5 comments about Ordeal.

1. I have known women who have done porn and based on this as well as the testimonies of countless other sex industry survivors such as Shelley Lubben and Crissy Moran, I have no reason to doubt the claims made by in this book. The sex industry is an evil exploitive, multi-billion dollar industry and LL was brave in sharing her story with the public. This book haunted me years after I read it as a teenager.



2. What really did happen with Linda Lovelace? According to ORDEAL, waved as a bloody flag by feminists as a symbol of the so-called oppression of women, she was a nice girl who found herself in an unbelievably abusive relationship with a man who put her in porn. Given the tone of our times, one cannot question this account without finding oneself the object of hysterical execration.
   
   And yet.
   
   There are just too many questions. For all the adamant talk coming from certain quarters about how abused women can't, just can't, leave their abusers, the facts is that, although at times difficult, they can. And the portrayal of Chuck Traynor, Lovelace's husband, is so over the top it is as if he were specifically created to play the role of the literary wife-beating bogeyman. Traynor allegedly made Lovelace engage in the most degrading and humiliating sexual practices imaginable, all presented to the reader in the style that makes one drool with excitement in that guilty sort of way. No way are you actually going to admit to liking it, are you?
   
   Events subsequent to ORDEAL's publication have cast doubts on its accuracy. Some fellow adult stars around at the time have stated that they saw no sign of abuse and that Lovelace herself, far from acting like the poor frightened waif, instead was as sexually voracious off the screen as she was on, even, or even especially, when her husband was not around.
   
   It is a cliche to say that the truth is somewhere in between. Sometimes it is and sometimes it isn't. But Lovelace's saga is probably one of those times when it is. She seems like a girl who dreamt bigger than her personality and talents could lead her, got in with a tough crowd, and got swept away. When things don't go as planned, many people re-interpret things to make themselves more passive than was actually the case. And for Lovelace, aided by feminists who exploited her as badly as any man ever did, re-interpretation of her past was the way to face the future. Hers was a sad life, but probably not as sad as portrayed in ORDEAL.



3. I'm an ex-sex worker. I now belong to Sex Workers Anonymous. I've lived this industry and I know the crowd Linda spoke about in her books. She had the courage to write about what wasn't just her experiences - but also many of ours experiences - but we go off into hiding and fear once we leave rather then speak out like she did knowing what it could and did cost her. I watched while people who knew nothing of this industry attacked her for speaking out about this industry doing what men do - always blame the woman/victim. Speaking out about what really goes on in this world affected her health deeply from the stress and contributed to her early death I'm sure. She's not the only one who had lasting health problems to deal with after having left the sex industry though no fault of her own. In America - a man can go to jail for raping his wife - but not for raping a sex worker. What people don't realize is that many of these men, women and children are living out Linda's story - they can't get out without fear of themselves being killed or their family members. I knew a pimp once who would hold a woman's child hostage until she came back each night with "his" money. One night she got arrested and wasn't able to come home on time. The pimp cut off the left arm of this six year old girl. Anyone who thinks you can't be held in this business against your will - obviously hasn't been there and should shut up about something they know nothing about. I consider Linda a martyr for taking all the guff she took to tell our stories and to try to enlighten people about what goes on every day - but we don't have the guts to tell about our stories ourselves. Anyone who wants to know what this industry can really be like - should read her stories. If all she wanted was to keep making money and just made this up to sell books - she would have done what Xavier Hollendar or Norma Jean or Heidi Fleiss - did. Sell a hell of a lot more books feeding into the american myths about this business - without any of the flack she took for telling the truth. The woman had the courage of a lion - not only to survive what she did - and to live to tell about it - but also to tell about it in the hopes that us "unknowns" are more believed when we try to tell our stories and try to get help to get out.



4. I am going to defend Linda Lovelace against those reviewers here who really don't believe her story by quoting from the groundbreaking psychotherapy book "Trauma and Recovery" by Judith Herman:
   
   "Most people have no knowledge or understanding of the psychological changes of captivity. Social judgment of chronically traumatized people therefore tends to be extremely harsh. The chronically abused person's apparent helplessness and passivity, her entrapment in the past, her intractable depression... and her smoldering anger often frustrate the people closest to her. Moreover, if she has been coerced into betrayal of relationships, community loyalties, or moral values, she is frequently subjected to furious condemnation.
   
   "Observers who have never experienced prolonged terror and who have no understanding of coercive methods of control presume that they would show greater courage and resistance than the victim in similar circumstances. Hence the common tendency to account for the victim's behavior by seeking flaws in her personality or moral character."
   
   So, think hard before you judge her.



5. I found this book unexpectedly in a public library about 7 years ago and was elated. I believe that it was out of print at the time. This book did move me. I have read several of the other reveiws and some of the folks were and still are skeptical about Linda's story of abuse and being forced into prostitution and porn.
   
   I couldn't help but feel so passionate about this story when first read it. I zealously defended her story (or I wanted to believe it so much). I still believe that there are elements of truth to her story, but as someone else once said in their review, you don't need to look carefully to see that she has a tendency to blame nearly everyone else for her mistakes and for the bad things that have happened to her. I sincerely believe that Linda was abused by her husband, Chuck Traynor, and that he was not a nice person. The question is whether or not she willing engaged in prostitution and pornography, or if she was forced or coerced into doing it. There is still much debate over that. The problem is that once LL became an overnight sensation (something she wasn't expecting or prepared for) she made some damning statements about loving what she did and these things later came back to haunt her when she tried to recant those things that she said. Unfortunately, many of the things that she said and much of the unspeakable things that she did on film followed her all of her life. She apparently couldn't escape LL.
   
   To me, it is interesting that the woman that Chuck Traynor married and managed the career of none other than Marilyn Chambers. Unlike Linda, Marilyn Chambers always said that she liked what she did and had no regrets. In her book, LL says that she had been advised to just be the person that the world knew as LL, because no one would believe otherwise. She said all along that this was not really her. She tried to hold her ground. Some people believed her and embraced her, while others scoffed at what she had to say and said that she was just bitter. Who knows?
   
   I'm not a fan of porn. To me, this book is a harrowing story of abuse.

5 comments about Hell to Pay: The Unfolding Story of Hillary Rodham Clinton.

1. "Hell to Pay" tells the story of Hillary Rodham Clinton's life, from childhood on. We see her behind the scenes in Arkansas and Washington, pushing Bill to fight back from his sometimes political problems and accept Dick Morris' advice, and helping to squelch reactions to Bill's infidelities.
   
   More significantly, Olson reminds readers of Hillary's role in "Travelgate," selecting Bill's Cabinet appointees (including Janet Reno and Joceyln Elders), "Filegate" (FBI files used to find dirt on Bush I and Reagan appointees), likely obstruction of justice in blocking access to Vince Foster's files until her staff removed selected papers, creating HillaryCare (antagonized many through secrecy, inflexibility, and leaving them out, overly complex - 1,300+ pages, holding back pay for her ghostwriter in "It Takes a Village" for revealing that Hillary did not write it, trying to push V.P. Gore to an across the street office so she could have his W.H. spot, supporting the "sale of the W.H." - $ for sleepovers, etc., the cattle futures scandal, etc.
   
   "Hell to Pay" also portrays Hillary's "never say die" nature, and bits of her temper.
   
   The only bad news about the book is that the author was killed in the 9/11 airliner crash into the Pentagon, and thus unable to update the material.



2. This book was originally published by Barbara Olson in 1999 prior to her tragic death in the 9/11 terrorist attack on the pentagon. The timing is unfortunate in that if this book was just hitting the bookstores now (April 2008) I think it would prove to be Hillary's undoing, much as the Swift Boater's undid John Kerry with "Unfit for Command".
   
   This book is a real eye opener, following Hillary from her high school years through the Clinton White House to her election as a senator from New York. I think Ms. Olson might even have one up on Dick Morris in her documentation of Hillary's past. If even half of what Ms. Olson relates is true this woman should be sitting in a federal penitentiary somewhere, not running for President of the United States, a job she is about as qualified to perform as I am to perform open heart surgery. The book makes it clear that had she not been the First Lady of the United States she probably would have done some time in the slammer. From her shady an often illegal business deals and investments, to her blatant violation of the law by holding Hillarycare meetings in secrete, to funneling money to the PLO and Communist party, to lies, bribes, threats, insults, firings, perjury, blocking investigations, obstructing justice, hiring staff for the White House who couldn't get security clearances or required random drug testing, and altering public documents. Not to mention the fact that people who get too close to the Clintons have a bad habit of turning up dead. Ms Olson depicts Hillary is a one-woman crime wave.
   
   Shortly the American public will be asked to choose between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Hussein Obama as the Democrat Party's nominee to run for the Presidency of the United States. Anybody who is even entertaining the though of voting for Mrs. Clinton needs to buy this book and read it! And quickly! It sure changed my mind.



3. In an effort to objectively write a key chapter in my book, America, You Will Be Destroyed !: Thus Saith The Lord - and Other Amazing Prophecies I read Ms. Olson's book as a part of my research. While many other Hillary books focused on her and husband Bill's scandals, Olson's book tried to capture the psyche and inner workings of the former First Lady.
   
   I felt that the little, seemingly insignificant or trivial details of her life and childhood helped me to paint a better mental picure of the driving forces in Hillary's life. As a former national and state licensed therapist, the little details helped me to create a case study snapshot. The influences of the feminist movement, her continued pursuit and espousal of radicalism and socialism, her upbringing under a driven father, the upheaval of the 60's, the me-generation of the 70's, the self-consciousness towards her own body (specifically her legs), the disdain and reproachful way Bill treated her... Whew, her issues of being driven, loathing of men in general, thirst for power/dominance and control, all make sense. as another reviewer said, "When peeling back the layers, we need to know this stuff to get at what makes Hillary tick."
   
   Looking at all the background and biographical details makes me realize (and hopefully others) that in her machinations we see clearly that she has not become more conservative or even centrist. She is a radical socialist to the core, and the most frightening thng in this revelation is that she seems to truly believe that she alone is right, that she alone is the people's champion and this sense of righteous indignation fuels her passionately to apire to the pinnacle of power at all costs.
   
   Like a true socialist, Hillary will do anything and everything to obtain power. She will reinvent herself over and over to do so. This book shows clearly that pragmatism is all a pose to make her attractive to the broad electorate. For her, the end (her obtaining power) will justify any means.
   
   By examing the actions/reactions of Hillary during key events such as Whitewater, the Travel agency firings, etc. The reader has an opportunity to see the venal, petty, cruel, vindictive, vulgar and violent side of a woman that is in a position of power and who is wanting yet more. Though all writer's have some non-altruistic motivation(s) for putting pen to paper, the work of digging out new details and reframing existing ones is crucial in the discovery phase of the case against HillaryThe Case Against Hillary Clinton (another work by a different author). There will be "Hell to Pay" if Hillary is elected.



4. One of the best reviews I have read on this personality, and I have read seven books. Underlines the development of her radicalization in politics and how her dysfunctional family of orgin undergirds her indefensible justification of her husband's sex addiction and thereby blaming Christians for his deeds.



5. Since Hillary's own "Living History" was such a sterile and lifeless academic exercise - at least compared to Obama's "Dreams of My Father," or even to Bill's "My Life" -- and thus did powerful little to reveal the real person behind the "political persona," one is forced to stoop (almost embarrassingly so) to "anti-Hillary tracts" (such as I thought this one would be), to peel back the veneer covering the "Hillary Rodham" mystique.
   
   Whether intentional or not, much to my surprise, this book is NOT an altogether uncomplimentary analysis of Mrs. Clinton's life. With many rich details that highlight the good, the bad, and the ugly -- along the often bumpy road her life has taken -- this volume, quite adequately "fills in the blanks" about who the real Mrs. Hillary Rodham Clinton is.
   
   Even though one can clearly see from the title that it was intended to appeal to the "I Hate Hillary Club," it turns out to be amazingly straightforward and free of the usual slander, political vitriol, and below the belt personal jabs that one normally associates with, and expects of books with titles of this sort. Nothing could have been more satisfying than to realize that I had misjudged this book based solely on its cover. I had indeed discounted its value, expecting it to be little more than a carefully disguised "attack ad." And even though much of the juicier aspects of its content seem to have been "culled" from other more respectable sources, it is still much more than just an "attack ad in disguise." It is meaty, coherent, and sticks tenaciously to the main task of trying to unravel, who the person behind the Hillary political persona really is. In short, those looking for an "attack ad" disguised as a book: Well, I am here to tell you, this ain't it. This is not the "National Enquirer's" version of the ex-First Lady's life. Ms. Olson can think and write, and has very high standards for her craft and exercises them all quite well here.
   
   The high points of the book lie in the careful way the author uses the details of her subject's life to outline, against the backdrop of the many layers of American society, the essential elements of Hillary's character and the motivation for her often difficult life choices. The ex-First Lady evolves from a "Goldwater Girl," to a "wide-eyed 1960s Leftist Radical," to Bill's "Hippy gal-pal," to a university Law professor, to a partner in a major law firm, to the ambitious "power grabbing money hungry" political predator that she is now thought by many to be. In the best of the American tradition, she "clawed her way to the top of the food chain."
   
   The public portrait of her is as a person seemingly willing to cut whatever moral corners are needed to advance herself; to protect her Golden Goose (Bill); to grab the brass ring for herself (the U.S. Presidency), and in the end" to find financial security for herself and her family. However, the author is careful to note that she is much more complex than just this demeaning portrait. Hillary does a great deal of good along this very treacherous and tortuous path, especially in improving education in Arkansas, with the Children's Defense Fund, steering Bill's campaigns and comebacks to victory, showing uncommon strength in "facing down" one scandal after another, and in raising consciousness about women issues.
   
   The low point of the book is watching the author get stuck chasing her own tail: Trying to graft her own self-created "Leftist Radical" image onto Hillary. No matter how many Saul Alinsky epigrams she uses, the graft simply does not "take." And the reason is because of the much larger, much deeper picture that the author's own analysis shows the ex-First Lady to be: Hillary, more than anything else, is an evolving political animal that is no longer easy to pigeonhole politically, morally or ethically.
   
   Yet, rather sadly, she misses her own most important lesson and contribution by failing to understand that the corruption of Mrs. Hillary Rodham Clinton, when seen in relief, is little more than a general critique of the American political way of life. For as she so aptly demonstrates, there is nothing unique about Hillary, her personality, her life choices, or her life journey that would make her stand out from the rest of us as predisposed towards political corruption, or towards becoming a "moral retrograde." Yet, as has been the case with so many others of American politicians, she lurched from "Right wing" idealist, to "Left wing" idealist, to a "co-opted and corrupt centrist," to a "bought-and-paid-for" pseudo-liberal democrat, and back into the closet again as a "Right wing Republican in "Democratic clothing."
   
   As a template of how to go from political naiveté to political maturity, Hillary's journey from idealist to corrupt political opportunist, could serve as THE model for anyone who gets caught up in the sausage grinding machinery of American government and politics. The sad fact is that the most likely, and the most probable outcome for any of us, is that we will be consumed by it, and will come out on the other side, grinded into unrecognizable moral mince meat -- a corrupt shell of our previous moral selves. Quite simply, we have a political system that eats and digests its young and spits them out as fertilizer for the next generation.
   
   What was most sobering about the book is that Hillary is the classic case in point. Her life's journey is an object lesson in what not to do. Through her, we can see how truly scary it is that for all but a handful of us, dealt the same hand in life as she, but for the grace of God, we too undoubtedly would have ended up in the same morally corrupt and bankrupt cul de sac that the ex-First Lady now finds herself in: with "unearned riches," dubious but exaggerated accomplishments, hanging on to a failed marriage, and still grasping for a meaningless brass ring, called the U.S. Presidency.
   
   While this is far from a balanced treatment, Hilary's own glossed-over treatment left the door wide-open for a hardnosed assessment, and this is it. Five stars

5 comments about I Have Lived Before: The True Story of the Reincarnation of Shanti Devi.

1. I came across a brief introduction to Shanti Devi in "The Idiots Guide to Hinduism". The story fascinated me and given I was eager to learn more about her past and present lives, I bought the book and couldn't wait to read it! Reincarnation is a concept which have been exposed to me but I've never come across a story as legit and real as Shanti Devi's experience! The facts gathered are amazing! One needs no scientific evidence to accept the fact that this case is legit, genuine... real! The author did a terrific job composing details, outlining details from her present life and past memories, as well as delving into other religions such as Christianity and explaining more about it, such as how it reincarnation was once accepted. This is a must read book for any individual interested in reading an initial true story about reincarnation and learning a little more about Hinduisim in comparison with other religions!



2. Since friends know I'm interested in yoga and meditation, they often ask if I believe in reincarnation. I advise them to read I Have Lived Before by award winning Swedish journalist Sture Lonnerstrand, and make up their own minds.
   If you only read one book on reincarnation, this should be the one. Shanti Devi's story is the most thoroughly researched case of reincarnation in modern India. The details of this account will make you rethink everything you thought you knew about the nature of the soul.
   Don't miss this book; it's a mind blower.



3. Having grown up in Delhi, we had heard of the unbelievable story of Shanti Devi Mathur from my father and other relatives who grew up at that time in the same neighborhood in old Delhi.
   
   There has never been any doubt about the absolutely truth of the story in minds of anyone growing up in old Delhi at that time. The facts in the book are completely in line with what I have always heard from family. These facts may be hard to accept for many, but do yourself a favor and read the book.....it's 100% true!



4. According to many investigators Near-Death Experiences suggest at least the probability of life after death. In this respect, they are connected to other experiences that do so, such as memories of a previous life.
   One of the most famous early cases in this field concerns the Indian girl Shanti Devi. In the 1930s she spontaneously claimed to have been Lugdi Devi, the wife of Kedar Nath Chaubey from Mathura. This woman had died while giving birth at the young age of 23.
   The numerous details that Shanti mentioned about her previous incarnation were verified as meticulously as possible by Indian researchers. Many of them concluded that the statements and behaviours shown by Shanti Devi could not be explained by mainstream scientific theories.
   One of the first westerners that thoroughly investigated the case was the Swedish author Sture Lönnerstrand. He travelled to India as a skeptic and became convinced by the facts he discovered there. His book Shanti Devi, en berättelse om reinkarnation is a moving, easily accessible biography, illustrated with photographs of Shanti and other persons involved. It is very positive that this English translation was finally issued in 1998.
   At a later age, Shanti Devi told Lönnerstrand what she could recall of her death as Lugdi. She still remembered that she consciously observed how a physician, a nurse, her husband and her mother had jointly decided that her body should be immediately transferred to Mathura to be burnt there. Ultimately she entered a spiritual world of Light and from there she finally returned to earth.
   This book by Sture Lönnerstrand fulfills the important function of spreading reliable information about a typical, classic case of memories of a past incarnation. Scholarly reincarnation research is not an artifical 'invention' of Ian Stevenson, but it studies a natural phenomenon of all ages and regions.



5. This is an excellent book. The details of Shanti Devi's life are told quite convincingly. The last part of the book could have actually have been left out as far as I was concerned, because it was just the author's opinions. The factual accounts of Shati Devi's life would have been enough. Her story is remarkable, and is probably still the best documentation about the validity of the concept of reincarnation.

5 comments about Miss American Pie: A Diary of Love, Secrets and Growing Up in the 1970s.

1. I'm only giving it a two because I actually finished it. This book is not literary genius. It is just a diary and that's all. The topic was exciting to me - reason I ordered the book - and I was so totally dissapointed by the writing style. A better idea for the author would have been to use the diary to create a novel. It was simplistic, but as I said I did finish it and know it could have been a better novel if written as such.



2. What did those song lyrics mean anyway? I didn't find the answer in this book.
   
   Although Margaret went through her adolesence in the 70's and I experienced mine in the 50's, we had some common themes. Every teenage girl sometimes feels others have answers to which we ouselves don't have access.
   
   It was interesting to read of Margaret's search for spirituality and her daily thoughts of how well she was living according to her beliefs.
   
   Margaret longed for a nickname but did not want to be called Peggy. Later when a special boy called her Maggie, she thought that was a good fit. As the book progressed, Maggie became more interested in boys, but she could not make a commitment to any one boy.
   
   I was surprised that Maggie's parents gave her so much freedom and did not punish her for smoking and drinking. I was also surprised that Maggie thought of herself as unpopular although she had dates with a number of boys and was elected homecoming queen.
   
   It was easy for the reader to question Margaret's friend Tommy's sexuality, but Margaret had not even thought that Tommy might be gay until his mother mentioned it to her. The mother's remarks upset Margaret, but she continued to love Tommy dearly even into adulthood.
   
   This book was laugh-out-loud funny in many places. The incident I remember as the funniest was when Maggie popped into Tommy's kitchen following her jogging one day, ran upstairs to use his bathroom, took a swig of water from a glass in the bathroom while she was there - and got a bonus with her mouthful of water.
   
   Because this book was compiled from the author's actual teenage diaries, we are treated to the actual daily thoughts of a teenager in the 70's - rather than the way the author remembers her teen years from the perspective of an adult.



3. First off, our decade's obsession with blogging has little in common with the art of keeping a diary, and anyone who doubts that might do well to read this book. A diary is normally a private thing, an exercise in personal meditation, a record of a life and those who pass through it, written by one's self, for one's self, and it's not often someone openly invites complete strangers to see something that is by nature so personal, and yet writer Margaret Sartor has bravely done just that, and done it in a way we all can feel guilt free over even as we read what were once some of her innermost thoughts and experiences as she grew up seeking God, love, and self-understanding in the emerging "New South" of the 1970's.
   
   Whereas often because they ARE so personal diaries can be boring and leave a reader feeling simultaneously included and excluded, Margaret Sartor's writings from age twelve in 1972 thru age eighteen in the summer of 1977 are not only welcoming but annotated to the point where we grasp who everyone she interacts with is and feel some enlightenment as to each person's motivations. There is her family, consisting of her father, who along with his brothers is one of the town of Montgomery, Louisiana's most well-known doctors; her mother, a beautiful and complex woman; her two older sisters, younger brother, and late in the diary, a new baby sister, who comes along when her parents are well into middle-age. Margaret Sartor is frank about many things, her feelings for boys among them, but no other subject preoccupies her quite so much as her quest for a relationship with God. Even in the Bible Belt of the deep south of two generations ago I doubt many people Margaret's age were so keenly motivated to seek out God or to do more to grasp something tangible about the nature of this force. Margaret's spirituality takes several forms but most often finds expression in the charismatic brand of the local faith. She tells of prayer meetings and youth revivals, about the casting out of demons and miracles performed that grew attendees legs out to equal length. She seems to be a soul simultaneously in awe of all this and puzzled as to why if she is truly in the Almighty's presence, she feels a lack of perfect contentment.
   
   As Margaret ages, religion is gradually pushed aside and instead we read of her infatuations with one young man or another, her confusions, her worries and very often her dreams, which she records almost nightly and which are almost always interesting in themselves. Margaret gains national recognition for her work with her school's cheerleading squad, and seeks early admission to a college out of state, proving to herself and others that she has the power to achieve her goals. As Margaret's story unwinds installment by installment, the tales of those peripheral to her become almost as interesting as her own life. There is her best friend, who comes out of the closet in small town Louisiana in the `70's; there is the racial integration struggle going on, at times violently, in the background; there is an aunt who kills herself, and another relative who was lobotomized and as a consequence became an obese misfit; and there is the restless shiver felt by all as a region little changed over generations moves toward a modern age much different from the past.
   
   Margaret Sartor's entries are often brief. They are simply quick, easily-read bits of information that say much in a short space. In its entirety her diary is unique, candid, and always fascinating. Maybe it will inspire others to publish similar records of their lives. Till then, Miss American Pie remains a darn good read.



4. I suppose in this "reality" obsessed culture we now live in anybody can get their diary published and have it lauded as an important piece of modern literature or a work of brilliance or any of the myriad cliched accolades critics vomit up.
   
   Well I don't get it. Miss American Pie is a dull, dull, dull read. The forward is promising and I thought Sartor's teenage musings would be profound or intriguing or at the least interesting but it's not. Sartor is a spoiled rich kid whose father is a doctor and mother is an artist. She has several horses, equally well off friends and an obviously successful future ahead of her.
   
   Her diary entries, if you can call them that, average two to three sentences at the most. Entries range from "May 20: I feel really bad," to "February 6: BAD headache today," to "April 1: Stella is unhappy at her job". She mopes around because she thinks she's ugly or because her best friend likes a guy she likes or because her hair is frizzy. There isn't anything of substance to make this a worthwhile read or shed some new light on adolescence. I understand it's a diary of a teenage girl but it's still boring.
   
   If a diary is to be published, it should be dynamic, intriguing, shedding new light on the protagonist or a particular situation or a period of time. Miss American Pie fails on all counts. It doesn't help that no one has a clue who Margaret Sartor is either.
   
   Miss American Pie could have been more effective if it was written as an actual memoir instead of the dull, dull, ramblings of a teenage girl's diary.



5. This was a good book. It is an actual journal of the author written in the seventies. I graduated from high school and college in the seventies so I could relate to many of the references made in the journal. I think today's girls could also relate, though, because the themes in the journals are the same struggles that today's teens go through.
   
   It starts when Margaret is in the seventh grade and goes through her senior year. At first the entries are brief and some are quite funny. Later they get more poignant.
   
   Margaret is boy crazy, bored, rebellious, and is trying to figure out what she believes. In the seventies, we had many issues involving desegregation, drugs, sex -- it was the era of the sexual revolution, feminism, and the big mega-churches were founded and grew in that decade. I laughed at many of the entries, especially when she would write of some profound event and not elaborate and the next entry would be something very trivial.
   
   For example: November 8 -- Nixon was elected president. November 9 -- Everyone says me and Vernon would make a good couple. (Nixon being elected president was exciting and had worldwide ramifications but her and Vernon being a good couple didn't last more than a week.) Another example: August 8 -- President Nixon resigned; made appointment to get my hair cut.
   
   I love that entry. It is such a teen statement. MISS AMERICAN PIE is realistic and fun to read. Plus, it makes you want to start a journal, too.
   
   Reviewed by: Marta Morrison

5 comments about All the Way to Heaven: A Surprising Faith Journey.

1. This beautiful tender book reveals the voice from the hiding place. Elizabeth's life is an inspiration. I also enjoyed her website http://www.elizabethsherrill.com which gives some more glimpses into the life of this amazing woman.



2. ...or any other from this era of writing, you will especially enjoy this book. While it is lovely and worthwhile reading on its own, stories about these Christian writers made it a double blessing for me - highly recommended!!



3. Elizabeth Sherrill goes all the way to the truth and to Jesus in her autobiography. She never faulters in the truth about herself and the people who have been meaningful during her life, yet writes without rancor showing that Jesus has brought healing and reconciliation where her "dragons" are concerned. This was one of those great reads where I tried to sneak in 10 minutes here and there throughout the day so I could journey on with Sherrill. I was never disappointed; found myself underlining sentences and passages. Was sorry to see the book end.



4. All The Way to Heaven by Elizabeth Sherrill is a beautiful story of growth and compassion that involves the reader in every aspect of the journey and carries the reader from a child's struggle to understand until the complex and complete answer on the very last page. Every moment of loss, indecision or struggle is only a step closer to the truth. And do we ever and always need to hear that. The entire book is an insightful and uplifting masterpiece of human endeavor. Elizabeth Sherrill is a dynamic and intelligent person with understanding of all human frailties. Yet her courage, her tenderness and her compassion is a magnificent testimony to love and faith.



5. Such a rich, cohesive tapestry of one's inner life! Elizabeth Sherrill has had a bit of practice writing about other people - but taking hard, honest looks in the mirror and typing away ain't easy. The human trials are what make All the Way to Heaven such a deep, engrossing story. I also loved the mini-profiles of the many people in her life - especially Mea.

5 comments about Who Was Jesus?.

1. N.T. Wright has a marvelous way of sifting through the many dissonant voices in the debate about the historical Jesus. In his book, "Who Was Jesus?"... Wright dispels of the outrageous claims that have been made about Jesus, while at the same time, he is able to give credit where honest historical work has been done.
   
   With a bit of humor, this respected scholar is able to point out the flaws in the historical and not so historical works done by several popular authors. From Schweitzer's quest, to the Jesus Seminar (Burton Mack, Dominic Crossan, etc.), to the Third Quest (Vermes, Brandon, E.P. Sanders, etc.), to the downright absurd (Barbara Thiering and the DaVinci Code)... N.T. Wright cuts away and cleans up the mess that has been prematurely dubbed as 'scholarship.' He quickly dissects the arguments and brings our focus back to a genuinely historical Jesus that has been revealed to us in the context of the New Testament.
   
   You will appreciate and benefit from Wright's insights and contributions to the discussion of the historical Jesus of Nazareth. His work on first-century Palastinian Judaism and his overall commitment to the context of the New Testament challenges much of the work that has been done on Jesus. You cannot say you have done honest, historical, intellectual, and academic study... until you have read the works of N.T. Wright. "Who Was Jesus?" is a great book to start with for those who are caught up in the many contradicting voices of the quest for the historical Jesus.
   
   "'Jesus' is either the flesh-and-blood individual who walked and talked, and lived and died, in first-century Palastine, or he is merely a creature of our own imagination, able to be manipulated this way and that." (Wright, p. 18)
   
   I also recommend reading:
   Paul: In Fresh Perspective
   Jesus and Empire: The Kingdom of God and the New World Disorder
   The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable?



2. I cannot praise this little book highly enough. Do not be put off by its brevity. Though short - about 100 pages - it contains more substance than many a larger volume, and though written in popular style, never compromises on the quality of content. After summarising the Jesus Quests of the past, Wright brings his discussion into the contemporary scene, brilliantly demonstrating how unlikely are the reconstructions of Jesus by the likes of A. N. Wilson, Barbara Thiering and Bishop John Shelby Spong. He ends by sketching a more plausible picture of Jesus, based on the new appreciation of Jesus' essential Jewishness. Thank you N. T. Wright, this is a gem.



3. Jesus set an example no one else could duplicate, as he was one in a hundred million, the Son of God. This character almost made it in the modern day era as a Christ-like figure. Auburn is a small hamlet in this ficitonal parable about a man of God, or one who was close to it. There were six churches in that small place, predominately Baptist, Methodist and Presbyterian, which you will find everywhere and anywhere. It was a tightly knit community which did not accept strangers in their midst. Most had been there since childhood and had nice relationships with each other. You had to have lived there more than fifteen years not be to classified as a stranger.
   
   Thus, this unassuming man named Joshua moved into a small cottage on the outskirts of the town and was the focus of everyone's opinion and the talk of the village. The mailman was the first to enter the workshop to see the exquisite wood carvings and statues which Joshua mastered. He mad a wood statue of Moses for a synagogue. His carvings of the apostel Peter for the Episcopal and Pentecostal churches were admired, and made him an icon of sorts. Joshua made a lot of people happy with his good sense of humor, and that was a wonderful thing. He kept to himself with his work; everyone has a right to live in peace. Until, he tried to be a modern Christ but did not succeed. He tried to unify the different congregations including the Catholic and Lutheran, which anyone with any sense knows is impossible. He didn't put on airs or act like a snob, just an ordinary person who seemed to have miraculous powers like the Joshua in the Bible.
   
   It was well known that Joshua frequented the liquor store, which caused some consternation. He seemed religious but why the need for spirits of that sort to create his magic religious symbols and to keep on an even keel. Joshu was told that his attitude lacked the docility and humanity which befits a Christian layman, that in the future he would do well to cultivate virtues for the benefit of the soul and the edification of his fellow Christians. Word spread of the final days of Joshua and the hearts of many were soothed or grieved at the end of that summer he spent among them.
   
   Joshua's memory would linger in their lives as a marvelous messenger of God. Though this novel is fictional, it is moving and feels very Biblical. He went as he came as a mystery who'd touched all of their lives in one way or another. We need more "real" Joshuas in our world of constant turmoil. There are such people in our lives who are truly compassionate and hold no grudges, but we should all strive to follow their example as much as we can. We're all different, with different beliefs, religious and otherwise, but need to learn to live in peace -- not just in Auburn. Nothing can match this first and most important introduction to a modern apostle.



4. Let's be clear that in this book evangelical Anglican theologian N.T. Wright exposes the absurd concocted fantasies of three writers who in 1992 published works on Jesus. The common thread in all three writers is their willingness to invent fantastical portraits of Jesus with no basis in history or Scripture. In the process of his devastating critique of these bogus writers, Wright gives us telling theological insights, especially concerning the relation of first century Jewish monotheism and the emerging Christian belief in the divinity of Jesus and concerning the proper perspective with which to approach the question of the virginal conception of Jesus. In addition, Wright provides an initial chapter that gives the general reader an historical overview of Jesus scholarship and a final chapter that ties Wright's insights together. Reading this small book is like being treated to lunch or dinner with an insightful and witty professor who is generously willing to share his best insights.



5. At first glance, this seems a rather odd book. What is a first-class historian like N. T. Wright doing, refuting the likes of Spong and Thiering? Does one need a bulldozer to squash ants? (Wilson, I personally find more intelligent, and thus perhaps rising to the dignity of being run over.) Yet Wright gives their arguments a fair hearing, then a fair and gentle hanging.
   
   But there seems to be method to Wright's mildness. As an alternative to the fumbling and bumbling of his protagonists, he offers a simple and readable description of who he has found the historical Jesus to be. Their errors prove a useful foil for explaining the methods and conclusions of legitimate New Testament scholarship. Wright's critiques of those with whom he disagrees are always a delight -- he shows a sincere appreciation for what is worthwhile, then refutes errors with wit and the gentle precision that comes of great intellectual power matched to thorough knowledge of the subject.
   
   The subject here is Jesus, a fox in pursuit of whom academic hounds have banged their heads on many trees. Wright rightly follows him to the cross. "The Christian doctrine is all about a different kind of God -- a God who was so different to normal expectations that he could, completely appropriately, become human . . . To say that Jesus is in some sense God is of course to make a startling statement about Jesus. It is also to make a stupendous claim about God."
   
   I think Wright over-emphasizes the genius of Biblical scholarship. He tends to give the impression that nobody knew anything worth knowing about Jesus, until the question was brought to the attention of modern academics. Having read many "Jesus Seminar" books, I think credentialed scholars like Crossan, Borg, Mack, and Pagels, are often as foolish as Wilson -- and less truly knowledgeable about the historical Jesus than the average Pentacostal grandmother.

   Wright also knocks C. S. Lewis for his "odd" criticism of the "quest for Jesus" as "the work of the devil," in the Screwtape Letters. Aside from the unfairness of ignoring the humor in a satire, I think the substance of Lewis' arguments, made more seriously in Fernseed and Elephants, is entirely sound, and makes an excellent critique of many recent historical Jesus reconstructions. I think Wright's historical reconstruction, and Lewis' literary critique of shoddy skeptical arguments, complement one another nicely.

   In sum, I recommend this book both for people who have been bamboozled by the particular works it refutes, and also as an antidote to recent works of a similar nature, like the Da Vinci Code, Jesus Mysteries, The Jesus Puzzle, or perhaps Elaine Pagel's new book, Beyond Belief. I am working on a book that will combine Wright and Lewis' approaches, to answer recent attacks on the Gospels.
   
   author, Jesus and the Religions of Man /

   christthetao@msn.com

2 comments about The Doctor Wore Petticoats: Women Physicians of the Old West.

1. After reading Hearts West and enjoying it so much, I looked into other books by this author and discovered this jewel. It was an incredibly informative and interesting read. Chris Enss is a gifted writer. She gives the reader insight to a world that was so vastly different from that of today. After reading each woman's story in the book, I longed for more. That is my only disappointment; that I can't know more about each of these women Ms. Enss writes about. I highly recommend it to anyone who is even remotely interested in what life was like for women in the Old West.



2. I picked this book up to read around 8pm in the evening. I didn't put it down
   until I was finished reading it at 2:15am. Although I am able to speed read
   this book was so interesting and entertaining that I couldn't miss a single
   word. This book is an absolute must for anyone interested in the Old West.
   It combined humor, struggle and determination to give a very insightful and
   educating book. The book gave a very vivid picture of female doctors in the
   Old West. As a bonus it has a wonderful collection of "Frontier Medicine"
   listed in the back of the book. Remedies such as carrying an onion in your
   pocket to prevent smallpox and owl broth to cure whooping cough are just
   a few. If you pick up this book...clear your schedule because you won't be
   able to put it down until you have read every single page.

5 comments about Mafia Wife: My Story of Love, Murder, and Madness.

1. Having been on the inside I could relate to this one. Rita Schiano, author "Painting The Invisible Man" Painting the Invisible Man



2. I was fresh off of reading "Westies" and was wishing that they had given more detail about Sissy Featherstone and Edna Coonan and their lives and ordeals with there husbands when I found this at the local bookshop. I flipped though it, thought it intresting and picked it up. I think the thing you have to understand is that when dealing with 85% of people in the mafia or associated in some way with the mafia. They aren't well educated. Or else they wouldn't have had to start doing petty crimes to get somewhere. They would have went to Law School or taken more traditional paths.
   
   At the beginning of this book, I do see where alot of people call Lynda 'whinny', but she was telling why she turned out the way she did and why she put up with Louie even though he abused her. But as you go into the book, I feel it does get more intresting and I didn't want to put it down. And for not being as well educated as most expect, Lynda did really well for herself. It's a true story, and sometimes the people with the most intresting stories are the one's that didn't finish 8th grade. I think people need to remember that.
   
   5 stars for Lynda not so much the book.



3. I have never written a review on a book in my life, but this one so enraged me, I sought out a place to state my view.
   
   I won't expound on the whining, as others have covered that quite accurately. But what really burned my biscuits about Lynda is her feigned ignorance of how her husband earned his money. She had at least two independent confirmations from friends that her husband had become a made man in the mob. She even admitted to seeing a bandaid on his cut finger, which corroborated their story. Her response? They must be crazy. Is she color blind? The big, waving red flags were near impossible to ignore, but she somehow claims to have done it. She sees her husband brutally attack a man in their yard, in front of her children, yet has the gall to proclaim him a good and loving parent. She should have had her children taken away fron her for not protecting them from such a lunatic criminal. To make her statements even more outrageous, she knowingly participated in some of his illegal money making schemes. In fact, her 'honeymoon' was financed by stealing from the telephone company! Hey, there's a clue.
   
   For all her whining about her 'horrible' childhood, she also casually mentions many positive things, such as the nose job she had done, and the vacations the family went on. These details are incongruous with the image she paints of a poor waif of a child wearing hand me down clothing (albeit high end label stuff) and being abused by her mother, and not defended by her father.
   
   In my search for a place to vent my view, I found an interview she did on Court TV where her parting shot was, "Buy my book!" I also stumbled on her web site which you have to pay to view. For someone who claims to have had no clue what was going on in her husband's life, she lists lots of tantalizing come ons for joining her site.
   
   Don't waste your money on this book! I bought my copy used and will be selling mine soon for .01. I am only grateful that my purchase of her book did not put one thin dime into her greedy hand.



4. Oh man.
   I picked this book up on vacation, intending it to be a good read...if anything something to pass the time. I have a huge interest in the Mafia and have for quite some time....however this book blew it for me. I don't think I made it past page 50...in fact I think I read the first 50 pages half a dozen times. I couldn't believe how poorly this book was written!! On top of that, like others have stated, it was so repetitive! I was shocked to say the least. I believe there to be many ways to have a book sound very much like the author, despite the authors ability to write a book, which clearly was not done with this book!!



5. I was curious about Lynda's life and picked up this book to read on an airplane ride.
   Very poorly written, it took me 4 months to finally finish it. I wasn't captivated and brought into her world, as the cover suggested. I didn't feel much for this self-pitying, lowly writer.

5 comments about Vera (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov).

1. This account of the relationship between the Nabokov's was a superb treasuer. No wonder it won the Pullitzer. The depth of the relationship between these two intellectuals was refreshing. Both people were very complex and loved each other deeply. Vera was everything to him and she was completely devoted to him and was always there for him through good and bad times. They were true soul mates.



2. Other writers have elaborated at length on the quality of the contents of VERA, so I'll refrain from that. I will note - and base my own recommendation on two qualities well-investigated by Schiff, and which I loved: this is a remarkable love story, between two of the 20th century's great intellectuals, and the glimpse into not one but two creative minds at work is priceless.
   
   And Schiff does great justice to the everyday details of this collaborative relationship, with day-to-day qualities other writers would take for granted made compelling.
   
   Perhaps a book for Nabokov's fans, but a great one for sure.
   
   -David Alston



3. Since you are inviting me to submit a review of the book that you have not yet shipped to me, I hope this note will help you to revise -- and improve -- your business procedures. My rating, therefore, applies to the latter, not the book itself; I would've let the rating field empty had the system let me do so.
   Yours,
   BGV



4. Vera Nabakov was totally devoted to her husband, to his life and to his work. Stacy Schiff's excellent biography tells their story in considerable detail. Vera Slonim the daughter of a wealthy Jewish family in marrying Nabakov made her religion his life and his art. She took upon herself many of the practical tasks that Nabakov disdained. They developed between themselves a private language in which they shared their own unique synashaetic way of feeling the world. She typed and read his manuscripts, found quotations for him helped him create one of the twentieth century's great literary oeuvres.



5. it was a very good biography, but if you read the Boyd bio of her husband first you may be left wondering if he had already snatched up all the good quotes.

5 comments about Memoirs of a Beatnik.

1. No, it is not porn...but it is definitely not for prudes!
   
   This book gave me a gorgeous, ripe, sensual snapshot of the life and the times of Diane DiPrima and the subculture in which she existed.
   
   The writing sometimes lacked, but overall - it's a juicy peach with a bittersweet aftertase.



2. This book was loaned to me by a friend who swore that I would have to read it "with one hand free". While the story is very erotic, and the sex scenes are very real and compelling, I would not wholly agree with that statement. This, in part, is due to the fact that love scenes between men and women no longer do anything for me sexually. I prefer erotic writings between two women, and, though there were a few added to this book to spice things up (for me anyways) there were definitely not enough to arouse me to free one hand.
   
   The story, however, is well written. It was an easy, delightful read, one that I polished off in two sittings. It catalogues the life of a young writer coming into her own sexuality, seizing whatever moments of transient, sensual bliss that she comes across. This book is somewhat autobiographical, cultivated from Di Prima's own experiences as a college drop out who, annoyed with the system of 1950`s education, decided to instead pursue writing full time. The main character in the story parallels her life to such a degree that the author had even named her heroine "Di Prima". The character Di Prima also flits about in the underworld of 1950's New York, inhabiting skeevy, infested pads with multiple people, coffee houses, book stores, parks, smoked out bar scenes, forests, fields, and (on one occasion) a country farm. Where the truth is obscured in this bohemian world of sex, drugs, and (pre) rock and roll is only up to the reader's decision. I know little about Di Prima myself, so I like to look at this as a fairly inventive, fictional piece of writing.
   
   This is definitely a worthwhile read. I must admit, were I more inclined to heterosexual love scenes, I would have, indeed, read this with one hand free, seeing as how in every single chapter is a different, vivid description of one of her many sexual encounters. If you are inclined to beat writing, this is a canon of that genre. If you are a fan of erotica, how have you not read this one yet? Read it in a room, alone, or with a partner. It will get your juices flowing, if you pardon the pun.



3. As someone isn't easily shocked by sex, this book was engaging. I found myself hoping to find happiness within "one" of her sexcapades. However, if you are interested in an easy read, with graphic details. Enjoy. Don't be offended.



4. Sorry, but this is both an unimportant work, and pornographic (when every chapter revolves around one sex scene, I think it is safe to accuse a book of being pornographic). Understandably, it has been written that this book was intended to be exploitative, and di Prima wrote it because she needed money. Great. I hold nothing against writers doing what they need to do to make a living. If I recall correctly, Stephen King got his start writing articles for Playboy. With all that said, however, I think it is also important not to hold a book to unrealistic expectations, simply because of the author. Porn, porn, porn. Let's see: chapter 1, sex with Ivan. Chapter 2, recollection of the first time she had sex with Ivan. Chapter 3, sex with Robin (a man in love with Ivan). Chapter 4, Sex with Tomi (a female friend). Chapter 5, Tomi has sex with Tomi's brother. Chapter 6, Sex with 4 other women. Chapter 7, sex with Tomi's father Serge. Chapter 8, sex with young Jack and some guy with big ears while runaway girl watches. And so it goes, through all the chapters. So, if you're looking for a "spank" book, then check it out. If you're looking for a book about the beats from a woman's perspective (as it is boldly proclaimed on the front cover), look somewhere else.



5. I was disappointed with this book, but that could very well be my own fault because of the expectations I took with me when I first started it. I had picked up this book in hopes of finding the female version of On The Road. I wanted a female artistic rendering of the period and art and philosophy and what her thoughts were on what she went through. Instead I found a mediocre telling of sexual encounters. I understand that sexual freedom was a big part of the Beat experience and I certainly have no problem with reading about that aspect of Di Prima's life, I was just disappointed that she basically made it appear that her role in the whole Beat movement had nothing much to do with art or philosophy, but more to do with being a sexual object. Isn't that what women fight against these days?
   
   I'm willing to admit that my own prejudices and opinions and desires are a big part of what made me not like this book. I guess I would suggest that you read it with an open mind and without a lot of great expectations. The writing is ok but not great. The stories are a little on the boring side. There isn't a lot of introspection or thoughts on life and politics and poetry. It seems more to me that her editors told her sex would sell and they cut everything else of any interest or importance out of the book. So to me, the book is far too shallow to be something I'd recommend to anyone else.