No comments about Dateline Soweto: Travels with Black South African Reporters.

5 comments about Hunter: The Strange and Savage Life of Hunter S. Thompson.

1. I purchased this book keep my HST collection as complete as possible. I've owned it for 3 years and have never finished reading it. I gave it 2 stars out of generosity. Get Paul Perry's book if you can, it's a 6 star book with 5 being the best.



2. My goodness what is this world coming too. This book simply is the greatest. After watching Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, I simply had to devour all information I could find on this amazing man, Hunter S. Thompson.

   I am so pleased to have found this informative work of art on such a legendary American figure.

   Thank you E. Jean! Please never stop authoring books, you are wonderful.

   I just hope this book is re-released so others can enjoy it as much as I have.




3. If you have the misfortune of reading this book do yourself a favor and skip the fictional chapters, they are total rubbish. If E Jean Carroll is "the female answer to Hunter Thompson" than I'm the Queen of England. Her awful attempt at copying Thompsons style comes across as sophmoric and trite. I too recomend Paul Perrys book over this one.



4. I have to take issue with the other reviewer who called Carroll's attempt at a bio on the un-dooable 'trite'... bollocks.
   Yes she tries to emulate her mentor, no it's not as good as Hunter himself. But, the blow by blow accounts arent what one would call lies, as that's what Hunter does best, politics aside. This is a fantastic little book of insights, many of the stories already exist in one form or another, and it's nice to have them in one little compendium. The real stories of his adventures far outweigh the stories told about him, anyway.



5. If you really feel the need to buy this, do so. But send it to me with a pair of scissors before you read it. I will send back an abridged edition, far superior to the original. This way you can avoid the disappointment I felt....... I will even return the scissors.

5 comments about Stet: An Editor's Life.

1. Writing at a very young 83, Diana Athill says of her memoir, Stet, "Why am I going to write it? Not because I want to provide a history of British publishing in the second half of the twentieth century, but because I shall not be alive for much longer, and when I am gone all the experiences stored in my head will be gone too - they will be deleted with one swipe of the great eraser, and something in me squeaks 'Oh no - let at least some of it be rescued!' It seems to be an instinctive twitch rather than a rational intention, but no less compelling for that. By a long-established printer's convention, a copy editor wanting to rescue a deletion puts a row of dots under it and writes 'Stet' (let it stand) in the margin. This book is an attempt to 'Stet' some part of my experience in its original form...."

   And if it hadn't been for that "instinct," some of the best published works of our time might never have seen the light of day. Athill spent 50 years in publishing, most of them at London's Andre Deutsch Limited, working with the likes of Jean Rhys, Norman Mailer, George Orwell, V.S. Naipaul, Jack Kerouac and Peggy Guggenheim.

   She has some great stories; among them, the plight Orwell faced in seeking a publisher for Animal Farm, and Mailer in the same situation due to the excessive use of profanity in his manuscript of The Naked and the Dead.

   And she's funny, too. Of a co-worker, she explains, "Nick edited our nonfiction - not all of it, and not fast. He was such a stickler for correctness that he often had to be mopped-up after, when his treatment of someone's prose had been over-pedantic, or when his shock at a split infinitive had diverted his attention from some error of fact."

   Athill has had a long affiliation with books and reading, starting with a grandmother who "read aloud so beautifully that we never tired of listening to her," in homes with walls lined with books; while at Christmas and birthdays, "80 percent of the presents we got were books."

   She invites us along as she reflects on, and romanticizes every aspect of her life, including personal relationships: "Quite early in my career the image of a glass-bottomed boat came to me as an apt one for sex; a love-making relationship with a man offered chances to peer at what went on under his surface." Careerwise, she had to endure and learn how to deal with an overly critical boss - the same one who was so flustered upon meeting the Queen Mother that he curtsied instead of bowing - while her work often presented a daunting task.

   Of one such occasion, she states, "The latter book was by a man who could not write. He had clumsily and laboriously put a great many words on paper because he happened to be obsessed by his subject. No one but a hungry young publisher building a list would have waded through his typescript, but having done so I realized that he knew everything it was possible to know about a significant and extraordinary event, and that his book would be a thoroughly respectable addition to our list if only it could be made readable." Of the editing process on this project, she says, "It was like removing layers of crumpled brown paper from an awkwardly shaped parcel, and revealing the attractive present which it contained...."

   Athill has a wonderful way with words. Describing an early employer, she relates, "I remember Allan Wingate's first premises rather than its first books simply because the first books were so feeble that I blush for them."

   Speaking of her craft - of editing books about everything from architecture to Tahiti - Athill says, "it can teach a lot about a subject unfamiliar to you, which you might not otherwise have approached," and "One was always moving from one kind of world into another, and I loved that."

   And there were other rewards. Author Gitta Sereny wrote, "Diana Athill edited Into That Darkness. She has lent it - and me - her warmth, her intelligence, her literary fluency, and a quality of involvement I had little right to expect. I am grateful that she has become my friend."

   But at the same time, not all of those she edited were always grateful. When it came to the gentleman mentioned earlier - the one who "could not write", and whose manuscript Athill had entirely reworked - upon publication of his book The Times Literary Supplement published a glowing review saying, among other things, that the book was "beautifully written." Athill: "The author promptly sent me a clipping of this review, pinned to a short note. 'How nice of him,' I thought, 'he's going to say thank you!' What he said in fact was: 'You will observe the comment about the writing which confirms what I have thought all along, that none of that fuss about it was necessary.'"

   Diana Athill's book is a gem, as is she.




2. Reading Stet is like taking a seminar in the art and craft of editing and then being invited to tea with the professor afterward. While reading it, I remembered that the relationships most responsible for shaping my professional life were those I enjoyed with professors who made themselves available outside of the classroom or office. I was particularly lucky over the course of college and graduate school to enjoy the company of three wise, interesting, experienced scholars who had spent what amounted to a whole lifetime in the "real world" before beginning their academic careers. That Athill's finely crafted memoir reminded me of my debt to Dr. A-, Mr. R-, and Mrs. S- is the highest recommendation I can give.

   Consider this gem:

   "[A]n editor must never expect thanks (sometimes they come, but them must always be seen as a bonus). We must always remember that we are only midwives - if we want praise for progeny we must give birth to our own."

   Or this (she is writing about the shrinking population of critical readers):

   "Of course a lot of them still read; but progressively a smaller lot, and fewer and fewer can be bothered to dig into a book that offers any resistance. Although these people may seem stupid to us, they are no stupider than we are: they just enjoy different things."

   Whether you edit church bulletin or your city's daily, whether you answer phones at a small press in the hopes of moving up or you cull gems from the slush pile, don't miss Athill's attempt to prevent her experience from being erased with her passing.




3. A fascinating look into old-world publishing and life in Britain in the second half of the twentieth century. I really enjoyed all of the wonderful characters and details about the editorial process. Anthill, herself, is an engaging and enjoyable character!



4. Anyone who has ever worked in newspapers or publishing will be familiar with `stet', an age-old editor's term for `let it stand', meaning disregard any and all changes.

   This is an apt title for a memoir from one of London's best known and highly regarded editors, Dianna Athill, who spent 50 years massaging the words and assisting in the careers of many literary powerhouses, including V.S. Naipaul, Jean Rhys and Mordecai Richler as well as America's Norman Mailer, John Updike and John Kenneth Galbraith.

   These feats are worth trumpeting but Athill, now in her 80s, chronicles her working life in an alluring, understated fashion: "All this book is, is the story of an old ex-editor who imagines that she will feel a little less dead if a few people read it."

   `Stet: an editor's life' does a lot more than that. It gives writers and readers a fresh insight into the challenges of publishing as well as the trade's peaks and troughs throughout the latter half of the 20th century, before the conglomerates dominated.

   Athill founded with Andre Deutsch a publishing house in the early 1950s which bore his name. Despite its small size and meagre means, the house and Athill's reputation gained a great deal of attention in England, not only for the calibre of writers they attracted, but their publishing approach. One of the most controversial incidents occurred early on when the publishing house was presented with an injunction against publishing Norman Mailer's first book, `The Naked and the Dead' because of its profane language.

   Athill covers this and many other anecdotes about writers and the writing life in a rich, honest manner.

   `Stet' will interest writers as well as avid readers. It gives them a new look at the old days of publishing, a time when dollars didn't rule over good literature.

   -- Michael Meanwell, author of the critically-acclaimed 'The Enterprising Writer' and 'Writers on Writing'. For more book reviews and prescriptive articles for writers, visit www.enterprisingwriter.com




5. Diana Athill is a superb editor and it shows in the quality of her own writing. She is straightforward, and writes about her experiences in the publishing trade over fifty years without frills or purple passages. For those interested in the world of writers, their books and how they got to market, her thoughts distilled from years of experience opinions leap off the page. As a bonus, she lists a small number of out-of-print books that are favourites of hers and that she thinks her readers might like to read. "Stet" is a glimpse of a largely vanished literary London. I liked it.

5 comments about The Other Side of Eden: Life With John Steinbeck.

1. I loved this book. It brought up so many raw emotions for me, that I was sometimes haunted for days after reading a few chapters. For anyone whose life has been touched by the disease of alcoholism, it is a source of great insight, grounded in honesty and the willingness to courageously tear back the curtain to show the dark side of a famous family.

   The Steinbecks have been accused of writing "fantasies" about the great man by critics who claim to know more than family members. Incidents such as Steinbeck Sr. pushing his wife down the stairs in order to abort their child, or allowing John Jr. to fall on his face when told to jump into his father's arms are discredited as lies by people who have only studied the sanitized and authorized biographies and collections of letters.

   I met recently met Nancy Steinbeck at a booksigning. I went because I wanted to talk to her about the way alcoholism has affected my family. She confirmed that although she had to divorce her husband because of his drinking and her fear of being held legally responsible for his accidents or debts, they legally established a commonlaw marriage and she continues to receive Steinbeck's royalty payments which she inherited from her husband. I found the book to be a loving tribute to a difficult but enormously creative and fascinating husband who was plagued by serious addictions.

   Hazelden Foundation, the foremost treatment center in the country, has endorsed The Other Side of Eden as the story of a journey of victory over the disease of alcoholism and codependency. Anyone who is familiar with alcoholism knows that the way John Jr. died, with three years of sobriety, is a triumph and a cause for celebration.

   This book is a Rorschach test for the reader. If you are committed to the sanitized version of Steinbeck that appears in the authorized biographies, if you are disturbed by any form of icoloclasm (witness Joyce Maynard's crucifiction for writing about Salinger) then this book will, indeed, upset your fantasy world and rattle your cage. If you are ready to take a ride of transformation and raw honesty, read the book. It is, as Andrew Harvey claims in his powerful introduction, one of the most unique biographies of the century.

   I admire both John Jr. and Nancy Steinbeck for having the courage and commitment to tell their story for the sake of history and in service to others whose lives have been devastated by substance abuse. And, judging from the cover blurb by a Steinbeck scholar, I daresay most academics are appreciative that this story will be part of Steinbeck Sr's archives. There is a saying in the 12 step program: You Are As Sick as Your Secrets. The Steinbecks broke the silence of keeping family secrets, and that's a huge accomplishment. Let the groupie scholars who make a living on propagating the Myth of the Great Writer worry about whether their academic myopia will result in their own lack of credibility. Anyone who earns money glorifying the exaulted side of a writer while at the same time denying their shadow, is a fool. And who would have encouraged the Steinbecks more than the John Steinbeck Sr. himself to show a character, warts and all? Isn't that what Steinbeck is admired and loved for? His understanding of the human condition? How did he achieve that depth? If you want to find out, read the book.




2. This biography of life with John Steinbeck is written by his son, who grew up in a privileged world of the intellectual elite, but one laden with abuse and estrangement. His memoir ended with his life and here is reconstructed by his wife of twelve years who adds her own insights to full out the life of John Steinbeck. Haunting and revealing.



3. I checked this out of the library during one of my research 'attacks'. I was actually researching the life of Ed Ricketts and got dragged back into a Cannery Row-John Steinbeck 'binge'. I thought it would be interesting to read about John Steinbeck through the eyes of a son. However, the is very very little in this book about John Steinbeck and way too much about a weak-minded son. Boring. If you are interested in reading about someone who spends his life trying to find meaning in life via others (ie. cult life) and who cannot find strength within himself....who is too weak to deal with life without chemicals....this may be interesting to you. But there wasn't anything insightful here for me. Be warned....



4. I'm reading this book in conjuction with Oprah's book club choice, East of Eden. I just had to respond to the person below who called the book boring, because I cannot put it down! People who drink alcholically are not weak minded, as the poster states. If self control could stop an addict, there would be no need for treatment centers and 12 Step programs. I found the story of recovery which weaves its way through John and Nancy Steinbeck's marriage to be tremendously inspiring and uplifting.
   And I'm glad there's more to the book than an expose of Steinbeck's shadow side. This is an epic page turner which runs the gamut from the Steinbecks involvement with Beatniks, Hippies, Tibetan Buddhism, Viet Nam Vets, Anti-war protests,
   Recovery, New Age gurus; it's truly a chronical for any baby boomer to find something that resonates in their own mythology.
   The book has also helped readers on the Oprah Book Club board understand the psychological dynamics amongst the characters of East of Eden, as played out in the real lives of Steinbeck's sons. I love this book.



5. This is a great book about Steinbeck IV. I found his account of his father's visit to Vietnam fascinating - truly moving account of father and son while the VC are [perhaps] stealthily moving in the night. Steinbeck IV served with AFNN in Vietnam - though not at the Saigon HQ where Airman Adrian Cronauer [played by Robin Williams in the movie Good Morning Vietnam] was. Bob Morecook AFVN News 72/73

4 comments about Missing Pages: Black Journalists of Modern America: An Oral History.

1. The late Wallace Terry, author of Bloods, the outstanding oral history of black soldiers during the Vietnam War, was working at the time of his death on this equally outstanding oral history of heroic black journalists during some of the most tumultuous times in American history. The stories are truly eye-opening, reminding us of the courage it takes to speak truth to power and of how far America has come because individual blacks had that kind of courage. But the book is about more than journalism, it's about recent history and the struggle to bring this country face to face with its failure to live up to its ideals of justice and freedom. Included, for example, is James Hicks' account of covering the Emmett Till trial in Mississippi, where the sheriff greeted Hicks and his fellow black reporters with a cheerful "how are you nigger doing?" Or Leon Dash's swashbuckling through Angola with Jonas Savimbi's guerrillas. Missing Pages is a must read for anyone with an interest in journalism, public affairs and history.



2. The beauty of "Missing Pages" is the 20 civil rights-era African American journalists just talk to interviewer Wallace Terry and capsulize their career stories in a powerful anecdote or two.
   
   I realized that these journalist-heroes were courageous and bold, but gosh, I appreciated them much more when I got more details from them about their challenges.
   
   Like Earl Caldwell pointing out that his landmark reporter-source confidentiality case should not have been merged with two related cases. What distinguished Caldwell's case was he was not involved in illegal activities.
   
   Max Robinson's guts were apparent when the Richmond, Va. native tried out in 1959 for an anchor job along with 30 white men. The competition laughed -- this was the "massive resistance" period in Va. -- yet Robinson won a spot because of his undeniable talent.
   
   I knew about Ethel Payne upsetting President Eisenhower for having the nerve to challenge the commander-in-chief about signing a desegregation order, but I did not know depths of sexism she had to endure within the D.C. press corps.
   
   All of the profiles challenge me to be a better journalist, educator and citizen. I hope "Missing Pages" inspires many more readers.



3. Missing Pages
   
   The author's voice of Missing Pages has an energy powered by truth which resonates beyond race. Missing Pages enhances the legacy of Wallace Terry, the author of the best selling Bloods (circa 1985) who distinguished himself as a journalist with Time magazine, the Washington Post and Parade magazine. Missing Pages was skillfully completed by Janice Terry, the author's widow and Zalin Grant, his fellow combat journalist that he served with in Vietnam.
   
   Missing Pages rips the mask off of the Fourth Estate which historically abandoned its duty to the people by printing with a discernable bias. As it were, black journalist were either denied positions with the mainstream press or relegated to black on black assignments. During and subsequent to the heyday of the Civil Rights movement things began to change, but on a very small scale.
   
   While attempts were made to restrict assignments of black journalists, their courage, perseverance and genius trumped racism and indifference.
   
   Missing Pages is long overdue. It provides a unique insight into America from those who, to cite the biblical injunction of Isaiah 48:10 were "Not molded in silver but in the furnace of affliction."
   
   The challenge of writing about race requires courage, candor, competence, civility and compassion. One has to deal with injustice, humiliation and other wrongs which often lurk in the subconscious of the objectified. Wallace Terry sets the standard for excellence in his interviews with names familiar to many, Carl Rowan, Max Robinson, Bernard Shaw, Carole Simpson, Chuck Stone, Ed Bradley and others.
   
   Those interviewed such as Chuck Stone, who said the reason there were not more black columnists with white newspapers, is because white America feared black authority. Missing pages also contains the experience of good Samaritans, such as Walter Cronkite, who stopped to help somebody.
   
   Missing Pages is inspirational because is reveals how individuals asserted themselves through persistence, courage, dedication and professional excellence.
   
   Carlos Cardozo Campbell
   Reston, VA



4. 
   
   
   
   
   Reading, "Missing Pages" by Wallace Terry started with my dad asking me two questions. His first question was. "Son, you want to be an athlete, how many black athletes can you name?" I named a bunch. "Ok. You also want to be a writer. How many black journalists can you name?" I was puzzled and embarrassed, because I'm a freshman in high school and I couldn't name one. My dad suggested I read "Missing Pages"
   
   The book is divided by chapters, with each chapter being a short story on a black journalist. While the book profiles several journalists including: Carl Rowan, Joel Dreyfus, Ben Holman, Tom Johnson, Karen Dewit, James Hicks, William Raspberry, Henry M. "Hank" Brown, Leon Dash, Barbara Reynolds, C. Sumner "Chuck" Stone, Bernard Shaw, Austin Scott, Earl Caldwell, Carole Simpson, Ed Bradley, and Wallace Terry. I chose three to talk about. Those three are Ethel Payne, John Q. Jordan, and Max Robinson. I have chosen these three because they share a certain interest to me.
   
   Ethel Payne, one of the first two black women to cover the White House, worked for the Chicago Defender and later became a columnist there. She was known as the First Lady of the Black Press. She also became the first black commentator for a national TV network when she was hired by NBC in 1972. Her main problem in her journalism career was not her talent, but her skin color. Often, her only support was her confidence in herself. Working in the White House press corps, she was never afraid to ask tough questions. Even with many of her colleagues questioning why she was allowed to work White House, she never wavered in her duties as a reporter. She tells many fascinating stories of her time in Washington, Africa, Vietnam, and behind the news desk at NBC, in her more than 40 years in journalism.
   
   John Jordan, of the Norfolk (VA) Journal and Guide, was a correspondent in World War 2 who covered black troops in Italy for. John Jordan had actually been drafted into the Marines when his editor decided he wanted Mr. Jordan to replace his current war correspondent in Italy. The newspaper had to pull some strings with the War Department to allow Mr. Jordan to be released from the Marines and join the 5th Army on the front lines in Italy as a reporter. Mr. Jordan tells not only first hand stories of life and death on the front lines, but also of the conditions and racism that black soldiers faced during the war.
   
   Max Robinson was the first black evening network anchorman in America. Mr. Robinson set up his first television audition by answering a "White male only" want ad in a Virginia newspaper. He later became an anchor on ABC's World News Tonight. He also was a founder of the National Association of Black Journalists. Mr. Robinson tells of career leading up to him being hired by ABC to do the evening news. He also tells many stories of covering major news stories including the Iran Hostage Crisis in which 63 Diplomats were held captive for more than a year inside the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.
   
   This is a fascinating anthology of profiles for anyone. And a must read for those interested in journalism.

1 comments about Anchorwoman.

1. Even though this book is out of print, Amazon found it for me. I find Jessica Savitch to be an inspiration. Through extremely hard work she was a pioneer in the broadcast field. I enjoyed reading what she went through, how she succeeded, and enjoyed the humor she injected in the book.

   Her autobiography hides, I think, her problems with drugs. If you want to read more about that, I recommend Alanna Nash's Golden Girl, a very excellent biography of Jessica Savitch.

   However, I could not put this book down! I read it in two sittings. I'm glad Amazon found this book!

No comments about World's Fair Notes: A Woman Journalist Views Chicago's 1893 Columbian Exposition.

1 comments about Tangled Loyalties: The Life and Times of Ilya Ehrenburg.

1. If someone had submitted a manuscript based on Ilya Ehrenburg's life to a publisher it would have been tossed away as too unbelievable, even for fiction. Ilya Ehrenburg joined the Bolsheviks as a young man but had broken with the party well before the Russian Revolution. He was a childhood friend of Nikolai Bukharin and spent time with Leon Trotsky in Geneva. While living in Paris before the revolution he was befriended by Lenin but the friendship ended when Ehrenburg mocked him in a satirical piece he had published. He lived abroad for years, both before and after the Revolution, he spoke French and hobnobbed with Europe's literary intelligentsia. He was Jewish. Thousands of people in Stalin's USSR were purged or summarily executed for having just one of these characteristics. Millions were purged for less. Yet Ehrenburg not only survived but prospered. Joshua Rubenstein's "Tangled Loyalties: The Life and Times of Ilya Ehrenburg" does an excellent job of setting out the fascinating details of Ehrenburg's life and the many factors that `conspired' to keep Ehrenburg in the public eye and far away from the Gulag.
   
   For those that survived the Holocaust the fact of survival is often an interior matter for the survivor, sometimes marked by remorse and guilt simply because one survived against all odds. For those that survived the purges and executions of the Stalin era in the USSR, the fact of survival is often an exterior matter in which the outside world questions the means by which the survivor escaped unharmed. The historian A.J.P. Taylor, in a review of Ilya Ehrenburg's Memoirs suggest that in "years of danger and crisis, it becomes almost a crime to survive." The fact of Ehrenburg's survival and the means by which he managed to survive is the central theme of Rubenstein's biography.
   
   Rubenstein takes the reader through Ehrenburg's early years as a student revolutionary and his flirtation with the Bolsheviks. The description of Ehrenburg's pre-revolutionary time in Paris and his initial contacts with Lenin and his cadres in exile is particularly interesting. After the revolution, a revolution that Ehrenburg condemned, we see him changing his mind and becoming a staunch supporter of the regime after the Bolsheviks defeated the white army in the Civil War. From there Ehrenburg's years in Paris the 1920s and 1930s where he became well known in artistic and literary circles are outlined very nicely. Ehrenburg became the de facto ambassador of art and literature of the USSR. In fact, it may very well have been Ehrenburg's rather exalted status in the west that protected him all those years. From there we see Ehrenburg's increasing involvement in the anti-fascist movement culminating in his extensive reporting from Spain during the civil war. Ehrenburg survived and prospered despite the fact that Stalin's purges often focused on people who had spent time abroad and who participated in the Civil War. When WWII started Ehrenburg's fame increased as a result of his forceful and intelligent reporting for Red Star, the Red Army newspaper. It was during the war that Ehrenburg, along with his colleague Vasily Grossman, began the compilation that became known as the Black Book of Soviet Jewry. The monumental Black Book may very well represent the most important work of Ehrenburg's life.
   
   From the time the war ended and through his death in 1953, Stalin's anti-cosmopolitan campaign and his doctor's plot caused thousands of Jews, including many friends of Ehrenburg to be purged and sent to the Gulag. Through it all, Ehrenburg continued to be published, not without some difficulty in the Soviet Union. At the same time, Ehrenburg became one of the Soviet regime's greatest apologists. As he had done in the 1930's Ehrenburg attacked western left-leaning intellectuals that deviated from the party line. Throughout Stalin's rein and through Khrushchev's leadership Ehrenburg became perhaps the best known and most-intellectually well thought of defender of the Soviet regime. It is for these actions that many find fault with Ehrenburg.
   
   However, at the same time, and within the constraints of an oppressive regime where any untoward step could have severe repercussions, Rubenstein sets out those many instances where Ehrenburg went out of his way to help friends and fellow artists who had been arrested or could not get published. Rubenstein takes pains to point out how many of those who had been imprisoned respected and were grateful for Ehrenburg's efforts on their behalf.
   
   It is the portrayal of this conflict between Ehrenburg's arguably craven kow-towing to the Soviet regime and his efforts on behalf of his friends or fellow writers that make Rubenstein's work so interesting. Rubenstein, and others, fall squarely on the side of absolving Ehrenburg of most of the responsibility for his acts. Nevertheless he does not bludgeon the reader over the head with that opinion nor does he withhold information that might lead a reader to come to a different conclusion.
   
   I tend to fall a bit onto the non-judgmental side of the ledger although not perhaps as fully as Rubenstein. The deciding factor for me is the thought that Ehrenburg's severest critics seem to be those in the west who did not have to walk the deadly tightrope Ehrenburg walked for years. Those that seem most accepting of Ehrenburg's behavior were those who lived and suffered during those years and appreciated Ehrenburg's efforts on their behalf.
   
   Rubenstein's Tangled Loyalties is a fascinating look at the life of someone who spent a life making hard choices. I recommend this to anyone interested in Soviet history and leave it up to the reader to determine whether Ehrenburg was guilty of the crime of survival.
   
   L. Fleisig

5 comments about First Job: A Memoir of Growing Up at Work.

1. I thought the book lacked content. In well written memoirs a reader searches for a certain down to earth quality. This book rings a false note. The sexual passages seemed as if they were designed to inflate the author's ego rather than provide insight. It seemed written to imply the author was a piece of meat in a lion cage...



2. This memoir is poorly written. I don't recommend this book to anyone.



3. Don't skim this book. Enjoy the story while you appreciate how carefully the author choses his words.



4. I've read Rinker Buck's articles in the newspaper and was interested in this book because of the setting which is my neck of the woods. I had been alerted about the sex scenes.

   Wonderful descriptions of the landscape and the people around here, but the details of his affairs spoiled it. Do we really need to read about these? I skipped past them.

   The best part may be the interview with John Wayne in Stockbridge. Description of the Red Lion Inn is on the mark, too. Have been to the bar in the basement and it was an interesting place.




5. Rinker Buck has captured all the excitement, innocence, pluck, and wide-eyed enthusiasm in "First Job." I can't imagine anyone coming of age in the early 1970s who couldn't relate to his story. His ability in describing the lushness of the Berkshires is on a level with James Michener. Without the self-congratulatory sexual conquests, this could have been a near-perfect read. How much sexier the story could have been with just a hint of the romantic entanglements. Seems like an awful lot of explaining to do to the women in his family! That said, I'd still recommend this as a truly fun read. Way to go, Rinky!

5 comments about Walking to Vermont: From Times Square into the Green Mountains -- a Homeward Adventure.

1. I would call this a quiet book; pleasant storytelling with rippling rhythms of then and now. The author is a retired N.Y. Times foreign correspondent who attends his retirement party in Manhattan and then the next day starts walking to Vermont (near Hanover) where he is going to live. He walks on the Appalachian Trail where the distance is almost 400 miles and he accomplishes this in 5 weeks moving through 5 states. He tells of his experiences while on the trail with frequent interjections of incidences overseas while doing his work for his newspaper. I feel he could have elaborated more about his overseas experiences as they were interesting, but they took up from one paragraph to one page...oh well, I guess that is another book. He meets some interesting characters on the way, but because of the nature of his quest, nothing is permanent. I thought he hiked in a most sensible manner as every so often he would rent a motel/cabin, get a good meal in a local cafe, and take a shower/bath to clean off all the accumulated crud, and stop in to see past friends in their homes (which were on the way) and stay for a day or two. He accomplished lhis goal and derived great satisfaction in doing so and then wrote a book about it.



2. A good book for those who are interested in nature, human and otherwise. At age 65, this New York Times foreign correspondent walks out of the Times building and just keeps on walking. Four hundred miles and five weeks later, he is at home in Vermont. This book chronicles the ups and downs, humanly and geographically, as he hoofs his way on New York city streets, over highways, under bridges, through towns and villages, over the Appalachian Trail, arriving home just in time to feed the cats. Henry David Thoreau is his philosophical mentor as he ponders things like the best way to carry a backpack, filter your water, boil your oatmeal, keep the mosquitoes away, pamper aches and pains, and decide upon a suitable trail name. Along the way he meets an interesting variety of fellow travelers, most walking for reasons that go way beyond just exercise. Civilization is never far away, and the author meets up occasionally with his wife and friends, when he forsakes the Daniel Boone lifestyle for that of the aging jet-setter dining in an exclusive restaurant. He admits that after these respites he is glad to hit the lonely trail again. During the book the reader is treated to gentle flashbacks that reveal Wren's adventurous career as a reporter in Russia, China, the Middle East, and other exotic locales. These recollections seem a bit shoehorned in, but they are necessary to understand how far the author has come. After what he has seen in his life, a hike of four hundred miles is just a walk in the woods. Those like me who are generally the same age as Wren will find the book a nice reminder that we're not over the hill yet. Wren says, "Life seems sweeter once you accept that it cannot endure. The best part of growing old is that welcome relief from being merely young." Great stuff for a graying head! Upon finishing the book, I went out for a good, long walk. But I'll be back for supper.



3. "Walking to Vermont" is a worthy addition to anyone who collects, reads, and enjoys books on the culture of walking. I especially enjoyed it because it is also a worthy addition to literature related to the Appalachian Trail, and sits on my bookshelf besides Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods", Emblidge's "Appalachian Trail Reader" and Hall's "A Journey North."
   
   This is not a book of discovery -- Mr. Wren knows who he is and is comfortable in his own shoes (but perhaps not his socks). The story reads like both a narrative and a memoir, as Mr. Wren recounts events and stories collected in a life as a foreign correspondent.
   
   Fans of the Appalachian Trail and of the literature associated with it will be very familiar with the themes: trail magic, trail angels, trail names, and the wonderful people that make up the hiking culture.
   
   I have been to the Hanover Ben and Jerry's and have never had a "White Blaze." I will protect my source on who informed me about it, however...



4. This book started out slow, but it really picks up and is an interesting read, especially when the author hits the Appalachian Trail. I found it hard to put down the book at that point.



5. I have yet to hike the Appalachian trail, and I'm only 41, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The author has some wisdom well worth sharing, as well as a very candid view of his experience. I didn't feel he was in denial at all. Rather, he was realizing that 65 isn't so old, after all. This book is about the physical AND emotional journey into retirement. If you are interested in human nature as well as mother nature, chances are you will enjoy it. I gave it 5 stars to make up for some of those 2 star submissions. I've given it to my Mom, who has read it and enjoyed it and plans to give it to my sister. I wouldn't be surprised if it makes it's way to my Dad after that ... Enjoy.