New York Books

What a story! What a writer! I could not put this book down. Colin Channer is a talent. I cannot wait to read his next adventure.

The book was well written, great humor and very relatable for anyone who has ever been in love or would like to be. The only thing is that the cover does not give the book any justice. At first glance you would think its one of those trashy romance novels, however its about more than romance, its about true love and the romance behind it.

This novel was a soulful journey. It connects with the reality of relationships and with all of its struggles and triumph. I was drawn into the characters from the opening page. He tells this tale with a poetic spin. His words unfold beautifully and each character takes on a life of its own. I think readers will find a little bit of themselves in this book. I loved it!

This book is a beautiful experience. It is one of the most passionate and real books that I have ever read. I couldn't put it down and I wish that it was longer. The emotions of the characters are so strong that they leap off of the page. This book makes you want to go out and fall in love and hope that you experience half the passion and true love that these characters experience.

Colin Channer to me is like a modern day Picasso with a pen. His dialogue is compelling, soul-stirring and purposeful and his characters are engaging. You can almost close your eyes and imagine yourself seeing the story unfold as if you were a fly on the wall at a gallery in New York, a beach house in Jamaica, or the Streets of London. This is the mark of a truly great storyteller.

Our main character, Fire, is a "simple" man with a "complex" life. By simple I mean he wants what any sane person would want, a circle of good life-long friends, a fulfilling life, and someone emotionally and physically available to share it all with. So, when he meets Sylvia, he feels like he has found the one. What he doesn't know is that Sylvia, an engaged magazine editor, is all but disengaged from her own true desires for her life. Soon we see that complications abound, and the journey they take throughout the story takes the reader on a cross-continental journey in search of introspection, true meaning and, possibly, true love.

An interesting point is that Channer's characters are written from their souls - what drives them to do the things they do is less about their gender than their emotions and their pasts. With such a multi-faceted story, several layers of conflict, we still get a crystal clear picture and understanding as to why things unfold teh way they do. It is a believable, gripping, page turner, and Channer conveys it effortlessly.

Waiting in Vain, simply put, was one of the two best books I have read in a long time. The other was Satisfy My Soul (also by Colin Channer). As an aspiring writer, I wish my prose was as naturally beautiful as Mr. Channer's. Until it is, I will keep devouring his work in hopes that some of his literary poeticism rubs off.

Oh, the Places You'll Go! is a very good graduation gift, and my traditional gift for such occasions. But in regular bookstores, the cost usually averages at $18. Now, used books are great ideas, usually about $5, but not for graduation gifts. So when these $12 per arrived in perfect NEW condition I was thrilled. Go Amazon.

We use this book as a completion/graduation gift for a summer program for high school students that gives them experience in working at a university-level research project. The program is called SHARP. The book edition is hardback with a color-embossed jacket, so it will hold up as a keepsake, and the kids use it as they would a yearbook--collecting autographs and keep-in-touch messages from their friends and teachers.

This makes a great book. I gave one to a friend who's daughter is going to Kindergarten, I bought one for my little one and sent one to my brother who needed a little pick me up to get back on the right track. Its very motivational and I recommend it to every one of all ages.

We bought this book for our daughter graduating high school. We wanted her to know that the sky was the limit for her. This says it all.

I've always appreciated the way Dr. Suess can speak to adults. This is a classic graduation book, and that's where I got my copy.

But it's still very much kid-friendly and just as inspirational to them as to anyone.

This is a story about chane and going for it, with a healthy dose of realism that reminds us that the world is not a fairy tale and that bad things will happen but that they are still no reason to give up.

This book is mind-numbingly captivating. I dont like getting depressed after reading a book, and I was expecting to find myself knee deep in a semi-horror novel. Such as David Pelzer's "A child called It," (good book by the way) but this story is different. Though the events told in this story are horrific, there is an enchanting light of hope that guides you through the chapters. The good expressed in this book is equal to the bad, and it makes for a well balanced read. The innocents and wisdom this child reflects is just heart wrenching. I love it.

I could not put this book down! It made my cry a couple of times but it does have a happy ending.

It really sucks when you have to struggle and this poor woman was sick and couln't help what she had to do. But they way children are treated in orphanages and foster homes are outrageous. People wake up these children just need love and compassion.

Since I first read this book over 15 years ago I've read the book over 10 times. I read it three times the first year. I felt it was an amazing story, very touching, and able to tug at me each time I read it. The strength and courage that the author had was amazing.

I just finished this book--what an emotional ride. I was worried it was a story about parents who actually put their child in a cage. But it is not about parents abusing children; more about a child's survival, love, and connection, all while living in a harsh and deadening world.

If you are going to read this book, be ready for it to open your heart, bring about deep-seated emotions, and be impossible to put down.

like i said a little slow in the beggining and i though i wasn't going to like it. don't give up though...the story gets intense without too much "action" type stuff and it ended becoming one good read.

About half way thru this book and had to set it aside. I'll return to it later as it is a little too intense and the language is shocking.

I thought his books Beach Music and The Prince of Tides were much better. I could not put Beach Music down.

This is a great military/coming of age novel by Pat Conroy that I would put slightly behind The Great Santini (one of my favorite books of all time) in his catalogue. In this story, Conroy follows a young cadet at the fictional Carolina Military Institute (modeled partly on Conroy's time at The Citadel) as he endures his plebe year and then comes to grip with the fact that the school fosters a great deal of hate, racism and cruelty to accomplish its mission of developing the Complete Man. Conroy's writing always moves quickly with engaging dialogue, humor and entertaining story lines and this book is no exception. It is certainly deeper than your standard pop fiction book, but it reads just as easily and quickly. I would highly recommend it to Conroy fans, people who enjoy good fiction (even my mother likes this book) or people who have interest in military schools or the South in the 50's. A very good book.

I received this book as a gift and was reluctant to read it as the subject matter was not of interest. I started to read it just to see what it might be like and was captured by the outstanding writing. It was just a joy to read and the characters will stay with me forever.

The mark of a successful coming of age story is that you, the reader, can see yourself reflected in the protagonist. For me, this book worked very well. Will McLean, the main character and first-person narrator, a second generation Irish boy, son of a Marine, a mongrel outsider in the pedigreed Carolina Military Institute searches for himself, the man within the boy who is being molded by a system of discipline and honor that doesn't match his internal morality. He's an English major in a college of warriors. He's a basketball player, a finesse guard, in a school of brute force. He's fighting against systems he doesn't understand within a life choiceless in it's inequality.

Pat Conroy, himself a graduate of the model for the fictional Institute, The Citadel, weaves a compelling tension-filled story while eloquent in his setting, Charleston, South Carolina. Employing gracious proper Southern dialect filled with flowers, antiques, and tradition, he describes brutality, racism, sexism, and betrayal. The language works well because it provides within its description the biting irony of the scenes. Will McLean fights through every taboo the South has to offer in the 1960's: a black cadet in the all-white tradition of the military college, an unwed pregnant girl shunned by society for her shame while the father of her baby remains blameless, the brutal plebe system that crushes individuality while remaking young men as soulless military automatons, the classed society of high south old money and it's cruelty to those not born within the circle, and the fact that military honor doesn't equate to individual morality.

Fighting through this maze of pitfalls, McLean has only his closest and dearest friends to rely on, roommates Dante "Pig" Pignetti and Mark Santoro, two brawny, Northern boys of Italian descent and Tradd St. Croix, an "old Charlestonian" (from a very rich and respected family). His moral guide through the story is the epitomy of hard military men, Colonel "Bear" Berrineau, a vulgar battle-scarred man whose character is unimpeachable and whose idea of duty includes awful repercussions.

I loved this story and I couldn't put it down. If I had one criticism to give, it's that Conroy tried to put too much into the novel - too many problems and taboos and tried to fix hundreds of years worth of problems in one book. But, that's not really a criticism because he did it and did it well. Bravo.

CV Rick

My introduction to Steve Kluger was with "Almost Like Being In Love." The format threw me for a bit, but, once used to the manner in which the author was to tell his story, I went on to enjoy this delightful story. Next came this book..."Last Days of Summer." I found the author's website and wrote him an e-mail; I was about thirty pages short of the book's end at that moment. I sent another e-mail after finishing the book, heartbroken by the story's ending, yet having thoroughly been moved by spending time with such wonderfully fleshed-out characters. Read the book...no, I'd go so far as to say, "Read anything by Steve Kluger." He's a great storyteller...combining both humor and pathos expertly.

What's the difference between a Young Adult (YA) and a regular ol' adult novel? In this case, only a few words and phrases. Otherwise, this book contains all of the standard YA elements.

The wisecracking loner main character? Check. (Though he becomes less of a loner as the story progresses.) The dysfunctional but eccentrically entertaining family? Check. The unlikely good influence with issues of his own? Check? The Tragic Moment? Check. Only a sprinkling of f-bombs and other salty language keeps "The Last Days of Summer" off high school library shelves everywhere. It's like something Avi would write, only earthier.

This is not to say that it's a poor or childish book. Far from it. The notes & letters format, the imminently likeable characters, and the breezy plot pull you in quickly, making it hard to put it down. Nothing really happens that you didn't expect would happen, yet the ride in so enjoyable that you won't mind.

One thing that really annoyed me was that all of the letters, notes, and whatever used to create the book are written in the same sardonically streetwise style. The two main characters writing similarly is understandable, since their similarity is what brings them together. But Wilke-supporting conservative schoolteachers and busy US Army commanders writing report card comments and internal memos in the same style as witty young Joey Margolis? It's a stretch.

But that's a minor quibble. Overall, I enjoyed this book a lot and would recommend it to anyone who doesn't mind just a little coarseness about the edges.

Been reading Last Days of Summer for a couple of months now. Don't use a bookmark in order to lose my place every time I pick it up. I don't want to finish it! It's that good and I'm going to miss it like a great old friend, when it's read.

Oddly enough, the rereading works pretty well. "Last Days" is filled with so much humor, charm, silliness and stats that I find new life in every old chapter I misread - although misread is the wrong word. I do it on purpose.

It's about baseball. It's about the 40s, Broadway with Merman, coming of age in Brooklyn, Hollywood pin-ups, coping with bullies, FDR and Eleanor, The Green Hornet, The Shadow, Reese and Di Magio, and resistance to blending concurrent American cultures. But, mostly, it's about baseball, serving as father-figure for growth.

I still don't know where fantasy ends and reality begins here - or how it`s combined. But, that's why I won't finish. I don't want the world that's been created for me to be explained just yet. For now, I just want to continue living here for as long as I can.

Mr. Kluger, thank you! And MKA, thank you for finding it for me.

This is one of my favorite books. I usually don't read a book more than once, but I've read this one a couple of times. I recommend it highly.

I can not remember when I enjoyed reading a book so much. I probably should not have been reading it while working out at the gym. I was getting some very odd looks as I laughed aloud.

The book takes place from 1940-42, formative years in the life of Joey Margolis, an extremely precocious 12 year old Jewish boy growing up in Brooklyn. He is a prolific letter writer and an even more prolific schemer and wiseacre. Joey decides that he is going to get the NY Giants' new third baseman and phenom, Charlie Banks, to take him on a road trip and the scheming letters begin. The entire book is in the form of letters to and from the characters - including FDR and his press secretary. Eventually Banks becomes something of a big brother to the boy and the wisdom that is interchanged in the letters between the 24 year old and 12 year old is priceless. Joey even gets the young Protestant star to stand in for his father at his Bar Mitzvah!

This is not the typical book about being Jewish in Brooklyn in the 40's. Those are merely props to the story and in the relationship. It is about a wonderful relationship. What starts as pure hilarity becomes poignant. Most amazingly, the poignancy does not diminish the hilarity and laughter will continue until the last few pages. Although the ending is a bit predictable, it could not have ended any other way.

Once you pick this book up, you will have a hard time putting it down. It will carry you laughing all the way until... Highly recommended. Sometimes you just have to wonder why a book is not a bestseller.

This is the story of a church and a man who fulfill the purpose of showing God to a weary world. The emphasis on prayer is what is needed in a day when so many worship the minister or the program. If we prayed more, we would worship God more and would know how to present him to a needy world.

I was given this book to read by a friend at my church, and I reluctantly took it because I am not a huge reader. After the first chapter, I was hooked and couldn't put it down! There is a lot of good instruction, and the part I like most is Jim Cymbala backs up the instruction with real-life experiences and results. Granted, not all results will be similar to his, but he shows the foundation on which to build your life. I highly recommend this book (I bought one for my father, brother, and father-in-law).

You can't not believe this man. It is not the most impressive thing that he built up a huge Church starting with about 10 people in a dangerous area of New York.
It is not the most impressive thing that his wife, who has no training in music, helped to write, guide and direct, songs for one of the world's most loved groups, i.e. The Brooklyn Tablernacle Choir. What is a most impressive to me is that they have stayed right where they started about 25 years ago, continuing to be instrumental in thousands of changed lives of former drug addicts and pushers, prostitutes and pimps, gangs and gangsters, gays and lesbians in what is - except by the grace of the Holy Spirit - still in a dangerous area and with quite a few potentially very dangerous parishioners. People feel embraced by YHWH's welcoming Love in Cymbala's Church. And I believe it is His Love that protects them and moves them all.

With that background I knew I wanted to hear what this man has to say.
I wasn't disappointed. The message is simple as he would say himself:
Prayer, and lots of it, first. Everything else later.

Someone said, "Prayer is not preparation for the work. Prayer IS the work." Cymbala agrees.

One of the more inspiring books I've ever read. It makes you want to meet with Christ and see the power of what He can do. Read if you want to be humbled and empowered.

A few years ago, I wasn't just asked, I was TOLD to read a book called "Breakthrough Prayer," by Jim Cymbala. It didn't look like a brilliant title. But "Breakthrough Prayer" was simply amazing! Since then I've read "Fresh Power," and this book has simply been waiting on my shelf for me to pick it up. I finally did, and it is pretty awesome as well. Jim Cymbala is the pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle, and through the power of prayer, some awesome things have happened.

It had to start with a leap of faith. Asked by his father-in-law (and won't we do ANYTHING for the in-laws!?) was a question. Would Jim preach four Sunday nights at the Brooklyn Tabernacle, where things had hit an all-time low? Hmm! What would you do? Jim took a leap of faith. And there were times where he felt like quitting. But through it all, and still today, he is the witness of modern day miracles on the meanest streets.

Now, "Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire" is considered a classic by some people. And not because it talks all about Jim, his wife, Carol, and what He did. This is about an awesome God who broke through, just like He did in the days of Moses, Elijah, David, the days we seem to think are over. He tells stories of people like Charles Finney, D.L. Moody, men without a college education, who stormed the gates for Jesus Christ!

Stepping out in faith, and trusting is all God asks us to do. Jim Cymbala did just that. He illustrates the power of prayer. And time after time, you don't see Superman tales. You see ordinary people in the service of an extraordinary God. That's what makes this special. God writes the story, and we live it out! That's awesome!!!

Robert Caro's THE POWER BROKER is a lession in the use of power in the life and career of Robert Moses, and the consequent effects upon the people and substructure of New York City. Moses is such a disgusting figure, such a tyrant, that I literally found myself shaking at points. The press was in his pocket, elitest and racist, Moses painted himself as the selfless public servant. In reality, he cast people aside by the thousands in order to increase his power and accomplish what he wants. What a vile man. I'll never look at New York City the same again and I pray that I would never treat people the way he did.

Robert Caro's The Power Broker, a biography of Robert Moses, contains every attribute of a Shakespearean tragedy. Moses was brilliant, driven, an over-achiever, but possessed a deeply flawed character which aroused feelings of both esteem and disgust. Like all of Shakespeare's tragic protagonists, he was capable of both good and evil. Fully able to redeem himself, he instead moved unheedingly towards his doom. That 30+ years of unquestionable power within New York State's political, corporate, and labor elite forestalled this doom speaks to the measure of the man. Indeed, it took a Rockefeller to push him from the mountaintop.

One of the best biographies I've ever read, The Power Broker's 1,163 pages artfully and suspensefully tell the tale of a man for whom the words great and ignominious qualify as adjectives. Initially an ardent reformer, Moses was increasingly corrupted by power. At the apex of this power, Moses answered to no one and ran a wide reaching web of political commissions and public authorities as his personal empire.

His transition from reformer to elitist provides the backbone of Caro's epic. Once a voice for the common man, Moses eventually attained what can only be described as aristocratic contempt for the mob, the rabble, the lower echelon of economic achievement. The reader may marvel that such a powerful man was heretofore unknown to them, but the reader will certainly grow increasingly disenchanted at such a man's venality.

The Power Broker is a classic deserving the attention of every student of history. Despite it's heft, it remains a page turning pleasure throughout. As such, it most assuredly merits the highest ranking I can give it: 5+ stars. Trite though the term may be, Robert Caro has authored a masterpiece.

This book, written by Robert Caro - probably the best living biographer, was his first book. It is a massive, thorough, detailed, engaging study of how one man - Robert Moses - planned, shaped and built - the modern city of New York.

It is about the acquisition of power and its utilization by one man in order to bring his vision of New York City to fruition.

Robert Moses - the primary subject of the book - together with the notion of power, and New York City itself as well as its residents being the other subjects - was trained in urban planning England, was a visionary, a planner, and a "Power Broker" - and thus the title, whose materials where New York City, planned, designed, built modern New York by stamping his vision in the form of new parks, spaces, roads and parkways, new neighborhoods, new subways/rail-lines, new beach and recreational facilities and areas, had an impact on the way millions of New Yorkers as well as visitors to NYC experienced NYC - experienced NYC - for decades. His shape of NYC is still shaping how humans experience reality in such city.

This is a tour de force. This is a good book for those interested in New York City, local and state government politics, the modern bureaucratic / administrative aparatus of government and those who wield the helm. Whether you agree with Robert Moses vision of NYC or not, he had a tremendous impact. The impact was not limited to NYC. Seen as the expert on urban planning, his model, his vision, his views, spread throughout the entire field of modern urban planning. Thus, his impact is not just local or state. It is in fact national and international. Modern cities - the leadership of which visited or modeled their cities on NYC - where shaped by his creations.

A long book. A detailed book. A hard book. But excellent, very interesting, and well worth the effort and time. Probably the prime example of what an excellent biography is and should be. It made Robert Caro, its author, into the preeminent biographer of the last several decades. It set the standard. I don't know if it has or will ever be matched.

I have been waiting to read this book for a very long time, and the wait was well worth it. Mr. Caro presents a massive, well-researched piece on one of New York's most influential (and controversial) public officials. I am a sucker for great detail, and so I enjoyed Caro's painstakingly detailed portrait of how a young, idealistic reformer evolved into the ruler of a huge bureaucratic empire. What Caro makes very clear is how Robert Moses became so corrupted by power (and self-importance) that he failed to grasp how his projects were not always in the public interest. Moreover, Caro paints a vivid picture of Moses' cynicism and shrewdness, and how he parlayed those into greater and greater power. For instance, Moses realized that most state legislators were political hacks who never bothered to read the fine print of the laws that they passed. He played on this to insert such fine print into legislation which made him virtual Tsar of development in both New York State and New York City. In addition, Moses was able to convince most New York politicians that he was indispensable to them, and so had them virtually eating out of his hand (i.e., his tactic of threatening to resign, unless he got 100% of what he wanted). At once fascinating and frightening as to how one man could harness such a degree of power!

While Robert Moses' achievements are the main focus of this book, Mr. Caro also devotes a great deal of attention to the political situation that existed in New York during the era of Moses. In doing this, he gives readers a fine education on how New York and its municipalities were governed at that time (and in many ways, are still governed), along with an in-depth look at other contemporary political figures (i.e., Al Smith and Fiorello LaGuardia). I would equate reading this book with taking a college-level course, as you learn and think so much while reading it.

On a critical note, not all of Mr. Caro's conclusions about Robert Moses are universally accepted. For instance, Mr. Caro accuses Moses of single-handedly wrecking the Bronx with the Cross Bronx Expressway. However, many people have argued that this was only one of many factors that destroyed the Bronx, and not all of these things were brought by Moses. Perhaps Mr. Caro should have given space to opposing viewpoints regarding the Moses legacy. Overall, though, I think that it is a great book: required reading for anyone interested in the development of New York during the 20th century.

Robert Caro's biography reads like an extraordinary work of investigative journalism - damning, erudite and compelling - that surely would have been appreciated by Robert Moses had he not been the subject.

It is a fascinating study of the evolution of government in New York City and Robert Moses' ability to shape laws as the "best bill drafter in Albany" and to seize upon prevailing trends and work the levers of the City, State and Federal governments to his advantage. It is during the Great Depression when Moses is able to mobilize maximum resources, largely from the Federal government, for some of his most ambitious projects.

While at most times a scathing indictment of Moses and his methods, Caro does credit Moses - New York City's first Parks Commissioner - for his contributions to green spaces in the city and his creation of a premier state park system.

Caro insists that judgment about Moses' legacy is premature and that one can only say New York would be a very different place without Moses. New York was indeed a very different place at the time of publication of the Power Broker; Caro has recently commented that some of Moses projects, such as the Triborough Bridge, have been a boon for city residents. Although he never cared for mass transit, it's a shame Moses couldn't come back to start work on the stalled new Penn Station.

84 Charing Cross Road is a great read! The premis simple, but the characters are full and rich. Worth reading again, even if you have seen the movie.

Given the amazing reputation this book has had for over thirty years I wanted to like it so much more than I did. Helene Hanff, a television screenwriter living in Manhattan after World War II, collected a series of letters she wrote to the workers at Marks & Co., a bookstore along London's famous Charing Cross Road, over the course of two decades, from her initial requests for certain books she had trouble acquiring in the United States through her later lasting friendship with the Marks & Co. staff. The book has often been advertised as being all about a common love of books, yet that's really not what comes through in the letters: the bond Hanff forged with the booksellers had much more to do with her over-the-top personality, which fortunately they found quite charming. While their letters to her are very restrained and respectful, hers are pretty zany, filled with all kinds of strange punctuations and with forceful declarations: of enthusiasm when her book orders live up to her expectations, and of mock outrage when they are not. As the letters make clear, she is also extraordinarily generous to the booksellers especially during the lean years in Britain between the War and the Coronation, and sends them all kinds of commodities and foodstuffs which were very hard to acquire during that time (like eggs, bacon, and nylons).

If this were an epistolary novel it might be a bit hard to take the incredible zestiness of Hanff's wild enthusiasms, and even the poignancy added by knowing it is all true only curbs your exhaustion a bit at her gigantic personality. (You even wonder at times whether the Marks & Co. are as delighted by her so much as they're just cowed by her.) It's a sweet little book, but you do feel as if Hanff were trying to clobber you -- and the booksellers -- over the head with her forceful charm.

After seeing the wonderful film starring Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins, I was anxious to read the book. It did not disappoint. I enjoyed the book even more than the film. It was so nice to peek into
the friendship that developed between Helene and Frank through their
letters. I would highly recommend this book to anyone.

If you are a lover or collector of books, or a reader of good literature, this one is for you. An epistolary novel, it consists of letters mainly between Helene Hanff, a none-too-successful writer in Manhattan, and Frank Doel, a clerk in a bookstore at 84 Charing Cross Road in London. It has been a successful stage play and movie. The English were still suffering from the hardships of WWII and rationing was still going on when the letters commenced in 1949. Hanff sends her book requests for out-of-print books, and she gets them at amazingly reasonable prices.
A close friendship develops between the two, and she sends rationed items including eggs to the store staff and Doel's family. The book ends in 1969. Through this twenty-year correspondence the reader gets to know a great deal about the two letter writers as well as other people who are workers in the store, neighbors or friends. Hanff's love of books is the thread that keeps the story together. She grows more relaxed and outspoken as the book progresses.
Hanff becomes a TV writer, but she never hits it big. Throughout she wants to go to England to meet Frank, his family, and the store staff. Something always seems to interfere. She comes across as the consummate Manhattanite, and he is the somewhat reserved Brit. Her outspokenness, slangy humor, and generosity emerge in the epistles. Hanff playfully needles Frank about the slowness with which he delivers some of her book requests.
A novel told in letters can have severe limitations, but this one manages to present characters who grow and evolve, a sense of two cities, and a plot that can draw you into the narrative.
It's a gentle book, a soft, fluffy pillow of a book that doesn't have great pretensions. It's a little story that meanders along giving quiet, unassuming pleasure. First published in 1970 it seems old-fashioned and quaint, yet it is fun to read. Hanff's requests are mostly for non-fiction until she decides to acquire Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice." She becomes a Janite, the perfect author for someone with her sensibilities.
The recent best seller "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society" is also an epistolary novel, but it's a richer, more complex, and varied book than this one. But in its 97 pages this book will grab and hold you.
Nine Lives Too Many
The Daemon in Our Dreams
The Rice Queen Spy
Clawed Back from the Dead

This book is a charming little story post WWII consisting of letters between an American novelist and a London bookshop employee. Later, other staff members of the bookstore begin writing letters to the novelist as well, revealing little parts of their lives. All letters written wth humor and charm. This book reveals how the written word can serve to forge friendships more lasting than the many casual face-to-face contacts we now routinely substitute for true friendship and create a deeper understanding among people in very different life situations.

I nearly fell asleep while reading this book. It only gets more than 1 star from me because of the somewhat predictable plot twist at the end.

This book is the first chapter book to interest my six year old. The characters, five sisters, each have their own personalities which are drawn in detail and carried through all of their adventures. The stories are sweet, focusing on everyday life in a poor jewish family at the turn of the century in New York (on the lower east side). The traditions will be familiar to an educated jewish reader but the setting just diferent enough to make it interesting. My daughter demands it every night and now cant sleep without her nightly dose of "naughty Henny and her sisters."

This book is just as entertaining as it was when I read it as a child! The book arrived quickly, in fantastic condition. Thanks!

Sydney Taylor's classic book for middle readers is set in the Lower East Side of New York City and depicts the life of a traditional Jewish family in the early 20th century. All-of-A-Kind Family is the first in a series of novels about the lively family and is a sweet, charming read. The story takes the reader through most of year and involves not just the family but their friends and acquaintances, too. The book opens with a chapter about going to the library, and the children's librarian (or "library lady," as the girls like to call her) is a gentle, recurring presence. The children's adventures include a trip to the market, scarlet fever and an outing to Coney Island, where one of the girls gets temporarily, and happily, lost. Meanwhile the story meanders through a year of Jewish holidays and teaches the reader a little about each one. I particularly enjoyed the chapter on Shabbat and how Taylor contrasts the hubbub of shopping and preparations with the simple serenity of the day itself. The family relationships struck me as very true and believable- for example, Papa's ambivalence regarding the present the girls get for his birthday and his quick turnaround struck me as realistic and human. I can imagine any parent reacting the way he did initially and then rallying in the end. I appreciate Taylor's honesty about her characters throughout the book, too. It's a great book for anyone and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series and sharing in the further adventures of this fun, busy family.

All-of-a-Kind Family was a turning point in the history of Judaic children's literature - the first mainstream book with Jewish characters! In memory of author Sydney Taylor, the Association of Jewish Libraries gives out the Sydney Taylor Book Award each year to the best in Judaic children's literature. See lists of winners at www.sydneytaylorbookaward.org.

Also, you can hear an interview with Jo Taylor Marshall, the daughter of Sydney Taylor, on The Book of Life podcast's October 2007 episode "Catch Me a Classic!" Jo shares memories of the real people who became the characters in the series. Tune in at www.bookoflifepodcast.com!

The definition of the word `requiem' is a musical service or hymn in honor of the dead. How fittingly that word rests with the subject matter of this novel. `Requiem for a Dream' is just that, a musical hymn in honor of those crushed and shattered dreams. When reading Selby's phenomenal (and I mean that in the most extreme sense of the word) novel about abolished hope and sheer desperation the reader is forced to face the ugly truth about our horrific society.

You ever read that novel or watch that film that just eats away at the pit of your stomach and pains you to your very core? You ever struggle to turn the page or fight to watch the screen because the onslaught of negativity is picking away at your spirit and bringing you to a dark and lonely place you never wished to visit? That is the feeling experienced when reading (or subsequently watching the Aronofsky film adaptation) this novel.

The novel opens by introducing us to four people. We have Sara, an older Jewish woman who lives for television. The opening scene depicts her son Harry, strung out as usual, stealing her television to pawn it for money in order to get his next hit. Harry also has a girlfriend Marion as well as a best friend Tyrone C. Love. The three of them enjoy a nice taste of heroin every now and again and will do just about anything to get it. Sara dreams of one day being on television, and when she gets to opportunity she grabs it by the horns. She is convinced to lose enough weight to fit into her favorite red dress, the one she wore to Harry's bar mitzvah. This leads her to diet pills which she quickly and dangerously forms an addiction to. Harry and Marion on the other hand begin to develop a plan to buy and sell heroin for a profit, that way they can one day by that little coffee shop and make a life for themselves. This little plan involves Tyrone as well, and as the dope starts pouring in, their idea of a small taste begins to grow until they can't stomach the thought of selling any of it but feel compelled to keep all of it for themselves.

The novel brilliantly portrays the mind of an addict; the `I'll never get that bad, I can stop whenever I want to' mentality that cripples the mind and fortifies the very essence of the domination of the soul. All four of these individuals are taken over and beaten down by the disease that is addiction. There is a scene where Tyrone is arrested and spends some time in the jail cell with an elderly addict, a man who is so far gone Tyrone is disgusted by him. Tyrone is determined never to be that man, never to become that dependant on the taste, but the first thing Tyrone does when he gets out is cop him that taste. He doesn't realize that he is already there.

The novel, like I mentioned, is horribly depressing and utterly frustrating, especially as the novel comes to a close and everything begins to spiral into oblivion. As we watch Sara, Harry, Marion and Tyrone's lives completely fall apart in a gradual yet perpetual tumble towards rock bottom we are left with the bitter taste of pain and misery in the back of our throats. Experiencing Sara's mental deterioration at the hands of the pill; watching Marion degrade herself to escape the sick feeling of withdrawals; seeing Harry cast aside his own well being in order to keep that high; watching Tyrone come to realize he is no better than the men he despises; all of this eats at our very being and transports us to a place unlike any we've ever been.

Like the movie, the novel excels when focusing on the female characters. Sara and Marion are by far the most sympathetic and interesting characters in the novel; with that said they are also the most depressing and utterly devastating to read about. Their final outcome is far from pretty and makes the reader feel helpless and alone; much like these characters.

`Requiem for a Dream' is far from pretty. It is dirty, gritty and at times unbearable; but there is no denying that it is a masterpiece; literature at its finest. Hubert Selby Jr. is a deeply controlled and phenomenally capable writer who understands the appropriate darkness of his subject; an author who takes something so terrible, so bleak and painful and makes it quite frankly one of the most important novels ever penned. In my humble opinion this is the type of novel that should be mandatory reading at any substance abuse rehabilitation center. After reading this grisly novel (and of course watching the equally grisly film) I could never even stomach the idea of drug use. In a world that glamorizes any and everything harmful to the soul, `Requiem for a Dream' stands apart as a very real depiction of all you stand to lose.

If you've seen the film, better fasten your seatbelts. Aronofsky went easy on you. I can't adequately describe what Selby achieved in this novel, or in "Last Exit to Brooklyn". He is capable of describing the most brutal things with apparent (but ONLY apparent) objectivity, but at other times he writes with astonishing delicacy. I can't even think of another writer who can do that half as well as Selby.

If you found the last 20 minutes of the film as horrifying as I did, Selby's account of the fates of Harry, Sara, Marion, and Tyrone will make you want to cry for all of them.

This is not going to be an easy read for a lot of people, but it's a masterwork.

It's just that good.

If you've read "Last Exit to Brooklyn," you'll be familiar with Selby's habit of not using quotation marks when he writes dialogue. But even if this is your first exposure to Selby, you'll figure out who's saying what pretty quickly.

And don't skip Selby's prologue.

As an aside: ELLEN BURSTYN WAS ROBBED! (As Sara in Requiem for a Dream, she really should have gotten an Oscar. I'm just saying.)

Hubert Selby Jr writes with in a way that is astounding. Bringing a story like this so heavily to life, to a point where it completely envelopes and engrossing you, all the while disgusting you is a great fete. I saw the movie, which is great in its own right, but not near comparison to the language of the book. Definitely recommended!

Selby's ability to capture inner monologue is incredible. You not only empathize, but you believe with each one of the characters. You hold on to the dream and it crushes you. Should be read in highschools everywhere.

You need to be ready before you read this book. Upon finishing this little dandy I was physically shaking. I can't think of any other book that has made of shake. The manic style and never ending punch in the face flow of this Hubert Selby Jr. masterpiece will stay with you for the rest of your life. If you saw the movie and so decided to not read the book, you are making a mistake. The book is a totally different experience then the movie. Each is a masterpiece in a completely unique way. It's amazing how real this book is. You will feel insane compassion for the lowest of individuals. You will want to reach out to these amazing characters. I don't know how Hubert Selby Jr. does it. His mind must have been a dark but beautiful and loving realm. If you want to be a book this one will make you its own. Read it.