Carmen Leone examined a topic close to his heart, and storytelling gifts made it a story that is now close to mine.

My own grandparents came to Ohio around 1900. "Rose Street" brought to narrative life all the stories my father, uncles and aunts have told me over the years.

I wonder if Carmen Leone realized that by telling his story, he was telling mine, too, as well as the stories of countless others. They might Italian, but they don't have to be. In fact, the soundtrack that came to my head while reading "RoseStreet" was the song "Tradition," from "Fiddler On The Roof." How can the story of an Italian immigrant couple and their American-born children have anything to do with Jewish shtetl life?

Read the book.

Ever look in the mirror and just examine your own eyes. Ever see the faces of your relatives in your own?

"Rose Street" is, too, such a mirror.

Capturing the true essence of what it means to be of Italian-American descent and from Youngstown, Ohio, the author paints a richly moving accout of family life during the first half of the twentieth century. Through laughter and tears, I read about Jo, the protagonist whose faith and strenghth never fail. This "universal" story played out in many of the homes on Rose Street or on Dearborn Street where my family history began. We learn from Jo and from our grandparents that the struggle to preserve our family and its heritage provides riches a banker can never count. Their experiences so move and inspire us to hold dear all that is truly important: love, loyalty and a true committment to family.

Carmen Leone works magic in Rose Street. He captures the specifics of his Italian-American family's experience in Youngstown, Ohio with remarkable clarity while simultaneously tapping into themes which remain universal to the family dynamic: responsibility, authority, self-sacrifice, love. The story of his immigrant mother's daily struggles and triumphs offers us insight into the core of our humanness. Originally written as a gift for Leone's own family, Rose Street inspires us to treat ours with a little more tenderness.

This book is worth the price for the beauty and quality of the pictures alone, but the fact that it includes maps and histories of the sites depicted makes it even more of a treasure. While it will have special local appeal to those living in the Cleveland area, the landscape photos (in an unusual square format)are stunning and beautiful enough to stand on their own for lovers of nature photography. Highly recommended!

For any Cleveland native or visitor, this book depicts the Metroparks as it is, in its natural beauty. I ride through the "Emerald Necklace", as it's known, on my motorcycle at least twice annually with my father. The book reminds me of those experiences.

Of particular interest, beyond the great photography, are the histories and information about each of the park reservations. I highly recommend this book.

Gary has managed to capture the essence of the natural beauty of Cleveland's Metropolitan park System. The title reflects the dubbing of the parks as the "Emerald Necklace" of Cleveland. If you truly want to feel that you are communing with nature and want to see the "softer side" of Cleveland, this book is a must.

I last read this book two years ago and plan to read it again soon. I honestly could not put it down! It is a true story of Simon Kenton who as a teenager became one of the bravest and most skilled frontiersmen of the late 1700s. He became a friend of Daniel Boone and in fact saved his life in a daring rescue at Boonsboro. The book includes many detailed facts gathered from diaries, memoirs, historical records and many other sources and each is carefully footnoted. Many references are made to geographical locations of events so that you can actually drive up to the place where these historical events occurred. It is history turned into a novel and is very enjoyable reading.

I love this book! Eckert's classic tale of Simon Kenton and settlement of the Ohio Valley is a must read for anyone interested in the history of the United States. This book was recommended to me after reading Eckert's "Dark and Bloody River". It is exciting, highly engaging, and historically detailed. The notes at the end of the book are a novel by themselves. The story of Kenton, Boone, and the Kentucky settlers is truly amazing. It has often been said that this should be required reading in high school and I can't help but agree. Eckert's books take place in a time and place nearly forgotten by modern Americans. Children raised on the old "Cowboys and Indians" westerns never learn that there was a whole other "West" on the Eastern frontier and the Northwest Territory. I grew up in Ohio, and I never learned about many of the events that happened in my own back yeard until I began reading Eckert! Many people are surprised to learn that there were a number of very bloody and significant battles during the Revolutionary War west of the Appalaichans, right here in Ohio in fact. A whole chapter of our history is being forgotten, but luckily, Eckert's books help to prevent that.

This is one of the best books I have ever read! I highly recommend it to everyone. This book kept me spellbound. If you had trouble getting interested in history before, you won't while you are reading this. Why can't they teach history like this in school?

Allan Eckert spent 7 years researching this book. It is a true story of history. He tells the truth about the frontier as it was for real people. I am so glad a friend recommended this book to me. I plan to re-read this book and check out some of Eckert's other books.

It is not often that one finds the combination of beautiful writing and a compelling story. Nature Lessons is that and more. Set against the exotic yet turbulent atmosphere of South Africa during apartheid, we meet the young Kate Jensen, who recounts her life with a mentally ill mother. Woven in with the story of young Kate, is the journey of the older Kate who returns to South Africa to search for her mother. Their stories create a tapestry rich in the lasting effects of cultural, political, and psychological dynamics on a young girl. It grips the reader from the first page and takes one on a haunting journey.

Lynette Brasfield's Nature Lessons is a tremendous first novel, and a powerful reading experience on many levels. The author's use of rich imagery, colorful settings, and jump-out-at-you characters work exquisitely with the story's driving question-what happened to Kate Jensen's mother? As the tale unfolds, Brasfield takes us on a journey into one woman's inner world, and through the past and present of South Africa, her country of origin, peeling back layers of truths that are at once painful, heartbreaking, and ultimately freeing, as she exposes a fractured mother/daughter relationship. Brasfield writes in alternating chapters of Kate as a woman and a young girl, exploring questions of sanity and mental illness, and where the lines blur, all through the lens of culture. The author tackles race issues with a delicate touch as the narrator confronts the inhumanity of apartheid, focusing her lens on the fate of Winston, her family's gardener, and on her relationship with a young friend, Joshua. I have only one question: Ms. Brasfield, can you hurry and write another?

After the opening chapters, I could not put this book down.
Part mystery, part political thriller, part travelogue, it is fascinating in its description of South African society during and after apartheid. In human terms, it explores the strain in family and social relationships that may arise from paranoia rooted either in mental illness or an oppressive political regime. After 20 years in the United States, a woman returns home to search for her mother and the "truths" of their family history--and comes to understand how the past continues to damage the present. If you liked the movie "A Beautiful Mind" or the books "This Much I Know To Be True" and "Rescuing Patty Hearst," then make sure not to miss this one. Lynette Brasfield is in a league with Wally Lamb in showing how psychotic delusions often reflect the surrounding cultural reality, how the two may be confused, and how what is "real" and what is "paranoid" also may depend on a person's racial or class perspective. What makes the novel exceptional is its cross-cultural perspective: the very fact that it is set in South Africa allows sufficient distance for American readers to perhaps understand and accept more easily the painful roots of paranoia that exist in our own society. Keep Nature Lessons in mind the next time you pass a homeless person holding a sign that protests FBI and CIA surveillance, or read about African American complaints about police stops based on racial profiles. Remember it also in recalling your own family's oral history, especially any vague stories about "eccentric" relatives or upheavals followed by social withdrawal. Nature Lessons ultimately is about all of us. No one is immune.

I've been thinking about this, and I've decided this is my favorite book, at least my favorite that I have read in the past 5 or 10 years.

It's pretty hard to say why, but let me give it a shot: the way his writing conveys his affection for his near family and his ancestors without losing his sense of humour about them. (Ian Frazier started out as a humor writer.) His beautiful descriptions of the countryside he travels through, country you might otherwise think was much worth looking at. His wonderful details about his family history make you feel like everyone's family is important.

Since I first read this book, I have developed a true genealogy fixation, trying to recapture the feeling Frazier invokes in this wonderful book. I wish he would write more.

This is a remarkable book. Frazier did a monumental job of researching his family history and produced an eloquent family history that parallels the country's history as well. The book can be read as a beautiful and fascinating family history, a meditation on the role of religion in U.S. history, and as a portrait of many memorable figures both within and without the author's family. His descriptions of his brother, father and mother brought tears to my eyes.

In "Family," Ian Frazier manages a literary coup seldom attempted, much less achieved:the telling of a personal tale with such sensitivity and imagination that the personal is transcended to become, quite possibly, the universal. The story -- of his family's migration, settlement and flourishing in America -- is at once both epic and allegorical. Equal parts history, autobiography, and geneaology, the story takes us from Frazier's family's early haunts in colonial Connecticut (and a host of other places) all the way into the contemporary interior lives of his parents, siblings, and of course, himself. Along the way, we are treated not just to stories of family life, but to grand meditations upon the meanings of history, family, and the ever-longed-for (in our time) "community." A generous book from a brilliant writer ("Great Plains," "Dating Your Mom") and regular "New Yorker"contributor, "Family" is a work of American narrative that should take its place alongside other masterworks such as Alex Haley's "Roots"and Norman Maclean's "A River Runs Through It"as an offering of passion and insight on the notion of belonging -- to our own families, and to the often fractious and ever elusive "American family." --Bronson Hilliard Boulder, CO May, 1996

Is this science fiction? It is science fiction in that If I Never Get Back is a time travel book like you have never read before. This book takes Sam Fowler from modern San Francisco back to the early days of baseball (post-Civil War) and the newly formed Cincinnati Red Stockings. What makes this book so interesting is the description of how baseball was played in 1869 - so different than what it is today even as to the way pitchers pitched.

Sam Fowler begins riding the rails with the fledgling Cincinnati Red Stockings and their trip around the U.S. to play other early baseball teams. It also goes into the atmosphere of the time, as in the description when the team played in New York City in a park that now is no more in these modern times.

Ah, but then it is also a love story. But is it unrequited love? Is it a lost love? And does Sam ever find her again?

Great baseball book and would make a great movie also.

Brock won me over with the many layers of his fine novel. I enjoyed baseball as it was played by "real people," and I'm not even a current day fan. I enjoyed the well-drawn characters as much as I delighted in the curiosities of 19th century America. I loved the "exotic" locales of Troy and Elmira and Cincinnati, as well as the more standard San Francisco and NYC of 1869---not the stuff of average tales, and all the better. But mostly I enjoyed the ending, because this was above all else a love story, the love of life and the love of a woman, and the ending has to carry it. I approached it as a reader, drawn along by events and circumstances, but Darryl Brock was wiser than that. He approached it as a writer who knew better. The more I think about it, the more I admire the author's skill in crafting it just so. It was perfect. My thanks to Amazon.com for making this "Out of Print" volume available through their excellent search service. And thanks to other online reviewers for bringing this book to my attention in the first place!

I first read this book when I was in college and I really haven't stopped. It is simply one of my favorites books period, and I've read it many times and will continue to do so. Even if you aren't a baseball fan, there is plenty for you to enjoy; Mark Twain as a major character, romance, adventure, grave robbing, treasure hunting, and much much more. Brock does a great job of making the reader care about the major characters and hate the bad guys. The mark of a good author. If I Never Get Back is a great book, especially in the summer.

Dair Canard is a master at lying. She has embellished on so many stories that she cannot tell fact from fiction anymore. She realizes her problem when her lying begins to affect her relationship with her husband Peyton.

Addiction and lies are at the centre of this novel. Dair has a drinking problem, something else which she cannot admit to herself. Peyton has his own addiction which he struggles with every day.

In the midst of these problems, there is a murder mystery unraveling. The death of Dair and Peyton's close friend, Craig. Kittle throws some twists and turns into this plot and we are able to see the wonderful character development along the way.

The whole premise of this story is to communicate, with each other and with all creatures, respect for one another is of utmost importance. Dair has to learn to be honest with those around her and herself.

I loved Katrina Kittle's first novel, Traveling Light. It was an amazing story told with heartfelt honesty. This follow up, while different than her first novel, is equally as good. The writing grabs you and doesn't let go. I can't wait for her next creation.

Two Truths and a Lie is an enthralling mystery rich with fascinating characters, enveloped in acute attention to the complexities of the human spirit. Each taken separately; the riveting murder mystery, the human connection to characters so true and exposed, and the keen awareness for human nature, might arguably stand alone to comprise a fascinating novel in their own right. Together, they create a tour de force that takes the reader on a journey of entertainment, enlightenment and reflection.

The bizarre incident that quickly culminates to a beloved friends' death, grips you from the first few pages. What keeps the grip tight throughout this book, is Ms. Kittles' powerful attention to each character; their dimension and complexities. Every character is embellished with a fascinating insight of the human psyche on many levels. Such revelations bring a truth to each character that keeps the reader caring, guessing, and reading.

Fans of the murder mystery genre will not be disappointed by this whodunit. Two Truths and a Lie is exceptional in this genre as the plot continually thickens through meticulous character portrayal and the discerning disclosures surrounding them, rather than manipulative clues. A serendipitous bonus to this mystery can be found in the revealing and compassionate observations regarding addiction, the human need for communication, the intricacies of intimacy, and the respect for all creatures great and small; all of which enhance rather than detract from the plot of this masterful work of fiction.

Truth be told; P.D. James used to be my favorite author of the mystery genre. That opinion changed after reading the first chapter of "Two Truths and a Lie."

I loved reading this book! I could not put it down! The mystery itself was a page-turner, but the character development is what made this book so rich with depth. Dair, an alcoholic who has lied to her husband since she first met him, goes through enough pain to finally agree to rehab. The relationship between a child's addiction and her parent's is a compelling part of the story in itself. Dair's mother's ability to communicate with animals was another aspect of the book which was profoundly thought-provoking. Ms. Kittle's novel was a powerful look at the dark side. One I am glad I didn't miss.

The Cleveland Orchestra has long deserved a comprehensive history, and Donald Rosenberg has filled that need admirably. The great achievement of the book is to make one understand how challenging it is to *manage* a symphony orchestra, and Rosenberg's careful attention to the nuts-and-bolts business of creating, running, and improving the Cleveland Orchestra makes one aware of just how remarkable an achievement it is that Cleveland is one of the finest orchestras in the world. For example, at the time George Szell was raising the Cleveland to a position at the very top of the hierarchy of American orchestras, the CO ranked 11th in terms of pay among American orchestras.

My one disappointment with the book was that I would have liked to have seen more sustained reflection on the musical and artistic qualities that have distinguished the orchestra over its history. Much of the book is written in relatively short sections, and I began to yearn for a more continuous narrative that could cut deeper.

But make no mistake, this book is essential reading for any fan of the Cleveland Orchestra, and anyone interested in how a great cultural institution can be created.

I was thrilled to finally get my hands on Donald Rosenberg's Cleveland Orchestra Story - it surpassed my expectations. A lifelong Clevelander with fairly good exposure to the artistic and cultural life of the city, I had heard talk of the book in process, and knew it was a formidable project that was being widely anticipated. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to hear the Cleveland Orchestra over the years, and have always been proud of - and a little awed by - its reputation. So, I was happy to see a book that lived up to the same high standards as the subject it covers. I am no orchestral or classical music aficionado, but I was captivated by the story nonetheless. A story of great personalities, of great talent, of a city made greater for those. I may not know all the names and sounds of the people and musical pieces Rosenberg writes about (masterfully and knowledgeably), but his style is easy, even compelling. Great details, exhaustive but not exhausting. This was a book I wanted to own, because of its content but also because of its feel - its hefty weight but manageable size, classy cover, traditional type, thick ivory rough-edged paper. A gift - for myself (and hopefully for some family members over the holidays).

Donald Rosenberg's loving but detailed history of the Cleveland Orchestra reads like a novel, but it is well researched. I was completely engrossed. This is not a romanticized account. The personalities involved are people full of light and shadows. Szell, for example, comes off as the brilliant artist so fixated on the musical dimension that he depreciates or is blind to other valuable dimensions of life like the beauty of human relationships. The conflicts and the joys of the orchestra are made evident. The selections of concert reviews are balanced with the good and the bad.

Those who enjoy classical music will profit from reading this wonderful account of the Cleveland Orchestra who are indeed "second to none."

Painful and hilarious. It only seems larger than life. The sad fact is, if you know anything about foster care, you also know Antwone Quenton Fisher has not exaggerated his story. The predatory, castrating meanness of his foster mother (you will read this book hoping you'll run in to Mizz Pickett on the street so you can teach her a lesson or two of your own); the frustratingly uninvolved "turn a blind eye," "just let me have my kool-aid" aloofness of Mr. Pickett, the foster father; the sexually abusive babysitter; the destructively negligent, hands-off handling by the social services system; and the utter defenselessness and adolescent hopelessness of Antwone -- you know it's all true because you've seen it all.

And it makes you mad.

"Finding Fish" is wonderful and horrific in equal parts. You know Antwone survives because he wrote the book. How he ever did it is flat out proof of miracles.

I read a small ad for this book in a library journal and decided to attempt to locate it through my local library. The public library in Fayetteville, NC is a wonderful resource. They had the book. I just completed it. I say "whoosh" because this book has the effect of inflating a balloon, and slowly letting all of the air out. That's what happened to this young man's life. His testimony is a "must read". There were times during my reading when I had to put it down. It was such a powerful narrative, and a demonstration of "what's wrong" with the child welfare system. I pray that the foster mother, Mrs. Pickett, is alive and in full control of her faculties at this time. She is clearly identified as a vicious, sick human being, who should have never been licensed as a foster parent. The child welfare agencies, also, are glaringly neglectful in their care of this child, Antwone. My heart went out top this young man. As a social worker, who has worked with foster children for many years, Antwone's story is another clear indictment of the "system" and its flaws. I never thought I would say this, but I almost feel that orphanages are superior to "foster" care. At least in an orphanage, a child knows where he or she is, and can grow to accept it. This was a beautifully written narrative, portrayed with angst and soul. God bless this man and his family. I have told many people about this book, and will continue to laud it's worth and magnificence.

I want to encourage all of you to read Finding Fish. Antown's story is one that offers great insight, is poignant, illustrates forgiveness and gives hope.

Moreover, we need to shed light onto the foster care system and expose it for what it is.

A while back Antwone and I were on National Public Radio together talking about our respective foster care experiences, which were both in Cleveland. We have a lot in common.

I am profoundly grateful that his book is so widely read and thrilled about the movie just now out. I wish him every due success and only wish that all foster care survivors can someday expererience the love, success and share the courage that Antowne has exhibited.

Dr. John R. Seita
Author Kids Who Outwit Adults
God Is In the Kitchen

Deanna Adams should be commended for "Rock 'n' Roll and the Cleveland Connection." It's apparent she spent a herculean amount of time researching and writing this book. I think we all need to remember that even eyewitnesses to accidents have different accounts of what occurred, so how could those of us who witnessed Cleveland's rock scene in these four-plus decades (and many of you were probably smoking funny cigarettes too) remember everything the same. Sure, there are some mistakes, but on the whole, this is a well-researched amazing documentation of the music we grew up with.

I couldn't get enough of the info in this book!I was in many bands from the 60's and knew of many of the venues and musicians mentioned. Cleveland is not longer(unfortunately) like that,as is radio or TV anywhere.This book not only captures a great moment in rock and roll's birth,but also a glimpse of a time that Cleveland musicians should embrace!

As a history teacher, I found this book to be an amazing and very readable history of the music scene in Cleveland, and it answered for me the question as to why the Rock Hall is located in that city. At first I was wary of the book due to some of the reviews on this site, but then I saw that it is published by Kent State University Press. Having known a number of people who have dealt with this publisher, I know how particular they are in confirming facts and information. Glad I didn't pay attention to the "naysayers" as this really is an interesting book.