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Reviews (11)

A Millions Little Pieces, Jr.
I am currently in Kabul, and have read almost every English-language book on Afghanistan that is popularly available. I have also lived in Kabul and traveled to Feyzbad, Kandahar,Mazar-e-Sharif, Jalalabad, Kunduz and along the Uzbek Border. I speak mediocre Dari. Among the books that I enjoyed were those by Saira Shah's grandmother (try "My Khyber Life") and her father, Idris Shah. The same cannot be said for Saira Shah's. Shah' work, however. Part of my complaint was that the book isn't about anything much - its just a list of what she claims were her experiences in and near Afghanistan.I would compare them to a series of interesting letters detailing what I did on my afghan vacation. What they don't provide is insight into what was happening in Afghanistan or Peshawar, why, or what is going on now, or much cultural or historical information.
Myth, identity, realities . . .
Part memoir, part reportage, this beautifully written book is also an inquiry into the nature of myth, identity, and the limits of human endurance. Born in England and raised on the memories of her Afghan father's homeland, the author journeys as a young journalist to Afghanistan during the Soviet Occupation in the 1980s, traveling with the mujahidin rebels, who with massive infusions of weapons from the CIA eventually drive out the Russians and then quickly succumb again to an equally destructive civil war and the inevitable tyranny of the Taliban. A witness to these struggles and the widespread human misery they caused, Shah is present again in 2002 as the Americans retaliate in response to the 9/11 attacks.
Absolutely amazing!
This book is one of the best books I have read.It was touching and made me realise what an amazing life Saira Shah has led.After I closed the book, I could not pick up annother book for a couple of days - I did not want to spoil the feeling it had left me with.This book will move you, make you think and touch you.
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Subjects:  1. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    2. Audiobooks    3. Biography    4. Editors, Journalists, Publishers    5. Ethnic Cultures - General    6. Great Britain    7. Journalists    8. Political Science    9. Public Affairs & Administration    10. Unabridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography    11. Women   

Editorial Review

Order this book ... and please don't be put off by its pallid subtitle, Read more

Reviews (558)

One Man's Identity Crisis
"The Color of Water" is a very good piece of reading material written by Mr. James McBride, a noted journalist, composer, and musician. McBride is a very successful man and, in his mind, he has his mother to thank for it. He wrote this book as a tribute to the mother that raised him and his other eleven siblings, showing the positive impact that her life lessons had on him and the other members of the family.
A Stunning Read
The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to his White Mother by James McBride is a powerful, stunning book.It is both a biography and an autobiography, for it tells the life story of the author's mother intertwined skillfully in the author's own.
Never mind the woman and who she is, but hurray for Mommy, right?
Yeah, I know I'll get shot down for the low rating, but I don't really care. The book gets glowing reviews for the most part, because most people find it touching and beautiful, and people like reading something that makes them feel all warm inside. I appreciate the feeling as much as the next person, but, really, I need more to like a book!
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Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography    2. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    3. Biography    4. Mothers    5. Mulattoes    6. New York (N.Y.)    7. People of Color    8. Unabridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography    9. Whites   

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Wonderful Story
I have the audio cassette of A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes, and it is beautiful.I've listened to it several times in my car.I don't tire of it because it is a human story.Annette Funicello suceeded on her own -- her father was an auto mechanic and her mother stayed at home.This is an inspiration to children and even adults.

Fresh, lively writing and colorful anecdotes
Surprisingly absorbing and lively recollections from Annette Funicello, one-time Mouseketeer and Disney darling who was the only teen-mouse to graduate to the big screen via "Babes In Toyland" and the "Beach Party" and "Merlin Jones" comedies. Annette comes clean about being the only Mouseketeer kept on contract by Walt Disney after MMC ran its course, and she contemplates why that was and how her co-stars struggled without Disney's guidance. She is very upfront, but also a little indifferent to her own good fortune, embarrassed and innately shy about a career that just fell into her lap. She says she never aspired to fame, but got it regardless. The book continues its interesting narrative even after Annette marries and retires, cleaning the house the day she heard Walt Disney passed, and eventually realizing her marriage was out of gas. Fate dealt Annette (and all her fans) a bitter hand when she was diagnosed with MS, which she still continues to fight, but her inspiring conclusion to the book gives all of us hope.

Relatively engaging, but missing a lot
As a fan of the "pop" movies and music of the 1960's, I've had a long term interest in the author.So I opened up this book not just curious, but perhaps somewhat already knowlegable about Annette, particularly her "post-Mickey Mouse club" career and life.
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Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography    2. Actresses    3. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    4. Audiobooks    5. Biography    6. General    7. Singers    8. United States   

Editorial Review

In this first of five volumes of autobiography, poet Maya Angelou recounts a youth filled with disappointment, frustration, tragedy, and finally hard-won independence. Sent at a young age to live with her grandmother in Arkansas, Angelou learned a great deal from this exceptional woman and the tightly knit black community there. These very lessons carried her throughout the hardships she endured later in life, including a tragic occurrence while visiting her mother in St. Louis and her formative years spent in California--where an unwanted pregnancy changed her life forever. Marvelously told, with Angelou's "gift for language and observation," this "remarkable autobiography by an equally remarkable black woman from Arkansas captures, indelibly, a world of which most Americans are shamefully ignorant." ... Read more

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Reviews (285)

Intersectionality as described by Maya Angelou
In her autobiographical novel, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou recounts her life story as a young, keenly intelligent but insecure black girl in the South during the 1930s and California during the 1940s. The book conveys the difficulties associated with the mixture of racial and gender discrimination endured by a southern black girl, though, and this is perhaps the most fundamental theme explored in her autobiography. The intersectionality of race and gender is a pivotal thread of Angelou's theme, where more than one type of subjugation results in a multiple burden for the victim. Overall, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings is a powerful, stirring account of the intersectionality of race and gender regarding black women. Though segregation had been officially declared null and void, many of the Southern states were steeped in racist tendencies that further multiplied the gender inequality that exposed black women to a multi-faceted oppression. Peiss, Hine, Terborg-Penn, Bederman, et. al. all examine threads of this intersectionality, and in discussing these threads, one can draw a distinct comparison between anti-black, anti-black women sentiment and Angelou's personal experiences. As a girl, Angelou believed her gender to be a limiting factor. She considered herself to be unheroic, and incapable of achieving spectacular feats like the boys in her comic books. In the narrative, being female for Angelou is just as trying as being black, and she struggled with the double burden, rather than embracing it. However, as more and more black women slowly overcame their troubles as a result of the overwhelming intersectionality of the time, so did Angelou. The novel ended with hope because she bucks the stereotype to become the first black female streetcar conductor. Angelou's spike in confidence and belief in her ability reflects the gradual evolution of black women's race and gender after decades of imprisonment, and foreshadows a future of activism, struggle for respect and eventual victory in those regards.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
The Essence of Dreams...The Creativeness of Silence...The Fortitude of Love...
If only this scale had negatives...
Never before has such a poorly written book received such acclaim. Maya Angelou wrote this story not with candor and grace but with a bias rarely allowed to sit on shelves let alone the top of a best-seller list. She was not humorous but had a heinousness of character and action that places her beyond the limits of human pity. This "inspiring author" did not demonstrate poignancy and depth but the crude rudiments of writing skill below that found in the essays of a primary school student.
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Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography    2. American - General    3. Audio - Autobiography / Biography    4. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    5. Biography & Autobiography    6. Discrimination & Racism    7. Literary    8. People of Color    9. Poetry / General   

Editorial Review

In Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel's memoir Read more

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Unforgettable Tale of Holocaust Horror
Beyond and essential read, Night speaks to the reader about fundamental questions at the heart of the human condition.A powerfully moving autobiography, the story of this teenager's journey through the most horrific death camps of Nazi Europe, strips away discussion of anti-semitism and hatred, to present the raw suffering of individual humans, stuck in situations beyond their control.From the establishment of a ghetto in Elie's home town of Sighet, the reader can only watch with growing horror as the young man and his family are swept up in the Holocaust.Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Gleiwitz: some of the most infamous places in modern human history, rise around Elie, as we watch him stripped of absolutely everything.The reader is swept along helplessly, as Hitler's "Final Solution" unfolds - death marches, starvation, selections, cattle-carts full of people, torture, floggings, mass-murder - and as Elie is gradually reduced to nothing more than a 'hungry stomach'.
must reading
this is a disturbing work in that it recounts a man's experience of the nazi death camps. Warning: this book will shake you up mentally, and emotionally.It is not for the faint of heart.Yet, it is a must read because of the exposure it gives to humanity at it's worst and humanity under it's worst.

Lost in Translation
The short novel Night has emotional power not only because of the dark subject matter, but because Elie Wiesel is a gifted writer who deftly reveals the spiritual and mental anguish of the main character.Generally considered autobiographical, the account follows a young man who feels he is losing not only God, but his humanity as the Nazi machine ravages Europe.The novel itself deserves 10 stars.
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Subjects:  1. Audio: Juvenile    2. General    3. Juvenile Fiction    4. Unabridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography   

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Sad Funny True
I read the book and I laughed, I cried, I fell in love with Joan.

Bouncing Back helped me cope after seeing my Daddy die.
The audio book version of "Bouncing Back" is WONDERFUL!It's read by Joan Rivers herself, the way she intended for it to be read :-) Her moving message of survival comes through loud & clear & of course FUNNY!What a lady!What a TALENT!THANK YOU Ms. Rivers for being so forthcoming with us.Your story is truly INSPIRATIONAL!

Very uplifting
Joan has some helpful advice on how to overcome obstacles in life.While she is not a psychologist, she has been through many painful things in her life and has always "bounced back." ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    2. Audiobooks    3. Biography    4. Comedians    5. Entertainment & Performing Arts - General    6. Inspirational - General    7. Self-help techniques    8. Unabridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography    9. United States    10. Women    11. Self-Help / Aging   

Reviews (3)

Olives, Sheep, and Nicotiana
How to write a domestic horror story and gardening book in one. Terror so subtle it could happen to you, olives so ripe you'll be picking in no time: A fascinating and entertaining read
This is a lovely book, a really honest and heartfelt description of aphase in Dirk Bogarde's life that was both wonderfully happy and crushinglysad.It could be a very depressing book, but somehow it reads delightully. As an aside it is also a lovely insight into the delights of Provence, sowell portrayed by Peter Mayle in his Provence trilogy.I highly recommendit.

An extremely intelligent, heartfelt account of a man's life
Mr. Bogarde has written a book that is so personal and engaging, the reader feels as though he is peeking into a private diary.Each sentence is exact and necessary.There is no flowery narrative, no swanking, no attempt to remind us that he is a film star.It is a simply written, glowing example of a man's desire to share a deeply private part of his life and of himself.Any reader who has enjoyed Mr. Bogarde's prior works will not be disappointed. (Please note his name is DIRK, not Dick) ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    2. Unabridged Audio - Misc.Nonfiction    3. Biography: film, television & music    4. Films, cinema   

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Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography/Autobiography    3. Historical - General    4. Historical - U.S.    5. Political    6. Scientists - Inventors    7. Unabridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography    8. Biography & Autobiography / Historical    9. Biography & Autobiography/Political    10. Biography & Autobiography/Scientists - General    11. Chronological Period/18th Century    12. History/United States - General    13. Unabridged Audio / Autobiography/Biography   

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Johnson's Classic Novel of "Passing"
Many novels of the African-American experience in the United States use the theme of "passing". These novels generally involve a light-complexioned African-American who can "pass" for white.Among other things, novels based on a theme of "passing" allow the character and the author to comment upon black-white relationships in the United States from both sides -- from the black experience and from the white experience.
Wonderfully woven plot that holds your interest
I absolutely loved reading this book, and would eagerly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn of Johnson's America through the eyes of a man caught between two worlds. The sometimes humorous passages and vivid details held my interest and fueled my imagination. I have countless sections of the book underlined in red. Fantastic!
James Weldon creates a story line of unimaginable magnitude! This complex book makes the reader almost sympathetic for a character who may not deserve it! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography    2. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    3. Classics    4. Fiction    5. Fiction / Classics    6. General    7. 1871-1938    8. Afro-American men    9. Audiobooks    10. Biography & Autobiography    11. Johnson, James Weldon,    12. Literature - Classics / Criticism    13. People of Color   

Editorial Review

Serving as doctor to the Americans "wintering over" at the South Pole in 1999, Jerri Nielsen made headlines when she discovered a lump in her breast that a self-administered biopsy revealed to be an aggressive, fast-growing cancer. No flights in or out of Antarctica are possible during the continent's long winter, and Nielsen's account of giving herself chemotherapy while she and her fellow "Polies" waited for the weather to break is even more gripping than the news reports at the time. She's candid about her pain and fear; the media battle waged by her embittered ex-husband makes her ordeal even more challenging. Interestingly enough, however, this high drama does not overshadow Nielsen's deeper narrative of a woman who came "to the Ice" seeking new meaning in a life shattered by divorce and estrangement from her children. In the back-to-basics world of Antarctic medicine, with outdated equipment, few supplies, and no assistants, she rediscovered her vocation as a doctor, free from the imperatives of corporate-directed medicine. More importantly, Nielsen found spiritual solace in the world's most extreme environment, where she was "introduced slowly to the notion of giving more than you have and using less than you need ... of knowing that all you really own are your own thoughts." She makes the glories of the Pole so palpable that, by the end, readers will not even be surprised when she signs an e-mail to her family, "from the wonderful Ice." Read more

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Warm and Beautiful, not gruesome.
This book was a fascinating portrait of the American South Pole Station and the people who winter over there.It is rich with details that one would never have thought of, like the difficulty of contacting the outside world when the communications satellite only peeks over the horizon for a brief time each day.All the people at the station are portrayed as exceptional, (maybe eccentric), strong, very human people who survive in part because of the great love and respect with which they treat each other--not to mention a strong sense of humor!Really inspiring.Made me want to go there myself.

Where Life and Death Meet the Ice
"Ice Bound" is three stories that come together to create one indelible experience: a woman's struggle and escape from an abusive marriage, a travel adventure to the South Pole, and a life and death fight against cancer. Dr. Jerri Nielsen lived all three of these stories and writes about how they merged into one phenomenal journey.
What Coulda Been Great Turned Out Just Good...
Dr. Jerri Nielsen's trek to the South Pole would have been filled with danger no matter what...most of the people that head down there must have a few screws loose to want to spend a year in complete darkness, with extremely cold temperatures, only to lose (in part) their social skills, their memories, and their sanity.What makes her story somewhat extraordinary is the fact that as the only trained medical professional 'wintering over' at the South Pole, she diagnosed and was forced to treat her own breast cancer with a small untrained support staff.
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Subjects:  1. Antarctica    2. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    3. Biography    4. Biography & Autobiography    5. Breast    6. Cancer    7. Medical - General    8. Medical - Physicians    9. Patients    10. Specific Groups - General    11. Unabridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography    12. United States    13. Women physicians    14. Biography & Autobiography / General   

Editorial Review

Born on October 1, 1924,Jimmy Carter grewup on a Georgia farm during the Great Depression. In Read more

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Excellent!!!
This is one of the best books I've read the past year and one of the best biographies I've ever read.Jimmy Cater, whether you like/respect the man or not, is an excellent storyteller and he takes you back to the years of growing up on a rural Georgia farm during the Great Depression and segregation.The descriptions are so clear it seems like you're actually there. Quite a contrast to the middle class/suburban upbringing I experienced.I also read Carter's Presidential biography, which is also very good, but he's not as long-winded here so the book reads very fast.
Worth the time
President Carter discusses his experiences growing up in rural Georgia during the depression and how it influenced his future public life. Despite the institutionalized segregation that formally kept the races apart, many of the people that shaped the future President's young life were not white. It is amazing to compare the changes in American society from 70 years ago, some for the better (institutionalized segregation and racism), but mostly for the worse. Even though segregation is now gone, it is ironic that the informal happy-go-lucky youthful mixing of the races that President Carter claims helped shape his young life is probably gone now as well; but cynically, I believe Carter over emphasizes this point for political profit. Also, Americans were very frugal, resourceful, and resilient in those days.I don't think today's wasteful, whiney, latte entitlement generation could go through such economic hardship.
The boy behind the man
This is one of the best books I have ever read in any genre. I've always liked Jimmy Carter as a human being, and now I know what made this intelligent, unassuming, hardworking, humorous, and compassionate public figure the man he is. And in addition to that, the book gives a wonderfully rich view of rural life earlier in the 20th century. I would recommend this book to anyone. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Abridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography    3. Audio - Autobiography / Biography    4. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    5. Biography    6. Biography & Autobiography    7. Childhood Memoir    8. Country life    9. Farmers    10. Georgia    11. History    12. Plains    13. Political    14. Presidents    15. Presidents & Heads of State    16. United States    17. Biography & Autobiography / Presidents   

Reviews (63)

The greatest person ever lived
i really loved this book if i was born around his time i would have been his friend i love how he stood up for his beliefs and went back to school in stuff even though he didn't get to gradulate, but he still lived a great in fun life it was short but he did things with it i'm young but my aunt past away with AIDS and after reading this book it really touch me i was crying because i felt so bad what ryan went though but he didn't let it get to him. He was so strong he got people believing again.

Intrest in school
In fifth grade we were introduced to an illness called AIDS. We also learned about a boy named Ryan White. I took an interest to this story because I have an illness called diabetes and have to deal with how different people react and treat me because of it. Just like Ryan and AIDS diabetes is not contagious and there are no know ways to prevent or cure it. I have heard many different reactions when they find out that I have Diabetes. The most commom being "Did you eat too much sugar or something?" Most of the time I just laugh at this and explain that you have no control over getting Diabetes. I took an interest in school that year and by doing so I found myself a role model...Ryan White.

Inspiring with a tear jerker end...
When I was young I remeber a copy of People magazine that my mom had lying around with Ryan White on the cover.For some reason I always took an interest to him, and his life, and all the article that I could find on him. In high school I remeber reading part of it to do an exta credit project.Finally 2 year out of high school I decided to reread the story of his life.It is amazing how people really are. It really hit home, not living too far from Kokomo, Indiana where he was from, that people in my community would treat people this way.It is also amazing how much determination he had to be who he was and not let anyone or anything get in the way.This book is great!!!!Everyone should read it and put themselves in this families shoes!! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. AIDS & HIV    2. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    3. Specific Groups - Special Needs    4. Unabridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography   

Editorial Review

Research is the strong suit of this book about darkly handsome Richard Ramirez, who terrorized Los Angeles for 14 months in 1984-85 with his penchant for breaking into homes dressed all in black, where he fiercely assaulted, sodomized, robbed, and (in 13 cases) murdered his victims. Carlo spent more than 100 hours interviewing Ramirez on death row, more than a month in El Paso, Texas, talking to Ramirez's family and friends, and another month hanging out with the two detectives who solved the case. He made visits to all 19 crime scenes in the middle of the night. His narrative maintains a steady focus on Ramirez, drawing no conclusions about his Satanism or his mental pathology and simply letting his appalling deeds and words speak for themselves. The trial and post-trial sections are long but interesting, covering Ramirez's rage attacks and his many "groupies" (one of them a juror!), especially Doreen Lloyd, whom he married in September 1996. (This reviewer found Philip Carlo's book much better than Clifford L. Linedecker's Read more

Reviews (53)

Couldn't put it down
I am a slow reader but couldn't put the book down until I had read it to the end, and it didn't take me long.The part that didn't really hold my interest was the section "The Trial".Other than that it was a very good book.After reading a couple of chapters I went through my house and locked every window and all the doors.A very frightening book especially for one who lives alone.I have passed the book on to a friend that loves true crime.

A Unique Serial Killer
I read this 592 page book in less than two days because it was so in-depth, well written, and just plain interesting.
Enter Nightmare
What is it that makes a serial killer tick?And what exactly is it that makes the public fascinated with them while fearful of them?Richard Ramirez, infamously known as the Night Stalker, is in a breed of his own.One of the most dangerous and feared serial killers in America, Ramirez and his crimes still haunt the public mind today as his murderous spree did in the mid-1980s.Philip Carlo's book about Ramirez's life and crimes is extremely thorough and well-written, a quick-paced nightmare of a read.
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Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography    2. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    3. Audiobooks    4. Biography    5. California    6. Case studies    7. Criminals & Outlaws    8. Los Angeles    9. Serial murderers    10. Serial murders   

Editorial Review

The same sharp intelligence and self-deprecating wit that made MichaelJ. Fox a star in the Read more

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Here is a book to relate to
Michael's book is a fantastic account of his life leading up to and including his struggle with dealing with Parkinson's. As a person with a Parkinsonism who was diagnosed after Michael exposed his disease, I can say he truly made it easier for others to deal with this devastating blow. His hiding of the his disease is common of so many people who are diagnosed with PD at crucial points in their lives. An extremely good book about life rocky road, and for those with PD or any illness for that matter who are trying to create a somewhat normal existance for themselves and their families.
Great book, great story, very good read.
A friend gave this book to me. It was such a good read. I had no idea Michael was so sick, and had such a difficult life. While I did not respect ways he wasted his body by alcohol, drugs, and stupid habits before he found out, at a still very young age of mid-20s, about his Parkinson's disease, his remarkable change to a new man was a very good story. The anectodes from this book will stay with me, and it has a great message for everyone.

Surprising
I've been a fan of Michael J. Fox for many years and was sad to learn of his Parkinson's disease.I expected this book to be largely about the disease and Fox's coping with it.However, I was pleasantly surprised to read an honest account of all of the ways he had messed up his life before coming to terms with himself as well as with his disease.Although I don't like to read sad stories of drinking spinning out of control, Fox's matter-of-fact tone and willingness to take full responsibility for his actions was refreshing.I felt privileged to be allowed this glimpse into his life and his psyche, and I ended up liking him better after finishing the book than when I started. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography    2. Actors    3. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    4. Biography    5. Biography & Autobiography    6. Biography/Autobiography    7. Canada    8. Diseases - Nervous System (incl. Brain)    9. Entertainment & Performing Arts - Actors & Actresses    10. Entertainment & Performing Arts - General    11. Parkinson's disease    12. Patients    13. Specific Groups - Special Needs    14. United States    15. Biography & Autobiography / Entertainment & Performing Arts