Book Description
My new friends have begun to suspect I haven’t told them the full story of my life.
“Why did you leave Sierra Leone?”
“Because there is a war.”
“You mean, you saw people running around with guns and shooting each other?”
“Yes, all the time.”
“Cool.”
I smile a little.
“You should tell us about it sometime.”
“Yes, sometime.”
This is how wars are fought now: by children, hopped-up on drugs and wielding AK-47s. Children have become soldiers of choice. In the more than fifty conflicts going on worldwide, it is estimated that there are some 300,000 child soldiers. Ishmael Beah used to be one of them.
What is war like through the eyes of a child soldier? How does one become a killer? How does one stop? Child soldiers have been profiled by journalists, and novelists have struggled to imagine their lives. But until now, there has not been a first-person account from someone who came through this hell and survived.
In A Long Way Gone, Beah, now twenty-five years old, tells a riveting story: how at the age of twelve, he fled attacking rebels and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By thirteen, he’d been picked up by the government army, and Beah, at heart a gentle boy, found that he was capable of truly terrible acts.
This is a rare and mesmerizing account, told with real literary force and heartbreaking honesty.
Customer Reviews:
A powerful and eloquent voice..........2007-10-22
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah is a moving, tortured yet uplifting story of Beah's involvement in war.
Living in Sierra Leone, Beah was a typical 12-year old, playing soccer, dancing, singing rap music, reciting Shakespeare and hanging out with his friends. Beah and a bunch of his buddies ventured to another town when civil war came to their village. Not being able to make it back home, they were forced to flee--trying to find somewhere safe as well as a source of food. Their goal was to avoid being captured or killed by the rebels. Instead, they were discovered by the government army and turned into soldiers. Some of these boys were so slight that they couldn't even hold the AK-47s they were given as weapons. They were also given prodigious amounts of illegal drugs. For three years, Beah served with the army until UNICEF removed him from military service. During those three years, he was shot a number of times and escaped death repeatedly.
While Beah's physical injuries healed, the psychological scars from the war tortured him for years. He especially suffered from nightmares and migraines. With the help of the staff of UNICEF and NGO, he not only healed enough to be "repatriated," but he was also chosen as a representative to the United Nations First International Children's Parliament. It was here that he met the woman who would become his surrogate mother, and arrange for his eventual escape from Sierra Leone.
Ishmael Beah is a powerful, eloquent voice for the many children who were forced to become soldiers. These children were robbed of their families, their limbs, their childhoods, and often, their lives. After a nightmare, "I would try desperately to think about my childhood, but I couldn't. The war memories had formed a barrier that I had to break in order to think about any moment in my life before the war."
I wish that Beah had gone into more detail about his journey to the United States. Perhaps he's saving it for another book. But even without this information, A Long Way Gone is an excellent book by a very young author.
a long way gone.......2007-10-20
This is an incredible account of Ishmael Beah's life thus far. How a boy could endure such hell on earth is beyond comprehension, however this young author awakens his readers, and with his words shows us the wide spectrum of love and hate that we humans are capable of inflicting upon each other. A truly enlightening memoir.
Everyone needs to read this book.......2007-10-19
Amazing, horrifying, well-written, and a book that every American should read in order to better understand the conflicts of Africa. What strikes me most about this boy's story is the fact that he was in the governmental army, not the rebel army. But many times there was no difference between the two. Such facts certainly make me doubt that any African or UN "peacekeeping" force will be able to change anything in that region.
Excellent.......2007-10-18
What an interesting story. Having lived all over the world, it is very interesting how stories of civil strife always seem to include child soldiers whether Palestinian, Lebanese, Iranian, Liberian or Somalian.
I recommend this book for those interested in the world around them.
Heartbreaking!.......2007-10-18
This was one of my Book Club's selections for this fall. I thought it was easy to read and I am glad I saw the movie "Blood Diamond" before reading this. It's a difficult subject matter but worth reading.
Book Description
The astonishing, uplifting story of a real-life Indiana Jones and his humanitarian campaign to use education to combat terrorism in the Taliban's backyard
Anyone who despairs of the individual's power to change lives has to read the story of Greg Mortenson, a homeless mountaineer who, following a 1993 climb of Pakistan's treacherous K2, was inspired by a chance encounter with impoverished mountain villagers and promised to build them a school. Over the next decade he built fifty-five schools—especially for girls—that offer a balanced education in one of the most isolated and dangerous regions on earth. As it chronicles Mortenson's quest, which has brought him into conflict with both enraged Islamists and uncomprehending Americans, Three Cups of Tea combines adventure with a celebration of the humanitarian spirit.
Customer Reviews:
Nobel Quality.......2007-10-22
Greg Mortensen represents my America and he does so in vivid contrast to the politician's America that tolerates the corruption and misuse of foreign aid. This story is a must read for anyone who will ever pretend to have an opinion about how the United States of America should use its resources to make the world a better place to live.
Excellent Read.......2007-10-21
OK, so I'm an ex-Peace Corps Volunteer from the sixties; and I could be a trifle prejudiced. Regardless, this is an engrossing book. Greg Mortensen is, in many respects, Everyman. If it CAN be screwed up, ... he screws it up; but he "hangs in there" in extraordinary fashion - and works miracles. I think the guy is a perfect candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize. I thoroughly enjoyed this book - and was inspired enough to contribute to his foundation.
Three Cups of Tea.......2007-10-21
I haven't heard a story this inspiring--ever! I have found my Christmas present for everyone high school age or over.
Three Cups of Tea Review.......2007-10-20
The account described in "Three Cups of Tea" was very effectively presented. The reader truly experiences the passion Mr. Mortenson feels about educating young people in remote areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. The narrative is convincing in its argument that only through education will we have a true opportunity to experience peace.
READ THIS BOOK TODAY!.......2007-10-20
As a little girl, my dad used to tell me there were only two things that I needed to do in this world. I needed to save my soul and I needed to make the world a better place for others to live. To this date i've been struggling with what this means and how I am to go about applying these principles in my day to day life. After reading this book I have never felt more inspired to take action. Greg Mortenson's story shows us how with vision and perseverance one can make a difference. It has the power to encourage you to do more, to question how little you've done to date and urges you to think globally and act now. This book should be mandatory reading and I will go above and beyond in recommending it to every single person I know. Without a doubt, the key to peace is sound education, in providing the opportunity of knowledge and encouraging children to think for themselves. There couldn't be a better book on the shelf today. READ THIS.
Average customer rating:
- Night: A movie in a book!
- Powerful. No other word to describe it.
- never forget
- NIGHT
- Night
|
Night (Oprah's Book Club)
Elie Wiesel
Manufacturer: Hill and Wang
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Binding: Paperback
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Day: A Novel
ASIN: 0374500010
Release Date: 2006-01-16 |
Amazon.com
In Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel's memoir Night, a scholarly, pious teenager is wracked with guilt at having survived the horror of the Holocaust and the genocidal campaign that consumed his family. His memories of the nightmare world of the death camps present him with an intolerable question: how can the God he once so fervently believed in have allowed these monstrous events to occur? There are no easy answers in this harrowing book, which probes life's essential riddles with the lucid anguish only great literature achieves. It marks the crucial first step in Wiesel's lifelong project to bear witness for those who died.
Book Description
A New Translation From The French By Marion Wiesel
Night is Elie Wiesel’s masterpiece, a candid, horrific, and deeply poignant autobiographical account of his survival as a teenager in the Nazi death camps. This new translation by Marion Wiesel, Elie’s wife and frequent translator, presents this seminal memoir in the language and spirit truest to the author’s original intent. And in a substantive new preface, Elie reflects on the enduring importance of Night and his lifelong, passionate dedication to ensuring that the world never forgets man’s capacity for inhumanity to man.
Night offers much more than a litany of the daily terrors, everyday perversions, and rampant sadism at Auschwitz and Buchenwald; it also eloquently addresses many of the philosophical as well as personal questions implicit in any serious consideration of what the Holocaust was, what it meant, and what its legacy is and will be.
Customer Reviews:
Night: A movie in a book!.......2007-10-17
Night is a memoir of Mr. Wiesel's horrible experience during the Holocaust. I read this book during my middle school years, and I vividly remembered one particular section of the book very clearly, even 10 years after I had read it. It is a section where Wiesel describes how a couple of German SS agents were hitting his father, because he was so weak to move. He recalls how he didn't even move a finger to help his father. Part of him even wished his father would die so that he didn't have to carry the burden of caring for his father.
The next morning, Wiesel awakened to see the empty bed of his father, whom had passed over night and been moved out early in the morning. This exeperience alone would haunt even the strongest human being and probably ruin anyone's possibility of even a remotely bright future. However, Eli Wiesel understands that the days of the Holocaust and WWII were not just any other days. They were days when human beings no longer acted like human beings. Pain, evil, and apathy ruled the Earth during this time.
This is certainly not the only section of the book that is graphic and almost too painful to read. The entire book is full of such events. It is extremely important for us to keep books and movies that re-tell the suffering of the Holocaust fresh in our mind so that we may never allow ourselves to comitt the same mistakes. Suffering of this magnitude should never, ever, ever, ever afflict any human beings ever again. Please buy and read this book, you will not regret it.
Note: I suggest reading this book along with the Diary of Anne Frank and watch Schindler's List. Together, they will offer you at least a small glimpse of the hell that was the Holocaust.
Powerful. No other word to describe it........2007-10-14
I read this book well before I found out it was on Oprah's book club. My tenth grade English teacher had us read it for her class when we did a segment on the Holocaust and do a report on it. Like everyone else in the class I was reluctant to read it mainly because this teacher was known for given out poor quality books on subjects that were either boring or not powerful enough. And usually when it comes to the Holocaust you can count on the book being good.
But this one surpassed the rest. Not only was it moving and an honest tear jerker but it was a quick read, one that could be read 50 times over and still never the power of the words. If you're in the mood for a good book that will tug at your heartstrings, pick this one up. He captures the Holocaust in a new, moving light and you'll never forget it.
I'm just upset that this book is now famous only because Oprah says it's "cool".
never forget.......2007-10-14
I don't think I can explain how much I love this book in ways that are as poetic or well-written as others have, but I had to add my two cents and make it known that this is a book that should not be missed. I read this book not long after Oprah did a special on it with the author, but yet I haven't forgotten anything that was written. That right there is the true gift that Elie Wiesel has given to each of us.
Don't read this book thinking you have to (maybe because Oprah told you to). You don't have to do anything to live except breathe. Read it so you can appreciate it and keep the memories of our world alive. It's our history, no one else's.
NIGHT.......2007-10-03
This new translation of NIGHT is not just a book, it's a gift. A gift of Elie Wiesel's memory, memory of such horrific atrocities committed against him, his family, and others. We can use this gift as a tool to evolve as a human race - or not.
Night.......2007-10-02
This book was both wonderful and disturbing. The translation was smooth and easy to read. The body of the book gives a further glimpse into the terrors of that war, and the suffering people had to endure; especially children. I finished this book in less than a day, and when I was done, I was able to appreciate my life even more, and be grateful for everthing I have.
Book Description
From ABC White House correspondent Martha Raddatz, the story of a brutal forty-eight-hour firefight that conveys in harrowing detail the effects of war not just on the soldiers but also on the families waiting back at home.
In April 2004, soldiers from the 1st Cavalry Division were on a routine patrol in Sadr City, Iraq, when they came under surprise attack. Over the course of the next forty-eight hours, 8 Americans would be killed and more than 70 wounded. Back home, as news of the attack began filtering in, the families of these same men, neighbors in Fort Hood, Texas, feared the worst. In time, some of the women in their circle would receive "the call"-the notification that a husband or brother had been killed in action. So the families banded together in anticipation of the heartbreak that was certain to come.
The firefight in Sadr City marked the beginning of the Iraqi insurgency, and Martha Raddatz has written perhaps the most riveting account of hand-to-hand combat to emerge from the war in Iraq. This intimate portrait of the close-knit community of families Stateside-the unsung heroes of the military -distinguishes The Long Road Home from other stories of modern warfare, showing the horror, terror, bravery, and fortitude not just of the soldiers who were wounded and killed but also of the wives and children whose lives now are forever changed.
Customer Reviews:
Thanks .......2007-09-29
Thank you i got the book today and have read a little bit of it .. it got here before i thought it would so thank you
Long Road Home is a quick read........2007-09-24
Martha Raddatz does a good job of making you experience an episode in Iraq from the viewpoint of the soldiers. She lets them tell the story. Perhaps it would have been good to include more of her viewpoint or some corollary material but it is fine book as it is written and portrays an important story in this horrible war.
PHENOMENAL.......2007-09-20
I don't ever write reviews on here but this is one of the best books I've ever read. Written from many different points of views between Iraq and the United States, it pulls you in and makes you want to keep reading. I have told all of my family and friends (and a few random people in the bookstore) they must read this book. it truely is phenomenal and makes me cry and support the soldiers and their families so much.
'Long Road Home' - remarkable view of War on Terror .......2007-09-03
The 'Long Road Home' captures a side to the War on Terror that Americans, or anyone for that matter, rarely glimpse.
Author and journalist Martha Raddatz takes us into the hearts and minds of some of America's sons (and their families) on one of the toughest days in modern military history. We witness a 'from top to bottom' look at how Soldiers, from the Army's 1st Cavalry Division, respond in a series of deadly desperate circumstances - outmanned, outgunned and surrounded. The day - 4 April 2004, aptly became known as Black Sunday - in Iraq.
This is one of those rare insights, through the eyes of those who fought and died ...those who fought and lived ...and those who still fight each day with their demons. Martha Raddatz honored the Soldiers and families of the 1st Cavalry in this deeply moving record of what happened one day in April 2004.
Clearly, she takes the story telling to a higher plain. She's not one to embrace low-hanging fruit of political ax-grinding and blame-game antics. She keeps faith, in writing this book, with the valor of the Soldiers and families she introduces to us.
A harrowing war story, it is also filled with indelible marks of hope, conviction, compassion, determination and courage. Our family was deeply and forever affected by the events of this day of days. 'The Long Road Homes' signature is the telling of many Soldier's experiences - among them, my own son, Corporal Loren Haller.
Simply excellent.......2007-08-24
This is a wonderfully written and compelling book about a fierce battle in Sadr City, Iraq. One of the best war-time books I've ever read.
Book Description
From one of the most beloved and bestselling authors in the English language, a vivid, nostalgic, and utterly hilarious memoir of growing up in the 1950s
Bill Bryson was born in the middle of the American century—1951—in the middle of the United States—Des Moines, Iowa—in the middle of the largest generation in American history—the baby boomers. As one of the best and funniest writers alive, he is perfectly positioned to mine his memories of a totally all-American childhood for 24-carat memoir gold. Like millions of his generational peers, Bill Bryson grew up with a rich fantasy life as a superhero. In his case, he ran around his house and neighborhood with an old football jersey with a thunderbolt on it and a towel about his neck that served as his cape, leaping tall buildings in a single bound and vanquishing awful evildoers (and morons)—in his head—as "The Thunderbolt Kid."
Using this persona as a springboard, Bill Bryson re-creates the life of his family and his native city in the 1950s in all its transcendent normality—a life at once completely familiar to us all and as far away and unreachable as another galaxy. It was, he reminds us, a happy time, when automobiles and televisions and appliances (not to mention nuclear weapons) grew larger and more numerous with each passing year, and DDT, cigarettes, and the fallout from atmospheric testing were considered harmless or even good for you. He brings us into the life of his loving but eccentric family, including affectionate portraits of his father, a gifted sportswriter for the local paper and dedicated practitioner of isometric exercises, and OF his mother, whose job as the home furnishing editor for the same paper left her little time for practicing the domestic arts at home. The many readers of Bill Bryson’s earlier classic, A Walk in the Woods, will greet the reappearance in these pages of the immortal Stephen Katz, seen hijacking literally boxcar loads of beer. He is joined in the Bryson gallery of immortal characters by the demonically clever Willoughby brothers, who apply their scientific skills and can-do attitude to gleefully destructive ends.
Warm and laugh-out-loud funny, and full of his inimitable, pitch-perfect observations, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid is as wondrous a book as Bill Bryson has ever written. It will enchant anyone who has ever been young.
Customer Reviews:
A wonderful memoir for baby boomers.......2007-10-17
I always enjoy Bill Bryson's travel books (NOTES FROM A SMALL ISLAND, A WALK IN THE WOODS) and his books on language (THE MOTHER TONGUE).
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE THUNDERBOLT KID is a memoir, and since Bryson and I grew up in the same decades, I found a lot to like in this book. His writing is always funniest when it's personal and self-deprecating, and his stories of himself as a child are vastly entertaining.
But this book is more than memoir or a string of funny stories about his childhood. Bryson captures the time and place -- 50's small-town America -- and serves those "simpler times" up with affection. In those pre-minivan days a bicycle was a kid's ticket to ride; the movies were a gateway to the world; and a costume, whether the Thunderbolt Kid or Annie Oakley (am I saying too much?), was the passport to bravery and adventure.
I thoroughly enjoyed THE THUNDERBOLT KID, and probably would have enjoyed it no matter which decades were mine. Maybe it's a book of particular interest to the first wave of Baby Boomers, but the humor and whimsy of its presentation are wonderful counterpoint to its well-researched social context.
You're bound to laugh out loud at this book. If you like laughing out loud, then by all means read THE THUNDERBOLT KID.
We laughed so hard we almost drove off the road........2007-10-07
My husband and I listened to this book on cd while on a long car trip. It was great. We laughed so much, I had to keep turning it off so we didn't crash the car. A must read for anyone who grew up in the mid-west in the 1950's. We didn't and stiil loved it. Bryson has a great delivery and makes it so real. My favorite Bryson book, so far. We gave our copy to a friend and bought another for a co-worker.
reminicent of "The Christmas Story", very enjoyable and funny.......2007-10-03
I read this specifically for the historic recollections of the 50's era, and the fact that the jacket reviews indicated "snort-root-beer-out-your-nose funny". I don't often laugh out loud while reading, and I did several times through this book. It reminds me of a print version of "The Christmas Story" movie, without the BB gun and with a lot more detail. Bryson's command of language is engaging and quite intelligent, the book was an easy read and wasn't boring. This is surprising given Bryson's admission that he wasn't a great student. My only complaint was that I wanted more. I plan to read his other works asap.
Not Bill Bryson's best.......2007-09-24
I am a Bryson fan and have been since his first book. This one is good, mind you -- funny, well written - but NOT as good as his some of his others. I was a tad disappointed, but still think the book is worth buying. So, buy it.
Deserves a Read.......2007-09-09
For a child of the 40s and 50s, this book will serve to recall better times. Bryson gets a little 60s' preachy in spots, but they are not overwhelming. When you put this book down, you are left with a slightly sad feeling that life as experienced in the 50s will not be seen again and that today's kids are missing a lot.
Book Description
Immaculee Ilibagiza grew up in a country she loved, surrounded by a family she cherished. But in 1994 her idyllic world was ripped apart as Rwanda descended into a bloody genocide. Immaculee’s family was brutally murdered during a killing spree that lasted three months and claimed the lives of nearly a million Rwandans.
Incredibly, Immaculee survived the slaughter. For 91 days, she and seven other women huddled silently together in the cramped bathroom of a local pastor while hundreds of machete-wielding killers hunted for them.
It was during those endless hours of unspeakable terror that Immaculee discovered the power of prayer, eventually shedding her fear of death and forging a profound and lasting relationship with God. She emerged from her bathroom hideout having discovered the meaning of truly unconditional love—a love so strong she was able seek out and forgive her family’s killers.
The triumphant story of this remarkable young woman’s journey through the darkness of genocide will inspire anyone whose life has been touched by fear, suffering, and loss.
This is Immaculee’s first book.
Customer Reviews:
Left To Tell.......2007-10-22
Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan HolocaustThis is an amazing book that will overwhelm you with it's message of faith, love and forgiveness. Reviewers of this book have said that reading it will change your life...........how true they are!
Left to Tell: Discovering God amidst the Rwandan Holocaust.......2007-10-18
This book really reaches down into your very core. Immaculee tells her remarkable story about survival in a time of darkness and death. She finds her inner strength and communes freely with the world deep inside of her...her soul. She finds a way to bring the reader into her world and allows you to experience her deep sorrows and triumphant joys. Her courage through such adversity is remarkable! She is a living example of what true strength and courage are all about.Thank you, Immaculee, for sharing your beautiful soul. It is truly a gift of love and compassion.
Everyone needs to read this book. Wonderful.......2007-10-17
Aside from making you realize what you have to be thankful for if you are having a bad day, week, or year, this book will open your eyes, to the harshness of other country struggles, but more important how hope, determination, and faith can make miracles. This lady had to learn the English language while in a small bathroom cell in hiding with a few other women. How lazy have people who use our system today gotten? Life is easy when things are handed to you. Read this wonderful book to see how this woman conquered fear, and had strong faith, now just in God, but herself. She came out on the other side with pride,confidence and most important, her life. By right herself and those with her would have been dead. More than a good read.
Left to Tell.......2007-10-16
This is the most powerful, inspirational book I have read this decade. Her faith and love of God radiate from cover to cover. This book will make a believer out of everyone who reads it.
Powerful, gripping.......2007-10-16
I don't think there's any way I could possibly identify with what Immaculee Ilibagiza experienced in Rwanda. But her story has gone a long way towards helping me see the devastating effects of civil war in her country.
I am just beginning to learn what has happened in Rwanda, and stories like Immaculee's in turns horrify me, and give me hope. If someone who has experienced what she has can find room in her heart to forgive her aggressors and move on, then I can overcome some of the petty angers and trials I experience in my own life.
Book Description
In her own words, here is the captivating story of Julia Child’s years in France, where she fell in love with French food and found ‘her true calling.’
From the moment the ship docked in Le Havre in the fall of 1948 and Julia watched the well-muscled stevedores unloading the cargo to the first perfectly soigné meal that she and her husband, Paul, savored in Rouen en route to Paris, where he was to work for the USIS, Julia had an awakening that changed her life. Soon this tall, outspoken gal from Pasadena, California, who didn’t speak a word of French and knew nothing about the country, was steeped in the language, chatting with purveyors in the local markets, and enrolled in the Cordon Bleu.
After managing to get her degree despite the machinations of the disagreeable directrice of the school, Julia started teaching cooking classes herself, then teamed up with two fellow gourmettes, Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle, to help them with a book they were trying to write on French cooking for Americans. Throwing herself heart and soul into making it a unique and thorough teaching book, only to suffer several rounds of painful rejection, is part of the behind-the-scenes drama that Julia reveals with her inimitable gusto and disarming honesty.
Filled with the beautiful black-and-white photographs that Paul loved to take when he was not battling bureaucrats, as well as family snapshots, this memoir is laced with wonderful stories about the French character, particularly in the world of food, and the way of life that Julia embraced so wholeheartedly. Above all, she reveals the kind of spirit and determination, the sheer love of cooking, and the drive to share that with her fellow Americans that made her the extraordinary success she became.
Le voici. Et bon appétit!
Download Description
Julia Child was born in Pasadena, California. She was graduated from Smith College and worked for the OSS during World War II in Ceylon and China, where she met Paul Child. After they married they lived in Paris, where she studied at the Cordon Bleu and taught cooking with Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle, with whom she wrote the first volume of Mastering the Art of French Cooking (1961). In 1963, Boston’s WGBH launched The French Chef television series, which made her a national celebrity, earning her the Peabody Award in 1965 and an Emmy in 1966. Several public television shows and numerous cookbooks followed. She died in 2004.
From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews:
Missing Julia.......2007-08-05
I just finished this book, and I am unashamed to say I have shed tears for the loss of this great woman. I am discovering the art of cooking later in life, as Julia did, and she has helped give me the courage I am needing to change careers and attend culinary arts training this spring. What a marvelous book, I felt that I was there with her in her "la belle France" and wish that I could have had the opportunity to spend time in the kitchen with her. You will not be disappointed in this fantastic read.
Great Read.......2007-07-27
This book was so enjoyable to read! I was fascinated by this look into post-war France, and into Julia's world there. It made me wish I would have know her and understand why it seems that everyone who knew her, loved her.
One thing I thought was fun was her encyclopedic recall of various meals they enjoyed, including the wine vintage.
You'll also love hearing how she came to write her first cookbook and become a host of her own show on PBS. For those of us who are over 40, it's also great to note that the most interesting parts of her life didn't even begin until then.
French Food as Accessible Art Form Thanks to Julia.......2007-07-20
My Life in France gives the reader a glimpse into the extraordinary and elegant life of Julia Child. The memoir adds another dimension to Julia the TV persona and looks beyond the lighthearted image. Indeed, beyond Julia's fun spirit was an unbelievable level of meticulous research and above all, fearlessness and stamina. My Life in France is a delight to read for anyone who wishes to understand the origin of Julia's passion for French cooking and her ability to transform one's vision of and taste for fine food. My Life in France
A must-read for any foodie.......2007-07-15
This has risen to the top of my favorite books list. It's so well written, with plenty of imagery and descriptive language that I felt I was in Julia's kitchen with her. I learned quite a bit about her relationship with her husband and both their careers. The best was reading about how the recipes and the books were written.
If you are planning to write a cook book or are very interested in cooking and chefs, you should definitely buy this book.
It's a Wonderful Life in France!.......2007-07-04
'My Life in France' is a superb book that effuses with that wonderful endearing quality we have all come to know and love in Julia Child. The book focuses mainly on the early years of developing her first cookbooks and television show.
The book begins when she and her husband, Paul, make their first trip to France because of his new job assignment. You feel her giddy excitement upon landing on the shores of a place she had for so long desired to go. We hear in minute detail the look, smell and taste of her first French meal, and from there we are introduced to "La Belle France". Before I began the book, I wondered for how long I could sustain reading each night about a person's breakfast, lunch or dinner meal that had been eaten 50 years prior, but Julia has such an adorable way of speaking, and her sometimes child-like observations of life and people around her are so heartwarming, you just wish you had been there. As the book progresses, she speaks about her collaboration with two women for her first book, and sometimes the claws come out. You're thinking, "Julia!" But, as with all friendships, there are things that agree with us and things that don't. Without some of these tidbits, the book may have been too trite, or frankly boring. Subsequently, it was interesting to hear of the minor squabbles that occurred between the women and the simple controversies concerning her husband and his role as a "diplomat". Paul and Julia Child made many friends overseas, whom they adored and loved. The majority of these people stayed in her inner circle until the end of their lives. For me, night after night, I couldn't wait to sit down and read about so many dinner parties with simmering meats and side dishes, lovely conversations, and eccentric friends. The only thing I didn't like about the book is that it ended too quickly, and I found myself missing the evenings with Julia.
Book Description
A riveting memoir from the Navy doctor praised as "Hero, M.D." on the cover of Newsweek.
Cdr. Richard Jadick's story is one of the most extraordinary to come out of the war in Iraq. At thirty-eight, the last place the Navy doctor was expected to be was on the front lines. He was too old to be called up, but not too old to volunteer. In November 2004, with the military reeling from an acute doctor shortage, Jadick chose to accompany the First Battalion, Eighth Marine Regiment (the "1/8") to Iraq. During the Battle of Fallujah, Jadick and his team worked tirelessly and courageously around the clock to save their troops in the worst street fighting Americans had faced since Vietnam. It is estimated that without Jadick at the front, the Marines would have lost an additional thirty men. Of the hundreds of men he treated, only one died after reaching a hospital. This is the inspiring story of his decision to enter into the fray, a fascinating glimpse into wartime triage, and a compelling account of courage under fire.
Customer Reviews:
But Enough About Me..........2007-09-20
Having read the compelling Newsweek article that became the catalyst for the book, I was expecting much more than what was finally produced. As another reviewer mentioned, too much of the book was spent on CDR Jadick's personal history and trite stories about everyday life downrange. (Though the latrine story was pretty doggone funny...)
Perhaps it's difficult to produce a tome about one aspect of one battle - but others have managed. Those who have, however, are usually historians and not docs.
A bad book review should be understood for what it is. A book review. This is not a criticism of the author's valor or medical skill, which is worthy of every accolade that's been bestowed.
Mediocre at best.......2007-08-16
Does not deserve to share a shelf with medical accomplishments such as Atul Gawande's Better or Complications. The book is filled with trite sentences and tainted with the robotic marine mentality. Slow and reads like you yourself are in hell.
You are there in the Minds and Hearts........2007-07-16
Feel the heat, taste the dust, squint in the sun while horror is delivered to you on the hour.
A Jewel of a Novel.......2007-07-01
having been in the Navy I found this book a fine read. His explanation of the Marine/Navy world was perfect. Corpmen are always highly respected by all. Beyond that it shows the great men and women and their beliefs toward our wonderful country. Soemtimes when we see the faults by politicians and others and we wonder how we will make it as a country all we have to do is look toward the fine men and women that serve us and our country. Let our hearts go out and let us in the future be ready to help them in all they will need.
On Call In Hell by Cdr. Richard Jadick.......2007-06-25
The book was riveting...hard to put down. I read it in two days, mainly because I wanted to experience what Marines and Navy Corpsmen experience in combat, and I certainly did and then some. My son's heroic rescue on Thanksgiving Day, 2004 was clearly documented, as was his death in combat the next day. Kudos to the corpsmen who literally go through the gates of hell to rescue a wounded Marine!
Amazon.com
Daniel Mendelsohn's The Lost is the deeply personal account of a search for one family among his larger family, the one barely spoken of, only to say they were "killed by the Nazis." Mendelsohn, even as a boy, was always the one interested in his family's history, but when he came upon a set of letters from his great uncle Schmiel, pleading for help from his American relatives as the Nazi grip on the lives of Jews in their Polish town became tighter and tighter, he set out to find what had happened to that lost family. The result is both memoir and history, an ambitious and gorgeously meditative detective story that takes him across the globe in search of the lost threads of these few almost forgotten lives.
A whole culture lies behind the story Mendelsohn tells, and a lifetime of reading as well. For our Grownup School feature, he has given us a tour of some of the books behind his own, in a list he calls 10 Great Novels of Family History, the Holocaust, New York Jewish Life (And Other Things That Helped Me Write My Book). And you can watch his own moving introduction to the book in this short video:
Watch Daniel Mendelsohn introduce The Lost: high bandwidth or low bandwidth |
Book Description
In this rich and riveting narrative, a writer's search for the truth behind his family's tragic past in World War II becomes a remarkably original epic—part memoir, part reportage, part mystery, and part scholarly detective work—that brilliantly explores the nature of time and memory, family and history.
The Lost begins as the story of a boy who grew up in a family haunted by the disappearance of six relatives during the Holocaust—an unmentionable subject that gripped his imagination from earliest childhood. Decades later, spurred by the discovery of a cache of desperate letters written to his grandfather in 1939 and tantalized by fragmentary tales of a terrible betrayal, Daniel Mendelsohn sets out to find the remaining eyewitnesses to his relatives' fates. That quest eventually takes him to a dozen countries on four continents, and forces him to confront the wrenching discrepancies between the histories we live and the stories we tell. And it leads him, finally, back to the small Ukrainian town where his family's story began, and where the solution to a decades-old mystery awaits him.
Deftly moving between past and present, interweaving a world-wandering odyssey with childhood memories of a now-lost generation of immigrant Jews and provocative ruminations on biblical texts and Jewish history, The Lost transforms the story of one family into a profound, morally searching meditation on our fragile hold on the past. Deeply personal, grippingly suspenseful, and beautifully written, this literary tour de force illuminates all that is lost, and found, in the passage of time.
Customer Reviews:
THE LOST: A SEARCH FOR SIX OF THE SIX MILLION.......2007-10-17
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The author manages to make it funny and entertaining even though the subject matter is sober. He makes it funny talking about his relatives from the USA. Having lived on the East Coast as a child, I can see the humor.
His tenacity in locating his lost relatives is amazing and I enjoyed the journey with him. I would and have recommended this book.
A very powerful, wonderful book!.......2007-10-01
The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million
I read a lot (about 1-2 books per week) and this is by far the best book I have ever read. It is SO powerful and poignant. It is a book about healing from the horrors of the holocaust, how it affected the family of survivors and their descendants here in the US and how one descendant, searchin for his lost relatives helped start the healing process. This book is also very good for those interested in genealogy work.
I got lost reading "The Lost".......2007-09-24
The book seem to mesmerize me with its many fragile old photos. I soon found myself frustrated and lost due to the author's lack captions for the photos -- frankly, it was maddening. Oftentimes photos were not even placed within the text properly.
This book was in desperate need of a good editor: (1) organize the photos, (2) edit the rambling run-on sentences, (3) get rid of the overuse of parenthetical remarks, etc.
At first I read the biblical sections and enjoyed reading about Rashi, etc. but later on I skipped these portions because they dragged the pace of the story and could not hold my attention.
This was one of the most frustrating books I have ever read and the victims were buried twice: first in Eastern Poland and then within this book with its myriad details and a most obsessive, jumpy and horrible author. Sorry... that's how bad this experience was for me. This guy desperately needed an editor.
Where oh, where is Elie Wiesel when I need him?
Don't waste your time........2007-09-22
This book is entirely too slow. It seems to just repeat the same thing in every chapter. I agree with the the other review that says this is just an extended guide on Jewish genealogy. Very disappointed.
A Must Read.......2007-09-16
This is a page turner with characters that every Jewish baby boomer will be able to identify with. On every page you will find one of your relatives, friends of your parents or the parents of your friends. It is beautifully written and difficult to catagorize. It is neither a mystery or a memoir, a history or a biography, but it is all of the aforementioned. I found myself very emotionally involved in the story and I even found myself and my parents in the book. Read it.
Product Description
The Great Bust Ahead is a concise, straight to the point short book laying out in stark terms the case for a coming depression of historically unprecedented magnitude. It will be worse than the 1930s, beginning nominally in 2012, but perhaps as early as 2009-2010 and lasting up to thirteen years. Centered on hard fact demographics, the book boldly claims that the data presented are so irrefutable, that the outcome predicted by the book is equally as irrefutable. The compelling proof presented accurately accounts for the detailed trend of the economy from 1920 to today (something never before accomplished), and projects out to 2030. The book is very easy to read and understand, and requires no prior knowledge of economics. Down to earth things the average person can do to prepare for what is coming are covered. A summary of the catastrophic domestic social and international consequences is offered.
October 2007 Update: In 2002 when this book was published, in addition to the massive depression beginning around the end of the decade, it forecast:
1. The economy, as reflected by the DJIA, would resume its upwards march in late 2002 or 2003.
This is exactly what happened.
2. The DJIA would have a snapback to 13,000 to 14,000 and the FTSE to 6,000 to 7,000 by 2004, but delayed possibly by wars/politics/terrorism/scandals.
This is exactly what has happened. Although the full snapback has been delayed for the reasons described, the DJIA has now closed over 14,100 and the FTSE over 6,700.
3. The DJIA returns from 2003 to 2012 would average a historically long-term normal of 7% to 8%. So far, with the delayed full snapback for the reasons described, DJIA actual returns have averaged a more modest 5.8%, as would be expected.
4. Interest rates would increase from 2003 onwards.
This is exactly what has happened.
Customer Reviews:
It is just an indicator!.......2007-09-12
Everyone is forgetting that the book is talking about a correlated indicator for the DJIA. There are many things that drive an economy and make things happen like the weakening dollar, monstrous deficits, the Federal Reserve, cheap credit and the housing market bubble, peak oil, etc. These are some of the things that move the DJIA, NOT just demographics. The fact that the 45-54 age group correlates to the DJIA is very interesting and CAN be used to predict what MAY happen to the DJIA in the long term. Demographics of the 45-54 age groups are a strong force pushing the markets, but not the only thing. Even the author says that some things like "the New Deal, the pill and the NASDAQ" affect the correlation with this indicator. The politicians and Wall Street are not going to lie down and let this monstrous depression happen without a fight. They my not win the War, but where the DJIA goes in the future has not been case in stone. The future highs and lows of the DJIA are still unpredictable.
The book is a high school treatise on this relationship and to the economically ignorant is a real eye opener. Most economists know about this force, but the key is what to do about it and when. The author's advice to get out of the markets by 2010 is silly at best. We are now in September of 2007 and the housing market bubble burst is probably the beginning of the down turn of the markets. Wait until 2010 to protect your assets and you will far less assets to protect. The author's advice to sell your home and rent and plow your money into bonds is simplistic at best. Investing in gold, foreign currencies, TIPS etc. to protect your assets are other stratigies that are not addressed. We are all speeding towards this economic depression, but the answers to when it will happen and what to do about protecting your assets is NOT even close to being addressed by this book. The book is $8.95 and you get what you pay for, "a wakeup call for the economically ignorant". Read the book and move onto a more advanced book for a better in depth discussion on economics and your money like "The Second Great Depression (Paperback) by Warren Brussee (Author)". I do agree that a lot of pain is ahead for the world.
Not Bad But Too Short and Too Extreme.......2007-08-22
Let me start by saying that this is a pretty good book for the price and if you don't know what is going on in the economy. The problem is that the book has very limited data to back up the predictions. If you are going to make huge predictions you had better justify it with a lot of credible data that has been referenced. As well, some of the predictions are just too extreme. However, all of these shortcomings aside, the author provides a nice short treatment on what will most likely occur; just not to the extent he has presented in my opinion. Of course, opinions are like debt in America - everyone has their own!
A much more useful book in my opinion is "Cashing in on the Real Estate Bubble." It not only shows you many different ways to profit from the current bubble collapse, but it also shows a lot of detail about the economy and how to profit from America's overall credit bubble. Cashing in on the Real Estate Bubble
Interesting theory but..........2007-07-09
This book is short and easy to read. The author has an interesting concept that the stock market follows the number of Americans at their peak buying age. His graphs and explanations on modifying factors make everything fit. I agree that some correction of our economy (inflation, recession, or worse) is likely in the future, but I feel other factors (energy issues, our national debt, terrorism, etc.) will come into play that he has not taken into account. I also don't agree with his investment suggestions and feel they may be reckless.
If you're concerned about possible bad times ahead, this is one book that may helpful, but I better liked the reasoning and proposals on what to do in Stephen Leeb's book The Coming Economic Collapse: How You Can Thrive When Oil Costs 200 Dollars a Barrel.
Excellent Read.......2007-05-14
Pros:
1. Brief: to the point, no fluff book(let)
2. Logical: Numbers support theory all along
3. Simple: Easy to understand
4. Value: Could save your shirt
Cons:
1. May sound too negative
2. May not consider all factors into forecasting
Pretty interesting read.......2007-05-12
This book and the argument that it lays out is pretty eye-opening. It shows you, through logical argument, how the demographics of our country will impact our coming future economic health. With these baby-boomers greying and falling from their peak spending years, our country will experience a downshift that will really challenge our concept of prosperity... A must read!
Books:
- A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
- A Piece of Cake: A Memoir
- A Thousand Splendid Suns
- Albert Einstein: Out of My Later Years Through His Own Words
- All I Need to Know About Manufacturing I Learned in Joe's Garage: World Class Manufacturing Made Simple
- America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It
- American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation
- Animal Farm (Signet Classics)
- Been There, Should've Done That II : More Tips for Making the Most of College
- Behind the Lines: Powerful and Revealing American and Foreign War Letters -- and One Man's Search to Find Them
Books Index
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Infidel
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