Out of Africa (Modern Library) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Isak Dinesen, nee Karen Blixen, lived in East Africa for almost twenty years making a living as the proprietor of a coffee plantation. Out of Africa is a memoir of her experiences there. But the book is so much more.
The stories are interesting to be sure. They relate to the plantation or the people and events that one way or another impacted her life there. But it is Blixen's writing that I found so sublime. I have never read anything like it. The way Blixen turns a phrase is both lyrical and enchanting all at once - you become literally swept up in the words and imagery. It is obvilious that Blixen loved Africa - something about the continent got under her skin. In a similar fashion her words have gotten under mine. I have read Out of Africa several times; each time I marvel at the beautiful language she uses. Read this book and I am sure you will feel the same way.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Out of Africa (Modern Library)

Get 32% OFF

Click here for more information about Out of Africa (Modern Library)

Read More...

Writing to Change the World Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Deep down, all writers aspire to be what Mary Pipher calls "Change Writers". Mary Pipher gets to the heart, the root of why we write. Whether we are 'liberal' or 'conservative', republican or democrat, athiest or 'fundamentalist', we write because we understand that we can influence people with our words.
This is not a book on "How to Write". This is not even a book of inspiration for curing "Writer's Block". This is a book that brings to light the things which the heart of every writer knows, yet often forgets.
Pipher separates her book into three sections, "What We Alone Can Say", "The Writing Process" and "Calls to Action". I found "What We Alone Can Say" and "Calls to Action" to be the most insightful and original. I was actually debating whether I liked the book while reading the center section. But, Pipher pulled through. The irony is that she includes a Mickey Spillane quote that says, "Nobody reads a book to get to the middle." I wonder if Pipher struggled with the center section herself.
If you want a book on how to write, or a book for inspiration, pick up Write Down the Bones. Pipher also recommends this book in a thorough list of Recommended Readings. If you are a writer, a performer, a blogger or a poet who is trying to figure out how to make a difference, pick up Pipher's book.
I have found that many of my most treasured books begin with a James Baldwin quote. Pipher chooses, "You write in order to change the world, knowing perfectly well that you probably can't, but also knowing that literature is indispensable to the world... The world changes according to the way people see it, and if you alter, even by a millimeter, the way... people look at reality, then you can chage it." Pipher offers a guide to changing the world one "Baldwin Millimeter" at a time.
(Side note: Pipher references a song by Billie Holiday "Strange Fruit" While this was the perfect example, the song was not actually written by her, but by a poet who does not receive credit in this book.)

Click Here to see more reviews about: Writing to Change the World

Get 39% OFF

Click here for more information about Writing to Change the World

Read More...

How to Write Your Own Life Story: The Classic Guide for the Nonprofessional Writer Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)More than seven years ago I decided to get some folks together to write our life stories. I haunted bookstores looking for the ideal book, and when I came across Lois Daniel's book, I knew it was the right one. That was her Third Edition. The updated Fourth Edition presents the same material, plus a couple of extra chapters.
The book has been ideal for our purpose. Lois Daniel's approach to writing about your life is to suggest that you write in bits and pieces, rather than starting with your birth and what I call "plowing through your life" from birth to the present day. That can be a chore for many; whereas writing about interesting incidents becomes an enjoyable challenge.
Grandma Moses, in her autobiography, wrote, "I have written my life in small sketches, a little today, a little yesterday, all the things from childhood on through the years, good ones and unpleasant ones, that is how they come out and that is how we have to take them."
That is the approach suggested by Lois Daniel. And the author makes it easy for persons who shy away because, they say, "I'm no writer." She suggests that you need not be a "writer", but merely to "write as you talk."
Our weekly class is now entering its eighth year, with 43 participants, both women and men. Since the class started, the members have purchased between 250 and 300 of her books, and, without exception, they are pleased. They find the book to be interesting, while at the same time it provides many suggestions and examples to motivate the writer.

Click Here to see more reviews about: How to Write Your Own Life Story: The Classic Guide for the Nonprofessional Writer

Writing the story of one's life sounds like a daunting task, but it doesn't have to be. This warmhearted, encouraging guide helps readers record the events of their lives for family and friends. Excerpts from other writers' work are included to exemplify and inspire. Provided are tips on intriguing topics to write about, foolproof tricks to jog your memory, ways to capture stories on paper without getting bogged down, ways to gather the facts at a local library or historical society, inspired excerpts from other writers, and published biographies that will delight and motivate.

Get 33% OFF

Click here for more information about How to Write Your Own Life Story: The Classic Guide for the Nonprofessional Writer

Read More...

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This is not a how-to book. This is not a New Age manual for freeing your creativity in ethereal ways. This is Anne Lamott, for heaven's sake...and that means it's funny! As in, laugh- till-you-can't-read-the-words-through-the-tears-in-your-eyes funny. (Some call this therapy, and I'm inclined to agree.)
Though aimed at writers, this book is full of sage advice and razor-edged honesty for the average joe. If you're a writer--and I claim to be one--it's more than a few anecdotes and good advice; it's a lifeline in the thrashing seas of rough-draftdom, a foothold on the sands of jealousy and vain ambition. Anne makes it clear that writing must be pursued for something other than mere publication. (Though, to be honest, I know she's just trying to let the majority of us down easy.) Writing is about letting go, growing, facing truths, and holding on.
I'm hooked on Lamott. She slaps me in the face with her startling revelations, nudges me in the ribs with her unpredictable humor, and prods my frozen little writer's hands back into action with warm compassion. This book won't solve the mechanical aspects of my writing, or lead me on the path of structural excellence, but it will spark my creativity, free my characters to be true to themselves, and, ultimately, shake me from my doldrums back into the writing mode.
In a society addicted to mindless facts and information, "Bird by Bird" reminds us--writers or otherwise--that it's all about heart. Heart and mind and soul dancing together, even if they step all over each other's feet.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

Get 41% OFF

Click here for more information about Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

Read More...

Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This book consists of letters written by American soldiers during the Vietnam War. It's extremely heart-breaking to read these letters as they gives "voices" instead of a mere figure. A lot of times, the figure of how many were killed, wounded, missing, etc but it does not portray any "emotions" the soldiers felt. At the end of each letter, the editor includes a few sentences on what happened to the author. It's extremely sad to read how many of those killed were just 19 year-olds, 20 year-olds, and these soldiers were just kids! It makes you think how wasteful, stupid, unnecessary wars are, and the sacrifices that has to be made.
The last chapter of this book speaks a lot. It is chronologically listed and you can see the evolving sentiments of the soldiers. At the beginning of the war, the soldiers were proud to fight against the Communists, how they think the war will be over soon. Towards the end of that chapter, most soldiers were scared, depressed and just wanted to get out of the war... alive! This shows why many Vietnam War veterans suffered from postwar depression as the horror of the war, how their friends, buddies were killed or wounded in front of their own eyes and how many could not possibly forget these horrifying images.
I highly recommend this book as this book speaks a lot. To me, the important message that it is trying to convey is the unnecessary sacrifices that these soldiers have to make, to fight a war that is not theirs, and the horror and bloodiness of the war is vividly described by these soldiers.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam


"An overwhelmingly eloquent book of thepurest and most simple writing onVietnam."-David Halberstam
More than twenty-five years after the official end of the Vietnam War, Dear America allows us to witness the war firsthand through the eyes of the men and women who served in Vietnam. In this collection of more than 200 letters, they share their first impressions of the rigors of life in the bush, their longing for home and family, their emotions over the conduct of the war, and their ache at the loss of a friend in battle. Poignant in their rare honesty, the letters from Vietnam are "riveting,...extraordinary by [their] very ordinariness...for the most part, neither deep nor philosophical, only very, very human" (Los Angeles Times). Revealing the complex emotions and daily realities of fighting in the war, these close accounts offer a powerful, uniquely personal portrait of the many faces of Vietnam's veterans. Over 100,000 copies sold.

Get 32% OFF

Click here for more information about Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam

Read More...