"Home: The Blueprints of Our Lives" New Book by John Edwards

[KoKo]

Amazon Link and Review from Website:

http://www.amazon.com/Home-Blueprints-Lives-John-Edwards/dp/0060884541

Editorial Reviews
Book Description
Most of us can trace the shape of our lives back to a physical place--a childhood home that played an enormous role in defining how we see ourselves and how we choose to make our way in the world. In Home, John Edwards has collected nearly 60 moving stories that reflect how these places, in many ways, are the blueprints of our lives. Home features uplifting, touching, and engaging narratives from all kinds of people across the country--everyday Americans with deeply inspiring stories share the pages with well-known figures from entertainment and religion, from politics and sports.

American Homes

Visit the childhood homes of four contributors to Home:


Eadie Churchill
Kathryn Cline
Tommy Franks
John Glenn

In the pages of Home, you can visit the early homes of:
Mario Batali
Benicio Del Toro
Bob Dole
Tommy Franks
John Glenn
Danny Glover
Nanci Griffith
Sugar Ray Leonard
Maya Lin
Jamie-Lynn Sigler
Steven Spielberg
Vera Wang
Rick Warren
... and many more.

Through words, photos, and illustrations, Home paints a moving picture of America at its best--a country where people, no matter their background, no matter their circumstance, can build a great future. One by one, these different stories reveal our common story--a story that begins with the home we grew up in, the values it gave us, and the hopes that we share.

From Publishers Weekly
Former senator from North Carolina and John Kerry's running mate in 2004, Edwards delivers a poignant coffee-table meditation on an institution as intensely venerated in America as it is universal: home. Some 60 Americans—from novelist Isabel Allende, chef Mario Batali, musician John Mellencamp, quarterback Joe Montana and architect Maya Lin to numerous lesser-known professionals in social work, farming and academia—contribute reflections on the place where they grew up or the locus that has meant the most to them in their lives; large full-color photographs of those places accompany their stories. Their first-person testimony is consistently engaging and downright endearing. Danny Glover, for example, recalls his family's house in the Haight-Ashbury section of San Francisco as the source from which he and his siblings inherited their lifelong consciousness of "equanimity and responsibility, ownership and aspiration." Paging through the book offers the reader a pleasant sense of discovery—of how people feel about how they live. Edwards's introduction, which unfortunately reads like a political speech, gives way to an inspiring, myth-making journey through diverse lives sprung from a vast, ever changing America. (Nov. 14)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

http://www.amazon.com/Home-Blueprints-Lives-John-Edwards/dp/0060884541

[NCarolinawoman]

1. Ironic. n/t

[venable]

2. why is this ironic?

seriously.

a home filled with books, children, friends, joy, talk, food - a home.

where's the irony?

[Tom Rinaldo]

3. The timing is ironic venable, it just is

There is nothing less than wholesome about the book itself from what I can tell. It's probably a nice light, but not without meaning, read.

[venable]

4. You know, I know you do, that this house business is pointless

I believe you've even posted to that effect.

He worked very hard, on behalf of people without a voice - not chasing ambulances - and in the process earned a lot more money than I ever expect to see.

With that, he and his family have built a home that can welcome many - and from what I hear, does - not fancy people, just family and friends. Lots of children. From what I hear there is no staff, it has the highest energy rating, and is basically a very large ranch house.

They are not fancy people. They shop at Costco or online, Elizabeth does herself, they really do eat at Wendys (though I don't, and don't recommend it, for reason of nutrition), and are in every way the same plain folk they grew up as.

Tommy Franks contributed to the book. I would guess that he grew up in a modest home. He probably lives in a very nice home now. Should he remove his entry from the book?

Anyway, I suppose we both hope this issue fades away.

So, Tom, have you joined One Corps yet? (smiley emoticon)

[noamnety]

5. "basically a very large ranch house"

crap like that isn't helping your case, any more than Elizabeth claiming there's nothing "grandiose" about the new house.

Acting like a mansion with an indoor pool and private basketball and racquetball court is basically not so much more than what the average American has just makes them look even more out of touch. If she's thinking that doesn't qualify as grandiose, maybe she needs a reality check.

[venable]

6. she is fully in touch with reality, as anyone will tell you.

I didn't say it was a typical ranch house. But it is a ranch house. that is what it is. this statement is not open to debate. it is not Colonial, it is not Victorian, it is not a Cape Cod style, etc. etc. - it is a ranch house. That is a style. Look at the pictures. It is a ranch house.

It is not the standard size ranch house, it is a very large one.

The basketball court is indoors. I believe, in spite of what is being written, the pool is not.


And as far as helping my argument - I think it's shameful that this is being argued at all.

[mnhtnbb]

8. I'd be surprised if the pool is not indoors. She writes about

wanting an indoor pool for her post-breast cancer exercise routine
in her book, "Saving Graces".

[venable]

9. Not sure. I don't think it is.

I'm going to leave it alone now, because I don't know.

It was a good book, huh? SAVING GRACES. Interesting life, and she's a wonderful writer.

[mnhtnbb]

10. According to a front-page article in the Raleigh News & Observer

on Sunday, Jan. 28,

The second wing, called "The Barn" by the family, has 6,336 square feet and includes a lounge and offices that are 70 percent complete. It has a current tax value of $567,403. It also has a basketball court, which is 60 percent complete and valued at $300,960; a racquetball court, 70 percent complete and valued at $41,000; and a pool, according to tax records.

It's a long article and the above quote is on page 2

http://www.newsobserver.com/689/story/537175.html

[KoKo]

11. From the article: Basketball court is Edward's dream of having his own Court when he wished....

"Elizabeth Edwards said the gym fulfilled her husband's dream of having his own basketball court to use when he wished.

"Every kid who grew up in North Carolina has exactly the same dream," she said. "Even though he is 53 and not in basketball shape, he goes down and shoots."

The racquetball court, Elizabeth Edwards said, was a sort of "valentine" from her husband to help with her lifelong battles to control her weight.

-snip=
She said that there is nothing "grandiose" about the house and that it was designed to be a functional home with room for her children to play outdoors and a large kitchen to entertain friends and family.

"This house is a truly fabulous family home," she said. "

[NYCGirl]

7. No staff? Do you think Mrs. Edwards cleans the place herself? NT

[depakid]

12. You have got to be kidding me

This man is completely out of touch with reality- as apparently is his wife. It's to the point where you really have to wonder what's going on upstairs.