2 comments about An Open Book: Chapters from a Reader's Life.

1. Our book group was fortunate enough to have Michael Dirda attend our discussion of this memoir. He is delightful, witty and steeped in the pleasures of reading, just as his book is. It's the story of an insecure, highly intelligent boy from a family of limited means who engages the world through literature. He is guided by several inspiring teachers, but mostly is self-taught as to what makes good reading and the lessons in life to be gleaned from books. While his keen intelligence sets him apart from his family in many respects, he also lives an ordinary and in some respects idyllic boyhood in Ohio.
   
   As Michael Dirda said of one of the books he recently reviewed for the Washington Post, "you really should read this book."



2. I have read most of Michael's (and, yes, I feel as though I know him well enough after reading this book to call him by his first name) books and always find them both highly entertaining and informative. I am fascinated by all things literary--including other people that are. On the surface, this is the story of one man's journey through life who befriended literature at an early age as, perhaps, a means of dealing with the usual insecurities. Reading became an obsession and he was able to parlay this love (with the help of a "little" talent and intelligence) into a Pulitzer Prize winning career. I wish he would have been able to spend more time talking about individual books and authors within the context of his own interests and life experience; however, he pointed out at the beginning he would not be using this particular venue for such.
   
   I found his memoirs delightfully readable.

5 comments about Hemingway: The Final Years.

1. The story of Hemingway's last years lets you enter a world of desillusion, faked grandeur and, ultimately, madness.

   It seems as if the reader was present at the scenes which are brilliantly depicted by Reynolds.

   Getting to know the life of Hemingway lets you add a supplementary dimension to the reading of his works.




2. Michael S. Reynolds' "Hemingway: The Final Years" is excellent and a worthy addition to any library, as are the previous volumes. I have read every Hemingway biography (I even have such paperback quickies as HEMINGWAY: LIFE AND DEATH OF A GIANT and THE PRIVATE HELL OF HEMINGWAY that were published shortly after Papa's death) since my father, twenty-two years ago, gave me a copy of Carlos Baker's 1967 authorized biography (which I also recommend; it gives you the a great overview of Hemingway's life and work and is very readable), and I have found Reynolds biographies to be wonderful and informative.



3. In all respects -- in terms of research, sensitivity, perception, analysis, and style -- Mr. Reynolds has written the finest biography of one of the most fascinating and complex personalities the world has ever known.

   Three citicisms, if I may: First, though very well written, there are occasional lapses in editing. Second, Mr. Reynolds owes it to his appreciative readers, as well as to himself, to provide somewhat more in-depth and revealing final thoughts than he has. My final "gripe" is admittedly extremely trivial. It irritated me, though -- in such a superbly researched endeavor, such a silly mistake should have been easily avoided. Hold on to your hats, ladies, because here it is: At one point, Mr. Reynolds mentions that Hemingway met Barbara Stanwyck and her husband, Robert Montgomery. Well, Robert Taylor, not Mr. Montgomery, was Miss Stanwyck's husband. A trivial mistake, to be sure, but why make it?

   Despite the mix-up with the Roberts (which can be easily made right in future editions), this is an outstanding biography, which I heartily recommend.




4. Reviewed by TOMA 1999

   Here's one to add to your Hemingway collection. Michael Reynolds tells us the story of Ernest Hemingway's last score years from the era of World War II to his suicide in Ketchum, Idaho on July 2, 1961. We have here the Hemingway hero we love and wish we personally knew: the articulate man full of high sentence, the man among men, the behemoth drinker, the virtuoso hunter, the dedicated idealist to his craft, the continent jumper, the fun-loving and cherished father especially to his three boys, the husband now going on his third wife in Martha Gellhorn and the literary lion in his last years where the Victor finally reaps the spoils of a lifetime pitted against the dragon called writing. Icon would be too small a word for such a colossal figure. Hemingway through all his own growling, fist-fighting, taunting of literary figures, strutting in and out of wars, promenading through world events, and arguing with his own publisher in Charles Scribner remains like the figure of the Greek Odysseus, the figure as Tennyson put it who set his life "to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." This is why many admire this American son while others see him as full of sh--, a braggart, and fraud for having never truly experienced the larger than life adventures he immortalized in his war books: For Whom The Bell Tolls, To Have and Have Not, and A Farewell To Arms not to mention his slew of other relevant stories set in exotic locations. At the date marking the century of his birth and with the latest Hemingway piece-meal work to be drawn together by his son Patrick in True at First Light, and the dozen or so other "timely" biographies, fancy-covered reprints, and photobooks presented during the summer of 1999, Reynolds does his duty to his subject with skill, organization, and insight. Although sentiment is not always unbiased, for it is obvious this research has been a labor of love, this book marks Reynolds' fifth and apparent last volume in a series of the chronologically-based Hemingway biography. In this final version, Hemingway is never idolized but shown in the somewhat balanced color of black and white where Hemingway can not but create his own shadow like some vibrant oak towering above Finca Vigia in Cuba or with his skeleton crew of "agents" monitoring the inland waterways for German submarines or as the bespectacled ancient literary lion much like his own tiger at Kilimanjaro, worn and heavy, resting within the expanse of Idaho country far below the mountains at his Sun Valley Lodge. Other exotic landscapes nicely slip into view along the journey: Hong Kong, Venice, Paris, Key West, New York, and Mombasa like a set of snapshots upon a reel. We find the sensitive Hemingway trying to keep together a marraige that seems over just as it has begun. We have a vivid image of Martha Gellhorn, the reluctant housewife and bonafide journalist torn between the woman Hemingway wishes and the one she desires to be. We feel him sparring with Scribner's over language in his novels and courtroom battles. We get a feel for the atmosphere of Finca Vigia with its bug-ridden sunburnt rooms, and for the silent, pine-washed Ketchum ranch where the echo of a rifle blast stills remains today. Characters saunter in and out of the story like locals into their corner bar. The quoted material from various personages of the times has been expertly chosen to move the Hemingway legend along its way. These haunting voices create such atmosphere and setting that the imagination has little to do but continue to create a story that unfolds in cinemagraphic slow motion. Moreover, we seem to capture a panoramic view of our literary past so important to reflect upon as we step over the century divide. This is a joyous read especially for summer reading not only for the enthusiast but for the academic who wishes to gain a fuller insight into the one of our greatest literary figures this nation has ever produced.




5. There is little I can add to the above reviews. Long before this final volume of Michael Reynolds' masterpiece came out, he had already taken his place as our finest Hemingway scholar and one of the five or six greatest literary biographers of our time. This last volume merely confirms his position. Tragically, he succumbed to cancer shortly after this book appeared, but he left us a daunting legacy as a scholar. I doubt anyone ever understood the infinitely complex Hemingway as well as Professor Reynolds did. It is a cause for celebration when a major writer and a great biographer come together; these volumes will never grow old.

5 comments about Robert Maxwell, Israel's Superspy: The Life and Murder of a Media Mogul.

1. This is an E-Ticket Ride; in other words, a read with a roller-coaster effect obsorbing the reader's full attention. The revelations of Maxwell's high treason against the United Kingdom is alarming. Yet, what is more alarmimg is the complicity of the U.S. Justice Department and U.S. Senator Tower's treasonous activity against the U.S. Government and his apparent blackmailing of the White House... all orchestrated by Israels' Mossad via their willing agent, Maxwell. At the literal risk of their lifes, Dillon and Thomas have metciulously recorded the breathtaking facts we seldom, if ever, see in American media. This super-page-turner is THE hottest book on the market.



2. This is the story of the downfall of Robert Maxwell, a man who had almost everything that a simple mortal could dream with, a family, a billionary business, fame, important business and political contacts but with a huge megalomaniac complex that pushed him to play several dangerous games with the espionage of Israel, the industrial espionage and the underworld factions of the East mafias but his biggest mistake was when he try to play the blackmail game which put in jeopardy the security of the state of Israel and the Mossad agent around the world forcing then to "eliminate" this personage.
   Even though this is a wonderful work of investigation, I have some doubts about the sole responsability of Israel in this crime because of his several contacts within the Wall Street, the City of London moguls, the eastern mafias and the most important polititians of the world that he could put in danger with his downfall as a businessman or as a blackmailer, also it is very suspicious that many close collaborators died of sudden death or dissapeared.



3. What Carroll and Graf Publishers desperately need is 1. a fact checker and 2. a proof reader. Shameful display of factual errors. With sloppiness of this sort, why would I ever dream of believing the basic (and unbelievable) premise.
   Yvonne Adler



4. There are some good things and there are some very bad things about this book.
   
   First though, with the good. Although it's far from a literary masterpiece, it is interesting in its own way and it does keep one going. The writers follow Maxwell's life and by describing his modus vivendi & modus operandi, attempt to justify their version of how Maxwell met his untimely death.
   
   They portray him as a boisterous, pompous, bombastic megalomaniac, with an "unswerving belief in his own greatness, his total invincibility and readiness to bully and destroy anyone who dared to move against him". Extremely charismatic at charming into submission friends and foes alike, he's depicted as essentially inept at doing business. Born into extreme poverty, a Jew from Czechoslovakia, he always held Israel close to his heart, so mush so that he gladly agreed to become a spy for Mossad. In fact, he became one of Mossad's most valuable assets, that is before the truth about the shambolic state of his financial affairs started surfacing and his mental health further deteriorated. He then became a liability, and as with all liabilities he had to be gotten rid of.
   
   Although not watertight by any means, the case presented by Thomas and Dillon is plausible and, all things considered, does appear very likely. But...
   
   ...Let's get to the bad stuff now. Never have I seen clichés used in such abundance; stereotypes all over the place as if both writers were too bored to actually do some thinking and come up with appropriate characterizations; or the word "terrorist" used so liberally and carelessly and with such disregard to potential implications. What's more, the mistakes in historical details, the misspellings of names and places beggared belief. I mean, come on, proclaiming the jewishness of the Dome of the Rock can't be anything other than idiotic. Surely, Abd-ul-Malik, the 9th caliph who had the place built must be turning in his grave, poor soul. In any case, I still can't decide whether the writers had an agenda, were just ignorant, indifferent, downright stupid, or any combination of the above.
   
   Bottom line, if there were so many inaccuracies about things I did know and could easily double check, what about all those things I couldn't possibly know and couldn't possibly check? Judge for yourselves.



5. One of the best spy/Mossad books.
   you will not be able to put down this book once you start it.

5 comments about A.L.T.: A Memoir.

1. I didn't know much of Andre Leon Talley aside from mentions in the Andy Warhol diaries and his occassional TV appearances providing commentary on celebrity fashions. A stereotypical shallow and superficial TV fashion personality, I thought.

   Well this book set me straight. I was expecting a bitchy expose about Talley's career in the fashion world but it turns out there many more layers to the flamboyant Talley than he lets the public see. Lovingly recounting his childhood with his grandmother in North Carolina, Talley salutes the foundations which shaped the core of his personality. One can visualize his grandmother's sheets, feel themselves in Talley's home church and taste the after church dinners just by turning the pages.

   After receiving degrees from North Carolina Central State and Brown University, Talley sets off to pursue his destiny in New York. His life and career are forever altered when he meets fashion legend Diana Vreeland. Talley remembers his grandmother and Vreeland with a great deal of love. His writing reveals a real fondness for women which doesn't always seem to be the case with males in the fashion business. So while I didn't get the expose I was expecting particularly about his Warhol days, I did learn that Talley is a man of spiritual and intellectual substance.

   I would have liked to read more about his experiences as a Black male in the predominantly White fashion industry but that's only a minor quibble. I highly recommend this book.




2. This is wonderful book, warmly written and lovingly detailed. That said, I think the tome is mistitled. Rather than a personal memoir, this is more of an ode to two beautiful women--Talley's grandmother and Diana Vreeland. This book is the story of how these two women influenced and shaped Talley's life, but there is little about his personal life outside of this subject. I hope that Talley will write more, another book about his personal experiences about race, relationships and culture. A.L.T. was such a wonderfully written book I would like to read more--please Andre, indulge us!



3. i couldnt wait to read mr. talleys autobio. though i expect lots of 'inside the world of fashion', i was pleasantly surprised to see so much written about friends, family, growing up in north carolina, and fashion. i am a great fan of diana vreeland and the tidbits he throws in about her apartment, her clothes and her style are wonderful. a very enjoyable read.



4. André Leon Talley's memoir exhorts one to journey with him to both his inner world and outer world. The former, is wondrously defined by the warm, cultured and ennobled-through-character kin that surround him during his formative years in the American south. The unconditional love and support of his tightly-woven family foster his ability to achieve grand accomplishments. The latter world, the outer world of ultra high fashion, where the bon vivant and gadabout crowd reign supreme, is one where his artistic talents and creative aptitude are encouraged and appreciated; this oft-pretentious, sometimes imperious world of glamour, glitz and visual luster, is one where he thrives while still holding true to his spirituality, family and humanity.
   
   Mssr. Talley's life is indelibly and immeasurably shaped by the presence of his generous, compassionate, selfless and benevolent grandmother, Madam Bennie Francis Davis. Though a woman of modest material means, her inbred sense of style and priceless integrity, virtue and honor are courtly and regal in every sense. Madam Davis' parentage, along with that of Mssr. Talley's father and support from extended family, enable A.L.T. to leave the warm bosom of the south and further his education at Brown University where he earns a graduate degree in French studies.
   
   Eventually moving to New York, Mssr. Talley meets and apprentices with Mrs. Diana Vreeland, the ne plus ultra of his burgeoning career at the time. With professional and moral support and encouragement from this unique and impressive woman, it is not long before he lands a job with the crème de la crème of fashion publications, Vogue magazine. His bi-continental career ensues, he meets and befriends intriguing, impressive, multitudinously-diverse individuals and, in sum, moves from fashion glory to glory.
   
   The crux of this memoir and most enriching insights, boldly reveal to the reader the importance of authenticity, of staying loyal to one's heritage, and of never sacrificing one's core values in the midst of the fashion world's artifice. In this case (and very fittingly), the person Mssr. Talley is revealed to be on the inside is superbly reflected on the outside--the best and the brightest of high society and high fashion are drawn to him and he counts many till today as loyal, genuine friends, admirers and compatriots in work and in life. How best to describe Talley? Cultured. Authentic. Passionate about his work. Unabashedly spiritual. Unquestionably creative and talented. Generous. Worthy of the success and respect he has earned. For someone whose interest in fashion is at most an afterthought, I learned a great deal from this piece. Buy this book for your library.



5. I fell in love with the book after the first review I read about it. I'd, probably, would have never picked it myself, though very much follow the fashion and did know who A.L.T. was. If you think the book is about fashion...Wrong-Wrong-Wring. It's about the beauty of living a decent life and the luxury of experiencing human love; the luxury of lacking something in your life and as a result, treasuring everything you are blessed with. It's such a memoir jewel, at times I felt like I was reading about my own childhood. Don't even question - grab it and enjoy.

2 comments about Katharine Graham's Washington.

1. I am not completely finished with this book, but wanted to post a review urging all who are interested in the history of our country to read this.

   Mrs. Graham has gathered articles from many people associated with the govenment and also some who were natives of Washington and in the social scene. Some were White House employees. She has written an introduction to each article which is helpful.

   There are many interesting stories never seen before. I especially liked the articles of behind the scenes preparations for the visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1939 by White House employees. Eleanor Roosevelt's article is different than the one she has in her book as it does not include the stop at Hyde Park.

   Mamie is presented as a difficult taskmaster by the White House seamstress. All good reading.

   I don't know if young folks will enjoy this book as much as I did, but they should give it a try.

   Only objection. There were not enough pictures!




2. After reading Graham's personal history I was dissapointed that there was nothing else written by her. This book fufills that dissapointment. She provides all sorts of views about Washington even though she doesn't agree with them all. There are articles written by Nancy Reagan, Henry Kissinger, Alice Roosevelt, and many, many more. A great read for anyone interested in Graham or Washington.

5 comments about I, Goldstein: My Screwed Life.

1. What a disappointment this book was, and what a mess. After finally making it through this book, it became apparent that I had wasted my time. What should have and could have been a dozen-page magazine article has been made into a lengthy book made up mostly of filler. The result was an unreadable mish-mash of old, made-up, unbelievable stories. If Al Goldstein is a legend, it's in his own mind only. This text makes him sound pathetic, and it's his own autobiography! I wonder if he even wrote any of it. After buying this book, I was the one who felt screwed, and not in a good way.



2. Regardless of what you think about Goldstein as a person, he was nothing if not a freedom fighter and this wonderfully-written work expertly captures the essence of what it is to be Goldstein.
   
   None reading this review, it can be assumed, have ever faced as many horrible twists of fate as Goldstein--Divorced five times, constant medical problems and the squander of his fortune--all the while being relentlessly pursued by the law enforcement machine. Yet the book comes across not as a tragedy, but as more of a dark comedy (although "dark" may be an understatement.)
   
   Readers will also be thankful for the enlistment of co-writer Josh Alan Friedman, a veteran writer of the New York smut industry, who masterfully weaves Goldstein's stories, quips and one-liners into a genuinely readable and fascinating story.
   
   Love him or hate him, this book will probably not change your mind about Goldstein himself--it offers little in the area of redemption or remorse. All it offers is a look inside the life of one of the most colorful and controversial characters in American history, and in that it succeeds admirably.
   
   When future scholars study American freedom-fighters like George Washington, Paul Revere and Martin Luther King, "I, Goldstein: My Screwed Life" will be the reference they will use for this generation's one true revolutionary. God help us.



3. Among the most outrageous of our contemporary American outlaws, and among the funniest, is Al Goldstein, the co-founder and lightning rod for the infamous, gleefully tasteless semi-underground sex tabloid _Screw_, which he describes as "the most notorious, uproarious, and influential pornographic newspaper in the world". Through his publication (and through his cable television show "Midnight Blue") Goldstein chronicled any sort of sexual story, and maintained a forum for his famous editorials which were the prose equivalent of a raised middle finger to politicians, religious leaders, feminists, and to any lawyer, restaurateur, movie producer, or airline who happened to irritate him. ("Irritate him"? That's not the phrase Goldstein would use.) He became a multimillionaire, and a celebrity, and it was a wild ride through the 34 years of publishing his magazine. He descended, however, back to rags from riches as the lawsuits and divorces took their toll. He has now written (with Josh Alan Friedman) the autobiography _I, Goldstein: My Screwed Life_ (Thunder's Mouth Press), a foul-mouthed, absurd, ribald, and thoroughly entertaining account of an influential life that may truly be called unique.
   
   Goldstein had trouble with girls when he was growing up: "My façade of amorality and detached sex has always been a cover for being afraid of being hurt. So what else is new. _Screw_ was such an antiromantic publication as compensation for that." He became a photojournalist like his father, and was working on a free press paper in New York when he met the straitlaced Catholic who would co-found _Screw_. The first issue came out in 1968, and by the time of Goldstein's first arrest, it was outselling _Time_ and _Playboy_ on Manhattan newsstands. He enjoyed the thrill of being arrested and disturbing the status quo of the state. "Acceptance of _Screw_ would be the kiss of death." He had a good time, and there are plenty of funny stories here. When the Polish Pope visited New York, _Screw_ reported that he was making a tour of public bathrooms. The Polish pressmen who printed the magazine walked out, but "I'm prepared for printer walkouts at all times, and the plant brings in an alternate crew of Puerto Ricans. Or Italians or Slavs or whichever ethnic group is not too offended to handle that week's subject matter."
   
   Goldstein's fall was precipitous, landing him in homeless shelters and at the prison at Riker's Island, which sounds straight out of the third world. "I've burned bridges. I have regrets," he says, and chief among these is losing contact with his son, who having been put through Harvard Law School with the aid of the pornographer's millions, has nothing now to do with his father. Goldstein mentions, with little trace of bitterness, one celebrity or pal after another that severed all connection with him once the money was gone. He also mentions with gratitude the friends who gave him money, or the restaurateurs who gave him free meals ("But I had to go early to make the homeless shelter by eight to sign for my bed"), or magician Penn Jillette who pays the rent for his Staten Island apartment. He is unrepentant, but he is disgusted by porn films of today, which he says are meaningless, with no tension, surprise, or human characterization. "Is this to be my legacy?" he asks, "I never dreamed I'd ever say such a thing, but is there no taste?" He had, however, previously written, "Each weekly issue of _Screw_ is one more strike against the world. If I ever lose it all, I'll merely shrug, amazed to have even gotten so far." He might think of his book as yet another such strike. Crude, buoyant, angry, and funny, it is possibly as authentic as any autobiography can be.



4. Well, this book was pretty much what I expected. Al Goldstein had it all and lost it all and he is brutally honest about it all. Instead of putting a gun to his head and ending it all he chooses to go on with whatever he has left which is not much compared to what he had. I applaud him for keeping one foot ahead of the other when he could probably just watch his TV all day (which is his favorite pastime). Goldstein is very funny and very ethnic (Jewish). He reminds me of the old school jews who sat around South Beach before it became chic and Coney Island and Kibitzed all day long.I enjoyed the stories he tells about growing up around the Dodgers in Brooklyn. He sounds like a few of my great uncles who constantly still talk of the day the Dodgers left Brooklyn. He really is just an ordinary guy who had a vision and became a symbol in pornography with screw magazine. I would recommend this book to anyone who would like to read about the evolution of Screw. Al, your a pioneer and a rouge keep up your blog on booble.com. We still need to hear your voice out there since there is no one with any balls to tell it like it is anymore.



5. I been a big fan of scew magazine. I use to subsribe to it as well. Love the way big Al use to put people down. I've been waiting for years for his book, of his life. I have to say Al Goldstein is a very brave, smart, and telented person. Would make a great president. Hopfully more people would buy his book, give him the respect he deserve. Thank you Al for fighting for our freedom.

5 comments about Confessions of a Recovering Slut: And Other Love Stories.

1. I had really high hopes for this book - I thought the title was fabulous and the first story was funny, but it quickly went downhill from there. It seemed there was a lot of ramblings about characters I not only had trouble following - but didn't even have much interest in.



2. Thought the title was fabulous, and had high expectations for the book. In places it was good, especially some of the phrases she used, but I found it very repetitive and not funny. Holly's overwhelming maternal joy was also not in keeping with the rest of the book, maybe she could have felt maternal joy but not written about it.



3. I loved this book so much after I borrowed it from the library, that when I couldn't find her first book at any of my state interlibrary lenders, I bought it (from Amazon!). I love Hollis' writing style; she is hilarious and original but all of her tales end with a poignant thought. I'd never heard of her before I read a review of her books on Amazon and I'm so glad I found her. I love that each chapter in her books is a short, mostly true story and I wish I had wacky friends like hers. I hope she keeps writing more novels because I will be reading every last one of them, possibly more than once, and I don't usually re-read books. (Another author I just discovered who is just like Hollis, is Laurie Notaro...I'll be reviewing her books next!)



4. OK, I admit I bought this book on a whim, and purely from the cover illustration (I know, I know...), but I don't regret it for a minute! I can't tell you how many people I've reccomended this book to. This is not the kind of book you should read out in public alone. I laughed so hard at her writing that I'm sure people thought I was some nutjob. It was well written, dryly funny, and great for picking up and putting down so you can read it on a break at work. It speaks to the 30 something woman that I am without being the dreaded Chick Lit fluff.
   I loved it and can't wait to get Bleachy Haired Honky Bitch!



5. I forced myself to read at least half of this to see if it would get any better...it didn't. If you want something in the same genre that is truly entertaining save your money and buy a Laurie Notaro book!

5 comments about Playing with Trains: A Passion Beyond Scale.

1. This book is interesting in ways, but perhaps a bit narrow. There are some lovely reminiscences from the golden age of Lionel, some lovely insights into Posey's childhood exposure to model trains, and a dash of the history of grandiose, fill-the-basement, HO-scale, railroad modelling. However, as a view of model railroading at the end of the 20th century it is very much limited to the "grand obsession" view, the view you get from basements in the mid-west of America. Posey concludes that you can divide model railroaders into those obsessed with meticulous scenery and those who seek to simulate real railroad operation, modelling the control of traffic in a system. Yet there is much appeal in the hobby that the book never mentions, or mentions only indirectly. Microlayouts are never mentioned. Z-scale and G-scale barely rate a sentence each. What is railroading like in Japan, or Great Britain, or Germany? You will not be told here. You will not meet people who prefer to watch train layouts here. Towards the end, the book gets a bit boring, when he has run out of interesting things to say and is documenting trips to see layouts. Wives of grand obsessives may have had entertaining stories or comments of interest (like why they put up with it or what they do while hubby is playing), but spouses barely get a look-in. The book is worth a read as a yardstick of obsession, to reassure yourself that things could be a lot worse, and it is certainly on a subject that appears scarcely in books.



2. This is a wonderful book. Sam Posey, known to most people only as a highly successful race car driver and/or Emmy-winning broadcaster, uses a description of the construction of his basement HO-scale train layout-- 6,000 hours of work over 16 years-- to anchor a broader examination of model railroading. He describes some issues in the design and construction of layouts, and he interviews some of the stars of the hobby.
   
   That would be a good enough book, but Posey goes beyond that to examine the phenomenon of men and boys playing with trains, and, further, the nature of obsession. The message is that while the people who build elaborate model railroad layouts may indeed be obsessive, obsessions that are passions for excellence are not necessarily problematical.
   
   At one point, Posey considers a simple question about his own layout: When is enough enough? The answer for him is "never," and that's probably the answer anyone passionate about anything would give.
   
   Posey is an intelligent, articulate observer of the most challenging subject of all: himself. The result of his study is this outstanding book. I bought it because I'm a fan of Posey's racing and broadcasting, and I'm mildly interested in trains. I was rewarded far, far beyond my expectations.



3. My uncle built Mr. Posey's house and is mentioned in this book. I had to laugh, especially when he related how a support post in his basement had to be removed and it took three experienced carpenters to put in a new post and remove the old one. I know the blue foam boards very well having installed them while working as a youth during winter and summer breaks while in college but had no idea they were the perfect material for building mountains on a train set. Sam gives great background on the history of the Hobby and John Allen's Gorre and Dephatid layout, which is considered the seminal HO layout of the Post-War era. He's also correct in his observation that men tend to regress to where they were as boys and as a father with a son in elementary school, my interest in slot cars and trains has suddenly become rejuvenated. Now, it's off to the train shop....



4. I happened across a copy of Playing With Trains at a local bookstore, and from the first page I was hooked- the author's enthusiasm just jumped right off the page. I was immediately transported to my youth, and my long gone Lionel Southern Pacific set, screaming accross the ping-pong table top layout. Then I camed across the author's reference to racing cars for a living, and glanced at the cover- of course! Sam Posey was not only one of the friendliest and most likable men ever to set foot in a race car, he was, and is, a great story teller. Back in the 70s he'd written a book about his life in racing (The Mudge Pond Express) that may be the best book ever written about what it's like to be a race car driver. Posey's prose style is right up there with Tracy Kidder or any of the best contemporary non-fiction writers.
   
   The tale begins with Posey's own childhood trains, and then jumps to the birth of his first son, and the construction of what begins as a simple oval but becomes a fifteen-year obsession. Along the way we're introduced to other model railroaders, and we learn a bit about the makers, the sellers, the hostory of railroad and model railroading, and of course Thomas the Tank Engine, who personifies railroading for so many children of the eighties and beyond. There's even a trip on a full-sized train, as well as Posey's experience driving a full-sized steam locomotive for the annual April Fool's road test in Road and Track magazine. At one point in his fifteen year oddyssee Posey is diagnosed with Parkinson's disease- something that chnages his perspective a little, but doesn't slow him down in his pursuit.
   
   Serious model railroaders will find fault with this book- there are no layout diagrams, no closeups of engines, and none of the detais and minutia that make up the model railroader's hobby. That's okay, though, as this book wasn't written for them. It's really for anyone who has owned a model train- or perhaps wished they'd owned one- or anyone who has looked longingly at the elaborate layouts in hobbyshops and department stores of the past, and thought how nice it would be to play with trains again.



5. 
   Whether you're into model railroading or not, this wonderfully written
   peek into that world is worth twice what you'll pay for it.
   
   Call it a no-brainer, buy it and enjoy.

5 comments about Age and Guile Beat Youth, Innocence, and a Bad Haircut (O'Rourke, P. J.).

1. I first discovered P.J.O'Rourke in the pages of various automotive publications. In addition to being a well-known political humorist, he is also an automotive enthusiast, as am I. This book, the second of his that I have read, is quite good once you get past the somewhat slow start. The second half of the book ("Drives to Nowhere," "Bad Sports") is wonderful. O'Rourke is a master of simile, metaphor, and analogy. Only the fiction writer Tom Robbins compares to him in this regard, in my opinion. I had my wife read a selection from the book, and she enjoyed it so much that she started reading it aloud to me. We laughed so hard our jaws hurt and our eyes teared! Whether you agree with his political bent or not, you cannot help but to enjoy the man's way with words; he is a true wordsmith. He can really "turn a phrase," as the trite expression goes. I can't wait to read more of his prose.



2. If you or someone you know and love is looking for great material for a speach competition, try the stories "Dynamite" and "Another Tale of Uncle Mike." I used them to get to the state competition. The book is all-around hillarious with great little tips such as how to out-drink an Irish wedding party when they have a few hours head-start. It also has some great lines such as "none of us were seriously hurt, except for Terry, who had part of a hash pipe blown up his nose, something they had a hard time understanding at the emergency room." Buy it and laugh.



3. First and foremost: it is worth noting (and it pains an saddens me that this is the case) that the phrase "Youth, Innocence, and a Bad Haircut" is the first time I have seen a three-item list with correct grammar in a book printed in America after World War II.

   Second, and not quite so foremost: P. J. O'Rourke is a very, very funny guy. He is completely politically incorrect, in most cases, and is therefore more than happy to pull out the jokes, puns, and other humorous concepts his more liberal colleagues have left to the dust.

   Third, and not really far up there on the scale, but still worth mentioning: in most ways, P. J. O'Rourke is a tremendous boon to the right-wing American. He's not afraid to take pot-shots at just about anything, including fellow members of the right (Pat Buchanan is roasted almost as often as Bill Clinton), and he's not afraid to admit his mistakes, such as endorsing Clinton in 1992.

   Combine those, and for most of this book you have a tremendously funny read, an almost literary roasting of such things as book tours, drinking, stupid sports, Whitewater, various makes and models of automobile, and the like. Unfortunately, it's the part that falls outside the realm of "most" that keeps this from being one of the finest political collections of the past decade. There are times when O'Rourke, who seems to be sitting right on the Libertarian partyline, veers far off to the left, and if he is to be trusted he was stuck out there in at least one case by the head of the Cato Institute (making me wonder how Libertarian they truly are), and he also has many of the strange and illogical hang-ups that keep me from ever wanting to vote Republican. He also, and he is well aware of it, asks a lot of our indulgence in the book's second section, a collection of short stories published (well, most of them) in the National Lampoon during his tenure as editor in chief there. Anyone who still wonders why I abhor the very idea of self-publishing need only read the section "The Truth About the Sixties and Other Fictions" in this book. It's shameless, awful, contorted, constipated prose, and O'Rourke is fully aware of this, and even says so in a few places.

   But if you skip that section, and immediately stop reading any time you find one of those places where conservatives suddenly dismiss anything relating to logic (I have often theorized it's remnants of too many drugs during the sixties), this is most definitely a worthwhile book. Both the automobile and sports sections brought forth guffaws. And if you've ever heard me guffaw, you'll know that's soemthing to stay away from.




4. PJ O'Rourke has always been one of my favorite cultural and political commentators. An unrepentant Libertarian Republican who used to be an unrepentant Marxist radical, O'Rourke is a conservative who writes with all the wit and verve that, supposedly, only liberals are capable of. P.J. O'Rourke is the Al Franken of the American Right, if Al Franken were actually funny. Age and Guile Beat Youth, Innocence, and a Bad Haircut is made up of O'Rourke's previously uncollected writings over the past three decades. As such, the book begins with a few choice pieces from his angry days as a Marxist journalist in the early '70s (where, it must be said, O'Rourke still writes with a wit that proves that funny is funny not matter what the ideology) moves on to cover his brief period as an adherent to Concrete Poetry (an art form that he admits still having no idea what to make of) and finally closes with a few of his recent essays as Rolling Stone's Foreign Affairs Editor. Best of all, O'Rourke includes a few short stories that he wrote and published while editor of National Lampoon. The stories, all dealing with his past as a '60s radical, are a perfect mixture of radical nostalgia and modern day clear headedness and, along with an unexpected pathos for his lost characters wandering through the political wilderness of protest, they also rank amongst the most hilarious of O'Rourke's writings, perfectly displaying his trademark style of detached irony and self-depreciating wit (one can always sense O'Rourke saying, "Can you believe they actually pay me to write this stuff?"). Perhaps most nicely, the pieces in this collection are arranged by chronological order so that the reader literally goes through O'Rourke's political and literary evolution with him over the course of the book. As such, we're provided with a nice view of the political odyssey of both O'Rourke and America over the past 30-odd years. If one thing remains the same it is that O'Rourke, whether conservative or liberal, consistently refuses to accept anything at face value. He remains, always, the eternal skeptic. And we, as readers, are all the better off for it.



5. I first got into PJ O'Rourke when I started reading his book "Republican Party Reptile" and realized that I could laugh heartily at his wit, as opposed to the often divisive rhetoric of Rush Limbaugh and Fox News Channel. O'Rourke is equally scathing in his approach to "born-again" nutjobs as he is to "pinko" enviromentalists, and his is a style of writing I wouldn't mind trying to emulate in my own belated (and as yet unpublished) career as a writer.

   "Age and Guile" caught my fancy because I had heard it was a collection of his pieces from over the years, and I tried to find it at the local library and various bookstores, but was unlucky in my pursuit. I ended up checking out a Books-on-Tape version of the book, read by Norman Deitz, and I was quite pleased.

   The early material is amatuerish, to be fair, but there are nuggets of wit to be found amongst the "juvinelia". The Truth About The Sixties was actually one of my favorite parts of the book, I found it very involving and fascinating to hear. The rest of the book tickled my funny bone. I just don't have enough good things to say about this book.

   So, I ordered it on Amazon, and I've recieved it, and it's joined my collection of P.J. O'Rourke books. A liberal at heart myself, I agree with a previous reviewer that O'Rourke celebrates individual freedom and doesn't care for those who try and take it away. I only hope I can be as good at conveying that in my own writing, he's certainly one hell of a teacher.

1 comments about Southern Daughter: The Life of Margaret Mitchell and the Making of <I>Gone With the Wind</I>.

1. The research is well done but there are too many details repeated. I would have enjoyed it more if it were condensed at least 30 per cent.