Manhattan Books

Reading Miniplanner is an erotic and provocative seduction. On his first day in a high-powered, successful bank in Manhattan, Andre Bernard embarks on a wild and sexual journey of lust, love and secrecy that cannot be sustained without the aid of his miniplanner. The story is written with an absorbing use of dialogue that would perhaps welcome the reader to inhabit Andre's skin, ride the tumultuous love affairs he endures, and marvel at his abilities to embrace gender fluidity. In addition to the stormy sexual scenes written with abandon, Miniplanner is delightfully peppered with reflections and deliberations as Andre contemplates his experiences and engagements with his lovers Nathan and Sybil, and the other characters in his life. Andre's messy entanglements are both exasperating and comical, but his humanity and sensitivity are not lost in the novel. The pace of the story is dramatic and emotional; Abha Dawesar writes in a candid and unabashed manner that is absolutely riveting. A must read for an exhilarating ride.

Miniplanner was great entertainment. It was a racy, quick read and flowed smoothly. Full of twists and a real farce the book is both funny and at moments profound.

a really interesting and unique story that has a lot of potential but unfortunately falls a bit flat because the reader is never completely attached with any of the characters, let alone the main character. and, without this the reader can never fully appreciate the character's motivations (if there are any). you end up feeling like these people are self-indulgent messes with no depth. it's disappointing, because the story is unique and bold, and has a lot of potential. it's still worth a read because there isn't much like this out there.

I've just finished reading "Miniplanner" and the main reaction I have -- and have had throughout the time reading it -- is disappointment.

It seems odd to describe a novel that involves so many sexual encounters as boring -- especially when those encounters supposedly involve a great deal of strategizing in order to keep the central lovers (a husband and wife) from colliding. I think this is due to some very weak characterizations. But the author also fails utterly by making the sex scenes seem no more interesting than doing laundry.

The worst of the novel though deals with the descriptions of the workplace. I don't think you have to do too much research into the inner workings of a metropolitan bank in order to create something that rings true. However, the author doesn't manage this -- her main character seems amazingly uninvolved in the actual daily life of a workplace and has improbably too much time to dedicate to arranging his extracurricular activities -- time that he no doubt needs!

As I read, I couldn't help wonder -- does the author mean to present or omit certain details in order to use the first-person voice to build the character? In the end, I feel that this may have been attempted but not done successfully.

Oh well...unlike other reviewers, I cannot say "nice try". I think I'd be more interested in the story regarding how this book came to be published than the actual book itself. So instead I will say "good job at promoting the book despite its lack of merit".

And -- I think there is also reason to be skeptical of these 5 star reviews that all gush about how hard it was to put the book down. Friends of the author? Friends of the publisher?

I will admit that I had some trouble putting the book down myself. That was when I dozed off and it fell from my hands!

Abha manages to inject lightness into a subject that all too often puts us to sleep with overly-creative language. That subject is sex. And Abha's language remains familiar, while being interesting in its own way. Thanks to this familiarity, we can easily follow the story of Andre-the-Abusive-Lover and do not have to try to decipher where exactly he put his fist last time he bedded Nathan or Sybil. With regard to the creative side of the book's language, one of Abha's great virtues is that she feels at home with the little idiosyncrasies of India-influenced English. She mixes Britishisms with Americanisms and every so often uses phrases or words that tend to be preferred by Indian Americans more than by the average WASP. As a result, her narrative better reflects the discourse of New York--a city of immigrants--and conveys well the city's atmosphere. Consequently, Abha manages to put together a book that holds both narrative and linguistic interest that she interweaves to great effect.

I overwhelmingly related with the main character in this book. It wasn't that she was an actress, it was that she was a new mother who not only questions being a mom but also questions being a wife. I am a mother of two who are only ten months apart and i found myself laughing as I read this book. A lot of the time I was saying "Oh my gosh, I thought I was the only one who felt that way." I was a little annoyed by her at times but only because she questioned herself so much throughout the book. I thought about it though....being a woman, I do that all the time! Perfect book for mothers!

I loved this book. The witty prose was delightful to read and brought me right into the story. I kept finding different ways to identify with the struggle of the main character. I felt like she was inside my head. It raised many questions for me which continued to resonate long after I had read the final page. And it made me laugh out loud.

This is THE perfect book for any woman who has ever felt even a twinge of guilt when presented with the "ideal of motherhood." For goodness sake - breastfeeding isn't fun, getting up a million times each night isn't easy, and your "single, free woman" expectations and dreams don't suddenly evaporate once you have a ring on your finger... Stephanie Lehmann's book is an honest and fresh look at the realities of motherhood, that still manages to be a sweet, endearing story about the evolution of a woman's life. I'm eagerly awaiting her next book.

I found it impossible to identify with or appreciate the main character - she was snotty, selfish, and completely obnoxious. I am a new mother, and had hoped this book would help me get through the tough patches with a little bit of humor, but the writing style (overly simple) and the self-obsessed nature of the aspiring actress made it difficult to even finish the book.

A "must read" for all new moms! The breastfeeding scenes are hilarious. I loved this book! Stephanie Lehman's "Are you in the Mood" contains great insight on the joys and frustrations of motherhood and marriage. I'm buying an extra copy to give my friend at her baby shower.

The Detonators, by Chad Millman

In 1916 terrorists set off a great explosion on the railroad docks of Jersey City ("Black Tom"). These agents of Imperial Germany attacked the shipping and manufacturing in America that produced munitions for Britain, France, and Imperial Russia. The propaganda machine generated a frenzy of hatred towards anything "German"; frankfurters were renamed "hot dogs" (implying they were made from dog meat, which tastes like pork). Wall Street depended on an Allied victory, and the President followed their instructions. German sympathies provoked "Americanization" programs in schools (p.3). In 1914 New York Harbor was the biggest in the world (p.7). Every German ship in America had been interned, and they crowded the harbor. In November 1914 the German military attaché was ordered to sabotage ships, then war factories (p.14). A chemist created a time-delayed incendiary device. Soon mysterious fires and explosions broke out (p.24). Investigations led to the recall of German military attachés by December 1915. But their network of saboteurs remained (Chapter 4). Besides incendiary devices, German spies spread anthrax and glanders among the horses and mules shipped to the British and French in Europe (p.70).

Just after midnight the German saboteurs planted their incendiary devices on the barges and railroad cars on Black Tom. Soon a fire broke out, and the first explosion was after 2 AM on July 30, 1916. Windows were broken in Jersey City and in New York city across the Hudson. Chapter 7 describes the extensive property damage; only 5 lives were lost (p.94). The fires and explosions were not attributed to saboteurs (p.97). Chapter 8 tells of the differences between New York and Philadelphia (p.103). The Treaty of Berlin ended the war with the US in 1921. The US took possession of all German property seized during the war (p.117). Within a few years most claims were settled. The one big item was the claim for the destruction of Black Tom and the Kingsland munitions plant. Michael Kristoff had been arrested on 9/31/1916 on suspicion, but released for lack of proof (p.125). A former Secret Service agent claimed German saboteurs did it. Amos Peaslee, the lawyer for the Lehigh Valley Railroad, searched Washington to find lost files about German activities (p.129). The German government had ordered the destruction of munitions, but they chose to fight the suit for political reasons (p.131).

Peaslee was able to obtain the decoded German messages that mentioned their sabotage in the USA (p.137). Without a settlement, the case was turned over to the Mixed Claims Commission (p.139). Chapter 11 begins the case against Germany. Bonynge said the Germans destroyed the records. Von Lewinski replied this was done to prevent the Bolsheviks from getting them (p.157)! Bonynge sums up the case for Germany's involvement on page 186. There was a problem with the handwriting experts (p.216, p.223), The final settlement of the Black Tom claims was due to a promise of improved trade relations (pp.245-246). An old memo destroyed Germany's case (p.265)! The plaintiffs won (p.273). "Transistors" (p.280)?

This book concentrates on the legal side of the events. Henry Landau's "The Enemy Within" gives a more complete account to German sabotage in 1916 America. There is no description of each chapter in the table of contents. The number of photographs are sparse. There is nothing about the San Francisco Preparedness Day bombing! Curt Gentry's "Frame-Up" isn't even mentioned.

I grew up in Jersey City, and my entire family hailed from that town, having emigrated there in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Never once did any member of the family mention the Black Tom explosion except when I inquired about it.

It was quickly forgotten at the time because the damage was limited principally to some broken windows--not the total destruction of Jersey City and lower Manhattan that Millman claims in his reading from and discussion of the book on C-Span2.

It's sensationalism of the worst sort, with Millman trying to make it read like an earlier-time 9/11.

In 1916 World War I was going full strength in Europe but America was not involved. Or to be more accurate America was willing to sell anything (such as arms and ammunition) to anyone and everyone.

Because of the blockade imposed on Germany by England and France, this effectively meant that nothing could be sold to Germany but England and France could get anything they wanted. Germany was not pleased by this state of affairs.

On July 30, 1916 there was an estimated two million pounds of explosives and ammunition in storage on Black Tom Island in New York harbor. German agents were able to blow it up.

Strangely enough there seemed to be little investigation of the incident until many years later when three lawyers outside of the Government uncovered the facts. This book is the story of the German plot and the subsequent investigations. This incident is so little known that this is a very welcome book.

How no one thought to write this book until now is extraordinary. Millman found a chapter in U.S. history that eerily foreshadows the events of 9/11 and beyond, and he had the writerly discipline to avoid hitting readers over the head with it. Instead, he tells a dramtaic story of espionage and legal intrigue, in prose that's fast-paced and easily accessible without being simple or condescending. Perfect summer reading. Fall, Winter and Spring, too.

This is a wonderful read - interesting, relevant and timely, and better than fiction. Millman has struck an excellent balance, weaving facts into a captivating narrative that is a perfect book for relaxed reading. Books like THE DETONATORS should be part of curricula in high school and college history courses because it brings history alive. Impressive that a sports guy can turn such an excellent page-turner.

Disappointed is the word I will use for this book...I think it was not realistic at all! The main character, Destiny was shallow and living in a dream world! She thought too highly of herself and was not vulnerable at all so it was hard to like her. She would yell at her friends for not being smart in their relationships but then she will give some guy that never paid her any attention $50,000 and not even care when he doesn't return her calls! Seriously, I don't care how much money you have $50,000 is still a lot of money to not be mad over. I just don't understand why people were even friends with her and it was such a quick "I found Jesus" ending. She just changed overnight and Tyler took her back? Not in the real world! I did not like Destiny Day and all through the book I was hoping something bad would happen to her because she was a royal pain in the neck.

The cover caught my attention because it looked fun and interesting. I did get fun but I didn't feel like I got something new. I could see my friends in some of the characters and I enjoyed how the book took me into the music and club scene since I am a recently turned 21 reader. It was a fun book that I recommend to music and club lovers. Otherwise, don't bother.

The author speaks to her readers through the electrifying character of Destiny Day. Destiny seems fated to be a vixen like her mother Juanita. She escapes reality and responsibility by maintaining her position as the Queen of the Club in the A-List life. Her cultural manouvering will never help her escape the inevitability of life, which catches up to her in the form of handsome men Malik and Taye whom she much eventually chose between.

Author Lyah Beth LeFlore shows how well a person can develop their lives and make changes if they so desire through the character of Destiny as she gains more character and becomes a better person and friend through the relationships she has with her close circle of friends. Destiny grows in depth as the book progresses and she is faced with her ego (the Queen persona) versus reality (life situations that others face from choices they are making to live). Destiny is finally forced to grow up and join the regular world in the end, making this book a down to earth, regular read.

For those who want to dance along with the characters, laugh at a few jokes and cry at about a few bad decisions, this book is one to pick up.

Anyone who enjoys music and how it affects your life will enjoy Lyah Beth LeFlore's novel LAST NIGHT A DJ SAVED MY LIFE. And for those who aren't big music fans don't be fooled by the title, this book is about much more.

Destiny Day is a party promoter in New York who seems to have it all. She runs a strict business with the help of her staff, also known as "The Girls", which includes one of her close friends Jenna. She also manages DJ Peter, who not only is a DJ, but is also ready to step into the music industry if he can get Destiny behind him. While her business is doing great, her love life is another story. She is involved with several different men, yet she won't settle down and admit that love can exist. Finally, when a man comes into her life to show her what she could have, she makes decisions that push him away as well. However, even without a steady man Destiny is not alone because also along for the ride are her best friends Izzy, Rico, and Josephine.

Izzy is an aspiring actress who, like Destiny, was orphaned by her parents at a young age. She was raised by her grandmother and has issues with her mother that she must face before she can move on with her life. Rico is a makeup artist with the skills to make anyone beautiful, but he is too busy chasing men to reach his full potential. Lastly, Jospehine is a mother figure, advisor, and confidant for Destiny. She has lived a full life and holds the wisdom Destiny needs to grow as a woman.

LeFlore has managed to mix various stories and address different issues without one overshadowing the other or the plot becoming too confusing. Her novel is about more than music; it is about facing one's past in order to get to their future and teaches lessons on forgiveness. Also, the emphasis is not just on loving others, but loving yourself and making decisions that will make you truly happy. Of course the novel is also about how music speaks to individuals, draws a connection between them, or affects the way they live their lives. LAST NIGHT A DJ SAVED MY LIFE is a different type of love story that can change the way you think about life, love and music.

Reviewed by Criss Coles
for The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Sticking with same theme of the glamorous lifestyle of New York City's party people, Lyah Beth LeFlore goes at it solo with her latest novel, Last Night a DJ Saved My Life. Party promoter, Destini Day has escaped the midwest life she grew up in and now throws the best parties at the best clubs in New York.

Committment shy, Destini has her choice of the best men. As long as they can afford her and please her in bed, and not ask for anything more, they are in, but any signs from these men that they want more, they are out. The married and freaky Curtis, the evasive Malik, and DJ Peter are all keeping Destini satisfied until she meets Mr.Taye Crawford. There is something about this man that makes Destini want to step back and re-evaluate her stance on long-term relationships. Is he the one? Destini seeks advice from Ms Josephine, an older and wiser friend who draws from her own experiences in an effort to stop Destini from making the same mistakes she did.

Though this novel lagged in parts, I found it to be an interesting read. It is always fun to read about the lifestyle so different from your own, like the lifestyle of the nouveau rich, hip hop and rap artists, and their party hardy attitudes. Also, it was a treat to visualize the high fashion clothes and shoes described in the novel. I always appreciate when a storyline with substance is added. I think those who enjoy Urban and Hip-Hop reading will enjoy this book.

Jeanette
APOOO BookClub

This book was a great help, providing clear explanations for the practice problems and carefully going over its methods in a way that was informative and easy to grasp. I was able to utilize this book to my advantage without any trouble and without having prior experience with practice problems and tests. Overall, the straightforward format of the book and its clarity of style helped me gain many skills necessary to be confident about taking the GMAT. I would definitely recommend this to anyone else taking the test and needing a practice boost.

I can concur with others who have pointed out the distracting typos, which also make some of the explanations quite confusing.

This book appears to contain some fairly sophisticated methods for tackling difficult problems on the GMAT--the problem is that they are woefully unexplained and poorly illustrated. In fact, this whole thing reads like a course accompanying product that depends on teacher explanation. Very unpolished and really only of use to advanced students and those looking to get their hands on more practice problems. Go with the other other Manhattan series if you're looking for one good set of books.

Heard great things from my colleagues about this series. They really lived up to my expectation though the book covers could have been laminated to make them sturdier! Overally speaking, it is a very good book. Basic to advanced. Tons of difficult questions. Solutions are very detailed. I also found a lot of free downloadable study guides from Manhattan Review's website (www.Manhattanreview.com). Try it. I also emailed them directly about my suggestions on the books. They were very responsive and receptive. In sum, I recommend the Turbocharge books after going through a half dozen other study books. OG is also a must.

I have recently purchased a set of Turbocharge GMAT books. The books are
very comprehensive and well structured with practice problems at the back of
the book behind all the chapter-by-chapter instructions. I noticed that all
the books are updated recently within the last two months. It is quite
assuring to know someone is always fine-tuning the content and updating it.
Highly recommend it. A friend studied with the set and scored 740 lately. I
hope I will match or beat it!

This book is good cause it is small, has a good glossary of terms/formulas, but there are a ton of mistakes. Some that apply to numbers and make some concepts hard to understand. Plus, they don't explain anything. They show you a concept, give you a couple practice questions, then that's it. I guess that's a way for them to sell the other book and make more money. For the size of the book and overall worth of it to me, I'd pass. The 1st 20 or so pages are good, but the rest was sub-par. I prefer Princeton Review's Cracking the GMAT.

It's true, I always enjoy a Barbara Delinsky book! She's someone I read sort of off and on. I run across one of her books, read the back and usually end up buying. And often, their short descriptions on the back does not do them justice! Wonderfully, each of her books is quite different from the next.

Most women enjoy a great romance book, I am no different. Although, I prefer one with substance, a little more than the Harlequin's. Thus, Commitments is a great romance novel! It's got a steamy love affair, one that floats right off the pages. But it also has a story behind that love, one that I found inspiring, on many levels. Redemption, forgiveness, courage, commitment, unconditional love, dedication...the two people in this story have them all!

If you haven't read Barbara Delinsky, I'd recommend picking up one of her books. This one would be a good one to start, I also enjoyed Coast Road, Vineyard and Lake News.

What happened the book overall was good, but boy was I disappointed by the end. I felt that Ms Delinsky got tired and wanted to wrap up the story, The ending will make you wonder what
did the ballatine files contained, did sabrina have a girl or boy and what about the antagonist Geer did he get his in the end.I've read several of Ms.Delinsy's books and this was about to be my favorite if not for the end, she left so many potenial story lines loose and I felt cheated out of a potential good book

I remember reading this book of Delinsky's sometime ago and recall that it was an overall pretty good read. Sabrina Stone had married a little too hurriedly, and not wisely at all. When her son Nicky was born with many special needs, her husband of course, couldn't handle it at all. So Sabrina struggles along taking care of his needs on her own most of the time as her hubby is never around.

Meanwhile, she meets a reporter, Derek McGill, to whom she is very much attracted to. It is a shock later, though to learn that Derek was unjustly convicted of murder and sent to prison.
Sabrina however, with unconditional love for Derek, visits him in prison, and falls in love deeper and deeper unbeknownst to Nick.

As the book moves on, there is some mystery to be solved about some files that will help Derek's case, and Sabrina tries to help him all the way. The ending is unclear here, but Sabrina sticks with Derek no matter what. Some people have problems with her commitment to this man in her family.

I enjoyed the book very much.

Delinksy is always interesting. I have read almost all her books. In my opinion, this is not one of her best, but it is still a good book and will keep most readers interested throughout the duration. She gets better and better as time goes on. Her later books are all wonderful. One can see how her writing has improved when comparing early books such as "12 Across," "Bronze Mystique" and some of her early Harlequin stories to her later novels. If you have not read her before, start with "For My Daughters," "Suddenly," Vineyard" or "Coast Road." This is a good one to check out at the library, but not necessarily to spend money buying and keeping.

Of all places, I found this book when cleaning out my storage shed ~~ and this book is really a light read and a welcome break from my normal reading.

Sabrina Stone looks like a society wife ~~ all glitter and glam only to show Derek McGill that she is a woman made of substance. And their love story takes you from the top of a Manhattan rooftop to the farmland in Vermont. There are murder, intrigue and steamy sex scenes written in this little book.

If you're looking for something to read while taking a break from house cleaning, painting or any of those tiresome chores, this book is one I would recommend. It's not the deepest read of the year, but it is fun!

It has good mystery, lots of dead bodies, some sex and travel to exotic places, and movie trivia. But some parts of the story are moving really slow

And yes, there is one more amusement: a far right-wing Congressman from Massachusetts winning his next term by a landslide. Considering the fact that recently I read about a Republican Senator from Delaware (D.Brown Deception Point) and a conservative governor of Minnesota (J.Sandford Hidden Prey) it seems like there is really a ground swell there.

This was a great concept for a book. But it turns into a zany comic novel that never lives up to the concept. Too bad, all film buffs have had dreams about seeing a complete Welles version of the masterpiece The Magnificent Ambersons.

This breezy thriller has all the ingredients to be a surefire success: a Hitchcockian everyman thrust into the role of detective, a beautiful foreign lass, a host of colorful supporting characters, a rapid-fire globetrotting pace that moves between New York, Hollywood, and Barcelona, and, of course, the MacGuffin. Which is not to suggest that this is a wonderful book. Rather, it is a good beach or airplane book, the perfect witty read for movie buffs who want to sit back and be entertained in print. Set in the world of film trivia mavens, the story concerns the search for a legendary unseen complete print of Orson Welles' film The Magnificent Ambersons. Roy is a movie nerd in his later 30s who is caught up in some very deadly business, as the story wends its way from the computer strewn bedroom of am internet rumormonger (a thinly veiled Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool News fame) to the Hollywood Hills trysting pad of an action movie star (a thinly veiled Bruce Willis clone), and into the beds of several women. It's all put together in a very snappy, pulpy style, right down to the socks in the jaw, and the double-crossing dames. Just like a decent movie, the book will keep you cheerfully diverted for two hours and then fade quickly from memory.

When a fellow movie trivia buff tells Roy Milano he's found the holy grail of film--the original director's cut of Orson Welles's Magnificent Ambersons, Roy can hardly wait to see the screening. But when he arrives at his friends house, he finds the movie gone and his friend murdered. Now Roy sets out on a mission--to find the movie and see it for himself. If he can help find the actual killer, so much the better. Working his way through the slightly weird clan of fellow trivia buffs, and soon joined by one of the rare attractive females in the group, Roy heads to Hollywood, Spain, and Boston in search of the elusive movie.

It doesn't take Roy long to realize that he's onto something major. He seems to run into fists at least as often as clues, but he also finds people who think he knows more than he does--and who are willing to give him money to help them find what they want. Because outside of the narrow world of old-film cultists, the Magnificent Ambersons is simply another ancient flick. Roy's single-minded obsession nearly gets him killed--which makes him better off than most of the people he comes in contact with. Eventually Roy tracks down the movie, but having it only increases the danger.

Author Laurence Klavan dishes up an over-the-top adventure with an unlikely trivia-nerd hero who, nevertheless, manages to be sympathetic and even get his share of the girls. Fast-paced action, badly flawed characters, and America's obsession with the movie industry provide plenty of reader interest. Klavan's high-quality writing held my interest and kept me turning the pages--I read the entire book in one sitting. The twist at the end worked for me--adding to the emotional impact of a fine novel.

Reading is a compulsory activity for some of us. I'm addicted; I almost always have to be reading something --- whether I'm listening to music, watching television, eating, waiting, talking on the telephone or, ah, driving. Not a good idea I know. I'm trying to cut back, but it's tough. As with a great many compulsions, reading started out being fun --- in my case, Dick Tracy comic books at the local drugstore --- and has taken on a life of its own. It's still fun and enjoyable, of course, but those elements take an almost secondary role, and it's tough getting started on a 12-step program with reading when your higher power is Random House. Once in a while, however, you pick up a book that reminds you that reading is supposed to be FUN. And that brings us to THE CUTTING ROOM by Laurence Klavan.

This is an almost noir mystery that doesn't take itself too seriously. It revolves around Roy Milano, a New York City film aficionado who is a self-styled expert in all things celluloid. Milano finds himself unexpectedly drawn into danger and intrigue when he is invited by Alan Gilbert, an acquaintance and rival, to witness a private screening of a legendary, long lost film: the complete, unreleased print of Orson Welles's The Magnificent Ambersons. Milano arrives at Gilbert's apartment only to find his erstwhile host dead and the film gone. Milano's compulsion --- compulsions really make the world go round, don't they? --- leads him on a wild chase across the country to Los Angeles, then halfway around the world to Barcelona and back again, all in pursuit of a film whose existence is at best apocryphal.

Milano introduces fellow film buffs along the way, broadly drawn eccentrics, and you will recognize at least one of them within your own circle of friends. He also unexpectedly encounters the granddaughter of the great man himself, a beautiful lady with secrets of her own. Toss in a couple of surprise allies, some unexpected enemies and a whole bunch of sedate but interesting plot twists, and you have a print version of one of those madcap ensemble movies from the 1960s, kind of a print version of It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World.

The best part of the book, however, is Milano's penchant for dropping bits of film trivia here, there and everywhere throughout his narrative, usually appropriately, occasionally not, but always entertainingly. You're almost guaranteed to learn something. I never knew why Mr. Briggs was replaced by Mr. Phelps in the television version of Mission: Impossible until I read this book. More knowledge, imminently useful or not, waits within.

Klavan has a winner with THE CUTTING ROOM and with Milano. Klavan's background in film and theater runs deep, which gives this fine novel and its characters that ring of authenticity that cannot be artificially manufactured. Most of all, however, THE CUTTING ROOM is fun to read. And --- great news --- Milano will be back. I hope he brings more film trivia with him.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

I generally read about 75 books a year, and in the very long run few have made a lasting impression on me. This book is an exception; I read Regiment of Women about 20 years ago and I still think about it now and then. I suggest reading this book and Atwoods Handmaids Tale at the same time.

I stumbled onto this book when it first was published, and couldn't put it down. It came out at a time when we were all asking (like the song) "Why can't a woman be more like a man?" While the book may seem a little dated now, if you're old enough to remember, think about some of the sex/gender questions that were being asked then. Are we really any more advanced in our thinking now? This book made me laugh and laugh.

This book gets the point across about reverse sexual discrimation without coming across so stongly (as a feminist would). Picked this book up at the library in the late '70's. I'm an avid reader...read "Last Days of Pompeii" when I was 9, and everything written by Robert Heinlien by the time I was 12....but darned if I can tell you the name of the book I just finished reading yesterday....but this book is one I can remember. Although Berger's ideas are of what a man would think a woman would think life should be like....he doesn't do too bad a job at it. My husband read the book (the last book he'd read was about George Patton) and he finally understood why I worked on out-driving men on the golf course, or worked on my own car.

This novel demonstrates the importance for all men to have a working relationship with their regenerative organs. The dystopia Berger describes is a hilarious and terrifying societal order where biology is given the same treatment as all young boys having their cherries popped by lecherous women on the prowl for hot boy meat. All the inversions are great: gender roles are reversed, boys wear silly little underthings, blush, fret over the color of their toenails, bitch like drag queens, and girls are raised to be tough, mean, and aggressive. Girls play with guns, join the army, kill people. Boys play with their Kitty Carry-All dollies, and are prized for their pretty features and gaity. But apparantly all the boys grow up straight. Homosexuality is something of a myth. Buggery, however, is all too real.

The upshot of all this is a society where women rule everything. But they can only do so because they've ostensibly created a system that denies a man a working relationship with his "original" tool. Boys never learn what their willies are FOR. They are told a pack of lies about sex. They grow up hating their organ and its hideous accomplices. If they complain too loudly, they are frequently threatened with the knife. There are plenty of eunichs around to serve as examples of what the wrong attitude can mean for a boy.

The women of this world have only taken on the superficial characterists of men. Still, they aren't men. They are as much parodies of men as the men are of women. They must use dildos on their boy-slaves in order to luxuriate in their absolute domination of them. Sex is presented as power. Specifically, the penis is power. Women, no matter what they do to attempt to mimic stereotypical masculinity--will never have the true psychological advantage that is manifested through a synchronicity between the male's brain and his red headed stranger.

Of course, feminists can tear this book to shreds. It would probably be a whole lot of fun, actually. It totally mocks feminism with an unrestrained glee. However, it clearly celebrates liberation for both men and women--a return to the biological imperatives that each human in instilled with at birth. The horrorshow presented in this book is an illustration of the folly of any attempt to subvert nature and create a [wo]man-made utopia that can only be sustained through treachery and callous, hateful deceit. Nevertheless, our own world has certainly subjugated whole sets of peoples for various reasons throughout history. So much that is in this book is most powerful because it rings so true.

Some people see Berger's "Regiment of Women" as an anti-feminist diatribe. I've always seen it as a pro-feminist book, with Berger essentially satirizing the extreme exaggerations of those who said women's lib would make women "masculine".

The book is set in a future where women rule the world. And they rule it with an iron fist. Men are excluded from all positions of power and relegated to second-class status. Society has experienced a complete role reversal of the sexes. The women are the politicians, business leaders and generals, while the men are secretaries, clerks and maids. Men are not permitted to hold political office or even vote, serve in the military or the police force.

Berger takes the reversal to the most extreme lengths. In Berger's imagined world, it is the men who wear dresses and skirts. They wear panties and stockings, put on makeup to make themselves pretty, and show off their shaved legs in high-heeled shoes. The women wear business suits and crewcuts, and sport fake beards and moustaches. They bind their chests, because thanks to cosmetic surgery, in this society it is the men who wear breasts, in the form of large silicone breasts.

Nowhere is the reversal more complete than in the area of sex. Both the male and female genitals have become superfluous organs. Here it is the female who penetrates the male. Thus, in "normal" sexual intercourse, the female vagina has been replaced by the male anus, and the male penis has been replaced by a strap-on dildo worn by the female (not surprisingly, in keeping with the over-the-top style of this book, Berger at different times describes the dildos used as huge, massive, and enormous. The protagonist of the book, Georgie Cornell relates how his high school prom date attempted to rape him with a dildo the size of a policewoman's club).

A constant theme throughout the book is power, and how women use it to dominate the male population. Sex appears to be just another tool in their arsenal. Georgie sees a psychiatrist to help him with his sexual problems. Georgie is frigid and unable to experience the joy of the male "anal orgasm". Instead he feels pain. And how does his analyst treat him for this problem? She gives him a beating to let him know what real pain is like, and then she essentially rapes him with a massive dildo. Georgie's friend, Charlie, offers his opinion as to what women get out of sex: "Power, pure and simple. What more obvious assertion of power is there? There you (the male) are, on your stomach, helpless, and they're (the female) riding you".

From birth on, men quickly learn their place. They are timid and subservient, meekly submitting to the female power structure. The women are the aggressors in all things, and treat men with a type of casual brutality. Although there are no physiological changes to the sexes, and men are still much larger and more physically powerful than women, in this world they have become the weaker sex. Like most men, Georgie fears women. He is right to fear women - he has been beaten by teachers, doctors, and girlfriends, and has fended off several attempts of rape.

Berger presents a world where the family has been eliminated. Children are born in incubators and raised by the state. Segregated by sex, they attend different schools. The girls get an academic education to prepare them for college, but since boys are considered to not be academically inclined, they take mostly home-economics courses.

To perpetuate the species, women volunteer as egg donors, while the men are drafted into the "Sperm Service". This involves a weekly milking of their sperm, which seems to consist of being masturbated by a machine.

Since the family structure has been eliminated, there is also no marriage. Many men and women do live with together, each seeming to get something out of the relationship. For women, they get free sex and a live-in maid, while men get a nice lifestyle, but more importantly, the physical protection of a women. Rape is a constant theme in the book. It seems to be commonplace and not treated very seriously the women running society (attempted rape is only a misdemeanor).

One thing Berger does is use language to surprise and shock the reader. Thus, to be masculine in the book is to be submissive and weak. Georgie worries about "his effeminate streak of brutality". The first paragraph of the books has Georgie waking up, "his baby-doll nightgown up to his sternum, exposing both his pudenda and his thrusting breasts". When Georgie lives with a famous painter, she is finishing up one of her greatest works titled "The Rape of the Sabine Men", which depicts a bunch of brawny women assaulting terrified male nudes.

The only problem with the book is it is somewhat of a one-joke note. That being said, I would say it's an interesting read.

A selection of beautifully written essays on life in New York as a father, husband, and observer of the cultural scene. There is a particularly moving and enlightening description of the Bill Evans trio's storied sessions decades ago at the Village Vanguard.

I received this book as a Christmas present, and took it with me on holiday to Japan ... because I wished that I were going to New York but was not.

I expected a book of stories about life in New York. While I got this in some ways I got it in such a way as to be at times rendered speechless. This book contains laugh out loud elements (stories of his children) and parts which brought me to tears (the ending of the Giant Metrozoids). It has also inspired me to do a whole lot more reading, all the books which Gopnik refers to are now on my reading list.

I am not a New Yorker, but, after a week there in 2006 now miss this city so desperately from my home in Australia, that I am amazed. Gopnik captured my feelings in this book. The moments of clarity that I had to share with the people I was travelling with, and will become pearls of wisdom for staff meetings when I am required to talk.

Would I recommend this book? Of this I am unsure. It is a highly observationalist book, looking at the society in which the author lives and grasping for the truth that is found within. It is also in the nature of critical literacy, so some deep thinking is required on the part of the reader. I usually read a book every day or two when travelling (particularly when in a country where English is not found readily) my addiction is to the pages, not the 'screens or cards'. But this book took me nearly two weeks, and I feel a need now to re-read it. To high light and mark the pearls I have discovered in the manner of a university text so that I can give these the true depth of consideration they deserve.

All in all though, this was a book I can see myself reading again and again one which spoke to my soul so truly that I can hear the sirens of NYC echoing down the streets, smell the hotdog venders and feel the wind in my face. This book will tide me over until I get to go back again.

I have some sympathy with the caustic review of "Mr Picky" below, not because I have the same distaste for Adam Gopnik's work (quite the reverse), but because I agree that all of Gopnik's work is, essentially, about himself. Not only that, but where his subject veers away from himself, or those closest to him, he becomes far less interesting and insightful.

Having said that, there is no doubt that Gopnik is a very, very good writer. It is his lucid and insightful writing that not only saves this (and his other) book from the pretentious and self-indugent exercise that it would have been from just about any other writer, but which provides genuine pleasures that make it a very entertaining and rewarding read.

Gopnik's subjects are, as others have noted, New York and his children. The best sections by far are those dealing with his relations with his children. The further he moves from that subject, the less interesting his writing becomes, and the duller his prose style. There is a chapter on "switch hotels" and parakeets. I am still not sure what that chapter is about, or why switch hotels needed an essay written about them, or what the connection is with parakeets. There is also an article on the great Bill Evans and his Village Vanguard recordings. There is an enormous amount to say about these performances, but Gopnik struggles to say anything genuinely interesting. These pieces seem sincere but dutiful, and somewhat laboured. Even his 9/11 pieces suffer from a worthy but dull quality. It is only when Gopnik turns back to his children and his close friends that his writing again becomes enlivened and interesting.

I agree with Mr Picky that there is a certain amount of literary pretentiousness which comes through many of Gopnik's essays. The names of literary heavyweights are dropped with a little more regularity than is strictly necessary. But in a way, these kinds of allusions have their own charm, in the same way that they do in many of Woody Allen's movies. In fact, Gopnik and his friends could well have walked straight out of Woody Allen's "Manhattan".

I always enjoy reading Gopnik. Ever since I first encountered the essay "Man Goes to See a Doctor" in the New Yorker many years ago (the essay is also collected in this book), which I regularly re-read, I have always looked out for Gopnik's work and always read it with considerable pleasure. The only reservation I have is that, as noted above, Gopnik is only at his best with the subjects of himself, his children, his friends and his immediate vicinity; and those subjects have a certain banality which is evaded only by the quality of his writing. Every generation re-discovers the experience of raising children as if it is the first ever to do so. Almost every Sunday paper in every major city has a columnist describing the amusing antics of their young family. Only Gopnik's intelligence and insights save his essays from the usual Sunday column banality.

Despite some reservations about the limitations of his subject matter, this is genuinely a very enjoyable book, and Gopnik is undoubtedly a talented writer. "Through the Children's Gate" is highly recommended.

Readers of The New Yorker who relish each issue that contains an Adam Gopnik essay will be delighted that 20 of them have been collected in this rich offering of his work. Those unacquainted with Gopnik's graceful and allusive prose are likely to become instant fans.

Taking its title from the name of the Central Park entrance at Seventy-sixth Street and Fifth Avenue, the collection is unified by Gopnik's captivating insights into the lives of his precocious children, Luke and Olivia, as they adapt to life in their new home. That focus is apt, for, he observes, about the Upper West Side world into which they settle, comfortably but not entirely without unease, "a constant obsessive-compulsive anxiety about children --- their health, their future, the holes in their socks, and the fraying of their psyches --- is taken entirely for granted here."

In September 2000 Gopnik and his family returned to New York, after five years in Paris that provided the material for his acclaimed book PARIS TO THE MOON. In that time, he notes, "The map of the city we carried just five years ago hardly corresponds to the city we know today, while the New Yorks we knew before that are buried completely." That first autumn is portrayed as an idyllic time, its innocence made more poignant when viewed backwards through the lens of 9/11.

Two of the pieces, "The City and the Pillars" and "Urban Renewal," deal explicitly with the events of that day and its aftermath, but the fear and anxiety it engendered shadow much of Gopnik's narrative. In a characteristically arresting metaphor that captures the profound and yet curious effect the terrorist attacks had on the city, he notes, "It's as though the sinking of the Titanic had taken place right beside a subway station and been watched by a frightened or curious crowd who saw something unbelievable, the great ship listing and rising up and breaking in two and the people falling from the funnel, and then walked home from the disaster and showed their families that their hands were still cold from touching the iceberg." Yet despite the disaster, Gopnik writes, New Yorkers "learned to live on one foot, hopping along spiritually in more or less normal times." Again, he returns to his theme of children and families: "The real question that pressed itself upon us as parents was how to let our children live in joy in a time of fear, how to give light enough to live in when what we saw were so many shadows."

The New York life Gopnik sketches in these essays is anything but unremittingly anxious or bleak. There are numerous moments of sly humor that leaven the more serious essays. Readers will chuckle as Gopnik, at best a casually observant Jew, grapples with the task of crafting a presentation about the Jewish holiday of Purim. His description of the unintended consequences of a "no-screen" weekend, as he and another father try to wean their sons from computers and video games, is hilarious. And few readers will be able to stifle the urge to "LOL" as fortysomething Gopnik is initiated by his son into the world of instant messaging.

Gopnik also proves himself an erudite companion as he discourses on such subjects as the decline of the New York department store, the revival of Times Square and the story behind the Bill Evans Trio jazz classic, "Sunday at the Village Vanguard." While the collection is decidedly Manhattan-centric, he does leave the island briefly to introduce readers to the bizarre phenomenon of the wild parrots of Flatbush.

Not every essay in the book hits the mark. "The Cooking Game," a description of a contest in which several prominent chefs prepare a meal with ingredients selected by Gopnik, suffers from an uncharacteristically narrow focus. "Death of a Fish" treads perilously close to the line of undue sentimentality. Yet these minor stumbles are more than offset by "Last of the Metrozoids," the understated and moving account of the death of Kirk Varnedoe, Gopnik's close friend and a noted art historian, as he delivers his final lectures and coaches, painstakingly and lovingly, Luke and his eight-year-old teammates on the Giant Metrozoids football team.

Like all accomplished essayists, Adam Gopnik excels in moving seamlessly from the particular to the universal and back again. New York is too multifaceted a place to be captured in any single work, but THROUGH THE CHILDREN'S GATE is a generous and warmhearted place to start.

--- Reviewed by Harvey Freedenberg

I should preface this review with some background: I am a pediatrician, working and living in New York, and this book first caught my eye just from the title. When I read the jacket liner and discovered it was, at least in part, about raising children in New York, I felt I had to give it a whirl. I was not too familiar with Gopnik's essays in The New Yorker, though his name was familiar to me and his writing had been recommended to me many times. It was with this background sense of his work that I began to read.

And read, I did. From the first moment I picked up this book I was engulfed and enthralled. This book is a collection of essays written from the author's perspective. He had lived in Paris for 5 years on assignment for The New Yorker Magazine, and returned to New York City in 2000 primarily out of homesickness and out of a desire to raise his family there. Gopnik knows New York, but a lot had changed since the last time he lived here, and this collection of essays is really about his rediscovery of the city, through his own eyes as well as those of others: his children, most notably, but also his wife and some of his close friends. His essays, which feel at times more like stories, are of course tempered by and work through the enormity of 9/11. And the New York he describes is as much the New York of and around 9/11 as it is the New York that it always has been and yet also a new city formed by nothing other than the march of progress.

His subject matter is of two parts, both close to my own heart--New York city and children. He does them both such amazing justice in this book.
Gopnik's prose is a joy to behold, both familiar and formal, intricately planned yet at times stream-of-consciousness in style. His skill as a writer is as much in this, his technical mastery of the genre, as it is in his easy ability to depict emotions ranging from humor to pathos succintly yet poignantly. His skills suit his subjects perfectly. The city crackles to life underneath his pen, as he captures in amazing clarity what it is like to sit awake and look out at the windows around the city at 3 AM, or what it felt like to watch the city burn 5 1/2 years ago, or what central park means to the city and those in it. He is the quintessential New Yorker, and yet, perhaps because he left the city, he is able now to see it so much more clearly without taking it for granted as the rest of us do.

But the real heart of this book lies in his portrayal of his children. Through his writing we see his love for Olivia and Luke leap off of the page and, without being overly trite, right into our hearts. The way he describes himself already preparing for when they leave home...the way he opines on what the earth must feel like when zen masters leave it--his children are his life, and it shows brilliantly. As someone without children of my own, but who works with them on a daily basis, I can attest to the accuracy with which Gopnik captures their idiosyncracies while still making painfully clear how alike they truly are. By the end of this book, the reader feels he or she knows Gopnik, his family, his children, and the reader feels for him. Or at least I did.

This is, once again, a wonderful read. Light, funny, and yet undeniably heavy and full of rich sadness and depth, and at times all at once. Gopnik has outdone himself. As we step through the Children's Gate, we enter his world, and when the book ends we just don't want to leave.

This book is great! I started it on a Sunday night and was so involved that I finished it Tuesday morning. The characters are real and interesting, with a storyline that goes beyond the usual chick lit girl meets boy plot. A must read....

I think that more and more, authors are trying to find more original ideas for their books, instead of girl meets boy, girl loses boy, girl gets boy back again at the end of the third act. With so many chick lits out there, it takes more to grab us and pull their book off of the shelves.

Voula is a 30 something woman in Manhattan who has no need for a baby. She is somewhat happy, aside from the constant changing roommate situation, her mom making her feel bad every 20 minutes, and with the recent news: Her best friend is trying to have a baby.

Voula doesn't even really feel comfortable around children, and knowing her best friend will change into one of "those women" doesn't really help her sleep at night. She sucks it up, is supportive of her friend and her "choices," and realizes that she may have some growing up to do as well.

After a fire starts in her apartment by overly amorous Armando and his plethora of women, Voula finds that this may be the right time to find a place for herself. So, she starts to play the real estate game and also balances her new boyfriend on the side.

I like books that keep me wanting to read them. At the beginning, this book had me because I felt that I had some things in common with the character. She had a lot of things going on that weren't all "date" related, which was interesting, but something lost me in the middle. I kept it going until the end and I liked it, but I had to push myself a little.

I still would like to try Ariella Papa's other books.

I absolutely related to the main character of this book! While other people my age are having babies, thinking about having babies, or trying, I just sit on the sidelines and nod & smile and think "whatever" just like Voula! I laughed & nodded throughout this whole book and loved it! If you're in your thirties and have no desire to have a baby, you should read this book and get a good laugh! Worth every penny!

This was my second Ariella Papa book and my fifth or sixth Red Dress Ink book. I really haven't been that impressed with this publisher, or most of its authors, but so far Papa is the most promising in terms of writing style and humor. I'm not her biggest fan, but I think she has potential.

My main problem with Papa is that, judging from the two books of hers I've read so far (this one and On the Verge), she tends to recycle her characters-- Voula is basically a Greek version of Eve in OTV (who was Italian-American, a writer, and slightly socially awkward), and Jamie seems like a thinner, married version of Tabitha. I'm willing to guess that in real life, Papa (a writer of obvious Mediterannian descent) thinks of herself somewhat of a dork, and has a blonde, outgoing, wild and crazy best friend.

The story itself is fairly engaging, and not completely predictable (she didn't end up with the guy I initially thought she would, so she gets points for pulling one over on me), with much more depth than On the Verge.

I counted five grammatical and punctuation errors, but that seems to be about the average for RDI books.

Overall, not a bad book. It held my interest and gave me something to read for three consecutive lunch breaks.

This is another entree into the Red Dress Ink chick lit. I LOVED IT!

The story of two friends - Voula and Jaimie. Jaimie has always been the wild one, but now she is settled down and wants a child - badly. This really rocks Voula's world as she is pretty sure that relationships and children are not in her future. Can their friendship survive?

While this book is written with an eye towards fun, it is actually a grown up read about sticking by your friends even if you don't see their point of view. Its about loving the people in your life and its about figuring out how to be the best that you can be.

While this may sound a little dramatic for a chick lit book, Papa manages to introduce all of these important issues in the storyline while conveying some of the funnier moments (and not so funny) about wanting to have a child.

I really enjoyed this book and thought it was an intelligent and "feel good" read.

Buy it.