Plimpton, George

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BIography
and i thought my family had issues....
Probably The Best Book on Edie
probably my favorite non-fiction book
The Warhol scene in their own words

Edie: American Girl
Jean Stein
Manufacturer: Grove Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Ciao Manhattan (Ws Dol)
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ASIN: 0802134106

Customer Reviews:

BIography.......2007-04-10

Book came very quickily (within 2 days) in excellent condition. I would buy from this resource again.

and i thought my family had issues.... .......2007-02-09

yikes. what a tragic tale. incredible book. incredibly sad.

Probably The Best Book on Edie.......2006-12-08

This is THE Edie book to buy if your only going to buy one. It is an honest biographical look at her with many insights into her life from family and friends. A large portion of the beginning of the book is devoted to the Sedgwick family and their history and I feel if you really want to understand Edie you have to know about her family and their past. A great book overall, very well rounded with some great photos included as well.

probably my favorite non-fiction book.......2006-10-25

I have given this book as a gift to at least 5 people. No other book about the factory, American class structures, addiction, or celebrity comes close to "Edie" (originally titled "Edie: An American Biography"- don't know why they changed it for the paperback). Legs Mc Neill's oral history of punk rock "Please Kill Me" (another favorite) was obviously quite influenced by this book. Both the subject and structure of "Edie" are fascinating. If you like films like the Maysles brothers' "Grey Gardens", or have any interest in counter-culture history, do yourself a favor and buy this book.

The Warhol scene in their own words.......2006-08-26

If you don't know much about the Factory scene, this is a great way to introduce yourself.

If you are not a fan of Andy Warhol, these anecdotes will probably confirm your view.

If you are a fan of Andy Warhol, some of these anecdotes might change your mind.

But, of course, he would excuse himself by claiming to be merely a spectator.

This book is about Warhol and the Factory scene, but also much more. If you appreciate Joan Didion's view of the Sixties, you will find much to mull over here. If your vision of the Sixties is founded on peace and love, you may want to look elsewhere for inspiration.

Truman Capote: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintences and Detractors Recall His Turbulent Career

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Inimitable Plimpton
A Capote Reader
TRUMAN
A great look at Capote
Great addition to Capote Myth

Truman Capote: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintences and Detractors Recall His Turbulent Career
George Plimpton
Manufacturer: Anchor
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Capote: A Biography
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ASIN: 0385491735
Release Date: 1998-11-10

Amazon.com

Nobody can match George Plimpton as an adroit weaver of interviews into a tight narrative fabric. Plimpton can make even a negligible life into a magic-carpet ride, as in his editing of Jean Stein's perennial bestseller, Edie, about Andy Warhol's victim-starlet Edie Sedgwick.

In Truman Capote, Plimpton has an infinitely more important subject, who worked his way down from the top into the shallow pit of druggy celebrity. His book doesn't knock the definitive biography Capote off the shelf, but it's much more fun to read. Plimpton interviewed more than a hundred people--from Capote's childhood to his peak period, 1966, when his Black and White Ball defined high society and In Cold Blood launched the true crime genre, all the way down to his last, sad days as a bitchy caricature of himself. Joanna Carson complains that Plimpton's book is "gossip," which it gloriously is. But it's also brimming with important literary history, and it helps in the Herculean task of sorting out the truth from Capote's multitudinous, entertaining lies; for instance, In Cold Blood turns out to be not strictly factual. James Dickey, whose similar self-destruction is chronicled in Summer of Deliverance, delivers here a good definition of Capote's true gift to literature: "The scene stirring with rightness and strangeness, the compressed phrase, the exact yet imaginative word, the devastating metaphorical aptness, a feeling of concentrated excess which at the same time gives the effect of being crystalline." --Tim Appelo

Book Description

He was the most social of writers, and at the height of his career, he was the very nexus of the glamorous worlds of the arts, politics and society, a position best exemplified by his still legendary Black and White Ball. Truman truly knew everyone, and now the people who knew him best tell his remarkable story to bestselling author and literary lion, George Plimpton.

Using the oral-biography style that made his Edie (edited with Jean Stein) a bestseller, George Plimpton has blended the voices of Capote's friends, lovers, and colleagues into a captivating and narrative. Here we see the entire span of Capote's life, from his Southern childhood, to his early days in New York; his first literary success with the publication of Other Voices, Other Rooms; his highly active love life; the groundbreaking excitement of In Cold Blood, the first "nonfiction novel"; his years as a jet-setter; and his final days of flagging inspiration, alcoholism, and isolation. All his famous friends and enemies are here: C.Z. Guest, Katharine Graham, Lauren Bacall, Gore Vidal, Norman Mailer, Joan Didion, John Huston, William F. Buckley, Jr., and dozens of others.

Full of wonderful stories, startlingly intimate and altogether fascinating, this is the most entertaining account of Truman Capote's life yet, as only the incomparable George Plimpton could have done it.

Customer Reviews:

Inimitable Plimpton.......2006-11-05

Full of salacious detail and struck through with the the vagaries of human nature, this oral history highlights, in an immensely readable way, the arc of ambition that propels the talented Tuman Capote to reach beyond the world into which he was born. The journey takes us on a wonderful romp through post WWII New York society and careens toward a place where our subject falls to his own singular sirens. It was a great Nantucket beach read.

A Capote Reader.......2006-06-26

I really liked this book. I am a Truman Capote fan, and the book was wonderful. A must read for Capote fans especially!

TRUMAN.......2006-04-10

Honestly, Capote would have loved this book, he loved the subject above all others. Ths late Plimpton does a fine job getting many of Capote's friends and admirors, as well as detractors, to give an insightful look at this singular man. Capote was complex and manipulative, but people were drawn to him, he was the ultimate self promoter. I really think even those who hated him, missed him when he died. He could be heartless and cruel, but he had a certain quality, I guess it's called star power, that made him a very powerful friend to have, he rode the success of In Cold Blood and Breakfast at Tiffanys to the apex of society. He was painfully insecure and it's sad that he felt people were only his friend because of his ability to write great books, it's tragic that late in life he felt the need to make up the fact that he was writing this masterpiece, I think he was terrified of writing the book that would follow In Cold Blood, that I believe is what lead him to write the ill advised Unaswered Prayers. You will really want to avert your eyes when the vail is pulled away on Capote.

A great look at Capote.......2006-04-09

This book is one of the best biographies I have read. Quoting from people who knew him instead of having the author interpret Capote's life from the interview smakes the reader feel as if he is getting to really see what Capote was like. It also gives the reader a glimps of the society that Capote was raised and lived in.

Great addition to Capote Myth.......2005-06-23

I thoroughly enjoyed Plimpton's take on Capote, or rather Capote's friends and family's take on him. Seeing Capote from a hundred different viewpoints seems to distill something in his personality that was lost in other accounts and it seems only fitting that he who lived by gossip should be remembered in the same way.

The Best American Short Stories of the Century (The Best American Series(R))

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A good effort
Very Well Done
Grand American tales of the nineteen hundreds
NOT THE BEST
Best American short storiesof the Century

The Best American Short Stories of the Century (The Best American Series(R))

Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: 0618093206

Amazon.com

At age 67, the perennially youthful John Updike may at last qualify as something of an elder statesman. But the Best American Short Stories annual--whose greatest hits package Updike has now assembled--is almost a generation older, having commenced publication in 1915. This staying power allows the hefty Best American Short Stories of the Century to perform double duty. It is, on the one hand, a priceless compendium of American manners and morals--a decade-by-decade survey of how we lived then, and how we live now. Yet Updike very consciously avoided the sociological angle in making his selection. "I tried not to select stories because they illustrated a theme or portion of the national experience," he writes in his introduction, "but because they struck me as lively, beautiful, believable, and, in the human news they brought, important." In this he succeeded: the 55 fictions that made the grade are most notable for their human (rather than merely historical) interest.

So who got in? There are a good number of cut-and-dried classics here, including Hemingway's "The Killers," Faulkner's "That Evening Sun Go Down," and Philip Roth's acidic spin on religious connivance, "Defender of the Faith." In other cases, major authors are represented by relatively minor works. Yet it's hard to quibble with the inclusion of Willa Cather, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tennessee Williams, J.F. Powers, Eudora Welty--particularly when you take into account that their second-tier creations are fully the equal of anybody else's masterpieces. And the final third of the book really does constitute an honor roll of contemporary American fiction, with brilliant entries by Saul Bellow, Donald Barthelme, Raymond Carver, Tim O'Brien, Bernard Malamud, Cynthia Ozick, John Cheever, and Vladimir Nabokov. (For the latter, Updike actually succumbed to his own idolatry and bent the rules for admission--but nobody who reads the hallucinatory "That in Aleppo Once..." will regret it.) It goes without saying that fiction fans will be complaining about the editor's sins of omission well into the next century. But no matter how you slice it, this remains an elegant and essential advertisement for the short form. --James Marcus

Book Description

John Updike has selected enduring stories from the eighty-four annual volumes of "THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES", and the result is "a spectacular tapestry of fictional achievement" (Entertainment Weekly). Available for the first time on compact disc, this extraordinary collection features a wide variety of contemporary writers reading classics of the genre, along with authors reading from their own work. Containing twenty-two unabridged stories in all, the expanded audio edition includes a new story from "THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES 1999" to round out the century.

Customer Reviews:

A good effort.......2007-06-20

I read "The Best American Short Stories of the Century" to get a broad overview of the contemporary American short story genre. John Updike edited the collection. The introduction, written by Updike, is an interesting essay on the difficulties inherent in assembling any best-of collection. I suppose I would have liked to have read more of his thoughts on the form, its progress over the century and perhaps its place in contemporary fiction rather than his struggle in selecting pieces. But taken together with the forward, written by co-editor Katrina Kenison, the two essays offer an interesting look into the fickleness of publishing tastes and how those tastes can be influenced by only a few people. It makes the current consolidation of the publishing world seem slightly less troubling.

In any event, there are many people I would have included in the collection that are absent--John Edger Wideman comes quickly to mind, and Latino writers seem strikingly absent. And similarly, though I would not even pretend to know all that one needs to know to authoritatively assemble a collection with such a presumptuous title, I would nonetheless exclude more than one or two pieces that were included in the anthology. But as I reflect on the collection, it occurs to me that it was written more for the general reading public and less for a person interested in the diversity of the form and its practitioners. There are some great stories in the collection, however, I suspect that it more closely represents a particular writer's tastes than a true overview of the form.

The most interesting pieces for me were those written by writers who I associate with other genres. Robert Penn Warren's "Christmas Gift" is a beautifully raw and sensual story. And although it has been some years since I've read Warren's work, my vision of him was always that of a country gentlemen poet living the gentlemanly life in semi-rural Connecticut. The "Christmas Gift" rivals Faulkner or O'Connor in the evocation of the rough-knuckled rural life. The language of the piece and the structure of the lines felt fresh and new. The images were so unique and evocative that I must make a point not to mimic them in my own writing. The opening paragraph is wonderful, his attention to the details of the place and its people comes out with poetic precision that is at once authentic for the place and yet far, far above the circumstances of anybody involved. In this sense it brought to mind Steinbeck (another writer who didn't make the cut) yet his prose seemed even more carefully measured.

I have always admired E.B. White's essays and now, after having read the short story, "The Second Tree from the Corner," I have come to appreciate his abilities as a fiction writer. It has inspired me to track down some of his fiction--other than that written for children, though those stories are also good. "The Second Tree from the Corner" was somewhat unexpected. It's a decidedly non-country story--a far cry from many of the essays I have read. Its protagonist is a patient who is undergoing therapy--another surprise. However when I think about many of his essays, even the most well known essays written at the height of the war, essays that were intended to bring some measure of comfort to a society and culture that could not escape the general sense that they were indeed fighting for their very survival, I still find in these essays a certain sense of existential angst, of an uncertainty that seems thoroughly modern and non-sentimental.

When I hear people talk about White's well-known essay, "Once More to the Lake," it seems almost as though the last lines are forgotten. There is so much talk of lake weather, farm-girls, and berry pies that that final line seems to somehow not stick to memory. But what a line--the entire piece is informed by that last line. The last two paragraphs keep the essay from become a simple, shallow reflection on the American way of life. It was almost as though, despite the Nazis and the Imperial Japanese Emperor, White could not help but feel almost desperately modern. When he wrote, "As he buckled the swollen belt, suddenly my groin felt the chill of death," he rescued the essay from the slash pile of Americana.

And just as he rescued "Once More to the Lake," he may have condemned "The Second Tree from the Corner." Though it is a good short story, it is not at all the warm and fuzzy piece that some may expect from White. And again, in the story White waits to put the last nail in the emotional structure of the piece, which could until the final line go in any one of a number of directions. The final direction of the piece is not nearly as comfortable as it perhaps could be. He closes: "He crossed the Madison, boarded the downtown bus, and rode all the way to Fifty-second Street before he had a thought that could rightly have been called bizarre."

We never discover the nature of his bizarre thoughts, we are left to fill them in with our own interpretation of the strange, never the less, the piece is far from conclusive or comforting.

Similarly, I was impressed with Elizabeth Bishop's "The Farmer's Children." Again I am familiar with her essays and of course her poetry, but I had never before read one of her short stories.

There were also stories by writers whom I have never before read, at least as far as I can remember. Susan Glaspell's 1917 story, "A Jury of her Peers," was impressively fresh and full of a very modern sense of feminism. Grace Stone Coates', "Wild Plums," was an emotionally complex story about class in the early years of the Great Depression.

I did not find what I wanted in the collection--that is, an overview of the contemporary American short story form. I suspect that there is no easy or fast way to come to such an understanding. Maybe that has something to do with the nature of the short story, like the personal essay it is a constantly shifting form, something that responds quickly to contemporary pressures, but also somehow stays true to its form as laid down by Chekhov (or in the case of the essay, Montaign).

I did find some things I did not expect in the collection. And thought I confess that I did not like some of the stories in the and found myself questioning why they were included at the expense of other writers, it was a worthwhile read.

Very Well Done.......2007-06-14

To reduce the boredom of exercise I decided to listen to audio books. Short stories work well as I'm inclined to keep moving until the end.

This audio CD collection is very good and really well done. Many of the stories are read by their authors. The sound is crisp and clean, and (with rare exception) the diction fluid and natural. The stories themselves are varied and high-quality.

One thing to note, though, is that the audio version does not contain all the stories from the print version. That may seem obvious, but if you are expecting to hear one or anther of the stories from the book, know that the CD set only includes 22 stories.

Grand American tales of the nineteen hundreds.......2007-03-24

The quintessential in the American short story is represented in this collection of fiction. I am reading these tales both for the pleasure they bring me and as a means of studying the craft of masters in a field I hope to enter. As part of my fiction class at the University of Iowa, I have read "Janus" and "Where are you going, Where have you been?" (Beattie and Oates).

These two tales explore the psyches of two women: one a successful married realtor obsessed who owns an artistic bowl that assumes a character of its own and, the other, a young girl who becomes a victim of her and others' obsession with her beauty.

Lesser-known authors are represented alongside the giants of American literature. Points of view representing various walks of life, ethnicities, languages and periods of time abound in the volume. For my own pleasure and out of curiosity, I have read "Zelig," a tale about a lonely man obsessed with saving his money, torn between his new home in America and his native Russian village (Rosenblatt).

Ann Beattie, Joyce Carol Oates and Benjamin Rosenblatt are authors whose works I have relished so far from the collection, and because the stories are so intricately woven, I find myself re-reading them, delaying the pleasure awaiting me in the remaining fifty plus tales.

NOT THE BEST.......2007-01-30

I AM A FAN OF BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES SERIES, BUT I DID NOT ENJOY THE STORIES CHOSEN HERE. I STARTED AT THE BEGINNING, TRIED THE END, FLIPPED THROUGH A FEW IN THE MIDDLE AND FOUND THEM DISAPPOINTING. THIS SERIES WOULD DO BETTER WITH MORE THAN ONE EDITOR TO MAKE THE FINAL CHOICES.

Best American short storiesof the Century.......2007-01-04

I really didn't like this selection of stories even if they have been assembled John Updike. They were too morose, unhappy, too long and sometimes obscure. John Updike is my favorite author. He could have put together a few upbeat or silly stories in amongst the gloom.

Richard DeRycke

Average customer rating:

Great Hockey book
He shoots and scores!
THE MAN BETWEEN THE PIPES SCORES
WONDERFUL BOOK...I MISS GEORGE
A real treat - thanks George!

Open Net
George Plimpton
Manufacturer: W W Norton & Co Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0393022552

Book Description

OPEN NET is another inimitable account of an amateur's foibles meeting the world of professional sport.
George Plimpton takes to the ice a goalie for the Boston Bruins, after first signing a document holding the team harmless if he should meet with injury or death as their amateur goaltender. He survives a game against the Philadelphia Flyers relaticely unscathed - and brings back this memorable portrait of the rough-and-tumble world of professional hockey.

Customer Reviews:

Great Hockey book.......2006-06-30

If you enjoy Ice Hockey, especially from a historical perspective, this is the book to read. Fans of Don Cherry will love this book.

He shoots and scores!.......2006-01-30

George Plimpton once again dons a uniform and plays a game. This time he tackles hockey while training with the Boston Bruins.
Plimpton does a wonderful job of painting a realistic view of life as a goalie. He uses the voices of other players to help the story along, rather than as just filler from big names. He also tells his tale without a lot of false excitement. You can tell he totally loves the experience, yet at times, you can see the effort does drain him (naturally).
His comments about and conversations with the likes of 'Seaweed' Pettie, Garry Cheevers and Don Cheery really add a lot of depth to the book. In conversations I have had with some of these men, I clearly got the point that they enjoyed this as much as Plimpton did and as much as I did as a reader.
This is a great read for the unfulfilled athlete in all of us.

THE MAN BETWEEN THE PIPES SCORES.......2004-12-05

THIS IS ONE OF PLIMPTON'S BEST. I REALLY ENJOYED HIS STORY PLAYING GOAL FOR THE BRUINS. HIS CONVERSATIONS WITH VARIOUS PLAYERS AND COACHES ARE EXCELLENT. HIS DESCRIPTIONS OF THE EVENTS MAKE YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE RIGHT THERE ON THE ICE WITH HIM. PLIMPTON DOESN'T WASTE TOO MUCH TIME DESCRIBING HIS SURROUNDINGS LIKE HE DOES IN OTHER BOOKS. HE GOES STRAIGHT TO THE POINT. SOME HIGHLIGHTS ARE DESCRIBING HOW HE PUTS HIS UNIFORM ON IN A DETAILED ORDER, OLD STORIES ABOUT EDDIE SHORE, AND HIS ACTUAL TIME ON THE ICE PLAYING GOAL DURING A COUPLE OF EXHIBITION GAMES MAKE THIS A GREAT READ.

WONDERFUL BOOK...I MISS GEORGE.......2004-04-03

As a big hockey fan, and a goaltender, this was just required reading. Yet, it turned out to be more. This well written, quick read was a gas to enjoy and quote. I will be glad to read others by George Plimpton, and I'm already on the hunt for PAPER LION.
I guess thats my ringing endorcement. If I'm looking to read a book on football, the author must be wonderful. Quick, funny, well written, and vastly enjoyable, you wont regret buying this book, no matter what the price.

A real treat - thanks George!.......2003-12-13

This book was a real joy to read. It was a pleasure to take in George's unique observations as he bravely went where no non-athlete has been before, between the pipes to guard the goal of the famed Boston Bruins.

What makes this book so special is George's lack of prejudice and his ability to tell a story complete with the smells, sights, thoughts, feelings and emotions of being completely overwhelmed by a situation that he has absolutely no control over.

His story-telling is succinct and yet descriptive enough so that the reader feels like s/he is in the room with George, as he talks with players, coaches, hockey wives, fans, etc.

Throughout the book, it amused me to picture George holding a conversation these hockey players - his Ivy-league mesmerisms and accent remarkable proof that he is a stranger in this crowd.

Book Description

The third installment in the Modern Library's Paris Review "Writers at Work" series, this is an all-new gathering of interviews with the most important and compelling playwrights of our time. Their singular takes on their craft, their influences, their lives, the state of contemporary theater, and the tricks of the trade create an illuminating and unparalleled record of the life of the theater itself.

"At its best, theater is an antidote to the whiff of barbarity in the millennial air. 'My feeling is that people in a group, en masse, watching something, react differently, and perhaps more profoundly, than they do when they're alone in their living rooms,' Arthur Miller says here. In the dark, facing the stage, surrounded by others, the paying customer can let himself go; he is emboldened. The theatrical encounter allows a member of the public to think against received opinions. He can submerge himself in the extraordinary, admit his darkest, most infantile wishes, feel the pulse of the contemporary, hear the sludge of street talk turned into poetry. This enterprise can be joyous and dangerous; when the theater's game is good and tense, it is both."
--from the Introduction by John Lahr

Customer Reviews:

WORTH BUYING.......2007-01-04

It feels like these playwrights opened up to the interviewer in a big way.

Palywrights definitely Work.......2006-03-10

I had to read this book for my Playwriting class, and it helped me when I later went on to read each playwright's work. I think that it gives an excellent inside look at these playwrights' lives. It was not the most entertaining, and some interviews seemed to drag on, but for the most part, it gave a very detailed, in-depth look at these playwrights and their work.

An inspiring work!.......2001-08-17

I bought this series of interviews in hopes of discovering more about these playwrights' points of view on writing. I was pleasantly startled to find that their stories were inspiring, as well. As a young playwright, I find the business of theatre rather disheartening. Egos are batted around much like cricket birdies, while fad and fashion dictate what is theatrically acceptable. These playwrights coped with the same obstacles, with great success. I found it interesting that each playwright had his/her own particular challenges to confront, and that one theme, throughout all the interviews, was constant: writing a play is akin to facing one's own soul, and a playwright has to confront the mirror dead-on and keep going.

A wonderful read.

Playwrights at Work Succeeds.......2000-08-18

This book is excellent for teachers of theatre, or really for anyone who is interested in the inner workings of a playwright. Its only down-fall is that the playwrights themselves were sometimes less than forth-coming with answers we all want to know: HOW DOES THE PLAY GET ON THE PAGE??? However, it is very interesting in that we get into the heads of some very famous playwrights and shows us a personal side. I could barely put it down because I've read and taught these playwrights for years, but now have personal insight into their work and lives.

Paper Lion: Confessions of a Last-String Quarterback

Average customer rating:

Paper Lion, Golden Writer
Hear The Lion Roar
Old Lions Fan
One of Sports Illustrated's one hundred best sports books One I missed
Plimpton is Most Valuable Writer

Paper Lion: Confessions of a Last-String Quarterback
George Plimpton
Manufacturer: The Lyons Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Open Net

ASIN: 1599210053

Amazon.com

Through the course of a long and distinguished career in letters, George Plimpton has crafted an art form from participatory journalism, and Paper Lion is his big touchdown. In the mid-'60s, Plimpton joined the Detroit Lions at their preseason camp as a 36-year-old rookie quarterback wannabe, and stuck with the club through an intra-squad game before the paying public a month later. What resulted is one of the funniest and most insightful books ever written on the game; 30 years later it remains a major model of what was then blossoming into New Journalism. Plimpton's breezy style wonderfully captures the pressures and tensions rookies confront in trying to make it, the hijinks that pervade the atmosphere when 60 high-strung guys are forced to live together in close quarters, and the host of rites and rituals with which football loves to coat itself. Of course, Plimpton didn't make it as a football hero; he barely accounts himself with dignity on the field, which is just as well. You don't have to be a lion when you've got a typewriter that can roar.

Book Description

This paperback edition commemorates the 40th anniversary of the original publication of this sports classic.

Customer Reviews:

Paper Lion, Golden Writer.......2006-10-27

Long before ESPN cameras and behind-the scenes television programs, George Plimpton went out on a mission to the magical world of the NFL, looking to bring back an original insight on the dream life of a professional football player. In Paper Lion, Plimpton arrives in Michigan for a month of training camp and a preseason scrimmage with the Detroit Lions, having brought a suitcase of clothes, some cleats, and a minimal trace of athletic ability. Though he was not a very skilled or successful member of the Lions, his role is an essential one for us as readers. Plimpton does a marvelous job of painting the picture of a profeesional football player with vivid details and intriguing technique, most notably simile. He details aspects of the training camp with clear references for the everyday reader. This helps explain feelings and strategies such as the Lions' kickoff coverage: " the downfield rush was straight, like a ruler sweeping crumbs off a table." (178). Plimpton also captures the emotions of the players during camp and reproduces them through simile as well: "When a player was hurt in a scrimmage, the others seemed to point their backs pointedly...as if an injury were communicable, like mumps." (194). Another example comes on page 253 when he compares the physical toll of football to "Bronco riding." These details and relatable comparisons are what help Plimpton to bring the reader into the setting and let him experience training camp as if he too were wearing shoulder-pads.

While Plimpton does an excellent job of depicting the setting and emotions that go along with training camp in the NFL, at times he seemed a little too out of place. Plimpton was a writer for Sports Illustrated and thus should have a keen sense on sports and what the players go through. However, there were times in the book where he approached the situation as if he had come from another planet, rather than a different occupation. Such is the case on page 180 when he asks a running back: "do you close your eyes when you run for the middle of the line?" As a sportswriter and an intelligent person it would seem that he would know that a professional athlete would keep his eyes open and not shy away from the contact of the line in a game situation.

George Plimpton's Paper Lion is a great read as well as an entertaining passageway to the world of sports. Plimpton's ability to accurate scenes and vividly detail characters makes a reader feel as though he has not so much holding a book but in fact his own personal uniform on the Detroit Lions.

Hear The Lion Roar.......2006-08-30

Back in the 1960s, writer George Plimpton began "covering" a variety of sports through participating on/with pro teams/athletes and reporting on it through books, magazine articles and TV specials.

Perhaps his most famous was in the early 1960s when he was "signed" by the Detroit Lions as a 36-year-old rookie trying to make the club as a third-string quarterback. Plimpton - wearing jersey number 0 - practiced with the team for one month.
His quarterbacking culminates with his appearance in a scrimmage where Plimpton calls a number of plays under game conditions.

The book leads the reader through the highs and lows of Plimpton as a player, along with great anecdotes on the teammates and coaches.

A reprint is slated for publication in September 2006. I hope the TV special on Plimpton's training camp and QB play gets dusted off during the upcoming NFL season. Anyone reading this inside that large campus in Bristol, Conn.?

Old Lions Fan.......2006-07-10

A very interesteng read, If you are old enough to remember all the players.

One of Sports Illustrated's one hundred best sports books One I missed.......2006-03-20

This book is listed as one of 'Sports Illustrated's' one -hundred best sports books of all time. Many of the reviewers of this book on ' Amazon' also consider it to be of the highest quality. They point to its giving the true feeling of what it is to try out and play football. They point to the excellent human interest stories, the way Plimpton writes about the lives of the players off and on the field.
When I read this book quite a few years ago I did not really get into the feeling and humor of it. This happens often with books. The book may turn out be better than we were at the time that we read it.
When I get a chance I'll have another look at this one.
By the way one reviewer points out how much pro football and athletes have changed with the years, and the big big money. Even in 1965 this reader claims there was an innocent and integrity that does not pertain in the over- drugged and over- hyped sports world of today.

Plimpton is Most Valuable Writer.......2005-12-05

Every sports fan, at some point in their life, has wondered what it would be like to live in the game and play amongst its stars. George Plimpton, original editor of The Paris Review and a pioneer of "participatory journalism," takes his readers on a revealing, albeit slightly outdated account of life as a professional football player in his best-selling book, Paper Lion.

Plimpton's strength lies in his ability to connect the reader to any situation he presents. Plimpton, with barely any previous playing experience, deftly conveys the frustration in watching supremely talented athletes accomplish tasks that seem impossible to nearly everyone else. Page 49 has an especially strong example, when Plimpton watches Hall of Fame defensive back and punter Yale Lary warm up.

"It was always frustrating to watch the ball soar into the air from Lary's foot, and then to try and do it yourself - which suddenly imbued the ball with a lead center, replacing the life that was in it; it was like punting a large dead bird in comparison. I envied the kicker's skill. It seemed so simple."

Anyone who has ever played football knows exactly what he is talking about, and Plimpton seems to bring out these reactions often. Countless times, Plimpton narrates from a fan's perspective, and readers will immediately understand and more fully interact with the memoir because of his descriptive writing.

However, some might be put off by the very formal tone of the piece, which at times seems a bit excessive, even for a Harvard graduate:

"My credentials as a football player may not have been of the first order. But I kept assuring myself that the purpose of my participation in professional football was not to represent the skilled performer but the average weekend athlete" (10).

Yet, Plimpton balances the sometimes awkward language with believable dialogue and straightforward images.

But perhaps most importantly, Plimpton is able to colorfully detail many stories throughout the memoir, and reveals personal sides to players that fans would otherwise never be able to see. For anyone who has ever cared about football, or just sports, this book is a must-read.

Average customer rating:

The Big Apple Never Looked So Good
Gorgeous pictures, a bit outdated
Glorious collection
The Best Photographic Book
Great book

Above New York
Paul Goldberger
Manufacturer: Cameron & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Above San Francisco
Above London
Above Washington: A Collection of Nostalgic and Contemporary Aerial Photographs of the District of Columbia
Above Chicago
Above Paris

ASIN: 0918684420

Book Description

Breathtaking photographs highlight this bird's-eye-view of the greatest city in the world, New York City. Introduction by George Plimpton.

Customer Reviews:

The Big Apple Never Looked So Good.......2005-05-14

Let me first say I love New York, it is quite simply the most energetic, vibrant, alive place on earth. This book does the city such a service, it is spectacular and photographs just amazing. Mr. Cameron is such a singular talent and he does it hanging out of a helicopter. This book really captures the city and lets the viewer see the hidden New York, that very few see. I love the photos of Central Park, you have no idea what an oasis it is until you see it from high above. Some photos are in summer some are in winter and you get to see the city in all its various incarnations. Mr. Cameron also includes some vintage photos to let the viewer see how much the city has changed. I only wish that Mr. Careron had been able to photograph my city of Houston, she would have welcomed him with opened arms. I highly recommend this book, you won't be disappointed.

Gorgeous pictures, a bit outdated.......2005-03-02

I haven't found any picture book of Manhattan that's as sharp, descriptive and beautiful as this one. Unfortunately, it is a bit outdated--for those seeking a realistic portrayal--because of new construction and destruction in New York City.

Glorious collection.......2004-04-21

Robert Cameron's "Above New York: A Collection of Historical and Original Aerial Photographs of New York City" sets itself apart from other similar books. In no particular order:

a) the photos are unbelieveably crisp and the printing is of top-notch quality;
b) don't ask me how, but Mr. Cameron makes the city look like a place where human beings actually live and work, rather than making the cityscape look like an architectural diorama;
c) other boroughs are represented! New York is not just Manhattan, as so many other books would have you think.

The contrast of the modern skyline with the older photographs is very effective, as others have mentioned. But what is also appealing is the changes of the skyline between the time these photos were taken (ca. 1988) and today, as we New Yorkers would notice. The images of the World Trade Center are poignant, but I'm glad that the publishers did not update the book, in order to remove them. As time takes its healing course, we can look back fondly on those buildings--still with pain, but now with some acceptance. "Above New York: A Collection of Historical and Original Aerial Photographs of New York City" remains a glorious collection that has yet to be eclipsed in quality.

Rocco Dormarunno
author of The Five Points

The Best Photographic Book.......2002-01-17

This is the best photographic book I have ever seen. Its pictures of The Big Apple are magnificent! Comparative pictures taken in years past, many in the 1920s, show how sections of the city have changed. Whether one is a fan of New York and who isn't, you will enjoy this book. It makes me want all the other "Above" books now.

Great book.......2001-12-10

This book is really great. I recommend it to anyone who loves NY!

The Paris Review Book: of Heartbreak, Madness, Sex, Love, Betrayal, Outsiders, Intoxication, War, Whimsy, Horrors, God, Death, Dinner, Baseball, Travels, ... Else in the World Since 1953 (Paris Review)

Average customer rating:

Love to read?
750 pages of good writing is a bargain
Probably an impossible task
Best Anthology, Longest Title Award
sloppy seconds

The Paris Review Book: of Heartbreak, Madness, Sex, Love, Betrayal, Outsiders, Intoxication, War, Whimsy, Horrors, God, Death, Dinner, Baseball, Travels, ... Else in the World Since 1953 (Paris Review)
The Paris Review
Manufacturer: Picador
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Anthologies | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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The Paris Review Interviews, I (Paris Review Interviews)
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ASIN: 0312422393
Release Date: 2004-08-12

Book Description

For a half-century, The Paris Review has published writing and interviews from the world's most brilliant authors. To commemorate the anniversary, a breathtakingly diverse and illuminating anthology has been assembled. The greatest writers here write and speak upon the greatest subjects of our time:*Lorrie Moore and Raymond Carver on "Heartbreak"*Vladimir Nabokov on SEX*Kurt Vonnegut and Susan Sontag on "War"*Jonathan Franzen on "Betrayal"*Jeffrey Eugenides and Norman Mailer on "Death"*Philip Roth on "God"Inspiring a dizzying range of thought and emotion, the collection holds a mirror to the world we live in and to the reader's own hopes, dreams, fears, and joy.

Customer Reviews:

Love to read?.......2007-04-21

Reading anything can be a little time consuming if you're not into it, but this book strives to break-away from that by dividing up sections anyone can find interesting and paramount to their own lives as well as favorite authors interviews and intriguing samplings of written work. Read a lot or a little at time, but read it, its worth it!

750 pages of good writing is a bargain.......2004-04-11

Well I have never read a copy of the magazine The Paris Review but have subscribed to Granta since it started and subscribe to The New Yorker. The first story in the anthology "Terrific Mother" by Lorrrie Moore was enough for me to give this five stars - let's face it, where can you get such a thrill for $21? There may be some stories, poems, interviews, that don't grab me with the same electric immediacy as that first story, but I don't have to read it from cover to cover. It's one of those terrific bedside books as far as I'm concerned and an absolute joy to explore.

Probably an impossible task.......2004-01-01

I bought this book mainly for the interviews the magazine has had over the years, and some of them with notoriously reticent figures like Nabokov and Hemingway. But I was disappointed, because what really distinguishes a Paris Review interview from those of other magazines is how well they're edited, and how beautifully and naturally the conversations flow. All we get here is single paragraphs, usually just anecdotes, funny stories, little opinions: sometimes they're profound (see Edmund White's page) or just convey the author's personality well (Faulkner, Hemingway), but all of them just made me upset about not being able to read the rest of the interview.

Of course there's not enough space. But I would have thrown out most of the other material. I doubt there was any way to make this collection totally succesful: if you pick only the famous stuff that the magazine has published over the years, it's sort of a waste, since most people would either have read the selection already or wouldn't want to read just an excerpt. A first chapter is useful to get you excited about an upcoming book, but unnecessary if the book's already been published. If you limit yourself to the more obscure material, well, it'll be good, but there's a reason that some people remain obscure.

Not that I didn't get a lot of pleasure out of this book. Heather McHugh's poem, for example, is beautiful, and I never would have run across it if I hadn't picked this up. There are little wonders sprinkled throughout, but too much of the rest is familiar, just okay, or an unsatisfying little piece of something larger.

I hesitate to put forward this criticism, since I have no idea how I could do it better - but I do know what book I would rather have read. If anyone down at the magazine (which I hope will rebound from the sad loss of Plimpton) can put together a big volume of complete, untruncated interviews, I would pay a princely sum for it. I've seen earlier collections, but nothing that covers the entire Plimpton era, and I think it would be easier to pick just the great interviews than to squeeze thirty plus years of wonderful material into this enjoyable but probably ill-advised collection.

Best Anthology, Longest Title Award.......2003-07-31

This book makes a perfect gift for both serious literature junkies and those who have blown off reading for the past fifty years. If the former applies to you, here's the best from the best. If you're in the latter category, this book will catch you up to speed. The Paris Review published the first chapter of Kerouac's ON THE ROAD, the first chapter of McInerney's BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY, the first chapter of Franzan's THE CORRECTIONS, etc., etc., etc. Obviously, they've been able to spot new talent from the day they started even to today. And of course, their fantastic interviews with writers themselves are legendary. A must for the collector and the neophyte alike.

sloppy seconds.......2003-07-28

I'd love to read a book that lives up to the title of this one. The recent New Yorker anthologies of fiction, nonfiction, and humor come a lot closer. The Paris Review published the lesser work of major writers, and lately it has been mostly given over to the longueurs of lightweights like Rick Moody. Plimpton will go down in literary history as a negligible, starstruck, Robin Leach-like figure, a party boy of narrow taste and ken. His magazine has been irrelevant for at least two decades now.

Average customer rating:

New York Characters
Fun game with this book.
For New Yorkers and Non New Yorkers Alike
New York Characters- A Must Buy!
New York Characters- A Must Buy!

New York Characters
Gillian Zoe Segal
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0393041964

Book Description

Every year millions of people flock to New York City, drawn to its unparalleled theaters, museums, restaurants, and sights. While much has been written about these topics, one of the city's greatest attractions has gone largely unheralded: its characters. Among the masses, there are some that stand out from the crowd, a special group of New Yorkers that gives this city its flavor and makes it such a vibrant, exciting, and unique place. New York Characters is a tribute to these people. Celebrated in both pictures and words, Gillian Zoe Segal's subjects include neighborhood fixtures, prominent celebrities, famous personalities, and the truly eccentric. Among the extraordinary New Yorkers you'll meet are Guardian Angel founder Curtis Sliwa; Ken Krisses, the president of the Coney Island Polar Bear Club; the "real" Kramer, on whom the Seinfeld character is based; sports fanatics Dancin' Larry and Fireman Ed; restauranteurs Elaine Kaufman and Sylvia Woods; Dr. Jonathan Zizmor, the "subway" dermatologist; and Jimmy Breslin, the legendary newspaperman. Segal has photographed sixty-six such characters in his or her own distinctive environment. Accompanying the striking portraits are colorful profiles of each individual. The foreword by George Plimpton, a "New York character" himself, is a tribute to Segal's extraordinary work and her fascinating collection of New Yorkers. 66 b/w photographs.

Customer Reviews:

New York Characters.......2002-02-01

If you are a New Yorker, a former New Yorker, or someone new to the City, you should own this book. The photography is both penetrating and compelling, and the characters featured are truly fascinating. It's like the Zagat of New York people. I hope the author comes to Los Angeles to do a book on characters here (there are plenty)!

Fun game with this book........2001-12-15

I got a copy of this book and the other night three friends and I made a bet as to who had seen the most "characters" in real life. Sad to say I was not the winner but did pretty well with 24 and came in second. Anyway, it's a great book and a kick to get the real stories behind some of the interesting people we see around town. Highly recommended.

For New Yorkers and Non New Yorkers Alike.......2001-12-03

If you admire great photography and exquisite prose and feel the slightest attachment (or wish you did) to New York, then Gillian Segal's book is for you. I moved from New York a little over ten years ago and was determined to keep in touch with the city I love. However, it was only a matter of time before I lost touch with what really made New York special: the people's unique personalities. Gillian's book has allowed me to reestablish contact with the city that I still like to call home. Now, when my colleagues in Providence ask me what to do in New York, I no longer provide them with a mundane and outdated list of restaurants and sites. Instead, I refer them to Mrs. Segal's book. I inform them that in its pages is where they can find the real New York. Everything from great food, The Egg Cake Lady, to a wonderful opera on 57th street, performed by Opera Man, to a great jogging partner, the Mayor of the Reservoir (he is featured on the cover) can be found in "New York Characters".

New York Characters- A Must Buy!.......2001-12-01

Gillian Zoe Segal's book, New York Characters, is outstanding- the best photography book I've ever seen/read! The photographs featuring prominent New Yorkers are incredible. Each one captures the true essence of the "character" and truly comes to life on the page. The characters are all photographed in their natural environment, and as Segal points out and demonstrates in her book it is New York's characters that make "it the greatest city in the world". In addition to her photographic genius, Segal writes beautifully. The vignettes's about the characters are intersting, informative, humorous, and touching. No coffee table should be without a copy of New York Characters. It makes the perfect holiday gift for New Yorkers as well as out-of-towners because everyone loves or has an interest in New York, right? Furthermore, all of the proceeds of the book sales are going to the September 11th fund. So what could be more gratifying than supporting the city's recovery effort by buying this wonderful book for yourself, for your friends, for your family...? I feel confident in saying that anyone who picks up New York Characters will enjoy it immensely. What will Segal do next? I can't wait....

New York Characters- A Must Buy!.......2001-12-01

West Point: Two Centuries of Honor and Tradition

Average customer rating:

Visit West Point
Full-color photographs on nearly every page
Disappointed
Mixed Feelings
A overview for beginners

West Point: Two Centuries of Honor and Tradition
Stephen Ambrose , William F. Buckley , David Halberstam , Arthur Miller , and George Plimpton
Manufacturer: Grand Central Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0446530182

Book Description

WEST POINT details the proud, 200-year history of the United States Military Academy at West Point through a collection of ritings and stunning photographs from Americas most preeminent historians and writers.Published in conjunction with the Academys bicentennial, this handsome volume commemorates the first two cen uries in the life of an institution that has become the model for military schools around the world. Since the Academys founding in 1802, West Point graduates have been high-ranking officers and leaders in every war in which America has fought. This institutions distinguished alumni include Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, William Sherman, Thomas J. Stonewall Jackson, John J. Pershing, Douglas MacArthur, George S. Patton, Jr., Dwight Eisenhower, Frank Borman, Edwin E. Buzz Aldrin, H. Norman Schwarzkopf, and AOL founder James Kimsey.

Customer Reviews:

Visit West Point.......2003-04-12

This coffee table book was okay, no better or no worse than the others that were put together for West Point's bicentennial. But, I think pictures, whether beautiful or just okay, are substantially empty momentos -- not momentos at all -- with little in the way of meaning or value. There is no substitute for the real thing. I recommend that you personally visit West Point and take the tour --- and take pictures with you in them.

Full-color photographs on nearly every page.......2003-03-10

Collaboratively compiled by Robert Cowley and Thomas Guinzburg, featuring an introduction by General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, and superbly enhanced with contributions from a number of noted historians and writers including Stephen Ambrose, William F. Buckley Jr., David Halberstam, Arthur Miller, George Plimpton, Tom Wicker, and Cecilia Holland, West Point: Two Centuries Of Honor And Tradition is an illustrated bicentennial celebration of the endurance and legacy of the United States Military Academy of West Point. Full-color photographs on nearly every page embellish this fascinating, informative, and very highly recommended history of America's oldest (and arguably most prestigious) military academy.

Disappointed.......2002-12-16

In my opinion, this was little more than a glorified admissions department catalogue. A big public relations brochure for West Point, only you have to pay for it. Not what I expected. Sorry, I do not recommend it. I was disappointed.

Mixed Feelings.......2002-11-09

After paying a lot of money for this, I found it unremarkable, considering the names involved. And, to me, it represents something wrong -- too many people using a national icon's celebrations for personal profit. I wish this book had been done by people truly celebrating West Point by volunteering their time and talents. It probably would have been better. Because of that, along with its being a little too big, boring, glitzy, and [costly], I came away with mixed feelings about it.

A overview for beginners.......2002-10-08

This book gives an overview of the 200 years of West point. From its humble beginnings to its place as the premier military academy. Its rich with history, facts and photos.

Authors:

Authors

Authors