5 comments about The Exact Same Moon: Fifty Acres and a Family.

1. I always enjoy Ms. Laskas' columns and looked forward to this book. I was not disappointed. Humorous but realistically touching as she deals with issues another mother certainly understands!



2. This is the kind of book that makes you feel so good, you want to press it on your friends. The writing is gentle and thoughtfully paced, and she writes about the kinds of everyday experiences and feelings we can all relate to.
   
   The first book is Fifty Acres and a Poodle, which I'd recommend reading first. In this second book, the author is surprised by her unexpected but profound desire for a child to love and to share her world with. Her adoption of a little girl from China is written about with tenderness and deeply felt joy.
   
   I can't wait for the next installment.



3. "The Exact Same Moon" is the sequel to "Fifty Acres and a Poodle" (however, you can enjoy it without having read its predecessor). In the first book, Jeanne Marie Laskas recounted her journey from single life in the city to married life on a farm. In this follow-up, she describes her mother's illness and her own realization that she longs for a child.
   
   This book is not as good as "Fifty Acres and a Poodle". It lacks that book's purity of voice and breadth of consideration. It is a quieter, gentler story; it is clearly written by an older and mellower woman, one who questions everything in her life out of curiousity rather than confusion, and that makes this book less poignant than the other.
   
   Still, "The Exact Same Moon" is more than worth the read. It's a lovely tale, well-structured although true, filled with amusing character sketches and interesting little thoughts. It's a pleasant book throughout, intelligent and well-written and occasionally illuminating. Anyone who enjoyed "Fifty Acres and a Poodle" should read it; anyone who hasn't read "Fifty Acres and a Poodle" should read them both.



4. I read this book aloud with my husband. It was like reading a letter from a friend, sometimes laugh-out-loud funny and others wipe-a-tear sad. Although it's the story of moving from city to country life, it has relevance for anyone transitioning from one lifestyle to another. The situations are believable and the characters are funny and endearing. It's the kind of story that you know you'll miss when you reach the end. My husband has asked several times that I get the second book in what we hope will be a series by Ms. Laskas, so we can read aloud again.



5. What may I say that the other reviewers haven't mentioned?
   
   I purchased The Exact Same Moon: Fifty Acres and a Family after reading Mrs. Laskas first installment Fifty Acres and a Poodle, which I would recommend reading first. After the author has established herself at Sweet Valley Farm she decides she wants more in life. Namely, a child. She and her husband Alex try to conceive, but they have no luck. They finally decide to adopt a child from China. I believe that many women will identify with this story & all the emotions Mrs. Laskas experiences.
   
   While this is a charming and enjoyable read, I preferred 50 Acres and a Poodle. This book felt a little forced to me. Obviously, this one wasn't as carefree and funny, as it dealt with more serious issues. It's still a great book and one I'd still recommend.

3 comments about Inside of Time: My Journey from Alaska to Israel.

1. What an amazing woman. Ruther Gruber is interviewed on BookTV.org. Don't miss the book or the interview!



2. A role model because of her age, sex, and faith. I didn't find out much about Alaska but was captured by her involvement in her world. It was a different time. Could her experiences be repeated today?



3. this book takes one to alaska -to the people who work hard and take pride of their state. we meet the people who are proud of their state.
   ruth gruber went to israel as a correspondent during a difficult time in their history.we learn a lot of the country and the places that she lived in and visited.

No comments about Through Life's Lens: A Memoir.

No comments about Doomed by Cartoon: How Cartoonist Thomas Nast and the New York Times Brought Down Boss Tweed and His Ring of Thieves.

1 comments about Chaos Clear As Glass: A Memoir.

1. Ann Hyman is a regular columnist for the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville, FL, and Chaos Clear as Glass is a slim collection of her memories growing up in the area, as well as stories of a trip to the Soviet Union. If you are familiar with Ann's column and can get a copy of this rare book, you will enjoy her relaxed, anecdotal style. The influences of Eugenia Price and other regional writers are recognizable in Ann's writing.

3 comments about Camelia: Save Yourself by Telling the Truth-a Memoir of Iran.

1. "Camelia" is the vivid, moving, and candid memoir of Camelia Entekhabi-fard, a young Iranian journalist intimately familiar with the social and political turmoil of Iran under the Islamic Republic. Ms Entekhabi-fard's story takes us from her childhood and adolescence, to her career as a journalist and active participant in the Iranian reform movement, through encounters with famous and infamous personalities, to her imprisonment, release, and exile. Her keen observations and deep sympathy illuminate the complex cultural and political problems of Iran, particularly its young women, and bring to life some of the key events of the past thirty years. But what makes "Camelia" stand out among contemporary Middle East memoirs is Ms Entekhabi-fard's brutal honesty, particularly towards the moral dilemmas and personal choices she made in her struggle to succeed and survive. Her fierce candor will undoubtedly shock some readers, but it makes "Camelia" a refreshingly frank, lively, and moving memoir.



2. Camelia was six years old when the Shah of Iran was overthrown in her country: her family chose to stay in Tehran and saw two decades of violent change which affected their family. CAMELIA is for any who would understand the culture and politics of Iran: its autobiography recounts the author's life in the country, where she was a nationally celebrated poet as a teen, one of the youngest reformist journalists in Tehran by eighteen, and imprisoned eight years later. Her relationship with brutal interrogators, her ultimate survival and her struggle coping with freedom makes for a haunting document of repression which is a top pick for any general-interest or college-level collection strong in Middle East culture and history.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch



3. I knew this lady back home ,the only ambiyious she had was to get out of iran ,and she did not care how .most of her writings are nothing new ,but again average americans like to read this self glorifiying fantasy .she was not known for her self piety ,and was not a poet at the age of 16 ,she used to teach bally dncing at her home ,and had a terrible reputation for using her .....to get to different places .

No comments about Making It Perfectly Clear.

1 comments about The Undefeated.

1. This is a deeply-felt, deeply-thought and deeply-moving book. It tells of the author's movement towards communism in the context of a pre-war continental Europe which had to choose between fascism and communism; and how his experiences in Hungary after the war led to his slow but systematic disillusionment. The result is one of the most convincing intellectual testimonies against communism as it was practised, portrayed in a context of a very personal agony. As part of the history of Hungary, or any part of central Europe, this would be compelling reading. As testimony to the human spirit in adversity it is both humbling and inspiring.

No comments about Odyssey of a Friend: Letters to William F.Buckley Jr. 1954-1961.

No comments about More Than a Muckraker: Ida Tarbell's Lifetime in Journalism.