5 comments about Edie: American Girl.

1. Book came very quickily (within 2 days) in excellent condition. I would buy from this resource again.



2. When the movie "Factory Girl" (god-awful by the way) came out, it renewed my interest in this book and Edie Sedgwick. My interest in her dates back to when I first bought this book, way back in 1982. The test of a great book is that is grows richer and deeper upon re-reading. And this one does.
   
   At first, this was simply the story of a notorious party girl. Upon re-reading (I've read this countless times), "Edie" becomes the story of how the thread of mental illness traveled through generations. This book is truly unforgettable and haunting. And I'm sure, while suffering another bout of boredom, I'll read it again. - Siouxie
   P.S. Someone should give this book to Britney Spears. She's traveling the same path at age 25; Edie was dead at 28.



3. Great photos, great commentary from those who knew Edie on the most personal levels. Great and eye opening accounts of what it was like to live in the sixties, the drug use, the sex, the music, the scene. Really great book that I'm thrilled to add to my library.



4. This book is interesting. It is a little hard to follow because of the way it is written and some of the pictures are a little vulgar but I guess that sums up Edie. It is worth a read for anyone interested in this poor girl. There is something so so sad but so fabulous about her.



5. I believe this is a great book about Edie Sedgwick, it's very well documented and original, you can read a lot of opinions, versions, from her brothers and sisters, to her friends and companions. I enjoyed it very much!
   
   The beginning of the book talks about the ancestors of Edie's family (the narration is a little bit slowly in that part, and personally I only wanted to read about Edie), anyhow you'll find this information very useful in the next chapters to understand the whole life of this amazing girl. The price is amazing, is a big bargain!.
   
   The book is a little bit bigger than the other kind of books we're used to read. Isn't paperback completely, don't know what material. It has a lot pictures, all in black and white, very helpful to the beginners or novice people that are interested in Edie's life.

5 comments about The Art and Flair of Mary Blair.

1. Beautiful and unique look into the life and developed portfolio of a retro animator. This book is nostalgic, child-like awe packaged. Wonderfully whimsical images.



2. When I visited Disneyland last year with my daughter I expected to fall in love all over again with various attractions at the park: Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Carousel. I honestly didn't expect to fall in love all over again with "It's a Small World" but I did.
   I had already heard the name, Mary Blair, but I didn't know anything about her so I decided to research her online and I found this book.
   What an incredible artist she was! John Cane tells her story and her contributions to everything Disney. She was an incredible artist! Her works now sell for many hundreds of dollars. It's too bad that she didn't live long enough to see herself become famous. Like most artists, she became famous after her death. At any rate, here is the story of the woman who created so much of the Disney magic. It's very well illistrated and an enjoyable read.



3. The work of Mary Blair is well-known to animation and Disney aficianados, but there is a dearth of material available about her. Her influence on animation and Disney design was enormous. John Canemaker, as one has come to expect of his work, has written a terrific book on Blair. Well-illustrated, carefully noted.
   Although this book is very good, Mary Blair deserves a full-length biography.



4. For anyone interested in the cartoon drawings of the familiar Disney era, (think Cinderella and Peter Pan)Mary Blair's art will delight. Her style was decidedly "folksy" in the early days and it's simplicity told the story with clarity. Disney commisioned Blair to create the characters in the exhibit "IT'S A SMALL WORLD" at Disneyland. With Mary Blair, Disney found a foil to show his unique view to the world...a truly American look.
   This book, THE ART AND FLAIR OF MARY BLAIR, is very well produced book by Disney editions, that shows the prolific Blair's drawings and art work, not only from the Disney era, but beyond.



5. Great product! As always, Amazon delivers a quality product at a great price in record time! Very pleased with item.

5 comments about Bound Feet & Western Dress: A Memoir.

1. Bound Feet and Western Dress by Pang-Mei Natasha Chang is about a young girl who has a unique relationship with her great aunt, Chang Yu-i. She first meets her great aunt in 1874, at a family dinner. Chang Yu-i had just come to New York after having lived in China, and then Hong Kong. Several family members had come to these dinners in the past, but this was the first time Pang-Mei had met her great aunt. Pang-Mei explains how the family refers to Chang Yu-i as "half man" because of her strength and persistence. Pang-Mei grew closer to her great aunt as time passed, but she still knew very little about her. She first discovered some of Chang Yu-i's secrets while studying Chinese History at Harvard University. She learned that her great aunt had been married to a well-known romantic poet in China, as well as issued the first "real divorce" in Chinese History. After Pang-Mei learned of this, she asked Chang Yu-i about it at once. Her great aunt told her hundreds of stories about her life in China eventually unraveling over a long period of time. Pang-Mei and Chang Yu-i build a strong relationship together and learn about each other, as well as themselves. Pang-Mei comes to love and grasp the heritage she once tried to hide and Chang Yu-i understands herself better after having told her own stories. They are finally brought together even closer by a major phenomenon that takes place in the end.
   I found Bound Feet and Western Dress to be rather tedious. Personally, I find books that dives right into the plot to be the most enjoyable. Bound Feet and Western Dress eased slowly into the excitement. However, I found this book be written with great enthusiasm and detail. Pang-Mei Natasha Chang used delightful details that gave me a perfect picture of the context. On Page 9, Chang Yu-i tells her grand niece about the strict rules she grew up with, "Chinese paintings required admiration form above, Baba said, explaining that the perspective of Chinese paintings differed from Western ones. The best paintings were only hung when your grandfather, Eighth Brother, and I cleaned them, passing tiny feather dusters over the surface of the rice paper. Of all the children, you grandfather and I were the two that Baba allowed near his paintings, and her would hover behind us as we worked, explaining the genius behind a musty mountain landscape or historical portrait." This excerpt shows the details the author used to represent her great aunt's stories.
   The stories of Chang Yu-i told were also extremely touching. Not only did they paint a precise image in my mind of her life but were also genuine. For instance, when she was telling of her childhood and growing up with her large family her descriptions were beautifully written and conveyed. I loved hearing of her two favorite brothers personalities and what each of them gave her. I fully understood her thoughts and joy while talking about her brothers.
   Generally, I think Bound Feet and Western Dress is a thoughtful and well-written book. It is historical and educating as well as a good read. I would suggest it be read.



2. Change can be a frightening affair, and looking back at change can be something that seems almost alien when beheld in the light of certain convictions. That seems to encapsulate the whole of the experience that Chang Yu-I talks about as she tries to explain something of who she is to her granddaughter, Pang-Mei, and it is one of the things that seemed to haunt me as a reader as I listened to Yu-I's tale. The chapters switch from Yu-I to Pang-Mei to give you and idea of how things have changed and to try to identify one person with the other, and I have to say that I found myself glued to the pages and not able to stop reading this book. At first I simply thought it was a story about a granddaughter wanting to explore her grandmother's life because she was the first person to have a Western-style divorce in China, and maybe that was her reason beginning the book. Still, the book goes well beyond that and touches on the dynamics of change and strength and how strong a person can be even when they think they are at their weakest.
   
   Honestly, I thought I could vicariously feel my heart cracking under the weight of some of Yu-I's confessions, amazed by some of the things she was able to tell her granddaughter.
   
   One of the best things about this tale is the detail that Yu-I goes into about China, and about the way things were seen in the past versus the way things became seen as war loomed on the horizon. Yu-I gives a great amount of detail about what it was like to be a child in a country like China, and she vividly recollects what its like to have one's feet bound and the reasons why this practice took place. All that breaking and rebreaking, the tying of the big toe over and over again; when I read this I cringed because it seemed so debilitating just to have a crescent-shape added to the foot. Furthering this are pictures in the book, showing what the feet actually look like when this happens - you can see the shriveled remains of feet that look almost mummified, and you can tell some of the extremes that went into making a foot look like that. Yu-I talks about the pain that's she, herself, experienced because of this practice, too; she tells her granddaughter about being three and having her mother try to bind her feet, and then talks about the torment of those moments and how it was her brother that made her stop this because he couldn't deal with her suffering. Yu-I goes on to tell of the pain that this caused her, too, with her always feeling as if she were ugly because she had "big feet" and "big feet" made a person almost untouchable when it comes to marriage. Still, she does marry the poet Hsu Chi-Mo and, for a time, she thinks this is perfect and learns the rites of being a wife. She cares for the mother-in-law, she takes care of the husband's family; basically she becomes a slave and thinks that this dedication is seem by her husband as love. It is only when she moves to a foreign country with her husband that she finds out what he is like and how she is alone, and when she understands that she is utterly abandoned she explains how it feels to want to die.
   
   There are other painful things in the book, too, things I can't disclose without messing up part of the tale, but I can say that when she is in Germany and loses something more dear to her than anything that this was devastating to read, making the book almost too heavy to pick up because its honesty was like a barb in the soul. I appreciated that, to be honest, and can say that I have read a lot of pieces of literature but that I have rarely encountered a person like Yu-I that both loves the world she lives in, understands the things that she has experienced, and even knows what forgiveness is like.
   While this normally would not be something I would recommend, it has my highest recommendation and the most humble form of respect I can give, thinking it an enduring read that really has something to say.
   I cannot give the book or the voice behind it enough praise.



3. In the late 1990s, the Chinese-American Pang-Mei Natasha Chang wrote her first book entitled "Bound Feet and Western Dress," which accounts the life story of the author's great aunt, Chang Yu-i. The author was the first generation of the Chang family to be born in the United States. She wrote the book about her own search of Chinese identity in the American world and the tale of her great aunt's hard and interesting life.
   
   The book is broken into fifteen chapters, which describe the early life of Yu-i, the history of the Chang family, the life of the author herself, the lifestyle of women in China, the marriage and the divorce of Yu-i and Hsu Chih-mo, and the last years of Yu-i's life.
   
   One can understand the influence of modernity on the Chinese society and the Chinese women as one look at the author's great aunt as a traditional girl and her strength as a woman, why Chih-mo marry her, and the significance of their divorce in this book. "Bound Feet and Western Dress" is intriguing work and an enjoyable read.



4. I found this book to be a compelling read. It does reveal, while the author is relating the life of her great aunt from China, a lot of interesting information related to the customs, traditions and mores of the old Chinese culture in the early twentieth century. Her great aunt was the first in old china to get divorced from her husband, after being abandoned by him .She was young, poorly educated, with two children, one of whom tragically died shortly after her divorce. She morphs from a poorly educated, dependent woman into a self-reliant,educated, successful woman, who eventually becomes a VP of the Shanghi Woman's Savings Bank and helps ensure it's survival, while Japan was invading Shanghi. Luckily, she leaves Shanghi a day before the Japanese take over and moves to Hong Kong. Eventually, she remarries in 1952 and then, after her second husband dies in 1972, she emigrates to the USA. When her great niece finds her name in books while she is studying Far East Culture while studying at Harvard University, she is amazed to find her great aunt's name listed and then decides to interview her, and thus the idea of the book emerges and is completed over many years. A truely unusual and compelling book to read for anyone interested in the Chinese culture, people and history. Quite a different read, inspiring and moving in many ways.



5. This book was so interesting, I think I read it in less than two days. It shows the changes Asian women went through as history marched on. I had no other way of knowing any of this information, and it's so different from my own culture.

5 comments about Golden Girl: How Natalie Coughlin Fought Back, Challenged Conventional Wisdom, and Became America's Olympic Champion.

1. Based on the other comments, I thought this book would be a litany of complaints by Natalie. I assumed she would really bash her old coach. Instead, he is mentioned mostly in the context of the difference between his training philosophy and that of Teri McKeever. Ray Mitchell occupies part of a chapter. This leads me to believe that those who are outraged must not have taken the time to read the book.
   
   That being said, I thought the book was more about the Cal swim season with a focus on Natalie and McKeever. It was a fascinating look at a different approach to swimming - focus on technique, workout variety and team building. As one of the many burned out former age groupers who swam lot of 10K+ workouts, I think the whole swimming world should celebrate that coaches such as McKeever and Salo are willing to try something new. Natalie and the Cal swim program are proof that there is more to swim training than piling up yardage. This is really inspiring. I used to worry about whether I was doing the right thing by introducing my children to this sport. This book has helped to re-ignite my love for competitive swimming.



2. The swimming literature with which I am familiar - Gold in the Water, Champions, Four Champions: One Gold Medal, Michael Phelps: Beneath the Service, By a Fraction of a Second - satiate my interest for swimming-centered narrative, but, in my opinion, the genre, as represented by this collection of books, is one dimensional. I find that these types of books (I would include a few running, and football books among them) are purportedly about courageous young athletes that overcome and achieve through commitment, belief, and the support of teammates, family, and coaches. The narrative certainly appeals to the target audience - athletes, coaches,and parents, that are deeply invested in the system that is celebrated through these pleasing tales. In my experience, as an athlete and a coach, the narrative is fairly accurate. But there are other stories to tell, and Michael Silver tries to tell one of them. Silver, like no other writer that has told the tale of swimmer and coach, questions the hard-nosed-coach archetype. He also questions the culture, the competitive swimming culture, in which this type of coach thrives.
   
   The title of the book is Golden Girl. Its Natalie's show, and all of the inherent benefits and detriments accrue. Silver tells her story, and he is clearly sympathetic with her version of the story. Perhaps if the intentions and methods of the coaches are fair game, then so are the intentions and the methods of the writer. I, for one, understand that from an outsiders perspective the world of competitive swimming might seem as backwards and dysfunctional as we've been led to believe women's figure skating and gymnastics are. Silver, it seems clear, is an outsider, and though his view of competitive swimming must have certainly been filtered through the experiences of Natalie, he seems to me to have a fair amount of corroboration. And to be honest the corroborating anecdotes that he includes don't seem particularly damaging (excepting perhaps the stories of the Terrapin Coach badgering female swimmers about their weight). I think we all know that there are some hard-nosed, mean SOBS, coaching out there. By and large, we would agree that most of these coaches really care about their athletes. They've had their say. For swim coaches, its been chronicled in the annals of Swimming World Magazine and just about every book on swimming that has every been written. This book is about giving Natalie a say. This book is about giving McKeever a say. To some they may come off as bitter or dysfunctional or defensive. It only makes them human. Bottome line is they did it their way, and win or lose, they succeeded. A core precept of McKeever's philosophy seems to be the the journey is more important than the destination. That Silver, in giving this say, allows them to question competitive swimming's cultures, institutions, and some of its personalities, seems unavoidable and possibly an opportunity for the sport to engage in some healthy introspection.
   
   Just about every book on swimming that has ever been written tells a single tale. This book tells a different tale. Its a tale that's not all that different from one that has been told before, told by a coach, in his own words - Sprinting: A Coach's Challenge by Sam Freas. Its a different type of book - a mix of narrative and instruction - but if you liked Golden Girl you may want to check it out.



3. Golden Girl is an absolutely outstanding book that takes a good look at not only Natalie Coughlin's push toward Olympic excellence but also talks about subjects that many consider taboo: the politics of the sport of swimming and the need for more rational training methods. I just bought a copy for my daughter's birthday. She's an Olympian in Judo. I'm an international level Judo coach. I was fascinated by the book and can easily relate to it since the Judo community suffers from the same malaise that the swimming world suffers from. Being an unconventional coach in Judo, I'm not surprised by all the negative reviews from people within the swimming world. I get the same treatment from my Judo peers who like Terri McKeever's and Dave Salo's peers are too insecure or "know it all" to even look into alternative training methods. Since I am heavily involved in coach education, I will make this book a required reading for all Judo coaches. My advice to you, the prospective buyer of this book, is to ignore the negative reviews from the swimming culture that Golden Girl decries, unless of course you too are stuck on the conventional and can't handle outside-the-box ideas.



4. Being the father of two USA swimming daughters, I found this to be just an "okay" read. While I did find it rather annoying for the author to repeatedly bash the Terrapins, Silver did a good job portraying the pressure coaches are under to get a name for themselves by unnecessarily pushing their swimmers too far. Nonetheless, I enjoyed how the book described McKeever's unorthodox techniques and chronicled the behind the scenes march to the Olympics. In the end, it did leave me with a bit of a tarnished view of Natalie, which is a bit disappointing given the title of the book. I strongly recommend Gold in the Water.



5. Not everything Natalie has to say shows everyone in the best of light; that's because not everyone is exactly a "great" person. This is her book and her story--if she felt someone mistreated her or did this or that wrong, she's entitled to say. All of this is part of why she is the great athlete she is today, and that should be applauded.

5 comments about The Peabody Sisters: Three Women Who Ignited American Romanticism.

1. Megan Marshall has done superb work in this carefully researched account of the amazing Peabody sisters.



2. I only get to read on the train to and from work. This book makes my daily trip a real treat. I'm only half through, but hooked from page one. Not only does Marshall make a fascinating biographical and historical account of the Peabody sisters, but she provides answers as to why strong, ambitious, smart women have been so frustrated for so long. Society supressed gifted women in the 1800's so much so that women either became outcasts because they had to find expression, which in itself was restricted to motherhood, housewife or teacher, or they retreated into themselves in the form of illness or depression. Indeed, the contributions to romanticism by the Peabody sisters came at a very high cost to them. And now I can read about them and think "How strange that society was so close-minded back then!"



3. Somehow I overlooked this book when it was released, but thank goodness I discovered it later. The author takes readers back in time to share the amazing lives of these sisters. In the process, acquaintances of the Peabody family, that readers already know as historical figures, are brought to life as real, flawed but remarkable people. Readers will identify with these women as they strive to achieve and practice their own talents in a society that shares possibilities and limitations not so different from our own.



4. The Peabody Sisters is a wonderful book. It was so interesting and fast-paced, it reads like a novel. The women of the Transcendentalist Movement have been so poorly remembered it is possible to learn something new on every page. Megan Marshall's writing style is relaxed and conversational, a good balance to the 19th century melodrama, angst, sentimentality, and lofty philosophies of the sisters and their circle. Although Marshall quotes letters, sermons, poetry, reviews, journals, reports, and literature from many sources, it is done sparingly and logically integrated.
   
   The Peabody sisters were extraordinary women living in extraordinary times. A case can be made that Elizabeth Peabody, the oldest sister, is one of the most important figures in Transcendentalism. Barred from college and commerce by poverty and sex, she still managed to be more educated than many of the men she befriended and promoted. Many of the relationships we take for granted in Boston and Concord of the era can be directly linked to Elizabeth Peabody's tireless efforts to intellectually support interesting, creative individuals, make introductions, even find people jobs and students, housing, mentors - all while she is shut out and struggling to support her parents and five younger siblings while teaching herself Hebrew, Latin, Greek, Italian, Spanish. Also: teaching children and adults, writing articles, editing and publishing, and keeping up a lively correspondence with teachers, philosophers, artists, poets of the era. Her sisters Sophia and Mary are hardly less accomplished.
   
   And yet Megan Marshall always keeps things grounded. The sisters are always real people who display very normal sibling rivalries manifested in jealousy, competition, ambition, despair, frustration and anger. There was also commitment, love, affection, support, delight and generosity.
   
   What is most amazing is the strength of the women in this group. They are creative, adaptable, intelligent, extraordinary in many ways. They are continually held back by the convention of the time that women were somehow frail and that ambition and accomplishment were unseemly in the "fairer sex." Considering what hothouse flowers many of the men in this group proved to be, it's all the more unreasonable that the inequality of the sexes persisted.
   
   Megan Marshall never harangues - the rant is purely my own. Marshall simply gives us the benefit of her prodigious research in the most straightforward and appealing manner. Don't be scared off by the length of the book: the last 100 pages or so are notes and index. The book itself speeds by and the reader is left at the point when the sisters are taking up their own separate lives.



5. The author attempts to run the three biographies in parallel but what really happens is that she jumps from one place to the other, so none of the biographies unfold properly. I found it utterly unreadable. On top of it to add to my frustration, there are generalities, like Elizabeth fought with her mother "like all adolescent girls do" or romantic creations "like on this day if you didn't watch out a dog might have showered you with water". I wanted to read a proper biography and not a society novel. I had read "Eden's Outcasts" by John Matteson before and came away with a more lively picture of Elizabeth Peabody and her involvment in the Temple School then from this book. If you are interested in the transcendentalist movement, the time, or women I highly recommend "Eden's Outcasts: The story of Louisa May Alcott and her father".

5 comments about Florence Broadhurst: Her Secret & Extraordinary Lives.

1. All in all I really enjoyed the book. I thought that the title built up the story to be more than it was, I could have used a lot more text (Keep all the photos though). There wasn't as much detail into Florences life as I would have liked. But the book introduced me to another great designer and all her (or someone elses) great work. A wonderful reference for designers



2. This book is perfect for the design fanatic- especially prints and home decor. The cover is made of a sweet fabric and seems precious. The inside features amazing color images of Florence Broadhurst's one of a kind work. There are many great wallpapers and prints that span the art deco style to modern geometrics. As a painter I found the patterns fascinating. Makes for a great gift.



3. I had heard of Florence Broadhurst but didn't know a lot about her. I read this book cover to cover (granted, it is not that thick) without putting it down, it was so interesting! I never realised the amount of scandal involved in one of Australia's greatest designers of the time. I found her life fascinating and her wallpaper designs so beautiful. I did feel that the book could have shown more designs but it was excellent as an introduction to Florence Broadhurst and her more popular wallpapers.



4. I took this book in and read it little by little.... As if it was a fiction mystery novel.... Very well written, GORGEOUS pictures of Broadhurst's work! What a character!!! Love LOVE this book! Not only the story is great, but also the pictures in it of F. Broadhurst's work are an inspiration!!!
   I have to say, before this, I had no idea who she was, now that I know and see how she has been criticized.... won't tell you why.... but will tell you this.... THAT'S WHAT ART DIRECTOR DO!!!! DIRECT!!! Those who critique her cannot also see that the woman had a vision, she was ahead of her time... and had the passion to keep this 3 step forward going!
   I want to see more of her work!!!! LOVED-IT!!!



5. A compelling story (that you can actually read, as opposed to skim) plus stunning visuals - what more could you want? Broadhurst comes across as a real character, part charlatan, part entrepreneur, and the reproductions of her designs (some of which haven't been seen since the 1960s) are comprehensive and beautiful.
   
   No mention of the book can be made without remarking on the actual physical book itself, which is a fabric-covered hardback with a belly band with spot gloss. You'll gaze at it for hours.

5 comments about Storms: My Life with Lindsey Buckingham and Fleetwood Mac.

1. I was looking forward to an insider's look into the world of Fleetwood Mac and instead I got a look at my own life. Actually, I should clarify that and say it was my life of 10 years ago. I can identify with each and every phase Carol Ann Harris went through with Lindsey Buckingham. The sudden and inexplicable temper explosions resulting in physical beatings. Carol Ann endured those at the hands of Lindsey and although some of the other reviewers are doubting her truthfulness, I have to believe her when reading about all the other physical symptoms she suffered. The panic attacks, the absolute numbness to any feeling after being nearly choked to death, going back to Lindsey repeatedly because she was sure she had done something to cause the violence.
   
   It takes a tremendous amount of strength to leave a relationship where you become caught up in the cycle of abuse and reconciliation. Carol Ann was dependent on Lindsey for room and board, a fabulous lifestyle, and even love...when she could forget the torture. She got out, made her own life, never gave any interviews and has only now spoken about this. Some people may ask why she felt the need to unburden herself. I say, Lindsey should have thought of that when he was dragging her by the hair as he drove away from Christine McVie's house (a bit of violence witnessed by Christine, by the way.)
   
   The book is well written and does give some great Fleetwood Mac moments, aside from the nightmares with Lindsey.



2. Being a fan of Lindsay Buckingham and Fleetwood Mac only in the last several years, I was interested in what he was like in the band's heyday and this book delivered. He seems very much of an enigma and I learned so much about him from the author's stories. She didn't seem to have a hidden agenda for this book, which I appreciated. This book does not give much information about the band, however, which I didn't think it would, but for those of you buying it for that reason, don't. It basically told me one thing about Fleetwood Mac "back in the day." That is that they did a LOT of drugs. I haven't ever read a book written like this before, from someone so intimately connected to a celebrity that I was interested in, and finished it in just a few days. If you are a fan of Lindsay Buckingham, I say this is a "must read."



3. eeehhhhh....ummmm. I just read this book. I love Stevie Nicks- but i realize that in her heyday she was probably a coked out bitch on wheels. That said, the writing in this book is awful, and I have a hard time believing that Carol Ann was the dumbass country bumpkin that she paints herself to be. Everyone in the book "turned ghostly white" and it was ALL SO SHOCKING!!! She never misses an opportunity to talk about how beautiful and sexy she was -all the while never even realizing it! "OMG I am going to stand in the middle of these bright lights and go all marilyn monroe on this fan and convince myself that everyone in the audience stopped staring at stevie to look at little ol' me!" Puke. She tried so hard to convince herself throughout the book that Lindsey wanted nothing to do with stevie -which may have even be true-but she didn't believe it for a second. All the talk of " beautiful insanity" and whatever other terrible metaphores she came up with made me cringe-she HATES these people-I can see right through her writing. Girlfriend is bitter!



4. I suppose any literate person should have gathered this would be a "tell-all" book, which is bound to contain reams of gossip and irrelevant banter. However, there is also a great deal to be said for eye witness accounts, even if they may be a bit clouded from drug use. Carol Ann Harris introduces herself as down-home charming laced with infuriating learned helplessness in this revealing book.
   
   All evidence is delivered in a first person narrative, citing event after event that should/presumably would have made most people run for the hills. No amount of cocaine could make the horrors Ms. Harris claims bearable. After reading this book, one will probably never see the members of Fleetwood Mac the same way again, most particulalry Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. The previously admiring lens which simply saw talented musicians will be shattered. The other three members maintain the personas most likely prescribed to them by most fans, but these two... wow. It's disappointing, another example of "reality" media, giving us more information than we really wanted. The writing style is also a bit disjointed, with quirky, although adorable, insertions of Ms. Harris' folksy internal thoughts ( lots of " Jeeze" and " friggin'), yet, at the same time, an attempt to strike a formal note with sentences beginning, for example, with " For I surely....", and redundent ruminations are plentiful. It is advised, however, that one plow through those moments, because Ms. Harris will plant an interesting, major detail square in the middle of one of those passages that almost puts one to sleep.
   
   If you are a Mac fan, it's worth getting for a lazy Sunday afternoon read. There is some sensational writing within, and one does have to question what motive Ms. Harris has, at this late date, for writing such a tell-all. Further, prepare yourself for a lot of forehead slapping, wondering " What was wrong with this girl! What part of this picture was so hard for her to understand!" This book does a fine job of humanizing the larger than life characters who form Fleetwood Mac.



5. As a very, very longtime fan of Fleetwood Mac, I got this book as soon as it came out. I felt sure it would be one sided, as is the nature of autobiographies, but thought any book about my favorite band would be a fun weekend read nonetheless. And it was. I don't doubt Stevie was hell on wheels or that Lindsey was abusive, I think drugs, godawful quantities of drugs at that, make you do horrible things you normally may not do. There were also some very funny stories recounted by Carol and I thought it was a very interesting look into "life on the road." But I thought the book was horribly written and she made herself out so be such an innocent little lamb, it's gag worthy. And there are so many innacuracies, it's hard to take anything she says as truth. I mean, c'mon, she says she wrote this book using her old journals and tapes she recorded, but if she did that, how the hell can she get dates wrong? Not just wrong by a few days but wrong by years! If she can't remember dates of events she says she wrote about in a journal, how did she remember all these conversations, word for word, that she wrote in such such detail in this book? And some of the things she says ar just rediculous if you know anything about this band. The first thing that caught my attention is she writes that when she met Lindsey, he was so over Stevie and could care less about losing her. But Lindsey himself has stated several times that he was devastated by the breakup, is was extremely hard for him to move on and took him a decade or more to do so. Another part I found somewhat laughable is when she writes about one time when Stevie was "mean to her" and of course, she ran straight to Lindsey to tattle. So Lindsey says he'll talk to Stevie and get her to apologize. He leaves Carol in their hotel room, goes to Stevie's room and doesn't come back for several hours. Uh, Carol dear, open your eyes! I doubt they were "talking" about you for that amount of time. From all accounts SnL were still screwing around all through the 80's, they themselves have practically admitted as much. I guess what bothers me is not so much that she didn't acknowledge in her book that Stevie and Lindsey still had strong feelings for each other for many years, I'm not sure I would if I were in her shoes either. What bothers me is that even though she didn't mention it in her book and she made it look like Lindsey was so gaga in love with her that he didn't give Stevie a second thought, BUT she had no problem laying it all out a few months after the books release. Yes, Carol gave an interview after the books release saying she knew both Stevie and Lindsey harbored feelings of pain and regret over their breakup for many years and never got over each other and she actually said she knew Lindsey was still in love with Stevie all the years he was with Carol. If it's good enought for an interview, why is it not good enough for your book? IMO, you don't write an autobiography, then contradict yourself later. That makes your entire saga much less believable.

No comments about Confessions of an Ex-Feminist.

5 comments about Chanel and Her World.

1. I was disappointed in the text. I guess from the title I should have expected some world history. The story line is somewhat incoherent and doesn't seem to present her life very well. I had to use the index to find a couple lines of reference to her "Boy", a romance started in the story and then dropped, only to be finished much later and with no real detail. Either Chanel was very closed mouth about a lot of her life or the author didn't know her that well. Also, there are a lot of pictures of rather irrelevant items. I wouldn't purchase it again.



2. I was looking for a book showing photos of Chanel's clothing designs and styles. This book focuses more on her life and the celebrities and cultural/social trends of her era (spanning 1910's - 1950's), so if you are looking to see her clothing styles and designs, you will be disappointed as there isn't that much coverage of the actual clothing. However, it is a very absorbing, encyclopedic, pictorial collection of the people of Chanel's time and you can spend many a lazy Sunday afternoon thoroughly exploring les temps perdus. There are many many pictures of Coco Chanel - like Madonna, she looks different every few years, a real chameleon. It retails at $65, so the $37 Amazon price is a good deal. It is a heavy thick book with glossy pages.



3. I paid almost full price for this book and I don't regret it. I found this coffee table book just lovely.
   
   I am not a fashion expert. I'm just a reader interested in interesting people, so I was looking for a book on CHANEL that gave a brief background on her life and photos of Coco and some of her fashions. Well, this book seemed to fit the bill---for me. I was not disappointed.
   
   I have enjoyed this book very much and it sits on my living room table , ----for the book to be browsed by others.



4. Perfectly perfect. Everyone should have this book, and give it as a gift! Wow.



5. I love the book I purchased, but would love another Chanel book covering all of her designs. Would you plese recommend a book that has mostly colored photographs of her design? WOULD GREATLY APPRECIATE IT M Miller

5 comments about Not Without My Daughter.

1. Great story but I am going to recommend Detained Differencesby J. Robert Rowe in conjunction with this novel



2. Take all the figures in this painting(The Death of Sardanapalus, 1827 Fine Art Stretched Canvas Poster Print by Eugene Delacroix, 22x17) and dress them up as modern Iranians.
   
   You would get this book.



3. When I was in high school, a friend of mine recommended "Not Without My Daughter." Twenty years later, I finally got around to reading it. I wish that friend were still in my life to discuss the book with. I recall her saying she stayed up all night, unable to put the book down, and I had much the same reaction. It is a riveting tale of domestic abuse and a harrowing escape, occuring in Tehran in 1984. Yes, there were moments that made me squirm because Betty Mahmoody seemed like a spoiled American making sweeping generalizations about a culture she had little time to experience, but the story overall is a compelling one.
   
   I recommend the book highly, with reservations. I also read "Persepolis" recently and that provided a much needed counterpoint to Mahmoody's biases. It is essential to consider more than one person's experiences. Not everyone in Iran is like the family she married into. That said, this is a compelling story and one worth knowing about.



4. There is no doubt in my mind that the experience Mrs. Mahmoody has had, if one can describe that as an ''experience'' has been rather an unpleasant one. As others have pointed it it is also surprising that she has opted to travel to Iran in one of its most shacky moments, during the middle of the war between Iraq-Iran. Also, it seems that Mrs. Mahmoody was not completely out of guard to this, as she herself describes in the book that the trip was made at a moment before which there had been many struggles between her and Mr. Mahmoody, hence it seems their relation was not completely right even before the trip, well... false promises and hopes she accepts to travel to Iran to please her husband.
   
   The experiences she describes must have been very difficult, she is beaten, treated like nothing, nobody helps her or listens to her, as it seems every body is scared and tries to stay away. I completely must disagree with the way she pictures Iran and the society, about the hygiene issue particularly how she describes the food and the people in the family as being completely unclean, yes it's possible that she was not so lucky and the people she had to live with were not clean, but this can not be fitted to the society entirely, neither can it be fitted to any other society, it just seems these particular people seemed rather uncareful in this matter, though when one reads the book with no previous Eastern experience one might think that ''this is how life is over there'' I could not disagree more.
   
   Also, she describes how ''horrible'' the life is in Iran, due to its restrictions and so on. I think this is rather completely another story, and do not take for granted what she says, I have met Iranian people and have had Iranian friends and I think it's better to read further on this matter. The book is nice in my opinion, I admire the courage of Mrs. Mahmoody in her struggle to protect her child, nevertheless I do believe that the descriptions of many things in this book have been emotionally affected by her terrible experience, which may be in a way understandable, had things gone right for her and her husband perhaps she would not have described life as being ''so terrible'' in Iran, I am not sure but a pleasant read in any case.



5. A very boring story about a seemingly very vengeful woman. We all make mistakes in life, and try to learn from it. But Betty Mahmoody is making money out of it but making up a story in which potrayes herself as the victim. I watched this woman complaining on the Dr. Phil show recently, still sobbing and feeling sorry for herself and at the same time promoting her book and trying to squeeze the last couple of bucks out of her story.
   Thanks to the Finish documentary `Without my daughter' which shows us what really happened we now know that this book is just one big lie.
   Maybe they don't show you these documentaries in the US, I'm sure your government would like you to believe that all women are suppressed in countries like Iran.
   Do not buy this book, don't buy the DVD. Dishonesty should not be rewarded.
   
   Herman, Europe