Product Description
Celebrated for her indelible, Oscar-caliber performances in some of the most memorable films of the 1980s and 1990s, Debra Winger, in Undiscovered, her first book, demonstrates that her creative range extends from screen to page. Here is an intimate glimpse of an artist marvelously wide-ranging in her gifts.

In fact, as this beguiling book reveals, Winger is that rare star who dared to resist the all-consuming industry that is Hollywood becoming her entire reason for being. "I love the work," she states, "and don't much care for the business." Yet she cares deeply for the people who have inspired her. We meet them (most famously, James Bridges, Bernardo Bertolucci; most dearly, her mother, husband, and sons) here, as Winger passionately makes her case for forging a life beyond acting -- and shows how she has done just that. Winger's screen performances have long been celebrated for their breathtaking emotional range, a quality that shines through in these pages. "When I was little," she writes, "someone told me that when you age, you turn into the person you were all your life." In this intriguing mix of reminiscence, poetry, storytelling, and insightful observation, a portrait of a life well-lived is strikingly rendered. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

Interesting
It was interesting to me to read the reviews of others on Undiscovered.Most people either loved it or hated it. I feel it is rather unfair to try to critique a book which is so obviously the thoughts and feelings of someone else.I think the author was true to her feelings and wrote about things she knew, loved, or encountered.This is really her personal feelings and insight into various events in her life.
I liked it because I believe it was real.We all see and experience and feel life on different levels and react to things in our lives differently.I believe this author was being true to her feelings and emotions when she wrote this book, and in that regard, it is very well written.

Metaphoric Poetry
Debra Winger leaves me touched, moved and inspired.

Debra Winger is a poet and SHE knows it.

If you are someone who has been accused of narcissism, you just may be a poet that doesn't know it.Please see [...]

I'm a poet and I know it!

While reading this gem, I laughed, I cried, I sighed.
I am now left empowered and greatly satisfied.

Interesting but not entirely illuminating
Thanks to the reviews here, I already knew what to expect. As others have said, it's not an autobiography. I can't even call it a memoir. Frankly, I don't even know if she wrote the entire book in a traditional way. What I mean is, it seems like she's kept a journal her entire life and has picked which journal entries to include in the book.

I couldn't read this in one sitting. After sixty pages or so, it would get tedious and I'd have to put it down. You really get the "journal" vibe towards the second half of the book.

Personally, I think Winger should have gone a different route. I think she should have written an in depth biography like Jane Fonda did. That would have been much more fulfilling. However, it seems as if Debra is a very guarded person so it was interesting to at least get a small glimpse into her life.

Tangential and Disconnected Ramblings....
I bought this book as a huge fan of Debra's work and philosophies on life. This book is often incoherent. As an avid reader of books on spirituality and new age topics, I found this book almost unreadable. Debra clearly is tapped into a wonderful spiritual core and negotiates with it daily, like many of us. However, she does not have the skill to articulate this to a reader. It was like someone published things she scrawled out on napkins and something got lost in the translation. I am all for experimental reads, but this really pushed the limits. It is full of ego and it is disrespectful to the reader since it is almost impossible to glean anything from these ramblings. I am glad I got this on the bargain book table. I read this book in about an hour. The publisher must be kicking themselves. I hope Debra writes an autobiography with the help of a ghost writer.

I am sure she would attribute negative reviews of the book to people not being tapped into her and she would shrug it off. However, she needs to understand that this book is not palatable or accessible, and offers little to no depth or insight. For someone who purports to detest ego this book is very classist and ego-driven. It is a complete contradiction.

After having just seen her brilliant work in Rachel Getting Married, I know she still has the chops. I guess I will just watch interviews to get insight into the brilliant Debra Winger.

The cover photo is stunning and essentially what drew me to the book.

Ridiculous
If you have nothing concrete to say, perhaps reconsider accepting that book contract. Or rather - clearly state this is a book full of vague meanderings from a difficult star who somehow manages to convey that she is both grounded in the every day and yet removed from it all in a sort of superior, unaffected way. Oh and also in a self-absorbed way.
Ahh actresses.I know Ms. Winger is talented in front of the camera and I look forward to all of her performances but after reading this, it confirms my belief that actors who reach a level of success (and even many who do not) cannot help but also achieve a level of pretension that comes from not really having to worry about anything more important than what they think. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

She Stars in..& is a 'Hollywood' producer...
Debra & her husband, Howard, director) star in "Big Bad Love'..adapted from collection short stories by Larry Brown.Which is so very camp for those who thought she couldn't make it into the 'Inner Circle'. Include this in revised edition,soon. ... Read more

Product Description
An enchanting Zuni myth is retold by the bestselling author of Skinwalkers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Out of unselfish love
"And because you have made me out of unselfish love you have touched me with life"

This is a transcript of a story that was verbally passed down through the generations of the Zuni. It was recorded in 1883 by Frank Hamilton Cushing. He had become a chief Priest of the Bow society of the Macaw Clan. The story is based on a drought that happened to the Ha'wi-k'uh about 1300; before the coming of the Europeans (1539-1540).
-------------------------

The basic tail is of a people that treated food like mud, and were extremely rude to their corn sprits that were in the form of two old ladies. Only two children and a discarded old woman paid them any respect. This was very bad as the Zuni is part of nature and therefore nature and strangers are to be treated with respect.

Thus the story is of the drought that sent the people away and leaving the two children and old lady behind.
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If one is desperate to hear the story instead of read it then this media is ok. It is too bad they someone thought they had to abridge such a short story. Every word is necessary to understand the myth. It does not distract from the experience to have a non native American (Debra Winger) read the story. I suggest you buy a copy of the book to find what is missing and for the young ones to see the illustrations.
... Read more

Product Description
Americans at Work... What Are You Doing With the Rest of Your Life?... Steven Jobs... Debra Winger... William Styron... Bernadette Peters... ... Read more

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High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Searching for Debra Winger is a 2002 American documentary film conceived and directed by Rosanna Arquette. It presents a series of interviews with leading actresses who discuss the various pressures they face as women working in the film industry while trying to juggle their professional commitments with their personal responsibilities to their families and themselves. Arquette's inspiration for the project was twofold. The first film she ever saw was The Red Shoes, the story of a woman unable to choose between her dedication to her art and the prospect of lifelong love. The character's emotional struggle left an indelible impact on Arquette. She also was dismayed by Debra Winger's self-imposed retirement from the Hollywood scene. Curious as to how many other female performers felt pressured to abandon their careers and for what reasons they might opt to do so, Arquette engaged in a lively discussion with many of her peers, either one-on-one or in small groups, and their edited comments resulted in this film. ... Read more

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Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Traces of a Dragon, My Big Break, My Best Fiend, Looking for Richard, Searching for Debra Winger, I Knew It Was You, the James Dean Story, Leuchtturm Des Chaos, Pornstar Pets, Beautiful Darling, Bruce Lee: a Warrior's Journey, Jackie Chan: My Stunts, a Conversation With Gregory Peck, the Legend of Marilyn Monroe, Buster Keaton Rides Again, My Date With Drew, Paul Robeson: Tribute to an Artist, Marcello Mastroianni: I Remember, Kage No Hikari, the Man in the Silk Hat, Buster Keaton: a Hard Act to Follow, Love Letter to Edie, When Steptoe Met Son, Patrick Dewaere, Curtain Call, Superstar in a Housedress, From the Journals of Jean Seberg. Excerpt:A Conversation With Gregory Peck A Conversation With Gregory Peck is a 1999 film directed by documentary filmmaker Barbara Kopple . Kopple followed the actor as he embarked on a live speaking tour throughout the United States reflecting on his life and career. The film also looks at Peck's home life with his family, as well as his public appearances where he meets such notable individuals as then President of the United States Bill Clinton , then French President Jacques Chirac , and filmmaker Martin Scorsese . A Conversation With Gregory Peck was part of the PBS documentary series American Masters , and was screened out of competition at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. It is featured on a 2005 2-disc collector's edition of To Kill a Mockingbird . Cast References (URLs online) Websites (URLs online) A hyperlinked version of this chapter is at Beautiful Darling Beautiful Darling (also titled: Beautiful Darling: The Life and Times of Candy Darling, Andy Warhol Superstar ) is a 2010 feature length documentary film about Candy Darling , a transgender "superstar" of Andy Warhol . The film was directed by James Rasin and features Chloe Sevigny ... ... Read more

Product Description

William Faulkner never stood taller than five feet, six inches, but in the realm of American literature, he is a giant. More than simply a renowned Mississippi writer, the Nobel-Prize winning novelist and short story writer is acclaimed throughout the world as one of the twentieth century's greatest writers, one who transformed his "postage stamp" of native soil into an apocryphal setting in which he explored, articulated, and challenged the "old verities and truths of the heart."

In this collection, we are proud to present a historic recording of Mr. Faulkner reading his 1949 Nobel acceptance speech and excerpts from As I Lay Dying and The Old Man.

Customer Reviews (4)

Insight Into a Great Mind
I've heard about William Faulkner all the way through my life, but I'd never actually read anything by him.With eye fatigue from long hours of close work an issue, I determined to LISTEN to some of his work.This CD collection was the source of some major revelations.As painful as it was to hear his accounts of life in the segregated Deep South, I also recalled relatives of mine who remained loyal to their home there while quietly working behind the scenes to bring positive change. In order to change a person or place who you dearly love yet still recognize as deeply flawed, you must accept everything without filtering... and yet still retain a moral compass.Faulkner was a man who clearly loved the culture in which he was raised yet knew that major changes were needed.I was simply dumbfounded by his Nobel speech that is at the beginning of the series as a statement of all that is still wrong with the American national character in the years after World War II.
Faulkner was a deeply flawed man within a culture that was just as deeply flawed, yet his hope for better times and his belief in the basic kernel of goodness within his fellows is highly moving.I'd recommend the collection to anyone who has an interest in understanding the social traditions and problems of the South.I'd compare him favorably with another regional author:John O'Hara, who also wrote unflinchingly yet lovingly about his home in Pennsylvania.

William Faulkner Audio Collection
I bought the above title as a gift for my sister who has macular degeneration.She was very pleased with the collection, and I was pleased with the speed it was sent to her.Thank you.

Great introduction to Faulkner's many voices
I have been unable to take these CDs out of my automobile's CD changer since I bought this set. It has really rekindled my interest in Faulkner. I never cease to be awestruck by this great American writer's ability to capture the distinct voices of people of all classes, races, ages and of both genders. And the three able actors who read these stories--Debra Winger ("A Rose for Emily" and "Barn Burning"), Keith Carradine ("Spotted Horses"), and Arliss Howard ("That Evening Sun" and "Wash") all do an excellent job of rendering these voices with great authenticity and compassion. Besides being examples of Faulkner's best short stories, the stories provide an excllent introduction to several families that are central to his most powerful and memorable novels ("That Evening Sun" introduces us to the Compson children who are the subject and narrators of THE SOUND AND THE FURY; "Barn Burning" and "Spotted Horses" introduces us to the "tribe" of Snopeses who are the focus of Faulkners great trilogy, THE HAMLET, THE TOWN, and THE MANSION; and "Wash" gives us insight into Colonel Sutpen, whose full story is told in ABSALOM, ABSALOM!" The selection of stories also does a good job of representing the range of Faulkner's talent and vision--the folksy humor of country people, the tragic character of the oppressed and marginalized, and the frustration people experience when their traditional values fail to equip them for the intrusion of modernity. It's all here.

The CD set is augmented by several readings by Faulkner himself. (These are old recordings that were originally issued on vinyl and reissued on audiocassette, but it's great to have them on CD at long last.) Faulkner's reading from AS I LAY DYING is fast and breathless and is especially poignant in the Vardaman sections where he endows the youngest Bundren with a seer-like wisdom and nerve-rattling existentialism. The excerpt from perhaps his most difficult novel, A FABLE, and his brilliant Nobel Prize acceptance speech are stunning indictments an man's propensity to wage war coupled with a celebration of the human race's capactiy to endure and prevail in spite of depth of its folly.

My only regret is that I paid full price for these CDs at a bricks and mortar store (who shall remain nameless). Get it from Amazon.com! It's the best price I've seen. And with the money you save, treat yourself to Hans H. Skei's book, READING FAULKNER'S BEST SHORT STORIES, which discusses all of the stories on this CD.

Some Faulkner for Those Rides Through the Countryside
Caedmon has done it again.This is an excellent selection of Faulkner's short stories (A Rose for Emily, Barn Burning, That Evening Sun, Spotted Horses, and Wash--all unabridged) and excerpts from a few of his longer works, all read very well with passion and control by Debra Winger, Keith Carradine and Arliss Howard.But the best part of this collection has to be the opportunity to hear Faulkner himself read from "As I Lay Dying", "A Fable" and "The Old Man", plus his 1949 Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech.Running 5 hours long, on 5 discs, this is a great collection for Faulkner enthusiasts and audio book addicts alike. ... Read more

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From CD cover: Performed by a full cast, written and directed by Arthur Yorinks.The Night Kitchen Radio Theater, founded and directed by Arthur Yorinks, is a new not-for-profit theater company devoted to creating and producing theatrical works for the radio. Live performances are recorded at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and then aired nationwide on XM Satellite Radio and public radio stations around the country. Along with each performatnce, the well-known criic and historian of children's literature, Leonard Marcus, hosts a segment that provides backgrounds for the plays.""Arthur Yorinks for 35 years has written and directed for opera, theater, dance, film, and radio, and is the author of more than two dozen acclaimed and award-winning books for children, including the Caldecott Medal winner, Hey Al and Mommy?, the recent pop-up best-seller.""Leonard Marcus is the literary director of The Night Kitchen Radio Theater. His reviews and commentaries have been featured in The New York Times Book Review and Parenting magazine, as well as on many radio and television programs. He is the author of several widely acclaimed works on authors and illustrators including A Caldecott Celebration, Side by Side, Author Talk, Margaret Brown: Awakened by the Moon, Dear Genius, and The Wand in the Word: Conversations with Writers of Fantasy." ... Read more

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TRIED TO IMAGINE HOW TO START ANEW ... Read more

Product Description
Known for his meaty seriocomic novels–expansive works that are simultaneously lowbrow and highbrow–Tom Robbins has also published over the years a number of short pieces, predominantly nonfiction. His travel articles, essays, and tributes to actors, musicians, sex kittens, and thinkers have appeared in publications ranging from Esquire to Harper’s, from Playboy to the New York Times, High Times, and Life.A generous sampling, collected here for the first time and including works as diverse as scholarly art criticism and some decidedly untypical country-
music lyrics, Wild Ducks Flying Backward offers a rare sweeping overview of the eclectic
sensibility of an American original.

Whether he is rocking with the Doors, depoliticizing Picasso’s Guernica, lamenting the angst-ridden state of contemporary literature, or drooling over tomato sandwiches and a species of womanhood he calls “the genius waitress,” Robbins’s briefer writings often exhibit the same five traits that perhaps best characterize his novels: an imaginative wit, a cheerfully brash disregard for convention, a sweetly nasty eroticism, a
mystical but keenly observant eye, and an irrepressible love of language.

Embedded in this primarily journalistic compilation are a couple of short stories, a sheaf of largely unpublished poems, and an off-beat assessment of our divided nation.And wherever we open Wild Ducks Flying Backward, we’re apt to encounter examples of the intently serious playfulness that percolates from the mind of a self-described “romantic Zen hedonist” and “stray dog in the banquet halls of culture.”


From the Hardcover edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (30)

"The whirling dervish lit hippie of Seattle"
Tom Robbins is a madman. His passionate love affair with language is surpassed only by his compassion for thoroughly mobile drive by turkeys, beet scented waitresses, chatty defensive sticks, wedding cake flavored pyramids, dynamite flavored woodpeckers, water logged socks, cantankerous and injured transgendered cans o' beans, and of course the ORIGINAL bombastic balloon boy sweet Haysoos.

Tom Robbins is THEE shoehorn defibrillator of writerz; YES that is writerZ with a captial Z. His electrifying way with words wedges itself between your skull and that gelatinous gray sludge therein and Za za za ZAPS your brain into a mind expanding revery that no flip-the-bird-at-sobriety-stimulants, ill eagle or otherwise, could ever possibly compete with much less top.

Don't take my words for it...take Toms:

"I want to travel on a train that smells like snowflakes.

I want to sip in cafes that smell like comets.

Under the pressure of my step, I want the streets to emit the precise odor of a diamond necklace.

I want the newspapers I read to smell like the violins left in pawnshops by weeping hobos on Christmas Eve.

I want to carry luggage that reeks of the neurons in Einstein's brain.

I want a city's gases to smell like the golden belly hairs of the gods.

And when I gaze at a televised picture of the moon, I want to detect, from a distance of 239,000 miles, the aroma of fresh mozzarella."

Longing for the best of Tom Robbins
By my calculation, Tom Robbins has produced one novel every five years (on average).Beginning with "Fierce Aliens ..." he has seemed rushed by a semi-decenial deadline and has not produced works equal to his earlier masterpieces.(See "Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas" for a masterpiece.)"Wild Ducks Flying Backwards" offers some glimpse of the master by collecting decades of his short writing.It reminds me of why I want more of his best.

Wild Words Flying Forward
Tom Robbins has a complete mastery of the use of words to create a novel image, always fun, and thought-provoking. I re-read many passages, just for the sheer enjoyment of listening to the words in my head. This book is a collection of articles and essays, which makes it a great read when you don't have a long stretch of time. I loved it!

Yawn
Tom Robbins, a self-proclaimed Zen Hedonist, is one of those writers whose name is now vaguely known- although it has slipped considerably in recognition and reputation from his 1970s heyday, but whose works are doomed to end up in antique shops in a century as people hold up his moldering books and wonder why and how his banal and flat out bad writing ever got into print in the first place. In short, they will either loathe us as barbarians, laugh at us as fools, or pity us as cretins for rewarding such bad writing with publication.

To say that Robbins is a fifth rate Hunter S. Thompson is to insult even that vastly overrated cultural scribe. Known mainly for some supposedly humorous novels such as Even Cowgirls Get The Blues, Still Life With Woodpecker, Just Another Roadside Attraction, and Skinny Legs And All, this compendium- somehow aptly if enigmatically titled Wild Ducks Flying Backward: The Short Writings Of Tom Robbins, is about forty years worth of sheer irredeemable banality on display. This book is the sort of atrocious book that a name writer puts out when he has run out of new ideas and simply wants to milk his name for what little marketable worth it has left....The worst section is Stories, Poems, & Lyrics. To say that the `poetry' of Mr. Robbins is execrable is to waste a valuable word on it. Why do non-poets all think they can write poems? Yes, we know, they think their names can sell anything, but Robbins makes Leonard Nimoy's infamous Blue Mountain books of `poetry' look like a competent poet by comparison. His doggerel shall not even be quoted. Musings & Critiques is Robbins attempting to be `deep', while the final section, Responses, is just a series of a paragraph or two long pieces where Robbins opines, thus showing off both his lack of intellectual profundity and originality, as he answers such dillies of queries like, Why Do You Live Where You Live?, and What Is The Meaning Of Life? Robbins, as a humorist, writes like a none too talented fourteen year old trying to imitate the best lines from the first Monty Python skit he's ever seen on DVD. When asked to write a piece for the Center For Steinbeck Studies, San Jose State University, 2002, in answer to the query, How Would You Evaluate John Steinbeck?, Robbins starts off his reply with this bon mot:



Maybe what I admire most about John Steinbeck is that he never mortgaged his forty-acre heart for a suite in an ivory tower.



Yes, this was his apparently serious attempt at discourse. To not say that wordplay is not a forte of Robbins' would be to shirk one's duties as a critic.

Luckily, this critic found this book lying about the office of his mother's doctor, about to be tossed, so paid not a red cent for it- it retails for $25.00 (Shame on Bantam Books!). Perhaps actor and filmmaker Tim Robbins really wrote this atrocious book, and the man who has had so many books published simply is the victim of a typo. How else to explain the twisted Kantian logic of the ridiculously bad piece titled What Is Art And If We Know What Art Is, What Is Politics? Of course, the whole presumption is that `all art is political,' and Robbins opens up his piece with the Kantian stance that, `The most useful thing about art is its uselessness.' One might hope he'd ended the piece with that single sentence, even if it is wrong, for art does have a purpose, and it is about the best written sentence in the book. Yet, so clueless as to even his stumbling upon a semi-truth is Robbins that he ends the piece by unwittingly giving art's real purpose, even as he tries to negate it:



Art revitalizes precisely because it has no purpose. Except to engage our senses. The emancipating jounce of inspired uselessness.



Of course, if it is useless, how can it revitalize? This is a non-sequitur. One would be expecting much too much from such a writer and thinker at the Tom Robbins level to expect much more. Perhaps Robbins has written a few paragraphs of solid prose in his career, but they are not on display in this book. Let's hope Tim Robbins's Collected Prose betters his doppelganger's.

Odds-n-Sods From Tom Robbins
As a loyal Tom Robbins fan, I have read almost all of his published works. Like many of you, I have even met him in person at a book signing or two... So when I spotted this little gem, I thought it was going to a collection of short stories.I had read his novels- or at least most of them and figured a collection of short stories by Tom Robbins would be interesting to say the least.What I didn't really pick up on was that the front cover read "The Short Writings of Tom Robbins" not "The Short Stories of Tom Robbins".

Had I been more observant, I might not have been surprised by the fact that stories as such are almost non-existent in this book.Instead we are treated to Tom's responses on various subjects, short essays about famous people he admires or has met, critiques, opinions etc.

At times the Tom Robbins we all know shines through at other times, he is about as missing as the short stories I had hoped to find.This collection is kind of like a retrospective.Misc. stuff he had jotted down over the years for magazines and newspapers and so on.It spans several years of his writing career- so not all of the content is as well written as his later works. But according to his author's note, he tried to reword some of the pieces prior to this publication.

Overall it is enjoyable to read and the more recently written pieces- the ones that actually seem like Tom Robbins wrote them may even make it all worth while.Still, this collection is only for the diehards.It isn't a good place to start for a new reader.To anyone looking to test the waters... try Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, Jitterbug Perfume or Skinny Legs and All.
... Read more

Product Description
The Beat Generation freed American arts and letters from the ivy covered shackles of academia. The names of its primary figures are familiar as old relatives--Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, and Neal Cassady. But, though they may be less known to us, the women were making history of their own. Riveting biographies and never-before-published writings chronicle the creative and rebellious women who broke from tradition and joined the best minds of their generation. 2 cassettes.Amazon.com Review
Female Beats wrote poetry, took drugs, went on the road, listened to jazz, and lived on the fringe just as the men did, but their accomplishmentsare not as widely recognized. This volume attempts to correct thisoversight by profiling 40 women of the Beat generation and publishingsamples of their work. Well-known poets Diane di Prima and Denise Levertovappear in the volume, along with the muses of male writers and other womenwho never became famous at all. As Brenda Knight notes in her introduction,counterculture women in the 1950s and 1960s faced difficult obstacles: "Tobe unmarried, a poet, an artist, to bear biracial children, to go on theroad was doubly shocking for a woman, and social condemnation was high." The first portion of the anthology is devoted to women who were not Beatsbut who set the stage for the movement. Josephine Miles wrote poetry andmentored the younger Beat poets at Berkeley, while Madeline Gleason foundedthe San Francisco Poetry Festival. In the "Muses" section are shortbiographies of wives and girlfriends of famous male writers such as JackKerouac and Neal Cassady. It's widely known that William S. Burroughs shothis wife Joan Vollmer Adams Burroughs; this book fills in other details ofher wild and short life. Profiles of writers such as Joyce Johnson, HettieJones, Janna McClure, and Janine Pommy Vega account for the rest of theanthology. The lives these women led are as interesting as their writing,and Women of the Beat Generation honors their determination to liveoutside the mainstream. --Jill Marquis ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Still Rationalizing, Still Self-Justifying . . .
Denise Levertov never was, and never will be, a so-called "Beat" writer: she could actually write.(Which means she knew that the most basic rule of writing is: rewriting.)Any more than she will be diminished and narrowed by the so-called "feminists" who insist she was a "woman writer" therefore only suitable for women readers (to which ideological morons she delivered swift kicks to the teeth).

And no amount of effort to drag her, kicking and screaming, into the "Beat" "canon," will succeed, or succeed in giving that "canon" a "class" and credibility it mostly didn't earn and doesn't deserve.Kerouac might have been able to write -- if, that is, he'd tried the language- and reader-respecting work of rewriting.But nothing will cure Ginsberg of the reality that he was 99 per cent vapid masturbatory windbag.

Should not be missed
Any interested in the history of the beat era must have WOMEN OF THE BEAT GENERATION: THE WRITERS, ARTISTS AND MUSES AT THE HEART OF A REVOLUTION. Much has been written on famous beat men but comparatively little on the women who also made their mark during the time: long overdue but better late than never is an exploration of the histories of these women, from Barbara Guest and Diane DiPrima to Jan Kerouac and Anne Waldman. A literary and social history which should not be missed.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Women Writers Rule!
Yes, there were women writing as well, and doing all the other cool stuff at the time. Many of them are still writing or continued to write long after their affair with the "beat" generation. This book is a great introduction to these writers. It's very informative, has just enough of the good gossip and lots of really great writing.

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

Although most of the women profiled here published at least one work in their own right at some point, many of those are not currently in print anywhere else.Additionally, some of the poems and stories here are previously unpublished, and in the case of many of the wives and lovers (referred to as "The Muses"), the works presented here are by far the most intimate look at their lives published thus far.In short, there's something here for everyone:a good starting point for newcomers to the Beats as well as a good supplementary piece for even the most serious students of women's literature.

Never enough Beat
This a good addition to the true beat fan's bookshelf.The histories of the women who took part in the beat movement and the excellent photos are worth the price alone.But you may find yourself surprised by the quality of some of the work.I ended up reading "Door Wide Open" by Joyce Johnson after finishing this book and enjoyed it immensely.The section on Denise Levertov is great as well.
The most enjoyable part of the book for me was the section on Elise Cowan.Cowan represents what Beat really is.She never produced a large, lasting amount of work, but she was a street soldier on the scene, down in the dirt, living the beat dream.Cowan was a lover to Allen Ginsberg, a friend to Joyce Johnson, a fling to Jack Kerouac, and a beautifully tragic figure of the time.If you want to dig deep in the beat and explore all of the characters, then invest in this book. ... Read more

Product Description
The author continues the incredible story of her battle with autism begun in her first book, Nobody Nowhere. Here she offers more revelations about the mind of an autistic person and the role that emotions play in our inner lives. 2 cassettes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Somebody Somewhere - Drastic Change of Donna's Life
I suppose the story mainly includes her drastic change by meeting a lot of people. I could notice that when I came across the interaction between Dr. Marek and Donna. I guess she could express herself not only orally but by a lot of letters to Dr. Marek. And one more thing that caught my eye was the Miller's family, who really were a lot nicer than Donna's family. At first, Donna seemed to feel distant from Mr. Miller when Mr. Miller tried "Give me five!". Maybe that meant Donna wasn't used to this sort of friendly approach because of her autistic traits. Nonetheless, she came to realize that not everybody was as evil as her mom and elder brother. I would say this implied the release from 'her world'. Besides, I guess she came to notice her autism objectively by meeting those who had the same problems as her.

And I was really impressed by the conclusion of the book which said," AUTISM IS NOT ME." and "I CAN FIGHT AUTISM...I WILL CONTROL IT...IT WILL NOT CONTROL ME." This may indicate she became more positive and realistic about her life.

We Need This Book!
This book covers a period just prior to internet prevalence and the digitally connected world.This book is one that any adult on the autism/Asperger's (a/A) scale will readily identify with as it addresses issues people on the spectrum contended with prior to being able to find one another and understand living with "undefined differences."

Donna Williams' early life reads like a Dickensian classic.She survived poverty, prostitution, homelessness and the abuse that so often accompanies these societal obstacles in a person's life.She has traveled extensively from a geographical perspective as well as a diagnostic one.It was only when she had long reached adulthood that she was formerly diagnosed with autism.

Many people with autism born during the Baby Boom were misdiagnosed with schizophrenia and other unrelated conditions.Bad placements and inappropriate placements were very much the order of the day for many years.It is only in recent times, thanks to pioneer experts such as Donna Williams, Jerry Newman and Tony Attwood that these misperceptions about autism can hopefully be laid to rest.

Donna Williams, as with probably everybody on the a/A spectrum likens autism to sociology (learning about how humans behave and interact and what general expectations are) and feeling like an alien for not having this inborn, instictive and intuitive knowledge.People on the spectrum will certainly be able to identify with her experiences and how she describes them as well as her feelings regarding same.I like the way she describes her client-doctor relationship with her therapist, Dr. Marek.It sounded like a dance, of sorts where each was dancing timidly around the other, trying to figure out what step to take next.

Like the Bronte Sisters who created wonderfully creative, diversely populated fictional towns, Donna Williams sets out to create such an "Autistitopia" (Autistic Utopia).

Sheer luck and an unlikely friend come through like the Cavalry for her.Her first manuscript was left in England.A stranger found it and forwarded it to her.From there, an agent contacts her, expressing an avid interest in her work.That was the first quantum stride forward that transformed Donna Williams from a private citizen into a leading expert and scholar in matters relating to autism and treatments.This book is a shining beacon of hope and a ray of strong sunlight.WE NEED THIS BOOK!

remarkable
Donna Williams was diagnosed with autism as an adult, after many misdiagnosises. In her past, she faced child abuse, homelessness and prostitution.Now, that she began to realize her problems had a definite basis, she began to do something about them.Although her behavior was considered "antisocial" and eccentric, her insight into the human condition is remarkable. She has worked as a teacher of special needs children, and received awards for her "do-goodness." In this book, she casts aside the "characters" and poses that have made up her world, and begins to relate to people as herself, not as how she imagined they would want her to. Eventually, she began to publish memoir, which was picked up and published internationally. Her triumphs both in the professional and personal spheres will have you cheering, as she fights to master autism. "I will not let it control me" she writes, and she hasn't.

A beautiful and challenging book, written at a pivotal point in time
It's 1994 in a world where most people don't yet have email or internet and the undiagnosed adults on the Autistic Spectrum born in the 1960s and earlier still don't know each other exist, often believing they are the only one's like themselves in the entire world.

After a life of abuse, domestic prostitution, homelessness and poverty Donna Williams has wandered her way back to Australia and finally found the answer to 'what kind of mad am I'.The words of her childhood like deaf, psychotic, disturbed now get swept aside with a formal diagnosis as Autistic as she stumbles upon and enters into therapy with an eccentric an innovative psychologist, Theo Marek and they try to understand each other with astoundingly different language, concepts, realities and 'normality', viewing each other as one might an alien.

Having finally discovered the population she has been kept from all her life, Donna develops a small town dream and determines with her IQ of under 70 to become a teacher and change and advance the world of Developmental Disabilities and how those with them are treated in Special Education and beyond.

But the manuscript of her first book remains in a tea chest in England, a copy of it left with a stranger who unknown to her has forwarded it on.And soon a fax arrives through the post from a literary agent with a copy of that book in his hands.The book she wrote only for herself, filled with darkness and shame and surreal idiosyncracy of her previously undiagnosed Autistic world is set to become an international bestseller and propel the woman terrified of being 'known' out of the shadows and straight into the limelight as one of the most famous people ever diagnosed with Autism in the world.

An incredible, uplifting book.

Learn from one who knows
There are many books written about autism.While we can learn from researchers and professionals, we gain a whole new perspective when we listen to someone who has autism describe what it's like.Donna Williams is a bright, articulate young woman who freely shares insight into what it's like to live in the world of autism. ... Read more

Product Description
Labeled deaf, disturbed, and insane, Donna Williams lived in a world of her own, until, at the age of 25, she discovered the word "autism"--a term that would at last give her the opportunity to understand herself and join the real world. 2 cassettes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (45)

Autism versus multiple personality disorder
I bought this book off Amazon because I have a ten year autistic son, and I wanted to know what the future would hold for me. There are plenty of books out there on childhood autism, case studies, symptoms, Aspberger's, the whole wide spectrum. Little to nothing have I found on an adult's account of autism. So I was excited to pick this up. It certainly is a page turner, the poetry incredible. However, as we pass age three,I start to wonder, are we dealing with autism, in any form, or all of the author's personalities. Sure, my son has Doctor Enchilada, but he ISN'T Dr. Enchilada. The sense of failure, was most prominent. I don't think I have ever experienced any autistic child that was depressed. It's an engaging read, has a lot going for it in audio-sensory overload, but frankly, it reminded me too much of the autobiography, "Sybill." I was let down, after searching related books, that the author was capitalizing on this label of autism. I don't know. There are many hues on the rainbow, I know. This book is a good read, but wasn't what I was looking for. I found "Discovering My Autism" more close to me, and more believable. Anybody care to learn Burmese? Calculus? Have any extra lottery tickets? Bottle caps? Let me know, my son would be happy to help.

Being and nothingness
Wonderful book for anyone interested not only in autism, but in reading about those who overcome life's challenges.

I read "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden" a couple years back and this book is even better at describing the inner workings of a tormented mind and how eventually the real "self" triumphed.

Nobody Nowhere - Searching for Her True Identity
I suppose Donna Williams indicated very creatively what it is like to have autism. Actually she felt different and distant from 'the world', and became withdrawn into 'her world', where she played 3 characters - Carol, Willie, and Donna herself. And it must be extremely hard to get into 'the world' because she had to face a whole bunch of social minefields not only at school but also at home, where her evil mother and older brother terribly bullied Donna. So I suppose a nobody nowhere means she had nowhere to be comfortable in 'the world'. I suspect like most autistic/Asperger people she saw everything differently from other people, who often called her eccentric.

After all she was trying to get into 'the world' as she dealt with various kinds of people including autistic ones.I guess it means the starting point of a somebody somewhere.

Excellent!
This is an excellent view into the world of autism, written by one who knows.Donna Williams gives good insight about how an autistic person takes in and processes information that 'non-autistic' people do automatically.She had done a superb job.I highly recommend this book.

A magnificent write..
As the parent of an autistic, I have searched near 30 years for answers of my sons strange self. Medical persons were unable to help and autistic Eli had no speech. Donnas book is an unusual write as she gives depth and reason to many autistics traits with reasoning and feeling. Her journey is one of incredible strength and she is brilliant in her words and talents today. Her childhood was tragic but she managed to find her way..on her own. To combat and bring herself to a level of functioning acceptance. I shall read this again and would like to recommend- Nobody Nowhere-to each person searching for answers about autism or any person looking to experience a wonderful read. Thank you Donna for sharing your life. it certainly has helped mine. Carol ... Read more

Product Description
The late Janis Joplin's sister offers an intimate perspective on one of the most electrifying performers in the history of popular music. Also features never-before-published letters from Janis to her family. 2 cassettes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (33)

In Depth and Behind-the-scenes
Most people my age do not know who Janis Joplin is, her legacy, or any of her music. Which is sad to me, but it can be expected when my age group is still in their teens and Janis has been deceased since our parents were younger.
Laura Joplin gets in-depth with the life behind-the-scenes of Janis Joplin. The Janis the United States came to know as the wild, passionate woman in the Russian lynx coat and painted Porsche. We failed to really look at what made her so special, how she became the gutsy blues singer she once was. Her sister, Laura Joplin, who is six years younger than Janis, chose to write the biography about her. Laura chooses to share with the reader even the most personal letters that Janis had written to her mother and the letters written to other family members as well. With these letters, the title of the book emerged, Janis's personal valediction at the end of each letter, Love XX Janis.
When I began the book, it took a long time for the book to get interesting. The second chapter is a full family tree of how the Joplin's (father, Seth's side) and the East's (mother, Dorothy's side) came to America, ultimately to Port Arthur, Texas and how their bloodlines eventually combined to create the Joplin family; which I didn't find particularly interesting but it was a good addition to the book. Laura Joplin goes to great lengths to explain Janis's background in terms of how she became Janis. Her childhood was thoroughly explained. This helps the reader to understand that Janis Joplin did not become Janis Joplin overnight. It was a life long journey with hardships and happy times sometimes in the same day. Laura shows the reader that Janis had to make hard decisions just like every other normal person, and that in reality Janis was a free spirit that just-so-happened to be part of one of the largest turning points of America's popular culture scene. Laura also exhibits to the reader that for a long time Janis was an outcast. Her child and adolescent years were spent during the 1950's and early 1960's before the love started to spread throughout the country. Those times were so-called "straight" times. People were supposed to be neat and cookie cutter. In truth, it appears that Laura Joplin was simply trying to show the world what Janis really was, not her public persona, but a whirlwind of emotions and inner beauty, waiting to explode in a guttural, trance-like sound. She did not once shy away from Janis's drug and alcohol abuse or her promiscuous behavior. Laura Joplin told Janis's story exactly how it happened, or at least she shared with the reader as much as she knew
When looking through reviews of the biography by fellow Amazon reviewers, many mentioned Laura's ability to write (or lack there of), a well put together biography. This is disappointing to me in a number of ways. One being, Laura Joplin was not trained to be an author, she was letting the world in on secrets only her and her family would know. I doubt she was trying to win acclaim or any award. I must agree that the book is not a challenging read, or a masterful piece of literature. Also, because Laura Joplin took her time to show readers and fans of Janis, such as myself, that press and interviews were maybe a quarter of the emotional turmoil that powered the voice behind the legacy.

Sisterly perspective
Having previously read Myra Friedman's excellent bio on Janis as well as various other books portraying some aspect of Janis's career or life, "Love, Janis" is a welcome addition, bringing more of Janis's own words in the form of her letters home, and some insights about her family.It's true that the author, Janis's sister, was not directly involved in Janis's California lifestyle and singing career, nor is she a particularly good writer.At times this book also suffers from the same fault I've seen in other books or portions of books written by the families of tragically-dead-too-young celebs, namely a tendency to whitewash its subject a bit and fight off real or perceived blame cast on the family and community for not adequately grokking and appreciating that they had a Sensitive Genius Artist in their midst.These flaws get a little annoying to the reader at times, but can generally be forgiven if one remembers that Janis's behaviors, including her independent lifestyle, wacky rockstar outfits, outwardly aggressive persona, and musical style are much more generally accepted now than they were in the early 60s, when "nice girls" just didn't DO those kinds of things, especially down in Texas. Laura Joplin comes off like the ultimate "nice girl" and one can see the pressure that was put on Janis, including by Janis herself, to be more restrained in order to fit a womanly ideal.However, Janis's letters suggest that similar pressures were placed on her (or she placed them on herself) to be a loud rock star or hippie queen, so the family doesn't seem to blame for her ultimate fate even when Laura gets defensive about that subject.

The book is worth reading to hear more of Janis's own voice, regardless of whether you find her sister's weaving of the tale to be charming, acceptable or a negative distraction.I'd suggest it be read as a complement or backup to other biographies on Janis, as an additional window on the soul of this complex artist.

Nice to hear Janis's story told by family
I'm currently reading Myra Freidman's "Buried Alive" biography of Janis, and I recently read "Love, Janis." These biographies are similar only in that they share the same subject; in every other sense, they are entirely different and tell Janis's story from two different lights. "Buried Alive" focuses on Janis's later solo career (fittingly enough, as Myra Freidman was her publicist the last three years of Janis's life) and we get to see the career-oriented side of Janis; we also get to see how Janis interacted with her friends (and "friends"), how Janis reacted to certain situations in both her career and personal life, and we get to see a very honest, truthful (and that means not always positive) portrayal of Janis as a person: her mood swings, her battles with drugs and alcohol, her constant need for reassurance. However, in "Love, Janis," we get to see more of the softer side of Janis, not to mention a much fuller history of Janis's childhood and adolescence, including letters Janis wrote home throughout her career. I think it's important to read each of these biographies because they each show different aspects of Janis, Myra's book giving us a full, well-painted portrait of who Janis really was as a person and how she felt about her career and singing -- ("What if they find out I really can't sing!" Myra quotes her saying) -- and Laura's book painting a much softer picture of Janis and focusing more on her relationship with her family. That's the biggest difference; Myra was right there with Janis when she was an international superstar and dealing with the extreme pressures of her career, while Laura only got to see small glimpses of that whenever Janis wrote home or visited; it's important to keep in mind while reading "Love, Janis" that Laura wasn't with Janis in California, wasn't on the road with her or involved in the whole hippie scene; therefore, Myra's book gives us far more insight on her career and a more personal & detailed account of Janis at that point in her life, with many many quotes and dialogue from Janis throughout the book. Laura's book's strong points are Janis's history, how she got to where she went, who she was before she became the infamous Janis Joplin, and really helps to humanize her as we see her interact with her family, which is, I believe, a very accurate and trustworthy description, seeing as Laura is family and, I think it's safe to say, knew Janis very well.

I would recommend, to new Janis fans, reading this one first, then venturing onto others, because I think it's worthwhile to learn her complex history, particularly how she got started in singing, before learning the full details of who she was as a world-famous blues queen, which is what we get in Myra's book. Her letters from home are also quite interesting to read, not only for what Janis writes home about, but we also get to see her handwriting, her exuberance in her letters, and doodles/pictures she drew in her letters. Overall, Myra's book shows Janis as an adult and singer and gives us more insight to Janis's complicated personality, whereas Laura's is more of a straightforward history of her life. Both bios are wonderful and are must-reads for Janis fans.

Interesting Book, Keeps your Attention
I enjoyed reading this book and breezed right thru it.If you have any interest in Janis or the 60's this is a good book.I saw the play first and that made me want to read the book.

Janis's sister view of Janis Joplin life.
I just got the book in the mail, haven't finished reading it yet, It was in great condition to be used. I found the pictures to be very interesting and Laura's heartbreaking first chapter was over the top. I would recommend this book. Thank you for selling it to me. I have a collection now that I am very proud of. ... Read more