No comments about Andrew Marvell (Large Print Edition).

2 comments about I'm Not Done Yet: Keeping at It, Remaining Relevant, and Having the Time of My Life.

1. To use the favorite word by which Ed Koch describes his life experiences -- this book is "enjoyable." It is autobiographical/philosophical, revealing, funny; I couldn't put it down. If you like Ed Koch (which I do -- I'm envious of his self-absorption), you can hear him on every page, ultimately as the educator that he is. It is a must-read, particularly for Post-War Baby Boomers, to see a view of age 75 that most of us didn't see/don't see in our parents. The book is truly inspirational in a very realistic way. "Ed Koch, I hope you live forever, and if you can't, I hope God takes you all at once as is your desire and not in pieces like 'salami.'"



2. ed koch, america's best known mayor in modern times, continues his sucess as a fascinating author. this book offers insights into how he moved from mayor of new york city, into jobs keeping him equally motivated and renowned. if character is everything, then ed koch has everything. a page turner of the first order, it pulls you in from the first page. anyone who has dreamed of coming to new york, been to new york, flown over new york, or heard of ed koch will find the book fascinating. we should all be as relevant and involved as ed koch.

4 comments about Life Work.

1. I am a big fan of Donald Hall's writing, both poetry and prose. This is my favorite and the one that made me think the most. It allows one to put one's life in perspective, realize the importance of life and work. We all aren't as lucky as Hall has been to work at what we love, but the book makes you think about how work can become more worthwhile. Deep and enjoyable.



2. Reading this book is work -- in the Donald Hall definition, for to read it is to become absorbed in each word to the exclusion of all else. Hall writes of his ancestors, of the rocky farms of New England, a small dairy, his father's early death, his wife's gardening, and then quite suddenly as his colon cancer recurs, of the possible end to life and the very prosaic tasks of cancelling readings, putting papers in order for survivors. Throughout, he achieves a sense of time, place and self which crosses generations. He charts both the constants and the increasing changes of the farm which has been in his family for more than a hundred years and the country around it. Hall, like God, love and grace--all of which are found in abundance in this book, abides.



3. Donald Hall's memoir, The Old Life, is beautifully crafted in prose form. It is full of personal recollections as well as literary references. It is intense, deeply personal, funny, and wonderfully readable. One has a very real sense of who Donald Hall is - his views of life, his passion for baseball and his family, his trials with his own ill health, his love for his wife, Jane Kenyon, also a poet, and his agonizing grief when she dies quite unexpectedly. A beautiful, poignant, literary triumph



4. Poet Donald Hall somehow manages to talk about the craft of writing and, even in prose, wondrously shapes a poetic work. This book is an excellent depiction of the author's life, as well as a fascinating historical account of Hall's life and background. Contrary to the popular romanticized view of writing or the "anyone can do it" mentality, Hall shows the reader just what his writing has entailed, and it is clearly WORK

No comments about Thackeray (Large Print Edition).

5 comments about Man in the Brown Suit (Ulverscroft Mystery).

1. My grandmother left me her collection of Agatha Christie novels and, over the years, I've been trying to make time to read them in chronological order. I've just finished reading "The Man in the Brown Suit" and, while I did find it intriguing and suspenseful, I found it a bit too mired in the melodrama of the day. When a female character suddenly protests " But I love him!" about a character she's just barely met, it's a bit difficult to believe. The mystery is fun and the globe-trotting storyline is exciting to follow, but the romance hurts the overall story rather than helping it. I look forward to reading more of her books to see when (if?) she moved past such melodrama and let mystery and suspense lead the way.



2. What can you say in a review about Agatha Christie?? Of course I liked it. I like nearly everything she wrote. However, I did find this book to be different from some of her other books. Usually Christie springs the romance on you at the end of the book - suddenly these two people discover their love and decide to get married. However, in this book the romance goes through almost the entire plot. And of course there is always a dramatic twist at the end of a Christie story. In this book, though, the plot twists didn't surprise me so much. I kinda saw them coming. ;) I wasn't so sure if I liked the romance at the end or not. A part of me was hoping she would end up with a different man. But I enjoyed reading this, as I do all her writings.



3. The Man in the Brown Suit is one of my favorite Christie novels that does not fit into one of her regular character series. Much more of an unashamed romance than her other novels, it is an ideal read for a warm bath after a stressful day. Anne makes a delightful detective and intrepid reporter. Identities are switched. Villains are not quite what they seem. The world is traveled. A good time is generally had by all.
   
   The Man in the Brown Suit is Christie's fourth novel, and was published in 1927. Recommended.



4. This is a novel with all new characters. You don't have to deal with endless Poirot egotism or Marple simplicity. It has a wonderfully twisted ending that I never would have guessed. I listened to the CD version and the reading was done well.



5. I liked this book very much. It's intriguing and full of suspense from cover to cover. I'm a Christie's fan and this is better that most.

No comments about Handel (Large Print Edition).

No comments about Be a Good Boy, Billy.

3 comments about Barbara Bush: Matriarch of a Dynasty.

1. I read this book and I was just left wondering where the new material was. This book just goes over some general things that everyone knows. We need something a little meatier. Barbara can really be a great leader when she wants to. I just wish she didn't leave these books up to other people such as biographers and ghost writers.



2. Having read many articles and several books, there was nothing new in this book for the general reader. Lacked substance also.



3. I call it Clementine Churchill (or if you prefer, Denis Thatcher) Syndrome: spouses of the great and powerful frequently haven't had lives as newsworthy as that of their more famous partner. And as Barbara Bush herself has noted, it's "fate and an extraordinary husband" (p. 141) that have made her part of history. However, Barbara Bush has always been a popular individual -- sometimes much more so than her husband. And for casual fans looking for an inoffensive and readable popular biography, this work by Pamela Killian more than fits the bill.

   On its own terms, it does have its weak points. How much weight you choose to give them depends on what exactly you're looking for, I suppose. For example, there's no evidence Mrs. Bush herself was interviewed for this book -- although according to the acknowledgements some current and former staff-members and friends were. Many of the quotes, and much of the other information, are recycled from newspaper coverage and other media sources (including, interestingly, an episode of the A&E cable network's "Biography" program). Author Kilian also gives a disturbing amount of emphasis to those notoriously fickle (as well as politically tendentious) "polls of presidential historians."

   There are also a couple of errors (arguably minor) that need to be pointed out, including a misquotation of Al Gore's famous "no controlling legal authority" phrase (p. 217) and an odd mention of the House of Representatives' "interference" with the election of 1824 (there was no "interference," just the process laid out in the Constitution).

   Where I thought this biography particularly shined, though, was in the discussion of Barbara Bush's 1990 commencement address at Wellesley College (pp.146-53). Some feminists in the graduating class had objected to Mrs. Bush's presence, on the grounds that she had no individual achievements and was only being honored because of whom she was married to. Mrs. Bush handled that issue well at the time, and Kilian does the same here. I found this chapter, in many ways, the defining point of the book, giving testimony (if any were needed) to the value of the life Barbara Bush has led.

   While not terribly in depth or deeply psychologically revealing, this biography does give a good picture of a woman who, in my opinion, justifies the high regard in which she is still held by so many people. Think what you will about her husband's and/or son's politics, it's harder not to like the Silver Fox, as this title helps make clear.

5 comments about Piano Lessons: Music, Love, & True Adventures (Thorndike Press Large Print Paperback Series).

1. Noah Adams enchanted me with his touching--and at times very amusing--memoir of learning to play a deceptively simple piece of music on the piano.
   
   I read this book years ago, when it was recommended to me by pianist Robin Spielberg. At the time, Piano Lessons struck me as the first prose I had encountered that accurately described the rush of elation musicians experience when successfully conquering the chaos of a difficult phrase. On a second read-through, almost a decade after its publication, Adams' words remain as crisp and as playful as a perfectly played arpeggio. This is a writer who hears what he writes. He has a musician's ear and a writer's sensibility--a rare combination.
   
   In music, as in writing, achieving an air of effortlessness distinguishes a true master. It's not easy to describe joys of music, but Adams pulls it off with a lightness that will inspire the secret musician lurking in the hearts of so many adults.
   
   Robin Meloy Goldsby is the author of Piano Girl: A Memoir



2. It's been years since I read this book, but I have fond memories of it and dropped in here trying to relocate it again. I have to laugh at those who have given this book such harsh reviews with their literal impressions, and I'm very much in agreement with the others, like Bron Mitchell here, who enjoyed it for the right reasons. This is not necessarily about piano. It is about struggling to fulfill a passion in the face of your limitations. About confronting your fears and inadequacies, in the bravest attempt you can muster, given your amateur talents and spare time.
   
   I don't play piano, but I've been struggling for years to play my swing violin in much the same way Noah Adams approached his music. I thoroughly enjoyed the side trips and distractions and intermittent and yet consistent efforts to pursue the unrelenting dream.
   
   For those who play professionally, and for others who come by music easily with talent to spare, his struggles may seem frustrating and self-indulgent. But I would simply say to them, do they have a powerful dream to develop another talent that they may not be so blessed to possess? For example, have they ever wanted to build a boat and sail it to some far off destination? Or play professional baseball? Or be a comedian onstage? Paint a masterpiece? What would it be like to take on your dream, whatever that may be, regardless of your current profession? If you can't imagine putting yourself out there bravely to take it on, then you won't appreciate the subtle, comic travails of this author. And your own life will be much less interesting for it. Cut the brave souls some slack for they know the enjoyment and challenge of really living and appreciating life.
   
   I wholeheartedly recommend the book to any amateur adventurer out there. It is very similar to another book I thoroughly enjoyed and laughed out loud at called "Winterdance: The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod" by Gary Paulsen.



3. I think it is misleading that some have written very poor reviews of "Piano Lessons" by Noah Adams. They say the book does not have enough material about how to play the piano, or that he does not have enough patience to learn to play, and the book minimizes how much hard work it takes to play.
   
   But the goal of this book is not to teach one to play piano. It is to trace an adult's foray into piano playing. Mr. Adams chose to begin by using a book rather than hiring a teacher. Though hiring a teacher would be a far better way to begin, by reading his story one can learn a great deal. Because he didn't just hire a teacher, we learn about all his travels through piano educational techniques and materials. We learn of Denise Kahn who teaches adults on the upper west side of Manhattan- this in fact is how I found Denise, through this book- and she is a superb teacher. We read of the Van Der Lindes piano camp for adults. Mistakenly I tried to locate them in NY rather than Vermont, so I was not successful. But I did learn of Bruce Potterton's Summerkeys program in Maine, from Denise, and spent a very valuable week there. The progress one can make in an intensive week in the summer is powerful, and will reinforce your desire to continue studying. Finally, the material with Ned Phoenix makes clear how good used instruments can be, often superior to new ones, even if they need a rebuild. I in fact, bought a used Kranich and Bach for $400. The tone is wonderful and it holds a tuning real well. It is worth around $2,000.
   
   If you want to learn HOW to play piano i.e. technique, buy other books. If you want to read about lots of ways adults can learn piano and supplement their private lessons, and read a book with feeling that will encourage you to practice and truly learn to play well, then I highly recommend Piano Lessons.



4. I was instantly intrigued by this book. I was disappointed that of the 242 pages, it take until page 181 for him to decide to even play Traumerei for his wife.
   
   Quite frankly, this book is filled with self indulgant nonsense. If Adams had stuck to the idea of writing a book about just learning piano , it would have been fine. Instead he meanders onto subjects such buying boats and taking trips. What does any of that crap have to do with playing piano?
   
   I think Noah Adam's experience is very indicative of the "I want everything now with little work" philosophy that pervades our country. I have very little doubt that the exquisite Steinway he bought has either been sold or is gathering dust. What a shame.



5. Two things about this book are depressing. First, the author has no patience or self-discipline, and thus cannot possibly learn to play piano well. So why does he go on this "quest" to obtain an expensive piano? The real reason, which goes unsaid but runs as a sad subtext through the book, is that it is easy for the author, who has money, to spend that money on a piano, and the satisfaction of owning the piano serves him as a substitute for the satisfaction that would be gained from learning to play it. The second reason this book is depressing is a quality that this book happens to share with countless "personal journey" memoirs that are coming out these days. It is that the author does not have the discipline, education or interest to write a serious work of non-fiction about pianos, piano manufacture or piano playing, and so turns to the much abused memoir format to squeeze a book out of what are, ultimately, mundane experiences, shallow insights and personal challenges that are ultimately abandoned.

No comments about Beyond the Nursery Window (Ulverscroft Large Print Series).