5 comments about A Drinking Life: A Memoir.

1. Oh, the places Hamill will take you in this gritty, unflinchingly honest look at a fascinating interior life. Growing up in a poor neighborhood in Brooklyn, complete with cockroaches, Pete slowly acquires an understanding of what it means to be an Irish-American.
   Around age 8, his father, Billy, walked him to Gallagher's, the corner saloon, where young Pete got his first introduction to the camaraderie of the neighborhood bar. There he witnessed his father's serenading of the crowd, after loosening himself up with booze.
   It was an initiation that would influence Pete for many years to come. Throughout the book, Hamill notes the persistent, persuasive messages that our society gives, that drinking is an essential social lubricant.
   Be it a wedding, a funeral, the beginning of a job, or ending of one, joining the Navy, going on leave or vacation, on and on, drinking was invited, expected, nearly demanded.
   The book provides great insights into the times. Hamill writes, "We lived to the rhythms of the war (WWII). Before the War, During the War, After the War."
   Hamill's forays into the world of art are enlightening. While taking a drawing class, he becomes enamored of a nude model, and they become involved. His loves, travels, thoughts on religion and family kept me entranced, as well as his inevitable slide into an alcohol-induced moral deterioration.
   The surprising aspect here, was Hamill's moment of clarity, when he realized he had a choice, that he could disrupt the cycle of the "Irish-curse". We cheer for him as he strives to make a sober life for himself. An interesting life, told by a great writer.



2. A Drinking Life by Pete Hamill is a reflection on his drinking past. Without sentimentality Hamill tells a hard story. He portrays a loving mother, and an alcoholic father. He chronicles his impoverished childhood, his tough coming of age, his difficult search for meaning, his newspaper career, and his regrets about the way he treated his first wife and children. As the title implies his memories are tied together by recollections of alcohol, and a drinking culture that both fascinated and repelled him. The bar was a place of refuge where Hamill could be a man. It was a place to celebrate, to commiserate, to identify with others, to escape loneliness. It was the only place he bonded with his father.
   
   But the bar and the alcohol that fueled it had an evil side. It stifled human consciousness; it dulled pain, boredom, and joy. It allowed unconsciousness in the midst of living. During the 1960's at the peak of his newspaper career he realized drink was making his hands shake when he typed, and his mind so soft he couldn't spell easy words. He quit. Drinking memories ended. Hamill's love for the writing life was more important than his love for booze.
   
   His memoir is not a cautionary tale against using alcohol, nor is it a self-serving whine against the way he was brought up. He writes like the reporter he is. Honest sentences, specificity, and recalled emotion inform his text. He presents clear snapshots of his 1940's childhood in Brooklyn. He lets the reader draw conclusions, or judgments. He presents the characters who walked across his mother's kitchen floor--his Irish father, mostly drunk, and his siblings. He gives us his friends. He moves into the 1950's with raw adolescent energy--lots of sex, lots of booze. Drinking so overpowers the narrative, that at times I felt exhausted just by reading of his drinking binges.
   
   Hamill's talent, in this memoir and in other work, is a passionate love for real life. He spreads humanity on a broad canvas without moralizing. He paints violence, gentleness, loneliness, and companionship. Real life is hard to look at. Hamill gives it to the reader like he gives it to himself. Without bitterness, with humility, with forgiveness, and with compassion.



3. In my quest for chronicles that detail the often entwined aspects of drink and journalism, I was delighted to discover Pete Hamill's candid tale, robust and surly - an account that carries the reader through his lushly-detailed memoirs that began in blue-collared Brooklyn. As the son of struggling Irish immigrants, Hamill grew up during the Depression with the enduring beliefs of the working-class neighborhood in which he lived -street-fights, low pay, loyalty to the neighborhood, and machismo drinking. His tale is rich with the nostalgia of days long past - marbles and stickball, Milton Caniff, Captain America, and the city Athletic League. He details his own lack of connectedness with an alcoholic father he longed to love and vowed not to imitate, only to fall prey to the same lure of the bottle.
   
   Hamill recounts his loss-of-innocence submission to wine at eleven, along with the internalization of the street-tough attitude that shapes his life in the ensuing years. His talent for graphics and natural ability in academics often leads him to the edge of success, only to fall victim to his own self-destruction. Dreams of becoming a cartoonist are interrupted by the reality of a Navy Yard job, yet resurrected again through art lessons from Burne Hogarth, then dulled by a desire to imitate stoic drinkers like Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. The romantic association of absinthe and literature appeals to Hamill, a seduction that eventually draws him to a career in journalism. He details the rocks and bumps along the way - through newspaper strikes and Mexican jail. His obvious wanderlust takes him from Barcelona to Dublin, Rome to San Juan to Washington D.C., while trying to sustain a turbulent marriage, peppered with an infinite immersion into parties and booze, and eventual divorce.
   
   In 1966, Hamill meets Shirley McLaine at a party in Rome, and he details, very briefly, the eventual celebrity life he shared with her, but shies away from giving us a paparazzi view of truly personal details. Although he denies it, he is perhaps too immersed in drink to recall the nitty gritty. In his final look inward, he describes a New Year's Eve party and his feeling "as if I were shooting the scene with a camera from across the bar...I noticed that my hand was trembling and wondered if that was in the camera shot," - his own personal play that has lasted a lifetime, one written with a bad script that he rewrites at that very moment. Kudos for him.
   
   This is not a book that shows you how to quit drinking; rather, it is a searing, vivid account of one man's recognition of his own problem with alcohol. Despite years of succumbing to the liquor that constantly dragged him into the depths of the gutter, he emerged with a brilliant tale to tell.



4. Pete Hamill"s deeply introspective memoir of his coming of age during the late 40's and 50's in working class Brooklyn is a brutally honest account of how alcohol gets integrated into certain rights of passage as people , especially men navigate the transition to adulthood.
   
   His story could be anyone's, except that Hamill writes in a gripping personal style that infuses each episode in his young life with a sense of urgency. The struggle to reconcile with a distant father never deteriorates into a sense of victimhood. I admired the fact that Hamill is able to describe his youthful feelings of anger toward his father without wallowing in them and always with a sense of someone seeking to understand and forgive.
   
   This is a great book on several levels. Hamill captures a sense of the old neighborhoods of New York that have vanished and the strong influence that a sense of place had on young people of his generation when the world was quite a bit smaller.



5. I picked this book up out of desperation for something, anything to read...and I must admit that the title clinched the deal. "A Drinking Life" - I couldn't resist. Drama, angst, highs, lows...it's all right there in the title.
   
   What I wasn't expecting was a book that depicts a time, place and way of life that has always fascinated me. One of the reasons I love "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" is the vivid and at the same time, faded sepia description of a New York, and an America that I never knew. I've been to New York twice, have seen touristy parts and not so touristy parts, have been at turns delighted and appalled by its residents...and of course, in that short period of time, barely scratched the surface of this city that almost defies description. Because, of course, there are so many facets to it. New York depends on the area, the time, the circumstances. One person's New York may be a polar opposite of the next person's.
   
   Pete Hamill, in the first half of his memoir, describes the New York of Brooklyn from 1939 to 1950. In this New York, he and his Irish Catholic family struggle to better their situation. They live hand to mouth, in sometimes squalid apartments - too small for a family that keeps growing. And yet - when Hamill spends pages describing the more positive aspects of his childhood - I feel a yearning to be there. To see the far quieter and yet more greatly populated streets. I hope to hear the sounds of stickball, and radios playing jazz and swing into a summer night. I want to feel the safety and connection of a neighborhood that knows each and every member...one that shares the joy of the end of a war that they together shared the dread of.
   
   He describes D day in a New York that had been blacked out for months fearing air raids. "...without warning, the entire skyline of New York erupted into glorious light: dazzling, glittering, throbbing in triumph. And the crowds on the rooftops roared. They were roaring on roofs all over Brooklyn, on streets, on bridges, the whole city roaring for light. There it was, gigantic and brilliant, the way they said it used to be: the skyline of New York. Back again. On D day, at the command of Mayor LaGuardia. And it wasn't just the skyline. Over on the left was the Statue of Liberty, glowing green from dozens of light beams, a bright red torch held high over her head. The skyline and the statue: in all those years of the war, in all those years of my life, I had never seen either of them at night. I stood there in the roar, transfixed."
   
   He also describes his love of books, and words, and comics and the magic that happens when one is drawn into the new world of a story. When you discover a world, an existence, a universe previously unknown.
   
   "But when we lived on Thirteenth Street, the content of the comics was driving deep into me. They filled me with secret and lurid narratives, a notion of the hero, a sense of the existence of evil. They showed me the uses of the mask, insisting that heroism was possible only when you fashioned an elaborate disguise. Most important was the lesson of the magic potion. The comics taught me, and millions of other kids, that even the weakest human being could take a drink and be magically transformed into someone smarter, bigger, braver. All you needed was the right drink."
   
   And there it is, of course. The underlying thread of the book...drinking. From the earliest age, alcohol is everywhere in Hamill's life. In his neighborhood, in his home, even in his history - drinking is an accompaniment to all events, large and small.
   
   When he reads Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the passage that stands out is one where Jekyll drinks the potion and is transformed in a hideous way..."I read that passage and thought of my father." Hamill is deeply influenced by his father...hating what drinking does to him at the same time he is learning that drinking is what men do.
   
   As the book continues, some of the detail of Hamill's life is lost, certainly because (as he is first to point out) much of it was lost to him as well due to alcohol, but I also got the sense that this part of the book was rushed. It almost felt like Hamill was looking at how much had written about his early life and realizing that he'd better move things along if was ever to finish.
   
   Still - there are passages like these that sucked me right back in. "In the summer of 1950, all of us from the Neighborhood hung out in a place on Coney Island called the Oceantide. Built on the boardwalk at Bay 22, it was a block long complex with a swimming pool, lockers, a long packed bar, and a small fenced-off area where the young men danced with the young women to a bubbling Wurlitzer jukebox. Down the block was a shop called Mary's, which sold the most fabulous hero sandwiches in New York, great thick concoctions of ham and cheese and tomatoes laced with mustard or mayonnaise, along with cases of ice cold sodas."
   
   My mouth waters just thinking about it...I want to be there!
   
   Finally, towards the end, Hamill comes to the realization that he's spent his whole life trying to either be exactly like or nothing like all of the influences in his life. Nothing like his father, and yet just like his father. Exactly like the comic book artists and heroes. Exactly like and nothing like his friends from the Neighborhood. Not only his life, but his writing is an imitation or rejection of that of others.
   
   Which is summed up in the mantra he uses to quit drinking. "I will live my life, I will not perform it." There is much time and experience and emotions that he has lost - but in the end, he is able to find the strength to cut the losses.
   
   "And I loved my life, with all its hurts and injuries and failures, and the things I now saw clearly, and the things I only remembered through the golden blur of drink."

5 comments about Miles Gone By: A Literary Autobiography (with CD).

1. "Miles Gone By" seems to be a near complete biography and one that allows the reader to see how the puzzle fits together. It would be easy to overlook the uniqueness of this life by labeling the author as mostly reflecting a political point of view. He has shown in many of his other books his diversity of interests and his ability to inform his readers about activities and the events taking place in the world at the same time. I remember in his book "Racing Through Paradise how much I learned about sailing and how interesting it was to consider his political points of view presented as a part of each days activities. Miles Gone By seems to show the many sides and interests of his life as pieces of puzzle that reveal more of who he really is. The story is not in his point of view but is more so in whom he really is.
   
   A favorite chapter (2) was "God and Man at Yale" which was about his first book. I like to underline in red what stands out as I read and this chapter is mostly "red" in my book. In 1950 it was controversial to defend individualism, religion and capitalism. His education seemed to be, somewhat like his early life, one full of advantage and opportunity. Considering that it was even more of a surprise when he questioned the very mission of the institution he had been privileged to attend. He replied to his critics saying "a very recent graduate is not only supremely qualified, but uniquely qualified, to write about the ideological impact of an education he has experienced."
   
   Later in the book he says that as a senior citizen his faith has never left him. Through out his life we find in this biography that he has held tight to his religious convictions. Considering the years his life has spanned in the political arena this willingness to proclaim his own faith is made even clearer in this book.
   
   Both Buckley and Nixon have written about world leaders in a way that really adds to ones understanding of events. In many of Nixon's books those insights, even though insightful, seemed stand-alone. In this book many of the chapters deal with relationships but instead of standing alone as a subject for consideration they validate the unique impact that Buckley has had thorough out his life. This book will show you a very very interesting man.



2. Miles Gone By is an account of the life of William Buckley, whom many see as a conservative icon. Buckley shares many facets of his interesting life, particularly the following:
   
   1. Early childhood and close-knit family (I believe he was one of 10 children).
   2. Memories of his father and mother both of who he loved dearly.
   3. His years at Yale University and how the liberal bias drove him to write his book "God and Man at Yale".
   4. Memories of the 1950 class at Yale.
   5. His deep sea expedition to see the wreck of the Titanic.
   6. His sailing and skiing trips with various celebrities.
   7. Starting the National Review.
   8. Relationships with 10 special people of various backgrounds and poltical persuasions (David Niven, Ronald Reagan, Henry Kissinger, Clare Boothe Luce, Tom Wolfe, Vladimir Horowitz, Roger Moore, Alistair Cooke, Princess Grace, and John Kenneth Galbraith). I particularly enjoyed this section.
   
   The areas mentioned above are just a few mentioned. While Buckley undeniably comes from a rather refined background, his writing style is not arrogant. Indeed, he often thanks his Creator for the life he has lived and gives credit to other people when due.
   
   Read and enjoy the book and learn more about one of our country's great conservative icons. Recommended.



3. William F. Buckley Jr. is now in his 80's and visibly winding up his affairs of this world. National Review, the magazine of conservative opinion that he founded and led for half a century, has been turned over to newer hands. Blackford Oakes, hero of a series of spy novels, has been heroically killed off. His production of public commentary is down to a few columns per month. 2004's "Miles Gone By", subtitled "a literary autobriography", is of a piece with this process. It is a collection of essays from his writing lifetime, with items about his childhood, his education at Yale, his time in the Army, his adventures as a sailor, portraits of colleagues and friends, and a sampling of other topics.
   
   Buckley has lived a fairly public life as an advocate for the Conservative point of view. "Miles Gone By" may therefore have no surprises for any future biographer. What the reader does find is William F. Buckley Jr at his finest, an educated and often witty observer of his world, pondering the moment and its meaning, finding delight in the skillful use of the English language. Also on display is Buckley's irreverance for the stuffy and the unsound. Highlights include a thoughtful essay on the 50th reunion of his Yale Class, a rueful account of an extended rail trip through Siberia, and brief sketches of his friendships with David Niven and Whittaker Chambers. An extended piece on "God and Man at Yale" recalls the book that started it all.
   
   This book is highly recommended to fans of Mr. Buckley, who will enjoy this fine sampling of his work, perhaps the last to be put out by his own hand.



4. When I was a kid, William F Buckley was a hero of my weekend TV, always the wordsmith, always clear, learned, and completely vicious in his rhetoric. This book compiles (mostly short) writings on a variety of topics, many quite personal, that show a loving son/husband/father, a wine aficionado, and a very warm human being. The writing is great: it is a joy to see those un-split infinitives, those real latin-rooted words, those well-crafted sentences. What comes across is a genuine man, one of towering intellectual power, who also worried about what his dad would do when he found out that he had bought a plane at college. If for no other reason, buy this book to enjoy (and inspire) great writing.
   By the way, I do not agree with him on any topic, perhaps excepting wine (buy cheaply, drink with friends).



5. MILES GONE BY is a compilation of William F. Buckley essays, columns and anecdotes which tell the story of his life. His writings are so prolific that the better parts of his life had already been chronicled, by himself no less, prior to his death.
   
   I began reading National Review in 1978 as a young liberal college student. Buckley was my cure for liberalism along with the practical demise of liberal theology under Carter. He was also a mentor and hero, of sorts, as the Reagan Era was ushered in and the world changed. I dug deep into Buckley's lore reading the Blackford Oakes novels, his journal at the United Nations, and his sailboat chronicles (AirBorne and Racing Through Paradise).
   
   WFB was a classic conservative voice at a time when conservatism had few national voices. Goldwater, Reagan, Milton Friedman, Gingrich and others would emerge as leaders but Buckley was always the apologist for the right. His bully pulpits were the National Review and Firing Line television program. At times I wondered if he befriended people like John Kenneth Galbraith to keep them busy while conservatives were busily furthering their agenda.
   
   Besides being the voice and conscience of the conservative movement in America, Buckley will be remembered for his civility. He was a gifted host and debater who confronted and entreated opponents with grace, tact, and utmost civility. He raised the national debate to a higher level of discourse.
   
   America is poorer for his passing.

5 comments about The Prince of Darkness: 50 Years Reporting in Washington.

1. Bob Novak, love him or hate him, is a damned good reporter. His passion is politics, and only political junkies will appreciate this book of memoirs...apolitical types will not get past five pages.
   
   Liberal politicos should read this book, too, though I fear not many will. Novak is, after all, THE ENEMY, and fifty years of empirical insights can be discounted on partisan grounds. If so, their loss.
   
   One can psychoanalyze Novak and get a sense of what makes him tick: only child of an adoring Jewish mother and Republican father, spoiled, coddled, with the characteristic Semitic drive and ambition to work hard, get ahead, become a success, and leave a mark.
   
   Those qualities have impelled Novak to write a very long memoir, including as many details as his editor would allow...and it is fascinating, hard-to-put-down stuff. Novak is now in his late seventies, with millions in the bank and a large, loving family...ergo, he lets it all hang out. Names are named, undiplomatic opinions given, and, most importantly, integrity maintained.
   
   That's right: integrity. Novak may come off as arrogant and self-serving to some, but the guy is as aware of his own faults as he is of the politicians' he has covered, and does not hesitate to critique his own conduct...and to admit mistakes he has made. And though a conservative, he does not spare anyone based on political considerations. (Just ask Bush 41.)
   
   (If it makes any difference, in private Novak is a personable, kind man...he was charming and friendly to a relative of mine who met him whilst working at a hotel he was staying at.)
   
   Some political memoirs are terrible, but this is not one of them. It is not perfect, but it almost never drags (I could do without Novak's recounting of his religious rebirth, but, then again, when I'm his age, I'll probably find God too), and the revelations, insights, and, uh, substantive gossip cascade from the pages. I came away edified, informed, and with a deeper respect for and understanding of one of the nation's most brilliant, professional and uncompromising journalists.
   
   (P.S. Joe Wilson is a lying douchebag.)



2. As a retired journalist I thought "The Prince of Darkness" was one of the best autobiographies I've ever read. This book should be required reading for journalism students. Novak is probably one of the best pure reporters in the last half century. If you're one of Novak's contemporaries you can relate to the politicians, communicators, and other prominent Americans and the pivotal events he discusses so succinctly. I especially enjoyed his personal reaction to Joseph Wilson, husband of Valerie Plame. I think that his integrity is the major reason his career was so successful. His opinions and his reporting come straight from the shoulders--direct and more often than not right on the mark.



3. An autobiograpy of Novak career as a journalist, this book is a tour de force of his personal recollection and opinion of an imposing array of the famous, near famous, would be famous US political figures of the past 50 years.
   
   I heartily recommend this book as nostalgia for readers of my generation and an educational primer for the younger.



4. I'll come clean and admit off the bat that I like Robert Novak. I don't dislike someone because of their political ideology if they can sublimate that to their profession. I like his combative style, his principles, his philosophical underpinnings which - one notices distinctly - set him against those who one would assume would be natural allies (Bush, Dole, Bush II, Eisenhower, various conservatives). Indeed, his traditional Republican values of personal liberty, sound currency, a foreign policy of non-intervention, a free-market (vs government-imposed or Socialist) approach to societal problems - these eventually set him squarely against the Washington elite regardless of party. This principled approach helped maintain his independence over the years instead of becoming a party hack mouthing the party line as so many journalists are wont to do tody.
   
   In the end, though, his is a story about journalism. He continually went after the big story. The book is framed around the so-called Plame affair and in this case, Novak's version was completely verified by all those concerned - the special prosecutor, witnesses and the Senate committee that found Wilson had gave untruthful testimony. One notes repeatedly how often Bob Novak reports on incidents that put himself in a bad light or shows that he made a mistake at the time - a rarity in either DC politics or modern journalism.
   
   His sources were legendary - Patrick Moynihan, Jack Kemp, lobbyists, secretaries, ambassadors, Karl Rove - the list goes on. These provided so many exposes and behind-the-scenes "what really happened" incidents that they are too numerous to attempt to enumerate. His Evans & Novak column, his CNN shows, his personal and private friendships and wars make for fascinating reading from a true Washington "insider." The personal touch - his conversion from a fuzzy Jewish background to Catholicism - gives us that human touch needed in tomes like these. My Grade: A



5. It took me a little while but I read each and every word of this 638-page Washington memoir by Robert Novak. While Novak clearly sees the world through his right-wing perspective, the dirty little secret is that he can usually rise above this point of view and be just as tough and analytical on conservative republicans as he can on liberal democrats and become a terrific and perceptive reporter. As proof, Novak cites his usually dead-on predictions through the Evans and Novak Political Report of election results for each two-year cycle.
   
   His book is amazingly candid in revealing many of his sources throughout his 50 years of reporting in Washington as well as frequent references to his personal assets and earnings throughout the years, which he uses to measure his success. Novak has and continues to suffer from an almost innumerable amount of illnesses (including several bouts of cancer) which he details throughout the book, but it all doesn't matter--The column or the (CNN) show must go on! Because he is so tough and serious about his work, he makes enemies amazingly easy and often converts former friends to enemies after some "misunderstanding" which he points out is never his fault.
   
   The book does offer some great insights into some of major events and figures of our times with a special emphasis on politicians' and other reporters' hypocrisy whether it's Dick Armey, Bill Kristol, Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter, Bob Dole, Wolf Blitzer--well, you get the idea.
   
   What I found amazing is that Novak--as a central figure in at least part of the CIA leak case--never references the name of Scooter Libby and he makes no acknowledgment that his column's reference to Valerie Plame had a contributing role in Libby's actions which led to Libby's conviction. This is an example, I think, of Novak's inability to often "connect the dots" which looks to be one of his weaknesses.
   
   Finally, Novak also shows himself to be a very sensitive individual and he seems to take special "joy" in using his latest and the most personal of his books to settle old grudges--both personal and political. It was somewhat disappointing (but revealing and entertaining) to learn that Novak just can't help himself throughout the book in attacking the policies of George McGovern. Gee, Bob--that was 36 years ago. Oh well.
   
   This is a solid read and will fill in many of the blanks in your knowledge of the last 50 years in Washington, D.C. I strongly recommend it especially for those who have an interest in journalism and media as well as politics.

5 comments about The Kitchen Readings: Untold Stories of Hunter S. Thompson.

1. This book is a great counterpart to the book "Gonzo" that Jann Wenner put out. The stories in this book are all based around Woody Creek. It is Hunter as a neighbor and friend. Great stuff



2. There is great photo of a half naked girl somewhere in the book by a great Aspne photographer named Sarah diamond. That's all I remember from the little paperback book. The cover photo is kind of weird, though. I guess that's the best they could find.



3. A good read, though relatively short and unambitious. I found the stories entertaining through I had heard most of them before. A much shorter, more concise edition of Hunter S. Thompson stories than some others that I have read (namely Ralph Steadman's HST Biography, "The Joke's Over", possibly the most dry and mundane book I've ever read. Ralph should stick to his day job, which he is quite proficient at...) Anyway, a good book, but not outstanding. I would recommend buying this only if you are a die-hard HST fan who needs everything ever written by him or about him to feel complete...like me.



4. The book tries to show the man behind the myth and by doing so exposes a talented man who comes off none too sympathetic. I suppose there are many that will read this and feel that it intensifies the greatness of their iconic hero. But for me, Hunter Thompson fell a few notches. He often comes off as crude and insensitive. I think the most amazing fact in the book is that he was still partying pretty hardy right until his suicide. I am 53 and I know that if I were to spend even one night of my life the way I spent every weekend during most of the 80's, my heart would explode. The book is filled with some intersting anecdotes. It is not particularly well written, but it is not badly written either. Hunter wrote one incredible book in his life and for that he basically got a get out of jail free card to self destruct and become his fictional self. Most of us in his generation have either quit, died, or went to prison. Sad to say, Hunter died. No one would have dared suggest rehab to him. That, for me at least, is the tragedy behind this book. Sorry to spoil the fun.



5. then this is a must read for you! For those of us that were never blessed (and cursed! :) to have ever met this great man and one of the truly greatest outspoken literary giants of our generation, this is as close as we will ever get to knowing the real man inside the "Gonzo" exterior. Written with love and great humor by Bob Braudis and Michael Cleverly, it is a warm tribute to their friend of many years and allows us inside the "inner circle" of the Owl Farm kitchen. I laughed and laughed, but mostly I cried for having not been able to buy the ticket and take the ride myself.

5 comments about Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival.

1. A well-written and exquisitely honest book. Engaging throughout.
   
   The very few negative responses to this book have been on a few consistent notes, which I'll rebut.
   
   "It's self-important." Well gee, it's a memoir. So it IS about him. Go figure.
   
   "I didn't like the choppy style." Fair enough. As a survivor of multiple traumas myself, I found that to be entirely consistent with an individual who has actually engaged, personally, in multiple tragedies.
   
   "He's self-serving, I didn't buy his compassion." The thing that brought my attention to Anderson Cooper was the completely different way he interacts with the people he interviews. He was the only reporter I'd ever seen who, when interviewing someone who'd just lost a family member, expressed remorse for the individual's loss.
   
   As a paramedic, I work with lots of people who truly don't care, and a few that do. I found his voice very authentic.



2. The most striking thing about this book is how jaded the author appears about his "stories". Surely that colors all reporting and transforms all horrors covered into soundbites for the news-tainment culture that prevails today. So the book gives the strong impression of merely scraping the surface.
   
   While the sometimes inappropriate morbid humor developed in such extreme situations is realistic (as I can testify having grown up in a war zone), it does convince me that the author does get touched by what he has reported on. Shame that this does not come through in his personal memoirs.
   
   Closing the book, my parting thoughts are discomfort at the role today's news media plays, hope that the writing of the book has proven cathartic for the author in dealing with his own personal loss, disappointment at just skimming the surface of the author's experiences and feelings on being confronted with and reporting on some of humanity's ugliest moments in the past few years.



3. Anderson Cooper writes a great book and hearing him read it on audio makes it all the better. I think everyone should get a copy.Attacks on the Press in 2006: A Worldwide Survey by the Committee to Protect Journalists (Attacks on the Press)Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and SurvivalAnderson Cooper: Profile of a TV Journalist (Career Profiles)Planet in Peril (2 DVD set)



4. I don't remember when the name or the face of Anderson Cooper first entered my consciousness, but over the past few years he has grown to be one of the most recognized and respected journalists on TV--a guy whose demeanor and candor inspire trust and belief. In this autobiography, Cooper reveals the inner pain and doubt that both torment him and drive him to become better at his craft. His own painful experiences make him empathetic to the pain of others, perhaps best personified in his clearly emotional questioning of Senator Mary Landrieu over the mishandling of Katrina (transcribed in the book, watchable on YouTube). Did he cross a line in that interview? Probably. But for an audience tired of politicians' soundbites passing as real news and numb to talking heads who mistake emotional vacancy for stoicism, or conversely, show emotion in a thinly-veiled attempt to push their own agenda, Cooper's search for accountability when people are suffering in silence is quite refreshing. Finally, a journalist who seems to be on "our side": the side of the Objective Truth. Someone we can root for.
   
   At the same time, his inner demons, his search for answers in a world where very little is explainable by logic, and a nagging self-doubt that he has become what he loathes most--an apathetic, cynical vulture feeding off the pain of others--makes for an interesting portrait of a man searching for a reason for optimism while perched on the brink of despair and madness. His accounts are compelling, addictive, numbing, and inspiring ... this book is hard to put down, and by the end of it the reader gains a greater appreciation for a world full of both beauty and brutality, and the men and women who choose to make a living out of uncovering both the light and the shadows for the consumption and education of the general public.



5. I loved this book. He is a wonderful journalist. I recommend this book to anyone that loves world news and travel all in one.

5 comments about Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the Final Days of the American Century.

1. By far simply one of his best collections. It seems the good doctor saw what was on the horizon and unforunately he was right. The world is a lesser place without him and we should all cherish every word. His insight was frightening an accurate. BUY THIS BOOK!



2. It's true, there are lots of parts of this book that can be found in other books, but this is still the best HST book I've read. It's sort of like a greatest hits. The new parts however, are the best part of this book.



3. This book (2003) and "Hey Rube" (2004) appear to be the last of HST's books. While "Hey Rube" contains lengthy discussions of gambling on professional football and basketball (including "March Madness"), this book is more far-ranging, containing everything from Thompson's reminiscences of his youth to his (highly negative) thoughts on George W. Bush. There's even a chapter from "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 1972," one of the finest political books ever written.
   
   The quality of the writing on the recent pieces is not quite up to that of his best from the past, but is still infinitely better than the mindless slop produced by other contemporary "writers." The man was an artist.
   
   As always, one of the disturbing things about Thompson is his ability to assess politics correctly in real time. Reading back, you think "Why didn't people take this man seriously at the time?"
   
   "Indeed," as Doc would say.



4. Mr Thompsons autobiography is somewhat lacking compared to his other works. It seems, that he in his later years didn't have that much new to say, and this volume shows it very clearly. It deals with the legend of HST, not the man Hunter Stockton Thompson, and only plays the same tune that we've been hearing since F&L in Las Vegas, only in a strongly diluded form.
   
   A great drawback is that he recycles a lot of stuff from his earlier work, which if you're a fan/reader of his you can't help but feel a bit cheated about. The book isn't that long as it is, but when half the material already has been printed before, and therefore probably, for fans at least, is on your shelf already, it gives the feeling of the good Mr Thompson not really making an effort writing this volume.
   
   It's not all bad though. There are highlights in the book. His description of his childhood is enjoyable and very biographical. The last chapter is also very enjoyable, although not that good as biographical material, it does for a good reading.
   
   It starts out legitimate enough, but quickly turns to his rambling and at times incoherent style of writing. Worth reading if you're a completist. I would recommend the compilations of his letters "The Proud Highway" and "F&L in America" as biography instead. They are much better.



5. Make no mistake the late, lamented Hunter Thompson was always something of a muse for me going way back to the early 1970's when I first read his seminal work on outlaw bikers, The Hell's Angels. Since then I have devoured, and re-devoured virtually everything that he has written. I have reviewed many of those efforts elsewhere in this space. As I noted recently in reviewing his 2004 work Hey, Rube, a screed on the misadventures of a gambling freak (himself), not all his efforts have been equally compelling. That was the case in my panning of Hey, Rube but here we are back on much more solid `gonzo' style from the old days. Maybe it is because this work is in the form of a memoir and thus intentionally places the good Doc's actions in the center of the writing that puts this effort in the mold of his better compilations like the Great Shark Hunt and Songs of the Doomed.
   
   Thompson uses his patented stream of consciousness trope to create amusing stories starting from the then present (early 2000's) and his then current doings and splices them together, in some segments randomly, to events as far back as his childhood in Louisville, Kentucky. Along the way we find him at age nine in trouble with the FBI, and none the worst for the confrontation. Later, it is down and dirty in Rio with the crazies. Throughout, we find him incessantly testing his beloved guns and various `hot' motorcycles at various and sundry appropriate and inappropriate times.
   
   Additionally, we have some compelling and insightful stories as this radical journalist tours the news breaking global spots, taking trips to places like Vietnam just before the fall, Cuba, Grenada just after the invasion and elsewhere wherever the journalistic action might be and a story, in the Thompson style, might develop. Needless to say there is plenty of ink about sex, drugs and rock and rock including his deeply affecting and traumatic tangle with the law in Aspen the early 1990's. That, my friends, was a close call.
   
   And throughout, as usual, there are pithy political comments about the various idiots-in-chiefs, their henchman and hangers-on that he spent his life hammering. Maybe not hammering your way, definitely not my way, but his way. His fateful run for Sheriff of Aspen on the Freak Power ticket in 1970 probably accurately set the tone as a lifelong description of his politics. For those who have read other works by Thompson some of the signature language may be old hat as he meanders along in this volume. For others it is a chance to learn the lingo. Damn, especially this election year, I miss him. Read on.

5 comments about If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name: News from Small-Town Alaska.

1. Heather Lende writes the social column and obituaries for the small town paper in Haines, Alaska. You get to feel you know all of the residents there through her eyes and the columns she tells about that she has written. A book well worth reading. It will show you the joys and sorrows of a small town in Alaska and help you appreciate that small town where you may have grown up any where else.



2. I have been wanting to move to Alaska for about 15 years but my family won't come with me, so after the kids are through college and I have put in 20 years on my job, (I have 7 years to go) Haines, AK, here I come. During the past 15 years I have been reading about different towns in Alaska and there is always something that turns me off. Not one thing about Lende's descriptions about life in Haines has turned me off. I am sure this is the place for me. I am going to take a road trip in the summer of 2008 to Alaska and will definately spend time in Haines. I can't wait. One thing for sure, I won't be getting on any planes there until I am ready to go meet my maker.



3. Though I enjoyed reading about Haines and parts of this author's life, the preoccupation with death throughout this book was overwhelming. Death of relatives, strangers, friends, animals. Accidental death. Death by falling, by weather, by cancer, by boats sinking, by airplanes crashing. Fear of death. Near death. Funerals. Researching and writing obituaries. Anniversaries of loved ones dying. Even when it seems a chapter is going to be about a different subject, within a few pages it seems like death always sneaks in there.
   
   I'd like to see another book by this author, this time devoted to life and living, instead of death and dying.



4. Heather Lende is a freelance writer, commentator for National Public Radio, and obituary writer for the Chilkat Valley News in Haines, Alaska. "If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name" is a portrait of life in Haines--a small isolated Southeast Alaska town dominated by awe-inspiring wildlife, majestic mountains, and 1,800 people (give or take) who manage to tenaciously hold onto their rugged individuality yet know when to set their individuality aside for the sake of greater goods (e.g. families in need of assistance, strong relationships with neighbors).
   
   Lende writes from a first person perspective and thus Haines life is told from her idiosyncratic point of view. Many anecdotes revolve around Lende's vocations of stay-at-home-mother, school board member, member of the local Episcopal church, environmentally-conscious citizen, and (especially) obituary writer. As she presents Haines life from these angles, she often juxtaposes the complex emotions surrounding Haines. She presents examples of the breathtaking beauty of her town, but then tells the story of how their son almost died of appendicitis as they raced through a blizzard to a Canadian hospital. She writes about her divisive attempt to institute a mandatory gay sensitivity workshop at the local high school, but then writes about the unity she experienced with one of her most bitter rivals as they cooked a benefit meal together to help defray the medical bills of another town resident. She effectively shows that life in Haines, Alaska, is as complex as life anywhere.
   
   A major theme running through "If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name" is death--or to be more accurate, the cycle of life. This should not be surprising since one of Lende's vocations is that of obituary writer (and every Haines death gets a full treatment). Writing about "good deaths" for people who lived life fully to a ripe, old age is easy; writing about a twenty-year-old who drowns when his fishing boat sank isn't nearly as easy; why? Each death is totally unique; each death fits the pattern of life-and-death that had been established since the world began; how is this reconciled? And then, how do the related issues of birth, ageing, growing, loving, and how one spends his life come into play? Lende manages to be poetically reflective even while she avoids the temptation of being simplistic about death. She allows it to be mysterious, fearsome, natural, and expectedly complex. Even still, her last chapter, "I Am Not Resigned" surprisingly ties up a lot of running themes and brings a feeling of completion without presenting "solutions."
   
   In my reviews, I try to present both positive and negative aspects of any book. For this book, Lende's memoirs, it is difficult to condemn her life experience. I never get the sense that Lende is being less than totally truthful (even when she portrays herself in a bad light). This reader appreciates her honesty, even to the point of admitting that those on different sides of various "issues" have valid points. Being one on the other side of these various issues, I do have trouble identifying with Lende at times. Crying, she comforts herself by imagining a future in which a homosexual from Haines becomes President of the United States; when writing an obituary of a Tlingit, she is overcome by "white guilt" because of what all the "people who look like her" have done to American Indians; she indulges in religious pluralism as she is a leader of her Episcopal church, seems to believe Tlingit creation stories, writes laudably about a wedding in which the "eternal spirits of the universe" are invoked, writes equally highly about a totally secular wedding, and experiences the joy of praying the Rosary. With all of these, this reader and Lende are so far apart, that I simply can't put myself in her shoes and say, "I understand what you're feeling, even if I disagree."
   
   However, as previously mentioned, this is Lende's life experience and it is well told. I was fascinated as she mused on life during the winter months (where the sun doesn't rise until 9:30 and sets by 3:00!) and summer months (where the sun stays out well past midnight!). Her relating tales on the process of smoking fish, picking wild berries, raising chickens, cooking meals for thirty from scratch, and the like are fascinating. She succeeds in getting this reader to envision what living in Haines would be like...and in fact envy the people of Haines (until I remember the lack of hospitals and winter sun). In all, this book is highly recommended as it provides a great balance of enjoyment and forces to the reader to contemplate things common to us all--life, death, family, vocation, and what's really important.



5. I lived for several years in Alaska and my wife thought I would enjoy this book, which she got through Paperback Swap. I read the book during a recent illness and only finished it because I felt I had to, not because there was any epiphany to be gained in the last few pages. I realized this early-on, but kept reading only to learn more of the well-described and interesting people that are part of Lende's social circle. Alaska seems to bring out the best some of its citizens- and I have known some really funky and admirable Alaskans. A story about them or folks like them would have been a better goal for Lende. She has the talent to pull-it-off and she certainly has the presence of mind to jot-down relevant comments made by others. Her recollection of quotes and comments borders on the spooky. I wonder if her friends will ever be so frank again. Her ability to use quotes to capture a "life" is exceptional.
   
   This book could have been edited better. A good editor would have guided Lende in a more cohesive arrangement of her content to support any one of the supposed goals of the book: a narrative about death as it shapes how we view life, a first-hand account of life in small-town Alaska, a collection of profiles of Alaskans, how marriage is shaped by life's experiences and challenges, the development of the conflict between her secular (permissive) view of social freedom and the role of prayer and religion in her life, how liberal or conservative views shape a culture or a small community in the face of modern challenges, or a narrative that explores gritty details of life from the feminine (or maybe liberal) perspective. Any of these goals would have been admirable, but not all at once. A good editor would have made her choose, and fully develop it. What she created was a collection of disjointed vignettes, with a heavy overlay of first person. It is readable and fun, but not a very important literary achievement.
   
   Her technique of using the Duly Notes column as a launching pad for each chapter was interesting, but not very helpful to the reader, since those details were not further developed by the examples in the following chapter. Further, the digressions placed in the middle of her profile-obituaries seemed like more of a distraction rather than a technique to introduce or bolster some larger meaning. Heather Lende's story about Haines is really a first-person memoir. All the vignettes, obituaries, and profiles seem to provide some direct reflection on Lende or her family, or seem to be used to validate her own social or political viewpoints. So it is not as much about Haines as it is about Lende's perception of how Haines reflects on her life. A true narrative about Alaskan life would have less first person pronouns in it. Her view of Haines is one from privilege; though it is endearing to read her self-critical commentary during her visit to the trailer of a native (in her Patagonia jacket) it falls short for the very effort she uses to convince us that she is trying to understand. Sensitivity towards modesty would have prevented her from dropping "elite" details of her life that set her apart from the mainstream. Those very details betray her motive.
   
   As other reviewers have mentioned, her version of Haines, and of small town life in general, is one of a well-healed community leader in one of the best places to live if your are a millionaire. But not everybody there will be a millionaire - we can expect a full-on pluralistic society. I imagine few folks in Haines have the resources to be flying in and out of Alaska as often as she does - even if you stretch all those trips over 15 years. Her story might make me want to visit Haines again, but what would I find? A town of "haves" and "have nots" So this book is a "teaser" in many ways. It trades the neutral excellence of a John McPhee with first person impressions of a narrator that gives us just enough of her opinion and emotion to betray her own credibility. You want a piece of Heather's Haines, but you'll never get it because you can't afford it.
   
   I recommend others read this book, but not because it will give them some Alaskan Lake Wobegon fix. Read this book to get a voyeur's glimpse of what small towns look like from an ivory tower viewpoint. Just don't be teased into believing it is possible to have it yourself.
   
   M.A.'s husband, Chris

5 comments about Mississippi Sissy.

1. Arleeene! So damned funny.
   
   I saw this book on a business trip at the airport in Dallas. After two days, the title wore on me and I sought out a bookstore and bought it. Poignant comes to mind. Reverent. Unabashedly true and faithful. As a straight Southern Male, sometimes reading this book was kind of embarrassing, but this was Kevin Sessum's life. He actually lived it, so the least I could do was read it. And it wasn't at all hard to read. There were moments where, on the plane coming home, I laughed out loud. There were other moments where tears were close to the surface. I felt for this little kid sissy and all he had to go through. This book reminded me of Crazy in Alabama in places...which is a good thing.
   
   There are some slow points in the book, but I forgive the author his need to talk about some things. For as sure as the biy was a Sissy, the author was preparing us for some additional whacked out scene in which his childhood self was juxtaposed against the racist and stoic South of the 1960s.



2. Kevin Sessums and I grew up in the same South at almost the same time. His memoir of those times touched me profoundly. It brought those strange transitory times back to my memory like Proust's Madeleines. I laughed and cried. I loved it. Can't wait for his next book!



3. Due to some good reviews and awards, I decided to give this one a read and to be honest I just couldn't finish it. I'm not sure what exactly to pinpoint about it that bothered me--maybe it was the language, the turn of phrase, the overabundance of words you will need a dictionary to look up, or just the flow of the stories, something just kept me from really connecting with Mr. Sessums and his life story. Being from my own not so delightful Southern upbringing I thought at first I could relate to his bio but alas I couldn't. Sadly, I can not personally recommend this, but reading biographies really is a personal taste thing anyway. If you are thinking of buying this I would at least suggest you pick it up in the store and read 2 or 3 of the chapters first to see if it's for you or not.



4. This is a truly remarkable piece of literature. Kevin Sessums writes with the blatantly refreshing honesty that is so true to his southern roots. He delves deeply inside his feelings; enabling the reader to feel as if he is present. The book is quite entertaining but it goes beyond sheer entertainment. There are lessons to be learned, yet it's not at all preachy. The insights into Eudora Welty also make you appreciate her all the more.
   
   I'm so glad to have picked this up. Bravo Mr. Sessums!!



5. In reading Mississippi Sissy, on my recent annual vacation to Seaside, FL; I was very moved by Kevin's descriptions of Mississippi, it's pride and it's prejudices, it's famous people and not so famous ones.
   I, too, am from Mississippi, and in the same age bracket. I worked at the Clarion-Ledger / Jackson Daily News in the early 70's, 80's, into the 90's; so I know of some of the brilliant characters he wrote about.
   Quite a book you wrote, Kevin. Great work and very much enjoyed by me. I will pass it along to others, insist they buy it and read it as I am sure my friends and some family members will enjoy it as much as I did. It captured the hot, sticky, small thinking South as it was and is.
   S. K. Pepper

5 comments about Fargo Rock City : A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Dakota.

1. For the rest of my days, when someone browses my CD collection and asks how on earth I ended up with a huge number of hair metal albums from the 80s, I'm passing this book on. Chuck has really nailed for me what it was like to grow up in a a blue collar area during that time period and why so many of us kids gravitated towards the fun time rock.
   
   Usually, I'm slightly ashamed of my hair metal roots. It doesn't resemble my taste in music now, and on top of that, it's down right misogynistic. But this book sure made me nostalgic. That's a credit to Chuck's gifts as a writer.
   
   Now, why didn't I give 5 stars to this book? I actually struggled a long time about giving this 3 or 4 stars. This is really more of a 3.5 star book. I gave the round up to Chuck because this book did make me feel good about my childhood as I read it. So here is what's wrong with this book.
   
   First, my eyes glazed over several times as Chuck tends to get pedantic. What is metal? Is it stupid? Is it sexist? Is it bad if it is? He talks himself around in circles and as a reader, I quickly got bored. I realize that Chuck is a music critic, so he feels the need to explain exactly WHY he likes something, but go and ask me (just a year or two younger than Chuck) and any of our other peers who grew up in that time, and we'd just say that the song made us feel good. We didn't need to know if it was tounge in cheek, anti-satanic, or whatever message Chuck seems intent on digging up for each example. It's a lot like explaining why steak tastes good - it just does, and very few people have the words (or the passion) to delve into it. But it doesn't mean that we don't grow up enjoying the same things. For this reason, I pray that I never meet Chuck in a bar. He seems like a chatty drunk, and it won't be good enough to say that the song on the jukebox is merely "OK".
   
   Some of Chuck's analysis just borders on pontification. He's very impressed with himself. I'm sorry, Chuck, but no matter how many big words you use, you will never be able to convince me that breaking down some Guns 'n' Roses videos constitutes as an intellectual activity.
   
   And finally, what was really wrong with this book, was Chuck himself. You get the impression that Chuck honestly believes that he is the smartest person in the room. Rather than discussing or story telling, he comes across as teaching and talking down to you. Those who don't agree with him are instantly branded as an "idiot" and he's done with that person and his/her opinion. You'd think that someone who is writing a book celebrating a genre of music as maligned as hair metal would be a little bit more open minded to varying opinions.
   
   In summary, this book is great if you were born sometime before 1977 and grew up in a more rural, blue collar setting. Even though you may not have been crazy about Motley Crue, you knew someone else who was, and it's a great trip down memory lane.



2. Fargo Rock City by Chuck Klosterman ****
   
   
   Fargo Rock City in a nutshell is the history of Heavy Metal music with a heavy infasis on 'Glam Metal' or Hair Metal as the rest of the world refers to it. This Chronicles the genres growth from early Black Sabbath all the way up through the late 1990's when bands like Korn, Limb Biscuit, and Powerman 5000 destroyed the genre. All the while we are on the journey with the author Chuck Klosterman as he grows up in small town rural Fargo, North Dakota and how Metal, especially 'glam metal' as he refers to it effected him and the person he is today.
   
   While this book is really, really informative and accurate, it is also very funny, at times I found myself laughing out loud at the humor in his writing and at the hypocrisy of metal in society. It was a very entertaining read which is not some that is easy to do.
   
   The only reason I cannot give Fargo Rock City a five star rating is that in a few spots the book does drag, mostly toward the middle of the second part of the book. This is not through the whole book and only occurs in a small part, and aside from that it was a great read.
   
   For metal fans, especially those who are from small towns (i.e. Fargo, North Dakota) this is will be an entertaining read, but I also feel fans of Klostermans style will enjoy Fargo Rock City as well.



3. I bought this on the recommendation of Martin Popoff, and was terribly disappointed. If you want to read an insightful, entertaining, and fair review of heavy metal, this is most definitely NOT your book. Klosterman's "appreciation" of the form starts and ends with glam. He spends most of the book in postmodern smirky hipster mode, which means he continually trashes the music from a musical point of view, and chooses to battle for its "validity" in the more easily defended realm of "what it meant to me as a kid." As cultural studies, this is crap, and as a book about heavy metal it is an utter waste of time. He elevates glam (Poison, GNR, Cinderella, etc) and simultaneously slags Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Metallica and the host of other metal bands which were the meat and potatoes of any real metalhead of the time. He has no appreciation for what most metal fans would actually grace with the term "heavy metal". As you will quickly be able to tell, this is masterfully well done, in that he affirms what most of the snobs have been saying all along about metal--all the 5 star reviews are from people who are...gasp...not metal fans--whilst and at the same time pretending to be a true fan. Hipster dreck at its worst. You are better off reading Ian Christe's "Sound of the Beast", or even Walser or Weinstein's books. Better yet, check out Sam Dunn's documentary "Metal-A Headbanger's Journey." Dunn and Christe are real fans of the music, and they don't spend all their time perpetuating all the stereotypes of the form.



4. If you grew up enjoying hard rock and/or heavy metal of the 80's and early 90's, or are just a fan of that music, then you simply must read this book. It will bring back fond memories of your developing musical tastes and make you laugh out loud.



5. Personally, Chuck is my top 3 favorite writer. I think he hit me hard with his styles and topics in all of his books. So if you're like me:
   
   - Love Rock and/or Heavy Metal music*****this is very important for this book
   - Enjoy reading about popular culture topics
   - Love sarcastic and funny books
   - is in the age range of 18-30 (I'm 24)
   - Like to explore all kinds od writings and books
   - is not one who tend to OVERTHINK AND OVERCRITISIZE books and writing styles
   - is open minded
   
   Then, this is probably your kind of writer too. Good luck and enjoy!

5 comments about The Ride of Our Lives.

1. I laughed till I cried tears!! Very vivid in his writing, you feel like you were a fly on the wall and living the dream with them! WONDERFUL READ!
   It was nice to read a book like this in the world today!



2. I enjoyed the book so much. Mike Leonard has written an amazing book about a trip with his parents and how much he learns about them. The book makes you feel like you are riding along with them in the RV experiencing every mile of the trip. I laughed out loud and even cried like a baby in spots. I am now watching the series on the PBS channel on Thursday nights. If anyone can tell me how to get in touch with Mike Leonard (ie) email. Please let me know by emailing me at rangersfan5@optonline.net. I would love to let him know how great his book was.



3. This was a wonderful real life account of a family's journey
   through life's many turns.A story all family's can relate too!
   Bought young and old will enjoy it. I liked it very much.
   
   Brian Klune, Colchester,CT.



4. A good quick read. The book is funny,sad,and so much like most of our lives. The family is a say it like it is. We are just as we come take us or leave us. I would take them, read the book it was very enjoyable.



5. The PBS series based on this memoir is entertaining, but the book is so much more. It's poignant, it's deeper, and it's much, much funnier -- laugh out loud finny. Marge and Jack emerge in the book as three-dimensional people, not just the target of jokes that the TV version focuses on. You'll also learn heart-rending details of their childhoods, the pervasive sadness that both have coped with, and you'll understand why Mike Leonard thinks he leads a charmed life.