5 comments about Ava's Man (Random House Large Print (Paper)).

1. I have only read one other book from this author (about Jessica Lynch). This is a very personal story of the author's grandfather who died an early death before Bragg was born. It is heartfelt because the author describes both the qualities and faults of his granddad. His grandpa liked homemade corn mash moonshine and sometimes was dead drunk when he came home. However, he provided a loving family life for his wife, sons, daughters, and grandkids. This man set a certain morality to how he lived and died. His was a small tragedy that he never lived to see how famous one of his grandchildren became.
   
   Along with his grandfather's life, one also discovers the hardships of life in the depression era South. People who lived in the country did not go hungry if they knew how to hunt and fish. However this family was frequently evicted or moved from their rented home. This is a nice little story about a true family.



2. I have read all of Rick Braggs books and thia was the best. I felt like I just wanted to keep on reading. He is such a powerful writer. I just wish he had more books out there, but the ones he has written are the best. You will not be disappointed reading any of his books. There is no wondering why he is a Pulitzer Prize winner.



3. If chronological order is important to you, Ava's Man should be read as the first in the series of Rick Bragg's three biographical novels. Charlie Bundrum's story is the first of what we will learn is two family's lives in the rural south during turbulent times. Then, as now, when life is hard people find many different ways to survive. Generations later, we have the luxury of looking back with a critical eye. That's easy. When you're cold and hungry, the view is different.
   
   In this book, Bragg shares with us the life to Charlie Bundrum who, along with Ava manages to rear a house full of children who survive with him and sometimes without him. One of those children is Margaret, Bragg's mother. Hard working and hard living, Charlie did all he knew to do to get by.
   
   More than in either of the other two books in Bragg's trilogy of his family, Ava's Man tells us more about the history of region, industry, and the impact of war, all of which contribute to the making of the man, Charlie Bundrum.
   
   While Bragg writes, he always manages to let the characters tell the story...in their own words. That language, and the crafting of the true tale he tells, leaves this "their story." On the other hand, Bragg's own turn of a phrase is "my language," that upon which I was reared. And is that which makes me feel like going home.



4. With his improbable personal background and deft story-telling, Rick Bragg has earned an avid readership. In All Over But the Shoutin' (1997) he introduced his family of origin, and especially his heroic mother, who epitomized the poorest of poor white trash. His newly released The Prince of Frogtown (2008) makes peace with his violently alcoholic father who repeatedly abandoned his family. Bragg spent one semester in college, then started writing, first high school sports, local stories, anything. In 1993 he won a prestigious Nieman fellowship to spend a year at Harvard, and in 1996 he won a Pulitzer for feature writing at the New York Times. Today he teaches writing at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
   
   In Ava's Man Bragg re-creates the story of his maternal grandfather, Charlie Bundrum (1901-1958), a man of mythic proportions and colorful character who died the year before Bragg was born. Like his other two memoirs, Bragg's narrative works well at several levels. He illustrates the power of place, honors the traditions of a time and place that have been lost to cultural snobbery, exemplifies the ambiguous shadow that one's extended family casts over successive generations, and is just a remarkable wordsmith with the dialect of rural Alabama and Georgia.
   
   Charlie Bundrum was a roofer who could neither read nor write. His people picked the banjo. At the slightest insult to their "honor" they brawled with pocket knives, ax handles, and shot guns. They worked in the mills and picked other people's cotton. "Chollie" fished his beloved Coosa River on a "boat" made from two car hoods that he welded together, he could make a harmonica scream, and he ruined his liver from too many mason jars of moonshine. He eloped with his beloved Ava when she was sixteen and he was seventeen. Ava dipped snuff, her dresses were made from feed and flour sacks, she knew the meaning of welfare cheese handouts, and somehow nourished her eight children through the Depression and two world wars. Charlie moved his family twenty-one times in a decade between the backwoods of Georgia and Alabama, sometimes looking for work, sometimes outrunning the law, and never more than a hundred miles either way.
   
   When Bragg's own alcoholic father deserted his family for the last time, Ava took in Bragg's mother and three sons and became their stalwart caregiver. Bragg owns the horrific domestic violence, superstitions, cockfights, and alcoholism that characterized so much of those times, places, and people. But he dignifies their hard work, the dirt under their fingernails, music, foods, traditions, poetic dialect, and resilience. When Charlie Bundrum died at the age of fifty-one, a line of cars snaked a mile or more to his funeral at Tredegar Congregational Holiness Church. How many of us today can hope for a similar legacy that is so honored by your community?



5. Ava's man was Bragg's maternal grandfather who passed away before Rick was born into poverty.
   
   Like William Faulkner, Bragg writes of the poor American South with such vivid descriptions that you feel as though you are walking along a hot, dusty path in a depression era back woods, spiting tobacco and drinking moon shine as your caloused hands and achy back trudge along yet one more soul depleting day.
   
   Like Pat Conroy, Bragg captures the essence of an abusive father who simply won't let go of the booze and the demons.
   
   Life was hard, mean and nasty and wore Bragg's family down to a pulp. Bragg's admiration for his grandfather shone through.
   
   This is the second book of his that I've read and I'll continue to learn of Bragg's saga. It is wonderful to read such clear, crisp images. This guy can write!

5 comments about Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster (G K Hall Large Print Book Series).

1. I saw the Frontline documentary "Storm over Everest" by David Brashears which features interviews with several of the individuals mentioned in the book. You definitely get two different perspectives when watching the documentary and reading this book, but both accounts are riveting. I found myself pulling for the characters throughout the book, and I was exhausted when I finished.



2. In May 1996, a rogue storm killed nine climbers on Mount Everest, several of them from an expedition led by Rob Hall of New Zealand, the others from an expedition led by American Scott Fischer. Hall and Fischer were themselves counted among the victims. One of the survivors from Hall's expedition was John Krakauer, a writer from Outside Magazine, who had volunteered to go on the expedition to research and write a story on the commercialization of Everest.
   
   Krakauer was no inexperienced novice, having been a climber for over 30 years at the time of the expedition, and that is part of what makes his telling of the story particularly compelling. He had the background and personal experience necessary to write the story in a way that someone who had never climbed a mountain could not. And he was there when the disaster happened, observing with a writer's eye for details.
   
   I have never had any desire to climb a mountain, nor any real knowledge of mountain climbing, despite living near some of the most-climbed peaks in the Pacific Northwest - Mount Rainier and Mount Hood. I didn't pay much attention to the Everest disaster at the time, and all I remembered hearing before reading Krakauer's book was that some guy was able to call his wife on the phone from the top of Everest right before he died. Perhaps it was my recent unexplained interest in disaster stories that led me to Into Thin Air a few weeks ago, twelve years after the Everest disaster.
   
   In the author's note at the end of the book, Krakauer writes, "My intent ... was to tell what happened on the mountain as accurately and honestly as possible, and to do it in a sensitive and respectful manner." Krakauer succeeds in this admirably. There are no "bad guys" in this book, just real human beings who did the best they could in unexpected and calamitous circumstances. The book is not about blame, but about understanding what happened.
   
   Albeit through Krakauer's eyes, we get to know many of the climbers from Hall's and Fischer's expeditions as they prepare to ascend the mountain: a postal worker making his second attempt at Everest, an attorney who had climbed six of the Seven Summits, a pathologist, a publisher who had attempted Everest three times, an anesthesiologist, a cardiologist, a 47-year old Japanese woman, a female "millionaire socialite-cum-climber," among others. Most of the climbers had had at least some high-altitude climbing experience. We also get to know the leaders and guides for both expeditions, most of whom were very experienced climbers. These were expeditions that should have succeeded.
   
   The immediacy of Krakauer's writing, as he relives every day, every hour, and sometimes every minute of the experience, conveys the hard work involved in climbing to the peak of Everest and the desire that drove the climbers on, until a sudden turn in the weather left them struggling to stay alive in a hostile environment where they only had themselves to depend upon.
   
   No one seemed aware of the approaching storm. Some bad decisions were made. Mistakes and more bad decisions were made by men and women weakened both physically and mentally by the elements. In the end, some of the most experienced people failed to survive, while other less experienced people miraculously did.
   
   This is a true and tragic story that's not easily forgotten, especially by Krakauer, who ends his introduction to the book by confessing, "I was a party to the death of good people, which is something that is apt to remain on my conscience for a very long time." This is a story Krakauer had to tell in the way that only he could, and I for one am glad he shared it with us.



3. If you are interested in mountain climbing, and have not read this book, run right out and purchase it. The same is true, if you are a fan of non-fiction adventure stories where man is struggling for survival. This story tells of the disastrous events on Mount Everest in May of 1996, when eight people died in one storm while trying to summit. If you are thinking of reading only one book on this subject, then this is the book for you. The telling of the events that spelled out death for some, and life for others, is a first hand narration by Jon Krakauer, who was on the mountain to write a magazine article when the tragic events took place. You will not only learn about the events of 1996, but you will also learn how mountain climbing has become a profitable business, where clients pay large sums of money to have a chance to get to the top. In some case this guided climbing can help someone's dream that may have otherwise been impossible, come true. Still, in some cases there are clients who just shouldn't be attempting such a climb. I was surprised to come to an understanding that the mountain may actually become crowded, with lines of climbers waiting to traverse some tricky areas of the climb. Krakauer's analysis of the events, and his telling of the story reads like a novel. Although I knew basically how the story would end, even before beginning the book, I still found it to be a page-turner.



4. Krakauer said entirely untrue things about Anatoli Boukreev, one of the greatest mountaineers who ever lived, and the hero of the expedition. Boukreev wrote a book, THE CLIMB, about the same trek, explaining why he did what he did, but it wasn't as popular because his writing wasn't as polished as Krakauer's. There is no doubt that Boukreev single handedly rescued three of the climbers during a raging blizzard, climbers who would have died otherwise. I was reading THE CLIMB while on the Annapurna trek in 1999. I reached Annapurna base camp, and there was a memorial to Anatoli Boukreev, who had been killed in an avalanche while climbing Annapurna only 1 year 9 months before. I had no idea this memorial was there, and was awed and humbled by the combination of reading Boukreev's book, seeing his memorial and being in the same area where he had recently been killed. Boukreev should never have been ridiculed by Krakaur. Boukreev was one of the greatest climbers who ever lived, and he knew what he was doing.
   
   I believe Boukreev's words should be taken into account. They are quoted below:
   
   "I am writing because I think Jon Krakauer's "Into Thin Air," which appeared in [the September, 1996 issue of Outside Magazine], was unjustly critical of my decisions and actions on Mount Everest on May 10, 1996. While I have respect for Mr. Krakauer, share some of his opinions about high altitude guiding and believe he did everything within his power to assist fellow climbers on that tragic day on Everest, I believe his lack of proximity to certain events and his limited experience at high altitude may have gotten in the way of his ability to objectively evaluate the events of summit day.
   
   My decisions and actions were based upon more than twenty years of high altitude climbing experience. In my career I have summitted Everest three times. I have twelve times summitted mountains over 8,000 meters. I have summitted seven of the world's fourteen mountains over 8,000 meters in elevation, all of those without the use of supplementary oxygen. This experience, I can appreciate, is not response enough to the questions raised by Mr. Krakauer, so I offer the following details.
   
   After fixing the ropes and breaking the trail to the summit, I stayed at the top of Everest from 1:07 PM. until approximately 2:30 PM., waiting for other climbers to summit. During that time only two client climbers made the top. They were Klev Schoening, seen in the summit photograph (pages 46-47) taken by me, and Martin Adams, both of them from Scott Fischer's expedition. Concerned that others were not coming onto the summit and because I had no radio link to those below me, I began to wonder if there were difficulties down the mountain. I made the decision to descend.
   
   Just below the summit I encountered Rob Hall, the expedition leader from New Zealand, who appeared to be in good shape. Then I passed four of Scott Fischer's client climbers and four of his expedition's Sherpas, all of whom were ascending. They all appeared to be alright. Above the Hillary Step I saw and talked with Scott Fischer, who was tired and laboring, but he said he was just a little sick. There was no apparent sign of difficulty, although I had begun to suspect that his oxygen supply was, then, already depleted. I said to Scott that the ascent seemed to be going slowly and that I was concerned descending climbers could possibly run out of oxygen before their return to camp IV. I explained I wanted to descend as quickly as possible to camp IV in order to warm myself and gather a supply of hot drink and oxygen in the event I might need to go back up the mountain to assist descending climbers. Scott, as had Rob Hall immediately before him, said "OK" to this plan.
   
   I felt comfortable with the decision, knowing that four Sherpas, Neal Beidleman (like me, a guide), Rob Hall and Scott Fischer would be bringing up the rear to sweep the clients to camp IV. Understand, at this time there were no clear indications that the weather was going to change and deteriorate as rapidly as it did.
   
   Given my decision: (1) I was able to return to camp IV by shortly after 5:00 PM. (Slowed by the advancing storm), gather supplies and oxygen and, by 6:00 PM., begin my solo effort in the onset of a blizzard to locate straggling climbers; and (2) I was able, Finally, to locate lost and huddled climbers, re-supply them with oxygen, offer them warming tea and provide them the physical support and strength necessary to get them to the safety of camp IV.
   
   Also, Mr. Krakauer raised a question about my climbing without oxygen and suggested that perhaps my effectiveness was compromised by that decision. In the history of my career, as I have detailed it above, it has been my practice to climb without supplementary oxygen. In my experience it is safer for me, once acclimatized, to climb without oxygen in order to avoid the sudden loss of acclimatization that occurs when supplementary oxygen supplies are depleted.
   
   My particular physiology, my years of high altitude climbing, my discipline, the commitment I make to proper acclimatization and the knowledge I have of my own capacities have always made me comfortable with this choice. And, Scott Fischer was comfortable with this choice as well. He authorized me to climb without supplementary oxygen.
   
   To this I would add: As a precautionary measure, in the event that some extraordinary demand was placed upon me on summit day, I was carrying one (1) bottle of supplementary oxygen, a mask and a reductor. As I was ascending, I was for a while climbing with Neal Beidleman. At 8,500 meters, after monitoring my condition and feeling that it was good, I elected to give my bottle of oxygen to Neal, about whose personal supply I was concerned. Given the power that Neal was able to sustain in his later efforts to bring clients down the mountain, I feel it was the right decision to have made.
   
   Lastly, Mr. Krakauer raised a question about how I was dressed on summit day, suggesting I was not adequately protected from the elements. A review of summit day photographs will show that I was clothed in the latest, highest quality, high altitude gear, comparable, if not better, than that worn by the other members of our expedition.
   
   In closing, I would like to say that since May 10, 1996, Mr. Krakauer and I have had many opportunities to reflect upon our respective experiences and memories. I have considered what might have happened had I not made a rapid descent. My opinion: Given the weather conditions and the lack of visibility that developed, I think it likely I would have died with the client climbers that in the early hours of May 11, I was able to find and bring to camp IV, or I would have had to have left them on the mountain to go for help in camp IV where, as was in the reality of events that unfolded, there was nobody able or willing to conduct rescue efforts.
   
   I know Mr. Krakauer, like me, grieves and feels profoundly the loss of our fellow climbers. We both wish that events would have unfolded in a very different way. What we can do now is contribute to a clearer understanding of what happened that day on Everest in the hope that the lessons to be learned will reduce the risk for others who, like us, take on the challenge of the mountains. I extend my hand to him and encourage that effort."
   
   My personal regards,
   Anatoli Boukreev
   Almaty, Kazakhstan
   
   Anatoli Boukreev was killed in an avalanche December of 1997 on a winter ascent of Annapurna.



5. I remember the spring of 1996 and the Everest disasters very well. I was stuck in traffic when a writer named Jon Krakauer was briefly interviewed on NPR when he first returned as one of the survivors of a deadly climb. I had never given mountaineering or Everest much thought but the drama, and especially Krakauer's traumatized voice, inspired a curiosity I've only now actually pursued by reading this book.
   
   If you have ever been at a popular tourist spot when several buses pulled up and disgorged different tours, you have the picture of what mountaineering on Everest had become by 1996. The golden era of exploration and mountaineering on Everest was over. Commercial expeditions charging $65,000 a head would take up clients who could pay, not necessarily those who were vetted mountaineers. Base Camp was a cross between a vanity fair and a scout jubilee. Krakauer, a practiced climber who was commissioned by Outside Magazine to write about the experience, had signed on with an ethical and highly skilled outfit. There was, to the climbers, little warning that anything could go wrong. Across the next several weeks, the climbers moved slowly up the mountain, becoming acclimated. Perhaps the first clue of the reality of Everest was encountering dead bodies from previous years that had simply been left behind. The 1996 groups kept going. The ravages of altitude sickness, the increasing consumption of oxygen canisters, and the physical punishment should have been more flags. The day scheduled for achieving the summit became a train wreck of bad choices, rejection of basic guidelines such as turn around times, altitude sickness, and the surprise of a subzero storm that suddenly grabbed the top of the world with hurricane force. The scramble for survival meant, in some cases, abandoning people for dead on the mountain, people who had become comrades on the ropes. Krakauer documents incredible stories of heroism and survival, as well as the death toll and permanent physical injuries incurred by some.
   
   Krakauer is an astonishing writer who does a good job of sorting out a confusing series of events. Realizing the limitations of one person's memory in the midst of a traumatic experience that has bequeathed a sense of guilt, he went back and interviewed other survivors to get at the truth. Although he never imposes overarching themes on the narrative, his story illustrates classic conflicts as humans are seen tempting mortality on the grandest scale on earth. The more they push their human capacities, the more the mountain seems determined to push the climbers down into their very flawed human place. In the end, this is not so much a tour of a mountain as it is an exploration of humanity. There are a lot of Monday morning quarterbacks pointing fingers at those who survived, and some are pointed weakly at Krakauer, but I found this to be very evenly handled.

5 comments about Mister God, This Is Anna.

1. I hate to begin a book and walk away from it without finishing. I did read the entire book but found it real struggle to hang in there.



2. This is a nice fairy tale, but no more true than Rousseau's Emile or Kipling's The Jungle Book. I've known many five year olds, including some very gifted ones, but Anna simply doesn't ring true. Her short stature, mysterious origins, and bright red hair all suggest that she is a figment of "Finn"'s imagination, in the tradition of stories of "the wee folk". In fact, Finn is a frequently used pseudonym of Celtic folk tales, somewhat like "Mother Goose" is the authoress of English folk tales. The words "a true story" emblazoned on the front left a bad taste in my mouth, like I'd been conned. Somewhere in the book there is a mention that "all fairy stories are true" and I realised that this was the author's disclaimer. This is a good story, but the author's sly attempt to pass it off as literal truth taints it all. Had it been presented frankly as inspirational fiction, like "The Little Prince", it would have gone over a lot better, without the bitter aftertaste.



3. A life-changing, heart-opening, mind-expanding story. I highly recommend it. I was dissappointed with my order though - the books were in perfect condition but in an unusual size - very small making the book hard to read - and the paper is not of good quality. I don't feel i got great value for money with this purchase.



4. This is one of my favorite books ever. Anna is a delightful little girl with a most tragic background, but she has all she needs to go back home! This book is simply wonderful.



5. This little BIG book was described to me as a "wahoo! book".
   I have nothing else to add.

5 comments about Me (Random House Large Print).

1. Katharine Hepburn was an amazing American actress and icon. Although you wouldn't think so reading this book, Kate doesn't think of what she does as anything to be ashamed of or boast about. I could still see her in the documentary after this book came out. She said Oscars are nice but they won't garden for you or something like that. She was a remarkable human being. I just have one criticism. She left out the Golden Pond but she also left a very nice page to her devoted platonic secretary, personal assistant and companion, Phyllis. I thought it was so touching that she wrote something so nice about her. It can kind of gives you goosebumps to the amazing person that she was. Sadly, she discovered her brother's dead body from a suicide. Her struggles as an actress and her relationship with the love of her life, Spencer Tracy, is also there for the audience. She clearly loved him so much and yet, they could teach today's celebrities a thing or two about being discreet but they were truly movie stars and gifted actors beyond my comprehension. Katharine, we miss you and this book provides us some of your voice.



2. Her life and her stories are so interesting and the way she tells them makes you almost hear her voice while reading the words. Her phrasing is almost like stream of consciousness (not like Virginia Woolf-stream of consciousness, just very fragment-y, incorrect grammar, etc.) I got the feeling that what she allows the reader to learn about is only a small fraction of what she really knows and has experienced in her life, not to mention that the stories are more than likely a little one-sided at times, as if the other person in the story, if you could talk to them, would have a completely different version of the same event. But that's part of the attraction of the book for me.
   Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot on Spencer Tracy, and leaves a bunch to the reader's imagination in that department (Spencer was married to someone else the entire time they were a "couple" and she alludes to the fact that they spent time living together; how did this work?). But you definitely pick up on her absolute reverence for the man and their relationship, which is why she doesn't reveal much.
   Overall it's a fascinating glimpse inside the workings of one of America's most famous, most talented, most enigmatic actresses with SO many quirks and interesting ideas and beliefs about life.



3. Listening to Ms. Hepburn's audiobiography now, what a witty and charming lady she was! We always knew she was so talented, and now we get to hear from her, herself, in her own words. She's a true star -- in every sense of the word!



4. Wow, how disappointing. The opening of this book leads you to believe you'll learn the true Katharine Hepburn, but it's all about how great, how loved she is, from her point of view. "oh they loved me", "Oh they thought I was beautiful", everything "was such fun" It's painful, very painful to listen to her chatter like a teenager who's so full of themself.
   Her brother commits suicide and even that was unemotional... pretend it didn't happen, that's Hollywood. She never exposes who she is, she acts throughout this book.



5. I first became curious about the life of Katherine Hepburn after seeing how she was portrayed in the wonderful film, The Aviator, starring Leonardo DeCaprio. So, when I found her autobiography, ME, available on CD read by Katherine, herself, I jumped at the opportunity to buy it. Anyone who has respect and admiration for Katherine Hepburn should treasure this recording. Particularly endearing were the chuckles in her sweet voice as she read; her childhood memories of tree climbing; her memories Howard Hughes landing a plane on a golf course and finishing out a round of golf wth her; and her undying love for Spencer Tracy. The CD ended beautifully with one of the most touching descriptions of love this 52 year old man has ever heard. Her admiration for "Spence" has provoked me to explore his movies. Boom Town starring Spencer Tracy, Clark Gable, and Heddy Lamar came on TV the other night and I would have never thought to care for it had it not been for this CD. The movie was a delight! I am now a Spencer Tracy fan thanks to Ms. Hepburn.
   
   I highly recommend this CD for anyone who enjoys reflecting on the fascinating people who made their mark in society and helped to make our lives more enjoyable. In my opinion, Katherine Hepburn should be regarded as a national treasure.

5 comments about Martha Inc.: The Incredible Story of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.

1. Yeah I see all these women defending Martha Stewart, because basically they think it's OK to be a mean bitch as long as it makes you a lot of money and gets you where you want to go. This is the lifestyle they aspire to, apparently, to be a bunch of greedy ballcrushers who enjoy the finer things in their spare time. Welcome to the evil side of women.
   
   Anyway, this is a pretty good book. I liked "Just Desserts" better, but this book was written later, so it has additional dirt on Mothra, such as the time she deliberately injured a neighbor's gardener with her car. I would like to know if she is still terrorizing and abusing her employees after getting out of jail. It just makes me sick that a horrible, abusive person like Mothra would be so successful. I despise her so much. She is everything that I hate in women: aggressive, greedy, grasping, vicious, controlling - always must have everything her way. It makes me sick that women continue to buy her products. It shows me they don't care if she's a mean bitch. They probably like it. That's probably what her fans are. Not all women are bad, but I really hate the bad ones with a passion and I don't take any of their garbage when I meet them.



2. I found this book to be informative in the respect that it was not a "tell all" but instead an attempt to deliver accurate information. However, while the author tells the reader that he is a neighbor and friend of Martha's he also gives a critical review of how her busness took it's toll on her personal life. The only reason this is done is because Martha is a woman and so is expected to devote time to her family and run an empire at the same time, Of course this is not something expected of her male counterparts, Just as asking Martha about her hysterectomy is not something asked of bussnessMEN. As for some reviewers here who state that she is everything they hate about women, thats a good thing because I don't think Martha is looking for a date from you anytime soon.
   
   What this book does show is that Martha is able to overcome many problems to create an empire out of idea's that the old boy's network envy. Afterall, how dare Martha become one of the richest and most successful business woman in America by putting a value on what women do?



3. Martha Stewart's story has all the trappings of fiction: written and read by author Byron, it tells of her rise to fame, her hidden world, and a background which led a quiet girl to become the richest self-made businesswoman in America, selling her confidence and poise to a nation. An intriguing story of Martha's surprising roots evolves in a memorable biography.



4. Chris Byron's schtick is to pretend to be a friend of Martha Stewart, but tell her story in the most cruel light. No friend would write a book like this. Hence, from the start one feels he is disingenuous while trying to establish his cred.
   
   I am probably the one person in America who knows almost nothing about Martha Stewart, but Byron's account assembles such a string of digs that before long it gave me the feeling of being stuck in an elevator where someone had vomited. Why subject yourself to this? I skipped ahead a few times trying to find a different tone, but the guy continues his vicious ways while feigning disinterested storyteller, and I finally had to throw it down.
   
   I do not understand this writer's motivations for such unkindness.
   
   This book makes me wonder about the value of all such book. By what standard is a book considered a good book? Does it inspire us? Yes, it is well researched and well written... but so are so many others. This book is disrespectful to a fellow human being and for what purpose?
   
   With so many other books in my reading pile, I have to skip out and move to the next.



5. This book is just ok. I wanted to read about marthas life and why she is such a rude and arrogant person in real life but this author takes it to a new level. He over dramatizes the whole entire book. This book would have been half the size if he left out his own fantay additions to the book. I am not a fan of Marthas and would never stand up for her but this author is better at fantasy than he is fiction.

5 comments about Flight: My Life in Mission Control.

1. What a great book. Chris Kraft has really catured those glorious years when man ventured out into the unknown whilst competing with the Russians. Really easy to read and understand. The book took me back to those early years of the space program and Chris lets you experience the development of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions as if it is happening real time. What a great read



2. Very few books on this period, biographical or not, are quite like this one. The information and personal details give a very complete view of NASA from the very beginning, and give some detail to the management evolution of the organization. It also gives some interesting insights into how development of mission-critical / real-time organizations and management should function.



3. At last I found the ideal person to explain the overall trials and successes of the USA space program: Christopher Columbus Kraft, Jr. A bonus was the success story of a small-town boy with no connections to become the most televised flight director in mission control of NASA, then he moved higher in the ranks of NASA.
   Here the politics of our space program, budget cutting as soon as the first moon landing succeeded (if not sooner), according also to the lack of success of the USSR, are all in here. The selection of astronauts, and the surprising problems with a couple of them, and the fights with panicky flight surgeons in approving any spaceflights at all are all in here. The lack of courage of some NASA officials who were so afraid of blame should there be an accident that they almost killed the program is all in here. As it turned out, the Apollo fire did not kill the program, and pols and press were reasonable about it. Bureaucratic overkill got its just desserts.
   The willingness of so many contractors to bid on limited-term projects was an inspiration, as was their desire to innovate and make the space program go ahead was an inspiration, but the tales of shoddy workmanship and design flaws even late in the program was not.
   The antipathy of some old NASA personnel, Kraft included, toward the Germans under Wernher von Braun was revealed, which slowly diminished. Kraft seemed to acknowledge that without the German effort in the USA to produce the big Saturn V and other boosters, the Apollo program could not have been accomplished in any reasonable period. And to this day, nobody has made such powerful boosters.
   This book was the most inspiring I have ever read on the moon landing program, with all its interim steps, and the reason for each flight. Very well written, fast reading, much thanks to James Schefter. Thankfully, much less sanitized than the early astronauts' efforts. Has index. I could not recommend it more.



4. In my humble opinion this book has some very interesting information about the childhood of NASA, and this book and the book of Gene Krantz "Failure is not an option" gives a nice look into the life in the MOCR both at Cape Canaveral/Kennedy and in Houston. Mr. Kraft seems a very humble man and as I see it does not try to play up his own role in the complexity of the Mercury/Gemini/Apollo space adventure



5. [Updated Review]
   
   I'm not sure what to make of this book, certainly I must have a different book from all those who call this 'inspirational'.
   
   It is clear almost from the start that Christoper C Kraft is a man who has to get his way.
   
   I was expecting a book from the flight controllers side, instead it appears to be a middle-managers viewpoint- he's too high in the organization to have an insight into the factory floor yet too low to have made the more important decisions. Don't be fooled by Kraft's engineering background, he did little if any engineering for NASA and his active role as flight controller ended with the Mercury flights (something that becomes obvious as the book progresses, and the detail gets more and more vague).
   
   And it is also clear in the book that for all the historic events in this book, Kraft had a first class seat... in the audience. All the important and interesting work appears to have been done by other people; we are left with petty corporate politics, character assassination and power grabs.
   
   His real accomplishments, and there are many, become hidden in his petty squabbles and insubordination. There are numerous examples that Kraft, in his own words, seems to demonstrate he is not a likable man.
   
   At least we now know the reason for the impression that the managers at the Manned Space Center during the early days of NASA were egotistical and arrogant... because they actually were egotistical and arrogant.
   
   Kraft has done a pretty good job of character assassination on himself, even worse than what he did to Scott Carpenter. Maybe Kraft should have let someone else write his story, or better still penned a biography of his mentor Bob Gilruth.

No comments about Al Pacino: The Authorized Biography (Ulverscroft Nonfiction).

No comments about Memories (Large Print Edition): A Record of Personal Experience and Adventure During Four Years of War.

2 comments about Memoirs of a Midget.

1. Memoirs Of A Midget by Walter de la Mare is a fictional memoir of Miss M, a diminutive young woman (exactly how diminutive is left up to the reader's interpretation!), who grows up in an orphanage and eventually falls in love with a full-sized woman even as she is courted by a male dwarf. The daily travails of Miss M, with the unique obstacles presented by her size difference, lead to her resolve to claim independence by offering herself as a spectacle in a circus. An engagingly told, wry yet witty read, Memoirs Of A Midget is a unique and inherently fascinating novel from beginning to end.



2. I thought that this book was excellent! As a fellow short person, I could relate to the story wonderfully! I have felt the same feelings that she felt, it was almost like a mirror was held up to my life. Well except for the when the book took place I can't believe how awesome this book was! Now perhaps people will look at the midgets and think that they are real people too, not just disformed humans. you should read this book. It was the best book I ever read. I hope that everyone reads this book so that people everywhere can get to know the hardships that we face in our day to day lives. This book really educated my friends on how hard life can be. I can only hope that others will do the same thing.

5 comments about Still Woman Enough: A Memoir.

1. Having read Loretta Lynn's memoir, "Coal Miner's Daughter" and seeing the movie, Coal Miner's Daughter, and having recently visited her Ranch and also her homeplace, I couldn't wait to read her latest memoir, "Still Woman Enough". I honestly could not put the book down. Loretta Lynn proves she is a pillar of strength as she describes the trials, tribulations and secrets of her marriage, and the demands of show buisness, much of which she did not mention in her first book. She is friendly and down to earth throughout the book and is an inspiration to many women.
   
   MBL



2. This is the third Loretta Lynn book that I've purchased. I first got "Coal Miner's Daughter" then I got, "You're Cookin' It Country." Both of those books are true Loretta and this book is no different. It's sort of "Coal Miner's Daughter" Part Two. She tells stories in an easy to understand way and the book flows as if Loretta is in the room telling you the stories face to face. It is a really great book



3. I really enjoyed reading this book. It was hard to put down. I bought it in West Virginia at one of her shows. I hadn't read her first book but after reading this one, I also bought it. She had a facinating life and I still enjoy going to see her shows when I can.



4. This book was so easy to read, I could hear Loretta speaking to me!!! She writes like she talks, which is not all that common...but a definite plus. A must-have for Loretta Lynn fans.



5. I loved this book even more than her first, as it was more complete and honest. However, I still question whether or not Loretta was so faithful all those yrs knowing her husband was always cheating and she had so many opportunities. It seems like maybe she left something out, making her look a little too perfect, maybe because of her children. I did really enjoy the book.