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No comments about Recollections and Letters of General Robert E. Lee (Large Print Edition): Recollections and Letters of General Robert E. Lee (Large Print Edition).

5 comments about Full Tilt: Ireland to India With a Bicycle.

1. What a find! I'm amazed Dervla Murphy is not much better known. She has such an appealing vigor and zeal for adventure, combined with an acute eye for cultural observation and a rich capacity for description. Dervla takes one of the most audacious trips I've ever heard of, and undergoes some of the most harrowing and arduous of trials with non-showoff-y courage, such as when three heavy objects that turn out to be wolves fling themselves at her on a dark deserted road in the Balkans, or she is awakened in the middle of the night to find a "scantily dressed Kurd" standing over her bed. (In both instances her pocket pistol dispatched the dilemma without further ado.) Not only are these accounts riproaring, but she so warmly and affectionately describes the so-called "undeveloped" cultures she grows to know as she passes through remote stretches of Afganistan and Pakistan, that she quite awakens a First World reader to the narrowness of our outlook.



2. I first read this book in the sixties in grade school. I bought the reissued edition, rediscovering it by coincidence. Ms. Murphy's journey in the early sixties is, if anything, more fascinating to read today in light of the changes in the Middle East since she travelled there. Her independence and cheerful acceptance of different cultures is refreshing. This book was written prior to the 'me' decade, and while intensely personal, lacks the self-preoccupation that more recent writers practice.

   Additionally, unlike so many bicycle travelogues, this book doesn't focus on the author's bicycle! The focus remains on the journey, which renders it excellent reading for all, not just bicyclists.

   This is a timeless read and one that can be revisited with pleasure.




3. It was by accident I discovered this book, but how fortunate it was! Murphy did not just ride a bicycle from Ireland to India, impressive in itself, but she lived and laughed and played with the Prince's and Peasants she met through out her journey. Her descriptions of the people she meets and the ancient lands she cross are simple and magical.

   Some of her experiences seem to belong to fairy tales, other's remind's one of Arabian Nights, and at other times, it seemed Murphy was whisked into Tolkien's land of Middle Earth with fierce and gallant warriors on horseback.

   I will quote a couple of passages which highlight her sense of humor and observation.

   "...But it was worth it all to rise gradually from that fertile, warm valley to the still, cold splendour of the snow-line, where the highest peaks of the Hindu Kush crowd the horizon in every direction and one begins to understand why some people believe that gods live on mountain tops."

   "...when suddenly I came on the most unexpected sight-a playing field complete with twenty-two youths and a soccer ball. I know very little about soccer, but enough to know this is how it is not played. No one ever moved about trotting speed, no one ever tried to tackle anyone else, the referee never used his whistle, the ball was never headed and the two goalies sat crosslegged between the posts most of the time, looking abstracted. The real excitement from a spectator's point of view was caused by the fact that one side of the field had a sheer drop of 200 feet, so that the main object of all the players was to keep the ball from going into the ravine rather than to kick it between the posts."




4. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Murphy's humor, tenacity and bravery are awe inspiring. She's attacked by wolves (or possibly wild dogs), wakes up in a tent after going to sleep out in the open, fends off an attempted rapist and has many other thrilling adventures. In one instance, when there are nefarious characters about, she is advised to booby trap her inn bedroom's doorway with empty bottles. In her journal, she calmly notes that emptying bottles is the one thing she's really good at.
   
   I couldn't help feeling sad while reading this book. In 1965, when this book was published, most people were probably unfamiliar places like Kabul and Jalalabad. Now, of course, in the wake of the post-9/11 bombing of Afghanistan, Kabul is a household word. Turns out, that city was once breathtakingly beautiful, as well as the country around it. Murphy's trek takes her through Afghanistan at a time when the USSR and the US were vying for control of this country. The Russians were busy providing electricity and importing goods, while the Americans seemed to approach this ancient country with the intent to raze the traditional culture to the ground and replace it with a modern one. One wonders if, if both countries had never meddled with Afghanistan, there might never have been the Taliban? In any event, this book takes the reader back to a truly relevant experience of the not-so distant past.



5. This is an amazing book, by a wonderful author. I would highly recommend reading it.

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2 comments about My Life As a Spy (Ulverscroft Large Print Series).

1. Written by RAF veteran and former Cold War-era spy Leslie Woodhead, My Life as a Spy is a life story of the author's coming of age in trying times. Summoned to serve Her Majesty at the tender age of eighteen, Woodhead was trained in the Joint Services School for Linguistics on the East coast of Scotland, taught a course of total immersion in Russian, and posted to an ex-Luftwaffe base in Berlin, which still bore the marks of World War II. Serving as a clandestine informer amid the ruins of a city immersed in paranoia, Woodhead's true story tells of darkness, deception, imprisonment, brutal interrogation, and the harsh reality of daily life as a spy that was nothing like the fantasies of his boyhood. Highly recommended.



2. I read this book immediately after finishing another book which gave a very human and detailed description of the Joint Services School for Linguists, from its beginning to end, spanning the decade of the fifties. That book was called SECRET CLASSROOMS, written by Geoffrey Elliott and Harold Shukman, two other distinguished alumni of that so-called "school for spies." I found that book especially fascinating and an excellent primer on the JSSL. Woodhead's book, MY LIFE AS A SPY, was a much more personal kind of record, a story of a young British lad and how he became a man. Although Woodhead is several years my senior, the experiences all rang so very true, from his early years in which his parents' music shop sparked his interest in music, particularly American west coast jazz. But there's a bit of everything here - the early days of TV, the birth of rock and roll, the austerity of post-war England, and, of course, that dreaded rite of male passage - National Service. After enduring the initial terrors of basic training with its screaming in-your-face drill sergeants and other odd characters you meet in that oh-so leveling experience of military service (and, being an introspective only child, basic was probably a bit more of a shock to young Leslie than it might have been to someone from a large family - like me, for instance), our hero got lucky. He was picked for JSSL. Although Woodhead did reasonably well in his Russian studies at Crail, on a remote Scottish coast, he was restless and impatient with it all. He already had a place waiting at Cambridge, and he wanted his service time to be over. Later, he was often bored and unhappy in his "spy" work at RAF Gatow in Berlin, copying mostly routine and formulaic air-to-ground traffic. He tells of his first cautious trips into the intrigue-ridden divided city, including a depressing bus tour into the eastern Communist sector. Then, gradually gaining confidence, he ventures further and deeper into the city - often to music venues, to hear artists like the Modern Jazz Quartet or the Jazz West Coast Show. Even so, Woodhead chafes at what seems an endless chain of boring days, and jumps at the chance to finally take leave with a friend to Berchtesgaden and Salzburg where, "for a few days, the Cold War faded." But finally his "sentence" is completed. Back in England he is discharged -
   
   "I knew with a rush that I had never been as happy in my life. I had the summer ahead of me, I was going to Cambridge, I would learn to drive, I would sleep late, I would see how things stood with the girlfriend ... I was free."
   
   All those same feelings came rushing back to me when I read those words and recalled my own release from the army, back in the summer of '65. Woodhead's descriptions of military life are spot on. Equally intriguing is the last third of his book, when, nearly fifty years later, he retraces his path in many of those same places and reflects on his life and his time there and learns a bit more of "the big picture" of intelligence that was denied to him so many years ago. If you did your time in the service, particularly in military intelligence, then you will find much to relate to here. This is simply one heck of a good story from a JSSL graduate who went on to become a much acclaimed and award-winning documentary film-maker. Thanks, Leslie. - Tim Bazzett, author of Soldier Boy: At Play in the ASA

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5 comments about Johnny Cash: The Biography.

1. While he was never one of my favorite recording artists I simply could not resist the lure of "Johnny Cash: The Biography". Certainly anyone with an interest in the history of American popular music cannot deny that Johnny Cash would have to rank as one of the most fascinating figures of the past fifty years. He was the real deal who sang about life experiences that just about all of us could relate to. Author Michael Streissguth, who had previously penned "Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison: The Making of A Masterpiece" offers up an intimate portrait of this highly enigmatic artist who was beloved by generations of Americans. Americans had come to admire the man who had seemingly seen and done it all!
   I enjoyed "Johnny Cash: The Biography" for a couple of reasons. First of all, I had never read about Johnny's childhood nor was I aware of the circumstances that led him to Sam Phillip's Memphis Recording Service back in 1955. As a student of American popular music this book certainly helped to fill some missing pieces of the puzzle for me. Likewise, I appreciated learning more about Johnny Cash's entire recording career including his move to Columbia records in 1958 as well as his somewhat improbable but ultimately successful tenure at Rick Rubin's American Recordings label towards the end of his life. Understanding the kinds of material Johnny Cash was interested in recording helped to give me some real insight into the soul of this legendary performer. But "Johnny Cash: The Biography" covers so much more ground than simply his recording career. Michael Streissguth delves into much of Cash's personal life as well. His was a life of peaks and valleys, success and failure, personal torture and remarkable success. You will learn about his first marriage to Vivian and about his 40 year marriage to legendary country music pioneer June Carter. Pulling no punches, the auther presents heartbreaking accounts of Johnny's lifelong addiction to pills and the ramifications this had for both his family life and for his career as well. On a much more positive note, Streissguth also recalls the deeply religious and tender side of Johnny Cash that most folks rarely saw as presented through the eyes of his children and those who worked alongside him over the years. Indeed, it is hard to deny that Johnny Cash was an extremely complex individual.
   "Johnny Cash: The Biography" is an entertaining and well-written book that most readers will certainly enjoy. Those who are interested in the history of country music in particular or in the history of American popular music in general are sure to garner lots of new information from this one. This is a book that managed to hold my interest from cover to cover. Highly recommended!



2. Michael is an excellent writer. He leaves no stone unturned. I personally know how much research, time and many many miles went into this book.
   I have met with Michael a few times, and am amazed at how much he does know about Dad. He actualy told me about many things I DIDN'T KNOW!!
   
   This book is excellent. Thanks again Michael.
   xoxox Kathy



3. In classical literature, it was the Greeks who first expounded the tale of the hero with a tragic flaw. Aristotle wrote, that "[a] man doesn't become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall." In Michael Streissguth's "Johnny Cash: The Biography," we examine the life of a man, not a myth, who exemplified the Aristotelian morality play.
   
   Michael Streissguth is obviously a fan of Johnny Cash, the author of "Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison: The Making of a Masterpiece" and, like Marshall Grants, I Was There When It Happened: My Life with Johnny Cash" he seeks to praise while still giving an unvarnished account of the folk legend's struggles with addiction and the vagaries of a music career.
   
   In fact, Marshall Grant's book is quoted extensively. Where Grant is abrupt, even harsh, in his description of Johnny Cash's addictions, Streissguth is gentle. Where Grant describes Johnny Cash as a stumbling addict, chemically prevented from seeing the impact of his weaknesses on his family and friends, Streissguth portrays a man all too aware of "the root of his own downfall."
   
   Still, Streissguth does his best to soften the harsh realities of Cash's lifestyle and dependencies. It's not until page 217 that we learn of affairs Cash had in the 70's and 80's. And, even then, only in the most oblique of references.
   
   Streissguth is even forced to admit that the saintly June Carter-Cash is not above struggling with demons of her own; on page 218 he talks about "June's demands for the spotlight and her sensational spending that had become legendary..." Streissguth refuses to go the whole way and describe June's own struggles with addiction. Streissguth gingerly describes an entire Cash clan that fought addiction in one form or another.
   
   Despite all of these negatives, Streissguth gives the best illustrations of the true artist that Johnny Cash was. His descriptions of Cash's relationship with Rick Rubin are the finest I've ever read. They show how Johnny Cash's music rang true with an audience outside of the Nashville circuit. When you get to this phase of Cash's career, you would do well to read it while listening to "The Legend of Johnny Cash" - especially "Rusty Cage" and "I've Been Everywhere."
   
   Johnny Cash was simply an honest man among ordinary men. Who among us doesn't have a tragic flaw? For the vast majority of us simply struggling to get by day-to-day, Cash provides the anthem for our lives.



4. I bought this after reading the first chapter in Google Books. And I was disappointed.
   
   It has a strong start, discussing Cash's childhood without descending into the morass of pseudo-psychoanalysis so many biographies use today. But as another reviewer points out, this doesn't really go anywhere; he had a very difficult childhood, something I can relate to myself, but by the next chapter you're left wondering exactly what this has to do with anything.
   
   It goes fairly well up until his career takes off, at which point the author spends most of the book describing Cash's ever-present drug problems and their effect on the people around him. Yes, he was an addict, and based on the description of his childhood it's pretty easy to see why. I also know there was a human being in there too... yet from reading this I never got a feel for him.
   
   Cash never really seemed to hit bottom--or maybe he did, I just can't tell from reading this. The turning points in his life often seem to be covered in a paragraph or two, while page after page are devoted to drug-related stories and events.
   
   It feels loose and disjointed: vignettes from the people around him, the vague passage of time their only coherence. I kept wondering about obvious things which were never answered--like how did he spend his time when he wasn't writing songs? Like there's a story about him driving a tractor into a lake during a drug episode, and his "exotic animal farm" is mentioned when an ostrich broke his ribs... ok, but why? I feel these stories were often used merely to add interest for people with short attention spans and to add "drama".
   
   It seems the book's real intent is to dispell the myths about him (and get good reviews by playing the political correctness game) but it adds almost nothing of its own. And the most ironic part has to be when the author mentions something about the drug-obsessed media.



5. The book was in perfect condition. It was on my doorstep a day before the expected delivery date. I was very pleased! :-)

5 comments about There's Nothing in This Book That I Meant to Say.

1. This book is very funny. I could not put it down and finished the book so fast that I wanted more.
   
   Paula Poundstone presented a very popular stage comedy routine on the Bravo television channel. This book is an excellent extension of the stage routine. The book is even better than the Bravo television presentation.
   
   Read this book.



2. I love Paula Poundstone, I think she is one of the best female comics of our generation. I love her humor, her delivery - just the way her mind works. And I so admire her getting through her much-publicized rough patch with drinking, and losing her kids, etc. I totally ready to absolutely love this book. As it turns out...not so much.
   
   I just don't understand why she wrote the book the way she did. She has taken what to me seem eight random historical/cultural figures - Joan of Arc, Abraham Lincoln, Helen Keller, Charles Dickens, The Wright Brothers, Beethoven and Sitting Bull - and mushed up her story and humor with their stories. What's up with that?
   
   I have no problem with her stream of consciousness style, I expected it, as that is often how she performs. And when she writes about her life, family and general observations she's hilarious - but when she writes about those other people it's boring and meandering, barely making sense!
   
   Maybe it just went over my head and I'm missing something, but I can't recommend this book.



3. This book is an unusual mixture of hollywood tell-all, historical biography and stand up. But throughout, Poundstone is funny, charming and clever. Enjoyable to read.



4. I'm a great fan of Paula Poundstone, and have thoroughly enjoyed her televised comedy specials--and therein lies the problem. In this abridged reading of her book, she covers very little material that wasn't in her Bravo specials. Worse, her reading delivery is wooden and lacks the impeccable timing of her stand-up acts. All that said, this audio book is vintage Paula, and a pretty good companion for a long commute.



5. Weird, in a good way, and charming juxtaposition of biographies of famous people and Poundstone's meandering thoughts on everything from motherhood to... well, everything. Plenty of laugh out loud moments and some interesting insights into the author.