This book features works from across Kerouac's career and so, of course, has some good and some band. When he uses sentance stucture he is great (Good Blonde), when he does the free form thing, he is not (almost the rest of the book). Only pick this up if you want to own everything by Kerouace. If you are a casual fan, stear clear.

"Good Blonde" is the jewel of this collection, but I was quite pleased with the quality of Kerouac's sporting stories, specifically "Ronnie on the Mound." Some of the personal essays on the values and characteristics of the Beat Movement get a little redundant (although I did enjoy the one that differentiates between "talent" and "genius"), but overall this is a great read.

Good Blonde and Others offers a wonderful collection of short essays and newspaper columns on topics ranging from writing and the beat movement to sports and jazz. I have read many of Kerouac's novels and poetry collections but this was the first opportunity I had to see him try sports writing and science fiction. Although the former sparkles with his trademark enegergetic style the latter is more mundane and seems overly-influenced by Orwell's 1984 and the Lucas film THX1138. Nonetheless this book is a must-read for all fans of the beats.

A Dying Art is a book split into 2 sections, the first is a date by date history of the subject. the second section is filled with personal stories from the author (who was a revenuer). The second half is interesting and fun reading but the first half is very poorly written. This book will remain in my library on the subject because of the true life stories in the second half, but be warned that first half is a dooosie!

This book was very nice, the first half was slow, but the second half had me on my toes as I could see this agent out on the streets...not bad at all... I would highly recommend it!

HISTORICALLY ACCURATE AND VERY INERSESTING TALES ARE HUMOROUS AND FUN READING A SUPERB ACCOUNTING HISTORY OF MOONSHINING AS MODERN DAY LIFE IN THIS MOUNTAIN INDUSTRY THIS IS TRULY A DYING ART AS JACK POWELL STATES GREAT BOOK!

Published over twenty years ago, Naked Angels still holds up as a thorough critical study of the works of Ginsberg, Burroughs, and Kerouac. The first section deals mainly in biography, but it seeks to explain why each of the writers explored certain topics and how their experiences shaped their styles. However, if you have studied these three in a biographical sense, the information presented here will not be new to you.

The second section covers the works of the three writers. While there is certainly a wealth of sources that give critical insights into Beat writing, this section brings them together into an often detailed, more often general study of Beat themes, styles, and voices. The Ginsberg section is particularly detailed in its analysis of Ginsberg's long lines and mysticism. Though Kerouac and Burroughs receive their share of treatment, the Burroughs section lacks the further illumination provided by Burroughs over the last twenty years of his life. And the Kerouac section hits only the high points, simply because it would be too difficult to cover every aspect of this prolific writer's work in a mere 70 pages.

This book is a solid overview of the core Beats and their seminal works. Its age shows at times, but it's worth a read as a well-written and well-thought treatment of Beat literature.

Tytell gives an excellent insight into the founding members of the Beat movement. He shows the backgrounds and the motivations of one of the most innovative literary movements in the 20th century. I would strongly recomend this for anyone , especially if they are just starting to explore this group of writers.

If your familiarity with George Burns only goes back as far as "The Sunshine Boys", here's a refresher course. Of the six hour-long cassettes, four of these come from the 1940s-era Burns and Allen show, one of the classic sitcoms of American radio (and early TV). The remaining tapes include guest spots George did (with and without Gracie) with Jack Benny and Bing Crosby. All programs are complete (or as complete as possible). A few of my favorite Burns and Allen shows were passed over in the selection, which is why this set doesn't get the extra star. However, this set is a bushel of fun and a great gift idea for the comedy fan in your life

When I think of the beats Ginsburg, Whalen, Snyder, DiPrima, Ferlinghetti, Burroughs and Kerouac are the names that come to mind. This book pulls these and many other literary figures of the era together. For example, the title poem "Heaven" includes the lines "Phil Whalen will be / a blue cloud / anytime he wants".

The poems in this volume include poems including a series of his blues poems - San Francisco Blues; MacDougal Street Blues; Orizaba Blues; Orlando Blues - and a letter on his theory of jazz poetry. It includes two short autobiographies and a series of letters between Kerouac and a publisher.

The latter gives real insight into his writing: "I would like everybody in the world to tell his full life confession and tell it HIS OWN WAY" from a letter; or his essentials for modern prose which includes "telling the true story of the world in interior monologue" and " remove literary, grammatical and syntactical inhibition".

The poems themselves show an interesting mixture of Catholic childhood, exposure to Buddhism, and an "in your face" telling it like it is. They are very much a product of their time which don't survive time well except as icons of their time - and some interesting seeds for era-specific equivalents for our time.

I highly recommend the book as a reminder of the beats and what they stood for (and against).

Allen McClain is back writing better than ever. Combined with humor and mystery, his novels get better and better. I look forward to reading more from this promising author. He keeps you on the edge of your seat and wanting more. Encore! Encore!

Tytell's book Naked Angels is divided into three sections, one each for Jack Kerouac, A. Ginsberg, and William Burroughs. Each section can be read independently of the others, for those just interested in one writer.

I was most interested in the chapter on Burroughs, and here is an appraisal:

A short introductory chapter on Burroughs gives biographical background. The Burroughs section of Naked Angels is entitled "The Black Beauty of William Burroughs," and is a 29-page exploration of Burroughs' writing, with useful comparisons to other writers, such as Poe, Baudelaire, and Nabokov. Tytell analyzes the work Burroughs published from 1953-1973, omitting or including only the slightest references to minor works. Early works which went unpublished for years, such as Queer and Interzone, are not discussed. The book has an index and bibliography. Tytell's book is not wholly given over to Burroughs, but as an introduction to the writer, it serves as well as any other.

If you have read the section on Naked Angels dealing with Burroughs, and you are eager for a more complete investigation of his life, turn to Ted Morgan's book LITERARY OUTLAW, which I believe to be the most thorough and fascinating biography of Burroughs.

ken32

This book is about the time the author just sits in his lonely shack and listens to the sounds around.I guess if you just sit and listen intendly right now to all the sounds coming into your universe you will get the message jack was trying to put across. The best way to read this book is to read a section at a time out loud to someone. The result is quite magical. The words somehow all become clear and the visions and situations become real. This is not an easy book to comprehend in the normal manner of a read but hey delve in deep and it becomes a cosmic comet in the universe of your mind.

I took interest in the amish lifestyle visiting an amish area in Indiana. I bought Langins book in order to outweight the popular and tourist atmosphere there. And the book sure did that.

By now I have red the book twice and it is on my top ten of books you just need to read. Langin stayed with the amish and this book is a personal experience of amish farmlife mixed with detailed descibtions on the anabaptist history. His knowledge of the swiss german language adds a little extra to the book.

In short - my favourite

Soon after I read this book, I tossed it out along with my retro polyester pants and orange creepers. The concept of the novel is a clever one and it starts out as being cute and funny. Even as a gay male, I could identify with Phoebe and a lot of her unwise choices in men.

Then somewhere along the line, the book loses what little bit of charm it has and suddenly you're finding yourself not liking Phoebe that much. As each man revolves his way through her life, you begin to dislike her and her choices more and more. Some of the boyfriends listed aren't even boyfriends but rather fantasy characters, penpals and in the case of Arnold Allen (the only Black guy who stereotypically appears on her list) a criminal. By the end of the novel you're thinking that she deserves everything that has happened to her. Some guys aren't good enough, others are too good and why doesn't she have any friends? One word for you Phoebe: THERAPY!!

At first I thought this was going to be a Sheila Levine for the new millenium. Whereas Sheila's self-depreciating humor and poor choices in men endeared you to her, Phoebe's self depreciating humor had you hoping she would grab a bottle of sleeping pills and end it all. I guess Mrs. Rosenfeld is a fairly talented writer as she was able to evoke such dislike for her protagonist from me, but overall this novel went absolutely nowhere and was a complete waste of my time. I liked Bridget Jones better and that's a stretch. I wouldn't really recommend this to book anyone. If you can find a copy, check out Gail Parent's 'Sheila Levine is Dead and Living in New York'. Although it's well over trhity years old now, it still maintains a crisp, hip, cutting edge feel to it unsurpassed by any other writer writing in the same vein as What She Saw.

Wherein we observe the development of a girl from 5th grade to about age 27, a girl that we eventually realize is quite attractive, though she has the persistent belief that she's a Dawn Weiner. It could make a great film. While I think Lucinda Rosenfeld has a good ear for dialogue and gives us painfully well-executed visuals, to the point where I felt I had been there myself (because, what young self-involved American female hasn't?) I thought the writing tired and too desperately-trying-to-be-trendy. It's the kind of book that would've made an impression about 10-15 years ago, but now the market is just too saturated, and let's face it - descriptive language a la Confederacy of Dunces has been immitated ad nauseum. Judging by the age of the character, Rosenfeld probably did write like this 10 years ago (in college), so it's too bad she didn't try to get it published then. Now, though, I think she'd be great writing for current female TV characters -- could give them something interesting for us to watch!

dreadful and fun is the conundrum i'm put in when i begin to go back through the quite thick entanglement of the boys, boys, and men i've dated, and in the book "what she saw", i was given the chance to delve into someone else's mess.

each chapter takes a look at a different boy/man the main character dated/went with/screwed. a fun idea, but there's such a distance on the page... it's difficult to understand her convictions. i wanted to laugh, and groan in aggreeance, but was left slightly unsympathetic and befuddled. the book begs to be written in the first person, but for some bizarre-o reason lucinda rosenfeld gave us a third person story.

after reading the first chapter i thought it was clunky, and decided to shut it for good, but i was at work, with nothing elese to read, so i kept going, and somehow fell in. i still didn't really like it, but felt hooked nonetheless. weird.

i gave it four stars due to the 'it hooked me factor;' what does it all mean? i suppose it's just as confusing as what she really did see in all of those guys.