Canada Books

Dryden and MacGregor have penned a non-fiction examination of Hockey (meant in capital letters) and how it is intertwined with Canadian life. It does a good job of exposing how both Canada and hockey are changing, and touches on topics such as the minor hockey league system, the '72 Super Series, the Gretzky trade, and our enjoyment of the game. For those hockey fans out there, it's an interesting read, even if it is nearly 20 years out of date at this time.

Give me any Ken Dryden book and three hours, and I will return with peace. I love his books about hockey. His commentary on hockey and life in Canada is true to the point. There are books that you read and then there are books that you relive. Dryden's books are expereinced. The flooded pond, the neighbor games, the eternal dream of playing in a old timers league, the continued goal of scoring another goal to win, of coming back in overtime to secure victory. I am 30 years old, and I still skate out on the practice rink with a Canadian jersey on with the imagined roar of the crowd cheering for my favorite player-Sidney Crosby-or really me. I might be 30, but my heart when it comes to hockey is still 10. This weekend I watched my nephews play hockey for the first time, one of them scored his first hockey goal ever in league play. He will never forget that goal. I know, I still live hockey, it lives in me, for I am Canadian. The cold chill of playing on cold rinks flows through my blood. It is more than hockey, it is "The Game."

Although the title causes Americans of my acquaintance to laugh, this book really does a wonderful job of examining (if not always explaining) what the game of hockey means to Canadians. If you have read "The Game" and thought there was nothing more to be said about hockey and Canada, think again.

Especial highlights are the early sections discussing small-town Saskatchewan and the importance of the rink in drawing the community together; the stories of particular players with NHL dreams; and the memories of members of Team Canada during the 1972 Summit Series. Phil Esposito, the heart of that team, is not surprisingly the guy with the best stories about what it all meant. The following section about Soviet hockey, which elevates the faceless Russkies into real guys and fellow players, is almost enough to make a Canadian root for them. (Almost.) And the writers' take on their own recreational play, and what it means to them, is illuminating and sort of touching. Once again, as in "The Game," Ken Dryden manages to depict himself as an amazingly inept Hall of Famer, always panicking under pressure and getting in the way of his defensemen -- "I could talk and chew gum at the same time, but breathing did me in." There's no false modesty here, the reader gets the impression that Dryden held himself to impossibly high standards. Still, when he explains that he now plays defense because he has fulfilled his goalie fantasies, and playing defense allows him to have new ones, it's nice to know he still enjoys the game. (And I have to admit, I howled when I got to his dry remark on playing defense and who's responsible when a goal is scored: "I've changed my mind -- it IS always the goalie's fault.")

The photos that decorate this book are equally beautiful, from the prairie kids playing on a frozen slough to the professionals displaying their remarkable ability to a member of Team Canada (1972) jumping for joy as a Russian player offers a wry yet respectful salute. The photos are grouped according to section and I find it telling that the only photo of Dryden as a Montreal Canadien is one of him and a bunch of his teammates grinning in delight at having apparently won some kind of inter-squad scrimmage trophy. This photo is grouped with the recreational player section and tells an enormous amount about how Dryden felt about the game even as a professional.

Dryden and MacGregor describe Canada as "an improbable country," and they mean that in a good way. What holds us together as a nation are the bonds we have made among ourselves, and hockey is one of those bonds. I was reminded of that this year during the Stanley Cup playoffs, when a mailing list I subscribed to for the CBC news reminded subscribers of schedule changes because "there's hockey tonight." I hadn't watched much hockey in years but somehow, living in Texas surrounded by US culture, it felt like home to watch Larry Robinson hoist the Cup once again.

These are two great hockey writers, and they have produced a book that, even ten years later, is a joy.

I can see why Canadians love there game so much through this group of essays they are very interesting I wish americans loved hockey as much as the Canadians do then I wouldn't be the only hockey fan I know

"So what can a 10-year-old book on ice hockey really teach me about the sport and Canada?" I wondered as I started Home Game. The answer is pretty much everything. Dryden, who writes in a delightfully unhurried style, takes us through the game as it is played by enthusiastic amateurs, by teenagers desperate to break into the NHL and by the professionals themselves. And by probing how hockey took root here, Dryden provides the best analysis of what it means to be Canadian that I have ever read. My job in Ottawa is to explain Canada to the outside world and of all the tomes I have read so far, this must be the most illuminating. Rarely do you come across a book which so clearly explains what fires the soul of a country. Buy it now!

An invaluable resource for all students. As a writer of a fictional account involving the Klondike Gold Rush, it was invaluable to me, as are all of Pierre Berton's works. Only one thing missing, or perhaps not very clear, is timeline - a month or even year when certain episodes happened. A lot of stories go back and forth. But those true stories involving such colorful characters are priceless, and Pierre Berton sure knows how to tell them!

THE book on the Klondike Gold Rush of 1896-99. Berton tells the story in chronological order, beginning with the pre-Gold Rush period when individual prospectors roamed the Yukon River territory looking for El Dorado. A million dollars worth of gold was hauled out of Circle City, an early camp, in 1896; a year later they would do the same in a matter of weeks in Dawson City, a few hundred miles up the Yukon from Circle City. Of course, after the big strike was made on Rabbit Creek in August 1896, Circle City was emptied of its population by the spring. Gold camp communities that had lived and thrived under a well-understood frontier code lost their cohesiveness; the thousands of outsiders rushing into the Klondike could never abide by such a code.

Berton relates the human interest stories, too. The infamous Soapy Smith, the dictator of Skagway, is here, as are the thousands of crazies who came north to the Arctic Circle underclothed, unprepared, unprovisioned, full of the gold fever. Things got so bad by the winter of '97 that the government had to appropriate $200,000 for those in the Yukon to prevent mass starvation. And still they came, heading up the Chilkoot Pass like ants. It was called a stampede, but progress was so slow it seemed anything but. Only the outbreak of the Spanish-American War put an end to it, along with the discovery of gold in Nome.

It's an exciting story, the last gold rush anyone will ever see. Factual, without unnecessary hype, Berton's book is an excellent account of this period in history. Highly recommended.

I consider this the definitive book on the Klondike Gold Rush. Interesting, informative, highly entertaining and hugely enjoyable, the book covers all the drama from the first discovery to the last days of the Klondike Kings. You don't have to be a Klondike enthusiast to enjoy this book, because Berton is first and foremost a storyteller, and the historical facts come alive in his writing.

I've read this book at least 9 times, and it inspired me to backpack the Chilkoot Trail. It's not just one of the best history books I've ever read - it's one of the best books, period, that I've ever read. Enjoy!

As a Canadian living away from home, I never miss an opportunity to read a book by Pierre Berton. Berton had a talent for making History come alive in a way that is rare not only among Canadian authors, but indeed is rarely equaled and certainly not surpassed by any other author I have encountered abroad.

Klondike is one of those books that is so well constructed and written that you forget you are reading History and instead are absorbed into the story-line as if you were reading a first-rate novel. Burton develops the story-line and characters so that you are drawn into the history and come to appreciate the facts of the era and location. The people become real. You leave having experienced history instead of just having been served warmed over facts with a few theories as to how they tie together.

Despite the difference in genre, reading Burton's account of the Gold Rush in the North is every bit as entertaining as reading Farley Mowat or Jack London.

I recommend this book highly. It is a good introduction to Berton, to the Canadian North, the history of the Yukon, and a good primer before you launch into the other great books of Berton if you have never read him before!

For those of us whose knowledge of the Klondike Gold Rush comes mostly from the 1950s radio drama, "Sergeant Preston of the Yukon" this is a fine book to read. (Trivia question: What was the name of Sergeant Preston's preternaturally intelligent huskie?) This is a revised and updated version of the book "Klondike Fever" published in 1958. Read "Klondike" if possible, although the earlier "Klondike Fever" is still perfectly readable. The maps are much better in this edition.

This Gold Rush, named after the Klondike River in the Yukon territory of Canada, was the last great scramble for gold in the old West. One hundred thousand persons, mostly from the U.S., set out for the Klondike in 1897, 30,000 or 40,000 got there, after an arduous journey through killing winter snows, and a few hundred found gold. The stories of the long, hard journey into this Arctic wilderness are often horrific. In one party of 19 men, 15 died or were killed along the route and the other four had eyes damaged by snow blindness. The gold seekers included author Jack London, Wyatt Earp, and poet Joaquin Miller. By late-summer 1899, "one of the weirdest and most useless mass movements in history" was over. Most of the gold seekers went home to live normal lives, although a few moved on to the beaches of Nome, Alaska where gold could be picked up among the grains of sand.

The author tells a compelling tale of the men and women who participated in the Klondike Gold Rush. It was indeed a fever. The characters in this book include crusty old miners who suddenly became rich beyond their wildest dreams, stalwart, incorruptible Canadian Mounties, conmen like Soapy Smith -- who in the dramatic tradition of the West receives his just deserts -- prostitutes, madams, gamblers, angels of mercy, last-chance losers, rich adventurers, Indians, and missionaries. It's a fascinating read, based on research that included interviews with many of the oldtimers who lived to talk to the author in the 1950s. The author's standard of truth telling is high; he identifies a tall tale or an unlikely exaggeration when he finds them.

The text would be enhanced if there were photographs, but I doubt you'll find a better book about the Klondike Gold Rush. Oh, yes, Sergeant Preston's dog was named "Yukon King."

Smallchief

This is an absolutely beautiful book for all lovers of books and reading. Highly recommended.

The LIBRARY AT NIGHT is an ideal blend of contemplation and observation, of thought and history. With chapters that read like short stories it is accessible to the 'not enough time" as to the "google stupidized" reader. A great gift for any librarian, or reader of books. Books in history . . . back to the shelves. Leaves the reading feeling like he's just left a scene from The Ninth Gate.

The Library At Night is the first book I have read by Alberto Manguel. I can say now, after completing it earlier today, that I am looking forward to reading other selections that this author has written.

I was not quite sure what to expect from this book, from simply reading the title. I could only hope that it would not disappoint and it did not. The book is broken down into 15 chapters. Each of them begins with "The Library As...." You can fill in the blank with such words as "Power," "Myth," "Shadow," and "Chance" (among 11 others). The chapters begin with personal anecdotes from Manguel. We learn a lot about who he is as well as the extent of his personal library. Following the brief reflection, he delves into well-researched historical data that revolve around his chapter topics. The stories he tells flow nicely together and endnotes are provided in the back of the book for further reading. The chapters are quite strong, though I really was expecting more from the last two chapters.

The only negative aspects, and really they aren't negative to all, of this book are Manguel's erudite use of language. He excels at linguistics and I found myself needing a dictionary nearby to help me through the text. Manguel makes many comparisons throughout the text between books, many of which, I had not heard of before. While I was excited about these newly discovered books,at least to me, they are not commonplace. So, yes, this book is written on a somewhat high intellectual level and a portion of its charm is lost by the author speaking over the reader's head.

Alberto Manguel's The Library At Night is a curious confection: ostensibly a love letter to bookishness, it rejoices in collections of books and their owners through many prisms; how they're collected, how they can be arranged (as many different ways as you like), how they represent knowledge, time or space - even how the space they occupy can express the personality or idiosyncrasy of their collector.

It will instantly appeal to those, like me, who aspire to have their own "real" library one day (I am hoping mine evolves from its current status as a mere collection of books on a few dusty shelves, though I don't know - and this is one aspect Manguel doesn't delve into - what it takes for a merely juvenile collection of books to matriculate to a mature library).

Manguel also describes libraries through the content of the books they hold, and his range is eclectic, from Greek poets, Arab philosophers and Jewish philanthropists to Anglo-Saxon fantasists like Shelley and, memorably, Stoker. Each new vista builds a new perspective, but curiously after these multiple shafts of light, while one is well illuminated, the general impression is no more specific than that libraries - physical libraries - are pretty neat and we'd be worse off without them.

Which, for a while, made me ponder what the point of the book really was. After all, who could disagree with that?

But then it occurred to me, as surely it did to Manguel, that *we* could, in the same way we've, collectively, disagreed that it's strictly necessary to have a record collection or a even a television any more. Books may not have succumbed quite so easily to the digital ether as did music or film - yet - but there's no reason to suppose that state of affairs is irreversible, and if dear old Amazon would kindly (!) sort out its Kindle supply chain, we might yet shortly see a precipitous decline.

Manguel's subtext is that this would be a frightful outcome. He is certainly more equivocal about digital libraries than he is about physical ones, and sees the advent of the electronic book as a threat to the legitimacy and, possibly, longevity of his bibliophilia. For what good are batty old books, occupying acres of floor-space, however splendid the architecture, when you can have millions of volumes on a portable hard drive?

This issue Manguel only really addresses obliquely, and many of his arguments to counter this position are fatuous (especially as regards the durability of electronic information). The gating issue will be whether les gens can be persuaded to curl up with a Kindle rather than a book. I haven't seen one yet, so I'm yet to be persuaded, and that question alone might save the library's bacon. But otherwise the digital realm solves many of the drawbacks (like an optimistic computer programmer, I suppose he would call them "features") of physical libraries that Manguel documents, such as their physical space and susceptibility to combustion. Such as their inherent need to be ordered one way, no matter how cleverly, to the exclusion of all others. Such as the extreme limitations they impose on the actual retrieval of information (imagine how powerful it would be to be able to Google search the text of an entire library. With a digital library, you can).

All told, Manguel adopts a narrow concept of the value of a library, suitable for dinner parties and night time expeditions, but which won't be familiar to the younger generation who have grown up with Google. Though I am sure he would hotly dispute it, I suspect Manguel would emphasise the space, spirit and idiosyncrasy of a library over its actual, textual content; he would accentuate the intellectual statement a library makes over the intellectual statements contained within it; he would value a book's spine as much as he would the pages bound by it. There is a place for that view - to a certain degree, I share it: I like visitors to my house to see my collection of books, which one day may be a library, and I don't expect them to open any of them.

But when using it in anger, when studying or writing; when I need to quickly find what I am looking for, my physical collection can irritate me intensely. At those points - real ones for genuine scholars, you would think - Manguel's cosy view seems Luddite and hopelessly outdated. For professional library users - as opposed to literate bon vivants - the Google revolution will bring only positive change to what used to be a rather painful and time-consuming endeavour.

Whilst this remains a heartfelt and warmly written elegy, it remains likely that, before long, its subject will be a bygone age. We will have to find new ways to represent our learning. The web is already generating them: perhaps Alberto Manguel should set aside his scepticism and sign up to LibraryThing, and catalogue his books there. Wonders never cease.

Olly Buxton

Alberto Manguel has produced a romantic history of libraries which incorporates their best feature: the ability to wander down hitherto unsuspected byways and make new discoveries, often winding up far from your original objective but still satisfied by what you have found instead. This is a discursive history of libraries through various categories: Myth, Order, etc. with fascinating essays for each. Those who love reading and libraries will learn much history and philosophy and will recognize in Manguel a kindred spirit and friend.

This is a compelling story about a political dissident imprisoned in Burma--how he got there, his life in prison, how he ultimately gets "free." Not only is the plot of interest, but the writing is beautiful. Connelly makes us feel every step of his way--his thirst, his hunger, his dirtiness, his loneliness. This story will stay with me for a long, long time.

I was so engrossed by this book. Not only is it a fabulous story of a relationship between a child and young man and a story of survival under extreme conditions, but also an indictment of the Myanmar regime, as the author interviewed some who had been imprisoned by the generals and incorporated that information in the book. While hard to read at times, because of the imprisonment descriptions, the book is beautifully written and totally captivating.

Karen Connelly is a superb author, she brings both skilled craftsmanship of story-telling, and a penetrating evaluation of the human soul that soars beyond the confines of the cage. We live in a world where we are all connected, and, it is critical in a time where we cannot save Teza, or other cruel victims of repression - that we remember. The story of Teza is replayed in Burma every day, but as well, in far too many places in our world. We cannot save all victims of terror - but - thanks to Karen Connelly, we can at least not forget - we can keep them in mind, we can share the feelings of their terror, and rejoice in her story that reminds us that the human spirit can overcome both terror and the cage. Until Burma is free, until there are no more victims of repression, at least let us remember Teza's soul and spirit and song, as taught to us by Karen Connelly. You will as well be rewarded by discovering as incredible new author.

If you're interested in getting both a historical and emotional understanding of what's happening in Burma (Myamar, as the generals have named it), then THE LIZARD CAGE is a must read. It will not only help you understand why it is so difficult to get aid into the country after the tragic hurricane, but it will also inspire you the way THREE CUPS OF TEA has done.
However, even if you don't care about the effects of the hurricane on the long-suffering Burmese people, you will want to read this book for its fine imagery, meticulous characterization, and exploration of humanity and compassion. It's a classic, great novel along the lines of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. (Yes, it really is that well-written).
The Laguna Book-Worm

Imagine serving a 20 year sentence for writing protest songs or eating lizards raw to ward off starvation and disease. Imagine that possession of a pen could add another 10 years to your sentence, along with beatings and disgusting tortures. This is Teza's world as narrated by Karen Connelly in this honest portrayal of life under the generals in Burma (Myanmar). Connelly doesn't pull any punches. Nor does she offer false hopes and solutions for her characters to assuage the reader's sensibilities, making the book, at times, a hard read. However, don't let this put you off. Despite the horrors, one thing shines through - the indefatigable human spirit. Karen Connelly is a poet and this is her first novel. Her poetic talent is evident in the descriptions of the beauty of Burma, its history and it's people. Her poet's soul leads me to my one minor criticism - I think it sometimes interrupts the story's momentum. But this small quibble doesn't prevent me from giving the book 5 stars.

I had known a little about Burma and its problems before reading The Lizard Cage, but had not given it much thought, because of, I suppose, lack of media coverage. A sad comment on our media (and me). Anybody who reads this book will surely be unable to extinguish Burma from their thoughts and, hopefully, will add their voice to the campaign against the inhumane regime of the generals.

Not much happens in this book, but that doesn't seem to matter. We're stuck in Paula's head for the length of this novel--an amazing place to be stuck. The smallest movement forward feels huge for Paula and just as huge for the reader. The book is deeply compassionate, tender, sad and unforgettable.

I have been waiting for YEARS for the BBC series based on these books "Family : Paula, Charlo, Nicola, John Paul" to be released on DVD, please, please, release this series in the United States so we can have this... the books from Roddy Doyle on Paula Spencer have been fantastic, I highly recommend them.....

for those of you who have not seen this series based on the book, demand it be released on DVD....

I'm surprised to be recommending a book about an alcoholic middle aged mum so enthusiastically, but if you read Paula Spencer and don't love it, there's a good chance you're an idiot.

I didn't pick this up for a couple of weeks after I bought it - I wasn't ready for what I thought might be a dark read, but I needn't have worried. I'm sorry to have finished it.

A couple of other reviewers have told what story there is to this novel,so I won't try to enlarge on it.
Really,there is not much story at all.What we see; is what life is like to a woman who has not have an easy time of it ;and that is an under statement.
Paula,is now 48,and she has lived what should have been the best years of her life,and we are taken right into her heart and soul for a year or so.
It is not pretty,but Paula is not defeated by remorse or even worrying about why her lot is what it is. All she wants to do is "get along" and even the least amount of joy she is able to have,she is thankful for. Though she is never envious of others,and she has every reason to be, she takes each day as it comes.Will tomorrow be better? Who knows,Paula now lives her life, entwined with her few close friends and disfunctional family,one day at a time.Despite it all,she hasn't an enemy in the world.She doesn't even carry a bit of hatred in her heart for her now dead abusive ex-husband.
No doubt,Doyle shows what a life some people lead.Of course,many women's lot in life is worse than Paula's and many's lot is better.But this is Paula's .There is always hope,and without that ,what is there to live for?

"Paula Spencer," published about a decade later than its prequel, "The Woman Who Walked Into Doors," is a quieter, but just as moving, story. The reader, who was introduced to Paula as a working class Irishwoman struggling with alcoholism and an abusive husband, now finds her recovering from alcoholism but still coping with family problems, after her husband passed away. She has a job cleaning houses, which has its perks, she winds up seeing the White Stripes in concert. The book's scenes center around her attempts to reconcile with her four children, two of whom are addicts, and relationship with her sisters, who are dealing with trials of their own.

This book is less dramatic (no murders or first person descriptions of abuse) but equally black humored and engaging. Recommended.

This Atlas is fine for my purposes. I've used Rand McNally for a long time and this one didn't disappoint.

Rand McNally 2009 Road Atlas: United States / Canada / Mexico (Rand Mcnally Road Atlas: United States, Canada, Mexico)

As always, Rand McNally has an easy-to use atlas! I've been using their atlases for years, and this one doesn't disappoint!

My 1st Rand McNalley Atlas is many years old, so I thought I deserved a new one. I love maps and used my 1st one many times. The 2009 Atlas is just what I wanted, is greatly expanded, and good for planning road trips in other states. In my head, I've taken different routes to familiar places and to ones I've never been. It's a good reference and I think it's great.

We have always kept a copy of the Rand McNally Road Atlas in our vehicles; we find them to be invaluable when traveling on the road for basic directional help but also for find alternate scenic routes, etc.

Prior to 2008, we did not purchase the vinyl covered edition and the atlas would get torn and pretty beat up as it partially sticks out of the pockets behind the front seats. When we came across this version, we decided to give it a try and see if it helped the situation. We have the 2008 and 2009 versions and both have held up very well and neither are torn, frayed, or otherwise messed up any longer by general use with one exception.

I did learn a little lesson about the stapled binding and the vinyl cover as noted by reviewers of the 2008 version. This is caused by the thin paper and stapled binding along with the cover being tucked into the vinyl pockets on both sides. The cover can be separated partially or completey due to this and one day, a haphazard toss of the atlas caused it become partially separated from the cover. However, I found that by placing a rubberband around the center of the binding holds it all together perfectly. When we purchased the latest edition (2009), we put a rubberband around it to help reinforce the stapled binding from the start.

One other note about the atlas, we really enjoy reading the general information about each state and the recommended tourist sites. This is a great stocking stuffer and valuable to have in your own vehicle, even if you travel infrequently.

When I was a kid, I loved every time that my family bought a new Rand McNally Road Atlas. As soon as I could, I would sit down with the atlas and trace rides across country, from state to state. Or I would look for strangely named communities or. . . . I would spend an hour or so at a time just going through those glorious maps.

More recently, this is my annual Christmas gift to my son (wonder if love of atlases has a genetic basis?). But I still will grab his copy when he's not around and go through it, just as so long ago.

This Atlas has taken on a more contemporary flavor. Now, there is a web site that you can go to on road construction. Plus other web sites listed to provide the road warrior with more information.

It's fun to revisit my home territory via the Atlas. I was born in Kewanee, Illinois, so I can go to the Illinois map and trace (once more) how I would get to my mother's hometown (Bradford, IL), and the different routes I could take back and forth, including lesser used routes.

Or just open randomly to a map. I just did that and got Texas. Given the recent hurricane (Ike), it is illuminating to take a look at the Galveston-Houston area, as well as checking out the path that the hurricane took. An atlas gives you a grounded sense of the world around you.

So, anyhow, here's to the 2009 Atlas!

This is my favorite Concrete design book of all time. It is my first reference to anything regarding design. It is an excellent reference for students and engineers as well. I used it a lot for my graduate classes and I always use it in my office. Highly recommended!!

I receipt the book very quikly and in excelent conditios of use, as a new book.

Reinforced Concrete: Mechanics and Design (4th Edition) (Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics)

I think this book is very good quality, and shipping is not bad...

I have the 2nd edition of this book which I loved. This edition is excellent and is easily the best text on Reinforced Concrete there is anywhere.

This book is the best for those who want a deeper understanding of reinforced concrete design.Since the author presents a step by step way to introduce the concepts,the reader is able to get a more detailed information and retents more concepts instead of procedures

If I would only have the joy to read one book in my lifetime, it should be See Under: Love.

See Under: Love took my breath away, moved me to tears and touched me in the tenderest reaches of my soul. It is brilliant, imaginative, engaging and humane. The way characters, themes and time wind into each other transport the reader to a place far beyond the mundane. I loved every word. Immediately upon finishing, I went back to the first page to reread. My second reading was more deliberate and careful, and I caught much that I had overlooked in my first pass. I am sure that I will reread it again and again.

I originally bought this book after Jonathan Safran Foer enumerated it in his "Five Most Important Books" for an August 2007 Newsweek piece. Foer called it, "The novel of the 21st century" though it was first published in English in 1989. I thank Jonathan Safran Foer for his own works and, here, this recommendation. And in turn, I hope that I can pass this rare jewel on to others. This is my first review (well, not really a review which is elsewhere on Amazon but a recommendation) but I am compelled to do so. Months after the reading, I find myself thinking about See Under: Love and feeling grateful that I experienced it. This is not an easy book to read but the rewards are multifold. And when you are done, read the transcript of a talk that the author gave for a San Francisco Symposium at http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0411/is_1_51/ai_85068470 for even greater insight.

David Grossman has taken the worst that man has to offer and spun it into a magical, magnificent ouevre which will touch you with the human spirit and make you proud to be alive.

Words fail. I beg anyone who has been considering buying into Jonathan Safran Foer's hype to instead find themselves a copy of this, the book from which he appears to have stolen most of his ideas, instead.

All hyperbole aside, this wonderful book has few equals. It demands attention, and reflection, and time, and it rewards those willing to invest those things in it beyond compare. Nothing short on a meditation the way our lives are impacted by the moral calculi of others, and the way our own actions reverberate throughout the generations.

As an Israeli who have read it in Hebrew, I would like to add a few words. One thing: this book is entirely different if you read it in Hebrew. It losses a lot in the translation, and not because the translation is bad, rather that the combination of different layers of very special Hebrew combined with Yiddish, along with the cultural context, makes it a book that is an impossible mission for the translator. Of course, you can't ask someone to learn Hebrew just for this book (and this still won't be enough, because he has to be born again as an Israeli and grow up here to understand everything...), but the book has numerous universal aspects that can be translated, and it's still, even after the translation, a must-read.
And now, for the book itself (if there is such a thing the book itself...).
This is by-far the greatest Israeli book that I have ever read. I had one feeling that went along with me throughout the journey: I don't know how the hell he did. I just don't know. Like a magician that makes a trick you just can't figure. The scope. The depth. I cannot describe this book. It defies space and time. It is a masterpiece.

I don't think I am qualified to write a review of this piece of art. Think Toni Morrison on LSD, or maybe Falkner writing in Hebrew as Isaiah, composing in a way never before conceived, about of all things, The Hollocaust! I guess this most twisted example of human depravity requires such a book. However, if I had not read Mr. Grossman's beautiful love narrative, " Someone to Run With" I would not have known at first if it was a work of genius or a tale told by an idiot, and might not have hung in there long enough to declare it the former - 5 stars! However, a second reading may be required to understand the nuances.

One of the best novels I have ever read. Don't miss it!

I read this book over 25 years ago and it has haunted me. I periodically re-read it and find new hope in its pages every time. I have lent it to many friends over the years and my copy is sadly dog-eared. I know it is considered young adult/juvenile but it is timeless and ageless. It is a very precious book and I treasure it. It needs to be re-printed.

I found this book twenty years ago in a discount bin at a bookstore in Montreal, and every woman in my family and every woman I've lent this to, love this book. It is emotional, sad, but still so full of deep hope. It's a great short novel that cannot be critiqued intellectually. It's soul food.

Publishers take note - this book is both timely and timeless! Published again, in this era where so many seek spiritual guidance, it would be certain to find mass appeal.

I read this remarkable, image-rich book twenty-five years ago. It was a treasure that cried out to be shared, and so I did. Unfortunately the book journeyed away and never returned to me. I hope that it is still being passed from reader to reader inspiring others with its message of eternal interconnections and redemption. It haunts my mind to this day - so much that my quest to find another copy has never ceased.

I first read this book in junior high school, and it has stayed with me ever since. I think of it often and dig out my tattered paperback to re-read it and always pick up something new.

This is the story of Margaret Redmond, who dies of asthma at the age of seventeen in the year 1900. She finds herself in a strange "heaven" where she meets Paul, a member of a large Chinese family who lives in a great compound. Paul's grandmother, the matriarch of the clan, has predicted that Margaret will destroy the compound. Margaret does not understand this, or anything else at first. She begins to remember other lives, one as an Indian slave, Zawumatec; another as a sailor's wife named Elizabeth; and finally the life in ancient Sumer, where she was a doomed prince named Tirigan. Margaret must confront the lessons learned in these lives and the curse and hatred that have clung to her throughout the centuries before she can find peace and learn who "Paul" really is. A moving tale of reincarnation and the power love and hate have in shaping our destinies.

I read this book so long ago, I must have been in my teens. I picked it up because I needed a quick read. This story has stayed with me all these years. Each time someone asks me about a memorable book this is the one I think of instantly. Over the years I read and re read it, each time I found a new meaning in the story line. A new postive message for me to use in my life. I lent it to a friend who was going through a difficult time and it was then passed on again and again to other friends until I finally lost it. I would love to find it again, this time I would buy several copies so I could have one as well as lend them. I hope the publishers can be persuaded to do another printing soon.

Mr.Dunford, wherever you are, Loved the audio version of Soon To Be A Major Motion Picture (back in 2001 I think). Will pounce on your next UNabridged novel with glee!

This delicious murder mystery will have you anxious to stay up late and finish it. Set in Toronto, Canada, the story follows Mitchell Draper, the fame-chasing, gay screenwriter and the antics of his friends Ingrid and Ramir. It's like reading a book written by your best friend. Read the next one too...Making a Killing. We can only hope for more from this witty and original novelist.

Early on in the book, the author describes a character as "nondescript" and I thought "oh, no. This will be bad." but no! This book is tremendously well-written. I think I'm pretty hard to please when it comes to gay humor fiction, so it's great to find something to recommend whole-heartedly. Similar to Misadventures in the 213, Soon to Be.. has a little triumvirate of lovable characters (though Mitchell's friend Ramir can be less than lovable) that are drawn very well. Even minor characters such as the unnerving and condescending Kitina is spot on and Dunford's Carmen Denver strikes me as a Hollywood tyrant completely encapsulated.

The reader will probably figure out what's really going on before Mitchell does, but that's okay because there are still a few surprises. Mitchell's other friend Ingrid is very lovable and shy. The reader really roots for her triumph in the Toronto artworld and her subsequent stresses caused by her fame are very touching and affecting.

People who liked this book would also enjoy the aforementioned Misadventures in the 213 and Christian McLaughlin's book. I can't wait to read the next Warren Dunford.

Okay, so call me paranoid, but I'm convinced Warren Dunford has been spying on me. The characters are so real, and so much like myself and people I know, that I swear I've met them all before. Our Ingrid is a boy, however, and our Ramir is a girl, but otherwise, same angst. The scene with Mitch's parents is eerie.
Soon To Be A Major Motion Picture is the most entertaining, compulsively page-turning, addictive book I've read in years. I haven't laughed out loud on the subway this hard since Douglas Adams. I started reading Making A Killing immediately after finishing this one, and already it's proved to be just as witty, just as engrossing and just as real as the first one.
I enjoyed the screenplay format portions immensely. I hope the hint is taken in Hollywood North and this book is made into a film, because I MUST see it!

The adventures of Mitchell Draper are the amusing and poignant tale of every aspiring writer. Warren Dunford's first person narrative style is so fresh and intimate, you feel as though you are included among his equally neurotic and very likeable friends.

Spotting the Toronto references was great fun - Oh, I've been there! - and a nice change from the ubiquitous America city usually found as the setting for novels.

Warren Dunford has provided a wonderfully diverting way to spend an afternoon and many, many opportunities to laugh out loud.

With any luck at all, "Soon to Be a Major Motion Picture" soon will be. I look forward to it!