5 comments about Dean and Me: (A Love Story).

1. I was a bit surprised by this book. I had expected it mainly to be some anecdotes and fluff, strung together as a history of Martin and Lewis. While it is no heavyweight biography, it is much more substantive than I had expected, and really brings the Martin & Lewis era to life.
   
   Jerry Lewis, often known for his oversized ego, is very restrained here. He succeeds in keeping the book's focus on the team instead of pointing the spotlight squarely at himself.
   
   Had this book been written immediately after the breakup, or at some point during the 20 years they weren't speaking, it might have taken on quite a different tone. Written many years after reconciling, and long after Dean's death, Lewis was able to write this book with a great deal of perspective on their friendship, career, and breakup. He speaks fondly of their years together, and with some sadness, not bitterness, of the breakup in 1956.
   
   The talents and faults of both men share equal billing throughout the book - there is no villain and no hero.
   
   When people today think of Dean Martin or Jerry Lewis, we usually think of their individual careers. The team of Martin & Lewis has become something of an afterthought, so it's wonderful to see those years in the spotlight again.



2. Good book, I enjoyed it. Jerry Lewis wrote of alot of personal experiences that I had never heard of before. I read it in a few days, was very interesting.



3. I have the Audible version and have to say it again...WOW.
   
   This is one one heck of a memoir/bio delivered by the only person that could deliver it in such great detail and depth...Jerry Lewis himself.
   
   I am way too young to have known or viewed their comedy "act", but this book brings it all to life so vividly that I am on my second listen just so I didn't miss anything on the first listen and also it was really just a great story.
   
   I went ahead right away and purchased "DINO" by Nick Tosces so I can continue to learn about everything that occured in that era including the Rat Pack.
   
   I was very surprised that the book was so well written. To be honest, I only bought the audio because I had a credit towards a book and I figured "what the heck". Now I'm wondering what took me so long.



4. Amazing book. I love Dean and Jerry, and couldn't put this down. I literally laughed and cried. This was a very enjoyable book.



5. With candid portrayal of his start and 10 year "gig" with Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis captivates us and we can't put the book down. This is no white wash flowery story; he tells the imperfections of both of them. You know it's love, even after their breakup of the team because Jerry reveals allot about his partner Dean Martin that we never knew of.
   
   In short the Jew did good. Jerry always wanted to mix comedy with tears. Dean didn't like the sad mixing stuff; just make 'em laugh. However Jerry got his last wish with Dean, 'cause in the end of the book the clown made a full grown man cry. Jerry instead of making me laugh, at the end, warmed my heart about his love for his partner and made me grab a tissue. That was low pool Jerry.

No comments about Pichon: Race and Revolution in Castro's Cuba: A Memoir.

2 comments about How Did You Do It, Truett?.

1. I got this for my husband and he is really enjoying it. He said that he likes it, but it is more about running a business then insperational reading, but good just the same.



2. Wonderful book about a wonderful man and company! Very practical and understanding, anyone in business would do well to read this book!

5 comments about Why My Wife Thinks I'm an Idiot: The Life and Times of a Sportscaster Dad.

1. I had very high expectations for this book. Greeny delivered on every one. He is such a Dad first, sportscaster second, but his true love of sports speaks to every sports fan out there. His self-deprecating remarks show that you can be, as he puts it, "a little bit famous" and still be extremely humble. I wish I could hang out with him on a daily basis. Do yourself a favor and read this book...I don't want to tell you how quickly I got through it, I couldn't put it down! Mike, write another one! Or get your others published!!



2. If you have ever heard Greeny speak before, you will know what this book is about. Greenberg rants about the non-sensical life of a "metrosexual" sportscaster, how he cares for his own looks more than that of his wifes. The book flows just like you were listening to Greeny telling Golic (his radio co-host of Mike and Mike in the Morning) a recap of the previous weekend. A good, lite read for any dad.



3. What to do, what to do. . .
   
   Your toddler son's first word is an expletive about poo. Your four-year-old daughter no longer needs you to go to swimming class with her. Your middle-aged, paunchy billionaire bud enjoys wearing speedos in public. You have a flat at 4:00 a.m. on the way to work and Triple A doesn't respond. You find out the hard way you can't clean up puke with a vacuum cleaner. And to top it all off, your wife thinks you're an idiot.
   
   So what to do? Go see your shrink? Or write a book?
   
   How about both?
   
   Accordingly, Mike Greenberg's tribute to superficiality is born. WHY MY WIFE THINKS I'M AN IDIOT, penned by ESPN Radio's self-proclaimed--and unabashed on-air drama queen--metrosexual, is a read so lite you're afraid a slight summer breeze will waft it away. Greenberg (known affectionately as "Greeny" by his handful of fans) is at times witty, once or twice engaging, but always self-deprecating as he shares with his readers the trials and tribulations of marriage and parenthood (obviously something foreign to the rest of us)--all from the perspective of a semi-famous celebrity. Greeny writes, goes to see his shrink, then writes some more; after a few dozen pages the anecdotes and antics start to blur until the reader races to the Epilogue with a sigh and a yawn.
   
   Wait a minute, Greeny. You had Elle MacPherson try on a pair of designer jeans right in front of you at a chic boutique and you said nothing and did nothing?
   
   Your wife's not the only one who thinks you're an idiot.
   --D. Mikels, Author, Walk-On



4. I am only halfway through reading this book, however I am surprised at how little Greenie talks about sports and how much he describes his experiences with his wife, child, and family...and I actually don't mind it! For those guys who prefer reading auto-bios on Dick Butkus' punishing style of football play, this may not be the book for you. What makes this a good book is that it actually appeals to both men and women, as I have been sharing excerpts from the book with my wife because Greenie's opinions and experiences sometimes relate to our own lives! I recommend this book...it's not a Pulitzer-caliber book, but worth reading nonetheless.



5. Confession: I'm a sports radio junkie. Not being a cable-TV subscriber, I rely on sport-talk radio to slake my thirst for football news. So when Mike Greenberg, the self-described metro-sexual half of ESPN's "Mike and Mike in the Morning" show, released his first book "Why My Wife Thinks I'm an Idiot" I took notice. And when it quickly charted on the New York Times best sellers list, I rushed to the local bookstore to get a copy of my own.
   
   I wasn't disappointed. With his impeccably-timed, deprecating humor and wit, Greenberg makes reading his memoirs an entertaining and enjoyable experience. The story of how becoming a father forced him to reconsider his priorities as a professional, a sports fan, and now a dad. Greenberg weaves a fantastic story and allows the reader to full access to his foiliables and his at-times narcissistic tendencies.
   
   WHY MY WIFE THINKS I'M AN IDIOT is presented to us as Mike's personal journal to aid his therapy sessions. However, book is equal parts journal, memoir, and stand-up comic routine. Mike presents himself as an everyman--a sports enthusiast, a dad and a husband. And for the most part, Mike connects. He struggles to meet his wife's emotional needs, change his daughter's diapers, and somehow squeezes in time to watch a golf tournament on TV.
   
   Unfortunately, Mike occasionally breaks the "everyman" illusion and reminds us that he is really a multimillionaire part of the entertainment elite. For instance, when he discusses how his infant's runny nose destroyed a $600 sweater (yes, that SIX HUNDRED DOLLARS for a shag of cloth to cover his upper torso!) or when his wife catches him ogling Ellie McPherson trying on blue jeans at a high-end department store (honestly, when was the last time you went shopping with a supermodel?). It's almost as if he can't help but let the reader know he's "arrived," and in those moments the book loses some of its luster.
   
   Still, in spite of those momentary breaks from being a regular guy, Mike Greenberg paints a captivating picture of his experience as a modern male. He's desperately in love with his wife, but continually finds himself frustrating her (a section about his wife's disapproval of the way he handled his best friend's marital crisis is with the price of the book alone!). Entering an NBA locker room to get the interview doesn't faze our hero; but managing his child's play date while his wife is away is a monumental task.
   
   And, at its core, WHY MY WIFE THINKS I'M AN IDIOT is a book about life's purpose. Mike Greenberg struggles with significance of his life's work--sports casting--as he contrasts it with the wonders of parenting. He honestly struggles with the questions whether or not his work matters, and what's truly important. It's these questions that give the book its tenderness and poignancy between the side-stitching one-liners.

2 comments about Theodore Roosevelt: The Rough Riders/An Autobiography (Library of America).

1. Reading this magnificent volume was a joy on many levels. First and foremost, Theodore Roosevelt could write. His prose is always strong, active, and colorful. In "The Rough Riders" he handles action better than most novelists. He picks just the right details about the situation to make it come alive. Whether it is talking about the sound of the bullets buzzing by and the value of smokeless powder because of the difficulty of spotting those using it against you or the plague of sand crabs picking at the dead the reader feels as if he were there.
   
   I also found real pleasure in reading about a time in American history that I did not know that much about. Theodore Roosevelt was a young boy during the Civil War (and he had family on both sides of the conflict) and died in 1919 just after The Great War (WWI). "An Autobiography" was written in 1913 after his failed third party run for the presidency. It is a magnificent work because it is not a chronology of his life. Instead he tells the story of his life through some events that allow him to illuminate at length on various aspects of his philosophy of life. He talks about morals, civil service reform, his views on productivity and the working man versus the big corporations negotiating the end of the Russo-Japanese War and a lot more. At all times he shows how he has considered all sides of an issue and how he came to his decision.
   
   One of the problems in reading history is that a false light is cast backward onto events in the past. The cataclysm of the two world wars and all the history of the following them have made understanding the time of T. Roosevelt, as they understood it, all but impossible. However, both of these books are completely uninformed by The Great War, the creation of the Soviet Union or anything later because both books were written prior to those events. We get a great feel for how that world looked to those who inhabited it, the vividness of the Civil War and how the policies of Lincoln were still well known and were debated as living choices and policies.
   
   He also shares with us his views on why he had to be such an active politician and especially as President. There is no doubt that the world was changing mightily in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The rise of the huge corporations and the industrialization of huge numbers of peoples as workers in those industries created many issues that had to be worked out. The old government structures were overwhelmed and TR was one of the leaders who helped fashion policies that he and others considered fair and progressive. Obviously, from our vantage point, we would have made different choices. But the present is always in flux and always seem simpler in hindsight than it ever was.
   
   Another treat is the way he characterizes the positions of those with whom he disagreed. He always tries to be charitable and often sounds like a kindly parent dealing with a sincere but wayward and somewhat dull child. It is also fascinating to read this progressive's views about moral character. He specifically addresses the evils of sexual licentiousness, abortion, divorce, and much more that has become our norm. It should give us pause.
   
   If you have any doubt about his character or courage, compare this example to anyone today you care to name. Theodore Roosevelt was an Assistant Secretary to the Navy. He saw the Spanish-American War coming and resigns his post to help raise a regiment of volunteer cavalry. He is offered the role of commanding officer, but leaves that to his friend, Leonard Wood, and is happy as Lt. Colonel. He is well liked by his men, never shirks from the hardships and leads his men in battle from the front. He wanted to be in the thick of things not for vainglory, but because it was the best place to communicate with and ensure the best use and protection of his men. Whom do you know like that today?
   
   As a side note it is interesting to read the differences in his orthography from our present day usage. I don't know if the umlauts in double consonants in words such as reelection (reëlection), cooperation (coöperation), or reenter (reënter) were peculiar to him or some school, but I actually like it a lot and wish we would bring it back. It looks better and makes reading all that much simpler. Maybe typewriters did away with them because they lacked the keys to make them. However, our computers can make those characters easily.
   
   If you are interested in American History, the two books in this volume are treasures you owe it to yourself to read. Oh that anyone in public life could write like this with the kind of inner strength and courage Theodore Roosevelt had. We would be the better for it regardless of our policy differences.
   
   Also, this edition from the Library of America deserves special praise. There are many high quality black and white photographs that were used in the original editions that enrich the reading experience a great deal. As always the LOA has made a high quality book that is a delight to hold and read. Thank you, LOA!
   
   Strongest Recommendation!
   
   You might also want to consider:
   
   Theodore Roosevelt: Letters and Speeches (Library of America)
   
   Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI



2. In rankings of the American Presidents, the consensus pick as the first great president of the twentiety century was also the youngest man ever to serve in the office: Theodore Roosevelt. Reformer, rancher, conservationist, hunter, historian, police commissioner, and soldier, Theodore roosevelt led a rich and varied life that he vividly recorded in autobiographical writings, letters, and speeches.
   
   This book contains two books, both written by Roosevelt and edited by Roosevelt biographer Louis Auchincloss:
   
   The Rough Riders (1899) is the story of the First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry. This was the unit raised by Roosevelt, trained in Texas and then shipped to Cuba. This was a time when war could still be seen as a romantic adventure -- unlike what happened in France twenty years later. The biggest problems faced by Roosevelt were: the jungle, the heat, hunger, rain, mud and malaria. Kind of incidentally they also had a war to fight.
   
   An Autobiography (1913) recalls his lifelong fascination with natural history, his love of hunting and the outdoors, and his adventures as a cattleman in the Dakota Badlands, as well as his career in politics as a state legislator, civil service reformer, New York City police commissioner, assistant secretary of the navy, governor of New York, and president. What a life.

4 comments about Concrete, Bulletproof, Invisible and Fried: My Life As A Revolting Cock.

1. Connelly is articulate, surprisingly humble and filled with anecdotes. From that standpoint, it's an excellent book for anyone who wanted to know what was really going on in the WaxTrax scene of the late 80's and early 90's. He pulls no punches, nobody is painted as perfect, there's little hero worship, and yet all the major players are humanized to a degree that, despite many flaws, they still seem sympathetic. Al Jourgainsen particularly - he gets ridiculed for his affectations and self-involvement, lambasted for his spiralling drug problems and fondness for sycophants, and yet it still seems that Connelly regards him with a bit of genuine affection (even if they haven't spoken for years).
   
   What's particualrly refreshing is his candor about his own problems and career trajectory. It could've easily slumped into a sex/drugs/rocknroll hardcore aggrandizement, or a paen to now-clean living, but it manages to avoid either boasting or becoming maudlin, no easy feat. Connelly tells it like it was - chasing the highs, chasing the booze, chasing the girls while fully realizing the ridiculousness of the situations, and he doesn't preach about how he's cleaned up his life.
   
   His writing style, though could've used an editor. It reads more like a blog, complete with bursts of all-caps, the occasional dangling sentence fragment, and the sort of onomotopoeia one doesn't usually find in a memoir. Not that this is bad, mind you, but it can be a little distracting to be reading a detailed narrative of a Pigface show and have to stop and go back to parse out a sentence that didn't seem to make sense.
   
   All told, though, it's a fun, quick read. Dodgy stylistic choices aside, it is a fascinating no-holds-barred look into a side of alternative music that most only have a passing familiarity with. If you grew up in the suburbs, you at least knew of Ministry, and probably had at least one black-clad friend who owned all their albums. Ministry, RevCo, Pigface, etc though, were enough on the fringes that they never generated the kind of press mythology that many of their alterna-rock contemporaries did, so this is a look into a story that has largely remained untold until now.



2. Having been a big fan of the industrial screaming of Chris Connelly in the late eighties when I saw this book for sale I had to give it a read. Some of the stories are familiar, having been touched upon in various interviews etc...but Chris gives them a first hand perspective and writes in a conversational manner that keeps it entertaining page to page. His honest and often hilarious look at the industrial machine that was Al Jourgenson and the Wax Trax circus makes this book a must for anyone who thought Ministry, The Revolting Cocks, etc...were the thinking man's keyboard and drum machine driven answer to metal only to discover in the 90's that Jourgenson had burned up all his talent with his addictions and became just another metal band. Fascinating and funny, a must for all industrial music fans...I haven't stopped listening to the Damage Manual since I finished this book.



3. 
   I always felt Chris Connelly was one of the more articulate, interesting, and diversified members of the cyber-biker 'industrial rock' circus swirling around Ministry's Al Jourgensen, and so I'm excited that he was able to get a book-length bio of that band's most interesting years into print before Jourgensen did. When THAT happens, this will surely provide a valuable alternate history to the inevitable grand-standing and historical revisionism coming from Ministry's overlord of aggro (and hair extensions, which Connelly describes in a hilarious manner that I won't give away).
   
   I have a very tangential but still kind of intimate connection to this scene, so the nostalgic effect I get from reading a litany of hallowed Chicago nightlife institutions like Smart Bar, ChicagoTrax, Cabaret Metro etc. will not be replicated in every reader. Closeness to this culture has increased the "page-turner" quality of this book for me, but only by a little- it's still an eminently great read in a literary world swamped with boring paint-by-numbers rock confessionals written by, say, someone who was Bowie's keyboard tech for 3 shows in 1981. There's often nothing more tedious than listening to someone else's 'drug' stories, or even someone else's detailed descriptions of their soundchecks and daily road routines, but Connelly re-animates this age-old format with wit, conviction, and even healthy doses of humility. Some of the pharmaceutical hijinks are actually laugh-out-loud funny, and there's an exhausting scorecard of such described: even one experience outlined in this book would be a life-defining event that you warn your grandchildren about, for the Revolting Cocks it's just what happened to them on that particular, er, Wednesday evening.
   
   
   Connelly also never lets us forget just how varied the individual personalities were that made up Revolting Cocks and Ministry in their heyday: there's the cool and professional Bill Rieflin and Paul Barker, the belligerent Martin Atkins, the dark and elusive Ogre, and of course the endlessly yelling and exaggerating man-child Jourgensen. Any one of these characters (besides dozens more profiled in this book) could have their own tragicomic book or documentary film, and it's a testament to Connelly's discipline that he doesn't linger on any one person for too long...of course that is my primary complaint about this book, too, that it's just TOO SHORT to perfectly illustrate the epic-scale psychosis and trouble that the RevCo/Ministry axis seems to welcome with open arms. I would welcome at least 50 more pages; while the 'tour' sections are fleshed out admirably enough there seems to be less attention paid to Connelly's actual creative process while writing and recording music. I think he is selling himself short in this regard- the man is an incredible lyricist, and I also would have welcomed some reproduced lyrics from the records in question (although there might be legal hurdles to clear in order to do this).
   
   The Ministry machine was never quite as intriguing without Connelly; perhaps one reason why 'Uncle Al' is hanging up his Stetson hat after one final tour and one last middling album of industrial metal. Do yourself a favor- pass on the ticket for the next Ministry show and buy this instead, it's cheaper AND more inspiring.



4. Chris Connelly (ex-Fini Tribe, Revolting Cocks, Ministry, Pigface, Murder Inc., The Damage Manual) gives a vivid, fascinating behind-the-scenes account of his experiences in the Chicago industrial music scene between the years 1987 - 1995, and his roller coaster relationship with Ministry's Al Jourgensen. For fans of the above-listed bands and anything released on Wax Trax! Records in the late 80's, there is an invaluable amount of information detailing the creation of several songs from The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste, Beers Steers & Queers, Linger Ficken' Good, and more. Chris recounts his relationships on and off the road with a who's who of industrial/alternative musicians, from such bands as Skinny Puppy, Killing Joke, and Cabaret Voltaire.
   
   The book details rampant drug/alcohol abuse on tours and in the studio, wild post-concert parties, damaged relationships, personal tragedies, musical highlights and lowlights, written to make the reader feel like he/she was re-living the whole experience with him. Chris paints a very fair, but disturbing picture of a drug-addicted, out-of-control tyrant in Al Jourgensen, whose unpredictable personality makes for unlimited tension many times throughout the book. The book is not all 'doom and gloom', however, and boasts several funny stories that at times will have you laughing. Chris gives detailed tour journals for Ministry's Mind tour in 89-90 and Psalm 69 tour in '92, the Pigface tours for Gub and Fook in '91/'92, and RevCo's Beers Steers & Queers Tour in 90-91. There are also details from band rehearsals and 'one-off' shows that were performed. Popular Chicago clubs Medusa, Exit, and The Metro/Smart Bar (among others) get plenty of mention.
   
   At 223 pages, it's a fairly quick read. I spent a weekend enjoying this book, and found myself captivated by the seemingly non-stop wild stories, and rewarded with a goldmine of information on Ministry, RevCo, and real life in the Wax Trax circle of musicians. The price listed is a bargain for this book, and I can only hope that other musicians from this circle, such as Paul Barker and Bill Rieflin, someday decide to share their memoirs as well. Highly recommended.

5 comments about 365 Deployment Days: A Wife's Survival Story.

1. This book was alright but far too much of a pity party for me. It left me more depressed than I had felt before I started. This is not a book to read if you are at all worried about deployment. The impression is that emotionally, she barely makes it through her experience. Try someone else for a good read.



2. This book was an alright read, however, there was a lot of content that was repetitive. (But, I may have just been looking for the wrong type of book when I bought this, as this book wasn't something that offered inspiration, but rather the assurance that other people have gone through what you're (may or may not be) feeling at the exact moment.) Being a wife of a military man, it's always interesting to hear how other women handle deployments... It's a quick and easy read - as I finished it in less than a day.



3. I am a new Army Wife and I would recommend this book to anyone who struggles with the day-to-day life after a loved one deploys. Some days even the simplest tasks seem so overwhelming that I can not seem to do them and I felt like I was going out of my mind. Reading Sara's book helped me to realize that I am not in this boat alone and that I have people out there who understand. I have managed to start listening to others better and I have found my own "battle rhythm" to help me through this first deployment. This is a MUST READ for all who have a spouse deployed!!!



4. I thought the book was great and I felt that I wasn't the only one out there that felt certain things while my husband was deployed. Yes, sometimes the stories were a tad repetitive but again that's often how you feel when your husbands gone for so long - like you're in a rut and everything just happens over and over again. I read the book after my husband got home from his first deployment and before he left for his second and I still got a lot out of it. Thanks Sarah and Brandon!



5. As a military wife, I've read several books relating to deployments. I was expecting this one to explain how the author coped with her husband's deployment. Instead, it seemed that each chapter talked about the same things. She offered no insight or really explained what she was going through. The only things I got out of the book were that work and soccer were two things that helped her get through deployment. It would have been nice if she went into more depth or offered helpful tips for women who are dealing with a deployment.

5 comments about Reunion in Barsaloi.

1. Reunion in Barsaloi answers a lot of questions readers will have after reading her first book, White Masai and Back From Africa, the follow-up. The clear-headedness that Corinne now has about her former life and ex-husband serves her well as she makes this emotional journey back in time. Now I can't wait til she brings her daughter back to Kenya sometime in the next year or two...that should really be a fitting ending to this amazing story.



2. I enjoyed The White Masai, but did not love it. However, I was interested in reading Reunion in Barsaloi to see what happened after Corinne left Kenya and to see how the reunion would turn out. I was lucky to stumble upon the book a week after finishing it predeccesor. Anyway, Reunion in Barsaloi was a good follow-up to the previous novel and quenched my curiousity. I would recommend this book for those who read the previous novel and enjoyed it.



3. Well I read the White Masai with the intention to be as open minded as possible and to try to understand why a White European woman would want to marry someone who was of another race and culture. Well the first book was entertaining in that I found myself reading to find out what kind of horrible situation this silly woman would find herself in next. She showed total disrespect for the Masai people and their culture and then ran off wit the man's daughter when things didnt go the way she imagined they would go which must have been very embarrassing for him as a warrior.
   
   Anyway this book, was probably the most boring book that I have ever read. I had to force myself through it, waiting for something to actually HAPPEN. But nothing never happened worth note, it was just the author cashing in on the story once again. I have had more interesting trips to the grocery store that I could write about.



4. Corrine Hoffman wrote 3 books regarding her life experience in Kenya. She is the first white woman to marry a Masai Warrior, lives in the Bush and has a daughter with him. She goes back to Switzerland and then visits Kenya again 14 years later. This is a non-fiction series that is exciting, well written and easy to read. It shows courage and relates to life. The first book is called the White Masai and the second book is Back From Africa. This is the third book where she returns to Kenya for a visit to her family there without her daughter.



5. This book can stand on its own but ideally you should read "The White Masai" and "Back From Africa" first. You will not regret traveling with Corinne Hofmann on any of her journeys. She has had an amazing, colorful life....and I'm sure there's more she'll share with us. I do hope she'll write at least one more as she does have unfinished business in Africa and I'm looking forward to hearing about its resolution.

5 comments about Home CD: A Memoir of My Early Years.

1. At 25, Julie Andrews had it all: She was a Broadway star about to take on her first starring role in a film, Mary Poppins, she was happily married, and she had just become the mother of Emma. Her smile and lovely voice were known to tens of millions around the world.
   
   But the path from her origins to those heights was not the expected one. In this candid memoir, Ms. Andrews takes us for an eye-opening ride through her family's genealogy, her career as a youthful vaudeville star, her experiences in becoming her family's sole support at a young age, and the many amazing things that happen in performing companies. It's a wild trip!
   
   Before the book ends, she gives us behind-the-scenes looks at many of the giants of 20th century entertainment including Moss Hart, Alan Jay Lerner, Fritz Lowe, T.H. White, Walt Disney, Rex Harrison, Richard Burton, and Carol Burnett.
   
   She is a lady in all that she has to say, but she does have opinions. The finely nuanced reading captures her true feelings in subtle ways that the book cannot hope to do. I could have listened to this recording all night, every night. It was marvelous!



2. It was if Julie Andrews was sitting across from you telling you about her life story. I also have and read the book first, so hearing Julie read her own story, with all of the inflections in her voice, was great.



3. This memoir is truly one of those that cannot be put down. And to hear the reminisces in Julie Andrews' own crystalline voice is a rare treat. The situations that the young girl endured growing up are stunning and the listener's heart breaks for her, all the while gaining a new appreciation for Julie's grace and grit. I highly recommend this book, especially as a book on CD, and am hopeful that Ms. Andrews will continue her life story in the form of a sequel....



4. I have been an admirer of Julie ever since I first saw her in Mary Poppins so many years ago. What a joy to listen to her tell the story of her early years up until the time when she is on a plane heading toward Hollywood to make that film. She has overcome a great many obstacles in her fascinating career. I certainly admire her even more now after hearing her tell her story. This was so interesting that I wanted to hear more. This is a must read!



5. Rather than pre-order the book, I waited until the CD came out to see if, as I suspected, it would be narrated by Julie Andrews. Julie's words in her own voice add so much to her story. I can't wait until the next installment! The only criticism of the CD is you have to turn the volume up all the way to hear it, at least while in the car. It brought back such pleasant memories as Julie related stories of her appearances on TV, with Carol Burnett, and on the Ed Sullivan Show, and her own show. Some of the excepts can be found on the internet. Wonderful performer. A voice not to be forgotten, nor repeated.

5 comments about My Own Country: A Doctor's Story.

1. This book was highly recommended by a friend/colleague. In fact he generously lent me his copy. The stories in this book are all real sad life stories. The images of each patient encounters are still very vivid on my mind and they all left big scars in my heart. It literally tore my heart apart when I read through the painful description of their sufferings till their last breath. They reminded me of the deficiency of our health care system (a big agenda item awaiting the next president-elected to tackle, if at all possible. we know it won't happen during this presidency for sure when the nation's focus is put on "war" and "combat"). There is so much more we, especially the health care professionals, can, should and must do to care for those who are tormented by ailments (both curable and incurable.) On the one hand, it saddened me to realize how ignorance, prejudice and selfishness of mankind can tear us apart. On the other hand it gave me hope knowing that there is always someone, like Dr. Verghese, who is heroic, selfless and willing to sacrifice for those who suffer. He is the perfect role model for all those who dedicate their life to health care.



2. This book has excellent insite to the challenges of people with HIV. Great read!



3. I happened across this book and was immediately drawn into it. The author is a remarkable human being with deep empathy and sympathy with some of the first casualties of the AIDS epidemic. As a Tennessee native, this story was very interesting to me; it chronicles the spread of the disease not long after the disease was recognized. The personal stories of all concerned are engrossing, and it's heartbreaking because in those early days the medical profession had nothing to offer the sufferers--and suffer they surely did, regardless of how they contracted the disease, and the book includes stories of those who got it through blood transfusions. The human connections between this Indian doctor who was born in Ethiopia and the people of east Tennessee, made at the most basic level, are what makes this book powerful; yet the author does not excuse his own shortcomings which eventually led to the failure of his marriage. I couldn't put it down and finished it in about 3 days - and then immediately got his other book, The Tennis Partner. (Another reviewer said this is fiction - but it's nonfiction. I found it in the biography section of the public library.)



4. My Own Country is Abraham Verghese's unique recount of his experience fighting AIDS at the dawn of the epidemic. Like other infectious disease specialists, Verghese is immediately immersed in AIDS, and it soon dominates his profession. the author traces the penetration of the disease as the city comes to grips with AIDS and its unwanted victims. Often without the support of his colleagues and family, Verghese treats an ever increasing number of patients. Including the estranged brother of a colleague, a gay couple intent on breaking it`s taboo, and man and his wife who contract AIDS through a contaminated blood transfusion. Though this memoir, Verghese reveals his own confusions about homosexuality, and wrestles with the his own sympathy for his patients and the prejudices of his colleagues. As one of his nurses says "'I don't think we should have bothered in the first place...he deserved what he got and I don't see why we should have to take care of him.'"
   Verghese can become wearisome in his consistent use of the term "miracle center" to describe his workplace and tends to drone on at many points, becoming unnecessarily detailed when writing about the specifics in his work and family life which somewhat take away from his insights. Also, Verghese's family is obviously important to him, and he hints time and time again at problems with his wife, however he never fully develops their relationship. "My work with AIDS in the community fell into this chasm between us. AIDS was like another wild friend, a friend from a different social stratum, a friend I indulged but no longer brought to the house or even discussed with her." Despite this, the author tells a terrific, unforgettable story of the not only the lives and feelings of the patients, but everyone it affects.



5. This based-on the author's true-story details the time he was just starting out as a doctor. He picked a Hospital in smalltown United States where he would be the infectious disease specialist. Suddenly, cases of AIDS appeared even in that small town. It was the 80's epidemic and as it spread from the big cities AIDS victims were met with fear and a lack of compassion from most doctors. Verghese was one of the few who truly listened to and cared for his patients through such a terrible disease.