Reviews (3)

A story that celebrates the simple things in life
Dominican teenager Elvis Checo is hired by Margaret Oliver's daughter as a companion to the elderly woman. Both the young man and the old woman luck out as each finds their soulmate of sorts.
The inspirational story of an unlikely friendship
"When she met Elvis, she gave him a shy and friendly smile. He gave her a big smile back. But she wondered. What would a teenager want with her --- someone rolling around in a wheelchair, who relished opera, who didn't use a computer, who couldn't even get the infernal remote control to work?...Elvis was thinking something altogether different. He wondered, what would an old woman want with him --- a moody teenager from another part of the world, still trying to decipher girls, who relaxed with video games and rap music, who liked to toss down a few beers with the guys?"
Good, but no Tuesday's with Morrie
Don't go into this book expecting another Mitch Albom masterpiece.Unlike 'Tuesdays,' this book is not written by the teacher or the student.Reading Albom's personal relationship with his professor added a certain importance.Here, it is a 3rd person observer.Granted, Sonny Kleinfield has a way with words.However, often times during the book, I kept wondering how whatever method Kleinfield used to gather his personal quotes just had to take away from some of the intimacy not just between the characters in the book, but between the reader and the book.His task was surely difficult, no doubt, and not to say he failed, but it just doesn't add up to the personal feelings you experienced with Albom.
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Subjects:  1. Aging - General    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography And Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Friendship    7. General    8. Regional Subjects - MidAtlantic    9. Social Classes    10. Social Sciences (General)    11. Biography & Autobiography / General   

Reviews (14)

So entertaining!
I've read this book at least two dozen times.I read it once for myself, and each year I read it to my new batch of 7th graders.Everyone loves it.(There are a few parts I don't read to my students.)Every time I pick it up, I fall in love with the characters and am so glad to be part of their lives again!It's funny and sad and is so amazingly real.One year my students wrote Mr. Davis, and he replied.Mr. Davis and I corresponded back and forth for a few letters, and he was seemed like a great guy.

Mesmerizing, transporting tales from a brilliant storyteller
These stories get played on every long car ride our family makes, and all of us (from the first grader on up) are rapt.Davis uses his gentle voice and sly humor to paint unforgettable portraits of beloved relatives, local eccentrics, and lost friends.The stories are fresh and moving each time we hear them; in fact, the repeated listenings increase our appreciation for the mastery of Davis' telling.
My favorite audiobook of all time
I don't think anyone can listen to Donald Davis tell his Different Drummer story and not be touched by it.Just it alone is worth the price of the set of cassettes.You also get to hear LSMFT (yes, that's the title of the story), which has a nearly perfect ending.Each is a story so good that you wish you could forget it, so that you'd have the pleasure of listening to it again for the first time. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography And Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Childhood Memoir    6. Literary    7. Regional Subjects - South    8. Juvenile Fiction / General   

Reviews (15)

Very Insightful Story
I took me a little longer than normal for this read but it was a very good narrative of a great american entrepreneur, regardless of his background. Although I am familiar with the accounts of the civil rights movements, the authors did a very good job of painting a picture to the reader of how those events were intertwined with Arthur G. Gaston's life. I appreciated the honesty in detailing his relationships with those close and even more interestingly, Martin Luther King, Jr. Very good book. Icon in our American capitalistic system.
Gaston is Rockefeller with both hands tied behind his back--Simply Amazing!
Carol Jenkins and Elizabeth Gardner Hines do an excellent job of documenting the life and times of one America's greatest, if largely unsung (at least outside of the black community), business heroes. Gaston built a great business empire in the Deep South of Birmingham in the Jim Crow, pre-Civil Rights, pre-Affirmative Action era. Imagine the wealth he could have achieved had his brilliance and work ethic not been shackled by racism and discrimination? And despite being lambasted as an apologist and Uncle Tom by many during the battle for civil rights, what would the fate of Dr. Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement have been were it not for the financial resources, advice and intervention of Gaston? Black Titan is a great example of defining a man, the times he lived through and the broad impact left in his wake. I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Gaston several times during the last decade of his life. For those who didn't get that chance, Black Titan is the next best thing to meeting him in person. The book should be required reading not just for black America, but for all Americans. Also, this book is yet another reason why Carol Jenkins is deservedly idolized by an entire generation of black journalists--she is a titan of her profession, and a worthy heir of Gaston's legacy.

Sheds light on an important but neglected entrepreneur
By the 1960s, Arthur G. Gaston was probably the richest black man in America. He was the leading employer of blacks in Alabama and directly and indirectly gave substantial aid and comfort to the civil rights movement. In the decade after the Montgomery bus boycott, Martin Luther King Jr. and his allies used the A. G. Gaston Motel in Birmingham, Alabama, as a safe refuge to plan their activities. When Eugene "Bull" Connor, the notorious commissioner of public safety, had King arrested in 1963, Gaston put up the $160,000 bail money from his own pocket....
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Subjects:  1. (Arthur George),    2. African American businesspeopl    3. African American businesspeople    4. Biography    5. Biography & Autobiography    6. Biography / Autobiography    7. Biography/Autobiography    8. Blacks In The U.S.    9. Business Organization    10. Ethnic Studies - African American Studies - General    11. Gaston, A. G    12. Historical - U.S.    13. Lawyers & Judges    14. Millionaires    15. People of Color    16. Regional Subjects - South    17. United States    18. b. 1892    19. Biography & Autobiography / People of Color   

Reviews (3)

The other side of the story
Since few people in respectable circles today would admit to having supported segregation, it is rare to read honest accounts from White southerners who admittely accepted the system and went along with it, as most did at the time.
An important book
McLaurin has written a valuable and beautiful book.It deserves a place on the shelf with "Coming of Age in Mississippi" as a document of life in the segregated South and of the moral challenges that segregation presented to those who lived in the system.

A poignant recollection of growing up in a changing South.
McLaurin's book is a touching recollection of growing up in the South during the 1950s.His rich narative describes not only the difficulties all teenagers face, but explores how these difficulties are made even more difficult in a changing environment.While so many imagine the white teenagers of the Little Rock school integration as pictures of young whites during the 1950s, McLaurin paints a picture of a young man sensitive to the plight of blacks in the Jim Crow South.A very good book, highly recommended to those who wish to get a detailed portrait of the 1950s South ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Biography/Autobiography    3. Childhood and youth    4. Discrimination & Racism    5. Historical - U.S.    6. McLaurin, Melton Alonza    7. Minority Studies - Race Relations    8. North Carolina    9. North Carolina - Local History    10. Race And Ethnic Relations    11. Race relations    12. Regional Subjects - South    13. Social Science    14. Wade (N.C.)    15. Biography: historical    16. Biography: political    17. Ethnography    18. Human rights    19. Multicultural studies    20. Social history    21. Social issues    22. USA   

Reviews (10)

Southern Boy's Autobiography
"North Toward Home", by Willie Morris, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1967.
Read this book!
Willie Morris opens his personal novel, North Toward Home, with the expected picture of the white South:Magnolia and pecan trees line the country roads, the farm kids ride the bus line from end to end for entertainment, and Miss Mississippi lives next door.He throws in some anecdotes about Civil War monuments, an ostracized pacifist, daddy's pick up truck, mama's cookin', the sweet smell of talcum powder, and the Almighty's will and pretty much covers every Southern stereotype within the first several pages.Morris' warm hometown descriptions made me feel nostalgic about a place and time that are not even my own.And while he specifies that his town was "pleasant" for a white boy, he certainly understates his point-remember, this is the same Yazoo, Mississippi that Ida B. Welles specifically cites in her condemnation of Klu Klux Klan violence.
If only he had lived to tell us more
Like a lot of other readers, I first became aware of Willie Morris when I read "My Dog Skip." I followed that up with the lesser known, but equally enjoyable, "My Cat Spit McGee" (in which Morris, an avowed dog lover and cat hater, comes to love a cat).Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. American authors    3. Authors, American    4. Biography    5. Biography & Autobiography    6. Biography / Autobiography    7. Biography/Autobiography    8. General    9. Intellectual life    10. Journalists    11. Literary    12. Morris, Willie    13. Regional Subjects - South    14. United States    15. United States - 20th Century    16. Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs   

Reviews (4)

Southern Illinois' Very Own Gangster
I picked up the original edition of this book years ago. It seemed then to be the definitive biography of Charlie Birger but Gary DeNeal has seen fit to update it and expand it with new info. This is one of the best gangster biographies I've ever seen and the rural background adds to the fascination. The Birger-Shelton gang war, complete with machine guns, armored trucks, and aerial bombing, equalled the violence and color of Capone's Chicago. A well-written and researched work that brings to life the Prohibition era.

Local History can be Interesting
I purchased this book originally while doing family research in Southern Illinois.My family had for years heard stories of my grandfather and Charlie Birger.I wanted to see if any dates/events coincided and to my surprise and relief there were not very many.During the reading of the book, however, I found myself being drawn in and even beginning to become enchanted by Charlie Birger.Don't get me wrong - he was a very dangerous and troubled person - but the writing by Gary DeNeal really drew me in.The history lessons as well as the interesting look at the world of a small time (even though Birger thought he was big-time) gangster was quite interesting.One of the most interesting facets was his association with other local gangsters and the historical look at how East St. Louis, now suffering from urban decay, was once a thriving and beautiful city.This book was a lot of fun and Mr. DeNeal did his research quite well.

Good Clarification of the Topic
Growing up in southern Illinois, the stomping grounds of Charlie Birger, I always heard the stories of gangsters. For anyone who has lived in southern Illinois, it is hard to imagine gangsters, bootlegging, etc. going on in this rural part of the state. Being curious about what was fact and what was fiction regarding Birger, I found this book.Read more

Subjects:  1. 1880-1928    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Birger, Charlie,    7. Case studies    8. Criminals & Outlaws    9. Historical - General    10. Historical - U.S.    11. Illinois    12. Murder    13. Murderers    14. Prohibition    15. Regional Subjects - Midwest    16. American history: c 1800 to c 1900    17. American history: from c 1900 -    18. Biography: historical    19. Biography: political    20. Crime & criminology    21. USA    22. Violence in society   

Subjects:  1. (Wendell Lewis),    2. 1892-1944    3. Biography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. History    6. History: American    7. Political    8. Politicians    9. Presidential candidates    10. Regional Subjects - Midwest    11. United States    12. United States - General    13. Willkie, Wendell L    14. Biography: general    15. USA   

Reviews (3)

Rosa was better than this book..
A little too quiet.There were some nice insights into an amazing and wonderful woman, but they are scant.

Outstanding (and now with a sad epilogue)
It's amazing:this one courageous woman who simply stood up for her beliefs on December 1, 1955 started one of the largest and most influential civil rights movements in history.This book truly reflects Ms. Parks' in her 'essence.'It is a small collection of her thoughts and experiences. Yet these thoughts convey a very personal and profound impact on anyone reading and meditating on them.
I loved this inspiring book about freedom and courage.
Quiet Strength, by Rosa Parks is an amazing display of one woman's journey to understanding why.Why she and her people needed to justify themselves. Why she had to sit a certain place on a bus.Why she was so tired.RosaParks is grounded in her source of Quiet Strength through her relationshipwith her Creator - God. This relationship has been reinforced by her familyand culture."Love, not fear must be our guide," Rosa states - Iwould recommend this book to every human being who has a heart and soul. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Inspirational - General    3. Regional Subjects - South    4. Religion    5. Biography & Autobiography / People of Color    6. Biography: general    7. Civil rights & citizenship    8. INSPIRATION MOTIVATIONAL BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY    9. USA   

Editorial Review

In the mid-1960s, as mechanization and the forests' depletion drove many loggers into the cities,Kim Barnes's parents turned to fundamentalism to sustain their increasingly difficult life. The author struggled to live by this religion's exacting tenets, but her chilling descriptions of the harsh punishments meted out for lapses make us understand why she ultimately had to leave it behind. Yet she conveys understanding and love for the rigid yet secure world of her youth in this haunting memoir of faith and loss in the Idaho woods. ... Read more

Reviews (11)

A compelling, honest tale full of great surprises
I loved this book!Being an avid outdoorsman I ordered it by the title because I expected to learn something of living in the wilderness.In that regard, the book did not disappoint, but there was much more.Kim Barnes also shares an astonishingly honest story of another kind of wilderness - Pentecostal fundamentalism.Having grown up in a very similar religious tradition, I can vouch that her story does not exaggerate.Barnes pulls no punches in revealing human foilables, but without passing judgment on the sincerely held beliefs of others.
wonderful book!
Incredibly moving and beautifully written.One of the best books I've read recently.

terrific
This book was heart-warming and enjoyable. I sent it to all my sisters. Thank-you to the author. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. American - General    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Family relationships    6. Idaho    7. Literary    8. Poetry    9. Regional Subjects - West    10. Wilderness areas    11. Women    12. Women poets, American    13. Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs    14. Modern fiction   

Reviews (4)

A thoroughly engaging memoir
Tony Cohan's attempt to cope with the father who dominated his life has produced this splendid tale of escape into adventures literary, musical, and romantic in lands far and near.Mr. Cohan's abundant talents enabled him to find acceptance among musical and literary figures whose names will surely inspire threads of memory for readers of a certain age, say 60 and older.The memoir thus opens many more windows than would the ramblings of a less gifted protagonist.
Captivating real life adventures...
This is a favorite for me - a retrospecitve on real life adventures of a man experiencing life with reckless abandon, yet searching for something - meaning, fulfillment, legacy...
slow read, not particularly gratifying
I purchased this book based on the author's experiences with many artists that have touched my life.I found this to be a slow read and not particularly thought inducing.Perhaps someday as my father is aging I will re-read it and find a new appreciation for it, but until then I would suggest avoiding this one. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. California    7. Cohan, Tony    8. Fathers and sons    9. General    10. Hollywood (Los Angeles, Calif    11. Homes and haunts    12. Intellectual life    13. Literary    14. Novelists, American    15. Personal Memoirs    16. Regional Subjects - West    17. Terminally ill parents    18. Biography & Autobiography / General   

Reviews (5)

Carole Lombard
This book read as if the author just accumulated facts from other writers and listed them in a sterile "here are the facts and only the facts" type of way. Not fun. Not very interesting. Very little insight into Carole Lombard.
Nobody did it better
Reviewed for H-Indiana by Randy Roberts (rroberts@sla.purdue.edu), Department of History, Purdue University Good book for new Lombard fans ...
... but, as some reviewers have noted, it's not for the die-hard fan. That's because the book is basically a rehash of well-known anecdotes and draws heavily upon other biographies and articles. As for the lack of photos/thin volume, one must keep in mind that this was published by the Indiana Historical Society. It's very expensive to get the rights for photos, not to mention print them on high quality, glossy paper. Like another reader however, I give high marks just for getting a book on Lombard published - and that can be attributed to the Indiana Historical Society. I've published books and I have been pitching a biography of Carole Lombard for YEARS. I even have a complete outline and have chalked up years and years of research ... but publishers don't want to touch it. They just don't think she'd sell. There needs to be an angle, etc. Read more

Subjects:  1. 1908-1942    2. Biography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Lombard, Carole,    6. Motion picture actors and actr    7. Motion picture actors and actresses    8. Regional Subjects - Midwest    9. United States    10. Women   

Subjects:  1. 1792-1873    2. 1805-1879    3. Biography    4. Biography & Autobiography    5. Biography / Autobiography    6. Biography/Autobiography    7. Feminists    8. Grimke, Angelina Emily,    9. Grimke, Sarah Moore,    10. Regional Subjects - South    11. Sisters    12. South Carolina    13. United States - State & Local - South    14. Women    15. Women abolitionists    16. Women's Studies - General    17. Women's Studies - History    18. Biography & Autobiography / Women    19. Biography: general    20. Feminism    21. Slavery & emancipation    22. women's rights; abolitionism; women for the elective suffrage; suffrage demonstrations; women's equality; Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association; Theodore Weld; Lucy Stone   

Reviews (1)

a story of simple life with the land
This is a wonderful book about life outside of normal hustle and bustle of modern life. Harlan and his wife, Anna, lived in Payne Hollow, and spent their time living from the land and with the land. They built their home,tended their garden, fished the river, and lived their lives there. It isin some ways a beautiful love story that reminded me of what it would belike to be a castaway on a desert island. But in this case, one is castawayin the hills of Kentucky, on the Ohio river. Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Biography/Autobiography    3. Fiction    4. General    5. Regional Subjects - South    6. Sagas    7. United States - State & Local - General    8. American - Southern States    9. Biography    10. Country life    11. Hubbard, Anna    12. Hubbard, Harlan    13. Kentucky    14. Payne Hollow (Trimble County)    15. Social life and customs    16. United States - South - Kentucky   

Reviews (7)

Learn what the brothers Laffite had for breakfast
In constructing a narrative a historian must choose the details
Grammatically Challenged History
As all of the previous reviewers have said, this is a well researched book. The subject matter is almost intrinsically interesting - pirates, the history of a growing New Orleans, historical conflicts in Louisiana and the United States, et cettera. The book is well documented with careful footnotes, though at times (and especially at the outset) one is confronted with many uncertain but probable or possible pieces of history (perhaps this is to be expected, or at least understood as necessary, given the general lack of definitive or authoritative sources on the subject).
A lively survey of the Lafite brothers' practices and controversial methods
Several new pirate coverage's are on the market this season; but none so extensive a coverage as William C. Davis' The Pirates Laffite: The Treacherous World Of The Corsairs Of The Gulf. Jean and Pierre Laffite's lives coincided with New Orleans' most colorful period in history, just after the War of 1812: they ran a privateering cooperative that provided banned goods to the market and their methods bordered on piracy. Author Davis' extensive history background lends to his scholarly yet lively survey of the Lafite brothers' practices and controversial methods. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 19th century    2. Biography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Historical - U.S.    5. History    6. History - General History    7. History: American    8. Laffite, Jean    9. Laffite, Pierre,    10. Louisiana    11. Mexico, Gulf of    12. Pirates    13. Privateering    14. Regional Subjects - South    15. United States - 19th Century    16. United States - General    17. d. 1826?    18. History / United States / 19th Century   

Editorial Review

With the same narrative panache and gift for good gossip that made Read more

Reviews (17)

boring tale about flakey mean people
I had to quit reading this book approximately half way through because I had no interest whatsoever in continuing to read about these snobby, conceited and dull women.Don't waste your time.

As The World Turns - Langhorne Style
This excellent biography takes an in-depth look at the famous, turn-of-the-century five Langhorne sisters of Virginia.The author is the grandson of one of the sisters, which gave him unprecedented access to some never-before-published letters and journals. Lizzie, Irene, and Nora take a back seat to highly visible Nancy (Lady Astor, first woman to serve in Parliament) and Phyllis, the author's grandmother. The author weaves historical and political background around the sisters' stories, which gives the book a pleasurable informational heft and weight. I think some reviewers have missed the point
There are many reviews of this book posted and many emphasize the shallowness and unpleasantness of the sisters, especially Nancy. This is true; I think Mr. Fox presented these women honestly, warts and all, but I also think that many reviewers missed a very important point.Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Historical - U.S.    5. Regional Subjects - South    6. Rich & Famous    7. Women    8. Biography & Autobiography / Historical   

Reviews (1)

I really enjoyed this book
I read the book and then recommended it to a book club I was organizing. We used it as our first book and everyone enjoyed it. I found the stories spellbinding and the history was very interesting. Nick Wilson led a fasinating life and I would recommend this book to anyone interested in history from the old West. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Frontier and pioneer life    4. History    5. History: World    6. Native American    7. Pioneers    8. Regional Subjects - West    9. Shoshoni Indians    10. United States - 19th Century    11. United States - State & Local - West    12. Wyoming    13. History / United States / State & Local / West (AK, CA, CO, HI, ID, MT, NV, UT, WY)   

Reviews (2)

Going Home Again...
I really enjoyed this book. It consists of about 70 or so very short stories (each maybe two or three pages) about going home. I am currently getting ready to move away from the town I've lived in pretty much my whole life, and am kinda bummed about it, but reading this book was just what I needed. It reminds us that no matter how far away we get from home or family, and regardless of how long we're gone...coming back is such a welcoming feeling. I look forward to the next Rocking Chair Reader: Memories From the Attic.

Your Neighbors, Traditions, Community Pride
We all know about the wildly popular "Chicken Soup for the Soul" anthologies. The "Rocking Chair" readers are just as good if not better. What makes this first series book different is that its stories are not only based on smalltown America, but as an added feature, the book profiles about 10 of these small towns, giving the reader its history and town facts. If your small town isn't mentioned, you'll be familiar with at least one - the book's that encompassing. Each writer takes you on a journey into their own precious past, where life had a different taste and feel. The stories are a celebrated snapshot into someone's life, someone's past, into someone's heart. You won't be disappointed. Helen Kay Polaski has done a wonderful job in not only her editing skills, but in compiling tales of what it's like to come home, even if it's only through our hearts. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Fiction - General    4. Historical - U.S.    5. Home    6. Motivational & Inspirational    7. Personal Memoirs    8. Place (Philosophy)    9. Regional Subjects - General    10. Self-Help    11. Short Stories (Anthologies)    12. Social life and customs    13. United States   

Reviews (11)

A Must For Steam Era Locomotive Fans
This is one of the very few books I plan to keep. I have read it twice and each time get more out of it. Oscar Orr was an outstanding loco engineman and his son is a fine author.
Absolutely spellbinding!
Obviously, you have to be fascinated with steam locomotives. If you've ever wondered what it was like to be an engineer during the halcyon days of steam, John Orr's almost minute-by-minute account of his father's life is simply mesmerizing. I've read dozens of books on steam railroading, and this is my all-time favorite. I bought two more copies in case something happens to my original!

Railroad Father
"Set Up Running" is not a book of dry statistics of Pennsy RR trackage, assets, debits, or passenger-miles served. Neither is it a sensational narrative of harrowing accidents, up-set locomotives, or exploded boilers (although O.P. does have a few close scrapes, and the line of rail jacks exploding one after another as his massive 2-10-0 freight locomotive thunders down a track under repair sets the reader on the edge of his chair). No, this book is better than those sorts of books because it brings a man--actually two men--to life.We come to know O. P. Orr very well indeed through the eyes of his son, the author, John W. Orr, and we end up knowing John as well.