No comments about The Time of the Thunderer.

1 comments about Heroes.

1. 'Heroes' was Joe McGinniss's return to the publishing fray after 'The Selling Of The President 1968' made him bestselling sensation in his twenties. It was panned at the time, viewed as self-indulgent and narcissistic. Well, it sure ain't 'Selling 2', and it's easy to understand why many readers didn't like it. But this is actually a masterpiece of confessional journalism. Joe, knocked sideways by the success of his first book, goes on a search for America to find out what a hero is, and whether the hero still exists. His journey turns into a journey into himself. Yeah, I know it sounds like it's going to be cornball self-discovery time. Er, no. The picture McGinniss paints of himself is of a man realising who he is and despising what he has become: a philandering, abusive, egocentric, drinker. He conceals none of this: he offers up the facts about his life, and about what he is trying to do, as if in a confessional. He offers the reader a chance to judge (and how many authors, really, are honest enough to do that? Put it this way: Dave Eggers would never have dared bare so much of his soul in 'A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius') and does not flinch from the verdict you return. It's criminal this book is out of print.

1 comments about Wages.

1. Armstrong is a terrific writer and he has seen the whole capitalist system from the wrong end of the rabbit cages. His story of having worked for a living since he was a young teen in provincial Farmtown, BC is truly apocalyptic; it's an epic, almost Homeric catalogue of slights, injuries, mishaps, horrid bosses, substandard working conditions, insulting and inhuman treatment, virtual slavery, and he argues skillfully that this is what all of us have to eat every day of our lives.
   
   Armstrong's mom used to sigh about how there's always too much month left over at the end of a cheque. Ain't that the truth! Her boy John wasn't raised to suffer fools gladly, but a man's got to have some sort of job, and John tried them all, cleaning up in a giant rabbit hutch (a job truly worthy of Dante's 9th circle of hell), sorting out "adult movies" to make sure they violated only US standards, not the rather different Canadian ones, working in a body shop with morons who were sure they could score with some high class women if only they installed a top of the line muffler in their car--but they're totally delusional losers. Armstrong points out that the system turns all of us into losers, yet if it's a call to action, it's one delivered with a knowing wit and a sympathetic, understanding lack of pretension.
   
   Even despite his minor fame as a rocker in the bustling Western Canada scene of the late 1970s and early 80s, Armstrong (author of an earlier book on his misadventures on the music scene) soon found himself a prisoner of bank loans and extended credit, the sort that turn you either to bankruptcy or "going postal." "Now that we had a basement," he writes, "we got another loan and bought a used washer and dryer. I felt like Pinocchio--I was a real human boy and like the rest of them I was to up to my assin debt." Armstrong's strongest vitriol he reserves for the editors and readers of the alternative weeklies that employed him when, not having any other training or experience, he turned to journalism to make his payments. There's a New Grub Street going on and, to hear him tell it, John Armstrong was Sergeant Grub. It's a funny, coruscating book, and if the bosses knew what was between these two covers, they would go to unheard of lengths to shut down feisty, independent New Star Books, even if it meant dipping every extant copy of WAGES, and every inch of John Armstrong's tattered flesh, into industrial strength battery acid, turn them all into a few burps and bubbles of quick dissolve. If you value freedom and social justice and self determination, gang, then get it while you can.

No comments about Annenbergs.

5 comments about Lake Effect.

1. Very interesting, perceptive, and often funny writing style. Cohen can write "thumbnail sketches" of people and sitations as well as anyone I've read lately. (His short riff on a summer of bad jobs is a good example, wherein he sums up his bad bosses in a sentence or two, and you still "get" what kind of people they are.) In short, highly recommended.



2. As a graduate of New Trier High School, I feel that this book did a wonderful job illustrating some of the feelings I had during High School. I thought Cohen's writing was captivating and entertaining, and I am very interested to read his other books. "Lake Effect" is a must read!



3. The book recounts the author's years growing up in the 1980s in Glencoe, a Chicago suburb, and subsequently his student years in New Orleans, but really centres on his best friend Jamie. It is evocative of the period and full of memorable imagery. Jamie is an extraordinary and delightful character, and the remarkable platonic friendship he and the author Rich enjoy is beautifully recounted. This is a book which repays careful reading, not one to be hurried. It reveals much insight, and while the end is far from negative, I experienced a feeling of great sadness and yet tremendous warmth as the book drew towards its conclusion. A thoroughly rewarding book, highly recommended.



4. Rich Cohen is a very-very good writer. This book is a bitter-sweet memoir of him growing up. I was surpized to find out what kind of kid he was. As usual, Rich is superb at making his characters so alive that they seem a part of your past also. Here is proof that one doesn't have to be from the Midwest or from the 70s to enjoy the book! It reminded me of Catcher in the Rye, except it's good to know that the kid turned out all-right in real life. Reading this book was a pure delight, although it is sad at times.



5. Rich Cohen's 'Lake Effect' is great literature for me for a number of reasons:
   
   . It unassumingly transported me to Glencoe Illinois, the town in which i grew up and the town in which I came of age - at the same ages Cohen covers in the story.
   
   . The story focuses on Cohen's friends, and yet conveys the author's deepest feelings and concerns without his wearing them on his sleeve.
   
   . I couldn't put the book down! It was a great read! And at the end of the book I came away with a feeling that I'd been carried on a ride through Cohen's most intimate teen-aged years, years that, for me, had been critical towards forming my own self-definition.
   
   . He conveyed a clear picture of the folks on whom he focused in the book's text.
   
   
   I highly recommend this beautiful book to all, and envy them the journey on which they'll be setting out. It won't be a lengthy one - I finished the book within three days, partially because, as noted above, I just couldn't put it down. But I assure potential readers that the trip along the author's route will be a memorable and pleasant one.

1 comments about A Matter of Opinion.

1. A riveting tale of the world of opinion magazines. Not for everyone, perhaps, but if you have ever been interested in what it takes to publish a magazine, this book portrays it well. But the real selling point is that it's beautifully written. He's funny, clever, bright, and charming. You get a serious look at his life as well as his work and it's for this reason that the book is excellent.

5 comments about Fifty Acres and a Poodle : A Story of Love, Livestock, and Finding Myself on a Farm.

1. Told in first person, with lots of humor, but a deep side as well. The big questions come to mind as this 30's something gal consideres a move from city dweller to farm hand, from girl friend to wife. Causes one to ponder about the meaning of love, life and friends. Well written, enjoyable story.



2. Fifty Acres & A Poodle is about the author Jeanne Marie Laskas' dreams of farm living. She wants to get away from the urban way of life and move to a place with beauty and fresh air. She feels there is something missing from her life. She takes a drive one day and spots her dream place. She goes through doubts and fears but finally decides to go for her dream.
   
   She and her boyfriend Alex move into the farmhouse, fix it up, get engaged and later married. They end up with a horse and a mule too! Not to mention they end up with some great friends.
   
   More than the basic story, I found this about the author's search for God, her true self and a live filled with love. She wanted to love and be loved. Those were the very things she felt were missing in her life and she found them at her farm. I found myself identifing with Ms. Laskas through much of the book.
   
   If you like memoir-type stories that are comical, honest, soul searching and about animals this book will not disappoint you. Invest in the hardcover as it's one book you probably will not want to part with after reading it.



3. I love this book and this author, I bought her second book and enjoyed it as well.



4. I heard about this book some time ago and finally ordered it. Once I began reading it, I just couldn't put it down. It was laugh-out-loud funny. I so enjoyed acoompanying the author as she lived her fantasy life on a farm. Don't we all wish we could run way to another life? Her description of her experiences were hilarious. I have recommended this book to many of my friends and intend to give copies of it as gifts. I especially loved her reference to the poodle as a "standard dog, not one of those little yappy things." Very funny!



5. Hi. I liked this story. The writer did a great job of telling it. One problem. The main character repeatedly uses the word "Jeezus" as a cuss word. Like if it's spelled diffently God won't know. It ruined the whole book for me.

2 comments about Do You Remember?: The Whimsical Letters of H. L. Mencken and Philip Goodman.

1. The discovery of a "new" book of H. L. Mencken's writing is always a special pleasure for those of us who love the old grouch and his work. This particular book, however, is something of an oddity. Anyone who has read much Mencken will be familliar with the style; from the scurrilous asides he liked to sprinkle into his narratives. In his published writing they served as a condiment, adding a scandalous spice to accounts of Political Conventions and the like. Here they are the whole meal, and it can become something of a muchness.

   The subtitle "The Whimsical Letters..." is somewhat misleading. Whimsy has overtones of gentility, like two little old ladies exchanging stories about the faries that live in their gardens. Here we have two old so and so's raking up scandal in the "Old Neighborhood"; indulging in vulgarity, innuendo, and (had the subjects of their discourse been real) slander.

   Fans of Mencken (and, presumably, of Goodman) will probably enjoy the book, although it is not a new Newspaper Days or Prejudices. Non fans should probably avoid it until they are familliar with Mencken and his world. This is not a good introduction.




2. A beautiful book, nicely edited with notes so that you can get the obscure references, and funny--nay, uproarious--impromtu tall tales. Mencken and Goodman knowingly comment on the goings-on of all-too-human folk, with Olympian and sunlit wit and detachment. If you like to read Mencken, don't miss this one.

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

No comments about Making It Perfectly Clear.