5 comments about Helping Me Help Myself: One Skeptic, Ten Self-Help Gurus, and a Year on the Brink of the Comfort Zone.

1. I was hoping I would love this book; the description sounded interesting and an easy-breezy laugh---just what I was looking for. I know a book is a subjective experience, but this book, for me, lacked charm, depth and insight; but what made it a boring read is the fact that the humor was not effortless; it felt forced and self-conscious--like the author was trying too hard. I haven't read any of the author's other work (which is highly praised, I hear), but this work felt empty and little too precious and not funny. By no means disastrous, but not a book I would recommend.



2. I heard a great radio interview of the author, and was interested in the idea.
   
   Her process to evaluate the different types of self help and their main features seemed pretty haphazard. The only similar theme in each of her quests were far too many details on how much this was costing and how limited her funds were. I'm not sure if she found what she was looking for.



3. I am always interested in whether or not self-help really helps. I am a clinical psychologist and almost all who see me have already tried some kind of self-help...but what about the ones who have not proceeded into therapy after a bout of self-help? That would be Beth Lissick, who clearly has some areas of challenge...but approaches them with humor and a live in the now kind of mentality. The book was a fun read for me while on vacation, getting away from serious work.



4. Help me Help Myself is an interesting and amusing look at the Self Help Genre. If you enjoyed this I would strongly reccomend Practically Perfect in Every Way by Jennifer Niesslein, who takes on a new self help regime every month for two years. Very different styles and different results - an interesting contrast.



5. As others have stated, this seemed like more of a long magazine article than a full length book. With a title like, 'Helping Me Help Myself: One Skeptic, Ten Self-Help Gurus, and a Year of the Brink of the Comfort Zone' you would think this might offer help to any would-be skeptics. However, what you get is watered down humor and very little 'fact' based critique of the various self-help fads. Maybe her next book will improve upon this effort.

5 comments about Now They Call Me Infidel: Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel, and the War on Terror.

1. This book is so important in our understanding of how the radical terrorists operate.Not all Muslims are terrorists and most peace loving Muslims, Buddists, Jews and Christians can't get thier heads around this type of political madness.



2. This book is an education for everyone about the situation in the Middle East. It's a sobering picture of that area. Kudos for the author for her bravery in rejecting the Muslim party line. Her solutions for the problems there are - peace, not war - love not hate. God bless her.



3. I've always been very confused as to why so many Arabs hate Jews and Christians so much. If they put as much time and effort into loving their children and society as they do in spreading hate and violence, then they would be so much better off; as would we. Thank you Nonie for sharing your experience and insight. Reading this book helped me to understand so much about Arabs and their actions. I truly believe that if we spoke more about this culture in the mass media, there would be more indirect pressure put on the Arab countries to stop spreading a culture of hate. Our politically correct country seems to believe that if we don't speak about something, that it will fix itself eventually. Keep up the great work Nonnie; not just for us, but for your former country and its inhabitants.



4. Coming from her unique perspective as the daughter of an Egyptian martyr assinated by Israel, the Egyptian upper-middle class army officier elite during the 1950's, now an American citizen, and talking about her native culture and religion...the book demanded at least the respect of looking it over.
   What did I found to my utter surprise? A gripping, profound look into middle eastern history, the Arab/Israeli conflict. A sociological look into Islamic Sharia family and social structure, and the pyschological mindset and culture of the arab world...all through the eyes of one who lived among it for thirty years. She now sees that mindset worsened and in the US of the post 9/11 world.
   This book's greatest strength is the first person insight given the average American into the everyday cultural thoughts, values, reasoning, ways, and mindset she has experienced in Egypt and here in the United States through her life expriences with friends, family, and other contacts in the Islamic world .
   For a person well experienced in this culture, region, and religion this book may not be enlightening and may appear easy to dismiss as sour grapes...
   
   But...it raises and answers some of the profound questions the average American citizen has probably asked himself/herself at some point in the last seven years through the stories of her life... Why the pervasive propaganda dehumanizing Israelis and Jews worldwide? Why can't they get along? Let the cycle of revenge go? negotiate and sign a final peace deal? Why haven't orther Arab nations absorbed the Palestinians living within their boarders as citizens after generations? Why are moderate muslims in the US and away from the middle east NOT standing up and redirecting their own communities away from radicalism? Unequivocally denouncing acts of terrorism violence? Why aren't most muslims melting into American society?
   The last portion reincorporates the new preface and talks about what is going on here in the United States NOW, talks about the effects the mindset and philosophy she fled in late 1970's Egypt are having today in the expatriate community around her, and the growing, concerted, and well financed recruitment and misinformation campaign that is afoot on US college campuses, and the real need for others to also speak out.
   It is written for those of her native culture as a call for reform, but mainly to enlighten the average American and Western European citizen so that they can understand the mindset of those who want to assimilate us.
   A book I couldn't put down from first to last page and a profound sociological insight I never expected when I picked it up on a whim. Well worth the book price and time.
   Thank you, Nonie, for writing your story.



5. For a white, first world person, I found her testimony very personal and believable. She was there first hand, and it helped me understand a lot of mysteries in their culture that I just couldn't get. Read the whole thing in one evening, that's how it held my attention.

5 comments about The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath.

1. before this book, i had only read the bell jar, and as good as that book was,now i know what a capable writer she was. there is so much passion in everything she says, you can tell when she's excited or sad or whatever. she uses great description for such a young age, and has such a sense of humanity...she would have been a amazing person to know



2. some college professor said that every single year, at least one out of a class full of girls studying sylvia plath will feel that she is sylvia plath reincarnated.
   
   what's funny is that after reading only a few pages, i absolutely understand why, to an almost humiliating degree. that in itself really explains this book. something about this is really affective - everything she says sounds just like something i've written, thought, or experienced in the past. i haven't gotten through the entire book because it often makes me feel uncomfortable with how much i relate to it.
   
   this is most definitely worth your time and your money.



3. As a woman deeply affected by poetry and great literature, of course I would stumble across Plath. However, it wasn't in my studies that I came to know her work, but through the charming compliments of someone who felt I earned her poems as a description- I believe he was nuts- but the work, the words, no, no, THAT was brilliance! These journals are an archive of mid 20th century America and a veritable gold mine of insight into one of the world's premiere writers (female or no). The entries, although privately recorded and oft scandalized by the Ted Hughes/marriage fiasco, come off as less of a personal musing than a practice run for print. Plath does a darling job of explaining the mundane but the undercurrent of inferiority and rapture for writing come through like a beacon in her quest for talent in a sea of self-doubt. Plath is a prolific writer (the volume is a heap of dead weight paper) and not a page is wasted with her thoughts. For anyone looking to understand one woman's intelligent foray into her own psyche, collegiate literary yearnings, and the basis of her thoughts and feelings pre/antedating her marriage: BUY THIS! This is one set of pages that will alter your perception and it is made all the more poignant by her publicized suicide. Plath, thank you!



4. Plath's journals are an excellent read. I gave it only 3 stars because the editing is terrible. I find myself constantly flipping to the back. Kukil included notes in the back instead of at the bottom of the pages where they would be more logical. She also included journal fragments in the appendix (there are 15). Plath's journals could have been edited much better.



5. I wish I could have given this book 5 stars, the content is riveting, but I decided to give it four because of the editing by Karen V. Kukil.
   The Journals of Sylvia Plath as we all know are incomplete, they were edited (sanitized) by her husband Ted Hughes. No doubt whatsoever that the material he 'lost' was detrimental to him. The only thing he allows in the book is her account of his dalliance with a student, after which she begins to see him in a different light. It leaves you at the end of the book feeling very sorry for this woman, and wanting to find out more. (Which one can't help feeling was a marketing ploy by Hughes, who sold the rights to her book the Bell Jar to the Americans after her death in spite of her mother's objections, so that he could raise the money to buy a third home).
   
   Sylvia Plath was brilliant, sexy, vivacious and sociable. She was also completely obsessed with analyzing the working of her mind, her emotions and sensitivities. She was narcissistic, selfish and critical to the point of meanness. The rawness of her emotions is hard to take sometimes. What a normal person would consider to be a rough sea of life and cope accordingly, she turns into a force 10 hurricane. One cannot help feeling that the journals were written to be published, that the author KNEW someday they would be discovered and read by everyone. The writing is beautiful. The very first entry July 1950 is a delight:-
   
   "I may never be happy, but tonight I am content. Nothing more than an empty house, the warm hazy weariness from a day spent setting strawberry runners in the sun, a glass of cool sweet milk, and a shallow dish of blueberries bathed in cream......"
   
   Once started, it is hard to put the book down.
   
   A word now about the editing. I think the book could have been better organized for the general reader, it is formatted like a text book. All the cross-referencing! I had to use two bookmarks all the way through the reading of the book. The 'Notes' could have been at the bottom of each page instead of hidden at the back of the book. The Appendices could have been Notes at the end of each appertaining journal section, and the Index could have been better arranged. The section on Sylvia Plath (which takes up 5 1/2 pages of the index) should have been separated from the rest, to make it less confusing.

5 comments about The Lost Supreme: The Life of Dreamgirl Florence Ballard.

1. I totally agree with "A.M. Smith," who says that the book's author was obviously just trying to cash in on the success of the "Dreamgirls" film. 95% of what's in here is in other Motown books, especially Mary Wilson's. The only new stuff is a few interesting quotes from Flo, plus a lot of tedious detail about her various failed attempts to sue Motown and others. There are maybe three photos I haven't seen before. Save your money.



2. This is a valuable book because of the direct quotes from Florence Ballard herself and the story of her circumstances following her ouster from the Supremes, an act which I absolutely believe was unfair, but this book is terribly biased and often not well researched. The earliest indication that Gordy envisaged Ross as a potential star comes from Raynoma Singleton Gordy's book "Berry Gordy, Motown and Me" in which she stated that the first time he saw Ross he wanted to hire her and not Flo, Mary and Betty McGlowan but she cautioned him that it would be cruel to break the young girl group up, so he hired them all.
   
   I loved the Supremes. Starting in 1967 I saw them every time they came to Los Angeles. Like Florence, though, I was duped - when I saw them in 1967 at the KHJ Appreciation Concert, it was Cindy I saw and no one announced she was Florence's replacement. I didn't see them at the Coconut Grove just a month later because I thought I had ALREADY seen them, and in doing so missed seeing Florence. What that experience and subsequent history has told me is that Diana had already defined the sound of the Supremes and that the company had decided that virtually anyone could sing behind her and audiences would not be the wiser. They must have been right when you realize that The Andantes sang on "Someday We'll Be Together" not Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong as this book asserts. The book also misses the "soundalike" multiple candidates who were suggested and/or selected as Diana's replacement. Tammi Terrell was suggested before her early death, and even after Jean Terrell (no relation) was hired, Berry tried to hire Syretta Wright instead. Just listen to Syretta's duet with Billy Preston "(With You) I'm born again." When I first heard the tune, I thought it WAS Diana Ross. In the end, it was a good thing Syretta was not Diana's replacement as the too-close resemblance would have dimmed each woman's career. Which is the big point I want to make - distinctive voices.
   
   Several times in this book, the author cites sources as saying Florence had tbe "better" voice. Yes, it was fuller, but in pop music "better" is far more relative than that. Doesn't anyone remember Frankie Avalon's first hit - "Dee Dee Dinah" where he truly sang it with his nose pinched? Or Mary Wells' own statement that when she first sang "Bye Bye Baby" that Berry Gordy had her record it several times until her voice became raspy and gritty instead of the wonderful full voice she had and that the raspy gritty one is the take he released - and had a hit with? With the birth of electronic recording, numerous "wonderful" voices were replaced with personality voices, Diana Ross (at least until "Do You Know Where You're Going To?") being one of the most notable. Florence was good, no doubt, but she had a similar sound to that of Kim Weston or any number of the other Motown female singers. It is no wonder she fit so well into the Marvelettes. As far as her own voice? I bought the at-long-last-released Florence Ballard ABC album and it doesn't cut it. The book tantalizes us with the tale of Ballard's husband going to work for Holland-Dozier-Holland's Hot Wax/Invictus label, but as his wife's manager, there is no explanation as to why Tommy Chapman didn't get Florence on that label - or better yet, why HDH didn't have Tommy bring Florence to them. The simple truth is that good is not necessarily distinctive and Diana Ross' voice is distinctive. As soon as her voice became known as that of The Supremes, even close-counts vocalists like Carla Thomas ("B-A-B-Y") and Felice Taylor ("It May Be Winter Outside (But in My Heart it's Spring)" - a ripoff of The Supreme's "Everything's Good About You" had a hard time not being mistaken for Ross. And as far as crediting the name change of the group to Diana Ross and The Supremes goes, doesn't anyone else remember how The Belmonts became Dion and the Belmonts? Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons? Gary Puckett and the Union Gap? Dennis Yost and The Classics IV? Mama Cass???? The lead(s) separating from the group was already a tradition. Marvin Gaye was a Moonglow, for heaven's sake. This book lacks perspective. Motown was the M.G.M. of black music and they truly thought they could do a two-for-one split with ALL their groups - Martha and the Vandellas became Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, The Miracles became Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. David Ruffin was out of line mostly because Eddie Kendricks sang as many leads as he did, and the other Temptations frequently got solo sections in the songs. Motown tried Florence in the lead, and even the soft Mary Wilson as late as "Touch" in which she and Cindy switched off leads with Jean Terrell. The record buying public chose. Does the author really believe that if the company kept releasing non-charting records, that eventually Florence would have caught on? What kind of investment is that?
   
   This book, contends that Florence never got the right songs, which is not saying much about her voice, because it indicates that without that "right song" her voice was not enough to make a hit record. Even with Diana Ross' early nasal tone recordings like "Run, Run, Run" it's her voice you often remember, not the song. I first heard "Where Did Our Love Go" on a cheap transistor radio and I was enthralled.
   
   Florence made some bad choices and she let things get out of control. Yes, the combination of the three original voices was wonderful, but so was the combination of Diana, Mary and Cindy. Listen to "What Becomes of the Broken-Hearted" on "Let the Sunshine In/Composer" album.
   
   This book contributes needed information on Florence to the story of The Supremes. Added to Tony Thomas' "All That Glittered" and Mary Wilson's book, we are able to collectively know Florence Ballard better. In the absence of an autobiography, this is the next best thing. Now she isn't "Lost" or forgotten.
   
   The Lost Supreme: The Life of Dreamgirl Florence Ballard



3. This was a much awaited biography on original Supreme, Florence Ballard. The author had the advantage of eight hours of interviews with Ballard, and that is the strongest part of the book. The background history of Motown and the music industry serve to put the group and Ballard in context. I was disappointed that the author made little use of many other printed sources, especially from magazines and newspapers. By using the various printed sources with the interviews could have given a broader view of Ballard. Also, the interviews with people, who knew Ballard was of little use. I was hoping that her family could provide more insight into Ballard's childhood. They are unable, however, to provide much knowledge about the interrelationships within the group. The work is important as another piece of literature that does shed some light on Ballard especially from the quotes from the interviews. It is difficult to tease out a work on someone, who left few personal thoughts. The author, then, must use the works of others (several Motown artists have penned memoir, and most mentioned the Supremes and Ballard), as well as whatever newspaper accounts on that person. Of course, press releases must be handled carefully as Gordy attempted to keep anything negative about artists out of print. I disagree that this is a total waste because as long as the tapes are not made public, then this is the only access to some of the thoughts of Ballard, which were recorded. This work, though, is much better than the dissertation turned book by Randall Wilson.



4. Where did it all go wrong? Why is it the one Supreme who seemed to have the brightest future is the one who died so young? This book answers a lot of the questions any Supremes fan has. Finally, we know now what anguish Florence Ballard went through, how her role as founder of the group and her dream of being lead singer were dashed. Being gradually pushed out of the spotlight and eventually out of the group. We finally know the struggle she went through before stardom, during, afterwards, and for the first time what really happened the last 48 hours of her life.
   
   As informative as the book was at times it seemed it wasn't enough information. It's possible that the author is planning more books on Florence Ballard but at this point it's hard to tell. He did state he had about 8 hours of interview with her on tape. Also, there should have been more pictures, especially of her and her children. The few that were in the book were the ones the average fan has seen a million times.
   
   All in all this was a good book and a must have for every Flo Ballard/Supremes fan. We finally get to hear from the one voice that was silenced 32 years ago.



5. THE LOST SUPREME is a biography of Florence Ballard loosely based on taped interviews author Peter Benjamin conducted with the subject months before her untimely death. While it's good to use Ballard's quotes in this biography, Benjamin's work reads more like a well-researched thesis rather than a real book. However, it deserves an "A" for effort because of the fact that it does put one of rock's greatest tragedies into the limelight.

5 comments about My Life at Grey Gardens: 13 Months and Beyond.

1. Having been a fan of the play and documentary I found this book to be very revealing and touching at the same time.



2. An interesting remembrance of months living at Grey Gardens by an offbeat friend of the Beales. Would be helpful to have read, which I have, or viewed the DVD Grey Gardens before reading this book. An interesting view of these most unusual mother and daughter combination.



3. Jackie O's aunt and cousin lived in a Munster-type mansion in East Hampton. Edith Bouvier Beale (or 'Big Edie') was the sister of Black Jack Bouvier. Edie had a daughter, 'Little Edie', and both lived in harmony and dis-harmony in the ramshackle old house. Author Lois Wright, artist of questionable talent and palm reader, lived with the ladies for 13 months. The book is based on Wright's journal, which she kept during the 1970's. Big Edie, who was bedridden upstairs, had cats and the cats had fleas. Wright described the agony of the fleas, as well as raccoons climbing out of the ceiling (which Little Edie fed daily) and rats that jumped on the author and Little Edie on occasion. Wright wore boots and a hat 24/7 to ward off most of the critters. Newspapers were placed on beds, on floors, even in the Edies bathtub for the cats. Nevertheless, they were allowed to "go" where they pleased. If a cat or kitten died, Big Edie kept it on her bed for a couple of days, covered with a Kleenex. Contrary to past publicity, Jackie O and Ari stepped in and helped her relatives - Ari sending gifts, Jackie paying bills. The eccentricities of the three ladies are well worth reading about in this mesmerizing page-turner (Wright seemed a bit 'off' herself.) Just to let you be aware that there are DVDs available about Grey Gardens, starring the Beales, that are excellent. It brings Ms. Wright's pages to life, which completes their picture.



4. I have to give this book three stars just because the writer shared her experiences with the public. But considering, as she tells us, that she ended up taking two of the many ghosts in the Grey Gardens house with her when she was packing to return to her home...Well, you don't get a lot of objective observation. You don't get much extra insight about Grey Gardens. What she writes about is pretty much what you already saw in the film "Grey Gardens." I hoped to learn more about the rooms and what happened to all the furniture. She treats her stay there as just another day in the life of and with no one in particular. REAL disappointment.



5. I found Ms. Wright's book to be very insightful into the life of the Beale's. Though at time the book tended to trail off a bit, but it does run more of a diary of sorts then a novel, but still a great read for anyone in interested in Grey Gardens.

5 comments about First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers (P.S.).

1. I read all but a couple chapters of this book on a flight across the US. It is easy reading and I could not put it down. The horrors this author went through will make the reader pause to count his blessings. I think this is a must read for anyone who is unfamiliar with Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.



2. When I started to read the memoir, it was very hard to put down. It is written in first person tense through the eyes of a young girl struggling through the Khmer Rouge insurgency in Cambodia. I am a 1st generation American whose mother grew up in war torn Vietnam, so I had an interest in the Southeast Asian set memoir. Now I am trying to find ones as good as this one, but set in with my mother's experiences. This book was an in depth way to learn about the people & the recent history of struggle which many Cambodian Americans no doubt have also lived through but not spoken of. It really reinforces that family and love are the most important things in life. It's a must read.



3. The book is very well-written. Loung Ung wrote with compassion,spirtual, and horrenic activities growing up under the Khmer Rogue regime. She experiences tortues,stravation, and execution of her parents. This book is very interesting to learn what the author went through live under a horrendous communist movement. The author wrote this book in a sense to give the reader an image on the conflict of war that is going in Cambodia. Readers would not be able to put this book down since it give the readers a hint of life growing up in the Khmer Rouge. Ung had to move from different works camps at a young age, and she experienced a hardship growing up in Cambodia during the 1974 to 1979. Between these two years, she watch baby brother died of stravation and the loss of his parent by the Khmer Rogue. Having to travel a large distance to Vietnam, Loung experience the execution of her people. The book will change your prespective of life and the mistery of what the cambodia people been through during the killing field years. Highly recommened to any type of readers.



4. Some people have criticized this book because they believe some small historical detail might be wrong. I say, who cares about that? The horrors that are described in this book eclipse any small misconceptions or tiny errors in fact. Cambodia's people were starved, enslaved, murdered, and robbed by Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge. It's a most outrageous and horrific story, but it was the truth for millions. Miss Ung did an impressive job pulling the story together into book form. My heart breaks for her family and hundreds of thousands of other families there.
   
   This should be required reading for high school students everywhere.



5. Loung Ung does an excellent job of describing what happened to her family growing up in the killing fields of Cambodia under the Pol Pot regime. She is an excellent writer. Although her story is very tragic, it is one that we all should hear. God is truly using Loung's tragic life to create something good and meaningful. Loung is a fascinating person that I feel honored to have met within the pages of her book. Thank you for sharing your story Loung. Your book has changed my life.

5 comments about Over My Head: A Doctor's Own Story of Head Injury from the Inside Looking Out.

1. I was told to Read the book Over My Head By Claudia L. Osborne. I Like Her Was in a Bad accident in which I also had a closed head Brain Injury. I was in a coma for over 7 weeks in late August of 2006. I would agree with the writers synopsis that all you want to do is get back to your old Self, To be the same personyou were and do the same things but so many things changed in that split second that it is not only better to forget the Who you were and to Start basically a new Life. It is the only way to look positivly and to go on with life a new. A lot of the things in life will stay the same and yet there are so many things that I can no longer do. I could Bitch and Moan and get on hating My New Life or I could accept what has happened, Thank God Daily that for what ever reason I was spared: that He has a plan for Me and I must look at the positive and not the negative. I make it a goal now to work on putting a smile on My face every day by the time I close my eyes and go to sleep. That is of course after I have thanked the Dear Lord For The things that I can still enjoy among those things are the greatest Family and Friends a person could have. You have to look at life as a whole New life; separate and different in so many ways from who You used to be, but The same in social aspects where things ar still the same.



2. I first read this book at the recommendation of my neuropsychologist following a closed-head injury 8 years ago. I think it saved my sanity! Closed-head injury can bring about a panoply of just plain WEIRD symptoms that can make the patient (and their family, for that matter) feel as if they're losing their mind. The insanity is explained by a doctor who went through the same experience after an accident. She talks about it in a very non-technical way and helps the patient and those around the patient understand what's happening, why, and that NO, you're not nuts!



3. I suffered a ruptured aneurysm this summer '07, and read this book while recovering from brain surgery. It prepared me for the worst regarding other's responses to my temporary slower mental functioning. The book also helped me to be more sensitive to other people in general regardless of whether an infirmity is obvious or not. I.e., people were very compassionate toward me when my head was shaved and my scalp was full of staples, but now that my hair has grown back and the staples have been removed, that sensitivity has disappeared even though I am still recovering and will be for a long time.
   
   I was inspired by Dr. Osborn's strength and her determination to overcome her deficits. I admire her for writing this book to help others in her situation. Because of this book, I knew to ask my neurologist about cognitive therapy and am now enrolled and working with a occupational/speech therapist.
   
   I don't recommend reading this book early in the recovery process if you have had any kind of brain injury. I did, and it caused severe depression to overcome me. For lighter, more humorous material about brain injury survivors' ordeals, I recommend Susie Becker's book, "I had Brain Surgery, What's Your Excuse?"



4. I have had Encephalitis twice, recieved rehabilitation in Occupational, Physical and Speech therapies, and currently work full-time, yet will forever be aware of my physical & mental limitations. In this book a doctor explains her acquired brain injury and the rehab process she and her famuly and friends dealt with, along with the positive strategies she has gained to deal with her life today. This book clearly clarified for me the diference between TBI and simple brain injury and brought to reality the fact that other people have dealt with similar rehab situations as myself & survived successfully! A must read I found hard to put down.



5. Osborn does what is virtually impossible. She translates the fog of a damaged brain's function into vignettes that an undamaged brain can comprehend.
   
   In her case, this translation is from experiences which were by definition wordless, disorganized, incomprehensible, frightening and often completely mindless to their opposites. The level of Dr. Osborn's skill in doing this may be best understood by readers who have some experience (as I do) in being with brain-injured people.
   
   Whether one appreciates Osborn's achievement in communicating the uncommunicable is unimportant. What is valuable is that she succeeds so well in giving us insight into the "being" of at a subset of the injured.
   
   Most of the incidents recorded in the book are too long to quote in illustration of my point. Their length is a necessary consequence of Osborn's wish to reveal her floundering. Nothing in her life was straightforward. A relatively short excerpt follows:
   
   BEGIN EXCERPT (page 33)
   
   "I left soon after for the bookstore, but with the force of old habit and despite Marcia's written reminder dangling from the dash, I drove directly to the hospital. And then home again. Three times.
   
   "It was noon when I drove out of the hospital parking lot for the third time, I was determined it wouldn't happen again.
   
   "Now, as I turned onto the main road, Marcia's note clutched in my hand, I chanted, "Book store, go to the bookstore.'
   
   "I was still saying it thirty minutes later as I turned into our driveway.
   
   "When I got into the house, I reread Marcia's note. Lord, the bookstore.
   
   "Well, I would definitely get the book tomorrow. Right now, I could still do the second item on her list - water the lawn."
   
   END EXCERPT (page 34)
   
   Needless to say, Osborn forgot to water the lawn.
   
   The book is also notable in illustrating the lack of insight (in regard to her limitations) that Osborn (as others) experienced for quite some time. Then, once insight was gained, she writes about her struggle with a sorrowed sense of lost self.
   
   One incident that helped to her to understand the scope of her lost abilities (which apparently were exceptional) is recorded on pages 205-206. She was not able perform even so "simple" a cognitive exercise as making a telephone call to obtain a patient's medical information.
   
   The book provides a generalized understanding of how rehabilitation is accomplished. This includes learning stratagems for partially replacing lost structural functions.
   
   BEGIN EXCERPT (page 145)
   
   "Now my notes ordered me to [begin italics] really look in the mirror. Hair combed? Teeth cleaned? Collar straight? Earrings match? Expression alert, smiling? [end italics] It began to make a difference."
   
   END EXCERPT
   
   For the most part, the rehab portions of the book are most useful for providing a patient's view of rehabilitation. "Over My Head" certainly does not provide an overview of rehabilitation techniques. Osborn does, however, include a concise review of the generalized deficits that rehab and therapy have to address.
   
   By the end of the book, Osborn manages to return to teaching medicine, but in a format and in situations where she can proceed more or less by rote and under controlled circumstances. Osborn emphasizes that adult brain injury generally imposes permanent limitations upon post-trauma performance. You will not be who you were. Part of the rehabilitation process requires coming to emotional grips with whom you have become.
   
   I recommend "Over My Head" without reservation. It will be of most value to people new to dealing with brain trauma. It also has worth for those of us who lost figurative pieces of ourselves, but do not have brain trauma to blame. The "coping with loss and less" element of the book has universal appeal.
   
   Throughout, Osborn shines as a human being.

No comments about Governess: The Lives and Times of the Real Jane Eyres.

5 comments about LEAP OF FAITH: MEMOIRS OF AN UNEXPECTED LIFE.

1. Leap of Faith is interesting from the young all American becomes Queen standpoint. It really is amazing that a fairly regular young American woman gains the attention of the King of Jordan and becomes Queen.
   
   It is too bad she was not willing to be more real in her telling of a great story.
   
   The book ends up preaching about Queen Noor's view of the political world and quickly becomes tiresome and boring.
   
   It could have been a very exciting story given her exciting life but she had to go preach to us instead.



2. Here is a glimpse into Middle East history from someone who was there! My own family members have enjoyed reading it as much as I have; I think shall too!



3. I must admit; I didn't get very far, but this book is a self serving pack of lies by an apologist for the intransigence of the Arab world. For example, she refers to the "forced migration" of 1948 without ever mentioning that the ones doing the forcing were Arabs who promised their people that if they would get out they would "push the Jews into the sea". Nor does she mention the origin of the name "Palestinian" (hint: it is a Hebrew name).
   
   The saddest thing about the Arab world is that 1000 years ago they had the most advanced civilization on earth, and entirely due to problems of their own making they now preside over one giant hell hole.
   
   But if she came out and admitted this the Hashemite family would be in danger of losing their position of privilege in Transjordan.
   
   I would recommend that anyone who reads this book should also read "Warrior" by Ariel Sharon. At least he knows the history of Israel, Syria, and Egypt.



4. I have YET to receive my book from this bookseller.....its been 3 weeks and counting..... wish I COULD write a review on the book, guess I will have to go to Barnes and Noble to read it....



5. Leap of Faith wasn't the Cindarella/Princess Grace story that the media made it out to be. Her family hadn't actually been in America very long, so it wasn't really that drastic of a transition for her to "give up" her life in America to be Queen of Jordan. She had lots of ties to the culture already. Also, her family was pretty well off and had a lot of famous/well to do friends in the Middle East, so she wasn't really making a huge cultural or socio-economic jump. That said, the book gave me a really interesting and important perspective on the recent history and politics of the Middle East from someone who does understand what Americans are thinking as well as what Jordanians are thinking. Like any good biography of a famous person, it made the characters involved seem REAL to me. She starts off going way back, we're talking to Mohammed. It was hard to concentrate on that part, and I like history and non-fiction, but it turns out to be important later, so I found myself wanting to re-read the first chapters and pay more attention. After a text-book like slow start it picks up and is a really fascinating story.

5 comments about Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Wartime SarajevoRevised Edition.

1. Filipovic, Z. and Pribichevich-Zoric, C. (1995). Zlata's Diary. New York: Penguin Group
   Zlata's Diary is about a young eleven year old girl who wrote in her diary during the Yugoslavian Civil War. The beginning of the book discusses each day and her exciting things that she did with friends as well as her family memebrs; however, as the dumb war began to affect more and more individuals she began to take note of the food and water shortage. She also began to notice the loss of family and friends. Was the world coming to an end? Would she be okay? Would she survive?
   This book can be known as the modern day The Diary of Anne Frank due to it's similarities as both girls discuss the harsh conditions and losses they encountered due to ignorant individuals. The book truly hit home for me since I lost family in this war and to read Zlata's story and compare to the ones my family memebers were telling is mind blowing. Zlata's words truly embrace the horrific results of this war.
   
   Completed by Z on 5/12/08



2. Sheesh...this is the product of a child, not the work of a Pulitzer prize winning journalist. It is an excellent diary, an excellent primary source and an excellent text for a better understanding of the Yugoslav wars. Yes...it does only tell one point of view - hers - it is her diary! Some readers are offended because of the comparison to Anne Frank; a comparison that Filipovic and others make in the book. The comparison is totally fair. Both are intelligent children caught up in situations they have no control over during wars of ethnic cleansing and extermination. It is a testament to Zlata that she can make the connection to Anne Frank...obviously the rest of the world couldn't. They (We) abandoned the Jews sixty years ago and abandoned hundreds of thousands of Croats/Bosniaks/Serbs to genocide forty years later. Zlata remembered Anne Frank's words...the world didn't.



3. I remember reading this book as a child and picked it up again as an adult. It was a quick read, but really showed how a child deals with war. It made me think of how children in Iraq are feeling right now. Very interesting.



4. To the reader who wrote comment "we all had our delusional moments when we were teenagers"...you should be ashamed of yourself. This "delusional moment" was war and struggle for survival in besieged city of Sarajevo.
   Why don't you try and write a book, and/or diary, sitting in a basement without food, water and electricity for four years. All that while granates and bombs are raining on your city. In the meantime, one by one, all of your neighbors and friends are gone six feet under...
   How about that for delusional moment...



5. Zlata's Diary is about a young girl's diary named Mimi during the war in her town of Sarajeavo. She writes of the hardships of being a war child. She tells of the changes of her world during the war such as her parents may have grown older one year but looked ten years older. She is constantly hearing of people being shot and wounded. And how might I know this? She was asked if she had a diary. And guess what she did and it was sent to be published. I think this book was over all pretty well written. I would recomend this book to you if you liked the book The Diary Of Anne Frank. So to find out what happens pick up Zlata's Diary.
   -Christine Lanier