Boys Books

I think I read all of Max Schulman's books while attending Florida State University in 1947, the year FSU was born. Until then, except for The Holy Bible, I had read little fiction and suddenly realized what I'd been missing. The best part was talking with girls about my new reading habit. It apparently impressed them and I got laid a lot. Thanks, Max.

At the suggestion of my father, who read the book while in the AirCorp in WWII, I decided to read this book. I believe it to be one of the funniest books I have ever read! It is a timeless classic about a small town boy and his transition into college life. It covers all the problems that freshman face: going to see an advisor for suggestions on classes, the courses themselves, the attempt to make friends, the different type of people one meets on a university campus, and the homesickness one feels for their family and an old love. This book is a well written comedy that you will not be able to put down!

When I was in high school I was a big fan of the writer Max Shulman. He published "Barefoot Boy With Cheek" in 1943 when he was in his early twenties, a new graduate of the University of Minnesota. ("The University of Minnesota is, of coure, wholly imaginary.") There he had earned a reputation as the editor of "Ski-U-Mah," the campus humor magazine. He published a half dozen novels, two of which became musical comedies on Broadway, while two others became television series and movies. He is probably best known for "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis," which became a successful TV series, and "The Tender Trap," a movie starring Debbie Reynolds.

I recently came across a well-worn copy of "Barefoot Boy---" in a used-book store and read it again. It's an outrageous satire of college life, a story of the hilarious freshman year of Asa Hearthrug at the (imaginary) University of Minnesota.

"St. Paul and Minneapolis extend from the Mississippi River like the legs on a pair of trousers. Where they join is the University of Minnesota."

Asa is promptly registered into a liberal arts program in order to become a "well rounded-out personality," and is then recruited into the Alpha Cholera fraternity, where he emotionally joins in singing the frat song:

"Stand, good men, take off your hat
To Alpha Cholera, our swell frat.
In our midst you'll find no rat,
And don't let anyone tell you that."

He soon meets Yetta Samovar, and is promptly recruited into the Minnesota Chapter of the Subversive Elements League, where he emotionally joins in singing:

"Workers, workers,
Don't be shirkers,
There's a job we have to do.
Flee your prison,
Collectivism
Is the thing for you to do."

Back at Alpha Cholera he gets invited to a sorority song-title party at Beta Thigh, which he attends as "Tea for Two," with a silver tea service balanced on his head. His date, arranged by his frat brother, is the beautiful Noblesse Oblige, whose song title costume includes a smudge pot attached to her navel. "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," of course!

Asa becomes torn between Noblesse, the fraternity, and the Belongers, or Yetta, the Subversives, and the Unbelongers.

He loses his bid as the dark horse candidate for the student council, flunks all his classes, and returns to his home at Whistlestop and his girlfriend Lodestone La Toole.

Each chapter of the book is preceded by a penetrating quotation in French or Latin, like the one I chose as the title for this review.

An appreciation, or at least a tolerance, for silliness and absurdity is the minimum requirement to enjoy this outrageous satire of college life. I will highly recommend the book to those with that appreciation or tolerance.

You may or may not be aware of this characteristic of Minnesota Scandinavians: We LOVE to make fun of ourselves!

I first read this book in high school (in the mid '50's). I still haven't stopped laughing when I think about it. I want my h/s son to read it, since he's thinking about going to college soon. I think Asa's adventures would help him. Or, have I misspelled "Asa's name." I sure hope not. It's a great book, really, and are Shulman's others.

This book says more in 200 pages than Brett Ellis, Blake Morrrison and Iain Banks have said in all their related literature. For myself, this text is one of the better intellectual statements on sociopathy since Dostoyevsky's "Crime & Punishment" with Mr Fyfe's - whoever he is ?- brilliantly condensed description of unconscious fantasy. I reccomend it to other health professionals in adolescent psychiatry.Incidentally, does anyone know Mark Fyfe's e-mail for correspondence?

Dr. A V R Watkins, formerly consultant Psychiatrist, Maudsley Hospital London

Fyfe casts a spellbinding tale...nothing of the sort has ever been written so well. Where he came from is unimportant when you realize where he is going. Expect more from this hidden gem.

Mark Fyfe has a knack for telling it like it is.

In response to the Kirkus Review of Mark Fyfe's novel, I would like to reproduce a few of his comments as made in a recent interview for Oxford English, The Journal of the Faculty of English at Oxford University

OXENG
Your novel doesn't seem to give any reason for Asher's sociopathic behaviour?

MF
That I don't is precisely the point of the book's statement against social reductionism - reflexively satirised again and again by Asher just in case you miss it...

OXENG
So you're saying that it is the reviewer, finding, or possibly not finding, that the object of the satire is their own expectations of causal explanation of the personality of a character

MF
Yes, I am saying that. For example, everything that I've read about the Jamie Bulger case makes inferences from single or multiple cause explanation, none of which is anything more than unsupported opinion. For example, Elizabeth Newsome, in The Journal of Mental Health attributes the crime to the availability of violent videos. Instead of concrete scientific data, she backs up the article with a list of people who agree with her point of view.

OXENG
But surely you can't be putting forward a character entirely without underlying motivations?

MF
You're right, that's not what I'm doing. Rather, it is that Asher rejects his underlying motivations systematically - look at the passages where Asher evidently is in flight from the spectre of his father, but experiences that as a battle which he always believes he wins. At the end of the book his control of his defensive strategies leaves him -and no longer in denial he breaks down.

OXENG
But in order for the reader to recognise this process of denial they need to at least have the same field of intellectual reference as Asher?

MF
I think it would have been insulting to the readership to produce a heavily signposted, and or dumbed down text. When I pick up an Iris Murdoch, Joyce or Beckett novel, I bring with me a set of given and received information that I regard as necessary and quite normal to begin intelligible reading. One doesn't need a roadmap of culture to navigate Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations. One simply needs to think.

I can't say enough how much this book impressed me. It is the one of the most accurate and chilling insights into the mind of an adolescent that has been written in the last 15 years. Asher himself bears comparison with the icy protagonist of Amis' Rachel Papers, but where the Rachel Papers stops at being an entertaining insight into callow youth, Mark Fyfe's debut is underpinned with a distubingly thourough debunking of the falacies of modern sociology and culture. A deeply significant concept, superbly made flesh and elegantly handled.

Volume 3 of Astro Boy is special for a couple of reasons.

First, as Tezuka tells us himself in the introduction, the novel-length story "The Greatest Robot on Earth" that comprises most of this volume is one of his most popular Astro Boy stories. It's a children's comics classic about the world's seven strongest robots, and like all Tezuka works has a number of themes and messages buried beneath the surface. It's excellent reading for kids, Tezuka fans, and adults interested in the comics medium in general.

Second, "The Greatest Robot on Earth" inspired a recent manga called Pluto, which has been running in Japan since 2003, won numerous awards and is drawing comparisons to such graphic novel greats as Alan Moore's Watchmen. Pluto is by Naoki Urasawa, famous for his long, intelligent and realistic mystery and sci-fi thrillers Monster and 20th Century Boys. Viz is scheduled to start publishing Pluto in English in February 2009. Having read most of Pluto myself, I can say that it is a marvel of modern manga storytelling that re-imagines "The Greatest Robot on Earth" and makes it darker, more adult, and more complex. It's fascinating to read this volume and Pluto together to see how Urasawa took inspiration from Tezuka's adventure story and expanded on its characters and universe (Pluto has run 50-odd chapters as of mid-2008).

If you only ever buy one volume of Astro Boy, make it this one.

Q: Do you have a male preteen, who likes Pokemon, Yugioh, cartoons, owns at least two game systems (handhelds count) and knows what anime is?

A: Yes.

Stop here and buy the series. Don't ask why, or is it valuable, beneficial or even engage in the debate about the academic merits of comic books, or graphic novels. I could tell you it is a Japanese classic, on par with Superman, that it may be a collectors item in the future or it is an engaging series with complex subplots for this age group.

That doesn't matter.

You only need to know that if you buy it:

1. He is reading
2. He is reading
3. He is not playing a video game
4. He is reading
5. He is not arguing or fighting with a sibling
6. He is not watching TV like a mindless drone
7. He is reading
8. He will want to read other graphic novels.

"Astro Boy (Volume 3)" reprints one of the most popular stories in the Astro Boy saga, that of his struggles against the mighty Pluto, a super-robot designed to duel and destroy Earth's seven most powerful robots. Astro Boy, or course, is number seven on the list.

Pluto has long been depicted as Astro Boy's Arch Enemy, and any action shots of Astro Boy are likely to be seen in battle with this mighty horned robot. One by one, Pluto tackles and destroys the greatest robots from several countries, such as Mont Blanc from France, Hercules from Greece, as well as champions from Australia, Germany and Scotland. In order to challenge Pluto, Astro Boy has his power increased to 1 million horsepower. Will it be enough?

As well as a good story, "Astro Boy (Volume 3)" is a glimpse into Tezuka Osamu's soul. Unable to make Pluto completely evil, he redeems the murderous robot with a sense of honor and responsibility, as well as a desire for the friendship of Astro Boy's sister, Uran. As with all of Tezuka's stories, there is more going on under the surface, as the struggle to build a more and more powerful robot becomes a metaphor for the nuclear arms race of the 1950s Cold War.

Also included in this volume is a short story, "Mad Machine," where an evil scientist creates a device that makes all machines, from clocks to Astro Boy, go berserk. He uses the machine to extort 2 billion yen from the robots of the world. Of course, such a scheme could never work with Astro Boy around!

This is one of the best Astro Boy Managa.The Astro Boy managa our good for kids and are funny.This one about Astro Boy fighting Pluto and Pluto fighting 7 other robots.

Wow-- I've read some great books, and this one is among the best! A book of family love, laughter, sentimentality, sadness and joy. A book that shows how a grandfather and grandson enjoyed and loved each other for many years. As a grandfather with a three year old grandson, I could only dream about such a book being written about us someday. God bless the grandfather, Joe, and his author, grandson John. May their relationship serve as a role model for famliy life between generations.

What a pleasure to read this book and experience the love and respect between a boy and grandfather. What a wonderful family it must have been to grow up in. I am glad he found the time to write this tribute to his grandfather.

Wow, what an wholesome trip back to the past. This book will make you laugh out loud, and in the very next chapter it will make you cry. This book is a book all of those career focused individuals should read to get you back to the reality of family and those grandfathers who are not sure if you are making a difference, b/c you will see you are and family is the most important asset in life. This is a must read, you will not regret it!!!!!!

Wow, what an wholesome trip back to the past. This book will make you laugh out loud, and in the very next chapter it will make you cry. This book is a book all of those career focused individuals should read to get you back to the reality of family and those grandfathers who are not sure if you are making a difference, b/c you will see you are and family is the most important asset in life. This is a must read, you will not regret it!!!!!!

In my view this movie is the best movie ever produced. It becomes the best send up of Australian Culture and Contemporary life in Australia today.
Bubby isnt a mental case or demented, he has just discovered the outside universe ,the EXTERNAL MANIFESTATION of the world he knew------IE Australian Lifestyle.
If you like Australia and want to go to bed with it, then I recommend this!

Aaron from Brisbane Australia

Bad Boy Bubby (Rolf de Heer, 1993)

de Heer's (The Quiet Room, The Old Man Who Read Love Stories) fourth film is a marked departure from anything he'd done before; in fact, it's a marked departure from anything anyone had done before. It's twisted, grotesque, certifiable, and in its own way, incredibly sweet.

Nicholas Hope (Henry Fool, Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid) starts in the title role, a man, perhaps autistic, who's been a bad boy (no surprise). He's been so bad that his mother (Robbery Under Arms' Claire Benito, in her only leading role) has kept him locked in the house his whole life, and he's had no human contact other than her. She's convinced him the air outside the house is poisoned, so when he is forced out into the world after a visit from his long-estranged father, he's not only completely unprepared for human contact, but scared to breathe, as well. After he leaves the house, we follow him through a series of adventures that teach him (in warped ways, granted) to communicate with those around him and with the outside world. It's the old Jeff Bridges movie Starman filtered through Oedipus Rex.

I'll warn you, the first half hour of this film is going to drive many people away. The dynamic between Bubby and his mother is a little too weird for the mainstream mind to handle; as well, the first third of the film plays out more like a psychological horror film than the dark comedy it really is. If you have problems with the first half hour, persevere. Once Bubby gets out of the house, things lighten up a good deal (though the humor in the film is never lighter than, say, midnight blue). Bubby's arrested development, both emotional and social, makes for some wonderfully twisted comedy (and, needless to say, various adolescent obsessions that one would expect more from a Hollywood comedy, but they're done here with a little more style-- emphasis on little).Inside the whole thing really does rest a heart of gold; while Bubby may have trouble interacting with the outside world, once he meets people who understand him, the movie reveals a surprisingly sweet center inside the sour coating.

Bad Boy Bubby may not be the best-constructed film in the world, and many viewers will likely find it somewhat crude, but it's still a must-see. *** ½

When me saw Bubby, me be luvin' it! Bubby be havin good time with Mum and Pop and makes them be still. Cat be still too. Adrian wants to be Bubby. 'Two of those wonderfully fattening chocolate eclairs please....thanks sweety.' Adrian be luvin Bubby things and espescially be luvin' Rachael in her garden. Adrian cry for he has no Rschael

To my knowledge the only North American showing of this film was at the Seattle Film Festival. It instantly became a word-of-mouth hit. Bad Boy Bubby ROCKS!

While earning honors at Canne, this Australian release was doomed for distribution in this country from the opening scene - Bubby standing naked in a washtub as he is sponge-bathed by his Mum. American distributors blanched; there was NO WAY they could invent a blurb for this film in the first place, and now a naked guy, well forget it, gimme some good old exploding bullet hits.

The first 40 minutes of this film are not for the faint-hearted....there isn't any blood or gore to speak of, but it is unremittingly grim: All Bubby has known for his 34 years is a 2 bedroom windowless cement apartment. His Mum tells him there's been a war, and that without a gas mask, he will die if he goes outside.

There hasn't been any war, or poison gas, Bubby's Mum is just a tad overprotective and wacked out. Of course, he do! es manage to get out. From there...well it HAS to be seen...how do you explain how Bubby buys food in the real world with a saran-wrapped cat corpse? Like Eraserhead, you can't talk about this film, you can only watch it.

Bottom line: I have never seen a film that starts out as grim and unpleasant as this one does that finishes with as sweet an ending. There are a number - many - plot transitions that any other director would have flubbed; the way that De Heer skips thru this minefield is a joy and a wonder. Get it, view it, be grateful that it has finally made it back into this country. A quote from Bubby - "God can see everything I do - and he's gonna beat me brainless."

This would have been much better if its author had limited his story to his adventures in Paris in the twenties, as did Hemingway in "A Moveable Feast". (Hemingway appears in "Bad Boy of Music" by the bye.) Still this is very entertaining. Its author exaggerates and invents and lies through his teeth--you might learn something.

Also recommended: PENTATONIC SCALES FOR THE JAZZ-ROCK KEYBOARDIST by Jeff Burns.

My interest in reading George Antheil's autobiography came from admiration for his music and what he could relate about Paris in the 1920's. Mr. Antheil was a very good writer and wrote quite a lot during his life, particularly for Esquire magazine. He gives his writing a conversational style that flows nicely. I liked the fact that he began his book with stories of his brief career as a pianist and how hard it is to be a traveling musician. Must amusing is that he had a gun concealed in a silk holster when he perform - except once in Budapest when he placed it on the piano. His performances had been greeted with so many riots that he felt he needed the option to shot his way out of the concert hall.

Mr. Antheil's book is more the story of his life than a review of his musical life and compositions. He does discuss the writing of his operas, sometimes in rather tedious detail, but he rarely talks about his compositions with any detail. One interesting comment in the book concerns his Fourth Symphony which had been compared to the music of Dmitri Shostakovich. Mr. Antheil revealed that a good portion of the music came from his opera "Transatlantic" and so pre-dated all of the Shostakovich symphonies. Therefore, any similarities in style are coincidental.

We learn a lot from Mr. Antheil about his life and loves and money worries, and there are some interesting anecdotes about Stravinsky, Hemmingway and James Joyce but Mr. Antheil seldom focuses on his realtionships with other famous people. The chapter about Mr. Antheil and Hedy Lamarr inventing a radio controlled torpedo is very interesting but one is left wondering how they set about designing such a thing.

The book also provides an interesting look at Europe, particularly Germany, after the First World War. "Bad Boy of Music" is entertaining if sometimes a bit rambling at times but if you have an interest in Mr. Antheil's music this book is a must read.

If you like the legendary "Autobiography of Edwark Bok" I think you will like this. It is a wonderful and witty book by a man who had a meteoric career and then was, strangely, forgotten. Extremely entertaining, very well written. One of the top 100 books I've ever read.

This book is thoroughly entertaining. From tips on how to control and unruly audience(a pistol works well) to patents on guidance systems for torpedoes this book covers the gamut. Oh yes, he does talk about music. Get a copy of Ballet Mecanique and you will understand Mr. Antheil, bright mind, brilliant technique, tongue firmly in cheek and willing to be audacious 24/7. His music is really quite intriguing. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra played Symphony no. 5 'Joyous' during the 2000-2001 season and introduced me to this under-appreciated, under-performed American composer.

My fifteen-year-old son read Baker's Dozen on the ride home from Maryland today. As we rode along, whenever I tried to engage him in conversation, he politely asked when he could get back to reading. In part that's a clever way of ignoring his dad, but during the ride he laughed out loud in several places, and during the part about the wooden sword fight and deer-head stabbing, his expression was one of amazement .. he was truly caught up in the story the whole time he was reading it. He gives it a B to B+, and would recommend it to others. He said that while it probably wouldn't interest an old fellow like me, it was good for his age range. I call it high praise when the reader's face shows a wide range of emotions, as his did during the ride. Clearly, this book is a good read.

one book make it Baker's Dozen. If you have to own two books make it Baker's Dozen and a Bible.

Joshua really brings to life 13 days of High School for those who forgot what it was like and for those who need reminding. This book shows what it was like any ordinary day in the life of a busy high school student starting two weeks before 9/11 and ending the day after the towers fell. This book is written as a journal, therefore it is life as seen through the eyes of an informed, albeit confused high school student.

Moorhead, at the ripe age of 20 manages to seamlessly blend the timeless memories of highschool with the time-changing massacre that is 9/11. This young author is here to stay.

Terry only spent two days in New York City. Out of that brief experience he was able to create a world uneen and unknown but as real as the Statue of Liberty. The artist saw the clowns, the boy, the colors, the scents and the "whole overview" just as they lived in his imagination. Suzanne has brought our dream to reality in living color. The story is for all ages and for all imaginations. Terry's Mom

"Ballon Boy" is a very entertaining story! Not only does it have an adventurous storyline, but it also has many, many subtle life lessons. (Very clever on this young author's part.) Readers of all ages will enjoy this book!

this book was given to me by my aunt this christmas and she told me her brother had written it when he was 19. I read the book and thought it was wonderful for a 19 year old and a 119 year old. He wrote it so well and props to my aunt and her sister for finishing the book after he died.
i recommend this book for EVERYONE!

It was a very funny book. Balloon Boy may be the star, but his clown family steal the show. Great for children who love rhyming books.

A poignant and well-written memoir filled with humor and pathos. A young man's struggle with the philosophical and social conflicts of being a German fighting on the side of his adopted home, America. Frazier describes some interesting pre-war times in Berlin and then describes his wartime experiences with intelligence and passion. I highly recommend it.

A poignant and well-written memoir filled with humor and pathos. A young man's struggle with the philosophical and social conflicts of being a German fighting on the side of his adopted home, America. Frazier describes some interesting pre-war times in Berlin and then describes his wartime experiences with intelligence and passion. I highly recommend it.

I was gripped by it. It is a great contribution to the history of that era. Dramatically a young boy's story builds, from his childhood in Germany to his naturalization in the U.S. to his return to the Fatherland (as an American soldier), all the way to Dachau and beyond. What a sweep of history, to cover a huge swath of 1940's history in a single character's participation.

This is a unique and fascinating true story of a young man caught up in some of the darkest and most dramatic moments in history. Through his adventures, questions, and insights he demonstrates that life and even war can take us on a profound spiritual journey. Shakti Gawain, author of Creative Visualization and Living in the Light.

Forget Black Beauty, which I always found way too depressing. My all-time favorite book as a child was Big Black Horse, until I was old enough to read The Black Stallion. I can't tell you how many hours I spent reading this book, looking at the illustrations and longing for a black Arabian stallion of my very own. I don't know what became of my original book and when I saw that they re-released Big Black Horse, I HAD to order it just to have it on my bookshelves. THAT'S the kind of impact Walter Farley's books have had on children and adults alike.

Nice book for a kid to read that likes/loves horse's. Highly recommend for children. BUT anything by Walter Farley is just awesome. This is a child's version for The Black Stallion greatly put together. Thanks again Walter Farley!

This book was a childhood favorite of mine. I was thrilled to find the version I so loved.

Until now horse fans have had to wait to develop good reading skills to enjoy the only in-print version of Walter Farley's 'Black Stallion' series, but his BIG BLACK HORSE: A STORYBOOK VERSION OF THE BLACK STALLION is perfect for picturebook readers with basic reading skills. Black and white and color drawings by James Schucker supplement the story of Alec, who finds himself shipwrecked on a desert island with a dangerous, wild horse for company. THE BLACK STALLION was first published in 1941 and received wide acclaim: its appearance as a picture book will involve a wider audience and includes the original art from Farley's 1953 picturebook adaptation of the tale.