Okay, so I have my book club meeting this week and was in search of a biography. This month every member of the book club picked a different biography to read and present. I chose Anderson Cooper's Dispatches from the Edge. He was on Oprah when the book was released and I was instantly mesmerized by him. (No, not just his debonair looks.) His path in life could have been so different...poor little rich kid living off of a trust fund, etc... But he took his mother's advice, Gloria Vanderbuilt... he chose to "follow his bliss". He is an amazing storyteller and brings so much compassion to events most of us want to forget or even conceptualize. After that Oprah aired I knew I wanted to read this book but it took this book club push to motivate me.
This book is gut-wrenching and beautiful at the same time. Cooper, for what seems like the first time, has emotion about the events he brings to us. His family and their tragedies, careers in reporting, war, disaster, despair and finally heroism suck you in on page one and doesn't let go until the end of the acknowledgments. (Don't think I have ever read the acknowledgements before.)
I found myself trying to remember the wars and events that were just in the past 15 years that Cooper has covered. I am one of those Americans that see the headlines and hear the soundbites but nothing sinks in. In this media circus we have, I wonder, if it is serving the public is it suppose the enlighten? We are just too busy filtering out the unnecessary that sometimes the ones that should impact us just don't. I am not a carnivorous reader, however I do read at least a book a month (As time permits without neglecting my husband and children). I would consider myself well-read. It is not often that I read something that touches me to the core and this one did. If you haven't read Cooper's memoir, pick it up at the library today. You will be saddened, touched and will hopefully look past the soundbites on the nightly news and take notice that these causalities are someone's wife, husband, or child and that the world is forever altered with their departure.
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Anderson Cooper's CNN Blog http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/anderson.cooper.360/blog/
The family on top of Mount Evans
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2 comments:
Great post! I had bought this book when visiting the US a few years back but hadn't started it. After speaking to you last night, I drove in. I am enjoying it very much and suspect I will devour it much like you did.
Can't wait to read it..Thanks for the heads up. thanks Snarphy Mom
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