Editorial Review

Born on October 1, 1924,Jimmy Carter grewup on a Georgia farm during the Great Depression. In Read more

Features

• Large Print

Reviews (58)

Excellent!!!
This is one of the best books I've read the past year and one of the best biographies I've ever read.Jimmy Cater, whether you like/respect the man or not, is an excellent storyteller and he takes you back to the years of growing up on a rural Georgia farm during the Great Depression and segregation.The descriptions are so clear it seems like you're actually there. Quite a contrast to the middle class/suburban upbringing I experienced.I also read Carter's Presidential biography, which is also very good, but he's not as long-winded here so the book reads very fast.
Worth the time
President Carter discusses his experiences growing up in rural Georgia during the depression and how it influenced his future public life. Despite the institutionalized segregation that formally kept the races apart, many of the people that shaped the future President's young life were not white. It is amazing to compare the changes in American society from 70 years ago, some for the better (institutionalized segregation and racism), but mostly for the worse. Even though segregation is now gone, it is ironic that the informal happy-go-lucky youthful mixing of the races that President Carter claims helped shape his young life is probably gone now as well; but cynically, I believe Carter over emphasizes this point for political profit. Also, Americans were very frugal, resourceful, and resilient in those days.I don't think today's wasteful, whiney, latte entitlement generation could go through such economic hardship.
The boy behind the man
This is one of the best books I have ever read in any genre. I've always liked Jimmy Carter as a human being, and now I know what made this intelligent, unassuming, hardworking, humorous, and compassionate public figure the man he is. And in addition to that, the book gives a wonderfully rich view of rural life earlier in the 20th century. I would recommend this book to anyone. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Childhood Memoir    7. Country life    8. Farmers    9. Georgia    10. History    11. Plains    12. Presidents    13. Presidents & Heads of State    14. United States    15. Biography & Autobiography / Presidents    16. Biography & Autobiography-Presidents & Heads of State   

Features

• Large Print

Reviews (3)

Graceful and Often Affecting
Donald Spoto's new biography of Audrey Hepburn will please those who wish to gain a fuller understanding of Ms. Hepburn's private life and rise to stardom.
Enchanting!!!
I am very impressed with Donald Spoto's review of Audrey Hepburn. Reading Mr. Spoto's biography of Audrey Hepburn shows a huministic side of the actress and woman the world loved and adored. This book is a wonderful addition to Sean Ferrer's book and Barry Paris's book. I am sure anyone that buys this book will enjoy it as much as I do.

Hepburn's Life and Career Skillfully Examined With Sympathy and Offers Some Surprises
There are already a number of posthumous biographies of the fabled star on the market, the most notable being her son Sean Hepburn Ferrer's loving 2003 memoir, "Audrey Hepburn, An Elegant Spirit: A Son Remembers". Author Donald Spoto adds another one, a respectful portrait that may lack the personal detail Ferrer provides but at the same time, allows enough distance from the subject to be a bit more objective. In 1983, Spoto wrote a fascinating profile of Alfred Hitchcock where the legendary filmmaker came across as a repressed, twisted individual whose outlet was the terror he could instill in his films. This time, he etches an in-depth portrait of a woman whose vulnerability, personal insecurity, and innate love of family endeared her to all those exposed to her - Hepburn's inner circle, friends, colleagues, lovers and ultimately the world.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Entertainment & Performing Arts - Actors & Actresses    6. Entertainment & Performing Arts - General    7. Large type books    8. Motion picture actors and actresses    9. United States   

Features

• Large Print

Reviews (2)

Patterson is a GODSEND!
Gareth Patterson is a saint! He is doing what needs to be done concerning the lions. Humanity is a cancer and that cancer is destroying everything in it's path. Buy this book and jump on the band wagon to save thelions! truly amazing tales
This story reveals the coruption and selfishness of the human race and highlight the work and lives of The Adamsons, truly amazing people that fought so selflessly for Lions and the African Wildlife ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. General    3. Large Print    4. Conservation of the environment    5. Management of land & natural resources   

Features

• Large Print

Reviews (23)

Entertaining memoir!
I've always been amazed by Sidney Sheldon's writing and how he
The Stuff that Legends are Made Of
Every life is an epic. Sydney Sheldon has lived the kind of life that inspires legends.
AWESOME READ!
This memoir is absolutely rewarding.It starts out in Chicago where Sidney is born and raised by his hardworking parents. The novel covers his adventurous trail to New York City where he is employed in low wage jobs and then later to California.With luck and hard work, he rises to the top as a writer, producer and director.His many books have reached millions and are read world-wideMany have been made into movies. This 80+ gentleman has done the world a favor with his writing ability. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography And Autobiography    6. Biography/Autobiography    7. Entertainment & Performing Arts - General    8. Literary    9. Literature (General)    10. Novelists, American    11. Personal Memoirs    12. Screenwriters    13. Television writers    14. United States    15. Biography & Autobiography / General    16. Fiction   

Features

• Large Print

Reviews (1)

Regardless of your religion, it will move you at times!
A reader suggested that I might enjoy MATZO BALLS FOR BREAKFAST AND OTHER MEMORIES OF GROWING UP JEWISH by Alan King, the great comedian who conceived and developed the book in the period before he died in 2004.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Entertainment & Performing Arts - General    3. Ethnic Cultures - General    4. History    5. History: World    6. Jewish - General    7. Jewish Studies    8. Fiction   

Editorial Review

In 1995 Gopnik was offered the plush assignment of writing the "Paris Journals" for the Read more

Features

• Large Print

Reviews (132)

Love this book!
I wanted this book to go on forever.I found it to be a very comforting, curl up in front of the fire, listening to jazz kind of book.Maybe I relate to it because I have to boys and adore Paris, I don't know... but I really enjoyed it.
4.5 stars is a good read, as long as you are not expecting something it's not.
It's not an atmospheric travel memoir; it's not a memoir of youth (except in so far as a father relates to his young son); it's not "Almost French".
Beautiful writing, warm, personal narrative, intimate story telling
Contrary to many of the reviews provided for this book, I have cherished this book as one of my favorite books on France.I lived in Tokyo, Japan as an expat for five years and felt an immediate kindred spirit with the author.I found my own personal experiences to be not that different from his own and related to many of his experiences on a deep, personal level.His gift of prosaic writing is a rare and wonderful treat within the travel essay genre, and I was delighted to be invited in to such an intimate and personal account of life in Paris.While most travel essay books are written by amateur writers, offering shallow accounts of brief stays in foreign lands, this book combines the rare writing talents of Adam Gopnik along with a fascinating, intimate portrait of Paris, a city that offers so much but which reveals so little for most of us who don't have the time to absorb and observe and experience what he was able to enjoy and write about for the rest of us. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Americans    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Customs & Traditions    5. Europe - France    6. France    7. Gopnik, Adam    8. History - General History    9. Homes and haunts    10. Large type books    11. Paris    12. Personal Memoirs   

Features

• Large Print

Reviews (9)

one ofthe best scientific mysteries and its solution!
Oh...I was so disappointed when I got near the end of the book and realized that the ending would be based on the susquent gearing up of the corporate making of the immense quantities of this vaccine, to bring it into control world-wide. Yet, I came to unerstand that was the right ending to this story...everthing after that was useless detail, even if I wanted to know more about the people involved.
ASplendid Story
This tale of science, competition, personalities and politics provides one a splendid base for understanding of processes of the past in order to help in understanding the present.
A real non fiction page turner
Kluger writes a riveting account of the search for an effective immunization for an annual epidemic plaguing society through the first half of the twentieth century.He skillfully weaves the story of Salk's quest within its social background.Reading it brought me back to my childhood in the 1950's and my parents' anxieties each summer as newspapers published counts of local and national polio cases. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1914-1995    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. History    7. Infectious Diseases    8. Medical - General    9. Medical - Physicians    10. Poliomyelitis    11. Salk, Jonas,    12. United States    13. Vaccination    14. Virologists    15. Fiction   

Editorial Review

The 2003 American invasion of Iraq was contentious, not just in the arena of global public opinion, but within the tight-lipped world of the George W. Bush White House. As Bob Woodward reveals in Read more

Features

• Large Print

Reviews (246)

The 'art' of equivocation.....
Mr Woodward: You are confusing us.
SHOCK AND AWE
It was published in '04, and now, reading it in 09/06, as a latecomer all I can say is, it reads like the careful planning and pains-taking execution of an earth-shattering catastrophe.Years from now I expect George Bush will replace James Buchanan as America's worst president. For this reason alone, the book is or ought to be required reading.It is absolutely fascinating, even now as we look at the smoking ruins of cities and the heaps of corpses, both civilian and military. Less "why we went to war," more "how we went to war"
If you're anything like me, then you've probably been frustrated on more than one occasion when you've looked through your local bookstore's/library's collection of current political events books in a vain attempt to educate yourself as to what has happened in our world since 2000.Plan of Attack by Bob Woodward was my first attempt to learn more about the causes and effects of events that have shaped recent history.I picked it because Bob Woodward was a familiar name (he helped expose the Watergate scandal) out of the dozens of unfamiliar ones and it claimed to have more personal interview time with key people than others on the same subject.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Large type books    2. Causes    3. Presidents & Heads of State    4. History - U.S.    5. Iraq War, 2003    6. Foreign relations    7. Government - Executive Branch    8. Political Freedom & Security - International Secur    9. United States - 21st Century    10. Fiction    11. 2001-    12. (George Walker),    13. Biography & Autobiography    14. Biography/Autobiography    15. United States    16. 1946-    17. Bush, George W   

Features

• Large Print

Reviews (113)

Peeking into the author's psyche
I am not a reader of novels and haven't read any of Spark's novels but this book captivated me.He was raised in the 1970s and back then parents were more neglectful of their children than they are now.Sparks seems to have been raised by parents who didn't or couldn't afford healthcare, bicycles, a good home, a new car.He certainly did not become the neglegent parent his own parents were, and he grew out of the pain he experienced in the early 2000 when he lost his mother, his father and then his younger sister within a three-year-period.
One of the best books I've ever read!
I've read a couple of Nicholas Sparks' books, but this one was absolutely the best.Actually, it was one of the best books I've ever read by any author.It makes you laugh and it makes you cry.I definitely would recommend this book to anyone.I just passed it on to my mother-in-law so she can read it.The relationship Nicholas Sparks has with his siblings is so amazing.It makes me want to try harder with my boys so that they'll always be close.That's so important.Read this book.You won't regret it!

Give me a break, two pompous dorks travel the world...
I did enjoy The Notebook, however this conceited tale of two uncultured Americans left me with a less than stellar opinion of Sparks and his equally conceited brother.
Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Americans    3. Biography    4. Biography & Autobiography    5. Biography / Autobiography    6. Biography/Autobiography    7. Brothers    8. Death, Grief, Bereavement    9. Essays & Travelogues    10. Foreign countries    11. General    12. Literary    13. Novelists, American    14. Personal Memoirs    15. United States    16. Biography & Autobiography / General   

Features

• Large Print

Reviews (164)

Heart-Warming, Moving Account of the Holocaust
The story of Corrie ten Boom and her family and their work in the Dutch underground during World War II has been around 35 years but this is the first time I've sat down to read this amazing story.I am so glad I did!Built on the premise that love will conquer all, the story shows what relatively normal people can accomplish in extraordinary times.
A Tale Of Love, Courage, And Compassion
In Corrie Ten Boom's book "The Hiding Place", she gives an exciting account of how during the terrifying years of the Holocaust and World War 11 her entire family strove to hide as many Jews as they could from Nazi forces.
A Moving Tale
This is a beautiful, beautiful book. I could read it over and over, and feel touched, inspired, and renewed again. I first tried to read it when I was about twelve years old, but it was two heavy for me. Then I read it a few months ago, and it came alive. This is one book I would definately want to add to my library soon. I love the Ten Boom family - especially Betsy. I am looking forward to meeting them all in heaven someday. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Historical - Holocaust    3. History    4. Holocaust    5. Large Print    6. Large type books    7. Personal narratives, Dutch    8. Ravensbruck (Concentration ca    9. Religious    10. Ten Boom, Corrie    11. Women    12. World War, 1939-1945   

Features

• Large Print

Reviews (4)

Errol Flynn, a memoir
Excellent account of Earl Conrad's time spent with Errol Flynn gathering material for Flynn's biography.Gives an epic account of Flynn's latter years in Jamaica.....

Text book perfect example of non fiction writing
Having read "My Wicked, Wicked Ways" several years ago this book adds another dimension to our understanding of Errol Flynn. It tells the story behind the creation of Flynn's controversial biography which caused quite a stir when it first hit the shelves all those years ago. Earl Conrad was a writer of exceptional ability who was able to create some wonderfully descriptive images of Flynn's crumbling glory as he moved into his final days. This is neither a sensationalist expo-zay nor a flowery tribute. Rather, it is an extremely eloquent, articulate and thought provoking epitaph to the life a Tasmanian schoolboy who went on to become one of the most significant and highly publicized personalities of the 20th century. As a literary work it is a text book perfect example of non fiction writing.

Best written book ever written about Errol Flynn
'Errol Flynn: A Memoir' by gifted writer Earl Conrad is the finest book ever written on the life of movie great Errol Flynn. Conrad was originally hired by Flynn in 1958 to ghost-write his autobiography 'My Wicked,Wicked,Ways'.That book was published within weeks of Flynn's death in 1959, and became a runaway national bestseller. This volume is about the year and a half Earl Conrad spent with Flynn at his Jamaican hotel, writing the first book, and is a genuine page-turner with Conrad giving first-hand accounts of his adventures with Errol Flynn.The reader will find himself pulled into the story, and probably wind up finishing the book in a single sitting!Conrad shows us that Errol Flynn was more than a swashbuckling movie star, world famous philanderer, mean practical joker, as well as self-indulgent drunk and sometimes drug addict.Yes, he was all of this, but he was also much more, including a naturally talented writer, self-taught marine biologist, voracious reader, seasoned sailor, and in time a superb dramatic actor.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Actors, American    2. Biography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Entertainment & Performing Arts - General    5. Large Print    6. Large type books    7. Motion picture actors and actresses    8. United States   

Features

• Large Print

Reviews (8)

Beautiful insights from an exceptional soul
How silly for those other reviewers to say this book didn't include "the family's experience with Ronald Reagan's Alzheimer's disease."Or that the book didn't say enough about Alzeimer's itself. What do they want, a medical book? There are plenty of those. This is the unique story that only Patti, with her special place in history could tell, of how her father's disease brought her and her family tremendous pain, yet spiritual growth, and actual blessings. In so doing, she points the way to how we can continue to learn, as Americans, and as human beings, from these gifted leaders, the Reagans. I loved another book about Ronald Reagan, "How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life," by Peter Robinson. It told what Mr. Robinson had observed and learned from President Reagan as a speechwriter in his administration. It is a good book, but this one is even better, because of the vantage point, and insights of the person writing it.
Emotional, moving and painfully honest
It is obvious from the pages of this book that Patti Davis has indeed inherited her father's gift with words. What an absolutely beautiful book! Ms. Davis takes the reader along with her, and at times the rest of her family, on their very personal journey of pain and acceptance through the years of Ronald Reagan's struggle with the disease of Alzheimers.
Not QuiteWhat I Expected
While I thought the book was well written, I was disappointed that more about the family's experience with Ronald Reagan's Alzheimer's disease wasn't included.The title of the book is somewhat misleading, for that reason, in my opinion.The bulk of the book was more about the author's feelings and experiences than about her father's illness. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Alzheimer's Disease    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Diseases - Nervous System (incl. Brain)    7. Family relationships    8. Historical - U.S.    9. Large type books    10. Patients    11. Presidents    12. Presidents & Heads of State    13. U.S. History - 1980s    14. United States    15. Biography & Autobiography / Presidents   

Features

• Large Print

Reviews (4)

Doctoring the body and the soul
Dr. Walt Larimore returns with the second book of his series which chronicles the early days of his practice in the Smoky Mountains.This book is as charming as the first one, as the residents of tiny Bryson City try to get used to the big city ways of one of its newest practitioners.In the first book of the series, Dr. Larimore discovers that some simple country remedies work just as well or better than the latest medical technology.In this book, he learns that the key to curing patients is not only in the physical realm, but in the mental and spiritual areas as well.He goes into greater detail about his daughter's cerebral palsy, and does not hesitate to tell some funny stories in which he is the butt of the joke.This book and the others in the series make for delightful reading.

Terrific Read!
I very much enjoyed the first novel in this series, Bryson City Tales, and was delighted when this second book was published.If you are a fan of reading about small-town life, you'll love these books.Dr. Larimore's narrative brings the reader right into the story.The stories range from amusing, heartwarming, suspenseful, sad, to inspiring.I'm eagerly awaiting the next book, Bryson City Secrets, due out in March!If you're looking for a terrific read, I recommend these highly.

Bryson City Seasons
Very good!Really good for older readers who can appreciate the memories/stories of a young doctor ,husband, and father practicing in the N. C. Mountians.I recommend this book---as well as the first one---Bryson City Tales ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Bryson City    4. Christianity - Christian Life - General    5. Large type books    6. Medical - Physicians    7. Medicine, Rural    8. North Carolina    9. Personal Memoirs    10. Physicians    11. Regional Subjects - South    12. Religion   

Features

• Large Print

Reviews (1)

Italian flowers, vexations, and a happy half century
Joan Marble died in Rome at the end of April 2004, soon after publication of her Notes from a Roman Terrace.She and her husband, Robert Cook the sculptor, spent over half a century together in Italy.It was a life that we can envy, though it had vexations--which eventually, in this fine book, she could laugh at.Her chapter on Robert's continuing battle with the bicycle thieves made me laugh out loud, as did her close observation of the work (or rather non-work) done by the Rome tax office beyond her windows.Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Personal Memoirs    3. Women    4. Italy    5. Travel writing   

Editorial Review

Essayist and cultural critic Barbara Ehrenreich has always specialized in turning received wisdom on its head with intelligence, clarity, and verve. With some 12 million women being pushed into the labor market by welfare reform, she decided to do some good old-fashioned journalism and find out just how they were going to survive on the wages of the unskilled--at $6 to $7 an hour, only half of what is considered a living wage. So she did what millions of Americans do, she looked for a job and a place to live, worked that job, and tried to make ends meet. Read more

Features

• Large Print

Reviews (979)

Next week on The Simple Life, Barb joins Paris and Nicole for shift work at the local Wallyworld!