
Title : Celebration
Author : Harry Crews
Rating : 2 Stars out of 5.
Summary : An unbelievably lame tale from my favorite author. Bummer.
I've savored and passed around every Crews novel in print, but I had to force myself to finish this one. If you've never read a Harry Crews novel, don't start with Celebration. Skip it and pick up Scar Lover, Feast of Snakes or Knockout Artist and see the strange genius of Crews at its finest. His brilliance is in the way he touches deeply into the lives of disturbed outcasts and makes you laugh out loud and fall in love with all of them.
Celebration has the cast of outrageous characters that I love about Crews's novels, but here they just seem ridiculous and silly with none of Crews's previous characters' charm and wit.
The jacket art, depicting the gorgeous 18 year old Too Much, is the best thing about this book. Too bad Crews can't convince us that such a creature exists, even in Forever and Forever, a Florida trailer park for eccentrics at the end of their miserable lives.
Too Much shares a trailer and a giant bath tub with Stump, the elderly owner of the park whose missing hand and resulting nub is the main reason she's with him. "Had it been possible, she would have taken him inside her all the way to the shoulder." If you think the names of these characters are hard to swallow, you have an idea of how much disbelief you will have to suspend to get this one down. It's as if Crews had his students write this one as a class project.

Title : How to Retire Rich
Author : James O'Shaughnessey
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : A Nobel Prize for O'Shaughnessy!
The main message of _How to Retire Rich_ is that if you want to retire rich, or retire at all for that matter (ever!), you must invest in the stock market. You just don't have a choice in the matter. Sit down and let James O'Shaughnessy take you through the math---you'll quickly see that that is just the financial reality. The good news, however, is that investing in the stock market, when done properly, is not what you think it is. It's not about outsmarting all the other investors out there. It's not about trying to get a 'ten-bagger' so you can buy a cool car and brag at parties. It's not even about shrewd business savvy and scanning financial reports. It's about picking an effective strategy and sticking with it year in, year out until the day you retire, never pulling your money out of the market.
But if that sounds hard, don't worry. One of HTRR's strongest points is the wealth of wisdom it provides on the mental aspects of investing over the long term. What do you do if your portfolio tanks? What do you do if it soars? This is a problem? You'd be surprised! O'Shaughnessy is probably the only author with a completely rounded, mature outlook on the emotional aspects of investing. Reading HTRR will give you the confidence you need to invest and stay in the market through good times and bad.
So how do you invest? O'Shaughnessy breaks it all down for you, telling you exactly what to do. We're not talking the usual vague, feelgood accepted wisdom here such as 'buy market leaders' or 'buy on weakness, sell on strength'. Throw all those books in the trash! HTRR will tell you how to quickly find the precise stocks you should buy. You'll finish the book at 2 o'clock and have a list of the stocks to buy in your hand at 2:30. Yes, it's just that easy. You'll also know exactly when to buy them (now) and when to sell them (a year from now), and what do after that (repeat the process until you retire). What could be simpler?
O'Shaughnessy should be nominated for a Nobel Prize. He is a modern-day Charles Darwin with a theory that has all the hallmarks of a revolution in scientific thought. The theory is simple, but deceptively so. Many readers come away thinking they have understood it, only to later demonstrate that they clearly haven't. Even Motley Fool was apparently unable to grasp Reasonable Runaways (one of the strategies in HTRR). They tried to test it with a universe of stocks picked from Value Line (!). When it wasn't performing well after six months (!), they wondered how they could tweak it (!) to "make it dance" (their words). You'll understand just how ridiculous all of this is when you read HTRR.
Perhaps the reason for this widespread misunderstanding is that while the theory itself is simple, its ramifications are not---and without understanding its ramifications, it is impossible to truly understand the theory. Like Darwin, O'Shaughnessy has taken 'God'---the human element---completely out of the picture. That's what readers find so hard to grasp. O'Shaughnessy has shown that not only is human intervention in portfolio management not necessary, it's downright harmful. Given enough time, any human intervention will only lower a portfolio's returns from the optimum returns that could be obtained using a simple model.
I hesitate to include the returns I have earned over the past four years using the Reasonable Runaways strategy in this review, because I don't think they're typical. I have earned 93.15% (CARR of 17.88%) versus 1.17% (CARR of 0.29%) for the SP during the same period (July 15, 2001 to July 15, 2005). And this is during a time period that includes 9/11. But as you'll discover from reading HTRR, four years is a meaninglessly short amount of time over which to gauge performance. Also, giving out exciting returns numbers shifts the discussion away from the real message of the book---get in the stock market and stay there (investing properly of course). It's the only way you'll ever be able to retire, rich or otherwise.
For UK readers, Ifd also like to point out that if you invest in the US stock market and live outside the UK (as I do), itfs tax-free. How can you go wrong?

Title : 50 Fabulous Places to Retire in America (50 Fabulous Places to Retire in America)
Author : Ken Stern
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Great for finding the perfect place to retire
This is the wonderful book for finding the perfect place to retire. You learn about each city's climate, costs, taxes, real estate, crime, culture, recreation, transportation, education, medical care job market.
The overview section is very helpful for getting a feel for the city as well recognizing both its positives drawbacks. A listing of newspapers, a realtor, the Chamber of Commerce with contact information is also great aid.
Since a great climate is important to me, I also found the detailed data on weather helpful. It includes seasonal high/low temp, avg. rain/snow inches, avg. # of rainy days, avg. humidity. The # of days below 32 over 90 is also included.
As a bonus this book also helps you figure out how much money you will need how to make it work for you. Tips on moving successfully are also included. If you're thinking about retiring, or even just moving, this is the book you.

Title : Senior Living Communities: Operations Management and Marketing for Assisted Living, Congregate, and Continuing-care Retirement Communities
Author : Benjamin W. Pearce
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : A primer for the novice as well as experienced operators.
I found this book to be succinct without sacrificing the kind of detail that can save hours of research and trial and error. The topics are well-covered and the information is up to the minute. This book will be shared with all departments and be a constant reference point. Well worth the money!

Title : Celebration
Author : Harry Crews
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Not for the faint of heart
As someone else noted, this probably isn't the best introduction to Crews' work for the uninitiated and the faint of heart. But for hardcore Crews readers and others who can look the human beast in the face without flinching, this is some of his best work, and indeed some of the best work being done in contemporary fiction.
If you need the status quo definition of Justice and Beauty to get to sleep at night, don't read this book. But if you can't turn away from the dark spectacle of the raw human heart, this is for you.
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