This 1957 translation of Sister Genevieve's memories of St. Therese by the Carmelite sisters of New York is valuable for what the older sister saw and heard of Therese. The tone is pious -- Therese is generally referred to as "the Saint"--a nd a fresh translation would be most valuable. Lovers of Therese will be very happy to learn more about her. If you are not already a lover, start with another book. Be on guard that you are reading Celine's interpretation, which is valid as an interpretation by the "sweet echo of her soul."

This book is an absolute "must read" for anyone interested in the spirituality of St. Therese. With the exceptions of "Story of a Soul" and the other writings of the Saint herself (the volumes of letters, poems, and prayers), this book offers the deepest insight into who Therese was and how she lived every moment of her life in complete love with her Lord. Highly recommended.

Louis Ferdinand Celine was one of the greatest novelists of the twentieth century. Louis Ferdinand Celine was a caring doctor and a man with a deep vein of compassion. Louis Ferdinand Celine was an almost insanely vicious racist and anti-semite, calling for the extermination of the Jews in three infamous and untranslated pamphlets and raving about miscegenation and the coming extinction of the white race. These are all facts and trying to explain the contradictions between them deserves a lot more attention than has so far been given.

In the meantime, read Rigadoon. It is not in a class with Journey to the End of Night or Death on the Installment Plan, since its focus is narrower. Celine's racism is more clearly in evidence, and even admirers will find the first thirty pages or so very trying. Celine was not a collaborator, at least not in a legal sense, but on hearing him rave about race suicide or hurling abuse at the resistance, who understandably hated him, one thinks that he should have been grateful he wasn't shot. After that, we get to the novel proper, which is a lightly fictionalized version of the last months of the war. Time, and much else is rather hallucinatory. At one point, Celine says it is May, at another point he is told about Rommel's funeral, which would have been eight months or so earlier. Rigadoon consists of his nightmarish account of Celine's ultimately successful attempt to flee, with his wife and cat, from Germany into Denmark as the war ends. As he is doing so Germany is being systematically pounded into rubble and Celine provides some horrifying passages about painfully slow trains that could be doused at any minute with phosphorous. At one point Celine suffers from a concussion. Along the way Celine and his party meet 17 mentally retarded children, and despite much abuse of these pathetic children, Celine manages to see them safely into Denmark. It is rather revealing though that he never mentions that the Nazis tried to slaughter precisely these children. Through it all we see the trademark Celine style, the famously obscene vernacular, the pages dotted with ellipses, a style which looks so easy, and yet Celine worked so hard on. Obviously, this is a novel which should be better known.

This is one of the best books I have ever read go out and buy it now

Easy to read with quite a number of colored pictures for you enjoyment. This is not a picture book but a pithy biography book. But will be shied by My Story My Dream. Of course, buy it if you are a completist, it's not a bad read after all :o)

This is a really good book. It tells about Celine's life in detail, and the photo's are also good.

I really like this book. I couldn't put it down. I took me only two days to finish it. It really was interesting.

Overview: Not so much a book about the Internet as a 200 page intellectual property nutshell, this book is an outstanding resource for anyone who needs a refresher course in (or, for that matter, an introduction to) intellectual property. It falls short in providing substance on the legal issues as they relate to the Internet; instead, it hopes to acquaint the Internet user with intellectual property law. Buy this book if you are looking for a thorough I.P. primer; do not buy it if you are looking for a comprehensive treatment of legal issues on the Net.

The full text of this review is online at: http://www.redstreet.com/readingroom/reviews/internetlaw.htm

_Internet_ fills a much needed void in providing a succinct overview of intellectual property and libel liability for the lay public, particularly as it relates to the electronic dissemination of information. The hypothetical examples (familiar to law school students) provide illustrations of what potential carelessness could cause in a humorous yet only mildly farfetched style.

The book is subdivided into several short and roughly independent sections. Some aspects of intellectual property yield overlapping rights and so it begins with distinguishing types of rights and to what they apply. Some, such as copyrights, trademarks and patents are covered under federal statute. Others may be primarily matters of interest in state courts. Copyright is probably the most frequently sought and encountered legal protection in intellectual property. It is also one of the more potentially convoluted rights because a single work (such as a motion picture) can have multiple holders of rights, and in the United States can be extended to an author by "work for hire" attribution rather than actual composition. Because the Internet has very wide range, the international implications are introduced as well. Trademarks provide a source of confusion for many people because while widely encountered, they are seldom intimate in the manner that one might imagine writing a novel or short-story for publication. The treatment is spartan (although also introducing unfair competition), reflecting the intended audience of business-persons to whom trademarks are frequently encountered.

The section on patents -- my own most familiar area of law -- although brief, provides a useful business perspective on a technically difficult and nonintuitive area of law. It includes discussion of software patents -- an area of much confusion since algorithms in themselves are not patentable. In the wake of events since _Internet_ was published, including the case _State_Street_Bank_ that knocked down a long-standing taboo on business-methods as patentable subject matter, and recent statutory changes on future publication of applications, an update of this chapter would be welcome. Following this is a chapter on trade secrets -- another but very different means to protect technical information rights.

Property rights are transferrable -- consider that ownership conveys right of alienation (e.g., to sell), possession conveys right of exclusion (e.g., to sue trespassers), custody conveys a conditional right to hold (e.g., collateral). The chapter on assignment and licensing presents an important source of information for Internet users regarding the identity of the rights owners for elements that people may wish to use. This is especially relevant in the area of software exchange, in which industry efforts to protect interests by means such as shrinkwrap licensing have encountered difficulty.

Before printing example application forms for copyrights and trademarks (patents seem to be treated by a "kids, don't try this at home" exclusion), a very relevant overview on defamation is presented. Although common-law libel was virtually nullified in the States by the Warren Court in _NYTimes_v._Sullivan_, the Internet is both an international forum and a quasi-anonymous, and consequently businesses should be aware of potential litigation in jurisdictions where libel laws are more severely enforced as well as difficulty in identifying the proper defendant. In all, an excellent overview on electronic-media law for the time-conscious business executive.

Celine may not quite be the greatest writer of the twentieth century (though he's certainly damned good), but he gets my vote hands down for most interesting. The man was a complete enigma; an endless pile of contradictions. Vitoux, to his credit, does not try to provide a pat 'answer' to the unanswerable questions of the man's life, but if you want a detailed look at what actually happened, you'll certainly find it here. Vitoux writes with a passion and intensity befitting his subject, peppering the book with quotes from Celine's books and letters, as well as those of many other important people in his life. But, it must be said, the REAL treat to be found here is probably the photo section, which features several pictures of Celine with his beloved Bebert--it's truly a sight to see this battered, disreputable-looking guy with cat contentedly dozing on his lap. Recommended to all Celinians.

This very historical and informative book is right at home in any spy-story collection. Filled with tactics, codenames, secret missions and even a few racy women counterparts, this book will thrill the action/mystery lover!

O'Connell writes of Celine in a basic way, one without excessive appreciation or disregard...it's a good book to become acquainted with Louis Ferdinand Celine.

The power of Celine Dion's voice is not to be denied, but to read her "autobiography" is a disturbing experience to those of us who are not devoted fans. "My Story, My Dream" is one of those "everything I've done and everyone I've met is so wonderful" books, and while Ms. Dion's name is on the cover, it is the hand of her husband/manager Rene Angelil that appears on every page. Far from presenting him as the near-god she (and the rest of her family) obviously believes him to be, Ms. Dion's gushing worship instead reveals Angelil for what he truly is--a master marketer and charming manipulator. He dangled the carrot of stardom in front of Ms. Dion's family, who then had no compunctions about handing their twelve-year-old daughter to a middle-aged man who essentially separated his young charge from everything she had ever known in order to "make her a star." In the process, he thoroughly convinced a young, impressionable girl that HE was the only one who knew what was best for her. Is it any wonder that Ms. Dion fastened her affections on him, the only man outside her family he ever allowed to get near her? That Angelil made Ms. Dion the success she is today is undeniable, but he also has made her a emotionally fragile puppet who will probably self-destruct if something ever happens to her master--and "My Story, My Dream" is by no means reassuring otherwise.

At first I wasn't intending on reading this book because I'm not into reading about celebrity lives, but I made an exception for Celine (I love her music!!) The book was very easy to read and it kept my attention. The reader learns about Celine's background and family life. If you read this, you also learn about Celine's love life with Renee (alittle bit too much if you ask me!) Since Celine is so honest with the press, a lot of the information was a repeat for me; however, it was interesting to find out about what went into making certain albums and what it is like to be a singer. (A lot of hard work and training). I give the book 4 stars and Celine's talent as a singer 4,000 stars!!

As a lover of Celine Dion's music I was pleased to receive her book as a gift this past year. Everything about this incredible lady catches my interest and I was sure this book would too.

Over the years I have read a variety of different articles about Celine's life and though some are verified as being true I am amazed at just how much depth there is to this woman's life. As a fan I've always been interested in what the real Celine Dion was like. What is it like to have all that fame and fortune and is it worth the sacrifices one makes in this life?

I've learned a new respect for the work it takes to become a superstar and for the private woman Celine Dion is. Her love for her immense and close family and her husband Rene sets her apart from so many of the stars of today. Bravo Celine and I look forward to your return to the stage.

Celine is a tough guy to understand. However, with proper insight in Celine's personal life, one will find clues to his writing, which is always partly autobiographical. Guignol's Band unfolds at the time of the first world war in London's underworld, a city spared by the ravages of war and among others, a refuge for dubious elements and men fleeing from their past. My thought right from the start was that Guignol's Band is not one of Celine's greatest hits. The truncated phrases, specific to Celine, don't make things easier but nevertheless this novel offers certain elements that capture attention. If this is the first Celine novel you read, prepare to be provoked, maybe loathed. Celine mingles with the scum of the earth; thugs, pimps, prostitutes, drug dealers, and criminals but he seems to thrive and understand them. He's not standing very high on the social scale himself but Celine is not an ignorant. His insight in a corrupt and decomposing society is paradoxical with the world he finds himself living in. Nevertheless, he manages somehow to distance himself and is able of a clear introspection and mordant criticism of the greatest follies of them all: war. Celine empties his bag of revulsion, frustration and disappointment at a world that is far less than perfect. His disgust just oozes through all the pores, infecting, choking, shocking. Is he just describing what he sees or is everything an expression of his profound hatred, and acute cynicism stemming from his own truly miserable childhood and adult failures?

If you really wish to read a representative work by Celine, try "Journey to the End of the Night" and "Death on the Installment Plan". After reading that, you'll surely be able to see Guignol's Band in a different light, maybe better.

Like his Bulgarian pianist-pimp boro, Celine enters the house of the gangster novel, hurls a grenade and flees, recording the pieces. This is an underworld novel Lautreamont might have written - indeed, the first third reads like an update of 'Maldoror', less narrative chapters than prose poems of war, urban fever and mental breakdown, imploding under the simultaneous tension of concentration and fragmentation. The opening sequence is thus very difficult to read, the air attack on a traffic-jammed bridge imaged in a verbal bombing, which, while undeniably brilliant and exciting is very exhausting.

if you are understandably tempted to give up, persevere - the novel 'settles' into a relatively conventional (and hilarious) plot, divided into three sequences dominated by three larger-than-life father figures who take the hero under their wing - a ganglord, a pawnbroker, a magician.

Despite a vibrant vision of London rarely experienced in literature, Celine constantly pushes material normally associated with generic materiality into the realm of magic, farce, fairy-tale, pantomime, the Guignol of the title - the novel's complex allusiveness includes Shakespeare and the Arabian Nights. This conflict, between realistic content and fantastic/theatrical form gives the novel its feeling of being on the brink of collapse; its eruptions into brawls (both narrative and verbal) looks forward to Pynchon's 'V'.

Be warned - although you wouldn't know it from the information on this edition, this is only the first part of a two-volume novel (the second is translated as London Bridge). I didn't know this when reading, which was obviously affected.

It's almost impossible to break Celine's works down into the usual category of "books." Basically everything he wrote, his entire oevre, is one metabook. If you want to get sequential, start with Death on the Istallment Plan and work your way up from there. DOTIP deals in large part with "Ferdinand's" childhood and we are treated to descriptions of a surreal upbringing (an entire neighborhood enclosed in soot-encrusted glass, a mother and father depicted as slightly less than imebeciles). I would then suggest reading Journey to the End of the Night (primarily about WW1 and his trip to America), Guignol's Band, London Bridge (Guignol's Band II), Rigadoon, Castle to Castle and North. All have been well translated. Don't be put off by puffy readers who say that these texts can only be appreciated in French. This is one author who comes through loud and clear (probably just as biting and clever in Swahili) in translation. Celine deals in high comedy and his novels move at the pace of a Mack Sennet or Charlie Chaplin film. The energy is always frenetic and he seldom allows you any lulls. The descriptions in this book of "The Leicester Boarding House," lorded over by Cascade, Dr. Clodovitz, the wounded-in-the-ass Joconde, Boro - master of the keyboards, but most of all Titus Von Claben, will leave you howling if Celine strikes a responsive chord. If he doesn't, then you have a different sort of sensibility than mine and should probably avoid this author at all costs. There is nothing Keilloresque about Celine. He came up out of the Paris slums and witnessed some of the most horrific scenes the 20th century produced. That he came out of it all with a sense-of-the-ridiculous intact is a marvel in itself. He was on the wrong side of most issues his entire life. He made some stupid choices. But those who maintain that he wallowed in self-pity are way off the mark. He always points to himself as his own worst culprit. He never pretends to heroism. He is, like Chaplin, always the fall-guy, but is also, in the same light, a survivor. He gets up after his prat-falls, dusts himself off and heads on towards the next chapter.

I would not recommend this book for someone who knows very little about Celine. I am a huge fan of four years and have done much independent research in both the English and French languages that can discount almost every "fact" Halperin claims. The inability to quote real sources just further takes away from Halperin's credibility. It is as much the truth as the Enquirer's claims that aliens exist.

Knowing that, I would recommend it to any fan with a real sense of humor, because believe me you will laugh your (...) off. Some highlights include the chapter about Michael Jackson (just the mental picture of Celine screaming out "He is too sexy for me!" about the plastic one is enough), another great story is about her and Rene getting it on in the hot tub with the video camera on. Just imagine Celine and Rene...or actually don't it's quite scary. Too bad his "informants" missed the time Celine tried to "commit suicide" by shoving a whole ball of wasabi mustard in her mouth while in Tokyo (official bio), that was a good one.

In short Halperin is [lousy] at writing the facts, but boy is he a terrific creative writer. Definately worth reading but take it with a conspiracy sized grain of salt.

This book is the only biography on Celine Dion that tells the real story. As strong as Queen Celine appears to be, she is in reality very emotionally unstable. As heart-braking as this may be to her fans, it does make her seem like more of a real person. The book did not cause me to dislike Celine, and really did not bash her very much at all. I still think that Celine has the most beautiful voice that I have ever heard, and my opinions of her have remained the same. If you do not want to know who Celine really is and what she has to deal with every day, do not read this book. If you are interested, this biography contains the most truth of any out there.

There are good facts in this book, some of them are most interesting about Canada's wonderful Celine. I enjoyed this book as well as the other bios out there about her. I look forward to her return this year to music.