Wait Till Next Year : A Memoir (AUDIO CASSETTE)

Rating:
Summary: I LOVE THIS BOOK
Review: Though I haven't quite finished it yet, I looooove Wait Till Next Year. I'm 11 years old, and didn't think I would like this book, since Goodwin is mostly a grownup author, but I love it. It is a welcome change from X-rated memoirs from earlier this year. The old "Life-In-The-Post-War-Era, oh the horrors" stuff has nothing on on this book.If you're an adult, pass this on to your kids when you finish. If you're a kid, vis-versa! My only concern is that my parents will steal it before I get finished.

Rating:
Summary: For Baseball lovers.
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book. She paints a picture of her childhood home Rockville Centre that is wonderful. She describes the baseball games with such detail. I honestly could not put the book down. I liked the way she discussed historical events throughout the book.

Rating:
Summary: A beautiful memoir of baseball, childhood, & ties that bind
Review: Goodwin has a taken a beating from some of the other reviewers here, due to revelations of borrowing the work of others. Not being intimately familar with that controversy, I read this book with an open mind. I knew Goodwin from her many TV pundit jobs and her wonderful memories in Ken Burns' "Baseball" (an unparalleled work of genius by the way). Anyway, I loved the book. It is another a long line of wonderful Dodger books. However, this one has a special touch of being the memories of a young girl (a perspective one still does not hear enough about sports) and her homelife. Goodwin's father and mother were wonderful people. Her memories of her growning in the '50s reminded of the emotions evoked by the seminal TV series The Wonder Years a decade or so later. She writes beautifully of how the world (her world really) lost it's innocence when the Dodgers left. How she lost her mother, friends, etc. She talks briefly of her wonderful transformation from Brooklyn to Boston fan and her own family. The story left me in tears. A beautiful piece of personal history. As a history teacher and Cubs fan (with Brooklyn Dodger blood from my ancestors), I was moved and this is indeed history at it's best. Detailed, filled with awe and honor, and always personal.

Rating:
Summary: Doris, is this really you or a copy
Review: I use to read Ms. kearns books and was mesmerized by some of the information. Unfortunately, now my only excuse to even peruse a book is to determine whose work she was stealing this time. It is a disgrace to think she is capable of pontificating and expoinding on subjects when her ideas are those of other more original and creative thinkers. I wonder what she is capable of producing on her own.

Rating:
Summary: Is this orginal work?
Review: My first response after reviewing this book was where did I read this before. In the past two years, I have been reluctant to acquire anything written by this author as she has a reputation for rewriting what others have done before. Fear and trepidation consume me that I will be revisitng other authors' work. The amazing thing is that the author is so brazen that she even tries to repesent she is responsible for anything she writes. When I taught I always impressed upon my composition students that they project their own feelings and ideas. I question whether the author has an idea of her own. Rather than refer to her work any longer and use her books as a model, i embarassed she has exploited the works of others. This book may be presented as a rewite of history but I am more afraid that it is a rewrite of other authors' works. This is dishonest and makes me want to return all her books for a refund from her.

Rating:
Summary: Thank You
Review: I have read that authors read reviews by readers. I hope Ms. Goodwin reads this. This is simply a wonderful book
This is the second time I read this book. I read this for a book club. I had remembered the portions about baseball and the wonderful relationship between Ms. Goodwin and her father. The rereading does not diminish the pleasure of this portion of the book.

The second reading permitted me to think about the the insightful description of growing up in the 50's--an experience I share with Ms Goodwin. It was a simpler time when fathers came home the same time and mothers stayed home and raised the children. Children owned the streets and everyone was growing together. Ms. Goodwin also points out that it also was a time when woman could not work. A simpler time is not always the better time.

The most interesting portion of the book on the second reading is the foreshadowing of what is required to be a historian. Joining her ability to recreate a ball game as the beginning of her career as a historian, which she points out depends upon the ability to tell a story. SEcond when historical events such as the integration of Little Rock we see her mastery of history.

I used to think that No Ordinary Times was my favorite book. I will reread that as well but right now it has taken second place.



Rating:
Summary: I Loved This Book
Review: Doris Kearns Goodwin has done it again. This is a memoir of her growing up years and her ties to the Brooklyn Dodgers. Her accounts of scoring the games and then the great anticipation of telling her father play by play what happened in the evening are touching. It's just a great story. Well written. I would give it more than five stars if I could.

Rating:
Summary: For Baseball lovers.
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book. She paints a picture of her childhood home Rockville Centre that is wonderful. She describes the baseball games with such detail. I honestly could not put the book down. I liked the way she discussed historical events throughout the book.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful treat
Review: I enjoyed this book the first and second time I read it. Doris Kerns Goodwin writes about her early years in post-war Long Island with grace.
This memoir reads like a charming novel - the details are wonderful, the characters are people we come to care about, and young Doris is someone you will smile with and cry with.
I've recommended this book to friends and students (I teach adult ed creative writing workshops). Everyone thanks me. If you want a good book by a good author check this one out. If you're considering writing your own memoir study WAIT TILL NEXT YEAR to see how it should be done!