United States Books

I enjoyed this book--even to the point of giving it as a gift to a friend. It's an easy read, with humor and inspiration. Given the options presented to the author, a lawyer on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC., she gives up her exciting career to return to her hometown in East Tennessee and help her aging father in his medical practice. The only negative was her use of her language--she would occasionally slip into the dialect of East Tennessee, which startled my senses. I found that it occasionally left me unsettled. Overall, the book was a delight and her characters worthy of the attention they received in the book. I'm recommending this book to my book club!

When I picked this book up at a relative's while visiting, I figured it was a "chick book." But, it was several hours later when I finally put it back down. It was such a real and compassionate story about every day heroes who care for (and about) America's hardest working blue collar men and women. A good book to bring you back to earth and help you sort out priorities. Great book for both men and women to read.

Heart in the Right Place is the story of one woman's return to sanity after the dizzying world of high powered success and big money. Carolyn honors those of us who choose to give our lives to the care of others and find ourselves blessed by the lives that touch ours. This is the story of a spiritual transformation. The author lifts us up with her insights and her ability to tell vivid stories. It is very much recommended.

Readers looking for something touching and personal will certainly enjoy this. It is a fast book to read, mixing humor and poignancy well. If you like A Prairie Home Companion With Garrison Keillor (30th Anniversary Season Celebration) then you will be interested in this. The book does tend toward over-long explanation, especially at the end. The tale could have finished on a more powerful note if it had been three chapters shorter. However, if you are tired of reading books that cram the heroine's love life down your throat, you will certainly enjoy the maturely understated love that may be blossoming for Carolyn here. Just a note of warning to the squeamish, there are graphic descriptions of accidents and surgeries.

A very good friend recommended this book to me because I don't live very far from the town where the author's father practiced medicine. It turned out to be an excellent recommendation because I don't know when I have enjoyed a book more than I did this one. Being a native of the same area as the author I recognized many of the characters that she describes although they have different names and live a little farther to the east. I even had a relative who was just like Miss Hiawatha. Miss Hiawatha in case you are wondering is one of the many delightful characters that populate this book.

The basic plot of this book follows a powerful Washington DC attorney (the author) who has to take a leave from her job as a Senate council to come back home to East Tennessee to help out her parents. Her father is a doctor in a small town just outside of Knoxville who offers care to anyone and everyone regardless of their ability to pay and he even takes things like chickens in trade. Because of that he can't afford to hire a receptionist when his wife suffers a heart attack and has to take some time off. The author plans on spending a few days helping out but days turn into months and she ends up getting very attached to the job.

As she tries to settle in to her new duties the author runs into a cast of characters that could never be called up from even the most fertile imagination. Besides Miss Hiawatha there is a farmer who has the worst luck in the world and a George Jones like character who gets drunk and drives his lawnmower down the four-lane highway. And those three are just the appetizers. There are parts of this book that will make you laugh so hard that you will cry. Of course with this being the story of a doctor's office there are other very sad stories that will make you cry for other reasons. This author has a distinct talent for causing her readers to get very attached to the characters that she writes about.

On the technical side this is a very well written book and it contains some very thought provoking chapters. The author put a lot of feeling into this book and it shows. Above all though this is just an enjoyable book about some wonderful and sometimes eccentric people who reside in East Tennessee. This was a very good book and it is one that will always hold a special place in my personal library.

This book has got to be the best book I've ever read, I couldn't stop I read it in 6 hours continously! This is amazing for me because I'm usually the guy who never reads anything. I'm sure this book is a best buy and I can't wait for the second book to come out!!! For all you kids like me, pick up Hoopster today!

The book i read was 'The Hoopster" by Alan Lawrence Sitomer. My book was about a young African Amercin man named Andre. Andre is really good at basketball, maybe even good enough to play proffesional ball. His nickname is the Hoopster. His long life dream is to become a magazine writer. He is a vary talented writer but no one knew it yet. He worked at a magazine editorial, but he was just an errand boy for the writers. Until one day someone had seen an artical that he wrote just for fun and thought he could be good enough to write an article for them, so they offered him an oppertunity to write about racism. The article was spectacular. but not everyone liked it. A man kept herassing Andre, telling him to stop writing or else they would hurt him. Andre didn't listen so one day after work he was walking to his car and a van pulled up next to him. A group of white men came out and beat him, they also kept crushing his hand in a car door. i liked this book because it was about basketball, it also showed that racism is bad and still around. And you shouldn't let people bring you down.

THIS IS THE GREATEST BOOK EVER. i couldn't but it down til i finish it. i love how Alan kept us on the edge of our seat when Andre was getting beat up. i can't wait til the next book comes out.

This is the type of book one can never let go. It is an excellent book and I am 99.9% sure that teens will like it. Well, yeah good job Alan Sitomer. Buy. Read. Re-read. Enjoy. Don't bother me.... I'm reading.

The Hoopster


The Hoopster, by Alan Sitomer, is a compelling book that allows you to see arguably the toughest year of Andre's life. Things look good at first; he has a hot new girlfriend, Gwen, just received a promotion in his job working for a magazine, and is his usual dominant self on the basketball court. Andre's new assignment is to write each month an article about race. Since he is a very bright African-American, his input on the topic becomes meaningful to nearly all the subscribers. One group, however, does not think so highly of his writings. One night when Andre is leaving work, his life forever changes...
The Hoopster is the book for you if you enjoy fast-paced, action-packed, sports thrillers with many unexpected twists. This book is not for a sensitive reader and I would not recommend it to anyone below the middle school level, because the content is not always G or PG. Overall, I think anyone over 12 would truly enjoy this book, and it would open up anyone's eyes about and make the reader think twice before stereotyping another African American.

As a child, my favorite movie was THE WIZARD OF OZ. For Chirstmas ,I received this wonderful book that is all about the famous "pet-actress" named "Toto". (Yes, Toto was actually a little female dog named Terry,not a male , as most people would think).

Anyhow, this book is all about the tiny Cairn Terrier "Toto" (Terry) and how she came about becoming one of the principal characters in the movie.

The photos are just amazing also. My favorite photos are the behind-the-scene photos showing Toto "acting" in the actual movie, just as the trainer was in the background giving Toto her directions. Sooo cute!

If you are a dog fan, or a Cairn Terrier fan, or a Wizard of Oz fan, you'll love this book.

I, Toto is a delightfully well written book by Willard Carroll about the life of Terry, a Cairn Terrier who became famous in movies. The book is based on a scrapbook Willard Carroll found that documented the life and movie career of this well trained dog; and the book is primarily set up to look just like a book typed on an old typewriter--written, of course, by the dog itself.

The book starts with the story of how Terry was born, adopted and eventually given up by her owners because of her troubles with housetraining; and we learn how Carl Spitz professionally trained dogs to perform in movies. Spitz, an excellent trainer who worked with many dogs, wound up training Terry professionally. Spitz used both kindness and discipline to train his dogs, including Terry, very well; his talents are obvious when we consider that Terry (aka Toto) appeared in at least fourteen major motion pictures including The Wizard Of Oz.

Carroll cleverly writes the memoirs of Terry, or Toto, in the first person as if the dog herself had written the book. This provides the reader with an extra slice of humor when Carroll writes about things that happened on the sets of pictures or in Carl Spitz's training camp for dogs. Carroll does an excellent job of getting readers to be charmed out of their trees by Terry who eventually becomes renamed Toto for the sake of her career. A movie star dog has to consider Hollywood politics, after all!

The book is filled with wonderful reproductions of ads for the movies Terry was in; and we see numerous publicity shots from movies including Bright Eyes with Shirley Temple and Terry as Rags the dog. Of course, we get plenty of stills from The Wizard Of Oz and there are very nicely done "hand written" asides to the reader that also appear to be written by Terry. The result is a charming look back at the life of Terry, the dog who became Toto and enjoyed great movie fame--and treats along the way!

Overall, classic movie buffs will enjoy this book; and people who love The Wizard Of Oz will appreciate this book very much since so little was known about Terry before Willard Carroll wrote this book. The book is well written and a real page turner; it grabs your attention and never lets it go.

Great job, Willard Carroll!

A must read for any Oz fan as well as dog lovers of all kinds. I never knew how many movies Toto was in, and the Oz trivia was really fun, too. It was very cleverly written from Toto's point of view. I actually laughed out loud at some parts. Don't pass by picture captions and comments on the sides of the pages. It's all worth reading! Not bad for a dog no one wanted!

Since my all-time favorite dog star is Toto, this book was easy for me to love. However, once I began to read, I found it to be something extra special. I, Toto is a mood lifter as well as an interesting piece of Hollywood history. Beautifully written in the first person, I, Toto will captivate the heart and mind of any dog lover.

I was looking at silver-screen bio's in the library when I came across this clever little volume. Author Willard Carroll knows a lot about Oz, and he also understands a lot about animals and the people who love them. Whether you are a fan of the Wonderful Land of Oz, a dog-lover, or both, you are going to get such a kick out of this book. If you're like me, you're going to breeze through it, and then go back and read it again, preferably with someone nearby to whom you can read the funniest, most touching or trivia-friendly bits. Toto, who began as Terry, a little dog abandoned by her owners, has a very good friend indeed in Mr. Carroll.

This is a story about Toto, but it is also the story of Carl Spitz, who had been training dogs since 1919. When he came to Hollywood in 1927, he opened a training school which combined kindness and discipline, an innovation which most at the time considered "nonsense." Mr. Spitz and his dogs broke into silent movies; he developed a series of silent commands when talkies came along. His dogs appeared with the stars: Prince the Great Dane and Lawrence Olivier in Wuthering Heights; Buck the Saint Bernard and Clarke Gable in The Call of the Wild. The English mastiff and the Scottish terrier were in major productions, too.

Mr. Carroll captures Toto's "voice" so perfectly, even using a font that looks like my mother's old portable Underwood typewriter for the star's narrative. Toto also comments on the dozens of photos, movie stills and other memorabilia of a busy career with red pen.

Toto hobnobs with the stars and has some once-in-a-lifetime moments, such as when Mr. Gable came to visit the kennel owned by Carl Spitz, the trainer who adopted and worked with Toto and many other canine performers. (Don't want to tell you what happened, but it made Mr. Gable smile. Eventually.) She works with Spencer Tracy in Fury and Shirley Temple in Bright Eyes. (Of the latter, Toto reports, "Shirley had her hair cut and recurred and had endless wardrobe fittings and makeup tests. I had a flea bath, a toenail trim, and an enema.")

And then there was Oz. Toto is miffed when a studio official gushed, "She's the one! Looks just like the dog on the cover," for she considers said beast "a genetic mutation of terrifying proportions," but the role is hers and she revels in it, for she soon realizes that the story "IS ALL ABOUT ME!!! ... I'M IN ALMOST EVERY SCENE IN THE BLESSED PICTURE!!!" Toto includes a page from the shooting script with all six of her lines circled, as proof positive of her importance to the film.

Of course, it isn't all green grass and marrow bones. There are those scary wind machines and the shock of seeing that nice Maggie dressed up in black, with her face painted green and the biggest nose since Durante, cackling away. Oh, and the Winkie guard that stepped on her paw by accident. Ouch! And the creepy flying monkeys. But Mr. Spitz' training paid off; Toto found herself able to rebound from such situations and perform like the trooper that she was.

I, Toto is now one of my favourite movie books. Cute but never mawkish, sentimental but never saccharine, informative but never overwhelming, this little story of a little dog is a big winner.

The detail drawing make it easy to identify the plants and wild life.
A great way to learn.

John Muir Law's Guide to hiking in the Sierra Nevada is lush with his artistic renditions of all you might see, and want to identify, as you hike this area. Small enough to carry in your back pack, but chock full of helpful information.

I have at least 10 books specifically on Sierra wildflowers and several field guides. This is the best all-in-one book. It's not too heavy for me to carry on a day hike.

Janice
in the Sierra

This book is stunning!..Beautiful artwork by the author as well as meaningful interpretations of wild life. The author is a gift to natural books as well as his art!

This book is amazing. With all the different species of life.
I'm going to keep it in my car. Some times when we're driving; my husband will say "what kind of bird was that" or "what kind of flower".
It's very imformative and very handy.
Thank you

This book is subtitled "An Extravagant Life," and is available in hardcover. Laurence Bergreen also wrote "Louis Armstrong: An Extrodinary Life" Unfortunately I got the impression that Mr. Bergreen became a little disillusioned with his subject. He glosses over Armstrong's flaws. For instance, Bergreen seems to accept Louis' infidelities were the result of bad advice about women he received in his adolescence! His relationship and treatment of his mentor Joe Oliver is also rather quickly dismissed. I wish more time was spent on these parts of Armstrong's life. I can't fault the research and musical analysis, though.

This was one of the best biographies I have ever read. By far the best one of the life of Louis Armstrong. It took me only 2 days to read this book, I could hardly put it down. Not being much of a fan of Dixieland, New Orleans Jazz, etc...after reading this book I was hooked. I wanted to listen to every Louis recording available. Bergreen paints Armstrong as such an amazing character which he completely was. Even if you aren't a jazz fan this is just a great book about a great man.

You get not only a bio of a great musician & person, you get a detailed description how Blacks lived New Orleans through the turn of the century. From it you get a better understanding of how the pre-recording (and therefore unrecorded) sounds of untutored musicians became the roots of the New Orleans musical genre and how the odds were stacked against Louis. You come to understand his workaholism and his deference to his eventual agent, who probably exploited him.

As the book progresses, the historical descriptions are not as detailed but you feel the music and the person developing. Ironically, the two best known pieces "Hello Dolly" & "It's a Wonderful World", were late stage, not representative, but somehow routine work for the prolific Louis.

It's hard to imagine from the impoverished roots, the raw deals and the omnipresent daily racism (even to his death in 1971 segregation both de facto and Jim Crow continued), how Louis kept his optimism and exhuberance. It was not self deceptive, when the chips were down, he supported the Brown v Board of Ed decision, not just in his heart, but words and actions.

He was an unfaithful lover and husband. We don't know if he ever promised otherwise... all his wives but the first (who was common law married) knew he was a married man when they started "dating" him. The world owes Mrs. Armstong the 2nd (Lil) a debt. She gave him confidence and a platform to be the star he became.

In the Acknowledgments the author says this is the first bio he's written where his admiration for his subject grows.

Louis Armstrong blazed a trail. He was a tough cat, much tougher than all the supposedly macho dudes who posture now. He doesn't have to posture because he's dealt with the mob and prostitutes who slash with the knifes in their shoes, and somehow reminds us, that despite all this, it's a wonderful world.

This book was amazingly well written! It wonderfuly portrays the life of a very talented and amzing man. Please, for your own sake, read this book!

I believe I've read them all and nothing ever written about Louis Armstrong is as detailed as this book. Moreso than the "tired old stories" you see repeated in version after version of other tales of Armstrong, this one actually delves into the personal life as well as the persona of the man. Every Armstong fan needs to read this book - it's an awakening!

This book is beautifully photographed and well written. It is a perfect example of how new homes can be constructed to have the timeless appeal of historical properties by using old and new materials and thoughtful intrepetation of historical designs. Mr. Town's homes are the kind that can be handed down from generation to generation due to their quailty and beauty. Mr. Town's residential projects should be an inspiration to those considering building a new home in any price range. It is the design that counts.

Being born and raised in SE Louisiana just outside of New Orleans I really enjoyed the homes presented. I am currently planning to build our home here in the Houston suburbs and the ideas presented are awesome!!!

We are building a new home with the Hays Town Louisiana houses as inspiration. His style should translate well to rural Atlanta. But we have to pass on the German Shepherd.

My wife loves the A. Hays Town homes, and this book is a nice representation of his work. A good coffee table item for guests to view.

I found this book to be exactly the view of Hays Town's work that I wanted to see.

The Man Called Cash is a very good book. very informative.I think a child 11-12 years old could read it and beable to understand what they are reading.I think it gose behond some of the other books I have read on Johhny Cash.I would recomend it to any one who is interested in seeing where Johnny Cash were he came from and the legacey he left.

I am a legally blind man and and I usually get my books to listen to through the library, but after I saw the movie walk the line I felt I had to know more about the ledgend of Cash through an audiobook if I could find one. I was lucky to find this one. I love the way Kris Kristofferson reads the book. Since he was a friend of cash's, he put feeling into the reading like no other person can. Through the author's extensive research on Cash, I found out things I never knew about him. The Movie is good, but if you really want to know who Cash is, just by this and Listen to Kristofferson tell you about his friend. The man in black.

I learned a lot about Johnny Cash, as well as people like Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, and many others who were the ones that generated so much buzz about music in the 1950's. Toward the end of the book, I was sad because I knew that it would speak of his death. I found myself not wanting to hear about it, because I had loved learning about his life so much.

My favorite story in the whole book was about a prayer he prayed at dinner. His dinner guest recalled the story:

Cash prayed and said, "... and we thank you Lord for this food, and we ask that you would bless it to our body. We pray these things in Jesus' name, Amen. When he finished praying he winked at me and said, "I still miss the drugs though."

It is precisely that juxtaposition of piety and weakness that I think I love about him. It reminds me of another man who is known well for his writing when he said:

I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do ... What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

In case you didn't catch that, the other man to whom I referred is the Apostle Paul. He happened to be one of Cash's favorite people for obvious reasons. I have wondered why I am so enamored by people like Johnny Cash and Paul; these men of such conviction, but at the same time so open about their transgressions. I think it is because they knew themselves well, and they never allowed the good in them to elevate them to a place where they could look down at others. They knew the darkness, and that it was always waiting if they would just relent and turn to it.

Cash turned to it a lot. However, like Paul, he also said:

Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

At the end of his life, after June Carter died he hung around for a few months more. He could barely walk, was in massive pain, and was eighty percent blind. In this state, however, he still had the Bible enlarged big enough so he could read it. Others spoke about his love of Jesus, his kindness, his generosity, and his faithfulness to June.

So many want to be cynical about people who struggle, fall, get up, and fall again. They like to point and yell to expose someone else's flaws. I am more convinced that the ones who yell the loudest are the ones who are the most scared of having their flaws exposed.

One of my favorite lines in music comes from a song sung by Cash. It was written by Bono and performed with U2 (yeah, I know big surprise). The line goes:

I went out there,
In search of experience,
To taste and to touch,
And to feel as much,
As a man can,
Before he repents.

Isn't that all of our stories? I know it's mine. I also know that it is mine everyday. I walk around, and like a little kid test the boundaries of God's love. Some days, I may not go far, other days I may feel restless and I just want to run. Yet each time I return home to talk with God I find myself speaking the words of Paul:

Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

I usually don't read many biographies, but I received this one for Christmas one year since I am a huge Johnny Cash fan. I was glad to see that this book was very well written and also a very easy read. I knew it was going to be good when the first chapter was pretty emotional, as it starts off with June Carter Cash dying. The book also focuses well on some key moments in Johnny Cash's life that made the most significant difference - the first being the death of his brother, Jack, and the others that revolved around June. Like other reviewers have stated, Walk The Line used a lot of moments from the book and I would recommend reading the book as well as watching the movie. I think what was great about Johnny Cash, and what we can all relate too, is how open he was with how he was a sinner and how he had made a lot of mistakes (ie. drugs, affairs, etc.), but he changed his ways when he fully committed himself to Jesus and his faith. I think this book can be a great tool to those who have struggled and have difficult pasts because Cash showed that it doesn't matter what you have done, that you have forgiveness and that you can always start over. Great message and this book has a lot of interesting and funny stories that will want to make you laugh, smile, shake your head, or make you feel sad. Steve Turner has done a great job and had made me rethink biographies. If you're a Johnny Cash fan, this a must-have!

Before I read this book, THE MAN CALLED CASH, by Steve Turner, from 2004, I had also read the 1997 book called CASH: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY (with Patrick Carr). They both cover similar ground. The 1997 book seems more homey, like Johnny Cash is talking to you, but this book, by Steve Turner, seems more accurate.

Having know Johnny and his family for over a decade, author Steve Turner was actually hired to help write another autobiography, but June and Johnny died unexpectedly, and the book turned into an in-depth research research project, instead of just helping Johnny write with decent grammar, or whatever it takes two authors to do with an AUTObiography.

Both books seem to be equally long in content, though the page counts and page sizes differ between the hardcover of this book and the small paperback of THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY book that I read.

Though both books cover a lot of the same incidents from Johnny's life, this book, THE MAN CALLED CASH, features some highly interesting coverage of the last living days of June and Johnny, before they both passed on in 2003. There is also plenty of more in-depth coverage of events told in THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY, and there are also plenty of events from Johnny's life that are not mentioned in the 1997 autobiography. I recommend that you read both books, actually.

The author also points out that since he had to do research, instead of just typing out whatever Johnny told him, he has discovered that Johnny Cash never had trouble telling a good story, or making a good story even better! For example, Johnny Cash has written and talked about how rowdy he was in the Air Force, fighting with the military police, etc., but Steve Turner points out that the people who were in the Air Force with him don't remember any of that kind of rowdiness from Johnny, who never got into much trouble, and would have been widely known on the air base if he HAD fought with the guards, etc. This book also tells about how Johnny would play music with other airmen in his dorm, and Johnny was the worst of the bunch, learning a lot from the others!

There are many interesting b/w photos, although mostly small, but in high quantity! There is a photo of his brother Jack, whose childhood death affected Johnny for the rest of his life.

This book also has a chronology of major events in Johnny's life, and a discography of his primary releases, which is good to use as a shopping list, for me.

This book does have some distracting typos that I hope get fixed in future printings. On one page the same sentence appears twice in a row. In the Chronology, the death of his father, Ray Cash, appears twice on the list, in 1985 (correct), and then again in 1993 (incorrect). This is unfortunate, but these two are the worst distractions that I found without even trying.

It is also interesting to see how the movie WALK THE LINE compares to what is contained in both of these books! For instance, both books say that June Carter never really met or toured with Johnny until he was a big, established star, years into his music career, while the movie gives me the impression that they met on Johnny's first fledgling tour.

THE MAN CALLED CASH gives information about the the saw accident and his brother Jack. This book says that actually there was another 12 year old boy there, who witnessed the event, and Johnny suspected him of being involved in a bad way, though none of the adults thought so at the time, or ever! Both books mention how Johnny would see Jack appear in his dreams for the rest of his life, always a few years older than Johnny at whatever the age Johnny dreamed the appearance.

This book talks about Johnny's friendship with the evangelist, Billy Graham. I personally enjoy Johnny's Gospel albums and projects, but I am a little bit disappointed over the wasted years of drug abuse and family neglect from Johnny, who thought of himself often as a lost Christian, but a Christian none the less. What do you think about that?

The Bible says, "What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice." -- Philippians 1:18. Using this Bible verse as a model, it tells me that Johnny Cash's Gospel works, as good as they are, are also totally legitimate as long as they correctly preach the Word of God--regardless of the depths of sin and abuse that Johnny heaped upon himself and his loved ones.

As long as Jesus Christ is being preached correctly, the sins of the messenger do not negate the message itself (and we are all sinners, just not as extreme as Johnny was, I suspect)! I do not and cannot condone his sinful abuses, (though I have done most of them myself, before I got Saved 8 years ago), but I will let God judge his own servant, and I will continue to enjoy the many beautiful Gospel projects which Johnny Cash was always eager and happy to work on!

GOSPEL GLORY is my favorite Johnny Cash Gospel CD, so far. His movie, THE GOSPEL ROAD, is on DVD and is also really cool! My favorite Gospel project from Johnny Cash is his spoken word reading of the entire NEW TESTAMENT on 16 CDs, very affordably priced from amazon.com, and all three of these items come highly recommended by me!

I can recommend both of these books for anybody who enjoyed the WALK THE LINE film.

Bottom line: read CASH: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY for a fun time spent with Johnny Cash in his own words, then read this book, THE MAN CALLED CASH, for the REAL story on how many of those stories actually went down!

Are you hungry for HAMBURGER HAMLET? Here is the book. The history of HAMBURGER HAMLET as created by Harry & Marilyn Lewis. I'm hungry and ready to drive to the closest one! Or maybe better yet, to a Kate Mantilini or the Gardens on Glendon still the home of the Lewis' cuisine.

& yes her life as Cardinale is also well covered in this story

a great read - now go get that HAMBURGER ( a #9 or a #11 ? which one?? it must be rare-yum)

Anyone with any sense of the entertainment industry in Hollywood is familar with Hamburger Hamlet. An ancient haven for the Rat Pack and a current haunt for celebs like Matthew Perry and Elton John, it's great to finally have a book that tells us the ups and downs of this great eatery and the two talented people who started it.

Marylin Lewis, not daring to let humility get in the way, spins us through nearly 40 years of burgers, gossip, high fashion and lobster bisque. Her first hand accounts of her own struggles and transformation into the diva of the restaurant industry is nothing short of inspiring.

Heck, this book is almost as good as the burgers and bisque. Thank goodness we still have a few of her old joints still preserved today. My advise? Grab the book, duck into a dark corner booth at the Sunset Strip location, and sink back into the days of legend when a "B" actor and an inspiring dress designer could become the darlings of Sinatra, martinis and a damn good burger.

I savored every page of this smart memoir. Marilyn Lewis' writing is as delicious as her recipes.

"Marilyn, are you sure you can cook?" is the best written memoir I've ever read. What a fascinating life...told with humor, candidness, and an ability to put words together that makes one think Charles Dickens was whispering in her ear.

Anybody in the business world or on the inside track of Los Angeles life knows who Marilyn and Harry Lewis are; their building of the Hamburger Hamlet dynasty is legendary. What makes this truly fascinating book come to life though, is the "true Marilyn" who jumps from the page. With many autobios, you can read it cover to cover and not know a whit more about the real person behind that public visage when you're done.

Not here. There's a lot more served up than some famous recipes and a few anecdotes; Lewis manages to capture the Zeitgeist of the time in which she and Harry lived and loved; a period of Show Business and Big Business colliding an L.A. full of fashion and film and some sad realities along the way.

I'd love to give details but I'm not blowing any surprises. Suffice to say the book is a surprise a mix of personal and public life, and every darn thing that happens when you're a woman with boundless talent and the energy of a high school sprinter. For instance, did you know that under a completely different name,in a completely different world, Marilyn Lewis was also famous for something that had nothing to do with her culinary crown? Double-famous in two different worlds: that's not luck. This is an extraordinary woman.

Marilyn Lewis's own peronal story is downright fascinating; from such humble beginnings she became the Grande Dame of Los Angeles's love for food, fashion, and passion. You can't put Lewis in a box.....her proven "wins" in evrything from film to filet mignon come with a story, a real story, about a real woman who was ahead of her time and made a lot of people plain catch up.

Written with the class you'd expect from one of the shining stars of Los Angeles social life, Marilyn tosses class and candor like a salad, and the result is a can't-put-it-down page turner.

I give this prize of a book my highest recommendation. The Marilyn Lewis you're going to meet in this book is probably not who you thought was on the menu. But I'd put her compelling voice and prolific humanity up against any creme brulee in town: Mrs. Lewis emerges like a creme brulee, in fact: a tough cookie and nobody's fool on the outside, and downright delicious, smooth and all class on the inside.

Give this book a read; it'll show you a Los Angeles (and a world) that may not even be possible anymore.....unless another Marilyn and Harry Lewis show up in town. For now, I'll take the originals....and they're both right here in plaintive sight. Enjoy the meal, and boy, does she know some of the juciest tidbits of Los Angeles's golden age. Enjoy, and don't forget to tip well.

A well written and represented book! This book gives the reader a totally " Gungy " feeling! Real to life excerts from day to day life with " Mother Green & her Machine" Col. Fox is a Marines Marine, his method of leadership and Esprit de Corps was like no other, I know , I served under his command and unknowingly absorbed many of his talents, wisdom and leadership trait's through following his training and command. Well worth it!!!!!!!!!!! Col. Fox is a Marine to model ones self after, a Great American!!!! ATTACK, ATTACK, ATTACK. Semper Fidelis

Recommended reading for all Marines and Wannabees which includes just about everybody.

Col. Fox's memoir is as educational as it is entertaining. This is a must-read book on leadership, which drives home two essential principles: the leader must set the example and the leader must look out for the welfare of subordinates (which includes correcting them or even steering them into better paths, if they don't fit the Marine mold). And he does it in an entertaining style. It's rare to find someone with his experience who is also such a fine writer.

Though he holds the Medal of Honor, Col. Fox isn't at all full of himself. He's not afraid to say when he made mistakes, or when the system made mistakes. I found myself both wishing I'd served under Fox, and grateful I didn't, because I'm not sure I could have measured up to his very high standards. We should all be eternally thankful for Americans of this caliber.

Give this book to the young man or woman thinking of joining the Corps.

Robert A. Hall
Former SSgt, USMCR
Author of "The Good Bits"

I gave "Marine Rifleman" to my 17-year-old son last week, not to have him again revisit my Marine Corps "era" through this terrific book, but to have him exposed to these thoughts:

-- "Normal" people can have a successful military career. And Marines are not cold-blooded killers to begin with, nor trained as such.
-- Military careers can co-exist with a family lifestyle. The Fox family is a wonderful example.
-- We owe a considerable debt of gratitude to those who have served, especially in combat situations. Our comfortable life is largely due to the sacrifices of thousands of military personnel since 1900. Many of these sacrifices are short of serious wounds or death, but are not experienced by or even known to the public-at-large.
-- You can lead AND command without losing respect for your subordinates (very important today!!!), or having them lose respect for you.

Does "Marine Rifleman" bring out these lessons? You bet it does. Get the book, read it, pass it on to others. The reader does not have to be Marine-familiar. It will be one of their better reads from the bewildering choices in the bookstores. Especially for young people. Let them experience the personal growth of this man Fox as he maintains his spirit and integrity through a demanding career.

Every Marine that has served can easily tell you about the types of people in the Corps. There are the people who do their job and are just waiting to get out, the less than desirable bottom "10%" and then guys like Wesly Fox: the super-hardcore, gungy types who eat and sleep Marine Corps and epitomize the professionalism and dedication of the modern warrior. Col. Fox spent 43 year in, making it to 1st Sergeant before being commissioned and ultimately obtaining his bird. Many field grade officers today remember him as the CO of OCS, and his reputation carries his name throughout the Corps, even today, a decade since his retirement. Gungy Marines only come along maybe once a year in a unit, and Marines like Foxonly come along once in a great while.

The book is written by the author, and goes from chapter to chapter through each rank and his experiences in Korea, Vietnam, and all of his assignments (e.g. drill instructor, recruiter, MSG, etc.); He did it all. The prose is not extremely well written or memorable so much as the content of his story is remarkable. He seems to be a very warm and realistic man. There are almost no political views in the book, or rants about government or red tape, just his perspectives on the COrps and how it changed over 3 years. A great read, I feel it should be added to the Commandant's reading list.

I came in not knowing much of anything about the music industry...and after reading this book from cover to cover (its a long book), I can say I learned a lot. The book is very easy to read, with real and made-up examples, and simple language. The author does a great job breaking down the rules of the industry. It does not tell you how to run your operation or how to market a hit record...it just lays out all the rules for you to either follow, break, or bend.

The best chapters were about song ownership, copyrights, publishing, royalties, and taxes. Actually, the taxes chapter was really enlightening. You can tell a lawyer wrote this book from that chapter.

I've been in a band for several years, and unfortunately, everyone else that has been in my band has never had the experience of running it as a business. We have been skating by all these years just doing gigs, but now we are planning on releasing a CD and this definitely makes things more complicated. This book has been a godsend. Very informative and USEFUL information. Other music law type books are informative, but haven't been very useful on the level we needed it. You can use what is in this book right away. Its easy to read and understand.

Like all carpenters needing important tools to build a house, this book is the tool for all musicians. It covers all the important music business information and will help cut down unnecessary misfortune for musicians. Definitely a MUST BUY!!!

This offers a great foundation to Music Law. It is clear & easy to read w/ room in the margins for notes. Richard Stim even mentions a few legal loopholes you can benefit from.

You can also recieve free book updates on the Nolo website, which is a cool perk.

There comes a time in a musician or band's career when they get serious about what they're doing and need to start focusing on legal aspects of their endeavors. This book is and indispensable reference for that situation.

The book is written in easy to understand layman's terms. It covers a fairly broad range of subjects, and provides pointers to other resources for more in depth cover of the covered subjects.

One more notable point about the book is the pre-fabricated contracts and legal forms that it comes with. They seem to be solid, could be useful in a number of situations, and are explained thoroughly.