5 comments about That Others May Live.

1. I respect what the PJs do.
   
   My father is a retired USAF SMSgt himself. During his service, he spent a couple of years with the 1722 Combat Control Squadron in McChord AFB, Washington. Coincidentally, I myself graduated from Niceville High School that was mentioned briefly near the end of the book.
   
   I just did not get what I was looking for out of this book. There was too much family talk and not enough talk about the action. I got the impression that Jack Brehm served during a time and in an area where not that much happened, considering the length of his service. It made for rather boring read, but since I just borrowed the book from the library, I'm not out any money, only time.
   
   Two other things bothered me about this book. I do not think one has to be a hard drinker to be a hard fighter and the gripes about military personnel not being paid enough are tiresome.



2. This book was far more of a story in my mind than a matter-of-fact documentary. If you are looking to really read about PJ's and what they do I would consider looking elsewhere. The author takes numerous artistic licenses' in writing this book leaving me feeling like I've just read a story but by no means an accurate account.
   Additionally, the editing of this book was quite poor. Numerous gramatically errors, which I am not accustomed to finding in a book, left me feeling like the factual content of the book must also be questioned.



3. This book tells the story of Jack Brehm, a career pararescue jumper or PJ. After graduating from high school in the mid-1970s, Brehm answered an ad in the paper for men interested in learning how to jump from airplanes. The ad had been placed by the local PJ recruiter on Long Island. After talking with the recruiter, and learning the kinds of tasks PJs undertake, Brehm decided he was interested in signing up. He proceeded to basic training and then to the pipeline, a series of training schools starting with "Superman School", designed not only to build skills and physical abilities, but also to weed out anyone not possessed of superhuman strength, endurance, and motivation to put their lives on the line for others. Brehm made it through the pipeline and became a full-fledged PJ in the early 1980s. At the same time that he started flying missions, he also became a father to twins, and this story is as much his family's story as it is his.
   
   Brehm describes for us the risks that PJs take on stormy seas or windy mountain tops. Over the course of his 20-year career, Brehm saved many lives but lost many of his friends in job-related accidents. He was also injured himself on several occasions. The one tour of duty that he wanted most of all to complete his career was a military rescue. The stories can be quite interesting; however, their melodrama is played out to the fullest extent. At times details are blown completely out of proportion, such as when Brehm is faced with the decision between following his PJ mentor to Alaska or applying to be the NCO in charge of his unit when his mentor leaves. This episode is presented as being extremely momentous. Certainly, it was an important time in Brehm's life, but not that remarkable compared with similar decisions that people with more sedentary jobs must make routinely. Other details are similarly exaggerated, and the level of melodrama makes the book read at times as if it were straight out of Reader's Digest. Nevertheless, Brehm's story is very engaging and informative about a branch of the services that many people have never heard of.



4. This is a good book, especially if you are a family member and want to know the PJ's perspective. As a mom of a pararescueman in training, I was enlightened by this point of view and the support system the families developed to sustain each other during emergencies. I enjoyed this book, read it from cover to cover as soon as it arrived. I have loaned it to several other family members who are also interested in knowing what our son may be called upon to do.



5. Apparently this book is a retitled version of _That Others May Live: The True Story of the PJs, Real Life Heroes of the Perfect Storm_. If so, the current title is more accurate: the book focuses on "a PJ," coincidentally the author, not PJ's in general. And it's NOT about the Perfect Storm, except in passing, though that incident was particularly relevant to the author. As to the PJ's (Air Force Pararescue Jumpers) being "real life heroes of the Perfect Storm," there's no indication they rescued anyone during that storm. In fact, the Coast Guard ship had to come out and rescue THEM. Yes, you can be a hero for an attempt, but let's not go overboard in naming our book after one failed rescue attempt.
   The book is interesting. Jack, of course, makes almost no mistakes, and his wife is a perfect angel. She understands when he says, "yes, I went to the strip bar, but that's where the debriefing session was held."
   The unexamined assumption that OF COURSE men who work hard have to relax by drinking all night, having bar fights, and visiting strip joints is overdone.
   The book does provide information about a little-understood group of airmen who put their lives on the line to rescue others in what can be very difficult situations, much like the Coast Guard rescue jumpers. Their main purpose is to rescue downed pilots and personnel in need of medical help, on land or sea, but they're also available to help civilians when civilian rescue agencies don't have the resources available.
   There is some understanding of the mentality of repeatedly putting your life on the line -- you might as well die doing something you love, while helping others.
   The book could have argued for better equipment for the PJ's -- although the author repeatedly recounts stories of how difficult it is for helicopters to refuel from tankers during rough weather, the author doesn't argue for a better, heavier, longer, wider (or whatever) fueling drogue design.
   The Perfect Storm part of the book takes 30 pages, IF you include the soap opera parts about the PJ wives calling each other for news. A pararescue helicopter and tanker were dispatched during the Perfect Storm to rescue a civilian sailor alone on his boat. The rescue was aborted due to heavy seas, and the rescue helicopter itself ditched on the way back to base, with the loss of one airman, because the helicopter was unable to refuel with the existing drogue design. The author, in charge at the base, grounded rescue attempts of this airman due to his orders and impossible conditions. Yet his men took their anger out at him, sometimes in petty ways. They stole his jacket, and snuck a bottle of booze into his luggage as he was about to fly into a Muslim country, which if discovered would have caused Jack serious consequences. There's so much talk of the "teamwork" ethos in the book -- where did it go when his men were angry at Jack, and caused him to have to leave command of the unit?

5 comments about All Too Human: A Political Education.

1. In this moving look into the White House, Stephanopoulos carefully treads the line between worship for his idealized boss who embodied all the dreams and hopes Stephanopoulos had for his country, and distraught disappointment at the human flaws that caused this man to dally with a certain females and to lie to his aides about it. For Stephanopoulos, the crime here is not the actual act, but the fact that his boss let his people lie for him - without even realizing they were lying. This lack of trust and respect was crushing to the young idealist and it shows through in every page of the book. He mourns for what could have been, but wasn't; he hangs his head for the mistakes made by his "all too human" boss. He does not, however, descend into mudslinging - he obviously still adores his former boss, even if he did turn out to be a little less large than life.



2. This book is interesting in two ways. The first is the rise of a working class immigrant's son to the position of political advisor of the world's most powerful statesman. The father of Stephanopoulos was an working class immigrant yet his son was able to become a Rhodes scholar and reach the position in politics he did. The American success story. It is also interesting, from a much more cynical perspective, in that Stephanopolous' political advice was all politically motivated and absolutely none (with emphasis on absolutely) had a basis in the actual non-political benefits or costs (or efficacy). Extremely cynical. One comes away wondering whether it is even possible for the political process to produce socially beneficial policies instead of just politically expediant solutions.



3. First, my standard disclaimer: I am a political moderate and social conservative. This book is an average look at what happens in political inner circles, specifically the Clinton white house. I was a little disappointed that Stephanopoulos did not take more risks to write about subjects that the general public did not already know. It seemed that much of the reason for the book was for the author to exonerate himself from any wrongdoing.



4. George Stephanopoulos' memoir of working in the White House during Bill Clinton's first term in office makes you feel like a fly on the wall of the Oval Office. Written in that hypersmart, jargon-fluent style familiar to "West Wing" viewers, "All Too Human" is an engaging, candid companion to readers of any political stripe, in part an impassioned defense of one of America's most infuriatingly bipolar personalities, in part a cautionary tale of power trumping principle.
   
   Among the best and brightest that made up Clinton's 1992 campaign staff, no one burned brighter than Stephanopoulos, a senior advisor to the President at the tender age of 31 whose charge included Congress (he formerly worked for House Majority Whip Dick Gephardt) and satisfying Clinton's critical liberal base.
   
   Stephanopoulos makes no bones about being a true believer. He likens his work with Clinton to being an altar boy for the Greek Orthodox priests of his youth. "It's Nazi time out there," Clinton explodes when the Republicans campaign against him in a special congressional election in Kentucky. Stephanopoulos seems on board with this Hitlerian characterization of the GOP.
   
   Yet Stephanopoulos' passion is tempered by a cool calculating side that finds much common ground with the president, too much, he comes to find. "The last temptation is the greatest treason/To do the right thing for the wrong reason," goes the Eliot verse Stephanopoulos keeps on his desk, in a cramped room he coveted for its proximity to the Oval Office. Even when he manages to get the president to save affirmative action or appease other liberal concerns, it all comes back to a base sort of pragmatism. Is Clinton doing it because it's the right thing to do, or for the political benefit? What about George?
   
   Stephanopoulos' candor is this book's greatest asset, candor about the calculating Clinton, his prickly wife Hillary, and especially himself. He recalls a moment in the first campaign when he caught himself telling a small child that her father is "a bad man" for lying about Clinton. Stephanopoulos wants us to see him, and his boss, as good people, but like the title suggests, with some intrinsic flaws.
   
   While the first half of the book is marginally more interesting as a whole, as the Clinton team finds their way into the White House amid bimbo eruptions and fights its own party to pass a budget through Congress, the second half has the book's most interesting figure, the one man Stephanopoulos paints in entirely black hues: Dick Morris.
   
   Morris could be a Dickens character, "a small sausage of a man encased in a green suit with wide lapels, a wide floral tie, and a wide-collared shirt." As unctuous as Uriah Heep, Morris twitters on about his access to the president, all the time sizing our narrator's back for a place to stick his knife. Stephanopoulos, who views Morris as nothing less than a Republican mole, does likewise.
   
   "I have no home. I have no one left to talk to," Morris tells Stephanopoulos at one point.
   
   Get a dog, Stephanopoulos finds himself wishing he had the nerve to reply.
   
   Morris has claimed Stephanopoulos misrepresented him, but I find the depiction very close to the bone from what I've seen of this fellow commentating on Fox News.
   
   There are flaws in the book, like Stephanopoulos' shorthand with the facts. He seems to assume the reader is as well-versed as he is about the Clinton years, which has him skirt over a lot of material or peripherally refer to things like Tammy Wynette being upset with the First Lady as if we all will know the rest of the story. There is also a fatal Yuppie self-absorption in how Stephanopoulos whines about his trials. A lot of people deal with mega-stress. Not so many have a movie actress ready to draw them a bath.
   
   But "All Too Human" is a good read, and buttressed by Bob Woodward's "The Agenda," one gets an immersive sense of life around Bill Clinton in his first term, a time of great possibilities, hopes, and, inevitably, more than a bit of frailty.



5. The subtitle of this wonderful memoir taught me more about politics in 400 pages than I'd learned in 40 years. A diehard liberal and a political fanatic, someone whose views would normally make me sneer and scoff, Stephanopolous paints a picture of the stresses, ins-and-outs, spin, activities and the vital scope of the world inside the Oval Office. Every newsworthy event or program is canvassed for its political ramafications; the very definition and refinement of the word "politics" is reinforced on every page; the mistakes that lead to triumphs, and the feel-good preparations that lead to disasters are all here in stark detail. Stephanopolous proves himself a very sensible man, and even his staunchly liberal views are sidenotes to the greater energies, arguments and preparations that occur inside the White House. I occasionally disliked S's speaking his own platform (which he did sparingly), or telling how political parties are constructed to blunt the other even when their plans are sensible, but all in all I learned more from this book about the workings inside the White House than from all my prior readings and public education.

5 comments about Twelve Extraordinary Women: How God Shaped Women of the Bible And What He Wants to Do With You (Walker Large Print Books).

1. I could only get through the first two chapters before I had to put it down. I sought this book out for inspiration, but found it was sexist and insulting. I write this not because I one of those "new fangled feminist types", but because I posses a brain - a God given one. What I glean from the way the stories are presented is that the author's belief is that women exist only through men and have no real intrinsic purpose or value to God or the world, except through men.
   
   Eve is portryaed as a pathetic figure, the author writes patronizingly about Eve's sin: "As the weaker vessel, away from her husband, but close to the forbidden tree, she was in the most vulnerable position possible..." and "...Adam's sin was deliberate (when he took the apple) and willful in a way Eve's was not. Eve was deceived". So, the author doesn't even think she deserves equal billing in the "downfall".
   
   In chap. 2 about Sarah, when explaining how Sara and Abraham lied when they entered Egypt, saying that Sara was his sister so other men would not kill Abraham for her the author concludes: "...Abraham's motives were selfish and cowardly, and the scheme reflected a serious weakness in his faith. But Sarah's devotion to her husband is nonetheless commendable, and God honored her for it..". So, she is not a whole person in this author's view - they both lied, he calls it "cowardly" on Abraham's part, but believes God commends Sara, because she it was good she supported him - EVEN when he did something "selfish and cowardly".
   
   As a Christian I found the simplistic and ridiculous for the 21st century.
   I cannot recommend this book to anyone with a brain.



2. This book is phenomenal and is filled with scripture. John MacArthur does a great job of making these women's lives parallel to our current culture and easy for anyone to relate. Each woman has her own personality but all have lessons to learn from. I have just started the book and am about half way through already and each page has spoken to me that most of the book is underlined and commented on. If you're looking for God to move in your life and teach you some great lessons pick up this book!!!



3. We have been studying this for the past few months slowly due to only meeting once a week. We have discovered fascinating new details about some of the women of the Bible that we did not know. While we have found a few discrepancies, they are minor and we talk it out as a group. Overall, we are finding this study to be enlightening and are looking forward to the rest of it.



4. I have led numerous Bible studies, and this book has been a real disappointment. The writing lacks balance, is often disorganized, and even has an "anti-women" tone to it. I find myself having to work all week to plan our study, to supplement what he's written. I would not recommend this book.



5. It helped me so see and understand how important these women really were in the lineage of Jesus. How God can change the seemingly impossible. Wonderful book!

5 comments about The Long Goodbye (Random House Large Print (Cloth/Paper)).

1. Sad and uplifting at the same time. Patti Davis is a truly talented writer. Am looking forward to reading "Angels Don't Die" which I learned about from this book.



2. This book is touching and wonderfully written. I read it slow to catch the author's undertones of disease. I wanted to hold onto everything the author experienced listening and watching her father go down his path of life. 'The Chosen Few' I have called Alzheimer victims, because they react to love. She told it in a held back way, wanting you to feel what she was feeling and I did. The love for her mother and father was beautiful and when she put on her father's shirt to be close to him, I understood it well. Because I too have gone through this disease with a loved one. Her description of nature is a gift, given to her by her father. I would recommend this book to anyone who has lost a love one to Alzheimer's or has a detached family that comes together over disease. It's as if the disease taught them,(the ones involved) how to love again. Good going Patti, you told it well.
   Rose
   Rm Lamatt



3. I have always admired Miss Davis' literary efforts, even when I recognized that she was writing to vent a great deal of anger. I was quite interested when I learned she had written about her Father's battle with Alzheimer's. This was a loving, respectful tribute to both her parents, and it gave me a sense of what this terrible disease does not only to the victim, but to the family as well. In fact, I would recommend it to anyone facing the aging and illness of a family member. It's a story of love, acceptance and faith.



4. How silly for those other reviewers to say this book didn't include "the family's experience with Ronald Reagan's Alzheimer's disease." Or that the book didn't say enough about Alzeimer's itself. What do they want, a medical book? There are plenty of those. This is the unique story that only Patti, with her special place in history could tell, of how her father's disease brought her and her family tremendous pain, yet spiritual growth, and actual blessings. In so doing, she points the way to how we can continue to learn, as Americans, and as human beings, from these gifted leaders, the Reagans. I loved another book about Ronald Reagan, "How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life," by Peter Robinson. It told what Mr. Robinson had observed and learned from President Reagan as a speechwriter in his administration. It is a good book, but this one is even better, because of the vantage point, and insights of the person writing it.
   
   Ms. Davis is an unusually gifted writer, as her father was an unusually gifted speaker. I read this book on an airplane, unable to put it down, even though I couldn't help sobbing out loud during parts of it.
   
   I can now understand how Ms. Davis, with her deep intelligence and passionate, poetic nature, felt (and feels) so strongly about her parents. She talks some about why she rebelled so angrily, yet I am still not sure I completely understand her motivations there. She said she was "mad at America," for 1)taking her father into public service and away from her and 2)for sending some of her young friends to be killed in the Vietnam War. She has now come to sorely regret many of her actions spawned by that anger. Now more mature, she still holds to many of her liberal beliefs, yet regrets that she couldn't have done during her father's administration what she did at a celebration for Margaret Thatcher after her father's diagnosis, namely, laugh off differences, and relate to people as human beings, instead of political entities. It is something her father did exceptionally well.
   
   She describes so many other touching moments, though, in this book, and beautiful impressions. She gave small examples of what her father had taught her, such as how to dive into ocean waves, and how to get back on a horse when you have fallen off. The small examples and big ones add up to an exploration into what love really means. It made me happy to know that President Reagan's daughter has reconciled with her mother and takes care of her now. She shared the moment of her father's death, and how love triumphed over the disease, in many small ways throughout it. With God's help, Patti has now achieved a triumph.



5. While I thought the book was well written, I was disappointed that more about the family's experience with Ronald Reagan's Alzheimer's disease wasn't included. The title of the book is somewhat misleading, for that reason, in my opinion. The bulk of the book was more about the author's feelings and experiences than about her father's illness.

No comments about Prison to Praise: Giant Print.

5 comments about A Reporters Life (Random House Large Print (Paper)).

1. Walter Cronkite who at one time was among the most famous and celebrated Americans tells his life- story . He does this with the dry and clean prose of the good reporter. He tells of his childhood and early years in Kansas City and in Houston, of his work with UP and later on with CBS, his adventures as a war- correspondent. He traces his career in television including the dramatic coverage of what would be the most politically well- covered in his judgment convention of all, that of 1952. He also writes about his wife Betsy their three - children and his family. He in the end provides an analysis of TV journalism and where it has gone wrong, been replaced by considerations of entertainment. This is a decent book by a very decent and modest man.
   In his final chapter he says that he asked himself whether he could say he had really made a difference. Surprisingly and modestly his answer was 'no'. But for many Americans for many years he was the embodiment of the honest and reliable journalist.



2. To live the life of Walter Cronkite is to live a thousand years. For nearly half a decade Walter Cronkite served as the voice of reason to millions of Americans who looked to his print, radio, and television reports for information and reassurance. This autobiography covers the life of Walter Cronkite from his early life as a lowly radio announcer to his ultimate stand at the pinnacle of journalism.
   
   As usual, Cronkite's wit is second-to-none and comes through clearly in his prose. Still, he never pulls punches and minces no words regarding the multitude of famous and powerful men and women he met along the way. His engrained honesty and objectivity is a refreshing look to when journalism was an honest art, plagued not by corporate sponsorship.
   
   Cronkite's work not only serves as an interesting look at "Cronkite, the man," but is a work of modern American history, written by the man who lived and reported it all. For a readable, enjoyable look at Cronkite's America, "A Reporter's Life" is one of the best.



3. In a fascinating and thought-provoking autobiography (1996), Walter Cronkite reflects on his career in journalism, from the earliest days in which he listened to radio on a crystal set, through his own participation in world events as a television journalist. Without the ego one usually associates with newscaster-celebrities, Cronkite gives the history of journalism--radio, newspapers, news syndicates, and television--by giving anecdotes from his own long career, always showing what he learned from his mistakes (which he is remarkably candid and often humorous in describing), and giving ample credit to the people who helped him. His thoughtful observations about the impact of television and its negative effects on voting participation, along with his predictions for the future of this country, offer a broader perspective and warning about our national vision.
   
   Cronkite's sense of excitement about journalism is obvious from the earliest days of his career, when he used brief, coded teletype messages to invent play-by-play accounts of football games for his radio audience. By career's end, he was participating in world events, his interview with Anwar Sadat and its follow-up bringing Sadat to Israel in a precedent-setting meeting with Menachim Begin and an eventual peace treaty. As he takes the reader step-by-step through this career, he describes his goals as a young man, his earliest jobs at local newspapers and radio stations, his work with United Press, his press responsibilities overseas during World War II, his work in Russia, and his early foray into television, when other serious journalists were avoiding this medium.
   
   The landmark TV coverage of the 1952 political conventions opened the eyes of the country to how the political system worked in reality. The Nixon and Kennedy interviews in 1960 (and Theodore White's book, The Making of the President), show the power of television to affect outcomes. He gives candid, personal insights into various Presidents, from Franklin Delano Roosevelt through George Bush Senior, including fascinating insights into Eisenhower (far more aware of issues than often thought), JFK (with whom he had mixed experiences), and Jimmy Carter (in his view, the most intelligent President).
   
   It is Cronkite's candor and his ability to see himself as a facilitator of communication, rather than as an ego-driven reporter looking for the landmark "scoop," that makes this autobiography so compelling. When, in his conclusion, he modestly offers his own observations about the end of the twentieth century, based on his experience, the reader pays attention. Mincing no words, Cronkite describes the social, political, and economic evolutions taking place around the world and their potential as revolutions, warning, "They have man's dreams on their side. We don't want to be on the other side." Elegantly written, this is a landmark book in the history of journalism. n Mary Whipple



4. For me who watched Walter Cronkite almost every night from the 1960's to the 1980's when Dan Rather took over, this is most enlightening book. Behind the scene stories were given for a lot of news stories. Unlike Eric Sevaried, Cronkite never stated any of his personal feelings and comments on the air. Quite a lot of them were found in this book.
   
   Two things bother me. None of the chapters in this book had a topic so the reader is completely unaware of what is in there when he/she starts reading a chapter. In addition, no index is avalable and locating a topic or name is very difficult and time-consuming



5. This book contains the memoirs of Walter Cronkite, pioneering television journalist. Cronkite begins by describing his childhood briefly, noting that even as a youngster, he was pulled to journalism. He credits a volunteer journalism teacher in his high school for introducing him to the rigors of print journalism, but once started, he was hooked. It was this teacher who taught him the prime importance of getting the facts correct, a value that he would hold primary throughout his career. As a high school student, Cronkite competed in statewide journalistic writing tournaments, and won. After high school, he enrolled in college for a while, but decided that pulling in an income was more important than getting a degree (this was during the Great Depression), a decision which he later came to regret. On a lark, he landed a radio news announcer job in Oklahoma City. Later, he worked for UPI, where he honed his collating and rewriting skills under pressure of constant deadlines. The experience from all of these jobs was to prove invaluable later when he landed a job announcing the news on CBS television. Cronkite was not only one of the first early TV news broadcasters, but the word `news anchorman' was even invented just to describe what he did (or so he claims).
   
   In this book, Cronkite reminisces not only about his career, but also about the big news stories of day. He discusses how television came to play a strong role in politics, starting with the 1952 party conventions, which were the first to be televised. He enumerates the presidents he has known, from Hoover through George Bush, senior, and he compares the effectiveness of each, as well as their relations with the media. He analyzes the forces behind the fateful American build-up in Vietnam, and the eventual pull-out. He also relates how he inadvertedly became involved in negotiating peace between Egypt and Israel. All in all, his tales are fascinating. I usually find political discussion hideously tiresome, but Cronkite manages to make even politics interesting.

5 comments about The Diana Chronicles (Random House Large Print (Cloth/Paper)).

1. I had just returned from a dinner. The media was rife with the coverage: black metal gnarled from the unforgiving concrete pillars in a Parisian tunnel on a humid August night. A princess whose fate was unknown. With bated breath, I kept the news on as the "princess of the people" was laid to rest.
   
   Three years later, I rode through the very tunnel, overwhelmed at the lives ended in this seemingly innocuous location.
   
   The difficulty when reading a biography--or an autobiography, for that matter--is discerning fact from fiction. Tina Brown's The Diana Chronicles, however, whether 100 percent accurate or not, seems to ring true in that she does an excellent job in making Diana three-dimensional.
   
   We see Diana the lover, the mother, the humanitarian. We also see her as the woman--the princess--who knew how to groom the media to further her status. This affair became tragically toxic one night in a Parisian tunnel.
   
   The Diana Chronicles, now available in paperback, enjoyed success on the bestseller lists upon its initial 2007 publication.
   
   Tina Brown, who met Diana 10 months before her untimely death, has become an expert on the royals, candidly uncovering the prevailing attitudes and dalliances of Britain's monarchy--and those in close proximity to its power.
   
   Brown didn't need much help in spinning a tale thick with twists: Diana's life reads more like a soap opera script. We see Diana, the doe-eyed child, abandoned by a mother and raised by English nannies. Diana the teenager, who captivated a young Prince Charles. Then there's the bride who captivated the world with her real-life fairy tale wedding turned sour divorce when the roving-eyed Charles falls back into the arms of Camilla.
   
   Throw in a handsome Egyptian playboy, a handful of paparazzi and extravagance. Lies, betrayal, affairs -it was all a recipe for tragedy--a tragedy that made two rosy-cheeked blond children casualties in the war of the Windsors.
   
   The bottom line is: Even more than a decade after Diana's death, the princess of the people still has the ability to captivate.
   
   Armchair Interviews agrees.



2. Tina Brown's book combines history with pop culture and brings the reader a whole new presentation of Princess Diana. I was wary about purchasing it at first, fearing that it would be too gossipy but instead I found that I was touched by her story. The attention to detail is remarkable and covers the life of Princess Diana with a true journalist's touch. I highly suggest it for anyone who has even a remote interest in Princess Diana or the current British Royal Family in general.



3. I started THE DIANA CHRONICLES by Tina Brown by reading it in the store in parts. I figured it was ANOTHER Diana book, and I could pass some pleasant hours in the bookstore sitting in a chair going over some familiar ground. But I was surprised: Brown is an insightful, clear and unflinching writer who has the ability, due to her experience in print journalism, to view the famous through a cynical but knowledgeable media lens. This book was so good, that when I got 300 pages in to the 500-plus-page book, I bought it. It was getting hard to find, and I NEEDED to finish it.
   
   The plotline of Diana's life does not need to be repeated here. What this book is good for is the way it examines her life and her responses to the events of her life as influenced by the media and the media coverage of the her every move. It's as if it weren't Diana and the media professionals who were in a relationship, but Diana and the media coverage who influenced each other. This study is a fascinating examination of how media attention can become a character in the narrative of a famous person's life. According to Brown, Diana made decisions not just in response to the other people in her life, but in reaction to press and how her actions might be reported and perceived. She lost the goal, at some points, of how press attention can influence individuals and became focused on the press itself.
   
   This book presents a strong narrative, a plotline of a life that is compelling and cogent. Though we know the story well, Brown's reportage is complete and portrays not only a whole Diana, but a complete Charles and other royals who had to orbit her star while she was alive.
   
   This was a fascinating book to read as an examination of a woman of fame who could not help but respond to the expectations of women in the times in which she lived. Reading THE DIANA CHRONICLES, one cannot help but think of the price some women pay to be the feminine, compassionate women the world wants them to be. When that world is personified by papparazzi and reporters in fragile woman's day-to-day life, her response can be astonishing.



4. This is an even handed, rich portrait of a very complicated young woman. I purchased the audio thinking it was a fluff piece I could listen to while working out, but found the book fascinating and was sorry when it was over. Tina Brown presents each of the major characters in this tragedy as multifaceted individuals, making this not the usual tabloid nonsense, but a sociological study of a very interesting and often self-destructive family.



5. I really enjoyed this CD about the life of Diana... It seemed to give me closure about her death and unhappy life. Tina Brown gives little known facts about her life and death in a captivating style. It is a natural follow up to other books written about Diana. My only wish was that the book was longer!

5 comments about The Hiding Place (Walker Large Print Books).

1. Readers know from the outset Corrie Ten Boom survived to help write the book but it's such an intriguing journey to get there. The authors include numerous jewels along the way, stories that stick with the reader long after the book is back on the shelf: the train ticket held by her father until the perfect time, the test of faith by not lying about family hiding under the kitchen table, the fleas having a purpose, the heartbreak of the love of her life marrying someone else, rebuilding the radio while in prison, the astounding respect and love for her father and sister while incarcerated.
   
   Each chapter utilizes powerful imagery to flesh out an application of Eternal Truth ready for internalizing.
   
   The lessons may be applied to every day life since these were not merely `characters' but most obviously real people, with extreme trials to maneuver in life and in death. Ordinary becomes extraordinary, utilizing compelling subject matter with a page turning writing style exhibiting firm faith in the Lord. It's one of those classics that affords readers immediate application to their own circumstances since they can identify with her and her family on so many levels.
   
   Finally a work like this inspires and uplifts. I found myself continually discovering the answer (Grace) on almost every page to such questions as "Why did God let this happen?" and "How did she do it?". The Hiding Place is a classic I enjoy re-reading every few years. I'm amazed at the fresh perspective I have each time. It's timeless.
   
   One of my favorite poetic verses from Corrie Ten Boom, who quoted it often (it was by Grant Colfax Tullar), is the following:
   
   "My life is but a weaving betwixt my God and me;
   I do not choose the colors He worketh steadily.
   Oft times He weaveth sorrow, and I in foolish pride
   Forget He sees the upper, and I the underside.
   Not till the loom is silent and the shuttles cease to fly
   Will God unfold the pattern and explain the reason why.
   For the dark threads are as needful in the Weaver's skillful hand
   As the threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned."



2. This is an absolutely fantastic book! This is a lesson in how not to give up. A lesson in how to pursue dreams. A lesson in how to be of help to the less fortunate. A lesson in how to live. A lesson in how to be close to the Father, and always believe in him. This is a must-read!



3. I will not go into detail on this very public site about what this author, and her book, mean to me. Suffice it to say that I would not be alive today, without having heard Corrie's message of God's infinite love.
   
   As a psychiatrist, I have bought, and given away to patients, at least 50 copies of this book over the past two decades. It is more powerful than the strongest of antidepressants.
   
   Corrie ten Boom is a saint. She will not be officially recognized as such by the Catholic Church since she was nominally a Protestant. I say nominally, because her heart, like God's, was deep enough and wide enough to encompass and embrace all people, no matter what "religion" they practiced. Corrie's religion was Love.



4. The Hiding Place should be read by EVERY Christian. Corrie and her sister's testimony in this book is just like reading the Bible's testimony of the new Believers! Need to feel inspired? Read The Hiding Place.



5. This book is beautiful inside and out. The outside is burgundy leather? bound with gold stamped letters. Very classic looking. The story itself is so well written, Corrie ten Boom draws you into her family. To hear how God worked miracles in spite of German occupation and concentration camps, and the lack of money and resources, was very faith building. I highly recommend this book.

5 comments about Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire.

1. Georgiana Spencer Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, was born in the eighteenth century and died in the early nineteenth century, but her life was very modern in many ways. She was an open activist at a time when women were supposed to stay behind the scenes, a bold and flamboyant hostess who used her social prestige to advance her political agenda, and a beautiful but ultimately self-destructive woman whose emotions helped shape British history.
   
   Georgiana was born into one wealthy and powerful aristocratic family and married into an even wealthier and more powerful one. The Cavendishes were bastions of the Whig oligarchy, which governed Britain almost continuously through the eighteenth century until the 1760s, when King George III forced them out of power. In opposition the Whigs became the progressives or liberals of the day, calling for curbs on the King's powers, protection for the liberties of the people, and for progress and social reform (with the ultimate aim of regaining power for themselves, of course). Georgiana was married to the Duke of Devonshire, who was retiring where she was outgoing, far more interested in living a quiet life with various mistresses than in helping to advance the Whig cause. Georgiana, frustrated with a husband who did not appreciate her, threw herself into politics, becoming a friend of Whig leaders like Charles James Fox and campaigning openly for him and others.
   
   Georgiana's private life was complicated. She and her husband were involved in a years long menage a trois with Lady Elizabeth Foster, who was simultaneously Georgiana's best friend and the Duke's mistress and mother of his illegitimate children. Georgiana was addicted to gambling and lost enormous sums which she feared to reveal to the Duke. Eventually Georgiana herself had a love affair which nearly caused her marriage to end and forced her temporarily out of sight. Although she returned to political life after some years, her health broke down and her influence remained diminished.
   
   Amanda Foreman has produced a work of great scholarship which reads like a novel. Georgiana's life is so fascinating that I've read this biography several times just to see what she would get up to next and how she would get out of one scrape after another. Foreman makes the good point that Georgiana epitomized many women of the eighteenth century, who were far more active and involved in politics than is generally supposed, as well as being a harbinger of the kind of power base to which women in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries still aspire.



2. I was never a biography fan until this book. Foreman does a dazzling job of bringing Georgiana to life. I could read this book over and over again!



3. if some one told me what really happen 18th century upper crust i would not believe them.money,sex,adultery,hidden preganacy,lesbianism,royality,gambling and drug addiction.fashion theather social scandals,politics,betrayal, blackmail and war.it's a soap opera that really happen.even a evil bestfriend who bears two childern by georgina husband is through in.this book is addictive.i didn't put it down till last page.



4. I was wanting more of a historical novel but this book reads more like a text book. Almost every page has notes at the bottom of the page, this makes for very "choppy" reading. Interesting subject but not a cozy read. I had to make myself finish the book.



5. I am currently obsessed with Jane Austen, came across a glowing review of "Georgiana: Duchess..." in the New Yorker, and couldn't resist reading this story of Regency England. Unlike Austen's heroines, the Duchess has a very dark side - she's a gambler, adulteress, liar, drug addict...I found myself wanting her to be happy (and to win against the evil Bess) in spite of (or because of?) these qualities. In the end, her charisma, beauty, fashion, gentleness, vulnerability, wit, privilege, and political engagement endear her.
   
   I loved the book, the story, the characters, the history, and the politics. Unlike some other reviewers, I found Foreman's writing incredibly engaging and easy to read.

5 comments about A Twist of Lemmon: A Tribute to My Father, Jack Lemmon.

1. When writing about Jack Lemmon's failed aspirations on the celebrity golf classic Chris Lemmon declared that he could clearly imagine his "Pop" winning with his traditional hearty "Isn't that a bit of terrific!" Every time I read that I could hear Jack Lemmon's voice in my head. That's the juice of this story. Jack's voice singing through his son's words.
   
   This is the view of the gifted, charming, incredibly likeable Jack Lemmon through the eyes of his gifted, talented, and seemingly honest son Chris. He is a bit heavy handed on the "beloved father" and "cherished sister" phrases which, although refreshing in a celebrity biography (very un-Mommy Dearest), such affectations were completely superfluous because his adoration of his Pop came through in every word.
   
   It took a bit of getting used to hearing of squeaky clean Jack Lemmon swearing and drinking so much. But he swore in such a funny, enthusiastic, unique way that I ended up adoring that about him. And the drinking? He fixed it. The hero came through in the end.
   
   Some of the players didn't come off as well. I was appalled at the pettiness of Lemmon's wife who had her knickers in a twist over some fight with Walter Matthau's wife and made Jack and Walter's friendship difficult. Chris said of the depth of his father's relationship with Walter "I think if Uncle Waltz had taken up golf, Pop would have married him." But that was not the only time Lemmon's widow got into fights with people. She fought with Jack and nearly killed him in a drunken rage when she threw a heavy glass ashtray at Lemmon's head. That particular drunken brawl was the end of drinking for Jack, but not for his wife. Chris alludes that he and his stepmother were never on good terms and it's admirable that he didn't stoop to airing any of their dirty laundry in this book. Though dirty it certainly would be.
   
   The book takes us on fishing trips to Alaska, sound stages in Hollywood, and on the golf course. Chris' references to the "Lemmon curse" is amusing and so well told that it played in my imagination as clear as a movie. What a great sense of humour Jack had, and how delightfully it was passed down to Chris.
   
   I had such a crush on Jack Lemmon, and still do even now he's gone. I wish he had enjoyed a happier marriage and had taken more time to be a father. But he was true to himself, and did remarkable things. I would imagine being his son to be the most wonderful thing in the world and one of the hardest. What an act to follow!
   
   This was a fascinating tribute to the father, not the actor or the person. Chris Lemmon is a really gifted writer. I hope he continues to write. I will eagerly buy whatever he puts his name to after reading this charming book. I hope he reads these reviews because there is something I'd like to say to him. "Hello Ramhead, go F yourself!" (He said he missed hearing that.)



2. CL pays the ultimate tribute to his father in this classy portrayal of the supremely gifted father and the somewhat lonely but not lost son trying to sort out a complicated relationship made more complex amidst the mixed fortunes born of fame and celebrity and the tensions and heartaches that always come with divorce. This is a wonderful read that confirms much of the positive image that most people hold of the elder Lemmon while affirming the deep love that father and son were able to share in an environment that has split so many other families apart. Jack Lemmon was without doubt driven in terms of his career, but the measure of the man is that he reserved a part of himself for his son that was theirs and theirs alone.



3. Recommended: A Twist of Lemmon: a Tribute to My Father, by Chris Lemmon
   
   Chris Lemmon writes as though chatting with a friend, about the father he loved. I was drawn in by the humanity of the man and the honesty of his son, the author. According to Chris, Jack Lemmon was like an ornery little boy, a little like my own father. Both father and son were aware of Jack's strengths and shortcomings (drinking, a temper, over-dedication to his career). I think Jack Lemmon is probably recognizable in some person in everyone's life. STAR is not the picture drawn here.
   
   There is some language that a few sensitive folks may find offensive; I did say he was ornery didn't I? However,I believe if those folks read on, they will be glad they did. There's nothing really vulgar, but some humor is pretty worldly. Chris says that one of his father's favorite lines to the nurses, even near the end, was "Wanna take a peek at Stiffy?" Alternating from hospital room to scenes from Jack's life Chris Lemmon creates a complete picture of the man without ever going Hollywood neon.



4. A twist of Lemmon is Chris Lemmon's literate, deeply-felt tribute to his father, the unique Jack Lemmon. CL wrote partly for his children, who must have liked his elk- and poodle-stories better than his golfer's yarn (but tell this to a golfer), partly because it helped him heal the big loss he felt.
   
   An extraordinary insight into people's nature presented his highly-gifted father with a career that lasted half a century. Two oscars, eight nominations, best actor in Cannes (twice). There were times when he stood alone. His Billy-Wilder-films have no equal but he was proud of DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES 1962 and SAVE THE TIGER 1973 - he suffered creative agonies and was never happier. A committed democrat and environmentalist. "Experts" smiled at his breath-taking performance in THE CHINA SYNDROME 1979 - three weeks later fiction came true. No other film, except MISSING 1982 - about a father who searches for his son in Chilean morgues - made more headlines.
   
   Many anecdotes revolve around "America's sweetheart" who wrecked jaguars and ferraris, did not make the cut at Pebble Beach and was chased by moose, eagles, bobcats and bears. He had great moral courage, though: The fact that he suffered painful operations during his childhood did not keep him from entering the navy (many heroes stayed in Hollywood) and make dangerous stunts. Too few films catch his "quirky, unpredictable, sweet devil side". He was one of Hollywood's most exciting stars.
   
   A tribute is no platform for criticism and while CL drops many hints most of his concerns remain unspoken. Nobody could accuse CL of "nepotism". JL made it by himself and expected the same of his son. That he played small parts in his father's films is perfectly legitimate. It was a proud moment when his father was in the front row "applauding, whistling, wiping away a tear". Daddy's amazement that junior worked hard enough to buy a car is the book's comic highlight (the Paris-brothel-episode is not bad either). How I wish that CL could have protected his generous, trusting and compassionate father from all those well-meaning people who asked him favors and harmed his career (the man of flesh & blood belonged to his family but his reflexion on celluloid belongs to us). Neither could he influence his father's eating habits (cheeseburgers) despite a warning shot: CL lost his mother Cynthia Stone to cancer in 1988 (his book is of course a tribute to both parents who remained optimists to the end).
   
   His parents divorced when he was three, both remarried and he commuted between two patchwork-families with younger sisters. He and his father had fishing-trips to Alaska ("it was only during those times that I felt he really belonged to me"), jam-sessions, golf. He excuses his father's "inadvertent irresponsibility" - he woke his father up with a triple-martini when he was six - but is still haunted by "that empty chair at dinner-table" and felt "in the doghouse" when separated from his father. He did not grow up in his father's household and survival was difficult for a son-of-the-first-marriage who was a teenager during the hippie-era. JL's second family was part of his everyday life and "the only person I think he ever did commit to totally was Felicia" - his second wife. "Pop and Felicia had been partying hard the night before...an airborne ashtray had sliced pop's forehead". JL's private life is still terra incognita (or "treasure island" for biographers).
   
   His moving description of his father's last fight ("I never heard him complain once...his only concern during the final days was for us, his family") and his desperate attempts to tell the dying father what he did not say to the living one are the highest points in CL's book. Chemotherapy; radiation; the reprieve; devastating surgeries; colostomy; morphine; the respirator. But CL also writes: "He had too much pride to let us know if he was suffering". Memories of his fater who held him after his mother's burial counterpoint his account. He makes also an alarming confession: "I remember feeling hurt that no one had told him...that I'd been out there with him through those many weeks he's been unconscious" although he admits: "We'd all remained in a state of utter denial".
   
   CL holds out to the end and his real, great merit is that he does without rose-colored-glasses because he understands that his father, about whom Kevin Spacey said that his humanity was even bigger than his talent, deserves the truth. I hope this book becomes a best-seller!



5. Actor Chris Lemmon,not as famous as his late movie star father Jack pays homage to the elder Lemmon in this book. The elder Lemmon has done quite a few films throughout his career with his late longtime friend Walter Matthau. Chris' mother divorced Jack when Chris was a toddler. Chris became a cast member of one of Fox's first sitcoms,Duet,which ran from April 1987 to August 1989. Duet was then spun off as Open House which ran for nearly a year. Chris' character Richard Phillips and his wife Linda,played by Alison LaPlaca, were respectively,a patio furniture salesman and an executive film producer. Richard quit the retail business and became a cocktail lounge pianist. On the spin-off Linda went into real estate. Post-Duet-OH,Chris has had a series of guest roles on various shows. Hundreds of people,including Michael Douglas and his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones,attended memorial services for Jack in 2001. Jack was 75 years old when he passed away. I dedicate this book to Jack's memory.