Customer Reviews (6)

Hilarious...I can't stop reading
'How I Got This Way' is a great book. My friend got me hooked on Pat McManus when she had me read 'Deer Magic', and now I can't stop reading. She gave me a couple of books from Amazon for my birthday, and I have to say that they're great. Even though I'm not an outdoor-type (I do enjoy fishing, though), I love the humor. McManus is a great author, and I can't read a single story without cracking a smile or laughing my head off, though I think I like 'How I Got This Way' the most. Enjoy!

Excellent Entertainment
McManus is a delight to read. His humor is easy to digest and transfers you away from the trials of today's world into his wonderful world of FUN!

- A real fan . . . ed

'Pass out laughing' funny
I have always thought that Patrick McManus is the funniest writer on the planet. I read his stories when I need to laugh or relax. Sometimes I irritate my wife by reading it in bed. I try not to laugh out loud, but I only succeed in sounding like I am trying to muffle continuous sneezes.

However, not everyone gets it. I have been shocked by watching people read McManus without so much as a smile (though most start snorting like wild pigs on acid) . My only guess is that getting McManus requires a couple things.First, it requires some understanding of his experiences. He absolutely nails all of the stupid things 'outdoors men (outdoors people)' do and think, but don't want anybody to know about. Second, you have to see the self-deprecating aspect of his humor. Third, you can't look for great literature in integrated books.Patrick McManus is an excellent writer, if you see these as independent stories simply collected in a volume. They are meant for adults who want to laugh at themselves. So, If you are willing to or already meet the above three criteria, you will love this book.

By the way, I am a professor of clinical psychology and (other than worrying a little about McManus) I sometimes recommend this and other McManus books. I do this with people who have racing thoughts and anxiety at bedtime, and when I believe they have the necessary experiences to find it funny. It often works quite well. I think of his stories as little pieces of happiness. (Oh, that even makes me sick to hear. Sorry)

Pat is the best outdoor humor writer
I have read all but one of Patrick McManus's books and love them all.This one is just as funny as the others.The things he writes about remind me of stories my own father would tell me about his misadventures growing up.If you love hunting, fishing, camping, and/or the outdoors in general, you'll like this book.OK, even if you hate the outdoors, you will still find this book funny.

Best of his lot
No matter if you are the outdoors type or not this book is funny.Out of all all his books this one is best since he tells of the characters of his youth, plus a little embellishments.Also makes fun of himself most of thetime which he is supremely talented at.WOuld also recomend the audioversion which gives a touch of humorous sound to the funny words. ... Read more

Book Description
From Irving Berlin to Cy Coleman, from “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” to “Big Spender,” from Tin Pan Alley to the MGM soundstages, the Golden Age of the American song embodied all that was cool, sexy, and sophisticated in popular culture. For four glittering decades, geniuses like Jerome Kern, George Gershwin, Cole Porter, and Harold Arlen ran their fingers over piano keys, enticing unforgettable melodies out of thin air. Critically acclaimed writer Wilfrid Sheed uncovered the legends, mingled with the greats, and gossiped with the insiders. Now he’s crafted a dazzling, authoritative history of the era that “tripled the world’s total supply of singable tunes.”

It began when immigrants in New York’s Lower East Side heard black jazz and blues–and it surged into an artistic torrent nothing short of miraculous. Broke but eager, Izzy Baline transformed himself into Irving Berlin, married an heiress, and embarked on a string of hits from “Always” to “Cheek to Cheek.” Berlin’s spiritual godson George Gershwin, in his briefbut incandescent career, straddled Tin Pan Alley and Carnegie Hall, charming everyone in his orbit. Possessed of a world-class ego, Gershwin was also generous, exciting, and utterly original. Half a century later, Gershwin love songs like “Someone to Watch Over Me,” “The Man I Love,” and “Love Is Here to Stay” are as tender and moving as ever.
Sheed also illuminates the unique gifts of the great jazz songsters Hoagy Carmichael and Duke Ellington, conjuring up the circumstances of their creativity and bringing back the thrill of what it was like to hear “Georgia on My Mind” or “Mood Indigo” for the first time. The Golden Age of song sparked creative breakthroughs in both Broadway musicals and splashy Hollywood extravaganzas. Sheed vividly recounts how Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, Jerome Kern, and Johnny Mercer spread the melodic wealth to stage and screen.

Popular music was, writes Sheed, “far and away our greatest contribution to the world’s art supply in the so-called American Century.” Sheed hung out with some of the great artists while they were still writing–and better than anyone, he knows great music, its shimmer, bite, and exuberance. Sparkling with wit, insight, and the grace notes of wonderful songs, The House That George Built is a heartfelt, intensely personal portrait of an unforgettable era.

A delightfully charming, funny, and most illuminating portrait of songwriters and the Golden Age of American Popular Song. Mr. Sheed’s carefully chosen depictions and anecdotes recapture that amazingly creative period, a moment in time in which I was so fortunate to be surrounded by all that magic.”
–Margaret Whiting ... Read more

Customer Reviews (35)

The House That George Built
I bought this book because of my interest in the subject matter.I was disappointed in the author's (Wilfred Sneed) writing style which became laborious, and at times redundent.I do not, however, argue with his opinion of the various composers...it's his book and he's entitled to state his views.I would recommend this book to anyone with a desire to learn about the great 20th century composers, but unless they have a deep interest I believe they will tire of it before they finish the Berlin and Gershwin chapters.

Difficult read
The author is very knowledgeable about the individuals and about the music which he writes, however, his style of prose is somewhat difficult to follow. As one of the reviews cites, the author writes in a gossip stlyle of writing. The chapters on Berlin and Gershwin are by far the best. After that I think he wanders far too much astray and mentions material that I consider oblique and unnecessary. Needless to say, I was disappointed in the book.

Insightful Book
This is a comprehensive, enthusiastic and entertaining book about the greats of American popular music in the 1920s, 1930s and beyond.

Not the place to start
I don't have much substantive to add to the positive or negative earlier comments about the book (I agree with both!), which is rambling and often so allusive that it was hard to follow.But I will say that if you know the songs and the composers already, there's a lot here to learn and enjoy.And if you don't know the songs and the composers you will be bored and bewildered.If you are interested in learning about the treasure trove that is the great American songbook--and you should be!--this is not the place to start.I would also add that a subscription to Rhapsody would be a very valuable adjunct (unless you already own the world's greatest collection of standards), since throughout I kept wanting to hear the songs immediately.

Best Re Songwriters
I've read extensively on American songwriters. Purchased this for a gift for a relative after I couldn't bear to pass my copy on. Beautifully written! I enjoyed it so much that I often re-read a chapter immediately after finishing it. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Powerful & sagacious review of the first Commander in Chief
Washington Irving's biography on Washington is by far the most detailed review on our first President from youth through his post Presidential years.Given that Mr. Irving personally met George Washington at the young age of 7, Irving's book has all the more relavence than today's revisionist historians can ever provide.However, the "old english" that Washington used in his correspondence makes for difficult comprehension.It is interesting to note that by 1850 the change to a more modern writing style by Irving presents a clearer picture of Washington's time, but it still requires an occasional re-read to fully understand Irving's point.A person with a limited interest in the Revolutionary War may be better suited to purchasing a more contemporary biography for ease of reading.

However, this book does provide such insite into the minds of Washington and those around him and it allows the reader to finally start to understand why our Founding Fathers risked all for the sake of freedom and liberty from the English.Today we take for granted rights that never existed anywhere in the 1770's and such historical works penned in the mid 1850's provides an insite that should be required reading for both liberals and conservatives.Overall, the book is long and difficult to read, but well worth the time, effort and cost.

A Great Bio of a Great Man
The life of Washington should be required reading for everyone. The amount of difficulty he faced throughout his life is unimaginable to modern man. Washington had a life of privilege which is the main reason he was placed in a position of responsibility so early in life. However, in all of his campaigns he was dealing with shortages, sicknesses and other difficulties that make our own seem not so difficult.
Reading this work will provide the reader with an understanding how lucky America was to have a man of such temperament at her founding. Washington was a man of great intellect. He proved that by defeating the British on a number of occasions. He was a man of high honor which he proved when the various cabals tried to remove him from his office and he answered them with excellent performance and an absence of the acrimony so many would have used. He was a man of incomprehendable determination. The crossing of the Deleware, the winter at Valley forge and hundreds of other examples prove this. He was a man of tremendous resourcefulness as is shown by his ability to field an army when provisions were always in want for many years and at the same time attend to so many other details.

Washington Irving's work will provide the reader with an excellent understanding of all of these qualities. I recommend this book to anyone interested in Washington's life. The vast majority of this work deals with the revolution so if you are interested in the early years or the later years you will not find a great deal of detail in this particular work.

A great bio of a great man
The life of Washington should be required reading for everyone. The amount of difficulty he faced throughout his life is unimaginable to modern man. Washington had a life of privilege which is the main reason he was placed in a position of responsibility so early in life. However, in all of his campaigns he was dealing with shortages, sicknesses and other difficulties that make our own seem not so difficult.

Reading this work will provide the reader with an understanding how lucky America was to have a man of such temperament at her founding. Washington was a man of great intellect. He proved that by defeating the British on a number of occasions. He was a man of high honor which he proved when the various cabals tried to remove him from his office and he answered them with excellent performance and an absence of the acrimony so many would have used. He was a man of incomprehendable determination. The crossing of the Deleware, the winter at Valley forge and hundreds of other examples prove this. He was a man of tremendous resourcefulness as is shown by his ability to field an army when provisions were always in want for many years and at the same time attend to so many other details.

Washington Irving's work will provide the reader with an excellent understanding of all of these qualities. I recommend this book to anyone interested in Washington's life. The vast majority of this work deals with the revolution so if you are interested in the early years or the later years you will not find a great deal of detail in this particular work.

This was a fascinating book: detailed, but not without flaws
This edition of Washington Irving's biography of George Washington hasbeen substantially reduced in size via editing from the original editions,published in the 1850's. Irving was one of, if not the first Americanauthor to receive literary acclaim in the salons of Europe. This book wasIrving's life's dream. The book details Washington's life, military career,and political thoughts in a very deferential way, as the author appears tohave remained in awe of the "Great Man" who had patted him on thehead when he was but a child. Irving seems incapable of finding any faultwith Washington, and his conclusions on that score probably do not fullyreflect later historical thinking. The book does suffer from a lack ofmaps, as the stories of the military campaigns of the Revolutionary War arerecounted in great detail. In addition, having been written almost 150years ago, there is a substantial amount of archaic word usage that couldgive your dictionary a workout, if you are so inclined. In addition, thebook treats the latter stages of Washington's life thinly, due largely, Ibelieve, to Irving's declining health as the last editions of hismulti-edition biography was being written. Thus, if your focus is onWashington's Presidential years, look elsewhere.Otherwise, one couldhardly choose a better biography of Washington; it is probably the oldestbiography of Washington that is easily accessible to the average readertoday.Overall, the book was very enjoyable to read. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from New Criterion, published by Thomson Gale on November 1, 2007. The length of the article is 1241 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: They're the top.(The House That George Built: With a Little Help from Irving, Cole, and a Crew of About Fifty)(Book review)
Author: Dan Brown
Publication: New Criterion (Magazine/Journal)
Date: November 1, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 26Issue: 3Page: 87(3)

Article Type: Book review

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Product Description
An Account of the life of George Washington in 5 volumes. ... Read more