The Illustrator in America, 1880-1980: A Century of Illustration

Customer Reviews:

Wisdom and Inspiration.......2002-09-14

MENOPAUSE PINK offers wisdom and inspiration to those of us who are going through perimenopause or menopause itself. It is nice to hear the good things that happen and not just the bad. During this time of life when physical and mental discomforts seem to take over our lives it is helpful to have books like this one to give us hope and realize we are not alone.

My personal favorite is the story by the 85 year old man about what he would do if he had a second chance at life.

laughter is still the best medicine!.......2001-09-25

Menopause Pink is a book of chuckling aphorisms, cartoons, quotes & stories by & about women passing through the time of their lives & coming out the other end happier, funnier & full of wisdom, vim & vigor!

Terri Malucci's message is timely, lighthearted & heart felt - menopause can be a new beginning. Her visions, candor & humor along with those of many other women, are much needed now so let them lead you laughing on your latest journey of self discovery.

An amusing & thoughtful gift to give your friends when they make the Big 50!

Life IS funny!.......2000-10-14

Terri Malucci lends a refreshing humor to the subject of menopause. Laughing at the experiences related in this book will make it easier to laugh at yourself.

It makes a great gift for the friend who is reaching that time of life!

"Must" reading for those anticipating menopause........2000-03-05

Terri Malucci was unable to find any book about menopause that would help her feel optimistic about entering middle age. During her search she did find clinical data describing the health issues involved with menopause, often focused on health risks, disease, physical deterioration, and the downside of being menopausal. After talking with her mother, grandmother, friends and strangers about their menopausal experiences, she wrote her own book about being in "The Change Of Life". Menopause Pink is the perfect, optimistic, even inspiring introduction to the menopausal experience and highly recommended reading for all women who are anticipating menopause, entering menopause, menopausal -- and their husbands who love them.

Menopause Pink - a man's perspective.......2000-02-21

What a wonderful book it is. It has really given me great insight into the problems of menopause and the wonderful way that the women in our (men's) lives handle this chemical change in their bodies. I laughed and cried while reading it, and I suspect there are other men who did the same. There may be two important times in a woman's life: birth and menopause, and this book really went a long way towards helping me understand the latter.

I have seen her website and think that it truly expresses the beauty and humor of her book.

Great job!

Natalie Wood: A Life (Random House Large Print)
Average customer rating:

Disappointing

Lambert had an agenda...

Controversial

A Ludicrious Attempt To Have The Last Word

Pay for a DNA test

Natalie Wood: A Life (Random House Large Print)
Gavin Lambert
Manufacturer: Random House Large Print
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Natasha: The Biography of Natalie Wood (Nova Audio Books)

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ASIN: 0375433155
Release Date: 2004-01-06

Book Description

She spent her life in the movies. Her childhood is still there to see in Miracle on 34th Street. Her adolescence in Rebel Without a Cause. Her coming of age? Still playing in Splendor in the Grass and West Side Story and countless other hit movies. From the moment Natalie Wood made her debut in 1946, playing Claudette Colbert and Orson Welles’s ward in Tomorrow Is Forever at the age of seven, to her shocking, untimely death in 1981, the decades of her life are marked by movies that–for their moments–summed up America’s dreams.

Now the acclaimed novelist, biographer, critic and screenwriter Gavin Lambert, whose twenty-year friendship with Natalie Wood began when she wanted to star in the movie adaptation of his novel Inside Daisy Clover, tells her extraordinary story. He writes about her parents, uncovering secrets that Natalie either didn’t know or kept hidden from those closest to her. Here is the young Natalie, from her years as a child actress at the mercy of a driven, controlling stage mother (“Make Mr. Pichel love you,” she whispered to the five-year-old Natalie before depositing her unexpectedly on the director’s lap), to her awkward adolescence when, suddenly too old for kiddie roles, she was shunted aside, just another freshman at Van Nuys High. Lambert shows us the glamorous movie star in her twenties—All the Fine Young Cannibals, Gypsy and Love with the Proper Stranger. He writes about her marriages, her divorces, her love affairs, her suicide attempt at twenty-six, the birth of her children, her friendships, her struggles as an actress and her tragic death by drowning (she was always terrified of water) at forty-three.
For the first time, everyone who knew Natalie Wood speaks freely–including her husbands Robert Wagner and Richard Gregson, famously private people like Warren Beatty, intimate friends such as playwright Mart Crowley, directors Robert Mulligan and Paul Mazursky, and Leslie Caron, each of whom told the author stories about this remarkable woman who was both life-loving and filled with despair.

What we couldn’t know–have never been told before–Lambert perceptively uncovers. His book provides the richest portrait we have had of Natalie Wood.

Customer Reviews:

Disappointing.......2007-09-01

A very, very boring book. Natalie had a very interesting life, but this book is impossible to enjoy.

Lambert had an agenda..........2007-08-09

Gavin Lambert has told of how he loved Natalie and how he wanted to tell her story...What he really wanted to do was wash off some of the dirt Suzanne Finstad threw on Robert Wagner in her much better bio, Natasha. He tries to make Wagner look like a macho knight in shining armor...in doing so he sacrificed Natalie. Finstad's Natasha was a page turner...and a more touching, more true, look at Miss Wood...This book is a bore. Lambert tells the story of Natalie's mother and the sea captain and the possibility that her Fahd may not have been her father. Lambert plays this for all it's worth. He also takes pot shots at Natalie's sister Lana. He undoubtedly worked closely with Wagner on this area of the book. Lambert tried his best to make the reader like Wagner...I liked him more before I read this book. I came away from it thinking that Wagner cared more about how the public sees him than he does about telling Natalie's story..He should be ashamed of himself for allowing Lambert to say things like "Natalie liked to swish her tail." It was vulgar and Natalie deserved better...After reading this book I felt that she deserved a better friend than Lambert and a better husband than Wagner....If you want to read a well researched biography about Natalie, read Finstad's Natasha.

Controversial.......2007-01-13

I have to give Gavin Lambert credit for trying to peel the layers of Natalie Wood's life. Obviously, this book shows how complex her life was.
Her Russian ancestry is very interesting and the stories that her mother Marusia told. It is difficult for an author to separate the fact from the fiction Family history is often difficult to document especially since Natalie's family fled Russia and probably many records were destroyed Mr. Lambert says that Natalie's father was George Cetalopv and not Nick Gurdin. I have a hard time believing this. Natalie didn't show any interest in George. Neither does she resemble him. Probably the only people who REALLY know are Marusia, Olga and Natalie (close family members). It is possible that three of Marusia's daughters are from different fathers! Or maybe two are from the same dad. Regardless, Natalie Wood is very beautiful and talented.

A Ludicrious Attempt To Have The Last Word.......2006-07-29

Well, I just received Gavin Lambert's book on Natalie Wood, and after trudging through this monotonous, overblown biography, the conclusion is as follows: it's boring as hell! (I can't say I haven't been warned). This is the "wonderful" biography of Natalie that is supposed to set the record straight? It boasts 78 photos, but instead of being included in a glossy pictures section, they are widespread on various pages in the book so that they appear grainy. It seems to me that it was written as a rebuttal, and to paint Lana Wood as a greedy, vicious person (she was obviously not interviewed), and to make childish slaps at her, when she was not given the opportunity to tell her side of it. Robert Wagner seems threatened by anyone who knew Natalie before he, Lambert and Mart Crowley did - dismissing all of the people Natalie befriended before who offered their insights in "Natasha: The Biography Of Natalie Wood" as vultures who barely made her aquaintance and who are weaving fantasies about her. Basically, Wagner is uncomfortable with the aspects of Natalie's life that he was not involved in. It doesn't really attempt to get behind Natalie's persona any, like "Natasha" did, and of course, it doesn't acknowledge Natalie's love for Jimmy Williams, her first boyfriend, the rape by a famous actor, or what happened on the night of her death, hastily tying up loose ends and making her death sound so simple. Lambert wrote this book for Wagner, there's no question, and Natasha and Courtney are hardly mentioned at all. Did Lambert actually do any in-depth research? As well, there are allegations that Nick Gurdin may not have been Natalie's or Lana's father, and then there's Natasha Lofft, who has not proven with DNA that she is actually Natalie's half sister, but Wagner and the girls have no problem believing that she is, but they dismiss Suzanne Finstad's book as speculation and trash? I'll believe this claimant's story when I see proof! At least Finstad was able to remain somewhat objective and unbiased, since she did not know Natalie (and she did try to get Wagner's input, but he refused) which is obviously not the case with this pathetic attempt at a so-called "definitive" biography. Much of the book appears to be written quickly, but at least it does name the film Natalie turned down, which was reputed to have the actor who raped her in the cast. And of course, it has to dispel all the allegations of Wagner's sexual orientation, and what played the role in the demise of his first marriage to Natalie (heaven forbid that anyone attempt to tarnish the reputation of Prince Valiant).

As much of a disappointment as this book is, I'm glad I purchased it so I can compare it to "Natasha" and Lana's book to try to decipher what is closer to the truth. At least I didn't have to spend too much money on it!

Whatever the truth, I hope that Natalie is at peace.

Pay for a DNA test.......2005-07-06

This is in response to reviewer Natasha Lofft's claims that she is the half-sister of Natalie Wood in the review of Gavin Lambert's "Natalie Wood: A Life," dated on May 23, 2005.

Natasha Lofft is the daughter of Maria Gurdin's first love, Captain George Zapalov and his wife Nina. This story originated from a fantasy that Maria Gurdin, Natalie Wood's mother, harbored for years because Captain Zapalov was her first love. Maria Gurdin first met Natasha Lofft while vacationing on the Russian River when Ms. Lofft was a teenager. Maria Gurdin, it must be noted, was a woman who suffered mental illness and Alzheimer's for many years before she passed away.

George Zapalov had blue eyes and Maria Gurdin had green eyes. The two of them together could not have had a brown eyed child. Also, Nina, Natasha Lofft's real mother, had brown eyes. How could Maria have given birth to two kids around the same time?

If Natasha Lofft wants to prove that she is truly Natalie Wood's half-sister, she should pay for a DNA test and stop wasting people's time with this fantasy.

Life Magazine November 26, 1945: Natalie Wood is new movie moppet; THEATER: 'AS YOU LIKE IT'; Churchill's HQ; see additional description below

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Life Magazine November 26, 1945: Natalie Wood is new movie moppet; THEATER: 'AS YOU LIKE IT'; Churchill's HQ; see additional description below
LIFE MAGAZINE
Manufacturer: LIFE
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000TKGJME

Average customer rating:

Natalie Wood: A Life
Gavin Lambert
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OX7WWC

Life Magazine June 15, 1962 -- Cover: Natalie Wood

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Life Magazine June 15, 1962 -- Cover: Natalie Wood
Editor Henry Luce
Manufacturer: Time, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000JK45BG

Life Magazine issue dated June 16, 1947: MOVIES: 'Miracle on 34th Street' with Natalie Wood, John Payne; RADIO: Evelyn Knight; MEDICINE: George Lott 30 months Later; Please see TABLE OF CONTENTS photo for additional information on articles in this issue

Average customer rating:

Life Magazine issue dated June 16, 1947: MOVIES: 'Miracle on 34th Street' with Natalie Wood, John Payne; RADIO: Evelyn Knight; MEDICINE: George Lott 30 months Later; Please see TABLE OF CONTENTS photo for additional information on articles in this issue
TIME-LIFE books
Manufacturer: TIME-LIFE books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000W3WU58

Life Magazine issue dated November 26, 1945: Cover Story: Champion Afghans; Natalie Wood is new movie moppet; THEATER: 'AS YOU LIKE IT'; Churchill's HQ; Please see TABLE OF CONTENTS photo for additional information on articles in this issue

Average customer rating:

Life Magazine issue dated November 26, 1945: Cover Story: Champion Afghans; Natalie Wood is new movie moppet; THEATER: 'AS YOU LIKE IT'; Churchill's HQ; Please see TABLE OF CONTENTS photo for additional information on articles in this issue
TIME-LIFE books
Manufacturer: TIME-LIFE books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000V95N7A

Average customer rating:

Life Magazine June 15, 1962 -- Cover: Natalie Wood
Editor Henry Luce
Manufacturer: Time, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000JK45AW

Average customer rating:

Natalie Wood a Life
Gavin Lambert
Manufacturer: KNOPF, ALFRED A
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000UDIMT8

Natalie Wood: A Life Large Print Edition

Average customer rating:

Natalie Wood: A Life Large Print Edition
Gavin Lambert
Manufacturer: Random House Large Print
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OXGWNW

Book Description

Photos, memoirs, magazine stories and cartoons tracing the career of the ebullient psychedelic band from its mid-1960's genesis to guitarist Jerry Garcia's death at a California drug treatment facility in 1995. 50 photos.

Customer Reviews:

A "must" for all Greatful Dead fans!.......2000-09-06

The Greatful Dead is one of the most popular, influential, and long lasting rock groups in the history of rock music. Dead Reckonings: The Life And Times Of The Greatful Dead is a nostalgic "must" for all their legions of fans, and will aptly serve to introduce a new generation of "deadheads" to the lore, legend and history of Jerry Garcia and the other unforgettable Greatful Dead group members.

Secrets of Finishing Hooked Rugs
Average customer rating:

What my wife always needed to know

Finishing methods for "hookers" ...rug hookers!

Almost all you could ask for.

answers for all those questions

Secrets of Finishing Hooked Rugs
Margaret Siano , and Susan Huxley
Manufacturer: Rug Hooking
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1881982327

Customer Reviews:

What my wife always needed to know.......2004-02-25

I have always been a fanatic of making our own rugs. The book is excellent and helped me putting the final "magic" touches in the rugs I make. The book was great and the pictures very illustrative. For those interested in making their own rugs, "Secrets of Finishing Hooked Rugs" is A MUST. Thank you Margaret Siano.

Finishing methods for "hookers" ...rug hookers!.......2004-01-29

There has been a crying need for this book that focuses on the finishing processes available to complete your hooked rug since the day the first rug was hooked more than 200 years ago. Margaret Siano, rug hooker extra-ordinaire (more than 30 years and approximately 100 hooked rugs to her credit), along with the able assistance of Susan Huxley, who is a specialist in the area assisting authors in the process of creating books, have finally filled this need. The results of their team work assisted by the exceptional photographic work of Bob Gerhart has resulted in the best (DIY) "do it your self" book I have ever read.

There are 116 of the clearest, sharpest, best lighted photographs to compliment the concise text descriptions of the various styles of finishing hooked rugs. The styles of finishing include braided edging, corded and whipped edging, fringed edges as well as corded binding and flat wool binding.

The last chapter will instruct you on the proper blocking of the finished rug as well as care and cleaning of an existing rug. If you are going to be the artistic creator of a rug by "painting with wool", this book will enlighten you by offering the finishing touches to your work of art. Rug hooking requires the skill and artistic talents on the same level as a formal oil painting. It should be finished in such a manner to enhance the life time of the rug which has proven by existing examples to be more than a century.

Every "hooker" should own this book.

Almost all you could ask for........2003-11-29

This book is almost all you could ask for. The only thing that would have improved it is closeup photos of the various rug finishes from the right side.

answers for all those questions.......2003-11-27

okay, you're finished hooking - now what? This book offers detailed instructions and wonderful photographs on step by step finishing of those wonderful projects. A must for beginners and new ideas for accomplished hookers.

Girl Meets God: A Memoir
Average customer rating:

I couldn't put it down for one minute

Honest and impressive

To slog or not to slog...

And she converted because.....?

Insightful and educational

Girl Meets God: A Memoir
Lauren F. Winner
Manufacturer: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0812970802
Release Date: 2003-12-30

Book Description

The child of a Jewish father and a lapsed Southern Baptist mother, Lauren F. Winner chose to become an Orthodox Jew. But even as she was observing Sabbath rituals and studying Jewish law, Lauren was increasingly drawn to Christianity. Courageously leaving what she loved, she eventually converted. In Girl Meets God, this appealing woman takes us through a year in her Christian life as she attempts to reconcile both sides of her religious identity.

Here readers will find a new literary voice: a spiritual seeker who is both an unconventional thinker and a devoted Christian. The twists and turns of Winner’s journey make her the perfect guide to exploring true faith in today’s complicated world.

Customer Reviews:

I couldn't put it down for one minute.......2007-05-17

It was wintertime and I was speaking at a woman's conference in Charlottesville, VA. At my booktable aside from books I'd written, the church also had a few books they loved including this brand new, first book written by one of their church members who happened to be at this retreat. I bought GIRL MEETS GOD and took it to my hotel room and started reading it that night. I got hungry so I walked in the snow to a cool restaurant/pub and read the book at dinner under the little lamp at my table. I stayed at that table until the restaurant closed at 11pm because I couldn't stop reading, I was so absorbed in the story. I went back to my hotel room and finished the book by 3 in the morning. It was THAT good. I had the privilege of meeting Lauren Winner the next day at the conference. Needless to say I was a bit intimidated because I was such a fan. This was written better than any favorite fiction book I've read. If you want to cuddle up and enjoy a story, read GIRL MEETS GOD.

Honest and impressive.......2007-05-07

GIRL MEETS GOD tells of Lauren Winner's Jewish upbringing, the Orthodox Judaism of her college years, and then her conversion to Christianity as a young adult. The sections and chapters of this book are organized by and named after both Jewish and Christian holidays. This memoir is partly a love story, with Jesus as the hero. It is partly a story of traditions, both Christian and Judaism. It is partly a story of community, and Lauren's love and respect for the people, both within in Judaism and Christianity, who shaped her spiritually.

I loved reading this. Lauren Winner is a very passionate woman, and when she writes about spirituality, family, friends, love, and books, her enthusiasm is all over the pages. She really brings the reader into her life, showing how her spirituality affects everything from her academic development to her thoughts on sexuality. I felt like she was my new friend, although a friend who is greatly more intelligent and academic than I am. I highly recommend this.

To slog or not to slog..........2007-03-24

So there I was slogging through a young author's account of her conversion from Judaism to Christianity, complete with a multitude of "foreign" phrases that should have annoyed me, but...fascinated me. The insight Lauren Winner offers into the Jewish experience on her path to accepting Jesus is thought-provoking, such that I don't believe I'll ever read the Old Testament again without a deeper appreciation for the Jewish people and their culture. Okay, so I wasn't slogging...

And she converted because.....?.......2007-03-14

For months I'd asked for this book at my local library; the clerk said it was constantly being renewed, or loaned out. The author is held in high regard among the younger intelligentsia in our shared Episcopal Church, so I hear her name checked in conversations with like minded people. Thus my excitement at obtaining the book and the earnestness of my review. The author and I share many traits, not the least of which is high emotional temperature/flair for theatrics, also propinquity of age. And she seemed to be the type of girl who could be my future wife. That helped, a little...

To her credit, the author writes lucid, at times compelling, prose, and knows her way around story arcs and cultural allusions. Her didactic artifice is far less successful. I was less interested in her conversion, from Reform, into, and out of, Orthodox Judaism than trying to understand why she ultimately chose Anglicanism. She just didn't give me a convincing rationale, unfortunately. Disturbingly, in a volume that purports to be about "something" substantial, even trying to find words in our language to describe, for example, "meeting" the God of Israel, the author displays the same sublimated cynicism and detachment from reality common to our generation. Her self-centeredness (when it's not "about" her, it's "about" her reactions to things she learns "about" herself from those around her) will not serve her will in her chosen discipline, religious studies, which requires empathy. Everyone except for her is a stereotype, even the "Sarahs who snubbed her", the Orthodox guys who wouldn't marry her because she's a convert, and even the "some man" she lacks the self-control to avoid having sex with (again? those details are superfluous, honey). She has the capability to be an effective spokesperson for our generation's desperately needed call to renewal, but if she just keeps on using her spiritual winnowing as a resume builder, her future students/readership would so easily be able to tell. We all aren't THAT obtuse!

Pity, I liked her better as a Jew (well she halachically still is, but I digress...). This is because she mirrors my affinity for Judaism (historico-moral significance and imperative, the "religious" aspect, if you will; far less the "cultural"). Reading her story reminds me that just because I lean so far off to left of post-modern Christianity, it doesn't equate that I'd eventually fall off into a life of running around Crown Heights screaming out, "Mazel Tov!".

I could actually still do this while remaining a Christian, but that is another matter entirely.

With her conversion to Christianity, she just lost that "spark", that specialness, I can't explain it. Sometimes when she would talk, it reminded me of my (long ago,as yet undegreed) college days when I was a Judaic Studies major in Boca (of all places). There was this girl who went to a Messianic synagogue in one of my classes and I thought to myself, "finally, a (not unattractive) girl who could talk intelligently about our desire to live as the first Christians (all Orthodox Palestinian Jews, as if we forgot...oh wait, we did) lived and thought." Well, she turned about to be "just" another gentile, like me. How disappointing! I paused several times reading this book, as if to say, "Aha, Lauren Winner seems like she's trying to be something she's not, a gentile". Like ships passing in the night, she and I.

The fact that I have a call to (what I naturally assumed was the Episcopal) ministry complicates my relationship to the ideas expressed in this book. The author, to my chagrin, immediately subsumed some of the WORST traits of our people (clannish behavior, pretense of ecumenism, over-reliance on the Prayer Book - I'll never forget the college professor who, upon hearing an obscure cite on my part, said, "An Episcopalian that KNOWS the BIBLE?") and so on. And I would let the author know that I have suffered much for the Episcopalian cause from other Christians (that I'm "pagan" b/c I read my prayers out of a book, "Every time your church is in the headlines, it's only because of something 'controversial', etc). I would suggest that the author can't just take, take, take, from Anglicanism without, too, defending it.

She seems far too deferential to evangelical Christians, and their "poise" and assurance of ownership. This I found troubling.

Her "Jewess at the foot of the cross" persona I found distasteful.

If I didn't care about her and the subject matter, I might suggest that writing a "memoir" in your twenties is silly, nay, capricious and arbitrary.

A seeming defense of the ultra-evangelical wing of the Episcopal Church (even with all she knows, and don't worry, she'll remind you every two pages) is what finally put the mechitza between us. As someone who is stuck in a diocese that is increasingly tilted towards a reactionary "low church"/conservative evangelical theology and clergy, I can say that it's not all romance and fighting for the "purity" of the faith. In fact, this polarization is the main reason the Episcopal Church and I are on the outs.

Because among other things, the local priest implied I was too liberal...too "Jewish". "You must bring your practice in line with those of the church". That being said, the only way I could see the author outdoing even herself, is to discover she has a call to the priesthood (like her "rescue fantasy" you learn about in the book, she also flirts with this idea, too) and she ends up teaching at the same seminary where I might eventually study for the ministry. No, I think that may actually happen, knowing our affinities.

Pair this up with "A Jew Examines Christianity" by Rachel Zurer (it's scarce, try interlibrary loan) for a more nuanced approach to some of the theological/"parting of the ways" pining the author insists on doing.

I think she is trying not to convince herself, in her words, "This Christianity thing isn't working". Maybe some of the syntax of the book wouldn't seem so hysterical if she proffered to be more stable.

You should read this book. But as for me, I ask, UCC, have you any room at the inn?

Hope you got something out of this.

Insightful and educational.......2006-04-20

This book was excellent, despite it's slightly cheesy title. Winner is smart, witty, and incredibly honest about her spiritual journey. I learned so much about Judaism, and definitely thought about my own Christian faith. This book is refreshing and thought-provoking in its honesty and intellectualism.

Girl Meets God: On the Path to a Spiritual Life

Average customer rating:

Relevant... Honest... Transparent and Real - a Relatable Reflection of one Woman's Faith Journey
And Next.. A Girl talks to Bhudda
A very easy book to relate to.
Page Turner
A Dizzying Journey

Girl Meets God: On the Path to a Spiritual Life
Lauren Winner
Manufacturer: Shaw
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0877881073
Release Date: 2004-01-20

Book Description

Customer Reviews:

Relevant... Honest... Transparent and Real - a Relatable Reflection of one Woman's Faith Journey.......2007-08-26

This book was a gift from a dear friend who said - "her writing style reminds me of yours" (which is actually probably true)- but even casting that aside - there was so much about this woman's journey of discovering her faith... and wrestling with all of that (how to walk it out... how to defend it to her friends, her family - even herself in the face of whatever it was that life threw at her... the big & small stuff) - that I could really identify with, and think that most people - and women could as well.

In fact, it was so much like looking in a mirror at some points that it was at times a bit unnerving... or at least very challenging.

I found myself at the end of it kind of/rather torn... smiling and almost grimacing all at once because of the way it ends. While I understand that the author had to end the book/story the way she did, I confess that I am slightly at odds with my reaction to it at the same time. (I waffle between "brilliant" and that slightly unsettled feeling you have when everything isn't all wrapped up at the end into neat Hollywood endings w/pretty bows and packaging).

Which I suppose is what made it all the more real, and true and resonant (sp?) and why, I suppose it was all the more perfectly suited for me.

I highly recommend this book. It's definitely the kind of thing you can pick up & put down... or read all at once, but I recommend savoring it. (Like really good dark chocolate - the kind you would LOVE to eat all at once - and are even tempted too... it's SO much better if you let it soak in over time).

And Next.. A Girl talks to Bhudda .......2005-01-29

Girl Meets God is a bodice-ripping tome on religion, or rather, religion-lite. It titilates, confesses, talks of food, sex, drink and,top it off, a little "Electra" thing going on with Daddy- Ms Winer wrote a little fairy tale for spiritual seekers- Jew or Christian- lost in the big woods, etc., etc. all egos are attended to.
Her theological choices seem to plucked out of a hat- let's see- - I am a non-observant, by name only, Jew--I think I'll become a Jew who stepped out of the middle ages- I will dress to call attention to my piety- observe the most obscure holidays- and find God- Why???- Why would one go from being a practicing nothing to a super religious Jew practicing customs the majority of Jews put aside at least 3 generations ago?--But- you know how it is with teenage girls- Well, she caught on pretty quickly; it isn't too easy to live like that. H'mm how about something a bit more mainstream; Church of England.- WoW! That one ought to get Papa's attention! And what better place to be Christianed an Episcopal than in England. That sweet chapel, the history, the organ, ahh. Ms. Winer's writing is amusing,lively and very simplistic theologically for such aself-described intellectual. The book makes short shrift of both Christianity and Judiasm; and diminshes both faiths. Perhaps she should have completed her Doctorate on religious history before she began competing with Venerable Bede and the esteemed Rabbis she refers to. Ms Winer might consider writing some "Chick Lit". I think she has just what it takes. Like "Prada went to Church"

A very easy book to relate to........2005-01-03

This book is a quick read and well as an interesting read. I read this book for a church book discussion group and was very glad we chose it. I felt that even though it's about her struggle with Judaism and converting to Christianity, it is so very applicable to me as a Christian who did not convert from anything. It reminds me of the basics of being a Christian and the struggles that we all face. The reason not for 5 stars is that even though there is a great deal of information from the author about the 2 religions, it was not a challenging book to read - but that's just my preference.

Page Turner.......2004-06-24

It is not often a person can say a religious book is a edge of chair page turner; BUT, Lauren's book was just that. I read it in three evenings, and quickley ordered her book Mudhouse Sabbath, and can't wait to read it. Lauren's religious "travel" from reformed Judaism to orthodox Judaism to Episcopalism was both insightful and thought provoking. I highly recommend this book if you are searching spiritally, or want to learn basic tenants of Judaism and christianity from a person who lived both.

A Dizzying Journey.......2004-05-21

You might have a friend who is pretty bright, likes to talk about their struggles, desperately tries to defy any and all 'categorizations', and comes across as passionate but erratic. Chances are this friend is great at dinner parties, but you don't exactly give them the keys to your house and ask them to water your plants while you're on vacation. Maybe this is because you fear that they would suddenly, inexplicably, or tirelessly pursue a 'spontaneous' life, a life that maybe didn't include sustaining your African violets. If you don't have that friend, I encourage you to read this book. After which, Lauren Winner can be that friend.

The book is not a bad read. It's a faithful mimicry of Anne Lamott - even when it comes to sentence construction. You'll have lots of long, rambling, free-flowing sentences (with parenthetical expressions) that will be showing you the many divergent paths that her intricate mind is capable of exploring...and you'll see that she's young, hip, and flippant because there will be the necessary punctual follow up fragment. Like this.

Overall, I found her a story a little suspect, in part due to the author's note that let's us know certain "details - names, professions, chronology, and so forth" were changed. Also in part due to the freshness of the material; she's so stuck in the churn that I don't think she's fully reflected on her journey. The dust-jacket comparisons to C.S. Lewis (because he wrote a spiritual autobiography?! What about St. Augustine while we're at it?) made me want to puke.

Girl Meets God: A Memoir
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Girl Meets God: A Memoir
Lauren F. Winner
Manufacturer: Shaw books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000WOGCS8

Not War But Murder: Cold Harbor 1864
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Richmond is a hard road to travel..

Best Cold Harbor book on the market

Saint Lee, Butcher Grant

Biased

Cold Harbor as general history...

Not War But Murder: Cold Harbor 1864
Ernest B. Furgurson
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
General | Civil War | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
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Bloody Roads South: The Wilderness to Cold Harbor, May-June 1864

Cold Harbor: Grant and Lee, May 26-June 3, 1864

ASIN: 0679781390
Release Date: 2001-08-14

Book Description

Ernest Furgurson, author of Ashes of Glory and Chancellorsville 1863, brings his talents to a pivotal and often neglected Civil War battle–the fierce, unremitting slaughter at Cold Harbor, Virginia, which ended the lives of 10,000 Union soldiers.

In June of 1864, the Army of the Potomac attacked heavily entrenched Confederate forces outside of Richmond, hoping to break the strength of Robert E. Lee and take the capital. Facing almost certain death, Union soldiers pinned their names to their uniforms in the forlorn hope that their bodies would be identified and buried. Furgurson sheds new light on the personal conflicts that led to Grant’s worst defeat and argues that it was a watershed moment in the war. Offering a panorama rich in detail and revealing anecdotes that brings the dark days of the campaign to life, Not War But Murder is historical narrative as compelling as any novel.

Customer Reviews:

Richmond is a hard road to travel.........2006-03-06

Author Ernest B. Furgurson has written an excellent book about the Battle of Cold Harbor. Furgurson brings together both armies and preps the reader to understand why Lee and Grant are facing each other. Besides talking about how the armies started to clash, I also found the interesting political motivations that were covered through out the book which gave further insight as to how this battle eventually carried out.

Compared to other books by Furgurson, I really liked this one the best because he made it easy to understand this sometimes, confusing battle. Furgurson took me as a reader one step at a time making it understandable as to why the Confederates where positioning to await Grant, and why Lee wasn't on the offensive. Furgurson does a great job explaining the morale, health and overall welfare of both armies paving the way for what transpired. I also liked how Furgurson eplained the quiet battle of Meade versus Grant. Two Union generals with conflict, it was very intriguing.

From beginning to end, this book is well written, very descriptive and easy to understand. I enjoyed reading it and think others fascinated by the campaigns of 1864 in the eastern theatre will too.

Best Cold Harbor book on the market.......2003-11-01

This is a heavily footnoted book, using solid primary footnotes.
I read this book, when it first came out, and really enjoyed it. Contrary to what some other reviewers have stated, the author Furguson discuss's the battle of Cold Harbor, not Gettysburg, or anything else. The facts are Lee had the ANV well entrenched. Grant used the same tactics, as he did at Vicksburg, which is ordering Frontal assualts, in human waves. This time Grant's men paid a very heavy price. The Union troops were mowed down by cannister, and grape shot. It was like Fredericksburg all over again. Grant ordered his troops to get up, they refused. The most the troops did was raise their weapons and fire. ( The ones still alive) Grant then went back to his headquarters and wrote an order stating there would be no offensive movement the rest of the day. ( Good idea, as his soldiers already decieded that themselves)
[ not included in the book is Grant having W.T. Sherman using a similar frontal assualt at Chickasaw Bayou. ( Confederate entrenched and devastated Sherman's army)
Grant's theory of war was simple, in his own words, "Find the enemy, get there as soon as possible and hit them with everything you have."
Well, human waves--a Grant speciality--didn't work a Vicksburg, it didn't work for his subordinate, W. T. Sherman at Chickasaw bayou, and Cold Harbor, Grant admitted was his biggest mistake.
This is a book that quotes letters from the privates, Generals, and is hard to put down.
If you like the Civil War, this is, in my opinion, the best book on Cold Harbor

Saint Lee, Butcher Grant.......2003-09-12

You can tell the worth of a book when you don't even have to read the first chapter to detect the writer's overt "Lost Cause" bias - he states it clearly in the prologue - (actually, the title is the give away).

The book itself is rubbish, in my opinion. The author is a decent writer but he relies on almost all the old myths about Grant and Cold Harbor.

Almost every "old standard" story about Grant at Cold Harbor is repeated in Furgurson's book. Many of these myths are pablum that Gordon C. Rhea has either debunked or dispelled in his recent book on Cold Harbor. Rhea makes plain that the casualty figures are nowhere near what is typically recounted ("7000 men shot down in fifteen minutes" - another old standard, and a false one), that Grant's strategy for making the assault was sound, Lee lost far more men in most of the assaults he made, etc.

Read Gordon C. Rhea's book. It's far more thorough, and dispells most of the standard "myths" about Cold Harbor. Rhea's research, and the level of detail in his account, is outstanding. Furgurson's book, in my opinion, is nothing more than a "hit piece" on Grant by a Lost Cause adherent.

But it goes deeper than that in my reading of Furgurson's book. I still thought I could push through the book and garner something useful, but what I couldn't get around time and again was that I detected what I felt to be a real *meanness* in the book that was startling - the author does more than criticise Grant, he seems to go out of his way to take every cheap shot he can - trying to reinforce the idea that Grant was some cold, unfeeling butcher. In fact, in my opinion, that seems the sole purpose of the book; that the author is a Lost Cause acolyte who despises Grant, and set out to write a book trashing him. Period. Grant is portrayed as a plodding, unimaginative, unfeeling butcher (an absurdity only believed by Lost Cause adherents and dispelled by even a superifical study of Grant's character) while Lee for the better part, comes off one step short of being canonized.

In my opinion, the author wrote this book for the "Lost Cause" crowd, and it will only be valuable to those that simply want to reinforce their own beliefs about the man who *beat* Lee.

Biased.......2003-08-06

You would think while reading this well-written but highly-biased tome that Robert E. Lee never made the mistake of sending troops into massive frontal assaults against impregnable positions. Yet Lee was far more experienced at wasting troops in useless attacks than Grant. One need only examine the disasterous Confederate attacks at Malvern Hill in 1862 and Gettysburg in 1863 to see that Lee had his own share of "Cold Harbors." And that is exactly where this book fails. While Furgurson does debunk some of the myths of Cold Harbor, he acutally manages to bolsters the myth of Lee's saintly invicibility. I thought most of today's historians were moving beyond this type of mindless hero worship, but apparently not.

Cold Harbor as general history..........2003-07-11

The 1864 battle at Cold Harbor has enjoyed somewhat of a rejuvination lately with a recent work from Gordon Rhea as well as this fine volume from noted Civil War historian Ernest Furgurson. Naturally, a comparison is warranted (whether fairly or unfairly) so I'll indulge myself.

Rhea's coverage of the battle is framed in a military/campaign format with specific movements and tactics spelled out in sometimes extreme detail...a great many readers, I'll wager will not be able to "see the forest for the trees". For Civil War buffs however, this work is paradise.

By comparison, Furgurson's account takes a more general approach to the struggle with emphasis on the everyday soldier and military life. The result is a sparkling and refreshing view of this awful battle with an added bonus of a brilliant description of the subsequent extrication of U.S. Grant's Army of the Potomac from Cold Harbor and the beginning of the siege of Petersburg.

Furgurson tells just enough of the details of both armies movements from the end of the battle at the North Anna river up to and including the climactic struggles on June 1st and 3rd to keep the military historians engaged, but also in a way that drags the general reader in and holds him. As in his previous work covering the 1863 battle of Chancellorsville, Furgurson keeps a remarkable balance between the detailed battle tactics and social issues of the day, all the while allowing the story to flow at a pleasurable pace...without sacrificing any details.

Furgurson goes on to discuss the mood of both armies as they settle in for the Petersburg siege...the almost criminal loss of opportunity of the Union forces to destroy the Confederates as Grant steals a march on R.E. Lee. Grant's deteriorating relationship with Gordon Meade is a principal factor at this point in the war for the Union's poor coordination and Furgurson does not hesitate to criticize both. Finally, a brilliant Epilouge that discusses the battlefield post Cold Harbor and the Cold Harbor cemetery eloquently close out the book.

As in any battle history, the mark of a standout story is the author's ability to depict the battle and all the details while not suffering "atmosphere" and Ernest Furgurson succeeds magnificently with "Not War But Murder". I recommend this book highly.

Not War But Murder. Cold Harbor 1864
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Not War But Murder. Cold Harbor 1864
Ernest B. Furgurson
Manufacturer: Vintage Civil War Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000NUQDC6

Not War But Murder: Cold Harbor 1864. (Book Reviews).: An article from: Journal of Southern History
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Not War But Murder: Cold Harbor 1864. (Book Reviews).: An article from: Journal of Southern History
Mark F. Miller
Manufacturer: Southern Historical Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B0008EUWE2
Release Date: 2005-07-29

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Journal of Southern History, published by Southern Historical Association on February 1, 2002. The length of the article is 589 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Not War But Murder: Cold Harbor 1864. (Book Reviews).
Author: Mark F. Miller
Publication: Journal of Southern History (Refereed)
Date: February 1, 2002
Publisher: Southern Historical Association
Volume: 68 Issue: 1 Page: 186(2)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

Famous for creating a stir in 1995 when he picketed The New Yorker holding a placard reading, “My poetry is as bad as yours” (the magazine subsequently published some of his poems) renowned poet and comedian Sparrow also challenged Bob Dole for the presidential nomination in 1996 and, remarkably, lost. America: A Prophecy is his follow-up, a hilarious look at a country in flux. This long-awaited collection of essays by the author of Yes, You ARE a Revolutionary! and Republican Like Me takes on culture, politics, and religion. From a hilarious spiritual guide to New York City — written after Sparrow tried meditating at a dozen landmarks — to the scientific and religious significance of the sky, Sparrow’s unique blend of wit and wisdom gives readers a whole new way of seeing our country at the crossroads.

Customer Reviews:

Sparrow flies again.......2006-06-11

Witty, weird, intelligent essays abound in Sparrow's great homage to all things that interest him. From detailed sexual escapades ("My Sex with an Ant") to in-depth interviews with great political figures ("Interview with Saddam Hussein!!!!"), Sparrow's blunt, innocent, learned humor is refreshing, awakening, and pungent in my mind.

Bouyant.......2006-05-05

This is a book to raise your spirits, consciousness and even body (if you follow the guidance in the bathtub section). Full of peculiar history, interviews with dead and living celebrities, and astute observations.

National Audubon Society: Speaking for Nature
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National Audubon Society: Speaking for Nature

Manufacturer: Beaux Arts Editions
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Nature & Ecology | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 088363371X

Book Description

The National Audubon Society: Speaking for Nature features an unrivaled assemblage of photographs celebrating the successful efforts made to preserve nature's inhabitants - from herons to wolves, whooping cranes to whales, condors to caribou - and the precious lands they inhabit. It also features vintage photography and reproductions of John James Audubon's paintings for a historical perspective.

For 100 years, the National Audubon Society has been dedicated to "speaking for nature." This book hails its conservation efforts with informative essays and a chronology. Each chapter focuses on a specific decade and the environmental issues that defined it. The contributors are prominent conservation writers, and the text is eloquently brought together by editor Les Line.

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