5 comments about In an Instant: A Family's Journey of Love and Healing.

1. I harrowing tale of survival and recovery - emotional as well as physical. The Woodruffs open their hearts with tremendous vulnerability. It's an openly honest book, without sensationalizing an already dramatic story.
   As a father of a teenager who is in the beginning stages of recovery of TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury), it is reassuring and inspirational to follow their path with all its struggles and victories. And while every brain injury is different, the Woodruffs offer hope. Not necessarily hope that everything will be alright and return to normal, but hope that we can endure.



2. I bought this for my son to read for Summer reading. I read it and, though Bob went through a lot, he is very self centered



3. Excellent book. It brought tears to my eyes. I think everyone should read it, especially if they are having a bad time of it. I also can relate to this book, because I am a brain injury survivor from a serious car accident. I did not work for two years. I had to learn how to talk, walk, think etc. I still have short term memory problems, but I get around it by writing notes. I never needed to write notes in the past. Not only was Bob a part of the media, but his wife was also. She worked in public relations for a company. Must read for everyone who likes true stories about other people. It hit home more because he is from the Detroit area and the whole state of Michigan was watching the news very closely about his trauma.



4. I had followed Bob Woodruff on t.v. for as long as I could remember. When the broadcast came through about his injuries, I was floored.
   This book is amazing, just as much as Lee and Bob. It's a true story of love, faith, perseverance, and an unending devotion in light of unimaginable circumstances. It is skillfully written and I must deliver a rousing cheer to the Woodruff family.



5. This book was such a peek into the lives of so many families affected by the trauma's in life. Well written; I love the way each of them told their thoughts on each of the events. The children as always suffer in the background, but are usually very resilient. These children are to be commended for their love and compassion.

5 comments about Country of My Skull: Guilt, Sorrow, and the Limits of Forgiveness in the New South Africa.

1. Excellent book regarding what went on in South Africa during the ending of apartheid. Very educational and interesting.



2. Antjie Krog is a South African writer and poet who covered the South African Truth and Reconciliation commission hearings. She wrote this book about the experience, from the particular point of view of a South African of Afrikaner background.
   
   I found this book both difficult to read, and difficult to put down. Krog chooses extremely compelling stories to highlight, and the impact is visceral. She asks some very smart and difficult questions about what truth and reconciliation can possibly mean in a country burdened with such a history. The Country of My Skull does an excellent job in providing possible answers to these hard questions, while acknowledging that she may not be the person to either have an opinion or have an answer. She seems to continually ask who are judges and who are victims, given the situation.
   
   While I liked that she shared her own experience of the Commission honestly, there were times when I felt that the focus on her personal life weakened the book. Made it overly poetic, somehow. When she discusses the Death Fugue of Celan, she makes the point that there are some subjects that poetry cannot and perhaps should not touch. I sympathize with the desire to use that kind of precise and metaphoric language, but it increases the distance.
   
   This seems to me an important book. Four and a half stars.



3. A. Krog writes an amazing piece revolving around the events pertinent to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the emergence of the African National Congress in the politics of South Africa. Graphic descriptions of militant and counterinsurgent armed activity in the apartheid government, and first person testimony to the TRC of human rights violations from many parties. Krog's recollections are necessarily emotionally derived and sometimes difficult for this reason to follow analytically, particularly to one not immersed in South African history and cultures. Extensive use of indigenous languages with helpful translations and a glossary of common local parlance included, which makes the reading much more interpretable. The book is written assuming the reader is familiar with the political events immediately prior to the institution of the TRC and the dissolution of apartheid politics. An excellent piece for any world history or political science student.



4. Antjie Krog writes with a poet's power of observation both with inner feelings as well as to witness the outer complexities of people's pain and truth. Whose truth, which truth, and at what time? The Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings which she followed along with many other reporters, becomes a focal point for the process of hearing these complexities as well as offering the possibilityes for healing in a country struggling to understand the tensions between global change and the bonds of tribal and cultural loyalties and traditions. Krog offers us a chance to participate in this as well as to reflect on our own healing processes and sort out the complexities of many truths we live with.



5. A great book, telling a part of a nation's history, that must never been forgotten

5 comments about Raising Raul: Adventures Raising Myself and My Son.

1. Initially I thought this book would be focused more on parenting, in the traditional sense. But this book is so much more: Maria's inner struggle as a Latina in America- wanting more of her own culture, and wanting to succeed here in America at the same time; finding a man who helped her know herself... how all of this and more molded her as a parent.
   I am buying a copy for a friend who is not even a mom because I know she will enjoy it.



2. I read this book a few years ago and loved it so much that I am looking to buy a new copy so I can read it again. The writing is so VIVID and above all so HONEST, that you feel like she's sitting right in front of you. This book is definitely one of my favorites of all time and I would recommend it to everyone.



3. My mother gave this book to me right after my son was born. She liked the general mothering idea it proposed - sort of a "whatever you do, so long as you do your best, all will be OK." It was wonderful to read Maria's thoughts on motherhood (and all of it's ups and downs) while I was still adjusting myself. I read most of it while breastfeeding (the early months can be marathon feedings)!



4. Raising Raul was such a refreshing book to read because of Hinojosa's ability to keep me glued. I read it in two days. How did she manage to do that?? Her struggle to achieve motherhood is narrated in such a frank manner,with such flavorful intimate details;you just can't help but be drawn into her world. While the book in itself is wonderful I did have an objection. The name, Raising Raul, is a bit of a misnomer. I thought the book spent too much time on Hinojosa trying to conceive Raul rather than focusing on when she did have him which is what the title suggests.



5. Men have no reason to feel uncomfortable about reading and appreciating this book. I love Maria Hinojosa's memoir because it is easy to empathize with her efforts to become pregnant after past near misses. She writes about so much more than just pregnancy and motherhood, though. The book's richness resides in how honest and open she is about her struggle; and its impact on her relationships with her parents, husband, and friends. Even when she discussed painful topics and incidents, I detected no bitterness or sense of blame. Most of all, I appreciate Hinojosa's acknowledgement of spirituality as a constant pillar of her development. This is a rich, down to earth, and moving invitation into one woman's experience of parenthood, marriage, friendship, culture and love. Do not miss it!

5 comments about Mark Twain: A Life.

1. This book COULD have been great. Biographies are my favorite genre and I've read a bunch of them - this one falls pretty flat. The author's biases are so clearly obvious he's almost a presence in the book himself, which is distracting even if you agree with his views, and irritating if you don't. Forget Mark Twain's religious bias, the author's anti-Christian stance shines through even stronger, such as the statement that Mormons were just waiting for the Union to dissolve so that they could rise to power - and he sticks it to the Presbyterians just as badly, even misrepresenting Job from the Bible. His anti-capitalism, left-leaning political opinions come through just as clearly.
   
   The book gives us a nice picture of the times and events in the places Sam Clemens lived - New York, San Fransisco, Carson City, etc - which is interesting in itself. But even those glimpses into American life at the time are tainted by the author's opinions. A good biographer doesn't make himself obvious in his books; he shouldn't intrude at all. Ron Powers is not a good biographer and I will not be reading any more of his books.



2. I hadn't thought about Mark Twain in a while and picked up this biography somewhat at random. Then I thought it might be interesting to read about his days working on a steamboat on the Mississippi River. I couldn't put the book down, read it in two nights. I'm still thinking about it a week later. One of the best biographies I've read.



3. An excellent biography marred by gratuitous left wing political commentary. I don't know why Mr. Powers decided to sprinkle those little gems throughout the text, given that they add absolutely nothing, but I wish he'd respected his subject--and his readers--enough not to intrude. If I'd wanted Powers' political views, I'd have sought out a book about him. If you can ignore the author's trespassing, it is a worthwhile read.



4. This book provides important insights into Mark Twain and his life and times. It should part of the reading list in any course that spends time on Mark Twain's writings.



5. Mark Twain: A Life
   The most consummate biography of Mark Twain ever-- as the back cover reads, "[Twain became] the king of the eastern establishment and a global celebrity as American became an international power. Along the way, Mark Twain keenly observed the characters and voices that filled the growing country, and left us our first authentically American literature. Ron Powers' magnificent biography offers the definitive life of the founding father of our culture."
   
   Ron Powers does a superb job of bringing Twain to life in front of our eyes. Highly, highly recommended.

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 Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival.

1. Honestly this book is so worth reading. I was afraid it would be really self indulgent but it wasn't at all.
   I have to be honest though, I'm a big fan of Anderson, so I'm probably a bit bias. But I found the whole book fascinating. I cried a whole lot while reading it because it gets right down to the nitty gritty of some tragic human experiences.



2. I have always watched Anderson Coopers news program every night it is enlightening. So I decided to read his book. He leaves no details out. He gets right in the front lines when he goes to our war torn countries where many lives are taken. This book kept me in my seat till I finished it. He is right there seeing everything and bringing it right home to us and interviews our military men right there and hears all their stories. It was a wonderful read if you like whats going on our war front.
   
   Marlene Strobel



3. DISPATCHES FROM THE EDGE is a testament to the fact that money does not protect you from heartache; you have your sadnesses in prettier surroundings. Cooper's father, Wyatt Cooper, died when Anderson was ten years of age; his brother Carter committed suicide when Anderson was still in college. Anderson Cooper could have grown into a spoiled, posh brat - famous for having rich parents and nothing more. We've all seen more than enough of those people, clutching tiny dogs and falling out of limousines. Instead of being a rich jerk, he faked a press pass and went into some of the most dangerous parts of the world. Then he reported what he saw.
   
   Anderson Cooper is a phenomenally gifted writer. His ability not only to educate, but to make one feel (be that feeling sympathy, interest or rage) is something I truly did not expect. There are little jolts of reality that startled me as I read this slim volume. Upon his return from a war-torn area, he gets into clean clothes and goes for his first real meal in ages. He's having a lovely time and breathes deep, only to breathe in the scent of death that he thought he'd left behind. The odor has clung to his unchanged boots, and is inescapable. There are more than 200 pages of just such moments, each more beautifully written than the one that precedes it.
   
   Anderson Cooper's travels are an attempt to find his own inner compass, he discovers, given the early losses of his father and brother. How those experiences are tied together within his emotions makes for fascinating reading.



4. This book is a great read and an honest look into the events that have influenced Mr. Cooper.
   
   However, I was a bit disappointed with Amazon: I ordered the "bargain price" paperback version without paying much attention and when I received the book, it looked like it'd been sitting on a shelf for a while and it had a remainder mark as well.
   
   It didn't really matter too much to me but it would be useful to know if you're buying this as a gift for someone. There is another paperback version that's a few dollars and doesn't have this problem.



5. I can't believe how quickly I finished Anderson Cooper's Dispatches From the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival... I was drawn in by the immediacy of the prose and the way the personal and global intersected - the epic loss of life during the tsunami w/ the personal loss of his father and brother etc etc - a reminder that big or small, wealthy or poor, we are all human, we all love and suffer. It's just a matter of scale. The stories carried emotional resonance for me, unexpectedly, such as when reading of the way his mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, went over and over the details of her son's last minutes before his suicide (I knew that feeling, that hopeless grasping at clues for the unexplainable; the grief, and the ways Anderson closed himself off from it). Sometimes the analogies stretched belief (the loss of his nanny when he entered high school juxtaposed with a family's grief in war torn Sarajevo, for instance). But there's so much that's real here, it's hard not to be drawn in and moved by it (and, as a journalist, fascinated by the insider perspective on some of the greatest global tragedies of our time); and by Anderson's at time self-deprecating, at times self-critical, touching and honest retelling of the journeys of his life and his own emotional journey. In fact, part of what endeared him to me was how self-questioning he is - that he takes nothing, not his personal wealth nor life itself nor the wisdom of the choices he makes as a reporter for granted. Also, I mentioned the immediacy of the prose earlier; and true enough it puts you right there, up close and personal with the real bloody and pussy casualties of war and tragedy; the smell and sound of it, the loss of life and the casual cruelties, careless mishandling, and hypocritical opportunism that can worsen it. But part of the sad beauty of being up close is seeing the real individuals often forgotten when looking at the larger picture; this book doesn't forget them. By turns, it had me tearing up, wrinkling my nose, chuckling, cringing...If you're looking for a voyeuristic window to the life of a famous family, you won't find it here; what you will find is a deeply touching journey of loss and life across continents and to that inner place where our humanity lives. For more of my take on books recently read and to find out more about my own books visit [...]

5 comments about Ava's Man.

1. "Ava's Man" is a book that I will keep, and read again. Anyone with an affection for, or curiosity about life in the South will be rewarded with a story of spirit, and truth. The author shows great skill in his descriptions of time and place, and in the unique character whose story he tells. This book will make you laugh, cry, and think deeply, and wish that you could read more after the last page. Highly recommended.



2. One's first impulse in seeing a follow up book by an autobiographer is to figure he wrote it to drag some more money out of his sudden massive readership. But, in this case, one would be wrong. Bragg writes this book about his mother's dad, a grandfather Bragg never knew personally. However, Bragg does his homework painstakingly enough to convince the reader that he was presenting the fully real and authentic "Ava's Man." Again, I could barely put the book down. An old alcoholic "failure" from the South was captivating me. Of course, part of the attraction was learning more about the mother that draws so much respect in Bragg's first book. If you liked All Over But the Shoutin' I encourage you to read this follow up. You won't regret it.



3. I could not put this book down! It was an incredibly easy read and I truly felt like I knew this man by the end of the book. Well written, descriptive and emotional. I highly recommend this book.



4. Ava's Man is about author Rick Bragg's grandfather, who he writes, "For most of my life, he was no more real or complete than a paper doll." Charlie Bundrum died one year before Bragg was born in 1959, and Bragg said he never forgave him for it.
   
   Bragg sets out to find out "scrap by scrap" what type of man his grandfather was. Bundrum had been dead 42 years when Bragg started interviewing his relatives about him. Bragg interviewed hundreds of relatives and people who knew his grandfather.
   
   The result is a beautifully written and powerful account of Charlie Bundrum and the culture of the dirt-poor people in the Appalachian foothills of Alabama and Georgia.
   
   Bundrum couldn't read or write, but he could calculate in his head a carpenter's needs to roof or build a house. His culture was one of "stills, eye-gouging fistfights and riverbank camp fires, where men drank clear whiskey and cussed like champions."
   
   Bragg writes that his grandfather's family "roamed the hills and valleys like gypsies, searching for a living, preoccupied with hard, bitter times." The family moved 21 times from job to job in the decade of the Depression.
   
   Some of the books most heart-wrenching tales are based in the Depression when people went hungry and couldn't afford simple medicines for their babies who died of simple illnesses such as dehydration and fevers. At one point, Bundrum sold the family's cow to pay the rent. An old kerosene lamp was of his wife's most prized possessions. If you want to know what poverty is really like, read this book.
   
   Bragg's book points out the value of knowing the good and the bad about your relatives and their culture.



5. This book was recommended to me by a writer friend as his favorite book ever, and I can see why. Excellent, fast reading portrayal of the author's relatives growing up in the depression-era south. Highly entertaining, easy read, never dull.

5 comments about Beg, Borrow, Steal: A Writer's Life.

1. In his introductory "Note to Reader", Michael Greenberg describes the essence of these thinly related stories: "When I began writing these stories for the Times Literary Supplement, my editors instructions were simple and concise: each piece had to spill a drop of blood. `Give it a sense of personal necessity, a sense of urgency. Otherwise there are no restrictions.' They were to be between eleven hundred and twelve hundred words, just long enough to tell a complete story. It was an exhilarating combination: freedom of content in a form that seemed as strict as that of a haiku."
   
   If you love New York City -- a main although by no means only locale of these stories -- you will like many of his favorite essays devoted to the city:
   
   -- A Tailor's Fortune: Jack was a minute, unnoticeable figure, with a forkful of gray-brown hair, a parched voice, and thick tortoiseshell glasses that he seemed constantly to be repairing with a tube of glue and a paper clip. We stood out as the palest tenants in our enormous, government-subsidized apartment complex on Cherry Street.
   
   -- Kettle of Fish: When Tony Bennett crooned "Baby, Ain't I Good to You" I could hear the tuxedo in his voice, though I understood that it might be rented and would have to be returned in the morning.
   
   -- Lobster Shift: Clarence phones to give the good news: he has landed a job as motorman on the New York City subway, the consummation of a lifelong romance with trains. "I've been operating for five months, but I didn't want to call you till I was certain the job was mine."
   
   And, from another world entirely:
   
   -- Brotherly Love My old man was like Zeus's father Cronos: he couldn't bear the idea that any of his children might surpass him. Life radiated from the central pulse of his scrap-metal yard; the world beyond it seemed to make him defensive and nervous.... Among the family, my violent fights with [my father] were famous. The last one occurred when I was fifteen. I followed him around the apartment, taunting him with a line from my latest poem, "Which do you think is worth more, flesh or steel?" At the end of his rope, he took a wild swing at me. I dodged it easily, hearing the crush of bone as his fist hit the wall. I fled the apartment, and when I returned, three days later, his hand was in a cast. "You have guts, but no common sense," he said. "One cancels out the other. A total waste."
   
   This fine collection of essays is perfect for the Kindle; they are short enough when you have only five minutes to spare, but meaningful enough to give you something to think about until you can return for another. In fact, they read much better, I think, separated by a bit of time as they would have done in London when they first appeared in print.
   
   Robert C. Ross 2010



2. If you like essays, these are wonderfully written and fun to read. I prefer a full memoir but enjoyed this book enormously.



3. What's that old chestnut about life being stranger than fiction? If you doubt it, you need read no further than these forty-four essays written by a New Yorker in the flesh, Michael Greenberg, between 2003 and 2008.
   
   They are extremely intimate and bare personal tidbits that most would not confess. He started out pretty average. Middle-class, Jewish family in Rockaway, New York, his father a blue collar scrap metal merchant sent his son to a strict, academically demanding Hebrew school. But adolescence kicked in and the fights between father and son "were famous" for their intensity. Ultimately, he dropped out of school at 17, never went to college and broke his parent's hearts.
   
   He wanted to be a writer and as he learned his trade he had to eat and support himself so he, in the New York City tradition, held a wide variety of jobs. He was a Spanish tutor, a street peddler, a waiter, a postal worker and of course a taxi driver. They not only kept body and soul together but they provided fodder for his writings. His life has been anything but boring. Exciting and terrifying at times, but never boring.
   
   A victim of phony friends and con artists, he never gave up. He once sold counterfeit cosmetics in front of a woman's store,after bribing the store's security guard. His price of $3.50 for his products made the women suspicious, so he raised his price to five dollars and sold more. Unfortunately after a particularly good day, he was mugged by three teenagers. They took all his money and merchandise. So it was on to another adventure. And they were many and varied.
   
   He took off to Argentina with his high school sweetheart because "as an aspiring writer, I figured I would do well to experience a place other than New York." They stayed for three tumultuous years. He decided to meet Borges and bravely did so as the later left the National Library. As they conversed, Greenberg inquired about Argentina's deteriorating political maelstrom. "He employed the same words he had once used to describe going blind, `It is like watching a slow sunset.' "
   
   But all was not pleasant philosophical musing. Through no fault of her own his girl friend was arrested and falsely accused of being part of "a revolutionary cell." After several days in a squalid jail where she was nearly killed, Greenberg was able to bribe the local authorities and they fled to Uruguay.
   
   This book is not a tome on how to become a writer. Instead it is a tale of how a man lived his life to the fullest, faced adversity, and kept writing to finally became an insightful, interesting writer.
   
   *************
   
   Dr. Mellander was a university administrator for 15 years and a college president for 20.



4. "Beg, Borrow, Steal: A Writer's Life" by Michael Greenberg isn't the kind of book I normally read, but I'm glad I read this one. The book is a collection of short stories, all around eleven to twelve hundred words that capture a snippet of the author's life. Some are sad, some funny, others mundane, but all a part of the life of writer Michael Greenberg.
   
   When I first picked the book, I believed it to be more about the life of writing. Maybe like the ones on my shelf by Stephen King ("On Writing") or David Morrell ("Lessons of a Lifetime of Writing"). It is very different, and focuses more on life. It just happens that the life focused on is Greenberg's who is a writer.
   
   There are forty-some short stories in this collection, which, according to the note to the reader at the beginning of the book, were written for the "Times Literary Supplement" with instructions from the editor to spill a drop of blood with each piece and give them a sense of personal necessity and urgency. I'd say Greenberg accomplished that through sharing moments of his life, along with a cast of characters that include family as well as some that you most likely would only encounter in The Big Apple. Greenberg lives in New York City, and through these stories you glimpse a part of that city than only a native would ever see. For all of us that live outside, we can voyeur a bit through these well-written stories.
   
   The stories are not exciting. This isn't your action movie or television show set in New York. The tales are of real people, real experiences, and like much of real life, common and ordinary. However, the way they are told is interesting, moving, honest, and at times familiar. Again, this book is quite different from my normal reading, but one that I am very glad I picked up. For anyone who enjoys short stories about real life, especially the life of a writer living in New York, this book will be enjoyable. For those looking for something a little different, this book provides a view of life that just may make you think about your own existence and experiences.
   
   Reviewed by Alain Burrese, J.D., author of Hard-Won Wisdom From the School of Hard Knocks and the dvds: Hapkido Hoshinsul, Streetfighting Essentials, Hapkido Cane, the Lock On Joint Locking Essentials series and articles including a regular column on negotiation for The Montana Lawyer. Alain Also wrote a series of articles called Lessons From The Apprentice.



5. What can I say that hasn't already been said?
   
   I was thinking of writing a post in the style of one of the short pieces inside this book, but then decided I would just give a list of the reasons you should buy this book.
   
   - A fascinating look inside the life of a writer (struggling to making it)
   
   - Meet many different people (including rats) and fall in love with the prose, the story, everything, it's really quite beautiful. (Each chapter being as immersing as the last)
   
   - Short reads (each chapter) flowing with brilliance.
   
   - At times it reminds me of updike (reason enough to get the book).
   
   Think of it as food for though, something to do whilst waiting or when you're looking for some inspiration or a way to pass the time.
   
   You won't be disappointed

5 comments about If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name: News from Small-Town Alaska.

1. Well, not exactly. Heather Lende does write obits for her local newspaper as well as other topical columns. Her sketches of the lives & times of her isolated SE Alaskan small town leave readers to fill in whatever colors they like, & I like that in an author.
   
   This book of stories is about capturing people's lives in a few well-chosen words. Of tears & topics that burn; joy for the Sun's return, & awe before marvelous vistas. It's filled with contentment wherein she finds herself & everyday social angst - political & moral; satisfaction with domestic productivity; niceness & meanness, courage & irony. It's about being gay or native, old or young, lost or found, not judging people by how they dress (or in what they live!), growing or losing friendships, tending the being born & the dying, knowing which battles to fight, & the art of living a rich & kind life. Mostly unattainable for hive (big city) dwellers!
   
   I relished the mentions of philosophical self-examination, & the books & people who made this author think. These wisps float by like the aroma of spaghetti sauce or smoked salmon; the scent of the sea, snow & wood smoke.
   
   Very well done!



2. In 2007, I visited Haines, Alaska as part of a Tauck Tour on a Cruise West small ship and fell in love with the beauty of the town and area.
   
   The town of Haines fascinated me as my husband and I walked around (the graves in the park on the bluff overlooking the sea, were particularity fascinating being as old as they were). When we returned to Juneau and I found this book in a book store, I bought it, as the quirky title sounded irresistible.
   
   I think, regardless of the realities of the town that one reviewer mentions, the author has an interesting perspective being the obit writer and the editor of the social column for the town. Her style of writing is very enjoyable and reading about the people's lives this author became aware of, through her two diverse job descriptions, was fascinating, especially when one remembers that Alaska is so isolated in winter and presents a complete different way of life from what we experience in the 'lower 48.'
   
   I think others will enjoy this book, too, especially if they are very curious about places and people's lives that they have never experienced and the fact that the book is more a collection of 'stories' based on the author's feelings about the situations she became aware of, makes the book all the more enjoyable. Her heartfelt renditions were very enjoyable and no one should expect a travel log or an in-depth expose of the town's people. Rather, I came away with a sense of the difficulties the people of Haines endure and the sense of 'grit' the people need to call Haines 'home.' Alaska isn't for the faint of heart, to say the least but there is love in the author's take on the life and the people in Haines.



3. My daughter and I were in Talkeetna, AK last week on a very rainy day. Our flightseeing was cancelled. We slogged around in the mud, wandering in-and-out of the shops. In one I found Lende's book, my daughter found another that interested her, and we decided to head back to Peg Vos's charming "a B & B on C" where we were staying. We curled up on a comfy couch in front of the fire Peg had lit to take the chill out of the air and began to read.
   I originally thought the book would help give me insight into the people who lived in the rugged and wild land that we were visiting. Besides sightseeing, when in a new place I like to meet the people who live there, so I was especially interested in the book.
   After the first few chapters, I was somewhat dismayed. Yes, I know Lende is an obituary writer but I didn't realize the book would be mostly stories about the people who died in Haines, and there are a lot of 'em, young and old. As I kept reading, however, the presence of death, which at first seemed to be a running theme, was mitigated by another theme far more powerful, that of the lives we lead in the days we are given. Through all of Lende's essays it is life itself that shines through.
   Lende is a woman of faith, but one does not have to be religious to be moved by her tales of the people of Haines. She addresses the universality of human experience lived day-to-day in a remote American town.
   I learned something of the people of Alaska as I read this book, it is true; but I learned far more about myself, which I did not expect when I first began this modest little book with the moose on the cover.



4. Everything is more extreme when you live in a remote Alaskan town; the weather is colder, people's eccentricities are exaggerated, and death always seems nearby. Heather Lende, local Haines resident and obituary writer, has an absolute gift for eulogy and so paints a colorful portrait of life, love and death in an Alaskan small town. A must read for anyone interested in the 49th state.



5. I'm planning a 5-week trip to Alaska next month and thought a couple of books written by locals may help me appreciate the places I visit. This book certainly hit that spot. Written in an almost conversational style, the book is a very open look at life in Haines, warts and all. The book ventures into small town prejudices, the highs and lows of small communities and gives a picture of the difficulties faced in such a remote community. Easy to read, with each chapter a separate story...it could easily be described as a series of essays. The book lays bare the beauty of a lifestyle outside the city rat race without hiding the small town lack of privacy and deprivations. Read it as an opportunity to question where you are.

4 comments about Ancient Gonzo Wisdom: Interviews with Hunter S. Thompson.

1. Your pleasure or displeasure in this book will depend entirely on your liking for and tolerance of the late Hunter S. Thompson.
   
   I happen to have enjoyed most of Thompson's writings but considered him just another ill-mannered, self-absorbed and self-referential celebrity of the dawning of the age of celebrity. The times favored Thompson with his let it all hang out style: open drunkenness and drugs, outrageous commentary. But he had keen powers of observation and turned in craftsman like sentences and had a devilish wit. He was also opinioned and, in my opinion, dead wrong.
   
   In any event, for those who are interested - and the interested are the only ones who will appreciate some of these interviews - Thompson's widow has collected and edited 48 interviews of Hunter S. Thompson spanning the years 1967 through 2005. Like Andy Warhohl, Thompson kept the publicity machine whirring for a long time, fueling it with an endless succession of weird episodes.
   
   Some of the interviews are hilarious with self-revering interviews who are - in their own mind's eye - great public intellectuals approaching the Great One. Needless to say, these interviews are trite: "Do you still live life at a fast pitch?" "Due to your hedonistic misbehavior, do you find it hard to discipline yourself to write?"
   
   Other interviews have more depth.
   
   Does this collection add only to the wealth of Thompson's estate? Or does it add to our understanding of Thompson?
   
   I think the latter, but only in the sense that Hunter S. Thompson understood better than most that publicity was good and that publicity about being the "bad boy" was even better. Do we gain insight into the mind and character of Hunter S. Thompson? I don't really think so.
   
   But this collection of interviews to a someone like myself who is a mild fan of Thompson Is still interesting and an enjoyable read.
   
   Jerry



2. Thompson's shining Gonzo Intellect is displayed here with humor and insight. Thompson was a seer, a visionary, an immovable force of which our culture will have to contend with for decades to come. His interviews read like his prose - evidence that what you read in print was the Good Doctor himself without pretense, without a mask. The earth's axis has shifted since his departure and we are all at a loss with his absence.



3. Always interesting and often funny, Hunter Thompson rations answers to helpless interviewer's and public forum's questions giving insight to his writing, lifestyle, philosophies and opinions from the 70's till just before his passing in 2005. A wealth of nutritional info and sages for our times included as well.



4. About 85 pages from the end, wishing it had been kept to about 300 pages, or at the very least, the ED. would've not repeated so any identical questions, responses, off handed remarks...programmed questions & memorized, sometimes expanded responses...typos, & why define for us in every interview who Ken Kesey was? A. Ginsberg? D. Halberstam? P. Buchanan? B. & H. Clinton? Nixon (!)? Der Fuhrer!!! Honestly? Every interview, everybody has to be introduced, title's mentioned in interviews have to be expanded below...I just don't get it. Any one w/ any idea who this man was knows who these other people are & if not, if they are interested in learning more, let them do the research. What would've taken 5 seconds to google has now slowed down the pace of this book to a handicapped crawl...
   
   Three stars is probably one too many, but can't hold the format of the book against the power of the words.....
   
   Actually...I think I can. This is a two star book.
   
   If only these interviews would've been edited by those that worked w/ him throughout his life & when he was in control of what went out & what didn't, we'd all be better off for it.
   
   In the long run, H.S.T.'s writing has & will always stood alone & uncompromised & there's no reason to think that will or should change now, no matter who gets their hands on the rights to his literature.
   
   And I was so damned excited to get this book...