Get Best Audiobooks in Bios & Memoirs, Artists, Writers, & Musicians

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Title: To Prussia with Love

Subtitle: Misadventures in Rural East Germany

Author: Roger Boyes

Narrator: Brian Bowles

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-18-11

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 21 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Artists, Writers, & Musicians

Publisher's Summary:

'We-have-a-house-in-the-country?'. Lena nodded solemnly. 'Where?'. I almost shouted, briefly rattling the table. 'No, wait, don't tell me - it's Todi in Umbria, right? The old manor house, the one with the lemon groves'! 'Alt-Globnitz'. 'Alt-Globnitz?'. Suddenly I felt cold. 'Alt-Globnitz. It's a really nice place. You will love it'.

In a desperate attempt to save his relationship with girlfriend, Lena, and take a break from the world of journalism, Germany correspondent Roger Boyes agrees to make a great escape from the easy urban lifestyle of Berlin and decamp to the countryside. Roger has hopes for southern Italy, but Lena has inherited a run-down old schloss in deepest, darkest Brandenburg. Needing a form of income, they decide to set up a B & B with a British theme. Enter unhelpful Harry and his Trinidadian chef cousin, a mad Scot to advise them on re-branding Brandenburg, some suicidal frogs, and a posse of mad tourists.

It all culminates, naturally, in a cricket match between the Brits and the Germans on an old Russian minefield. Farce meets romance in this follow-up to the successful A Year in the Scheisse.

Members Reviews:

Average story, narration worse

Happy to let a writer get away with an average story. But I cannot let the narrator get away with zero research on the pronunciation of place names in a foreign language, resulting in irritating errors, which could have been easily avoided. I also cannot excuse Audible's sloppy editing, particularly in the second half. Waste of listening time.

Made for TV

I was very disappointed with this book. Narration apart, it was short on plot, characterization and entirely predictable.

I was sold by the description on the cover which was better than the book in parts.

Towards the end you get the sneaking suspicion that this was written with the idea that it would make a 6 part TV series. It's all there. First part, the career change and finding they have a schloss. Second part they discover how bad it is and meet the local caretaker, and so on to the inevitable happy ending with the way left open for a second series.

I couldn't recommend it, it may be better on the page rather than in the ear, but I doubt it.

Worst book I've downloaded from audible.

This is a terrible book devoid of humour and replete with inaccuracies and to top it off the recording contains unedited mistakes by the narrator who hasn't bothered to learn how to pronounce the German names within.

I speak from a position of experience of the subjects within the book and it was simply irritating to have the characters reduced to unpleasant national stereotypes. Worse than that, it's simply unfunny and hugely contrived.

I'm not normally hyper critical, but the paucity of this book actually drove me to leave this review.

I'd recommend you avoid this rubbish.

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Title: Trust Me, I'm Dr Ozzy

Author: Ozzy Osbourne

Narrator: Frank Skinner

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 38 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-06-11

Publisher: Hachette Audio UK

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 10 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Artists, Writers, & Musicians

Publisher's Summary:

By rights, Ozzy Osbourne should not be alive. He spent 40 years on a hell-raising, bat-biting, ant-snorting*, drink and drug-fuelled bender. He broke his neck going two miles an hour on a quad bike and died twice in a chemically induced coma. And yet - at 62 years old - he is healthier and happier than ever. He is a walking medical miracle. So who better to offer the public medical advice and support?

In May 2010 the Sunday Times invited 'Dr' Ozzy to be their new Agony Uncle. Since then he has answered questions ranging from dog depression to snoring to third nipples and has also tackled more serious questions with his trademark humour and hard-won wisdom. The column has become such a phenomenon that Dr Ozzy has now decided to gather together all his advice into one handy guide. Ozzy's motto is that if he can survive and enjoy a happy and healthy life - then *anyone* can. And enjoy a very good laugh along the way.

* Yes. You read that right. Ant-snorting.

Members Reviews:

Good for a lighthearted listen and laugh...

If you are after something lightweight, and looking for a laugh, then this will deliver. I chuckled to myself many times over when listening to this. Hearing all about Ozzy now, ie he's a vegetarian who is open to Plastic Surgery, just cracked me up. I'm a Black Sabbath fan, so just had to listen to it. Certainly learned about a few crazy antics from this one. Enjoyable, in a casual kind of way.

Enjoyable - just not in audio form

Any additional comments?

This is a collection of newspaper columns in which Ozzy answered questions about health. Each one is quite short (1 to 2 minutes), which I found a bit jarring - you are constantly changing subjects. A good book, but probably more enjoyable in its written form.

Funnier than most professional comedian books!

There are a host of funny anecdotes throughout the book and Frank Skinner does an excellent job at narrating. Some of the advice even makes sense! The only thing that spoils it a bit is the appalling attempts at regional accents by other narrators - cringe-worthy! Ive had a couple of Dawn Frenchs attempts from Audible and I have to say, this is funnier than either of them!

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Title: Is Shakespeare Dead?

Author: Mark Twain

Narrator: Richard Henzel

Format: Unabridged

Length: 2 hrs and 42 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-27-11

Publisher: Richard Henzel

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Artists, Writers, & Musicians

Publisher's Summary:

As a cub river pilot, one of Mark Twains masters was a pilot named George Ealer, who recited Shakespeare by the hour - from memory - and who was a virulent opponent of the notion that the Shakespeare plays and poems were in truth written by Sir Francis Bacon. At first, young Sam Clemens agreed with his teacher and boss, but he soon realized that it was no fun for the pilot to argue with someone who agreed with him all of the time. And so, young Sam Clemens became quite skilled in defending this position: He said he was not a Shakespearite nor a Baconite, but that he was a "Brontosaurian": he didn't know who did write them, but he knew Shakespeare didn't.

As Twain explained, "It is the very way Professor Osborn and I built the colossal skeleton brontosaur that stands fifty-seven feet long and sixteen feet high in the Natural History Museum, and is the awe and admiration of all the world, the stateliest skeleton that exists on the planet. We had nine bones, and we built the rest of him out of plaster of Paris. We ran short of plaster of Paris, or we'd have built a brontosaur that could sit down beside the Stratford Shakespeare and none but an expert could tell which was biggest or contained the most plaster."

Critic Reviews:

"[T]he entire audio book is a tribute to Twain's comic sense and word-play... If Is Shakespeare Dead? is one of Mark Twain's works that you've resisted reading until now, this audio book is an enjoyable way to experience one of Twain's last autobiographical writings.... Twain's words and Henzel's voice are at perfect pitch." (Kevin McConnell, in The Mark Twain Forum)

Members Reviews:

Badly made...

This is a book worth owning but make sure you purchase it from a different publishing house. Kessinger Publishing will sell you a hardcover book for $24 that is so badly made that you can see the glue holding the binding together on page one. I expect a better quality from a hardcover than i would in a paperback and yet this hardcover is so cheaply made that the average paperback would put it to shame.

Now for the material itself. This is not Twain's wittiest of works nor even his best written, but I relish every line of it nonetheless as he builds a case advancing the notion that just perhaps the works of Shakespeare are not written by Shakespeare at all. Pen name? Sure, especially if you suspect the real author to be by Bacon instead but Twain goes about piecing together the sparse information concerning the great bard and the inconsistencies of what is known sniffing out what can only be a conspiracy to rival that of 9/11. But this is not the beauty of this work because after all what difference does it make who wrote the great works, shakespeare will always continue to be 'shakespeare', what Twain seems to be exploring is the ability for one to address what is known to be a 'fact', accepted truth or Holy Cow.

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Title: Audiobook Blunders

Subtitle: The Books In Motion 'Gag Reel'

Author: Books In Motion

Narrator: Kris Faulkner, Cameron Beierle, Jerry Sciarrio, Gene Engene, Rebecca Cook, Reed McColm

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 59 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-19-11

Publisher: Books In Motion

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 7 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Artists, Writers, & Musicians

Publisher's Summary:

Have you ever wondered what happens behind the scenes during an audiobook recording session? Here is your opportunity to find out! Sometimes the words don't flow quite as easily as you would think, and when the performers run into a tongue twister, the results can be hilarious and bring out the true personalities of our readers.

We will put you behind the microphone and in the booth with Kris Faulkner, Cameron Beierle, Jerry Sciarrio, Gene Engene, Rebecca Cook, Reed McColm, and many other popular Books In Motion readers as they try to recover from an accent malfunction, or attempt to hold back a giggling episode.

As recording sessions would sometimes turn into a comedy of errors, our engineers began a tradition of saving the best outtakes to play back for their own amusement or at company parties. After years of compiling these snippets, we ended up with over two hours of bloopers, and we thought that our faithful customers would enjoy these rare moments as well, and appreciate an invitation inside the making of an audiobook.

Members Reviews:

Ever wondered how great narrators remain suave?

Ever wondered how great narrators remain suave? I'm happy to report they don't.

I adore having audiobooks, which I credit keeping me from road-, air- and queue-rage many a time. Most audiobooks in my library are really good, some are great, and there have been a few stinkers. How can narrators say some of those lines and keep a straight face? Well, they can't.

It also made me think of authors from previous centuries who designed their works to be read aloud, and how few of the recent ones have. Or are they sadists, writing lines like 'slicked back into a sleek chignon' to bedevil our heroes and turn narrators into mere humans, who can trip over tongue-twisters.

And how can they narrate goopy or ungrammatical or gross lines, without vocalising 'eurgh'!?

Well, they can't.

Nice to know!

A charming little diversion which I have yet to finish, but I needed to refute the previous review ASAP, and this is made to dip into for a laugh. Some snippets made me wish for a menu and who's who of both authors and narrators, but I understand how some may wish to remain anonymous.

And now I'll never be able to say the word 'phenomena' without singing the Muppets 'Mah-na-ma-na' refrain after it. Sing it with me: 'Phenomena. Do doo do doo!'

Thanks!

hilarious

I found this audio while checking out Rebecca Cook's audiobooks, love her voice.

I laughed so hard at this collection, tears were running down my face and ended up with a tummy ache LOL I loved it. Thank you to whoever came up with the idea and all the awesome narrators (thank you Ms. Cook) who allowed their bloopers to be added. I could have done without hearing the burping scenes, but that is one of my pet peeves and nothing to do with how awesome this audio is. I hope there will be more. Thank you for the giggles and LOLs

Recommending with 5 stars!

Such a waste...

What would have made Audiobook Blunders better?

Difference.

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Title: The Necessary Aptitude

Author: Pam Ayres

Narrator: Pam Ayres

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 33 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-15-11

Publisher: Random House AudioBooks

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 5 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Artists, Writers, & Musicians

Publisher's Summary:

I never once attended a Sunday morning church service in Stanford. There was always the feeling that they werent aimed at families like ours.

Pam Ayres was the sixth child in a hard-up family who lived in a council house, her parents generation were harrowed by the war. Yet they lived by the green in the village of Stanford in the Vale, where everything you needed was within walking distance and the sound of motorcars was rarely heard. Then reaching her teens, Pam realised how few opportunities she had. At fifteen she started working for the civil service, and for a social life she had the local hop. Pam knew she had to reach out for more, and sought it first in the WRAF. But it was some time before she discovered the unique talent that would make her one of Britains best-loved comics

Containing Pams much-loved combination of humour and poignancy, The Necessary Aptitude is a beautifully written memoir of growing up in the country in post-war Berkshire.

Critic Reviews:

Ayres gives a wonderful account of what it was like to grow up poor but respectable in post-war rural England. Some of her writing in the early chapters, describing life as the youngest of six children in a council cottage in the Vale of White Horse, Berkshire, has the original freshness of classics such as Flora Thompson's Lark Rise to Candleford.Mail on Sunday

Members Reviews:

Very discritive

Would you listen to The Necessary Aptitude again? Why?

yes because I remember lots of things sheb talks about

What other book might you compare The Necessary Aptitude to and why?

none

What does Pam Ayres bring to the story that you wouldnt experience if you just read the book?

her dialoge

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

no

Any additional comments?

her poems will be next

Laugh until you cry

This is one of the best books I have ever read. It is a pure joy and pleasure. I laughed until my body hurt. It took me down memory lane reminding me of people and an era I had once known. Pam has managed to conjure up vivid pictures of her young life through to her military career that you feel you are there with her. Throughout the whole story you feel she comes from a caring and loving family. The icing on the cake being that the book is narrated by Pam herself.

ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL - a gem.

If you could sum up The Necessary Aptitude in three words, what would they be?

Wonderful. Wonderful. Wonderful.

What about Pam Ayress performance did you like?

Unforced. Funny. Lovely voice. Felt like she was in the room, having a chat.

Any additional comments?

I bought this title with no real expectations. Pam has always been around in the background of my life (childhood, tv, radio) and I thought it might be a pleasant enough 'listen'. It was a revelation. An absolutely wonderful tome - filled with genuine laughter, pathos and sharp observations regarding her own (very minor) flaws. I loved it! Cannot recommend it highly enough.Wonderful.

A Real Joy

I listened to this over a few days in December and it was a perfect pre-Christmas listen. Really warm, gently funny and evocative of an era now passed. Beautifully read.

If you want an easy, peaceful and soothing, up-lifting listen, I recommend this book to you.

Funny, nostalgic, warm & wonderful!

I absolutely loved this - how fantastic to hear the lady herself read this.

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Title: Road to the Dales

Subtitle: The Story of a Yorkshire Lad

Author: Gervase Phinn

Narrator: Gervase Phinn

Format: Abridged

Length: 6 hrs and 6 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-13-11

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 11 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Artists, Writers, & Musicians

Publisher's Summary:

Gervase Phinn tells of a life full of happiness, conversation, music and books shared with his three siblings, mother and father. This book is a snapshot of growing up in Yorkshire in the 1950s reminisce with Gervase, and share in his personal journey - of school days and holidays as well as his tentative steps into the adult world. Devour numerous uproarious stories including the incident involving a broken greenhouse, crashing his brothers newly restored bike as well as secrets about his first dates, adventures at summer camp, family trips to Blackpool and many other captivating tales.

With a wicked ear for the comical, and a sharp eye for detail, this beautifully written book visits poignant moments, significant events and precious memories from a boy called Gervase.

Critic Reviews:

"Remarkable. A steady stream of amusing anecdotes tumbling effortlessly from the pages." (Yorkshire Evening Post)

Members Reviews:

Help with the ironing.

I have read many of this author's books over the years and have always enjoyed them.

I have only recently discovered Audible and was pleased to find Gervase Phinn books available.

I listened to The Story of a Yorkshire Lad whilst attacking a pile of ironing and it was almost enjoyable---the ironing I mean! The book was great especially when read by the author.

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Title: A Helluva High Note

Subtitle: Surviving Life, Love, and American Idol

Author: Kara DioGuardi

Narrator: Kara DioGuardi

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 6 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-26-11

Publisher: HarperAudio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 21 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Artists, Writers, & Musicians

Publisher's Summary:

Kara DioGuardi is an award-winning hitmaker, a savvy record executive, and a successful music publisher whose songs have been recorded by such superstars as Pink, Carrie Underwood, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Kelly Clarkson, Gwen Stefani, Santana, Steven Tyler, CÉline Dion, and so many others. She was also the feisty fourth judge on American Idol. But success wouldnt have happened for this songwriter, artist, and producer without the dark times of defeat. Filled with the grace, raw honesty, and haunting emotion of her hit songs, A Helluva High Note is the soundtrack to Karas life - an intimate anthem about living, creating, loving, stumbling, picking herself up again, and ultimately succeeding. It is a moving chronicle of the experiences that have inspired her songs and given her the resilience and perspective to become the confidant, accomplished, adventurous warrior she is today.

Kara not only writes about what it was like to collaborate with some of our favorite performing artists, she also opens up about everything from her struggles with debilitating stage fright and an equally paralyzing eating disorder, to the most devastating yet profoundly life-altering experience - caring for her mother during her fatal battle with cancer. And, of course, she shares behind-the-scenes stories from her years on American Idol and the real truth about her departure from the show.

A Helluva High Note is filled with memorable and inspirational tales from the heart and trenches of life, business, and the world of entertainment. Passionate, wise, funny, and down-to-earth, it proves that finding, cultivating, and following your own true voice really is possible.

Members Reviews:

Save your money and read the online papers

I got to the end of this book and wondered if they forgot to put in the last few pages, It left me wanting that much MORE. I was wondering when the dirt would start since that IS how she/her PR people made it out to be. I know it's to create a buzz, but come on. I was a little disappointed in this to say the least. I read it cover to cover; mainly becuase I had invested so many man hours in the evening when I went to bed. And since I'll never get those hours back, I'm going to be short and to the point so I don't waste too much more.

I thought it would be juicier. I thought there would be more secrets and gossip, The only thing I found remotely interesting were the stories about being on AI, but even then she played it way too safe in her verbiage and the way she described certain situations. Other than that it just seems like she doesn't want to burn bridges with powerful people (namely Simon Cowell) so she doesn't really tell us anything we haven't already heard on the Daily Mail, so again - I was disappointed.

Kara, you done hood!

Enjoyed reading this book, even tho I didn't know Kara very well. Only saw her on Idol. But I found the whole process of song writing very interesting.

A Helluva High Note

Okay, so the first half of the book moved a little slow for me. It was told in a rather straight forward, bland kind of way that made it boring in parts. However, midway through, the book took off and I began to feel the emotion behind her story. From then on it was smooth sailing.

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Title: Al Jaffee's Mad Life

Subtitle: A Biography

Author: Mary-Lou Weisman

Narrator: Allen Lewis Rickman

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 25 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-18-11

Publisher: HarperAudio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 6 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Artists, Writers, & Musicians

Publisher's Summary:

Jaffees inventive work has enlivened the pages of MAD magazine since 1955. To date, he has pickled three generations of American kids in the brine of satire, and he continues to bring millions of childhoods to untimely ends with the knowledge that parents are hypocrites, teachers are dummies, politicians are liars, and life isnt fair.

Jaffees work for MAD has made him a cultural icon, but the compelling and at times bizarre story of his life has yet to be told. A synopsis of Jaffees formative years alone reads like a comic strip of traumatic cliff-hangers with cartoons by Jaffee and captions by Freud.

Six-year-old Jaffee was separated from his father, uprooted from his home in Savannah, Georgia, and transplanted by his mother to a shtetl in Lithuania, a 19th-century world of kerosene lamps, outhouses, physical abuse, and near starvation. He would be rescued by his father, returned to America, taken yet again by his mother back to the shtetl, and once again rescued by his father, even as Hitler was on the march.

Members Reviews:

Al Jaffee's Strange Childhood

When Al Jaffee was six, his mother took him and his two brothers and returned to the Lithuanian town she was from. A year later, his father came and took them all back to the States. Then, his mother AGAIN took the children to Lithuania. Through the details of Al's life as a serially displaced child--dealing with anti-semitism, lice, outhouses, strange foods and languages, and separation from his dearest love, the Sunday comics--we gain insight into the development of one of America's most loved and most influential cartoonists. It's a remarkable story, and Mary Lou Weisman does a first-rate job of bringing the reader back in time, both in the American and Lithuanian sections. This is not primarily a book about Mad Magazine, although there is ample coverage of that subject in the later chapters, once Al is safely back in New York. Nor is it a particularly funny one. But it will reward anyone with an interest in what it was like to be a Jew in Eastern Europe, pre-WWII, as well as anyone who enjoys survival stories. The illustrations by Jaffee himself are terrific, and help bring the various anecdotes to life even more. Some, like the skeletons a work crew dug up in the village and propped along the sides of the road (possibly a mass gave from WW1), are unforgettable; there are also reproductions of some of Al's early work ("Silly Seal and Ziggy Pig," anyone?) that are great fun. Weisman's accomplishment here is that she skillfully arranges the story without intruding on it except when necessary (providing some historical information, say). The story remains very much Al's, and it's a revelation to learn about the childhood that provided the psychological basis for all those Snappy Answers and Fold-Ins. Al never trusted grown-ups, even when he became one, and if you read this book, you'll understand why.

Good, but I was hoping for more MAD info.

There was about a three year period for me growing up in the 1970s when MAD Magazine was the bomb. From about 3rd grade until about 6th grade, nothing brought me more pleasure than a trip to the grocery store, heading towards the periodicals, and seeing that the new, bi-monthly issue of MAD was out.

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Title: Threepenny Memoir

Subtitle: The Lives of a Libertine

Author: Carl Barat

Narrator: Carl Barat

Format: Unabridged

Length: 4 hrs and 24 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-26-10

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Artists, Writers, & Musicians

Publisher's Summary:

The extraordinary life and times of Carl Barat, Libertine. From his childhood in suburban Basingstoke, through times of literally being down and out in London and Paris, to success as one of the co-founders of one of Britain's most revered bands, Carl Barat has gone through the glass darkly as bands fell apart around him, friendships faltered and egos and hedonism threatened to pull his life apart.

Members Reviews:

Insightful

Beautiful, witty, heartbreaking at times - I was a big fan of Carl's in my youth and this re-stoked my passion for his music as well as filling me with nostalgia. Really recommend this.

loved it

Must listen for any Libertines fans. I loved this book as it really gives you an insight into what was happening in the lives of Carl, Pete, John and Gary.

A work of art

Insightful audio book. Delving into a side of Carl we don't see. He spoke so fast at times so I was occasionally rewind the audio.

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Title: Outside Looking In

Subtitle: Adventures of an Observer

Author: Garry Wills

Narrator: Garry Wills

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 9 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-14-10

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 12 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Artists, Writers, & Musicians

Publisher's Summary:

Bookish and retiring, Garry Wills has been an outsider in the academy, in journalism, even in his church. Yet these qualities have, paradoxically, prompted people to share intimate insights with him - perhaps because he is not a rival, a competitor, or a threat. Sometimes this made him the prey of con men, like conspiratorialist Mark Lane or civil rights leader James Bevel. At other times it led to close friendship with such people as William F. Buckley, Jr., or singer Beverly Sills. The result is the most personal book Wills has ever written.

With his dazzling style and journalist's eye for detail, Wills brings history to life, whether it's the civil rights movement; the protests against the Vietnam War; the presidential campaigns of Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton; or the set of Oliver Stone's Nixon. Illuminating and provocative, Outside Looking In is a compelling chronicle of an original thinker at work in remarkable times.

Critic Reviews:

"One of the country's most distinguished intellectuals [and] one of its most provocative." (The New York Times)

Members Reviews:

An Old Man's Memories

OUTSIDE LOOKING IN: ADVERTURES OF A JOURNALIST is a well-written book. For this reason, I give it five stars. It consists of a series of Garry Wills' memories about his life. These are mostly an old man's fond memories. Fortunately, he does not seem to be settling scores. But the chapters are not arranged in chronological order. Toward the end, he does have a chapter about his father and his early childhood, and the last chapter is about his private life (his wife and marriage). But most of the other chapters are about his public life as a journalist and the people he met in connection with his journalistic writing.

Prospective readers of this book might reasonably wonder where Wills is coming from, as they say. Catholic sociologists of religion have referred to Catholics in the United States as forming and belonging to a Catholic ghetto. Protestant anti-Catholic bias contributed decisively to the formation and perpetuation of this so-called Catholic ghetto. However, in response to strong external conditions that contributed to making and perpetuating this so-called Catholic ghetto, Catholic themselves undertook the formation of a parallel culture of their own, most obviously through the development of Catholic formal education. Wills is the product of the ghetto Catholic culture of Catholic formal education.

In this new book Garry Wills does not give us exact dates for various events in the course of his life. But he was born in 1934 in Atlanta, Georgia. He grew up in Michigan and Wisconsin. His parents were high school graduates. He tells us that at an early age he had become a bookworm. But he does not reflect on what had prompted him to become a bookworm. His parents weren't bookworms. He went to Catholic schools taught by nuns. In elementary school in Adrian, Michigan, he learned how to diagram sentences in English. In the Jesuit boarding school in Wisconsin that he subsequently attended, he learned Latin and Greek and how to diagram sentences in Latin and Greek (pages 4-5).

At some juncture in his life, he entered the Jesuit order, which has a two-year novitiate. As part of his Jesuit training, he did his undergraduate studies at Saint Louis University, the Jesuit university in St. Louis, Missouri.