5 comments about The Invisible Wall: A Love Story That Broke Barriers.

1. This book was a book club pick that came in second only after the first book selected was not in print, how unbelievably lucky do I feel? This book is absolutely amazing. The story and all the details make you feel like you were a part of this family sharing in all the good times and bad. As a previous reviewer mentioned, this book has a truly heart breaking story but it is absolutely uplifting and hopeful. I read it in a week and could not put it down. As soon as I finished reading The Invisible Wall I ran right out to the store and picked up The Dream, Harry Bernsteins follow up, I've had the book for one day and already and am half way through it. This is a must read, wonderful, wonderful book.



2. I read 5 plus books a month and almost all from the library.
   And when I read this one, I bought it from Amazon before I even finished it. You will want to read this, reread this, and pass it on to everyone you know! What an author! Why did he have to wait til 96 to start? :)



3. This was a really good read. It was a book club read. Very interesting story! Harry Bernstein did an incredible job at this memoir. Would recommend!



4. Hearing the book described to me as "a similar story along the lines of Angela's Ashes" made me NOT want to read it. While I enjoyed that book it left me so very very depressed and sad. I reluctantly picked up this story and began to read it and was immediatly drawn to it's lovely writing.
   Set on a poor street in England, one side Jewish one side Catholic, you are told the story through the eyes of a young jewish boy. The days of torment at the hands of his cruel drunk father. The hardships his mother faced. But mostly a story of how love- a romeo/juliet kind of story.
   
   Oh it is sad. But uplifitng at the same time if that makes sense. I want to find Harry and give him a hug. Thank you for sharing your life with us.



5. Once I began reading The Invisible Wall, I was instantly hooked. Usually I prefer fiction to nonfiction, but this memoir is as exciting and readable as any fiction. The author's story of growing up Jewish in England amidst such poverty and prejudice was a real eye-opener to me. I had no idea such conditions existed prior to World War I in what I considered an "enlightened" country. Relating his tale with an uncomplaining and unbiased voice, Bernstein calmly portrays the injustice and heartbreak of his childhood home. I laughed, I cried, and I will remember this book long after I have read it. I am looking forward to the sequel.

5 comments about Bunny Tales.

1. this book is plain stupid! the girl sounds incredibly unintelligent and desperate. if u want to read it, read it online, for free and be sourly disappointed! ENJOYYYYYYY



2. I read this book in 2 days... I really couldn't put it down! I don't want to give away too much, but I can't believe the rules the "girlfriends" had to live by. I think the "Girls Next Door" have it much better than the former gf's since they are making their own money now with the TV show. Oh and the thought of ALL that babyoil and Hef... yuck! LOL



3. This book reads exactly like what it is-- a gossipy tell-all written by a woman scorned. Although I was surprised by all of the the contradictions, typos, and grammatical errors--either the publisher was too eager to get this book on the store shelves to bother with an editor, or this girl really needs some lessons in English! The book really delivers the dirt on the sex practices of the world's oldest hedonist, and the playmate girlfriend hierarchy....and that is what we are really after anyhow! It makes a fun beach read for the summer, but that's about it.



4. This book was an atrocious attempt at trying to remain relevant after Hef booted St. James out of the house. Her publisher really did her a disservice in pushing this book onto the public. From attacking the other girls to attempting to paint herself in a different light, failing miserably, I would recommend this book only for a good laugh due to the inconsistencies. Holly, Bridget, and Kendra are desperate fame seeking whores while she truly loves Hef in one breath, the next she's talking about the fit she pitched when he cut their allowance for parties from 2k to about 500 because the girls were pocketing the cash in addition to their "allowance" for living there. Calling the other girls conniving cheats while admitting a chapter or two away the frequency with which she cheated on Hef. Overall, the book was boring minutia from someone who really could have just stayed quiet or auditioned to be part of the THS on Hef and come out looking better.



5. Interesting if you have ever been to one of the Mansions Parties or if you ever watch "The girls next door" you gotta read this. Lets say "there is always two sides to a story"
   Nice book

5 comments about Out of Africa (Modern Library).

1. My favorite movie of all time. The book is not as good as the movie.



2. Out of Africa is Karen Blixen's memoir about her years in Africa, writing as Isak Dinesen. She recounts the world of Africa, specifically Kenya. It is, like the England of her friend Denys Finch-Hatton, "a world that no longer existed" even then and certainly as she left it. The memoir is a slow read, yet a book with prose in which you can luxuriate, or languish perhaps as it seems to mirror the mammoth African landscape. Reading like a pastoral novel, the narrator interested me with her myriad experiences. It presents people, cultures, landscape, and wildlife through her eyes, sometimes noble, sometimes paternal. The culture of the various tribes and religions with whom she had contact on her coffee farm became almost real, so that as I read certain moments became funny or sad or wistful. The reader comes to view animals differently, the fecundity of life struck me particularly. The different forces at work are both natural and foreign; the paradoxical nature of the presence of two churches (Roman Catholic and Church of Scotland) is sometimes presented as working for good yet other times it is in conflict. Blixen's memoir is truly literate and the importance of books and writing is evident throughout. Early in the memoir she tries to explain her wirting a book to a native. Near the end of her stay as she is selling off the furniture and other estate provisions their is a poignant moment when, as she sits on her remaining books, she comments:
   "Books in a colony play a different part in your existence from what they do in Europe; there is a whole side of your life which they alone take charge of ... you feel more grateful to them, or more indignant with them, than you will ever do in civilized countries." (p.373)
   Blixen's memoir of this "uncivilised" land is both memorable and effective in sweeping the reader away into a very different world. Definitely a worthwhile read.



3. The two-cassette abridgment was way too limiting for such a magnificent book. Also disappointing was the fact that the product was a rejected one from a public library, and the second tape was stretched and half of the second tape was not able to be heard. This product should never have been sold in this condition.



4. This was the first of many books I've read about Africa. At the time, I had a romanticized view of The Dark Continent, a naieve view.
   After doing some more research, I realize Karen Blixen's view was VERY romanticized....to the extent that many of her contemporaries thought her somewhat odd and out of touch with reality.
   If you want a lyrically told story colored with emotion...this is for you.
   If you're interested in Africa as it really was, read the many accounts extant by settlers who spent far more time, and ranged over a wider area.



5. The book, "Out of Africa," is a memoir of the Danish Baroness Karen Blixen's habitation near Nairobi in Kenya from 1914 to 1931 on a fertile 6000-acre coffee plantation, "at the foot of the Ngong Hills" (1992: 3). Blixen writes under the pen-name Isak Dinesen. Karen Blixen went to British East Africa (in a location in present-day, Kenya) to join her German husband (Baron Bror Blixen), and upon separation she stayed in Kenya to manage the farm by herself. The extent of her adventures in Africa, and to what extent she is a feminist is borne out by the book, as well as the film "Out of Africa," that is based on the book. This piece will examine such, as well as comparisons between the book and the film.
   
   Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen) presents geographical detail, oftentimes comparisons and contrasts within this fertile land of the Kikuyu people that would several decades later be the crux of the Mau-Mau rebellion over whites' displacement and dispossession of natives from their land. Dinesen also compares features with those of her native Europe. Dinesen writes of the equatorial habitat, "Everything that you saw made for greatness and freedom, and unequaled nobility...Up in this high air you breathed easily, drawing in a vital assurance and lightness of heart: Here I am where I ought to be" (1992: 4). Dinesen writes of "heavy-scented lilies," of "long-rains," "ever-changing clouds," of "hills from the farm [that} changed their character many times in the course of the day, and sometimes looked quite close and at times very far away" (1992: 4). Dinesen, in precise and elegant language displays love and fascination for the geography, the clean air, the animals, the beauty of this African environment; she becomes possessed by the place.The movie captures the large, picturesque, mysterious, and varied eastern equatorial Africa where the eland, the buffalo, and the rhino are quite common sights; the movie impressively and unanimously earned, Oscar, "Best Picture of the Year."
   
   In the end Dinesen is forced to give up her plantation, this scenario elicits a heartache and sadness. Dinesen's memoirs, years after she had left Africa could be a reflection of her nostalgic dealing with her loss of the farm as well as overall experiences in Africa. Dinesen stands out as a courageous and strong woman, one who is in the feminist direction. She lost her philandering husband, but stayed on bravely, for nearly 20 years in a foreign harsh environment, one with languages and cultures far-fetched from her own. Dinesen worked well at being appreciative of an environment that was new to her, during an era of colonialism in Africa, a time when Darwinian relegation of black Africans to the lowest of human species and elevation of whites to the upper rung was very strong. Dinesen cuts through the female traditional roles, she tries flying in planes, the goes on safari, she learns how to shoot and even shoots and kills game. She is open and welcomes countless visitors from all over the world to her home and farm. This was an age of exploration and acquisition of "Dark Africa," by Europeans and Asians. Dinesen is quite aware of her feminine strength. She rescues and adopts a wounded antelope she names Lulu; Lulu becomes a celebrity on the farm; Dinesen searches, discovers and celebrates the feminist strength in Lulu: "But Lulu was not really gentle, she had the so-called devil in her. She had, to the highest degree, the feminine trait of appearing to be exclusively on the defensive, concentrating on guarding the integrity of her being, when she was really, with the force in her, bent upon and defensive" (1992: 74). Also, "Lulu of the woods was a superior, independent being...she was in possession. If I had happened to have known a young princess in exile, and while she was still a pretender to the throne, and had met her again in her full queenly estate after she had come into her rights, our meeting would have had the same character" (1992: 78).
   
   The book displays that Karen Blixen exemplified the Europeans with the upper hand in colonial world conquest and politics. It is to be recalled that the three weapons used by Europeans to subjugate Africans were the gun, the Bible, and the anthropologist. Karen used guns to protect herself. Catholic (mostly Belgian and French), Protestant (mostly British), and Muslim (mostly Arabic) agencies vied for power in Africa. The Germans were in present-day neighboring Tanzania (German East Africa) to the south. They would be ousted during this significant, "Scramble for Africa." The book illustrates how Karen Blixen took great interest in which religious group the young natives (some of whom served her) adhered to. Many native followers, taught to kneel and pray to an invisible white Almighty god, became converted to the political/ religious groups, as they became dispossessed of their land resources. The anthropology aspect, as mentioned, involved relegation of black Africans to the lowest rungs of evolutionary mankind...the white was relegated as the superior, the master, the savior, the benevolent, the genius. The movie is great at casting Meryl Streep as the beautiful, rosy-cheeked clean, statuesque woman amidst muddy, black African paradise! The real Karen Blixen likely had more rugged looks and likely often got "down-and-dirty," than is depicted in the movie. An equatorial Africa of long and heavy rainy seasons, of continuous tropical sun, and of limited running water would not leave the Danish heroine so clean and collected.
   
   It is to be recalled that Dinesen is writing from an overly European point of view, hence, negative criticism of her will not be short. Her attitude to black Africans is racist and condescending. In the movie, Denys Finch-Hatton (Robert Redford) rebukes her for instructing native porters to get off her belongings by "shooing," them off!. Finch-Hatton, in shock, remarks to her, "Shoo?" as if telling her, "I do not believe you addressed these people that way!" Finch-Hatton (who became Dinesen's lover) knows the native languages (Kiswahili and Kikuyu), and goes on to communicate her instructions to the porters. Black Africans are prevalently depicted in the movie as poverty-stricken servants, laborers and porters, as helpless people close to animal nature. In tune with the movie, here Dinesen writes, "They were poor people, small and underfed; they looked like a pair of badgers on my lawn...I could hardly distinguish them against the grass. They were sank in deep grief; their bereavement and their economic loss melted into one overwhelming distress" (1992: 108). Dinesen is surprised that the, "Natives," are strikingly open, adapting, welcoming and unprejudiced. Yet, as prevalent in the colonial fashion, she does not attribute this to the inner traditions and workings of indigenous African society, but from influence from foreigners including slavers! "The lack of prejudice in the Natives is a striking thing, for you expect to find dark taboos in the primitive people. It is due...to their acquaintance with a variety of races and tribes, and to the lively human intercourse that was brought upon East Africa, first by the old traders of ivory and slaves...and...by the settlers and big-game hunters" (1992: 54).
   
   Dinesen wishes the natives would understand and appreciate her more. It is always presumptuous to be confident of having fully understood a foreign culture and people; she does not seem to believe she is prejudiced and why the natives to a good extent regard her as a foreigner far different from them, and difficult to comprehend. She writes, "If I know a song of Africa,---I thought,---of the Giraffe, and the African new moon lying on her back, of the ploughs in the field, and the sweaty faces of the coffee pickers, does Africa know a song of me?" (1992: 83). At the same time, Dinesen quite often acknowledges that newcomers from Africa are from a noisy and rushed world, they do not have the patience and connectedness of native Africans. European colonialists imposed on the natives an alien system of forced dispossession and displacement and of monopoly. So much of this colonial intrusion was quite new to the prevalently communalist and family-oriented, egalitarian way of native African subsistence.
   
   Karen Blixen's marriage starts out as more of a convenience than of romance. She left Denmark to marry the German Baron Bror Blixen (Klaus Maria Brandauer) and start a dairy in Kenya. Bror is actually the brother of her lover. Karen is offering her fortune for companionship and adventure (and for the title of, "Baroness") much more than for enjoying the security of a man. So, from the outset, Karen's feminist inclinations are strong. The husband changes his mind about the diary, and instead invests her money in a risky venture of growing coffee. The husband is unfaithful, philandering, gives her syphilis that will disable her from having children; the marriage breaks up. Karen is left to manage the farm, she has to battle with floods and fire. Hardly anything of British big game hunter Denys Finch-Hatton's romance with Dinesen (Karen Blixen), is mentioned in the book; the movie likely borrows from other sources depicting the life of Karen Blixen. Unfortunately the English accent of Denys Finch-Hatton is not conveyed by Redford, compared to Karen's excellent outflow of a Scandinavian accent. Yet, the movie depicts their chemistry, Denys is impressed by her strength and independence, Karen's ability to tell and weave stories, they kiss, and in one scene have sex. Karen does seem to desire long-term companionship and commitment from Denys, desire for a man who will sacrifice to be with her. She stands against having a man like Denys who wants to be "free-wheeling," one who will come and go depending on need and desire, he loves the African outdoors. Finch-Hatton is mysterious, elusive and emotionally distant, but he is miscast in that in the movie: he seems to represent an all-American jock that waywardly found his way into Africa. Karen was wounded before, and this encounter with Denys is only a brief moment of ecstasy, but she bravely soldiers on, appreciating more of what is around her. Karen is indeed confident, stoic and creative in face of the odds. She did resist going on safari with Denys, but she eventually succumbed to his quite undeniable invitation. Eventually, they got closer, she broadened her horizons, she better adapted to and better accepted foreigners and their ways.
   
   In conclusion, the movie emphasizes the romantic issues and episodes in Karen Blixen's life in Africa (romance and sex sells in Hollywood), much more than the book does. The book seems to be constructed from a breadth of notes of what Blixen put together while in Africa, and weaved them into a good fairy tale. The truth is that Blixen dealt with aspects like fluctuating coffee prices, sometimes drought and heavy rains, discontented dispossessed natives, scrambles for Africa amongst several European agencies, African diseases and sometimes unsanitary conditions, wildlife from untamed neighborhoods. The movie does display the exquisite beauty of tropical Africa which Blixen did dwell on, but not on the colonial wranglings. There is lyrical beauty in Blixen's writing, and the movie does elicit an African peaceful mood through the excellent music. Blixen, in both the movie and the book is a strong and opinionated woman, yet flexible and open to ideas, people, and adventure. She is a significant precursor of modern-day feminism.

2 comments about Married to Me: How Committing to Myself Led to Triumph After Divorce.

1. 
   Full Disclosure
   
   Dayanara is a friend of mine and if I hated this book there would have been no review.
   
   If you're looking for a tell all about Dayanara's marriage to Marc Anthony this book will be a disappointment. If you're looking for a "tell-something" you are in luck.
   
   I don't know how but at a remarkably young age the sisters Torres (Jinny is the co-author) have found their voices. Although it appears to be geared to the divorced or divorcing woman, Married To Me is a wonderful guide for married women too.
   
   There is more than one gentle reminder that our children are only half "ours". Married, divorced, single or looking Dayanara and Jeannette are women worth listening to. By honoring our children's fathers we honor our children.
   
   Do not miss the chapter on Rebuilding. A smart woman begins every day fresh.
   
   It's a charming and uplifting book with small glimpses into a very exciting life led by two insightful and glamorous women (who are surprisingly just like us).



2. I could not put it down! We as women have struggles but to for Dyanara to write about it was great .. I was happy to read that she had so much support and love from her family.
   
   Jeannette Torres-Alvarez loved her notes! BALANCE!!!
   
   I know that I have picked up some wonderful tips!
   Thanks for sharing your ups and downs.

5 comments about iWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It.

1. As an early adopter of the TRS-80 (1978) and later Apple II I have been an avid reader of much history of this period. There are great nuggets of inside events in this book but a little too much of Woz's philosophy and not as much new as I had hoped. The tech info was great though some of it a bit hard to follow which might be understandable of a proven genius telling his story.



2. I enjoyed reading this book but like others, I found it annoying at times. It is an autobiography. Most of the book is about boring details of Steve Wozniak's life. His account of how Apple Computer started and how the Apple I and II where created is very interesting, unfortunately it is a very small part of the book. It was very annoying reading his constant bragging about how humble he is.
   
   The book gave me a better understanding of early PC history and the history of Apple. I also wanted to learn more about a guy I consider a hero. I did learn more about Woz but I must say that based on what I learned from this book I respect him a lot less than before.



3. I'm a mac user, and I always wanted to know how Woz lived all Apple's building process.
   It's a great biography and really enjoyable to read. All is written in a very friendly way.
   I really recommend it. It's a piece of computer history, I think, all geeks should know.



4. This was an outstanding autobiography that gave me real insight into Steve Wozniak's life journey and thought process. Most interesting and prevelant was the invention of the first PC, but the book goes beyond that.
   
   As a tech person myself, I really liked how he would stop and describe how things worked as it related to how it shaped his life. Some of it was interesting and easy to understand (e.g., why twisted pair wire is twisted) while others were interesting but mostly went over my head (e.g., the intricacies of a complex circuit board). But I even enjoyed the stuff that went over my head.
   
   Some of the other reviews trashed this book because they thought he was too full of himself or they thought the book was written "at a 6th grade level". #1 - it's an autobiography - what do you want him to talk about? #2 - he invented the first personal computer - if anything I think he downplays his role too much (it's not like the PC has any impact on modern life, right?). #3 - the book's style is just about perfect if you ask me. If you want an autobiography that reads like a high-brow novel, then read one about a novelist. For me, this was perfectly what an autobiography should be: a behind-the-eyes look at someone truly interesting and impactful on everyone's lives, written in his own words.



5. Steve Wozniak spends a lot of this book detailing so many examples of his relentlessly positive attitude, his relentlessly great time growing up, and his relentless enthusiasm for all thing electronic. He does a good job in some early sections explaining movements of electrons along currents at their both basic level, which is appreciated by non-engineers. I was put off by his side story of opening/running the Mayfair theater in a "low-income" area of Silicon Valley and having to paint the bathroom black to stop the graffetii. I grew up in what he probably thinks are "low-income" areas of Silicon Valley, i e your house is under $2 million bucks, and I was pretty offended. Wow! We weren't super-rich and I never graffettied anything! This typifies the snotty elitist attitude of people in that area and reminds me why I high-tailed it for Sin City. Too bad that one of the men who built and contributed so much has this attitude as well. Stop playing to both sides of the fence, Woz. Your products are great, but your book needs some de-bugging!

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

1. 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.



2. 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.



3. 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.



4. 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. I picked up this book expecting an unflinching and objective historical discussion of a much neglected subject: the involvement of Northern merchant families in the abominable slave trade. What I got instead was page after page of white people blathering away in self-loathing about crimes committed by their forbears 150 years ago. If the DeWolf family was worried about their good family name being sullied, they can rest easy. This book is unreadable.

5 comments about Get Me Out of Here: My Recovery from Borderline Personality Disorder.

1. Terrible- a long whining expose of poor-poor Rachel's BPD. Frankly it struck me more like-Rachel's rather a spoiled rich kid brat who grows up to be nasty spoiled bratty wife. She blames all her issues on BPD. The book was poorly written, one long overly melodramtic tale of endless whining and self pity. Bleeeh....don't read it.



2. The book's title says it all - I'm the victim, and, damit, I want out! No mention of maturity or responsibility whatsoever. I'm a male BPD and am angry at the oblique, reverse bias so obvious in this book. She throws a tantrum and gets 'support'!?! I can only dream of getting all the help I need and can't get away with the things she does. Support is something I have to give myself in trying to recover.
   All I can say is that it must be nice to have money, and I'm not liberal. Seems that only women can show emotion - when men do it, they get thrown in jail.



3. I really enjoyed this book. The story is a very touching and moving one. I feel as if I had gone through the inspiring and at times heartbreaking journey with the author. I didn't think psychiatrists such as hers exist. If they really do, then anybody would be truly blessed to be their patient. The author is very lucky to have had the support system that she did, so we need to keep in mind that her story is an exception, not the norm. But nevertheless, I gained a lot of insight into this condition, and also into the 'human condition' in general. I highly recommend it.



4. There's something about reading a first hand account that's different. That's not to say that books written by doctors aren't worth reading, because they can be. But you get this sense of relief when you read a book written by someone else who suffers from the same problems that you do. It makes you realize that you're not alone. Others have felt the same way you do.
   
   I found Rachel's story to be honest, heartbreaking at times, but well worth reading. It really hit home, and it gave me hope to read about someone else who has suffered from this and "lived to tell the tale" so to speak.



5. I am a substance abuse counselor and work with a lot of people with co-occurring mental illness. This book was recommended by a client. It makes a huge impact on the reader. It gives hope to people who previously have been told they cannot be helped. I have recommended this book to several clients. It is an excellent book for professionals, clients, or anyone who wants to learn about this devastating disease.

5 comments about Cancer on $5 a Day* *(chemo not included): How Humor Got Me Through the Toughest Journey of My Life.

1. I started reading after lunch today, and couldn't put it down. The writing is compelling and real, and inspiring in so many ways.
   I am grateful that Mr. Schimmel lived through it all, and even more grateful that his book enriches our lives by reminding us about what really matters. As a survivor myself, and having lost many relatives to cancer, the book had my emotions all over the place...but through it all, the humor prevails. I can't remember ever reading a book that had me laughing and crying at the same time.
   
   This book is in my collection after seeing him on Conan, and it's going to get a lot more readings from here on out. It's a keeper.



2. Humor is a gift, and Robert Schimmel has the gift.
   
   While some readers might think: "Cancer is no laughing matter", Schimmel's story shows how the use of laughter can lead a patient through the terror of cancer diagnosis and the devastating effects of treatment.
   
   If you or someone you know has heard the dreaded words: "You have cancer", get this book. It's absolutely inspiring, and will help you to laugh through your tears.



3. Robert has been one of my favorite comedians since the mid 80s. This is a very touching book. It sounds cliche, but it'll make you laugh and it'll make you cry. Being one of the worlds top comedians he is really able to tackle such heavy topics in a amusing way.
   
   Definitely a must read for anyone experiencing something similar or for any of his fans.



4. I remember Robert from the mid eighties and he has been my favorite stand-up since then. Robert keeps you rolling with laughter from cover to cover, and kept alot of people involved rolling throughout his ordeal.



5. CANCER ON $5 A DAY: HOW HUMOR GOT ME THROUGH THE TOUGHEST JOURNEY OF MY LIFE comes from a stand-up comedian who discusses her how humor got him through his battle with cancer. From his banter with nurses to his search for alternative options, CANCER ON $5 A DAY doesn't detract from cancer's seriousness - but it does offer a refreshing alternative to approaching it. Any health collection or general lending library needs this.

5 comments about La Suma de los Dias.

1. Me gusto mucho el libro al punto que no queria que se me acabara y no lo podia soltar



2. Isabel Allende siempre ofrece un deleite literario, este libro es la continuación de "Paula", que pasó despues y como sigue la Familia que Pula dejó,,, o ¿sigue con ellos?. Una novela entre la realidad y el toque ficticio de la escritora. MUY RECOMENDABLE



3. As much as I like (actually adore) Isabel Allende's writings and style, La Suma de los Días is not in my opinion up to Isabel's standards. It felt weak and repetitive. But at the same time maybe that it is exactly what she was aiming for. Inner family matters and things of the heart and emotions tend to be weak and repetitive with a twist of hope and eternity. Having said that, I read the book in 3 days hoping until the very end that the next line would become the starting point for the ususally turn-page reading Isabel always brings to her readers. But this is not a worry at all. I consider myself the most common and ordinary of all her fans. Likely one that she will never meet but always will be with her waiting for her next master piece.



4. If you dreamt about meeting Isabel, look no further! Her book is warm and realistic. There is no need to try to imagine how she is in real life because the book allows you to meet her in the most profound way. With her extraordinary writing Isabel becomes your best friend, mother, daughter, son, or as she calls it "a member of her tribe". I am looking forward to her next book and wonder, what could be better than, La Suma de los Dias!



5. I have read every single book written by Isabel Allende who is one of my favorite authors. This new book is wonderful, as usual.

5 comments about A Remarkable Mother.

1. Very quick service. I got this book for my mom for Mother's Day and she loved it. I recommend it to anyone and use Amazon.



2. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was lovingly written by a son who adored, respected, and loved his mother very much. Lillian was such a force in the White House, and it sounds like everyone from every country who ever met her just loved being with her. She's was a woman that we could all learn from....she didn't take from anyone...even the President. The book was inspiring to me...she went into the Peace Corps at 70....enough said....very good book!



3. This was a quick read, but well done. Mr. Carter's mother was definitely her own woman, but Mr. Carter treated her always with respect and love. A great tribute.



4. Loved the book. It was an easy afternoon read. My husband and I took turns reading it to one another while sitting on the dock sipping cold beer. It is one of those days you hold in your heart. Laughed, cried and hated to see the end. Miss Lillian was some kind of woman!



5. I purchased this book for my 86-year-old mother for Mother's Day.
   She said she enjoyed it very much and learned more about Mrs.
   Carter than she knew.