Book Description
Meet Denver, a man raised under plantation-style slavery in Louisiana in the 1960s; a man who escaped, hopping a train to wander, homeless, for eighteen years on the streets of Dallas, Texas. No longer a slave, Denver's life was still hopeless-until God moved. First came a godly woman who prayed, listened, and obeyed. And then came her husband, Ron, an international arts dealer at home in a world of Armani-suited millionaires. And then they all came together.
But slavery takes many forms. Deborah discovers that she has cancer. In the face of possible death, she charges her husband to rescue Denver. Who will be saved, and who will be lost? What is the future for these unlikely three? What is God doing?
Same Kind of Different As Me is the emotional story of their story: a telling of pain and laughter, doubt and tears, dug out between the bondages of this earth and the free possibility of heaven. No reader will ever forget it.
Customer Reviews:
Very touching.......2007-10-01
This is a very readable book. It is also extremely touching. Several times as I read,I found tears streaming down my face. It will restore your faith in mankind and that there is more to a person than meets the eye.
A must read book.......2007-09-29
I don't have proper words to express this "amazing" book.
I can now better understand how it used to be in Slave times,
and feel a better understanding of my own faith and life after death.
I cried at moments of revealation! Would help anyone become a believer.
This book changed my life!.......2007-09-25
It's very easy to forget that this is a true story - it is such an amazing story that it could be fiction! It's a beautiful, poignant, touching book and it changed the way I view the homeless and how I share my resources with others. LOVED IT and I've been telling everyone I know to read it too!!
book.......2007-09-18
I ordered this book for my husband who had heard it was wonderful. He thought it was the best book he had ever read and he highly recommends it!!
A Story of Redemption.......2007-09-18
If you believe in and love stories of redemption, Some Kind of Different As Me is a must. If you know someone who does not believe in redemption or who is struggling to find it, give them this book and encourage their reading it.
This engaging book was given to me by my brother-in-law who, like me, grew up in the pre-segregated South working with black acquaintances who we liked because they did our menial work and our bidding. This story helped me to realize, in a new and fresh way, the bondage they were in. The account helped me realize the desperate position of poverty and the plight of one without education.
This is a true story of Ron Hall and Denver Moore, the two extremes of our society, who found friendship and God's gift of forgiveness, grace, and fulfillment in life through a lady named Debbie.
Denver was a sharecropper in Louisiana who escaped virtual enslavement on a freight train to Fort Worth, Texas where, without skills, he became a vagrant on the streets of that city. Alcohol, drugs, and 10 years in prison hardened him to a solitary, untrusting, antisocial street person without identity or hope.
Ron was a wealthy, self-sufficient, international art dealer who began to serve food once a week in a local mission at the insistence of his wife, Debbie, who had a strong social conscience. His first service was done just to please his wife and his involvement inflicted great wounds to his sensibilities. He was surprised to find himself intrigued to get to know the most distant the of the homeless that they served. After months of trauma without success, Ron finally gets Denver to agree to have coffee with him.
At that meeting Denver asks Ron a peculiar question. "There's something I heard about white folks that bothers me, and it has to do with fishin." "I heard that when white folks go fishin they do something called `catch and release'." "That really bothers me", Denver goes on to say, " I just can't figure it out. Cause when colored folks go fishin, we are really proud of what we catch and we take it and show it off to everybody that'll look. Then we eat what we catch. So it really bothers me that white folks would go to all that trouble to catch a fish, then when they done caught it, just throw it back in the water." "So, Mr. Ron, it occurred to me: If you is fishin for a friend you just gon'catch and release, then I ain't got no desire to be your friend." Suddenly his eyes gentled and he spoke more softly than before: But if you is looking for a real friend, then I'll be one. Forever." (pg. 106)
Their friendship does grow and in remarkable ways they help one another overcome great tragedy. As they face these trials together, you see them grow spiritually and truly become the Body of Christ. Redemption comes to both as they find blessing in serving instead of judging. They have different backgrounds, different opportunities but they both come to expressed the love of Christ. As Denver says, "He is our hope".
Drayton Sanders, Dalton Ga. 9-16-07
Book Description
At some point, every guy--player, geek, mamas boy, "regular Joe"--meets a woman who makes him want to be a boyfriend. A good boyfriend. Problem is, unless hes had some first-rate training (by a previous girlfriend, a sister, a mom), he probably doesnt even know what that means. Felicity Huffman and Patricia Wolff come to the rescue with a rollicking--and whip-smart--handbook to navigating the minefield of male-female relationships. Directed at men (though of course its women wholl buy it, then leave it at their boyfriends place--accidentally on purpose), A Practical Handbook for the Boyfriend lays out the many steps involved in becoming a good boyfriend, while still maintaining guy-dignity. It covers issues like: - Who decides when you become a boyfriend (answer: She does.) - How to look like youre listening, even when youre not (If youre busted, just say "Youre so pretty, Im distracted.") - Ten things never to say on the first date (#4: "I just did that to freak you out.") - Finding the middle ground between too cool (think third grade) and too eager (think surprise visits) - Why becoming a good boyfriend is a lot like training for the A team Filled with humour, ribaldry, common sense, and assorted outdoor skills, A Practical Handbook for the Boyfriend is the next dating guide to dominate the bestseller lists.
Customer Reviews:
Haha.......2007-09-07
Haha, just try to get a guy to read this, if you can good luck, they just don't get it.
The book is a good, truthful, funny read....it just confirms we women think alike.
Pay Attention Guys.......2007-05-18
Want to know what women talk about when you're not around, guys, and how we think? Why we act crazy sometimes or fish for compliments? How to deal with it all without going crazy or getting stuck in a fight? Or worse, on the couch? Read this book. It has lots of truth and some really good tips for things like how to pretend to be hearing us while you're really watching that all-imporant playoff game, so that we don't turn the TV off and ruin everything by choosing just then to talk about our feelings. It's also funnier than most chick lit. Also pickup a copy of God Is a Woman: Dating Disasters, which is right on.
Hilarious and oh so true.......2007-05-07
I left this book laying in the bathroom and now all of a sudden I'm getting flowers and champagne from my husband. He obviously was reading some of it. He started dressing nicer for me instead of the work clothes all the time and he makes a point to take me out on dates. I found the book humerous and worth reading for myself just to laugh at how nuts we women are. My husband started reading it because it was mysteriously the only new material to read in the bathroom :). It was truly worth buying.
Chick Lit For Guys.......2007-04-27
I picked up a copy of this book because it was recommended in several reviews of another book I liked alot. Suffice it to say that I was disappointed. This is just the same bad advice for girls in chick lit turned on its end for guys. It talks about how to pretend to be listening, how to manipulate to get what you want but make it look like you're really doing what the other person wants, and so on. It also talks about giving up alot and letting the girl have her way because you can't win. At least that's how I perceive these messages. I also don't think guys women would really be interested in would do any of this stuff. I know I wouldn't be interested in them. The other book I mentioned is God Is a Woman: Dating Disasters which I did like alot. Those are the only two books I've really read or seen with advice for men on women, at least that isn't about just getting into bed with us. I do think the book deserves praise for trying to help guys out, I just think it did it by telling guys to behave in a more womanly way and in truth that wouldn't really be all that appealing to women in the end.
It's funny.......2007-04-07
It's a funny book but I can only agree with about 50% of the advise. Most of it is really common sence info but its entertaining. Bottom line is buy it for the entertainment value.
Book Description
Learning these tips from women is the best thing to happen for anyone, female or male, who loves women. Stevens and Wunder have put together a book that not only contains great information about pleasing a woman, but also addresses the subject with sensitivity and depth. This book really shows that making love doesn't only take place physically, it takes place emotionally as well. Great book for anyone who really wants to love their woman!
Customer Reviews:
Note the word "tips" in the title..........2007-07-13
The title says "tips" and I believe tips to be suggestions. This book is all about trying to enhance pleasure for women no matter who is providing it to them. If I need my car worked on I take it to a mechanic. If I want to know how to please a WOMAN I'll certainly ask WOMEN. Remember that women view pleasure differently than men do on most occasions. If you're a man or a woman and you need some "tips" you can't go wrong with this book.
Not the guide I was hoping for........2006-11-19
Being a married man a looking to keep our relationship exciting, I was hoping for some insight into the complex ways of the female body. But instead of a guide to potential pleasure I received a pocket book guide of life-facts. Don't get me wrong, the information was very informative and I did learn, it is just not what I had expected to be reading. This is definitely a guide for women, not men.
Excellent Book for All Who Love Women.......2006-10-14
Lesbian Sex Tips is exactly the kind of in-depth, no-holds barred, entertaining sex manual that everyone who loves women should have by their bedside. And that includes ALL women-loving-women, bi, genderqueer, transgendered, intersexed - you name it, this book is inclusive for all. Heck, even the men that pick it up can always use more education - and this manual doesn't discriminate. To which, I say hell yeah! Too many sex guides don't take into account the wide spectrum of human sexuality. Not true for this book. Hands-on, and that should be taken quite literally, this is one of the best sex guides out there for those who desire to put the heat back in the bedroom, or for those just getting started in the wondrous world of loving women.
gentle, caring and informative.......2006-08-23
This book is full of valuable information for anyone, regardless of their sexual orientation. A helpful guide for individuals who are interested in learning more about themselves and others.
LOTS of info for one book, and that's a good thing.......2006-07-31
I thought before I read this book that I would know most of what was in it already...but I had no idea of the scope of what was inside. I'm impressed. The authors went from a to z, not leaving any stone unturned. The chapters on anatomy, safe sex and making love are well written. And I personally am glad they included the chapters on communication, abuse, counselling, etc. The rights & discrimination section, especially Heterosexual Privileges, I found intriguing. It is obviously based on life in the USA, and as the authors are Americans, that would make sense. Things are a little different here in Canada, but there are still some similarities. Including the list of resources at the end of the book was a great idea...I'm sure many people will find this helpful. I'm positive that many people will find the WHOLE book helpful.
Average customer rating:
- Kate Hepburn: The Ice Queen's Shines Incadescently in this detailed biography by William Mann
- The defender of Mann
- Great read!
- Ignorant and Irritating!
- More of a was she or wasn't she than a biography
|
Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn
William J. Mann
Manufacturer: Henry Holt and Co.
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Similar Items:
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At Home With Kate: Growing Up in Katharine Hepburn's Household
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Jimmy Stewart: A Biography
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ASIN: 0805076255
Release Date: 2006-10-03 |
Book Description
Onscreen she played society girls, Spencer Tracys sidekick, lionesses in winter. But the best character Katharine Hepburn ever created was Katharine Hepburn: a Connecticut Yankee, outspoken and elegant, she wore pants whatever the occasion and bristled at Hollywood glitter. So captivating was her image that she never seemed less than authentic. But how well did we know her, really? Was there a woman behind the image who was more human, more driven, and ultimately more triumphant because of her vulnerability? William J. Mann -- a cultural historian and journalist, a sympathetic admirer but no mere fan -- has fashioned an intimate, often revisionist, and truly unique close-up that challenges much of what we think we know about the Great Kate. Previous biographies -- mostly products of friends and fans -- have recycled the stories she hid behind, taking Hollywood myths at face value. Mann goes deeper, delivering new details from friends and family who have not been previously interviewed and drawing on materials only available since Hepburns death. With affection, intelligence, and a voluminous knowledge of Hollywood history, Mann shows us how a woman originally considered too special and controversial for fame learned the fine arts of movie stardom and transformed herself into an icon as durable and all-American as the Statue of Liberty.
Customer Reviews:
Kate Hepburn: The Ice Queen's Shines Incadescently in this detailed biography by William Mann.......2007-10-03
Katherine Hepburn (1907-2003) was a lioness in winter, summer, spring and fall! She was born in Hartford, Connecticut to a urologist father and a suffragete-birth control advocating feminist mother named Kit. Her mother gave birth to six children but often traveled on the lecture circuit defending her many causes. Kate's father had a violent temper but loved his children. He rarely told them he was proud of them but he managed Kate's finances until a year before his death. Her parents were nonbelievers, eccentric individuls who raised their childrent to speak their minds and stand up for what they believed was important in life.
Kate's older brother Tom died by a probable suicide when she was 14. Kate was a tomboy who idolized this brother. She went to Bryn Mawr where her mother had studied. It was at Bryn Mawr that Kate drew to her a circle of supportive female friends. She may have had sexual intercourse with some of these women. Throughout her life Hepburn was a bisexual.
Despite the opposition of her father Miss Kate became an actress. She appeared in several Broadway plays making the acquaintance of lifelong friend the wealthy Laura Harding. She then traveled to Hollywood making her screen debut in "Bill of Divorcement" with John Barrymore and Billie Burke. She won her first Oscar for "Morning Glory" as well as for her later work in
"The African Queen"; "The Lion in Winter" and "On Golden Pond". Hepburn lived for 70 years in New York City. She also had homes in Fenwick, Conn.,
Los Angeles (living at the home of her favorite director the homosexual George Cukor where she had a cottage on his estate as did Spencer Tracy)
and London. Despite the myth she never lived with Spencer Tracy.
Hepburn did not like sexual intercourse and many of her men were troubled repressed gay individuals. She did have a sexual affair with the
billionaire Howard Hughes. Some of her other many affairs (with members of both sexes) featured Broadway's Leland Hayward and her longtime friend Spencer Tracy. She and Tracy never lived together and for most of their long friendship they had a platonic relationship. Kate nursed the deeply flawed Tracy through his addiction to alocholic rages and suicidal depressions. Tracy never divorced his wife Louise, was a Catholic and thought he was doomed to hell. Hepburn had a marriage to Ludlow Smith but the two were rarely together. They eventually divorced though Kate cared for him until his death.
This book explodes the myth of a torrid love affair with Tracy and Hepburn. Kate spent her time with a small coterie of homosexuals of both sexes. She was a tough cookie! Kate was spoiled, independent minded and often displayed jealousy and a cruel tongue. She could act like the lady to the manor born and disdained journalists and those with whom she disagreed. Kate was a flaming liberal who escaped the red scare of the
1950s by starring in the patriotic classic "The African Queen." She was adept at reinvinting her image. She did so with aplomb with her smash hit "The Philadelphia Story" after being labelled "box office poison" by the critics. Hepburn was adept at screwball comedy most notably in 1938's
"Bringing Up Baby" with the inimitable Cary Grant.
Hepburn could be generous, loyal and loving to those who had earned her respect. The star had a keen insight as to what she had to do to win favor with her fickle audience. Hepburn's sexual history is fully explored by author William Mann who deals more with her personal life than with a recitation of the plots of her movies and how much money they made. This is a good celebrity biography of a remarkable woman.
Whether you like Hepburn or not this book is well written for those who enjoy learning more about a movie legend who was also a remarkable woman and an American legend.
The defender of Mann.......2007-08-31
I found this (see below) in the Comments next to Mann's NYT birthday article about Hepburn. I've since googled George A. Hodgman. It appears that he is the editor at Holt who edited the Hepburn book. Hodgman has posted repeatedly on this site over the past year defending the book and bashing anyone who posted a negative review of it accusing us of being homophobes, conservatives, and using multiple ID's or of being a Hepburn relative or another writer who is doing a book about Spencer Tracy. While he was blasting us for criticizing the book, he neglected to tell us that he was the book's editor and obviously has a vested interest in the book selling.
If other book editors are doing this -- which I very much doubt -- then they should tell the readers of the site who they are so we know why they are so adamant in defending against even a shred of criticism.
This is the posted Comment:
This seems as good a place as any to express my congratulations to George A. Hodgman on his new job at Houghton Mifflin!
Speaking on behalf of the folks here, I want to take this opportunity to wish him well. I hope that his new employer won't expect him to protect his clients from negative reviews on Amazon. How maddening!
Best of luck!
Great read!.......2007-08-24
Loved the book, it was a great read. I find it hard to believe that so many of you seem to disbelieve that there are MANY gay/bisexual women and men working in Hollywood both in front and behind of the camera. Hellooooooo???
I suppose most of you don't work in creative jobs and aren't aware of the many bi/gay creative people working in the creative fields. Of course, Hepburn was surrounded with and had many close friendships with many of them.
The book does not take away from her being a legend of the silver screen, a modern fashion icon and role model to many women. Who says a possibly gay or bisexual woman can't be a role model to straight women- are you REALLY that narrow-minded? As to the fact that Hepburn said she "wasn't a lesbian". Whatever. Very few gay/bisexual actors, esp. superstars of her generation have openly confessed to their sexual preferences. It just wasn't done back then. The hysterical reactions of many reviewers on here in regards to her sexual preference/tendencies seems to explain why actors don't feel comfortable doing that. She never has publicly stated that her relationship with Spencer Tracy was sexual, either. Using the odd logic her homophobic fans are using, that would mean that it wasn't. After all, she never said it was.
Are you are really that immature that you can't accept that someone you admire is complex, contradictory and that their sexual mores don't meet your approval? Katharine Hepburn needs the approval of no one and she certainly lived her life her own way. She absolutely doesn't need these self-appointed "defenders" of her life style who seem to find it astonishing that a person dedicating her life to creative and artistic exploration would also be an explorer in her personal life. Let's not forget that she was a life-long supporter of Liberal Causes, Women's Rights and even provided financial support to Planned Parenthood.
I'm sure there will be many more books of Katharine Hepburn, lover of women and men, appearing on the horizon. To the discerning eye, it was always very clear that she was gay or bisexual. It is clear that many have you have problems with bi/homosexuality. I suggest you get over it and stop acting like a group of hysterical girls. The world's changing, don't get left behind. If you don't have any gay friends, make some. It'll do you a lot of good.
Ignorant and Irritating!.......2007-08-18
This book is about the most sexist piece of trash I have ever read. Take a look at a strong, brilliant, independent woman who can hold her own in an industry controlled by men, who is very athletic, talented and beautiful... OF COURSE, she must be a lesbian! LAME! And by the way thanks for setting woman back a hundred years... that should have been the opener to this book!
Crystal
More of a was she or wasn't she than a biography.......2007-07-28
For years I have been fascinated by Katherine Hepburn and have read every book, article, magazine and pamphlet that I could get my hands on that had any kind of mention about her. I've watched every movie and interview she ever filmed. Studied every nuance of every character, including the one she played in real life.
To say that this book is an excellent accounting of The Woman Who Was Hepburn would feel like a betrayal to me. This book lacks the charm and vivaciousness that I would expect from any definitive work on her life.
On the surface it looks well researched and extremely authoritative. Mr. Mann wields his perceptions with an iron fist, always completely positive that no matter what he might find to be contrary to his own beliefs and opinions about her, that he can in some way manipulate it to fit his own agenda.
Which brings me to my main issue with this work. It feels like it was agenda driven in every possible meaning of the term. But he does it so gradually that if you aren't looking closely you could easily miss it.
Did Mr. Mann set out to right a Who's Gay of Golden Hollywood??
Or did he set out just to prove that Ms. Hepburn herself was indeed homosexual??
He makes a distinction several times between the real woman and the legend that she created, so determined to prove that all the lore surrounding the paragon was just a spellbinding story and yet he focuses intensely on something that for all intents and purposes is a part of the legend itself. Mystery surrounding Kate's sexuality has existed for as long as she has been famous. The pants wearing, dominant, independant woman was always such an anomaly that people wondered, even at the time that she was in her prime, what the truth was. It doesn't prove anything conclusively. In fact none of the supposed evidence that Mr. Mann presents can prove anything conclusively. No matter how much he shoves it down our throats.
If I were to copy his modus operandi I would insist that all of my assumptions about this book were correct and go through and pick out passages that suit my purpose in order to prove my point. Except that I don't know Mr. Mann and rather than manipulating the evidence to serve my opinions I willingly leave him with the benefit of the doubt so that everyone can form their own opinions about what this book really is.
If only he had given Ms. Hepburn the same consideration.
Book Description
When Louis Leakey first heard about Jane Goodall’s discovery that chimps fashion and use tools, he sent her a telegram: “Now we must redefine tool, redefine man, or accept chimpanzees as human.” But when Goodall first presented her discoveries at a scientific conference, she was ridiculed by the powerful chairman, who warned one of his distinguished colleagues not to be misled by her “glamour.” She was too young, too blond, too pretty to be a serious scientist, and worse yet, she still had virtually no formal scientific training. She had been a secretarial school graduate whom Leakey had sent out to study chimps only when he couldn’t find anyone better qualified to take the job. And he couldn’t tell her what to do once she was in the field— nobody could—because no one before had made such an intensive and long-term study of wild apes. Dale Peterson shows clearly and convincingly how truly remarkable Goodall’s accomplishments were and how unlikely it is that anyone else could have duplicated them. Peterson details not only how Jane Goodall revolutionized the study of primates, our closest relatives, but how she helped set radically new standards and a new intellectual style in the study of animal behavior. And he reveals the very private quest that led to another sharp turn in her life, from scientist to activist.
Customer Reviews:
Re-writing the book.......2007-04-06
Louis Leakey put it best. Jane Goodall's work in Gombe prompted a complete revision in how humans view themselves. The subtitle could well stand as the lead for this book. In this exquisitely detailed biography, Dale Peterson depicts how Jane's personality led to a number of fresh insights about how the other animals live and how science learned new ways to study them. Coming out of a rather obscure and unpromising life, Jane Goodall rose to prominence by unusal methods. She applied a sense of caring, developed through attention to her many pets, to the study of chimpanzees. Lacking any preconceptions about what chimpanzees were "supposed" to do, she was able to learn what they actually did do. To say her approach disturbed many "establishment" researchers is putting it mildly. However, her other major attribute in support of her caring, is persistence.
There's a wonderful irony in the circumstances of Jane's becoming a foremost field primatologist. In an era when women reject being "objectified", it was Louis Leakey's roving eye and philandering habits that propelled Jane into the African bush. Having found evidence of early humans at Olduvai, he wanted some signs of evolutionary links. Chimpanzees, as Darwin had noted a century before, were the most likely indicator. Peterson points out that science was woefully lacking in data on apes. They're elusive and shy. It was Jane Goodall who demonstrated the value of "habituation" - long, enduring and subtle contact with her subjects - that allowed her to see what nobody else had before. Chimpanzees use tools, and they're effective hunters. It was the latter trait, the author notes, that helped Jane and her associates to begin formulating the structure of how chimpanzee society is formed.
Those findings led Jane Goodall to both challenge old, staid thinking about field research and chimpanzee life in particular. More, they resulted in Jane's methods and reports led her to become a major figure in science. Whatever Leakey's carnal ambitions toward Jane, he saw her worth. He propelled her through Cambridge's graduate programme almost by brute force as Peterson describes well. Yet, even that endorsement didn't make up for the work Jane had to produce to earn her degree. By that time, she was writing for National Geographic, producing journal papers and books. Oh, yes. She also got married and had a baby.
The richness of detail may deter a few readers of this book. It shouldn't. Jane Goodall, her diminutive stature and uncomplicated expression belie a powerful individual. Peterson isn't simply filling pages, he's building a picture of that individual. That image cannot be imparted with a few strokes of a broad brush. Jane Goodall, under the author's careful touch, isn't a flashy genius, but a dedicated hard worker who built up her own methods one bit at a time. The edifice is indeed imposing as the work led her on speaking tours, teaching assignments, and negotiations for funding, all while raising her family and running a research programme. It's not a simple life Peterson is relating and its complexity cannot be conveyed in a few words. Goodall is an imposing figure in science and the many details are but a start in doing her justice. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
Jane Goodall Merits The Nobel Peace Prize !.......2007-03-06
This comprehensive and compelling biography of Jane Goodall is truly inspiring. For decades Jane Goodall has valiantly and tirelessly traveled the planet imploring the world community to have reverence for the lives of humans and the animal kingdom. She is arguably the foremost advocate on behalf of primates and other endangered species. Her whole life has been dedicated to espousing universal peace and the kinship of all life. The brilliant and compassionate Jane Goodall merits a Nobel Peace Prize. Now !
A bit long, but oh, what a ride...........2007-02-25
I do agree with another reviewer that Jane Goodall, The Woman who redefined Man is a wee bit longish. Okay, at 714 pages plus an index it is a long read. However, I disagree that the attention spent on her early life is the culprit. Nothing could be further from the truth. Peterson lavishes many pages to Goodall's upbringing; her strong and directing mother and her danger loving race car father, her love of competition and her love of detail are overly mundane I feel that they tell us a lot about the person that Goodall eventually becomes. What other person, woman or man in 1960 was willing to chuch everything to study monkeys?
Peterson obviously loves his subject. As a teenager I remember hearing stories about this young and attractive woman who had devoted her life to studying primate behavior. I didn't realize until much later that she had been sent by Leakey. I certainly didn't know until reading this book that Goodall had been trained as a secretary. How the fates have a way of stepping in and changing things....a truth that is delivered to any reader of this book.
Jane Goodall has contributed a huge body of information to the world by her devoted work and study. Reading Jane Goodall: The Woman Who Redefined Man will impress you and awe you. A truly great read.
A Must to Read.......2007-02-18
Great insight into a legendary woman. She is totally amazing!
A top pick not just for public libraries, but for high school to college collections strong in science biography........2007-02-08
Coverages of Jane Goodall and her work with chimps usually focus on her role as a scientist, her discoveries, and her contributions: now receive a better-rounded survey of her entire life in a title not for the casual reader. JANE GOODALL: THE WOMAN WHO REDEFINED MAN holds some 700 pages packed with insights bout her life, surveying her work, her ability to set radically new standards, and her private journey. Even if you're an avid Goodall fan who has read prior coverages, be prepared to be surprised at the depth here: JANE GOODALL is for any avid enthusiast who has always wanted more and is a top pick not just for public libraries, but for high school to college collections strong in science biography.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
Average customer rating:
- Sad story, lovely main character
- The woman who walked into doors
- Ambivelent
- "He gave me a choice--right or left. I chose left, and he broke the little finger on my left hand."
- The slow realization
|
The Woman Who Walked into Doors
Roddy Doyle
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0140255125 |
Amazon.com
Roddy Doyle follows Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, winner of the Booker Prize, and The Commitments with another remarkable book that readers will find funny, sexy, and sad. He takes an unflinching look at the life of Paula Spencer as she struggles to regain her dignity after marriage to an abusive husband and a worsening drinking problem. Capturing both her vulnerability and her strength, Doyle gives Paula a voice that is real and unforgettable.
Customer Reviews:
Sad story, lovely main character.......2007-09-23
I would recommend this book to a friend. It is not a happy story, but the main character is immensely likable, and her story is interesting and worth reading. I liked Paula Spencer. She's funny, insightful, vulnerable and charming. She is also flawed, which makes her seem very real to me. It was hard to read this book though, because the shadow of her tragedy creeps across every page. Doyle waits until the final chapters to tell us, though, about Paula's battering at the hands of a man she loves, her "shattered" husband, Charlo. The title tells us what we do and do not want to know, so I think it's fine that Doyle waits until the end to reveal it all.
This book is written in the first person, and as an American the Irish vernacular was initially difficult for me, but Paula's inner dialogue is well written, and very enjoyable. I think I might have picked up a few Irish colloquialisms.
Kudos to Roddy Doyle! He has created a wonderful, likable, character in Paula Spencer.
The woman who walked into doors.......2007-09-02
I read that Roddy Doyle was J K Rowling's favorite author. His fiction was too real and depressing. Plus it was hard to follow as he jumped from the past to present day often.
Ambivelent .......2007-08-06
I think my main problem with this book was the language. I found all the cursing distracting, and made the flow of the book choppy. I gave it three stars because if you take all the cursing out of the book, it was quite good.
Doyle did an excellent job in describing the life of a physically abused wife, I was completely drawn into her life from page one.
"He gave me a choice--right or left. I chose left, and he broke the little finger on my left hand.".......2007-04-30
Written in 1996, this "prequel" to 2007's Paula Spencer, tells of Paula's life from her teen years to her passionate relationship with Charlo Spencer. Part of a family of robbers, Charlo is an exciting man who makes her feel alive and gives her a sense of selfhood. Booker Prize-winner Doyle crafts a dramatic first-person narrative told by Paula, who leaves her rigid home and unsympathetic father to marry Charlo, a man her father disapproves of. Their passionate relationship and remarkable sense of communication vanish when Paula becomes pregnant with the first of their four children. Gradually, Paula finds solace in alcohol, as Charlo becomes an absentee husband and father and eventually a philandering wife-abuser.
Paula begins her story in the present, with Charlo's death--shot by the police after he has murdered a woman during a robbery--then develops the story through her reminiscences about both the good and the bad times. As she relives her courtship and early marriage and explores her early past and her more recent past,, she also tells us about her present battle with alcohol. She regrets that Nicola, her teenage daughter is responsible for the family on many occasions, since Paula works nights cleaning offices and then returns home wanting only to tell Jack a bedtime story and then abandon herself to drink.
As the story of her abuse evolves, the reader is privy to Paula's innermost conflicts. Though she knows that "I lost all my friends--and most of my teeth," she also bemoans the fact that "he beat me brainless and I felt guilty." The tendency of abuse victims to blame themselves, especially when their love has been as great as that of Paula and Charlo, explains Paula's comment that "for seventeen years I was brainwashed and brain dead." She knows that she has made her children suffer, not only because of her abuse but because of her alcoholism, but she has been powerless to change until in one violent moment, she sends Charlo out of the house and determines to live her life on her own.
Doyle's ability to structure a novel such as this one, which moves from immediate present into recent and then distant past, providing important information about character in the process, brings this dramatic novel to life. His trademark humor is subdued here in favor of the ironies of Paula's life. This is a far more serious novel than the Barrytown Trilogy--more in keeping with the Booker Prize-winning _Paddy Clark, Ha, Ha, Ha_, an equally sad story of a deteriorating marriage from the point of view of a ten-year-old boy. This poignant novel is ultimately a celebration of the human spirit as Paula determines to take control of her life and to provide a family for her children. n Mary Whipple
The slow realization.......2007-04-28
Paula Spencer in Roddy Doyle's "The Woman Who Walked Into Doors" spends much of the book telling the story of her life, initiated by the death of her estranged husband. There is a profoundness to her sadness recalling the courtship she had with Charlo and the life they lived as a couple and as parents. She slowly realizes why her life came about as it has (single, alcoholic, poor), why Charlo's life ended the way it did. Paula spent her life making excuses for why Charlo did the things he did, always letting herself be convinced that Charlo truly loved her despite the horrible beating he inflicted on the the mother of his children. Not until she is able to stand up and take matters into her own hands does her life begin to straighten out.
Doyle's writing is sinply magnificent. Writing from the perspective of this alcoholic high-school dropout, he keeps her words as would be expected from someone of her educational background. The way he is able to write from a woman's perspective is remarkable. Paula's struggle with her alcoholism seems very real and probably all too familiar to those who have decided they can quit drinking any time they want.
While this book is not one to read if you expect to have a bit of light reading, it is time well spent.
Book Description
Anger Busting 101 is the first book to use the acclaimed Recovery approach to solve anger problems. It gives you dozens of quick tips you can use every day to diffuse anger early on. Author Newton Hightower expertly combines personal stories with scientific research and solid clinical data to give angry men and their families the hope and the help they need.
Customer Reviews:
I'm sure this is helpful, but..............2007-03-16
It focuses on men who hit women, not on men who need to deal with anger constructively. Just not what I was looking for.
Anger Busting.......2007-01-19
If you men with patience problems, contemptuous communications, etc. that equate to ANGER want simple advice and checklist type steps to help you gain control of 'flaw' in your personality, look no further.
If you ladies that care about/love a man with ANGER problems want simple advice and checklist type steps to help you help your man control the 'flaw' in his personality, look no further.
Simple to read and valuable for both genders.
I highly recommend it.
Excellent.......2007-01-04
Very informative and easy to read for both sides of an angry relationship. There are many scientific facts in this book that you wouldn't realize without it. Like the effect cursing has on the chemical reations in your body and how aggresive driving effects the rest of your daily interactions. It also tells the different types of angry men and which ones can be reformed and the ones to walk away from.
Sometimes anger is proper.......2006-07-18
Something that is missed is, sometimes you blow your stack when fully pushed to the wall with no recourse. Even a rabbit will bite in that situation. If this response is occasional, rather than a routine lifestyle, and results from the other person's dogmatic refusal to compromise while attacking your core values, it may indeed be the "other person's fault", or more accurately, you made a bad choice in mates.
Anger busting 101.......2006-01-30
This book changed my life and is helping to change my husbands
Book Description
Psychologists Kim Paleg and Matthew McKay offer couples a variety of tools and strategies to reduce conflict, diffuse rage, and move beyond repeated confrontations to regain a loving relationship. Each chapter presents proven techniques to help couples experience respectful anger, reconcile differences, and begin to heal.
Customer Reviews:
Every couple needs this book........2007-02-19
I found the situations to be almost as if she wrote this book about me. Everyone in a relationship needs to read it. May help cut down on divorces.
When Anger Hurts your Relationship.......2007-01-09
I have read many books on anger and for couples who have distorted anger, this one is the winner. I also recommend the book "Getting Over getting Mad", by Judy Ford. It explained the importance of anger in our lives and how it "is an indispensable emotion, which when used productively allows us to develop ourselves and our relationships. Its only "when anger covers up pain and fear", that it "clogs our energy, dilutes our joy, and keeps us off track, going in circles, making no headway. Instead of helping us, anger becomes self-defeating." The book has ideas for managing anger in a positive way.
Book Description
The original
What Not to Wear
from one of fashion's
most enduringly
stylish women ...
Written by French style guru Madame Genevieve Antoine Dariaux, Elegance is a classic style bible for timeless chic, grace, and poise -- every tidbit of advice today's woman could possibly need, all at the tips of her (perfectly manicured) fingers. From Accessories to Zippers, Madame Dariaux imparts her pearls of wisdom on all things fashion-related -- and also offers advice on other crucial areas in life from shopping with girlfriends (don't) to marriage and sex.
Customer Reviews:
A bit dated...needs to be updated.......2007-08-20
I enjoyed the "what not to wear" parts of the book. Although I found it to be incredibly dated. In order to be elegant she has you changing your clothes 5 to 6 times a day. Different outfits for 9,1,3,6,7,8 and 10 p.m. And stocking with seams...hmmmm Do they still sell these? There is some good advice but this book truly needs an update plus if you are not a city dweller spending weekends in the country a lot of this book will not be for you.
A Must read for every woman of evry age!.......2007-08-13
Every mother should give a copy to their daugthers when they graduate college and begin their careers! It should be re-read every 5 years to re-enforce the wonderful concepts and remind us of the parts we may have forgot! As a career woman it her 40's who is moving up the corporate ladder, it has been an wonder source for sharpering my image! Coco Channel said, 'Dress shabbily and they noticce the dress; dress impecibly and they notice the woman.' This book will help all woman be noticed!
Grace and Style are Always in Fashion.......2007-08-10
This book takes hints from days past to give you a guide on being cool, calm and collected. I imagine a Dita Von Teese-type woman when it comes to this book, and I would love to be like this.
This book has become an easy gift for friends -- one that will be appreciated by most any woman who values decorum and class.
Nothing we don't already know !.......2007-08-07
Treat it as fun because it doesn't tell you anything that you don't already know about common sense and the sense of proportion. But it's ideal for tossing around the house and goes well with your Tiffany's publications collection because they have kind of the same colour scheme!
a simple guide for max results.......2007-06-17
I really enjoyed reading the book. (this is twice now that I have re-read it) and have learned something new. The contents are wonderful from Accessories to zoology... (go fig) there is even a part on teens! She gives you a simple wardrobe to start with that you add on. Page 16-17 is very helpful too talking about what to wear from winter to spring and summer that will take you from work to dates...she even has a nice outline if you are living in a cold washed area to a heatwave area. I'm thinking of purchasing another to give to my daughter so I can have mine back! Best of luck to all you chic women out there!
Book Description
Wouldn’t it be great if you could be audaciously ambitious and happy at the same time?
You can, and you will.
“I’m here to tell you that all of your priorities—personal and ambitious career goals alike—can fit together harmoniously. I’ll show you how, like thousands of women I’ve worked with over the years, you can make more money, earn the credit and recognition you deserve, have more power, and be as ambitious as you want to be. I’ll show you how you can be ambitchous without compromising your ethics and integrity. I’ll show you that you can feel worthy and entitled to all of this without fear that you risk sacrificing your desire to have a full, happy personal life and without being afraid that you’ll be less of a woman. It’s worked for me. It’s worked for countless ambitchous women I’ve advised. It will work for you.”
—From amBITCHous
We women aren’t advancing in our careers the way we should. We’re not making the money we deserve or getting the fulfillment we desire. And this time
it’s not men who are holding us back. This time we’re doing it to ourselves, because ambition—for us—is still a dirty word.
Debra Condren has coached thousands of women at every level—from those just starting out to the most powerful female executives in the United States—and each one possesses the same fear: if she goes after her dream, she’ll be seen as selfish, bitchy, a bad wife, or bad mother. But it’s exactly this fear of ambition that has forced women to leave the best part of themselves—their dreams, their great talents—by the roadside, rendering them less able to be the whole people they should be in every area of their lives.
Condren has a new message and mission: to remind women that ambition is a virtue, not a vice. Ambition is the best of who we are.
The real way to have a great life is to see ambition as a part of your value system to which you must give equal attention, along with the other priorities you hold dear, including your spouse, your children, and your friends. In amBITCHous, Dr. Condren offers fresh, powerful
tools for reclaiming your dreams. Her eight amBITCHous Rules provide
concrete, innovative solutions to the everyday struggles we as women face, like taking credit, deflecting detractors, and handling confrontation, so that
you can become more powerful and fulfilled at work and more satisfied at home. You can redefine your ambition in the face of social sanctions and unapologetically go after your dreams without sacrificing the rest of your life.
You owe it to yourself and the world to make the contribution you were born to make. Debra Condren will show you how to do it.
“A defiant charge to women to 'reclaim ambition as a virtue'…Ms. Condren, who has been paying attention all along, [has] worked out a way to make charm and ambition pay."
–New York Times
“Debra Condren challenges women to see ambition as a virtue and to take credit for winning at work and at home. …It’s not that women must ignore the needs of others, but they need to recognize and prioritize their own needs.”
– The Dallas Morning News
Customer Reviews:
great advice that I plan to incorporate into my life.......2007-08-08
After hearing Debra Condren interviewed on a podcast about how women undermine their own ambitions, I couldn't wait to read her book. I related to her thesis. Sometimes, out of fear of looking like I have a huge ego, I don't even try to take on projects that I know I'm capable of. In other words, I need to learn how to be a little more ambitchous.
That word is Condren's way of describing the double standard facing women. As she puts it, "Ambitious men are go-getters, but ambitious women are bitches." She illustrates her point with Madonna and Carly Fiorina. Media stories about both of them tend to focus on their faults instead of their accomplishments. (Perhaps we could add Paris Hilton to that list.)
Through interviews with other women and her work as a business coach, Condren has developed strategies to help women overcome the fear of being ambitious. She bemoans the fact that many advice books suggest that achieving "balance" requires career sacrifices. Nonsense, she says. Putting your career ambitions first makes you a better person, she argues, because you will be a happier one. "You must regard your deepest career aspirations as unconditionally sacrosanct," she writes.
While the pep talk is inspiring, the real value of this book lies in its concrete tips. She recommends asking for the raise you deserve, claiming credit when it's due, asking for advice from women you respect, and taking regular sabbaticals to make sure you are dreaming big. All of it is great advice that I plan to incorporate into my life.
And when I'm done with this book, I can think of more than a few friends I'd like to pass it on to.
Yes, Please........2007-08-04
Sick of reading titles that are meant to impart wisdom on how I could be a better lady rather than a better business woman, I admit to a certain hesitancy regarding first purchasing amBITCHous... All of my concerns were for naught -- by the time I finished the introduction, Dr. Condren had a new fan.
I've always considered myself an ambitious woman -- but I immediately recognized some of the problems that the case studies in this book exemplified: I've stepped down from taking credit for things I've done, I have felt myself emotionally battered by those who wish to "steal my thunder," and -- goodness knows -- I've battled with the idea that I am a bad mother, woman, person for wanting a career as much (or sometimes more than) my male counterparts.
Just recognizing those conflicts would've made this book a keeper. But by adding tools and suggestions for overcoming them? Like I said... Dr. Condren has a new fan.
-- Nadia Cornier
CEO, COO, CFO, janitor, mother, author and anything else you can think of
Firebrand Literary
[...]
Great Book!.......2007-05-23
I thought this book was an excellent read and I felt very empowered after reading it. I highly recommend this book for any woman at any stage in her career.
I think the author addresses several issues that women encounter. I really, really enjoyed it and I will pass the word about this book.
About that pay differential..........2007-05-20
The data still come in that women earn about 80 cents for every dollar a man earns. 44% of that wage gap can be attributed to WHAT women do (pink collar jobs, taking time to raise children) and a further 18% of the gap was associated with workplace characteristics such as WHERE women work. But the remaining 38% of the wage gap cannot be explained.
Author Condren attempts to teach women skills to bridge that considerable gap. Not since Hardball for Women has someone tried to instruct women how to play the game to win.
The advice covers quite a range, from avoiding self-sabotaging female behavior (submissive, apologetic false modesty) to blowing your own horn, deactivating detractors and saboteurs, acquiring allies, getting coaching and negotiation skills. Landing a job with the right pay can have cascading consequences downstream to the rest of your career, so this is advice you really can't afford to ignore.
I'd say "RECOMMENDED" but I think the right word here is "ESSENTIAL."
We All Need This Book.......2007-05-01
I think I'm a pretty smart woman and business owner, but now and then, I find that I still have to remind myself to beware of the alligators hiding in the grass, potentially ready to bite my ankles in a new business situation. What I need on those occasions is my very own Fairy Businessmother, and Debra Condren is it. Gazing down at me with her loving Glenda-the Good Witch of the North adoration, Condren's words consistently give me a good kick in the rear and her undying permission --not to apologize for asking for what I want and more importantly, getting it. I do not have to be a sitting duck for the easily threatened/overly compensating associate with a huge ego who waits for the perfect moment for a stealth ambush. (We've all had this happen). I do not have to give away my power, credit for my work or my talents just because I'm asked to. Condren says it's okay to say no, no, no. I will still be a fabulous person and a brilliant business woman. It's not that I don't already know many of these things; it's just that like you, I seem to forget them and to need to be reminded of them regularly lest I succumb and slip into my earliest childhood dramas and traumas. NOW is the time for me to use what I've got to accomplish what I'm meant to do in the world. And Condren's is the voice I want permanently inside my head to guide me on the journey.
Books:
- Southern Grace: Recipes and Remembrances from The W
- Spirit of Animals
- Star Wars Chronicles
- Star Wars Complete Cross-Sections: The Spacecraft and Vehicles of the Entire Star Wars Saga
- The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader: Becoming the Person Others Will Want to Follow
- The $64 Tomato: How One Man Nearly Lost His Sanity, Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for the Perfect Garden
- The Apocalypse Code: Find Out What the Bible REALLY Says About the End Times . . . and Why It Matters Today
- The Book of Bluffs: How to Bluff and Win at Poker
- The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual
- The Dog Is Not a Toy: House Rule #4
Books Index
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