SHIbuya HARAJYUKU OTAKU AKIHABARA miyazaki Fujiyama,MUSIC,DVD,kitchen,DVD OTAKU mania Amazon associate helper, write reviews on your weblog<

SAYO Style mania GV-MVP/RX3 Notebook PC Live report
Domino pizza of door-to-door delivery pizzaThe bifidus bacterium of MORISHITA JINTANSt Valentine's Day of the DaimaruAccessoriesTiffany 16 stone braceletLouis Vuitton diamond logo charmMMRO II Recommendation spec. personal computerLUV MACHINESImpact! It is the Ezo "Kita" purple sea urchin of fatty tuna shoots loan cash impression with a mouth!The scallop of large satisfactory ! northern countries and - [ of how much ] botan shrimp are ! tightly.getting to know the technique of motorbike expensive sale -- Ta -- if -- -

OTAKU ultimate rare goods：25326goods
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 >>

< Ar'n't I a Woman?: Female Slaves in the Plantation South > < The Plantation Mistress > < Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (Dover Thrift Editions) > < Within the Plantation Household: Black and White Women of the Old South (Gender and American Culture) > < When I Was a Slave: Memoirs from the Slave Narrative Collection (Dover Thrift Editions) > < The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South > Deborah Gray White

price：~~$5.10~~
Co.
Usually ships in 24 hours

customer 's review
(A good start)

(Sojourner's Truth Goes Marching On)

(Female Slaves)

(Ar'n't I A Woman?)

(My Review)

In her Ar'n't I a Woman: Female Slaves in the Plantation South (1985), Deborah Gray White primarily challenges and corrects John W. Blassingame's singular focus on male slaves and masculinity, which was a product of the African-American males' Men's Rights Movement, so to speak. White is also adding to historiographical debates begun by Stanley Elkins, who says slavery made Africans into submissive, child-like individuals; Kenneth M. Stampp, who denies slaves had culture; and Eugene D. Genovese, who focuses on culture but uses the theory of paternalism focusing on slavery as a relationship based on consensus. Ultimately, however, all of these works serve as revisionist histories of U.B. Phillips's American Negro Slavery.

White's monograph is also the byproduct of the Civil Rights Movement and of the Women's Rights Movement. Although a precise date for the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement is impossible, it was clearly in progress with the Supreme Court's Brown vs. Board of Education decision in 1954. This movement awakened the attention of historians and the public to recognize and study the agency and equality of black Americans. Prior to the late 1960s and 1970s, all women, black or white, were generally excluded from the historian's scrutiny; therefore, it is not exceptional that it took until 1985 for enslaved African women to truly receive scholarly attention. Furthermore, whether consciously or unconsciously, these then contemporary events influenced White's choice of a topic, if only because of the new attention these minorities received. White was the first scholar to truly study enslaved black women.

Although their responsibilities were different, African-American women, like men, were slaves in the American South during the colonial and antebellum period. These women, like their male counterparts, were all individuals who were neither singularly submissive, caring, and/or sexual, nor superhuman as the "Jezebel" and "Mammy" stereotypes/archetypes disseminate. Female slaves did face a "double oppression" due to the combination of their race and sex (23). They also had dual responsibilities working for their masters and for their families. White primarily focuses on the antebellum period, but she also briefly covers emancipation and the re-enslavement of African-Americans after the Civil War. White argues on the assumption that female slaves experienced a different slavery than men and had different responsibilities.

"The Nature of Female Slavery" is White's most effective chapter because it truly addresses her concerns in writing this book. It recognizes women as individuals with agency. It specifically looks at women as slaves. This chapter focuses on disease, violence, resistance, and childbirth in the lives of slave women. In other chapters, information tends to be somewhat disorganized and redundant at times. Perhaps an organization by themes such as resistance, mothers, fields, etc. would help improve this. White's focus does not stay singularly on women and their experiences. Overall, White's monograph reads more like a series of articles.

White accomplishes a great deal in Ar'n't I a Woman, but she also leaves more than enough room for future historians to expand the scholarship of African-American female slavery. White concentrates on women who lived and worked on cotton plantations. Rice, indigo, tobacco, sugar, and hemp, for example, were also grown in the South by slaves. Foodstuffs such as rice have a prerequisite for gang labor and allow less free time, thus allowing male and female slaves less time to cultivate relationships, bare children, and transmit culture. By focusing on one type of plantation and generalizing that experience, White homogenizes the experience of women, probably often leading to a better picture than reality allows. In order to truly understand slavery the individual differences that comprise these individual women need recognition. Ar'n't I a Woman also neglects, like other works, to shed light on the true and multiple horrors of slavery. Readers are not left with an impression of slavery's brutality. Sexual exploitation by whites is discussed, but the complexity and consequences of it are not discussed. In some ways, White does not contribute completely new and original information as much as she re-conceptualizes and re-phrases the story of women found in earlier scholarship. Ar'n't I a Woman seems to have been written before the sources were readily available that would enable this to be a more unified, sophisticated, and comprehensive analysis. WPA interviews were heavily relied upon due to the lack of sources revealing the female slave experience. Ar'n't I a Woman is important and should continue to be read because it is a first in the field of slavery.

February Is Black History Month. March Is Women's History Month

I have mentioned more than once in this space, dedicated as it is to looking at material from American history and culture that may not be well-known or covered in the traditional canon, that the last couple of scholarly generations have done a great deal to enhance our knowledge of American micro-history. Nowhere is this more noticeable than in the study of American slavery and its effects on subsequent history for the society and for the former slaves. The book under review represents one such effort in bringing the previously muddled and incomplete story of the triply-oppressed black women (race, gender and class) to the surface.

As the author, Deborah Gray White, has pointed out in her introduction the general subject of the American slave trade, its place in the culture and the general effects of plantation life on the slave has been covered rather fully since the 1950's and 1960's. However, she set as her task filling the gap left by the mainly male historians (Elkins, Genovese, Apteker,et. al) who tended to treat the plantation slave population as an undifferentiated mass. Ms. Gray White undertook to correct that situation with this 1985 initial attempt to amplify the historical record. Although other, later researches have expanded this field (as a sub-set of women's history, at the very least) this is definitely the place to start. I might add that copious footnotes and bibliography give plenty of ammunition for any argument that the female slave has been under-appreciated, under-studied and misunderstood within the context of the historical dispute of the effects of slavery on the structure of the black family and black cultural life.

Ms. Gray White set up a five pronged attack on the then current (up to 1985) conceptions about the role of the female slave: the always `hot button' and continuing controversy over her role as sexual "Jezebel" or asexual "Mother Earth" nurturing Mammy: her central economic role in the upkeep of the plantation and of the slave quarters: her critical role as "breeder" of children in order to maintain the laboring population and slave-owners' profits; her relationship to other females on the plantation and the division of labor among them by age, child-bearing status and health; and, the myths or misconceptions about black families, marriage and culture.

As part of Ms. Gray White's argument she has addressed the thorny issue of the female slave as a sexual object (to both white and black men) on the one hand and her critical role of 'nurturer' to the next generation of slaves on the other. This is a tension that in many ways has not been resolved even in post-slavery times and so was worthy of her attention (and ours today, as well). Moreover, this ambivalence flows over into the kinds of work the female slave was expected to perform at various stages of her life as a "breeder" and the differential treatment she received by the slave-owners at various stages of that cycle. Ms. Gray White also has some interesting things to say about female social solidarity (and rivalries) in the workplace and in the cabins. The age old question of social hierarchy between "house" and "field" slaves also gets her close attention.

Additionally, Ms. Gray covers a then relatively new topic (brought about by male historian's conception of the female slave as dominating the family structure and therefore producing the stereotypical "Sapphire"). Although she has not provided any really new information about the economic and social structure of plantation life (which drove Southern society in the ante-bellum period in everything from national politics to "correct" racial attitudes among non-slave-owning whites) her great achievement is to give voice to the differences between male and female slaves that had not been previously appreciated.

Perhaps the most important scholarly achievement in this little book however is her challenge to the orthodoxy about the female dominance of black family life on the plantation and its effects on post-slavery life. This additional `hot-button' issue gets fully outlined here. To seek further insight in this issue today look at other sources to see how the arguments have continued not only as a question of historical importance but national social policy.

Deborah Gray White writes tellingly about the double evils faced by the Black woman of the old South: racism and sexism. Truly, they faced a lack of personhood at every turn.

The author weaves together quotes from enslaved Black women to tell her story. As other reviewers have noted, there does tend to be something of a feel of a feminist slant to the writing. I certainly would not argue against her basic premise of White male abuse of Black female slaves. However, having researched the White female slave owners, I would contend that women of the South were as guilty as the men of evil and condoning evil.

Reading firsthand accounts of these Black "sisters of the spirit" is the only way to truly gain a feel for what they endured and the larger cultural evils. Three examples include: "Behind the Scenes," "The House of Bondage," and "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl."

Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction , Spiritual Friends, and Soul Physicians.
In the book Ar'n't I a Woman?, by Deborah Gray White, the reader is challenged by the author to set previous notions regarding American slave women aside to understand the truth, which has long been elusive to the majority of Americans. Over the course of the work, White shocks and appalls the reader in an attempt to inform her readers about the horrors and injustices that slave women were forced to deal with on a regular basis. In doing so, the author makes her point abundantly clear and leaves little question as to the authenticity of her research and work.

White begins her work quite firmly. She discusses two of the great myths of female slavery: Jezebel and Mammy. The author promptly exposes the lie that slave women were promiscuous, dirty women with an unquenchable lust for white men. She asserts, "The choice put before many slave women was between miscegenation and the worst experiences that slavery had to offer. Not surprisingly, many chose the former" (34). As a result, the act of the slave woman giving in to the sexual advances of her white owner branded her as unchaste, a Jezebel. The second stereotype discussed is that of mammy, the nurturing black woman who cares for the white children. Both of these stereotypes are important to note, not only because of their historical significance and their supreme effect on Caucasian beliefs, but also because White ties these ideas through the rest of her work.

After successfully debunking the myths regarding female slaves in America in the first chapter, White goes into great depth regarding the actual lives and hardships that slave women faced daily. For example, White paints a portrait of the female slave that depicts her as just as hard working, if not moreso, than her male counterparts. However, though her work in the fields was important, her true value was placed in keeping the male slaves sexually satisfied and reproducing new generations of slaves. As a result, most female slaves had families, though more disconnected than those of the American whites. The main reason for slave marriages, according to the author, was "to add to the comfort, happiness, and health of those entering upon it" (99). Indeed, even the supposedly sacred act of marriage was not off limits to Caucasian exploitation. As a result, the female slave trade did not highlight the hard-working nature of the slave, but rather her physical attractiveness, for the benefit of both the male slave and the slave owner. While all slaves were considered products, female slaves in particular were, quite literally, viewed as little more than sexual objects. This stigma did not immediately escape the black woman at emancipation either. White states, "From emancipation through more than two-thirds of the twentieth century, no Southern white male was convicted of raping or attempting to rape a black woman. Yet the crime was widespread" (188). Due to these injustices, the American people are too often subjected to an inaccurate portrait of the female slave and her female descendants, and therefore miss out on a truly inspiring individual.

In her work, Deborah Gray White tears apart the common misconceptions of female slaves and depicts a person that is loving, family-oriented, and hard-working. However, the book, though relatively brief in length can be a tedious read at times. Though White validates her assertions with just a few sources and anecdotes, she relentlessly re-asserts with numerous additional examples which come across as both unnecessary and excessive. As a result, Ar'n't I a Woman at times seems distractingly repetitive for the majority of its pages. In addition, the book could also present itself as an overtly feminist text, which has the potential to turn off many of today's readers of both genders. Though White places some of the blame for conditions and roles of slave women on Caucasian females, she undoubtedly places the majority of the blame on white men. However, it perhaps would have been more accurate and beneficial for her to blame Southern, and American, society as a whole, as Caucasian men were just a product of a long-standing tradition. Despite these obstacles, however, White cannot be discredited for her tireless pursuit to uncover the truth and discredit the myths that have haunted African-American women for centuries. Indeed, if she has accomplished anything, it is the true emancipation of America's most discriminated class.

I have not yet read this book. It looks exciting and I hope I enjoy it. I am reading this book for a report in JROTC.
Living with the dual burdens of racism and sexism, slave women in the plantation South assumed roles within the family and community that contrasted sharply with traditional female roles in the larger American society. This new edition of Ar'n't I a Woman? reviews and updates the scholarship on slave women and the slave family, exploring new ways of understanding the intersection of race and gender and comparing the myths that stereotyped female slaves with the realities of their lives. Above all, this groundbreaking study shows us how black women experienced freedom in the Reconstruction South-their heroic struggle to gain their rights, hold their families together, resist economic and sexual oppression, and maintain their sense of womanhood against all odds.
Rerations
< Ar'n't I a Woman?: Female Slaves in the Plantation South > < The Plantation Mistress > < Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (Dover Thrift Editions) > < Within the Plantation Household: Black and White Women of the Old South (Gender and American Culture) > < When I Was a Slave: Memoirs from the Slave Narrative Collection (Dover Thrift Editions) > freaks

< Kiss of the Spider Woman > < Pedro Paramo > < Chronicle of a Death Foretold > < The Hour of the Star (New Directions Paperbook) > < Death and the Maiden: Tie-In Edition (Plays, Penguin) > < The Doorman: A Novel > Manuel Puig

price：~~$4.80~~
Vintage(1991-04-03)
Usually ships in 24 hours

customer 's review
(Deserves a good close-read, review by 17-yr old)

("Reality . . . Isn't Restricted by This Cell We Live In")

(An unlikely friendship, and some plot twists...)

(Very visual gay "Thousand and One Nights")

(kiss of the spider woman)

I'm young and have many more books to read in my lifetime, but so far Kiss of the Spider Woman is one of my favorites. It is one of the few books I have come across that not only has become more enjoyable with every reread, but also more layered and complex. During the first read, I had to work to keep the dialogue and thought monologues straight while experiencing the plot; on the second read, I more closely examined the footnotes... with each subsequent read I have discovered more parallels between Molina's movies and the two men's lives in the cell, their relationship.

The book is pleasurable on both a surface level and on a close-read. It is lyrical and witty, reflective and fast-paced, but what separates KotSW from merely good books is its brevity: each time I read it, I marvel that nothing is superfluous; there is no slightly-less-exciting part that I prefer to skim over.
This was Puig's fourth and best-known novel. It was published in 1976 and translated into English three years later.

Much of the book consisted of dialogue. It, and the shifting from the daily routine of the two main characters in prison to the descriptions of the films, was usually entertaining and kept my interest. The author contrasted the two personalities and their ways of thinking -- political and sensual, engaged and escapist, living for the future and living for the present, "masculine" and "feminine." He showed the two men opposed at first, but moving to accommodate each other as the book progressed. For me, this was shown especially well at the end.

The range of films described was also interesting. Obviously, one can relate the characters in the films -- with their double lives, terrible secrets, covert missions, the search for love and the need to believe in it, love overcoming betrayal and hardship -- to the two in prison.

The amount of space in the book given to films, and later on to the popular songs in the last film, was part of Puig's usual concern, how people use those forms to escape from reality but also elevate their lives, how their understanding of themselves is guided by the forms, with their "tremendous truths."

Toward the book's end, the characters either began speaking the language of the other or acting something like the other. The author also seemed to suggest that an ideal relationship, whatever the members' gender, was one where people kept no secrets from each other. All these things were enjoyable.

A few lengthy interior monologues in the novel weren't understood, and the over-long footnotes on Freud, Reich, Marcuse, Brown and others, or the description of wartime Berlin, often seemed dated and over the top. Much in them concerned the theorists' calls for a new morality and revision of the idea of human nature. Several set up the idea of "perversions" as threats to the "basic repressive principles fundamental to the organization of capitalism." And discussed the need for men to liberate the women locked in the dungeons of their psyche and restructure their views of sexual normality. These footnotes suggested that one of the men, Molina, might be a revolutionary element in his own way.
"Kiss of the Spider Woman" (1976) is a novel written by Manuel Puig (1932-1990), an Argentinian playwright, novelist and screenwriter. Its subject is controversial, as it delves upon themes such as sexual identity, violence and torture. All the same, I think reading it is worthwhile, as it is one of those books that tell a story that comes alive to the reader...

In case you haven't heard about "Kiss of the Spider Woman", I will tell you a little about its plot. The main characters are Valentin and Molina, two men that share a prison cell, during the Argentinian dictatorship of the late 1970's. Molina is a sensitive soul that happens to be an homosexual, and Valentin a revolutionary that despises the fact that Molina has no political ideas (and is confused by the notion that someone can choose to be gay). Due to the fact that both share the same cell, Valentin and Molina spend some time talking to each other about their ideas and feelings, something they wouldn't have done in any other circumstance. Despite their differences, an unlikely friendship will begin between them, a friendship that may well turn into something more. However, there is more than one twist that will surprise you in this story, even though I won't tell you about that in order not to spoil the surprise.

On the whole, this is an engaging book that is likely to interest the reader, but that is not adequate for children, and that won't appeal to those that don't want to read a book that deals with homosexuality. I liked the way in which Puig told Valentin and Molina's story, and that is the reason why I give it 3.5 stars...

Belen Alcat
Having watched the 1985 film starring William Hurt as Molina and Raul Julia as Valentin, I always intended to read the novel itself. Since this is the first Puig novel I've read I was astounded at how incredibly visual it is. The descriptions of faces, dresses, furniture, buildings and landscapes are so rich as to be almost unbearable. It did me make feel as if though I were partly blind, missing all these features that a writer like Puig conveys so well.

The story first: Molina (a gay middle aged child molester) and Valentin (a middle class young revolutionary) share a cell in an Argentinian prison during the dictatorship around 1975. Valentin is a rational man who uses his captivity to improve himself through reading, whereas Molina is a phantasist, who seeks to evade his squalid surroundings by elaborate rememorations of movies. Eventually, Molina narrates the movies to Valentin, usually cutting off at key suspense points because of bedtime. The movies are of the B- sort, but very appealing. They include 1940s horror/suspense, a Nazi propaganda musical so over the top that it is almost pornographic and probably far more effective qua propaganda than the actual movies of the period, musical drama/fantasy, a "tele-novela" (soap opera)-type Latin story about upper class revolutionaries, blacksploitation voodoo in some unidentified Caribbean island and a Mexican 1940s musical around a particularly appealing genre (the bolero). Initially Valentin tries to analyze the movies through rationalist (Marxist and Freudian) lenses, but eventually he surrenders to fantasy and allows himself to enjoy them as love stories, which they all are. Both Molina and Valentin are quite sparse about their own stories, but we find that Molina is a mamma's boy who can only play a passive sexual role, and that Valentin is an educated, upper-middle class man who, in spite of political correctness, prefers women of a similar background rather than committed revolutionaries.

Just below this level of story-telling, there is a darker, more realistic one: Molina has been promised an amnesty if he gets useful information from Valentin about his subversive group. He is a stool-pigeon. And the prison warden is slowly poisoning Valenti?n's food, so that he will have to take prescription drugs that will make it easier to break his will and get him to confess. However, Molina seems to fall in love with Valentin and eventually stops cooperating with the authorities. Valentin incurs in some lirical but remarkably shocking (to this reader) sex with Molina, who agrees to cooperate with Valentin's subversive group in spite of his lack of political ideas. Molina is released and is eventually killed when he attempts to liaise with Valentin's people. Valentin is tortured and physically broken in prison, but he manages to avoid giving his comrades away by taking refuge in fantasy, as Molina taught him.

How does the book compare to the movie? William Hurt is perfect as Molina, whereas Raul Julia overplays the "macho" side of the Valentin character, and makes him sound less educated and of a lower class than he is in the book. The visuals conjured by Molina's storytelling may not be reproduced in an actual movie, and they are as rich as anything by Lezama Lima or Cabrera Infante, Cuban writers to whom Puig is indebted. The book is full of cinematic references beyond the obvious ones. Molina and Valentin are like a latter-day Laurel and Hardy, or like Sancho and Don Quixotte. Molina is emotion, intuition and feeling, whereas Valentin is reason and logic. They are like a divided self, that can only be complete when both sides are joined. This union destroys Molina but strengthen's Valentin. Molina seduces Valentin both sexually and emotionally, but Valentin turns Molina into an instrument of his political will.

A peculiarity of the book is its extensive footnotes concerning the origin and true nature of homosexuality, a veritable romp through Freudianism and its offshoots, including revolutionary sexual politics so dated that it brought a smile to this reader's face. I can't imagine why they are relevant to this book, but I enjoyed them and learned a few things.

Overall this is an enjoyable, well-written book, but I didn't especially enjoy the sexual parts, although I'll grant that they were relevant to the story and as tastefully written as it can be managed given the characters' circumstances.
a good read if you're interested on how to use dialogue to convey action/emotion
Sometimes they talk all night long. In the still darkness of their cell, Molina re-weaves the glittering and fragile stories of the film he loves, and the cynical Valentin listens. Valentin believes in the just cause which makes all suffering bearable; Molina believes in the magic of love which makes all else endurable. Each has always been alone, and always - especially now - in danger of betrayal. But in cell, each surrenders to the other something of himself that he has never surrendered before.
Rerations
< Kiss of the Spider Woman > < Pedro Paramo > < Chronicle of a Death Foretold > < The Hour of the Star (New Directions Paperbook) > < Death and the Maiden: Tie-In Edition (Plays, Penguin) > freaks

< Backdoor Friends: The Complete Collection: Gay Erotica > < Shorts > < Best Gay Erotica 2009 > < The Assignment > < Daddies: Gay Erotic Stories > < Diving in Deep > Drake Reynolds

price：~~$0.65~~
Chances Press
Usually ships in 24 hours

customer 's review
(Very H-O-T and F-U-N!!!)

(A refreshing and HOT collection of gay erotica)

(Erotica with a refreshing twist)

This is a very erotic read. Reynolds' great talent is getting into the minds of gay men and exploring their intimate fantasies. The stories are character driven and have a unique sense of humor, which makes the book a great read. Very hot and very fun!
Unlike most gay erotica collections, Backdoor Friends has something more going for it than just hot sex, and there's plenty of HOT sex. But the stories also have a dose of great amounts of humor which make the stories that much more fun to read. Looking forward to seeing what Drake Reynolds writes next.
The Backdoor Friends collection proved to be a very nice surprise. While the stories are definately hot- and very graphic- each story also has some great comedic overtones. Reynolds is not just great at erotica but also at injecting some refreshing humor into his stories.
In BACKDOOR FRIENDS: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION, Drake Reynolds presents all eleven of his gay erotic stories from the Backdoor Friends collection in one steamy volume. Stories include: HANDLE WITH CARE- A package delivery man does more than just scan the recipient's box. It's time for a manual inspect! A LARGE SAUSAGE- A pizza delivery guy, named Grunt, brings a large sausage to the wrong address with tasty results. BOYS KNOW WHAT BOYS LIKE- Joe's fiancé recently left him at the altar, and he's sworn off women. But he'd never dreamed that the manly gay guy next door would help him discover new levels of eroticism in parts of his body never before explored. LAYOVER- An erotica writer stuck at an airport hotel after his plane is grounded during NewYear's meets a pilot in the lobby bar. It's then that things really begin to take off! Also, includes the bonus story THE LEGEND OF BIGCOCK.
Rerations
< Backdoor Friends: The Complete Collection: Gay Erotica > < Shorts > < Best Gay Erotica 2009 > < The Assignment > < Daddies: Gay Erotic Stories > freaks

< Nightwood > < Cane > < The Well of Loneliness: A 1920s Classic of Lesbian Fiction > < The Sun Also Rises > < Rubyfruit Jungle > < Giovanni's Room > Djuna Barnes

price：~~$2.59~~
New Directions
Usually ships in 24 hours

customer 's review
(A prose poem...)

(A book that stands out among 20th century modernism in English, but not for everyone)

(Homosexuality is not really the focus -- but it's there)

(Angels on all-fours and other night creatures...)

(Bizarre and over-rated.)

... is T. S. Eliot's description of Djuana Barnes novel. It is that, and much more. I first read this novel almost 40 years ago; felt I understood very little of it. In the intervening time I have walked past, and patronized the Café de la Mairie, a backdrop for much of the action, on the north side of the square in front of St. Sulpice numerous times. Unquestionable a radically different café in the `30's, certainly not surrounded by the very chic shops of today. The Café "nagged" me into giving it a second try.

I am truly grateful that it was not a school assignment. I imagined a Professor expecting effusive praise, and that my report on the book would have to be filled with ramblings on "transgender identification," "anomie," "angst," "symbolism," "codependence," "transcendent wisdom" and of course, "stream of consciousness." And with a bit of luck, I might get a B -.

But when your main motivation is a pleasant café, and a "does-your-perspective-improve-with-age" attitude, then what? No question the prose is rich and dense, with wonderful insights, coupled with sheer and utter nonsense. Consider some of the wonderful passages: "Love is the first lie; wisdom the last." or "We give death to a child when we give it a doll--it's the effigy and the shroud; when a woman gives it to a woman, it is the life they cannot have, it is their child, sacred and profane:..." There is a wonderful analogy for love in the ducks in Golden Gate park so heavy on overfeeding that they cannot fly. But regrettably these oscillate with the utter nonsense of: "He had a turban cocked over his eye and a moaning in his left ventricle which was meant to be the whine of Tophet, and a loin-cloth as big as a tent and protecting about as much." And that is why so many readers, including myself, find the book such a difficult read. Brilliance, alternating with the drug-induced ramblings worthy of William Burroughs, NOT, James Joyce.

"Baron" Felix seems the best drawn, and most understandable of the characters. His child, Guido, likewise, for a minor character. The four central characters: Robin Vote, Nora Flood, Jenny Petherbridge and Dr. Matthew O'Connor all seemed far too opaque, motivation is clearly lacking for so many of their actions. True, a central theme is lesbian love, and its betrayals, with bit parts for transvestitism. All of which I am constitutional incapable of having deep insights into... but still, if reading is too illuminate, there was only a small candle glowing on these issues.

I was struck by the quality of the other reviews on this book, the best, by far, of any other book on Amazon. Many of their insights do not need to be duplicated in this one - one commenter in fact said there was no need to write one after reading Eric Anderson's. Yes, it is an excellent review.

Overall I settled on a 3-star rating. It is a provocative, radical book, particularly for the `30's, with some wonderful insights into the human condition. But it is so hard to stay focused when these are combined with the William Burroughs nonsense. (Sorry, "Professor.") It was with a sense of profound relief that I finished the book, realizing in the unlikely event I have another 40 years to go, there will not be a third try.

The early 20th century Modernists produced a number of remarkable books, but Djuna Barnes' NIGHTWOOD (1936) is one of the very strangest. The plot at its heart is simple, a lesbian love triangle where the passionate Nora Flood loves a young and enigmatic woman named Robin Vote, only to lose her to the conniving widow Jenny Petherbridge. This all unfolds among American and European expatriates in Paris in the 1920s, as royalty is dying out, the scars of World War I have still not healed, and belief in traditional religion is waning.

What makes NIGHTWOOD so odd is Barnes manner of describing this drama. Her writing is baroque, full of original metaphors and florid turns of phrase that may seem either revelatory or pretentious. Its most important character turns out not to be Nora Flood, though her tragic fall is the book's theme, but rather the dandy doctor Matthew O'Connor who consoles her. A good half of the book consists of Matthew's long ramblings, full of free associations and bizarre insights. At first, Matthew is less a flesh and blood character and more a personalization of a cosmic principle, like the Judge in Cormac McCarthy's BLOOD MERIDIAN. Only later does he seem to come down to earth and we get some idea of the very personal struggles he has faced.

NIGHTWOOD is currently being marketed to general readers because its plot of a doomed love affair and its fallout seems universal. However, Barnes' way of telling the story is not for everyone. I found many parts enjoyable, but the book in the main was tedious, and I'm a reader who usually enjoys the Modernists. That it is available in inexpensive paperback editions means that the reader can at least try to see if he likes it.
Barnes' Magnum opus, "Nightwood" (1936), was her second novel and one of those books that probably 'must' be read, the same as "Winesburg, Ohio" (Sherwood Anderson), or "The Great Gatsby", (F. Scott Fitzgerald). Poet Donald J. Greiner once wrote, "[It]...stands out among post-World War I American novels as one of the first notable experiments with a type of comedy that makes the reader want to lean forward and laugh with terror."

What is the book "about"? To grossly oversimplify this complex tale, it's about one woman's mental, emotional, and sexual domination and manipulation, over time, of another young woman. There is also a significant sub-plot about a physician who has his own unique problems, especially concerning alcohol abuse and homosexuality.

This is truly a dark and atmospheric story, partially about homosexuality, which probably accounts for its limited readership in a Puritanistic America when it was first published, and possibly even since. Barnes was an American, home-schooled and raised among incredibly artistic people such as Jack London and Franz Liszt, both of whom visited her father's farm. She lived from 1892 to 1982 and spent 20 years of her life in Paris, passing time in the company of other avant garde personalities such as Mina Loy, Janet Flanner, Dolly Wilde, and Gertrude Stein.

This book was an incredibly tough read for me but people who understand poetry, (and I don't very well), will probably get it just fine. Barnes doesn't use words wastefully and her prose-style of writing takes on a sort of incongruous, syncopated rhythm. A review of the Cliff's Notes prior to reading the book would probably help out a lot.

But I will say outright that this is one of the most compelling novels I've ever read. Having now read Barnes' greatest work, I'm eager to note that she was probably at least a borderline genius.

Don't expect your typical novel here -- you won't come away from this one with a warm, fuzzy feeling. In fact, as you relate to each of the principals, especially "the doctor", you'll likely experience some emotional discomfort. Perhaps that is the genius of the work.

*Nightwood* is a novel composed in poetic prose, as T.S. Eliot asserts in his preface, the kind of writing that "demands something of the reader that the ordinary novel-reader is not prepared to give." Most novels are not composed at such white-hot intensity, at a level of personal emergency such as Djuna Barnes has conveyed in *Nightwood.* This is a book that doesn't let you rest for a moment, the rare sort of novel that is all conflict and climax. It's a work that you don't doubt was torn living from the author's very being, less a "novel" per se, than an organic and all-but-impossible to dissect whole that loses more the more you attempt to analyze it.

What Barnes records in *Nightwood* is the experiential agony, as opposed to merely the "story," of a love-lost. Robin Vote is a Sapphic femme fatal, an androgynous, alcoholic, nymphomaniac enigma who is beloved, successively, by three different characters, who she subsequently leaves an emotional wreck. Nora Flood, who stands in for the author, is the narrative center of *Nightwood* and the woman around whom the others orbit, with Robin, like a doomsday asteroid, orbiting them all. It is Nora who struggles and suffers and indeed understands Robin better than anyone, even if that only means understanding better the tragedy inherent in knowing her at all. Her utter despair at losing Robin is stunningly captured by Barnes who, it is said, based *Nightwood* closely on a real-life love catastrophe from which she never recovered. One can believe it reading *Nightwood.* A good deal of the novel's intensity comes from its unquestionable authenticity. In Robin Vote, Barnes has created the personification of the unsolvable mystery of every beloved who, as if by destiny, eludes, indeed must elude, our grasp.

Much is made--and rightly so--of *Nightwood's* most famous character, Dr. Matthew O'Connor, an impoverished, drunken, charlatan with dubious medical credentials and a penchant for cross-dressing. A good deal of the novel is devoted to O'Connor's rambling monologues which vibrate between madness, comedy, and transcendent wisdom...sometimes all three together. But the transgendered O'Connor is only the most flamboyantly unconventional of *Nightwood's* inhabitants. All of Barnes's characters are misfits and outsiders, sexually and/or socially; interestingly it is the very displacement they feel within their own time and place that most enables the contemporary reader to sympathize with them. The sense of being out-of-step is, perhaps, timeless. But it's more than mere sexual and social deviance that connect the contemporary reader to these characters--it's a sense of the secret life of us all, the inherent "deviance" of our private lives from the "normal" daylight existence of moderated emotions, rational desires, and objective viewpoints we all pretend to share. "Nightwood" is the country we inhabit when the sun goes down, "society" dissolves, and the inexplicable, uncontrollable, and irrational in us emerges.

I found the first chapter of *Nightwood* dull and dated and almost considered putting the book down. Don't do it. Hang in there until the second chapter...if Barnes doesn't catch your attention at that point, chances are she won't. This is a challenging text, elusively and elliptically written, ejaculatory, jumping from peak to peak, a shout from the soul of despair, a cry from the dark night. The characters don't so much interact with each other, but, as in real life, they are merely declaiming to themselves, using the declamations of others as cues to their own speeches. They affect, deflect, and "aggravate" each other in a sort of vacuum, forcing them to even greater degrees of solitude and despair. And yet, through all these characters, we hear one voice, one lament...the author's, ours, every lover's. As uniquely particular and personal *Nightwood* may be, as idiosyncratically composed, and as inimitable, it is nonetheless an emotional document as common and identifiably human as any kidney or pancreas.

A rare thing, a "novel" that is also a work of art -*Nightwood* is a gnomic utterance of the apocalypse of love.

This book's three main characters ("the doctor", Nora and Robin) did not hold my interest. This is the most bizarre thing I've read despite its vivid imagery and the doctor's often insightful observations. The story is one big whine about being captive to one's sexual/emotional nature and needs. Here are 2 lesbians and a transvestite fortunate enough to live in Paris, the capital of free thinking in the 1920's and a genial place that accepted people with these sensibilities. Yet, Nora and the doctor never feel comfortable with themselves. The character who did touch me is a secondary one, Felix (Baron Volkbein) who, despite fabricating an aristocratic lineage to raise others' regard for him, is capable of responding with compassion to someone who needs him just for who he is.

This novel has been used in academic studies of gender matters. But it could also serve as an aid in tracking the practice of perceiving oneself as a victim when one's personal choice creates a problem. In "Nightwood", the characters are very aware that their choices are their own and they accept responsibility for them. That is decades before people began blaming the consequences of their decisions on others, before the politicization and institutionalized endorsement of victimhood as a method of transferring responsibility for one's actions onto others.

My dissatisfaction with this book stems from its slack attention to time and place. At each page, I had to remind myself that the story is set in the 1920's and not the latter half of the 1800's as I instinctively felt. Archaic phrases rich with signs of an earlier period combined with an absence of any 20th century flavour has produced characters who float in from the past and seem therefore devoid of physical mass. Similarly, Paris, the story's primary location, is reduced to an icon of itself like a backdrop assembled in haste for a play. Mentions of "rue du Cherche-Midi" and "Hotel Recamier" sound promising but lead only to the next bout of the doctor's enrapturing but ultimately meaningless rants. The best I can think about this neglect is that the author may have been demonstrating how self-obsession robs its holder of the capacity to interact with his environment beyond the narrow confines of its demands. No one seems affected by where they are. In the end, this is about people who experience love as torture and a direct route to hell.

The fiery and enigmatic masterpiece—one of the greatest novels of the Modernist era.

Nightwood, Djuna Barnes' strange and sinuous tour de force, "belongs to that small class of books that somehow reflect a time or an epoch" (TLS). That time is the period between the two World Wars, and Barnes' novel unfolds in the decadent shadows of Europe's great cities, Paris, Berlin, and Vienna—a world in which the boundaries of class, religion, and sexuality are bold but surprisingly porous.

The outsized characters who inhabit this world are some of the most memorable in all of fiction—there is Guido Volkbein, the Wandering Jew and son of a self-proclaimed baron; Robin Vote, the American expatriate who marries him and then engages in a series of affairs, first with Nora Flood and then with Jenny Petherbridge, driving all of her lovers to distraction with her passion for wandering alone in the night; and there is Dr. Matthew-Mighty-Grain-of-Salt-Dante-O'Connor, a transvestite and ostensible gynecologist, whose digressive speeches brim with fury, keen insights, and surprising allusions. Barnes' depiction of these characters and their relationships (Nora says, "A man is another person—a woman is yourself, caught as you turn in panic; on her mouth you kiss your own") has made the novel a landmark of feminist and lesbian literature.

Most striking of all is Barnes' unparalleled stylistic innovation, which led T. S. Eliot to proclaim the book "so good a novel that only sensibilities trained on poetry can wholly appreciate it." Now with a new preface by Jeanette Winterson,Nightwoodstill crackles with the same electric charge it had on its first publication in 1936.
Nightwoodis not only a classic of lesbian literature, but was also acknowledged by no less than T. S. Eliot as one of the great novels of the 20th century. Eliot admired Djuna Barnes' rich, evocative language. Lesbian readers will admire the exquisite craftsmanship and Barnes' penetrating insights into obsessive passion. Barnes told a friend thatNightwoodwas written with her own blood "while it was still running." That flowing wound was the breakup of an eight-year relationship with the lesbian love of her life.
Rerations
< Nightwood > < Cane > < The Well of Loneliness: A 1920s Classic of Lesbian Fiction > < The Sun Also Rises > < Rubyfruit Jungle > freaks

< The Secret Life of Oscar Wilde > < Oscar Wilde > < The Real Trial of Oscar Wilde > < Oscar Wilde's Wit and Wisdom: A Book of Quotations (Dover Thrift Editions) > < Wilde (Special Edition) > < Oscar Wilde: A Life in Letters > Neil McKenna

price：~~$6.06~~
Basic Books
Usually ships in 24 hours

customer 's review
(The Secret is Sex)

(A page turner!)

(Everything you wanted to know....)

(A controversial walk on the Wilde side.)

(New Depths of Oscar Wilde's Life)

It's my own fault. I wanted to read a biography next, I scanned the biography offerings on Kindle, saw one about Oscar Wilde and clicked "Buy Now" instead of "free sample". So let me make something quite clear: the "secret life" in question is Oscar Wilde's sex life.

Neil McKenna makes the case that no single biography can do justice to the whole life of any subject and proceeds from here. He set out to tell the story of Oscar Wilde as a homosexual man in Victorian England and most else in Oscar's life takes a back seat to that. This isn't the book I set out to read but I'm not disappointed to have read it. Somewhere along the way I received the wisdom that Oscar Wilde was just another metrosexual Victorian man until Bosie (Lord Alfred Douglas) rolled onto the scene. McKenna makes it clear that was not the case.

There is a whiff about this book of "reclaiming" Oscar. Yes, I'm convinced Oscar was a gay man and I'm certainly interested in rereading some of his work in light of McKenna's interpretations of Dorian Gray and Willie Hughes. On the other hand: Who knew reading about another person's sex life in such detail could be a chore? When Bosie and Oscar aren't bedding rent boys or other fetching creatures, they're racking up charges at five star restaurants and hotels. Unfortunately, that's all they seem to do a lot of the time and it gets a little dull. Maybe it's the mindless promiscuity involved, maybe it's that I'm not a gay man or maybe my Puritan roots go stronger than I realize but by the time the bailiffs came for Oscar I admit I was relieved.

McKenna is a tad myopic. Anything and everything is examined for tell tale signs that Oscar was gay and writing for a gay audience. Not surprisingly, he always finds signs. From Dorian Grey - ok, that's an easy one - to the Happy Prince, McKenna will have you seeing hidden messages everywhere. Bless his heart there isn't an inanimate object in your house that isn't a "code word for" for "Uranian love" when McKenna's on the case. This can lead to some giggle-worthy interpretations, my favorite being the "persistent rumor" that Saint Sebastian wasn't shot through with a hundred arrows but gang-raped by the entire Praetorian Guard and bled to death. Where do you even start on a theory like that? I'll start with the fact that I've never, ever heard that before nor does it make a lot of sense especially since the fact that the "arrows" didn't kill Sebastian is one of the reasons he was made a saint. He was actually beaten to death. (Unless I'm once again behind on the rumors.)

Still, I can't write this book off as all agenda and no substance. McKenna does a create a compelling portrait of Oscar Wilde as a man who accepted his sexuality and genuinely loved Bosie. Now why he loved that mess of a human being is anyone's guess. Bosie may have been the cat's meow in his day but that's no excuse to letting him in the house. Selfish, bratty, vindictive, nasty, and way too interested in young boys, Bosie nearly single-handedly creates the scandal that destroys Oscar and then tops all this by going straight in later life. You'll be hard pressed not to side with Oscar friends who want to keep him away from this human wrecking ball.

This is an interesting book. Not the definitive biography of Oscar Wilde but an interesting exploration into a relatively unknown aspect of Victorian life. Just bear in mind that sometimes a cigar is a cigar even when the smoker in question is Oscar Wilde.
I admit that I knew very little of Oscar Wilde when I chose this particular book, at random. What an excellent choice for a novice as well as a Wilde devotee! Not only did I appreciate the tragic love story of Oscar, Constance and Bosie, but I also gained an insight into Victorian mores and political machinations. We apparently can't claim the corner on the market of corrupt zealots.
If you haven't read Mr. McKenna's work, you must. In the biography arena, this book is beyond the realm.
McKenna has carved his own niche among the Wilde biographies by concentrating on Oscar's homosexuality (too often marginalized or avoided by other writers), with emphasis on his long relationship with Bosie; McKenna considers theirs a great love affair, but it appears to have been something along the lines of codependency. It's quite remarkable how much detail is known about Oscar's antics through letters, journals and books, maybe too much, since this long read is at times a bit tedious as we move through one young man after another. McKenna has a couple of annoying habits as a writer -- all the young men couldn't have been quite as "breathtakingly" attractive as described, he makes a lot of suppositions about what someone must have thought, or might have done, and he's a bit melodramatic with the "but he would find out all too soon" chapter endings.

But these are quibbles. The book is important is several ways. Above all, it portrays Wilde as one of a group of early advocates of gay rights, a fervent believer that society and the law should treat homosexuals with equality and respect. It also provides a fascinating "decoding" of Wilde's most famous works by explaining the double, ie. homosexual, meaning of words, phrases and behavior on the part of his characters, who were often based on real people. The book paints a vivid picture of the seamy side of London's "Uranian" underground of rent boys, petty thieves and blackmailers and the "respectable" men who took their pleasure there. And it delves into his marriage, the ill-fated consequence of having to protect his reputation from the circling vultures.

Wilde is a fascinating, maddening subject, so sure of his own superiority that he considered himself above the law and the strictures of society, making him ultimately the instrument of his own self-destruction. This book will be of interest primarily to Wilde junkies and people interested in the sexual aspect of his life, but it should be read in conjunction with other bios, lest one get the impression that the great man did little but go at it like a rabbit.
"I find it harder and harder every day to live up to my blue china," Oscar Wilde confessed while he was a student at Oxford (p. 14).

For anyone who has visited his lipstick-kissed tomb at the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, Wilde's "secret life" is really no secret. Wilde (1854-1900) was primarily an Irish playwright, novelist, and poet, known for his brazen wit ("Little boys should be obscene and not heard," p. 257), which made him one of the greatest celebrities of late Victorian London. Following Wilde's death, his friend, Frank Harris, wrote a biography, Oscar Wilde: His Life and Confessions, which was followed by H. Montgomery Hyde's 1975 biography, Oscar Wilde: A Biography, and more recently Richard Ellmann's 1987 meticulous work, Oscar Wilde. Whereas these earlier, excellent biographies focused primarily on Wilde's literary achievements and dealt with his sexuality only in passing, Neil McKenna's The Secret Life of Oscar Wilde examines Wilde's sexuality and sexual behavior in detail--and at times, in graphic detail.

Most biographers concur that Wilde was introduced to homosexuality in 1885, but McKenna speculates--in charting Wilde's "journey" to find his true sexual self (p. xi)--Wilde was first aware of his homosexuality much earlier when he kissed another boy at age 16. After his arrival at Oxford in 1874, Wilde experienced passionate, romantic feelings for Greek beauty (i.e., cultivated, youthful, "fair," "slim" choirboys) (pp. 6-7), but was drawn sexually towards rougher boys. Following his visit to America in 1882, Wilde boasted, "I have the kiss of Walt Whitman still on my lips." In his struggle against his sexual feelings for young men, Wilde attempted to "cure" his sexuality in 1884 by marrying Constance Lloyd (the daughter of Queen's Counsel Horace Lloyd) and by fathering two sons, Cyril (1885) and Vyvyan (1886). But he continued to have regular sexual relationships with Robert Baldwin Ross, Lord Alfred Douglas ("Bosie"), and random teenage boys, whom he would meet in bars or brothels, culminating in his May, 1895 conviction and two-year imprisonment for "gross indecency." Later, after remarking, "my wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or the other of us has to go" (p. 463), Wilde died in Paris, knowing that "he was a martyr in an epic struggle for the freedom of men to love men" (p. 465).

Drawn from interviews, letters, memoirs, journals, and Wilde's own writings--although McKenna's controversial but highly readable biography has been criticised for being too speculative, it nevertheless succeeds in bringing Wilde to life as a literary genius, a dandy, a pagan, an "extreme aesthete" who attempted to live his life by burning hard like a gemlike flame (p. 13), and as a gay Victorian outcast.

G. Merritt
See the other side of famous author Oscar Wilde with this biography. You'll gain new insight and perspective on his life.

"I have put my genius into my life but only my talent into my work."
So said Oscar Wilde of his remarkable life-a life more complex, more troubled, and more triumphant than any of his contemporaries ever knew. InThe Secret Life of Oscar Wilde, Neil McKenna provides stunning new insight into the tumultuous sexual and psychological worlds of this brilliant and tormented figure.

McKenna charts Wilde's astonishing odyssey through London's sexual underworld, and provides explosive new evidence of the political machinations behind Wilde's trials for sodomy. Dazzlingly written and meticulously researched,The Secret Life of Oscar Wildeoffers a vividly original portrait of a troubled genius who chose to martyr himself for the cause of love between men.
Rerations
< The Secret Life of Oscar Wilde > < Oscar Wilde > < The Real Trial of Oscar Wilde > < Oscar Wilde's Wit and Wisdom: A Book of Quotations (Dover Thrift Editions) > < Wilde (Special Edition) > freaks

< Soul Mates: Deceptions > < Soul Mates: Sacrifice > < Soul Mates: Bound By Blood > < Soul Mates: Secrets > < The Cost of Eternity > < Male of the Species > Jourdan Lane

price：~~$2.79~~
Torquere Press(2008-09-16)
Usually ships in 24 hours

customer 's review
(Deceptions Abound)

(Soul Mates: Deceptions)

(ANOTHER WINNER !!)

(Great Story!Great Characters! Great Sex!!)

I had thought after I read Soul Mates: Bound by Blood that there was no way of topping Book 1 in the series because typically sequels have a habit of disappointing, except on rare occasions. This time the author, Jourdan Lane not only gives the readers a book that equals the intensity and complexity of Book 1 but to my delight, she exceeds my expectations.

Soul Mates: Deceptions is a powerful novel about the continuing saga of Peter and Lucien and members of their coven. In this new book Peter and Lucien are drifting apart mainly because Lucien will not turn Peter despite his pleas, and Lucien's increasingly violent temper. Peter is stuck in a half world where he is neither vampire nor human, and the cravings which started in book 1 are much worse, to the point where he is afraid he will fatally injure a human. He is so angry with Lucien for leaving him in limbo that this has resulted in their relationship deteriorating to the point that it is severely tested and he wonders where all the love went. Their fragile bond is almost gone and Lucien, who is going through his own major metamorphosis has become a stranger. Also, a new complication has arisen because Peter is getting sicker every day with frequent blackouts; it appears that someone or something is trying to take over his body and he is in such incredible pain that he doesn't know how long he can continue living like this.

To make the story even more complex Peter has a new unexplainable bond with werewolf members of the coven, Xander and Nikolas, which Lucien does not understand or, even more important, approve. A major crisis develops in the coven with warring factions; there are unexplainable incidents happening to Peter which makes him believe he is losing his mind and in the middle of all this turmoil Lucien is called away to attend to Council business and he disappears. Peter is left to manage a coven insurrection and he has to try to gain the respect of the members, most of whom hate him. There is treachery and deceit and everything that a reader would want and when I felt that things could not get any worse - they did.

There is so much going on in this story that it was hard for me to take a breath. Jourdan Lane is a master craftswoman in the art of writing and keeping her readers on the edge of their seats. You don't get any relief or a lull in the action because it is continuous and unceasing. Have you ever imagined standing on the edge of a precipice and being afraid of falling into the abyss and being torn to pieces? That's how I felt while I was reading this book.

All the characters that I met in Book 1 Soul Mates: Bound by Blood return in Soul Mates: Deceptions with some additions, my favourite being that wonderful incubus Sabaan. Oh my stars!! Sabaan is so sensual and so incredibly amazing and sexy he blew my mind and I hope he gets his own story in the series at some point - a character like this deserves a book, not just a moment in the sun. Xander and Nikolas are back and steam up the pages to an extent you could not imagine. Sex while shifted - WOW. Secrets are revealed. We get a powerful villain who uses his powers to entice. More species are introduced and help to make this story a wonderful paranormal adventure that would delight fans of the fantasy genre.

Peter's and Lucien's characters have an added depth as the crisis in their personal relationship and Peter's unceasing desire and appetite for sex gives another dimension to these wonderful and complex beings. Soul Mates: Deceptions is a book not to be missed and I am now about to crack open Book 3, Soul Mates: Sacrifice with great anticipation. Buy this book whether or not you're a fan of the genre. Great writing tops genre every time.
YES, YES, YES !!!!
You get more and more, a continuation of the dysfunctional family that functions very well together. The erotic moments are hot and heavy, not to mention well written. A story well told among a family of men who come together through diversity and pain. And they do it right. The main man Peter is my hero, human, vampire, warewolf; whatever.
SOUL MATES : DECEPTIONS picks up where SOUL MATES:BOUND IN BLOOD leaves off. We as readers are drawn further into the coven of Lucien and his human lover Peter. Present in the cast of characters are the vampires and werewolves, as well as new creatures like demons, angels, and imps. Add magic and alchemy to the mix and you have a winner.

Peter is concerned about the developing distance he and Lucien are experiencing in their relationship. Based upon Peter's desire to be "brought over", Lucien's reluctance to do so, Peter's increasing role in the coven , the tension it creates, and Peter's unquenchable appetite for sex ; the lovers find themselves at odds. Events spiral as Peter experiences a strange malady that cannot be diagnosed. In the midst of this, Lucien is called away, and Peter is left as the coven's Master. Complex relationships and events emerge as Peter struggles to hold the reins of the coven and prevent an internal insurrection.

This sequel is creatively expansive and sexually charged. The characters are developed more fully as players in the plotline, and more dramatically in their sexual adventurers.
The end of the novel leaves the reader searching for more, and fortunately, Jourdan Lane has left the door open to subsequent sequels.

Both this book and SOUL MATES: BOUND IN BLOOD will provide readers with hours of reading pleasure. As I said in my review of SOUL MATES: BOUND IN BLOOD, buy both of these books...your will not be disappointed.

This is the continuation of Soul Mates and this story packs a punch. This series is getting better and better! It reminds me of a gay Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series by L. Hamilton. A human in love with a vampire,in love with a werewolf,in love with another vampire, in love with(well you get the picture!) Lots of hot sex in 2's,3's,4's,(you get the picture!). Yet it has a very rich story, with excellent dialogue,excellent magic, excellent characters. Every character introduced by Jourdan Lane becomes an integral part of the plot. And the plot thickens. Every character brings their own problems&angst to the mix. Yet it all makes sense. It all flows. There is a deep love between Lucien(vampire) and Peter(human). But others who know Peter, fall in love with him too! Excellent series!Looking forward to next instalment!! :)
Angels and demons, vampires and werewolves... And Peter, bound to Lucien, the master vampire, walks amongst them, no longer all human but without a place of his own. Desperate to be turned and baffled by Lucien's continuing refusal, Peter is starting to feel that he's losing his vampire lover. Their relationship has become purely physical, with Lucien pushing Peter away at every turn. And after a night watching werewolf Xander hunt, a night that sees Peter attacked, that might not be all he's losing. Fearing for his very life, and working hard to keep Lucien's increasingly uncertain temper from hurting his friends, Peter's doing all he can to prove that he belongs at Lucien's side, not just as a master, but as an equal. Then Lucien disappears, and Peter knows he has to call on every ally, every power he has, to get Lucien back before he's gone forever. Can Peter find a way to beat the forces working against them, or will he lose all that he holds dear? The sequel to Jourdan Lane's popular novel Soul Mates: Bound by Blood, Deceptions is bound to keep you turning the pages! Soak this one in today!
Rerations
< Soul Mates: Deceptions > < Soul Mates: Sacrifice > < Soul Mates: Bound By Blood > < Soul Mates: Secrets > < The Cost of Eternity > freaks

< The Feminist Philosophy Reader > < What is Feminism?: An Introduction to Feminist Theory > < Sisters in Spirit: Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Influences on Early American Feminists > < Making Space for Indigenous Feminism > < Philosophy of Woman: An Anthology of Classic to Current Concepts > < Feminist Thought: A More Comprehensive Introduction > Alison Bailey,Chris Cuomo

price：~~$40.25~~
McGraw-Hill
Usually ships in 24 hours

customer 's review
(Wow!)

I received this book from the publisher today for possible course adoption, and I am totally blown away by it. I own a number of outstanding anthologies on feminism, but I doubt that any of them have the comprehensiveness of this volume.
Nearly every major feminist thinker is represented in this volume. In addition, the diversity of thinkers represented is spectacular. Women of color, lesbian feminists and feminists from outside the English-speaking world are all well represented. Feminists of various methodologies and theoretical commitments are presented--no one approach or background dominates the collection, so readers get a full appreciation of the diversity of feminist thought.
The topics of the selections are also highly diverse, and many of the selections are on topics that are typically neglected in feminist anthologies, such as the use of rape as a tool of genocide, disability rights, transgender identity and racial identity.
The selections are of uniformly high quality. Many of them I have already read, some I know by reputation, some are pieces by authors whose work is well known to me; all are by scholars whose contributions are widely recognized in various fields. A mere review cannot do justice to the excellence of this collection--it must be seen for oneself. Hopefully soon we will be able to view the table of contents here; until then, anyone interested should check it out at McGraw-Hill's website (www.mhhe.com).
This is probably the most comprehensive anthology on feminism on the market, and with suitable revisions over time, promises to hold that title for quite some time.
The most comprehensive anthology of feminist philosophy available, this first edition reader brings together over 55 of the most influential and time-tested works to have been published in the field of feminist philosophy. Featuring perspectives from across the philosophical spectrum, and from an array of different cultural vantage points, it displays the incredible range, diversity, and depth of feminist writing on fundamental issues, from the early second wave to the present.
Rerations
< The Feminist Philosophy Reader > < What is Feminism?: An Introduction to Feminist Theory > < Sisters in Spirit: Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Influences on Early American Feminists > < Making Space for Indigenous Feminism > < Philosophy of Woman: An Anthology of Classic to Current Concepts > freaks

< Shame on It All: A Novel > < The Heat Seekers > < Skyscraper: A Novel > < Addicted: A Novel > < Nervous: A Novel > < Love Is Never Painless: Three Novellas > Zane

price：~~$3.14~~
Pocket

customer 's review
(It was okay.)

(A GOOD BOOK....)

(Laugh out Loud!)

(Funny! hilarious)

(Fun and interesting....)

This book was okay, it seemed like it would be a very quick read after I started it but it just kept going. The language of the characters was a bit distracting because I know the area very well but I don't know anyone who talks like the characters did.
SHAME ON IT ALL WAS A GOOD READ FROM ZANE IT WAS THE FIRST TIME I READ ONE OF HER BOOK AND THERE WERE NOT A LOT OF SEX GOING ON AND I REALLY LIKE THAT CAN'T WAIT FOR THE SECOND ONE
This is Zane's best book since Addicted. I loved every minute of it and couldn't get enough of the Whitfield sisters.
This book is simply one word (funny) Filled with lust, sex, love and loads of laughter. Zane does an exellent job exploring the ups and downs of relationships and the bond (love) of three unforgetable female siblings.
I really liked this book. Once I started reading it I couldn't put it down... I could understand every point of view of each character. Zane is the Queen of her art. I have a whole collection of her books.

Shame on It Allis an unforgettable showcase for Zane's talent -- insight, comedy, and wild high jinks.

For anyone who has ever observed the behavior of a close friend or family member and suppressed the urge to scream "Shame on you!" out loud,Shame on It Allis the novel for you.

Harmony, Bryce, and Lucinda (a.k.a. Lucky) Whitfield are sisters in every sense of the word. They argue and get on each other's nerves, but when it comes down to the wire they are extremely protective of one another.Shame on It Allfollows their adventures, their friendships, their love lives, and their outlooks on life in today's society. Jam-packed with unpredictable, unbelievable, and just downright crazy situations with a few surprising twists thrown in for good measure,Shame on It Allis as wild as they come.
Rerations
< Shame on It All: A Novel > < The Heat Seekers > < Skyscraper: A Novel > < Addicted: A Novel > < Nervous: A Novel > freaks

< Never Let Go > < Out Of My Mind > < Hearts and Bones > < The Professor's Secret Passion > < Handyman > < Under My Skin > M. L. Rhodes

price：~~$1.20~~
Amber Quill Press, LLC(2008-06-02)
Usually ships in 24 hours

customer 's review
(Kindle is a condensed version)

(This is more like it)

(Secrets)

(Never Let Go by M.L. Rhodes)

I have a hardy copy of the book. The kindle version dropped about the last 4 chapters. I have found this with most of the gay male novels.
M. L. Rhodes did good with this one. The characters were real and the story kept moving forward. It is worth reading. I would like to see her do more with these two men. The second book, Hearts and Bones, was also good but these two need to keep going. They are the kind I would like to follow for a few more years of their lives.
I liked this story, a story of two individuals who waited until adulthood to realize that they where more alike then they thought. I liked how it took Will's sister to say out loud what Will himself didn't want to admit, and it took Ethan leaveing (not because he wanted to, but beacuse of work) for Will to wake up and become the man he should be. And I liked how when Ethan cames back three years later he's the one who is vulnerable&Will is the strong one. These two men fit together, I think my favorate part in this story are Will's parents who are so loving and supportive&axcepting of him, the absolute shock for Will when he found out they already knew about him and that they knew how much he was in love with Ethan&vise-versa was priceless. Great Story
Will and Ethan are highschool mate friends. For all the years of the school they were inseparable, then Ethan went far away for college but they remained best friends and sometimes Ethan turned back home to see Will. And for Will was pain and pleasure cause Will was deeply in love with his friend and had no courage to admit it, especially not to Ethan who seemed to have plenty of women around him.

But one night, maybe thanks to some much drinks, Will and Ethan confess thier mutual feelings, and make passionate love. Will also declares his love to Ethan. But the morning after, Ethan has to leave in a hurry, and can't explain to Will why and where and doesn't know when he will be back. He only asks to Will to never let go him and his love for him.

But Ethan can return only three years after, without any words in between, and Will has not maintain his promise, he has let go and he has moved on, try to find someone else... but this is not true, cause his love for Ethan is not dead and flares to new life when his lover is again near him. But Ethan is not the same man he was when he has left, and Will has to change to deal with this new man.

The plot is simple and somewhat cosy: the external world is only hint and never really break into this novel. Will and Ethan are first friends and then lovers, and this allow them to be able to trust themself without much words to explain the past. If not for the friendship between then, it will really impossible to believe true Will's behaviour, when hungry will turn suddenly in hunger for his lover's soul and body.

Will McLaren and Ethan Gallagher first met in high school. Ethan-sophisticated, cocky, and full of wild daring-was everything bookish and quiet Will was not. Yet they'd instantly connected and forged an unlikely friendship that had carried them through their teens and well into adulthood. Even as teenagers, though, they'd always kept secrets from one another...hidden bits about their lives and desires they feared could destroy their friendship.

As adults, the secrets have become heavy burdens to bear, forcing them to keep their distance from one another and make up stories to hide the truth. Then, in an unguarded moment, Will lets his secret slip. His revelation explodes into a night of unexpected passion that stuns them both.

When Ethan disappears the next morning, Will blames himself, and as the months pass with no word, he's convinced he's driven away his best friend. He forces himself to move on with his life and try to forget.

But three years later, Ethan shows up again, only a shell of the vibrant man Will once knew, and mysteriously evasive about where he's been. When Ethan makes a confession of his own, can the two men recapture the friendship they'd once shared, and maybe even build something more powerful? Or will the hurts and deceptions of the past tear them apart for good?

Note: Don't miss the exciting sequel, Hearts&Bones...

Genres: Gay / Contemporary / BDSM / Series
Rerations
< Never Let Go > < Out Of My Mind > < Hearts and Bones > < The Professor's Secret Passion > < Handyman > freaks

< My Husband Betty: Love, Sex, and Life with a Crossdresser > < She's Not the Man I Married: My Life with a Transgender Husband > < My Husband Wears My Clothes: Crossdressing from the Perspective of a Wife > < Alice in Genderland: A Crossdresser Comes of Age > < The Lazy Crossdresser > < Head Over Heels: Wives Who Stay With Cross-Dressers and Transsexuals (Haworth Press Human Sexuality) > Helen Boyd

price：~~$3.73~~
Seal Press
Usually ships in 24 hours

customer 's review
(Interesting but nothing much)

(My Husband Betty)

(Insight into male-to-female cross-dressing)

(A lengthy exposition about the fears and problems associated with crossdressing...)

(Transgenderism)

Being a Crossdresser, I purchased this book for my Wife to understand the concept of TG/Crossdressing and their life in General.

She read a few pages and looked unimpressed.I mean there was nothing special than what she already knew or I told her about.

When I tried to read through, I could success only for few more pages than her..

So.. loan it or rent it... its not a collectible for sure.
In her book "My Husband Betty" Helen Boyd clears up a lot of misconceptions that crossdressing men have of themselves and their way of relating to women. It also clears up a lot of misconceptions that their female partners have of their man's crossdressing behaviour and their wishes. It also pulls no punches in revealing the depth of betrayal that a woman feels when she finds out about her husband's crossdressing later on in their relationship, when her husband should have been honest with her from the very beginning of their relationship. A brilliant book worth reading more than once.
For those looking for an insight into male-to-female crossdressing, this is an excellent choice. While it is written from the basis of a wife's point of view, it encompasses far more information than a single person's viewpoint.
Helen Boyd is founder of CDOD, an on-line meeting and discussion place for couples. In her position as moderator, she has thoroughly researched crossdressers, crossdressing, and their effect on marriages and families. While she is in a committed, monogamous, legally married relationship with her CD husband, Betty, she is also very aware of the stresses crossdressing can bring to a relationship.
Helen's in-depth study of wives and girlfriends reactions to their CD partners is both interesting and surprising. Interesting, in that they vary so greatly. Surprising, in the degree of acceptance - and yes, pleasure - many find in their relationships.
Helen stresses that keeping crossdressing a secret from ones own partner violates the trust required for a successful relationship. Where honest disclosure occurs early in the relationship, trust is strengthened. The potential partner can then enter the relationship with her eyes and heart open and the knowledge that her partner trusts her enough to disclose this "secret."
Helen's book does not simply paint a pretty picture. Many wives, especially where their partner's crossdressing has been kept secret for years, lose their trust in him. What else has he been hiding? Does he really want to transition fully and become a woman? Some try to restrict or eliminate their husband's crossdressing, with the result that the relationship is severely damaged anyway. Some struggle with keeping this situation a secret from their friends and families, damaging those relationships as well. Many wonder if being attracted to a crossdresser makes them lesbian - still unacceptable in our generally homophobic society.
The book includes sections on why men crossdress, why they can't stop, who their girlfriends and wives are, and how they cope. There are segments on how to make these relationships work which, like most relationships, require some accommodation from both parties and a lot of honest communication. One segment deals with the crossdresser's wife's greatest fear - that her husband may realize he is transsexual and needs to transition to a woman. Sexuality in crossdressing relationships earns its own chapter, as does a discussion of gender politics.
Public awareness of the transsexual community is gaining ground as more and more TS come out and demand their civil rights. Acceptance is growing. Meanwhile, the crossdressers largely remain in the closet. The absence of "out" crossdressing leadership and political organization makes CD's acceptance unlikely. Crossdressers must be "Out, Loud, and Proud" to change hearts and minds.
I found this book fascinating. As father to a male-to-female transsexual and an activist in the GLBT community, I have learned a great deal about transsexuals - but very little about crossdressers. "My Husband Betty" gave me a much broader base for understanding and supporting this segment of the transgender community.

As the author billed herself as someone who has accepted her husband's crossdressing, I purchased and read this book hoping to gain insight into how they negotiated successful techniques for dealing with both his and her needs in the context of a long-term committed relationship. Instead, I found over 200 pages of the author's unresolved anger and frustration regarding her marriage to a crossdresser, her husband's crossdressing habits, the CD and TG community in general, and society's refusal to accept those who openly crossdress. There were only passing references to what personal tools she and her husband have developed to make things work. And it's not clear that they have since she has now written a second book.

If you want to learn about the range of anger, fears, frustrations, problems, and confusion surrounding male to female crossdressing, this book will do the job nicely. The author has obviously spent a lot of time exploring these issues, and is quite intelligent in expressing her own analyses and lack of resolution concerniing many of them (even though she knew it was a key issue before her marriage and has spent several years since then dealing with a crossdressing partner). However, you will not find much helpful advice or useful details about how to cope and work together to make crossdressing work as part of a total marriage.

Also, this book is overly focused on the problems faced by wives of crossdressing men who want to go further by living openly as women, pursuing homosexuality, or changing their sex through surgery. The author has seen it all during her personal experiences, and expresses fear that her own husband may go "all the way" someday. While understandable from her own highly active crossdressing lifestyle and experiences, it seems at times that she wants to "scare straight" the men and women who engage in crossdressing at any level.

In short, this book is not aimed at providing useful advice to a couple where the husband needs crossdressing in the context of their mutual love, communication, and sex life at home (or the occasional "going out" experience). As the author admits, the knowledge base and literature concerning crossdressing comes from people who are relatively open about it in their lives and willing to discuss it in a public forum. Unfortunately for more private crossdressers and their wives, these are often the same people who tend to "go all the way" in making gender identity the whole focus of their lives. So there is not much in this book aimed at more "normal" folks who seek balanced lives that include crossdressing as a significant part of their relationship, but who also share many other interests and life goals that are commonly accepted by society.
If you are wrestling with the idea of transgenderism, this book will provide insight and inspire you to deep thought about sexuality.

Author Helen Boyd is a happily married woman whose husband enjoys sharing her wardrobe—and she has written the first book on transgendered men to focus on their relationships and their female partners. Traditionally known as cross-dressers, transvestites, or drag queens, men like Helen’s husband are diverse and don’t always conform to stereotype. Many of the older transvestitesare socially conservative, deeply closeted, and devout churchgoers. Helen addresses every imaginable question concerning the reasons for behavior that still baffles not only "mental health professionals" but the practitioners themselves; the taxonomy of the transgendered and the distinct but overlapping societies of each group; coming out; bisexuality; and homophobia. The book features interviews with some very interesting people, all of whom struggle and love: dominatrix and her cross-dressing husband; a crossdressing Reiki master and his son; a woman who after dating one cross-dresser wanted to date others and met—and fell in love with—a transsexual instead; a woman whose husband promised her he was only a cross-dresser and later realized that he was transsexual. This is a book about relationships that will engage the reader, and Helen’s narrative is a powerful lens with which to examine our own notions of gender and equality.
Rerations
< My Husband Betty: Love, Sex, and Life with a Crossdresser > < She's Not the Man I Married: My Life with a Transgender Husband > < My Husband Wears My Clothes: Crossdressing from the Perspective of a Wife > < Alice in Genderland: A Crossdresser Comes of Age > < The Lazy Crossdresser > freaks

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 >>