5 comments about Redeemed: A Spiritual Misfit Stumbles Toward God, Marginal Sanity, and the Peace That Passes All Understanding.

1. This is one of those books that came along just when I needed it. Heather King has a wonderful ability to make you laugh and think and just quiet down long enough to really hear someone else's perspective. You don't need to share her beliefs to be enriched by the honesty, humor and bravery, not to mention the beauty, of her writing. I've loved reading both of Heather's books, and I can't wait for more.



2. I loved King's first book, Parched, which documented her upbringing in a puritanical New England town, her young adult descent into alcoholism, and her struggle back to the light - literally, because this woman spent serious time in some of the darkest dives in Boston. Sounds depressing, but it isn't, because King's writing is filled with a rare hilarity and humility that make the book a joy to read.
   
   In Redeemed, the reader gets to join King as she relocates to Los Angeles, specifically Koreatown, about as far as she could get from those cold and austere beginnings. As she struggles to make sense of her life, her career (a lawyer!), her marriage, and her physical and mental health, she finds a faith that grips her - and the reader - to the core. The contrast is both obvious and profound between the empty cross of her childhood church and the Catholic depiction of Christ on the cross, with wounded suffering on full display. Here King finds her home and her salvation, and we are all richer for sharing the ride. Highly recommended.



3. I think what makes this book such a rare gem is that it almost seems like two completely different types of books, or genres, eloquently and unapologetically mixed into one. Most simply put it is a women's story of the almost accidental discovery of her faith or relationship with God. However, it is such an honest and hilarious account of her journey that you find yourself routing for her the way you do some kind of great anti-hero protagonist from your favorite novel instead of just reading a memoir. Most spiritual books take themselves seriously, but when Heather King finds God (and naturally herself as well in the process) she finds him while making dry, witty, sarcastic remarks under her breath. She not only admits to being lost but celebrates it with grace in a way that only someone who has done their spiritual homework can. Long story short, it's just as funny and serious and engrossing as the last best novel you read, but when you finish it the book sticks with you and as a result, your own faith that maybe there is hope for the rest of us is restored a little.



4. I so enjoy how Ms. King puts sentences together. Her writing carries you along with its conversational tone, where the asides and comma-enclosed phrases bring not only nuance and depth to the greater point being made, but make the reading process itself almost a joyride. There's hardly a sentence that isn't thought- or smile-, chuckle-, outright laugh-provoking. There are lots of smart, poignant, witty writers out there, but King's slant is unusual. I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to see the world though her eyes.



5. Something all lapsed Catholics love to do at any opportunity is to slam the church, and anything dimly related to it. We have a kind of secret club.....and anyone can belong..... particularly if you went to Catholic school and ever had a nun or priest smack you or send you to the 'cloak room' to sit out a punishment for some trivial childhood offense. So it was with hesitation that I started reading Heather King's new book 'Redeemed'. I'd loved 'Parched', and consider her a brilliant writer, but this was going a bit far. Clearly this new book wouldn't contain the zany antics of a drunk Heather King, clawing her way through a haze of booze-soaked misadventures to ultimately sober up and become the funny sensitive woman I came to love in the first book. I must say though, this book is probably the only secular religious tome ever written. I don't know how King managed to convince me so gracefully that she had found in Catholicism another level of spiritual peace very much like her previous miracle of sobriety. I guess that's what really grabbed me about this book. It's all about miracles. Now, THERE'S something I can sink my teeth into! Catholic, Jew, Hindu, Atheist, Anyone....will relate to this very human phenonenon of finding something larger than themselves to lend purpose and freedom to a life that would be rather empty without it. Loved the book....you will too.

5 comments about Easter Rising: An Irish American Coming Up from Under.

1. A fantastic "second act" by McDonald...if you happen to read this one first I would suggest All Souls as the follow-up. Both are simply fantastic!



2. After reading the author's first book, I prayed for a part two. To my disappointment this is not it!. It's as if an alien had possed the author and decided to re-write "ALL SOULS". Does this mean, the book was bad, no it does not mean that. It means that, the first book was written from such a different mindset (Night and day), has HUGE widespread appeal, and was so perfect (priceless): that somebody must have given this author some bad advice or false encourgement. Furthermore, while there are small parts that have that "wow effect" , the punk rock aspects, I overdosed on and sufficated this volume for me. If you ever read Mary Karr's "CHERRY" then I hope that will kind of enlighten you has to what my babble is trying to do, eventhough that was sort of a part two . In conclusion, while this author has a vast amount of heart, soul and talent and will most likely write more great books. It does not change the fact that I feel "Easter Rising" was a let down.



3. So sang Mission of Burma, whose final concert, among so many others in the early 80s, MacDonald attended, as he struggled to break out of his Boston confines. This brisk sequel to "All Souls" (also reviewed by me recently on Amazon) concentrates more on the writer himself, whereas the earlier book explained his family of ten siblings (nine surviving but three to die tragically as young men and a sister in a coma) in South Boston. I found lots that sounded familiar. The tour when he first saw the Clash was the same one I went to, and my first "real" concert too. He conveys the culture clash also, as Mikey Dread's patois reminds Mike of his grandfather's Kerry-accented chatter. He learns about English culture and European ideas through the then small alternative music papers and song lyrics guide him into Camus and Marx. His education, as a dropout from prestigious Boston Latin, takes him into a vividly described underground scene, as the caché of hanging out in clubs and shops leads him into the NYC squats and speed. I'm not sure how or if he manages to attend classes to completion at UMass-- this decision barely gets an aside. Mostly, Mike appears drawn to the same flirtation with the dangers that mark his family and his neighborhood. Finally, the darkness of his own family, after mental illness, bank robbery, and sudden trauma claim his siblings, snaps him back.
   
   However, there's no easy escape from Southie. The narrative tends to jump forward, and without the previous book, you'd have a hard time filling in the gaps. This is my reason for four stars: not that the lacunae are unexplained, but for the skips in the chronology that make it difficult to keep track of what happens when to him over three decades.
   
   Therefore, after Mike's accounts of punk, hanging out, and getting out of the Old Colony before succumbing to it, the story leaps to London, where he sees the sights on the cheap, and then two trips to Ireland. The first is to Donegal, and while the inside dust jacket promises "two healing journeys to Ireland that are unlike anything in Irish American literature," there's only a familiar, if well-observed, story of the strange intimacy many returning Yanks have. The woman who gives you a lift, figures out in her head you're her fourth (or fifth) cousin, then drops you off with a casual farewell as if this proved but an everyday occurrence on a rural back road. The crowds with women who all look like one's grandmother, and the faces that finally mirror your own. The 'green jumper' that all 'big fellas' from America supposedly stand out by as they tramp and gawk among the bemused natives. And, for Mike, the racial undertones that link the Irish to blacks as surely as they have separated them in his hometown.
   
   The coda, as it were, finds himself at thirty-two accompanying his braying Ma as she in her "Irish whisper" plays the accordion to tunes denouncing the Black and Tans and praising the IRA in the streets of London, complains over her headphones about the English, and generally making a spectacle of herself in the manner that readers of "All Souls" will smile at again. Yet, when she sees her father's cottage in Kerry, her son notes her change. Deeper voice, bent back, slower gait. In the ruins of her ancestral house, she finds her mother's cauldron and the shards of what had furnished the cabin. "Standing next to the dusty heap on the floor, I looked at the perfectly preserved picture of the Sacred Family hanging above the fireplace, with a banner that read BLESS THIS HOME. It was the one intact thing in a house that was in ruins. I couldn't take my eyes off it." (241)
   
   As in the first memoir, MacDonald tends to underplay such dramatic moments in favor of unadorned storytelling. I'm not sure if the audience which longs for shamrockery will take to Mike's more sober tales. This narrative moves efficiently, and MacDonald does not call attention to himself or his woe so much as place it in contexts-- of the club scene, of the pub milieu, and of the psychological devastation that takes him in and out of counselling, hospitals and therapy to ease his aching head. These encounters with the academic and then medical establishment do not, as you might expect, pit a rebel hero against an uncaring system in McMurphy vs. The Combine stereotypical countercultural conflict, but Mike learns self-reliance and gradual acceptance of his own power to overcome the demons that attack so many around him.
   
   Somehow, this manages to be one of the few recent books about Irish sold in America that lacks a paean from Frank McCourt, although his brother's quote graced the back hardcover of "All Souls" and may this in paperback. Whereas the first book evidently took time, this one may have been hastened by the four writer's retreats that he acknowledges, and funded by his screenplay for "All Souls" that's been optioned.



4. What's an old guy,72,reading a book abot an bunch of young people growing up in Southie,South Boston,in the 70's and 80's;in an area wracked with drugs,violence and with little else of interest than rock music? I remember the days when School Busing as a form of Intregation was creating great upheaval in America and much of the news about difficulties seemed to come our of South Boston. I had never read much about Southie;so thought that it might be of interest as I have read much about the struggles of ethnic groups making their way in America.Most cities have had ,and still do,their areas where people ended up ,who lived outside the "mainstream",and had to do whatever it took ,just to survive...but survive they did!
   I must admit,I found the book a little outside my interest in music , performers ,songs and band names;but it still held my interest and I found it better and better as I continued.By the time I finished,I felt it was one of the better books that I had ever read on the life,struggle and success of someone who overcame obstacles and an enviroment that to someone like myself would find totally discouraging. What a training ground,and anyone who managed to survive had to be remarkably strong. It shows that for anyone to survive and succeed,inner strengths,family ,determination,and taking on responsibility for oneself are the roads to success and not the reliance on government programs and social agencies.
   When you see what the author did to make a success out of what he had to start with ;anyone else who finds themselves in similar enviroment should ask themselves; "So,What's my problem?
   I found the author to be a great new,for me, addition to my list of favorite "Irish" writers and I have now put him in the company of my favorites; the McCourts,Roddy Doyle,Brendan Behan,Liam O'Flaherty,Toby Harnden,Brendan O'Carroll,Morgan Llywelyn,Pete Hamill,and many others.
   Particularly,when the author arrives in Ireland,and he gets to meet the locals and observe the Irish culture;it seems that great gift of writing really blossoms.The way he can write about people,and especially how he can bring that wonderful mother to life in his writing shows,without any doubt, that he is a "gifted Irish Writer" .That seems to be a skill one has to be born with and it has been a fundamental ingredient of Irish culture sice the beginning;where communication was done by storytelling as opposed to writing.
   How's this for observing and writing for which the Irish are so good at?
   
   "And when she came back to the silence of Danny's grave,she carried on in a great mood about what a beautiful spot it was.Then she did what she'd told Buddy she would do,pulling the accordian onto one raised knee and breaking into "Danny Boy".
   This opened every water faucet that had been closed so tightly that evening.Hannah,Mikey,and Catherine stood frozen,staring at the gravestone with hands folded,their tears falling in steady streams.I was terrified,the way I always was when Ma opened people's faucets.I wasn't sure if Ma was being appropriate,since I didn't know Danny's family at all well. Buddy had requested the playing,but I figured Ma ould do it when we were at he grave alone. Ma's red hair flew in all directions with the wind,exposing gray streaks at her temples,which I was seeing for the first time.She struggled to hold up the heavy accordian while standing,raising one thigh to prop it,and was soon balancing the whole spectacle on one foot. It was just past twilight,the sky was a deep dark blue,and the white stone of the religious statues shone out against the the backdrop of evening. Saint Patrick leading the snakes out of Ireland,the three children of Fatima kneeling in front of a serene Mary,Jesus' crucified body floating above us,his wooden cross invisible in the night.
   Ma wailed the verses and settled down to a lullaby for the last line,
   "I simply sleep in peace until you come to me."
   We stood quietly for a few moments. I wasn't sure we'd be welcomed back at the Riordan's that night. Catherine broke the long,uncomfortable silence by soaking us all in a parting spray of holy water.Then she doused the grave.And we all went back to the cars in what seemed like a sudden descent of pitch darkness."
   I can't wait to read more from this wonderful author.Keep it up Michael,you're really gifted.



5. I read and highly enjoyed MacDonald's previous autobiographical book, "All Souls", and was interested in his latest book. I was not disappointed. Whereas "All Souls" has more of a focus on the author's family and the events of the 70s and 80s, "Easter Rising" is about specifically how MacDonald was able to pull himself out of the cycle of poverty. Here are some of my own observations.
   
   I found MacDonald's journey into punk music fascinating. After his schizophrenic brother Davey committed suicide, he was looking for a way out of his own world. In punk music, he saw the musicians looking to destroy their world and create something new, and he immediately identified with them, wanting to destroy his own world that suicide and violence had ruined. In addition, I thought it interesting that he learned more about politics and history from the lyrics of punk music than through his classes at Bostin Latin.
   
   MacDonald's journeys to Ireland proved to be cathartic. When he was 19, he traveled to London and Paris and ran out of money. He called his grandfather for money, but he would only give it to him if he promised to visit Ireland and some of his relatives. He hates Ireland at first, but then grew to love it. When he saw his biological father, George Fox, at his funeral, he relates that since his father lived outside of South Boston, he was hoping that he had a connection to the outside world. That's ultimately what he found in his relatives in Ireland.
   
   His journey from the mindset of "South Boston is the whole world" to wanting to get out of there is quite emotional. After the death of Davey, then many other of his family members, he wanted to escape. At first, he would venture into downtown Boston, then New York, then finally out of the country. Growing out of the tribal mindset of his hometown was an important part of his development.
   
   In conclusion, "Easter Rising" is a must-have for anyone who enjoys autobiography and American history. It gives a more intimate portrait of the author than "All Souls" did. One needn't necessarily read "All Souls" before "Easter Rising," but it's helpful. Finally, it's a moving story of personal growth that has a wider appeal than to people from Boston.

5 comments about La Dolce Vita (the Sweet Life) in Cortona, Tuscany Italy.

1. While there were some interesting passages in "La Dolce Vita," the grammar, spelling and typographical errors were so numerous that it was distracting and frustrating to read. The best parts could be found better written in a tour guide.



2. Even though the publisher sent out the wrong book before editing, I overlooked it all and just enjoyed reading the humorous experiences that Ms Phillips had during her first stay in Cortona. I am also an expat living in Italy and I can appreciate all the problems she encountered and she certainly had a knack for adding humor to the most disasterous events. If you want to know what the inside of a church looks like, then you should consult a guide book. This was not a guide book nor was it meant to be-I think the author wrote like she was telling it to me over cappuccino, and I truly enjoyed journeying through her year in Cortona. It was a delightful read.



3. I enjoyed Charlotte's book... not so much for her writing skills, but for the reminders of the Tuscan hill town that I fell in love with 6 years ago. While I don't live in Cortona, my heart lives there, with the people, places, sights, sounds and wonderful friends I've made there through the years. I've been traveling to Italy for more than 25 years and Cortona is my heart of hearts. Many of the people in her book are people that I personally know in Cortona. While some may criticize Charlotte's book, I applaud her for not wallowing in her divorce woes, instead she made a new life for herself.



4. I could not finish it. My wife could, and told me that I was right not to.
   
   This book prompts several questions.
   
   1. Did the author actually live in Cortona, or just read all of the other books?
   2. Don't vanity publishers have spell checkers?
   3. Did anybody proof the galleys of this book? Firenze (Florence) is spelled correctly, then incorrectly, IN THE SAME SENTENCE!
   4. Will Amazon refund my money?
   5. Is this woman the model for Belinda Smith in Tuscany for Beginners?
   6. Does the Portuguese government know that she's going there next?
   
   We are lucky enough to know what it's like to spend time in southern Tuscany. This author doesn't (or didn't do the time)
   
   I have great respect for writers; the blank page is an awesome adversary. To the list of Dario Castagno, Frances Mayes, Ferenc Mate, and Marlena Di Blasi, add Isabella Dusi, Tim Parks, Henry James and Goethe. But not this author.



5. Between misspelled words and losing me fairly quickly into the read I still dream of spending a year in Bella Italia.

5 comments about Making Peace with Autism: One Family's Story of Struggle, Discovery, and Unexpected Gifts.

1. This book was honest and heartfelt. Our family is at the beginning of our journey on the autism spectrum, but there were so many things in this book that we could relate to already. I couldn't put it down when I read it. It was refreshing to read about how another family has coped with this tragedy and how it has survived and even grew stronger without the affected child having necessarily been "cured." It has helped me realize that the most important thing for any family is acceptance.



2. Sue Senator's autism book is not just another parent's story about facing autism. She has something to say, useful information to immpart, and she is not looking to find or share a miracle cure. She is a little ahead of the curve on the autism epidemic - her son is nearly grown - and thus her perspective is very useful for parents with younger children (and typical siblings) wondering about the future and coping with diagnosis and the larger issues of long-term advocacy.



3. After reading countless books on autism, mostly about theories and treatments, this book is a breath of fresh air! It was so encouraging to read an honest, open life story of a family living with autism on a daily basis. It doesn't give false hope, nor do the family members act like little stoics. They're just real people who are dealing with life every day, and who try to find real happiness in just taking life one day at a time. I admire Susan Senator's positive attitude. She admits that she has a tough time, but picks up the pieces and goes on from there. I thank her for sharing such a personal story; it will help countless families.



4. This is a good read for young families first struggling with a new diagnosis of Autism. Also good for families with siblings, with advice about how to care for their needs.



5. Parents of autistic kids and any who work with autism need MAKING PEACE WITH AUTISM: ONE FAMILY'S STORY OF STRUGGLE, DISCOVERY, AND UNEXPECTED GIFTS: it provides important keys to coping and discusses the challenges of raising an autistic child. Susan Senator raised a child with a severe autism spectrum disorder along with two other normally-developing boys: her strategies offer invaluable coping insights and shows how the entire family changed and adjusted.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch

No comments about The Last of Combat B-17 Drivers.

5 comments about My Recycled Pets: Diary of a Dog Addict.

1. I loved this book! I found it very inspirational and motivational. Thanks to people like Randi, I have the most amazing little rescue dog and I love reading about other successful rescues as well. As a dog lover who also sometimes volunteers for dog rescue in the Bay Area, I was touched by Randi's stories. I also love her spiritual approach, of searching for divine order in a chaotic world. The book has inspired me to begin volunteering/fostering for rescue again, and to give dogs that might appear unreachable a second chance.



2. A current trend in books about dogs is that the dog(s) serve as a back drop for the author to talk about himself or herself. This book is not one of those books. And Randi Berger does a wonderful job telling the dogs' amazing stories.
   
   I truly enjoyed reading this book about troubled dogs who are rehabilitated by Ms. Berger and end up as wonderful pets.



3. Berger's stories of her years managing her full-time dog rescue organization are not only entertaining, but inspiring and sometimes painful to read. This is real-life in the dog-rescue world. Very hard work. You really get a sense of the committment and the endless effort it takes to run a successful rescue organization. Berger laces her book with humor, wit, and lots of great dog photos so you can really get a feel for each of the dog characters she writes about. I recommend this book to ANY dog lover...but especially to those who've rescued a dog from the street, a shelter, or a bad situation. You will enjoy this book. A must-have for your dog library!



4. This is a most enjoyable book and the first I have read to tell how someone begins a dog rescue group. I got my dog from one and have wanted to know more about these groups. The writer should continue to tell her story of dog rescue and of other such groups as well. Her writing style is entertaining and informative.



5. In her book "My Recycled Pets," Randi Berger shares with her readers a deep and personal glimpse into the life of a self proclaimed "dog addict." Randi is the founder and director of Recycled Pets Rescue, an organization that finds homes for dogs that would otherwise be put to sleep. This book chronicles her life and the many furry friends that aided and helped her along the way.
   
   I think the most compelling thing about this book is that Randi Berger's passion for what she does oozes from every page. In her book, Randi allows her readers to accompany her on a journey that takes her from being self centered young adult to the selfless champion of those discarded pets on doggie death row.
   
   This book is mostly a series of vignettes about the many dogs that have passed through Randi's life. These stories are filled with both joy and pathos. Randi's strength as a writer is the way she connects with the reader and is able to communicate her innermost feelings through the pages of her book.
   
   I found "My Recycled Pets," to be a very touching and readable book. In fact it I was not able to read it a quickly as I would have liked because my wife hijacked it from me and couldn't put it down, leaving it unavailable to me until she was finished.

3 comments about The Enders Hotel: A Memoir (River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Prize).

1. Growing up in a hotel sounds like a cool and exotic experience, doesn't it? At the very least, it must have offered the chance to meet all kinds of people. And eating all of your meals at a café counter, sitting on an upholstered and spinnable stool, would have been fun, too. Well: maybe. These are the kinds of scenes Brandon Schrand recalls when he thinks back to his childhood. He lets us in on his unique past within the pages of this intriguing memoir.
   
   Schrand's family owned the Enders Hotel in Soda Springs, Idaho, from 1975 to 1992. A three-story brick building with more than 100 rooms, the hotel dates to 1919 and was named for William and Theodore Enders, the German immigrant brothers who built it. Coincidentally, the establishment was also an attraction for "enders" of other sorts: transients, recovering alcoholics, and individuals just plain down on their luck. Schrand's relatives -- a complex combination of personalities as a result of multi-generational divorces -- accommodated pretty much all of them, when they weren't on the move or in recovery themselves. "It seems fitting, inevitable perhaps," he writes, "that we eventually bought a hotel, a place outfitted with so many exits and entrances, and a place that seemed itself a beacon to the far-farers, to people, ultimately, like us." (p. 203) At the same time, Brandon was growing up. An only child with a vivid imagination and a clubhouse that he eventually shared with friends and classmates, Brandon spent his so-called "formative years" doing odd jobs around the building, alternatively interacting or deliberately ignoring the guests (as per his parents' orders), and exploring the natural areas around the hotel. Complete with a geyser that erupted every hour on the hour, Soda Springs was a company town, a tourist destination, and a temporary way station for many a passer-by. For Brandon, it was Home.
   
   The novelties are what make for interesting reading here. Soda Springs. An unusual family situation. Living in and operating a hotel with a bar and a restaurant. Most of us don't come from similar situations. And yet: growing up is in itself a common experience and one that we can all relate to, no matter the location. And though we may be singularly place-oriented when we are children, it is only when we become adults and look back over the years that we realize that the individuals who surrounded us at the time made the difference, all along. As much as we loved special buildings or certain towns, it was the people who made those places remarkable for us. That can be a hard lesson to learn; harder still, to accept.
   
   Writing such a book is a risky business, since it reveals so much of oneself and one's family. (How did Brandon remember all of these boyhood incidents???) This is the kind of memoir that prompts you to write your own. It's easy to see why it's an award winner.



2. As someone who grew up in Southern Idaho and had heard of the Enders Hotel, I was happy to come across this book. I don't know what I was expecting but it turned out to be a book I could not put down. It is beautifully written and Schrand does a fantastic job of describing each character who crossed the doorstep of the hotel in all those years. It is a wonderful book that I would highly recommend. I would like to see it as a movie someday!



3. I am a student of Brandon's at the University of Idaho and after the essays of Brandon's that I'd already seen, I expected A LOT out of this book. Not surprisingly, I got it, and more. I am making my way through The Ender's Hotel with nothing short of satisfaction... it is a beautifully written and interestingly told story that rings true all throughout.

5 comments about Trespass: Living at the Edge of the Promised Land.

1. Amy Irvine is a gifted writer whose prose kept me reading in spite of feeling offended several times in nearly every chapter about a variety of subjects including the LDS Church, the little town of Monticello I grew up in, cattle ranching and the seemingly inflexible wilderness attitudes. My younger brother enjoys riding what he calls a four wheeler and she calls an ORV to see the incredible sights of the Colorado Plateau she so beautiful describes in her book. It is clear that she and I share a love of the redrock country. As a retired psychiatrist I enjoyed her fearless and at times appropriately veiled exposé of her personal and family dynamics. I thoroughly enjoyed the interweaving of her knowledge of ancient San Juan County cultures into the fabric of her personal story. The ending chapters were unsettling to me and I am not sure I can explain why. Is it because it seems she has given up her passionate quest? Is it because her trespass metaphor became blurred? Is it because she became ill? I don't know. I will let it continue to percolate in my mind and I may read it again. I recommend it. I agree with Terry Tempest Williams, "This is a transformative memoir that dances between shadow and light.



2. Amy Irvine tells multiple stories in "Trespass" and weaves them with the skill of the Basketmaker Anasazi whose culture she explores. I am much her elder but what she shares of her life resonates inside me with my own hardfought truths, my mixed bag of insights, and my own convoluted spiritual growth. This is a multifaceted gem. It can't be explained. It has to be experienced by the individual through reading.



3. I am torn between rushing through this book and slowly savoring every page. I have so many passages marked to read over and try to remember, because they are so meaningful to me. The way she discribes the conflict between the need to belong and the need to be true to one's self is just one of the many things that rang so true for me. In such a sensitive and thoughtful way Ms. Irvine has described issues of gender, conservation, love, preservation, family, and landscape and I am truly grateful for her expression and interpretation.



4. I was so disappointed with this book. I heard an interview with the author on NPR and went directly to check the book out of the library. She was writing about my home town and I couldn't wait to hear her perspective. I was so shocked to see the book full of harsh stereotypes and half-truths. It seemed like she could only see the very worst in everyone, including herself. I kept hoping she could find some happiness, but I don't think she ever did. Maybe her life is better now, hopefully.



5. This book is right up there wtih Sides' Blood and Thunder for Western American History writing at its best. Only this is better, because it is told from the point of view of one of America's little known minorities: Mormon women. Amy brings heart and soul of the old West and the new together in a wonderful story in her wonderful style. I loved it.
   
   Susan T.

1 comments about Key Grip: A Memoir of Endless Consequences.

1. Dustin Smith is one of the best writers around.
   
   Who hasn't gone to the bookstore, plunked down money, cracked open the books you bought, and found most of them weren't worth reading?
   
   You could wade through piles of books and not find a better one to read than Key Grip. Entertaining, spiritual, wickedly down to earth, with to-the-bone insights.
   
   I hope this book gets the attention it deserves. I also wish Dustin Smith a long and successful writing career.
   
   Key Grip is terrific.

5 comments about Broken Music.

1. As music fans we have a tendency to believe that the glamour and stardom for any artist makes them immuned from life's problems and pain. We see them as icons and not as the human beings they are, and that's a big mistake....."Broken Music" gives the reader the inside track on what it took for Sting to reach the heights of his accomplishments. Hard, hard work, emotional toll, intuition, luck, passion, to finally make it. After reading this book I am left with a tremendous amount of respect for "Sting" the Man.



2. I had already read this book at my local public library and decided I had to purchase it for my own. If you asked me why I can give you a variety of reasons. I could say that I've always been a huge Sting fan and his music has always inspired me. I could say that I found his writing to be very personable and to read his story felt almost like having a chat with him. However, the fact of the matter is that I enjoyed reading his story. It is honest, funny at times, and highly thought-provoking.



3. Sting has really hit a home run with Broken Music. It was very interresting to see how a above average gradeschool kid from a disfunctional family, with little ambition, turned into one of the most recognized, rock and new-age composer/singers of the last thirty years. The only explanation has to be - 'he didn't have a choice, it was meant to be.'
   
   Sting shows great skill in describing the settings, characters and events of various eras in his life. Unfortunately, this particular memoir only really takes you as far as the first Police album in the late 70s. It did leave me wishing for more however.
   
   My only problem was the extremely abrupt ending. I was totally involved in the story, and I was looking forward to learning about how he and the band responded to super stardom - and it was over. The words stopped, and I was stunned.
   
   The book contains some harsh language, but it only helps you understand the real conversations he was involved in during his life.



4. I'm a great fan of Sting since a long time and I was fortunate enough to attend three Sting live concerts. I find his music and lyrics very touching and powerful. The book is written in a beautiful, poetic way as it describes the life of Sting (real name Gordon Sumner) starting from is early childhood til mid 2000s. The only complain I have regarding the book is a big deep gap in time from the end of the Police until he started his solo career. Still it's a wonderful read that will uncage your soul.



5. "Son, can't you play something nicer then that," "She struggles to find a
   
   word to describe my efforts" "that broken music?' That is what the
   
   grandmother of sting said about his piano playing at a young age. The book
   
   Broken Music is the autobiography of singer/songwriter/actor, Sting.
   
   Unlike a normal musician's biography about their stardom, Sting chooses to
   
   write about moments of his life that he felt meant the most to him, though
   
   the end does give some parts to the story of how his most famous band The
   
   Police was formed and some of their early shows. The characters vary from
   
   his childhood friends to his band mates Stewart Copeland, Andy Summers,
   
   and Henry Padovini. My personal favorite part is when he visits a Jimi
   
   Hendrix concert and he gives great details on that. The one thing that I
   
   found outrageous about this book was he seemed to make everybody seem like
   
   they were always getting mad and doing bad things but it makes him look
   
   like he is the perfect person and by the things I have heard about him he
   
   has the most horrible temper and had a lot of enmity for other people. But
   
   I did like the fact that he did include the sacking of their original
   
   guitarist Henry Padovini. Over all I give the book a 4 and half out of 5.I was also glad that he did put the birth of his band The Police even though it did not go into to his stardom which was probably a good idea. I suggest this book for mature 8th graders and up because there are some scenes that contain some words and scenes that would take mature readers.But still a great book.
   
   
   -Walker Kennedy