3 comments about The Sunflower Sinner.

1. Sunflower Sinner wraps us into a rising political career from the outside- the man himself - Paul Lackie-- and from the inside, all the required family support mechanisms --loyalty, appearance, self-sacrifice. Even without the elements of murder, bribery and disgrace, it's hard to believe that any ambition can exist without creating dysfunction in any group of people supposed to be based primarily on love.
   
   The confusion and loyalty have a profound effect on his oldest daughter, Cynthia. Dennis excellently depicts a child's intense feeling and wishful thinking about the events to lift her father into the governorship. As this 2008 campaign escalates, the Sunflower Sinner will make you think more deeply about the families that must bend to the candidate's ambition.



2. A blurb on the back of the book suggests that the reviewer " couldn't lay the book down". I had the same experience, finishing just half in one siting and for lack of time reluctanly putting off to the next day reading the balance. Here is a dysfuntional family on the order of the one filling the pages of The Glass Castle. The telling of this story reflects truth and honesty and results in tale that would do justice to a novel of outright improbable ficton There is real author's talent showing in this first novel by Dennis.



3. Cynthia Dennis' incredibly poignant, witty and descriptive writing took me on an emotional journey. This vivid, bittersweet memoir captivated me. I look forward to reading future works from this talented author.

1 comments about Love from Blodwen.

1. This is a wonderful book, Margaret Wyles spins the magical tale of her childhood set in rural Wales in the period just before the outbreak of World War II. Ms Wyles obviously comes from that long line of Welsh bards, storytellers, who value the spoken and written word in ways that sadly our world is now leaving behind. Her mother Blodwen, upon who's letters this book is based, was herself a prolific writer. We are fortunate that many of her letters were treasured enough by their recipients to survive and find form again in this book. It truly brings to life the world that Margaret Wyles grew up in and makes one long for times like that again............

5 comments about My Father's War.

1. Collins' moving memoir of her battle-scarred father offers readers a window into the lives of vets after the fighting is over, and the battles that emerged on the homefront. It's as much a story of the author's father, Jeremiah Collins--Yale student-turned soldier-turned salesman, as it is the writer's own. With painstaking honesty and powerful imagery, Collins paints a portrait of small town America in the grips of post-World War II boosterism. Some of the pictures aren't pretty, but Collins, a gifted writer, manages to move the reader through those passages and take them to a place of solace and closure.



2. I read this book over a period of three days while nursing my baby; I could not put it down. it rings so true, I could even imagine Jerry's voice singing those old big band tunes and improvising those bedtime stories for "the girls" as he tried to keep his nocturnal memories at bay. He sounds like a true Irishman, that heartbreaking combination of humor and melancholy. For personal reasons too complex to describe, I am very grateful for this book and for its courageous author, who revealed as much of herself as of her haunted father. I will read it many times.



3. At first, I could only read this book in bits at bedtime, but by the time I hit chapter four, I could no longer put it down and finished it in the middle of the night. I wept long and hard. Sadness and overwhelming joy. Ms. Collins - no, Julia - thank you for having the courage to share your story with us and for telling it so even-handedly. I felt like my grandfather, a storyteller whose quiet voice used to gather amazingly large crowds, was telling a tale of that Great Generation, of the tribulations faced not just a war but at home. And I feel sorry for anyone who has not heard this tale of yours and had the chance to share its epiphanies. Thank you again.



4. I picked up this book because I was interested in reading someone else's experience. My father was a Korean war vet and his experiences early in his life certainly changed who he was as a father. Julia Collin's book is inciteful and true to life and anyone who has a parent who has served in combat whether their parent talks about their experiences or not will find it enlightening. Experiencing war is an ugly thing and we all must remember that now and in the future when our veteran's return home to piece their lives together.



5. For the sons and daughters of WW II combat veterans this book is a must read. The author vividly details the pain and suffering many combat veterans' lived with through out their lives, and the effects on their families. In her writing you can see how the sufferings of some of these veterans' struggle with until death; witch was their only relief.
   Ms Collins and I have a few things in common. Both are Grandfathers were close friends. They both were businessmen on Main St in the center of Branford CT, and had sons over seas in the Marine Corps. They spent many hours comforting each other that their sons would survive the way and return home safely to Branford. In fact my family celebrated VJ day at the Collin's home in Pine Orchard.

No comments about The Journey Home: A Father's Gift to His Son.

3 comments about Becoming Ann: A Baltimore Childhood.

1. A revealing description of the author's life and thoughts based on a daily journal that she wrote during six decades. She treats you as she would a good friend by telling both the good parts and the not-so-good parts of a real life; the highs and the lows, the wonderful and the embarrassing. The difficulty of trying to deal with her emotions regarding her different relationships with her mother and father is a constant theme that runs throughout her life, and clearly has an impact on how she also relates to friends and neighbors. One especially delightful aspect of the book for anyone who attended parochial school on the East coast during the mid-twentieth century is her recitation of daily events; you feel as though she was sitting next to you in class! After finishing the book, I felt that the author had truly welcomed me into her home and life and made me part of it. A very enjoyable read, and an impetus to reflect on my own life.



2. I enjoy reading autobiographies and "Becoming Ann" did not disappoint me. The descriptions of people and places makeyou feel as if you are right there with the author. AnnHennessy's spirit of adventure and optimism shines through.I consider this book a very enjoyable read.A reader from Maryland



3. This is a basic biography of the author, Ann Hennessy. Of course as with all biographies of people who are not famous outside their immediate area the question comes up as to why someone should read it. Ann Hennessy does an excellent job of not only telling her childhood story but vividly portraying the time period and quirks of living in the Baltimore area in the 1930's through the 1950's. Her writing style effectively draws the reader into her life as a friend and clearly shows what it was like to be a child in this time period and place. Becoming Ann is a recommended read for anyone interested in the general social environment of the time.

No comments about Dance Class: Memories of My Youth.

No comments about Growing Up along California's North Coast: Boyhood Days in Humboldt County during the 1930s.

No comments about Red Hook: Confessions of a Brooklyn Eaglet, 1939-1955 (Cities series).

2 comments about Who Needs June Cleaver?.

1. Constance Alexander has written an easy to read, easy to laugh,and easy to remember memoir about her growing up years in a small, wonderful town. I know because I was there, too. I did not know Connie until high school but I could well relate to her young experiences.
   This is a must read for all baby boomers who grew up in the late 50's and early 60's.
   If you have scary memories of black hooded , pinched- faced nuns teaching you to read...if you have nightmares about being the only wallflower during a pre-teen ballroom dance class...if your family ever shared a holiday dinner with some very memorable but forgettable non-relatives...this is the book for you.
   More importantly, Connie paints a truthful but concerned portrait of all her family members. Although some were more intricately involved than others, Connie's siblings and parents all played their unique roles which contributed to her whole.
   I read this book in one sitting. I'm sure you will, too!



2. I enjoyed this book. Easy read and selection of short columns gave a very good variety of incidences of life in the 50's-60's.

5 comments about She's All Eyes: Memoirs of an Irish-American Daughter (Reading Group Guides).

1. I found FBI Girl to be both touching and unforgettable. Conlon-McIvor's adeptness at describing the details of her youth will resonate with anyone who grew up in "suburbia" in the '60's and '70's. I felt like I was at the dinner table, in the FBI car and in the classroom along with young Maura as she navigated her way through her quiet childhood. Her book reminds us that sometimes the quietest amongst us have the most to say. How lucky for us that she found her "voice" and shares it with us through this loving memoir to her family. This story will stay with you for a long time.



2. FBI father, Catholic school nuns, big family, sixties-seventies, Downs-syndrome child...I expected yet another story of growing up stifled in the suburbs, with some illicit sex and scandal.
   
   In fact, Conlon-McIver describes a remarkably functional family, bound together by an amazing generosity of spirit. Fascinated by her father's career and her Nancy Drew books, she remembers keeping a log that includes every neighbor's license plate. She wants her father to bring home stories of exciting crimes he solved.
   
   Reviewers have focused Maura's father, Joe, who refused to talk about his work and in fact didn't talk much at all. However, linguist Deborah Tannen has written about the differences in male and female communication styles and John Gray reminds us that men are from Mars. Men just don't want to talk about "my day at work." Like Joe Conlon, they communicate through action.
   
   Reading between the lines, Joe was trained as a lawyer. Although he carried a gun and badge, he probably worked in offices, pushing paper rather than chasing bad guys. He might have been assigned to white collar crime. Here's a clue: he came home regularly for supper nearly every day. So there probably weren't a whole lot of exciting stories to tell.
   
   And we should note that he didn't brush off Maura's questions with ridicule: he just changed the subject. Once he even shared a "trick" of looking out the rear view mirror, probably acquired from another agent who was more active in actual criminal pursuit.
   
   Joe took his kids out to play baseball on Saturday afternoons (another clue: bad guys don't work nine to five weekdays). He even built a ball field. He did chores around the house, apparently without complaint, everything from changing diapers to folding laundry and mowing lawns.
   
   Most significantly, he didn't withdraw when his last child, Joey, was born with Down's syndrome. Joe not only remained a caring father, but also raised significant funds for a group home for other developmentally disabled children.
   
   Maura's mother, a former beauty queen, never seems too tired or impatient to spend time with her five children. She's creative and playful, sensitive to Maura's need to attend public school rather than continue to an all-girls Catholic high school.
   
   However, the mother's ideas seem more progressive than her cooking. The family dinner table seems more fifties than sixties. I have to admit I admired the way they managed to stay slim and healthy while eating endless servings of processed, high-carbohydrate food.
   
   And the children seem remarkably unselfish, as they pitch in to care for Joey resisting stares and embarrassment. This family learned the joy of living with a developmentally disabled child in a time, place and social environment where those attitudes were hardly commonplace.
   
   Even the nuns are remarkably benevolent; one fussy teacher who complains about Maura's E's in handwriting class, but she melts as she learns more about Maura.
   
   Because the book focuses so intently on family, it's hard to get a sense of the role of friends in Maura's early life. She mentions being neglected by the popular girls but we don't get episodes of real meanness or of the close friendships young girls typically develop.
   
   Now comes the challenge: How does Maura Conlon-McIver keep the pages turning while describing a happy childhood? She's not sticky or sentimental. She tells the story with crisp sentences, studded with original metaphors. Most importantly, Conlon-McIvor paces the story as if she were writing a novel, no easy task when writing a memoir.
   
   Toward the end, she reports a tragedy that scars what should have been a happy climax to her grade school years. And she ends on a bittersweet note, growing aware of her talents but also her family's unspoken conflicts.
   
   I once heard a psychologist speak about families on the basis of real research rather than myths. He claimed that families held together based on what they didn't say, rather than on openness. Perhaps it is the unrealistic expectation of free-flowing communication that harms families, rather than the actual silence. And maybe the Conlon household wasn't perfect, but I bet a lot of people would have gladly traded places with any member of that family.
   
   



3. "FBI Girl" is not about the FBI. Nor is it, really, about Maura Conlon-McIvor's father in his role as an FBI agent. It is, instead, a memoir of the childhold of an Irish-American girl attempting to understand her non-communicative, somewhat dysfunctional father, and loving and caring for her Down's Syndrome brother. This brother, Joey, and Maura's exceptionally warm mother, are the glue that holds this family together.
   
   It is a testament to Maura's parents that when their severely-retarded son Joey was born, they did not put him into an institution, which would have been common in the mid-1960s. Maura herself is fiercely protective of Joey, and believes that anyone without a Down's syndrome child in the family is missing something. This is an attitude shared by her father, who believes that the developmentally disabled are really the smart ones and the so-called "normal" people are ignorant. When you read about some of the reactions of the Conlon's neighbors (which range from shock, to avoidance, to guilty stares, to embarrassment and, occasionally, caring and compassion), you don't doubt that this is true.
   
   Maura has a bigger problem, however, communicating with her father who, in her eyes, speaks in some sort of code. Joe Conlon obviously loves his five children, and his love is demonstrated by doing things, rather than talking (whenever Conlon does not want to answer a question, he changes the subject entirely.) Maura believes, incorrectly, that Joe Conlon's job as an FBI special agent precludes him from talking about anything substantive. In fact, as Maura discovers, Conlon's behavior was nothing learned at Quantico or ordered by J. Edgar Hoover.
   
   The story warmly evokes 1960s Los Angeles. Maura Conlon lived with with her parents, sister and three brothers in an unidentified suburb of Los Angeles (20 minutes from Disneyland and 40 minutes from Hollywood.) The name of the suburb doesn't matter -- whether it's Downey or Fullerton or Los Alamitos or West Covina or Azusa, or any one of the other suburbs that run into one another in this part of the world, the story would be the same. It is hilarious, however, to read about young Maura playing Nancy Drew, writing down license plate numbers and desperately looking for high intrigue in this bland world of tract homes.
   
   What is also relevant is Maura's religious Catholic upbringing, which provides Maura with a strong faith, a strict way to live, and more than a few interesting stories. A less salutory aspect is that Maura grows up strictly differentiating between "Catholics" and "publics," believing, among other things, that public school kids put drugs in the mustard and ketchup bottles. This belief is proven false when Maura herself goes to public school, with the backing of her former teacher, a nun.
   
   Above all, this is the story of a painfully shy, highly imaginative girl who finally finds her own voice. Maura Conlon-McIvor has a compelling story to tell, which is well worth reading. As a contemporary of the author, I enjoyed the 1960s references, which took me back to my youth. Yet Maura Conlon-McIvor's story is unique. I think it gives a greater understanding of living with and loving the disabled than anything I've read thus far. Although it is somewhat less satisfying in addressing the author's father, it is definitely a worthwhile read.



4. This is a great story! Being the daughter of an agent myself, I could relate. The author does a terrific story of bringing you back into time and seeing events occur through a child's eyes.
   I stayed up to read this book in one night. I truly recommend this book.



5. I found this memoir to be very moving. The last 1/2 to 1/4 of the book I read without stopping. I got a hint that maybe, another book may come out. I understood this author with all her family dynamics that she writes so well about. I especially understood her feelings when she spoke about her father. I will look for second memoir from this author--so far I haven't seen any; but hopefully she will still write one.