Sean

If you're a raving fan of John Hodgman, you'll probably enjoy this book. I thought I might have been one. It turns out I wasn't.

I stopped listening once arrests were made; the last third of the book held no mystery, and so I lost interest.

The planning and execution of the heist was enthralling, though.

One or two decent stories, but mostly she's having a run at Jenny McCarthy's Crude-but-unfunny title.

I listen to a lot of WWII history. This book is a fine example of Lt. Col Sparks, the 157th Infantry Regiment, and their long, hard war from Salerno and Anzio, through the invasion beaches in the south of France, and on into Germany. LTC Sparks saw a hell of a lot of combat, and in areas that are often neglected by the popular histories.

But that's all covered at least as well in other books. Audie Murphy's "To Hell And Back" gives a better idea of the exhaustion, and fatalistic pessimism that comes with being in combat for the better part of two years.

Where this book gets really interesting is at the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp at the end of the war as it deals, unflinchingly, with the summary execution of SS troopers captured as Dachau was being liberated.

That is not a story often told; that prisoners of war were killed by both sides. And that part of the book, the subsequent investigation, involvement of Patton, and doubts that lingered for more than 40 years, were the parts of the book that make it stand out from other histories.

I recommend this book, but not to everyone. It was a good read, and I am glad to have learned more about Felix Sparks, and his war.

I listen to a lot of first-person histories of the war. Since I don't speak German, I was hoping that this book would give me some insight into the German war experience.

The author spends a tremendous amount of time on the sociological and psychological reasons behind the soldiers actions, and how easy they were persuaded that what they did was normal, expected, and "just a job".

Dull, dull, dull, dull...

I'm returning this audiobook. I couldn't make it through the first hour.

Tedious language. Annoying narrator. I've listened to more than 100 books of all sorts, but this one was unlistenable. I only made it 30 minutes, so it may have gotten better, but I wasn't willing to invest more time.

I loved the description of the rise of Lassitter and Pixar, but as they got into the individual movies after Toy Story 2, it felt like they were just skimming the subject material. I wish they would have gone into more depth about the later films.

And I wish the book covered the period that included the development of Cars 2, and what caused Pixar to release such a bad, bad, bad film. I guess I'll have to wait for a sequel.

The author found it necessary to recount all the major events of the war before Tobruk in depth, including WWI, the Versailles Treaty, and the Rise of Hitler, interspersed with mundane details about the private lives of the soldiers.

Seriously, I'm 1/3 of the way into this Odyssey, and Rommel's just now arrived in Africa.

This author needed an editor to force him to cut it down to size.

I loved hearing Martin's point of view of his rise from amusement park worker to SNL and Hollywood. Some great stories, told by the man himself. You come out understanding why he rose so far, and how he burned out on standup. It's amazing how much though went into what seemed like a freeform act. And you get why he decided it was time to move on.

Highly recommended.

My wife and I identify with Fey's quirky, self-deprecating style, and find ourselves rooting for her and her career as we've watched it unfold over the years. This book offers nice insights into how she got to where she is, and reveals Fey, unsurprisingly, as thoughtful, grounded, and most-of-all, funny.

The book is short, but not overly so. It felt about right for the subject matter, though I'd have more questions for her if I ever met her.

This book is not Tina-takes-on-the-boys-club and claws her way to the top, which is what I'd feared. It's not Sun-Tzu for chicks. This is a light, well-done memoir. I'm glad I bought it, and I recommend it.