1 comments about The Talented Women of the Zhang Family (Philip E. Lilienthal Books in Asian Studies).

1. If you enjoy Chinese history, this is a book you are sure to treasure. The writer takes a slightly novelistic approach [which is carefully explained and justified] to create good history and an amazingly good read. I was sad when I came to the end.

5 comments about If You Don't Have Big Breasts, Put Ribbons on Your Pigtails: And Other Lessons I Learned from My Mom.

1. I review sales and marketing books for a living, and this is without a doubt one of the best sales books I've read. Not only is it full of well-grounded, sound business ideas and principles, it's also hilarious! I love Corcoran's style, wit, chutzpah, and self-deprecating humor.
   
   Whatever business you're in, you'll find something of value in this easy-to-read, laugh-a-minute, book.



2. Yes - I have a personal connection to it because of the tie in with my background. Barbara started her real estate agency on a bootstrap just like me! BUT this book should not just be read by real estate business owners. It's witty, relevant to any business owner and beautifully crafted. While I of course admire Barbara for what she did turning a $1,000 investment by her boyfriend into one of Manhattan's largest real estate groups - my admiration grew when I read this sensational book.



3. I ordered this book thinking it was different from Use What You've Got & Other Lessons I Learned from my Mom, which I bought in hardcover and enjoyed. It is not, it is the same as the older book. They simply retitled it.



4. Should be required reading for anyone in real estate sale, new to the business or a seasoned agent.



5. Barbara's wit is as enjoyable as her wisdom. A very easy read, this book puts a fun spin on the typically boring side of business management.

2 comments about The Book of Jon.

1. while our backgrounds are somewhat different, I could relate pretty explicitly to the world from whence this book comes--a kind of poisonous vernacular. And also the subject matter: the father as an unreachable, doomed anti-hero. Sikelianos engages with the subject matter in a vital fashion, interacting with it on its own terms, but never becoming poisoned by its refulgent mediocrities. A kind of postmodern rethinking of "On the Road," peering unflinchingly at the realities behind the myth of "rugged American individualism." Though it atones all involved with its reaching, a kind of absolution by way of narrative blurring, an alchemy that turns plastic fake wood panelling into gold...



2. Father's Day, I was in Santa Barbara visiting my daughter. We got sandwiches on lower State Street at the Greek Deli, which, along with Joe's Bar (one of the places I used to look for my old man), I told my daughter that was about all that was left from the 60s and 70s when lower State was Santa Barbara's skid row, and her grandpa lived in the YMCA in that's now a parking lot across from the Greyhound Depot. I could see the more I went on about it, anyway, the distant past held little interest on a day when the sunny boulevard was full of tourists and students shopping boutiques, hopping from sports-bar to dining on tapas in fountained patios. I shut up about her grandfather (who everyone else recalls only, when they bother, as the most essentially alcoholic of men), unable to shake his ghost in parking lots and single occupancy furnished rooms that no longer exist.
   
   I read this book dutifully, thinking, "Okay, I'll do my duty---but we've lived this story, so do we have to read about it, too?" My guess is yes. We haven't heard the end of it yet, and we haven't heard about it in this way before. The untold stories, post-mortem dreams and oblique inferences Sikelianos composes for THE BOOK OF JON cast smoky shadows of hope in the pungent colors of lived experience. Instead of another regurgitated tell-all memoir in the genre as currently marketed, instead of detailing in conventional melodramatic or operatic naturalism the body blows causing the wind to be knocked out of all the childhoods under these kind of fathers, Sikelianos structures THE BOOK OF JON tellingly and evocatively through elision and inference juxtaposed with a poet's snapshot-apt observation. Someone close to me (who's back in rehab again at the moment) once yelled at me, "Never, ever write anything about me! My problems are not the subjects of your poems!" And Sikelianos's BOOK OF JON isn't playing back her father's self-destruction for dramatic effect, for an evening's entertainment. She's not selling her own damage for the sake of authenticity in the market for reminiscences. Instead, with hard looks and casual bluntness, she's made a book of beaded moments that blesses both father and daughter even-handedly. THE BOOK OF JON honors that difficult duty. Its courage reminds me of another memoir, William Stafford's DOWN IN MY HEART, which describes a poet-turned-firefighter's experiences as conscientous objector during a popular, and perhaps necessary, war.

5 comments about Land of a Thousand Hills: My Life in Rwanda.

1. I always read everything I can get my hands on about Africa, having had the luxury of visiting Kenya & Tanzania a few years ago. Once you visit, you'll always want to return, even if it is only through the eyes of others. This book is at the top of my list, along with Mark Ross' "Dangerous Beauty." I commend Ann Howard Halsey for helping her aunt write this story about life in Rwanda. What a treasure! With all the material things Ms. Carr lost during the tragic events of the genocide (and all the people she loved who were killed by senseless murders), happily, Rosamond Halsey Carr's heroic story will last forever! This book reads "like butter!"--beautifully written, yet deep and provocative; never boring. I only wish I could have known Ms. Carr and seen the beauty of her adopted country that she saw for over 50 years!! (I would have a thousand questions to ask her, too.) What a horrific, under publicized period of history she lived through (and miraculously lived to tell the story). Most of the book is of the 40-50 years she spent in Rwanda which lead up to the events of the genocide--there are plenty of happy times, but it wasn't an easy life. I enjoyed Carr's stories about her friend Dian Fosse, too--she didn't romanticize the truth! The authors do a great job explaining the politics and culture of the country as well. Bravo! This book is worth the read!



2. Land of A Thousand Hills is an autobiography by Rosamond Halsey Carr. She lived in Rwanda from 1949 until her death in 2006. Originally the owner of a flower plantation, she went on at 82 to open an orphanage for children left parentless during the Hutu-Tutsi genocide.
   
   I had higher hopes for this book. Which isn't to say that Land of a Thousand Hills is a bad book. It isn't. It is certainly interesting biographically. Carr was a fascinating woman. The sheer strength of her decision to stay in Africa after the collapse of her marriage in order to run a flower plantation on her own is really impressive-- more so considering the time. At 82, I hope that I'm the kind of woman who will return to a war zone to start an orphanage. It was also fascinating to read her stories about Dian Fossey. Carr certainly knew some very interesting people.
   
   I suppose that I was mostly disappointed because I expected it to say more about Rwanda as a country. Given her obvious personal strength, I expected her to be a more unbiased observer. She clearly was not that, and to her credit I guess that she never pretended to be. I didn't feel as though I learned much about the politics of the time that she lived through. Worse, I didn't really feel that I trusted much of what I did learn.
   
   One exception to this is that so few people are willing to write about the Tutsi at all critically, following the genocide. Carr actually builds a hesitant case for the defense without excusing Huti excesses, something that probably took a fair amount of personal courage. That was interesting.
   
   The book is not terribly well written, although the prose is generally clean. They may have done better to have it co-written by someone with better credentials than being a relative of the primary author.
   
   If you have some time to spare, and are interested in the fading days of European empire in Africa, you may well find this a good use of time. But walk, don't run, to the book store.



3. I chose this book to learn more about Rwanda and it's history. I learned alot in addition to the account of the author's life there. Even though we hear negatives about many places- it was nice to see both sides for a change. I think the more we learn about other countries and their history a better understanding we will have of the people.
   
   I plan to do more reading in this area.



4. A fascinating read and historical insight into Rwanda and it's neighbours. Ros Carr's fortitude and life described in the book was truly inspiring. To start up an orphanage in one's 80's is amazing. If visiting Rwanda a visit to her loved home and orphanage 'Mugongo' makes this book come alive. Great to see her good work continuing since her passing.



5. I spent four years in Rwanda, at Mudende, less than 1/2 a mile down the road from where Roz Carr lived. My wife and I got to know her quite well. This book brought back a lot of memories. She was as good a hostess as she is a story teller. Her love of the country and its people truly come through in this book. She also paints a vivid picture of life there. I would recommend it to anyone who loves to read about winners and survivors.

No comments about Telling Histories: Black Women Historians in the Ivory Tower (Gender and American Culture).

2 comments about In the Footsteps of Faith: Lessons from the Lives of Great Men and Women of the Bible.

1. Though I am very familiar with the Bible, this was an enjoyable overview of the faith of several Biblical people. Not only did I enjoy it, but I based a Devotional I gave at a baby shower on one of the stories. I have also given it as an earned study book to some of the children in my 5th/6th grade Sunday School. It is also an encouraging gift to someone who is ill and wants only shorter, but meaty reading material while they recuperate. You'll find it's one of those "little gems" you'll want to pass on.



2. This is a simple tour through the life of fourteen biblical characters who exhibited lives of faith. Some of the all-stars on display include Abraham, Moses, John the Baptist, Peter and Paul. But some lesser lights are also highlighted such as Rahab, Lydia and Epaphroditus.
   
   This is a straightforward, relatively uncomplicated book suitable for a Sunday school class or Bible study. It even includes a study guide for that purpose. I personally found the last chapter on Jesus Christ to be the most helpful.

3 comments about The Woman That I Am: The Literature and Culture of Contemporary Women of Color.

1. "The Woman That I Am;" an anthology containing such literary geniuses as Gwendolyn Brooks, Jamaica Kincaid, Amy Tan, and poet laureate Rita Dove; seethes with life and vitality. Essentially a collection of poetry, short stories, plays and essays on the lives of colored women, the focus for the anthology lays within the diversity of the writers selected. Synthesized in this collection are the lives of women from all walks of life completely free of judgment. "In loving ourselves for who we are --American women of color-- we can make a vision for the future where we are free to fulfill our human potential. This new framework will not support repression, hatred, exploitation and isolation, but will be a human and beautiful framework, created in a community, bonded not by color, sex or class, but by love and the common goal for the liberation of mind, heart, and spirit." (Merle Woo) A celebration for all womankind, whis book is a must read for colored women, lesbians, conservatives, breast cancer survivors, daughters, mothers, wives, students, mentors, bosses, plebeians, independents, mujeres, lovers, writers, readers... humankind. Buy it now and enjoy it tomorrow.



2. I first came upon this book in a senior seminar in college. At the time I apppreciated it for the varying voices of women. I was able to see women like and unlike myself and be warmed by the fire of this sisterhood. I had no idea that when I wrote my Master's thesis how important this text would be. Unfortunately there are few anthologies like this one that covers so many bases so effectively. Madison has collected well known and lesser known talents into an invaluable research tool. It should be required reading for anyone interested in stepping into the world of writing by women of color.



3. This book is an interesting collection of well-known and lesser-known authors of short stories, plays, poetry and essays. All works of writing portray the lives of colored women. It is a varied group of writers who really, have little in common. However, the book is lacking a cohesive momentum that it was probably trying to achieve. Interesting addition to a book collection.

5 comments about No More Words : A Journal of My Mother, Anne Morrow Lindbergh.

1. I have read Reeve Lindbergh's work before in her memoir, "Under A Wing". I was surprised at her candor regarding her father, and what was equally clear was her fondness for her mother. "No More Words", which records the last 17 trying and rewarding months of her mother's life, is a tender tribute that is notable for what it includes and for what it omits.

   The only photograph of Mrs. Lindbergh is the one that appears on the cover. The photograph depicts a young woman at the start of what would prove to be a life as fascinating as it was lengthy. The closing months of this woman's life are chronicled above all else with a great deal of respect. This is a most private family event, and just as the book is devoid of any pictures for the voyeur, the narrative too is informative without taking away any of the dignity of her mother. This would seem to be an obvious manner to write of one's parent, but a person does not have to look far to find books written with sales as the first goal, and exploitation of the subject left unconsidered.

   Reeve Lindbergh is a poet, she is reflective, and these aspects of her personality provide a narrative that is unique. This book is not simply a diary; it is not a chronological description of the systematic health decline of her mother. It is more of a story that is driven by the limited interactions she was able to have with her mother, and the memories that were either hers or recollections of her mother's life. This is not a sugarcoated story of what was a very trying time. The book is a balanced memoir about how difficult it is to deal with not only the death of a parent, but also the very real difficulties and frustrations that caring for an elderly, ill parent involves. Mrs. Lindbergh had the best care available which took much of the moment-to-moment care off of the family. It did not remove many of the difficulties, and the reader can easily imagine what it would entail to care for a parent with little, or no outside help.

   This is a very contemplative book that moves at an associated pace.




2. This is a fast reading book concerning Mrs. Charles Lindbergh's last few years of life. Written by youngest Lindbergh sibling, Reeve, she tells of living on her own farm in Vermont, with a smaller house on the property her mother lived in during that time. Reeve Lindbergh is a wonderful writer - she doesn't need the famous last name to prove that. When she isn't writing about her mother, which is riveting for some reason, her writing of anything else in the book has such a fresh, emotional spirit behind her words. Anne Morrow Lindbergh, a legend in her own time both in flying, her husband, and her many published works, did not talk much in her last years. It is a story of how the family felt and coped with her condition, letting go of the vibrant mother they once knew. An excellent book for those who have been a caregiver to a parent or sibling. Anne M.L. was such a famous figure, it was both interesting and heartwrenching to have the privilege of reading about her day to day living. Thank you, Reeve Lindbergh, for sharing this story that you could have kept to yourself, but chose to share. It's a book that will be remembered long after it's read.



3. Reeve Lindberg has succeeded in giving us a marvelous journey through the last two years of her mother's life. It is also a very helpful description of what it is to deal with someone who is deep in the fog of an Alzheimer's like state. I plan to give copies to many of my friends, most especially those with elderly parents. Reeve's language is lovely and crisp in the strokes of its portraits. It is easy to see she that is her mother's daughter. I am so happy to have discovered this book and I would recommend it to anyone who is seeing or will see an elderly parent or friend through his or her last days and months. Tasha Halpert



4. This is a touching memoir of the time when Reeve Lindbergh was helping to take care of her aging mother, the famous Anne Morrow Lindbergh in the last year(s) of her life. This book is a look inside the private lives of a very well known family during a difficult transition in their lives.
   
   The story is about how Reeve is trying to make sense of this time. It contains her thoughts and reflections and fears about the change in her mother's condition. I appreciate the honesty in which this book is written, I feel like the author held nothing back in relating her story. I was surprised and delighted at the openness of it. She wrote about things in dealing with this situation that people think, but would rarely admit to.
   
   I found this book to be very comforting, as I recently experienced a similar situation in my own family. There were so many times, as I read this, I was shaking my head thinking....I know exactly what you're saying. Throughout the ordeal, there are sad times, but there were also light and funny times as well. Dealing with the aging and decline of a loved one that you have known so well all of your life is difficult. They change, and when it happens, we don't always know how to deal with it or what to think, and we wonder what they are thinking. It's hard and it's confusing when you are trying to guess at what is going on in their world. Reeve writes beautifully about it all.
   
   I had not picked this book with the intention of experiencing what I did...the comfort of reading about someone else going through a similar situation as me. I initially picked this book because I love Anne Morrow Lindbergh's book 'Gift of the Sea' and I wanted to read more about her life. Once again, as I am a firm believer of...the right books come along at just the precise moment that we need them and so often they come in an unexpected way as this one did for me.



5. Reeve surely has Ann's gene for writing. This book should be read by all who still have parents alive and will be faced with their eventual death and by those who have already lost a loved one. Alzheimers and dimentia are a death before dying. It is hardest on those left behind and gilt and worry are only some of the emotions one has to deal with during the dying process. Reeve caught the essence of her mother and was fortunate to be able to have 24/7 caregivers to help her through this ordeal.
   This book is a tribute to Ann and to Reeve's Sister.

5 comments about Lazy B: Growing up on a Cattle Ranch in the American Southwest.

1. "Lazy B," like the title implies, is the story of Sandra Day O'Connor and her younger brother growing up on a ranch in south-eastern Arizona. They grew up in an isolated environment that mandated self-reliance and initiative. Sandra received much of her formal education through riding the train to El Paso to stay with her maternal grandparents while attending a local girls' school. Her father had wanted to attend Stanford but the responsibilities of taking over the family ranch prevented that. Sandra O'Connor was able to achieve that for him, where she excelled academically, was then inspired by one of her instructors to study law (also at Stanford), met her husband (and also dated classmate William Rehnquist), and then struggled to begin a law career at a time that women had almost no such opportunity. (Despite Sandra graduating from Stanford Law #2 in her class, her early job searches were at best met with "Can you type?")
   
   Then it was on to Phoenix where she started a law partnership, then moved to the Attorney General's office, became elected to the State Senate, became a Superior Court Judge, was promoted to the Arizona Court of Appeals by Governor Babbitt (D), and then selected by President Reagan to the Supreme Court.
   
   Personal Note: In the late 1970s I appeared in Judge O'Connor's court as a witness and was astounded at her astute (and polite) questioning of one of the attorney's. Later, I witnessed the buzz as those who knew her stopped to congratulate her Supreme Court appointment. And most recently I had the opportunity to hear her and her brother give a presentation on this book - very insightful, witty, and again - polite. (She autographed my copy!)
   
   An inspiring person!



2. I loved reading this memoir about growing up on a huge cattle ranch in the American southwest. Sandra Day O'Connor and her brother H. Alan Day write from the heart in an easy to read book with lots of pictures. This is a tribute to their parents, a portrait of a colorful childhood in a remote setting on the Arizona border. The Day family raised cattle for a living; real cowboys worked the ranch, broke wild horses, built and mended fences, rounded up cattle, drilled wells, and built windmills. The children participated in all aspects of ranch life.
   
   The story is about three generations of a family surviving on an arid and strange land - what the land taught them and how they coped with extremes of drought and distance. Individual stories of the cowboys, their love of horses and cattle and other animals are portrayed in a warm and loving way, as if the authors are smiling as they remember those happy days and their parents who taught and encouraged Sandra, Alan, and their sister Ann; the fun times, hard work, windmills and wells, rodeos, the first train thru the area, school, and so much more.
   
   Short chapters, wonderful pictures, and a pleasure to read about a part of America where it truly was "home on the range", and where the cattle industry flourished over a span of a century. Thank you authors for sharing. The quotations are priceless. Here is one of them: When Time, who steals our years away, Shall steal our pleasure, too. The Memory of the past will stay, And half our joys renew. (Thomas Moore, "song")



3. A wonderful and genuine book that provides great imagery and a window into the real and raw Southwest. The book is less about Justice O'Connor and more about our magnificant Southwest. Environmental issues, farming, education, and family relationships are all discussed in an authentic and beautifully descriptive way. It's not a page turner but it's a lovely book if you want a picture about growing up in the Southwest when cowboys roamed and cattle were plentiful.



4. LAZY B by Sandra Day O'Connor gives the reader a picture through words and photographs of life on a ranch in the arid southwest. But it also presents the development of independence, the value of a job well done not for praise or monetary considerations but because you believe in yourself.
   The way of life is fading into myth and legends, but an aspect of the value of children to the economic unit of the family needs to be examined and studied to give us greater insight into our educational processes. Productive work is the hallmark of a human being, it shines through the dust for this family and their employees.



5. This is one of the best books I have read in a while. I thoroughly enjoyed Sandra Day O'Connor's vivid depiction of her youth living on a ranch in the southwest. Particularly impressive were the connections made between lessons learned on the ranch and her philosophy on life, which ultimately shaped her career. I couldn't put the book down. I have purchased several copies to give to friends and family who have connections to ranching and/or the southwestern U.S. I highly recommend this book, even to those who do not have connections to ranching. As the majority of the population moves further away from agrarian life, this book is a refreshing reminder of the importance of agriculture and those who labor to provide for our basic existence.

No comments about Writing Women's Lives: American Women's History through Letters and Diaries.