5 comments about Virginia Woolf.

1. this is the best biography of Virginia Woolf to date. The book is broken into four parts based on four broad periods in VW's life: 1882 - 1904; 1904 -1919; 1919 - 1929; and 1929 - 1941. The chapters, however, are theme-based; for example, Chapter 15 is "Bloomsbury"; Chapter 19 is "War"; Chapter 24 is "Monk's House"; and Chapter 37 is "Fascism". This then serves as a wonderful reference book to go back to read about specific events (war) or themes ("Bloomsbury") without having to search through an index for disjointed entries. Of the four biographies I have read of VW (Quentin Bell's, Hermione Lee's, Julia Brigg's, and James King) I recommend this biography as the one to start. King, 1994, was willing to write more about her personal relationships (read, "sexual") and is a good follow-on.



2. Of the many literary biographies I've read, only Peter Ackroyd's "Dickens" seems to me as "definitive" as Ms. Lee's terrifically compelling book. One finishes it with the sense, however illusory (see Janet Malcolm's extraordinary "The Silent Woman" for a convincing argument that it must be), that the Virginia Woolf found in its pages is essentially identical to the actual woman who lived and wrote and died. Anyone with even a slight interest in her must consider this book essential reading. I found it a real page-turner throughout its considerable length despite being unconvinced of Woolf's literary eminence (except for her sparkling correspondence) and finding her character unattractive (i.e. snobbish, frigid, a false friend, etc.) even by the usual standard for writers.



3. Probably the best bio of Woolf we are likely to see for some time. Lee has succeeded brilliantly and gracefully in that most elusive and troublesome task of capturing the "spirit" of another human being and then conveying that without simplification or reduction. What is most moving is that Lee allows Woolf her complexity and contradictions, her courage and cowardice, her generosity and meaness, without indulging in a sort of inconoclastic glee in smashing received images of Woolf as victim or feminist icon (or any other of the several and various "Woolfs" to be found these days.) Lee's bio is a stunning feat of sympathetic imagination and rational scholarship which ranks with the other "best" bio of the last 20 years or so, Deirdre Bair's marvelous and beautiful "Simone de Beauvoir." I am grateful to both of these writers.



4. I am taking this book slowly and am nearing the end. It is terrific and I find, on the days I take off from reading it, that I miss Virginia Woolf and want to go back to the "place" that is her life. I thank Ms. Lee for giving me a closer intimacy with Virginia Woolf.



5. I enjoyed the book, but have a fairly detailed knowledge of Woolf & her contemporaries. I think a new reader of Woolf & her work might get lost in the maze of essentially unexplained personalties & their relationship to Woolf & her circle.

4 comments about Choosing You: Deciding to Have a Baby on My Own.

1. I don't remember the last time I stayed up all night reading because I couldn't put a book down, and then walked around bleary-eyed the next day thinking about it. Alexandra Soiseth's "Choosing You" is so beautifully written and so honest -- every parent should read it. I have two children who are older, but it brought back memories of the thrill and terror of deciding to have a child as if it were yesterday. This book won't disappoint you!!!



2. This book is so well written. You feel what the author feels. It is extremely powerful.
   
   Wonderful. Highly, highly recommended.



3. This fascinating and painfully honest book takes you on a journey with one brave woman as she "chooses" her child. As she tackles head-on the thorny problems surrounding such a choice ("googling for sperm"!) the reader goes with her. It's for everyone who wants children, who has children, who has decided against having children because the soul-searching and practical implications touch us all - men included. Highly recommended!



4. I sat down several hours ago to start reading this book and could not put it down. As a single woman considering becoming a mother, I found Ms. Soiseth's book heartwarming, funny and marvelously honest. Many of the books on this subject that I have read seem to gloss over the "scary bits" - the doubt, the challenges, etc. Her story was a complete picture of the experience, in all its wonderful, scary, and ultimately joyful glory!

5 comments about Hit by a Farm: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Barn.

1. Great book. Good intro for those city dwellers among us thinking about farm life.



2. The worst part of this book is that it ends. I'm not a farmer, nor will I ever be interested in becoming one, but this book is about far more than farming.
   
   Friend manages to convey the lessons of relationship--with her partner, with their animals, with their property, and most importantly, with herself--in a way that is at once humorous and insightful. Nothing gets tied up with a neat little bow, but the book also manages to neglect the angst-filled memoir genre. She combines the humor of David Sedaris and Bill Bryson with the poignancy of Mitch Ablom, while skipping sentimentality and predictability along the way.
   
   Hit By A Farm manages to weave her thematic concern--boundaries and how they can be formed in the context of partnership and self fulfillment--throughout the book without clobbering the reader with her message. Best of all, this book is shake-the-bed-and-wake-up-your-partner funny. It's hard to make a reader cry--but it's a gift to make a reader laugh.
   
   I'm recommending this book to everyone I know, and now, through the magic of the world wide interweb, I can recommend it to people I don't know. After you've finished reading it, don't forget to tell Oprah. She'll thank you for it.



3. I read this book to my partner this summer as we took three day trips from the Twin Cities to small towns in Minnesota - first to Buffalo and St. Cloud; second to Mankato; third to Rochester. It was a fitting book to read as we rode through Minnesota farm country - the setting of this story. Every time we saw sheep or llamas, we laughed and contemplated whether the farmers had experienced any of the trials and tribulations in the book.
   
   This is a great memoir from a skillful author. Not only is she committed to her partner, she also has a great sense of humor and knows how to laugh at herself. The book description, itself, is comical. However, nothing prepares the reader for the emotional highs and lows between the front and back covers. Each chapter is a story in itself. From sheep to chickens, goats, llamas, geese, grapes and writer's block, this is certainly a don't-miss book. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention - the book is full of tragedy (i.e., all living things eventually die), childlike elation (i.e., the sheep actually did have sex and we have lambs!), and very elaborate descriptions of some pretty gross stuff (i.e., sheep placenta and things stuck to the bottoms of shoes). If you're soft of heart or stomach, get prepared for a roller-coaster ride.
   
   Extremely well written by a very likable author, I highly recommend this wonderful book to everyone. It's a book that can be enjoyed by all - gay or straight, farmer or not - and should be on every bookshelf.



4. Writer/bookworm Catherine Friend takes us along as she transforms into a REAL farmer (and still keeps writing and reading). Her writing style is engaging and easy to read, pulling you along for the ride from start to finish. I couldn't put it down.
   
   Real humor, real struggles, real "back to the land" mentality without the moral pontificating of some authors. The dream of farming wasn't hers to begin with (it was her partner's), but she has made peace with it and maintained her sense of self while maintaining a long term relationship. Farming is a stressful business, and she addresses this aspect of it very well while sharing how she managed to work through her concerns and evolve into a better person.
   
   The author's sense of humor was my favorite part. I will never look at soft serve the same way again after reading about the peacocks leaving "grayish swirls of poop the size of a Dairy Queen ice cream cone" which, well, you'll have to read the book to find out what happened, but the result had me rolling with laughter. Definitely a five star read.



5. No one was more surprised than Catherine Friend when her long-time partner informed her that she'd always dreamed of being a farmer. Early on in this hilarious memoir, the author writes, "Farming had never been my dream. My dream was to grow my writing career into something I could call 'successful,' whatever that was. I'd already sold two children's books and a handful of magazine stories. I was hungry for more" (p. 6).
   
   But Melissa's dream had merit, and Catherine believed she could help the dream come true. And so, "The classic face of farming in Grant Wood's American Gothic was about to get a facelift: two thirty-something women in bib overalls holding pitchforks" (p. 6).
   
   Devoting a great deal of time, energy, and work to their project, the two women researched farming, bought land in southern Minnesota, built a house, and settled in to raise sheep, chickens, and grapes for wine. Apparently that was the easy part. From auspicious beginnings, the road they embark upon is filled with a learning curve so steep that shoveling manure and mucking horse stalls might have been easier. While Melissa's dream ascended, the livestock, crops, and natural disasters seem to conspire to make Catherine's life miserable. Living off the land wasn't at all the romantic idyll so often put forth.
   
   By turns hilarious and sobering, touching and surprising, Catherine Friend's memoir tells the tale of two thirty-somethings who not only have to learn to love the barn, but also to find their way back to one another after such a huge life-change nearly sideswipes them for good. It's a terrific story, very well-told, and is cram-packed full of humor, insight, and a zest for life that can't be vanquished. If you only read one memoir this year, make this be the one. I give it my highest recommendation.

5 comments about Educating Alice: Adventures of a Curious Woman.

1. If you love to travel, love to learn, or love great writing, Educating Alice: Adventures of a Curious Woman, is just the book for you. Pulitzer Prize winner Alice Steinbach quit her job as a journalist to pursue her dream of combining travel and learning. She spent eighteen months taking breathtaking trips and seeing the world in ways few of us will ever be able to emulate. When she returned, she wrote a memoir of her experiences. Readers share her adventures as she takes lessons and courses in gourmet cooking at the Hotel Ritz in Paris, Japanese culture in Kyoto, art at the British Institute in Florence, the life of Jane Austen in Winchester and Exeter, art and architecture in Havana, gardening in Provence, writing in Prague, and Border collie training in Scotland.
   
   I love all traveling, learning and great writing, and I love this book for many more reasons:
   
   Steinbach's mastery of the writing craft is evident in every story. Although each trip is an independent story capable of standing alone and she gives no details of her life before, between, or after these trips, she quilts them together into a unified account with the thread of her evolving long-distance relationship with a Japanese widower she met on a train in France sometime before this story began. She lets us glimpse flashes of intimacy in fragments of letters to him. Thoughts of him twinkle like fireflies throughout, and we meet him in person in Kyoto.
   
   Steinbach attracts spontaneous adventures that supplement her planned activities, adding depth and intrigue to her tales. In Kyoto she is unexpectedly able to meet and interview geishas. In Florence she wanders into an old church and is drawn into the mystery of the flood that nearly destroyed it. The life of a Jewish girl who perished in the Holocaust intrigues her in Prague. Twining serendipity and mystery with the predictable adds spice to what could be a bland tale.
   
   Everyone has experienced flashes of memory that pop into awareness at the strangest provocation. Steinbach's stories glitter with such sequins, recalling moments with her dearly beloved grandmother, a woman of style and dash, and moments with her mother. These personal anecdotes endear Steinbach to me, revealing her own personality and humanity.
   
   Steinbach herself emerges gradually into view as the stories continue. I felt as if I were seeing the view from behind her eyes, listening to the conversation she carried on with herself inside her head. She shares her reactions to things she sees, and describes the memories they evoke. She writes as freely of words uttered by her "thinking voice" as she does of spoken dialog. She's a master of metaphor and simile, using phrases such as, "If Louisa Jones were a garden, she would be the garden of the Martin-Ragets."
   
   A writer myself as well as a leader of writing workshops, I was especially drawn to the section on Prague. Steinbach had little good to say about the writing workshop she took there, finding it intimidating and less than helpful. It seems the participants felt an obligation to tear apart each other's work rather than suggesting ways of building on what was working. Though she never directly states this, the chapter is a strong warning to be careful where and with whom you study writing and avoid competitive critiquing.
   
   Steinbach's work sizzles with rhythm and a variable beat. This is no formula travelogue. On some trips, she goes into detail about the tribulations she overcame to get there. On others, she starts further into the trip and works her way back. She generally, but not always, follows a chronological approach within each story. The constants throughout are the memory sprinkles and juicy descriptions.
   
   This book went beyond teaching me all sorts of exotic and fascinating tidbits about life and history in far-flung places, and inspired me to seek nontraditional ways of learning in my own travels. It nudged my imagination to new levels as I think about creatively compiling assorted memories around a theme. Now I'm eager to backtrack and read her two earlier works, Without Reservations: The Travels of an Independent Woman and The Miss Dennis School of Writing and Other Lessons From a Woman's Life.
   
   by Sharon Lippincott
   for Story Circle Book Reviews
   reviewing books by, for, and about women



2. I have been reading Educating Alice at night before I go to sleep. The chapters about studying in Paris, Japan, and Italy were interesting enough to keep me awake for a while. I love the writing about Cuba because I know nothing about that country. However, I'm on the section about the gardens of Provence. I've been stuck here for a while, and I'm having no trouble sleeping now! Alice takes all of these classes around the world, but none seem related. I'm wondering why we should care about these classes. I wish she would have focused on her relationship with Naohiro, her romance from the first book. Her adventures weren't as exciting as the first book.



3. I enjoy reading travel writing. I am an arm chair world traveler, knowing one day, I too will be fortunate enough to write my own travel memoirs.
   I enjoyed this authors approach to travel, since I too, love to learn new things, why not incorporate the two, travel and learning together. I was encouraged by how open and responsive people were to her visits and to her questions. I could only hope that people would be so receptive to me while traveling-of course she opened herself up to strangers and I would guess it was her "good-naturedness" and postive and humble demeanor that drew people to her as well.
   I could have done without the sentimental flashbacks and even more sentimental love letters to her friend, but that is just me. Overall, I enjoyed reading about Ms Steinbachs travels and experiences.



4. I enjoyed reading Alice Steinbach's "Without Reservations" immensely that I looked forward to reading this book with the same intensity, but I became disappointed with it towards the middle of the book and I even skipped some of the later chapters because it was making me sleep. I am reading her first book though, "The Miss Dennis School of Writing and Other Lessons from a Woman's Life", which is a collection of her articles in the Baltimore Sun.



5. I too really enjoyed Without Reservations, however, this book is Borrrinnng. I suppose her list of things to do/learn is vastly different than mine. She definitely has a Jones for the Ritz [in both books], which does nothing for me. I love Jane Austen, but have no interest in the all-things-Jane vigil. Gardens in Provence? I did enjoy the Havana story, but still am unsure how she went from the states to Cuba...I thought this wasn't legal. Upon reading other reviews right now, I've decided to skip her holocaust non-fiction writing [nothing like an American going to "holocaust country" and writing a story. sheesh.], and the apparently ever so REALLY boring sheep herding education.

5 comments about My Father's Secret War.

1. This is a fascinating story of a journey into the past-- a journalist's attempt to recreate the history of her mysterious and troubled father. Lucinda Franks struggles to understand her father's history and her own complex feelings about this fascinating man. She learns about his extraordinary experiences during World War II and begins to understand the ways in which the war changed and marked him-- how he continued to carry the war inside him long after he returned home to wife and family. A moving and nuanced memoir.



2. This is an excelling read and I would recommend it to anyone interested in American experiences in WWII, as well as father-daughter relationships. IT is a very personal book, and the author paints a revealing portrait of both her father and herself. The writing is strong and crisp, with occasionally lovely turns of phrases. The story itself is moving and concerns the author's memories of her father and her own growth as she came to better understand various forces that shaped his life. As she uncovers her father's activities as a spy in WWII, she gradually coming to a more mature understanding of his limitations. I enjoyed the book, and felt I learned some new things about WWII in the process.



3. I was lucky enough to hear Lucinda Franks speak on a recent book tour in Lowell, Mass, and was immediately drawn to her story. In reading the book, I recalled Milton's line, "They also serve who only stand and wait." The war in which her father served so heroically never really ended for him. It took a psychic toll on Tom Franks that was later to affect Lucinda and his entire family. They all paid the price for his service to his country. For many years, his paranoid behavior, the guns hidden all around the house, and his secretiveness was a mystery to the author. With the skill of a world class reporter who risked her own life in Northern Ireland in the worst days of "The Troubles," Lucinda Franks begins to unravel her father's story. With war records from The National Archives spread all over the floor before her, she pieces the facts together. Gradually, her father gives up the details of his secret war. His presence at the liberation of the first concentration camp at Ordruf is detailed, a scene of such horror that it alone would explain the nightmares that wracked her father and that woke her as a young girl to his voice in the next room shouting "No! No!" Later, he gives up his darkest secret to her,one that has haunted him since 1945. The fact that he did his duty was never enough to console him, and he lived with the burden of guilt.
   
   A friend of my father's died recently, and it was not until I read his obituary that I discovered he had been at Iwo Jima. So many of these veterans carried their wars to their graves, especially those who served the OSS. Lucinda Franks has done those veterans, and all of us, a service by rescuing her father's story, and by illustrating in beautiful prose the cost of war to all of us.



4. My father rarely talked about his experience in World War II and I never really asked him about it. Now that he's gone, I wish I had. Lucinda Franks asked her father, and he often demurred; but she persevered and was able to piece together a revealing story about the real horrors of war and the effect it has on its participants.
   
   Franks is an insightful observer and a talented writer: I was caught up in her quest to understand her father as he slipped away into old age. This is a very personal look at family dynamics in "The Greatest Generation." I found it captivating.



5. As I approach the the age of my parents when they died, I've realized I know very little about them. I accepted them, as children do, as always having been the way they were when I was growing up. I think it is in this spirit of questioning that Lucinda Franks Morgenthau wrote this memoir. It is often the things that are never spoken of that influence lives: death, war, affairs that turned out badly. To accept and forgive, you have to understand, and for us children of the 1960s with parents who lived through WW II, that is investigative work.
   Ms. Franks is no longer a journalist of hard news, but she has done the hard work of investigating her father's war work, and her own heart. Bravo!

5 comments about Sex with the Queen: 900 Years of Vile Kings, Virile Lovers, and Passionate Politics (P.S.).

1. Sex with the Queen was an entertaining journey through some of the most famous royal bedrooms in history. Covering women from Anne Boleyn to Catherine the Great to Diana Princess of Wales, Eleanor Herman brings to life the scandalous lives of royal women throughout history. Some were abused, unloved wives who just wanted to find some semblance of happiness in a world where royal females were cattle to be sold to the highest bidder. Some were not so sympathetic and at least one was completely innocent of the accusations that killed her.
   I enjoyed this book throughly. It was an intelligent look at the underlaying reasons for such "scandalous" behavior. It once again brings to light how deploringly women have been treated throughout history. It certainly has all the ingredients to make a good soap opera: sex, love, betrayal, and money. It definitely helps to make history more interesting and that is always a positive thing.



2. This is a delicious and oftentimes informative read. However, the back of the paperback edition deems the book "impeccably researched." I think any serious scholar, to put it nicely, would disagree in the extreme with that statement. I was expecting new revelations and information, but the author only puts together a hodgepodge of stories compiled from secondary sources--many of which were based on speculation and rumor themselves. That said, the book overall does not disappoint in entertainment value. Some readers loyal to Princess Diana wil be taken aback by Herman's harsh portrayal of the Princess as a manipulative, mentally unstable wolf in sheep's clothing. One nice feature is the PS section at the back of the book, which has a lot about Herman's journey to becoming a best-selling author. Aspiring writers will enjoy the PS addition to the author's work.



3. I have to say, this book was definitely an enjoyable read. When it got to the sections on princesses whose stories I know, however, I realized that everything leading up to that last chapter would have to be taken with a grain of salt, because the sheer volume of inaccuracies in just those two stories was incredible. I am curious as to where she found the resources she had to use to compile this book. The last chapter only discussed Empress Alexandra of Russia and Princess Diana. Being an avid fan of Russian history whose particular interest lies in that last bunch of Romanovs, I know that it has never been proven that Rasputin was Alexandra's lover (among the other "facts" presented). Ms. Herman obviously didn't get her research from any of the reputable historians, such as Nicholas Massie and Edward Radzinsky. And where on Earth did she get all of those "facts" about Princess Di? Of course the woman couldn't have been the saint she was made out to be. But a manipulative, love-starved, nymphomaniac b*tch? Probably even the queen would have a problem reconciling herself to that description. I actually had to stop reading there because, after all, the poor woman is dead thanks to people like Eleanor Herman, who comes off as nothing more than overzealous paparazzi in her version of Diana's life. With both women, she states assumptions and lies with such conviction that one has to wonder if being the "granddaughter 28 times removed of Eleanore of Aquitaine", and being "related to most of the royal families of Europe" isn't enough for her, and she's jealous of those who actually did get to live a royal life.
   
   Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy this book - up until the crucifixions in the last chapter. It's well written and one can hope that not every princess in this book is so cruelly slandered, and that there might be some truth in the stories of Sophia Dorothea and Catherine the Great (my interest in the Romanov's doesn't go back that far, so I don't know what liberties were taken with Catherine and Elizabeth's stories). Ms. Herman is indeed talented, but maybe those talents would be better put to use writing historical fiction because she sure does seem to have a flair for making up stories.



4. This is the perfect book-end to this author's "Sex With Kings", for it shows that females were just as inclined to adultery as their male counterparts. The problem with being the Queen (or consort) was that, unlike the male, the female, unless she was ruler in her own right, faced severe penalties if caught in adultery. Henry VIII's wives were a perfect example, but there were others who were divorced, imprisoned, sent to a convent, or even beheaded. It shows that "equality of the sexes" is really a very new idea. What fascinated me about this book was the section about Princess Diana and her many and varied adulteries. I must confess to not being particularly interested in the sex lives of the Windsors, but Diana's erotic adventures amazed me! Obviously the term "people's princess" meant that she was a princess to much of the male population. One learns something new every day!



5. I sometimes wish that Amazon rated on a scale of 10 instead of 5--this is a better-than-3-star book. The book is truly a compendium of the triumphs and tragedies of women in high places for nine hundred years, and it's a romp to read. (It's also a better, and more sympathetic, book than Herman's first effortSex with Kings: 500 Years of Adultery, Power, Rivalry, and Revenge (P.S.)--better organized, and more accurate.) Ms. Herman's preferences for some royal ladies over others is very clear, though that is not a terrible flaw. My main problem with the book is expressed in the certainty of the captions of the many beautiful portraits reprinted in the book--there is some doubt that Marie Antoinette and Count Fersen were actually intimate, and very much doubt that Empress Alexandra ever slept with Rasputin--not that Rasputin wouldn't have tried. Certainly many believe as Ms. Herman does, including many of the subjects of these two queens, but I would have preferred it if she had presented both sides of the case, and let us decide. Nevertheless, especially if it whets your interest in history, royal or otherwise, this is a truly entertaining read.
   
   PS I am curious about the choice of cover art for "Queen" versus that for "Sex with Kings"--why a lovely scantily clad lady on BOTH? Perhaps we would be seeing a more "feminist" work if the cover of "Queen" had featured an analagous male figure!

5 comments about The Nazi Officer's Wife: How One Jewish Woman Survived the Holocaust.

1. This book was recommended by a friend, and while it came highly-rated, I hesitated to read it because I find stories about the Holocaust too upsetting. When I did pick it up, I couldn't put it down! Admittedly, I turned the pages through the first third slowly, fearing I would read something disturbing but, by the end I couldn't get enough.
   
   The book is written in Mrs. Hahn's voice and reads very much like a novel. Although she shares the most tragic details of her life with us, she does so in a way that emphasizes the compassion, warmth and kindness that she found rather than the sheer terror (although those times were also shared). It is understood that the time were worse than imaginable, but it was not presented in a way to shock the reader or cause you not to want to read on.
   
   Mrs. Hahn's story and determination were remarkable and I kept asking myself if I could have found the courage to live as she did. Just as remarkable were the brave people who helped her and risked their lives so that this one person could survive such punishment and tragedy. They are all to be commended!
   
   Don't hesitate to read this book...it's a must!



2. While the focus of the story is how one woman survived the holocaust, the title sensationalizes a small part of the story (in fact, her husband wasn't a Nazi Officer until the German's were losing the war and drafting anyone left).
   
   This is a book about one individual's survival, in large part due to some amazing luck and some good people. It is NOT a book of how the author used her fortune or took extraordinary risks to help others. Not that there's anything wrong about that. It was a time where no one should be judged for doing what they had to do to survive...and you have to admire anyone who did. Its jut different than the books on the true heroes of this time. The kindness and the weak moments is the human norm and we see both extremes in many of the principle characters, including both of the men who loved the author was well. So its a different story and any documented history of this horrible time is one we should all remember.
   
   Its not the best writing but it gets better and is easily readable. I wanted to give this 4 stars because any true story from this time is recommended reading; however its far from the best I've read. If you want to read an uplifting story about a woman who risks her luck to help others, I'd highly recommend "In My Hands" but Irena Opdyke.



3. I would give 2 and a half stars. This is a good read in that any account of human experiences is important to remind us of the evils in the world, and human resilience nevertheless. The writing, however, is too rudimentary, and one dimensional.



4. This book wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great either. This woman was smart, but the tale could have been told better so that there was a bit more profoundness in it.



5. Edith Hahn Beer was a law student in Austria when the Nazis moved in. In this books she relates the abuses she endured in a work camp. This novel focuses on how she spent the whole time in sort of a denial. While her family spent money to help her sisters and family leave Edith and her mother stayed, due to lack of money and the fact that edith didn't want to leave her boyfriend Pepi.
   
   When Edith realized that Pepi wasn't going to marry her or help her and her mother was missing, Edith decides to go underground. She gets a set of papers from a friend and flees to Munich. There she meets a man named Werner who is a nazi party member. He is very insistent that Edith marry him, even after Edith confesses she is jewish.
   
   Edith spends the rest of the war as a robotic nazi wife. You feel sorry for her and wonder how she could have survived the daily fear and anxiety she faced at being found out. She doesn't really talk much about Werner. She mentions his crazy outburst and supposes that his twistedness is what made him marry her. Edith managed to survive the war and got back her identity when the war ended although it lost her her husband Werner.
   
   I applaud Edith's courage and resourcefulness. It is interesting to read about a jewish person who not only lived among the nazi's during the war but actually married one! However the majority of the book does focus on her life before she married Werner. It more of how one Jewish woman survived the war and had married a nazi to do it.

5 comments about Soiled Doves: Prostitution in the Early West (Women of the West).

1. While I was on a tour with a busload of history teachers, I found this gem in a State Historical Site bookstore. It made what would be an otherwise long and tedious bus trip, a joy! It was an easy read, yet very scholarly and unbiased view into a slice of life we hadn't known much about. So many of the teachers were interested in the bits and pieces that I was telling them about the book, that our professors had me get up and give an impromptu report on the bus' microphone. This book became the "Talk of the 10 day tour". I have since purchased 4 other of Anne Seagraves' books. They are fascinating, BUT "Soiled Doves" has still been our favorite!



2. I LOVE social history, and Anne Seagraves delivers. I have gone on to order most of her other books and they are just fun little reads. The author gives you a glimpse into the daily lives of facinating woman history has forgotten. It's fun to see that life wasn't all it seemed back in the old west, in fact it was pretty full of drama and excitement for most of these unusual women. I cannot recommend these books enough!



3. I just finished reading this book and found it quite captivating. If you want a Reader's Digest version of a Soiled Dove's environment, this will interest you. In my travels, I have had the opportunity to speak with a number of "Soiled Doves" and discussed the business aspect of prostitution.
   
   Work for yourself and you are an independent contractor.
   
   Work for a pimp or a Madame...and let them be your Business Manager.
   
   If the doves learned a skill, they could bump up their prices.
   
   One dove mentioned in this book did not want to lease office space (for lack of a better phrase) and provided remote services in the open. She knew how to reduce her overhead costs.
   
   No pun intended.
   
   Aside from it being an unorthodox business, these women knew the fundamentals of economics -supply and demand.
   
   The author made mention to various Madams in this book and I found it intriguing, but not surprising, that many of them paid-off officials to keep their business in operation. These women were survivors in an era when the rights of women were limited at best.
   
   These women provide an interesting twist to the phrase "by any means necessary."



4. Soiled Doves is an uncommon view of the early American West. Author Anne Seagraves tastefully lifts the veil on prostitution -which is neither glamorized nor portrayed in such a manner so as to make Soiled Doves unreadable.
   
   Seagraves recounts the stories of real "working girls" - some personalities are recognizable, others are not familiar - all are interesting and yet sad. The short stories cast light on the various classes of the "trade", their impact on the economy and culture of the West.
   
   Soiled Doves includes lots of pictures, which add personality to the text.
   
   Although the subject matter is handled carefully, the book is likely not appropriate for all readers. I would rate the book a heavy PG-13 or light R.
   
   My only criticism of the book is that Seagraves tends to let absolutes creep into her writing, using "all" and "every" instead of "most" and "generally". This is a minor annoyance. A few reviewers are critical of the sophistication of the writing -I am not. The book is a compilation of short stories - it is not a dissertation. Author Seagraves does include a bibliography and a list of journals, magazines and dissertations for the reader who wishes to read more about the subject.
   
   Four stars.



5. The author's list of acknowledgements fills a page at the opening of this historical account of prostitution in the early West. She has clearly done her research. And her book is a window into a subject often alluded to in the literature of the frontier but seldom if ever revealed in any depth.

   The West was a man's world where, according to Seagrave, men often outnumbered women 50 to 1. Employment opportunities being few for uneducated young women, a great many found their way to the brothels in the red light districts of cities, cow towns and mining camps. The author describes these establishments from the most genteel down to the most squalid. She also characterizes the role of the madam, an entrepreneur whose business contributed to the local economy while being at the same time illegal and an object of outrage among the community's socially respectable.

   Much of the book is devoted to profiles of individual madams, often known for their sharp business sense and their generosity, while contributing freely to local charitable organizations. The book includes many period photographs, including studio portraits of well established madams and the women who worked for them. One chapter is devoted to the special plight of Chinese prostitutes who lived under conditions of slavery in Western states into the early 20th century.

   While the book is informative, a reader may sometimes question its accuracy as history. Myth and legend have a way of mingling with documented fact, and while all of this is interesting, the author isn't scrupulous about distinguishing between them. Because the book tends to dramatize the lives of the women it discusses, a reader looking for an analysis of prostitution in the larger picture of Western social history will probably find a lot of questions unanswered. Still, the book opens up a subject that is too seldom regarded with the historical interest it deserves.

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

1. A "why now?" bio documenting the already well-documented career of the founding Supreme member who was fired from the group more than 40 years ago. . . and died less than 10 years later.
   
   Author readily acknowledges contributions of writers of four or five previous Ballard/Supreme books and most of his "exclusive" material relies heavily on an interview with Ballard he conducted nearly 35 years ago. But with exceptions of latter day updates on fates of surviving family members and contemporaries and some excerpts from court documents, there's next to nothing here (unless you count the name of a future Detroit sports figure who allegedly raped her as a teenager) that hasn't been public knowledge to the faithful in the three-plus decades since Flo's untimely demise.
   
   In the unlikely event you've never heard of Florence Ballard, this is a fine crash course on the short sad life of the sauciest Supreme. But any fan expecting anything new on this Dreamgirl prototype should, well, dream on.



2. I enjoyed reading Perter Benjaminson's book THE LOST SUPREME: THE LIFE OF DREAMGIRL FLORENCE BALLARD. It's an intriguing book that gives the reader a glimpse at the behind the scenes of one the world's most famous singing group and arguably the one that put Motown on the map.
   
   The book covers, briefly, the formation of the Supremes and the rise up the chart. It also covers the break up and downward spiral of ex-Supreme Flo Ballard. And although I found the book an interesting read, most of the information seems to be put together in piecemeal format. It jumps around a lot, and I understand that Benjaminson was using a tape recorded interview that he had conducted with Ballard back in 1975-76, when he worked for the "Detroit Free Press," as well as public records to put this book together.
   
   I was expecting more details, especially of Ballard's life after the Supremes, along the lines of Mary Wilson's book Dreamgirl & Supreme Faith, Updated Edition: My Life as a Supreme but this book falls short. It does give some account of the sad life and struggle that Ballard had after Motown and The Supremes, so at least it sheds some light.
   
   There were a couple of errors in the book that makes me say read everything with a grain of salt. One problem, that Supreme fans would catch, is the author implying that when the Supremes became "Diana Ross and the Supremes" they no longer cared about their appearance and performed "Love Child" on the Ed Sullivan show in their street clothes. Well, that's not true. The group was changing their image to a more urban look to fit in with the turbulent 60s and the changing times, hence the song.
   
   Another small problem, the author makes the comparison between the Supremes and "Dreamgirls." He lists the show stopping number sung by the character "Effie," which is patterned after Ballard, as "I Tell You I'm Not Going." Anyone who knows anything about musical theater or has listened to this song, either from the Broadway musical or recent movie, knows the title is "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going." Yes, this is nitpicking but you don't paraphrase a proper title. My guess is: Benjaminson ran to the theater and saw the movie once and mistakenly thought the title was as he wrote it.
   
   Other than that, I found it a fun read. There are pictures in the book but nothing that I haven't seen before.



3. I enjoyed the first person interview with Florence Ballard. I remember hearing about her untimely death and reading her own words of her Motown experiences allowed the reader such a first hand account of what she was experiencing with the Supremens and after her departure from the lable. However, what was bothersome about the book was the authors constant references to other peoples works. It seemed that he did not have enough material to write a complete project of his own. I would recommend this book to fans of the ultimate girl group and particularly to the fans of the very talented Florence Ballard, who helped to make the Supremes the legacy and the standard for all female groups to follow.



4. The Lost Supreme: The Life of Dreamgirl Florence Ballard is a down to earth, tell it like it is book. Flo was indeed the best singer of the Supremes, but Diane always was and always will be the girl who forgot where she came from. Flo was so misunderstood, it was a shame that she ended up the way she did. She was a real Detroit girl and she deserved better than what she was given. Mary never wanted to get caught in the middle, and I hope that both Diane and Mary will understand someday that yes, you can lose everything as well, and end up being a nobody, living back in the ghetto of Detroit where people don't care who you used to be.



5. This Book Was Short But I Found Out Some More Things That I Did Not Know Like The Man Who Rape Flo.Peter Told It Like It was And He Hold Back Nothing Because In Flo Sister's Book She Held Back A Lot Of Things That Should Have Been Told But Not Peter He Told It Like Is Was. The Best Books About What Really Happen To Flo Are Mary Wilson And Tony Turner books.I Am Glad That Some One WasAble To Tell Flo Story Before She Pass A Way.I Also Am Glad About the Movie Dreamgirls Because I Know The Real Truth Why Flo Was Treated The Way She Was And Why After she Was Let Go Why motown Keep Her From Reaching The Top Because She Sould Have Been Able To Keep Singing And Be Famous And Not Go Down So Fast In Life.When I Read About I Feel Sad And Some Time Mad Because She Was Did So Wrong For Nothing. If Only Berry &Diana Care About Her And Got Her The Help That She Needed And Not Keep Her Down After She Was Fried From the Group Then She Would Have Been all Right. I Also Wish That She Would Have Just Went Along With The Group And At The Same Time Been Learning About The Business So When The Time Came To Leave The Group She Could Have Done AlrightBy Her Self Because She Was The One Who Could Sing All Type Of Music. Most Singers Can Not Do This But She Could. I Also Wish That OnceShe Left Motown She Would Just Regroup For One Year And Start Up The Motown ModlesGroup Because The Best Looking Blackwoman Came for The Motown Singers. I Just Wish flo ,Mary Wanda, Gladys, Katherine(Marvelettes)Brenda Holloway,Martha Reeves,& Others Could Have Went To Paris And Have There Own RunWay Because They Could Dress And Look Sexy At The Same Time.

5 comments about I Could Tell You Stories: Sojourns in the Land of Memory.

1. [...] I also recall that, "At the root of utterance," Patricia Hampl writes, "language conspires to be political, cohesive of the nation, a linguistic fortress preserving those gathered within it" [...] --from "Recollections"



2. My life has been touched by this insightful book. Hampl has invited me into her vision of the writers' calling, and I understand that impulse more fully. She shares not only insights about the complexities of writing about memory but also gives us brilliant views of writers she admires. From Augustine to Plath, the rich material stays with me, teaches me, inspires me in my own writing like no other book about memoir.



3. This multi layered book shows, tells and illustrates in an intriguing fashion.

   It tells you about memoir and memory and shows you, actively, of Hampl's writing journey and then illustrates through her essays.

   Her description of "re-vision"... literally revisiting the "scene" in one's memory and her description of memoir writing as "travel writing" -- notes taken along the way -- give you a flavor of Hampl's unique fingerprint.

   Read and study this one if you are at all interested in writing and actively reading memoir.




4. What is memory? One and the same amid East Europeans and the Western world?

   Outstanding among Patricia Hampl's essays, I COULD TELL YOU STORIES: SOJOURNS IN THE LAND OF MEMORY, is "Czeslaw Milosz and Memory," a brilliant discussion concerning this Lithuanian and Polish poet, whose personal history and that of his fellow citizens pivot around that of the nation per se. Memory, for a small country, is the ntion itself.

   Therefore,the past, the history of a nation, plays a primary role for the East European. Compare this to the American memoirist whose primary focus is the family: "The self is the story; history is just a landscape," writes Hampl. The American (and West European) memoirist is swayed by an intrinsic, not an extrinsic process.

   We can say that this held true until 9/11. And thereafter? One might say of the West: Erstwhile, the self was the story, History, beyond the landscape, has begun to touch our lives.




5. This is one of the MOST insteresting books I have ever read. I go though several of Ms. Hampl's explorations upon people and life which I found both intriguing and informative. I especially enjoyed the chapter about Edith Stein. (Try reading at least that chapter and see if it entices you too.)