3 comments about Harpo Speaks . . . About New York.

1. I loved the book Harpo Speaks so very much -- I've bought it for birthday presents for 2 different people so far. It's one of my top 10 favorite books. The first 80 - 100 pages are a little slow but after that? It takes off at a gallop and reads like fantastic fiction -- drama and comedy and heart -- and all of it actually happened! Well, out of love for this book, I wanted anything else by Harpo Marx and Rowland Barber and bought this book without much thought. Or research. And found, much to my chagrin, just like a previous reviewer noted, it's just THE FIRST FEW CHAPTERS OF HARPO SPEAKS!!! NOTHING NEW!!! I reiterate: BUY HARPO SPEAKS INSTEAD!!!



2. This may be an excerpt from a larger work, with which I'm unfamiliar. I have to judge it simply on what's before me. As one who thinks New York is the most civilized city on the planet though not as beautiful as Sydney, Australia, and who grew up, with millions of others, loving Harpo Marx, I loved this (little book). It is quite atmospheric and gives a very clear understanding of where the Marx Brothers got their drive and energy - Mother Minnie (stagestruck) and Father Frenchie (Housekeeper, tailor and cook). It is also a resounding example of the power of family. A very sweet and companiable edition by The Little Bookroom. Would make a very sweet gift as well.



3. Buy the book "Harpo Speaks". This is merely a coffee table extract from the FULL book, available...

5 comments about Half-Jew: A Daughter's Search For Her Family's Buried Past.

1. This was an amazing book. I am always interested in books about Jews who convert or who move away from Judaism because my parents, Holocaust survivors, subliminally encouraged assimilation and intermarriage among their children, although not conversion. Ms. Jacoby's analysis of all topics, no matter how brutally honest she had to be, was incredible to read. This book comes out of her journalism background and yet it doesn't read like journalism, it reads like an amazing journey...All in all, I learned much from this book. I learned a history of the German Jewish immigrants that I had never heard before, the history of our own country's anti-semitism, and about pre-Vatican II Catholicism, among other topics. The book put a personal stamp on these topics; it's impossible for me now to judge the "Aunt Edith's" for converting, not when the conversion came out of genuine faith. The book also inspires me to read more about the Holocaust, which I have avoided due to my parents' experiences. Although Ms. Jacoby says you can't stop being a Jew, which I believe, I also believe that if enough generations intermarry, their Jewishness will eventually disappear and they will hide successfully. Maybe not from Nuremberg Laws, but certainly within the pluralism of American society.



2. I had to quit reading this book at page 189. Terminal boredom had set in. I wish Jacoby had written her book in chronological order instead of dividing the chapters by subject matter. Maybe then I would not have had to hear over and over about her nasty grandmother, brilliant uncle and unloving grandfather. I never felt like I knew these people or empathized with their emotions. Jacoby added some interesting insights into the history of Jewish-Americans, but not enough to support a book-length account of her ordinary 1950s childhood. Turbulent Souls by Stephen Dubner and A Good Enough Daughter by Aliz Kates Shulman are far better examples of this genre.



3. Wow! Susan Jacoby has written a fantastic account of her childhood and her family's history. She thoroughly documents her emotions, thoughts, and historical facts. The reader only wants to support her and discover intrinsic truths regarding their own heritage. A good book for people of all religious backgrounds.



4. Half-Jew is Susan Jacoby's impressive, highly recommended family history in which she shares a meticulous historical research into the suppressed Judaic roots of her personal genealogy. In these pages, Susan writes with compassion, emotional insight, and candor about her father (who was a Roman Catholic convert) and her own search for ancestral roots that led her to the discovery of her German Jewish grand-grandfather who arrived in American in 1849, her tormented grandfather who built a brilliant legal career in the early 1900s only to gamble it away and die a cocaine addiction in 1941, of her great-uncle Harold, a distinguished astronomy whose map of the constellations still shines up on the ceiling of New York's Grand Central Terminal, and her beloved uncle Oswald Jacoby, a famous bridge champion. Susan also explores the damage inflicted by intimate parental lies, and the rich opportunities for redress when a parent and an adult child face long-buried truths about themselves and who they are.



5. I always pick up books on being part Jewish, if only to counter the religious view that there is no such thing. Flipping through Susan Jacoby's book, I really identified with her feelings about uncovering a hidden Jewish past (my own "Russian" grandfather was Jewish) and gambling (he was a bookie). I'm more convinced than ever that "part Jewish" is a valid identity. But the most startling part was to realize that Susan is a cousin of my best friend in college, Mary Jacoby Simpson. Weird small world...

5 comments about Poker Face: A Girlhood Among Gamblers.

1. Having grown up with the author and knew her father - I don't feel her father was accurately portrayed. He's a very outgoing, personable guy and can get along with basically anybody. I know my father always thought very highly of him. Katy doesn't necessarily portray herself accurately either - but then again she was merely expressing her reaction to what was going on around her.
   
   I was disappointed when the book went from being about her family dynamics to just talking about poker. She stopped suddenly talking about the dynamics of her family and focused on the 'business of poker'. Personally, I found the dynamics of her family far more interesting.



2. This book does not deal the reader a full hand. It tantalizes and teases the reader into thinking that there is something of substance, ultimately failing to deliver anything other than a somewhat disjointed memoir that has difficulty holding the reader's interest.
   
   The author's family is an interesting one, so it comes as a surprise that she deals with them in so pedantic a fashion. Her father is a bestselling author and her two older siblings, Howard Lederer and Annie Duke, are high stakes poker players of renown.
   
   The author's family had its roots in academia, while she was growing up. Her father was an English teacher in an expensive boarding school on the East Coast. Her mother was an intelligent woman who was troubled by alcoholism, which was to have an affect on the marriage and family. By the time the inevitable split occurred between the author's parents, each member of the family seemed to have gone his or her own way. There was a disconnect among its members. The only unifying factor seemed to be a love of words and games.
   
   It is unclear from the book as to why such a family, grounded in intellectual pursuits, should digress from the path that it seemed set upon and turn out as they did. The book is difficult to follow at times, as the author herself seems unsure what path to take, not only in her own personal life, but in terms of writing this book. What should have been an interesting sojourn, as the author seems to have a good deal of material with which to work, turned out simply to be a total bore.



3. This is an odd book; but it's wonderful.
   
   My review, however, is not wholly objective, though; I read the book already very much aware of the lives of its secondary characters. I'm a poker fan; I love watching the tournaments; I know the a-list players and their - often absorbing - personal stories. so my natural approach to the book was as a neat glimpse into the lives of no-limit goddess and god, Ms A. Duke and Mr. H Lederer - the sister and brother of the author.
   
   But on the other hand, I'm also a more than avid reader - of fiction, criticism, etc., but predominantly of non-fiction, biographies and memoirs. So I can reasonably confirm that, as a memoir, Poker Face fulfills its role thoroughly.
   
   Though the book is obviously discerning, there has been some complaint that because of its wide embrace it only brushes its fingers along each sterling insight. This isn't true. The book is short, indeed; but so are Mr A. Burroughs' memoirs - which latter are certainly never anemic. Despite the extensive temporal span and inclusive storyline of Poker Face, there is a driving core exploration/exposition here, a clear line Ms Lederer pursues. And she pursues it very well. The epilogue - or maybe it's just a short last chapter, I can't remember - nails it all down tight. And we're not talking Becket here; nothing is terribly complex; any mindful reader will automatically hear Ms Lederer's story whispering intensely and lucidly. And listening is very rewarding. The foibles of this family are so amplified and so seamlessly tied tangible representations - to games, like poker; or to the families comparative economic status - that a vista opens wide, and offers us the naked anatomy of any contemporary American family.
   
   I do, however, decline the fifth star in my rating, only because the character's personalities bounce around a bit. Howard is - ironically - very stable as a character, but Annie, the mother - and even the father at times - are not. The characters are not developed enough to keep their portraits `within the lines', in the Crayola sense.
   
   But, all-in-all, very much worth it. Very good.



4. The book trails through Katy's memories chronologically, although selectively. She has wisely chosen to emphasize her relationship with her family and their poker lives, probably a prerequisite in order to get the book published. The reader is taken into the Lederer family home on an east coast campus, beginning with a focus on the mother's alcoholism. Then, Katy recounts her experiences in high school and college, before moving on to Las Vegas, where Howard has made himself wealthy by betting on sports and cards. Finally, Katy returns to the East Coast, and we are left with a feeling of a work in progress- Katy's life story has no climax or summation; she and her family are still in the throes of the issues raised by their unusual choice of occupation.
   In general, I liked the book, because it showed the inner workings of a family that is at once familiar and strange. Their various prodigious talents and expressions of genius reminded me of two other genius families I mentioned just a short while ago: the Royal Tennenbaums and the family in The Hotel New Hampshire, right down to the physically frail and emotionally unstable youngest daughter becoming published by writing her memoirs.
   The father of the family, Richard Lederer, is also known to me as the author of a series of books related to puns and various commonly made mistakes in the English language. Katy is obviously a serious literary talent, who has grown up around words being used as playthings. Howard, in addition to being a poker genius, is also a chess master. And their mother, who has an amazing rote memorization that helps her as an aspiring actress, has a special talent for puzzles.
   Howard in particular is pulled into the seamier side of poker, getting sucked into a gritty lifestyle involving drugs and cat pee in New York City. But the family seems to have made good financially, even though Howard seemed to be in the midst of a police crackdown on his sports betting business as the book wraps up.
   What struck me also about the book is how very embarrassing it must be to the members of the family. Howard, continually referred to as overweight, is found facedown in the midst of a drug-induced slumber. The mother is weeping all morning to herself, unaware that her daughter is watching her, and even more unaware that her daughter will eventually write about the episode for the book-buying public. I felt a little uncomfortable to be reading these things, knowing that the subjects are out there, probably not feeling all that great about the exposure.
   By contrast, Katy is self-indulgent with her own portrayal, and potentially important but embarrassing episodes in her life, such as a break-up with a live-in boyfriend, are glossed over. Overall, we get a portrayal of a girl who is emotionally fragile, prone to depression and indulging that depression, who writes poetry and moons about in the background of happier goings-on because they are not appealing to her well-developed sense of being.
   If you can ignore that, however, she does make interesting comments about how wealth has affected her family, and about the implications that Las Vegas's existence has on the human psyche. Money isn't happiness, she says, which is certainly a well-worn cliché, but which is never too tired a theme to be shown through interesting example, which is what Katy has done.
   I guess, when I think about it, there is some self-criticism on Katy's part. She records her compulsive grade-grubbing, characterizing it as petty, and also talks about becoming a hypochondriac, but there's also a sense that these problems aren't her fault, and that they're special problems for a special person.
   In the end, Katy's self-reflections and thoughts are far less compelling than the legitimately sordid and interesting tales of her other family members, and it is the portrayals of other members of the family that will stick with me into the future.
   Katy is a good writer, although she is a little wordy for my tastes (she manages to use the word esplanade twice, for example). She has told the only interesting story from her personal experiences, and she probably could have told the truly interesting bits in about half the space. But I would like to read something written by her on another topic. She writes at one point that she has extensive notes and writing efforts surrounding her own stint as an aspiring poker player. This could be compelling reading, and I'd like to see more from her about topics other than herself.
   Added: I saw Howard Lederer playing poker online at Ultimatebet.com, and I asked him whether Katy's book had made him unhappy in any way, what with all the revelations. He said no, not at all, and that he supported her 100%.



5. "Poker Face," Katy Lederer's well-written but prosaic memoir cannot decide if it is an analysis of her dysfunctional family or a discourse on America's newfound fascination with Texas Hold-'Em. When Lederer focuses on family relationships, her memoir is worthy of a raise; when she rhapsodizes about poker, she is trying to win the pot with a hand that should have been folded after the flop. Either way, we've been suckered to complete a book that should have been little more than an extended magazine piece.
   
   Lederer unearths a fascinating, fractious family, one which consists of an alcoholic mother who yearns to act, a three-hundred pound vegan brother who excels as a gambler, a combative older sister who vaults into the big leagues of Las Vegas wagering and a literate father who toils anonymously as a teacher in an Eastern prep school before becoming a best-selling author. The youngest child in this menagerie, Katy recognizes games as the sole glue cementing her family. She never quite discovers what motivates her peripatetic wanderings, either physically or emotionally. In her life, she is an indifferent student then a grade-obsessed one; she gains employment in professions which capitalize on her obsessive qualities and dabbles herself in the harsh realities of professional poker. Nowhere is there an attachment to any one person, any one idea.
   
   It is this detachment, however, which could have made her a talented Hold-'Em player. Her brother, sister and mother, all of whom eventually call Las Vegas home do not connect; instead they intersect, and none too gracefully. On the cusp of illegal activities, they make big bank, spend it frivolously and lead sterile lives. Aside from the adrenaline rush that poker produces, this is no kind of life for a poet, which, we find, Lederer eventually becomes.
   
   If gambling is a zero-sum game, if for every winner there are numerous losers and if winning requires a dispassionate empathy (as the author so obliquely observes), then "Poker Face" is a perfect metaphor for the pastime Katy Lederer sets out to describe. She invites us to the table, notices our every weakness, makes us believe she has something far better than what we hold in our own hand and then takes us for all we're worth.

5 comments about Growing Up Brady: I Was a Teenage Greg, Special Collector's Edition.

1. BARRY WILLIAMS DOES A REALLY GOOD JOB TELLING WHAT IT WAS LIKE BEING ON THE BRADY BUNCH, ONE OF THE BETTER KNOWN FAMILY SITCOMS FROM THE 70'S. THE SHOW WAS CORNY, GOODY 2 SHOES AND UNREALISTIC. BUT STILL HAD A NICE HOMEY AND WHOLESOME TOUCH TO IT. I DID WATCH THE SHOW OFF AND ON, BUT MOSTLY TO SEE HOW HOT MAUREEN MCCORMICK AND EVE PLUMB LOOKED. BARRY WILLIAMS REALLY BRINGS BACK SOME GREAT MEMORIES AS HE TELLS US SOME GREAT STORIES THAT WENT ON ON CAMERA AND OFF CAMERA. THE MOST INTERESTING WERE, HIS DATE WITH FLO HENDERSON, INFATUATION WITH MO MCCORMCICK AND THE CONSTANT COMPLAINING AND ARGUMENTS CONCERNING ROBERT REED AND THE SHOWS WRITERS AND PRODUCERS. IF YOU WERE A FAN OF THE BRADY BUNCH THIS IS MUST READ.



2. This is my second time reading this book and I enjoyed it very much both times. The only downfall to this book was that I really felt that the book did not need the complete list of the all of the brady episodes. The first time I read this book, it was the first edition and did not have the extra chapters, and this one does, so I really liked that. Barry did a great job writing this book. I felt that his stories were very interesting and fun. Each story pretty much had its own chapter. The last thing that I liked about the boook was all of the pictures. Over all the book was far out and groovy!



3. I grew up with the Bradys. I preferred the cooler Partridge Family, but I watched the Brady Bunch almost daily after school when it was in syndication. That said, I haven't spent my days thinking about them and never had a crush on any of the kids, but I liked them. And, after reading about this book, I came upon a used copy which I immediately bought.
   
   Surprisingly, this was a fun read. To be honest, Greg was my least-favorite Brady (sorry, Barry-- I like you best now, though!). But, this book shows that the kids that played the Bradys were definitely multi-layered and fun-- even if their alter egos gave no indication of this.
   
   The writing is sometimes laugh-out-loud funny. When I opened the book, I first noticed the episode guide. I wasn't interested in this at all, and thought I'd just read the memoir part and neglect this guide. However, the entire thing was just so well-written and funny that I wound up reading the episode guide, too. Besides summaries of each show, Barry adds his own recollections and thoughts-- often they're hysterical.
   
   Interestingly, although I knew about Robert Reed's displeasure with the show, I didn't realize the lengths he went to to change the show. Included in the book are several multi-page memos Reed wrote to either Sherwood Schwartz and/or the Paramount heads pleading the case for rewrites. Although I'm a fan of Robert Reed's and understand why he went to these lengths, the memos are incredibly analytical and somewhat humorous in their detail. Sometimes Reed would submit the memos in an attempt to get entire shows changed. There was one memo, though-- about three pages typed, that he submitted with the hope of changing a three minute "tag" scene (the end scene after the last commercial and before the credits).
   
   It is obvious that Barry Williams has a lot of fondness for all of the cast and crew and for his years on the Brady Bunch. Even when airing dirty laundry, it's really not that dirty. That is, he does kiss and tell when it comes to little make out sessions with Maureen McCormick, but this is a book that his own kids could read without any alarm. This is a book that nobody who was involved with the show would be angry about. For instance, there's no mention of Reed's sexuality here. Barry shares the sweetness of the show with mild, yet healthy, cynicism. He does talk about Reed's and the Schwartz's ongoing exasperation, Florence Henderson's flirtatious side, and the kids' crushes with eachother and others. But this is really a trip down memory lane that he's sharing with us, rather than a big huge laundry airing.
   
   Added: Some reviewers are calling this an autobiography. It is definitely NOT an autobiography-- as a matter of fact he only mentions his wife once when telling us the Brady cast attended his wedding. This is definitely more of a memoir-- a story of a man reminiscing about good times with people he loved and wanting to share those good times with those who want to hear about it.



4. The fact that there were some laughs in this book and it was interesting and well-written has to be balanced against the reality that tell-alls like this damage the nice fantasy that The Brady Bunch has been for thirty-some years. I don't mean to put Barry Williams down but I sort of wish I'd never read this book with its unhappy revelations and...too much information.



5. I really enjoyed listening to the audio version of Growing Up Brady: I Was a Teenage Greg by Barry Williams. It reminded me of how much I enjoyed watching the show while growing up. It was nice to hear that the kids were a "normal" group of kids in an abnormal situation-- which is possibly how they avoided many of the problems of other child stars, and also nice to hear that even though there were squabbles, the kids pretty much got along together and that they still think of each other as family. This is a very enjoyable book!

5 comments about Lenten Lands: My Childhood with Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis.

1. This book adds to any C.S. Lewis collection. Anyone trying to undertsand better Lewis' life and works will gain some value from this book, but in addition, the book adds value to understanding Joy Davidman, herself a remarkable person and Doug himself. One reviewer is somemwhat upset about the book because the author writes mostly about himself, yes, it is subtitled "My Childhood...".
   
   Doug Gresham is remarkably candid about himself (he directs most criticism at himself, well and the Millers). He is also very forgiving towards his father, which I found instructive for all of us. His insights into Lewis' chairity (both in time and money) and Christian heart are an addition to what a Lewis admirer might already know, but it helps add to the Lewis icon. I do wish he had a wrote more on his brother, but it may be he is keeping in with his brother's wishes (it is well known that David has avoided the Lewis/Davidman limelight).
   
   This is a good book, at a great price, and it is a quick, nicely paced read.



2. Gresham's Lenten Lands provides a private picture into live with C. S. Lewis.
   I envy Douglas for having the privilege of living with Lewis as together they traveled the "Lenten Lands!"
   I'm impressed with the amount of time that passed before Douglas finally internalized the both the Truth and the truths taught and role modeled by his step-father.
   But isn't that true of so many of us today, searching for Truth, but always testing that it's real!



3. If, as one reviewer states, you are an ardent fan of C.S. Lewis, you will want to read this book. The opposite is true, too. If you are not particularly interested in C. S. Lewis, this is a forgettable book, not very interesting. I am not particularly interested in C.S. Lewis, I'm not going to see "Narnia," I never read the Narnia books as a kid. I wanted to read this because I saw "Shadowlands" and wanted to know what happened to the little boy after his mother died.
   
   What stands out the most is Gresham's writing style: rather like that of the people who send anecdotes to Reader's Digest. It's clear enough, rather rambling, rather predictable imagery, lots of repetition. Not very interesting. I didn't even finish reading it.
   
   So, my recommendation, if you're not a fan of C. S. Lewis, is to skip this book, and watch "Shadlowlands" when it comes on television again - it is beautiful and stands on its own.



4. This is one of those books I think any authentic admirer of C.S.Lewis should read because Douglas H. Gresham writes so empathetically as well as objectively of his Mother Joy and his step father 'Jack' Lewis. Seeing these two people thru his eyes from childhood to young adulthood is fascinating. Be it the feel of his Mothers embrace that made him feel safe, to how mature his view was of his father who had problems with alcohol. Where some people would have been harsh or mean in how they saw such a parent Douglas was able to see beyond the issue of alcohol to something deeper.
   
   Reading of his first impressions of C. S. Lewis and his brother Warnie again shows reality vs visions one has in their heads of things and people not yet seen. From the cigarette stained teeth to the evening visits to the local pub, Douglas bring a sense of humanness to the great author. And his descriptions of the places he/they lived are so real one feels as if they are a fly on the wall.
   
   The thing that makes me appreciate Douglas so much is how the lessons he saw and was taught have taken root in his life . He now lives in Ireland and is active in walk the community helping women with unwanted pregnancies.
   
   So the nasty comment by reviewer Kona (Emerald City) 'The problem with this book is that Douglas Gresham did nothing in his own life to warrant an autobiography' makes me wonder just how much of the book did they actually read, since having taken the priceless lessons that the great C.S.Lewis wrote and taught and putting them to day to day use, makes Douglas well worthy of being an author. The title is after all 'Lenten Lands: My Childhood with Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis'.



5. In the preface Greshman makes it clear that the book is his story about his life. No doubt the publisher thought it necessary to throw "My Childhood with Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis" on the cover because this is the reason why we care about Douglas Greshman.
   
   Most of the book is about his early life and there is much on his mother Joy and Lewis. I found the parts that had nothing to do with Joy and Lewis to be enjoyable too. Gresham is a very good writer and you get a feel for what it was like to grow up in England in the 1950's.
   
   Only the last few chapters deal with his life after the death of Lewis. But in some ways, this is an important part of the Lewis story. Why you ask? Because we see how little Gresham, Lewis' stepson, benefited from being his stepson. Greshman was dirt poor and barely getting by. What happened to Lewis' money? Why were Lewis' two stepsons not in his will?
   
   Whatever one thinks about the book overall, it is an essential piece of C.S. Lewis history. Greshman saw Lewis up close and personal. He gives insights that few others can. Even if he did not live with Lewis all the time (he was at boarding school), he still lived with Lewis some of the time, and this is more than most. His memories are invaluable.

5 comments about Golden Boy: Memories of a Hong Kong Childhood.

1. 
   I am deeply sad that the author Martin Booth is no longer with us. However, he left behind a treasure in this amazing memoir. This book is also published under the name "Gweilo." I hated coming to the end of this enchanting book and recommend it to everyone.



2. GOLDEN BOY, Memories of a Hong Kong Childhood
   By Martin Booth
   Picador Press |(St. Martins) 2004
   ISBN 978-0-312-42626-2 (pbk)
   
   What gave a seven-year-old British boy courage to explore the Hong Kong of 1952 in places where no foreign child belonged? Martin Booth felt safe among unusual friends during his adventures, because Chinese people believed rubbing his golden hair brought them luck.
   Booth's superb prose pictures brothels, opium dens, Chinese drug-lord friends, forbidden temples and also the wild life and flora in both Kowloon and Hong Kong. Often lonely, Martin's independence was encouraged by correspondence and gifts from his grandfather in England. He never told his parents the extent of his explorations into forbidden and dangerous areas.
   The boy also endured the hostilities between his bigoted, bureaucrat father, a man who never quite succeeded, and his out-going mother who was fascinated by Chinese culture.
   The author calls himself a "curious, somewhat devious, adventurous and street-wise child whose heart never left Hong Kong" after his father's job sent them back to England four years later.
   Anyone who likes biography, history, adventure, Chinese culture and beautifully written literature will enjoy this book.



3. Martin Booth had an amazing memory for the details of post-WWII Hong Kong and the times he had there as a seven to ten year-old boy. His civilian father gets transferred by the British to the far-flung colonial outpost. While his father is more of a spoilsport, his mother tries live life to the utmost--wherever that life may be--and she allows Martin the freedom to do the same. He takes her fully up on that offer, befriending hotel staff, local storekeepers and more and tasting practically every Chinese dish and joining in every local festival with eyes wide open. However, there are actually very few stories of his escapades with fellow children, mostly stories with the adults that surround him and the nature and culture of Hong Kong.
   Hong Kong is ruthless with its built history, so a book like this is the only way to get to know the Hong Kong that existed only fifty years ago. It includes one of the few descriptions of a westerner in the `Kowloon walled city.' And from an eight year-old boy too!
   I am grateful that Mr. Booth was able to finish this book before he died. I wish he had lived a few more years for selfish reasons--so that he could have finished a book on his second time around in Hong Kong. I am sure he had just as many adventures as a teen as he did as a young boy.
   Richard Mason's `World of Suzie Wong' takes place at approximately the same time and is a great and recommended look at a decidedly different part of Hong Kong. So it was neat when Booth's world and Wong's world intersected (innocently) in a few of Golden Boy's pages. Mason actually spent very little time in Hong Kong prior to writing the fictional Suzie Wong, so Golden Boy is a more knowing portrait of Hong.



4. This book was recommended to me by a friend who said she was sad when it ended. Well, I am recommending it, and also sad when it ended. It is a delightful memoir of a blond 9 year old boy living in Hong Kong in the 1940ties. Blond means "luck" to the Chinese and everyone wanted to pat his head. He learned Chinese and was allowed into areas that no other "white" person could go.



5. I read this book because I love Hong Kong and its history. I was totally unprepared for Booth's parents and adored Joyce. How cannot you not like someone so lively, loving, accepting (except of Ken) and adventuresome?
   
   While the family (Ken, Joyce and Martin) are exploring Algiers, Joyce buys some dates from a market stall, and Ken pitches a fit because they are probably unsanitary. He asks, 'How can you tell where they've been?' Joyce replies that they've been up a date tree. 'And they picked themselves I suppose?' 'No,' Joyce rplies, 'I expect they were plucked by a scrofulous urchin and thrown down to his tubercular aunt who wrapped them in her phlegm-stiffened handerchief.' I had a large mouthful of iced tea when I read that and spat the tea I didn't snort up my nose all over the page. I couldn't stop laughing. This was, I learned, pure Joyce.
   
   'Golden Boy' is delightful, insightful and something more - a word or phrase that escapes these old brain cells. This is the first book by Booth I've read, and I'm eager to read more.

3 comments about Memoirs of a 1000-Year-Old Woman: Berlin 1925 to 1945.

1. Memoirs of a 1000 Year Old Woman is a book that should be read by everyone. It details everyday life in Nazi Germany through the eyes of a young girl. Ms. McBride meticulously takes us through her day-to-day activities with careful attention to detail. We see what life was like for the ordinary citizen, caught up in the maelstrom of war.The author relates the problems of living with rationing, bombing raids, restrictions imposed by the government, etc. Ms. McBride's courage, strength, humor, and independence shine through the pages. This book is a wonderful historical record of the times. I highly recommend it!



2. Memoirs is an easy to read account of a girl growing up in Berlin during WWII. The book includes contemporary news sources, song lyrics, recipes, and other interesting information about that time. A good read for those interested in women's history.



3. Memoirs of a 1000-year-old woman is a compelling account of life in berlin during WWII. The author provides a wealth of fascinating information about life in Nazi Germany. By taking the perspective of an ordinary girl growing up in berlin, the author enables the reader to imagine what it would have been like to live at that time and place and gain an understanding of the psyche of the people of WWII berlin. Memoirs is an important historical and sociological text that will be of great interest to readers.

5 comments about Road Song.

1. In a culture that demonizes the poor and marginalizes the children of the poor, the Kusz family faces more than just 70 below temperatures, the author's tragic accident, hunger and squalor. Those who live more mainstream (read that affluent and conforming) lives, imagine those who live in rural (or urban) poverty as morally, intellectually and spiritually as well as financially impoverished. What Natalie Kusz does in this unforgettable memoir is to slow the reader down and draw her up close to those who travel that other road-- to allow the reader to view scenes of violence, abuse, charity and grace. The book is beautifully written. The only thing I would argue with is locating the father's backstory so close to the end of the book in one large chunk, instead of interspersing part of it throughout the book where it might shed some light on his own particular demons. Interestingly, I read each of the other reviews of this book and found in every one some bit of wisdom and thoughtfulness. This book is well worth reading twice--first for the story and then for a fruitful discussion of memoir.



2. I was very excited when I found this memoir at a gently used bookstore. I thought it was very good. I felt like I was traveling to Alaska right along with Natalie. This is one of those books that you hope will have a sequel someday.



3. I read this book years ago, and found it very moving. I think Ms. Kusz is a good writer and extremely courageous. Her childhood (quite honestly) sounds horrible, but her parents are very loving and kind and smart.
   
   One thing that did disturb me about the book was that Ms. Kusz seemed to need to convince us that her parents were right in leaving LA for Alaska. For example, she writes that she and her siblings (aged 1 to 7) were sick of modern life and its accroutrements. This is hard to believe! Little kids don't know enough about the world yet to be sick of it.
   
   In LA, her parents had a house, jobs, a large backyard, family close by, warm weather, etc. In Alaska, they had nothing. They didn't even have enough money to buy the land they wanted so much. How could her parents uproot four young kids for such an uncertain future! Can you imagine her mom's life--even before Natalie's terrible accident. Four little kids, no money, not enough food, husband away working, living in a trailer with no bathroom, the weather sometimes 50 or 60 below.
   
   All the things her parents wanted--outdoor life, contact with wildlife, streams, orchards, etc., -- none of that happens in Alaska. There's no mention of the family having fun doing "country" things. It seems their adventure was not successful. Perhaps if Natalie hadn't gotten hurt things might have been different, but it doesn't seem that likely. They still were poverty-stricken, without a home or a job, living in a place where it got 70 below. I once saw a review that said the Kusz decision to move was almost comprable to child abuse, and I am tempted to agree.
   
   With that said, I really admire Natalie's ability to rise above a terribly painful childhood, filled with extraordinary physical pain. I hope she is well and I wish she'd write another book.



4. Originally it was the title that popped out on this one: aha! another great travel novel, I hoped. Oh no, much better and much more intense!!! A woman reconstructs for us the story of her unusual "hippy" parents, her father a refugee from Poland's wartime harshness. The parents have four children and cannot stand the modern life of the Southern California suburbs. Off they go, packed up in an old truck, all the way to Alaska. With a relative's gift/loan, they buy land and begin to build a house on the outskirts of Fairbanks. Needless to say, money is very tight, jobs are scarce, and the winter is setting in. The parents scrounge through the Salvation Army and the local U.S. Army dump for supplies, even finding food to keep them going. They are true pioneers in the face of horrible winter weather: -50F in a perpetual icefog, through which the kids sometimes trek to get to the the schoolbus stop.
   
   Natalie's account of her horrific accident, when underfed huskies break their chains and rip her face off, ruining one eye, is one of these memoirs almost impossible to believe is true. But yes, it is true, and luckily the parents have insurance, and are able, in the late 1960's, to save their daughter, fight infection from reaching her brain, and have her face reconstructed over years of medical appointments.
   
   In addition to this horrible disaster, the parents are barely making it financially, and for years, simply live together packed in a trailer out in the wilderness, far from town. The kids get older, need to go to school, and find that the local town is full of rough-tough kids, mainly from the U.S.Army base, who early fall into drugs, drinking and promiscuity. So of course, our Natalie does so as well, but doesn't tell her parents, until the news she can't avoid: she's pregnant at 16.
   
   On and on this story goes, and makes the reader want to keep on going for more. It's true that it's not exceptionally well-written - certainly it seems a bit too casual in its style. The author, only 27, does come across as self-involved, but perhaps that's understandable. Her mother's early death and father's early onset of heart disease make this tragedy almost unbearable. One wonders how she really could have done it all, including with the little girl, raising her alone.
   
   Definitely a great read, not at all typical "American" in any yearning for a better life. She concludes that she is attached to Alaska and decides at the time of writing (1990) that she will go back and stay up there, near her father's house.



5. As a fellow writer oh how I hated Natalie Kusz as I read her book. She is that rare combination of a brilliant writer and someone with something to say. I could barely contain my envy, and admiration, as I read. This is a book that disappoints only because it ends.

5 comments about The Blessing: A Memoir.

1. Gregory Orr's The Blessing is a moving and powerfully written memoir about his experiences specifically around death and shame and how his 1960s family dealt with tragedy. The title is misleading. Poetry is the blessing, but it isn't introduced until near the end and survival through poetry really isn't what this book is about in this reader's opinion.
   
   As a young boy, Orr accidentally shot and killed his younger brother and struggled with guilt through his remaining teen years. His father, a narcissistic and amphetamine-addicted small-town doctor, doesn't help matters by his own selfish adventures and escapes. And his mother, though aloof and distant, is his only hope for parental attachment. But she, too, dies tragically before Orr reaches adulthood. Then, in yet another ironic and tragic turn of events, Orr finds himself barely escaping death as he participates in civil rights activism in the Deep South. Most effective is Orr's use of language to capture internal and emotional conflict.



2. This book started out very strong--we emotion and written word. But going toward the mid point of part 4 it started to unravel. I really thought by the way the book started I would continue to be moved..but I was very disappointed by the book. I found myself forcing my way through so I could finish it; it was hard to finish it because it just wasn't nearly as good. I will try to read some of the author's poetry and maybe that will bring back to a good place about the author--but I just don't know. :(



3. This book is shocking in its stark retelling of an emotionally brutal childhood. I was drawn in instantly. I found myself holding my breath and staring into the room at the conclusion of a page. I was stunned. The moments of the story have lingered with me. My mind poured over the events. Later even after I had moved on to other thoughts, the emotions lingered under my thoughts, so that I would often pause in the middle of doing tasks. The writer seems to be seeking peace through resurrection and forgiveness.



4. This book is shocking in its stark retelling of an emotionally brutal childhood. I was drawn in instantly. I found myself holding my breath and staring into the room at the conclusion of a page. I was stunned. The moments of the story have lingered with me. My mind poured over the events. Later even after I had moved on to other thoughts, the emotions lingered under my thoughts, so that I would often pause in the middle of doing tasks. The writer seems to be seeking peace through resurrection and forgiveness.



5. Orr's book is an amazing chronicle of his early years, and an essential window into how art - in this case poetry - can play an important role in survival and transformation. The writing is clear and forceful. Highly recommended for anyone interested in memoir.

5 comments about Not a Happy Camper: A Memoir.

1. This is an hilarious memoir of an adolescent's first summer at sleep-away camp. If you remember what it's like to play color wars, sing ridiculous songs which insult camp food, have your first crush, drink "bug" juice, well, then your experience is not even half as fun as Mindy's, whose camp's meals were salvaged from train wrecks, whose camp's truck was one that could only be ridden in for as long as you could hold your breath (against the fumes), and whose characters are 12 year old versions of Henny Youngman and Totie Fields.



2. Readers will find that enduring Mindy Schneider's entertaining memoir of summer camp life is much like her experience: a seemingly endless trudge through a benignly monotonous, routinely humorous and absolutely predictable right of passage. "Not a Happy Camper" faithfully recreates Schneider's thirteen-year-old awkwardness, and self-deprecatory voice is full of genuine Jewish angst and humor. Nevertheless, there is only so much you can say about a pathetically decrepit Maine summer camp and its stereotypical denizens. Schneider takes about 230 pages to recount what she could have told in 25.
   
   Duped by the slick-talking owner of Camp Kin-A-Hura (Hebrew for "Are You Out of Mind for Sending Your Child Here?"), Mindy's parents succumb to a barrage of sweetened lies and sign their resigned daughter to a summer's worth of unsupervised, unstructured (unless you consider binge consumption of candy an organized event) and uninspiring activities. There, Mindy discovers the joy of listening to rain on the roof, eating institutional food whose origins and nutritional value are at best dubious and interacting with a group of disaffected, disinterested and disillusioned Jewish early adolescents.
   
   Naturally enough, Mindy wrestles with the weighty issues of trying to navigate the entire summer unnoticed by the cool kids and getting a boyfriend. It doesn't require a genius to predict that the relatively plain Mindy will set her sights on the camp's hunk, only to be consistently rebuffed, all the while letting the gem (the dork who undoubtedly will grow up to be a real mensch) slip through her fingers. Parading with her in this laissez-faire fairyland is a group of characters right out of central casting: the overbuilt air-brained beauties, the sophisticate who believes in reincarnation, the sleepwalker, the recluse and the oversexed camp counselors, whose main advice is akin to "leave us alone."
   
   Mindy is bright enough to understand that the camp divides itself into two: the "Legacies" and the "Losers." Naturally enough, the Legacies, the "children of former campers," are "rich kids destined to lead relatively easy and productive lives." The "Losers," unsurprisingly, are "paste-eaters...conned into coming to this place in spite of the unbridled self-doubt and absolute lack of social skills." Schneider attempts to depict a certain poignancy in the interaction of both groups; sadly, the results are flat and unsurprising.
   
   After a delightful thirty pages or so, "Not a Happy Camper" descends quickly into a seemingly interminable monologue about summer camp. For those who have graduated from this so-called life-altering time away from home, the head-nodding recognition of pranks and pratfalls could dangerous veer into whiplash. For the uninitiated, this memoir will convince them that they really haven't missed much at all.



3. This book is a humorous recollection of what many remember as bad days away at summer camp. The experiences had me wondering how she survived all of them and lived to tell the tale. Unlike most camps, the camp which Schneider attended had no solid rules making for some interesting experiences.
   I highly recommend this book to everyone who has ever attended a summer camp, and for those who haven't, I will assure you that this does not happen at all camps.



4. I looked forward to reading this book each night. Although I'm about 15 years younger than Ms. Schneider, my memories of Jewish summer camp are similar. Ms. Schneider remembers the feelings of young adolescence so well and captures the funny small moments that are so true! This is a story that I want to share with my sister and friends.



5. This book delivers what it promises---a camp story. There isn't much else here, just the story of one summer at a camp in Maine. The camp wasn't what was advertised, but it turned out to be a great summer for Mindy anyway, especially in retrospect. I think the book aims to mean a little more than that, and be about discovering character traits, learning about appearances vs. truth, etc, but I don't think it really does that. It just tells in a fairly amusing way what the summer was like.
   
   I am not a big camp person, having crawled home with homesickness after a few days both times I tried to go to overnight camp, but I read this book as it was set in Maine. However, it was only in a very small way about Maine. There are a lot of summer camps in Maine, and overall I think they aim to have as little contact with "the locals" as possible. This camp had a bit more than some, due to some property issues, but overall the locals are portrayed as fairly scary Deliverance types. One girl is shown not to be, but Mindy never even learns her name and seems a bit shocked that a local could be nearly human. I grew up in Maine during the time period of this book, and I don't think campers from other areas would really have any clue how different their lives were than most Mainers, and would have no idea how this could create resentment.
   
   From that perspective, it was interesting to get a look at Maine during that period from the other side! The writing is well done and enjoyable. If you went to a similar camp to the one Mindy did, you would probably really enjoy this book. Just don't look for a lot more.