5 comments about Confessions of a Recovering Slut: And Other Love Stories.

1. I forced myself to read at least half of this to see if it would get any better...it didn't. If you want something in the same genre that is truly entertaining save your money and buy a Laurie Notaro book!



2. OK, I admit I bought this book on a whim, and purely from the cover illustration (I know, I know...), but I don't regret it for a minute! I can't tell you how many people I've reccomended this book to. This is not the kind of book you should read out in public alone. I laughed so hard at her writing that I'm sure people thought I was some nutjob. It was well written, dryly funny, and great for picking up and putting down so you can read it on a break at work. It speaks to the 30 something woman that I am without being the dreaded Chick Lit fluff.
   I loved it and can't wait to get Bleachy Haired Honky Bitch!



3. I loved this book so much after I borrowed it from the library, that when I couldn't find her first book at any of my state interlibrary lenders, I bought it (from Amazon!). I love Hollis' writing style; she is hilarious and original but all of her tales end with a poignant thought. I'd never heard of her before I read a review of her books on Amazon and I'm so glad I found her. I love that each chapter in her books is a short, mostly true story and I wish I had wacky friends like hers. I hope she keeps writing more novels because I will be reading every last one of them, possibly more than once, and I don't usually re-read books. (Another author I just discovered who is just like Hollis, is Laurie Notaro...I'll be reviewing her books next!)



4. Thought the title was fabulous, and had high expectations for the book. In places it was good, especially some of the phrases she used, but I found it very repetitive and not funny. Holly's overwhelming maternal joy was also not in keeping with the rest of the book, maybe she could have felt maternal joy but not written about it.



5. I had really high hopes for this book - I thought the title was fabulous and the first story was funny, but it quickly went downhill from there. It seemed there was a lot of ramblings about characters I not only had trouble following - but didn't even have much interest in.

5 comments about An American Story.

1. Excellent book autobiography of Ms. Dickerson, well written gripping story of her life experiences and her realization of her own self worth.



2. how is it that you can write a book about racial unfairness and then make proclaimations about someone else's 'blackness'? how are you any less of a racist than those people who unfairly judged you?



3. I am 62 years old and found Debra's story to be my story. Her historical journey allowed me to revisit what was going on in my life and how I got this far and as fate or God would have it came at a time when I am making big changes again like Debra.
   
   Because of the historical and psychological journey I feel this book is a most read for African American and women of all ages to see what we share in common. In the current political and economic era we are in, its important that women pull themselves up by their bootstraps as the covers have been certainly been pulled off in wake of Katrina and Rita.
   
   An American Way, I feel is a recipe with many variations on how to get to get from point A to point B.
   
   Although Debra mentions being a student of the Bible in her early years, it is not mentioned or maybe my oversight that she doesn't mention praying to God for answers.
   
   I am recommending this book to all of my friends and a must read for my son. For women I feel this is the equivalent to "Think and Grow Rich-A Black Choice by Dennis Kimbro and Napoleon Hill.
   
   I'm looking forward to reading The End of Blackness.



4. Typical whining Harvard Law School brainwashed product, nothing to say and says it poorly. (I know, I graduated from HLS). Avoid



5. Debra Dickerson's memoir looks back on the first 40 years or so of her life with seeming self-consciousness. It can be criticized for being too inwardly focused, but then what is a memoir for? Documenting not only her own experiences but her internal reactions to those experiences helps the reader to gain both admiration and insight into Dickerson's accomplishments.

   Best of all it spotlights Dickerson's incredible writing, which is the product of someone who has known and loved books all her life and formed a committed relationship with them as an adult. Though she herself admits it took a long time for her emotional intelligence to catch up with her book one. It helps that she doesn't spare much time for self-pity in her self examination.

   This is the kind of book I'll be recommending to friends, especially women friends. Of memoirs written by women, I found it perhaps the most enjoyable I have read since "And So It Goes," by Linda Ellerbee--another southern woman. Dickerson is not as funny as Ellerbee (neither is she trying to be) but like her she earned my admiration on sheer quality of writing.

   The memoir is hardly free of humorous incident. I really enjoyed the way a young Dickerson turned her father's punishment of having all books but the bible removed from her bedroom, combined with an insistence that all children must recite a bible verse at the table before being served, against him.

   I admire Debra Dickerson and I look forward to reading her next book.

5 comments about Hemingway: The 1930s.

1. The fourth volume in Reynolds's multi-volume biography of Hemingway. Unlike other Hemingway biographers (James Mellow, for instance) who are mostly interested in how the author incorporated his own life into his fiction, Reynolds approaches his subject in a strict chronological fashion and hardly touches upon the works at all. This volume begins in 1929 with Ernest and Pauline returning to Paris while he put the final touches on "A Farewell to Arms," and ends with Ernest beginning to write "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and taking up residence with Martha Gellhorn in Havana. Very detailed in terms of H.'s life and doings, much less so with regard to his works and art. Definitive in that respect, but not where to go to get an appreciation of Hemingway the writer and the forces behind his artistic creations.



2. This is the fourth installment in Reynolds's five part Hemingway biography. During this period Hemingway lived mostly in Key West. He wrote his first non-fiction bullfight book, Death in the Afternoon, To Have and Have Not and For Whom the Bell Tolls. He also spent a lot of time in latter part of this decade as a journalist covering the Spanish Civil War. He meets the journalist Martha Gellhorn in Key West and begins the relationship that will break up his second marriage.

   Reynolds does a good job here but it is not as good as the two previous installments. There is much less detail given here compared to those books especially with regards to Hemingway's thoughts and state of mind while writing the books of this period. The other books had a nearly page by page account of what the great man was doing and thinking while he wrote The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms. This is noticeably lacking here. The account of the writing of For Whom the Bell Tolls is especially curt. That book, which is regarded as Hemingway's masterpiece, doesn't get the attention Reynolds gave to earlier works. I read somewhere that Hemingway contacted his publisher Charles Scribner during the writing of For Whom the Bell Tolls, telling him that one of the Spanish Civil War short stories he was writing had taken off in his mind and that he already had written 40,000 words. This information is nowhere to be found here. Instead there are gossipy details of the relationship with Gellhorn and the unkind treatment Hemingway's second wife, Pauline, received at the end of their marriage.

   There is a long account of Hemingway's first African safari which I found uninteresting. Reynolds stresses his subject's need to recreate the "summer people" of his youth, the group of friends that would gather at Walloon Lake in Michigan every summer of Hemingway's boyhood. Reynolds's tries to force every single relationship to fit this "summer people" thesis even when it is less than apt. There is overlong attention given to hunting trips and less attention to the actual writing than I would have liked. Reynolds has a disturbing tendency here to introduce a new person into Hemingway's life story without much explanation of how they came to meet and what caused them to be friendly. On several occasions a new friend will enter Hemingway's life and without any explanation immediately become the center around which the narrative revolves. This is unsettling and made me page back on several occasions looking for the first appearance of this person. Overall, a poor follow up to the previous books in this series.




3. Though this is the fourth of a five book series, and the first I chose to read, I had no trouble keeping up. You could argue that Hemingway the man was more interesting than his fiction and Reynolds goes a pretty good distance to show why. Hemingway takes his first safari, catches Marlin in Key West and fights in the Spanish Civil War, and switches women before the end of the decade.

   Reynolds paints a fairly descriptive portrait of Hemingway, but also reminds us of other current events as the decade unfolds. Hemingway begins the decade mostly apolitical, but he is very critical of the New Deal Programs he sees running in his hometown of Key West Florida. In 1936 he likens President Roosevelt's plan to socialism, but his support two years later of antifascist guerrillas in the Spanish Civil War allies him with downright communists.

   It was also interesting to watch Hemingway's friendships crumble. Reynolds describes how Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Sherwood Anderson went their separate ways from Papa for various reasons, but mostly because Hemingway was an explosive character. His larger than life dominating personality coupled with his fatigue for certain personality types doomed a great deal of one-time friendships.

   What I like mostly of Reynolds work is that he likes Hemingway a great deal, and this comes through, despite Papa's many flaws.




4. Hemingway: The 1930s is the fourth installment in Mr. Reynold's series; he does not "dump you into the story midstream." Anyone with even a little knowledge of Hemingway is familiar with this series and knows that Mr. Reynolds is THE Hemingway biographer. My advice - do at least a little research before expressing an opinion.



5. This thorough and "personable" slice of Hemingway's life in the 30's is quite readable and almost literary itself. Reynolds' periodic but careful use of correspondence and journalistic fragments, interspersed with the narrative is thought-provoking and draws the reader into the time. The only problem with this book is the necessity that the reader bring a somewhat extensive background to the reading in order to thoroughly enjoy the material. If you do not know the Hemingway cast of characters, Reynolds does not go to great lengths to introduce you. Since the book, by its nature, dumps you into the "story" midstream, its failure to catch you up is somewhat frustrating at times. However, the expertise with which it is written only leaves you wanting more and seeking additional sources to fill in the missing pieces of the puzzle. I highly recommend it to all who are somewhat familiar with Hemingway. If you are among the uninitiated, you may wish ! to start elsewhere and keep this in mind for later.

4 comments about Song for My Fathers: A New Orleans Story in Black and White.

1. The irony is that I had known the parents of Tom Sancton since 1972 (his mother, Seta, and I worked for the Tulane University Library from 1972 until 1979 when I became a social service worker); still, I knew nothing of what Tom Sancton writes in this book. Obviously, he learned both from his parents who taught him by example rather than just words, and from the Preservation Hall musicians. I hope he is proud of the fact that he, by his actions, contributed to the breakdown of racial barriers. He certainly has demonstrated that New Orleans can be a community where people can be together regardless of race, color or creed; and the book clearly reflects that.



2. As a fan of New Orleans and Dixieland jazz, I ordered this book as soon as it became available, and consumed it immediately. Tom Sancton met all my expectations, and also provided me with recent history of my favorite musicians, the Olympia Brass Band. He honestly described people and an era that will never be recaptured, with love, and affection, but without guilding the lily. These were real people, shown by Sancton with all their warts, and I miss them all greatly. On a visit to the Preservation Hall recently, I enjoyed the music provided by all white musicians and one black drummer, but was so aware of the loss of those originals. The drummer's father, one of the Fathers described by Sancton, is now gone, and we cried on each other's shoulders, over the loss of a music that can be preserved, but musicians who can never be duplicated. I am just so appreciative to Tom Sancton for producing this book, especially now that Katrina has erased so many of his memories.



3. Sancton has written an outstanding account of his coming of age in 60's New Orleans while learning trad jazz clarinet from George Lewis and other "old mens" at Preservation Hall in the French Quarter. Whether you love New Orleans and trad jazz, or not I think you'll enjoy Sancton's memoir. His story of being an Uptown white boy spending a lot of time with black musicians in the a world apart from where most of his comtemporaries were growing up is nothing if not unique. Sancton's day job after a Harvard degree turned out to be a correspondent for Time Magazine. So, he can definitely turn a good phrase. In addtion to documenting his interactions with the musicians, Sancton also writes about race, culture, and history in New Orleans. He also explores his relationship with members of his family, especially his writer father, who has an interesting story of his own, probably the subject of another book.Just a delightful read.



4. Jealous
   Boy, am I jealous of this guy! He lived a dream life as a teenager.
   Every musician that reads this will envy this story. Well written and boy am I jealous!

1 comments about The Making of FDR: The Story of Stephen T. Early, America's First Modern Press Secretary.

1. THE MAKING OF FDR: THE STORY OF STEPHEN T. EARLY, AMERICA'S FIRST MODERN PRESS SECRETARY tells of one of the most influential men in mid-20th-century America - the press secretary who got Roosevelt's image and message out to the press, helping shape his image and programs during the Depression and World War II. More than just another FDR biography, this highlights the actions and approaches of the behind-the-scenes man who helped not only publicize FDR, but furthered programs that were to change America. Any high school to college-level history holding needs this.

5 comments about The Everlasting Stream: A True Story of Rabbits, Guns, Friendship, and Family.

1. The Everlasting Stream, by Walt Harrington, is a hunting book that isn't a book about hunting. I had read a brief review about this book being a good addition to the pro-hunting literature. Well, it was, in a sense. Harrington is a fine writer, and most pro-hunting books tend to focus on the charismatic megafauna like deer and elk. Harrington's focus is on the common and ordinary, the prolific cottontail. No trophy hunting here; this is all about hunting for meat.
   
   What does Harrington say in defense of hunting?
   
   "Animals bleed. Live with it" (p. 146).
   
   "It doesn't matter to a rabbit what kills him - fever, flukes, worms, weather, hawks, or me. The rabbit is dead" (p. 184).
   
   "Killing an animal doesn't deaden the human conscience; it enlivens it" (p. 184).
   
   "Hunting isn't golf or tennis, which demand only technical mastery. Hunting isn't merely an exercise in male bonding, as so many believe. Hunting has moral gravitas" (p. 185).
   
   "It is people who enjoy the fruits of the kill without feeling the ominous responsibility of the killing who are morally delinquent" (p. 186).
   
   "I'm not supposed to hunt without guilt. I'm supposed to hunt despite the guilt" (p. 187).
   
   "Long ago, a woman at my table said to me, 'I can't believe you killed those little bunnies.' I now know what I should have said in response. 'I can't believe you ate those little bunnies without killing one'" (p. 189).
   
   
   Harrington isn't perfect. He confesses a time when "I fire, and the rabbit tumbles, heels over head. When I reach down, the rabbit suddenly kicks his hind legs violently and drubs my hand twice before I can pull away... I use the butt of my gun like a deadfall and club the rabbit's head. After I do, his left eye dangles from its socket. I take out my knife that I will give to Matt at Christmas, slice the eye free, and put the rabbit in my bag" (p. 214).
   
   I certainly hope he removed the shells from his shotgun before using it as a club. And although Harrington did not appear to be apologetic for his act, there is a line between killing an animal and torturing it. It is this line that society scrutinizes. He hints at its existence with his "It doesn't matter to a rabbit what kills him..." comment; however, it does matter to society, and I would say it should matter to the hunter as well.
   
   With this said, this book is much, much more than a book about hunting. Harrington explores issues of manhood (and boyhood), parenting, memories, and livelihoods. He discusses race relations (Harrington's hunting buddies are black while he is white), politics, friends, and folklore. He reflects on his passions, and eventually makes some drastic, life-altering decisions.
   
   All in 217 pages. The subtitle says it all: The Everlasting Stream: A True Story of Rabbits, Guns, Friendship, and Family.
   
   Harrington's father repeatedly said to him, "Everything's beautiful if you look at it right." I'd say this IS the theme of the book.
   
   If you are not a hunter, keep reading through the hunting scenes. Harrington keeps springing new topics and ideas upon the reader.
   
   There is something here for everyone.



2. 
   brand new book for a great price
   
   a most excellent book
   my husband is enjoying



3. Having married an African-American woman, journalist Walt Harrington found himself expected to maintain the family traditions by going rabbit hunting with his father-in-law, and his friends, every Thanksgiving. At first, Walt looked down on these course, back-country men as throwbacks to an earlier, more primitive way of life. With time, though, he came to realize that these men shared a different, stronger bond than he had ever known. Unconsciously, they showed him what being a man could be all about, and he learned many lessons as he (and later him and his son) hunted rabbits in the hills of Kentucky.

   This book came as quite a surprise to me. I tripped across it by accident, and am quite glad that I did. It's written in a stream-of-consciousness style, which allows the author to skip forward and backward through time, showing his development throughout. Indeed, if you are interested in men's books (such as those by Robert Bly), then I highly recommend that you get this one. It is a fascinating look at life and being a man.




4. A thoughtful, beautifully written, almost poetic meditation on hunting, tradition, friendship, nature and human nature. It is ostensibly about rabbit hunting, but that is not where this book's meaning lies nor where the heart of its story is. Its story and meaning lie with the people, and Harrington writes in a voice so personal that you feel you know him and his family and friends. This is not a book for the PETA crowd, or for those who call rabbits "bunnies." If you've ever hunted, or if you understand the true nature of Nature, you'll enjoy The Everlasting Stream. (Note: This review has been written by a woman who, although she does not hunt, has shot the occasional rabbit when its depredations in her garden have become intolerable and the Hav-a-Hart trap proved ineffectual.)



5. "The Everlasting Stream" is a tale about male relationships, about self discovery and about hunting that does justice to all three subjects. While many books use one story as a vessel to carry another, this develops all three stories simultaneously and completely.

   Author Walt Harrington portrays himself as a snobby Washington Post reporter who finds himself tramping around Kentucky fields, shooting rabbits with his father-in-law's hunting buddies to prove he is not above them.

   Through the Thanksgiving hunts, Harrington comes to respect the men. He comes to understand himself and to wonder how he so misplaced himself. He grows up with his son and reconsiders his relationship with his late father. Through it all, he thinks deeply about the experience of hunting, turning inside out his initial revulsion to it. In the end, the hunts lead him to make a profound change in his life.

   Harrington finds answers, real-life answers, and not the clear-cut, no-regrets answers of cardboard stories.

   As Harrington re-evaluates his life, male friendships and hunting, you will, too. It's a journey worth taking, and Harrington is an engaging guide.

No comments about Ten Days that Shook the World.

5 comments about Selected Letters of Martha Gellhorn.

1. As someone I would love to have known, Martha Gelhorn ranks right up there with Carly Simon...who, thankfully, is still alive. She is the only one of Hemingway's four wives who left him. This after an affair-turned-to-marriage that began when she walked into a Key West bar and introduced herself to him.
   
   Her extensive correspondence detailed in this book, and her life subsequent to Hemingway, reveal a woman, who though emotionally healthier than Ernest, had her own demons to contend with. She is nevertheless a fascinating personality, widely traveled, a prolific author, and by all accounts a very engaging raconteur. She deserves to be notable in her own right and spent much of her life in a fight to be accorded someone other than Heminway's third wife. Though with a personage as large as Hemingway, that was a difficult struggle, this treatment of a segment of her correspondence certainly helps her individuality along by revealing the brilliant and complex person she was



2. This book is beautifully edited by Caroline Moorehead, the one woman in all the world who knows more than any other about dear old, trying old, basilisk-fierce Martha Gellhorn. The odd thing is that the publishers sent out an advanced uncorrected proof claiming that this was Gellhorn's "COLLECTED LETTERS" and now, months later, the dust has settled and the book has changed its title to "SELECTED LETTERS," perhaps a subtle difference but one that makes you wonder what went south at the last minute. If only the beloved investigative snoop, Gellhorn herself, was still here to look into this minor mystery! Warning, there is indeed a lot in it about Hemingway, but that's why many will be drawn to Gellhorn in the first place, and the other half of the readers will be wanting to know how a dogged spirit stays independent, especially in the face of huge sadnesses, There's an inspirational feel about the collection, surprising as it may seem, and even though tragedy seemed to overshadow her fun no matter where she went.
   
   Her dedication to reporting is in itself remarkable. Wasn't there ever a point where she paused and wondered what on earth good it did to do this particular job, or did she merely shrug off the moral niceties. She doesn't seem to have cared whose feelings she hurt, even those she loved (one of her novels was withdrawn from the UK when a dear friend, whose love life Gellhorn had written up and lightly salted with fiction, complained, first to the author, then to the courts) and her ire hangs high against those who have crossed her (especially Lillian Hellman, who must have been scared silly every day of her life with that menace Gellhorn still out for her blood).
   
   She had a weakness for "sophisticated" (often bisexual) men and Moorehead prints some "NOTES ON A SCANDAL" style letters outlining her embarrassing obsession with Leonard Bernstein, his genius, his private life, and his body. Really everything about him. "He's got quite a nice voice, plummy and deep, as if his mouth was pure, as if he'd never had a filling. The complexion of a white peach. He's worth it, this one. He's the one I've waited for." (My paraphrase of Judi Dench.) Another set of letters between Martha Gellhorn and Betsy Drake, the former wife of screen star Cary Grant, elicits more rueful confessions, for Drake shared a great secret with Gellhorn, that it may be liberating to step away from an adored and celebrated spouse, but at the same time every day you look in your mirror and you know that your obituary is going to say, "Ex-Wife of Blank."
   
   Gellhorn's passion for action, in Africa, Spain, wherever, covering the war in Vietnam for the Manchester Guardian, is rather better covered in Moorehead's great bio of the journalist, than in this book of collected, I mean selected, letters. In fact if you didn't have Moorehead's notes coming in every now and then to re-ground the story and put it into real perspective, you might as well be on a cloud.



3. To turn the pages of a collection of letters in our time, is to return to a time when people wrote, at leisure, at length and in great detail, to one another about trifles, confidences, and assorted themes. In our age of e-mails it is almost inconceivable. Inconceivable too is that Martha Gellhorn's letters, by Caroline Moorehead, brings this world before us with such force, that we are held captive from page to page, from the start to the last. Yet while her correspondents are many of them famous, it is true, it is the letters themselves that shimmer, that gives us images rare, reflections profound, letters for all of time.



4. Intelligent, dauntless, and restlessly peripatetic, Martha Gellhorn refused to be encumbered by what she called "the kitchen of life." Travel, men, seclusion and adversity all were stimulants to Martha's agile mind. "Normal people depend on other people, I roam in space", she once remarked.
   
   Like most complex personalities, Martha is difficult to peg, and even an intrepid reader who makes the effort to negotiate these 500-plus pages of letters may come away feeling dissatisfied. Martha was a prolific writer--these letters represent a minute fraction of her output, most of which she managed to destroy. Her surviving correspondences reveal a fluid writer, fueled by a "passionate desire to find SOMEONE to communicate with."
   
   She is unfailingly candid and insightful. Only in a few instances is she less than cordial, and only in a few instances does she seem free to totally enjoy the act of writing. These instances are instructive, involving her adopted son--whom she wrote to in tones of fearfully harsh admonishment, and her stepson, to whom she allowed herself to write freely and playfully. Oddly enough, both of these young charges shared the same name: Sandy.
   
   It is tempting at times to compare Martha's character to that of Katherine Hepburn (who attended Bryn Mawr at the same time), or to Isak Dinesen. Both of these women seemed to share Martha's brand of independence. However, Martha crossed paths with both, and in her recorded opinions, does not express admiration for either of them. To Martha, Hepburn and the Baroness Karen Von Blixen were both too patrician. Martha was not at one with the monied class, which she found wasteful and vainglorious. Martha liked to have things both ways in her life--she loved to mix it up, defending the underdog, and she also loved the freedom of getting away from the hurly-burly, keeping life at a distance.
   
   What was most impressed upon me by these letters was how much Martha was devoted to, and suffered for, her fiction writing. Martha gained her reputation as a war correspondent, but these letters leave no doubt that Martha truly wanted to be remembered for her books of fiction. She often agonizes over writer's block, her failing memory, and the self-doubts that plagued her.
   
   The final portrait that emerges here is of Martha as an unflaggingly energetic, unvanquished personality who periodically engaged with the world, and then fled to solitude in order to write about it. Her unflinching honesty and her humorous dismissal of all that was "bulls---t" are the qualities that drew people to her, and she is worthy of far greater renown than she currently holds.
   
   Carolyn Moorehead has provided two great touchstones in the biography, "Gellhorn: A Twentieth Century Life", and this large volume of letters. Now, I will move on to the volumes about war, and the available fictional works that Gellhorn left behind.



5. Martha Gellhorn did not cooperate with her biographers when she was alive and she did not make it easy for them after she died. She made her opinions on this matter quite clear: "...writers are diminished by having their lives known: they should only be known by what they write." She left many of her manuscripts and some letters and other papers to Boston University before she died, but she deliberately destroyed most of her letters. She probably hoped her correspondents would destroy the letters she sent them as well, and even specifically requested them to in some cases, but she knew a clean sweep would not be possible.
   
   Well, then. Should we respect her wishes and read only her many stories and articles? Or should we pry into her private life, in the hopes of learning something valuable that will add to her published writings? Or should we be completely honest and read her biographies and letters, knowing full well that although we will find out nothing that adds to her journalism or literature, we'll get an adventure story that rivals anything she ever wrote.
   
   Having tossed aside my misgivings when I picked up the first biography of Gellhorn, Nothing Ever Happens to the Brave by Carl Rollyson, I didn't hesitate when Caroline Moorehead's Gellhorn: A Twentieth Century Life came out. It was a foregone conclusion that I would read The Selected Letters of Martha Gellhorn. Sorry, Martha.
   
   In The Selected Letters, as in the Moorehead biography, we find out that Gellhorn was a difficult person. She could be rude and something of a bigot, although it may not be fair to judge her based on letters she wrote to friends. Still, suffice it to say that if I were to quote her on African Americans, or the Chinese, or the Italians, my review would not be published on this website. And while she loved to discuss and argue with friends and colleagues about politics, apparently she would not listen to anyone who disagreed with her regarding the Palestinians.
   
   Her relationship with her adopted son was painful to read about. Much has already been said about whether she was a good, or even a fit, mother, so I won't add my amateur opinion. However, it is interesting to note that, like so many parents in the Sixties, she considered her son's recreational drug use altogether different from her own frequent and liberal use of alcohol and amphetamines.
   
   An odd discrepancy occurs in a letter she wrote in 1991 to an old friend from the Spanish Civil War. In it, she mentions having taken four marriage vows. Even counting her early relationship with Bertrand de Jouvenal as a marriage, which it probably wasn't, she was married three times. Curious.
   
   The Selected Letters is a fascinating companion to Moorehead's biography of Gellhorn, although I can't honestly say it is a valuable addition. Gellhorn's best stories have already been told by Gellhorn herself. The letters show an unpolished side of Gellhorn's writing, for what that's worth. She wrote so many letters and such long letters that one is tempted to speculate that writing them was a way of putting off real writing, or perhaps a way of writing through all the clutter in her mind that had to be cleared out before the real writing started.
   
   Regrettably, Gellhorn was right about a writer being diminished by having her life known. But she would surely understand that the curious reader can't resist getting to the bottom of a great story.

No comments about Diana Vreeland.

5 comments about I'll Always Have Paris.

1. This is the third book by Buchwald that I have recently read.
   The books were the ones identified in his last column in the Washington Post a month or so ago.
   Leaving Home reminded me of my "up bringing" though I had it much better that Buckwald in most respects and I was too scared to join the Marines in June 1950 though I now regret that decision!
   Buckwald's books are humorous, heartwarming and most enjoyable, even "Too Soon to Say Goodbye" which I sent to my 86 year old sister who has lived alone since her husband died 25 years ago. Recommended reading for those who need a break from novels and non-fiction "stuff".
   George



2. Art Buchwald deserves a place alongside Mark Twain, Will Rogers, Robert Benchley and Erma Bombeck as the creme de la creme of American humorists.
   
   Speaking of creme de la creme and other things French, Buchwald's career began in the City of Light, where he went in 1948 on the G.I. Bill, hoping to become a great writer in the style of his hero, Ernest Hemingway. Instead, he became a great writer in his own style and has long been a hero to other humorists (including yours truly) who wish they had even a fraction of Buchwald's talent.
   
   "I'll Always Have Paris!" is not a collection of newspaper columns, as most of The Master's 33 books have been. It is the second part of his classic memoirs, the first being the wonderful "Leaving Home."
   
   In "I'll Always Have Paris!," Buchwald wittily recounts talking his way into a dream job as a columnist for the European edition of the New York Herald Tribune, despite having had almost no professional experience.
   
   He then recalls his exploits as a bon vivant and a humorist nonpareil. Best of all, he tells a magical love story -- his wooing of and marriage to Ann McGarry, a redhead from Pennsylvania who made the most romantic city on earth even more heavenly for the kid from Queens.
   
   Whether the tears are from laughing or crying, you'll shed them. I've never been to Paris, but I hope to get there one day. Until then, thanks to Art Buchwald, I'll always have "I'll Always Have Paris!"



3. I picked up this book at the used bookstore not knowing anything about Art Buchwald; I was more interested in reading about a person living in Paris than I was about Mr. Buchwald himself.

   I thought the book was delightful and I came away liking Art. His stories are funny, touching and sad, but always mixed up enough to keep the book lively and fun. I consider it light reading; a great escape from the office at lunchtime.




4. Heard the taped version of I'LL ALWAYS HAVE PARIS: A
   MEMOIR, written and read by Art Buchwald . . . Buchwald has
   always been one of my favorite humorists/columnist, though I
   regret that he doesn't appear in my local paper.

   This book is a follow-up to his earlier LEAVING HOME . . . it is a witty tribute to 1948 Paris, a city he fell in love with as he began his quest to become a great writer . . . there are a lot of cute stories, plus much name-dropping (Hemingway, Bacall, etc.).

   I also liked hearing about how he met and fell in love with
   his wife . . . his trials and tribulations as a father also had me laughing . . . as he notes, "..."

   Overall, I enjoyed it . . . though this is one time where
   a professional reader would have helped . . . Buchwald's voice
   is not the easiest to understand--or at least not on these tapes.




5. I first read this book last year after a trip to Europe which included a brief and wonderful trip to Paris. Buckwald has captured the essense of life in Paris. For those not in love with the city, this might lead to the thought that this would be a dull book. However, this book is a witty scream which left me at times reading with my mouth hanging open in amazement and at other times laughing out loud as I read turned the page. I wish I could have met him - or better yet, been able to attend one of the parties mentioned in the book. I would recommend this book to anyone. It is fascinating, irreverent and jovial. A great read.