5 comments about Running to the Mountain: A Midlife Adventure.

1. With a fine sense of humor, Jon Katz reveals his most innermost feelings when he explores the purchase of a crumbling, dilapidated mountain top cabin in upstate New York. Jon, an author, is not a talented handy man around the home. It appears he can barely screw in a light bulb, not to mention his weak skills balancing a check book. Obviously catered and emotionally indulged by his wife, it is a strong reflection of his love for her that he takes on the job of becoming not only responsible financially, but challenging and accomplishing simple things like scrubbing a toilet and cooking dinner. Later, he takes on tougher skills of gardening and basic home maintainance.
   
   His emotional torture is the realization that the couple can barely afford the luxury (?) of a second home, especially one with significant needs. His prolonged assault of ponderous concerns weigh heavily on him as he goes through the decision of actual purchase and facing the extensive renovations ahead of him. He perceives the purchase as an escape for which he can write his novels, articles and self-exploratory memoirs yet the sacrifice he is inflicting on his wife and daughter disturbs his decision making processes. But his love for the home and the mountain lure him and with excessive reflection of his motives and writings of Thomas Merton, he bites the bullet and signs on the doted line.
   
   Central to his development are his extraordinary blond labradors and their day to day activities. A black lab owner myself, I found this the most charming aspect of his life style. There is something so deeply penetrating in one's love for their dog, and it was quite palpable in the experiences they shared together. Special kudos to his patient and loving wife, Paula who understood when to let go and trust in her man. Their daughter, Emma, friends Jeff and Michele, and the incredible townsfolk round out a very lovely story of growth and achievement. Jon's writing skills truly made me feel as if I too, was sitting in his front yard, sipping scotch and watching the mountains looming in the distance. He just may tug of few of you out of your hum drums, and provoke you as well to purchase your little cabin in the mountains.



2. During a change of life as he reaches the empty nest era, Katz shares his thoughts and reasons for acquiring his mountain get-away. After he and his wife raise their daughter, Katz decides to find a relaxing haven, to spend some time alone, to read the philosophy of Merton and play with his dogs. This account of his rehabilitating a run-down mountain cottage was fun to read. It is a story that many of us wish to echo as we approach our post-midlife (despite the title) years...finding and enjoying a summer get-away. To reward one's self of the work conducted through life is an admirable goal, even though Katz's goal, in part, was to find material to write about (he is an author by the way). I thank Jon Katz for sharing his adventure with us. It was fun to read and I, no doubt, will re-read this as my time comes to find my reward some day. There simply is something tranquil about having a place to go to where one doesn't need a clock, where the beauty of nature and seclusion are paramount. I feel there is a deep feeling within all of us to have such a paradise to go to. I can picture myself now sitting on the porch, overlooking a beautiful valley between mountains, with a good book in hand while man's best friend lies at my feet.
   
   Take this book for what it is, a fun account of one man's experiences of finding that one summer place to spend some alone time (and time with the family)--to contemplate his life while enjoying it with his four-legged friends. It sounds like a beer commercial, it just doesn't get any better than this. A very good read. Similar books: David Brill, A Separate Place; Mark Phillips, My Father's Cabin; Elizabeth Gilbert, The Last American Man; and, of course, the classic, Thoreau's Walden.
   
   If you know of any similar books, please drop me a line John@delbridge.net.



3. I liked the book, got weary of the more "spiritual" portions, comparing his adventure into solitude with Merton's. Some of it I had to read twice just to get what he was talking about. I guess you would say it is "deep stuff." I would've enjoyed the book more if it was written simply about his trip to the mountain. I enjoyed reading about his buying the cabin and all the work it took to fix it, and the people he met. He wrote a lot about his family and portions of his life. I would rather read about life on the mountain with his new cabin, his dogs, the people...more adventure like in his other books. But this book is not necessarily about an adventure to a mountain, it's about his life and facing the future, and trying to figure it all out; it's about Jon Katz doing some soul searching, trying to escape the monotony of his life and find peace and happiness. Although I feel indifferent to his "spiritual" journey, most people feel like they need to escape from the monotony of busy everyday life and find peace, so it was easy for me to empathize with him this way. I too look for ways to make life newer and better, to face change and embrace it. His musings weren't all too deep for me. I could relate to some of them. Overall I liked the book.



4. I really enjoyed this book! I read it in less than 24 hours---so obviously it held my attention. I think some of the Amazon reviewers are a bit too hard on Katz. His experience is his experience after all---and who are we to judge if he is too "urban" or if he still doesn't understand what the rural experience is all about. While I do understand that as a writer Katz is always looking for another book topic---I think he found one here that was worthy of his great writing style. He's a self-deprecating guy who is easy to like. He allowed us, his readers, to enter his world and enjoy ourselves. That's a feat in itself. I say---keep writing memoirs Jon---you have a lot to offer.



5. This author is becoming well known for his dishonest and insincere tugging at the heart strings of dog owners and dog book buyers. Don't buy it and don't read it. The way I see it, he owes me a refund.

5 comments about Foreign Correspondence: A Pen Pal's Journey from Down Under to All Over.

1. I read this book in one day - it is beautifully, intelligently written with well developed characters and a true story that reads like fiction. It is a rare gem of literature that provides insight into the dreams of a young girl that many people can identify with - male or female. I have read a lot of books lately, but this was one of the finest books I've come across in a while.



2. Australian born Geraldine Brooks spent many years as a foreign correspondent covering the Middle East. I loved her book, "Nine Parts of Desire" which was about Muslim women, and I have followed her life somewhat as she is often mentioned by her husband, Tony Horwitz, in his books "Confederates in the Attic", "Baghdad Without a Map," and "One for the Road." I find her an excellent reporter and in this memoir, "Foreign Correspondence," she turns the spotlight on herself.

   As a child growing up in a lower middle class neighborhood on a street actually called "Bland Street", she yearned for a larger world. And so she developed pen pals. There was a girl from New Jersey, another one from France, and even one from an upper class neighborhood just a few towns away. And then there were two Israeli boys, one an Arab and one a Jew. As an adult, she found these old letters in her father's basement and, now more than twenty years later, she decided to look up each of these people. What follows is the result of her quest and some wonderful insights into world events from a personal one-on-one perspective. It was fascinating.

   As a teenager in the early seventies she was aware of the new consciousness developing, even reaching her in her protective Catholic school. She had an active imagination and the gift of using words well. It's not surprising that she developed pen pals and that they influenced her life so much. Her gift of words certainly reached me too. I shared her sense of wonder and enthusiasm as she looked forward to each letter. I felt her straining to break the bonds of her loving but restrictive world. I felt her hopes and dreams and frustrations. And then, later, I shared her discoveries as she searched out the people who had meant so much to her early life. She writes with a clear voice, painting a picture with details, taking me on her quest to discover the world and eventually to discover herself. The book is short, a mere 210 pages but she sure does pack a lot into it. It's a wonderful read. Highly recommended.




3. I bought this as an "airplane read" but couldn't put it down. Geraldine Brooks has done us a great favor by not only illuminating the process of finding one's long lost penpals, but also by educating many folks about Australia in the process. It's fascinating to see her perceptions of the world, and particularly America, based on the letters that come in her mailbox each month.

   While I read this one on my own, I have since leant this book to several friends and we've engaged in some interesting discussions about our own penpal experiences, so I recommend it for book clubs.




4. I have read several of Brooks' books (both her non-fiction and fiction) and I was excited to rec'e and read Foreign Correspondance. Unfortunately, I was deeply disappointed.

   The book has an outstanding premise---as a child growing up in Australia during the 1960s, Brooks was eager to experience the outside world. An avid letter writer, she found pen-pals in the U.S., Israel and France. As an adult, Brooks set off to meet and re-discover these people. So far so good. But the book peters out---with the exception of the American pen-pal (to whom she was closest), the characters lack enough detail to be interesting.

   Her meeting with her French pen-pal was especially disappointing. This was a girl who chose to remain in her native village (while Brooks became a world-traveler and global correspondant). I hoped for more insights and more discussion of the contrast and why they chose such radically different paths---despite coming from somewhat similar backgrounds (Brooks saw herself as living in a giant provincial village---the village of Australia). But there was little discussion and the meeting simply sounded painful. Her trip to Israel to meet her non-Jewish Israeli pen-pal would also have benefitted from a deeper discussion about one's choices and opportunities (there was some discussion of this but I wanted to know more).

   Had I not read Brooks' other books, I probably would have thought this was a fairly good book. But I know she can write such a better book!




5. Geraldine Brooks has written a book that I can empathise with. I think of how I might have had that life in Australia had my parents not returned to England in the 1930's. I wanted, and still do, very much to talk to the author and ask her questions as she is such a good writer with a warm personality.

5 comments about The Gonzo Way: A Celebration of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson.

1. I was excited to buy this book, thinking that it would give a personal glimpse into the "real" life of Hunter. My excitement was in vain. It is poorly written. She says the same things over and over in an attempt to clarify her point. Reading half of this book was a waste of time. I ended up really disliking Anita and learning nothing about Hunter.



2. Don't waste your time with this book. It's horrible and lacks any insight despite being written by Thompon's wife (though she wasn't with him long and it shows!). Why does she feel the need to apologize for his "stoned twisted, ripped...good people" side? I mean REAL Thompson fans KNOW that's not the only essence of him...even though, yes, his "lifestyle" did provide a sort of romatic idea for the outsider to think about while living mundane lives. But thanks to Anita she does a good job of ruining that too...I don't smoke, use drugs of any kind, and have always loved Thompson for his work and his life and I can tell you, this book has NOTHING!. So sad and it only diminishes my ideals for true Gonzo and Thompson since it appears he really did have a load of "leeches" at his side. So sad to see his legacy degraded this way!



3. I think The Gonzo Way is great, especially now that I've had some time to reflect on it.



4. This is a very short and simple insight in to Hunter S. Thompson's lifestyle written by his wife. It is an interesting enough read. Definitely lacks the originallity and verve of a work authored by Thomspson.



5. I bought this as a gift for my son and he was very pleased with it. He loves anything to do with Hunter S. Thompson. He did not even know this book was out there so he was very pleased with it and it was written by his wife so it gave a totally different look at his life. It is also a shorter story and that really appealed to my son. For those of you out there that don't like to read a lot this is the perfect book for you. It gives a lot of detail but is not over written,

5 comments about Country of My Skull: Guilt, Sorrow, and the Limits of Forgiveness in the New South Africa.

1. As a British engineer living in South Africa for 15 years I obviously lived on another planet compared to this lady. Maybe because I worked in black townships and saw things as an outside observer I was not burdened by self loathing and idealistic fantasy that make up much of this work. Sure bad things happen in old wars in Africa or new ones like Iraq, but I can't help feeling that we have been here before. Atrocities happened in Rhodesia but despite the false dawn and liberal accolades that welcomed Mugabe in the same way them as they welcomed Mandela now, we ended up with worse country not a better one. I think that when we all look back on this period in years to come and unburdened by the current plague of political correctness that blights our times, we will realise that those who should ask for forgiveness are the liberal media elites who destroyed South Africa and the hopes of all its people both black and white.



2. A great book, telling a part of a nation's history, that must never been forgotten



3. Antjie Krog writes with a poet's power of observation both with inner feelings as well as to witness the outer complexities of people's pain and truth. Whose truth, which truth, and at what time? The Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings which she followed along with many other reporters, becomes a focal point for the process of hearing these complexities as well as offering the possibilityes for healing in a country struggling to understand the tensions between global change and the bonds of tribal and cultural loyalties and traditions. Krog offers us a chance to participate in this as well as to reflect on our own healing processes and sort out the complexities of many truths we live with.



4. A. Krog writes an amazing piece revolving around the events pertinent to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the emergence of the African National Congress in the politics of South Africa. Graphic descriptions of militant and counterinsurgent armed activity in the apartheid government, and first person testimony to the TRC of human rights violations from many parties. Krog's recollections are necessarily emotionally derived and sometimes difficult for this reason to follow analytically, particularly to one not immersed in South African history and cultures. Extensive use of indigenous languages with helpful translations and a glossary of common local parlance included, which makes the reading much more interpretable. The book is written assuming the reader is familiar with the political events immediately prior to the institution of the TRC and the dissolution of apartheid politics. An excellent piece for any world history or political science student.



5. Antjie Krog is a South African writer and poet who covered the South African Truth and Reconciliation commission hearings. She wrote this book about the experience, from the particular point of view of a South African of Afrikaner background.
   
   I found this book both difficult to read, and difficult to put down. Krog chooses extremely compelling stories to highlight, and the impact is visceral. She asks some very smart and difficult questions about what truth and reconciliation can possibly mean in a country burdened with such a history. The Country of My Skull does an excellent job in providing possible answers to these hard questions, while acknowledging that she may not be the person to either have an opinion or have an answer. She seems to continually ask who are judges and who are victims, given the situation.
   
   While I liked that she shared her own experience of the Commission honestly, there were times when I felt that the focus on her personal life weakened the book. Made it overly poetic, somehow. When she discusses the Death Fugue of Celan, she makes the point that there are some subjects that poetry cannot and perhaps should not touch. I sympathize with the desire to use that kind of precise and metaphoric language, but it increases the distance.
   
   This seems to me an important book. Four and a half stars.

5 comments about Take the Cannoli : Stories From the New World.

1. She's a staple of This American Life on Public Radio International, and she's also appeared in GQ, Salon and Request. Her humor and wit are sharp and perceptive. But, let me work from the back cover blurbs.
   
   Essays on American history, pop culture and her own family. Yep. But it's not easy to get me interested in American history or pop culture. A madonna of Americana. Yep, but I'm bored again.
   
   Her writing about her family, early on, was great. Then we got some history that bored me, but I kept going because she is talented. Surface, but talented. Then an essay about the Trail of Tears that really hit home for me, then some amusing stuff. It's not bad, but I don't see myself going back for seconds. I'll keep an eye on whatever else she does.



2. Having read The Partly Cloudy Patriot first, I loved this book because it invited me to learn more about the author and her life. And in that respect, the book is very good--well-written and full of Vowell's characteristic wit. I would not, however, recommend it as a first taste of Sarah Vowell; I think it's funnier and more interesting once you're familiar with her style.



3. Writer Sarah Vowell established a following on NPR's "This American Life" in explorations of the byroads of American culture as well as her own life. Many of those pieces appear in TAKE THE CANNOLI in essay form alongside articles that originally appeared in print and online. The collection reveals the growth of the writer, from insightful young talent to a person shedding the edges of youth for a mature perspective on herself and, especially, her relationship as an American with this world. While her most recent work, ASSASSINATION VACATION, has her at the top of her powers, this collection, interesting in itself, shows her getting there.
   
   Vowell begins by peeling back her youth as the liberal daughter of a Second Amendment gunsmith in Oklahoma and Montana; her life in high school band; and finally, growing up under the threat of doom held over her head by her family's Pentacostal religion and the Reagan administration's imagery of the evil empire and nuclear war. She moves onto tours of Frank Sinatra's hometown, Hoboken, New Jersey; Disney World and Celebration, Florida; New York's infamous Chelsea Hotel; Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp; and Goth culture. There a hilarious episode in which the creator of "This American Life," Ira Glass, tries to teach Vowell to drive. The second strongest piece in the collection is the essay from which she takes her title, an account of watching "The Godfather" religiously in college, hanging onto its simple imperatives in defense against the uncertain waves of diverse philosophy that swirl in academe. The strongest piece is the trip she takes with her twin sister Amy tracing the Trail of Tears their Cherokee ancestors were forced to march when President Andrew Jackson banished them from their own property. In that, you see Vowell learning to wrangle the kind of ambiguities that usually stop others in their tracks. I love how she loves America, clear-eyed but without apology.
   
   This collection of essays is often topical and thus some of them are a little dated, or at least ironic given more recent events. I'd really like to sit down with Vowell, to see what she thinks now.



4. I became a fan of Sarah Vowell after reading Assassination Vacation, and decided to go back and read her early works. Take the Cannoli: Stories from the New World is very good although a bit short. It's also a bit dated, although that's entirely my fault for taking so long to discover Vowell.
   
   Take the Cannoli is a compilation of short stories that mostly deal with the author's life. She writes of being born in Oklahoma and raised in Montana, her twin sister and her parents, her education and her background (she's part Cherokee), her political beliefs and her interest in history, and especially her travels. Many of them are downright funny, and Vowell has a wicked, self-deprecating wit. The chapter on her trying to alter her appearance to become a "Goth" was a scream! I also enjoyed her escapes as a band geek. In high school, Vowell wasn't exactly your average high school student. "I have intimate knowledge of what it was like to be young and uneasy and outraged under Reagan. My high school was 1980s in miniature--you either belonged or you didn't. And if you didn't, you learned to seek relief where you could find it--and for me, that relief was with other black-clad malcontents who could quote defense-spending statistics even though we were barely passing algebra."
   
   Vowell is at her best when she chronicles her travels and two that I enjoyed were her trip to Disney World and her tracing the Cherokee Trail of Tears. While her reflections on her Disney trip were funny, her take on The Trail of Tears poignant, sad and reflective. But even The Trail of Tears is good for a few chuckles, at Vowell's expense. When traveling on a road near her hometown, she relates that "only I know its topography with the intimacy that comes from leaning over every inch of it, carsick. I can't help but wonder if the grass grows so close to the shoulder because of my personal fertilizer crusade: I was a little Lady Bird Johnson of puke."
   
   I wish that Vowell wrote books a little quicker, but in the meantime, I'll have to content myself with reading her earlier works.



5. Vowell's book is definately a clever and witty delivery of truth. Some of it is her own truth through life experience. Even if you don't share her opinions, you understand her point without feeling like you are sacrificing your own. She makes you think, laugh and enjoy yourself with introspection mixed in..well done Vowell!

5 comments about Queen of the Oil Club: The Intrepid Wanda Jablonski and the Power of Information.

1. You will be sucked into the story from page one. How could a woman named Wanda Jablonski have climbed into the middle of the super secret, conspiratorial world of global oil and remain there for more than 30 years as big oil's top digging journalist? The author, Anna Rubino, lays it out in page-turning fashion.
   
   Wanda broke all the stereotypes. She was on a first-name, trusted basis with Arab oil sheikhs. Her publication, Petroleum Intelligence Weekly, became the must read for every global oil player. She broke all the big stories in a career that, as written in this compelling book, tracks more like a great work of fiction - except it's all true. If you want to understand the forces that have carried us into the current world of skyrocketing fuel prices, read this book.
   
   It's a great summer escape - particularly if you can't afford the gas to get to the beach! You can sit under an umbrella on the back deck, grab a cool drink and get absorbed.
   
   Wanda Jablonski - one of the most important journalists in U.S. history. Who knew?



2. Anna Rubino was a brilliant scholar of history at Yale as she pursued her PhD. Now she has written a brilliant historical study, impeccable in scholarship but also timely and exciting. Five stars all around.
   --William Lilley III, a Yale history faculty member when the author was a graduate student.



3. Review for "The Queen of the Oil Club"
   Anna Rubino takes us into the world of oil in the 1950's through the eyes of a remarkable woman, Wanda Jablonski. In this clearly readable book the reader is exposed to the personalities of the industry leaders, the look and feel of the Middle Eastern cities and the customs and concerns of its people. Filled with high drama, this book tells a fascinating and timely story, perhaps even more relevant in view of today's oil crisis.
   Donald and Kathie Eppert



4. The seeds of today's oil crisis were sown during the five decades that Wanda Jablonski reported on industry events and, through that reporting, influenced their outcome. To understand the current surge of oil nationalism on the part of both producer and consumer nations that will determine the future of hydrocarbons for years to come, we need to go back to the earlier rise of oil nationalism that led to the creation of OPEC. This book takes us there through the life of an extraordinary woman. Wanda, her first name sufficed to identify her whether in the court of the King of Saudi Arabia or the Exxon executive offices, had access to the boardrooms and bedouins that created the oil machine. She spoke the truth to their faces and told her readers what went on behind the curtain. In an all-male oil world, she earned respect and fear for the power she wielded as a journalist who knew as much or more about this crucial industry than the men who ran it. Anna Rubino captures Wanda, a strangely reclusive woman who quietly re-wrote the rules of business journalism and influenced the world we live in today.



5. While I expected to find Queen of the Oil Club to be an educational read, I wasn't prepared for the page turner I found. Rubino's first person and you are there approach to Wanda's amazing life was riveting. So far,I've recommended it to friends looking for a lively summer read, writer friends, my graduate student niece who is pursuing Women's Studies and a friend who grew up in Saudi Arabia in the 1960's. There's something there for each of them.

5 comments about How To Lose Friends And Alienate People: A Memoir.

1. This book is not a literary gem per se, it is a memoir of Toby Young's experience as an outsider who tried to break into the New York society of rich and famous through sometime outrages antics. He infuses dry, sarcastic British humor into the critical analysis of the American social class structure of Meritocracy. I was hooked on the book as soon as I read the first paragraph. Definitely a fun and entertaining read.



2. I don't normally give memoirs the time of day, but I managed to get through this one without any major difficulty. It was funny at times as the author describes his downward spiral as a British import to Manhattan trying to pursue a life of fame and relative fortune. However, it's hard to really identify or sympathize with a character/real person who keeps making such obvious and colossal gaffes and screw-ups. Why would it surprise him that hiring a stripper to come into the office for some guy's birthday would offend women? Why would it surprise him that calling up an Asian-themed clothing company and pretending to order Chinese food would offend an Asian person? His big revelation at the end of the book (spoiler alert) that he just *MIGHT* be his own worst enemy was pretty glaringly obvious in a book where you spend half the time rolling your eyes at his choices and the other half mentally screaming "Not again!" and wanting to step inside the book to kick his butt into shape.
   
   One of the reasons I don't read memoirs is that they always seem to be tryng to "teach" the reader something, and I like to read primarily for entertainment. All this book really "teaches" you is not to squander opportunities when they're handed to you on a silver platter, which is something that most people have enough common sense to already know on their own. This guy gets $100,000.00 a year to write for VANITY FAIR, an opportunity (and a salary) that most people would kill for, and he flushes it down the toilet. This book is basically you watching a toilet flush, for 300 pages. And he spends way too much time moralizing and rationalizing. As he tells his friend "Alex De Silva" (His name was changed; the Alex De Silva listed on IMDB.com definitely isn't the same guy.) he'd feel a whole lot differently about life in New York if things had worked out the other way. If he HAD made the most of what he was lucky to have been given and if he HAD succeeded at Vanity Fair, he'd be singing a very different tune. There'd be less raging about the "American meritocracy" system and more kissing of Graydon Carter's rear.
   
   Bottom line: don't bother.



3. I picked this up because the title caught my eye. It was actually quite good, funny and well-written, and it held my attention. I think Toby Young's assessment of the American meritocracy was accurate and spot-on. I got a kick out of the behind-the-scenes glimpses of Vanity Fair and Graydon Carter -- I don't want to spoil it, but I think Toby got the last laugh. Highly recommended.



4. OK - I really enjoyed this book. At its best Toby Young's "How to Lose Friends & Alienate People" is utterly laugh out loud funny. I honestly can't remember a book where I have literally cracked up so many times. (Colbert's book made me laugh too - but not this kind of out loud public sniggering on the train that made others notice me in an embarrassing way). The best bits are when he takes on (and names names) the peacock culture of the big Conde Nast culture mags and their ab fab brass and human adornments. He's also justifiably famous for his celebrity party antics (which specialize in gate crashing and then being ejected by bouncers). Time and again he blithely justifies himself stepping way out over the line and getting himself into classic scrapes - lapses of taste and judgment - and humiliating jams of a dizzying variety. An incredibly high percentage of these episodes are just "rilly rilly" funny (I'm an American and that's how I say it - in alliterative Toby lit). His evolving envious relationships with Alex De Silva and Graydon Carter are recurrent themes in the narrative; as well as his literary, social, and sexual ambitions. His madcap ways, clever use of recurrent themes, and deft comic timing are a big part of the comic goodness. The fact that Toby's a great writer doesn't hurt either.
   
   This comic achievement makes me more tolerant of the parts that weren't so good... Like the parts where Toby's sour grapes about not getting laid makes him expound pedantically on the shallowness of the New York glitterati maidens he chooses to pursue. I mean - who's really being shallow here? Then there's his plunge into full blown alcoholism... There are comic moments but much of it is actually genuinely tragic. In the latter chapters when Mr. Young gets introspective about his self-destructive streak he redeems himself somewhat by showing us some self awareness and getting a handle on both his alcoholism and his romantic shallowness - but it's a bit too little too late. It's not that Toby's bad boy antics are too risque. It's that his bitterness and sour grapes over his lack of temporal and carnal success colors his philosophical ramblings - giving them an aspect of priggish self indulgence that is ... well ... alienating. You'll see lots of negative reviews of people who just hate him for it and it's easy to see where they're coming from.
   
   Will you love or hate this book? That depends on how interested you are in the NYC literati glitterati world and how much fun you'll have seeing a drunken party boy lurch about in it breaking all the rules and stepping on all the toes. Personally - my life shares too many details in common for me not to love this book. But it is not an unconditional love. I can't help feeling that Mr. Young is just too self involved and immature to use as much philosophy as he does. Maybe that's just my American patriotism talking (he's skewering American culture when he's doing this) - but that's how I feel. Thus the 4 stars. Reading over what I just wrote it sounds pretty negative - so why do I only dock it one star? Toby is a comic genius. That's pretty rare. This book might not be entertainment perfection but it's a wild ride, a trip down the rabbit hole, a view into a fully realized world, and - in the end - a real hoot.



5. I gave the book as a gift to my daughter who is in NY media/publication. She liked it as she could relate to events and characters mentioned in the book.
   
   I have not read it myself.

No comments about Sports Illustrated: Hate Mail from Cheerleaders and Other Adventures from the Life of Rick Reilly (Sports Illustrated).

5 comments about The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food.

1. As with the offering of good food, presentation is everything. Judith Jones has had a life rich with possibility and opportunity, and has made the most of it. In this lovely memoir she has accomplished the difficult task of presenting these facts without sounding pretentious or self-serving, despite what some reviewers on these pages have said. It is a generous book, culminating with many personal recipes from her own kitchen. I particularly loved the section dealing with passing this love of good food and careful preparation onto several new generations, and indirectly through her, we can be thankful that we can routinely purchase organic vegetables and helpful gadgets easily.



2. My book club reads only food-related titles. We read this one for February. I am such a big Julia Child fan, and I had very much wanted to read this since it came out.
   
   Overall, our club thought this was underwhelming. It is just not a very interesting or insightful memoir. It felt like she was still holding people very much at an arm's length and didn't reveal very much.
   
   We did a "pop quiz" among us about the various authors mentioned in her text, and as a group of nine 35- to 42-year-old women, we blanked on several of them. As another reviewer noted, she didn't explain who they were, why they were important, etc. She just "name dropped" them as if everyone knew who they were and that was very frustrating -- especially to a group of readers made up of women who collect cookbooks and books about food!
   
   I just think this could have been a truly compelling read, and it just missed the mark by a pretty long way. It lacked the spice, insight and narrative conflict that make so many books in the "food memoir" category so readable.



3. `The Tenth Muse' by book editor extraordinaire, Judith Jones is a memoir of her experiences with food and with writers about food, lead by virtually every luminary in that field in the latter half of the 20th century, including Julia Child, James Beard, Craig Claiborne, Marcella Hazan, Madhur Jaffrey, Lydia Bastianich, Marian Cunningham,Alice Waters, and Edna Lewis. I'm just a bit surprised that Penelope Casas, a major Knopf culinary author is not mentioned and I'm torn between believing that the muse of the title is `food' or `editing', especially since Ms. Jones' publishing house, Alfred A. Knopf, was the publishing home of another, even more prominent literary editor, H. L. Mencken. The original nine muses of Greek mythology primarily cover the subjects of music, poetry, drama, and rhetoric, so I suspect `editing' was covered. Thus, Ms. Jones can dedicate her book to the culinary deities.
   This is clearly a charming and finely written memoir, which I am almost ashamed to find any fault whatsoever. But, if you are willing to plunk down your $24.95 retail, you are entitled to know what you are getting, and what you are not getting.
   For starters, Ms. Jones enters a field filled with lots of fine exemplars of good, interesting culinary memoirs. Leading the pack is that hoary classic by George Orwell, `Down and Out in Paris and London'. Following closely behind and even more relevant, are the several memoirs written by M. F. K. Fisher about her travels in France. More recently, there are the three excellent volumes from `Gourmet' magazine editor in chief, Ruth Reichl, including `Garlic and Sapphires', `Tender at the Bone', and `Comfort Me With Apples'. Then, there is Jacques Pepin's `The Apprentice', Amanda Hesser's `Cooking for Mr. Latte' and the risqué `Insatiable', a collection of anecdotal memoirs by Ms. Gael Greene. Last, but certainly not least is Julia Child's own posthumous memoir, `My Life in France'. All of these books are thoroughly enjoyable for the foodie reader, and most are seem to be just a bit more substantial or more informative than Ms. Jones' book.
   I was expecting far more detail on the inside story about how she came to publish the seminal `Mastering the Art of French Cooking', but there was practically nothing here I did not read in Ms. Child's biography and other writings on this episode. I was especially interested in the dealings with Alfred and Blanche Knopf, two giant figures in American publishing, who were initially a bit reluctant to get Knopf into the cookbook publishing business.
   The framework on which the culinary stories are arranged is Ms. Jones early experiences in France and her marriage to journalist, Evan Jones and their lives in Europe and New England. There is nothing approaching the intimate interpersonal details we get from both Reichl and Greene. There is not even the sense of warmth felt between Julia and Paul Child in her memoir and biography.
   The last quarter of the book is devoted to recipes and stories surrounding those recipes, collected from the many culinary / literary luminaries who Ms. Jones edited or simply corresponded or befriended. I usually discount recipes in memoirs, as this is the last place one is likely to look when in search of a particular recipe, even if you remember that this work contained recipes. I will make a major exception in the case of this book, as I find the comments among some of the most writing in the book. I was especially attracted to the recipe I tried for sauce gribiche, a superb condiment to enliven leftover roasted meats, specifically my favorite lamb. And, the fact that the book contained eight other recipes for lamb warmed me to these recipes.
   Thus, if one has read many of the books I mentioned above, especially those telling the story of Julia Child, one may not find anything too exciting here. And, if you own several cookbooks you know and love, the recipes will be nice to read, but you may not find anything dramatic enough to lure you away from your favorites. It's a very nice read, but not as informative, titillating, or illuminating as some of its contemporary works.



4. Initially I found this memoir a disappointment. Ms. Jones has done as much as anyone alive to give us access to new culinary ideas, and it is fair to say that she championed the books that shaped our current gastronomic thinking, as well as editing them. Nonetheless, her account of all this can come across as superficial and chilly; the prose is well crafted, but it sounds as though she's talking about someone else, and not someone that she knows personally or cares about all that much. The book begins to sound more like a personal memoir when she introduces her country home, where there was emphasis on growing their own food as much as possible, and it comes alive when she talks about the loss of he husband of 50+ years, and how impossible it seemed to go on with something as simple as cooking dinner bcause they had always done it together. Her account of her grief and slow recovery is marvelous. She is never overly revealing but shows her humanity in a way that's both sympathetic and elegant. Her story of eating a beaver's tail, and how her account of it shocked and horrified readers, provides a fascinating counterpoint to her own gradual coming to life again after a loss that seemed catastrophic. As a fan of her late husband's food writing, I found myself thinking "Evan would have loved that story."



5. I received this book as a Christmas present. The author is a young American who falls in love with French cooking while living abroad. She finds a great guy in the last throes of his first marriage, and marries him for life (until he dies some decades later). They relocate from Paris to New England, and she goes on to a life in publishing--the first to discover Julia Child. Her memoir is laden with the great chefs of her time and the sumptuous meals they ate together. She and her husband also entertained often, both of them being adept in the kitchen. Recipes blend with her story, but remember that French cooking is her specialty. She writes this as a senior citizen, and her long and complex history with food shines through.

5 comments about The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir.

1. I am a big fan of Bill Bryson but was a little disappointed with the Thunderbolt Kid. Some of the eating habits were outright gross. Many of the stunts and shenanigans were not what I'd expect out of Bryson. Much of his wit was missing in this book. I had few if any laugh out loud moments through this book.



2. Bill Bryson is by far the funniest, most insightful, travel writer today.
   Here his travels are temporal, instead of spacial as he takes us back to his childhood - and what a childhood it was. His writing is so personal and open that you can't help but feel that this book was written specifically for you.
   
   
   It is both a very middle class North American tale, set in the fifties and a Calvin archetype (as in Calvin and Hobbes) visioneering a rich and adventurous landscape, that none of the adults could see.
   
   May The Thunderbolt Kid ride again.
   
   David Cale



3. This was a wonderful book, which also deviates here and there into politics and general history.
   
   I really came to enjoy Bryson's observations about how "the good old days" were also fraught with some significant downsides, which we've gratefully grown beyond.
   
   One carp: Bryson himself reads the audio edition, and he's not the most gifted reader I've ever heard. He's so laconic that the material really has to carry itself.
   
   H'mmm - maybe that's not such a bad thing after all...anyway, you'll enjoy this book in any form.
   
   PS - if you like this, you'll love the writings of Jean Shepard, too.



4. Bill Bryson's story of growing up in Iowa is a terrific book. I bought it in large print for my mother, who can read only large print, and who has difficulty hearing too, so this is the only way she could enjoy the book. She too adores Bill Bryson. We love his facility with language, and his many ways of making us laugh. He's a marvelous storyteller.



5. As always, Bryson is informative (the Thunderbolt Kid is really an excellent history of the 1950s and '60s in the U.S.) and wonderfully amusing (as in laugh out loud).
   
   He's also an excellent narrator of this audio book.
   
   Just one caveat. While the book is funny and interesting throughout, from my vantage point, at least, little about Bryson as a teenager was appealing: he essentially opted out of high school life, chose to spend minimal time with his family, was a petty thief, and starting at age 14 smoked like a chimney and drank a lot of alcohol. If you can't tolerate hearing about a kid like that, don't get this book.