Journals Books

I know John Wain is a credible Boswell scholar, but I do not have this edition of the Journals. I do have a complete run of the journals, a dozen or so volumes, of which I have read every word. In my mind, Boswell is easily the most astonishing diarist of all time. The clarity of his self-analysis is almost startling, I truly feel more acquanted with him than almost any person I know in person. Additionally, if you have any interest in history, sociology, or philosophy...Boswell knew and acosted almost everybody you've heard of from the 18th Cent. Got drunk with Hume while Dave was on his deathbed, screwed Voltaire's wife...his adventures, drunk or sober, are unending. I picked up the London Journal twenty years ago in a used book store and from then on it was like eating peanuts. This collection seems like a good idea for those who want a taste of the whole.

John Wain condenced 17 volumes of autobiography into this taught, energetic, flowing narrative. I was captivated!

James Boswell has been called everything from an engaging gentleman to a vicious scoundrel. A true man of his times, Boswell combined naivete with crudity, tenderness with violence, courtesy with thoughtlessness, enthusiasm with snobbery, true religious feeling with wanton depravity.

But how can so many contradictory traits exist alongside each other in the same man? And how does that man see himself? This selection of Boswell's journals attempts to answer that question. Editor John Wain tells Boswell's story in Boswell's words, through excerpts from his journals, letters, legal pleadings, and published writings. We learn about his love life (in some detail), his marriage, his career, his impossible relationship with his domineering Whig father, and his emotional struggles in writing the _Life of Johnson_. We also get a concrete feeling for Boswell's emotional instability, his sense that he would never be good enough for his father (and he was right, unfortunately), and his tremendous guilt over his infidelity.

This book is an excellent introduction to James Boswell. I definitely recommend it.

This book is a must read. It chronicles life in a unique & refreshing way!!!

This book has been life changing to me. I will tell everyone to read this. It is Great!!!!!!

As I took the "journey" with Mr. Kizer I realized some pathways of my own which i need to travel. I think anyone reading this great work will begin to reflect on their own life & their own choices. I look for "Journies II" at sometime in the future.

gdear

My great great grandparents lived in Kamenets. Their children spread thruout that region before they and their children left for America, Israel, Moscow, and South Africa. This book's explanation of the 19th Century social and economic order of this town and its environs finally allows me to understand, interpret and to place into perspective the stories my grandfather told especially in regard to Jews, the Polish overlords, Belarussian serfs and Russian rulers. Anyone interested in Jewish "family history" of that area of Grodno will greatly appreciate this book.

My next-door neighbor raved about this book when he read the Hebrew translation. It was more recently translated into English and I received a copy as a birthday gift. There is a very long introduction that I suggest that readers read only after reading the actual memoir first. The intro then becomes much more meaningful.

The book was written in 1913 and describes what life was like in Kamenetz - the shtetel that he grew up in. It was a typical Eastern European shtetel and the period the book covers is the 1850's and 1860's. It is amazing how the author so clearly captures the spirit of that period. He wrote the memoir as a series of little vignettes - each one describing a different aspect of life in his village. Some of the stories are comical and some are sad. Relations with the non-Jewish population is discussed as well as the relations with the representatives of the Tsar.

My grandparents came from Eastern Europe and after reading this book I felt that I was given a rare treat - a glimpse into my own past.

Okay, so I Google myself. That's how I discovered this astonishing memoir, published (1913) in Warsaw in Yiddish, by a man who may or may not be my blood. I read the Hebrew translation in 2001 and corresponded a bit with Editor/Translator Dr. Assaf, a professor of Jewish History at Tel Aviv University. Assaf is a thorough and inspired scholar. The Hebrew edition was superb, and the English edition is, too.

Yekhezkel Kotik was born into one world and lived long enough to die in another, one in which nearly all physical remants of the old were vanished. An essentially medieval culture, on the periphery of the Russian Empire, unchanged for nearly a milleniuum, was in the course of Yekhezkel's adulthood swept away by the ripples of modernity which swept through the Russian Empire.Kotik was born in a small town in the Belarus -Lithuanian region of the Pale of Settlement, at a time when most men expected to spend their entire lives within a few kilometers of the spot where they came into the world. The 19th Century, however, did not end as it had begun. The emergence of industry, global commerce and the fundamental transformations of political economy which devolved from and fueled these tectonic shifts set people in motion to an unprecedented degree.
Kotik's adult life was strikingly modern. He resettled himself several times in different towns in Belarus and the Ukraine, operating ( with generally disappointing results) a series of businesses. He came to rest in cosmopolitan Warsaw, where he opened what turned into a thriving coffee house much favored by the city's Jewish intellectuals, artists, activists, bon pensants and bon vivants. Yekhezkel flourished in this milieu, and became locally famous as an organizer and promoter of all manner of cooperative societies.

Late in his life, Yekhezkel's socialist son Avraham urged him to write a memoir. It had become clear by this time, the early 20th Century, that the millenium of shtetl life in the Pale of Settlement would otherwise leave few traces of its existence. Yekhezkel, who had never before written anything but pamphlets and corporate by-laws, applied himself to the project and produced the first volume of a planned three. The book was made available to the leading Yiddish writer of the time, Sholom Aleichem, who declared it superior to anything he himself had written. Kotik's subsequent efforts were somewhat less well received, but now I'm giving away too much !

For me, Yekhezkel Kotik is an inventor, possibly the greatest of all time. He invented a time machine.


Paul Kotik
Plantation, FL USA

I've found that all of the paperblanks brand journals are very nice and very high quality -- and this journal is no exception. The cover is a nice flat black, it is simple and elegant and pleasing to the eye. The character on the flap is a shiny but subtle black (the image here makes it appear white or gray). The paper is nice and thick, and I've never had an ink pen bleed through the pages. This is, in my estimation, a 5 star product. The only reason I considered giving it 4 stars is because of the size -- it is small (which makes it easy to carry in bags and luggage) but that also means you can go through this as a journal in a short amount of time. Something to consider, especially if you're one who writes a lot. I go through a journal this size every 2-3 months. Over time, that can add up.

I own several of these journals. They are the only ones I will buy. The flap is magnetic and on the inside back flap there is a pocket for keepsakes. It has a nice red ribbon to help keep your place and good quality lined paper. I highly recommend this or any other Smythe journals.

AMAZING journal! Excellent paper, nice cover with good texture, LOVE the magnetic flap! Highly recommended for those who like to write!!

These reviews must be to hard for the authors to read. The only easy ones would the indifferent reviews since the negative ones are upsetting and the great ones are embarrassing. This review is the latter. Being Fifty it's hard to have any heroes these days, especially living heroes but, Jim Harrison fit's the bill. My other hero Neil Welliver, the painter, reminds me so much of Harrison in his individual thinking, direct approach, outspokeness and belief in their own vision. Descartes could have said "If you don't think for yourself, you don't exist" but this would have been a rather hard line for Descartes at the time( the Pope and all). Harrison(not too concerned about the Pope) does take that hard line in all his work and, like Welliver, has created individual, strongly felt and clearly defined worlds and opinions. These worlds help the viewer or the reader find strength, direction and inspiration to work on worlds of there own.

Harrison's Just Before Dark sets itself apart from other works of non-fiction and leaves the reader astonished. Out on the landscape of Hemingway's A Movable Feast, Steinbeck's Travels With Charlie, and Faulkner's Go Down Moses; Harrison has brought forth his expedient andric style in this collection of indelible truths. Divided into Food, Travel & Sport, and Literary Matters the book is saturated with wisdom, humor, and insight into every subject from, bird hunting with a French Count, to bar pool, to Ernest Hemingway, to Zen writings. Whether it's sharing with the reader travel tips through America's dirt roads or showing us the complex simplicity in a walk at dusk, Harrison gives the reader an escape that is based in reality yet woven in the fantastic. In my personal copy stars or markings may appear next to titles or lines. By doing this I realize that I am inevitably suggesting that one story transcends another and therefore is somehow healthier than the rest but no assumption could be more crooked. My tattered, marked, and exhausted copy sits as reminder that some books are truly priceless.

These reviews must be to hard for the authors to read. The only easy ones would the indifferent reviews since the negative ones are upsetting and the great ones are embarrassing. This review is the latter. Being Fifty it's hard to have any heroes these days, especially living heroes but, Jim Harrison fit's the bill. My other hero Neil Welliver, the painter, reminds me so much of Harrison in his individual thinking, direct approach, outspokeness and belief in their own vision. Descartes could have said "If you don't think for yourself, you don't exist" but this would have been a rather hard line for Descartes at the time( the Pope and all). Harrison(not too concerned about the Pope) does take that hard line in all his work and, like Welliver, has created individual, strongly felt and clearly defined worlds and opinions. These worlds help the viewer or the reader find strength, direction and inspiration to work on worlds of their own.

I exchanged the Humble Bumbles' Baby Journal for the Keepsake Of Love Baby Journal instead because the graphics and layout were much more appealing. The only other difference between the two is that Humble Bumble has envelopes to put the hospital bracelet in as well as baby's first clip of hair, but I don't mind pasting my own mini envelope in the Keepsake journal. The spiral bound makes the journal even more user friendly as it can accommodate all your keepsakes and still be able to close nice and flat. I think I will order another one just to ensure that my next child has the same baby journal in case this should be discontinued.

I received this journal as a gift at my baby shower and found it very easy to complete. There are a lot of pages dedicated to life before baby... which are great to finish before the baby comes! I keep a paper clip on the month-by-month update pages so that I can always write in a new achievement. I recently purchased a 2nd journal to make sure that both of my kids have the same baby book (and I know what things I need to keep track of to write in the baby book).

I received this as a gift from my sister and I really love it. After looking myself for a baby book I was disappointed in the ones I found and thought I would take my chances letting someone else pick it out...and I couldn't be happier with her choice. This book has just the right amount of information pages. It includes a page each all about mom and dad, a family tree, baby shower details, how mom and dad prepared for the baby, along with the other basics like the arrival, hand and footprints, milestones, etc. I really like the "Reflections from the heart" pages on different topics such as the day you were born, enjoying your home, your favorite things, how fast you have grown and others that allow the parents to write special notes to the child. It also has lots of room for photographs and includes a pouch for cards and keepsakes. It also comes with a growth chart that can be removed. It includes pages for the first, second and third years.

Overall, this is a very beautiful keepsake of baby's first years.

This book changed my whole perspective on dating, marriage andlife as a single person. It helped me finally become secure in beingsingle, even if for life. God definitely used this book to shape who I am today. The writing style is great and you'll find you can't put the book down. The books before this one compliment it and I would suggest reading the first 6 books in the series before it. It will be well worth your time!

After a tragedy in the novel before this seventh book in the series, Corrie finds herself awakened with more questions without answers than she can figure out by herself. She must rely on her faith in God to help sort through the questions to her life. Is she to stay at the convent, is she to continue writing to help those she believes are right? She overcomes some heartaches and misunderstandings by visiting the home of her youth in New York, emerging on the other side with California beckoning to her and a certain someone on her mind. God reveals to her what is to become of her life! Though not as exciting as some of the latter novels, this book certainly keeps me reading! Very good!

I am moved by every book in the "Journals of Corrie Belle Hollister" series, but Land of the Brave and the Free has influenced me most. Displaying God's faithfulness to one life through a sequence of dramatic and suspenseful events, this book accurately describes the struggles and questions that a young person has about life. The reader's interest is stirred by the Civil War setting and by Corrie's placement in major events in U.S. history, such as the Civil War's final battle and the funeral procession of President Lincoln. My favorite aspect of this book is Corrie's growing relationship with God and, in these portions, I learned a lot about myself. God's goodness and beautiful gifts bring the book to a close with an ending that brings tears. Overall, Land of the Brave and the Free is one of the best installments in "Journals of Corrie Belle Hollister" series and a must-read for every Christian fiction enthusiast.

Great job papi, and a great read!
love, your daughter,
Julia

John Nichols is always a joy to read. He is the John Stenbeck of our time. No one combines art and social views so beautifully as he does.

My grandmother gave this beautiful book to me for Christmas the year it was published. (I believe it was 1980 or 1981). I feel madly in love and am still madly in love today. I re-read this book every year in October, it has become a most beloved ritual. I took a chance in early 1992 and wrote to John Nichols and was I ever surprised! He wrote me back. I have two copies and now that they have a new edition, I plan on buying it too! I have a hard back signed copy that I treasure and I know it is authentic because the signature is exactly the way he signed his letter to me. Read this book and plan to be thoroughly enchanted. I was and still am after almost 20 years.

A timeless volume of America's finest editorialist's collected prose. I cherish my autographed copy (won through a WWN contest).

Ed pulls no punches. And I mean none. Overcrowded prisons? Ed's solution is electrified bleachers. Namby pamby pantywaist liberals from Washington telling you what to do? Ed's solution involves chains and shotguns. Whiners and crybabies over the current injury dejour? Ed heads up the "ironic punishment" department for both Heaven and Hell.

Railroad gothic hot type editorial prose. Ed is no Ring Lardner, nor Ambrose Bierce, but his direct style and strained homespun metaphors will warm the cockles of your heart long after you put this down.

This is another boonie dog book review by Wolfie and Kansas. We are chicken-biting happy about "Let's Pave the Stupid Rainforests & Give School Teachers Stun Guns", a collection of essays by Ed Anger. Anger is a columnist for the Weekly World News, a newpaper that is a favorite of puppies everywhere.

Anger addresses many issues of importance to canines. On the issue of dog intelligence, he wisely concludes, "The more tricks a dog will do, the stupider he is." Under this theory, we boonie dogs are geniuses! Anger also recommends that Socks Clinton be defanged and declawed. In a courageous editiorial, Anger suggest testing veterinary medicines on humans rather than testing human medicines on dogs.

Occasiionally Anger misfires, as when he asserts that a certain noncanine actress of primate derivation has an IQ slightly higher than a dog. Perhaps such lapses are only satirical. On the whole Anger is one of the most canine-sensitive columnists writing today.

Ed shoots in all directions, at everyone, at once. Not to be confused with humorless lightweights like Rush Lumbago, Ed Anger's commentary is the funniest stuff I have read in years. Read the book closely enough and you are sure to find yourself mocked and castigated by Mr. Anger. Therefore, the book is NOT recommended for those lacking in the ability to laugh at oneself. I particularly recommend his proposal for a special Women's Driver's License (though I hardly agree with him)

I am happy. I got what I want fast and easy. Thank you!

....for the introduction alone, written by Malcolm Margolin, who discusses the actual life of California Indians in the Missions in 1786, the year two French ships brought Jean Francois de la Perouse to Monterey to see for himself what was going on. The book is largely his journal, and an honest one it is, European prejudices and all.

The routines, the manacles, the superstitious judgmentalism of the ruling padres are sketched here, as well as the mistreatment by Spanish soldiers, and hanging over all, the depression of a people who'd held their hand out in friendship and been conquered, systematized, and subjected to deicide by idealists who brought into their land what had never been there before: homelessness, poverty, hierarchy, and plaguelike illnesses that rippled outward around each Mission.

I have to admit that I started reading this book because it was my daughter's assignment in a college history class. We were on a long driving trip and I told her to read out loud figuring it would be better than surfing the radio for a decent station. It soon became very interesting and the radio was forgotten.

LIFE IN A CALIFORNIA MISSION is divided into two sections. The first is a very long introduction written by Malcolm Margolin (about 50 pages). Margolin discusses what it was like for the California Indians.

The second part of the book was my favorite. This is ten days worth of journal accounts of what everyday life for California Indians entailed. In 1786 two French ships arrived. On one of those ships was Jean Francois de la Perouse who wrote these journals.

Perouse describes how the padres of the missions used the Indians for all labor. The men did physical labor, while the women spent most of the day processing grain (maize) for their food. Women were also responsible for cleaning. Even in 1786 there were monetary caste systems in place. The wealthier Indians wore otter skins for clothing, while the poorer people wore cloth. The interesting thing was there was no animosity from the poorer Indians, as they were treated fairly by their own tribe. The problems came when the padres and soldiers treated them differently.

Perouse goes into detail as to punishment of the Indians. If one disobeyed the padre he or she was either put in stocks, manacles or whipped, depending on the severity of his crime in the padre's estimation. Also, the Indians were expected to become Christians and denounce their own beliefs. If this did not happen, they were severely punished.

Throughout the journals Perouse compared California and it's inhabitants to Chile. Interestingly, he was very prejudiced against California and it was very obvious in his writings.

Many facts were discovered in these pages that I had not heard of before. Facts such as how the padres kept the Indians under such tight control. They would lock up the daughters at night saying it was for their own protection, all the while knowing that the families would not leave their children. The treatment of the Indians by the Spanish soldiers was atrocious and included raping the women and children, and beating the men who tried to intervene. Diseases were also discussed. Before the Spanish soldiers and other explorers arrived, there were very few diseases in California. After their arrival, many new illnesses appeared, with small pox being prevalent. Small pox was spread so easily - through the trade of skins and other items - the small pox germs contaminated anything touched by the infected person, and those that came into contact with that item became infected.

The main thing I realized was how depressed the Indians became. They were basically slaves and had no recourse. They had welcomed the settlers to their land and then were treated so horribly. I personally didn't realize how the padres of the California Missions treated these people; I had thought they were peaceful, well-meaning men who helped not hurt the people under their protection. Boy was I wrong!

On a side note, Perouse also describes the land and wildlife of California in 1786. You can imagine the abundance of wildlife when he talks of sending 30,000 otter pelts to Europe. Wow!

Overall this book is incredible! What started off as a reading assignment soon became intriguing. You really get a first hand account of what life was like in California during the 18th century, and what the Indians endured. It may change your way of thinking once you read it, it did mine!