1 comments about Tales from the Heart: True Stories from My Childhood.

1. I had to read this for a class and thought it was going to be boring. Boy was I wrong. This is a wonderful memior. Recommend this book to everyone.

No comments about The Last Eyewitnesses, Volume 2: The Children of the Holocaust Speak (Jewish Lives).

5 comments about Birth of a Tumbleweed: Memoirs of Growing Up in Post-Nazi Germany.

1. My mom was born in Southern Germany just before the war started. Her and her family went through years of existing on barely any food, never enough blankets and clothes to keep warm in those bitter cold winters. She still remembers the bombs falling near her home and to this day has nightmares about it. "Birth of a Tumbleweed" gives a glimpse into the world of a family who was just trying to survive. Somehow after the war, all Germans were blamed for the sick ideas of Hitler. Inge's generation had to grow up with a heavy load of guilt on their shoulders, guilt thrown upon them not just by the Allied, but by the German government itself.
   Inge's book took a lot of courage to write, since esp. her generation was expected to just shut up and take the blame. I understand why she moved away.
   Reading Inge's book gave me a better understanding of what my mom went through. It also encouraged me to stand my ground and to not take any blame for anything that happened back then. (Yes, there are still people out there pointing fingers...)



2. Inge Perrault has done an amazing job bringing us through the stages of a life none of us in this country could ever imagine. It made me laugh and cry, and brought me deep into the little girls heart and mind. Her descriptions of the country were so detailed I feel like I have been there myself. It's an amazing journey, one I think everyone growing up with all the priviledges of our society today should read. It wasn't that long ago, yet most of us have fogotten all to easily what war does to a society for years to come. The courage it must have taken to write and remember all this is astounding, and one knows where that courage comes from after reading Birth of a Tumbleweed. I know it will passed around in my family as a must read.



3. Much has been written about World War II from a historical
   point of view. However, what has not been adequately covered
   by historians is the devastating effect of the War on the German
   people who were also victims of Hitler. In Birth of a Tumbleweed, Inge Perreault chronicles her childhood, teenage years, and young adulthood in Cologne, Germany, in graphic detail that includes her family, torn apart by the two Germanys, the physical, psychological, social and community trauma she endured growing up. How would an average American endure life during war time in their homeland? Read Birth of a Tumbleweed and you will come away very grateful for life in the USA! A remarkable story of hope, struggle, and enduring strength not just to survive, but to succeed in life!



4. There is a disclaimer at the front of this book stating that it is self-edited owing to the fact that the material is too personal. I suspect the more truthful statement would be that the author didn't want to spend the money on an editor for this self-published book - and it shows. I can't remember ever actually throwing away a book before I finished it as I did with this one and I mean literally into the trash basket.
   
   There is no question that the subject matter, the recovery of Germany after the devastation of WWII, is of great interest and mostly ignored by US literature. What does one, civilian or soldier, do in the days immediately after a war when one's country is the loser? Where does one start, standing amidst the ruins of a city with no food nor shelter to be had, worthless money in one's pocket and the victorious enemy, righteously full of contempt, running the show? All remarkable questions.
   
   Evoking compassion from a reader comes with clear, simple statements about the facts of the situation, allowing the reader's own conscience to discover the emotional conection to the writer. It does not come from pathetic whining about the events of the time and complaining how others didn't understand their own insensitivity.
   
   This book seems like a therapy session for the author without the professional guidance of a therapist present. It's self-indulgent to the point of not even having a editor for the prose. I mean, come on, were all those explanation points really that personal!?



5. Dear Readers,
   
   This book brings back many memories about the times after WWWII. I was born in 1944 in East Germany and have experienced many of the situations mentioned in this book. But since I am not a writer, I would have never been able to put these experiences on paper. I find the stories worth reporting and preserving for future generations. All too easily do we forget and repeat the mistakes of the past. This book is a heartfelt memory worth reading. I am looking forward to more books from this author.

1 comments about Stronger by The Day.

1. Stronger by the Day: A Gripping Story of Abuse, Neglect, Courage and Redemption is the chilling, true-life memoir of author Raymond Lumsden, a survivor of abuse and sexual molestation, convicted of felony burglary at age sixteen and sent to a maximum security prison for it. Life in prison was a nightmare ordeal; he had to survive day-to-day dealings with rapists and murderers, and was nearly killed in a brutal and horrific prison riot. Yet when he finally served his time, life on the outside was marked by fresh hardships - his efforts to turn his life around were at the mercy of whether his probation officer liked him, and at virtually every turn his prison record was a barrier to rebuilding his life. "Convicts are not criminals. Criminals plan and scheme what they will do once they get on the outside. Convicts like me do the time and go on to lead productive lives, if the system lets them." Lumsden survived three suicide attempts, and finally found peace through becoming a pastor and active counselor. Stronger by the Day is a profound story of personal redemption, as well as a terrible warning of the risks imperiling today's children at the mercy of a cruel and arbitrary justice system.

No comments about A Life of Agony and Praise.

2 comments about Through the Burning Steppe: A Wartime Memoir.

1. Elena Kozhina's Through the Burning Steppe: A Wartime Memoir is so much more than a highly compelling narrative of the horrors and heroism experienced by a young Russian girl and her mother during World War II. It is also a revealing glimpse into the realities of life in the Soviet Union, not just during the war, but from its earliest years to its final decade. It is a chronicle of a young person's growing literary, artistic and cultural awareness. And it is, ultimately, a timeless story - not simply of good and evil, or of simple joys amid enormous tragedy, but also of human frailties and strengths, of ruthlessness and compassion, of islands of clarity in a sea of complexity. This gem of a book packs volumes of interest - and of insight - into its fewer than 200 beautifully written pages. I recommend it highly.



2. This is a wonderful piece of writing. It is is written in clear and sparkling prose, testimony to the way in which Ms. Kozhina carries on the great Russian literary tradition of such writers as Gorky, Chekov, and Turgenev. The book, in its simplicity, yet power, reminds me of that great French movie, "Forbidden Games", about children orphaned during World War II. Time after time, as I read through the book, I would stop and look at the picture of the author; in a way I was unable to believe that one could go through such terrible times as she describes, and yet still survive with such great depths of humanity. This is literature at its very best!

2 comments about Two Cities: On Exile, History, and the Imagination.

1. An outstanding portrayal of the immigrants' dilemmas. But the immigrants in "Two Cities" have nothing to do with the United States. They are exiled from Lvov, an ancient Polish town incorporated to the Soviet Union as a result of World War II, and sent to the post-German city of Gliwice in southern Poland. Everything that comes from Lvov or reminds them of Lvov is sacred while everything else is worthless. A child growing in the dual world of imaginary Lvov and real Gliwice has trouble finding his identity. He returns to the past, examines and questions the drama of the war, and struggles to reconcile his life with the semi-imaginative world that surrounds him. Two Cities as well as other short stories included in this book are true masterpieces but must be read with some minimum background on post-war Poland.



2. This guy knows how to write, how to live, how to be a poet.

1 comments about They Took My Father: Finnish Americans in Stalin's Russia.

1. This is THE book for those of Finnish heritage that are interested in a nearly forgotten time in our history. Mayme gives us a gripping tale about her time in Soviet Russia after being moved there by her communist agitator father Oscar Corgan. Oscar was one of the primary proponents of American Finns moving to Russia to begin a new life there. This time is called "Karelian Fever". Mayme's description of her life and times in Russia is harrowing. Even though her father was taken and killed by soviet authorities she remains unapologetic. This is a fine companion piece to "No Home for us Here" and "Karelia".

No comments about THE SPRING OF '31: A Kid's View of the Great Depression.

5 comments about Bye Bye Baby: My Tragic Love Affair with The Bay City Rollers.

1. Well sure, hardcore BCR fans are going to hate this book-- but don't let that put you off this magnificently self-mortifying book. Caroline Sullivan nails the illogic of teen obsession so well I squirmed (wasn't BCR for me, fortunately-- it was the Who-- there but for the grace of god). She knew BCR were hacks and grossly untalented. She had otherwise great taste in music. And yet... and yet... Buy this book. Treasure it. And make sure to hand it down to your daughter when she gets caught up in the latest manufactured pop-- boy band-- hysteria juggernaut.



2. Okay...it was just great fun to read the memories of another Bay City Roller fan who actually had the resources and, well, nerve to go chase them down. It was a superb trip down memory lane ... well written, funny, sad, absolutely loved it. The Bay City Rollers took over two years of my life as a teenager ... if you liked them, you were nothing short of obsessed with them. Great job, Caroline ... thanks for such a wonderfully inspired read.



3. This is the book to read if you ever thought you'd found the rock star that you were meant to love for life! Fantastic tale of obsession and fear and joy and fun and desperation. Kudos for this honest and grand story.



4. I wasn't sure what to expect with this book, but once I got a couple of chapters into it, I had an epiphany. Caroline Sullivan and her Tacky Tartan Tarts could have been me and my friends had we had the means to follow any of the teen idols we adored. That's when for me the story stopped being about the BCR and started being about a slightly tilted mirror image of myself. If you go into to this thinking you're getting great insight into Leslie, Eric, Woody, Derek, Alan et al, then this isn't the book for you. If you want to remember the pure joy you experienced in loving these guys, and you're not afraid of taking off the blinders and seeing how they saw you in return, then get this book. Thanks, Caroline, for the memories and sharing the mirror!



5. Another book I could not put down and went through in a few readings. Great stories. Really brought back memories of the 70's and the rollers