and dispair of mankind, Dr. Burnell takes us on a journey through Nazi-occupied France during WWII. As opposed to the atrocities of holocaust victims in that same era, we are instead introduced into the lives of the common citizenry as they struggle through each day not knowing who is friend or foe. Dr. Burnell's family must decide when to run and when to stay; while knowing their decisions set them at risk to lose everything, including their lives. Balanced with historical facts, Dr. Burnell tells a tale that has us turning the pages, immersing us into the joys and sorrows of a family that in the end prevails despite their losses and succeeds in spite of the tragedy brought by war.



5. A young boy wanders from one vivid experience to another to another, just like kids do. His childhood had unique exposures to Nazi terror and horror, to be sure. But throughout those grim days, there remained that irrepressible insouciance of youth. There was even hero worship when he became involved with the French underground. He brings us right along with him as he becomes a man.

   This author described what was, more than anything else, a normal, adventuresome boyhood. Although I was expecting something more like "The Diary of Anne Frank", this book was more reminiscent of "Huckleberry Finn".

1 comments about Life of a Country Boy.

1. An excellent early biography of a great American. This book tells the story of France Bozeman's early years, growing up in rural Georgia. I particularly enjoyed his detailed description of the painstaking, time consuming and labor intensive process of tobacco farming. Great material on doing laundry by hand. Very funny comments on party line telephones. This book is a very enjoyable read. I highly recommend all of France's books.

3 comments about Pagan Time: An American Childhood.

1. Whenever I crack open a memoir, I'm worried that it's going to be one of those naval-gazing autobiographies that will serve to distinguish our generation of American writers by our wholehearted lack of self-consciousness about how insignificant we really are. I have this vision of memoir (with its better potential for prurient scandal and book sales) sucking away the creative lives of writers, luring them from the greater art of writing that more tenuous form of autobiography known as fiction. Occasionally, I am forced to abandon this prejudice, when I stumble on a memoir like Natalie Kusz's ROAD SONG, or Paul Auster's INVENTION OF SOLITUDE: I'll see a portrait of character so carefully drafted, so astute, so detailed, so true, that it astonishes me. I feel the memoir's characters standing behind me, breathing over my shoulder as I read, more real than life, bigger even than their own lives.

   PAGAN TIME is such a memoir. The character at the heart of this book is the narrator's father, co-founder of a `60's Utopian collective and a school for schizophrenic and delinquent teenagers. This is a man who moves his family to an isolated spot in the Adirondacks, imports a handful of disturbed and dangerous adolescents into their midst, and proceeds to live in a world governed by alliance with or against his boisterous, lawless character. His force of personality allows him to persuade whole groups of teenage delinquents, grown men and his own children to dress up as Romans and Celts fighting battles in the woods; to chant and sing at overnight pig roasts; to orchestrate a flower-child wedding with himself and nine boys decked in eighteenth-century Royal Navy uniforms offering a ten-gun salutes with muskets.

   Perks's father's spontaneity, energy and ingenuity allow him to recreate life as he goes along - to build a world not just big enough for himself but also for those around him - and one which, ultimately, provides perfect camouflage for a person who may be no more than an ephemeral and shadowy personality, a trick of mirrors, a man with a slim conscience and the most fragile ability to form lasting connections with any other person, including his wives, lovers and children. Perks's memoir unravels with a Great Gatsby-like elegance, an agile sleight of hand - its conclusion reminds me more than anything of Henry Gatz's arrival at his son's wake, to tell us all about the other Gatsby. PAGAN TIME Time leaves you just as unsure about who its central character might really be - when, for example, he faces the reader and narrator recreated as a butler who lives as a parody and embodiment of all the rules of civilization , a butler who, with a wonderful twistiness, pronounces himself a Buddhist who "does not cling." It is in the final few encounters with him and with his family and their spare words about him, that he emerges as whole and wholly believable.

   Perks writes with such a clear eye - without self-pity or self-importance, without moralizing conclusions, with a lively sense of curiosity about life and people. This is a smart, novel portrayal of fatherhood and father-daughter relations, and an exuberant portrait of the world of the sixties as well. The memoir's energetic writing sustains the reader right to the end, and every passage is deft - at times exhilaratingly dramatic, at times breathtakingly spare.




2. Micah Perks' strategy is to write a present tense memory narrative of her youth in Vermont where she witnesses the folly of hippy commune living and her father's tyrannical moral relativism, which he uses to justify a rather Billy Goat existence, at the expense of his wife. Perks never preaches, analyzes, or tells us much. Instead, she narrates strings and strings of memories. The only problem with this approach is that there is not much dramatic tension, no roller coaster ride, but a sort of flat line throughout the 160-page book. However, her style and language are sharp and immaculate.



3. I came across this book by accident when I happened to walk into a bookstore just as Micah was doing a reading and booksigning. I was immediately taken by the stories of her unusual childhood and ended up buying the book and reading it several times. It's filled with love, tragedy, and a lot of wild characters. Perfect for anyone who's familiar with alternative lifestyles, or just interested.

3 comments about Burning Lights: A Unique Double Portrait of Russia.

1. With illustrations by her husband Marc, Bella Chagall's memoir comes from the poignant brush strokes of childhood, focusing on Jewish holidays and family life. If you are curious about the life your immigrant forebears left behind, this will satisfy. I highly recommend it.



2. This book was penetrating and witty, giving a portrait of pre-war Vitebsk that makes the reader feel transported back to that time and location. Sweet without being cloying, the memoir bursts from the pages as if Bella were in front of you, holding a conversation with you.



3. I am sorry to say that this was such a bad book, I really was expecting something much better. Bella wrote about her childhood in Vitebsk (Belarus) in a fake "children" style, i.e. using language you see in a homework essay of a ten year old. It was supposed to be cute. But it just did not sound right for me. Second, there are almost no country-specific details at all. Bella does not care about Belarusian culture or the fact that it was under Russian occupation at that point. So, over all, the best thing about this book is Marc Chagall's little graphics. They are so nice and so Belarusian and really convey the feeling of nostalgy for Vitebsk, where I've been on a few occasions. It may be very interesting and educational for a Western reader who does not know anything at all about life in Belarus, (then under the Russian empirial rule), but personally I expected much more.

1 comments about Maria Zacharczuk-Gruenwald: The true story of a young non-Jewish girl's dreams shattered by the Nazi regime.

1. This book is exciting and heartwarming that describes the story of a young girls experience in a horrible time of our history. The sacrifies and she had to endure without knowing if she was going to live or die and to sustain harsh treatment on a daily basis, suffering from medical complications and lack of food. This book is a true testiment of what war is and the many lives that our destroyed because of hatered and discrimination. A great book for the young and old.

5 comments about Celtic Childhood.

1. Bill Watkins book is a breath of fresh air with a unique style of prose, seldom, if at all, found these days. Poetic, humorous and delightfully witty, the oral tradition of Watkins Celtic roots opens a door to a rich heritage that even a non Celt can appreciate. All ages will love this many-layered tale of wild adventure, mothers especially.



2. I was caught up in this first book by Bill immediately because of his warmth, humor, and the amazing way that his unsurpassed storytelling skills vividly draw you into the events of his childhood as though you were right there. A Celtic Childhood reveals the humor and heart and goodnatured view on life that Bill exudes today, in spite of any troubles and hard times. His perspective on life is very refreshing, and not at all bogged down by any self-pity or guilt as others have unfortunately exhibited in memoirs.

   It's very difficult to put this book down. There are adventures around every corner which all turn out inevitably funny no matter how disastrous. These are told at an exciting and rapid pace similar to a child's energy and intake of experience. In particular, I love the language and the rhythm -- the ways that Bill questions in his early years the meanings behind common phrases, sayings, and words. His view of the adult lives around him are hysterical and apt!

   His inclusion of a glossary and tune lyrics, as well as injection of many insights and facts of Celtic history, lore, and culture all serve to make this memoir an incredibly rich and vital read, that will leave an indelible imprint upon the heart and mind of all who read it.

   Rarely have I read a book with such heart, and phenomenal wit and way with words. Bill's a grand storyteller, and a wonderful, generous and multi-talented human being. Looking very forward to reading "Scotland is Not for the Squeamish", and the 3rd book in this trilogy when it comes out next year!




3. I was caught up in this first book by Bill immediately because of his warmth, humor, and the amazing way that his unsurpassed storytelling skills vividly draw you into the events of his childhood as though you were right there. A Celtic Childhood reveals the humor and heart and goodnatured view on life that Bill exudes today, in spite of any troubles and hard times. His perspective on life is very refreshing, and not at all bogged down by any self-pity or guilt as others have unfortunately exhibited in memoirs.

   It's very difficult to put this book down. There are adventures around every corner which all turn out inevitably funny no matter how disastrous. These are told at an exciting and rapid pace similar to a child's energy and intake of experience. In particular, I love the language and the rhythm -- the ways that Bill questions in his early years the meanings behind common phrases, sayings, and words. His view of the adult lives around him are hysterical and apt!

   His inclusion of a glossary and tune lyrics, as well as injection of many insights and facts of Celtic history, lore, and culture all serve to make this memoir an incredibly rich and vital read, that will leave an indelible imprint upon the heart and mind of all who read it.

   Rarely have I read a book with such heart, and phenomenal wit and way with words. Bill's a grand storyteller, and a wonderful, generous and multi-talented human being. Looking very forward to reading "Scotland is Not for the Squeamish", and the 3rd book in this trilogy when it comes out next year!




4. Drop dead funny, but also bittersweet. I loved this book and recommended it to all my friends



5. Reading Bill's work has given me a new outlook on my own Celtic heritage, and I'm finally 'hearing' the songs and stories my grandparents couldn't share with me. In 'A Celtic Childhood', Bill proves himself a true Bard in the modern world, serving his own happiness, tears, songs, stories & wit with the world. And we come back begging for seconds... And thirds.

5 comments about Grabtown Girl: Ava Gardner's North Carolina Childhood and Her Enduring Ties to Home.

1. It's a great book. Just great! 5 stars for the Author and the Book!



2. This biography is intensely researched and informative. The story is exactly what the title states, "Ava Gardner's North Carolina Childhood and Her Enduring Ties To Home". This biography puts most of its focus on Ava's childhood and how it shaped her attitudes toward her life and her fame. Although the last third of the book overviews her life as a star, if you are looking for a detailed account of Ava's Hollywood life, this is not the book for you. This is simply the story (told mainly through antecdotes and memories of family and friends) of a woman with strong roots who happened to become a movie star but who never forgot where she came from. The author introduces the reader to Ava's North Carolina family and friends and I love the fact that she tells the reader what happened to everyone mentioned in the book. I have a whole new respect and perspective for Ava Gardner. I was really struck by the fact that even though Ava became a big star, she never thought of herself as any better than anyone else and continued to be a loving and supportive friend, sister, and aunt. The book is short (about 130 pages, I read it in two nights, maybe took 3 hours total) and has some great pictures throughout. I highly recommend it!!!



3. It's difficult to juxtapose a breathtakingly beautiful legendary movie goddess with a simple country childhood, so it's therefore hard to portray Ava Gardner in both worlds.

   I give the author credit for being very straightforward with the simple known facts about Ava's childhood and early life in North Carolina. She didn't indulge in wild speculation, nor did she attribute thoughts or qualities to Ava that coudn't be verified. Instead, she told the simple story of Ava's simple life, documented by interviews with Ava's childhood friends, some family members, and letters written by young Ava.

   This book portrays a rather sweet and simple childhood for Ava, not too many traumas (other than losing her beloved father at a young age). They were not dirt-poor hillbillies, which is the image that Ava sometimes invested herself with when it suited her purposes. Piedmont-area North Carolina is not hillbilly country.

   I would have liked the book to have had much more substance, and I was particularly interested in knowing more about the lives of her siblings, of which only the briefest of portraits were given in this book.




4. "Grabtown Girl" is a most candid tribute to Ava Gardner that focuses on her relationships with the people she knew and loved in her beloved North Carolina before and after she became a world-renown actress. It is interesting to discover the diversity of the people who had such a profound and everlasting impact on Ava's life, from her most cherished childhood friend in elementary school to a most trusted friend during her adolescent years who later became a prominent N.C. businessman.
   
   The author includes extraordinary, never before published photographs and letters. I appreciate how Ms. Cannon ingeniously captures the core of Ava's innermost being, her heart and soul, via authentic documentation. This is the stuff good books are made of.
   
   "Grabtown Girl": what a treasure, what a gift! This is, in fact, the "real deal" and that's what I call "priceless!" Once you begin reading "Grabtown Girl," you may find that you are unable to put it down until you read every single page from start to finish!



5. "Grabtown Girl" is a love letter written by Doris Rollins Cannon to the legend of Ava Gardner and her North Carolina Tarheel roots. It is a wonderful read from start to finish.
   
   When I was a boy growing up in NC, (I was born in in 1960) I was always fascinated with the Hollywood MGM stars of the 40's and 50's. When I was about 12, I found out Ava came from Smithfield. I tried to find any photo, article or book on her I could find. At that time Ava, was living in London and not making very many motion pictures so I was eager to learn about her NC roots and how she got to Hollywood. I read all the old biographies that were in the library but they only briefly covered the NC years.
   
   I finally met her sister Myra that lived in Winston-Salem near me in 1981 and begin to hear some of the Gardner family stories. Myra would tell me how it would upset her how Hollywood would always get Ava's bio wrong and how MGM would embellish stories about her "dirt poor" background. Myra stated this upset her when they would write things about their parents that was not factual but she knew Hollywood would say anything about Ava for publicity right or wrong.
   
   But it was not until Mrs. Cannon took years and years of information, research, and interviews with the Gardner family and friends that this book was written to state the truth. It is a wonderful read not only for the " North Carolina native" but for anyone of any age that is interested in the story of Ava before, during and after all the stardom. Many of you have read the same old "Ava Gardner Hollywood/Madrid years" over and over. I know there is a new book out that just recycles a lot of the same gossip, romances, late nights, lovers, etc. So if you want something different, a factual account of Ava's life and her interactions with her family and friends, this is a wonderful experience. You will see that Ava was a true Tarheel throughout her life. The North Carolina state motto fit her perfectly! "Esse quam videri" To be, rather than to seem.