Learning to Bow: Inside the Heart of Japan by Bruce Feiler (Thumbs up)

Title: Learning to Bow: Inside the Heart of Japan

 

Author: Bruce Feiler

BRUCE FEILER is the best-selling author of nine books, including WALKING THE BIBLE, ABRAHAM, and AMERICA'S PROPHET, and one of only a handful of writers to have four consecutive New York Times nonfiction bestsellers in the last decade. He is also the writer/presenter of the PBS miniseries WALKING THE BIBLE. His latest book, THE COUNCIL OF DADS, tells the uplifting story of how friendship and community can help one survive life's greatest challenge. Bruce Feiler's early books involve immersing himself in different cultures and bringing other worlds vividly to life. These include LEARNING TO BOW, an account of the year he spent teaching in rural Japan; LOOKING FOR CLASS, about life inside Oxford and Cambridge; and UNDER THE BIG TOP, which depicts the year he spent performing as a clown in the Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros. Circus. His recent work made him one of the country's most respected authorities on religion, politics, and the emotional issues of our time. WALKING THE BIBLE describes his perilous, 10,000-mile journey retracing the Five Books of Moses through the desert. The book was hailed as an "instant classic" by the Washington Post and "thoughtful, informed, and perceptive" by The New York Times. It spent more than a year and a half on the New York Times bestseller list, has been translated into fifteen languages, and is the subject of a children's book and a photography book. ABRAHAM recounts his personal search for the shared ancestor of Jews, Christians, and Muslims. "Exquisitely written," wrote the Boston Globe, "100 percent engaging." The book was featured on the cover of TIME Magazine, became a runaway New York Times bestseller, and inspired thousands of grassroots interfaith discussions. WHERE GOD WAS BORN describes his year-long trek retracing the Bible through Israel, Iraq, and Iran. "Bruce Feiler is a real-life Indiana Jones," wrote the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. AMERICA'S PROPHET recounts his unprecedented journey through American history - from the pilgrims to the founding fathers, the Civil War to the Civil Rights movement - exploring how the Exodus is America's greatest story and Moses is our true founding father. Both were New York Times bestsellers. In 2006, PBS aired the miniseries WALKING THE BIBLE that received record ratings and was viewed by 20 million people in its first month. "Beguiling," wrote the Wall Street Journal. "Mr. Feiler is an engaging and informed guide." Bruce Feiler has written for numerous publications, including The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, and Gourmet, where he won three James Beard Awards. He is also a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, CNN, and Fox News. He has been the subject of Jay Leno joke and a JEOPARDY! question, and his face appears on a postage stamp in the Grenadines. His latest book, THE COUNCIL OF DADS: My Daughters, My Illness, and the Men Who Could Be Me, describes how he responded to a diagnosis of cancer by asking six men from all passages of his life to be present through the passages of his young daughters's lives. "I believe my daughters will have plenty of opportunities in their lives," he wrote these men. "They'll have loving families. They'll have each other. But they may not have me. They may not have their dad. Will you help be their dad?" A native of Savannah, Georgia, Bruce Feiler lives in New York with wife, Linda Rottenberg, and their twin daughters.

Book Description:

Learning to Bow has been heralded as one of the funniest, liveliest, and most insightful books ever written about the clash of cultures between America and Japan. With warmth and candor, Bruce Feiler recounts the year he spent as a teacher in a small rural town. Beginning with a ritual outdoor bath and culminating in an all-night trek to the top of Mt. Fuji, Feiler teaches his students about American culture, while they teach him everything from how to properly address an envelope to how to date a Japanese girl.

Gort's Review (Thumbs up):

I'd highly recommend this book as a first step in understanding the Japanese culture. The stories and experiences of the author are humorous and sometimes culturally baffling. After reading this book, and also studying Japanese myself, I felt compelled to e-mail the author. I received a prompt and warm response back.

Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson by Mitch Albom (Thumbs up)

Title: Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson

 

Author: Mitch Albom

Mitch Albom is an author, playwright, and screenwriter who has written seven books, including the international bestseller Tuesdays with Morrie, the bestselling memoir of all time. His first novel, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, was an instant #1 New York Times bestseller, as were For One More Day, his second novel, and Have a Little Faith, his most recent work of nonfiction. All four books were made into acclaimed TV films. Albom also works as a columnist and a broadcaster and has founded seven charities in Detroit and Haiti, where he operates an orphanage/mission. He lives with his wife, Janine, in Michigan. 

Book Description:

Maybe it was a grandparent, or a teacher, or a colleague. Someone older, patient and wise, who understood you when you were young and searching, helped you see the world as a more profound place, gave you sound advice to help you make your way through it.

For Mitch Albom, that person was Morrie Schwartz, his college professor from nearly twenty years ago.

Maybe, like Mitch, you lost track of this mentor as you made your way, and the insights faded, and the world seemed colder. Wouldn't you like to see that person again, ask the bigger questions that still haunt you, receive wisdom for your busy life today the way you once did when you were younger?

Mitch Albom had that second chance. He rediscovered Morrie in the last months of the older man's life. Knowing he was dying, Morrie visited with Mitch in his study every Tuesday, just as they used to back in college. Their rekindled relationship turned into one final “class”: lessons in how to live.

Tuesdays with Morrie is a magical chronicle of their time together, through which Mitch shares Morrie's lasting gift with the world.

It’s been ten years since Mitch Albom first shared the wisdom of Morrie Schwartz with the world. Now–twelve million copies later–in a new afterword, Mitch Albom reflects again on the meaning of Morrie’s life lessons and the gentle, irrevocable impact of their Tuesday sessions all those years ago. . .

Gort's Review (Thumbs up):

Another Mitch Albom book that I would highly recommend to others.

Question: So Gort, why are your reviews so brief?

Answer:

Not to worry my friends. I have read a lot of books over the years.
One day, I decided that I should keep track of the books I've read over time.
And not just keep track, but I should review them too, so I know what books I may want to read again or avoid like the plague.

So, the first few reviews you see are from the first books I started keeping track of recently.
My first reviews were, well,..brief and to the point.
However, as time goes by, you'll see that I start to really get into this whole review business.

Another thing you'll probably see, is that I give a Thumbs Up to the majority of books I've read.
One of the major reasons (at least I think so) is that I read mainly non-fiction books.
These books tend to relate to things that are almost stranger than fiction.


Next Post: "So, you know Japanese?"

The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom (Thumbs up)

Title: The Five People You Meet in Heaven

 

Author: Mitch Albom

Mitch Albom is an author, playwright, and screenwriter who has written seven books, including the international bestseller Tuesdays with Morrie, the bestselling memoir of all time. His first novel, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, was an instant #1 New York Times bestseller, as were For One More Day, his second novel, and Have a Little Faith, his most recent work of nonfiction. All four books were made into acclaimed TV films. Albom also works as a columnist and a broadcaster and has founded seven charities in Detroit and Haiti, where he operates an orphanage/mission. He lives with his wife, Janine, in Michigan. 

 

Book Description:

Part melodrama and part parable, Mitch Albom's The Five People You Meet in Heaven weaves together three stories, all told about the same man: 83-year-old Eddie, the head maintenance person at Ruby Point Amusement Park. As the novel opens, readers are told that Eddie, unsuspecting, is only minutes away from death as he goes about his typical business at the park. Albom then traces Eddie's world through his tragic final moments, his funeral, and the ensuing days as friends clean out his apartment and adjust to life without him. In alternating sections, Albom flashes back to Eddie's birthdays, telling his life story as a kind of progress report over candles and cake each year. And in the third and last thread of the novel, Albom follows Eddie into heaven where the maintenance man sequentially encounters five pivotal figures from his life (a la A Christmas Carol). Each person has been waiting for him in heaven, and, as Albom reveals, each life (and death) was woven into Eddie's own in ways he never suspected. Each soul has a story to tell, a secret to reveal, and a lesson to share. Through them Eddie understands the meaning of his own life even as his arrival brings closure to theirs.

 

Gort's Review (Thumbs up):

Another Mitch Albom book that I would highly recommend to others.

For One More Day by Mitch Albom (Thumbs up)

Title: For One More Day

Author: Mitch Albom

Mitch Albom is an author, playwright, and screenwriter who has written seven books, including the international bestseller Tuesdays with Morrie, the bestselling memoir of all time. His first novel, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, was an instant #1 New York Times bestseller, as were For One More Day, his second novel, and Have a Little Faith, his most recent work of nonfiction. All four books were made into acclaimed TV films. Albom also works as a columnist and a broadcaster and has founded seven charities in Detroit and Haiti, where he operates an orphanage/mission. He lives with his wife, Janine, in Michigan. 

 

Book Description:

Mitch Albom mesmerized readers around the world with his number one New York Times bestsellers, The Five People You Meet in Heaven and Tuesdays with Morrie. Now he returns with a beautiful, haunting novel about the family we love and the chances we miss.
For One More Day is the story of a mother and a son, and a relationship that covers a lifetime and beyond. It explores the question: What would you do if you could spend one more day with a lost loved one
As a child, Charley "Chick" Benetto was told by his father, "You can be a mama's boy or a daddy's boy, but you can't be both." So he chooses his father, only to see the man disappear when Charley is on the verge of adolescence.
Decades later, Charley is a broken man. His life has been crumbled by alcohol and regret. He loses his job. He leaves his family. He hits bottom after discovering his only daughter has shut him out of her wedding. And he decides to take his own life.
He makes a midnight ride to his small hometown, with plans to do himself in. But upon failing even to do that, he staggers back to his old house, only to make an astonishing discovery. His mother--who died eight years earlier-is still living there, and welcomes him home as if nothing ever happened.
What follows is the one "ordinary" day so many of us yearn for, a chance to make good with a lost parent, to explain the family secrets, and to seek forgiveness. Somewhere between this life and the next, Charley learns the astonishing things he never knew about his mother and her sacrifices. And he tries, with her tender guidance, to put the crumbled pieces of his life back together.
Through Albom's inspiring characters and masterful storytelling, readers will newly appreciate those whom they love--and may have thought they'd lost--in their own lives. For One More Day is a book for anyone in a family, and will be cherished by Albom's millions of fans worldwide.

Gort's Review (Thumbs up):

Just finished this book. The author has a way of writing piercing stories that make you think you own personal relationships through. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

The Flame Keepers: The True Story of an American Soldier's Survival Inside Stalag 17 by Ned Handy (Thumbs up)

Title: The Flame Keepers: The True Story of an American Soldier's Survival Inside Stalag 17

Authors: Ned Handy and Kemp Battle

Book Description:

Ned Handy was captured by Germans in April 1944, after his B-24 was shot down. Sent to Stalag 17, the infamous Nazi prison camp, Handy soon led an escape team determined to tunnel to freedom. Along with the unforgettable comrades he vividly describes, Handy worked relentlessly for months on a tunnel that was to prove instrumental in saving the lives of four fugitives sought by the Gestapo. One of those fugitives would become the only American ever to escape permanently from Stalag 17. The Flame Keepers is a vivid first-hand account of an American soldier's experience as a prisoner of war in Nazi Germany and a poignant portrait of the POWs who worked to survive within the wire and their German captors. Illustrated with original photographs taken inside the camp from a smuggled camera and published for the first time in the trade press, The Flame Keepers recounts one of World War II's great untold stories.

Gort's Review (Thumbs up):

Awesome WW2 true story of American soldiers in a German POW camp. The description of their day-to-day survival routines as well as their intimate talks about home and food is inspiring. One of the best books I have read.

Write It When I'm Gone: Remarkable Off-the-Record Conversations With Gerald R. Ford by Thomas M. DeFrank (Thumbs up)

Title: Write It When I'm Gone: Remarkable Off-the-Record Conversations with Gerald R. Ford

 

Author: Thomas M. DeFrank

 

Book Description:

In 1974, Newsweek correspondent Thomas M. DeFrank was interviewing Gerald Ford when the Vice President blurted out something astonishingly indiscreet. He then extracted a promise not to publish it. “Write it when I’m dead,” Ford said— and thus began a thirty-two-year relationship.

During the last fifteen years of their conversations, Ford opened up to DeFrank, speaking in a way few presidents ever have. Here the award-winning journalist reveals these private talks, as Ford discusses his experiences with his fellow presidents, the Warren Commission, and his exchanges with Bill Clinton during the latter’s impeachment process. In addition, he shares his thoughts about both Bush administrations, the Iraq war, his beloved wife Betty, and the frustrations of aging. Write It When I’m Gone is not only a historical document but an unprecedented portrait of a president.

Gort's Review (Thumbs up):

Being a child during Ford's time as President, there was little that I knew about this President. This book does not go into all the details, but rather his thoughts and feeling as told to the author with the stipulation that none of this would be printed until his passing.

The Preacher and the Presidents: Billy Graham in the White House by Nancy Gibbs (Thumbs up)

Title: The Preacher and the Presidents: Billy Graham in the White House

Author:  Nancy Gibbs

Nancy Gibbs is Deputy Managing Editor at TIME magazine. Named by the Chicago Tribune as one of the ten best magazine writers in the country, she is the author of more than 130 TIME cover stories and now writes the back essay page. She won the National Magazine Award for the black-bordered special issue on September 11, 2001, and was the lead TIME writer on virtually every major news event from Oklahoma City to Hurricane Katrina, as well as the last five presidential campaigns.

Book Description:

No one man or woman has ever been in a position to see the presidents, and the presidency, so intimately, over so many years. They called him in for photo opportunities. They called for comfort. They asked about death and salvation; about sin and forgiveness.

At a time when the nation is increasingly split over the place of religion in public life, THE PREACHER AND THE PRESIDENTS reveals how the world's most powerful men and world's most famous evangelist, Billy Graham, knit faith and politics together.

Gort's Review (Thumbs up):

Fascinating account of the interaction Billy Graham had with every since Harry Truman. The fact that the Presidency is an overwhelming job, magnified their need for spiritual guidance during and after the Presidency. Sometimes we take for granted that we know all about historical figures. This book helps to explore the little known facts about their lives and the difficult decisions where they needed spiritual guidance.

South: The Endurance Expedition by Ernest Shakleton (Thumbs up)

Title: South: The Endurance Expedition

Author:  Ernest Shackleton

British Explorer

Book Description:

In 1914, as the shadow of war falls across Europe, a party led by veteran explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton sets out to become the first to traverse the Antarctic continent. Their initial optimism is short-lived, however, as the ice field slowly thickens, encasing the ship Endurance in a death-grip, crushing their craft, and marooning 28 men on a ploar ice floe.
In an epic struggle of man versus the elements, Shackleton leads his team on a harrowing quest for survival over some of the most unforgiving terrain in the world. Icy, tempestuous seas full of gargantuan waves, mountainous glaciers and icebergs, unending brutal cold, and ever-looming starvation are their mortal foes as Shackleton and his men struggle to stay alive.
What happened to those brave men forever stands as a testament to their strength of will and the power of human endurance.
This is their story, as told by the man who led them.

Gort's Review (Thumbs Up):

The amazing true story of survival, courage, stamina, leadership, and devotion to a leader. The fact that the boat was named "Endurance" was amazingly prescient.

One of my favorite quotes comes from this book:
"Loneliness is the penalty of leadership, but the man who has to make the decisions is assisted greatly if he feels that there is no uncertainty in the minds of those who follow him, and that his orders will be carried out confidently and in expectation of success."
-Ernest Shackleton

Hiroshima by John Hersey (Thumbs Up)

Title:  Hiroshima

Author: John Hersey

John Richard Hersey (June 17, 1914 – March 24, 1993) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American writer and journalist considered one of the earliest practitioners of the so-called New Journalism, in which storytelling devices of the novel are fused with non-fiction reportage. Hersey's account of the aftermath of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, was adjudged the finest piece of journalism of the 20th century by a 36-member panel under the aegis of New York University's journalism department.

Book Description:

"At, exactly fifteen minutes past eight in the morning on August 6, 1945, Japanese time, at the moment when the atomic bomb flashed above Hiroshima, Miss Toshiko Sasaki, a clerk in the personnel department of the East Asia Tin Works, had just sat down at her place in the plant office and was turning her head to speak to the girl at the next desk." When the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, few could have anticipated its potential for devastation. Pulitzer prize-winning author John Hersey recorded the stories of Hiroshima residents shortly after the explosion and, in 1946, Hiroshima was published, giving the world first-hand accounts from people who had survived it. The words of Miss Sasaki, Dr. Fujii, Mrs. Nakamara, Father Kleinsorg, Dr. Sasaki, and the Reverend Tanimoto gave a face to the statistics that saturated the media and solicited an overwhelming public response. Whether you believe the bomb made the difference in the war or that it should never have been dropped, "Hiroshima" is a must read for all of us who live in the shadow of armed conflict.

Gort's Review: (Thumbs Up)

Nothing is more powerful than the historical facts and biographical stories of people as they encounter and endure adversity. This book certainly falls into that categorical statement. Must Read.

So what's with the name Gort and why review books?

Fair questions indeed,...let me answer both so we can move onto what this is intended to be, a place to read/share book reviews.

Q: What's with the name Gort and why do you sign as GortWillSaveUs?

A: Gort comes from the movie "The Day the Earth Stood Still". No, not the one with Keanu Reeves,..I'm talking about the original movie from the 50's. Gort was the robot that was sent to destroy the earth. So I guess I'm trying to be ironic when I say GortWillSaveUs. I know,...you're still confused. Believe me,..I understand.

Q: Why review books? and what kind of books? and only books? or will the be other things you review?

A: Because I like books. Mostly non-fiction and historical in nature, especially books about the WW2 time period. Well,..I'll be reviewing mostly books. Yes, I may slip in a review of a cool movie, or some sweet computer part. Hey, it's my blog right.

Bottom-line: Just enjoy and feel free to comment.

P.S. By the way: Here's Gort