5 comments about Anybody Can Do Anything.

1. I discovered Betty MacDonald when I was about twelve years old, after checking The Egg and I out of the Carmichael Branch library here in Sacramento, about 22 years after it was first published. My parents had mentioned that the egg ranch Betty lived on with her first husband in the 1920s, which she writes about in The Egg and I, was located some miles from the place where we lived in Washington state, in the late 1950s. Furthermore, they had actually taken a day trip with friends to look at the old place, sometime after the book and the movie of the same name came out in the 1940s.

   This familial connection, however faint, to an old, famous book and the movies it inspired, piqued my childish mind, and I eagerly started reading about life on a chicken ranch on the Olympic Penninsula. I fell in love with Betty's easy, friendly, hysterically funny, down-to-earth yet somehow elegant prose, and immediately checked out her other autobiographical books: The Plague and I, Anybody Can Do Anything, and Onions In The Stew.

   In all of her autobiographical books save Onions In The Stew, Betty uses the first chapter to presage her theme by describing her experiences as a child in a large, boisterous family, in loving and extremely funny detail. In Anybody Can Do Anything, Betty describes life with her family and her two young daughters, Anne and Joan, in Seattle after she has left her husband and the egg ranch behind. The Depression is on, and Betty, now a single mother, struggles with her large and interesting clan to make ends meet, somehow finding a lot of laughs and funny adventures, often with her exuberant sister Mary, the inspiration for the book, along the way. Anyone who is interested in what life was like in Seattle in the 1930s, in witty character descriptions, and in a personal glimpse of how families coped with the "Great Depression", will find this book fascinating, not to mention frequently hilarious.

   Betty, I miss you and the way you used to make me laugh out loud--I was sad when I finished reading Onions In The Stew for the first time and then realized it was the last autobiographical book you wrote: the tuberculosis finally caught up with you in 1958, when I was only four years old, still living in Washington, not far from your home on Vashon Island. I re-read your books many times as I grew up, even visited Vashon Island, and often wished I could have met you and your family. It's silly, but I've always felt a sense of loss at never having known you, because I am sure you must have been a marvelous friend. Your sense of humor had a profound effect on me, and inspired me in my earliest writing attempts. It's been many years since I've read your books, but I've never forgotten your irrepressible, bona-fide funniness. Wherever you are, thank you!




2. It's just so heartening to know that others love Betty MacDonald's books as much as I do. I've been giving Anybody Can Do Anything as my female gift book of this year.



3. My husband is one of Betty's nephews.All of the sisters had an incredible wit about them - probably because of their mother Sidney Bard. She did a wonderful job raising her children with out her beloved husband Darcy. It's too bad the children and grandchildren didn't learn lessons from Betty's books. She would be sad to see the way the family turned out.



4. This book is hard to find, so if you get the chance, snap it up!
   This is a hilarious account of the author's life post-"Egg & I."
   Betty moves from the chicken ranch back to her family's home in Seattle.
   Sister Mary, undaunted by the fact that Betty has no experience, eagerly launches Betty's business career and social life.
   The mishaps that ensue are absolutely hilarious.
   Skillfully written, this book makes the Depression a laugh riot.
   BUY IT!
   I only wish that Betty had written more books.



5. we get the story of what she and the children did with themselves.
   
   Her father had been a mining engineer, and although he died fairly young he had been able to save quite a bit; her mother had come from a 'good' East Coast family--not REALLY rich, but apparently quite well off. Betty and her siblings had grown up in large houses with music and dance lessons. However, the Great Depression reduced the family's portfolio to wastepaper. The children had never been taught to actually *do* anything, and actually going out to work for a living was something that they (especially the daughters) had never thought that they would have to do.
   
   The story of how they scrambled to make ends meet during the 1930s would have been grim, but the Bard family despises self-pity above all other faults, and Betty is able to find humor in any situation.
   
   After women having to work to survive during the 1930s, and having to work in the 1940s when all the men were off to war, is it any wonder that the women of this generation and their daughters wanted to retreat into domesticity during the 1950s?

5 comments about One Man's Meat.

1. Understanding E.B. White is not an easy task. He was a reserved man, very straightforward in his writing and simple in nature. However, White found that he was able to express himself with his writing, and none of his books is a more direct window into his soul than "One Man's Meat." Written over the course of White's later years of living on a Maine farm, this book contains witty accounts of geographic novelty, reminiscences on the promise of youth, and powerful insights into the little things in life that can make all the difference. No reader of E.B. White can gain a full knowledge of what the man was all about without having thoroughly digested this book.



2. This collection of essays is such a fine book; it deserves a much better commentary than it currently has here. And given the times we live in, its subject matter is particularly timely for American readers -- the period of history leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor and the early years of the war effort -- all told from the point of view of a thoughtful writer on a small farm in Maine.

   White had moved there with his wife and young son from New York, where he'd been writing for The New Yorker, and took up country living, turning his attention to the annual round of the seasons, farm work, the nearby seaside, and the company of independent rural people. Most of the essays in this collection were written and published monthly in Harpers from July 1938 to January 1943. In them, there is White's awareness of the ominous threat of fascism emerging in Europe, as well as the vulnerability that Americans felt as they found themselves facing prolonged armed conflict with powerful enemies. These were dark days, and they provide a constant undertone in these otherwise upbeat essays about rural and small-town life.

   And they are upbeat, celebrating the pleasures and gentle ironies of daily life with a few side trips into the world beyond -- the birth of a lamb, paying taxes, farm dogs, hay fever, raising chickens, Sunday mornings, radio broadcasts, civil defense drills, a visit to Walden pond, a day at the World's Fair, and unrealistic Hollywood portrayals of the pastoral. There is also here his famous essay "Once More to the Lake."

   In many ways, the world he writes about is gone forever. But it's a world whose spirit remains at the heart of the national identity -- participatory democracy, individualism, citizenship, self-discovery, and self-reliance. Reading these essays, while they are often about seemingly trivial matters, you sense White's deepening faith in the American Experiment -- a belief in America as a work in progress.

   And, of course, there is the famous White style, both simple and elegant. Its language, sentence structure, and movement of thought convey both sharpness of mind and generosity of spirit, in a manner that looks and sounds easy, but it is very hard to imitate. I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the WWII homefront, the essay as a literary form, and a curiosity about rural life before farm subsidies and agribusiness.




3. Once upon a time i belonged to a book club. This was one of our choices. I have been trying to pull out fragments of memory. What i recall most fondly is that E.B. White's observations were tinted with a certain innocence. Why did we become so jaded? The last 50 years have brought along a heightened level of cynicism, and it was refreshing to read a grown man's slightly naïve comments.

   At the same time, after a while I became a bit bored with the simplistic remarks of life in the country. My own shortcoming, not the book's.




4. For the grown ups who enjoyed reading Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little to their kids. This is the best clearist writing by the master of the short essay. He gives us pride in the values he holds and lives. A national treasure.



5. E. B. White's One Man's Meat is an ode to life in the country, a reflection of the author's unease with various aspects associated with modern life, and a prelude to the years of "the second war for democracy." The book contains the essays written during White's five years with Harper's Magazine (1938 - 1943), a time White referred to as "one of the most productive periods of my life."
   
   Despite his move to Maine, White was not, in the strict sense, a farmer: instead, he owned what he often called "a private zoo," an indulgence he maintained because he liked to "play with animals." As White points out in "The Practical Farmer," farming is "about twenty percent agriculture and eighty percent mending something...a glorified repair job," and the would-be farmer is merely "a handyman with a sense of humus."
   
   Some essays - "Walden" and "Once More to the Lake" - are well known. Others not so well known - "Report," "Town Meeting," "Compost," and "My Day" - give a wonderfully individualistic view of the country and of country life. "The Wave of the Future" and "The World of Tomorrow," on the other hand, show White at his critical and intellectual best. In addition, some of the remaining essays reflect White's unease with the coming war, but always in ways that are arresting, intensely human, sometimes humorous, and always accessible.
   
   In short, One Man's Meat, along with Essays of E. B. White, is White's tour de force. No one reading these essays is ever quite the same afterwards.

1 comments about Ava's Men: The Private Life of Ava Gardner.

1. i am not a big fan of the author's especially after the book on grace kelly but her book on ava gardner was very engaging...she tells of some very interesting stories, especially the one of the time in africa when they were making mogambo and she lifted the natives cloth

No comments about Threads of Time: The True Story of a Bedford Family (Reminiscence).

5 comments about Becoming Laura Ingalls Wilder: The Woman Behind the Legend.

1. I purchased this book to read about how Laura Ingalls Wilder became the celebrated author of the Little House series of books. I was very disappointed, therefore, that this uninsightful, dry, fragmented, and repetitious tome read more like a bad history book with too many statistics, facts and figures, rather than character analysis, leaving me with no more knowledge of Laura's character than before I read it. For example, after describing ad nauseum all the organizations and activities one could possibly participate in their town, the author states that we do not know if Laura and her family enjoyed any of them. It was frustrating to constantly read the words "probably, maybe, if, we can presume ....." The author makes too many assumptions and repeatedly expresses his inability to accurately understand and relay Laura's personal feelings due to the unfortunate lack of diaries, letters, and journals left behind by Mrs. Wilder. Relying too much on her daughter, Rose's writings, he portrays Laura as an overprotective, condescending, controlling mother and a domineering wife who refused to vow to obey her husband during their wedding. Miller is not quite sure he even believes Rose's unflattering portrayal of her mother, because she was mentally ill and emotionally unstable herself. This book contains so much one-sided information about Laura's daughter that it should instead be titled Becoming Rose Wilder Lane.



2. I found this to be a good book, although I wish the author would have personalized Laura a little more. The ongoing battle between mother and daughter might have been overemphasized, but one comes to learn that this probably worked for both of them. I found a lot of good information, but the statistics were a little much. I found myself reading between the lines and wanted to get back to the meat of the story...Laura.
   
   I recommend this book to any Wilder fan, for it does give us a glimpse into the woman she really was. Like anyone else, Laura was only human, faults and all.
   
   Meloni Cassidy
   Author of Everlasting Journey



3. This would be a very interesting book if I had not already read all the little house series plus the book where she went to Mansfield from DeSmet and the one where she went to visit Rose in San Francisco.
   
   This is best read before reading the other books. The books by Laura Ingalls Wilder give more detail than any of the birographys by any other author.



4. This is the real-life Laura and family. Biographer John Miller provides tremendous detail in a smooth, quick and fascinating read. Gives a lot of historic context from the time of Charles and Caroline's childhood through the 1950's, and many new tidbits about Laura's actual childhood. The most thought-provoking and disturbing section of the book is toward the end, covering the period between 1925 and Laura's death in 1957.
   
   Rose, having worked and travelled all over the world as a successful author, came home to Rocky Ridge for some 9 years in the late 20's and early 30's. While there, she suffered frequent depression, writer's block, financial trouble, and a frustrating relationship with her mother, Laura. Yet it was at this time that she helped Laura begin the Little House books, the first of which was published in 1932. The collaboration between the two on the series has been a topic of contention among scholars, critics, and fans from the beginning. Here we learn the truth, book-by-book, on who wrote what, and how each felt about her role in the partnership.
   
   This truth is enlightening and yet Rose's sad mental state and resentment toward Laura is a bit heartbreaking for fans who still believe in Pa's beloved, spunky, hard-working, Plum Creek-swimming, Nellie Oleson-hating, hay-making, bible verse-reciting, school-teaching, buggy-riding, half-pint who wanted nothing more than to send her blind sister to college.



5. This is by far the best biography on Laura Ingalls Wilder available. This is a scholarly, indepth look that goes beyond her books and looks into what made her a writer. Written for adults.

No comments about Billy Graham Speaks: Insight from the World's Greatest Preacher.

5 comments about Slaves in the Family (G K Hall Large Print Book Series).

1. Some reviewers below complain that this book is tedious. Well, sure. I bet the US Constitution and the Bible are tedious to someone who has no clue about, or doesn't care about, their context. To anyone with some understanding of US history, the project of writing this book marks a step forward in race relations, however big or small that step may turn out to be. If you care even a little about why this country is the way it is, this book crackles with a searing flame.
   
   Ball writes about visiting a wary African American man in Chapter 6, and what that man says at the end of his interview speaks for me and my opinion of the book. "Someone has to break the ice. I gotta give you credit, you were man enough to do it."
   
   People won't agree whether reconciliation or forgiveness apply in this situation, and I'm not sure either. But this is the author's best effort at telling the objective truth about black-white relations as it was lived by individuals over the centuries. "I decided I would make an effort, however inadequate and personal, to face the plantations, to reckon with them rather than ignore their realities or make excuses for them."
   
   Chapter 9 describes the shocking child mortality figures on the plantations. And on a slave voyage from Africa to Charleston, over a third of the captive passengers died en route - just the cost of doing business to the owners. No wonder some try to deny this history; it's too painful. Yet, the book also provides some episodes of humanity and hope. Readers will emerge with a greater understanding of our history and human nature. Maybe they'll become more vigilant against trespasses on human life and dignity in our own day as well.



2. I thought this was a good read. I especially appreciated the details of the types of Africans that the planters preferred and detested. I recommend this book. Yes, I do agree that the author's writing style was dry. However, I find most books that have a historical base, unless it is fiction, to be dry as cracker.



3. Oh my gosh! I didn't realize that Dawn Langley Simmons had passed away. When I purchased her book about the life of Margaret Rutherford, "A Blithe Spirit", I wrote to Dawn, and was surprised to receive a reply from her or him. For several years she/he corresponded and now I realize that she/he may have mis-represented herself. She did send me several photos of Margaret Rutherford. Interesting story.



4. Edward Ball made a courageous journey into his family's past when he researched and wrote this book about their slave owning history, and took the step of searching out and meeting descendants of their slaves. This paperback edition includes an insightful follow-up exchange between the author and one of his black relatives about the writing of the book, their relationship, and how their views of race relations have and have not changed since its writing. The book inspired me both to think deeply about my attitude towards race and to read more about southern history, using the prism of slave ownership and my own family's southern geneaology as a focus. Related recommendations: The Ruling Race: A History of American Slaveholders] and [ASIN:0465015557 My Confederate Kinfolk



5. Quite often history textbooks can be dry and boring. Edward Ball's "Slaves in the Family" illuminates many larger historical events -- the slave trade, the institution of slavery, plantation economies, the Revolutionary War, The Civil War, and Emancipation -- and brings these events down to the human level, to the place where flesh and blood people lived through these events, how the events shaped them, and how they in turn contributed to history.
   
   Ball's careful, meticulous research wove oral accounts with written records kept so well by the Ball family, giving a credible, well-balanced view of plantation life, slavery, and how it impacted the lives of both black and white Ball plantation residents.
   
   Ball paid special note to the nuances of each speaker's story as told, not only through their words, but also their body language. He is an astute observer of people's reactions and unspoken thoughts.
   
   I highly recommend this fasinating book. I couldn't lay it down.

5 comments about She Got Up Off the Couch: And Other Heroic Acts from Mooreland, Indiana.

1. This book is simply a treasure. You can start at the beginning or in the middle and work your way around. I read it a chapter at a time to make it last as long as possible. Then I started rereading it. I think the book focuses more on Zippy than her mother ... I didn't agree with the cover description. I am hopeful that Haven Kimmel will continue to write about her life ... we need to know about her teen years ... and beyond.



2. I read A Girl Named Zippy and She Got Up Off the Couch in rapid succession. SGUOTC is darker, but also more inspiring than AGNZ. That said, I was really overwhelmed by what good reads both books are. I can't believe I hadn't heard of Ms. Kimmel before my sister-in-law loaned me AGNZ. Zippy reminds me of Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird, but born in a different time and place and with different parents. I look forward to reading Ms. Kimmel's fiction. Thank you thank you thank you.



3. Delonda gets up off the couch to make something of herself. It pulls at your emotion and makes you want to cheer for Mom Jarvis. And her daughter, the author, too. You'll begin to feel like a Mooreland, Indiana neighbor to this family. It's a sequel, and even better than Kimmel's first book (A Girl named Zippy). It stands alone as well. Pure small town life. Pure Hoosier. Pure delight.
   
   A lot of time is spent laughing, and reading to anyone else nearby when trying to get through Zippy's Church Camp experience. Zip's Quaker upbringing didn't prepare her for a teenage church camp at the age of 11. Her own appropriate age camp was filled so her mom forced her into teen week camp with older kids. "I cana't abide any of those things you just named," Zippy informed mom. What a trip camp was. Wonderful descriptions of what took place that can only be explained by copying the chapter. So...get the book. Quaker impact is peppered throughout the events of Zippy's life, usually bringing another smile or laugh.
   
   Haven Kimmel puts you into the picture with her words. Like the page telling of friend Rose's house. In part: "There were some metal chairs still arranged, by accident, as if to accommodate a long conversation over lemonade. The floor was covered with broken Ball jars. Walking on them created a noise that was akin to a whole, dreadful lifetime of tooth grinding. I enjoyed it."
   
   Delonda invited her prayer cell over for coffee. Big mistake. Pride of the new suspended ceiling in the den turned to a nightmare as a billion-herd of mice raced overhead, cats jumped on furniture backs to growl and the dogs watched the cats. Kimmel's words almost put you there in the fracas.
   
   There's Newman's nice car smelling like barnyard, straw waggled in the air vents, corn dust-fertilizer-manure covered dash, with a trace of anhydrous that Zip said she found pleasing. You gotta read the whole page and you'll find the segment pleasing yourself. The story is filled with paragraph gems, Hoosier emeralds in words.
   
   It's full of memories of Hoosier events like the '78 Blizzard. What joy to read about the short list of records Zip's father threatened to break over her head if played once more. It's own chapter. It gets you humming the old tunes.
   
   Reading "She got Up Off the Couch" will invite you into the Jarvis house in the 70's just like the story's hitchhiker, George. He was "a treasure". The book's a treasure.
   
   Haven Kimmel is one contemporary author of whom Indiana can be proud to have educated and once claimed as a resident. Still do, she writes Hoosier truth. Let's hope this will become a trilogy. As a male fan, let's hear more of Bob's (Dad) story now. Five stars from another Ball State grad.



4. Since the death of my daughter, I have searched for things that make me want to go on living. I have read countless books, and this is one of the very few that gave me that feeling. I want to thank the author for writing it, from the bottom of my heart. (I immediately went out and bought the Zippy book, but it was not as wise as this one. Buy this one.)



5. Haven Kimmel's She Got Up Off the Couch is the sequel to the New York Times Bestseller A Girl Named Zippy and, for anyone interested in a lighthearted romp through the heart of the Midwest--told in the voice and perspective of an exuberant young girl--this is the book to read.
   
   Comprised of seemingly unrelated episodes of the young girl, Zippy's, life, this book makes us love and appreciate her, as we become familiar with the architecture of her family and town. The matter-of-fact narration makes for some hilarious and endearing moments, for instance, Zip describes a woman cooking with persimmons: "she even made something with the word "pudding" in the title although of course it was not real pudding because it wasn't chocolate and hadn't come from a box. I was too polite to point the truth out."
   
   The plot moves forward as Zippy observes the progress of her mother, Delonda Jarvis, through college--from the decision to "Get up Off of The Couch" to earning her Master's degree in English and finally, teaching. Concurrently, or perhaps I should say consequently, Zip's parents' marriage lands in the trash bin~I can't say this is a spoiler, as the fact seems apparent from the very beginning of the book. Her father's first dialogue in the book, well towards the end of the first chapter, is a response to watching his wife drive off with a friend to take the College entrance test: "Time was, a woman wouldn't have gotten in a man's marriage that way."
   
   Despite her father's chauvinism and self-centeredness (he always managed to have nice, new clothes, while his daughter trompsed about in second hand everything, even wearing his old shirts, which she was swimming in), we must be careful not to write this man off. His character develops subtely throughout the tales, and we see him through the tender eyes of his daughter, who adores him despite all of our reasons she shouldn't.
   
   We don't often see Delonda communicating directly with her daughter; instead, Zippy narrates her mother's telephone conversations with friends, or discussions with professors. This indirect source of information continues throughout the book, although we see the two bond when Zip accompanies her mother on campus.
   
   [I must depart from the book for a moment here, to express the nostalgia that this book stirred up in me (and my sister, too, I daresay, as she recommended it to me). How often did I sit at the bottom of the stairs, eavesdropping, or even overtly lying on the bed with her, while my mother called her friends from school and church to discuss the important matters of school and church. I loved it when I got to go to classes with my mother. I'd sit there with my multiplication tables, or some scrap paper and crayons, and ignore the old professor who wouldn't stop talking. She would often introduce me afterwards, because she always had follow-up questions to the lectures. Like Zippy said "I went right on hating school as much as any vegetable left in vinegar, but Lord I loved college." Less than ten years later, I sat in the exact same lecture halls, on my own, and finally understood why my mom took me with her: It's scary. ]
   
   Delonda Jarvis' example of stubborn dedication is undeniably a source of inspiration to her two daughters. While they worried about her in the rickety car during her commute, and their complete lack of money, very early in the book, Delonda's influence is felt in Zip's realization: "I knew I should still be worried, but I suddenly felt that anything was possible, and that most things, though certainly not all, would turn out okay."
   
   The dichotomy between youth and age runs throughout the scenarios and, as some of us may relate to, Zippy pinpoints the exact moment as a child when she realized that her life and body would change, too, in the course of time. She was no longer invincible after this realization, and not much later breaks her arm to a horrific extent in a roller-skating accident--I might add how thankful I am that someone finally exposed the true danger of the rollerskating "whip."
   
   Also prevalent in the book is the narrator's stance on Christianity. Zip makes enough knocks at the Bible to make one wonder at her faith, but parries these with some profound observations of the influence of Christ in her life. She sees through the fraudulence of some religious practices, both by her peers and by adults--when she is forced to go to church camp she is the only one who does not accept Christ as her Savior. She also seems to be the only one aware that many of these young women were simply using their conversions as alibis--that after they dedicated themselves to Christ they found it easier to sneak off in the woods with their boyfriends, because no one would suspect them...
   
   In the midst of her aversion to religion, the young girl obviously seeks something larger; "it seemed to me that there was something gigantic going on and it was near to me and also very far away." And so we see the ruminations of a young girl contemplating Christ, or God, or what-have-you--whichever you choose, and whether you are believer or not, I daresay this is something most of us have experienced at some point.
   
   The book weaves about with hilarious and heat-rending tales of small-town life; Haven Kimmel retells the story of childhood with some rural Midwestern distinctions--the fear of tornadoes, the occasional run-in with an angry bull, a perfect wonderment at the number of cats and dogs on a farm (let alone the barn animals) and a general familiarity with farm life, horrendous blizzards, and of course, the rite of passage in which we play with tape recorders. This is a quick, light-hearted read, though it contains some darker overtones. I highly recommend it.

5 comments about The Coldest War: A Memoir of Korea.

1. In "The Coldest War: A Memoir of Korea," author James Brady vividly describes what it was like to be a junior officer in the Marine Corps during the Korean War. Brady notes the irony of his decision to sign up for a Marine Corps officer training program: "I'd joined up to dodge the draft and ended up being sent to war." He gives many insights into the positions he held: platoon leader, company executive officer, and battalion intelligence officer. His narrative also illuminates the culture and organization of the U.S. Marine Corps.
   
   Brady's story is rich in details of life in the Korean war zone. He discusses food, clothing, recreation, relationships among the Marines, and encounters with Korean civilians. The text is also full of fascinating technical details about the tactics and hardware of war; I was particularly interested in his passages about the mortarman's deadly art and the usefulness of the Browning Automatic Rifle. Brady makes the story come to life with his evocative descriptions of sounds of different weapons, the sizzle of hot brass hitting the snow, and other realities of wartime. He doesn't shy away from discussing the real down-and-dirty details of his service. He vividly describes the personal hygiene aspect of front-line duty; I found a dry humor to his graphic discourse on one of the unpleasant side effects of not bathing for a long time.
   
   Brady's story includes vivid anecdotes about revelry at a British officers' mess, a visit to the relative luxury of a hospital ship, and more. He also recalls the punishingly cold weather, and includes some gripping accounts of combat. He presents the violence, death, and destruction of war without flinching. The text is enhanced by several black-and-white photos showing Brady, his fellow Marines, and the environment in which they lived and fought. The Korean conflict has been called a "forgotten war"; this makes Brady's thoughtful, well-written personal account even more valuable. It's both an important historical document and a powerful piece of literature.



2. I served in Korea with 3/7, USMC from Nov 1951 to Nov 1952.
   This was a vivid reminder of that cold inhospitable place. The authot invoked many memories and for a moment I felt the bone numbing cold even in my warm home.
   Although Brady was an officer and I an enlistem man we share the honor of being awarded the Title Unites States Marine.
   Every Marine will appreciate this book



3. I found this book to a fine novel of the Korean War.Written from the perspective of a young Marine Lt.It had grit and also some light moments.I recommend it.



4. The author recounts his time in Korea where he served as a Marine rifle platoon leader during the "Forgotten War". A very intriguing narrative about a war which claimed in 3 years almost as many American lives as the Vietnam war did in ten years.



5. I first read, "The Coldest War" when I was in the military myself.
   
   My training and duty seemed hard and long to me, but compared to what the guys in the Korean War went through, it was a cake walk.
   
   This book reads smoothly, transitioning from his training to his war time in Korea. There are several pictures of his family, himself at home and in battle, letting you really get a feel for what your reading.
   
   Good book..

5 comments about Cork Boat (Random House Large Print (Hardcover)).

1. So what? Who cares? That was the basic impression I was left with after reading about two thirds of this sophomoric, self-congratulatory ego fest. I could not finish the book. The combination of his cliche-ridden style, his bursts of self-promotion, and his unchecked rants against his "friend" Garth was more than I could stomach. Any emotional capital he may have earned (his sister's death, the all-nighters to finish the boat) was just squandered. This would have made a great magazine article, but it makes a terrible book.



2. As a child, one of John Pollack's favorite bedtime stories was Holling C. Holling's Paddle-to-the-Sea, the story of a carved toy canoe that, over the course of several years, makes its way from the north shore of Lake Superior, through the Great Lakes, out the St. Lawrence river and, finally, to the Atlantic. Kind strangers aid the canoe's perilous journey and, in the happiest of eventualities, the man who was once the boy who carved the canoe learns of its progress.
   
   Cork Boat, a recounting of John Pollack's lifelong endeavor to build and launch a boat made entirely of wine corks, tells a similar tale of individual determination, a supportive community, and sheer serendipity.
   
   Pollack first turned boatwright at age six, building a craft from orange crates and firewood. It went straight to the bottom of the marsh at the end of the Pollacks' street. Undaunted, he decided then and there that his next boat would be made out of corks. His parents began saving corks, and thus the Cork Boat project began.
   
   By 1999, Pollack was in his 30s, disillusioned with his career as a Capitol Hill speechwriter, and ready to chuck it all in order to devote himself to building his cork boat. At the time, his parents' cork collection topped 3,000. Some quick calculations revealed that Pollack would need at least 60,000.
   
   He quit his job, kicked cork collection into high gear, and took on a partner - a young architect named Garth Goldstein, who soon upped the estimated number of corks needed to 100,000 (the completed boat would actually top out at 165,321 corks). Design work began in earnest, and design solutions (a hexagonal "disk" of corks held together by rubber bands) were stumbled upon entirely by accident.
   
   One by one, difficulties mounted and were surmounted by Pollack and Goldstein's creative thinking, personal connections, determination, and charm. When Washington restaurants and bars failed to come through with the corks they promised to save from the millennium New Year bash, Pollack secured a corporate sponsor - a cork manufacturer who donated tens of thousands of corks. When the completed boat was found to be too large to fit on the boat trailer hired to take it to its launch site, Pollack and Goldstein bought 10 furniture dollies, strapped them to the bottom of the boat, and hired a tow truck to take the craft to the marina.
   
   Not even the horror of September 11, 2001 could sink the dream of the Cork Boat. Though Pollack was certain that none of his volunteers would want to think of something so frivolous in the days after the attack, the opposite was true - volunteers came flooding back because the boat was frivolous. After 9/11, many people were looking for hope wherever they could find it, and the Cork Boat was a hopeful project.
   
   When Pollack's corporate cork sponsor proposed a voyage down Portugal's Douro River, the whole world took notice - everyone from major news networks to the most modest Portuguese villagers. Everyone was determined that the Cork Boat should succeed in winding its way through the Douro to the Atlantic, offering tips for outsmarting customs officers, and tows when the current was too forceful to row against.
   
   Pollack acknowledges that the Cork Boat will probably never sail again. The magic of its trip down the Douro came from the fact that the boat was so unique -- it's sort of a "been there, done that" approach. The story of the Cork Boat, recounted in this book, is an exciting, amazing testament to Pollack's vision and the power of community. Definitely worth reading.



3. The author, a former speechwriter for a Congressman and Clinton, quits his job to build a boat made out of 165,000-plus corks held together by rubberbands, which he then sails with friends down the Douro River in Portugal. It sounds like a fairy tale, and it practically is, a heart-warming true fantasy story of childhood dreams and adult sacrifice and priorities and adventure. Pollack is, of course, a gifted writer, adept at spinning a tale and interweaving personal remenisces, anecdotes and a few strands of history here and there. But it's Pollack's determination and optimism, though, that make this such a sweet story. After the descriptions of camraderie, community, despair and dedication, I felt like cheering along as they pulled into Porto on the final day.



4. While this book doesn't rank as great literature in my opinion, it did read well if one is already inclined to enjoy travel articles. Yes, some of the personal material was surprisingly embarassing in it's clumsiness, but the overall storyline made it a pleasant little read. Certainly not Paul Theroux for travel, but that would be a very high mark indeed. But c'mon: a boat made of cork? Quirky enough to like.



5. Self-promoting? Yes. Poorly written? No doubt about it. Filled with annoying, saccharine-sweet vignettes about one man's pseudo-problems and his triumph-of-the-human-spirit approach to overcoming them? Absolutely.
   
   But in spite of all this, I'm almost ashamed to say that it's still a really good book. This story is bound to appeal to everyone. Anyone who still has a childhood dream unfulfilled; anyone who sometimes yearns for a simpler time when life wasn't so complex; anyone who occasionally wishes that the world could be divided into just two groups - those who save corks and those who don't; anyone who thinks it would be fun to sail the Douro River while seemingly an entire European nation rushes to the river banks to cheer you on; anyone with a soft spot in their heart for sappy stories with happy endings is going to find some joy in this little book.
   
   You'll probably also found yourself rolling your eyes at times - like when it suddenly dawns on you that this guy is an awful writer but somehow managed to land a job writing speeches for the most powerful man on the planet. And you'll probably think at least once or twice that this is the guy that you always wanted beat the crap out of in high school because his attitude was way too positive. But that won't stop you from enjoying the magical journey that this book takes you on.