Letters from a vibrant, playful man
357011
This book gives a glimpse into Merton's personal life and relationships through his letters.  The letters reveal that in the process of becoming a monk and a writer of note, Merton never ceased to be a vibrant, playful, unusually brilliant, widely-read man who was fascinated by the world.  When his correspondents became so many he could not answer each one, he sometimes wrote circular letters.  Here is the closing for one of those letters in 1968, the year of his death on a trip to Asia:  "May your understanding of life deepen, may your freedom grow strong, may you be more and more independent of the forces that try to dominate and standardize our lives in massive futility.  May you grow in love, may you have joy!"
2660491
BJ is a very clever man. He can make you laugh and cry while enjoying his take on his generation and their joys and trials. He has a warmth, depth and sweetness, with a hip and cutting edge. I've purchased two sets of the CDs ad two copies of the book. . .perfect gifts and perfect to have on your shelf.
4796982
Milo is an articulate writer who has the natural ability to deliver his message clearly and sharply like a bolt of lightening, but somehow, with artistic flair, tempering his words with wit and humor.  The reader is laughing whilst taking in the message quite seriously.  How delicious a read is that!
4554977
The most amazing thing about the letters that mostly comprise the book is that they exist at all. Most people don't have a genealogy going back a couple hundred years, let alone have a clue as to what their ancestors did and what kind of people they were.

For the author, it's been a labor of love to go through all of the letters and collate them to bring out the personalities of the two sisters, who lived very different lives. Ellen (Nell) married David, who lived in Louisiana. Fanny lived in the Manhattan area and didn't marry.

David was a difficult guy for me to like. He had the pro-slavery and anti-Reconstruction attitudes that one would expect, so it was more than that. We see even in the early letters that he's going to do what he wants to do, regardless of the effect on his wife, Ellen. Time and again, he goes into the city (New Orleans), where he presumably is conducting business, but in reality seems to be spending the family money on drinking and gambling at a prodigious rate.

Then he goes back home, apologizes profusely to his wife for being away so long, gets her pregnant, and goes back to the city, leaving Ellen with all of the child-rearing duties and paying the bills with whatever she can scrape up. Much of the time, she can't pay them, so is continually dunned by creditors. She summons up her courage to ask her father for a loan, which he declines.

I found little details of the times fascinating. In 1872, David is sponging the cows with coal oil, which must have been an environmentally nasty product. It was used to keep ticks off the cows, but did make David sick.

Proper mourning requires judgment calls. Evidently, to be proper, one wore particular clothes for months. The sisters' parents have died, and Fanny is wondering what to wear during the summer. Fanny writes, "I hate cheap looking mourning, and handsome mourning is very expensive." There is a letter about crape (used for mourning) that costs $5/yard.

There is a very detailed set of instructions, with eight separate steps, on how to carry out a duel, which is to be between John Pugh (Ellen's son) and an aggrieved party. Evidently, the outcome of the duel, if it ever occurred, was not recorded.

I was musing about the sisters' letters, and thinking that we may never see their like again, except perhaps for famous people. Most of us communicate by e-mail, and those are seldom kept for long periods of time.

Fortunately, Thomas, Ellen's son, kept the letters and passed them on. Then they were rescued from closets by the author, Kathy McInerney. Many thanks to her for creating this book, and letting us look into her ancestors' lives, in all their humanity.
4242688
what a pleasant surprise...love the humor and sarcasm in each letter!
2353730
Super cute set of postcards I plan to send to my favorite cousin once a month. They're quirky and sincere in a not too saccharine sort of way. Adam J. Kurtz seems like a cool guy and I like supporting him as an artist.
4676069
This is the funniest book I have read! It is a compilation of letters that are so random and the responses are even better! My favorite letter he wrote was the one to Nordstrom. He was asking if he could have one of their mannequins because it looked like one of his deceased neighbors. He also writes one to Disneyland asking if he can bring his own ice machine to the hotel. There are so many other great ones too! Every letter is organized into a section like "trying to find a job" or " Las Vegas" or "vacations" and that's really nice! I heard there is another book like this which I would also love to read. This book is an easy, short read with comedy and just randomness. It is a really great book for ages 15-25.
2392800
Prof. Skinner et al. does a thorough and professional job of cataloging an interesting range of writings from letters to speeches.  This includes entertaining radio addresses from before the presidency and samples of hand-written letters to such characters as Hugh Heffner.  Fun at a glance, serious scholarly work for those so inclined.
2906813
This is a rare look at a regular guy in the Civil War. You get to read the letters of the rich and famous often enough as every letter they ever wrote was saved but here is a collection of letters from an ordinary guy. He  tells about his life, battles, and how he wants the money he sends home  spent. You get to know him almost too well as you feel the pain of losing  him. This is well worth reading.
2987089
The writer has a silver tongue and his son lovingly added dimension to his stories.  I especially liked the Letters to Alison.  Can you imagine living to 109 years old?
3105373
I think For The Sender is a very clever idea. We live in an increasingly multi-media world. Putting a product together that spins a story to explain the music behind an included CD is rather brilliant. I've never seen this combination in biographical form before.

Social media is also an integral part of the book's formation - the author/artist requested actual letters from his fans. He selected these letters as personal, moving, and sometimes painfully honest reflections on the human experience.

I enjoyed the writing in this book, as well as the pictures of the letters themselves. It is an easy, quick read with an enjoyable music CD to explore. I would like to see more books that cross genre lines like this. This would make a nice gift, and is also recommended for its unique memoir/music/fan interaction experience.
2604848
Absolutely delightful!  As the bookseller told me, this book puts the piss in epistolary and he was absolutely correct.

This is a collection of LORs written by a longtime professor of creative writing in a somewhat marginalized English department in the Midwest.  LORs (letter of recommendation) are the bane of Professor Fitger.  Within these letters, he is able to express his frustrations with the physical facility he works in, expound on the politics of the university, deal with his ex-wives and lovers, seek jobs and appointments for his students, and so on.  It's full of witty comments,  astute observations, faint praise, and a vocabulary that kept me running to the dictionary.

I will end here because I need to immediately go share this book with some friends.
2234315
This book of letters should prove of interest to any Civil War enthusiast.  My only complaint.  The author is so enthusiastic about his subject that in his introduction to each letter, aside from helpful explanations, he has a tendency to relate every little detail we are about to read in the letter (such as there has been a lot of rain or the letter writer is feeling poorly).  Things the reader can figure out on their own.  Other than that, I enjoyed the book/letters.
3119911
Recommened by an art teacher in this area, these letters offer
insights into the man this artist was.  His Letters to Theo,
his brother are the best biography available.  Great price.  Quick shipment.
Arrived in the conditioned promised.
1172591
I received this little jewel as a Christmas gift.  I am still smiling!  I would delight in being included in his Christmas Letter queue.
76325
This terrific book complements the high quality e-mail letters that he puts out. Some of his letters are free, but offer priceless advice and guidance. Read this book in combination with his letters, follow his advice, and you will be soon consistently profitable---I did, and I am!
2784018
Flannery is a beautiful person; reading these letters you feel like you are conversing with a personal friend and hope you get the chance to meet her; you can't help but wish you could have had the chance to correspond with her.
After years of loving her fiction, I found that, in these letters, her fiction and her soul unveil their beauty --- just like her beloved peafowl.