5 comments about Grayson.

1. A sweet story for any age. True, and the information given is stunning. Imagine swimming with a whale! Would be good to read aloud to a 9-12 year old, but I cry everytime with joy at the ending.



2. While listening to this tale as an audiobook, I was surprised to be sitting at the edge of my recliner! For a very simple premise, Lynne Cox crafted a plot with a lot of excitement.
   
   I was touched by the sense of communion between the human swimmer and the baby whale, each of them vulnerable and exposed.
   
   The communication and intelligence of the whales in this story, plus a mega-pod of dophins, made me think of the line, "Goodbye, and thanks for all the fish!" the title of Douglas Adams' fourth book in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. (Where Wonko the scientist posits that dolphins were the actual creators of planet Earth.)
   
   I now own Grayson in an audio format and as a hardcover book, and I consider it a treasure.



3. Grayson, by Lynne Cox is a wonderful concise book with lots to say. There are three different story threads running through it. The smaller thread is about a girl athlete with lots of will and determination, and the second is a nature story about the sea animals in southern California and the third thread is the most moving. It is an inspirational story about a girl tiring to help a young baby whale finds its mother. It is a story for all ages. I'm 38 and I loved it, bought one for my 1st edition collection, and I bought another for my younger ten-year-old sister.



4. The book grayson, a true life story of a then seventeen year old woman who encounters a baby gray whale in the Pacific near Long Beach, is a story that is poetically and so beautifully told it will linger, I guarantee, in the mind of the reader for a long time, if not forever. This book, about interspecies communication is so beautifully written that I have nothing but admiration for the writer and her exquisite sensitivity. It is a story that is deeply philosophical in nature as the writer describes metaphorically her maintenance of personal positivity and her own soul desire to communicate with this whale and its lost mother. Can we communicate non verbally, with each other, with other species? Read this book and ponder deeply. I recommend this and hope you love it as much as I did and do!



5. Reading "Grayson" is ....like Ms. Cox's 'Swimming to Antarctica" so wordy and stretched that the reader may give up before finishing. I did finish Grayson because I wanted to know the ending. I had even thought, when first reading, that I would give this book to my daughter who teaches Reading to fifth graders. But....I decided against it for the reason that I know they would love the first but really get bogged down before the final page. It's a great story but could have been condensed into perhaps 10 pages.

5 comments about Ava: My Story.

1. In addition to demonstrating a self-deprecating wit and a candor that is often surprising, even in an autobiography, in this memoir Ava Gardner conveys a warmth and genuineness that makes her (in my opinion) an instantly likable narrator. Then, the fact that the events of her life would have given enough material to make a great story even if she herself wasn't such an engaging storyteller.
   This book is tempered with irony. Ava's reflections on some of her greatest times are presented through a veil of bittersweet nostalgia. That her life was a sad one is evident; she details three failed marriages to some of the era's more notable celebrities/womanizers and her constant sense that her career path was accidental, and her eventual phase as recluse and expatriate. These events told from the perspective of an aging woman - one who seems to have been truly convinced that her fading (?) beauty is her only marketable asset create an exquisitely tragic heroine. Consistently smart and irreverent, Ava balances this obvious sadness and feeling of being misplaced with a stoic insistence that she's had "a hell of a good time." In all, her willingness to poke fun at herself and her open examinions of her personal weaknesses provide a refreshing counterpoint to the usual self-aggrandizement of the Hollywood auto-biography. I strongly recommend the book, if not for pure entertainment, for a compelling portrait devoid of literary pretensions.



2. This is an enjoyable, engaging memoir and while entertaining is also surprisingly sad. I knew, before reading the book, who Ava had married but had no idea how tumultuous were these relationships. As I've not read any other books about Ava Gardner, I can not tell whether this book's contents closely resemble truth but, frankly, I don't really care. I read autobiographies so I get a better sense of the author and in this case, Ava's wit, intelligence and humanity shine through. I certainly don't agree with the reviewer who says Ava painted herself as a goody-goody - that is the last thing she seems to do. This is a woman who, to me, has struggled with relationships, insecurities and addictions and still managed to enjoy and relish life - like many of us. If anything, I felt positive and connected to Ava for her candour! And, if, factually speaking, Ms. Gardner was not completely accurate in her own story, so what? I would rather read her story in her own words. The saddest thing to me was that she passed away at such a young age. I think "Impertinent" gives an excellent and articulate review and all I can say is read this book if you'd like to know about one of the most beautiful women in Hollywood.



3. I also was initially distracted by the country girl narrative ("and honey, let me tell you...") but settled into it. It's a good story and to me writing style is secondary when reading an autobiography.
   
   I have always had the impression that Ava was a man-eating femme fatale but this book cast her in a much more human and humble light. I did get the impression that she softened some stories or left some out entirely. I was touched by what she did reveal - her humble beginnings, painful shyness, lack of self esteem, and her deep love for Frank Sinatra. All in all, this story contained all the elations and tragedies you'd find in anyone's lifetime.
   
   It's a great read and I'd recommend it to anyone who would like to learn more about this beautiful star.



4. If you can imagine what Ava Gardner was like, then this book is a must. It reads just like you'd imagine it would. This is absolutely the best-of-the-best autobiography I have read to date. I have read Marilyn Monroe's and Maureen O'Hara's, and they weren't nearly as captivating. When I think of Ava Gardner, I use to think of sexuality and booze. Now after having read this book, I still think that. She has quite the sense of humor and makes numerous witty retorts in regards to her life and the studio system that she fervently disliked. This is most evident in her words on husbands Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw, and Frank Sinatra, and how they were in bed. Also, not to be ignored is her unique relationship with "the Aviator" himself, Howard Hughes. Ava is the only woman who could have turned him down, and gotten away with giving him a scar to remember her by. She also discusses her love of Spain, which made me want to visit the place instantly, even though I have yet to do so do to limited means (I don't have a job and still live with my parents - get the picture?). This is probably the best book I have ever read.



5. I thoroughly enjoyed this auto-biography by Ave Gardner. She really said what she thought. Her writing style seemed to be her true personality, since she was from rural N. Carolina. She was the definition of a "broad". She was a great beauty, but she seemed to definitely dwell on her looks. She may have thought she didn't have much else going for her. Having recently read Gene Tierney's autobiography, I noticed that difference between the two. Tierney was fabulously beautiful, but didn't mention her looks but a few times,(possibly because it was so obvious). Ava Gardner also drank heavily. I'm amazed she was able to keep her looks for being such a heavy drinker. But in her films, around the age of 40, when she should have still been gorgeous, not having had children, she began to have a droopy face. That had to be the result of all that alchohol. It saddened me that she felt the need to abort the child she concieved with Frank Sinatra, even though they were married! It's no wonder she died a lonely woman.

5 comments about The Pontiff in Winter: Triumph and Conflict in the Reign of John Paul II (Random House Large Print (Cloth/Paper)).

1. A well-written book, which can be appreciated and understood by
   Catholics and non-Catholics alike. (For those who seem to think
   that the only criticism of the late Pope comes from those who
   don't understand the Catholic Church, let me state here that I
   am a practising, progressive Catholic).
   
   There were no great surprises for me - I've long been concerned
   at the high-handedness of Pope John Paul and the Vatican Curia;
   this book confirmed my opinions while supplying a lot of
   background information explaining, as far as anyone can, how
   and why John Paul acted as he did.
   
   Probably the most appalling aspects of John Paul's pontificate -
   to a liberal thinker - were the hypocrisy of encouraging
   rebellion against left-wing regimes while clamping down on
   any protest against right-wing rulers; and the encouragement
   of tale-telling and denunciation of anyone who might even
   vaguely be suspected of harboring opinions not in full accord
   with the pope's own views - a mindset worthy of both the Nazi
   and Communist regimes under which he himself had suffered.
   Cornwell details many such instances of Vatican repression.
   
   There is another major act of hypocrisy - the branding of
   homosexuality as "intrinsically evil", and the refusal of
   needed pastoral care for religious homosexuals at the same time
   that the Vatican has done its best to put the issue of priestly
   paedophiles to one side, and has to this day failed to issue
   either a free-ranging enquiry or to apologise to the victims.
   Both issues are explored in the book, although it could be
   argued they deserve a book of their own.
   
   I suspect that the full extent of the damage done to the Church
   by John Paul II won't be fully realised until the Pontificate
   after the current one, when the only choices for a new Pontiff
   will have to be made from the ranks of those ultra-conservatives
   appointed as Bishops under the late Pope, and the Church will
   find itself hopelessly outdated and irrelevant. Cornwell sees
   clearly the already huge divide between the Vatican hierarchy
   and the Church on the ground, and it's unlikely that the
   division will be healed by Benedict XVI or his successor. Far
   more likely is the scenario that under a succession of arch-
   conservatives, engineered by John Paul, the imortance of the
   Catholic Church will be increasingly diminished in a world that
   is changing faster than anyone could have envisaged at the
   start of John Paul's reign.
   
   This is a valuable book, honest and forthright - if anything,
   it is kinder than it might have been.



2. "The Pontiff in Winter" is eighty percent hagiography. It glosses over Pope John Paul's culpability for 20 million AIDS deaths, citing his opposition to disease-preventing condoms in one place and the statistical consequences of that policy elsewhere, but leaving it to the reader to make the connection. But Cornwall does quote the UN Secretary General's assertion that the current Roman Catholic theology is one that favors death rather than life.
   On the issue of Karol Wojtyla's much-touted ventures into ecumenism, Cornwall leaves no doubt that the only ecumenism the pope was willing to consider was the other side's unconditional surrender. To Wojtyla, all non-Catholics were in a "gravely deficient situation," and Lutherans and other Protestants were "not Churches in the proper sense."
   To the Vatican hierarchs currently dominating (some might say enslaving) the world's half-billion Catholics, right and wrong are whatever the hierarchs say they are. When four bishops denounced the archbishop of Vienna for his child molesting, a bishop from the Wojtyla faction told a TV station that the four would "roast in Hell." When Boston's cardinal Law covered up the crimes of pedophile priests, the pope initially ordered him not to resign, and later appointed him to an influential sinecure in Rome. And Wojtyla personally suppressed reports that priests in 29 African countries were infecting nuns with AIDS, and had impregnated more than thirty of them.
   Previous carefully censored media reports of the "third secret" prophecy by the surviving perpetrator of the Fatima hoax were consistent with the alleged prophecy being newly composed for political purposes. Cornwall's printing of the entire prophecy supports the interpretation that it really was composed in 1944, since it was so far removed from reality that even National Inquirer would have been reluctant to claim so many mistakes by a "psychic" as a hit. As Gary Wills wrote in the New York Review of Books, "Either the Virgin's crystal ball was clouded in 1917, or Lucia's imagination was overstimulated in 1944."
   As a virtual insider, with almost unrestricted access to the Vatican hierarchy, Cornwall was able to see for himself that, for at least the last five years of his papacy, John Paul II was less than compos mentis. After Wojtyla met with the archbishop of Canterbury and other Anglican dignitaries, he asked an aide, "Tell me, who were those people?" Cornwall concludes that, "John Paul was at best only partly in control, either of his own mind or the decisions of his close associates."
   Despite practising-Catholic Cornwall's attempt to write a charitable and balanced account of John Paul's pontificate, it is difficult for anyone to read this book with his brain in gear and fail to conclude that, as long as tyrannical popes are able to appoint the oligarchs who will choose their successors, the Roman Catholic Church is going to remain the most oppressive, totalitarian religious tyranny on earth, with the Scientologists and Moonies not even close contenders.



3. Cambridge scholar George Holmes analyzes the long reign of Pope John Paul II, the former Karol Wojtyla. He discusses the pope's accomplishmnets and his views on controversial issues including birth control and abuses by the clergy. The author seems to be making his case for critizing the centralization of papal power. Though he does show us both the good and the bad affects the policy of this pope has had on the world. We see him as pope and a person. The book is well-written, but does not answer any questions. I am pleased I read a library copy. But I do suggest you read it and make up your own mind.



4. It's one thing to disagree with the Pope it's another to write a mean spirited pack of half truths. I bought this assumeing it was a biography of the Popes final years. WRONG it is an angry polemical agenda driven anti-JPII book. Waste of my $.



5. I am thoroughly enjoying the audio CD of the Pontiff in Winter by John Cornwell. The reader, John Lee, speaks the narrative eloquently so it is easy to listen to while driving in the car. The story describes little known facts about Pope John Paul II as well as other Popes and important Vatican figures, both positive and negative. It exposes and discusses timely events such as the Priest Pedophile scandal and other political news and events that are rarely addressed in public. It is interesting to hear a behind-the-scenes version.

No comments about Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (Large Print Edition).

1 comments about My Losing Season: The Point Guard's Way to Knowledge (Random House Large Print) (Random House Large Print (Paper)).

1. Although I'm not a basketball player or even a sports fan, I couldn't put this book down. The book is really about the coming of age of a young man, as seen through the experience of an intense basketball season at a military academy. The writing is full of wonderful metaphors, and smooth and easy to read. The emotional journey--like other Conroy books--is intense. The difference here is that the experience is so real. He's describing real people, and the narrator is Conroy himself. The depiction of what goes on at The Citadel may shock you with its brutality. Its amazing that Conroy can recreate his senior year in college so clearly thirty years later. Thoroughly enjoyable.

5 comments about Little Britches: Father and I Were Ranchers.

1. This is a wonderful look into how life was... I found myself thinking about the work load on children back then and thinking "and I worry that unloading the dishwasher and keeping their bath clean is too much to ask?!?" Well not any more. A great "classic"



2. I just finished this book tonight. I laughed and cried and couldn't put it down. Every family in todays society needs to read and reread this book as it is all about character and goodness. I am a better person because I read this book. I will read it to my kids immediately!



3. Oh I am speechless. This is a book full of grace, character, This is the writers real life boyhood and apparently thought he could make a good book out of it. Boy was he right! I could read this book about three hundred times and then maybe think about putting it down! This man had such a life as a kid! man you would think it was fictional but when you know its not it makes you well... Speechless!



4. This book was read to our class when I was in the 6th grade. I loved it! When our kids were growing up, I read all of the series to our kids as we traveled. Because I am a speed reader, sometimes I would "read" a funny part and start laughing, before my out loud reading would be there. Who would think that modern-day kids would be entranced with stories about early 1900 kids, but they were. Ralph Moody caught the imagination as we could see this kid getting into situations before he was there. These are marvelous. Every child in America should read them. This is the stuff of the sturdiness, resiliency, & character we come from. Adversity happens, it is happening right now...the question is can we face it with strength and imagination. Laugh until you cry. Love greatly. This is a splendid series.



5. This book, like the Little House books, gives a true look at what life was like in the past. I was amazed at what such a seemingly young boy was able to do. Kids really did grow up a lot faster then.
   
   The story tells about farming, raising cattle, cowboys (real cowboys), making do, being neighborly, dealing with not-so-neighborly people, taking responsibility for your actions, and so much more.
   
   The author tells a story that is believeable and satisfying. This is a great read-to-yourself or read-aloud. Please note there is some 'cowboy language' but nothing horrible and you can easily substitute other words in their place.

5 comments about Mornings on Horseback.

1. One of McCullough's early books, 'Mornings on Horseback' may surprise readers more accustomed to the author's definitive treatments of Harry Truman or John Adams. The intentions of 'Mornings on Horseback' are slightly more modest than either of those books: it documents only Theodore Roosevelt's early life and does not attempt to be the last word as a biography of this great American president. And yet, it is no less a book for that. McCullough deftly traces the young TRs transformation from a sickly, introverted child of a wealthy New York family to a robust, confident adult ready to tackle the vast promise of America. Using family letters and diaries--and drawing on his incomparable knowledge of American history and culture--McCullough brings TR to life as a vivid, compelling, and surprisingly poignant figure. A great read....One only wishes that McCullough had gone on to do a full multi-volume TR opus. (Perhaps there's still time.) Anyway, if you like McCullough, you'll love this book. Read it!



2. I thought I knew much about Theodore Roosevelt before I read this book, but learned even more about him and find that he is an inspiration, the way he got over all the troubles that he had as a young child.
   A very good book. Entertaining and informative.



3. Overall, not bad with some entertainment and it got better in the second half. Won't read it again though..



4. I NEVER RECIEVED THIS BOOK. It was returned to sender as undeliverable. The reason is the address was to my winter residence for which I have a mail transfer through the post office with mail going to my summer address and the post office would not transfer anything except fist class mail and I didn't know that when I placed the order. I will have to order it again after October first.



5. This book given to my brother, a history buff, who did not like it. He raved about 1776 by the same author.

1 comments about Fred Astaire: A Wonderful Life : A Biography.

1. I found this book to be a very in depth look at the life of Fred Astaire. It's a must for any fan. However, after reading his autobiography, this book doesn't have the same amount of humour and charm. For a biography, it's great.

5 comments about A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton (Thorndike Press Large Print Basic Series).

1. I found this book to be one of the best written about Hillary Clinton. Carl Bernstein gives a fair and unbiased view of the Senator of New York. It has helped me decide who I will voting for in the presidential election.



2. I bought this book because, as a former strong supporter of the Clintons through all of their thicks and all of their thins, I was alarmed at how angry I am becoming now at their current behavior in the primaries.
   
   It was described as "sympathetic," and I was hoping to find things there to admire in order to take a more moderate view of her and what seemed to me to be an almost pyschopathic campaign designed (at worst) to bring down the Party and or (even at best) to position herself to be the candidate in 2012 by destroying the man who might win in 2008.
   
   That didn't happen. I became more frightened than I was before of what might occur if she is elected president.
   
   There is instance after instance of REALLY bad judgment on her part (for example, when the 1994 loss of congress (considered to be partly due to the highhanded way she treated members of congress and others) forced her to back off from her role as Bill's main advisor, she turned the job over to (guess who?) DICK MORRIS.
   
   And she threatened Bill Bradley and Pat Moynihan with dire consequences if they even dared to question her healthcare plan. Then, she refused promising-looking compromises with Republicans that might have given us at least some kind of viable plan. And we have gone almost a decade and a half now with NO PLAN. Bernstein makes a strong point about her refusals to compromise and her arrogance about her own positions being above criticism. Can we really afford 8 years of that.
   
   The scariest part for me was the account of how she took charge of the "bimbo erruptions" by trying to paint Bill's mistresses as "stalkers" so as to dilute the possible effects of eye-witness accounts from people who had seen them together. It is hard for me to believe that feminists aren't disturbed by this bit of doberman-like behavior.
   
   The book is very interesting as a case study of an ambitious flawed woman who has expoxied herself to the fortunes of an equally ambitious, equally flawed man.
   
   But there was NOTHING in it that made me want to live throught 8 more years of wondering when the next shoe was going to drop and questioning how many of my doubts I would have to repress in order to defend them. Again.



3. Her US presidential campaign for the 2008 election turned out to be a disaster for her, simply because a dark-horse (Barack Obama) ran much faster than she could. However, she will not give up her life dream. I am sure she is now gearing-up for the 2016 election where this "dark horse" would no longer run after the presumed successful two terms of his US presidency at White House. She could greatly contribute to his cabinet, serving as his VP (vice-president) or Secretary of State or Health with her great expertise. So I trust this 2008 book would be very useful for readers who would follow her foot steps beyond the 2008 election.



4. Hillary is hard to hate. She is also hard to take. We owe this author and now Mr. Obama for exposing Hillary more fully than we ever thought possible. By golly, she can't hide now. The primary season seems so prolonged and such a waste of money but in some weird way, it works. It shakes the candidates down, shakes them up, and shows them for who they really are. I have never been a fan, but I know that many admirers finally saw her for what she is. I happen to have some compassion and a little sympathy for her, but I can well see that our nation has been very lucky indeed to escape her projected presidency. Much is due to this biography, all well-known facts, but as collected here by an admirer, we see how clumsy and arrogant this woman really is. What an incompetent woman. Isn't it hilarious that she has tried to run as an experienced professional; here we see her as the ham-fisted bully she is.



5. Hillary Rodham Clinton's story is both fascinating and impressive. The fact that the renown journalist Carl Bernstein chose to write it, is telling. It's obvious in reading it that Bernstein is no fan of Hillary's, though he begrudgingly tries to portray her fairly. At times he is schizophrenic in his accusations and modest bits of back-handed praise.
   
   O.K.,I'm pro-Hillary and Bernstein is not. This is no paen to the Senator-and-former-first-lady-who-would-be-President, but it is a worthwhile book because of its scope and because of the author's credentials.
   
   Overall, A Woman in Charge is a good, if harsh biography of an amazing woman. The facts speak for themselves, and Hillary's intelligence, integrity, productivity and fortitude shine through.

2 comments about The Imperial Rockefeller: A Biography of Nelson A. Rockefeller.

1. This was a very good writing of the life story of Nelson A.
   Rockefeller. This book tells you of the wealth that Rockefeller was raised in. It then takes him to adulthood. His years of government service are well covered by the author. His four terms as the Governor of the state of New York are documented. His term as Vice-President of the United States is also in this
   book. His being dropped from the Republican ticket is also told
   in detail in this book. Rockefeller's life is well covered in this book. His service is unquestioned. You will also notice that
   Rockefeller was the force that brought several good people to government service. Buy this book and read it. You will not be
   dissapointed.



2. Persico was Nelson Rockefeller's speechwriter for over a decade, and he sheds an even handed light on the former governer and Vice president. While it isn't always flattering, it strives to be fair. Moreover, Persico wrote the tome with a voice that most readers can relate to, which is an understandable awe at the vast resources of the Rockefeller family, and how the fortune is almost the rosetta stone of modern philanthropy. Beyond that, the book is an observation at the brilliance, generousity, obtuseness, egocentricity, & exasperating proclivities that made the late governer such an enigmatic figure. 90% of the material is from his election to governer onward, so you won't get much of his upbringing, but you'll have ample insight of those years to give the later years context. You'll see how his governership shaped NY State today, for better or worse. A very worthwhile read if Nelson or the Rockefellers interest you.