Duke We're Glad We Knew You Review

Duke We're Glad We Knew You
Herb Fagen
4/5


Source: Library



Synopsis: To millions of movie fans, John Wayne was heroism personified, and to this day he is as big a star as he was in his prime. He was voted the 5th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly, the 4th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Premiere magazine, and #13 Greatest Actor on the 50 Greatest Screen Legends list put out by the American Film Institute.


Here, in loving memory of the Duke thirty years after his death, is the updated and expanded edition of Duke, We're Glad We Knew You, featuring never-before-seen photos and interviews. The legendary icon is made real through vivid anecdotes and observations from the insiders who worked, gambled, drank, and fought with the outsized personality that was John Wayne. Candid, funny, revealing, moving and inspiring, this two-fisted tribute shows John Wayne as the true hero he was.



Review: John Wayne is my personal ALL TIME FAVORITE actor. He is quoted as saying "you shouldn't go to movies if you don't believe in hero's." This book is a collection of rememberances from those fortunate enough to have worked with Duke Wayne during his impressive film career. From Harry Carey Jr. to Ben Johnson they are all there telling us their stories of the Duke. Stories that just goes to show that even John Wayne was human.

Broken A Love Story Review

Broken A Love Story
Lisa Jones

Source: Library

Synopsis: Writer Lisa Jones went to Wyoming for a four-day magazine assignment and came home four years later with a new life.

At a dusty corral on the Wind River Indian Reservation, she met Stanford Addison, a Northern Arapaho who seemed to transform everything around him. He gentled horses rather than breaking them by force. It was said that he could heal people of everything from cancer to bipolar disorder. He did all this from a wheelchair; he had been a quadriplegic for more than twenty years.

Intrigued, Lisa sat at Stanford's kitchen table and watched. She saw neighbors from the reservation and visitors from as far away as Holland bump up the dirt road to his battered modular home, seeking guidance and healing for what had broken in their lives. She followed him into the sweat lodge — a framework of willow limbs covered with quilts — where he used prayer and heat to shrink tumors and soothe agitated souls. Standing on his sun-blasted porch, pit bulls padding past her, she felt the vibration from thundering bands of Arabian horses that Stanford's young nephews brought to the ring to train.

And she listened to his story. Stanford spent his teenage years busting broncs, seducing girls, and dealing drugs. At twenty, he left the house for another night of partying. By morning, a violent accident had robbed him of his physical prowess and left in its place unwelcome spiritual powers — an exchange so shocking that Stanford spent several years trying to kill himself. But eventually he surrendered to his new life and mysterious gifts.

Over the years Lisa was a frequent visitor to Stanford's place, the reservation and its people worked on her, exposing and healing theplaces where she, too, was broken.

Broken entwines her story with Stanford's, exploring powerful spirits, material poverty, spiritual wealth, friendship, violence, confusion, death, and above all else,"a love that comes before and after and above and below romantic love."

Review: I was looking through our libraries shelf of "new" releases when I came upon this one. The cover is what caught my eye....I have a "thing" for horses....I just LOVE them. As I was reading I got a little lesson in Native American history, which I did not expect but I thought it fit really well with the story. I also learned that life on the "rez" is not all that great....you pretty much have to learn how to go without in many case and that you are judged by your skin color. The characters (main and supporting) all have very interesting stories too. A little something that I picked up from this book from the author and the rest of the characters is that we are all a little bit "broken" it's just a matter of figuring out how to put the pieces back together again.

Overall, this was a really good book. I was really happy that I checked this one out. It did take me a little longer to get read than I would have liked (dang real life!) but it was totally worth that extra time.

I Love A Man In Uniform Review

I Love A Man In Uniform A Memoir of Love, War, and Other Battles
Lily Burana

Synopsis - 10/10

Plot - 10/10

Characters - 10/10

Overall Story - 10/10

Conclusion - 10/10

Overall Score - 50/50

Synopsis: An all-American love story about a former punk-rock stripper and her unlikely marriage to an officer in the U.S. Army.

In this brave, eloquent, and often funny memoir, critically acclaimed author Lily Burana writes about love, war, and the realities of military marriage with an honesty few writers would dare.

A former exotic dancer who once had a penchant for anarchist politics and purple hair dye, Lily's rebellious past never would have suggested a marriage into the military. But then she met Mike, a Military Intelligence officer, and fell hopelessly in love, resulting in a most unorthodox romance-poignant, passionate, and utterly unpredictable.

After Lily and Mike said "I do" in a brief, pre-deployment City Hall ceremony, Mike left for Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Lily was left in a strange town to endure his absence alone, with no support system and little knowledge of the vast and confusing military world into which she had married.

Upon Mike's return from the war, the couple moved to historic West Point, where Lily found that life on base had its own challenges. As the war continued and the past intruded unexpectedly into the present, Lily and Mike found themselves plunged into the nightmare of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Struggling to cope in a community where admitting weakness is the ultimate taboo and "suck it up" is the suggested response to emotional pain, Lily suffered from depression so severe, it almost ended their marriage. With the help of a revolutionary therapeutic technique, the couple made their way out of the darkness and back to each other. Through it all, Lily wrangled with her preconceptions about the military and found herplace within the uniquely supportive sisterhood of military wives.

From harrowing emotion to the dishy details of life on base, Lily Burana bares her heart and soul as a modern military spouse. I Love a Man in Uniform is a profoundly moving story of how a woman can locate, and heal, her true self as a dedicated Army wife, free spirit, and freedom-loving American.

Review: I was perusing the shelves at my local library when I found this gem. Personally, I think the synopsis pretty much says what I would have said about it. I LOVED this book, which is pretty evident by the elusive perfect score. Once I got started reading it I had a very hard time putting it down. It's funny, it's a tear jerker but most importantly....It's real.

Candy Girl Review

Candy Girl A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper

Diablo Cody

Synopsis - 5/10
Plot - 8/10
Characters - 10/10
Overall Story - 10/10
Conclusion - 8/10

Overall Score - 41/50

*Optional*Smuttiness - 10/10



Review: Overall, I was really happy with the book. It's the story of a "normal" 20-something woman who get's this crazy idea that she should try her hand at being a stripper in addition to her day job as a typist for an advertising company in Minneapolis. The author doesn't mince any words and even uses some "colorful" language (if your not into f-bombs and "interesting" names for male parts DON'T read this book) for her year of being an "entertainer". You learn a lot about all the different clubs that she's worked at and a little bit about the other "entertainers" that she's come across.

I giggled, I cringed and I had a few WTF?! moments but overall the writing style and overall story are easy to follow. The only part that I was a little bit skeptical about was how cool her now husband was about the whole idea, but I guess that's a "too each there own" kind of thing.

The Blind Side Review

The Blind Side
Michael Lewis

Synopsis - 9/10
Plot - 10/10
Characters - 9/10
Overall Story - 10/10
Conclusion - 8/10

Overall Score - 46/50

Synopsis: One day Michael Oher will be among the most highly paid athletes in the National Football League. When we first meet him, he is one of thirteen children by a mother addicted to crack; he does not know his real name, his father, his birthday, or how to read or write. He takes up football, and school, after a rich, white, evangelical family plucks him from the streets. Then two great forces alter Oher: the family's love and the evolution of professional football itself into a game in which the quarterback must be protected at any cost. Our protagonist becomes the priceless package of size, speed, and agility necessary to guard the quarterback's greatest vulnerability: his blind side.

Review: I saw the trailer for the movie first one day and decided that that was one of those movies that I MUST see. The next day on a whim I was surfing the Barnes and Noble webpage and I did a random search to see if The Blind Side was in book form. As we can all see it oh so very much is in book form and scores high on my review scale too! I'm not going to say a whole lot about this one because I don't want to give away too much.

Now if your not much of a football fan I would probably recommend skipping the book form. The book itself starts off with a little history of the "game" (and there are "history lessons" thrown in through out the book, but they all tie in to the story) and your about 3 chapters in before you even meet Michael Oher. Once you meet Michael and you learn just a teeny tiny bit about him you can totally understand why his "new family" took him in and loved on him and why he in turn turned around and loved on them in return.

School wasn't easy for Michael....He had to become academically eligible before he could even start playing sports at all. Football didn't come easy to Michael...He started out a basketball player and dabbled in Track too. But once he got the hang of football well to quote the late great Paul Harvey.... "Now you know the rest of the story." We'll put it this way in all of College football only one school didn't offer Michael a full scholarship to there school and that was Penn State.

I would totally recommend this book to pretty much anyone. Even though it is pretty football heavy (not always pertaining to Michael) it is still a very great story. A story that says even great things can come from a not so great beginning. In short: READ IT! TODAY!

Puppy Chow Is Better Than Prozac

Puppy Chow Is Better Than Prozac: The True Story of a Man and the Dog Who Saved His Life

Bruce Goldstein

Rating: 5/5

Synopsis:

Meet Ozzy. For the suicidally depressed author, this furry antidepressant came with only one side effect-unconditional, slobbery love.

Review: I was out one day shopping with my mom and we made a random trip to Barnes and Noble. I happend to be looking through the pet section (we had just started considering adopting another dog after we had to put our 19 year old lab mix to sleep) and found this book. I think the title alone is what had me purchasing this book...You have to admit it is a cute title. The very first sentence alone scares the crap out of you but in the end you know that things are going to go from REALLY bad to oh so much better for the author with the help of a little furry antidepressant.

What I REALLY thought:

Beginning: The VERY beginning (like the very first sentence) scared the crap out of me...but as I learned more about the author that sentence became much clearer.

Middle: Things are starting to look up.

End: Things are going pretty well for Oz and Bruce. Puppy Chow REALLY is better than Prozac.

Truck: A Love Story - Review

For the past week and a 1/2 I have been reading Michael Perry’s book….Truck a Love Story. I only now have found this Wisconsin author and so far I am loving his writing. I am going to keep this review short and sweet because I don’t want to give away too much. Truck is about Michael’s “mission” to get his 1951 International Harvestor truck running and operational by Deer Season (a “holiday” that we take VERY seriously here in Wisconsin). Along the way readers will learn why “seed catalogs are responsible for more unfulfilled fantasies than Enron and Penthouse combined,” why squirrels are evil, a little bit about Mike’s dating life and a little bit about his interesting neighbors.

I really enjoyed this book, I give it a 4 out of 5. Plus the author lives only a few hours north of where I live! I enjoyed this book so much that I can hardly wait to start reading his new book Coop. I’ve heard great things about it. I giggled most of the way through this book because Mike paints such vivid pictures with his words that you can imagine yourself there with him. I hope that you will check this book out!