New York Books

Brian Wilcox captures in this lovely book the true majesty of New York. The magic the city evokes is splashed upon these pages. His incredibly detailed, beautiful drawings are just wonderful. They're facinating to adults, as well as children.

Anyone who has been fortunate to have a groovy grandmother in their lives or who just digs that Big Apple should buy this book.
A great gift for all ages.

A young boy searches for a lost grandmother as he's transported on a magic journey through nighttime New York City. A magic crystal globe transports him in this beautiful story, which holds black and white illustrations by Wilcox throughout.

Full Moon is a different enrty in the vast field of children's books. Black and white pencil drawing force the reader's mind to come alive as a vivid yet simple story is told that every child can relate to. Each page of Brian Wilcox's Full moon is a work of art sure to capture the rapt attention of any child with whom you share this short story. For a first work, Wilcox has a sure winner. I bought this book for my two-year old god-son and plan to buy several more for my nieces and nephews this Christmas.

The illustrations are full of incredible detail such that you discover something new each time you read it. The story line is reminiscent for any grandmother that influenced a grandchild during the child's lifetime.

My seven and four year old children enjoy reading this book at bedtime. We live far away from my kids grandmothers and this book keeps their grandmothers' presence alive in their daily lives. We visited New York City this summer and Brian Wilcox' creative interpretation of America's most vibrant city is truly a delight for their young minds.

In the wake of the World Trade Center disaster last September 11, I couldn't think of a more appropriate children's book to showcase New York City.

Evie grieves for her sensitive and imaginative mother, angry that her practical father has taken her far from home to a lonely house by a cemetery. As her father tends to a blackened orchard, Evie befriends a dead boy and an elderly woman who gives her an ancient seed that brings the children to an alternate world. Evie dreams of finding her mother there, but instead discovers the love of her father.

Chapters flow from one to another with suspense that should not frighten the "average" child. My fifth grade daughter and I read this aloud and thoroughly enjoyed the fresh, natural dialogue between Evie and the strange boy, the mysterious magical happenings and the realistic relationship troubles between father and daughter. This might be a good book to read to upper elementary or middle school children dealing with the loss of a parent, or even a sibling as the boy grieves the loss of his brother, but might be disconcerting to some younger children.

The storyline is creative and although the last chapter does wrap up a little too well, we are glad that Evie finds a final, surprising connection to her mother.

I got this book to read to my kids. It's amazing even on the first page! I LOVE this book. Can't wait to get to the end. Such an easy read!!!!

Dead mothers are always a good plot device. There is nothing like the absence of a mother to create a suitable amount of angst, heartache, uncertainty, and self-doubt. Think of the Alice books by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, where the first couple of books in the series are driven by the fact that pre-teen Alice is growing up without a mother, surrounded by men in her family, and suffers the nagging fear that she is not approaching the formative years of her life with due female influence. And more recently we have had the mother-less Bee from Being Bee, and Jack from The Night Tourist. Now there is Evie Adler in K.L. Going's The Garden of Eve. Her mother is ten months dead from cancer, and Evie is left with her botanist father who has never appreciated--or even understood--magic the way her mother did. He is too much of a scientist to put much stock in fairy tales, or stories in general. When he takes on the job of trying to revive a dead apple orchard in Beaumont, New York, far from their Michigan home, Evie is resentful. They move into a house right next door to a cemetery--but the only cemetery Evie cares about is the one back in Michigan, where her mother is buried. Her father devotes his time to the orchard--but all Evie can think of is the magic garden she used to plan with her mother, a perfect garden with magnificent trees and noble beasts where the three of them would always be together. When Evie is given a seed supposedly from the Garden of Eden, Evie thinks she has her chance to find that perfect garden, and consequently find her mother, too.

There is a lot going on in this book, some of it allegorical and some of it just old fashioned mystery. There is the boy Alex, whom Evie meets hanging around in the cemetery. Is he really dead, as he claims to be? Is the orchard where Evie's father toils really cursed, or has it simply been abandoned? When Evie plants her seed and enters the magical garden--by way of eating an apple, of course!--is she in Eden or is it a trap? There is another Eve who grew up in Beaumont and disappeared many, many years ago. What happened to her? And will Evie find peace after the death of her mother?

Some of the pieces in the book are tied together a little bit too neatly, but for the most part this is an engaging and thoughtful book. Evie is disillusioned without being broken. The father is pragmatically devoted to his work but all open-hearted and open-minded business when Evie needs him most. The supporting characters range from saintly (the dead mother)to utterly convincing (Alex). Readers who like their books with magic and symbolism will enjoy this.

Sometimes when bad things happen, the whole world seems shriveled and dark, as if nothing good will ever grow again. But life isn't like that. Really.

Here comes Evie, strong and brave and wise. She's searching for truth, hoping for magic, yearning for comfort. Like Lucky in The Higher Power of Lucky, Evie is trying to make sense of world made barren by the loss of her mother. Like Lucky, Evie needs someone to help answer questions a girl really needs her mother for, especially, "How do I know what is true?" But while Lucky's story stays anchored in the rather imperfect real world, Evie finds her truths through a purer magic in the very best fairy-tale tradition. A ghost-boy, some ancient mysterious seeds, a warm wind swirling over frozen soil--K.L. Going breathes her magic into these elements to bring forth a rich tale of new life after loss. Here in The Garden of Eve, the truth is magic and magic is truth. And if you can't see it with your eyes, maybe you should look "with your ears or your nose, instead."

Read this book. It is beautifully crafted and deeply satisfying. As soon as you finish it, you'll want to share it with someone you care about. As it whispers its truths, it brings comfort and warmth and hope that life can begin again, even when all seems lost.

Janet Gingold
author of Danger, Long Division and Finch Goes Wild

The author of my book is K.L Going, the title is The Garden Of

Eve. I think the book should fall under the category of being a

fantasy fiction.

The story starts out in Michigan with a father and a daughter who

have just lost his wife, and mother. They move to Beaumont new

York, and move into a knew house. The house is beside a

cemetery and an apple orchard. That is one reason why they

moved, so the father could be a apple farmer. Evie, the daughter,

keeps seeing a boy in the cemetery and she is the only one that can

see him. The boy had just died so she thinks. The townspeople

believe the orchard is cursed. They think this because a guy named

Rodney is buried in it. Rodney gives Evie a seed, but he said to not

plant the seed. Maggie ( Rodney's sister) gives Evie the seed

because Rodney is dead. The story continues into a place that she

and her friend named Alex go when they plant the seed that she

received from Maggie.

this book had me looking foward to reading page to page-didn't want the book to end...

We continue to be completely satisfied with the excellent service we receive through Amazon.com and its affiliates. Everything is sent quickly (usually ahead of the estimated delivery date), cleanly, in excellent condition, and exactly as advertised. Thank all those involved with this process.

This book is a must have. It takes a look back at some of the greatest moments of Saratoga's top class racing. It is written so well, that you can not put the book down even if the president of the United States called. I strongly advise you buy this book because, if you don't, you will miss a once in a lifetime reading opportunity.

Bill Heller, Graveyard of Champions: Saratoga's Fallen Favorites (Eclipse Press, 2002)
There are few things in racing that one can count on. Churchill Downs (and certain other tracks) are notorious horse-for-course tracks, and you can count on a parade of longshots the crowd ignores who have previously raced well over the track. Artificial surfaces and speed biases do not mix. Horse owned by the Sheikhs will be retired at the end of their three-year-old seasons. These things just happen, as regular as clockwork.

There's another one, the oldest of them all: odds-on favorites in graded stakes races will fall at Saratoga. And you know what they say about the bigger and the harder. Hardly a year has gone by (if one ever has) where at least one odds-on favorite hasn't delivered the goods at the Spa. Sometimes they lose by a nose, sometimes they finish dead last, but they all have one thing in common: they don't win. The roster of horses who have dropped the bit, sucked dirt, bid and hung, flattened, fell victim to a cuppy track, whatever your euphemism is, and the roster of America's greatest horses sure does have a lot of overlap in it. The two best horses in the history of American racing both got stomped at Saratoga, both by horses who never did a damned thing otherwise. That's the stuff legends are made of.

Bill Heller attempts to make sense of the legend, applying some research and codification to the track tales. And you know what he found out? There really is some kind of a jinx on top-class horses at Saratoga. He runs a list (how comprehensive it is, I don't know) at the back of this book of odds-on favorites who have failed in stakes races at Saratoga over the years. It's a long, long list, and it looks a lot longer when you remember that Saratoga's meet runs three to five weeks every year. A list this long at someplace like Calder or Thistledown, tracks that run nine months of every year, wouldn't be a big thing. But Saratoga?

The book is more a collection of articles than a book, really; the stories of some of those favorites and the races in which they failed. If you like really good descriptions of races past, there are few better at writing those descriptions than Bill Heller. It's hard to make a description of a harness race pulse-pounding, but Heller's recounting of "the weirdest race in Saratoga Harness history" works, and it works well. (The accompanying photo is terrifying. It's hard to believe anyone, or anything, survived, much less that both horse and driver walked away almost uninjured. Even more so when you realize that harness horses do this sort of thing far more rarely than thoroughbreds.) And, of course, it would be hard to not recount Secretariat's losses to Prove Out and Onion, or Man o' War's to Upset, and not captivate readers.

What seemed to be missing, to me, was a greater sense of unity than just "look at how these horses fared." A couple of summary chapters that took a more statistically-minded approach would have been an excellent addition here, a closer look at the bigger picture before (or after) the individual stories. But this is not to take away from those individual stories, which are classics. *** ½

I found this book a very exciting read for anybody in horse racing. This book is suitable for fans, horseman, and executives. Saratoga has a long history as the place where many great horses have been sent to the "Graveyard". This book is well detailed, filled with facts, and contains quotes from people who have played a strong role at Saratoga. This book is as great as the track itself.

This is a really interesting cookbook. Unfortunately our local farmer's market isn't quite as extensive as this one so I have had had a hard time finding all of the ingrediants. In fact I've sometimes found myself having to look up what certain ingrediants actually ARE. That being said, all of the recipes I've actually made out of this cookbook were wonderful, and the pictures are absolutely fantastic.

An inviting, beautifully designed book about the Union Square Greenmarket, New York City's oldest and biggest farmers' market.

The author gives you the inside scoop on what goes on behind the scenes at a farmers' market. I loved the anecdotes about the farmers, chefs and the assorted characters that populate the place (some of which I know as a shopper).

The book is separated by season, and contains detailed charts on the different varieties of produce available, such as tomatoes (varieties include banana legs, green zebra, and purple calabash), peppers, apples, herbs, etc., as well as when and where to find them, and how to prepare them.

There are lots of unusual recipes by local chefs who frequent the market, assorted food writers, etc., which are quite creative.

The author's wife did the photography, which is stunning. You really get a sense of some of the characters of the market and the lushness and bounty of the products available. The book is very nicely designed - it could be a keepsake, coffee-table type book, or a well-thumbed addition to a collection of cookbooks.

As someone who regularly relies on this market, I think the book is a great practical guide to it, as well as providing background on its history and stories on the individual farmers.

A very complete and informative book on when,and what to buy during each of the four seasons, along with some great recipes.
Also some wonderful photography and stories of some of the vendors at the market. I cannot say enough good things about this book. I found it very hard to put down once I started reading it.Forget the Supermarkets and learn about buying FRESH from the growers themselves.Very educational and would highly recommend this book to anyone who cooks, be it on the amateur or professional level.

This is a fun introduction to a little piece of New York's history, the famous Urban Farmers' Market, as well as a handy guide to cooking with produce that is in season. If you use fresh fruits and vegetables in your cooking, you are undoubtedly aware that, while some foods may be available 365 days a year, they are usually most flavorful when they are grown and ripened naturally. Charts help make sense of the many varieties of produce available, and recipes are organized around the calendar, so you may find 'Red & Green Fresh Vegetables with Pasta' for summer, and 'Bread and Cabbage Soup' for winter. Each of four seasonal chapters lists the produce, flowers, dairy and meat available during that season. In general these are basic recipes that can be made by the beginner cook.

My only complaint is that, with all the gorgeous photographs of the people and the market, there are no pictures of the finished dishes, a feature that I appreciate in a cookbook. Otherwise this is a great, and fun, cookbook with good recipes.

At first glance this book is beautifully laid out with sections divided by the seasonal produce that you can obtain at the greenmarket and recipes to go along. Incredibly handy for someone who has been lured by a cookbook's recipes only to find that the ingredients are out of season. Not only do you get the recipes, but also a wonderful history lesson on the greenmarket and mini interviews with the "market people." Straight forward, uncomplicated, with the accent on fresh delicious produce right from the farm. But if you are unable to make it to the market many of the ingredients are also available in your local grocery store. A great addition to any cooks library.

Half Empty is not the sort of book that offers easy solutions or neat and tidy endings. The characters are flawed, sometimes self-destructive human beings. They do things that you know are wrong, that they know are wrong, but they do them anyway.

There are no heroes in white hats or cookie cutter archetype characters. Even Denis, the main character, has moments where he is really an unlikeable person. Having been sober for 30 days he now has to deal with the result of his drinking: the rest of his life. His stuggle to find love, not strangle his boss, and somehow still have something like a social life when all his friends continue to drink is well written in a sparse, almost spartan style that doesn't hide the ugliness and struggle behind flowery words or rationalizations.

Physically, my copy of the book was actually a cut above those issued by larger publishers with a good tight binding and crisp printing on good quality paper.

There is some rather explicit sexual content so Half Empty is probably not a good book for the children, but other than that I would definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys good literature.

Half Empty is about a guy who was drunk for a long time and one day decided to stop drinking and realized that he had surrounded himself with idiots and that he drank because life sucks and to face reality head on without booze or drugs or religion ain't easy. The book is about him facing life and romantic relationships.
It is better than junky novels because when you are on junk or booze you can hide in it. Because to face life without the booze or junk is where the horror is, where truth comes into play. It is easy to deny reality and lie to yourself when you are drunk.
What is really great about this book that blew my mind is how accessible the prose is. If you read romance, pop horror, Bukowski, or Ellis you can easily get into this book. Tim Hall is obviously well read and has worked on his craft to the point of madness to get this kind of accessibility. It is a perfect synthesis of several genres in one, and he doesn't fail to displease anyone who reads those secluded genres.
The book is action packed too, no filler. He wastes no time in the book. The prose uses concrete langauge with few big words and it always conveys a clear picture in the mind so your imagination can sink into the story.
I call this review a new type of lit because the book appeals to so many different people, it is for everyone. I wouldn't even know what section of the store to put it in, romance, literature, or young adult it could easily fit into.

Tim Hall uses "Half Empty" as the gateway into the average, psychotic New Yorker's mind. At times, I felt as if he were reading my own mind and writing my internalized thoughts in his book.

I was especially pleased to see heavy Camus influence in Hall's writing. Imagine if Camus were able to write "The Stranger" in a NYC setting with a twist of modernism and a hint of individualistic rebellion! And such wonderful ways to bring suspense and drama to the reader!

Tim Hall's Half Empty perfectly captures the twilight moments between your last drink (not that long ago) your next drink (not today) and all of the mind-numbingly horrific moments in-between when one has to deal with a lousy job and desperately trying to put up with people who you can tolerate drunk, but would rather kill yourself than talk with a second longer while sober. It's the mundanity of sobriety that Hall captures well, the lingering moments, the desperate attempts to kill time on weekends and evenings that makes this book not just another cautionary tale for newbie friends of Bill but a gripping tale of the search for an honest feeling in a dishonest world. I'll drink to that.

Half Empty is not only an engrossing read --compelling plot, witty voice, believable characters, in a vivid urban setting-- but it's an important novel. So much literature has either romanticized drunks and addicts as "hip" heroes, or demonized them as evil villains. At last, with Half Empty we get a novel that portrays the nitty gritty and hardships of maintaining early sobriety in a world that clings stubbornly to its myths and ignorance about addiction. More than that, this is a novel about resistance to change, about a struggle for human transformation just when it's needed most.

This is a truly moving, inspirational and heartrendering book. It reads like a Greek Tragedy, but is so real because the Authors were there. Written by Mickey's wife Merlyn, and his 3 surviving sons, it is by far the most honest work regarding Mickey. This book is so much more important that that trashy, tabloid like "Mickey Mantle: America's Prodigal Son" by Tony Castro, that I would suggest you never bother with that thing. Besides, Castro took most of his book directly from this one.

This story is also one of the finest studies of the dysfunction in an alcoholic family, with all the roles being lived out and understood by the participants. These are real, caring and heroic people, not because of baseball, but because they became winners in life by facing their problems together. A great, great book!

Mickey Mantle's wife, Merlyn, and their sons tell the unique and inspirational story of their very separate, often harrowing private lives with the husband and father that was there for them through their lives before cancer took him away. Merlyn and the boys discuss how the effects of alcohol and the spotlight of fame play a role on him and how they all came to be. Merlyn talks about Mickey Mantle the most because they were the closest, and she discusses what she went through as a wife and as a mother. The boys tell their vivid stories of what they can remember while the father was emotionally and physically absent. The dexterous Mickey, played ball everyday and is still a very well-known name in the histroy of baseball. This story explains his lief and career while alcohol impacted himself physically, hi gamily, and his life mentally. It also touches base on his career achievements and how he became the amazing Mickey Mantle.

I have read several books on Mickey Mantle and this one is one of the best. Mickey's story is one of the best in baseball and he remains one of the most popular players in history. This book is an excellent look at the effects of fame and alcohol on the family and how the family members came to grips with things. The stories presented here are told by his wife Merlyn and his sons. Through his family, Mickey's story lives on and he continues to inspire us.

I'm only 13, and Mickey Mantle is my favorite baseball player to live. I have read about 6 books on the "Commerce Comet" and this book is exceptional. In the first chapter the Mick talks about his alchohol abuse. Then Marilyn talks about her highschool sweetheart. This is a great book.

I have read most of the books written by Mickey and when I picked this one up I was not quite ready for it's contents. The first chapter, written by Mickey himself address his views on his alcoholism and subsequent recovery.

The following chapters by Merlyn and one by each of his surviving sons was indeed an eye openner into his private life. A lot of information I had not known before was given first hand by his family members.

It took a great deal of courage on their parts to put this book into print and although their lives were not what we might have imagined, it still showed Mick's heart felt side and the love he held for his family and the respect and love they hold for an American Icon.

A must reading for Mantle fans and a true story of courage.

Lisa Couturier writes with great power and sensitivity, pulling the reader in, teaching and thrilling and spinning a yarn like no other nature writer. Along the way, the words tumble together in new ways, and the charm and delight flows in a torrent. In the end, we are moved, we have learned, and we want more. I hope you will share my delight with this book, and share it with friends. I've bought about 30 copies that I've given away to people I knew would enjoy it.

This book is just so great that ZipcodeZoo.com named Lisa Couturier Nature Writer of the Year.

I live near an eight-lane freeway, and every time I hit the onramp, I look for the red-tailed hawk that can be seen most days scanning for his prey from his perch on a light pole. He would no doubt prefer better hunting grounds than this ice plant thatch that shelters suburban rodents, but after we humans filled in the nearby wetlands and covered the hills with house tracts, this is about all we've left for him. My daily glimpse of him is a vitamin to me, and a reminder that I don't have to travel to a national park to have an encounter with wildlife.

For readers who routinely seek soul-restoring encounters with all that is wild, Lisa Couturier's The Hopes of Snakes will be a tonic. To refer to this book as a collection of essays would create a far too stuffy impression of it. Part of the subtitle, Tales from the Urban Landscape, pegs it precisely: this is a collection of personal reminiscences, musings, meditations and analyses that make for darn good storytelling. The common thread that stitches together all of these tales with a seamless cohesiveness is Couturier's abiding respect for wild animals, many species of which are scorned and hated when they edge themselves back into habitats that were stolen from them by humans.

True to its title, there are uplifting tales here, not just of snakes, but of coyotes, turkey vultures, pigeon ladies, and many others. Nevertheless, this is not an anthology of sticky-sweet, cute animal stories. The overriding tone is one of reverence, not sentimentality. Even so, Couturier's poignance is often moving, and when you read "Take the Long Way Home," a posthumous letter of thanks to Mr. Boyd, Couturier's neighbor and mentor of her high school years, you just might find yourself shedding a tear or two.

Even in the deepest heart of a city, the animal world is all around us, as my freeway redtail reminds me every day. The Hopes of Snakes will help you rediscover, in case you ever forgot it, that despite all our collective efforts to turn wilderness into "civilization," humankind does not exist in isolation from our animal kindred.

Students of urban natural history and casual readers alike receive a celebration of Northeast urban wildlife in The Hopes Of Snakes & Other Tales From The Urban Landscape. Her thirteen essays observe urban animals from Manhattan skyscraper-dwelling falcons to mice who live on the subway tracks of New York. Wildlife has adapted to human habitations in surprising ways: hers is a celebration of the underlying world of animals which live alongside people.

Lisa writes about her experiences with wildlife that occupy cities and suburbia and how they interact with humans. As Lisa writes, some animals fare very well while others do not.

Lisa's ability to capture small details about the cirtters with whom she interacts make her essays all the more endearing and important. Although accused of anthropomorphising about the surivivors of the Human onslaught, her descriptions present an important understanding of urban wildlife and enable many otherwise unknowing citydwellers the opportunity to engage with nature's cast outs.

As Julie Warner said in Doc Hollywood: "Most people are merely on the Earth, not a part of it." Lisa Couturier gives us the opportunity to experience first hand those rare species that share their world with the Human invaders.

The Hopes of Snakes is just such a book. From Manhattan to Washington, DC, Lisa Couturier takes her readers on an amazing journey by introducing us to things we may have taken for granted or may never have thought twice (or even once) about. As I have been reading the essays, my family and friends have had to endure my reading passages or quoting from the text, but none acted as though it were much of a struggle because the prose so ably draws one in.

Ms. Couturier not only writes with the beauty of a poet, she teaches along the way so that the reader comes away feeling thoughtful and enriched. I knew nothing about crows other than myths, but now, because I have read A Banishment of Crows, I look for them in the sky, count their numbers, am awed by and respect them.

In her essay, The Hopes of Snakes, she becomes the readers' hero because she does what we wish we could do in similar circumstances.

The essays reflect humor and sorrow and never shy away from the unpleasant. By the end, the reader closes the book, feeling fulfilled by the journey, and yet compelled to assert onself more fully in the environment so that not a moment is lost and the connection will remain.

I have hopes that this will be the first of many books by Lisa Couturier.

My oldest daughter loves this book. The entire series by Esther Averill is terrific!

Great book for any cat lover

author of "Hobo Finds A Home"

What a wonderful book! I didin't want it to end. The cat characters were wonderfully realized, very "cat-like", with distinct personalities and catty quirks. The slightly primative illustrations were charming and enhanced the narrative. I loved the story, and look forward to reading the rest of the "Cat Club" books!

I'm hoping that The Hotel Cat will soon join the other Cat Club reissues. Somewhere over the years I lost my original copy and recently replaced it with a used one I came across on EBay, but I'd love a new copy that would hold up long enough for my children to pass on to their children. If I read this book once I read it a thousand times, and I'll never forget the fifth-grade book report I wrote---or the crude mobile I created for which my mother helped me knit a little red scarf for Jenny! The illustrations and the story captivated me, transported me to a place I could only imagine, and inspired me to ask my parents all kinds of bizarre questions that they probably never could have expected---like what's a hornpipe dance and why is it called that?! A real treasure.

The other day I came across a copy of "Jenny and the Cat Club" at a bookstore and was overcome by memories of the hours I spent with the Cat Club as a child. "The Hotel Cat" was the first of my experiences with the Cat Club, and has always remained my favorite. For several years in grade school I would check it out over and over at the library to have the pleasure of reading it again and again. At one point I became convinced that my own three cats had a secret club with the other neighborhood felines! Eventually of course I moved on to longer and more difficult reads, but I never forgot Tom and the other Cat Club members. Sadly, when I looked for "The Hotel Cat" at the library a few years ago I discovered that it and the other Cat Club books had been sold or donated due to a low check out rate. Since then, I have been looking for my own copy of Cat Club books. Now that they are being republished, I absolutely plan to buy a copy of each so that I can pass these wonderful books that meant so much to me on to my own children some day.

In today's world, Teddy Roosevelt would be classified as a sickly geek. As a boy, he had severe bouts of asthma, wore thick glasses and even at age 23 only weighed 130 pounds. This book reveals the people and events that shaped his life. He lost a substantial portion of his inherited wealth when the cattle market collapsed in the 1890's.

Teddy really had multiple concurrent careers, he wrote lots of letters on a daily basis, and he also wrote lots of books and magazine articles, which became the backbone of how he supported his family. The salaries for the various political positions that he held were meagar but he had a terrific work ethic and almost unlimited amounts of energy.

This book is also a ray of sunshine and hope. The 1880's and 1890's were full of corrupt political hacks and yet Teddy found a way to succeed without sacrificing his integrity.

This is a great read and it is my pleasure to recommend it to one and all.

I so enjoyed this book that I wish the author would write a follow-up book on his presidency and the remainder of his life.

Linda Moore
Dallas

It is amazing how Teddy made it to adulthood, let alone bull his way to the top of New York's political scene. His determined mind set against the political corruption of the time is inspiring. We watch as his experiences mold his character and his drive. Grondahl's book unfolds this oft overlooked portion of Teddy'a life and is a necessary read for those who really want to meet Teddy Roosevelt.

TR has always been one of my two favorite Presidents (the other being JFK), and this book is more than just your typical biography on him. It takes the unique angle of writing only about TR's life and political career before he became President, starting with his childhood and going through his political development, service in government, personal triumphs and tragedies, stint as a Rough Rider, time as Vice President, and finally having the last chapter be about his famous late-night ride to take the Oath of Office after President McKinley finally succumbed to his gunshot wound. We learn about how his experiences during this part of his life formed his political philosophy and development, making this incredible human being into the astute incredible President and politician he became over time. Mr. Grondahl really knows how to do his research and how to make it interesting and relevant instead of just some dry recounting of facts, names, and dates. It was also an added bonus how the author lives in the same area as I do.

This book was an interesting look at the early life of Theodore Roosevelt, but the true masterpiece here is the index. Perfectly alphabetical and full of surnames followed by given names, the index deserves a Pulitzer all its own!

A fascinating book. Paul Grondahl shows TR's political rise as an explosive combination of two different factors or forces -- one internal and one external.

These forces are on display on the cover of the book. The title ("rose like a rocket") suggests the circumstances that quickly propelled TR into political opportunity. New York, and the nation, were ripe for a patrician reformer. Yet, as the book makes clear, Roosevelt's life consisted as much of sorrow as of opportunity. So external events are insufficient to explain his success.

The subtitle ("political education") suggests the more important factor -- TR's intellectually aggressive approach to life, which enabled him to constantly improve by learning from his mistakes. Roosevelt himself seldom admitted to mistakes. So it takes a great journalist and historian like Grondahl to extract those lessons for us. A very enjoyable piece of detective work!

I am so impressed by the wealth of information contained in this book! I am an artist in many forms, and wish I had known this information when I first moved to NYC. The book is written in an easy-to-read personable style - it feels as if the author is your good friend helping you to make it in NYC. Along with contact information of many resources, the author also includes anecdotes, quotes, and personal stories that liven up the read. I rate it a 10 out of 10!

I've already used several suggestions...including signing up for focus groups. And you don't have to live in NYC to make money on focus groups. Also, I found the book to be generally helpful to making my life easier, richer and fuller...economically! Amy Harrell is an resource angel!

I met the author last night by coincidence in a seminar that we took togheter, i was amazed with the ideias and resources on the book that i didnt hesitate at purchase the only copy that she had it on hands. It is amazing how she divided the topics and make them really clear and extremely helpful . I took couple hours to read it and now im working on the ideias of the book.

THE BEST LUCK FOR YOU AMY HARRELL :)

Liege Neves

A fellow performer recommended this book to me and it has become an invaluable part of my life. It goes well above and beyond other books for artists living in the city - it's a guidebook to every aspect of an aspiring artist's life, from finding an apartment to bargain shopping to making a living through odd jobs to general ways to have a full, rich life on a small budget. A must own!

Most people come to New York like it's the Emerald City, where all your dreams can come true. While that may be true and there are a tremendous amount of opportunities here in this vast jungle; New York does not come with an owners manual. Sure there are are lots of books telling you where to eat, shop, site see, and catch a show, but for a newcomer to this city, especially an artist you'd be hard pressed to find any kind of comprehensive "how to" book.

Soooo many artists, actors, dancers, painters, performers come to New York for school or after they've completed school ready to take on the world, but the sad truth is that these kinds of jobs at the very entry level (if you can find them) don't pay a whole hell of a lot. You want to be here, where it's all happening, NYC, the center of the universe, but ya gotta eat, ya gotta have a roof over your head, ya gotta pay the phone bill so your agent can reach you. How do you do this all the while trying to pursue your dream as an artist?

Do you do the old cliche of waiting tables until you're lucky enough to serve huevos rancheros to Scorcese and he decides he MUST cast you in his next movie and then you can throw away your apron and order pad? Is waiting tables the ONLY WAY?

Most of us live in "the real world" and not the one with Puck, and we have to eek out a living and still make time for pursuing our "dream" so how do we do this?

"I'm Here, Now What", the artists survival guide is a comprehensive guide to pursuing what you love in the big city without going broke and enabling you to live, eat, feed yourself and still make time to do whatever artistic thing you love to do. It is filled with tons of resources that can guide you, point you in the right direction and help you find freelance work, roommates, housing, places to eat, drink, network, socialize, and get connected.

If you're an artist in NYC this is an invaluable resource that can be your own personal Ellis Island welcoming you to this fabulous city and providing a light in the tunnel.