5 comments about Chosen Forever: a memoir.

1. Having read Chosen by a Horse, I was excited and anxious to read Chosen Forever. I found it to be just as readable but not quite as compelling.
   
   I believe in Richards's mind, she is living her own life as a tribute to Lay Me Down. It was very difficult for her to go on a book tour, but she wanted to honor the courage that LMD had shown in the face of terrible circumstances. It is somewhat tedious to hear the continual recitation of Richards's sad life, but it is meant to be uplifting that she is dealing with her issues and pushing herself to get out there and live. Personally, I find Dennis Stock's courtship a little creepy, maybe because Richards is naturally rather suspicious of other people and their motives so she makes him seem kind of stalker-y. I really want them to be happy together, but I am not convinced. Anyway, I recommend the book, not as highly as CBAH, but I love Richards's writing and hope she has more to say.



2. Really wanting to like the book and not having read Chosen by a Horse, I found it tedious, repetitious and with just enough insightful inspired - and at rare times, humorous - flashes about nature and animals to keep going or skimming to the end. The happy romantic resolution and motivation to write is worth about 10 Oprah Shows. If there are any future printings, a strong edit that would cut out about half the book would help the book enormously. I look forward to reading Chosen by a Horse.



3. Ugh. I barely made it through this book. It was not very interesting. There were nice flashes of entertaining story-telling, but for the most part, this book was just a day by tedious day recounting of her book tour. Who was there, who the owner of the store was, how many people showed up (and how she felt about this) and where she ate afterwards.
   
   I think the success of Chosen by a Horse just made her more narcissistic than before, and mostly we get 'treated' to more recounting of who in her family did her wrong in her life. I'm sorry, but once you hit middle age, childhood should be a distant memory. At a certain point, one must just choose to move on and not dwell on the pain.
   
   The part of the book that kept me going was reading about Dennis Stock. He sounds like such a great guy that I wanted to hear more about him. I just wish the editors of the book could have coaxed a re-write that more focused not on a book tour or old memories of past trauma, but on the relationships that she forms as a result of her experience with Lay Me Down.
   
   As a horse lover, I was actually shocked at learning of the circumstances of Georgia's death. Once a horse is foundered, she should not be allowed to eat grass, yet Georgia was pastured her entire life, it seems. What's more, she had foundered before and recovered several times. Things like these made me doubt a little the expertise of her vet and her friend Allie. But again, maybe we don't have the whole story here. Nevertheless, it was a great disappointment. I had hoped my mom would enjoy reading a continuation of Chosen by Horse. Now I think I will have to sell it as a used book, since I really can't recommend it to any friends.



4. Chosen Forever can be seen as another stanza in Susan Richards's loving ode to her departed horse, Lay Me Down. Once again, Richards has expressed their mutual love beautifully. However, this book goes much farther than the first memoir, because Richards has come much farther as a person. I would think that Chosen Forever was a more difficult book for Richards to write because she had to rely more on herself to fill the emotional void left by Lay Me Down's death. I appreciated her account of her journey to getting published, and how her readings turned out; because she came to value the fallow periods in life as well as the high points.
   
   I couldn't put this book down, because I couldn't help but feel the human drama as Richards gradually let her guard down enough to fall in love(probably for the first time)and marry the serenely mature Dennis Stock. Despite an emotionally tragic childhood, and unfortunate first marriage, Richards discovered that middle age is no reason not to seek or have love in one's life. Furthermore, she teaches that it's OK to be a work in progress. In short, Chosen Forever is an inspiration, and well worth the time.



5. having so enjoyed Chosen By A Horse, Chosen Forever was even a braver and stronger memoir.
   I didn't want to put it down.

5 comments about Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America's Independence.

1. Carol Berkin has written a book so interesting that I can cite the women's names and tell their stories to my friends. An outstanding author who has the ability to bring real women of the past into the present by describing the lives and the actions of these women. I've since ordered Berkin's other books. I've recommended this book to all my friends. The creativity and persistence of women to survive and lead productive, heroine lives out of the most extreme of situations amazes me.



2. I enjoy personal stories of the Revolutionary War. This was a good book, but not as detailed about the women's stories as I thought it might be. It was more detail about the state of American and gender roles with personal stories thrown in. What prompted me to look for more Revolutionary times books about women was Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation by Cokie Roberts. Founding Mothers was a wonderful detail of how these women were raised and their roles in the revolution.
   The book Revolutionary Mothers did cover more than the white upper-crust, it covered Native American roles, African American roles, and both sides of the war, patriot and loyalist. Overall, I am glad I read it.



3. I read this book for a class where the author came to speak. The book gives women a place in history and let's us all know that, YES, we did live and contribute back in the day.



4. This book captured the time period of the American Revolution and the role women played in it like no other book I have ever read. I appreciated the focus on particular individuals which really helped bring it to life for me. I recommend this book to anyone wanting to know more about what part women played during the American Revolution. I'm sure you will be both surprised and delighted at your findings.



5. Never in my history lessons have I heard these stories. The struggles of women during the American Revolution were many. I'm embarrassed that I never considered what they went through; partly because we have always been taught only about the hardships on the battlefield. But, in this book, you will read about the many woman who followed the soldiers (camp followers), women who had no other choice but maintain the farms during their husband's absence, women who volunteered in support of the war (spinners, etc), and general's wives who helped boost the soldiers' moral. There are many interesting facts about Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, and many other "celebrity" wives contributions during the war. A great book that I will talk about for a very long time.

5 comments about Hatchepsut: The Female Pharaoh.

1. A good book, although the author seems to be more interested in discussing the various ideas and conceptions involving Hatchepsut than in the reign of the female king herself. If you are not already a student of Pharoanic Egypt then this is not a good book to jump into, despite the chapters which outline Egyptian history in general and the 18th Dynasty specifically. Tyldesley does not buy into various conspiracy theories involving the reign of this female king but instead discusses the mindset of the historians and archeologists and how their attitudes resulted in many modern concepts. An interesting book.



2. Joyce Tyldesley provides us with a thorough examination of the evidence surrounding the pharaoh Hatchepsut. She discusses issues such as the disputed order of succession, the conspicuous over-use of propaganda by Hatchepsut to legitimize her power and the question of exactly who attempted to erase the name of Hatchepsut from the monuments and why. Her arguments in each case are based on a judicious weighing of the evidence and the reader is always provided with alternative interpretations from other scholars. Tyldesley systematically dismantles the prevalent opinion that many of the actions of both Hatchepsut herself and her stepson Tuthmosis were motivated by a deadly enmity. On this issue she suggests that Tuthmosis was relatively accepting of the co-regency his stepmother imposed on him, but fails to suggest a convincing motivation for this. The one real disappointment in the book is that Tyldesley does not provide us with any real suggestion as to how Hatchepsut was able to succeed in establishing herself as pharaoh. She emphasizes that Hatchepsut would have needed both an acceptable reason and widespread support among the powerful men of the kingdom to be able to go against maat (the Egyptian concept of tradition and balance) and establish herself as king, but does not provide us with a plausible suggestion as to what such a reason may have been or whose support may have been responsible for her success. Admittedly, there are unlikely to be definitive answers, but these questions are barely raised. All in all, the book is an intriguing and insightful portrait of the world's first truly powerful woman.



3. With a use of the historical and archaeological evidence from various places in Egypt and beyond, an Oxford-educated Joyce Tyldesley has written a well-detailed biography book entitled "Hatchepsut: The Female Pharaoh." The book, as similar to her Nefertiti: Unlocking the Mystery Surrounding Egypt's Most Famous and Beautiful Queen, drives the general readers to experience and to understand the story of the female Pharaoh named Hatchepsut, her historical family background, the history of her memory after her death, and theories of historical scholars who have studied. There are eight chapters in the book with the addition of the "Introduction," which highlights Hatchepsut as a preferred King of Egypt, addresses a brief history of the Dynasty periods, and introduces Manetho who preserved the memory of Hatchepsut.
   
   What came as interesting to which this book explores the relationship between Hatchepsut and her father, Pharaoh Tuthmosis I. There does not appeared to be any negativity between them, and was seen as very positive. Throughout the years of her rule, Hatchepsut honored her father "in every way possible" in order to preserve her direct link to Tuthmosis I as a rightful heir to Egyptian throne (p. 117-8). Since she was born to both Tuthmosis I and Queen Ahmose who were of a royal blood, Hatchepsut believed that she had a direct royal bloodline because her brother-husband, Tuthmosis II, was born to a mother who was not from a royal bloodline. Therefore, she believed that she had a right to rule Egypt regardless of what her gender was. An impression that comes to one's mind from the book is that Hatchepsut needed to rule Egypt in the honor of her father and not for her personal agenda.
   
   Tyldesley also pointed out the creation of Hatchepsut's "divine birth" story as well the role of women in the Theban royal family as evidence for Hatchepsut to be a rightful ruler of Egypt.
   
   The author holds the readers' interest with a clear writing and vivid understanding when it comes to historical biography and theories. The book is well-organized with the visual aspects of maps, figures, and pictures. She has presented a historical analysis that was not dry or technical, and it should be a good advantage for readers' ancient Egyptian knowledge. Tyldesley's book is recommended to both the general readers and historical scholars because the author brought forth a readable and very interesting book.



4. The layout of the history leading to the story of Hatchepsut is very informative. I enjoyed knowing what is believed to be the events leading to her acension and the contributions she made during her reign. very interesting reading and well constructed.



5. The book is highly readable and certainly interesting in content about the first Pharoanic female "who would be king." The problem with it lies in the evidence or, more accurately, lack thereof. Because there is so very little known about Hatshepsut and her time, writing a book that isn't almost entirely speculative is rather difficult and becomes, by necessity, more of a historical novel than a discussion of historical fact. Redundancy is also unavoidable as the author tries to present the very little information that we have in enough pages to fill a book. All the content could have been condensed quite easily into a chapter rather than a book. Having said that, it IS fun reading, and the lack of evidence certainly allows the reader's imagination to take over and recreate a past that may or may not have existed. Hatshepsut the ruler certainly lived, but much more than that, we just can't know at this time, so that this author's guesses are as good as any other Egyptologists.

5 comments about The Happy Hooker: My Own Story.

1. Anyone who can sell well over 15 million copies of their book, must have something going for them. In Xaviera Hollander's case it's SEX! SEX! SEX!
   
   That subject always seems to sell, but what makes THE HAPPY HOOKER such a sinful delight, is just how much she enjoyed her work as the world's most famous madam and ever active prostitute. As so thoroughly and often clinically described, she really knows how to turn on both men and women and even both at the same time. And because of that she was bound to attract the attention of the not so understanding competition and the police.
   
   In 1960's New York, police corruption was rampant to say the least, Xaviera's co-author Robin Moore certainly knows that subject from having written THE FRENCH CONNECTION. I imagine he helped with that side of the book whilst MISTRESS Hollander concentrated on what she knows best. Her customer's tales and fetishes, their needs and demands, may not be everyone's cup of tea, but theres plenty on offer here for any reader whether at bedtime or on that break from work. Numerous studies show prostitution should be fully legal, controlled and regarded as any other "service" industry. Of course we're a long way from that happening. But pornography took a while to be fully accepted and look how well thats done, specially on wall street. Don't forget illegal gambling, off-track betting and the numbers racket and interest only loans becoming legit as well.
   
   Where would the everso righteous politicians be without the sex for sale industry. Xaviera's financial climax came in writing this book,not from running her brothel which at best had a hard job breaking even, what with all the police raids, lawyer exspenses, payoffs and bad debts she had to contend with in her business. As she saids and then there are the clothes`for the "sissy boys", the whips and chains, condoms, bed laundering and all that lubricant. With all that in mind, how how many of us can truely say we enjoy what we do? THE HAPPY HOOKER is both horny and honest about what she once did.



2. Perhaps this is my second time to read it after more than 15 years.It has always impressed me.and i wonder how how a human being could express this level of honesty to tell the most private life which most of us are ashamed even to think about telling. I feel very few tell such story and is quite natural to be like her acording Freud'view.More over it is written in splendid literary flow and i really appreciate her for the top level work she produced for the reader.



3. I read this book at a friend's house in the 1970's - so many of us high school buddies grabbed it off his bookshelf that he barely noticed. There's even an autobiography interspersed between the pages of gratuitous sex, as Ms. Hollander describes her upbringing in Holland, and her life as a prostitute and madam in New York City. Then, ofcourse, comes more descriptions of her escapades with men, women, couples, etc., in those days before most people worried about safety. This book may be less stunning in today's era of DVD and cyber-porn, but that doesn't exactly elevate it to literature. Still, it's readable style helped sell 15 million copies, leading one to surmise that trashy books have an erotic effect on more men and women than will admit it.



4. This book is a sexy classic. As a sex worker in New York, I found this book to be truthful and entertaining at the same time (although dated in many respects). You will find yourself liking her because she never feels sorry for herself and truly loves the business. She is street smart, funny, and feminine with no apologies. It's too bad they made such a bad movie adaption - I would love to see another one made!



5. As a modern twenty-something who wasn't even born when this book first came out in 1972, I enjoyed picking up what is undeniably a part of the history of American sexual culture. I tried to keep in perspective how shocking this book must have been in the 1970's, before our bookshelves and televisions were plasted with frank talk about sexual health and sexual deviance. To me, the opening lesbian girlhood fantasies and the nymphomania (of course all prostitutes love sex) seemed cliched, but I don't doubt Hollander's account of her early sexual life and introduction to the profession.
   
   Hollander had an fascinating life growing up in Holland and moving to America. She was well-educated and very intelligent, and she eloquently explained how a girl of her breeding could become absolutely trapped and imprisioned in an abusive relationship. Her insight on that relationship alone makes this book a worthwhile read.
   
   The book is a true page-turner as Hollander describes her sexual escapades in New York and the ways in which she earned money on her trip to Mexico. Hollander explains all the ins and outs of the high-end prositution business and the complicated formal relationship hookers have with their madam. The end of the book becomes a business treatise on the prostitution world, and it makes for compelling reading.

5 comments about The Wilder Shores of Love: The Exotic True-Life Stories of Isabel Burton, Aimee Dubucq de Rivery, Jane Digby, and Isabelle Eberhardt.

1. Originally published in 1954 and quickly becoming a best seller; The Wilder Shores of Love portrays four admirable women who, by fate and conscious design, lived their lives brimming with dangerous adventure, passion and political savvy that threw nineteenth century society into a stir of envied condemnation.
   
   Jane Digby, `impervious to scandal', made her way across Europe like a whirling dervish of all consuming passion. Among her many flames (the list is not exhaustive) were Prince Schwarzenburg, Balzac, King Ludwig I of Bavaria and his son; Otto, King of Greece, followed by an Albanian Chieftain and a couple of Arab Sheikhs. The last with whom she settled in Syria, alternating between Damascus and desert tribal warfare in which she participated; all of this at a time when `Queen Victoria refused to countenance the remarriage of widows'. She was also a woman of great intellect, spoke nine languages fluently and retained her naiveté until the end.
   
   By contrast, Isabel Burton and Aimee Dubucq de Rivery displayed a singular sense of purpose that defied what was possible: Isabelle Burton, hypnotised by her husband to be, the awesome Richard Burton (explorer, orientalist, linguist - a kind of Livingston, Byron, T.E. Lawrence and Fitzroy Maclean all rolled into one), clung to a gipsy prophecy for nine years before she got her man. Blanch takes their relationship as a metaphor between east and west; Catholic, domesticated Isabel who was also a consummate organiser and genius Burton, who could disappear for months on end to go native, re-emerging with sensitive information that the foreign office rarely took on board.
   
   Then there is the fascinating tale of Aimee Dubucq de Rivery; kidnapped by corsairs whilst sailing to France and despatched to the harem in Constantinople for the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. A worthy prize if ever there was one, her son became the famous reformer Sultan Mahmoud II. Blanch surveys European politics from the latticed seclusion of the harem, giving a unique perspective from this abducted beauty who was more powerful than we'll ever know. Her childhood cousin, Josephine, became Napoleon's first wife.
   
   The fourth portrait is of Isabel Eberhardt; rebel, writer, adventurer. She has a hard act to follow and doesn't come off as fascinating as the previous three but is nevertheless extraordinary in her own right.
   
   Lesley Blanch chose her subject matter well and contrasts her four portrait sitters with the backcloth of their age. The transition of nineteenth century England from the Regency period to the Victorian era she describes as `The century's smothering growth of prudery'.
   
   This is a scintillating kaleidoscope of landscapes, personalities, cultures and attitudes that offers a political insight equal to its task. It reminds us in our politically correct age that there have been real women of daring who enlivened society and challenged its boundaries in an unconventional way; yet in the end, it is more a quintet than quartet, as Lesley Blanch herself is up there with the best of them: A must read!



2. "Did I have adventures with foreign men?'' Lesley Blanch told an interviewer on her 100th birthday. "Many times --- I like them.''
   
   Even at that advanced age, she was still writing. Always to music, most often reggae. At night, she'd greet visitors --- she was fond of hashish dealers --- to her exotic house on the French-Italian border in clothes that matched her environment: a caftan and turban, her neck fighting a load of ethnic jewelry.
   
   To the very end of her life --- Lesley Blanch died in the spring of 1907, at 102 --- she was wildly entertaining. But her big personality is just icing. As "The Wilder Shores of Love" attests, she was a very good writer with a gift for telling remarkable stories, many of them probably true. And she was the ideal writer to profile four 19th century women who defied convention and went off to make fresh starts in North Africa and the Middle East. Or, as she called them, "four northern shadows flitting across a southern landscape."
   
   Her focus was as exotic as her prose: "love as a means of individual expression, of liberation and fulfillment within that radiant periphery." Her women weren't head-in-the-stars about love; they were "realists of romance." And the book works brilliantly because, though the lives of Blanch's women were only superficially similar, their priorities were the same --- breathing the oxygen that was only available on the wilder shores of love.
   
   Isabel Burton: Blanch chose her because she was "the supreme example of a woman who lived and had her being entirely through love." From the minute she saw them, she craved the East and the famous Victorian traveler, Richard Burton. (He spoke 28 languages. Blanch writes, one of them pornography.) Once she got him, their lives became a Greek drama: She colonized him and destroyed him, and, in the process, destroyed herself. But to what astonishing heights destruction took them --- Isabel worked tirelessly on Richard's behalf and, more or less singlehandedly, turned him into a celebrity. "I have undertaken a very peculiar man," she wrote in the early days of the marriage. He could have said the same: She traveled with 59 trunks, stayed for days in harems, and, meeting her wayward husband by chance in Venice, said hello and shook his hand.
   
   Jane Digby: "She smashed all the taboos of her time," Blanch writes. "Hers was a life lived entirely against the rules, reasons and warnings, and it was triumphantly happy." You may disagree --- Digby experienced the ultimate tragedy when her beloved six-year-old son slid down a balcony, miscalculated and fell to his death at her feet. But the rest? One fabulous love affair after another, culminating in the marriage to Sheik Abdul Medjuel El Mezrab. Jane was always a great horsewoman; now she mastered dromedaries, and often raced at the head of a Bedouin tribe. She prepared her husband's food, stood as he ate, washed his feet. And the outcome? She never became old. "Admiration and love," Blanch notes, "are the best beauty treatments."
   
   Aimée Dubucq de Rivery: Romantic? How's this: captured by pirates, flunk into a harem and enslaved. Her first sight in her new life in Turkey was "a great pyramid of heads, some so newly severed that they reeked and steamed with blood." She became "the French Sultana," the mother of Sultan Mahmoud II (who helped create modern Turkey) and a force for freedom and justice --- quite the tale.
   
   Isabelle Eberhardt: She dressed as a man. She turned Arab. A Russian, she converted to Islam and died --- actually: drowned --- in the desert. "She adored her insignificant husband, but her sensual adventures were without number," Blanch writes, matter-of-factly. "Her behavior was outrageous; she drank, she smoked hashish, but déclassée, she remained racée." No one who met her ever forgot her. You won't either.
   
   Subjects and author been rarely been better matched. For despite her sympathies with travel and romantic adventure, Lesley Blanch was a serious writer. Though well-born, she was also born poor; she worked hard from a young age, first as a book illustrator, then as Features Editor of British Vogue. Over her career, she wrote 18 books, all in longhand. The combination of a good education, intense research, remarkable subjects and a vivid style is irresistible --- "Wilder Shores" has never been out of print since its publication in 1954.



3. I have only read the first story but it is great. Looking forward to the other two..



4. I wouldn't have known about this book if I hadn't read Lesley Blanch's recent obit in the NY Times (May 11, 2007). It sounded too good to pass up, and it's a great read. Her writing style, for a biography, is over the top even for 50 years ago, but it's obvious she was enjoying herself in the telling, and it's a very readable book. HOWEVER, as soon as you read Ms Blanch's intro, you find a reference to an illustration, but when you check the book for pictures, there are none. Turns out the hardcover first ed. had pictures, and some subsequent paperback editions printed in England kept the illustrations, but the newer paperback editions dumped them. Well, shame on Scribners for not including them! It does take something away from the narrative not to be able to see whatever the author was able to locate on the women, whether photos or portraits. But still an entertaining read.



5. God what a beautiful collection of real life stories and ones about women that way up most braggart adventures of men!(and I say that as a guy folks!). I was in a state of awe & envy throughout, fell dangerously in love with 3 out of 4 of the characters and am left disappointed only by my own world in result. This book is highly detailed and revealing of ins and outs of secret minds, hearts, places, women, individuals, religion, history and in many ways is scarily telling about truths of all. Its a gorgeous voyage and I give this book away too often but its one of those you know? Men or women I dare you to call yourself the same by its end!

5 comments about Virginia Woolf.

1. Literary biography is a tough genre to master, but Hermione Lee has tackled one of the toughest subjects imaginable and emerged triumphant. Even those who have never picked up even an essay or short story by Virginia Woolf feel somehow familiar with her work; Michael Cunningham's The Hours: A Noveland the film based on that has taken her story and turned it into part of pop culture (albeit at a very high level.) That makes the task of producing an unbiased evaluation of Woolf's literary contributions and a balanced view of her life (both subjects of heated debate among her admirers) far more difficult than penning a standard literary biography.
   Far from being scared off, Hermione Lee rises to the occasion and delves deeply into every primary source on which she can lay her hands. The result is a triumph. She is able to weave these into a compelling narrative, never allowing the vast mass of detail to distract her or bog down the pace of the book (quite an accomplishment, given the 800-900 or so pages...)Whenever the reader is poised to ask of Lee how she reaches a given conclusion, within a paragraph the answer is presented, deftly and effortlessly.
   The result is a highly accomplished biography and one that should serve as a model for any other aspiring literary biographer. The Woolf that emerges is one that stands apart from the existing biographies, all of which have their own flaws (written by a family member, with all the flaws that brings; written to demonstrate that Woolf was first and foremost a victim of sexual abuse, etc.) Lee's Woolf is an independent woman who constructed a life that suited her, however little understood it may have been by those around her. Even her suicide, the darkest days of World War II, make sense in the framework of Lee's narrative, which deals with her previous mental breakdowns, her experiences during the Great War and her fear of being trapped forever in a half-world unable to write.
   Even for those not familiar with Woolf's novels or the Bloomsbury Group, this is a very accessible book. Indeed, I'd recommend it to anyone interested in learning more about the entire period in English literature (which saw a dramatic changing of the guard, from the oeuvres of Tennyson, Hardy and Yeats to those of Woolf, Joyce and T.S. Eliot). It can only help the novice reader approach Woolf's own works with greater understanding and confidence.



2. 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.



3. 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.



4. 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.



5. 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 comments about Time to Be in Earnest: A Fragment of Autobiography.

1. Samuel Johnson famously said that 'at 77 it is time to be in earnest' and P.D. James is. She has not been a diarist but for this book she forced herself to become one. The book consists of a year's worth of diary with flashbacks and memories of the past. Structuring an autobiography is far more difficult and far more problematic than it may at first appear. Her solution here is certainly novel. Superficially, the book is an account of a year's events--speeches, book tours, lunches, and so on, but ultimately it explores the key events and key individuals of her life, with all the tears and joys attached. She evokes a vivid sense of the war and what it was like to bear and protect infants then; she speaks of her beloved husband's struggles with mental illness, the fact that she was forced to support the family and do so by wending her way through a government career after taking what Americans would think of as a continuing ed program at the City University in London. She is so literate, so polished, and so well educated that it is hard to believe that she lacks a formal college education. Her success as a writer came relatively 'easily', though that is always a relative term. It came early, but it did not come without great labor.
   
   Time to Be in Earnest includes wonderful reflections on the craft of writing and the specific culture of crime writing and interesting anecdotes about such household names as Ruth Rendell and Iris Murdoch. Phyllis James/Baroness James knows everyone and speaks of them honestly and in detail. She also tells us about her cat (named for Johnson's cat, Hodge), which I found more interesting than I expected. I loved her comments on modern culture--on travel, on cell phones, on education, on political correctness, political personages (including the Blairs) and such unexpected pleasures as an account of what it is like to spend the night at Chatsworth. In all of these matters she is scrupulously honest and scrupulously frank. The impact on her of Johnson and of the Jane Austen of the letters as well as the novels is clear.
   
   This is a delightful book and you do not need to be a fan of P.D. James's crime fiction (she would say detective fiction) to enjoy it. It is a very English book in every way, but it is also pure Horatio Alger--relatively poor woman hungry for butter during the war becomes Baroness James of Holland Park and doesn't change a great deal in the process. I had the great pleasure of meeting her once and talking to her for a few minutes. She is absolutely the genuine article--kind, direct, real with a capital R and authentic with a capital A. The book conveys that, without any arrogance and without any pretense. Read it and love her.



2. I've enjoyed all of P. D. James' fiction works, but found the fragment of autobiography interesting, but a bit tedious. The book is interesting in that her life is filled with drama, trials, and turmoil; tedious in the multiple social and literary events that are recited. I can only surmise that the author herself really was not interested in keeping the diary and found it tiresome.



3. As a long-time fan of PD James, I was eager to read her fragment of an autobiography. Upon finishing it, I regretted reading it. This esteemed author reveals a bit too much about her extremely right-wing politics, her puzzling infatuation with rank and privilege, and her obsessive nature. I didn't count the number of speeches and signings she did in her 78th year, but the number would be staggering. She seems unable to refuse any request to be honored and fawned over. Of course, her obsessive nature is useful in crime fiction, I suppose. And her prose remains the model of clarity. I still love her work and will go on reading it, but I will have to make an effort to separate my negative impression of the woman.



4. As a fan of P.D. James' mysteries, reading her 'fragment of autobiography' served as an interesting chance to get to know the woman behind the words. "A Time To Be In Earnest" is a diary written for one year of the author's life: since the original intent was publication, there is a formality to it and it does lack the spontaneity of emotions of other diaries. Yet that does not diminish what is written within its pages, for it is a glimpse into the everyday life of a woman, a writer, a grandmother, a public image, etc... as she reflects on the past, present, and what the future may bring.
   
   P.D. James did not begin writing her novels until she was in her thirties - she was already married with two daughters and worked as a public servant. Her diary begins with a note to the reader about the task ahead. The title is taken from a quote by Samuel Johnson that reads, "At seventy-seven it is time to be in earnest" and so during her seventy-seventh year, James keeps this diary as a way to ward off the would-be writers of biographies and to help her remember certain events and moments in the face of oncoming age. Sometimes her entries focus on her early life, giving readers a brief biographical sketch of home and school, while other entries are forays into James' thoughts on current affairs, past crimes, and what it is like to be an author in demand. Also during this year, readers follow the author as she promotes her newly published book ("A Certain Justice") and travels throughout the world, allowing readers to into her insights on the places she visits.
   
   There is no doubt that P.D. James has led an extraordinary life, having experienced love, loss, and the shattering and numbing consequences of war. Her diary is, at times, like sitting down with an old friend (who happens to be a favorite author) and discussing books, history and the affairs of the day. Readers are drawn into her life, just as they are drawn into the characters she creates in her fiction. (An included positive for Jane Austen fans, is a talk that James gave on "Emma" and how it is a detective story, with James laying out the clues that Austen left for readers to find.) James may fancy herself a grandmother who happens to write detective stories, but I for one am glad that she continues to write, well into her eighties.



5. This has to be one of the most unique autobiographies I've ever read. The premise is brilliant. P.D. James takes one year of her life, at age 77, and as we follow her from activity to relative to meeting to book event, she also takes the time to reflect on the larger picture of her life and the people she has known for most of her life, providing historical details as a stream of conscious memory. Some of her life just isn't that interesting, but trying to manage two children and a marriage to a man who spent most of his adult life in asylums, as well as being made a Peeress of the Realm, and all of the publication minutae are pretty interesting. It is always fun to read the story of a life richly lived by an accomplished person.

5 comments about A Charmed Life: Growing Up in Macbeth's Castle.

1. The concept of A CHARMED LIFE is intriguing, if not charming. Written by Liza Campbell, a member of the 26th consecutive generation of the family made famous in Shakespeare's MacBETH--and the final member of the family to be born at the notorious castle--there was no way that this memoir could fail to be interesting.
   
   And the family history is, indeed, interesting. Yet the modern generations seems more demented and perverted than they seem compelling; those of them who don't seem demented and/or perverted seem to be drop-outs from real life and understandably depressed.
   
   The author's father, the 25th Thane, descended into madness, probably exacerbated by the privileged life he lived in drug-drenched 1960s. At his best, he was so cruel as to be sadistic--and possibly incestuous as well.
   
   Writing this memoir presumably was cathartic for Liza Campbell, his daughter. Yet it doesn't make for very good reading for outsiders once one gets past the rather brief explanation of the family's past.
   
   Liza Campbell's girlhood at the castle was anything but charmed. For a similar memoir of growing up in an ancient and noble British family, but a cheerful version at that, read Lady Annabelle Goldsmith's memoir instead.



2. I stumbled across this book when searching for something else. I was intrigued by the title because I once traveled to Scotland and wanted to visit Cawdor, but it was closed as it was the off season. I did however travel the general area, and I looked forward to reading about her life at Cawdor. I was richly surprised to uncover a wonderful gem of a memoir filled with references to the Scottish landscape I so enjoyed visiting. Ms. Campbell is an excellent writer. Her use and command of the English language was a pleasure to experience. Her story, and that of her siblings, was something out of a fairy tale in many regards, yet it was also a nightmare, easily recognized by others who grew up with an alcoholic parent. I enjoyed the book immensely and recommend it highly. I have tremendous respect for her, cemented by the fact that in the notes at the end of the book, she thanked her mother for her permission to share with readers intimate, yet privately painful experiences of her marriage. I greatly look forward to another book penned by Ms. Campbell.



3. This was a beautifully written memoir about what goes on behind closed doors in the so called "upper class" Campbell family. Sad to see what drugs and alcohol can do to someone who had so much already and so much to give (but didn't). I found the historical background to the scottish aristocracy really fascinating and educational without being boring. I would have liked to know more about the other members of the family and how they all felt about the way they were ultimately betrayed by their father and revolting step-mother.



4. I found this book well-written and thoroughly engrossing, although I believe that the original British title ("Title Deeds") is more descriptive of the contents, particularly given the current and continuing legal wranglings. However, the double entendre would be lost, I think, on most Americans. The author aptly calls this a personal memoir, rather than a biography, of her father, but I couldn't shake the feeling that, notwithstanding her attempt at some rudimentary psychoanalysis of and conciliation with her father's memory in the final chapter, she is still highly conflicted about her feelings concerning not only her father, but also her birth mother and stepmother. Charmed life? I don't think so.



5. I was very disapppointed in this book and am very surprised it has received so many positive reviews. It was shallow and offered little - if any - insight into the author's family. The stories were superficial and often just depicted the author's narrow view of each set of circumstances.
   I am now reading Miranda Seymour's book "In My Father's House," and the difference is remarkable. It is so much more insightful and the writing is outstanding.

5 comments about The Testosterone Files: My Hormonal and Social Transformation from Female to Male.

1. I'm a married, straight guy on the cusp of 30 and I bought this book when someone close to me decided to transgender.
   
   First of all it is very readable. Max has a good voice and a lot of um... vocabulary to work with. Sometimes it's a little much, but only for short periods of time confined to the preface and individual passages.
   
   I'm not intro writing multi-page reviews, but I wanted to share a couple of impressions that the book left on me. The first is that it reminded me how much I like being a guy. Despite the ocean of difference between the author and myself, I identified with and was engaged by his enthusiastic narrative of maturation into a man. I don't propose to suggest to those of us on the outside that transgendering isn't totally insane and bordering on self-mutilation, but I'm definitely in a better position to be sympathetic to those deciding to take such a bold step.
   
   The second impression was more of an idea that it inspired; the idea that transexuals - particularly FTMs - could be extremely talented and valuable as family and relationship counselors. Imagine having a moderator who could perfectly identify with the emotional component of each side of a conflict? Short of that, just reading about the transexual experience gives great insight into what of our behavior stems from true human nature, and what is a product of societal gender roles. Brilliantly interesting stuff. Feminism is old, people! Our generation takes our equal worth for granted. It's time to once again embrace our differences. Sexual dimorphism is hot. But I digress...
   
   Obviously this isn't a book for everyone, but as a guy who takes his reading seriously I would say that it's worthwhile and I'm grateful I picked it up.



2. I barely made it through the prologue of this book because of the writing style. The author is a poet and it really shows in that section. Unfortunately I'm not too keen on poetry and, while slogging through it, kept mumbling Mark Twain's Rule 14: Eschew Surplusage!
   
   Nevertheless, this book is a fascinating read, and well worth pursuing to the end. Valerio throws amazing revelation after amazing revelation (ok, a little surplusage of my own) at you. I was surprised, for instance, that there are so many things about the effects of testosterone on men that I never knew or suspected.
   
   Valerio does an excellent job sharing his experience, providing insight into the (to me) mysterious feeling that one has been born into a body that does not fit his sexual identity.
   
   Our society would benefit from a greater understanding of LGBT issues, and this book is well-suited to that purpose. Read it and pass it on.



3. Max Wolf Valerio has a terrific way of providing knowledge and insight into the world of a FTM. Great read. You can even jump from chapter to chapter out of sequence for the information you need and not get lost in this book. The Author has been in many documentaries as well, including the film "Gendernauts". If you want information about being Ftm this is the book for you. Also A great read for anyone that wants to see inside the wonderful world of an amazing transition. It doesn't get much better than this. Don't let this one get away. Get this book and "Becoming Alec" written by Darwin S. Ward together and you have the foundation of the best works on FTM available to date. You'll be glad you did.



4. Like a fool, I avoided this book for too long thanks to some bad reviews by some angry feminists! Fortunately, I was able to catch a live reading by the author and my interest was again piqued. The book is less than a day old now and I haven't been able to put it down. Max has a delicious command of the language and this book is a fantastic adventure to experience and read. (I may be biased, as a 30-something FTM currently going through hormonal transition as well.) He is completely honest and his descriptions of the various phases of transition are spot on. Yes, it's a great piece of "trans literature," but more importantly an awesome piece of human history.



5. Overall, I thought is book was good, but not great. I like more nitty gritty gender theory, and I would've liked more of that sort of introspection. For a more general audience, it's probably a very good book. Esp. interesting are the author's reflections on the emotional/ mental effects of hormone therapy.

5 comments about Nothing to Do But Stay.

1. It often happens that our own stories are intimately entwined with someone else's story, and that to understand who we are, we have to tell another person's story first. This is true for Carrie Young, who has written a marvelous memoir of her mother.
   
   This warm, hopeful testament to a woman's courage tells the story of Carrine Gafkjen, who--all alone, and with the single-minded, strong-hearted independence that is often obscured in men's stories about women--homesteaded 160 acres of North Dakota prairie. That was in 1904, and Carrine Gafjken spent the next eight years working for money in the winter and returning to her homestead in the summer. By the time she was thirty, she owned 320 acres of productive land. In 1912 she married Sever Berg. They sold his homestead and took up residence on hers, and over the next decade she bore six healthy children, the last of whom has told us her story in a style that is as strong, clear, and direct as Carrine herself. This is story with no frills or fancy lace, a story of hard work and tough times, but through it all runs hope and love for the land and a firm belief that perseverance will win out in the end.
   
   To my mind, the best books are like this one, valuable in ways too many to count. I not only learned important things about life on the Dakota prairie, but I learned some very good ways to tell a story, to give voice to someone who can no longer speak for herself and who must live--if she continues to live--chiefly in the words of a writer and the heart of a reader. Carrie Young is a fine teacher for any aspiring writer, and her stories about her mother's life are instructive examples of story-telling at its best.
   
   by Susan Wittig Albert
   for Story Circle Book Reviews
   www.storycirclebookreviews.org
   reviewing books by, for, and about women



2. There's no plot here and certainly no white knuckle drama. The book is a series of essays, each chapter relating an event or way of life experienced by the author as a child growing up on the North Dakota plains during tbe early 1900s. From education to farm life to holidays, each was covered with love and humor. I felt like I was getting to know my own grandmother as a child. My only wish was that there were more photographs, but considering the time period it was wonderful to have a few.



3. I stumbled on this book in a used book store. It is the amazing story of the author's parents and their life in rural North Dakota. The book has adventures, anecdotes, and gives the reader a real sense of how families existed in the early 20th century. This was a very entertaining story, although perhaps you can't tell from this review. None of us who have read it could put it down, from my 78 year old mom to my sister who is reading it to her 7 year old daughter.



4. I loved this book. Its a compendium of short pieces about the author's mother, who was a frontier woman with a wonderful outlook on life. I also loved the descriptions of her husband, who had to drive the children through snow, to get to their respective schools, and the descriptions about how the kids were settled in the schoolhouse overnight, while wild mustangs banged against the door. I don't know about you, but I'm not sure I would send my children to a schoolhouse way far away, with food for a week. Can you imagine what they did after school let out... all by themselves? I wanted to hear more about this. The descriptions of quilting are wonderful.It is a great book if you are in the mood to feel cold, hungry, and in North Dakota with the snow beating down upon you. Also if you enjoy descriptions of sumptuous meals at holidays, replete with Norwegian recipes!



5. The author is the youngest of six children of hard-working Norwegian-speaking parents, and the account of the struggles her parents went thru is awesome. Sometimes I thought the author indulged in hyperbole, and I would have appreciated a little more exactitude, but it no doubt is true that life during the twenties and thirties in northwestern North Dakota was a hard and demanding one. The first part of this book is the best, as the author relates the fantastic efforts necessary for the kids to be educated. There is a lot of discussion of Norwegian food, and those of you who are of Norwegian descent will gobble that talk up, but for me I could not get too interested in how her mother went to extraordinary lengths to prepare, under primitive conditions, the food she was so good at concocting. There is less talk of the interesting political events during the time than I would have liked. Appam, North Dakota, which was apparently a home town to the family during these years, has, according to my 1958 atlas, a population of 18. I would like to have learned whether it was a bigger place when the author was a child. But the upbeat attitude to her childhood was a real plus for this book--not the dreary catalog of hardship one sometimes gets from depression sagas. I liked this book.