No comments about A Personal Record (Large Print Edition).

5 comments about An Affair to Remember: My Life With Cary Grant (G K Hall Large Print Book Series).

1. I felt like I knew Cary Grant much better after reading this book. It seems to have been written with some objectivity. The book makes you feel as though you are right in the middle of their relationship. I really enjoyed reading about the details of the most dashing man of the classic movie era. There will never be another Cary Grant, unfortunately.



2. I've just finished reading this and i'm a little shellshocked. Not because I feel Grant has been villified but perhaps merely because it shows such a debonair and enigmatic idol of mine as a true fallible human being.
   
   Like the other reviewer commented, I too thought it seemed to be written with a fair amount of objectivity. It did not come across to me as a bitter and delibrate attempt to trash or undermine Grant. It does come across, however, as a bit of a tacky and harrowing romance novel, even the presentation of the book conveys such an image.
   
   I think if you're a Cary Grant fan that wants to find out a little more about Archie Leach and is willing to accept the fact that their view of Cary may be tarnished in the process; then go ahead and read this, it is an interesting and (from what I can tell) balanced read.
   
   Let's all hope he was happy in the end.



3. I give this book 5 stars because there are not too many books that keep me awake at night. Usually even a good book puts me to sleep sooner or later. Not this one.
   
   Maureen Donaldson had a four year relationship with legendary Hollywood actor Cary Grant from 1973-1977 after he had retired from film making. Her descriptions of meeting and first getting to know Grant made me feel like I was almost experiencing it with her. I could definitely identify with her feelings of awe and being overwhelmed that Cary Grant was interested in her. I would have felt the same way. As she got to know him and spend more time with him, she saw that he was only human (aren't we all). In fact, he was very human, with many of the same fears, insecurities and childhood hurts that so many of us have to deal with ourselves.
   
   I agree with other reviewers who feel this book is not a trash Cary Grant book. I don't think that was her intention. I don't think less of Grant now than before I read the book. From everything I have read about Grant in this book and elsewhere, it seems he had a very rock-solid core to him. He comes across as a very loyal friend, surprisingly generous at times (when the mood struck him), tender-hearted and kind.
   
   Maureen tells in her book how Grant read a daily devotional each day of the year out of a Christian booklet he had a subscription to. After they broke up Maureen said she continued the practice of reading those daily selections herself.
   
   She took Grant to an Alice Cooper concert (with Grant in disguise). He hated it, but the fact that she talked him into going proves to me that he really cared about her. A man his age going to an Alice Cooper concert? That is love.
   
   I do wonder why she wrote this book. I guess I should not try to speculate. According to Maureen, Grant tried to get her to marry him and even enlisted Jennifer Jones and her last husband to offer their home as a wedding site.
   
   Even after reading the whole book I still can't help but think Maureen was nuts not to marry him.



4. I really enjoyed reading this book. Cary Grant might be very complex and
   difficult person to live with.Yet he is gentle and kind.That is enough.I
   simply feel sorry that Maureen Donaldson didn't marry him.She Couldn't
   realize how much she was loved!She will also regret not marrying him for the
   rest of her life!! (Sorry for my bad English)



5. Like an above reveiwer siad: I felt like I knew Mr. Grant after reading this. Ms. Donaldson has written a superb book revealing the real Cary Grant. We, the readers, see Mr. Grant for the real person he is. A gentleman, an overprotective loving father, an insecure, private man. and she writes of her relationship with Cary. Their many many good times together. The insecurities of Cary's that drove her nuts and finally ended their relationship, and her relationship with Cary's daughter Jennifer. Her and Jennifer became close friends. I felt like I knew Cary Grant inside and out after reading this. I recommend this book to all fellow Cary Grant fans!!!

No comments about The Private Life of Napoleon Volume VI [EasyRead Large Edition].

5 comments about Battle Ready.

1. In the summer of 1994, I attended a change-of-command ceremony at Camp Pendleton for the I Marine Expeditionary Force. A new 3-star was about to take command prematurely for someone of his seniority. He hadn't even been a division commander, a 2-star billet. The fast-tracking general was Tony Zinni and the rest of his career continued to rocket. Other reviewers have commented on every aspect of his book, including his lack of support for the invasion of Iraq, so I will focus on two parts that impressed me deeply. I do agree with several others that having Tom Clancy as a co-author was distracting and unnecessary. The alternating first and third-person narratives were uneven at times. Thus the 4-stars. But then again, "Battle Ready" is not a literary selection.
   
   The first part was Zinni's 1967 tour as an adviser (called "co van" for "trusted friend" with the Vietnamese Marine Corps). Many accounts have been published about Marines in Vietnam but only handful has come from advisers; the very best Marine officers were selected for advisory duty. Other "co vans" include Gens. Boomer, Hoar, and Myatt--on the Army side, McCaffrey, Powell and Schwarzkopf. All of these men experienced a different Vietnam War than those who fought in American units.
   
   Why is Zinni's advisory experience relevant now? Marine advisers are mentoring Iraqis, and they could only dream their counterparts fought like the South Vietnamese. There's no hubris in Zinni's observations. He understood the Americans' lack of cultural knowledge, including his own early on: "The advisers' job was not to give the Vietnamese Marines tactical advice (they had more fighting experience than most Americans, and it was their country...American commanders were all in a hurry. They wanted to end the war on their one-year tour of duty. Vietnamese [Marine] commanders realized they would be in it for the duration."
   
   The last chapter, Chapter Eight titled "The Calling," is a classic leadership primer-observations made over the distinguished 40-year career of Zinni, a Marine warrior, scholar and leader. As a former Marine, I found his last paragraph most touching: "I have been all over this globe and exposed to most of the cultures on it. I am fascinated by them. I love the diversity. I want to understand them and embrace them. I could never understand prejudice or rejection or the sense of superiority that drive the hatemongers of the world. I lived through a tumultuous period of our history when our own minorities broke from second-class citizenship into full participation in this wonderful dream we call America. I have been proud of their accomplishments and contributions. They have proven the bigots wrong and made our nation greater. I hope the dream we have struggled to realize can be extended to the rest of the planet."
   
   General, it was my privilege to serve under commanders like you. Semper fi!



2. While 'In to the storm' elaborate detail of one big battle, and 'Shadow warrior' tells many big events, this 'Battle ready' tells us every single experience of General Zinni from O-2, O-3, O-4, everything till retired from O-10. I think I will be bored but with his sense of humor, General Zinni brings all his tought without make this book boring. (e.g. the HANDCON and took a bus in 'Nam).
   I learn how military and diplomat works in peacemaker process.



3. This book, co written with General Tony Zinni, tells of the methods, means, and the reasons for our military. The last part, when General Zinni pulls no punches, about our approach to war, foreign relations, and when to use and how to use the military [with the help of the civilian authority] to fight smarter battles and when to fight, is an excellent assessment of our current problems in the U.S.. His approach to fight in a "smarter" way, reflecting the new realities of war, e.g., terrorism, and an ever changing world, is the way it should be-and not to declare "victory", if that is the objective, on an aircraft carrier as a photo-op [his words], and to support the ideas that are right and to criticize the ideas that are wrong, even if they are "politically" incorrect. A first rate book.



4. Mr Clancy is one of the best military writers and he is typically on his game in this biography of Marine General Tony Zinni who eventually rose to CINC at CENTCOM, the command that has the heart of the middle east at its core. Clancy deftly switches back and forth between a first-person narrative of his subject and his own overviews of the history and background of each period, whether it be Vietnam or Somalia, Turkey or Pakistan. The only issue I have with Tom Clancy is italics. Everything told verbally by General Zinni is presented in italics so that a 440-page narrative probably contains about 220 pages of italics. If only Mr. Clancy would consult the Chicago Manual which states that italics should be used sparingly and never for more than a paragraph! Tom, I get a different voice in my head when I read the italics and I don't necessarily like that voice.



5. 
   I listened to it, rather than turning pages. The first half was more interesting than the
   second half, which is more politics than personal or military history. That is not to deny
   value to the later portion of the book. It was interesting to compare Zinni's adventures in
   Somalia to the account in "Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures -- A True Story From
   Hell On Earth" by Kenneth Cain, Heidi Postlewait, and Andrew Thompson. They can both be true.
   
   Zinni wins my admiration for his patient determination to improve things, a unit or a nation.
   He shows the Somalia warlords as human. It was a disappointment that he took so long to see
   through Yasser Arafat.
   
   Zinni makes much of his "tell it like it is" attitude, and his interest in how to fight effectively.
   I was surprised that he did not mention the statue of John Boyd in the center of the lobby at
   Marine headquarters. Boyd was an Air Force fighter pilot, that taught how to fight effectively,
   and told unpopular truths. Amazon has several books about him.
   
   Zinni did not support the Iraq war. He claims plans for after the battles were won were not done,
   or not done well. Could be. He claims 300,000 troops were needed. I wish he had supplied details
   of that estimate, similar to the detailed plans for the evacuation from Somalia.
   
   This is not one of Clancy's best, but it is still pretty good. I recommend it to those interested
   in military history, whatever their opinions on the current Iraq situation.

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