5 comments about How They Met and Other Stories (Borzoi Books).

1. When David Levithan was a junior in high school, he found himself bored in physics class, so he started flipping through his physics book and "finding as many romantic notions as possible." He started writing a story, and, by February, he was done. He shared this Valentine's Day treat with friends, and they asked for another. A tradition was born: he wrote a new short story every year for his friends and family.
   
   How They Met, and Other Stories by David Levithan is more than just a collection of eighteen tales written by the same hand. The author prefers to call them as "stories about love" rather than "love stories," and I agree. This anthology is a many-splendored thing, a testament to different kinds of love: first crushes, the love of family, coincidental meetings, set-ups, break-ups, and make-ups. The Memory Dance celebrates a marriage of forty years, while Lost Sometimes (previously released in the 21 Proms anthology) has someone looking for more in his relationship.
   
   As he did in The Realm of Possibility, Levithan has once again captured multiple voices and made it seem effortless. He offers first-person, second-person, and third-person narratives, with protagonists ranging in age from their teen years to their twilight years.
   
   Starbucks Boy was my favorite piece in this collection, with its sweet story of a six-year-old who knows what (or who) is best for her new baby-sitter. The Number of People Who Meet on Airplanes and What a Song Can Do also vied for my affection.
   
   The stories are not connected, and yet they are: By their underlying currents. By what they envoke (empathy and sympathy, tears and laughter) in readers. Each story has a different piece of the heart; when put together, they make for the loveliest of puzzles.
   
   How They Met, and Other Stories is recommended for teens and adults.



2. The stories about how people meet and fall in love are as diverse as the couples themselves. From blind dates to chance encounters, the stories of "how we met" always seem to intrigue us.
   
   HOW THEY MET, AND OTHER STORIES is the latest book by David Levithan (Boy Meets Boy). It is a collection of eighteen short stories about love, longing, and even lust. This wonderful group of stories includes brief crushes, relationships with happily-ever-after endings, and tales of love gone wrong.
   
   Among the stories: being fixed up by a six-year-old; two strangers meeting on a plane; coming out to your prom date; even the author's own story of how he credits his existence to a piano, a jeep, a college, and the Army.
   
   What makes this collection unique is that every story isn't about love being realized. In some cases, the potential only exists and even passes without materializing.
   
   No matter what your experience with love so far, you are sure to find hope, and maybe a hint of your own love story, within the pages of this book.
   
   Reviewed by: JodiG.



3. It began in a high school physics class. Bored and in search of distraction, David Levithan combed his physics textbook for romantic notions. He assembled them in a story called "A Romantic Inclination," which he gave to his friends for Valentine's Day. They liked it so much that each year he wrote them another story. This tradition led to his first novel and ultimately to HOW THEY MET AND OTHER STORIES, a collection of stories about love.
   
   Best known for his positive, normalizing portrayals of teen relationships --- regardless of sexual orientation --- Levithan's stories focus on those longings that are the common denominators for the human heart. HOW THEY MET features matchmakers, chance encounters and broken hearts, in addition to the different kinds of love that exist between family and friends.
   
   The collection begins with "Starbucks Boy," a hilarious story about the all-too-common experience of crushing on the neighborhood barista. Readers will no doubt identify with the self-aware tone of Levithan's narrator:
   
   "Now, it has to be one of Starbucks's more brilliant marketing strategies to maintain at least one completely dreamy guy behind the counter at any given shift. This guy is invariably known as Starbucks Boy to the hundreds of regular customers who have a crush on him, and the glory of it is that he always seems just accessible enough to be within reach, but never accessible enough to actually touch.... He is, unlike most beautiful people you've ever encountered, friendly --- and you honestly believe it's not because that's a part of his job....[you] think that the way he says `good morning' or 'have a good one' or 'here you go' to you is a little different than the way he says it to anyone else. Or at least that's the hope."
   
   HOW THEY MET is built upon moments as identifiable as crushes across the counter. Levithan has never needed earth-shattering events or severe trauma to get across the drama of ordinary life. But the best stories in this collection move beyond the happily-ever-after moments of cute introductions and push into the hungry places that make us long to belong.
   
   Behind many of the stories here is an awareness that we are defined by who and how we love. Nowhere is this made so clear as in "Miss Lucy Had a Steamboat," in which the narrator defends her choice to remain alone:
   
   "When I realized I was into girls, it was scary to let go of all the things I was supposed to be and all the things I was supposed to want. It's like you're a character in this book that everyone around you is writing, and suddenly you have to say, I'm sorry, but this role isn't right for me. And you have to start writing your own life and doing your own thing. That was hard enough. But that was nothing --- nothing, I tell you --- compared to the idea that I could let go of the desire to have a girlfriend....Talk about something that had been ingrained. I wasn't letting go of love or sex or the idea of companionship. I was just rejecting the package in which it had been sold to me. I was going to say it was okay to be alone, when it felt like everyone in the world was saying that it wasn't okay, that I had to always want someone else, that the desire had to fuel me."
   
   Who and how we love also extends to our family narratives. My favorite story in the collection, "The Princes," isn't just about a dancer choosing between two possible suitors. It's a family romance that explores the way families define themselves and express their love for one another. The most touching moment in the story is not when Jon discovers the identity of his true prince; it's when Jon's brother makes a stand about including Jon's boyfriend at his Bar Mitzvah. Levithan includes his own family romance in the book with stories about how his grandparents met. "I am here because of love," he writes, which makes us hope we can all claim the same.
   
   David Levithan is a true believer when it comes to love. The stories in HOW WE MET are a testament to his faith that we are all created by love, sustained by love, and saved by love. Even those stories with less than happy endings suggest that even our uncomfortable or difficult relationships --- whether it is having one's partner leave for college or taking the wrong girl to the prom --- are steps along the way to being more capable of giving and receiving love.
   
   --- Reviewed by Sarah A. Wood



4. David Levithan's HOW THEY MET AND OTHER STORIES provides short stories for teens which tell of different kinds of love, meetings, loss and teen longing ("I desperately wanted to have something to lose."), capturing teen sentiments about romance and providing middle school readers with much food for thought.



5. It began in a high school physics class. Bored and in search of distraction, David Levithan combed his physics textbook for romantic notions. He assembled them in a story called "A Romantic Inclination," which he gave to his friends for Valentine's Day. They liked it so much that each year he wrote them another story. This tradition led to his first novel and ultimately to HOW THEY MET AND OTHER STORIES, a collection of stories about love.
   
   Best known for his positive, normalizing portrayals of teen relationships --- regardless of sexual orientation --- Levithan's stories focus on those longings that are the common denominators for the human heart. HOW THEY MET features matchmakers, chance encounters and broken hearts, in addition to the different kinds of love that exist between family and friends.
   
   The collection begins with "Starbucks Boy," a hilarious story about the all-too-common experience of crushing on the neighborhood barista. Readers will no doubt identify with the self-aware tone of Levithan's narrator:
   
   "Now, it has to be one of Starbucks's more brilliant marketing strategies to maintain at least one completely dreamy guy behind the counter at any given shift. This guy is invariably known as Starbucks Boy to the hundreds of regular customers who have a crush on him, and the glory of it is that he always seems just accessible enough to be within reach, but never accessible enough to actually touch.... He is, unlike most beautiful people you've ever encountered, friendly --- and you honestly believe it's not because that's a part of his job....[you] think that the way he says `good morning' or 'have a good one' or 'here you go' to you is a little different than the way he says it to anyone else. Or at least that's the hope."
   
   HOW THEY MET is built upon moments as identifiable as crushes across the counter. Levithan has never needed earth-shattering events or severe trauma to get across the drama of ordinary life. But the best stories in this collection move beyond the happily-ever-after moments of cute introductions and push into the hungry places that make us long to belong.
   
   David Levithan is a true believer when it comes to love. The stories in HOW WE MET are a testament to his faith that we are all created by love, sustained by love, and saved by love. Even those stories with less than happy endings suggest that even our uncomfortable or difficult relationships --- whether it is having one's partner leave for college or taking the wrong girl to the prom --- are steps along the way to being more capable of giving and receiving love.
   
   --- Reviewed by Sarah A. Wood.

4 comments about The Borzoi College Reader.

1. Great collection of writers is assembled. A great collection of writings to build your knowledge. Expressions in composition with ultimate terms in rhetoric to a brave new world. It is history and philosophy from fiction to the literal signs of the times. I would truly recommend this book for scholars of law and political science, but not just. If you are a student of history, business or any major humanities, you will love this book just for the knowledge wisdom and understanding you will receive through the experience of perusal. Enjoy, you will be on a road that only a few have chosen. Notably names in the book - ee. Cummings (my personal favorite), A. Huxley, Thomas Jefferson, Martin Luther King jr. and many others.



2. Great collection of writers is assembled. A great collection of writings to build your knowledge. Expressions in composition with ultimate terms in rhetoric to a brave new world. It is history and philosophy from fiction to the literal signs of the times. I would truly recommend this book for scholars of law and political science, but not just. If you are a student of history, business or any major humanities, you will love this book just for the knowledge wisdom and understanding you will receive through the experience of perusal. Enjoy, you will be on a road that only a few have chosen. Notably names in the book - ee. Cummings (my personal favorite), A. Huxley, Thomas Jefferson, Martin Luther King jr. and many others.



3. Very nice anthology. Lots wonderful essays, and some are directly responding to each other. It's for my English class, pretty interesting to read from.



4. It is a cross section of different authors' essays. It is very thought provoking, and a good read for class. Some are dry and difficult to get into, but overall, I thoroughly enjoy this book. Makes completing the assignments not so difficult.

3 comments about The Prophet (LOC 53-9594).

1. It was my mistake to assume the book would come with a book jacket, which it didn't despite the picture of it. However, pages are intact and came in decent condition.



2. A must in everyone's library for graceful poetry, inpirational reading and lessons to live by and to even to let go. A new printing would be a welcome as the "used" ones in good condition are quite expensive.



3. 
   I'm happy to report a smooth transaction for the book I purchased. The condition was as advertised and the shipping was prompt and accurate.

3 comments about The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart (Borzoi Books).

1. The Boy With The Cuckoo-Clock Heart is one of those literary fairytale keepsakes that comes along only once in a life time. Brilliant, clever, ingenuity at it's best, truly a masterpiece destined to become a classic for many years to come. It is also a very difficult book to describe and doing it justice in a written book review is challenging, because the story is quite a simple one and an age old tale we've seen performed a thousand times before in books, poems, movies, and plays. The Boy With the Cuckoo-Clock Heart is a love story. Gene Kelly Singing In The Rain kind of joyous love, mixed with Humphrey Bogart's Casablanca style tragic sad affair. A boy, a girl, their passion, their joys, their trials and tribulations, their heartaches and loss that end up in a chest of memories in someone's dusty attic. So, the basic story is nothing new. It's how Mathias Malzieu tells this soulful tale that makes the story come alive with magic and wonder, laughter and tears, and with all the ingredients that make our hearts thump. This precious little fairytale is made of pixie dust and moonbeams, shimmering snowflakes, the freshness of spring and walking in the rain. It's a drama, it's a comedy, it's a musical, and a fantasy steam punk romance based on what the human heart can conjure up in the midst of unconditional love. What a glorious opulent opera this would make!
   
   Dr. Madeline is a midwife to fallen women who can't afford to keep their bastard children. On the coldest night of the year, in a tiny Edinburgh village, she adopts a baby boy with a faulty heart and replaces it with a cuckoo-clock. Little Jack's heart beats with an odd tick and strange tock, and is raised to believe his heart will not withstand the shaky tumult that falling in love can cause. Dr. Madeline warns him over and over, to stay away from love, to avoid matters of the heart, for his little wooden clock is much to frail to bear the excitement of love and the hurt it eventually brings to those who fall prey to cupid's darts. Ignoring her wisdom, and as Jack becomes a young man, he ventures out into the world to one day meet a beautiful singing girl in the town square. Her angelic voice beckons, his heart thumps wildly, and Jack must have this sexy siren called Miss Acacia. From here to the end of this twinkling little book that shines like a beacon in the night, a glorious love story unfolds that will have Jack traversing across Europe through London, Paris and the mountains of Spain, as he follows his wooden heart and experiences the ups and downs of love and lust as Miss Acacia leads him on a merry chase. The whirlwind treasure trove of mixed up emotions that cause earthquakes in Little Jack's soul, and tremors to his mechanical cuckoo-clock heart, will have readers cheering him on as he learns the ways of courtship and love from a ragtag band of unlikely friends and foes.
   
   Due to the flavor and sexual content, this is not a children's fairytale. It is for adults only and one that would make a wonderful Valentine's Day gift or any gift of the heart from one lover to another, or for any hopeless romantic. My only wish would have been to see the book published with illustrations for additional enhancement. This book is optioned for a film and one can find a very creative and entertaining video trailer of the story online that is worth seeing. Sparks of Edward Scissorhands and tidbits of The Corpse Bride come to mind when reading this book, and for certain it does have that Tim Burton flair to it.
   
   Mathias Malzieu's premier debut knocked my socks off. His talent for story telling and ability to weave passages of beautiful words were akin to the creation of a fine oriental carpet. Full of vivid life and spirit, this book is one of those gems that will sparkle and stay on people's book shelves forever never to be parted with. Bravo, Bravo, Bravo...Don't miss this folks!!! Don't even think about missing out on this literary experience!



2. In 1874 in Edinburgh, newborn Jack is near death from a frozen heart when his teenage mother abandons him. Midwife Dr. Madeleine attaches a cuckoo clock to his heart to get it started. Her desperate effort saves Jack's life and she raises him as her son while tending to the needs of her prostitute clients.
   
   However as he grows up, Madeleine constantly reminds him to never fall in love as his heart will fail him. When Jack sees Miss Acacia, a street singer who is as tiny as he is, he falls in love. This stimulates his heart to a point where if it does not ease off it will kill him. At school, Joe warns Jack to back away from Miss Acacia as she is his. They brawl until Joe loses an eye forcing Jack to flee to Paris. There he meets magician-clockmaker Georges Melies who tells him to ignore his man-made heart-clock and use his God-made heart to find his Miss Acacia.
   
   With a nod to Oz, The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart is a wonderful whimsical historical fantasy with an underlying message of a person must follow their heart which leads to the road to happiness. The story line is fast-paced though a late spin involving the return of Joe detracts from the lyrical romantic tale. Still fans will enjoy this fine fantasy as Mathias Malzieu and Sarah Ardizzone provide a warm story of love.
   
   Harriet Klausner



3. The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart, according to the back flap, is the "basis for an album that [Mathias] Malzieu wrote." I'd like to hear the album, because to be honest, I'm thinking his source material may have been better served in that medium. The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart isn't a bad book, but even for a novella there isn't much there and too much of it is either implied, assumed, or not earned; all of which wouldn't matter in an album but is disappointing in a book.
   The main character, Jack, is given his odd heart at birth in 1874, when his freezes on the coldest day ever in Edinburgh. Dr. Madeline is the mid-wife who gives him the heart to keep him alive and who takes him from his mother, who gives him up to be adopted. Dr. Madeline warns Jack as he grows that his heart is too fragile for strong emotion and he should, therefore, never fall in love. Of course, that is just what Jack does, with a diminutive singer named Miss Accacia. His rival for her affection is the school bully and after a horrible fight, Jack is forced to flee Edinburgh, though it dovetails nicely with his intent to find Miss Accacia who has already left the city. Along the way he picks up a magician friend, finds work in an odd little amusement/fair area, and learns both the joys and the pains of loving with a heart, whether flesh or wood.
   There is a nice sense of whimsy through especially the start of the book, a bit of Pinocchio, a bit of Tim Burton, and a strong sense of emotion at the start with his relationships with Dr. Madeline and several of her patients--an alcoholic named Arthur and a pair of prostitutes. And the inevitable love that the reader knows is coming weights heavy on the mind. But when it's introduced, in the form of Miss Accacia, it just never feels real. We're told repeatedly Jack is in love, but the reader never feels it. Beyond the direct dialogue, there just isn't any conveyance of the strength/depth necessary for us to care not just about the love but its impact. The bully compounds the problem as he allegedly turns against Jack because he too loves Miss Accacia, but once more, we neither see nor feel it. The rest of the book is hampered by that simple problem, and so while we dutifully follow Jack on his trek to find her again, and watch as he does and see how their relationship begins or ends, we honestly just don't care much. The reintroduction of the bully at the end makes matters even worse.
   Stylistically, there are some wonderfully inventive images in the novella, though it suffers from an overuse of simile/metaphor that on occasion pile one atop the other and become a distraction, especially when they don't neatly work together, as is sometimes the case. This is especially true early on; Malzieu's restraint later in the book makes the good ones shine all the better.
   In the end, the core image--the boy with a cuckoo-clock heart--is a wonderfully inventive and compelling one, while the underlying suspense of when will strike and what it's impact will be is equally so. But the execution of story beyond image and premise falls short of their promise. Though I still plan to check out the music--I can see Malzieu's imagery and impressionistic sense working much better in song/music, stripped of the need for straight narrative.

5 comments about Mainly on Directing: Gypsy, West Side Story, and Other Musicals (Borzoi Books).

1. One would think that at 90, Arthur Laurent could look back on his successes and enjoy them. Instead, his new book //Mainly On Directing// is a polemic diatribe against most of the directors he's worked with on shows that have failed, or those who have revived one of his shows without his input on the production. While titled //Mainly On Directing//, there is very little about the art of directing, but mostly on the people he's worked with that have wronged him in one way or another. He starts out by bad-mouthing Sam Mendes for his revival of //Gypsy// and blames all involved in //I Can Get it for You Wholesale's// failure (albeit, it did get Barbara Streisand nominated for a Tony, but still lost money), but apportions none for himself.
   
   On a personal level, Laurents does give a fair amount of background on the relationship he had with Tom Hatcher, that lasted more than 50 years, until Hatcher's death in 2006. It would be nice to recommend //Mainly// as a good book on the history of Broadway theater, or on musicals in general, but it just isn't. It is the memoir of an aged icon of the industry, still grinding an ax over ancient perceived wrongs, with some interesting side stories about the people he worked with and the productions they did together.



2. if you adore musical theatreyouwill love this bookisaw the originalwest side story in 1957and the original gypsy in 1959. it was fun to know the inside informationabout each show. irecently saw gypsy with patti lupone. it was exciting to have the knowledge from arthur laurentsat how he made a great show even better. the book deserves better than an average of three stars. read it. you/ll thank me.



3. Laurents, Arthur. "Mainly on Directing: `Gypsy', `West Side Story', and Other Musicals", Borzoi Books, 2009.
   
   A Passion for Musical Theater
   
   Amos Lassen
   
   Arthur Laurents is a legend of the Broadway theater. He is one of the directors whose name means box office magic and he gives us a memoir of his life in theater. The title is a bit misleading in that directing is only one of the issues that Laurents writes about. He gives us a detailed discussion of directing "West Side Story' and does the same to a lesser degree about "Gypsy". He talks about the books for shows he wrote and he tells all. Nothing is too personal and he gives a lot of praise. This is a book of gossip about Broadway and it is fascinating. Laurents' success was hard won and he readily hands out advice. He is frank and honest and warm.
   This is a book about the art of Broadway by one of the artists who is an insider and an outsider. Laurents had two loves--Broadway and his partner (now deceased of 52 years) Tom Hatcher. He has directed some of the best of Broadway including Barbra Streisand, Angela Lansbury, Lee Remick and Elliott Gould. He has worked with Stephen Sondheim, Jerry Herman and Leonard Bernstein. He gives us a portrait of the artist who worked with other artists and he has been at the center of Broadway for more than fifty years.
   Laurents is straight forward and he talks freely. We learn of trouble between him and Sondheim and we have his feelings about Sam Mendes. He talks about the theater with a passion that we do not usually hear and even though he holds nothing back, he also gives praise where it is due, He has reinvented his musicals and makes them ever fresh. The book is a fun read and if you love theater you will love this book.



4. I read the whole book in one sitting because I could not put it down. Laurents is a fascinating man who pulls no punches in expressing his opinions about other people's work. His insights and gossip about such luminaries as Patti LuPone, Bernadette Peters, Stephen Sondheim, Ethyl Merman, Angela Lansbury, Gene Barry, and Sam Mendes makes for a fascinating read. Laurents, who wrote the books for "Gypsy" and "West Side Story" is also a successful Broadway director and his stories about the challenges of directing on The Great White Way are always intersting. The book is informative, gossipy, and fun. Highly recommend to anyone who loves theatre.



5. I have found this book difficult to put down, and a most enjoyable read. I work in theater myself, and find Laurents' style not only very readable, but also an entertaining insight into how a theatrical work is brought to life. There are always highs and lows in the rehearsal process; some people the director gets on well with, and others he/she detests; moments of revelation, and moments of sheer slog and hard work... and he relates all of these both well and grippingly throughout the book. Everyone secretly wants to know about the backstage tantrums and upsets, and, again, Laurents doesn't disappoint.
   The problem for me however, as others have also pointed out, is that he seems to show absolutely no sign of self-awareness. Although one needs to have confidence in one's own talents, Laurents seems less happy to discuss his own weaknesses, which is what would have elevated this book to something higher than simply a kiss-and-tell exposee. He contradicts himself again and again, one moment railing at someone else's choice to ignore tradition, and then several pages later clapping himself on the back for doing the same thing. He sneers at Mendes for not having the 'musical in his bones' when Mendes directs "Gypsy", and then smugly congratulates himself for taking the 'musical theater' out of his own production of the same work and turning it into a 'musical play' by treating his performers as 'actors'. Many found Mendes' production both insightful and excellent, and while Laurents can certainly disagree, he comes across as simply disingenuous in the way he consistently denigrates it.
   Ultimately, it's a very good read, but sadly lacking as an insight into Laurents himself (other than in a rather unflattering way), and although his description of the directing process is accurate and entertaining, he too often makes it appear as though he alone has discovered these secrets, which is hardly the case.

2 comments about Civil War Wives: The Lives and Times of Angelina Grimke Weld, Varina Howell Davis, and Julia Dent Grant (Borzoi Books).

1. In recent years, Americans have combined their passion for Civil War history with an interest in women's studies. Carol Berkin's book, "Civil War Wives" (2009) combines this themes of the conflict and its women. She offers biographies of three women: Angela Grimke Weld (1805 --- 1879), Varina Howell Davis (1826 -- 1906); and Julia Dent Grant(1826 -- 1902) who married famous husbands. Berkin explores the lives of these women before, during and after their marriages. She tries to understand the different ways in which her subjects understood their own independence and marriages in an era in which women were widely-believed to properly occupy "separate spheres", centering upon home and family, from men. Berkin is Baruch Presidential Professor of History at Baruch College.
   
   Grimke, Davis, and Grant all were born to wealthy slaveholding families. In addition, each of the three women left substantial writings, which allowed Berkin to write about their lives with first-hand rather than reflected sources. Thus Grimke kept a journal throughout her life and wrote letters, speeches and articles. Davis wrote letters and, late in her life, a biography of her husband. For most of her life, Julia Grant wrote little. But after the death of Ulysees Grant, she wrote her own memoirs which were published only in 1975. Beyond these similarities, each of these women has their own story to tell. Berkin writes effectively in emphasizing the different life-paths of even these privileged American women of the 19th Century. These three ways, perhaps, illustrate three means of self-understanding, among possible other means. The comment on Julia Grant is telling. Berkin writes: (Preface, at xiii):
   
   "Over the months, as their biographies took shape, I came to know these three women with the intimacy that biographers often acquire and with an affection that biographers do not always sustain. Angelina's bravery won my respect, Varina's brilliance won my admiration, and Julia's contentment won my envy."
   
   Angelina Grimke differs from her two companions in this book in that she had a highly visible, notorious career in her own right before her marriage. The daughter of a wealthy and established slaveholding family in South Carolina, she became, as a young woman, highly critical of the peculiar. She followed her sister, Sarah, 14 years her senior, to Philadelphia and became a Quaker for a time. She soon became part of the Abolitionist movement and, with Sarah, became a passionate speaker in the Northeast relating her own experiences with the dehumanizing experience of slavery. Unlike some of the Abolitionists, the Grimke's also became advocates of women's rights. In the late 1830's Angelinia married her mentor, the abolitionist Theodore Weld. Many people, including her supporters, doubted whether Angelina would find happiness as a married woman given her independence and advocacy of women's issues. With the exception of a brief speaking engagement in 1963, Angelina Grimke's public career ended with her marriage, as she raised her children, became a housewife, and assisted Weld with his writing and research. The marriage was unconventional as well in that Sarah Grimke, who never married, lived almost for its entire course with the couple. Berkin describes the many tensions and unresolved issues that simmered as a result of this arrangement.
   
   Varina Howell Davis also was the child of the owners of a successful plantation. She married Jefferson Davis when she was a young beauty of 17 and Davis was a reserved introspective man of 35 just beginning his political career. Many years earlier, Davis had courted and married the daughter of Zachary Taylor, Margaret, but, after a lengthy and stormy courtship, Margaret died months after the marriage. Davis love for Margaret cast a shadow over his marriage to Varina. Varina Davis was highly intelligent and educated and unafraid to express her opinions. Her independence caused some difficulties with the more traditionally-minded Jefferson Davis, but the couple on the whole appeared happy. The couple had six children, only one of whom survived young adulthood. (One child died in a tragic accident while Davis was the president of the Confederacy.) Varina Davis seemed more comfortable in the presence of educated men, who valued her independence and candor, than in the presence of other women who frequently denigrated her as the "Queen". After the fall of the Confederacy, Varina acted independently and courageously in her tireless and eventually successful efforts to free Jefferson Davis from prison. She assisted Davis in writing his memoirs and after his death had a life of her own. Varina Davis moved to New York City, wrote her own memoirs of Jefferson Davis, and became a writer and a journalist. Her home in a New York City became a meeting ground for artists, intellectuals, and politicians as Davis carved out a career in late life in her own right.
   
   Julia Dent Grant was the daughter of Missouri slaveholders. When a young, socially awkward U.S. Grant visited the family, he became smitten immediately with Julia and remained so throughout his life. The couple had a long courtship, over the objections of Julia's father and with Grant's military career. The pair did not even see each other over a three year period. U.S. Grant and Julia enjoyed a long and, by all accounts, happy marriage, as both Grant and Julia accepted the gender conventions and roles of the society in which they lived. Julia's had an embarassing lack of political sense especially where slavery, and the role of her husband in ending it, were concerned. Her attachment to the Union was based on her love for her husband rather than in an understanding of political issues. When Grant died, Episcopal Bishop John Newman praised the couple's relationship, describing their complementary roles in accordance with gender mores of the time: "Husband and wife the happy supplement of each other. He the Doric column to sustain; she the Corinthian column to beautify. He the oak to support; she ivy to entwine." (Berkin, p. 303) Following Grant's death, Julia Grant showed a degree of independence by writing her own Memoirs. She boldly asked more for them than the publishers would pay and, as a result, her Memoirs remained unpublished until 1975.
   
   It was valuable to get to know these three women and to try to understand Civil War America from their perspectives. As Berkin realizes, it is treacherous to generalize attitudes in any time and place over a pervasive subject such as gender roles. As Berkin wisely concludes with respect to her subjects (at 314) "[p]erhaps we cannot understand our own modern sensibilities until we understand theirs."
   
   Robin Friedman



2. Have you ever wondered what it was like to be a woman during the Civil War, especially one who wanted rights and freedom at a time when women were second class citizens? Carol Berkin delves into these questions in her well researched book Civil War Wives: The Lives & Times of Angela Grimke Weld, Virginia Howell Davis, and Julia Dent Grant. These women led vastly different lives, yet they all had one thing in common. They were strong and opinionated women who challenged their society's view of a women's place and made a big difference in their communities.
   
   The woman who stood out the most to me was Varina Howell Davis, the wife of Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy. Jefferson Davis fell in love with Varina for her sparky personality, but disproved of her behavior once they married. Why couldn't she just be a good, obedient wife? She had opinions about politics and vocally opposed some of her husband's political moves. Jefferson Davis was so unhappy with his wife's opposition that he declared she was a "difficult person to grow fond of" and concluded that her behavior must be caused by pregnancy hormones. Despite her husband's resistance, Varina continued to develop her personal political beliefs and became an expert political lobbyist for her husband's eventual release from prison.
   
   This book is full of interesting facts, amusing stories, and detailed research. It's an interesting read for anyone who loves Civil War history. I found it rather tedious to read through and read it in short intervals. However, it is definitely worth the effort. Weld, Davis, and Grant's stories will touch your heart and leave you a more informed person than you were before this book fell into your hands.
   
   by Jennifer Melville
   for Story Circle Book Reviews
   reviewing books by, for, and about women

5 comments about Sweet Thunder: The Life and Times of Sugar Ray Robinson (Borzoi Books).

1. Great book about a great boxer. Wonderfully written evoking not only memories of the prize ring & Sugar Ray, but also of many other African American celebrities & their times. Highly recommended.



2. I have read many boxing biographies and for years I've been waiting for a good, serious book about Sugar Ray Robinson. This was not it. The book gave me precious little insight into the man and the narrative was haphazard at best. It's almost as if the writer realized he did not have enough material for an in-depth biography and had to pad the book with unimportant material (Lena Horne? Esquire Magazine? I was not interested in any of that.) Maybe one day the book I'm waiting for will appear.



3. Sugar Ray Robinson is considered to be by most boxing insiders the greatest fighter of all time pound for pound, and I agree. This book is worthy of the man. You learn about his childhood in Detroit, then down in Georgia, then back in Detroit. He gets his nickname when the person who sees his fight fight proclaims that he is as sweet as sugar.
   
   He beat many great fighters on the way up, including 4 wins over Jake LaMotta, but he doesn't get a crack at the title until 1946, when he wins a decision over hard punching Tommy Bell.
   
   Robinson had fast hands, and a powerful punch, particularly the left hook. He knocks out Jimmy Doyle in a 1947 title fight. Doyle dies the next day from injuries sustained in the fight. Robinson was deeply affected by this. He became more involved with charities, and he may have held back his big punches more often in fights where he was winning from that point on.
   
   Robinson's battles with LaMotta (including the epic 6th battle on 2-14-51 and his fights with Fritzie Zivic, Henry Armstrong, Carmen Basilio, Joey Maxim, Gene Fullmer and more are beautifully and accurately described.
   
   You also feel like you are on the streets of Harlem and Manhattan as Sugar Ray hobnobs with the jazz greats and the famous New Yorkers of his time. I also appreciated his stand on refusing to put on boxing exhibitions for segregated audiences.
   
   Robinson, for all his love of the nightlife, was a deeply spiritual man, often spending time alone with God in churches. His heart was broken when he got divorced from Edna Mae, but he married Millie, who loved her prizefighter to the end.
   
   One of the more touching parts of the book was Sugar Ray's friendship with Mel Dick. The small boy idolized Robinson. He took the subway everyday into Manhattan to watch Robinson train. One day, Sugar Ray said "Who are you?" He said "I'm Mel." Robinson said "Why are you here?" "To watch you train." "Why?" Because I love you."
   
   Sugar Ray tousled the boys hair, and they became friends for life. He was best man for Mel's wedding, and Mel was there right up until the prizefighter's death.
   
   I hope this gives you a taste of how good this book is, and how great Sugar Ray was.



4. Will Haygood is a talented writer. His concise, fluid prose puts the reader in the ring as he describes Sugar Ray Robinson's famous fights. Here are two examples of this ability from Robinson's welterweight championship fight with Tommy Bell at Madison Square Garden in December of 1946: "The vicious punch--described as a `sizzling left' delivered like a `cobra striking'--arrived in the second round, not from Robinson but from Tommy Bell, and the gasps heard throughout the arena seemed to portend an unexpected struggle for Robinson. He tumbled to the canvas with referee Eddie Joseph circling--and the muscled Bell sneering."...."Gainford's cries from the corner [Gainford was Robinson's manager] seemed to meld with all the other cascading voices near ringside. And then it happened--a Robinson left, followed by a Robinson right; a wobbly Bell suddenly wide-eyed; the Robinson followers twisting in their seats, sensing something; Gainford leaning over the ropes."
   
   In addition to great fight scenes, Haygood writes about Robinson's complicated life outside the ring with such an engrossing narrative that one feels like one is watching a movie. The author also skillfully blends cultural commentary on the times in which Robison lived, as well as fascinating vignettes on many of the famous personalities whose lives impacted his, like Miles Davis, Lena Horne, Langston Hughes, and Walter Winchell. One of the most moving parts of the book is the final chapter, which describes Sugar Ray's efforts to help underprivileged children in Los Angeles after his fighting career was over.
   
   If you are a sports fan this book is a must read, but it is also a great choice for anyone who loves a well written, interesting, and moving biography.



5. This one is a can't miss for sports fans and those interested in 20th Century America. Sugar Ray Robinson is a fascinating man who led an extraordinary life, well chronicled here by Wil Haygood. An outstanding read and hard to put down!
   
   Highly recommended.

5 comments about The Stranger.

1. The Matthew Ward translation is inferior to the translation by Stuart Gilbert. Using the French "Maman" does nothing for the reader of English and, in fact, detracts from the quality of the reading experience. Compare the last several lines of the two translations, and you will find Gilbert's much more powerful, even lyrical. When I first read Camus' book, which is my favorite novel, only the Gilbert translation was available, and it blew me away. When the new improved version came out, I read it and tossed it in the trash. Gilbert, however, makes Camus' lines sing with electricity. If you can get the older translation, do so.



2. The edition of THE STRANGER I own is an old Vintage paperback, with a "V-2" Vintage designation in the lower-left corner and a $1.25 price tag in the lower-right corner. The translator is Gilbert Stuart, not Matthew Ward.
   
   This is the third or fourth time I have read the Stuart translation of THE STRANGER. (I really don't care which translation is better; by now the Stuart one is for me definitive.) When I first read THE STRANGER, in my teens, it was obligatory reading for the young aspiring intellectual and I am sure that my response to it was heavily influenced by what I understood to be the received wisdom. When I read it about ten years ago, I was put off by the self-centered indifference of Meursault, and I tended to think the novel was intellectually puerile. (For years, after all, I had been hearing that Camus was over-rated.) Now, frankly, I am impressed by it. The tale is deceptively simple, yet upon analysis, the novel becomes surprisingly complex; it is almost mythical in its potential interpretations and "messages".
   
   As a parenthetical, I also am now struck by how colonial the attitude of the novel is. Not only do the Arabs appear in stereotype as the menacing "Other" and not only does Meursault more or less cold-bloodedly murder one. But - something that hadn't registered on me before - not one Arab is called as a witness at Meursault's trial. In pre-WWII French Algeria, the Arabs were indeed a sub-class, part of the fauna of the territory, and Meursault truly is sentenced to death for not displaying conventional grief upon the death of his mother rather than for shooting a human being on a stiflingly hot, blindingly sunny beach.
   
   Although THE STRANGER is not a perfect novel, it is somewhat astonishing to realize that it is the work of a 29-year-old, and it need not give anyone pause to see it listed as one of the seminal works of literature of the 20th Century. Indeed, it is one of those books that might profitably be read every 15 years or so, to help the reader judge how he is coming to terms with his place in the universe.



3. 
   The Stranger by Albert Camus is not a typical book you would read in a Catholic school. I discovered this book in my religion class and it has become one of my favorite books. It is so unlike books you would read in school today, it doesn't tell you how to feel it simply tells you about an atheists mans life and doesn't sugar coat anything.
   You first meet Meursault as he is on his way to his mothers funeral. He doesn't talk about his emotions for his mother but simply complains about the hot weather. He later has sex with a random girl he meets at his hotel and feels no emotions towards her. Throughout the book similar events like this happening and he simply has no feelings about what happens to him or others around him. He cares about the present and, to a lesser degree, the future. Everything he does doesn't have a purpose and he doesn't care about the decisions he makes. In a way I admire Meursault because he goes through life as it comes, not thinking about his future. You would think he would have no purpose or feel unimportant but he is content with the way he lives his life. There is no happy ending, or epiphany, just Meursault living his careless life.
   This book is not up-lifting, but it is an engaging one. I admire this book because it so different, a man is being completely honest about his life and feelings and leaves you thinking. Merusault is not a hero but he is simply an average man that you can't help but to admire.



4. The Stranger by Albert Camus, a winner of Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957. Originally written in French and published in 1942. Although it was then translated by Matthew Ward and was published in 1988. I describe this book as philosophical crime fiction, in that it makes you really think about what's happening. Understanding it is difficult because of the actions that the characters take and which come off very mysterious. With 123 pages, no pictures except the ones you can imagine in your head.
   
   Three people that really stand out in the story are Meursault, Raymond Sintes, and Marie Cardona. Meursault is a type of person who lives for the day and tries to make it as wonderful as possible. Knowing him, he doesn't worry about the future to much or think before he takes action. As for Raymond, he beats his mistress and her brother becomes a conflict. Raymond is the cause of Meursault's downfall, because he gives him the gun that later kills his mistress's brother. Originally Raymond just wanted to use Meursault, but in the end they ended up trusting each other, which they both gained a friend. Marie is in love with Meursault. Inside she wants to marry him, although he feels indifferent about it but that doesn't run her away. She remains loyal to him even when he goes to court. She is known as the mixed blessing in his life.
   
   The main problem of the story is a murder. It starts out with Meursault receiving a telegram explaining that his mother has died. He travels to Algiers, to attend his mother's funeral but he doesn't remember much of it. The day after the funeral he goes to the beach for a swim and runs into Marie Cardona, a former co-worker. They make plans that evening to see a movie, then they stay the night together when he awakes Marie is nowhere to be seen, so he sits on his balcony and watches people go by. The following day he returns to work, on his way home to his apartment he runs into his neighbor Raymond, he invites him in for dinner. Over dinner Raymond brags about beating up his mistress because she cheated on him and he got in a fight with her brother. He wants to torment her more but he needs Meursault to write her a letter telling her to come back, so he agrees to do so. Marie later comes and visits Meursault, they hear shouting and the police show up and arrest Raymond for beating his mistress. Raymond asks Meursault to testify on his behalf so he agrees to do so.
   
   Marie asks Meursault if he wants to marry her and he replies indifferently and says if you want to we can so they become engaged. Bringing Raymond with them to a friends beach house, where they run into the Arabs, one of which is Raymond's mistress' brother, a fight breaks out and Raymond gets stabbed, they leave to go treat it. When returning to go find the Arabs again Raymond thinks about shooting them but Meursault stops him and takes the gun. Meursault then returns to the spring to cool off when he shoots Raymond's mistress' brother for no reason. He's then arrested and thrown into jail. Meursault is heartless. He is asked to put his faith in God but refuses to do so. Adapting to prison life pretty well he keeps his mind of the things he always had. Usually by sleeping most of the day.
   
   Meursault is taken to court. During the trial the subjects shifted from the murder to a discussion of his own character. Many people were called upon to testify, although they all attested to his lack of grief and tears. Because of his lack of moral feeling threatens all of society the prosecutor calls him a monster. Sentenced to death by beheading. He is given one more chance to turn to god but gets angry and refuses to. Believing he is right in living in a meaningless world. For the first time, Meursault truly embraces the idea that human existence holds no greater meaning. Which he abandons all hope for the future and accepts the "gentle indifference of the world." This acceptance makes Meursault feel happy.
   
   As we look back on this book it didn't really have a great meaning to it. Although it kind of did. It's sad to think that many people in our world think this way. Life is meaningless and they can just kill anyone who makes them upset, but you can't do that. We need to learn to tolerate people, you can be sad or mad but you just can't take it out on people who have done nothing to you for no reason. Honestly I wouldn't recommend this book to teenagers because they could think wrong about it. Besides that I think it is a good book that you really have to think about and understand the concepts.



5. According to one reviewer, Patricia Highsmith's "The Tremor of Forgery" has undertones of Albert Camus' "The Stranger". While there is a resemblance between both books, The Tremor of Forgery addresses existentialist issues that The Stranger barely addresses just in the last chapter of part II.
   
   The Stranger is divided into two parts.
   
   Part I is simply boring. Meursault's life, from the moment his mother dies until he murders an Arab, is described with no insight whatsoever as to why he is so emotionally detached and innately passive about the world around him. He's just like that and that's it. Going to bed with Marie seems to be the only thing that keeps him interested.
   
   Part II is simply absurd. The Prosecutor focuses more on Meursault's callousness than on the murder itself to prove his point in a rather forced way. The novel gets a bit interesting in its last chapter, but by the time I got to those last 10 pages, I couldn't help trying to figure out what the point in the previous 135 pages was.
   
   This review is based on Stuart Gilbert's translation.
   

5 comments about 59 Seconds: Think a Little, Change a Lot (Borzoi Books).

1. Innumerable 'self-help' books promise the secret of success in business, personal relationships, etc. - and display some research background to justify their methodology. Unfortunately, there's lots of bad research out there, the most obvious being that which compares children in small classes with those in large classes, concludes 'small is better,' and ignores the fact that often smaller classes are associated with higher socio-economic families - the real source of the differences. Another problem is that sometimes rare events occur - eg. a disabled child regains all his facilities one day, after eating eg. Cheerios for breakfast, and we rush to believe eating Cheerios brought the cure (probably not). "59 Seconds" is written by a psychology professor who claims to have reviewed a wider and more reliable base of research than most, and thus brings more valid conclusions. Sounds good, but then there's those thousands of misleading education studies out there that are still referred to today - so, all you can do is hope.
   
   Wiseman's book includes a number of chapters - persuasion, motivation, attraction, stress, parenting, and happiness, each beginning with what Wiseman believes are commonly accepted, but false beliefs, followed by more reliable suggestions based on his review of the research. He contends that when people can afford the necessities of life, an increase in income doesn't result in a significantly happier life. About 50% of your overall sense of happiness is genetically determined. Another 10% is attributable to general circumstances (education level, income, marital status), and the remainder from day-to-day behavior and how you think of yourself and others. Popular thinking is that happiness is improved by pushing negative thoughts out of one' mind may actually increase them. Talking about a negative experience to untrained and empathetic ears doesn't help, but writing about it does. Those writing on a regular basis about what they had to be thankful about were happier than those instead writing regarding problems or events. Wiseman suggests doing this on an ongoing basis, taking about 1 minute/week.
   
   Other suggestions for increasing happiness include buying experiences instead of goods, giving gifts to friends and charity. Materialism takes root in early childhood, he says, and is driven mainly by low self-esteem.
   
   Smile - it affects your attitude. Sit up straight. Start a hobby.



2. Richard Wiseman is an amazing person who backs up his statements with science. This is very important because he delivers solid ideas that work to change your life. So if you are curious like most people reading this review pick up the book & find out what you didn't know. Also check out the video's on You Tube that Richard Wiseman has there. Enjoy the book!



3. This is an absolute must read! What Dr. Wiseman has done is put together some of the most helpful findings that have come out of the field of Psychology. It is just as Simon Singh's blurb on the front cover says: "At last, a self-help guide that is based on proper research. Perfect for busy, curious, smart people." The subjects are Happiness, Persuasion, Motivation, Creativity, Attraction, Relationships, Stress, Decision Making, Parenting and Personality. Each Chapter is very straightforward - the research, the findings and then what you should remember - it's really very easy to read.
   
   I have given this book 5 stars because of the shear breadth of information Dr. Wiseman was able to put into it. He has distilled and packaged most of the crucial information you might find in some of these books: Happiness: The Science behind Your Smile, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (Collins Business Essentials), Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions (Revised & Expanded Edition), How We Decide, Covert Persuasion: Psychological Tactics and Tricks to Win the Game, The Art of Seduction, Why We Make Mistakes: How We Look Without Seeing, Forget Things in Seconds, and Are All Pretty Sure We Are Way Above Average, Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior or Personality: What Makes You the Way You Are. I really thought this book was the most helpful of this entire lot of books - highly recommended!



4. A book that delivers exactly what it promises. Takes many "self help" issues, (Happiness, procrastination, etc), gives a short synopsis of current scientific results on the subject (i.e. independent tests), quotes his sources if you want to validate further, then summarizes what steps you should take based on the scientific evidence. All in a easy to read, quick learning format. Really enjoying the book.



5. This book provides surprising and scientifically based insights into everyday situations, life goals, and a lot in between. I truly enjoyed reading it, contrary to the snake oil cures that are often peddled in popular magazines and talk shows. But if you know anything about the author, you knew all this already. Enjoy reading.

3 comments about The Infinities (Borzoi Books).

1. 
   Ostensibly, this is book about a dying man, whose family assembles around him and waits for him to draw his final breath - a conventional enough device, second only to the old standbys of a family assembling for the holidays, a marriage or a funeral. Ostensibly. In actuality, that's just a jump-off point for what I can only describe as a romp through nearly every theme touched on by classic literature, from existential ruminations on the meaning of life to the bawdy realities of what that life actually involves for the people that live it.
   
   On the surface, it's the story of the dying Adam Godley (take heed of the name...), his wife, Ursula, son Adam and daughter Petra (think of the meaning of her name - stone); and Adam junior's wife, Helen (whose name also will prove meaningful.) But it's also narrated by the gods of Olympus, who, as is their wont, have decided to alleviate their boredom or pursue their lusts by descending to involve themselves in the concerns of the Godley family. The narrator is Hermes - or is it? As his voice seems to blur and meld with that of the dying Adam in the final pages. Zeus covets Helen and commands Hermes to hold back the dawn so that he can have his way with her. And then Pan, in the form of Benny Grace, shows up on the doorstep...
   
   There's no way to summarize what happens in this novel, and indeed what happens, event-wise, seems less important for Banville than finding a way to make us think about the world we inhabit. It's a world where the immortals are as present as the `infinities' of the title, which the dying Adam, a mathematician, discovered. Why would the gods come back? Well, Hermes points out in a matter-of-fact manner, they never left. "We merely made it seem that we had withdrawn, for a decent interval, as if to say we know when we are not wanted," he explains. "At the same time, we cannot resist revealing ourselves to you once in a while, out of our incurable boredom, our love of mischief, or that lingering nostalgia we harbour for this rough world of our making."
   
   Adam and the family dog appear to be the only members of the household to suspect the presence of the immortals amongst them. Adam recognizes it intellectually - after all, if there are infinities, shouldn't there be immortal beings that inhabit them? - while the dog recognizes it on a more visceral level, along with the innate human fear of death. Meanwhile, the others will have their lives reshaped by the gods in ways they may not understand, or attribute to chance.
   
   This is a fascinating book, but one that - despite the constant references to every possible bodily function and fluid imaginable - is all about ideas, likely to appeal to those who can pick up on all of Banville's allusions to classic drama or alternative history. as I was reading, there were often moments where I felt he was present at my shoulder, whispering "get it?" and giving me a sly wink or a nudge in the manner of the Olympians in his novel. I don't usually have a taste for surreal elements creeping into a book, or self-conscious wit, but ultimately Banville won me over with his combination of luscious writing and comic insights into human frailty.
   
   Highly recommended to anyone with a taste for literary fiction, but not for anyone who finds themselves disliking novels that are more about people thinking than doing stuff. (If you haven't enjoyed anything else by Banville, the odds are high that you won't like this one.) I've rated it 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5.



2. Somewhere, someone will read this book and comprehend the various implications pulling and pushing between the stories of the mortals and the immortals, between the conventional narrative and the insertion of the author as the sort of god that cannot fully grasp his own creation. On my own somewhat reduced level of comprehension I can only offer that Banville has again managed to create a text that without warning illuminates some of the more profound details of existence, some of the most disjunctive associations, all within a playful fluidity of seemingly casual observation. These periodic shocks and flares of insight -- gleefully departing from the conventions of story-telling -- strike me as what the book is actually about, sorting through the tangle that shapes constructs of personal identity, belief, experience and knowledge to gain some momentarily objective glimpses of the truer contours of the human condition. Banville has a distinct ability to transcribe a sense of time and place to the page and with "The Infinities" he gives articulate voice to those more elusive impressions of being. Scattered, infrequent, unexpected and always profound shifts in perception draw us closer to an at least momentary comprehension of our selves and the world of which we are a sometimes conscious part. One to read, let rest for a year or so, and then read again.



3. The novel is set in an old mansion in the country side. Mr. Adam, the old man, compared with Zeus the primordial lover, is dying and wishes to spend his last days in the mansion instead of the hospital. His family is also present. But not only the family, some of the ancient gods - like Zeus the Father and Lover, and Hermes the Guide to the World of the Dead - are there also . The gods watch the humans and comment on what they say and do.
   
   This blend of modern and ancient personages gives the novel its universal and timeless meaning: the battle between young and old and Love as a substitute for immortality.
   During their stay at the mansion they are questioning themselves and the others. They experience their surroundings in different ways, depending on their vantage point. Past and present become intertwined.
   
   'The Infinities' by John Banville is a rich and complex novel.