Book Description
Trixie, Daddy, and Knuffle Bunny take a trip to the neighborhood Laundromat. But the exciting adventure takes a dramatic turn when Trixie realizes somebunny was left behind . . . Using a combination of muted black-and-white photographs and expressive illustrations, this stunning book tells a brilliantly true-to-life tale about what happens when Daddys in charge and things go terribly, hilariously wrong. Mo Willems is a six-time Emmy Awardwinning writer and former animator for Sesame Street, and the creator of Cartoon Networks Sheep in the Big City. Both his first book for children, Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, and his fourth book Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale won prestigious Caldecott Honors from the American Library Association. The New York Times has called him "the biggest new talent to emerge thus far in the 00's". Mo lives with his family in Brooklyn, New York.
Customer Reviews:
hilarious.......2007-10-02
I read Knuffle Bunny for my children's literature class and I literally laughed out loud from it. The pictures are comical and perfectly expressive and Trixie is a riot. Mo Willems truly encaptured the actions/behavior of a child in such a situation in Trixie...going boneless....genius. Every child should read this book. I highly reccommend it.
A Book to Appeal to All Ages.......2007-09-11
On a whim, I checked this book out of the library this summer for my youngest son, who is five. When I read it to him, we were both delighted. We laughed our heads off and read it three times back to back. I then brought it home and read it to my two older children, ages 12 and 8. They also thought it was hilarious. My 12 year old actually read it several more times that evening. Later that night, my husband and I read it and laughed over the illustrations. This is the classic story of parents and children everywhere. We could identify with both the parent and the child who lost the "lovey."
A huge thumbs up from our whole family.
If you love to hear your children laugh read this book.......2007-08-19
This is a fast read and it makes my daughters ages 2 and 7 laugh so hard every time they hear it. The art doesn't appeal to me personally but my kids seem to enjoy it. I enjoy the story. I don't see it as " a child misbehaving 90% of the book". I laugh at how parents misunderstand children and every suffer for it. Have to sign off because the girls are insisting I read this book right now because it is "hilarious".
Great, short bedtime book.......2007-08-01
This is a short, fun book. Not much to it but the story is fun. I like to have short books around near bedtime so my son doesn't make me read through a long one like Cars and Trucks and Things That Go. The back jacket also has a mug shot of Mo Willems, the author. The picture looks a little like me and when I first read it to my son he thought it was me.
Parents will love getting asked to read this!.......2007-07-27
If you have a toddler, you are going to laugh your head off when you see the page where the kid goes "boneless"!! Oh yeah, we have all been there, and it is every parent's nightmare. You can read this book every night to your kids and never get sick of it! Buy it for your kids, buy it for new parents (Just to freak them out about what they are in for!!), and buy one to read to your future grandkids, too. If you don't love it, you are taking life too seriously!!
Book Description
Discarded valentines. Ransom notes. To-do lists. Diaries. Homework assignments. A break-up letter written on the back of an airsickness bag. Whether they are found on buses, at stores, in restaurants, waiting rooms, parking lots, or even prison yards, these items give readers an uncensored, poignant, and often hilarious peek into other people's lives. By collecting them in his hit magazine, Found (and its companion website, www.foundmagazine.com), Davy Rothbart has bewitched the nation with a surprising window into its heart and soul and turned his many readers into an army of sharp-eyed finders.
Found is chock-full of the latest and greatest of these finds, arranged in the style of the magazine, laying bare the tantalizing tales to be discovered in the trash we toss. By turns heartbreaking and hysterically funny, Found is a mesmerizing tribute to everyday life and our eternal curiosity about our fellow human beings.
Customer Reviews:
Cannot Put it Down.......2007-10-03
Addicting book full of humor and sadness. Great look into people's lives sometimes understanding the story sometimes not.
Fabulous Finds!.......2007-09-22
This book of "found" writings just fires my imagination. It's like getting the middle of the story without the beginning or the end. It's addictive. Now I'm looking down all the time for my own finds.
Treasures That Touch Your Heart.......2007-08-30
I think that this book is such a wonderful way of respecting those things and people that deserve dignity. I am certainly glad that I 'FOUND' it.
Found was found! {: >.......2007-07-24
This book was suggested to me by the program as a possible gift for my 30-something son, based on items already on his Wish List. I got it for him for his last birthday and he loves it! He and his wife have been poring over it, coming up with lots of interesting nuggets. Thanks for the suggestion!
I'm glad I FOUND this.......2007-06-10
I'm nosy - not in a malicious way, but others' yearnings, secrets, and day-to-day lives fascinate me. The items documented in "Found" range from hilarious to heartbreaking, and it is a fascinating glimpse into human nature. It's a great bathroom read. It's also reassuring to know other people like reading crumpled notes they found on the library floor or gazing at pictures pressed between the pages of an old book.
Average customer rating:
- Delightful
- Beautifully Illustrated
- An unqualified masterpiece...!
- Outstanding book in a lovely Parisian setting
- A favorite
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Adele & Simon
Barbara McClintock
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Europe & Russia | Fiction | Explore the World | People & Places | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
Fiction | Siblings | Family Life | People & Places | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
Picture Books | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0374380449
Release Date: 2006-09-05 |
Book Description
When Simon’s older sister, Adèle, picks him up from school, he has his hat and gloves and scarf and sweater, his coat and knapsack and books and crayons, and a drawing of a cat he made that morning. Adèle makes Simon promise to try not to lose anything. But as they make their way home, distractions cause Simon to leave something behind at every stop. What will they tell their mother?
Detailed pen-and-ink drawings – filled with soft watercolors – make a game of this unforgettable tour through the streets and scenes of early-twentieth-century Paris. Illustrated endpapers extend the fun by replicating a 1907 Baedeker map of Paris.
Customer Reviews:
Delightful.......2007-09-24
This is a delightful book that I purchased for my five year old granddaughter. She enjoys looking for the lost items.
Simon keeps loosing his things and imagine my surprise when my granddaughter decided I should be called Simon since I had misplaced my glasses and found them again.
Beautifully Illustrated.......2007-07-30
I discovered this book at our local book store and fell in love with it immediately. My 3 1/2 year daughter found it equally enthralling and she loves to pick out all the lost items along the tale of the story. The historic locations really set this book apart.
What I found most interesting however is the section in the back of the book. It has mini-illustrations of each page and provides information on the location of each backdrop, when things were built, etc., and other historical tidbits, some regarding why children like [that particular park], for example. My daugher loves that section as well and always chooses a couple for me to read aloud to her. It's a great addition to a children's library.
An unqualified masterpiece...!.......2007-07-29
I'm a big fan of Barbara McClintock's work, and this is perhaps her finest book to date, a gorgeously detailed romp through Paris in the pre-World War era. Adele and Simon are a sister-brother pair whose afterschool adventures take them to various Parisian landmarks, and along the way Simon loses almost all his school supplies and half his clothes, with Adele, the older sister, desperately trying to maintain some semblance of order. Both the writing and the artwork are of the highest order: this is an intelligent, beautifully rendered children's book -- a real class act. (ReadThatAgain!)
Outstanding book in a lovely Parisian setting.......2007-03-26
This is a wonderful book about a big sister and her little brother who is constantly losing things. What is especially enchanting are the wonderfully detailed illustrations. Look for each lost item on each page. There are also a few of McClintock's hidden surprises within the pages.
A favorite.......2007-03-18
My 4 year old Daughter absolutely loves this book. She relates, since she has a little brother like the character Adele. The illustrations are georgeous. This is definetely a favorite for mother and daughter :)
Book Description
Now there's a hip way for crafters to bring family history into their daily lives. Collage Lost and Found combines basic collage techniques and found objects to create edgy and unusual crafts with not only style, but a story to tell, as well. Highlights include:
-20 step-by-step projects with easy, fashionable designs for greeting cards, magnets, necklaces, journals, and more
-Sassy, and alluring artwork that reflects the author's old-world Sicilian upbringing and her fascination with a bygone era
-Inspirational photo galleries packed with ideas, as well as information on basic collage, collecting ephemera, and jewelry techniques
Readers won't be able to resist these clever ideas for turning long-forgotten treasures into items they can wear, display, or send!
Customer Reviews:
Lots of supplies needed!.......2007-06-09
I bought this book because I am interested in collage. My interest lies mostly in ATCs (artist trading cards), and I was hoping to find some techniques here that I could scale down and use.
There are lots of nice examples and instructions, but I found myself getting overwhelmed in some sections. Plus, I would probably have to buy a lot of supplies for some of the projects (especially the ones that involve soldering). I've read through much of the book, and I'm trying to remember what I liked and didn't like about it. What I've realized is that the projects must not be all that memorable (at least not to me) because few examples come to mind!
I suppose, for inspiration, it's an okay book to have. And if you're looking at doing three-dimensional collages or other altered artwork, it's just fine. It just wasn't quite what I was looking for.
Collages.......2007-05-17
This is a very informative book dealing with making different projects out of found items. The book gives great direction and lists supplies and tools that will be needed.
I received it within a week of ordering it.
Collage Lost and Found.......2007-02-21
Vintage -passion for new technique and unique, can't wait to create several projects from Collage Lost and found
Beautiful and inspiring.......2007-02-19
This book is lovely. The photos are clear and the instructions are as well. It is a great resource for making something different. There are many ideas and finished products to jump-start your imagination. Nicely laid out and balanced with instructions and photos.
Collage Lost and Found: Creating Unique Projects with Vintage Ephemera.......2007-01-11
Beautiful ideas and well written. Great inspiration.
Average customer rating:
- Great to read to kids, fun for adults too
- our favorite book of all time
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Little Old Big Beard And Big Young Little Beard: A Short And Tall Tale
Manufacturer: Marshall Cavendish Children's Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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I Love You
ASIN: 0761452885 |
Customer Reviews:
Great to read to kids, fun for adults too.......2005-05-08
After I heard about this book on NPR, I had to get it. It was just as good as promised. The story is heartwarming and humorous, taking the reader on a journey with two cowboys who lost their favorite cow. It is also wonderfully paced so that after a few readings, children can chime in to say the cowboys' favorite meal ("Guess what?" "Beans!"). There is just enough text on each page so that children with short attention spans don't lose interest, and for children with longer attention spans, the beautiful and kid-friendly illustrations contain many fun details to discuss as you are reading. It's also typeset in big block letters that are easier to recognize for kids who are still learning the alphabet.
I bought this for my favorite nephew, but before giving it to him I ended up reading it through many times just to enjoy the story and pictures. I only managed to read it to him once, but in the thank you letter my sister wrote, "No one here reads the story quite like you do," and that makes me think he might have asked to have it read to him again.
our favorite book of all time.......2005-03-08
this story is wonderful and so are remy charlip's warm illustrations. it's nice to read a book about cowboys where the cowboys are really nice guys and good friends and cry when they lose their beloved cow, grace. so sweet, especially the very last page where charlip has re-worded the song amazing grace to sing about grace the cow.
Book Description
A native of Bombay, Suketu Mehta gives us an insider’s view of this stunning metropolis. He approaches the city from unexpected angles, taking us into the criminal underworld of rival Muslim and Hindu gangs; following the life of a bar dancer raised amid poverty and abuse; opening the door into the inner sanctums of Bollywood; and delving into the stories of the countless villagers who come in search of a better life and end up living on the sidewalks.
Customer Reviews:
Splendid! A must read!!.......2007-07-12
If you enjoy non-fiction books that follow people's lives with intricate detail, you will probably enjoy this book.
Suketu Mehta is a Bombayite who moves to New York in his teens. He decides after he is married and has young children to move back to Bombay, India. First he talks about the lifestyle and adjustments he makes into his Bombay life. Then Mehta goes into the detail and life of various people he meets: bar dancers, religion fanatic rioters, gangsters, movie producers, and NGO (non governmental organization) member and police officers. He is actually able to talk on the phone to a notorious "Don" - Chota Shakeel This book is so well written with precise detail.
Everyone is somehow connected to the corrupt system. When he was talking about methods of torture used in Indian prisons to extract confessions, I was wincing. Here is a preview - a male's private part was cut and chilies were rubbed on it - yikes!!
Then he contrasts the people who live in the edge - bar dancers, gansters, etc to people who take diksha. Diksha means (as according to this book) giving up all material possessions and your life to attain Moksha. It is an amazing contrast. As I started reading this book, I could not put it down. I have been to India many times and I felt the book was accurate, well written and unbiased. Mehta never gets emotional about his State - Gujarat, or about his religion, which is apparently Hinduism according to his name.
Maximum City by Suketu Mehta and Princess by Jean Sassoon are my favorite non-fiction books. If you like this book, I would also recommend Princess, which is about a female in the Saudi Arabian royal family.
Suketu Mehta.......2007-07-12
The book was in excellent condition and the book is a must read for folks interested in knowing more about cities in India and Asia
Puliter Prize finalist with more f bombs than a cop movie.......2007-07-05
I love, love, love this book. I've never been to Mumbai, but Mehta's extensive description of the people he meets and they way they speak and act makes me feel as I've spent a couple years there as well. He's at his best when he 's talking with his subjects, the self-introspection bits drag a little. This is an extremely compelling book whose 400 or so pages still seem too few.
A great take on a vibrant city.......2007-06-09
Sure Bombay is crowded, dirty, polluted, everything that a third world megalopis is but its also a city like no other and Maximum City really gets to the heart of that. Bombay is a mix of Hollywood, and Lagos. Its the center of the Indian Subcontinent.
The fact that that book is a personal journey and that that it tells the story of the city today (rather than a history of the city) makes it very readable, and wildly interesting. Some parts of it are a bit winded but all in all, a fun book to read and extremely well written.
If you liked this book, you may also want to check out 'Midnight in Sicily'
A great civics course on Bombay polity.......2007-06-04
This has helped me to decide whether I could handle living in Bombay (I've decided it would be a nicer place to visit than to live there).
A really amazing study of the misdevelopment of one of the world's greatest Sprawls, this book could be a college textbook on urban development. It is daunting sometimes to realize how completely unplanned many of the world's newest cities are.
Book Description
Losing Stinks!
Even losing a toy or a game feels rotten. But when a friend moves away, a parent leaves home during a divorce, or a loved one dies, sometimes it seems as if the hurt will never go away. So how is it possible that loss can be an important opportunity?
Rabbi Marc Gellman and Monsignor Thomas Hartman -- also known as television and radio's God Squad -- draw on years of counseling experience to suggest universal truths that will help those of any religion to live and grow through losses large and small. With surprising good humor, they show how people have responded with courage and even heroism to the curveballs life has thrown them. They've also selected comforting readings from favorite prose and poetry, offering wise words, healing laughter, or time for quiet reflections.
This heartening book reminds us of the many ways that we can keep hope alive when the going gets rough. With a remarkable balance of common sense and profound insight, two award-winning authors skillfully show how, in a most extraordinary way, our bumps and bruises make us whole.
Customer Reviews:
Spark Great Conversation in Your Home!.......2000-02-22
My 7 and 9 year-old sons love this book. It talks to them about real experiences they have to deal with every day in real life such as losing stuff, games, and confidence. I had thought we would skip the parts that do not apply to our experiences, such as losing a body part or a loved one, but they want to hear it all. We read this book aloud and it generates great family conversation. The boys kept having me renew the library copy I had, so I had to get my own.
Lost and Found: A Kid's Book for Living Through Loss.......2000-01-13
Talks about the good that can counter balance loss in life. It starts with minor loss (things), then pets, friends, (moving, etc.), then death. It says it is good for someone as young as 8 years old, but mine would not listen to the first chapter. Is has a "lecturing" quality to someone less informed. It also makes some good points. Contains black and white illustrations. I would recommend this one to students from the 4th grade up, as well as teachers and parents.
Average customer rating:
- An absolute must have.
- best of the olvia series
- My least favorite Olivia book
- we LOVE Olivia
- Books are more than just words....
|
Olivia . . . and the Missing Toy
Manufacturer: Atheneum/Anne Schwartz Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Fiction | Pigs | Animals | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0689852916
Release Date: 2003-10-07 |
Amazon.com
Olivia, like many young pigs, experiences life very intensely. She is utterly obsessed with having her mother make her a red soccer shirt (even though the team color is green), until, of course, she discovers that her favorite toy, her very best toy, is missing, at which point she becomes utterly obsessed with finding it. She looks under the rug, the sofa, and the cat. She shouts accusingly at both her younger brother Ian and her baby brother William, who responds with an unsatisfactory "Wooshee gaga." That night (a dark and stormy one), she hears a horrible sound emanating from behind a closed door, and, in a dramatic scene illuminated by her flaming candelabra and showcased in a fold-out spread, she sees the family dog Perry chewing her favorite toy to bits. As devastating as this is to a passionate young pig, "even Olivia couldn't stay mad forever." She sews up her dismembered toy and falls asleep that very night cozied up with both it and the toy-wrecking Perry. The New Yorker cartoonist and Caldecott Honor artist Ian Falconer (Olivia, 2001) fills his pages with delightful visual stunts, such as the time-lapse drawings of Olivia waiting and waiting and waiting for her mom to sew her soccer shirt and the exaggeratedly scary shadow the toy-eating dog casts on the wall. Olivia fans will rejoice to see their favorite pig being her usual extreme self. (Ages 4 to 8) --Karin Snelson
Customer Reviews:
An absolute must have. .......2007-09-21
I am not sure who enjoys reading this book more me or my twin daughters, it is full of expression and mystery, we all enjoy the series.
best of the olvia series.......2007-08-23
this book is great for anyone who is an older sibling. the graphics are very modern and refreshing and i love the subtle details that are humorous to parents. my 5 year old just laughs and laughs about the "wooshie ga ga" part. in fact she has taught her baby sister how to say that. this a very well written book. no wasted words or pages like many childrens books are these days.
My least favorite Olivia book.......2007-08-07
I am a huge fan of Olivia, and own all of her books and have read them multiple times. I am 28 years old and don't yet have children - I am just totally charmed by the illustrations and clever wordplay.
But this book is the one that gives me conflicting and unpleasant feelings when I read it. Olivia asks her mother to please make her a lovely red soccer shirt that will be different from the rest of the team's "unattractive" green shirts. Olivia's mom does this against her better judgement, and Olivia waits and waits and waits while her mother carefully sews up a beautiful new shirt for her.
Then, after all the attention given to how hard her mother has just worked for her, Olivia notices that her stuffed toy has just disappeared, and totally freaks out. Her mother is shown holding up the shirt with great pride, and Olivia starts shouting about her lost toy while her mother stands looking crushed that all this hard work hasn't merited a better reception.
That's undestandable that Olivia might forget about her mother and her shirt in her worry about her toy, but once she finds her toy and it is damaged, her father offers to buy her a new toy, the best toy, and she rushes to hug him, telling him she loves him best. Her mother stands by looking hurt, and the shirt is never mentioned again.
I truly, truly wish Falconer would come out with a new edition of the book that showed Olivia going back to her mother, apologizing, and thanking her for her wonderful new shirt - even later on after she finds her toy. Her mother's expressions are a bit haunting to me and just thinking about it makes me sad. (Yeah, I know, they are fictional!)
I like to think of Olivia as being charming, and if sometimes unaware of other people, I think of her as a character who has a big heart. This book portrays her as a bratty, spoilt, selfish pig who uses manipulation to get what she wants and doesn't mind hurting the feelings of others.
The illustrations are expressive as always, and because of that I can't rate this below a three. I loved the stormy night pages that have so much detail. But I really wish Olivia had acted more thoughtfully. This is the only Olivia book that I don't really enjoy reading. It just makes me sad.
we LOVE Olivia.......2007-03-27
this is just another great olivia story. my children love the slightly spooky part (when olivia finds the missing toy and the culprit) and i love the toy as repaired by olivia. falconer is a genius.
Books are more than just words...........2007-02-24
My son absolutely loves Olivia and the Missing Toy, as do I. Some reviewers have mentioned that they felt Olivia is spoiled and ungrateful in this book. I will admit that she is a bit high strung, however, we have taken it as a perfect opportunity to talk about just that sort of thing while reading the book. The sole purpose of reading to your child does not have to be getting from one cover to another. It is a time to talk about the things you read as well. Point out the things that the characters do and talk with your child about how you feel about their actions. Don't just read the words. Talk about the pictures and the faces the characters are making. If you think Olivia has upset her mom, point that out to your child with the pictures. Ask your child questions about how they think the characters are feeling. Books can be so much more than just words on paper.
Amazon.com
When graduate student Martha Beck's son Adam was born with Down syndrome, she and her husband left the chilly halls of Harvard for Utah and the warm, accepting embrace of the Mormon community. Determined to assimilate back into her childhood faith after years of atheism, Beck's disenchantment resurfaced when censorship from the church heavily influenced the curriculum at Brigham Young University where she taught part-time. More disturbing was Beck's eventual belief that her father, a virtual celebrity in the Mormon Church, had sexually molested her as a child.
Beck frames her narrative around a conversation with her aged father, dipping in and out of stories of her childhood, marriage, third pregnancy, and teaching. She contrasts her perceptions of the leadership of the institutional church as controlling and patriarchal with stories of the warmth and generosity of her Mormon community. Beck unfolds her search for identity, forgiveness, and a personal faith in competent prose, punctuated with surprising dark humor and glimpses into her anorexia, suicidal obsessions, and alleged abuse. Although she leaves readers with many unanswered questions after the last page is turned, one thing is clear: Beck believes that "no matter how difficult and painful it may be, nothing sounds as good to the soul as the truth." --Cindy Crosby
Book Description
As “Mormon royalty” within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Martha Beck was raised in a home frequented by the Church’s high elders in an existence framed by the strictest code of conduct. As an adult, she moved to the east coast, outside of her Mormon enclave for the first time in her life. When her son was born with Down syndrome, Martha and her husband left their graduate programs at Harvard to return to Utah, where they knew the supportive Mormon community would embrace them.
But when she was hired to teach at Brigham Young University, Martha was troubled by the way the Church’s elders silenced dissidents and masked truths that contradicted its published beliefs. Most troubling of all, she was forced to face her history of sexual abuse by one of the Church’s most prominent authorities. The New York Times bestseller Leaving the Saints chronicles Martha’s decision to sever her relationship with the faith that had cradled her for so long and to confront and forgive the person who betrayed her so deeply.
Leaving the Saints offers a rare glimpse inside one of the world’s most secretive religions while telling a profoundly moving story of personal courage, survival, and the transformative power of spirituality.
Customer Reviews:
Frustratingly inconsistent.......2007-09-27
For an ex-Mormon living in Utah, parts of this book will ring so true it's eerie, and this will provide a nice insight into Mormon culture for interested outsiders. Other parts, however, the author is clearly making up, though it's unclear whether she is simply lying or if she actually believes some of the things she says and is simply deluded--or delusional (for instance, her completely credulous account of her "near-death experience").
This creates a certain problem of trust for the reader regarding the parts that are not obviously true or false: one is not sure what to believe, and cannot simply take the author's word for it. This applies, unfortunately, to the central claim of the book: that Beck was sexually abused by her father, a prominent Mormon apologist. While sexual abuse certainly occurs in the Mormon church, and its officials undoubtedly downplay or even help to cover it up, it's impossible to know whether her specific claim is true.
For one thing, her "memory" of what happened is so bizarre that one ought to be skeptical. Secondly, though she tries to dismiss it, there is such a phenomenon as unscrupulous therapists implanting suggestions in the minds of already disturbed patients, and it is as plausible to think this was the case for Beck (her mantra prayers of "please...please...please..." eventually answered--really--by a talking ball of light are one example of how disturbed she is) as that her memories are genuine. For one thing, it is odd that these memories would "surface" after decades when she begins seeing a therapist--although the phenomenon of repression is also very real, especially when coupled with post-traumatic stress. And while she claims that there is actual physical evidence of abuse in the form of supposedly otherwise inexplicable scarring, the reader is simply told this repeatedly with no evidence given.
Her portrait of her father as alternately befuddled and obstinate is amusing, though, but again no evidence is given for his abuse, in turn, at the hands of his mother. His war-time experiences certainly could have messed him up, though.
I hate to belittle Beck's story, but she really gives us very little reason to believe her, and some reason to doubt her; and besides, she occasionally seems to belittle it herself, as when she inexplicably drops inappropriate jokes in the middle of the most serious moments of her narrative, one example of how obnoxious her style can be.
On the whole, her conversion from Mormonism to a New Age brand of Buddhism is almost a step backward. The search for a rational critique of Mormonism continues.
Leaving the Saints.......2007-09-24
This was a wonderful book. She faced a tragic situation with compassion, and never lost her sense of humour. The book was both interesting and very shocking. I will definitely be reading more of Martha Beck's books.
Run, Martha, Run........2007-09-17
What does one do when in the midst of toxic religion? Run away from it.
Martha Beck not only runs away *from* something toxic, she runs *to* something healthy---her soul. In fact, a recurring theme in the book is Jesus' exhortation: what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul?
This book warrants a four-and-a-half, but I would give it at least a six if it would help offset the knee-jerk Mormon reactions she has to have gotten.
This book is, and isn't, about Mormonism. It is in that she speaks tellingly of the idiosyncracies and particular lunacies of Mormon theology along with the revisionist history that may have made Cold War Communists blush.
That said, though, toxic religion tends to have similar patterns whether it be pseudo-christian (e.g., Mormons), Buddhist, Muslim, Jewish, Christian or whatever. As I read somewhere recently, a narcissist is a narcissist first and a Jew, Muslim, Christian, Atheist, Agnostic, or whatever secondarily. Since unchecked narcissism is a problem in many religions and denominations, similar narcissistic patterns will emerge regardless of whether a denomination's theology is sound or not. And anyone leaving such toxic religions will, consequently, tend be treated similarly.
I'll look through my book and see what I've underlined. It probably for me were the most helpful and richest parts.
I liked on page 168 where she confronts her Dad, a Mormon apologist (now that's a job for you!--like a one-armed paper hanger) and says to him "You know what really kills me?...It kills me how much of you the Church bought for that little lump of money." Mmmmm...sounds familar to a lot of people, I'm sure. There are people who find themselves nobly sacrificing for a religion or denomination but in actuality are being used.
On page 173, Beck makes a marvelous point to us all. She tells her Dad "It was so ridiculous (Mormonism), all of it. I really wish you'd just laughed." Wait a minute, before you get haughty there are more ridiculous things in our own denominations than we care to admit. For those with more ridiculous things to bear than others, it is essential that one has a sense of humor about it---probably as one is walking ever so deliberately toward the door.
A recurring theme for Beck is found on page 175, which she mentions more than once: "Our task is to turn the anger that is affliction into the anger that is determination to bring about change." I think the writing of this book is her determined contribution to this.
On page 232 she mentions a conversation she had with another young mother who confides in her "I'm praying to God for protection from the servants of God. Could that be right?" How much was the recent judgments in the Catholic clergy sexual abuse sagas throughout America? Wasn't it millions upon millions of dollars? Though this young mother was speaking of the Mormon Church, it just as well could have been a Christian denomination or local church--or any other toxic faith.
Character assassination is a favorite tool of the narcissistically impaired. After describing on page 240 a group of intellectuals who were being persecuted by that particular church she notes that the intellectuals were called "ravening wolves among the flock." After describing the good qualities of wolves, Beck said that she would prefer to be a called a wolf than to be called a "Woman Who Runs with the Sheep."
Beck is an excellent writer. Anyone who can make such a subject interesting enough to write 300 pages about it--I read each chapter ravenously (but then, I'm a wolf too
)-- can write well.
I wish Beck the best as she runs *to* her soul. Read this book and you'll question, rightly so, how much of your soul are you sitting on and how much of it is free.
A Watershed.......2007-09-13
I treasure this book. It's "about" many things, as evidenced by the diverse Tags offered. But for me, it strengthens and illuminates the part of every soul that, against the most virulent opposition, says, "This is the truth; this is who I am." Such courage is the only way to redemption. To Martha Beck, I say "ThankyouThankyouThankyou."
Scary.......2007-07-31
Women will read this and run for the hills...but not the hills of Utah where isolation, imprisonment and slavery is accepted for people of their gender. They will run to get away from an awful mindset that creates something far worse than what so many deem a "cult" if you will. This is not about faith, but about a women who realized that this is a business built on money and power taken from people in exchange for getting special treatment by the church. I interviewed a man a while back who had, with his family left the church. I asked him why he left, and he said that they had fallen on hard financial times and because of that asked to be forgiven for not paying the expected percentage of tithing. The result, he said was that he was ostricised by the church and the women of the church would no longer speak to her. On top of that he said that he was not allowed to advance to any positions of leadership within the church despite showing up when asked and putting in countless hours of effort for goodwill towards fellow churchgoers and functions.
Martha describes the nature of this business with great emotion and it is enough to make one cry to think anyone in this country could be subjected to such treatment. The women are treated like grazing cattle, being used as something to merely reproduce in order to reach higher levels of heaven. The insight into Joseph Smith is minimal but upon further research it is obvious this man did not have any connection to any god whatsoever, going so far as to commit a gaggle of crimes year after year before his untimely demise by a community that got fed up with his nonsense and unpunished crimes.
One of the best books out there on mormonism, but be sure to also check out Inside Mormonismas it will go into the history of lies and crimes that surround Joseph Smith both before and after his founding of this church.
Book Description
"The city had begun to enter me. It was the ultimate distraction. London was an endless maze of places I could lose myself….Walking, I wanted to live on every gorgeous London street."—from Off the King's Road
In an understated, urbane style that recalls such memoirists as Joan Didion and Paula Fox, Phyllis Raphael describes how she landed in London in December 1968 as the restless wife of a Hollywood movie producer. She had brought her three young children from Los Angeles and the plan was to live in London for three months on MGM's dime while her husband was producing a film there. Instead—in a maneuver Raphael wasn't expecting—he left her for an eighteen-year-old actress. And in a decision she could never have predicted, Raphael stayed.
In Off the King's Road, Raphael writes of being an exile and an accident victim, an expatriate let loose in a country and in a world that in the turbulent 1960s was becoming expatriated from itself. She arrived in London naïve, dependent, and dissatisfied, and left several years later as another person entirely—a woman in command, for better or worse, of her own life. Written with seductive elegance, humor, and sexual candor, Off the King's Road speaks to women of all ages of the possibilities of a life transformed by circumstance.
Customer Reviews:
entertaining but self-preserving..........2007-08-29
the book is well written and entertaining but it is less a memoir then a justification piece. it seems that ms. raphael is justifying her behaviors and making excuses for bad decisions she has made in her life. this is not a down to earth, honest memoir. it is a self-preservation attempt. if you can overlook this, you might enjoy it.
STUCK IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY, ALONE WITH THREE KIDS . THINK IT WAS FUN? WELL IT WAS.......2007-04-04
Against the backdrop of mad, insane psychedelic London of the 60's, Phyllis Raphael recounts her saga of going from the devastation of an
unwanted divorce, to her completely unexpected and often naughty adventures on her to way to a rebirth of herself as a mother, woman
and dynamic creative force. With great elegance but without any trace
of Ladies Home Journal bogus gentility, Raphael writes as a writer in the 21st century. She packs her poetry with a punch and hysterically funny turns of phrase that will have you lingering on them the way you would hold a the best red wine on your lips, all the while taking you on the trip of trips: the inspiring journey to consciousness, creativity and an undaunted open-heartedness. MICHAEL LUTIN
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