5 comments about Jean Arthur: The Actress Nobody Knew.

1. Jean Arthur would seem to be an impossible subject for a biography. The actress, who died in 1991 at the age of 90, was so reclusive she made Garbo look like a party doll. Interviews exist, but not many; fan magazine profiles inevitably puzzled over her, disgusted by an actress who refused to promote her own career. Her autograph is probably rarer than Garbo's, and she left little in the way of writings, no diaries and not much correspondence. Her stage career was based more on quality than quantity, consisting of a mere 17 appearances, some of which were in plays that closed after a single performance.
   
   Fortunately for author John Oller, Arthur made a substantial number of films (89) and, more importantly in trying to unravel this tricky subject, she made a strong impression -- negative, positive, sometimes both -- on practically everybody she encountered, from fellow actors to her stage and film directors to students in her teaching classes to secretaries and stage hands. They've provided Oller with a wealth of history and anecdotal detail. What emerges is a surprisingly detailed, highly readable account of a complex woman whose integrity and perfectionism -- and sometimes pettiness and even arrogance -- both fueled her work and undermined it at almost every turn.
   
   Arthur's high reputation persists on the basis of stage triumphs in Peter Pan and other plays, and supremely of unforgettable performances in screwball comedies like George Stevens's The More the Merrier, Capra films like Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and You Can't Take It with You, and Borzage's dreamy History Is Made at Night. Behind her luminous face and trademark husky voice, according to Oller, was a woman tormented by self-doubt and neurosis who could be charming one minute and a harridan the next. These qualities surfaced quite early in her career before she developed her loathing of the fan magazines. In 1928 she told an interviewer, "I'm hard-boiled now. I don't expect anything" -- harsh words indeed for "a girl of 20," as she said she was. (She was actually 28; like most stars, Arthur wasn't above lying about her age.) Each rejection -- and there were many early on -- was accompanied by crying jags and nervous fits that would only get worse as time went on. Arthur's early films must have been difficult for the highly intelligent, well-read, sophisticated woman Oller portrays; they were mostly horse operas and slapstick comedies, along with walk-ons in bigger pictures. Hollywood didn't know how to use her at first: in Paramount on Parade (1930), the musically ungifted actress performed two numbers.
   
   But Arthur's striking personality shone through by the early 1930s, and she gave memorable performances in a series of films that are remembered today as much for her presence as anything else. In spite of consistent success and critical raves, though, she continued to struggle with anxiety. Capra says she threw up before and after every scene in one of his films (in an inspired phrase he says "those weren't butterflies in her stomach, they were wasps!"). She was as intransigent as some of the Warners women like Bette Davis and Olivia de Havilland in fighting the studios' manipulations. Being contracted to Columbia, she had it worse, having to fend off mogul Harry Cohn's capricious career choices and his crude sexual advances. Here her stubbornness paid off in 1938 with a new contract that was one of the body blows to the studios' control over actors.
   
   Arthur's disgust with the machinery of stardom led her inexorably to the stage; more respectable, perhaps, but equally or even more problematic for an actress of her skittish sensibilities. Much of the book is taken up with the wildly dramatic struggle of producers, directors, and friends to get Arthur to go on stage and stay there through the run of a play. This was mostly a vain effort. Arthur gravitated to the counterculture and agreed in 1967 to do a play called The Freaking Out of Stephanie Blake. Riddled with pot-smoking stage hands, props that wouldn't work (one nearly fell on Arthur's head), and actors who didn't show up, the play closed after the first night. Oller's account of these events is hilarious, particularly his description of a crazed Arthur kneeling before an audience begging them to let her leave the stage. She alienated so many of her coworkers that the author probably couldn't list them all without doubling the book's page count. Still, she had her defenders who forgave her endless disappearing act from life, and this was equally due to her winning personality (when she wanted it to be) and her fierce talent.
   
   Her Peter Pan, the best ever according to some observers of the time, made her more enemies than friends but was a huge success while it lasted. It was not a smooth production, however; Arthur nearly crippled it when she came down with one of her many "viral infections" that she seemed able to will into existence in times of stress. Besides the obvious mental relief she got from running away from innumerable commitments, she could spend time indulging her favorite activities: interior decorating, reading, philosophy, and playing with her animals. She found little solace in religion but pursued self-realization through mentors like Erich Fromm. She was also an eloquent observer of politics from the left. "The wrong people are running the country," she said, speaking of Nixon and his cronies. "You only have to look at their brutal faces to know that."
   
   The author doesn't delve too far into Arthur's alleged lesbianism (which writers like Boze Hadleigh have taken for granted). Several things point in that direction: her slightly masculine manner and voice, her lack of interest in motherhood, her almost pathological refusal to wear a dress even when a role demanded it, and most of all the fact that she spent the last decades of her life with devoted "unmarried army nurse" Ellen Mastroianni. But Arthur was so secretive about everything, even with Mastroianni in some areas, that this will probably never be verifiable.
   
   The book attempts some psychoanalysis on his mysterious subject -- perhaps appropriate given Arthur's fascination with therapy and her friendship with Fromm. But these sections are the only labored note here, adding an unnecessarily speculative touch to a book that's well grounded in the topsy-turvy reality of Arthur's life and art.



2. Lots of info about Jean Arthur's life and career. Well researched. But a depressing read. Arthur was her own worst enemy. She had a love/hate thing about her acting career.
   I love Jean Arthur on the screen. As a person, she was very screwed up, IMHO. And all the booze didn't help, in her later years.
   I read this book, then Rachel Roberts' diaries then a bio of Kim Stanley, one after the other. Afterwards, I felt like shooting myself. Three enormously gifted actresses who had great success. All 3 had drinking problems and ambivalent feelings about their careers. In the end, all 3 kind of threw their careers down the toilet.



3. I grew up in Carmel, California, and my mother used to drive us along Scenic Drive and point out to us where Jean Arthur lived. We'd sometimes see her walking along that oceanside road, her face always wrapped in a scarf. Mom would talk about the actress being a recluse ("hermit" was the word used then) in a framework that assumed pathology: there must have been something wrong with the actress. And she could not have been happy, either: she never even had children! How could someone do without constant company?
   All my life I wondered about this enigmatic recluse. I was fascinated by her reputed traits, which seemed very normal & healthy to me and with which I strongly identified (including her obsessive love & protection of animals). I bought this book more for an understanding of Arthur's personality than her career, although I also loved her movie presence. I was delighted to see the author NOT oversimplify her personality but instead explore all possible causes of her withdrawn nature & sudden walkouts, including the positive causes, and emphasize her fierce individualism and solid integrity, even though on the surface she paid dearly for both. (On a deeper level, she probably became truer to herself.) Oller presents all plausible theories objectively and leaves it to the reader to choose (although I couldn't help but wonder about the additional possibilities of hypoglycemia, of which she had many symptoms, and panic attacks, conditions that might have been treated if diagnosed, maybe relieving some of her suffering). I prefer the theory that she simply did what she wanted and followed some inner direction and that she was predominantly content.
   This is a thorough, well-researched account of her career and her place in Hollywood and stage history. But to me, it was even more valuable as an affirmation of her brave values and strengths and her search for meaning and truth in a time where such search, for women, was discouraged.



4. I was really glad to get some information on Jean Arthur (hard to find) She had a sad long life but that wasn't John Oller fault. Don't blame the messenger. She was a great actress and I will still love her in all the movies that she was in..But you know her and Mary Martin did look alot alike (single white female) remember the movie. Scary!!



5. I can't imagine a tougher classic star to write about; nobody really knew Jean Arthur as the title implies. John Oller is to be commended for successfully championing her story and bringing it to light for classic film fans everywhere. It's an easy read by virtue of Mr. Oller's flowing narrative and ample research, and difficult to read emotionally at times because of the nature of Miss Arthur's sad yet intriguing Hollywood exisistence. Get to know Miss Arthur ~ read this book!

5 comments about How to Hepburn: Lessons on Living from Kate the Great.

1. I looked forward to reading this book, largely because I am such a Hepburn fan. However, I was deeply disappointed. Ms. Karbo is a wonderful, breezy writer. However, the lessons in this book aren't much more than her personal opinions backed up by Hepburn anecdotes. While it's clear Ms. Karbo admires Kate Hepburn, I was not inspired nor enlightened by the material. If you are interested in learning about the actress, I suggest one of the other biographies. If you are interested in life lessons, I suggest a different book.



2. I'm a woman who loves movies, loves Katharine Hepburn, and loves self-help wisdom. So when I picked up How to Hepburn, all 3 of these antennae were waving. I was taken by the Dick Cavett epigram on the very first page hinting at "some secret" of Hepburn's that made her so successful and content, and found myself in that greedy, plundering mode of reading where you look for something that can benefit YOU. I kept finding absolute gems. The first chapter, for example, is called The Importance of Being Brash, and right away you get what Karbo's doing: entertaining us with inside stories about and insights into Hepburn but also genuinely extracting important ideas for all of us. Hepburn started wearing pants and outraging people in grade school when girls and women in pants were unheard-of, and never stopped; she was the first girl to wear pants to class at Bryn Mawr, and in fact "they became her trademark... her baggies were so raggedy she held them up with safety pins, a style that, when combined with Hepburn's devotion to the pursuit of fun (smoking; skinny-dipping in the library fountain; breaking and entering), could best be described as Hobo Flapper." This really makes me want to cut loose. Maybe I will get some black jeans and wear kohl on my eyes like that boy I saw the other day in the museum.
   
   One of my favorite chapters is Fear Management, the Hepburn Way, mainly because it reveals that Hepburn's seeming fearlessness masked horrible stage fright. This is great news. Katherine Hepburn had stage fright? And went and did all that theater acting anyway? What Karbo says is "The flinty truth is that mostly things get worse, including our fears. Solace is found in acclimation: we may not overcome our terror, but we get used to the sensation of being terrified." This is a wonderful nugget that is not unfamiliar to those of us familiar with cognitive-behavioral therapy.
   
   Like Hepburn herself, this book defies categorization. It is bracing and thoughtful and a lot of fun. It's... well, it's inspiring. It would make a great birthday present for a woman of any age.



3. Anyone knowing anything about Katherine Hepburn knows, despite film roles and a public persona, that she was in a groveling and servile relationship with Spencer Tracy, the love of her life. No feminist would want to copy her.



4. As I was looking at the biographies section of my local independent bookstore, I noticed this compact book snuggled between much larger books about two screen icons who share the same last name, Audrey and Katharine Hepburn. Given the provocative title, I wanted to venture a guess as to which Hepburn the author was talking about since both women have inspired various levels of imitation and adoration even after their respective deaths. As I suspected, the book turns out to be about Kate on the not-so-coincidental occasion of her centenary. However, author Karen Karbo is not really examining the legendary actress's life in detail but rather taking a more cursory look at the cues in her life and memorable quotes that helped shape her enduring persona. Hepburn obviously lived life on her own terms, and Karbo sets out to define what the guiding principles were behind the actress's 93-year-old life.
   
   Toward that end, the author does a reasonably entertaining job of presenting the Hepburn philosophy, steeped as it is in self-mythologizing, but there is nothing revelatory here that would surprise fans. It's common knowledge that the woman was a difficult personality with a wealth of idiosyncrasies. At the same time, she continues to be a beloved icon for her unmovable sense of self and her non-conformist mindset just as much for her enduring career. Karbo's treatment reads a bit like a manifesto, which I'm sure is intentional, but without the cumulative context of Hepburn's life events, there is a lack of resonance to the life lessons presented. Several comprehensive biographies on the market offer theories on her life, though none more accurately encapsulates her philosophy than the subject herself in Me : Stories of My Life. Even better is the two-part 1973 interview Dick Cavett conducted with a 66-year-old Hepburn (mentioned briefly in the book and available on the first disc of The Dick Cavett Show - Hollywood Greats). With her crackling persona in full bloom, the legend threatens to make Cavett into a whipping boy with her unapologetic honesty and lacerating wit. That will give you a more vivid impression of Hepburn's outlook on life than this book really can.



5. I must admit I'm still a few pages away from finishing the book, but I had to write to say that I'm loving every page of it. It seems to read part biography, part love letter from a devoted fan, and part amazing graduate thesis in the way each part of Kate's life is analyzed and seen from a feminist's point of view. I so thoroughly enjoyed Karbo's personal comments, and at times comedic footnotes, that I think the author should take the book on the road and do a one woman homage stand up performance of it. If she did, I would be the first in line to offer any help on it in any way. The only reason I couldn't give 5 stars is the lack of any photos that is a must have for Hepburn fans like me, and the fact that it was too short, as I trust I will be sad to come to the ending. Thank you Karen Karbo for a fascinating new look at our never-to-be forgotten Katherine, as well as ourselves.

5 comments about Wild Writing Women: Stories of World Travel.

1. This book exhilarated me and ignited my passion for travel to an even higher level than before. The courage (and insanity!) of some of these women; their appreciation for travel, culture and their unrelenting desire to soak up every bit of their experiences, inspired me to - not only travel to every destination listed in the book - but to truly appreciate the journey, with all its flaws. Because, who knows, it might make for a great story someday!



2. What a refreshing, beautiful book. The essays within are full of powerful and rich personality, which serves to give a full sensory perception of the places of which they write. There is an abandon and adventurous spirit that blows through the pages and inspires the reader not just to travel, but to really experience the places one goes, even close to home.



3. This book was perfectly conceived and executed. These 24 smart stories by 12 smart women cover the whole tonal range -- funny, poignant, gut-wrenching, beautiful, thoughtful, irreverant, wonderfully sappy... And the publishing concept itself was brilliant, a clever way to crack a difficult market: strength in numbers, taking power into their own hands...in retrospect it seems so obvious, but I'm sure that two years ago these women had little idea how brilliant they were being... I'm 50 years old now, and anyone who has reached my stage of geezerhood knows the value of having even one good solid friend. I attended a salon event these women put on in San Francisco recently, and I mentioned to one of them just how great I thought it would be to have twelve friends as tight as they seem to be. Her response: "Well, now you do!" And that is the feeling that one comes away with after reading their book: Twelve new friends.



4. "Stories Of World Travel" by the Wild Writing Women is the best and most entertaining travel book that I have read. Each chapter is a stand-alone story of an exotic adventure written by experienced authors and travelers. The "Spirits of Scotland" story by Cathleen Miller had a most surprising twist on a honeymoon adventure. I recommend the book highly.



5. I love this book.
   So great to hear all the adventures these women have.
   They are all so independent. They go off to see the world in so many different ways. Each one has their own personality and way of traveling.
   They go out and do all the things I wish I could do.
   Way to go Ladies ...........
   Thanks for the inspiration
   p.s. I also love their monthly news-letters

5 comments about A Piece of My Heart: The Stories of 26 American Women Who Served in Vietnam.

1. This book was very inspiring to read especially since I am a Gulf war veteran myself and have grown up during the time. I really appreciated there stories.



2. I read this every once in a while to gain perspective and to make sure I hear the stories of these women. To make sure I'm aware of, and to acknowledge their sacrifices. They touched so many lives then, and are still making a difference in other ways now. I think this should be required reading for every woman.



3. "A Piece of My Heart: The Stories of 26 American Women Who Served in Vietnam," by Keith Walker, is a powerful addition to the large body of writings about the Vietnam War. Walker's technique for compiling this book was to interview the featured women and turn the transcripts of the interviews into chapters. One chapter is drawn from a dual interview of two of the women, and another chapter consists of a letter written by a woman whom Walker did not get to interview. The book is full of black-and-white photographs that further document the women's service in Vietnam. Also noteworthy is the stirring foreword by entertainer Martha Raye, who briefly discusses her own experiences in Vietnam.
   
   Most of the women featured were Army nurses, but the book also includes women who served as WACs, Red Cross personnel, a civilian flight attendant, a USO worker, and more. There are some significant recurring themes that connect a number of chapters: the experience of being under hostile fire; men, women, sex, and dating in the war zone; encounters with the Vietnamese people; fun and recreation in Vietnam; challenges the women faced in doing their jobs in a war zone; and personal and psychological problems some of the women faced after returning home from Vietnam. Also, two of the women discuss possible Agent Orange-connected health problems faced by children they had after serving.
   
   There are some extremely graphic and disturbing accounts by some of the nurses as they recall the horrific injuries suffered by their patients, as well as their own struggles to deliver compassionate care in the combat zone environment. There are many other noteworthy memories, some heartbreaking, some funny. Army nurse Pat Johnson describes painting the barracks "red-and-white striped with pink polka dots." Entertainer Bobbi Jo Pettit recalls touring Vietnam as part of an all-girl band called "The Pretty Kittens." Navy nurse Maureen Walsh delivers a vivid account of an enemy rocket attack at Da Nang.
   
   The voices of these women strike many tones: feisty, introspective, proud, caring. I was especially moved by the memories of post-war reunions and experiences at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. I consider this book to be an absolutely essential complement to the many fine works, both fiction and nonfiction, written by male Vietnam veterans. Recommended as a companion text: Wallace Terry's "Bloods: An Oral History of the Vietnam War by Black Veterans," which is similar in both format and impact to this book.



4. Written in 1985 when many of the wounds of Vietnam still bled fresh, Keith Walker interviewed 26 women who served in country in a variety of capacities. The result of this ambitious and courageous project is a heartbreaking, captivating and ultimately transcendent oral history.
   
   The stories here filled with an evolution that mirrors the changes of perception that accompanied the war. This is not only a history of women in Vietnam (a history all too frequently too overlooked)but also a history of America as well. Each woman, in her own way experiences the journey from ambition to horror to disillusionment to healing. Many of the women interviewed (as of 1985)are still works very much in progress- as our Nation is as well.
   
   This oral history depicts not only depicts the immediate horrors and consequences of combat but most importantly the post combat experience as well along with the living conditions and political environment as seen in the first person.
   
   Later adapted (by Shirley Lauro) into a powerful dramatic event, A PIECE OF MY HEART makes for a must read for anyone interested in either Vietnam history specifically or American history in general.
   
   A classic.



5. ... for all of the women who served in Vietnam. Read this book, plus the late Lynda Van Devanter's Home Before Morning and you'll see why.

   While Lynda's book is a hauntingly graphic record of the triumphs and tragedies that the ANC nurses and Army surgeons experienced in Nam, A Piece Of My Heart gives the reader a very broad perspective of the contributions of women in many other areas.

   The foreword to the book was written by the wonderful Martha Raye, whose unflinching commitment to the men and women who served in Nam led to her being a two-time Purple Heart recipient. That even an entertainer could be wounded twice in the line of duty speaks volumes about the risk level In Country.

   Equally, Civilian Flight Attendant Micki Voisard almost met her end when her airliner almost collided with a B-52 that was maintaining radio silence during an airstrike.

   Yet even though the Red Cross Donut Dollies, such as Penni Evans and "Sam" Bokina Christie and WACs such as Doris Allen all have compelling stories to relate, it is the experiences of the nurses that really stay with you, long after you have put the book down.

   For most of her post-Nam life, former ANC nurse and author Lynda Van Devanter (Home Before Morning - available through Amazon.com) was haunted by the memory of a young soldier who had no face, and who eventually had to be left to die because of the extent of his injuries.

   When you read the piece by Anne Simon Auger (91st Evac. - Chu Lai) you realize that injuries of that magnitude were not as uncommon as you might hope and pray. Anne also described a young soldier whose face had been shot away, leaving him blind and in her words, "a vegetable".

   While my own view is that people in such terrible physical condition should be given enough morphine to shut down their breathing, or in the absence of that, on the battlefield, a mercy round from an M-16, I fully accept that however you have to deal with such shocking injuries, it will stay with you for the rest of your life.

   Let us not forget that while the cowardly Stalinist flag burners were calling the returning troops "baby killers", thousands of true blue American women were risking their own lives to support the largely teenaged US soldiers in a war that increasingly made no sense to the people who were being asked to fight it.

   These women were Vets. These women were heroes. These women were angels.

   We must constantly seek ways to honour them. Their sacrifice must never be forgotten.

5 comments about Looking for Mary: (Or, the Blessed Mother and Me).

1. The Virgin Mary is a remarkable woman. I adore her. And she has done a world of good in her role as the Queen of Heaven. But she can be a handful. Catholics think they know Mary. They don't.
   
   That's why _Looking for Mary_ is such an important book. Its author, Beverly Donofrio, has been to Bosnia: Donofrio has seen with her own eyes that Mother Mary is hardly the whispery milquetoast maiden that many reverend fathers take her for. Mary is a woman who can hold her own in a Man's world, let me tell you!
   
   As you may have noticed in the millennium just past, there has been some desultory tension between Mary and Yahveh, both of whom enjoy being worshiped as Jesus' Mother and Father, respectively, but neither of whom thinks the other should have sole dibs on Christian affection. Their rivalry, though jocular, can sometimes become more animated, as during the Reformation, when the fans of Mary and of Yahveh killed one another by the tens of thousands all across Europe; and again for just these past fifteen years, when the Virgin Mother and your heavenly Father have themselves been in a snit over who best deserves the loyalty of little children, a quarrel they have not yet resolved.
   
   I am reminded of four-year-old Cooper W-- of Sykesville, Maryland, whose grandmother took him, in May 1993, to Our Lady Center, to see a child-sized statue of the Virgin Mary. It did not escape Yahveh's notice that Our Lady Center had statues of the Happy Virgin in almost every size, and shape, and chaste posture, but no statues depicting God the Father for little children to honour with comparable reverence. So when young Cooper approached a concrete manikin of the Blessed Virgin to adore her, the Lord gave the statue an invisible push. Sadly, the stone Virgin fell over and clobbered the boy on the head and killed him. (Your heavenly Father was not angry with little Cooper: He just expects equal representation, and His fair share of adoration from the little ones.)
   
   When the Southern Baptists heard about Cooper's fate, they said that it illustrated, to Roman Catholics, God's contempt for the sin of "Mariolatry."
   
   The Virgin Mary just smiled, beatifically, like Mona Lisa, not showing her teeth. But she soon espied her chance to even the score, while upping the irony. On 5 August 1996, at the Bethlehem Baptist Church in Summerville, Georgia, third-graders attending the Vacation Bible School were taken outside to the cool, shady graveyard for their afternoon lesson. They gathered in a large circle, and bowed their heads in prayer as their teacher, Miss Knox, said, "Our Father, who art in Heaven...." And that is the exact moment when the Blessed Virgin made her move: she caused a six-foot granite cross to topple over onto the head of Andrew H-- , a nine-year-old boy who often praised his heavenly Father but never worshiped Mary.
   
   The police, when they arrived to help, flipped over the fallen stone. Guess what surname was inscribed on the granite tombstone that crushed the boy's skull? "POPE"! And guess where Andrew was pronounced dead, after being transported there by an ambulance? in "Rome"! (i.e., Rome, Georgia).
   
   Things like that do not just happen by accident. For things like that to happen to children, there has to be a God. Also, a Virgin Mother of God.
   
   Not to be outdone, your Father blasted a four-year-old boy in Rockaway, Queens. Little Rayangelo A--, who was born deaf, was learning how to pray to the Virgin Mother using sign language. A bright little boy, he was making good progress despite his God-given handicap, until that day at his grandma's house when he found an M-80 in the kitchen. Rayangelo, who had seen powerful firecrackers before, in TV cartoons, but had never heard one explode, lit the fuse - not realising the danger. The boy's signing hand was blown to pieces and had to be amputated.
   
   Yahveh just shrugged. "If a little child's hand gives offense," He said, "then I say, cut it off and toss it! Better that his hand should perish, than for Me to cast his entire little body into Hell, forever" (Matt. 19:14, 5:30).
   
   I know what you're thinking: why must your heavenly Father beat up twice on the same child? Rayangelo was a good kid. Wasn't it enough, to make him be born deaf? So what if he adores the Virgin Mother?
   
   But that is not the way your heavenly Father thinks about it.
   
   Not to be outdone, the Queen of Heaven on Christmas night, 1996, assaulted a six-year-old Colorado princess with a flashlight, cracking her skull. An elaborate PR effort pinned the mishap on a small foreign faction who slid down the chimney that night, although it was again the Mother who did it.
   
   The Father waited till Christmas Eve, 1997. He then sent a team of Protestant priistas to a coffee plantation near Acteal, Mexico, to instruct the Roman Catholic peasants who lived there - members of Las Abejas, a small foreign faction - that Maryolatrous "liberation theology" may not be good for their health. By the time the lesson was over, every child in the camp had been cut to pieces with a Protestant machete or riddled with bullets from an evangelical AK-47.
   
   It's not that God is unwilling to protect children from adult violence - He saves boys and girls from harm almost every day, all over the world, without complaining. But when children adore the blessed Mother more than they ought, that is when God may strike someone with divine irony, or with an iron fist. For one thing, when Christian tykes die and go to Heaven, the Lord doesn't mind as much as you might think. In fact, He likes it. "Suffer the little children to come unto me, the sooner the better, even if it's one piece at a time" - that's Yahveh's policy (Mark 10:14). As it is written in Scripture, "Blessed shall he be," therefore, "who takes your little children by the feet and dashes them against the rocks!" (Psalms 137:9).
   
   - L.



2. this is my third time to buy this book! I keep lending it out and never getting it back. I wanted to read it on the beach during our vacation so I had to buy it again.Plus wherever we go we look for Mary. you'd be suprised all the places you can find her---or maybe she finds you



3. It wasn't clear to me when I picked up this book that it was an autobiography of sorts. I was a little disinterested in the beginning to read about the author's personal lifestyle (young single mom, drugs, bad relationships, etc.), but came to be fascinated by her journey of faith and life improvement. I must say though that the historical tidbits about Mary (and even some of the saints) and especially her Medjugorje trip intrigued me the most.



4. I've just read this book for the second time in about a year. It's hard to put down and very inspirational. As a Protestant there definitely was a time when I would have dismissed this book as a lot of Catholic hokus pokus. But my mind has opened to much wider range of possibilites over the years. Besides, anyone who passionately embraces spirituality while holding religious institutions accountable for it's dogma is a person after my own heart. I love Anne Lamott's books for that as well. And beyond the wonderful experience with the Virgin Mary that Beverly Donofrio shares here, she must be admired for her courageous, honesty when it comes to writing about her own life's challenges and mistakes. By doing so she has provided a great service to her readers.



5. This book is a rarity--a book about Catholic Marian spirituality with much to offer non-Catholics, and even non-believers. D'Onofrio comes to terms with her (grievous) mistakes as a mother as she searches for (and finds) Mary the mother of Jesus. The book traces her interest in Catholic kitsch which gives way to an authentic awareness of and openness to the divine as it is manifested in and through Mary. Profoundly moving and honest, inspiring and very well-written--I feel lucky to have stumbled across this book.

4 comments about Chanel: The Couturiere at Work.

1. The writing is not very good - more like a stream of advertorials. There is overwhelming praise of Chanel's work - flattery more like it - without any criticism or analysis. However the pictures are good if you are collecting photos of Chanel's clothing designs over time. "Chanel and Her World" is a better book - it was put together with more thought. "Chanel: The Couturiere At Work" is just a thin book - more like a magazine, with insubstantial prose. Get it used.



2. Chanel: The Couturiere At Work is a lovely survey of fashion icon Coco Chanel and her innovative fashion ideas, and belongs in any collection boasting a focus on fashion. Her style is examined in depth; from her first early creations in the early 20th century through her design changes over the decades and her creations through the House of Chanel. Loaded with black and white and color examples from all the periods, Chanel The Couturiere At Work is a 'must' for any serious fashion collection.



3. Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel is adequately profiled in this book; from her very humble beginnings to her rise and fall -- and rise again -- this is an insightful biography of the woman and her work, which were for all intents and purposes inseparable. The authors capture not just the drive and determination which propelled Coco to the heights, but shrewdly illustrate how startlingly ahead of her time the designer was, and how much her work and ideas permeate fashion, even to the present day. Don't let the absurdities and excess of so much Chanel on the runway today fool you -- this woman was a visionary in her time, and the quintessence of her designs was paradoxically American; sporty, practical, possessed of a spare elegance, though she was in every way a Frenchwoman through and through. The early drawings of her first dresses are included here and are fascinating. Precious few exist, because -- as they book tells -- Coco Chanel preferred to design on the body, using live models. She was a perfectionist par excellence who introduced trends that transcended their time, and this modest book is a worthy addition to your library if you have any interest at all in the foundations of twentieth century fashion. There are many books on Chanel; I haven't read them all, so this isn't a comparative review, just the opinions of a fan of the couturiere as artist.



4. (nermin8@yahoo.com) How to recall sectet life of the most influencal fashion Mademmoiselle of all times? For the first Chanel-biographyst it was a nightmare...So we should give a huge respect to evry new Chanel biography, and not just for this reason... Also this biography deserves great respect. Though, some questions aren't yet answered (they may never be), this colourful book, introduces us to some new detailes about the "Chanel cut" as well as Coco herself. Must read to any haute couture lover or dreamer...

5 comments about Lover of Unreason: Assia Wevill, Sylvia Plath's Rival and Ted Hughes' Doomed Love.

1. This is the first, full length treatment of the "other" woman in the Sylvia Plath, Ted Hughes triangle. The authors present Assia Gutmann Wevill by availing themselves of documents, letters, journals and interviews, to present a complex portrait of this most unique woman.
   
   In relevant ways, her story is part of the story of the Jewish experience of the 20th century. Assia was not able to fit into Jewish Palestine, and found it equally difficult to find a home in Canada and England. Even though she spent most of her life in England, she was never fully English. Zionism failed her, and with nothing to replace its failed promise, a crisis of identity appears to have set her life on a course of failed marriages and still born ventures.
   
   But what amazes most in reading this biography is that Gutmann-Wevill never became an artist of any merit. One of the more enlightening elements of this book are her insightful and penetrating diary entries, quoted throughout. She had keen and relevant observations about her contemporaries, including two literary giants, Hughes and Plath. In her writing one can sense a voice of great clarity and vision expressing life with precision and accuracy. She never translated this into sustained, artistic endeavors. It seems her failure was self-realized. She wrote: "I was endowed with too many minor qualities, but neither the will or the huge intelligence to bring them a life of their own." She is being unkind to herself here. As this memoir makes very clear, it is apparent that her will was more impaired than her creativity or intelligence.



2. I devoured Lover of Unreason in two days while on vacation. Wow! This is such a powerful biography of an unconventional woman whose reputation is that of the "other woman" in the Ted Hughes/Sylvia Plath debacle. But to write her off as merely that denies the rest of her fascinating life. Assia was far ahead of her time in terms of sexual freedom and could be considered a sort of proto-feminist. A fair amount of time is spent on Assia's childhood; enough to get to know where she came from but not too much that the reader becomes bored. She married several times for various reasons before falling into a relationship with Ted Hughes that would destroy her. In 1969 she committed suicide, taking her dear daughter with her. Terrible, yes, but reserve judgment until you've read the book.
   
   Several reviewers have complained that Assia was cruel and heartless to have taken her daughter with her when she left this earth. But I would argue that Ted Hughes is the real monster. Having neglected Assia and almost completely ignoring their daughter, Shura; Assia was the only person in the world Shura had. In a way, by killing her daughter, Assia did her a great favor. Suicide is greatly misunderstood but I think the authors do a beautiful job of taking the reader along for the tragic journey.
   
   Other reviewers have complained that they couldn't assign Assia a role. Was she a selfish, cruel, husband-stealer, or was she a brilliant, unappreciated soul? As with any character in a book, or person in life, complexity, contradictions, and depth are what make people interesting and likable or despicable. Assia had qualities of each. Instead of trying to define her into a neat square, try to let yourself be swept along on this journey of madness, genius, love, and of course, tragedy.



3. If you have read the poetry, letters, diaries and biographies of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes, you may have longed to know more about the mysterious Assia Wevill who flung open the door into their lives three years before Sylvia committed suicide. This wonderful biography of Assia fills the gap, telling the story of this striking, exotic, gifted but ultimately deeply selfish woman. Born in Berlin, Assia and her family escape the Nazis to live in wartime Tel Aviv. Her story moves to Canada, colonial Burma, and ultimately to London. Along the way she marries and divorces three long suffering husbands and eventually bears a daughter to her lover Ted Hughes, who wrote of her "Assia was my true wife and the best friend I ever had" . His actions belied his words however and Assia's despair and disillusion with their failing relationship lead to the death of both Assia and her daughter Shura in an uncanny echo of Sylvia's own suicide.



4. I think of myself as someone very well read on the subjects of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath. I must admit I've always held a bit of contempt for Assia--but I thought I should give her a fair chance and read this biography. It was terrible. Extremely subjective, certainly not an objective account with well researched and accurate information, as a biography should be.
   
   Ted Hughes was not given an accurate representation in the least. The authors repeat over and over that Assia had a very dramatic personality and often exaggerated and embellished stories, but then they use her journal entries--written in the midst of serious depression--as an accurate source, from which they described Hughes' "horrible" mistreatment and even abuse of Assia. They also cite a poetry book in which the feminist Robin Morgan writes that Hughes murdered both Plath and Wevill, and that Assia took Shura with her "'rather than letting Hughes raise the child.'" I see absolutely no reason for this to be included in the book, other than making Hughes look like the bad guy.
   
   Not to mention, the chapter titles sound like cheesy love songs from the 80s ("Torn Between Two Lovers," "Fatal Attraction".) And check out this opening sentence from Chapter Nine, entitled "A Fateful Meeting": "London in the swinging sixties: the pill, the Beatles, acid trips, the sense that the times were changing and 'anything goes'--but none of it was blowing Assia's mind." REALLY?
   
   I dragged myself along, and finally reached the point in the story describing Assia's suicide--when I thought the story would finally end, and I would reach the nice thick bibliography that should appear at the end--and block off a nice chunk of the book that I didn't have to read. But no, they go on and on about suicide, filicide, throwing out all kinds of irrelevant statistics ("A study in the American Journal of Epidemiology revealed that people were less prone to suicide if they had known someone who had killed himself." HUH?) and various other kinds of crap.
   
   One part I was interested in, though, were the pictures. I hadn't seen many pictures of Assia and the inserts certainly had plenty. Although... at then end, there is a picture of one of the authors with Ted Hughes. Right before the paragraph where they inaccurately describe how he wanted to completely rid his life of any reminders of Assia--and then they quote the feminist. Isn't that kind of wierd?
   
   This book was obviously written for a bourgeois audience who love to read about romance, sex, and suicide--I guess I can see why the authors were interested in writing a biography about a person like Assia. I honestly felt sick at the end. Don't read this book--really, for the sake of your health, and for the sake of Ted Hughes, and extremely skilled poet and genuine, but private, man who deserves the be portrayed accurately.



5. this was a great read and lets you see inside of Wevill's head...makes you love her or hate her

4 comments about Mary Martin, Broadway Legend.

1. This is an okay book for someone who knows very little about Mary Martin.
   
   It is not for anyone who knew Martin (as a friend or acquaintance) or even followed her career on Broadway or television. The author relies heavily on interviews with Martin herself and others, especially life-long friend Besse Mae Sue Ella Austin. Austin and her husband are primary sources and their many comments do fill in some of the blanks, especially about Martin's childhood and family.
   
   However, I learned nothing new about the most important people in Martin's life: husband Richard Halliday, best friend Janet Gaynor or her children Larry Hagman & Heller Halliday. Did the author even try to search out people who could have talked opened about Halliday and Gaynor?
   
   I assume the Austins did provide useful information. If so, Davis made the choice not to include it here. That is one of the problems. Davis has written other books and the narrative flows well. But, Davis wrote this book as a huge fan of Mary Martin, from the days of seeing her in "Annie Get Your Gun" in Texas. Martin, one of Broadway's biggest musical stars, deserves a well researched book by an objective author.



2. I was very disappointed in this book. I was hoping for a major biographical treatment of the life of the legendary Mary Martin -- but this doesn't begin to fill the bill.
   
   A first reading indicates lots of errors. To list only a few:
   
   Mary Martin didn't study with Dino Borgioli in New York as the author claims, but in London.
   Cinderella with Julie Andrews was 1957 and not 1958.
   The Song "When You're Far Away From New York Town" was not taken from the character who originally sings it and given to Mary Martin to sing during "Jennie". The singer Jack DeLeon sings it on the OBC recording and sang it in the show.
   The companion show for NBC that preceeded "Music with Mary Martin" was called "Magic with Mary Martin" and not "Three to Make Music" as the author claims.
   One of the most important television shows she did, the "General Foods 25th Anniversary Show -- A Salute to Rodgers and Hammerstein" gets no mention in the list of "major television performances"
   There was no "Jazz Version of 'Tit Willow'" in the tv special with Noel Coward.
   The 1985 "Our Hearts Belong to Mary" special in which Miss Martin made her final New York Broadway stage appearance gets no mention at all. This was a great night of tribute to Mary Martin and there is nothing in the book about it.
   It is Dolores Gray, not Delores Gray.
   
   Additionally, some incidents in Mary Martin's life are told out of the chronological order in which they happened, making them appear to have happened at a different point in time.
   
   With so many errors found in a first casual reading of the book, one has to worry about the accuracy of other information.
   
   The author, Ronald Davis, relied very heavily on his oral interviews with close friends of Mary Martin and with the great star herself. Somehow the focus shifts too often to the interviews with these other individuals. Much of the author's research comes from materials at SMU where he was a professor. This is good material, however there is a wealth of other material out there that wasn't tapped for this book.
   Basically there is still another fascinating story to be told about this great performer.
   
   Better attribution for a lot of the source material would be welcome. There is so much material borrowed from other sources that the lack of footnotes is frustrating. Sources are discussed in the back of the book but it is difficult to cross-reference them, and the source material section is quite hard to follow. This is amazing considering the book was published by a university press.
   
   The accompanying back matter, the list of her Broadway shows is very sketchy and incomplete. Only major performers are listed. There is only an incomplete list of television appearances, and there is no discography.
   
   If you are waiting for a major and in-depth biography of this wonderful performer -- this book isn't it. There are some nice photographs which are rarely seen and they were enjoyable to look at.



3. First of all, let me tell you that I've loved Mary Martin since a child. I've avidly read everything I could get my hands on about her and this book is a gem I shall treasure,
   
   I hope that younger people will read this book - that it will inspire them as I was to dream big, be big and not be afraid of anything and that if you believe this you can do it all.
   
   It's a shame that there are few left on Broadway to inspire us, so I am even more grateful for this marvelous book. Thank you!



4. I enjoyed reading this account of Mary Martin's life and career. I am a big fan of her son, Larry Hagman, and in the process of reading everything I could get my hands on about him, became familiar with much of the written source material used here. I was happy to find that there is much more to this book than a compilation of existing work. Davis' use of his interviews with Martin and many who knew her, including her childhood best friend Bessie Mae Sue Ella Yeager, which were part of his SMU Oral History Project, make this volume valuable. Information from personal letters are also used effectively throughout.
   
   One item in particular intrigued me, that Mary had an older brother who died in childhood. I have never read anything of the sort, but if true it explains why Mary's mother, Juanita, became so attached to Larry Hagman. I had always assumed that her strong desire for a son was simple sexism. I'd love to know more - too bad the boy's name, age and cause of death were not included.
   
   I have a few minor complaints. Larry Hagman was married in 1954, not 1955 as reported in this book. Some of the implied time-lines seemed wrong to me, even though specific dates were not given. For example, Mary and Larry made a record together, not "shortly before Larry went into the service," which was after Larry appeared in South Pacific in London with his mother, but over a year before that, while Mary was still in South Pacific in New York.
   
   Overall, I found "Mary Martin, Broadway Legend" to be a fair and balanced account of Martin's life, well written, informative and entertaining. I recommend it to anyone interested in Mary Martin, her family and colleagues, theater history, or a good biography.

5 comments about The Glitter and the Gold.

1. "Friends have often told me that I should write my story and describe the world of my youth, which was so different from that of today," writes Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan in the Foreword of her autobiography The Glitter and the Gold.
   
   Indeed, the world she described has all but disappeared, and was certainly inaccessible to the majority of people who lived in her era. It is difficult to imagine a life so full of privilege, opulent jewels, and extravagant gowns. She describes beautiful balls, famous people, and earth shaking world events from a first person point of view. From her early life as a member of America's richest family, to her ascent into British nobility, surviving World War I, and fleeing Europe during World War II, she lived through these days and she is sharing them with us.
   
   Consuelo brings her readers into her world, yet we get only a few glimpses into her own heart and mind. Her opinions - of people, situations, politics, the pointlessness of British formality - are often clearly spelled out, but she glosses over much of her emotions and feelings about her personal life. Her writing style implies a great deal, but she was not the kind of woman to write a "tell all" account of her life, in the modern sense of a memoir. Instead, she chooses her words very carefully, using "Mr. X" to describe someone whose identity she wishes to protect. You get the sense that she does not want to divulge too much, and she virtually skips over the juiciest details of her life with a just few well thought out phrases.
   
   For example, we know from the beginning that her mother forced her into a loveless marriage with the Duke of Marlborough, and that she was crying tears of sorrow on the morning of her wedding. She makes her opinion of her husband quite plain, but in a 19th century elegance that needs to be decoded a bit. Appearances were very important to him, and he expected her to memorize long lists of people with whom they would associate. She was not yet 20 and was charged with organizing and hosting lavish parties for England's most important people.
   
   We know she is not happy with the Duke, and yet the couple had two sons. The practicality of such a coupling, when they did not care for each other and maintained separate bedrooms, raises a few questions that Consuelo was too tasteful to explain. What must her emotions have been, knowing she was having a child with a man she did not love, and who did not love her? On that significant point, she is silent.
   
   After several years of what she vaguely calls "solitude," she finally marries French aviator Jacques Balsan for love. She does not talk at all about their courtship, why she fell in love with him, or what their lives were really like. She titles the chapter "A Marriage of Love," and we know that she was indeed happy with her new husband. But I expected more details leading up to the marriage. Instead, in one paragraph she talks about waiting for her divorce to be final. In the next she writes, "On July 4, 1921 I was married to Jacques Balsan in the Chapel Royal of the Savoy at nine in the morning." Rather to the point. She goes on to say, "...life with Jacques Balsan has brought me the profound happiness companionship with one equally loved and honoured means." But she does not say much more about their relationship. She provides virtually no details of their private lives, but she does devote several pages to describing his professional achievements. His accomplishments in the French military are impressive, but I would have liked to know more about how they got back in touch, how he proposed to her, and how her emotions were vastly different at her second wedding than they were for her first. We don't even know if her mother attended the second wedding! That would have been an interesting conversation.
   
   One of my favorite things about Consuelo is her wit. She was so refined, and yet she had a sense of humor that comes across in her writing, perhaps more than if one knew her in person. She recounts tales that makes you smile, if not laugh out loud. Although she did not connect with many of her husband's family in any meaningful way, she found a lifelong friend in his cousin Winston Churchill. He did not get along well with Lady Astor, and Consuelo writes of an amusing exchange between them: "After a heated argument on some trivial matter Nancy, with a fervor whose sincerity could not be doubted, shouted, `If I were your wife I would put poison in your coffee!' Whereupon Winston with equal heat and sincerity answered, `And if I were your husband I would drink it.'"
   
   She provides the reader with details about life inside British royalty that one cannot find anyplace else, showing them as human beings. For example, in describing the coronation of Queen Alexandra, she "watched the shaking hand of the Archbishop as, from the spoon which held the sacred oil, he anointed her forehead. I held my breath as a trickle escaped and ran down her nose. With a truly royal composure she kept her hands clasped in prayer; only a look of anguish betrayed concern as her eyes met mine and seemed to ask, `Is the damage great?'" This reminds us all that life can throw you a curveball, royalty or not!
   
   At times Consuelo goes on for paragraphs describing people the reader has never heard of. And if it weren't for her refinement, and the knowledge that she is writing about her own reality, it may come across as name dropping. Someone as classy as Consuelo is not trying to impress you. She is merely recounting her life, which happens to be amply sprinkled with British royalty, famous writers and artists, and the crème de la crème of society. Still, it was a bit tedious to read litanies about "the former Mrs. So-and-so, who later became Duchess of This-and-that."
   
   My biggest complaint about her narrative is its abrupt ending. I hadn't realized there was an index in the book, so I naturally assumed there was some kind of epilogue or afterward to wrap up her story in the pages that were left. I was enthralled by her escape from Europe after the Germans invaded France. I was tense, wondering (although I already knew!) if she would get out all right, and how she and her husband would get their visas and board a ship or plane bound for America. And in the midst of the tension, she simply quit writing! We know nothing about her life for the duration of the war or afterward, and a quick internet search provided few additional details beyond her death date in December 1964 (over 10 years after she published The Glitter and the Gold).
   
   I have not been to Europe, but I understand that Blenheim Palace, Consuelo's former home with the Duke of Marlborough, is open to the public. Her book describes the lavish home in detail, but there is only one photo - her massive, luxurious bedroom at Blenheim. Also included in the illustrations is a portrait of Consuelo and her son Ivor, which is now part of the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
   
   A few years ago, my husband and I had the opportunity to visit Marble House, one of Consuelo's childhood homes in Newport, Rhode Island. The entire home is constructed of Marble, and I would love to return, now that I have read more about the venerable Consuelo who was virtually imprisoned there before her mother forced her into a loveless marriage with the Duke. I recall the superb audio tour recounting the Vanderbilts' parties, their sumptuous lifestyle, and the hundreds and hundreds of staff members it took to keep the place running. Well worth a stop if you find yourself in Newport.
   
   I enjoyed The Glitter and the Gold, and am enthralled enough to read more books about the Vanderbilt family. This book was not a "quick read," because of the flourish of the prose, but was definitely enjoyable.



2. A comprehensive look at several generations of the Vanderbilt family, particularly Consuelo, and the enormous wealth they enjoyed.



3. Excellent book to read. Right from the person who had lived it.



4. I had just recently had the pleasure of visiting Blenheim Palace and I remember our tour guide talking about the beautiful American Duchess Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan and how she had written a book about her life. After viewing that lovely portrait found on the front cover of her book I just had to find out more about this woman. While reading the book I found that she was a courageous and talented woman who had the rare chance of being part of the British upper class. It is an interesting life that this woman lead being forced into a marriage that she did not want to be in, having to live with a man who was worlds apart from her and having to wait so long to marry her true love.
   
   Despite all of this she does not let this stop her from helping the poor especially women, and fighting for women's rights. She also is in France during the start of World War II and throughout her life meets some amazing people especially one person most people will know Winston Churchill. It also will give readers a peek into the late Victorian era and into the lifestyles of the wealthy.
   
   Keeping in mind that this is an autobiography this book can be tedious at times. She mentions a slew of names that most readers will not know and she seems to keep the reader at arm's length and does not go into deep details of her personal life. I believe this is due to the time period in which she lived where people did not share great personal feelings to strangers.
   
   I think this is not a book for all but those who have visited Blenheim or have an interest in the upper class of this time period will find the book to be interesting and will have fun researching all the famous people she mentions. I enjoyed this book and it made my visit to Blenheim wonderful.



5. Another reviewer said that Churchill was born at Blenheim during one of the weekend functions she was forced to host. Churchill was older than Consuelo by a few years, so this isn't true, although it is true he was born at Blenheim. That reviewer also describes her as extremely well educated, which I also take issue with. She was educated until the age of 17 by private tutors or in small group settings. More was apparently spent on her education than the average Aristocratic woman in England, but it is a stretch to call someone who had not even attained a bachelor's degree extremely well educated. I know college education was rare for women at the turn of the century, but it wasn't unheard of even before her birth.
   
   What this book really does is give us Americans a clue about the social hierarchy in England and other European nations. I simply didn't understand how ingrained this culture was until reading this book. I think I understand it now for the first time at a gut level. For instance, she describes an embarrassing situation early in her career as Duchess where she failed to leave the table in the correct order of precedence. Then she was introduced to a book that gave her the numbered ranking of the aristocrats (including her own) so she would know what order to follow. Amazing. I had no idea one's social rank was so constantly at issue and thrown in your face. I just thought there were general levels and everyone on one level was more or less equal. Not so according to this book.
   
   So, don't read this for juicy gossip as the other reviewer's comments are correct about that. Read it to understand how the class structure worked in Europe at this time, and you will be pleased. If you aren't interested in that, I wouldn't bother.
   
   Oh yes, I believe she did have a ghost writer on this book. Some people have posted that she wrote it herself. Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I am pretty sure I read somewhere that she had a ghostwriter.

5 comments about The Lonely Empress: Elizabeth of Austria.

1. I enjoyed the book. It was well written and obviously well researched.
   I like the way it had info from personal writtings from the time, also.
   
   I enjoyed the gallery of pictures included in the text, as well.
   
   I will probably read the book at least one more time.



2. to me she should never married franz joseph i,she was to much of a free spirit.austria court was to old fashion for a soul like hers.she had the mother -in law from hell didn't help.



3. I was dreading that this book would be like all other's in that it would portray Elizabeth as a poor little spoiled, mis-understood rich girl. It didn't and I found that very refreshing.
   My only critism of this book is that there is only one occasion when the author translated the french, german, russian, etc. quotes that were used and I found that mildly annoying as I don't speak or read any of those languages.
   Overall a very good book!



4. I really enjoyed this book, there was only a minor matter which rather annoyed me. I wonder why nobody seems to have taken the trouble of checking the proper spelling of all those European names?
   As a native speaker of both German and Hungarian, I was quite
   distracted by reading Gödollo instead of Gödöllõ, to name just one of many blunders.
   Crenneville sometimes becomes Grenneville, Marie Vetsera turns into a Mary, Maria Theresia is always Maria Theresa, robbed of an i, the Ballhausplatz is shortened into Ballplatz, and while Hapsburg is not exactly wrong, it was apparently never used officially - and you don't often come across it even in Austria.
   Perhaps in future editions someone might provide corrections? I think the book is worth it.



5. Top of Form
   
   
   I was somewhat reluctant to first start reading The Lonely Empress because, from the some of the biographies I've read (but certainly not all!), they tend to start out interesting but then become dull and boring. It usually takes a talented author to write a biography on a boring royal. But even an unskilled author would have no trouble about sounding fascinating if their subject matter was Elisabeth of Austria.
   
   Born a mere daughter of a duke in Bavaria, Elisabeth had a fairytale (ish) romance. The emperor of Austria, Francis Joseph, was already engaged to Elisabeth's sister Helen when he fell in love with her. All of a sudden, to everyone's surprise, the Emperor started to rant about the grace and beauty of this younger sister, much to the dismay of his mother, the archduchess Sophie, who thought that Helen would become the perfect empress.
   
   Elisabeth was still a child when she became engaged to the Emperor. Suddenly, she wasn't allowed to run wild, like she had been when she was younger. Elisabeth had been known to skip her lessons and go out riding for hours. She inherited her father's peculiarity and was known to be her happiest when surrounded by less than royal people. Her father, Duke Max, was renowned for his strangeness. He was known to travel the Bavarian countryside to escape his duties and delighted in circuses. The poor Duchess Ludovica, Elisabeth's mother, must have had a terrible time with her daughter and equally childish husband. Because of her strangeness and wild country ways, the Viennese court look down upon Elisabeth.
   
   What makes this book more interesting is how the author has portrayed Elisabeth. She doesn't try to make her into a selfish, spoiled woman yet she doesn't spend the whole book describing her flawless beauty. Elisabeth seems to be a difficult topic to write about. As many people who have met the Empress say about her throughout the book, "She could be quite charming when she wanted to be. Yet she could also become cold and haughty."
   
   Elisabeth has you admiring her at times, like when she tries to help the Hungarian people regain their Constitution, and at other times hating her, the way she treated her husband and children, the woman whose husband spent fortunes building her three homes around Europe and who still wasn't grateful or satisfied. This woman traveled to countries far away so she could escape her duties as an Empress and her husband.
   
   But one feels for Elisabeth at how much misfortune she had dealt with in her life. She seems to be a caged bird, she seems to have those natures that cannot be trapped or caged. She needed wide spaces so she can spread her wings. The author portrayed Elisabeth excellently and made the book an enjoyable read.