5 comments about Learning to Fall: The Blessings of an Imperfect Life.

1. I didn't enjoy this book at all - its just not my type of book. I was expecting a biography of his life - but this book is a series of short stories about life in general, not necessarily the authors life.
   
   I guess I just didn't read the back cover properly.



2. My brother was diagnosed with ALS this last October. I bought this book for everyone in my family...it has allowed us to cherish life and the moments we have with him. This is a great book and I recommend it 100%!!!



3. Just a quick note to add my voice to others who love this book by the late Philip Simmons. As moving and beautiful and wise as any creative nonfiction ever written. As a professor of writing, I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about life (and the death that makes life possible).



4. I have read this book once a year at the end of winter since its publication because reading it is a great way to herald in the spring given its life-affirming message. As a disabled person, I find it particularly helpful, but I first started reading it a few years before I was disabled. I purchase at least one copy a year because I not only loan it out, I give it away. Such a gift it is.
   
   I also want to say to the people who are disappointed that Simmons doesn't let us into his pathos and pain: perhaps Simmons did not spend a very long time in pathos and pain, let alone want to write about it (living it may have been enough for him). I am disabled and my disability has left me with little social contact (in fact even my spouse left me because of my disability), and yet I am a happy person. It's not that I don't accept or honor my grief, but I spend more time loving life back rather than standing in the crashing waves shaking my fist at God. I suspect this was Simmons way as well.
   
   No doubt he could have written that other book and even made us laugh at his pain, but that was not the focus of his life. Research shows that happy people do not necessarily have more happy experiences--they just focus on those experiences more and are grateful just for the chance to be alive no matter the suffering. That's a lesson in and of itself.



5. This is about the 7th copy of this book that I have purchased. I keep giving them away because the message is so poignant. It is a wonderful story of courage and acceptance in the face of death at too young an age. But - the story is not sad - the author finds the joys in life and the ability to face each day with a positive outlook.

5 comments about A Boy I Once Knew: What a Teacher Learned from her Student.

1. A Boy I Once Knew is a bit of a miss-titled novel. Although the book is an interesting read, I was expecting a book about the title character and his life journey from the time he was a student to the time he died. Instead, the book focuses primarily on the author who draws parallels between what is happening in the Journals to what is happening in her own life. While sometimes interesting. In that sense it was disappointing, leaving me to wonder about the diaries and what I didn't learn. A more apt title for this book might have been, The Diaries I Received From A Student And How They Made Me Reflect On My Own Life.



2. A large brown box appears on the doorstep of teacher, Elizabeth Stone's front door. Inside she would find the journals and inner workings of former student, former human being, former AIDS patient; Vincent.
   This book was extremely slow going. I felt that it asked too may questions and sort of implied the story rather than to tell it. Yes I am aware that Miss. Stone only had the journals as a reference yet I still believe this work could have been executed in a way as to end up with a much more impressive piece of writing.
   In reading "A Boy I Once Knew," I also came across a variety of typos and errors thus proving the type of effort that went into the book.
   Stone also seemed to focus much more on her life than Vincent's, the one she meant to be preserved.
   When I look at this book as a whole I can't help but wonder if Vincent was made into the person he wanted the world to know. But, at the same time, I don't know if we were properly "introduced".



3. Upon completing this book (and before reading the reviews of others on this site), I came out with many of the same feelings that they had: this book was NOT so much about the "Boy" but about the author. I'm glad to see that I wasn't the only one disappointed and misled by the book and its summary. I wanted to know more about the supposed title character...not about the author. The author left his diaries and notes to a total stranger so she could tell the world about him...about his battle with life...and death. And yet all she was concerned about was her own life. What a disappointment. I'm sure she gained something from reading his diaries, but we certainly didn't. And when she did mention him, she used quotes from his diaries that were quick notes like, "Went shopping. Met with friend." Nothing in detail. A true author who wanted to share Vincent with the world would have cut beyond his quick notes and written something with more depth, using his notes as a guide. Ms. Stone didn't seem to even "get" Vincent...or the gay lifestyle. So, after reading the book, I quickly resold it online. It wasn't a keeper for me. Sorry, Vincent...I hope someone else preserves memories of you...



4. What a tremendous letdown! I picked this up because I loved the thought of the ex-teacher revealing the life of a former student through his memoirs and her memories. Too bad that isn't really the book. Elizabeth Stone uses Vincent as an excuse to write her own autobiography- and believe me, her story makes you long to hear Vincent's all the more. Perhaps his diaries were very vague or his family reticent of having his life detailed - both understandable. But, given that, there isnlt really a worthwhile project here. I got so bored that I kept skipping pages looking to find Vincent's story and all I really kept finding was hers. Ugh! A vanity project all around.



5. Stone was given a task that was impossible to do: being asked to reconstruct a life and a story in a way that would both please Vincent and be worth writing. Granted, Vincent's life was tragic, but is not a story worth repeating. It is not new tale: a troubled gay youth struggling to fit in, finding refuge in a gay metropolis, and ultimately dieing of AIDS.
   What is much more interesting is Stone's story. What a remarkable situation to be in: Having to write the story of a former student who has since grown estranged; to see her very human reaction to Victor's sad story. Untimely it is much more compelling and thought provoking that the story given her.
   Stone is an expert of narratives (as per her other book and work.) I think she could see the limits of Victor's tale; which would make for a very unremarkable and unoriginal work. Instead we see how she reacted, and we in turn can react likewise. Tragedy for Stone is not in the grand narrative, but in all the subsequent and supporting narratives.
   In the tired genera of AIDS-memoir Stone has breathed new life into it. Vincent is surly pleased.

No comments about Brahms Studies, Volume 3 (Brahms Studies).

5 comments about Heloise & Abelard: A New Biography (Plus).

1. One of history's greatest romances and, I must write, friendships comes alive through Burge's eloquent accounting of the lives, love, and circumstances of Heloise and Abelard. Burge is especially enabled through the relatively recent discovery of 113 letters between the pair. These letters, along with the eight original found letters, permit a luxurious look into not only a relationship, but into a time in history that bears remarkable similarity to our own.
   
   It was back in the 12th century. Abelard, a philosopher of rock-star fame and ambition, meets the intellectual and highly educated Heloise. He maneuvers his way into her household as her tutor, giving him a salary and the pair unfettered access under the guise of study time. Lust in the library leads to a surprise pregnancy, and the wrath of Heloise's guardian uncle Fulbert. The baby is born, and in typical rock star fashion, is given the unlikely name Astrolabe, which would be like someone today naming their child iPod. Oh, those philosophers, those artists. Dare I mention Apple Martin, or Moon Unit Zappa?
   
   Many historical studies end with the revenge of Fulbert, and the separation of Heloise and Abelard into cloistered worlds. But here, I think, is where the real romance begins. Their deep soul level relationship continues throughout their lives, with Abelard tilting at philosophic windmills and running afoul of rival clerics, and Heloise quietly, firmly, and steadily building her order of nuns all the while providing constant emotional, intellectual, and managerial support to Abelard. She's the Sharon to his Ozzie; the Linda to his Paul.
   
   At once a study in history, romantic legend, and the role of women in the 12th century, this book is a marvelous, highly digestible read that both delights and educates. I'm greatly looking forward to the forthcoming Dante and Beatrice volume.



2. What a story! Shakespeare did indeed have it right when saying, "The course of true love never did run smooth."
   
   Heloise and Abelard hit not only some bumpy rapids, but some waterfalls and whirlpools. But their writing to each other is so incredibly beautiful, so poignant.
   
   It took me a while to work through this one, but it was worth it. An incredible love story from 900 years ago. If anyone ever says the Middle Ages were dull and stogy, give 'em this book to read. Though some places are in the original text the most part has been translated into modern English. Beautifully, moving, erotic and powerful...
   
   Heloise is remarkable. Usually when hearing about this couple, she comes second-- the wanton woman who mended her ways and became an abbess. Burge shows her true colors: intelligent, articulate, intellectual, sensuous, and tenacious at a time when women were not expected to be any of those things. Her letters rang with an honesty. She wasn't afraid to declare her love or to get on Abelard's case when his responses didn't live up to her expectations
   
   
   And the other fascinating part of this book besides the glimpse into their relationship? It gave a window into their world, particularly that of the influence of the church and role of women in it, and the rise of intellectualism and the universities.



3. The romance of Abelard and Heloise is almost as famous as Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet were fictitious. Abelard and Heloise, however, lived. In addition, both Abelard, a famous Medieval philosopher, and Heloise, the administrator of a large convent, had identities beyond their relationship.
   
   Many books about Abelard and Eloise have been written during the 900 years since their death. Their story is sad. The author, James Burge, demonstrates that their difficulties were partly due to the times but were also due to their personalities.
   
   The occasion for this excellent book is the remarkable recent discovery of 113 letters the lovers wrote to each other. James Burge uses these together with previously known letters and other records to construct biographies of each of the lovers. As we follow them through their lives, Burge describes 12th century philosophical and religious thought, Medieval educational institutions, places important to the couple, the economic situation of the times, Medieval architectural movements, clothing, food, and other details of life.
   
   The new and old letters provide a wealth of information about Abelard and Heloise. Burge uses them to flesh out their long dead bones. By the end of the book, I felt I knew these people, complete with their strengths and weaknesses. Other records describe people with whom the couple interacted. These interactions importantly elucidate the personalities of Abelard and Heloise.
   
   While he lived, Abelard was well known for winning philosophical disputations and for his teaching. The book is a bit disappointing in that we never watch Abelard either dispute an opponent or teach students. Perhaps surviving records do not give enough information to permit this. Without such "demonstrations", we don't know exactly what Abelard did in these situations that was so unusual.
   
   Heloise was a big surprise to me. She was no retiring, Medieval, uneducated miss. Today we would call her a Liberated Woman. She was brilliant and had a mind of her own. Had she lived today, she probably would have had an illustrious career as a writer. Her letters are outstanding. Her Latin vocabulary was immense and her choice of words and sentence structure (as translated) was original and vivid. Her writing is immediate and moving. At times her prose feels like poetry.
   
   This is an excellent book. I recommend it.



4. James Bruge's recent work on Heloise and Abelard must surely rate as one of the best to date on the moving and emotional story of this epic love affair torn from the pages of 900 years past. Although the story has been told countless times since Heloise and Abelard fell in love in Paris while Abelard pursued a teaching career at the recently started University of Paris, this new book offers not only superb writing and prose, but also an important "extra" which is not to be missed.
   
   As most people may know, the story of Heloise and Abelard's love is based solely on the eight existing documents written back and forth to each other back in the eleventh century (three written by Abelard, and five by Heloise). Due to some fortuitous circumstances, some good detective work, and a subsequent extensive critical review, a cache of some additional 113 letters from between the two were discovered only recently in the 1970's (the letters were embedded in another medieval work that sought to teach proper Latin writing form, and made use of the text of these letters to illustrate outstanding writing examples, but nevertheless did not cite the source authors). With the majority of the academic community now confirming the authenticity of these 113 "new" letters, Bruge is able for the first time to weave what these letters reveal into the greater narrative, address lingering questions, fill in gaps, and just generally build a much greater understanding of the lives of these two people who must certainly be considered two of the most famous persons of medieval Europe to have ever lived.
   
   It is certainly a story worth telling. What shines forth from these letters is, surprisingly, not Abelard's renowned logic or rhetorical skills, but Heloise's love, her consummate skill at expressing that love in some of the best Latin ever penned (and that must surely be rated as good as Cicero, or better), and her steadfast obedience to that love she possessed in spite of the most difficult circumstances. Yes, this is a book about two medieval individuals, is set in medieval times, and contains numerous historic references to the people and events of the period. To any medievalist, that's not only fine, but good. But this book, for all its references to medieval university structures, medieval church rules and practices, and the start of the gothic building movement, is really about none of these. Rather, it is about Heloise and Abelard, their love, and the cost that each of them paid for pursuing that love. It's Romeo and Juliet on steroids, and once one has read the story as Bruge tells it, it can be little mystery as to why this story has been repeatedly told for the past 900 years. It truly is a love story worth reading.
   
   Bruge's writing is clear and meaningful, and includes a few minor explanations that the non-medievalist will find helpful to help set the context of the writings. Thus the book is really a popular work, accessible to anyone. Nevertheless, Bruge has managed to keep the work "scholarly," and the work can easily be used by any medievalist scholar who wishes to read more about the process of discovering and authenticating the new 133 letters. There is also a well-regulated smattering of historical signposts and indicators sprinkled throughout the work that help contextualize Heloise and Abelard's story, necessary because so many of the issues they faced were a direct result of the era in which they lived. On the way, we are introduced to Willam of Champeaux, Bernard of Clairvaux, Abbot Suger, Abelard's patrons, and others with whom Abelard tangled (the list of "offenedees" is both long and distinguished). We also learn of some of the regional areas in which Abelard travelled: a native of Brittany, he spent much time in Paris, but was also called to Sens to defend his positions, set up the Paraclete outside of Paris, and we also learn up front a little bit about how Paris was physically constructed at the time as opposed to the city's current incarnation. The book can certainly beef up your historical understandings of the period as you read the story itself.
   
   Looking for a great romance? Skip the front rack at the bookstore, and go directly to Bruge's "Heloise and Abelard." And be prepared to be moved.



5. Heloise and Abelard was surprisingly good: very well-written, better than most scholarly historical books (Though as a fiction devotee, my experience is limited). It reminded me of How The Irish Saved Civilization, also a well-written and interesting book. Like that one, this one benefits greatly from the fact that the subject matter is fascinating: this is an incredible story.
   
   I love the idea of these two remarkable people finding each other and finding love together. I love that the both of them, despite their Medieval morals, were willing to break the rules to be together, to revel in their unique connection. It was fascinating to read parts of their letters to each other, the endearments they wrote, the things they said about their love; totally changed my opinion of the Middle Ages.
   
   That was another thing I liked about the book: the view it gave of the Middle Ages, which I don't know much about at all. This gave me a lot more respect for the monastic system as well as for the people, the scholars and philosophers of the time. I was utterly inspired by the idea that Abelard, a successful and famous philosopher, was able to forsake the role of dominant male and listen to his wife, and that from her inspiration, he became one of the foremost feminists of the era, right before the zealots turned all of Europe into a misogynistic theocracy that invented chastity belts and the Malleus Maleficarum.
   
   Overall, it's a wonderful story, wonderfully told. Because this was true love, and it's obvious in everything they did and everything they said. I love hearing about lovers that lived a thousand years ago, in a time that seemed so much against true love, when people thought more of alliance and reproduction when they married, and sex was such a meaningless pastime in between (Think "The Tudors"). And how can I not love a couple that is made up of a poet and a songwriting logician? Even if they did end badly -- though I have to say, the best part of reading this book was the suggestion by the author that the last few years of Abelard's life, before he was accused of heresy and his health failed, were spent in a peaceful friendship, living at the monastery he founded and which was run by Heloise, that they had at least a few years when they weren't torn up by passion as well as by danger, when they could walk together and talk together and just live in harmony. That was magic. I hope it's true.

No comments about Under the Holy Lake: A Memoir of Eastern Bhutan (Wayfarer).

No comments about From Vienna to Chicago and Back: Essays on Intellectual History and Political Thought in Europe and America.

3 comments about Nicholas Miraculous: The Amazing Career of the Redoubtable Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler.

1. Well written, but of interest mostly to those who went to Columbia while he was president.



2. Professor Rosenthal has done a superb job of evoking the persona of the man who built Columbia, using his 44-year tenure as university president. The author has even succeeded in evoking the reader's sympathies for Butler, a powerful leader who, viewed in today's lights, was an autocratic megalomaniac who missed many opportunities to build an even greater educational institution on Morningside Heights.
   
   This biography will be of great interest to anyone who spent time at Columbia (or its sister institutions) during the 20th century -- the years during which Butler's influence was at its zenith. It provides, perhaps for the first time, a background for some of the University's admirable traditions, balanced, wisely, by a few rather embarassing episodes in its history.



3. Nicholas Miraculous: the Amazing Career of the Redoubtable Dr. Nicholas Michael Rosenthal's biography of Nicholas Murray Butler was fascinating reading for me because of Butler's position as my father's boss and major influence on the social, political and academic world in which he lived during the 1930's and early 1940's (my formative years). It was a world of clubby collegiality for those on the inside, formal social affairs, conservative politics, anti-Semitism, and class and cultural snobbery. Attitudes towards Franco's Spain, Mussolini's Fascism and Hitler's Nazis ranged from admiration to toleration - at least up to the time of the invasion of Poland in 1939. The issue of Negroes on the faculty or in the student body was so far from Butler's concern or concept of the way things should be that it is not even mentioned in his biography. Faculty members were free to exercise academic freedom so long as they did not publicly challenge any of the basic principles of the world of Butler and his colleagues. Those who did, were dismissed or passed over for promotion.
   My father often complained about the internal politics he had to deal with at Columbia and I had assumed that this was a problem endemic to all academic institutions, but after reading this book I get the impression that it was worse at Columbia than other places because of the personality and policies of Butler himself who was not a very good administrator.

5 comments about On Borrowed Words: A Memoir of Language.

1. This book is a well-written, fascinating memoir of a childhood and young adulthood of a Jewish childhood in Mexico city. The characters are memorable - Bobbe Bela from Russia, the actor father, the talented and unstable brother, and the author himself seeking home and identity. A significant component of his seeking identity is found in language - Spanish, Yiddish, Hebrew, English. He compares multiple languages with masks of an actor, one of many elements in his tale that cause the reader to reflect. Another component is the author's finding his calling as an author - the influences (and absence of encouragement) that shape his writing, the language and the content. Another component is his searching for his Jewishness - in Israel, in Spain, in theology books (and classes), in Yiddish literature.

   This memoir is excellent reading on being human - the reader gains insight into human experience as a whole through the detailed exposition of what it means to be a specific human, Ilan Stavans.




2. Ilan Stavans' On Borrowed Words flows nicely. It is at once an autobiograpical account of Stavans' intellectual journey, a rich detail on the literary works that have shaped his worldview, and a commentary on the influence, power, and limitations of language. The reader will develop a greater awareness of the books and influences that form one's belief system after reading Stavans' memior.
   Credit Stavans for not unnecessarily dwelling on his past as a minority, but for developing (though his detail of language in his life) his own persona.



3. As an American Jew with insider knowledge of the Mexico City Jewish community, I was startled and later heartwarmed by this book, and in the end proud of Stavans' courageous autobiographical outpouring. He has expressed facts about the Mexico City Jewish community and its effect on how one grows up there and how one views the world from this shtetl within one of the largest cities in the world.

   I am enormously proud of how he has expressed himself in a language still somewhat foreign to him. He has given the reader some food for thought on how we all sometimes live on immigrant islands trying so ferociously to protect our languages and cultures while our offspring yearn to find a meaning in the country of their birth.

   I suppose I'm a bit prejudiced since there are family ties here, but this book is outstanding and worth your reading. It definitely deals with the great questions of the humanities. His "let it all hang out" style must have cost him dearly amongst the family and the community, but as a writer he is definitely true to himself. I admire him greatly. This is a must read.




4. Ilan Stavans, Mexican/American Jewish writer, wrote a book about his experience as an insider/outsider. This is a condition shared by many in our times of high geographical mobility. It is a condition his/my people have known for at least two thousand years. The difference is that he, as many in the present, is not running away from persecution -- much as he might find himself in a somewhat more tolerant environment on an American campus than he did in his native Mexico City -- but one that moved from one culture to another by choice. The thing to note is that in both, the cultural context of his birth as well as his present cultural environment, he is still not quite mainstream. When it comes to language, this becomes a much more complex matter. It runs into the impossibility to render thoughts with mathematical precision in translation but it means more than that: translation has power over that which is translated, in a very active way.
   
   This multi layered predicament is liberating and a bonus for those who know how to take advantage of it.
   
   Ilan Stavans writes in a very readable and crisp and clear way. If you are a person with stakes in many cultures and languages, if you are a Jew at that, you will feel over and over again that you should have written this book. If you are not, you will come very close to understanding this predicament which will make so many things clear to you. In either case, read this book. It is so well written that you will be enriched by it and will enjoy the experience.



5. I read this book and I found that the author had been extremely careless in its writing. Even though it is an autobiography, the author makes reference to "historic facts" which are false. If this book reflects the author's cavalier attitude towards accuracy (in historic facts as well as in language accuracy) then this book casts a shadow on the author's intellectual integrity. Otherwise the book is an "easy read" and it is entertaining.

1 comments about From Berlin To Texas: Forging a Life from the Devastation of War.

1. The author presents a very personal memoir of his life starting as a youth in pre-World War II Germany, gives the picture of an innocent caught up in that horrific conflict with eventual transformation into a famous scientist-clinician in the USA. It is well written and a very engaging history of those times.

No comments about Maria Gulovich, Oss Heroine Of World War 2: The Schoolteacher Who Saved American Lives in Slovakia.