Carol Burnett
From the publisher: “Carol pulls back the curtain on the twenty-five-time Emmy Award-winning show (The Carol Burnett Show) that made entertainment history, and she reminisces about the outrageously funny and tender moments that made working on the series as much fun as watching it.”
From me: This is my kind of book; short chapters, backstage/insider info...like a DVD special features treasure trove, but written down. My only “complaint” would be when Ms Burnett recaps some of the longer sketches and movie parodies they did on the show. These tend to get a little tedious and don’t really provide any new information. But other than that, it was really nice to read about the tomfoolery (or rather, TIMfoolery...as in Tim Conway) and tenderness that made her show so special.
Page 56/Sentence 5: He said he was a fan of our show, but he kept asking, “Why can’t there be funnier endings to the skits?”.
Robert Hilburn
“A tantalizing look into the mind and writing process of the man who is arguably the finest craftsman of the American popular song since the Gershwin brothers, this book will delight any Paul Simon fan or student of popular culture. (Linda Ronstadt)”
I didn’t really mean to read a memoir and a biography back to back, but this book almost literally jumped off the library shelf at me. I’m so glad I checked it out...and checked it out. While it certainly focuses on Simon, it also serves as an in-depth study of the tumultuous relationship that was/is Simon & Garfunkel.
56/5: Tom might have liked “He Was My Brother” for the Pilgrims, but he would never have signed us because of that.
Peter Hitchens
“Peter Hitchens, brother of prominent atheist Christopher Hitchens, chronicles his personal journey through disbelief into a committed Christian faith.... With first-hand insight into the blurring of the line between politics and the Church, Hitchens reveals the reasons why an honest assessment of Atheism cannot sustain disbelief in God.”
If the author did all the revealing and chronicling as promised in the dust jacket blurb, I must have been sleeping while I read it. There’s a few chapters of personal history and a whole lot of political analysis involving Lenin and Stalin and many names I’d never heard of before. It seems that he returned to faith because of a feeling he got while sitting in an old church building. I totally missed any kind of reasoned, step-by-step, “this is why I am a believer.”
56/5: I still clearly recall the sultry afternoon in August 1960 when HMS Vanguard, our last battleship, was towed to the breakers, where she was to be turned into washing machines and razor blades.
Andrew Peterson
“Janner, Tink, and Leeli Igiby thought they were normal children with normal lives and a normal past. But now they know they’re really the Lost Jewels of Anniera, heirs to a legendary kingdom across the sea, and suddenly everyone wants to kill them.”
Having enjoyed Book One (read my comments on that by clicking HERE), I was happy to be loaned the second volume and am hoping Book Three isn’t far behind. This is full of daring escapes, secret identities, and familial love.
56/5: He skidded to a stop at the edge of the rushing water.
Brant Pitre
“This book will show that recent discoveries in New Testament scholarship as well as neglected evidence from ancient manuscripts and the early church fathers together have the potential to pull the rug out from under a century of skepticism toward the traditional Gospels. Above all, Pitre shows how the divine claims of Jesus of Nazareth can only be understood by putting them in their ancient Jewish context.”
I know the publisher’s description (above) sounds kind of academic and dry, but this is really a better reading experience than it sounds like. Most of the eggheady intelligentsia stuff is relegated to footnotes. Pitre does a great job at keeping it interesting and keeping it true to the facts. He admits when something is only a best guess, but also doesn’t put up with sloppy logic by the naysayers.
56/5: In order to answer them, we will have to look carefully at the relevant internal and external evidence on the lost gospels.
