2 comments about When in Doubt, Check Him Out: A Woman's Survival Guide.

1. Ever seen the Geico commercial where the guy marries this girl and did not realize she had a mountain of unpaid credit card bills? This book is intended for a woman to use to check out her boyfriend or husband, hopefully before she gets married to him or gets hurt by him. This is a general investigations book and brushes over the laws applicable to this type of investigations. Investigations generally could be done by a lay person and this book is easy to understand. In depth information may not be available in your state and you might have to hire a professional if you really need the information. Knowledge of computers, applicable laws, etc. is required to be able to utilize this book.



2. This book is full of resources that I never would have known were available. In today's society women really need to be careful of the men they date. A man can be so nice on the surface and after checking him out his background can show the con man in him. If you are a single woman looking for the man of your future, please read this book first for your own protection! www.BusinessSecurity.org

5 comments about Sober Truths The Making of an Honest Woman.

1. Jill Kelly gives an unflinching view of her inner and outer struggles and succceeds with absolute clarity. The writing is taut but vivid and absolutely engrossing. This book lives on in my memory, months after having read it. Whether or not the reader is conscious of dealing with addiction issues, Jill's story has validity and purpose in the telling and her writing is a joy to experience.



2. Ms. Kelly takes the reader on a jaw-dropping, gut-wrenching ride through the making and breaking of an alcoholic. Her images are so vivid, her self-witnessing so accurate, you feel like an alcoholic yourself, unable to stop reading her story.
   The healing process takes her in directions I didn't expect - deep into the realm of self-expression. This book and the painting on the cover are just two examples of the richness she discovers as self-expression replaces self-destruction, and trust in the creative process replaces the craving for numbness. Ms. Kelly shows us, in enthralling detail, just how insidious alcohol is, and how resilient a human being can be - with enough support and commitment, not to mention considerable brains and a dose of good luck.



3. I've come to believe that the great social leveler of our time is the 12-step program--one of the few places to find real honesty and real truth about the most basic elements of life as we live it. Jill Kelly has written a raw, honest, extremely readable account of her journey thus far. It is absolutely compelling, devastatingly effective, and utterly frank. But above all, it is true. Some of it is dark, some of it is difficult, but you will love walking the path with Kelly as she emerges into light--and faces new challenges, new truths, in the life of sobriety and creativity she has come to. A true example of facing truth, even when it is hard. This book is well worth reading, for anyone who has walked with friends or relatives on the same path.



4. Jill Kelly's honesty, clear writing and vivid storytelling had me hooked from the first page right through to the last. Her story of a life broken and re-created inspired me with a sense of possibility.



5. Sober Truths is a poignant, engaging and inspirational look at one woman's battle with alcholism. Bravo to Jill Kelly for having the courage to tell her story, and congratulations on her years of sobriety. Like many people, my life has been touched by the alcholism of loved ones, and it's eye-opening to learn what it feels like on the addictive side of the experience.
   -- Donna Matrazzo

2 comments about My Own Cape Cod.

1. After reading this book, you feel as though you've just spent a summer on the Cape and can't wait to go back next year. It's like a vacation without leaving home. An excellent read!



2. This book is a wonderful escape for anyone who picks it up, but if you are familiar with Cape Cod or the coastline of New England you'll find it even more appealing. The people and places so accurately described in Taber's work will make you a convert and read all of her books. Her prose is so superb that you forget you're reading at all and feel that you're having a conversation with Gladys herself. Gone from this world for over two decades, Gladys is still alive with such a presence in these pages that I open her books when I need comfort and I feel as if I'm speaking to my grandmother. An accomplished professor of Writing, a Wellesley grad, a naturalist, and a New Englander, Gladys Taber will remind you that all is and can be right with the world.

5 comments about Don't Ask Forever: My Love Affair With Elvis: A Washington Woman's Secret Years With Elvis Presley.

1. This is another must have book for any Elvis fan that wants to learn from people that Elvis touched in his life here on earth. This book gives insight to a certain time in Elvis' life that only a few people are aware of. Really enjoyed reading this book.



2. I first discovered this book at my local library when I was about 14. I probably checked it out it read it about 2 times. When I was looking for books to buy about Elvis, I was very happy to discover that this book was on sale. I'm now thirty and it is a great love story. I'm very happy to have it in my personal library collection.



3. I think this story is true. so many people claim to have been close to Elvis but do not have the people to back it up. but joyce does all the guys close to Elvis are still around and she talks about them a lot. I take it she was the woman before the well known Linda. this book is good and gives us a close up look at the last years of Elvis's life. and a look into the drug use and how it really messed up his life. this is a book you will want to read again someday i know i will.



4. I was completely blown away by the strength of emotions presented to me as a reader.
   Joyce's courage and love for Elvis was so palpable, so intense, I was almost embarassed by the emotions I would find inside myself when reading this book.
   I often would talk to my wife of Joyces' story and together we would sit and reflect on how intense this love was.
   The dispair, fear, futility and finally (sadly), her resignation to the fact that, despite how powerful their love was for each other, despite how much Joyce was willing to sacrifice for that love (for sacrifice she surely did), the only way she could save herself from a terrible fate was to leave the very thing that made her feel complete.
   If my words make no sense to you, I apologize. Every time I try to put the feelings that this book caused me to have into words, I inevitably cannot.
   I would often talk to a dear friend of this story as well. More often than not, I would have to just stop and catch my breath because I could not put my feelings into the right words.
   Joyce, you truly are a remarkable, wonderful and beautiful person. Your strength to finally end your life with Elvis was probably one of the toughest things to do.
   But it made you a much stronger person.
   Truly remarkable. Thank you.



5. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in hearing the story from a woman who truly loved Elvis- I found myself completing this book in 3 days. It has been one of the best books that I have read regarding Elvis as a person. If I was able to say anything to Ms. Bova it would be "thank you" for allowing a fan like myself to get to know how Elvis was on a more personal level. I admire your strenght and think you were a very special and memorable piece in the complex life that was Elvis Presley.

2 comments about Kathe Kollwitz: Woman and Artist.

1. kearns' book is a very readable biography of an amazing artist, revealing Kollwitz's artistic development, her philosophy, even a glimpse into her emotional life. It is a fascinating story, especially the chance to see the struggle of women in the art world and life in post WWI and Nazi Germany.



2. This book tells the story of Kathe, the woman. It's remarkable & haunts you for years after. Several of her sketches are included as well, but more of her art is all that could make this book better!!

5 comments about Florence Nightingale: Mystic, Visionary, Healer.

1. I was inspired to become a nurse by stories of the "lady with the lamp" but it took more than 30 years before I found this book and learned just why Florence Nightingale deserved to be my inspiration. The pictures alone are worth the price of this book, and the story too is well told.



2. Dr. Barbara Dossey, founder of the American Holistic Nursing Association, has written an inspiring and insightful biography of Florence Nightingale that has much to teach us about being bold, tough minded, task oriented, creative, passionate and compassionate. Nightingale conscientiously developed the strongly focused conceptual, organizational and networking skills that contributed to her formidable accomplishments in the fields of nursing, housing, sanitation and statistics and did it all despite chronic illness, criticism, sexism and other major life challenges. Most of all, we learn that Nightingale was a visionary and mystic, whose life story challenges all of us to know, accept and realize our God-given purpose in this world.



3. I knew of Florence Nightingale's nursing activities before reading this book but had no idea of the extent of her self-discipline, dedication and accomplishments. She was a systems analyst, administrator, networker and mystic who devoted her life to doing God's work. She was also a prolific writer of books, lay reports, pamphlets and thousands of letters. The author provides a wealth of background material describing the historic times and places associated with Florence Nightingale. One of the things I appreciated about this book were the many maps and photographs appropriately placed near the text about the person or places.



4. This is unquestionably the best biography of Nightingale ever written. The author reminds us that Nightingale was one of the first statisticians -- one of the first members of the statistical society in the U.K. and for many years the only woman member. Nightingale collected and published voluminous statistics about health care (she proved that the rate of childbirth fever was lower among women cared for by midwives vs those cared for by physicians and surmised correctly that the difference was that the midwives washed their hands and established hygiene in the birth chamber. The physicians came to the birth room covered with blood from dissections.) The germ theory of disease had not been developed -- but she was able to reduce the death rate in the hospitals in Crimea by ensuring cleanliness, safe water and good food for the patients.) She was also a suffragist and one of the first signers of a petition in support of suffrage put forward by her
   friends, the philosopher John Stuart Mill and his wife Harriet Taylor, who were prominent proponents of women's suffrage. Mill asked Nightingale to dedicate herself to the cause of female suffrage and she replied that there were others as qualified as she; she was needed to reform the British military, hospital and medical systems. Nightingale shook up the British military, hospital and medical establishments. She had many enemies because of her work -- and they became even more virulent when she was proved right. Unfortunately their calumnies persist to this day. While doing the work which first brought her to public attention she contracted Crimean Fever -- a common complaint of those who served in the Crimea War. Dossey points out that recent research indicates that Crimean Fever was probably brucellosis which was and is epidemic and endemic in the Crimea. (It occurs now, too, in the U.S. among persons who work with infected cattle.) Nightingale was a very devout Christian. At 17 she sought a direction for her life. She came to feel that she was called to serve the sick and took a vow of chastity when she was 17. Barbara Dossey is an R.N. with a Master's degree in nursing. She has written texts on intensive care nursing and on wholistic health. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing -- which signfies the high respect of her research peers for her work. This is the finest contribution she has made and that says a lot.



5. learn about the history of the nursing profession... very interesting... lots of beautiful pictures

1 comments about Finding the God-Dependent Life: A Personal Story of a Life Transformed by the Secret of 'God-Dependence' over Co-Dependence.

1. I found this book by accident one day and read it thoroughly and before I was finished I believed that she wrote it just for me. It chronicles the author's progress from a fear-based life to a totally God-dependent life, and she outlines all the steps she worked through at each phase of her progress as God took her through each lesson. She explains how she learned to depend on God rather than give in to her fears, how she overcame bitterness (she details the steps for that), and other great lessons. Joanie is very down-to-earth and you will feel like you are listening to your best friend speak to you. I highly recommend this book.

1 comments about Jewish Woman Next Door: Repairing the World One Step at a Time.

1. Debby Flancbaum has done a fantastic job of presenting the life stories of a wide array of Jewish women. Visionaries, heroines, and regular Jewish wives and mothers whose desire to help has made a large impact on the Jewish people and the world as a whole. I highly recommend this book.

5 comments about Dispatches from a Not-So-Perfect Life: Or How I Learned to Love the House, the Man, the Child.

1. I did not like this book. It was so depressing. The best I can say is that the author does appear to be honest. She is caught up in her identity as a feminist and fails to figure out how to compromise and negotiate. In my opinion, while she is indeed very unhappy, she fails to see the part she herself plays in that state of mind. Another thing that bothered me, while she beat the reader over the head with images of the oppressed modern American mother, she totally failed to offer any solutions. All the book is, is depressing. I had hoped there would be some humor in it but there is not a single funny story in it. I am kind of shocked a company actually published it.



2. As a college-educated woman in my 30's who has chosen to leave career and instead raise a child, I was looking forward to reading this book - to appreciating and supposedly LAUGHING at all the crazy, messy, mind-numbing, conflicting, frustrating, and loving situations I face every day. The author failed to convey that while there are many challenges associated with motherhood (and her own challenges seemed extremely trivial when compared to hardships and tragedies faced around the world!) - these challenges are TEMPORARY because children grow so fast. Instead of conveying something positive and encouraging, she ranted on and on aimlessly, coming across as insecure, ultra-neurotic, judgmental, and sometimes outright crazy. If this book did anything for me, it was to remind me not to have the "I'm-so-angry" outlook that Faulkner Fox so annoyingly expressed!



3. Tedious, poorly-written, self-absorbed book from hackneyed "oppressed victimized female" viewpoint.
   
   The author played a leading role in organizing a fascistic protest rally outside the home of one of the Duke students falsely accused of rape, complete with menacing drummers, a mob of hate-filled potbangers, banners reading "Castrate!!" and "Confess" and worse, "Wanted" posters showing pictures of the students so that vigilantes could better identify them, and offensive chants and signs explicitly calling the students rapists. To this day she has rejected all suggestions that she apologize.
   
   Her politically-correct man-hating dogma permeate her writing.



4. A boring read; about a completely dysfunctional woman... I couldn't finish it, she was so whiny. Please, the world needs less self centered reading material.



5. Fox was nailed in Taylor's and Johnson's book "Until Proven Innocent" as one of the Duke English Dept. faculty members who were high in the pulpit accusing the lacrosse players of rape and were eventually proven to be nothing more than anti-male hatemongers. So I looked up her book. My response is to any male who reads this review: never, ever marry a feminist!
   This infantile narcissist is what you're going to get if you do.

5 comments about The Unsinkable Heather Mills: The Unauthorized Biography of the Great Pretender.

1. This really isn't an objective look at Miss Mill's life. It's more of a defense of her life and the author seems bent on painting her in the most positive light. I'm aware that Heather Mills has been an advocate for many hurting people. I'm also aware that she often seems about ready to explode.



2. If this is 'unauthorized' Mr.Simpson is the best researcher and ghost-writer since Andrew Morton. Or and this explanation makes more sense and closer to the truth-this was written with an all too real [ and no doubt unnerving ] awareness that Mills is the most litigious, infamous person the public and press have seen in a very long time. Mills had a hard life growing up. A horrific accident at age 25. That she overcame all this is admirable. That she sees fit to exacerbate the truth or even justify a lot of unsavory things - stealing from a jewelry store where she worked; 'Love Manual'photos; 'parties' at The Dorchester, etc.-in her life that've recently came back to haunt her. She shows a lack of empathy and the complete absence of a moral compass. It's chilling at best. Give Neil Simpson credit: he did the best he could in that particular area but had very little to work with. The shoplifting, stealing are blamed on someone else. Sells the stolen jewelry then she's befuddled of "why didn't anyone ask why someone this young was doing with this much jewelry?" Mills makes it sound as though she were an apple cheeked 15 yr.old. Actually, this is probably the closest in the book she comes to admitting she felt bad about what happened. That it very nearly put the store owner out of business: wreaked havoc within his store: with other longtime employees and the subsequent fall-out from it is not gone into at any length. In almost everything else, she's allegedly blameless. Being a kept woman by a married man while in Paris; running off with a ski-instructor in the former Yugoslavia while married to Alfie Karmal-all in the name of the greater good one could allege. Money can't buy her ENOUGH 'things.' She is even QUOTED as saying she learned early on, money was power. No duh. Love makes the world go 'round but money is the gravitational pull keeping it on its' axis. There have been plenty of women born, raised in difficult circumstances who know that. Women who made something of themselves without using their bodies in 'Love Photos,' drinking watered down champagne, getting paid for it. The book sings one too many hallelujah choruses about her " excellent, professional abilities as a terrific business woman " over and over. Then again allegedly appealing to the lowest common denominator, perhaps not ENOUGH choruses were sung.



3. To be honest, I had no idea who Heather Mills was before "Dancing with the Stars." And even then, she was just the skinny blonde girl with a prosthetic leg. Now I know who she is and, although I may not agree with every choice she's made for herself in life, I'm glad this book was published.
   
   Some reviewers on this site are upset that Heather Mills' biography isn't full of the same digs at her character that the Sun tabloid ran about her in England: hooker, liar, porn star....
   
   Well, this book is much better than that, showing the full 360 of Heather's long and winding road (to borrow a phrase.)
   
   Having read numerous biographies of the Beatles (AND their lovers, including Miss Pattie Boyd) "The Unsinkable Heather Mills" was a natural addition to my library.
   
   Informative--and interesting!--this book is perfect for anyone who is a fan of Paul McCartney or just a fan of pop culture in general. Buy it-- you won't be disappointed!



4. I wouldn't be surprised if she penned this book herself for the money. She'll do just about anything for the money, including giving our beloved Paul such heartache and worry that we may lose him sooner than we would have otherwise. For that I shall absolutely NEVER be swayed by anything she has to say. She's a liar, and doesn't seem to get it that no matter what she would have to say about Paul, it doesn't matter one ioda. She doesn't understand just how immensely he is just purely loved by the world that he's made to be a happier place for being in it.



5. I read this book's promotion in one of Cindy Adams' columns this past November. I read the "book" was going to be an expose of that vile woman, Heather Mills. Imagine my surprise when "it" arrived and I started reading the drivel. What it is, folks (and make no mistake about it) is a Paid in Full manuscript for money received. Heather Mills used her husband's money to finance a whitewash of her sorry life. She used his money to make her appear as another Mother Theresa. I have never thrown away a book in my life. Let this be the first to smell the inside of my garbage container!