MY LUCKY LIFE IN AND OUT OF SHOW BUSINESS: A Memoir
Dick Van Dyke
From the publisher: "A colorful, loving, richly detailed look at the decades of a multilayered life, My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business, will enthrall every generation of reader, from baby-boomers who recall when Rob Petrie became a household name, to all those still enchanted by Bert’s “Chim Chim Cher-ee.” This is a lively, heartwarming memoir of a performer who still thinks of himself as a “simple song-and-dance man,” but who is, in every sense of the word, a classic entertainer."
From me: A review I read online kind of complained that Van Dyke goes into more detail about his personal life (struggles with alcoholism and divorce) than about the roles that made him famous. I can't say I disagree with that, but honestly, as I was reading this, the thought never crossed my mind. I simply enjoyed practically every page. There are lots of anecdotes and plenty of soul-baring and I was sorry to read the final page. The author quotes himself to open the book, and it's a good summary: "If I'm known for giving people decent entertainment and raising good kids, that's all right. I'll have lived a good one."
Page 56/Sentence 5: Portrait: He told me to relax, it was going to be a good meeting. Landscape: "At least she died like a man," said Thursday.
THE GOD DELUSION
Richard Dawkins
"A preeminent scientist - and the world's most prominent atheist - asserts the irrationality of belief in God and the grievous harm religion has inflicted on society, from the Crusades to 9/11."
Okay, I didn't actually read this book. I only finished the first four chapters. You can read why in a note I posted in September. Suffice it to say that I was not overwhelmed by Dawkins' flawless logic...and I was distracted by his spider-webbing from thought to thought instead of laying out a clear, linear argument for his beliefs.
56/5: What expertise can theologians bring to deep cosmological questions that scientists cannot?
FIRE AND RAIN: The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, James Taylor, CSNY, and the Lost Story of 1970
David Browne
"Fire and Rain tells the story of four landmark albums of 1970, the intertwining personal ties between the legendary artists who made them, and the ways in which their songs and journeys mirrored the end of one era and the start of another."
It's been who-knows-how-long since I've read a book in the same year it was published, but I was looking forward to this from the moment I read a review in Entertainment Weekly. And I was not disappointed. The author apparently had excellent access to all the players involved in the tale and has made a good case for 1970 being a pivotal year...not only in popular music with the demise of the three groups mentioned in the title, but on college campuses and political backrooms as well. I realize that makes this sound like an academic treatise, but it is anything BUT that.
56/5: Kortchmar didn't think Taylor would actually call Asher; his friend already seemed battered by his experiences in life and the music business.
THEY THOUGHT FOR THEMSELVES: Ten Amazing Jews
Sid Roth
"Author Sid Roth was instructed in a dream to find and interview people who had broken through the mold of their previous experiences to achieve their destiny. These are the people he interviewed. These are their stories and this is your time for your breakthrough."
This book had been sent "out of the blue" to my dad, and I read it during a week of vacation Back Home Again in Indiana. A few of the stories involved talk of supernatural healing and appearances of white lights that make me kind of suspicious, but hey, the people say it happened to them...who am I to call them liars? Particularly interesting were the multiple times the book documented Jewish people who held on to their religious traditions but who did not really believe in God at all...until the truth of Jesus as the promised Messiah got through to them.
56/5: My upbringing was very Orthodox.
WINNIE-THE-POOH
A. A. Milne
This space is usually a quote from the dust jacket or promotional website, but seriously, does anything need to be said here about one of England's greatest exports?
This came pre-loaded as a free gift in my iPad's iBooks app, and I couldn't have been happier. It was a real treat to read these stories again after Who Knows How Long and delight in just how positively clever Milne was. Normally, I would put a relevant quote from the book here...to prove my point...but methinks it would serve the reader better to just read this whole book for oneself.
56/5: Landscape: "I was just beginning to think," said Bear, sniffing slightly, "that Rabbit might never be able to use his front door again." Portrait: "It reminds me of something," he said, "but I can't think what."
GOD IN THE DOCK
C. S. Lewis
"Forty-eight essays and twelve letters written by Lewis between 1940 and 1963 [the year of his death]. Here the reader finds the tough-minded polemicist relishing the debate; here too the kindly teacher explaining a complex abstraction by means of clarifying analogies; here the public speaker addressing his varied audience with all the humility and grace of a man who knows how much more remains to be known."
I've liked Lewis for a long time. First, because of Narnia; then the Space Trilogy and The Screwtape Letters; but more deeply for Mere Christianity as he found ways to say exactly what I thought but didn't know how to express. He does much the same here, and I'd like to find a copy of this book to purchase, preferably an e-book I could carry with me in my iPad. Listen to just this small snippet about Jesus: "We may note in passing that He was never regarded as a mere moral teacher. He did not produce that effect on any of the people who actually met Him. He produced mainly three effects -- Hatred -- Terror -- Adoration. There was no trace of people expressing mild approval."
56/5: The man may be thinking about winning a war; he may be wanting to be a General because he honestly thinks he has a good plan and is glad of a chance to carry it out.
