5 comments about My Point...And I Do Have One.

1. I love Ellen, but this book is soooo boring. All she does is talk in circles and nothing about her life-or her point



2. Ellen DeGeneres writes in a relaxing style and entertains her readers with cute experiences and expressions, but I cannot recognize a central point she makes. She simply goes through several experiences she has had in her life and tends to be exhibitionist about herself. She makes the reader "tingle" when she describes how she happens to be naked when her mother calls her. I would not want her to be naked on her show, but how about a bikini appearance? That would fit her perfectly.



3. I enjoyed this book as it was almost the same as listening to Ellen on her daily talk show which I Tivo every day. If you're looking for something intellectual or deep, don't get this one. However, if you want to read something light-hearted and funny like Ellen is, it's a good one!



4. This book was purchased as a gift for a friend in need of some humor. To bottom-line this review: mission accomplished!!



5. After listening to Helen DeGeneres faked croc tears over her dog, she entered the ranks of the 'best forgotten'.

5 comments about 365 Deployment Days: A Wife's Survival Story.

1. When i seen the cover and title of this book it was one i needed to look at. I then knew it was a must read, so i got it right then! I have to say that it was well worth it in so many ways! I had it read in two nights! I am a wife of a National Guardsman, and find it hard to find books that really have the feelings that i do having my husband gone fighting for his Country.
   Sara put the true feelings to light in so many ways with out holding back at all. She let it be known that it's okay to feel like you do when it comes to the mixed feelings of having your spouse come home. So if you are a Military wife in any way or want to know how a wife feels this is the book for you!!!



2. This book is very informal, easy to read and simple to understand. As an army wife, the book explained most of my feelings and the things I went through. It is very brave for Sara to share with the world her experience and her true feelings towards your husband, I too experienced some resentment. If your soldier is about to deploy and you want to know what the roller coaster ride is like, then this book will give you and idea.



3. This wonderful couple are, I am honored to say, my friends. I made their wedding cake shortly after Brandon graduated from the Citadel and have remained in contact with them ever since. I had NO IDEA however, that Sara were going through all of what I read in her book.
   
   I read the book, the ENTIRE book, in my car, rivited. As I read, I hurt for Sara yet felt a great sense of proud for her. By writing all she has lived and survived through Sara has done something magical. She is helping others who are having to handle their daily lives and myriad emotions, the same as she has.
   
   I am honored Sara to call you and your brave husband my friends and bless both of you for reaching out to others this way. I will treasure your book forever.
   
   God Bless America and all those who serve to protect our Country.



4. As a wife going through my second deployment, Sara's book reminded me that I'm not alone. As I read her book, I laughed and cried right along side her. As the one left behind we all experience similiar emotions and circumstances, it's nice to see someone else experience and triumph through them. Sometimes you feel like you are going crazy, like you are the only one with these outrageous feelings. Sara hit on every aspect of the rollarcoaster. This is such a great read, you will feel like you are sitting in her living room over a glass of wine. Regardless if you are a military spouse or civilian this is a must read. Join Sara in her journey through 365 days of Deployment!



5. Sara Dawalt's 365 Deployment Days is a tale of figuring out how to cope when your other half takes off for war. That sinking feeling of facing a reality without your spouse by your side is hard to put into words- the very thing that Sara has done.
   This book offers accurate insight to the chaos one is plunged into and how to come back from that feeling of loneliness, helpless, and ultimately, the lack of control. It is easy to identify with Sara and know that I am not the only one experiencing the crazy roller coaster of emotions! It gives hope that the one left behind can make the most of it and come out better on the other end. I don't know how I would have made it through my first deployment without this book! I reccommend it to anyone who is beginning or in the middle of a deployment and definitely to friends and family of the spouse that is staying behind- it might explain a few things!!!
   
   Leigh
   
   Killeen, TX

1 comments about Autobiography of a Wardrobe.

1. Autobiography of a Wardrobe is one of the most creative and original memoirs I have ever read! The reader follows B. (and her wardrobe) through her successes, failures, tragedies, triumphs, loves and life. I laughed, cried, cringed and smiled as B. evolves into her adult self and finds her true calling as a writer. I think Autobiography of a Wardrobe will be a great book for book groups, who will find endless topics for discussion in its pages. Don't miss this wonderful book!!

5 comments about An Unfinished Marriage.

1. In An Unfinished Marriage, Joan Anderson chronicles some of the events that took place in her relationship with her husband in the months following her year's "vacation" from the marriage. Through ups and downs, the two struggle to readjust to one another, to living together in what had been their small vacation home, to Robin's retirement, and to Joan's newly-developed independence.
   
   Anderson summarizes the book, and the relationship, well when she writes that "...age brings with it the stolid reality that there are no sudden transformations, that the real work of becoming a couple never ends, and that even though we've been married for half our lives, we still haven't figured out how to get it right."
   
   Nevertheless, she ends the book on a cheerful note, on their thirty-second anniversary, leaving us to conclude that, while they may not have figured out how to get it right just yet, they're making progress in that direction.



2. Joan is always open, honest, fresh, clever and puts things into perspective. Wish she wrote more books!



3. I think every married woman should read this and Joan's previous book 'A Year By The Sea.' I read this several years ago and could easily identify with it then. I just reread it and being a little older and even deeper into my marriage, it just hits home. I have read this off and on for the past week and have found consolation from my own marriage woes and commraderie in knowing that I'm definately not alone in working through certain stages and feelings of marriage. Makes me feel even stronger really for working through the muck and mire instead of throwing in the towel which can be a mighty tempting and attractive option depending where you are.
   
   The memoir picks up where 'A year By the Sea' left off. They are re-entering their marriage. The book reads kind of like a journal, or maybe a personal conversation with a close friend. The chapters are divided by months and seasons of the year. I love the detail and open honesty of it. I like that she not only talks about her marriage, but the changes she and Robin are experiencing as parents while they watch their son transition into his own family.



4. A sequel to "A Year by the Sea", this book follows Joan Anderson's journey as she and her husband reunite after she spent a year alone at her family's cottage by the sea. I did not quite know what to expect from the book, as frankly, I loved her first book so much, I really didn't want him to come back! Joan is brutally honest with the reader about her feelings as she deals with her struggles of his return, feelings to which I think many women can relate as we deal with the men who come in and out of our lives. Joan's candidness creates a common bond that makes you cheer for her in the good times and cry with her in the bad. This is another great book that speaks to women of all ages as we navigate life's journeys. I highly recommend it!



5. There are so many things that the author describes in this book that everyone can relate to at one time or another in their life. She expressed on paper what most of us are thinking when in a relationship but never say. I thought the book was thought provoking and empowering. A delightful read and highly recommended.

5 comments about She Got Up Off the Couch: And Other Heroic Acts from Mooreland, Indiana.

1. Since the death of my daughter, I have searched for things that make me want to go on living. I have read countless books, and this is one of the very few that gave me that feeling. I want to thank the author for writing it, from the bottom of my heart. (I immediately went out and bought the Zippy book, but it was not as wise as this one. Buy this one.)



2. Delonda gets up off the couch to make something of herself. It pulls at your emotion and makes you want to cheer for Mom Jarvis. And her daughter, the author, too. You'll begin to feel like a Mooreland, Indiana neighbor to this family. It's a sequel, and even better than Kimmel's first book (A Girl named Zippy). It stands alone as well. Pure small town life. Pure Hoosier. Pure delight.
   
   A lot of time is spent laughing, and reading to anyone else nearby when trying to get through Zippy's Church Camp experience. Zip's Quaker upbringing didn't prepare her for a teenage church camp at the age of 11. Her own appropriate age camp was filled so her mom forced her into teen week camp with older kids. "I cana't abide any of those things you just named," Zippy informed mom. What a trip camp was. Wonderful descriptions of what took place that can only be explained by copying the chapter. So...get the book. Quaker impact is peppered throughout the events of Zippy's life, usually bringing another smile or laugh.
   
   Haven Kimmel puts you into the picture with her words. Like the page telling of friend Rose's house. In part: "There were some metal chairs still arranged, by accident, as if to accommodate a long conversation over lemonade. The floor was covered with broken Ball jars. Walking on them created a noise that was akin to a whole, dreadful lifetime of tooth grinding. I enjoyed it."
   
   Delonda invited her prayer cell over for coffee. Big mistake. Pride of the new suspended ceiling in the den turned to a nightmare as a billion-herd of mice raced overhead, cats jumped on furniture backs to growl and the dogs watched the cats. Kimmel's words almost put you there in the fracas.
   
   There's Newman's nice car smelling like barnyard, straw waggled in the air vents, corn dust-fertilizer-manure covered dash, with a trace of anhydrous that Zip said she found pleasing. You gotta read the whole page and you'll find the segment pleasing yourself. The story is filled with paragraph gems, Hoosier emeralds in words.
   
   It's full of memories of Hoosier events like the '78 Blizzard. What joy to read about the short list of records Zip's father threatened to break over her head if played once more. It's own chapter. It gets you humming the old tunes.
   
   Reading "She got Up Off the Couch" will invite you into the Jarvis house in the 70's just like the story's hitchhiker, George. He was "a treasure". The book's a treasure.
   
   Haven Kimmel is one contemporary author of whom Indiana can be proud to have educated and once claimed as a resident. Still do, she writes Hoosier truth. Let's hope this will become a trilogy. As a male fan, let's hear more of Bob's (Dad) story now. Five stars from another Ball State grad.



3. I read A Girl Named Zippy and She Got Up Off the Couch in rapid succession. SGUOTC is darker, but also more inspiring than AGNZ. That said, I was really overwhelmed by what good reads both books are. I can't believe I hadn't heard of Ms. Kimmel before my sister-in-law loaned me AGNZ. Zippy reminds me of Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird, but born in a different time and place and with different parents. I look forward to reading Ms. Kimmel's fiction. Thank you thank you thank you.



4. This book is simply a treasure. You can start at the beginning or in the middle and work your way around. I read it a chapter at a time to make it last as long as possible. Then I started rereading it. I think the book focuses more on Zippy than her mother ... I didn't agree with the cover description. I am hopeful that Haven Kimmel will continue to write about her life ... we need to know about her teen years ... and beyond.



5. I just finished the sequel to Zippy and loved it. I think the (few) negative reviews or comments I've seen stem from people's lack of understanding of the times, the men, the world as it was in the 70's. The upheaval was unbelievable and obviously was not above touching the lives of small-town America, even as small as Mooreland. The fact that her mother had the will and intelligence to "get up off the couch" might look like she neglected her child to do so - but I think she must have known that her late-in-life little girl was going to be just fine in the end. Haven said herself that she felt loved by all around her. That being said, the part about the rats, when the family seemed to be at it's lowest point, was especially hard to take.
   It is hard to understand that level of "benign neglect", until you try to remember how very different it was in those days. We really did leave the house at dawn and not come back until dark. And fathers... they were just sort of absent. No wonder we turned to the fantasy world of TV as a babysitter, and friends and the families of friends were so all-important. Kimmel has such a way with words and is able to put across her childhood with such a sense of wonder that you're able to forgive almost everything.
   As you get further into the book, you actually get some insight into the near-deception on her father's part that put her mother in the position she found herself in life, and her inability to do anything about it for so many years. I was able to see all sides through Kimmel's deft writing - her father's, her mother's, her sister's - without too much judgement. She was truly raised by her little community and was able to find humor in almost everything as a way to survive. I'll never get over the resilience of children and marvel at how someone with a very similar upbringing might grow up to become a serial killer while others write novels and lovely little memoirs. And whom among us really knows what it's like to grow up without running water, spotty telephone service, and holes in the walls? For an intelligent woman like Delonda it must have been truly mortifying, but her religion would not let her fight back in the sense we know. Her only hope was to check out, fight back passively, and then take her daughter along for the ride.
   Kimmel seems to have done alright by her upbring and even to have thrived. A wonderful book that I'm recommending to all of my friends.

5 comments about The Wives of Henry VIII.

1. Great book about the many interesting women married to the famous Monarch. Ms Fraser is a great writer breathing life into each one of the Queen's, showing their vulnerability as well as strength. I will be reading more by this author.



2. As I described it to my friend, Fraser's work reads like a novel with footnotes. There's definitely research, and she has an excellent grasp on what she is saying, but as a biography of the wives, there isn't much of the usual dense analysis to grapple with. Fraser's strength as an author is in the narrative. Her narrative is lively and well informed - her background in writing novels definitely comes through. She is also successful at ensuring that she has given you all the background information to attempt to explain the context - it was, after all, more than just a husband's wandering eye. This work of popular history is definitely accessible and entertaining, and even though you might already know how it ends, the narrative still keeps you coming back to it, waiting for the next high emotion scene where heads will quite literally roll.
   For those of you who enjoy history, this will be a delightful, easy read.
   
   If you are considering going to see The Other Boleyn Girl [Theatrical Release] or you're a fan of the Showtime series The Tudors - The Complete First Season, or even if you aren't, I would definitely recommend picking up Fraser's book. At the very least the book will allow you to be watch such recent Hollywood hits and say, "Hey! They totally got the timeline and context wrong on this whole situation." It will also probably make you wonder why Hollywood has bothered to change the story at all - when the real one is dramatic and entertaining enough on its own.



3. This was the first Antonia Fraser book I read and from the "Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived" I was hooked. I read it after hearing her speak at Peterborough Cathedral about Catherine of Aragon. The book looks at Henry VIII's from his wives' perspective. What drove them to marry this man especially after he beheaded Anne Boleyn. Also, it is great introduction to Tudor England.



4. For those who say history is boring. Better than reading a novel, with real characters sometimes going beyond the imaginary. An amazing study of the six wives, and the power crazed king they called husband. Used every means imaginable to justify ridding himself of one wife, to marry another. Even to the point of falsely accusing one of commiting incest with her own brother (Anne Boleyn), and having her beheaded. A powerful study of the British monarchy, and one of its most shameful periods.



5. The book is well written and it brings you back inside the story.

5 comments about One Drop: My Father's Hidden Life--A Story of Race and Family Secrets.

1. I just finished reading a novel called Passin', by Karen E. Quinones Miller, and Broyard's father was mentioned in that book. What little I learned from Miller's book intrigued me, so I hurried up and purchased One Drop. It was a decent book, but not as interesting as I might have hoped.
   
   She had me mesmerized when writing about her father's life, but then when she goes on her own journey to learn more about her African-American roots my interest began to wan. I tried to figure out why, and then realized it was because she was writing about it almost as a disinterested character herself! She never drew me in, because she wasn't that drawn in. So why did she bother with this odyssey to find her roots, I wonder? Maybe to write this book?
   
   Also, and I saw this mentioned in a few other reviews, she seems to have some (residual?) racist views herself about blacks . . . and you out and out feel that she thinks it ironic that she's now part of a group she and her friends have always considered inferior.
   
   If anyone ever writes a full biography on her father, I'd love to read it. But this memoir left me feeling a little on the exploited side, myself.



2. One of the best biographies ever. Blyss Broyard blends two hundred years worth of family secrets to explain how and why racial identity can be so controversial. Her father, Anatole Broyard, kept his mixed race parentage from his children and the result of that decision is this marvelous book.



3. Being an African American, I have always been curious about mixed race people and how they handle their day to day lives, why some pass and others don't? This family's experience was quite interesting.



4. I had high hopes when I purchased this book, but I am very disappointed in the book and its writer.
   
   There was nothing sincere about the book and I took issues with many of the offensive references to black people that the author made.
   
   She makes several racist remarks about African American's and their physical (It was more what she thinks their characteristics are), bodily characteristics, which are very stereotypical and inaccurate. Before she found out about her father's ancestry, she felt comfortable making racial epithets, which I find interesting and very telling. .
   
   I have recently found out that my great grandmother was Mexican and I don't walk around claiming to be Mexican. I might mention my Mexican ancestry, but not claim to be Mexican, when clearly I am not.
   
   She made several references to people saying she "looks" black and I find it hard to believe this is true, since she looks clearly white. I find Bliss Broyard too eager to claim blackness at this point in her life when it benefits her.
   
   
   I have read several books that are in the same genre that have been so much better. I would not recommend this book.



5. Bliss Broyard is emotionally compelled to embark upon a tedious journey into her paternal heritage. That journey takes her all the way back to the tribe, Hausa, in Nigeria. Meanwhile, through spending countless hours researching slave and property records in libraries and court houses, Broyard finds `missing' relatives. This discovery confirms the family secret her mother revealed just before her infamous father, New York writer, Anatole Broyard, dies of cancer. In death, his legacy crosses Broyard over to the side of color.
   
   Crossing over becomes a series of historical enlightenment and shame with the persistent reality that the Broyards are a family of African-Americans known for passing. Within the reunion to meet her father's people, Broyard must decide if she will cross back over into the comfortable life she knew as a WASP or claim a stigmatized race as her own. She is racially challenged by her dear Aunt Vivian. Aunt Vivian is adamant that the Broyards are white. Research over. On the other hand, Broyard is emotionally challenged by her cousin, Beverly. Beverly is brutally honest about the dark-skinned Broyards being cheated out of a good, equal rights, respectable life while the `passing' Broyards - Anatole - enjoyed life with social acceptance. Does Broyard feel guilty that her dark-skinned family are victims of racism while she is not?
   
   Broyard is determined to find her absolute identity in any event and she spends long, laborous hours researching and studying slave documents and the like. All the while, she is confronted with a side of America that hurts her father's legacy.
   
   In addition to the reverse chronological value of ONE DROP, readers will become capable of understanding the history of New Orleans, the Mardi Gras, the Creole Ball, racial paranoia, intermarriages, and Creoles. Broyard provides more truth about slavery and introduces the avid reader to an elemental understanding of DNAPrint and qualifying to determine one's race identity - his or her heritage. Because ONE DROP is primarily set in New Orleans, the influence of the Native American is very interesting, all the way down to their "steps."
   
   Finally, if you ever wondered about whether or not to embrace a mulatto, one dropper, light-skinned "passing" African-American, or Creole, Broyard eloquently gives you permission to do so.
   
   Reviewed by Swaggie Coleman
   for The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

5 comments about Faithfull: An Autobiography.

1. Recommended reading for those fascinated by the 60s. Although some of Ms. Faithful's history is bizarre (to put it mildly) it is fascinating. Couldn't put it down in fact. In Exile on Main Street the author suggests that anyone really trying to have insight into the Stones in the 60s should read Ms. Faithful's book. I concur.



2. What a waste of time to read this junk...She glorifies being a druggie, groupie and sleeping with every guy who came around. Did she ever get STDS or AIDS? I sure cant figure why not and what about her son? Sounds like she just gave him up to her mom.. What a cold hearted person she must be. If I were her I would be embarrased to admit some of the stuff. As for making Mick a lover, I was most interested to hear that Keith is actually a caring person unlike the persona he gives off.. (if you can believe any of Mariannes stories here)... She is really a messed up lady trying to make $ off this book. Hope she has the decency to give some to her "son"?



3. Bought as a companion to Patti Boyd's autobiography to get the girlfriend/wife's side of the 60/70s pop music era, Marianne's book is quite depressing. After her childhood she leads the charmed life of an early singer touring and bedding many famous stars such as Bob Dylan and then is thrown together with the Rolling Stones. Most view her as Mick Jagger's girlfriend, and she was, but she also was intimately involved with Keith Richards and Brian Jones. Most readers will want to know how Mick and Keith come across and I must say, they both are treated kindly by Marianne as great people. Mick actually comes across as quite normal, not as in to drugs and drink and Marianne, Keith or Brian.
   
   After the early history and historic drug bust of the Stones including the "girl in the fur rug", this book moves back to Marianne as she breaks up with Mick and descends into a drug hell with suicide attempts and eventually living on the street. Unfortunately, Marianne, when you are out of the public eye, your life will not be as interesting to most people and it plays out here quite depressing including her loss of parental rights to her son.
   
   This is an excellent book to read if you have an interest in the 60s and pop music. Otherwise, I'd take a pass as it is the story of a semi-famous person who threw away much of her life. For me it was interesting as I have interests in these issues. But overall, an average book.



4. Without a doubt one of the top twenty rock and roll recovery tomes, great depths of despair, huge contrast, much insight and of course dry wit. Never apologetic but very honest :this was a page turner



5. The Hollies, British rock group, wrote their 1960's hit song "Hey Carrie Ann, Now What's Your Game" about Marianne Faithfull, changing the name only slightly to protect the not-so-innocent. If there's one thing for sure, she was at the heart of London during its swinging sixties, the beautiful teenaged girlfriend of Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones. As they say, men wanted her, women wanted to be her: though, let's face it, quite a few women probably wanted her too. But, between her sweet teenaged hit, "As Tears Go By," written for her by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, and the present day, quite a few tears have gone by for Faithfull, convent-educated daughter of an Austrian countess. She descended into homeless drug addiction, and stayed there for a long time before she was able to pull herself out. But she has come roaring back as an iconic punk rock diva, and sometime actress: you've only got to hear her fully-adult version of "As Tears Go By," to realize just how difficult a journey it was for her.
   
   These days, you might catch Faithfull as the feminist God in the British television comedy series, "Ab Fab." She's producing a lot of music; and she tours, backed by her edgy, punk band. I've been lucky enough to catch her several times, most memorably as she did famed German composer Bertolt Brecht's "Seven Deadly Sins"in New York: at Brooklyn's historic Brooklyn Academy of Music. And as she introduced "Blazing Away," also in Brooklyn, at Saint Ann's.
   
   In this autobiography, co-written with rock writer David Dalton, she's more honest and open about the supposedly good years, as a Rolling Stones mascot, and the bad years, of addiction and poverty, than anyone can expect her to be. The book is full of interesting, glamorous facts and insight on the golden, Rolling Stones years of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. In addition, she's moving on the subject of how her son encouraged her to find her way back, and deeply moving in discussion of "her wall," an actual wall where she lived while homeless. You'd better check your pulse if she doesn't reach you on some level.

5 comments about No More Words : A Journal of My Mother, Anne Morrow Lindbergh.

1. Reeve surely has Ann's gene for writing. This book should be read by all who still have parents alive and will be faced with their eventual death and by those who have already lost a loved one. Alzheimers and dimentia are a death before dying. It is hardest on those left behind and gilt and worry are only some of the emotions one has to deal with during the dying process. Reeve caught the essence of her mother and was fortunate to be able to have 24/7 caregivers to help her through this ordeal.
   This book is a tribute to Ann and to Reeve's Sister.



2. This is a touching memoir of the time when Reeve Lindbergh was helping to take care of her aging mother, the famous Anne Morrow Lindbergh in the last year(s) of her life. This book is a look inside the private lives of a very well known family during a difficult transition in their lives.
   
   The story is about how Reeve is trying to make sense of this time. It contains her thoughts and reflections and fears about the change in her mother's condition. I appreciate the honesty in which this book is written, I feel like the author held nothing back in relating her story. I was surprised and delighted at the openness of it. She wrote about things in dealing with this situation that people think, but would rarely admit to.
   
   I found this book to be very comforting, as I recently experienced a similar situation in my own family. There were so many times, as I read this, I was shaking my head thinking....I know exactly what you're saying. Throughout the ordeal, there are sad times, but there were also light and funny times as well. Dealing with the aging and decline of a loved one that you have known so well all of your life is difficult. They change, and when it happens, we don't always know how to deal with it or what to think, and we wonder what they are thinking. It's hard and it's confusing when you are trying to guess at what is going on in their world. Reeve writes beautifully about it all.
   
   I had not picked this book with the intention of experiencing what I did...the comfort of reading about someone else going through a similar situation as me. I initially picked this book because I love Anne Morrow Lindbergh's book 'Gift of the Sea' and I wanted to read more about her life. Once again, as I am a firm believer of...the right books come along at just the precise moment that we need them and so often they come in an unexpected way as this one did for me.



3. Reeve Lindberg has succeeded in giving us a marvelous journey through the last two years of her mother's life. It is also a very helpful description of what it is to deal with someone who is deep in the fog of an Alzheimer's like state. I plan to give copies to many of my friends, most especially those with elderly parents. Reeve's language is lovely and crisp in the strokes of its portraits. It is easy to see she that is her mother's daughter. I am so happy to have discovered this book and I would recommend it to anyone who is seeing or will see an elderly parent or friend through his or her last days and months. Tasha Halpert



4. This is a fast reading book concerning Mrs. Charles Lindbergh's last few years of life. Written by youngest Lindbergh sibling, Reeve, she tells of living on her own farm in Vermont, with a smaller house on the property her mother lived in during that time. Reeve Lindbergh is a wonderful writer - she doesn't need the famous last name to prove that. When she isn't writing about her mother, which is riveting for some reason, her writing of anything else in the book has such a fresh, emotional spirit behind her words. Anne Morrow Lindbergh, a legend in her own time both in flying, her husband, and her many published works, did not talk much in her last years. It is a story of how the family felt and coped with her condition, letting go of the vibrant mother they once knew. An excellent book for those who have been a caregiver to a parent or sibling. Anne M.L. was such a famous figure, it was both interesting and heartwrenching to have the privilege of reading about her day to day living. Thank you, Reeve Lindbergh, for sharing this story that you could have kept to yourself, but chose to share. It's a book that will be remembered long after it's read.



5. I have read Reeve Lindbergh's work before in her memoir, "Under A Wing". I was surprised at her candor regarding her father, and what was equally clear was her fondness for her mother. "No More Words", which records the last 17 trying and rewarding months of her mother's life, is a tender tribute that is notable for what it includes and for what it omits.

   The only photograph of Mrs. Lindbergh is the one that appears on the cover. The photograph depicts a young woman at the start of what would prove to be a life as fascinating as it was lengthy. The closing months of this woman's life are chronicled above all else with a great deal of respect. This is a most private family event, and just as the book is devoid of any pictures for the voyeur, the narrative too is informative without taking away any of the dignity of her mother. This would seem to be an obvious manner to write of one's parent, but a person does not have to look far to find books written with sales as the first goal, and exploitation of the subject left unconsidered.

   Reeve Lindbergh is a poet, she is reflective, and these aspects of her personality provide a narrative that is unique. This book is not simply a diary; it is not a chronological description of the systematic health decline of her mother. It is more of a story that is driven by the limited interactions she was able to have with her mother, and the memories that were either hers or recollections of her mother's life. This is not a sugarcoated story of what was a very trying time. The book is a balanced memoir about how difficult it is to deal with not only the death of a parent, but also the very real difficulties and frustrations that caring for an elderly, ill parent involves. Mrs. Lindbergh had the best care available which took much of the moment-to-moment care off of the family. It did not remove many of the difficulties, and the reader can easily imagine what it would entail to care for a parent with little, or no outside help.

   This is a very contemplative book that moves at an associated pace.

5 comments about Inside My Heart: Choosing to Live with Passion and Purpose.

1. I did not think this was such a great book. Somewhat of an arrogant type of person, not at all a humbleness to her. Sorry, I didn't like it.



2. did not care for it, VERY boring, I've owned it for a year and still have not finished it and no desire to.



3. I thought this was going to be Robin pretending to be a therapist. It really wasn't. She just told her life story and I respect her for it. There are things she feels strongly about that I don't (like she finds a lot of joy in keeping house and ironing her husbands shirts) but I was able to take a lot away from the book anyway. I would recommend it!



4. I was surprised when my expectations for this book were exceeded! I expected the basic components of advice and revealing snippits of Robin McGraw's personal life. However, the advice is not "preachy" and I found myself eager to read her suggestions as I approached that section of each chapter. Robin shares the most intimate and painful parts of her life to provide the most realistic platform for a truly helpful and inspiring discussion. Thanks Robin for being real and sharing your innermost feelings with us...it definitely came through. This book contains humor, situations that every woman experiences, and refreshing insight on how to manage your life. Robin brings class and dignity to the self-help genre. I recommend this book for yourself and all of your favorite ladies...moms, sisters and friends.



5. Robin's book has helped me be stronger, speak up for myself and I am in the process of taking better care of myself. I thank this book for that. I felt the writing style must be just like listening to Robin. She is a terrific wife and mother...a very strong woman.