5 comments about Night (Oprah's Book Club).

1. Elie Wiesel was a victim of the attempted extermination of the "Jewish Race" by the Nazi German State under the leadership of Adolf Hitler.
   
   Adolf Hitler actually had a bigger plan than the extinction of the "Jewish Race." His larger goal was to eventually rid the world of all inferior breeds and types of people - weather they were members of races or not. He was going to purify humankind of all of its miscreants. The Jews were simply first. He explains these goals in his book Mein Kampf.
   
   It always amazes me that here in the United States there has only been one political party that has ever been outlawed - the Communist Party. As far as I know even today, you can be a member of the Nazi Party but not a member of a Communist Party.
   
   In principle and theory the Nazi Party advocates the extermination of all inferior peoples for the eventual goal of the purification of the species.
   
   The Communist Party in principle and theory (despite the leadership of many misguided brutes and dictators and murderers) has advocated fair treatment for the poor and working class.
   
   In the United States we have outlawed the Communist Party but not the Nazi Party.
   
   Harry Truman in one of his memoirs states that in his opinion Communism was a worse philosophy than Nazism.
   
   To say the least I'm confused.
   
   But "Night" by Elie Wiesel is not a book about Nazism or Communism. It is a book about people and the human race.
   
   The copy of "Night" that I have was previously owned. And the original owner has written several of his comments or questions in the margins.
   
   On page four he writes; Why would you allow yourself to be shipped off? On page seven he writes: Total denial of worsening conditions by the Jews. On page 27 he writes; So many Jews and so few SS. Why don't the Jews just take over? On page 37 he writes: A psychological feeling of depression controlled the Jews. He has other comments but they get fewer and fewer as the book goes on.
   
   What do you think about these questions?
   
   I wonder why this last reader is questioning the behavior of the Jews and not the behavior of the Germans.
   
   There is not one question written in the margins of this little book asking how the German people could do such a thing to any group of people.
   
   Like the battered housewife, everyone asks; Why did you stay with him? Why did you allow him to treat you so?
   
   No one asks: What was wrong with this man?
   
   Is it because we as human beings are so conditioned to abuse and torture and mistreatment in this life that we see nothing unusual about the abuser?
   
   And this brings us to Mr. Elie Wiesel's constant refrain throughout this book; `Where is God? Where is He? Where can He be now?'
   
   As a philosophical student of the classical problem of the existence or non-existence of God, I find this argument basic. This is the moral argument against the existence of God - How can a moral God create an immoral world?
   
   Leibniz said that because God is good and moral - this is the best of all possible worlds. It must be. God can not make mistakes.
   
   Voltaire wrote Candide as the disbelievers' response to Leibniz.
   
   The believer will say that the evil of the Holocaust was not God's evil but the evil of man - it was created by the German people. This was human evil not Divine evil - as if human nature could somehow be separated from a Divine creation.
   
   Once again we see the victim getting the blame while the abuser is exonerated.
   This seems to be the human condition.
   
   To continue with this philosophy of "beating up on the victim," I suppose that the non-believer could say to the believer: Why my friend do you chose to believe in an abusive God?



2. Some books, it seems, are almost beyond mere review. NIGHT is about Elie Wiesel's time in Nazi concentration camps. Really, what can one add? The description alone says an awful lot. So let us not focus on subject and instead focus on readability.
   
   NIGHT is very readable. It is not, however, a scholarly study. Many other books provide much better detail and history of the Nazi camps designed either to exterminate undesirables outright or, alternatively, work them to death. NIGHT, rather than being scholarly, is personal. It does not bring the concentration camps to life. It brings Elie Wiesel to life as he lived it in those camps and, more ominously, the life he led before them.
   
   That life before heading to the extermination camps is of equal importance to the life in the camps itself. A basic yet terrifying rule of totalitarian ideologies and the political movements that bring them to fruition is that they do not advertise the barbaric methods that will ultimately be employed in order to achieve their ideological goals. Concentration camps were such extreme institutions that, even given the generations of anti-semitism, they seemed beyond belief until it was much too late. Wiesel and his family (and others in his village) were indeed warned as to what was awaiting them. Yet the stories were so far out there, so incomprehensible, that they were scoffed at. That is perhaps the most important lesson of the book.
   
   At a little over 100 pages, NIGHT is actually a bit skimpy in its descriptions. Yet it provides enough. It provides the big pictures - endless work, ravenous hunger, brutality of the guards and other prisoners and, most distressing, the slipping away of one's own humanity as survival becomes so precarious that one's concerns even for loved ones slips away in the face of self-preservation.
   
   Part memorial, part warning, NIGHT was Wiesel's first book. It could have been his last and his reputation would still be significant. It is a dark but worthwhile read about a very dark time.



3. When a teenager, Elie Wiesel was taken from his home, and he and his family were put in a series of concentration camps over several years. Night is the haunting record of that experience, as bleakly unflinching a memoir as has ever been written. Few can know the horrors of not only spending teenage years in such a place but also seeing family members and many others die and countless others suffer. Needless to say, Wiesel's own plight was also tragically great, and he unsurprisingly lost both innocence and faith. The experience touched him so deeply that he was unable to write of it for over a decade. When he finally did, he had great difficulty getting published; the events were still very close, and the world wanted to forget rather than being reminded. However, when published in 1960, Night was an international sensation, reawakening interest in the Holocaust and all it stands for. It was not only a literary triumph but the first step in Wiesel's core belief that we must always remember the Holocaust so nothing like it ever happens again.
   
   The book remains undeniably compelling, a masterpiece on many levels. Perhaps most immediately, it is a stark depiction of evil's height, showing humanity at its worst. This is valuable in every sense from philosophical to sociological but above all in destroying hollow optimism epitomized in the belief that things will take care of themselves and all will work out for the best. Night leaves no doubt that, left unchecked, human evil grows exponentially; it is our duty to curb it, and the awareness raised by such works is a very important part of this. Second, it is an invaluable historical document, one of the best - most thorough and readable - primary sources of the Holocaust's unparalleled miseries. As such, it is one of the darkest works ever - all the more so in being true; even the blackest imagination could not conceive such atrocities, which says all that need be said about this aspect of Night and the events it records.
   
   Yet there are several strong senses in which the book is not bleak. First, it is an artistic masterpiece; unwavering honesty and vivid description raise it above mere memoir, putting it with the most harrowing and unforgettable first-person accounts ever. Its biggest strength in this way is unadorned yet highly effective prose. Wiesel has no time for dizzying metaphors, lush descriptions, or other fancy writing; he has a bitter story to tell and tells it as plainly and - in the best way - as simply as possible. This makes it clearer and more memorable than it could ever have been otherwise, forcing us to focus on the events rather than the writing. The story speaks for itself as few can. Though barely one hundred pages, it has more of substance and significance than nearly any other book. The words are few but the implications endless.
   
   Perhaps more fundamentally, though Night is a savage condemnation of human evil, it is also a tribute to human endurance. Like a surprising number of others, Wiesel survived the Holocaust despite everything, showing just how far human beings can be pushed and live. Such determination and perseverance is truly incredible, a testament to the indomitable human spirit that is at least as astonishing in its way as the evil that confronted it and far more awe-inspiring. Wiesel not only lived but, in a long career starting with Night, has admirably devoted his life to exposing the Holocaust's monstrosities to guard future ages against recurring evil.
   
   Night is a profoundly important document in this and many other ways, a must for anyone even remotely interested in the Holocaust, World War II, Judaism, or the depths to which humanity can sink - as well as, in one sense at least, all that it can rise above. It is nothing less than one of the most important and valuable books of all-time. Though a very painful read, everyone should read it if only to see just how painful life can be - and hopefully to avoid passing the pain on to those lucky enough to have been born after the nightmares it faithfully records.



4. Book was sent quickly and was in great condition. Would do bussiness with this business/person again.



5. After reading "Night", I realized that it is the first book I've read that was authored by a Holocaust survivor. I was so absorbed by Elie Weisel's tale of absolute misery and despair that it only took me a little over an hour to read the entire book ... and I've found myself thinking about it's contents ever since. It is also the first book I've read that actually made me feel the authors pain.
   
   The books starts with the feeling that Germany's defeat was imminent, Weisel conveys a sense of complacency in that it appeared he and his family would be spared the worse with the Red Army's rapid westward advance to Germany. Even when Germany invades Hungary in the spring of 1944, Weisel and his family appeared content to wait for the Russians. This proved to be a grave miscalculation as the Nazis begin deporting Jews from the ghetto to labor camps in Poland ... at this point, Weisel and his father are separated from his mother and younger sister. The remainder of the book is about survival based on ingenuity, fate and others' misfortunes. As he and his father trudge through the hell of Auschwitz; it isn't until later that Weisel begins to assume the fate of his sister and mother.
   
   Throughout the book, death is both random and a frequent sight, with the lines of people plodding to the chimneys that endlessly spew the ashes of thousands upon thousands ... a constant reminder of his inevitible fate. Weisel frequently contemplates his faith in God, because there is no way, he believes, that God would allow such inhumanity on such a grand scale. When the thundering artillery of the approaching Red Army are actually being felt, the Nazis crudely force the inmates of Auschwitz on a death march to Germany that only the strong could possibly survive. At this point Weisel sees and feels how the bonds of family become unglued when starvation becomes extreme and how the endless dead are unceremoniously disposed. Buchenwald is the final destination of the death march and it is there where Weisel experiences his ultimate loss and eventual liberation by the Americans.
   
   At 120 pages (including a transcript of the author's Nobel Prize speech), Weisel didn't need many words to bring forth the pain, suffering and loss he experienced and witnessed. I found myself constantly putting myself in Weisel's shoes, often wondering how he had the will, at sixteen years of age, to endure such horrific circumstances. I intended to be critical of this book in that it left me with so many questions, mainly follow-up questions, like Weisel's thoughts looking back. But, with the book still making me think several days after I read it, I accepted and appreciated "Night" for what it was ... a nightmare that became reality for a teenager ... a capsule of that particular moment in time, no more, no less.

5 comments about Man's Search for Meaning.

1. Today's society needs positive books, that value life not by it's usefulness but by it's meaning. This is one of those books.
   The testimony part is awesome, leaves little chance to argue that a life full of suffering shouldn't be lived. The logotherapy introduction part is very interesting and enlightening, although I had some bumps with the technical stuff, but that's nothing that google can't handle :)
   Buy it, read it and share it.



2. The last 10 years has been a real struggle, and as I go through life trying to find ways to cope and stay happy, I ran across this book. Heard about it many years ago and always wanted to read it. I HIGHLY recommend that everyone read this. It's a very interesting psychological look at the people who survived the Nazi death camps in particular, but in general, is a good resource for anyone going through a hard time. It looks at the coping mechanisms of those who survived, and the mindset of those who gave up, and reminds us all that even when everything including our very identity is taken away, we still have something that NO ONE can take unless we let them - how we will deal with our challenges. Will we give up and give in, defeated; or will we choose to look past the bad stuff at the sunset, the puppy's eyes, the pretty flowers and see that there is still good stuff in the world.
   
   This book, along with Awakening Joy: 10 Steps That Will Put You on the Road to Real Happiness and How We Choose to Be Happy: The 9 Choices of Extremely Happy People--Their Secrets, Their Stories are excellent textbooks on how to bring more joy back into your life.
   
   Do yourself a favor and buy all three.



3. Part essay about his time in the concentrations camps, part psychiatric tract based on those experiences, Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning is one of the most important books I've read. It is not surprising that there are more than 12M copies in print and that it's been named one of the ten most influential books.
   
   In the first 100 pages, Frankl recounts the time he spent in the camps from 1942-1945. Anyone who has read other accounts of the camps or seen movies of them knows the depravities there. But Frankl's account is somewhat unique in that he approaches the experience as a psychiatrist, in a very clinical fashion, only using emotion here and there to spice his writing. His writing is perceptive, showing a keen empathy for not only those who were heroic in such places, but also those who were not. This goes for both the prisoners as well as the German guards. He explains the psychology of lowered expectations, how a simple de-lousing, for example, could be the source of so much happiness for the prisoners. And given the title, it's not surprising he spends much time talking about meaning. The whole premise of his book is that humans are driven by their search for meaning. And in these pages, he demonstrates how meaning in a prisoner's life, whether it be a family to get back home to or work still left to be done, literally was the difference between life and death in many cases.
   
   This leads to the second part of the book, called Logotherapy in a Nutshell. Logotherapy is a therapy Frankl pioneered after his experiences in the camps. In it, a patient is `actually confronted with and reoriented toward the meaning of his life'. He talks of the existential vacuum, in which so many people now languish due to the complexity of having so many choices and a lack of traditions to fall back on. Logotherapy simplifies this for us. According to it, meaning can come from three places: creating work or doing deeds, experiencing something or encountering someone (love), 3) or by our attitude to unavoidable suffering.
   
   To me, this puts logotherapy in the realm of religion, especially eastern religion. It's about human transcendence. Frankl says here that we derive meaning by helping others (through deeds or work), putting another above ourselves (loving someone), or by seeing unavoidable suffering as something of meaning in its own right. These ideas seem Buddhist to me, and in this case I applaud the convergence of science and spirituality in a space that needs it.
   
   I found this book inspirational. The experiences of the concentration camps by themselves are enough to put matters in harsh perspective for anyone living in freedom. But Frankl's expanding of this information into a book that can help so many others is a fine example of his own theories. We are lucky to have such a work available to us.



4. I am in no position to comment on this book, except to suggest others read it. What an incredible man and what a book! I will keep this book in my home forever, just in case I ever feel that life is difficult. Wow - this book will stop you complaining and help anyone focus on what really is important in life. I am honored to have read Viktor Frankl's words in this book.



5. I love this book. The writer really gives you something to think about in your own life. This book touches you mind, heart, and soul. If you every though about a meaning about/for life, please read this book. It would give you more insight then you can imagine!!!!!!!!

5 comments about A Tale of Love and Darkness.

1. There are 54 reviewers who recorded their thoughts before mine. So, my review includes some comments on those reviews.
   
   I found the book to be very fascinating because I am very curious about Jews as people and Israel as a country. Amos Oz has gone through events that few people go through in their life ... the most difficult one is his mother's suicide. The story is told in a radiating style with his mother's suicide being the focus. Events either flow towards it or away from it. It is not easy to tell such a difficult, painful story. Amos Oz tells it very effectively and virtually takes you into his life. His prose is so beautiful. He is also very humorous.
   
   As many commented, this book is not completely autobiographical. A bulk of it is on his childhood years. He was in kibbutz for nearly 35 years starting from when he was nearly 15, but less than one third of the book is devoted to it. While so much detail is shared with readers about his reading habits, the people influenced him, etc., the life-changing decision he made with respect to joining kibbutz is told as if he woke up one day and decided to do it. There is no detail on how he found out about it, what he thought about it initially, and how he ultimately came up with the conviction.
   
   Someone has mentioned that there are nothing but street names in the first 70 pages and the book was so boring they could not continue. I feel sorry for the person because he missed the best parts of the book. Even in the first 70 pages, there are a number of events of interest. In fact the most poetical paragraph in the book is in the first 70 pages which describes how his mother acted in the presence of a famous writer (Agnon).



2. Amos Oz is one of Israel's best known novelists; some label him as Israel's "number one". Any new book by Oz gets the immediate attention of everyone, gets translated to several languages and hits the no. 1 spot in the bestsellers list almost immediately. Indeed, Oz has become an icon in Israel to whom many turn to, not only to discuss literary matters but also get his opinion on politics, society and life in general. As my wife says, he has become a "sacred cow", elevated to a status where it has become extremely difficult for any critic to harm sales of his books in any significant way.
   
   I read A Tale of Love and Darkness (in Hebrew) during my trip in New Zealand and it accompanied me throughout the journey. It is an autobiography that Oz started writing shortly after he turned 60, at the end of the previous century. It tells mainly the story of his childhood in Jerusalem, growing up during the time Israel was being formed (Oz was 9 when Israel gained independence). Although the book covers many aspects of his life, the one overriding theme surfacing over and over again is the suicide of his mother when he was 12. This event shaped Oz's life and led to the abrupt change he embarked upon two years later: the move from the book-centric, scholarly life of his father in Jerusalem to the freedom and agricultural life of Kibbutz Hulda.
   
   Oz's writing is at times long-winded and pompous. Even daily, mundane events are recounted in excruciating detail that sometimes make the reader wonder whether they indeed made such an impact on his life to deserve such attention. Despite this, Oz manages to combine tragedy and comedy in his family's saga and his occasional self-effacing manner make the reader forgive him for his long-windedness. Throughout the book, the leading figures of Israel as a young nation pop up: Bialik, Tchernikhowsky, Agnon, Ben-Gurion and Yadin all came and went in Oz's childhood.
   
   The book is more of a memoir than an autobiography. The storyline is not linear and Oz repeats some events several times. If we ignore the fact that Oz wrote this book and thus remove the "sacred cow" factor, the book is an enjoyable read and contributes to the understanding of how Ashkenazi Jews coped with their new life in the Middle East.



3. This review was published in The Australian, August 16, 2008. Greg Sheridan is the Foreign Editor.
   [...]
   Memoirs are made of this
   
   OPINION: Greg Sheridan | August 16, 2008
   
   A FEW years ago I experienced a severe addiction to travel literature.
   
   With the contemporary serious novel in such a mess, travel writing, like biography, offers many of the traditional pleasures of the novel: story, character, good dialogue, development, resolution. But I can't say I discovered any great literature there, much as I enjoyed Bill Bryson's wit and Paul Theroux's misanthropy.
   
   Now I am immersed in a frenetic bout of memoir reading and here the story is different.
   
   When Tom Wolfe was promoting the new journalism, which has been with us several decades now, his essential insight was to bring the techniques of the novelist to bear on journalism: exploring the subjective elements of a story, the characters' inner lives and interior monologues, with the advantage that the events had actually happened.
   
   A novelist's memoir can achieve this supremely. A Tale of Love and Darkness is the childhood memoir of Amos Oz, Israel's greatest novelist and surely soon a recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature.
   
   This is an incomparably good book. Perhaps it is the best book I have read. It tells of growing up in Jerusalem in the 1930s and '40s. Oz conceives life as one part comedy, one part tragedy, one part humdrum, quotidian concreteness, and if you are Jewish, the chance always of utter disaster.
   
   His life proceeds against the backdrop of the Holocaust and the birth of Israel. Oz is an only child and his life is also shaped by the suicide of his mother when he is 12. This colossal roadblock dominates and shapes the book and yet does not distort the loving portrait of his father, a frustrated academic, out of his depth and at his wits' end with his wife's melancholy.
   
   Oz's technical accomplishments in this book are dazzling. He writes of his grandfather:
   
   It was not easy for him to go out. Grandma had a highly developed, super-sensitive radar screen on which she kept track of us all: at any given moment she could check the inventory, to know precisely where each of us was, Lonia at his desk in the National Library on the fourth floor of the Terra Sancta Building, Zussya at Cafe Atara, Fania sitting in the B'nai B'rith Library, Amos playing with his best friend Eliyahu next door at Mr Friedmann the engineer's, in the first building on the right. Only at the edge of her screen, behind the extinguished galaxy, in the corner from which her son Zyuzya, Zyuzinka, with Malka and little Daniel, whom she had never seen or washed, were supposed to flicker back at her, all she could see by day or night was a terrifying black hole.
   
   This passage is instructive. First, there is a lovely metaphor for domestic life. How many grandmas have their perfect family radar screens? Then, everyone is mentioned by name. There is the accumulation of small details of location that give the passage life. But suddenly, at the end, the shocking reality of the Holocaust explodes this domestic tableau, as it does intermittently throughout these beautiful memories.
   
   Almost every page of this book contains an observation or metaphor so striking you cannot let it go, or rather it will not let you go. Oz writes: "Both my parents had come to Jerusalem straight from the 19th century."
   
   The contrast, indeed conflict, of east European Jews trying to recreate an idealised Europe, one free of anti-Semitism, in the hot, dusty climate of Israel, surrounded by hostile Arabs, is mined by Oz as much for comedy as tragedy. And there is endless comic delight in the crazy clash of expectation with reality. For bookish, intellectual, urban Jews such as Oz and his family, the kibbutz pioneers were a new kind of Jew. Oz mocks his own earnest idealisation of kibbutz pioneers, yet somehow affirms it as well:
   
   Tough, warm-hearted, though of course silent and thoughtful, young men and strapping, straightforward young women ... I pictured these pioneers as strong, serious, self-contained people, capable of sitting around in a circle and singing songs of heart-rending longing, or songs of mockery, or songs of outrageous lust ... (people) who could ride wild horses or wide-tracked tractors, who spoke Arabic, who knew every cave and wadi, who had a way with pistols and hand grenades, yet read poetry and philosophy.
   
   Oz is free of self-pity. Instead there is a generous human solidarity and understanding for everyone. But there are passages of aching melancholy and pain. The night the UN votes to establish Israel is the happiest night imaginable. Though it too is tinged with fear, as the Jews of Jerusalem are always in dread of a second holocaust. But the recognition of the Zionist dream is a fulfilment of generations' desires.
   
   In all his life, Oz never sees his father weep, except that night. The father crawls into bed beside young Amos and tousles his hair:
   
   Then he told me in a whisper what some hooligans did to him and his brother David in Odessa and what some gentile boys did to him at his Polish school in Vilna, and the girls joined in too, and the next day, when his father, Grandpa Alexander, came to the school to register a complaint, the bullies refused to return the torn trousers but attacked his father, Grandpa, in front of his eyes, forced him down on to the paving stones and removed his trousers too in the middle of the playground, and the girls laughed and made dirty jokes, saying that the Jews were all so-and-sos, while the teachers watched and said nothing.
   
   Now, the father tells Amos, people may bully you, but not because you are a Jew: "Not that. Never again. From tonight that's finished here. For ever." Most of the book is not political in that sense. It's full of jokes, though its genius is to blend comedy and tragedy. Oz recounts how as a kid he talked all the time, but that was fine because everyone in Jerusalem talked all the time. A professor tells Oz that the odds of there being an afterlife, as there is no conclusive evidence either way, are 50-50. For a central European Jew in the generation of Hitler, those chances of survival are not at all bad.
   
   When a great novelist writes a memoir with all the technique of the novel at its best, you get a superior art form. If I could recommend just one book to tell you something about the human condition, this would be it.



4. Amos Oz's A Tale of Love and Darkness is a memoir of his life and the life of his family up until the time of his mother's suicide at the age of 38 in the early 1950s. Oz's mother's suicide, never treated fictionally in his other work (as far as I can recall) is treated here with great care and thoroughness: there is anger, guilt, shame, sadness, loss, a sense of regret, and penetrating understanding. Without a doubt the book is strongest when Oz discusses his mother and her family. His mother, brought up on a romantic, Hebrew education in Rovno, was not ready for the tawdriness of life in Palestine, "the rough terrain of everyday life, diapers, husbands, migraines, queues, smells of moth balls and kitchen sinks." The story of his mother's mental decline and suicide is also the story of the convergence and divergences of Jewish life in the 20th century; the outline of the gap between the real and the ideal of the Zionist dream. That said, A Tale of Love and Darkness is generally overwritten. There is much useless repetition here which drags down the trajectory of the memoir. I do not recommend this work as the first work of Amos Oz to be read, but the last. It makes for an instructive book end with Where the Jackal's Howl and Other Stories on the other side.



5. This is a beautiful and moving memoir from a sensitive and humanistic writer of great skill and style. The reader will feel that he or she is personally experiencing growing up with the author in the most modest and simple circumstances, in the young State of Israel, from before statehood and into its early years, getting to know as friends and neighbors some of its intellectual leaders who were the writer's family members and friends. The book is a sheer delight, and highly recommended.

5 comments about Devotion: A Memoir.

1. Dani's ecumenical appeal which includes Budhhism by the side of Judaism, Christianity and Islam makes this "Memoir" very interesting. On page 93, she says "I was longing for the moment I was in, even as I was in it." This, I think is the central idea. We often search for an inner meaning or moment when we are already in it. I recommend it straongly.



2. I recently purchased Dani Shapiro's life-changing book to read on my Kindle when I went on vacation. From the very first sentence, I was hooked. I can't say what it was that drew me in. I certainly have never considered myself to be "spiritual", and the only other book along those lines that I enjoyed was "Eat, Pray, Love". But, Dani's book was something else. I could not put this book down for a minute, except to slip into the pool to cool off from the warm Mexican heat.
   
   Whether it was about her childhood, her son's illness, or her search to reconnect with her Judiasm, this was one of the most moving and compelling stories I have ever read. It has encouraged me to go deeper into my own background (although I was raised a reform Jew, not Orthodox), and my own beliefs. It has made me want to become a better person, mother, daughter, sister, friend. I hope I will be as lucky to find such wonderful mentors along my path as Dani found.
   
   As an aside, when I returned home from my vacation, I ran to purchase the hardcover edition of this wonderful memoir, so that I could have it on my night table, and re-read passages, sentences that moved me.
   
   Thank you to Dani Shapiro. I am a fan forever.



3. I read this book in just a couple of days. Fantastic and highly recommended!



4. I only buy books that I would read more than once. When Devotion was published I borrowed it from the library and as soon as I started reading it, I knew this was a keeper. First, the book is profound but also readable. Many passages I wanted to highlight so that I wouldn't forget them and would be able to access them at a moment's notice. Second, this book is for householders, those of us who have many responsibilities to job and family. Householders don't have a lot of time to spend contemplating life or figuring out how to be the best person possible. Dani Shapiro shares her spiritual journey and shows us how contemplation can fit into a busy day. Third, the book was warm, funny and heartfelt and just enjoyable. I found myself thinking about this book as I went about my mundane and not so mundane chores. That's the sign of a good book.
   
   If you have any doubt about buying this book, don't. Pick it up ASAP.



5. To paraphrase the old entertainment industry tag line, "If there's only one book you read this year, make this the one". "Devotion" is that book. It is a remarkable story, remarkably written, by a remarkable woman and author. Dani Shapiro tells the story of her journey, a spiritual journey to be sure, but a life journey as well, and the remarkable people she encounters along the way, those she calls her "teachers".
   
   But Dani tells this story in such a way that one is carried along with it, feels a connection to it, does not want to put it down as page after page brings new revelations, new insights, and yet more questions as her journey continues. And within her story run threads of each of our own journey's. My personal reaction to the book was that it was as if Ms. Shapiro were telling a version of my own story. And it is quite likely that, in whole or in part, she is telling something of your story as well.
   
   "Devotion" is one of those truly remarkable books that come along every once in a while and you "gotta have" it. It is insightful, informative, funny, scary, and just plain wonderful! It is a book that Dani herself says she "never wanted to stop writing". Get this book. You will have NO regrets. And if the opportunity presents itself to hear Dani speak about the book and her journey, run, don't walk, to the nearest discussion and signing.

5 comments about Man's Search For Meaning.

1. Very interesting account of one man's experience in a concentration camp. Sans the detailed horror and gore of other WWII stories, Frankl gives a compassionate telling of his experiences and examines man's choice in how he reacts to life's many diffulties. He also introduces the reader to logotherapy, which he developed as a result of his WWII years. Logotherapy states that the root of depression and discontent is the person's lack of meaning in life.



2. Before one goes through this book it's worth picking up a copy of the April 2000 issue of the Journal of Contemporary History, Volume 35, Number 2, and reading carefully the essay by Timothy Pytell, "The Missing Pieces of the Puzzle: A Reflection on the Odd Career of Viktor Frankl." Pytell established that Frankl spent 3 or 4 days at Auschwitz and 2 years at Theresienstadt, but he falsified the story to give readers the impression that he had spent at least half a year at Auschwitz. Phrases like "the same shirts for half a year" account for Pytell's judgment that "any reader ... will be stunned to discover that Frankl spent only a few days in Auschwitz." This is not an honest book.
   
   I only give it 2 stars because I did find some of the later philosophizing to be interesting. Frankl's thesis about how humans are able to survive through great torments when they feel they have found a meaning in life rings true. But the point would have been better gotten across if the first part of the book had been honestly written as a novel about a fictional character who might possibly resemble a real person somewhere in history. Instead, Frankl tried to pass this off as an autobiography of himself and for that he deserves to be slammed hard.



3. I first read this book when I was thirteen years old. I understood the main idea of this book to be--your attitude is the most important concept for living life. Through the years I have read this book several times and I have always gained renewed hope from reading it. Whether in therapy, recovery or daily life, I have found that my attitude does determine the kind of life I live. This book reminds me of the truth.



4. Read this book as soon as possible no matter who you are. The first half is Viktor Frankl's experience in concentration camps during WWII. In the second half he explains logotherapy, logo from the Greek word for "meaning." He wrote something like 10 volumes during his life explaining logotherapy, so this is a short synopsis, but I am able to apply the logotherapy to my life to make it more meaningful. The book is wonderfully written. You will appreciate this amazing man after reading this book.



5. "Man's Search for Meaning" opened my eyes to a new way of thinking. This is not just another holocaust horror read. Frankl's take on his experience separates because he did not entirely focus on the complete horror and gore he experienced. He illustrated how bad it was, but the main objective of his illustration was to convey his message to us that:
   
   No matter what your circumstance, you have the freedom to chose to either become a product of your environment or remain who you are; a person of character and compassion.
   
   It was interesting to see how those in the camp who had no purpose (in their own mind) gave up the drive to live and gave into their circumstances; even if that meant 'to die', or to 'BECOME the oppressor'.
   
   If you find purpose in life, no matter how extreme your circumstance is and no matter how much a being may attempt to imprison and/or oppress you, NO BODY can take away your freedom to live. In your mind, if you have a purpose, you may decide to either give your oppressor the keys to your freedom, or you may decide to keep your keys.
   
   No one can take away your happiness. ...Unless you allow them.
   
   I recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a bit of inspiration in their lives :-)

5 comments about You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up: A Love Story.

1. This is one of the funniest, yet touching, books on marriage that I have ever read and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read an honest book about marriage.
   
   The book is set up so each chapter is loosely organized by theme, such as pets, dating, childbirth, in-laws, etc. Either Annabelle or Jeff presents their view first (in short essay format), and then the other one follows. I really enjoyed the "getting both sides to the story" aspect of the book. It is also mostly in chronological order, so it is pretty easy to tell where they are in their relationship when they are discussing each theme. They deal with most things that any married couple would deal with, yet you also receive some interesting insights into the Hollywood/LA/creative profession culture that they both reside in.
   
   Many of the essays are incredibly funny, and there are some that are also very touching when discussing a serious subject, such as the birth defects of their son. The book doesn't pretend that marriage is easy, but at the same time, you can tell that they really care about each other.
   
   Additionally, I found this to be a fast-moving, easy read and perfect for those days when you only have time to read a few pages, because of the divided-eassay format.



2. This book is a clear reflection of the ups and downs two truly creative people have in marriage. It is a book for everyone to laugh along with, reflect and rediscover the good things that all too often get buried in the routine of day to day minutia. "You Say Tomato I Say Shut Up" is a universal book that crosses generations and borders.



3. I applaud Gurwitch and Kahn for their honesty about their marriage, enjoyed the format and found the facts about marriage snd divorce rates...interesting. However, while some parts of the book are hysterical that I laughed out-loud other parts drone on and on that it can be painstakingly boring.



4. This is one of the most laser-precise books on marriage, sex, kids, LIFE that I have ever read. I laughed my ass off, then would suddenly get caught off-guard and find tears welling in my eyes. The laugh lines are abundant and so are the moving moments, especially with their son's diagnosis with VACTERL. iIt's a true honor that Annabelle Gurwitch and Jeff Kahn would open their hearts up to us readers. A wonderful wonderful book. Highly recommend.



5. Hilarious, touching and more than a little bit twisted, Annabelle and Jeff's book is a multi-level memoir about the journey that has made up their relationship. Both the difficulties and the victories they have faced - as individuals, as a couple, and as parents - are recounted in a candid memoir that doesn't hesitate to go places where other books would fear to tread. And the best bonus? The hilarious stories that unexpectedly provide a punchline in each chapter, whether it's "A Tale of Two Kitties" or the parenting group that wasn't as normal as it appeared at first glance. As parents, Jeff and Annabelle are both absolutely devoted to their son, Ezra, born in 1998 with complications but thanks to their parenting and some amazing doctors, doing incredibly well today.
   
   While this book definitely has its share of raunchy and hilarious stories, it's also touching and personal as well. Would make a great gift for the married (or newlywed!) couple with a good sense of humor.

5 comments about Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History.

1. The book was in very good condition and it came in very fast, within one week.



2. Maus is one of the captivating page turners I've every laid eyes upon. The story is Art Spiegelman the author writing his fathers tale and what exactly was involved in surviving the holocaust.



3. Art Spiegelman's critically-acclaimed graphic novel chronicles both his father Vladek's misadventures in Hitler's Europe and a rocky relationship between father and son. Depicting the Nazis as cats and the Jews as mice (and the Polish as pigs, a hot-button topic in an already controversial piece), Spiegelman's illustrations actually gives "Maus" the type of appeal that couldn't be achieved in any other medium except this one, as well as lure readers who wouldn't have picked up the comic otherwise. The story itself reels you in but "Prisoner on the Hell Planet," Spiegelman's comic-within-a-comic about his late mother, offers even more insight on Spiegelman and his family history despite its contrast with the main story. This is truly the stuff survival stories are made of.
   
   This comic is unrated: Violence, Adult Language, Adult Situations.



4. I really thought that in this point in my life I had learned all there was to know about the Holocaust. I've been to the museums, seen the movies, seen survivors speak, and studied the awful events in school. I didn't expect to gain a new sense of understanding from this survivors tale.
   
   Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History was a shocking, at times truly disturbing account of a family trying to survive day to day during the Holocaust. This is not a cut and dry tale, it is artfully told through a graphic novel.
   
   I went into this novel wondering "why mice?". As you can see from the cover, the center of the swastika is a cat face. Art Spiegelman has used symbolism to portray a cat and mouse game. The jews are all mice, forever foraging for food and shelter, trying to outsmart the cats that want noting more than to destroy them. The use of this idea in his artwork makes the novel that much more interesting.
   
   I imagine that I could learn something new each time I read this book. There is so much depth, and raw descriptions of what occurred to the authors father and his family. It goes one step deeper in showing how it has affected their lives beyond their time struggling to survive the Holocaust.
   
   A powerful and deeply affecting graphic novel that is an absolute must read.



5. When I was eight years old, this book was included in a Scholastic book order through my school. I was fascinated by WWII at the time, and had every kids book on it, so of course I wanted this one. I had no idea I was ordering a comic book, and when I finally held it in my hands I was mad that it was - up until that point, to me comic books were all shoot 'em ups and superheroes. This book proved me wrong, and started a lifelong love of comics. I'm now in college studying sequential art and plan on going to the field, so you can appreciate how much of a difference this book made to me.
   
   The overall Maus story is a back and forth between the present events of a young Jewish man and his difficult elderly father, and the father's life in WWII as a Jew. This first book - My Father Bleeds History - focuses on the family's relatively normal upscale life diminishing into their eventual going into hiding at the end of the book. It's a side that isn't as commonly told: the diminishing rights, the daily strain, the rumours of the horrible things that were going on, and even his life as a prisoner of war. These stories aren't as well-told in the media, and I really liked seeing them. As someone who was already well-versed in WWII history reading this, it helped me understand better how people could not realise what was actually going on, and that daily life still must continue in horrible situations.
   
   The art is stark, with thick black lines and a very sketchy feeling to it - this is very fitting for the dark story being told. Visually it's a little busy, and during my first reads I remember being occasionally confused and having to reread pages. Nothing too unforgivable or difficult, however!
   
   Like most graphic novels - it's a fairly quick read, it took me about two days to read it as a child, but now I can zip through them back to back in an hour or two. Yet they reread very well; I pick it up several times a year and my copy is quite well-worn.
   
   I would also recommend this to anyone with an appreciation for historical fiction, biographies, memoirs, or those interested in WWII. History is my favourite genre, and I fully believe this book stands strong right against some of the other classics illustrating the picture of that period. This is not only a great graphic novel, this is a great book.

5 comments about Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began.

1. This was an excellent book. I received the first one for Christmas, and completed it within a day.



2. It doesn't get any better than this.}
   It's almost beyond giving it a "review"....Both I and II are so important and so good. An honor to the six million and more.



3. Maus II is a great depiction of the Holocaust. It tells the second half of the story of Vladek Spiegelman and his journeys from Auschwitz to liberation through the Holocaust. The sequel gives more of an insight into the mind of Art Spiegelman as he records his father's stories. But part of what makes the Maus series so different from the rest of the books on the Holocaust is that these are not only the story but a comic book. In the graphic novel it's easy to pick up on the differences between father and son. It tells how the Holocaust and events surrounding the concentration camp shaped those that had to suffer through it all. Art realized the importance of his father, and learned to look through his father's seemingly selfish actions to understand that he was just trying to teach Art all he had to learn through his experiences. Vladek loves Art because through the Holocaust he came to realize that family is really the only thing a person has. He lost his money, he lost his job, and all he had that got him through the days was the thought of seeing Anja again. The thoughts of survival and perseverance were his only thoughts because of the truly horrific experiences he had to go through. In this tale of Art Spiegelman's survival, it gives readers an inside look at the Auschwitz death camp, the death marches, and life after liberation. Through this novel it is also shown the lasting effects the Holocaust had on the men and women who survived, the continual trouble it caused them. It was something they would never recover from, it affected their future children even. It is a tale of triumph, self discovery, and family.



4. The sequel to Maus I by Art Spiegelman definitely sustains the originality and ingeniousness present in the first portion of the series. Everything within Maus, from the images to the dialogue is profound. The anthropomorphic figures are present in the sequel as well and give the reader the opportunity to absorb the incomprehensible and gruesome events. The novel picks up with both Anja and Vladek Spiegelman standing at the gates of Auschwitz, unsure of the significance of their location. The struggle to avoid the crematorium, death by starvation, the bitter Nazi guards, and other horrific factors of concentration camps begins. Art chooses to emphasize the vitality of luck, resourcefulness, and will power in the survival of his father. The presence of these attributes in Vladek brings a hopeful light to the account, amidst the depressing reality of the situation. However, the present day account of Vladek that is given is much less flattering. He has become a racist, pragmatic, and bitter man, and people who can stand to be in the same vicinity as him come few and far between. Vladek may have physically survived the war, but the notable man he once was died in Auschwitz, according to Art. The bickering and disagreements between Art and Vladek persist throughout Maus II. Likewise, Vladek and Mala, the woman who he married after the death of his first wife, are constantly at odds and certainly go through their fair share of problems in the novel. It becomes clear that the coalition of Vladek's experiences and his demeanor in the last years of his life are directly related. For instance, Vladek's rule for Art to complete every part of his meal is a result of his experience with starvation and lack of food. Vladek remembers what it is to be starving and he does not believe in wasting food, at the expense of his son's emotions or not. Art begins to see this relation as he spends more time with his father. Just as Art would begin to sympathize with Vladek because of his experiences, Vladek would typically demolish Art's sympathy by his racist actions or combative moods. However, Art still retains feelings of pressure to properly convey his father's story. Both Art and Vladek struggle through coming to terms with the past in Maus II. Art realizes the extreme significance in retelling his father's account of survival, and he tries to make sense of the events. Yet, Art Spiegelman realizes that making sense of the Holocaust is impossible because it made no sense at all, there was no justification in it. Therefore, Art does not attempt to tell a moral in the end, he simply tells the story. Wisely, Spiegelman let history speak for itself once he had presented the facts.



5. This is a very good comic book regarding the Holocaust.
   
   It sounds like it would be weird but it is a very good series.
   
   Easy to read and well worth the short time.

5 comments about Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl.

1. While any edition of Anne Frank's diary is worth reading, I prefer the definitive edition. Most of you know that it includes previously removed material about her strained, complicated relationship with her mom, her more saucy comments that convey her frustration with many of the adults in the secret annex, and her developing sexuality. All these things make her more well rounded than in the regular version. Her progression from a silly school girl to a more mature, introspective young woman is even more striking and heartbreaking. Heartbreaking because her life was cut short not too long after her last entry, the most deep one she'd written. Of course it includes the constantly misconstrued "In spite of everything, I still believe people are really good at heart" line, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. Sometimes sassy, bratty, and sharp tongued, but always caring, kind, and reflective, it's a crime that her talents were never given a chance to shine in adulthood. Anne dreamed of being a writer and a journalist, but never knew her wish to "go on living even after [her] death" would come true in a literal sense. We must never forget this girl and the many other innocent victims who perished in the Holocaust. Never.



2. An overwrought bit of propaganda that has been worth well over $300 billion in aid to Israel over the last several decades.



3. I was shocked at how insightful this young girl was in her entries. I tended to forget that Anne was a girl who was only 13-15 years old. The way she discussed such issues as love, religion, politics, a life of anonymity, her relationship with her parents, the war, etc. were a joy to read.
   
   The progression of the diary entries truly showed how Anne matured into a young women. Although Anne was in a situation very few have been in, I believe her diary entries reflect the general mind of teenage girls. Her longing to be loved by Peter (her housemate), her sarcasm and quick wit, and the relationship with her parents are not unique only to Anne. Her feelings can be shared by millions of women and men.
   
   I recommend the book highly. It gives the reader a perspective to the war that is rarely seen.



4. My mistake ordering this. It is a teacher's packet regarding Anne Frank. Although not what I thought I was ordering it arrived in good shape - shipped quickly.



5. I have been half wanting to read this book since I, myself was a teenaged girl. It is, of course, a much-lauded book and yet I wasn't certain I could handle another personal account of the holocaust, especially given that this isn't even a survivor's tale.
   
   I was surprised to find the book to be a bitter-sweet read. Anne is a 14 year old girl and despite all that is happening to her, she maintains the sensibilites of a 14 year old girl. In some sense it was like reading any young girl's diary. She questions herself and her place in the world, she admonishes those around her, she develops a crush and wonders what love is, etc, etc. Anne seems like she was a very sensible, smart and creative young girl. I was impressed with her constant efforts for study and self-improvement. It's interesting to see the ways in which every generation is the same and the ways each generation is different.
   
   This book also gave a good sense about what it might be like to live under such duress and in such close quarters with a large group of other people. It didn't take long for everyone to stop getting along. Even despite all their stresses, they did try to make holidays and birthdays as special as they could. There were even some humorous moments.
   
   Overall this really is a sweet book which I would recommend, especially to teenagers. It's like being a fly on the wall during a moment in history. Though I wouldn't recommend this to those seeking to learn a great deal about WWII or the holocaust. Being in captivity, as they were, and also being the diary of a young girl, there isn't too much discussion of politics (though there is some and some of the things were news to me).
   
   Good book, I feel now like Anne is friend of mine. She seems like a charming girl who would have gone far with her life. It's a sick, sad shame she didn't get the chance.

5 comments about Survivors: True Stories of Children in the Holocaust.

1. I liked this book a lot, It was really interesting. I didn't know a lot about the Holocaust but from reading this book I learned information about real survivors. i give this book 4 out of 5 stars. I like to read fictional books more than non-fiction but I still liked it.



2. We have just returned (a month ago) from visiting the Auschwitz Memorial Site in Poland and the Dachau Camp in Munich, Germany. Those were very moving experiences. This was our second visit to Dachau, we were so moved by the first.
   
   The stories of the children of the Holocaust is also moving and since we have been to the sites, we have an in-depth understanding of so many of the things they discuss. I'm not sure how these brilliant children were so mature and intelligent as to be able to survive, but I'm glad they did. There stories are so well written and so poingant and you want to hug each and every one of them. It is a compilation of short stories, but they all fit together brilliantly.



3. good book, it was sad reading stories of what kind of childhoods these kids had to live.



4. Had a hard time with this book, stories were good but so short it seemed the minute you were "into" them, they were over. More would've been better.



5. Book came quickly and in excellent condition. I would buy from this seller again.