Books

Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World

Average customer rating:

Truly inspiring
Mandatory reading for any thoughtful person
Best book ever!
Mountains beyond Mountains
Dr. Farmer the miracle man

Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World
Tracy Kidder
Manufacturer: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Biographies & Memoirs | Book Clubs | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor (California Series in Public Anthropology, 4)
Infections and Inequalities: The Modern Plagues
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time
The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time

ASIN: 0812973011
Release Date: 2004-08-31

Book Description

Tracy Kidder is a winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the author of the bestsellers The Soul of a New Machine, House, Among Schoolchildren, and Home Town. He has been described by the Baltimore Sun as the “master of the non-fiction narrative.” This powerful and inspiring new book shows how one person can make a difference, as Kidder tells the true story of a gifted man who is in love with the world and has set out to do all he can to cure it.

At the center of Mountains Beyond Mountains stands Paul Farmer. Doctor, Harvard professor, renowned infectious-disease specialist, anthropologist, the recipient of a MacArthur “genius” grant, world-class Robin Hood, Farmer was brought up in a bus and on a boat, and in medical school found his life’s calling: to diagnose and cure infectious diseases and to bring the lifesaving tools of modern medicine to those who need them most. This magnificent book shows how radical change can be fostered in situations that seem insurmountable, and it also shows how a meaningful life can be created, as Farmer—brilliant, charismatic, charming, both a leader in international health and a doctor who finds time to make house calls in Boston and the mountains of Haiti—blasts through convention to get results.

Mountains Beyond Mountains takes us from Harvard to Haiti, Peru, Cuba, and Russia as Farmer changes minds and practices through his dedication to the philosophy that "the only real nation is humanity" - a philosophy that is embodied in the small public charity he founded, Partners In Health. He enlists the help of the Gates Foundation, George Soros, the U.N.’s World Health Organization, and others in his quest to cure the world. At the heart of this book is the example of a life based on hope, and on an understanding of the truth of the Haitian proverb “Beyond mountains there are mountains”: as you solve one problem, another problem presents itself, and so you go on and try to solve that one too.

“ Mountains Beyond Mountains unfolds with the force of a gathering revelation,” says Annie Dillard, and Jonathan Harr says, “[Farmer] wants to change the world. Certainly this luminous and powerful book will change the way you see it.”

From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews:

Truly inspiring.......2007-06-12

Dr. Paul Farmer is one person I would love to meet. He has become a hero to us here at BioImmersion. I highly recommend reading his book as it will inspire you to have faith again: Good people do indeed exist and are working hard to alleviate suffering, and that you can also become one, helping and inspiring the world in your own way. The book is not only for people in the health and medical arenas but also for anyone who has eyes to see suffering and a heart willing to hear a call. A must read.
Dohrea Bardell
Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World

Mandatory reading for any thoughtful person.......2007-06-03

Truly a life changing book. It illustrates how each of us, as individuals, need not be paralyzed by the magnitude of the disparities and injustices that exist in the world. In a subtle, non-preachy way, it conveys the message of the old Nike ad: Just do it.

Best book ever!.......2007-05-19

Dr. Paul Farmer is a phenomenal man, and this book lays out all of the wonderful things he has done, as well as his ideologies, which are primarily based on Catholic Social teaching. Great book, everyone should read it.

Mountains beyond Mountains.......2007-05-19

Interesting book, learned many things about strife in Haiti, medical woes and one persons fight against TB. Book was a bit repetitious, could have been shorter and still gotten the meaning/message across.

Dr. Farmer the miracle man.......2007-05-13

This book has to be one of the best books I have ever read, its amazing and inspiring how Dr. Farmer makes a different single handily taking on TB and poverty. Its a great, easy read that will have you keep going back to the book to follow Farmers works in Haiti, Peru and Russia. Along with his personal life, the author does a good job of telling the amazing story of Dr. Farmer and his friends in a very detailed story that keeps you entertained. It must read for anyone that is going to be a doctor or just someone that wants to know how to make a difference in the world, no matter how big or small.

Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith

Average customer rating:

Raw and Dangerous Reading
Grabbing Words for Spiritual People
LOVE Anne Lamott!
Honest and Insightful Little Book
Beautiful

Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith
Anne Lamott
Manufacturer: Anchor
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Authors | Arts & Literature | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Religious | Leaders & Notable People | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Women | Specific Groups | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Biographies & Memoirs | Book Clubs | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Religion & Spirituality Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith
Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year
Hard Laughter: A Novel

ASIN: 0385496095
Release Date: 2000-02-15

Amazon.com

For most writers, the greatest challenge of spiritual writing is to keep it grounded in concrete language. The temptation is to wander off into the clouds of ethereal epiphanies, only to lose readers with woo-woo thinking and sacred-laced clichés. Thankfully, Anne Lamott (Operating Instructions, Crooked Little Heart) knows better. In this collection of essays, Lamott offers her trademark wit and irreverence in describing her reluctant journey into faith. Every epiphany is framed in plainspoken (and, yes, occasionally crassly spoken) real-life, honest-to-God experiences. For example, after having an abortion, Lamott felt the presence of Christ sitting in her bedroom:

This experience spooked me badly, but I thought it was just an apparition born of fear and self-loathing and booze and loss of blood. But then everywhere I went I had the feeling that a little cat was following me, wanting me to reach down and pick it up, wanting me to open the door and let it in. But I knew what would happen: you let a cat in one time, give it a little milk and then it stays forever.

Whether she's writing about airplane turbulence, bulimia, her "feta cheese thighs," or consulting God over how to parent her son, Lamott keeps her spirituality firmly planted in solid scenes and believable metaphors. As a result, this is a richly satisfying armchair-travel experience, highlighting the tender mercies of Lamott's life that nudged her into Christian faith. --Gail Hudson

Amazon.com Audiobook Review

Anne Lamott admits that she's "ever so slightly more anxious than the average hypochondriac." When faced with a small, irregular mole and a family history of skin cancer, however, she remembers her faith in God and enjoys some peace--despite behaving "a little more like Nathan Lane in The Birdcage than I would have hoped." Author Lamott reads these wonderfully detailed postcards from her meandering journey to faith. With sharp and bittersweet humor, she recounts a past full of bad relationships with men, with food, with drugs, with alcohol, and worst of all, with herself. She battles her demons thanks to the love of her friends and family and her "lurch of faith" to embrace religion, that "puzzling thing inside me that had begun to tug on my sleeve from time to time, trying to get my attention." Inspiring but not dogmatic, Traveling Mercies is a treasure. (Running time: 4 hours, 3 cassettes) --C.B. Delaney

Book Description

Anne Lamott claims the two best prayers she knows are: "Help me, help me, help me" and "Thank you, thank you, thank you." She has a friend whose morning prayer each day is "Whatever," and whose evening prayer is "Oh, well." Anne thinks of Jesus as "Casper the friendly savior" and describes God as "one crafty mother."

Despite--or because of--her irreverence, faith is a natural subject for Anne Lamott. Since Operating Instructions and Bird by Bird, her fans have been waiting for her to write the book that explained how she came to the big-hearted, grateful, generous faith that she so often alluded to in her two earlier nonfiction books. The people in Anne Lamott's real life are like beloved characters in a favorite series for her readers--her friend Pammy, her son, Sam, and the many funny and wise folks who attend her church are all familiar. And Traveling Mercies is a welcome return to those lives, as well as an introduction to new companions Lamott treats with the same candor, insight, and tenderness.

Lamott's faith isn't about easy answers, which is part of what endears her to believers as well as nonbelievers. Against all odds, she came to believe in God and then, even more miraculously, in herself. As she puts it, "My coming to faith did not start with a leap but rather a series of staggers." At once tough, personal, affectionate, wise, and very funny, Traveling Mercies tells in exuberant detail how Anne Lamott learned to shine the light of faith on the darkest part of ordinary life, exposing surprising pockets of meaning and hope.

Download Description

Traveling Mercies takes us on a journey through Anne Lamott's troubled past to illuminate her devout but quirky walk of faith: how, against all odds, she came to believe in God, and the myriad ways in which that faith sustains and guides her in everyday life. With an exuberant mix of passion and self-deprecating humor, Lamott explores whether certain behaviors will get her "a better seat in heaven, " perhaps "near the dessert table, " or whether her mistakes "make Jesus want to drink gin straight out of the cat disk" She writes about her family, about helping a friend through the devastating illness of her baby, about wanting but not having all the answers for her eight-year-old son.

Through the hard-won wisdom that forms the core of her beliefs, and with wit, insight, and lots of heart, she shows us how she creates a life balance of connectedness and liberation.

Customer Reviews:

Raw and Dangerous Reading.......2007-06-09

Hmmm. I dunno. Lamott is as brilliantly down-to-earth in her prose as we're likely to find. When her heart races, the reader gasps for breath. And funny? OMG! Only Miami Herald hoot Dave Barry is more deadpan. But I came away feeling like I'd rather party with Anne than pray with her -- and that shakes my sobriety, serenity, and spirituality all at once! I'll be watching to see how God shapes her soul, over time.

Grabbing Words for Spiritual People.......2007-06-01

The powerful prose pushes the thoughts into the head. The stories are gripping, but every now and then, you must look around and make sure know one is seeing you read all those swear words. Check out the blog at [..]

LOVE Anne Lamott!.......2007-05-14

Love this book! Anne is such a beautiful writer--she speaks honestly without leaving out any details.... She speaks honestly about her journey with God, no holds barred.

Honest and Insightful Little Book.......2007-05-03

I have to hand it to Anne Lamott for being honest with herself and her past. She is a Christian and her growth is shown in this book as she discusses family, friends and raising her son Sam. The first quarter of the book may be disturbing for some with its graphic description of the author's drug and alcohol problems, but by the end of the book, the reader has developed a certain respect for Lamott and her insights into life born from her past. She is a woman comfortable with herself, her faults and her relationship with God, although she is well aware that she is far from the person that God believes she can become. The best reason to read this book, however, is not necessarily for the stories, but for her writing style. Lamott is a gifted writer. She believes in her faith and in her writing, both of which shine through in this short book.

Beautiful.......2007-04-23

A beautifully written book about how very un-beautiful it can be to be a single parent, a Christian, and recovering alcoholic. I've been two out of the three (not a parent), and could relate to her becoming an authentic person of integrity. Her brutally honest admissions about having a "social 6-pack" or two was hysterical.

Apparently, there are perfect people in the world. Perfect Christians who do not have any use for the imperfect or understanding of the trials that face the Rest of Us. Luckily, this book won't be wasted on them, and the Rest of Us can have a good laugh at ourselves, along with Lamott.

An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness

Average customer rating:

Insightfull!!
book i chose to randomly read
Very Enlightening
An amazing journey through an amazing mind!!
a wonderful and inspiring book

An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness
Kay Redfield Jamison
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Specific Groups | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Women | Specific Groups | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Depression | Mental Health | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Manic Depression | Mental Health | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Biographies & Memoirs | Book Clubs | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Biographies | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Health Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament
The Bipolar Disorder Survival Guide: What You and Your Family Need to Know
Brilliant Madness: Living with Manic Depressive Illness
Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness
Loving Someone With Bipolar Disorder

ASIN: 0679763309
Release Date: 1997-01-14

Amazon.com

In Touched with Fire, Kay Redfield Jamison, a psychiatrist, turned a mirror on the creativity so often associated with mental illness. In this book she turns that mirror on herself. With breathtaking honesty she tells of her own manic depression, the bitter costs of her illness, and its paradoxical benefits: "There is a particular kind of pain, elation, loneliness and terror involved in this kind of madness.... It will never end, for madness carves its own reality." This is one of the best scientific autobiographies ever written, a combination of clarity, truth, and insight into human character. "We are all, as Byron put it, differently organized," Jamison writes. "We each move within the restraints of our temperament and live up only partially to its possibilities." Jamison's ability to live fully within her limitations is an inspiration to her fellow mortals, whatever our particular burdens may be. --Mary Ellen Curtin

Book Description

As a founder of UCLA's Affective Disorder Clinic and a co-author of a standard medical text, Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison may be the foremost authority on manic-depressive illness. She is also one of its survivors. And it is this dual perspective -- as healer and healed -- that makes Jamison's memoir so lucid, learned, and profoundly affecting.

Even as she was pursuing her psychiatric training, Jamison found herself succumbing to the exhilarating highs and paralyzing lows that afflicted many of her patients. Though the disorder brought her seemingly boundless energy and mercurial creativity, it also propelled her into spending sprees, episodes of violence, and an attempt at suicide.

Powerfully candid, exceptionally wise, An Unquiet Mind is one of those rare books that has the power to transform lives -- and even save them.

Customer Reviews:

Insightfull!!.......2007-06-07

I have manic depressive illness; this is a fabulous book. It gave me powerful insight into multiple aspects of the disease. Through her memoirs Jamison helped me understand events in my past. As a result it makes me significantly more accepting of my disorder.

Jamison makes it clear throughout of the dangers of discontinuing one's medication. I stopped taking mine a year ago, with results similar to Jamison's spending sprees. Using the bifurcated approach of talk and drug therapy is a point clearly made in this book.
With the help of an excellent psychologist and psychiatrist I put my life back together and am better than I've been in 30 years.

The correlation and triggers for mania or hypomania and depression are wonderfully described both from a personal and clinical perspective. The point there is a broad spectrum of facets of this disease comes across clearly.

This book should be read by anyone with manic depressive illness, anyone that cares about someone with the disease, or is interested in its many manifestations. I will continue to recommend it to anyone interested. Thank you Kay Redfield Jamison for helping me better understand my life and manage my disease.

book i chose to randomly read.......2007-05-29

I am a clinical psych major and randomly picked this book off the shelf of the library. I guess this is a miracle because this gave me such a perspective into the mind of someone with this disorder. It is really unimagineable the amount of insight i gained from this book. It was also a really good read.

Very Enlightening.......2007-04-06

This book was really well written and an eye-opener for anyone with BiPolar Illness. The author writes with a poetic quality and honesty that is very refreshing.

An amazing journey through an amazing mind!!.......2007-03-30

This is, bar none, my favorite book on the planet! I almost cried when I finished it because I wanted it to go on forever. I recommend this book to my educated patients that have bipolar or love someone with bipolar. This is an uplifting, inspiring, intimate autobiography of one of the most amazing minds on the planet. Kay Redfield Jameson is a PhD in psychology, has written over 700 journal articles as well as a 900 page text book for psychiatrists on Manic-Depressive Illness. Kay shows us the absolute beauty of the bipolar mind as well as some of it's horrors. Her skill in writing brings you into the world of her brilliance, madness and humanness, something any human can relate to. Bravo!

See also, A Brilliant Madness by Patty Duke, a quick easy read.
See also, Exuberance by Kay Redfield Jameson all about the up side.

a wonderful and inspiring book.......2007-03-26

For anyone who is interested in reading an inspiring and honest journey of life, this is the book for you.

For anyone who wish to understand mental illness of Bi-polar or Manic depressive, this is a wonderful book for you.

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

Average customer rating:

Disappointed my very high expectations, but enjoyable
What's all the fuss about? The Emperor has no clothes!
One of the finest works of fiction
Eggers Got Me Hooked
Please enter a title for your review

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Dave Eggers
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Authors | Arts & Literature | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Journalists | Professionals & Academics | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Memoirs | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Biographies & Memoirs | Book Clubs | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Biographies | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

What Is the What
Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto
Me Talk Pretty One Day
How We Are Hungry
Everything Is Illuminated: A Novel

ASIN: 0375725784
Release Date: 2001-02-13

Amazon.com

Dave Eggers is a terrifically talented writer; don't hold his cleverness against him. What to make of a book called A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius: Based on a True Story? For starters, there's a good bit of staggering genius before you even get to the true story, including a preface, a list of "Rules and Suggestions for Enjoyment of This Book," and a 20-page acknowledgements section complete with special mail-in offer, flow chart of the book's themes, and a lovely pen-and-ink drawing of a stapler (helpfully labeled "Here is a drawing of a stapler:").

But on to the true story. At the age of 22, Eggers became both an orphan and a "single mother" when his parents died within five months of one another of unrelated cancers. In the ensuing sibling division of labor, Dave is appointed unofficial guardian of his 8-year-old brother, Christopher. The two live together in semi-squalor, decaying food and sports equipment scattered about, while Eggers worries obsessively about child-welfare authorities, molesting babysitters, and his own health. His child-rearing strategy swings between making his brother's upbringing manically fun and performing bizarre developmental experiments on him. (Case in point: his idea of suitable bedtime reading is John Hersey's Hiroshima.)

The book is also, perhaps less successfully, about being young and hip and out to conquer the world (in an ironic, media-savvy, Gen-X way, naturally). In the early '90s, Eggers was one of the founders of the very funny Might Magazine, and he spends a fair amount of time here on Might, the hipster culture of San Francisco's South Park, and his own efforts to get on to MTV's Real World. This sort of thing doesn't age very well--but then, Eggers knows that. There's no criticism you can come up with that he hasn't put into A.H.W.O.S.G. already. "The book thereafter is kind of uneven," he tells us regarding the contents after page 109, and while that's true, it's still uneven in a way that is funny and heartfelt and interesting.

All this self-consciousness could have become unbearably arch. It's a testament to Eggers's skill as a writer--and to the heartbreaking particulars of his story--that it doesn't. Currently the editor of the footnote-and-marginalia-intensive journal McSweeney's (the last issue featured an entire story by David Foster Wallace printed tinily on its spine), Eggers comes from the most media-saturated generation in history--so much so that he can't feel an emotion without the sense that it's already been felt for him. What may seem like postmodern noodling is really just Eggers writing about pain in the only honest way available to him. Oddly enough, the effect is one of complete sincerity, and--especially in its concluding pages--this memoir as metafiction is affecting beyond all rational explanation. --Mary Park

Book Description

The literary sensation of the year, a book that redefines both family and narrative for the twenty-first century. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius is the moving memoir of a college senior who, in the space of five weeks, loses both of his parents to cancer and inherits his eight-year-old brother. Here is an exhilarating debut that manages to be simultaneously hilarious and wildly inventive as well as a deeply heartfelt story of the love that holds a family together.

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius is an instant classic that will be read in paperback for decades to come. The Vintage edition includes a new appendix by the author.

Customer Reviews:

Disappointed my very high expectations, but enjoyable.......2007-06-18

I decided to order this book because the title intrigued me and the few reviews I skimmed seemed to glow. Thus, when the book arrived, I put it on the top of my summer reading list and hurried to finish up the series I had already started, building the book up in my mind to be, as the title suggested, heartbreaking, staggering, and genius. Unfortunately, the book did not quite meet this vaulted expectations, but it was a good read nonetheless. Egger's is very quirky and portrays himself as an almost complete narcissist. He is needy, paranoid, and tragically flawed, but you can't help loving him, even if you occasionally wish you could reach into the space between the period and the Capital and smack the louse upside the head. Even in the throes of the descriptions of his paranoid ramblings on the imagined death of Toph, Eggers is heartbreakingly funny. I found myself throughout the narrative constantly wondering what he was going to do or say next and musing on prospective paper topics on the recreation of the postmodern memoir through the eyes of Eggers or the pseudo-parent-child relationship of Toph and Dave as a vehicle of and for narcissism. Although the prose sometimes seemed quite listless and I had momentary thoughts of quitting the book altogether, these quickly passed in a blaze of humor or compassion toward the heartbreaking story which is his story. Though by no means genius, Egger's work is both heartbreaking and staggering, but he forgot to mention hilarious.

What's all the fuss about? The Emperor has no clothes!.......2007-05-31

With all the praise this book received, I can't understand why this book didn't win the Pulitzer prize. Oh, wait! I know. There wasn't enough profanity. Maybe if he had added a glossary of profanity to go along with his oh-so-clever drawing of a stapler, that would have tipped the scales in his favor. Sorry folks, where you see "honesty" I see literary laziness. "Lets see, I can't think of a good way to describe how this feels, so @^$#*&#&!!!" It read like a kid's journal. I made it through chapter 5, then realized I could log into MySpace and read blogs by children just as well written as this was. I get it. He is angry because life is confusing and unfair. Life presents us with mutiple opportunites to feel inadequate and afraid. He enjoys shocking people with outrageous prose and images. Got it. But if this is the kind of literature that is worthy of a Pulitzer, than the world is a sadder and scarier place than I thought. In the future, I will avoid all titles written by this author as though they were the very plague!

One of the finest works of fiction.......2007-05-26

As a literature major, avid reader and book club member, I read, and have read, more books. . . well, enough books to fill seven bookshelves in my home. While others in my book club were not as fond of this pathos-filled piece of gripping, witty, sarcastic, reality--I could not put it down. The characters filled my thoughts throughout the day, and I would dream of them once I placed the book on my night stand and went to sleep. For anyone who isn't afraid to delve into the realities of dysfunctional, struggling, richly diverse families. This book is for you!

Eggers Got Me Hooked.......2007-05-24

Someone suggested this book to me with the line, "this is so you. You're going to love it." They were right, at least about the loving part. I don't necessarily know whether I write or think or act like Eggers. If I do, then I consider it a compliment.

This instantaneously became one of my favorite books of all-time. Even through the first few pages I was totally hooked to the way Eggers stayed so colloquial with his reader. I can appreciate that, especially as someone who works in the law where a lot of really simple communication has to be terse and formal. Sometimes the warmest, most welcoming type of conversation is the one that's long and nuanced and complicated even when the ideas behind the words might seemingly be simple.

To me, a good book is one that makes me think rather than just follow a plot line and a story. A great book is one that makes me write in the margins, adding my own thoughts to the passages. I transformed whole pages of this book into a notepad. While narrating a really interesting story in its own right, what made the book spectacular was Eggers's musings on the things that were happening around him. Too many writers merely describe what goes on around them without offering any insights into what they think and how they feel about particular situations. These are the types of books most of us are used to, and while the plot might move us along and keep us entertained and engaged, the end product is superficial. I usually walk away from books feeling thrilled at having finished them, but then quickly having that replaced with a sense of dissatisfaction. I never understood why that was happening, how you can complete a seemingly excellent, exciting book, and feel uneasy about it. But after reading Eggers, he reminded me that there's a lot more that an author can offer besides a fun story. Now I think that authors have a responsibility to offer more.

While I don't like gimmicks, and was originally sceptical when I saw all the little random things Eggers tossed into the book (like a weird copyright page in the beginning and a strange autobiographical blurb at the end), the fact that Eggers was totally aware of his gimmicks, and made fun of himself throughout, helped put me at ease. Few things can bring you closer to a writer than their ability to laugh and shake their head at the things they say and do. This book is filled with parts like that. Particularly, Eggers warns us that the book gets kind of boring closer to the end, and he's actually right about that. When you get to that part, and you remember his introductory statement about it, you're still marvelling at how great it all is. Maybe it's because its a memoir, maybe its because Eggers brings you into his life and makes you feel like you've known him for years, maybe it's because you don't want to fall into the trap of agreeing with a statement that should seemingly discourage you from reading his book. Whatever the case, even at is most boring "Heartbreaking Work" is exactly what is claims to be - genius.

Please enter a title for your review.......2007-05-12

A lot of what he says is fundamental to social humanity.
I appreciate the lack of formality. If you want to communicate something of a personal nature a conversational tone is more effective than a laboured literary one. The moments where he doesn't apply this philosophy, which add up to about half the book, are just dead space to me though. With characters not being established until halfway through the second chapter the first 1½ were a drag to get through and would have been better placed at the end of the book.

Average customer rating:

The end of happy hour
My first and favorite
Funny and Tragic
Obnoxious and Pointless...
great book

Dry: A Memoir
Augusten Burroughs
Manufacturer: Picador
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Authors | Arts & Literature | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Memoirs | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Biographies & Memoirs | Book Clubs | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Biographies | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Running with Scissors: A Memoir
Magical Thinking : True Stories
Sellevision: A Novel
Possible Side Effects
Naked

ASIN: 0312423799

Amazon.com

Fans of Augusten Burroughs's darkly funny memoir Running with Scissors were left wondering at the end of that book what would become of young Augusten after his squalid and fascinating childhood ended. In Dry, we find that although adult Augusten is doing well professionally, earning a handsome living as an ad writer for a top New York agency, Burroughs's personal life is a disaster. His apartment is a sea of empty Dewar's bottles, he stays out all night boozing, and he dabs cologne on his tongue in an unsuccessful attempt to mask the stench of alcohol on his breath at work. When his employer insists he seek help, Burroughs ships out to Minnesota for detoxification, counseling, and amusingly told anecdotes about the use of stuffed animals in group therapy. But after a month of such treatment, he's back in Manhattan and tenuously sober. And while its one thing to lay off the sauce in rehab, Burroughs learns that it's quite another to resume your former life while avoiding the alcohol that your former life was based around. This quest to remain sober is made dramatically more difficult, and the tale more harrowing, when Burroughs begins an ill-advised romance with a crack addict. Certainly the "recovered alcoholic fighting to stay sober" tale is not new territory for a memoirist. But Burroughs's account transcends clichés: it doesn't adhere to the traditional "temptation narrowly resisted" storyline and it features, in Burroughs himself, a central character that is sympathetic even when he's neither likable nor admirable. But what ultimately makes this memoir such a terrific read is a brilliant and candid sense of humor that manages to stay dry even when recalling events where the author was anything but. --John Moe

Book Description

From the bestselling author of Running with Scissors comes Dry-the hilarious, moving, and no less bizarre account of what happened next You may not know it, but you've met Augusten Burroughs. You've seen him on the street, in bars, on the subway, at restaurants: a twenty-something guy, nice suit, works in advertising. Regular. Ordinary. But when the ordinary person had to drinks, Augusten was circling the drain by having twelve; when the ordinary person went home at midnight, Augusten never went home at all. Loud, distracting ties, automated wake-up calls, and cologne on the tongue could only hide so much for so long. At the request (well, it wasn't really a request) of his employers, Augusten landed in rehab, where his dreams of group therapy with Robert Downey, Jr., are immediately dashed by the grim reality of fluorescent lighting and paper hospital slippers. But when Augusten is forced to examine himself, something actually starts to click, and that's when he finds himself in the worst trouble of all. Because when his thirty days are up, he has to return to his same drunken Manhattan lifeand live it sober. What follows is a memoir that's as moving as it is funny, as heartbreaking as it is real. Dry is the story of love, loss, and Starbucks as a higher power.

Customer Reviews:

The end of happy hour.......2007-06-01

"Dry" picks up shortly after author Augusten Burroughs's memoir "Running with Scissors" left off. After escaping the childhood from hell and relocating to New York City, Augusten lands a posh job at an advertising agency where he excels at his craft and earns a six-figure salary. However, despite his professional success, Augusten's personal life is one of loneliness and drunken despair. He stays out drinking until the wee hours of the morning, and his alcoholism eventually begins affecting his performance at work. Augusten's coworkers finally intervene and force him to admit himself into a gay rehabilitation center. "Dry" chronicles Augusten's experience in rehab and his struggle to remain sober once he returns to the outside world. This memoir also chronicles Augusten's challenging relationships with various friends and lovers (including a sexy, rich crack addict), and Augusten discovers additional weaknesses and fears that he has yet to come to terms with.

I love Augusten's blunt honesty and sarcastic sense of humor. His story isn't a happy one by any stretch of the imagination, but he always manages to find dry humor in just about everything and isn't afraid to make fun of himself. (I love his crazy rehab stories most of all. The bit with the "Monkey Wonkey" song is hilarious! However, isn't the rule supposed to be that "what happens in rehab stays in rehab?" I guess not, or at least not in this case. Ha!) However, all jokes aside, "Dry" is also a very poignant story about alcoholism, friendship, and love. I recommend this book to everyone.

My first and favorite.......2007-05-31

Though I'd owned Running with Scissors for a long time, this was the first Augusten Burroughs I read all the way through. I'm in love with his writing and anxiously await his next book.

Funny and Tragic.......2007-05-19

This memoir is both entertaining and insightful. The author does a great job of illustrating the dark world his alcoholism pulled him into, yet he also sees the humor in situations which makes it laugh-out-loud funny at times. Fast-paced read. Tragic, yet funny. Through all his self-destructive behaviors, I found myself really rooting for Augusten.

Obnoxious and Pointless..........2007-05-14

It was an interesting read at first, but later on, I was disappointed with the writer's anti-Semitic remarks and his degrading language against other cultures and faiths. Not to mention the unnecessary chapters of erotica. I was looking for something inspiring and motivating, unfortunately, this was the wrong book.

great book.......2007-04-20

i started reading all Burroughs' books after seeing running with scissors. he's comparable to David Sedaris' style but i like Burroughs more. Dry reminded me of James Frey's A Million Little Pieces but only bc its about becoming sober. Dry is much more sincere and inspiring.

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America

Average customer rating:

Surprisingly dry account
great book
A Terrific Read!
Dark but Excellent
Exceptionally written non-fiction

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America
Erik Larson
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Murder & Mayhem | True Accounts | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

True Crime | True Accounts | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Serial Killers | True Accounts | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

History & Nonfiction | Book Clubs | Specialty Stores | Books

Biographies & Memoirs | Book Clubs | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside History Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Nonfiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: A Novel
Thunderstruck
The Time Traveler's Wife
Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

ASIN: 0375725601
Release Date: 2004-02-10

Amazon.com

Author Erik Larson imbues the incredible events surrounding the 1893 Chicago World's Fair with such drama that readers may find themselves checking the book's categorization to be sure that The Devil in the White City is not, in fact, a highly imaginative novel. Larson tells the stories of two men: Daniel H. Burnham, the architect responsible for the fair's construction, and H.H. Holmes, a serial killer masquerading as a charming doctor. Burnham's challenge was immense. In a short period of time, he was forced to overcome the death of his partner and numerous other obstacles to construct the famous "White City" around which the fair was built. His efforts to complete the project, and the fair's incredible success, are skillfully related along with entertaining appearances by such notables as Buffalo Bill Cody, Susan B. Anthony, and Thomas Edison. The activities of the sinister Dr. Holmes, who is believed to be responsible for scores of murders around the time of the fair, are equally remarkable. He devised and erected the World's Fair Hotel, complete with crematorium and gas chamber, near the fairgrounds and used the event as well as his own charismatic personality to lure victims. Combining the stories of an architect and a killer in one book, mostly in alternating chapters, seems like an odd choice but it works. The magical appeal and horrifying dark side of 19th-century Chicago are both revealed through Larson's skillful writing. --John Moe

Book Description

Bringing Chicago circa 1893 to vivid life, Erik Larson's spellbinding bestseller intertwines the true tale of two men--the brilliant architect behind the legendary 1893 World's Fair, striving to secure America’s place in the world; and the cunning serial killer who used the fair to lure his victims to their death. Combining meticulous research with nail-biting storytelling, Erik Larson has crafted a narrative with all the wonder of newly discovered history and the thrills of the best fiction.

Download Description

In The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson, author of Isaac's Storm, tells the spellbinding true story of two men, an architect and a serial killer, whose fates were linked by the greatest fair in American history: the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, nicknamed "The White City."

Two men, each handsome and unusually adept at his chosen work, embodied an element of the great dynamic that characterized America's rush toward the twentieth century.

The architect was Daniel Hudson Burnham, the fair's brilliant director of works and the builder of many of the country's most important structures, including the Flatiron Building in New York and Union Station in Washington, D.C.

The murderer was Henry H. Holmes, a young doctor who, in a malign parody of the White City, built his "World's Fair Hotel" just west of the fairgrounds -- a torture palace complete with dissection table, gas chamber, and 3,000-degree crematorium.

Burnham overcame tremendous obstacles and tragedies as he organized the talents of Frederick Law Olmsted, Charles McKim, Louis Sullivan, and others to transform swampy Jackson Park into the White City, while Holmes used the attraction of the great fair and his own satanic charms to lure scores of young women to their deaths. What makes the story all the more chilling is that Holmes really lived, walking the grounds of that dream city by the lake.

The Devil in the White City draws the reader into a time of magic and majesty, made all the more appealing by a supporting cast of real-life characters, including Buffalo Bill, Theodore Dreiser, Susan B. Anthony, Thomas Edison, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, and others. In this book, the smoke, romance and mystery of the Gilded Age come alive as never before.

Erik Larson's gifts as a storyteller are magnificently displayed in this rich narrative of the master builder, the killer, and the great fair that obsessed them both.

"Engrossing... exceedingly well documented... utterly fascinating."
   CHICAGO TRIBUNE

"A dynamic, enveloping book.... Relentlessly fuses history and entertainment to give this nonfiction book the dramtic effect of a novel.... It doesn't hurt that this truth is stranger than fiction."
   THE NEW YORK TIMES

"So good, you find yourself asking how you could not know this already."
   ESQUIRE

"Another successful exploration of American history.... Larson skillfully balances the grisly details with the far-reaching implications of the World's Fair."
   USA TODAY

"As absorbing a piece of popular history as one will ever hope to find."
   SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

"Paints a dazzling picture of the Gilded Age and prefigure the American century to come."
   ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

"A wonderfully unexpected book... Larson is a historian... with a novelist's soul."
   CHICAGO SUN-TIMES

Customer Reviews:

Surprisingly dry account.......2007-06-17

If one has an interest in architecture then this book is recommended. Personally, I found the account of the development of the Chicago World's Fair rather boring. I guess I am not a big fan of architecture. I do highly recommend Ken Follet's "The Pillars of the Earth", but that is a historical fiction novel about the building of a Cathedral. Normally architecture is a subject that you just have to be fascinated by in the first place to enjoy reading about.

If one has an interest in psychopaths, then I do not give this book a high recommendation, for his account of a serial killer lurking in Chicago at the time of the fair is also rather dry. I just could not get into Larson's matter of fact style. For the most part the account switches chapters between the fair and the killer. He has woven an inferior account of what perhaps in more skilled hands would be much more fascinating.

When Larson did try to create suspense in his account, it failed. He foreshadows events constantly and not very effectively. The best example of this in the novel is his buildup to the murder of the mayor of Chicago.

There is little connection between the two tales beyond time and place. I give it 3 stars because overall the subject matter is interesting enough to warrant a read. If for nothing else to cause one to ponder over the great changes that have occurred in the world over the last 100 years. The setting of the world's fair and it's cutting edge late 19th century technology accomplishes that, but overall the account is not presented very well, and quite frankly I am baffled by its' popularity.The Pillars of the Earth

great book.......2007-06-13

This is a great book!! Written well and very thoughful. I just couldn't put it down!! I learned lots about lots and had fun doing it!

A Terrific Read!.......2007-06-11

Larson's work is the literary equivalent of eating fresh salmon. It tastes great and it's actually good for you. This book would stand on it's own as a terrific thriller - but you get the added benefit of learning a lot about early 20th century architecture, and a facinating historical overview of the World's Fair. There's nothing better than a book that is a real page turner, yet fills you with knowledge.

Dark but Excellent.......2007-06-11

This is a must read book if you want to know what went on behind the scenes of the 1st World's Fair held in Chicago. There were men and women who never gave up on a dream and held out in the face of many obstacles, but there was also a psychopath who was totally twisted. An excellent book, but don't read it at night if you are prone to nightmares.

Exceptionally written non-fiction.......2007-06-08

In this non-fiction serial murder mystery Erik Larson (author of Isaac's Storm) describes the events leading to the World's Fair in Chicago in the 1800's. In parallel to the Fair he describes the macabre activities of one of the earliest serial murderer's. Chapter for chapter he interchanges between the Fair development and the expansion of the serial murderer in a way that keeps you interested in their development. The ultimate is the pursuit of the serial killer and the strong determination of one investigator to bring the serial killer to justice. Exceptional search techniques in the pre-1900 era. An interesting, recommended read.

Sociological Theory in the Classical Era: Text and Readings

Average customer rating:

Sociological Theory in the Classical Era: Text and Readings
Laura Desfor Edles , and Scott Appelrouth
Manufacturer: Pine Forge Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Nonfiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Qualifying Textbooks - Spring 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Living Theory: The Application of Classical Social Theory to Contemporary Life (2nd Edition)
Illuminating Social Life: Classical and Contemporary Theory Revisited
Contemporary Sociological Theory: Expanding the Classical Tradition (6th Edition)
Sociological Theory in the Contemporary Era: Text and Readings
Social Psychology

ASIN: 0761928022

Book Description

“Edles and Appelrouth's new book is a major contribution for those striving to help students understand the essential place of theory in the sociological enterprise. It skillfully demonstrates the contemporary relevance of classical theory, elucidates the complex interplay of empirical research and sociological theory, and makes crystal clear that good theory must always be more than idle speculation. The authors are to be commended for how they interweave biographical sketches, background influences, core ideas, and theoretical orientations, on the one hand, with their inclusion of pivotal primary sources. This book will likely be template that future texts in theory will try to emulate.”

— Edward Lehman, New York University

"Sociological Theory in the Classical Era is an ambitious and successful attempt to revitalize the teaching of sociological theory. The scope of primary readings is wide and inclusive. Their introductory materials are clear and helpful. Their new organizing framework will allow students to clarify the similarities and differences among the wealth of classical readings."

— Jeffrey Alexander, Yale University

“This is one of the best classical theory texts I've come across. Most undergraduates are unprepared for a serious encounter with the writings of the classical theorists. Rather than respond to this problem with a textbook full of pat summaries, Edles and Appelrouth ingeniously combine the best of the reader and textbook formats. Their exegeses of the major themes and arguments of each theorist -- written with a rare combination of theoretical acumen, clarity, and the sure-footed use of examples -- will help students make sense of the well chosen excerpts. The book thus serves a double purpose: not only will it expose students to the ideas of the classical theorists; it will also help them learn what it really means to read.”

— Neil Gross, Harvard University

Sociological Theory in the Classical Era is a highly-acclaimed new text which utilizes the unique and increasingly popular text/reader approach. The book presents major readings by sociology’s key classical theorists, including Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, Charlotte Perkins-Gilman, Georg Simmel, W.E.B. Du Bois, and George Herbert Mead. The corresponding text written by Laura Edles and Scott Appelrouth gives students the analytical framework necessary for them to develop a more critical and gratifying understanding of the ideas advanced by these theorists.

The theoretical concepts addressed in the book, while classical, still resonate with contemporary concerns. Topics include the nature of capitalism, the basis of social solidarity of cohesion, the role of authority in social life, the benefits and dangers posed by modern bureaucracies, the dynamics of gender and racial oppression, and the nature of “self” to name but a few.

Key Features

“Student-friendly” text/reader approach provides an overarching scaffolding which students can use to examine, compare, and contrast each theorists’ major themes and concepts through primary and secondary source materials
Connects classical theorists and their writings to contemporary concerns.
Photos of theorists, the social milieu during which their theories were developed, as well as photos that illustrate theories’ applications to modern life
Charts and figures summarize key concepts, illuminate complex ideas, and provoke student interest
Discussion questions at the end of each chapter aid student comprehension

Sociological Theory in the Classical Era is intended for use as the core text in upper-level Classical Sociological Theory courses, or in combined Classical/Contemporary Sociological Theory courses.

Laura Desfor Edles is the author of Symbol and Ritual in the New Spain (1998) and Cultural Sociology in Practice (2002). She has been teaching theory courses at both the graduate and undergraduate level for over ten years. She has also given numerous presentations at conferences on her particular method of teaching theory. Professor Edles received her Ph.D. from UCLA in 1990.

Scott Appelrouth is Assistant Professor of Sociology at California State University, Northridge. He received his Ph.D. from New York University in 2000. He has taught classical and contemporary theory at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, and has published several articles in research- and teaching-oriented journals.

Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood

Average customer rating:

Gone to the Dogs
Tragic Childhood Somehow Spawns Dark Humor in this Memoir
Interesting place/time ... pathetic people ...
A Must Read
ORIGINAL, SO DIFFERENT

Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood
Alexandra Fuller
Manufacturer: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Authors | Arts & Literature | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Historical | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Family & Childhood | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Memoirs | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Africa | History | Subjects | Books

Zimbabwe | Africa | History | Subjects | Books

Biographies & Memoirs | Book Clubs | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Biographies | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside History Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Mukiwa: A White Boy in Africa
Scribbling the Cat : Travels with an African Soldier
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: A Novel
The Glass Castle : A Memoir (Alex Awards (Awards))
Water for Elephants: A Novel

ASIN: 0375758992
Release Date: 2003-03-11

Book Description

In Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, Alexandra Fuller remembers her African childhood with candor and sensitivity. Though it is a diary of an unruly life in an often inhospitable place, it is suffused with Fuller’s endearing ability to find laughter, even when there is little to celebrate. Fuller’s debut is unsentimental and unflinching but always captivating. In wry and sometimes hilarious prose, she stares down disaster and looks back with rage and love at the life of an extraordinary family in an extraordinary time.

Download Description

In Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, Alexandra Fuller remembers her African childhood with visceral authenticity. Though it is a diary of an unruly life in an often inhospitable place, it is suffused with Fuller's endearing ability to find laughter, even when there is little to celebrate. Fuller's debut is unsentimental and unflinching but always captivating. In wry and sometimes hilarious prose, she stares down disaster and looks back with rage and love at the life of an extraordinary family in an extraordinary time.

From 1972 to 1990, Alexandra Fuller -- known to friends and family as Bobo -- grew up on several farms in southern and central Africa. Her father joined up on the side of the white government in the Rhodesian civil war, and was often away fighting against the powerful black guerilla factions. Her mother, in turn, flung herself at their African life and its rugged farm work with the same passion and maniacal energy she brought to everything else. Though she loved her children, she was no hand-holder and had little tolerance for neediness. She nurtured her daughters in other ways: She taught them, by example, to be resilient and self-sufficient, to have strong wills and strong opinions, and to embrace life wholeheartedly, despite and because of difficult circumstances. And she instilled in Bobo, particularly, a love of reading and of storytelling that proved to be her salvation.

A worthy heir to Isak Dinesen and Beryl Markham, Alexandra Fuller writes poignantly about a girl becoming a woman and a writer against a backdrop of unrest, not just in her country but in her home. But Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight is more than a survivor's story. It is the story of one woman's unbreakable bond with a continent and the people who inhabit it, a portrait lovingly realized and deeply felt.

"This searing memoir of a white family clinging to lives in Africa as Rhodesia became Zimbabwe lays out, without moralizing or sentimentality, the way in which turmoil and injustice in society distort the lives of families and individuals."
   MARY CATHERINE BATESON, AUTHOR OF COMPOSING A LIFE AND FULL CIRCLES, OVERLAPPING LIVES

"Nobody has ever written a book about growing up white in rural Africa the way Alexandra Fuller has. Her voice is mordant, her ear uncanny. Her unsentimentality is a pleasant shock. Her sense of humor is extremely sly. Without a trace of pretension, she quietly performs what is really a major literary feat-nailing both the poetry and the myopia of a child's experience in a brawling, bad-luck family on the losing side of an anti-colonial war."
   WILLIAM FINNEGAN, AUTHOR OF CROSSING THE LINE: A YEAR IN THE LAND OF APARTHEID AND COLD NEW WORLD: GROWING UP IN HARDER COUNTRY

Customer Reviews:

Gone to the Dogs.......2007-06-04

This is the story of Alexandra ("Bobo") Fuller's gone-to-the-dogs family in 1970's Rhodesia and of a girlhood spent in Africa, born of racist alcoholics who - like so many settlers, in Rhodesia particularly - were too hopelessly dysfunctional to make it in their own country and so thought it wise to go and trash someone else's.

Fuller was raised during the Rhodesian civil war (1971-1979), a time when white children over the age of five "learned how to load an FN rifle magazine, strip and clean all the guns in the house, and ultimately, shoot-to-kill." Fuller regales her readers with tales of how, as a small child, she would respond to African servants' attempts to discipline her with warnings that she could have them fired, "or worse."

Fuller artfully describes her parents' racism, the war and relationships between blacks and whites in the soon-to-become nation of Zimbabwe through a child's relentlessly observing eyes and her remarkable affection for her parents and her brutally oppressed homeland shines through. This affection, in spite of its subjects' prominent flaws, reveals their humanity and allows the reader direct entry into her world. Fuller accurately and artfully portrays bigotry (her own included), segregation, and deprivation.

I have great respect for Alexandra Fuller's writing, but must admit to having grown impatient with and irritated by the racism in this book. As a nasty, self-obsessed child desperately in need of parental oversight, the author gladly takes part in the degradation, segregation and insulting of the Africans she is around. Ms. Fuller doesn't offer any apologies or justifications for her own and her family's intransigent defense of white rule, and recounts her parents boasting "If we could have kept one country white-ruled, it would be an oasis."

My reactions toward this book are mixed. While on the one hand there were wonderful descriptions of Rhodesia/Zimbabwe, its peoples and the all-enveloping conflict of the 1970's, I found the stream-of-consciousness style of large tracts of text and tacit acceptance of unrelenting, self-indulgent racism sometimes difficult to deal with.

Tragic Childhood Somehow Spawns Dark Humor in this Memoir.......2007-05-04

Set in Africa, this marvelous, unusual memoir provides a very different view of the world which has been written about in the works of Isaak Dinesen and "The Flame Trees of Thika". These famous novels have chronicled an idealized life where whites live in harmony (and domination of) the black natives. Alexandra Fuller world is a very different one. She was the third child of Nicola and Tom Fuller, impoverished white South Africans who are doomed to be on the losing side of the struggle between native Africans and the white establishment. For almost twenty years, Alexandra follows her parents from country to country seeking that perfect white utopia where the natives don't rise up and seize control of the government. The family farms tobacco and runs cattle ranches, struggling to make a living in a world where white domination is fading. Her father spends most of his time away from home, patrolling the countryside against black rebels who sweep down on isolated farms and butcher all the inhabitants. Little five year old Alexandra knows enough not to visit her parents' bedroom in the middle of the night; they might shoot her with the shotguns they keep on the floor. Nicola Fuller is a relentless drunk, whose overwhelming sorrow over the loss of three of her five children and her bitterness over the rise of black power sends her seeking oblivion nearly every night. Despite the underlying despair that engulfs Alexandra's family, she somehow manages to imbue her story with dark humor and unflinching insight into the strength her parents display. Nicola and Tom Fuller are courageous and resilient people who manage to instill self-sufficiency and resourcefulness in Alexandra and her older sister, Vanessa. Alexandra has crafted a superb story that will capture the reader's imagination and engage their sympathy and admiration.

Interesting place/time ... pathetic people ..........2007-04-23

I stopped reading this book about half-way. After the author jokingly and flippantly referred to the death of her infant sister (who drowned in a small pond while the author failed to watch the toddler), I had had enough. How did it change the family? It made the drunk mother, well, more of a drunk. How interesting. There are so many memoirs about drunken, irresponsible families/parents, I guess I'm just losing interest. And while some are praising her for her "candor," I grew weary of all the racism in this book. Am I supposed to laugh when a little white girl orders around the black house help because she's "cheeky?" How about labeling her the selfish, nasty little kid she was. In fact, the author gladly takes part in the degredation, segregation and insulting of the Africans she is around. Maybe it got better in the second half, but I really didn't care to know. I guess reading about white trash Brits who cannot survive in their native country and go reap havoc in Africa just doesn't appeal to me. The bits of African history, evolution of civil wars (and tenuous resolutions to same) and the flora and fauna of Africa are fascinating. I also found many of the African people strong and interesting to read about. I wish she would have stuck to that as opposed to the endless tidbits of her uninteresting and pathetic family life. Yawn. I think someone else summed it up best, great locale doesn't make a great life.

A Must Read.......2007-03-09

This belongs in the top 15 of all the books I have ever read.

ORIGINAL, SO DIFFERENT.......2007-03-08

If you like Danielle Steele, forget this book. This is a real novel written by a real writer.

A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland Indiana (Today Show Book Club #3)

Average customer rating:

A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland Indiana (Today Show Book Club #3)
Haven Kimmel
Manufacturer: Broadway
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Midwest | Regional U.S. | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Women | Specific Groups | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Family & Childhood | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Memoirs | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Biographies & Memoirs | Book Clubs | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Biographies | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

She Got Up Off the Couch: And Other Heroic Acts from Mooreland, Indiana
The Solace of Leaving Early
Orville: A Dog Story (Bccb Blue Ribbon Fiction Books (Awards))
The Glass Castle : A Memoir (Alex Awards (Awards))
The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio: How My Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words or Less

ASIN: 0767915054
Release Date: 2002-09-03

Book Description

When Haven Kimmel was born in 1965, Mooreland, Indiana, was a sleepy little hamlet of three hundred people. Nicknamed "Zippy" for the way she would bolt around the house, this small girl was possessed of big eyes and even bigger ears. In this witty and lovingly told memoir, Kimmel takes readers back to a time when small-town America was caught in the amber of the innocent postwar period–people helped their neighbors, went to church on Sunday, and kept barnyard animals in their backyards.

Laced with fine storytelling, sharp wit, dead-on observations, and moments of sheer joy, Haven Kimmel's straight-shooting portrait of her childhood gives us a heroine who is wonderfully sweet and sly as she navigates the quirky adult world that surrounds Zippy.

Download Description

Laced with fine storytelling, sharp wit, dead-on observations, and moments of sheer joy, Haven Kimmel's straight-shooting portrait of her childhood gives us a heroine who is wonderfully sweet and sly as she navigates the quirky adult world that surrounds Zippy.

Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation

Average customer rating:

Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation
Joseph J. Ellis
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Historical | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

History & Theory | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

History & Nonfiction | Book Clubs | Specialty Stores | Books

Biographies & Memoirs | Book Clubs | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside History Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Nonfiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson
His Excellency: George Washington
John Adams
Alexander Hamilton
Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

ASIN: 0375705244
Release Date: 2002-02-05

Amazon.com's Best of 2001

In retrospect, it seems as if the American Revolution was inevitable. But was it? In Founding Brothers, Joseph J. Ellis reveals that many of those truths we hold to be self-evident were actually fiercely contested in the early days of the republic.

Ellis focuses on six crucial moments in the life of the new nation, including a secret dinner at which the seat of the nation's capital was determined--in exchange for support of Hamilton's financial plan; Washington's precedent-setting Farewell Address; and the Hamilton and Burr duel. Most interesting, perhaps, is the debate (still dividing scholars today) over the meaning of the Revolution. In a fascinating chapter on the renewed friendship between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson at the end of their lives, Ellis points out the fundamental differences between the Republicans, who saw the Revolution as a liberating act and hold the Declaration of Independence most sacred, and the Federalists, who saw the revolution as a step in the building of American nationhood and hold the Constitution most dear. Throughout the text, Ellis explains the personal, face-to-face nature of early American politics--and notes that the members of the revolutionary generation were conscious of the fact that they were establishing precedents on which future generations would rely.

In Founding Brothers, Ellis (whose American Sphinx won the National Book Award for nonfiction in 1997) has written an elegant and engaging narrative, sure to become a classic. Highly recommended. --Sunny Delaney

Book Description

In this landmark work of history, the National Book Award—winning author of American Sphinx explores how a group of greatly gifted but deeply flawed individuals–Hamilton, Burr, Jefferson, Franklin, Washington, Adams, and Madison–confronted the overwhelming challenges before them to set the course for our nation.

The United States was more a fragile hope than a reality in 1790. During the decade that followed, the Founding Fathers–re-examined here as Founding Brothers–combined the ideals of the Declaration of Independence with the content of the Constitution to create the practical workings of our government. Through an analysis of six fascinating episodes–Hamilton and Burr’s deadly duel, Washington’s precedent-setting Farewell Address, Adams’ administration and political partnership with his wife, the debate about where to place the capital, Franklin’s attempt to force Congress to confront the issue of slavery and Madison’s attempts to block him, and Jefferson and Adams’ famous correspondence– Founding Brothers brings to life the vital issues and personalities from the most important decade in our nation’s history.

Download Description

In this landmark work of history, the National Book Award-winning author of American Sphinx explores how a group of greatly gifted but deeply flawed individuals -- Hamilton, Burr, Jefferson, Franklin, Washington, Adams, and Madison -- confronted the overwhelming challenges before them to set the course for our nation.

The United States was more a fragile hope than a reality in 1790. During the decade that followed, the Founding Fathers -- re-examined here as Founding Brothers -- combined the ideals of the Declaration of Independence with the content of the Constitution to create the practical workings of our government. Through an analysis of six fascinating episodes -- Hamilton and Burr's deadly duel, Washington's precedent-setting Farewell Address, Adams' administration and political partnership with his wife, the debate about where to place the capital, Franklin's attempt to force Congress to confront the issue of slavery and Madison's attempts to block him, and Jefferson and Adams' famous correspondence -- Founding Brothers brings to life the vital issues and personalities from the most important decade in our nation's history.

"A splendid book -- humane, learned, written with flair and radiant with a calm intelligence and wit."
   THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

"Lively and illuminating... leaves the reader with a visceral sense of a formative era in American life."
   THE NEW YORK TIMES

"Masterful.... Fascinating.... Ellis is an elegant stylist.... [He] captures the passion the founders brought to the revolutionary project.... [A] very fine book."
   CHICAGO TRIBUNE

"Learned, exceedingly well-written, and perceptive."
   THE OREGONIAN

Books:

Books