No comments about Will Thrall and the San Gabriels: A Man to Match the Mountains (Adventures in Cultural and Natural History).

2 comments about Maiden Tribute: A Life of W.T. Stead.

1. This scholarly work, the culmination of 24 years' devoted study, is written with all the accuracy and gracefulness of a telephone book. What a shame, for a fascinating man with such an interesting life. It'd be nice if Eckley let him breathe.



2. This is a biography of one of the most important British journalists ever, a pioneer in social reform, a pioneer in the creation of paper news media, a truly fascinating man. Probably best known for his creation of the Review of Reviews, W. T. Stead made a singular mark in social reform -- letting himself be jailed to call attention to the trade of young girls in prostitution and to help raise the legal age of sexual consent for "maidens."
   
   He touched the lives of many beginning publishers and authors in the late nineteenth century, Grant Richards for one. He influenced the life and career of M. P. Shiel, that superb fantasist, in Shiel's early work and in his personal life in a manner that neither foresaw before Stead sank with the Titanic.
   
   Written by a certified scholar with a fine track record, twenty-four years of research in its making, this comprehensive fresh study of both Stead and his time benefits from a nice clear writing style. A handsome book, an important book, that deserves praise for Grace Eckley .. and a home in libraries, private collections, and above all -- readers!

No comments about Lives of the Poets: Waller, Milton, Cowley.

3 comments about Move On.

1. Not as completely entertaining as Ellerbee's prior book "And So it Goes," which focused on her career in broadcast journalism, this follow-up is a collection of unrelated tales from her life - each opening a window onto a different phase of it. I prefered Ellerbee's first (and funnier) book, but two tales from this volume are brilliant enough to give it a ratings bump.

   Ellerbee's story of overcoming alcoholism at the Betty Ford Center is as real and honest as memoirs get. Entering the program with a witty cynicism (masking fragile fear), Ellerbee eventually surrenders to the therapeutic environment and is ultimately softened by it. It's just the kind of story you'd expect from an intelligent satirist who (at first) feels she's above the 12-stepping and soul searching, but finally recognizes it as the only way to heal and become whole.

   My favorite chapter, though, is the smart and funny tale of young Linda's first summer job, "We Reserve the Right to Refuse Service to You." Linda spends her summer working at a resort owned by a friend of her father. After several weeks of mingling with the other young workers - one of whom is a radical looking to unionize - Linda learns valuable life lessons and eventually "sticks it to the man," her boss. In the end, the tale (and the title) becomes a metaphor for prejudice and stereotyping. This story alone is worth the cost of the book. Buy "Move On," read this chapter, then make photocopies of the chapter for your friends... it's the kind of thing you'll want to share.




2. This is nothing less than a work of genius, a beautiful story which is beautifully told. The thrilling exploits of this legendary giant of journalism are sure to enthrall everyone who reads about them. No other person, living or dead, could possibly have a more interesting story to tell, or be able to tell it in a more interesting way. Ms. Ellerbee is simply amazing, and her great talent continues to manifest itself on her wonderful news program which airs on Nickelodeon once per week, but which should be shown at least twice each day. Forget about Murrow, Cronkite, and all the rest - Ellerbee is the greatest!



3. Linda Ellerbee goes on and shows us more of her life. We learn of her friends, her life, and how these shaped her into the woman we've enjoyed for years on Overnight and telling us the real story where others just tell us what they want us to know.

2 comments about Riding The Unit.

1. Spitzer's newest collection of shorts is a mad melange of frank, gritty, and hilarious tales filled with insight and candour. It thematically holds together with thrust and cohesion. This collection sports both classic and new pieces by an authorial voice one cannot trust, but cannot help but to enjoy.



2. This book cost me a job.
   
   Well, a volunteer position, really. Until recently, I was the president of the Literary Nonfiction Haters' Club. To me, literary nonfiction was the written equivalent of the "day-old" table at your local bakery--cold, hard collections of diary jottings, college lecture notes and, ahem, book reviews. My belief in this estimation of literary nonfiction was as firm as yesterday's bagels.
   
   Then I read Riding the Unit: Selected Nonfiction 1994-2004 (188 pages, $10.99, Six Gallery Press) by Mark Spitzer. Spitzer is a poet (The Pigs Drink From Infinity)/novelist (Chum)/Rimbaud translator (From Absinthe to Abyssinia) extraordinaire. His book was so fresh-from-the-oven hot, it was steaming.
   
   I braced myself for half-baked journal entries. Instead, in "Dinner with Slinger", Spitzer provided an engaging and even-handed account of his college days spent studying with a noted poet turned boozy blowhard. Spitzer skillfully picked through the besotted b.s. to find the bard's point--why we, as a people, have lost the "consciousness" to truly appreciate art (8).
   
   I expected prim pages torn from the family album. In "Dinner at My Mother's", Spitzer surprised me with a considerate, hilarious description of a day he spent with his literary biography-interpreting mother and his famous potter stepfather. The piece hinged on critics' habits of analyzing artworks to hell and back. It was like an episode of "Married with Children" co-written by Woody Allen and Eugene O'Neill.
   
   I was set for stale memoranda. Instead, Spitzer delighted me with "Fakos in France", an insightful remembrance of his time as Writer in Residence at the Shakespeare and Company bookstore in Paris, and his stint as a stagehand at a poetry reading there for two Beat Generation icons who'd turned into kudos-collecting squares.
   
   I anticipated a professorial review of some obscure anthology. A review, I got--of Bob Dylan's notorious and notoriously difficult Tarantula. Spitzer solidly and lucidly defended Dylan's poem, laying the blame for its bad rep on critics' failure to recognize Tarantula for what it is, rather than on Dylan's challenging, but purposeful, use of allegory.
   
   Above all else, Mark Spitzer's humor and energy made Riding the Unit a memorable read. Whether taking the piss out of Allen Ginsberg, arm-wrestling Jean Genet's literary executrix or ribbing his stepdad by hyper-analyzing everything like an English major amped on caffeine, Spitzer kept the pace brisk and the overall experience entertaining and informative.
   
   With my view of literary nonfiction turned upside-down, I resigned from my post as the president of the Literary Nonfiction Haters' Club. But since it was due to a great book by a fine writer, I was happy to do so.

5 comments about Plus One: A Year In The Life Of A Hollywood Nobody.

1. I thought this book was pretty disappointing. I was hoping for a light humorous book with some insights into Hollywood and California culture, as seen by someone Not From Around Here, but it turned out to be mostly about the author's battles with a dog that pooped everywhere. There's hardly a page where the dog doesn't poop. And there's not much about the author actually doing anything or meeting anyone of importance. I don't know why it was written or published.



2. British Claire arrives in SoCal to take a mid-life gap year at the Santa Monica residence of her sister, acclaimed singer songwriter Julia Fordham, and finds to her delight that she has become Julia's "plus one" (for the uninitiated: invitations issued to singletons for publicity and other industry celebratory events almost always inscribe the name of the guest "plus one", indicating the guest can also bring a guest thereby avoiding the shame and humiliation of being alone).
   
   She finds her sister has also invited an additional roommate, a lively canine rescued from a certain short street life in Fiji. These twin circumstances (pooch and parties) lead to a nonstop romp of silliness and zany adventures as Claire attends rounds of parties, acts as her sister's PA and guitar roadie on various gigs including a Philippines tour, and deals with Muttley: the dog who eats condoms, atlases, and deposits his foul turds on Claire's bed.
   
   Will Claire ever meet her secret fantasy boyfriend George Clooney? Or her back up secret fantasy boyfriend David " do shag me" Duchovny? These amorous quests are punctuated by her flings with a tennis buddy and a writer, the visits of her grown-up son and daughter from Britain, and her assimilation into Californian culture ( and no, gentle reader, that is most certainly not an oxymoron).
   
   From the moment I saw her interviewed on Craig Ferguson, I knew : I have to read everything this author writes. Do I identify with her? Well, let's see: we're both single (but not for long - congrats Claire!), stumbling through the lunacy of the Southern California glitterati/literati scene after leaving a sane and socially responsible lifestyle to write about poo-ing dogs, wanker men, and figuring out how to find Roberto Cavalli togs on a tight budget. Ah, that would be a "yes".
   
   I loved, loved, loved this book. Reading it makes me feel like I just had an all night girlfriend pajama party with cappuccino and lemon cake. The writing style is familiar and easy. Claire's life experiences are spot-on-typical, yet described with such wit and style that even the calamitous is given perspective. I recommend it for a sunny Sunday at the beach or café when you feel you need a chirker-up. You'll be the happier for it.



3. Based on the reviews I read here, I anticipated a super-humorous book.
   Based on the title of the book, I was expecting to read a LOT more about Claire's experiences in the Hollywood party scene (as Julia Fordham's "Plus One"). I felt like the book title was quite misleading.
   
   However, I do agree that this is a down-to-earth, "Bridget Jones" type story. It is amusing, but not particularly exciting. I appreciated the 'translations' of British terms and expressions at the bottom of some pages! Claire is a very good writer. Again, I just think the book title was inappropriate.



4. Claire Fordham you are wonderful! Thank-you for this great book, I could not put it down!
   
   This is truly an awesome book, full of hillarious experiences in the life of sweet, beautiful, Julia Fordham, her sweet puppy Muttley, and wonderful sister Claire. Yes, I was a Julia fan, and probably would not have heard about this book if I wasn't on Julia's website so much. Now I can add her beautiful sister, Claire, to my list of Favorites.
   
   This is truly a MUST read for any Julia fan, but it is also a MUST read if you love to laugh!
   
   Claire is a great Mom, sister, and friend.
   
   Thank-you Claire for sharing these wonderful family moments with all of us. Can't wait for the sequel, please, please, hurry!



5. Once I had opened this book to read I could not put it down, it's absolutely the funniest thing I have ever read. I had loads of curious looks on the bus as I was laughing out loud, something you can't help do when reading this book. Unfortunately I finished it far too quickly and can only hope there are more to come. An absolutley fantastic read.

3 comments about War of Words: Memoir of a South African Journalist.

1. "War of Words" is the story of a courageous reporter and a brave newspaper in apartheid-era South Africa. After joining the Rand Daily Mail in 1958, author Benjamin Pogrund broadened the newspaper's coverage of "African affairs," reporting on facets of black South African life given short shrift by most "mainstream" newspapers.

   It was no easy task to report the news while constrained by numerous, ever-expanding, secrecy laws. While the South Africa portrayed in this book was no Soviet Union - English-language newspapers, the Rand Daily Mail in particular, were able to criticize apartheid in the strongest terms - the expanding web of press restrictions prevented journalists from fully informing the public of what it needed to know. Perhaps the most interesting section of the book is the description of the Mail's attempt to report on horrifying conditions in South Africa's prisons, reportage which caused Pogrund to face criminal charges for violation of the Prisons Act. This type of reporting (and editing, by Laurence Gandar) took guts.

   Although the book does not emphasize the personal life of the author, one nugget seemed to encapsulate what it must have been like to live in the South Africa of that time: Pogrund refers to having had to overcome "the nervous habit of glancing over our shoulders - the hallmark of South Africans . . ." Other books have also alluded to the strange atmosphere of a society where no one knows who is working for which security agency - and the Mail was apparently infiltrated with various spies. On that note, one of the most fascinating characters to make an appearance here is Hendrik van den Bergh, head of the Bureau for State Security (BOSS), which apparently had microphones in the Mail's offices. (van den Bergh also appears in "Rivonia's Children," the outstanding book about the sabotage trial in which Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life in prison, and is the star of "Inside BOSS, South Africa's Secret Service." Both are also worth reading and will give different perspectives on the same era.)

   I have only two minor criticism of this book. First, Pogrund's evident shock at the "Muldergate" information scandal jars. Was it really such a surprise that a government which controlled the radio network would also seek surreptitiously to own a newspaper? To this American reader, Muldergate comes across as minor league. To be fair, however, the scandal was significant enough at the time to take down the Vorster government.

   Second, Pogrund sometimes tells us more than we needed to know about feuds between Saan (South African Associated Newspapers) management and the Mail editorial staff. Yet, because this is a history of the Mail as much as the memoirs of Pogrund, some of that "inside baseball" was necessary - and the background did help to explain the machinations behind Saan's decision to close the Mail in 1985. The closure of the Mail, possibly as the result of a television channel deal by Saan with then-President P.W. Botha, left Pogrund "drained of energy and spirit."

   This book is an unfailingly honest story of a brave journalist. Despite the criticisms above, I believe the book has earned 5 stars as a comprehensive, readable account of journalism under and against apartheid. I highly recommend it.




2. When the author began his career as a young reporter in the 1950s, the Rand Daily Mail was emerging as South Africa's leading newspaper. As the "African affairs reporter" he brought the words of black leaders like Robert Sobukwe & Nelson Mandela to the country & to the world.

   If you've ever wondered about the history of South Africa & how apartheid grew; who were its villains & who its heroes you must pick up a copy of War of Words for it is also about the life & death of a newspaper, of freedom of speech as well as a memoir of minute increments of courage & endless years of determined resignation.

   If you've ever wondered what living under unbridled racism was like read this book. It is strong stuff, rather like watching a sandstorm heading toward you, smothering out the light, turning everyone crazy until it too passes & there's a chance at a better tomorrow.

   A fascinating, well-written & informative memoir from inside the belly of the beast as seen by one reporter who kept himself close to the fire.




3. see time-europe issue dated june 12 for a review i've written already

5 comments about A Writer's Life.

1. Mr. Talese manages to put the biggest portion of his life out in the open but it is so much a part of why he writes that a reader can easily miss its import. He was given a good home but was isolated as a child from his own parents due to their private and exclusive pairing. They had such a closeness that their two children felt invisible as children. Extremely so, although his ties to his dad bring the father's character through. Not so the mother, whose time is taken up by her talkative clients, to whom she sells oversized dresses. So, there is a matter-of-fact rendering of what is, at heart, a rather insulting and strange situation. His private life was very public. He compares his mother to a movie star in looks, but little else is seen or known about the woman, and the mothering side of her may have been nonexistant. She seems to have related to everyone but her children. They lived above the tailoring shop and he cannot recall a meal that was not intruded upon by his father or mother's clients. The clients were the basis of the family's income, and were catered to. Some were demanding. His dad had wanted to be a monk and was a devout, religious man, so one wonders... He renders his mother as a business woman, first, last, foremost, and as a preppy oldster, but she is either not understood or there is not a lot to her to understand. He developed a natural desire to shine outside the home, I think to find his identity. And, yet, he is not complaining in this book, but it is an odd position he describes. He has managed to make an interesting life, and I am interested in reading his other works where he identifies with outsiders. I think he understands them.



2. I had trouble reading this book. I didn't finish it. It seems plodding and takes forever to get to the point. Lots of long long run-on sentences. There were entire paragraphs that were one sentence long! My attention span is not that long. I admit I'm no intellectual, maybe that's the problem. I read his Brooklyn Bridge book and enjoyed that very much.



3. Gay Talese is obsessed with restaurants and procrastination. This book is a pastiche of articles he's never managed to write and thoughts he's never been able to previously tell. In a sense, Talese is a failure for never getting the four main stories of this book (the history of race relations in Selma, Alabama; the Lorena Bobbitt case; Ying Liu's missed penalty kick for China in the 1999 Women's World Cup; and the story of ten failed restaurants at a certain upper east-side locale) published as long magazine articles. In another sense, however, Talese must be praised for fusing four unrelated stories into a whole (five if you count the autobiographical narrative). Every so often Talese drops a reference that links his stories, and shows what they have (roughly) in common. This is how the book is structured. Here and there Talese mentions how he organized an article or what he was thinking about while he was performing an interview. Other than these brief glimpses into his mind as a writer, we don't learn many details about the craft of writing. What we do get is a broad persepctive on what it was like to live the "life of a writer" over the past 20+ years, as Talese has followed these stories -- past publication deadlines, through New Yorker magazine rejections, and finally to this (overdue) book. we don't learn much about Talese's pieces that have actually been published. Once or twice he mentions a previously published article, but, for the most part, the book doesn't talk about technique or methods he had successfully employed for past successful articles. (Here I'm thinking it would have been nice for him to briefly describe the comings and goings in his mind while he was writing some of the long articles forwhich he is famous, namely "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold" and others.)
   
   Overall, a good book. If your a fan of Talese, this is a must-read.



4. I listened to Arthur Morey (very engagingly) read this book on CD while I commuted by car or bicycle, ran or just walked the dog. It's that kind of book and no more. Your mind can wander and pick up the thread in no time. Talese is an interesting, shrewd, charming, moderately wise and becomingly modest man in his early seventies. I doubt that Nan Talese--his tough-minded editorial wife--approved the needless repetitions and the loose organization. Yet the reader comes to appreciate how Talese was able to approach and ultimately master the more disciplined works of his earlier years about the New York Times, where he once was a reporter, or the Mafia. Anyone considering free-lance journalism as a profession should read this book. Talese is no genius, but he has proven over time that he has what it takes.



5. As others have pointed out, this book seems to have been written to tie together numerous unfinished pieces rather than to capture Telese's life. I'm glad the effort ended up the way it did; otherwise, years of his time and numerous entertaining story lines would probably not have found their way into a book. Yes, the book is rather circuitious. No, that does not detract from it nor make it boring. To the contrary, Talese brings seemingly mundane subjects alive. The trials and tribulations of the 63rd St restaurant made for particularly fascinating reading. Makes me want to go there right now and check out the latest culinary attempt.

1 comments about Have a Seat, Please.

1. The first half of this book consists of a multitude of "human interest" stories regarding condemned Texans walking the "last mile."

   The second half of the book, though, is a soapbox for overbearing anti-death penalty rhetoric.

   If you think you can tolerate the second half of the book, the first half of the book is worth it.

5 comments about A Life in the Balance: The Billy Wayne Sinclair Story.

1. I picked "A Life in the Balance" up at a rummage sale several years ago. It affected me deeply since I have friends in various prisons and am aware of how they are treated. I was able to contact Billy and Jodie Sinclair and I truly was thrilled when Billy was released.



2. This book shows the reality of a prison life. It is written by Billy Wayne Sinclair, who manages to show insight as well as the reality. His story of fighting against the administration and for reform reminds me a bit of my own experiences, although it is in a much grander scale in this book.
   
   The problem is, it gets tedious after a while. All the names, first names, last names, nicknames, initials, events, places, nicknames for location, gangs, nicknames for gangs, et cetera, gets hard to track and becomes confusing. It begins to really show up in the last third of the book, which is why I'm downgrading it to a 4.



3. The Billy Wayne Sinclair Story
   Reviewed by: Richard R. Blake

   From the first page to the last, the reader is drawn into the life of Billy Wayne Sinclair. Sinclair relates how he was beaten and abused as a child, entered a life of crime as a teenager, and was convicted of murder, in 1965 at the age twenty. The writing is superb. Descriptions are graphic.
   Sinclair was originally sentenced to death. His sentence was reduced to life in prison in 1972 after the U.S. Supreme Court voided then-existing death penalty laws. Gov. Buddy Roemer commuted his sentence to 90 years in 1992.
   Events that span over thirty-five years are related in a narrative that details multi layers of political corruption in the Louisiana State Prison System. After years of operating on a code of loyalty established by prison inmates, the author took on a personal code of ethics. Sinclair, at great personal risk has been unwilling to compromise these new values and has exposed avarice, crime, and corruption within the parole and corrections community.

   This is must reading for all elected officials in community, state, and national politics and anyone involved in prison administration, prison reform or prisoner's rights. I highly recommend this book.




4. I tend to read a lot of nonfiction, at least in the last few years, but I have read lots of fiction and enjoy a great story. I mention this because much of this book reads as if the author was writing a fictional story about prison, yet was doing a poor job of it. The fact that it is a personal memoir and meant to be a true account of the struggles of the author makes it a fascinating read and I'll admit that I was able to tune out the outside world for a few reading sessions over a couple a days as I burned through the pages.

   What made some of the reading difficult was keeping up with all the names and events and the general time line. It got confusing at times.

   But the actions of people that interacted with the author were clear enough to present an engaging story, and anyone that is interested in the world of prisons and criminals doing hard time during the period of the book will find this work interesting. Most of the hard core story telling happens from the mid sixties through the seventies and into the eighties. There is stuff going on in the nineties here but the story starts to lose some of its steam.

   As for the politics of the story and the expose' of the corruption, if the author is to be believed, and I think he presented a very strong case (although alternative arguments are not really here) then the conclusion can be clearly drawn; there is and has been a lot of corruption in the Louisiana prison system. As for my personal feelings after my reading I think that I mostly chose to believe what the author has to say, the prison system is filled with corruption and the justice system is filled with unfairness.

   That being said, although I agree that the author is a "changed man", I didn't change my opinion of the death penalty after reading his story. While I don't think he needs to be singled out for special punishment now, I think that the first unfairness was that he didn't receive the death penalty shortly after conviction. Using a gun while committing a felony should carry the death penalty. Life is precious and valuable and we show complete disrespect to the victims of violent crime when we as a people fail to administer fair and impartial justice.

   The author complains that many murderers have been released while he was passed over for parole. And I agree that there is an injustice here, but it isn't to him, it is to the victims and the victims families of those predators being released. Life in prison should mean life and the death penalty should mean the death penalty.

   All in all I recommend this book to anyone interested in a story about prison life and the struggle of one man that was sent to prison yet still found a way to bring something redeeming to this world. I was disappointed that even though he grew up, matured, came into a realization that he had devastated many lives by killing someone that was loved and found a way to stand up to prison injustices he doesn't mention any help from God or at least a "higher power". It seems that he healed and cured himself. If this is not true than the book left out some important details. I am not saying he should have made something up, of course, but if his redemption was "self willed" than reading about it has little value as the vast majority of us simply aren't that great.

   In either case the book is an entertaining and compelling story and I wasn't disappointed in the time I spent reading it.




5. This is the best book I've ever read, hands down. It gave all the facts, good or bad, along with the consequences. I do not usually have sympathy for prisoners but this is an exception. This is a perfect example of the people in charge being more corrupt than the prisoner. It shows that trying to do the right thing after making a mistake in your youth only results in more punishment and the corrupt people win. It is a sad thing to know that our leaders in politics are so often more corrupt than the prisoners. I would love to read another book by the Sinclairs telling "the rest of the story". I admire Jodi Sinclair and I'm not sure anyone else would have this dedication after all the "knockdowns" in her life. I wish them the best life has to offer in their future. They have paid enough.