5 comments about I Walked the Line: My Life with Johnny.

1. Until I read this book, I felt sorry for Vivian. It is always hard for any man or woman to lose someone you love to another person.(Especially being in the public eye) But to wait until someone has passed away and then write a book slandering them is just terrible! How very sad that Vivian stayed so bitter that she had to say such horrble things about a woman who is no longer here. June Carter may not have been perfect, but no couple stay married for as long as Johnny and June did without true love holding them together.



2. this is an excellant insight into how Johnny felt about Vivian before June came into the picture and disregarded the Cash's marriage and children.



3. This book isn't really an autobiography like I thought it would be. Lots and lots of letters from Johnny to his first wife Vivian. It's pretty nice, but there was too much. I would have liked to hear more from Vivian.
   
   I have to say Vivian was absolutely gorgeous. She was very stunning more so then June was. A Fox. But that's the only compliment I can have on this book.
   
   For one thing Vivian really goes at it when it comes to June. June got Johnny on drugs. June seduced Johnny. June stole Johnny from her. June was the devil. June didn't write Ring Of Fire. In which none of these accusations I find true. It makes you wonder...why did she not write this book when June and Johnny were alive? Because she might have gotten sued for defamation? The dead have no rights as we know. This is me just wondering here.
   
   I think she should place some of that rage, blame and hate she threw towards June and aim some of it at Johnny. She doesn't beat him up not nearly as much as she did with June. He was the one who cheated on her. He broke the family up. You can't place blame entirely on June. Granted cheating awful. June was far from an angel. Sleeping with married men is just wrong. I can see why Vivian was so angry but I refuse to believe that a strong willed minded man as Johnny Cash was seduced by some woman. Not to mention got into drugs because of her, "gave her" a song he supposely wrote and every negative thing he did was because of his mistress. I do understand the frustrations Vivian must have gone through. Having your man cheat on you with some other woman must have felt terrible for her and her children, but don't place the blame all on the woman. The man needs to go down on the dirt in blame too. It would have been nice seeing her curse out Johnny Cash too. I really don't believe much of what Vivian said about the situation with June, but that is just my opinion. She's blinded by rage and rightfully so. Her take on Ring Of Fire and who really wrote it made me feel sorry for her. I doubt Johnny felt so bad to have to give June the song to "help" her out finacially. June only came from the first family of Country. I know she couldn't have been "needy" and by all accounts of people who knew Johnny, they all said June wrote it. Not to mention everytime Johnny was on stage he gave June credit for the song. A man who is so much about truth, why would he lie about something like that? Also by all accounts of people who knew Johnny, it was Johnny who was running after June all the time. Not the other way around.
   
   So anyway, read the book and come up with your own conclusions. It nice to read Johnny's letters but I would like to have seen the book as an autobiography more so then so many letters. The pictures inside the book is stunning. Also Vivian has passed away which is sad. Would have been nice to see her promote this book and explain more.
   
   Other books of this genre you should read is Wonderful Tonight by Patti Boyd and Storms by Carol Ann Harris.



4. I loved the book!! I've always had questions about dear little June Carter and this book answered them all. Poor Vivian and all she went through!! Bless her heart. Drugs and Booze be damned. I hate a man who cheats on his woman.



5. I really enjoyed this book. You learn alot about Vivian Cash and her life with Johnny before June. Although I thought there were alot of letters (I only read up until 1953, until I got frustrated. I wanted to learn about there time together and not just all the letters Johnny wrote.) The letters were very insighting and you could really tell how much Johnny loved Vivian. I also thought it was pretty incredible how Vivian kept all those letters for so long.

5 comments about The Tao of Willie: A Guide to the Happiness in Your Heart.

1. I deployed to Afghanistan in May 2006. The morning of my departure, I received a phone call from both of the authors of this book. Willie and Turk wished me luck and a safe return on my journey. It was a memory that has been with me ever since. Just this past week, I had the fortune of getting to see Willie Nelson in concert (The Last of Breed Tour) for the first time in my 33 years. It was an amazing show and I also had the pleasure of meeting him backstage as he proceeded to the stage to perform with Merle Haggard and Ray Price. What an experience!
   While on deployment I was able to read this book. There is little happiness in Afghanistan these days. But every night prior to lights out, I could always count on a smile and a reflection of my life through the words in this book. It was a pleasure to read.
   To Willie and Turk...Thank you!



2. Not being a country and western fan, I really don't remember when I discovered Willie...Saw him at the Austin Opry House back in the 70's and and been to several more concerts...He always comes across as an authenic being, who does not pretend to be more than he is...When I stumbled across this book, I immedicately knew I had to read it...The Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu perfectly compliments the "way" of Willie's life and he expresses it simply and humorously in this gem of a book. I had to stop reading frequently to either comtemplate the truth of what he's written or, just as frequently, to laugh at his jokes...This book will warm your heart and soul...We're all the better for having Willie in our lives...



3. This book is wonderful. It's entertaining, but so much more than that. Willie's wisdom is priceless. I learned some valuable things from reading this book, such as taking the time to appreciate the present moment and accepting things the way they are.
   I originally borrowed this book from the library, but I had to buy it because it's the kind of book that you want to read again and again.



4. Easy read, Simple words from a simple man, Willie Nelson. Lots of good advice for taking life easy. Makes a good gift.



5. I've enjoyed reading The Tao of Willie very much. It's full of wisdom and humor and gives you the feeling that you know Willie personal.

5 comments about The Fiddler's Fakebook (Fiddle).

1. If your looking for old time fiddle tunes, then this is the book for you! The songs have a little history with them to tell you who recorded them. There are enough songs to keep you busy for a long time. With a little practice, a beginner can play them too.



2. This fiddle fake book was recommended by my fiddle teacher. I ordered one; my fiddling friend saw it and took it; I ordered another for myself. Has more fiddle songs than anyone can play in a lifetime. Laid out horizontally so it's easy to fit the song on a page. Best of all it has enough info to let you play the song and improvise (also includes some harmonies), but not so detailed as to look like an ant convention. Does everything but play the tune for you.



3. This book has a great assortment of tunes ranging from traditional tunes, Irish and English favorites, French Canadian tunes, Bluegrass, and some Western swing tunes. Arrangements are pretty true to what I have "heard" in live performances. Presented in alpabetical order. This book and the "Portland Collection" volumes will keep you playing and learning for quite some time !



4. This book is a wonderful resource for any fiddle or mandolin player who appreciates traditional American music. The songs are charted in standard musical notation, playable by either fiddle or mandolin, and many have chords included for accompanists. A caveat, tho' - This is not a TAB book - if you are not familiar with picking melodies on your instrument, you will not find fingering assistance in here. The only other down-side I found is that if you use it as frequently as I do, the pages eventually start to tear at the junction with the plastic binding! P.S. - if you like the mandolin piece they use on the Time Warner ads, look at Soldier's Joy!



5. A must for those interested in building a repertoire of tunes for Bluegrass, Old-time, and Irish can't go wrong with this excellent collection of nearly 500 tunes in notation. The discography alone is worth the price. I have given away several dozen copies at jam sessions to encourage more diversity among my musician friends. More tunes than the similar mandolin and guitar versions.

4 comments about Sing Me Back Home: Love, Death, and Country Music.

1. For anyone who thinks country music begins and ends with Kenny Chesney, here's your reality check. Part autobiography, part music appreciation course, the author gives the reader a lean, mean lesson in what country music -- in its Golden Age -- was all about. Far more than just twangy songs about drinking and cheating, the country music of those times and artists tied the music to the poorest, the marginalized, the most helpless of Americans. The prose is eloquent and evocative, yet sparse as a meal in the Depression. Also funny, biting, and wryly witty at times. The author reminds us, too, that country music didn't stem solely from, nor was it intended solely for the people of the rural south. Instead, artists like Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Faron Young, the Louvin Brothers, Connie Smith, et al, were all people who came up from hardscrabble lives & times, and their music resonated with people everywhere who suffered from deprivation, whether the listeners lived in Kingston, New Hampshire, or Stollings, West Virginia. The music of our youth evokes the people, the pain, the loves, the losses, and the emotions of our youth. Like the author, I had turned away from country music during my youth, and when I returned to it later in life I found that there isn't any (almost none, anyway) country music anymore. No more fiddle, no more steel, no more twang. Honesty? Fuhgeddaboudit!
   
   This book reminded me in so many ways of the music I love, but more than that, it brought back the people I loved most and who are no longer with me. Yeah, this book was a trip down memory lane for me, but it also felt like validation for the appreciation I've put into this kind of music. And it's a great tool for beginners who want to learn what the Golden Age of country music really sounded like, and where to begin listening.



2. The voice in Dana Jenning's SING ME BACK HOME is accessible, open, brave and candid. I couldn't put it down!



3. OK, I admit it. When it comes to real country music, and those whom I believe truly appreciate it as the art form that it is, I am prejudiced. Never in a million years would I believe that some guy from New Hampshire, a writer and editor for the New York Times, of all the newspapers in the word, for crying out loud, would know much about the real thing; no way would someone with that background actually understand the music and those who created it. Well, that was before I read Sing Me Back Home, by Dana Jennings, who is exactly the guy I just described.
   
   I want to apologize, Mr. Jennings, and I salute you, sir.
   
   Sing Me Back Home is not a straight forward history of country music. Books like those serve their purpose, certainly, and there are many worthy ones out there already that take that approach. Jennings, on the other hand, turns the history of country music into something very personal: a way to share his own family story.
   
   As most country music historians (and knowledgeable fans) agree, the years from the late forties to the very end of the sixties mark the period of classic country music. The music reached its peak during those years and has faced a steady, downhill slide since 1970 with the exception of a small (and poorly rewarded) group of pickers and singers that refuses to let classic country music completely disappear. But, overall, country music has probably never been in a sorrier state than it is in today. According to Jenkins, in fact, "It can be entertaining, but the difference between today's country and the summits of the 1950s and `60s is the difference between the lightning and the lighting bug."
   
   As Jennings puts it, "country music was made by poor people for poor people." At its best, country music reflected, and maybe even justified, the lives endured by the rural poor who lived all around the United States, not just those from the South or the mountains and coal-producing regions of the Southeast. It is the history of working people, those who made livings with their hands, often at the sacrifice of their health or even their lives, during those two decades. Nothing for them came easy and, when they finally made it to Saturday night, they became walking, talking country songs themselves. They lived the cheating songs and the drinking songs; they spent time in prison, went hungry in the bad times, hit the road out of desperation or despair, had love affairs end badly, and repented on Sunday mornings with the full knowledge that they would backslide again come the very next Saturday night.
   
   But what makes Sing Me Back Home so memorable is the way that Dana Jennings readily fits a member of his own family to every kind of classic country song there is. He lived it - and he remembers it because it made him the man that he is today despite the fact that he sits behind a desk at the New York Times. Song by song, the reader meets members of Jennings' family who could easily have been the inspirations for those same songs because, not only did these folks love and surround themselves with country music, they lived the lifestyle at its heart.
   
   For those of us of a certain age, and of a certain upbringing, this book is like preaching to the choir. We already knew this deep down in our souls. But having someone as frank, and just as importantly, as articulate, as Dana Jennings come along to tell the real story of country music's golden age and how its listeners related to those songs, is a real bonus.
   
   Sing Me Back Home fits longtime country music fans like an old glove. But the book is also a perfect primer for those newer fans who wonder about the country music legends that are barely more than names to them today. In fact, the discography at the end of the book is worth its whole $24 dollar cover price. Those willing to spend the money and time required to surround themselves with the albums and box sets listed by Jennings in that discography will learn more about the history of America's working class than they could ever learn from any textbook.
   
   Despite what David Allan Coe says to the contrary, I do not believe in the perfect country music song. But there just might be a perfect country music book. If so, this is it.



4. Like the author, I was a yankee (New Jersey in my case, NH in his) who grew up in a poor white family whose main musical preference was country. I am older than the author, and his 1960's experiences were my '50's memories. My family was maybe a bit less broke, a bit more functional despite the presence of a lot of drinking. But Hank Williams and Slim Whitman and Eddy Arnold and the Sons of the Pioneers and Gene Autry and Roy Rogers and Jimmy Wakely and Red Foley and Tex Ritter were on our turntable all the time. Auto mechanics directly, and auto racing indirectly, and fishing and hunting and target shooting were the big recreational events of my youth. My folks had schooling that stopped at fourth grade for my orphaned dad and sixth grade for my ma. There were sporadic tragedies involving guns and cars and divorces and diseases and feuds in my extended clan. Dana Jennings has written about this kind of childhood, punctuated by what is now called "classic country music" and I identified with almost all of what he went through and what he thinks about it. Like him, I escaped into journalism. Despite our similar backgrounds, I could not have written nearly as well about my family as he wrote about his own. I think he did a grand job in this effort.

5 comments about A Pirate Looks at Fifty.

1. I thought that it would be best to read this book while I am still a few years short of fifty. Early into the book I began questioning how much a reader could actually enjoy his reflection without being a fan of his music. The writing style closely follows his musical persona, and I fear that without that link it would seem like little more than a lot rambling on. However, for those of you that have enjoyed his musical style through the years, you will find yourself smiling throughout this book.



2. This book was great, and I really needed it. Age never bothered me, but when I turned 50 it hit me like a ton of bricks. A friend gave me this book, and before I was 1/3 of the way through it, I realized 50 was OK. Buffet is a world class story teller, and whether he's writing fiction or non-fiction, his books are all must reads.



3. My husband brought with him on vacation. He loves Buffett's books & this was no exception. Very entertaining.



4. I haven't reached 50, yet. I hope that this book is a primer for when I get there. I hope that 50 is that great!



5. this book was interesting enough if you want to know more about fishing
   than Jimmy. Yes, I know he loves to fish, but I wanted a little more
   background.

5 comments about Coming into the Country.

1. We bought this book in Nome, Alaska on a visit there in 2001 (my brother owns a flying service there). I took my time reading it the first time. Coming into the Country is not a book to be read quickly, but, rather, one to be savored, taking time for the details to seep into the crevices of one's memory until they become part of one's knowledge base. Every page holds a vast amount of information that if read too quickly blurs to nothingness and is lost.
   
   McPhee's descriptions of the land, its rivers and mountains, its challenges, its beauty, and its people are thorough and draw the reader into the pages of his book. It takes a certain kind of person to survive in the Alaskan bush. I, for one, am drawn to its splendor, its starkness, its fearsomeness, but am sure I don't have the right stuff to live there long term. The river people and others, who thrive in communities like Eagle and Central (even Fairbanks and Juneau), have remarkable stamina and a strong determination to live the lives they choose in their respective settings, all of which are breathtaking in their beauty. McPhee also writes of the tension between the races (Indian and white)and the human dynamic among community members (the good and the no-so-good)that always accompanies the sharing of space and resources.
   
   Over the past five years, I've picked up CITC now and then to re-read parts of it. Most recently, I re-read the whole of Part III Coming into the Country. This is my favorite section because it focuses on the bush and its people, most particularly on Eagle, Alaska located on the Yukon River and just across the International Boundary from Canada's Yukon Territory. (Incidentally, the term "coming into the country" refers to the arrival of a person into the Alaskan bush with the intent of staying. I may move from Michigan to Ohio or New York or California, but, if I go to Alaska, they call it coming into the country. "Brad Snow and Lily Allen came into the country in 1973." "Joe Vogler came into the country in 1944." "John Borg came into the country in 1966" (and he's still there. Check out the Eagle site. Borg has worn many hats in Eagle and still sits on the board of the Eagle Historical Society and Museum. Borg's wife, Betty, is the board's treasurer).
   
   The original copyright on this book is 1976, thirty years ago. The growth in technology since that time has allowed almost every municipality to have their own website. Eagle is no exception. [...]
   
   Carolyn Rowe Hill



2. I traveled to Alaska in 2006 but lived there in the early 70's. Why I delayed so long in reading "Coming into the Country" I don't know, but John McPhee has taken me back to that earlier day. Both his character and place descriptions are wonderful and make me long for the cabins, the ice break-up, the dogs, the bush planes, and the 55 gallon drums. The Anchorage of today is much changed, but the bush is still there -- Thank God.



3. Want to read about the realities of the 49th state????
   Want to really learn something about this region???
   Want to get good visuals????????
   If NOT don't read this book!!!!!!!!!!!!



4. This book is a wonderful relic, the last plausible vision of a living American frontier. In the mid seventies, McPhee went to Alaska to do a few pieces for the New Yorker. He met a lot of trappers, prospectors, and "river people" who'd built moss-chinked cabins and whose individualism, gruff hospitality, and happiness he admired. McPhee made a plea for democratic access to Alaskan land. He argued that land far from roads should remain fair game for homesteaders in perpetuity.
   
   It is odd to read an ode to Alaska's wild immensity at a time when islands are being evacuated in the Aleutians, polar bears are drowning, and the permafrost is melting. The question these days is not whether Americans can still choose to live in more or less untainted outback. The question is whether that outback will soon be transformed beyond recognition, not by oil drilling, but by climate change.
   
   What Coming into the Country offers the twenty-first century is escapism and nostalgia. McPhee's account of the political squabbles over the location of Alaska's capital has lost its relevance, but the rest of the book still comes to life. We meet a mix of clannish Christians, proud native people, and prickly bootleggers in the small, dry town of Eagle. McPhee's tale of a man's survival in sub-zero weather after a plane crash constitutes a minor classic of its own.
   
   The book reminds us how powerful the frontier fantasy remains in American psyches. Can it be harnessed as a metaphor? Can the dream of self-reliance on a private patch of woods help motivate us, indirectly, to cut carbon emissions? It has motivated us to go camping and conserve some wild lands even while ruining others. Still, I suspect that as the environmental movement shifts in response to global warming, we may have to jettison the frontier fantasy. It depends too much on a view of nature as more powerful than man. Whether or not we agree with Bill McKibben that we have arrived at the end of nature, we know that everything is responding to elevated temperatures. There is no untouched patch of land left in Alaska. The romance of a homestead sours when the flora and fauna are marching north past the log cabin, driven by coal and oil fires from all over the planet.



5. My wife and I like to listen to a tape while we read the book. We are rereading this book that way. It is a classic and a good introduction to Alaska, where we have lived and worked and touristed.

5 comments about If You're Happy and You Know It (Baby Board Books).

1. A much appreciated gift for 8 mo. old baby. "He loves his 'If You're Happy and You Know It' book already!", Mom wrote in her thank you note sent with a very happy baby picture!



2. I was a little disappointed with this book...it is basically just a depiction of the song. Nothing new and exciting and my daughter actually prefers that I sing it to her without looking at the book so she can look at me.



3. My daughter who is 10 months has loved to have all the books by Annie Kubler read to her since she was 5 months old. These books by Annie Kubler are great starter books for a child's library!



4. Was looking for the right books for the very little ones in the family, for Christmas. Saw this (and others in the series) and felt I had found just what I was looking for. Lively, colorful illustrations, activities for parents and little ones to do together. I wound up ordering even more, after my original shipment. The hardest part was which ones to choose!!!



5. This is a pretty cute book! I believe it has most of the "If you're happy.." lyrics in it - I've been trying to teach him to clap his hands. It is pretty short - only a few pages, but he seems to appreciate it.

5 comments about A Personal Stand: Observations and Opinions from a Freethinking Roughneck.

1. I just read this book and felt as though Trace had sat at our dinner table and put our conversations in the written word! I loved this book. The whole time I'm reading it, I kept saying to my husband, "Honey, listen to this, I think he must be related to you." I am writing him in for President!....



2. This book was so much fun to read! Trace tells it like it is, and covers so many topics. I especially loved his opinions on coffee. I really enjoyed it and I recommend it to everyone!



3. This is a great book. It's full of Trace's musings with some autobiography mixed in. I really enjoyed reading and finding that not all celebrities are left-wing nut-jobs. On that note, if your politcal leanings are left of middle, you probably won't enjoy this book. The only place Trace lost me is when he mentions golf. A true country boy would never admit to playing golf. That is a waste of time and real estate that could be spent hunting and fishing.



4. Trace tells is like it is and straight from his heart. Excellent read about his life and thoughts, loved this book and recommend it.



5. It was a great book. I laughed out loud. It was also sad in some parts. I belong to Trace's fan club. I wanted to read about his life and what he did when he grew up.

5 comments about Willie Nelson: An Epic Life.

1. 
   No matter how many stories you have heard about Willie Nelson, or what you know about him -- I promise that you will learn new things about him when you read Joe Nick Patoski's book, 'Willie Nelson: An Epic Life."
   
   I have been reading Joe Nick's articles about Willie Nelson for years. It's always like I'm sitting down listening him to tell a story. You can kind of hear his southern accent in your head while you're reading :)) Joe Nick doesn't ask the same questions of Willie, and he always gets new answers. This book is so well researched, well written, and entertaining. Joe Nick tells the stories behind the stories. He is a Willie Nelson fan, and you can feel when you read it that this book was a labor of love.
   
   The book is about Willie Nelson, but it is also tells the history of music in Texas, and the characters and musicians. There are several books written about Willie Nelson, and I've read them all. This one is the best!
   
   Thank you, Joe Nick, for writing this book!



2. A meticulously researched and comprehensive biography of Willie Nelson. Great detail on his recording career and the country western music scene. My only complaint: the writing style is, at times, cumbersome...too many compound sentences that impede the flow of the story telling. Otherwise, this book is everything you ever wanted to know about Willie Nelson.



3. This is one of the finest written books I have read in a long time. The kind of book you don't want to put down.



4. Joe Patoski's book on Willie Nelson is full of information not only on willie, but many other interesting places and people.



5. Joe Nick Patoski has exhaustively researched the Man, and the book reflects his efforts. It's an entertaining read. Well worth the money.

5 comments about Storey's Basic Country Skills: A Practical Guide to Self-Reliance.

1. This book is filled with a great breadth of knowledge. It helps you know what you don't know about self-sufficient living and even gives you enough infomation in some areas that you could go forward without too much additional research. If you're considering buying a little land and using it to live from, I'd recommend this book.



2. So cool. Where else can you get a book that will tell you how to build a pond and raise livestock, wire an outbuilding, and cut wood? This book has a little bit of everything in it and I'm glad to have it as a resource when I move out to the country in a couple of weeks. It's not exhaustive, and there are probably things in it that I'll want to know more about, but the diagrams are very clear, the discussions neither patronizing nor over my head, and most of all it has a cheerful, you can do it feel that makes me excited about my future challenges.
   This would also be a good (if big) book to share with someone who used to live in the country and run a farm, just for their interest and amusement. My dad, never a farmer, would have loved this book for the bits of interesting things in it to read and think about.
   Don't know if I'll be self-reliant after using this book, but I think I'llb e keeping it out on the coffee table for quite a few months.



3. Who would have thought you could cram so much information into one book. This has been a wonderful tool for my husband and I who are in the process of establishing our little retirement ranch. Excellent resource for anyone moving from the burbs to the country.



4. The book was definitely basic and it covered lots of information that would be useful on a farm. However, it was not helpful in how to develop the farm system, it was very piece meal and stand alone information, it also deferred its solutions too much to the chemical industry.



5. This book covers a huge range of country skills, including a companion planting guide. I wouldn't be without mine!