5 comments about Celine Dion: My Story, My Dream.

1. If you love Celine or admire her or whatever, you'll enjoy her story. The idiot critic Solinas wants to trash Celine and Rene and nary gives a thought to maybe Celine is not obligated to share any of this personal info. with us... Celine bares all, lives under the scrutiny of the public and idiots like Solinas who insist they know better. I could also criticize Celine for not following her Catholic faith better, but you know I pray for her and I still enjoy her sharing so much of her intimate dreams and feelings and thank her for sharing and that's all - IT IS A GOOD READ, but if you don't like her then simply leave her alone- she doesn't ask for your approval -she is giving here, I for one appreciate that... THANKS CELINE AND THANKS RENEE - CELINE IS IN A CLASS BY HERSELF as far as I'm concerned.



2. From someone who is a huge fan of Celine's music - from her early work to her most recent, this book was not what I was expecting.
   It was a very easy read - almost like a fairytale. It was great thru the beginning of the book, but even her adult years were portrayed like they were thru the eyes of a small child. This doesn't bode well for my opinion of Celine as an adult, who spends half the book trying to assert her independence "because Rene wouldn't want me that way" if she didn't.
   
   As for the love story between her and Rene - again, I liked the early years. She admitted she didn't think much of him when she met him- hey, she was just a kid then. Talked about Anne Marie, etc. What this book is missing is things like how she dealt with breaking their relationship to his adult children, how she relates to them good and bad, and how she justifies such great lengths for a child with a man who has already raised two.
   
   Again, this story seems to brush over these kinds of topics in favor of defending Rene. We didn't read the book for Rene, we read it for her. She was real about her childhood. Not so real about her adult life.



3. I did find this book to be enjoyable at times and boring in parts as well:
   
   I found Celine's early years of family/homelife interesting and oh my did she and her mother (her siblings as well) worked their butts off (and her manager/now husband Rene) to get Celine to where she is today.
   
   I think the reader might take the "I'm rich and I deserve it" the wrong way (maybe the French translation into English). Yes, she admits she is rich and yes she does talk about decorating homes and her fairytale wedding and renewing her vows, but I she realizes that she grew up poor and to give back, etc (she gave her siblings $$, etc).
   
   I found Celine to be heartfelt and truthful. She admits she doesn't hide "things" from the press/friends (such as fertility problems), she admits that she was kind of spoiled growing up, and she did finally come out and tell the world she was in love with her manager Rene.
   
   Around the age of 17 or so (earlier maybe) Celine describes her "fantasies" and movies she made up in her head about her manager Rene. She realized she was in "love" with him. I think she went a little in detail,(this sometimes gets boring), etc. I don't know what to think of it. Rene maybe didn't realize or didn't want to realize her attraction to him and his to her (he goes away to fix his marriage which ends up in divorce, his 2nd wife was fed up with this workaholic/gambling ways). When she was 18 I think it offical came out between the two of them that they were "in love." Rene and her mother do question the 26 year age difference (and the twice divorce thing as well). What I took out of the "love" relationship is it is extremely power and important to her and age doesn't make a difference.
   
   Celine outlines that she indeed is strong and independent and Rene did guide her on the path of stardom but she is more than capible in making her own decisions.
   
   All in all an ok book. it seems unfinished, and rushed little, and it needs a sequel. It leaves off during her pregnancy. I think the real meaning could have gotten lost in translation from French to English as well.
   
   Anyway an ok read and I read it in a few days and I'm a die-hard Celine Fan!
   
   That's my review for celine Dion, My Story, My Dream.



4. I am ofcourse in love with Celine Dion, so I was a bit biased at first. Reading this book took me through her life from the very start, and through her stardom. Her love with Rene Angelil, her feelings for this man 26 years her senior, her view of the world, of popularity, of discipline most of all, and of her working hard and intense attitude, I fell in love with her all over again. I can't recommend the book enough, but then again, you have to love Celine the way I do to appreciate her book as much!! :)



5. When she finishes the book, she's finally become pregnant. She wishes it to be a little girl, because she feels that a little boy would be cold to her. She did end up having a little boy. I would like to see how this has worked with her career, her time at Caesar's Palace, and her fathers death. Many of the stories in her book are very touching, but she tends to be on the melodramatic side more times then not. I have to agree with the reviewer who wrote that it was disturbing to read about her ideas of seducing Rene Angelil when she was 14. Rene and Celine have a beautiful love story, but at 14 that would be wrong, and it feels invading to read it. She does come across as a diva in many points, but all of these shortcomings are minor compared to the wonderful story she writes.

5 comments about Intensive Care: The Story of a Nurse.

1. I am not a nurse, but I found that the fullness of Heron's easy and poignant storytelling brings the reader into her life to share in the joys and frustrations of being a student, nurse, mother, and human being. I came to know the characters as if they were my own friends, coworkers and acquaintances. The reality and detail of the human life portrayed in the pages of this book reminds us of the universal experience of what it is to live. Her experiences are sometimes dramatic, tense, uplifting, sad, frustrating, or funny but always, always spellbinding. It is a true story of how to live, learn and grow. It is simply the best biographical narrative I have encountered.



2. A Nurse's Story: A Review of Echo Heron's Intensive Care
   Imagine a student nurse's first day being assigned to the emergency room of a big city hospital. She can't decide if her nervousness or her impulsive enthusiasm is to blame for the beads of sweat forming on her forehead as her jittery legs take her down the hallway. She stands before the big double doors and decides she is ready to enter the world of on the spot medicine.
   As she walks through the doorway to the emergency room she stops abruptly and allows a small gasp to escape from her lips. The turmoil and noise is overwhelming. Her eyes scan the room as she tries to comprehend what she has gotten herself into. Every available bed is occupied. A young woman covered in blood is in one bed moaning a rhythmic beat, a wailing child is in the next bed, and an old man yelling for a nurse is in the next. A tiny woman is muttering to herself as she mops us vomit from the tiled floor. The student nurse closes her eyes as she considers turning around and sprinting out of the building. Something deep inside tells her that she and her new career will have a love-hate relationship.
   In her autobiography, Intensive Care, (Atheneum, 1987, 370 pgs.), Echo Heron relates the story of her nursing career from her early training in the mid 1970's to the burnout she suffered toward the end of her work twenty years later. Heron compels the reader to wonder why anyone would be drawn to this occupation and why anyone, even the most caring, would want to leave it.
   
   The author's narrative reveals how she had the desire to make people's lives better from the age of eight but didn't pursue her dream until she spent many years working as a legal secretary. Heron was a divorced single mother of three and one-half year old Simon when she decided to follow her dream and apply to nursing school. She wasn't alone in her journey, her best friend Jane had applied at the same time. Together they were ready to save the world in their white stockings, crisp white uniforms, and the obligatory nurse's cap pinned to their hair. Heron quickly discovers the nursing program is extremely demanding. Intense studying into the night and long days striving to get through clinicals leaves her exhausted, skeptical, and reminiscing about the benign and boring days she spent as a legal secretary. Heron's resolve and determination prevails though even after fainting the first time she tries to inject a patient.
   Faced with some of the ugliest of humanity and the pain people inflict on one another, the emergency room must be one of the most troublesome areas in a hospital for a nurse to work.
   Though difficult, Heron learns to love the work in the emergency room. She thrives on the adrenaline rush created by the often chaotic atmosphere. The compassionate act of healing another human being among the onslaught of many patients at one time is what she has been training for. As Heron relates early in the book, "The familiar subtle thrill began to well up inside me as I walked to the nurse's station. Even though I had memorized my lines for the scene, no one ever really knew what was going to happen" (4). In one instance, Heron is assigned to work in the emergency room while she is still in training. Early one morning a man brought his wife to the hospital with burns covering 75% of her body. The couple had been drinking heavily the night before and the wife had passed out while smoking a cigarette. The husband wouldn't let her call paramedics for fear of disturbing the neighbors so they waited three hours for him to sober up. He dropped her off at the emergency room doors and headed to the bar. Compassion is not easily shown when confronted with human beings harming one another.
   Children are frequently the most rewarding, frustrating, and heartbreaking of all patients to care for. Heron describes many stories of working on children especially in the emergency room. Most of the stories have happy endings but some endings are particularly sorrowful. Heron relates the story of one such unhappy ending in chapter six of Intensive Care (52). An exhausted looking mother brought her young toddler into the emergency room. The child is unresponsive as the medical team rushes him into a trauma room while the harried mother is escorted to a quiet waiting room. It was discovered while interviewing the mother that her son had wandered into the family's backyard pool while she was napping on the couch in the family room. Heron, still a student nurse, was given the task of informing the child's mother that despite the doctor's best efforts, her son was dead. As Heron struggles to come up with the right words to say, she realizes nothing about this is right. Tears fill her eyes as she thinks of her own son, who is safe at home, and the mothering instinct blends with her nurse's training as she finds the words to speak to the grief stricken mother who just lost her only child. As Heron explains, "Nothing I thought of saying would come close to touching the woman's anguish. In the end I said nothing at all and rocked her in my arms" (88). No amount of training prepares nurses for this moment. It's just another time where their heart leads them to do the right thing.
   The population of intensive care units is often terminally ill patients. Instead of healing the sick and releasing them, nurses are frequently conflicted by tending the sick while they face their final days of life. Heron accepts a position in the intensive care unit when she graduates from nursing school. She is passionate about her work in this department although she finds it difficult to come to grips with the mortality rate of the patients she cares for. The recollection of
   these people and the continuing fight to sustain life in these patients bleeds into her personal life and memory banks on a daily basis. Heron describes the scene as one of her favorite patients, Turk, is dying. "Joe bent over from the waist, placed the paddles on Turk's chest, and jolted him with four hundred-watt seconds of electricity. It was one of those certain sounds that stayed with me, never to be lost from recall" (235). Inevitably, Heron takes her work home with her which slowly becomes a contributing factor of the burnout she suffers.
   Death is a natural part of life. Quite often, especially working in the intensive care unit, part of the author's duties was to increase the level of pain medication given to a terminally ill patient. Knowing that by increasing these levels nurses are essentially speeding up the progression of death goes totally against the oath a nurse takes to save and preserve lives. Heron often struggles with this during her career as saving lives is what her goal has been from a young age. Freeing people from pain for which there is no other release is another part of nursing.
   Echo Heron was born in Troy, New York. She moved to San Francisco in 1967 and worked as a legal secretary for eight years. Heron went back to college to become a registered nurse in 1975 and worked for the next 20 years as a nurse in emergency rooms and intensive care units in hospitals along the west coast. In 1983 she submitted a story that was printed in the Reader's Digest and from that was contacted by a publishing house to write an autobiographical
   account of her life as a critical care nurse. Intensive Care quickly rose to the New York Times bestseller list where it stayed at number one for two months. Heron has written an additional
   seven books, both fiction and nonfiction, all dealing with the medical field. She is currently an activist for patient and nurse's rights and a public speaker while working on additional books.
   In their review The New York Daily News reports, "Echo Heron is a very special nurse dedicated to healing and helping in the harshest environments. Intensive Care is unique, penetrating, and unforgettable. Her story is real." Heron does a wonderful job in taking her audience through a passionate and often painful look at nursing. Nursing has many times been characterized as an overworked, underappreciated choice of occupations but it has never been described as being glamorous.
   Intensive Care is recommended to anyone interested in employment in the healthcare industry. The author shares her frustrations as well as triumphs as she puts into perspective the real inner workings of a hospital and the naivety of prospective student nurses entering the medical field. Little things like shaving an elderly man, foot rubs, wiping brows, and talking to unconscious people are important to the patient as well as the nurse. Heron's writing requires the reader to contemplate the decision to make nursing a career as she soundly illustrates both the challenges and rewards of nursing.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   



3. This is a great book to read and get a bird's eye view to some of the things that nurses deal with. She has great chapters with great scenarios, stories and writing on some of the emotions that are dealt with in the course of a nurse's day.
   
   I can't help but think that some of the stories centered around her nursing school days are anything but Glorified and richly enhanced in terms of what she actually said and did, but nonetheless it's a great, easy read.



4. I first read this book in 1995 when I was starting to toy with the idea of leaving a paralegal career and pursuing a career in nursing. I found her descriptions and experiences to be very accurate, and her ability to tell a story very entertaining. Nursing is truly a career that comes from the heart, because nobody would do it only for the money! It has remained one of favorite books and I give it to those I know even considering pursuing a career in the nursing field. All her books are excellent, but I think this one is the best!



5. I enjoyed this book overall, but Ms. Heron seems to be quite arrogant. Was she the only good student in her nursing classes? According to her, you'd think so! In her hospital tales (which ar equite entertaining), she seems to know more than the doctors and much more experienced nurses. Some parts are a bit dramatic. Like in the opening tale, a grandson comes in to see his dying grandfather and Ms. Heron draws all these assumptions from their quick reunion. If you can get past all that, this book really is enjoyable and I will be reading her other books.

5 comments about Lise Meitner: A Life in Physics (California Studies in the History of Science).

1. It is well known that in the fields of both science and math, women are less visible than men. Ruth Lewin Sime, a woman of science herself, wrote this excellent book about a tiny Jewish woman who escaped the Nazis after World War II and was deprived of the Nobel Prize she clearly deserved. Meitner never married but physics gave meaning to her life, she was responsible for nuclear fission. This is a book that should be part of the reading lists in women's studies and in all high schools. It can serve as a magnet in attracting females to study science. Lise Meitner broke the patterns of women denied equitable access to education. This book is not only well written but it is also rich in fotos with an appendix full of interesting scientific data. You don't have to be in the field of science to understand this historical biography of an incredible woman.



2. Lise Meitner may not be particularly well known outside of scientific circles today, but the same could be said of a lot of other great scientists, mathematicians, etc...Anyway, she is one of my favorite scientists of all time. This book helped cement that for me...
   
   One of the reasons for her fame (or slight lack thereof) is that she never recieved the Nobel Prize for her nuclear work. It went to Otto Hahn. Had Lise shared in the prize, as many think she should have, she would almost certainly be better known today. I mean, the Nobel Prize sort of separates "known scientists" from "unknowns" as far as the general population is concerned (not counting popularizers like the late Carl Sagan and Stephen J. Gould). She was however, briefly famous in the US after WW2 as the "mother of the atom bomb" or some such - a title she rather disliked...In the late 1990s, the element 109 was named "Meitnerium" in her honor. And I beleive the element named for Hahn ("Hahnium"?) has been renamed something else.
   
   I won't go into the plot of the book since its a biography and we know about whom. I will say she faced huge obstacles in her life, most notably being a young female who desired a high education at the turn of the century (1800s-1900s I mean) and who managed to obtain it; also being a Jewess scientist during the Nazi takeover of Germany and Austria - this time as a middle-aged woman (almost 60), forced to rebuild her life. She perservered ! These obstacles are well documented and discussed in this excellent book.
   
   There is a brief but fascinating look into Vienna in the late 1800s that really enjoyed. It showed how the Meitners came to be in Vienna and what their world was like. I would have liked to have known more about her siblings, where they went and what they became (particularly her little brother Walter, who is tantalizingly mentioned several times as Lise's favorite - but no details are given. The two are buried near each other in Bramley, England).
   
   If there is a negative to the book, it is that there's a certain amount of strict science (numbers, math, sci-jargon, and calculations) in the book. BUT - don't let that turn you off ! I just skipped past those parts that were over my head, and focused on the "biographical" part - the parts about Lise herself, which in fact, make up the majority of the book. Author Sime made it easy to do that in the way she wrote the book.
   
   I highly recommend this work. I believe this will be the definitive Bio on Meitner, barring any unknown letters, secret love-child, or other stuff coming to light....Kudos to author Dr. Ruth Sime for the great work!



3. I first learned of Lise Meitner from a book on atomic energy when I was a kid. I remember the illustration of her and her lab partner Otto Hahn staring at an apparatus in which they discovered the tell-tale signs of radioactive fission. But when I went through science courses in high school and college, she was hardly mentioned. This book has put her in her rightful place in the history of the atomic age. While it is always easy for a biographer to skew the importance of the individual being chronicled, that is certainly not the case here. Given the obstacles placed in her path by her gender, her religious affiliations, and her citizenship, her story is all that more remarkable for a view of our world which has been papered over in the last half-century.
   
   That she would persevere despite everything is a testament to will and the desire for knowledge. Girls growing up in this day and age are not encouraged to pursue the scientific disciplines, but I think if a young girl today were to read Lise Meitner's story, she might just be inspired. I fully intend to give my copy to my daughter some day, in the hope of stirring a passion for science and the knowledge that if she applies herself, no matter the obstacles, she can become someone great.



4. This is the story, well told, of one of the world's most important achievements by one of its finest scientific heroes who was forced to suffer the indignities of both racism and sexism.
   
   Against improbably long odds, beginning with her family who did not want her to become a Physicist, to Nazi persecution for being a Jew, to her eventual need to flee Nazi Germany to exile in Sweden, Lise Meitner's career progression led her to be among the logical choices to discover how to split the atom and to infer that it could lead to a chain reaction, and eventually to the development of the fissional atomic bomb.
   
   This gripping story tells of how her less able male colleague, Otto Hahn, a Nazi Chemist, rather than a Physicist, effectively stole her ideas and went on to win a Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1944) for an achievement that should justly have gone to a Physcist, and Meitner in particular.
   
   In fact Hahn had no idea how to interpret the experimental data in his hand until Meitner, through correspondence from exile in Sweden interpreted it for him. Based on her continuous advice via mail, Hahn was eventually able to take credit for her ideas. And although this egregious error was never formally corrected, Meitner, with great dignity and strength remains larger than life and stands as a towering monument to what the human spirit can accomplish in the face of racism and chauvinism. Five stars.



5. Ruth Sime's, Lise Meitner: A Life in Physics, is a tribute to one of the most outstanding women physicists in the world's history. Sime's includes a detailed account of Meitners childhood, career, trials, tribulations, misfortunes, and fulfilling accomplishments through a collection of Meitner's personal papers, correspondences, and interviews with her contemporaries and friends. The reader enjoy's learning about the young girl in Vienna, who travels to Germany with only the ambition to learn and breathe physics. The reader enjoys Meitner's accomplishments, as she is promoted to being Max Planck's assistant in Prussia, despite her gender, and feels the betrayal when she is not credited with Otto Hahn for the Nobel Peace Prize.
   All in all, Sime's does an excellent job of telling Meitner's story and providing insight on the historical and scientific contexts. The scientific explanations of both Meitner's research and of her contemporaries is hard to understand for those who are amateur physicists and are not cognizant of many basic principles of chemistry and physics. However, for a woman who was not given her credit where it was due, Sime's biography is truly telling of her life and just how remarkable this physicist of humanity really was.

5 comments about The Woman at the Washington Zoo: Writings on Politics, Family, and Fate.

1. I used to read Marjorie Williams in the Washington Post, and was reminded of her work when her exceptionally moving essay "Hit by Lightning" was in a "best of" book by multiple authors. It was so good that I simply had to read this collection of only her work.
   
   The finest essays and profiles here are wonderful. The writing is outstanding, and ranges from great insight to humor and sadness and to the biting remark that takes down somebody famous a notch or two.
   
   My favorites were (besides "Hit by Lightning"):
   
   - "The Alchemist", a previously unpublished profile of her mother. What an exploration of a mother's relationship to her daughter and (presumably) perceptive view of her mother's life!
   
   - "Scenes from a Marriage" - oh, my, how it drills into the relationship between Clinton and Gore, after the 2004 election and back into their time in office. This essay was justifiably well-known.
   
   - "Bill Clinton, Feminist" - Ms. Williams shreds the feminists who defended President Clinton in his sexual escapades, while disregarding the women involved. She doesn't even break a sweat. Brutal and delightful reading.
   
   - "The Halloween of My Dreams" - her final column, about her daughter's Halloween, the last Halloween Ms. Williams would see.
   
   - The profiles of Jeb Bush and Barbara Bush, both of which offered fresh insights and information.
   
   - Of the columns, many of which are first rate, I particularly liked the one on Princess Diana's death (I'm not sure why, to be honest) and one on assisted suicide.
   
   The book actually got off to a slow start for me. The first two profiles were relatively dated and uninteresting, and the third, on Richard Darman, was wonderfully crafted, but I found myself not that curious about someone who moved rapidly into footnote status. However, Darman's profile had one of the best lines in the entire book: "As always, the vapor of self-certainty leaks off him like rocket fuel". Didn't these people know who they were up against in Marjorie Williams?
   
   The short columns included are mostly very good, yet they also suffer from the usual fate of newspaper columns, in that they don't age that well, as the topic in hand often quickly becomes old news. Ms. Williams is far from alone in that fate, of course, so some of these pieces serve as a reminder of past news to reconsider with hindsight and contemplate what has happened since.



2. This book made me realize how painful it could be to at sometimes for the lack of a better word be a " dubmass " It took me a lot of brushing up on my reading skills to fully appreceiate this book and it was very insightfull just as the other books that were recomened to me to be read if I liked this one were. It also taught me that caring=sharing which can cause mass confusion sometimes to people who need to improve there reading skills which in turn = understanding and then ultimatly joy and happiness for many years to come. However this just could be a hopeful thought, but I would like to think it holds true for all readers especially the ones that would enjoy reading A year of Magical Thinking, where I think it says something about country boys being of big hearts are stubborn and rarely give up on anything.



3. No, this isn't about the typical zoon--but about the "Zoo" that is Washington, D.C.
   
   Marjorie Williams, a journalist for the Washington Post, had a sense of unrelenting refusal to deal with just the surface reality--but find the truth beneath.
   
   Sitting here in the Midwest, some of these stories, some of the people are not players we hear about every day, but some were.
   
   Marjorie and Tim Noah (Senior writer for Slate) were married in 1990. In 2001, happy and healthy, Marjorie discovered a lump in her lower abdomen and after much effort, died in 2005 from liver cancer at the age of 47. Tim has selected what he feels are her most revealing columns written about politicians, the shakers and movers of Washington's social ad business life, and about her family.
   
   As an outsider I enjoyed reading about insiders like Ambassador Lucky Roosevelt and her long marriage, and other characters that made good reading.
   
   Jennifer Senior, New York Times Book Review said, "Williams was a crowbar, prying great quotes from her sources, and she found herself face to face with rather intimate details of their life."
   
   So true, whether she was writing about Bill and Hillary, the couple that always give us something to talk about, her own illness, her mother's illness, or her children--her observations were always sharp and often sweet.
   
   Some of my favorites were her most personal stories, like The Cat Race about how she was "going to raise her children," that is, until she actually had children. This felt very familiar.
   
   The Art of Fake (and Useful) Apology, (in the news again as I write this) used by politicians reminds us that this happens far too often.
   
   With another Presidential campaign heating up, Williams takes us back to 1992 when Al Gore was running for President (without hitching his star to Clinton). Her article, "Scenes from a Marriage" is about that time, and the end of that "marriage" and the not-too-obvious divorce of Clinton and Gore.
   
   Sadly the world will never again read about current events from her.
   
   Armchair Interviews says: This book was a New York Times Bestseller.



4. Really two books. One, a series of pieces about inside Washington stories, often with characters who are largely off stage but important in how things get done in the seat of empire. Rather than the usual insider's view, Ms. Williams has an extraordinarily keen eye for seeing what is there for all to see, perhaps along the lines of I.F. Stone's insistence on using only attributed sources. The second book is an account of her diagnosis and subsequent experiences with an ultimately fatal cancer, its impact on her life, outlook, work, as well and an account of her medical care.



5. I bought this book primarily because I enjoy memoir and it was represented in the media as a collection of personal essays by a woman who fought what was eventually a losing battle with cancer.
   
   In fact, the personal essays comprise the smaller part of this collection. Most pieces are in-depth political commentary or profiles of Washington, D.C. personalities. I'm not interested in that subject matter at all.
   
   To correct one of the other reviewers, this collection was compiled after Williams' death by her husband. It contains material that she apparently never intended to publish. But long-time fans of Williams should not fault *her* for what was and was not included in the book, since these decisions were made posthumously.
   
   Williams was a gifted writer -- insightful, precise, and painfully honest. I enjoyed the personal essays immensely (particularly the piece about her complex relationship with her mother) and even found myself reading and enjoying the political essays.

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

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



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



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

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

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

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




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

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

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

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




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

5 comments about The Women of the House: How a Colonial She-Merchant Built a Mansion, a Fortune, and a Dynasty.

1. A fascinating account of several remarkable women who were lost in the mists of historical records, The Women of the House entertains its readers while still providing historical knowledge of the time period. Women were and will forever be crucial aspects of our society, yet they are constantly forgotten in history. This book allows us to look at the colonial lifestyles in a new way, in the perspective of a talented woman.
   
   In 1659, one of the most remarkable women in history arrived at New Amsterdam, determined to establish her presence in the form of a she-merchant. Her name was Margaret Hardenbroeck, and she would be one of the first to defy societal norms and create a dynasty at Philipse Manor Hall. She arrived with a duty to serve as a representative for a trading business conducted by her cousin, a well-off merchant named Wouter Valck. Margaret had grown up in a middle-class family, and possessed particular skills in the art of business transactions. Arriving at Manhattan, she wasted no time and soon established herself as an important figure within the community. Within a couple months of settling, on October 10, 1659, Margaret wedded Pieter Rudolphus de Vries, who was six years older than her father. The couple hurried to the alter due to their coming baby, despite the Dutch Reformed Church's sinful outlook at premarital sex. By the time the hot sickness of 1661 killed Pieter, Margaret had become a young and financially secure woman. She then married Frederick Philipse, who would become her future business partner. Margaret bought three hundred acres of Westchester County in 1670 to create her storehouse, which would later be developed into the magnificent Philipse Manor Hall. After arranging the betrothals of all of her children, Margaret passed on peacefully in 1691, at age 54. Her property holdings spanned from Albany to the Barbados Islands, and she had become arguably the wealthiest woman in the area.
   
   Margaret's death marked the beginnings of a new era for the rest of her family. Through the next two generations, her property and wealth would continue to expand, creating a rich legacy among the future owners of Philipse Manor Hall.
   
   Zimmerman does a good job engaging her audience throughout the book. Although some parts would appear slow and insignificant, the book was overall very well written. One flaw of the book is its lack of historical basis. Because records containing information about these women have been lost or destroyed, it is nearly impossible to find first-hand accounts. Despite its lack of primary documents, the book appears to be complete in its description and rarely seems ambiguous or false.
   
   The Women of the House traces the remarkable journey of Margaret and her successors. It provides excellent insight and creates a new perspective on life in Dutch America.



2. I bought this book for my wife and she would really like to rate it at 4 1/2 stars. Interesting characters in an interesting time, a you learn a great deal about New York and the changing position of women in society.



3. Early America, and indeed most of the world, was a man's world. Women couldn't own property, vote, etc. etc. Margaret Hardenbroeck must have stood out as a wolf among sheep. In 1659 she moved to New Amsterdam (Manhattan) -- young (22), single, a business factor or agent for her family's business, a 'she-merchant' or today what we could call an entrepreneur.
   
   Our limited studies of the women of the time usually show them as individuals but reflected in the light of their husbands. Martha Washington, Abigail Adams were indeed strong women, but we would never have heard of them except for their husbands.
   
   Margaret made her own life, hers was not a reflection of her husband. She made her own way. She was probably not a nice person. In the way we think of Martha Stewart, she was tough. And as a slave trader we need to remember her in the light of her time, not of ours.
   
   Much of the book covers life in New Amsterdam at the time, with only supposition that this was how Margaret lived or what she did. There was limited material available on her personal life, much more on her business activities.
   
   This book opens up a new aspect of life in Dutch America, and of the rights and lives of women in our history.



4. If the walls of the Philipse Manor Hall could talk, what stories would they tell? Zimmerman gives voice to the women who lived in the house, from humble beginnings to New York's high society.
   
   Margaret (1659-1691) would become the richest woman in New York. She attended elementary school in Holland and would use her reading, writing and math skills to become a she merchant. She would own trade vessels, property in Manhattan, New Jersey, Albany and Barbados. Margaret would also have a family and raise five children. (She merchant was a term applied to females who were respected for their skills in commerce.)
   
   Catherine (1652-1730) was an heiress who married Margaret's widowed husband, Frederick. She would build a church and was appointed the guardian of Frederick II, her step-grandson. Frederick II would inherit a large portion of Margaret and Frederick's estate.
   
   Joanna (1700-1765?) married Frederick II. Due to the hard work and the business savvy of Margaret and Catherine, Joanna was able to be a society matron. I loved the description of the dessert buffet, complete with marzipan hedgehogs made by the hostess and her daughters.
   
   Mary (1730-1825), Margaret's great granddaughter, was a beautiful socialite. She had a number of eligible bachelors after her hand in marriage, among them George Washington. Mary and her family lost most of the family fortune during the American Revolution.
   
   The book also deals with the unethical practices of this time period: slavery and piracy. (However, in the 17th and 18th Century, many people did not think these practices were wrong.) Margaret and Frederick added to the family fortune through transporting and trafficking slaves from Africa. Frederick also did business with "the King of Pirates," trading in slaves, tobacco and rum. The Philipse family would continue to own slaves until the very end. They would also have a personal connection to a slave revolt.
   
   Zimmerman makes the colonial period come alive with her storytelling and interesting trivia that ranges from hummingbirds to slave gangs. There are detailed notes for each chapter and sixteen pages of black and white pictures. It is unfortunate that the women in the Philipse family did not leave any journals or letters because it would have been interesting to read their own thoughts.
   
   Armchair Interviews says: Travel back in time to meet the colorful inhabitants of Colonial New York.



5. I really enjoyed reading this book. It gave interesting insights into how colonial New York was developed, mixing the lives of one family with the broader stage of changing governments and cultural values. Great book!

5 comments about A Lotus Grows in the Mud.

1. Goldie Hawn is one of Hollywood's more interesting stars, since not only has she more or less had a hit or miss track record with movies, but she managed to last over 30 years in a business where it was more likely for her to be a flash in the pan. But still, she's a gifted woman, possessing the ability to make you forget your problems and just laugh, if only for an hour and a half.
   
   That's why I was thrilled to read her memoir. Admittedly, she doesn't reveal much dirt about Hollywood life (though she does mention her personality clashes with Walter Matthau and Jonathan Demme), and at times it feels like she is holding back instead of being brutally honest. I strongly believe if you are going to tell your story, you have to do it all the way or not at all, but Goldie even admits she's going to hold back, for better or for worse, and does not apologize.
   
   More a collection of stories than one cohesive story, they are all wonderful and uplifting. The best ones are the beginning ones, about the days before she was famous. Some of the highlights include "Integrity," a story about how Al Capp tried to seduce her, only for her to refuse and have him tell her she'd never make it in show business (famous last words), and for her to make it before his show made the air, and others, such as one where the power goes out, and a bunch of strangers and her comfort each other in the dark of her apartment, with candles burning.
   
   Goldie Hawn fans may enjoy this more than others, and if you want a tell-all book dishing the dirt on Hollywood, this is not the book for you. If you want to read a collection of stories, with the theme of "what's less is more," you won't be disappointed.



2. Until I read this book, I knew Goldie Hawn as a funny and wonderful and lovable actress. After reading it, I realized she was much, much more. She is a wise, extraordinary woman.
   
   This book flows seamlessly between Goldie's memorable life experiences and her reflections upon these. She teaches by example a way to look at life with a perspective I found compelling because it includes gratitude and generosity not only to those around us but also to ourselves and those who came before us. Goldie shares her life challenges, doubts, and confusions as well as her joys. I felt the turmoil and triumphs of her relationships with friends, family, and the arts, especially dance, as her words carried me along with her on her captivating journey.
   
   This is not a "self help" book, but I found out more about myself as I learned more about Goldie's experiences. Her willingness to share fear, vulnerability, pain, as well as spirituality, love, and joy are so forthright that it was easy to make a personal connection with Goldie through the good times and the bad.
   
   One resounding message comes through that I can't be reminded about enough. Being a compassionate parent, appreciative child, a great friend or lover, offer us opportunities to give and receive unconditional love - a profoundly nurturing source of strength, comfort, and self-generosity.
   
   It was as if the more I read Goldie tell her stories, the more aware I became of my own. I now enjoy friends, family, and indeed each new day with a brighter smile - and I'm not surprised because Goldie's smile has kilowatts to spare.



3. I didn't know a lot about Goldie Hawn when I bought this book. I love biographies and since I had always had a great impression of her, thought it would be interesting. The pretty cover also helped!
   This is a wonderful book about a wonderful person! It was very interesting to learn about Goldie Hawn's childhood and career path. I was happy to know there is such a great person who struggled yet achieved so much, simply for trying to live a happy life.
   Goldie Hawn is a great example and role model of a person who truly appreciates life for what it is!
   This is an emotional, funny and inspirational book. Easy to read, I felt this is a true story written from the bottom of her heart. This book shows a humble, strong yet normal person just like a lot of non-famous people like a lot of us.
   It is great to know there are extraordinary people in the world, such as Goldie Hawn!



4. Goldie's autobiography is a spiritual journey through her life - its touching and sincere accounts of life-changing events gives the reader a unique view into the life of a movie icon. What you realize is that Goldie is one of us - yes, an amazingly accomplished actress, but also a loyal friend, a loving mom, and a genuine, down-to-earth person.
   
   Most noteworthy is the fact that Goldie did not find the need to disparage anyone from her past in order to accurately tell her story.
   
   If possible, I'm more of a fan after reading her book.



5. This is undoubtedly one of the best books I have read and the best "biography" I've seen!
   
   In a collection of "short stories," Goldie expresses to readers her joy for life and all that it has to offer! Through ups and downs in life, she tells those reading how to find the shiny side of any issue, though her own life journey!
   
   DIVINE! A must read, especially for anyone down and out!

2 comments about I Am Not Your Victim: Anatomy of Domestic Violence (SAGE Series on Violence against Women).

1. Beth Sipe recounts the horrifying abuse she encountered from the person she loved most and the law that should have protected her. This is a must read for anyone who is in an abusive relationship, recovering from an abusive relationship and anyone who has family or friends who suffer from abuse. Beth's strength, her will to live and her will to protect her children reflects throughout this book.



2. Beth Sipe writes about her exeperiences as a battered woman in this emotionally charged biography. She talks about the years of living with her abuser and raising her children in a home that was never without pain and abuse. She fights the legal system, mental health system, police, and military for support for years, but never gets the help with her situation without challenges.
   She tries to leave several times and even when she is able to get a restraining order, her husband violates it. Finally she is able to take no more and does something that will forever change her life and the life of her children.
   This is a must read for anyone working in domestic violence or for those who have lived with abuse and are on the road to recovery.

5 comments about Federal Husband.

1. "Federal Husband" is full of unsubstantiated (though sometimes hilarious) claims and sweeping generalizations, inviting its readers to play a game of logical leapfrog. It presents very little solid reasoning that is helpful to someone seeking a better understanding of Biblical teaching on husbandry and marital headship.



2. A few critics have already said what needed to be said. So I won't comment on the sad lack of substantiation of his comments on the modern movements, nor will I speak of the glaring logical flaws that beg the question or that develop a conclusion from a false premise, or rant about his bad approach to hermeneutics where he pulls passages or verses out of their contexts. What scares me is all the postive reviews on this book. I guess it shows the state of the church where good, solid Bible teaching and thinking is rare so that people will take this stuff hook, line, and sinker.
   
   He doesn't adequately prove that the husband must take the blame if his wife fails and sins. She is a sinner and a saint in her own right to do that. Federal headship in the marriage relationship doesn't mean that I become a "priest" taking on everyone's sins. Certainly, the husband in called to be the head of the home, but that means he is to set the pace for the spiritual condition of the family. His view also seems to say that the wife is to not think or do without her federal head's permission. This is done under the guise of love and protection under the covenant's role. But is it loving to insult her by saying that she can't think or do anything without his permission? Is it really biblical to insist that all information be disseminated to the wife only through her federal husband.
   
   I read this book because I've been around those who hold to Wilson's view and saw how this plays out in the church. Often the women do not go to church if the husband is not there with them. Even in taking communion, the husband takes the bread and then gives a piece of it to his wife. This is just dangerous as it takes away her position as a Christian in her own right as it also circumvents the Christ-ordained leadership of the church. The Bible says that all are to obey the leaders of the church, but Wilsom seems to suggest that women are exempt from this because they are to obey and submit only to their husbands. The views of this book are not spiritually healthy because they do not acurately reflect the teaching of the Bible.
   
   However, Wilson does give us some good advice (at least concerning the book). He tells the husband that his wife ought not read the book. I totally agree with that! My only advice is to say that no one should read if if you are serious about being a Scripturally informed husband.



3. In this book, my longheld belief that the husband and father is not only the federal head of the home, but also the one who bears the responsibility for what happens in the home, was affirmed. Biblically. We are responsible for leading ourselves, our wives, and our children to truth, and not provoking them to the eternal wrath of God. We do this in various ways, beginning with the most basic. Teaching them in the Word of God, feeding them, clothing and housing them, and for the wife, providing sexual relations.
   
   Aside from addressing this enormous topic of a covenantal relationship between a man and woman as representative of God's covenantal relationship between Himself and Israel and between Himself and mankind, Douglas also addresses everything from pregnancy to piercings, the wielding of the sword to the wedding ceremony, and inheritances, occupations, discipline, punishment, women in combat, widows and countless other issues that arise out of or outside of the covenantal family relationship.
   
   A beautiful, well written book that I'm not quite sure how he accomplished within only 110 pages.
   
   You would be remiss to neglect a careful reading.



4. In my review for Nancy Wilson's book "The Fruit of her Hands", I mentioned how Ms. Wilson seemed constantly nervous about displeasing her husband. Now I know why; her husband is nothing short of sexist and controlling, not only of his wife but apparently of his entire church. His statement that the women in his church aren't allowed to read this book should be the first clue, but that's just one of several extremely offensive statements. There's hardly a thing in this entire book regarding women or marriage that I found helpful or even Biblical. Wilson indicated that we should question everything the modern woman does, even going to college! Does he really expect us to pull women out of college in the name of Christianity? But then, if he thinks women are made simply to get married and bear children, I guess it's not surprising that he doesn't think we should have educations. Here's a little shocker, Wilson: women are meant to do far more than marry. This is proved by the fact that Eve was given a brain as well as Adam.
   
   One of the main things that angered me about this book was that Wilson shamelessly ripped Bible passages out of context in order to support his ridiculously sexist views. As an example, he listed a passage in which God, while furiously addressing men in a certain village, said "Women rule over you and children oppress you." You get the sarcasm there? He was obviously accusing those men of being utterly spineless and saying they needed to stand up for themselves. Wilson, however, took his angry and very sarcastic words to mean that God doesn't want women to be leaders, ever. Um, WHERE did he get that? That particular Bible passage was addressing a certain group of weak men, NOT all mankind. The passage didn't even really have anything to do with women, so to rip that out of context and interpret it as God's words for all mankind is simply nonsense; only a man with an agenda could find such ridiculous meaning behind something like that.
   
   Calling female leadership a curse is one of the most lame things you could possibly do considering all the leading females in the Bible, including Deborah, who helped lead a battle, counseled men and operated as a judge, and had a song made in her honor. This book, unlike the Bible, is chock-full of images of spineless women. Before all the feminists get mad, though, let me assure you that Wilson gives plenty of bad advice for men too, even saying that the husband's solely responsible for any problem in the marriage and the household. Wilson even scolds men who let their wives work, saying that if men can't provide for their wives enough by themselves, they fail as husbands. I found this almost amusingly offensive; have you looked at the job market, Wilson? Haven't you ever seen good husbands struggling to provide for their families? Not only does he imply that women are simpletons who need caring for, but he seems determined to dump the world on men's shoulders and this is simply not right. Several times he acts as though he believes marriage to simply be a contract ("I'll provide for you if you bear me children") and he even goes so far as to say that sex is just a duty and doesn't need any spark to be enjoyed. Wilson gives the impression of a guy so sequestered in his own little church and beliefs that he's totally unaware of how the real world works, not to mention how real minds work. His matter-of-fact, almost dull tone in the book imply that he's just a guy laying out all the facts and we should act accordingly. I find it hard to believe that he expects us to accept these ideas as Christian behavior.



5. As a husband of 27 years and a father of six children, as well as, a serious student of the Bible, this book changed my life and my behavior towards my wife.
   
   Wilson sets forth the principles of a "Federal Husband" so clearly, that in the vast majority of instances, to argue with the points Wilson makes is to argue with God. Perhaps the most important lesson I learned is found on p 18 where Wilson states, "As Christ assumed responsibility for things He didn't do, so husbands should be willing to do the same for their wives."
   
   Essentially, I learned - unforgetably from this book - that I am responsible for the condition of both my marriage and my family. If anyone is to receive blame, it is to be me!

4 comments about Hear My Testimony: Maria Teresa Tula Human Rights Activist of El Salvador.

1. While the summary gives away some hints of the book there is a lot more to be covered specifically how Maria Tulsa uncovers how much of the torture, murders and government terrorism in El Salvador was aided by the United States. That's probably what people should focus on the most. Even in today's age the hypocritical points the finger at Iraq and other countries for sponsoring terrorism yet has aided terrorism and dictatorships in places like Argentina, Guatemala, Chile, Nicaragua (Samoza dynasty) and many more country.
   
   Some things never change. Anyhow, as mentioned Maria herself is born not just from a poor family but a poor crazy family. Her mother and father are simply terrible cruel parents who don't give her daughter anything, her siblings abuse her and low and behold it's her Grandmother who is the only person that Maria can honestly call a relative.
   
   Later on she marries, and her husband is murdered by the government and labeled as a terrorist for striking. Maria can't even find her husband's dead body to claim (something that happened in other countries like Argentina where the government exterminated thousands of people yet wouldn't even tell loved ones where their victims bodies where). Simply disgusting. Maria's story is very familiar to people who have done research and have lived through this sort of thing.
   
   She didn't just become a victim but an activist starting the Co-Madres group. Her story is sad but inspirational it really deserves more attention than just the three reviews here on Amazon.com



2. It is amazing to see what kind of atrocities go on in other parts of the world. What's even more of a shock are the institutions put in place to keep the masses oppressed for the benefit of a few. This book opened my eyes to the widespread repercussions of the cold war, and how the US supported tyranous regimes in the name of "defending democracy".



3. A must read for anyone who is the least bit concerned with human rights--A lesson in the truth vs. what the media provides us. Honestly written--a beautiful book



4. this is the best book i have ever read. it is very exicting and uplifting. Maria Tula is one of the most courageous individuals i have read about. being a woman i want to use maria as a model for myself and my future daughters. any one who has experiecned domestic violence should read this book because she expereinced and overcame it. please read and recommend this book to women and men.