5 comments about Til The Fat Girl Sings: From an Overweight Nobody to a Broadway Somebody-A Memoir.

1. I picked up this book on a total whim. The saying is that you can't judge a book by it's cover, but sometimes that's more true in the metaphorical sense than reality. I admit, I judge books by their covers nearly every time. Some good cover art, or even something clean and simple, and I want to read the back or inside jacket. This cover caught my eye. It's very Playbill meets that Blind Melon video with the little girl in the Bee costume. (No Rain? Maybe? I think? It's been too many years since I've watched MTV and I doubt they'd ever play it anymore anyway.)
   
   It's more than a cool cover, though. It's hopeful, and funny, witty, down-to-earth, and SO inspirational. It's more than a coming-of-age story, because it's also a story of success. It's a true testament to the grit that comes with knowing what you want and being too stubborn to settle for anything less no matter what obstacles are in your way.



2. This could've been featured in our Biography section, but is reviewed here for its insights on how a Broadway star made it big - despite her lifetime weight problem. Sharon Wheatley weighed over two hundred pounds by high school, but never stopped dreaming of a career on Broadway. Her journey and reach for leading roles would take her to the top and 'TIL THE FAT GIRL SINGS: FROM AN OVERWEIGHT NOBODY TO A BROADWAY SOMEBODY - A MEMOIR tells how.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch



3. I am a tall thin straight Male who thought that I might not really understand where Sharon Wheatley is coming from. Her story is so great that you don't have to be over weight to understand where she is coming from. This book is funny, thoughtful and true. It is a worthy read and it is great for anyone who has ever had the need to feel wanted. A GREAT READ AND A GREAT BUY!



4. It is Amazing what has happened in the first part of her Songbird Sharon's life.
   Her memoir is a testimony about whatever life throws at you , you can overcome it. I think we can all identify with mean kids, horrific embarrassing moments, and blaming yourself for things you don't understand.
   
   It is one of the sweetest, saddest, and most inspiring books I would recommend. Hooray for the Songbird aas we look forward to Volume 2 and all its successes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
   
   I would have picked a different title though- I have known you 35 years, and you were never a "nobody". And how could you sing the Sound of Music to Chopin, Mozart, et., al.???
   
   You did not mention Patrick- the meanest dog in Cincinnati???!!!



5. I loved this story! It opened my eyes to a problem that I really wasn't tuned in to. An important story to tell. Not only that but I think sometimes we as individuals feel so alone, like we are the only people with problems, Sharon's story of overcoming adversity is a REAL inspiriation.

1 comments about Wayne's World: Extreme Close-Up.

1. It is a verry funny book. It has alot of Top ten charts. Like one are top ten albums. There is also alot of different things. Like it shows you how to do the Fish hook, from the movie.

1 comments about Reel Baseball: Essays and Interviews on the National Pastime, Hollywood, and American Culture.

1. For more than a decade and a half, the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame and the State University if New York at Oneonto have sponsored an annual conference on baseball and American culture. This collection of essays originated as a vehicle for the publication of some of the research presented at those conferences relative to baseball and film. It is a dandy work that offers something for almost everyone. Divided in four major parts, or "reels" as the editors call them, it contains essays on baseball films, depictions of Babe Ruth in the movies, baseball as seen in non-baseball films, and a set of interviews of directors, actors, and others associated with baseball films,
   
   By far the most interesting part of the book is the first "reel," in which several authors analyze such films as "The Natural" (1984) and "Field of Dreams" (1989). While there have long been baseball movies--some of them renowned such "The Pride of the Yankees" (1942) about Lou Gehrig--many of are forgettable--such as "Rhubarb" where a cat inherits the Brooklyn Dodgers--the modern, effective baseball movie may be traced to "The Natural." Throughout, the best of these films use baseball as a backdrop to explore larger social and cultural issues, the tension of good versus evil, and the quest for spiritual fulfillment. Also interesting are the interviews at the conclusion of the book, especially the ones with Penny Marshall, who directed "A League of their Own" about women in baseball during World War II; Kevin Costner, who has made three memorable baseball movies, "Bull Durham," "Field of Dreams," and "For Love of the Game"; and Vin Skully, who literally "called" the perfect game depicted in "For Love of the Game."
   
   Throughout, this is an interesting and useful volume. Like all edited works, this one suffers from unevenness and interpretation from chapter to chapter, but overall it is quite a useful book.

No comments about Complete Speaker's and Toastmaster's Library: Speech Openers and Closers/Human Interest Stories/Remarks of Famous People/Definitions and Toasts.

5 comments about Ventriloquism Made Easy.

1. I purchased this book for my daughter's 9th birthday from Amazon along with a ventriloquist dummy and several ventrioquism DVD's. The book is such a major disappointment.
   
   The author is too busy using the book as a means to push his religion and finding Jesus to offer anything of substance.
   
   This very thin book is filled with fluff. He tells the reader how to record an engagement in their calendar. In another section the author even writes out the alphabet not once, but twice for those poor folks who are not sufficiently familiar.
   
   A real dissapointment!



2. Ventriloquism Made Easy, by Kolby King, is a well written book, which "covers it all"! This is a MUST-HAVE for anyone who is seriously considering taking up ventriloquism! Kolby takes you through the basics of ventriloquism, in a well written, fun-filled book, that is WELL WORTH READING!!



3. 
   This book teaches ventriloquism about as well as a three-page pamphlet teaches nuclear physics. Sure, you will learn a trick or two, but I'd hate to perform with only this knowledge under my belt!
   
   And why, WHY do some authors insist on injecting their personal religious beliefs into what are supposed to be secular works? Evangelize in a book written to that purpose, please! About 2000 years ago someone said something about praying quietly and privately in one's own room . . .
   
   If you want to be a ventriloquist, there are plenty of sources far superior to this pap. Look for them.



4. Has only a tiny section on the really important stuff about the hard letters. The rest is padding. I'm going to look for something more serious.



5. I think that this book is great for beginers because it teaches basic stuff to advanced stuff. If there was anyone that was interested in becoming a ventriloquist this is the right book for you.

5 comments about The Street Where I Live.

1. Yeah, well I gave it as a gift once too. Then I read the gift and learned that it wasn't the gift I intended. Sorry if that sounds garbled, but the long and short of it is: this isn't the book Alan Jay Lerner originally published. Much of that (great) book, including some of its very best parts, has been extracted. The thing that really gets me, though, is that this paperback version's inside flap claims it is "unabridged"! HOW can they get away with this?



2. Alan J. Lerner/and his collaborations with Fritz Lowe and Burton Lane are miracles of the 20th century. The circumstances of their coming together in an artistic and social mileux that called for--no yearned for that kind of musical theater--is a story in itself.

   Mr. Lerner talks eloquently about these collaborators-and others (some not so succesful), and gives us complete and insightful discussions about the shows for which he has written the lyrics--"just" productions like "My Fair Lady," "Gigi," "Camelot," and others perhaps not as well known.

   Mr. Lerner also discusses his own life with great candor--and even greater wit.

   This book is an absolute must-have for those interested in The American Musical Theater! I have given it several times as a gift.




3. This is a witty (if occasionally slaphappy), literate, and very readable (difficult to put down) account of the making of three musicals. I doubt, however, that persons not especially interested in the theatre will want to read this. Note also that this is not a conventional autobiography like, say, Richard Rodgers's "Musical Stages": it concerns the circumstances of the author's life only peripherally.

   Also recommended: Craig Zadan's "Sondheim & Company" and, for musicians, Jeff Burns's "Pentatonic Scales for the Jazz Rock Keyboardist".




4. I'm reading this book, I love it! Because it's easy to read it and enjoyable! If you want to know the three great musical such like: "My Fair Lady" and "Gigi" and "Camelot", you must read this book! I love it!



5. Unlike many theater or Hollywood figures who write their own life stories, Alan Jay Lerner can actually organize and clearly articulate the events of his life! Even if you are not a lover of the Broadway theater or Hollywood, I recommend that you get the book purely for the pleasure of reading his prose! I have been searching for this book ever since I read a library edition of it years ago. I am more than overjoyed that they have finally reprinted it!

5 comments about The Orton Diaries.

1. Absolutely wonderful! A look inside the mind of a genius. Playful, honest, funny and a bit disturbing at times. Orton was a risk taker who got off on the danger of his pursuits as much as just getting off! I love this man and wish he was still around. The last few pages of his diary are missing as well, which just makes the life of Joe Orton even more intriguing. John Lahr has done a beauitful job.



2. Joe Orton and Kenneth Halliwell were both murdered. It was totaly organised and cover up murder. Orton had many enemies, and many jelous homophobic people around Him. That time even in London, if one was openly Gay, and promote sex in public, it was exremely dangerous. What he did and write in his time, was totaly taboo, and not exepted in English society. Only few people knew and know the true story behind Orton and Halliwell murder. I love the book about Orton life. He was a Dare Devil for His time, and died for Gay people liberation movement, like many before and after Him.



3. I think I heard of Joe Orton vaguely on a documentary about murders on TV so when I came across this book in a dollar bin, I had no idea who he was but bought it anyway because I thought it would be interesting to read a diary by a writer and a gay one at that.
   
   And it was fascinating and quarter of the way through it I went to a local used book store and found a few of his plays and read those as well. Hilarious plays where I was actually laughing out loud. So I devoured this book. The sex stuff was at times a little to graphic for my liking but I got passed it, after all, it was usually with two consenting adults so no biggy.
   
   I especially loved the way he would write scenes from what he witnessed in a shop or on the bus, some were really funny and all I could think of was if he lived he would had done such wonderful 'in your face' books and plays and even maybe movies. He wrote with such humor. And I especially liked the letters in the back section.
   
   Now the reason for the 3 stars. I got to the Tangier part and really wished I had avoided that section. My rather high opinion of Joe Orton dropped dramatically and from then on I was feeling a bit ill really, even after the Tangier section, it just wasn't the same as he would keep referring to Tangier at later dates. (there wasn't much left to the diary but still. . .)
   
   I never actually heard of this place before (Sorry on otherside of the world and not a place I would visit anyway) but now if I ever hear of Tangier in the future I will think of this book and what Orton and Halliwell did and all their other gay friends who were there and that's a real shame. I do wish I had avoided this section completely and it still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.
   
   Otherwise aside from 'that' section, I found it to be amazingly well written and fun to read the workings of his last play (What the butler saw) especially after reading the play first and watching it unfold through his diary.



4. Not a book for everyone, I found it very interesting. I can't say I would recommend it for anyone but those who have an interest in the art of writing, and perhaps more specifically, the plays and short life of Joe Orton. A gay man in 1960's London, when it was not fashionable to "come out," Orton was always true to himself and to his desires (as awful as they were). He was a great playwright. He was not a great person. His diary, recorded over the last six months of his life, captures a slice of history when London was at its last zenith since the Renaissance. His short life involved hit plays of outrageous farce, work with the Beatles, and inumerous actors, producers, and directors. John Lahr does an outstanding job of editing the diaries of an interesting man who was butchered in his sleep by the one person he was nothing without. I highly recommend it, together with "Prick up Your Ears," the biography also by John Lahr.



5. I cannot agree with the previous reviewer's opinion regarding The Orton Diaries. Tangiers in the 1960's was a paedophile's paradise and please God, it no longer exists as such. Orton and Halliwell used young boys for their own gratification little thinking of the damage they were inflicting on them. Orton's diaries are full of his hedonistic pursuits and talented as a playwrite he may have been, for the sake of those children he abused, the publishers of The Orton Diaries, Methuen, should be banned from ever publishing further copies of his diary.

No comments about Invitation to Public Speaking.

5 comments about Harrison Ford: Imperfect Hero.

1. Before I read this book, I thought Harrison Ford was a selfish and air-headed movie star. It proved me wrong. I learned about his struggle through his childhood, his rise to fame and how he is a perfectionist, finding that just by being myself, I have lots in common with the man who created wonderful heroes such as Indiana Jones, Han Solo and Jack Ryan, to name a few. He is selfless and modest, a condition hard to find in a movie star.
   So if Mr. Harrison is reading this-keep making great movies, sir, and I'll keep watching and rooting for you all the way!



2. It's alright that the author didn't speak with Ford while writing and researching this unathorized biography. Often the person being written about can clarify something that isn't clear. Often, the person being written about can put a positive spin on some event in an attempt to make themself look better. This is a good book about the humble actor that looked at his pre-success years, going back to his mid-west roots, marriage, and the ups-and-downs of his experience in the film industry, which was covered a lot. How did Harry get that scar?....the answers lies within these pages. One interesting note is the story of a young producer, writer and director who made a movie in the 70s. At the screening, many movie moguls approached the young creator and told him bluntly that his film would be a flop, no one would see it, and his career may be in jeopardy after producing such a poor piece of work. The name of the movie was......."Star Wars." The man was George Lucas.



3. The are a couple things to note when reading this book. First, is that it is unauthorized which doesn't mean that the author does not have to "sugarcoat" Harrison Ford. Sounds like a great book. Second is that the book is unauthorized...conversely, the author does not seem to have spoken with Harrison Ford.

   Unlike other unauthorized biographies, this book doesn't make a big production of it. The author is not trying to sell this book on scandal. The sell is on the picture behind what you usually hear or read. From going through the notes, the author has interviewed quite a few people and has gone through a lot of background information to create this.

   The book reads easily, and I don't find myself questioning the author. All his statements about Harrison Ford, like his being a perfectionist, follows from the supporting evidence. The author also does not jump around. It all flows logically.

   Harrison Ford is an American movie icon. This book allows you to look at the experiences and attitudes which got him there. If you are a fan of Harrison Ford, then I would suggest you take a deep breath before reading. The author is not trying to make him into a saint.




4. If you enjoyed this novel, the same author wrote a biography on Daniel Day Lewis which is just as interesting.



5. When I first started reading this book I was pumped! The more I read of it, the more I got tired of it. I am an avid Harrison Ford fan, but most of the contents you can find in any magazine article.

1 comments about Only Drunks and Children Tell the Truth.

1. Mixed blood Ojibwe writer Drew Hayden Taylor touches the heart with this two act play which relates the pain and grief resulting from government programs in which Indian children were virtually stolen from their parents to be adopted by non-natives.

   The plot revolves around the newly found relationship of long-separated sisters who have been reunited; one from the reservation and the other an urban raised attorney. A short play of pathos and humor, the characters are very alive and will remain in the reader's memory

   This reader found herself hoping to have an opportunity to see the play performed someday.