1 comments about Love's Resurrection: A Spiritual Journey through Marriage, Divorce, and Remarrying the Same Man.

1. Kristin,
   
   Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for being obedient to God and for being courageous and selfless enough to share your story and testimony with the world. "Love's Resurrection" is a powerful and insightful story of love, loss, forgiveness, renewal and acceptance. This is a story that needed to be shared and is bound to help and heal those of us who struggle with the same internal issues.

3 comments about Best of Covered Wagon Women.

1. The diaries and letters of women who traveled to the west during the 19th century 'go west' push offer eight primary source accounts, these selected for their powerful visions of family, friendships, and experience. Women's studies collections as well as those strong in general historical review will relish a gathering of letters and diaries from those who experienced the movement, with historical notes by Kenneth L. Holmes furthering the experience, adding invaluable background information.



2. This richly-detailed anthology is derived from the original eleven volume series published in 1983 by Arthur H. Clark. The original volumes were compiled by the late Professor Kenneth Holmes of Western Oregon University. This anthology of eight unedited firsthand accounts was selected by Professor Michael Tate of the University of Nebraska.
   
   The diarists are pioneer women traveling with their husbands from Indiana, Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, and Missouri, bound for Washington, Oregon, California and Colorado. It took about five months to get across the country between 1848 and 1862 using northern routes with oxen pulling a covered wagon.
   
   Why did they go? They went to pan for gold, for richer farmland, to expand their mercantile, and to join family in the West, among other reasons.
   
   Amelia Hadley made it from Illinois to Oregon in only four months because her party used horses. She writes that the "Soo" Indians passed her on horseback pointing their long spears ahead, saying "me for Pawnee." She speaks of the Indians as being "filthy" horse thieves, but doesn't seem to fear much for her own safety. She chronicles the fact that pioneers didn't rest in peace when she says "the wolves made a den down in his grave. They dig up everyone that is buried on the plains as soon as they are left."
   
   Margaret Frink traveled from Indiana to California, and whose husband published her memoir posthumously in 1897. Margaret is known for her accounts of how scurvy was circumvented on the Trail. Her account taught me that many pioneers started out in very small groups and were overwhelmed at Trail forks when they witnessed "all manner of vehicles and conveyances...I thought that if one-tenth of these teams got ahead of us, there would be nothing left for us in California worth picking up."
   
   Some things never change, as when Ellen Tootle's husband decides that Mrs. Tootle "cannot do anything but talk" on their way from Nebraska to Colorado. "He decided to make it [the coffee] himself, but came to ask me how much coffee to take...I told him the quantity of coffee to 1 qt [of water]. He took that, filled the coffee pot with water, then set it near, but not on the fire. I noticed it did not boil, but said nothing...I inquired how the coffee tasted. He acknowledged that it was flat and weak, but insisted I did not give him proper directions and consented to let me try it at supper time."
   
   The book includes a map of the U.S. west of the Mississippi with the states, cities, Trails, Rivers, Forts, and Lakes along the way. This map is immensely helpful and would be even more helpful if it included a few more states to the east. The map includes a southerly Trail, but no diarist in this book went that way. This was a disappointment as I was quite eager to learn how a woman made her way from my home state of Texas to San Diego, California.
   
   by Stephanie Barko
   for Story Circle Book Reviews
   reviewing books by, for, and about women



3. Its interesting to learn how the women of this time period felt, thought, dreamed. They had months of prep work to prepare for the trips across the US to Oregon and California. What we take for granted, they had to make from scratch. Often they never saw their families again, once they left in their covered wagons. Can you imagine preparing for a trip that had few places to stop for food or bedding along the way? These women were tough, often working along side their husbands in physical tasks. Often they buried loved ones along the way - children would get sick, husbands would come down with cholera. How did they make it?

5 comments about Jackie Ethel Joan : Women of Camelot.

1. I found this to be a very intrigueing read, but the reader should have a working knowledge of the history, events and relationships that shaped the Kennedy dynasty because they are not going to be detailed in this book. In fact, some will be glossed over or entirely omitted. What you will read about is the experiences of those intimately involved in the events and tragedies: their personal thoughts, conversations and feelings, wrapped up in fierce political ambition and family loyalty.
   Even though I'm sure the conversations and personal information, albeit based on substantial research, has been "developed", anyone who has experienced a family death or misfortune will easily relate to the Kennedys' amazing ordeals, struggles and fortitude.
   I thoroughly enjoyed it.



2. Heard the cassette version of JACKIE, ETHEL, JOAN: WOMEN OF
   CAMELOT by. J. Randy Taraborrelli and enjoyed it--in a guilty pleasure
   sort of way.
   
   It is a tell-it-all about the three Kenney wives and listening to it
   helped me relive some days of my younger days when John, Robert
   and Ted Kenney were alive and running for various political offices.
   
   For some reason, I never followed too closely the dirt behind
   their respective careers . . . yet this book more than made up for
   anything I may have missed.
   
   If everything in it is to be believed, I now know that Joe Kennedy
   offered Jackie $1 million not to divorce JFK and Jackie allegedly
   replied, "The price goes to $20 million if Jack brings home any
   venereal diseases." . . . also, that Bobby had an affair with
   actress Lee Remick who actually called Ethel to tell her that they
   were sleeping together--only to be told by Ethel that he was
   home in bed (when he was actually with Remick) . . . and that
   Ted once showed up for drunk with a prostitute for dinner with
   the king and queen of Belgium, whose priceless antique coach
   Ted's date ruined by wetting it.
   
   Overall, the book left me feeling sorry for the Kennedy women . . . although
   they appeared so glorious from afar, how they were forced to live
   their lives because of the constant spotlight made life anything
   but easy for them.



3. I really enjoyed reading this book because I am fascinated by that time in our history and with Jackie Kennedy. I found this book to have an interesting point-of-view on all three Kennedy women. Ethel seemed to be easily envious or jealous but loyal and loving of her family. Jackie seemed to be snobby with a mind of her own, but again a deep loyalty for her family especially her immediate family. Joan seemed to be sad and a 'door mat' until she grew much older. She seemed to put up with the most crap and lost the most in return. I have no idea if any of what I read was accurate or not, but I liked reading it regardless. It was fun and fast in a very tabloid sort of way. If you're interested in the Kennedy women, then you'll probably like this book. The movie that was made based on this book is also pretty good, but naturally the book is by far better with more details.



4. This book is well worth reading more than once! It has so much information that I could hardly put it down!! You feel so very bad for Joan and what Teddy did to her. He was a very poor specimen for a husband and it is amazing she has managed to hold onto life. I don't know what the quality of it is now, but what she endured was truly unfair. My heart really goes out to her and now that Jackie is gone I can't imagine how she is doing.



5. I Loved reading this book!! I recently saw the TV movie version, so I decided to read the book. I was SO impressed! I was 10 years old when Pres Kennedy was killed, so of curse I'm familiar with Camelot and all that goes along with it. Now that I'm in my 50's I thought I'd look for a book written in recent years about the Kennedy wives. I'm so glad I found this one! What these 4 women had to endure, Especially Joan, being married to a Kennedy is incredible! The last 66 pages! are devoted to "Acknowledgments and Source Notes", which I didn't read thoroughly, but now know this isn't just another made up Kennedy story, but Facts!

4 comments about A Girl's Life Online.

1. The story, at times, drags on but you want to keep reading it just incase something happens. Its a book yous should read if you have alot of time on your hands.



2. I loved this book and think that every parent, preteen and teenage person online should read it. It was well written and gives you insight into what she was thinking and feeling in her world around her. Highly recommended and well written.



3. I do not recomend this book to a preteen. There are parts in this book that are explicit ie: talking about oral sex (but not using the term oral sex!) along with other things that a preteen doesn't need to be subjected too at such a young age. The less prude person may say parts of this book boarder on soft porn. If you want to read about a girl getting mixed up with a 41 year old man, than read this book. I hope that this book does not end up in libraries at our schools.



4. I read the earlier version of this book, "Katie.com." The book starts off slowly and I was getting bored with it for a while. I just couldn't relate to this teenage girl from an upper middle class family. In my opinion, she was too obsessed with designer clothes and with her swimming team. The book eventually gained my interest when she started talking to a guy that she met online who was going by the name of Mark. Their relationship and the legal case that followed are the only things that piqued my interest. I'm glad that I read the entire story, but I'm very glad that I spent so little to buy it. This book is well worth the few bucks that I payed for it. I found it to be very mild. I do recommend it--even for other teens.

5 comments about Dark at the Roots: A Memoir.

1. To call this book horrible would be like referring to the surface of the sun as "a little warm." What a disappointment! I love "Strangers With Candy", worship both Amy and David Sedaris, and consider Andy Richter hilarious. By all accounts, this book should have rocked my world. The only reason to crack the cover is the flattering photo of the author,(for those of you who watched, she was the scary ugly gym teacher in "Strangers"). The writing falls flat and you feel no sympathy for ANY of the characters. Every member of her family is truly horrible, including her mother, who Thyre tries to portray as a modern-day saint, but comes off as a complete whack job who shouldn't take care of houseplants, let alone children. The description of the book includes the word "hilarious." Don't be fooled. At no point in this ill-conceived jumble of words does anything triggering laughter occur. In fact, I might go as far as to say this book may be laughter's very antithesis. Sarah Thyre comes across as a self-absorbed, whining brat with delusions of grandeur. Everything about this "memoir" is unpleasant. After finishing, I literally felt grimy, as if I'd walked through a swamp. For those of you expecting some sort closure at the end, be prepared. The book just ends. I actually threw my copy away; in good conscience, it would have been wrong to pass it on to other people. They could spend time reading a good book instead of this dreck.



2. I loved this book. Sarah is absolutely hysterical. I found myself laughing out loud in bed reading it at night. My only problem is that she hasn't written anything else. Please, Please, write something else, and hurry.



3. Sarah Thyre is a BAD girl and she's written one of the most twisted memoirs to prove it. "Dark at the Roots" is shameless (in a really funny way), and one of my favorite chapters has to be "Smell It Like It Is." In it, Sarah explores her fascination with her father's collection of "Playboy" and "Penthouse" magazines.
   
   If I had known Sarah in elementary school, I'm certain she would have gotten me into a whole lot of trouble and I would have loved every minute of it!



4. ....but it's just not that funny.
   Great title, great book cover, but stale as a 2 week old loaf of Wonderbread.
   Save yourself the money and effort....buy anything by David Sedaris instead.



5. I was captivated with this book from the first page. Sarah reminds me so much of myself, it is scary. We are about the same age, and grew up in the South in lower middle class families. I also wanted another name (Lisa or Sandy), was fascinated with pornography and Nazis (played death camp with my Barbies in the back yard with a hole as the "pit" and a Jane West doll as the evil guard). Always trying to get clothes to fit in with the "in" crowd and not quite succeding, worked in jobs with strange customers and employees, etc. I can see where some people would not "get" or enjoy this book, maybe men or folks from prividedged backgrounds, but I LOVED it!!! It is spot on.

5 comments about All the Fishes Come Home to Roost: An American Misfit in India.

1. I heard about this book from a friend and read it out of curiosity. Brown really has a way with words and a gift for evocative description. However, from the very first, I was struck by her deep-seated resentment and bitterness, and the impression that as a child she wasn't much fun to be around. Although Brown tries to be funny, I find it hard to forget that she is vilifying real flesh-and-blood human beings, not her own imaginary characters. True, she changes their names, but I doubt this makes them hard to recognize by the people who know (or knew) them.
   
   This is not a story, but a series of episodes that are linked together by Brown's need to condemn her parents for taking her to India to live in an ashram with a collection of oddball spiritual seekers. When it comes to plot in the Aristotelian sense, there is no "there" there.
   
   In this work, Brown is critical and derisive towards everyone, while portraying herself as a special, heroic, and misunderstood victim. Reading between the lines, she needs to rationalize her own bratty and hostile behavior towards everyone around her except, I think, one kid named Walter. I can understand a child being self-centered, and utterly devoid of compassion or tolerance, but it's hard to understand these traits in an adult looking back on her life.
   
   Given what's happening in today's world, I was especially disappointed by Brown's gross insensitivity to the principles of religious tolerance. I'm not a religious person myself, but I respect the beliefs of others, and especially their Constitutional right to religious freedom in America. There may be abusive nuns and priests, but that doesn't give anyone the right to abuse a religion that encompasses millions of sincere Catholics. It's just plain wrong to make fun of people -- even those who follow the teachings of an obscure Indian guru -- based on their religious or spiritual convictions.
   
   In addition, I was quite disturbed by Brown's veiled implication that one of Meher Baba's disciples touched her with sexual intentions. If the disciple touched Mani inappropriately, then this is a very serious charge that should be addressed by her parents and the entire Meher Baba community. If he didn't touch her inappropriately, then it's very wrong of Brown to make this implication. Brown is honest to the point of cruelty throughout the book, so why the sudden coy ambiguity surrounding such a serious issue?
   
   This book was not a page-turner for me, but I kept hoping for the kind of insight that often arrives to people who make an inquiry into their own lives and behavior through the medium of writing. I'm very sorry for the suffering that Brown went through as a child and hope that writing and publishing this book was a way for her to find personal healing. It's just too bad she had to hurt so many other people in the process. In some cases this was revenge, but in other cases she was exposing innocent people who never meant her any harm to contempt and ridicule.



2. I hate to disagree with my Fellow Readers, but I found this to be an insufferable diatribe about how intelligent the author is. Yes, we know she was an early reader. Yes, we know she had a terrific vocabulary by the age of 7. I was so tired of hearing how bright this child was that I found it hard to finish the book. As an American Educator, I found her mother's quote insulting as well; "American schools don't know how to deal with kids as bright as you are." Give me a break; we are trained to enrich as we are trained to remediate~her experience shouldn't be fodder for such an unfair generalization. Maybe she should have elected to edit her mother's comment or leave it out altogether. At any rate, I have better things to do with my summer vacation than finish this essay. I did enjoy some of the snippets into Indian and ashram life so if you can get by this author's attempt to hit you over the head with her brilliance, it may be worth your while.



3. Rachel Manija Brown, All the Fishes Come Home to Roost: An American Misfit in India (Rodale, 2005)
   
   I'm not a big fan of memoirs, but I have to admit, once this one gets rolling, it's a great deal of fun. Brown, who grew up on a backwater ashram in India among what Nicholas Basbanes has called (referring to book collectors) the gently mad, writes of her formative years with an incisive wit and a truly twisted sense of humor. Any book that makes one chuckle and cringe simultaneously is doing something right. This book does it all too often.
   
   More than anything, I find it unfortunate that I found nothing here hard to swallow. Religious wingnuts worshipping a dead guy in a diaper? Check. Pervasive physical and emotional abuse at a Catholic school? Check. Rampant prejudice? Check. Crazy drivers? Check. (Though it is tough to believe that there are worse drivers than those in and around Boston.) Adults who treat kids like they're idiots? I remember that one all too well. Brown reminds me of me as a kid, in many ways. Early and voracious reader, picked on a lot, much preferred being alone to the company of others. My parents were less crazy, but it's not too hard to extrapolate.
   
   Because of this, and because of some of the less glowing reviews of the book I've seen, I wonder if there isn't more of a vertical market for this book than one might expect in our current memoir-crazy society. If you, too, are that kid, then I can't recommend this book highly enough. If you were the person who picked on that kid... eh, maybe not for you. *** ½



4. As I read Rachel Brown's book it reminded me of how we took apart novels in college. If this had been discussed we would discuss how her abused mother felt drawn to, felt the need for a father figure. Is it remarkable Baba becomes her God? (A name meaning father in various languages). The mother drives away husband and daughter searching for the good father she didn't have. Religion then becomes the search for all of our inadequacies. Such high concepts in an autobiography make me feel all that discussion in school was not just BS. Overall great read, and great fun on any level.



5. I wish this author would write MY memoirs someday, because I really love her voice. The "plot" of her life is quirky, to be sure, but she tells it with such warmth and grace, I could not put this book down.

5 comments about The Life of an Ordinary Woman.

1. In an age when autobiographies are considered fascinating only if the writer survived abuse, rape, incest or murder, Ms. Ellis' account is refreshing because she survives life.



2. No matter what your own life experience has been you will find things in this great book that you identify with. This true life experience is from a woman who lived a heroic experience from penniless poverty to being elected to public office, rising above all her own expectations, A wonderful book full of comedy, tragedy, drama, supence, you won't be able to put this book down.



3. With ingenuous humility, Anne Ellis recounts the first phase of her difficult life as if it were a cakewalk. Several passages convey such emotional impact that I remember them months later. A great read for anyone wishing to understand how women really lived in mining towns of the American West around the turn of the century.



4. Ann Ellis is the real deal! She's raw American...living, working, loving, and raising children in the gruelingly hard world of the mining towns of the Rocky Mountains, years before the amenities that we American women take for granted today...things like running water, ample heating, and doctors always available for very sick children.But Ann is tough and savvy, witty, and has a great sense of fun, even in the toughest of times. Her life is richly-laden with deep emotion.Her descriptive style is pure and simple, but takes us right to her heart. She never complains...only explains.You read the book with a great sense of admiration for these strong women who raised strong families,loved their men, had dreams and joyful aspirations, even in times when they were struggling to find their way in this sometimes brutal world of their husbands' lust for gold and silver.This lady was a true pioneer in every sense of the word. Her story should be shared with anyone who finds strength in true accounts of brave American men and women.



5. There are some books about the women of the old west that are far more interesting. The one overwhelming impression I had from this book is how uncaring her family was and how she herself really was a very selfish woman, even wanting to go to a dance the night her child was deathly ill. I would recommend other books such as Doc Susie: The True Story of a Country Physician in the Colorado Rockies and also Tomboy Bride. Both of these books are about intellegent, caring individuals in the same parts of the country and in the same time.

1 comments about Embracing Ashley: One Mother's Reflections on Raising a Child With Special Needs.

1. The author tells the story of the journey her family has taken from the day her daughter was diagnosed with a very rare genetic disorder. She generously shares details about her daughter's condition and her frustrations and fears.
   
   While this book is written for parents, her words also send a very kind and strong message to those who work with children with special needs and their parents and families.
   
   In the end, though, this is a story who lovingly writes about embracing her daughter's gifts and the privilege of being Ashley's mother.

No comments about The Supremes: A Saga of Motown Dreams, Success, and Betrayal.

5 comments about Drugs Are Nice: A Post-Punk Memoir.

1. 1)At least Carver writes good sentences.
   
   2)Her choice of subjects, always so lame.
   
   These are two points that I raise when I think of Carver. Oh, and one more thing.
   
   3) Her old work "Dancing Queen" was rather forgettable.
   
   (I do not know why she wrote it except that she needed the money. As it turned out in this book "Drugs are Nice," she wrote "Dancing" for money.)
   
   I had to groan to read the same lame themes of hers resurface in this autobio. I felt like pointing them out and criticize what was wrong with her decisions in life, which would be same as to suggest any cleverer narrative/editorial decisions. I do not know if it is ethical to see people's lives that way and usually do not like to judge especially women by who they date and mate with. But I cannot help saying her choice of men so lame. Her letting the men dictate her life believing 'this is the shock art' even more lame. The real issue here is that she perpetuated all the problems in the name of her trying to be the borderline artisit, her life is the art performance itself. She seems actually a regular type and passes as quite fine in a psychiatric evaluation. The only pathology that I found was her bad taste in men, which obviously was rooted in her Electra complex. But it could be an incredible damage if she perpetuated it whether she thought of it as an experiment, or another element that made her look different. In the book, though, she absolutely failed the iconocalst persona and appeared more of a soccer mom to me, which was fine. But I could not help focusing on supposedly the minor pahology, that made her life sicker than necessary even if she wanted it that way. The question that I had initially was what really made her want it that way; can people afford to make ones' lives more difficult just for fun? Can an artist just live and call it her work? Is Brit S now a shock artist? When Carver had to flee, there was no art to sacrifice herself for and that was the occasion where she and we readers have to examine what it really means to create and live at the same time. Or how to draw a ilne between art and a phenomenon.
   
   I wonder if the author was lucid about her Electra complex and how much it dictated her life. She seems to be conscious of it but not enough to take control of her life. Why were her life events this lame and meaningless? Why did she always choose not only useless but harmful men? The book showed some reflection and insights about these agendas, but the real struggle was how much she could put the self knowledge into practice and would take advantage of it. To come to the point, She had to break up with an on again off again man who she had a child with, after getting beaten up badly and threw him into jail for it. It was disheartening. By this point, readers naturally question if Carver was playing with fire believing she was experimenting for art sake believing she took control over the relationship or she was really clueless when trying to protect herself from an abusive environment.
   
   Here it comes the subject of 'shock' in her life. I believe she got involved with all those useless men to schock people and most of all, to shock her own father. If I play some indie shrink here, I'd summarize that all she attempted was to outshock her father, who had fatally beaten her to it in the beginning of her life. She was compulsively compelled to get people's attention by something shocking. This just went back to her initial shock caused by her drug dealer father, who had murdered people and served in prison. By the time they finally reunited, she was already a teeneger. In her psyche, to get attention from and validated by this 'powerful figure' in her life, she had to compete and outshock him. It might be the only way for her to compensate what was eternally lost in her early life as well.
   
   All the attempt that followed was to shock and to be shocked. Getting involved with someone that would shock her more than her father ever did became her lifework. Her system was completely synthesized by this value of shock, which was defined by her father earlier. This value ultimately became something that represented power to her. She was, as she admitted herself, rather a mentally thorough, functioning and mediocre woman who was struggling to be different.
   
   But the irony was all she did was more of a bad taste, lame or boring than anything shocking. The only interesting thing that she managed to extract from the series of attemps was her sex appeal, as she was mindful about it, and writing. She writes well as she put as 'the only way to take control and put some order in caos': she focused on it as the only security she seemed to be able to count on. That is the essence of what this book was all about. If she reached this realization, all those she went through including getting beaten up by the man (Boyd? who is he?) who was not really worth would be worth... Well, would it? I do not know.
   
   This book came in handy as a source of US underground rock history as well to document how small the whole scene was and how late everything was compared to other parts of the world: what carver was at was a decade backward, or simply late.



2. Read it. Now. Really, stop reading this review and go read the book. Go! Go! Go!



3. I recommend this book to anyone with an open mind. I cant say its for everyone, but as a fan of Roller Derby (her zine) from my college days (I have been out of college for 12 years) and reading her articles in major magazines now and then, I love Lisa and her crew. its a good glimpse into the life of someone who has made her own niche in the world, who is talented and interesting. The title may be off putting for some, but I still recommend this read



4. Drugs are Nice is a dizzying and shocking autobiography that reads like a piece of fantasy. The life of Lisa Crystal Carver--once girlfriend of GG Allin, Jean-Louis Costes, and Boyd Rice and acquaintance of Anton Levy--seems unbelievable at times. However she is an inspiration for anyone who aspires to live their life on the edge of society.
   The gem of this autobiography is the way that the focus of Carver's life narrows from a dreamlike shock culture full of sex and violence in Europe--to the glistening reality of becoming a mother of a child with a chromosomal deletion and having a lover who beats her. Over time, Carver learns what it is like to grow up without ever loosing a sense of who she is. Her thoughts and theories throughout the novel are enlightening and the book needs to be read a second time in order to fully understand all of Carver's musings.
   The only problem with this book is that sometimes Carver doesn't explain exactly how she got to be wherever she is. This gives the book a dream-like quality. Her sudden journey to Europe at the age of nineteen, her days of prostitution, her success on stage--all seems too simple. This is because Carver spends much of the book reflecting on world culture in the early 90's, when she leads the post-punk movement of a generation that is now forgotten.
   This book is highly recommended for anyone who wishes to fight conformity, break the rules, and live their life the way THEY decide. Carver is an inspiration for artist and visionaries. Her story will move you. You will never look at art and words the same way again.



5. Lisa Carver's journey to self-discovery and realization isn't fueled by her daddy's money or a trust fund that supports a jet-set lifestyle. Carver writes from the perspective of a real person, a screwed-up person who became an influential voice in the alternative music and 'zine world of the early 1990's.
   
   Although it's only a small portion of the book, Carver writes eloquently about wanting to make sure that her own child gets what he needs so that he doesn't need to seek out the basics of love, nurturing and affection from strangers, as she once did. As Gen-Xers, we are a transitory generation, most of us children of divorce, latchkey kids and caretakers of our own parents, while we were still children ourselves, and Carver's voice is a strong one, telling her own personal story in a way that touched a nerve with me. There's an entire generation of screwed-up Gen Xe'rs having babies, and only time will tell if the parentless generation will do a better job of raising their own children.