5 comments about The Woman Who Watches Over the World: A Native Memoir.

1. Hogan¡¦s memoir is a book not only ¡§about love¡¨ (16), but about ¡§healing, history, and survival¡¨ (16). In this memoir of eleven chapters, the idea of history dominates the whole work in which Hogan retrieves not only her personal history but the communal history. The ¡§space-time¡¨ relationship becomes a unifying force for each chapter to construct a unified whole and present a ¡§a geography of the human spirit, common to all peoples¡¨ (16). For Hogan as a Native American, history, no matter personal or tribal one, is present in geography, no matter a spiritual or spatial one. First of all, Hogan tries to relate her ¡§self-telling¡¨ to the young people on reservations and thus connect her personal history with the history of the continent since ¡§I can lay a human history out before me and hold a light to it, and in that light is the history of a continent¡¨ (14). She then identifies herself and the world with the clay woman, ¡§the Woman who Watch Over the World¡¨ since she, the clay woman and the world/land are all broken. And the historical traumas are revealed and shown in human bodies and the land in itself. Thus, by retrieving the history of her physical pain, emotional suffering, and early inarticulateness inherited from her mothers, she presents us a suffering history of her tribe in this continent. By exploring both the personal and tribal history, she displays a map/path for herself and the young tribal men to pursue after her. It is then a map/path of healing. By healing, she means the power of words and the cure of nature. She offers a history of three generations of women in her family, herself, her mother and her two adopted daughters, who, because ¡§the destruction of the body and land have coincided in history¡¨ (62~63), have been or are, in a way or other, voiceless of their emotional, physical, or spiritual sufferings. Thus, the power of storytelling/words is significant for her to deal with her personal problems and recognition of self-identity in the tribal community. Moreover, after years of experiences with pain, she finds her cure relies on ¡§earth, water, light and air¡¨ (16). Its significance can be seen when several elements in nature are used to entitle six out of the eleven chapters. Finally, what unifies all these treads presented in the memoir into a spider web, separate but of the same direction, is the power of tribal survival through which personal survival is also attained. It is only because of a quest into her haunted past and tribal hardships can she find a power to refresh her spirit and a meaning for her life. Thus, with the presentation of both traumatic histories and ways of healings, she positions herself and establishes her subjectivity in a tribal world that, in turn, survives in face of possible genocide. And it is this urgency of survival, no matter personal or tribal, that makes the memoir and the Naitve American literature extraordinary to the Euroamerican literature.



2. Hogan¡¦s memoir is a book not only ¡§about love¡¨ (16), but about ¡§healing, history, and survival¡¨ (16). In this memoir of eleven chapters, the idea of history dominates the whole work in which Hogan retrieves not only her personal history but the communal history. The ¡§space-time¡¨ relationship becomes a unifying force for each chapter to construct a unified whole and present a ¡§a geography of the human spirit, common to all peoples¡¨ (16). For Hogan as a Native American, history, no matter personal or tribal one, is present in geography, no matter a spiritual or spatial one. First of all, Hogan tries to relate her ¡§self-telling¡¨ to the young people on reservations and thus connect her personal history with the history of the continent since ¡§I can lay a human history out before me and hold a light to it, and in that light is the history of a continent¡¨ (14). She then identifies herself and the world with the clay woman, ¡§the Woman who Watch Over the World¡¨ since she, the clay woman and the world/land are all broken. And the historical traumas are revealed and shown in human bodies and the land in itself. Thus, by retrieving the history of her physical pain, emotional suffering, and early inarticulateness inherited from her mothers, she presents us a suffering history of her tribe in this continent. By exploring both the personal and tribal history, she displays a map/path for herself and the young tribal men to pursue after her. It is then a map/path of healing. By healing, she means the power of words and the cure of nature. She offers a history of three generations of women in her family, herself, her mother and her two adopted daughters, who, because ¡§the destruction of the body and land have coincided in history¡¨ (62~63), have been or are, in a way or other, voiceless of their emotional, physical, or spiritual sufferings. Thus, the power of storytelling/words is significant for her to deal with her personal problems and recognition of self-identity in the tribal community. Moreover, after years of experiences with pain, she finds her cure relies on ¡§earth, water, light and air¡¨ (16). Its significance can be seen when several elements in nature are used to entitle six out of the eleven chapters. Finally, what unifies all these treads presented in the memoir into a spider web, separate but of the same direction, is the power of tribal survival through which personal survival is also attained. It is only because of a quest into her haunted past and tribal hardships can she find a power to refresh her spirit and a meaning for her life. Thus, with the presentation of both traumatic histories and ways of healings, she positions herself and establishes her subjectivity in a tribal world that, in turn, survives in face of possible genocide. And it is this urgency of survival, no matter personal or tribal, that makes the memoir and the Naitve American literature extraordinary to the Euroamerican literature.



3. Life is a journey form fragments to wholeness. Hogan's memoir tries to reveal her steps and processes of having harmony in her life. She divides her memoir into eleven sections with various topics to express her different experience of life. Each part of her personal experience is the part of life journey, though in the journey, no absolutely direction is shown to tell her when to go or what to do. In "Geography: An Introduction," Hogan says there is no maps of direction in life, even she wish to direct her life to others by saying "This way," (14) but she couldn't. From receiving the broken pieces of the clay woman named "The Woman Who Watches over the World" that she bought in the museum, Hogan starts to illustrate her journey of broken past in "Water: A Love Story," which narratives how she falls in love with a sergeant army in German, and how she decides to come back to America by through the sea. Then she says "through our time life-times it is water that sustains us, water that is the human substance, the matter of cells"(31). In her years of falling, Hogan concludes "falling isn't always bad. Sometimes it is better into world" (66). As the topics go, readers seem to have steps to penetrate Hogan's inner floating. From piecing the following topics together, including "Silence is My Mother," "Fire," "Dreams and Visions: The Given-Off Light," "Span: Of Time and Stone,¡¨ ¡§Mystery,¡¨ ¡§Bones, and Other Precious Gem,¡¨ and ¡§Phantom Worlds,¡¨ we gradually finish the journey made by Hogan's personal events by the topic steps she gave us. Reading Hogan's memoir is like playing jigsaw puzzle, which is the game from fragments to wholeness. The process of the play jigsaw puzzle is like the process of facing many events in journey life. As she describes herself from the broken past to the harmony in the living world, Hogan's memoir also reveals the situation of Native American today. Therefore, it is not only a memoir of self, but a reflection of her tribes.



4. I read this book in a class about violence in society. it really brought home the nessesity for violence but a productive way to turn it into a positive thing in your life and still have good energy surround you. this book especially hit home with me because i have experience with foster children that can't bond. it really helped me to understand how to deal with that. Plus Linda Hogan Rocks!!



5. As a white 48 year old women I now realize how ignorant I have been to indigenous peoples of America. It left me yearning for more knowledge. This book expanded my mind. It is well written and easy to understand. Very straight forward.

5 comments about Singing Away the Hunger : The Autobiography of an African Woman.

1. Singing Away the Hunger is a captivating true story of an African woman and the journeys of her tragic yet fulfilling life. Mpho `M'atsepo Nthunya told her life story to Dr. K. Limakatso Kendall, an American who visited her country. The book is almost like a book of short stories, each chapter being a different event that happened to Mpho. She speaks of her childhood in Lesotho, growing into adulthood in South Africa. You learn about all the tragedies she lived through and also the wonderful time she had with her family. Even though she had a very difficult life, she always had a positive outlook on life. The most wonderful thing about the purchase of this book is that half the proceeds go straight back to Mpho and her family.
   This book has many great qualities, one being the length of the chapters. Most of the chapters in the book are three to eight pages long, which makes for very easy reading. Each chapter is like a book in itself, a chapter in her life, so you can read one chapter in about ten minutes and set the book down and come back two to three days later and never feel like you missed anything. The chapters are titled in a very clever manner. The title does not lead you to believe that the chapter is about something else. By reading the chapter titles you know exactly what the chapter is going to be about. For example Chapter three is titled, "The Child is Burning!" This chapter tells about the time Mpho caught on fire in her grandmother's house and could not get any help from her grandmother to put the fire out. Once she tells you the story, the chapter ends, and you move on to another chapter in her life.
   There are very few difficult aspects to this book. Keeping the characters situated was the most difficult. Mpho's name changes in the book. In southern Africa, where she is from, the women change their first name when they get married. I did not realize this at first so it was difficult to grasp who the story was about. She has many children throughout the book that pass away, and several who live, and it is hard to tell which ones are alive and which ones have passed. There are many people that she talks about in the story, and their names are hard to remember because they are hard to pronounce, like Valeria `M'amahlaku Sekobi Lillane (p.3). Some times, Mpho creates suspense in one chapter and does not tell you what happens until many chapters later. This leaves you wondering, but at the same time makes you not want to put the book down until you learn what happened. For example, in Chapter 11, "Khotso, Pula, Nala," she mentions, "My husband was still alive..." (p.63), but she does not tell you until many chapters later what happened to him. Also, in Chapter 15, page 86 she talks about Joseph killing her children, but you don't know how he did that, or which children he killed, until Chapter 18, "Joseph Kills My Three Boys" (p.107).
   Many people in the United States of America think that they have it bad, but until you read about a different culture you never realize that you have such a comfortable life. For example, we take reading and leisure time for granted, but Mpho says, "I'm telling stories for children and grown people in other places, because I want people who know how to read and have time to read, to know something about the Basotho - how we used to live and how we live now, how poor we are, and how we are living together in this place called Lesotho." We are not sold or taken into a marriage when we turn eighteen years of age, but for Mpho, that is what happens in her culture. She was lucky to fall in love with the boy she married, even though she was technically bought from her father by her husband's family. They did take her without her family knowing, but they sent word to her family that same day that she was not kidnapped, that they had taken her to get married. No matter how bad you have had it in your life, you soon realize that your worst day was one of Mpho's best. She leaves you with a sense that you can do anything and overcome any obstacles that might cross the path of your life. When you are having a bad day you can think back to something you read in the story and it some how gives you the strength to go on.
   Mpho states: "I'm telling stories for Basotho like my grandchildren, who read books but don't know the old ways of their own people. If they can read these stories, maybe it will teach them where they come from. And maybe I can help them to learn English, and they can find work." I recommend this book to anyone who wants to travel to a different place but doesn't have the time or money to. The way the story is told, you feel as if you are there, looking Mpho in her big round marble-like eyes, listening to the stories she tells. If you cannot quite picture the places she is talking about, there are eight pages of pictures to help you visualize what she is talking about. This special touch makes the book more personal than the ordinary autobiography. It makes you feel like Mpho is really speaking to you personally and wants you to feel the pain and joy that she felt. If you can't grasp the meaning of the African words described in the text, there is a glossary at the very end with every African word listed in alphabetical order with the definition. You do not have to have a lot of time to read this book. I am a full time student with a job and I had the time to read it.



2. I've never been much of a reader, but out of the few books I have read, this one has to be the most inspirational and touching to me. Singing Away the Hunger is about the real life events and struggles of an African woman who encounters many terrible and sad things: wearing a sack and eating weeds, being beaten by a teacher, the deaths of some of her children, and many other challenges. There are also some joys she shares, such as being in love. Her struggles though, are what were inspirational to me. The way she stays strong and positive through it all is very admirable, because the things that happen to her are unimaginable to me and don't happen in the U.S.A.
   The form of her writing is proficient, because it gives me a sense as if she is telling her story directly to me. Besides the story being told in first person, I really experienced this when she threw in sentences such as "When we arrive at his house, we find rice with meat. We didn't know what is rice." I was able to sense her fifth grade education, and I could almost imagine her speaking to me in an accent, with her fragments and the African words she uses often such as `M'e (mother) and ntate (father). I got a sense of closeness to her as well as compassion for her. The stories she tells, and the knowledge she gives me about the different people in Lesotho and Benoni, in South Africa, and their cultural styles helped me to understand that there are different cultures in southern Africa. For instance, I learned that Lesotho is much poorer than South Africa, and that there is one language spoken in Lesotho, but twelve different languages in South Africa.
   Another thing that I really enjoyed about this book is that it is very easy to read and understand. It is also fairly short, and it kept me wondering what type of event she would have to endure next. The titles of each chapter, such as "Death by Novena" or "The Child is Burning" hooked me. The titles alone drew me into each chapter.
   One downfall, in my opinion, is the lack of descriptiveness. There are things and places that she talks about and includes in her stories that I would have enjoyed more if she could have taken me there with more detailed images. I would have liked to know more about the scenery where she was. For example she doesn't describe the area that surrounds her or where she lived as much as she could have. For the most part, in my opinion, that is all that I feel the book lacked.

   I enjoyed this book very much because it was inspirational, touching, and at the same time educational. I couldn't have read this book at a better time, because just when I felt things were so bad in my life, I read it and realized that it could be worse, and is worse, somewhere in the world. I would recommend this book to any one interested African cultures or anyone who has had hard times, because along with all the information, this book is sure to give you an appreciation of life itself.




3. I love this book. Thanks to Limakatso, Mpho 'M'atsepo gave her story for all to read. I am so thankful I stumbled on this book. I read it in 2 sittings and will keep it forever.



4. Having lived in Lesotho, I picked up this book out of a sense of nostalgia. However, if I had never heard of Lesotho, I think I would still love M'e Mpho's story.
   
   As the afterword explains, the autobiography, while not written down on paper by the author, truly is the author's word. This is so evident in the lyricism and phrasing. I could hear M'e speaking phrases I have only heard uttered by the Basotho. While many of the cultural practices she describes are slowly changing, they are still so evident in the most rural communities.
   
   Basotho are fantastic storytellers, and M'e Mpho is no exception. The book is a quick, engaging read. The chapters are short (I often wished they would continue) and read like short stories. Her story jumps around in time and this adds to the experience.
   
   Truly a joy to read. I laughed and I cried. M'e Mpho represents so many strong Basotho women. She offers us a chance to learn about a place so few have even heard of.



5. This book is told from a Basotho woman's perspective. Its made up of a series of short stories about the author's life. The stories follow no chronological order because the author doesn't feel they need to. In Africa, there are many oral story tellers who pass on their stories to generation after generation. Think of this as a written version of this woman's family stories. Every story is unique and reveals a great deal about the culture of the Basotho people. If you are curious about the lives of African women, particularly the Basothos, I would recommend this book. This woman suffers through many hardships such as poverty, hunger, the death of many members of her family, and the horrible treatment her and her people receive from the South African police. However, she is strong and able to survive a lifetime of tough experiences. Truly a great read.

1 comments about Immigrant Women in the Land of Dollars: Life and Culture on the Lower East Side 1890-1925 (New Feminist Library).

1. I read this book while I was doing a research paper on immigrant women and their experiences in America and I was quite impressed by the amount of information it has. Unlike some books on this subject I've read, it has a nice flow to it and it reads well. I really liked the way the author organized it because it follows the immigrant women from the old country to America and very nicely describes their transition into Americans and the struggles they faced while doing this. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in this subject.

5 comments about Perpetua's Passion: The Death and Memory of a Young Roman Woman.

1. I found 'Perpetua's Passion really interesting, getting an interesting picture of Roman Society and attitudes. I finished the book wondering if the author, had some type of axe to grind in this society. I thought she tried to dismiss any notion that Pepetua and the other martyrs might have been truly holy or had any divine access to God. She was always giving another reason for what happened as though nothing spiritual was taking place.



2. "Perpetua's Passion: The Death and Memory of a Young Roman Woman" is the story of Perpetua, a young Roman Christian who was martyred in 203 A.D. It is a book well worth reading...but it is also missing something.

   I found Perpetua's Passion to be very well written and apparently well researched. Joyce E. Salisbury adeptly explores and explains the Roman and Carthaginian culture that Perpetua lived in. Mrs. Salisbury also seamlessly weaves into this tapestry a compelling picture of the Christian Church during the time of these events.

   The book is based off of the diary that Perpetua kept during her captivity. Mrs. Salisbury explains the significance of Perpetua's actions in light of the culture of her day. She then shows the influence of Perpetua's story on the later Church.

   All of this is very commendable. I was most impressed by the scholarship and insight of this book. Yet a question forms within me when I contemplate this book:

   So what? Where is the heart in this book? There is nothing in this book which says anything about how these events speak to the soul of people today. Maybe I missed it...

   What happened to Perpetua was more than a clinical historical event that affected the people immediately around her and eventually helped form certain patterns of thought within the Church. It was much more. It was a mortal being making an eternal statement. It was a moment in time where the Christian truth that there is more than this life was given a full embodiment in the actions of a young woman--A young woman who had every reason to live, yet for her, to die was gain. It was a moment of ultimate surrender, and at the same time, one of ultimate victory. The blood of the Martyrs is the seed of the Church!

   In the end, in spite of my objection, I recommend this book. It is insightful and instructive. However, don't just read this book with your head. Approach this one with your heart and your soul.




3. Though this book is, on the whole, a useful one, it doesn't take a glimpse at the author's bio to quickly realize she is no classicist. How else can one explain two elementary errors back-to-back which, even to this amateur Roman historian, are as prominent as two sore thumbs?

   On page 36 (Chapter 2, "The City" subsection) the author asserts Polybius "wrote circa 200 B.C." Why? Because those who claim he was BORN at that time are only making "scholarly estimates" (according to my "Polybius on Roman Imperialism")? Or because Salisbury breezily, and in this case incorrectly, assumed that Polybius was a contemporary of the events he most famously chronicled (an assumption that fails to hold for most Roman historical sources; cf. Suetonius, Tacitus)?

   Similarly, a mere three paragraphs down, Salisbury claims Hannibal "crossed the Alps with his elephants and succeeded in laying siege to the city of Rome itself." I'd be prompted to ask "Why?" again if in this case the real reason weren't so blatant: Salisbury fliply read a history of the 2nd Punic War and just assumed that at the high-tide of his success Hannibal must have laid siege "to the city of Rome itself". This assertion is no more true than the Polybius one. In "Warfare in Antiquity" by Hans Delbruck (just one source where this can be found), the author states that Hannibal was so aware of his deficiencies in manpower and siege equipment that he knew "despite the greatest victories, he would not be capable of besieging and capturing Rome itself" (Chapter II).

   I may seem to nitpick, but the errors I cited above are fundamental and have no place in a scholarly work, even if they are somewhat tangential to the book's main topic. I hope that in a future edition they will be corrected.




4. In Perpetua's Passion, Salisbury has served two different communities very well---those interested in early Christianity, and those interested in the history of women. She deftly creates a sociology of life in a group of early Christian martyrs, and does so in a way that makes very clear family relations, gender roles, and the strength of Vibia Perpetua herself. I have used this book when teaching a course on ancient & medieval women (and will do so again), and found that it worked very well. Students found it readable and useful and thought-provoking.



5. STAMPED ON MY MIND FOREVER-FABULOUS BOOK. TO KNOW OF SUCH STRONG HEROISM OF THESE 2 SAINTS OF GOD MOVED ME TO A MUCH DEEPER WALK WITH GOD. IT MAKES YOU THINK IF YOU HAD THE FAITH TO DIE LIKE THAT. I LOVED IT TOTALLY.

5 comments about I'm the One That I Want.

1. Margaret Cho does a great job in revealing her identity as one that is complex -- I love how she talked about her ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and race! She's not just a comedian. Or just a Korean American. Or just a woman. Or just an Asian American. Her book weaves together all those different aspects of her. I suppose I may be biased because I was already a fan of hers to begin with, but I really had a blast reading this book!



2. i literally couldn't put the thing down. there was just nowhere that i wanted to stop! it's margaret cho's life in a nutshell and it really teaches you some things about her life that you never knew happened, that she doesn't mention in her stand-up.
   an autobiography is an autobiography. but if you love margaret cho, get this book immediately. one of the only books i actually own.



3. Margaret Cho's autobiography, a deeply personal and revealing journey through her life and career, draws you in and fascinates you. The book, written in 2001, candidly chronicles some of the most painful events imaginable. Anyone who has ever been discriminated against can relate. Cho, who is (for the most part) straight but remarkly and sincerely supportive and part of the queer community, felt the sting of anti-woman and anti-Asian prejudice from pre-school on and endured astonding "body-type" discrimination as well. She openly presents her pain, and her drug and alcohol abuse reaction to it, in a remarkably direct and frequently funny way. It's one of the few autobiographies ever that doesn't insist at the end that all the problems have been solved (autobiographers usually write that whether it's true or not.) Yet, there is a strength in Maraget Cho's words that makes the reader feel hope.
   "I'm the One That I Want," By Margeret Cho, Ballantine Books $22.95



4. I've always really liked Margaret Cho when I've seen her do stand-up on television. She can be extremely funny and edgy. Imagine my disappointment, then, when I listened to (most of) this CD. I couldn't even finish it, it's so bad. It's just her reading her routines, and not even doing that very well. She sounds like she's sitting alone in a studio, bored, reading from a script - no energy, no life. Don't waste your money.



5. 
   The book begins with some very painful childhood experiences... she was not just bullied, she was reviled. Even at a church sponsored summer camp, she was traded off by girls who should have been her friends, but sought social acceptance by joining in Margaret's (Moran's) humiliation. There are no adults around to intercede. Her parents seem to agree with the world's negative opinion of her. It is no surprise that she drops (flunks) out of school and finds companionship among those in society's other outcast groups.
   
   There are many raw examples of what was wrong with her life. For this reason, the book is probably censored away from the many badgered and taunted teenage girls who could use these reality lessons to understand the dynamics that are working against them. Margaret figures it out finally--- after some real hard knocks lessons.
   
   I read this in succession with Steve Martin's memoir about his stand up career Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life. In contrast, Margaret's book is much more intimate, informative and graphic. While Steve says it's lonely on the road-- Margaret describes it. The vignettes about finding a room around Fordham, driving on black ice, the booing in Monroe and the off duty bell hop, and more give the reader a real feel for what happens. Similarly, she describes how TV pilots are made from the business meeting with the humorless executives who decide what comedy shows will fly, to the high priority on the actress's weight, to the lack of interaction of the star and the writers. Martin reveals none of his experiences here.
   
   This book is raw and real. Fortunately it has an affirming ending for the reader, but especially for Margaret.

5 comments about Diary of a Provincial Lady.

1. This was a simply written and quite charming novel. Whilst it did give an insight into the lives of a moderately wealthy English family in 1931, it lacked plot and real structure and for this reason I am unlikely to read more by this author at this stage - especially when there are simply too many other great books out there to read. A gentle, easy read but a little disappointing.



2. I reread this every year or two, and love it each time. Admittedly,a product of its time and place, capturing life among the genteely-poor gentry in an English village between the wars(WW's I & II). The diary format makes the provincial lady's narration of and commentary on the events around her doubly funny, as she struggles to run her household and not be driven crazy by nice but dull husband, snobbish wife of husband's boss,disputes among servants,quandaries about children, etc.--and to find time to keep a sense of herself as a professional writer. Not deep, but funny and often touching.



3. Am determined to write impressions from this book in the style of "the Provincial Lady" herself. Am doubtful however as to the outcomes of this effort as my highest labors would not reach the dry frank witticism she displays.
   Provincial Lady does her best to satisfy the wishes of silent husband (... "Robert, this morning, complains of insufficient breakfast. Cannot feel that porridge, scrambled eggs, toast, marmalade, scones, brown bread and coffee give adequate grounds for this, but admit that porridge is slightly burnt...."), intimidating cook, beloved children (... "Robin - whom I refer to in a detached way as "the boy" so that she shan't think I am foolish about him..., "Vicky,.... Enquires abruptly whether, if she died, I should cry?"), Mademoiselle (the nanny), Gardner and all kinds of friends and neighbors including the tiring Lady Birkenshop, "our vicar's wife" and the hated Mrs. B. ("query: Is not a common hate one of the strongest links in human nature?... answer, most regrettably, in the affirmative.")
   This is the same women world. Husband is as usual quiet and does not give any consolation and the Lady struggles to please everyone and not forget herself and her own wishes (and health) on the way. How very sad to discover it was the same (woman) world even 70 years ago ... Book is so very candid and manages to capture the ever lasting nuances of human behavior ("Mem: Candid and intelligent self examination as to motive, etc., often leads to very distressing revelations...."), little lies, social pretenses and the day to day struggles. Funny and entertaining yet can be tiring at times - since the day to day life is indeed tiring . Very very British and thus charming.



4. This charming book was written in the period between the wars, and tells of the daily trials and tribulations of the Provincial Lady - dealing with the servants, nosy neighbours, the horribly snobbish local 'upper class', the husband who hides behind the paper. Always told with style and wit, we observe life for the lady in question as she tries to balance the accounts (never a success - where does it all go?), help out at the local Women's Institute, keep her wardrobe up to date and deal with such important issues as modern parenting, keeping one's brain active when living outside of London, and the delicate balance of letting the husband know not too much or too little.

   The stand-out thing about this book is the character descriptions and her take on everyday life. If anyone ever tells you people were much nicer/politer in the good old days, just refer them to this book, which shows that there was just as many selfish, impolite, venal, self-centred and downright rude people in the 'good old days' as there are today. We just need to hope that we can deal with them with as much style and aplomb as the Provincial Lady would.




5. According to her, this is a single volume that contains "The Diary of a Provincial Lady" ONLY. The editorial review from Amazon states that this edition also includes several sequels. Apparently it does not. Still worth the price, according to Mom; she found it absolutely delightful.

No comments about Amarcord: Marcella Remembers.

5 comments about The Opposite of Fate: Memories of a Writing Life.

1. I had no idea. I had no idea what a great writer she is, what an amazing person she is, how difficult her life has been. Now that I've read this book, I know. And I am inspired.
   
   I highly recommend this book to any daughter, any Asian, any writer, and any person with an open mind/heart who wants to know a little bit more about an intriguing, challenging life.



2. This book is a personal favorite, as it gives so much insight into Tan's writing and her views, but also because the essays are simply so enjoyable to read. The book is a collection of essays that spans her literary career and is filled with her own special brand of humor. Within the pages we find writing on her authorial intentions, her perspective on critics and scholars who interpret her writing and her intentions, and biographical essays. I can imagine using one or two of these essays as material for teaching a writing class. These essays are overall lovely, clever, and engaging. This book is not just for "fans only." If you weren't a fan before, you may become one after reading this collection.



3. I've always enjoyed her novels, and The Opposite of Fate gave me an even deeper understanding of the origins of her work. I really enjoyed the opportunity to hear, in her own words, the true history of her family, her thoughts on her childhood, young adulthood, and even current day. She's a fun, funky, formidable, & fascinating woman & someone you'd love to know & introduce to all your friends. I really enjoyed having the opportunity to get to know her better!



4. The book is wonderful, so interesting. It is rather like Eat,Pray,Love with a chinese twist.
   
   The AUDIO version of the book is a revelation: Amy Tan has a lively and lovely voice, she is a gifted mimic, and she does a fabulous job of reading this great book.
   
   There are some very sad parts, you will definitely be moved to think and consider wider concepts, but it is completely delightful and thick with insight.



5. I didn't read The Joy Luck Club; I wasn't interested, it sounded like a chick book, and I don't play Mah Jong. This book is more like taking a peek inside Amy Tan. It was great.
   
   I hated literature in high school and college, because all the professors always talked about all the "hidden meaning" and symbolism in persons, objects and events happening in the book. I thought this was a bunch of BS. So thank you Amy for proving me right!
   
   It is a well written compilation of stories, observations and even commencement addresses. My favorite was her thoughts on waiting to be introduced for a talk and seeing the Cliff Notes of her book on display. Nice touch. I would probably appreciate Joy Luck Club after reading this book.

5 comments about Polite Lies: On Being a Woman Caught Between Cultures.

1. Having lived in Japan 4 separate times, I loved returning because things worked somehow and at the same time confused me as to how they worked. Mori by sharing her personal experiences -- through her mother's suicide, her stepmother's evil intent, her transition to life in Green Bay, her divorce to her husband, and more -- offers a lot of insight into the thinking that makes Japan's culture such a magnetic source of confusion for me. Although this represents more the author's insights from her personal experiences more than whatever "average" there may be to Japanese life, the reader can still learn from her unique experience of being "Japanese."
   
   Also, coming from the Chicago area, I learn from Mori's comparison of her understanding of Midwestern Green Bay culture and Kansai Japanese culture. It's a comparison that other sociological books and more quantative readings fail at. In terms of writing quality, maybe I'd give it 3 stars, but the way Kyoko Mori shares so much personally, this open honestness encouraged me to give it 4 stars. This book might also be useful for couples with a Japanese or Japanese-American partner.



2. I really enjoyed reading this book. Mori, as befits a writing instructor, writes beautifully. Her essays have a wonderful flow about them and are peppered with interesting details. I think they would serve as great instructional pieces on writing personal essays.
   
   However, I found some un-evenness in the actual content of what Dr. Mori had to say. Her observations about what it's like to be a person caught between or maybe with one foot in each of two very different cultures struck me as very true and perceptive, as this is also my life story.
   
   The problem is when Dr. Mori talks about Japan. She is one of a fairly typical group of adult-immigrants to the US, who moved here because they disliked their life in their home country. And since she has been here for 20 years and has been very successful and lived a full life, all her stories about Japan are going to have a goal of saying 'I am so glad I left Japan.' In addition, as the other reviewers have said, Dr. Mori had an extremely unhappy childhod in Japan, which probably colors all of her perceptions of that country. I found her descriptions of her feelings in flying closer to Japan on a rare visit there very revealing -- to her, Japan is not a home, not even a happy place, but instead a place full of terrible memories that she is only too happy to have escaped from.
   
   Nonetheless, I think this book is worth reading both for its writing and its observations about being a person who is bicultural by choice.



3. I loved this book. I am not surprised that there are bad reviews. Some Japanese and japanophile readers could be offended by the revelations about Japanese culture. But, Kyoko is giving the reader tremendous insight into the social structure of Japan. She points out quite a few similarities to American Midwest culture. Best of all, her stories draw the reader in and keep reader wanting more.



4. As a half-Japanese raised in the Midwest by an old-fashioned Japanese mother born and raised near Tokyo, I could really relate to much of this book. Mori's personal story and her eye-opening revelations of traditional Japanese culture vs general American culture are fascinating, however she did lose me a bit in her comparisons with the Midwest which I did not fully buy into. Others may argue that Mori discloses the "old" Japan, but there are plenty of books out there trying to teach Americans how to negotiate the Japanese social terrain which is extremely complex and still quite traditional and conservative. Mori is an unusually independent and practical woman, so much so that she discovers marriage even to a good man who gives her space is too constricting. It seems her own childhood experiences have thrust her into the extreme. I hope she finds happiness.



5. I picked up this book hoping that I might find some similar experiences. Like this author I immigrated to the US when Iwas 20 and have been in the US for more than 20 years and living in two cultures: Korean and American.
   
   I didn't mind reading the author's comparisons about two cultures, saying "in Japan....but in Midwest ..." But her voice is getting too much negative and so angry then it becomes that she sounds arrogant: no personal warmth from the author.

5 comments about At Home in the Vineyard: Cultivating a Winery, an Industry, and a Life.

1. This is a brilliant book written by a highly intelligent and unusual woman. It is probably headed towards becoming a minor classic. Like all great books it is not easy to classify. At its most superficial it purports to be a history of the Oregon wine industry, a subject of limited interest. At another level it is a business autobiography by a woman who heads a successful Oregon winery, a subject of slightly wider appeal. Yet both levels simply form a frame to answer more eternal questions: who am I and how did I get to be who I am? At that deeper level the book may come to have a more lasting life.
   
   Emerging into adulthood in the early 1970's the author and her husband bought land in Oregon and planted grape vines which ultimately led to the Sokol-Blosser Winery. That they were in their early twenties with no business experience, no knowledge of the wine industry, and no knowledge of agricultural did not then occur to them as an insurmountable obstacle. Nearly forty years later after taking over the business from her husband, surviving the disinvestment of her brothers, droughts, rain storms, a volcanic eruption, separation from business partners, 20% interest rates, three children, a three-legged cat, recalcitrant geese, a mid-life divorce, love unexpectedly found anew, success in business and failure in politics, the author recounts with great honesty the trials and tribulations of a woman's life in the second half of the 20th century as mother, wife, and CEO.
   
   While the author ascribes the emerging success of her business mainly to determination and some luck, her intelligence and judgment shine through and provide a more convincing explanation. That no rancor invades the author's tale, despite many instances where bitterness and acrimony would be a natural response, suggests that her skill and judgment in negotiating difficult situations may have counted more heavily than simple determination. The author's seriousness is often leavened with humor. It is a book well worth reading.



2. This book, down to the "pioneer" theme,and dustjacket synopsis, seems to owe a significant debt to Louisa Thomas Hargrave's The Vineyard, which covered similar territory at a similar time on Long Island's North Fork.



3. I found Hargrave's autobiography pompous and dull, but Susan Sokol Blosser's account of building a life in the Dundee Hills of Oregon speaks to me on many levels--as a woman working in the wine industry, a woman working with her husband, a woman running her own business, and a mother. Susan turns her trials into triumphs and exercises a sense of humor along the way. From the Great Goose Experiment to the day her tearful son rides his bike all the way to school by himself, this is a story that will transport you into "The Life" of owning a vineyard and winery, with a judicial salting of reality and romance.



4. Pour a glass of Evolution Wine and kick back with this entertaining memoir. If the technical aspects of starting and maintaining a business is not a favorite reading topic there is still plenty of life drama going on that is highly readable and easy to relate to. Having lived in Oregon for 22 years and seen (and tasted) the state's wine industry mature I was fascinated with finding out the inside story. If you live in Oregon you might enjoy a few "I was there" moments when the author describes the wonderful concert series in her vineyard. Ah yes...Johnny Mathis under the full moon. Wonderful memory, wonderful book.



5. Well, except when the weather deals them an unwelcome clout....
   
   I live smack dab in the middle of wine country (California) myself, but am no vintner. And it happens I took a scouting trip to the McMinnville vicinity in Oregon last year, thinking it a prospective new home. So, when I spied the lush, green-vined cover of AT HOME IN THE VINEYARD, I was hooked and had to investigate one woman's (and her family's) experiences establishing and nurturing grapes from plant to bottle.
   
   Susan Sokol Blosser writes a chatty, wide-ranging history beginning in late 1970, when she gave birth to her first son and her then-husband Bill "closed the deal on our first piece of vineyard land." She traces the stages of the vineyard and the winery that was built later with an easy, honest style that disarms and charms. It is soon apparent that this woman is an engine of energy. During the years her three children are small, she mainly toils in the vineyard, tilling, planting, picking, spraying, fertilizing, etc. But she also finds time to join the school board and various associations. She also teaches briefly at a McMinnville college. Later, she is twice a candidate for state public office, once losing by a questionable "whisker." As the family wine business expands, so does the wine industry in Oregon. Susan and Bill do their part to uphold and promote the burgeoning reputation Oregon wine slowly acquires -- particularly its Pinot Noir which grows full-bodied in the cooler Northwest climate. In 1990, Susan takes over from Bill as president of their winery and slowly refinances and then gains full ownership of the enterprise. She changes winemakers to improve quality. She travels widely and often to see distributors and explore new markets. She modernizes the labels on their bottles and gains national attention with a blended white wine. She deals with lawsuits and legislative hurdles. She also decides to shift to organic operations and embraces sustainable agriculture. Then, in the early years of the new millennium, she decides she will focus on gradually handing over the reins of power to the son and daughter who have decided to follow their parents into the family business.
   
   While the author relates the chronology of the vineyard and winery she owns and manages, she doesn't ignore the personal side. AT HOME IN THE VINEYARD includes some cute anecdotes about farm pets, and it mentions family concerns such as her father's Alzheimer's without dwelling on them. At one point, I wondered how in the world anyone could juggle so many balls in the air -- family, business, many friendships, and political activism. Something seemed bound to tumble. Well, something did, and the author unflinchingly, and without wallowing, tackles the changes in her life after the children grew up and left the nest.
   
   For anyone who has ever considered starting up a winery, AT HOME IN THE VINEYARD illustrates the kind of commitment and fortitude such an undertaking requires. But even if you aren't planning on being the entrepreneur that all the members of the Sokol Blosser family are; if you seek stories about rural life, want to know more about the Willamette Valley, or are interested in one outspoken and undaunted woman's adventures as a corporate executive, then snag a copy of AT HOME IN THE VINEYARD and -- maybe with a glass of wine in hand -- imbibe it cover to cover.