5 comments about Fowl Weather.

1. Bob Tarte's second book about his life with ducks, ( cats, parrots, bunnies and more) was just as compelling as the first. I enjoyed learning more about his wife Linda and his best friend Bob. This book was a little more about finding his way in in the world while in the throes of depression after losing his father and more members of his animal kingdom.
   
   He appears more vulnerable and unsure, but never fails to have his life brightened and gilded by Linda and his pet family.
   
   Those of us who have grappled with depression can find many ways to connect with his feelings, and the occasional feeling that his life was whirling out of control. He is more fortunate than some, with a good support system of family and friends.
   
   Both of these books will make you laugh out loud, and shed a tear. I know that they did that for me. I hope there is more about this wonderful family to come.



2. Clearly Bob Tarte strikes a chord with readers of all stripes. The way he gives his life over to his animals, and the rewards he receives, are quite spectacular. There is really no writer like him. This book made me laugh out loud several times. Knowing that the author is prone to depression, and that his wife has chronic back problems, this could easily have become a whinefest. But they both see the humor in everyday situations, and the demands of their menagerie are what keeps them both going. The sad parts are quite touching but never maudlin. I loved living their life vicariously. Thank you, Bob Tarte, and please keep on sharing!



3. Laugh out loud funny.I am currently reading the sequel"Fowl Weather"and it is just as good.Bob,put pen to paper and give us more.



4. I'm not normally a nonfiction reader, but Bob Tarte's Fowl Weather is a great book to break away from the fiction habit. This book will make you laugh, it will make you cry, it will restore your faith in the human race to know there are people out there (besides yourself) that truly care about, and nourish, God's creatures. Bob Tarte and his wife, Linda, go above and beyond in their nurturing of wild, and not so wild, animals. Bob relates his adventures with them in a funny, honest and totally involving manner. From Moobie, the white, picky cat, (who I loved) to Stanley Sue, the endearing parrot, to Bertie, the bunny, Bob writes about all of his pets with intelligence, humor and obvious affection. - Lisa, the Librarian



5. I will be one of the few dissenting opinions here. While the author certainly lets us into his life with honestly and humor, the fact that nearly of his pets treat him and his wife with what appears to be contempt makes this entire book seem like 3 hours of looking at a car wreck. And while a normal, well-adjusted life wouldnt make an interesting book, I lost sympathy for the author and his wife when some of their pets deaths were due to lack of proper maintenance of their housing. In addition they seem to have some sort of weird co-dependency with the most abusive animals such as the older parrots, enduring much pain for little return and yet insisting on always replacing them so the level of abuse stays the same, while treating the few animals that actually return love on a regular basis as somehow less important.
   
   If you want to spend three or more hours looking at car wreck then buy this book.

5 comments about Avoid Boring People: Lessons from a Life in Science.

1. Best known for his Nobel Prize winning work on helping identify the double helix structure of DNA, scientist James D. Watson presents his autobiography Avoid Boring People: Lessons from a Life in Science as an anecdote filled instruction manual - chunking off different segments of his career and then reflecting on the points to be learned from his experiences. The titular phrase "Avoid Boring People" takes on two meanings in the book. Watson advises young scientists to avoid boring people (with the middle word as an adjective) saying that those early in their careers should associate only with people engaging in exciting new science. The second meaning comes as advice to older researchers and Watson warns that in the twilight of their careers, scientists should avoid boring other people - with boring now becoming a verb.
   
   (One wonders if Watson has taken this second piece of advice too far to heart as in recent years his public appearances have kept him newsworthy not for any breakthrough work he has accomplished, but in his ability to anger audiences with racist, sexist, atheistic, and anti-establishment comments. It is only by putting aside my knowledge of his recent personal beliefs that I was able to even open this book for reading, let alone reviewing.)
   
   With that said, Watson does tell an engaging story. The history and science presented are told with a light anecdotal feel and some of the most interesting chapters were the portions of Watson's experience - for example, his work as a presidential science adviser - that were not as highly publicized as his Nobel winning work. I would have enjoyed the book more if Watson had more respect for his female associates. Though some of them are described as "bright" or "intelligent" more often than not these adjectives are proceeded by "cute", "stunning" or "blond". Unlike for his male coworkers, the women in the book have their minds and intellects overshadowed by their looks. Overall, I think the book presents an adequate picture of the life of James Watson which, while intriguing and intelligent, lacks likability.



2. Avoid Boring People...he definetly bored me though. This book had so much unneccessary detail that it really made the book boring and I disliked it a lot. I would not recommend the purchase of this book, but the 'lessons' learned at the end of each chapter had wisdom behind them and I did like those. There are some interesting parts of the book, especially when he pretty much admits that he did nothing to get the...didn't want to spoil it for the people who will read it.



3. If one looks carefully at the book jacket, another word is inserted in the title which then reads Avoid Boring Other People. Watson was so impressed by his own career and activities that he was truly boring. It is sad that an individual who has been at the heart of his field and who must have had memorable interactions with others spent time trying to make himself interesting.It didn't work.



4. An enjoyable trip down Memory Lane, where the sometimes stream-of-consciousness narrative ties events with memorable individuals during a remarkable career inside academia. More like a flat stone skipping across a lake's smooth surface, with few topics covered in depth, and a lot of name dropping, it is a light review of a personal journey starting with early curiosity as a small boy, his early teamwork leading to the elucidation of DNA, through developing talent, and on to managing a leading research institution, using Harvard University as the ultimate point of reference. One of the more interesting observations is the important role of personality in the pursuit of Big Science, particularly the politics of it all. A chronological order of Dr Watson's career in fifteen chapters, with important lessons, both personal and professional, at the end of each, all recapped in a separate section at the end. Many of the names dropped may not be well known now, so the section describing them is very helpful, not only for their own sake but also for a recognition of their contributions that are a part of Dr Watson's life, work and career.



5. On p. 70 the author concludes "I was descovering that most high-powered minds do not daily generate new ideas". That is the conclusion I came up with about the author himself after reading this book. This is a book replete with minutae (some people call this anecdotal information!) and includes just a handful of interesting thoughts. It could have been written in 50 pages or less. However, this wouldn't have been sufficient to allow for the numerous self-promotional statements provided by the author or the mud that he throws towards other very well respected scientists. The author sets an example to avoid for whoever decides to write his/her memoirs.

4 comments about Brotherhood of the Fin: A Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer's Story.

1. Former Coast Guard rescue swimmer Gerald R. Hoover presents his own biography in Brotherhood of the Fin: A Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer's Story. Harrowing life-and-death decisions and endurance-testing rescue missions formed a part of his life and his dedication to saving those in desperate need. In his long career, he racked up more deployments than any other rescue swimmer in the history of the program; his final mission was to serve as part of the search and rescue mission to aid those victimized by the national disaster that was Hurricane Katrina. An absorbing, straight-talk tale of real life adventure and heroically selfless dedication.



2. What an excellent book. If you have ever wondered about the world of Coastguard Rescue Swimmers, this is a must-read.



3. This book is so well written. I have read many that are not as well thought out and reviewed by the writer; but this writer obviously really went over every detail and made sure it read well. The organization of the book is also one of the best. It seems a kind of beginning rather than just a focus on one career and eventual retirement. This should continue as a series covering many other AST Swimmer stories as well as how the experiences may affect and lead to improvements towards future more successful Search and Rescue Missions. This book also shows how vital and important the AST Rescue Swimmer program is since it's recent inception in the Coast Guard (only the last ~22 years). Now, countless people have been saved who could not have helped themselves into the rescue basket for hoist - who have gone on and had continued successful lives after their rescue. This is important to everyone - especially if you should need rescue one day....



4. 
   
   Gerald Hoover's book is a outstanding work of non-fiction. As a retired Coast Guard rescue swimmer I'm very proud of the way he relives his career of rescues that were life and death struggles filled with heart-pounding action. ASM1 Hoover takes the reader on a journey into the depths of turbulent waters where a select few persons, who are the Brotherhood of the Fin, willingly enter to rescue those in peril. Furthermore, Hoover hits the nail on the head by emphasizing the team effort of the Coast Guard's highly trained professionals that are part of every rescue. I highly recommend this book and would make it a required read for any young man or woman who wants to pursue a career as a Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer.
   Darell Gelakoska
   ASMCM USCG (Ret)

5 comments about House Calls and Hitching Posts.

1. This is an excellent book. I have recommended it to one of my colleagues who is a recognized authority on the history of medicine. Dr. Lehman comes across as a realist and a caring professional. His practice is/was heavy on births and traumatic farm injuries. While there are many examples of these in the text, they never become tedious.
   
   The book also gives a warm glimpse into the lives of the Amish people and their lifestyle and beliefs. One enlightening incident involved an elderly farm woman who had sustained a stroke at home in bed. Her husband sent for the doctor. Dr. Lehman recognized that the woman had little time left. The husband asks, "Is there anything the hospital could do for her that we can't do here?" The answer came back, "Essentially 'No." The woman passed away a few hours later in familiar surroundings, in her own bed, with her family and friends at her bedside. All of us readers can only hope for so peaceful an ending ourselves.



2. I've always been interested in the Amish People and this book is good learning for anyone who is interested in the Amish. I've read this book 2 times already and I hope there will be a sequel.



3. If you are interested in Amish culture, this is a great book to read to get a snapshot of what types of challenges, ethical and medical, on a typical Amish farm. The writing style is easy to follow and very descriptive. The Amish people have such a strong faith and are very family oriented which is a refreshing change to read. If you are a nurse or a physician, you would really appreciate the ingenuity that is needed when dealing with blunt force trauma from a farming accident or just the challenge of getting to someone's rural home in 6 feet of snow.



4. This was a wonderful book . Once I started reading it I could not put it down. It is amazing to realize that there are still Dr.'s out in the world that care so much for their patients.



5. If you enjoy reading and learning about the Amish, you will enjoy this book.

5 comments about A Passion for the Impossible.

1. I just finished reading this book and was so impressed with the astonishing results this woman achieved because of her total surrender to God's plans. An accomplished young artist from an upper class Victorian family, she left the comforts of England and went into Algeria, a country inhabitated by Arabs who were mostly Muslim. It was a slow but steady start, because of language problems, government interference (because of suspicions about missionaries motives), and just the differences in the different ways of thinking and lifestyles of the Algerian people.
   
   Lilias spent several decades of her life doing the "basics" in securing the beginnings of a life long ministry among a people hungry for deep spiritual lessons, but finding ways to do this required much patience, thought and forgiveness. And on top of all this, she is dealing with a new language, both spoken and written.
   
   The majority of this book is taken from Lilias's copius journals, letters and writings where she kept records of what she was involved in day by day.
   
   I learned a lot about what the foreign missionary effort entails, and especially when you're the first to go into an area with some brand new ideas where life is so different. But she won them over slowly with her love. As time went on, she had much help from other women and men who worked with her in this cause.
   
   The last couple of decades her health was not good, but she just kept on plugging away, even writing from her bed the last two years.
   She wrote some beautiful booklets that have profound lessons of faith and obedience in them. "Parables of the Cross" and "Parables of the Christ Life" are just two of them.
   
   She gleaned such meaningful lessons from nature, things that the ordinary person would hardly think of. She could see great lessons from a grain of wheat, a peach, a bee, etc. She looked deeply into the whys and wherefores of the lessons that nature has to teach us.
   
   Lilias really had a heart for these people and she felt that God gave her that heart and she was to do what she could as well as she could for as long as she could. She was true to that effort.
   
   One thing I wished this book had was a map of the area that showed all the little towns and outposts that were mentioned in the book, and were developed over many years and many travels.
   This book is a good read, even though you are dealing with some new words and another way of thinking. You will learn a lot and wish you had known this woman who was totally devoted to God.



2. As the premier art critic in Victorian England, John Ruskin was the arbiter of taste. In 1883 he revealed a hard-to-believe prejudice: "For a long time I used to say . . . that except in a graceful and minor way, women could not draw or paint." Ruskin then discounted this view, based on his reaction to the art of a young woman named Lilias Trotter: "I'm beginning lately to bow myself to the much more delightful conviction that no one else can" draw or paint.

   In a 1960s book, RUSKIN TODAY, Sir Kenneth Clark mentioned Trotter as someone lost to history. But Clark hadn't turned over every leaf, as has biographer Miriam Rockness, who discovered Trotter through bequeathed volumes of her out-of-print illustrated books.

   A bright, talented daughter of a prominent stockbroker in London, Lilias Trotter (1853-1928) was comfortable in the company of privilege. At age 21 she was among guests, including George MacDonald and Bishop Wilberforce, invited to a religious retreat, the forerunner of the Keswick Conferences.

   Spiritually stirred by this and the preaching of Dwight Moody, Lilias grew discontent with the in-vogue "charity from a distance." For more than 10 years in London, she devotedly worked to help establish a hostel for working women, the forerunner of the YWCA.

   During this time, while on vacation in Venice, her meddling mother asked Ruskin to look at Lilias's watercolor paintings --- a request that led to art lessons, weekend invitations, and extended conversations and correspondence between the Miss and the Master, who claimed she could be the greatest painter of her generation if she would "give herself up to art." To the dismay of many, Lilias turned her back on Ruskin's challenge: "I cannot give myself to painting in the way he means and continue still to 'seek first the Kingdom of God.' "

   When Lilias was 35, this whole-spirited commitment dramatically "called" her to mission work in northern Africa. With two female colleagues --- none knowing Arabic, none robust enough to pass physicals required by established mission boards --- she sailed for Algeria, where she lived a life of saintly proportions until her death, at age 75.

   Two-thirds of Rockness's biography delves into the Algerian years. Learning Arabic was the first of many challenges: Muslim resistance to a Christian message, French resistance to British interlopers, male resistance to a female witness. And yet under Trotter's leadership, the original missionary band and later recruits translated portions of scripture, distributed literature, befriended women and children, opened cafés for men, and hosted summer camps for nomadic families.

   There are no imagined conversations in this book; there's no mistaking it for a novel. This is history, relying largely on journals, with some analysis and helpful foreshadowing. Ever aware of Lilias the artist, Rockness faithfully describes the palette of the desert so well that it's hard to distinguish Lilias the missionary from Lilias the artist.

   In time Lilias envisioned a "new approach to Arab literature": writings that would speak to Algerians, instead of what Trotter called the "hitherto translated stories of Jacks & Bobs whose surroundings are as foreign to children of the east as their names" and finding an affordable means of color printing, so as to attract people who delighted in color. To meet these goals, Lilias wrote and illustrated nature parables that may soon be back in print, thanks to Rockness's persistence.

   Some of the biography's most interesting material comes toward the end. In her last decade, Trotter won the respect of a group of Sufi (male) mystics. "The artist in her responded to the artist in the Sufis," notes Rockness. "Yet she never lost her spiritual focus." Confined to bed in the last two years, she wrote THE WAY OF THE SEVENFOLD SECRET, explaining to them seven "I Am" claims of Jesus --- as she managed what had become an extensive mission outreach.

   Trotter's printed word and art can indeed inspire a new generation. But only those who knew her can appreciate "perhaps her most palpable legacy": her love. As an obituary noted, "No wonder that Catholics and Jews and Moslems, as well as Protestants, are mourning her loss, for love, in the end, wins love."

   --- Reviewed by Evelyn Bence




3. There are few things that inspire me more than a true story of a child of God who is faithful in the face of success and apparent failure. I see the reality of this woman's walk with God to be the challenge and encouragement. The accounts of her passion, travels, and encounters challenge my perspective on missions. I don't believe I had a real grasp on missions until I read this book. The quotations of her own journals and other writings bring a special feeling of knowing Lilias by the end of the book. This is a book I highly encourage all believers to read.



4. I am a voracious reader of non-fiction (particularly Christian non-fiction), but out of thousands of books I have read, this biography captivated me like no other. Perhaps because I am a writer and artist, I could identify with Lilias and her passions. Ultimately, however, this is a story of adventure, sacrifice, surrender and uncompromising dedication to Jesus Christ, all set against the exotic backdrop of Algeria. I can't wait to meet Lilias in heaven and tell her how she inspired me. Of course, I also look forward to meeting the authors someday because they brought Lilias to life. The narrative is as lovely as Lilias' art!



5. This book does indeed weave a challenging and interesting tale of a pioneeer missionary, who for the sake of the gospel left a comfortable and gracious victorian life for a life of sacrifice in the northern deserts of Africa, among Muslim tribemen.It is carefully crafted and includes some prints of Lilias' own artwork, which from what can be seen, is lovely.I wish a book could be devoted to more prints and more about Lilias' travels!

5 comments about Cherry.

1. I am so disappointed with the way in which Karr chose to write this memoir. I was tempted to put it down more than once while I was reading it, but her subject matter kept me interested, and I did finish it. However, her style of writing is just not for me. There is hardly any use of dialog between any of the characters - the majority of the story is told as one long description of the things around her, which I found very dull. I feel that written in another way, this would have been much more interesting to read. Not sure if I will continue on to the Liar's Club, which I didn't realize was the prequel to this one.



2. I enjoyed both books by Ms. Karr. She speaks of happiness hidden in a dysfunctional childhood. I believe more young adults should read her books and realize that happiness comes from within and as adults it is no longer our parents who control our choices/lifestyle. I read exerpts to high school seniors who find they can relate to abuse or poor personal choices like losing their virginity. Ms. Karr is a natural born story weaver.



3. I read Liar's Club when first published & Cherry when it was first published, so, it's been many years since I have read either one. I grew up w/Mary Karr. Leechfield, TX is actually Groves, Port Arthur, TX; Janis Joplin's hometown. She dedicated Cherry to my step-brother's best friend, the one she ran off with to California after graduation from HS. I'm glad that Mary has turned out to be a successful writer & professor. She had a book of poetry published when we were in the 3rd grade. I was always in awe of her. Mary was always beautiful, with those big doe eyes, & long lashes, pretty body. She was in the HS drill team, so, she wasn't as much of an outcast, as she would have many to believe. We all went through the halls stoned on acid, pot, etc. There wasn't a lot to do, except, hang @ the Dairy Queen down the street from PNG HS, or skip school & go surfing @ Crystal Beach. A lot of us hung out in those dangerous, "black" blues bars down by the docks in Beaumont, & drove across the "bridge", just to get drunk in Vinton, LA. Many of the people she hung with in HS, were my friends, as well. I know exactly who she is referring to in Cherry's descriptions. Although Liar's Club is a much better written book, Cherry is still a good read. I was shocked when people related so much to Liar's Club, you know, the WASP girls in the book clubs. Kudis to Mary!!



4. I will 100% agree with the person who says in their review is this the same author of The Liar's Club? I REALLY, REALLY liked that memoir. I don't know what went wrong with this one..but I didn't waste much of my time trying to figure it out.



5. This is my absolute favorite book in the past few years. Karr is outstanding at description. I've never read anything as precise and beautiful and inventive. Her description of an attention-driven suicide attempt is hilarious and profoundly sad. The writing style is deliciously funny and smart, Karr is a keen observer of sexuality, adolescence, and change, and physicality permeates the story.
   
   On another note, I couldn't believe the 1-star reviews here - they criticize Karr's use of "big words." I was cracking up, hahha. And apparently if you write about drugs, your story automatically sucks. What?!
   
   Most people seem to be critiquing the fact that it isn't another Liars' Club. I haven't read that yet, so maybe that's why I was able to read Cherry with no expectations. It's very accessible, and I liked reading it out of order and then again in sequence. It doesn't have a really linear narrative, (maybe that's what people disliked?) but I loved that. I can't wait to read her first memoir.

5 comments about Ghost Light: A Memoir.

1. A very interesting read from someone who hates Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals- apart from Cats. I look forward to finishing this book soon.



2. I can't believe how much time this author spent unsupervised in NYC. Memoir? seems a bit far fetched to me.



3. 
   Ghost Light by Frank Rich; Random House, 2001. New York.
   
   
   Frank Rich's memoir, Ghost Light, embodies the feelings of hopelessness and struggle one undergoes in childhood; Rich writes about these feelings with a wisdom that could have been gained only by experience. The author begins the novel with his early childhood, which rivaled "Leave it to Beaver" in the perfection and blissful ignorance in which he and his younger sister came to perceive as "normal." Somerset, Maryland was a typical 1950's suburban neighborhood, where new parents came to raise their families with high hopes of a new life filled with prosperity and contentment. While given all the props and the perfect setting to carry out a happy family life, Frank's parents "dropped in and out of the role of parents at whim, like novice actors improvising from a script still in rough draft." His parents did share an intense love of music however, and often incorporated it into the lives of Frank and his sister, Polly. He grew up listening to the captivating and consuming music of shows like South Pacific and The Pajama Game. Thus began his love of the shows on Broadway, and the escape they brought him later in life.
   All too soon, Frank's fairytale childhood comes crashing to an end when his parents introduce a new word into his vocabulary, one that had never been spoken about in a voice louder than a whisper in his sheltered neighborhood, and one that had been as shunned and feared as the plague all around the country: Divorce. In a new apartment, new neighborhood, and new school the young Frank realizes a new terror, insomnia. In the dark of his room, while all is quiet, Frank has no choice but to think about the gaping hole in his heart which family used to fill. These restless nights lead to an insatiable rage that fills him until he erupts in a fury of destruction and tantrums. Frank soon learns to internalize his feelings for the sake of his desolate and distant mother. Eventually Frank's mother finds a new man, Joel. His step-father is unlike any person Frank or Polly has ever met, he is loud, obnoxious, and demands the best of everyone. His own two children, John and Sue, are already familiar with the way Joel behaves when he doesn't get his way, but the first time Frank is hit for disobeying an order, he is shocked and dismayed that his mother married this monster. Along with the bad, Joel brings a great deal of good to Frank's life. He opens up a whole new world for Frank, taking spontaneous trips to town or overseas, demanding the best in restaurants, and most importantly, giving him the opportunity to go to the shows on Broadway and off, which later become Frank's life.
   Rich documents his life and his growing passion for theater, his only distraction in a house where he is never certain of safety. He narrates his own story as his new family moves to Washington, as he meets his first girlfriend, and is accepted into college. All the while theater keeps him going, he collects Playbills, listens to every musical record he can get his hands on, and gets a job in the local theater as an usher.
   This book personifies the feelings of anguish and hopelessness that everyone has felt at one point or another in their life and gives character to the universal joy of theater. I found this book to be unique in the blatant and honest portrayal of a child dealing with divorce and a violent stepfather in a time when things like that were not talked about publicly. Rich tells the story of an escape in theater that saved his sanity and preserved his faith in humankind.



4. This is a beautifully written, sensitive memoir of a painful childhood and coming of age. Anyone who has ever listened to the original cast album of a Broadway show and been transported in their mind to a theatre will find a kindred spirit in Frank Rich. Rich grew up in a home which had an abundance of material goods but also contained an abundance of pain. His love of the theatre and some lovely people he met along the way helped him to endure until he went away to college and his adult life.
   Mr. Rich was for many years the very astute theatre critic for the New York Times. He now writes incisive OpEd pieces for the Times. This memoir is very courageous in light of the private pain that it reveals which helped to mold this public man.



5. Ghost Light is a compelling memoir about the life of Frank Rich, the acclaimed theater critic for the New York Times and long time theater lover. The memoir commences when Frank is ten years old; he is living in Somerset, a model neighborhood. Frank's parents get a divorce and in this 1950s setting, divorce was something that was simply not acceptable. Throughout Frank's entire life, his parent's divorce affected him in so many ways. Frank was forced to move away with his mother and sister, Polly, away from Somerset, the one thing in his life that seemed regular at that time. Frank, his mother, and sister are constantly moving until his mother gets remarried to a man named Joel. Frank, Polly, Frank's mother, and Joel all settle down together in Washington, D.C. In the end, Joel proves to be abusive both physically and mentally. He beats Frank constantly and makes his mother cry every night. Although Frank does not realize this at the time, Joel turns out to be a very important person of Frank's life. Joel was a lawyer with many connections, especially with airlines. These connections allowed Frank and his family to travel all around the world, something that they would not have been able to do if Joel had not come into his life: "Each time Gypsy reached Tulsa's song, I tried to fill in more details in the story it told. What did the dance look like? How old was Tulsa? What did Louise and June look like? Did he ever get his nightclub act?" (110). Frank's writing through out the entire book continues with this curious attitude. Frank is constantly questioning the shows and aspects of his life around him. From all of his `curiousness' he is able to find more meaning both in the shows and in his life. Ghost Light is an accurate account of how a young boy's life was saved by the theater.
   Through all of the harsh changes in Frank's life, he always has a home at the theater. The theater became an obsession for Frank even before his parent's divorce. His father used to bring home records to Broadway shows, and Frank would sit and listen to them for hours, memorizing every lyric, imagining what the show would look like in real life. As Frank became older, the theater became a way for Frank to escape from the everyday traumas of growing up in a "broken home". As Frank's life gets more distressing, he relies further on the theater as his haven. Frank went into every little detail about countless shows, from Gypsy to The Music Man to Mr. President. Frank went into detail about many shows that I have not seen because they are no longer running and I thought that it was really interesting to compare the theater of today to the theater of the 1950s and 60s. As Frank grows as a person, his knowledge in theater also grows; he starts collecting Playbills to both shows that he has seen and others that he hasn't seen that were discarded in the trash. Frank starts reading Variety, a popular magazine filled with reviews of all of the current Broadway shows; he is able to get a lot of information about the shows from this magazine. Frank also reads the scripts of many of the shows. Following the theater so closely helps Frank have something concrete in his life since everything else seems to be changing so much.
   I thoroughly enjoyed this book. At times, it was a bit slow to read, and some parts were more graphic than I would have liked, but every time I picked it up, I got lost in the story. This book is a very intriguing account of a young boy's life in the 1950s which was very interesting to see what it was like, since I am a child of the next generation. Ghost Light taught me many new things about the theater that I had not known before. As a lover of theater myself, it was really wonderful to follow the theater in such an intricate way. I felt myself growing as a person while Frank did just the same. I would recommend Ghost Light to anyone who enjoys the theater thoroughly and would like to see it from someone else's eyes.

5 comments about Sharon Osbourne Extreme: My Autobiography.

1. This is Sharon Osbourne Laid Bare. A very honest account of a tough life. Raised by a tough father, with strong links to the London Underworld and a mother who simply did not care, Sharon's story is one of survival and triumph. Meeting and managing Ozzy turned it all around for her but their married life was littered with his infidelities, heaving drinking and constant drug abuse, whilst she battled weight problems & family issues. She held it all together and I admire her for her dedication. I came away from the book with great admiration for her tenacity but also found her crude and not a very nice person (certainly not one that I would like to spend company with). What I missed here was how she dealt with her own childrens struggles with alcohol and drug addiction, which were skimmed over. Surely, this played a huge part in her daily life and forced her to question her own parenting style. All in all, a fascinating read but missing some important detail to complete the picture.



2. I recieved the wrong book with the correct sleeve, so basically i got ripped off. The book was used and it isn't worth my time to send it back. Thanks alot, Amazon.



3. I really enjoyed this book! I learned alot more about this incredible woman.Fun read too!



4. This book is very interesting, I love Sharon and she's had quite the odd life. If your interested in the Osbournes I'd recommend reading Sharon's book.



5. Nothing too much to say about this book except you should really like Sharon to pay the hardcover price for this read. It is interesting if you're really into learning about her life and her start.

5 comments about Sepharad.

1. Sepharad, the modern Hebrew for Spain, is unlike any other book I have ever read. And, it is extraordinary. Munoz Molina, a highly respected, award-winning Spanish writer, has written a novel comprising 17 short novellas; each stands on its own and, yet, there are interwoven themes and characters throughout. The book is told in a variety of narrative voices; sometimes it is Molina himself -- the writer writing about the writing of this book -- and sometimes it is an unknown voice telling a story to another person. Part of the thrill of reading this book is in anticipating and then figuring out who is telling the story contained within a particular chapter.
   
   What is the book about? Well, let's see. Not an easy question to answer. As the title suggests, it is a book about Spain's Jewish diaspora of 1492 and what has resulted in response to that exile. It is about displacement and a sense of otherness. It is also about the Holocaust. It is about Stalin and the systematic purges of the Russian population. In short, it is about history and the effects of exile. The characters are both fictional and drawn from real life; Primo Levi, Jean Amery, Leon Trotsky, Franz Kafka, Eugenia Ginsburg all make appearances in Molina's astounding book.
   
   This is not an easy book to read. You will not pick it up and think to yourself, 40 pages in, Oh, I get it now; i see where the plot is going. In some ways, there is no plot. Or perhaps more to the point, the narrative arc is one of complex, winding paths circling an end point rather than a straight line heading towards a destination. But, if you're prepared to do some thinking and to work hard at your reading, you will be rewarded BIG TIME. There is so much here. So many deep and fascinating thoughts.
   
   I have to be honest. This is not a book for everyone. You have to be a dedicated reader and you have to work hard. You will DEFINITELY be rewarded. The words and thoughts will stay with you long after you have regretfully finished the final amazing chapter.



2. From everything I had read about this book, it was a novel relating how jews who had been expelled from Spain in 1492 (the Sefardim) faired during the second world war and were affected by the Shoah. Though there are two stories about people going to Auschwitz and one about going to the Gulag (and the comparison of how little difference between Hitler and Stalin), most of the stories relate to a man who used to live in a small town in central Spain, and some people he knew or made up to be from there.
   
   Though this is not a novel, it is more of a pastiche of stories that have some interconnections and people between them. More than anything else, this is the story of exile, and how people don't leave who they are when they move to another country. People may always be looking to go somewhere that they think is better, but they never lose their love for the place the came from. This is especially true for people who have been driven out from their homes, so that the Spanish Republicans who crossed over to France, have the same memories and dreams as the Jews who were exiled by Ferdinand III in 1492.
   
   The stories (each chapter can be read independently) are all about the strength in people that they don't realize they have. People find the strength to go on after being exiled, or shipped off to a concentration camp. The memory of lives lived and those not lived still stir peoples emotions even fifty years after the time when decisions are made.
   
   The translator should be congratulated for the way she was able to keep the tone of the stories and the ambiance of the words.



3. Sepharad is a thoughtful and poignant embodiment of the consequences of totalitarianism in various forms in 20th century Europe, of the exile from roots and from the self that totaiatrinism creates, and of exile in general. Technically it is remarkable for fluid changes of point of view. In the same page a character may be called he, ("He watched us from his balcony", I, ("I returned to my balcony...") and you ("You look down form your balcony on the family across the street.") - all so smoothly I hardly noticed it. This technique echoes the theme of the vulnerability of identity



4. Munoz Molina has crafted an utterly brilliant novel that weaves a number of different stories together into a tapestry both sad beyond words and strangely uplifting. His work evoked memories of Solzhenitsyn's finest passages about life in Satlin's camps. Munoz Molina demonstrates how the human spirit can rise above degredation and despair to find dignity and hope. A wonderful achievement.



5. I've never read anything quite like Sepharad. I thought a bit about W.G. Sebald's work while reading this wonderful book, however, Munoz Molina -- or his exceptional translator -- is more of a poet. The stories that comprise this novel are all about displacement -- enforced and circumstantial -- in a way that is clearly unique to post-WW II Europe. They are stories of wandering while standing still. I was very moved by the book and intend to recommend it to all of the intelligent readers in my world.

2 comments about The Hiding Place (Radio Theatre).

1. For a commuter who is too tired to read once finally home, this was an excellent way to "read" this book. It was awesome.



2. I have always found Focus on the Family's Radio Theatre to be well done, and this production was no exception. The voices, direction, sound effects, all were well done. From what I remembered, the story follows the book pretty closely. The one issue I might have is that the voices tend to be soft while the sound effects are somewhat loud, so one minute we are turning up the volume to hear people talking, and the next turning it down so we don't suffer hearing damage. Other than that, our family has a lot of fun listening to this drama in the car. We didn't want to stop listening when we got home! It pulls you in just like the book.