I haven't read the whole thing yet, but wow. I've only made it to chapter 8 and I am just completely taken in by this man. I am completely engulfed in this book right now.

I just wanted to share some of the things that I enjoyed. I thought that it was completely hilarious that such a smart man had to resort to complete cro-magnon ways of waking up in the morning. He actually tied a lenght of wire to his leg, attaching the other end to a large iron gate below his window. When the keeper arrived at 5AM and muscled open the gate, it would drag Houdin from his bed right down on the floor!

How about the incident that happened him onto magic in the first place? He was mistakenly given a magic book in place of a requested book. He didn't notice until he got home. He read the book completely engrossed the whole night, and burnt out all the candles he had! He tried to sleep afterwards, but kept thinking about the book. He eventually goes to the street in his undies to retrieve a street light hanging from a post only to find himself in quite the situation.

Or that his first paid performance, was his first audience performance? And he had already secured the presence of the city's highest officials from a few simple sleight of hand social performances.

The unbelieveable adventures he experienced while with Torrini. I honestly have not been more affected by another person like this since I was following the Chicago Bulls in the early 1990's. I was 16 and I was all about Jordan. Everything about him, just captivated me.

This is what Houdin's memoirs are doing to me right now. I haven't even read half the book, and I can't stop. The only bad part is that I know that in a day or so, the pages will be finished - and I will have to find other sources. That's a hard pill to swallow once you settle in to the style of the writing in this book. At first it feels unnatural, but then your imagination slowly takes more and more control, and the next thing you know the words are rolling out in your head in a rythm, and the story is just amazing. The writing just completely makes you feel the emotions. The words seem to be all the best options from a thesaraus.

I guess I didn't really have anything to get across other than my sincere appreciation for this book. It is the first book I've read for 6-7 years. I mean really reading.

If you like a great story, find this book. I can't wait until tonight when I begin reading again.