1 comments about Diana, Princess of Wales: How Sexual Politics Shook the Monarchy (Diana Princess of Wales).

1. I'm not quite sure why I decided to purchase this book; ...I thought this would provide a different look at an exhaustively covered subject.

   First, I would not recommend this book to a "casual fan" of Diana. There is some deep reading here, it's not a book that can be skimmed and understood. You have to *read* it. ...

   Ms. Campbell seems to pull much of her book from other sources, with extensive quoting being quite a bit of what you are reading. She then takes these quotes and excerpts and adds her interpretations and opinions. Sometimes these were spot on, other times I felt that she was stretching a bit to prove her point. I also feel that the title is somewhat misleading; the book wasn't entirely what I expected. The author's repetitive claims of Diana being "penetrated" by the media's cameras, the world's eyes get rather boring and made for some eye-rolling on my part. There is no doubt that the media were invasive to Diana, but I also believe she played them at times--it was a give and take. Maybe if I were a "feminist" I would be more inclined to agree with this observation.

   There is some fascinating history in regards to past Princes of Wales, their behaviours and relationships, in particular that of George IV and Princess Caroline of Brunswick. Ms. Campbell points out amazing similarities between Caroline and Diana, and for that alone this book is worth delving into. Although I am reasonably well-versed in the recent past and current happenings of the House of Windsor, what I read was news to me, and sheds some light on the Royal Family, Prince Charles, and a marriage that was, unfortunately, doomed from the start.

1 comments about Elizabeth Sinkler Coxe's Tales from the Grand Tour, 1890-1910 (Women's Diaries and Letters of the South).

1. One of the joys of history - the human element of history, that is - includes snapshots into the lives of the people who've come before us. There are treasures to be found in their letters, their musings in the margins of books they read, articles they clipped. Even if their world was not our world, and would never resemble our world in any stretch of the imagination, the people who came before have left a rich legacy that many of us in the modern world should consider creating for those who'll follow us.
   
   It is in that spirit of human appreciation that one should approach the 23rd volume in the Women's Diaries and Letters of the South series. In it, Anne LeClercq mines years of family writings to show the world the extraordinary life of an ancestor whose diaries and letters show how one woman truly drank the essence of an amazing time in history.
   
   The book is a collection of diary entries spanning two decades of adventure and thousands of miles in travel. The editor is not only a family member but a university librarian skilled at combing materials for nuggets a larger audience would enjoy.
   
   Elizabeth Sinkler Coxe's life bridged the old and the new - the South before the Civil War and the world after, when northerners and southerners began to commingle, and when the Gilded Age and requisite Grand Tour allowed those of means to visit far off lands. Through the deft editing of LeClercq, we envision Constantinople at sunrise, ride deep into the Sudan, take tea in the shadow of the Sphinx and behold the Acropolis at Athens and Smyrna's harbor.
   
   On the surface, such diaries might be dismissed as dinosaurs from an age that has lost its relevance. However, as offerings of history, they let the characters - real ones, mind you - of the time speak for themselves.
   
   Coxe's diary isn't necessarily a book meant for a rainy-day read. It is easy to slip in and out of her travels. Indeed, it's often easy to get sidetracked in the copious footnotes that LeClercq uses to keep readers up to date on the family members.
   
   Summed up, this book is meant for historians, amateur or professional; unless the reader has a keen interest in the Gilded Age or Grand Tour life in general, it' probably a little obscure for a general audience.
   
   However, as part of a collection, this "modern" addition to the series that started as a 19th century look at women's lives is fun to have around. Coxe's language is vivid, and even if it takes a few days to absorb all of her stories, it's worth the trip for a historian looking to see how the other half lived.

2 comments about Stillmeadow Sampler.

1. I am so glad that I've discovered Gladys and that this is only one of many more books she wrote. What a delight! She is a gentle, old fashioned, nostalgic, nature loving, homemaking writer full of wisdom and thoughtful moments mixed with humor and charming description. She's in the same camp with L.M. Montgomery, Louisa May Alcott, and Louise Andrews Kent. All good hearty, heartwarming writers who are full of vim. Read her...you won't regret it and you'll always want to go to Connecticut.



2. Gladys Taber writes of her home, Stillmeadow, in the Connecticut Hills, her parntership with college roommate, Jill, as they raise their children together, both widowed. Anything Gladys wrote is guaranteed to drop the blood pressure, calm the mind, center the heart and touch the spirit. The day I discovered Gladys was Christmas Morning in my soul!

1 comments about The Wheel Of Fortune: The Autobiography of Edith Piaf.

1. NOT all that great!
   I'm glad that I bought it, because I have loved the way, Piaf sang for a very long time...but, since she pressumably wrote this book herself, she tells things her way, & NOT all that much!
   SO, I would be interested in a Biogrphy written by somebody else, who really did the research, & told me everything there is to know about Piaf!
   I feel like I have found out, very little!
   Sara Gutierrez

5 comments about Guarding the Moon: A Mother's First Year.

1. I have been a Francesca Lia Block fan for a while and I hadn't bought this book because I'm not a mom so I didn't think I'd be able to relate. I was so wrong. Her poetic style translates just as well in to non-fiction as it does in fantasy. Her insight into motherhood is so deep and touching. I would encourage anyone to buy this book.



2. This is a beautifully written book. I read it obsessively from cover to cover, in one sitting. It is so familiar to what I feel for my little girl. It is absolutely lyrical, delightful. I highly recommend, especially for those who can appreciate the experiences AND the writing!



3. 'Guarding the Moon' is a wonderful book about how joyous and enrapturing motherhood and babies are. Those who found this book "hilarious" or "terrible" apparently don't understand the obsession a woman can have with loving her child, when she has desired one for a long time. If you're looking for a book with nothing but cutsie anecdotes about stinky diapers and complaints about waking up in the middle of the night with a child, then you shouldn't read this book.



4. It is rare that I would say this about a book, but 'Guarding the Moon' is something that I would have been a better person without reading.

   I like Lia Block's work, in small doses. 'Dangerous Angels' is a wonderful and divinely written young adult series, if not somewhat repetitive. More recently, 'Echo' was beautifully written, if not even more of the same thing.

   But this is absolutely terrible. I mean every word of that.

   The names she calls her child are absolutely cringe-worthy, and come off as pathetic and repetitive rather than sweet. She is
   utterly self obsessed, has a fascination with her own phobias, weight, apple sweetened food and self esteem (and thinks that her readers do too.) The way she smothers her child is unhealthy, and to be honest, I walked away from the work wondering if she was psychologically imbalanced.

   The writing is undoubtedly lyrical and lovely, if not a little repetitive as many of her works are.

   However, I will perhaps never read a Lia Block book again knowing how overbearing and annoying her personality really is.

   I certainly do not recommend this book, and I believe it is possibly the worst possible way to introduce yourself to her writing.




5. This is the most self-indulgent piece of you-know-what I've ever read in my life. I got this book for a present, and I ended up turning to random pages and reading out loud random passages to friends so that we could laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. I'm a first-time mother, and I'm appalled that anyone would think that I could relate to this woman's awful narrative. It's like she just decided to publish her personal journal, thinking that people would enjoy reading it. And I guess some have, but it just wasn't for me!

3 comments about Beerspit Night and Cursing.

1. Black Sparrow is digging deep into the heap of leftovers to come up with some "new" Bukowski. This is the worst after-he-died book to be released. Almost all of the letters are by Bukowski. That's a relief because Sheri Martinelli's letters are unreadable. The spelling, punctuation, and stream of consciousness writing style make her letters impenetrable.

   Bukowski's letters are readable, but he's too young here to have much to say. Frankly, Bukowski's early work is pretty weak. It wasn't until the late 1970s that he became the great writer we know and love. Here, he picks up on Martinelli's racism, runs with it halfheartedly, and praises her for no reason. The letters are very drunk and usually pointless. Some of the angry wisdom shines through, but not much. This is a book for diehard Bukowski fans only. It's a bad representation of his work.




2. You can't critique a collection of someone's letters on the same basis you would their published public works. But in this volume, the first thing you might wonder is why two articulate people chose to affect such an inarticulate, though sometimes inventive, style. All collections of Bukowski letters contain many cryptic and rambling missives of this sort, and I suppose they may be excused as the unedited utterings of a drunk and/or hung-over mind. But I'm led to believe that Bukowski produced a lot of work in that condition, including his better-crafted stories; so why must the letters be so sloppy? Even as first drafts, they're a bit much. And why Ms. Martinelli chose to emulate this style is another question, unless of course she was similarly indisposed. Maybe it was an accepted literary style in the '60s. At any rate, it makes the book a slow slog, although some new insights into Bukowski's nature and ideas may be winnowed with diligent application. Like many of the Bukowski-related volumes, this one seems to be more for the fan and collector than for the casual reader. There are a few photos of the two authors in the center of the book. Black Sparrow Press did its usual commendable job of design and production.



3. BEERSPIT NIGHT is an interesting entry into the volumes of Bukowski letters published by Black Sparrow. This is a venture between two people who were involved with Bukowski and Martinelli professionally and personally: John Martin, publisher of BSP, and Steven Moore, the editor of this book, respectively. The correspondence is lively, Bukowski seems to have met his match, and enlightening. Bukowski, as Moore states, reveals more of his artistic and literary leanings with Martinelli than he did with anyone else he exchanged missives with (Martin and Bukowski's widow may be the only other people to have seen this side of him). The book appears to have been a labor-of-love for Moore, who knew Martinelli, and Martin shows his usual loving care with this book as he has with every other Buk book. The only problem I have encountered so far (at only 1/4 of the way through) is Moore's decision to leave much of the original purposeful misspellings and colloquialisms of both Bukowski and Martinelli. It becomes quite tiresome, like spending hours trying to solve word problems. And, for some reason the footnotes are not numbered, so many a reader may actually pass them over not realizing they're there. Those who think they know everything about Bukowski might discover some revelations in these letters.

5 comments about The Book Of Latina Women: 150 Vidas of Passion, Strength, and Success.

1. Sylvia Mendoza reminds us that Latinas are smart, savvy, and powerful. The Book of Latina Women is a must-read book for young Latinas, young Latinos, and everyone looking for inspiration.



2. I really recomend this book because it talks about Latina women including famous women who are Dominican, Puerto Rican, Mexican and from other Latin American countries.
   This book includes famouse female Latina singers like Selena. I learned a lot about her, that she was born in 1971 and died in 1995. She had one brother and one sister. Selena had sold more than 35,000 CD'S before her unfortunate death.
   This book has 11 chapters and 13 women are featured in each chapter. This book explains when the women were born and when they died and what they accomplished in their lives.
   Another woman I will like to talk about is Julia Alvarez. She is a great Dominican writer. Alvarez won the 2002 Nebraska Book Award for ''Before We Were Free.'' Also Mrs. Alvarez wrote the book ''In the Time of the Butterflies'' to remember the real life murder of the Three Mirabals sisters who were assassinated for the opposition of the dictator Rafael Trujillo.
   If you want to know more information about Selena, Julia Alvarez and other Latina women read ''The Book of Latina Women.''
   I really recommened this book for anyone ages 10 and up.
   This book meant a lot to me because it talks about women from my culture and my friends' cultures. It is also important for us to learn about successful women from many cultures. You can be someone like the Latina women from your culture;
   these women are good role models for all of us.
   Shaina



3. For so long women's accomplishments in society have been overlooked. This book does a marvelous job of detailing the many great contributions of women, and in particular, of Latina women. For any Latina and her daughters, this is an inspirational book that shows just how far you can reach!!



4. Concise enough to be a reference guide, yet meaty enough I coudln't put it down, Sylvia Mendoza's choice of Latina women and the material she selects to highlight for each, make a compelling read. From Malinche (my favorite) to Selena, we learn who and what drove the lives, passions and successes of these amazing, but often overlooked women. From trailblazers to entertainers, doctors to activists and leaders, the glimpses into their lives educate and inspire. I'd love to read the same delightful sweep of 150 Latina men, 150 Black women, etc., etc.
   This informative and entertaining and charming book is a must for EVERY library: town, school or home!



5. I am writing to say how entertaining this new book features such Latin superstars like
   Vikki Carr, Gloria Estafan, and Selena. It is time we salute such great woman, and special thanks to Grammy superstar Vikki Carr for making Latin music popular here in the US. No one has done more to promote the culture in the US marketplace! I am very proud to see that the website that Vito Cifaldi and Daniel Maglione maintain, www.VikkiCarr.net is credited in this new book as well., and finally get credit for all their work.
   Vikki, there's no other site that has brought so many of us fans together, we know you are proud of them and the world is proud of you! Everyone needs to stand and give Sylvia a standing ovation for giving us such an entertaining book to read. Thanks Sylvia
   Gregory LA.

5 comments about Straight, No Chaser: How I Became a Grown-Up Black Woman.

1. Jill Nelson is just another angry, bitter, whiny black woman with an axe to grind. This book is filled with the same old whining and cliches which have grown really old and tired. Almost everything she touches on is so predictable whether it's accusing black men who date outside the race as being sellouts (while saying nothing of black women who do the same thing of course), demonizing the Million Man March, whining about the light skin/dark skin thing and basically ranting about how the black woman is a pathetic victim. If it were a black man writing this foolishness, he'd be written off as an angry old coot in a minute. Well that's exactly what Jill Nelson is as far as I'm concerned.



2. Jill Nelson has a unique stlye that captivates readers. I have been inspired by her unique expression towards our community, so called leaders and BLACK WOMEN!! Although, it has been some time sense I have read her books; I am often reminded of her experiences towards self-empowerment.

   Any woman that is seeking external and internal fulfillment with a sassy approach; This is the book for you!!

   Jill Nelson you are a strong Black Woman!! Keep up the good work!!




3. Go Jill! I recently saw you on BET with Tavis Smiley and 3 or 4 Black female ministers.

   Nearly every feeling you expressed in your book was something I felt in the past or in some way still do today. What hit home was something significant that most Black people miss, especially the younger ones. As we approach the 21st century, American history is being rewritten to exclude the civil rights movement! And yes, you put it succintly, Black women are becoming invisible, erased!

   Why I didn't give this book five stars -- the book ended with no recommendations to resolve the anger and bitterness issues expressed throughout the book. Also, too many open-ended inuendos about other Black leaders such as Al Sharpton, Maya Angelou, etc.

   Still, Jill, keep writing.




4. I LOVE JILL NELSON!!! I have been a loyal fan and devoted follower of her writings since her days as a writer for ESSENCE magazine and the Village Voice. I even remember reading some of her articles when she was a writer for the Washington Post. Her latest literary effort, "Straight, No Chaser," is written in the same, no-nonsense, subtle yet direct, with just a twinge of sarcasm writing style that made her first book, "Volunteer Slavery," a bestseller and became a Bible of sorts to just about every African-American journalist in America..myself included! In her new book, I was especially touched by Nelson's periodic reference to the Deletha Word tragedy that occurred on a dark bridge in Detroit 4 years ago this month. Nelson writes about the awful event and describes how a minor incident escalated into a terrible tragedy and the loss of a life. I also enjoyed the chapter about violence toward women and how her ex-husband once "slapped me upside my head with his open palm so hard I see red, white and blue stars and my ear rings for twenty-four hours." I also enjoyed how she accurately points out that many of the so-called "black leaders," of today are usually loud-mouthed ministers who ALWAYS want to put race at the forefront of everything and blame all of African-Americans problems on the white man. Finally, while her latest book is very good, "Volunteer Slavery ," is better and still remains one of my all-time favorite books. Few writers are able to reveal so much about others yet, still be able to put themselves and their own faults and foibles on public display as skillfully and as well as Nelson does in each book. Keep up the good work Jill!! You have a legion of fans out here who love you and your work!!!!



5. Ms. Nelson writes compellingly about many issues facing the Black woman. I found the book illuminating, enlightening and difficult to put down as each sentence demanded my attention. It validated some of my own personal concerns and illuminated other issues I need to be concerned about.

5 comments about Missing Men: A Memoir.

1. If you enjoy the genre of memoir---and especially like reading about the art world, the 1950s and 60s, and the lives of women---you should thoroughly enjoy this book. Joyce Johnson writes with real intimacy---she truly draws the reader into her life---and leaves you at the end wishing for more. Perhaps she will write one more memoir---about her life in publishing. We can all hope!
   
   Unlike some of the other reviewers, I didn't find this book sad or wistful--just honest and affecting. Joyce Johnson is a gifted writer and her choice of words and descriptions always seems perfectly on the mark. I'm just left wishing that her three memoirs were longer---and more plentiful.



2. Joyce Johnson pays an eloquent tribute to the two men she married in the fifties and early sixties. Both men, Jim Johnson (who died in a motorcycle crash and left Joyce a widow at 27) and Peter Pinchback were, in a sense, "failed" abstract expressionists whose work never was commercially successful. And both were temperamental men who frankly, sounded impossible to live with. Joyce gave her husbands both financial and emotional support, in addition to working full time as an editor and raising a son alone after her marriage with Pinchback ended. Johnson describes a rich artistic life in what now is a lost and faraway world--a grubby, but affordable Manhattan where even impoverished artists could casually move from the Bowery to the East Village or Soho in search of the perfect space. "In those days it was still possible to be gracefully poor in New York," she writes. From what's been written about the lives of artists like Pollack and deKooning, we know what it was like to be a successful painter in New York in the fifties. Johnson's book is valuable in another way; she chronicles what it was like to be part of the second wave of abstract expressionists. These artists were, by and large, ignored by dealers and critics and their fragile careers were dealt a final blow by the conceptual and Pop art movements.
   
   Johnson writes that she was raised in a family of women, mostly without men, and that the emotional absence she experienced in both of her difficult marriages replicated the male absences of her childhood. Ironically, it's Joyce Johnson herself who has achieved the fame and recognition that so eluded both of her husbands. But the loving (and exasperated) portraits she paints of them here show that she is a powerful artist in her own right.



3. If you read "Missing Men", no doubt you'll be drawn to Joyce Johnson's other two memoirs, "Minor Characters" and "Door Wide Open". All three books are wonderfully intimate sketches of people and places. Whereas "Minor Characters" and "Door Wide Open" focus on Joyce's friendships with notable personalities within the "Beat Movement"(especially her romantic involvement with Jack Kerouac), "Missing Men" addresses her relationships to her father and her two husbands, artists James Johnson and Peter Pinchbeck.
   
   "Missing Men" is beautifully written. Johnson's economy with language is always worth savoring, tracing scenes which stay with the reader forever--be it gathering apples for a pie with her friends, Jack Kerouac in a sleeping bag in your spare room, or (in this volume) the haunting trip to her deceased husband Peter's pitifully small, loudly-colored house in the country.
   
   Joyce Johnson is simply too good of a writer to miss. Do yourself a favor and go quickly to the nearest bookstore or library to find out for yourself (...or just use that friendly little clicker in your hand.)



4. Joyce Johnson's "Missing Men" is a wrenchingly sad account of her life, coming of age in 1950s Bohemia. An only child, she details her mother's unhappy journey as an orphan who made a late and unfulfilling marriage and who became a "stage mother," lavishing her daughter with love.
   
   Joyce Johnson broke away from the homelife that stifled her, and gave her heart, several times, to abstract artists: This book is about blankness and absence. Although she writes without excessive self-pity, nevertheless bleakness, sorrow, and longing permeate its pages. There is little here about her successful career, her life in publishing, which might mitigate the wistful tone of her memoir.



5. It's 2am and I meant to be in bed by 10 tonight but couldn't put Missing Men down until it was done. And now it is done, and I'm sad that it is.
   
   Like Minor Characters and In the Night Cafe, two other truly wonderful books, Joyce Johnson writes so personally that the book's end feels like the end of a visit with a dear friend, a friend you see much too rarely. She captures so well that hunger to replay life's moments -- painful and joyous both, over and over like a song, as she put it -- to feel what they have meant, to hear them right, to savor and take them inside you and somehow keep living them long after they're gone.
   
   And she shares the scary lack of fulfilling resolution when the little enlightenments don't simply add up to resolution and love. She doesn't hide her fear of dying alone, and the three books of hers that I have read all bring me home to my own fear of this too. And that's something so few writers have the courage or ability to really share. And that's very honest. And that's something very dear.

5 comments about Maurice and Therese.

1. A revealing portrait of a great saint, this book contains the correspondence between St. Therese and her spiritual brother Maurice Belliere, a struggling young seminarian. As you read the letters you can see the growing friendship between the saint and the seminarian as they learn about each other more. Even though the letters were only intended for Maurice, we can learn deeper throught them the meaning of her " little way ". It is also amazing that despite of her own struggles with illness and the spiritual darkness she is experiencing, she is still able to uplift and encourage Maurice in his difficulties. The author also gives explanations after each letter which gives us a picture of what is happening in thier lives while they were answering the other one's letter. A book I would highly recommend especially for those interested in St. Therese and her little way.



2. This book changed my life!
   I never have shown much of an intrest in St. Therese. Many people are devoted, but I never understood why.
   
   This book helped me to see why.
   
   This book taught me how to love and taught me much about mercy and trust.
   
   Therese, a doctor of the Catholic Church, writes beautiful letters to Maurice, at times a somewhat confused seminarian. Therese meets us at our level to show us the love of Jesus.
   This book is a one that points past the works of Therese, and straight to Christ.
   
   God is nothing but mercy and love.
   Thank you for showing me St. Therese!



3. This is a fantastic book! I enjoyed reading it immensely, and I want to give copies away to friends. I am sad to see it is out of print. It really should be brought back. It has a powerful synthesis of the Little Way, and the correspondence with Maurice brings this out very well. It becomes a correspondence and a comparison between a saint and someone who is trying to become one. Most of us can relate well with Maurice. The way St Therese relates with him helps me see the role of the saints in our life.
   
   Bring this book back in print!!!



4. if you admire and hold lots of devotion for St. Therese of Lisieux as I have for so long now- she always said she was Little Therese. However in this book the most moving charisma of her love and personality are seen in a "big" way regarding her friendship with Maurice. We see a saint so full of love and compassion for his shortcomings and never does she once in this book show anything but encouragement to Maurice. There are many lessons to be learned in reflecting on this book . One of the most significant things I feel is our should be support to our priests, bishops and clergy in the universal catholic church. As Maurice radiates in this book as an aspiring semanarian our clergy does have up's and down's also. May we all love our clergy as St. Therese did, does and symbolizes her special love for the priests, and bishops. A most marvelous book. As the late John Cardinal O'Connor said in his review to Ahern's book " We see Therese now more as a woman and we are fascinated. :)



5. What a wonderful book about a wonderful saint! This book, while not a difficult read, is certainly rich in emotion, beauty, and spirituality. If you have read St.Therese's "Story of a Soul", this is an excellent "second book" to read. It tells of the story of a relationship between a seminarian/priest and St.Therese in her last days. I recommend it for anyone's spiritual edification, especially Catholic Christians.