5 comments about Up For Renewal: What Magazines Taught Me About Love, Sex, and Starting Over.

1. At 322 pages, this book is about 200 pages too long. The book starts out with a very interesting summary of the newly divorced author's toxic romantic/sexual relationships and other self destructive behaviors, and describes her interesting plan to improve her life. Unfortunately, my interest waned rapidly as the book progressed. The writing style was inconsistent. Brilliant in places, incredibly boring in others.
   
   Borrow this book from the library if you feel you must read it.



2. As a huge magazine reader I was really looking forward to reading this book. As I got further and further into the book I found myself rooting against the author. While the premise of the book was engaging the actual execution of the idea lacked any commitment. This is really a "novel" that would have made a good magazine article but lacked the substance necessary for a book.



3. When I came of age and left home I was at that stage of life where I didn't trust (or want) my mother's advice. I found myself sitting in the break room at work nibbling on my bagel and being stared at by the flawless faces of actresses and supermodels while bright colored cover lines offered all the advice I was looking for. My uber strict, religious parents had never allowed magazines in the house, especially those where teens could read about sex or learn how to find the best bikinis. Here were whole guidebooks on how to find love, be a sex goddess and what to wear while doing it. Cosmo, Glamour and Marie Claire became my guidebooks into the world of being an adult woman.
   
   Cathy Alter's experience might not have been the same, but when I read about this book months ago I felt drawn to it. Afterall, someone out there had taken all those articles I have saved over the years in hopes of one day using their tips, tricks and advice to trim down, do my eye make-up without looking like a prostitute, find the most flattering jeans for my body type, and put them into practical use.
   
   In a very Carrie Bradshaw-esque narrative, Alter explains all the uglies in her life that lead to her year of subscriber madness. Her unhappy marriage and subsequent divorce. Her vending machine contents diet. Her sex with-all-the-wrong-men life. Maybe not everyone who reads this book has gone through the same fumblings but it was easy to relate to her feeling of needing a change. Like me, she couldn't rely on her mother for help so her turn to magazines made me feel a lot less silly for doing so in my younger years.
   
   Cathy ended up subscribed to fourteen different magazines including Self, Real Simple, O (The Oprah Magazine), InStyle, Allure and Cosmo. Each month she chose an aspect of her life she wanted to make changes or improvements to and used her magazines to find ways to do each. From simply packing a home-made lunch to avoid vending machine junk food to keeping up a healthy appetite for sex with her long-term boyfriend. At times the seemingly superficial things she wanted to change actually became quite profound. For example, during her cooking month a close friend was diagnosed with a life threatening condition so she wanted to do something special for him. She wanted her friend to have something good before he went through the horrors of hospitals and tests, so she prepared a meal for him. The recipe ended up being so miserably spicy that it was impossible to eat and as they laughed over it she realized that it didn't matter what she had cooked, what mattered was that it had brought them together. It was the one time in reading this book that I got a little choked up.
   
   By the end of her 12 months Alter was ready to move on from her magazine living experiment. She had reached a point where she no longer needed to run to them for advice. Her year as a subscriber had helped her make the improvements she sought and she had learned not only a lot of new things, like how to wrap a sandwich in plastic wrap, but also how to trust her own instincts.
   
   All in all it felt like reading a woman's self-improvement blog. I think fans of Sex and the City would appreciate the writing style and even some of the subject matter. I think this would be a terrific gift for a newly divorced friend or college graduated who is going through a floundering stage of in-between-ness. I keep picturing it in a gift basket with the latest copy of Self, Real Simple and Allure, some dark chocolate, a copy of the Sex and the City movie, a bottle of wine and a pair of comfy slippers. Woah. I think I just planned out my recently-divorced mother's Christmas gift. Enjoy!



4. This book appears to be Cathy Alter's somewhat autobiographical account of a year of positive transformation largely due to following the trite advice she found in over a dozen glossy women's magazines. I think the main message is that if a person will focus on making necessary changes in her life and keep at it for long enough, then life will improve. A secondary purpose of the book is to amuse the reader. Some will find her humor more to their liking than others.
   
   Undoubtedly the vignettes are fun and creative (unless they really happened). It appears the character's was stuck in a shallow, meaningless, and amoral lifestyle, and in that may not be particularly unique. The reader grows to like the Cathy of the book, and hopes she has a happy ending. Her friends and family are very vivid and believable people, thought they don't seem to have particularly worthwhile relationships with each other.
   
   This is fun light reading. Urban women in their 20s and 30s (and maybe a little older) will enjoy the book. Others will feel like they're looking into the window of a foreign culture. The idea for the book (or reality of it) is cute and clever. If credit is due for Cathy's year of self-improvement, I think she deserves the credit, not the slick publications that play off the perennial fears of the readers.



5. Cathy Alter is a 30-something unhappy divorcee who realizes that her life is a mess because she has made poor choices. Determined to change, she uses women's magazines to challenge, inspire, and guide. One year and a lot of hard work later, Alter is much happier with herself and her life.
   
   Part self-help and part memoir, Up for Renewal reads like fiction. Will it motivate readers to change? I'm not sure - I'm still wrangling with "84 Things You Need for the Perfect Wardrobe" (pp 105-06) - but it was a lot of fun going along for the ride.

5 comments about Eleanor Roosevelt : Volume 2 , The Defining Years, 1933-1938.

1. Although not being an American, I'm aware that there are many in the States who are not too fond of ER and who are very critical of her. This second volume of Blanche Wiesen Cook's series on America's former First Lady is as remarkable and absorbing as was the first. There is no doubt FDR was a man of character,courage and great personal charm and warmth, there is equally no doubt that his wife suffered great personal trauma (and embarrassment) at his refusal (doubtless for political reasons)to speak out against the racial problems (in particular lyching in the South) and the Hitlerites treament of Jews in prewar Germany and Austria whilst the US continued to trade with the Germans. The same could be said of his stance during the Spanish Civil War. Eleanor was a nag (as was mentioned here in other summaries of this book) but never without good reason.
   And all of her dire predictions came true. ER's passion for life, her beliefs, her love and respect of her husband, come through over and over again. Her ability to manipulate people, a less attractive aspect of her character - is also here for all to see (as her relationship with Lorena Hickock so aptly demonstrates).
   Was there too much of Hick in this book ? I didn't think so. The relationship was a long term, on going one. The letters were not destroyed by ER, who I believe must have realised they'd become public after her death. Finally, ER's energy levels must have been extraordinary - her ability to criss cross the country seemingly non stop was remarkable considering that travel and the mode of travel was nothing like it is today. What an absolute bonus such a partner was to FDR's re electibility !
   I look forward to the next "installment" with great anticipation.



2. This is a very well-researched and meticulously written book. However, I never felt I got to know Eleanor Roosevelt. I found the reference to Mrs. Roosevelt throughout the book as "ER" off-putting. It put an emotional distance between the reader and the subject. While we are treated to many details of Mrs. Roosevelt's life, we are never really let in to her emotional life. BWC (the author) goes into such detail about everyone else around Mrs. Roosevelt and she tells us what happened, but she doesn't let us see things through Mrs. Roosevelt's eyes. I still have no idea what the relationship between FDR and his wife was. Nor do I really understand why she remained with Lorena Hick so long. This book really amounts to a laundry list of who, what, where. A really effective biography will let us into the personal lives of the subject and let us feel as they feel as the story of their life unfolds. I never found that emotional resonance in this account. Eleanor Roosevelt left behind copious amounts of source material. I think that the author could have done a much better job of letting us experience Mrs. Roosevelt more fully as a person and not just as a public figure with a lot on her agenda.



3. I was shocked to discover that volume 2 only covered 5 years, albeit 5 important years. However, that should serve as a caveat for a potential reader.
   
   This volume is a much harder read than volume 1 as this version grinds to a screeching halt in places. While I agree it was important to document ERs long, tortured relationship with Lorena Hickock, too much emphasis (and repetition) was placed on what looks to be a normal parting-of-the-ways as ER ascended.
   
   There are some very intriguing and thoughtful moments in this book (which makes its a worthwhile read), but they are broken up by too many abrupt harbringers of moral/political doom or redemption with sparse or no follow-up.



4. I have to admit that I gave up on this book. I'm hoping to find a more readable biography of Mrs. Roosevelt. Cook's style and grammar are just too jumbled for me.
   
   Look in the "look inside this book" section here and go to page 14. This is a prime example of Cook's overuse of quotes. I appreciate that she did her research, but if she was going to quote so much, she should have just included one whole article. As it is, the whole page is a mish-mash of sentances and words taken from various sources creating a confusing unreadable mess.



5. In the first volume of her series on Eleanor Roosevelt, Blanche Wiesen Cook, a historian and women's studies professor, introduced us to a compelling historical figure who, after years of living in passive submission to her husband and mother-in-law, had finally broken free to create her own "independent life" - a life filled with careers (teacher, writer, public speaker) and fulfilling private friendships. In volume two, Eleanor Roosevelt faces the challenge of keeping her independent life as she assumes the traditionally social (and passive) role of First Lady. "Eleanor Roosevelt: Volume Two, 1933 - 1938" contemplates Eleanor Roosevelt's life during the first five years of her husband's presidency.
   
   In her first volume on Eleanor Roosevelt, Cook took a feminist approach in asking questions about power, relationships, and identity. Unfortunately, volume two falls short of the first volume, in leaving many of these questions not only unanswered, but sometimes even unasked. Whereas the central theme of volume one was Eleanor's struggle to assert herself as an "independent power," in volume two, we are not just reading the story of Eleanor Roosevelt, but also the parallel story of her husband and his presidency, which places Eleanor Roosevelt in a dependent role as she must work her way into her husband's political circle to gain influence. In fact, too often, volume two devolves into a story of FDR's presidency and Eleanor's reaction to it, rather than the story of Eleanor Roosevelt as an individual, independent agent. Eleanor is often portrayed as dependent on FDR for power, her moods uplifted when his speeches reflect her views and depressed and cold when they don't, particularly when she is shut out from the inner circle and has to learn about what is going on from her own son. While she occasionally dissents from the administration's talking points, her writing and speaking career is now primarily aimed at advancing FDR's policies. The most disappointing example of Eleanor's capitulation to her husband is on the subject of the Holocaust, where she remains silent from 1933 to 1938. When a German refugee appeals to Eleanor Roosevelt's sense of justice, asking, "Can you really stand by and watch this? Can you stand and see us more or less all gassed? I should like to have your word, you will do something," Eleanor Roosevelt replies, "Unfortunately, in my present position I am obliged to leave all contacts with foreign governments in the hands of my husband and his advisers." Obviously, Eleanor Roosevelt does gain power within FDR's political circle, but it is never clear what the extent and significance of this power really is.
   
   Another central theme in volume one was how Eleanor Roosevelt's relationship with a new circle of feminist and lesbian friends helped her create her own life apart from FDR. After Eleanor discovered FDR's infidelity with Lucy Mercer, and they began living separately, Eleanor established her own new life at Val-Kill, a residence she shared with Nancy Cook and Marion Dickerman. In addition, Eleanor made her first true friend in Lorena Hickok, an established reporter with the Associated Press. In volume two, these relationships all dissolve, as Eleanor acrimoniously splits with Cook and Dickerman and drifts apart from Hickok. Hickok, in fact, is the key figure in volume two, as her relationship with Eleanor Roosevelt is chronicled in painful detail. While their relationship is clearly the most important in Eleanor's life during her time as First Lady, it unfortunately takes a bit of a tragic turn as Hickok gives up her job with the AP, and along with it, her self-respect, becoming dependent on Eleanor Roosevelt for work, in addition to financial and emotional support. As Hickok grows increasingly depressed and resentful of Eleanor's other friends and busy schedule, they continue to drift apart, to the point where, when they do share a vacation alone together, Eleanor is miserable, missing her work and eager to return to her life as First Lady. As Eleanor Roosevelt drifts away from the friends who were so important to her in first creating her own independent life, it is clear that her interests and priorities have changed. Her political life is now the most important thing in her life.
   
   What does this say about Eleanor Roosevelt's identity? This is the final question then left to be answered. Unfortunately, the question is never even posed to readers. Does it matter that Eleanor Roosevelt depends on her husband for power and she no longer has an independent role of her own? What does it say that she pulls Lorena Hickok into a dependent relationship where she retains all the power? Why is her public life more important to her than her private relationships? What, in fact, is her new identity? While in volume one, we are left with the image of Eleanor Roosevelt as an independent woman, pursuing her own career interests and developing her own loyal set of friends apart from FDR, in volume two, we are mostly left with an image of Eleanor Roosevelt not as an independent force, but as the First Lady, a woman who keeps a busy schedule and cares for a lot of causes and people, but none in particular.
   
   In focusing on the day-to-day details of Eleanor Roosevelt's life and FDR's administration, "Eleanor Roosevelt: Volume Two, 1933 - 1938" reads more like a timeline from a boring history text - a list of dates and facts - than a compelling biography of Eleanor Roosevelt the person, her priorities and main accomplishments. In trying to tell two stories - first, of the political movement behind the New Deal and, second, of the role Eleanor Roosevelt carves out for herself within her husband's administration - ultimately Cook fails to tell either story.

5 comments about Elizabeth & Georgiana: The Duke of Devonshire and His Two Duchesses.

1. Excellent book on the lives of two amazing women sharing the same man. Highly recommend it if you like reading about 'ton' society in late 18th-early 19th century England.



2. While I had read about the triangular relationship between Duke and Duchess of Devonshire and Lady Elizabeth Foster, nick-named Bess, I never realized that Bess had such colorful life. The authors use letters and other historical documents to present Bess in a more positive way, than previously recorded. It is a fascinating biography.



3. If you haven't read "Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire," you're likely to come away from "Elizabeth and Georgiana" with a very positive view of Lady Elizabeth Foster. I had read "Georgiana," and I didn't find Bess all that likable, even after reading Chapman's glowing chapters about her life. I did, however, love this book and found it very interesting and well done. There are unanswered questions, though, about Bess and the Duke's children and what the Duchess knew; but, Chapman does a good job of filling us in on what happened to the main characters after Bess's death. Easy to read, filled with information about the Georgian period (for instance, a good explanation of how people traveled in the time), and not so mired in politics of the day as "Georgiana . . ." is.



4. I suppose few people really care now that Lady Elizabeth Foster finally got her man. This book is nonetheless a caution to historians dependent upon family archives for primary source material. Laudatory bias is bound to creep in somewhere. As the previous reviewer noted, Bess does not come across so attractively in other biographies, even those written about Georgiana's niece, Lady Caroline Lamb. The book's positives have already been noted: good descriptions of aristocratic society and travel in the 18th century. The book is not, however, good history or even good biography.



5. bad marriage,being kept from young sons would wreck a lesser woman,but bess land on her feet with duke duchess devershire.having strong friendship with duchess didn't stop her from boring two childern by duke,keeping her friendship with the duchess.this is a positive view of lady elizabeth foster who later got her duke,very comfortable life.

5 comments about Love, Janis.

1. Janis' sister, Dr. Laura Joplin, provides the reader with special insight to many core concepts of Janis, such as Janis' mission of encouraging freedom of expression for all, on every subject, as well as her passion for ending racial and all other forms of discrimination. Janis so humorously exposed hypocracy and so wonderfully raised questions that many are afraid to ask. What irony that her gifts to the human race were cut off so prematurely by some of the traps of life.



2. I thought this book was outstanding. Not only does it give good insight on what made Janis tick, it gave a very indepth history of the hippie movement from it's earliest conception. I found it fascinating.



3. I WAS PLEASANTLY surprised at the way this book showed us the real Janis. I was expecting a glossed over version of her life, but Janis's sister told the good and the bad. Through it all you can sense the love and affection her family had for her. Laura Joplin is an excellant writer and her insights on why Janis did the things she did was very refreshing. I was 13 years old when Janis died and had already begun to be a part of the rejected "hippie" crowd. My crowd was the first in our school to be a part of that culture. I identified with alot of what Janis went through and I remember buying her albums and listening over and over. I loved her. I remember the days of pot and LSD and speed, and my personal favorite, quaaludes. The drug culture was much different then and much safer. I thank God for a praying Grandmother and for a fear of needles, or I could have gone further and ended up like Janis. Few of our group ever experimented with injecting, but I could understand how Janis got caught up in it. This book showed a side of Janis that was so much like us and showed that she was really an insecure girl wanting acceptance like the rest of us.
   Thank you Laura, for giving us insight to the real person your sister was.



4. Laura is no Balzac. She doesn't share the reality of her sister's life in a way that makes it as important and real the way a master would. But, what can a person expect? She does share and reveal much. It's way too much to ask that she (Laura) could write a book that truly reveals the depths of Janis' life and times such that it will influence people for ages to come. I would like such a work because I feel that Janis' life should not be forgotten. If you have feelings for Janis like I do then this book is a must read. If someone someday takes what Laura has written and makes it into a book that captures all of the emotion and reality of Janis' life and times so that even a casual reader will be amazed then that will be an amazing book. I think Laura would agree.



5. once i started to read this book i couldn't put it down until it was finished, was sad to see it end. it gives alot of detail into janis joplin's early family life as well as school and friends and the start and finish of her music career. would recommend this to any joplin fan, a must have!!

4 comments about Chanel: The Couturiere at Work.

1. (nermin8@yahoo.com) How to recall sectet life of the most influencal fashion Mademmoiselle of all times? For the first Chanel-biographyst it was a nightmare...So we should give a huge respect to evry new Chanel biography, and not just for this reason... Also this biography deserves great respect. Though, some questions aren't yet answered (they may never be), this colourful book, introduces us to some new detailes about the "Chanel cut" as well as Coco herself. Must read to any haute couture lover or dreamer...



2. Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel is adequately profiled in this book; from her very humble beginnings to her rise and fall -- and rise again -- this is an insightful biography of the woman and her work, which were for all intents and purposes inseparable. The authors capture not just the drive and determination which propelled Coco to the heights, but shrewdly illustrate how startlingly ahead of her time the designer was, and how much her work and ideas permeate fashion, even to the present day. Don't let the absurdities and excess of so much Chanel on the runway today fool you -- this woman was a visionary in her time, and the quintessence of her designs was paradoxically American; sporty, practical, possessed of a spare elegance, though she was in every way a Frenchwoman through and through. The early drawings of her first dresses are included here and are fascinating. Precious few exist, because -- as they book tells -- Coco Chanel preferred to design on the body, using live models. She was a perfectionist par excellence who introduced trends that transcended their time, and this modest book is a worthy addition to your library if you have any interest at all in the foundations of twentieth century fashion. There are many books on Chanel; I haven't read them all, so this isn't a comparative review, just the opinions of a fan of the couturiere as artist.



3. Chanel: The Couturiere At Work is a lovely survey of fashion icon Coco Chanel and her innovative fashion ideas, and belongs in any collection boasting a focus on fashion. Her style is examined in depth; from her first early creations in the early 20th century through her design changes over the decades and her creations through the House of Chanel. Loaded with black and white and color examples from all the periods, Chanel The Couturiere At Work is a 'must' for any serious fashion collection.



4. The writing is not very good - more like a stream of advertorials. There is overwhelming praise of Chanel's work - flattery more like it - without any criticism or analysis. However the pictures are good if you are collecting photos of Chanel's clothing designs over time. "Chanel and Her World" is a better book - it was put together with more thought. "Chanel: The Couturiere At Work" is just a thin book - more like a magazine, with insubstantial prose. Get it used.

1 comments about Holy Roller: Growing Up in the Church of Knock Down, Drag Out; Or, How I Quit Loving a Blue-Eyed Jesus.

1. What is the third thing between living and dreaming? Antonio Machado's epigraph to Holy Roller asks the question, and Diane Wilson answers in a memoir at once particular to her childhood on the back bays and bayous of the Gulf Coast and catholic in its theme of a girl's awakening. A fascinating story of snake handlers and shrimpers and a child trying to make sense of it all.

5 comments about The Story of My Life: An Afghan Girl on the Other Side of the Sky.

1. This book is great reading for teeens through adults. It is an easy read - can be read in 1-2 days. The story is gripping and suspenseful and really gives one an understanding of life in turbulent Afghanistan and the difficulty refugees encountered to make their way out. My husband and I read the book and enjoyed it as did my daughters, ages 19 and 17.



2. I got Farad's audio book because we have been working in relief and development in Afganistan since 1984. It is a well narrated book, an uplifting account the suffering of a child and of people who come into our lives and believe in us, love us and walk with us through the difficulties of life in Afghanistan, Pakistan and in America.
   
   Farad, a young, Hazara girl, has lived an unbelievable life before reaching the age of 15. Her story is a first hand picture of the devastation of a beautiful country destroyed by war and ethnic conflict. She and her family were caught in the middle. She stepped on a landmine as she was going to school in Kabul. She was in the second grade and things went downhill from there.
   
   This is a story of suffering and pain but finding strength to respond when it seemed impossible. This is a story of faith and people practically living out their faith. It is the story of a young girl who has a dream.



3. When seven-year-old Farah Ahmedi stepped on a landmine in her native Afghanistan, she thought her life was over. The hospital in her war-torn city only tried to keep her alive until German doctors made their regular monthly visit, airlifting the most crucial cases to heal in their own country.
   
   Away from her family and culture, Farah fell apart.
   
   Then, as she began to heal, she made friends with a German woman, who informally adopted Farah like one of her own. Gradually, Farah began to learn the language and enjoy the peaceful, beautiful country -- making it just as shocking when she was returned to her family two years later.
   
   Suddenly, nothing Farah's family or country can offer her seems good enough. The little girl had become used to a better life, and she was determined to live it again.
   
   That wish kept her determination driven over the next few years, when war ravaged her family and her home. Left with nothing but a crippled daughter, Farah's mother hovered on the brink of madness and wanted to give up. But Farah, who had had a peek of what life could be, believed the two were destined to live in America through a special program for Afghan widows and orphans.
   
   After numerous obstacles - including 9/11 - the two finally get their wish. But their struggle is far from over, as they find themselves in the midst of a culture clash with the general American public. Farah's mother is still battling mental demons, and Farah herself not only has to learn to speak and read English, but read altogether, as her Afghan education had fallen apart during wartime.
   
   Above all, Farah learns, there is always a higher power out there, willing to help you during your most desperate times, sending relief in the form of a person destined to cross your life's path.
   
   This simply told story is a powerful testament to the atrocities that can be endured without breaking. Farah Ahmedi is one extraordinary teenager, destined to do great things.



4. I am reading this book with my class at school. I love it! I look forward to it everyday. This is a story that every American needs to hear because it is living proof of how much we have been given. When you realize that many people in the world have had to deal with the things that Farah did, the everyday dramas in your life are put into a totally new perspective. This book is real. It happened to real people, it teaches real lessons, and that is why it leaves any hollow fiction or fantasy behind.



5. My daughter read this book, and this is what she had to say about it:
   "This was a very exciting, sorrowful, detailed story. It inspired me. I recommend this book to people of all ages who love non-fiction adventure. This book has almost everything a reader could want. I always wanted to know what was going to happen next in the story. Farah Ahmedi, the writer and main character of this book, detailed the story so much you could picture yourself in her spot; although, you would never WANT to be in her place in real life.
   
   'The Story of my Life' was extemely sad at some points. Losing almost her whole family, getting caught up in the war, losing a leg, escaping from Afgahnistan. Sometimes during the book I almost cried and other times, I laughed in happiness. The book had many different moods.
   
   The message, (or theme) of the book for me was 'Never be afraid of starting again, or beginning a new life'. Of course for everyone this is different, all of us have a different point of view. But this was mine.
   But to come to an end with this review, I really enjoyed every word from beginning to end!! Highly Recommended."

2 comments about Profiles in Audacity: Great Decisions and How They Were Made.

1. 
   This is a collection of vignettes explaining how some of the most influential decisions in history were arrived at; from Galileo's decision to publicly support Copernicus' solar-centric version of the universe to President Truman's decision to drop the A-Bomb to Bill Gates acquiring the rights to DOS. Though the book does cover events spanning a period from Cleopatra to Flight 93, 70% of the book is dedicated to American decision makers so for a strict historical survey for pedantic historians, it falls woefully short.
   
   However for the casual reader of history, it is a very interesting and engaging coverage of many of turning points of history and not merely the boring, behind the scenes red tape kind. "Decisions in Crisis" covers Elizabeth I's standing up to the then overwhelming might of Spain and JFK's finding a middle ground in the Cuban Missile Crisis. "Decisions to Venture" covers such diverse topics from the Lewis and Clark expedition and the Race for the Moon to Charlie Goodnight's first cattle drive and Ted Turner's creation of CNN. "Decision of Conscience" I found to be the most stirring with examples such as Gandhi's use of non-violent resistance, Branch Rickey's hiring Jackie Robinson to play for the Dodgers, W.E.B. Du Bios role in the creation of the NAACP, Daniel Ellsberg's decision to leak the Pentagon Papers and Betty Friedan's decision to look into and beyond her own dissatisfaction with what society prescribed a woman's life should be to what women had the potential to achieve. "Decision to Risk Everything" of course included such famous examples as Hillary and Norgay's ascent of Everest and Washington's Delaware Crossing, but it also includes such lesser known moments such as the Berlin Airlift and Nixon's decision to open relations with Communist China.
   
   The final section, "Decision to Hope", was the weakest. It does contain some excellent examples, such as Begin and Sadat's work for peace between Israel and Egypt (which is one of my first memories of world events as a child), Carnegie's philosophy of modern noblesse oblige. However, the other examples feel misplaced and the book strikes a very sour note here by including Chief Joseph' surrender at the Battle of Bear Paw mountain as a "Decision to Hope. "I want time to look for my children and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I will find them among the dead. Hear me my chiefs, I am tired, my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever." How does this sound hopeful to anyone? After watching his tribe be decimated by U.S. troops, freezing temperatures and starvation in a conflict started by American settler's greed it does not sound at all hopeful to me. It sounds like surrender which is not an act of hope, but resignation. A "decision" forced down one's throat at gun point is not a decision at all.
   
   But that stumble aside, it is otherwise an good overview of some of the more momentous moments in history, especially the modern ones that shaped the world we live in today and can introduce even more knowledgeable history readers to historical figures not usually mentioned in the grand scale of most historical work.



2. Some of the vignettes were interesting insights into history. But it seemed like the plurality of them were over-hyped in the CEO-worshipping management book style of leadership assessment. If the decision led to a successful conclusion, it was a great decision and therefore the leader had audacity. Yet, some of these tipping points in history could just as easily failed. No audacious decisions that failed were reviewed. Even those that succeeded didn't mean that there weren't better decisions that could have been made. Some weren't even decisions at all. Did Galileo really decide to rethink the universe? Or did he just assess the many different mental models of the solar system and conclude that the sun-centered model (proposed earlier by Copernicus) best explained his observations?
   
   I usually recycle my books by passing them on to friends or family who might find them interesting. But I can not think of anyone to pass this book on to.

3 comments about Bad Girls of the Bible: Exploring Women of Questionable Virtue.

1. There is some confusion because there are two books with the same title. Bad Girls of the Bible by Barbara Essex is terrific! She uses sound biblical interpretation to help us uncover the "real" story of infamous biblical women. She goes beneath the surface and uses history, archeology and other tools to get at the heart of the women's stories. She doesn't berate them, but helps us see their more positive qualities even though they are being used to move the biblical story forward. This book is fabulous!



2. I was very disappointed in this book. Although it contained extensive background and historic info on each "Bad Girl", I felt that it was spiritually weak and not biblically correct in its opinions. Jezebel was one of the most wicked women ever explored in the Bible, yet the author describes her as "religiously committed, politically savy, determined, self-assured, bodacious, and clever. She was dedicated to her family and a zealous missionary for Baal. And she died as she lived--royally!" From this desription, you would have thought she was Mother Teresa instead of a violet woman who had many prophets killed just because they were men of God. The author also comes across as anti-male. I was disappointed and felt I had wasted my money.



3. If you're searching for a book to study the "bad girls" more in-depth, this one isn't it. Much of the authors "facts" are purely speculative. Much like todays popular culture, she makes heroes of the wicked and tears down those who act righteously. It's scary to think that she is an ordained clergywoman in the United Church Of Christ. She's obviously a radical feminist who believes that all the women in her book got a bad rap and all men are scum. Don't waste your time or money on this one.

5 comments about Foreign Babes in Beijing: Behind the Scenes of a New China.

1. Just riotously funny. What a fantastic read. So much smarter than most "girl" memoirs. I actually couldn't put this one down.



2. I got this because I'm currently learning Chinese, and thinking about visiting China some day. Rachel is an excellent writer, very observant of detail (her own emotions and others' behaviors), but not drowning the reader in irrelevant and wordy prose. Rachel spent several years in Beijing, really making an effort to be absorbed in the culture, and the experience pays off. I would love to read her experiences if she decides to try living other places as well!



3. I spent many years in China. Trust me, the writer of this book was more or less COMPLETELY unknown there. Idiotically, I still read some of this book.
   
   It's just a self-promoting waste of time and it feeds a million-and-one stereotypes.



4. This is a delightfully humorous memoir, written by a young woman whose first job out of college was at an American firm in Beijing. That led to her being cast as a "foreign babe" [the English translation] in a Chinese soap opera. I read this book weeks before my own trip to Beijing. Though I am a different generation, I found her paragraphs about Chinese views of Americans to be very useful--and accurate--for my own travel.



5. The basic premise of an innocent abroad landing a starring role in a cheesy Chinese soap opera was enough to get me to read the book. And that element of the book doesn't disappoint: it's fun, the dialogue at the end of each chapter is silly, and I enjoyed googling a little bit of video from the program.
   
   However, really this book is not very well written. The soap opera is just a small part of the actual novel, and mostly comes in a big chunk at the beginning. A whole hell of a lot is given to the author talking about the generalities of China, in a very cliched way. Hey, no kidding, it's big, and the pace of change is very quick? It comes off like reading a Wikipedia page. The author also is very quick to give sweeping, shallow opinions on Chinese and American media.
   
   The author also talks about her relations with other characters, there's a girl who likes foreign guys and thinks China is backwards, a guy who is very nationalistic and given to page-long speeches about it, and no it's not interesting.
   
   Really it's a novel written by a 1st person narrator who portrays herself sympathetically, but isn't very sympathetic. This is particularly true towards the end, when she doesn't attend the funeral of a close friend who she was with when he died, because she had to go on vacation.
   
   It's a very sharp contrast to the rest of the novel, in which she depicts herself as a naive but good-hearted innocent abroad. She excuses her own behavior with a shrug, but it feels manipulative and false. There's a movie in pre-production, and really I think the story would be better told in a more objective 3rd person, and with less silly exposition.