Reviews (6)

A welcome eye-witness testimony
Light One Candle: A Survivor's Tale From Lithuania To Jerusalem is the autobiographical story of Solly Ganor, a man who survived the unspeakable holocaust of the Second World War when he was 13 years old through the intervention and rescue of a Japanese American soldier in 1945 (who himself had been releases from a U.S. internment camp for Japanese Americans just a few months earlier. Light One Candle is a powerful and vividly told memoir of struggle, starvation, and the brutal tolls of concentration and extermination camps. Light One Candle is a welcome eye-witness testimony and a very highly recommended addition to personal reading lists as well as academic and community library Holocaust Studies reference collections.

a well written thought provoking account
i have read well over two hundred memoirs.This is worth crying over (not that other ones aren't also) and listening to very carefully.without sentimentality - without profession of feelings that may or may not have been felt but remembered...solly ganor brings the reader inside his mind and heart.

The best personal account of the Holocaust I've read.
In LIGHT ONE CANDLE, Solly Ganor takes the reader into that nightmare world of the Holocaust--I could practically feel the harsh elements, the constant danger of the camps.This book isn't anther rote recitation ofdeath counts.There's so much heart and compassion for all those sweptupin these horrors.The insights into camp life include the primal nature oflife stripped to itsbasics--such as the "storyteller" who keepsthe outside world and traditions alive.Particularly poignant is Cooky,Ganor's childhood friend whose account of the slaughter at the Ninth Fortis more compelling than Dante's own descent into Hell.Ipersonally feelGanor's book is deserving of some national/international award.Actually,reading the book I wonder how Ganor got it all done.It must have been sopainful to revisit these terrible, incomprehensible, sublime, poignantmemories.To me it's the best book on the Holocaust, personal orotherwise--certainly it should be a companion to any serious study of thissubject.To me it hits at the heart, gets into the soul.It's thehumanity of the account,particularly those heart-rending final glimpses ofthe condemned trying to smile as they wave good-bye. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1928-    2. Asia - General    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Ganor, Solly,    5. History    6. History: World    7. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)    8. Jews    9. Kaunas    10. Lithuania    11. Persecutions    12. Personal Memoirs    13. Personal narratives    14. Travelers    15. Biography: general    16. The Holocaust   

Reviews (5)

A Classic Memoir
Mary Cantwell's Manhattan Memoir is three books in one but you will never tell the difference.The stories flow together as Cantwell's memoir's cover her life.Cantwell takes you through a stroll in Manhattan.The good times, the struggles.The best memoir I have read.This is that book you will tell all of your friends about.Cantwell is a fantastic story teller.

Wonderful prose and a fascinating story
The other reviews told what the book was about. I just wanted to add to their comments by saying that I couldn't put the book down and was sad when it ended. Her words flowed so beautifully.

Delightful, Engaging and Unflinchingly Honest
Mary Cantwell bares her triumphs and joys as well as her shortcomings and insecurities in this collection of three memoirs that span her childhood, early adulthood, and middle- to late-adulthood respectively. Cantwell lead a wonderful, if unremarkable, childhood in an enviably Rockwell-esque seaside town - her depiction of her life through high-school is a real joy to read.Upon graduation from college, Cantwell hits the "Big City" appears to have forgotten some of the lessons learned in her idyllic childhood, however, she still manages to snag a plumb job with Mademoiselle Magazine and occasionally interacts with literary legends with her ambitious young husband.In her later life she is given interesting writing assignments and carves out a life for herself in Lower Manhattan, however, I found it discouraging that she wallows in the collapse of her marriage (which never appeared to be very strong), often to the detriment of her two daughters. I kept wondering how a woman with such a strong background could have allowed herself to sink to the depths Cantwell periodically allowed herself to hit.Regardless, she is not ashamed to remember less-than-glamorous moments in her life (which also include being jeered by fellow classmates as an elementary school student and suffering from paralyzing fits of self-doubt as a young career woman) - these are the events that have made her what she is. Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Cantwell, Mary    6. Childhood Memoir    7. Childhood and youth    8. Literary    9. Manhattan (New York, N.Y.)    10. New York (N.Y.)    11. Travelers    12. Voyages and travels    13. Women    14. Biography & Autobiography / Literary    15. Journeys   

Reviews (13)

Deconstructing the Self
I am currently finishing An Unknown Woman for the second time. This time was even more useful than the first - which was many years ago. I dug deep into the box hidden at the back of the closet for what I knew would help me in my current internal journey. Yes, there is much about her dog Logos. But like a good movie, the characters must be developed before they can mean anything in the epiphany. I love the process of how she deconstructs her patterns and thoughts to get to some source of each one of them, following a thread until it leads her to a place of realization. And only the realization can stop the process. Along the way I did some deconstructing of myself and developed once again a pattern of looking at my choices that is actually helpful in revealing my own truths hidden under the daily machinations which cover it all up. It is hard to be true to yourself. I am glad to have books like this that continue to aid me in my journey to be free.

perceptive read
Thirtysomething Alice Koller looked in the mirror and didn't recognize the face she saw.Feeling the urgent need to reassess her life, she saved up enough money to spend several months in a secluded house in Nantucket.Her only companion was her puppy, Logos. Faced with solitude, she began the challenging task of dissecting who she was and deciding who she wanted to become.She found that her adult self was not that much different from the child who so desperately sought her mother's attention and affection.She finds her difficulty with jobs and men have their roots in her early conflict with her mother.She emerges clear-sighted and independent: "I don't need anyone to tell me what I'm like, what I do well, what I ought to try. I know who I am a little bit more each day." Through writing and vigorous soul searching she comes to realize this.And the reader will share in her ultimate triumph.
Entertaining yet serious self-searching
Well worth reading; entertaining and enlightening, up to a point. Some minor complaints: too much walking around to no purpose, too much boring talk about the dog, too much melodrama and tears, etc. But these are mostly minor distractions from a serious and important book. Much like Tolstoy's Confession. One "reason for living" she doesn't consider: religion. Starts slow. Worth reading twice. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Biography/Autobiography    3. Literary    4. Philosophers    5. Travelers    6. Self-Help / Stress Management   

Reviews (6)

very plain
I agree with the previous post Im currently reading the book.I do want to find out what happens on the trip, however the writing style is very generic.No descriptions the author will simply say "the people from each village wore different colored dresses to represent each village" not descriptive at all.The style is like something that would be written by an elementary school student.

The Book That Has No Editor...
I purchased this book based on the posted reviews.While I have immense respect, admiration and envy for what they were able to do, the book is very nearly unreadable.The author writes in short, simple, dull sentences, that become irritating after a few pages.I tried a number of times to read the book, because I am very interested in what happened, but I can't get past poor writing and (apparently) no professional editing.
The Road That Has No End
The greatest book I've ever read! Tim and Cindie paint an inspiring portrait of adventure, compassion and hardship that captures the pioneer spirit. I have now traveled throughout Central America, albeit vicariously through their bicycling adventure. It is a compelling drama that touches the very core of the human need to explore unseen lands. Marvelously written! Captivating!
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Subjects:  1. Bicycle touring    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Central America    4. Cycling - General    5. Essays & Travelogues    6. General    7. Mexico    8. Special Interest - Adventure    9. Travel    10. Travel - General    11. Travelers    12. Travel / Central America   

Reviews (5)

True Adventure Fun Read
The Cloud Garden came to my attention through a review in Outside Magazine.True adventure books make for an excellent break from novels and heavier literary works.This one is a perfect example.The story is gripping, the characters are likeable, and the book is hard to put down.The bad guys are painted honestly and roundly as real people.No one is all good nor all bad.This is a story about survival, wits, humanity and the romantic ideals of adventure of which so many of us dream.Find your synopsis elsewhere.

Not Where I Want to Go
The discoveries made by eccentric British naturalists down through the years have literally turned the scientific community on its ears.But not all exploring trips have yielded spectacular results. In 2000, a young botanist set off to Central America in search of rare and beautiful species of orchids. He met up with another young explorer in northern Mexico. Where else to go but the Darien Gap, the only place where the Pan-American Highway isn't finished.
can't put it down
I am half way through and I love it, well written, fun, exciting. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Central America    3. Darien (Panama and Colombia)    4. Description and travel    5. Hart Dyke, Tom    6. Hostages    7. Orchids    8. Scientists - General    9. Special Interest - Adventure    10. Travel    11. Travelers    12. Winder, Paul    13. Nature / Flowers   

Reviews (18)

Bloody good!
Lots of LOL moments, well done indeed.I am half Brit, half American and have lived and worked in both places. Everything in here rings true.Superbly written and interesting.Highest possible recommmendation.

laugh-out-loud funny
I don't know enough about pop culture or Britian to agree or disagree with all of Queenan's judgments or know whether he is 100% factually correct. So I really evaluate this book more as a work of humor than as a serious travel book.
His love affair with England
No two romances are the same, and so Joe Queenan's love of his wife's homeland is very different from Susan Allen Toth's, whose "My Love Affair with England" I read just a few weeks ago. Their resulting books are very different, too. Liking one over the other is largely a matter of taste, like preferring Anthony Bourdain over Emeril Lagasse in food-writing. I unquestionably prefer Tony Bourdain, and so it's probably no surprise that I found "Queenan Country" one of the best in the stack of books-about-England I've been reading lately.
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Subjects:  1. American Satire And Humor    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Description And Travel    4. Europe - Great Britain - General    5. General    6. Great Britain    7. Personal Memoirs    8. Queenan, Joe    9. Travel    10. Travelers   

Reviews (23)

Lite Reading on a Heavy Subject.
Chuck Zito is a larger than life personality and unabashedly (and unapologetically) presents himself so in this, his autobiography. Co-Written by veteran Co-writer and journalist Joe Layden you should be able to plow through this tale in a couple of days. Layden co-authored "The Rock Says..." and this book reads in the same lite and breezy (ie, 8th grade level) manner. There's a bit too much time spent dropping Hollywood names just for name dropping sake and I'm sure Zito left out large chunks of his collective knowledge due to legal concerns or Biker's Code of Honor. But the book purports to be about him and not The Club, anyway, and so it is.If you have read any of the Hell's Angels books by Yves Lavigne, then you will find Zito's perspective on those same events most enlightening. All in all, an interesting tale of how a quiet kid from Brooklyn grew up to be Charming Chuck, East Coast Enforcer.
Blindingly good read! Buy it today
Having seen Chuck Zito in the TV show Oz, I was real keen to read his book to find out more about the man, and I was not disappointed, I can tell you. Like the character "Big Mervyn" he plays in the show Oz, the Chuckster is 100% real man: fair in his views, kind to his friends, and not afraid to dish out a slap when it's required. And sometimes when it's not! His story about punching Jean-Claude Van Damme in the clinkers was hilarious, as was his tale of pushing the legendary Italian-American TV hardman Luigi Alvin through a plate glass window - six floors up! Thankfully Luigi landed in the swimming pool and later saw the funny side too, from ICU. If you're interested in Hells Angels, the Mafia, bikers, or scholastic philosophy, I would strongly encourage you all to buy this book from Amazon TODAY!!!! Thank you.

Garbage
This book is about an overgrown child who alienates his wife and child to be more loyal to a bunch of even more over grown children. I thought it would be interesting to read about a different sub-culture but the entire book is about fighting...which is pretty much what i thought it would be like.
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Subjects:  1. Actors    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Entertainment & Performing Arts - General    7. Hell's Angels    8. Personal Memoirs    9. Travelers    10. United States    11. Zito, Chuck    12. Biography & Autobiography / Entertainment & Performing Arts   

Reviews (63)

OUTRAGOUS!
It was a heart warming story and its one of the things where the book is better than the movie. And it is so sad that it makes it good. I love it and going to get the movie when it comes out and also I'm going to save the book for a long time.
I Dreamed of Africa and Woke Up Reading an Awful Book
I Dreamed of Africa is a ponderous, meandering book about a woman's experience setting up a ranch/home in Africa. Along the way, she loses both her husband and son to totally avoidable accidents. I have read many, many books about Africa and this one clearly falls under the guise of "European Aristocrat Who Values Nature and Other Aristocrats More Than Africans." There is countless name dropping, frequent references to noble lineages, and absolutely no mention of how this woman can maintain an extravagant lifestyle including multiple servants, a sprawling estate in a region known for sprawling estates owned by White colonialists, an airplane (if they are such a necessity in Africa - why don't all Kenyans own one???), and a graceful home in Nairobi. She and her husband pick up and move to Africa on a whim...nice gig if you have the cash and lack any real commitments. Her life seems to be a neverending circle of cocktail parties, interspersed with tragedies that wear thin - especially when her family members have a reckless streak that begets an early and untimely death. Africans are relegated to the role of anthropological relics, while the author cavorts with the really strange cast of white folks that are long-term Kenyan residents (such as the Dellameres - one of whom is on trial in 2005-2006 for murdering a Kenyan game warden and facing the death penalty). Much time is dedicated to expounding upon the wonders of her son (a genius, psychic, great with the ladies, budding scientist, etc - you get the idea) - who she lets raise poisonous snakes that eventually (SURPRISE!) kill him. If one did not know any better and judged all Whites in Africa by this book, they would erroneously think Robert Mugabe took just action confiscating White-owned farms in Zimbabwe, after reading this book. Spare yourself the trouble and stay clear of this book.

A Dream Come True
This novel chronicles the true story of Kuki Gallmann and the realization of her lifelong dream to live in Africa. The novel begins in Italy and tells how at the age of twenty-five Kukiis involved in a serious car crash which almost cripples her. While she is recovering,one of her close friends, Paolo Gallmann, visits her daily in the hospital. They discuss their dreams and wishes and learn that they share a lifelong desire to live in Africa. After Kuki finishes her convalescing, she and Paolo marry and move to Africa with Kuki's young son from her previous marriage, Emmanuel.Thus begins an incredible adventure!
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Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Description and travel    3. Ethnic Cultures - General    4. Fiction    5. Gallmann, Kuki    6. Homes and haunts    7. Kenya    8. Movie-TV Tie-In - General    9. Movie/Tv Tie-Ins    10. Ranch life    11. Travelers    12. Women    13. Fiction / Movie or Television Tie-In    14. General & Literary Fiction   

Reviews (13)

Honest and forces you to rethink things...
This book is a must read for anyone who professes to want to effect a change in the world, specifically when it comes to helping people less fortunate than ourselves, home or abroad.
Worth a read
This is non-hero really look into the day to day opperations of foriegn aid work. It presents clear looking to issuse of poverty and enviroment and the history of a unstable area. Worth the time if you are interesting in topic or think of traveling to do aid work.

Consuming!
I found myself hiding away to read this book from cover to cover.
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Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Personal Memoirs    4. Social Science    5. Sociology    6. Sociology - General    7. Travelers   

Reviews (2)

A Little Disappointed
When I saw the title and description of the book I jumped at it because I turned 60 this year and have yearned to do something special to mark the passage.When I saw that she had bought an around the world airline ticket good for a year, I expected a nomadic sort of ramble to strange countries and adventures.I was disappointed to realize that this trip was relatively short and had a set itinerary.Even though she went to exotic places, she had been to some of them before, and she had friends or acquaintances in all of them who put her up and took her around.A nice middle class academic on vacation.Her introspective moments were sometimes moving, but I tended to skip over the poetry quoting and philosophizing.This isn't really a bad read.I guess I was expecting something more exciting and insightful.

Two Journeys
I found this a fascinating book on two levels. The journey around the world visiting and sometimes traveling with friends was an absorbing story in itself. But the inner journey-the "solo" journey- was a moving and uplifting experience. Everyone has those special birthdays-30, 40, and in the author's case, 60, when one tends to take stock of one's life. The trip was a chance to both see a part of the world we rarely get to see as well as to look back with the author at the process of becoming the person who is taking this trip. I believe a great many people will enjoy taking these journies with Ms Watkins. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Essays & Travelogues    3. Travel    4. Travelers    5. Voyages around the world    6. Watkins, Nan    7. Women   

Reviews (12)

A New Travel Classic -- for women
Tanya's honesty and openess in sharing real emotions and internal conflicts makes her so human to me. With each new picture (chapter), I felt as if she pulled up a chair beside me and brought the story sparked by the picture to life. I am a captive audience and will revisit the stories at leisure to gather more of their richness of content and language.

Great Book!
This book not only covers Ghana but also parts of Burkina Faso and Mali. I always love books that are written by women it glues you to the book, books written by women are full of emotions and explanations of other people's behavior and thoughts.

A Journey you won't forget
This book was really excellent.After reading her book, I feel like I know Tanya.Her writing is very accessible.I learned a lot about Africa that I didn't know.I don't have the guts to travel through Africa like her, but after reading her book, I feel like I have done it.Pick it up, you'll love it! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Africa, West    2. Biography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Description and travel    5. Essays & Travelogues    6. Shaffer, Tanya    7. Travel    8. Travelers    9. Women    10. Women travelers    11. Travel & holiday guides    12. Travel / Essays & Travelogues    13. Travel writing   

Editorial Review

The question isn't, "What happens when a young British woman travels the southern United States with a 19-year-old cat?" The question is, "What happens when bad-news-in-stiletto-heels Clare de Vries does that?"The answer is unbridled hilarity. Pushing 30, De Vries is wallowing in an emotional void from the recent death of her mother when she arrives on the East Coast with her cat Claudius, a shipped-over sports car, and a fantasy of finding happiness in America. Her dreams are continually smashed: the car breaks down, the cat soon follows, and felicity is elusive as she encounters some of the most wacked-out creatures to ever call George Washington their founding father.The feisty troublemaker gets booted out of hotels, museums, parks, and planes for traveling with her feline friend, and is a chronic magnet for weirdness, be it in the form of felons, con men, psychics, or ghosts. The absurdity that De Vries calls her on-the-road life reaches only one high point in Vegas, when disguised as Cleopatra she ditches a stranger from whom she inadvertently borrowed, and immediately lost, $5,000. Interspersed within the insane and sometimes harrowing escapades that unfold on her six-month road trek are touching emotional insights about pets, loved ones, and solo travel that fill out what might otherwise be simply an entirely entertaining albeit madcap book. Graphic, sometimes shocking, and sarcastically hip, this is not a book for your cat-loving grandmother, but a wild example of what might happen when a young, slightly neurotic female overdosing on chutzpah heads out (nearly) alone to shake boredom from her life. In that goal at least, De Vries unabashedly succeeds. Read more

Reviews (16)

Drags like a busted elephant's foot.
Not one of the best travel-related pieces I've read. Driving alone, de Vries has no-one to play off against so in order to provide some dialogue, she makes constant references to conversations with her cat throughout the book. This is funny the first time but should be left as a one-off joke. De Vries flogs it until it become irritating to read. Traveling with Gusto
Of all travel books I've read so far, this one has got to be the most hilarious and magnificent. Clare writes with gusto and love for her cat and of travel, and one feels as if they're right along with the couple as they travel throughout the USA. Another great novel to read by De Vries is "Of Cats and Kings", which is equally, if not more, stunning and entertaining. Readers don't have to be cat people to laugh at De Vries antics and mishaps. I would highly reccommend this novel to any female of any age, for it deals with feminine humor and romance.

Maybe I'm just not a cat person
Everyone really seemed to love this book so I thought I'd check it out, but besides being easy to read I didn't find much merit in it.In the end she just really annoyed me.Her generally snippiness was people made me cringe, and she never seemed very aware of her surroundings (although I give her props for the incident in the bar in Texas, I believe it was).As a traveler, I could never imagine trusting total strangers like she does.Sure, I know that if you don't take risks you miss out on a lot, but the fact that she lived to write this book is amazing in and of itself considering the huge amount of trust she puts in total strangers.Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Cats - General    3. Editors, Journalists, Publishers    4. Essays & Travelogues    5. Travel    6. Travelers   

Reviews (2)

terrific lyrical biography
He looks back thirty years to when he first met the woman he married and thinks how romantic he was (and still is) as he informed her that she is his Sancho Panza.Aparo reminded Lamar that Panza was squat (she is not he swears) and dumber than Quixote for following his lead.Now three decades later, three offspring later he ponders whether he fell in love with the Spanish culture as epitomized by his beloved Aparo or by falling in love with Aparo he fell in love with the Spanish culture.He knows even now the clash between his in your face Kentucky Protestant upbringing and her a gentile Catholic Spaniard.Thus as a sort of second honeymoon, the pair retrace the roots of their love by traveling the countryside together while the author ponders whether he was ROMANCING SPAIN when he courted Aparo or romancing Aparo and found Spain; either way Lamar Herrin knows that three decades ago he found his soulmate.
A simply beautiful and inspiring true-life story of love, romance, perseverance and eventual triumph
Lamar Herrin (Professor of Creative Writing and Contemporary Literature, Cornell University) presents Romancing Spain, a memoir and love story about his relationship with the Spanish woman whom he married 30 years ago. Obstructed by a church and bureaucracy, Lamar nevertheless pursued her, earning her love and trust even as he adjusted to the complexities of an Iberian nation steeped in centuries of tradition. Enthusiastically recommended reading, Romancing Spain is a simply beautiful and inspiring true-life story of love, romance, perseverance and eventual triumph which is brilliantly presented with emotion and empathy.
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Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Authors, American    3. Biography    4. Biography & Autobiography    5. Biography / Autobiography    6. Biography/Autobiography    7. Europe - Spain & Portugal    8. Herrin, Lamar    9. Personal Memoirs    10. Social life and customs    11. Spain    12. Travelers    13. Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs   

Reviews (6)

Aedes Gliris
Mortimer, with what I'm sure was a subtle twinkle in his eye, had the words Aedes Gliris -- Latin for "Summer of a Doormouse" -- stitched onto his shirts, as a motto for a happy life that in retrospect passed quickly.
For what it may be worth
I read a little of this book and then found that I just didn't want to waste my time reading any more.And it sounded so interesting in the NYTimes review!I feel this book is pure garbage.He seems to be under the impression that every thought and memory which flits through his head is of great value.Just as power corrupts, fame insufflates the ego - unless you have the supreme wisdom to resist it.I read halfway thru another book called something like 'the delights of aging'.It was just as disappointing.And I'm aging.Are there any books which genuinely make you believe aging isn't as bad as it feels?Like that music isn't as bad as it sounds? Maybe self-delusion is the only way to joyfully tolerate the whips and scorns. Maybe that's Mortimer's real message here - message by example.

A Man in His Best Season
Everybody and their brother and sister, which includes Gertrude Stein, of course, seems to be penning memoirs. A caveat to the form practiced at its best:The memoir of a man nearly eighty should be read quickly. In part to raise demand - if the recounting is revisited in prose artfully and summons forth a brilliant life - for a return engagement of cottage industriousness from the un-retiring pensioner, and chiefly because the best memoirs offer frothy recollections and musings which naturally propel alacrity. Read more

Subjects:  1. Artists, Architects, Photographers    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Literary    6. Travelers    7. Biography & Autobiography / Literary   

Editorial Review

This travelogue about the mystery-shrouded Far East is a must-read book. However, there are hazards in doing so. Originally published in 1958, Read more

Reviews (9)

A Great Travel Memoir
FIVE STARS. This book is one of the most enjoyable reads I've had in a long time. A travel memoir so vibrant and alive, it's hard to believe it was written fifty years ago, by a writer who was then in her twenties. So much fun to read - impossible to put down.
You'll feel like you're there
Leila Hadley is one of the most descriptive writers of our time.Her words leap off the page and take you inside the storyto enjoy her travels, right alongside her."Give Me the World" is so much more than a travel log or journal.Ms. Hadley invites youalong as her guest and urges you to see and feel what she has experienced, to be a part of her journey.You come away with an intimate knowledge of the Far East, as much as if you had seen it all yourself.I enjoyed my time in Bombay,Bangkok, and Singapore and recommend it to anyone who hasa spirit of adventure."Give Me the World" was an experience not to be missed.

Given the world in a lovely book
Every so often one reads a book that absolutely captures their heart and from the moment a person picks up that particular book they are lost in the pages. The fiction writer Jasper Fforde might refer to that as "reading into a book." This is one of those books. I was searching for a travel book for my reading group and nothing stood out and then I randomly found this book one day. I read the first four pages and felt such pangs of excitement. I wanted to read more right then and there. (I couldn't of course because I had to go back to work) I bought the book as quickly as I could and jumped in. Leila Hadley knows how to engage the reader and you get the distinct pleasure of watching her mature in "Give Me the World". In the beginning it is almost as if she is running away with her child when she decides to go to Asia. They enjoy a fairly comfortable existence and she ventures carefully into the scenery. She is almost slumming it a bit initially. It is when she reaches Bangkok that she begins to change and when she meets the crew of the 'California' she blossoms. Some of my new favorite characters come from this book. Her son Kippy stands out asthis quiet solid figure who seems to go easily with any new plan.
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Subjects:  1. 20th Century Description And Travel    2. Asia - Far East    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Hadley, Leila    5. Travel    6. Travelers    7. Voyages around the world    8. Women   

Reviews (5)

A travel book without direction
Twigger is a great writer at publishing adventure novels in which he starts the quest but never seems to complete it. His books are about growing up and finding himself, but he rarely finds his subject (BIG SNAKE). A self-help book for the over educated who are looking at making their mark by desperately trying to find their niche in life ie: being a writer.

Snakes and more snakes
I liked this book - more of a travelogue than a snake book, but entertaining and inspiring. Went and saw some reticulated pythons afterwards, and thought about the world's longest snake... If you liked this book, try the Snakebite Survivor's Club also - hilarious and scary.

Big Ego: The Hunt for the World's Longest Whine
Well, as treatises on growing into manhood go, it's about average.What gets me is the title: why call it a hunt for a python?All the author hunted was other people to find a snake, and his own elusive maturity.I also cannot imagine going into such an endeavour so unprepared.It would have been more interesting, at least from a herp point of view, if a reticulated python hunted Twigger.Read more

Subjects:  1. 1964-    2. Asia - General    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Editors, Journalists, Publishers    5. Literary    6. Nature    7. Nature/Ecology    8. Reptiles    9. Reptiles & Amphibians    10. Size    11. Snake hunting    12. Snakes    13. Travelers    14. Twigger, Robert,    15. Journeys    16. Twigger, Robert   

Reviews (1)

Great book - so much to admire in this woman!
I loved this book. What a character! Not only didshe travel the world, but she did it with her own money and under her own leadership. Admittedly, she hired lots of support (whole entourages in some cases) butnevertheless, the journies were hers andhers alone. I've done alot oftraveling as a single woman, and even these days it takes some courageandself-reliance. I have much admiration for Isabella Bird, who went to allthese far-flung places before there were all the modern conveniences andattitudes. Phenomenal woman! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. (Isabella Lucy),    2. 1831-1904    3. Biography    4. Biography & Autobiography    5. Biography / Autobiography    6. Biography/Autobiography    7. Bird, Isabella L    8. Bird, Isabella L.    9. Great Britain    10. Historical - General    11. Literary    12. Travelers    13. Women    14. Women travelers   

Subjects:  1. (Joseph Nicolas),    2. 1786-1843    3. Discovery and exploration    4. Essays & Travelogues    5. History - U.S.    6. Nicollet, J. N    7. Nicollet, J. N.    8. Northwestern States    9. Travelers    10. United States - 19th Century    11. American history    12. USA   

Editorial Review

All right, 'fess up: at some point you've been in the apartment of a hipster friend and looked long and covetously at his or her collection of vintage View-Masters or '50s kitsch ashtrays. But then, why would anyone collect such cool knickknacks if not to impress their friends? Filmmaker John D. Freyer knows this feeling well, and from this impulse he's written a fascinatingautobiography, charting his own story and a web of relationships with like-minded eccentrics via the cataloging in words and pictures of all the odd but neat stuff he spent twenty-something years accumulating.Read more

Reviews (12)

Very Poor Excuse For Writing A Book--Who Cares About His Junk!
I bought this book(cheaply thank goodness) thinking it would be an interesting memoir about selling on ebay. WRONG--it is nothing but photographs of the author's boring junk with small captions so we can all read the cutesy descriptions he wrote for ebay. About 60% of the items were purchased by his friends or people trying to help with this "project".Save your money--this is just pictures of dirty old clothes and canned food--not one interesting item--with very little commentary, most of which is self-conciously "hip" and cutesy.
the sum of his parts
I really loved the portrait of the thrift-shopping, travel-loving, childless single artsy young male that begins to emerge as the anecdotes attached to each auctioned item begin to pile up. A vicarious thrill to watch the project gather steam, to see all the people who get in on the fun of one person's creative and decidedly outside-the-mainstream creative project. In the spirit of Mail Art, Fluxus, and the child entrepreneurs who amuse themselves all weekend long peddling lemonade and broken toys from their stoop. One of those delights to page through again and again...

Absolutely wild!
So this guy, John Freyer, an art student (I think you'll understand him and this book better if you have some sort of understand of what avant garde and conceptual art is), decided that he was too bogged down by possessions, and he wanted to leave college the same way he began it- by all his worldly possessions crammed into his Honda Civic (I think it was). He began auctioning off EVERYTHING on Ebay, from his beloved collection of bowling shirts to a half-empty box of taco shells. And people bought it!
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Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Description and travel    5. Literary    6. Material culture    7. Personal Memoirs    8. Popular culture    9. Social life and customs    10. Travelers    11. United States    12. Social Science / Popular Culture