5 comments about Just Another Soldier: A Year on the Ground in Iraq.

1. As a mother of a soldier in Iraq, I wanted to know all I could about what might be happening to my son, as he never told me Anything, as they are supposed to do. I read this book, & loved it. Also read Colby Buzzell's book, My War, Killing Time in Iraq, too. Also John Crawford's The Last True Story I'll Ever Tell: An Accidental Soldier's Account of the War in Iraq. All of these books were wonderful, & really helped me a lot. The other reviews talking about how good these books are tell that part of it for me, & the reviewers that loved these books were right-on, in my opinion.



2. Jason Christopher Hartley was raised in my own hometown of Murray, Utah. His story could have been mine, had I chosen to join the Army. What Hartley has is a sharp wit that transforms his work into something more than just a blog in book form. It is episodic, a mere compilation of his blog entries, but this helps recreate what it might feel like for a soldier. Battle is probably quite episodic itself.
   
   Hartley's blog posts are quite eloquently written, laced with a dark sense of humor that can only come from being raised as he was (similar to my upbringing--maybe I found his sense of humor so authentic because it falls in line with my own). His frank honesty, even that which may paint him in a negative light, is refreshing, a nice change of pace from the typical "see what a good person I am?" self-promoting attitudes that come from many autobiographies.
   
   I will say that this is the best of the books I've read from soldiers of the Iraq War. It has the most to say by saying very little at all. It's the simple day-to-day tasks that drive much of Hartley's writing. It amounts to anyone else's blog about their workplace, except Hartley is facing life-or-death on a nearly constant basis. I highly recommend this book if you want an honest portrayal of one infantryman's experiences. Be warned though: Hartley's attitude reflects much of the video-game-generation's detachment. He can view even the most serious of tragedies in a comedic light. For example, he affixed a "I Heart Dead Civilians" sticker to his laptop. He enjoys the thrill of the fight, maybe if just for a thrill. It's a common personality trait of his generation (and mine).
   
   Not to be missed if you can handle it. This is a must read for anyone wanting a peek at how soldiers are living out their tours in Iraq.



3. Mr. Hartley has given us a book of our times. He is literally on the ground of the World Trade Center after the planes hit and goes into Iraq with the invasion. There is a certain lack of pretension in his style and I feel that the writing and the photos he gives us are as close to the reality of being there without being there.
   
   He is not afraid to present himself as a humanist who is in love with the Army, which I am afraid will be far too complex for many who cannot reconcile that idea. His foibles, screw-ups, less than flattering lights are all in there.
   
   He says he has not read books of other wars and I believe him. If he did, the style and degree of openess would be very different. Without trying to be poetic or profound, he testifies to the day-to-day grind of trying to make a difference in the occupation of a hostile land.
   
   This is as real as it gets.



4. For reasons to numerous to mention, many are detached from the war in Iraq. Where journalists may have failed, articulate veterans like Jason Christopher Hartley are documenting their experiences in books that should be required reading for every American.
   
   Hartley is a superb writer and balances his prose between the often-absurd events of the war and his finely tuned personal observations. From the pathos of describing the plight of an Iraqi chicken farmer, to the deep humor of his description of leave in the artificial paradise of Qatar, Hartley's wit and command of language results in a compelling narrative.
   
   I first read Hartley's blog (the precursor to the book) on the IAVA (Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of American) website and couldn't wait to read the final product. I highly recommend this book and look forward to the future writing of this talented writer.



5. Iraq is a confusing place. Its a cloud of question marks. I wasn't sure how I would explain such a state to my friends and family back home. Jason Christopher Hartley figured it out. By sharing feelings on a day-to-day basis, a reader can get into the head of the average soldier in Iraq. It's brilliant! Anyone wanting to know what Iraq is about for the soldier's fighting there must read this no holds barred, raw, honest book.

No comments about Congratulations! It's Asperger Syndrome.

5 comments about The Real Deal: My Life in Business and Philanthropy.

1. Russell Palmer in his "Ultimate Leadership" suggests that a full leadership development program would include biographies of great leaders, as well as leaders who failed. "There is probably no better model for would-be leaders to learn from than leaders in the past, some who have succeeded spectacularly, some of whom have failed spectacularly." With this in mind, Sandy Weill's and Judith Kraushaar's "The Real Deal" is a must read for all would-be leaders.
   
   "The Real Deal" is a rich case study and fascinating story of Sandy Weill, possibly the single most important figure in the financial services industry over the past half century. The book provides insights to how he consistently stayed ahead of the curve and built two leading companies from scratch. Weill pursued more transformational acquisitions, created more shareholder value, and enjoyed more respect from his peers than any other contemporary.
   
   Weill's career spans an age when:
   * partnerships were dominant to the rise of the modern corporate form of ownership;
   * the rules of regulation were rapidly changing (some of which he spearheaded);
   * the growing appetite for investment mirrored the rise and empowerment of the individual in making financial decisions;
   * globalization rapidly changed the financial services industry.
   
   The book provides great detail on Weill from his early years through the creation of CitiGroup. He writes openly of his relationships with Jim Robinson at AmEx, John Reed at CitiGroup, and his protégés Peter Cohen and Jamie Dimon. He addresses gaps and misperceptions in the public record on these relationships and his highly publicized, time-in-the-box with Elliot Spitzer.
   
   An interview with Weill's wife, Joan, is also included. She is a shrewd observer having served as a personal sounding board for husband. She talks of the good times and the tough times; the influence of Arthur Carter; the difference in the casual Shearson culture and the formal AmEx culture (Robinson's wife even established a pecking order of who would ride with whom for a luncheon she hosted for the wives of executives); and several of Weill's strengths and weaknesses (smart, intuitive, pragmatic, able to integrate a lot of information, but also vulnerable, self-centered, controlling, and far too loyal to people).
   
   "The Real Deal" is a complete book as it is not just about strategy and execution. The authors painstakingly fully capture the human dimension - arrogance, mistakes, good fortune, and the trappings of wealth and prestige. Weill and Kraushaar have combined to provide an excellent read about business history and managerial success.



2. A great read for anyone interested in the life and history of Citigroup leadership before their current run of defaults, credit markets and overall bad press for the last several months. Important for anyone in the industry.



3. For all its girth, this book is shockingly shallow and a huge disappointment for anyone hoping to learn real secrets behind the author's successful business career. There is a lot of score-settling and finger-pointing at those who he felt mistreated him (like proteges Peter Cohen and Jamie Dimon), but very little in 'take-away' value about what to look for in building a successful business. I was reading this book simultaneously with Danny Meyer's "Setting the Table" and the contrast could not be more striking. In a much shorter but infinitely richer and more rewarding volume, Meyer painstaking reveals all his business success secrets; the reader feels totally cared for which emulates the experience of being in his restaurants, whereas the Weill volume left me feeling that Mr. Weill cared not one whit for his readers because it imparted so few useful insights.



4. This is actually quite an interesting book and a fairly good and fast read. However compared to the previous two books on Weill, this offers maybe only 5% new information and some extra personal view on events that were reported by other authors.
   
   My main gripe with this book is that it shows everything in a very biased view. Everyones "leaving" Sandy for whatever reason gave him a feeling of betrayal and as someone who did not appricate what was done for them by Sandy.
   Jamie Dimon is depicted as a strong personality, maybe inflexible (Joan Weill also cites this as reason for why everyone close to Jamie left him), but this is not considered the reason why everyone (and really everyone) close to Sandy left and did not continue working for him.
   While a lot of associates were described as people who could not change the way they worked, Sandy himself writes about having "issues" leaving day to day runnning of Citibank to Chuck Prince.
   
   And frankly, Joan Weills section on giving her perspective of things seems to be another attempt to defend the actions of Sandy Weill.
   
   Maybe the only way for a really different perspective on this will be if other executives (especailly Jamie Dimon) ever pen down their side of the story.
   
   Sandy Weill - A really interesting character - achieved a lot despite his humble beginning and background; a maverick who shook up the biggest financial industry. But as a book on him, I prefer other books, especially "King of Capital"



5. I have read in the past biographies of famous businessmen of the 19th/early 20th century. Names of businessmen that can be easily recognized because their names were immortalized with their products and/or services (Chrysler, Gillette, Ford, Edison, Marconi, etc.). The driving force behind the success of those men was innovation/creativity in their products and services that resulted in great benefits to the public in general.
   
   After reading this book, you can only conclude that Sandy Weill's driving force in life has been Greed. The only innovations and creativities displayed by Sandy where those directed to play or manipulate the stock market, and those for self-promotion. Create, merge, inflate the stock value and profit from the above.
   
   It did not matter what the name of the company was, or the benefits to the customers, just merge make a big name, inflate stock value and reap the benefits of that. His practices were investigated by the Federal Trade Commission. He says he was exonerated, but very likely Feds were unable to put a case together.
   
   Family life with his children did not appear to have any meaning. Although he names and blames many others for having poor inter-personal skills for team work within the company, I think he top them all. People who helped him to progress in his "career" within the company ended without jobs.
   
   His name will be forgotten soon, if ever recognized. His only legacy will be the billions of dollars left to his progeny. Money created in a quite bizarre way, jumping from company to company, morphing in this and morphing in that. Is that business?
   
   Good psychotherapy book for those who value other things in life, beside money and power.
   
   Frank (bids2005@aol.com)
   
   PS. The "philanthropy" word in the title of this book is deceiving. Philos= Love; Anthopo= Humans. Love for Humans, this is the only thing lacking in this book. He only loves money.

1 comments about Don't Let the Sun Step Over You: A White Mountain Apache Family Life, 1860-1975.

1. What was awesome about the book was the history...the places she talks about the storis she told. As a member of the White Mountain Apache living in Indiana with my four boys it made them proud of their heritage and as each of them read out loud the look on each of their faces as Eva describes places on the reservation they knew the exact place she was talking about. Their great grandma who is still alive in Whiteriver use to tell them a lot of similiar stories Eva talks about, the Soldiers in Fort Apache, and just life in general in the early 1900's seeing it in print just made the experience of reading the book as a family was just awesome!! as my 6 year old stated when we asked if he liked the book.

5 comments about The Perfectionist.

1. I agree with virtually all of the reviews, but I found the writing style incredibly irritating. There seems to be no word sufficiently arcane. Peers can only be confreres (and in italics), and some of the analogies are suitable for those with a doctorate in medieval history.
   Ironic given that Loiseau's was keen on presenting ingredients in their purest form.



2. Tragedies such as the suicide of Bernard Loiseau are all the more painful because the man was so extraordinary in so many ways. The story of France and haute cuisine is obsessively interesting, particularly in light of modern trends such as rock star chefs, television personalities and the ability to flit around the world just for a meal. The foodie within all of us must exalt over the descriptions even as we cringe at the incredible toil and effort expended toward such out-of-the-world meals.
   
   But PERFECTION is about a man who is not just obsessessed with the correct cooking time for a steak. No, he would spend days debating silver patterns, tablecloths, perfecting certain sauces, bestowing the experience of a lifetime on those lucky enough to visit La Cote d'Or. Loiseau is the quintessential French chef from the old school, an increasing rarity. Trained through the apprentice system from an early age, self-taught, strongly Catholic, patriotic, overflowing with life, creative to his fingertips - he was the perfect man for the perfect job. However, his mood swings (he was a manic-depressive) determined the fateful outcome.
   
   Michelin, the tire company and the restaurant guide author (one in the same) was featured prominently in the book as both a boon and bane to the industry. Even as it drove many to near madness or determined the fates of careers, it spurred tremendous advances. The evolution of the famous "star" rating system was fascinating and the way it developed into a gigantic movement that brought about an almost unapproachable standard was equally interesting. The author seems to suggest that the secrecy, subjectivism and monopoly of Michelin led not only to the tragedy but also untold worries and stress for others. Yet, those chefs who feel such pressure have willingly taken on this onerous burden. Several fine restaurants are discussed where the chef purposely ignores the guide and thus the stress and monumental expense required for maintaining such a lofty status.
   
   For those interested in the modern world of food and how we got to our current food craze, this is an excellent book. Students of psychology would also find the inner drives and actions more interesting that most case studies. My Grade: A-.



3. the book is a pleasant read. insightful to the life of haute cuisine and the ways in which one will go so far for the stars.



4. The career of French chef Bernard Loiseau (1951-2003) illustrates Seneca's statement there is no great genius without a touch of madness. On February 24, 2003, Loiseau committed suicide when his celebrated restaurant, Côte d'Or, was falsely rumoured to be in danger of losing its three-star Michelin rating. To Loiseau, taking his life was a question of honor. Parisian journalist, Rudolph Chelminski, follows Loiseau's rise to celebrity chef status in The Perfectionist: Life and Death in Haute Cuisine, from Loiseau's apprenticeship as a teenager at the famous Roanne restaurant, Troisgros, between 1968 and 1971, to working for Claude Verger at La Barrière de Clichy in 1972, to again working Verger as a chef at the Côte d'Or in Saulieu, Burgundy, in 1975, where he developed a highly personal style of nouvelle cuisine. In 1982, Verger sold La Côte d'Or to Loiseau, and in 1991 the Michelin Guide awarded its coveted 3-star rating to the restaurant. The French government then awarded Loiseau with the title of Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur, Officier de l'ordre national du Mérite and Chevalier du Mérite agricole. Chelminski also chronicles Loiseau's slow descent into madness and self-doubt, resulting in his suicide, at a time when he was happily married and at the top of his profession. For Loiseau, cooking was always more than a career. It was his passion.
   
   Chelminski writes from a unique perspective in that he was personally acquainted with his larger-than-life subject for nearly three decades. He first met Loiseau in 1974, when the chef was 23 and already winning recognition with his culinary talents. Chelminski's fascinating book not only succeeds at revealing Loiseau as a charismatic, extroverted, workaholic-media-darling with manic tendencies, obsessed with winning three Michelin stars, but also at illuminating just how influential the Michelin Guide's rating system is on European restaurants. This book will appeal to francophiles, foodies, and restaurant critics alike.
   
   G. Merritt



5. Even if you are not a culinary professional, 'Francophile' or 'world traveler' this combination of biography, food and fame, will keep you turning the pages. Written by a man deeply familiar with both Chef Bernard L. and the inside workings of France's culinary inner circle, it reads almost like a detective story (see The Making of a Chef) A cautionary tale for 'obsessive-compulsives' everywhere and foodies of all ranks, this is the book for you. Professional foodies will love it.

5 comments about Little Things in a Big Country: An Artist and Her Dog on the Rocky Mountain Front.

1. Easily one of the most beautiful books that I own, a masterpiece within the genre of the illuminated journal, and a treasure among natural history books. It is a celebration of sensorial intelligence, the gift of a full-bodied rapport with the breathing earth. To delve and read within this book, drinking with your eyes the colors and the sinuous lines and the astonishing textures that explode from the text and blossom on the pages, is to feel your skin becoming more porous, to feel your thoughts becoming far more supple and awake to the more-than-human life of the land around you.
   
   Whenever I wander into this book, I'm struck with gratitude to the author/artist, and with a deepening sense of wonder...



2. The artwork in this book is lovely and the sketches of the author's dog are captivating. Her paintings of the Montana landscapes transported me back there in the time it took to turn the pages. She captures the wide open spaces and the feeling one has when out walking in those lovely fields and mountains. My heart sank when I started reading her commentary and came across her views of those who hunt or make their living on the beautiful Montana land. While she apparently has developed the skill to communicate the beauty of the Montana flora and fauna, Ms. Hinchman has not yet learned to see the beauty of the people of Montana. I am sad to say that reading those few comments kept me from purchasing the book and I don't think the book would have been any less if those comments had been edited out. While she fancies herself an observer of nature the hunters, loggers and ranchers she ridicules have observed the Montana landscape and its creatures with a greater love and respect and for a much longer time than she has. I would recommend this book for it's illustrations but not for the author's views.



3. I have followed Hannah Hinchman's published work for some years now. I have found it most helpful in enabling teachers to help children to observe closely and make graphic fieldnotes in places where they can learn first hand about their own local natural environment. I am in the process of taking some leave to continue with my own professional writing in Europe. I am keeping my own illuminated journal of how the seasons are changing the natural environment here in central France. This book is a delight to return to every day or two. I have looked through it with my nine-year-old granddaughter who does not speak English and we found so many things to discuss in it. As well as being an authoritative work on a place in Montana, U.S.A., it is also an excellent resource for anyone interested in looking closely at the natural world around them anywhere!



4. "Little Things in a Big Country" is an artistic journal chronicling one year in the artist's life in the eastern part of Montana, known as the Front. The words and watercolors in this book work together beautifully to convey Ms. Hinchman's careful observations of the world of The Front. Her sketches include things as common as seed pods, animal tracks, and ice formations. What a treasure this book is! Reading it gave me a new appreciation for the power of keen observation of the world around me.
   
   This was the first artistic journal I've come across, and as a new (to me, at least) genre of book, the form impressed me.
   
   This is such a calming and inspiring book, one that I will enjoy reading again and again.



5. Hannah Hinchman is a Great Artist! I have all of her books and this one is full of beautiful watercolors and designed pages. All that you treasured in her other books only more of it!
   I have been to Montana once when I was 17, she describes it all so prefectly. A true inspiration to any art journaler.
   THANK YOU HANNAH!

5 comments about Peace Mom: A Mother's Journey through Heartache to Activism.

1. What a terrible, awful little book. This book was horrible. Simply HORRIBLE. DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK. It was badly written, self-serving, self-centered, campy, corny, and overdone.
   
   Cindy Sheehan's book is full of poorly-articulated grief, anger, and the pain of losing her son Casey-- emotions to which she is certainly entitled. But it is also full of badly-composed political nonsense, mostly her deranged ranting and raving about the President's culpability in her son's death. On and on she goes, frothing like an angry dog about Bush's war, with all the requisite words changed just so, to little effect. "It's a war OF terror," she asserts. Yeah, Cindy, we get it, even without the bold or the italics. Neat little wordplay there.
   
   I take issue with her failure to explain how the President is directly responsible for the actions that killed Casey, or how his death is unique compared to the 4,000+ others that have also occurred in the war so far. I did a tour in a Iraq and have lost three close friends so far, with many more wounded and bearing emotional scars that will last them a lifetime. Similarly, my father's generation had Vietnam, and his father had World War II. Cindy Sheehan fails to see the circularity of this logic, that war is a condition of human interaction, and George Bush is not the one man responsible for Casey's death. While I honor Casey Sheehan and his decision to serve, I think it is safe to say that he would be appalled by his mother's behavior today if he were alive to see it.
   
   Bottom line: Terrible book, save your money, even if your opposition to the Bush/Cheney/Wolfowitz legacy is at a fever pitch; this book adds nothing to the conversation. There are many more insightful books about civil disobedience and/or protest and/or parental loss due to war that you could spend your money on; this steaming turd of a book doesn't deserve one more dime.



2. Cindy is a hero. She stood up to the most corrupt president in U.S. history.
   I keep a copy of her book next to my copy of the Bill of Rights. I can see the day when people will recognize Cindy Sheehan as a great American and Bush as a national shame.



3. Peace Mom is a powerful first hand account of one mother's struggle to find truth amidst violence and anger. Cindy Sheehan should be commended for her honesty and fiery energy that has arisen from her own personal tragedy; however, as a reader I was often annoyed and distracted by her poor grammar throughout her autobiography. At times, it seemed as if Sheehan wanted to fit her entire story onto one page. Too often, she digressed in the middle of a paragraph and then caught herself by saying, "more on that in the next chapter." She also decided to leave out much of her personal history or wrote it off as "abusive." This ambiguity left me wanting to know more about her past, so that I could better understand her metamorphosis into the "Peace Mom." Despite these misgivings, I felt that her palpable, simple writing was an effective way to describe her emotional state at crucial moments such as the day her son died, or the day she began Camp Casey.
   
   The chapter describing when she learned of her son's death was extremely poignant, but her pain was overshadowed by her anger toward the Bush administration. Her brash writing will obviously draw harsh criticism from the right and won't turn any hearts of those who are pro-Bush because of the offensive language she used to describe them. Also, I doubt this book will make any moderates still on the fence about Iraq (if any still exist) decide to become anti-war since she comes off as a bit manipulative and self-centered. This fact alone makes me wonder how many more people she would truly be able to reach and affect if she employed a bit more grace and tact.
   It is unfair to call Sheehan a puppet or someone trying to take advantage of her son's death because by simply reading about the impact her son's death had on her life, a reader will see that she truly is a mother who cared deeply for her son. This book, although not Pulitzer Prize worthy by any means, reminds Americans that it is our right to protest and question our government's decisions.



4. I love Mrs Sheehan's book. She is very thoughtful and intelligent. She has done a good job of teaching herself about the realities of U.S. and world politics. Those people who gave this book a one star review most likely never read the booka and they should try getting their information elsewhere then Fox News.



5. I read the book and it gets one star. If I could give less I would since it is obvious she did not write it. But no matter, the woman with "total moral authority" has been abandoned by her former supporters in news, etc......They have finally seen what most of us have from the start..she is a moonbat.

5 comments about Built to Win: Inside Stories and Leadership Strategies from Baseball's Winningest GM.

1. I picked up a copy of the book at the local Dollar store and I am glad I didn't pay full price for it. I am not sure if he is surrounded by a group of toadies or what but I have to wonder who gave him any feed back on the manuscript. The man must have a wealth of knowledge about how trades were made, how some people he thought were stars failed and others he thought wouldn't make it did, etc. There were some good stories such as the Bonds to Atlanta trade. I had heard Andre Thomas was involved and he wasn't mentioned so I don't know if the full story wasn't in the book or that was just a rumor.
   
   He had some interesting things to say about Andrew Jones (positive) and some agents (negative) but really nothing about what went on in Kansas City, why that team collapsed or how he worked with Bobby Cox to make trades. He did make some great trades and mentioned a few but not much into the thought process behind them.
   
   I wouldn't know who the intended audience for the book is. It's not for baseball junkies, it's not for business managers, maybe people who want a few tips on management techniques? I don't know but if you are looking for baseball don't expect to find much here.



2. I bought this book with the hope of some kind of insight, and some good stories.
   
   It's a decent book, but I could care less about John Schuerholz the poet, I bought the book for baseball.
   
   I was very disappointed, it seems like another book that is an attempt to destroy "Moneyball" in the book market, but fails miserably.
   
   I love the Braves, but left this book feeling pretty disappointed.



3. John Schuerholz' book reads as if it was directly dictated to his writer. There are bland recollections of several decades in baseball, but the general themes seems to be pointing out obvious concepts (work together, listen to your staff) to make this a business/management book. Meanwhile, Schuerholz levels repeated jabs at players for being greedy and directly states that agents are destroying the game. These statements are routinely paired with an attempt to bill the Atlanta Braves as a medium-market team without the resources of largest teams. However, Schuerholz argues revenues for the team are modest, without acknowledging that Time Warner, the owner of his team, has cleared hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising by broadcasting Braves games. Sadly, this is a book devoid of self-reflection or insider details.



4. First of all, I've been a Braves fan for 30 years, so I appreciate the success of the Schuerholz era. Having said that, this book is really terrible.
   
   Schuerholz comes across as a pompous blowhard who wants us to know that he IS the best dressed man in baseball ("dapper" & "stylish apparel" are used in the book), and that he and Tom Glavine know more about wine than idiots like Stan Kasten. In fact, we get three pages on a Chateau La Fleur Petrus Pomerol, vintage 1961 - oh yeah, that's great reading!! Add some incessant name dropping and a pile of Management 101 anecdotes and you get this opus of self-love.
   
   I really thought I'd enjoy this book. It's too bad the big guy didn't stick to baseball and leave the management cliches for someone as impressed with the author's insights as the author himself. It's almost as if Schuerholz is desperately seeking his share of the credit for the success of the team; so much so that he tries to convince the reader that his management expertise is more responsible for the team's success than the organization Bobby Cox had in place when the author arrived in Atlanta. I'm not buying it, John - even though I was dumb enough to buy this book.



5. An occasionally interesting look into the mind of a successful MLB general manager is marred by insipid management book cliches regurgitated from far better motivational books.
   
   If this book had stuck to the inside stories, it might have been a modern baseball classic, but Schuerholz can't seem to resist slinging tired bromides about commitment and teamwork. When he talks about baseball, Schuerholz is a joy; but when he babbles about his "leadership strategies," this book jumps the rails.
   
   Methinks this book might be a better library or bookstore skim than a take home purchase.

3 comments about Fruitcake : Memories of Truman Capote and Sook.

1. Marie Rudisill is absolutely fabulous with this fruitcake book. This is by far the most wonderful cook book i have ever seen in my entire life. I was also able to read other of Rudisills books and she is one of the best writers there is and has ever been. Two thumbs up to Rudisill on the Jay Leno show. She was funny keeping Jay and Mel Gibson in line. I strongly recommend everyone to try this delightful fruitcake book. Check out The Southern Haunting of Truman Capote, it was inspiring learning about his childhood in the south.



2. MARIE RUDISILL HAS OUT DONE HERSELF WITH THIS FANTASTIC BOOK. IT NOT ONLY GIVES WONDERFUL RECEIPS IT ALSO SHARES MEMORIES OF TRUMAN CAPOTE AND SOOK FAULK..THIS IS WITHOUT A DOUBT THIS BEST COOKBOOK I HAVE EVER OWNED. I ALSO HAD THE PLEASURE OF SEEING MS. RUDISILL ON THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO AND MEL GIBSON, THIS WAS THE BEST EPSIODE I EVER SAW..SHE HAD NO TROUBLE KEEPING THESE TWO MEN IN LINE, AND IT SEEMED THEY ENJOYED EVERY BIT OF IT...



3. A wonderful reflection of a generation as much as a collection of effective recipes. It doesn't just seem appropriate that the subject of fruitcake stirs this focused book. The times were tough and the cake ingredients reflected that. Speaking of charmingly tough, Marie Rudisill's moments with Mel Gibson and Jay Leno should make the Late Night hall of fame. As a Capote aunt, you'd almost expect a wry scolding, but with both men up to their wrists in fruitcake batter, the pleadings to be careful with her prized recipe were loving and comfortable. So is this book.

5 comments about Committed: Confessions of a Fantasy Football Junkie.

1. Very funny combination of history, investigation, and how-to book about fantasy football. St. Amant captures the intensity and comradery of fantasy football.
   
   More vulgar than it needs to be, funnier than it should be. Made me laugh out loud and nod knowingly when he touched on the emotions of fantasy (football, that is).



2. As someone who started playing Fantasy Football in 1992 and has not missed a season since, I have lived through many of the same things as the writer. My first question is how did he get his wife to let him take a year off jsut to play fantasy football? He is one lucky guy. I have also learned that it doesn't matter how much research. etc. you do sometimes it's just plain luck.
   If you play or want to play fantast football this book will give you an idea of what it's like.



3. Mark St. Amant is the Bill Cosby of Fantasy Football. He captivates you with his passion for the game and then makes you wet your pants with his spot on humor about this addictive hobby we all love so much. He is part story teller, part Bill Bryson sarcastic explorer and part average fantasy football owner. This book is a must for anyone even remotely interested in fantasy football. It will explain to our loved ones why they are widowed to FF for 6 months of the year and help them to understand why we wake up screaming "Throw T.O the ball!!!"
   It is a funny, poignant, heart-felt and realistic look into the world of Fantasy Football from someone who has been there and done that. His most recent success in the World Championship of Fantasy Football (WCOFF) in 2007 is just one more reason why this is a book that should be on every Fantasy Footballers book shelf.
   Fantasy Football Guidebook



4. I liked this book but at times it dwelled to much on the authors own FF team from 2004. The stories about the FFL's he visited was interesting and there was some good technical information here and there, all with a humorous twist.
   
   You know how it is when someone insists on telling you about their Fantasy Football team? What if it was their Fantasy Team from three years ago? That's where this book gets a bit cumbersome for me but if you are interested in what it's like to be insane about Fantasy Football this is a good read.



5. I received this as an XMas gift and can't get through it. The book feels forced and manufactured. There are points that are relatable but are painfully obvious, if you are a fantasy football player you are better off reading your league message board. Everyone can relate to the overzealous owner in their league, most overzealous owners don't try to write a book.