My Woman His Wife

Book Description

For most couples, inviting someone into their bedroom is totally out of the question. Any normal woman would flip if her man even thought about trying a threesome with another woman. Jasmine is that woman, and more. It's not until her husband James pressures her into having a threesome that their once happy lives get turned into nothing but drama. FIC000000

Customer Reviews:

My Woman, His Wife.......2007-10-10

I purchased the book to read as part of a book club reading. I thought it was terrible. No storyline and it was very racey.

threesome wives beware.......2007-09-29

this wa a very good read even thou i just couldn't understand how this couple could be so stuppppid, they let this woman ruined there lives while they both was being selfish, things that happen in this story was a little over the top but it was entertaining.i will get the seguel to see what will happen

GREAT PAGE TURNER!!!.......2007-09-24

I received this book from a friend as a suggested read. Once I got pass the first sentence, I was hoooked!!! I finished the book in two days. I ready to read another one.

Okay, note to self...stay away from the threesomes!.......2007-09-24

I would say that I felt bad for the wife in this book, Jasmine...but that goes without saying. She shouldn't have allowed her husband into bullying her into this little threesome ordeal with this crazy chic, Monica. On the other hand, instead of James going to another woman to feed his sexual desires, he should have done it another way that wouldn't have allowed the marital couple to share their bed with anyone else.

And least of all, this no good, low down, whore of a woman manipulates all that cross her path - whether it be for money or for sex, unknowingly everyone falls to her feet. And bringing a baby into the picture...are you kidding me you psychotic chic?

Well written book that I managed to read in a few hours. I would read more books by this author.

I applaud you!

My woman His wife.......2007-09-12

This book was EXCELLENT! A page turner if I ever read one!.

Why My Wife Thinks I'm an Idiot: The Life and Times of a Sportscaster Dad

Average customer rating:

Excellent book even for non sports fans!
Awesome book, can't wait to see him milk the cow
Quick read, faily interesting
Work Versus Family
Reads Like Paul Reiser's Books

Why My Wife Thinks I'm an Idiot: The Life and Times of a Sportscaster Dad
Mike Greenberg
Manufacturer: Villard
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Journalists | Professionals & Academics | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Memoirs | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Biographies | Sports | Subjects | Books

General | Sports | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Sports Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 1400064384
Release Date: 2006-03-07

Book Description

Meet Mike Greenberg, the popular host of ESPN Radio’s Mike and Mike in the Morning, the highest-rated drive-time sports talk show on the dial. To his three-million-plus listeners, Greeny is the guy who’s equally as comfortable dissecting zone defenses as he is discussing cashmere sweaters. He’s been to Super Bowls and World Series, All-Star Games and Final Fours. He’s interviewed Michael Jordan, Joe Montana, and Wayne Gretzky. He gets paid to enthuse about sports, which means he’s the envy of most men in America.
This is the hilarious, sometimes touching, and endlessly entertaining debut of one of America’s fastest-rising sportscasters, a wry and revealing look at one man’s good-hearted but mistake-prone attempt to grow up before his children do. Marriage, fatherhood, manhood, fame, athletes, crazed aunts with gambling problems, the true significance of sports, the worst possible thing to say in a room full of pregnant women–no topic is beyond his reach. But don’t take our word on it, read what Greeny has to say about:
• Dating: “People who reminisce fondly about dating are blocking out all the disasters and focusing only on the few great nights. If that is all you choose to remember, fine. But be aware that no experience is without good moments. I’m sure during the sacking of Rome there were a few decent nights; maybe they put on a play.”
• Life on the road:
“Wife + television = no sleep.”
“No wife + no television = no sleep.”
“Wife + no television = sleep.”
“No wife + television = porn.”
• Keeping things in perspective: “Never assume you know more than the guy in the camouflage tux.”
• And, of course, marriage: “All of us are married to women who think we’re idiots.”
Whether he’s talking trash on the radio or talking dirty diapers over a fancy dinner, Greeny’s determined to reconcile two halves of a whole. So if your enthusiasm has ever been curbed, or you’re feeling remote without the remote, or you’re just wondering what exactly goes on in a guy’s brain, Why My Wife Thinks I’m an Idiot will be a source of comfort and unadulterated laughter.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent book even for non sports fans!.......2007-07-23

I bought this book for my nonreader husband. He loved it and quoted from it so much that I had to read it for myself. Mike is fun, lighthearted, and says everything that everyone else is thinking, but never say. He is refreshingly honest. We couldn't put the book down. This is a must read for newly weds, new parents, sports fans, or any woman who thinks her husband is an idiot!

Awesome book, can't wait to see him milk the cow.......2007-05-04

This book was excellent. I acctually bought it on kind of an impulse buy, but when I got it I couldn't put it down. Finished it in about 2 days. Never gets boring. Inspirational for someone like me who wants to go into sports broadcasting. The stories where he talks about meeting starts such as Michael Jordan will leave you in awe and you can acctually relate to his everyday stories with his family(just funny as hell). One of the best books I've read in a while. His personality on his radio show matches exactly to what is in the book and if you love sports and lots of stories, you'll love this book.

Quick read, faily interesting.......2007-04-26

I've listened to Mike and Mike a lot over the past few years and very much enjoy their program. This book is a quick little insight into the life of Greeny and the format make the book a very quick read (I completed the whole thing on a round trip flight from Hartford, CT to Washington, D.C.). I think the overriding theme of dealing with being a minor celebrity and what it took to get to that point made it quite interesting and in the end I would recommend it for anyone looking for a pseudo-sports book without getting into a lot of technical aspects.

Work Versus Family.......2007-04-12

This humorous autobiography tells about one sportscaster's quest to balance work with his family life. If you don't mind foul language, this book will entertain you.

Reads Like Paul Reiser's Books.......2007-03-19

Mike Greenberg mines the same material as Paul Reiser did back in the "Mad About You" heyday. Greenberg might be a sportscaster, but this book is really about the battle of the sexes, and the difficulty in combining work and family. What makes it a little hard to believe is that Greenberg and his wife are both loaded financially, and actually have a live-in nanny.

Still, the writing is crisp, and Greenberg's voice comes through loud and clear. You won't find as many sports anecdotes as you might be hoping for, but the book is entertaining.

Average customer rating:

Love a princess...
Pure fair tale enjoyment !
Very slow....pick up at the end but not by much
You will either love it or hate it. No middle ground.
Her High and mighty

Her Highness, My Wife
Victoria Alexander
Manufacturer: Avon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

General | Romance | Subjects | Books

Regency | Historical | Romance | Subjects | Books

General | Historical | Romance | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Romance Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

General | Romance | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0060001445
Release Date: 2002-07-30

Book Description

Women never said no to the dashing Lord Matthew Weston and he never said no to them. But this was the first time he found one tempting enough to impetuously say "I do." Was it any wonder he awoke to discover her gone? And when Matthew learned the enchanting creature he'd married was of royal blood -- and would abandon their marriage bed without a second thought -- he vowed to put her out of his life forever.

But even a princess makes mistakes. And now Tatiana's back, asking for the kind of help only he can give her. But is his assistance all she wants or are there secrets the willful royal is keeping from him? Matthew may well lend her his hand but he'll never again give her his heart. Still, he's determined to tame the green-eyed beauty and change her from a perfect princess to his passionate bride.

Download Description

"About the Author VICTORIA ALEXANDER was an award-winning television reporter until she discovered fiction was much more fun than real life. She turned to writing full time and has never looked back. Victoria grew up traveling the country as an Air Force brat and is now settled in a hundred-year-old house in Omaha, Nebraska, with her husband, two teenaged children, and a bearded collie named Sam. She firmly believes housework is a four-letter word, there are no calories in anything eaten standing up, procrastination is an art form, and it's never too soon to panic. And she loves getting mail that doesn't require a return payment. Write to her at: P.O. Box 31544, Omaha, NE 68131. Don't miss the next book by your favorite author. Sign up now for AuthorTracker by visiting www.AuthorTracker.com."

Customer Reviews:

Love a princess..........2006-09-27

I admit that I love any plot with princes or princesses and the story of the fabled Avalonia drew me in from the first book of the series. I agree with the other reviews that the first half of the book dragged. Normally, I read through my lunch hour and have a hard time putting a book down and getting back to work. I didn't have a hard time doing that with this book until the second day. Once I was past the half-way mark, I was finally intrigued. I was worried that Ms. Alexander would disappoint me, but she did not. Read through this book and I promise the end will be worth it.

Pure fair tale enjoyment !.......2006-02-15

`Her highness my wife' by Victoria Alexander is fun historical novel based around 1819. Tatiana princess of Avalonia talks Lord Matthew to help her find the lost jewels of Avalonia. The princess and Lord has brief affair the prior year and now they are thrown back together to solve this mystery. Both the main characters are deep and rich with great directness in their communication. I would recommend this book and `When We Meet' by Victoria Alexander and Some Enchanted Evening by Christina Dodd.

Very slow....pick up at the end but not by much.......2005-10-05

Her Highness, My Wife is not my favorite book. It drags on and on. It took me a week and a half to finish it. It usably read a book in 2 to 3 days. I really didn't like Princess Tatiana and really couldn't see what Matt saw in her expect for lust. They really didn't have much in common. She was bitchy to him when he brought up any of her past bad behavior or her lies. I would have like to slap her. Matt took her back rather quick after she treated him badly. As for the mystery and plot twists I like a good mystery and plot twists in my books romance or other wise but I need more romance than this book gave. I need to believe the hero and heroine belong together to enjoy a book. The hero is wonderful but that wasn't enough to hold this book together.

Try When We Meet Again by Victoria Alexander it a much better written book.

You will either love it or hate it. No middle ground........2004-03-04

While in Paris Lord Matthew "Matt" Weston met and married the woman of his dreams. Yet only a few hours later she left him, leaving behind a letter that she would deal with the legalities. He had not known her REAL name or title. He only knew how much he loved her. After fifteen months, she walked back into his life.

She was Princess Tatianna Marguerite Nadia Pruzinsky of the Kingdom of Greater Avalonia, and she needed his help. Tat still loved Matt. However, she felt she HAD to leave him so she could finish fulfilling her royal duties. She planned to return to him someday, if he would still have her, once her duties were completed. For now, she needed him to escort her around London as his wife. As Lady Matthew she could retrace the steps of Aunt Sophia. Tat told him that she was writing the history of the royal family. It was obvious he did not believe her. As his wife, doors would be open for her to speak with those who knew Sophia, decades ago. The truth of what Tat was up to was kept secret. Tat was searching for something that she felt MUST be found before she could return to Matt forever.

*** I found this story to be complicated. Several sub-plots ran simultaneously, such as, the Princess Valentina being in England, some history of ballooning (aerostats), and some jewels. That was only a few of them. About half into the book, however, things began to come together. I, as the reader, got a clearer picture of what was REALLY going on. Romance between the two main characters seemed stilted until this point.

The second half of the book was filled with perils and romance! I could not pull myself away from it all. Everything seemed to speed up and I simply HAD to know what was going to happen in the next chapter! I admit that much of the information that the first half of the book was needed for the reader to fully understand the seriousness of the plot. Yet I feel many readers will not be able to wait so long for all the pieces to come together.

As a reviewer, I must say that I feel the first half of this book seemed to drag. The second half was non-stop. Somehow I believe reviews will be mixed on this tale. This story you will either love or hate. No middle ground. ***

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

Her High and mighty.......2004-01-28

I have to start by saying I adored this hero. Matthew Weston is a man with regrets and fears, but he is trying to make it on his own. He is also trying desperately to forget his short lived marriage to the Princess Tatiana. A woman who seems put out by the fact that William is angry that she walked out. She is also a woman who trust few and has been scorned in the past.

The story starts a bit slow but eventually picks up momentum. The hardest part of the book for me to take was the princess, who by all accounts is used to getting her way. But her apology for leaving her husband with little more then a note, in the middle of the night, leaves a lot to be desired. She even goes as far to demand to know why he didn't follow her. My thought, you walked out on him. HMMMM.

Our Heroine does eventually redeem herself and by the end is highly likable and to my thinking finally deserving of our hero. The story also has some interesting twists that keep the action rising, though the reader will figure most of it out quickly.

Book Description

In August 1984, Michigan housewife Betty Mahmoody accompanied her husband to his native Iran for a two-week vacation. To her horror, she found herself and her four-year-old daughter, Mahtob, virtual prisoners of a man rededicated to his Shiite Moslem faith, in a land where women are near-slaves and Americans are despised. Their only hope for escape lay in a dangerous underground that would not take her child....Now the true story of this courageous woman and her breathtaking odyssey bursts upon the screen in the Pathe Entertainment production starring Academy Award-winner Sally Field!A Literary Guild Alternate Selection.

Customer Reviews:

ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!.......2007-06-27

THIS BOOK WAS FANTASTIC. I COULDN'T READ IT FAST ENOUGH. HOW LUCKEY WE ARE TO LIVE IN A FREE COUNTRY. READ THIS BOOK!!

Unaswered questions.......2007-06-11

Its a fascinating story but like one reader said it raised a lot of questions. How was a virtual prisoner able to communicate with people in the market. The issue of Trish and Suzanne who wanted her to escape with them if she was that desperate why did she not go with them, I know the Embassy warned her about going with them but they did warn her about escaping in general towards the end. The issue of her passport was also rightly raised by a reviewer. She mentions mohsehn wanted that along with her money,necklace and colouring book. But what smuggler would have wanted to draw attention to himself by carrying her passport on his person.A gold necklace would also draw a lot of attention and word would get around that an American was there. The idea of a grown man taking a colouring book is ridiculous and laughable. She mentions that her passport was requested by Mohsehn who later asked her to give it to the man in the truck and he later gave it back to her. Yet we hear that when leaving for Van a package was thrown at her with her Passport and money. In the meantime who took the passport? When crossing the border she mentions she looked up and could see the pasar/ border guards on top of the mountain if she could see them they could see her. She also mentions that she could hear voices ahead in arguement. Smugglers? Or Border Guards or both? One would have thought that either the first or last would have put the pasdar on their guard and made them more wary. Yet she tells us that certain patches of Ice were too risky to negotiate.'noise was our enemy any sound was like a rifle to patrolling pasdar'

Lastly where is the documentation from the American embassy in Ankara, copy of her iranian passport. Sometimes the story is overdone

more exciting lies means more sales .......2007-05-12

Although some problems may have existed between Betty and her husband, and domestic abuse happens everywhere in the world, she clearly attempts to dehumanize the Iranians by writing lies about their customs and culture, much like the Persians that look like ugly monsters in the recent movie 300. Good and not so good people exist everywhere. I have travelled extensively around the globe and I know that both Iranians and Americans are among the nicest people that I have ever met. Iranian people and culture have a built in tendency to defend the "underdog", the oppressed, and the lonely. After you read this book, please don't let this be your only reading and pespective of Iran. By the way, Iranians do take showers and baths several times a week. In fact when the Westerners of 16th and 17th century used to take one annual bath a year and no house had a regular bathroom (the Versaille palace has no bathroom they used the gardens!), Iranians took weekly baths and most homes had bathrooms.

An especially propitious time to re-read this true story.......2007-04-07

Now that the fifteen British mariners have been released from Iranian captivity and repatriated, if you're interested in forming an impression of what it's like to live among typical Persians, whose habits of personal hygiene may surprise you, revisit this book while copies remain available.

What Garbage!.......2007-03-28

If I could have given this book a "0", I would. I have spent a considerable amount of time in Iran, as an American woman and as a mother accompanied by my children. I have never experienced anything but warmth, hospitality, and respect from any Iranians I encountered while living there. Although, I was not married to an Iranian man, bad, abusive marriages happen anywhere. Why is a bad marriage in Iran--if this was indeed the case--considered so "newsworthy?" It is troubling that one woman's overly-dramatized, traumatic account is seen in the US as the prototype for all of Iranian culture. For example, I have eaten in the homes of many Iranians, of all social classes, in cities and in villages, and never once did I encounter bugs in the food. Doesn't anyone find it suspicious that the ghost writer, William Hoffer, also was the author of "Midnight Express"--a book about an American in a Turkish prison? What is his agenda? What is Ms. Mahmoody's agenda? Why is this book so popular in the US? Could it be that we want to read/see things that confirm our stereotypes of the Middle East and Islamic cultures as "evil." The reader should try to disengage him/herself from Mahmoudy's traumatic story and try to read between the lines. Think critically, for crying out loud, about how books such as these demonize another culture, so that we can have the opportunity to see another people as less than human, and thereby feel no remorse when they're under attack. This is one of the worst--and most damaging--pieces of propaganda I've ever seen. Shame on Sally Field for taking part in the film!

Even the cover is misleading: Iranian women do not cover their faces with their veils like this. This is a custom found more in Saudi Arabia.

I Closed My Eyes: Revelations of a Battered Woman

Average customer rating:

Terribly Disappointing
Author went through hell
The real deal
Great for a woman who has left an abusive marriage
This book could save many women from domestic abuse

I Closed My Eyes: Revelations of a Battered Woman
Michele Weldon
Manufacturer: Hazelden
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Women | Specific Groups | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Substance Abuse | Recovery | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Abuse | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Women Writers & Feminist Theory | Books & Reading | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Women's Studies | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Women Writers | Women's Studies | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Dysfunctional Relationships | Family Relationships | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Nonfiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Parenting Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Accessories:

Braun IRT 4020 ThermoScan Ear Thermometer

ASIN: 156838341X

Book Description

By telling her own poignant story, Michele Weldon Demonstrates that ultimately all women have the power to trade in the role of victim for that of heroine. This is a revelation of a battered woman.

Customer Reviews:

Terribly Disappointing.......2007-02-12

I read this book for a class on family violence. I have to say I did not like it. The author comes across as a spoiled rich girl who married a man for superficial reasons and then stayed with him because she wanted to keep up appearances. It's not heartfelt or emotional. She needs to always be a victim. She sells her late father's gold chains to get money despite the fact that she has $10,000 from her mother set aside. She then tells her husband that she sold the chains to make him feel guilty about it. She plays mind games like this with him and says and does questionable things with her children like dressing up as a dead Nicole Brown Simpson, slathering herself with fake blood, making her kids cry, and leaving the babysitter to explain the situation. She also tells the kids Daddy hit her. Why would you heap your huge adult problems on little children? I can't help but feel that she exaggerated and flat out lied in some parts of the book to make a more compelling story. This book is crap. Don't read it.

Author went through hell.......2004-05-23

I am not an abused wife or battered woman, but I can still appreciate what the author went through. She gives the reader a mostly detailed journey through her personal hell. Having said that I find it puzzling that she would choose to go to a costume party as Nicole Brown and OJ Simpson, complete with ketchup on her neck. It was in terrible taste and the author tries to explain it by saying "the reality behind the charade was too important for me to abandon". Then she goes to tell that others at the party thought it was in bad taste and her italicized comments are "that they missed the point." Not surprisingly they did, didn't they. Apparently, she thought they would immediately realize she was abused? She also admits her two youngest children were quite disturbed seeing her dressed like that and she told them it was a game and left it to the babysitter to explain. I, for one, don't look for hidden meanings in Halloween costumes and since Ms. Weldon stressed her love and devotion to her children and how she didn't want them affected by the abuse, I find her attitude about the costumes and her children very strange to say the least.
When she finally exposed her husband and divorce proceedings began, she lamented that hers would be the only children at the Xmas plays and school events without a father. What planet is she from? Does she not know the divorce statistics? I found some of these comments rather whiney and self serving.
She complains in the book of the duties of a single parent, oops, sorry, Double Parent. Ms. Weldon wants to make sure we understand her trials and tribulations. I understand that more falls on the shoulder of the custodial parent, but she certainly isn't the only Double Parent either. She has many family members and friends close by and her family stepped in to help her financially.
I understand that it is difficult for women to leave an abusive relationship and she writes that she is glad she stayed 9 years. Once again, I am puzzled that as devoted a mother as she is, she finds it okay to have put her three children at risk in this situation.
I'm sure I am going to be chastised for my criticims of Ms Weldon's book and I certainly don't mean to trivialize what she and other women have gone through. These are simply my observations.

The real deal.......2004-02-18

Michele Weldon does a magnificent job describing her harrowing journey through domestic violence, and she does so with clarity and unflinching honesty. Domestic violence crosses all socio-economic and cultural boundaries. Just as no two women are alike, no two violent marriages are identical; Ms. Weldon explains her own experience in such a way that anyone living through this hell will see some element of her own situation.

The cyclical nature of abuse, the cliche questions ("What did you do to make him mad?" "Why did you stay so long," etc.), the cliche assumptions (she suffers from low self-esteem, HE suffers from low self-esteem, etc.)are all carefully addressed.

By telling her story, Ms. Weldon has undoubtedly opened a door--even if it is just a crack!--for someone who really needs to know that there is hope for starting over. Michele did it...I did it...YOU CAN DO IT TOO.

Great for a woman who has left an abusive marriage.......2002-11-08

Thank you Michele Weldon for writing your journey through living and leaving an abusive husband. ---

Her writing is encouraging and honest. The writing style kept me reading. The way she put into words the joy of leaving the cycle of abuse despite the hardship that it may bring is just great!

This book could save many women from domestic abuse.......2002-10-26

Michele Weldon is an incredible writer. Each word, sentence, and thought was so rich and clear that I could see the picture, and know the depths of her inner experience. Throughout the book she composes the story of her life in such an interesting way that I was often left awestruck. Anyone could benefit from this book, whether or not they have survived abuse. She demonstrates how her life was changed in the aftermath of domestic violence and divorce.

Medals Above My Heart: The Rewards Of Being A Military Wife

Average customer rating:

It was a good book....
great
LOVELY BOOK
Great Book

Medals Above My Heart: The Rewards Of Being A Military Wife
Brenda Pace , and Carol Mcglothlin
Manufacturer: B&H Publishing Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Gifts | Spirituality | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Devotionals | Spirituality | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Religion & Spirituality Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0805431845

Book Description

Medals Above My Heart is a devotional for military wives. The husbands of these authors wear their medals on their uniforms, but these ladies will share experiences of military life and reveal the medals they wear over their own hearts.

Like the wives of great military leaders of the past, present day military wives experience challenges that stretch their physical, emotional, and spiritual resources. While it is an honor to serve her soldier, airman, marine, or sailor as he defends the freedom of America, it is not without sacrifice. They receive no medals from their country but receive a reward greater than any medal. They reap the benefits of personal character and leadership development, adventure, relationships, and opportunities for service.

Customer Reviews:

It was a good book...........2007-08-28

I thought the book was good averall but because I am not really in to reading religious books I found it a bit boring. The overall concept was good but I thought it would be more like a story without all the religious things in it. I would recommend it to those who like to read religious books.

great.......2006-06-17

I have this book. I bought it a while ago, I think at our PX. It's a great book and was very inspirational!

LOVELY BOOK.......2006-02-18

I have read this book and met the author Brenda Pace. She is a treasure. This is a great gift for any military wife young or old.
Stay Sweet!

Great Book.......2005-04-26

I recommend this book to ANY military spouse! It is helpful and funny. The prayers that are at the end of each section are great.

Average customer rating:

sexist irony
Bag Lady to the Stars
A True Story of Survival and Identity
Interesting
Be your own wife . . . but be someone else's as well!

I Am My Own Wife: A Play
Doug Wright
Manufacturer: Faber & Faber
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

United States | Drama | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Drama | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0571211747

Book Description

Winner of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Drama

From the Obie Award-winning author of Quills comes this acclaimed one-man show, which explores the astonishing true story of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf. A transvestite and celebrated antiques dealer who successfully navigated the two most oppressive regimes of the past century-the Nazis and the Communists--while openly gay and defiantly in drag, von Mahlsdorf was both hailed as a cultural hero and accused of colluding with the Stasi. In an attempt to discern the truth about Charlotte, Doug Wright has written "at once a vivid portrait of Germany in the second half of the twentieth century, a morally complex tale about what it can take to be a survivor, and an intriguing meditation on everything from the obsession with collecting to the passage of time" (Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times).

Customer Reviews:

sexist irony.......2007-07-08

Excellent piece but note the following irony with the title that most women pick up immediately. The title "I am my own wife" is Charlotte's response to her mother's question of when she is to marry-a question posed WHILE she, Charlotte's mother, is hanging to dry CHARLOTTE's clothing. Charlotte isn't her "own wife"--her MOTHER is!

Bag Lady to the Stars.......2007-07-03

All the power to Mr. Wright. After all, it 's not everyone that can hit a home run on Broadway. God bless him. And it is a fascinating little story, of a transsexual in drag who outwits the German Gestapo and the Stasi, living finally to triumph as a post-modern icon of perverse longevity in a land of forgotten heroes, mysterious deaths and torture chambers. One would love to know the true story of this so-called 'survivor.' Whose lap was she/he sitting on? The play itself is a long drag, a monologue delivered to the audience about how fascinating the playwright found this person to be. Of course, one would very much wonder how the playwright decided that what was most interesting about this story was the fact that he found it so terribly interesting. Another interpretation might have been that there wasn't very much there in the first place.

A True Story of Survival and Identity.......2007-01-15

I was first introduced to this play by a local theatre group, one of the first in the US to debut it and was absolutely blown away by the subject matter as well as the performance. Charlotte's life story told by Doug through various intermediate characters all while wearing a black dress, is a story that should be shared. Not only is this a story about sexuality, but it is more importantly about survival and how we change our identities to do so.

Interesting.......2005-07-15

This is an autobiography of Charlotte, a transvestite German, written in a play format like the works of Shakespeare. This work won a Pulitzer Prize the year it came out, and so I read it thinking it would be interesting. I am not sure what to think of it still, or even whether Charlotte is a man acting like a woman, or the other way around.

The play is about the life of Charlotte, a person born in Germany before World War II. (S)he grows up in an abusive family, and kills his own father while still a minor. (S)he flees his home in the city during the Nazi's term of power to life in the countryside (I think), and moves back after the Russians move in. (S)he then navigates life under Communism, and survives to see the end of it and the reunification of Germany.

The bulk of the book takes place during the Nazi reign first and the Soviet occupation second. Charlotte recounts how he/she survives both regimes, both of which were not known for tolerance of homosexual behavior and/or transvestites. There are hints throughout the play that Charlotte evaded persecution in varous sordid ways. One is that (s)he acted as a spy for the government. Second, (s)he might have had clandestine, sexual affairs with individuals in power, who then protected him/her in order to protect themselves.

There are scenes of tragedy in the book, like when certain friends are carted of by the secret police, but these scenes are not sad enough to make you cry. There are also funny scenes, but none of them are hilarious. In all, this was an interesting read, and being such a short book, is worth the 1-2 hours to finish it.

Be your own wife . . . but be someone else's as well!.......2005-03-17

"I am my Own Wife" is the new play (2004) by Doug Wright (screenplay writer of Quills) based on his interviews and friendship with the late gay German crossdressed hausfrau, Lothar Berfelde, better known as Charlotte Von Mahlsdorf. A magnificent one-man show that mesmerized Broadway, actor Jefferson Mays played thirty-five separate characters.

The title comes from 40-year-old Charlotte's answer to his mother's clueless plea "don't you think it's time you settled down and found a wife?": "But, Mutti, don't you know that I am my own wife?"

Do buy (and go see) this play! It is well-written, entertaining, very "theatrical," and you will enjoy reading and discussing it with your friends. I also recommend Charlotte Von Mahlsdorf's autobiography. (See my "So You Want To . . . be Your Own Wife" guide to find more materials related to Charlotte's life and times).

HOWEVER . . . it may sound contradictory, given what I've said, but I have a lot of problems with the central character of Charlotte. I've thought for days about this play and the story. I was very attracted to it because of the sheer theatricality of the situation and the character, not to mention the frisson of the "non-drag-queen-drag-queen." But, despite myself, I have been bothered by something that hasn't struck me quite right.

Charlotte is astonishing because this dowdy cross-dresser survived both the Nazis and the subsequent communists to become the leading expert on the Grunderzeit period (approx. 1835-1918) of German furniture design.

That said, there is something strange at the core of this piece: this central character of Charlotte, this hopefully sympathetic trope for beauty and the everlasting human spirit, despite survival at all odds (or maybe because?)---is an empty, severely alienated person. "Autistic" and "disconnected" are the words that stick in my mind. He never really connects with anyone, hermetically sealed in a world of obsession for this furniture and a fantasy past constructed to block out horrible realities. He (debatably) sells out his friends. He is born, lives, and dies for (and with) . . . the furniture. I can't love him because he can't possibly love me back.

For an example of this genre where real human love and sacrifice are manifest, read the play "Bent."

This is my final analysis after discussing it with many friends.
The whole confection is tasty but, after the meal, there has been no lasting nourishment.

Again, it has been a fun process of discovery and I whole-heartedly recommend reading this play. Whaddaya think? Do you agree or disagree? Read and see.

Average customer rating:

very interesting
AN EMOTIONAL STORY FIT FOR A KING OR A QUEEN
--From the wife's point of view--
A truly remarkable story
Good Book, Misleading Title

My Spy: Memoir of a Cia Wife
Bina C. Kiyonaga
Manufacturer: William Morrow
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Political | Leaders & Notable People | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0380975874

Book Description

Our story spans fifty years, four continents, three wars, a revolution, five children, two races and one faith. It is the story of an often stormy, sometimes blissful, but never dull marriage. It lasted thirty years - and then death did the parting.

So begins the love story of Joe Kiyonaga, the striking Japanese-American war hero from Hawaii, and Bina Cady, the irreverent Irish-Catholic redhead from Baltimore. Similar in their convictions, different in most every other respect, the two leaped into a marriage in 1947 that defied the anti-Japanese sentiments of the day. Their unlikely union would come to include a powerful, top-secret cohort: the CIA.

During the darkest days of the Cold War, Bina, as a CIA wife, was initiated into a world of silence. She would learn not to ask who had called at 2:00 A.M., where Joe had disappeared to for days at a time, or why a notorious dictator had shown up at their door unannounced. Joe's "cover' had to be maintained, and no one could be trusted with the truth. Bina would learn to live a lie and lie bravely.

From the surreal intrigue of post-war Japan to the raucous mariachi-band parties of 1960s El Salvador and the "Yankee Go Home" Panama of the 1970s to the planning of a coup d'etat in Brazil, Bina would become Joe's unwitting partner, playing the traditional role of wife and mother for the most untraditional of ends: helping Joe recruit agents. Everything from cocktail parties to the children's swim meets would become possible venues for agent recruitment, every casual acquaintance-even the parish priest-a potential intelligence source. Through Joe's work, Bina was introduced to foreign leaders, military strongmen and influential journalists secretly working with Washington-a cast of like-minded souls who believed, as did Joe and Bina, that the CIA's cause was noble and that its methods served a greater good.

In the end, Bina's story is the story of the spy she loved. Born out in the cold, on an island where being too tall and too western-looking made him a rumor incarnate, Joe Kiyonaga was all the more remarkable for what he became, and overcame. A man with a foothold in many worlds, but at home in none, he was ready to kick over the traces and re-invent himself as the consummate spy.

Only after thirty years, as Joe lay dying, did Bina finally meet the husband she never knew, and hear the full details of the secret life and global cause of which she and their five children had been a part.

This is the story that Joe entrusted to Bina, a story she promised him she would tell. A story of a time to remember, and of a marriage forged by trust and faith in a world full of lies.

During the darkest days of the Cold War, Bina, as a CIA wife, was initiated into a world of silence. She would learn not to ask who had called a 2:00 A.M., where Joe had disappeared to for days at a time, or why a notorious dictator had shown up at their door unannounced. Joe's "cover" had to be maintained, and no one could be trusted with the truth. Bina would learn to live a lie and lie bravely.

From the surreal intrigue of post-war Japan to the raucous mariachi-band parties of 1960s El Salvador and the "Yankee Go Home" Panama of the 1970s to the planning of a coup d'etat in Brazil, Bina would become Joe's unwitting partner, playing the traditional role of wife and mother for the most untraditional of ends: helping Joe recruit agents. Everything from cocktail parties to the children's swim meets would become possible venues for agent recruitment; every casual acquaintance---even the parish priest---a potential intelligence source. Through Joe's work, Bina was introduced to foreign leaders, military strongmen and influential journalists secretly working with Washington---a cast of like-minded souls who believed, as did Joe and Bina, that the CIA's cause was noble and that its methods served a greater good.

In the end, Bina's story is the story of the spy she loved.

Customer Reviews:

very interesting.......2004-09-15

I just finished this book (having picked it up for .25 at a library book sale) and it was a real page-turner. I hated to have it end! I cried at the end. It reminded me of reading about my parent's generation (keeping their virginity, etc.) and thought she gave enough personal details to fulfill our interest but not too much to embarrass their whole family! Having read so much about her and her children, I would be very curious to hear more in an epilogue. I guess I also am interested because a relative has a mixed marriage as hers and mixed children. That part was very interesting to me. She has a good writing style. Very enjoyable book. I'm getting one for a friend my parent's age so I will be curious to see if it is interesting to someone in that generation as well.

AN EMOTIONAL STORY FIT FOR A KING OR A QUEEN.......2002-12-19

You're not going to learn much about the profession of "spying," but you are going to experience a wonderful true story of a family held together by the wife and backed up and nourished by the father. It is a little like a travelogue and a lot of how to have a successful marriage even while having problems and a husband who is away from home a lot. At the end, you should shed a tear or two if you have a heart within you!

--From the wife's point of view--.......2002-04-16

This is an interesting book about the marriage of a middle class woman of Irish descent to a Hawaiian man of Japanese descent. Aside from the differences in their backgrounds, their lives were further complicated by Joe Kiyonaga's career as a CIA agent. Throw in several children, add tours of duty to Japan, Central and South America and you have a lifetime of various adventures. The author, Bina Cady Kiyonaga writes with feeling, and tells the story of her marriage to Joe Kiyonaga with a great deal of candor, even describing the racial prejudice that her husband had to endure. Her rich descriptions of the various places that the family lived really enhance the story and give it an extra dimension.

Bina has an easy style of writing and describes her life with a great deal of wit and humor. I recommend the book to anyone who might be interested in what it was like for the wife and family of a CIA operative.

A truly remarkable story.......2002-02-25

I wasn't sure what to expect when I bought this book. However, after the first chapter, I was hooked. Bina Kiyonaga has effectively portrayed the difficulties of trying to strike the delicate balance between maintaining a semblance of normalcy for her family, while supporting her husband's career as an officer of the CIA. Having lived overseas, I can certainly appreciate Bina's problems of having to raise a family without the normality and convenience of life in the United States (not to mention having to raise 5 children in this environment!).

While the details surrounding much of what her husband accomplished during his tenure at the CIA will never be disclosed, Bina has done an excellent job of providing background to lend a certain aura to what her husband was all about. I was awestruck by the devotion she lavished on her husband during good times and in bad. Her faith and her family certainly allowed her to become the women she is today. And is portrayed in the book in a very effective manner.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Despite the minor redundancies throughout the narrative, I think this is a remarkable story...truly something in this book for everyone!

Good Book, Misleading Title.......2001-09-29

I really enjoyed this book, but its title is a bit misleading. It Should have been titled, "My Life, While Married to a CIA Spy." The thing which struck me the most was that I'd never make it as the wife of someone in the CIA. Maybe as a spy, but never as the wife. The wives had to sit at home whenever their husbands disappeared, with no advance warning, and perhaps for weeks on end without EVER picking up the telephone to call and enquire as to the husband, or when he might be back--or a mission could be compromised. One woman was in the last weeks of her pregnancy, and her husband had disappeared for several weeks. This finally did make that call, and the husband's mission was compromised. It was the husband's last mission. Later he left the agency, and also divorced his wife. Anyway, there were a lot of interesting anecdotes in the book. Bina tells as much as she can without compromising anyone who could now be hurt by the book.

Average customer rating:

sad
they do have a cat.
Just 1000 Words?
My Wife
this is an important book

My Wife

Manufacturer: Edition Stemmle
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Photo Essays | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 3908163285

Customer Reviews:

sad.......2005-01-25

I expected so much more from Petter. But these images are all the same. Maybe if more photos were in color, it would be interesting but it isn't. Luba is a much better book.

they do have a cat........2003-11-24

Its an interesting book with a certain sense of voyeurism, as if one is viewing private photographs belonging to someone else. This is probably so because many of the images display a snapshot quality; which in itself may not be a bad thing. However, I'm not convinced that all the photographs in this book were taken with cameras worth $100 or less as the author claims, especially when the model is holding a $1800 medium format camera in one of the shots. I also did not find much merit in the three nipple shot.

This book may or may not float your boat. For me, it has required me to reconsider at how I delineate the lines between ponography and artistic commentary and and ultimately, good taste.

Just 1000 Words?.......2003-01-22

What do you get when a competent photographer marries an attractive lady and both share an European morality as it pertains to sex? Well for any who are in an intimate relationship with another person who doesn't require being periodically filled with air, some of these images are very familiar (maybe too familiar) in a post-polaroid age of digital photography. Petter Hegre has just about raised the bar as high as it goes in terms of this subject matter and his wife must be viewed as co-artist in the very least. Whatever Hegre's intent, the resulting response from this work would be understated as being provocative. One underlying question which stands above others is this: are these images and behavior depicted natural to all the parties or are they staged for the camera? I really don't buy into Hegre's explanation that 'this is the way my wife is.' Another issue for questioning is when does the private cease to be private? If made public, as Hegre does, then it is no longer private. Is this an invasion, an invitation to similar behavior, or simply 'I can do better porn that the pornographers?' If the mind had a camera attached, I'm sure many of us have similar images recorded and Hegre's work may keep our attention by it's familiarity, but, that familiarity can also be turned to contempt as easily as acknowledgement. My 3-stars are for effort and provocative content, but also for this book's nature being such it should not be shelved in a prominent place in the home.

My Wife.......2002-03-29

My Wife is a wonderful book. Certain photos were unbelievably intimate and mesmerizing. There were others that were too "snap shot" quality for my personal taste. I think that the female body is very beautiful but seeing numerous photos of the same gentalia is a little monotonous. There is a second woman in a few of the photos who is unidentified. Hegre's wife and the second woman are in several photos in a sexual manner which does break up the boringness of the layout. I do realize that I concentrated on the negative aspects of the book, but overall it is a good book and I would recommend it to others.

this is an important book.......2001-12-29

from both an artistic as well as a socio-gender political perspective, this is an important book. take a look-see you won't be disappointed....(knee-jerk "anti-porn" folks stuck in 70's gender theory weirdness maybe offended but let them be).

I Am My Own Wife: The True Story of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf

Average customer rating:

Gramophones are flowers
Things that will never be again revisited
Engaging story of a memorable transvestite life
moving, emotional, and a must read

I Am My Own Wife: The True Story of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf
Charlotte von Mahlsdorf
Manufacturer: Cleis Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Specific Groups | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Memoirs | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Gay | Biographies & Memoirs | Gay & Lesbian | Subjects | Books

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Gay & Lesbian | Subjects | Books

General | Nonfiction | Gay & Lesbian | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Nonfiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 1573442003

Book Description

A soft-spoken transvestite wanting nothing more than to live as a hausfrau, Charlotte von Mahlsdorf instead was caught up in the most harrowing dramas of 20th-century Europe, surviving both the Nazis and the Communists. Originally published as I Am My Own Woman, this exquisitely written autobiography reveals her lifelong pursuit of sexual liberty. The story is reaching an entirely new readership of enthusiastic theater fans with I Am My Own Wife, the new Broadway show by Doug Wright about the life of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, winner of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize in drama.

Customer Reviews:

Gramophones are flowers.......2007-06-04

Don't let the sensationalist title scare you off - this is a bewildering rarity in TS lit: humanist, protean, sagacious.

Ostensibly the (obliquely Oedipal) saga of a gay crossdresser surviving the Third Reich, then "socialist" East Berlin, Mahlsdorf's narrative is, at core, a love story - with fin de siècle furniture. As stubbornly as she withstood two ridiculous, internecine regimes, Marhlsdorf regales her text with Gründerzeit minutiae. Tedious, obscure, for sure - deal. I believe that's the intuitive point. When Mahlsdorf, a maniac collector of antiquities, proclaims "To me, moldy air is like Chanel No. 5" she strikes a mighty blow against every TS cliche.

Roll over Christine Jorgensen and tell Jerry Springer the news: Gramophones are flowers.

Things that will never be again revisited.......2004-12-19

This is a lovely read by a gentle man who felt he was really a woman in a mannish body, and also it is the story of a German who lived in parts of Germany and Berlin that are gone and will never be again. I felt a nostalgia for times past for the neighorhood around the Alexanderplatz in Berlin which used to be the gay and lower class neighborhood and also the red light district. If one goes to Alexanderplatz today there is the hideous Russian Funkturm radio tower and almost everything has been bulldozed, and there is a huge statue of Michael Jackson (of all things) in the space where Alexanderplatz was, and the neighborhoods Charlotte knew will never be replaced. He has struggled bravely to take pieces here and there where he could and save them for the ages, fighting bravely in the face of the Soviets stealing everything from Berlin that wasn't nailed down and the east German mentality of bulldoze and build worker flats and raze what is the capitalist past. What a time to live in and how amazing to have the story of a transvestite who lived them and knew every thing and place from the bottom up, so to speak, it puts a new face on history. 5 Stars!

Update October 2006: I just returned from Berlin where I visited the Grunderzeit Museum in Mahlsdorf which is a suburb of Berlin. You can get there on the S-Bahn and then walk to the museum (about a 15 minute walk). I was heartbroken to learn that Charlotte had passed away on April 30, 2002. The museum was nice and looks like it is a booming business. I bought some postcards and apparently there is a stage play currently running about the life of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf (in Berlin). Berlin has changed since I was there last, and it is knitting itself together up the middle where it was divided. The museum has had structural repairs and the basement is available for parties. I liked the museum and it was worth the trip!

Engaging story of a memorable transvestite life.......2004-08-21

Young Lothar Berfelde loved stylish women's clothes, and as he got older he tried them on. Amazingly, he got enough support from loved ones to have the strength to follow his inclinations. He also had the clarity of mind to observe what was going around him with historical perspective and perspicacity, i.e., the Soviet occupation of Berlin, the rise of the Nazis (his brutish father was an enthusiastic Nazi), the persecution of the Jews, the murderous suppression of the working class by the post-WWI socialist government, etc. Driven to killing his father, he fell into the hands of the Nazi "justice" system and survived. From his teenage years he was captivated by Biedermeyer era furniture and collected what he could. In the near-anarchy following the war and through circumstance and chutzpah he was able to "acquire" a Berlin mansion in which he created a museum to the pre-WWI furniture, household objects and consumer culture that he loved. He struggled to maintain the mansion and the museum's priceless contents, but was only partially successful. East Berlin bureaucrats and their Stasi agents were formidable foes. But Berfelde, who had changed his name to Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, never succumbed to glorification of the capitalist west. He eventually traded his taste for stylish women's clothed for the peasant hausfrau look of his later years and was strangely content with playing the simple housefrau. However this was an affectation, for he was a very broad-minded and humanistic man. He lived a remarkable life and his story is very much worth the reading.

moving, emotional, and a must read.......1998-05-26

I bought the book because I wanted to understand transvestites, but I came away with so much more. This book should be used in schools to illustrate a part of war they don't teach you, and also how being gay, and/or a transvestite is only part of who a person really is.

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books