5 comments about Chrysalis: Maria Sibylla Merian and the Secrets of Metamorphosis.

1. What possesses a European woman to pack up her life and move across the ocean to study the natural world? Did I mention that it was 1699?
   
   Chrysalis tells the story of Maria Sibylla Merian, a woman living in the late 1600s and early 1700s, who is fascinated by the process in which a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. She cultivates them as one might cultivate roses. More, she studies them in their own habitat. But how did she do it in a time when women were subject to their men, when witch trials were the norm, and dabbling in insect life was more than suspect?
   
   But Chrysalis is more than a biography. It is a study in entomology. What is the process from caterpillar to butterfly? And why do the chrysalises sometimes produce flies rather than butterflies? Remember this is the time of "spontaneous generation" when scientists thought frogs came from rain and meat produced flies.
   
   Chrysalis is more than entomology. It is religious history. What made the Pietist sects split off from the Lutheran church? What was the call of the Labidists for Merian? And how did she slide by the rules of stripping off worldly trappings in order to continue to paint and study?
   
   And still that is not all. There is her study across the ocean in Surinam. Her return. Her art. The study of microbiology with the invention of the microscope. This book is a comprehensive study of much that was going on in the world. It is fascinating and the art is beautiful. If I have any complaint, it is that the author references pieces that aren't pictured in the book and when the pieces are pictured, there is nothing to note that. I spent a lot of time flipping to the grouped photos in an often fruitless search.
   
   Armchair Interviews says: This is an overall fascinating book that could be improved by better referencing and picturing of the art.



2. [...]
   
   Chrysalis: Maria Sibylla Merian and the Secrets of Metamorphosis, a nonfiction book by Missoula writer Kim Todd, sounds like a Victorian adventure novel: a fifty-two-year-old woman abandons her husband and European continent to study the metamorphosis of caterpillars in Surinam. But this was before the Victorians. In 1699, more than a century before Darwin, sixty-five years after Galileo's prosecution, and a time when witch hunts were part of the recent past, Maria Sibylla Merian embarked on a journey of scientific discovery in the dangerous New World with only her daughter for company. While the male colonists grew sugar cane on their plantations, Merian's slaves and servants helped her locate insects, reptiles, and plants for her to study and depict in her captivating watercolors. She trusted the natives' knowledge to assist her research, something that would be used against her reputation in the decades after her death.
   
   By the time Merian stepped on that boat to Surinam, she was a mother of two, had published two books about the metamorphosis of caterpillars in her native Germany, and spent five years living with a Pietist religious sect in a castle in Amsterdam, where she argued successfully for a separation from her husband using the sect's beliefs. At the time, a woman's husband was her legal representative and the court ordered numerous women to return to their abusive husbands. But after Merian's successful separation, she lived in Amsterdam and financially supported herself and her youngest daughter. Watercolors were her tool because "guild rules banned women from painting with oils." To get on that boat and to fund her scientific and artistic expedition, Merian sold her paintings and any unnecessary belongings.
   
   Kim Todd who received the PEN/Jerard Fund Award and the Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing for her previous book, Tinkering with Eden, vividly describes the cultural, religious, and political time Merian lived in, as well as her artwork and scientific contributions, without overwhelming the reader. Todd also introduces other fascinating, accomplished women of the seventeenth century, and the new, exciting time of natural philosophers (the term scientist hadn't been created yet, neither had biology, ecology, or any of the other -ologies). Spontaneous generation, the idea that creatures could be born from non-living sources, was a common belief during Merian's time. Todd includes some of the recipes. My favorite is:
   
   To get a bee -
   Find a sunny space roofed with tile
   Beat a three year old bull to death
   Put poplar and willow branches under the body
   Cover it with thyme and serpellium
   The bees will emerge
   
   In language as colorful as Merian's paintings, Todd also describes the intricacies of metamorphosis and some of the insects that befuddled Merian and other natural philosophers. Through Todd's gripping prose, I became excited about the tricky metamorphosis of the large blue butterfly (Maculinea arion). Trust me, that's an accomplishment. If you don't believe insects and metamorphosis are interesting, you will feel differently after this book. To experience Merian's life and what happened to her work and reputation after her death, you will need, and want, to read Chrysalis. One hint: Peter the Great is involved.



3. You may have seen the artwork of Maria Sibylla Merian, as it is a staple for pretty but accurate pictures of butterflies, caterpillars, moths, and flowers, and can be found on china or stationery. She was more than a painter or engraver, though. Her life was unique. She had artistic talent, but she was also a keen scientific observer, who advanced the study of insects immeasurably. She was a teenaged bride who left her husband who divorced her, and she had to care for their two children. She was so enthralled with the study of moths and butterflies that at age 52 she traveled to a mysterious and largely unknown land to see more of them, and to bring back pictures and scientific descriptions of their behavior. And she did this more than three centuries ago. _Chrysalis: Maria Sibylla Merian and the Secrets of Metamorphosis_ (Harcourt) by Kim Todd is a thoughtful examination of what we can know about Merian's life from the few personal documents that remain about her, and a proper reevaluation of her place in the world's scientific effort. It also is a fine resource about the biological controversies that were brewing in the seventeenth century, controversies that had to be settled in order for a basic understanding of insect life to take hold.
   
   Merian was born in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1647. She could not have a formal apprenticeship like a male artist in training, and she could not even paint in oils, because the rules of the guild forbade women from doing so. She was, however, able to use watercolors and engraving with beauty and utility to bring her objects of study almost to life upon the page. When Merian studied or painted insects, she included what foods they ate, and how they proceeded from egg to larva to pupa and to the adult, and it was all part of her contribution to science and to the branch that later was to be known as ecology. In doing so, she was working against scientific currents of the time, since it was held that insects could spontaneously generate from rotting meat, dew, or wool. She also was taking a risk in showing interest in possibly satanic insects, especially since she kept them alive, fed them, and kept their cocoons in her kitchen. Women were accused of witchcraft for less. Dutch curiosity cabinets did contain spectacular specimens from the colony of Surinam, but Merian wanted to see the insects as they lived, and used the money she made from her books and her paintings to finance her two-year trip there. She relied on the natives to tell her about the plants and their uses, and she got the first rudimentary understandings of the rainforest as a complex ecosystem; she observed, for instance, that butterflies at the tops of the trees were different from the ones nearer the ground.
   
   Merian left Surinam after only two years because of illness, probably malaria. After she returned to the Netherlands, she published _Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium_ in 1705, full of pictures and descriptions of the colorful insects she had seen on her travel. The beauty of the pictures was praised, but only succeeding generations could appreciate the ecological innovations of her insect portraits. Her reputation suffered after her death; if she were discussed at all, it was to ridicule her picture of a spider capturing a hummingbird. After all, she had no formal education, she accepted the reports of natives who lived among the insects she depicted, and she was a woman. It was only in the twentieth century that her reputation was restored, not just as an artist but as a scientist who insisted on direct observation of the insects she described, and who realized how their cycles linked within a larger natural system. Todd's book has to have a great deal of speculation in it; she includes many sentences beginning with "perhaps" or "probably". This is because the sources are scant. There are Merian's books and paintings, of course, but beyond that are a couple of her legal documents and less than twenty letters she wrote. Nonetheless, Merian's contributions to biology were considerable, and Todd's well-illustrated and thoughtful book helps in the restoration of her reputation.



4. Today Maria Merian is mostly known for her lovely butterfly prints, but back in 1699 she sailed from Amsterdam to South America on an expedition to study metamorphosis - a rare journey for any naturalist of the times, much less a woman over fifty - and spent two years in the tropical jungle seeking out caterpillars and studying butterflies. Her accomplishments were largely dismissed and forgotten but come to life here in a gorgeous biography surveying her life and achievements.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch



5. Ever since "Tinkering with Eden," I have been eagerly awaiting Kim Todd's next book, and, with "Chrysalis," she does not disappoint. Anyone who enjoys a good biography should read this book - and for that reason, it's a great book to give as a gift. The topic sounds obscure, but Todd's vivid prose brings her remarkable subject to life. Highly recommended!

5 comments about Sit, Ubu, Sit: How I went from Brooklyn to Hollywood with the Same Woman, the Same Dog, and a Lot Less Hair.

1. The thing that surprised me the most in this breezy, charming bio by Goldberg, who made Michael J Fox a star when he created 'Family Ties', is how choked up I got while reading it. It reads like those light, smart sit-coms you're watching and laughing hysterically at, and then suddenly something happens that's so touching, so human, you're welling up before you know it. A large portion of the book is, like so many have previously stated, a love letter to his wife, and it's nice to see Hollywood endings can come at the end of a romantic fairy tale.



2. What a refreshingly funny, sincere, and insightful read. I laughed out loud so many times I lost count. I loved the way he included just the right amounts of different aspects of his life, none dominating the story - his work in television, his adorable chocolate Lab Ubu, his friendships, and his heartwarming relationship with his wife Diana. It was simply delightful cover to cover. I read few books more than once; this will be one of them.



3. I've read sooooooo many books in my day, but this one has the charm, warmth and insight into Gary's humanity, that I couldn't put it down. Now what do I read????!!!! Please, Gary, write another one!!!



4. Sit Ubu Sit is a heart warming,entertaining and thoroughly engaging memoir. The life experiences of Gary David Goldberg are interesting in and of themselves and the lessons learned from his life's path are invaluable to just about everyone.The book is like a Philosophy 101 course putting into perspective the priorities of life using Hollywood and Brooklyn as two polar opposites of life's spectrum. Gary Goldberg is the friend we all want...........the father we all crave........the husband we all dream of......His warmth, sense of humor, family devotion,intelligence and uniqueness all interplay to make this a fabulous read.



5. Reading this book feels like watching a sitcom, but you don't have to wait from episode to episode to get a few laughs. You get a concentrated dose of humor mixed with some tragedy. Another reason it is better than a sitcom is that all of the stories are true. The book is hard to put down and when you are finished it leaves you feeling uplifted, despite the parts that make you cry.

5 comments about The Fortune Hunters: Dazzling Women and the Men They Married.

1. 
   the title is a kinder, glossier euphemism for 'the gold diggers' of course. it basically gives a little biographical backstory to the great gold diggers of our age, yawn, and the message remains the same - women who marry for money end up earning every penny, just not on a 9-5 basis and perhaps not standing upright...
   
   a travesty of feminism.



2. The Fortune Hunters has the unique qualaity of being both entertaining AND informative. If 'all is fair in love and war' then this book illustrates the strategies and characteristics of the greatest conquerors of the battle of the sexes. You learn how each of the 'generals' won the skirmishes, battles, and wars that made them famous while also learning the motivations that drove them into battle. Each of the women profiled could command a 400 page biography of their own but this book isn't about detailing their ENTIRE lives but, rather,their LOVE lives. Though these women are all one-of-a-kind personalities they share a specific cocktail of traits that makes for successful big-game hunting. Whether it is Wallis Simpson or Marla Maples Ms. Hays confirms that you can get more money during a 5 minute wedding ceremony than you could get from a lifetimes hard work. The text is witty and easy to read while the boil-plate approach to the fortune-huntress tactics provides high nutritional value. I have seen many 'fortune huntresses'(South Florida boasts a large population of 'old men with even older money') toiling away at their craft with dissapointing results but now that Ms. Hays has written this primer on marrying money their fortunes might just change for the better.
   I read this book the first night - couldn't put it down.



3. Very simply, THE FORTUNE HUNTERS should have been better. Author Charlotte Hays, presumably in concert with her editor and publisher, has cheated her readers.
   
   Most importantly, the book simply is too short. At less than 300 pages, it should have been at least 50% longer. Had it been longer, it might have included sufficient examples of fortune hunters -- and examples abound -- to do justice to the theme.
   
   The writing has a rushed quality, with some sentences so run-on that they could have been broken up into full paragraphs.
   
   Author Hays draws some conclusions that are just plain wrong. Diana, the late Princess of Wales, was not a fortune hunter. Coming from an old noble family, a rich family, she was a misguided teenager who thought that she was marrying her Prince Charming -- and who, at the same time, assumed that when he became king, she would be queen.
   
   Neither was socialite Nan Kempner a fortune hunter, though Hays opens AND closes the book with the EXACT SAME anecdote about her. Kempner married young and stayed married for about 50 years, to a boy of her own social class. The author is confusing making a "suitable" marriage with hunting for a rich husband.
   
   At the same time, the author never even mentions Princess Grace of Monaco. Admittedly, Grace was not a fortune hunter, being a member of a rich family and having made serious money on her own as a movie star. Yet she did marry a virtual stranger in her quest to become royal.
   
   As for those fortune hunters the author does include in her book, she omits most of the more compelling anecdotes about them. Anyone who was in New York during some of these ladies' heydays will find it difficult to understand how Hays could neglect to reference the details of the notorious party which caused the Steinbergs to retire from polite society, or how she could give only one example of Mrs. Gutfreund's hilarious social gaffes.
   
   As the expression goes, the omissions also are glaring. Pat Kluge is cited only in a single aside. The marriages of Mort Zuckerman and Henry Kravis and all of the later Mrs. Perelmans are not mentioned at all, nor is Brooke Astor. Denise Minelli Hale was so laser-focused on the man that she succeeded in wedding that her step-daughter wrote an entire book about their marriage; shouldn't Hays have included the last Mrs. Hale in her summation?
   
   THE FORTUNE HUNTERS is fascinating in concept, but the book is so short and so sloppy that it cheats its readers.



4. Did expect more of this book. The subject sure has enough substance... However, it is neither a gossip book nor a social anthropological study but a mish-mash of tidbits of information, some seems to come from a relatively close proximity other from far, far away from the objects studied. Not a book that really grabs you.



5. This book is a wonderful backgrounder on what a fortune hunter is truly made of. I'm surrounded by them--we all are, no matter which social class we live in. But this book is a fantastic backgrounder on how all of these women think and behave.
   
   Hays is not cutting or cruel about these women; she simply tells their stories. And the stories are really something. Interesting, though: The fortune hunters of yesteryear are cut from exactly the same cloth as those we hear and see so much about today.
   
   A fun read.

5 comments about The Sisters of Henry VIII: The Tumultuous Lives of Margaret of Scotland and Mary of France.

1. The title of this book is misleading. The sisters are mentioned in the book, but you really have to hunt to find much about them. And what got me off to a bad start was the second sentence of the introduction. Maria Perry says (and I'd like to know why she thinks ths----) that few people realize that Henry had two sisters. Anyone interested in the Tudors, and Henry especially, would certainly know he had sisters. This book's fatal flaw, however, is that it is just plain boring. I gave it three stars because there is certainly a lot of words in it, so Maria Perry put in a lot of effort, but frankly, everything in it has been written so much better in so many other books.



2. Margaret and Mary were the daughters of Henry VII and the sisters of Henry VIII. When Margaret was 13 she was married to 30 year old King James IV of Scotland. They had several children, only one of whom James lived to majority. After the death of James Margaret was married to the Duke of Angus and had a daughter by him named Margaret. Unfortunately this marriage was not a love match and after many years they got divorced, and Margaret married again.
   
   Mary on the other hand was married to the elderly King Louis of France when she was 18. She was only married to him for several months before his death. Before she left for France thought she had gotten a promise from her brother saying that when Louis died she could marry whom she wanted. By the time Mary was back in England she was married to thrice married Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffix. Because of some irregularities in his marriages (he had married a woman, divorced her to marry her aunt, then remarried his first wife) it was a while before the marriage was declared legitimate. By that time thought they were the parents of several children. They remained married for many years before Mary's death in 1536 after which Charles married one of their wards.
   
   While there are some parts that can be a bit boring, it can also be very interesting and very informative.



3. The book is just what I expected of it on what respects to the contents, I received it in Spain,in perfect conditions and in a very reasonable time.



4. This is my first Maria Perry book. Her research was/is great and very detailed. This is not just another dry history. She brings understanding along with facts to this story.



5. Everyone knows about the six wives of Henry VIII but the two sisters of Henry are relatively unknown to most readers. These women were queens in their own right and the elder sister Margaret was the grandmother of Mary Queen of Scots.This is a side of Henry's family that is not familar to most history readers. The book is well written and does not spend an inordinate amount of time discussing the relationship between Henry and his sisters,Margaret and Mary. The focus of the book is on their lives and the marriages they were arranged for them in Scotland and France.Henry is shown as a brother who is most interested in the influence and power his sisters play in their roles in their adopted lands and in center of royal power. He is never far from advising them on what to do for the benefit of England and as their all powerful brother.It is not brotherly love just brotherly advise that he offers and that he also enforces on them. His knows his sisters are well placed and wants to make sure that his interests and those of England are reflected in his sisters counsel to their spouses who are the kings of Scotland and France.
   The book is well written and keeps the stories of the sisters separate and does not try to interweave these lives. I found the story of Margaret more interesting and turbulent as she was Regent of Scotland and had bouts with the Scottish lords which her grandaughter Mary, Queen of Scots which she would encounter later in the century.Also,her influence on history was greater than her sister Mary who lived briefly in France as Queen for less than three months when her aged husband died and she returned to England to live a fairly unevenful life as wife of Charles Brandon.
   I recommend the book to those who want to extend their knowledge of this period and also to understand the nature of arranged marriages of royals from different countries as religious changes were occuring.

5 comments about Blown Away.

1. This book is one of my favorites. If you love true adventures, and real-life drama, read this book! Herb Payson does a wonderful job in drawing the reader into his boat and taking us for a ride! You will have a mixture of dread, excitement, and anticipation as they cruise along from island to island. This book will make you want to sell everything you own and move into your own boat. But don't let their setbacks discourage you. They have several mishaps while out at sea... But I won't spoil the fun and tell you what happens ---- This is good reading and I dare you to put the book down before you are finished!!! Happy armchair sailing!



2. I'm landlocked in Colorado, with no real desire to cruise on an ocean or even a bay, yet I really enjoyed reading this book. Herb and his wife, Nancy, were ordinary people except with perhaps even more limited funds than most Americans. Yet they impulsively decided to take to the sea. Somewhere along the way Herb started writing articles about his adventures (they almost always needed extra money because something else on the boat had broken). Eventually that led to this amusing, laugh out loud while reading it, book.
   Herb displays a fine sense of humor that never comes across as mean, just amusing as he describes himself and the people he meets along the way. This is a good book for sharing with others, then tucking it away on the bookshelf for another read next year. And if any cruiser is trying to explain to a landlubber what it's like on the water, this book would be the perfect gift to share both the bad (lost in the middle of a pitch black night surrounded by dangerous coral heads) and the glorious (a village throwing a party in honor of your visit). A charming book that is aging extremely well.



3. Both of these books ("Blown Away" and "You Can't Blow Home Again") are great and should be read one after the other (The second is the continuing saga). The true story of a family that sells everything to buy a boat and sail around the world. They only make it as far as the south pacific, but it makes for year after year of adventures. As a sailor myself (coastal, not blue water) I felt he did a great job of capturing the sharp contrast between the elation, exhilaration and sheer terror that can be found in sailing. Mr. Payson's honest, care free and "oh well" attitude is something that I wish I could capture for myself. Someone who does not mind laughing at himself.

   I only have one critique of the books. Mr. Payson uses nautical terms and the names of boat parts as if they are a part of everyone's daily vocabulary. I sail a simple sloop configuration and can name every component that is applicable to our boat. But his repeated use of terms unique to multi-masted, wooden masted, bow-sprinted boats kept sending me to the nautical dictionary. Since the book does not appear to be targeted at highly experienced sailors, a little more explanation would have been nice.




4. This book is one of the best all-around, just-your-average-guy, kind of sailing story. There are many, many books about guys who have been sailing their local waters all their life. They have always owned a sailboat and have always known that some day they would take off over the horizon. That is not the kind of guy Herb Payson was.

   The author and his wife just happened to decide that sailing was the answer to a life that did not seem to be giving them the joy they were seeking. Nevermind that between them they had very little sailing experience. It's this type of spirit for adventure and desire to explore the unknown that many of us aspire to.

   The book is well written and truly a joy to read. The author takes a witty and low-key approach to their sometimes eventful escapades. What this book represented most of all, however, was that you don't have to have decades of sailing experience or incredible endurance to take to a life of cruising. It is an inspirational piece and required reading for anyone thinking of doing the same.




5. My dad gave me this book to read during our first week-long cruise on the Chesapeake with his new 34 Catalina. Not only was this book an instant favorite of mine, it was a perfect selection while I was enjoying the sea myself. It made me want to buy a boat and cruise the world. I'm envious of his travels! It's an endearing and hilarious read.

5 comments about Mi Pais Inventado: Un Paseo Nostalgico por Chile.

1. This is a beautiful book. You will learn a lot about Chile and the author. Isabel Allende is a very interesting and fun writer. I was reading this book while commuting and I was often laughing alone in the train. She has that great sense of humor I some times miss from Southamerica. Great book.



2. El libro "Mi país inventado" de Isabel Allende es muchas cosas al mismo tiempo:
   
   Es un viaje a Chile: Isabel Allende nos cuenta de la geografía, de la política, de la cultura (especialmente del humor) y también de la historia reciente de este país Latinoamericano. Pero no es una guía que pretende reemplazar por ejemplo los libros de la "Lonely Planet". Si buscas una guía de ese tipo debes que comprar otro libro.
   
   "Mi país inventado" también es una autobiografía: Allende describe su infancia en Santiago de Chile. Cuenta de sus padres y parientes; especialmente nos deja saber muchas cosas sobre su abuelo. Pero al final solamente es una autobiografía muy rudimentaria (el libro de bolsillo solamente tiene aproximadamente 200 paginas).
   
   Sobretodo ese libro es una declaración de amor por "su país" (ella misma refiere varias veces a Chile como "mi país" - inclusive en su título ), por su patria. Sí, claro, escribe sobre la década del gobierno Pinochet en los anos 1970s, de las brutalidades cometidos por los militares etc. Sí, claro, nos cuenta de las características menos favorables de sus compatriotas. Y sí, claro, nos explica como a ella le gusta vivir en California con su marido y que bueno es para ella regresar "home" a San Francisco. Pero sin embargo después de leer "Mi país inventado" no hay ninguna duda donde reside su alma: en Chile.
   
   ¿Entonces, para quiénes fue escrito ese libro? Pienso que probablemente sea para los aficionados de Latino América y de Isabel Allende. Para lectores que ya conocen sus libros de ficción y que quieren saber más sobre Chile y Isabel Allende y de lo que Isabel Allende piensa de "su" país. A mi me gustó muchísimo leer "Mi país inventado".



3. Un libro que en lo personal me hizo descubrir la magia que puede haber en recorrer nuestras memorias mas intensas, esas que se marcan en nuestra infancia y adolescencia, cuando la memoria esta mas fresca. Esos recuerdos y nostalgias van enlazadas a la distancia y la aceptacion de una nueva tierra que nos brinda la oportunidad de estar aqui lejos de la otra y de alguna forma seguir cosechando recuerdos.
   Por supuesto que estas nuevas memorias y vivencias nunca reemplazaran los recuerdos magicos de ese pais inventado... o real del cual venimos.



4. I picked up this book because I'd heard of Isabel Allende (and the late Salvador Allende), and because I thought it would be helpful in my Spanish studies. I quickly became engrossed in the book and, as they say, couldn't put it down (except to reach for my Spanish dictionary).
   
   Isabel Allende, author of numerous bestselling novels, was born in Peru, grew up in Chile, and then traveled with her parents to various diplomatic posts. Later, she was exiled permanently from Chile after the military coup of 1973. She writes about her native country as one who, having stepped outside her culture, can no longer return to it as a native, but sees it from the outside. She is a perpetual foreigner now, an outsider in every culture, and so she sees things others miss. In this book, Author Allende takes a nostalgic look back at her life, her family, her native land, its culture, its foibles and its great strengths. She also reveals a great deal of her own inner self, creaing a powerful bond of intimacy with her readers.
   
   This is a book which transcends time and place. Written in a simple, conversational style, it draws the reader in, engages, delights, and amazes. And it causes the reader to think and reflect. She is able to discuss world-shaking political events in the same intimate style, and caused this reader to reflect deeply on some of the political currents of our own time. The author has a sparkling sense of humor, and often got me to laugh, though her message is profoundly serious. I believe this book will be recognized as a classic. I recommend it highly. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber.



5. La narracion es placentera y veloz para el lector. La voz es optimista a pesar de su cornucopia de penas (el golpe militar; la muerte de su hija; el destierro; divorcio; etc.) No abundan las innecesarias ornamentaciones y descifra las melancolias e inseguridades causadas por la complejidad de su pasado.
   Allende sostiene y siente el hibridismo que afecta a muchos Hispanos en los Estados Unidos. Es decir, ella logra concretar la nostalgia que sentia por su pais que ya no es suya y acepta cierta marginacion en un pais anfitrion al cual no esta totalmente acostumbrada. Esto compartimos muchos hispanos. Ni de alli ni de aca. Allende nos lleva con ella a Chile de una manera sencilla y personal. La honestidad de los alagos y de las criticas de sus paisanos es sincera y muchas de estas caracteristicas se pueden aplicar a los demas habitantes de America del Sur en gringolandia. El paralelo del Golpe Militar y el 11 de sept., es lo que empuja a Allende a encontrar cierta definicion que se universaliza para cualquier inmigrante en cualquier pais.

5 comments about Sick Girl.

1. I found this a compelling and provocative story. Silverstein never flinches when telling of her journey from type-A law student to a young woman ruled by a failing heart, and she gives voice to the anger people whose bodies fail them invariably feel. I gave the book to my daughter-in-law, a cardiac nurse, who passed it around to her colleagues. They all said Silverstein's story gave them insights into their patients they could not have had without it.



2. I'm kind of shocked at all the negativity being hurled at Amy Silverstein. What did she do but share her true feelings? Who are we to judge her personal growth arc and determine that she "should" be over her resentment by now? I can only assume that most who view her so harshly have their original hearts? Thought so. Might you then be willing to accept that you don't in fact know how she should be feeling by now?
   
   I, for one, was willing to listen to Amy with an open mind. Not only did I learn a lot of fascinating details about transplant surgery, it also helped me appreciate anew my own health, however imperfect. Mostly, though, "Sick Girl" is simply a gripping read from start to finish. The way I judge a book's worth is simple: how eager am I to return to it? This one scored off the charts on that score -- I couldn't wait to pick up where I left off each day. I hope Ms Silverstein writes another book; she's very talented.
   
   If you're reading these reviews, Amy, forgive my fellow readers for doing exactly what you feared your friends and acquaintances might do if you dared to slip off the happy mask: turn away from the ugly reality. Rest assured not all readers feel that way. Thank you for telling your story.



3. I just finished this book yesterday. What an irritating book.
   
   There were some interesting details about heart transplants... For example, one's nerves not being connected to the transplanted heart so that one would feel the effects of walking up hill or being frightened suddenly, minutes after the exercise/event, etc.
   
   I do undertand this woman's anger and her depression. Well, maybe...I get the feeling no-one is capable of understanding this woman, except for her cardboard saintly husband, and even he gets slammed. The opening chapter and closing chapter seemed deceitful. I never really thought she'd choose not to take her medicine and give up completely. It seemed like an attention grabbing literary device.
   
   It is never explained why she thought one lady was laughing at her (or if she indeed was laughing at her) or how Ellen's child was doing (it seemed like her character was just inserted to show that adopting a child was a better choice) or why her father would jump out of a car in the middle of this lady's crisis. Had her father 'had it' with her life long histrionics?
   
   Irritating, irritating book. The author herself got in the way of a good book.



4. I was intrigued by the lack of insight or growth experienced through Amy's ordeal. The constant self pity and victim mentality made a well written informative book very hard to read.
   
   I have dealt with chronic illness for over twenty years, and have mourned the loss of "normal" functioning. I have dealt with abusive doctors, people and family who have judged me, not understood and ignored it all. I understand what it is like to lose one's health at such an early age, and I only have empathy for Amy.
   I was dumbfounded though that her book only focused on the dark side of her experience. The loss of health at such a young age is devastating, yet can also open doors for true growth and inner healing. "Sick Girl" only focuses on the "sick girl".
   
   I had read an article with Amy, where she expressed thankfulness for her life. If this is true, she does not express any of these feelings in her book. This is Amy's story, and she can only tell her story the way she sees it.
   
   The picture on the cover, showing her scar with the title "sick Girl " over it, says it all. This book is overflowing with victim consciousness and self pity. I know that through what Amy did live through and continues to live through, she is anything but the victim she portrays herself to be. She is a strong, courageous powerful woman. I wish perhaps that she could see herself that way.
   
   A very informative, well written book about transplants. I would not recommend it as an inspirational book.



5. I don't know where to begin with this book. On the plus side, it was very difficult to put down. I read it in no time at all. It was compelling and suspenseful. I liked learning about heart illnesses, the treatment available for them, and the complications of these treatments.
   
   But I found myself absolutely disgusted with the author. Because she had a heart transplant, it took me awhile to even register my antipathy towards Amy. I was worried that I wasn't being fair to her and that I just didn't understand major illnesses. At some point, though, I've got to call a spade a spade. There is absolutely no excuse for the behavior she exhibited throughout her illness. And there's no excuse for the unbelievable whining she does throughout this book.
   
   If Amy's account is to be believed, she was incredibly unfair to her doctors. She blamed them for things they couldn't control. In some cases, she hated them just for doing their job. A choice sample: "But I can tell you, when you try to push this anger thing on me it just makes you look like a big idiot--standing there in your ivory tower, telling me what I feel. Don't kid yourself" (pg. 108). Here, Amy is chewing out an apparently well-meaning psychiatrist who's been trying to help her cope. She makes fun of his appearance, too. Some people might admire this "spunkiness" and "spirit." I don't--I think it's childish. Wallowing in her self-pity, Amy just refuses to put herself in other people's shoes. She even has trouble empathizing with her husband, Scott. It's all about her and her illness. If you're thinking about buying this book, you'd better prepare yourself for a ton of this.
   
   When Amy describes one of her first doctor's visits at the the beginning of the book, she recognizes that she's being immature. "My accumulated years began to fall away from me one by one until I landed in the safe haven of a ten-year-old girl--and a bratty one at that" (pgs. 28-29). What she doesn't seem to realize is that she remains a brat for the rest of the book. You can even tell in the language she uses to describe herself. Yes, yes, we know it's unfair that you got sick at twenty-four. The whining gets old after awhile. I kept hoping she would toughen up, but she never did.
   
   Something for the theologically minded: Amy describes one of her near-death experiences in a way that's supposed to disprove the whole idea of heaven. She says there's no light at the end of the tunnel. Yet she gets very preachy about the "true love" between her and her husband. It's too syrupy-sweet in the midst of her postmodern rantings. In short, she thinks she has the authority to deny God while affirming true love. She tries to shove her views onto the reader. I did not appreciate it. Just because she has a heart transplant, she's supposed to be our greatest expert on the universe?
   
   In short, the front cover is a very good indicator of this book's content. The cover photo seems to be saying, "Look. I've been through a heart transplant. That makes me better than everyone else. Don't you feel sorry for me? And don't you dare judge me. You don't know how it feels to have a scar like this." If you don't enjoy that perspective, steer clear. I like getting angry when I read, but not everyone does. I would NOT recommend this book to anybody facing a health crisis. Amy is suicidal and thinks killing herself is a viable option.

5 comments about Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady.

1. No one on this earth can write a story (or a book review) like Florence King can! The fluidity of her writing never ceases and I felt like I was there watching this story of her life unfold. She is a brave, strong, independant woman with amazing talent! Although any people will clump her with "feminists", she is not.



2. I was born and bred in Virginia. I didn't like this book. I identified with only about 25 percent of it. For example, all of the women in my family are good housekeepers. Also, for the prospective buyer, there is foul language in it and a pornographic description of a lesbian affair.
   
   It is interesting that most of the reviews that rave over this book are from northerners.



3. A friend shared this book with me. King's wit is unsurpassed in this day and age. Having found myself being an "honorary southerner" - relocated from the midwest to the deep south - her question throughout the book ("just what IS a lady?") could only have been explored with such humor and insight as this writer. I found myself laughing openly numerous times - not in a Bridget-Jones-Diary-Outrageous way, but in the One-Couldn't-MAKE-THIS-STUFF-Up kind of way.
   
   Having born witness to many similar smelling-salt-scenarios King describes, I found myself fully entwined in this book. Poignant, observant, honest, intelligent, this is one writer you need to have on your bookshelf.



4. King's book features a quirky mish mash of mismatched family members who, at first glance, seem not to belong together at all. This book examines the various relationships of those characters while simultaneously being a coming of age story regarding young Florence King as she ages throughout this books and faces the many trials and tribulations of her various ages. I've read this book several times and it never fails to get a laugh out of me as Florence moves through her childhood and young adulthood with her brash, tomboy mother who smokes and screams at baseball games on the radio, her father a proper British bartender who works nights and her granny who defines all Southern women as having either problems "down below" or else "in the head." This book will have you holding your side in stitches in places as you laugh yourself silly. A truly great reaad.



5. I am truly a southerner, and Ms. King's irreverant approach to the traditions and ways of the south in the mid-twentieth century are so on target that it will startle the reader who is not from the south, and will sound all to familiar to the southern reader.
   
   I found her covert feminism during this time in her life very interesting and educational. It almost seemed like the fact that she was a feminist during this time in her life was unknown to even herself.
   
   Her honest talk about her sexual life I found startling.
   
   The way she challenged the cultural norms of that time is educational for anyone who is living under a cloud of opression, real or just real to you.
   
   it's a great read!

5 comments about Two Lives: Gertrude and Alice.

1. This short book rounds out a few pieces of the Gertrude/Alice relationship. I liked the way she gives a flavor of Stein's first book, relieving me of any desire to read it myself. Malcolm is a good writer and she touches on subjects relating to her own drama being sued for fabricating quotations and she inserts her own biases as in, "Wills are uncanny and electric documents. They lie dormant for years, and then spring to life when their author dies, as if death were rain. Their effect on those they enrich or disappoint is never negligible, and sometimes unexpectedly charged. They thrust living and dead into a final fierce clasp of love or hatred. But they are not written in stone--for all their granite legal language--and they can be bent to subvert the wishes of the writer. Such was the case with Stein's will."



2. Interesting, but I fear the author seems to set out to defend an agenda rather than seeking to a rational conclusion from the evidence at hand. She also falls prey to a need to appear very clever which she may well be. Is she more clever than profound?



3. Malcolm writes very well but she fails to offer any reason why Stein/Toklas were (was?) worth the effort of researching and writing, or reading, this book. To a non-specialist reader, Stein's writings seem like either baby-talk (Toklas called her Baby) by the youngest of five children who was petted when she talked that way, or an outright scam, or perhaps both. It appears that these two Jewish ladies were near-collaborationists during the German occupation of France where they inexplicably lived openly while other Jews were being dragged out of hiding places to be murdered. But even if they were merely friends with highly-placed Vichy officials who protected them, no one suggests they played a particularly admirable role at that time. What, then, makes them worth close study now? This book did not answer this basic question for me and it certainly did not inspire me to go read something by Stein - the few examples in the book are nonsense and uninspired nonsense at that.



4. Then don't read Janet Malcolm. Malcolm is not the kind of biographer who delivers more than you ever wanted to know about a subject. But if you want to know how biographers do their sleuth work, how one wrong date can determine whether we think Stein horrid or not, and how the personalities of Stein scholars have shaped what we do and don't know about this writer, then read Malcolm. Along the way, you will be treated to delectable prose and delicious literary gossip. And you will get to know the personalities of Stein and Toklas in all their lively and quirky splendor.



5. Concisely told biographical work of Stein and Toklas. If you are looking for a definitive biography, this is not the book for you. If you want to understand the essence of their relationship and enjoy good writing and insightful phrasing, pick this up.

5 comments about Marilyn Monroe: A Life in Pictures.

1. I've got to say, the pictures in this book are amazing. The book is a little bigger than a notebook, and the pictures are just about full size, making them about 8x10. Which is great if you want to put them on your wall.
   
   My only complaint about the pictures are: although there are about 2 or 3 pictures of her on the beach with the white bathing suit on, that's it. Why not put more of them, they are some of Marilyn's best pictures. Also, the pictures of her in the field in the blue dress, why not more? As is with the pictures of her in the field with the white dress. I don't understand.
   
   I love all of the pictures of her at home in a relaxed state.
   
   But the one thing that sensitive Marilyn Monroe fans might not like is the Foreword. David Thompson almost seems not to like her. But no one knows the exact truth about Marilyn's life, so the stuff he says may be true. If so, I feel sorry for her.
   
   I don't know what to think of her, since I've read so much about her from different people. But it seems like she was a very complex person. Like myself, people don't know what to think about her. That's what I think draws me to her even more. I used to just love her for her wonderful pictures, but now it's fun learning more about her.
   
   Although Mr. Thompson's foreword kind of irked me a little, this book is well worth it to a Marilyn fan or fan of beautiful pictures.
   
   I hope this review helped someone. It's my first review, thanks for reading.



2. In the book possible to find amazing pictures, some of them I have never chance to seen before. Good quality of the pictures and a lot to find inside.



3. 
   I purchased this book as a Christmas present for my sister who is a big Marilyn fan, and I think she is going to be ecstatic when she opens this present. The book is just full of wonderful pictures that bring to life Marilyn! This is a coffee table book that any fan of Monroe would be glad to have on their coffee table. The images span her life and career and include the many of the iconic glamour shot, but what is really cool are the many candid snap shots that help bring into focus the real person behind the image. Once I started paging through this beautiful book I could not stop! I have to be careful or I am going to have to buy another copy! I also just finished reading the soon to be released Misfits Country a fictional behind the scenes look at the Making of The Misfits Marilyn is the central character...must have for Marilyn fans!



4. A must have for any Marilyn Monroe fan.
   This book is full of rare and beautiful photos!
   I own several Marilyn books and this is one of
   the best photographic books I have seen.
   The amazon price for this book can't be beat.
   Recomended for the collector looking for
   stunning Marilyn photos.



5. I found this gorgeous, classy production to be thouroughly enjoyable and comprehensive. This collection encompasses the lifespan of the young Norma Jeane Baker/Mortenson, from lonely little girl to unknown young model, and through her metamorphosis into luminous superstar Marilyn Monroe, as well as into the last days of her life.
   
   It is full of beautiful b&w and color photos, both portraits and unposed snapshots, many of which I haven't seen before. There are also many quotes included, both by MM and about her, and there is a brief timeline at the end of the book that gives an overview of many of the important events in her life. The very short biography at the beginning of the book is a bit drab, but the main story here is, of course, the pictures, which encompass so many of the moments of her life.
   
   If you never got the chance to own Spada's "Monroe: Her Life in Pictures," this would make a nice replacement. This is a wonderful and eclectic gathering of photos, and would be an attractive addition to any MM library.