1 comments about Light Years.

1. I loved this book. Sitting outside under a tree reading this book was like heaven. Schreiber talks about fly-fishing, nature, her precious cat, everything she writes about, she makes special. It is a thoughtful, touching book about memories, the important things in life, loss and love. I have now picked up this book to read for the second time. I want to be taken away again to where Le Anne Schreiber is. Her words are so soothing and thought provoking. There was nothing about this book that I didn't love. When I would read it at work, I found myself longing to get back to it, sneaking peeks at it whenever I could. wonderful essays on life.

No comments about Newspaper Days: An Autobiography.

3 comments about Ernie's War: The Best of Ernie Pyle's World War II Dispatches.

1. This is a compilation of Ernie Pyle's best dispatches from the front lines during World War II. His stories were printed in American newspapers throughout the war, and brought home to the people of those years just what our men (and women) on the front lines had to endure, and how brave they were in doing their duty day after day until the job was done. It's moving to read about the hardships our soldiers went through in order to preserve the freedoms we enjoy today.

   We owe a great debt to the generation of Americans who struggled through this period of history. So many Americans, regular people like you and me, lived through hell and many paid the ultimate price. Ernie Pyle's stories bring this sacrafice to life in a very emotional way.

   The book also includes a brief biography of Pyle. It's a beautiful, if sometimes tragic, time-capsule of the WWII years, and I strongly recommend it.




2. I have yet to find a better book on the experiences of the average "dog face" in WWII. From North Africa to Sicily to Italy to France; Ernie was there and covered it better than anyone.



3. It would be difficult to find a better book on the average G.I. It isn't hard to understand why every dog face loved Ernie Pyle; he lived among them, lived like them, and died like them. This is one of the best prime source reads around. I can't recommend it highly enough. The section on the Italian campaign is a must read.

5 comments about Baby Plays Around: A Love Affair, with Music.

1. I am always on the lookout for authentic books that deal with the music scene -- and I'm not talking about the countless fan books, nor the ones that are simply out to attack one genre or another. Stapinski's entertaining book is written with insight, passion, and unassuming honesty. On the surface it's just another band getting into playing music, being creative, and trying to make it one way or another. It is refreshing that it's not about a famous band, but a chronicle of one of the millions of groups that form and dissolve almost daily. It's easy to forget that each band is made up of musicians -- i.e., people struggling with their individual destinies and myriad relationships (the essence of all good fiction or non fiction). Having played in many bands myself, I could relate to many of the archetypal scenes described. But more than that it took a critical look at the phenomenon of rock, as well as being informative -- especially in regard to the club scene of New York City. A true delight! -- and the last page came all too soon.



2. "Baby Plays Around --A Love Affair with Music" really is the perfect title for this book. The author plays around town in a rock band; her husband just plain plays around. His isn't the only affair here though.
   
   At first glance you might think that this book is meant for a pretty select audience, being about a little band struggling to make it in the New York club scene, but Helene Stapinski is really writing about relationships. As a band member, she must deal with the interpersonal dynamics occuring amongst a group of people trying to be creative and successful, and to add to the complexity of the situation, the band (at least for a time) also includes her husband. Jealousy, competition, ambition, anger and fear all come into play, but each are in a way quelled by the experience of music --an experience that seems to be an awful lot like love.
   
   Though I'm a pretty slow reader, I finished Baby Plays Around in just a couple of days. It held me in both its details and the arc of the character's emotional growth --which I think should be the measure of any great story.



3. One of the richest, and perhaps one of the most honest nonfiction books I've read, Helene Stapinksi mines her obsessions, both music and love, to create a riveting masterpiece. This story of a freelance writer who falls through the rabbit hole to end up living a childhood fantasy -- as a drummer in a band -- speaks to any of us who hold a dream in our hearts about 'what could have been' were we to follow our wilder creative spirits. But it comes with a price, with significant and painful fallout in many of her relationships, particularly with her husband, and Stapinski doesn't spare any of the uncomfortable, awkward, and many times hilarious experiences she encounters, taking the reader on a wild ride through the smoky downtown clubs in Alphabet City. The writing is so inviting and personal you feel as though you're helping her lug her cymbals as she chases the chimera of musical fame, and discovers the true meaning of unconditional love: a love that persists through our fleeting, nonsensical adventures.



4. What is it about journalists that they think their lives are so interesting? I'm tired of reading books and articles like this. Stapinski is one of the worst of the lot; she seems to believe that the world is dying to hear everything about her life, her family, her career. Please, spare us.



5. Really die-hard music aficionados can probably fill you in on the dynamics in the Beatles or Rolling Stones -- and Helene Stapinski shows that it's not just the big groups that are like that. Her musical memoir, "Baby Plays Around: A Love Affair, with Music" takes on the internal workings of a rising little band.

   Freelance writer Helene Stapinski wanted the play the drums since she was a little girl, so she jumped at the chance to join I Hate Jane with two other women (and briefly roped her new husband into helping out). The band becomes unbalanced when Elizabeth leaves in a huff, and a pair of men join the group. But then things smooth out, and things appear to be going well.

   Professionally, that is. One day Helene's husband comes to her and admits that "baby's been playing around" with some little tart at his newsroom. Unsurprisingly, Helene is enraged, and the searing fights and all-out brawls seem to show that their marriage is doomed. So Helene buries herself in Stephonic ("I Hate Jane"'s new name) and plays the drums like never before...

   Not everybody can say they have relationship advice from Elvis Costello. And that weirdly intimate chapter where Elvis saves Stapinski's foundering marriage is one of the best in the entire book. Overall, she does an excellent job of bringing the band life to the readers -- the good (musical highs), the bad (internal tension), and the ugly (Stapinski being fired for no good reason).

   Stapinski's writing is pleasant and descriptive, like a novel. A very you-are-there feel. And her humor is likably self-deprecating: when thinking about how she has no cool indie music in her CD collection, she thinks "Bless me Elizabeth, for I have sinned I just purchased the new Sting album." That is, until she remembers the wonderful band Yo La Tengo.

   That isn't to say that Stapinski's writing is all fun. Her relevelations about her disintegrating marriage are heartbreaking. And there's some understandable bitterness toward the vaguely stalker-like newsroom tart, and a lesser amount toward band frontwoman/singer Julie, who apparently considered herself queen of all she surveyed onstage.

   Helene Stapinski draws readers into a crazy quilt of glittering clubs, Inuit towns and the heart of New York City. "Baby Plays Around," and a what a tune she plays in here.

1 comments about Harry S. Truman and the News Media: Contentious Relations, Belated Respect.

1. Franklin D. Mitchell has written an extensive portrayal of the pugnacious relationship between President Harry Truman and the news media. Truman liked the media, especially when it provided the public with images that displayed his down-to-earth personality. But the president often lost his temper when the media became critical of his family, friends, and his domestic policies.

   Mitchell recounts how the media played an important role during the Truman years between 1945-1953. He provides the reader with a chronological narrative in history. Mitchell reviews the 1948 election that resulted in the greatest presidential miscall in journalistic history. He also touches base with the rise of women and minorities in the media, and how the newsreel and photojournalism contributed to the Truman presidency.

   The book is interesting and extensively detailed. Highly recommended for anyone interested in Harry Truman or political/presidential studies.

No comments about Maximum Insight: Selected Columns of Bill Maxwell.

No comments about Un corazon invencible/ An invincible Heart: Vida Y Muerte De Mi Marido Danny Pearl: Corresponsal De Guerra.

No comments about The Controversialist: An Intellectual Life of Goldwin Smith.

5 comments about Tell Them I Didn't Cry: A Young Journalist's Story of Joy, Loss, and Survival in Iraq.

1. Jackie Spinner's absorbing account of her Iraq wartime coverage is a courageous story, not just in the obvious sense of exposing herself to danger, but in exposing the vulnerabilities of herself, her family, and friends. The Iraqi staff and Washington Post colleagues became her family, drawing her closer than even her twin sister back in the states. This refreshing honesty is rare in a journalistic account of a war. She avoids the temptation to give canned histories of the region and plunges into the daily grind of finding news on the streets and homes of an ancient country torn apart.



2. This one is a good read. It was hard to put it down. Spinner does a good job in talking about the people of Iraq, those whom she worked closely with in the Post bureau. It was interesting to see how she grew a relationship, sometimes obviously close.



3. This is a great read. This gives you the personal view of an American journalist in Iraq - you see the pathos, the terrible results of war, the friendships, the fear, the drive and risks of journalists, the love. And you may lose sleep over this book, since it is very hard to put down - until you have devoured every page!



4. "Tell Them I Didn't Cry" is a great book, and well worth the read. Although Jennifer Spinner gets a co-author credit, the vast majority of the book is her twin sister Jackie's story of her 10 months as a foreign correspondent in Iraq.
   
   This is not an in-depth analysis of the Iraq war. Rather, it is a deeply personal account of Jackie's growth from junior reporter for the Washington Post to acting bureau chief in Iraq, while dodging bombs, mortars and kidnappers. Jackie tells an unbiased story, pointing out the good and bad of Iraq, "calling them as she sees them." The book is full of interesting stories, including a poignant account of her Christmas in Baghdad, part of which was spent looking for a church safe enough to attend for mass.
   
   Although I am slightly biased (like Jackie, I am an alumnus of Southern Illinois University) I think this is a great read.



5. When I married my husband, a reporter, I told him I'd follow him anywhere his career took him, as long as he promised never to be the kind of reporter who went into war zones to cover battles. He agreed, and we got married, and thankfully, he's never gone back on that promise. So, it was with some trepidation that I picked up Spinner's book, which had been recommended to me by a friend of mine -- do I really want to read about a reporter doing exactly what I've always worried my husband might want to do someday? But boy, am I glad I did. This is a wonderfully written and extremely personable book, detailing Spinner's ten month experience as a reporter covering the Iraq war for the Washington Post. And I don't know if it's the woman's eye, or what, but more than anything else I've read about Iraq, this is the book that really gave the whole thing some life for me, turning numbers into people, and bringing home some of the enormous problems people on all sides are facing right now in that messed up country.
   
   Highly recommended to anybody who is interested in A) journalism, B) current events, or C) understanding what the hell is going on in Iraq. And then after that, highly recommended to the rest of you. Read this book!

No comments about Arch: A Promoter, Not a Poet : The Story of Arch Ward.