5 comments about The Lois Wilson Story: When Love Is Not Enough.

1. For all those struggling with loved ones with the disease of alcoholism, this book is excellent.



2. The Lois Wilson Story: When Love is not Enough
   By: William G. Borchert
   Hazelden
   Center City, Minnesota 55012-0176
   
   Lois Wilson was an amazing, wonderful woman and the world is a better place because she and her husband were in it. Author William G. Borchert used his words to express this woman's life, her trials, tribulations, and sanctification. Lois Wilson was the co-founder of the Al-Anon, and Alateen fellowships. Her husband Bill Wilson was one of the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous.
   
   This amazing book about her life starts as a flash back. It begins with introducing you to a very unhappy Lois in the early 1930's. Then it shifts to her beginnings. The book takes your hand and walks you through the entire life of Lois Wilson, her family, and some of her friends. It gives you explicit details about her life, how AA came about, Bill, and Al-Anon.
   
   Lois met her husband Bill, who was four years her junior, in Vermont. This would prove to be a love that stood the test of time and alcohol. They married in January, before he went of to fight in WWI. They had a beautiful wedding in her parent's house in Brooklyn, and they were married for fifty-three years.
   
   Lois's life with Bill was full of ups and downs. He was in the Army, and then an investigator on Wall Street. Bill was a genius. He began his drinking days when he was overseas, and it continued as it was seen as acceptable in his profession. This later carried on into him becoming an alcoholic.
   
   Lois was forced to be the breadwinner of the family as Bill's drinking got worse and cost them everything that they had. Through all the years that she went through with him having this horrible sickness, she began to change and harbor much resentment. To add to her pain she was unable to have children, and when they tried to adopt, a friend put a stop to it because of Bill's drinking. Later Mrs. Wilson came to realize that it was for the best that they did not have children, and she looked at all the alcoholics in AA as her dear children.
   
   As Bill started to recover after many hard years of his illness, Lois was still hurting inside with deep resentment, and anger. Bill formed Alcoholics Anonymous with Dr. Bob Smith, in Akron, Ohio. He found that the only way for him to stay sober was to be with another drunk. This revelation only injured the already wounded heart of Lois even more. She had wanted to be the reason and the one that caused her husband to be sober and to stay that way.
   
   As the fellowship of AA continued to grow, one day Lois went out on the porch and noticed that there were other wives just sitting in the cars that lined the street. She went out to the other women and invited them in. She had a revelation that there were others out there hurting just as badly as she from this horrible alcohol demon. Thus started her little kitchen group. As the years progressed, this kitchen group concept developed into what is now Al-Anon. They followed the same twelve steps that AA did, but they also had their own twelve steps to follow as well.
   
   Once it was realized that the children were being left out Lois, and some of the volunteers who helped with Al-Anon decided that something needed to be done for them, thus the dawning of Alateen. It was headed by one of the original volunteers, and each group was set up to be fostered by an Al-Anon member. Lois took particular interest and joy over the group for the children.
   
   Because of the will and determination of Bill and Lois wisdom, there is now what is called a "cure" for alcoholics, and their families. Alcoholism is a disease that effects all members of a family, co-workers, and even some people in the community. Monumental steps were made by these two amazing people, and none of it would have happened if Lois had not stayed by Bill's side.
   
   This is a story about heartache, pain, stamina, faith, and above all love. God had both Lois and Bill Wilson here for a reason, and I believe that they fulfilled their calling. Mr. Borchert did a wonderful job of telling the story, and letting the reader feel that they also personally knew Lois Wilson. This was a hard life to read about, but I learned a lot from the experiences in the pages. I hope that God will use this book to expand understanding about alcoholism, and the strong family that it takes to support one.



3. This book should be available through every public library for those who do not have it on their own shelf.



4. This was very well done, and I think illustrated Lois Wilson's personality. One topic I wish the author had added a little more detail on is the issue of co-dependency.



5. Excellent book and tranaction. Received as promised and in excellent shape.
   Thanks you Seller

5 comments about Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen.

1. Too bad I cannot give negative stars!! Read the only the first chapter and was completely turned off by the vulgarity and whiney tone. Even though I am a college graduate I had to have a dictionary handy to interpret the obscure vocabulary that was completely unnecessary. I agree with all of the bad reviews this book is getting and am vehement about how much I hated it!



2. I loved this book. It is funny, easy to read, well written, and entertaining. No, I did no "learn" anything about cooking but it was engaging, laugh-out-loud funny in spots, and just a good summer read. I recommend this book for someone looking for a light, easy, book for reading at the beach, or on a plane.
   
   Enjoy!



3. The author has a good sense of humor so there are many funny moments, but in general, there isn't a lot of substance here. Definitely don't pay full price for this one!



4. Because this project has what I consider to be an irresistible premise and because a friend described the book as "funny," I was excited to read it. On the surface, I have a good deal in common with Julie Powell. We are close in age and background, similar in work history, and both enjoy good food, good drinks, cursing and leaving the cleaning to someone else.
   
   After reading this book, if someone were to tell me I reminded them of Julie Powell, I would commit hari-kari. She is terribly unpleasant, self-absorbed and repellant. All of the characteristics with which I could identify are completely reduced to rubble in her hands. I find myself never wanting to hear or use the F-word ever again, and even I was repulsed by her disgusting apartment. I had to skip most of the passage involving maggots lest I lose my lunch. All the tales of sticky cat hair, brackish flooded fixtures and rotting floors didn't help either. I read most of the book with that look on my face people have when something nearby stinks.
   
   I assume she was attempting humor and exaggerating many of her misadventures and personality flaws, but the end result is that I loathe her as a fellow human being and wish ill upon her. Her heartless exposure of her friends' and family's personal lives is inexcusable (and dull) and her husband appears to be a combination saint/fool for putting up with her. Powell hates the project, hates her job, dislikes her husband (she mentions her frequent desire to beat his head with sharp rocks. I mean really! Eric! Run for your life!), disdains her friends, scorns her mother, disrespects Julia Child and admires only her cats and her brother.
   
   In its relentlessly bleak tone and insistence on examining the lives of detestable characters, this book reminds me of A Confederacy of Dunces. Another supreme waste of time and positive energy.
   
   I think the lesson to be learned here is that a blogger does not an author make. The publishing industry needs to be really careful about offering book deals to just any successful blog author. Any fool with an internet connection can create a blog, after all. That doesn't mean they are worthy of anyone else's time or attention.



5. I liked this little venture into one woman's obsession. She wasn't trying to write Larousse's Gastronomique, for heaven's sake. It's just a fun little chicklit type of memoir. Quirky and cute. Just don't look for big a big emotional work of art or for a cooking how-to. Go aloong for the ride and enjoy it.

5 comments about A Paper Life.

1. this is a very important book. what an extremely sad life. she suffered so much at the hands of horrendous parents and a drug-addled narcissistic hollywood culture that to this day still destroys everything that it touches. then (surprise) she marries a complete prick in mcenroe who does everything to destroy her. what an important expose on the hollywood culture that continues to destroy so many people. they sacrifice any chance of love and normalcy to be famous and get the cash. her father should have been arrested and/or institutionalized a long time ago. this is a great book because it completely destroys the hollywood myth and exposes it for the horrific juggernaut that it is- all smiles and lies and phoniness hiding the reality of addiction, emptiness, abuse and wholesale prostituion of the soul. before these people get a chance to really live they dive head-first into a profession and a culture that rapes their souls and treats them like financial institutions. they are rendered soul-less and rutterless, trees without roots, standing on the pier as their lives sail away from them. once you miss the train it can be hard to get where you need to go. in other words there is absolutely no substitute for being loved, protected and guided by parents who know the meaning of love and aren't using their children to get rich and become famous.



2. It takes true courage to disclose these intimate details of a person's life, especially if you are in the public eye. Seeing her in the news again brought me back to when I read this book and her life she has lived.
   
   I hope she finds the peace she is seeking soon. This book will help you understand her more and not judge her. Movie stars are people too.
   
   It will bring your compassion out when reading this book.
   
   Merna Throne
   
   Pocket of Pearls: A 30-day pocket workbook to start hearing a softer voice inside of you!



3. Four days ago, June 2, 2008 before I started reading A Paper Life, I read a few of the reviews for the book. But even reading those didn't prepare me for some of the gut wrenching, heartbreaking periods of time that this strong and courageous woman has been able to endure.
   
   It seems to me that Tatum wrote her autobiography in a way that goes deeper than any film created could have ever done. I think her writing is full of unbridled honesty from a wild child. It's a tough book; she's had a real life. A private person has opened the door of her personal and professional life with her feelings, memories, excerpts from her own diaries, plus included photos. I felt as though she wrote as honestly as she would have in writing her own diaries, but with consideration for her audience. She possessed a cathartic key and unlocked the story in her heart and mind writing this book. The fact that she is a Scorpio and has allowed the world to read what she has revealed is a gift within itself. (I'm a Leo.)
   
   I had never seen the film, Paper Moon. I ordered it off of Amazon yesterday, ten minutes before I found the movie split in scenes on www.youtube.com. I just watched a few scenes, saving the movie until it arrives on DVD. Now I'm glad I never had the opportunity to watch it until now. I couldn't have appreciated it as much as I do now. I saw enough to know that it's everything Tatum said it is, "The film itself is a diamond, a work of art, just as beautiful and poignant and evocative today as when we made it." (p. 7)
   
   My favorite quote of Tatum's within her book is a confutation: "What I've learned is that love definitely doesn't mean 'never having to say you're sorry.'" (p. 279) I couldn't agree with her more. It rings true in my life. Do you remember the comic strip Love is ... ? That's what this quote first brought to my mind when I was considering the original source. One cartoon read "Love is... never having to say you're sorry". Also according to Wikipedia, it's also a line from the novel and film "Love Story":
   
   "The quote appears twice in the film. Once toward the middle when MacGraw's character Jennifer Cavilleri says it, and again as the last line in the film, repeated by O'Neal's character Oliver Barrett IV as a tribute to Jennifer." I'm glad I ran a Google search on the quote, because I'm assuming the latter is where the confuted quote came from.
   
   In the book Tatum stated, "The twelve-step community took me in, embraced me, as the AA saying goes, loved me until I could love myself. A lot of these twelve-step slogans are true. Miracles can happen." (p.272) I hope that she never forgets that, especially right now. Just like Sean said, "People make mistakes." (p. 279)



4. If even HALF of what she wrote (because there is always three sides to a story) is true then I think Ryan O'Neal is the worst type of father that there is. Reading this story made me realize why todays child stars (think Britney Spears) are in such a mess. Read this book and get the scoop on how it was to grow up as "Hollywood Royalty". It is definitely not the fairy tale story that you expect to read. I need to take a shower after reading this book.



5. NIELSEN RATINGS 1974 1975 TV SEASON
   
   Here are the season average Nielsen ratings for the 1974-75 television season.
   Only series are included in the ratings.
   The number preceding the series name is the series ranking.
   The network carrying the series is in parenthesis, and the average rating follows.
   
   1. All in the Family (CBS) 30.2
   2. Sanford and Son (NBC) 29.8
   3. Chico and the Man (NBC) 28.6
   4. The Jeffersons (CBS) 27.6
   5. MASH (CBS) 27.2
   6. Rhoda (CBS) 25.9
   7. The Waltons (CBS) 25.7
   8. Good Times (CBS) 25.6
   9. Maude (CBS) 24.8
   10. Hawaii Five-0 (CBS) 24.6
   I I . Mary Tyler Moore (CBS) 24.0
   12. Rockford Files (NBC) 23.8
   13. Kojak (CBS) 23.5
   14. Little House on the Prairie (NBC) 23.1
   15. Police Woman (NBC) 22.9
   16. SWAT (ABC) 22.6
   17. Bob Newhart (CBS) 22.5
   18. World of Disney (NBC) 22.2
   19. Mannix (CBS) 21.7
   20. Cannon (CBS)
   -The Rookies (ABC)
   -Sunday Mystery Movie (NBC) each 21.5
   23. Streets of San Francisco (ABC)
   -Cher (CBS) each 21.3
   25. Paul Sand (CBS) 20.9
   26. Gunsmoke
   -Medical Center (both CBS) 20.7
   28. Adams of Eagle Lake (ABC) 20.6
   29. Carol Burnett (CBS) 20.5
   30. Tony Orlando and Dawn (CBS) 20.3
   31. Emergency (NBC) 20.2
   32. NFL Football (ABC) 19.8
   33. Barnaby Jones (CBS) 19.6
   34. ABC Sunday Movie 19.1
   35. NBC Monday Movie 19.0
   36. Caribe (ABC) 18.9
   37. NBC Saturday Movie 18.8
   38. Wesnesday Movie of the Week (ABC) 18.7
   39. Mac Davis (NBC)
   - CBS Thursday Movie, each 18.5
   41. Smothers Brothers (NBC)
   -That's My Mama (ABC) each 18.3
   43. World Premiere Movie (NBC) 18.0
   44. The Manhunter (CBS)
   -Harry 0 (ABC) each 17.8
   46. Apple's Way (CBS) 17.7
   47. Tuesday Movie of the Week (ABC) 17.6
   48. Petrocelli (NBC)
   -Happy Days (ABC) each 17.5
   50. Lucas Tanner (NBC) 17.4
   51. Six Million Dollar Man (ABC)
   -Movin' On (NBC) each 17.1
   53. Marcus Welby (ABC) 16.6
   54. CBS Friday Movie 16.2
   55. We'll Get By (CBS) 16.1
   56. Adam-12 (NBC) 15.9
   57 The Law (NBC) 15.8
   58. ABC Monday Movie 15.7
   59. Born Free (NBC) 15.6
   60. Sons and Daughters
   - Dan August (both CBS) 15.2
   62. Archer (NBC)
   - Baretta (ABC) each 15.1
   64. Sunshine (NBC) 15.0
   65. Bob Crane (NBC) 14.9
   66. ABC Saturday Movie
   - Planet of the Apes (CBS) each 14.8
   68. Hot l Baltimore (ABC)
   - Barney Miller (ABC)
   - Ironside (NBC), each 14.7
   71. Karen (ABC) 14.5
   72. Get Christie Love (ABC) 14.3
   73. Sierra (NBC) 14.1
   74. Kolchak (ABC) 13.6
   75. Sonny Comedy Revue (ABC) 13.2
   76. Odd Couple (ABC) 13.1
   77. Paper Moon (ABC) 12.5
   78. Nakia (ABC) 11.9
   79. Friday Comedy Special (CBS) 11.2
   80. Khan (CBS) 11.1
   81. Texas-Wheelers (ABC) 11.0
   82. Kung Fu
   - Kodiak (both ABC) each 9.9
   84. The New Land (ABC) 7.9

5 comments about Detour: My Bipolar Road Trip in 4-D.

1. As someone who also suffers from bipolar disorder, this book hit very close to home. Lizzie Simon gave us a nice break from the typical scientific terminology, and replaced it with the emotional and mental hardships and experiences that people diagnosed with bipolar disorder know all too well. Her bipolar roadtrip provided comfort and understanding to all of us. Thanks Lizzie



2. I absolutely love this book! When one reads about bipolar, it is usually medical information describing the characteristics and treatments of and for this illness. This raw engaging view from a wise young woman gives the reader a first hand view of the interior landscape of bipolar illness. We go on a journey of discovery with Lizzie. And an amazing journey it is. There is so much misinformation and stigma on mental illness. This book helps to bring forth the reality of the illness and gives one hope. There is still much to unfold in the arena of mental illness, but it is like any other illness, it is an illness! It's so stigmatized because there are so many unknowns. Do we stigmatize cancer, epilepsy, diabetes?! I have a friend who is bipolar and have always struggled to understand it and now the door has opened. I am also currently in the wake of standing by another individual struggling with this illness and have gained greater compassion and coping skills from this book. My own family has a lineage of mental illness, though no one ever truly "coped" with it. I grew up in fear and misunderstanding. Thank you Lizzie for bringing forth truth, understanding and demystifying as best as possible the land of bipolar! This is truly a must read!



3. This is not a scientific book. It is simply one woman's attempt to help us understand what goes on in the mind of a bi-polar person. It helped me better understand but most importantly, sympathize with any one who has the disease. I recommend it if you want a personal account of bi-polar.



4. Lizzie is courageous & heroic! Her memoir of a young woman struggling with bipolar disorder is not only brilliantly & creatively written, but it's incredibly inspiring!!!



5. I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in the summer of 2007, at the age of 41 after being hospitalised. In the years prior, I struggled with depression, extreme emotional turmoil, and a precise feeling of not fitting in, of not feeling normal. After I was discharged from the hospital I sought out books that I knew to be out there regarding others and their experience with bipolar disorder to sort of get a handle on what I might be dealing up against. While Ms. Simon writes from the perspective of an intelligent, beautiful, talented young woman in the glow of her youth, I felt a resonance with her stories and encounters that make up "Detour". She visits with several other people she meets on a sort of mental health road trip and compares notes. Out of that came a dialog of the diffences, similarities, and ultimately the uniqueness of each person's bipolar disorder. If you or someone you love is struggling with an understanding of bipolar disorder, Lizzie Simon's book, "Detour: My Bipolar Road Trip in 4-D" is essential to fascilitating your awareness.

No comments about Candy Barr: The Small-Town Texas Runaway Who Became a Darling of the Mob and the Queen of Las Vegas Burlesque.

5 comments about Mistress of Modernism: The Life of Peggy Guggenheim.

1. This is an enjoyable read. I was interested in reading it after reading "The Rape of Euorpa" and "Duveen" it made sense to wonder what had become of the art/artists that were rescued from the WWII Nazi-occupation of Europe.



2. As a biography, certain important aspects of PG's life were totally overlooked. Ms. Dearborn omits mention of WWII except in the context of Peggy's need to escape the continent-- ie. no coverage of her feeling about her Judaism, or how this was viewed in the society circles she traveled in, no discussion of how wartime affected her gallery.
   
   Also, little serious discussion about the art historical movements which PG was involved in. What was surrealism? What movements did it replace? How did Abstract Expressionism evolve in New York? How did the European artists in exile influence the development of Ab Ex? Did PG care or just buy what her advisors told her? Why or why not?
   
   Too much about who she was sleeping with, too much focus on her life before the gallery opened. The reason we know PG is because of her collection and her artistic eye, not because she had some risque chats with writers in the English countrywide in the 30s. Also, please fact check your book. The artist's name is Hans Hofmann, not Hoffman. Very annoying!



3. I became interested in reading about Peggy Guggenheim when I visited her museum in Venice last spring. It was one of the highlights of my trip.
   
   Mary Dearborn did an excellent job. However, I found Peggy Guggenheim's life pathetic. She was a completely selfish person and an unimaginably awful mother. My heart went out to her children. Her childhood was not ideal, but certainly not so bad that she couldn't avoid winning the worst semi-wealthy mother of the century.
   
   The author gets 4 stars. Peggy Guggenheim gets minus 10,000 stars.



4. Peggy Guggenheim brought abstract expression to the forefront of the art world. Behind the scenes, Guggenheim led a torrid, Bohemian existence, unrestrained by middle class conventions. Mary V. Dearborn captures the essense of of Peggy against the back drop of the art she helped to promote.
   
   Well written, easily readable, and thoroughly researched. Mistress of Modernism: The Life of Peggy Guggenheim is a must read for anyone who loves art, or just loves to read a good biography.



5. I had eagerly awaited this book because I had been disappointed in Guggenheim's own CONFESSIONS OF AN ART ADDICT. I wanted a book that didn't skip over some obvious issues, like the reasons for the multiple marriages and a daughter's suicide. I was not disappointed in Mary V. Dearborn's MISTRESS OF MODERNISM. Dearborn delivers a warts-and-all biography that is nonetheless sympathetic, and extremely readable. I read this book quickly even though I put it down often to think about the implications of what I had just read.
   
   Can one have too much money? As I read this book I wondered if Peggy might have been happier if she had had to work for a living. As Dearborn points out, Peggy was a "poor" Guggenheim whose fortune was only a fraction of her Uncle Sol's. The bohemian crowd that Peggy wanted to be a part of assumed that Peggy's fortune was far larger than it actually was. As a result, she had the reputation of being a cheapskate even though she supported a handful of people she was not even related to until they died. (This list would include Djuna Barnes, ex-husbands and ex-husbands' previous wives and widows, etc.) She also subsidized a lot of other people at various times on a temporary basis. The people in this milieu seem to have had extremely poor parenting skills. Peggy and her sisters spent their childhood virtually segregated from adults. Could that be why she and her surviving sister were such poor mothers? Peggy's son grew up to be an ambitionless playboy and her daughter Pegeen committed suicide. Peggy's sister murdered her own two small sons by pitching them off a balcony. She got away with it. Peggy, her sister and her daughter were promiscuous and seemingly had voracious sexual appetites. What set them apart from their peers was that Peggy and Pegeen were open about their affairs. Peggy practically advertised hers with the publication of her autobiography OUT OF THIS CENTURY and scandalized New York society. (This book explains that CONFESSIONS OF AN ART ADDICT is an extremely expurgated and revised version of OUT OF THIS CENTURY that Peggy put together years later. It deals only with Guggenheim's career as a collector. I would now love to get my hands on the original OUT OF THIS CENTURY!) Yet, through it all Peggy seems to have had very little self esteem. The men she was involved with were often physically abusive. There was a streak of masochism in her. (Was this a generational attitude? Peggy's friend Emily (whom she supported) admitted in her diary that she herself enjoyed being beaten.) I came away with the impression that Peggy was basically a bland person who just wanted to be loved. She never knew whether she was really loved or whether people just loved her money.
   
   This book is very well written and presents brief, vivid minibiographies of virtually the entire dramatis personae. It has made me curious to see the work of the artists that Peggy promoted. This book tells an important part of the story of American art in the 20th Century. Those with an interest in this subject will want to read this book as soon as possible. I would especially recommend MISTRESS OF MODERNISM to anyone who has visited Peggy's museum in Venice or who is planning to visit there.

2 comments about Georgia O'Keeffe: A Life.

1. "A Life" is the best book on painter Georgia O'Keeffe available. Every moment in Georgia's life is written about with painstaking detail. Nothing is missed. From her relationship with Alfred Steiglitz and his entourage from "291" to her intimate relationship with sculptor Juan Hamilton. I can't say enough how amazing this book is and how enjoyable it is to read.



2. Georgia O'Keeffe's life was one lived with courage and beauty and Robinson does her justice by writing this beautiful and engaging biography. The author delves into O'Keeffe's life and the passion of her work by describing her family history, her evolution as an artist, and perhaps more important to O'Keeffe, her evolution toward becoming her true self. The extra and vital layer that adds even more depth to this biography is Robinson's description of the art scene and the philosophies of art circulating in early 20th century New York.

   This book would be of interest not only to those who enjoy O'Keeffe's work but also to those who are trying to become themselves, those who are interested in the history of art in America, or those who like to read for the sake of feeling beautiful words flowing through their mind.

   This book was difficult for me to put down and I didn't want it to end. Roxana Robinson's work is a gem.

5 comments about This Was Not Our War: Bosnian Women Reclaiming the Peace.

1. This is yet another attempt to water down the real cause of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The reader will conclude that the agressor was not Serbia and Monteneagro, but....some crazy local politicians who succeded in fomanting the heatred after coming to power. Reader is fooled into beleiving that this heatred had nothing to do with previous history, which is full of bloodshed caused by this monsterous project of Greater Serbia. Personal tragedies of these woman are masterfully twisted into illusion that "we lived like a brothers during Marshall Tito", who by the way was one of the biggest criminals and dictatiors in the recent history. If I wrote this when this communist Tito was alive, I'd be in the gulag before this message treavelled from my computer to amazon's server. Poor book, full of illusions and lies! Stay away.



2. Swanee Hunt was the US ambassador to Austria for the later stages of the Bosnian war and the immediate aftermath, and one senses that as an outsider - a political appointee in the US diplomatic service - she was trying also to bring other outsider voices into the process. But she keeps herself largely in the background, and the book is a collection of interviews with twenty-six Bosnian women of diverse backgrounds, with the interviews edited and assembled by theme, to give a rounded picture of, say, perceptions of history, actual wartime experience, the chance of reconciliation.



3. Feeling utterly betrayed by their leaders, twenty-six women from all over Bosnia meet with Swanee Hunt, former US Ambassador to Austria and Chair of Women Waging Peace, a global policy initiative. In their own words, they describe the war which ravaged their country and reduced it to rubble. As they make clear from the outset, this war was not a result of age-old ethnic antagonisms in the Balkans, where city after city had been peacefully multi-ethnic and where most families had loyalties to more than one group. It was the direct result, they believe, of the nationalism fomented by unscrupulous politicians, especially Slobodan Milosevic and Radovan Karadzic, as they seized power and wealth in the vacuum which existed following the death of Marshall Tito.
   
   The twenty-six speakers are Serbs, Croats, Muslims, Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, atheists (former Communists), and Jews, all bright, articulate women who are, and have been, working to heal their society. They include engineers, several journalists and physicians, a teacher, a member of the Bosnian Parliament, a professor at the School of Economics, a landscape architect, a member of the seven-member shared Presidency, a farm wife, a flower shop owner, a teenage student, and an art gallery owner, and they represent all areas of Bosnia, from Srebrenica to Mostar, Tuzla, and Sarajevo.
   
   With one voice, they blame their politicians for the atrocities of the war, pointing out that their leaders' manipulation of the international press and their sectarian chauvinism led to ethnic fundamentalism in a country which had previously been multicultural. The imposition of traditional roles on women led to their enforced withdrawal from decision-making, and they universally agree that that they might have been able to influence the direction of the country toward more cultural understanding and better communication if they had been allowed to continue their previous political, professional, and social roles.
   
   The stories here are lively, personal, often incredibly sad, and absolutely unforgettable. Beautiful color portraits of the women, along with brief biographies, make each woman a "living" voice, and the reader is struck by how much these women typify women around the world. Most remarkably the women, despite the losses of parents, husbands, sons, and friends, all continue rebuilding their country, ignoring ethnic labels as they work to get housing for all refugees, find medical supplies and equipment, establish a women's collective, work with rape victims, plan conferences to bring together women from all over the country, make radio broadcasts, organize news agencies, write books, promote international awareness of the atrocities in Bosnia (especially in Srebrenica), care for the elderly, become ambassadors, and run schools.
   
   Hunt's book and the words of these remarkable women are a major achievement in the understanding of this terrible war, a war far different from what most of us have been led to believe. Fourteen magnificent photographs, in addition to the women's portraits, will wring the heart--an unrecognizable national library, a snow-covered Sarajevo soccer field which is now a cemetery, and a decimated dormitory in the Olympic village. Yet amidst the carnage are smiling women who are changing the face of Bosnia. As Kada tells Hunt, "Thank you for telling my story. What's written down will last." n Mary Whipple



4. I found this book to be unbelievably moving, especially the pictures of the women, which helped me realize that these women are just like you and me, and that this could happen to any one of us. I can not imagine the strength required and exhibited by each of these women, and thank Ms. Hunt for sharing their stories. Every woman in America should read this book!



5. This is an exquisitely executed book about the struggles of women in Bosnia to survive the ravages of a war fuelled by political expedience and glamorized as an ethnic struggle. Swanee Hunt's own tone of moral outrage never eclipses the voices of the women she has interviewed. She writes of them with love, and also finds much love in them, a love only more startling for having survived such intense hatred. This book is a great, great achievement, both for its singular mix of empathy and for its clarity. As Primo Levi and Viktor Frankl found meaning in the Holocaust without diminishing its horror, so Hunt finds a language of strength and power in these compromised lives. This is a book about the very best and very worst of humanity.

5 comments about Breaking Clean.

1. Judy Blunt blew me away with this wonderful memoir. Details so crisp and clean, almost too stark. She reminds me of Annie Dillard in her ability to look at nature dispassionately while allowing the reader to absorb the sometimes horrifying details that challenge you emotionally. She also looks at her own life in that same dispassionate manner, giving the reader the same kind of space to make emotional connections. I love this book so much I talk about it when I teach memoir writing. It deserves more attention than it's getting.



2. Amazingly raw biography of a life about which most US citizens have no understanding. Eloquent breathtaking descriptive writing.



3. 
   Judy Blunt's Breaking Clean is a clear, concise picture we get from her life in northeastern Montana, a small town called Malta. She provides great detail with vivid memories and she uses the memories of others to connect with readers. The book was awarded thePen/Jeraud Fund Award for work in progress and the 2001 Whiting Writers' Award.
   
   She begins with her home, and engages the reader into a trip down memory lane. And if you have never read or experienced what a Montana blizzard is like, you will gain tremendous insight into one, the Blizzard of 1964, and its massive impact on the ranch and livestock. Blunt goes into enough detail and information that keeps the reader fully informed without asking more questions. A chapter on fighting fire was another of nature's forces she experienced.
   
   We learn about the school in a small town, horses, pets, teenage lifestyle, to marriage and harvesting and divorce. The sequence of stories is told well.
   
   This is an insightful memoir, descriptive, and emotional....MzRizz



4. eloquent...evocative writing.With the mid-20th century as the setting Blunt brings her land, her emotions, her experiences alive with an honesty that is at once brutal and tender. This is an all absorbing story of self awareness and liberation; I read the book through twice without stopping.



5. WOW. What a woman. I was especially curious to read this book since Jeff and his family are from Montana, and lived in Missoula for quite some time. It is too bad life still isn't like that in a sense. Seems more things have gotten in the way and it is falling apart. Kids don't know the meaning of "going to play".
   
   I applaud her for not sticking with the marriage. The in-laws were a bit much. Knowing the land would never be her's was a bit much.
   
   Good read but not one to be taken lightly and def not a beach read.

5 comments about My Life as a Traitor: An Iranian Memoir.

1. This is a story of a woman's ordeal of humiliation and torture for no reason other than she desired some small freedoms in her life and the lives of her people.
   With much of what we see in the news daily, it is easy to see Iran and its entire people as our enemy. This is not the case and we should never forget the people there who long to just be allowed to wear pink shoes and feel the sun on their hair.
   Well done Zarah, great book, I hope everyone reads it and I am happy to know that you have found freedom and peace. I pray that the country of Iran will also find freedom and that it's people will know the joy of pink shoes and sunshine.



2. This is an excellent, touching and mesmerizing story of courage and suffering. Ghahramani reveals her innemorst feelings throughout in a disarming way. Well written and interesting from the first to the last page. Brutality and torture are described vividly, yet not in a crude or brutal way. A good read and a must for everyone.



3. There are a number of good books out there on the atrocities that have gone on in the prisons of Iran and Iraq. What makes this book unique is that it explores in a very personal way the mind set of the tortured prisoner. The author does an excellent job of explaining her thoughts and feelings while incarcerated. She gives the torture she endured a very personal quality by explaining how even the smallest of psychological details were used to advantage by her captors, e.g., endless waiting and uncertainty, use of details about family to extract confessions, restricted personal hygiene, appeals to her vanity, etc. While the physical torture that she was subjected to was not as severe as that chronicled in some other books, it is clear that the psychogical component was inescapably devastating. A very open and honest recounting of human fraility and exploration of self. It will have you asking "What indeed is courage?"



4. The book is well-written and its a story that needs to be told---to help us understand oppression and the violation of human rights in today's Iran, and the dangerous conclusions arrived at by religious extremists who cause a inordinate amount of suffering in the world. However, it troubles me to know that this author, now safe in Australia, told details that could result in suffering for family and friends remaining in Iran. Zarah Ghahraman knows that the current regime tortures perceived ideological "enemies".
   
   Meanwhile, the Iranian government goes after adolescents who engage in age-appropriate teenage rebellions against authority. This is both ridiculous and dangerous and shows they are not fit to lead! The government's abuse is a far greater threat to their leadership than any student protests.



5. I could not put this down. I finished in a day and can't wait to pass this one to a friend. The human spirt is stronger than we can imagine.