Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Childhood Memoir    5. General    6. Biography: general    7. Colorado    8. Jewish studies   

Reviews (7)

Familiar story
This was my second time reading this book. The first time i read it, I simply thought, " another tragic mullatto",. There are so many stories about biracial children with identity problems, and frankly, I can't realate to their perceived tragic lives. Now,as an adult who has lived in Boston and traveled throughout Europe, this story is definitely enlightening. Sometimes,AA think that being black in America is so hard and perceived racism is in every slight or insensitive remark. However, her story is truly a story of real, not imagined racism, nothing most AA,evenduring that time could possibly know. We know racism, but to experience the kind of instituional racism from family members like the author did, is incomprehensible, and to do it alone is unbelievable. We have always had entire communities of people who we can share stories of racism and triumphs with, she had absolutely no one, not even her mother was strong enough to protect her from the cruelty of her environment. She is defintely a hero, to have survived and not feel hatred toward an entire country. What a courageous, strong forgiving person. This should be required reading for every student.

Terrible book
This book was terrible. All the author does is whine. After the first few chapters it gets tiring to keep reading about how everything that goes wrong in her life is because of white people. There were times in the book where people tried to give her constructive advice, but the author dismisses it as "racism." I'll bet she was a pain in the rear to deal with and that has nothing to do with her skin color. I'd also bet that there were other children in that boarding school that were white and illegitimate and suffered just as much as she did. A white guy married her, so how bad could it have been? I was never so glad to end a book and am tossing it into the trash.

A Damn Good Book!
This is the only book that ever made me shed a tear. All I can say is "READ IT!" It's a truly inspiring story. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Women, Black    2. Hugel-Marshall, Ika,    3. Childhood Memoir    4. People of Color    5. Biography / Autobiography    6. Germany    7. Europe - Germany    8. Discrimination & Racism    9. Ethnic Studies - African American Studies - General    10. Biography    11. Hèugel-Marshall, Ika,    12. Race discrimination    13. Race And Ethnic Relations    14. Biography & Autobiography    15. Biography/Autobiography    16. 1947-   

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Childhood Memoir    5. Educators    6. General   

Reviews (3)

Never twin beds
In this autobiography, the 'Happy Hooker' tells without any inhibition her non-hooker life story.
Interesting story
Great read, incredible life story, my only criticism is towards the end, Ms. Hollander just kind of glosses over things quickly and the book ends abruptly. I would still highly recommend it!

The amazing 20th century of a rather special family
Xaviera has managed to captivate the 20th Century without losing herself into that what would have sold best, her life as the happy hooker. Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Childhood Memoir    6. Childhood and youth    7. General    8. Hollander, Xaviera    9. Personal Memoirs    10. Prostitutes    11. Prostitution    12. Sexuality    13. United States    14. Women    15. Biography & Autobiography / General   

Reviews (6)

A family's escape from the Japanese.
This was an enjoyable and quick read.Brookes as a boy escaped with his family from wartime Burma.During the trek north to China, back to Burma, and then ultimately India, Brookes lost his father and saw his family become sick because of malnutrition and malaria.However the boy became a man, and came to understand the struggle of life after seeing death every day.This is a true story of endurance, and why people should never give up. A great tale of survival and the human spirit
Stephen Brookes has written an engrossing account of his Anglo-Burmese family's flight before the Japanese army in 1942. Plagued by monsoons, starvation, disease and personal tragedy, harassed by the desperate remnants of the Chinese army, and abandoned by the British authorities, it is amazing that anyone survived the long circuitous trek from Burma to India. Scores of thousands did not. Brookes does an excellent job of recounting the horrific journey from the viewpoint of a young boy, but it most definitely is not a children's book. It is a book for anyone who appreciates a fascinating tale of survival in the face of incredible adversity.

From Paradise to Purgatory
Expecting a rather grim trek through familiar territory I found instead a remarkable story of loss and endurance told with a surprisingly lyrical and at times humorous touch.A twelve year old Anglo-Burmese boy tells of the flight of the Brookes family from the advancing Japanese army in Burma during the second world war.Fleeing first to China then back through Burma and on to India young Stevie tells of his frustration and anger at being dragged along not knowing what was happening or why. Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Boys    4. Brookes, Stephen    5. Burma    6. Childhood Memoir    7. Historical - General    8. History    9. History: World    10. Military - World War II    11. Personal narratives, Burmese    12. World War, 1939-1945    13. Brooks family   

Reviews (6)

moving and brave
This book moved and enlightened me.Cournos' story of surviving what every child fears most--the loss of both her parents--is raw, vivid, and remarkably compassionate given that she became a foster child throughwillful neglect on the part of her extended family.Cournos succeeds intransforming her own particular journey into a roadmap for others who wantor need to understand what it is to be an orphan.Brave and beautifullydone!

Excellent knowlege of Foster Care system and loss of family.
As a psychiatric social worker this book gives an excellent perspective on the foster care system, how we would knew it and what it has become.In addition the book Dr.Cournos writes sheds an enormous light on thealienation of family and the reasons that alienation might occurr.It is asad tale with a shinning light ending. As a mother who has almost lost achild to cancer, this book has inspired me to look ahead and consider allthe possibilities, as Dr. Cournos has.It is a book that all should read.

Excellent knowlege of Foster Care system and loss of family.
As a psychiatric social worker this book gives an excellent perspective on the foster care system, how we would knew it and what it has become.In addition the book Dr.Cournos writes sheds an enormous light on thealienation of family and the reasons that alienation might occurr.It wasa sad story with a shinning light ending. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Childhood Memoir    5. General    6. Social Scientists & Psychologists    7. Women    8. Biography & Autobiography / General   

Reviews (4)

wonderful book!
This is a collection of subtle stories of childhood in which Catholicism is an influence but not always necessarily the dominant one.Sewell has struck a nice balance betweenestablished, famous authors and a handful of emerging ones--whose work is among the best in the book.Recommended whether you remember your Catholic childhood fondly or not.

Not just for Catholics anymore
Anyone who has ever sinned or wondered about the nature of religious feeling should read this book.It is funny and heartbreaking by turns, and amid all these memories we see how children interpret ideas of spirituality passed down to them.They may not always understand, but their experiences are illuminating.

author/editor review
"A collection for Catholics, former Catholics, and Catholics by association, "Resurrecting Grace" is redolent with the images, sounds, smells, and deep heart experiences that are so much a part of a Catholic upbringing . . . . It is an encounter with this complex community of faith that sustains and exasperates those who have been touched by it." (from the jacket cover) These personal recollections are from some of our finest contemporary writers: Frank McCourt, Tobias Wolff, Anna Quindlen, Michael Patrick Macdonald, Brian Doyle, Sandra Cisneros, Rosemary Bray, and Patricia Hampl, among others. The collection contains pieces from writers of various races and ethnicities, and the reader is led to see the One True Church in all its colors and forms, all of its follies, and all of its profundities. The volume is rich with humor, but takes no cheap shots. These writers have reflected deeply upon their early religious experience: they have written to learn what they did not know, and they have grown deeper roots in the process. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Biography/Autobiography    3. Childhood Memoir    4. Christianity - Catholicism    5. Literary    6. Religion    7. Religious    8. Religion / General   

Reviews (15)

frustrating combination of good and bad
Frank Brady's "Profile of a Prodigy" is a frustrating combination of good and bad.The good first: Brady gives fascinating behind-the-scenes information that I'd read nowhere else, giving you the sense that you are there.The bad:the book is riddled with mistakes, stuff you wouldn't find in a High School newspaper!Dates and misstatements of facts, too numerous to mention.And some chessic misjudgements too, like when Brady says, speaking of the 1972 Title Match, that Fischer varied his opening repertoire to an English Opening in Game 8 from the QGD of Game 6.But it wasn't Fischer who varied; he played 1.c4 in both games. It was Spassky's reply in game 8 that changed the opening.The book would've benefitted from a good editor, one who knows how to play chess.But despite all this, I'd still recommend the book.It's a fascinating read.
A wide-eyed, breathless biography
I bought the first edition of this book by mail order when I was about 16, and devoured it eagerly. In those days world-class chess was relentlessly dominated by the USSR, challenged mainly by other Eastern Europeans and the occasional American like Reshevsky, Evans and the Byrne brothers. Boris Spassky was soon to play "iron Tigran" Petrosian for the world title, and the only wild card seemed to be a crazy teenage genius from New York who could beat anyone at all on his day. Frank Brady's writing captured the sheer excitement of it all. For instance, in a great tournament with most of the best players in the world, Mikhail Tal expected Petrosian to crush the upstart Fischer, "but when Bobby beat the USSR champion the crowd roared".
Weak but worth the price
Fischer was a genius, no question about that.This book is a good buy for the price: you get a (weak) biography of a great player, 8 pages of pictures, and 90 (poorly) annotated games for less than US$15.00!Altogether not a bad deal.However, I take issue with the author.Because he was a friend of Fischer's he did not want to ruin his relationship with him by revealing Fischer's odd character traits, as many other reviewers have noticed.Worst, the author wants you to believe Fischer was a good boy, the American self made sportsman who increased the popularity of the game while fighting for better playing conditions and higher appearance fees, which would ultimately benefit chess professionals as a whole.This might be true.However, it is also true that Fischer left chess players as a whole with an undeletable image: that of nerds, eccentrics and the like.All in all I think his contribution to the image of chess was negative, not positive.Upon reading the book it struck me that Spassky allowed himself to play that fatidic match in Iceland.Fischer did not show up at the date and time they had originally agreed.Spassky gave in to Fischer's absurd demands, falling pray to Fischer's psychological warfare.He should have walked away and kept his title, period.Since he did not the rest is history.At the end of the day the character of a World Champion is seem not when he wins a world championship match but rather when he loses it.Fischer, unlike Spassky, Karpov, and Kasparov never showed up to defend his title.This will be his sad legacy. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1943-    2. Biography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Chess    6. Chess players    7. Childhood Memoir    8. Collections of games    9. Fischer, Bobby,    10. Historical - U.S.    11. Specific Groups - General    12. United States    13. Fischer, Bobby    14. Games / Chess   

Reviews (8)

Yes, this book was proven a sort of forgery in Japan
I warrant the quality of Hitoshi Noguchi,MD's Review.It is also good summary of the criticisms in Japan.

In Japan, this book was proven a forgery
I am very sorry to rain on the parade, but this book, a one time best seller in Japan, was almost immediately proven to be a forgery. A young boy comments on Japanese wartime policy and deplomatic decisions that were not known to the public at the time. The events were taken out of an almanac in chronological order and fictionalised without any consideration as to when the Japanese public learned about it or what information they had at the time to base their opinions on. In reality, a boy like H could not have existed simply because he could not have known, and consequently could not have felt, the things he did. This is a beautified account by a leftist who would like to believe - and would like the reader to believe - that he had been a pacifist from the very begining.

Even if you've never been to Kobe, Japan...
you should still read this book. John Bester did a fantastic job of preserving the nuances of the original story and translating the Japanese into easily-readable English.Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Childhood Memoir    5. General    6. Historical - General    7. Military - World War II    8. Asian / Middle Eastern history: Second World War    9. Biography: general    10. Japan   

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Childhood Memoir    3. Christianity - Catholicism    4. Inspirational - Catholic    5. Religion - Prayer & Spirituality    6. Religious    7. Spirituality - General   

Reviews (1)

Life in rural Maine during WW
This book gives wonderfully vivd descriptions of life in rural Maine during the Second World War.It conjures up memories of events during that time and takes one inside the lives of the Hodgkins family. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography And Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Childhood Memoir    6. Children    7. Maine    8. Military - World War II    9. Personal Memoirs    10. Personal narratives, American    11. Temple    12. U.S. History - World War II (Domestic Aspects)    13. United States - 20th Century    14. World War, 1939-1945    15. History / General   

Reviews (1)

Jakub's World
Wonderful story of World War II Flossenburg from a boys perspective.Something we should never forget, very moving story. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Childhood Memoir    4. General    5. Historical - General    6. Historical - Holocaust    7. History    8. History - Holocaust    9. History: World    10. Holocaust    11. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)    12. Jewish children in the Holocaust    13. Jews    14. Kazimierz (Puawy)    15. Kazimierz (Pu±awy)    16. Poland    17. Szabmacher, Jakub    18. Biography: general    19. Europe    20. The Holocaust    21. True stories of endurance & survival   

Reviews (2)

Quaint story that begged to be more.
I wanted to have an emotional attachment with this book.I really did.The little girl perspective war time story drew me to its pages, but Couterie's description of her and her sister's calamitous four years of solitude couldn't hold me there.Coming from this perspective, perhaps we are supposed to be held aloof from some of the facts surrounding their isolation.Perhaps Couturie herself never discovered some of the mysteries behind their abandonment by their parents, who couldn't make it to Ireland on one occasion but had no trouble on another, or why no letters ever arrived from them but dozens came from the rest of the world.The book ended leaving me feeling more sorry that they made it home to parents who didn't seem to want them to begin with.
A Teenage Girl's Tragic Coming of Age During WWII
In this true-life story about her life during the WWII years 1939-45, Sylvia Couturie reminds us of the often ignored fact that the horrors of war also engulfed children, many of whom were sent by their parents to far-off lands in order to be safe from the invading Germans.Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Childhood Memoir    6. Couturie, Marguerite    7. Couturie, Sylvia    8. Europe - General    9. French    10. Historical - General    11. Ireland    12. Military - World War II    13. Personal narratives    14. Personal narratives, French    15. World War II - Europe    16. World War, 1939-1945    17. Biography & Autobiography / General    18. Couturié, Marguerite    19. Couturié, Sylvia    20. Europe    21. Second World War, 1939-1945    22. World history: Second World War   

Reviews (8)

You are there
Met the author at a book signing and was impresssed by her impeccable poise and story-telling ability. Then I went home and read the book. Wow. I had the same experience as the other readers. This is an excellent and poignant memoir.
Great combination
This is a wonderful combination of memoir and true crime. I felt as though I realy got to know the author.Her willingness to examine the fragility of memory and adjust her conclusions accordingly made her more appealing.The change in her attitudes toward the people in her life caused me to re-examine my own feelings toward people in my life.This book is a definite addition for anyone's library.

Lost and Found - a past reclaimed
Lost and Found - a past reclaimed
Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography/Autobiography    3. California    4. Case studies    5. Personal Memoirs    6. Homicide    7. Murder    8. Murder - General    9. Murder victims' families    10. True Crime / Espionage    11. Women    12. Childhood Memoir    13. True Crime   

Reviews (3)

Wonderful book by a wonderful man
I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Razor while on a trip to Cochiti Lake, New Mexico.After talking for a while he passed me a copy of his book and asked me to read it and then share it with others.I read the book cover-to-cover on the trip home and was amazed that the man I had talked to had once been the little boy in the book.Mr. Razor was a kind and gentle man that never revealed the scars from his childhood in any part of our conversations.America's inhumane treatment of the Indian people is well documented.This book offers graphic descriptions of individual cruelty that was fueled by ignorance and prejudice.I don't know if many human beings could have endured this sort of trauma and survived to be so kind.Peter is a truly incredible person and I would recommend his book to anyone.

while the locust slept
Like Peter I lived and went through total hell from a matron while I was in the same orphanage. After reading Peters book while the locust slept,I relived the same anger, as Peter indured.This book should be a must read by anyone,who plans on going into the socialwork field and know that this is truly a non fiction tragedy which happened.This is a story that took place a long time ago,but could still and does happen today.

Tragedy and horific treatment of innocent babies & children!
My father as well was in the Owatonna "orphanage" which he termed as an "intournment camp/prison"!Babies and children were treated more tragically at this place than you could even imagine.Babies died for lack of "touch" and nurturing!Children were beaten, mauled, and oftentimes died as a result of such treatment.Peter Razor cites an insightfully true story of just SOME of the horific experiences of babies and children in this most insightful book on our country's past (AND EVEN PRESENT) ways of "Social Services" treating our "lost" children!!A MUST TO READ! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Childhood Memoir    5. Ethnic Cultures - Native Americans    6. Personal Memoirs    7. Specific Groups - General    8. Coping with personal problems    9. Indigenous peoples    10. North America    11. True stories of endurance & survival   

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. General    5. Literary    6. Personal Memoirs    7. Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs    8. Biography: general    9. Childhood Memoir    10. Women    11. People of Color    12. Cambodian Americans    13. History    14. Cambodia   

Features

• Bargain Price

Reviews (14)

Excellent!!
Thad hits the nail on the head!Having grown up in Melbourne Beach during the time period described I feel qualified to speak on the authenticity of the scene depicted: perfect, took me back in time!Anyone who grew up in the space coast area during the 70's will be able to identify some of the characters described.This is an execellent book for the non-surfer as well as the surfer.This book will remain on my annual reading list along with Caught Inside, Lighting out and West of Jesus.Thanks Thad for an execellent read!

Beach Daze
Excellent.This book will stay with you long after you read it.As a 50ish surfer from the Texas gulf coast this book reminds me of why I consider myself lucky.

YOU HAVE TO READ THIS BOOK!
I absoluetly LOVED this book. i read it two times;thats how good it is. living in a place with no surfing yet having tried it and fallenin love with it, i relate to thad's longing to surf. his descriptions brought me to the beach and i could actually picture exactly how he was riding them. i loved his tales of him growing up and the many trials he faced along the way. it was funny, moving, exciting, and the absolute best book i have ever read. i will prob. read it fora third time b/c i don't want to say good-bye to the characters and thatd's story. i can only hope he writes another book! if you are looking for a good summer/ beach read about a great sport with a great story to back it up( which is why i got it) this is it! my highest recommendations! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1960-    2. 20th century    3. American - General    4. American Contemporary Poetry    5. Biography    6. Biography / Autobiography    7. Biography/Autobiography    8. Childhood Memoir    9. Childhood and youth    10. Children of divorced parents    11. English teachers    12. Florida    13. Literary    14. Poetry    15. Poets, American    16. Regional Subjects - South    17. United States    18. Ziolkowski, Thad,    19. Ziolkowski, Thad    20. Bargain   

Reviews (1)

A wistful and fondly told reminiscence
Now, When I Was A Kid... is the personal and nostalgic autobiography of Dan McGuire's growing up as a young man in a semi-rural town from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. With "the big city" (Chicago) a streetcar away, the simple small town ease of sharing a peaceful time on the neighborhood porch was to be overshadowed by the terrible threats of World War II and the ensuing Cold War. McGuire tells of a sheltered childhood, and the fun of just being a kid when the heavy responsibilities of adulthood were just around the corner. A wistful and fondly told reminiscence, Now, When I Was A Kid... is a particularly well written and highly recommended memoir of what it was like to grow up in a yesteryear America that will never come again. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Childhood Memoir    5. General    6. Biography: general   

Reviews (2)

Excellent Book
This is not only an excellent soldiers account of small unit action in WW1 but is also a very entertaining story. Best book on WW1 I have read. My grandfather was in the 139th (Triplet was in the 140th) and this book lets you feel what it was really like to be in the AEF in France in 1918. Excellent book by an excellent author.

amazing but true.
I am the grandson of colonel Triplet. I remember these stories first hand . Beind a vet myself it amazes me how much the army has changed in the last 70 years . Its great reading and I can tell you it is all facts. I read the original unedited memoirs. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1900-    2. Argonne, Battle of the, France, 1918    3. Army    4. Biography    5. Biography & Autobiography    6. Biography / Autobiography    7. Biography/Autobiography    8. Childhood Memoir    9. Historical - General    10. Military    11. Military - World War I    12. Military History - World War I    13. Military Personal Narratives    14. Soldiers    15. Triplet, William S.,    16. United States    17. Biography: general    18. Essays, journals, letters & other prose works    19. Europe    20. European history: First World War    21. Triplet, William S   

Reviews (3)

A powerful memoir that should not be generalized
This is a truly moving book with poignant descriptions of Lifton's suffering as a child. She was adopted at age 2-1/2, told of her adoption at age 7 and warned by her harsh and controlling adoptive mother never to tell anyone, especially her father, that she knew the secret. Lifton grew up with the poisonous idea that an adopted child is the product of an "evil deed that hangs over most adoptions." The little girl was told that her natural parents were dead, which was a lie. It is easy to see how the adult author ofTwice Born came to the view that a person is "fragmented" as long as she lacks a link with biological kin, that an adoptee isforced out of the natural flow of generational continuity, as others know it, and feels as if having been forced out of nature itself. Seen in these terms, adoptees become impotent creatures who have been denied free will. I am very moved by the story but want to say that this is the voice of one adoptee whose experience we should take careful note of but at the same time refrain from universalizing. Not all adoptees are raised by such harsh and emotionally vacant parents and also never had adopted friends with whom to discuss things. I am an adoptive mother of a daughter whom we adopted at age 4 days and who grew up into a contented, strong-willed and self-reliant young lady. Of course, we told her of her adoption, but she was not interested in searching for her natural parents. Unlike Lifton who as a toddler had experienced separation, loss, grief, mourning...going from mother to Infant's Home to Foster Home to Adoptive Home, our daughter and the other adoptees in our neighborhood were spared such miseries. Luckily, our birthmother looked for us and today we have a wonderful relationship with her and her family. Our daughter, however, does not feel she changedsince meeting her birthmother, or that she became "whole" as if she had been fragmented before. Several of her neighborhood adoptee friends are also not interested in searching and consider themselves well-adjusted adults and parents. I wonder whether Lifton would have become a happy adoptee if she had been raised by loving and honest adoptive parents. Unhappily, when she found her natural mother and the link with biological kin was made, she discovered that now she "had two mothers instead of one, but since both had disappointed me, I had none." Yes, the bitter search for one's roots may take one to an empty place. It seems that the impulse of the adoptee to find the original mother, an urge traceable through the ages, exists as a force independent of the desired object, and continues even when the object has been found.Gisela Gasper Fitzgerald, author of ADOPTION: An Open, Semi-Open or Closed Practice?

Thought provoking enough to prompt me to write my own story!
Twice Born is a wonderful and thought-provoking account of one adoptee's journey. I related on so many levels that it prompted me to write my own story. Excellent writing in an adoptee's view of adoption
One thing's for sure: BJ Lifton can write. And she understands adoption intimately.This book really tells it like it is, from relinquishment to long after the reunion. As a birthmother, I found "Twice Born" an extremely valuable look into the mind of the adopted person. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Adopted children    2. Adoption    3. Adoption And Adoption Services    4. Biography    5. Biography & Autobiography    6. Biography / Autobiography    7. Biography/Autobiography    8. Childhood Memoir    9. General    10. Lifton, Betty Jean    11. Personal Memoirs    12. United States    13. Biography: general    14. Marriage, family & other relationships    15. Psychology & Psychiatry / General