No comments about Pinhoe: As Used to Was.

No comments about Over My Shoulder.

No comments about The Barbara Koton-Thorn Story.

2 comments about Spirito Splendido.

1. This is a book for a rainy afternoon. It takes you to a warm place that makes you want to curl up in your favorite spot with your favorite warm beverage and enjoy! The book doesn't always refer to the weather, but as you read you see the stories unfolding in a sunny setting.
   I enjoyed the author's use of regional dialects. It brings color to the character's that star in her childhood memories. I felt like I was in New York during WWII and I could almost smell the Pasta on the stove.
   Reading this book took me back to a time when I was a child and I loved listening to the adults talk. I found it to be like comfort food! It made me think of my parents and all the good food and conversation that made up my world when I was young.
   If you want a book that has Humor, surprise, and some bitter sweet memories, then this is a book for you to add to your collection. It is a book you will find yourself reading again and again just for the shear pleasure of losing yourself in MS.Schore's engaging family memories.



2. Dee Schore has produced a delightful and magical tale of the joys of imagination and innocence. The child in this story is at once every child and no child ever known. I couldn't help but marvel at her resilience and coping skills as a child from a multi ethnic family from the heart of the melting pot that is America. How many times during my reading did I wish to reach out and pluck young Dee and make her my own?
   I highly recommend Spirito Slendido as a must read for anyone who has ever imagined or dreamed of princes or angels or anything beyond the confines of their mother's apron strings. I trust there will be more from Ms. Schore.
   Terence J. McManus
   Waxahachie, Texas

No comments about Chamberet: Recollections from an Ordinary Childhood.

No comments about WHERE THE ANGELS BOW TO THE GRASS: A BOY'S MEMOIR.

No comments about Defending Baltimore Against Enemy Attack: A Boyhood Year During WWII.

No comments about Getting There: Growing Up With Polio in the 30's.

No comments about Village Girl, the.

4 comments about ...By Reason of Childhood.

1. Francis Connelly's BY REASON OF CHILDHOOD is a frank remembrance of a youth spent on Brooklyn's sidewalks. While reading it, I was struck by how Mr. Connelly's book was a sort of male version of Betty Smith's A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN. The impossible task of coping with an alcoholic father, the toughing it out in the streets, the quick allies and enemies of childhood, all come together in this open and, often times, funny narrative. Qualities you don't find very frequently these days. The fact is, you have to learn to laugh at life, especially when it tends to frown at you; this is the subtext of BY REASON OF CHILDHOOD. It is a powerfully taught lesson which, to Mr. Connelly's credit, is conveyed to us through this wonderful book.



2. I just finished reading this book, and spent as much time crying as I did laughing. It's basically a really engaging collection of episodes from an Irish youth spent making the most of a situation marked with the sadness of an absent, alcohholic father. I read Angela's Ashes several years ago, but found this memoir to be so much more refreshing because it's so much less "literary" and so much more personable. The voice with which the stories are told is more common than McCourt's (in my opinion almost contrived) loftiness, and the image I most often had in mind was Connelly as my own father, telling random stories from memory as they occurred to him, and as he remembered them. In spite of the hardships he was faced with, this guy was a champ at finding the fun and wonder in the simple things he had before him. I live in Brooklyn today, but Connelly made me wish for some of the Brooklyn of yesterday.



3. Once you get started reading this book, you won't want to put it down! This is the story of what it was like for a young Irish boy growing up in old time Brooklyn. You'll share in his triumphs and sorrows. The author has a certain charming wit that just about everyone can identify with. If you're a fan of true life stories - you must add ...by Reason of Childhood to your reading list.



4. This book is a must for fans of memoirs, old-time Brooklyn stories, and stories of the Irish experience in America. I really got sucked into the story. He had a tough life, his father was an alcoholic and never around, his mother had grown up in an orphanage, they had no money-but somehow he was able to have a sense of humor about it all and grow up with a real sense of right and wrong, aware of the joy that's possible in life. Even though his childhood wasn't all roses he could look back on it with affection and new understanding. I highly recommend this book, it was truly inspiring. The way he wrote with such an honest, unaffected voice was so refreshing too.