5 comments about Memories Are Like Clouds.

1. What makes this book so appealing to a "Baby-Boomer," like myself, is that it brings back memories of what it was like growing up in a small town in the fifties. The wiry humor and interesting characters make the book hard to stop reading. Fact is---I read it twice, and would certainly recommend it for its entertaining aspects, as well as its literary merit. Dell's other book, "A Saigon Party," is a must read for those desiring a different view-point of the Vietnam war. Her writing is poignant, sincere, and manages to capture a little of the American spirit that is in all of us. Sincerely, Franklin D. Rast, author: "Don's Nam," and "Ghosts In The Wire."



2. This wonderfully descriptive and delightful memoir is charming. Hollywood filmmakers take note: This poignant remembrance of the 1950s would be a great movie or TV series!



3. I enjoyed this book. The title is perfect for a work that snapshots growing up in a Polish community. My grandparents were Russian Jews (both sets) who came to America about 1912. Both my parents were born here. So much of the anecdotal tales of local characters, mom and pop shops, numbers running, close communities, mirrored so much of what I remember as a child. Overlaying the story and presented initially is the loss of a loved one in Viet Nam. This book relates how immigrant families sacrificed for their children encouraging their education that resulted in 2nd generation Doctors, Lawyers, Accountants etc. Its a wonderful book to read and struck many chords for me.



4. Memories Are Like Clouds is a beautiful, evocative memory of the bucolic and misty 1950s in a small town in Pennsylvania. Diana Dell's love of Kenny, her younger brother, her family and her 'place' screams off the page. I found myself chuckling often and when not chuckling, a twinkle nestled in my eye side-to-side to a stray tear or a chill.
   This is a story about a boy, a family, a town, and a time that comes alive in the present and says something meaningful to us.
   Memories Are Like Clouds is a celebration of Kenny Dell, an All-American boy, a poignant toast to Kenny, the soldier and hero, and a song to the sacrifices of American soldiers heeding their country's call. We can pray their country exercises their love with wisdom.
   Memories, like clouds, stir and churn. This book is a must-read that places history in context to the present. Bob Lupo, author, A Buffalo's Revenge; Extremities-4.



5. Diana Dell has a talent for transporting the mind back in time and place - to the times that us baby boomers still remember with fondness. Her look backwards is also her way of dealing with the loss of her brother - without reminding us of that fact all the time. She has loving respect for her roots - her family and her neighborhood. She has captured those times and people and given us a snap shot of her heart as she grew up. The reader will find that they will get involved in all these people's lives that she introduces in the book. It is a book for both men and women to read. It makes a nice weekend reading journey as I have done this weekend.

5 comments about Moving Target: A Memoir of Pursuit.

1. The author has captured the depth and spirit that keeps our POW's alive, knowing that we cannot forget them and the sacrifice that they have made for us. It does not matter if they are held three weeks or three years, we must keep them in our hearts, minds, and prayers. This book should be required reading by the Military and their families, and those that are quick to find fault with the men and women in uniform. I came away from each chapter as a member of the family and their ordeal after the war. We must remember that the families are just as much POW's!



2. I made the mistake of starting to read "Moving Target" before going to bed one evening; at 3 am I was still unable to put this book down. It's the memoir of Ron Arias, a staff correspondent for People Magazine. It starts out as a biography of Arias' parents. His father, Armando, is being held as a POW in Korea. His mother holds the family together until Armando's return. But this happy event is soon overshadowed by many troubles; Armando is being discredited by the Army, his promotion to captain is delayed (is it because he's Hispanic?) And he's a changed man, brooding, a strict disciplinarian but now with an edge since his return from near-starvation and survival of a Korean POW camp. Ron and his brothers find the household tense and troubling after Armando returns.

   And there are more mysteries. Why does Ron's mother refuse to take communion at Sunday Mass? There is truth to be uncovered here, and Arias takes us on a young man's journey to find himself and his family.

   The memoir also shows us Arias' development as a writer, from a chance encounter with Hemingway in Pamplona, to a course in English literature in Argentina from a Professor Borges (yes, Jorge Luis Borges.) And in Argentina, Ron begins a career as a journalist. We follow Ron through a stint in Peru as a Peace Corps volunteer and watch how a young and talented journalist develops. But the story of his family and his identity is an equally compelling thread.

   This is probably one of the best memoirs I've read in years. The writing is crisp, the description of everyday details sharp and focused. Arias has the ability to go back and look out of the eyes of innocence and ignorance-we follow him along in the book as if we all were sent back in time in his life. If you liked "The Color of Water" or "Angela's Ashes" this book will resonate with you. You really should read it. I promise you won't be disappointed.




3. Moving Target, by Ron Arias, is the story of an American family, but not your typical next-door-neighbor kind of family. This is the story of a military family from the perspective of a sensitive, intelligent boy. While fellow army-brats will nod their heads in recognition as they read this memoir, most civilians would be astonished by the impact war and the warrior culture of discipline and rootlessness can have on a marriage and family.

   Once begun,this book is not easy to put down. It is a chronicle written in a clear, accessible style, and often reads like a mystery novel. It takes a trip through recent history, putting personal faces on the Korean Conflict and the Cold war. As the writer matures and explores his father's military career and his mother's aspirations and marriage, many questions emerge. I felt compelled to follow Mr. Arias on his search to find the "real" man who shaped his life. Both his parents are brought fully to life, and as a bonus, Mr. Arias shares his adventures as a journalist. It is a courageous, heartbreaking, intimate life story that I will not soon forget.




4. Moving Target was one of the best books I have read ever. It was a moving story of a family and the hunt for a father they knew or didn't know. I was jealous of the young mother, wishing she had been mine. Later on I was glad she wasn't! Her death was an enigma. Her writings were truly unbelievable and know that's where Ron got his talent for writing. I read this book several months ago and it took this time for me to write. It is tragically moving, poetic with an uncanny melodic verbage. The quest to find this father again took Ron to many places, winding up in of all places, California. The perseverance to not quit gave this reader a gut-wrenching mystery that kept me riveted to my seat. Once you start you cannot put it down. I will read this book again. I hope Ron continues to write as he haa a talent that needs shared with the world!



5. Moving Target succeeds in transforming what could be a pedestrian topic into a fascinating tale of discovery. Ron Arias manages masterfully to make the reader a committed member of the author's family and his relentless quest to uncover the truth.
   
   Arias accomplishes this considerable feat with an effective approach composed of painful candor, suspense and clean, compelling writing.

No comments about The Porcelain Sleigh: A Childhood Revisited German 1937 - 1947.

No comments about Of Mice And Me.

1 comments about America Lost and Found: An English Boy's Wartime Adventure in the New World.

1. Excellent, make sure you also read "England, First and Last", the sequel; you will be unable to put these down.

1 comments about The Bottom Feeders: (Some call us white trash).

1. It would have been nice to know this before purchasing the book. Also worth mentioning is the fact that the book is impossible to understand due to poor sentence structure, among other things. I gave it a try and gave up before finishing the first page. Complete waste of money.

No comments about When I Was a Kid and Other Mishaps.

2 comments about Edge of the Wilderness: Growing Up in the North.

1. What an absolute delight to read.
   Memories of growing up in the heartland of Canada, the Saskatchewan prairies, fill the pages. I was hooked on the very first chapter, where the author, Lee Updike relates the story of meeting his first dog at age 5. That short story alone has more plot and heart than most full length novels.
   Each chapter of the book is from a year in the author's life. He starts at age 5, and is able to document his life through to age 21. Often, as I read the engaging stories, I found that each chapter had a vital life lesson as well. I often found myself hoping that my children would learn the lessons that Lee's parents taught him.
   Fisherman's tales of 38 inch pike (pictures included), wise grandmother's (who are really in charge) and encounters with bears (more than one close encounter) are the sort of adventures that draw the reader in. The humour, that is sprinkled lightly, seems to come naturally, in a way that made me comfortable.

   The stories reminded me of a play I saw recently called "The Hudson's Bay Boy" which also featured stories from the northern bush.
   As a city boy, I have often suspected stories of life in the north are better to read than to actually experience. After reading his book, I think I would probably get an argument about that from Lee.




2. Hi Lee,
   I'm your cousin, uncle jake is my dad.

No comments about An African Name.

4 comments about Marriage, Kidneys, and Other Dark Organs : A Memoir.

1. The book is about a real life. I had a rollercoaster ride of emotions while reading this book. Venera De Bella Barles tells her story with great humor and insight. As her life progresses you will cry not from the sad stories but from laughing so hard. For a first book she has done a surpurb job. I hope to read more of her work in the future.



2. An intense and yet, humorous look into a girls growing years.
   A book well worth the read.
   E.J.Willmann



3. Wow, what a great piece of work. It was a rollercoaster, I laughed and cried, I could not put this book down. I thoroughly enjoyed the journey with the author. Di Bella Barles is so generous, she shares so much with her reader.



4. The title "Marriage, Kidneys and Other Dark Organs" by Venera DiBella Barles, would seem likely to be the perfect reading companion for a long wait in the radiology clinic, but is devoid of literal references to kidneys. It is actually a visceral trail of the author's real life experience growing up in an immigrant family household where a colorful but dominating father leaves the family raw and vulnerable. Between tears, I laughed my kishkas out. There are powerful emotional strains in these memoirs that anyone, regardless of background, can relate to, whether the understanding stems from the "school of hard knocks" or from the comfortable voyeuristic vantage point of the den recliner.