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Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Biographies and Memoirs
by: Dick Winters, Cole C. Kingseed

May 06, 2008

No new info on the Band of Brothers; just talking about himself. Worth reading but not very exciting.

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The Secret Scripture: A Novel

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Biographies and Memoirs
by: Sebastian Barry

April 28, 2009
I hate to be the first reviewer to throw water on this Booker-shortlisted novel, but so it goes.

This novel is the literary equivalent of Oscar-bait, those middle-to-high-brow movies that come around in December and display solid acting and deep characters yet are not that challenging or complicated. Perhaps we could call this Booker-bait.

Barry is clearly an accomplished writer and a master at poetic prose. The Secret Scripture drips with poetic little aphorisms and bon mots that make the reader admire the writer's craft. But the plot line develops rather leisurely and when the reader is done admiring the wordsmithing, there is not much else to admire.

For me, the biggest impediment to enjoying the novel ... Read More:

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Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Biographies and Memoirs
by: Anne Frank

June 01, 1993
We complain about our lives so many times a day.. And most of the times it's not even something really serious. This book shows you a girl that even going through such hard times, she faces it all in a peculiar way.. Of course she has her outbreaks as everyone (specially in confinement) would have but it's so... Try it! It's a must-read for all ages, but particularly for the young people.

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Alexander Hamilton

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Biographies and Memoirs
by: Ron Chernow

April 26, 2004
An excellent biography on the most convertersial, and one of the most important, founding fathers. The book covers nearly every aspect of Hamilton's life and shows how brilliat he really was. It gives a fair and balanced view of the great man. Although Chernow uses some very difficult words, I would reccomend this to anyone.

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The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Biographies and Memoirs
by: Jennet Conant

September 09, 2008
A turgid account of an amazingly interesting time in our history, "The Irregulars" makes me want to seek out other books about Roald Dahl's life and adventures, better written and researched books that is.

Roald Dahl's involvement with William Stephenson, the so called "Man Named Intrepid", might have been exciting except that many now believe that Intrepid was only a daring spymaster in his own eyes. To many, he was a masterful bureaucrat, who used the post war years to pump up his derring-do reputation. And if we believe that Stephenson was not really a spymaster, then what do we make of Dahl's activities?

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Nothing to Be Frightened Of

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Biographies and Memoirs
by: Julian Barnes

September 02, 2008
Barnes is bright, entertaining, reflective, and knowledgable and all those positives come together in this discursive treatise on death and many other not totally aligned subjects. I enjoyed my time with him but I kept expecting just a little bit more insight into the main subject: death or rather the fear of death and dying. And yet...I did feel a bit better after finishing the book. Less alone? More aware of the fact that many other people share the same fear? And that many other people have difficult and strained family relationships and awkward memories of things left unsaid and unresolved? I think so. Somehow we do feel that it is all going to come together by the end, even though we must know that it is unlikely to do so. The book brought that vain yet obviously fairly ... Read More:

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One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Biographies and Memoirs
by: Jim Fergus

March 15, 1998
There was a point in this book when I had to decide if I wanted to continue. Only one other book in the last couple of years made me think that: A Wolf at the Table. That one so brutalized me as a reader that I never picked it back up. One Thousand White Women isn't nearly as harsh--or as well written. Still, it's clear where the book is headed, and I had to decide if I wanted to be sad while I read the last third of the book. I did finish, and I'm glad I did. Glad, but not surprised.

This story of May Dodd and her life with a band of Cheyenne Indians in 1875 is interesting and diverting. It's an intriguing idea: Women traded for horses, and then the "brides" contracted to be brood mares for the tribe. I enjoyed reading how Native Americans lived then, and all the little details ... Read More:

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Clapton: The Autobiography

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Biographies and Memoirs
by: Eric Clapton

May 27, 2008
This was a great book for Eric Clapton fans. Great to hear all about the stories behind the songs, the bands,and his battle with drugs and alcohol. Gets a little slow at times, but enjoyable if you really want to get to know him.

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Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Biographies and Memoirs
by: Jon Krakauer

2003-07
I enjoyed the actual book much more than the audiobook, mainly because Krakauer reads the text so fast that he takes a lot of the emotion out of the story.

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The Obama Nation

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Biographies and Memoirs
from: Simon & Schuster Audio

August 01, 2008
This is a great book, written by an intelligent person, who has been maligned by the Obama campaign and the liberal left media because they did not want the book read. Unfortunately, I believe Obama was elected because the people who love him so much don't read. They don't even want to read his birth certificate.