Book Description
"I have no wish to play the pontificating fool, pretending that I've suddenly come up with the answers to all life's questions. Quite that contrary, I began this book as an exploration, an exercise in self-questing. In other words, I wanted to find out, as I looked back at a long and complicated life, with many twists and turns, how well I've done at measuring up to the values I myself have set."
âSidney Poitier
In this luminous memoir, a true American icon looks back on his celebrated life and career. His body of work is arguably the most morally significant in cinematic history, and the power and influence of that work are indicative of the character of the man behind the many storied roles. Sidney Poitier here explores these elements of character and personal values to take his own measureâas a man, as a husband and a father, and as an actor.
Poitier credits his parents and his childhood on tiny Cat Island in the Bahamas for equipping him with the unflinching sense of right and wrong and of self-worth that he has never surrendered and that have dramatically shaped his world. "In the kind of place where I grew up," recalls Poitier, "what's coming at you is the sound of the sea and the smell of the wind and momma's voice and the voice of your dad and the craziness of your brothers and sisters...and that's it." Without television, radio, and material distractions to obscure what matters most, he could enjoy the simple things, endure the long commitments, and find true meaning in his life.
Poitier was uncompromising as he pursued a personal and public life that would honor his upbringing and the invaluable legacy of his parents. Just a few years after his introduction to indoor plumbing and the automobile, Poitier broke racial barrier after racial barrier to launch a pioneering acting career. Committed to the notion that what one does for a living articulates to who one is, Poitier played only forceful and affecting characters who said something positive, useful, and lasting about the human condition.
Here is Poitier's own introspective look at what has informed his performances and his life. Poitier explores the nature of sacrifice and commitment, price and humility, rage and forgiveness, and paying the price for artistic integrity. What emerges is a picture of a man in the face of limitsâhis own and the world's. A triumph of the spirit, The Measure of a Man captures the essential Poitier.
Customer Reviews:
****LOVED IT****.......2007-09-24
Kept me interested...I really enjoyed this book...I couldn't put the book down until I finished reading it!!!!
MEASURE OF A MAN does not measure up.......2007-09-21
Wow, a book about Sidney Poitier. An outstanding actor with a book that just does not give him true justice. The reading tends to be dry and lacks substance. His life struggles could have been the story of any man or woman, black or white. The writing and editing are weak in some sections.
You should rent or buy one of Poitier's movies instead. His movie roles show his true skills.
SPIRITUAL "Of, Relating to, Consisting of, or Affecting the Spirit" MERRIAM-WEBSTER.......2007-08-30
I've always been smitten with Poitier's voice--his diction and control on film, the flow of his words as they travel in and around ideas during interviews--so I read THE MEASURE OF A MAN with an ear for his voice. I wondered, Is it translatable to print? It is, but that means allowing Poitier's thoughts to meander until they find their point, and that his thoughts are less formulated (or formal) and more "in his own words," than they might be if they were written by a biographer. (I read just enough "You know?"s "You hear me when I tell you?"s and "You follow?"s to feel like he was talking to me, but not too many to be annoyed.) I read to imagine what it might be like to have a conversation with Poitier. The book reinforced what I already knew--I'd be as intimidated as heck--but it also gave me the courage to think I'd be able to speak my mind.
As an editor, I read Poitier's book because I wanted to know how he defines a "spiritual" autobiography. Is it a I-Was-A-Sinner-But-I-Found-Jesus-And-Now-I'm-Saved chronology? Is it about how Christianity or another faith influenced his life? Neither. Poitier examines the people, events, circumstances, beliefs, and so on, which have related to, consisted of, or affected his "spirit," and, in doing so, he writes about childhood experiences in the Bahamas, his changing perceptions of his parents, how he adapts to living in the United States, his approach to acting and filmmaking, and his attitude toward fatherhood. He also shares a debate a friend and he had about the Basic Truth of Nature, a debate worth every second of reading it takes to get to.
Is THE MEASURE OF A MAN going to satisfy readers interested only in Poitier's film career? No, but I urge them to read it anyway, if for no other reason than to find out how his "spirit" influenced the films he starred in.
Books.......2007-08-21
I purchased this book for my daughter and she loved it!
She is a teacher and plans to teach this story in her English class fall 2007.
A great story with a great moral.
Never cared for the man, but his book is great........2007-08-12
I have my preferences as to actors. Poitier was never in a prominent standing. But, then neither were a few others; like John Wayne. Not saying they both weren't good actors, just two of the many I didn't watch much.
Having said that, I find Mr. Poitier's book an interesting read. I feel it was well worth the money.
[...]
Amazon.com
Conservative talk radio host, lawyer, and frequent National Review contributor Mark R. Levin comes out firing against the United States Supreme Court in Men in Black, accusing the institution of corrupting the ideals of America's founding fathers. The court, in Levin's estimation, pursues an ideology-based activist agenda that oversteps its authority within the government. Levin examines several decisions in the court's history to illustrate his point, beginning with the landmark Marbury v. Madison case, wherein the court granted itself the power to declare acts of the other branches of government unconstitutional. He devotes later chapters to other key cases culminating in modern issues such as same-sex marriage and the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill. Like effective attorneys do, Levin packs in copious research material and delivers his points with tremendous vigor, excoriating the justices for instances where he feels strict constit utional constructivism gave way to biased interpretation. But Levin's definition of "activism" seems inconsistent. In the case of McCain-Feingold, the court declined to rule on a bill already passed by congress and signed by the president, but Levin, who thinks the bill violates the First Amendment, still accuses them of activism even when they were actually passive. To his talk-radio listeners, Levin's hard-charging style and dire warnings of the court's direction will strike a resonant tone of alarm, though the hyperbole may be a bit off-putting to the uninitiated. As an attack on the vagaries of decisions rendered by the Supreme Court and on some current justices, Men in Black scores points and will likely lead sympathetic juries to conviction. --John Moe
Book Description
Mark Levin throws the book at our own judicial system--in particular, American judges who ignore the Constitution and dismantle the rights of American citizens in everyday court proceedings. He shares jaw-dropping examples of judicial power grabs and liberal power plays by judges.
Customer Reviews:
Are we simply sheep being led astray?.......2007-09-19
The first thing I would suggest doing before reading this book or any other political book is to actually read the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights. It can be found for free on the internet.
When discussing one of my favorite issues of our time, the interaction of government and religion, invariably the phrase of "Separation of Church and State" is put forth. My simple retort is to then challenge the individual to find that phrase in the U.S. Constitution. It's my belief that if you asked the entire population of the United States, 80 - 90% of the people would say that phrase could be found in the Constitution. But alas, those words can be found nowhere in the Constitution or the first amendment specifically. It isn't all that surprising that people hold that belief based on the fact that the phrase is uttered ad nauseam through the media, politicians and judges. This simple fact alone leads me to suggest actually reading the entire document before moving on to books regarding the Constitution.
The above being said, whether you are a middle of the roader, left wing loony or a right wing nut job like me I think Mr. Levin's Men in Black is a valuable read. It gives accounts on how the judiciary has usurped power that isn't specifically given it in the Constitution.
For people that applaud judicial activism such as Roe v. Wade, rulings against religious activities, etc. they should take pause and consider that someday the result may be widespread judicial activism from the right. Neither being a good thing. Legislating belongs in Congress where politicians are accountable to the people by election. To me Mr. Levin shows the danger of when judges take power not given them in the Constitution and use it to get their personally desired results enacted.
The book is specifically broken out in chapters that discuss specific topics, such as role of religion, rights to privacy, social policy enacted from the bench as well as several others. While I felt the arguments could have at times been better developed, I do believe this is a valuable book to read to gain a better understanding of our current judiciary climate and how we got to this stage.
Tyranny from the Bench by the Elite Radical Left .......2007-09-13
The constitution, federal law, and American culture dictate in the most extreme manner that the power of the government belongs to the people through their elected ombudsmen in Congress.
The US Supreme Court took it upon themselves to state what the law says, and where the power is to be held, which is not what the founders or the constitution clearly states. In fact it is up to the court to police themselves and define where their power is and where it is not, just look at Marbury vs. Madison.
The power of government belongs to the citizens of the United States through the honestly elected congressionals, not to a bunch of elitist left wing thugs who have the OVER privilege to sit on the bench and decide how we the people should live.
Court decisions like Roe vs. Wade were completely unconstitutional where the court erroneously cited the right to privacy where the Constitution itself says nothing about abortion and thus the document left the issue and other social issues to be independently decided by state governments and state voters, not some liberal elitist thugs in Washington.
American power belongs to the people themselves through direct voter participation, elected congressional figures, and the honorably elected executive in the White House when it comes to issues of Terrorism and national emergency in the 21st century.
Issues such as Miranda rights, Map Verses Ohio, Roe vs. Wade, and other unjust rulings should be decided by state voters, state legislatures, and sovereign state governments not a bunch of elites in the Federal government.
The states have a large amount of power, and should have that power over numerous social and legal issues; Federal power is granted through the consent of the states, not the other way around.
The jaws of the American Supreme Court must be defanged, their power must be checked, and judges on all levels of the law should be held accountable to the people.
The law serves the people, the people do not serve the left wing elitist snobs who took it upon themselves to declair that they are the law.
America must remain democratic, constitutionally republican, and free for all time.
God bless the USA.
Finally the TRUE story of what has been going on in the Supreme Court.......2007-08-28
I was shocked to read the real story of what has been going on in the Supreme Court all these years. Thanks to Mark Levin to bring it out in the open.
This made the best sellers list?.......2007-08-19
Wow. I guess the way to the best sellers list is to: 1. ignore logical consistency; 2. ignore competing arguments; 3. distort history; 4. bash your opponents with heat, but no light. What a formula. For those interested in a serious work about the same themes, take a look at Kermit Roosevelt's book on Judicial Activism.
Supreme Court is SUPREME POWER....scary...........2007-05-31
The antics of the Supreme Court (Supreme God ?) were quite eye opening, and who better to tell the story.....
Our population needs to start marching in front of the court building and making our opinions known.
This book points out the problems when people are appointed for life and then have NO ACCOUNTABILITY.
The detail about the cases cited and researched is amazing....the facts are scary, but important for everyone in America to understand that the Court can and does regularly take away in some way every liberty we think we posess.
A must reading......I highly recommend it.
Book Description
In this "honest and searching look at the perils of growing up a black male in urban America" (San Francisco Chronicle), Washington Post reporter Nathan McCall tells the story of his passage from the street and the prison yard to the newsroom of one of America's most prestigious papers. "A stirring tale of transformation."--Henry Louis Gates, Jr., The New Yorker.
Customer Reviews:
Good book that tells it like it is.......2006-06-25
Follow the life of Nathan Mc Call in this book, see how America works through his eyes. This book was thought provoking, eye opening and sad.
You feel for Nathan and what he goes through but you don't really end up liking who he is as a person. This book allows you to see what it is like growing up as a black male in America.
Education, jail, work, crime, children, friendships with white people. This book is open and honest and I recommend it to anyone who wants to begin to try and understand and see what it is like growing up as a black male.
It certainly opened my eyes!
Walking in other shoes.......2006-06-20
This book hurts to read. So much pain in so many lives. But what McCall does is put you in his shoes--this is no easy task for someone who is both white and female. It opens a huge door of understanding. It is not a book for the immature or the fearful. I read some of these reviews and wondered, "What book did they read?" Definately not light reading. Powerful, frightening, enlightening. Needs to be read.
The reality in the race relationships in the United States .......2006-04-25
I have read this book over and over and I still find parallels in the life of Nathan McCall and my own life. Mc Call calls it as it is, the society that we live in is not leveled and only one group that gets all the privileges. That there is no recognition that the success of the whites was made on the backs of African Americans that worked for free, and gave that wealth that even today whites get to enjoy. To many people who think that racism is a thing of the past this book is a revelation and goes deeply into the inherit truths of racism and its consequences. Many people think that black teenagers are "ready" for a life of crime, but the truth is that a hypocritical racist society has designated a path for those teenagers, to see a prove of this just look at school systems in white and black neighborhoods. It is like we are living under two separate states, same flag, same country but different standards of living and I'm not talking about 1862 or 1963, I'm talking about 2006. This book is very powerful with a strong sad message.
Suburban Shakedown.......2006-01-21
Nathan McCall shares his personal story as a "wild child" of color, becoming a man in a racially prejudices country; his crimes and imprisonment, gang warfare, street smarts and wisdom, and finding his way to truth and sanity.
Not diminishing responsibility for his own life choices, McCall's story is very real and honest. It challenges America's institutional establishments of prejudice and cruelty, illustrating the imbalances in a white dominated world.
I loved it!
Straight with no chaser..........2005-10-04
It's kind of funny to see some people's response in the reviews already present. Did McCall hurt your feelings or tell you something you didn't want to hear? For those who can take their liquor I highly recommend this book. It should be read by people of all colors, without prejudice. If nothing else at least recognize that it can assist youths in trying to find direction in the violent world we live in today.
Thank you Mr. McCall.
Peace be with you...
Book Description
The headlines proclaimed the 1919 fix of the World Series and attempted cover-up as "the most gigantic sporting swindle in the history of America!" First published in 1963, Eight Men Out has become a timeless classic. Eliot Asinof has reconstructed the entire scene-by-scene story of the fantastic scandal in which eight Chicago White Sox players arranged with the nation's leading gamblers to throw the Series in Cincinnati. Mr. Asinof vividly describes the tense meetings, the hitches in the conniving, the actual plays in which the Series was thrown, the Grand Jury indictment, and the famous 1921 trial. Moving behind the scenes, he perceptively examines the motives and backgrounds of the players and the conditions that made the improbable fix all too possible. Here, too, is a graphic picture of the American underworld that managed the fix, the deeply shocked newspapermen who uncovered the story, and the war-exhausted nation that turned with relief and pride to the Series, only to be rocked by the scandal. Far more than a superbly told baseball story, this is a compelling slice of American history in the aftermath of World War I and at the cusp of the Roaring Twenties.
Customer Reviews:
The little guys took the fall........2007-05-24
I saw the movie, but the book explains in more detail the tragedy of the 1919 World Series White Sox (or Black Sox). This book details that the gamblers such as the Little Champ were the real villians in this fiasco. Commisky was also a cheap skate who payed his talented players peanuts and then expected them to win pennants. The victims were the ball players who all expected were rich (they were not) and got duped by a bunch of fast talking gamblers. Shoeless Joe Jackson comes across as a decent man trying to make a go of it in life. These talented people were out matched by more brilliant eastern money men.
This is a great read about the All American pastime. I came away with true respect for the ball players, although not the baseball clubs. This is a tragic story of eight talented players being out hustled by gamblers.
ocho men out........2006-03-13
Eliot Asinof does a very good job at retelling this famous world series game. This book grabs you and you stay hooked from the first word to the last, hearing about the day that the White Sox fixed the 1919 World Series. I highly recommend this great capture of the White Sox scandal game, especially for all of the baseball fans, and anyone who is not interested in baseball. It is a great read. This fixation of baseball came to be known "The Black Sox Scandal".
Chick Gandil a tough 31 year old man started this scandal and brought in other baseball team members including; Claude "Lefty" Williams, Fred McMullin, Charles "Swede" Riseberg, "Shoeless Joe Jackson, Oscar "Happy" Felsch, George "Buck" Weaver, and Eddie Cicotte. These 8 baseball players made history in the name of baseball, when getting involved with gamblers. With money on the line all of these baseball players are willing to try anything. The pressure and the pain of this baseball game is very interesting. Did they really think they could get away with this? What were they thinking? Well in this story Asinof tells all that and more. By explaining each intense moment to the next you stay hooked.
Required Reading.......2006-03-09
I teach a course to high school seniors called Baseball in American Society. (2nd semester). We use Eight Men Out as one of the required readings. Comparing controversies that have happened in baseball over the years is part of the syllabus and the 1919 Black Sox scandal fits right in.
Great Book for the Baseball Fan - Everything you wanted to know about The Black Sox Scandal........2005-12-24
I just completed "Eight Men Out" and I thought that the book was very interesting because of its vivid description of the "Black Sox Scandal." Instead of dealing with the use of steroids, early 20th century baseball battled constant corruption through the influence of gambling. "Eight Men Out" describes how gamblers, not the ball players were the most important figures in professional baseball, and how difficult it was for the typical fan to realize their fixes and for professional baseball to eliminate their influence. Today's baseball fans should definitely skim through the book. If you are looking for a sports book to read, and you are particularly interested in baseball, you should try this book because it is a phenomenal story of one of the most important eras in baseball history. Overall, it's a quick read and very informative. I would also suggest "Boys of Summer," and "Ball Four" if you are interested in reading about baseball.
Time to Bury the Black Sox.......2005-10-28
Now White Sox is World Series Champions again, it's time to bury the eight men forever from our memories.
Average customer rating:
- "Partying is such sweet sorrow."
- Best book out of the Literary Brat Pack era
- Witty, not funny.
- Bright Lights, Big City
- Dealing with loss
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Bright Lights, Big City
Jay Mcinerney
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ASIN: 0394726413
Release Date: 1984-08-12 |
Book Description
The tragicomedy of a young man in NYC, struggling with the reality of his mother's death, alienation and the seductive pull of drugs.
Customer Reviews:
"Partying is such sweet sorrow." .......2007-07-29
His writing style has been compared to Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Waugh. Jay McInerney's (1955) breakthrough novel, Bright Lights Big City (1984), tells the story (in second-person narrative) of an unnamed, divorced ("sexually abandoned"), 24-year-old protagonist's exit from the New York City fast lane. By day he works as a fact checker for a literary magazine, and by night he immerses himself in the trendy New York party scene. (Much like his protagonist, McInerney himself worked as a fact-checker at The New Yorker and was no stranger to the NYC social scene.) With his unique wit, McInerney's coming-of-age, urban-angst novel offers scathing insights into the mid-1980's cocaine party culture. I also recommend McInerney's more recent novels, Brightness Falls (1992) and The Good Life (2006).
G. Merritt
Best book out of the Literary Brat Pack era.......2007-07-07
I've read all of the brat back authors, and I wouldn't jump in and say that any of their works are magnificent literary masterpieces. Bight lights, big city, however, is by far the best novel to come from this period. High Points: Excellent, unprecidented use of 2nd person narrative; witty, satiric, paraodic, and humanistic at heart; very accesible, nothing too over the top, and it avoids pointless refernces to the flat pop-culture of the 80's. I actually have no complaints about this book, but then I don't think many people are going to be talking much about it hereafter. It is more of an entertaining artifact of the 80's than a great work of literature.
Witty, not funny........2007-06-02
I found this book to be frustrating and sad. At first, I thought the unnamed main character was your typical yuppie who is caught up in Manhattan's fast paced, drug induced night life because that is what young, unattached adults do. But then you find out all the bad things that have happened in his life. The drug induced night life made more sense. It was his way of coping with his loses. I thought the writing was clever. Maybe too clever. Some reader's found humor in it. There were some witty parts. "Tad's mission in life is to have more fun than anyone else in New York City, and this involves a lot of moving around, since there is always the likelihood that where you aren't is more fun than where you are." I wouldn't classify this book as "funny" however. I think the writer found an interesting way of describing how a young guy, living in a fast paced world of the 80's, is dealing with loss and loneliness.
Bright Lights, Big City.......2007-02-09
First of all let me nail my flag to the mast - I'm a Jay McInerney (and Bret Easton Ellis) fan. I know a lot of people aren't - but then I'm cooler than a lot of people.
Interesting from the opening line and written in the second person ("You are not the kind of guy who would be at a place like this at this time of the morning"), Brights Lights, Big City is a satirical portrait of a young lost soul trying to find meaning in an apprantly meaningless world. Set in New York City in the 1980s our hero walks zombie-like through clubs, self-indulgence, drugs and meaningless relationships. He hates his job and is basically a mess who is wasting his life. Just as we were beginning to think that our hero has an amazingly shallow existence - he is revealed as being more than a simple waster. He has, in fact, been abandoned by his new wife, is estranged from his family and has aspirations to be a writer of fiction. He is human after all and the question he faces is whether or not he can be bothered to get his life back. Will cynicism or optimism prevail?
McInerney (like Ellis) is often dismissed as a writer of disposable "drug stories" with little literary ability. I disagree. If you are able to look a little deeper you will find plenty of interesting social commentary.
Dealing with loss.......2007-01-19
This is a very sensitively and humanely written novel about a young New Yorker who must deal with several great losses: of his beautiful fashion model wife who abandons him when she moves to France, of his job as a magazine editor, and of his mother. At first I find him self-indulgent and silly, but as I get to know and understand him better, he turns out to be merely sad. Hence, his increased bar hopping and abuse of cocaine.
He acts as if he does not care about the loss of his job through carelessness and indifference. He becomes increasingly depressed and comes close to developing a nervous breakdown. The search for his wife is sadly pathetic. I developed a real empathy for this young man and came to realize that under similar circumstances, he could be you, me--any of us. By the conclusion of the book, through meeting someone new and a cathartic experience, he finally confronts the painful memories of his mother's death. He sees that he "will have to go slowly...and learn everything all over again." He is on his way to recovery.
Amazon.com
The closer a secret is kept, the more powerful the impact once it is finally revealed. Such is the case with author and activist J.L. King's intriguing look at the lives and lifestyles of black men who sleep with other men but do not consider themselves to be gay. These men live "on the down low," the "DL" for short, and their sexual activities have gained significant notice as the rate of HIV/AIDS infection in black women has skyrocketed, with the vast majority of cases coming from heterosexual sex. King is a veteran of the DL himself and his book serves partly as a social and psychological survey of the other men he has surveyed and partly as highly candid memoir. King was well regarded in his community, popular at his church, successful in his career, and married to a woman who had no idea that his secret life existed. But when she caught him in a lie and with another man, the marriage collapsed and King's long and painful path to self-awareness began. King cites the negative image many socially conservative black men have of homosexuality as an obstacle to those men being honest with their partners and themselves about who they are. Among the more intriguing elements of On the Down Low are the peculiar approaches men on the DL have to the sexual act, seeking a strictly physical sexual relationship with their secret male partners while remaining in more traditional arrangements with women. Whether this discrepancy is a product of scrupulously guarded secrecy and shame or the natural preference of an understudied sexual identity is one of the numerous questions raised by this book. Though the infection statistics make the DL a huge public health issue, King is neither a sociologist nor a medical professional. And while a more clinical look at this issue would be welcome, King accomplished what he set out to do: provide light and insight into a world that so many have worked so hard to keep in the shadows. --John Moe
Book Description
A bold exposé of the controversial secret that has potentially dire consequences in many African American communities
Delivering the first frank and thorough investigation of life “on the down low” (the DL), J. L. King exposes a closeted culture of sex between black men who lead “straight” lives. King explores his own past as a DL man, and the path that led him to let go of the lies and bring forth a message that can promote emotional healing and open discussions about relationships, sex, sexuality, and health in the black community.
Providing a long-overdue wake-up call, J. L. King bravely puts the spotlight on a topic that has until now remained dangerously taboo. Drawn from hundreds of interviews, statistics, and the author’s firsthand knowledge of DL behavior, On the Down Low reveals the warning signs African American women need to know. King also discusses the potential health consequences of having unprotected sex, as African American women represent an alarming 64 percent of new HIV infections. Volatile yet vital, On the Down Low is sure to be one of the most talked-about books of the year.
“A survey by the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta found that nearly a quarter of black HIV-positive men who had sex with men consider themselves heterosexual.”
—Essence
Customer Reviews:
EYE OPENER .......2007-09-30
I don't condone this lifestyle, but it is still going to exist, rather I like it or not. I am a happily married woman, but God forbid if something happens to my husband and I have to go back out here on the dating scene again. Thanks to J.L Kings book I will not be so easy to fall for men without investigating them first and picking up on signs. Even if I never have to worry about dating again , I can defintely educate my kids (both girls) about this topic. Don't try to keep topics like this from your kids thinking it wont affect them, because better you tell them, than they find out in a negative way and end up with Aids!
all you closet fags should read this.......2007-09-18
my dad was bisexual so I was hip to this lifestyle from the time I was born so I can relate to this yeah this lifestyle has been around for centuries some of the greatest men in history and literature are homo or bi such as hercules, julius caesar, alexander the great, king herod, pharaoh, achilles, zeus, elton john, david bowie yes homosexuality runs deep lots of entetatiners are on the downlow we know mase is bi so is puffy, missy elliot, da brat, beyonce, camron, kanye west, and plenty others tyra banks and plenty more don't worry everything will come out in the light already thwere are signs that these entertainers are closet homo's.
The Urban Book Source.......2007-08-13
J.L. King hit the head on the nail with his freshman novel. Although down low brothers is nothing new to our community, they have never been talked about in as open a manner as this. On the Down Low lets you crawl into the life of a creeping man and witness the lies, deception and risk that are involved with such a lifestyle. In a deeply rooted homophobic community, many will shun this book. I applaud Mr. King's efforts. With HIV and AIDS running rampant in our community and DL brothers playing a role in an outrageous rate of infection for young black women, I think this book is more than worth the read. Although this text is heavily based on Mr. Kings own experience and some have complained about the quality of writing, I say give this book a chance. Don't focus on the writing, focus on the facts!
1. What did you like best about this book?
I liked that the author took a risk and exposed a topic that was rarely discussed in the open before this book.
2. What did you dislike about this book?
I didn't like that the main basis of this book surrounded the author's personal life. I feel that left air for the material to be biased and questionable.
3. How can the author improve this book?
I think Mr. King should try to tighten and reign in his writing style.
Unsure of Message He's Giving.......2007-07-17
I liked the book. I'm a guy and I was interested in knowing more about being on the DL. But I don't know exactly what the message J.L. King was trying to give. He didn't tell men NOT to be on the DL, he did warn females about them. I guess he just was the messenger. I don't think it will change any black male from having sex with another man if he wants to. It's not going to bring honesty. I can't imagine any male confessing prior to or before doing this. All women cannot insist that their men put on a condom before sex. So-things will probably remain the same. Bottom line???.... Know your partner and be prepared to accept the consequence if you come up HIV+. When I was young they called VD "the gift that keeps on giving", but AIDS is not a gift. We need better morals but people don't seem to want that either.
On the Down Low.......2007-05-14
This was a very, very good read. It is not scary it is Real.
Amazon.com
Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlins has few illusions about the world--at least not about the world of a young black veteran in the late 1940s in Southern California. His stint in the Army didn't do anything to dissuade him from his belief that justice doesn't come cheap, especially for men like him. "I thought there might be some justice for a black man if he had money to grease it," Easy says. Fired from his job on the line at an aircraft plant, he's in danger of losing his home, symbol of his tenuous hold on middle class status. That's a good enough reason to accept a white man's offer to pay him for finding a beautiful, mysterious Frenchwoman named Daphne Monet, last seen in the company of a well-known gangster. Easy's search takes the reader to an L.A. few writers have shown us before--the mean streets of South Central, the after-hours joints in dirty basement clubs, the cheap hotels and furnished rooms, the places people go when they don't want to be found. Evocative of a past time, and told in a style that's reminiscent of Hammet and Chandler, yet uniquely his own, Mosley's depiction of an inherently decent man in a violent world of intrigue and corruption rang up big sales when it was published in 1990 (although the movie version, with Denzel Washington as Easy, never found the audience it deserved). The minor characters are deftly and brilliantly developed, especially Mouse, who saves Easy's life even as he draws him deeper into the mystery of Daphne Monet. Like many of Mosley's characters, Mouse makes a return appearance in the succeeding Easy Rawlins mysteries, such as A Red Death, Black Betty, and White Butterfly, every one of which is as good as Devil in a Blue Dress, his first. --Jane Adams
Book Description
Los Angeles, 1948: Easy Rawlins is a black war veteran just fired from his job at a defense plant. Easy is drinking in a friend's bar, wondering how he'll meet his mortgage, when a white man in a linen suit walks in, offering good money if Easy will simply locate Miss Daphne Money, a blonde beauty known to frequent black jazz clubs....
Customer Reviews:
Not Free SF Reader.......2007-09-04
Easy Rawlins is an ex-military man looking to get by after the war. He loses his job, and is looking to do something else to pay the bills. He falls into a private investigator type of job, being asked to track down a white woman that likes to hang out in black clubs.
It is all not quite as simple as that of course. Time for some music, violence, and the other usual bits and pieces.
Wonderfully Atmospheric Writing.......2007-06-01
DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS is the first in Walter Mosley's "Easy Rawlins" mysteries, featuring a black private detective in 1940s Los Angeles.
I enjoyed this novel quite a bit. DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS is incredibly well written for a first novel, and features some of the best dialogue I've ever read in a book of this type. Mosley does a great job of portraying the atmosphere of the 1940s, and how the races related to one another during that time period. In many ways, this is what great fiction is about -- transporting the reader to a completely different time and place. Mosley succeeds admirably in doing exactly this.
Unfortunately, Mosley stumbles a bit with his incredibly convoluted plot. DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS is a relatively short novel, but it's overstuffed with a series of minor characters who all have complex interrelationships with one another. Toward the end, when Mosley begins explaining these relationships, the plot gets incredibly confusing. As a result, I felt the ending lacked punch.
Still, this book is superb in many ways. I was enormously impressed with Mosley's skill with language, characterization and dialogue. I will definitely be purchasing some of his other books.
substantially overrated.......2007-03-11
'Devil in a Blue Dress' has a oodles of atmosphere and quirky characters but the plot is so convoluted that this reader was bored with it all half way through. Kudos to the author for capturing the feel of 1940s Los Angeles. But I think he went a bit haywire in trying to stitch together a story with too many odd characters and mini plot twists,
Bottom line: rather disappointing after a promising start. 'Devil in a Blue Dress' does not inspire me to read anything else by this author.
good story.......2006-11-10
Not sure why but I wasn't as taken with this novel as I have been with the other of his books. Don't get me wrong, this was a good book but it's wasn't up to his usual standards.
Distinctive Character.......2006-09-16
I read Devil in a Blue Dress in one sitting. Obviously, writer Jonathan Kellerman did too, because he later wrote, "I read Devil in a Blue Dress in one sitting and didn't want it to end. An astonishing first novel." Fortunately for Mosley fans, there are more Easy Rawlins mysteries. Devil in a Blue Dress remains my favorite. It's set in 1948 in Los Angeles. Easy Rawlins is a war veteran just fired from his job at a defense plant. (This is the role Denzel Washington plays in the movie.) Devil is much more than a hard-boiled mystery. The book left me wanting to read more about Easy Rawlins whereas many of the Hammett/Chandler/Cain novels are so formulaic that I have trouble remembering which ones I've read. Not a problem with Devil in a Blue Dress.
Average customer rating:
- great
- Drug addiction and friendship
- Grim and accurate portrayal of the drug scene in the UK
- Choose Life
- hard to understand, must be patient
|
Trainspotting
Irvine Welsh
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0393314804 |
Amazon.com
Irvine Welsh's controversial first novel, set on the heroin-addicted fringe of working-class youth in Edinburgh, is yet another exploration of the dark side of Scottishness. The main character, Mark Renton, is at the center of a clique of nihilistic slacker junkies with no hopes and no possibilities, and only "mind-numbing and spirit-crushing" alternatives in the straight world they despise. This particular slice of humanity has nothing left but the blackest of humor and a sharpness of wit. American readers can use the glossary in the back to translate the slang and dialect--essential, since the dialogue makes the book. This is a bleak vision sung as musical comedy.
Book Description
For the first time in hardcover with the original jacket art:
"The best book ever written by man or woman...deserves to sell more copies than the Bible."—Rebel, Inc.
Trainspotting is the novel that first launched Irvine Welsh's spectacular career—an authentic, unrelenting, and strangely exhilarating episodic group portrait of blasted lives. It accomplished for its own time and place what Hubert Selby, Jr.'s Last Exit to Brooklyn did for his. Rents, Sick Boy, Mother Superior, Swanney, Spuds, and Seeker are as unforgettable a clutch of junkies, rude boys, and psychos as readers will ever encounter. Trainspotting was made into the 1996 cult film starring Ewan MacGregor and directed by Danny Boyle (A Shallow Grave).
Customer Reviews:
great.......2007-09-06
fantastic once you get the hang of the language and slang. Suggestion--watch the movie first to put a face with the characters. The movie is but a fraction of the book, so it won't spoil anything. LOVE IT!!!
Drug addiction and friendship.......2007-04-15
Once you get over the dialect (it is written a scottish accent), and it doesn't take long to do. You find a funny, sad and disturbing account of drug addiction and the nature of friendship.
There's so much more here than in the movie.
One of my favouries.
Grim and accurate portrayal of the drug scene in the UK.......2006-12-26
If you like the movie and you've also got the soundtrack cds then go the whole hog and give it a read. It consists of a series of vignettes that were woven together superbly for the film. Readers might be put off initially by Welsh writing in a scottish dialect, but once you suss it out, it works most effectively in setting the scene and the characters - and there's a almost complete dictionary in the back. Some of the scenes are a tad grimmer than the film portrayed - hence the beauty of books allowing character development etc. But that said the film captured the essence of the book very, very well. The cover shows the cast of the film, and I think they did a grand job matching up the characters to the actors especially Begby.
Welsh indicates how easy it is for the disenfranchised of the western world, and probably all cultures, to find themselves trying drugs "just the once, I can handle it" and then caught in the embrace of addition, needing the next fix and how to fund it etc.
A very powerful protrayal of the sad and seedy world of drug addiction. (The "Mile End" track by Pulp captures it perfectly).
Recommended!
Choose Life.......2006-10-18
As other reviewers have noted, Trainspotting is more a collection of short stories than an actual novel. Beyond the gritty surface, Trainspotting is more idea-driven than story-driven, as what ties it all together is the theme of addiction and acceptance.
On one level, heroin addiction is portrayed as a symptom of a moribund Scottish working-class, struggling to deal with a post-industrial, post-Thatcher UK. It's telling that the only thing for a healthy person to do in the book is to move to London or out of the country entirely.
On another level, heroin addiction is portrayed as a symptom of existential angst. Mark Renton AKA Rent-Boy is a nihilist for whom heroin is simply the most ready-made, prepackaged form of self-negation that he has access to. He fancies himself a martyr for the cause of oblivion, but as he himself attests, this martyrdom is childish, romantic, and entirely ego-centric.
I would argue that, in essence, Trainspotting is a coming-of-age story. It deals with a group of young adults who are addicted to self-pity in varying degrees, in this case in the form of heroin. Some of the characters are able to get beyond their own fear and needless self-loathing and become full-fledged human beings. Others are not so lucky; the book is littered with psychic debris. In a more just society, more people might make it, but not everybody. That's life, and nobody can make you choose to live it.
hard to understand, must be patient.......2006-06-16
i was real excited about reading this, being a big fan of the movie and all, but in the end was dissapointed. It just seemed to be a bunch of random scenes with no connection, and it was depressing, people shooting heroin, getting AIDS and dying all the time, getting off the heroin, and then going back to it. Also, the hard scot dialect was difficult to read, even out loud and irritating...this is a book that requires a lot of patience
Customer Reviews:
A Must Read For All Educators And Parents!.......2007-09-07
This book, along with Jawanzaa Kunjufu's books, is a must read for all educators. If you want to make a positive change in the lives of African American males, it is important to understand the "powers" that are in place that hinders the growth of not just our African American boys, but all of our children, because without the positive influences/gifts of these young boys, everyone will suffer.
TRUTH.......2007-08-13
As an educator, I can whole-heartedly agree! Thank you for putting this into print. PLease seek 60 Minute & 20/20 for an audience. Give them the direction to investigate & and PLEASE follow through! I am buying this book & referring it to all of my co-workers. Ouch!
Thank you for enlighening me .......2007-06-10
This book is very informative about our african american boys and men. I'm a single parent with a 17yr old (son), and have gone through half of the problems that is going on in the school system. advicing my son that he needs medication for his behavior program, through the special education program etc. It is something that every african american parent should pick up and read.
Blessings
Kill Them Before They Grow: The Misdiagnosis of African American Boys in America's Classrooms.......2007-02-16
This book is right on target. The more I read, the more I could identify with Michael Porter's words.
Thanks you - Mr. Porter for putting in plain text the Truth.......2006-11-20
It sometimes appears hopeless, that people will view the truth for what it is and not be hampered or biased based on what side of the fence one finds himself/herself on (be it racial or social economic). As I read Porter's book, I found myself and my own personal experience within the American Public School system. I can only thank Mr. Porter for daring to put into text such an ugly truth that really needs to be addressed, diagnosed and dealt with by all (especially those who are victimized by that truth).
Average customer rating:
- Clive Cussler books
- Think you know Clive
- not a winner
- Unrealistic responses and poor judgement
- Cussler inserts himself
|
Black Wind (Dirk Pitt Adventures)
Clive Cussler , and
Dirk Cussler
Manufacturer: Berkley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0425204235 |
Book Description
Clive Cussler's dazzling new Dirk Pitt(r) adventure.
Clive the Mighty!" hailed Kirkus Reviews about Cussler's last Dirk Pitt(r) novel, Trojan Odyssey. "Hurricane Clive at his most tumultuous." Nobody has been able to match Cussler yet for the intricate plotting and sheer audacity of his work, and Black Wind sets the bar even higher.
In the waning days of World War II, the Japanese tried a last desperate measure-a different kind of kamikaze mission, this one carried out by two submarines bound for the West Coast of the United States, their cargo a revolutionary new strain of biological virus. Neither sub made it to the designated target.
But that does not mean they were lost.
Someone knows about the subs and what they bore, knows too where they might be, and has an extraordinary plan in store for the prize inside-a scheme that could reshape the world as we know it. All that stands in the way are three people: a marine biologist named Summer, a marine engineer named Dirk, and their father, Dirk Pitt, the new head of NUMA. Pitt has faced devastating enemies before, and has even teamed up with his children to track them down. But never has he looked upon the face of pure evil . . . until now.
Filled with dazzling suspense and breathtaking action, Black Wind is Cussler at the height of his storytelling powers.
Customer Reviews:
Clive Cussler books.......2007-08-01
I like the action and the style of Clive Cussler books. The hero Dirk Pitt stimulates my imagination.
Think you know Clive.......2007-07-23
Dark Wind was a great read. Clive and Dirk Cussler were really great together. The interesting plot and charachter twists were fun.
not a winner.......2007-07-22
Being a long time Clive Cussler/Dirk Pitt fan I must say that this book is not by Clive nor about Dirk(Sr.)The best thing to do at this point is to get rid of all the children involved with the project.This includes Mr. Cussler the younger.If Mr. Cussler the elder is unable to continue writing, without help,then retire Dirk Pitt and crew.I would surley miss them but I missed them in this book also.
Unrealistic responses and poor judgement.......2007-07-05
Most of the writing is very much canned with relationships straight out of melodrama; however, this can be excused considering the scope of the novel. What cannot be excused are the unrealistic responses to dangerous situations the characters constantly encounter and yet, are able to escape with little or no consequences. The use of Deus Ex Machina can only be forgiven in extreme cases--this is not one of them.
The characters are two dimensional in their perfection as well as their near invulnerability. They have no flaws which is an impossibility. The reaction of the United States government to the situations outlined in the novel are naive at its most basest.
To say the least, I am very unhappy with this novel.
Cussler inserts himself.......2007-06-14
This book SUCKED. I set it down when the author inserted himself -as a wealthy, suave, hero- and wished I had never begun.
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