5 comments about The Power of Style.

1. Great, great book on the diva's of style. I will love and cherish it forever. I also go back sometimes and reference it to see how good-bad I'm doing. This is a must by!



2. In 'The Power of Style,' writer Annette Tapert and Diana Edkins, then curator of photography at Conde Nast, have created a short history of self-invention --- specifically, the transformation of English, French and American women into society figures and "style icons." You may know nothing about most of these women except their names: Daisy Fellowes, Rita Lydig, Millicent Rogers, Pauline de Rothschild, Mona Bismarck, Elsie de Wolfe. Others you know mostly as auras: Diana Vreeland, Coco Chanel, the Duchess of Windsor and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Good. The less you know, the better.
   
   Why do I say this? Because if you have your nose pressed against the glass at all, you see only the woman in a dress --- not how she got there and the price she paid to get what she thought she wanted. In other words, you see someone who, if you're honest, you might like to be, just as you once fantasized about being a princess. But you're not a kid any more. You know that life is deals. You may even suspect that rich men aren't always so nice to their women. And so, reading 'Power of Style' fresh, you can have a pure reaction --- some admiration, to be sure, but also pity, also compassion.
   
   Dailsy Fellowes, for instance. She married a prince, who "did her the favor of dying during World War I." (They'd had three children. One was like her husband, Daisy said. The other was "like me but without guts." And the third "was the result of a horrible man called Lischmann." Pretty blunt, huh? But then, seeing a pretty child in the park, she asked the nanny, "Whose is that?" The nanny replied, "Yours, Madame.") On her yacht, she liked to hurl dinner overboard, shouting "Oh my, it's gone bad!" What was great about her? Her fashion sense. Whatever she wore, others wanted --- even the necklace she had made of corks. And she could write: "Isn't it time you let your furs out for an airing?" And her baubles were so brilliantly designed that jewelers would go to the opera and train binoculars on her neck, then rush home to make copies. But then there were human qualities. Her husband went broke; she quietly replenished his funds. She paid for cosmetic surgery for less rich friends. When she wrote a book, an orphanage got the royalties. A complex woman.
   
   Or Diana Vreeland. We recall the one-time editor of Vogue for her ludicrous pronouncements --- "Pink is the navy blue of India" --- but almost no one knows how loyal she was to her husband, an empty suit who couldn't make a living and had a keen eye for other women. She pretended she was rich; in fact, she desperately needed to work. Her entire life was thus an act, and she was a brilliant performance artist, a kind of society impersonator. Which begins to suggest her extraordinary discipline. She had her shoes --- including the soles --- shined every day. She injected herself with vitamins. She famously arrived at her office at noon; in fact, her phone calls started at 8 AM. When she was fired, she kept her mouth shut. "I loathe narcissism, but I approve of vanity," she said. Complex, again.
   
   These profiles are addictive; you want to read them, pen in hand, to mark the great bon mots, the gems of wisdom, the unbelievable stories --- and Ms. Tapert's sage conclusions. You will also savor the photographs, many never seen before; they are full of good ideas that today's designers would be shrewd to copy. Mostly, you will gain a deep appreciation of these social butterflies as professional women, careerists of a special kind.
   
   A book of cautionary tales. A dream book. A chronicle of parallel lives. It's the same book --- but each woman will find her own meaning in it. Who would have thought that something as shallow as Society could have such depth?



3. This book showcases women who rose to public prominence through their individual style. Not all were born wealthy, not all were pretty but each of these women had an inner spirit and an outstanding sense of style that caught the eyes of the public (and of wealthy, influential men).
   
   It is interesting to see how each woman expressed her individual fashion sense within the very narrow sartorial dictates of her era. Their collective appeal lies in managing to balance conformity with originality to come up with a signature style that transcends time. Yes, they had access to great coutouriers, jewelers and stylists. But so did other women of their wealth and social rank who did not create a similar aesthetic legacy.
   
   What can we learn from them? One, that a woman need not resort to tasteless skin exposure to make a fashion statement. Two, a conservative dress code can be maintained without being bland and forgettable. The third (and I think the most important) lesson is that you need not be dazzlingly gorgeous to create a lovely sense of style that makes the most of your assets.



4. I'm not particularly fashionable myself but I love to read about beautiful things, beautiful clothes and beautiful people. This book is delightful and I've read it several times. Interestingly enough, the lesson learned is that beauty, money and glamour are not the answer. Most of the women profiled lived unhappy lives despite having those qualities in abundance. Nevertheless, it is a lovely "guilty pleasure" to read this book and learn more about how the other half lived.



5. You need this book if you love fashion. I wish the book was larger; that's my only wish! Some people say they wish there were more colored pictures, but early photography was B&W; for one reason, it captured the nuances of the clothing, and I guess color photography wasn't as prolific in the times that some of these ladies had their heyday. This book is interesting both to READ and to LOOK at! You will pick it up several times a year just to drool over the lovely pictures and re-read the lives and choices of these ladies. It's my very favorite book on style, and I have Ultimate Style: Helena Rubenstein: Over the Top; Oscar de la Renta; Shocking: Elsa Shcaparelli; and I even count Happy Times (Lee Radziwill) as one of my style books. I recommend all of these books, by the way! Also get D.V., Diana Vreeland: The Bazaar Years, and Vreeland if you like Diana Vreeland--=she's a really interesting style icon. Someone needs to put together an exhibit on her for the Metropolitan Museum (since she was the longtime curator of their Costume Institute and she made it what it is today, as far as I can tell from what I've read...incredible style, imagination, and flair!) Please buy this book; you won't regret it. It's a glimpse into a bygone era that still fascinates us and calls on us to imulate it.

5 comments about Name All the Animals: A Memoir.

1. Apparently there is more than one audio version of this book - the one I heard was narrated by Christina Moore and she was terrific. I suspect I enjoyed listening to it more than I would have liked reading the print version. It really is a very interesting, totally believable (to me), coming-of-age story, complicated by the death of her brother. It probably is more real for those of us who grew up Catholic during that time period. Very thought provoking and poignant but likely to not be appreciated by those who are looking for lots of action, adventure, excitement.



2. This book was in a batch of books someone gave me. It started slow and never picked up speed. I kept waiting for something to happen (OK, something happens but I just don't care), and now, 50 pages later, it's beginning to dawn on me that it's not going to get any better. I don't need a plot if there is character development or the writing is just beautiful. None of that here. Sorry.



3. Ms. Smith invites her readers to experience her coming of age teen years, the same time she traveled through the process of grieving her older brother's death. Such a vulnerable in anyone's life, her family's religion and the loss of her brother tangle into her adolescent stage and threaten to swallow her up. This is a loving look at a very intimate and raw experience.



4. I really enjoyed this memoir by Alison Smith. I thought she did a wonderful job describing her grief over the death of her older brother and how she dealt with it. I thought she told her story with a strong, clear voice. Her descriptions were very vivid and real. I think part of why I enjoyed this book so much is that Alison Smith and I are about the same age and I could relate to her experience growing up. I didn't realize until I was reading the book that she grew up in Rochester, NY. For me there's always a little bit of an affinity for stories about places I know. Similar chronology and common geography aside I thought this was a great book.



5. Alison Smith read at the West Side YMCA's Writer's Voice on May 14, 2004. This is from my introduction to the event.
   
   Alison Smith's "Name All the Animals" manages a very difficult balancing act. It is, to me, a tri-partite story. The main story of the terrible grief of losing a loved one, the events and impact of a strong religious faith both being practiced, tested and transformed, and the emerging sexual identity of a teenager, all during the period of grief following a great tragedy.
   
   If Alison Smith failed to make any of the three legs of the story stand convincingly, the whole book would've toppled over. And it's to her great credit that she brings out clearly the people in her life, making them completely three-dimensional in their weakness and in their strength. Throughout the book, the most powerful presence is that of her brother, who flits like a ghost around her, yet is more present in many ways than the people left behind to mourn, and those who surround her in her day-to-day life.
   
   Alison Smith makes art out of tragedy, and throughout the book you feel a sense of connectedness to her story that is unforced, and natural, beyond that of the natural empathy one feels when confronted with someone else's sorrow. It's a powerful and moving book.

5 comments about Jane Goodall: The Woman Who Redefined Man.

1. Dale Peterson has written a great book about a great woman. The book is long, I admit, but interesting from page to page. The book clearly reflects how Jane Goodall has first ventured into Africa, made friends with the chimpanzees, and then developed an accurate sense of humanity. I had read this book after reading Jane Goodall's REASON FOR HOPE, and Dale Peterson describes her life almost like she herself describes it in her book. An example: Jane Goodall had a very happy marriage with her second husband, Derek, and was badly hurt by his long illness and death. As I stated in a review of REASON FOR HOPE, Jane Goodall is an excellent humanist and merits the Nobel Peace Prize.



2. Louis Leakey put it best. Jane Goodall's work in Gombe prompted a complete revision in how humans view themselves. The subtitle could well stand as the lead for this book. In this exquisitely detailed biography, Dale Peterson depicts how Jane's personality led to a number of fresh insights about how the other animals live and how science learned new ways to study them. Coming out of a rather obscure and unpromising life, Jane Goodall rose to prominence by unusal methods. She applied a sense of caring, developed through attention to her many pets, to the study of chimpanzees. Lacking any preconceptions about what chimpanzees were "supposed" to do, she was able to learn what they actually did do. To say her approach disturbed many "establishment" researchers is putting it mildly. However, her other major attribute in support of her caring, is persistence.
   
   There's a wonderful irony in the circumstances of Jane's becoming a foremost field primatologist. In an era when women reject being "objectified", it was Louis Leakey's roving eye and philandering habits that propelled Jane into the African bush. Having found evidence of early humans at Olduvai, he wanted some signs of evolutionary links. Chimpanzees, as Darwin had noted a century before, were the most likely indicator. Peterson points out that science was woefully lacking in data on apes. They're elusive and shy. It was Jane Goodall who demonstrated the value of "habituation" - long, enduring and subtle contact with her subjects - that allowed her to see what nobody else had before. Chimpanzees use tools, and they're effective hunters. It was the latter trait, the author notes, that helped Jane and her associates to begin formulating the structure of how chimpanzee society is formed.
   
   Those findings led Jane Goodall to both challenge old, staid thinking about field research and chimpanzee life in particular. More, they resulted in Jane's methods and reports led her to become a major figure in science. Whatever Leakey's carnal ambitions toward Jane, he saw her worth. He propelled her through Cambridge's graduate programme almost by brute force as Peterson describes well. Yet, even that endorsement didn't make up for the work Jane had to produce to earn her degree. By that time, she was writing for National Geographic, producing journal papers and books. Oh, yes. She also got married and had a baby.
   
   The richness of detail may deter a few readers of this book. It shouldn't. Jane Goodall, her diminutive stature and uncomplicated expression belie a powerful individual. Peterson isn't simply filling pages, he's building a picture of that individual. That image cannot be imparted with a few strokes of a broad brush. Jane Goodall, under the author's careful touch, isn't a flashy genius, but a dedicated hard worker who built up her own methods one bit at a time. The edifice is indeed imposing as the work led her on speaking tours, teaching assignments, and negotiations for funding, all while raising her family and running a research programme. It's not a simple life Peterson is relating and its complexity cannot be conveyed in a few words. Goodall is an imposing figure in science and the many details are but a start in doing her justice. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]



3. This comprehensive and compelling biography of Jane Goodall is truly inspiring. For decades Jane Goodall has valiantly and tirelessly traveled the planet imploring the world community to have reverence for the lives of humans and the animal kingdom. She is arguably the foremost advocate on behalf of primates and other endangered species. Her whole life has been dedicated to espousing universal peace and the kinship of all life. The brilliant and compassionate Jane Goodall merits a Nobel Peace Prize. Now !



4. I do agree with another reviewer that Jane Goodall, The Woman who redefined Man is a wee bit longish. Okay, at 714 pages plus an index it is a long read. However, I disagree that the attention spent on her early life is the culprit. Nothing could be further from the truth. Peterson lavishes many pages to Goodall's upbringing; her strong and directing mother and her danger loving race car father, her love of competition and her love of detail are overly mundane I feel that they tell us a lot about the person that Goodall eventually becomes. What other person, woman or man in 1960 was willing to chuch everything to study monkeys?
   
   Peterson obviously loves his subject. As a teenager I remember hearing stories about this young and attractive woman who had devoted her life to studying primate behavior. I didn't realize until much later that she had been sent by Leakey. I certainly didn't know until reading this book that Goodall had been trained as a secretary. How the fates have a way of stepping in and changing things....a truth that is delivered to any reader of this book.
   
   Jane Goodall has contributed a huge body of information to the world by her devoted work and study. Reading Jane Goodall: The Woman Who Redefined Man will impress you and awe you. A truly great read.



5. Great insight into a legendary woman. She is totally amazing!

5 comments about Everything About Me Is Fake-- And I'm Perfect.

1. This is an autobiographical work in which the self-absorbed author likes to refer to herself as the world's first super model. Well, Suzy Parker, Twiggy, and Jean Shrimpton may well take umbrage at that, as they were super models who preceded Ms. Dickinson. Better looking and classier, they leave this author eating their dust.
   
   This book is mildly amusing, at first, as the author cattily takes jabs at her former lovers, naming names. Let me tell you, Mick Jagger and Sly Stallone do not fare too well in this book. In general, the author talks about men in such a derogatory way that, if men were talking about women in this way, they would be called sexist.
   
   The author routinely engages in trash talk, and some of it is acerbically funny. Yet, so often is it repetitious that it begins to pall on the reader. A more shallow, vain, and self-absorbed woman than the author would be hard to find. It is no wonder that she is unable to have long-term relationships, as she seems so one-dimensional.
   
   Still, her book is a no-holds-barred look at her life and the wacky world of modeling, as well as the lengths one needs to go to stay on top of one's game. There is little enjoyment to be had from this book, and a measure of boredom will eventually seep in, as the author repetitively drones on and on about herself. The book is replete with photographs, which show the author in varying stages of her career, including before and after her breast implants.



2. This book is so good! You either love her or hate her, if you love her, read this book! I love her sarcasim, bold, blunt, funny personality. I loved the first book and I love this one as well. She is not just some obnoxious woman and if you cannot think past that thought and see her as a whole, dont read it. She is so many things and sometimes so honest people hate her for it, i guess hate her for saying all the things we think and you just cant say. If you cant think past it and enjoy her as a person, then this book is not for you. I Stayed up two nights just to read as much as I could and laughed a lot.You can gain insight into her true feelings about modeling, her life, family and so much more.



3. In only the candid, cocky, no holds barred way Janice can she reveals her own personal struggles. Yes, of course, (it's Janice Dickinson) she does take every opportunity to brag about herself too!
   
   Janice starts by telling how she was an awkward teenager and how she clawed her way to supermodeldom. Janice is very frank about how even as she was gracing the covers of "Cosmo" and "Vogue" she was still full of self-doubt. She fought that self-doubt by having plastic surgery, doing drugs and having sorrid affairs. She further tells how the image the industry sells to the average woman is totally unattainable. Unless, of course you're willing to starve yourself and undergo plastic surgery. Even then she tells how many of the photo's of even supermodels are airbrushed. She also says many times that cosmetic surgery isn't an option that everyone should persue and it seems at times she discourages it, even tho she's doing it left and right. Her reasoning from the book is that she is an extreme person, who overdoes everything in her quest for perfection.
   
   Janice also throws in some juicy personal anecdotes about her personal life. Sometimes she gives a little too much information! Among her tales are Mick Jagger, JFK Jr., Donald Trump, Jerry Hall, Sly Stallone and many more. Another plus included throughout the book, are several pages of photos from Janice's career and her personal life.
   
   Also, she tells her readers of yoga tips, beauty tips, fitness tips and nutritional advice. She offers the reader lots of straight advice on how to feel and look their best on their own terms. I liked the tips on skin care using household items in everyone's pantry. I've tried them and they certainly work.
   
   The latter chapters of the book are Janice's best. In these she shows her softer side. She writes like she knows she shouldn't be so obsessed with tring to find perfection with surgery, but she says she will continue. Still, she says to other women- don't be so hard on yourselves, that true happiness comes from within.
   
   Overall, this is a fun, fast and at times insightful read from an over-the-top lady, who isn't afraid to let it all out. Tho, as other readers stated she does overdo the four letter words, her sexual life info, and she does contradict herself by being so hard on herself and other women as well. Tho, if you like Janice- the good, the bad & the ugly- you'll probably enjoy this book.



4. Book came brand new as described & the present was a hit for the birthday girl.
   Seller highly recommended



5. This woman is a joke. No talent. I know her personally and she didn't even write this book.

5 comments about After the Wall: Confessions from an East German Childhood and the Life that Came Next.

1. This book is beautiful.
   
   Having briefly visited East Berlin in 1959, I was impressed with its cleanliness and dullness in contrast to the chaos, colour, mess and joy of life in West Berlin. Hensel explains the difference with skill and personal example: East Germany, the most successful and prosperous of the Soviet satellites, was a collection of industrious, intelligent and obedient ants.
   
   In many ways, her life until the collapse of "The Wall" was marvelous, packed with activities, programs, events and adults intended to uplift, enlighten and motivate youngsters to do good for others. The frightening aspect of her life was the unrelenting pressure to support these organizations to do good for others. East Germany was a cult without charisma, a ritual without religion in a minutely organized system designed to eliminate every element of chaos from the otherwise free human spirit.
   
   She is acutely aware of her parents' and grandparents' generations who lived a rigidly controlled life for almost 60 years, during which even so much as smiling at the wrong event would bring suspicion and possible punishment. When very young, Hensel knew it was dangerous to pick up a discarded Western chocolate bar wrapper from the street; but, she also knew the pure joy of such rebellion. As a teen, she suddenly plunged into a free lifestyle in which almost everything was possible and nothing was unlikely.
   
   This is a beautiful portrait of her astonishment at the democratic freedom -- much the same sense of astonishment I feel, having lived all my life in the luxury of such freedom -- the chaos and pure joy of "leaving people alone". In today's politics, too many talk about creating an inspiring sense of purpose for their country; Hensel deftly and with chilling starkness portrays the cost of such enforced "purpose", and the wondrous freedom and peace of mind that comes from respecting the rights of others.
   
   The happiness of Americans is the ability to celebrate or condemn their consumer culture without restraint; this book is a warm, human and personal memoir of what it is to not have such freedom. This book is everything anyone could want in a good book; it's well written, concise, poignant and utterly relevant to American society and the world at large.
   
   Thank you, Jana Hensel, for a marvelous explanation of what I saw in Berlin almost 50 years ago but didn't fully understand until now.



2. 
   The book is written as an extended essay. There is very little observation of actual events. The author's account of life in the GDR lacks realism and is really quite shallow.



3. I recently spent 2 1/2 months in the former GDR working at a university. My trip was a great experience and I was really struck by the historical remnants and stories of those that had grown up and moved into the former GDR after the fall of the wall. When the wall fell I was only 9 years old and many of my friends there were in my age range and we had few memories of this time. Jana Hensel's book provided me with an in-depth understanding of what life was like for my friends and their siblings during the reunification. It was interesting to hear stories of her childhood that were similar to my friend's stories.
   
   "After the Wall" was fabulous and a must-read for those interested in the real-life of former East Germans.



4. Whereas one of the previous reviewers may not have "gotten" this book, I did. I visited East Germany right after the fall of the wall, and then five years later. What a change there was. Not only could you tell the difference on the outside, but the people changed too. Hensel writes about these changes and how it affected her. Then she relates how it affected the older generations. Hensel is a little flip, but maybe she has a right to be. There were big changes, and the young adapt to change. Older people do not. This is a story about one young lady changing to the new landscape. East Germany no longer exists physically, but does emotionally in millions of Germans.
   
   This is a nice read for those interested in Germany. I found myself laughing at some of Hensel comments. I can relate how she experienced life.



5. When I was born in 1945, my mother, a German armed forces helper on the way from Prague (deep South) up to an isle named "Ruegen" (in the very North), in the middle of her long journey through a breaking down Germany: she came down with me and, after one day in hospital, she stuffed me away into a children's home (in a town called "Wuppertal", West-Germany) - and left me to my fate. So she robbed me (among others) the experience of a childhood in the GDR, German Democratic Republic, "Wuppertal" should be "West-Germany" (American sector), the isle of Ruegen became Russian sector, behind the "Iron Curtain". So I did not learn anything about "Young Pioneer meetings", socialism, communism, STASI (the secret police) or summer camps of young "Pioneers". In the Western hemisphere I grew up, drinking Pepsi Coke, receiving American Care packages, later on: listened to the Beatles, noticed the students movement in 1968, had no Ulbrich or Honecker, but chancellor Willy Brandt and Helmut Kohl. But I tried to find out the place, where the woman could live, who had born me in that dark year 1945. After 40 years of persistent search, 1985, before the Berlin Wall fell (1989), I found out: She was living behind the "Iron Curtain" on the isle of Ruegen. And I started to look at this lost childhood, which I did not enjoy: She showed me her photo album: summer beach near "Kap Arkona" at the north-point of the isle, snowy winters on Hiddensee, flight ducks, cranes - but on the other hand coal heaps on washed-out sidewalks. Color films (Orwo), books, Trabi substitute parts: only hard to get. Nevertheless, I wanted to make up for my life in the GDR - in 1990 when the Berlin Wall was fallen: A schools inspector on the island pointed into a corridor, filled with former Stasi employees (security police) and informed me in this manner in an almost dumb "cadre conversation", he unfortunately (thanks to the "reunification" of East and West-Germany) would have to hide many people in the teaching profession now (in hastiest kind). I should return please to West-Germany, where I just had come from. The direction of my journey seemed to be absolutely atypically, out of character, and not recommendable. No "Ossi" (vs. "Wessi") - no job. As a result my mother, noticing, that all her dreams collapsed, joined an acute epidemic disease at that time: She committed a so-called balance sheets suicide. I was deprived of the chance to become a "zone child" a second time. Did I miss really much? Because the book of Jana Hensel has stimulated me to these thoughts - maybe her sometimes nostalgic "Ossi" writings (of course very different to my "Wessi"-point of view) are not as superficial, simple, banal, as I thought in the first moment? Compare her point of view ...

5 comments about History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1).

1. Looking through this book reminded me of the movie "A Beautiful Mind". A brilliant mathematician constructs a fantasy world complete in every detail. The only problem is that it doesn't exist, and that he's as mad as a hatter.
   
   Just two examples of the many "possibilities" suggested by our schizoid author:
   
   (1) The Biblical flood and the Trojan War were the same event because Noah was Aeneas, who fled Troy to found Rome. (Noah and Aeneas had names that sound alike. Thus it is proven.)
   
   (2) Nine kings fled the fall of the Tower of Babel and seven kings founded Rome. Therefore, Rome was founded by the kings who fled the fall of the Tower of Babel. (In the author's words, the Biblical figure of nine is "close enough" to the Roman figure of seven.)
   
   Need I go on?



2. this book is absolute garbage. the author has no concept of history and completely disregards the archaeological and historical record. If you you want to know more about ancient history, go to the experts. heck, even Livy is better than this guy!



3. The professional historians faint as prominent mathematician Doctor Fomenko et al research the known historical data and come to fairly controversial conclusions.
   
   For example, the English historians rage at the suggestion that the history of Ancient England was de facto a Byzantine import transplanted to the English soil by the fugitive Byzantine nobility. As the sign of recognition of the special role of the English historians who consider themselves the true scribes of World History, the cover of the present book portrays Tintoretto's Jesus Christ crucified on the Big Ben.
   
   The Russian historians brand it as pseudoscience because Dr Fomenko asserts that there was no such thing as the Tartar and Mongol invasion followed by over two centuries of slavery, providing a formidable body of documental evidence to prove his assertion. The so-called `Tartars and Mongols' were the actual ancestors of the modern Russians, living in a trilingual state and aspiring Global Empire with Arabic and Turkic spoken as freely as Russian.
   
   The ancient proto-Russian state was governed by a double structure of civil and military authorities and the hordes were actually professional armies with a tradition of lifelong conscription (the recruitment being the so-called `blood tax'). Their `invasions' were punitive operations against the regions that attempted tax evasion.
   
   Fomenko proves for a fact that official Russian history is a blatant forgery concocted by a host of German scholars brought to Russia by the usurper dynasty of the Romanovs. Their ascension to the throne was the result of conspiracy, so they charged these German historians-imports with the noble mission of making Romanov's reign look legitimate.
   
   Dr Fomenko et al prove Ivan the Terrible to be a collation of four rulers, no less. These rulers represented the two rival dynasties - the legitimate Godounovs and the ambitious Romanov upstarts.
   
   The European historians fume not only because Fomenko blows consensual Russian history to smithereens, successfully removing a crucial cornerstone from underneath the otherwise impeccable edifice of World History but for asserting that all medieval European Kings and Princes were but breakaway vice-regents and vassals of the Global Empire who badly needed glorious and very `ancient' past in order to legitimize their new independence from the Empire.
   
   Dr Fomenko adds insult to injury, wiping out one by one: the Ancient Rome: the foundation of Rome in Italy is dated to the 14th century A. D., the Ancient Greece and its numerous poleis, which he identifies as the mediaeval crusader settlements on the territory of Greece, the Ancient Egypt: the pyramids of Giza become dated to the 11th to 14th century A. D. and identified as the royal cemetery of the Global Empire, no less.
   
   The civilization of the `ancient'' Egypt is irrefutably dated to the 11th to 15th century A. D. following the breakthrough in decoding of the ancient Egyptian horoscopes cut in stone and painted on the temple walls.
   
   Arabic historians may find some consolation in the crucial historical role of the Ottoman Empire as a part of the Global empire in the 15th - 17th century. The trouble is that this Empire was initially a proto-Christian state, with Hagia Sophia identifiable as Temple of Solomon, but built in 1550-1557 A.D. by Sultan Suleiman according to Fomenko and Islam with all its key figures is datable to 15th 16th century A. D.!
   
   The Chinese historians are also an unhappy lot because Fomenko wipes out the Ancient History of China outright. No such history. Period. The compilation of the so-called Ancient Chinese History is reliably datable to the 17th 18th century only. It is perfectly recognizable as the Ancient European history, reworked and transcribed in hieroglyphs as yet another historical transplantation.
   
   The Divinity excommunicates Dr Fomenko because the history of religions according to Fomenko looks as follows: the pre-Christian period (before the 11th century and Jesus Christ ), Bacchic Christianity (11th to 12th century, before and after Jesus Christ), Jesus Christ Christianity (12th to 14th century) and its subsequent mutations (15th to 17th cy) into Orthodox Christianity, the Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam, Buddhism, and so on..; and The Old Testament written after the New Testament in xiv-xvi cy A.D., if you please! Everybody served? Saint Augustine was quite prescient when he said: "be wary of mathematicians, particularly when they speak the truth."



4. Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/RAZQNMXM4M9CL Has history been tampered with? Yes, it has! Did events and eras such as the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the Roman Empire , the Dark Ages, and the Renaissance, actually occur within a very different chronology from what we've been told? Yes, they certainly did!
   
   The history of humankind is both drastically shorter and dramatically different than generally presumed.
   
   Why is it so? On one hand, it was usual custom to justify the claims to title and land by age and ancestry, and on the other the court historians knew only too well how to please their masters. The so called universal classic world history is a pack of intricate lies for all events prior to the 16th century. World history as we learn it today was entirely fabricated in the 16th-18th centuries. It's likely that nobody told you before, but
   
   there is not a single piece of firm written evidence or artefact that is reliably and independently dated prior to the 11th century.
   
   Naturally, after what you've learned in school and university, you will not easily believe that the classical history of ancient Rome, Greece, Asia, Egypt, China, Japan, India, etc., is manifestly false.
   
   You will point accusing finger to the pyramids in Egypt, to the Coliseum in Rome and Great Wall of China etc., and claim, aren't they really ancient, thousands of years ancient? Well, there is no valid scientific proof that they are older than 1000 years!
   
   The oldest original written document that can be reliably dated belongs to the 11th century!
   
   New research asserts that Homo sapiens invented writing (including hieroglyphics) only 1000 years ago. Once invented, writing skills were immediately and irreversibly put to the use of ruling powers and science.
   
   The consensual chronology we live with was essentially crafted in the 16th century by the Jesuits.
   
   The world history was compiled from contradictory mix of innumerable copies of ancient Latin and Greek manuscripts and other irrefutable proofs delivered by late mediaeval astronomers that were cemented by the authority of writings of the Church Fathers.
   
   Early in life, we learn about ancient history. Children love the magical lessons of history - they are like fairy tales. Teachers recite breathtaking stories; very soon We learn by heart the names and deeds of brave warriors, wise philosophers, fabulous pharaohs, cunning high priests and greedy scribes.
   
   We learn of gigantic pyramids and sinister castles, kings and queens, dukes and barons, powerful heroes and beautiful ladies, emaciated saints and low-life traitors.
   
   Ancient history is based documents, manuscripts, printed books, paintings, monuments and artefacts - called primary sources.
   
   The problem is that neither these ancient documents, nor events described therein can be irrefutably dated, moreover they contradict each other for the most part.
   
   When a school textbook tells us that Genghis Khan in year X or Alexander in year Y, have each conquered half of the world, it means only that it is so said in some of the written sources.
   
   There are no answers to simple questions:
   
   When were these primary sources written?
   
   Where and by whom were these sources found?
   
   It is wrongly presumed that ancient and medieval chronicles, written by Genghis Khan's or Alexander the Great contemporaries and eyewitnesses, are readily available. Actually, only sources written hundreds or even thousands of years after the events are there, compiled mostly in the 16th 18th centuries, or even later.
   
   As a rule, these sources suffered considerable multiple manipulations, falsifications and distortions by editing. At the same time,
   
   innumerable originals of ancient documents under various pretexts were destroyed in Europe under various pretexts.
   
   The names of persons and geographical sites often changed meaning and location during the course of the centuries.
   
   Geographical locations became clearly defined on maps only with the advent of printing.
   
   This made possible the circulation of identical copies of the same map for purposes of the military, navigation, education and governance tasks.
   
   Historians from Oxford say: "hey, everybody knows that Julius Caesar lived in the first century B.C.
   
   `Julius Caesar' statement is only a point of view as
   
   there is simply no irrefutable documentary proof that Julius Caesar or any other great name of antiquity ever existed.
   
   Better than that - extremely rare sources that can be reliably dated back to the 10th-14th centuries A D, do not show the polished picture of classical history.
   
   They show a picture both contradictory and confusing.
   
   All methods of dating of ancient sources and artefacts are erroneous:
   
   Radio-carbon C14 method produces dating with exactitude of plus minus 1500 years, therefore it is too crude for dating of events in historical timeframe!
   
   The Almagest tractate, which lies as corner stone contemporary chronology, compiled in the 2nd century A D by Ptolemy, the founding father of astronomy, contains astronomical data of 9th to 16th century!
   
   The Bronze Age,that has supposedly began 5000 years ago. Bronze is made of 90% copper and 10% tin, but the technology for tin extraction dates back to 14th century A D!.
   
   All eclipses contained in manuscripts, like Thucydides one, relating 'ancient' events have exclusively medieval dating. All horoscopes cut in stone or painted in Egyptian temples, like Dendera have exclusively early medieval dating solutions.
   
   Not quite what you have learned in school? Open your eyes, and, you will find sufficient proof to reach step by step the inevitable conclusion that the classical chronology is false and therefore, that the history of ancient and medieval world universally accepted today, is also false. Have a fresh outlook on everything said or printed about "ancient" and "enigmatic" Roman, Greek and Egyptian, medieval as well as all other "lost and found" civilizations.
   
   Antiquity and Dark Ages are phantoms invented in the 16th 18th and polished in 19th 20thcenturies. Human civilization is in fact barely 1000 years old!
   
   This book will change your perception of History forever!
   What if Ancient Rome, Greece and Egypt were invented during Renaissance?
   What if The Old Testament was a rendition of events of the Middle Ages?
   What if Jesus Christ was born in 1053 and crucified in 1086 AD?
   Sounds Unbelievable?
   Not after you've read "History: Fiction or Science?" by Anatoly Fomenko, the genius mathematician.
   Armed with astronomy and computers Anatoly Fomenko turns History into a rocket science.



5. Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun (ie. closer), different tilt on its axis (ie. less than 23.5 degrees), different orbit (ie. more circular), different rotation (ie. in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different relative positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently from how we would today? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history or geography is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

5 comments about The Happy Hooker: My Own Story.

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



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



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



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



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

5 comments about The Singing Creek Where the Willows Grow: The Mystical Nature Diary of Opal Whiteley.

1. An incredibly beautiful journal written by a young child prodigy. It is lyrical and delightful. A wonderful book.



2. I'm a huge fan of Benjamin Hoff. Who is a spiritual writer that a guy like me (who doesn't keep "earth crystals" in pocket or wreak of Nag Champa) can get into. I could go on glowingly about the passion that Hoff applies while exploring his subject. I would be someone pointed out to me that Hoff had been discredited by Katherine Beck. So I'm kind of writing a dual review using Beck's book as a jumping off point.
   
   Some facts about Beck's book:
   
   1) Beck never really discredits Opal for writing the book when she claimed: she admits that:
   a) Opal was incredibly bright as a teenager, bizzarely aware of the latin names of plants and animals. beck admits that by 15 or she was already a prodigy. But never attempts to explain how that related to possibly she could have been a brilliant writer as a child.
   b) Beck claims in response to forensic information favorable to at least part of Opal's story, that Opal planned the hoax by saving old scraps of paper and crayons from her childhood for 10 or 15 years and moving with to multiple houses and states to write the diary, appearantly hedging against future forensic technology, then torn her work to shreds and left it in jeopardy in a place where it could have been destroyed just to really sell people on it's authenticity. Also as native of the Willamete Valley I've met people who can recreate her journeys, which would have been hard to fake from a distance. That's about as crazy as any claims Opal made about the book.
   c) Beck gives examples of other child authors of the time who she feels were better writers, so why would be inconcievable to her that a substandard counterpart would exist? She doesn't even touch on it.
   2) Beck doesn't like Opal at all, she doesn't like her writing, kind implies she was harlot and a racist, and worst of all for me personally; she's glib about Opal's crippling mental illness.
   3) Beck seems affectionate for amatuer Opalites but seems to think people like Hoff and Nassif are nuts and paints Boulton as criminally Naive. She doesn't seem think Opal should be taught in schools, or at least thinks its screwball.
   4) Beck takes no time to really examine the spiritual significance of the book, except to say she thinks it's pre-new age tripe. To Beck it was popular at the time because people were gulliable and if it's getting a comeback now it must be for the same reason.
   
   Even being horder of Opal related history I got bored because reading someone's account of how much they dislike someone who was at worst kind of a liar and bad writer (remember it's not like Opal was dictator or anything) gets really, really tedious after about 50 pages. Also discrediting the most widely discredited author of the last 100 years is not an exciting read. I think the Seattle Times called it "Myopic" which it is, that and commendably thorough and also kind of spiteful. I've been trying to find people to disscuss the book with who aren't Opalites, who dispise Beck. I did talk to one guy who hates Opal and Opalites for very personal reasons but he was a little bored by the book and didn't finish it. The same man read Hoff and praised his writing but didn't see Opal's appeal.
   
   Now, Hoff, by contrast, is over flowing with praise for Opal. Beck interestingly "uncovers" a fact printed in book. Hoff was in love Opal, or the concept of her. So we can't call him biased. He presents a rosy picture of the girl who obiviously had a darkside. At the same time I like Hoff because he comes to the most rational conclusion about the book: It was written by a highly functional abused little schitzophrenic girl, and likely futzed with later in her life. Opal is a tragic figure to anyone who sees beauty in her wierd prose and a non-sequitor for anyone who doesn't. Hoff isn't bias free but no one is biasless about Opal. Also his repackaging of the diary is in my opinion the definitive version. Hoff is a brilliant counterpart in the present day to Opal. Who is due for a looking over outside of the neigh-sayers and new-agers.



3. To say this is my favorite book of all time, my most treasured, the one I would grab in a housefire - that is just a beginning. Opal brings us into the innocence and wonder of childhood in a way that inspires us to reclaim that part of ourselves. There are haunting scenes that pull you to love her and precious glimpses into her imaginings that wake you up to the magic in life. As she trots around with critters in her pockets and on her shoulders with names inspired by the great writers, christens baby chicks in the barn and finds notes and ribbons left by the fairies in the woods, Opal delights us and opens our hearts to a more tender place.



4. This book is the diary of a six-year-old girl named Opal Whiteley, who grew up in Oregon logging camps in the early 1900s. She loved nature and her writing style was inimitably beautiful.
   
   Her diary was published first in 1920, but became the centre of a large controversy and was dismissed as a fraud. Mr Hoff discovered a copy of this book by chance in 1983, and was so fascinated by it that he spent years researching the life of Opal to determine the true story.
   
   It most certainly is no fraud. Mr Hoff opens this book with a very well-researched, unbiased biography of Opal which proves beyond doubt that this really was her diary written at age six. He follows this up with the diary (or what exists of it), and ends with the tale of his story of trying to meet Opal personally.
   
   The tone of the book, by the time you have read from beginning to end, is one of tragedy. However, like the lonely, brave tones of a bird chirping through the twilight its farewell to the setting sun and a day that shall never return, beauty sometimes IS bitter sweet; but the quiet love, the charming way Opal describes her surroundings, her pets, the people she meets, and the voices of the natural world which Opal understood so well balance out the sadness and make this book well worth reading and adding to your personal collection.
   
   Opal's story is at once a sad commentary on the way one small hint of a rumour can snowball into the destruction of a person's life and a celebration of childhood and nature. It is mostly the latter.
   
   This is a brief passage from the diary part of the book, to give you a sample of its simplistic yet profound loveliness.
   
   "And all the times I was picking up potatoes, I did have conversations with them. Too, I did have thinks of all their growing days here in the ground, and all the things they did hear. Earth-voices are glad voices, and earth-songs come up from the ground through the plants; and in their flowering, and in the days before these days are come, they do tell the earth-songs to the wind. And the wind in her goings does whisper them to folks to print for other folks, so other folks do have knowing of earth's songs. When I grow up, I am going to write for children - and grownups that haven't grown up too much - all the earth-songs I now do hear."
   
   Doesn't that just sound like such music?
   
   Please read this book. Take it to heart.
   
   And thank you, Mr Hoff, for your loving tribute to an amazing woman, and for the hard work you did to bring this masterpiece back into the public eye.



5. This beautiful, lyrical journal, written by a 6-year-old prodigy from the backwoods of Oregon, will have you gazing in wonder at fire hydrants and listening to the song of the subways. Opal has a direct relationship with every tree, horse, rat and blade of grass in her backyard, and is able to see every living thing as a gift from God.

   The story behind the publication of the journal is a sad one, but the diary itself is timeless and transcendent. Opal may have died in obscurity but her lovely spirit lives on in her work.

5 comments about Daughter of Destiny: An Autobiography.

1. This is a wonderful book about an impressive woman. I've learned so much about the Pakistani culture. It's helped me to better understand the way this Moslem country thinks. This book has pointed out more strongly than ever that not all Moslems want violence and that there are many good people out there trying to fight against extremists who are trying to dominate the many middle eastern/asian countries.
   
   Daughter of Destiny: An Autobiography



2. Benazir Bhutto, mother, first Woman and two-time Prime Minister, and life-long Pakistani patriot, sets forth her version of Pakistani history here - at least the history during her and her father's reign. Her version is a private chronicling of her public life; her educational years; and her years incarcerated, under house arrest, and in exile.
   
   It is often laced with bitter memories and understandable bitterness expressed towards the murderer of her father, ex-President Zia-ul-Haq; towards those who were responsible for her incarceration, which lasted for a total of about seven years. She also has many equally unkind things to say about the viciousness of Pakistani internal politics, although the role her family played in making it so is carefully omitted.
   
   On balance, her outlook and the book are generally upbeat. She never completely loses faith in, or gives up on the hope and the dream that Pakistan can turn itself around and become the kind of open democracy she envisioned it to be, and which, almost with an obsession, that ended in her death, she seemed bent on leading it to become. Agreeing to an arranged marriage to a Pakistani playboy, she admits to being not much of either a mother, or a wife: politics remaining her primary preoccupation throughout her adult life.
   
   In the wake of her assassination, her autobiography seems to have served as part of the national mourning process, at least for her followers and admirers. And while this book, her autobiography, naturally portrays her as the national hero that she surely is, we all know that her reign as leader of Pakistan was not without its own problems and was itself beset with many intrigues. None of this is mentioned in the book. One hopes, that in due course, a more definitive and a more balanced account of Pakistani history covering the period of her and her family's reign, soon will be forthcoming. Four Stars



3. Benazir Bhutto, on the brink of a political comeback against the odds in several ways, was assassinated after a political rally on December 27, 2007. Bhutto is an impressive figure from a prominent political family, whose history includes several untimely deaths -- her own father, a Prime Minister of Pakistan, was killed in a coup in the 1970s; her brothers were killed in suspicious circumstances. Now Bhutto herself has been lost, and likely the aftermath will continue in different ways for some time to come, both internally to Pakistan as well as internationally.
   
   Bhutto's strongest claim to fame in history will be that she was the first female Prime Minister of a Muslim nation, an accomplishment unlikely to be achieved in any other Muslim nation any time soon (even nations such as Turkey, which are officially secular). Her rise in some ways paralleled that of Indira Gandhi, who also gained political power in large part from the family reputation bestowed upon her initially. Bhutto, however, was no mere figurehead for her family or her party. Educated at Oxford and Harvard, she had a good intellect and a keen understanding of the world.
   
   This book details Bhutto's feelings and memories of her family, her growing years, and the struggle to the point of her first election as Prime Minister (she would go on to be re-elected after being deposed, and then spend many years in exile in the West). This is not dissimilar to the kinds of books that every American presidential candidate feels obliged to publish - part policy, part history, part wish-list. Still, it is one of the rare books we have on Bhutto, and (at least partially) by Bhutto. As such, it is worthy to be read. How it will compare to the upcoming autobiography (due to be released in April 2008) will be interesting.



4. Benazir Bhutto has acquired an eminent place in history of Muslim world. She is the first Muslim elected prime minister of any Muslim country in 1400-year history. This book, no doubt, is part of Pakistan's history now. She talks very eloquently about the atrocities that her family endured during long dictator ship of Asia's model dictator ZIA-UL-HAQUE, who overturned Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto's elected government in a military coup. Z.A. Bhutto had the courage to challenge the WHITE ELEPHANT, and subsequently loose his power and face assassination at hands of undemocratic and tyrant army supported by PNA (Pakistan National Alliance), a group of islamists backed by a foreign agency. Same religious group has gathered some political strength in Pakistan's political scenario, but has now been shunned by the same opportunist foreign agency. Benazir Bhutto talks a lot about the sufferings at hands of military but does not have same heart as ZA Bhutto to challenge her real enemies. This book is however a "must read" for those who are interested in the politics and history of this region. She has art to impress the reader and make her point clear.



5. Benazir Bhutto is a striking personality-she is both hated and loved in Pakistan, very much Indira Gandhi on a somewhat smaller scale. Her autobiography begins with her reaction to her father's death-Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged by General Zia ul-Haq after a military coup and the pleadings of the world community. Throughout the book, Benazir paints Zia as the ultimate devil, the evil that consumed Pakistan and sent her family into prison or death. The book is extremely melodramatic in tone, but to me it was quite appealing-not as a portrayal of Mrs. Bhutto's personality but rather as another testament in the mixed reviews of her reign. The book ends with the votes about to be cast in her favor-and they did. Benazir was elected to two terms, but was dismissed by Pakistan's President and replaced by political rival Nawaz Sharif. She has been accused of financial laundering and at one time had an arrest warrant placed on her in Pakistan. Though her character is now under question, Benazir Bhutto still remains a well-spoken, articulate voice, and there is no better reflection of these qualities than in DAUGHTER OF DESTINY. She speaks without much bitterness-there is only moderate waxing of effluvium about the cruel fates her early destiny went through. Though, not having experienced life in Pakistan under her rule as Prime Minister, I cannot form any political or personal view towards Mrs. Bhutto, one thing is clear to me-she has the ability to make her voice heard. Whether or not she is 'defending' American airstrikes against the Taliban in Afghanistan or speaking of how she believes her brother's shooting death was related to a conspiracy to remove the 'Bhutto factor from Pakistani politics', Benazir has an articulate and clear voice. Now if only her morals and character were so lucid.

5 comments about Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady.

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



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



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



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



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