No One's Even Bleeding
by Lenny Castellaneta
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (01 May, 2002)
list price: $19.95 -- our price: $19.95
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Reviews (18)

The book grows on you
Let's get something straight. "No one's even bleeding" is far from being an erudite piece of literature (not to mention that the language is mediocre, colloquial and chit-chatty throughout), but there is something truly authentic about the work. You genuinely feel that Castellanetta has struggled as a substitute teacher and has struggled even more to realise his ill-fated dream of becoming a Hollywood script-writer. The back cover of the book refers to John Lennon's quote, "life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." Ive never felt the significance of this sentence more than when I read "No one's even bleeding." An ordinary tale of a dream gone haywire, but one that depicts it's authors journey well. He hoped, aimed and lived for one thing, but spent years stumbling onto other unexpected things along the way.

I cant say that the book is "hilarious" as other reviewers have. At best, it is very amusing...but silently so. I didnt crack up hysterically or have milk coming out of my nose as other reviewers claimed. But I was entertained enough to give this book 4 stars. The quality of the humour can be cheap at times, with too many wise-cracks and a little too much self-depracation. However, it's the insanity of the school system Castellanetta describes which really had me entertained....I read with wide-eyed surprise. And Castellanetta isnt bluffing either, that's the thing, he is merely re-iterating what he went through as a sub. in LA's notorious public schools. While Im saying this, I should make it a point to mention as well that the author is by no means a soppy innocence-ridden victim, he's a big bundle of mischief and touts around a pretty lax set of morals. He might offend a few readers. Still, I think he's likeable because he makes no claims of sainthood. He describes it as it is.

All in all, though the book's a bit expensive, I think it's worth reading, if only for the fact that it will teach you a very important thing: if you have the option, do not dare send your kids to public schools in California !!!!

Save your money
I really wanted to like this and am by no means a snob about writing but this is the first book I've ever read that I wondered how it even got published.As other reviews have said it repeats itself a lot and comes across so amateurish it's questionable any sort of editorial process happened.That the author pursued writing for TV sitcoms is not surprising.It's simplistic like a sitcom, most of the jokes are flat (and many not so much a joke but a cliche) and it's so disjointed it'd have been better structured as a series of essays.There are some good core stories here with the potential to be funny but it consistently fails.

Starts off good....but gets boring
The book starts off good and interesting, but I feel like some parts are repetitive.Nothing new or exciting is ever introduced.Kind of like a long soap-opera.I still haven't finished the book because after reading about 3/4 of it; I just don't have a desire to finish the book because it doesn't seem like anything meaningful is going to happen.
... Read more

Isbn: 1591291275
Sales Rank: 471772
Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - General    3. General   

Delano
by John Orozco
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (1999)
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Reviews (28)

Delano
John Orozco is a brilliant satirist...His humor will have you smiling inwardly and laughing outloud from the first sentence to the last.

"College fits your lifestyle."
After shooting off his big toe in Vietnam, Edward Delano returns home, and then is surprisingly accepted as a freshman at Del Norte State College in Northern California. Edward selects Del Norte based on the fact that it's cheap and far away. Edward's problems with higher education begin the moment he steps on campus, and his first challenge is finding a place to live.Students advertise for roommates based on either political or sexual criteria--"Neo-Trotskyite", "Neo-Buddhist, semi-vegetarian" or "Eco-feminist" are a few examples.

Edward's college career is in a slump but begins to turn around when he meets the legendary character, Winston Ashford Gonzales, a graduate student who works as an assistant in one of Edward's English classes. For the paltry sum of $50 a month, Winston offers to tutor Edward in the art of "how to succeed in college without doing any work at all." With the money in hand, Winston proceeds to show Edward how to thwart the system by using his tried and true methods. These methods include studying the professor and parroting back habits and phrases, dressing like a professor, checking out all the research books from the library, and reading the Cliff Note versions of reading texts.Soon Edward becomes an 'A' student and even begins impressing some of the female students.

The novel charts Edward's college life, and includes brushes with the New People's Army, various girlfriends, unsavoury roommates, and a vengeful biker. While the novel is funny in spots, for the most part, I found the characters uninteresting. The chapter about Edward's selective deafness was the most entertaining, but I found the characterizations--particularly of women rather disappointing. They seem to be mere caricatures. In addition, some of the book's opinions of political correctness rather interfered with the believability factor--for example, Edward takes a class on Hemingway, and the angry female students protest about the absence of female authors studied in the course. Consequently, the professor, under duress, adds Willa Cather, and Virginia Woolf. But by the fourth week, men are banned from the course too. Personally, I found this a little heavy-handed, and rather unfunny. Overall, this was a mediocre read, and not that funny--displacedhuman

A lot of fun
We read this book for my book club, and it was a nice break from a lot of serious reading we had been doing. As a college professor, I felt the author really captured quite humorously some of the ridiculousness that goes on in education. I found myself laughing out loud so many times as I marvelled at the truth of so much of the absurdity depicted. Not only that, but we are a women's book club, and we really enjoyed the male perspective of college life in this funny satire. ... Read more

Isbn: 0966481615
Sales Rank: 220355
Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Graphic Novels - General    3. Satire   

Slaughterhouse-Five
by KURT VONNEGUT
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (03 November, 1991)
list price: $7.50 -- our price: $6.75
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Editorial Review

Kurt Vonnegut's absurdist classic Slaughterhouse-Five introduces us to Billy Pilgrim, a man who becomes unstuck in time after he is abducted by aliens from the planet Tralfamadore. In a plot-scrambling display of virtuosity, we follow Pilgrim simultaneously through all phases of his life, concentrating on his (and Vonnegut's) shattering experience as an American prisoner of war who witnesses the firebombing of Dresden.

Don't let the ease of reading fool you--Vonnegut's isn't a conventional, or simple, novel. He writes, "There are almost no characters in this story, and almost no dramatic confrontations, because most of the people in it are so sick, and so much the listless playthings of enormous forces. One of the main effects of war, after all, is that people are discouraged from being characters..." Slaughterhouse-Five (taken from the name of the building where the POWs were held) is not only Vonnegut's most powerful book, it is as important as any written since 1945. Like Catch- 22, it fashions the author's experiences in the Second World War into an eloquent and deeply funny plea against butchery in the service of authority. Slaughterhouse-Five boasts the sameimagination, humanity, and gleeful appreciation of the absurd found in Vonnegut's other works, but the book's basis in rock-hard, tragic fact gives it a unique poignancy--and humor. ... Read more

Reviews (519)

A Mind-bending Romp of a book! A Unique Classic!
"Listen: Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time." That's how the second chapter, which really is the first chapter, of Slaughter-house Five begins. It's simplistic and beautiful. That is one reason why Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. is my favorite author.

This sentence alone can barely prepare you for the trip that lies ahead. The novel is about Billy Pilgrim, of course, and his realization that time has no meaning. He shifts from being a semi-retired optometrist after his only daughter is grown and his wife has died, to a young, lost, and hopeless infantry man in WWII, and then best of all, a captive of the Tralfamadorians on their planet Tralfamadore in a zoo with B-movie actress Montana Wildhack. Vonnegut skips back and forth, as does our main character Bill--Billy just deals with it, not knowing when he'll be where, and often showing up in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The novel is a brilliant anti-war novel. People have tried to classify it as a war novel, since part of it is set during WWII during the fire-bombing of Dresden. And others have tried to say it was science fiction, since the main character does travel back and forth in time and spends time putting on sex shows for an alien race in a zoo. But the novel is almost undefinable as for as genres go, as is most of Vonnegut's novels.

The novel says to me: "What does this all matter anyway? Time is not important. So why waste time on war when it will all end in time?" In fact, Pilgrim says that the Tralfamadorians do not even mourn death because they realize that time is but a long stream of events, and that if one moment in time is bad, then there are thousands upon thousands of other moments that aren't so bad. Why not spend time in the moments of time that are dear to us, or are worth reliving instead of dwelling on the bad times? Instead of spending a day at a funeral, wouldn't you rather be at the awesome baseball game your dad took you to when you were 11? Of course you would.

Slaughter-house Five is also extremely funny, just like any of Vonnegut's works. Often Vonnegut infuses us in odd situations that I can't help but laugh aloud at. An example is when one moment Billy is making love to Montana Wildhack in their glass dome cage on Tralfamadore and then he is thrust dreamily into the snowy Dresden countryside with an inane understanding of the brutality that surrounds him. Wonderful stuff. Other times, Vonnegut's dry wit prevails, and you find yourself rereading a sentence or two just to make sure that he wrote what you thought he wrote.

Some people may find Vonnegut's style a little confusing or at worst deranged. But I say give the novel a chance. If this one is too much for you, start with Cat's Cradle, and then move on to Slaughter-house Five. But definitely read both. Another, more recent novel I highly recommend is The Losers' Club: Complete Restored Edition by Richard Perez - a very engaging, funny book.

Great Book
I started reading Vonnegut on the advice of a friend.I started with Slaughterhouse Five because I had heard the title before.I must say that I really enjoyed it.The style is realy quite refreshing and the plot itself is brilliant.The reason that I only gave it four stars was because of the unnecessary use of graphic sexual description.I understand that some writers may feel that they need to use these sort of descriptions in their writing, but I, for one, believe that a book can be just as good without these references.My reading experience has never been elevated by the inclusion of such content.Still, though, a very good book overall.

Just brilliant
I read Slaughterhouse-Five three times and enjoyed every part of it those moments that I occupied myself with the book. Vonnegut is an amazing writer, so creative, brilliant, clever and witty that some of his words are difficult to forget. This was the first book I read by Kurt Vonnegut, and it was recommended to me by a friend. While I was reading it the first time, I tried to understand why it had become so much of a talked about read. At the end of it, I understood. As someone who witnessed the Dresden bombing, the author portrayed his insight of war through the character of Billy Pilgrim, who was serving the US army during World War II a private. It is a fantastic anti-war book, or more a book with a sobering effect on war mongers. The overwhelming destruction of picturesque and artistic Dresden, by Allied bombers is at the centre of the book. The alien part of it was marvelous. This book is easy to understand, the setting is great and the pace is fast, confirmed by the fact that I lost my attention for a minute while reading the book until the last words. This book and DISCIPLES OF FORTUNE, ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT are interesting readsto recommend to any reader who accepts the realities of life. ... Read more

Isbn: 0440180295
Subjects:  1. Classics    2. Fiction    3. Historical - General    4. Literature - Classics / Criticism    5. Science Fiction - General    6. Fiction / Literary   

Ball Four
by JimBouton, LeonardShecter
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (12 July, 1990)
list price: $15.95 -- our price: $10.85
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Editorial Review

As a player, former hurler Jim Bouton did nothing half-way; he threw so hard he'd lose his cap on almost every pitch. In the early '70s, he tossed off one of the funniest, most revealing, insider's takes on baseball life in Ball Four, his diary of the season he tried to pitch his way back from oblivion on the strength of a knuckler. The real curve, though, is Bouton's honesty. He carves humans out of heroes, and shines a light into the game's corners. A quarter century later, Bouton's unique baseball voice can still bring the heat. ... Read more

Reviews (77)

Ball Four: Required Reading for Ball Fans
Bouton's diary-style take on professional baseball in the late 1960s makes for a very funny book that ought to be required reading for any sports fan.

Bouton spent a large part of his career pitching his knuckleball for a variety of big-league teams, including for the Yankees in the 1964 World Series. In Ball Four, Bouton goes from the minors to the Seattle Pilots, then to Houston, over the course of the 1969 season. The book really captures a bygone era of baseball. Salaries were low, bus rides were long, and a lot of big names were still in the game.

The book has a reputation for being funny, and it is. Bouton has a wry sense of humor and a keen eye for human foibles.

A few subjects felt burned, but in this day of athletes accused of drug abuse and criminal behavior, some of the antics that Bouton writes about seem very tame, almost quaint. It's a little hard to see what the fuss was about if you're planted firmly in 2005.

Bouton's observations are fascinating, capturing an era in baseball (and more broadly, in our nation) that has all but disappeared. These were the days before million-dollar contracts and when the length of their hair and sideburns sometimes held the key to a player's future.

Bouton brings the moments alive, so the reader can feel the nerves of a pitcher blowing a game, the joy of running across a big-league field, the frustration of trying to get Gatorade, the speechlessness of finding one's shoes nailed to the clubhouse floor.

Readers should be grateful that someone with a clear, ironic eye had the foresight to take notes and write this book. As Bouton himself says, so many of the funny details would have been lost forever.

For baseball fans, young and old, put this at the top of your summer reading list.

Okay, Mr. Bouton
All I can say is that Jim Bouton should keep us updated periodically: about his life, and about what is happening in baseball and culture generally. I say that because this edition, with its new epilogue, is excellent reading.

What shines through is an intelligent, funny, very likeable, and exceedingly sane -- partially by virtue of his craziness -- person. I think we should be hearing and seeing much more of him than we do: just providing a reasonable voice and open, honest critique of current events. Bouton's voice gives hope somehow.

Keep on keeping on, Mr. Bouton!

Hilarious and Unprecedented
Ball Four is a great book about life in the Major Leagues. You must read it. ... Read more

Isbn: 0020306652
Subjects:  1. Baseball    2. Baseball - General    3. Baseball players    4. Biography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Bouton, Jim    7. Coaching - Baseball    8. General    9. Personal Memoirs    10. Sports & Recreation    11. United States    12. Biography: sport    13. Sports & Recreation / Baseball / Essays & Writings    14. USA   

The Bronx Zoo
by Sparky Lyle
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (01 February, 1980)
list price: $10.75
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Reviews (11)

Funny at times, but also pretty whiny
In this "diary" (what diary has a co-author?) of his season with the Yankees in 1978, Lyle reveals the tension and lunacy of that memorable year.Only problem is, Lyle's frequent whining about being put on the back burner for the younger, stronger, and better Goose Gossage gets tiresome after awhile.It almost made me want to put down the book.While his inside info is nice, he puts himself ahead of the team at times by leaving before a game ends.At times you felt bad for Sparky for being shunned, other times you want to slap him for being so selfish.At any rate, I'd recommend getting Roger Kahn's "October Men" as a reference for the 1978 Yankees before this one.

From Cy Young to Sayonara (with apologies to Graig Nettles)
This book follows the "Ball Four" formula of a seasonal diary, in this case the 1978 season through the eyes of Sparky Lyle.And what a season it was - Lyle goes from Cy Young award winner to set-up man as he is beat out for the closer job by the younger, faster, stronger Goose Gossage.At the same time Lyle is trying to deal with his professional decline, the Yankees make an astounding comeback, catch the Red Sox, beat the Royals in the ALCS and then win the World Series defeating the Dodgers.But the real focus of the book (or at least Lyle's attention) is off-the-field - especially the interaction with Yankee owner George Steinbrenner and Lyle's demands to salvage his professional honor and career.In a sort of sad post-script Lyle got his wish and was traded to the Rangers, yet never reattained the form that made him the Cy Young winner in 1977.

The Book That Started My Love For Non Fiction Books
What can I say? The Bronx Zoo is a deffinet 5 star read! Sparkey Weaves a story that should be made into a movie! Lyle finds himself in a paradox. He is coming off a year in which he won the CY Young award and yet how does he get rewarded for his success? the Boss goes out and signs the hottest Free Agent releif pitcher on the open market to take Sparkey's job. All that plus the trinity of drama that was George Stienbrenner, Billy Martin and Reggie Jackson. Inspite of turmoil the Yankees Manage to come from 14 games back in June to go on to humble my favorite team (LA Dodgers)in the world Series! A must read for anyone who calls themselves a baseball historian! ... Read more

Isbn: 0440107644
Sales Rank: 630583
Subjects:  1. Baseball    2. Baseball club (American League)    3. New York (City).    4. New York Yankees   

Perfect I'm Not: Boomer on Beer, Brawls, Backaches, and Baseball
by David Wells, Chris Kreski
Average Customer Review:
Hardcover (March, 2003)
list price: $25.95 -- our price: $17.13
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Editorial Review

Perfect I'm Not is, indeed, not a perfect book, but as in baseball, literary imperfection can make for a thrilling ride. Part Horatio Alger, part libertine, Wells peppers the narrative of his rise from poverty in Ocean Beach, California to baseball fame and fortune with numerous prurient tales from behind the locker room door. He is frank about the use of steroids among his fellow players and he's not afraid to burn major bridges (one must assume they were already on fire) in his ferocious attacks on such baseball luminaries as veteran general manager Pat Gillick. And the story behind his woozy perfect game is legend. All this is entertaining stuff and worth the price of admission.

The book, however, falls too often into a pattern of explication and justification for Wells’s "entertaining" run-ins with the law, baseball management, players, and even his own family. We learn that young Dave Wells once punched his sister and broke her jaw, but, he explains, this was because his sister had scraped his sunburned back with her fingernails. This childhood story is then repeated--in a grown up form--several times. In many cases, it does seem that he is justified in claiming innocence--or at least in claiming he got an eye for an eye. But repetition of these explications--which even include bad pitching performances caused, we learn, by nascent physical problems (elbow, shoulder, bone chips, gout, back)--take away his agency in his own story. The hero is always a victim. In the end, then, the book is as flawed as its author, offering entertaining insight--some perhaps unintentional--into the man and his game.

--Patrick O’Kelley ... Read more

Reviews (40)

Perfect He isnt...Overweight he is
This book was pure garbage. Wells is pure garbage. How do you have a guy like this and call him an athlete. First off he is egotistical and really has no reason to be, he's not that good of a pitcher. Secondly when I watch that gut on the mound and trying to run and bend down to NOT be able to pick up a bunted baseball because of afore mentioned gut is purely hilarious and sad at the same time. Its like watchin my drunk, Harley loving Uncle play wiffle ball with the kids at a family outing.

All he did was capitalize on shock value and seems like a rude person with very low morals. GARBAGE!!!!

Good, Bad, Ugly -- all that and a lot more Boomer
At times he comes off as a long, lost best friend and at others he is a self-inflated, self-absorbed ass.He is a colorful character providing illuminating stories from the earliest days of playing rookie ball and Venezualan winter ball with beer guzzling, tail chasing future MLB players including Pat Borders, Cecil Fielder, Rob Duecy, and Todd Stottlemyre to the later days as a member of the Yankees.Wells is a good pitcher with a booming personality who pitched for some great teams and of course will always be remembered for his May 17, 1998 perfect game.His career numbers do not support his own assessed value (4.04 ERA, 1 year with at least 20 wins) but his book will stay on the top shelf of my collection of baseball books.

I found myself laughing out loud over and over again.Steroid and cortisone stories aside, Wells adds candid insight into the managerial and GM activities from every team he played for (up to the end of the 2002 season).Inside observations are made on notable managers (Cito Gaston, Sparky Ansderson, Davy Johnson, Joe Torre, and Jim Fregosi) and GMs ("stand" Pat Gillick, Gord Ash, Jim Bowden, Ken Williams, and Brian Cashman).Wells also includes colorful stories of two of the most notoriously hated and loved baseball owners of the last 50 eyars -- Marge Schott and George Steinbrenner.

It was odd to read the momentum praise and glory of the '98 Yankees who won 114 games without any mention of the record-tying 116 wins by the '01 Seattle Mariners .By failing to mention this incredible milestone, he appeared to be protecting the legacy of the 114 win NY team.He should have mentioned the 116 win Seattle team and emphasized the fact that the NY team went on to finish like champions by winning the world series.Wells also slights some players by limiting praise to his favorite teamates.For example, the contribution of Alfonso Soriano and Roger Clemens in NY is clearly understated.Huge character, raging hair band air guitar junkie, and pure attitude live in the pages of this book, making it a worthy read for any baseball fan.

Great Read
Great baseball (auto)biography.Fun to read and not just about the game but about life around the game.There are moments when you cannot help but laugh out loud.Read this book.It explains why Boomer is Boomer.

Recommend: The Last Commissioner - Fay Vincent, Catcher in the Wry - Bob Uecker, Zim - Don Zimmer, anything by Yogi, Moneyball ... Read more

Isbn: 0060508248
Subjects:  1. 1963-    2. Baseball - General    3. Baseball players    4. Biography    5. Biography & Autobiography    6. Biography / Autobiography    7. Biography/Autobiography    8. Sports - Baseball    9. Sports - General    10. United States    11. Wells, David,    12. Sports & Recreation / Baseball / General    13. Wells, David   

What Should I Do with My Life?
by PO BRONSON
Average Customer Review:
Hardcover (24 December, 2002)
list price: $24.95
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Editorial Review

In What Should I Do with My Life? Po Bronson manages to create a career book that is a page-turner.His 50 vivid profiles of people searching for "their soft spot--their true calling" will engage readers because Bronson is asking himself the same question. He explores his premise, that "nothing is braver than people facing up to their own identity," as an anthropologist and autobiographer. He tackles thorny, nuanced issues about self-determination. Among them: paradoxes of money and meaning, authorship and destiny, brain candy and novelty versus soul food. Bronson’s stories, limited to professional people and complete with photos, are gems. They include a Los Angeles lawyer who became a priest, a Harvard MBA catfish farmer turned biotech executive, and a Silicon Valley real estate agent who opened a leather crafts factory in Costa Rica.

Bronson is a gifted intuitive writer, the bestselling author of The Nudist on the Late Shift, whose thoughtful, vulnerable voice emerges as the book’s greatest strength and challenge. He describes his subject’s lives along with the ways they annoy, puzzle, and worry him. He frets about meddling with his questions, yet once, memorably and appropriately, he offers a talented man a top post in his publishing company.While this creates the juiciness of his portraits, it also can make Bronson the book’s most memorable character and the only one whose story is not resolved. Even so, this remarkable career chronicle sets the gold standard for the worth of the examined life.--Barbara Mackoff ... Read more

Reviews (255)

worst book i have ever read
This book was terrible. It was all about rich people complaining about what they should do with their life. In this book Po Branson makes out janitors and other low paying jobs as not having any meaning. When are people like Po and these other rich people in the book gonna realize that a job does not make the person. After all jesus was a carpernter and look at the signifigance of his personality. According to Po and the rich people in this book a carpenter wouldnt be a good enough profession for them. The people in this book disgust me with their consumerism and shallow personalities. All they care about is themselves and what other people will think of them. I dont define myself by the job I work or the things I own. But the people in this book all care about those meaningless things.

The Po-man cometh
There seems to be a lot of excuses for this book in the reviews of the..."I liked it but well am not sure why and hey stop picking on my buddy Po, He is trying OK."

Basically Po says in several hours of book tapes, using almost exclusively highly educated multi-degree, high powered subjects, from California (which the average person may not relate to, myself included) that in order to make a life change and discover what you should do with your life, something must happen in order to make the decision personal. Making a life decision personal adds power and in my opinion this is good advice and really the whole take home of the book.

Basically, you need to be either be fired from your high powered, well paid, in most of the cases in the book banking, financial or lawyer job, be fed up with your life and make a change, experience a family or physical crisis or cue into a special calling through a series of random events which you should/could now look closely at for clues (but there is not much advise on how to do that)...then actually act on this input/calling/life event.

There is not much advising on how to take action, merely stories on people who took action. I was not even sure if the people featured were certain that these "callings" were a right fit. The stories centered on in-between transitional time.This to me felt more like a book entitled..."What I should do with my life, while I am figuring out what I should do with my life."

The book does not provide any real clarification on how we are supposed to decide what we should do or if that decision is correct if we do make one. Mostly it seems like trial and error with some follow your heart warm and fussiness thrown in which if that is what the book is about that would be fine...yet it did not provide any solace in what would appear to be a lengthy process.

We do get to meet some interesting people along the way, yet I feel that if I sat down and had a heart to heart chat with the average group of people during lunch time at my local health food store who were doing interesting things, I would hear a similar grouping of experiences and stories.

On a positive note, Po has a calm and relaxed voice that makes for an enjoyable listen, for those who get the audio book. I also commend Po for tackling what is a very tricky subject. There seems to be a lot of grains of salt taken with this read. I also recommend having your saltshaker handy.

One of the most important books on life
The chapters worth reading?

Intro, 3, 18, 20, 25, 28, 29, 30, 34, 35, 37, 38, 42, 44, 46, 47, 48, and 54.

Enough said. ... Read more

Isbn: 0375507493
Subjects:  1. Careers - General    2. Motivational & Inspirational    3. Personal Growth - General    4. Philosophy    5. Political    6. Psychology    7. Self-actualization (Psychology    8. Self-actualization (Psychology)    9. Self-realization    10. Self-Help / General   

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind : An Unauthorized Autobiography
by Chuck Barris
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (27 November, 2002)
list price: $14.00 -- our price: $11.20
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Reviews (29)

Interesting - Regardless of the truth...
Forget whether or not it's real.It's a good yarn that is convincingly told.Funnily enough, the parts of the story that concentrate on his role as a CIA agent are probably less interesting than his life as a gameshow producer and his own inability to be content with anyone or anything.

"The Homicide Game"
I saw the movie "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" first and then I read the book.As interesting and well made as the movie is, the book is actually better.I was a regular viewerof Mr. Barris's television programs and watched them quite a bit when I was growing up along with millions of other boomers.

It is a strange leap from producing "The Dating Game" and "The Newlywed Game" to being a contestant in Barris' real life version of "The Homicide Game."Yet, this is precisely what this story from Mr. Barris asks the reader to believe.Yet something in the back of my mind tells me that it is not actually all that difficult to imagine Mr. Barris actually saying, "And now here's a prize selected especially for you.It's a three-eighty hollow-point!"

I always thought Chuck Barris did not deserve all the vile and spiteful things that were said about him during his television producer days by critics and so-called media experts.He was just giving America what it wanted.Compared to the infantile sitcoms of the day, his game shows were far more mentally engaging.The first book I read by Barris was "The Game Show King: A Confession" and I was amazed at how well he wrote.But then again, this is a well educated, well traveled mature man who has lived life above and beyond the everyday Joe since 1965, so I should not have been as surprised as I was."Game Show King" is a better insight into his complex and fascinating personality than "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" and does not get into the CIA angle at all.

That Barris is just plain wired differently from normal people is obvious to anyone who ever saw "The Gong Show."However accepting that what he wrote in "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" could all be true is certainly a stretch. Yet Mr. Barris is clever enough to make his story very convincing and extremely entertaining.There are very few clues here that he could be making the entire thing up, but they are there for informed readers.For only one example, he writes about CIA operations which happened in the USA.Of course, this is specifically forbidden by law and they simply wouldn't do that.They would get the FBI to do it.There are other very minor details that are also questionable.

The true mystery of this book and its sequel "Bad Grass Never Dies" isn't whether or not the CIA angle is true.The real mystery is that since Barris doesn't need the money why does he bother to write these books at all?As of yet his true motivation remains a mystery, but I wouldn't be surprised if his next book is about why he wrote the "Sunny Sixkiller" books.I've seen him interviewed and he's been extremely evasive when directly questioned on the story's validity.None the less, this is one very enjoyable book that I had trouble putting down and finished in no time flat.I was left wanting more.I really enjoy Barris's writing style.I think he could have been an everyman's Tom Clancy or Ian Fleming if he'd really wanted to be.Instead of carving a literary legacy for himself, he will be remembered primarily as "Chuckie-Baby" Barris, the apparently deranged master of disaster on "The Gong Show."This is a pity as he writes so well.The ending of this book is really very good.The ending of the film it is just not as good.I would have enjoyed reading an entire "Sunny Sixkiller" series if he had written one.

Refreshing and Intriguing
Though I read this account two years ago, I still vividly recall of my impressions.This is not a book you soon forget.Though some say this is hype or improbable, I found it believable and think it was accurately written (however,I am sure certain details were left out).Mr. Barris makes no apologies for his behavior, which I found particularly interesting because to do what he did one would have to be able to be an emotionless sociopath or psychopath. He is obviously highly intelligent and for someone who created many of the game shows we still watch 40 years later, this was the ultimate game! Anyone who favors the genre of murder mysteries or finds True Crime intriguing, would not want to pass up this book.I also think those in law enforcement and the psychology professions would gain insight into the motivations of a hired killer.
If you enjoyed the movie, the book is much better!
... Read more

Isbn: 0786888083
Sales Rank: 22738
Subjects:  1. Barris, Chuck    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Entertainment & Performing Arts - General    7. Entertainment & Performing Arts - Television Personalities    8. Personal Memoirs    9. Television personalities    10. Television producers and direc    11. Television producers and directors    12. United States    13. Biography & Autobiography / Entertainment & Performing Arts   

Kingdom of Fear : Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the Final Days of the American Century
by Hunter S. Thompson
Average Customer Review:
Hardcover (07 January, 2003)
list price: $25.00
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Editorial Review

Kingdom of Fear is billed as a memoir, but in essence, all of Hunter S. Thompson's books could fit into this category since his life and work have always been tightly bound together by a mythology largely of his own making. (After all, this is the man who, before earning a single dollar as a writer, began meticulously saving a copy of every letter he ever sent.) Still, this is certainly an unconventional memoir, but then what would you expect from the father of gonzo journalism? In these pages Thompson manages to dig deep and reveal a few "loathsome secrets" without offering the kind of personal details he has always avoided. His childhood, for instance, is basically summed up in a sentence: "I look back on my youth with great fondness, but I would not recommend it as a working model to others." He does, however, reflect upon his considerable legacy, including his well-known, and admittedly exaggerated, use of controlled substances ("The brutal reality of politics alone would probably be intolerable without drugs"), as well as offer assessments of his own work, such as Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas ("It's as good as The Great Gatsby and better than The Sun Also Rises").

In this collection of twisted parables and outlaw adventures, Thompson writes about his early run-ins with agents of authority and the lessons learned; his stint in the Air Force and the beginning of his journalism career; his unsuccessful, though illuminating, bid for Sheriff of Aspen, Colorado in 1970 as the Freak Power candidate; the casualties and unintended consequences thus far in the War on Terror; and numerous examples of present-day injustice and hypocrisy--all with his characteristic mix of brutal frankness laced with humor. He also offers his own take on state of the Union: "The prevailing quality of life in America--by any accepted methods of measuring--was inarguably freer and more politically open under Nixon than it is today in this evil year of Our Lord 2002." Thompson continues to make even the most deadly serious subject matter endlessly entertaining. --Shawn Carkonen ... Read more

Reviews (42)

its a great book
i own this book, and i have to say mr. thompson is one of my favorite authors, this book gives secrets to some of his life, while making you laugh and think hard at the same time, i perticularly like the story at the begining of the book about the mailbox, and later on while in the interview he talks about why he got a lawyer, and how he admits to have worked in the "sex" bussiness when he was younger, its a good read, a must for all thompsons fans, or just fans of gonzo journalism/novlism in general

Entertaining and thought-provoking but a bit incoherent.
This is my first taste of Thompson's adrenaline-fuelled writing and although entertaining and thought-provoking, I'm left with mixed feelings about the book's overall coherency. There's no denying Thompson is a talented writer with the ability to dig his nails into you, dragging you on a wild rollercoaster ride, but at the same time he tends to come off the rails every now and then and take you on massive, sometimes pointless, detours before finishing off the original thread. However, the energy of his writing still makes these sidetracks entertaining.

This book is not an autobiography by any means, more a collection of anecdotes which highlight Thompson's central theme of an America wrought with Fear, demanding justice at the expense of individual liberties. According to Hunter, America is in decline - it is the end of the American Century - and he'll go down fighting and screaming to protect the rights of the individual already eroded by the Bush administration. Will you join him in protecting the liberty on which America was founded or stand by and watch as we slowly bequeath our rights to the State?

That is Thompson's main point but often it gets lost in the fog of his stream-of-consciousness prose. I'm still not sure what relevance his Cuba visit had to the overall theme and there are other instances where he seems to ramble on for no apparent reason, diluting the central message of the book. As I mentioned earlier though, he's a fantastically energetic writer who mostly gets away with this through the addictive power of his words. This book is a good read so don't be frightened off by the above criticism; I'm merely preparing you to be yanked all over the place while Thompson gets his point across. The core theme of the book is such that it will hopefully shock you into action. As Thompson quotes Edmund Burke, 'The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing.'

Perfect prose
I was in the biography department of a bookshop thinking that I didn't really need to read another life of Jane Austen when a display of Hunter S. Thompson's paperbacks caught my eye.It's a tenuous link but a friend of mine was an extra in the film adaptation of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", so I picked up a copy of KoF and was blown away.

Right at the beginning where Thompson describes a childhood meeting with the CIA and again at the end when he's involved in a motor crash, the author writes what I can only describes as perfect prose,

"All these things have happened and probably they will happen again.I have learned a few tricks along the way, a few random skills and simple avoidance techniques - but mainly it has been luck, I think, and a keen attention to karma, along with my natural girlish charm."

I have no interest in drugs, fast cars or pimps yet, as with all great writers, it hardly matters what they take as subject matter since they have you in the palm of their hands.Thompson not only tells you about his mad life, he takes you there.This is a classic of non-fiction writing, gonzo journalism at its peak. ... Read more

Isbn: 0684873230
Subjects:  1. American Journalism    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Editors, Journalists, Publishers    7. Journalists    8. Literary    9. Personal Memoirs    10. Thompson, Hunter S    11. United States    12. Biography & Autobiography / General   

The Sopranos Family Cookbook: As Compiled by Artie Bucco
by Allen Rucker, Michele Scicolone
Average Customer Review:
Hardcover (24 September, 2002)
list price: $19.95 -- our price: $13.57
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Reviews (60)

Yuck
As an Italian-American, I cringe at anything associated with the continued presentation of this ethnic group as stupid, violent, abusive gangsters. Why other Italian-Americans want to take part in and further promote this stereotype is beyond me.

This is a fun cook book
The Italians like to eat. I know - I married one.They always try to force food down your throat even though you may have just ate an hour ago or you are full. Anyway, this is pretty cool for a cookbook. I like all the little stories in it as well.
I also am not related to the actor that plays Artie on Sopranos because it is my married name. I just hate that they call red sauce "gravy"...it makes my skin crawl. Gravy is brown or white!But if you are a Sopranos fan you will like this. I am way to lazy to cook any of this stuff but I like to read it.

A very good cookbook
I got a little bit of Soprano in my blood line, Of course mine is on the Iowa timber side of the family...My mom bought me this book for Christmas and I must say it's a keeper! [...]

I learned to cook by being in the kitchen with my mom, and every Sunday and especially on holidays, we'd make macaroni (we never called it pasta) meatballs and sausage, and if it was an occasion, bracciole. Gravy (not sauce) cooked all morning, flavored by the meat. Today I make these recipes but have never had them written down. Reading through the different dishes in the cookbook, I see that they are prepared exactly the way my family has always made them. I can't wait to try some of the other dishes I've always loved but didn't know how to cook.
... Read more

Isbn: 0446530573
Sales Rank: 2680
Subjects:  1. Cookery, Italian    2. Cooking    3. Cooking / Wine    4. Italian cooking    5. Regional & Ethnic - Italian    6. Sopranos (Television program)    7. Television - General    8. Cooking / Italian   

Holidays on Ice : Stories
by David Sedaris
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (01 November, 1998)
list price: $8.95 -- our price: $8.05
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Editorial Review

Holidays on Ice is a collection of three previously published stories matched with three newer ones, all, of course, on a Christmas theme. David Sedaris's darkly playful humor is another common thread through the book, worming its way through "Seasons Greetings to Our Friends and Family!!!" a chipper suburban Christmas letter that spirals dizzily out of control, and "Front Row Center with Thaddeus Bristol," a vicious theatrical review of children's Christmas pageants. As always, Sedaris's best work is his sharply observed nonfiction, notably in "Dinah, the Christmas Whore," the tale of a memorable Christmas during which the young Sedaris learns to see his family in a new light. Worth the price of the book alone is the hilarious "SantaLand Diaries," Sedaris's chronicle of his time working as an elf at Macy's, covering everything from the preliminary group lectures ("You are not a dancer. If you were a real dancer you wouldn't be here. You're an elf and you're going to wear panties like an elf.") to the perils of inter-elf flirtation. Along the way, he paints a funny and sad portrait of the way the countless parents who pass through SantaLand are too busy creating an Experience to really pay attention to their children. In a sly way, it carries a holiday message all its own. Read it aloud to the adults after the kids have gone to bed. --Ali Davis ... Read more

Reviews (132)

A Great Introduction to Sedaris
David Sedaris could be one of the funniest writers of our generation. His semi-autobiographical essays make me laugh out loud. Sedaris views the world through cynical, yet witty eyes. His brutal commentary on society makes one blink and then chuckle.

The Santaland Diaries is one of the 6 essays in the book, and by far the best. This biographical tale of Sedaris' time as a Christmas elf in a department store is critical of himself, parents, the tiny children and Santa himself. Now made into a hit play that tours the nation, especially at Christmas, there's nothing like reading Sedaris' first hand account of slightly bored, slightly crazy out of work actors struggling to make a buck.

Dinah, the Christmas Hore, is my other favorite holiday offering in this collection. This tells the story of Sedaris' sister, who brings an unexpected guest to the family's holiday celebrations. Suddenly, David sees everyone in his family in a whole new way--sometimes that's a good thing and sometimes it's not.

In the end, David Sedaris comes through with another winning collection. Every book he writes is funny, but this one makes an especially nice gift. Besides HOLIDAYS ON ICE, another recent Amazon purchase I enjoyed was THE LOSERS' CLUB: Complete Restored Edition by Richard Perez, a truly lively, funny book.

Decent
Some of the stories are absolutely hilarious while others are so-so.If you love Sedaris, you'll probably be a little disappointed as it's not as good as his other work.It'd be a good break from holiday stress.

Buy this and re-read it every holiday season!
Brilliant!Disturbing!Deliciously short and appropriate for holiday evening reading.Tuck this one in your travel bag when you go home for the holidays to use as an escape or distraction.I don't want to give too much away, but the piece on working as an elf at Santaland should be familiar to public radio listeners, and it is hilarious.The visciously biting review of an elementary school Christmas pageant, "Front Row Center with Thaddeus Bristol" is another terrific read.

This is a book to own and open up every holiday season to read the stories over again.Pass it around the house.It's a very quick read.
... Read more

Isbn: 0316779237
Subjects:  1. American - General    2. Christmas stories, American    3. Fiction    4. Form - Essays    5. General    6. Humor    7. Humorous    8. Humorous stories, American    9. Short Stories (single author)    10. Short stories    11. Fiction / Humorous   

Skipping Christmas
by JOHN GRISHAM
Average Customer Review:
Hardcover (29 October, 2002)
list price: $14.95 -- our price: $10.17
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Editorial Review

John Grisham turns a satirical eye on the overblown ritual of the festive holiday season, and the result is Skipping Christmas, a modest but funny novel about the tyranny of December 25. Grisham's story revolves around a typical middle-aged American couple, Luther and Nora Krank. On the first Sunday after Thanksgiving they wave their daughter Blair off to Peru to work for the Peace Corps, and they suddenly realize that "for the first time in her young and sheltered life Blair would spend Christmas away from home."

Luther Krank sees his daughter's Christmas absence as an opportunity. He estimates that "a year earlier, the Luther Krank family had spent $6,100 on Christmas," and have "precious little to show for it." So he makes an executive decision, telling his wife, friends, and neighbors that "we won't do Christmas." Instead, Luther books a 10-day Caribbean cruise. But things start to turn nasty when horrified neighbors get wind of the Krank's subversive scheme and besiege the couple with questions about their decision.

Grisham builds up a funny but increasingly terrifying picture of how thistight-knit community turns on the Kranks, who find themselves under increasing pressure to conform. As the tension mounts, readers may wonder whether they will manage to board their plane on Christmas day. Skipping Christmas is Grisham-lite, with none of the serious action or drama of his legal thrillers, but a funny poke at the craziness of Christmas. --Jerry Brotton, Amazon.co.uk ... Read more

Reviews (868)

Funny and heartwarming a christmas classic
I really enjoyed this book from start to finish. i shows how the holiday season is way to much comercialized. It is very funny and it's very heartwarming. It's fun to read what the characters are doing becouse it's so true we would be doing the same as them if we were in the same situation. A christmas classic.

A satire or a Christmas carol?
Luther and Nora Krank have seen it all happen too many times before: the ridiculous frenzy and overblown ritual of celebrating Christmas. This year it is definitely going to change: the Kranks are going to skip Christmas. But as easy it was to enter a travel agency and book a Caribbean cruise on the luxurious Island Princess instead, so difficult it becomes to withstand the moral pressure their neighbours on Hemlock Street are putting on them to keep the Christmas spirit alive. But Luther is determined to go ahead with his crazy idea, no matter what it takes.

With Skipping Christmas John Grisham is again trying out something completely different. Where he already diverted from his proven concept of legal thrillers to socially engaged drama with A Painted House, he now tries to expand his craft by writing a satirical novel. And a fine job he did, indeed. Skipping Christmas has turned out to be a well composed and warm fairytale that comes with quite some funny episodes. Don't expect anything as hilarious as the books of Terry Pratchett, to name but one, but for example Luther's quest to put a Frosty on his roof will sure cause some smiles.

Nevertheless what did disturb me is the topic addressed in this book. The first part of the novel gives a frightening view on a society that has made the commercially driven rituals of Christmas into a religion on its own. While reading the book it becomes clear that in the world depicted by Grisham escaping the Christmas frenzy is almost impossible. I silently hope that this is more fiction than reality, but you never know for sure. The funny part is that the ending is in complete contrast to the tone that was set in the beginning of the book. Now I do wonder if this venomous twist was introduced with just a commercial purpose. If not then this makes Skipping Christmas a wonderful masterpiece of satire that in the end makes fun of itself.

Actually, there are definitely two ways of reading this book: as a satire or as a Christmas carol. You decide. But your choice reveals a lot of who you are... beware!

The Man with No Name should visit this town
This hard mechanical tale has none of the warmth of a traditional Christmas story. It almost makes me wish for the generic Christmas clichés. When the Kranks decide to skip Christmas, the retribution for their lack of conformity makes up 90% of the book.

The story is set on a street called Hemlock, which is an accurate moniker for the poison people that live there. This horribly intrusive community is reminiscent of Stalinesque Russian with neighbors spying on each other and even reporting each other to the police when they get out of line. It's supposed to be done for comedic effect, but instead comes across as mirthless suburban tyranny.

The Shields through most of the book are symptomatic of the festering evil of the neighborhood. The re-appearance of breast cancer in the Shields family is used as an obvious "heart-string pulling" device to evoke the holiday's "good will toward men" which is missing from the rest of the narrative.

In the warm and fuzzy conclusion, the neighborhood pitches in to save Christmas for the Kranks. You can almost hear the neighbors tallying their markers and preparing their told-you-so comments for the coming year. Luther Krank gives a gift to a neighbor and says "no string attached." He'd best keep his own marker for the gift since the strings of all the neighbors are being weaved around him and his wife.

The moral lesson of the book appears to be: conform and everyone will like you - but resist and you will be punished relentlessly. What a nice holiday message.

... Read more

Isbn: 0385508417
Subjects:  1. Christmas stories    2. Fiction    3. Fiction - General    4. General    5. Humorous    6. Fiction / General   

I May Be Wrong but I Doubt It
by CHARLES BARKLEY, MICHAEL WILBON
Average Customer Review:
Hardcover (01 October, 2002)
list price: $22.95
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Reviews (45)

to the point
This is a simply written, to the point, opiniated book from one of the most opionated players in the league. An easy read. I finished it in about an hour and half. A quick read.
Interesting points--his analysis of Jordan both critical and complimentary. His criticism of family and friends.

Typical Barkley
Gotta love athletes like Charles Barkley. Unlike the MJs and Tiger Woods of the world Barkley isn't afraid to speak his mind about things. It's really nice to see some one who does take time and effor to actually know a little about politics and other stuff before speaking out about it. Definitely worth the read

Great book. The Chuckster rules
I really enjoyed this book. Reads quick, but doesn't lack substance as Charles has a lot to say.

My biggest surprise was in the political area: For years, I have heard that Charles is a conservative, and I always see GOP big shots try to capatalize on his fame. After reading the book, however, I don't think Charles is as much as a GOP man as even Charles himself seems to think. His views on race, wealth, big business and several other issues are light years away from anything I hear republicans in power espousing these days. His positions are much more left leaning in everything but name- which is fine.

In the end, its all good no matter what your politics. Charles has much to offer here, and thankfully leaves the nuances of breaking down the pick and roll on the weak side to other books. He talks about things that matter, and for this I thank him and show up here to recommend his book. ... Read more

Isbn: 037550883X
Sales Rank: 126045
Subjects:  1. 1963-    2. Barkley, Charles,    3. Basketball    4. Basketball - General    5. Basketball - Professional    6. Basketball players    7. Biography    8. Biography / Autobiography    9. Biography/Autobiography    10. People of Color    11. Sports & Recreation    12. Sports - Basketball    13. Sports - General    14. United States    15. Barkley, Charles    16. Sports & Recreation / Basketball   

Running with Scissors
by Augusten Burroughs
Average Customer Review:
Hardcover (10 July, 2002)
list price: $23.95 -- our price: $16.29
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Editorial Review

There is a passage early in Augusten Burroughs's harrowing and highly entertaining memoir, Running with Scissors, that speaks volumes about the author. While going to the garbage dump with his father, young Augusten spots a chipped, glass-top coffee table that he longs to bring home. "I knew I could hide the chip by fanning a display of magazines on the surface, like in a doctor's office," he writes, "And it certainly wouldn't be dirty after I polished it with Windex for three hours." There were certainly numerous chips in the childhood Burroughs describes: an alcoholic father, an unstable mother who gives him up for adoption to her therapist, and an adolescence spent as part of the therapist's eccentric extended family, gobbling prescription meds and fooling around with both an old electroshock machine and a pedophile who lives in a shed out back. But just as he dreamed of doing with that old table, Burroughs employs a vigorous program of decoration and fervent polishing to a life that many would have simply thrown in a landfill. Despite her abandonment, he never gives up on his increasingly unbalanced mother. And rather than despair about his lot, he glamorizes it: planning a "beauty empire" and performing an a capella version of "You Light Up My Life" at a local mental ward. Burroughs's perspective achieves a crucial balance for a memoir: emotional but not self-involved, observant but not clinical, funny but not deliberately comic. And it's ultimately a feel-good story: as he steers through a challenging childhood, there's always a sense that Burroughs's survivor mentality will guide him through and that the coffee table will be salvaged after all. --John Moe ... Read more

Reviews (450)

Fascinating read,
I had difficulties putting this book down simply because I was too good to be set aside. It is a unique and quite as bizarre story. Nevertheless, I consider this book to be memorable, highly disturbing, touching, fascinating and quite very funny.However, for mild, strong or weak stomachs who love good reads, I recommend THE USURPER AND OTHER STORIES. I recommend it to those with strong stomachs.

Fascinating read,
I had difficulties putting this book down simply because I was too good to be set aside. It is a unique and quite as bizarre story. Nevertheless, I consider this book to be memorable, highly disturbing, touching, fascinating and quite very funny.However, for mild, strong or weak stomachs who love good reads, I recommend THE USURPER AND OTHER STORIES. I recommend it to those with strong stomachs.

Extreme on Several Points
Running With Scissors is extreme on multiple levels. On the one hand it is extremely entertaining. On another level, it is extremely graphic. I enjoyed it. I think if you have an open mind and aren't offended by graphic content that exists as a part of the story and not strictly for shock value, then you will too. Also recommended for similar tastes: Naked, My Fractured Life, Smashed, and The Glass Castle. ... Read more

Isbn: 0312283709
Subjects:  1. 20th Century American Novel And Short Story    2. 20th century    3. American novelists    4. Amherst    5. Biography    6. Biography & Autobiography    7. Biography / Autobiography    8. Biography/Autobiography    9. Burroughs, Augusten    10. Childhood Memoir    11. Childhood and youth    12. Homes and haunts    13. Literary    14. Massachusetts    15. Novelists, American    16. Personal Memoirs    17. Biography & Autobiography / General   

Sandy Koufax : A Lefty's Legacy
by Jane Leavy
Average Customer Review:
Hardcover (17 September, 2002)
list price: $23.95 -- our price: $16.29
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Reviews (91)

Interesting book and approach
This book had a lot of potential for me. I was born in '65 and only knew of Koufax through the stories of my father and his generation. This book, nearly 40 years after SK's retirement at the peak of his game, is distant enough to be able to be more objective about his accomplishments.

In some ways it succeeds, although Koufax's accomplishments, even 40 years later, are still astounding and hard to resist mythologizing. I liked the strategy used by the author of alternating chapters between Koufax's life and career with 9 chapters tracking the perfect game of September 9, 1965. To an avid baseball fan who loves the history of the game, the chapters relating the perfect game were the highlight of the book. The interviews with the participants of the game were very interesting, illuminating and funny and it helped the author that most of those participants are still alive and seemingly willing to share what it was like to face SK at the peak of his powers, to be on his team or to be a fan.

The book falls short for me on the intervening chapters. The author is a good sportswriter and one can tell that from reading the chapters about the perfect game itself. However, I find her prose a little harder to follow. Many times I had to re-read sentences or passages to figure out who she was writing about. In particular, I had a hard time telling who "he" was in more than a few cases. Was it Sandy Koufax or was it the person that was talking about Sandy Koufax?

I wasn't disappointed or let down by how hard it is "getting to know" Koufax. Most fans already have a sense of that and can't expect that the man would break his mold and spill his insides out to this or any writer. But, unlike many people who seem to get all caught up in figuring out Sandy Koufax, I actually am glad for him. From the testimony of the people interviewed, he is a very classy man, good to his friends who enjoys his life and keeps his career in a healthy perspective. Good for him. I don't need to know what makes him tick, why he's been married twice, how he feels about this or that subject. I wish, as is pointed out in the book, we would let more of these athletes be and just focus on their on-field accomplishments (assuming no law-breaking, out of control wackyness or stupidity like Jon Rocker's). We are to blame as much as the press for seeking that kind of information. Most people are just driven to bring down others who have done well, unfortunately...instead of celebrating them when they do good things. I think I would appreciate more a book about Sandy Koufaxs's career and accomplishments in the public arena. There is plenty there to write about without trying to psychoanalyze the man. His personal life away from the game is none of my business.

I think the author generally feels the same way and is empathetic with SK's wish to be a "regular Joe". She does what she can to undo myths about his being a recluse and about some of his more storied and fabled accomplishments. She does do what she can to set the record straight without the benefit of SK's actual cooperation, although he did direct her to people whom he thought would help her with the book.

Overall, I think this was a very good, relatively short and easy-to-read book. If you're that curious about the man, I don't think this or any other book will satiate that particular thirst. If, as a baseball fan, you are interested in one of the more spectacular careers in the history of the game, you will have been very pleased to have read this book.

The enigmatic Legend
To really know someone like Sandy Koufax, who prized privacy in a media-obsessed age, would be damn near impossible. No straight-ahead biography could do him justice. That's where Jane Leavy comes in: rather than write a boring "life of" with dates and games and life off the field, she disects Koufax's essence through the recapulation of his perfect game versus the Cubs, on September 9, 1965.

The book is daring in that regard, and through the context of this one game (a technique also used effectively by Buster Olney for his "Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty"), Leavy gives us as indepth a portrait of the man as we are likely to ever see. In descibing Koufax's career through the prism of this one magical game, she also lets us see the world around him as Koufax develops from a neglected "bonus baby" with a supposedly erratic arm into the legendary force of nature he became during 1961-1966.

We get a look at Koufax's origins and other such minatinue that most biographies would cover as well, but Leavy uses Koufax as a mirror on the culture and society that evoloved around him at this time. She reminds us from the beginning that the night of Koufax's perfect game follows some of the most intense racial rioting in Los Angeles (Watts had erupted in flames just a few weeks earlier), and that Koufax himself faced the subtle and not-so-subtle manifestations of anti-Semitism that plagued baseball as much as society during that era.

Through it all, we get a sense of the player that Koufax was, the special aura that he projected. But Leavy also sifts through the myths of this modern-day Hercules of the diamond to get at the truth, or what she can manage in the face of the man's wall of privacy. This is as true a portrait as we're likely to get of the man behind the legend, the most important lefty in baseball history.

"Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy" should be required reading for anyone seeking to pen the biography of baseball figures of his stature. Rather than take the easy route and accuse Koufax of being "difficult to pin down", Leavy does the footwork to come up with a compelling, endearing, and above all interesting portrait of the most storied pitcher of the modern game. For that, she deserves a place among the best sportswriters to ever cover the game. And "Koufax" deserves to be the most engaging book you'll ever read about the best pitcher ever.

He's A Real Nowhere Man...
A book that falls short of it's expectations, and it's not the author's fault. Jane Leavy tells the reader her trouble in putting this book together: Sandy Koufax doesn't want anyone to know about him. Yet she continues to write away. About what? I'm not sure. I personally learned alot about Sandy Koufax from this book because I wasn't around when he was pitching. However, I got the feeling in reading this book that I wasn't learning anything that I couldn't have gotten through a Google search of "Sandee Cofacts".
And I can't even trash Leavy for the scarcity of information. To me, if Fred Wilpon is your primary source, you're not going to have much to write about. It's a pretty simple reason: Sandy Koufax doesn't want you to know anything about him, and so you won't. A quick read, mildly entertaining but seemingly nothing new or profound. ... Read more

Isbn: 0060195339
Sales Rank: 62634
Subjects:  1. 1935-    2. Baseball - General    3. Baseball players    4. Biography    5. Biography / Autobiography    6. Biography/Autobiography    7. Judaism - General    8. Koufax, Sandy,    9. Sports & Recreation    10. Sports - Baseball    11. Sports - General    12. United States    13. Koufax, Sandy    14. Sports & Recreation / Baseball / General   

Sellevision : A Novel
by Augusten Burroughs
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (07 September, 2000)
list price: $11.95
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Editorial Review

Light and funny, with a bitter aftertaste, the action of Sellevision takes place behind the scenes (and on the set) of a successful television shopping network, where a feminine role model, Peggy Jean Smythe, the married, Christian mother of three, begins receiving suspicious e-mail from a viewer who insists that Peggy's hairy earlobe is obscuring her presentation of jewelry during the broadcast. When Peggy fails to respond to the e-mail, but silently waxes her lobe, the cruel notes escalate, until Peggy believes herself to be suffering from a hormonal crisis that has given her a mustache, a gruff voice, and the manner of a lumberjack. Meanwhile, one of her cohosts, Max Andrews, has been fired for accidentally exposing himself during a children's special, and learns just how undesirable a commodity a penis-baring ex-Sellevision host can be on the job market. The book is an unusually smooth read for a first novel, with six or seven truly inspired lines. --Regina Marler ... Read more

Reviews (75)

Great first novel from an author who has gone on to acclaim
I found out about this book from a Listmania list entitled "So you'd like to... impress Stangers with your reading material"It is early Burroughs, and it got me hooked on him as a writer before Running With Scissors came out.People who loved his memoirs would probably enjoy his dry satiric wit in this book, too.The entire plot is a witty commentary on consumerism and the cut-throat world of being a TV personality.

The novel follows the lives of different people involved with the Sellevision home shopping network.The reader is rooting for Max to recover from his rock-bottom low, and we cross paths with a cast of characters who live larger than life as consumers and professionals trying to make it in the world.Peggy Jean is a masterful character, because she has a twisted way of thinking that Burroughs managed to get me as the reader to start believing in as the novel went along.When she faced addiction, I felt the same level of denial Peggy expressed.

The novel has a delicious suckerpunch ending for all the characters.This is fast-paced, easy read and comes highly recommended.Try some early Burroughs to see him when he was just cutting his teeth as a humor writer.

Great concept.. but bland for me
I was extremely disappointed with the book - the characters were so underdeveloped that I couldn't get into it.The situations that were supposed to be funny seemed forced and obvious.I am glad that others found humor and enjoyment in the book, but I did not.

No "Running With Scissors," But Give It A Chance..
I have to admit, the first few chapters of this book didn't really grab me. I was too annoyed by the author's constant references to the order numbers of the home shopping channel products his characters were purchasing / wearing / collecting / selling / etc. Lucky for me, I was on a cross-country plane and my other reading materials were stashed in my check-in. Once I let my annoyance with those never-ending and maddening references go (even though they NEVER end) I began to be taken in by the characters and their well-defined personalities.

If you're an avid shopper on the home shopping channels, you might be offended by this book, because it really makes fun of people who are swayed by good old-fashioned marketing tactics in general. I used to flip through the channels on my TV without pause on the home shopping channels, now I linger and stare at the people selling their goods on the screen in wide-eyed wonder, curious to know if they're anything like those crazy people in Sellevision.

The personalities that Burroughs profiles here are vivid and true. ALL of the characters are obsessive on some level, and once he starts you down a path with a character he never diverts -- these people are wacky and if you knew them in real life, you'd have quite the intervention on your hands. However, just as in real life he shows us that no one is perfect.

Needless to say, I finished half the book on the flight out, and half the book on the flight home. It's a fast-paced, quick and crazy read, and Burroughs has a real clear "everyman" writing style. I'm surprised that they haven't made a movie out of it yet. If not on the big screen, I'm surprised HBO hasn't picked it up. This is right up their alley. Check out Sellevision. Another recommendation would be another book I picked up off Amazon called "THE LOSERS CLUB: Complete Restored Edition" by Richard Perez, also very funny and entertaining.




... Read more

Isbn: 031226772X
Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - General    3. General    4. Scandals    5. Teleshopping    6. Television personalities    7. Fiction / General   

Fraud : Essays
by DAVID RAKOFF
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (23 April, 2002)
list price: $12.95 -- our price: $10.36
(price subject to change: see help)
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Editorial Review

Let's get this out of the way: David Rakoff is not David Sedaris. When you hear him being incredibly smart and funny on This American Life, you invariably think, "Oh, it's David Sedaris." But if you listen closely, you can tell the difference. Rakoff, while no less witty or nasal, is a little more disappointed. In his first collection--a series of pieces for public radio and for various magazines--he positively revels in his world-weariness. Whether he's investigating the Loch Ness monster, attending a comedy festival in Aspen, Colorado, visiting a New Age retreat hosted by Steven Seagal, or just, you know, playing Freud in a department-store window at Christmastime, Rakoff tends to get comically depleted. Watching the comic Dan Castellaneta, for example, he writes, "It's a bad sign when I start counting the unused props on stage. Only two wigs, one stool, an easel, and a dropcloth to go. I begin to pray to an unfeeling God to please make Castellaneta multitask." In a piece where he attempts to climb a mountain (well... a very short hill), Rakoff immediately nips any Sierra Club fantasies in the bud: "I do not go outdoors. Not more than I have to. As far as I'm concerned, the whole point of living in New York City is indoors. You want greenery? Order the spinach." But in the end, what makes him such a terrific writer is that he's not only onto everyone else, he's onto himself. No wonder his visit to a kibbutz becomes the occasion for some supremely self-conscious amusement: "I know I sound like the Central Casting New Yorker I've turned myself into with single-minded determination when I say this, but the main problem with working in the fields is that the sun is just always shining."--Claire Dederer ... Read more

Reviews (52)

Ick...
Like other reviewers, I bought this book based on Amazon's 'if you like David Sedaris,...'Wrong!Rakoff depressed and bored me.I read most books in 2 to 3 days, but it took me two weeks to get through Fraud.Sedaris made me laugh out loud - I never even cracked a smile with this guy.Some of the stories could be really interesting, but he takes the fun out of a dry sense of humor.

Neurotica
P in your pants funny! Forget the comparisons to David Sedaris. Yes they both live or have lived in New York, yes they have seen male parts other than their own up close, but it pretty much ends there. He does call to mind other grumpy gayboys but he's far gayer and way more bitter, Bless him. He's Canadian (any country that sells codeine over the counter is OK by me), he's smart enough to go to horrific tourist traps, is bitchy EVEN in Hebrew, and despises Robin Williams and that guy who made "Life is Beautiful" ... I bet he hates countryman Jim Carrey as well. All that AND he's a nice Jewish boy? He's like a Fran Lebowitz I'd SLEEP with!

Oh, and I almost forgot... he's the only writer I can remember who specifically mentions Xanax, sperm banks, the dubious lama-hood of Steven Seagal, and the "Internationale" all in one book ... Que RICO!

ODD: FRESS-AYS
Be careful while reading this collection of self-important ramblings. Hold it upright, lest a bunch of gluttonously plonked heavy words should fall and hurt your toes.

If you're immune to such "oleaginous talk" (p. 191), be prepared for themes that're about as amusing as re-runs on the home shopping network.

Clearly, Rakoff set out to write a book that wouldn't be tossed aside lightly. Which it rightly shouldn't; it deserves to be flung away with great force. ... Read more

Isbn: 0767906314
Subjects:  1. Form - Essays    2. Humor    3. Humor / Essays   

The Rant Zone : An All-Out Blitz Against Soul-Sucking Jobs, Twisted Child Stars, Holistic Loons, and People Who Eat Their Dogs!
by Dennis Miller
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (01 September, 2002)
list price: $11.95 -- our price: $9.56
(price subject to change: see help)
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Reviews (17)

Solid, unique comedy writing...
...and he goes after anyone and everything, despite what some of the bitter, angry, neurotic, self-styled liberal reviewers here would have you believe. I think it was Mark Twain who wrote something like "sacred cow makes the best hamburger"; Miller understands and embodies this.

Stick With Cable-TV
Miller has now delved into movies, network television, and print.Virtually all of those endeavors have produced nothing but embarrassing additions to his body of work.Three strikes and you're out Dennis.Do a favor for your potential fans and stick with what you're good at -- monologues on cable-TV.This book is vulgar, not the least bit entertaining, and gives the impression that it was thrown together in a very short time.In fact, it is so bad that I wouldn't be surprised if Miller did nothing more than allow his name to be associated with this sham of an effort.

cheaper than toilet paper at 48 cents
It's nice to see that this book has found it's price point. Dennis Miller is about as funny as colon cancer. Someone outta put a rubberband around this guys head so it'll shrivel up and fall off. ... Read more

Isbn: 0060505370
Sales Rank: 397166
Subjects:  1. American wit and humor    2. Football - General    3. Humor    4. Topic - Adult    5. Wit and humor