1990 Books

Great, but get Fodor's 2000 not the 199

This book is an account of the seige of Shatila refugee camp in Beirut in 1987-1988. Giannou was sent to the camp by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society in 1986 to set up and run a field hospital to serve the camp during the coming siege. Giannou, a Canadian by passport of Greek heritage, had had too much experience serving in war zones before, having been a camp surgeon during the Israeli invasion. In 1986, he flew into Lebanon, was surreptitiously brought into the Shatila camp, and did not leave the camp again for 27 months. As Giannou explains it, the word `camp' is a misnomer, since the refugee families had constructed permanent homes in the district many years before. Shatila was more accurately a ghetto within urban Beirut. The enemy forces surrounding the camp were the Amal militia, a Shi'ite faction who sought to eliminate Palestinian influence in Lebanese politics by attacking the refugee camps in Beirut.

The book is a page-turner, leaving the reader constantly wondering whether Shatila will have the wherewithal to survive the siege. The book is quite informative about the situation of Palestinians in Lebanon during the 1980s. I found it quite surprising to read that the enemies of the Palestinians in this battle were other Arabs, rather than Israelis, and that the Palestinians were not united behind the PLO, but rather divided into numerous factions, many of which fought against the PLO forces even during the siege. Giannou does an excellent job of explaining the vastly complicated politics behind the battle as well as describing the horrid conditions that the residents of the camp managed to live through.

This book featured a broad range of styles and subject matter, written by the icons of film and literature. Essays by Stephen Spielberg, Martin Scorcese, Gore Vidal, and E.L. Doctorow fill this volume with breadth and depth often lacking outside the halls of Cineaste. The collection also features a review of Eve's Bayou from Cineaste by a writer named Mia Mask, a scintillating piece yet clearly rooted in the academy. I am sure we will hear more from this writer in the future. I view films differently after the perspectives gained from this accessible text.

This book is the first year of the Best American Sports Writing series. The book covers a wide spectrum of sports; sports that were new to me (shuffleboard, beagling, pigeon racing), familiar sports (baseball, basketball, football, hockey) and unfamiliar sports (rodeo, horseracing, boxing) are all covered in this compilation of 26 sports writings. Needless to say, there is a wide assortment of sports covered in this collection. Some of the writings are mainly educational such as the article on Russian baseball. Others are more biographical like the fascinating story about long time referee, Earl Strom. While still others focus more on humor. Those with a humorous twist include the article, Bo Knows Fiction, where Bo Jackson pecks away on his typewriter in front of thousands of screaming fans. There is also the hilarious article on the baseball-playing Perez brothers where we learn their secret to great pitching, "Strike out somebody with coconut, and baseball no problem." And lastly there is the short sarcastic article, Personal Best, which ridicules the over-researched statistic in sports. For a sports fan who also enjoys a good read, this is a very enjoyable book.

Much longer than its two predecessors, the 1993 edition of Best American Sports Writing is full of excellent sports writing. The long length is primarily due to an article over 100 pages long about a Chicago high school basketball team which reads more like a novel than a sports article. The sport emphasis in this issue is on both baseball (5) and basketball (4). Running has three articles, football two and the rest of the book is filled with articles on boxing, climbing, cheerleading, sports writing in general, hunting, the Citadel, grappling (you have to check this out), auto racing, golf, skateboarding and figure skating. A pleasing addition to the 1993 book is the paragraph following each article with the guest editor's brief thoughts on the piece. A theme to this year's edition is the failure of the athlete as a person. Sports celebrates the amazing accomplishments of athletes, raising them to a level of heroism surpassing any accomplishments in any other field (medicine, social action, diplomacy, etc.). What the public often doesn't think or care about is the personal lives of these heroes. A large number of articles in this book trace the `dark side' of athletes lives. It often seems that the very characteristics and strengths which make athletes successful work against them in their marriages, social lives, finances and parenting. The following were articles that revealed the side of athletes we often don't want to see.

Tangled Up in Blue by Peter Richmond. Tommy Lasorda's son died of AIDS. Openly gay, Tommy Jr. maintained a great relationship with his father while his father denied his son's homosexual lifestyle.

The Year of Living Raucously by Michael Bamberger. An article about John Daly's life. Enough said.

White Men Can't Run by Amby Burfoot. This socially touchy article hits at a dark side of sports that is unpopular to talk about. Are different races built differently? The article provides clear facts (an Asian has never came close to being competitive in the 100-meter dash despite their superb work ethic) to show how we are built differently and that being different doesn't have to be bad. Our politically correct culture is afraid to embrace difference in fear that it will turn into prejudice.

My Life in the Locker Room by Jennifer Briggs. This article shows the sexism that exists in sports journalism.

Free Fallin' by Cory Johnson. Famous skateboarder Mark Anthony converts to Christianity and then proceeds to rape and kill a friend. It doesn't get much darker than this.

Not Your Average Ice Queen by EM Swift. An article about Tonya Harding that is made so much better by the knowledge of what she did not long after the writing of this article in 1992. The article shows Tonya's rough family life and the bad decisions she made even more the famous knee bashing incident.

No Pain, No Game by Mark Kram. This article reveals the physical beating that football players take and how the game transforms the players into mere gladiators.

What is the Citadel? by Rick Reilly. The Citadel is shown to be a school supporting racism and severe hazing.

Basketball Season by Donna Tartt. A woman recounts her high school cheerleading days and all the needless drama that accompanied high school sports.

A Scream and a Prayer by Kenny Moore. Two Algerian runners earn success on the track while a majority of their home country condemns the female runner. This condemnation is rooted in Islam and their disdain for the female's track uniform.

A Mountain of Trouble by David Roberts. A highly successful climber, Jeff Lowe, fails in every other area of his life. Not a feel good story for sure.

A Tragedy Too Easy to Ignore by Mitch Albom. Now a famous novelist, Albom writes about a teenager shot on a basketball court and how this one tragedy is actually a common occurrence in Detroit.

True to His Words by William Nack. Rubin Carter spent much of his life in prison for a crime that he later got acquitted for. Racism is shown to be the root of this blunder, and how the American public is uncomfortable with successful African American athletes.

Asphalt Junkie by Scott Raab. The life of basketball coach Kevin Mackey. His life is pretty simple- basketball and drugs.

So 14 of the 26 articles deal with the dark side, or the negative aspect of sports. Two of the best articles however were on the humorous side. Rick Barry, possible the funniest man alive, writes an article about his visit to the newly formed AAA Florida Marlins team in Lake Erie, Pennsylvania. Roy Blount Jr. writes another comical piece about his experience in driving school. Sports by themselves are really unimportant matters in the larger design of life, but sports do reflect a lot about humanity- our need to compete, our drive for acceptance and belonging and the desire for the fan to be a part of something greater than themselves. Through all these things however, mankind seems to always go wrong. Though masterful of the skills required to coach basketball brilliantly, the same individual dedicates all other areas of his life to illegal drugs and prostitution. In their drive to compete, athletes often stop at no ethical cost to obtain whatever advantage they can over their peers. But despite all the bleakness in sports and sometimes because of it, certain writers can show the funny side to it all. The idea behind the Best American Sports Series is a great one, and this edition is as good as or better than its two predecessors.

I really like editorial cartoons, whether they are current ones on the editorial pages of a newspaper or old ones in history books. But for the most part we are talking about satirical barbs at the high and mighty. Still, there are times when editorial cartoonists get to actually celebrate something and the breath-taking collapse of the Berlin Wall and of communist governments in Eastern Europe provided that creative opportunity: e.g., the cover shot by Clyde Wells of the "Augusta Chronicle" showing two figures armed with the hammer and sickle of the Soviet Union to tear down the Berlin Wall. Add to this the demands for basic freedoms in both China and the Soviet Union and 1989 became on of the most memorable non-election years of modern times.

"Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year: 1990 Edition" has the work of 163 different cartoonists from the United States and Canada. In addition to the quickening disintegration of the Soviet bloc, there was the first year in office for the "kindler and gentler" Bush Administration, the showdown was Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega, and Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini putting author Salman Rushdie under a sentence of death for his book "The Satanic Verses." For scandals there was the Savings & Loan in Congress, the trial of Oliver North in the Iran-Contra scandal, the rejection of the nomination of former Texas Senator John Tower for secretary and defense, and the conviction of Leona Helmsley on tax evasion. Mother Nature added Hurricane Hugo qne an earthquake in the San Francisco Bay area during the World Series, while humans added insult to injury with the "Exxon Valdez" oil spill. There is a section we would find quite timely today dealing with Pete Rose being banned by baseball for betting on sports. Some things remain constant: there are always editorial cartoons about the economy and problems in the Middle East. It is amazing to me how vividly these editorial cartoons bring back these various issues. Give me a choice between an editorial cartoon and a photograph to preserve a moment in history, and I will usually take the latter.

This is an excellent reference guide for career planning.
It describes specific strategies for career transitioning from
downsizing, the chronic shortage of competent workers, job growth in the service industries, small business start-ups and
a plethora of factors impacting career planning this century.

A variety of new careers are described. For instance, audiology,
recreational specialists, dieticians, medical technologists, health service administrators, physical therapists, geriatric
assessment coordinators, CAD specialists, Environmental and
Civil Engineers, graphic artists, aerobic exercise specialists and teachers are just a few of the many new career options.
There are small business opportunities in adult day care,
bed/breakfast, desktop publishing, home instruction and a
whole host of businesses. The federal government wants people
to work at home. Resultingly, a whole host of tax credits
are in place to encourage home ownership and home business
scenarios. This book is a good starting point for researching
the many career options that exist already.

Having this book by your side when you choose your next novel is like having a personal trainer with you at the gym. It guides you directly to what is best for you personally. No more worries about wasting time on hackneyed, boring fiction. No more worries about picking up the disappointing book from the library, the Internet or the bookstore. And there's no more guilt about failing to keep up with the New York Review of Books for the last ten years. Linda Lesher has read all the reviews for you .I particularly enjoyed the readable synopses, and found the well-conceived categories very helpful in directing me to my favorite genres. The book gives you a chance to discover authors heretofore unknown, as well as novels that may have passed you by. If you are, as I am, a mystery addict, this book leads you to a literate thriller instead of another formula bestseller. I have used its advice for both my vacation and more serious reading. I would go so far as to say that if you buy ONLY one book this year (and borrow the rest from the library), this should be it! At least you know that you are using your precious reading time for something that will be nourishing.

When people say "do you remember the 80's?", many things might come to mind.

The Go Go's, Pac Man, Neon, legwarmers worn as everyday fashion, but one of my most favorite things, was a little magazine out of the UK called Smash Hits.

Smash Hits was the Bible for the 80's pop music scene.

From music to fashion, bizarre interviews and strange, but true, pop star horror stories, candid pop celeb photos, painfully honest, but sometimes hysterical record reviews, and even a pen pal section, which served as a place to find a kindred spirit, or ten, that you could gab to, and share the latest gossip about Madonna, Morrissey, Pete Burns, or just about any pop or new wave band that was worth mentioning.

The absolute best part of all, was that for a time, Neil Tennant of 80's icons, The Pet Shop Boys, mightily wielded his poison pen across the pages of this beloved magazine, and is now also the brains behind this fabulous book!

The Best of Smash Hits 80's is 192 pages of full color bliss.

Make no mistake,this is NOT a documentary styled book, that talks about the heyday of what was once Smash Hits, it looks and reads like one HUGE issue of Smash Hits!

As a big fan and avid collector of Smash Hits, and our version here in the US, Star Hits, I can tell you, that you will never find a more comprehensive collection of the best moments of one of the most amazing magazines to ever cover pop music.

So, whether you want a simple stroll down memory lane, or want to see what all the fuss is about, The Best of Smash Hits: The 80's is for you!

This is a very nice book filled with lots of dolls and quilt templates, including a crazy quilt at the end of the book that is just lovely. But it is the dolls that really make this a winner. There are lots of dolls, some embroidery, but really emphassizes more the cross stittches with a nice snowflake sampler and a cute mice one, and lots of corss stitch perforated paper snowflakes. My husband really liked the wooden toys that he made with his jigsaw and my mother and daughters went wild over the dolls. So there is something here for everyone but if you are interested, no recipes.

Merry Christmas, Remy