1 comments about Jane Goodall: A Biography.

1. The book is not very in depth, but perfect for a young grade school child who needs someone amazing to report on. It might even inspire them to read up and research her even more to get a more detailed account of what she has done and is currently working on.

1 comments about Encore: A Journal of the Eightieth Year.

1. All right. I accept it. There is certainly something terribly wrong with me. First, I am of the opinion that the late, great May Sarton will stand as one of the most important authors of the journal genre in the 20th century. Second, her publisher W.W. Norton & Co. has a stunning record of supporting some of the grandest and most spectacular works of literature and poetry world-wide. Third, here we are in 2006, and May wrote this truly one-of-her-best journals in 1993 and the book is in need of a review. Well, that's okay. Thank you Amazon.com for giving me this opportunity and I highly recommend ALL of May Sarton's journals at the very least. Then, I would recommend ALL of her novels as well. She is very much missed by so many....

5 comments about Miss American Pie: A Diary of Love, Secrets and Growing Up in the 1970s.

1. This was a good book. It is an actual journal of the author written in the seventies. I graduated from high school and college in the seventies so I could relate to many of the references made in the journal. I think today's girls could also relate, though, because the themes in the journals are the same struggles that today's teens go through.
   
   It starts when Margaret is in the seventh grade and goes through her senior year. At first the entries are brief and some are quite funny. Later they get more poignant.
   
   Margaret is boy crazy, bored, rebellious, and is trying to figure out what she believes. In the seventies, we had many issues involving desegregation, drugs, sex -- it was the era of the sexual revolution, feminism, and the big mega-churches were founded and grew in that decade. I laughed at many of the entries, especially when she would write of some profound event and not elaborate and the next entry would be something very trivial.
   
   For example: November 8 -- Nixon was elected president. November 9 -- Everyone says me and Vernon would make a good couple. (Nixon being elected president was exciting and had worldwide ramifications but her and Vernon being a good couple didn't last more than a week.) Another example: August 8 -- President Nixon resigned; made appointment to get my hair cut.
   
   I love that entry. It is such a teen statement. MISS AMERICAN PIE is realistic and fun to read. Plus, it makes you want to start a journal, too.
   
   Reviewed by: Marta Morrison



2. I suppose in this "reality" obsessed culture we now live in anybody can get their diary published and have it lauded as an important piece of modern literature or a work of brilliance or any of the myriad cliched accolades critics vomit up.
   
   Well I don't get it. Miss American Pie is a dull, dull, dull read. The forward is promising and I thought Sartor's teenage musings would be profound or intriguing or at the least interesting but it's not. Sartor is a spoiled rich kid whose father is a doctor and mother is an artist. She has several horses, equally well off friends and an obviously successful future ahead of her.
   
   Her diary entries, if you can call them that, average two to three sentences at the most. Entries range from "May 20: I feel really bad," to "February 6: BAD headache today," to "April 1: Stella is unhappy at her job". She mopes around because she thinks she's ugly or because her best friend likes a guy she likes or because her hair is frizzy. There isn't anything of substance to make this a worthwhile read or shed some new light on adolescence. I understand it's a diary of a teenage girl but it's still boring.
   
   If a diary is to be published, it should be dynamic, intriguing, shedding new light on the protagonist or a particular situation or a period of time. Miss American Pie fails on all counts. It doesn't help that no one has a clue who Margaret Sartor is either.
   
   Miss American Pie could have been more effective if it was written as an actual memoir instead of the dull, dull, ramblings of a teenage girl's diary.



3. First off, our decade's obsession with blogging has little in common with the art of keeping a diary, and anyone who doubts that might do well to read this book. A diary is normally a private thing, an exercise in personal meditation, a record of a life and those who pass through it, written by one's self, for one's self, and it's not often someone openly invites complete strangers to see something that is by nature so personal, and yet writer Margaret Sartor has bravely done just that, and done it in a way we all can feel guilt free over even as we read what were once some of her innermost thoughts and experiences as she grew up seeking God, love, and self-understanding in the emerging "New South" of the 1970's.
   
   Whereas often because they ARE so personal diaries can be boring and leave a reader feeling simultaneously included and excluded, Margaret Sartor's writings from age twelve in 1972 thru age eighteen in the summer of 1977 are not only welcoming but annotated to the point where we grasp who everyone she interacts with is and feel some enlightenment as to each person's motivations. There is her family, consisting of her father, who along with his brothers is one of the town of Montgomery, Louisiana's most well-known doctors; her mother, a beautiful and complex woman; her two older sisters, younger brother, and late in the diary, a new baby sister, who comes along when her parents are well into middle-age. Margaret Sartor is frank about many things, her feelings for boys among them, but no other subject preoccupies her quite so much as her quest for a relationship with God. Even in the Bible Belt of the deep south of two generations ago I doubt many people Margaret's age were so keenly motivated to seek out God or to do more to grasp something tangible about the nature of this force. Margaret's spirituality takes several forms but most often finds expression in the charismatic brand of the local faith. She tells of prayer meetings and youth revivals, about the casting out of demons and miracles performed that grew attendees legs out to equal length. She seems to be a soul simultaneously in awe of all this and puzzled as to why if she is truly in the Almighty's presence, she feels a lack of perfect contentment.
   
   As Margaret ages, religion is gradually pushed aside and instead we read of her infatuations with one young man or another, her confusions, her worries and very often her dreams, which she records almost nightly and which are almost always interesting in themselves. Margaret gains national recognition for her work with her school's cheerleading squad, and seeks early admission to a college out of state, proving to herself and others that she has the power to achieve her goals. As Margaret's story unwinds installment by installment, the tales of those peripheral to her become almost as interesting as her own life. There is her best friend, who comes out of the closet in small town Louisiana in the `70's; there is the racial integration struggle going on, at times violently, in the background; there is an aunt who kills herself, and another relative who was lobotomized and as a consequence became an obese misfit; and there is the restless shiver felt by all as a region little changed over generations moves toward a modern age much different from the past.
   
   Margaret Sartor's entries are often brief. They are simply quick, easily-read bits of information that say much in a short space. In its entirety her diary is unique, candid, and always fascinating. Maybe it will inspire others to publish similar records of their lives. Till then, Miss American Pie remains a darn good read.



4. What did those song lyrics mean anyway? I didn't find the answer in this book.
   
   Although Margaret went through her adolesence in the 70's and I experienced mine in the 50's, we had some common themes. Every teenage girl sometimes feels others have answers to which we ouselves don't have access.
   
   It was interesting to read of Margaret's search for spirituality and her daily thoughts of how well she was living according to her beliefs.
   
   Margaret longed for a nickname but did not want to be called Peggy. Later when a special boy called her Maggie, she thought that was a good fit. As the book progressed, Maggie became more interested in boys, but she could not make a commitment to any one boy.
   
   I was surprised that Maggie's parents gave her so much freedom and did not punish her for smoking and drinking. I was also surprised that Maggie thought of herself as unpopular although she had dates with a number of boys and was elected homecoming queen.
   
   It was easy for the reader to question Margaret's friend Tommy's sexuality, but Margaret had not even thought that Tommy might be gay until his mother mentioned it to her. The mother's remarks upset Margaret, but she continued to love Tommy dearly even into adulthood.
   
   This book was laugh-out-loud funny in many places. The incident I remember as the funniest was when Maggie popped into Tommy's kitchen following her jogging one day, ran upstairs to use his bathroom, took a swig of water from a glass in the bathroom while she was there - and got a bonus with her mouthful of water.
   
   Because this book was compiled from the author's actual teenage diaries, we are treated to the actual daily thoughts of a teenager in the 70's - rather than the way the author remembers her teen years from the perspective of an adult.



5. I'm only giving it a two because I actually finished it. This book is not literary genius. It is just a diary and that's all. The topic was exciting to me - reason I ordered the book - and I was so totally dissapointed by the writing style. A better idea for the author would have been to use the diary to create a novel. It was simplistic, but as I said I did finish it and know it could have been a better novel if written as such.

2 comments about . . . And His Lovely Wife: A Campaign Memoir from the Woman Beside the Man.

1. Connie Schultz takes us inside her husband's 2006 senatorial campaign and shows us, in a warm,
   conversational style, just what it takes for the candidate--and the family--to win a statewide office. She is real,
   down-to-earth, funny and tells it like it is. Her passion for helping people matches her husband's, and she
   puts her heart and soul into the election. A book for all political junkies of any party!



2. Connie Schultz has written a love story and a fun quick read! This couple had their priorities straight as they struggled--and triumphed--through the inevitable challenges of the American political campaign. I appreciated Ms. Schultz calling herself a feminist (without apologizing for keeping her name) and Sherrod Brown accepting the label of liberal--it was refreshing to peek into the lives of people true to their roots and their beliefs. And it makes me think about what Michelle Obama must be experiencing right about now...

No comments about In the Land of Invisible Women: A Female Doctor's Journey in the Saudi Kingdom.

3 comments about Makiko's Diary: A Merchant Wife in 1910 Kyoto.

1. The lives of ordinary women tend to be poorly documented. This leaves a large gap between decriptions of the way things were supposed to have been and the way they actually were.

   This young wife's diary of the year 1910 details domestic life in the lively and prosperous family of a pharmacy owner. She simply set down everything just as it happened, which turns out to be much different than any sterotype.

   I would recommend this book to anyone interested in Japan, domestic life, or that gap I mentioned earlier




2. The year set down for us by Makiko, 1910, was during a period of great flux in Japanese history, as government-sponsored Westernization was continuing from the Meiji Restoration of 1868. But amidst the laying of water pipes, the playing of phonograph records, the nightly appearance of the electric light, and the ringing of telephones dwelled still the traditional Japanese nuclear family, with its ancestral responsibilities and strict division of labor according to gender. But not all is as it once was for the young wife of a Japanese merchant.
   
   Makiko lived during a time of great transition in the expectations of women as well, from the more traditional docility to a more modern assertion of her own rights. Torn by both the duties of her marriage and natal families, Makiko was also torn by her role as wife. Her diary is a fascinating look at this transition from the traditional to modern woman.
   
   This is an invaluable primary historical source and a surprisingly readable translation by Smith. One thing, however, is that there are just a few too many foot-notes, and they appear at the end of each entry, rather than at the end of a page. One should skim these, at first, for they do tend to slow down the narrative pace a bit. Advice to those who are reading this for a class: if you only skim the entries and foot-notes pertaining to Japanese food, the book is perhaps only two-thirds it's actual length! (In fairness to Makiko, one of the main reasons for her keeping a diary was to have a "recipe book," of sorts, to refer back on as she learned food preparation from her mother-in-law; I am sure she never dreamed that her diary would EVER be published.) An added bonus is the many photographs of the Nagano family spread throughout the book.



3. Reading a diary that was written without any pretension to having anyone ever read it means that one will encounter lots of trivia of interest only to specialists in social history. Despite excellent ancillary materials by the first-rate translator, Kazuko Smith--including many family and urban photos, maps, and detailed introductory explanations-- the book is more a treasure trove for students and scholars of women's roles in early twentieth-century merchant households than it is for the casual reader. There are numerous historical delights that turn up, including the parts about telephones, theatregoing, and domestic arrangements, but these are tidbits soaking in a bath of everyday effluvia. Unless you're totally absorbed by arcane Japanese recipes and the perpetual professional responsibilities of the writer's husband (to whom she refers by name only once), you'll find that the bumpy experience of reading short (mostly one-page) entries over a single year forces you to skim the dull parts in search of enlightening nuggets. The translator bends over backward to explain all the familial and friendship relationships, but even reading that material can cause you to lose track if you're seeking entertainment instead of scholarly goals. For those who are deeply invested in the historical period and in the role of gender relations in early twentieth-century Japan, this is a valuable document. More general readers will find the book an up and down experience, but there are probably enough ups to keep them interested.

No comments about The Diary Of Anais Nin, Volume 6 (1955-1966).

1 comments about Maria Mitchell and the Sexing of Science: An Astronomer Among the American Romantics.

1. This book tells the improbable but true story of a woman--Maria Mitchell--who grew up in a poor family of 9 children in Nantucket to become one of America's most notable astronomers and scientists of the 19th century. Mitchell's big break comes when one night in October 1847 she peers through a telescope on her roof to discover a comet (the kind that will visit us once and never again return to our solar system). Despite unsought fame resulting from her discovery, she continues to live in Nantucket working as a librarian at a classic "athenaeum" for learning and accepting a post as official navigational "computer" of the movements of Venus, before eventually traveling to meet other great intellects in Europe and serving her later years as a professor at the newly created Vassar College (where she lived spartanly for years on a cot in the observatory). Renee Bergland seamlessly stitches an intriguing account of life in old Nantucket, the emergence of astronomy as a true scientific and mathematic discipline, and the daunting challenge facing Mitchell--and women in general--to gain acceptance as scientific inquest increasingly professionalized from the "parlor" to more formal academic settings. Mitchell herself reflects in her diary on the character it takes to maintain intellectual independence against the pressures of indolence and social conformity: "When we consider ... how short is life and how much shorter are the petty vexation of life, it seems strange that we should not act up to our convictions of duty and disregard what may be said of us by our fellow men. For what is my neighbor more than that I should succumb to his view in preference to my own? And what possible good can come to me from such submission? I cannot please him for very possibly his expressed opinion is not his own but that of some other neighbor of whom he stands in awe. ... And so we have a chain of ignoble submission reaching perhaps around the world. I cannot suppose it comes from cowardice and I therefore suppose it comes from a still more despicable weakness--that of indolence. Thinking is hard work." I was transported to a bygone era by this provocative and enlightening book!

1 comments about The Lives and Liberation of Princess Mandarava: The Indian Consort of Padmasambhava.

1. This book is an excellent insight into the life and times of both Princess Mandharava and the great Guru Padmasambhava, as told by Padmasambhava himself and recorded by his Tibetan consort Yeshe Tsogyal. This book is a terma (a teaching which was written down and then hidden for this present time). Also, it has a blessing prophecy attatched to it, making it very beneficial to read or even be near a copy of this text. The terma itself is very easy to read and follows Mandharava's extrordinary life, in a most interesting progression. It's a very inspiring story!

1 comments about Women, Art, And Power And Other Essays (Icon Editions).

1. Nochlin's collection of essays really hits the mark. Accessible to both the casual art lover and the afficionado, "Women Art and Power" is a truly stunning contribution to the canon of feminine art theory.