MY

It's been a few years since I've read any 'Beatle' books. (I had my fanatical Beatle phase in high school in the 80's.) But, something about this book drew me, so I bought it.

I think it's great at filling in some holes in the Beatle mythology. Brian's talents are very fully explained. His weaknesses are, too. Therefore, for the first time, he comes across as a more complete person.

He was obviously ahead of his time in terms of the music business. His artists loved him and respected him, but they didn't fear him.

It's interesting that after all this time, there's still conflict about his demise--did he or didn't he kill himself. It reminds me a bit of the Michael Hutchence accidental/suicide death.

I like the style of the book--the oral history with additional explanation. It leaves the history to the people who were there.

I agree with the earlier reviewer's incredulous comments about the cover of this book. If the publisher wanted to make browsers think twice about a purchase, they've done it.

But despite the cheesy cover, I went ahead with my purchase & was not disappointed. One would think that just about every aspect of the Beatles has been absolutely covered and trampled to death. Then along comes Debbie Geller with this gem - the Brian Epstein angle has been an untapped vein up until this point. It's not so much a traditional book about her subject as it is an oral history. Geller's coup is to get Paul McCartney - among many other voices - to comment at length on Epstein's role with the group.

The book's main themes and premises, of which a strong case is made by all the book's participants:

1. There would be no Beatles without Epstein. During the very early sixties when they were no more than a crude band distinguished only by their Hamburg experience, Epstein's belief in 'his boys' was indefatigable. He created a new image for them, and sold that image - after much rejection - to London.

2. Epstein created rock and roll management and promotion as we know it today; it simply did not exist before he came along, & it is around today mainly in the guise that he created.

3. Epstein was a terribly complex and conflicted man. No one participating in this project makes the case that he was 'nice' or easy to get along with. In fact, he comes across as a holy terror at times. Jewish in a non-Jewish world, openly gay prior to any societal openness on that front, a manic-depressive (some posit) before a clinical diagnosis for such an afflication existed, addicted to various uppers and downers.

This was a terribly complex, troubled - but enormously gifted - man. To think that he fit all he did into 32 short years. Amazing.

Thank you Debbie Geller for honoring this blazing comet named Brian Espstein, who willed the Beatles into this world.

Ok - so the cover is so heinous that one wonders whether anyone is actually breathing at St Martin's Press. Despite that, this is a subtle and nuanced celebration of the life of a truly unsung hero - and a celebration it is, despite the temptation to characterize Epstein's life as a sordid tragedy, victim of the era etcetera etcetera. A truly original man, with his own share of demons, but also with the incredible vision to recognise in the Beatles that which the rest of us now take for granted - and this when they were nobodies, and he was the only one to recognise the genius.

What Debbie Geller conveys so beautifully is that transition from a normal life to a life lived in the strange swirl of celebrity. And by "curating" the book, rather than writing it (ie, leaving it in the words of the people she and Wall interviewed for the documentary), Geller allows the protagists to remember Epstein - it makes for an impressionistic protrait of him: complex, contradictory, filled with incredible life.

This book, beautiful in every sense, would be a perfect gift for any woman, including oneself. It taps into so many universal themes of girlhood, womanhood, and the profound relationship between a mother and her daughter. I imagine I'm not the only one who laughed and cried when reading it. Ms. Zukerman is a graceful and interesting writer. I wish her two novels could be re-published in paperback.

I don't know if Ms. Zukerman meant to create a new kind of connection and common ground with the other women in her readers' lives. But she has, in this intimate, powerful and poignant treasure. Not only did I gain entre to the childhood and adolescent memories of these creative and accomplished women -- memories I hazard many of those interviewed for the book rarely shared with others before -- but through it, I found myself reminiscing about my own early relationship with my mother. I found myself reading "My Mother's Closet" over a series of evenings, lingering over each interview, reading many twice. And, as I did so, memories of my own mother's closet came drifting up to me.

But this is not a book I could keep to myself. I think it's meant to be shared with the other women in your life. My daughter likes me to read her the stories, and we talk about when she was small, and what dressing up in things from my closets meant to her. My friends who have bought and read it and I also share thoughts raised by the book. Through it, we have discovered new topics of conversation, new musings on the wonderful, funny, wistful and formative memories of our mothers and their powerful influence on our lives -- thoughts and wonderings that have brought us deeper understanding of one another. I can't wait to see what happens when I give it to my mother on Mother's Day!

A friend was recently reading "In My Mother's Closet" and she was moved to tears by some of the compelling memories that are brought back to life by author Eugenia Zukerman. Even while understanding it was a book rooted in different women's childhood experiences, I was still intrigued and got the book anyway. From the first page, I was immediately captivated and gained great insight into the early lives of Carrie Fisher, Anne Spielberg (Director Steven's sister), Lesley Stahl, and many other endearing women. We men also have these fascinating recollections of their parents' closets where there were secrets or clothing that would signal the beginning of a special event. I always knew where to look for my hidden birthday and Christmas presents. I even called my sister to reminisce about the times we both played in the closets and were frightened by our mom's Fox stole that peered back at us with many eyes, as it was unbelievably comprised of several animal skins. I also remember wearing my dad's jewelry proudly in my teenage years when I was coming of age.

Eugenia Zukerman wrote this book for easy reading to be picked up often, as each chapter is dedicated to and describes one of the sharing contributors. Sometimes the stories would initiate nice and warm conversations with my wife and even with my mom. I recommend this charming book not only for women to enjoy reading, but to also share them with the men they love...and love to talk with as well!

My little girl is afraid of bugs. She loved this book--it introduced her to the idea that insects are interesting, and that it is okay to be really really excited about the world. A positive, funny and informative book.

My mom asked me to read it since she thought it was a great book. I did. And I like it. Amanda looks like any nerd in school, but she is actually really smart and cool.
She is smart because she knows everything about bugs, most of them in the story that I have never heard of. I would say she is an Einstein in the field of insects! I bet it takes a lot of hard work and a strong passion to be able to learn so much.
Amanda is cool too. Nobody tries to understand her. However, she never gives up her passion even though she often gets herself into troubles for it. That's what a real hero is about.
Well, I am glad that hero is not always lonely. At the end of the story, Amanda finally finds a bosom friend that shares the same passion with her. I like the happy ending!

I guess I am partial about liking this book. The reason is that I am the mother of the Amanda Frankenstein, whose name was used in this book. When the "real" Amanda was young, she too liked bugs. I thoroughly enjoy sharing this book with the students at my school where I teach. The students love the story and that my daughter's name is in the book. It is a special book to my family and I as well. Mrs. McDonald wrote a cute story showing how girls can like bugs and things of nature. She also showed how students can meet others who share similar likes.

Dear Arnold:
I just finished reading your book and for the first time in my life, I am writing to the author of a book I had read. It took me back so deeply that I was again living those years and I hated reaching the end because I had to leave home again.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and the fact that you had the facts exactly as I remembered them and you used the real names of people that I knew, even though some of them were just on the edge of my recollections, made it so much more interesting.

Arnold Meagher's memoir awakened for this Longford native golden memories of her youth. A must read!

Arnold Meagher has written a charming look back at his years growing up in the middle of the Twentieth Century before the Celtic Tiger reshaped his homeland. Arnold's Ireland is a country of small villages, rural landscapes, and a priest ridden school system. As a child, Meagher found happiness in the small features of nature and society. On his grandmother's farm where he helped his uncle with farm chores, he was an inveterate birdwatcher, made pets of many farm animals, loved the smell of hay, celebrated feast days with the neighbors, and surreptitiously eavesdropped on the same neighbors who many nights appeared at his grandmothers to sit before her peat fire and tell tales of the little people.

Meagher's reminiscences relate a timeless cycle of century-old rituals and work in the Emerald Isle. While the official account of Ireland's history is poignant and sad, Meagher's corner of Ireland was full of light, playfulness, and a tightly-knit large family. A pleasure to read!

As a former University of Arizona Hydrology student of Dr. Resnick, I laughed and cried in reading Sol's terrific, engaging insight to practical rural water-resources and community development in India in the late 1950s. Based on my own observations, I confirm that Sol tells it like it was. And in some ways still is. I stayed up the night to read the book to my wife. We shared the joy of Sol's adventure to improve life in rural India by training Indian engineers and working with local people to improve irrigation and drinking-water supplies and to reduce the terrible effects of droughts. I've shared Sol's and Elaine's book with my international development colleagues and my own students. Sol's integrity and ingenuity, and love of people, justice, culture, community, and hydrology come across loud and clear, modestly and humorously. A fine read for anyone interested in people, development, practical hydrology, or India. Reading "Irrigating India" reminded me why I became a hydrologist and taught me more about myself.

Irrigating India: My Five Years As A USAID Advisor is the story of Sol Resnick, a USAID advisor who served faithfully in India from 1952 to 1957, as told in his own worlds to Elaine Minow Resnick. Sol Resnick, a civil and agricultural engineer, worked hard to help make the basic human needs of food and water stable and attainable to a populace that was previously at the bitter mercy of the annual rainfall. He would later look on that time as the best five years of his life. Heartwarming, inspiring, and highly recommended to students of international studies as well as the modern history and agricultural development of India.

A tremendous story told with great warmth and humor. It conveys the struggle to stay healthy, the process of adapting to local cultures, and the overwhelming sense of joy in receiving gratitude from people you help. Sol Resnick is able to find elements of humor and poetic irony in the daily activities and chance occurrences that shaped his life. Irrigating India also provides an absorbing historical perspective on India. Having served in the Peace Corps for three years, the book brought back memories of my own experiences. I highly recommend this book!

The Journal of Jesse Smoke
If you like historical fiction then I think you should read The Journal of Jesse Smoke because it was very exciting. It was exciting when the soldiers came to take all the Indians away. I thought that was interesting because then a white man tried to steal a house when a soldier beat him up. Then they went to the fort. Many died. They called it the Trail of Tears.
The Journal of Jesse Smoke is about how the Cherokee and the Creek Indians have to live in forts. They think it is very unpleasant. Then a lot of Indians die. Most of them are very weak or and ill.
The soldiers wanted the Indian's land so they came and kicked them out. Some of the Indians refused to go so then the soldiers killed them. I thought that was very mean and sad.

11-19-2002
Amozon.com

If you like historical fiction, then I think you should read The Journal of Jesse Smoke because it was very exciting. It was exciting when the soldiers came to take all the Cherokee and Creeke Indians. I thought that was interesting because then a white man came trying to steal the house when a soilder beat up. Then, they went to a lot of forts. Many died. The Cherokee and Creeke Indians called that journey the Trail of Tears.
THE END

I LOVE Dear America and this was one of the best ones. I really learned a lot from it for my research topic the trail of tears.

This book is definetly funny. I especially liked it when Gary and Wally were in a compition of love.It was very humorus and tells about wisdom and kindness. I recomend it for ANY kid!!!!!

I've been a long time fan of Bill Myers ever since I was about 7. I got this then and I was laughing my butt off! It would make a nice gift for younger kids...or even teenagers. I mean, I'm 14 and still enjoy reading books of this series!

I think that this book is funny yet gives a valuble lesson on wisdom. This is about Wally "The Walking-Disaster-Area" who learns about wisdom as he goes into a competetion with the camp bully to see who can out-love one another.

the book was a little far fetch but not for Wally mcdoogle this is a good book but my life as polluted pond scume is the best.

I've been a long time fan of Bill Myers ever since I was about 7. I got this when I was about 11 years old and I was laughing my butt off! It would make a nice gift for younger kids...or even teenagers. I mean, I'm 14 and still enjoy reading books of this series!

This was most definately one of the best Wally McDoogle I've ever read(and I've read them all). It might help to read some of the other ones first, though. Most books in the series relate to the others.

This is a book about a boy named wally who need to get a gift to
God for his birthday because an angel told him to do this.Wally
goes shopping and buys a lot of things.some of the things he buys are sandals, a tv,a saw, and other electronics. he uses his frend wall street's money to buy these things.wall street tells wally that god wonts him to do good deeds because the stuff is still in the driveway.so he does good deeds for God's birthday isstead. i like this book because Wally is funny and uncoordinated. He says funny things too. I'veread alot of other books in this series. They were fuuny too.

This book was great. Almost every page has something funny on it. Wally is quite a clutz (president of Dork-Oids anonymous) who seems to be looking for trouble everywhere he goes. He doesn't stop, either, until he is really wound up in the problem and God helps him fix it. Each book in this series teaches a different Christian priciple accompanied by hilarious sarcastic remarks, the adventures of a bumbling clutz, and Wally's creative superhero stories. If you're looking for an action-packed, funny Christian book for kids 7-12, you've come the right place. In this particular book, he learns about giving gifts to Jesus.

the book My Life as a walrus whoopee Cushion is the best book I have read it and i've told my friends about the books and i have been telling them that they are the best books ever.

i love jeff gordon. i have the book and i read it 24 times. it is the best book ever. i think jeff is a way better driver then dale jr.

This was an awesome book. It was written in simple words but very well. The pictures were nice. I was hoping that he would have gone into more personal details but it was nice. It was interesting to see him address the issue about not being gay. The whole book was awesome! I cant wait for the next one to come out. Another step foward for Jeff Gordon.

A must read for all Jeff Gordon and NASCAR fans!!!!!!!!!!!!