5 comments about Life's a Campaign: What Politics Has Taught Me About Friendship, Rivalry, Reputation, and Success.

1. If you're a fan of Chris Matthews, chances are you will like this book. It's a brief look into the world of Washington, politics, and how things are done in our government. Matthews provides examples from his own life and experiences and provides advice for anyone looking to gain inspiration from those who attain success in politics.
   
   While the book is entertaining and somewhat insightful, there simply isn't enough; it's way too short. It can be read in a day and you will probably forget about it in a week.



2. Chris Matthews is great! I love his show and I love his book! Fun to read advice.



3. I expected more from Chris Matthews. I think this is a light-weight book written for fast money. I would NOT recommend wasting your money.



4. Easy to read and great ideas on bottom line ways of increasing ones chances for a successful career and also a happier life in general.



5. Chris uses his life story to explain how the American system works, he is not judgmental, he just states the reality. HE lays out the rules of the road, many recent immigrants to the US should read this book - it will make the "Who send you question" more understandable and less intimidating! Have a plan, learn the rules, follow the rules and you win big! Chris Mathews is a living example, coming to Washington from a stay in Africa, he knew the rules but nobody, he hard his plan within the rules and executed perfectly!

3 comments about The World Is Bigger Now: An American Journalist's Release from Captivity in North Korea . . . A Remarkable Story of Faith, Family, and Forgiveness.

1. I think everyone in America has heard of the two journalists who were held captive by North Korea last year. I like many others was very curious about what they suffered while in captivity and how they came to be in a position to be captured in the first place - the author definately tells her story well.
   
   Euna starts out with her history how she became an editor for Al Gore's cable company - this goes on for a while and I was tempted to put the book down. Then she gets to South Korea/China and starts meeting refugees and the people who help them - I still thought it was a slow read. Once you get to the part where the soldiers capture them - the story instantly picks up - even through the tedium of her time in capture - the raw emotion holds your attention - and the fears/guilt that she suffers about not being there for her daughter brought me to tears more than once.
   
   For a large part of her time in captivity Euna was interogated daily by the same official - I found it rather disturbing that she seems to think he is a kind man who wanted to help her - and she says this often - even while describing his interogation techniques and the conditions she was kept in - I really found her praise of him hard to read and think that she is possibly suffering from stockholm sydrome - she doesn't mention if she ever got any therapy after their release but I certainly hope that she has. At the end of the book I was left with a kind of disparraging feeling of "that poor woman", not because she ever pittied herself - but just from the images she was projecting.
   
   If you enjoy biography's you will definately find this to be a must read.



2. I remember reading about Laura Ling and Euna Lee being captured by the North Korean guards and nothing more was being said about them. I remember watching their arrival home and seeing how their relatives react with joy in seeing the two women for the first time in almost 6 months. I just remember having a vivid interest in their stories because they're news journalist and it brings back memories of my newsroom days. (I never did do anything that exciting but I find all news journalists to be fascinating ...)
   
   I picked this book because I wanted to hear what Euna had to say about her captivity. She may not have gone into a lot of details about what they were filming but she did share enough to show her passion for the people defecting North Korea and some of the situations they faced. This book was mostly about her days in captivity and undergoing interrogration and her worries about her husband and daughter back at home. This book is about her faith in God and how it sustained her through those endless days of worrying about the future. She shares her worries, her frustrations, her health issues, her fears, her doubts and the small glimmers of joy that she found in daily life as a prisoner. She shares her darkest moments when she feared that she would never see her daughter again and miss her growing up as well as her frustration upon hearing her sentence to labor camps for 12 years. She writes of her joy when she saw President Clinton for the first time and realizing that she is going home. (That alone will bring tears to your eyes if other parts of the book already hadn't.)
   
   Lee also writes of the man who tried to get information out of her and the small glimpses of kindness that he portrayed that led her to believe that he was a kind person in a job that seemed to make him hard. She writes that not all North Koreans were evil and how the small gestures of humanness brings to light all the horror stories she had heard as a child living in South Korea as a sham. North Koreans are people just like her family and friends in South Korea, just living under a different political regime.
   
   I picked it up two days ago and finished it today as it was just a gripping story that would not let me go. This is not a hard-bitten journalist writing of her days in captivity; this is a memoir of a woman who survived what was the worst time of her life and showed the very nature of humankind in her writings ... her fears, her worries, her prayers and love for her family. She wasn't physically abused but the emotional abuse she endured shows how resilent the human spirit really is. She never gave up hope that she will see her husband and daughter again.
   
   There is one warning I must give out ... make sure you have kleenexs handy. Her raw anguish and sorrow will bring tears to your eyes just as much as the joy and surprise in being reunited with her family. This is by far a personal testimony of faith, not a political book as one might expect.
   
   It is too good to pass up.
   
   8/29/10



3. This book immediately grabbed my attention. I thought this book sounded like an interesting read. It tells the story of journalist Euna Lee and her co-worker Laura Ling (sister of journalist and host of the View Lisa Ling) They are taken into captivity and held for 5 months in North Korea. They seldom see each other after their capture. Even though Euna is a Christian, she is not exempt from struggles, emotional, spiritual, and physical. She describes in vivid detail feelings of guilt, self-doubt, anger, and frustration. She is angry with herself, the U.S. Government, the North Korean government, and even God. But she continues to hold on to the love she has for her husband Michael, and their young 4 year old daughter Hana. That is what keeps her going. There are no easy answers or quick fixes here. But this is a story worth reading.
   
   I would highly recommend this book to others. Other books that are similar in theme are "In the Presence of My Enemies" by Gracia Burnham, and also "Prisoners of Hope" by Heather Mercer and Dayna Curry.

No comments about Blow by Blow: The Story of Isabella Blow.

5 comments about The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir.

1. Typical Bill Bryson - exaggerated humor - laugh out loud funny. Book is a kind of tongue-in-cheek remembrance of growing up in Iowa. Very enjoyable reading



2. I read Bill Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods" and laughed so hard I was crying. I was expecting the same with "The Thunderbolt Kid". However, this is more a reminiscence of life in the Midwest in the 1950's. There were a few funny moments in this book but not nearly as many as a "A Walk in the Woods".
   
   If you are a baby boomer and enjoy reading about growing up in that era, then this book will appeal. There are things here that all of us can enjoy if you are like me, a child of the 1950's.
   
   The author uses the book as a tool for rants against the United States in some of the last chapters. He particularly has great unhappiness with Republicans, the CIA, and Nixon among others.
   
   However, if you like to read about the past and remember some of the good times of the era then this is a fun book; it is just not as laugh out loud funny as "A Walk in the Woods". I did enjoy catching up with Bill Bryson's old friend, Stephen Katz, who accompanied him on his walk in the wood on the Applachian Trail. Since it is not quite as funny as the other book, I chose to give this book 3 stars. I like Bryson best when he is making me laugh.



3. If you grew up in the 50's, 60's, 70's, and even the 80's, and you enjoy reading, you simply MUST read this book. I was born in '68, well after Bill Bryson, and most of which he wrote were things that I experienced as a kid. It made me smile, laugh, and even brought a tear to my eye. For some reason, this book is in my top ten of all time. I loved it that much....



4. If you were born in the 1950's as I was you really have to read this book. So much that I have forgotten is brought back to vivid life.
   I got this with my new kindle, it's the first book I have read on it. A word of warning though, it's a real buster. I'm steal laughing.



5. I did not grow up in the US neither did I grow up in the 50s. Nevertheless, the book brought back fond memories of childhood. This is a book more about growing up than anything else. A great read.

5 comments about Where Hope Begins: One Family's Journey Out of Tragedy-and the Reporter Who Helped Them Make It.

1. I really enjoyed this book. I read it in 3 days, a record for me. It was very engrossing. I highly recommended it to my friends.



2. This story was awesome. I caught the show that aired on ABC about the family a few weeks ago, and was so engrossed in their story, I broke a cardinal rule: I paid full price for a Kindle book. It was definitely worth it. The book is not for the faint of heart. It is a roller coaster ride, but definitely a testament to the strength of the human condition. God truly never gives you more than you can bear. It put my little life into perspective also.



3. Add me to the list of those who could not put this book down! I really, really enjoyed reading this, despite the sad subject matter. I usually find myself skimming books, but I read every word of this one. Alysia Sofios and Caitlin Rother did a wonderful job bringing to life the facts and stories about this murder case, as well as the Wesson family history. By the end of the book, I really cared about the family members who were victimized, and I sincerely wish them the best!



4. I'm not an avid reader. A book has to grab me in order for me to read it..I couldn't put this book down. Just to know what this family has went through brought tears to my eyes. Alysia is a strong woman who helped the family out when no one would. I love knowing the fact that all the kids grew up to be something better than their father ever would. Also, I love the fact that the mother till this day still lives with Alysia.



5. I saw this author and family interviewed on "Oprah" and was simply dumfounded by their story. The author is a strong, compassionate, remarkable, modern day heroine. This family is an absolutely inspiring testament to how vulnerable, soul-crushed humans can -- and do -- survive the unsurvivable, starting from below ground level, and going on to learn how to live productive, worthwhile lives. Due to my professional background, I also especially appreciated the insights as to how this kind of tragedy can come to happen, and how ordinary people fall victim to it. I strongly recommend this book!

5 comments about A Clearing In The Distance: Frederick Law Olmsted and America in the 19th Century.

1. This is a brilliant account of an American legend. His career was a remarkable adventure: surveyor, sailor, farmer, merchant, social commentator, author, abolitionist, planner, construction manager, wartime administrator, mining executive, and (finally) consummate landscape architect. The author skillfully conveys these transitions in an lively narrative that ably portrays 19C America as well.
   
   Olmstead's creativity was served by a pragmatic versatility capable of working wonders. Anticipating dense urbanism and frontier encroachment, he pioneered municipal parks and wilderness preserves that today remain invaluable oasis's. Though largely self-taught (like Washington and Lincoln), he collaborated as an equal with the luminous figures of his day (most formally trained: Vaux, Richardson, McKim, Mead, White, Post, Burnham, Root, Hunt, Saint-Gaudens). He was interested in new technology (electric boats and lighting, drainage, transportation) and took a leading edge to incorporate it in his work.
   
   Ultimately, his legacy is not only one of exceptional work (enjoyed by many cities, including Hartford -his birthplace), but the invention of a skilled professional discipline that continues to enrich human life today.
   
   This work (illustrated and annotated) was a delight. Highly recommended. I wish it was available when I attempted to make my way through Laura Wood Roper's torturous `FLO: A Biography of Frederick Law Olmstead' in 1973 (it sits on my shelf yet half unread).
   
   Also recommended: Cynthia Zaitzevsky's `Frederick Law Olmsted and the Boston Park System' (1982) a great record of Olmstead's Boston park development (with plans and photographs).



2. As a Landscape Architect Olmsted holds a special place for me in the American story. This book is an easy and pleasant read. Most people do not know of the diverse and remarkable path that Olmsted's life traced. Witold's retelling of Olmsted's life covers in adequate depth and breadth the extraordinary tale without bogging down or over emphasizing any particular phase of FLO's life. Olmsted was not only the designer of Central Park but he was an influential member of society in his day and his legacy is as valuable in social terms as it is in environmental.



3. The life of Olmstead was a mystery to me. I read about him in the "Devil in the White City" I had to learn more.
   
   This is a capable biography, covering his life seemingly thoroughly. I didn't buy into the convention the author used when he would describe moments in Olmstead's life in a semi-fictional way. Otherwise, good really good stuff.



4. A Clearing in the Distance is a great biography about a man who had great strength and deep sorrows. The first half of the book covers Olmsted's life before becoming a Landscape Architect. He was basically a very talented man who could not find his calling. Once he found it, he pursued his passion with commitment and daring that changed the way that subsequent generations have thought about their environment and surroundings.
   
   The book provides valuable insights into both Olmsted the man and the world in which he lives. There are musings that are the author's thoughts and are obviously not historical, but they are interesting too in that they give us insight into the author's biases and interests.
   
   Overall, A Clearing in the Distance is well worth reading.



5. Olmsted's life is fascinating and Rybczynski does an adequate job of presenting the highlights, but the writing style is something less than engaging. In addition, the author spends too much time on trivial matters while neglecting more important things. For example, he writes page after page about Olmsted's failures to connect with a romantic mate. Goodness, he wasn't much of looker or a lady schmoozer and this plagued him for years. There, I said it in one sentence. Had the author done likewise we might have learned more about the details of some of Olmsted's projects. If the author wanted to play up relationships to give the reader a fuller appreciation of Olmsted's psychological make-up, he would have done better to delve deeper into the parent-child relationship.

5 comments about Canoeing with the Cree.

1. Great story written by Eric Sevareid, tells of a inspiring canoe trip with his high school classmate, Walter Port. This fast paced story provides a glimpse of a world most of us will never see. Sevareid's prose borders on poetry at times and he provides trip details even when he and Port took the wrong turn. This story would be appropriate for children, but entertaining to adults as well. Highly recommended.



2. Excellent shape, received in a timely manner. Enjoyed the story, although not sure where "the Cree" fits in. Good account from two young men on an adventure. A quick read.



3. Anyone who enjoys adventure fiction will love this true-life adventure story. Eric Sevareid and Walter Port decided that they'd spend the summer after high school graduation canoeing up the Red River from central Minnesota all the way to Hudson Bay with nothing but an 18-foot canoe, a few bad maps, a few dollars, and their own smarts. On their way they experience everything from remote First Nations communities to utterly desolate wilderness to a formal dinner at the posh Winnipeg Canoe Club. They risk their lives again and again, shooting rapids and (in one case) almost dying when they take the wrong advice and end up trapped in a brackish lake in bad weather. But in every instance Sevareid's writing makes their travels come alive.
   
   I loved this book, and I highly recommend it.
   
   Incidentally, I found this book at the St. Vital library in Winnipeg, which was built on the grounds of the old Canoe Club clubhouse. I found that utterly cool. Less cool was the fact that the book hadn't been taken out in fourteen years!



4. ... that inspire those of even a mature age.
   
   Eric Sevareid was one of the preeminent TV newscasters, and this is the story of how he started. He was 17 years old, just graduated from high school, and with his friend, Walter C. Port, 19, set off on a 2,250 mile trip (almost the width of the United States) from Minneapolis to York Factory, on Hudson Bay. It was a race with the weather, and the on-coming winter, one they almost lost. The year was 1930, long before GPS, aerial rescue, or even good maps. In the later portion of the journey, down the aptly named "God's River," there was a point of no return, and you either made it, or didn't. Fortunately Sevareid did, filing stories with the Minneapolis paper, thereby funding his trip for a mere $100, and commencing his journalistic career. He wrote of his trip in book format in 1935.
   
   There are some other excellent reviews of the book, describing their adventures and hardships, noting that they were less than "politically correct," by today's standards, or even the latter wise standards of Sevareid of CBS News, in describing the Indians along the way. Indeed, as one reviewer indicated, the title itself is inappropriate, since they neither canoed with them, nor emulated their style. The book is written in the straightforward adventure style of a 17 year old, with only a minimum of introspection.
   
   To the other reviews I'd like to add a comment on the divergence in the men's lives thereafter. Sevareid went on to the pinnacles of acclaim in the world of journalism. Port decided his one great adventure in life was sufficient, and went back to Bemidji, Minnesota where he ran a drug store for the rest of his life, and where I was able to buy this book.
   
   The dream of long-distance canoeing was dangled, and I was unable to grab "the brass ring." I contented myself on a long journey in the Quattico, and hopefully in the near future, a gentler one in the Yukon. As one reviewer said, this is an inspiring book for Nintendo-bound kids, and I would add that if adults reduced the clutter in their lives, they too might be able to fulfill the dream of two Minnesota youths.
   
   Highly recommended to read, and to do, while the time is available.



5. My, how the world changes in 80 years! This is not a book with the profundity that Sevareid was later noted for. It is a straight off account of two boys setting out on an adventure more dangerous than they realized which could easily have cost them their lives. Fool-hardy, yes. But, how remarkable that they succeeded.
   
   The book gives insight to how primitive Northern Canada and the world was almost within my own lifetime. Places like Norway House and York Factory still exist, but are now virtually abandoned. At the time of the story they were major outposts of civilization in what was then a primeval land. Sevareid's and Post's joy at encountering a Cree family in a canoe and learning that they were within a few hours of a Cree village where there was safety and succor almost brought me to tears.
   
   This is a book that more people should read. Now, not many people even know who Arnold Eric Sevareid was, even less, Walter Post. But, this book launched Sevareid's career as a reporter and writer. Later books, "Not So Wild a Dream" especially, reveal much more about his inner thoughts and empathy for humanity, but there are hints of this in "Canoeing with the Cree".
   
   It is especially remarkable, almost incredible, that he and Post did this great adventure for $100! I have one nagging question: what has become of the original 9 dispatches that he sent to the Minneapolis Star. My internet search has, so far, only turned up one of them. I'm sure the book is better written; after all it is five years after the events. But, I would love to read the original dispatches upon which it is based.
   
   Bottom line: it's an inexpensive book and quick read about a simply amazing quest by one of the 20th Century's greatest journalists.

5 comments about Somewhere Towards the End: A Memoir.

1. This is one of my favorite books. Athill is a wonderful writer - direct, clear language, great sense of humor, and one senses that she is unfailingly honest. She is wholly individual, equally enthusiastic recalling gardening and sexual highlights of her life. A riveting, unsentimental but beautiful portrait of a deep thinker somewhere towards the end. Hopefully not too close.



2. This book isn't only valuable or interesting because we learn about Athill's life; rather, it helps readers consider their own lives in (for me, anyway) a broader perspective. What will one's last few years be like? The book is not morbid for a moment. Athill explores her feelings about her feelings themselves and changes to her body, abilities, interests, and even the world. Some regrets. some joyful memories, some accidental successes and failures as well as purposeful ones. How will we view our own run through this lifetime? There's no disguising the fact that typically one's last several years are characterized by physical decline; true for everyone who doesn't die too young. No moaning and complaining here. This book was inspiring for me and influences how I perceive my senior years. They can be only as pleasant as I make them. I recommend it for retrospection and to help one's adjustment to aging.



3. Athill may be approaching 90, but in clear precise prose she explores aging in an intelligent, fiercely honest and original way. She's like a refreshingly interesting dinner partner. I'm disappointed her other books aren't availabe on kindle.



4. Athill can write and does so intimately and candidly to tell us how she experiences her aging body and how others view her.



5. I have a soft spot in my heart for this author. I attended one of her author events in Hampstead once and enjoyed her musings very much. Yet I was so disappointed in this book that I wish I had left well enough alone and had only the Diana Athill of that evening in my memory.
   
   Only if you would enjoy reading exhaustive accounts of the author's "friends with benefits" stories will you find this book engaging. Really, at the end of one's life is that all there is to talk about? If so, that's pretty discouraging.
   
   I am glad the author finds solace in many facets of her life, such as gardening and reading, that are not hobbled by the physical limitations of advanced age. But the joy she finds in these pursuits didn't stir anything in me. Perhaps contentment is difficult to write about with passion.
   
   The one thought I'll take away with me is that aging is not kind to your feet and walking becomes progressively more painful. I'll use her warning to more actively enjoy this ability now. And I hope to be able to put it to good use again on the Heath some day.

5 comments about Stet: An Editor's Life.

1. As people age, most slow down, become more rigid and sour. And then every once in a rare while you run into a person like this author and say - "if this is what 80s are like, take me there!" This book has clarity, power, gossip, sex, intelligence and charity. Oh, how i wish Diana Athill had been my editor!



2. I read Stet, about Diana Athill's career as an editor, after immensely enjoying her later biography (Somewhere Towards the End: A Memoir, written as she approached 90).
   
   Athill is a candid, empathetic, and witty observer of herself, her surroundings, and the people (many of them quite driven and some rather loony) with whom she worked as an editor for Andre Deutsch in London for 50 years. In Stet, Athill tells their stories. And, as befits a professional editor, she tells them with wonderful clarity and fluidity.
   
   As Athill's sublime writing carries us along through her work and travels, we learn about London during and after World War II, about the evolution of the publishing business and relationships between writers and editors, about the lives and idiosyncrasies of writers famous and not so famous, and, surprisingly, about the poor and wildly beautiful island of Dominica. All these stories are leavened with Athill's lucid reflections on work, sexuality, feminism, social mores and peccadilloes, and religion and spirituality.



3. Diana Athill is a superb editor and it shows in the quality of her own writing. She is straightforward, and writes about her experiences in the publishing trade over fifty years without frills or purple passages. For those interested in the world of writers, their books and how they got to market, her thoughts distilled from years of experience opinions leap off the page. As a bonus, she lists a small number of out-of-print books that are favourites of hers and that she thinks her readers might like to read. "Stet" is a glimpse of a largely vanished literary London. I liked it.



4. Anyone who has ever worked in newspapers or publishing will be familiar with `stet', an age-old editor's term for `let it stand', meaning disregard any and all changes.

   This is an apt title for a memoir from one of London's best known and highly regarded editors, Dianna Athill, who spent 50 years massaging the words and assisting in the careers of many literary powerhouses, including V.S. Naipaul, Jean Rhys and Mordecai Richler as well as America's Norman Mailer, John Updike and John Kenneth Galbraith.

   These feats are worth trumpeting but Athill, now in her 80s, chronicles her working life in an alluring, understated fashion: "All this book is, is the story of an old ex-editor who imagines that she will feel a little less dead if a few people read it."

   `Stet: an editor's life' does a lot more than that. It gives writers and readers a fresh insight into the challenges of publishing as well as the trade's peaks and troughs throughout the latter half of the 20th century, before the conglomerates dominated.

   Athill founded with Andre Deutsch a publishing house in the early 1950s which bore his name. Despite its small size and meagre means, the house and Athill's reputation gained a great deal of attention in England, not only for the calibre of writers they attracted, but their publishing approach. One of the most controversial incidents occurred early on when the publishing house was presented with an injunction against publishing Norman Mailer's first book, `The Naked and the Dead' because of its profane language.

   Athill covers this and many other anecdotes about writers and the writing life in a rich, honest manner.

   `Stet' will interest writers as well as avid readers. It gives them a new look at the old days of publishing, a time when dollars didn't rule over good literature.

   -- Michael Meanwell, author of the critically-acclaimed 'The Enterprising Writer' and 'Writers on Writing'. For more book reviews and prescriptive articles for writers, visit www.enterprisingwriter.com




5. A fascinating look into old-world publishing and life in Britain in the second half of the twentieth century. I really enjoyed all of the wonderful characters and details about the editorial process. Anthill, herself, is an engaging and enjoyable character!

No comments about As Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto.