Journals Books

Even more than Kunkel's brilliant biography "Genius in Disguise," this book offers special insights into "New Yorker" founder and editor Harold Ross, not only a seminal figure in American letters but a sardonic wit reminiscent of H.L. Mencken, one of the people with whom he frequently exchanged letters. (Indeed, the sweep of his correspondence, from "New Yorker" stalwarts like E.B. White and his wife Katherine to Dorothy Parker and James Thurber all the way to John O'Hara, Harpo Marx, various state governors and other polticos, President Truman, and Premier Nehru, is impressive in itself.) While in many of these letters, Ross comes across as that curmudgeon one might expect, there is a touch of tender concern in others that shows you that some of the gruffness was merely a pose--as is his stance as the long-suffering, embattled editor who says he would rather be doing anything else, but who clearly shows he is having the time of his life.

The book may be a bit abstruse in places for those who do not know the history of the "New Yorker" during the Ross editorship, but there seems to be enough comedy throughout to maintain even a casual reader's interest. Anyone who has enjoyed "Genius in Disguise" will surely love this book. I guess the greatest complement I can offer is now that I've read Kunkel's two Ross portrayals, I can't wait for his next book.

An engaging look at the history of the New Yorker through the founder's own words. A peek into the process of publication of some of the most well-known writers. Famous writers' correspondance with a brutally honest Harold Ross. EXCELLENT!

Most of the text is Ross's; this is what makes the book worth 4 stars.

Some of the explanatory comments are pretty clumsy:

"Married to Fleischmann's ex-wife, Ruth, a major New Yorker stockholder, Vischer played a strong behind-the-scenes role at the magazine and was trying to keep Ross from quitting." (p. 271)

Would a sentence like that have ever made the pages of the New Yorker?

I can't comment on the selection of letters with any authority, but it's at least adequate: Truman Capote progresses from someone who, in September 1944, "wouldn't have been employed here [even] as [an office boy] probably, if it hadn't been for the man- and boy-power shortage" (Capote had insulted Robert Frost by walking out on poetry reading) to somone whose stories Ross would like to see more of, if they "aren't too psychopathic" in July 1949.

I've long been a fan of The New Yorker altho the drawings and not the too lengthy articles are my favorites now.

Have read most of the books about working at the magazine, but this is the best. Harold Ross had such a way with words. I particularly liked the letter of sympathy to E.B. White (page 97) upon death of White's father: "...after you get to be thirty people you know keep dropping off all the time and it's a hell of a note." And about Christmas: "...it always comes at the very worse moment in the year for me."

Here is truly a genius at work. I thought it was ironic also that although he said don't waste time writing letters as you don't get paid for them, he wrote them so well. It is also interesting that the editor of this book finally found some recordings that Ross made and he was dictating letters!

I recommend this book for anyone who enjoys The New Yorker and would like to know how it developed over the years.

These letters were my companion as I read "Genius in Disguise", Kunkel's wonderful biography of Harold Ross. The biography tells the story of Ross and his founding and development of The New Yorker. These letters bring Ross to life and convey the personality that spotted and nurtured the talent that made the magazine great. Here's a quick letter to John Cheever in 1947, which gives a little flavor of the man:

"Dear Cheever:
I've just read "The Enormous Radio," having gone away for a spell and got behind, and I send my respects and admiration. The piece is worth coming back to work for. It will turn out to be a memorable one, or I am a fish. Very wonderful, indeed."
As ever,
Ross

This book was truly an inspiration for me to work on life situations in which I feel "stuck". We all have those little black clouds of doubt, or feelings of "I wish I had done . . ." "I wish I could do"; "I feel guilty about...". Debbie's book showed me how to go for my dreams, goals and aspirations I had put on the back burner as I got caught up in life's daily routine.

"Let Your Heart Sing" takes you through Debbie's own personal transformation and showed me how I can do the same. The book not only lets you see that you too can be what you want and do what you want in life; but actually gives you tools to accomplish this. Her "life lessons" imparted through Debbie's personal journey are creatively revealed via a vignette and a song title for each day of the year along with an exercise that you can do on your own.

Debbie's writing style is moving, creative and witty. "Let Your Heart Sing" has touched my life.

Re:My message sent to Oprah's Book Club and Oprah's Angel Network
I'm recommending Letting Your Heart Sing, a daily journal for the soul, by Deborah Tyler Blais .This is an awesome self help manual for all who are in need of spiritual renewal! Everyone should check it out, especially with what is happening in our World today! Maybe, using her daily action plan, we could even get the mideast region to stop fighting! Amen!
I believe it could help anyone, not just Cancer survivors! As a cancer survivor myself, I'm recommending it to all AA, and NA, OA members, or anyone who feels that they are not in touch with thier inner spirit! I've read it through once already and am preparing to go back to the beginning to do the daily action plan at the end of each segment! This should be required reading, and is a first class book to be listed by Oprahs' Book Club editors ! Deborah Tyler Blais is a cancer survivor and also a former drug user! Debbie's honesty and spirituality,coupled with her strong determination to overcome her weaknesses have helped her evolve into a very spiritually recharged person. She now is an accomplished speaker and writer! Deb's clouded past , with alcohol and drug problems consuming her and her husband Gary's lives , now have transformed them, and improved their relationship! This awesome self- help manual is a must read! It should be required reading for high school and college age students as well as adults! Anyone who feels that they don't know where they are headed or have hit a brick wall in their lives will benefit from and be helped using her renewal-of-soul action plan! Deb's spiritual renewal is uplifting and her practical daily action plans make it easy to follow!
A great book for the new millennium!
Peace,
Sharon M. Collins

Deborah and I are fellow writers so I couldn't have been more happy when she told me her book was being published.She writes with great courage honesty and humor.Her tale of Dharma's effect on her recovery from her surgery is very moving. The miraculous way this tiny kitten triggered this whole story and the profound effect it will surely have on many many readers as it spreads far an wide.. is truly inspirational. You'll certainly want to get 2 copies so your can share this with someone you love.

One of the most uplifting and inspirational books I've read. The author knows how to weave excellent stories from her own life experiences into threads of wise suggestions for manifesting one's heart desires thus making a brilliant tapestry of Wholeness. Truly, by the end of the book, my heart was singing!

This book has the capacity to change every single aspect of your life if you open yourself up to it and make the decision to reach for the highest inner possibilities that are within each of us. From start to finish, Deborah guided me along a path that she has walked with courage, honesty and faith, holding my hand, prodding me when needed, sharing her life, her innermost strengths, weaknesses, fears and shining triumphs, always with hope and a passion to heal, recover, find the very best that I could be and telling me how to find that "real self" hiding within. The author has been there, done that, and gently relates how her path can be your path. I too am "in recovery", a cancer survivor and have a passion for life which has been aroused and redirected by this book. This book is a daily reminder that life is not a spectator sport and that we MUST each moment regroup, redirect and focus our energies, sometimes gently, sometimes firmly towards finding our very best innerselves in spite of our weaknesses, our insecurities and our perceived lack of strength. The author truly has shown me that in spite of trauma, disease, fear, anxiety and low levels of trust we, with faith and hope, can have lives full of joy, peace, health, love and can indeed become whole, healed inwardly, and capable of going outside of ourselves once again and confidently rejoining the human race on equal terms with all people. The author has elevated living to a new dimension for herself and husband, and, in doing so has instilled in all readers of this book the ability, direction and means for elevating their lives and living out their own stories with compassion, strength, courage and love. Must reading for all who have any doubts, fears and insecurities about the events and direction of their lives and their future.

Visually it looks great! Kooky illustrations on nice paper - you do want to write in this journal. Plenty of room for your ideas. The pages are headed up with list topics and you just jot down "answers". I think the idea of the book is to add to the lists over a period of time, having a giggle at your previous comments. This is something that I do think I will continue, not like a journal which I can't keep going for longer than a month!

I bought this book for my friend for Christmas because she is always making lists and she loved it.

I've been addicted to making lists for years, I came across this book on a blog and I went threw the roof. I ordered it immediately, received it today and have spent most of my day filling it out already. I'm glad to have found others who share the love for lists. Use it to learn about yourself or to just have fun.

if you know anyone who loves making lists(as i do!),this would be the PERFECT gift!

I was so excited to receive mine in the mail and I'm slowly making my lists so it will last longer.

I wish it had less pictures and a few more lists but it has almost every list you can imagine with space to make your own in the back.

Do you have a list for just about everything and anything? Ever had dreams of penning an autobiography? Listography Journal offers a fun alternative to the run-of-the-mill diary. Author Lisa Nola and illustrator Nathaniel Russell have teamed up to create a fun way of recording information about yourself - a veritable life in lists!

The tangible companion to the popular website, Listography.com, the book will get you well on your way to keeping track of life's big (and little) facts about yourself.

If you are a lover of lists, an avid archiver, or chronic chronicler, you'll love this quirky take on journaling. Not to mention, the original illustrations that accompany each list will have you in stitches!

Eros on the Nile
I have just ordered Love Songs of the New Kingdom and have three comments. One of the poems quoted in Eros on the Nile,(which I have and recommend) is from Love Songs of the New Kingdom. It is a beautiful and charming translation of this poem. Second, I have clicked above to read an exerpt from the book and notice that the hieroglyphs are well and economically drawn. I have been studing Middle Egyptian for about two years, and have been struggling with the problem of writing some of the glyphs quickly and yet with a bit of style. So I look forward to adopting Foster's renditions of them. Third, for those bothered by the comment of another reviewer that the hieratic has been transcribed by Foster into hieroglyphs, I have read that this is a near universal practice of Egyptologists in rendering hieratic text for publication.

Let's go way back to the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, specifically the reign of the Ramesside pharaohs (roughly 1305-1080 BC). To put the era in its proper historical perspective, this was half a millennium before the blind Greek poet Homer composed The Iliad and The Odyssey.

Literature, mainly for moral instruction or in praise of deities, already thrived in the days of the pharaohs. We have some poems and stories inscribed on papyri and ostraca (bits of pottery or limestone). There are temple inscriptions. In terms of size, the most impressive achievement is The Book of the Dead, a bewildering mish-mash of myth and ritual incantation which remains essential reading for morbid-minded folks till today.

Ancient writing can seem intimidating and arcane to our impatient modern sensibilities. There are all these references to gods and demi-gods, whose hierarchic structure and tangled web of familial relations would put any soap opera to shame. You feel that you should just chuck it all aside and down a few cappuccinos instead.

But wait! We have with us today about 60 secular love poems,translated from Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics by the American John L. Foster. They are delightfully accessible, and more entertaining than a month of TV dramas. Some of these poems were discovered in archeological digs conducted just a few decades ago. What's even more amazing is that they read as if they were written not in the 12th century BC but yesterday.

Yes, the poems are all about love. But this isn't the hackneyed,soppy mush that you can get today. This is love not just as sweetness 'n' light but as game-playing and subterfuge, as sexual warfare, as delicious torment. In terms of psychological complexity, they match the blues and torch songs recorded early in our own ravaged century. There's no moralising here. Foster's book is called Love Songs of the New Kingdom (1974) but it could have been tagged "Papyri Don't Preach".

Instead of being goody-goody, love poetry should acknowledge the violence, kinkiness and deception which exist in any reasonably interesting relationship. The Ancient Egyptians knew this, for they were wise.

An example? Listen to this young man's melancholic cry:

"I think I'll go home and lie very still / Feigning terminal illness / Then the neighbours will all troop to stare / My love, perhaps among them / How she'll smile when the specialists / Snarl in their teeth! - / She perfectly well knows what ails me."

Appreciate the startling, passive-aggressive psychodrama being played out here. Although the authors in all cases are unknown, their works range freely through the human sensorium. The agony and the ecstasy brought about by lust, affection, jealousy and longing get full play.

The poetic personae are men and women but, unlike in some ancient Greek and Persian poetry, entirely heterosexual. Despite this handicap, there's a whole lot of kinkiness going on. Check out this guy's sado-masochistic relationship with his dominatrix girlfriend:

"How clever my love with a lasso / She'll never need a kept bull! / She lets fly the rope at me / (from her dark hair) / Draws me in with her come-hither eyes / wrestles me down between her bent thighs / Branding me hers with her burning seal / (cowgirl, the fire from those thighs!)"

Something even more delightfully perverse can be found in this straight man's transvestite fantasy, which reminds me of the great Prince song If I Was Your Girlfriend:

"I wish I were her Nubian girl, / one to attend her (bosom companion), / Confidante, and a child of discretion: / Close hidden at nightfall we whisper / As (modest by day) she offers / breasts like ripe berries to evening - / Her long gown settles, then, bodiless, / hangs from my helping hand."

This touching fantasy reminds me of the way I spent Valentine's Day ... but I digress.

Poetry from the Ramesside period is significant as the oldest extant literature spoken by non-deitic females. Some of the personae are worldly and sexually explicit ("Would your fingers follow the line of my thighs/ Learn the curves of my breast, and the rest?") but others are artfully naive and ingenuous, like this voyeuristic girl who is "accidentally" at the right place:

"I just chanced to be happening by / in the neighbourhood where he lives / His door, as I hoped, was open - / and I spied on my secret love."

Some of the poems may seem sweet and simple, but they already use striking similes ("Love of you is mixed deep in my vitals/ Like water stirred into flour for bread"). Nature, represented by flowers,gardens, orchards and, of course, the Nile, also provides poetic settings and metaphors in a way which anticipates the Western pastoral literature that emerged centuries later.

The fact that the poets are so good is surprising without being surprising, if you catch my drift. I mean, their ancestors built the Pyramids (in the era known as, ahem, The Old Kingdom), which are structures of such weirdness, ingenuity and complexity that we still haven't found out everything about them.

The poems, too, are creatures of remarkable engineering. They teach us about the twisty, turbulent, uncanny mysteries of love and lust, which still survive in today's blessedly pagan pop culture. Read them instead of writing to newspaper agony-aunts about your tacky little problems. The poets show us that love is a battlefield, sex is a weapon, and we all sleep alone. Confused? But that's the story of, that's the glory of, love.

If you want to warm your lady's heart through her mind, the potency of this book has no equal. I bought this for my girlfriend two years ago and she still reads it over regularly. You know guys, the gift you are looking for to prove that your mind functions outside of the physical? If she is even remotely open to ancient civilization this is the ticket, this is "The Gift." I am not usually into poetry but I like this a lot. This is the Total Recall of poetry: just enough plot, just enough action. Seriously, she will love this and you will not mind it yourself ;).

Finally a book of Egyptian love poetry for people with enough of Budge to recognize a hieroglyph or two :-) More seriously the hieroglyphs are primarily "atmosphere" in this text. Curiously, the hieroglyphs are not the original but rather transcriptions of the original cursive hieratic ... a bit of posturing that mildly concerned me when I first saw the book. Fortunately, the quality of the translated poetry more than compensated for my qualms.

Having been introduced to Egyptian love poetry by the use of Michael Fox's work in a class on the Song of Songs (aka Song of Solomon), I was delighted to find this gem. The poetry is translated without footnotes - a feature I appreciate.

An example of the joys of the poems: "He had made a hushed sell in the thicket, for worship / to dedicate this day / To holy elevation of flesh"

Because of the relationship of Egyptian love poetry to the Song of Songs, this scarely known poetry has had an effect on our culture - one as worth exploring as the Greek or Latin.

I LOVED it! I bought it on an impulse, having found it on the backshelf at a bargain store. I wasn't sure if I would like it, but, like I said, I loved it! It is SO romantic! "when I hold you close, and your arms steal around me, I am like a man transplanted to Punt, or like someone out in the reedflats, when the whole world bursts into flower. In this land of south-sea fragrances, my love, you are the essence of roses!" HOW ROMANTIC! I would love to have been that woman to whom the poet was saying such things! I highly reccomend this book to anybody, especially those wo are just getting into poetry, like me. It is truly a beautiful book.

"silent generation", between the "greatest" & the "boomers".
They can relive raising kids, borrowing from your in-laws, sex 50's style, dealing with the 60's etc., all with the wit & wisdom of Erma Bombeck.
This is more like a memoir, probably the last in a series, that rings true sometimes, of course, with exaggeration to humorous effect.
Not much to complain about here. She is a good writer who started small had an understanding, supportive husband & achieved national celebrity.
If you are of a certain age, you will laugh.

I miss Erma. I really do. I miss her style of writing, her humor and her wit. She is probably the only writer from my childhood that I have read faithfully of. Her columns were the highlight of our day when it appeared in our newspapers. Reading this book is like going down memory lane. I remember some of her stuff, but not all of them. This one is a honest and true look at marriage.

Marriage isn't happily ever after. We spend our lives changing our partners, resisting the changes that life throws our way, staying married through thin and fat, through children, through illness and career changes ~~ through death, death of a father and friend. It's a wonderful little book full of wisdom and insights. I love her chapter titles: A House Morally Divided Cannot Stand Each Other or Living on Love.

She offers insights to her own life and marriage oftentimes, poking fun at herself and her family. She is never mean but instead she is inspiring. She makes you think even while laughing at some of the silly things we all do in our own lives. I have not been married as long as she has but already, I see some of the things she has pointed out such as trying to change your husband.

If you're looking for a wonderful book to read ~~ don't miss this one. It's beautifully written and so poignant in some places. Erma writes about life because she has lived it. Her stories are still true today as they were fourteen years ago.

5-11-06

The chronicle of Erma Bombeck's married life, this is a sweet, funny, and realistic view of timeless marriage.

Ms. Bombeck starts on the wedding day, when she and husband Bill were married by a priest who spoke Latin with a Polish accent. She moves on to their children, their multiple homes, a saddening chapter about her tragic miscarriage, the chronicles of her morality arguments with her kids, and finally, her career.

She spent years as a housewife. But Ms. Bombeck's now famous writing started in a local paper, and she warmly describes how emotionally supportive her husband was when her columns became well-known. Touring can't have helped their marriage much, but apparently they both didn't let it hurt it.

She satirizes her own under-par household skills, the weird little quirks that come in with age, nd the glories of growing old together. She doesn't say anything about that last one, but it glows throughout the book.

Bravo, Erma.

This book is full of wit and one liners from a woman who knows family. I myself only have a husband and no kids but her writing is still hilarious to me. It reminds me of things my own mother used to say in her own funny and sacastic way. When she talk about her husband and his "ways" of packing a suitcase or talking about the kids I laughed out loud while reading in bed and scared my husband. I sure do miss her and only wish she could have spent a little more time on earth to make us laugh. I bet God is having a ball with her in heaven.

I have always enjoyed Erma Bombeck when she had a column, but the children were small and I never had much time to read. Had I gotten a book like this one, I could of breezed through raising children and marriage with much less guilt. It is one of the funniest (because it's so true) books I've ever read. I am now a collector of Erma Bombecks books. Chapters titled,; "How Much Happiness Can We Finance?" The book for me was filled with memories from the 50's and 60's, and how it used to be. I found myself laughing outloud and shaking my head at the humor, yet truthfulness, that Erma shares with her readers. I'm getting two more of her books for Christmas, and am getting several others on auction. If you need a laugh, kick out some of those endorphins that need to come out and lighten you up, don't miss Erma Bombeck's, "Marriage Made in Heaven or too Tired for an Affair." It's fantastic!

This book has something for every age group imaginable. It's about a single mom facing cancer for the second time, and this time if might kill her. She's still a career woman, but raising her 12-year-old daughter alone while facing what looks like a terminal cancer. She lives, and now is cancer-free 5 years later), and her daughter is graduating fron high school this spring...and her mom will be there to watch. The patient's father put his diary next to his daughter's in this book, and it shows what the people taking care of the patient have to go through too...ways to help anyone connected to the patient, and for the patient to deal with things, too. It's not too scary for kids, particularly pre-teens and teenagers (and above), and is a great way to read about the subect, not just if you're a patient. My friends though it was great and I've given it to my friends whose parents and/or kids are facing it. It needs to be on Oprah as inspiration for how families stick together to find the outcome...and you never know where angels are waiting for us to take over and make those miracles come true. Buy it for someone before it's too late. !!!

A friend at school gave this to me to give to my own grandmother who is facing cancer. OUr family agreed that we should try and take a lot of what they say in the book, Mirror Journals, and put it to our own life in dealing with this. I like that this lady's entire family, including her daughter (who was the same age as I am now) when she thought her mom was going to die. So I can relate and think it's special for people of all ages. Please get it for someone you love.

What a fantastic book, written by obviously two relatives who shared the experience together...one as the patient; the other as a caregiver and representing the rest of her family. You see two sides to the story that way, and there's something good to take from each lesson.

She raised her 12-year-old daughter alone during this likely-terminal cancer, going through a divorce, hanging onto a career, building a house, and then CANCER number 2 crept in. But 5 years later, she has a book out that shows the ways to deal with each day at a time, and to embrace the family and friends who get you down the path...though she had a miracle and found a cure, the "true miracle" is found in the renewed relationships that cancer brought to her family. This is a must-read of all time for anyone facing a crossroads in their life, health, family, or otherwise.

I thought it was awesome because it has helped one of my friends (who has bone cancer at the age of 18) and he has a single mom. They loved the book and it is helping them a lot. I've heard from other people that this is THE BOOK to get if you have someone in your family (a parent, a brother or sister, a grandparent, etc.) who is facing cancer and you want to know what they're feeling without getting too in-their-face about it. It also helps people who need to help the patient, but don't know what to say. That's why the ook is special: you see it from the patient and the person taking care of that person. And it has a happy ending. Yea!! Pleaes get it for anyone you know facing this in thier life.

This is a fantastic book that has long-reaching applications...there is something in there for everyone. You don't have to be a supposedly-terminal cancer patient, like the writer was, but you'll pick up something from it anyway. But the best part is that her diary is matched up to her father's, from the same time period...and so you see both sides of a cancer story: the patient's, and the caregiver's, and how neither gave up because of the support of family and friends. It's inspirational, honest, candid, somewhat bitter, but with enough humor and real-day occurrences that keep it from being too dark. There is literally something for everyone...make this on the list to give to anyone you know who is facing cancer, or taking care of someone facing cancer. It's a "coping and Hoping" book.

This Baby Journal is a must for any Mom & Dad who just had a little one come into their lives. The journal allows you to write down your family tree, birth notes and weight & height information. This beautiful book contains the most precious
illustrations by Becky Kelly alongside lovely quotes. Furthermore,this book allows you plenty of space to journal so many important milestones during your baby's growth & development.

An adorable little book. Soft, whimiscal art, perfect for the expectant mother. I would recommend it as an excellent shower gift, or for yourself if expecting. A++

As a proud mother of a child born in my heart I love this baby book & journal. With a few little changes,I've made a book I know my daughter will one day treasure! On the page that says
"the big day" I just added at the Visa & US Consulate exam and added the time of the appointment, her weight and a name of one of the doctors there. On the family tree page, I just added another branch above my daughter's name to acknowledge her birth parents in China. On the "How Much you Grew" pages I chose to use this as how much she has grown since she's been home. Each page has a soft watercolor drawings and there is lots of room, for photographs, and to write down all of your child's wonderful 1st times, holidays celebrated, 1st artwork, a page about mom, dad and siblings. Toward the back there are pages for " Our Hopes" & "Our Dreams", as well as 10 double sided pages to record memories of you on this day.... If I could talk to Beck Kelly and ask her to change 1 thing, it would be to have the last page to say " The Begining" not " The End". Definately one of the best books published!

I have been so impressed by the art and subjects in Becky Kelly's "My Little One". I would describe it as a baby book and journal. There are beautiful quotes throughout the intricately detailed pages. The subjects given for you to remember your baby's happenings are fresh and interesting without distracting you from the purpose of the book. I bought this book only after falling in love with other Becky Kelly creations, starting with greeting cards then seeking her out online and recently I started to invest in 3 of her books and 2004 Calendar. I love the words her writer uses and how the art and words dance together to pull us into this beautiful world they created. I know you will all love it too.

I have been so impressed by the art and subjects in Becky Kelly's "My Little One". I would describe it as a baby album and journal. Becky's ability to use her art of children, animals, insects and nature to take you away to a simpler time and innocence sometimes forgotten is remarkable. There are beautiful quotes throughout the intricately detailed pages. You are encouraged to write your own feelings as you anticipate your new arrival. The subjects given for you to remember your baby's happenings are fresh and interesting, enhanced by watercolor without distracting you from the purpose of the album. I bought this book only after falling in love with other Becky Kelly creations, starting with greeting cards then sought her out online. I love the words her writer uses and how the art and words dance together to pull us into this beautiful world they created. Recently I invested in 3 of her other books and her 2004 Calendar. Anything Becky Kelly has become the perfect gift for myself and to friends or family. I can't wait to see what's next...

One of the things I love about this series is the newspaper at the end. In "Nabbed!" there's a 1925 edition of "The INspector" newspaper that puts the events of the book into context. There are articles about Al Capone, the Scopes trial, Houdini, and even some 1920s lingo. Even as an adult, I found it really entertaining! And the book itself is fantastic - how could a story about a ghost plane and a scary mansion with hidden passages NOT be?!?

We purchased Nabbed! and Swindled! for our nephews based on some glowing recommendations from friends. The boys loved the taunt mystery and suspense doled out in equal portions and actually learned a little history in the process. The author appears to be an up-and-coming writer with young adult sensibilities and knows what his target audience is looking for. Tell your kids to put down Harry Potter and pick up Swindled and Nabbed!

It was very adventurous! I don't want to give away the ending, but it was a surprise to me! I loved it!

My 5th grade class and I read this very engaging selection as part of our genre study. I was uncertain of what to expect of my students in the way of interest and motivation to read mysteries. They absolutely LOVED this book! They are begging for more Bill Doyle books!

Wow! My daughter's whole class is enthralled with "Nabbed!" -- she picked it out to bring in and now the teacher reads them a chapter a day after lunch. The kids appreciate that the narrator is a kid, too and speaks their language -- it's not just another adult lecturing them. It's exciting for the kids and they like the adventure. The plots have enough twists to be interesting, but not TOO many as to be confusing. As a parent, I love it because she is enjoying reading and isn't watching TV or sighing that she's bored. I also love that she's learning some history, too. Highly recommended from a mom of three!

Polito does it again. Last year he picked out a great book by Kate Braverman (FREQUENT TRANSMISSIONS) to be the first winner of a brand new creative nonfiction prize adminstered by august Graywolf Press, and this year he comes back with another book of essays, NECK DEEP by Michigander Ander Monson. There seems to be a pattern here and I wonder if a full-length study or essay of book length, a monograph in fact, has any chance of winning the contest next year around? Like Braverman, Monson looks at the ordinary things in life, like going to the dentist, and shows how extraordinary they are.

He is inventive and fecund, and. I suspect, could no more stop writing than an ant can stop carrying that rubber tree plant. If a subject seems intractable at first, he will push and prod his way around it until he has found a way in, and his take no prisoners manner is just right for the big assault on consciousness required of the essay form at this point in its history. We're all tired of the old Emersonian ramble and want to get on to the new, "next-er" type of formation as pioneered by John D'Agata. Sometimes Monson leads us to places in which the sound of his own voice both booms and mores, as his announcement that "I've always been fascinated with the sound and sight of shattering glass." We don't automatically get fascinated with his fascination, and yet usually he pulls the chestnuts out of the fire with a few quick apercus and starts again. That's his method, the old "if at first" method. He loves water, he tells us, but then saves himself from ignominy by making some provocative links between alphabetical order and the formlessness of the shower versus the bath.

If I hsve a complaint, it would be that Monson's admirably restless mind has not, after all, innumerable tracks, and that he can be at times a sort of Johnny One Note. First he finds that boarding school "is all about control." Then he finds out that dentistry "is all about control." Those who expect their essays to come with epiphanies will not be disappointed by the curve of Monson's thinking, but by book's end you want him to find something that, in the long run, is not "all about control." However he is a professor after all, and probably that's no accident either.

Hopefully Graywolf will continue presenting us with annual volumes, edited by Polito, in which creative nonfiction, the old nonfiction gussied up with postmodern writing tricks developed in fiction MFA workshops, geta a chance to shine. I will also look forward to successfive books by Monson, for there will be no stopping him now, I can just tell.

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R3FCDUBXPRI2GM Why not use the technology provided to expand the book? The video review, apparently underused, is a potentially powerful additive to the book itself. One of more to come.

When I read the first two essays I was very confused. But the Cranbrook essay was great. I coudn't put it down. I suggest this book to people who aren't afraid of something different.

Neck Deep is a tour de force in every conceivable way. Monson is really a f*cking awesome writer, don't you think? The essays are witty and poignant. A must-read in my professional opinion. A+

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R2D88RPMB9HJMV I wrote this essay based on this guy i saw this one time who, like, wrote this book or something.

that's all.

Judy Stone is disarmingly engaging, a trait and quality that has endeared her to many of her fascinating subjects for attention in this thoroughly embracing and terrific journey of conversations and commentary with (incredibly!) 120 filmmakers, writers, and artists from every continent and culture. Reading the stories I felt an unusual intimacy, often forced or lacking in standard interview formats, with stilted questions or stock inquiries, which Stone adeptly avoids. She enables the person to reveal themselves without it seeming intrusive. Her remarkable, incisive curiosity and talent spans generations (from pre-WW2 to the present) and genres, revealing not only what we previously didn't know about the artist or subject, but also illustrating how a creative life is imperative. It is Stone's life that is the real revelation, however. As she writes about the playwright Jon Robin Baitz, he says "Ideas live. Ideas vibrate." So does this book! Get it to discover the astounding array of humanity inside its covers, get it to curl up with this national treasure, Judy Stone!
Not Quite a Memoir: Of Films, Books, the World

Judy Stone's Not Quite a Memoir is the printed equivalent of one of those late-night pub conversations in which the world's great thinkers get together and come up with viable solutions for all the world's problems. And right there in the middle is Stone's unflappable voice, asking the hard questions.

Judy Stone (the sister of I.F. Stone) has been writing these indispensable articles (now collected in an omnibus edition) of both American and international movies for the past three decades.

In between, she has conducted revealing and intelligent interviews (also in this book) with a startling array of directors, actors, and writers from every corner of the world, often traveling to do so. Stone's impressive body of work has actually been collected in two volumes, "Eye on the World" (1997) and this brand new book, "Not Quite a Memoir."

Stone modestly prefers to call herself a reviewer, not a critic, but if any film reviewer has a knowledge of the world as deep as hers and manages to show how films function in that world, I believe Judy Stone has earned the right to be called a critic.

Keep this book around, and you'll find yourself reading it each day, just because it's so much fun and remains so imformative about our world today.

For anyone who has enjoyed Judy Stone's perceptive articles over the years, this book is a feast: a look back at several decades of writing and filmmaking. The only problem is that it reminds you of all the books you wish you had read and the films you wish you had seen. But still, in a world where there is more culture than we can possibly take in, it's nice to have this kind of guidebook to the highlights.

"Not Quite a Memoir" flies around the world from the U.S's Gus Van Sant to Iran's Abbas Kiarostami, Israel's Amos Gitai,Spain's Carlos Saura, Chile's Isabel Allende, India's Satyajit Ray...At every landing, Stone creates a portrait of the artist as a force for social change. Intriguingly, the author backs up her portrait in words by capturing - with unassuming genius--astonishingly insightful photographs of her interview subjects...For medical reasons, Kiarostami never takes off those enigmatic sunglasses. Yet Stone's camera flash cleverly shines right through the artist's dark glasses to give us the first glimpse of eyes that revolutionized filmmaking with how they saw the world. Judy Stone's short interviews, like that camera flash, are just as clever and penetrating."
Ari Siletz, author "The Mullah with No Legs and other stories."