2 comments about It's Not My Fault: Tales of a Vermont Doctor.

1. It's disappointing to take home a book which is subtitled "Tales of a Country Doctor," and then read in the fine print of the prologue, "There will be some who ... will complain about the _fact_ of a particular matter [being] ... in need of correction.... You are in the minority. The sooner you learn ... that the greatness of Truth is that it transcends the lowly fact, the better off you will be."

   In other words, not only is this another Palmer wannabe, but it's pure fiction masquerading as down-home fact.




2. A biting, witty, and satirical look at medicine in the U.S.

No comments about Bernard G Sarnat: 20th Century Plastic Surgeon and Biological Scientist.

No comments about A Stroke of Genius: Illness and Self-Discovery.

5 comments about Beautiful Stranger.

1. How can one publish a book entitled "Beautiful Stranger" - A Memoir of an Obsession with Perfection -- a story of a young beautiful woman who seeks out multiple plastic surgeries on her face -- and not include 1 picture? This is what it is all about -- her face --which is portrayed on the dust jacket as bandaged up. That is the way the author keeps it. How disappointing to find an essentially visual book bound up in only the printed word.
   Let us know when you want true freedom, Hope, and send out a photo or 2. Or 3.



2. Hope Donahue has written a tragically beautiful novel of obsession with appearance, an obsession that overrides even the smallest of life's everyday functions. Hope is beautiful, smart, a college graduate, a debutante: the girl you hated in high school and college because, on the outside, she had everything you thought you needed to be happy.
   
   Hope's upbringing as a single child to a psychotic mother and a distant, rigid, puritan father wasn't helped by grandparents who were old-fashioned snobs. Hope was alone, and forced into adult roles before she was ready for them. In a way, Hope was never seen. In her own words, she writes, "A single moment of being seen can make up for a lifetime of invisibility."
   
   The only thing Hope's privilege brought her was the money to disfigure herself with plastic surgery rather than cutting or hair pulling. What she writes about, very poignantly, is the feelings involved with being obsessed with what is in the mirror rather than what is inside. There are moments Hope describes as being unable to look in a mirror, too fearful of what she will see.
   
   Hope writes of her roommates, "How are they able to go out into the world each day, fresh and full of energy, instead of crippled by fear and plagued by dragging lethargy? How is it I have lost the knack for everyday life?"
   
   This is so true with many OCD's. Hope constantly investigates beauty magazines, looking for the perfect solution to her problem, becoming an expert on the intricacies of beauty history such as the recent trend toward thinness and the fact that geishas used deadly lead-based powders to obtain that whiter-than-white complexion.
   
   Depression never entered the vapid heads of this particular social caste. To Hope, "'Sad' was what you felt when the dress you wanted at Neiman's was sold out. 'Depression' was what people living in trailer parks felt, people with missing teeth who drank malt liquor from paper bags."
   
   While this book does get a little long in the tooth at times, but maintains a dreamlike quality, shifting through Hope's life like a ghost, through a life you realize you wouldn't have wanted in spite of the offered perks. I personally feel books like this should be required reading for our vulnerable middle-and-high schoolgirls.
   
   Still searching, though more promisingly, for the safety and security she needs, Hope says that it is her awareness of her disorder and not the disorder itself that's changed. Her major awareness came through finding a therapist she could trust (unlike the quack her mother drug her to in her earlier years), and subsequently finding the medicinal therapy that worked for her.
   
   This is a poignant and accurate story of one girl's fight for freedom from herself. It's an excellent book to read for yourself, especially if you're not "feeling up to the media", and a perfect book to pass along to your teen or pre-teen daughter. Donahue's writing skills are not wasted on this touching, heartbreaking tale of baring her soul. Enjoy!



3. This book is about the collateral damage of growing up a trophy daughter. I really think that's why there aren't any before and after photos. On the back of the paperback edition is a photo of Hope as a pre-op teenager and It is obvious that it is not the outside that needs fixing.
   
   Hope Hathaway Donahue is the only child born to a couple of very privileged narcissists. Mr. Hathaway is distant and inept as a father. His big setback was not having the stomach to follow in his illustrious surgeon father's footsteps. So, he becomes a very successful international banker and a hypochondriac. Mrs. Hathaway is a lady of leisure who insulates herself within her own privileged microcosm, preferring to shut out all of life's unpleasant realities. She tries to turn beautiful daughter, Hope, into her living Barbie doll. In order to one up her rich friends she spends lavishly on gowns for coming out parties for Hope. The relationship takes a more sinister turn, however, when Hope becomes a teenager and Mrs. Hathaway's looks begin to fade. She begins buying Hope string bikinis. Since most mothers prefer modesty for their daughters perhaps this is Mrs. Hathaway's vicarious attempt to retain her nubility. It backfires when Mrs. Hathaway begins to see Hope as her rival rather than her ideal projection of herself. She then accuses Hope of being a temptress and Mr. Hathaway of having an affair with their daughter.
   
   One day Hope comes home from French class and her mother, lounging by their pool, admonishes her not to burden herself with too much learning. In The Great Gatsby, Daisy, the fabulously rich narcissistic protagonist sums it up after the birth of her daughter: "I hope she'll be a fool, a beautiful little fool. That's the best thing for a girl to be." Primed to be a "beautiful fool" Hope becomes obsessed with physical perfection. She thus embarks on a long series of painful, expensive, and totally unnecessary cosmetic surgery operations.
   
   Hope gets a master's degree in journalism from UC Berkeley. There is no mention of her trying to seek employment in her field, or having any hobbies or interests beyond her growing obsession with physical perfection. She develops a fear of and disdain for the world and like her mother isolates herself. Her parents support her for a while so she's not forced to get a job. She rents an apartment with several other girls, but doesn't interact with them and they dislike her. As they go off to work in the mornings she hides in her room and bemoans the sounds of the 9-5 rat race ever so thankful that she hasn't been drafted into it. She then rummages through their things, perhaps trying to partake in the outside world from a safe distance.
   
   Hope's parents eventually stop paying for her plastic surgery. It doesn't occur to Mrs. Hathaway that her daughter's plastic surgery is a desperate cry for help or that she is staring at the consequences of decades of grooming her daughter to be the perfect physical specimen. She packs up her bags and goes to stay at hotel so she won't have to look at Hope's bandaged face. Her father has the same reaction, but is marginally more helpful. He remains horrified and distantly silent, but fixes some meals for Hope.
   
   A reader from a deprived background might feel contempt for Hope, but is this situation so different from the 3rd generation welfare mother or the girl with a violent alcoholic father who grows up and marries one? All throughout this narrative Hope searches for love and acceptance. Her insecurities are often mercilessly exploited, most egregiously by a sleazeball cosmetic surgeon identified as Dr. S. What is most conspicuously absent, besides any parental warmth or guidance, is the mention of any close friends. Hope recounts her lonely childhood playing in her grandparents' large house and being treated very distantly by them. Hope gets into a "relationship" with Hank, who is secretly married and comes over to occasionally have sex with and abuse her. This lasts until he tries to rape one of her roommates and they kick Hope out. Faced with having to pay for her breast implants and the drudgery of a 9-5 job Hope then has a brush with the porn industry. Luckily she manages to walk away before becoming immortalized.
   
   Hope eventually gets a job as a receptionist where she meets the love of her life. They marry and have four children. Aside from the surgery Hope has to have to repair the damage caused by Dr. S (his procedures were questionable), this is perhaps as close to a happy ending as real life gets.



4. This book is boring and slow. There is nothing compelling. It doesn't grip you in any way. Didn't finish it.



5. I found this book sometimes interesting but mostly annoying and sort of flat. From the very first page (from the title!), the author begins her litany of how beautiful and gorgeous and amazingly built she is (even models would be jealous, she tells us). There's not way to substantiate these continuous claims, because the picture on the jacket is of a very average and not very attractive woman, and there are no other photos in the book to contradict that picture. Oh and also she says she's smart, and such a great writer that it would "be a crime" if she didn't write, and is awesome in lots of other ways I can't remember. Where I come from, we call that "bragging."
   
   She seems to be an odd combination of extreme conceit and extreme insecurity, which admittedly you do find in some people. But I found it difficult to reconcile the two disparate viewpoints into a coherent point to the book. I had thought she had body dysmorphic disorder, but she says at the end she only has SOME traits in common with it. Basically she seems to say at the end that she is mostly obsessive-compulsive. Maybe I drew the wrong conclusion (thinking it was BDD) because the focus was so relentlessly on appearance, and that colored my reading. But ultimately I felt it was a book about a woman who has some huge need to convince everyone she's great-looking (despite the picture that contradicts her claims) and throws in some insecurity to make it seems like she's not full of herself. I would have found the book a lot more effective if she had told her story, left out all the bragging, and shown some pictures (if in fact she really was so beautiful at some point). The saddest part about this woman is that she so desperately cares what other people think of her.

No comments about My Story of the War.

1 comments about Christians and Cancer.

1. It is so encouraging to read what this lady and her family went through. The book is most informative as to the varying styles and personalities of her doctors, contains detailed information regarding the various treatments she underwent, candidly describes the pain and mental stress a cancer patient experiences, explains how important the support and prayers of christians can be, shares many bible references that help us understand why and how,and even contains humourous moments that occured during this ordeal.

No comments about Free To Live: The Rest of my Journey.

3 comments about Hi Mom, Send Sheep: My Life as the Coyote and After.

1. A fascinating read and a great look at the king of NBA mascots. Whether hanging from the ceiling or making up hilarious bits, Tim truly set the bar for other mascots and athletic entertainers to follow.



2. The reading is quick paced and engaging. One minute you are laughing, the next you are saying "WoW", or "Mmmmm"
   
   This book makes profound thinking easy to read!



3. This was a very quick read, and goes into something of the history of the person behind the Spurs Coyote, Tim Derk. He lived a double life, with a secret identity, for two decades until he suffered a stroke.
   
   As the Coyote, he performed feats of athleticism that were amazing, all the time showing the humor for which he was known. Only a few people knew his true identity until shortly after his stroke on Feb 13, 2004.
   
   The book is a quick read, easily completed in a single night and has several tales of the misadventures of the Coyote, and its actor. It is written very much as if the author was speaking to you, however it is somewhat disjointed jumping around from time to time, inside a chapter.
   
   The seven chapters are relative focused, each one detailing aspects of Tim'sis life. From the inception of the Coyote, to a number of injuries, to his hey-day activities, to the stroke, then to rehab, and finally to recovery, though that is obviously an ongoing issue.
   
   The book is inspiring, showing how much a person can accomplish if he puts his mind to it. Considering that Tim's stroke is central to the book, it still remains a relatively enjoyable read.
   
   I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in mascots, and specifically to anyone who may be facing a tough time. It is also a must for any fan of the Spurs Coyote.

No comments about The Plato of Praed Street: The Life And Times of Almroth Wright.

1 comments about Limeys: The Conquest of Scurvy.

1. Given the current obsession with food quality and nutrition, this timely book addresses the problem of vitamin deficiency and the quest for a cure for scurvy over the recent past. Long sea voyages by early explorers created many problems for the crews, not least of which was the debilitating effects of scurvy. Frequently fatal, symptoms included rotting of teeth, swelling of limbs and loss of blood. The story of the solution to the problem was suspected for many years as the lack of fresh fruit and vegetables, but why did it take so long to finally solve the affliction? The story is well told by Harvie, and of course is intimately linked to the development of new ways of preserving food for those long sea voyages. One outcome was the development of lime juice, hence the title of the book. But the problem recurred at the turn of the 20th century in expeditions to the arctic and antarctic, and it is thought that scurvy affected Captain Scott in his final fatal trip. It was not until the 1920's that the active ingredient , vitamin C, was isolated that the problem was finally solved. This story deserves retelling, and Harvie makes a good contribution to popularising the account. When will we see similar accounts of the conquest of rickets (vitamn D deficiency) and beri-beri (vitamin B deficiency)?