5 comments about A Mighty Heart: The Brave Life and Death of My Husband, Danny Pearl.

1. This is a touching memoir. The epilogue letters are probably the most emotional part of the book. However, there are other touching moments throughout centering around the relationships she forms with the people who helped her through the tragedy of her husband's kidnapping and murder. It's clear she learned who her friends were and made many.
   It didn't seem to me that she lacked emotion, as the previous reviewer criticized. However, if there are times when she does, she makes it clear that she never wanted to give terrorists the satisfaction of her tears. People deal with emotions and adversity differently. She is clearly an exceptionally strong individual.
   The writing gave the feeling of a suspensful page turner despite knowing what the tragic outcome would be. An extremely sad narrative.



2. A very sad story. It also makes the anger towards these terrible people come out. I wish that Bush would stop being a sissy and go after these people. I also lost my husband but to an auto accident. Nevertheless, the pain is the same. I would hope that her story will stop people from going to these countrys for any reason. The US also needs to be more militant in going after the hostage takers.



3. "I signal to Danny to take the first (cab) since he is in the greater hurry. After he tosses his bag in, he cups my neck with his free hand, pulls me to him, and kisses my cheek."
   
   "In a matter of seconds, Danny is gone."
   
   Wall Street Journal reporter Danny Pearl was kidnapped then murdered by terrorists in Karachi, Pakistan, in February 2002. The person he kissed was his wife Mariane Pearl, co-author (with Sarah Crichton)of A MIGHTY HEART. I call this writing pure poetry.
   
   "There might be dozens of reasons for Danny to turn off his cell phone, but he doesn't usually. 'Your correspondent cannot be reached at this moment. Please try again later,' says the cheerily robotic, feminine voice... I will come to detest that voice."
   
   This is Mariane-as-narrator's first intimation something's wrong. As a reader, I know Danny's been kidnapped and soon will be beheaded, but her words "I will come to detest that voice" grabs my gut and shakes away that knowing. Maybe he'll be okay? Maybe the news was wrong?
   
   Marianne relates this beautifully poetic truth: "I call and call Danny's phone; it is never answered," and still I find myself turning the page, hoping Danny picks up. How does she get me to do this? By leading with her heart. My heart has to follow hers.
   
   Some writers lead with thier heart, excitement, fear, pain, joy. Read A MIGHT HEART for a glimpse of how it's done.
   
   Note: I read the book when its title was A MIGHTY HEART:The Brave Life And Death Of My Husband Danny Pearl. I don't like the new title. It doesn't say the book is a memoir. Perhaps this is a way to appeal to a broader audience.



4. This book is absolutely amazing! It's very well written and the movie doesn't do it justice.



5. Even after seeing Michael Winterbottom's compelling 2007 film adaptation starring Angelina Jolie, I cannot imagine the unrelenting nightmare Mariane Pearl, five months pregnant, must have felt for those endless weeks back in early 2002 when her husband, Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, was being held hostage by radical Islamic terrorists in Karachi. It is a tribute to her as both investigative reporter and grieving widow that she has written such a moving and cogent book about her husband's kidnapping and expands the picture to include an unblinking portrait of the man responsible, Omar Shiekh. His conversion into a jihadi is treated just as comprehensively as Pearl's more personal account of her relationship and eventual marriage to her husband. I was particularly moved by her story about how they went to Cuba to return her mother's ashes to her birthplace. As a former reporter herself, she is never overly sentimental, but you cannot help but be touched by the loving portrait of her husband, a tough-minded reporter who was also a charming dilettante and avid mandolin player. Her lucid narrative paints a marriage of great passion and mutual trust, and she successfully articulates his mission of building understanding between Islam, Christianity, and his own Judaism.
   
   I have to admit some part of me felt Daniel Pearl sealed his fate when he chose such a dangerous assignment, risky not just for an American and all the more so for a Jewish-American. But his widow gives me a much greater understanding of his mission and the passion he had to carry his mission through the most horrifying circumstances. It has since been reported that he was fully aware of his inevitable execution and refused to be sedated during his final moments of life. This added knowledge makes her book an even greater abject lesson in courage, which she delineates in the most poignant yet clear-eyed way. This could have been easily sensationalized into a clarion call for anti-Islamic hatred stateside, but her book is remarkably controlled and free of self-pity. Mariane Pearl goes well beyond my expectations in documenting not just a personal tragedy and ultimate triumph in survival but a true lesson in reconciling one's immediate circumstances with the greater purpose of building tolerance. Beyond remarkable books like Bob Graham's Intelligence Matters or Michael Scheuer's Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror, it is her book that captures the power of the human spirit against terrorism and will continue to resonate well beyond the upcoming election.

5 comments about Breaking News: A Stunning and Memorable Account of Reporting from Some of the Most Dangerous Places in the World.

1. Hanging my boots up last year after my final trip to Afghanistan was one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make in my life. It was done at the insistence of my daughter and my knees. I finally had to realize that I could be a liability to those around me in a war zone. With that in mind, I was quite intrigued when friends contacted me and asked if I would read and review Martin Fletcher's book, "Breaking News". Martin was starting his career with the Yom Kipper (October) War of 1973 just as I was ending my Navy Combat Camera days with the very same war. Martin's account of this war is "spot on"! I wish he had written about this many years ago when I got asked to leave a Political Science class in college for telling the professor he didn't know what he was talking about. When the professor asked me how I knew, I replied with the only answer I could give, "because I was there"! Where were you when I needed you, Martin!
   
   "Breaking News" is a MUST READ for anyone interested in international conflicts and what it is like to cover these conflicts as a cameraman and as a broadcast journalist. In his 35 year career, Martin Fletcher has pretty much seen it all, and this book is his very personal account of what life is like in the day to day world of the Foreign Correspondent. Part of what makes this book great is that it does not focus on world leaders, and "their" stories. It focuses on the day to day struggles of the average person caught in the middle of these conflicts. It gives an excellent account of the journalistic integrity of one man working in the trenches of so many conflicts, Martin Fletcher.
   
   I am always reluctant to give too much detail in a book review because I hate to give out "spoilers". Once again, I will just say, "READ THIS BOOK"! Martin takes us on a journey of adventure and personal growth from the October War of 1973 to the Coup in Cyprus just a year later, to the Rhodesian War that gave us what today is known as Zimbabwe. He gives an excellent account of life in Paris for news reporters and takes us to Algiers and Iran for an insider's look at the Hostage Crisis in Tehran. From there he takes us to Afghanistan and covering the Afghan/Soviet War. He gives us a very telling account of life in Israel during the first Gulf War with SCUD missiles falling in Tel Aviv.
   
   I could go on and on about his coverage of the Middle East, Somalia, Rwanda, Kosovo, Bosnia and numerous other places of conflict and genocide. But, once again I will simply point out that Martin's book is really about his own personal and professional growth. There is some humor here, but there is a huge amount of sorrow and pain. One does not do this kind of work for 35 years without it taking a toll on your soul.
   
   Martin closes his book with the following: And I can only hope that Shakespeare wasn't referring to storytellers like me when he wrote "Life is but a walking shadow...it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing"! Rest assured that Martin's book is anything but this! It is a glimpse into one man's continent crossing dedicated life as a Foreign Correspondent, a glimpse into hell, and hopefully an offered understanding of "conflict" on the average person, as well as what covering such conflicts does to those who report them.
   
   Please...READ THIS BOOK "BREAKING NEWS"!



2. This is a very different, deeply-impressing account by a very special reporter - and if this book hadn't been thrust under my nose with the recommendation to read it, I would have assumed it was the usual set of star-turn anecdotes from someone who thought they were the star-turn. Not a bit of it. Unlike some, Fletcher is never, ever bigger than the news on which he reports.
   
   If this was only the most brilliant account of exceptional, award-winning TV war-reporting journalism, which, incidentally, it is - then that in itself that would be something. But it's much more than that; it's about the moral and ethical dilemmas that people like Fletcher face daily on our behalf in reporting serious news - and, refreshingly, nothing to do with the soulless ephemerals of providing 'entertaining' so-called, 'news' features between adverts.
   
   Fletcher is one of the last vestiges of conscience and soul in the digital age when it comes to serious news reporting. Breaking News is likely - and rightly - to be considered core-curriculum stuff for anyone considering serious journalism as a career - but it's also likely a must-read for anyone who wants to share Fletcher's personal 'take' - and the chance to share in his very human enlightenment - through his reporting of a truly extraordinary series of world events over 30 years.



3. An amazing, POWERFUL, insight into the world of Martin Fletcher. I read the book in two sittings, four days ago, and I am still thinking about it. He tells his story in a 'mostly' chronological order, leaving me breathless at the end. It's an incredible journey and I am so thankful he took the time to tell it!



4. I couldn't put this book down, and read it in one day. Martin Fletcher takes you where most reporters won't go, or can't go. You'll read of the intense competition between the networks, and what ranks as "go" or "no-go" story; which amounts to the number of people dying or killed as being newsworthy.
   
   Stories of fellow journalists who are killed and wounded (including his own first-person account), in attempts to bring the stories of war and its victims to our television screens. How Fletcher identifies with the suffering of the victims of war in Somalia and the "Ethnic-Cleansing" of the conflicts in Rwanda and Kosovo; with his own family's suffering in The Holocaust.
   
   From the Arab-Israeli Wars to the present Palestinian struggle, to personal interviews with a warlord, suicide bombers and refugees (one very touching story of a young girl). There'll be stories that will make you laugh, cry, and some that will anger you. But they are all presented within a very personal and moving context that almost makes you feel as if you're right there, experiencing Fletcher's witness of history in the making. And that indeed, this is a very dangerous and evil world in which
   live.



5. I want to just add to the 5 star reviews. As a moderate I was pleasantly surprised by how balanced this book was. The author clearly struggled with his feelings and never acted superior. As you get deeper into the book it becomes as riveting as any book I can recall. Very highly recommended.

5 comments about Broken: My Story of Addiction and Redemption.

1. Having walked through the hell of having a child with profound substance abuse issues, I found this book a biography I could identify with. Congratulations to Cope and his family. No one gets sober in a straight line and without help and support.



2. I ordered the book Broken on May 19th and I still have not recieved it yet, can someone help me or give me a number to call. Thank you



3. This is a very good book and highly recommended for family members and others dealing with addiction. Also good for addicts to read. Very informative and I have recommended it to many others. Good insight to what the addict goes through and the effects on family etc.



4. Any compulsive should read William's journey to sobriety. I really believe it could help especially those who keep failing. Also a must read for family members and friends. Understanding how much they lie and hide is such an important part of their healing. William is so honest about what he did in those terrible years, it can't help but help others be honest. Midge



5. The purchase I made was everything listed when I bought it. It was in perfect conditon, and look forward to doing business with them in the future! Thank you!

5 comments about North Toward Home.

1. These days, people are probably more likely to know of Willie Morris as the boy in the movie, "My Dog Skip." So if anything, they know he grew up in a small town in 1940's Mississippi. They mostly wouldn't know that years later, after an education at the University of Texas, he was a Rhodes Scholar in Oxford, a controversial newspaper editor in Texas, and the youngest editor of America's oldest continuously published magazine, Harper's.

   Throughout his adult life he was a writer. His memoir "North Toward Home" is a recollection of a boyhood in pre-integration Mississippi, the rough and tumble of state politics which he covered for the Texas Observer, and coming to terms as a Southerner with New York City, which he liked to call "the Cave."

   As a writer, Morris saw both the humor and sadness in the circumstances of daily life. He was fascinated by people and politics, and deeply committed to social justice. Growing up in the rural South, he also had a strong sense of how people are shaped by their history, traditions, and the terrain of the land they call home.

   His many books include an account of school integration in his hometown in 1970, a tribute to his friend James Jones, author of "From Here to Eternity," and an account of the making of "Ghosts of Mississippi," Rob Reiner's film based on the murder trial and conviction of the man who shot Medgar Evers. One of the best introductions to Morris' style and favorite subjects is a collection of essays and exerpts from longer works, "Terrains of the Heart and Other Essays on Home," which was published in his later years and is currently in print.

   A great companion volume for "North Towards Home" is "From the Mississippi Delta: A Memoir," by African-American writer Endesha Ida Mae Holland. Her book is a compelling account of growing up poor and black in small-town Mississippi and coming of age during the civil rights struggles of the 1960s. Together, these two books provide a fascinating look at both sides of the racial divide in the Deep South of the mid-20th century.




2. Like a lot of other readers, I first became aware of Willie Morris when I read "My Dog Skip." I followed that up with the lesser known, but equally enjoyable, "My Cat Spit McGee" (in which Morris, an avowed dog lover and cat hater, comes to love a cat).

   But for me, his most brilliant work has got to be "North Toward Home," which I did not discover until after he died in 1999. What is it about southern writers, particularly those from Mississippi (a state that continues to have one of the highest illiteracy rates in the world), that leads them to be such masterful story tellers?

   This book was first published in 1967, but it still resonates beautifully today. Here Morris recounts his childhood in Mississippi, his time at the University of Texas, his days as a writer covering the wild Texas political scene, and his life as a transplanted Southerner adapting to life in New York (where at age 32 he became the editor of "Harper's)."

   Morris brilliantly captures the changing environment in the United States as he traces his life in the forties, fifties, and sixties. Its too bad Morris died relatively young at 65, because I would have loved to see what else he had to write had he lived into his eighties or nineties.

   This is about as good as an autobiography can get, as Morris examines not only his only personal growth over a thirty some-odd year period, but also reveals much about the changing political and social environment of those times.




3. Willie Morris opens his personal novel, North Toward Home, with the expected picture of the white South: Magnolia and pecan trees line the country roads, the farm kids ride the bus line from end to end for entertainment, and Miss Mississippi lives next door. He throws in some anecdotes about Civil War monuments, an ostracized pacifist, daddy's pick up truck, mama's cookin', the sweet smell of talcum powder, and the Almighty's will and pretty much covers every Southern stereotype within the first several pages. Morris' warm hometown descriptions made me feel nostalgic about a place and time that are not even my own. And while he specifies that his town was "pleasant" for a white boy, he certainly understates his point-remember, this is the same Yazoo, Mississippi that Ida B. Welles specifically cites in her condemnation of Klu Klux Klan violence.
   In many ways, his book invokes nostalgia simply because it describes experiences common to all childhoods: nature's beauty, summer nights, and baseball games-but his tales are accented with a strictly Southern twang-like terrifying his aunts by yelling that `the Yankees are coming!' His home is a place where politicians and preachers stand arm in arm to spread prayer and propaganda, and a gathering of any size and purpose is preceded by a country barbeque. His narratives are full of characters that seem too flamboyant and stereotypical to be real-no satirist could create a better parody. He recalls adventures and pranks in the vein of Huck Finn.But it is clear that in his early childhood Morris saw blacks as harmless, benevolent simpletons, one-dimensional, dim-witted creatures that were easily impressed and in fact easily manipulated into a variety of emotions. He, along with the rest of the white population, viewed blacks only in terms of how they served the white community-their purpose was to perform menial chores, win football games, and share their musical talents.
   AS morris ages, class and race issues must be addressed.He highlights racial conflict inherent in southern culture...
   Morris' observations of and interactions with various politicians remind me of Gore Vidal's historical fictions (particularly Burr). He dryly recounts these incredible stories about colorful and notorious characters that we love to hate...
   Morris wittingly and poignantly chronicals his shift to liberalism



4. "North Toward Home", by Willie Morris, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1967.
   This is the autobiography of a small town boy who went to the big city and became editor-in-chief of Harper's, once the oldest magazine in America. The book, 438 pages in the 1967 edition is broken up into three sections:
   (1) Mississippi: 146 pages.
   (2) Texas: 163 pages
   (3) New York: 125 pages.
   
   It is in his description of his young life in the small town of Yazoo City, Mississippi, that Mr. Morris really achieves his most memorable scenes and the most interesting writing in the book. His family is "old" and he explains that on his mother's side he is related to the Harpers who founded Harpers Ferry, Virginia.
   The section on university studies emphasizes his time at the University of Texas, where he over-committed himself by trying to become involved in just about everything. In this university section, the writing of Mr. Morris degrades towards the usual descriptions of fraternities, football and fornication, common enough for the colleges of the later fifties and early sixties.
   
   Finally, in the third section, dealing with New York City, his writing becomes even more mundane as he recounts his experiences, which could be entitled "Only In New York". this kind of thing is so common that late night TV talk shows use it as a fill-in staple. The redeeming quality of his writing is his ability to being the point of view of a Southerner to his New York City anecdotes. He calls NYC the "Big Cave".
   
   But, it is Morris, himself, who makes it clear why he is working in New York City, and not Mississippi. Morris recounts an anecdote concerning Robert Frost that sums up the intellectual achievement of his book and the South:
   
   "Once I had escorted Robert Frost in a taxicab to Rhodes house for a talk.
   `Where are you from, boy?' he had asked.
   `Mississippi', I replied.
   `Hell, that's the worst sate in the Union', he said.
   But, I argued, it had produced a lot of good writers.
   He said, `Can't anybody down there read them'". (Page 196).



5. I earned a bachelor's degree from the UT Dallas with hopes of one day going on to UT Law in Austin. Instead, after a diversion of 4 years into the US army, I went to UT to begin and complete an undergrad degree in nursing. For me, the best part of the book was Morris' impression of Texas politics back in the 60s when we had only one party to speak of: the Democratic party. At the state level the Republican party would eventually emerge to dominate the legislature and all statewide elected offices. Most folks who had been the old style conservative Democrats of the type Morris writes about quietly and without fanfare "moved their letter" to the GOP in the early days of Ronald Reagan. Its fair to say that most of the legislature's conservatives back in the day when Morris toiled away at the Texas Observer were earlier incarnations of Tom DeLay or Warren Chisum. And when I attended a Gubernatorial inaugural ball for George W Bush, tellingly one of the old "conservative Democrat" governors was there ensconced in a wheel chair to celebrate W's ascendancy to the largely ceremonial Texas Governor's job.
   
   
   
   I particularly enjoyed Morris' writings about his early days as a student at UT. It is a vast campus today and I'm sure it was equally intimidating to a young man from Yazoo City Mississippi. Morris' references to various dorm bldgs and campus activities held special significance since I had either been in any of them or walked by them regularly. Unlike in Morris' day, today the campus dominant political viewpoint is Democratic, although a strong libertarian movemt continues to attract all who've grown disenchanted with the superstate
   
   
   
   Aside from the period piece on UT and the politics of the mid50s, early 60s what I most found valuable was the agonizing dilemma Morris and so many other Southern writers faced: they loved their home states and all the quaint slow ways they'd known growing up there, but they were rightly repulsed by the segregation and race-hate which surfaced with the beginnings of the civil rights movement. Tellingly, when a black female (they called them Negroes in them days) confronted Morris' description of life in the delta she told him rather bluntly "Your delta wasnt mine" and perhaps at that and other moments Morris realized he hadnt been as observant of the world around him as he thought he had been. Like Germans in the decades just after World War II, Morris and other southern men of letters were almost reflexively apologetic for being from the South.
   
   I cant help but wonder how the nation and Mississippi would view Morris had he and other southern writers been willing to lend their name and fame to an organization akin to "They Dont Speak for Me" wherein the so-called liberated Southern writers could openly distance themselves from Lester Maddox, Orval Faubus, George Wallace and other race-baiting demogogues. Instead, when Morris and other southern literary men were on the radio and could have easily taken such a "they dont speak for me" line, they chose to divert the interviewer away from integration or other issues to more trivial things.

5 comments about Perfect from Now On: How Indie Rock Saved My Life.

1. You know how, every now and then, you come upon someone's music mix, and you instantly think, this person is completely in sync with me, yet simultaneously infinitely cooler?
   
   It's like that.
   
   When it comes it to music, Sellers is insightful, funny as hell, and scarily knowledgeable. He's the guy you want filling your iPod for a long drive, and the guy you'd want in the car, telling great stories along the journey. Anyone's who's ever had that feeling of a song speaking for the state of their lives, anyone who's ever thought of a band as THEIR band, will love it.



2. To any true music fan, there is often times as much joy in debating the relative merit of one artist against another as listening to the music itself. I suspect that is true with most things (sports talk radio comes to mind). That is why I was excited to read this book. Going in, you understand there you are not getting anything that is plot driven or even has a point. What you expect is that the author will lay out arguement as to why he loves a certain band/genre of music and you can silently juxstapose those against your own biases. I am willing to concede almost any point in these debates when I engage in them with friends, with the understanding that they are nothing if not totally arbitrary, so long as there seems to be a sense the opposing viewpoint has a heartfelt conviction about the subject matter. That is why I was hugely dissapointed with this book.
   
   While there is no doubt that the author seems to have a sincere conviction that indie music is a superior medium, it seems borne out of a sense of what he thinks is cool rather than what indie artists produce. For example, if The Pixies has acheived the same level of commercial sucess as Pearl Jam, there is no doubt in my mind the author would dismiss them with the same contempt he holds for Journey. It becomes exhausting to read the contempt he has for anything that exists outside the very obscure or how a band he loved at one point he now regrads with a sneer simply because they eventually achieved broad acceptance.
   
   Another point of contention I have with the overall tone of the book is that Sellers comes off as fairly spineless. A large chunk of the narrative is devoted to him getting to meet Bob Pollard from Guided By Voices. I was willing to overlook the fawning tone toward Pollard as his whole point was to draw a picture of how he is more slavishly devoted at various points in his life to artists than just about anyone so he can gain an upper hand when congregating with like minded obsessives (and if you don't believe his motivations are this shallow, read the book). However, he mentions something in passing (a footnote actually, one of the several thousand he includes in the book) that made me lose all respect for him as a man and thus tainted the whole book. Seller is a University of Michigan grad while Pollard is an OSU fan. Anyone with even a passing knowledge about the sport of college football knows that this is one of the most storied rivalries in all of college sports and the two sides hate each other. Anyway, he ends up cheering for OSU in front of his idol as they watch the game because he so badly wants Pollard to like him. I know nothing about Pollard personally but I bet it wouldn't be far from the truth to speculate that he would have had much more respect for Sellers if he would have grown a pair and had his own opinion about the game rather than adopting one based on being accepted. And that right there pretty much sums up the whole book.
   
   



3. John Sellers is a music/pop culture writer who's gotten the opportunity to transform his blog (google "Angry John Sellers") into a book that's a kind of musical autobiography--that is, he charts his musical maturation over the years, from young Duran Duran fan to modern day indie rock obsessive. Consider this, then, a non-fiction version of Nick Hornby's seminal High Fidelity: A Novel. One important difference is that where HF's protagonist views his music in terms of his love life, for Sellers the music IS his love life. Sure, he's had relationships with women, but his chief interest in them lies in their ability to turn him on to new bands. Therefore, hie relationships with his favorite bands is what drives this book, and it helps to enjoy it if you share his passions, mainly regular-guy alt rockers such as the Pixies, Pavement and Built To Spill (whose album Perfect From Now On had an obvious influence). He will endlessly listen to and mull over the career of Joy Division/New Order and the lyrics of The Smiths. In fact, he'll even travel to Manchester for a New Order reuniion show and impromptu pilgramage. Far less time-consuming are the numerous lists (you can't be a true music obsessive without them) the lengthy appendix to the book: everything from "My Top Ten Favorite Albums" (#1: The Queen is Dead by The Smiths) to "Top Five musical things I hope happen now that the original lineups of the Pixies and Dinosaur Jr. have reunited" (#5: "Radiohead stops listening to Pink Floyd and starts listening to Black Sabbath"). Meanwhile, the main body of the book is frequently interrupted by long, digressive footnotes, some going on for as long as ten pages (Sellers admits he got the idea from Nicholson Baker, but he could just as easily been channeling David Foster Wallace).
   
   The last few chapters, however, are devoted mainly to one subject: Guided By Voices. This Ohio band has gathered a freakishly obsessive cult following, and Sellers has clearly not only drunk the Kool Aid (or Miller High Life, as the case may be), but mixed it as well. He describes how his addiction grew from just being a fan to finally spinning in their orbit. His status as hanger-on might have helped get him the book deal, but it also garnered him brief ignominy on GBV message boards. Naturally, he covers this incident at length, and in fact continues to apologize for any misunderstanding. Therefore, his fawning over GBV frontman Robert Pollard gets pretty grating after awhile, especially if you don't share Sellers' love of the band (I myself could have written a book about my devotion to Sonic Youth, but of course I digress). Actually, you'll find the whole book annoying if you cna't connect your own obsesseions (be they sports, shoes or heroin) with the author's, and even then it helps greatly to know a bit about what he's talking about. Still, Sellers' writing style is self aware (in that uniquely Gen-X way), witty and often flat out hilarious. Taken for what it is, this is definitely a worthwhile read for music fans, even if, alas, it won't save your life.



4. I bought a signed copy of this book during a visit to Powell's Books in Portland, OR, completely on the basis of liking what the book jacket said about music and Donkey Kong. Maybe you need to have grown up during the '80s and to appreciate college/indie music to get it? Not sure, but I identified with a lot of the scenarios, loved the titling of chapters from song lyrics, got the emotions behind listening to different kinds of music at different points in your life, and ... well, liked John Sellers. It's good stuff that made me laugh out loud many times.



5. I ordered this book because I could relate to the title, unfortunately. "Indie rock" (or what I would call alternative rock...where did this new term, indie rock, come from anyway?) probably did save my life. When I suffered from depression as a young adult, music was my therapy. It provided me with the words or the emotions that I could not express myself. It was an outlet, an escape, a friend. Being a huge fan of 90's music, I was disappointed that Sellers dismissed grunge and only mentioned it in passing. He seemed to be moved more by British bands than American ones, which is okay, but was something I couldn't identify with. The biggest downside to the book was the infinite number of footnotes, which I eventually stopped reading all together because I found them distracting. I think a better writer could have included the material from the footnotes within the text to provide a better flow, or not included them at all (as some of the notes were so idiosyncratic...i.e., who cares?).

5 comments about Prisoners: A Story of Friendship and Terror (Vintage).

1. This is a very well written book that grips you from the start and makes you want to keep reading to find out "what happened next" in the manner of successful fiction. The events outlined display a considerable amount of courage on the part of Goldberg, who stayed a few weeks in a Pakistani Madrasa, and repeatedly entered the Gaza strip and was alone among what were, officially, his enemies.
   
   While the author's need to see signs of hope as to the future of the Israeli-Palestinian situation via his friendship with his former Palestinian prisoner "Rafik" is constant throughout the book, many of the questions Goldberg raises throughout his journeys are destined to dead-ends because they are based on a perspective that has been subject to a considerable amount of editing. And, as the nature of any quest goes, if you don't ask the right questions, you don't get the right answers.
   
   Whereas the author's pursuit of these signs of hope, even in hostile territory, is admirable, his premise is not as impassive as the synopsis of the book wants us to believe; It tells us that, as a prison guard, Goldberg "realized that his prisoners were the future leaders of Palestine", hence "this was a unique opportunity to learn from them about themselves", but, when you get to that part of the book, Goldberg tells you that one of his tasks in prison (as a member of the military police) was to confiscate any and all signs of Palestinian national aspirations (flags, rocks in the shape of Israel, national songs). These were the pre-Oslo days, when a "Palestinian state" was unacceptable to Israel. And while Goldberg was genuinely curious about understanding his prisoners, he did not think they'd be "future leaders" of any state, as confiscating any signs of such aspirations testifies. It is very interesting to note how taking such liberties in shuffling around elements of the time-line for the sake of a stronger pitch in the synopsis mirrors what happened with the larger picture of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
   
   One of the questions the reader is inevitably lead to upon reading Goldberg's accounts of such confiscations in prison is:
   
   What drives one people to try and confiscate all signs of the identity of another people? Or, more accurately:
   
   How can a people base the security of their identity upon the elimination of that of another?
   
   In Goldberg's latest account of the conflict covering the last few years, he presents it more as one that has its origins in religious intolerance and Muslim extremism. It is ironic that Goldberg quotes Israeli writer "Amos Oz" at some point in his narrative, because it was precisely Oz that repeated that this was not a religious conflict, but a real estate one. While the rise of militant fanaticism in the Muslim world is an undeniable fact of considerable threat to many countries, recasting the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as being caused by religious pathos is, again, a reshuffling of the story for the sake of a stronger pitch.
   
   Anyone who is interested in knowing more about what is going on in that unfortunate part of the world could benefit from the account of "Susan Nathan", a British Jewess who lived in an Arab village in Israel, in her book, "The Other Side of Israel", or "Emma Williams", a British doctor who lived and worked in Jerusalem, in her book "It's easier to reach Heaven than the end of the street, a Jerusalem memoir". Both provide some parts of the picture that were edited out of Goldberg's story, courageous as he may be.
   
   Some questions open doors to other questions that may well be very different from the ones the author intended, but which are the only ones that could bring the reader closer to an understanding of the real story.



2. This is a must for anyone Jew, Muslim gentile (like me) who despairs at the Israeli/Palestinian problem to be confirmed in the view that there are people of good will on both sides where common humanity exists but unfortunately frustrated by those in power who believe that force is the only way forward



3. What a fantastic book.
   
   Jeff Goldberg takes us through his life's journey from an aspiring child zionist to his time as an Israeli military police officer, his return to America for life as a journalist, and his return to Gaza and other cities in Palestine where he tries to reconnect with many of the prisoners he watched over during his time as a "shoter" (policemen) in the prisons
   
   Without telling too much of the outcome, I will say that the many experiences are thrilling, very telling of the situations, and seldom experienced by anyone. It is very rare to find someone trying to find a prisoner he once watched over so that he can open his home to that person. This will open up a whole new set of experiences and ideas for Goldberg.
   
   What drives Goldberg to do this? Maybe it was his desire to end his own personal conflict with the course of middle eastern politics. Maybe it was his apologetic retribution for being a police officer in a palestinian prison. Maybe it was his want to show the Palestinian people that the Israelis are prisoners too, to the hostility that is perpetuated by suicide bombings. Maybe he thought he could end the conflict by reaching out.
   
   After reading the book, all the complexities and truths that exist within this conflict become more clear. The perspective he brings is fascinating and worth being read by anybody who has a care about the situation in Israel/Palestine.



4. most Middle East books are either boring or predictable. Prisoners is neither. It's written with humor and pathos by a reporter/journalist with a long histroy of covering the Jewish/Arab confict. Goldberg has written for Rolling Stone, the New Yorker and now the Atlantic. He's spent a lot of time on the ground in the middle east. This book tells his story in an engaging and informative way. If you want to be entertained and learn more about this 2000 year old conflict, this is a great book to read.



5. It is very disappointing to see yet again a book with such a thin veneer of even-handedness getting many rave reviews (I have to wonder who these reviewers are...). This is yet another of the thousands of one sided, anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian books written by so called 'experts' that have so grossly warped the discussion on the Arab-Israeli conflict in this country. This book all but dismisses terrible Palestinian suffering while focusing primarily on the Jewish point of view, as if there isn't already enough of a pro-Israel bias in American politics, academia, news coverage, etc.,...
   
   The worst part is that the author is actually pretending to be even-handed by giving a few snippets of human attributes to people he clearly despises. I would suggest readers here balance their perspectives by reading any of the books by the late Edward Said, or Norman Finkelstein.
   
   To Mr. Goldberg, I'm amazed you still don't want to accept the fact that that by treating Palestinians as sub-human, Israel will never get the peace it needs and deserves!

5 comments about Biko - Cry Freedom.

1. This is much more than a simple biography of Steve Biko, the leader of the Black Consciousness movement in South Africa and one of the seminal figures in the anti-apartheid movement, it is an insider's look and condemnation of the System. Though Biko died young and apartheid has faded into memories for most people who had the misfortune of living in it, his is an excellent example of the horroific prejudices to which people, even in these enlightened times, can be subjected. This book uses incredible detail and many essential sources to tell a lively, powerful, and important story. I watched Cry Freedom several years ago and was inspired tolearn more about the subject, and I would recommend the same path, because the movie really brings the characters and issues to life. I would caution people who only want to learn the basics about the history of apartheid or Biko, that this is a very indepth and detailed book, that can be difficult to follow if you are not familiar with the subjects, so I might recommend a slightly more elementary book for a first experience.



2. Woods wrote this book to show the world how desperate the need for change was in south Africa. There is a vast seperation between the black natives and the whites in south africa, up until recently the country lived under a currupt white goverment which did not allow blacks to live in white towns as anything other then slaves, forcd them into awful getto which had awful living conditions, taught them in school only what they needed to know to serve the whites, and constently terrorised their neighborhoods. Steve Biko stood up peicefully, not demanding radical change, but understanding that he must change what has happened to his people. Black Contiousness was his approch. He wanted the natives of south africa to learn their own history at school and not the whites, he wanted them to have pride in themselves and understand their own humanity. Steve Biko was band and very liking killed for saying this. Blacks who stood up in South Africa always seemed to die in police custodity one way or another. After his death Woods was inspired to write this book, he was band in South Africa and risked his life to escape the country with his book. This is a must read for anyone who is not educated about the hardships of South Africa or Africa as a whole.



3. Despite the dramatic shift in the political climate of South Africa since his death, Biko's words and beliefs are every bit as relevant today. His Black Consciousness movement was as much a political force against apartheid as it was an indictment of self-inflicted notions of inferiority. This book powerfully tells the story of Biko's life, his beliefs and the circumstances of living in banishment in South Africa. In the absence of any physical memorial for Biko, this book is a powerful rememberance to a man who should not be forgotten, and a tribute to an author who bravely brought us Biko's story.



4. The number one element stopping Blacks today is the absence of consciousness and the Orisha Biko exudes that. His essays are honest and concise and he gives you a glimpse of what South Africa was like and the resistance by him and a number of other Africans. Blacks have to be leading the league in terms of 'liberation literature' but it doesn't matter because they don't read and when they do it's not material like this. Hence, the situation remains.



5. The book not only features the story told by Donald Woods but has extensive court interviews with Biko showing his true ideas that scared the racist government of South Africa so much that they had him killed.
   
   Excellent book.

5 comments about Advertisements for Myself.

1. This book is filled with fiction, essays, and, literally, advertisements for Mailer. The ad he took out for "The Deer Park" is the classic of classics. There is a great work in here called "The Time of Her Time." Sergius O'Shaugnessey is the hero, and I got the idea he would appear again and again in Mailer's future fiction, but it never happened to my knowledge. This is a great book!



2. Advertisements for Mysel



3. All during the 1960s, when authors still appeared on The Tonight Show, The Dick Cavett Show, etc, the two authors who had the most exposure and most proclaimed their "genius" were Norman Mailer and Truman Capote. Both fizzled miserably. Their dwindling fame will be filed under "Celebrity" rather than "Literature." Mailer is the better of the two, but he has not worn well.



4. Originally appearing in 1959, "Advertisements for Myself" remains one of the most unusual books ever published by a novelist. Containing stories, essays, reviews, interviews, novel excerpts and poems, all with detailed, italicized annotations courtesy of the author, this book displays a massive, raging talent assessing itself and the world around it. It is sometimes poignant, sometimes maddening, but never less than compelling. I love this book.

   Today, Mailer's reputation is rather up in the air. To me, his career is an example of an artist constantly pushing himself, writing with breathtaking ambition even if it exceeded his skill. There has never been another writer like Norman Mailer, and it is touching to read here of his desire to write a novel on the level of Dostoyevsky, Mann and Tolstoy, and to read his pithy, sometimes hilarious assessments of his contemporaries. His commentary on the ups and downs of his career and his disgust and sadness about the decline of American literature are illuminating, but his self-aggrandizement and egocentricity are often difficult to stomach. However, one has to stand in awe at the monument of his talent and his passion.

   Reading this book today, one has to ask, "Did he fulfill his expectations?" I think so. "Harlot's Ghost," "Ancient Evenings," "The Executioner's Song" and numerous other works, both fiction and nonfiction, will endure, in my opinion. But I, for one, would like to know whatever happened to the self-promoted masterpiece of a novel he excerpts here. The small sections make for very stimulating reading.

   All in all, "Advertisements for Myself" is a required text for everyone who loves great literature or aspires to write it for themselves.




5. This was one of the strangest and most engaging fictional works I have ever read. An autobiographical narrative consisting of novel excerpts, social commentary, reviews and short stories. Brutally honest and at times hilarious, I find myself regularly rereading many parts of the book and I'm always stunned by ,above all else, Mailer's humor and the vivid and unforgettable stories and characterers that he creates.

   One reviewer remarked that Mailer's reputation in somewhat up in the air. Certainly Over the years Mailer has suffered much harsh criticism, from charges that he is misogynist to claims that he never fulfilled his own potential.

   Nonetheless, Ancient Evenings and this book are his best works and I'm sure they will survive the test of time.

5 comments about The File: A Personal History.

1. While this book provides detail to what everyone knows (the Stasi spied on everyone, including the sixth of the population that worked for it) it offers very little else. Missing is any sense whatsoever of the psychological effects of living in this kind of society or any kind of nuanced understanding of what it has meant to confront these files. Ash gives some small indications of what his own responses were, but as a Westerner who expected to be spied on for his activities, his experience is not very instructive. Garton Ash has many things to be proud of, but this book is not one of them.



2. This is essentially an internal adventure story: it is the story of one man returning to his past and revisiting his younger self by reviewing his East German security service (Stasi) file. Ash, a Briton, was a graduate student at Humboldt University in the late 1970s-early 1980s. As a foreigner in East Germany, he was monitored by the ever-thorough Stasi, which managed to keep records on millions of East German citizens as well. Reading his Stasi file (made available after German unification) forces Ash to remember incidents from his past and reveals to him the identities of numerous Stasi informants -- some of whom were his friends. Ash then visits these informants and confronts them with evidence of their collaboration. In perhaps the most interesting part of the book, Ash visits the Stasi officers in charge of his case.
   
   While Ash's writings caused him to be banned from East Germany, he was never imprisoned, nor was he subject to the depradations faced by average citizens of the GDR. Ash acknowledges that as a foreigner, he was always free to leave, and this makes his file less interesting than those of true dissidents. Ash describes, however, the story of an East German dissident who discovered that her own husband was informing the Stasi of her activities and discusses his friendships with brave East Germans who bucked the regime, and paid the price for it.
   
   This is not the definitive work on the Stasi. It provides some background of the agency, but if you are looking for a more thorough treatment, look to "Stasi: The Untold Story of East Germany's Secret Police," by John Koehler. This book is worth reading, however, to understand, through the file of one man, why men joined the Stasi and how the Stasi turned so many ordinary East Germans into informants. Ash also raises important moral questions about spying and intelligence agencies, which are relevant to free societies as well.



3. This well written book describes the author's encounter with the Stasi, the East German Secret Police. In the late 70s, Garton Ash worked, and for a short period of time, lived in East Berlin. Not surprisingly, he was under surveillance by the Stasi. At this time, East Germany had the most elaborate internal secret police system in the world. The Stasi itself had thousands of employees and an estimated 2% of the population of East Germany were informants for the Stasi. After re-unification, most of the Stasi files became available for review by the former subjects of Stasi surveillance. Garton Ash obtained his file, over 300 pages in length, and compares it with his recollection of events and the apparently extensive diaries he kept during this period of his life. He also sought out and interviewed several of the individuals listed in the file as informants for the Stasi, and the Stasi officers overseeing the informants. The result is an revealing look at the nature of life in a totalitarian state. The discussions of, and interviews with the former Stasi informants and Stasi officers are the most interesting parts of the book. These sections show well the mixture of intimidation, appeal to careerism, and even residual idealism about socialism that underlay the whole system. Even these revealing anecdotes fail to convey the extent of moral corruption that pervaded East Germany. As Garton Ash points out, he did not really suffer from the Stasi and as a Westerner, he could leave or be expelled. The unfortunate citizens of East Germany were trapped in failing society shored up by implied violence, systematic undermining of family and professional ties, and hypocritical lip service to Communist ideals.



4. In The File Timothy Garton Ash confronts the people who informed on him after opening a file that the Stasi kept on him during his time in East Germany (GDR). He gains access to the files of the individuals who informed on him to the Stasi and also to the informants themselves by first stating that he has a professional interest as a historian and secondly, a personal interest because they participated in keeping records on him. When questioning the informants he often inquiries whether they remember informing on him, how they became informants, what these informants felt about informing and themselves while they were doing it, and how do they feel about informing and the East German government now. Often when confronted the informants seem to want to project blame elsewhere. To them they either did no harm or they were just doing their job. It was the Stasi or GDR who deserved to be blamed.
   
   The only thing that within the book that I wish was done differently was the author's placing blame on people or to find them as either good or bad. The questioning of whether they felt blame or guilt was quite different then him asserting these characteristics on these individuals. Although it is unfair to fault him for this, his personal investment somewhat diminishes the historical, objective approach I desired from the book. I would have preferred him to allow the reader to decide for him/herself the guilty or not guilty verdict.
   
   The File is a historical analysis of one file and one person's experience with the Stasi and East German Government. Because the author is analyzing his own life there is a deal of personal bias when it comes to how an particular informant/person should be viewed, however, this does not diminish from the book. Instead, it offers greater insight into how this individual felt about the GDR, the role of the Stasi in East German society, and the role of the East German citizens as informants. Furthermore, the personal approach The File offers allows the audience to experience for themselves the emotions and events of the author's life.
   All in all The File is an excellent case study into East German Society, the East German Government, the Stasi and the experiences of a captalist foreigner residing temporarily within a communist government/society.



5. This book was one you couldn't put down. It was such an interesting look into such an intriguing time. Especially contrasted against today's era of homeland security it makes you wonder what does go on in "civilized" countries.
   
   The insights from the informers, Stasi Agents, and MI5 are riveting. I am waiting for a book totally from their perspective.

5 comments about Foreign Correspondence: A Pen Pal's Journey from Down Under to All Over.

1. I read this book in one day - it is beautifully, intelligently written with well developed characters and a true story that reads like fiction. It is a rare gem of literature that provides insight into the dreams of a young girl that many people can identify with - male or female. I have read a lot of books lately, but this was one of the finest books I've come across in a while.



2. Australian born Geraldine Brooks spent many years as a foreign correspondent covering the Middle East. I loved her book, "Nine Parts of Desire" which was about Muslim women, and I have followed her life somewhat as she is often mentioned by her husband, Tony Horwitz, in his books "Confederates in the Attic", "Baghdad Without a Map," and "One for the Road." I find her an excellent reporter and in this memoir, "Foreign Correspondence," she turns the spotlight on herself.

   As a child growing up in a lower middle class neighborhood on a street actually called "Bland Street", she yearned for a larger world. And so she developed pen pals. There was a girl from New Jersey, another one from France, and even one from an upper class neighborhood just a few towns away. And then there were two Israeli boys, one an Arab and one a Jew. As an adult, she found these old letters in her father's basement and, now more than twenty years later, she decided to look up each of these people. What follows is the result of her quest and some wonderful insights into world events from a personal one-on-one perspective. It was fascinating.

   As a teenager in the early seventies she was aware of the new consciousness developing, even reaching her in her protective Catholic school. She had an active imagination and the gift of using words well. It's not surprising that she developed pen pals and that they influenced her life so much. Her gift of words certainly reached me too. I shared her sense of wonder and enthusiasm as she looked forward to each letter. I felt her straining to break the bonds of her loving but restrictive world. I felt her hopes and dreams and frustrations. And then, later, I shared her discoveries as she searched out the people who had meant so much to her early life. She writes with a clear voice, painting a picture with details, taking me on her quest to discover the world and eventually to discover herself. The book is short, a mere 210 pages but she sure does pack a lot into it. It's a wonderful read. Highly recommended.




3. I bought this as an "airplane read" but couldn't put it down. Geraldine Brooks has done us a great favor by not only illuminating the process of finding one's long lost penpals, but also by educating many folks about Australia in the process. It's fascinating to see her perceptions of the world, and particularly America, based on the letters that come in her mailbox each month.

   While I read this one on my own, I have since leant this book to several friends and we've engaged in some interesting discussions about our own penpal experiences, so I recommend it for book clubs.




4. I have read several of Brooks' books (both her non-fiction and fiction) and I was excited to rec'e and read Foreign Correspondance. Unfortunately, I was deeply disappointed.

   The book has an outstanding premise---as a child growing up in Australia during the 1960s, Brooks was eager to experience the outside world. An avid letter writer, she found pen-pals in the U.S., Israel and France. As an adult, Brooks set off to meet and re-discover these people. So far so good. But the book peters out---with the exception of the American pen-pal (to whom she was closest), the characters lack enough detail to be interesting.

   Her meeting with her French pen-pal was especially disappointing. This was a girl who chose to remain in her native village (while Brooks became a world-traveler and global correspondant). I hoped for more insights and more discussion of the contrast and why they chose such radically different paths---despite coming from somewhat similar backgrounds (Brooks saw herself as living in a giant provincial village---the village of Australia). But there was little discussion and the meeting simply sounded painful. Her trip to Israel to meet her non-Jewish Israeli pen-pal would also have benefitted from a deeper discussion about one's choices and opportunities (there was some discussion of this but I wanted to know more).

   Had I not read Brooks' other books, I probably would have thought this was a fairly good book. But I know she can write such a better book!




5. Geraldine Brooks has written a book that I can empathise with. I think of how I might have had that life in Australia had my parents not returned to England in the 1930's. I wanted, and still do, very much to talk to the author and ask her questions as she is such a good writer with a warm personality.