1 comments about Positively PCOS.

1. This book is really for anyone who is stuggling with infertility, and even better for those with PCOS. Hansen candidly explains her trials and tribulations with trying to become pregnant, and details the painful 22 cycles, and three years it took her to become pregnant. I wondered for a bit why the book had PCOS in the title as she rarely refers to it, and never talks about being diagnosed. Later in the book she does explain that she does not suffer from the other random but "charasteristic" sypmtopms so many others do. I liked the book because it's from a patient perspective, and seems to have a healthly positive message, and nothing dangerous as you would often find in patient written medical books. She does a great job at detailing her experience, and being honest about things she cannot recount, or does not know. Her knowledge is vast, and is written and presented in a non-intimidating way. I wish it has included more of her husbands feelings, and details, rather than just her own, but it was still written well. She uses a little sarcasm to lighten the load as she goes through let down after let down. There is great info on OHSS which I had never read about, and was pleased to learn something new. There is no speechy chapter after chapter that you find in other PCOS books about what PCOS is. Overall, it was empowering to read, and up-lifting. I highlu recommend!

5 comments about The Blood Runs Like a River Through My Dreams.

1. This book has to be the worst and most sickening case of cultural apropriation in the history of the US. The fact that it was writen by a white man is further proof of the emperialist and colonialist mentality that still exists in this nation twords the Native American Community. However when I forst read this book Nasdijj was still a navajo within the eyes of the public. At the time the book mooved me deaply. Nasdijj's use if diction and the storytelling nature of his narative was beutifle. It made me want to learn more about the status and problems facing the Plains Indian community and work bring about change. That meens somthing to me and despite what I know now that initial responce when I first read this book stays with me to this day. I urge those who are going to critisize this book to read it first if you have not, and when you read it, do so with eyes un clouded by the trouth.



2. It's a shame that because of works like this, not to mention the Forrest Carter (Education of Little Tree) scandal a few years back, many unknown and undiscovered--but authentic--Native American writers will probably have to struggle that much harder to become published. Well-established American Indian authors are already naturally suspect of any newcomers on the scene; the sad fact is that for some reason Native American culture and identity is misappropriated by more misguided white writers--whatever their individual agendas might be--than any other race or ethnic group. The sad truth is that, for every Forrest Carter and Timothy Barris who manage to secure a publishing contract, there are dozens of truly deserving Native voices that are going unheard.And thanks to these imposters making the buying public- as well as agents and editors- increasingly suspicious of anyone claiming to be Native American-their chances to be read and heard are only going to diminish.



3. To hold the power to move people with words regardless of the validity of those words is a very impressive art. With the exception of one specific actor, no one in history has made a powerful film about his or her own life. There is no reason to believe that written works shoud be treated differently from movies in this respect. Obviously this writer has realized that human deception is an important method of eliciting an emotional response from an audience. By reading the responses from readers prior to the false exposure of the true writer, it is clear that this man or woman is light years ahead of current authors when it comes to manipulating the human brain into believing a story, factual or not. With the increasing pace of desensitization of the mind in recent years, obviously new techniques must be made available to entertain an insatiable public. To say that this author's amazing work is only confined within the pages of the book is downwright ludicrous. Everything, including the monikor and real identity of "Timothy Barris" is part of a larger piece of fiction that may be even further exposed as time passes. After this "identity" was unearthed, opposite and even stronger emotional responses were elicited from readers, demonstrated in print on these very pages of Amazon.com. Is it not true that disgust and outrage are also emotions that sub-par authors struggle to touch in their works? "The Blood Runs Like a River Through My Dreams" is such an example of a work of writing and deception that is capable of plucking each string of human emotion in such a way that has never been attempted before. There is a larger picture.
   
   -AK



4. I read this book last year, and was moved by it, though I often found it rather fuzzy on certain details, and the chronology seemed to jump around. Now, I learn this guy is a total FRAUD: He's not Indian and Tommy didn't exist. He's apparently lazy, too: I've read that his descriptions of Navajo culture don't fit with reality, either. This is disgraceful, both his lying about his heritage, and inventing this sick child, as well as the other people he made up. What a waste of time.
   So many literary frauds have been exposed this month (Jan 06). Now, I'm wondering about a few other memoirs that have been popular the last few years. I'm rather disinclined to buy any memoirs these days; and I bet I'm not the only one who feels this way. I bet these scandals hurt sales of this book genre.



5. I haven't read any of "Nasdijj"'s writings, and I don't expect to do so, but as a REAL Amerind (Cherokee), I am disturbed and indignant at Navajos being used as a publicity hook by a white sado-masochist. Don't take my word for it. Read an exhaustive exposé at
   http://www.laweekly.com/index.php option=com_lawcontent&task=view&id=12468&Itemid=47

5 comments about Whiskey's Children.

1. Think of all the good things you wish for your children -- health, happiness, safety and love must surely be on the list -- and then realize, if you are an alcoholic, what you may in truth pass on: fear, grief, rage, an inability to love or be loved, and the terminal disease of alcoholism itself. Mr. Erdmann explores his heritage of alcoholism, passed down from his grandfather to his father to him, and the legacy he gave his children. Burdens too big and confusing for their small trembling shoulders, fear, confusion -- so so sad, and so so common. If you are or think you are an alcoholic, do yourself and the people you love a favor and read this. And even if you don't want to quit drinking, find an AA meeting, shut your mouth and open your ears; give your children a chance, even if you never got one.



2. Alcoholism is not an emotional disorder per se, but it does sometimes have emotional triggers. When my dad started drinking in beer joints, he was in his thirties and had buried two wives and five children. I suffered inconsqentially as a result of his stopping at the nearest joint from our house on the way back for Saturday movies on the town, and I would have to hide in the backseat of the car. Since we had to traverse many curves for the few miles to get home, I remember praying all the way there for God to let us live.
   
   You can tell the children whose dad drinks alcohol, because he carries a load of guilt and pain, thinking he caused the abuse he would later reap by, looking at families who walk by and look at the young ones' faces. It is devastating.
   
   This town has a long history going back to bootlegger days before prohibition of brewing their own 'spirits' openly and for a long time on the main street of town (which they do again in this modern, accepting age), and the men are proud to be drinkers. They look down on those who are not addicted to alcohol. They are the dummies. One local writer told me recently, "You think I am just a drunk." I replied, "If I did that, why would I ask you to show me how to drink?" which he refused to do as I have liver disease. He was his usual 'confused' self and asked "Why did you choose me?" My honest answer, "I trust you because I know you won't touch me" and I thought he might feel enough responsibility to not let any of the other drunks take advantage if I started acting silly. But he told me that he can't control his own drinking, so he ended up not even offering me a drink of water. Ever! Now, I know water is not going to cause this hemangioma to burst, but it seems that something else did. Probably the pain pills I have taken for a chronic nerve pain I have had since 1994. Feeling sorry for me yet, Arthur Hardaway.
   
   Jack Daniels' Whiskey from right here in Tennessee is internationally known and sought after; people come from all over the United States looking for Lynchburg, Tennessee, as if they were seeking the Holy Grail. I heard a bigoted preacher get all emotional about the difference in immersion vs. sprinkling. He said that sprinkling is like scattering a little dirt on top of a dead person instead of burying him in a grave. Since I am a Methodist, I told him that he 'hit below the belt.' He also proclaimed that only immersed Baptists will enter Heaven. For years, I thought it was Seventh Day Adventists who preached that. My sister Evelyn belonged to that group for awhile until they betrayed her.
   
   Jack Erdmann has written othre books because I have reviewed one or more. He was the son of a jazz musician and an ex-chorus dancer in St. Louis. His reminiscing starts in 1934 when, as an altar boy, he drank the communion wine. Then, like this local writer, he drank because of loneliness. He even thinks his son should be allowed to buy beer when he is old enough to 'serve his country' in war but not yet old enough to vote. How dumb can you be!
   
   Co-writer Larry Kearney, a poet who settled in San Francisco (where Jack lives), was born in Brooklyn in 1943. Both are recovering alcoholics.



3. Jack Erdmann's story of his long struggle back from the strangling grip that alcoholism held on his life, as well as over members of his family for four generations, is a tour de force. This book is not just for alcoholics, or for drinkers who feel that they "don't have a problem," it is for everyone who is willing to accompany Erdmann on a harrowing journey.

   For those readers with alcoholics in the family, they--we--find ourselves nodding with recognition, and ultimately uplifted by the knowledge that there's a way up from the bottom. They will find assistance from now-sober alcoholics "with kind eyes, offering hot cups of bad coffee," in the words of Anne Lamott, a recovering alcoholic herself, who wrote the foreword.

   You want an "easy, feel-good" book--well, there are plenty of THOSE. You want one that will change your life, or that of someone whom you love, or that will give breathtaking insights into the lives of the alcoholics you know, "Whiskey's Children" is the best effort I've found. There are pathos, self-degradation, guilt, self-loathing, and even a quiet humor in these pages.

   If Amazon offered more than five stars, Erdmann and his co-author Larry Kearney would have earned them many times over. Not just for writing, but from their phoenix-life resurrection from the ashes of an alcoholic life.

   This is a wonderful book.




4. An unusal accounting of a whole bunch of ingested liquor. Happily with a happy ending. Sadly, though, a between-the-lines documentary of a beat poet who coulda been a contendah. Then again, he's still here now, and b.p. can be thought of as re-manifest in such pubs as McSweeney's where Mr. Erdmann (via Mr. Kearney) might consider submitting manuscript.



5. Whiskey's Children is a great book, period. While it chronicled the casual horrors and quiet heartbreak of a family damaged by alcohol better than any book I've read, it also tells a universal story of human frailty and persistance. It is shocking, depressing...and funny. Read it for any reason, and then read 'A Bar on Every Corner' by the same author.

5 comments about Joni (Spanish edition).

1. I first read Joni in 1977, when I received it as a H.S. grad present. Having been born with disabilities due to German measles, I could identify w/ Joni a wee bit. Frustrations, anger, questions, etc. Yes, I could identify a little bit w/ her. But as I read her book, all I could think was "Wow!!" I certainly didn't have a problem now, did I? God most certainly used her in ways I could never imagine. I am SO thankful that Joni allowed God to use her in all the ways that He has. I know that I have benefitted from Joni and her organization's generosity. Thank You, Lord, for allowing the rest of us to learn so much from her!! May Ken and Joni Tada continue to be a blessing to so many people, and in return, be blessed themselves. Thank you, Joni, and thank you, Ken, for being who you are.



2. This book is an inspiring story of a teenager left paralyzed from the neck down after a diving accident, and how she finds the strength through her faith to go on living.
   
   Joni Eareckson came to national attention through her artwork, which she painted with a brush held between her teeth. It was a stunning image, her interview with Barbara Walters, the realization that someone left completely paralyzed could find a way to go on with her life.
   
   Joni's true life story has given hope to millions of people in the twenty-five years since it was first published.



3. Mary Anne Maxwell, RN Fort Myers Florida.
   I read "Joni" as I was graduating from Nurses training, and was doing a Rehabilitation Focus in Detroit, Michigan. Joni has touched my nursing interaction with clients, realizing that all clients are precious to God, and the cranky ones, have something to teach me, that is sometimes deep inside them. I have learned to accept them as they are, and invite them to grow, and to keep in touch with many thru the years. I went on to be a Hospice Nurse applying many insights of Joni's books to helping those who share their journey of chronic disease, and death. Joni is an inspiration to those who seek to give their BEST to others in their detours of health.



4. Our mother used to read us children's books every night, so we were surprised one night when she started to read to us from this book. We loved it almost at once. I don't think I'll ever forget the impression that was made on my mind when we read about Joni's story and her experiences. Even as a little child, I could understand her faith in God and how if I had my own troubles, that would help me too.
   
   This has got to be one of those books that is a rare treasure that many people don't find. It is an excellent book and a heartwarming story of faith, determination and hope. I'd reccomend it to anyone, especially to parents who want a good book to read with their families. It may not be as exciting Harry Potter, but the lessons I learned from it still help me each day!



5. This is one of those few stories that never leave you. Even after you have read the book, closed it and put it on the shelf, the story remains and you can't get it out of your head. A bright, energetic, full-of-life girl goes diving into the shallow water - an act that will forever change her life and ultimately change the lives of millions of others.
   
   Suddenly, this athletic, independent young girl is trapped in a body that will not move. Paralyzed from the shoulders down, she finds herself no longer independent, but fully dependent on the care of others for the simplest of tasks. Things we take for granted like wiping away tears, blowing your own nose or brushing your hair - now on someone else's time table, not your own.
   
   Understandably, this turn of events shakes her faith as she shakes her mental fists at God for dashing all her hopes and dreams for the future. Failed romances, rocky friendships, family heartaches - Joni holds nothing back in this insightful view into her world.
   
   Through her emotional and spiritual failings, the author shares her growth and understanding of God's plan for her life and the lives of others. Using her mouth to draw and paint, the author became an established artist long before people realized that the artist whose work they were admiring was completely paralyzed and unable to use her hands. This revelation thrust her into celebrity where she has been able to make more of an impact on the lives of others than she would have ever been able to have accomplished prior to her injury.
   
   Through her charity, Joni & Friends, the author has provided for wheelchairs for the disabled around the world and opened the doors of opportunity to wheelchair bound people everywhere.
   
   I've seen the author on Larry King a few times and always wondered, "how does that woman keep smiling and keep such an upbeat attitude?" It is hard to imagine a worse fate than what she has endured since her accident, yet after reading her personal account of her life since that fateful summer in 1967, the reader understands exactly why she smiles and truly has joy in her life. I picked up this book thinking it would be 'interesting' and nothing more - I was delightfully surprised to find this to be a page-turner I could not put down. Even though I've finished reading this autobiography, I doubt I will ever truly put this book down. This is a story that sticks with you long after you've closed the back cover.

3 comments about Loving Rachel: A Family's Journey from Grief.

1. Jane Bernstein has done an amazing job describing the heartbreak of the initial diagnosis and the ensuing challenges of raising a child with special needs. Having been in this same position with my own daughter, I felt like Jane was sitting in my kitchen watching the struggles we were having and the ones we faced with each passing day. I have recommended this book to colleagues and other families with similar circumstances.



2. I thought this was a wonderful book. It manages to be not only about what it's like to give birth to a disabled child, but about the particular nuances and responses of a family, about a marriage, an older child's attempts to navigate these waters, the narrator's complex, ambivalent but ultimately loving and couragous response to the child she has borne. Nothing is simple in this book--not Rachels' progress, not her family's response to her, not the medical world that sometimes seems to hurt her as much as it helps her, not the waiting and waiting to see what Rachel will become. Nonetheless, this is a story not only about endurance, but also about the complicated, powerful workings of maternal love.



3. I have a child who also has this disorder. Loving Rachel was important for me to read because there are no other books written which address Optic Nerve Hypoplasia or Septo Optic Dysplasia, but I want everyone to know who considers reading this that Loving Rachel is not a guide for you or your child and that no two people are affected in exactly the same way by this disorder. I could relate with some of the things Ms. Bernstein wrote about but mainly I walked away from this book feeling sad for this family and for Rachel.

2 comments about People With MS With the Courage to Give.

1. This book can change peoples lives!
   
   Highly reccomend, also the BIG read, her first book The Courage to Give.
   
   If you have any type of adversity or illness or know of someone who is suffering, this is the cure to help them get going.
   
   Positive energy creates wellness, so do these books.
   
   A standing ovation to Jackie Waldman...Thank you so much!



2. Words cannot describe the impact this book had on me after reading it. Author Jackie Waldman has compiled twenty-four of the most inspiring and touching stories of people with MS, and the effect the disease has on both the person with MS and their families and friends.

   I purchased this book because my husband Anthony Zaremba was one of the featured people in the book. As I read the profiles of the others, my emotions ran through a gambit of highs and lows. At times while reading the book, I filled the pages with my own teardrops, and often laughter, as I read of the fortitude and courage that the people in this book exemplify.

   If you know of anyone with MS, or if you have MS, place this book on your "must read" list. Best of all, Jackie Waldman's proceeds from this book are being donated to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Thank you Jackie! I give this book five stars!!

No comments about A Peculiar Child: Reflections of a Mad Woman.

No comments about The Confessions of a Drug Addicted Daughter: Society's Child.

1 comments about Witness To AIDS (Autobiography).

1. In WITNESS TO AIDS, Edwin Cameron, a white South African judge discusses the AIDS pandemic in that nation and the world from both the political and the personal for he is a gay man living with AIDS-- and a very brave and compassionate one. Cameron understands totally that he is a lucky man because of the color of his skin and his relatively affluent position. He is able to afford the drugs that keep him alive but are out of the reach of most black Africans.
   
   Mr. Cameron (should I refer to him as judge?) is brave in that he has always spoken out against racism, is not afraid to challenge President Mbeki, takes on the greed of drug companies, makes the comparison between the Holocaust denial and AIDS denial and speaks openly and honestly about his own HIV status. For example, he discusses how he became infected in one unprotected sexual encounter "during Easter 1985."
   
   Altough the writer covers a tremendous amount of ground about AIDS in Africa and quotes many facts and figures, he is best when he makes the disease personal with experiences from his own life or naming the names of others with HIV/AIDS. One of the most moving passages from this fine work is about Cameron's telling his 78 year-old mother that (1) not only was he living with HIV but that (2) he was about to go public with his status. "I brought the conversation around and spoke gently to her. . . After a moment she glanced at me and quietly murmured: 'I thought as much, my boy.'" Though at first distressed by this new knowledge, she soon, however, began wearing the "red, furled ribbon of AIDS solidarity," until her death two years later. Mr. Cameron also discusses with candor his impoverished childhood, his being sent to a children's home, the accidental death of a sister and his father (an alcoholic) attending her funeral, having been given special dispensation from the warden where he was serving a year's sentence in prison for car theft. He acknowledges that being sent to a first rate school changed his life of poverty forever.
   
   The writer's perception of the AIDS epidemic in the United States is a bit rosy. He seems to believe that the disease is kept at bay because of the drug cocktails readily available and affordable here. While certainly no comparison can be made between Africa and the U. S., not everyone here has access to drugs, either because they cannot afford them or there are not enough free drugs for everyone. The book also suffers from repetition. Since Mr. Cameron is an attorney by profession, this is probably an occupational hazard as it is not unusual for barristers to repeat themselves, particularly if they are arguing their case before a judge and/or jury-- in this case, the reader.
   
   WITNESS TO AIDS, nevertheless, contains a wealth of information on the subject of AIDS in Africa and ought to have a very wide readership. Every page comes alive with both the writer's passion and humanity.

3 comments about The Education of Laura Bridgman : First Deaf and Blind Person to Learn Language.

1. Buy this book before it goes out of print. Get The Imprisoned Guest as well. You won't be disappointed if you have any intrest in this brilliant and spirited lady!



2. Freeberg's dual biography of Laura Bridgman and Samuel Gridley Howe is far better reading than one would expect of a revised Ph.D. dissertation. Freeberg is clear in his exposition of philosophic and religious trends, and he is absolutely fair in his of treatment the old Calvinist orthodoxy and the evangelicalism of the Second Great Awakening. Having written a children's story about Laura Bridgman more than twenty-five years ago, I was already familiar with the outlines of this narrative, but I still learned much from Freeberg's study--as for instance, the connection between Unitarianism and phrenology and the robust evangelical reaction to Howe's tentative attempts to play God with Bridgman's soul.



3. It's just delightful when something like this comes around. It's a page turner that isn't a paperback mystery. In fact, people who have heard of Laura Bridgman in the first place pretty much know how the story comes out. Freeberg has a taut and clear style that gives the information bones and ligaments, and he has done thorough research. There are photos and copies of things in Laura's handwriting that I have never seen before, and I have been in the field of disability all my adult life. I've read just about everything on Laura Bridgman and the Perkins school.

   Freeberg did well in choosing to focus of Laura's education. The book would have been at least three times longer, and probably not as well organized had he tried to cover her entire life in one volume. By sticking just to the subject of her education, though, he shows use the brilliance of her teacher, Howe, who relied on instincts and experience, and made things up as he went along. And we see Laura's mind grow. In our day, the lay person is fairly familiar with the stages of human intellectual growth and development, and it is exciting to see how Laura is remediated for the things she missed because her communication skills were late in coming.

   Freeberg is also respectful and gracious to his topic. Laura is a wonderful person in her own right. She is not Helen Keller's shadow. Helen Keller is a once-an-epoch genius. Laura was a bright and friendly woman, and I thank Freeberg for reminding us of this.