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You'll be annoyed, but keep going . . .
Within the first fifty pages or so, I was totally aggravated by Martha. She has suffered a traumatic childhood and adolescence, sure - but could she be any more annoying? It was easy to understand how the people around her react as they do, and why children still taunt her in the street now that she's a woman of thirty. It's as if there is some socially-deficient fog clouding her brain, making her honest to the point of incurring violence. She remains, to the end, an unlikable character. Leaves a Lasting Mark
Compelling and heartbreaking, Morris weaves a haunting tale of a lonely young woman's losing battle to gain social acceptance, love, respect, and a healthy life of her own. Alienated and ridiculed by her small community, the origins of what make Martha Horgan so strange and different from those around her are unknown. The "dangerous" qualities referred to in the title put off those around her and ultimately lead to her undoing: her belief that the truth must always be known, under all cirumstances, her inability to function around others in society, her tempermental outbursts, and her undying fixations on people. Martha is richly drawn in three-dimensions as a character both frustrating and sympathetic, unlikable yet lovable, exasperating yet endearing, and ultimately, all too human. Morris does a superb job of painting those inhabit Martha's world as equally complex and contradictive, particuarly Frances and Mac. These two judge Martha for her abnormalities, yet their own distorted belief systems and foilables are all too abundent, and their own behavior quite questionable at times. In many ways, they see reflected in Martha the qualities they fear the most about themselves. Morris does an elegent job of depicting the culture of their community and the adverse reactions of "normal" society to those who are different. I liked that Martha's mental illness remained undefined....it was an interesting way of highlighting that people are afraid of what they can't label, not all diverse people can be placed in a tight category, and it raised questions of whether or not the base of the problem was biological or the result of her life experience. Overall, a worthy read: thought-provoking and well-written, sensitive yet brutal, yet not a difficult or lenghty read by any means.

Outstanding
A Dangerous Woman is a rich characterization of a woman in need of love, support, understanding, security and warmth. This novel is one of the most brilliant that I've read so far this year and it's now the tenth month. The extra-ordinary depth of it's author, Mary McGarry Morris in her understanding of the heroine is outstanding and she delivers her punches with passion and tenacity. We follow Martha through her ordeals, from teenage insecurity through to early thirties bewilderment. We grope blindly along, knowing that there is a tragedy coming and wishing that we could avert it, but it's impending doom is fate and Martha must face hers alone. While Martha can be annoying, gratingly stubborn and insensitive, most of the time she is written about in such a way that you just want to wrap her in your arms and protect her to save her from herself. The novel left me with the huge provocation of how we are in control of our destinies and how we affect those that witness our lives around us. I can't rate this novel high enough. It's compelling, absorbing and brilliantly written and can teach you things about yourself that you may not already know. A must read on anyone's list. I loved it! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Women   

Editorial Review

Female Beats wrote poetry, took drugs, went on the road, listened tojazz, and lived on the fringe just as the men did, but their accomplishments are not as widely recognized. This volume attempts to correct this oversight by profiling 40 women of the Beat generation and publishing samples of their work. Well-known poets Diane di Prima and Denise Levertov appear in the volume, along with the muses of male writers and other women who never became famous at all. As Brenda Knight notes in her introduction, counterculture women in the 1950s and 1960s faced difficult obstacles: "To be unmarried, a poet, an artist, to bear biracial children, to go on the road was doubly shocking for a woman, and social condemnation was high."The first portion of the anthology is devoted to women who were not Beats but who set the stage for the movement. Josephine Miles wrote poetry and mentored the younger Beat poets at Berkeley, while Madeline Gleason founded the San Francisco Poetry Festival. In the "Muses" section are short biographies of wives and girlfriends of famous male writers such as Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady. It's widely known that William S. Burroughs shot his wife Joan Vollmer Adams Burroughs; this book fills in other details of her wild and short life. Profiles of writers such as Joyce Johnson, Hettie Jones, Janna McClure, and Janine Pommy Vega account for the rest of the anthology. The lives these women led are as interesting as their writing, and Read more

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Should not be missed
Any interested in the history of the beat era must have WOMEN OF THE BEAT GENERATION: THE WRITERS, ARTISTS AND MUSES AT THE HEART OF A REVOLUTION. Much has been written on famous beat men but comparatively little on the women who also made their mark during the time: long overdue but better late than never is an exploration of the histories of these women, from Barbara Guest and Diane DiPrima to Jan Kerouac and Anne Waldman. A literary and social history which should not be missed.
Women Writers Rule!
Yes, there were women writing as well, and doing all the other cool stuff at the time. Many of them are still writing or continued to write long after their affair with the "beat" generation. This book is a great introduction to these writers. It's very informative, has just enough of the good gossip and lots of really great writing.

Beautiful!
For a group that is now remembered as a progressive voice in the ultra-conformist wilderness of the 1950s, the Beats were a surprisingly chauvinistic bunch of guys, all too ordinary for their time.That unfortunate fact helps explain the relative obscurity of most of the women who ran with, influenced and, in some cases, loved them.(You probably know that William S. Burroughs accidentally murdered his common-law wife while playing William Tell, but do you know her name?)This wonderful volume goes a long way towards correcting that oversight.Featuring previously unpublished letters, rare pictures and - best of all - a generous sampling of creative works, it's a near-perfect survey of the Beats' female contemporaries, lovers and even a few of their precursors.Read more

Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography    2. Audio - Autobiography / Biography    3. Historical - General    4. Women   

Editorial Review

Fresh from her well-received life of Queen Elizabeth II, the Englishhistorian and biographer Sarah Bradford turns her hand to America's own answerto royalty, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Painstakingly detailed, impressivelyfair, the result is the most definitive account yet of a woman who captured theimagination of the American public like no First Lady before or after her.Bradford seems to have interviewed almost everyone who had ever been intimatewith Onassis, including George Plimpton, Gore Vidal, Joan Kennedy, and even afew ex-lovers. Most notably of all, Jackie's sister Lee Radziwill speaks withunexpected frankness about the mixture of rivalry and affection that markedtheir relationship since childhood. Jackie-lovers, take note: this is nohagiography, and its subject certainly comes off as no saint. As gracious asthis American icon could be, she also had moments of coldness and even greed,including a particularly shocking moment by the bedside of Ari Onassis's dyingson. Yet, in the end, non-airbrushed anecdotes like these only serve to makethis most private of public figures even more fascinating. Jackie was, asBradford writes, "a complex woman of many facets, concealed insecurities andintricate defense mechanisms, a strong urge toward the limelight contrastingwith a desire for privacy and concealment.... Behind the mask of beauty and famelay a shrewd mind, a ruthless judgment of people, antennae finely turned to anysign of pretentiousness or pomposity, and a wry, even raunchy sense of humor."The figure who emerges from subsequent pages is as compelling as the heroine ofany novel, and it is to Bradford's credit that she doesn't seem to have fallencompletely under her subject's spell. Her approach is sympathetic, but neverfawning; candid, but never sensationalistic. For those who are curious not aboutJackie's glamour but about its source, Read more

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American Royalty
Jackie Kennedy was the closest thing that America ever got to home-grown royalty. Her birth and upbringing in New York City, refinement, etiquette, and Olympian cool ... Jackie radiated a deep mystery that remains. She was iconic in her need for privacy and protectiveness of it. A woman of another era who remains enigmatic and unique in her persona ... an American icon who seems both American yet not typical of the United States. A sophisticate, debutant of the year, equestrienne, well-manner, posh Park Avenue social doyenne who intrigued the world until she died in 1994. Fluent in several language, a writer of poetry, political wife, patron of the arts, native New Yorker, and poised like any Queen in Europe. She wasn't perfect but she was Jackie. America may never see another quite like her.

Audio CD
My comments concern the narrator of the audio cd who felt that she had to change her voice inflection when she read quotes of various people.She talked in a soft wispery tone when quoting Jackie, however, she continued to use that same voice for any of the females quoted.She then attempted a deeper tone for the male voices.Due to all the voice shifting it was disruptive and the reading did not flow.Since it was a narrative and not a play it would have been more pleasing to the ear if the narrator did the entire reading in her natural voice.

Jacqueline not Jackie
It was fantastic to be able to grasp a better understanding of the stoic, graceful beauty that was Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. It was great to see the different facets of her personality from political darling to yacht hopping party girl. Her desire to control and veneer everything that happened in her life was inspiring. Couldn't put it down, was consistantly interesting throughout. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography    2. Audio - Autobiography / Biography    3. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    4. Audiobooks    5. Biography    6. Biography & Autobiography    7. Celebrities    8. First Ladies    9. Historical - U.S.    10. Presidents' spouses    11. Rich & Famous    12. United States    13. Women    14. Biography & Autobiography / General   

Editorial Review

Snow White's stepmother looks like a pussycat compared to the monster under which Adeline Yen Mah suffered. The author's memoir of life in mainland China and--after the 1949 revolution--Hong Kong is a gruesome chronicle of nonstop emotional abuse from her wealthy father and his beautiful, cruel second wife. Chinese proverbs scattered throughout the text pithily covey the traditional world view that prompted Adeline's subservience. Had she not escaped to America, where she experienced a fulfilling medical career and a happy marriage, her story would be unbearable; instead, it's grimly fascinating: Read more

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Falling leaves return to their roots.
Adeline Yen Mah was born in a well-placed, moneyed Chinese family prominent in the elite of Shanghai and later on in booming Hong Kong. Her mother died shortly after her birth, and she was always blamed for her death. Her father then married Niang, a beautiful Eurasian who is evil (particularly to Adeline), but nonetheless a formidable force in the Yen household.
Do some people just like abuse?
It is difficult to feel sorry for this woman.
Falling Leaves
This book was very interesting and a easy read. I love the fact that the author conveyed historic events. I would say that she could have went into to more details about her life with her second husband. How did the latter events affect her marriage and family? I would love to read about what has happened since the death of the stepmother. Good Book! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography    2. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    3. Audiobooks    4. Biography    5. California    6. Childhood Memoir    7. Chinese Americans    8. Ethnic Cultures    9. Women    10. Women physicians    11. China    12. True stories of endurance & survival   

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When Sue Bender proudly announced to a friend that her first book, Read more

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Abook for All Times!
After witnessing the recent horror (school massacre) inflicted upon the Amish community, "Everyday Sacred" is a timely reminder that they and the human spirit will endure.It reminds us to ask not what we lack, but to appreciate, daily, what we already have.
The Cure for the unnamed Problem
It's a great description of the Spritual Cure.... but we never analyze what was wrong in the first place... it's a type of Narcissism which in her case comes into conflict with her religious values and forced her to develop her spritual walk as a cure.
Inspirational!
This book fell into my lap at a time when I was "most ready" to hear it, so my review may be tainted.It was so inspirational to me, and I absolutely loved the analogies and word pictures that Sue Bender used.I refer to those illustrations in my mind nearly every day.I use this book as my nightstand "go to book" when I need a spiritual pick-me-up.It is beautiful, articulate, and powerful.I have sent copies to nearly everyone I know because I believe anyone and everyone, no matter what your spiritual beliefs are, can benefit from Ms Bender's eloquent writing. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio - Nonfiction    2. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    3. Case studies    4. Holy, The    5. Self-actualization (Psychology)    6. Spiritual biography    7. Spirituality - Women's   

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Who is she kidding?
Please! As if we the TV audience could not see where real arrogance and hypocrisy lie and on whom! We can spot real compassion and humility from a mile apart, and these qualities are nonexistent in this Tv host! She isnothing but arrogant, inhuman and insensitive with her audience! Please!

Outstanding
I read this book and I profoundly recommend it. This book gives people that little push we sometimes need to get to where we want to be. I found it to be very inspiring to women in general because she struggled a lot andnever gave up. This is how she has reached the point she is at now, whichis mere success. I highly recommend it not only as a great book, but as aconfidence and self-esteem boost.

Entertaining and good example of/and for the latino women
As a journalist and a latina woman when I read this book I really feel identify with all the troubles that Cristina had to deal altrough her career and with all the cultural things that we bring with us as working latino women that succeed. To all the latino women that want to do something in a country like the US or those who want to be successful in the media, this book its a good reading and encourage, to have an idea of what we can deal with in the same journey. Writing in the same way that Cristina speaks the reading of the book it's quick and entertaining, you simply can't stop reading it. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography    2. Audio - Autobiography / Biography    3. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    4. Biography & Autobiography    5. Entertainment & Performing Arts - General    6. Entertainment & Performing Arts - Television Personalities    7. Ethnic Cultures - General    8. Saralegui, Cristina    9. Women    10. Biography & Autobiography / Entertainment & Performing Arts   

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A Great Read!
Her life and her stories are so interesting and the way she tells them makes you almost hear her voice while reading the words. Her phrasing is almost like stream of consciousness (not like Virginia Woolf-stream of consciousness, just very fragment-y, incorrect grammar, etc.) I got the feeling that what she allows the reader to learn about is only a small fraction of what she really knows and has experienced in her life, not to mention that the stories are more than likely a little one-sided at times, as if the other person in the story, if you could talk to them, would have a completely different version of the same event. But that's part of the attraction of the book for me.
You could hear her voice!
Katharine Hepburn was an amazing American actress and icon. Although you wouldn't think so reading this book, Kate doesn't think of what she does as anything to be ashamed of or boast about. I could still see her in the documentary after this book came out. She said Oscars are nice but they won't garden for you or something like that. She was a remarkable human being. I just have one criticism. She left out the Golden Pond but she also left a very nice page to her devoted platonic secretary, personal assistant and companion, Phyllis. I thought it was so touching that she wrote something so nice about her. It can kind of gives you goosebumps to the amazing person that she was. Sadly, she discovered her brother's dead body from a suicide. Her struggles as an actress and her relationship with the love of her life, Spencer Tracy, is also there for the audience. She clearly loved him so much and yet, they could teach today's celebrities a thing or two about being discreet but they were truly movie stars and gifted actors beyond my comprehension. Katharine, we miss you and this book provides us some of your voice.

A great book according to Homer Simpson
One of Homer Simpson's favorite books, along with TV Guide and Son of Sniglet. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography    2. Audio - Autobiography / Biography    3. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    4. Entertainment & Performing Arts - Actors & Actresses    5. Women    6. Biography & Autobiography / Entertainment & Performing Arts   

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An excellent read from the Daughter of Nat King Cole
What can I say. This book is one of those that you can't put down. Very frank and honest account from the daughter of one of the greatest singing legends. Natalie, (I call her by her Christian name because having read this book, I feel I know her well, which I find important when reading someones autobiography) has had some difficult times and gone from riches to rags, and back to riches, with some life altering experiences along the way. The 'Unforgettable with love' album is also amazing. I'm off to buy 'Ask a woman who knows' concert. READ THIS BOOK!

An Amazing Inspiration
Natalie shares with astounding truth, humbleness, and shows us all how much she has been through, and how she - with the Divine help in her life - has triumphed from the darkest days. This book is an astounding beacon of hope for anyone who has been through both the highs and lows of life, and wants to genuinely rise from within. This Book Is an Amazing Inspiration and So Is Natalie!
Natalie shares with astounding truth, humbleness, and shows us all how much she has been through, and how she - with the Divine help in her life - has triumphed from the darkest days. This book is an astounding beacon of hope for anyone who has been through both the highs and lows of life, and wants to genuinely rise from within. Read more

Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography    2. Audio - Autobiography / Biography    3. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    4. Audiobooks    5. Biography    6. Biography & Autobiography    7. Composers & Musicians - Pop    8. Entertainment & Performing Arts - General    9. People of Color    10. Singers    11. United States    12. Women    13. Biography & Autobiography / Entertainment & Performing Arts   

Editorial Review

No TV news blond has more steel than Read more

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Interesting Read - But Reliable?
I am sure she is preaching to the choir about her self-important life, but take it all with a grain of salt from the woman who still cannot undertand us 'normal' folk."I predict historians are going to be totally baffled by how the American people fell in love with [Ronald Reagan] and followed him the way we did." - CBS News reporter Lesley Stahl, Jan. 11, 1989

An Exceptional Memoir!
What an interesting read!While most bios take you from birth through an unremarkable (and lengthy) adolescence, Stahl starts the book (and her life, by her own declaration) at age 30.Then - boom! - we're immediately thrust into Watergate (she was dating Bob Woodward at the time), where Stahl was the only TV newsperson covering the initial - and seemingly un-newsworthy - burglary. An "insider's" view of Washington
Lesley Stahl does a very good job of combining her remembrances of the men who occupied the White House and her own career as a CBS News correspondent.Read more

Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography    2. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    3. Audiobooks    4. Biography    5. Biography & Autobiography    6. Entertainment & Performing Arts - Television Personalities    7. Reporters and reporting    8. Unabridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography    9. United States    10. Women    11. Women television journalists    12. Biography & Autobiography / General   

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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   

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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   

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   

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The Allen and Burns Show
I glanced at the reviews here to see if my opinion of this book was just a fluke, but they pretty much bear me out. I didn't expect this book to be nearly as good as it is. On second thought, though, it's not that surprising. This pair was magic and it was seen in everything they touched, the prime and lasting example being the without parallel Burns and Allen Show.
Say Goodnight, Gracie
George Burns published this wonderful tribute to his wife when he was ninety-two years old, still head over heels in love with his dear Gracie, who died thirty years earlier.This book is a memoir of their personal and professional life together starting as the toast of vaudeville, continuing with their radio show for seventeen years, and later, situation comedy stars on television. Both George and Gracie started appearing on stage as children, and they teamed up in 1923, earning five dollars a week, doing four shows a day.At first, Gracie was the straight man and George said the punch lines, but they soon learned it was better the other way around.Gracie played the ditzy girlfriend and wife for thirty-five years and, as George said, he just stood next to her.He never stopped being amazed at her talent, beauty, and intelligence, and he loved her more with each passing day.The book ends with her death, from heart disease in 1958, and one is left with a lovely and intimate picture of their marriage. You'll laugh until you cry
The first and last pages of this book will hit you really hard. In between, you'll laugh harder than you've ever laughed. I was 2 when Gracie died. I have no recollection of her, and hadn't seen/heard much that she did. My aunt loaned me her copy, and I read it. When I finished, I felt I lost someone dear to me. The story is told that well. It could not have been written any better. I now own it, and have read it five times! I recommend it to anyone and everyone. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio - Autobiography / Biography    2. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    3. Unabridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography    4. Women    5. Biography & Autobiography / General   

Editorial Review

For most writers, the greatest challenge of spiritual writing is to keep it grounded in concrete language. The temptation is to wander off into the clouds of ethereal epiphanies, only to lose readers with woo-woo thinking and sacred-laced clichés. Thankfully, Anne Lamott (Read more

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Come as you are
Anne Lamott's Some Thoughts on Faith is delicious nonfiction. It's at once irreverent, reverent, poetic, rusty, sad and joyous. Anne starts by sharing her experiences with religion in childhood and then how she finally found a home in religion. But she is never preachy. She's at once religious yet more real than any religious person you've ever met, sharing her ups and downs in life, her struggles with various issues like alcoholism, bulimia, drug abuse, and, less seriously, her jiggly thighs and buttocks that she refers to lovingly as her "aunties." Her descriptions were like poetry in so many places as she describes the people she's met in her travels. Take this, for example:
An Honest Faith.
Let's be completely honest for a moment.Life is hard.Sometimes it can be incredibly hard.Bad things happen to good people and this happens quite often.We live in a fallen and sinful world.Contrary to the "Gospel of Prosperity" (aka greed) that seems popular in many places (and promoted by preachers such as Joel Osteen), you can sacrifice everything and still have nothing to show for it in this world.In fact, as followers of Jesus we have been promised "trials and tribulations".Yet, as followers of Jesus we have hope, joy, love, and peace.We have everything that the world (and what we ourselves) seek.It's not easy to not give into the despair and disillusions around us.We can get caught up in existing instead of living just as easily as anyone else.But, we can truly live and live a life abundant.It is a struggle, but it can be done.
We kill tree's to make books like this?
I wish I could have given this turkey zero stars. I tried very hard to connect with this train wreck of a book but I just couldn't. If this junk makes for good book fodder then I stand a pretty decent chance of becoming an author someday. I desperately tried to search for some kind of redeeming value in this book but I guess I just didn't get it. I'm not sure why this is a best selling "Christian" book either. It was this best seller status that led me to give it a read. Don't do what I did. Give this one a pass. She kept swearing and cursing, taking Gods name in vain, kept referring to God as a female, she stated that she prefers women pastors to men pastors, perhaps worst of all, had an abortion (almost got a second abortion) and prefers to have no father figure in her sons life. (It's pretty safe to say she doesn't like men, except for when she's getting knocked up of course...). So much for traditional American/Christian values. I don't see how this is considered a good "faith" story. It's a good thing I just checked this out from the library, I would have felt more than just alittle slighted had I bought it. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography    2. Audio - Autobiography / Biography    3. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    4. Literary    5. Religious    6. Women    7. Biography & Autobiography / Religious   

Editorial Review

Like Kurt Cobain, Nick Traina lived for punk rock (his bands made two CDs, Read more

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Reviews (186)

A Mother's Heartache
As a Danielle Steel fan since the dawn of her writing career, I've often wondered how she captures emotional anguish so vividly.In researching manic-depression while writing LOVING LARRY, I found the answer apparent in HIS BRIGHT LIGHT.From the heart of a mother she lovingly introduces her children, shares her personal history and bares her soul in this painful account of her son's struggle with manic-depressive illness and its effect on her family.The poignant portrayals she creates in fiction come--at least in part--from heartbreaking first-hand experience.

Steel's best work to date
Widely known for her romantic novels in far off places, Danielle Steel managed to create a career that likely exceeded her wildest dreams. Yet beneath the veneer of gentile refinement, the famous author struggled to help her son Nick Traina, a young man who was taken from Earth before his time. Lucky for him, and for us, Steel didn't let his passing go without triumph for those like him.