tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1708363929851599136.comments2023-07-28T06:30:21.283-07:00NorthtownbooksNorthtown Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06990468107226921826noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1708363929851599136.post-91416827079249416802011-04-07T23:42:52.021-07:002011-04-07T23:42:52.021-07:00Looking forward to it Sharon - Liked the review in...Looking forward to it Sharon - Liked the review in WIREDSciencejgullamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08278624075772824526noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1708363929851599136.post-9702708750258196602010-06-04T23:53:40.438-07:002010-06-04T23:53:40.438-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1708363929851599136.post-60941367306332450942009-10-05T10:51:17.429-07:002009-10-05T10:51:17.429-07:00Hey guys, just found your blog and subscribed - wa...Hey guys, just found your blog and subscribed - way cool!<br /><br />Just wanted to let you know the video of Amy's talk is up on my site, North Coast Gardening. Amy graciously gave permission for me to record it and put it up online.<br /><br />I'll be sure and change my post to include a link to your post about it! I had a great time.<br /><br />http://www.northcoastgardening.com/2009/08/amy-stewart-wicked-plants-talk/Genevievehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01805172816823739578noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1708363929851599136.post-35086172375385756182009-07-24T04:50:47.489-07:002009-07-24T04:50:47.489-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11302654872750928188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1708363929851599136.post-46821087949684627882009-04-30T16:39:00.000-07:002009-04-30T16:39:00.000-07:00To join the groups just show up on the Sunday sche...To join the groups just show up on the Sunday scheduled at 5:30 pm.<br /><br />The store will be closed by then, so give a good knock on the door.<br /><br />To recieve an email update on Northtown's book group, just send a message to:<br /><br />info@northtownbooks.comNorthtown Bookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06990468107226921826noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1708363929851599136.post-3407573377900373472009-04-29T00:01:00.000-07:002009-04-29T00:01:00.000-07:00How does one become a part of the book reading gro...How does one become a part of the book reading group?VSchipanihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02417363794707476047noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1708363929851599136.post-35613292830685807402009-04-02T11:04:00.000-07:002009-04-02T11:04:00.000-07:00PLEASE BUY MY BOOKBooklistFebruary 15, 2009The Bar...PLEASE BUY MY BOOK<BR/>Booklist<BR/>February 15, 2009<BR/><BR/>The Barfighter.<BR/>Goldman, Ivan G. (Author) <BR/>Apr 2009. 248 p. Permanent Press, hardcover, $28.00<BR/><BR/>At 41, Lee Cheskis is a part-time junior-college instructor and day laborer. He learned to box in college. Drafted in 1965, he boxed to avoid being sent to Vietnam. Articles he wrote after his discharge about the Bay Area counterculture won him a job with the New York Times, but his career and his marriage ended in four years. Now, two decades later, he’s living in a garage apartment, unloading moving vans, working out in a boxing gym, and getting into fistfights in bars. In a court-mandated anger-management class, he meets and subsequently becomes the manager of a gangbanger who wants to learn to box. Boxing has fallen off the professional sports map, and it’s unlikely that many readers under 40 have ever read a boxing novel. Ideally, this fine book will change that. Goldman, a columnist for Ring magazine, illuminates a largely unknown world and tells an engaging tale of redemption filled with vividly drawn characters. The Barfighter is wryly funny, insightful, and warmly human. —Thomas Gaughan <BR/><BR/><BR/>Kirkus Reviews February 1, 2008<BR/><BR/>Goldman, Ivan G. THE BARFIGHTER<BR/><BR/>A witty, fast-paced, well-plotted addition to boxing literature from The Ring magazine columnist Goldman (Where the Money Is, 1995). The novel opens in Los Angeles in 1984. After cold-cocking a cop in a bar fight, Lee Cheskis is sentenced to anger-management class. Flash back to 1965, when Cheskis, then an Army draftee, devoted himself to boxing as a way of avoiding deployment to Vietnam. He learned savagery as a means of avoiding savagery, and the moral implications of what he did to a friend have haunted him ever since, through a brief career as a newspaper journalist and onward into teaching at a community college and moving furniture. Cheskis is a taciturn, damaged guy who evades all questions about his past. He’s recently reconnected with boxing and has been working out under the tutelage of crusty Eddie Welsh. When a hard-nosed gangbanger from his anger class asks for an introduction, Cheskis finds himself sucked into a boxing adventure; Marvin “Quick” O’Brien is good, and he quickly ascends the heavyweight ranks with Cheskis as his manager. His association with O’Brien also forces Cheskis to confront his past, as he encounters his Army coach and mentor Valaitas, who played a crucial role in the misadventure he’s been running from. The prose sometimes lacks literary finesse, and certain characters seem stock, but Goldman more than compensates with plentiful action, pungent dialogue and colorful peripheral figures ranging from Ken Kesey and Neal Cassady to a promoter who bears a resemblance to Don King. Entertaining and acutely observed—and the boxing milieu and mindset are utterly persuasive. A winner.<BR/><BR/><BR/>Publishers Weekly December 15, 2008<BR/> <BR/>The Barfighter Ivan G. Goldman. Permanent, $28 (248p) ISBN 978-1-57962-182-7<BR/>Goldman (Where the Money Is) brings to life the sleazy underbelly of professional boxing in the 1980s, where double crosses, thievery and cheating were commonplace. After instigating a bar brawl that leads to his arrest, former army-trained boxer and journalist Lee Cheskis lands in anger management class. There he meets Marvin, the former gangbanger who is desperate to box. Lee introduces Marvin to Eddie, the salty old boxing trainer and gym owner, who discovers that Marvin is a natural. As Marvin works his way up from small auditoriums to big arenas, it becomes obvious just how seedy and disreputable the boxing world really is as fighters, fights and allegiances are easily bought and sold. Goldman's ear for dialogue and snappy pace make this latest an entertaining read, and boxing fans may recognize some of the sport's famous personalities as inspirations for the characters. Though the boxing-as-salvation story is nothing new, readers will root for this little band of misfits to succeed against the odds. (Apr.)Ivan G. Goldmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14251047659568473267noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1708363929851599136.post-35556143931136321432009-01-18T22:59:00.000-08:002009-01-18T22:59:00.000-08:00A Reading List That Shaped a PresidentSome of Pres...A Reading List That Shaped a President<BR/>Some of President-elect Barack Obama’s favored reading matter:<BR/> • The Bible<BR/> • “Parting the Waters,” Taylor Branch<BR/> • “Self-Reliance,” Ralph Waldo Emerson<BR/> • Gandhi’s autobiography<BR/> • “Team of Rivals,” Doris Kearns Goodwin<BR/> • “The Golden Notebook,” Doris Lessing<BR/> • Lincoln’s collected writings<BR/> • “Moby-Dick,” Herman Melville<BR/> • “Song of Solomon,” Toni Morrison<BR/> • Works of Reinhold Niebuhr<BR/> • “Gilead,” Marilynne Robinson<BR/> • Shakespeare’s tragediesAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10793887462638229318noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1708363929851599136.post-88221529299851748472008-05-22T11:12:00.000-07:002008-05-22T11:12:00.000-07:00Thanks. We've added you on our blogroll too.Thanks. We've added you on our blogroll too.Northtown Bookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06990468107226921826noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1708363929851599136.post-59301942196996865472008-05-22T03:39:00.000-07:002008-05-22T03:39:00.000-07:00Hi guys--good start. I've linked to you from my b...Hi guys--good start. I've linked to you from my books blog,<A HREF="http://booksinheat.blogspot.com" REL="nofollow"> Books in Heat</A>.Captain Futurehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17816281907976118198noreply@blogger.com