5 comments about You Have To Stand For Something, Or You'll For Anything.

1. This woman can not write, her book has no substance, there is basically nothing to review. What is interesting is how much weight she has lost from then to now. Star claims she has not had a gastric bypass......... could have fooled me. My friend tommy met her, he said she is rude and smelly. She is the most annoying person on the view. who did she screw to get on the view?



2. Star Jones is an inspiration. Her bravery and courage, I'll call it "bravage," is the standard to which every American should hold themselves (and possibly some Canadians). In this book she chronicles her struggles with IBS, HPV, lycanthropy, fear of elves, crossing guard's elbow and having been born without humility. For the first time really, we see that Star's not just fabulous in fur, she's fabulous in print. If I could get my arms around her, I'd hug her. Star's spirit cannot be held down by her lack of any discernable talent! Bravo!



3. It is unclear what and why the author writes. She obviously has nothing of importance or substance to impart, and her personality is uninteresting by all standards. Most people overcome stronger adversities in life and they do it with infinite more grace. Why the author feels her life is more remarkable than others is really mind-boggling. Reading this book is a waste of time and buying it is a waste of money. There is really no message in this book and the author, despite her much self-praised legal training, fails to build any minimal argument on any of her potluck of topics.
   Simplistic, at best; merely stupid.



4. The first two chapters were extremely boring. She talks about a white lady who wants her black friend buried in the white cemetery. The lady stands for something, Star says. She also talks about her mom, who got pregnant with Star, then dumped her off on a crew of some very obliging relatives in North Carolina while she finished college at Rutgers University. Once graduated, and having obtained a "good" job she reclaims 6 year old Star and they live in the projects along with Star's new baby sister (who had not been dumped off on relatives). While living in the projects, little kids run back and forth across the street to the store, unsupervised. When Star is eight years old, she sees a little boy hit by a truck and killed. She's proud when her mom is arrested at a sit-in on the street to protest the lack of a light signal. Later, her mom marries and Star says that at first, her mom and her husband both have "low-paying" jobs. What happened to the "good" job? And if it's such a good job, why are they living in the projects?
   
   The rest is basically a brag-fest. Her whole family has done nothing but praise her to the skies her entire life, so that's why she's brimming with supreme self-confidence. So why is she writing this book? Well, to tell you that you too can be a diva. Star gives fashion lessons (but for full-figured women only - and she hates that term but adores her 42DD's) - wear a chiffon duster over your clothes, and never ride in a white limo because they are tacky, a black Mercedes limo is the best, but if you have to, a Cadillac will do. A red SUV will also display you to the best advantage. Star's role model is Erica Kane from the soap opera All My Children, which says something about her priorities.
   
   I do have one question. Star says she is disappointed one Christmas because her dad (who lives in NC) promised her a stereo. Her mom, seeing that no stereo is about to materialize, runs out in the middle of the night to purchase one for her with money that they don't really have. This would be about 1974 - before 24 hour Walmarts and KMarts. So where did she find this stereo in the middle of the night?
   
   But most of the book is about how great and wonderful Star is, and if you ever do anything to hurt her or make her mad, she'll never forget it. And she doesn't care who doesn't like her because her step-daddy told her she is fine!
   
   I think Star is leaving out a lot she doesn't want us to know.



5. I read this book before Star was popular I don't recall The View even being on the air or at least I wasn't watching it. But as an aspiring attorney I was compelled to read this book. I enjoyed it greatly; I understand why she was such a successful lawyer. In a day and age where "anything goes." The title of this book is excellent. It's a good read and gives you great insight into her life, before the glitz and glam. Great read and inspiration to someone that wants to "be somebody."

No comments about Frances Power Cobbe: Victorian Feminist, Journalist, Reformer (Victorian Literature and Culture Series).

No comments about The Rights of Reporters: The Basic Aclu Guide to a Reporter's Rights (An American Civil Liberties Union handbook).

1 comments about The Rise and Fall of the Press Box.

1. When it comes to sports books a book by writers such as Roger Kahn, Roger Angell, Fred Lieb, or Leonard Koppett you can be fairly certain you are in for a book that will educate as well as entertain you. If his final effort before his death Leonard Koppett tells us how the importance of the press box in which so many writers brought fans the news of the events on the field has changed over the last several decades. Print was the medium in which information was initially passed from reporter to fan. The advent of radio brought a new medium which supplemented newspapers. Now television brings information to us practically instantaneously, and many of the newspapers that used to serve the major cities in previous decades have gone out of business. The book is sprinkled with humorous anecdotes regarding some of the literary giants who populated the sporting scene throughout the 20th century. Koppett popularized the use of statistics in his columns written as a correspondent for The Sporting News, but he also provides examples how statistics can be misused or misleading. Ron Fairly and Koppett were discussing the high batting average of bunter Brett Butler when Fairly stated, "If you took away his bunts and dribblers he'd be hitting .260." Koppett answered, "Sure, and if you took away his outs, he'd be hitting 1.000." Pitch counts citing the number of strikes and balls is also deceiving, because it assumes every pitch swung at is a strike. He says the correct statistic should say, "96 pitches, 32 hit fair, 27 strikes (called or swung at and missed) or fouls, 37 balls." Koppett also covers the New York teams in all sports that he covered for the New York Times. After working in New York for several years he then moved to Palo Alto, California, and covered the New York teams when they came to play in California. This is not a traditional sports book, but concentrates on a newspaperman's view of the sporting scene and how the coverage of sports has changed over the years. The book contains 53 chapters, but each one is only from five to eight pages long. If you feel this subject would be of interest to you, I'm sure you would enjoy the book since you are reading it from a quality author.

3 comments about Move On.

1. Linda Ellerbee goes on and shows us more of her life. We learn of her friends, her life, and how these shaped her into the woman we've enjoyed for years on Overnight and telling us the real story where others just tell us what they want us to know.



2. This is nothing less than a work of genius, a beautiful story which is beautifully told. The thrilling exploits of this legendary giant of journalism are sure to enthrall everyone who reads about them. No other person, living or dead, could possibly have a more interesting story to tell, or be able to tell it in a more interesting way. Ms. Ellerbee is simply amazing, and her great talent continues to manifest itself on her wonderful news program which airs on Nickelodeon once per week, but which should be shown at least twice each day. Forget about Murrow, Cronkite, and all the rest - Ellerbee is the greatest!



3. Not as completely entertaining as Ellerbee's prior book "And So it Goes," which focused on her career in broadcast journalism, this follow-up is a collection of unrelated tales from her life - each opening a window onto a different phase of it. I prefered Ellerbee's first (and funnier) book, but two tales from this volume are brilliant enough to give it a ratings bump.

   Ellerbee's story of overcoming alcoholism at the Betty Ford Center is as real and honest as memoirs get. Entering the program with a witty cynicism (masking fragile fear), Ellerbee eventually surrenders to the therapeutic environment and is ultimately softened by it. It's just the kind of story you'd expect from an intelligent satirist who (at first) feels she's above the 12-stepping and soul searching, but finally recognizes it as the only way to heal and become whole.

   My favorite chapter, though, is the smart and funny tale of young Linda's first summer job, "We Reserve the Right to Refuse Service to You." Linda spends her summer working at a resort owned by a friend of her father. After several weeks of mingling with the other young workers - one of whom is a radical looking to unionize - Linda learns valuable life lessons and eventually "sticks it to the man," her boss. In the end, the tale (and the title) becomes a metaphor for prejudice and stereotyping. This story alone is worth the cost of the book. Buy "Move On," read this chapter, then make photocopies of the chapter for your friends... it's the kind of thing you'll want to share.

5 comments about William F. Buckley, Jr.: Patron Saint of the Conservatives.

1. Great book; very objective, almost a love feast of fascinating Buckley quotes, but also very critical. I recommend Mr. Judis' biography of William F. Buckley, Jr. as a great way to understand the course of American conservatism in the last century, going strong into this one.



2. I just really like Buckley and have ever since I saw him on one of those 60-minute type programs back in the early '90s. This book provides some interesting information about him from interviews with friends and family, etc. In general, it is quite poorly written and a little boring, relying entirely on the subject's inherently interesting life rather than on the author's skill. Buckley fans will enjoy. Biography fans will yawn.



3. It's been ages since I read this book, but WFB's death yesterday has got me browsing through books by or about Buckley, and I was reminded how much I liked Judis's book. It's a pleasure (and seemingly so unusual nowadays) to get to read someone writing respectfully about someone with whom he strongly disagrees, whether it's the leftist Judis writing about Buckley, or Buckley himself writing moving obituaries of those on the left.
   
   From the perspective of a WFB fan who finds hagiographies tiresome, this book was a real treat, and I recommend it highly.



4. I couldn't disagree more with cxlxmx's review of this book. John Judis has written a remarkably interesting book about one of the most important figures in the history of modern conservatism. It would be fair to say that William F. Buckley was the most important figure in the political history of the Right, as he provided an intellectual infrastructure for right wing thought.
   
   I read this book as part of a seminar I took in graduate school during the 90s, and fully expected to dislike William F. Buckley, given my own liberal politics. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Buckley played an important role in attempting to discredit the more crackpot elements within the Right, in particular, the John Birch Society. I was so intrigued by this idea, that I ended up writing my M.A. thesis on the Birch Society. This book was the original inspiration for my research.
   
   Judis gives a fair and fascinating account of a very interesting and misunderstood figure. I would recommend this book to anyone, and I believe it is an excellent source for understanding how Conservatives captured control of the federal government during the Reagan years and maintained their grip on power into the present day.



5. Buckley as Mephistopheles conniving for the soul of America - from enfant terrible' of the CIA's creature, the "Conservative Movement" - to old conjurer too pooped to Pope over the sinister Neocon realm he created.
   
   "Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven." -- John Milton

No comments about Stop Press: A Life in Journalism.

1 comments about Abraham Lincoln: A Press Portrait (The North's Civil War, No. 15).

1. This book, first published in 1971, presents the life and career of Abraham Lincoln through the pages of the newspapers that covered it. This work is, therefore, essentially a biography written with multiple voices and from differing perspectives by the journalists who watched Lincoln's public life. It contains all of the virtues and vices of the reportorial profession. At times the reprinted articles are eloquent and insightful, at others they present gross inaccuracies and exaggerations. All come together to offer a complex portrait of arguably the most significant president of the American republic. Overall, they offer a fascinating representation of Abraham Lincoln and his times.

   Editor Herbert Mitgang makes clear that the individual articles reprinted in this collection should never be considered objective accounts of Lincoln's activities. Instead, the newspapers of that era were overtly partisan. Even a relatively small city like Lincoln's Springfield, Illinois, had two newspapers, one ardently supportive of Lincoln and the Republicans, the other rabidly hostile. And both reported the same events in strikingly different ways. Readers see repeatedly in this collection the differing reportage of events in Lincoln's life. For instance, accounts of the Lincoln-Douglas debates are sensationalized toward one side or the other depending on the political allegiance of the newspaper reporting them. Mitgang appropriately notes that these reports "presented history in the rough" (p. xxiv).

   While this collection ranges across the life of Abraham Lincoln, well over two-thirds of the work is devoted to his presidential career and the Union's victory in the Civil War against the Confederacy. Almost every major military action is discussed in some detail, but more importantly the role of Lincoln in reshaping the nation with the abolition of slavery receives considered attention. The struggles to maintain a ruling coalition and to manage both the radicals of Lincoln's own party and the peace Democrats enter the discussion. Of course, the assassination of Lincoln and succession of his vice president to the oval office gains attention.

   This is a marvelous entrée for students into the primary sources of history. Newspapers have shaped our understanding of political events since the birth of the nation and this collection goes far toward illuminating the career or Abraham Lincoln. The reports and opinions of journalists show a person and a time in both its ambiguity and complexity. Its availability in this paperback reprint provides excellent grist for students.

5 comments about Necessary Sins: A Memoir.

1. Although this book is well written by an author of established credentials, it is just another "tell-all" book of the "chick lit" variety, and it has a very one-sided perspective - that of the author. There was little sense of the personalities of the other members of the family described in the book except for the effect they had on the experiences of Lynn Darling, herself. This would be appropriate in a work of fiction. There, when the story is told in the voice of the main character, the limited perspective makes sense. But, even in good fiction there are still descriptive hints as to the reality of other characters in contrast to the overarching voice of the main character. This is a story about real people, but it comes off as more of a soap opera due to the lack of emotional insight. The narrator is trying to make sense of her life choices and the tragedies the choices have brought to her but only from an emotionally immature perspective. The trouble is that these tragedies affect the other real characters in the book in profound ways as well. The author has neither speculated upon this possibility nor dealt with it in any depth. Since the family she married into is a "real" family with "real" children, it would have been more empathetic if the author had protected their identity by using different names and details, or by creating a totally fictional account instead. Apparently the author had neither the imagination nor the insight to be so considerate.
   Darling's story is that of an ambitious woman, a journalist, who, feeling the biological clock ticking, fell in love with a depressed older man, who was medicating himself with alcohol and who held a high position at the Washington Post. He had already proved himself to be a top journalist during the Vietnam War and elsewhere and seemed to be a very accomplished person. She, a younger, aspiring person, held a lower position at the Post. This man had a real wife and real children, but one gets a sense in her book that Darling has purloined them into her universe - not just the depressed and alcoholic husband who fell for her charms, but the whole family. In the book it seems that she is trying to justify to herself the consequences that followed, albeit not very successfully. It is clear that the marriage was of no help to anyone but the author and her daughter, and only possibly the husband. The opening chapter describes a supposedly sexually liberated woman who finally fell in love, but such a woman is still responsible for her actions and the hurt that she does to others. This is not just her story. Until she has dealt with this fact in some greater depth, she should forbear to write about it or, at least, disguise or fictionalize it. That way she would show that she knows that it is only her difficult and sad story that she is telling.
   Reading between the lines it seems clear to me that her husband, Lee, descended into more depression in their marriage, especially after the death of his son, and that he may have been no happier than before he married her. It might be that he felt some sort of guilt for his carelessness to his previous family. There is no mention of that possibility in this book.
   In short, this story is about carelessness: the carelessness of the needy, the ambitious, the depressed and the emotionally undeveloped person. It is not an unusual story, and it shows no unusual depth of awareness or perspective. As nonfiction, it doesn't even give even a nod to the reality of the other people's stories. If one wants to read a great fictional book (or see the movie) showing the consequences of this sort of carelessness, re-read The Great Gatsby for depth, objectivity and good writing.



2. While not directly involved in the events described in this book, I am very familiar with them and know most of the people involved, including the family for whom one can feel only the greatest sympathy. It is more difficult to sympathize with the narrator whose various guises of self deprecation are not sufficient to mask her deeper role in the tragedy she describes.
   
   This is the story from Darling's perspective of her involvement in the events leading up to the death of her husband, Lee Lescaze and that of his son, Adrien as well as the aftermath. But this does not include her role in the most profound sense; for there can be no doubt that by placing her own needs and passions ahead of others', she created a chain of causality leading to the death of 11-year old Adrien in 1989. From her initiative to seduce Adrien's father there unfolded a series of events that created the circumstances of Adrien's death. The facts are well known but not surprisingly, Darling fails to mention that while she was having her affair with Lee Lescaze, his wife was dealing with Lee's live-in mother, an invalid with full blown Alzheihemer's Disease. After the father left his family, his exhausted wife struggled to raise three children alone. His absence from the family culminated in that harried morning of mundane events in 1989 that led to the tragedy on the way to school. Such a moment was born not in the immediate persons and circumstances of the moment. It arose from the fundamental moral decisions that long preceded and led up to that terrible scene. Darling describes her success in removing Lee Lescaze from his family. As a result, the usual familial supports that manage to routinely convey a child safely to school were absent that day. That Adrien's mother admitted Darling to be part of the grieving family group was an act of generosity difficult to imagine, but it does not imply that Adrien's mother did not understand the deeper causality of her son's death, nor did this tragedy escape the conscience of the father.
   
   Subsequently, Lynn Darling profited from that death. As her book confirms, she had longed for a child, but was initially refused one by her new husband. Adrien's death shocked him into giving her the child she sought. No doubt her child's life is a blessing to the world, but so was Adrien's. Even more, from Adrien's life and death there have flowed a great many other wonderful, unforeseen blessings not covered in the book. It is only fitting that Adrien's memorial service filled the vast National Cathedral in Washington and his brief but charismatic presence on this earth is remembered by many with joy, gratitude and not a little wonder. Lynn Darling's appreciation and close observation of this remarkable child are the strongest parts of the book.
   
   We all may wish to sympathize at some level with the author who is but one of us. Who knows what tragedies, including death, any of us has thoughtlessly contributed to the pursuit of our own passions and needs? The problem is that this book does not pose such questions, nor do they even appear to press upon the author. Her remorse or sense of accountability, such as it is, would better have been reflected in unpublished silence, respectful of the family's loss and continuing grief, and in her deeper reflection on the ever-unfolding, unfathomable universe of cause and effect. The fact that she feels the need to recount this story in spite of the pain it must reinflict on Adrien's family speaks to the true nature of her self indulgent little book.



3. I read a review in Quarterly Paperback Book Club and bought the book from there. Sorry Amazon! I did read the book and found it fascinating to read. I read it at a French restaurant in front of the fire and on the bus. Lynn Darling tells the story of herself as a writer and her encounter with Lee Lescaze a correspondent and editor.
   One never expects to fall in love with someone; especially if he's married with three children. That is what happened to Lynn. She fell in love with Lee and as time progressed, they faced ups and downs in their relationship and the final moment when he was struggling to deal with his cancer.
   Necessary Sins is a cathartic for the writer who is trying to understand her existence as a person and as a woman. She was a child of the sixties experimenting with love and sex. She talks about the women in her family and how they shape her. And she mentions her relationship with her husband's children. This book wasn't scandalous as affairs are made out to be. Looking at the title one may think that there is some dirty laundry but the cover illustrates the innocence of a woman and the risks that she is taking in having a relationship with a married man and co-worker.



4. Darling is best at capturing and identifying with the state of career women in the feminist decades: "The women I knew improvised." As a reporter for Washington Post Style, she becomes involved with the married head of the Style section; he divorces, they marry, and then Darling's interesting soul searching gets blunted by melodrama as he suffers the death of a son, they have a baby, and then he dies himself, leaving Darling to fare forward with her daughter.



5. We all have to remember that a review (including this one) represents one persons opinion -- and the review must not ever be construed to be the opinion of the publication in which it appears. And while I respect Publishers Weekly and feel they get it right most of the time, I feel that the reviewer got it wrong on this occasion. Necessary Sins is a beautifully executed honest and totally absorbing memoir. What Darling refrains from doing is throwing everything possible in. She is judicious in what she gives us and although she is hard on herself, one ends up admiring her. The book has everything you could want: a driving narrative, proper reflection, limpid prose, a sense of restraint. I highly recommend it

2 comments about Are You Somebody: The Life and Times of Nuala O'Faolain.

1. This is an interesting memoir. In part it's the story of how a wonderfully bright woman finds herself. It's also an overview of how Ireland came to grips with the modern world through such artists and writers as Ms. O'Faolin and others like her. There are some portions that seem unfulfilled. For instance, her home life was horrible, but she wasn't there for the brunt of it. Her peregrinations through alcohol and ill fated romances are painful, yet she keeps them distant. Nuala O'Faolin is an honest woman who lets us know clearly where she stands as an Irish woman, but the journey isn't so well lit. However, clear writing and commitment to truth make it worth reading.



2. I thoroughly enjoyed Nuola O'Faolain's memoir. My family is Irish. Many of her recollections regarding her family, her childhood, and her Catholic boarding school are similar to those of my mother's. Anyone who loves modern Irish literature and culture should read this book. She is brutally honest about her life. This book is not a sweet Irish memoir, nor is it Angela's Ashes.