2 comments about IM ON MY WAY BUT YOUR FOOT IS ON MY HEAD: A Black Woman's Story of Getting Over Life's Hurdles.

1. Ok. Don't laugh. This was one of the best books I have ever read. Granted, I read this book during a time in my laugh where I needed to hear some "woman-power" words. Dr. Berry *wowed* me with her insight into womanhood and society issues.
   
   I loved her writing style. She was so funny and equally...so deep and perplexing. AFter reading this book I felt like I wish I could sit down and have a long chat with Dr. Berry.
   
   She talks about Alice Walker in the book and quotes her as saying "sometimes even greif becomes absurb and that's when laughter gushes up to retreive the sanity". Wow.
   
   I loved her insights on being beautiful. She says that she made herself the measure of beauty and suddenly everyone around her paled in comparison...Woman Power!
   
   I loved this book and I have recommended it to everyone I know. It was recommended to me by a WHITE MAN! Nevertheless...it is a must read.



2. This is the best book I've read this year. Dr. Berry gave a real insight to the 'black experience' . I had the pleasure of hearing her speak at a conference a couple of days ago and she is one of the most marvelous people that I have heard. Her words go far beyond that of John Grisham, or Stephen King. She is truly an inspirational person. I can't wait to read her other books

1 comments about Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois, and the Struggle for Racial Uplift (African American History Series (Wilmington, Del.), No. 1.).

1. Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. Du Bois, And The Struggle For Racial Uplift by Jacqueline M. Moore (Associate Professor of History at Austin College, Sherman, Texas) is an informed and informative depiction of two remarkable and quiet different men who helped shape Black American history. Placing each man's work in historical context, and studying the debate conflict of ideas that both had and alternatives to either one's point of view, Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. Du Bois, And The Struggle For Racial Uplift is an intelligently written, scholarly, evenhanded, and "reader friendly" analytical survey and presentation which is strongly recommended for students of Black Studies, as well as non-specialist general readers with an interest in the contributions of Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois to American society and culture.

No comments about Ready to Die: The Story of Biggie Smalls Notorious B.I.G..

5 comments about On a Positive Note.

1. I am constantly amazed at the magnitude of CeCe Winans musical and spiritual capabilities and I am pleased to say that her gifts do not end there. On A Positive Note is a beautiful piece. In it, there is a very natural and earthy quality that reaches the reader to relate the story CeCe seeks to tell. The flow of the book is very smooth; transitions are made nicely from one subject to the next as she relates her story. I cannot stress enough how the personal the experience of reading this book feels and how natural the language reads. CeCe has done it again. God is consistently working through her in a mighty way.



2. I read this book and I was so blessed by it. Throughout it, Cece constantly discusses the fact the she was taught to give up the world for God. This blessed me because it is evident in the way that God has blessed her music ministry that if we give up the world for God that he will do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we could ask or think in our lives. It was awesome to read about how God just kept blessing her life because the posture of heart was correct towards him. It was great to read a story about saved artist who had just been taught to live holy and to see the rewards of doing it. I was blessed and truly encouraged through this book.



3. While reading "On a Positive Note" by CeCe Winans, I was taken back into a time when I myself was growing up, how her childhood memories was very similar to my own. I also grew up in a large family, and reading her book brought back so many memories of my past. Despite all the tribulations and triumphs of her life, she managed to hold on to her spiritual belief, letting it guide her through her every decision in life. "On A Positive Note" has inspired me, lifted me to a higher level of praising the Lord and reminded me to always put God before each decision throughout my life. This book was quite a page turner that filled my heart with laughter, joy, tears, praise, sadness and forgiveness. I was moved to pray for Ronald myself as she astoundingly shared his testimony. My thirteen year old daughter is now reading this wonderful book and I will reccommend it to everyone I know.

   http://pages.ivillage.com/cassie23/




4. This book, "On A Positive Note", was truly an inspiration. I didn't want to put the book down. Ms. Winans biography was written so that you felt that you were right there in that moment of time. Again, GREAT BIOGRAPHY!



5. This book was truly an inspiration. I didn't want to put the book down. Ms. Winans biography was written so that you felt that you were right there in that moment of time. Again, GREAT BIOGRAPHY!

No comments about Mandela : Struggle and Triumph.

5 comments about A Family Affair: The Unauthorized Sean "Puffy" Combs Story.

1. This book is old and dated but it describes how fatherless Sean John Combs from the housing projects of Harlem went from the struggle of a single parent household to the genius of entertainment mogul Diddy and the Bad Boy empire. A great read for fans and anyone who believes that its not where you come from but where you are going that matters. For more on Diddy's mogul ways check out the new reality show "I Want to Work for Diddy". Diddy is one ambitious and hungry dude whose drive matched his dreams to create Bad Boy. Like Madonna once said, "how far you go and how successful you become depends on how hungry you are". Diddy is an example of that.



2. The designed book for the causal music fan seeking some information on Puffy. The "Real" music fan will not find anything new. Most of the material was hashed from magazine articles. I feel that you will get more interest from Nelson George's book "HipHop America", chapter 9 "New Jack Swing to Ghetto Glamour" then you will out of the whole UNAUTHORIZED book.



3. I THINK THIS BOOK IS 'DOPE



4. I ordered this because I thought it would enlighten me as to just who Puff Daddy is. Instead, there were no original quotes, no new revealing information. All old hashed over stuff from magazines. It was so boring and poorly written that I found it hard to get through.



5. I like the bad boy family for long time. When they came to St. Louis i went to go see then. When came to New York i went to see them. that was the best show i have seen in a long time Me personnal i always wanted to meet puffy daddy I just never got the the time to meet with him. When i get out of high schol I am going to New York and try to meet puffy daddy. I always wanting to work with him i do not sing or rap. I dance and write song that what I do best. I love the book These people can not touch bad boy they hateing on puffy daddy. Please if you can contact puffy daddy i real like for him to read him self.

5 comments about Golden Mountain: Beyond the American Dream.

1. Irene Kai writes of her struggle to escape boundaries imposed upon her by her Chinese family while the words of her grandmother to be a dutiful daughter and wife haunt her throughout her journey. She writes of her great grandmother, her grandmother and her mother using the creative non-fiction device of imagined conversations.These conversations draw one immediately into the life of 19th and 20th century rural China, then, Hong Kong and New York. I particularly enjoy reading of overlapping time frames from the points of view of different people, and Kai does it well.
   
   A child of a loveless arranged marriage, she is unwanted, unloved and abused physically and psychologically by her mother, who is struggling to find love. Kai's background material is especially important in helping us understand her mother and to understand Kai's radical rebellion in her teen and young adult years. She sweeps us into her wild, tumultuous exploration of art and sexuality. And when the rebellion is over, she becomes the dutiful wife, driven by her husband and her desire to leave behind all of her Chinese past. In doing so, she finally realizes that she, too, is neglecting her children, just as her mother did. Slowly, slowly, as she begins to discover herself, she finds the strength to leave her lavish life style and become attentive to her children and to her own needs. She reclaims parts of her own culture and becomes whole.
   
   Especially poignant is Kai's struggle to balance her desire to always please her wounded mother with her need to protect herself and her children. The moment of courage when she looks into her mother's eyes and takes charge of her own life must ring as true for many other women as it did for me.
   
   I would love to know more about this woman. Has she continued her art? How does she feel now? When she looks back, what are her feelings? Now that she has written this fascinating autobiography, will she let us into her life again?
   
   Golden Mountain is an uplifting read.
   
   by Judith Helburn
   for StorycircleBookReviews
   www.storycirclebookreviewsorg
   reviewing books by, for, and about women



2. I loved this compelling, richly textured, vividly descriptive story. Not only was I transported into Chinese culture over four generations of the author's family, but into how family patterns and cultural mores impact us all. I was also inspired by the hope in this book. The author transcends many obstacles, including family abuse, and courageously builds a meaningful, new life.



3. I loved this book. I could not put it down. The Golden Mountain is about Irene Kai's journey to claim her power and authenticity. It's a memoir of four generations of Chinese women, but it's really "every woman's" journey. It shows her transition from Hong Kong to the U. S., and how she breaks free from the restrictions of her ethnic background in a way that her mother and grandmother could not. In America, she achieves wealth and success as an artist and businesswoman. But Kai's story of what's possible doesn't end here. She eventually leaves her business and her marriage and moves to a small town. There, she explores and heals the family patterns she realized were still influencing her, even after she thought she had broken away from them. In the process, she creates a new life and a new dream, one that takes her beyond the American dream to live her own authentic destiny.



4. I enjoyed this book enormously -- not only for what it taught me about Chinese culture -- but for what it taught me about the universality of women's experience in patriarchial cultures. As always, I am both awed and humbled by the resilience of the human spirit. Irene's story offers hope and inspiration to anyone who has ever felt trapped by circumstances.



5. Okay, may be the story is quite emotional, but it definitely did not come across that way. Lines such as "Won-hoy got married to a rich wife, and had 5 kids" goes on and on... giving the reader no motivation to continue.

No comments about The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (An African American Heritage Book).

5 comments about Soldier: A Poet's Childhood.

1. I don't read autobiographies because they're usually self-serving. I wait until someone with distance does justice to a life.

   Soldier, though, is the exception to my rule. June Jordan is able to look back over what seems a chaotic and sometimes cold, cruel childhood, and put it into the context of her life.

   The style is many times lyrical and poetic. The words draw you in and keep you reading. The story works back and forth between what's actually happening to June, the child, and what she's thinking about as it unfolds. It's quite different from most autobiographies.

   While I understand her father's quest to make sure his child is never a victim, his methods seem too brutal for words. It was a different time, and reality for an African-American is different, too, but reading about it is grueling.

   I did have a problem with the fact that June's memories seem much too clear. I may be missing the point, but I don't know anyone who can remember her childhood with such clarity and from the age of six months. Perhaps this is literacy license. If so, fine. The problem, then, is mine.

   No matter, this book is a fabulous read. I whipped through it in two hours.




2. June Jordan, African American Studies professor at UC Berkeley, has written a moving testament to her chaotic, challenging, and bittersweet childhood. This memoir written in a poetic manner is reminiscent of Sandra Cisneros' "House on Mango Street". The daughter of West Indian immigrants who revered education and hard work, she endured almost daily verbal assaults on her gender and physical abuse from her father. He was on one hand a supporter of Marcus Garvey and on the other hand felt the need to put down the American black at every turn. Her mother was a submissive, silent woman who realized that her daughter was her husband's son. Jordan's memories of the people who made an impact on her life and character, her Nanny, her Uncle Teddy, her camp friend, Jodi along with tales of childhood death-defying accidents, academic excellence, and first crushes are just bits and parts that serve to make this memoir a compelling read.



3. Sure to be a classic. A wonderfully charming and moving series of memories, observations, and poetic passages about a childhood at turns sweet, innocent, and difficult. Sometimes children make the most clear-eyed and wise observers, and it is the rare adult, such as June Jordan, who can recapture and communicate the experience of childhood in both its wonder and bewilderment. Although the elements of Jordan's childhood are specific - 19302/1940s, brusque, occaisionally-violent immigrant father, Harlem and Brooklyn neighborhoods, racial and social inequity - the themes are universal. Wonderful!



4. Over the past 40 years civil rights has come a long way and progress has been made in areas that makes life easier. But imagine if you had to struggle with poor education, terrible living conditions, and even segregation. Now imagine trying to get ahead in a world and society that was making all this an impossible task.

   June Jordan takes you on a twelve year journey through the eyes of one person who life was given these circumstances and somehow managed to succeed and become one of the most successful people, her own. June Jordan tells a story through words and poems that has you stopping and thinking throughout the entire 260 pages.

   The book is one of the first I have read that makes a clear representation of how a child caught up in turmoil can block out what they see and find something good in the life they have been given. Jordan's ability to capture the reader makes this book one of the most impressive I have read so far this year.

   After reading this book and seeing how the tough and often overbearing father along with the serine and religious mother were at odds, I gained a deeper understating of how difficult it must have been for any African American to try to make and succeed in the white man's world.

   Jordan has written several other books and has won a number of prestigious awards over the years. I found this book enjoyable and easy to read. Take time out and follow through the 12 years with a child who I found dealt with the same things I did as a child, only Jordan had them magnified. An excellent book!




5. June Jordan is not a victim. She shows us that difficult childhoods aren't as straightfoward as that. Her violent father may have taught her to solve problems with violence, but he also taught her to be observant. The best part of this book is that we hear the words and see places that influenced Jordan's writing style: her father, her Uncle Teddy, New York of the 30's and 40's.

1 comments about Fault Lines: A Memoir (2nd Edition) (The Cross-Cultural Memoir Series).

1. As a student and a poet, I was first introduced to Meena Alexander when I was reading an example of what to expect on an Ap test (in English). I started to actually pay attention and read throught the diction and syntax to see what lay beneath, and what I say was magnificent. This book is a collectors piece for psychologists and th ecommon person. After all, who has not asked "Who am I?" This book answers that question for Meena, and if you read it yourself, it may provide a simple answer as well. But don't count on it, for Fault Lines shows us the confliction through conflicting images an example of Humanity itself.