The New York Trilogy: City of Glass; Ghosts; The Locked Room (Contemporary American Fiction Series)

Book Description

Paul Auster's signature work, The New York Trilogy, consists of three interlocking novels: City of Glass, Ghosts, and The Locked Room—haunting and mysterious tales that move at the breathless pace of a thriller.

Customer Reviews:

"The question is the story itself, and whether or not it means something is not for the story to tell." .......2007-06-13

"He had always imagined that the key to good detective work was a close observation of details. The more accurate the scrutiny, the more successful the results. The implication was that human behavior could be understood, that beneath the infinite façade of gestures, tics, and silences, there was finally a coherence, an order, a source of motivation."

Paul Auster's "New York Trilogy," consisting of the novellas "City of Glass," "Ghosts," and "The Locked Room," is an intriguing blend of post-modern fiction, metaphysical philosophy, and detective novels. Through his reliance on the themes and structure of pulp/noir mysteries, Auster delves deeply into questions regarding identity, purpose, obsession, what is real, and examines the often tenuous grip that most people have on their sanity. His exploration is quite compelling and makes for a fascinating read, but it is unfortunate that the quality of the novellas is slightly uneven. The first, "City of Glass," is far too impenetrable and abstruse to be much more than frustrating. While it is clear that its protagonist, Quinn, is desperate to shed his identity in order to escape from the painful loss that has left him paralyzed, it is unclear why he becomes so obsessed with the case that he takes on after doing so. "Ghosts" is a marked improvement, but it is only in the final novella, "The Locked Room," that this trilogy really comes to life. "The Locked Room" is eloquent where its predecessors are vague, pointed when the others are intentionally blurry, and poignant rather than murky. Auster is certainly a great writer, and I will be interested to read more of his works, but "The New York Trilogy" requires a willingness to stick with it in order to get to its heart. But I recommend hanging in there, because that final novella is a true gem, and makes the ride worth your while.

Here's the grade breakdown: "City of Glass": C+, "Ghosts": B, "The Locked Room": A
Average grade: B

Was not impressed.......2007-05-20

I read this book because I loved Paul Aster's Brooklyn Follies. This compilation of 3 short stories may have well been written by a completely different author. They are short detective stories that are slightly intertwined. I did not enjoy this book and do not recommend it.

Two extraordinary short novels and an exercise by a supreme storyteller .......2007-02-08

I do not see this work the way Auster constructed it. To me it is not a 'trilogy' even though there are overlapping themes, and incidents. I see it as a collection of separate pieces. The first and the third are first-rate works of fiction . They are novels which are searches for self. They are -Multiple- identity -mysteries which illustrate Auster's way of seeing life and the world, as unending chance and surprise.
Perhaps the best summary of the Auster credo comes somewhere in the middle of 'The Locked Room' The narrator- best friend of Fanshawe meditates as follows.
" We all want to be told stories and we listen to them in the same way we did when we were young. We imagine the real story inside the words, and to do this we substitute ourselves for the person in the story, pretending that we can understand him because we understand ourselves. This is a deception.We exist for ourselves, perhaps, and at times we even have a glimmer of who we are, but in the end we can never be sure, and as our lives go on, we become more and more opaque to ourselves, more and more aware of our own incoherence. No one can cross the boundary into another-for the simple reason that no one can gain access to himself."
Auster is a supreme storyteller. In these works there are stories within stories of incredible power and beauty. In the first book there is a small story of a mother in the Shoah carrying a baby for whom she at last has the satisfaction of attaining and giving milk. The baby has been dead for days. In the concluding work of the Trilogy Auster tells the story of Lorenzo da Ponte whose life he describes as five or six distinct lives, illustrating a principle of Auster's fiction i.e. we can never know for certain where the story of the life is going to next.
I may not agree with Auster's philosophy of life but find him one of the supreme storytellers writing today . I pick up his work and I want to read and read and read.

exceptional.......2006-11-02

"The New York Trilogy", a volume containing three separate novellas: "The City of Glass", "Ghosts" and " The Locked Room", is an intriguing example of the author's game with the readers and, perhaps, with himself. The motif common for all three stories in the mystery, the solution of which is pursued by the main character, and the place of action, New York City (I do not agree with one of the reviewers who said New York could be here any other urban environment as well; certainly it could not be any European city, NYC gives these stories the distinct character and for anyone who has walked the streets through which the characters wander, it is a setting unmistakable for any other; The City's atmosphere hangs over the characters like a cloud).

"The City of Glass" features Quinn, a solitary man, living quietly after the death of his wife and son, and writing detective stories under a pseudonym. One night, Quinn receives a mysterious phone call from a man demanding the services of a private detective, Paul Auster... Although it is clearly a wrong number, Quinn decides to pretend to be Auster and take the challenge, changing his life forever.

A complete change of life circumstances is also a fate of the protagonist of a second (and the shortest) novella "Ghosts". Blue, who is a professional private detective, receives a task from the disguised client, White, to watch Black. The trouble is, Black never does anything interesting except reading or writing, and bored Blue tries to find out, where the real secret of this investigation lies.

In the last novella "The Locked Room", the main character is involved in the publication of the works of his missing childhood friend, Fanshawe. The books are a great success, he marries Fanshawe's wife and he assumes Fanshawe's identity, happily at the beginning...

These novellas are not, as has been pointed out by many reviewers before me, typical mysteries, where clues lead to conclusions and the reader may amuse himself with finding a correct answer. They are, on one hand, explorations of the soul, of the unknown in us, and, on the other hand, and taken together, a postmodern riddle, with literary jokes, cultural clues. They can be read on various levels, which is what really makes them interesting. For somebody, who expects a mystery story from the beginning to the end this book would be a disappointment, However, it is rewarding for the reader interested in reading itself (sounds absurd, I know, but this may be the truth - books play an enormous role in all the novellas). The introduction of Auster, as a detective, but really a writer in the first story, as opposed to Quinn, the writer, who has to become the detective, is only one of the twists here. The exercise with giving the characters the name of the colors (after all, what, if not "real" names make the reader think of the book characters as real? And are the color names unreal? Such names are common enough...) - is another.

By the way, has anyone been lured into drawing Quinn's walk on the street grid of Manhattan?

Good? Yes. Engaging? that's a different question..........2006-08-19

"The New York Trilogy", by celebrated author Paul Auster, is made up of 3, somewhat interlinked, long stories which were originately published separately at various times around 1985-86.
There is no doubt that Paul Auster is a terrific writer so I won't even get into that aspect of the book.
Let's get down to what's really important by trying to pinpoint the subject matter, i.e., what "the new york trilogy" is really about: in a sense, it's a mystery, in the true sense of the word, because even in the end many questions (most, I dare say) are left unanswered, many stones unturned and many cues are simply left hanging in the air.
The NYT has been described as metaphysical detective fiction and the description might in fact prove apt: each of the 3 stories follows the investigations of one man which always turn into an obsession, making the man completely lose touch with the reality. The NYT is thus much about mental processes, we see each of the 3 main chracters gradually become so absorbed by their quest that they lose all sense of proportion and stop thinking like the rest of us.
It's also a novel about writing because writing, depicted as the greatest obsession of all, always plays a role in the stories.
There is also a definite surreal element in most stories and, quite often, they reminded me of Dino Buzzati's short stories.
The author is obviously very pleased with himself, playing with his own name (much like B.E. Ellis does in his recent "Lunar Park") and toying with the other character's names (which pop up in different stories, alluding to the possibility of a strong link between them all).
Did I like the book? As much as it's clever and well-written, it leaves you with a sense of un-completeness, too much stuff remains only vaguely hinted at (I was never one to fall for open-endings. Plus, everything is open here, much more than necessary) and in the ends, the whole thing sound more like an elaborate intellectual game that engaging fiction. Thus, I give the novel 3 stars although this is in no way diminishes my appreciation of the author's talent.

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Room One: A Mystery or Two
An interesting mystery in a small town
Another Great one from Andrew Clements
Katie's Review
Satisfying mystery

Room One: A Mystery or Two
Andrew Clements
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0689866860

Book Description

Ted Hammond loves a good mystery, and in the spring of his fifth-grade year, he's working on a big one. How can his school in the little town of Plattsford stay open next year if there are going to be only five students? Out here on the Great Plains in western Nebraska, everyone understands that if you lose the school, you lose the town.

But the mystery that has Ted's full attention at the moment is about that face, the face he sees in the upper window of the Andersons' house as he rides past on his paper route. The Andersons moved away two years ago, and their old farmhouse is empty, boarded up tight. At least it's supposed to be.

A shrinking school in a dying town. A face in the window of an empty house. At first these facts don't seem to be related. But Ted Hammond learns that in a very small town, there's no such thing as an isolated event. And the solution of one mystery is often the beginning of another.

Customer Reviews:

Room One: A Mystery or Two.......2007-09-12

So it's time for silent reading in my fifth grade class and my students LOVE silent reading time. Most of them can't get enough of the books they're reading and can't wait to talk about them. But there's always the few who spend the entire silent reading time in the school library or at my personal library or trying to sneak away to the bathroom. They spend more time fidgeting than they do reading. How do you get those children to read? Well, one thing I have found that works is to put an Andrew Clements book in their hands.

Clements' books are simple and readable and according to most of my fifth graders, cool. Frindle, The Landry News, and Lunch Money are not filled with elementary student clichés. The characters aren't cheesy and my students don't find themselves saying "Come on, we're not like that" as is the case with many other books written for them. Clements' characters act and talk like real elementary students and are usually faced with real problems and this is an important part of his appeal. Room One is no exception.

One day while sixth grader Ted Hammond is delivering papers, he notices a mysterious face in an upstairs window of an old home, the Anderson's home. What spikes Ted's curiosity is that no one has lived in the Anderson house for two years. The house has sat empty and the windows have been boarded up. With nothing else going on in his small rural Nebraska town of Plattsford, Ted sets out to investigate.

I liked this book. I really did. It doesn't matter that I picked it up half-wanting, half-expecting a good mystery and didn't get one. Clements made me care about Ted, and April, and her family, and Mrs. Mitchell to the point where it didn't matter if the "mystery" to this story was solved for the reader less than halfway through the book. It's still a good story, and in the end, that's what children really want to read.

A few things I thoroughly enjoyed about the book . . . The Red Prairie Learning Center was fascinating to read about. The idea of a town, so against consolidating with surrounding communities that they've forced themselves to become what they have (a one room school with four 4th graders, one 6th grader, and four 8th graders) was an extremely interesting setting. I loved Mrs. Mitchell's character. She has many wonderful traits that only a teacher would be able to recognize. It didn't surprise me one bit to discover that Clements himself was a teacher at one point in time. No stereotypes here.

As long as you don't set your expectations too high, you'll find Room One a quick, easy, and entertaining read. The epilogue fills in the rest of the story nicely and provides adequate closure to the story surrounding April and her family. Having read most of Clements' other stories, seeing "A Mystery or Two" across this cover excited me some at the thought of a departure from his normal work, but please don't make the same mistake. This isn't so much a mystery as it is another fun (but somewhat serious), school story from Andrew Clements. And that's just fine by me.

An interesting mystery in a small town.......2007-07-22

Room One proved to me that I should never underestimate the power of Andrew Clements' writing. When I found out that this was a mystery in a small town and not a story set in a school, I thought that I might not enjoy it as much as Frindle or School Story before it. But I was wrong.

Room One is a wonderfully written, quasi-mystery. The main character is Ted Hammond. Ted is a likable, bright kid in an interesting small town in Nebraska. Ted is a Boy Scout, the town paper boy and a mystery lover to boot. When he sees a face in the window of the old Anderson house, he gets wrapped up in a real-life mystery of his own.

Clements' economy of words and clarity of description serve to keep this story suspenseful, believable and enjoyable all at the same time. I couldn't put the book down and was pleasingly satisfied with the outcome. The epilogue was also perfectly suited to the book.

I recommend this book to Clements fans and mystery fans alike. While not a skull and crossbones mystery, it is an interesting story about an average Joe taking on some detective work. If you are looking for a Nancy Drew, here-are-the-clues, figure-it-out type mystery then this book is not for you.

Another Great one from Andrew Clements.......2007-05-30

This is a great book for kids of all ages. From it's hooking beginning to the very end, this is a great book through and through. I certainly don't want to give the ending away or any of the other great parts to it, but I do want to say that it is very well-written and enjoyable book!

Katie's Review.......2007-05-22

I liked this book because it was a mystery and mysteries are my favorite books to read. I also liked it because it is by my favorite author, Andrew Clements. I think this book was one of his best because the boy tries to help people.

There's a boy named Ted and he delivers the newspaper to people. While he was delivering the papers he sees this girl in a window in a house that's been abandoned for about two years. So he goes to investigate the next day and he doesn't see any movement until he gets outside where the girl is waiting for him. What happens next? Read the book to find out.

I recommend this book to anyone because it's an outstanding book. I think anyone who likes Andrew Clements should read this book at least once.

Satisfying mystery.......2007-02-23

Ted Hammond is one of only nine students in his one room school and the only 6th grader in Plattsford, Nebraska. The farming community is shrinking and the school is going to close because of the small enrollment. The loss of the school will be the final blow to the town.

Ted loves to read mysteries and the town librarian Mrs. Coughlin has introduced him to interlibrary loan. He reads 2-3 mysteries a week and excels at solving them before the last chapter.

One morning while delivering newspapers he think he sees a face in the window of an abandoned farmhouse on his route. Using the detective skills he has learned, Ted sets out to solve the mystery. While assembling clues, he discovers a family camping in the old house. Alexa a girl about his age asks him to keep her family's presence in the house a secret. He reluctantly agrees then devotes himself to their welfare by bringing them food.

Clements always writes with amazing candor and feeling about the adults in children's lives. He is clear eyed about the sometimes edgy relationship between teachers and their students. Ted confides in his teacher, Mrs. Mitchell about the family which puts her into an ethical dilemma. She does not want to break a promise to a student but she knows she must report the family.

This low key 162 page story is rounded out by an epilogue that tells "the rest of the story" in a conclusion that is very satisfying for the family and Ted's town.

There is much about Andrew Clements that impresses me. His website quotes him, "It is a privilege to write for children."

Average customer rating:

A great book in a great trilogy
So thrilling!
Best Book Since Sliced Bread
Geart Book
The party room.

Get It Started (The Party Room)
Morgan Burke
Manufacturer: Simon Pulse
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0689872259

Book Description

The party room.

On Manhattan's Upper East Side. Everybody's fabulous. No one gets carded. Then someone dies.

The Party Room is where the prep school crowd goes to drink up and hook up. The cocktails are chill and the bartender's hot. Everyone knows everyone -- except the guy that Samantha Byrne leaves with one night.

The next day Sam's missing. Then she's found dead in Central Park, murdered brutally. It looks like a copycat killing of another girl who was murdered years earlier. By someone from Talcott Prep.

The killer is one of them. He knows where they live. And where they play....

Customer Reviews:

A great book in a great trilogy.......2007-07-06

I found all of the books in this series to be enjoyable, suspenseful, and wonderfully written. They keep you interested the whole way through.

So thrilling!.......2007-02-15

I just finished reading this book and it was so amazing! From the very beginning I was hooked. I dont think i had ever read a such a suspensful book. Once I started there was no stopping.

Just an ordinary night out at their favorite club turns out to be the worst night of their life for a group of friends. When one of their group, Sam, goes missing it takes a toll on everyone. Her best friend, Kristin, blames herself and soon finds herself questioning those around her for Sam's disappearance. Just when she thinks its all over she finds out that its only the beginning.

I cant wait to dive into the second part of this trilogy. I am sure Morgan Burke will deliever another thrill ride.

Best Book Since Sliced Bread.......2005-12-17

The Party Room is where underage kids go to have fun, get drunk, and hook up with guys until one night when Kirsten and her friend Samantha do the usual until its too late when Samantha leaves with a guy that no one knows. But when she's found dead in the park Kirsten knows she needs to find the killer of her best friend. Kirsten feels that the killer is one of them because they know where they live and hang out. So Kirsten knows she will find him sooner or later so she takes it day by day.
This book will keep you awake and won't let you put the book down. It is very intense all the way through the book and gives you a whole new look on your own life. This is one of the best books I've read in a long time. The way the author puts the whole book together makes you feel like you are right there with Kirsten trying to find Sam with her.

Geart Book.......2005-11-11

The party room is the best book I ever read. Once I started I couldn't put it down. You don't when somethings going to happen. Its so good. I love this book

The party room. .......2005-06-14

This was a good book. When I was reading it I could not put it down. I spent the whole time trying to figure out who killed sam. It was not slow moving at all. If given the chance I would read this book.

Eloise and the Very Secret Room (Ready-to-Read. Level 1)

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Eloise and the Very Secret Room (Ready-to-Read. Level 1)
Kay Thompson , Hilary Knight , and Ellen Weiss
Manufacturer: Aladdin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0689874502

Book Description

Eloise can go wherever she wants in The Plaza Hotel, but her favorite place is a secret room. Here she can do whatever she wants!

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The New York Trilogy: City of Glass/ Ghosts/ the Locked Room
Paul Auster
Manufacturer: Penguin USA (P)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Auster, Paul | ( A ) | Authors, A-Z | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0140169636

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Fascinating Memoir

The Inside scoop

Essential reading for New York Times Junkies

Gossipy Details

Why we are where we are today

City Room
Arthur Gelb
Manufacturer: Berkley Trade
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Kingdom and the Power: Behind the Scenes at The New York Times: The Institution That Influences the World

The Trust: The Private and Powerful Family Behind The New York Times.

Hard News: Twenty-one Brutal Months at The New York Times and How They Changed the American Media

Times of My Life and My Life with the Times

Behind the Times: Inside the New New York Times

ASIN: 0425198316
Release Date: 2004-11-02

Amazon.com

Arthur Gelb knows the newspaper business. He began working at The New York Times in 1944 as a night copyboy; he retired 45 years later as the managing editor. In this absorbing memoir, he writes lovingly of the days when the sound of manual typewriters filled the air, spittoons were standard furniture, and two bookies worked the city room. Though much has changed, core elements of the paper's culture remain, particularly the intense competition which initially fueled his own curiosity and ambition. For instance, after being on the job for just a month, Gelb and two other copyboys started an in-house newsmagazine that allowed them to learn about the business and to interview everyone at the paper, from the publisher on down. He even used it to publicly request a promotion for himself. (It worked.) Gelb obviously loved working at the paper and his enthusiasm is apparent throughout, whether recalling the thrill of his first byline, describing how significant stories were covered, or discussing how they dealt with mistakes and errors in judgement. Loaded with anecdotes and fascinating gossip, his book is as much a history of second half of the twentieth century as it is a history of the Times. He writes about the colorful characters on the staff, of the many editorial battles, and of the significant cultural changes that took place at the paper as well as the in the country. "Can you imagine what it was like for an editor to arrive at work each morning, to look up from his desk at a sea of the most talented reporters in the newspaper world?" he writes. After reading this book, you can. --Shawn Carkonen

Book Description

Arthur Gelb was hired by the New York Times in 1944 as a night copyboy-the paper's lowliest position. 45 years later, he retired as its managing editor. Along the way, he exposed crooked cops and politicians, mentored a generation of talented journalists, was the first to praise the as-yet-undiscovered Woody Allen and Barbara Streisand, and brought Joe Papp instant recognition. From D-Day to the liberation of the concentration camps, from the agony of Vietnam to the resignation of a President, from the fall of Joe McCarthy to the rise of the Woodstock Nation, Gelb gives an insider's take on the great events of the past fifty years-what he calls "the happiest days of my life."

Customer Reviews:

Fascinating Memoir.......2007-05-13

A fascinating memoir, history of the second half of the 20th century and history of the New York Times, the premier paper of the country. After a brief introduction of his early years as a child and teenager in NYC, Gelb takes his reader into the city room of the Times. Gelb truly makes one feel as if you are a part of the smoky, beer drinking group of reporters who populated the Times in 1944. From there he gives you a incredible memoir of 45 years (plus a few) in which the Times touched on virtually every aspect of the second half of the 20th century. He either personally knew, wrote about or edited stories of every major event of the last 50 years. From the end of WWII (imagine the mayor of NYC excoriating the citizens for abandoning their jobs to celebrate VE day), to the executions of the Rosenbergs, to the Red baiting of the early 50's. In the 60's he reviews in detail the explosion of the counter culture. In 1970 he details the Times primary role in exposing the corruption in the NYC police department (Serpico). Throughout he details lovingly his personal interactions with the entertainers who participated into the culture of NYC (including a brief, touching encounter with Marily Monroe). Gelb's story includes details of how and why the New York Times is the most important paper in America, how and why it manages to maintain that status. There is also a fascinating account of period in which the Times almost went bankrupt, and his important role in helping to rescue the paper. As a long time reader of biographies and autobiographies, Gelb's City Room is at the top of my recommended list.

The Inside scoop.......2006-05-01

Arthur Gelb, writes an intimate precise account of his long tenures with the NY Times. He started from the very bottom and worked his way to the very top. At times, some of the style of writing comes off a little corny and i felt that the author was either afraid to write more critically or he was simply just accustomed to stating the facts as he did with the paper. I would have given this book a 5 star, if not for that reason and possibly that this book could have benefitted from an archive of photos showing the transition of a city paper desk from the 40's to the current state today.

Essential reading for New York Times Junkies.......2004-12-04

Full disclosure: I am one of that nationwide brotherhood of folks who cannot get along without the New York Times. Though 450 miles and two states removed from New York City, I still devour the Times as a starving man would devour a hearty meal.

It is good news for us Times junkies that Arthur Gelb's recounting of his career at the paper, published to considerable acclaim last year, is now out in a paperback reprint. The book is not without flaws, but Gelb tells his personal story with gusto and weaves it deftly into the lore, traditions, triumphs and crises of the paper itself.

Gelb joined the paper at age 20 in 1944 as a copyboy. He worked his way up through the reporting ranks, covering police, hospitals and various other beats, then spending many years in the cultural department, dealing with the paper's critics of art, theater, architecture and music and covering the nightclub scene himself. Then they made him metropolitan editor (Times-speak for city editor) and by the time he retired in 1989 he was managing editor. He leaves the impression that life in the rarefied air of the paper's higher echelons was not to his taste --- he longed to be back in the city room, covering news and writing about it on a daily basis.

Gelb's book is discursive and anecdotal. He goes into too much detail about many things and has a tendency to get sidetracked from the main thrust of whatever crisis he helped to report or cover by some alluring but peripheral topic that pops up out of nowhere. He has a hundred stories to tell, and he tells them all, come hell or high water.

His rise through the paper's ranks was propelled by his own obvious talent, plus a flair for self-promotion, a take-charge attitude under stress that fit the needs of a major newspaper, and a shrewd ability to ingratiate himself with people who could do his career good. The pattern was set at the very start, when Gelb was looking for a way to set himself apart from the other copyboys who shared his desire to become a reporter. A sympathetic older staffer suggested he start an internal staff newsletter. He got right on the case and did the job well enough to eventually earn promotion to the reporting staff. In the process he even met his future wife. Not a bad parlay!

One point that Gelb emphasizes will surely seem odd to present-day journalists on other newspapers: He constantly emphasizes how, in his reporting days, police, press agents and government officials seemed actually eager to give the Times inside information and helpful spoonfuls of hot news. How times have changed! Today these functionaries generally work hard to make a reporter's job more difficult, or to feed him only self-serving puffery. Perhaps the solution to this mystery lies in the fact that the New York Times, is, after all, The New York Times. Those who work for lesser papers are treated accordingly (I speak from experience).

A great virtue of Gelb's book is his humanizing of his fellow reporters, critics and editors. Bylines that we have read for years suddenly become well-rounded people with interesting histories and weird habits. And Gelb is not shy about venting his disapproval of some very big names who he feels made his life more difficult than it needed to be (Lester Markel and James Reston, to name just two). He is generous in his praise of others, notably his longtime friend A. H. Rosenthal and publisher Arthur Ochs ("Punch") Sulzberger.

There are some fascinating vignettes along the way. Do you know, for instance, that the Times briefly but seriously considered publishing an afternoon paper as a kind of counterweight to its lordly morning self? And the spectacle of seven high-ranking Times editors trooping down to a porno theater to personally inspect the notorious sex film Deep Throat makes for truly diverting reading.

Gelb was unhappy at the Times' slowness to report on Nazi atrocities during World War II, and he was highly critical about the paper's lackluster performance during the Watergate scandal. Tension between the New York office and the Washington bureau is a recurring theme, with much of the blame being laid upon Reston.

The book ends on a note of regret and nostalgia, the standard lament of the old hand who feels put out to pasture, that things are not what they were in "the good old days."

Gelb is a good storyteller, though like many storytellers he tends to go into too much detail and ramble (I lost count of how many times he and his associates had lunch at Sardi's). There is also a large dose of standard "How We Got The Big Story" reminiscing, but in all honesty, much of it is darned interesting.

CITY ROOM is essential reading for us Times junkies, and for anyone else who thinks newspapers are still at the top of the media profession despite the rise of television. One cannot imagine a similar book about a television station, that's for sure.

--- Reviewed by Robert Finn (Robertfinn@aol.com)

Gossipy Details.......2004-05-24

Gelb's book isn't an attempt to describe the broad sweep of power at the top of The New York Times. For that you need Gay Talese's book, "The Kingdom and the Power".

Rather it's the story of the rise of a reporter to a key day-to-day editor from 1944 to the end of the century. Many will find the stories and descriptions of maneuvering at the Time dry. But his look at events of the world and how they shaped the newspaper is fascinating.

An example is when the newspaper initiates a luncheon with key newsmakers by hosting New York Police Commissioner Michael Murphy:
"He spoke about the difficulties of protecting President Kennedy on his visits to New York. The president, he said, liked to stop his motorcade to shake hands with admirers, who lined his route from the airport to Manhattan. It was a tremendous headache for the Police Department, and Murphy said he had personally warned Kennedy to change his habits, for he made an easy target for the unhinged.

"At that moment, the phone in the anteroom range and a waitress summoned Clifton Daniel. He returned to the dining room looking stunned and ashen. 'President Kennedy has just ben shot in Dallas.'"

There are momentous events. And there are the trivial (and gossipy ones). For example, early in the book he describes in detail the speakeasy run by the father of TV host Barbara Walters.

But overall, this is well worth the effort and will introduce some interesting historical details even for those very familiar with American history from the end of World War II to the end of the century.

Why we are where we are today.......2004-03-16

It's great to see someone of Arthur Gelb's age and experience who has remained true to the very core of what reporting and journalism is all about -- keeping people informed. He outlines his rise from copy boy to managing editor of the Great Gray Lady, the New York Times, through some of the most turbulent years of the nation. He doesn't pull punches when describing some of his associates in those years, and I raised my eyebrows more than once at his descriptions of some of the giants of the Times. At times, his exhaustive attention to detail does bog the reader down, but he is peerless in his recollection and objectivity. He never hesitates to give credit where it is due, whether he liked the person or not. My one real criticism of this book is its complete absence of pictures. I would have liked to have seen a few of the people he so lovingly described, particularly those of his early years on the Times. But, like the paper he has devoted his life to, photos play a secondary role to the text. Definitely worth reading for anyone who wants to understand how the Times, and with it, the substantial portion of today's press, has grown and changed in the past 50 years.

Miss Undine's Living Room (Voices of the South)

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Southern Comfort

Miss Undine's Living Room (Voices of the South)
James Wilcox
Manufacturer: Louisiana State University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Comic | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Family Saga | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0807126993

Customer Reviews:

Southern Comfort.......2002-02-23

Imagine yourself at a particles accelerator at CERN.

First, assemble the ingredients. Mrs. Olive Mackie, her husband Duane and her teenage son Felix. Uncle L. D., age 91, who depends on various females of this story to keep him going. Dr Martin Bates, student of dentistry, so helpful and charming... Assorted women of the neighborhood, who all went to school together. And, of course, Miss Undine, the retired schoolteacher of them all.

Now, mix them all together and accelerate. Gossip and rumors start spinning, congealing into delicious back biting. Wait for it to stop spinning, to see whose life and reputation is still in one piece.

Product Description

A placename is often much more than just a label. A name may bespeak the history of a nation, the culture of a people, or the hopes of an individual. Such connections are revealed in this very large reference work on placenames of the world, which offers an in-depth look at the origins of each. First published in 1997, the work in this new edition contains over 6,000 entries, including 1,000 new placenames from previously under-represented areas such as China and Japan. Entries cover natural features such as mountains, rivers and lakes as well as manmade entities such as cities and countries. Each entry includes the name of the feature; a brief description and its geographical location; and the origin of the name with relevant historical, biographical and topographical details. Appendices give the meanings of common elements of nonEnglish placenames (e.g., Abu, as in Abu Dhabi, means father of); major placenames in European languages (e.g., Pays-Bas and Paesi Bassi are the French and Italian names, respectively, for what English speakers call the Netherlands); and transcribed Chinese-language equivalents for the names of the worlds countries and capitals.

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'Until the heart is touched we do not begin to be'
Very Much a Matter of Taste
If you read the other two NY Trilogy novels keep going!

The Locked Room (New York Trilogy)
Paul Auster
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0140097368

Customer Reviews:

'Until the heart is touched we do not begin to be' .......2007-02-08

I read this work with such fascination that I somehow forgot my daily work- routine and was lost in it, beginning to end. It is a remarkable piece of work. Like the first work of the trilogy 'City of Glass' it seems to me to reach the higher levels of Literary Creation.
The book is about two friends , the narrator and Fanshawe. Fanshawe has disappeared and after six months his wife, Sophia( Hawthorne is in this story beginning to end. Hawthorne's wife is Sophia Peabody, and Fanshawe a character of his fiction) contacts his childhood best and only friend . She does this not in the hope of finding her husband, but because she needs an evaluation of the ' writing' Fanshawe has left behind. Fanshawe made no effort to publish in his lifetime. Her secret motive is to break out of her loneliness, and in the ensuing action the inevitable will happen and she and the writer- friend will fall in love, love and marry. The writer- narrator will become the adopted father of the child who she was pregnant with when Fanshawe abandoned her.
There is a most moving description of the childhood friendship. There is also the fascinating story of Fanshawe's family( The father who died of cancer, the sister dependent on Fanshawe who went mad perhaps because of him) and the mother who it turns out hates her son. There is a surprising remeeting between the writer- friend and Fanshawe's mother in which their mutual resentment and hatred for Fanshawe is motive to an illicit vengeful act of physical love which is in fact an act of physical hate.
The description of the literary success of the presumed dead Fanshawe, of the misguided effort of the narrator- friend to write a Fanshawe biography(And the effect of this on his marriage) are also parts of the story.
I will stop telling or badly retelling the main story of the book to simply say the following about Auster and this work. I found this work as I have said a work of the highest quality and interest. Auster's capacity to surprise is one element of his great gift as a storyteller. There are in his work often, small stories within stories, which in themselves are worth the price of the volume. His retelling here for instance the life or the five or six different lives of Lorenzo da Ponte Mozart's librettist for his operas illustrates Austerian principles about life perfectly . As Auster sees it we are involved in an endless game of chance which means our lives continually surprise us. It also means by implication that our lives are mysteries which are never fully solved, even by ourselves.
Auster is a great craftsman of plot and character surprise and re- invention.
Fanshawe the main character of this work is allegedly locked inside himself, a mystery even to himself. His mother however accuses him of a tremendous coldness, of an inability to truly connect to or love anyone else. She commends the writer- narrator for his loving relation to his mother. Obviously his ability to love, to truly care for another is what enables him to connect up with Sophia in a real way. It is also probably the reason Fanshawe has chosen him for the task.
But again the genius of the work is the cold- hearted Fanshawe.
I must admit that with all my great admiration for the work of Auster I do feel a certain coldness in his work, his tone, his relation to his character. Even the best of them are somehow discarded without our knowing their true fates.
Is Auster himself too cold, too austere in his own judgment? Or is he a character encompassing the qualities of the two writers, Fanshawe and his narrator - friend, the distant isolated genius, and the warm loving family man?

Very Much a Matter of Taste.......2006-07-05

This is the third and last volume of New York Trilogy. Just as the book titles have little to do with what the books are about so does the overall title. This is the story of a man's search for himself and loosing those parts of himself that he doesn't like. Auster has used himself for many parts of the protagonists, and has split his personality into many personae.

At one point in this book, two of those personae get into a fight, adding a totally new dimension to the expression, "don't beat up on yourself", or maybe I just imagined it. Many of the characters from the first book "City of Glass" wander through this part, but in most cases they are very different from the them we met before.

As noted in his biography, many of the actions and occurances that happen to the narrator are directly out of Auster's life. It is intriguing to try and guess where reality ends and fantasy begins or vice versa. It's so tempting at this part of the review to want to fall into Auster's style and say something that is mid-way between the profane and the profound; and maybe I just did.

But who can say what is real and what is an illusion; Auster's book is not to be taken too literally, but it's not as superficial as you would expect on first glance. Make of it what you will.

If you read the other two NY Trilogy novels keep going!.......1999-05-30

If you read City of Glass and Ghosts, read The Locked Room. There is no point in stopping now, but do not expect anything to be cleared up.

Back when I read the New york Trilogy the books were sold seperately and therefore I have so far reviewed each book under its single title. If you own this one, you probably bought it with the other two so you might as well read it.

Customer Reviews:

Soulful Introduction to a Longing Soul.......2000-04-29

Many thanks to the publisher for providing this very accessible introduction to the spiritual writings of Augustine of Hippo. The fourteen selections carry just enough of the flavor of this thinker to whet the reading desire of those who have shied away from Augustine and yet, the selections are fresh so that those familiar with Augustine's work (the Confessions, City of God) will also find themselves longing to renew their contact with this seminal Christian from North Africa.

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