5 comments about Kitchen Table Wisdom 10th Anniversary.

1. Kitchen Table Wisdom 10th Anniversary
   
   I ordered 2 "New" Kitchen Table Wisdom books to be given as gifts. The cover of one of them was crooked and did not cover the first page. The book was simply not made right. I was not allowed to exchange it for another, just send it back and charged a bit to do that.
   It turned out all right because I found out another way (not Amazon) to get books at discount and got the 2nd one right away.



2. Although the title sounds simplistic, the contents of this book are
   profound. It is a book of inspirational true stories, written by a most perceptive physician/counselor about the wisdom she has gleaned about life and death through her experiences with patients. Each chapter is a new story, and they open windows in our minds and hearts. One of the finest books I have read in years.



3. This is one of the most incrediblely healing books you will ever read. You will find yourself refering to it and giving it to friends (like I did) because it is so theraputic. A must read if you are a self-aware person.



4. Kitchen Table Wisdom: Stories That Heal
   I was given a copy of this book by a colleague many years ago. I only recently read it for the first time, and I now realize what a wonderful gift I received. I know I will reread this book and refer to it many times. The subtitle explains it: "Stories That Heal." I cannot imagine that anyone reading this book thoughtfully would not be deeply rewarded for the time spent. I very rarely have read something that I would recommend to EVERYBODY, but this is one book I WILL recommend to everybody. Epiphany, anyone? File under "Guide for Living Well."



5. This is one of my all time favorite books. Since receiving a copy as a gift about ten years ago, I have purchased more than half a dozen to give as gifts. As I explained to a grieving friend, this book does not grab you and dazzle you, it just sneaks up quietly and gives you a very comforting hug. Obviously, it has staying power. I leave my copy out and will randomly read a chapter since I find it enlightening and inspiring. Oh, that all doctors had Dr. Remen's insight and sensitivity! I feel I know her, and I do truly love her. Like all really great books, it seems to develop more depth as time goes by and I mature.

5 comments about Undiscovered.

1. I bought this because Rosie loved it but I didn't. Debra tries to use grand english and strange sentences. She's from a different world than the one I live in.



2. This is not your usual type of biography / memoir. It is more her feelings with a few antecdotes dispersed within. Very introspective with poetry and prose thrown in. I liked it a lot as she reminded me of Hugh Prather. But then she never was a conventional actress either.



3. I like biographies and I don't like poetry. I don't like essays that are all about feelings. I don't like vague. I don't like "the journey" when you learn nothing about the journey except generalizations. So obviously I am not going to like this book. You will learn next to nothing about Debra Winger in this book. She is an "arty" writer and it is arty and poetic, but it says very little. I had to search on the Internet to find out what happened to her in the accident she alludes to in the beginning of the book. I had to search the Internet to find out who the husband is she refers to as only A. or who these children, N. and B., are. It's like a personal journal that only she will understand what she's writing about, yet she published it. She does not discuss her movies or acting. She writes a little bit about her parents dying and how it impacted her. She writes a little about motherhood. It's like a meditation on serenity.
   
   If I had seen this book at a bookstore and paged through it, read a few pages, I would have quickly figured this all out and not bought it. This is the kind of mistake you make when you buy a book sight unseen online.



4. Winger has always been a thoughtful, and, in many ways, mercurial actress. There is no question about her onscreen chops as a triple Oscar-nomineee and major star despite a rambling, choosy, relatively sporadic resume.
   
   Then again, Winger's wonderfully versatile choices (and performances) have stood the test of time ('Terms of Endearment,' 'Officer & A Gentleman,' 'Shadowlands,' and 'Urban Cowboy'--even delicious second-tier fare like 'Black Widow'). Perhaps Hollywood's current crop of mediocre talents could take a life-lesson from the gifted Winger, in this regard: scrutinize your destiny, your integrity, choose what lasts.
   
   This book is Winger's very compelling way of doing just that, in essay form. Winger demonstrates that her way with the written word is well nigh as charismatic as her way with a line of film dialogue. Naturally, it helps that she was thrust into myriad adventures by her success in the 80s and 90s (and has something of immediate interest to "play-off of"), but the book works just as convincingly as a document of sometimes aching human self-discovery. Winger is able to recount mood and mayhem with the skill of a charming raconteur and technique of a solid writer.
   
   In fact, I'm pleasantly surprised at how good a writer Winger proves herself to be. The book moves, almost dreamlike, from reflective episode to incisive commentary, and not necessarily with a strict chronological purpose--these are essays from the very soul, after all. Winger is by turns funny and subtly provocative, and, of course, takes time to drop an appropriate number of industry names and anecdotes for those more interested in her career self-perception than with the equally direct assessment of her close family life...a life away from the shackles of fame.
   
   In many ways, this is one of the more rewarding and exceptionally written memoirs to come directly from a major film star in recent memory. Winger infuses the book with wisdom and honesty; apparently she's not only earned it--she's chosen it, and that makes an impact here. The reader comes away with the feeling that one has been given a rare opportunity to glimpse the journey of a genuinely attuned "Traveller" through Hollywood and beyond, rather than a caricature of Hollywood overwhelming a Traveller's voice and personality.
   
   Great collection of memoir-ish essays. She'd be wise to write a screenplay or a stage play, with talent like this. Well done, Ms. Winger.



5. I haven't yet read this book, but I have heard several passages read aloud by Debra Winger at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston (MFAH). Debra Winger has been such a mystery to me. Over the years I have heard she was a volunteer in a kibbutz, that she was strong-willed and not always easy to work with, that she had a breakdown of some kind around the time she made The Sheltering Sky, that she retired from film forever. I saw a DVD of Rosanna Arquette's documentary Searching for Debra Winger. But I had no idea of the high regard I felt for this actress or how ingrained she was into my filmgoing consciousness. Then I stumbled upon her book-reading at MFAH and was delighted. I never feel like bothering celebrities I meet, but I wanted to hug her. She looks great, and said she feels her best film work is ahead of her. I can't wait.

5 comments about Ladies of the Night: A Historical and Personal Perspective on the Oldest Profession in the World.

1. Wow--what a great gift from my co-worker/Kiss fan. I had no idea Gene was so knowledgeable. This book was frankly long overdue. It is very well written and beautifully illustrated. We need to open the discussion on legalizing prostitution to help legitimize the industry. These women work hard for the money--Thanks Gene for a beautiful coffee table book!!!



2. A fun, amusing read with solid scholarly underpinnings that should further galvanize the growing movement to legalize prostitution. Anyone who stands against the exploitation of women must know that removing the fear of criminal prosecution will empower women who wish to earn a living by renting their bodies for sexual recreation, wipe out human-trafficking rings and vicious pimps who clog our criminal justice system -- and add billions of dollars to our national coffers. What this country needs in every neighborhood is an old-fashioned, well-run whorehouse -- the kind with a guy playing piano in the parlor -- and Gene Simmons has made his case with this fascinating potpourri of social history and SEX!



3. I thought is was a really fun book, Simmons understands the art of entertainment! I admire the hard work that clearly went into writing the book, a work ethic to back up his well thought out insights. Bottom line, he wrote a great book!!



4. I've got to admit, the Gene Simmons POV really grows on you.... Here he's as diplomatic as ever, this time tackling--wait for it--SEX, or as he insists: "The oldest profession in the world."
   
   This is a hot topic, put briefly and (dare I say it) eloquently.
   
   I was totally impressed by the book itself--classic in its look and style. This one's for any history lovers, fans of Gene/Family Jewels/SEX MONEY KISS, fans of sex (and money and KISS), art...you get the point. Well worth the 40 bucks (or 20-something if you buy on Amazon).



5. I would greatly recommend this book to others in order to gain an insight into contemporary thinking on the subject matter - Ladies of the Night. Simmons reflects a world-view on the topic that undoubtedly many other men might agree with.
   
   At the least, it is certainly material that will spark much discussion and debate. Everyone will have to then examine their own thoughts as to whether or not they agree or disagree with Gene Simmons' point of view.

5 comments about Inheriting the Trade: A Northern Family Confronts Its Legacy as the Largest Slave-Trading Dynasty in U.S. History.

1. Like Traces of the Trade, the authors lack the courage to jump in, and like the stink of Zen, grasping their pride and privilege, it all looks like new age capitalists creating a new ego of "nice people" with wayward ancestors, standing firmly on the high-ground on a very un-level playing field.
   Resting in wealth and capitalistic venture, what is so sad is the lack of courage to jump in the freezing water and suffer the death of their egos.
   Without taking a vow of poverty, these fat cats will always look like Zen priests in there pretty robes, in a world of immense suffering and pain as children are incested, burned, and beaten by their parents, also children of parents generations later. Where is the commitment?
   And they sell books...



2. Learning about your family's slave trading empire must be hard to stomach, and the members of the family who undertook to study the facts deserve credit for facing up to it. Too bad they didn't hire a qualified historian to write their story. Inheriting the Trade reminds me of those self-indulgent, melodramatic "encounter groups" that were so popular in the 1970's. Let's beat up on each other for things we never did, just for being who we are. And along the way, let's read endless descriptions about the participants' clothing, jobs, hair color, and denial. And let's ignore the fact that people of all races have been enslaved at one time or another, by one culture or another.
   Slavery is deplorable, but an avalanche of angst is useless and a waste of energy that could better be expended on finding solutions to the problems that separate the races in 2008. What did the deWolfs gain from the evils perpetrated by their ancestors? Well, among their apparently endless "privileges" is the right to write a book and make a TV program.



3. It is my pleasure to invite you to read this book. Inheriting the Trade is about Tom's journey with his relatives as they documented the story of their ancestors being the largest group of slave traders in America. Their experience is told in the recently released movie: Traces of the Trade.
   
   This book stopped me in my tracks and invited me to ask questions and see new truths about myself.
   It is not just the story of one family, but of an entire world and all of us in it.
   
   Be ready to take your time when you read this and listen to the questions that surface in your heart. Answer them honestly and you will learn about more than slavery in the past, you will discover your own position and how it is influenced by privilege, your own and others still today.
   
   I highly recommend this book.



4. I thought this book was fascinating. Here's this white guy from Oregon who grew up in a middle-class family in California without much knowledge of his family history. He moves to Oregon, to an affluent, largely white town, where he encounters a distant cousin. Suddenly, he's thrust into a huge extended family with long ties to New England. Slave traders! His forebears were slave traders? Does he want to be in a documentary about the slave trade? Does he want to go to Rhode Island, Ghana, and Cuba to retrace the route of the triangle trade?* He does, and in the process his eyes are opened to places and ways of living he knew nothing about - and this includes not only the African and Cuban cultures but also that of privileged New Englanders. What an amazing set of events!
   
   The author weaves together his own deep changes with description and reflection on the history of the slave trade and its continuing impact on our still racist society. The big idea is that white people in America are largely unaware of our own unearned privilege, and that becoming aware is one step in beginning the change to erasing racism. This book shows that it's a one-person-at-a-time effort, difficult but not impossible.
   
   *Traces of the Trade, by Katrina Browne, Thomas DeWolf's 7th cousin once removed, if I read the genealogical chart correctly.



5. The virtue of this book for me was that it didn't purport to be objective history; instead, the history of the Northern slave trade was the starting point for this family's, and the author's exploration of privilege and oppression. The author's voice is clear and distinct, and I admired how he was able to weave explanations of the slave trade -- the commerce in human beings -- conducted by Northerners with descriptions of the journey that he and his cousins took to retrace the trade routes, the people they encountered, and the emotional impact the journey had on the family. This book covers issues that most whites prefer to avoid, and it does so in a cogent, readable, and revealing way. I loved how it got me thinking, and opened my eyes in a non-threatening but persistent way to how different kinds of isms -- racism, classism, sexism -- pervade our lives. Simply learning how my assumptions about my freedom differ from a non-white's assumptions has made me aware, on a daily basis, of what benefits I take for granted, and make me think about what we need to do to promote greater, color-blind, access to those benefits.
   
   This book was like a good movie: I finished reading it and I keep thinking about it.

5 comments about Confessions of a Video Vixen.

1. After hearing all the hype of Karrine Steffins book Confessions i had to read it, i had to know who was going to be outed and how her experiences changed her life. To my sadness and my dismay i must say that this is a novel i refer to as a "fake" book. I finish the 250 page book in two hours. The book told me exactly what i wanted to know but in many interviews she told that this was the biography of her life and she couldn't tell her life story worth out mentioning names of the people that played a part in her life i feel the purpose of the book was not to teach young girls to think better of themselves but to put money in her pocket simply because she didn't mention any normal average Joe Blow she was with no the only mention of any men in the book other than her father and the boy who raped her were famous powerful most of them married with children i can not be told that the only men Karrine ever slept with were the rich and famous. I am highly disappointed with her book and will not be purchasing the Vixen Diaries I can simply read the "tell-all" parts in a blog somewhere since that is the only reason worth reading this excuse of a book.



2. I thought that her back story was interesting. But I also think this really became a tabloid story because she never called out a lot of celebs.
   
   She exposed a lot of people for the dirt they did. And while if you're doing wrong in the dark, things eventually come to light, the way she did it wasn't impressive. I did like how she didn't tell on that one specific person, although that got out anyway. But I couldn't blame all the people she mentioned if they didn't have anything to do with her ever again.
   
   The book wouldn't have been interesting at all without the name celebrities she mentioned, though, so that's why they are included.



3. Karrine Steffans is a highly unlikable character, which is kind of hard to imagine since I usually feel a lot of empathy towards people who have been reportedly abused and also raped. Not one word from her ilicited anything but disgust from me. Yes, this is an entertaining read, but this book did not make me care about her. She says she wrote this book as a cautionary tale, but when asked, in an interview, would she have lived her life diferently if she got a second chance, she said that she would not, that she would have chosen the same path. I would not suggest this book unless you just really need to know about what some of the celebrities are like behind closed doors



4. This book was full of gossip, she ratted out almost everybody in hollywood that she had been intimate with! She is a prositute and proud of it, if you like hearing about who she has been with sexually, this is the book for you, I didn't learn nothing that I didn't already no, I would'nt get her newest book!



5. I feel sorry for Karrine Steffans, but she CANNOT write! Her editor sucks! She should have had someone else edit her work because neither she nor her editor can proofread. She brags about being a novelist without going to college...that's BS. She clearly should have gone to college or taken some type of writing class, but since she didn't her book turned out like this. I felt like she kept saying the same thing over and over again...and I couldn't even finish the book. I was so bored with the content and the way in which it was delivered. This girl needs help...I do feel bad regarding the horrible things that have happened to her. However, she needs to get a life and this type of nonsense is not the way to go...I'm sure the second book was just as useless as this one...Let's get it together people!

5 comments about Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith.

1. This gracefully written narrative tells the story of Taylor's journey toward ordained ministry, her years as an Episcopal priest, and her departure from that life into a new vocation as a college professor. She decides that the most important calling is not to be ordained or to be religious, but to be fully human and to live a life of love. This is a touching autobiography, an eloquent memoir of faith.



2. I read a lot of memoirs these days. In fact they are probably my favorite literary genre. Maybe I should have been warned by Taylor's subtitle - not simply "a memoir," but "a memoir of faith." Because this is not a memoir in the usual sense. There is precious little of Taylor's childhood, youth or young adulthood - no real concrete stories and examples from her life. Too much of this book remains caught in the abstraction of ideas and beliefs, with not nearly enough examples. The people who show up in the book remain undeveloped vague outlines. And I have a hard time identifying with Brown's spiritual "quest," if that is what it is. I don't think it's because she's a woman either. What few facts that do emerge about her life outside this "quest" do not really serve to make her a sympathetic character. Daughter of a psychotherapist, sister of a lawyer, wife of an engineer - all these tidbits add up to what appears to have been a life of privilege and ease, and continued to be even after her ordination, as she speaks of her Saab and Audi and how they didn't fit into her rural community, and goes on at some length about everything she "wanted" in her custom-built home outside of town (in lieu of a parsonage near her church). What comes through in Barbara Brown Taylor's book is a story of a driven overachiever, who in fact drives herself into a near nervous breakdown, which finally causes her to leave her church and the active priesthood. While I do not doubt the sincerity of her quest for her true vocation and place in God's world, I do wonder about her motives. She became more likeable - more human - in the final section of the book, after she had left the priesthood, when she talks about her crisis of faith and things like her fears of inadequacy and the death of her father. Having said all of this, I still have to say that I'm glad I read the book, which has left me with much to think about in regard to my own role in the Church (Catholic in my case)and my relationship with God and my place in His world. I also think that Taylor is a person I'd like to know, but these 200-plus pages have not given me that opportunity. A memoir of faith? Perhaps. A "memoir"? No. - Tim Bazzett, author of Reed City Boy



3. This book would have been more accurately described in the subtitle as a "Memoir of Personal Experience".
   
   She dismisses orthodox Christian Theology and doctrine as something that the Apostles and Early Church had to "come up with" to explain this or that.
   
   Ultimately it is a story of how the narrow Christian path and Church "didn't work" for her, and many of her thoughts and experiences confirm the fact that women were never meant to be "priests" in the first place (though this fact enrages those who hold to the political language of "equal rights" versus sound apostolic theology).
   
   I found the book pleasant and very readable, but at the same time it was a sad story of how Christ just "wasn't enough". While most in our culture will find it "affirming" or down right "spiritual", it is a disappointment for the orthodox Christian who may wish to read a story about how Christ and the scriptures contain "all things necessary for salvation".
   
   Barbara's approach in later life is gnostic and universalist. In the words of her Presiding Bishopess, "saying Christ is the only way is to put God in too small of a box". Emotions, feelings, and cravings rule the day in the final analysis of her relationship to Christ, and it seems that "leaving" orthodoxy is freeing to her, though I question she was ever there in the first place. Ultimately, God is the final judge of what she has done and what she now teaches.
   
   Her elevation of Native American theology and her fondness of "other paths" leads the committed Christian looking elsewhere for a story of knowing Christ and Him crucified, and following Him in a culture that values personal choice and heterodoxy over all other things.
   
   In the end it is a volume that will find great company with the writings of Spong, Borg, Ehrman, and others who deny the reality of John 14:6 and the authority of Holy Sripture in the name of being on "an authentic journey".
   
   If I have to "put my eggs in one basket" I am going to have to stick with the Apostles and the Church Fathers and leave "other ways" up to Barbara, fine preacher though she is.



4. Over the course of my life I have learned certain things about salad; it has good, nourishing things in it, like spinach, almonds, feta cheese, and olive oil. Sometimes you can add strawberries. With a splash of balsamic vinegar, it sings. Other times it is dressed with slightly less healthy things like mayonnaise or sour cream, but generally its ingredients have a clear line of succession back to something alive; apples, raisins, eggs, potatoes.
   
   Then I moved to South Dakota, where I was introduced to "salad". Unlike what I have just described, this concoction is made of things like Cool Whip and crushed up Oreos. It tastes good in the moment, but by the end of it I am always left slightly nauseous and wondering where it came from.
   
   There's a lot of spiritual "salad" out there. Thankfully, this offering is not in that group. From the moment you crack open the cover, it sings. Her story of earthy, fragrant devotion to God is refreshing and very alive. It breathes the living life of Christ and speaks from the still beating but wounded heart of the church. Thankfully, Taylor veers only briefly into the sordid realm of political hot button issues, and for good reason.
   
   With fifteen years in the pastoral crucible under her belt, and an evident love for all of us, Taylor comes across as someone you can trust. Her words in this precious memoir are nourishing, full of flavor and, like the vegetables in her Georgia garden, entirely organic.



5. This book just "popped" up as an advertised suggestion for me, and after looking at the details on Amazon, I decided to order it. I am doing a lot of soul searching about my own faith journey, and am having a struggle with the Institutional Church not truly following the teachings of Jesus, having gotten enmired in politics and building empire. I felt this book was speaking to me, and is one I could hardly put down. It is well written, and certainly one I would, and have recommended to others.

5 comments about The Sum of Our Days: A Memoir.

1. ...which is bizarre because her daughter Paula was a Christian believer (according to Isabel herself in 'Paula'). Isabel kind of free-associates through this whole book, not really seeming to 'land' anywhere. We discover that she's a witch who belongs to a coven in the Bay area, who pulls random people she meets and likes into her family, and we're given brief snippets of their lives. Towards the end of the book she starts laying into Christians, of which I'm one, and talks about a 'new religion' she created for her grandchildren. Her ignorance of the Bible and Christianity is striking. She has an uninformed, cartoonish caricature of Christians in her mind as being white and Southern - it's apparent she's never really known a Christian before, except for her own beloved daughter, Paula (ironically enough)! Isabel forgets (?) that Christians are also Asian, Indian and African. Apparently she doesn't know that the list of 'ignorant' Creation-believing Christians includes J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Johann Sebastian Bach, Albert Schweitzer, Martin Luther King, Jr., to name a very few. I realize an author takes a personal risk when writing their memoir. I know way more about Isabel now than I need to know. This book was plodding, ignorant and uninformed in areas, disjointed, and overall difficult to get through. I have to admit that I've lost some respect for her.



2. Enlightening as well.
   
   "Love is a lighting bolt that strikes suddenly changing us."
   This clever sentence resumes the lives of the generations of this story. As readers, we are touched in different ways. In my case, the core of my heart and inner motives were shaken.
   A story written with candor, filled of joyful times and also very sad, devastating moments. All of them told with a sense of humor that honors everybody's dignity. This story couldn't have been written in a different way.
   
   Thank you Isabel.



3. I have read every book Isabel Allende has written beginning with, The House of Spirits, and her novels have never disappointed me. I love her wisdom and the lessons her novels teach about the human spirit. As a teacher, I recommend her books to reluctant readers fully knowing that they'll be captivated into her magical world. This memoir reads like her fictional novels.



4. "It's hard for me to let go of people," Isabel Allende said of her deceased daughter Paula. "[She] is unreachable; only in my love for her are we in contact. She comes in signs." Pretty intense, right? Well, buckle up my friends. If you delve into THE SUM OF OUR DAYS, Allende's most recent book, you will find a bumpy, funny, delectable, brutally honest and provocatively fascinating look into the private life of her extensive and complex brood of a family. Written in daily letters to her mother back in Chile, Allende pours out the deepest and darkest secrets of her extended family post-heartbreak, the early death of her only daughter. In the wake of her mourning, she weaves a long and wavy path to her true heart, and every word is riveting.
   
   Allende is known as a "magic realist," her stock in trade as an author. However, there is little magic and lots of realism in THE SUM OF OUR DAYS. For a nation obsessed with "family values," its newest citizen goes completely against the traditional American grain with her topsy-turvy, emotionally harrowing life. Her second husband is a garrulous and outspoken attorney and advocate for illegal immigrants in the Bay area; his daughter is a drugged-out mess in and out of jail cells, which he hopes will teach her the "consequences" of her criminal acts; and her son is married to a former member of Opus Dei, who walks a straight (and completely bigoted) religiously fueled road. There are endless characters in THE SUM OF OUR DAYS, all the more intriguing because of the unflinching honesty and bright light that Allende shines on their every course of action, their every life decision, and the way that it intersects with her own difficult life.
   
   The death of her daughter has been the subject of another book (simply titled PAULA). It is clear from the content of this memoir that her broken heart will never completely mend, and the well-established credo that no parent should have to bury a child is utmost in her mind. Allende pulls no punches when discussing the bottomless love she has for her children, in life as in death, and it is this moving portrayal of motherhood that gives great heart to the stories about her family members. This is really a book about not just the sum of her family's "days," but the sum of her own multitudinous adventures as writer, mother, wife, lover, daughter, activist, immigrant, teacher...
   
   If you think that it would be an epic maneuver to pull it all into one book, you would be right. But Allende somehow finds just the right anecdotes about each member of the family to make the reader feel as if he or she was being escorted into the author's boudoir and seduced into the vortex of her life and longings. It is rare that desire has so many names, but Allende finds them all and, in short order, brings them to life on the page with a power that towers over so many of the recent memoirists in this popular genre. There are no lies here, there is no Frey or Burroughs amping up of actual life to ensure a chuckle or gulp from the reading public. Allende doesn't have to play tricks to make your heart and breath rise and fall, to make your stomach tumble each time Willie's indigent daughter almost dies (again!) or your heart break each time Allende looks back on a moment during her daughter's strangely quick descent into serious illness.
   
   THE SUM OF OUR DAYS is exactly what a memoir should be: a heartfelt and candid look at the good, the bad and the oh-so-ugly that makes up a truly human life. Like reality TV, we are hooked and cannot look away, whether we like it or not. This is a rewarding emotional rollercoaster in which a world-renowned author searches for the same answers as the rest of us, sidestepping disaster upon disaster with a warmth of spirit and an everlasting hope that any reader will find unbearably inspiring.
   
   --- Reviewed by Jana Siciliano



5. As an ardent fan of Isabel Allende's works, I looked forward to her latest book...until I started reading the first 75 pages or so. Her attempt to weave a spellbinding tale around real people falls flat: these are real people with warts and all and no amount of magical storytelling as in her fictional works can make them interesting characters or for a compelling story. This is the first Isabel Allende book I did not finish. Also, Isabel needs to move out of Marin County to Middle America as I sense a fair amount of left-coast nihilism in her American experience that does not resonate with the vast majority of middle-Americans: perhaps, then, The Sum of Our Days would be more fulfilling.

5 comments about All You Need to Be Impossibly French: A Witty Investigation into the Lives, Lusts, and Little Secrets of French Women.

1. I was afraid it was going to be too frilly, but it is great. Love that she talks about real & famous french women. Funny at times. Very entertaining!



2. This was such a cute book to read. It's always interesting to see that the author interviewed other ladies and men to get their opinions of France and the chic cultures of the people who live there. It made the book more real for me. I really enjoyed it.



3. I really liked the book, I found it to be an easy read, funny, informative and quite inspirational. Actually, I liked the book more and more as I kept reading it (except the chapter on lingeree - the author went on too long about the importance of wearing matching lingeree, etc - I did not think this topick deserved so much attention, but oh well, perhaps it does - afterwards I did go and buy myself a nice lingeree set! And new creams, and make up. ;)). I read this book on the bus on my way to and from work and looked forward to my bus ride every day - not a normal thing for me. I also purchased the other "more famous" book ("French Women Don't Get Fat"), but I thought it was a bit boring (I still finished it and can't say it was bad, just not as consuming). The latter talks mostly about diet while this book is much more entertaining and covers all aspects of French women lives. I am lending the book to everyone I know now, what a gem!



4. I definitely want to move to France! It sounds like women are treasured! What a wonderful lifestyle! I'm sure I'll read it again when my memory starts forgeting!



5. I laughed all the way through this book. (Not in a bad way.) Very informative and entertaining!

5 comments about Stranger Than Fiction: True Stories.

1. Reading Chuck Palahniuk's collection of oddball 'strange-but-true' stories, articles written for various magazines about twisted people and their twisted little hobbies, is like watching "America's Most Terrifying Videos" or reading "Ripley's Believe It or Not." You feel guilty for enjoying the freak show... but not enough to stop reading. The book isn't that thick, and there are 23 chapters so each one makes a pretty good (and somehow appropriate) bathroom companion. There are chapters guaranteed to offend almost any sensibility, and yet there you sit still reading long after your business is done. They say knowledge is neutral, neither good nor inherently bad. But does that mean that every story has to be told?



2. Interesting true stories told well. One story offering some insight into the man? A departure for Palahniuk but one of my favorites of his.



3. Chuck Palahniuk out-does his own fiction writing, (which can be strange at times) with this collection of "True" stories.
   Any fan of Chuck will appreciate this book. It lives up to it's title, and delivers it's helping of strange and obscure topics.
   One of these topics is masturbation. And, he has much to say about this, including the reactions of the listeners when he read this story at bookstores around the world. And, let's not exclude the "Testicle Festival," the yearly event near Massoula Montana, that includes public nakedness, sex, and debauchery of all sorts. And, of course, the consumption of fried bull testicles. (dipped in ranch dressing)
   So, get on...hold on tight. You may wish you hadn't, but, then again, if you are already familiar with Chuck's work, you probably would expect no less.



4. I was attracted to this book after reading fight club, choke, haunted and lullaby. So, of course, i had high hopes. I picked it up, and it was not any where near as good as I thought it would be. There are like 2 good stories but the rest are just bland. While i was reading, i kept thinking, "And why am i reading this?" try reading other palahniuk books such as choke. This, for me, was a dissapointment.



5. Many other reviewers have noted that some of the stories in this book are slow and dry. The drawn out descriptions of the castle builders immediately comes to mind, as does the personal story of Juliette Lewis. But overall this is a worthwhile look into the mind and life of one of the best authors of our time. I feel like I know Chuck Palahniuk on a more personal level now, and that's what I was hoping for. I find him a fascinating man, someone I would love to sit down for coffee with. With that desire in mind, I am very happy I waded through this book.

5 comments about I'm with the Band: Confessions of a Groupie.

1. Reading this book reminded me of that enervating feeling I once felt, circa 1979 or so, during a midnight viewing of Led Zeppelin's "The Song Remains the Same." It was a flash of horror in which my excitement over the rock n' roll life (I was in a band at that time, my head filled with ambitions and pretensions) gave way to a feeling of aimlessness: What is with all this cheesy medeival imagery? How come these guys don't look cool, but just scrawny and strung-out? Do I really need to hear an eight-minute drum solo? What the hell have I been doing wasting my time with all this?
   
   Des Barres' book left me with a similar feeling of the blahs: some books make it seem like there was more to the 1960s-70s rock culture than previously realized. This book makes one feel like there was a lot less.
   
   I picked up the book hoping that it would bring the sights, sounds, and philosophy of a unique time back to life. It didn't. Despite having had dalliances with titanic figures ranging from Mick Jagger to Jimmy Page to Gram Parsons to Don Johnson, the author conveys very little of their artistry. In fact, she rarely tries to discuss or describe their music at all: passages on what makes a Mick Jagger or a Jim Morrison sexy sound as though they could have been written about any high school bad boy, musician or no.
   
   And indeed, that adolescent attitude pervades this book. The book begins with the author entering a boy-crazy period in high school, and is related largely through excerpts from her diary, replete with CAPITAL LETTERS and exclamation marks(!!!!!!) about how COOL this guy is and how WHEN HE KISSED ME I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO FAINT!! Blecch. Most of the remainder of the book has a similar tone, merely transplanted to a larger stage.
   
   The effect is more trivializing than anything else. I had hoped this book would reveal something about this woman and her ability to connect with these creative figures. Instead, this book made it sound like her life was nothing more than a series of hedonistic distractions, draped over a nothingness. The book makes the reader feel not as though her generation was liberated from the hidebound ways of the previous ones, having moved on to higher, more exciting pleasures, but rather that no more original ideas existed in her life or in her head than finding the next naughty guy to sleep with.
   
   That's perhaps a bit harsh: she does deliver a couple of winning passages in the book, one on the excitement of a Led Zeppelin performance, another on her less-than-stellar acting debut. She also managed to convince me that she had an aesthetic value or two, specifically in advocating for the Burrito Brothers' injection of folk/country influences into the psychadelic scene.
   
   But the lingering images of the book are the downers: the poor three-year-old son of irresponsible substance-abusing-party-addicts who let him plummet to his death through a skylight -- barely interrupting their partying lifestyle for a few months. The look of scorn and contempt on John Lennon's face, when witnessing the author's pathetic attempts to put meaning in her life by flinging herself at the band. I didn't find myself judging the author so much as feeling badly for her. Well, I *did* judge her writing, I suppose, and not favorably.
   
   It's not a terrible book; it's too light a read to be that. But if you are looking for a book to make you feel that the 1960s were a time fraught with meaning and revolutionary philosophy, you'd be well advised to avoid this one.



2. I got this book for Christmas from my mother, who knows that I have a great love for classic rock and roll. I couldn't wait to read it, and it did not disappoint in the least. This book wasn't a tell all, but a look into what it was like to be part of the "scene".
   There were parts I would have liked to have heard a little more about...she seems to skim over being on the road with a simple, "I spent the next five days on the road with Zeppelin." Kind of would liked to have heard a little more about that. But the stories that she does share are amazing.
   She gives us great insight into some of the most amazing artists of our time. This is a must read for anyone with a love of rock and roll and the 60's. I can't wait to read her other books.



3. I was disappointed with this book by Pamela Des Barres. It was predictable and quite boring. I managed halfway through the novel already and have lost interest.
   Even though she was able to meet many famous musicians throughout her life, you already knew she would use sex to get attention from them and then they would just move on to the next groupie. Nothing new.



4. Okay, so I'm a late bloomer! I wanted to read this book *years* ago, but never got the chance. Now I'm older and couldn't get backstage if I wanted to- so I can't exactly use the book for 'helpful tips and hints' as I would have as a teenager. *smirk*
   
   Anyway, it's a great read and very tasteful. If there are any nay sayers about that, they need to stop and think about what the subject matter is about. Considering what Ms. Des Barres is writing about I think she did so very eloquently.
   
   After all, how tactfully *can* you write about Mick Jagger's testicles?



5. This was a gift for my best friend. She said this book was not very good. The stories were not thought out very well it seemed. She liked the concept but it should've been written by someone besides the author who did write it.