No one said being a single mother was easy, but, after some difficult years, Sabrena Collins seemed to finally have it together. She had a good-paying job, two beautiful daughters who were growing up with love and security, and a wonderful friend who was more like the sister she never had. She even had a man in her life who was everything her ex-husband was not: kind, generous and caring.
Everything seemed perfect—except for one thing. Steve said he loved her, but he was unreliable. There was more than one night when Sabrena would lie in bed, waiting for the phone to ring…alone and crying silent tears.
But when Sabrena was in his arms and he looked at her with his melt-on-the-spot chocolate brown eyes, all the problems, the sleepless nights, the cold dinners, all of that was forgotten.
And then, suddenly, Sabrena’s world was turned upside down by a simple visit that led her on a frightening and unfamiliar path, that led her to a truth passion and words of love could not erase, a truth that would change her life forever. A truth that would test her faith, her courage, her strength, and above all else, her love…
Until now, women had to endure the heartache of losing a friend all alone, without the social support and understanding that accompanies, say, a romantic split-up -- and to make matters worse, they don't even have their best friend's shoulder to cry on. But What Did I Do Wrong? gives you that sympathetic shoulder and a resource -- and some answers -- that you can rely on. After author Liz Pryor had gone through a number of these breakups herself, she set out to discover why they were happening, how to help herself -- and others -- get through them...and how to prevent them from happening again.
Through personal interviews and her popular website, www.lizpryor.com, Pryor collected hundreds of stories of friendships with which you will identify. Now she draws on those stories to explore the dynamics of friendship breakups in a candid, intimate way, revealing the patterns, the warning signs, and some ways to put a friendship right or help it change to meet your or your friend's changing life. She also explains how to end a friendship -- if you find that you need to do so -- in ways that honor both parties' feelings and your history together.
Like the best kind of girlfriend -- one who really will stay friends forever -- Pryor blends plain, old-fashioned, feminine good sense and good humor with genuine empathy for the thousands of women who live with the confusion that lingers after an ended friendship -- for women of all ages, races, and backgrounds. What Did I Do Wrong? validates your feelings and inspires you to be more forthright and compassionate with new and old friends. It might even lead you to reconnect with a lost one. In the end, you will be moved and uplifted by the many stories of strong friendships, broken friendships, and renewed friendships that make this book a treasure of women's wisdom and experiences.
Has success spoiled Beverly DeAngelis? Is she gunning for an honorary PhD somewhere and this is her thesis?
This one I'm skimming, then donating. I'm picky about what I keep on my shelves.
Book Description
Originating from WHYY-FM in Philadelphia and heard on more than 450 NPR stations, Fresh Air with Terry Gross has become a daily habit with millions of listeners nationwidea must for anyone hoping to keep up with whats happening in the arts. Over the last twenty years, Terrys guests have included our most significant writers, actors, musicians, comics, and visual artists. For her first collection, Terry has chosen more than three dozen timeless interviews that prove to be as lively on the page as they were on the radio. Her questionsprobing yet sensitiveencourage revelations from figures as diverse as John Updike, Isabella Rossellini, Conan OBrien, Samuel L. Jackson, Johnny Cash, and Nicolas Cage. And in her introduction, the generally self-effacing host of Fresh Air does something she wouldnt dream of doing on the airshe reveals a thing or two about herself.
Customer Reviews:
Entertaining.......2007-04-28
Not as enjoyable as her live show (but, then, what COULD be), but still a fun look back at some interesting people.
Earns Among The Highest Praise Someone Can Offer A Book: "It Was A Darn Good Read!".......2007-01-20
The ever intelligent, inviting, and capable Terry Gross is someone I'll always listen to if I happen to be in the car when Fresh Air is on the radio. This book is both a meaningful read-thru of some of Terry's personally-selected (mostly early) interviews out of the thousands she's done since Fresh Air went national on NPR in 1987, and a nice private tour of how Fresh Air really works. It's also a little like enjoying a candid conversation with Terry Gross about her life and career and views on radio as a whole. Recently, if I may note this, Terry's website has mentioned that a number of the tapes storing Fresh Air have begun to deteriorate with age (Fresh Air's archives pre-date digital) and a call has gone out to help preserve these truly significant bits of our cultural heritage. Fresh Air gives a chance for those who helped define our age to voice themselves, and surely that's worth preserving for posterity. But that's going off track a bit. In this review I mainly just wanted to say I read this book, it was a nice read, and I recommend it!
The Perfect Book for Reading Buffs and Fresh Air Fans.......2006-06-14
If you love Fresh Air and Terry Gross, but can't catch all of the interviews, this is a great way to catch up on some of the most significant. This book covers writers, actors, musicians, and artists, and includes figures as diverse as Gene Simmons from Kiss to Eric Clapton to John Updike to Conan O'Brien. Keep in mind that the interviews are edited for inclusion in this book, so some are shorter than others, and some are combined with other interviews Terry has conducted with the person.
The best thing about the interviews chosen is that every one offers fascinating information, whether it is about a trade, like writing or acting, or about the figure, like Jodie Foster's feelings on her childhood stardom. Another added bonus to this book is Terry's introduction to each interview. In some, she adds some context around the interview, such as what she thought about the guest or newspaper reports about the interview. In others, she offers personal information on her preferences and passions, and in others, she provides further biographical information about the guest.
I greatly enjoyed reading this collection and read every interview. This is a book that I will keep for years to come, but I am hesitant to give it five stars because I can't imagine getting anything additional out of it if I reread it. Perhaps some of the interviews would be more meaningful at one time in my life or another, but they aren't as in-depth or complex as a novel, memoir, or biography, so I don't feel that this book, as enjoyable and fascinating as it was, is multi-layered.
A Fascinating Glimpse into Well-Known Lives.......2006-05-14
Terry Gross has one of the best interview programs on radio called Fresh Air. As a journalist, I can appreciate her prepared questions but also her flow with the interview to ask follow-up questions and find the undiscovered gems of conversation.
This book is the equivalent of the Fresh Air programs yet it's in a printed format and portable to read any place and any time. I loved every chapter and recommend this book.
Interviewer's Field Guide.......2006-02-04
[March 8, 2006: Interview with James Thurber on lobbyists: riveting, compelling! How Republicans get money to build bridges to nowhere in Alaska. What an "earmark" is, and more!]
[March 2, 2006: Interview with Eyal Press, abortion clinic doctor, proving Gross as a female Orpheus, descending into the dark night of the soul.]
[February 27, 2006: Terry's interview about 'Tsotsi' (A South African 'gangster' film with a heart) was one of her most remarkable ever! For comparison, see 'Ali' or 'Ali Zaoua, Prince of the Street', a Moroccan film by Filmmovement]
I have an Hyperion "Advanced Uncorrected Proofs" edition, which I use as a sort of field guide for modeling my own interviews with performers, politicians and business people. I don't think Terry Gross is necessarily America's greatest interviewer. She does seem to stumble at times, at other times she may tend to wind down the more uninteresting of two paths. Yet, she scores tet-e-tets with the highest profile characters possible.
Tonight I heard an older interview with Eric Clapton, which was one included in this book, and I realized that the transcription is imperfect, and lacks continuity, the questions/answers being slightly out of sequence. You would never know this from reading the interview alone, and it doesn't matter a whole lot. I've transcribed many an interview, and you must whittle down the "umms" and "ahhs". But, using the Clapton interview as a sample, the transcribed text was missing significant portions of the audio interview.
That being said, I think there is another NPR interviewer who does a much better job, and that is Melissa Block. Block seems to flow a little better, while Gross (don't get me wrong, I love her), sounds more like a stammering little chipmunk sometimes. But, when I listen to my own interviews, I hate how I sound, and should definitely learn to clam up more. It is exactly these little tricks and peeves that genuinely aid in the development of my interviewing skills. Gross sometimes falls prey to pretentious colloquialisms, more so with some personalities than others, especially black hip hop or blues artists, which borders on reverse racism. You know, "hey, you're cool, I dig ya, tell me about how hard life was in the ghetto, so all my white friends out there can empathize the way I do". That's caricaturizing a little, but isn't too far from the way I hear it. The upside to this technique is that she establishes personal raport with her interviewees, eliciting genuine revelations and honest personality. Gross's interviews with politicians, religious scholars, novelists and journalists are very well done, indeed.
She really is improving her interviewer skills, I believe, and is still a joy to listen to. This review isn't meant as a slam by a thoughtless troll, even if parts of it may come across that way. Listening to Fresh Air is a ritual I try never to miss, I can assure you I always enjoy the show. Another important note is that Fresh Air is not just Terry Gross, it is a team effort, much as any news article or story is not just the reporter, but a whole reporting base, including editor, printer, etc.
If you, too, are an aspiring interviewer, it's a no brainer that you should get this book as a reference of case studies. It is destined to become a classic, like it or not.
Amazon.com
Something odd, if predictable, became of screenwriter William Goldman after he wrote the touchstone tell-all book on filmmaking, Adventures in the Screen Trade (1983), he became a Hollywood leper. Goldman opens his long-awaited sequel by writing about his years of exile before he found himself--again--as a valuable writer in Hollywood.
Fans of the two-time Oscar-winning writer (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men) have anxiously waited for this follow-up since his career serpentined into a variety of big hits and critical bombs in the '80s and '90s. Here Goldman scoops on The Princess Bride (his own favorite), Misery, Maverick, Absolute Power, and others. Goldman's conversational style makes him easy to read for the film novice but meaty enough for the detail-oriented pro. His tendency to ramble into other subjects may be maddening (he suddenly switches from being on set with Eastwood to anecdotes about Newman and Garbo), but we can excuse him because of one fact alone: he is so darn entertaining.
Like most sequels, Which Lie follows the structure of the original. Both Goldman books have three parts: stories about his movies, a deconstruction of Hollywood (here the focus is on great movie scenes), and a workshop for screenwriters. (The paperback version of the first book also comes with his full-length screenplay of Butch; his collected works are also worth checking out). This final segment is another gift--a toolbox--for the aspiring screenwriter. Goldman takes newspaper clippings and other ideas and asks the reader to diagnose their cinematic possibilities. Goldman also gives us a new screenplay he's written (The Big A), which is analyzed--with brutal honesty--by other top writers. With its juicy facts and valuable sidebars on what makes good screenwriting, this is another entertaining must-read from the man who coined what has to be the most-quoted adage about movie-business success: "Nobody knows anything." --Doug Thomas
Book Description
From the Oscar-winning screenwriter of
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and
The Princess Bride (he also wrote the novel), and the bestselling author of
Adventures in the Screen Trade comes a garrulous new book that is as much a screenwriting how-to (and how-not-to) manual as it is a feast of insider information.
If you want to know why a no-name like Kathy Bates was cast in
Misery-it's in here. Or why Linda Hunt's brilliant work in
Maverick didn't make the final cut-William Goldman gives you the straight truth. Why Clint Eastwood loves working with Gene Hackman and how MTV has changed movies for the worse-William Goldman, one of the most successful screenwriters in Hollywood today, tells all he knows. Devastatingly eye-opening and endlessly entertaining,
Which Lie Did I Tell? is indispensable reading for anyone even slightly intrigued by the process of how a movie gets made.
Customer Reviews:
Which Lie Did I Tell?.......2007-03-29
The best of it's kind for anyone interested in screen writing. Easy to read, full of help, Excellent.
The Trials and Tribulations of a Hollywood Screenwriter. And Some Advice. .......2006-07-31
"Which Lie Did I Tell?" is a follow-up to William Goldman's 1983 book "Adventures in the Screen Trade" in which the screenwriter gives us the inside scoop on Hollywood moviemaking from a unique point of view -that of the writer- and provides some lessons in screenwriting through examples from his own and others' attempts to create movies from the raw materials of experience and imagination. This book has 4 parts, but if you're only interested in the stories Goldman has to tell about his Hollywood experiences, those are found in Part 1. Parts 2-4 address the craft of screenwriting: what works, what doesn't, why, and how to pitch it. Goldman is opinionated, blunt, and he refers to his Oscar-winning "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" screenplay far too often. It's obviously his pride and joy. "Which Lie Did I Tell?" is briskly paced, personal, and it gives us the lowdown on what it takes -not just the writing talent, but the mettle- to write movies in Hollywood.
Goldman starts with the 9 years he didn't work, 1978-1986, after having written 7 movies in the prior 8 years. Not exactly encouraging to aspiring screenwriters. Then Goldman takes us through his experiences writing -and in some cases filming- seven screenplays he wrote 1986-1997: "Memoirs of an Invisible Man", "The Princess Bride", "Misery", "The Year of the Comet", "Maverick", "The Ghost and the Darkness", and "Absolute Power". These screenplays provide insight into a variety of writing challenges, as some are original, some adapted, one adapted from Goldman's own book, some from novels, some entirely fictional, and one is based on a true story. And, of course, some were hits, some flops, and one didn't make it. Goldman relates the ideas behind these movies, his intentions and struggles in writing them, with plenty of commentary on studio executives, stars, directors, and test audiences. Goldman's goal is to tell it like it is in the screen trade.
In Part 2, Goldman examines the screenplays for some famous -and famously successful- movie scenes from "There's Something About Mary", "When Harry Met Sally", "North by Northwest", "The Seventh Seal", "Chinatown", "Fargo", and his own "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". He presents analysis and opinion on why these scenes work so well and shares his technique for finding the heart of the material when adapting work for the screen. In Part 3, Goldman looks at some real-life dramas that might make interesting movies, but notes the difficulties in adapting them and discusses the problems inherent in writing about real people. Part 4 is a screenplay that Goldman wrote in order that others might criticize it for this book, followed by critiques from 6 successful screenwriters. This is a worthwhile exercise that really illuminates the pitfalls of creating characters for the screen.
Which Lie....?.......2006-06-25
a hilarious account of the 'politics of hollywood' from the perspective of a brilliant writer...
Another Great Read from Goldman.......2004-11-08
I loved Goldman's Adventures in the Screen Trade and loved this book almost as much. It's interesting, funny and revealing, written in a casual and frank manner that you'd expect from a good friend. Goldman writes books and screenplays in multiple genres because he focuses on whether each story is one he wants to tell - not whether it's the same type of story he succeeded with before. What amazes me about this versatile writer is his generosity. In this book he discusses his creative processes and offers detailed, useful guidance to aspiring writers (for comparison, Joe Ezterhaus did not do this in his interesting memoir). At the end of the book, Goldman even has the guts to offer up a new script draft for criticism by top screenwriters whose comments he includes. Who else would dare to expose his work-in-process like that? Not I! He is my hero.
The Land of Dreams.......2004-08-28
After the Adventures in the Screen Trade many years ago, I had to sink my eyes in this second adventure. I must admit to being a Goldman fan. It was a hard volume to put down. I went from cover to cover in a couple of days. Back again a few more times. I laughed so many times I felt dizzy. Kinda got a buzz! Good reads are supposed to do that to you! Goldman's read is cool! It's heavy with experience! He's crossed a lot of bridges, built some, and burned some too! This one is a Do Not Miss read too. As usual, no butt kissing here! He tells it like it is, not how it should be! An E-ride ticket to how things are in Dreamland. Hey, Goldman! We're waiting for the next Adventure!
Customer Reviews:
Classic Judith Viorst humor writing.......2002-04-30
Fine poetry this is not, but Judith Viorst hits another home run by applying her piercing sense of humor to the sundry atrocities involved in turning forty: having your children grow up, wondering about your husband, feeling left out, misunderstood, underappreciated, uncomfortable dinner parties, seeing the marriages of your friends break up, and so on.
This all sounds like very much a downer, but Viorst manages the neat trick of turning it into funny stuff, as in "The Truth":
"The truth is
If I had it all to do over
I still wouldn't study Swahili,
Learn to fly a plane,
Or take 92 lovers,
Some of them simultaneously . . .
The truth is
That I'll always want to be
Pure enough to hate white bread,
Deep enough to admire Patagonian folk art,
Thin enough to go swimming in the nude,
Mature enough to outgrow Erich Fromm,
Nice enough to be nice to my Uncle Bernie,
And secure enough to not need getting married."
Viorst raises issues that come up as you get older, and takes her readers with her by acknowledging the down side while seeing the humor it all brings as well. This is a terrific gift for a "newly forty" pal or for any married mom with kids.
A waste of money.......2001-10-19
I bought it for my sister's 40th birthday. Luckily, I read it when it arrived instead of wrapping it and giving it to her.
She won't be receiving it, but the trash will be. The book isn't even remotely humorous and many of the poems, which
I felt were badly written, left me scratching my head.
Great little book!.......2001-03-05
Judith Viorst is my favorite author! I loved discovering her books on age. She hits the mark more times than not on the feelings that we have at a given age! I find that I reread her books often when I need a lift or a laugh! Makes a wonderful gift for a good friend.
Knowing How it Feels.......2000-10-19
For a decade that begins with being "Over the Hill," there is a negative connotation comes with being forty. It implies that 40 means "old". You may often be asking yourself, "Where did the time go?" Instead of looking ahead, as for the previous years, you may find your self searching back. Lonely and Confused you may wonder, "Does anyone know how it feels?" By reading Viorst's Book, I was motivated to look ahead instead of searching for the past. She made it feel as though there is still a hike to hump of the hill. Entusiastic about being forty instead of being depressed about middle-age, she explains how to cope with the every-day experiences of being forty. To best put it she makes you feel OKAY about middle-age!
Book Description
Tom traces his alcoholism back to his British boyhood at Eton College, Englands oldest and most exclusive boarding school, where the boys had to wear tail suits to class and there was a school pub. He delves into his aristocratic familys well-documented fondness for the bottle and covers his own drinking apprenticeship as a trainee journalist on Londons famously alcohol-sodden newspapers. Whether he is getting arrested for drunk driving at the age of 15, climbing naked into his friends and colleagues beds, or simply trying to file an emergency front-page update while reeling from a cocktail of Ecstacy and magic mushrooms, Tom takes the reader on an addictive journey into the insanity of intoxicationall too often followed by a mossy tongue, a dull headache, and one burning question: What the hell did I do last night?
Customer Reviews:
Light-weight Drunkard's Tale.......2007-06-17
I guess that the book was entertaining enough, but woefully absent of any real dramatic tragedy that would surround the life of a hardcore alcoholic. He never woke up in jail or beaten bloody in England or New York. No horror nor any particular insight into the disease of alcoholism or drug addiction. Plenty of Alcoholism light. It gets much much uglier.
"Fear and Loathing" in London and New York.......2007-01-13
Tis is a brilliant book full of hair raising tales and high jinx. Incredibly funny. The author was an alcoholic who managed to wangle a job as the chief night life writer and bar reviewer at the Evening Standard and then the New York Post with disastrous (but hilarious) results.
Highly recommended. Not for the squeamish!
bloody fun and scurrilous.......2006-10-21
Tom Sykes writes without being sentimental or judgmental. This guy is now sober but he used to drink like a fish and race around New York and London misbehaving. His is a cautionary tale, but he writes it with panache and a light touch. Buy this book now and you'll read it in one sitting. Cleverer than Toby Young or Candace Bushnell, most astute than Milan Kundera, as straightforward as Bill Bryson, and as disreputable as Jay McInernery or Brett Easton Ellis. This is a sure-fire hit.
Outrageous !.......2006-10-13
I picked this up and started reading it, and it is a pretty funny autobiographical work on a British guy who really, really liked to party and drink. At one point, he makes the point that if you don't really know what a blackout is, you are not a true alcoholic (that definition is no doubt not the one the medical community in the U.S. gives, but it also is probably pretty accurate). He explains it as like having your "memory chip" for the past (x) hours totally erased. So, he often wakes up on a couch somewhere (Britain and then New York when he moves there), not knowing where he was last night. Hence, the title of the book. I think this book is actually pretty outrageous, in the good and bad sense of that term. I found it very, very honest and compelling. I don't think we need really to go into all the "you shouldn't do what he did" stuff. I think that will be clear to people who read the book. The book is actually very funny, and very outrageous.
Amazon.com
God Was in This Place & I, I Did Not Know is about seven different ways to read the Bible verse quoted in its title (Genesis 28:16). The titular verse is Jacob's exclamation upon awakening from his vision of angels ascending and descending a ladder to heaven. For centuries, readers have tried to imagine what the angels were trying to tell Jacob; Rabbi Lawrence Kushner has now surveyed some of the most illuminating reflections on that question. The book's sources range from Shmuel bar Nachmnani in third-century Palestine, to Hannah Rachel Werbermacher of Ludomir, who lived in 18th-century Poland. Kushner blends these rabbinic interpretations with his own reflections on Jacob's vision in a strong, impassioned style. God Was in This Place is not only about the Jacob story, however; it is, most importantly, a brilliant book about the way that Scripture offers meaning: "Biblical words shatter and rearrange themselves before our sustained gaze," Kushner writes. "As we read in Jeremiah, 'My word is like fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer that shatters the rock.'" --Michael Joseph Gross
Book Description
Who am I? Who is God? Kushner creates inspiring interpretations of Jacob s dream in Genesis, opening a window into Jewish spirituality for people of all faiths and backgrounds.
Jacob lies down in the desert and dreams that angels are ascending and descending a ladder to heaven. For thousands of years, people have tried to listen to what messengers told Jacob in one of the great mystical encounters in Western religion. In a fascinating blend of scholarship, imagination, psychology, and history, seven Jewish spiritual masters ask and answer fundamental questions of human experience.
Customer Reviews:
Poetic and Intelligent.......2006-04-08
Kushner walks us through the exegetical vantage points of seven different rabbis, each looking at the same text. Jacob awakes from a dream about a ladder (Gen 28:16), and declares that he has experienced God. Kushner then poetically imagines the seven rabbis ascending and descending the ladder to teach us how to read the text. What results is a beautifully poetic look at the biblical text itself, a clever mode of teaching us Jewish history and midrash, and a fully postmodern system of acknowledging the existence of multiple perspectives. As with Kushner's other works (cf. Jewish Spirituality) it evolves into a mystical climax in which the reader and text are equated.
The seven are:
1. Rashi (Rabbi Shelomo ben Yitzhaki, @1050). He calls us to focus on the literal text without distraction, without background noise. He says that the real miracle of the burning bush required Moses to pay attention for more than a minute to realize that it was not burning (p. 24).
2. Kotzk (Menachem Mendl of Kotzk, 1787-1859). He said that we needed to destroy our egos and should begin by calling ourselves liars (p. 38, 54). We should do this through gemilut hasidim, acts of selflessness (p. 51). Kotzk later in life condemned himself to solitude, only occasionally stepping onto his balcony to yell into the crowd, "You are all liars!"
3. Ludomir (Hannah Rachel Werbermacher, 1805-1892). The only woman on the list, she called us to see that God was there even in the midst of evil. Teaching men through a half open door (p. 58), she taught them that God does not intervene in human affairs without human agency (p. 62). In fact, we are to assume that the fall in the garden was an act of God. God was present with Jacob in the angel that wrestled with him.
4. Mezritch (Dov baer of Mezritch, d. 1772). He says that the goal of the religious life is devekut, cleaving to God (p. 84). Forced to follow a monk whose job it is to wash dishes (p. 87), he discovers that the purpose of life is to escape self-reflection to throw one's self whole-heartedly into one's role. Otherwise, as in a game of racquetball (p. 89), the self is always distracted when it focuses on anything other than its purpose. The self then becomes fragmented, with one part looking back at the rest to analyze its existence. "Too much concentration can be worse than none at all" (p. 90). We should be like the husband whose quest it is to find the right food for the pregnant wife in the middle of the night (p. 103). The "I did not know" of the Genesis text really refers to not paying attention to the "I."
5. Nachmani (Samuel bar Nachmani, late 3rd c.). He sees in the story the issue of Jacob needing to become part of history, to take hold of history and enter into it.
6. De Leon (Moses be Shem Tov de Leon, 1240-1305). De Leon wrote out a book called the Zohar (p. 130), and though he attributed it to a long-dead rabbi, he seems to have produced it himself. He says that the we are to accept who we are and put aside the veil of deceptive pseudo-identities. God's primary activity is to free us from the slavery to those self-deceptions. If God had a business card, the subline would read, "Frees slaves," and then "Call anytime" (p. 144). God is the sense of self, the "I," the Anochi, which is free.
7. Ostropol (Shimson ben Pesach Ostropoler, d. 1648). He would say that it should be read, "God was in this place and I did not know it was i." We are somehow an indispensable part of God (p. 173). To look at your own hands is to look at the hands of God (p. 174). Somehow Abraham's father Terah was redeemed by the activities of Abraham himself. There is an old legend of Abraham smashing Terah's idols, and the conclusion is that the idolatries are redeemed by the son who is a part of him.
The conclusion is that the text can be read legitimately through multiple lenses, and as we do so, our eyes are increasingly opened by and to the text. God may speak in any number of ways through our interaction with the text.
It's a brilliant book, unlike most, both poetic and intelligent.
A Recommendation for Christians.......2006-02-10
I discovered this book in a search for something new about the story of Jacob to enhance a short sermon. The book drew me into the world of 2500 years of Torah scholarship; into its great traditions of exposition, argument and story telling.
The clear way in which Rabbi Kushner presents great thoughts of Torah scholars, his writing style, and love of their wisdom, allow the reader to "be" at once a yeshiva student and a friend worthy of intimate conversation. The chapter on De Leon - Rabbi Luria - which presents the 10 commandments as a circular system, offers unique insight.
Rabbi Kushner's longing for the Messiah, which is so evident in his writing has added much to my understanding of my own faith.
Rabbi Kushner's liberal use of story to explain on many levels that which is difficult to explain at all sheds a new light on the "parables" of Jesus
I eagerly seek out any word of a new book. It is a blessing that when other baby boomers were rejecting their faith and their heritage, Lawrence Kushner was embracing his, and doing all the hard work with the result that his readers are drawn to the Light. He is my most precious spiritual mentor.
Jewish Spirituality for Anyone!!.......2005-03-07
Jewish Spirituality is a place that many of the emerging churches are exporing. This book was not written to give answeres but to prod you to ask more questions. It also causes one to not think that there is only one interpretation of a text. There are many, so explore them all and see what God shows you.
Climbing the rungs.......2003-06-06
The title of this book, `God was in the Place, & I, i Did not Know', may seem a bit cumbersome (and even, to some, looks like it has a typographical error. However, Rabbi Lawrence Kushner draws this title from the Torah, the book of Genesis to be precise. It is the exclamation of Jacob who, upon waking from his dream about the ladder connecting heaven and earth, makes a startling realisation about the reality of the seemingly mundane and ordinary place where he had stopped for the night.
In the prologue, Kushner develops an exegesis and hermeneutic of Genesis 28:16 more fully, and in so doing, illustrates many of the problems we regularly encounter, both in reading scripture as well as in interpreting daily life experience. He places this story in strong connection with the ordinary, even relating the angels on the ladder to common humanity:
`There is another, even more obvious interpretation. The angels did not reside in heaven at all. They lived on earth. They were ordinary human beings. And, like ordinary human beings, they shuttled back and forth between heaven and earth. The trick is to remember, after you descend, what you understood when you were high on the ladder.'
Kushner examines the way in which sages have interpreted this passage, and provides insights into history, psychology, philosophy, and scriptural study in the process. Each interpretation has had what one might call a personal conversation and experience with Jacob. In fact, each of these interpreters is portrayed as being on the ladder, rising and descending. The text is structured in this way. The interpreters are:
+Rashi
Schelomo ben Yitzhaki, Rashi
The key word for this interpretation is awareness. This is very important for making the kind of realisation that Jacob made. It is very important for us as we perceive the presence of God in our own lives.
If I had known God was here, I wouldn't have gone to sleep.
+Kotzk
Menachem Mendl of Kotzk
The key concept here is egotism. Only by stripping away the ego can one begin to understand the presence and the personality of God.
God was here because I was able to subdue my ego.
+Ludomir
Hannah Rachel Werbermacher, the Maid of Ludomir
A remarkable woman, a teacher of the Hasidim (who listened to her teaching through a half-open door, so as to preserve distance, and perhaps preserve a fiction that they were not in fact being taught by a woman), whose insight gave her access to the other side, or the many other sides, of stories being considered.
God is present, even in the midst of evil.
+Mezritch
Dov Baer, the Maggid of Mezritch
The word Maggid means 'storyteller'. Through the stories, here the key is self-reflection, to find meaning in the innermost being, to find that still, small voice that can only speak in silence and the absence of our own activity.
God was here because I stopped being aware of myself.
+Nachmani
Shmuel bar Machmani
Who was Jacob, and why should he know this? Who is God, and why should God do this? These are questions that are historical as much as theological or psychological, and it is in our history and God's history that we find meaning and identity.
I could have climbed this ladder of history.
+De Leon
Moses ben Shem Tov de Leon
A remarkable book, lost for a time, whose existence was denied even by Moses de Leon's widow, the Zohar, gives astonishing insight into the interior of God, reality, and our selves, and how to find a deep connection that is always present and never finished. Attributed to another author, Shimon bar Yohai, Kushner speculates that perhaps they shared the same soul. The completeness of the self of the universe connects through Jacob's story here.
I is the Lord your God
+Ostropol
Shimshon ben Pesach Ostropoler
Beyond the question and awareness of the self of God and the self of the universe is the self, basic and simple, complex and intricate. Rabbi Shimshon put names to the kelipot, the broken shards of creation. We are all a part of a whole, a broken piece in and of ourselves. Our awareness of this helps begin the process of reunion.
I didn't know that my name was part of God's name
Each interpreter's chapter stands on its own merits, but each is connected to the other, and to a wider body of interpretation and scholarship, by the use of side notes and references done in (what I would describe as being) a proto-talmudic structure. The Talmud has been described by some as one of the world's first hypertexts, with cross-links and chains that lead through the text -- this book does similar linking.
Rabbi Kushner concludes by linking all the stories to the reader:
`Each person has a Torah, unique to that person, his or her innermost teaching. Some seem to know their Torahs very early in life and speak and sing them in a myriad of ways. Others spend their whole lives stammering, shaping and rehearsing them. Some are long, some are short. Some are intricate and poetic, others are only a few words, and still others can only be spoken through gesture and example. But every soul has a Torah.'
The relative place of self (both as an I and as an i) in God's life and universe becomes more apparent through these stories. Human beings are important, yet who can be important in relation to God? Yet, who is not important in relation to God? May this work help you discern where God is in your life, and what you are called to be.
The hand of God.......2001-07-16
As you have gathered from the main review, this book focuses on the meaning of just one verse in Genesis, when Jacob awoke from the ladder dream. Usually Rabbis pick up on a verse just a couple verses back where "the Angels of God were going up and down the ladder". The focus is that they start on Earth and go to Heaven - not the other way around.
This book is great because it is like there is a dialog accross the space-time continuumn with 7 Rabbis in different locations and centuries arguing about their 7 different interpretations.
One interpretation based on the fact that there are two "I's" in the verse spelled differently in Hebrew. It is that my Godlike "I" did not know God was present because my ego "i" was in the way. Jacob's chance to experience God was diminished because the ego "i" was ragiling off its commentary. This concept is similar to Buddism.
Kushner adds an 8th interpretaion in his prolouge - which I won't spoil by going into detail. I heard Kushner talk at a Synagouge in Austin, Texas and he summarized his interpretation by finishing, "Hold up your hands before your eyes. You are looking at the hands of God."
A great book on modern Jewish mystism.
Books:
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- Winter's Tale
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- You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?!: The Classic Self-Help Book for Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder
- YOU: The Owner's Manual: An Insider's Guide to the Body that Will Make You Healthier and Younger
- 100 Bullets Vol. 1: First Shot, Last Call
- A Long Way Home: Twelve Years of Words
- A Picnic in October
- Agnes Browne Trilogy Boxed Set--The Mammy, The Chisellers, The Granny
Books Index
Books Home
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Anatomy & Physiology
| Science, Nature & How It Works
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
"What's Happening to Me?" A guide to puberty
It's So Amazing!: A Book about Eggs, Sperm, Birth, Babies, and Families
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Offers too much detail in my opinion.......2007-08-23
