5 comments about With the Stroke of a Pen: A Story of Ambition, Greed, Infidelity, and the Murder of French Publisher Robert Denoel.

1. I heard about this book on an NPR talkshow. I was interested from the start and WOW what a different way to look at WWII.



2. This is a really fascinating story with lots of interesting "characters". With the Stroke of a Pen is interesting on several levels: a behind the scenes look at the French literary world, an intimate look at everyday French life and a comprehensive discussion about the French Resistance and collaborationists during WWII who were sometimes one in the same. Staman does a great job setting the scene from indepth character descriptions to details of everyday life. She is great at walking the reader through this story as details unfold for her (it is refreshing to see the work that goes into a book, adding validity to all the facts). Staman knows when to share her thoughts and feelings wiht us, and when to let the scene takeover remaining a silent observer. Her creation of conversations is compelling and makes the book very difficult to put down!
   I am also happy that Staman did not forget about Bebert (I know I didn't)and the footnote about Jean Loviton at the end was well deserved (sorry that's a bit cryptic, I don't want to give anything away:)



3. This is a book that builds and builds. By the end I could not stop reading. It puts events in post World War II France in a way that I had not seen before and arguably sheds new light on both the events of the time and the ultimate impact of the Nazi occupation. A super job of weaving true crime with actual historical events. My favorite kind of book.



4. Although I am not finished with this book, I wanted to comment that the author (very uniquely) positioned herself within the story she tells...smoothly transitioning from historical accounts of the characters in the novel to what she was doing...feeling...when she came across a new piece of information. I've never read a novel told in this way before. Somehow, it makes an already gripping, true story more real.

   Fantastic book thus far!




5. There are many forgettable books, there are a few unforgettable books. I own this book,have read it from cover to cover, and found it literally stunning. This story of greed, collusion, and the murder of Robert DeNoel in Nazi occupied Paris is a fascinating and profound tapestry which reveals the threads of a real life murder mystery interwoven with threads of
   generalized corruption, collaboration and duplicitous behavior which were the spawn of a fear induced societal mentality. This one is unforgettable.

No comments about Live By the Gun Die By the Gun (Blake's True Crime Library).

No comments about Ku Klux Klan - Hooded White Supremacists (Biography).

No comments about Outlaws on Horseback: The History of the Organized Bands of Bank and Train Robbers Who Terrorized the Prairie Towns of Missouri, Kansas, Indian Territory, and Oklahoma for Half a Century.

No comments about Inventing Billy the Kid: Visions of the Outlaw in America, 1881-1981.

4 comments about Il Dottore: The Double Life of a Mafia Doctor.

1. Over the past 10 years, i have referred hundred of patients to "Elliot". He is an excellent cardiac surgeon and 5 years ago performed a five vessel bypass on me. And I am not even Italian. On a holiday no less 3 months after 911.
   Had I had my coronary arteries "cauterized " mentioned twice on page 230, I would not be in good shape. Catheterized is what is meant. Also, Simon Dack at Mt Sinai was not a surgeon. He was a cardiologist and actually the founder of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology"
   
   Reading the book is a bit like looking into a bowl of spaghetti in which each strand has a name. A tangleled web of Italian names intermingled and many slurped away eventually by the fork and spoon of Rudy. Would have liked more on Il Dottore and less on Mafia. I am surprised the book is not yet a movie.



2. Although I strongly disagree with Mr. Felber's characterization of the American Mafia, I must admit this was an interesting story. It is also an intriguing look at man's constant struggle with good and evil, through the lens of a supposed true story. If everyone where completely honest with themselves, we would have to admit to similar struggles in our lives, although certainly not at the level Dr. Litner encountered/embraced.
   
   The bottom line is that the American Mafia is no different from the cowardly criminal street gangs popular in South Central LA or other parts of the country. So if you can get past Mr. Felber's unabashed apologetics on behalf of these thugs (I did, despite my low opinion of them), you will enjoy an overall good read.



3. Il Dottore: The Double Life Of A Mafia Doctor by author and biographyer Ron Felber is the startlingly true story of a physician at Mount Sinai Hospital who provided health care services for Mafia kingpins including John Gotti and Joseph Bonanno. By day, he pursued a flourishing career as a respected cardiac surgeon; by night, he was a gambling and sex addict, drawn ever deeper into the high-stakes world of organized crime. His double life came to a head-on conflict in the mid 1980's when the government's star witness, Ralph Scopo, lay on the operating table. Directed by John Gotti to "make sure that only one of you comes out of the operating room breathing" on one hand, yet threatened with ruin by mayor Giuliani on the other, he had to make the choice of a lifetime between loyalty to La Cosa Nostra and adherence to the Hippocratic Oath. An exciting and suspenseful true story, more enthralling than fiction.



4. I've read a lot about the mafia, but reading Il Dottore by Ron Felber is like eating popcorn at a movie theater, you just can't stop. Elliot Litner's (Il Dottore) life is a roller coaster ride through a time when giants walked the streets of NYC: John Gotti, Carlo Gambino, Joe bonanno, Rudy Giuliani. The gang's all here, and they've never looked better.

No comments about My id ... Ignant & Dissfunkshunal!: Life in the Yahweh Cult and the Witness Protection Program.

No comments about Seven Versions of an Australian Badland.

No comments about Crime and Punishment in America: Biographies Edition 1. (Crime and Punishment in America Reference Library).

5 comments about Fire Lover: Library Edition.

1. Readers know from the beginning that John Orr, ace arson investigator, and the mysterious serial arsonist he investigates are one and the same. We also know that such cases are, alas, not so unusual: fire bugs are often firemen. Even so, Wambaugh's writing skill maintains the suspense of this story to the bitter end. Will justice be done for Matt, the little boy who never got that chocolate mint ice cream cone?
   
   BOOK lovers will be struck by the central role of the perp's autobiographical novel in the case. Can the jury really believe that there is a reasonable doubt that the little boy in the book was named Matt by coincidence?



2. I thought that Ken Howard's reading added to the drama of this story about an arson investigator who set and then videotaped his own fires. The author paid appropriate homage to those whose tenacity finally brought John Orr to trial. The trial (transcript) was pretty much verbatim, but that is a plus because the attorneys were so eloquent.



3. Nobody does non-fiction crime reporting like Joe Wambaugh. Like The Onion Field and The Blooding, this is a non-stop read. Wambaugh's insight into human behavior and motivations is fascinating. Joe Wambaugh is an american treasure.



4. Even though you know how the true story ends it is a page turner. The arsonist's mind is beyond comprehension. Wambaugh does a great job with this account.



5. Too much information. The story line gets bogged down and lost in Wambaugh's microscopic details. Too bad. Could've been an interesting read.