No comments about A Short Life of Trouble: Forty Years in the New York Art World.

5 comments about Truck: A Love Story (P.S.).

1. I could go on and on about this book, but let's let the man speak for himself. "The amateur study of philosophy," Perry writes, "is like taking a few laps with a NASCAR driver. You're not qualified to do it on your own, you have no business behind the wheel, but for a few laps or paragraphs, you're right in there with 'em, and when it's all over, you've learned something. Or," he adds, "as my local fire chief once said, you've simply exasperated the situation."
   
   Perry hasn't exasperated his situation, in this book a year during which he rebuilds his 1952 International Harvester pickup, plants a garden, and falls in love, in between tangential forays into brother-in-lawhood, deer hunting, being a professional author, sexism, and all the other bits and pieces that make up a whole life in rural America. At times a little wordy (you wish his editor had leaned on him a little more toward the end) mostly it's just one of the best word pictures of life today, funny, sad, smart. It's not given to everyone to be perceptive and a good writer. Perry is, and it is a pleasure to be along for, literally, the ride of his life.
   
   Some of my favorite Perryisms:
   
   "The world of American culture and commerce functions like a combination of sponge and sandpaper, absorbing everything and smoothing it down so it slides easily into a designer shopping bag." (For years I've been railing against the Pepsi-ization of America. Comrade!)
   
   [describing the village junkman's trailer] "Fully loaded, it has the appearance of a postapocalyptic Costco on wheels." (I expect Mel Gibson as Raggedyman to come walking down the street right behind.)
   
   [A man who has spent way too much time worrying about his hair says this of his do when he graduated from nursing school] "...mousse spikes on top, a mullet in back, and a moustache up front. The bad hair trifecta." (Kinda sorta want to see a picture of that.)
   
   "...a rictus of dither."
   
   "...an epic snit."
   
   I could spend all day thumbing through Truck: A Love Story (P.S.) and coming up with these nuggets, but there's one on practically every page so better you read the book yourself. You'll feel like you've made a friend when you're done. And you'll have laughed a lot, and maybe even learned something, too.



2. "Truck: a Love Story" is a sweet and simple tale, filled with rich observations of life in a small rural town, told by the sort of man you always hoped would marry your sister. Perry comes across as kind and unassuming. He is in love with his town, his truck, and his simple way of life. There is more than meets the eye, however, as Perry's writing and style are articulate and erudite without being anachronistic. Perry manages to walk the difficult balance between being an easy going man and a deep-thinking philosopher of life. When all things are considered, "Truck: A Love Story" is a profound exposition on a way of existence that we have perhaps lost touch with in some parts of America.
   
   I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in remembering how to feel good about people, small towns, and life's simple pleasures all while having a few laughs at the same time.



3. I read Michaels' book with great interest. I found his story paralelling mine on many aspects. I could relate to the smallish town, the old truck, the unusual call hours of the life within his profession. As he balanced that with his passion for writing, and upon the decision of fixing that old heap, a newly found light shone through.
   
   It's a feel good, genuine book, about people, hope and second chances not only for the truck, but for Mike as well. Read it.



4. I gave it two stars instead of one because I have to admit that I could not bring myself to finish this book - I stopped short of halfway. I can also see how some people would like this book, but I simply can't relate to the main character, and frankly if I met him in real life I think I would be annoyed by him.
   
   Perhaps it's because it's about a complaining middle-aged single man, while I'm much younger and less single. While I generally appreciate self-deprecation, I found him wimpy. He's clueless under a hood, while I take pride in my mechanical prowess. He's agnostic and borderline offensive toward Christians, while I appreciate different faiths. He daydreams about traditional gender roles while apologizing profusely out of political correctness... wimp. His most likable feature: he's a former volunteer firefighter/EMT.
   
   Don't get this book for a real gearhead or for someone who will not appreciate philosophical ramblings.



5. I first read perry's Population 485 and fell in love with his quirky style and incredibly descriptive writing. He truly proves his caliber in Truck. A great read that I couldn't put down. I was fortunate to meet Mike at a book signing in Northfield, MN. He is so humble, and great to visit with. You truly meet the man in his writing.
   
   An incredible read. Highly recommended.

5 comments about Everyday Matters.

1. I was not expecting anything when I started this book...frankly, I'm not sure I remember ordering it. In any event, the parallels between this graphic memoir and my own life make this book read more like an answered prayer than merely another memoir.
   
   I take that last part back. It's not just that the author's experiences mirror my own life that makes this book notable. Rather, it's that Gregory manages to capture his own HUMANITY...without resorting to irony or the manufactured self-deprecation that seems to plague the modern memoir that makes this book so notable. I mean, finally!, someone has managed to write an HONEST memoir, one that does not require an attorney's Release of the Facts as a prologue.
   
   "Everyday Matters" reads like a private journal, without the pretention that comes when the author knows other folks'll be reading it. Gregory's sketches are likewise uninhibited and imperfect; together, the text and illustrations create a personal, intimate environment for the reader that is inviting and judgment-free; none of the "You shouldn't have looked (though I knew you would, so I gave you my best side)" business that is the meta-text of so many memoirs, but instead offers a reassuring, "Well, that's me, hair and all...what do you think?"
   
   A thoughtful, generous gift from Gregory to his readers.



2. A very enjoyable read and inspirational. I went out purchased a sketch pad and started drawing after finishing the book!



3. This is a great book! I read it in an hour and a half. I enjoy knowing the process people take in order to deal with life's occasional hiccups that knock the world out from under you. It helps to know that you're not the only one sometimes. It's always a relief when the person works it out positively and thinks enough to want to share it with others. Thank you, Danny!



4. love it, love it, love it !!!!
   a wonderful inspiring little book.
   perfect smaller size (6"x8") to carry along with your sketchbook to keep you encouraged in your drawing.



5. I suppose I had some misperceptions of this book. I was assuming there would be more inspiration that would cajole me into journaling and artwork. I also thought is was he who was disabled - it was his wife. There was little mention of how his wife's diability figured into the whole pictue of his life. As a disabled person, I thought there would be some insight into overcoming disability to do what you want. I do however, love the way he draws and journals. In the end I saw this as a simple journal that anyone might have done. I still have his other book and I have higher hopes for that.

5 comments about Priestblock 25487: A Memoir of Dachau.

1. This book hits the ground running and does not let up. It is in the form of a diary. It chronicles 18 months of the life of a priest become prisoner in a brutal and sadistic Nazi concentration camp. What makes it unforgettable is that it is not a work of fiction but rather true history. The story is not easily dismissed but rather lingers in the mind like smoke on a still evening. This book will change the way you see the world and yourself - at least it did for me.
   Very highly recommended for those how understand the value of history to understanding the present times.



2. 
   This Memoir of Father Jean Bernard grabs the reader's attention from the very first page.
   While rather brief (for a Memoir), it's packed with details; rather graphic.
   
   It forces the reader to grapple with the question, "What would I do in his situation?". - Not an easy question to answer.
   After six months, this reviewer is still wrestling with the question.
   
   The writing style is simple, direct and vivid.
   Fr. Bernard makes no attempt to spare the reader the horrors that he and and so many others had to endure; nor does he try to elicit empathy from the reader in his description of the hell in which he lived for 15 months.
   
   I've purchased four copies of "PRIESTBLOCK 25487", thus far; keeping one for myself and giving the others to friends. - One of which is a Catholic priest. I am looking forward to discussing Fr. Bernard's story with him.
   
   Fr. Bernard's Memoir is the inspiration for the movie, "The Ninth Day" aka "Der Neunte Tag", starring: Ulrich Matthes ("DOWNFALL") - Both were Excellent movies, by the way.
   
   This book is VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to those interested in Concentration Camp Survivor stories/memoirs. - All of which are very important for educating our children as well as ourselves.
   
   It is this reviewer's most fervent hope that mankind never forget what those millions of dear and precious souls suffered because of hate and jealousy.
   
   Paradine



3. This book has become one of my favorites. It is a wonderful book that shows the hope that is always present in the face of evil. I highly recommend this book, you'll enjoy it.



4. Father Bernad's narrative, written shortly after the war, is especially effective in its understatement. Fr. Bernard was an intellectual but not a writer, and so his narrative, seeking to tell only the facts, without any embellishment (really, is anyone today capable of writing a narrative without clouding it with "it changed my life forever," "defined a generation," "horrific," and all the other assembly-line filler-phrases and adjectives?)is focused, tightly-constructive, and useful. Acquaintances speak of reading through Fr. Bernard's little book of daily life in a concentration camp in one sitting -- it really is that good.



5. This book brings the reader into the daily life of a priest who was imprisoned for speaking out against the Nazis. The cruelty and drudgery of camp life is vividly detailed in this diary and one cannot help but feel the reality of the events documented so well by Fr. Bernard.
   
   Of interest to those who are interested in the role of the Church during this time are the sections where life in the camp becomes harder for the priests when the Pope or a bishop publishes a percieved anti Nazi letter or sermon. This real life witness counters those trendy academic claims of Church complicity.

No comments about House Calls With William Carlos Williams, MD (Powerhouse Books).

4 comments about Returning To My Mother's House: Taking Back the Wisdom of the Feminine.

1. Returning to My Mother's House is a book I will gift to all my women friends who are on a path to increased awareness. Although we may not all have lost mothers at a young age as Gail did, most of us have 'mother issues' which impact our current lives and how we relate to our feminine energies. Her book is a beautiful tribute to her mom and the potential of all women, as well as a call to utilize and transcend our individual stories in service to compassionate action in the world.
   I was thoroughly engaged & deeply inspired - thankyou, Gail!



2. I totally love my mom -- in many ways she's my hero -- but nobody presses my buttons the way she does. Reading Gail Straub's book, Returning to My Mother's House, was like a year of therapy for me.
   Straub weaves together her own story and that of her mother in a way that is both intimate and highly readable. Her life as a global activist is a fascinating story, but what really touched me was how she gradually uncovered the power of her mother's influence, the magnetic pull of a mom's unlived life. Each insight that Straub uncovered seemed to trigger one in me too, and in the days since reading it, I find myself rethinking my relationship with my 80 year-old Mom in ways that I'm hoping will make the ever-smaller time we still have together a little richer.
   Does this add up to capturing the wisdom of the feminine? That's a big question, but I sense it's nudging me along in that probably lifelong process.
   This is a book I'm recommending to a lot of my closest friends, and I'm nagging them to read it soon! Cause I can hardly wait to curl up and have a long conversation with them about all the thoughts and feelings it kicked up for me.
   If you're like me, cherishing your mom yet longing for a very different life, you will love this book.



3. gail straub has written an evocative, compelling revelation of her life story - a journey that beautifully weaves the strong bond she has held with her mother through her life - a bond that was abruptly broken at her mother's death thirty years ago. She offers a skillful narrative about her emerging years as a boisterous adolescent, her travels across the deserts and plains of Africa, her marriage and work in the world - and her fervent need to reclaim the wisdom of the feminine and the urgency to do so during these tumultous days. I highly recommend this beautiful, sensitive and powerful book.



4. In her book "Returning to My Mother's House" Gail Straub offers us amazing insight into the importance of linking understanding of life relationships to living a life free from the wounds of the past. Her lyrical writing is an added bonus that makes this a compelling read.
   
   Vera Salter Ph.D.

No comments about Hitman: Forty Years Making Music, Topping the Charts, and Winning Grammys.

5 comments about In an Instant: A Family's Journey of Love and Healing.

1. Having been tossed into an experience of a spouse of 30 years having a critically serious brain surgery, this book rung so true to the joys, deep depression, and aganizing experience of TBI. While my experience had nothing to do with a public figure as large as Bob Woodruff nor a war injury, the end result of a TBI aptly descriped the hell that the injured, as well as the spouse/caretaker walks not just immediately, but for the long haul. The caretaker, in this case, Lee Woodruff was brutally honest about the emotions and the sheer exhaustion that the caretaker undergoes. I read this book in less than two days. It also shone light on the truth of miracles of the human brain to "rewire" itself. I applauded both Bob Woodruff and Lee Woodruff for their unending honesty in dealing with the topic of TBI.



2. This is a love story. One might question this when a journalist has to fight for his life after being wounded while covering the Iraqi war, but not once you read Lee and Bob Woodruff's amazingly poignant story. This is their love story-the story of Bob and Lee, and how their love came to be and sustained them through a year of pain, hope, fear, recovery, and dedication.
   Told in alternating time frames from the dreadful moment when Lee is called and told that Bob has been critically injured to how they met and fell in love. Lee tells her account of their love story with passion and feeling, while Bob is as always the accomplished journalist with his fact based style of recollection. Both Lee and Bob are heroes in this story. Bob's valiant effort to handle his severe injuries mostly to the brain, and Lee's courageous, steadfast support and love throughout the entire process make up this amazingly miraculous story.
   Bob, only recently having been named co-anchor of ABC News, was in Iraq imbedded with troops covering the Iraqi war while Lee and their four children were at Disney World. While that may sound almost callous to many, this is the life a journalist and his family. When a bomb explodes and Bob is literally blown to pieces, not much hope seems to exist that he will survive as Lee is rushed to her husband's side. Telling about how she got the call and what immediately transpired, Lee aptly recounts their story first hand and truly earns the title of In an Instant: A Family's Journey of Love and Healing because that is what happened to this family in just one minute.
   In the above-mentioned alternating writing style, the story goes back to Bob's leaving a profitable law profession to pursue his dream of being a journalist. Bob's hard work and passion for covering the news takes him through the rank and file in many amazing places and stories as he works his way up in his journalism career. The part of the story of Lee and Bob's personal life is interspersed with the realities of Bob's day-to-day survival and recovery following the bomb in Iraq.
   Bob's 5 week coma, swelling of the brain, and many near death complications are told with detail and clarity so that the reader really experiences, as much as possible, first hand what this family went through. The never ending waiting to see if Bob will survive is a story of such devotion that in reality, you wonder just how someone can go through something like that. Lee tells this story in a way that makes you realize that you can never know, as did she, until you are tested, how you would respond in a situation such as this. At one point, after about five weeks, Lee crawls up into bed with Bob to try and hold him, with all his medical contraptions and tubes, and she tells him that he must fight for his life because she and their four children need him. Barely leaving his side, Lee is shocked when a few days later she walks into his room and he is sitting up and asking her where she has been?! It is at that point that the real fight begins for Bob to work hard to return to his life as he knew it. Meanwhile, Lee must juggle duel roles of parent and caregiver.
   This compelling story of love and devotion is told with honesty, humor, and hope. The friendships both Lee and Bob have, the love and family they share, guides one through an often graphic but also witty and very human novel. Get the book In An Instant and you will find it won't take much longer than that to be hooked and not want to put it down!
   Submitted by Karen Haney: Originally published Curled Up With a Good Book (www.curledup.com)



3. This is a memoir written by Bob and Lee Woodruff. The passages are divided between Bob and Lee, each giving their recollection of the way certain events unfolded. I found Bob's accounts to be gripping and interesting, maybe because he is the one who received the traumatic injury. I found Lee's writing akin to reading a bad soap opera script. It was almost unreadable at times. I understand that she is facing hardships with her husband in a coma, but it nothing like what your typical family has to face under the same circumstances. At one point, this Colgate educated woman wonders how she is going to pay the bills with her husband in a coma? When I read this, I got the feeling that she didn't know how to pay the bills, i.e. write out a check and mail it. I don't think money is an issue for this Westchester County, NY family. It was passages like that which detract from the book. I found Bob's account of his therapy and what he had to go through to get back to himself very interesting but too brief. In the after forward, Bob mentions he is working on a documentary about his journey and the journey GIs have to make in recovering from traumatic brain injuries. I don't know if this has come out yet, but it would be an interesting show.



4. This story recounts the miraculous survival of news anchor Bob Woodruff. More importantly, it exposes the fear, frustration, and fatigue that Woodruff's family experienced as they guided him through months of trauma.



5. This book tells the serious story of the tragedy and triumph shared by Bob Woodruff and his wife, children, friends and co-workers when he was devastatingly injured while reporting in Iraq. The trauma of his head injury is explained in a very detailed manner, and his subsequent recovery is followed mainly from his wife's point of view, describing the horrors they all went through. The ability to deal with all of this makes this book a very moving and uplifting tale of how Bob and also our brave soldiers are coping with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and why it is important for all of us to become aware and understand this signature war injury of Iraq and Afghanistan.
   
   The poignant and matter of fact telling of the process to recovery is sprinkled with humor and makes a great read for those interested in learning how to move through this difficult situation.

5 comments about iWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It.

1. I was looking to find out how much was true of Pirates of Silicon Valley when I came across this book. I'm not a fan of Apple, but I am a person who enjoys history of many sorts, and I am close to getting a degree in Engineering Technology.
   
   It's just a great read. There are many interesting things in here about history, such as his thoughts on Vietnam. He talks about his design decisions in simple terms. He describes in detail the most hilarious pranks that had me laughing aloud. I even learned a few things that might help me as an engineer. If I wasn't so busy, this book would be done in 2-3 days tops. It's just that difficult to put down. I always want to know what happens next and am disappointed when I have to put it down.
   
   There are a few minor downsides. He is often repeats himself. He can be pompous at times. Some sentences don't communicate well. Even after reading the sentences multiple times, I couldn't understand what it was saying.
   
   I'm just over halfway done with the book and I had to write the review because I am so excited about this book. I don't think you have to know any technical knowledge to enjoy it for what it is.



2. If you use a computer (which is almost everyone now) I believe your obligated to read this book. Even though I enjoyed the book I felt like it lead me a little to how Woz wants to be remembered. I have a great admiration for him and this story certainly supports that. While for me there was nothing really shockingly new I did find a lot of little facts and stories that I had not known. Unfortunately I never did follow or understand his activities with the huge concerts in California. Being a long time computer enthusiast I couldn't help but loving this book. Hope you enjoy it as much.



3. Don't be put off by the negative statements about this guy. He is actually a very good writer. He explains himself clearly, and gets across complicated ideas in an accessable way, that... sort of just flows into the brain with the minimal of the reader's effort.
   
   I think the main problem that readers have with his writing, IS his accessability! They want him to write in really over-complicated ways. You know... University degree educated people who feel something is not correct unless it's hard to read and hard to understand, so they can prove they are smarter than everyone else. I think most of the negative reviewers here are the ones who are bloated on the ego and butcher language, cos I found Woz a lot easier to read than their reviews.
   
   Sadly, this is a comment on our times. There are too many stupid people in society who go around rubbishing inventors cos they are jealous that for all their degrees, achievements and so called intelligence, they never found themself capable of inventing anything.
   
   Small minded arrogant University degree educated people make life tough for those who want to make the world a better place.



4. I bought this book about a year ago when I had recently been laid off and wanted to introduce some new ideals into my brain.
   
   I read the Second Coming of Steve Jobs, which showed how a man can be a cutthroat and succeed.
   
   iWoz however, shows how a man can find success doing something he loves, and not get hung up on money or power.
   
   After initially reading the book I thought it was kind of blah, but after seeing more of Woz in person and in various bios, I truly appreciate how genius he truly is.
   
   Excellent read for anyone seeking innovation and drive, because Woz clearly has it!



5. My wife and I have been really enjoying listing to the 'Audible unabridged version' The father - son relationship is very interesting. A lot of very nice insights. It is quite a bit of fun to listen to the book as we are driving on trips. Highly recommended!

No comments about Foreskin's Lament.