5 comments about Front Row: Anna Wintour: What Lies Beneath the Chic Exterior of Vogue's Editor in Chief.

1. I'm neither a fashionista nor a Anna hater. But I did see the movie The Devils Wear Prada, and thought that movie was extremely unflattering to her. Well to my amazement, this books paints an even worse picture of Ms. Wintour. I guess the movie had to make her a little more likeable for public consumption. The book is chock full o' gossip from people (mostly people who worked with her) who seem to have mostly negative things to say about Anna, often about her ruthless ambition to climb the fashion ladder, her shallowness, and how intimidating she is to deal with in person. Anecdotes mainly start with her teen years, when even at that time, she was obsessed w/fashion. There much written about her active love life as well. I don't know how truthful the sources are or how objective the author tried to be - I didn't really care. I just wanted to read an entertaining bio and this certainly fit the bill. In the end, I still had to admire this lady for her sheer guts and tenacity, although I would never want to work with a person like her.
   
   Take this book to the beach, read it on a plane - it will definitely make time fly.



2. the only reason i finished this "book" was because i just wanted the information. To say Jerry Opennheimer's style is disgusting would be an understatement. I cringed at every line and his pages were so leaded with stupid, crude metaphors and ridiculous over dramatizations that i wanted to kill myself! There was distict rat-like quality about the whole thing. When writing about Wintour- rival Grace Mirabella's last days at Vogue, he said: "Just when Mirabella thought she was finally safe from that skinny shark draped in Chanel, she started hearing the Jaws theme song ringing in her ears again." come on! YUCK. enough said.



3. I agree with much of what the previous reviewer,Lee Mellott,said. I too stopped reading VOGUE years ago (personally, I much prefer VANITY FAIR).
   
   Like many reviewers of this Oppenheimer book, I was enthralled to read more about Anna Wintour's life and so I picked up this book. And I was not disappointed!
   
   Oppenheimer has taken task to interview so many people that have known Anna,(many many) and with those interviews, he was able to write a very interesting book.
   
   Granted , the book is Oppenheimer's point of view on Anna. However, if even HALF of what Oppenheimer has discovered about Anna is true (via his research), OMG, the woman sounds like a manipulative, menacing, ruthless, and highly interesting person!
   
   You may ask how a woman (ie:Anna) who is so menacing can also be interesting? Well, if you were to read this book, you'd know just why I stated this point.
   
   The first half of the book is about Anna's past and how she climbed her way to the "top". I found this sooo interesting,from start to finish!
   
   Basically, Anna knows how to use her money , her family status, and her sexual personna to manipulate people in order to get what she wants. As ANDREA, the main character in THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA would say:
   "...had Miranda [ie: Anna] been a man, Miranda would be a typical assertive executive male, using everything in his power to climb to the top.But because Miranda [Anna] is a woman,then she is seen as a B****".
   
   Yes, Anna Wintour (or Miranda) is not a MAN, and therefore society deems her as a "devil",... or a self-serving "status climber". Is that totally fair to Anna Wintour? Well, when you read this book, you can decide for yourself.
   
   The second half of the book deals with Anna Wintour's rise to the top. This part of the book goes deeply into what makes Anna tick. What turns her on (and off). What Anna Wintour will do to get what she wants is carefully explained.
   
   In this book , Anna is often portrayed as a woman that was/is selfish and cold, and as a woman that will sleep her way to the top, whether she loves the man or not. She married for status, as the book reflects. She used/uses people then basically throws them away when she is done with them. She is portrayed as a woman that was (& is) eager to please her Dad, and was (& is) willing to do anything to win that approval. What I get, from the book, is that once her Dad died, Anna's ruthless personality was so deeply embedded,...so much so that it has been difficult for Anna to turn back.
   
   For a while, when Anna was having an affair with "the Texan", Anna seemed to be softening a bit. However, since the book stops at 2004, heaven only knows if she is still with "the Texan" or not.
   
   Once again, this is Oppenheimer's take on Anna. Is it true, or is Oppenheimer's view of Anna a bit far fetched?
   The only way for the reader to decide this point, is to read the book and decide for themself.
   
   My opinion (& this is only my opinion) is that Anna is very much like what Oppenheimer's research portrayed in this book. But I'm sure that there is much more to Anna that the reader will never know.
   
   Anna Wintour is a chamelion, and also, she is a mystery to many, ---and primarily since she rarely lets her guard down.



4. Give me a break. Jerry Oppenheimer is one of those "unauthorized" biographers who extrapolates and dramatizes, adding his own skewed agenda all along the way. I couldn't stand his writing (especially his creating thoughts for Ms. Wintour as a child!) and wish there was an actual, trustworthy and unbiased biography of this visionary, if demanding, stylemaker.



5. Not that Anna Wintour is such an interesting person, but the author writes a nice biography. He does a good job, interesting details. However, I probably expected more "glitz". I recommend the book.

5 comments about Travels with Herodotus (Vintage International).

1. 
   This is the title of the last chapter of this, the last book written by journalist, traveler, poet and philosopher Ryszard Kapuscinski.
   
   It is an excellent and a beautiful book, one that resonates on many levels, all at once.
   
   In 1955, Kapuscinski, an aspiring journalist in the oppressive post Stalinist environment of Cold War Poland, applied to go abroad. What he had in mind was a trip across the border to neighboring Czechoslovakia - anything farther afield seemed all but unthinkable.
   
   Instead, his editor sent him to India, and after that to China and one exotic destination after another. He took along a copy of The Histories, by Herodotus.
   
   Travels with Herodotus chronicles a lifetime of travels as the author juxtaposes his impressions of a world he could never have imagined from the confines of the closed Communist society of the fifties with the ancient explorer's first encounters with countries and cultures on the fringes of classical Greek experience.
   
   This is a deep and very well written book. Credit here must also be given to translator Klara Glowczewska for her artful rendering of the original text in English.
   
   The following snippet conveys something of the author's sensitive powers of observation along with his deft and clever description:
   
   "The paintings of Confucian artists depict court scenes - a seated emperor surrounded by stiff standing bureaucrats, chiefs of palace protocol, pompous generals, meekly bowing servants. In Taoist paintings we see distant pastel landscapes, barely discernable mountain chains, luminous mists, mulberry trees, and in the foreground a slender delicate leaf of a bamboo bush, swaying in the invisible breeze."
   
   Perhaps I was particularly seduced by this book as I read much of it on the African coast overlooking the Gulf of Guinea. But I think not.
   
   It's one of those books that will just captivate you, and will take you away...



2. I didn't know Kapuscinski before reading this book, so I cannot comment on the man's journalistic reputation. This book is really an amalgam of two books. One part is made of commented passages from The Histories of Herodotus. The other is the actual travelling of Mr Kapuscinski around the world as a journalist. The title is misleading because the places where the author travels are work assignments from Communist Poland, not a free journey that he planned in order to retrace the steps for Herodotus. Except for a brief visit to Persepolis and Egypt, they have no connection whatsoever with the Greek historian. He is first sent to India and Afghanistan, then China, Congo, Ethiopia, Algeria and Senegal. So don't expect it to be a voyage of discovery of the ancient world. It's not.
   
   The writing style, well the English translation at least, is engaging, gripping even. On the other hand, I was displeased with the author's poor knowledge of the places he visited. He doesn't understand the difference between Hindu (the religion), Hindi (a modern language), Indic (an ancient language and script) and Indian (general term) and talks about 'Hindu script' and 'Hindi writing system', or Buddhism being a 'Hindu ideology'. He talks about Chinese hieroglyphs and alphabet instead of pictograms or ideograms or just characters (hanzi, as they are known in Mandarin). He describes Kwangtung province (now spelt 'Guangdong') simply as "a place infested with crocodiles" - a rather distorted and limited view when we know it is, and has long been, the richest Chinese province in every sense of the term (economically, culturally, linguistically, ethnically).
   
   In the last chapters about Senegal, Kapuscinski expresses his aberrant opinion that Africa would be a more developed place today if the Europeans had not taken by force their strongest and most capable men to make them work as slaves in the Americas. Doesn't he know that African tribes enslaved each others and chieftains sold excess slaves to Europeans for profit ? If anything it only made these African chieftains richer. However you look at it I don't see how the lack of European interaction with Africa could have made it a more developed place now. Besides, the slave trade with the Americas only concerned a small stretch of coast in western Africa, a tiny part of the continent. Mr Kapuscinski also believes that the Senegalese descend from the ancient Egyptians.
   
   When commenting on the Greco-Persian wars, he keeps reminding the reader that it is a war between Europe and Asia, rather than just between Greece and Persia. I do not understand this standpoint considering that both the Greeks and the Persians were Indo-Europeans in language and culture, and that there were many important Greek settlements in Asia minor, including Herodotus' home town, Halicarnassus. Greece is not Europe, and Persia certainly does not represent all Asia (go tell the Chinese that they are Persians !)
   
   Apart from such weird commentaries the book is well written and enjoyable. I preferred the part taken from Herodotus. I made me want to purchase The Histories, which I think I would enjoy more because it is four time the size of this book and not tainted with someone else's opinion.



3. The absolute best travel books for armchair travelers like myself are the true fish out of water journeys. *An African in Greenland* by Michel Kpomassie immediately comes to mind. This is a story of a guy from Togo who decides he simply must visit Greenland after reading about in a book he accidentally obtained, and did it. In the Greenland book we have a narrator who is himself fascinatingly different than the reader (me, for example) writing about a place that is also unimaginably different than the places I know.
   
   *Travels With Herodotus* is similar in some ways, especially when Kapuciski makes his first journey from communist Poland to India; but as the book continues Kapuciski becomes a savvy, seasoned traveler (although he never loses his sense of wonder).
   
   When he starts out on his journeys he is given a volume of Herodotus' *Histories* and throughout *Travels With Herodotus*, as a sort of interesting gimmick, he muses about *Histories* throughout this volume, often juxtaposing ancient history / travel observations with his own contemporary experiences. I thought this technique worked well and made the book doubly interesting.
   
   His observations and writings are always fresh, unique, and well seen. This succinct book is captivating. Most highly recommended.



4. The Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski was one of the great journalists of the Twentieth Century. His beat was was the newly emerging nations of Africa and Asia. As a Pole during the Cold War, Kapuscinski had access to places that few Western journalists could visit. He was an immensely gifted writer who left us vivid portraits of peoples and nations leaving behind the the colonial world and disorientedly entering into the modern age.
   
   While traveling to the far reaches of the developing world, Kapuscinski's favorite travelling companion was the ancient Greek historian Herodotus. Kapuscinski closely identified with the ancient historian and traveller. Carrying his copy of "The Histories" with him, Kapuscinski spent many years teasing out the meanings and themes found in the book. In many ways, Kapuscinski saw himself as a modern day Herodotus visiting the world's obscure corners and bringing back to his readers what he had learned and experienced.
   
   "Travels with Herodotus" starts conventionally enough as an autobiographical tale of a young journalist leaving Poland in the late 1950's and visiting the newly independent nations of Asia and Africa. But as the book moves forward, the autobiography recedes and a literary appreciation of Herodotus begins to more fully emerge. Kapuscinski's portrait of Herodotus is heart felt and well written. However, as a long time reader of Kapuscinski, I wanted to learn more about him and I was dissapointed to see the character of Kapuscinski fade away. Nevertheless, "Travels with Herodotus" was a pleasure to read. Recommended.



5. When Kapuscinski was working on this book, early in this decade, he spoke in New York City about his career. Among those present in the audience was Susan Sontag, an old friend, who gently suggested that Kapuscinski got it wrong: in her view, he wanted the companionship of Thucidydes, not Herodotus.
   I think that Kapuscinski's choice was okay, but readers with a knowledge of all the authors involved in this anecdote may want to factor Sontag's provocative idea, and its intellectual implications, into their own assessments.

5 comments about The Impostor's Daughter: A True Memoir.

1. I've noticed for a lot of reviewers that this is the first graphic novel they have read, and perhaps I would have appreciated this more had it been mine too. Unfortunately for Laurie, this is not anywhere near my graphic novel - I've got tons and this book came with a shipment of about twenty others a week ago. This was, by far, the weakest book out of the entire order, and definitely on the weaker scale of my collection.
   
   I was initially pleased when I opened this book - it's a nice size, and the illustrations are lush, dynamic, and colourful. Had this review been for art it would have been a 4 or 4.5 easy. Visually, this is quite a nice book. She's got a great cartoony style, child-like and pleasant. Her dialogue is decent, relatively natural sounding.
   
   Unfortunately, that's about the extent of the quality of this book.
   
   The graphic memoir is not a particularly new category, and this felt like a poor samplimg of better books.
   
   I noticed some HUGE problems with flow. I suppose it was an attempt to flesh out her character, but it seemed like she was pointing out things just to seem cooler or more interesting. She is quick to point out quirky 'questionable' jobs in Japan, or her lesbian fling in Israel, or name drop celebrities (she does this every two pages) regardless of how it fits into plot or setting mood or anything that's important in graphic novels. If anything, she's guilty of the same blowharding that her father does, but takes greater pride in it because her encounters are true. Regardless, as a novel, that doesn't make it hold up or read particularly well. Imagine had this been in a traditional novel, in a book over two hundred pages - as it would be, had it been written - and halfway through her tale about her father, there is a two page entry on being a hostess in Japan. Seems out of place, huh? Well, that's the Imposter's Daughter. It's very all over the place, and the chapter breaks are not the excuse - because I have read many comics that pull that off successfully, without seeming so choppy.
   
   And man, the name-dropping she does is just as irritating as the lies her father told. I don't need a four page spread talking about work-encounters with various celebrities: one would have been enough to make her point. She's 'emailing back and forth with Ashley Judd' or 'snagging a scarf from Sarah Jessica Parker'.
   
   Her story is, eh, a little obnoxious to me - I have read plenty of stories reexamining the flaws of their parents or exposing truths they didn't see in childhood. Hell, that's what half of my favourite graphic novels are about. This is just not pulled off well. I don't know how to put it any better, but it's just missing that certain something that makes all of the others good.
   
   Since a lot of you guys are new to the graphic novel scene, and apparently enjoyed this - I want to recommend some even better ones on the same vein. Stitches: A Memoir , The Complete Persepolis , Epileptic , Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic are some great ones to begin with!



2. I found this memoir to be an honest and interesting account of a young woman's life, with the focus particularly on her father and his duplicitous nature.
   
   Laurie Sandell comes across as a hard headed, occasionally confused, strong, manipulative, single minded individual, but despite this, or perhaps because of it, I found her story to be quite interesting and always engaging. The simple nature of the art added to the narrative, I found, and the entire story had a good sense of flow. Certainly an interesting tale, and is quite a quick read - I was able to finish it within two hours.



3. The Impostor's Daughter opens with the odd revelation that Laurie Sandell's father stopped the mail whenever he left town. It's seemingly innocuous at first (at little on the control-freak side, but some fathers are stricter than others), but it quickly explodes into a wrenching look at what and who her father actually is. By turns, he is frightening, horrific, infuriating, and, ultimately, pathetic. But he is always brilliant. Con men have to be, and he's no exception. In fact, he might be one of the best.
   
   Sandell grew up with a mother and two sisters who seem to eagerly turn a blind eye to the patriarchal delusion. To be sure, her father is brilliant. He teaches college courses, and even when the college deans discover he has faked his resume, they don't press charges against him...so he simply leaves and finds somewhere else to teach. Meanwhile, he dazzles his family and friends with amazing stories of his native Argentina, of growing up and surviving, of meeting famous people, of doing things that would seem impossible...and are.
   
   Laurie believes the lies too, more or less, or at least accepts them, until she's in college and she discovers that her father has opened up a credit card account under her name. This betrayal, which leads to bad credit before she's ever gotten to use it on her own, opens up a world of doubt for Laurie. Over the years, she begins investigating this man she thought she knew, this man whose love and approval mean so much to her...and what she finds is a bizarre and twisted tale of lies, deception, fraud, and theft, the sheer audacity of which is mesmerizing.
   
   It's even more mesmerizing simply because Sandell is a natural storyteller. As a writer for Glamour magazine, she's interviewed and written about dozens of celebrities, and she has a deft touch with pacing and revealing that compel the story along beautifully. One strength of her writing is that, as the tale becomes more and more incredible, the story becomes more human and relatable. She never shirks from revealing her own life (the irony here being that she is truthful to a fault about her own life, while her father is truthful about none) and gives us insight into her entire adulthood choices, from moving to Japan and becoming a stripper to her dating life to her stint in rehab for a growing Ambien addiction. Even her religious beliefs are put under the microscope...but never in an intrusive or sentimental way. Every page seems to scream, "See how easy it is to tell the truth? You just do it!" If only it were that simple.
   
   I fell in love with this book and its raw honesty. It's gut-wrenching and compelling.
   
   -- John Hogan



4. It may seem odd to use the term self-involved to describe a personal memoir, but The Imposter's Daughter by Laurie Sandell book certainly merits it. There is undoubtedly the germ of a good story in here, worth at least a fifteen-minute segment on This American Life, and it might have been far more compelling had Ms Sandell had the ability to look outside of her own emotional life into that of the other characters who, as she portrays them, are little more than satellites in orbit around her own narcissistic consciousness. I wanted to know, for instance, how it was that her mother and sisters were able to survive and develop under the influence of such a dishonest, unstable husband and father, but Ms Sandell offers her readers only a cursory glance into that side of her family's dynamic. As for her father, his multiple sins and deceptions are described in detail, but Ms Sandell seems unwilling or unable to delve into his own interior life. His motivations are as mysterious at the end of the book as they are at the beginning and he seems to matter only insofar as he is the catalyst for the author's personal dysfunction and neurosis.
   
   Instead, Ms Sandell dwells at length on episodes, such as her pathetic relationship with a drab creature named Ben and her career interviewing vapid celebrities that, while she may believe they represent significant chapters in her personal development, are frankly not interesting or unique enough to earn the demands they place on her readers' attention. The book ends with her visit to rehab, a particularly frustrating section in which she zeroes in on the minutiae of life at the center (the schedule, a map of the grounds, a catalog of the field trips she takes with her group), while glossing over any movement she might have made in the direction of real maturation. Had she been paying attention during her recovery, she would have learned that one of the hallmarks of an addictive personality is all-pervading selfishness, but that lesson never seems to find its way into the pages of her book.
   
   The events of The Imposter's Daughter may all be factually accurate, as far as the author can recall them, but that does not mean that her treatment of them suffers any less from the same pathology of grandiose self-aggrandizement that Ms Sandell accuses her father of every time he makes an appearance. The book is a tell-all, indeed, at times, a tell-too-much, but readers and reviewers would do well not to confuse Ms Sandell's eagerness to air all of her dirty laundry for honesty. Genuine honesty cannot exist without humility; it lies in a writer's ability to transcend her own consciousness and perceive all of the characters who populate her story as persons with lives that are of equal standing with her own. That takes an effort of will that Ms Sandell does not appear ready for, but when she is, I will be eager to read her account of it.



5. This graphic novel was a truly wonderful read, full of insights and pathos. Sandell's willingness to lay bare her family secrets in an effort to better understand the reasons behind her sometimes self-destructive behavior is so raw and honest that I hurt for her. Her story is a touching one that outlines the challenges that those living with mental illness in the family must endure, and the terrible effect that an untreated condition can have on family members. I found myself enraged on Sandell's behalf when her mother and sisters acted as enablers, but came to realize they too were coping in the ways they thought best. Though this is my first graphic novel, its quality has convinced me it will not be my last. Highly recommended!

5 comments about Take the Cannoli : Stories From the New World.

1. Sarah Vowell is an amazingly sassy, witty journalist. She takes you all around America (and all the around the world) as she shares pieces of her life interspersed with hard journalism.
   
   Her stories are diverse, and include a stay in the Chelsea Hotel, an obsession with The Godfather, a humorous trip to DisneyWorld, and a trip to Frank Sinatra's "nowhere" hometown. She searches out her Cherokee history on the Trail of Tears, and talks about her "house divided" (she and her dad supported different political parties).
   
   Her moving, humorous, and altogether interesting account make this a very worthwile read. I reccommend this book to anyone who would like to know the entire history of America as it affects the Michigan Bridge, or who always wondered what goth America was like. In other words, anyone who wants a picture of the diversity of America should definitely read this book.



2. You would think that reading and reviewing a book written ten years ago about American culture might be tricky. You would expect that so much has changed that a book like this would be more like a history lesson than a view into America. But surprisingly, in spite of all that has happened since the turn of the century, Vowell's essays are as true and as a vibrant as when she wrote them. I have to admit that I am a fan of Vowell ever since I read her book Assassination Vacation. The best part of that book is Vowell taking us on a tour of America and making the history she finds relevant to today. This is a gift that she carries into these short essays.
   
   Vowell takes us on a journey along the "Trail of Tears," as she travels the same path which her Cherokee ancestors were forced to travel when they were driven from their homes by Americans. She spends a few days at the Chelsea Hotel where Sid Vicious might have killed Nancy Spungen. She heads to Hoboken to discover the town where Frank Sinatra grew up. She tells us the history of a street corner in Chicago and then explains the lessons she learned from taking band in high school and from watching the movie the "Godfather."
   
   The end result is a very enjoyable series of essays that hold up even though they are 10 years old. If you have enjoyed reading Vowell's other books then I can heartily recommend this one.



3. "Take the Cannoli" consists of a number of witty essays written by Sarah Vowell, who grew up in the middle of nowhere and went on to build a life for herself as a writer living in one of America's largest cities. These stories are largely autobiographical and chronicle Sarah's life and family, with some history lessons woven in as well. They're all very entertaining pieces, but I believe most of them were adapted from radio bits, and they aren't as deep or emotional as they could be. Still, though, Sarah is a great writer, and her commentary is amusing and endearing at the same time. This book was a very enjoyable read.



4. Vowell's book is definately a clever and witty delivery of truth. Some of it is her own truth through life experience. Even if you don't share her opinions, you understand her point without feeling like you are sacrificing your own. She makes you think, laugh and enjoy yourself with introspection mixed in..well done Vowell!



5. I became a fan of Sarah Vowell after reading Assassination Vacation, and decided to go back and read her early works. Take the Cannoli: Stories from the New World is very good although a bit short. It's also a bit dated, although that's entirely my fault for taking so long to discover Vowell.
   
   Take the Cannoli is a compilation of short stories that mostly deal with the author's life. She writes of being born in Oklahoma and raised in Montana, her twin sister and her parents, her education and her background (she's part Cherokee), her political beliefs and her interest in history, and especially her travels. Many of them are downright funny, and Vowell has a wicked, self-deprecating wit. The chapter on her trying to alter her appearance to become a "Goth" was a scream! I also enjoyed her escapes as a band geek. In high school, Vowell wasn't exactly your average high school student. "I have intimate knowledge of what it was like to be young and uneasy and outraged under Reagan. My high school was 1980s in miniature--you either belonged or you didn't. And if you didn't, you learned to seek relief where you could find it--and for me, that relief was with other black-clad malcontents who could quote defense-spending statistics even though we were barely passing algebra."
   
   Vowell is at her best when she chronicles her travels and two that I enjoyed were her trip to Disney World and her tracing the Cherokee Trail of Tears. While her reflections on her Disney trip were funny, her take on The Trail of Tears poignant, sad and reflective. But even The Trail of Tears is good for a few chuckles, at Vowell's expense. When traveling on a road near her hometown, she relates that "only I know its topography with the intimacy that comes from leaning over every inch of it, carsick. I can't help but wonder if the grass grows so close to the shoulder because of my personal fertilizer crusade: I was a little Lady Bird Johnson of puke."
   
   I wish that Vowell wrote books a little quicker, but in the meantime, I'll have to content myself with reading her earlier works.

5 comments about Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the Final Days of the American Century.

1. The is the best writing I have ever read from Thompson. This book reflects the very meaning of Gonzo. A must have for every Thompson freak.



2. My grandson is getting into reading and this is just the mind expanding material he needs to become a thinker.



3. Make no mistake the late, lamented Hunter Thompson was always something of a muse for me going way back to the early 1970's when I first read his seminal work on outlaw bikers, The Hell's Angels. Since then I have devoured, and re-devoured virtually everything that he has written. I have reviewed many of those efforts elsewhere in this space. As I noted recently in reviewing his 2004 work Hey, Rube, a screed on the misadventures of a gambling freak (himself), not all his efforts have been equally compelling. That was the case in my panning of Hey, Rube but here we are back on much more solid `gonzo' style from the old days. Maybe it is because this work is in the form of a memoir and thus intentionally places the good Doc's actions in the center of the writing that puts this effort in the mold of his better compilations like the Great Shark Hunt and Songs of the Doomed.
   
   Thompson uses his patented stream of consciousness trope to create amusing stories starting from the then present (early 2000's) and his then current doings and splices them together, in some segments randomly, to events as far back as his childhood in Louisville, Kentucky. Along the way we find him at age nine in trouble with the FBI, and none the worst for the confrontation. Later, it is down and dirty in Rio with the crazies. Throughout, we find him incessantly testing his beloved guns and various `hot' motorcycles at various and sundry appropriate and inappropriate times.
   
   Additionally, we have some compelling and insightful stories as this radical journalist tours the news breaking global spots, taking trips to places like Vietnam just before the fall, Cuba, Grenada just after the invasion and elsewhere wherever the journalistic action might be and a story, in the Thompson style, might develop. Needless to say there is plenty of ink about sex, drugs and rock and rock including his deeply affecting and traumatic tangle with the law in Aspen the early 1990's. That, my friends, was a close call.
   
   And throughout, as usual, there are pithy political comments about the various idiots-in-chiefs, their henchman and hangers-on that he spent his life hammering. Maybe not hammering your way, definitely not my way, but his way. His fateful run for Sheriff of Aspen on the Freak Power ticket in 1970 probably accurately set the tone as a lifelong description of his politics. For those who have read other works by Thompson some of the signature language may be old hat as he meanders along in this volume. For others it is a chance to learn the lingo. Damn, especially this election year, I miss him. Read on.



4. Mr Thompsons autobiography is somewhat lacking compared to his other works. It seems, that he in his later years didn't have that much new to say, and this volume shows it very clearly. It deals with the legend of HST, not the man Hunter Stockton Thompson, and only plays the same tune that we've been hearing since F&L in Las Vegas, only in a strongly diluded form.
   
   A great drawback is that he recycles a lot of stuff from his earlier work, which if you're a fan/reader of his you can't help but feel a bit cheated about. The book isn't that long as it is, but when half the material already has been printed before, and therefore probably, for fans at least, is on your shelf already, it gives the feeling of the good Mr Thompson not really making an effort writing this volume.
   
   It's not all bad though. There are highlights in the book. His description of his childhood is enjoyable and very biographical. The last chapter is also very enjoyable, although not that good as biographical material, it does for a good reading.
   
   It starts out legitimate enough, but quickly turns to his rambling and at times incoherent style of writing. Worth reading if you're a completist. I would recommend the compilations of his letters "The Proud Highway" and "F&L in America" as biography instead. They are much better.



5. This book (2003) and "Hey Rube" (2004) appear to be the last of HST's books. While "Hey Rube" contains lengthy discussions of gambling on professional football and basketball (including "March Madness"), this book is more far-ranging, containing everything from Thompson's reminiscences of his youth to his (highly negative) thoughts on George W. Bush. There's even a chapter from "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 1972," one of the finest political books ever written.
   
   The quality of the writing on the recent pieces is not quite up to that of his best from the past, but is still infinitely better than the mindless slop produced by other contemporary "writers." The man was an artist.
   
   As always, one of the disturbing things about Thompson is his ability to assess politics correctly in real time. Reading back, you think "Why didn't people take this man seriously at the time?"
   
   "Indeed," as Doc would say.

5 comments about Growing Up (Signet).

1. Russell Baker's story of his growing-up years is not mind-shattering, it is not sensational, there is no hype involved. But it is easy to see if you look behind the seamless prose that he is a born writer. The story is beautifully told, not spectacular, but genuine and from the heart. I mean, how many individuals have a spell-binding childhood. Maybe one out of ten thousand. But you should read Baker just because he's so easy to read, so interesting in his observations, so moving in his conclusions. There are probably a thousand or more other biographies very much like Baker's but written with nowhere near the skill and wit.



2. 
   This book was recommended by my writing teacher as an excellent memoir. She was right. With just the right combination of humor and pathos, Russell Baker takes us through his childhood during the Great Depression and beyond with his funny, quirky, extended family. It's easy to see why it won the Pulitzer.



3. After having been asked, recently, for Best of the Bests lists, I am reminded of this great book. I wanted to add my review here, as well. Although a little hard to write because I no longer have the book (loaned to a friend who would love it like I did), what I remember is how MUCH it reminded me of my dad, and how much "heart" it showed--the heart of the man--the man he would become, and the young man on his way there. It captured spirit and courage and love, and a great deal of insight into human nature. I also remember the quality of the writing. It took my breath away. It is WELL worth the price of the book and that should not be surprising as Baker--as a writer--is so well loved.



4. Years ago, after reading this book and enjoying it immensely, I gave it to my father, who like Baker grew up in the Depression with a strong-willed, early-widowed mother. My dad, who loved to read, couldn't handle reading it and never finished it. It gave me some insight into how painful the Depression was for those who lived through it. Dad has been dead for 24 years now, and last week I reread this book again. It really brought back the world of that generation. If we are heading into a Depression of our own I don't know if we will handle it as bravely as our parents' generation did.



5. too long, boring, pointless.....if i wrote a book about coming of age, i would definitely have more action to report.

5 comments about A Drinking Life: A Memoir.

1. Pete Hamill may be a good newspaper reporter, but he "buried the lead" with the title of this memoir. It has actually very little to do with drinking--at least the kind of egregious, alcoholic drinking that Fitzgerald did--and unless the author is not telling the whole story, it's not about alcoholism. Maybe it wasn't meant to be, but then, he shouldn't have called it "A Drinking Life".
   
   Aside from the fact that I found neither the story nor its style to be particularly compelling, the main problem is the author's lack of self-reflection. There is no agonizing over his problem, no soul-searching, no cataclysmic event in which a moment of clarity leads him to sobriety. It's as if he decides one day that he's allergic to peanuts and decides to give them up. In which case, there really isn't any story here worth mentioning, at least about drinking.
   
   Carolyn Knapp's "Drinking: A Love Story" is a much better first person account about alcoholism, and "Angela's Ashes" is one of the best books ever written on the insidiousness of alcoholism as a family illness.
   
   However, if you're looking for a memoir about an NY Irish kid who grows up to be a reporter, this might be the book for you.



2. I've seen a few people who have already reviewed this book bemoan the fact that Pete Hamill doesn't spend very much time going into great detail about the problems he dealt with as an alcoholic. How could he name his memoir "A Drinking Life" when it's not riddled with lurid tales of alcohol-induced drama? It's titled "A Drinking Life," I think, because it chronicles the portion of his life that happened while he was a drinker and surrounded by drinkers. The ending is dramatic because suddenly - poof! - he doesn't drink any more. Drinking problems usually creep up on people and are hard to shake; in Hamill's case, his drinking was inevitable, and the abrupt way he dropped the habit is remarkable and commendable.
   
   Oh, and the guy knows how to string words together.



3. Pete Hamill's memoir/autobiography eloquently tells the story of a drinking culture. It is set in New York, in a poor Irish immigrant neighborhood in the 1940's. Much of the story is similar to his bestselling novel Snow in August in that a boy comes of age in an environment that values ignorant thugs over curious students, corner bars over libraries, fighting over communicating. With few sober, involved fathers, most boys grow up in a household led by a mother with too many children who ends up working a menial job just to put food on the table while the fathers spend their wages in the bar. While I assumed that Snow in August was largely based on his own neighborhood and upbringing, after reading this memoir, it's amazing just how closely one mirrors the other. So the story moves through Hamill's life from boyhood through adulthood and marriage; the constants in his life seem to be running away from who he is (or seeking sho he is?) and drinking in order to deal with it. Though well educated and clearly bright, his use of alcohol as novacaine for life is not much different than his father's. Hamill wanders the world wherever his writing career will take him whereas his father only wanders the neighborhood. Still, they're both wanderers who use alcohol to forget, pretend, hide. As a young boy, he's wildly into comics, and he has this fabulous line: "Comics taught me, and millions of other kids, that even the weakest human being could take a drink and be magically transformed into someone smarter, bigger, braver. All you needed was the right drink" (10). Wow. What a commentary on the culture of alcohol or escapism or altered reality. This is a great book.



4. I love this man's books. I felt like I was there growing up in New York with him. So engrossing. So lovely.



5. It hit closer to home than I expected. How blessed Peter Hamill is to have an "a ha " moment and release himself from this awfull curse.
   Also loved the history of happennings that he experienced and shared with us.
   
   Great read................D Bessette

5 comments about The Exile: Sex, Drugs, and Libel in the New Russia.

1. I saw this guy Mark Ames speak on a talk program about Timothy Geithner. He was in Russia during the transition to a market economy (or what passes as a market-based economy). I find that an interesting period. I wasn't there but one thing that I remembered from that period was the insistence of commentators to conflate capitalism with democracy. I mean, we were continually fed lines about new freedoms in the former Soviet Union because now they could have...McDonalds. I wanted the perspective of someone who had been there who might see this narrative differently. This is not that book. Instead we are introduced to the thoroughly unlikeable Mr. Ames and his petty squabbles, jealousies, and grievances. There is little to learn about Russia during this period. Apparently, Mr. Ames feels that he is a far more interesting subject. It is difficult to discern exactly why Ames felt the need to be in Russia. I mean, he keeps speaking of some deep affinity he has with the Russian people but shows zero intellectual curiosity about its history or culture. What he seems most concerned with is 1)creating his own little fiefdom, and 2)scoring with Russian women 3)disparaging others in the ex pat community (while behaving no differently than those targets of his venom).
   But lets talk about Marks's little problem with women. Oh, where do I begin. First, he is continually passing judgement on women's appearance. Apparently he did not look at the picture of his smug little face attached to his column. Next, a girlfriend becomes pregnant, obtains an abortion at his insistence, and somehow she is ruining his life. Really! He uses his little paper to whine about it. The kicker, my friends, is this: In his little fantasy world, a woman quits the paper because she is NOT being sexually harassed by him.
   As for his paper. It seems all about speaking truth to the powerless. Now, I can't say I read the whole thing. That would entail an aneurysm. But, I can say that most of the targets of his "investigative journalism" seemed to involve exposes of petty crooks and shady night life impressarios. I read nothing about the sell off of state industries to the politically connected or pretty much anything about corruption in the higher levels of government. I guess this is to be expected, as this book was mostly about Mark. More specifically its Mark telling you how different he is. He doesn't show you, mind you. He just keeps telling you.
   I should have known I was in for a bad read when Ames romanticized living in a drab and crumbling Soviet era apartment building. He looks out the window and finds beauty in the rusting and decaying playground equipment. I suppose this is to be some signifier of his sensitivity, but all I could think was "How friggin' privileged do you have to be to romanticize such a hard existence?"
   Matt Taibbi wrote some chapters. Initially, when I found this book I was delighted to see that, being a fan of his journalism. Not wishing to change my opinion, I skipped his chapters. I'll excuse him for this crap his name is attached to.
   If I were either of the writers, I would buy back all the copies and burn them. It is that embarrassing.



2. First, don't even read the 2 press review excerpts printed on the amazon page for this book. They don't do the book justice, and the first one reads like it was written by an eight grade kid on the short bus ride to school. Seriously, how does a person who writes like that get a job reviewing books?
   
   This book is likely the only one in print that can convey what it was like to live in late 90's Russia from the top down. These guys had the smarts and the connections to be able to read and report on the machinations of the ever-morphing Russian economic and political landscape of those pivotal years, and they do it without an ounce of pretension. Its a story of the the beginning of the most honest and irreverent newspaper to ever hit the streets of Moscow, and likely the streets of anywhere in the world. These guys are the Hunter Thompsons of the new Millenium. Ames' and Taibbis' stars are still rising today, in 2009, on the back of their razor sharp writing, insightful reporting, and refusal to surrender their journalistic integrity. Granted, they've since been effectively, literally, and ironically exiled from Russia due to the extent of their journalistic honesty and effectiveness, but that just makes still happening prologue to the book all that more interesting.
   
   If you want an exceptionally well written, hilarious, visually stimulating, and must read account of the underworld of 1990s Russian politics, Oligarchical robbery of state/people owned resources, "business" deals, expat entrepreneurship, organized crime, sex, nightclubs, bars, hard drugs, petty assasination attempts, shakedowns and the laughable refusal of the average western expat to embrace all of the excess that the New Russia had to offer, then pick up this book. As Ames himslef contends, late 1990s Moscow was like the real life city from Bladerunner. On a number of levels, you won't be sorry for reading this book. But it'll make you lament the fact that largely, a time like this won't be seen again in the world (the radical and lightning fast transition from socialism to capitalism in such a large and storied state), and you missed experiencing it in person by just a few years.



3. I got "The Exile" because I wanted to read Taibbi's early work. For that, I'm punished a thousand times because I was forced to read Mark Ames. I'm not sure how much of it is true, but in his narrative, Ames constructed a mean spiteful little loser in the first-person narrative. We learn that he was a jobless 27 year old who couldn't stand his girlfriend although he lived with her and followed her to Prague. He dumped on a terminal cancer patient (his step-dad) who didn't let Ames drive his Jeep. He went on about the scabs on his butt, to no point of advancement of the narrative. If you have a relationship with a person who has scabs, you could sympathize, but that's because of the strength of the relationship. No such relationship exists here, and a guy moaning about scabs and poverty sounds exactly like a guy moaning about scabs and poverty, that is, a whining loser. Perhaps self-deprecation is meant to elicit some wry sympathy, but I read no hint of charm or kindness in the character at all. Why did he decide to go to Russia? For no reason that he told us, he couldn't even speak the language when he got his visa (unlike Taibbi, who was fascinated by the stories of Gogol.) It was something that aimless people with nothing better to do, decided to do. The word that blinked brightly in my mind when I read the first chapter was "loser", it's a cliched word but I was overwhelmed by the loser miasma that permeates the entire collection of Ames writing. Losers who could write, before there were blogs. I gave up after the third chapter. These were strangers that I did not care to know. This book is about them. There's pitiful little insight here about Russia. I added an extra star for Taibbi's writing. When you read Ames and Taibbi side by side, you can see clearly who has a gift for writing and who is the big mouth with colorful complaints. Skip this if you are looking for Taibbi's stuff, his current writing is much better: more mature, less self-indulgent.



4. I am a lawyer from las vegas, that traveled to moscow, russia, numerous times to host a business venture. After my first trip, i came across this book and was startled to realize that Ames is on the money with his description of Moscow. Anyone planning a trip to Moscow, must read this book. It is an easy read and really allows the reader to gleen an inside to the beauty behind the beast that is Moscow.



5. You'll be disapopinted and wishing for more when this book ends. You will want to read more of the exploits of the eXile and its two fearless leaders, Ames and Taibbi, and fortunately you can at www.exile.ru. I learned about the eXile while reading Taibbi's book Spanking the Donkey about the 2004 election. Since discovering it, the eXile has been a tremendous way to pass the time at work. Despite finding much of what they describe of Russian life terrifying and disturbing it has not tempered my desire to visit the country as soon as possible.
   
   Also, if you enjoy the writing of Hunter S. Thompson you will definitely enjoy reading the exploits of Ames and Taibbi. They seem to be carrying the torch, albeit a dim one, into the twenty-first century. It is a sad commentary on our consolidated, witless, boring media that some of the most interesting reporting by young writers has to be found in an independent newspaper in Mosocow of all places! The eXile would probably not get published in our "land of the free."

5 comments about The Night of the Gun: A reporter investigates the darkest story of his life. His own..

1. As a recovering addict, I was looking for a recovery story that was inspirational. The author's ploy of fleshing out the dimly remembered past by using journalistic techniques constructs a self-serving narrative long on war stories. I found the disclosures of what a "super bad" dealer/womanizer the author was to be appalling at first and ultimately obnoxious. I suspect the book was mercifully remaindered after a brief life on the shelves.



2. Carr -- now a respected New York Times reporter and new-media personality -- reports on his miraculous recovery from the depths of hard drug and alcohol addiction, a serious bout with cancer, poverty-level living, and custodial parenting of his twin daughters born to a drug-dealing girl friend who left town during their infancy.
   
   His quiescent writing and reporting skills were crucial to his regaining a livelihood after he determined to take recovery seriously. They are wonderfully on display in this gripping memoir. Describing a collection of dilapidated fishing shacks his family used for summer weekends: "It was the sort of like the Kennedy compound in Hyannisport, but without the football, ocean, or yachts -- a white trash nirvana."
   
   Describing family and friends' worries amidst his cancer battle: "There was enough avoidance in all that concern that I began to think I had a case of 'It,' instead of cancer. How is it going? Did they get all of it? What's its status. Oh, do you mean this giant cancerous tumor on my neck that is tipping my head over? 'It' seems to be doing fine. The host is a little freaked out though."
   
   Even more intriguing than the courageous saga of how Carr surmounted his financial, addiction, and health challenges to build a new life complete with trophy wife, trophy job, and reporting trophies (as well as 3 great kids) are the musings about memory's role in self-identity. Carr had forgotten much that occurred when his troubles peaked in the late 80s and early 90s; where he did remember, his version of key events frequently differed from versions told by friends and family whom he interviewed for the book. The Rashomon-type "What is historical truth?" questions which biographers and historians routinely struggle with are even more bedeviling when the investigator's recounting of his or her own past is filtered through the screen of how they feel about their life today.
   
   Much gratitude to David Carr for all his efforts to reconnect with so many people with whom he was then down and out to put together the near-tragic story of the life he once lived.



3. To my mind this book should have been titled "The Night I Left My Babies in the Car Alone for Hours in the Middle of Winter in Front of A Crack House So I Could Go In and Score." That scene was the emotional core of the book as far as I'm concerned.
   
   "I walked toward the darkened car with drugs in my pocket and a cold dread in all corners of my being," the author writes. "I could see their breath. God had looked after the twins, and by proxy me, but I realized at that moment that I had made a mistake... I made a decision at that instant never to be that man again."
   
   Well, the author's intent was good, yet still it took quite a few rehabs to sober up. But at least his story, and that of his children, ends well. To see his byline in the New York Times these days makes you realize how easily he could have been just another obit in the same paper.
   
   The hook of a journalist investigating his own story was what drew me in. But, truthfully, I really didn't care whose memories among this sorry, addicted lot were accurate and whose not. That one of them wielded a gun one night - the author? the author's friend? - isn't a particularly shocking event sandwiched as it is between hundreds of similarly depraved scenes.
   
   I read this book in batches. I had to. The sordidness got to me every few chapters and I had to put it down. If I could just summon a little more of that prurient interest the bottom-feeding public is so widely credited with having, I might rate books like this higher than I do.



4. I tried so hard to like this book. I really wanted to, given all the rave reviews and press. But, like so many other over-exposed media products, this one fell short of my expectations. I found Carr's writing style to be self-indulgent. I found myself asking "Well, why do I care?" while I was reading about his problems. He failed at connecting the reader to the story in any emotional realm. Some may like this, however, it made it impossible for me to get into the book with any sort of interest. It was just a very disjointed collection of random events during his life that he's gone through without much purpose. Possible fun for some, but not for me.



5. I am a memoir addict, which I suppose is the literary equivalent of reality TV (but I hate reality TV, I swear. But I digress). The more brutally honest, the better in my mind.
   
   David Carr is a gripping writer with a compelling story of addiction and loss to tell. It's one of those books you can't put down. And he's an author to admire for having the courage to tell a story that doesn't spare any unflattering details. This kind of writing is urgent, rare and captivating. This book is excellent and deserves to be read.

5 comments about The Kid: What Happened After My Boyfriend and I Decided to Go Get Pregnant.

1. I've read numerous book on this topic, from a variety of different perspectives: adoptive parents, birth parents, adopted children, adoption counselors, etc. But this is by far the best I've ever read. It is refreshingly honest in its perspective of an adoptive parent (although sometimes heartbreakingly so). While I am an admitted fan of the author (both his column and other books), I really can't recommend this book strongly enough to anyone who has adopted, is in the process or is considering doing so.



2. Just to let people know "Melissa'(not her real name) is alive and well in Virginia and planning to move back to the west coast soon.



3. I ended up reading Savage's books in reverse order (I'm sure Savage would complain that to me, marriage should always come before a child), but it really doesn't matter. Savage's account of the adoption of his son is never a question of whether or not it will succeed; it's about the journal, about Savage's acerbic and insightful wit, and about the challenges and fears that come along with the process. Savage's writing is a joy to read; he's funny, smart, and self-deprecating enough to see through his grandiose front. But it's the emotion underneath, be it fear, anxiety, humor, or love, that makes the book so endearing and so memorable; the last page, as much as Dan would hate to hear me say it, is beautiful writing that brought a tear, quite literally, to my eye. It's a shame that the people who most need to read this book, and most need to understand why gay adoption is not only not a bad thing, but even a wonderful thing, will probably never pick this up.



4. Having read Dan Savage's columns a few times, I was prepared for this book to be witty, sarcastic and funny. However, it is so much more. It is honest, touching, and endearing. There were more than a few times where I had tears in my eyes from reading. I was completely engrossed in this book, reading over the course of a few days at every opportunity I had. I highly recommend this one.



5. I borrowed this book from a friend and couldn't put it down. It was informative and well written and wonderful. I laughed and cried and felt so happy to know everything worked out in the end. I would recommend this book for anyone, especially people going through infertility and adoption. Please do yourself a favor and read it