5 comments about Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return.

1. A strong sequel to Satrapi's original autobiography, Persepolis, also told in graphic novel format. In part 2, Satrapi relates her time in Vienna and her return to Iran. She grows up, in short, and grapples with her exile, her nationality and universal coming-of-age struggles -- from experimenting with drugs, to finding love. As in the first novel, Satrapi's black-and-white illustrations contrast with the multi-hued complexity of the political and religious backdrop of Iranian culture.



2. This is the only book that I have manged to read the entire of it in one day!
   It is a comic book, supper easy read and very educational in terms of knowing different culture.
   I like Persepolis 2 better than 1.
   U may wanna watch the movie, as well. It won and nominated for many awards in 2007.



3. I call myself a history buff but in reality I really only know American history with a little knowledge of King Henry VIII. I was 18 when Iranian crisis started. This book gave me a better insight to the overall issues behind this area than any other reading I had done, which I admit is not vast. The difference here was this book laid things out in such an engaging way I was totally engrossed. The author was both straight foward and insightful, along with quite humorous.



4. The first novel in this series succeeded because its childlike graphics and gee-whiz storytelling matched perfectly with this subject matter. We could imagine the infant/child author telling her story in exactly these terms.
   This sequel fails because the issues of growing up and dealing with the disillusionment with one's own culture are much more subtle. The story and the graphics remind us constantly of the nuances that are left out, of the issues of women's rights and humanity that are sentimentalized, of the real conflicts that this child/woman is undergoing that are completely unexplored.
   There are a few quibbles to be explored: the view of vienna is odd and the little vignette of the narrator peeing standing up seems forced. But most importantly, the mismatch between the story and the way in which it is told ends up making for a read that turns boring quickly.



5. I loved Persepolis, so when I realized there was a Persepolis 2, I quickly bought a used copy from Amazon. When I received it, I was very disappointed to learn that I had already read it! Although my first book was entitled Persepolis, it contained both stories. Check your copy of Persepolis before you buy the sequel; you may have read it!

5 comments about Girl, Interrupted.

1. I don't knwo what all the fuss is about this book. I read it as an assignment and forced myself to finish it despite the overwhelming dullness present in this book. Funny parts? One. Cruelty the author is subject to? being forced to take pills. Maybe this book would be more interesting to a psychology student or such, but to an average reader it's a 160 page essay on mental illness. Boring, overinflated and melodramatic was how this book came through to me.



2. This memoir, I must admit is quite a boring read. I watched the movie first, which some say is a travesty, but honestly, I believe if I had read the book first, I would not have wanted to watch the movie. The book is dull and lifeless and jumps around too much.
   
   Although, this is a mimick of the illness she faced during her stay, it can be annoying to the reader. There is no indication of how close she was to any of the girls she befriended during her stay, although at the end you witness some closeness between Susanna and one of the girls that managed to get out, there is not a powerful pull here.
   
   This is not a very englightening read. I suggest you skip reading this book and read something like Prozac Nation instead. Or, just watch the movie for this book, it's definitely better even if the events are not true.



3. Girl, Interrupted is a pretty basic book. The author did not delve too deeply into her own depression or accompanying emotions. The writing seemed very basic, and it did not force me to think. I think that the author left a lot of things out-too many things out. I loved the movie, though.



4. A great read! "Girl, Interrupted" is not one of those wildly popular memoirs on mental illness in which the author exposes his/her most intimate feelings and sufferings. I think a lot of the people who reviewed this book and disliked it were expecting a heart-breaking memoir on how a person feels when she's "insane". Instead, I got the impression that the author was poking fun at the ridiculousness of some of the procedures in the Mental Health field, how a lot of people were (and still are) diagnosed with a mental illness more readily if they were women, and how psychiatric hospitals are so very regimented that they stop making sense. Susanna Kaysen criticizes a growing obsession with sanity and insanity, in a nation where pills are giving freely and "defects of character" are quickly diagnosed as "personality disorders".



5. "Girl, Interrupted", probably known better by the film adaptation, is a memoir of a woman recounting the two years she spent in a mental institution in the 1960s when she was a teenager. Some liken it to a "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" but from a woman's perspective. But this analogy doesn't work for me. Firstly, the institution in question is not some barbaric hell hole. While decidedly not a country club, it is an institution for the mentally disturbed with lots of financial backing. Secondly, "Girl, Interrupted" is a memoir, not a novel. The author recounts everything from her perspective, and therefore delves heavily into introspection ... perhaps a bit too much. Ultimately all the self-analysis, especially when taken from the longer view many years after leaving the institution, grows tiresome. In the end I really didn't know if the author deserved to be institutionalized and, sadly, I sort of didn't care. Royalties from this book and the film probably helped ease the rotten memories of her lost two teenage years.
   
   
   Bottom line: while very readable and often thought-provoking, I think this book might be of most interest to those involved/interested in psychiatric care.

5 comments about Her Last Death: A Memoir.

1. ...but not in the way you might think. Unlike some of the other less-than-positive reviews, I'm not offended or shocked by the book, and didn't have any issues with the so-called "morality" of the author's actions. Nevertheless, with every page I turned, I believed more and more that Ms. Sonnenberg is not a nice human being. By about 2/3 of the way through the book, I decided that while her mother was indeed toxic, she herself was much worse, as she went on and on about how awful "mummy" is, while at the same time using people, lying and cheating in the exact same self-absorbed way. I found myself laughing towards the end as I was starting to hope the author would be the "death" mentioned in the title.
   
   Strangely, as the book goes on, she doesn't even elaborate on her mother's antics, but basically uses the structure of "I was wary of meeting with my mother, and I warned my latest boyfriend about her, and then my mother said something very sexually inappropriate to my boyfriend!! Can you believe it, reader??!" Well, yes I can, as she's been doing that through the whole book, and in fact am getting quite bored with the broken record. I also found it a very annoying tic of the author to use the "I've changed all names" approach, but then drop lots of teasing hints as to who the so-called famous people in the book are. She's not shy about bragging that she lived next door to Bob Dylan and Henry Fonda, but then drops all sorts of details about "The Famous Lyricist" who her mother had a fling with. I guess she doesn't want to get sued for an inaccurate portrayal (if not an outright lie).
   
   I also don't understand why many people seem to think this is well written. The sentences are often jagged and can read like a telegram. The flow of the words was a bit limp as well. Everyone was written about so shabbily and dismissively, that at times I was left trying to remember whether "Penelope" or "Daphne" was the mother or daughter. Additionally, her many boyfriends just drop in and out, with very little exposition or closure. Does she like any of these men for other than superficial reasons (i.e. they're good in bed)? Luckily, I got my copy out of the library, so at least I'm not out $20 for this.
   
   On a somewhat more positive note, I will say that the book was interesting, in that I think it's the first time that I've read a book where the characters that I initially viewed as tormentor/victim were completely reversed by the end. It's not exactly the most wonderful kind of "interesting", but it is the only positive thing I can say about the book as a whole.



2. This is a great book and I did not want to put it down. The details that she remembers in this book are amazing. It tore at my heart strings as a mother. Highly recommend this book to any mother, or anyone with addiction in their family.



3. Pffft! How does this get to be published? Try Walls's Glass Castle or Taylor's Rules for Saying Goodbye for a MUCH better young woman's memoir.



4. excellent book, keeps you wanting to stay up all night long just to finish it.



5. Reading this book, the story of Susanna's upbringing and early years of marriage and motherhood, was like reading someone's diary. Her Last Death is the intimate purging of an extraordinary life with Mummy--perhaps one of the most unfit and reckless characters ever to raise children. What's remarkable is that Susanna not only lived to tell the tale, but also ultimately seems to have turned out to be quite "normal." She has certainly realized her potential as an educated and talented writer.
   
   It's the good writing that got me through this quick read. It certainly wasn't the subject matter. I kept asking myself, uh--WHY am I reading this? It had a definite Mommie Dearest revenge factor thing going for it, but the author's love for her mother came through as well, as she struggled to find herself while standing in an overwhelming shadow. I think it made me appreciate my own childhood, and marvel at the power we have over our children in mapping out the world for them.
   
   The mother she names "Daphne," (the author makes it clear in the front notes that all names but her own have been changed), is in a word, outrageous. Living a sexy, single-girl life with two baby girls in tow, she consistently puts herself, along with her drug and sex addictions, ahead of the responsibilities of motherhood. From a daughter's eyes, the reader senses Susanna's conflict of love and betrayal as she bestows the horrendous details of her childhood. Namely, her mother's constant offerings of cocaine and alcohol to the adolescent Susanna, parading an endless line of lovers through their apartments and hotel rooms, her need to seduce each and every one of Susanna's friends (particularly the boyfriends), and explaining orgasm and introducing birth control when her daughter was hardly beyond puberty. It made me feel both sick and very sad.
   
   Susanna divulges several of her own poor choices on the way to her life, as well as her initial struggles with motherhood. She may not be the most likable character walking the roads of Montana; however, due to the way she was raised, she has evoked this reader's sympathy. Overall, I found this to be an interesting and unique memoir and would enjoy reading future work by Susanna Sonnenberg.
   
   From the author of The Things I Wish I'd Said.

5 comments about Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father.

1. A well writen biography of one of the 19th. Centuries least famous literary families...The Alcotts father Bronson, mother Abba and daughters Elizabeth "Lizzy", Lousia May, Anna and May...This is a book without training wheels Professor Matterson leaves it to the reader to be familuar with Transdentialism, Godwinism, American Putitainism the lives of Hawthorne, Thoreau (Brothers), Enerson, the Lake District Poets, Wordsworth, Carisle etc. he doesn't take the time to inform the reader how they fit in to the Alcotts story...The heart of the book deals with the relationships bewteen Bronson Alcott and disgruntled Puritain turn Emerson transdentalist (Americas first hippie)and his cast of daughters who were as individual and different from each other as they could be...Louisa May the number two daughter is the focus of that relationship but her three sidters play strong supporting roles...If 19th. Century American Literature is of interest to you and you have done the prerequsites this will be an enjoyable read that will advance your knowledge of a most interesting if disfunctional family that played an inportant role in both literature and philosophy.



2. This is an engaging work of nonfiction. Matteson delivers a well written, fact driven, story about the interwoven lives of Bronson and Louisa May Alcott. Wonderfully rendered, it's never boring. Definitely worth a read if you're interested in 19th century women, writers, or history in general.



3. The author manages to do justice to both his subjects, Louisa May Alcott and her father. He also creates an excellent picture of the time and explains the transcendtalist movement. Besides L.M. Alcott and B. Alcott one learns a lot about Emerson, Thoreau, Elizabeth Peabody and other luminaries of the time. The book is fact driven, there are often long quotations from original material and it is very well written. A most enlightening book, bringing its subjects and their surroundings to life. I originally bought this book becasue of my interst in L.M. Alcott but by the end I found her father at least as interesting.
   I read this book like a thriller, finishing it in three days.



4. I agree with all the other reviewers, this is an outstanding biography. It is also something of a cautionary tale of the utopian urge that occasionally effects intellectuals. Never able to support his family, Bronson Alcott persisted in searching for a heaven on earth. His actions to actually create such a place are very sad.



5. 
   
   Thank you to Jim Matteson for reading every scrap the Alcotts left behind and digesting it into this wonderful dual biography.
   
   I was a young reader of Little Women (maybe 10 times) and the rest of the series. Later as an adult, I never quite put together the pieces the family. Now I know how the Alcotts fit in with Emerson and Thoreau, the role of Fruitlands in the life of the Alcotts and how it was the Amy came to marry Laurie.
   
   The above paragraph could sound flip without the understanding of how Louisa's fiction was a byproduct of both her father's idealism and his inability to support his family. Louisa would be his standard bearer, but she would at all costs, support the family.
   
   Bronson's philosophy of education was ahead of his time. While it can be debated whether his career ending publications served the cause, it is clear, it did not serve the family well. Followed by a second public humiliation in the touted but failed Fruitlands experiment, you can imagine the grief of a former idealist with a young family to feed.
   
   How many father's careers have been rescued by their children... and in the 19th century... any by their daughters? In the case of the Alcotts, it is more than a career redeemed, it is also values and virtues.
   
   Matteson gives a wonderfully readable dual biography. He sticks with his thesis. It's good that he resisted the temptation to delve into the other interesting personalities of the time. Just like when I first read Little Women, I didn't want this book to end.

5 comments about The Dance of the Dissident Daughter: A Woman's Journey from Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine (Plus).

1. Sue Monk Kidd has created a beautiful masterpiece in Dance of the Dissident Daughter. Her personal and touching story of a woman who became slowly disillusioned with the male patriarchal church which surrounded her, and her own feelings of guilt and pain through her journey is intensely touching. So many novels treat these journeys as solitary paths that we can tread at our own pace, but Sue's real life story encompasses the realities of her husband, her children, and her extended family - and their reactions to her rejection of the tradition patriarchy that held sway over her. Her journey is an inspiration to us all, and should be read by men and women alike (men can and are oppressed by the patriarchy of the church, too!).



2. Finally, a book about the female goddess written by a woman with great knowledge and wisdom AND amazing research. The research allows us to believe that we are NOT being duped by a woman...like we've been duped by all the men.
   
   This is an excellent book with such profound insight into a woman's soul. Every woman should read this. Sue should write another book filled with even more research!!!



3. Sue Monk Kidd expertly and openly shares her most intimate experience in finding the Divine in this well written and referenced personal account.



4. Sue Monk Kidd's journey resonates for me as I have long struggled with the way we tend to ignore or excuse the masculine priority that surrounds women's lives. Ms. Monk explores and ennunciates the "stacked deck" of everything from language and religion to the ingrained assumptions of women's secondary status in the world. True the balance has shifted somewhat, but as long as there are places where men have a "right" to beat their wives, where it is against the law for women to be educated, where it's a BIG DEAL to have a woman run for president, where we criticize a woman for being today's connotation of the word FEMINIST for speaking simple truths; we have a problem. Not one to be trivialized or ignored. Can you imagine the hue and cry that would erupt were we to refer to all humanity as "whitekind"? Ms. Monk is shining a light on the endemic prejudice women live with every day of their lives by sharing her journey, her questions, her fears, and confusion with us. I am grateful to her. I don't feel so alone.



5. Sue Monk Kidd captures the reader with her openness about how she became a feminist, almost by accident. This is a very personal account describing her experience of moving from accepted Christianity to feminism. I found the story fascinating and finished it in only 3 days. For the most part, the author simply told her story and how she interpreted the events she faced along the way. However, at various places in the book she began to generalize her experiences to all women, which made me agree with the reviewer who said her journey is not my journey.
   
   What I found a bit disconcerting is that the author states that she made a living as a writer for Christian and inspirational magazines and yet on page 83 says that she suddenly realized that the Bible focuses primarily on masculine rather than feminine attributes of God. Actually, the primary message throughout the Bible is that the God who created the universe wants to have a personal relationship with his creatures, both female and male, and how that is achieved. Even the author would classify relationships as a domain which is more in the feminine rather than mascuine realm. Likewise, the majority of the 10 Commandments deal with relationships and in Matthew 22:36-39 Jesus said the 2 most important commands were loving God and loving your neighbor. I don't see how anyone can miss these more feminine qualities of God.
   
   Maybe the fact that America is a much more egalitarian society than when the book was written in 1996, and maybe some of the recent books that I've read, like The Female Brain, which highlights some of the hormonal and internal changes that women undergo explain why I disagree with the author and don't view the elements of patriarchy in society as something that needs to be attacked. Also, Kidd identifies many identity issues as struggles for girls and women, which I believe are universal struggles regardless of one's gender.
   
   However, even with these complaints I believe the book is important to read if one wants to understand and interact knowledgably with a feminist.

5 comments about The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club: True Tales from a Magnificent and Clumsy Life.

1. If you enjoy below average 4th grade level reading, this book is for you. Does this woman really have a column in a Phoenix newspaper?? I'm dumbfounded. I guess some people are easily amused because this book is embarrassing unfunny. I'm convinced she made up all of these stories and I'm left to wonder, if she went to the trouble to invent this "wild child" persona for herself, couldn't she come up with some funnier fiction? The only thing I can figure is that she has no talent as a writer and caught some incredible lucky break somewhere along the way.
   
   I don't know which is more pathetic, these stories being made up, or these stories being true. One thing is for certain, she somehow thinks it is an achievement to be a crass obnoxious ignoramus that takes an almost evil pleasure at hurting the feelings of strangers.
   
   Why she feels the need to impress upon her readers how blatantly in-your-face hip she is and why I am supposed to care, I have no idea. Why did I read it? My girlfriend left it lying by the toilet. We're still arguing over who hates it more. It's so bad we don't want to pack it for our trip home but we have to because it belongs to the library :(



2. As the author of Road Trips, Broken Hearts & Other Debris of Growing Up, I am always on the lookout for women who write books I cannot read on airplanes because I am laughing too hard and too uncontrollably. All Notaro's books are like this, and much like with Dennis Hensley's Screening PartyI wanted to immediately become friends with all the characters. As a veteran of many rough nights and bad decisions, this book is a must read!



3. Laurie Notaro is the Queen of Toilet Humor. She makes "doody" fun! In The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club, the chapters entitled "Suckers" and "The Useless black Bra and the Stinkin' Drunk Twelve-Step Program" make me laugh out loud every time I read them. As soon as I read this book, I recognized Laurie Notaro as a kindred spirit and I wanted to be her friend.



4. This author tries WAY TO HARD to be funny! I did not laugh out loud once. I guess I was too busy rolling my eyes! Not impressed.



5. Laurie Notaro has become my favorite author. She talks about her life with such honesty and humor. Sometimes you laugh and sometimes you shake your head thinking "been there, done that". I would love to have coffee with her sometime and just chat!! A must read.

5 comments about Confessions of a Video Vixen.

1. I will admit that when I first read the book, I was in tears when Karrine talked about the abuse she suffered from her mother (shame on her mom for not believing her when she was raped, etc.). And I'm sure that her life experience should be a wake-up call to all of us, especially in the Black community, about the negative portrayals of Black men and women in hip-hop and the devastating results of the lifestyle led by the author.
   
   However, in light of recent interviews on radio and in print, it is very difficult for me to believe that she is a better person than the one she describes in her book. The only difference I see is that she is determined to make a more regular profit from her sexual exploits. She continues to have affairs with high-profile men (including Bill Maher and Darius McCrary), doesn't believe in traditional marriage (she had a 'committment ceremony' recently with Darius), and glorifies her sexual abilities on some of her radio interviews (ex. the Jamie Foxx radio show) How is this a good example for young girls? How can this possibly inspire them to do better?
   
   Are the men she slept with to be held accountable for their shabby behavior? ABSOLUTELY! For most of the men mentioned in her book, Karrine was certainly not the first woman they slept with, so they are no saints. I feel terrible for every decent, kind, loving, self-respecting African-American man (my wonderful husband included) who is misrepresented every day by these hip-hop pimps (what else can they be called?). They make it ten times harder for other black men to get respect in this country.
   
   But I also worry about what this book (and others like it) says about us as black women. Will this add to the stereotype of black women being money-hungry, sex-crazed savages and irresponsible baby mamas? I hope not! We have it hard enough already.



2. I feel sorry for Karrine Steffans, but she CANNOT write! Her editor sucks! She should have had someone else edit her work because neither she nor her editor can proofread. She brags about being a novelist without going to college...that's BS. She clearly should have gone to college or taken some type of writing class, but since she didn't her book turned out like this. I felt like she kept saying the same thing over and over again...and I couldn't even finish the book. I was so bored with the content and the way in which it was delivered. This girl needs help...I do feel bad regarding the horrible things that have happened to her. However, she needs to get a life and this type of nonsense is not the way to go...I'm sure the second book was just as useless as this one...Let's get it together people!



3. This book was full of gossip, she ratted out almost everybody in hollywood that she had been intimate with! She is a prositute and proud of it, if you like hearing about who she has been with sexually, this is the book for you, I didn't learn nothing that I didn't already no, I would'nt get her newest book!



4. Karrine Steffans is a highly unlikable character, which is kind of hard to imagine since I usually feel a lot of empathy towards people who have been reportedly abused and also raped. Not one word from her ilicited anything but disgust from me. Yes, this is an entertaining read, but this book did not make me care about her. She says she wrote this book as a cautionary tale, but when asked, in an interview, would she have lived her life diferently if she got a second chance, she said that she would not, that she would have chosen the same path. I would not suggest this book unless you just really need to know about what some of the celebrities are like behind closed doors



5. I thought that her back story was interesting. But I also think this really became a tabloid story because she never called out a lot of celebs.
   
   She exposed a lot of people for the dirt they did. And while if you're doing wrong in the dark, things eventually come to light, the way she did it wasn't impressive. I did like how she didn't tell on that one specific person, although that got out anyway. But I couldn't blame all the people she mentioned if they didn't have anything to do with her ever again.
   
   The book wouldn't have been interesting at all without the name celebrities she mentioned, though, so that's why they are included.

5 comments about The Diana Chronicles.

1. This is a well written and compulsively readable book, which captures the essence of Diana better than any other biography I've read - and I've read many. Most books about Diana seem fall into one of two camps: either they are overly gushing and sympathetic (eg Andrew Morton, Paul Burrell) or they are critical in the extreme (eg Lady Colin Campbell, Patrick Jephson). Tina Brown is neither. She calls Diana out on her untruths (it's highly unlikely that Diana deliberately threw herself down the stairs) but also points out where her paranoia was justified (yes, the Squidgeygate tapes were deliberately released).
   
   There's not a lot of new material here (what was there left to find out?), but it's a very comprehensive look at Diana's life that pulls together all the various things that are known about her in such a way that you feel that you are viewing the truest and most complete picture yet. It also gave me a strong sense of what life behind the Palace walls is actually like and why Diana felt so isolated and uncomfortable there.
   
   Tina Brown is particularly good at getting inside Charles and Diana's heads: explaining Charles's misgivings at the time of the engagement or Diana's thoughts when she agreed to the divorce. At one point she refers to Diana being a tactician rather than a strategist (always going for the short term win rather than thinking of the long game), which I thought was a very astute observation. She discusses the Charles/Diana/Camilla triangle at great length, and ultimately concludes that quite possibly the marriage could have worked had Camilla not been ever-present (Camilla doesn't come across very well at all).
   
   This is a long book which starts a little slowly, but from the time that Diana meets Charles it races along. It's entertaining, it's insightful and it leaves you wistful for what could have been.



2. This book contains everything, but everything, that you've always wanted to know about Charles and Diana but couldn't be bothered to read at the time. Tina Brown has laid out the whole sad story in all its lurid detail - and what a great read it makes.



3. This book is written from the hand of someone who not only knew Diana, but also knew her world. Tina Brown gives the reader a thorough insight into the life of Diana as a young girl and the strange, inverted life of a young woman born to priviledge working as a cleaning woman and nanny. Such was the life Diana lived as a young woman. This book is not gossipy or coy, but seems truthful, factual and very straight forward.
   If you are a Diana fan, and were held spellbound by the courtship, marriage, and celebrity of the most famous woman in the world - and don't be ashamed if you are - this book is a must read. I give it five stars for the very good writing mechanics, for the thououghness of Ms Brown's research, and the empathy she has for her subject.



4. I hesitated to read this book. Even once I bought it, I put if off for months. I mean, I love Diana SO MUCH it kind of hurts to read about her. Let her rest in peace. And besides, what could this book possibly have to tell me about my beloved heroine that I didn't already know??? But once I opened the cover, I couldn't put it down. I was completely sucked into and enveloped by Diana's luxurious, heart-wrenching, rule-breaking world of love and tragedy. I didn't want the book to end. I really, truly didn't think it was possible, but when I finished the book, I loved and admired this golden Princess EVEN MORE. The book was filled with new insights, info and titbits that every other book and magazine article is lacking. Tina Brown has filled in the missing pieces of Diana's tangled, bittersweet story and made sense of it all - and most of all, she gave us a better grasp of Diana's radiant humanity that has always lurked beneath the royal façade. A must read.



5. I READ THIS BOOK BECAUSE I HAVE BEEN RECENTLY READING OTHER BOOKS ABOUT THE ROYAL FAMILY AS PART OF MY SUMMER FARE AND CHOSE THIS ONE FOR DELVING INTO CHARLES AND DIANA.
   MS BROWN DOES A GOOD JOB OF DESCRIBING WHAT A PITIFUL, PITIFUL PERSON DIANA WAS--- SOMEONE WHO LED A WRETCHED LIFE, FROM CRADLE TO GRAVE.
   "GENTLEMAN CHARLES'" TREATMENT OF HIS WIFE WAS DEPLORABLE.
   MY YARD MAN TREATS HIS WIFE WITH MORE KINDNESS, DECENCY AND RESPECT THAN CHARLES EVER SEEMS TO HAVE TREATED DIANA.
   IT IS PRETTY CLEAR THAT NONE OF THE ROYAL FAMILY ARE VERY NICE PEOPLE. THEY ARE, MERELY, RICH AND FAMOUS PEOPLE---NOT UNLIKE MADONNA OR MICK JAGGER. THEY JUST HAVE A DIFFERENT FACADE.

5 comments about Summer at Tiffany.

1. This books reads like a novel. You have to remind yourself that the story is true. The Big City adventures of these two friends are quite exciting. It left me wanting to run off somewhere and be as bold as them!



2. I read this book in just a few hours and loved it..
   
   I was born in 1945. My mother had gone to live in Baltimore to work in 1943 at the same age Marjorie was when she went to Manhatten. Although Baltimore is a much smaller city, I can only imagine the parallels that must have existed. It truly was an innocent time and one I somehow feel cheated in missing. Despite the war and all the problems it entailed for people both financially and emotionally, they somehow found a certain joy in living with a minimum of complaining. Certainly a lesson for the young people of today and many adults as well.
   
   I'm going to buy this book for my Mom as I know she'll enjoy it as much as I did.



3. I really thought this was a delightful and charming book! It's the true-story of two girls from Iowa, best-friends Marjorie and Marty, who take a summer to find jobs in New York. It's mid 1940's (already a plus for me as it's one of my favorite eras for stories) and the war is coming to a close, so in addition to the story itself being simply lovely, there's a fair amount of historical information as well. Marjorie and Marty are loveable characters and it's easy to see why the make such great friends. The antics and adventures that ensure, the relationships that build, and the events that take place are all entertaining and heartwarming. Highly recommended! A great summer read!



4. I enjoyed the time this book was set in. The budgeting the girls had to do and the amazing experinces that they had was the stuff of dreams. I wish I had had a summer that memorable



5. The summer of '45 was full of discoveries for the author: New York City, the elegance of Tiffany's, the euphoric end to WWII, happenings with friends, and meeting a beau. Well-written picture of the times. A really fun read - highly recommended.

5 comments about When Men Become Gods: Mormon Polygamist Warren Jeffs, His Cult of Fear, and the Women Who Fought Back.

1. The book, while advertised as being about "Propjet" Warren Jeffs, is primarily a history of the FLDS in Short Creek (Colorado City) AZ and its companion town of Hilldale, UT. While it is not of teh caliber of John Krakauer's UNDER THE BANNER OF HEAVEN, it picks up where Krakauer's book left off and as such is of great value.
   
   The lack of an index and of supporting data makes it less valuable than it otherwise could be. Certainly the book is journalistic rather than academic, but I applaud singular's research and broad-minded point-of-view.



2. It is a very good book, gives a good overall insite to the entire FLDS religion,if you are unfamilar with the Mormanism, I would reccomend reading "Under the Banner of Heaven" first to give you a good understanding of the roots of the FLDS.



3. This numbers among most of the most shocking books I have ever read and I am 71 years old and have read a great deal. It numbers right up there with works about the Holocaust, Soviet communism, and other disgusting things that have taken place in this world. I appreciate Mr. Singular's expose of the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints Church and I would warn regular Mormons that you are going to be painted with this brush, so climb down from your prissy perch. This stuff is going on in the USA!! For God's sake, somebody do something!! For one thing, read this book. I have started reading it the second time and will likely read it several more times.



4. I've read quite a few books on Mormon fundamentalists but very little about Jeffs himself. This book is the first to explain his terrible effect on people just trying to do the right thing. Fascinating page-turner, very well written. AVOID the book by Carole Western called Inside the World of Warren Jeffs - there's about 3 pages about Jeffs and rest is somewhat dull stories of LDEF members - a really terrible read.



5. This book is an indepth look at the creation of the Fundementalist Church of the Latter Day Saints, the offshoot of traditional Mormonism that has its roots on the border of Arizona and Utah. This group has recently been in the news because after their move to Texas, the authorities there swept in and took away over 400 children in order to investigate charges of forced marriages by underage girls. While the case there has fizzled out, perhaps it wouldn't have if the entire country read this book. The FLDS embraced polygamy and left the LDS church when it abandoned it in return for Utah achieving statehood in the late 1890s. The people of Colorado City Arizona and Hildale Utah are deeply under the spell of their leader Warren Jeffs. Jeffs, who took command of the group after the death of his father, put the entire community under his spell and after reading and studying Hitler and Napoleon, began breaking up families and using his power to reward those most faithful to him. All of the property in the entire community was turned over to him, and the group "bled the beast" by taking hundreds of millions of dollars in state welfare aid each year. Women who fled the cult started exposing the dirty secrets of Jeffs: his 180 wives, girls married at the age of 14, schools closed down, young men kicked out of town so they wouldn't compete with the older men for wives. The sins of Jeffs are many, and Singular does a terrific job of enumerating them. He lays out the case that put Jeffs on the FBIs most wanted list and eventually brought about his capture. Jeffs was found guilty of abetting a rape in late 2007, and charges against him are still pending. Singular offers up some hope for the communities he writes about, but I wish that he had been able to give more information about the YFZ (Yearning for Zion) Ranch in Texas where many of the staunchest holdouts have taken refuge. For more information about this read Carolyn Jessop's fantastic memoir, Escape, and watch Laurie Allen's DVD Banking on Heaven. Taken all three together, they are excellent exposes of this cult-like group. I give this book 5 stars.