5 comments about Sky of Stone.

1. If you have read Rocket Boys, it's imperative you continue with Coalwood Ways and Sky of the Stone. All are wonderful reads with great life lessons. Sky of the Stone was my favorite of the three but they build on each other. I look forward to reading Red Helmet in February!



2. Just a great part 3 continuation of "The Rocket Boys", AKA: "October Sky". I could hardly put it down. I really enjoyed this book, too.



3. I read October Sky a week ago and then grabbed this one. I haven't read The Coalwood Way but after starting Sky of Stone, don't think it's necessary. This book continues where October Sky left off, and in many ways people are introduced in this book that were never mentioned in the first book. In manyways this book seems to be derived from all the notes taken out of the first book. Sonny's father's character comes to light in this book and we see the continued tension between father and son, and the son's reluctant growth into adulthood when he accepts (or is forced into) adult decisions for the first time.
   
   Homer is a year out of college and he's slowly learning that many of the naive things he experienced in boyhood are coming back to haunt him. Where we all read about the fame and success of the six Rocket Boys, we now find that they are scattered across the country in college. With Homer, the grades in the first year weren't anything out of this world, or anything indicative of an aspiring rocket scientist. Without reading October Sky this book may appear to be a mystery, and I recommend reading October Sky first before attempting this one.
   
   It is unfair to compare one book to the other, although I am doing it right now. What the first book was in childish charm, this one is with mature awakening. The writing style is still superb, the narrative flowing. The built-up to the plot, however, takes longer. The rocket scientist is no longer a rocket scientist in this book, and we find Homer Jr more of his father's son as a summer miner, exactly what he never wanted to be while in high school.
   
   There is much more sadness in this book. The focus is on the death of a miner at the mine that Sonny's father manages. This book is more of a country suspense than it is a happy-go-lucky story like October Sky is. I think that this change in tone was necessary because the first book was full of optimistic, youthful naivete.
   
   The problem with sequels and trilogies is that to understand the whole picture, all books must be read. I have now read two of the three and don't plan on reading the second book.



4. A wonderful book that was not only an engaging story, but offered a glimpse into the life of West Virginia coal miners. Following on the heels of the "Rocket Boys" ( the book that inspired the movie "October Sky"), this book carries on the story of Rocket Boy and author Homer Hickam. You won't be sorry you read this book.



5. Sky of Stone, by Homer "Sonny" Hickam, is the sequel to his famous memoir, Rocket Boys, (October Sky). The story takes place in 1961, a year after his graduation from high school. Sonny, now eighteen, has just finished his first year of college at VPI, and is hoping to spend his summer with his mother in Myrtle Beach, lying on the beach, watching the girls go by, and dreaming about building rockets with Wernher Von Braun, the world famous rocket engineer. Out of the blue, his mother calls and says that he can't go to South Carolina; he to go back to Coalwood, West Virginia, the place he thought he was free from, to keep his father company. Sonny, shocked out of his socks, at first argues, but he eventually gives up knowing that he would not want to get on his mom's bad side. So, he heads up to Coalwood, filled with confusion pounding at his head. His father is a pretty stubborn man who can hold is own. Why would he need his company?
   Within the first few days of being in Coalwood, Sonny wrecks his father's car. In order to pay his father back for repairing the damages, Sonny has to do the one thing that he never dreamed he would do in this or any other life time: he joins the UMWA (United Mine Workers of America), which is the union for the Coalwood miners. He becomes a "track-laying man," one of the hardest jobs in the mining business. His father, completely enraged with this, as well as having the pressure of the Tuck Dillon case on his mind, threatens to cut off Sonny's college fund if Sonny doesn't stop working in the mines. Yet, Sonny, who is actually beginning to enjoy the hard work of being a miner, refuses.
   As the story goes on, Sonny slowly begins to find more and more information about the Tuck Dillon accident, and starts to wonder if his father might have actually killed Tuck. Sonny also has many other adventures during this experience of being a miner. He makes many new friends, some of whom give him very important advice and teach him life lessons; he meets a girl engineer who is older than he, and he starts to have feelings for. He also participates in a heated track-laying race with the other mining group.
   Sky of Stone, like Rocket Boys, is a beautifully well-written memoir, filled with such amazing images, you feel as though you are reading a novel. The fact that this is a true story about one man's experience is astonishing. Along with it being about Homer's life, it deals with the hardships of growing up, changing from a teenager into a young man, trying to find your place in the world, while dealing with reality and the new feeling of independence. Each page you read takes you further into this adventure, making you fall in love even more with the book. You feel as though you are with Sonny every step of the way, learning more and more from this new experience. Personally, having read October Sky, I love both books and think that Homer Hickam is great author. It is a wonderful book, for anyone, as it reflects on life and the many lessons it teaches us, "I knew then, as I faced the sky, that Coalwood would go on. Its buildings might be torn down, its mine closed, its people might even die, but Coalwood would persevere. There was something about this place that maybe, as the Reverend Richard maintained, God just liked. Coalwood had nothing to fear and I guessed I didn't, either. When I needed it, the old place of my boyhood would yet be there waiting for me with all its wisdom and purpose, if not in stone and wood and iron, then still in my memory and my heart. I closed my eyes and felt the rain against my face, and smelled the smoke of the defeated fire, and thought of Coalwood. Coalwood, as it was, and shall be. Coalwood my home. Coalwood forever." (354). As I got to the end of the book I felt as though I was looking back on memory, in awe and filled with respect. In conclusion, I think this is great book, and I highly recommend it to anyone.

5 comments about Professor and The Madman, The.

1. Perhaps no where is that more in evidence, than in this story, the story of a man, Dr. Minor, confined to an insane asylum, becoming one of the leading contributors to the Oxford English Dictionary.
   
   His story, the story of Dr. Murray, editor of the OED, how they got together and how the dictionary was compiled and edited makes for fascinating, marvelous reading. An intriguing, fascinating story well told, well written. Surprises, twists and concerns every few pages.
   
   The book does deserve criticism for its sometimes long and laborous detail about putting the dictionary together, but as a story, the story of the two men, Murray and Minor, it is a worthwhile and fascinating read.
   
   Winchester tells the story well, with an eye for detail, then and now, and with an empathetic if not sympathetic perspective for the humanity and the odd twists and turns involved. Good read. Buy it. Read it.



2. It is an understatement to say that the main character of this book had an unfortunate life. Driven by madness, this man lost his career as a surgeon after committing murder. The story could have ended there, but Dr. W.C. Minor ended up making a major contribution to the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). Although the story of Minor is sad, in a way this contribution offers some redemption. A story about the creation of a dictionary could very easily become dull and that was my expectation, but the author, Simon Winchester, brought the subject to life through the characters he writes about. His descriptions of the actual process of constructing the dictionary were weak, but fortunately this was not the main point of the story and so did not detract from it. Winchester has a talent for bringing this type of story to life as he demonstrated in The Map That Changed The World, a story about geologist William Smith. I am confident enough now in Winchester's ability that I look forward to reading his other book about the OED, The Meaning Of Everything. Overall, I enjoyed The Professor And The Madman and would recommend it to those readers who have a fondness for the English language.



3. Interesting story about the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary, and one of its most prolific 'authors.'
   
   There's not a great deal of depth here, but this is a well written book that makes a great companion to the OED itself.



4. This is an absorbing story of, as the title states, the making of the Oxford English Dictionary. You'll gain an appreciation for dictionaries and the people who have labored to produce them for us. You'll also get a stranger-than-fiction depiction of the life of a man whose prolific contributions to the OED were essential to its creation. This is great non-fiction writing and would probably appeal to those who like the works of Erik Larsen.



5. One of the things I've learned to love about non-fiction is how so many different things can be tied together in one topic.
   
   If I were to say, "this book is about the making of the OED", most people's eyes would glaze over, and rightfully so.
   
   However, it's also about a notorious murderer, the civil war, Samuel Johnson, Victorian treatments for mental illness and VD, and so many other things.
   
   The information runs the gamut from the funny to the strange to the interesting to the incredibly sad. I did like that, though much of the book made you feel compassion for Dr. Minor, the madman in the title, the epilogue reminds you of the heinous crime he committed.
   
   In all, though not the easiest read (it is the making of the OED, after all), this was a great book.
   
   (*)>

5 comments about Edgar Cayce: An American Prophet.

1. OK, I admit it. The main reason why I wanted to read this book was because it supposedly exposed the possibly of a sexual relationship between American's best-documented seer and the young lady who documented the psychic's trance readings, Gladys Davis.
   
   And, I was not disappointed. The book describes readings in Cayce's psychic source encouraged sexual union. Naughty, naughty, especially considering that Edgar was already married and was also 27 years older than Gladys.
   
   Evidently, the two of them had, in a long ago past, been one soul. Like Shirley MacLaine in The Camino, Gladys and Edgar had once been one androgynous being--the readings say female because female was stronger--and they had been separated into a male and female half. Eventually, in some future lifetime, they would unite into a whole again.
   
   To my delight, this book has many more tidbits of intriguing information that I, in my years of fascination with Edgar Cayce and his trance readings, had never heard about, for example, that inventors Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla met with Cayce because of their interest in electricity and the psychic.
   
   Neither did I know that Cayce, in trance, had invented a perpetual motion machine that unfortunately, was never successfully manufactured partly because it did not have the required mental energy of high-spiritually-minded people. Verrry interesting!
   
   Read it! The book is jam-packed with titillating details "never before revealed" about Cayce's personal and professional life. It's all here--from Atlantis to an overview of Cayce's healing philosophy!
   
   One of a number of biographies on Cayce, all of which I have found fascinating: There Is a River: The Story of Edgar Cayce, Edgar Cayce: The Sleeping Prophet, and Edgar Cayce: Mystery Man of Miracles.
   
   Carol Chapman, Award-winning photographer of the Divine in Nature: With Quotes from Edgar Cayce and author of When We Were Gods: Insights on Atlantis, Past Lives, Angelic Beings of Light and Spiritual Awakening.



2. The Edgar Cayce legacy offers a new hope to civilization. Many texts have been written for those who would hear, and written well. Sidney Kirkpatrick offers an outstanding new level in writings of Cayce. It is a textbook that one does not wish to put down before finishing, and immediately picks it up to re-read. It is a terrific text and an invaluable assessment of Cayce and his work. I have nothing but the highest praise for Kirpatrick.



3. This book is very comprehensive and well-written. It is extremely informative about the life of Edgar Cayce. Highly recommended!



4. This book is very interesting. If you are a Cayce fan then this book is right up your alley.



5. Because Kirkpatrick presents Edgar Cayce at every turn as a full-blooded human being, he gives Cayce's triumphs and tragedies a dimension that rises above mere journalism. This book is a classic in its field.

No comments about Title The Life of Samuel Johnson (Part 2).

5 comments about The Lost Boy: A Foster Child's Search for the Love of a Family.

1. This book, along with another came in on time and for a great price. I Love this book.. I am now waiting to read the two books left that tells the rest of Dave's Story. There are 4 all together!



2. This book will open your eyes to child abuse. You will forever remember and reflect on what you have read. We all have a need to be loved.



3. this is a good book! i love it when dave sees that kid and the kid says what you call my sister? then dave says a horror? then the kid punches dave, makes his nose bleed, and says don't you ever, ever, call my sister a whore again! read it if you liek dave pelzer as much as me!



4. I purchased this book for my girlfrind, and she loved it! The compelling story of this little boy and his fight for survival would motivate anyone to keep moving forward. It is a must read!



5. "After a few sweeps I shook my head `She`s gone! She`s not there!'" The book, The Lost Boy bye Dave Pelzer, is about a boy named David who goes into foster care. His mom, (who is the actual crazy person) thinks her son, David should go into a Mental Institution! I think that she has already punished him enough, but apparently she will still try harder. On page 203, Lillian (David's first foster parents) tells David how his mom has been trying to put him down since he went into foster care! She try's everything in her power to tell everyone that David is crazy. She tells lies about David like starting fires and much more! I think that ages 13 and older could read this book. I think that anyone under the age of 13 wouldn't really understand this book very well. The setting of the book is in a couple different places, in court, and in different foster homes. This Non-Fiction book tells a true story of how David Pelzer servives his life untill he is eighteen, when he has to move out on his own! It is an interesting book, and I believe that people will like it. (It is a very emotional book.)

5 comments about Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines.

1. Yes I read Beautiful Boy first, but I am a grown up. Read them in any order, but they belong together. While Tweak takes you up and down and through a small part of the landscape (over and over and over) in gritty detail, Beautiful Boy gives you a birds eye view and a global sense of where in space, time and emotion this is all happening.
   
   That said, I have to admit that this was the most Terrible and Awesome (in the archaic sense of the words) pair of books I have ever read. They caused me great pain, but also gave me great insight, and for that I am very thankful to both authors... and I will say what I said on the Beautiful Boy review:
   
   Nic was seeking a sense of wholeness and a sense of peace. He wanted to be a person who exemplified something he could not quite figure out, and he wanted to stop feeling pain. He used drugs as a short cut to get to this place. And as a result he lost everything. Yet when he did the hard work to find out that he was in fact a whole person all with in himself, and he could reach with in and experience his own peace, the need for drugs slept.
   
   When you stumble across the answer to a question you never asked, the knowledge may pass you by, or at worst strike you as odd. But when you gain the answer you seek (here finding a sense of a whole person or a sense of bliss and peace) by cheating, or a short cut (in this case drugs), the result can destroy you. You always sacrifice something for knowledge (time, opportunity to do or know something else, etc). But when you choose the sacrifice and go through the struggle for understanding, in the end you gain, learn and grow. If you jump ahead to the end, you no longer get to choose what you are going to give up, the price is higher, and you gain nothing from the glimpse you gain of the answer.



2. This book was compulsively readable. It was fascinating to peek into the addicts' world of desperation to do anything to get the next fix. Nic Sheff's life on the street was quite harrowing and depressing. One review stated that Nic makes one bad choice after another. This surely is an unfair assessment because when you're high, you cannot make sound decisions most of the time.
   
   Through out the whole book, I kept asking myself, "Where the hell are the parents?" For example, Lauren's parents were (as they were portrayed to me) rather passive about her drug problem. Nic's parents almost gave up on him. I am sure that it's emotionally, psychologically, and financially draining for some parents to go through with their addict children; however, in this book I did not see a lot of determination or perseverance from the parents. Yes, I need to read Nic's father's book - A Beautiful Boy.
   
   Some of the details were very vivid for a drug addict to remember. Funny how memory works! Or perhaps I am too paranoid with the wave of pseudo-memoirs (James Frey, Augustine Burrough, Margaret B. Jones, etc.), and I am a tad leery of some of the details that seem to be forced.
   
   Overall, it was a fast and fascinating read.



3. Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines While perhaps entertaining for the armchair voyeur, Tweak is inherently unhelpful to those suffering from addiction, or to their families and support systems. What Tweak does provide is insight as to how many millions of chemically dependent people are so poorly served by traditional group treatment programs; programs that all but ignore the physiological components of addiction and rely instead on folklore and punitive, authoritarian measures to address a complex problem. Perhaps one of the causes of long addiction term is addiction treatment itself.
   
   For those suburban armchair quarterbacks that "understand" urban issues by reading the newspaper, this may be an interesting tome. But the amateurish writing style proves the brilliant writing capabilities of James Frey who did a much better job of creating a pseudo-fictional insiders view of the life of an addict.



4. This is an extremely well-written and engaging memoir of a drug-addicted boy. I read this in conjuction with "Beautiful Boy" written by the father of said boy and while I enjoyed them both, "Tweak" kept me up nights reading until I finished the book. Nic Sheff really lets the reader inside his head and brings us along on the devastating ride of addiction, and the difficult road of recovery. Read them both!



5. I was pleased with the book, Nic Sheff is very honest about the reality of drug use. It seems like he writes like how he talks.

5 comments about A Million Little Pieces.

1. I read this book before the whole controversy was exposed, but I knew something was wrong with this 'true' story in the first few pages. The first thing I thought was strange was that he was onboard a commercial airliner in his condition. I could be wrong, but I doubt any airline would let someone on a plane as physically beat up as he described. Next, during the dental incident, he claims they didn't give him any pain medication due to his drug addiction. My dad was a dentist, and he told me that he would give novocaine to anybody, regardless of the patients drug history. Also, as far as post-surgery, they could at least give him Tylenol. He wasn't a heroin addict. Which brings me to the next point: He claimed to be hooked on alcohol, cocaine in addition to being a glue/gas sniffer? The high from alcohol and illicit drugs is caused because those substances trigger pleasure centers in the brain. The buzz from huffing gas/glue comes from lack of oxygen. I've come across many drug freaks in my life, and none of them used inhalants as a substitute. Then came the story of how he searched the streets of Minneapolis to find his girlfriend. The whole story seemed far-feched. The fact that he found her in a major metropolis in such a short time seemed silly. Finally, at the end, almost every character in the book was dead, leaving virtually nobody to corroborate his story.
   
   I did like the book, though. It was well-paced and interesting, and I do recommend it. I also know how hard it is to break into the publishing industry, but that doesn't give a writer permission to pass off fiction as truth.



2. Excellent! Two thumbs up!! This book touched me on such a personal level. Immediately after I finished reading, I bought another copy and sent it to my son to help him. He read the book in less than two days and finally found someone who had the same experiences and passions and the same mentality about recovery. Mind over matter. It's a matter of choice.



3. I read A Million Little Pieces before the Oprah controversy and again after. Even after hearing that this was a fictionalized "Memoir" it didn't take away any of the raw power this book has for me. It is one of my favorite books, it moves me deeply. I feel so much for the characters especially James and Lilly who are two damaged individuals that reveal the ugliest parts of themselves and find solace in each other. You cannot help but feel personally invested in this story.



4. Quite frankly, if this isn't a true story and is marketed as one, that's pretty crappy. However, this book grabbed my attention fast and didn't let go. I would read it at stoplights, on my lunch break, etc. I couldn't put it down and I read it in just a few days. In my opinion a good book is a book that holds your attention, is easy to follow, makes you laugh, makes you cry and is overall entertaining. This book did all of those things, as well as the sequel, My Friend Leonard. I LOVE both of them and would recommend them to anyone.



5. I found a million little pieces to be a stirring, moving and captivating piece of literature. From the moment I started reading I was totally drawn in to the story and writing style and found it not only a page turner butgripping and heartfelt. It does not matter to me that some of this story was fabricated because obviously the main tenant is true.Liked his message "just hang on" although I personally subscribe to a different philosophy. Having written my own book- Confessions of a Crack Head, I could relate to much of his story and identify. A great read!

5 comments about Churchill in His Own Voice.

1. As one not old enough to have heard Winston Churchill's speeches at the time he originally gave them, I found this tape simply marvellous.

   All one tends to hear nowadays of Churchill's speeches are short excerpts/the highlights. Instead of that, to hear his speeches in full and going back to before the war, is simply a revelation. Has there ever been a greater political speaker? I doubt it.

   A must for anyone interested in modern political history and with the added bonus of some brief excerpts from speeches by other notable figures of Churchill's time-eg Harry Truman, FDR, Eleanor Roosevelt.




2. SUPERB WORK AND FIRST HAND ACCOUNT AND NARRATIVE OF THE DESTROYER OF NAZI TYRANNY IN THE WORLD. ALSO THE NARRATIVE IS THE ONLY LEGITIMATE EVIDENCE OF HOW GRAVE THE SITUATION WAS NEVERTHELESS THE BRITISH PRIME MINISTER HAD WORDS OF HOPE AND SALVATION THRU HIS OWN MADE DETERMINATION TO SAVE THE NATIONS OVERUN BY NAZI TYRANNY BUT MOST UNIQUE HIS BLIND FAITH AND CONVICTION THAT ALMIGTHY GOD WILL DELIVER THE WICKED MAN UNTO HIS HANDS FOR THE MAINTAINANCE OF CHRISTIAN FOUNDATIONS ON THE WORLD.



3. I enjoyed the speeches compiled for this two tape series. They were quite informative, and reflected the mood of the man and the country before, during, and after WW II. I was disappointed the publisher didn't make an effort to clean up the radio static recorded. With digital editing these days, the static could have, and should have been removed.



4. Just after the tragic death of Princess Diana in August 1997, Mr. Churchill, a distant relative of the late Princess, began showing up in my dreams. Though I had never been much interested in history before, the dreams compelled me to consume every fact and facet of Winston Churchill's life, and his life has deeply inspired me.

   Months ago, I wished aloud that I had an audio tape of Mr. Churchill's speeches -- and then I discovered these tapes from Amazon quite magically. Coincidence? Perhaps. Or maybe the enigmatic Mr. Churchill still has influence in our world.

   The cassettes aretapes of Mr. Churchill's most famous speeches before, during and after World War II when he was the most important man in the world -- the prophet of truth and the architect of peace. The tapes also include some of the more famous speeches of Adolph Hitler, portrayed by actor Tonio Selwart. Other speakers include George VI, Eleanor Roosevelt, Goerge S. Patton and Harry Truman. Two of the world's most talented actors -- Sir Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud lend their talents in reading excepts of Mr. Churchill's memoirs.

   The tapes containstunnning oratories by Winston Churchill who reaches through the veil even now to inspire and support us through whatever battle of mind, body or spirit that engages us at any given moment. Mr. Churchill was a Visionary. He always saw the possibilities. He always had hope. His advice to us is, "Never despair!" And somehow, his words, his voice, his optimistic spirit will help see us through our own darkest hour and inspire us to be victorious over the forces of darkness, without or within.




5. It's interesting to use the word "read"; this cassette presentation of the immortal Winston Churchill allows the 'listener' to picture in her/his mind the late, former PM of England and to capture those great and perilous moments of early 20th Century history. Well done!

5 comments about Not Without My Daughter.

1. There is no doubt in my mind that the experience Mrs. Mahmoody has had, if one can describe that as an ''experience'' has been rather an unpleasant one. As others have pointed it it is also surprising that she has opted to travel to Iran in one of its most shacky moments, during the middle of the war between Iraq-Iran. Also, it seems that Mrs. Mahmoody was not completely out of guard to this, as she herself describes in the book that the trip was made at a moment before which there had been many struggles between her and Mr. Mahmoody, hence it seems their relation was not completely right even before the trip, well... false promises and hopes she accepts to travel to Iran to please her husband.
   
   The experiences she describes must have been very difficult, she is beaten, treated like nothing, nobody helps her or listens to her, as it seems every body is scared and tries to stay away. I completely must disagree with the way she pictures Iran and the society, about the hygiene issue particularly how she describes the food and the people in the family as being completely unclean, yes it's possible that she was not so lucky and the people she had to live with were not clean, but this can not be fitted to the society entirely, neither can it be fitted to any other society, it just seems these particular people seemed rather uncareful in this matter, though when one reads the book with no previous Eastern experience one might think that ''this is how life is over there'' I could not disagree more.
   
   Also, she describes how ''horrible'' the life is in Iran, due to its restrictions and so on. I think this is rather completely another story, and do not take for granted what she says, I have met Iranian people and have had Iranian friends and I think it's better to read further on this matter. The book is nice in my opinion, I admire the courage of Mrs. Mahmoody in her struggle to protect her child, nevertheless I do believe that the descriptions of many things in this book have been emotionally affected by her terrible experience, which may be in a way understandable, had things gone right for her and her husband perhaps she would not have described life as being ''so terrible'' in Iran, I am not sure but a pleasant read in any case.



2. When I was in high school, a friend of mine recommended "Not Without My Daughter." Twenty years later, I finally got around to reading it. I wish that friend were still in my life to discuss the book with. I recall her saying she stayed up all night, unable to put the book down, and I had much the same reaction. It is a riveting tale of domestic abuse and a harrowing escape, occuring in Tehran in 1984. Yes, there were moments that made me squirm because Betty Mahmoody seemed like a spoiled American making sweeping generalizations about a culture she had little time to experience, but the story overall is a compelling one.
   
   I recommend the book highly, with reservations. I also read "Persepolis" recently and that provided a much needed counterpoint to Mahmoody's biases. It is essential to consider more than one person's experiences. Not everyone in Iran is like the family she married into. That said, this is a compelling story and one worth knowing about.



3. Take all the figures in this painting(The Death of Sardanapalus, 1827 Fine Art Stretched Canvas Poster Print by Eugene Delacroix, 22x17) and dress them up as modern Iranians.
   
   You would get this book.



4. Great story but I am going to recommend Detained Differencesby J. Robert Rowe in conjunction with this novel



5. THIS BOOK WAS FANTASTIC. I COULDN'T READ IT FAST ENOUGH. HOW LUCKEY WE ARE TO LIVE IN A FREE COUNTRY. READ THIS BOOK!!

5 comments about Even the Stars Look Lonesome.

1. it talks about essays of aspects in life and what kind of journey that people are planning to have in their experiences and I think its a very interesting book
   Best Book



2. maya angelou's even the stars look lonesome is an outburst to the african american society. it gives so much hope. her words express a lyrical emotion. her usage of intelligent voice structure titilates the mind.



3. The deep and compelling thoughts of life and how to endear every emotion, experience, and disappointment that comes with growing older day by day, were wonderfully displayed in Maya Angelou's Even the Stars Look Lonesome. This book was an intelligent continuation of her best selling book Wouldn't Take Anything from my Journey Now. Taking life one day at a time, and learning from each experience is what this book is all about. The recreating of each memorable happening from love and intimacy to rage and violence, not discounting her remarkable outlook on age, fame, and perhaps the most impotent, the comfort and security you find in a home and a family. The experiences would relate more to elder women looking for advice and insight on common life issues.
   In this novel, Maya Angelou has combined a wonderful collection of life experiences that have formed and made her the person she is today. Each chapter reflects an important stepping-stone of her life. The book consists of twenty chapters that are mumbled together and yet stayed in order of the way they took place.
   The plot is always changing each chapter is like a different book. Towards the beginning of the novel, love and divorce where the experience of choice and she soon moves in to her times in Africa, and how challenging it is to be an African American Women earning her well deserved respect. Maya Angelou's novel also voices her opinion on age, denial, and anger to an older age group of African American women, using emotionally over powering stories. The chapters are short and moderately easy to get through, if you're good at combing facts and clues to complete the final picture.
   Coming to a conclusion of the eye opening novel Even the Star Look Lonesome we feel as though the experiences displayed in this book would better relate to women between the ages of 20 and 80. The reason for that relation is due to the fact not many people have experienced the things talked about until theses ages have been reached. Also the group felt the book was directed towards African Americans and the troubles that race encounters.



4. When Maya Angelou was a young woman -- "in the crisp days of my youth," she says -- she carried with her a secret conviction that she wouldn't live past the age of 28. Raped by her mother's boyfriend at 8 and a mother herself since she graduated from high school, she supported herself and her son, Guy, through a series of careers and buoyed by an implacable ambition to escape what might have been a half-lived, ground-down life of poverty and despair. "For it is hateful to be young, bright, ambitious and poor," Angelou observes. "The added insult is to be aware of one's poverty." In "Even the Stars Look Lonesome," a collection of reflective autobiographical essays, Angelou gives no further explanation for her "profound belief" that she would die young.

   "I was thirty-six before I realized that I had lived years beyond my deadline and needed to revise my thinking about an early death," she recalls. "With that realization life waxed sweeter. Old acquaintances became friendships, and new clever acquaintances showed themselves more interesting. Old loves burdened with memories of disappointments and betrayals packed up and left town, leaving no forwarding address, and new loves came calling."

   Angelou, looking at tailights of her 20's, is the nearest thing America has to a sacred institution, a high priestess of culture and love in the tradition of such distaff luminaries (all of them, hitherto, white) as Isadora Duncan and Pearl S. Buck, with a bit of Eleanor Roosevelt and Aimée Semple MacPherson thrown into the mix.

   "She was born poor and powerless in a land where/power is money and money is adored," the poet Angelou writes in tribute to another astonishing black woman of our time, Oprah Winfrey. "Born black in a land where might is white/and white is adored./Born female in a land where decisions are masculine/and masculinity controls." Angelou's lifelong effort to escape and expose the "national, racial and historical hallucinations" that have burdened black women in America and replace them with a shining exemplar of power, achievement and generosity of spirit is as miraculous as she says it is, even if one suspects that in "real life" Angelou must be a little hard to take.

   "I would have my ears filled with the world's music," she writes, "the grunts of hewers of wood, the cackle of old folks sitting in the last sunlight and the whir of busy bees in the early morning ... All sounds of life and living, death and dying are welcome to my ears." At times Angelou seems more like a blast from Olympus than a woman of flesh and blood.

   Reading these essays, I found myself longing somewhat guiltily for evidence of smallness on her part, of pettiness, even -- some sign that even an icon as monumental as she is might occasionally allow herself an irritated moment, a lapse into cynicism, or humor that wasn't so resolutely seasoned and wise.

   On the other hand, smallness isn't what Maya Angelou stands for. Ordinary is not what she does. Only a cynic, a smaller mind than Angelou's, could fail to welcome the gifts she offers.




5. What a Voice! What an inspiration, and great enunciation. The Lady is her usual awesome self in this wise and eloquent sharing of some of her more intimate life experiences. It's impossible to adequately praise Angelou's ability to speak to the heart and soul, whether through her written work or recorded truth. You'll listen to this over and over again, and will be renewed, and renewed. Enjoy!