No comments about Surprised by God: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Religion.

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5 comments about Swallow the Ocean: A Memoir.

1. First of all, this is a memoir but it's written like a novel. Honestly, Flynn's writing is just so beautiful - she captures each moment with just the right words and stunning phrases, I really look forward to whatever she writes next, whether it be fiction or not. So for those of you not such big fans of memoirs, this may be a good one to pick up simply for the novel-esque quality about it.
   
   Second of all, I was especially intrigued by this book because I have an undergraduate degree in psychology and mental illness is something that I've studied and that I'm very interested in. I also spent two years in college volunteering at a crisis/suicide hotline, where in addition to receiving calls from suicide victims, we also spoke with several "regulars" who were sufferers of different types of mental illnesses, including schizophrenia. The behaviors Flynn described her mother doing were very similar to what I saw in the people that I had worked with who suffered from schizophrenia. It was heartbreaking (yet also interesting) to read about this disease from a child's perspective, and to see the utter destruction it caused in these three girls' lives. It made me sad to read about the first time Flynn's father attempted to gain custody, when her mother put on such a good show that the courts threw his case right out - keep in mind, this was in a time when the mother ALWAYS got custody, so it was of course a long shot to begin with. But all the same, how sad to be a child in this terrifying situation, when even your own father cannot rescue you?
   
   The ending of this book is ultimately triumphant, although sad at the same time. I feel for Flynn, being a thirtysomething woman and not having a mother to talk to - personally, my mother is one of the most important people in my life. But it seems as though she has truly come to terms with her mother's condition - she spoke of the closeness she now has with her sisters, father, and stepmother, and it didn't seem like Flynn really felt she was missing out on much in her life. This book really shows how growing up in an adverse situation can truly create your personality - Flynn and her sisters' lives were shaped by their mother's schizophrenia, and this book is a wonderful testament to what we can make of our circumstances, even the most awful ones.



2. This is a good book. It is brave and honest. It seemed obvious to me that the author was speaking her truth about her own memories even though at times the tale was tough and her perception of the situation differed from her siblings.
   
   As a person with a mentally ill brother, I am familair with the nagging heart-ache that is ever-present even when other aspects of your life are great. The authors desciption of the loss and the guilt associated with not being able to help change the unchangable is touching and true.
   
   I hope to read more and more from this author - her voice is worth listening to!



3. This is a very worthwhile read. As the author is my cousin's daughter, I took special interest in this book. All we were ever told about her Mom was that she was very sick. I now know what the problem is and have an entirely different view of what these girls and their Dad went through. My heart goes out to all of them.



4. This book made me smile, cry, cringe. It was a very honest look into the childhood of three sisters growing up with a schizophrenic mother. I won't give anything away, but towards the end, the day in the car was unbelievable. Nostalgic, relatable, tragic and just plain good.



5. Finally, a memoir that isn't so caught up in itself that it's too cerebral to be readable. Laura has an uncanny ability to make the unimaginable relatable. The story is beautifully written with honesty, making the family familiar and relevant to the reader. The language keeps the story from becoming bigger than itself in the retelling. It gives candid appraisal of a child's unconditional love for their parent and her innate desire for self preservation.

3 comments about All Creatures Great and Small.

1. This compilation of many of the stories of this master storyteller is superb in every way. I've met the man and one of the subjects of his experiences (in the story of the man with cattle). James Alf Wight (real name of author)was famous in the vicinity of Thirsk for his stories. One of his customers told me that as a kid he couldn't wait for the annual visits as "Herriot regailed him and his family with stories the whole time." The book is a retelling of some of his stories - and entertaining in every way. Super book!



2. James Harriott's ability t create characters, that we all recognize, rivals shakespeare's famous gift,. His description is such that I went to England just to see that part of the world. It is exactly as he describes it. A very good read and one that makes us anxious for the follow on books.



3. If you ever wanted to be a vet... "All Creatures Great and Small" will either inspire, or send you running off to be a lawyer. Heartwarming, funny, sad and highly educational, James Herriot's debut biography (he wrote five in all) give readers the whole messy, glorious picture of being a 1940s country veterinarian.
   
   The book opens (after a brief chapter taking place several months later) with James arriving in Yorkshire, to be the assistant to the eccentric but kindly Siegfried Farnon (yes, that is his name). He becomes accustomed to Siegfried, Siegfried's mischievous younger brother Tristan (yes, that is his name), and the gruff, kindly farmers who eke out a living in the Yorkshire Dales.
   
   Among the oddballs James encounters: Pampered pooches, savage pigs who chase Tristan around the farm, a nightmarishly strict secretary who drives Siegfried up the wall, James's brakeless car, cows running on three cylinders, a sadistic vet who makes James wear a rubber bodysuit, and an elderly, immensely wealthy widow who adopts a pig. And through this, James falls in love with the beautiful Helen Alderson and worms his way into the trust of the farmers.
   
   James Herriot (real name, James Wight) was truly a one-of-a-kind man. He let readers into his head throughout the book, where the cows kick him across the yard, farmers often treat him as an interloper or a nuisance, and his boss gives contradicting orders from one day to the next. But he never loses his drive or his love of animals. Okay, he hates some animals, but only as individuals.
   
   He even lets the readers see him at his worst, when he's humiliated by some recalcitrant livestock, and one horrible scene where he and his date show up drunk and mud-smeared in front of the girl he adores. (Not to mention when Tristan got him to use very feminine-smelling bath salts) But don't think that all of these stories are funny or romantic -- quite a few are aggravating or outright sad. James didn't soften the blows at all.
   
   There are a lot of details about surgery and animal care that will nauseate the squeamish, but at least you'll learn a lot of medical trivia. For example, what is a torsion? Herriot tells you early on, when he documents his nerve-wracking first case. But more than that, his love of animals is infectious -- it's easy to come out of this with a new appreciation for ordinary dogs, cows, cats, and so on.
   
   The people around James are just as fantastic: Siegfried, his weird but genial boss who can kick Tristan out of the house and forget about it overnight; Tristan, the mischievous anti-scholar who usually manages to keep out of trouble; and Helen, who seems a little too saintly at times (which isn't surprising, since James married her).
   
   It's sweet, sad, funny, romantic, dramatic, and full of the blood and sweat of vet work. "All Creatures Great And Small" is a truly unique and heartwarming biography.

5 comments about Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone?: The Carter Family & Their Legacy in American Music.

1. The background story on the high wattage Mexican Radio Stations alone is worth the price of this book. Goat Gland Transplant??!?!?! (for male...errr...Vitality) If you have an interest in American Music, this book is for you.



2. The Carter Family are one of the greatest and most influential acts in the history of American music. Having my own family's roots dating back over 200 years in the Southern mountains, listening to the Carter's songs evoke powerful feelings in me. I feel transported back into another time that I never lived through but somehow know.
   
   The writers do a credible job of telling the extradorinary Carter Family story. For example,the 1927 recordings in Bristol, Tennessee where Ralph Peer signs both the Carters and Jimmie Rodgers to recordings deals. This began the popular era of what would later become known as country music. Also covered are the broadcasts from the Mexican border town megawatt radio stations which brought the Carter's comforting voices to a nation suffering through the Great Depression. The circumstances surrounding the divorce of A.P. and Sara is discussed, as well as numerous other stories about life, love and family in Maces Springs, Virginia.
   
   But what I found to be missing is a serious analysis of the Carter Family's music. Part of the Carter's greatness is based on A.P.'s "songcatching trips" where he travelled the Southern mountains in search of old hymns and folk ballads for the Carters to sing. I would have liked to learn more about the history and meaning of these incredible songs. Instead a larger percentage of the book is taken up with old family stories and anecdotes, often based on the lives of cousins, uncles, nieces and neighbors rather than the primary Carter Family members. I would have preferred more concise and music focused writing, perhaps dropping some of the corn pone humor and scaling the book back from it's nearly 400 pages. Also I would have appreciated a more scholarly look at the Carter's place in American music as well as more attention to compelling subjects such as the influence of African American music on the Carter Family.
   
   For Carter Family fans and interested newcomers this is a book still worth reading. But I do hope a more song focused and scholarly biography of the Carter Family will eventually be written.



3. So, you think you know everything about the Carter Family? Well, you don't until you read this book. Every single word tells about a signifant history in the Carter Family's life. From the Originals to the Carter Sisters, to Mother Maybelle, this is any Carter Fan's treasure! I absolutely loved it, and the pictures make me smile every time I look at them with even just a glance. This book will bring you lots of happiness for the rest of your life. Be sure to read my other reviews for June Carter Cash's Keep on the Sunny Side: Her lfie in Music, Wildwood Flower, Press On, The Best of the Carter Family, From my Heart, A proper introduction to the Carter Family, and Louisiana Hayride: Live Performances. Honestly, after you read this book, you'll have a brand New look at the Carter Family and their music!
   
   Keep on the Sunny Side,
   June
   
   Keep on the Sunny Side



4. This book, along with Jimmy McDonough's biography of Neil Young "Shakey," is one of the best written books about popular music that I've ever read. The breadth of the research is staggering, and the prose is a curious mix of cussing and twenty-dollar words that relays the events surrounding the ascention of the Carter Family with the immediacy their massive cultural and artistic impact deserves. Zwonitzer not only provides succinct yet detailed descriptions of the Carters' everyday lives, he also lays out a vivid portrait of the full context into which the Carter Family fits. It's a fairly quick read, with tremendous amounts of information crammed into every sentence. As with the best Carter Family recordings, not a breath here is wasted, and every note hits the stomach like a punch.



5. If you are a fan of the Carter Family, then you will find this book interesting to the same extent that you enjoy their music, I would say!
   
   WILL YOU MISS ME WHEN I'M GONE is a great biography that goes pretty in-depth, and explains the joys and sorrows of the lives and musical careers of the Carter Family!
   
   It is really fascinating to read about who the original Carter Family trio were -- (A.P. CARTER, who was the songwriter, researcher, arranger, bass backup vocalist and leader of the group; and SARA CARTER, his wife, the lead vocalist and harpsichord player; and MAYBELLE CARTER, their younger cousin/in-law, backing vocalist, and the most underrated and forgotten guitar playing pioneer in musical history!), -- and how they got into the music business, and how they influenced the early music industry and country music.
   
   All the Carter Family members sang, and their harmonies and vocal interplays are among the most sincere, skilled, and enjoyable of all country music, of any time period, though they did it first and best on record. That's a fact, in my opinion!
   
   The second version of the Carter Family, (mother Maybelle and her three daughters, Helen, June, and Anita), is also covered in-depth in the second half of the book! This is where many characters overlap characters seen in the 2005 Johnny Cash biography movie, WALK THE LINE, (also highly recommended by me, to you).
   
   There are plenty of interesting, informative, and entertaining photos (both family and professional promotionals) sprinkled throughout the book, too!
   
   If I had to criticize anything, I would say that sometimes the author wanders too long explaining the peripheral things going on in America and/or the music industry. These things are fascinating, but you start to wonder why it's all included. Thankfully, most of it pays off later when these obscure, forgotten people and events cross paths with our heroes of the story, the Carter Family! Stick with it, it's worth it!
   
   I actually started reading this book a few years back, but I got bogged down trying to picture who was who, so I ended up putting it on the shelf for years. After I saw the recent Johnny Cash biography film, WALK THE LINE, which featured some of the Carter Family members, I was better able to put names with faces and characters, and that film also rekindled my dormant interest in the Carter Family.
   
   There is a pretty decent DVD from PBS called THE CARTER FAMILY: WILL THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN, which shows the author of this book, and is a terrific companion piece for this book. In fact, I'm not sure if you should read the book first, or watch the DVD biography? You decide whichever format you prefer first, and you will likely get both eventually.
   
   The DVD sort of shows, accidentally, that there are two kinds of Carter Family fans: actual people from the South who love and live the music, and folk music loving intellectuals who love the music and its place in Americana! I am of the latter, but I grew up around plenty of Southern people, though the youngsters preferred Skynyrd, while only the older folks liked the really rootsy classics.
   
   You should also get the two 5-disk CD sets from JSP Records, 1927-1934, and 1935-1943. These two CD sets are affordable from amazon.com, and they are the best and most economical way to have a virtually complete library of the original Carter Family's studio recording history, and there is no better collection currently available to my knowledge!
   
   I would recommend the 1927-1934 set first, which has the most historic stuff, the most energy, and the best vibe. The 1943 set is after they had stopped living together, but is more professional sounding, yet less energetic (more melancholy); but you will likely get both after hearing the 1927 set, I trust.

5 comments about An Ordinary Man: An Autobiography.

1. This autobiography was written very well. The author was committed to getting the facts out without glorifying himself. Done very well. I appreciated being told about the genocide in Rwanda without all the gore. I understood perfectly what he was describing without seeing it on screen. I learned so much from both his experience and his trials trying to get help from other nations. Great book!



2. My product arrived in time and in very good condition!
   
   would definitely purchase again



3. I purchased this book two months before I had the courage to read it. I feared it would be too upsetting and entirely depressing to engage myself in.
   
   The book begins with a wonderful history of Paul's life. His vivid descriptions of The Land of A Thousand Hills, the banana beer, the family, his path to hotel management. It is an interesting story about a young man growing up in Africa.
   
   The middle of the book approaches and details the horrific genocide of 800,000 people in as little as three months. The terror, the worry, the perseverence is all conveyed beautifully (if that word can be appropriate). I found inspiration in his ability to use words and intuition to communicate with people who could have taken his life. I felt connected to Paul's belief that nobody is 100% evil, and nobody is 100% good. I like his description of human nature, and felt he truly "gets" what being human is.
   
   The ending of the book focused on his life in Belgium, among other Rwandan expatriates. And the decision to start a business in Africa. What a truly interesting person. I was fascinated by this story. It also shares much of the pre-1994 and post-1994 politics.
   
   Whenever I gently give someone "the kindhearted blow-off" in my mind, I now think, "that was a Rwandan 'no'" I appreciate Paul's sharing of his culture and political environment.
   
   I would enjoy seeing him speak. I appreciated his also sharing a little bit about how the movie came to be.
   
   I really felt the storyteller is a person I could sit and have a beer with, and truly enjoy an afternoon chatting.
   
   The last few pages of the book include a wonderful reference bibliography with information and suggestions on additional books to be read on Rwanda. I appreciated that, and plan to read several.



4. Paul Rusesabagina is an ordinary man. He feels sadness and joy, fear and hope just like the rest of us. He is not a superhero in the ordinary sense of the word--he cannot fly, he does not have an agility belt, and he cannot scale walls. He is an ordinary man by all accounts, but in 1994 when the dark cloud of tense hatred between the Tutsis and the Hutus that had been brewing for decades in the small country of Rwanda erupted into a genocide that left eight hundred thousand dead, Paul Rusesabagina's actions as described in his biography An Ordinary Man were anything but ordinary.
   Rusesabagina was born in a small village in the countryside in 1954. His mother was a Tutsi, and his father was a Hutu. According to Rwandan tradition of heritage passing through the father's bloodlines, Rusesabagina was considered a Hutu as well. Rusesabagina's father was his inspirational role model growing up, and his philosophy that "kindness and justice did not know ethnicity" was embedded in Rusesabagina's actions later in life (12).
   Rusesabagina learned early on in life to fight with his words, not with his fists. He found that by speaking to people face to face, he could connect on some level, and convince them not to do him harm. This technique worked with schoolyard bullies, and later on with murderous, fanatical generals. Rusesabagina found work at the hotel Mille Collines, and eventually became manager of its sister hotel Diplomates.
   After the plane carrying President Habyarimana was shot down, the extremist radio station RTLM began to use powerful diatribes to convince Hutus that it was their duty to murder the Tutsi "cockroaches." Rusesabagina, a moderate Hutu with a Tutsi wife, was able to negotiate, bribe, and flatter those carrying out the murders into sparing the lives of the 1,268 refugees that had fled to the hotel Mille Collines. The world turned a blind eye to the genocide and for a long seventy-six days, Rusesabagina had only himself and his words to save his family and the refugees from certain death. It is estimated that about five people were brutally murdered every minute. Rusesabagina managed to save approximately four hours worth of people. Eventually, he and the refugees were evacuated. Rusesabagina and his family moved to Belgium, where they reside to this day. In 1999, the movie Hotel Rwanda depicted his actions during this "dark bead" in Rwandan history.
   This is one of the most remarkable books that I have ever had the pleasure of reading. It's so morbidly fascinating that even though at several times I felt physically ill, I was unable to put it down. Rusesabagina has a special skill as an author, and is able to paint an accurate and horrifying picture of the events that occurred, but at the same time is able to insert his whole-hearted and stubborn belief in the "triumph of common decency" over evil (203). Rusesabagina is able to argue this in the face of heartache and bloodshed. He is even able to provide concrete examples of people in the book that hacked their neighbors with machetes but still had a drop of human kindness desperate for an excuse to show itself.
   Rusesabagina unapologetically criticizes all the nations that ignored the genocide for far too long. Rusesabagina not only provides criticism but also possible solutions that could have staunched the bloodshed quickly and effectively in the genocide's early stages. He also provides an excellent rhetoric on how extremists were able to convince rational, calm people to take up machetes and kill their neighbors and friends. Rusesabagina is able to counter the extremist rhetoric with words of his own, and uses this same skillful mastery of words that saved so many from slaughter to narrate this fantastic and moving book.
   There are very few weaknesses in An Ordinary Man. Yes, the gore that is described twisted my stomach and left me feeling tainted and disgusted with mankind. After reading too much, I was almost unable to continue, but then again the mass genocide of men, women and children is not supposed to be neat and digestible. The descriptions are meant to shock and sicken. At the end of the novel, I felt ultimately dissatisfied and furious with the abject lack of justice. But this is a specific tactic used to irk the reader, because justice has not occurred in Rwanda and murderers still walk the streets. There is little justice to be found in that, and there is no reason why Rusesabagina should candy coat the issue to make the reader feel better.
   Rusesabagina leaves the reader feeling hungry for more knowledge of the Rwandan genocide. His book inspired me to do outside research on the Rwandan genocide, and all of the other humanitarian crises that have occurred since then. Rusesabagina believes he is an ordinary man because to him saving all of these people seemed the most normal thing to do, something every man ought to have done. His message is a simple message of hope, a message that every man has the capability to give a "Rwandan no" to evil (203). His book serves not only a testimony to what happened in the dark days of the Rwandan massacre, but also serves as a means of getting people to care. He cautions that if the world cannot overcome apathy, then the phrase "never again" will be "one of the most abused phrases" and the "greatest lies" of the time. The book leaves the reader with a sense of hope that ordinary men like Rusesabagina will continue to say "no" to evil and do these extraordinary things as if they nothing more than ordinary.



5. This book was chosen by Middle Tennessee State University for their summer reading book, and being a student there I decided to jump in with all the freshmen and read it as well. I'm excited that he will be speaking at our convocation ( our program to start off the year.)
   
   The thing that interested me most about this book is that he knew not to expect much from his country. He had pride, and he had hope for a better future, but he knew better than to expect anything more than the current situation.
   This book is definitely something to be read by those who are very involved in world politics, sociology, and psychology. Rusesabagina delves into each one with vigor, and I very well believe he could be a professor in any one of these concentrations.
   I am proud to say that I share the world with people such as Rusesabagina.

5 comments about Ginger: My Story.

1. when this book was released in hardback, ginger rogers went on a book signing tour. she stopped in chicago and the press was there to record the event. i was there and she signed my copy. she said to me, with a bit of bemused surprise, 'bless you heart'. i, goon that i can be, just smiled and stared at this icon of film and dance. i didn't care that arthritis had robbed her of her dancing prowess and the meds had blown her up. the winsome half smile was in place and the eyes were still an amazing green.
   
   so, i niftied my way back to my apartment and started to read. it was a little bit of a comedown.
   
   i did some research on film musicals for a paper i hope to publish this year and re-read. i was left a little numb and cold. i realize that a woman like rogers came from a different place and time. and being a staunch midwesterner that she was there was no way she was going to write about her life with the candor of say, rue mcclanahan or shelley winters(they're both midwesterners--i'm about to lose my point!). but besides claiming credit for the beautiful gown of blue feathers and satin she wore in 'top hat', there was little enlightenment about her life or career. the stories just had the same bemused, slightly dazed quality she had when i met her and touched her hand that day.
   
   but i touched ginger rogers' hand! in our minds, that moment counted for something.
   
   now, if i didn't own this book, would i buy it? no. i would get it from the library and read it. and i would hope for the biography that will elucidate this woman who is a lot more complex than she let on. an only child with a domineering mother and an electra complex--hey, this is the stuff that minieries are made of!



2. Ginger Rogers wasn't much for self-reflection, and that's very evident in the recounting of her life. For instance, you never know precisely why all her marriages failed. There weren't any transitions from being head-over-the-heels-in love with her husbands to getting a divorce. And it's probably because the marriages failed that quickly. She was a romantic and when the romance faded, so did the marriage. After the fifth marriage, I think she finally realized she enjoyed being single and dating, more than she enjoyed being married.
   
   Pretty much that's about as deep as she gets about herself. Mostly it reads like a travel guide of all her movie-making. There are some amusing anecdotes which will give the reader a sense of the real Ginger Rogers. And there's also a lot of mention about her religious beliefs. These beliefs probably helped to curb any self-reflective moments she might've had, because she allowed her faith in God to guide her through the really tough times.
   
   There is one movie of hers, that, now that I've read the book, gives me a better understanding of her overall personality. 'Monkey Business' with Cary Grant. The part where she regressed to childhood was perfectly played, and I could see this as a side to Ginger Rogers that could've annoyed a lot more serious-minded people. Maybe even her husbands. But, if that's her worse sin, she did good.
   
   Fluff, but if you enjoyed Ginger Rogers as the hard-working actress she truly was, this book won't disappoint.



3. I was a huge fan of Ginger Rogers until I read this book--oy vey, what a moaner! She comes across as thoroughly tedious and completely self-involved. I can fully understand exactly why she had so many husbands. I truly sympathized with one of the later husbands who had to resort to hiding booze up in the loft of their house--anything to numb the pain, I suspect!



4. Not being an avid "autobiography" reader, I must say I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I can honestly say that even if you aren't a reader you will like this book. It has surprises out of nowhere & it's enjoyable.
   
   I'd recommend this book to anyone.



5. What do you get when you cross Ginger Rogers with Tammy Faye Bakker? You get, evidently, Ginger Rogers--or at least what remained of Ginger in her not-so-sprightly seventies. Though much has been said and written about the cruelty of time, the gentle reader must nonetheless brace herself for a shock upon cracking Ginger's memoirs to the pages of recent photographs. There is nothing left of the buff, scrub-faced girl that graced the cover of Life Magazine in 1942 sporting boots, coveralls, and a fishing rod. Alas, Ginger in her dotage was an overweight, diabetes-ravaged, pancake makeup-smeared parody of her former self, more frightening and less recognizable than any male drag artist's impersonation could ever have been.
   
   But what, you may well ask, is the relevance of these observations? None in particular, unless you speculate that the medical treatment Ginger shunned throughout her life might have boosted her long-term physical and mental health, leading to a more lucid, balanced, and enjoyable memoir. But such was not to be. Nay, Ginger--devout Christian Scientist that she was--relied exclusively on prayer, and credited it with curing everything from an ailing starlet's acute appendicitis to the boils on her fourth husband's derriere. Where most Hollywood memoirs are chock full of juicy gossip and innuendo, Ginger's runneth over with religious testimonials. It seems that in childhood, little Ginger, stricken with warts, first employed the bury-the-potato method to no avail. Shamefaced at her lapse in faith, Ginger then tried prayer, which--lo and behold(!)--vanquished the warts, leading to a lifetime of unwavering, prayerful devotion. So says Ginger in three scores of hindsight, at any rate.
   
   These sorts of rose-colored recollections might justifiably strain the credulity of even similarly devout readers, and will certainly alienate young film buffs, who tend to lean toward the cynical and metrosexual. This is too bad, because La Ginger was indisputably one of the great geniuses of the Golden Era--one who could not only dance like the wind and sing tolerably but act, both dramatically and comically. She was a quadruple threat, as evidenced by her Oscar turn in *Kitty Foyle* and her uproarious comic rhythm in classics like *Swing Time*, *Stage Door*, *Tom, Dick, and Harry*, and *Monkey Business*.
   
   On the bright sider, evidence of Ginger's cross-medium artistic ability is plentiful in *Ginger, My Story*. While her memoir doesn't come close to matching the literariness or wit of say, Tallulah Bankhead's, it conveys a sense of physical place and culture with an effectiveness unparalleled by other Hollywood bios. Whether Ginger is squatting in the dirt at her childhood home in Independence Missouri, sashaying around Astaire, or cringing at a bull fight in Rio, the reader can see, feel, and smell things as they were. This delightful sense of immersion makes *Ginger, My Story* a more than worthwhile read, despite what I would call the book's principal flaw: the author's tendency to depict the otherworld of human relationships in black-and-white, two-dimensional terms.
   
   Four stars.

5 comments about A Rip in Heaven: A Memoir of Murder And Its Aftermath.

1. As one reviewer has noted, this is not a typical addition to the true crime genre. It shares much in common with Strange Piece of Paradise in that both are attempts by a victim/family member to depict the aftermath of a crime. Where Terri Jentz had to confront years of not knowing who her attacker was, Jeanine Cummins and family had to face having a beloved family member being accused of killing two other beloved family members.
   
   It's hard to review a book such as this without a certain amount of sympathy entering into one's judgment. It is for me, at least. This is not the best written non-fiction book you'll ever read, nor is the prose in it the most fluid. It is also, because of Cummins' decision to tell this in the third-person, the most emotionally wrought. But it is better written than most first person accounts I've read. Cummins takes considerable pains to bring Julie and Robin Kerry to life, to make the reader feel the loss Cummins and her family felt. The horror of their deaths (and the nature of their deaths) is compounded when Cummins' brother is accused of their murders.
   
   This is the story of the death of innocence, both literal and figurative. By the time the murders are caught, turn on each other and three are sentenced to death there little sense of justice for the family. Two girls have been gang-raped and murdered, one of the bodies has never been found. The survivor of the attacks has been first branded the likely suspect by the press then must relive the events over and over, in the trials and the subsequent parole hearings. As if this isn't enough agony, they must endure having the convicted murderers still claim their innocence and blame one of the victims. The question of Why? remains unanswered by the perpetrators and possibly unanswerable.



2. I had this book on my book shelf for a while and hesitated to read it because I knew that it would be painful and depressing. This is the first book that I have read regarding true crime where you really feel to the core the effects and aftermath on the living. This book is excellent, well written, and one of the few books you read that will stay with you and effect how you process stories that you read and watch in the future. After reading this, you truly comprehend the pain and lasting effects that violence has on everyone left behind.



3. I have little to add to the other reviewers here. But as one who has written about victims myself, I believe this is the best account I've ever read of the devastation criminals leave in their wake.
   
   Read this not merely to learn about a heinous crime or evil men. Read it to meet two wonderful young women, or maybe three -- Julie and Robin, the victims, and Jeanine Cummins, the author.



4. I went to high school with Robin and Julie. I can't drive over the Mississippi River without thinking about them. The newspaper articles, and TV interviews in St Louis were mainly focused on Tom's (the cousin) guilt, and these "mystery 4 men". I was glad to hear a book had been written from "their" point of view. When I say "their" I mean Robin and Julie. Robin and Julie are gone, and no longer have a voice for themselves, so Jeanine did the best she could to capture this horrible moment in time, and the aftermath it caused.
   
   I feel that as much hatred that she COULD have to the four men that murdered her cousins, and let her brother be blamed for the crimes, Jeanine was fair, and kind to the men. She did not make excuses for their actions, but she did explain how a fun night out, a decision to rob, could turn so dangerous and deadly in minutes.



5. Although this is a true crime book and heartbreaking, it is also a heartwarming story. The love and concern Ms. Cummins had for her brother and cousins radiated from the pages as she told the story of the death of her cousins and near death of her brother. I was so moved by the story that I sent Ms. Cummins an email to let her know how she touched me and that I wished her a great future as an author. I was so surprised a few months later to receive an answer back, thanking me for my email. What a class act and her family should be so proud. May her cousins rest in peace and her brother have a wonderful life.

5 comments about The Guynd: A Scottish Journal.

1. I really looked forward to reading this book because I have long wanted to travel in Scotland, and I enjoy the extended travelogue where people live in a new land for a long time and get to know the locals. This was a good book, but not great. I had unanswered questions when it ended. For example, why did it take her 10 years to realize she and he husband were incompatible? Why did she keep her apartment in New York during the time she was living in Scotland? I kept thinking that if this were fiction, some of it would be implausible. Still, the characters you meet are worth meeting, and I did enjoy the book.



2. Ours was not the 'big' house, but the 'gardener's cottage' which we rented for a year, and both the marriage and the enterprise of that particular country home survive. But all the characteristics and challenges of the estate, garden, community, and home came to life again in the author's witty, canny prose. This is the best description of the many, layered facets of Scottish society and how the great homes and their residents fit into the scheme of their surroundings that I have read.



3. I enjoyed the book, but was shocked when I came to the passage describing how the author, while in a late stage of pregnancy, climbed a tall scaffolding to paint a wall. It seems like an amazing lack of judgment for someone who was pregnant late in life.



4. I wanted to read this witty memoir because of my romantic childhood fantasy of living in a mansion or castle in Europe. Oh how lucky the American author was to have fallen in love with Scottish man with an ancestral home and property. I was rather envious of their son, Elliot, who was able to spend his childhood exploring and playing in the gardens, on the lake, and in the house.
   
   But life isn't a fairytale. This is a story about a deteriorated, cluttered mansion, its 400 acres and a marriage that started as a whirlwind romance and came to mirror the mansion itself.
   
   There's a lot of humor in the writing. How could you not laugh at the author's stories about how hard it was to heat the house, find proper tenants, clear out a garden untouched for decades and to try to throw junk out when married to someone who can find a use for everything.
   
   If you don't know what an Aga stove is, you soon will. I highly recommend this book, but suggest curling up in a warm house with a hot cup of tea and a blanket. You'll need it.



5. I bought this book at my mother's request. She loved it. I'll be getting it back from her and reading it too.

5 comments about The Rise of Barack Obama.

1. I took time out after lunch today from my efforts to be "productive" to find something unexpected, something to pump a little energy into my waning self.
   
   The first thing I saw was a bookstore, and I stepped in. It didn't take me long to find photographer and writer Pete Souza's book, The Rise of Barack Obama. It's kind of a "coffee table book" or a photography-lover's book. The reproductions aren't the best I've ever seen (and I'm a "stickler," as I collect fine art and journalistic photography books regularly), but they are pretty good on the whole.
   
   What's a more important matter than that is "How good is the book?" Well, it's very good.
   
   I shed tears every week or every other week, often while watching movies (but elsewhere, too), and I like doing that. It's part of living - both crying tears of sadness and joy - and I'm not embarrassed to come to tears, not even in public.
   
   Souza's book brought me to watery eyes in just a few minutes. There's a lot of beautiful pictures in this book, especially when seen by those who admire Senator Obama the way I do.
   
   This first picture that got me is on pages 20-21, taken during a town hall meeting in Illinois, where Obama is cheek-to-cheek in embrace with a white woman (her face is dominant as it's on the side of their hug that's closer to the camera). She is radiant in her smile. And then you look throughout the photograph and see that everyone there - a mix of the races we are - all seem to have sparkle in their eyes and a glow in their spirits.
   
   Another white woman at a rally - named in the caption as "student Lauren McGill" - who holds a Time magazine with Obama on the cover that reads "Why Barack Obama Could Be the Next President," again, glows with hopefulness and happiness (pages 118-119).
   
   There are touching pictures of the Senator with his daughters. My favorite was a beautiful candid of him with the younger Sasha, cheek-to-cheek. She is smiling; he is seriously tender, his head pressing tightly against his girl.
   
   Another family picture I admire shows Michelle's number one priority in life - being "Mom" - as she sits casually on some riser steps in the back area of a rally with her daughters at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa (pages 128-129).
   
   A sea of Kenyan men - almost all in the photograph with the same intense look of expectancy, curiosity and subdued excitement in seeing the African American Senator in their country - is a magnificent work of photojournalism. The particulars of the emotion of the moment are captured in these faces, and, structurally-speaking, the picture shows the men all looking boldly in the same direction with not an eye blinking. It makes for an exciting, intense image.
   
   Maybe the strongest photograph of all is on pages 156-157, one of a young African-American woman with tightly pursed lips smiling, her eyes both smiling and crying, at a Pennsylvania State University rally in March of this year. Tears have been flowing down her face freely. The picture holds, for me, all of these: bursting joy, pride, rightness, gladness, equity, happiness, hope, and even love.
   
   This is a movement.
   
   It could be said that Souza's book is a highly-edited version of Obama, the man, as well as the public's reaction to him. So be it - it is. But, I dare anyone to find me another person living today that you can find a cache of positive photos this size that could create an equally moving book on anyone else in modern public life. If you look at the book, you just know it's rare for this to happen.
   
   One thing about Souza's collection that history will note, if we do not, is that Obama is clearly a minority among white men (and sometimes women) in the photographs of him "at work" in Washington. I sense that it takes a lot of courage, wherewithal, and an unwavering sense of purpose for someone to endure this. A lot of people do such things, a lot of people can, but more of us aren't willing to put ourselves out there in various uncomfortable situations where we might not "fit in." For Obama to do this as well as he does, without succumbing to feelings or thoughts of alienation or frustration, and to be so charismatic and positive a figure as he is while doing so, you have to admit the candidacy of this man - as it careens through the hearts of so many of us - is very likely what we have to call "a movement."



2. The photographs by Pete Souza in the fascinating collection "The Rise of Barack Obama" tell us much about Obama, more than what is expressed in the depth of his expressions: his wisdom, compassion, concern, dilemmas, and his hope. These poignant, spontaneous photos portray how he is viewed by those who come in contact with him - friends, colleagues, supporters, and his family, especially his two young daughters, who show us, in their expressions of joy and love for their father, the meaning of family values. Souza's images of Obama over the years he spent with him are the classic pictures of an American during his ascendency.



3. Pete Souza's book is impressive on many levels, beginning with the amazing photographs he so expertly produced over the years he followed Senator Obama. I was brought to tears several times by the powerful images of the senator with his family, in congress, in our country, and in the world, giving me the sense that I have had a privileged window into the life of a hard-working, committed, capable statesman. Souza's work is photojournalism at its most impressive, perfectly rendering the day-to-day life of an icon from up close and from a distance. One shot may be through the window blinds of a crowded office, another is a closeup of a furrowed brow. The coming together of art, life, and politics, right there in your hand. This book is a treasure!



4. An assistant professor of photojournalism at Ohio University's School of Visual Journalism in Athens, Ohio, and one of the nation's most renowned photographers, Pete Souza has produced an impressive album documenting the meteoric ascendancy of the U.S. Senator from Illinois,
   
   Souza's candid photographs of Barack Obama provide an intimate view of a charismatic leader, who has been described as "a once-in-a-generation politician." Journalists have compared Obama's inspiring oratory and vision of hope and change to the leadership qualities of Robert and John F. Kennedy.
   
   We see the presumptive Democratic nominee for President on his trips to various countries, such as Russia, Azerbaijan, Chad, Kenya, and South Africa; his appearances at various universities, behind-the-scenes conferences with friends and colleagues; as well as endearing snapshots of him with his family: Michelle, Malia, and Sasha.
   
   "The Rise of Barack Obama" is an excellent pictorial complement to Obama's own work, "The Audacity of Hope." This reviewer agrees with and is inspired by Obama's signature mantra: "Dream big dreams!"
   
   Pete Souza's photographs of Barack Obama have been recognized during the past three years with prestigious awards from Pictures of the Year, the Best of Photojournalism and the White House News Photographers Association's Eyes of History. He has worked as an official White House photographer for President Ronald Reagan and was also the official photographer for the President's June 2004 funeral. He is the author of two celebrated photographic books of President Reagan's term in office, Unguarded Moments: Behind-the-Scenes Photographs of President Reagan (1992) and Images of Greatness: An Intimate Look at the Presidency of Ronald Reagan by Triumph Books. Souza's photographs have also appeared as photo spreads or covers in renowned magazines as National Geographic, Life, Fortune, Newsweek, and U.S. News & World Report. His photographs have also been part of group exhibits at the National Archives, Smithsonian Museum of American History, and Corcoran Gallery of Art.



5. This is a must get book for the historical document that it is. Pete Souza gives us a view of Senator Obama that will never be the same. Since running for president, win or loss, Senator Obama's life can never be the same as when these images were made. Souza's photography is a gift to any historian looking into this man before his historic run for the presidency.
   
   This book is also a must read for any photo-journalist wishing to see a true master at work with his camera. Souza does not miss a moment that holds great meaning.