New York Books

Stars, everyday players, and scrubs share their memories of major league baseball from 1946 to 1964. This is a book that I've had for I don't know how long now and when a copy falls apart, I get a new one - this hardcover version for $15.00 is a bargain but shhhhh, don't tell Amazon. Stars like Brooks Robinson and everyday players like Gene Woodling and unknowns like Eddie Joost and one season players like Ed Bouchee and scrubs like Johnny Berardino discuss opponents and also their own experiences in the major leagues. Every true baseball fan should have this easy-to-read book in their library and those who don't really aren't true baseball fans.

I have spent a lifetime reading about baseball and this tops my list.It covers both leagues and gives a rare insight into the stars and the non-stars and how they played and lived.It makes you feel as though you lived through it as well !!!

THIS IS A BOOK COVERING BASEBALL FROM 1947 THRU 1964. THE AUTHOR HAS A FEW PLAYERS FROM EACH TEAM TELL IN THEIR OWN WORDS WHAT WAS GOING ON DURING THIS SEASON. SOME OF THE PEOPLE INTERVIEWED INCLUDE BROOKS ROBINSON, HARMON KILLEBREW, JIM GRANT, RYNE DUREN AND MANY OTHERS. THE BOOK HAS OVER 600 PAGES OF CONTENTS. FOR THE MONEY THIS IS GREAT BUY. THE DETAILED INTERVIEWS ARE SOMETHING SPECIAL AND I RECOMMEND THIS FOR FANS WHO FOLLOWED THE GAME IN THE 1950'S AND 60'S. AN OUTSTANDING READ.

.... then you will love this book. It's an oral history of the game as told by the non-superstars. Unlike similar books, this one is huge, and the stories are long, fun and will make you nostalgic for your youth. You'll see stories by guys like Ed Bouchee, Billy DeWitt, Don Mossi.... names you'll recognize from the days when baseball cards cost a nickel a pack, provided you with a thin slice of bubble gum, and a bunch of cards to trade with your friends or stick in the spokes of your bike wheels.

I'm only part way through and I love this book!

This is the perfect baseball book for all seasons, but especially now with the World Series over, and spring training still months away. It also seems appropriate to me that this book is set during one of the "Golden Ages" of baseball between 1947 and 1964, a time when the only stats that mattered reflected exploits on the field, rather than tallies of bank accounts off the diamond, as we have heard so much about in the past few seasons.

So sit back, curl up in front of the fire, and dip in and out of this massive volume, which is edited and organized in a way that allows just such delights. Packed with stories about the game's greats, and not-so-greats, it offers wonderful insights into how the men who delighted in playing a boy's game actually felt, thought and acted, as told in their own words. There are baseball heroics here aplenty, but also some bitter truths and some all-too human behavior that just serves to make these men all the more real, and fascinating.

Editor and author Danny Peary obviously loves the game, and isn't tainted with the sort of "celebrity awe" that characterizes so much of today's sports' coverage, and its cynical flip-side. Of course, he does pay homage to the greats of this era, but he also rekindles a thousand memories for those of us old enough to remember some of the less celebrated, but nonetheless extraordinary characters who once inhabited the game. Hopefully, younger readers will also delight in meeting these men as well, who had wondrous names such as Vic Power, Minnie Minoso and Pumpsie Green. Need I say more?

this is a fine, fine book that you will not be sorry that you purchased. you might find yourself reading it more than once. it is a testament, a love letter to pain, to vulnerabilty, to life in all it's terrifying glory. it is brutally hard one moment, and then like a bird's heart in your hand in another. delicate like a razor. maybe you'll let out a few balls-out laughs while you're on this literary roller coaster, you might cry your eyes out too. maggie dukes it out with the best of the scribblers here. a true gem.

this is a fine, fine book that you will not be sorry that you purchased. you might find yourself reading it more than once. it is a testament, a love letter to pain, to vulnerabilty, to life in all it's terrifying glory. it is brutally hard one moment, and then like a bird's heart in your hand in another. delicate like a razor. maybe you'll let out a few ... laughs while you're on this literary roller coaster, you might cry your eyes out too. maggie dukes it out with the best of the scribblers here. a true gem.

this is a fine, fine book that you will not be sorry that you purchased. you might find yourself reading it more than once. it is a testament, a love letter to pain, to vulnerabilty, to life in all it's terrifying glory. it is brutally hard one moment, and then like a bird's heart in your hand in another. delicate like a razor. maybe you'll let out a few balls-out laughs while you're on this literary roller coaster, you might cry your eyes out too. maggie dukes it out with the best of the scribblers here. a true gem.

I actually got excited reading this book. Maggie Dubris' poetry is richly conceived and beautifully executed. The lengthy section "Toilers of the Sea" is a spellbinding mosaic of nursery rhymes, fragements of traditional folk songs, lyrical flights, modernist touches and strange catalogues. The long prose poem "WillieWorld" is harrowing, touching and filled with sharp details.

The book also contains a number of short stories. The one about the Rolling Stones in group therapy is a kick.

Weep not my wanton is a wonderful, powerful, funny and at times heart breaking collection of stories and poems. Maggie Dubris tells tales of New York City that the average citizen doesn't even know exists. It's an amazing glimpse into worlds we glide by unknowingly everyday. Her combination of prose and poems is fabulous and works so well. She infuses the pages with strong feelings. Some of the stories had me rolling with laughter. The section called "Toilers of the sea" is so full of emotion it at times brought me to tears. Black Sparrow press seldom lets us down and this book is no exception. Maggie Dubris is a wonderful author and I am so glad to have been able to read her book. I loved every last word.

The first novel by Robert Hill provides insights into suburbian life and how persons from varying backgrounds intermingle and impact each other.

A refreshing, original retrospective of one couple's life-enhacing challenges in the "Camelot" years of the 50's and 60's. Set in the Connecticut suburbs, this rapidly paced, emotionally charged narrative is delivered to us with great wit, pathos and humanity! I am sure Robert Hill's debut novel is destined to be viewed as an important contribution to the American literary scene.

This debut novel is definitely something that should not be missed. It is written in the voices of both the two central figures of the husband and wife. The novel does a great job of navigating us through the marriage, family, love, careers, victories and set backs of the time periods of this rich story. You laugh, cry and feel for them as you read about the lives of Dan and Myrmy dealing with the realities of the their day. The outstanding command of the english language is personified by the dialogue of the central characters and the ancillary people involved. When I finished reading this book, I wanted more!

That this is a first novel is truly amazing. It's a very sophisticated book, style-wise, employing prose that verges on stream-of-consciousness, yet never is it obscure. In other words, the style is very high-flung and literary but never does the reader feel either the need to struggle in understanding what's going on, nor get the impression the author is self-consciously attempting to imitate any other big name "literary" author. Robert Hill's voice is singular, and uniquely his own. As such, this is a phenomenal first novel already showing Hill to be a power to be reckoned with.

When All is Said and Done is a tremendously wise, and often very witty, take on long-term married relationships. It looks at them honestly and without flinching, even when things get a bit ugly. And they do get ugly! However, throughout it all we never lose sympathy with any of the characters. Hill does a fantastic job depicting both human failings and foibles as well as dignity and integrity. Just a wonderful first effort.

[..]

As you get closer to the end of this dazzling book, you'll find yourself slowing down, trying to avoid the inevitable. This is a story of relationship, of time, of place and, mostly, of language. Robert Hill's facility with words will leave you dizzy with laughter and tears and utter astonishment at what our language can do. It is a tour de force, a magnum opus, a triumph.

The phrase "September 11" makes most of us pause and reflect upon the haunting images surrounding that day's terrible events hauntingly embedded in our minds. Sometimes we force ourselves not to mentally go back there, but when we allow the memories, we are prone to shudder recalling the attack on The World Trade Center. Survivor and debut author Ken Greene was courageous enough to pen WHEN THE WALLS CAME DOWN. I thank him for sharing the horrific details he experienced.

Greene's book shares personal accounts such as: whenever he hears any one of seven songs he listened to during his commute to work that fateful morning, the music "puts me right back on the 6:08 a.m. train headed to Grand Central Terminal". The book is full of these honest, insightful truths which puts the reader in his body and mind. Reading vivid scenes of being trapped in the stairwell of the tower in which he worked, thinking of his wife, and being covered in soot brought tears to my eyes because his descriptions took me there.

If you enjoy reading about history, current events, political views, and analytical brainstorming, you will become engrossed as Greene depicts the correlation between obvious routine displays of racism he encounters during his daily commutes, to the 2001 Presidential voting controversy, to Bush's explanation of going to war, and much more. He has included plenty of research to back up his views. His writing is easy to follow, emotional, very witty, and at times humorous despite the intense subject matter.

The fact that the book is more than a memoir of September 11 is what pushes it into the extraordinary class of literature. Greene was employed by the Port Authority of New York as an Assistant Director of Aviation when he found himself thrust into the infamous deadly situation which demanded him to step up and save his life and help rescue others. I recommend this book is placed on your list of must-reads. You are sure to learn while becoming emotionally caught up, as you find yourself not being able to put this book down.

Reviewed by Janet "Jaize" Brown
The RAWSISTAZ™ Reviewers

The casual book-buyer might pick up Ken Greene's When The Walls Came Down and see "another 9/11 book," emblazoned with an image of the World Trade Center buildings billowing smoke after being slammed by jetliners. While the surreal horror of that day can't be avoided whenever an author chooses to tackle this generation's Pearl Harbor, the title belies a sharp critical analysis of what that day really meant to the past, present, and future of America's readiness, or rather, willingness, to truly live up to its ideals of equality, freedom and democracy.
Today, these words are taken for granted, like they need not prove their actuality in Americans' daily lives. However, as Greene begins the first part of the book recalling what started out as a typical day, he explains that he was often reminded of how equality still proved to be an elusive concept when it comes to the perceptions of African-Americans, poignantly explained in what he calls "the seat of last resort," a daily reminder of how, on a crowded suburban commuter train where he was sometimes the only black passenger, the seat next to him was often the last to be occupied, if at all, despite his professional aura.
But it was that professionalism that compelled him to stay behind and help others out of the North Tower of the WTC, amidst a backdrop of horror and mayhem that Greene paints in the mind's eye with a graphic clarity that television images could never penetrate. At that moment, when the walls were literally about to come down, so too did the constructs that separate Americans into categories. It's impossible to imagine anyone in that horrific situation caring whether or not the hand stretched out to help them was conservative, gay, or foreign, and Greene illustrates this as he takes the reader through his fortuitous escape from hell and through the rest of his day.
The million-dollar question left hanging over his audience: Does it take shared tragedy to get Americans to truly come together as one, in the way that's always idealized yet neglected?
The unfortunate answer, as Greene takes his work beyond 9/11, looks like yes, as he convincingly explores America's "business as usual" attitude through a diorama of topics in part two, Politics, which includes the build-up towards war with Iraq, and part three, Race and Hypocrisy.
Even those who don't like looking into that mirror would be hard pressed to trap Greene's work in the category of disgruntled ranting as he has done his homework, providing timelines and context behind so-called controversial issues to bring his point home.
Greene challenges readers to acknowledge inherent hypocrisy simmering under the surface of unflinching patriotism, and he isn't afraid to upset anyone's incredulous sense of "civilized" American superiority. Greene's book is a warning: if Americans lose the true meaning of professed ideals, while also acquiescing the need for governmental accountability in actions that effect the world, history will repeat itself until we get it right...if at all.

The author's first-hand account of surviving and helping others survive the attack on the North Tower on 9/11 offer insights I have not read elsewhere. This in-and-of itself makes the book a fascinating read, but the author goes further.

He brings to focus the fact that there was a brief moment in this country when the tragedy of 9/11 brought all of America together. Our race, religion, politics, or other elements that tend to divide us simply did not matter. Unfortunately, that unity was short lived. In fact, our nation is even more divided, and our civil liberties are more at risk than ever before.

The author details his personal views of life in America and its history from the perspective of a black, Native American. Being white and from European descent, I was at first challenged by them, then intrigued, and in some cases disturbed. Case in point: I did not know that in the same battle Jessica Lynch fought, Lori Ann Piestewa, a single Mom and Native American died. Also taken captive and brutally beaten was Shoshawna Johnson, a black single Mom. These women are just as much heroes as Ms. Lynch, yet neither was given the same credit that was due to them. Ms. Lynch tried in vain to set the record straight. She openly shared on national TV her concern for the inaccuracies and omissions of her ordeal. I share these concerns as well. In fact, I was outraged.

Needless to say, the book is filled with other insights: some amusing, some very sad. One might think the author would be bitter, but that is not at all the case. He simply wants to point out that there are different views of life in America, and after reading the book, I gained a better appreciation of them.

An excellent read! Highly recommended!

Ken Greene knows firsthand about 9/11, the day the walls came down. He was there! He also knows something about the walls that separate us. While tragedy has a way of helping people forget about their differences in a time of great need, walls still remain. ...When The Walls Came Down is also snapshot of our goodness and the barriers that prevent us from sustaining it. Listen to his voice and try honestly to see with new eyes. You will emerge a slightly different person."
--Nigel D. Alston
Talk Show Host, Columnist & Motivational Speaker

If you are ready to know some hard truths and to stop being amongst the herd of "group thought," then this is the book for you. But if you'd rather go on blindly and remain in denial, I strongly caution you not to read this book. Ken Greene gives an honest, brutal account of not only what happened during those horrifying moments when the walls came down, but he goes further to discuss "politically incorrect" topics such as racism in America, election fraud, and the ills within our society that have created walls (globally) that should never have existed. Poignant, compelling, disturbing--and oh so enlightening!

WHERE TO WEAR is NOT just for tourists. I've lived in NYC for over 15 years and this is the book I've been searching for. It has every address, phone number and store hour that I could possibly need. It now sits right next to my NYC phone book and Zagat's guide beside my phone! This is a MUST for tourists and New York natives alike!

Without a doubt, the best written, best researched, most informative book of its kind. It includes all the basic information; but contains tons of witty and useful tips. Also terrific breakdowns of where to find what by category and neighborhood. Clearly, Ms. Melhado and Ms. Clason spend too much time shopping...but for our benefit. The best stocking stuffer I found this Christmas. Last-minute updates and website information are very useful. Look forward to each yearly edition!

My girlfriend and I used her copy to shop the after Christmas sales in Manhattan, and this handy little guide was THE BEST! We're just tourists from a few hours south, but I imagine that foreign visitors with even minimal knowledge of English would find "Where to Wear" helpful. Stores are conveniently grouped by district and type/category. We plotted our course through as many designer stores as we could fit into 2 shopping days and thanks to the accuracy in the descriptions, know we saved precious shopping time and shoe leather. I even found a great hair salon for my next trip!

The "Where to Wear" guide is like having your own personal shopper. I appreciate the guide's clever store descriptions, complete with store hours and locations. It's well organized, witty, and comes in a slim, easy-to-shop with, size. The guide's handy catagories, such as "best picks" and "best kept secrets" lead me to some real gems (like a pair of striped Louboutin mules!) This guide is a must for those who want to shop New York.

Heads up you shopping mavens and tourists alike! This is one jewel of a book you all must add to your collection of city guides. It's incredibly user-friendly, chock-a-block full of informational tid-bits and snappy commentary. Not only that but it's like having your own directory of all the stores in NY (addresses, telephone numbers, etc.) and it fits into your hip Fendi baguette, your Sergio Rossi tote or your Matt Nye cross bag! If you ever wonder where to go to find that special little something to fit the bill - this one's for you! It just makes you want to walk around in Melhado's and Clason's mules for a day...

Well done! It's a winner.

Skip the Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty! Mittelbach and Crewdson know their stuff and their share it in all the fun and interesting details you could want. This is the "big apple" down to the core. I used to live in New York and was excited when this book came out.

Excellent writing. Takes you back to very beginning of New York before man and lets your imagination take over to give you a very different historical perspective. The Michener style without the fictional story line. Terrific reading. Read it in one sitting. You will view New York with a different eye after reading Wild New York

This is, hands-down, the best book I've found yet on the non-concrete parts of this concrete jungle I call home. The illustrations are 1st rate, the maps are very helpful, and the travel directions even help you get there --- like most New Yorkers would --- by public transit. All five boroughs are included, and the book is chock full of tasty morsels about the City's natural side.

Whether a native New Yorker or visiting from out of town, if you have the interest or the inkling to find hundred foot trees, tidal pools, salt marshes, Native American caves, hilltop vistas, or even just learn which wildflowers grow between the sidewalk slabs or which trees are tough enough to stand up to the stress of city life, this book is for you.

Margaret Mittelbach's books is an excellent description of the one side of New York City that no one really knows about, the natural side. The graphics are excellent, providing brief and complete tidbits about the different time periods of New York City's geological and natural history. It is written wonderfully with a sense of humor and keeps the readers attention at all times. In addition, you come away pleased with the new and complete knowledge this book provides about New York City. The walking tours are clear and concise making the reader want to go on one of the walks immediately. Finally, the book design both on the cover and within the book, grabs the readers attention and keeps it throughout the reading of the book. Overall, I would recommend this book not only as a guide book for the natural side of New York but as an extremely informative and fascinating read.

This book is a must have for anyone who has ever lived in or visited New York. It is extremely well-written, witty, and as well it is filled with interesting facts about New York.

After reading Cortazar's The Winners (1960), I've decided that what makes a novel a classic is that the author writes about the worst of human behavior in a style that assumes every reader is a genius. This novel called on me to use all of my perceptions and knowledge as a person, as a reader.

By now, you will have learned that this novel is about a group of people who win a lottery and the prize is an ocean voyage, and that once settled onboard, several of the passengers behave badly, and the ship's crew is such--well, I won't give it away--that the voyage comes to an end only three days after it began. You will also have read from other reviewers or the publisher's notes that the character Persio has clairvoyant abilities; in a way, Persio is the higher consciousness of the novel; his thoughts lead the reader into self-examination (or not). For me, this novel was not a simple, summer read--but don't let me stop you.

The Winners is highly metaphorical: is the ship life itself? I think so. But the writing is more beautiful than life: many of the characters have the most sensitive, humane, and literate conversations, like Claudia and Paula, or Paula and Carlos. Surely, if this novel is Argentina, then people from Buenos Aires are living among the gods of culture and human potential. In that regard, this novel is hardly the Argentina I've heard about: breathtaking landscape, and women and men who love culture, but every now and then a dictator who murders people. The ship's crew is secretive and cunning like that. Read and see.

Appropriately, there is a sinister feeling about this novel from page one; something terrible impending, something beneath the surface of these polished people. I was totally fascinated, intrigued by many of the "characters": Claudia Lewbaum and Gabriel Medrano, Raul Costa, Carlos Lopez and Paula Lavalle, and Don Galo and Dr. Restelli, and the unforgettable Felipe Trejo, the 16-ish student, passionate for life, but without parental guidance, "lured" into the depths of the ships lower cabins where the crew seem alien and unpredictable. What a textual voyage--one in which the characters had to learn so much about themselves!

Cortazar places his characters in categories I've found people all fit--one or the other--like it or not--we are each either a duck or an eagle. Ducks follow of course and eagles set new paths. Ducks may have easier less lonely lives. Unless of course they inherit wealth and power--in which case they must be very confused and inflict chaos on the less entitled. Eagles succeed in endeavors against all odds and are therefore resented by those they seek to please. None of us has an easy time co-existing with others. No one wants to admit this of course! This book encourages reflection that may have social value, but it doesn't offer much in the way of a hopeful outcome for the social redemption of mankind--at least not in this generation. Therein lies its depth. We must expect less from our companions in life. We're all horrifyingly flawed. Somehow we must find the path to honesty and forgiveness. The book--?--I couldn't put it down. Now I can't get it out of my mind. If you want to live in denial don't read it.

I enjoyed "The Winners" though at times I found it a bit "heady". Its a novel that requires you keeping track as you go along. It took me while to figure out the setting, and what was happening (which means Cortazar did his job). There's so much symbolism and historical significance in his writing. I highly recommend the short stories collection "Blow Up" if you liked "The Winners."

What to say about this sardonic book that won't sound like an essay from the journal of the Modern Language Association? Yes, it's liminal. Yes, it's Lacanian. Yes, it's an existential comedy. Oy! Poor Julio Cortazar put himself in the sites of all the scholars of pretentious post-modern interpretation - just check out the amazon list of articles and books designed to take the fun out of reading him - and it's just about spoiled his reputation. But The Winners is a wild ride, my friends, an outrageously entertaining book in which a whole zoo of oddball Argentinians wind up together on an ark of satire.

There's an old tradition of books depicting a "ship of fools", from Erasmus to Sebastian Brant to Katherine Porter to Cortazar, and I suspect Erasmus had a classical model. They're all fun; I've never read a ship-of-fools book I didn't like, though I wouldn't mind NOT being a passenger on that ship myself. Reading The Winners reminded me strongly of Herman Melville's most experimental novel, The Confidence Man. None of the critics, so far as I've noticed, draw any connection between Cortazar and Melville. Heads up, PhD grubs! There's a thesis topic for you! Likewise, lovers of reading just for its own sake! I'm giving you two recommendations: The Winners & The Confidence Man. In the climate of the upcoming American elections, books about bunko and deception are bound to be comforting.

I read and enjoy Cortazar in the same way I enjoy Luis Bunuel films, in fact I think Bunuel could have made a wonderful film of THE WINNERS. Like Bunuel, Cortazar finds the things we accept as normal to be quite absurd but also like Bunuel he has a certain affection for those he makes fun of. All those on board the Malcolm are guilty of some sort of petty prejudice or limited world view but they all mingle and tolerate one another to a point. When things go absurdly wrong the lottery winners begin to wonder what it is they've actually won. Cortazar is an existential comic. A book which succeeds because it never forgets that despite our differences we are all bound together by our not knowing exactly what is going. With a little help from Cortazar we can see that knowing is just a pretense.
Perhaps the novel like Camus Plague is a parable with many possible levels of meaning. Not the least of which is the political level. After all Cortazar left Argentina under Peron to live and write in exile.

I picked up this book on a whim. I got late notice that Zoe was coming to my area to promote our annual MS ride and couldn't attend. I checked out her book here and the price was right so I ordered it just to sooth my curious nature. What a great book! I'm about as the last person you'd expect to read this book but I did and was moved by it. Zoe's story is compelling and the resolve that accompanies her sense of humor are truely insprirational. I'm registering for the New York City Marathon in 2004 and I hope to meet her in person. Great book!

This book is hysterical! I laughed so hard that I nearly wet my pants. (And I was in the waiting room at the dentist's office at the time!) Zoe reminds us that the attitude that she takes into each marathon, and the one that Multiple Sclerosis patients and others should take into the daily marathon called life, is not the importance of winning, but the importance of doing our best with a smile on our face and a song on our lips.

Zoe Koplowitz is a no nonsense, straight shooter, beacon of hope and inspiration to anyone facing life challenges. The 10-time NYC marathoner, the last place finisher each year, shows us that determination and pure will, coupled with human kindness and compassion can propel anyone to cross the finish line with dignity and glory...all their own. This book is the "Road Less Traveled" of the millenium. Pithy, smart, thoughtful, painful and joyous, all rolled into a wonderful, spirited read.

Zoe Koplowitz bursts out of the pages of her book like the marathon runner she is. Diagnosed with MS in her 20s, she started participating in the NY Marathon in her 40s. Its a dead last finish every time but with wry wit and the spirituality of one with a chronic disease Zoe illustrates her incredible spirit. Ice, gale winds, street gangs, threats of drive-by shootings and the race run on crutches in the dead of night are some of the events she has experienced. The NY Marathon on crutches? Yes indeed and thats only the beginning of Zoe.She unfolds sometimes like a tender flower and other times like a bamboo spike growing in some steamy SE Asian jungle. Her warrior spirit is infectuous even if one isnt coping with slings and arrows, A must read for those heavily involved in a pity party. A definite must read for those who explode in the joy of life.

After reading a synopsis in the Aug. issue of Readers Digest, I went out and bought the book. It's an absolute MUST read!

Ten times better than the Christopher Reeve book. I laughed. I cried. I wished it would never end. It's hilarious, touching and absolutely riveting. By the end of the book, you feel like a totally new person.

I've never written a book review before, so you've got to know how much I loved this book. Buy it, read it and pass it on to a friend. It's truly transformational.

I enjoyed this book. It was an absorbing, eye-opening look into the world of the ballet written by an insider - a young, intense and highly intelligent young woman, a dancer with the NYC Ballet, who exposes life in this elite and unique world.

I really enjoyed this book. It gave a wonderful glimpse into the real world of professional dancing. Miss Bentley told this story with beautiful language, her words flowed like water. I found it wonderful to know what it was like to live the life of a dancer, to know the struggles and the victories, the fantasies and the realities. I recommend this book for all who love dance and for anyone interested in show business or simply anyone who enjoys a good read.

With "Winter Season," Toni Bentley allows her audience to see a real picture of the incredibly tough, demanding and creative world of professional ballet. We see George Balanchine at the end of the career, and such greats as Suzanne Farrell and Peter Martins. The incredible, difficult, almost insane demands put on the dancers are clearly drawn, as is Ms. Bentley's love for her art. Especially evocative is her struggle with reconciling art with her demanding profession.

Often, artistic memoirs focus on the superstars, the Tallchiefs and Nureyevs, for instance. The view from the corps de ballet is all the more interesting for being so rare. This book is beautiful, wry, humorous and exquisitely-written. I wish Ms. Bentley had written several other volumes.

Winter Season: A Dancer's Journal is the exquisite chronicle of a ballet dancer's experiences with the New York City Ballet. The dancer, Toni Bentley, claims a certain naivetee, but I don't believe it's innocent ignorance as much as it is simple yearning for experiences she rarely has.

She has a delicate flair for words, and her prose couldn't be any less lovely than her pliees and tondus.

Dancing with a world-famous ballet company is gruelling. The dancers are overworked, underfed, and have little understanding of how the "real world" works, yet it would seem they like it that way. Ballet companies thusly have much in common with military outfits: soldiers and dancers work brutally hard, but have their concerns looked after by the higher-ups. Balanchine is the dancers' general.

With the incredibly long hours and the accompanying mental and physical exhaustion, how did Toni get the time to write this book?

She writes,

"We are hairless. We have no leg hairs, no pubic hair, no armpit hair, no facial hair, no neck hair and only a solid little lump at the top of our heads. Any sign of stubble must be closely watched out for and removed.

"That is not all. We don't eat food, we eat music. We need artistic sustenance only. Emotional, inspiring sustenance. Al our physical energy is the overflow of spiritual feelings. We live on faith, belief, love, inspiration, vitamins and Tab."

Toni eventually does break free of the NYC Ballet machine, but she's drawn inexorably back. After all, as she says, "We live only to dance. If living were not an essential prerequisite, we would abstain."

This is a beautifully written very open look at the world of a professional dancer. The difficulties and joys of life in a world class ballet company are clearly and thoughtfully laid out by Bentley. The pride she had for her place in NYCB, and the sadness of standing in the background while others danced in the spotlight in front of her. But ultimately we are allowed to see the great joy finds in her dancing, and the struggle and work it took to get her there, as well as the struggle and hard work it took to keep her there. Overall I thought that Bentley was very candid and very honest about her life in NYCB. Every dance student planning a life as a professional dancer should read this book.

"Wisdom's Children" is a landmark work in the history of Christian esotericism. Thought mainly to be the domain of Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, Protestant mysticism has been marginalized for too long. Arthur Versluis takes us back 300 years and shows us that beneath its stern veneer, there has been, and still is, a vital current of the imagination and mystical understanding in and around mainstream Protestantism. Jane Leade, Johann Gichtel, Boehme, Freher, are all brought to life. The chapters on German theosophy, folk magic, and qabala in colonial Pennsylvania alone are worth the cover price. Highly recommended.

Well written and well thought out. For me personally, it filled in an enormous gap in my knowledge and greatly improved my understanding and opinion of Jacob Boehme. I would recommend Jacob Boehme's Way to Christ (Paulist Press) as a good "next book." Have fun with this; the vision is quite beautiful.

This book gives a great overview of the movement of christian mysticism which was essentially founded by Jacob Boehme. The only complaint that I have with it is that it does not have a section on Louis Claude de Saint-Martin.

Well written and well thought out. For me personally, it filled in an enormous gap in my knowledge and greatly improved my understanding and opinion of Jacob Boehme. I would recommend Jacob Boehme's Way to Christ (Paulist Press) as a good "next book." Have fun with this; the vision is quite beautiful.

Christian mysticism is generally associated with Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, but professor Arthur Versluis here casts needed light on the obscure Anglo/Germanic theosophical mysticism deriving from Jacob Boehme.

Writing in a style that is scholarly yet accessible, Versluis follows the influence of Boehme down through disciples such as Johann Gichtel, John Pordage, and Jane Leade, figures who remain little-known even in esoteric circles.

The "theosophy" of Boehme and his followers differs markedly from the later theosophy of Madame Blavatsky and the Theosophical Society, a syncretistic theosophy which owes much to Buddhism and Hinduism. By contrast, the Christian theosophy of Boehme is thoroughly Christian and Christ-centered, deriving from his personal mystical visions rather than from readings in Eastern religion.

A main emphasis of Boehme and his followers is that religion be experiential rather than simply an intellectual acceptance of dogma or an assent to verbal expressions of faith. Boehme often described verbal religion as "Babel," signifying that it lacked the truly transformative quality of real religion.

Christian theosophy typically invokes the idea of "sophia," seen as a feminine personification of divine wisdom. Although present in the Old testament "Song of Songs," and occasionally referenced elsewhere in both the Old and New Testaments, sophia/wisdom largely went underground in the Christian tradition, and is more often associated with heretical groups such as the various gnostic sects of the first Christian centuries.

Indeed, Versluis takes up the question of whether there is a link between the Boehmian tradition and the earlier gnostics, and his conclusion is generally in the negative. First of all, there is no evidence of a direct line of transmission between the two traditions; secondly, the theosophers eschewed the elaborate mythical constructs of the earlier gnostics, relying instead on their own direct visionary experiences.

Versluis has tapped into a mystical thread in Christianity which bears further study, and I recommend his "Theosophia" as another laudable effort to elaborate the sophian tradition in Christianity - not merely as a historical curiosity, but as a living tradition that might have something to teach Christians to this day.