Product Description
The Man Who Was Dorian Gray tells the story of John Gray: a working class boy whose passionate friendship with Oscar Wilde made his name as the reputed model for Wilde's scandalous novel,The Picture of Dorian Gray. Noted Wilde scholar Jerusha McCormack traces Gray's life, from decadent poet to dedicated priest, whose first work was in the Edinburgh slums. Gray's shifting relationships with Wilde and, later, with his lifelong companion, André Raffalovich, provide us with fascinating insights into fin de siècle literary society and the emerging gay culture of the period.] ... Read more

Product Description
From a celebrated poet and horsewoman, the journal of her astonishing recovery after a nearly fatal accident. In July 1998, Maxine Kumin suffered a terrible accident when her horse bolted at a carriage-driving clinic. Ninety-five percent of such victims die before reaching the emergency room. Of those who do survive, ninety-five percent are paralyzed for life. But Kumin, less than a year later, was pronounced "a miracle." This is the journal of her astonishing recovery. Though at first words threatened to elude her, writing (at first by dictating) became a way of maintaining her sanity. Kumin tells of her time "inside the halo," the near-medieval device that kept her head immobile during the weeks of intensive care and rehabilitation. During the long evenings she gets hooked on the Red Sox, muses on the state of the world, and forms lasting "rehab" friendships. She salutes the loving family who always believed she would heal and who "kept the garden going as a way of keeping me going." Maxine Kumin is the kind of person about whom it is said "they don't make them like that any more." She swerves from despair to hope to unshakable determination as this harrowing yet heartwarming story of a fighter and survivor unfolds. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Marvellous Max!
Like many of Maxine Kumin's devoted reader/fan/friends, I came to her poetry through Anne Sexton's poetry/life.

However, as wonderful as Sexton's poetry is, and I love Anne Sexton's poetry,Maxine Kumin's poetry and prose can well stand on its own considerable merits.

Inside The Haloisa wonderful, gutsy, thoughtful book.

Having had some "orthopedic trauma" myself, though nowhere as severe as the accident Kumin survived, I can attest to the abundant truth she tells about the frustrations and joys of rehabilitation, and the "tough tenderness" of the best therapists.

Kumin also speaks movingly of how her amazing husband, children, and grandchildren rallied to see her through.

This is a difficult book to write about, because words like "uplifting" have become debased with casual use.

However, I am of the unshakable opinion that all doctors, nurses, therapists, and lovers of great writing would find something real in this fine book.

Inside the Halo and Beyond
Putting thoughts into words is the salvation of many, particularly MaxineKumin, who describes her recovery from paralysis in "Inside the Haloand Beyond." I was recently paralyzed myself, so I keenly identifiedwith the account of her rehabilitation. Yet I felt pangs of jealousybecause she walks again and the chances are nil this will happen to me.

Still, this book deserves an all-star rating for Kumin's eloquent andstarkly honest description of her connections to poetry, literature,current events, international suffering, nature, equestrian riches,gardening, familial and friendly relations. She evokes empapthy andcompassion without resorting to sappy sentiment or references to God. Sheexplains, "My agnosticism eroded eventually to the skeletal remains ofatheism and there I still stand. I'm not sure whether I should envy or pitythe faith of others. Yes, it would be nice to have, but it seems a luxuryof pietism I cannot afford."

Her love of words is eloquent:"I've always been a galloping reader, racing for information, hurtlingpast intervening advertisements or cartoons, breathless and fascinated withlanguage."

It's a fine book.

WHAT NOURISHES
Maxine Kumin has given us a gift."Illness, disability, the specter of permanent damage... are deeply personal, immediate, and terrifying," she writes.Indeed.This chronicle of recovery from a cervical spinal injury sustained after her horse bolted is a courageous foray through the intense first ten months of recovery.

More than a story of pluck and resilience this book delivers joy in its reaffirmation of what nourishes us: loving relationships.Relationships with husband, son, daughters, and friends--both old and newly formed in recovery-- and relationships to the land, to its bounty. It seems impossible for someone so connected to life to ever give up on it easily.Kumin narrates, in journal form, her struggles and how she didn't quit.

Kumin's life unfolds in this book. We see the stoic formed when her adored father "hovered in the doorway" when she was ill as a child; the horse lover who takes "deep pleasure" in seeing her horses in action; the gardener describing cauliflower and broccoli lovingly planted in May from seeds started on living room windowsills; and the poet who says of her farmhouse, "All of my doors are held open by stones."

The mother and wife are here, too. Kumin's daughter, Judith, spends months with her mother. It is comforting to read of a supportive, caring, daughter/mother relationship that flourishes during a time of great stress.Kumin is not afraid to tell us about moments of guilt and despair: "How I feel about my accident is quite simply that I screwed up everybody's life by living through it."

All this is written within a flowing narrative style that is groomed by this writer's cumulative knowledge of what is important in language and life.

Maxine Kumin is one of my favorite poets.I cheered when this well-paced chronicle led to a spring when this writer was finally back in the "peaceful kingdom" of her farm in New Hampshire.I am grateful the author has offered a book that allows us to witness her struggle as she looked inward and reached out.

WHAT NOURISHES
Maxine Kumin has given us a gift."Illness, disability, the specter of permanent damage... are deeply personal, immediate, and terrifying," she writes.Indeed.This chronicle of recovery from acervical spinal injury sustained after her horse bolted is a courageousforay through the intense first ten months of recovery.

More than a storyof pluck and resilience this book delivers joy in its reaffirmation of whatnourishes us: loving relationships.Relationships with husband, son,daughters, and friends--both old and newly formed in recovery-- andrelationships to the land, to its bounty. It seems impossible for someoneso connected to life to ever give up on it easily.Kumin narrates, injournal form, her struggles and how she didn't quit.

Kumin's lifeunfolds in this book. We see the stoic formed when her adored father"hovered in the doorway" when she was ill as a child; the horselover who takes "deep pleasure" in seeing her horses in action;the gardener describing cauliflower and broccoli lovingly planted in Mayfrom seeds started on living room windowsills; and the poet who says of herfarmhouse, "All of my doors are held open by stones."

Themother and wife are here, too. Kumin's daughter, Judith,spends monthswith her mother. It is comforting to read of a supportive, caring,daughter/mother relationship that flourishes during a time of great stress. Kumin is not afraid to tell us about moments of guilt and despair:"How I feel about my accident is quite simply that I screwed upeverybody's life by living through it."

All this is written withina flowing narrative style that is groomed by this writer's cumulativeknowledge of what is important in language and life.

Maxine Kumin is oneof my favorite poets.I cheered when this well-paced chronicle lead to aspring when this writer was finally back in the "peacefulkingdom" of her farm in New Hampshire.I am grateful the author hasoffered a book that allows us to witness her struggle as she looked inwardand reached out.

Wise, upbeat, gorgeously written and utterly inspirational
Pulitzer prize winning poet-naturalist Maxine Kumin chronicles a period of nine months, from the horrible horse-and-carriage accident that left herwith a 5% chance of survival, and an even tinier prospect of ever walkingagain, to the time she is once again able to scramble up steep hills on herfarm in New Hampshire again, albeit with difficulty. Hers is astatistically improbable recovery brought about not just by discipline anddetermination, and certainly not by faith (she is an atheist),but by love-- her family's love of her, and her own love not just for husband,children and grandchildren, but for horses, dogs, birds, vegetable garden,the seasons, and above all art and her craft. A passionate biophiliac,Kumin's love of nature can not be separated from her love of others, or herwill to survive.This is an inpsirational book at so many levels. Icompleted it within hours of getting my hands on it, with my husband (amedical doctor) urging me to keep going, because I was reading it out loudto him and to my thirteen year old son. Inside the Halo... iswise,upbeat, gorgeously written and utterly inspirational.Someone you knowscheduled for an operation? Had an accident? Run into some discouragingnews? Forget the card. Send this book. ... Read more

Product Description
"In this book I am mainly concerned with a few themes: love; poetry; politics; the life of literature....I believe obstinately that, if I am able to write with truth about what has happened to me, this can help others....In this belief I have risked being indiscreet, and I have written occasionally of experiences which seem strange to me myself, and which I have not seen discussed else-where." So begins Stephen Spender's autobiography, widely acclaimed as the twentieth century's greatest memoir.

Spender was one of his generation's most celebrated poets, a writer living at the intersection of literature and politics in Europe between the two world wars. His portraits of his friends--Virginia Woolf, T. S. Eliot, W. H. Auden,
W. B. Yeats, and Christopher Isherwood--render a romantic world of literary genius. Spender uses a poet's language to create an honest and tender exploration of amity and the many possibilities of love. First published in 1951, World Within World simultaneously shocked and bedazzled the literary establishment for its frank discussion of Eros in the modern world.

Out of print for several years, this Modern Library edition includes a new Introduction by the critic John Bayley and an Afterword Spender wrote in 1994 describing his reaction to the charges that David Leavitt plagiarized this autobiography in a novel. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Historically fascinating, wonderfully insightful, beautifully written
I do not think that memoirs get any more personal, or more beautifully expressive, than Spender's. It is prose penned by a poet...wonderfully descriptive, and (almost alarmingly) frank. Within the first few pages, I became utterly convinced that Spender would have been ill-suited for anything other than a life of poetry.

I originally acquired the book after reading an excerpt in an old 1940s issue of Partisan Review, and I was fairly seduced by Spender's vivid depictions of the hedonistic tendencies exhibited by young Germans he visited just prior to the disintegration of the Weimar Republic.

Spender's insights into human nature, however, all so poetically rendered, were what I most marvelled at.The book also is packed with historical, political, and social commentary regarding the period in which he lived: Spender was an intimate of Auden, he aided Republican Spain during the Civil War, he was a Communist and a bi-sexual, and he served in a fire brigade during the bombing of London.Despite my own personal stances against his early political and sexual proclivities (both of which he apparently renounced in later years), I cannot recommend this book highly enough.Aside from a few eccentricities regarding punctuation, I seriously doubt that autobiography has been written quite as well as this by anyone.

A poignant memoir, although ultimately sad.
I like Stephen Spender.That is, of course, I like his poetry that I've read as well as his introduction to my favorite novel:Malcolm Lowry's Under The Volcano.I like this book too.But, first of all, there's altogether too much name-dropping, which becomes rather tedious at times.Some of the anecdotes are quite rum, like the ones involving Lady Ottoline Morrel.But all this Bloomsbury-Virginia Woolf business gets on one's nerves (well, mine anyway) after a while.I don't think Spender's homosexual relationship is the most important thing in the book; though it was doubtless courageous of Spender to include it as well as indispensable to getting this book back in print!The most important thing in the book is the difference in the pre- versus post- Spanish Civil War mindset among sensitive, well-bred intelllectuals among whom Spender was a figure.Before the war, Spender says, it seemed that individuals (particularly idealists) could make a difference.After the war, all that had not been killed fighting Franco (and there were many) were disillusioned and glum, especially Spender.Finally, this book has a sad tone that runs from Spender's school days to his middle age.He was a cultured, gifted writer who had not, by his middle ages, produced a "great work."And, despite the Queen's Gold Medal and Knighthood in later years, his melancholy grew worse.He speaks of himself at the end of the book as "rotted by a modicum of success" and admits that "My mistake was to think that my own nature would make everything easy."-The strange thing is that he didn't shake this attitude off.He was only halfway through his life.I was going to make put forth some hypotheses as to why, but, really, it's anybody's guess. Isn't it?

Excellent Memoir
Memoirs have become ubiquitous recently, a favored literary form. World Within World is one of the best. Stephen Spender, one of England's leading twentieth century poets and literary figures wrote this book less than half way into his long life, covering his youth and early middle age through World War Two.While this book became notorious a few years back as the source of a lawsuit for plagiarism brought by Spender against David Leavitt over his book While England Sleeps, the book has merit far beyond the controversy. The incident which forms the basis of the dispute, Spender's rescue efforts on behalf of a former lover during the Spanish Civil War, is merely one of the interesting and illuminating episodes and set pieces of this book.Spender, growing up in the wake of World War One, in a well-connected family, encountered some of the leading literary figures of the Twentieth Century. He was a contemporary and friend of W. H. Auden, Christopher Isherwood and Cyril Connolly, whom he incisively sketches and analyzes, both in terms of personality and work. He was taken under the wings of such giants as Virginia Woolf and T.S. Eliot, who form the basis of two fascinating portraits. Most memorable perhaps is his description of a meeting with William Butler Yeats at Lady Ottoline Morrill's salon that started out quite disastrously but was rescued by Lady Ottoline's desperate telephone call to Woolf. Not only does he describe the literary scene in England, but also the atmosphere of Weimar Germany, Civil War Republican Spain and World War Two England. Indeed we get a glimpse of the Berlin boarding house immortalized by Isherwood and later in Cabaret.As memorable as he is in describing others, Spender is balanced, acute and unsparing in his self-analysis. Aware of the characteristics of his work that distinguishes it from that of others, he gives insight into his creative methods and process, rescuing poetry from misty philosophizing and dogmatic pronouncements. There is little self-aggrandizement or puffery and very little malice if any in this book. Its style is clear and its content admirable. It is well worth reading. ... Read more

Product Description
An unprecedented eyewitness account of the New York School, as seen between the lines of O’Hara’s poetry

Joe LeSueur lived with Frank O’Hara from 1955 until 1965, the years when O’Hara wrote his greatest poems, including “To the Film Industry in Crisis,” “In Memory of My Feelings,” “Having a Coke with You,” and the famous Lunch Poems—so called because O’Hara wrote them during his lunch break at the Museum of Modern Art, where he worked as a curator. (The artists he championed include Jackson Pollock, Joseph Cornell, Grace Hartigan, Jane Freilicher, Joan Mitchell, and Robert Rauschenberg.) The flowering of O’Hara’s talent, cut short by a fatal car accident in 1966, produced some of the most exuberant, truly celebratory lyrics of the twentieth century. And it produced America’s greatest poet of city life since Whitman.

Alternating between O’Hara’s poems and LeSueur’s memory of the circumstances that inspired them, Digressions on Some Poems by Frank O’Hara is a literary commentary like no other—an affectionate, no-holds-barred memoir of O’Hara and the New York that animated his work: friends, lovers, movies, paintings, streets, apartments, music, parties, and pickups. This volume, which includes many of O’Hara’s best-loved poems, is the most intimate, true-to-life portrait we will ever have of this quintessential American figure and his now legendary times.
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Customer Reviews (7)

Portrait of an era more than an artist
This book is enthralling, exciting, and poignant despite how poorly written it is.LeSueur was a Kato Kaelin figure in the NY School of poets and Abstract Expressionists.He lived with O'Hara and sometimes found odd jobs between months of unemployment checks.Not an artist himself, he was companion to the social events of the poets and painters.He tried his hand at authoring pulp paperbacks and soap opera episodes, but was best at being a consort.Although he pays lip service to his vanity and failure to contribute much more than the pretty face that is depicted in more photos in this volume than O'Hara's is, LeSueur never rises above the vanity.The digressions here are ramblings one imagines were not written but conveyed to the microphone of an interested party (himself?).Rather than Proustian, the chapters contain reminiscence within reminscence, within reminiscence, before circling back to the point of the chapter. For anyone not familiar with the wide cast of characters referred to by first name in the book, it may be difficult to keep all the Joes straight.

Despite the wretched writing, or maybe because of it, the NY scene of the late 40s to late 50s comes vividly to life.A reader feels transported to the Manhattan and Long Island of the time, seeing how vibrant the pre-Factory artists' collaborations were, how entertaining the social life, how dedicated the artists.Frank O'Hara stands as one of many in the book, a participant in the social drama LeSueur revelled in.Even though the book is less focused on O'Hara than the scene, one comes away with remarkable information about the poet's creative process, inspirations, and activities, if not his state of mind. Delis, barrooms, ballet performances, Hamptons drawing-room theater-- all are cinematically conveyed.The author cannot stray too far off topic because each chapter is anchored to something serious, namely excerpt of an O'Hara poem. The 60s are less clear, perhaps because LeSueur was being perceived as hanger-on by that point by so many, and was increasingly edged stage left.This book provides an invigorating counter-balance to the portraits of post-War suburban conformity and Grey-Flannel Madison Ave.

Intriguing times, Intriguing Voice
I must agree with the above reviews.I picked up this memoir on a remainder table a year or so ago.I started it but put it down.I suppose I was not in the mood for it.Thankfully, it turned up in a pile somewhere a few days ago and I find myself absolutely engaged.I studied Frank O'Hara in college and always admired his matter-of-fact attitude toward his being gay (or queer as the term was then).JL's book reconfirms that point.O'Hara never was the doomed queen, a persona so common for that time (Tennessee Williams being the reigning royalty of that court).JL, it appears, had the same attitude toward his homosexuality:it simply was his preference.Beyond the queer studies angle, JL brings a wonderfully engaging voice to his memoir.It is, by turns, poetic, conspiratorial, wistful, humorous.So if you want to know more about O'Hara and his circle, read this book

Yes, 5 stars.A great book.
Joe LeSueur's memoir of his friend and companion, is a truly illuminating portrait of the artist.What makes these digressions so rich and rewarding for the reader, is the unique perspective LeSueur is able to bring to this material.These are LeSueur's memories of experiences and events shared with O'Hara and their myriad of friends and acquaintances.I found this book to be compelling, intimate and inspiring (indeed, "Lunch Poems" and "Selected Poems" were never too far out of reach, and both read from cover to cover).By virtue of having been a participant or, at the very least having been an eye witness to the events depicted, LeSueur has captured not just a time and place, but the essence of a cherished friend.I found myself reading slowly, savoring each passage.By the end of the book I felt I had really gotten to know O'Hara and his circle of friends, and found myself in tears as I read the last few pages.LeSueur's memoir is a tribute to Frank O'Hara as both an artist and a beloved friend.

When NY was the center of the art world and friends mattered
At Frank O'Hara's funeral, composer Virgil Thomsom turned to the poet's longtime friend Joe LeSueur and said, "Baby, I hope you kept a journal." Though clearly not drawing upon stale journal entries, LeSueur's memoir of his relationship with O'Hara (which survived the vicissitudes of its ever-changing status...friends to lovers to friends, etc.) is a nice blend of personal memories and feverish impromptu research (Brad Gooch's biography seems to have been ever at his elbow). LeSueur is neither vindictive nor pointlessly benign. He truly understood and appreciated O'Hara's central position in the explosion of art that was happening in New York in the 50s and 60s. Unlike Ginsberg and the Beat poets, O'Hara was equally at ease among literary folk, musicians, and painters (especially the abstract expressionists). To read about O'Hara is to read about the greatness of post-war New York.

DIGRESSIONS is actually helpful, too. Because O'Hara often adopted a casual, off-hand, personal approach when writing his poems, it is great to have someone who was intimate with the poet to explain "who's who" and "what's what." LeSueur, however, is equally comfortable admitting when he's baffled by an O'Hara reference, and explanations (and reminiscences) are never forced.

One other thing--DIGRESSIONS is an enlightening portrait of gay life in New York prior to the Stonewall riots. O'Hara and LeSueur were both openly gay, though they had quite different approaches to meeting their sexual needs. O'Hara seems to have had fewer partners, usually choosing them from his circle of friends and aquaintances. LeSueur seemed to favor one-night stands and casual sex. Perhaps this difference is one reasontheir friendship continued long after their sexual intimacy ended. If only LeSueur had lived long enough to write DIGRESSIONS ON GAY LIFE BEFORE STONEWALL.

Much more than a memoir: a revelation
Joe LeSueur has provided the cultural history of American arts in the mid-20th Century with this seamlessly interesting and informative inside perspective on the important role of Frank O'Hara - poet, art critic, champion of the visual, musical, and literary arts par excellence.DIGRESSIONS ON SOME POEMS BY FRANK O'HARA is not only a clever and viable means to writing a memoir: it provides insights into the growingly important works of O'Hara who some are now ranking as the 20th century version of Walt Whitman as Poet of the City.While many of the poems introducing each chapter are well known to us, it is the window to the world of O'Hara's life and times that is so well served by Joe LeSueur's writing.Frank O'Hara was bonded with such luminaries as Willem de Kooning, Elaine de Kooning, Larry Rivers, Joan Mitchell, Jackson Pollock, Grace Hartigan, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Lincoln Kirsten, WH Auden, Kenneth Koch - the list is endless.O'Hara was a behind the scenes observor, never hogging the limelight and in fact avoiding it, always with his keen eye on good art, good music, good writing, and always turning out poems that only now are being read seriously by the general public.Joe LeSueur live with O'Hara, joining O'Hara in his flagrantly 'Out' gay life, hobnobbing with all the other gay artists of his time in a way that makes him the recorder of that important preStonewall age, a time when even the giants such as Aaron Copeland, Leonard Bernstein, Samuel Barber, etc were closeted.At times LeSueur borders on the gossipy side, but that only enhances his subject.What we are left with here is a wonderfully composed tribute to a great artist and supporter of the arts.The overall effect of this book is monumental, and at the same time exceedingly conversational.Very Highly Recommended. ... Read more

Product Description
The texts in this series are aimed at teenagers and adults with reading ages below ten, or adult students learning English as a foreign language. They are assessed by the Basic Skills Agency for content, structure and layout, and are designed specifically to sustain students' interest with storylines and illustrations. Written by special needs teachers, the 17 "Real Lives" books in this pack are biographies of stars from sport, film, music, politics and history, and are aimed at those with reading ages between six and ten years. ... Read more

Product Description
autobiographically based novel of Kansas boyhood ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

beautifully realized story of familial anarchy
Avant garde poet, graphic designer, publisher and hoodoo god, Keith Waldrop, has written a roman a clef based on his family,a tragic comically wierd tale, told with straight faced, just-the-facts-mam restraint and sympathy. The prose is beautifully pitched, clear, resonant. Buy this book now. ... Read more

Product Description
Fifty-minute cassette contains 37 great Spanish poems, from the 12th-century Cantar de Mío Cid to the 20th-century poetry of García Lorca, Salinas and Alberti. Authentic spoken versions capture beauty and subtlety. Also included is a handsome 160-page dual-language book containing the original Spanish texts and expert literal English translations on facing pages, biographical and critical commentary, more.
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Customer Reviews (2)

Spanish poetry
This cd is okay to listen to a few times. The diction is good, although the voices are little bit boring. However the selection of poems is very good.

Improve your Spanish (reading poetry!)
I cannot emphasize how good this book and the accompanying audio are. Whether you are a fluent native speaker of Spanish or someone just beginning, this is one of the best purchases towards your education in Spanish language and literature. This poetry anthology, though brief, includes most major poets in the Spanish (peninsular, only from Spain) canon. It covers poetry since the time of Juan Ruiz to Góngora to Bécquer to Lorca--it is very complete in that sense. You will find one or two poems from each poet with side-to-side translations, so, if you get stuck, you can just read the English. It also includes a short biography of each author, invaluable information, if you want to have a historical context of the poem(s).Translations are good and poems are very inspiring, some even have a haunting quality that will help you fall in love with the language. If you are a poetry lover, you will derive much pleasure from reading and listening. Buy it! It costs almost nothing and opens a whole new language and literature to you! ... Read more

Product Description
“The intricacies of family and the complexities of the games they play mingle wonderfully here in a memoir quite unlike any other.”—George Plimpton, author of Truman Capote

Katy Lederer grew up on the bucolic campus of an exclusive East Coast boarding school where her father taught English, her mother retreated into crosswords and scotch, and her much older siblings played “grown-up” games like gin rummy and chess. But Katy faced much more than the typical trials of childhood. Within the confines of the Lederer household an unlikely transformation was brewing, one that would turn this darkly intellectual and game-happy group into a family of professional gamblers.

Poker Face is Katy Lederer’s perceptive account of her family’s lively history. From the long kitchen table where her mother played what seemed an endless game of solitaire, to the seedy New York bars where her brother first learned to play poker, to the glamorous Bellagio casino in Las Vegas, where her sister and brother wager hundreds of thousands of dollars a night at the tables, Lederer takes us on a tragicomic journey through a world where intelligence and deceit are used equally as currency. Not since Mary McCarthy’s Memories of a Catholic Girlhood has a writer cast such a witty and astringently analytic eye on the demands of growing up.

An unflinching exploration of trust and betrayal, competition, suspicion, and unconventional familial love, Poker Face is a testament to the human spirit’s inventiveness when faced with unusually difficult odds. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (23)

Loved it!
Well written account of a young lady's perception of her family. I hope she writes more books!

Refreshing
In its complete lack of navel gazing or self-pity, this brief memoir refreshes. In the book's opening, Katy is the much younger sibling of young adults, her Dad a noted scholar and rare Jew at one of the nation's snootiest private schools. Her mother is a frustrated actress, home-bound with scotch and the numbers games that obsess the whole family.

Never does the author act like any of this bothered or damaged her -- she doesn't dwell on her parents' problems -- they divorce seemingly amicably, and her mother gets prominent acting work in New York and becomes bookkeeper in the family gambling business, crunching numbers for her son. It's all quite fascinating and so different from the usual memoirs. No one is really traumatised, no one sees the light and changes their ways. I love it!

What I could really relate to is how the money-centered world of Las Vegas seemed liberating to the author, after a childhood spent in a wealthy enclave where no one talked about money. I had exactly the same reaction to visiting Vegas for the first time last year, after years living in a New England enclave full of inherited wealth, where rich people pretend to be poor and no one talks about money -- and specifically, the fact that they didn't earn what they have.

The uninteresting sibling writes an uninteresting book
The best thing about this book is that it is a quick read especially when you start glossing over the mundane noncrisis in her life.I admit that I picked up this book to get a bird's eye view of the lives of her successful poker playing siblings.In this respect the book gives you only unsatisfying glimpes into one of pop culture's phenomenas of the decade - poker and two successful sibling players.

You begin wondering what direction this book is taking when you realize you are left with the unremarkable reflections of the uninteresting sibling.Her family is marginally dysfuntional with an alcoholic parent though she never discusses how or whether the issue was resolved in her life.Then there is the gambling of her siblings of which she paints a partial and fuzzy portrait of her brother's exploits. Finally you realize, she does not have much to offer as a source of information.You are left with a story of a girl searching for direction in her life but little description of the twists and turns.

Maybe you can write a nice little paragraph about the title as a metaphor for her life within the Lederer clan but... not really and if you did, you are a better writer than the author who only earns that title because she finished writing the book - and that is debatable as it seems she just gave up.

Just as a barometer, I found the first two of Frank McCourt's books about his childhood in Ireland and later life in the states to be satisfyingly reflective and brutally descriptive of life with an alcoholic father and struggling mother.In the late Mr. McCourt's case, he had a story to tell.

a real human story
I love poker, and I've always been fascinated by people who decide to play for a living. That's just what just about everyone in Katy Lederer's family did, and one day Katy decides to try it for herself.

She doesn't stay in the game long, but its long enough to get a sense for its allure. She does a great job of describing the experience of sitting down at the table, and she sets the scene of Las Vegas well.

Lederer's family, though, stays in too long. When they lose it all it doesn't come as any surprise. You can see it coming a mile away.

But what you get in the book is a real feeling for the human story of this family. You see why poker seems like such an appealing answer to life's problems. And then you see why, actually, it's really not such a great answer at all.

Duce's Are Wild
Utter crap. Not interesting, not worthy of print. This memoir was not written in courage and truth. Everyone in the book is careful, predictable and boring. Most of all, the author. P.S. I hope Annie wins Celebrity Apprentice! Now she's cool! ... Read more