5 comments about Dirty Blonde: The Diaries of Courtney Love.

1. I've always been a Courtney Love/ Kurt Cobain fan and looked forward to this book. I was VERY disappointed with it. It's supposed to be made like a "scrapbook" and there are handwritten notes, etc. throughout the book which would be nice if Courtney's handwriting were legible. It's terribly messy and the book is put together badly too. Everything is scattered, nothing is in order, pictures and notes are upside down, sideways, etc. having to turn the book every which way just to see things. Nothing makes sense in this book and she even says she didn't see the reason for doing the book at all. A BIG disappointment! :-(



2. This book is absolutely amazing. Very good design, editing....You don't get tired of reading it , watching it, stare at it. Very entertaining. The book is pretty big, I though it was smaller. Love the pictures, notes, poems, songs, letters, documents...
   
   Amazing. ***** 5 stars



3. The book is absolutely great and I received it with no problem.
   Courtney Love is a rock goddess and with this book you can follow her life from a young age to the Hole era.
   You can really get inside Courtney's head and looks at life through her eyes. The poems and songs are beautiful.



4. Is there any celebrity who provokes such polarizing reactions as Courtney Love? I, for one, am a fan, of both her work (as a musician and an actress) and of her persona. She's an enigma ... constantly defying expectations, contradicting herself, self-destructing and then rising from the ashes.
   
   As for this book ... as the Amazon review says, it's not really a diary as much as it is a scrapbook. And although the (excellent) graphic design of the book makes it look as if its content were pieced together with tape and scissors and glue, it's really a meticulously gathered collection of carefully chosen mementos that chronicle Courtney's life.
   
   After reading the book, my opinion of Courtney really hasn't changed so much. I've always thought of her as a sensitive, wounded, intelligent, ambitious, needy and occasionally vicious woman, and all that is evident here. As is her inability to decide whether or not she wants to be a frightening outcast or a high-society fashionista.
   
   If you're a fan, this book is probably worth buying. But instead of offering many answers, it only really contributes to Courtney's mystique.



5. Its good, but not as good as I thought it would be...
   It is exacally her journal pages, pictures & scribbles. And you can't read some of it because she has messy hand writing, but what you can is pretty interesting - she is very intelligent.
   2 things I didnt like:
   1; is they added some things to make it look more like a journal. ie- taped pages in, burn holes, cigarette butts. At first its nothing but i really got annoyed when they put cigarette butts on the page because they wouldn't have stayed in her book this entire time. And if they some how did, they wouldnt be all 3D and "perfect" as they were.
   2; its interesting, but not as interesting as i thought. its more of her feelings & thoughts than what she did or who she was with or saw. She never mentions Billy for the pumpkins, but she posted a news paper clipping...
   Lots of song lyrics, thoughts, feelings but nothing thats made my jaw drop yet...
   I would recommend you buy this second hand from eBay or a book store..

5 comments about Women in Scripture: A Dictionary of Named and Unnamed Women in the Hebrew Bible, the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books and the New Testament.

1. This book is rigorously researched and very readable. It is a fantastic reference book for anyone teaching Bible or writing homilies or sermons. It is on my shelf for ready reference, and it can be bought new for as little as $21. I know of no other compendium that covers the content of this book as deeply. I only wish there were an equivalent volume by these authors on the men in the Bible. As stated by other reviewers, the articles at the beginning of the book are excellent.



2. I regularly conduct Bible workshops on the topic of Women Prophets and frequently recommend this dictionary to my audiences. This book is easy to use and is an update of the classic by Edith Deen.



3. This is not as specialized a reference work as you would suspect from the title. The six introductory articles are among the best I have read on the development of the canon, hermeneutics, and the status of biblical scholarship. These run a mere ten or sixteen columns each, yet feel comprehensive. They reveal the editors' infatutuation with statistical information (numbers of male named in the Bible vs. the number of females; the number of named women vs. the number of unnamed women; names that recur most frequently, etc.), and their interest in exploring what these statistics hint at. Clearly the editors and authors enjoyed creating this landmark publication. While the authors are not timid scholars, they seem to know when they have reached a dead end or hit an informational barrier. When the Bible is silent on an issue, they are comfortable acknowledging it.

   Also worth praising is the organization of the book. Part I consists of all the women named in the Bible (including the Deuterocanonical/Apocryphal books) in alphabetical order; Part II lists all the unnamed women (or groups of women, such as, "Daughters of Lot" and "Women at Vashti's Banquet") in Bible book order (following the NRSV sequencing) by their earliest significant Scripture reference; Part III, perhaps the most fascinating section, is a compilation of female deities and personifications (such as, "Asherah/Asherim," "Female Images of God in the Hebrew Bible," "Woman Wisdom," and "No 'Male and Female' in Christ Jesus"). While great care has been made in providing cross-referencing, there is no general index to the volume. Readers will need to be very intuitive (and perhaps keep a concordance handy) if they want to find entries in Part II (the largest section of the book) by any method other than Bible book order. The volume is completed by an annotated listing of "Additional Ancient Sources," which directs the reader to some important texts that never made it successfully through the maze known as canonization, but which are sure to provide some interesting information on the status and role of women at different points in the ancient world.




4. Women in Scripture is just the resource I have been waiting for; in one volume I can find brief, but thorough, well written articles on all the women of the Bible, which incorporate the insights of the best of contemporary critical biblical scholarship. And don't miss the introductory articles. They are worth the price of this book by themselves. This book is a must for all pastors, serious Bible students, and all laypersons interested in learning about the women of the Bible as they are presented in the Bible, not as they have been culturally presented. I highly recommend it!



5. Leading Biblical scholars provide the best, latest scholarship on biblical women and provides an important volume bringing together the works of over seventy scholars who provide entries on over two hundred named and six hundred unnamed women. All the women of the Bible, from deities to personifications of symbols, are represented in a fine dictionary reference.

1 comments about Venus on Wheels: Two Decades of Dialogue on Disability, Biography, and Being Female in America.

1. At times, the book can be an uncomfortable read. Frank describes cases of women with varying degrees of disability, and their experiences of growing up and making a living in the US. Some examples are extreme indeed. Like Diana, born with no arms and legs in 1950. You could cringe at trying to imagine yourself in her situation. Yet somehow, she managed to cope.
   
   Several others are chronicled here. Often trying to resist the expectation of wearing artificial arms and legs; by wanting to decide how they would appear in public. The book applies anthropological analysis to studying these unfortunate women.
   
   Keep in mind that the various protheses described in the book are now somewhat outdated. Better fitting, easier to use protheses have been developed in recent years. With the promise of ongoing improvements. Ironically driven in no small part by the US military casualties in Iraq.

3 comments about Women at War: Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Conflicts.

1. In "Women at War: Iraq, Afghanistan, and other Conflicts", James Wise and Scott Baron record the individual stories of 30 women who are representative of the more than 2.5 million American women who have chosen the Profession of Arms.
   
   "Women at War" focuses on the contributions of women from World War II through the ongoing operations in Southwest Asia (up to 2006). For the modern operations, the vignettes are the transcripts of personal interviews. However, for the fallen warriors due to both age and combat, we learn their tales as told through personal letters, award citations, or previous publications. Whatever the source, you can't help but be moved by their stories.
   
   You will read the letter of the proud mother who sends her child to boot camp, only to hear her child's life came to a violent end due to an improvised explosive device attack. Conversely, you also read the personal recollections of the platoon leader who must be stoic to the Marines left behind after one of their comrades is killed in a separate bombing incident. There are also the tales of a Coast Guard skipper who prevented the mining of rivers in Iraq, and of the soldier who ran into a burning building to save Vietnamese children. The gender of these heroes is irrelevant - they are incredible stories that will be treasured by America's Next Greatest Generation.
   
   After 17 years of continuous low- and high-intensity combat operations in Southwest Asia, it's surprising that not a single Airman or Sailor who served in the desert is featured in the book. The epilogue apologizes for intending to interview Lt Col Martha McSally who was the first female fighter squadron commander in combat. Unfortunately, the book went to print before the interviews were complete.
   
   Compared to "Hell hath no Fury" by Rosalind Miles, this book is filled with more richly-detailed, personal accounts of the heroines. Also, this book focuses strictly on American women since World War II, and does not highlight any of the women's organizations featured in "Hell hath no Fury". Miles' book also spans a few centuries, vice the last 50 years in "Women at War". While this books is relatively narrow in focus, it certainly gives you a more intimate look at the contributions these women made to history.
   
   As a complement to this book, I would also recommend two books from Air University Press documenting the personal histories of Airmen who executed Operations DESERT STORM and NOBLE ANVIL: "From the line in the Sand" and "A-10's over Kosovo".
   
   This book is a page-turner. It is well-researched and features many photographs. Hopefully, Wise and Baron will publish a second edition to keep the tales of the female Airmen and Sailors alive too.



2. Scott Baron and James E Wise, Jr. have put together a wonderful book profiling some of the women who have served our country. This 2006 Naval Institute Press book is well worth the read. They interviewed and covered women who served during World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Gulf War, Afghanistan and Iraq from all branches of the military.
   
   Statistics were provided such as during the Gulf War more than forty thousand women were deployed, fifteen killed and two became POWs. Some of these women received medals, some were wounded, some were POWs, some were deceased and yet the authors collected information from family, friends and military records about them.
   
   One woman told the authors how the military treated her after she emerged from a coma. The military wanted her to sign discharge papers even while knowing she had a long road ahead of her filled with surgeries and rehabilitation.
   
   Another woman spoke out about the subject of women in combat. She made sure to point out that women are indeed in combat and on the same roads as the men are. And yet another woman told about what it was like as a female to be boarding ships and looking for people, equipment, etc in a field where it is usually only men on the open seas.
   
   A portion of this book covered the women who served during WW II especially those who were POWs during that war. Since so few people know that so many women were prisoners of the Japanese and one was captured by the Germans I was glad to see these women covered as well.
   
   As a person who appreciates reading and learning more about our brave women who have served our country I truly liked this book. The authors did a wonderful job getting these women to open up and talk about their experiences. Everyone should read this book!



3. A very interesting book on womens role in our latest war with individual chapters devoted to individual women. I would put this book at recommended reading for most adults. It relates my experiences with the military to the women. It goes into how these women handle the experience of war and to cope with it. It also shows their relationships with fellow male soldiers and how they cope with a war time situation. The book covers how these women dealt the casualties in war.

5 comments about The Titled Americans: Three American Sisters and the British Aristocratic World into Which They Married.

1. My title applies to the protagonists of the book as well as the book itself. The three Jerome sisters were certainly fascinating women, though incredibly self-absorbed at the expense of their children. The husbands all come off as cads, which I suppose can excuse some of their excesses. You almost get exhausted reading all the examples of shallowness throughout the generations. There were some eggregious errors by the author (one passage referred to a Tsar of Russia as Nicholas II before Nicholas was even born! The author must have meant his father, Alexander III). It's errors like this that detract from getting into the story. It's entertaining, but not as good as other bios of the time period.



2. The author has done a good job for her first book, her writing style is engaging allowing you to imagine you are witnessing the trails and trumipths of the Jeromne sisters.
   
   However, there was times that I had to consult the family tree (found in preface pages of the book) in order to understand which family members the author was writing about.



3. This work chronicles the rise of one American family in the first half of the 1800s. The father is able to acquire a fortune through the stock market, and the mother is determined to take her three daughters to Europe where they will be able to trade their financial prospects for a European title, coming at the beginning of a series of marriages in which American heiresses were joined to less wealthy but socially advanced British nobility (particularly minor nobility). However, as the fortunes of the Jerome family wax and wane with the unsteady stock market, so do the prospects, marriages, and lives of the three Jerome sisters. Of special interest because one of the sisters (Jennie) is the mother of Winston Churchill.
   
   Quote: "It was all the more important to women of their class to adhere to these standards because they had so little else beyond their social position. Their story thus illuminates what it meant to be a female member of the British aristocracy during its decline, when incomes were falling but lifestyles were slow to follow the downward spiral."
   
   
   While I enjoyed this story and learning about the interesting lives led by the sisters, I also felt that it dragged on for rather longer than it needed to given its subject matter. And I'm a history teacher, so it's not that I automatically think history non-fiction is going to be boring :). However, the research seemed well done (end notes, yay!), and the stories of the lives of the three sisters and their offspring were woven together nicely.



4. Elisabeth Kehoe's "The Titled Americans" is a good examination of the lives and careers of the surviving daughters of American financier Leonard Jerome: Leonie, Clara (originally Clarita), and especially, Jennie, the oldest, and probably best known for being the mother of Winston S. Churchill. Kehoe covers a lot of ground, focusing primarily on the lives of Leonie and her Leslie family and of Clara and her Frewhen family. Unfortunately, as another reviewer has so aptly noted here, we do not really get more than a terse descriptive look at these sisters, their husbands, and children. Without question, Jennie Jerome Churchill (Lady Randolph Churchill) was undoubtedly the most interesting of the three, working tirelessly as a dutiful politican's wife and as an unpaid resident "American Ambassador" to the United Kingdom at a time when relations between Americans and the British were far more cordial, and far less friendly, than they are now. I was struck reading how the lives of all three sisters were in many instances quite similar, having endured either poverty or unhappily married bliss (or in at least one instance both) inspite of their matrimonial alliances to British aristocracy. This slender volume serves mainly at best as a fine overview of the Jerome sisters and of their families; those wishing to read more about them should read the elegant biographies written by family members, most notably those by Winston S. Churchill.



5. Interesting story about these sisters but it is very shallow in that it never gets past the surface. We never know what drives these women and never get a true sense of their personalities. then towards the last third of the book, it becomes more of an itinerary than anything else. All you read is "....then Clare went here, then Jenny went there..." I think this author has promise. Apparently, this is her first book so I am hoping that she learns more writing skills. Lots of incorrect historial information as well. Unless I am missing something, was there someone called "Grand Princess Tsarvena" and "Grand Prince Tsar"? Apparently, the author tells us these 2 people were the future Nicholas II and Alexandra, who, according to the author "..attended his sister Marie's wedding to Queen Victoria's son..." Now, last I read, Marie was the daughter of Alexander II and NOT the sister of Nicholas II. AND, Nicholas II didn't even know Alexandra at this time. This is just one historical error but since this was my first connection with these sisters how can one be assured that they are reading the truth.

5 comments about Houses of Study: A Jewish Woman among Books.

1. I enjoyed this book. The language Ilana Blumberg uses is exquisite and one can truly get a sense of her struggles and thought processes. I recommend this to everyone.



2. Ilana Blumberg takes her life and her choices seriously and writes about them clearly. How refreshing and impressive! I am looking forward to reading the continuation!



3. Cerebral and sensuous all at once, hugely passionate but completely controlled -- hands down the best book on the readerly life that I have read. Anyone who wants to know what it means really to study the Bible should own this book.



4. The little I know about Judaism comes from novels I have read by Chaim Potok, Henry Roth and Michael Chabon. None of these have offered the unique, first-person perspective not only of Jewish women, but especially of Jewish women scholars.
   
   Blumberg's preface to Houses of Study lays out a fundamental tenion: that between the traditional role of an Orthodox Jewish woman and that of a particular Orthodox Jewish woman who aspires to honor both her religion and her personal desire for knowledge and advanced study.
   
   The story of Blumberg's religious and academic education unfolds against this backdrop. She tells the story beautifully. Her desire for immersion in studies, such as her male counterparts at Yeshiva receive, is aching and intense. That it parallels her developing woman's contemplation of love and union enhances its intensity and sensuality.
   
   We follow her journey from the midwest to Israel to the east coast an on. Blumberg is a trustworthy narrator.
   
   A bonus for this reader was the concurrent education in Jewish history, culture and religion. Hebrew words were used but also translated to English spellings and definitions. I could follow her story but still feel that it was written by Jew, for Jews.
   
   In short, this is a richly-described, morally-tensioned account of one woman's exploration of gender, religion and scholarship. Well worth the read.



5. i felt very incomplete when i finished reading this book. i just wish that i had waited to get it at the library instead of buying it. i truly feel like i wasted my time in reading this book.

1 comments about Working Sex: Sex Workers Write About a Changing Industry.

1. A trip down into the backwoods entering into a thought provoking revolution all penned by extremely fascinating artists!

5 comments about First Comes Love.

1. I only read this book because our reading group chose it and, frankly, at first I wasn't sure I'd like it. I didn't feel that I could relate to Marion Winik's drug use or self-destructive pursuit of a gay man. But her writing drew me in and her story proved to be so absorbing because it was so well-written. Yes, she was self-absorbed, as addicts often are, and yes, she knew her love for Tony was bound to end in frustration, but she has no sympathy for herself, and asks for none from her readers. Her story, while moving, is not cloying or sentimental, and I really liked that. She is honest, often painfully so, and direct. She reveals what it truly means to love someone who cannot love you back the way you want to be loved. She faces her problems head-on, addresses her own weaknesses with candor. Her writing style is clear and its emotions sharply drawn. If you approach her story without judging her, you will come to know her and understand her. I liked her in spite of myself, and that says a lot. Like a good friend you care about, but who can drive you crazy, Winik reveals things to you that can make you roll your eyes or sigh in frustration, make you want to slap her. And then she opens up with vulnerability, revealing her inner turmoil and pain, and you want to embrace her. This is a tough story, hard to take sometimes. But a true love story, nonetheless. After I read the whole book, I went back and re-read its opening chapter. After going on Winik's journey with her, her words about her husband's final hours brought me to tears. I felt I knew them both.



2. Yes, the two main people in this memoir are self-indulgent, but there is one, and only one, thread that holds them together: Love. It cannot be sexual attraction, because one is gay and one is straight. And the thread of love holds and holds and holds and finally snaps. Marion Winik's writing held me from the first chapter to the last and never snapped.



3. First Comes Love epitomizes the 90's era of self-indulgent memoirs over? (and please, let it be over) This is basically a book about someone who makes one bad, selfish decision after another, wreaking havoc on the lives of those around her and then, rather than hanging her head in shame, deciding that it makes her so interesting that she ought to write about it and share it with the world. In fact, it sometimes seems as if the whole point of many of her actions is to have something outrageous to write about. One can't help but feel sorry for her sons, though. Did she ever stop for a moment and think of the effect on them of reading about her incredibly dysfunctional life?
   This book is very, very sad.



4. I'm sorry. I'm aware of all the favorable comments regarding this book, and no one should question Marion Winik's writing abilities -- "First Comes Love" is a well crafted book -- but, being that it is a memoir, I must confess that I no longer like or respect her as a person. This is not a love story -- it is an expose of a woman who decides she is going to have what she wants, regardless of anyone else's needs. Neither do I see her as someone I should admire for courage or long suffering. Sure, she finally decides to care for him as he dies. That is the least that she should do, as far as I'm concerned. She robbed him if the rest of his life.



5. I'm disgusted I ever bought this book and would love to have my money back (someone in my book club chose it). All nine members of my book club HATED this book and found Marion Winik's actions/addictions disgusting. She offers no explanation for her self-absorbed, destructive behavior. I promptly gave it away after I read it (not to the library...doesn't belong in a respectable institution like that). Her actions that are documented in this "memoir" are despicable and could have had life-threatening ramifications on innocent children. Do not waste your money or your time.

5 comments about Beyond His Control: Memories of a Disobedient Daughter.

1. First of all, this book's sentences are for the most part structured the same way, i.e., "Used to a strong woman, my father looked for a wife who could protect him." That seems incorrect, but I cannot find the rule govering the use of "my father" or "my mother" or "my governess." In the second place, this book is not so much about memories and how those memories relate to making up who Linda Hale Bucklin is, it is more about the facts of this family's life: the mother's death, the other woman, the lawsuits, the paintings. And, in the third place, after having read the book, I felt put off by The Very Reverend Alan Jones' remarks in the Foreward praising the author for having examined her soul. From my own point of view, this has not been done; there is no indication of who Linda Bucklin really is. My impression is that the author is still very testy about the outcome of events in her life. She gave the step-mother from hell a lot of space, and the ending where she realized just how afraid her father had been didn't really have much impact. It would be a lot more interesting if someone took the time to look into exactly what happened to her birth mother.



2. Which is no problem- bring it on, I will read it. But don't make it out to be the story of a journey and at least give us better reasons why we should despise the person (in this case, it was her stepmother Denise Minnelli, who was cold-hearted, but no Dede Traina.)This book started out as if it was going to be very interesting, but it dragged a little. I was left a little unsatisfied. I think I am forever ruined by the delicious "Oh the Glory of it All" by Sean Wilsey, who had a similar situation (San Fran society, ultra rich parents, evil stepmother) and gave us much more of a reason to relish his book and the revenge on those who deserved it.
   This book seemed as if it were put out solely to drag Denise Minnelli's name through the mud (which she probably deserved) but it seemed too obvious. The author was likeable; I felt for her, was proud of her and didn't doubt everyone deserved what they got. It just seemed a little juvenile.



3. I found this item interesting mostly because I learned a great deal about Upper Class society and it's workings in San Fransisco. I do not know if this was excactly the authors intention. It was a good book, mut more social history.



4. This book was well written and I enjoyed it so much that I had a hard time putting it down to get some sleep. It is amazing how a parent can be so wrapped up in themself that they can't see how they are negatively affecting their children but then the narcissistic among us are not capable of a love based on give and take. Kudos to Linda for rising above her upbringing to become the wonderful person that she is. The world is a much better place for it. Thanks to her for writing this book and seeing that there are others that have grownup in similar situations and have not turned into the very creatures that have inflicted so much grief on them as a child.



5. A very level recounting of dysfunction among the rich and social as told by a daughter in the family. The dish, though great reading, is secondary to a young woman getting a grip on a losing situation and finding her strength, and her self.

5 comments about The Quilters: Women and Domestic Art : An Oral History.

1. A wonderful book for quilters and lovers of history. Written in the first person, you are drawn into the simple lives of these women. A quick and rewarding read.



2. Reading about the lives of these women makes you appreciate the ease of modern life but the simjplicity of their days is enviable. Wonderful quilts too.



3. I have read many books about pioneering women who set up homes from scratch and quilted for practical and soul-fulfilling reasons. Usually though, those women are long gone and we are left with rather dry details of their lives. The joy of this book is that the women whose words are recorded in it are living, breathing members of that pioneer group, and, even though their experiences were in the 20th rather than the 19th century,the issues and incidents are the same and they tell a vibrant story.
   The book records conversations amongst Texas quilting groups, to which the authors were invited and the ladies seem eager to tell stories of their early days in dug outs and cabins, their families scaping a life from the soil and their role in that. None of them ever sound hard done by or as if they wish their lives had been different. And they are all keen to express the creative and fulfilling role that quilting has had in their lives.
   If you are not a quilter, you will still enjoy the strength, friendship and nobility that run through these conversations - they are a link with a passed era, which I felt honoured to share as I read.



4. This book is facinating with it's history of American pioneer women. It contains real quotes from real people about the lives that they lived. If you have seen or been in the play you will be delighted to see that some of the show's monologues are word-for-word from this book! I't's a moving book and a moving play.



5. This book is a wonderful tribute to women...quilters or not. The book is filled with interviews, pictures, and descriptions that bring the joy and sorrow of daily living to life. If the simple things in life are indeed the sweetest.... then these women and their quilts tell the sweetest story ever...they tell our story... they are our history.