5 comments about Famous Builder.

1. If I press a book into your hand and beg you to read it, you will know that I am doing so because I love the book and I want to share that love with you. When you examine the beloved book, you will note how many pages I've dog eared. The more dog ears, the deeper my love.
   
   Paul Lisicky's gorgeous, tender book of essays, Famous Builder, has a dog ear about every other page. I loved it that much.
   
   If you start off your book, very first thing, having to spell your name in a classroom--you've got me. Right there. Welcome to every first day of my life.
   
   But then if you carry on with wonderful, evocative, empathetic renderings of your family and childhood neighbors and relatives (Mrs. Fox! I picture her as Anne Bancroft playing Mrs. Robinson) and your own place within this world and your own childhood longings (to become a famous builder of all the wondrous and geeky things), you've got me even further.
   
   Lisicky pages through his life and opens old wounds and examines them, but never once paints himself or his family the victim. His parents are human beings and he is a son who tries hard and sometimes fails and sometimes lets go. He is a son who yearns, just as they want him to yearn.
   
   While this is partly a book of coming of age, mostly this is a book of home, and what Lisicky (and his brothers) knows is that home is moving away from you just as you know it is there--home could be a department store on its way out or waterfront homes built on dredge and fill or a hotel room.
   
   Home is in the moment:
   
   "I turn back toward the room. If it were mine to do such a thing, I'd secure this moment with the heaviest anchor: Arden taking up all the space he needs; Beau resting a thick paw on Mark's forearm; Mark touching my leg as I walk by, just to let me know he's thinking of me."
   
   A beautiful, touching book. Read it.



2. This is one of those books that I wanted as a quick, uplifting, summer read and I have to be honest and say it was really excruciating to read. I don't like to give negative feedback, especially for authors whom I've enjoyed in the past. However, the positive reviews here, which influenced me to purchase it, need to be checked. I FORCED myself to finish this and it took months.
   
   The book is about the author's childhood. It is so completely disjointed in it's characters, times and locations and rarely makes sense at all. There is absolutely no depth to or connections between any of the characters. It's all descriptive writing about locations, etc. and has little point or continuity. It really has nothing to do with being a builder, even thought that's what it seems the protagonist wanted to be in his early childhood. Later in the book, you find out he actually wanted to be something else (I can't even remember and i finished it this week) and mentions nothing about him wanting to be an author (which he ultimately is).
   
   It would have helped if the author cut the descriptive text in half and delved into the relationships between the people in his life (not just describe their out of sequence comments). I was craving to know more about his father and him and his mother and him and his brother, neighbors, aunts, etc. but it just described a few of their comments and actions randomly in his life. The most character development is of a neighbor - "Mrs. Fox" who appears in one of his location changes - and that is purely descriptive as well.
   
   I do not recommend this book to anyone - not even people who fondly remember the development communities of the 50's - today. Sorry Mr. Lisiki but i'm sure i'll give you a good review somewhere else.
   
   The cover is very nice (and the velum insert) but here goes the clichet.... "Don't judge a book by it's cover" - or the Amazon reviews.



3. Sweet. Irreverent. Warm. A little crazed. And still these adjectives don't do justice to the accomplishment of this lovely book.



4. Every now and then I come across a book that occupies all my free time. This is one such book! The author has accomplished to portrait his journey from middle America childhood to adulthood with great observation, introspection, and delirious humor. I loved it!



5. Every now and then I come across a book that takes hold of all my free time, that practically nothing gets accomplished until I reach the last page. This was one such book! The author has accomplished to portrait his journey from middle America youth to adulthood with great observation, introspection, and delirious humor. I loved it!

4 comments about Village of the Small Houses: A Memoir of Sorts.

1. Written and narrated by author Ian Ferguson, Village Of The Small Houses: A Memoir Of Sorts is an hilarious and highly recommended account of growing up poor in the far north when in 1959, just ahead of the law, Ferguson's con-artist father Hank headed up north in a delapidated Mercury Zephyr with his pregnant wife, Louise. Hank got as far as isolated Fort Vermilion where he passed himself off as a teacher at the "Indian school" and settled his ever-expanding family in a house devoid of plumbing and electricity. The lively recounting of a scrappy childhood, Ferguson interweaves truth, tall-tale exag-geration, and a memorable case of growing up among lovable misfits in this 2 CD, 2 1/2 hour autobiographical account.



2. The story here is about growing up in the far north. It begins in the 1950's when a con-artist father, Hank, leaves Edmonton with his pregnant wife and eventually passes himself off at the Indian school as a teacher. Hank settles his family in remote Fort Vermilion. The cast of loveable misfits struggle with the day-to-day harsh reality of being in Canada's third-poorest community. Winner of the Stephen Leacock Medal for Fiction



3. I loved every page of this book. The writing is excellent and the story flows really well. There are so many moving moments in this book that I shed a tear on a number of occassions. I also laughed my head off quite a bit. What more can one ask of a memoir? Well done Ian!



4. I read Ian Fergusons `biography of sorts` on a recent visit to Canada.The book was un-put-down-able,such well shaped characters,such wonderfully evoked scenery. Full of humour and pathos. When does the movie come out?

3 comments about Boston Boy: Growing up with Jazz and Other Rebellious Passions.

1. Once, jazz was a real and pervasive presence in Boston and in the dim and scruffy clubs of the South End, this American Music-par-excellence thrilled thousands of afficionados, while yet rarely affording its dedicated and colorful creators a living.
   It was the Twenties and the Jazz Age; it was the Thirties and the age of the Big Bands; it was the wartime Forties, the age of The Savoy on Mass Ave and of Sidney Bechet; it was the baby-boom Fifties and the age of Storeyville in Kenmore Square...
   There were Big Bands and great ballrooms but there were, as well, many talented smaller bands, playing inspired improvised jazz and struggling to survive as they enthralled more limited audiences in more limited venues.
   Nat Hentoff eloquently reminisces about a time when the soulful sound of trumpet and clarinet, piano and bass - pained, glorious, yearning, introspective, challenging, alien even - could inadvertently reach out of the smoky, dark, cave-like clubs of Washington and Columbus Avenues, and so mesmerize a young boy that it could change his life.
   Nat Henhoff blends this tale of a city, its cultural glories and its social sins, with the story of the music, light and dark, somber and witty, pure and besmirched - the faithful mirror of the human soul.
   He leaves one desolate that - much too soon! - things changed, and he leaves one wondering why Boston let it happen; why the city - host to The Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory, the Symphony as well as The Boston Pops - couldn't swiftly rally to support and, in time, to save a once-thriving Jazz community...
   Oh, economics and changing taste are the answer, of course, but one is left wishing that Boston had been able to sustain its local jazz scene and, failing that, wishing that it should presently choose, at the least and at last, to honor it with a South End Jazz Museum.
   Many of the greatest Jazz Musicians played there once and their presence or passage should not be forgotten.



2. It's great to see a book like this. As another Boston boy, I had many similar experiences that have been hard and perhaps confusing to explain to someone who grew up in another time and place.
   My wife feels that she understands me better now after reading Boston Boy. We are giving copies to our sons.
   The book for me is nostalgic, poignant, and somewhat reassuring. Helps to understand that generation, that time, and that place. We made it in spite of the bastards.



3. Nat Hentoff, who later became famous as a writer about jazz and civil liberties, describes his "coming of age" and discovery of jazz in the Boston of the 1940s. A very enjoyable read.

4 comments about Greenbelt : A Nostalgic Return to a Texas Childhood.

1. Greenbelt brought back childhood memories of a Texas lake and the antics one can get away with as a young kid. It reminded me of times that I had not considered in ages. Times when I was invincible.

   The stories in this book transcend a regional area, they could have occurred on a Texas Panhandle lake, a California beach or on a Iowa farm.

   Read this book to remind you of your own childhood or to remind you of a childhood you wish you had lived!!




2. Released just in time for for summer reading, I heartily recommend this book to anyone who enjoys adventure. Jim Man's style is easygoing, and at the same time compelling. I kept reading "just one more chapter" to find out what would happen next to Jim, Dwight, and the other colorful characters. This book truly is a return to a simpler time in the not too distant past. A time when kids explored the outside world on their own, and a Mother's parting words were "Be home in time for supper".



3. I picked up the book on a Friday night. I was skeptical at best, but everybody leaves the bookstore with a book; and besides, the author was at the bookstore doing the dog and pony show trying to sell some of his books. Politely, I bought the book, came home and was mesmerized for the next four hours (I am a slow reader). I liked the size of the book, it wasn't real intimidating and I thought I would give it at least three chapters. That was all it took and I was hooked. A NOSTALGIC RETURN is exactly what I got. Mr. Man's book took me back to my own childhood and the amazement that I (and he)lived through it. Chapter after chapter was adventure, exploit, and just good ole' childhood mischief. I finished the book that night (to my wife's dislike). Several times she woke up and hit me with the pillow because the bed was shaking from my laughter. I honestly couldn't put the book down. Anyway, for what it is worth, I wish I had the book to look forward to. Write on Mr. Man, Bart boxwell



4. Here we have Jim Man's portrait of a summerful of visits to a lake house in north Texas of 1972 (age 12). The outstanding quality of Man's writing is its credibility: on a topic almost hand-crafted as a foundation for tall tales, I'm darned if I don't believe just about everything he says.

   I too grew up in the 1970s in the West, and we did in fact use to shoot at one another with BB guns, dig through any half-ruined building available to us, and gad about on any wheeled vehicle we could scrounge up. While Jim's story is one of a lot of fun--some better and cleaner than others--it is a story of lessons learned about himself and others. Jim's friend Dwight is an especially compelling character, the kind you can't invent; they either are authentic or they are not. (His accent, by the way, is authentic. He sounds precisely like my very rural, very Texan father-in-law.) By the end of the book--which I wish had been longer--I really wanted to know what ever became of the boys in the book.

   As a book for young people, I'd rate it PG-13: the author could have easily pushed it toward R-17, but a visible effort was made to take the edges off the language and content; this effort might not get the credit it deserves, but parents buying books for their children will appreciate it. If you're raising kids today, _Greenbelt_ will encourage you to pose the question: how come we turned out all right in spite of the fact that we behaved like Jim and his cohorts? It will appeal especially to anyone who likes motorcycles, fishing/boating, and modern-day Tom Sawyer hijinks. For anyone who grew up in rural Texas, naturally, the appeal will be even stronger. I came away liking the genuinely warm, adventuresome Man family, and I reckon a lot of readers will too.

1 comments about They Took My Father: Finnish Americans in Stalin's Russia.

1. This is THE book for those of Finnish heritage that are interested in a nearly forgotten time in our history. Mayme gives us a gripping tale about her time in Soviet Russia after being moved there by her communist agitator father Oscar Corgan. Oscar was one of the primary proponents of American Finns moving to Russia to begin a new life there. This time is called "Karelian Fever". Mayme's description of her life and times in Russia is harrowing. Even though her father was taken and killed by soviet authorities she remains unapologetic. This is a fine companion piece to "No Home for us Here" and "Karelia".

2 comments about My Sky Blue Trades: Growing Up Counter in a Contrary Time.

1. A few themes run through these memoir-essays: rebellion against the father, books as an escape from life. Ok just two themes. The fifties and sixties (Birkerts was born in 1951) are what might be the most documented decades in the history of man. Its very difficult to write a memoir about this time that doesn't sound cliched.

   Birkerts parents were from Latvia and spoke Latvian in the Michigan family home. Ok thats new. But Sven who insisted on being called Peter was a rebel with a cause as a young man: he wanted to conform and be American. As he got older he traded in the desire to conform for a desire to be different and so he became a hippie and he did all the things hippies do: drug experiences, sex, travel, Woodstock. Though well written this kind of book is routine. Birkerts is strongest when he is talking about his grandparents but he is at his weakest when he is talking about the counterculture and his various girlfriends. Birkerts' first love is not women but books. When he is discussing a book all the lights come on in his head but when he is talking about a woman the room remains dim.

   Memoirs are reckonings and the person the writer is really attempting to reckon with is themselves. I get the feeling however that Birkerts has not quite gotten there yet. In this self-portrait the artist hides behind a series of 1950's and 1960's cliches; the experiences Birkert's describes just seem too generic. It is as if his mind is clouded with the popular view of 1950's-60's and he cannot see beyond that to form his own view of the times. Also there just isn't enough of his inner life in this book; no sense of intellectual evolution, no great awakenings to the world except in the most cliched kind of way, and no sense of love for his craft. In fact he doesn't really talk about his craft much. I was expecting some irony or some literary comment on the sameness of childhood and teen years. But no irony, no originality, just a generic MEMOIR.

   A few observations are precisely worded though the thoughts themselves do not sound particularly authentic. Birkerts is a careful reader and his essays are often thoroughly researched and he is excellent at giving an overview of an author's career but I don't thnk he has a particularly unique vision of life to offer. To offer something unique he needs to dig deeper into his experience than he chose to do here.




2. Having grown up in much the same time period and with much the same ethnic background (my family, too, came to the United States from Latvia during WW2), even in the same approximate area (lower Michigan), I picked up Birkerts' book (and, as chance would have it, I found it in the bookstore in Ann Arbor he describes as his place of employment) with immense curiosity. Just how similar would his experience be to mine? Initially, it was rather exhilirating to read this memoir that spoke of so much that I, too, knew so well, down to the ethnic bone. As I read of his discomforts and anxieties about learning a new language other than the one spoken in his home, his sense of being something of a misfit in both the Latvian and the American communities, I identified in most every detail. Ah, yes, this too I felt on my adolescent thin hide... Mine, I felt simultaneously as blessing and curse, as perhaps, in conclusion, did Birkerts.

   In later years, of course, Birkerts' experiences forked away very much from my own... but no matter. I didn't need to look into a mirror to sustain my interest. Indeed, that is the whole appeal of this book - it is not only for the multicultural reader. The writing is excellent, and my exhiliration at sharing in a similar experience soon veered to an exhiliration simply in reading a book so well written. Perhaps that is one of the blessings of being bilingual, this ability to approach a second language with greater awareness. Birkerts' use of language is vibrant and lush and frequently stunning. His insights and perspective on his work, his relationships, the inner workings of his developing self.... all are richly portrayed. No matter from what backgrounds we come, we all question ourselves and our life choices, we all struggle with similar demons at one time or another. Family dynamics are not so different, I'm sure, no matter what the ethnic background.

   Birkerts' `My Sky Blue Trades' is a valuable portrayal of the immigrant experience for more than one generation, but is also of value simply as a well written book.

4 comments about Onward, Crispy Shoulders!.

1. I grew up next door to Jim and moved away many years ago but reading the book from thousands of miles away brought back a flood of memories of Jim and his family who were all so kind and patient. This book should give hope and encouragement to families with children of any physical or mental challenge. There are lessons to be learned about the amazing things that can be accomplished by extremely loving and talented people with disabilities. If you haven't read this book and are thinking about it, you won't be disappointed. Mary really brings Jim's life into a light that mostly only "locals" were able to appreciate. It is a testament to his parent's love as well. The definition of family can be found here.



2. This is a truly inspring tale of a family that not only homesteaded in Alaska, but raised a child with Down's Syndrome with little help from anyone else. The Haakensons had 6 other children, but managed to raise them all, including Jim with Down's Syndrome, to be contributing citizens with strong Christian values. The book was written by their daughter, Mary, after Jim died in 2001. This is a book anyone should read, and especially anyone with a Down's child in their family.



3. Beside being a wonderful account of the life of Jim Haakenson and his family, this book sets the reader into the lives of homesteaders in Alaska and their unique lifestyle. It leaves one in awe of what these folks accomplished in their daily life as well as the raising of Jim into a very capable employee, and responsible adult who was well known and loved in the community.
   Jim is a rich character and fun to read about. This is a well written, very interesting book, and definitely encouraging to any family raising a child with these kind of challenges.



4. This book was recommended by our daughter, mother of a Downs son, who knows the author. I expected to read a knowledgable, thoughtfully written book -- what I hadn't expected was top-grade writing, humor and a wonderful witness to family acceptance and faith. A truly inspiring story.

No comments about Recuerdos: Memories of Childhood in Tucson.

3 comments about Gum-Dipped: A Daughter Remembers Rubber Town (Ohio History and Culture).

1. As a former rubber worker who also grew up in the shadow of Harvey Firestone, I found the book to be accurate and compelling.



2. Depressing, and weird. Not my kind of book. Well written gramatically but as for substance and material it was a bore and a nuisance to read.



3. I was deeply moved by Joyce Dyer's tribute to her father, an expression of love that manages to eschew mere sentimentality.
   What is impressive is that Gum-Dipped succeeds on another level entirely. Lots of books claim to be about the sense of place, or urban tissue, or the urban experience (as opposed to form), but not very many deliver on that promise. Gum-Dipped really does convey a sense of what it meant to grow up in Akron during the 1950s and 60s--of what it meant to live in a company town, to count on Harvey Firestone to see you through, and to be betrayed in the end.

5 comments about My Father, Marconi (Picas Series).

1. For a long time, I have studied Marconi since I am an amateur radio operator. I have visited his two stations on Cape Cod and even wrote a short web article about the first message he sent from Cape Code to England. Yet I found much new information in this book. Some of the comments tied loose ends together for me. If you are interested in early radio or Marconi, I suggest you read this book. It is paperback book size, but has a vast amount of information and pictures written by someone who knew him well.



2. I was held captive by a book that is a generous tribute of a loving daughter to her Father, Guglielmo Marconi. Degna Marconi allows us an insight into a chapter in her family history, and introduces us to the science behind her Fathers' inventions, his passion, his single-mindedness, his genius.
   Marconi grew up in Bologna, at the center of his Mother's world. Without formal schooling, bright and gifted Guglielmo was allowed to develop at his own pace. Inspired by a book on Benjamin Franklin, his imagination was fired up, and he started experimenting with electricity and passing signals across distances. Later as a young adult in Great Britain, Marconi together with a small group of dedicated and passionate men and scientists made his ideas a working reality. The rest is history, and we all are beneficiaries.
   Last summer when I stayed at Cape Cod, I took a detour and a walk at South Wellfleet. Marconi Station is no longer there, but the display tells us of messages that were relayed for the first time over great distances, between Great Britain and America. One of the early demonstrations of importance of communicating over long distances was when the signals were received, informing the world of the tragedy of the maiden voyage of Titanic.
   While most of us still grapple with understanding the way signals travel, the ideas and inventions of Guglielmo Marconi have become a life transforming reality. As a mother living in Melbourne, Australia, with a daughter in New York, and a daughter in London, I bow to the genius of Marconi. His work made it possible for us to remain close, it made the "tyranny of distance" more bearable.
   This book is more interesting than any fiction. Degna Marconi writes with literary skill that is outstanding.
   We are closer to understanding Guglielmo Marconi, the man, when we read his own words: "genius is gift of work continuously applied"
   Recommended reading!



3. Review: My father, Marconi

   What magnificant reading this is! This book is a must for those who would agree that a good biography is incomparably more valuable than even a great work of fiction. Degna Marconi has succeeded in recording her father's life with both scrutiny and filial affection. She has maintained a very high level in every aspect: what she tells us about scientific evolution in its historical context is witty, precise and fascinating whereas her personal touch never errs on the side of biased family pride. She is as good an author as her father was a man of science!
   This portrait of Marconi and his times at the beginning of the era of global communication is all the more interesing right now a hundres years after it all began.
   "My father, Marconi" should be on the shelf of anyone who prefers reflection to mere consuption.

   Susanne Regehr




4. If I had to pick the one book (and there are many out there) that best describes Guglielmo Marconi, the inventor of wireless communication, this would definitely be it. This book, written by Marconi's eldest daughter, Degna, is one of the best biographies I have ever read, in part because of the enormous charisma of the subject and in equal part because of the obvious respect and affection with which he is treated by Degna Marconi.
   With only a vague idea of who Marconi was and fearing a book filled with technical jargon I picked up this book with a little suspicion at first. What a wonderful surprise! Degna Marconi's story was engaging from the first few paragraphs and rivetting up until the end. I quickly became engrossed in this fascinating story of a young man who, instead of going to university, spends his days experimenting with sending radio signals across his parents' garden, using homemade equipment and information gathered from scientific magazines, and then his tireless struggle to improve and promote his inventions which takes him first to London, then Canada, and the U.S. Degna Marconi presents the historical and scientific facts in a clear and concise manner without sacrificing detail. The work is both rewarding for those interested in science as well as those of us after a good read. Indeed, the charm of this book is that it reads like a real page turning novel. Loads of little anecdotes and commentaries colour the story without obscuring it. The reader gets a wonderful insight into a world of wealth and luxury, cut-throat competition and scientific innovation.
   The book describes the novelty and excitement of Marconi's first experiments and then moves on to describe Marconi's struggles to patent his inventions, circumvent his ever more numerous competitors and expand the range and use of his technology. In fact, Marconi emerges not only as a brilliant scientist but above all as an energetic and resourceful entrepreneur. This account of Marconi's work to establish radio as a practical and useful alternative to other more established technologies (such as the telephone) is thrilling to read and is as relevant today as it was 100 years ago. I especially enjoyed reading about the heroic radio operator who continued sending S.O.S. signals from the sinking Titanic and about Marconi's long, lonely and often frustrating struggle to establish radio contact across the Atlantic.
   Marconi's private life was no less exciting and tumultuous. The book's description of Marconi's love of the beautiful Beatrice O'Brien, his efforts to win over the undecided Beatrice and their wedding is entertaining and often humorous. The strain of Marconi's ever increasing work and fame on his family, the tragic divorce that neither he nor Beatrice really wanted and Marconi's complicated relationship with his children, especially his son Giulio, are all described with subtle and touching insight. Degna Marconi is also able to convey Marconi's charm and subtle sense of humour. Highly recommended.



5. This book by Mrs Marconi was extremely touching; we know so much about Marconi the inventor, the public figure but what makes this book so original is that it was so clearly written by someone who knew him well and loved him even more. Set side by side are descriptions of his scientific breakthroughs and very intimate glimpses of him as a person, many of them humorous and understanding.

   The book is also very well written, interesting but at the same time readable and enjoyable. I have lent my copy of the book to many of my friends.