Book Description
The beloved actor and screenwriter’s first novel, set during World War I, delicately and elegantly explores a most unusual romance. It’s almost the end of the war and Paul Peachy, a young railway employee and amateur actor in Milwaukee, realizes his marriage is one-sided. He enlists, and ships off to France. Peachy instantly realizes how out of his depth he is—and never more so than when he is captured. Risking everything, Peachy—who as a child of immigrants speaks German—makes the reckless decision to impersonate one of the enemy’s most famous spies.
As the urbane and accomplished spy Harry Stroller, Peachy has access to a world he could never have known existed—a world of sumptuous living, world-weary men, and available women. But when one of those women—Annie, a young, beautiful and wary courtesan—turns out to be more than she seems, Peachy’s life is transformed forever.
Customer Reviews:
A Very Sensual Nuance!!!.......2007-09-26
Though the novel (length-wise) lacks a certain depth, the sensual interchange between Peachy and Annie is very provocative even in something as simple as a haircut. All of Wilder's works since the Richard Pryor days, seem to have this since of sensitivity that empathizes with the human condition. The creativity and adventure of this story is definitely worth a 5!!!
All's Fair in Love and War........2007-09-22
Gene Wilder has written a beautiful book with a simplicity of language that is rare. This is a book you can read quickly but don't let the size fool you. It deals with big issues like love and loyality and integrity and honour. I gave it only 3 stars because it was so small and easy-to-read and yet the price is hefty.
The ending is poignant and restrained.
A Treasure.......2007-08-18
This book is so simple and straightforward in its writing. Somehow, with a few broad strokes, Wilder creates rich, believable characters who embody the complexity of the human experience. The main character, Peachy, was fascinating -- disarmingly human and familiar. There is such honesty in how Peachy reports his experiences in his notebook. There is no pretension of being able to understand how and why he responds to events as he does.
Wilder proves himself to be a great storyteller -- I found it hard to put the book down. The story is full of surprises, intrigue and humor.
This is a wonderful love story, not just about the love between a man and a woman, but about love itself.
A Real Quickie.......2007-06-19
A real quickie...a short story/play for those who know life can change in an instant...a delightful read.
Little gem........2007-06-12
Don't let the small size fool you. Inside there is a big book about life and about a coward with a big courage to live.
As mentioned before, an awesome breather for some reading groups.
Quick, enjoyable, one sitting read. I love it, including the title.
Yeah,It's a little pricey gem, so I'm cutting off one star for that.
Get in the sharing spirit! It also makes a nice gift.
Product Description
Whoever said whoring wasnt easy, never lied! But somebody had to do it! Working the mean streets of Detroit was getting hard on young Kamone, with two small mouths to feed. Forced to get on the grind non-stop by her madam, Cookie, after being abandoned by her dopefiend, HIV infected mother, theres nothing Kamone wont do to get that paper drugs, murder, sex, lies and videotapes! That is, until she is scandalously set up to be raped, drugged and left for dead. Just when Kamone thinks its the end, she finds what every bad girl longs for a bad boy with a heart, who literally picks her up out of the gutter. But will Luccis thug passion be enough to satisfy Kamones lustful habits? Or will she run back to the only life she knows?
Customer Reviews:
AWESOME!.......2007-10-18
i MUST SAY TANIKA WROTE A VERY EXCELLENT I GIVE IT 10 STARS! I COULD NOT PUT THIS BOOK DOWN. IT WAS VERY VERY GOOD! I RECOMMEND YOU READ IT FOR YOUR SELF. AND THAT KAMONE GIRL HAD A LOT HEART! GREAT BOOK TANIKA!!!
O My Word!!!! A Must READ!!!.......2007-10-17
I borrowed this book from a friend!!! I read it in one night!! There is a series of emotions: Anger, FEAR, Frustration, Happy, Sad!!! I know that this book is fiction, but there is someone out there who has lived this life!!! The ending had me in tears, so was the person I borrowed it from, she was crying on the bus on the way to get her car!!! LOL..But GOD has a purpose for EVERYBODY AND EVERYTHING!!!Anyway I have to purchase for myself because I can and will read again!!! It was great!!! Hats off to Tanika!!!
Excellent read.......2007-10-17
Tanika Lynch great job! I purchased this book based on Amazon and customer reviews and after I was done reading it I understand why this book was rated 4 & 5 stars. The characters were well developed with a very interesting plot. Many emotions will come over you while reading this book from being mad, sad, happy, and even possibly disgusted. But overall this was a very good read, I was not disappointed at all.
More fiction about prostitutes.......2007-10-14
If you would like to read more fiction about prostitutes, you may be interested in Naked in Haiti: A sexy morality tale about tourists, prostitutes & politicians.
Ummm...It was ok........2007-10-13
True, it only took me a few hours to read this book. The plot was very good, but it kinda pissed me off when I thought about the girl only being 15 and she was sleeping wit a grown a** man. All in all, I'm not giving up on Lynch, she really has potential.
Amazon.com
"The year I turned ninety, I wanted to give myself the gift of a night of wild love with an adolescent virgin." So begins Memories of My Melancholy Whores, and it becomes even more unlikely as the novel unfolds. This slim volume contains the story of the sad life of an unnamed, only slightly talented Colombian journalist and teacher, never married, never in love, living in the crumbling family manse. He calls Rosa Cabarcas, madame of the city's most successful brothel, to seek her assistance. Rosa tells him his wish is impossible--and then calls right back to say that she has found the perfect girl.
The protagonist says of himself: "I have never gone to bed with a woman I didn't pay ... by the time I was fifty there were 514 women with whom I had been at least once ... My public life, on the other hand, was lacking in interest: both parents dead, a bachelor without a future, a mediocre journalist ... and a favorite of caricaturists because of my exemplary ugliness."
The girl is 14 and works all day in a factory attaching buttons in order to provide for her family. Rosa gives her a combination of bromide and valerian to drink to calm her nerves, and when the prospective lover arrives, she is sound asleep. Now the story really begins. The nonagenarian is not a sex-starved adventurer; he is a tender voyeur. Throughout his 90th year, he continues to meet the girl and watch her sleep. He says, "This was something new for me. I was ignorant of the arts of seduction and had always chosen my brides for a night at random, more for their price than their charms, and we had made love without love, half-dressed most of the time and always in the dark, so we could imagine ourselves as better than we were ... That night I discovered the improbably pleasure of contemplating the body of a sleeping woman without the urgencies of desire or the obstacles of modesty."
Márquez's style never falters throughout this recounting of his life and his exploration of love, found at an unexpected time and place. The erstwhile lover is still capable of being surprised--and fulfilled. After an absence of ten years, it is a treat to have another parable from the master. --Valerie Ryan
Book Description
A New York Times Notable Book
On the eve of his ninetieth birthday a bachelor decides to give himself a wild night of love with a virgin. As is his habit–he has purchased hundreds of women–he asks a madam for her assistance. The fourteen-year-old girl who is procured for him is enchanting, but exhausted as she is from caring for siblings and her job sewing buttons, she can do little but sleep. Yet with this sleeping beauty at his side, it is he who awakens to a romance he has never known.
Tender, knowing, and slyly comic, Memories of My Melancholy Whores is an exquisite addition to the master’s work.
Customer Reviews:
Finding love after nearly One Hundred Years of Solitude. .......2007-09-28
"The year I turned ninety, I wanted to give myself the gift of a night of wild love with an adolescent virgin."
Best known for One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel Márquez's 2004 novella, Memories of My Melancholy Whores (Memorias de mis putas tristes), tells the poignant story of an unnamed, nonagenarian protagonist, a "mediocre" Colombian journalist, scholar, and lifelong bachelor "without a future," who discovers love for the first time in his life after living nearly One Hundred Years of Solitude. He asks a brothel owner, madame Rosa Cabarcas, to assist him in finding "the perfect girl" for him--an adolescent virgin--for his 90th birthday. The girl she finds is a weary, 14-year-old factory worker, willing to sell her virginity for five pesos just to help her family. After a lifetime of prostitutes (514 by age 50), the old man unexpectedly discovers "the improbable pleasure of contemplating the body of a sleeping woman without the urgencies of desire or the obstacles of modesty," while confronting his own mortality. Memories of My Melancholy Whores may be read as a life-affirming parable about finding love in the always-present face of death. I have given this book a four-star rating rather than five only when measured against the genius of One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera.
G. Merritt
Old Age , Love and Eros in G-M's Memories. . . ........2007-09-11
If you loved García-Márquez's LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA you will love this slim little delightful novel by the master storyteller. CHOLERA, to my mind, is an encyclopedia of many varieties of erotic love. G-M's fascination with this powerful theme is always playful, irreverent, but joyfully uplifting.
In MEMORIES OF MY MELANCHOLY WHORES, there is a character who will remind readers of America Vicuña in CHOLERA. G-M is now "pacing the tower of old age" (Yeats), and his handling of the theme of aging is superb. American writers should learn from this master novelist how to write short, beautiful novels.
A customarily fine translation by Edith Grossman.
Memories of My Melancholy Whores .......2007-08-12
I picked this up at the Vegas airport while waiting for my flight. I am a huge fan of Marquez's style of painting vibrant pictures with the simplest of characters. And it has been a while (10 years) since Marquez's last work of fiction came out. So I had no hesitation in picking it up. Also the fact that it was a novella, made it an ideal candidate for flight reading.
First things first. The plot of this book may seem creepy to some. A 90 year old bachelor (not a virgin) deciding to have celebrate his birthday with an adolescent virgin is not exactly a picture of celestial romance. Some may even feel that it is in bad taste.
But I did manage to look beyond that aspect as I read the book.
The book reveals a central character who is fragile physically due to age and probably fragile of mind too. Time seems to have caused atleast a few fissures. This man (who is never named) has never loved, has a near-marriage and all the women he slept with were paid for their 'services'.
At this point I was finding it difficult to decide whether to sympathize with this man for whom death looms ahead or to just reject him outright as a womanizer. I was unable to do both. Probably because as a reader one's duty is not to judge a character but merely observe.
Well, there were shades of the Marquez that we are so familiar with. A poignancy expressed in a very subtle fashion, a hint of highly refined erotica and beautiful imagery.
But does that make a good book ? For me atleast it doesn't. It seemed a bit too laborious and at times pointless. Maybe it was meant to be that way. Finding love when you are at the doorsteps of death, may make your life seem pointless no matter how big your accomplishments are.
Maybe I am so accustomed to the beautiful tapestry of events in Marquez classics like the '100 years of solitude' ? Maybe that is why I felt a bit let down.
So my final verdict ? A good read for die hard Marquez fans. For someone starting out, I wouldn't recommend this as an appetizer for the feast which Marquez is capable of.
A Coming of Age Tale.......2007-08-02
Melancholy - maybe. Imaginative and fanciful - definitely. For those of us over 60, it's a true coming of age tale.
There's nothing here........2007-07-22
I have never written an Amazon review before, but I'm utterly incredulous that anyone could give this awful book five stars.
This book is terrible. This is just a bunch of meandering gibberish about a geriatric fool who falls in "love" with a child who he has no interaction with. It is utterly unbelievable, nonsensical and uninteresting.
Book Description
Fresh out of the Israeli Army, twenty-year-old Iris Bahr decides to follow the footsteps of many before her and backpack through Asia. Only unlike the average traveler, she has more in mind than just seeing the sights: she is on a desperate mission to lose her virginity.
Dork Whore is a fresh and funny memoir about a young woman whose quirky personality and embarrassing neuroses always seem to get in the way of her getting what she wants. As Iris lands in hotel rooms in Bangkok, rides scooters out of opium-fogged compounds hidden in the jungle, and antagonizes an impromptu tour group in Vietnam, she begins to realize that the greatest obstacle she’ll have to overcome isn’t losing her virginity, but coming to terms with the reasons for her need to be accepted. Poignant, hilarious, and always original, Dork Whore is a remarkable mix of bawdy humor and heartbreaking moments, witty intelligence and touching personal discoveries. Iris Bahr has given us an unforgettable coming-of-age tale about how a young woman finally learns how to trust others—and her own judgment.
Customer Reviews:
Funny and real.......2007-10-01
I really loved this book. Iris Bahr is pretty multi-talented, and I heard her in character on Studio 360, and later saw her on Current. This is so hilariouly honest, it's cringe-worthy, but I have a feeling that this is very realistic. I enjoyed the diversion, and even though this doesn't come to an ending you expect, it's still a great ride. Have fun explaining the title to others!
Hilarious! Every woman will relate in some way .......2007-09-14
and I'm sure every guy can find someone they are akin to as well.
I found this book to be almost impossible to put down and read it in two evenings (it's a great quick read.)
Iris Bahr tells her memoir in the most humorous way possible. Granted, she is a comedian so her wit is not surprising, but the STORIES are just amazing.
I would and will recommend this book to all of my friends.
Entertaining!.......2007-05-13
Great book- great first novel. Entertaining, smart and very funny. 2 thumbs up.
Just plain funny. And heartwarming. And gross........2007-04-20
This book is laugh-out-loud funny, from the title to the last word. I never knew a book could make me cringe so much with embarassment! She compassionately writes about it feels to be 21 - bold, insecure, lost, boundless, immortal, giddy, and aching. I read it so fast and wanted it to keep going! I am waiting for the sequel! :)
worms, weed, wankers and a woman.......2007-04-18
Dork Whore is an 3ffin' hilarious read as a 20 year old Israeli girl traipses across Asia hoping to get some lovin', all the while questioning nearly every move and non-move she makes (or should have made or wishes was made upon her). The book pulses forward (throbs?) as potential mates pop up along the trails... I actually found myself rooting for some guys while hoping others would flunk the author's comically shifting 'standards'. Make no mistake, this book is funny...Bahr has fantastic timing, effortlessly patters with prose and has a knack for scat...but the most unique quality of DW is the honesty and generosity of Bahr as a story teller. She opens up her head, heart, and family past with uncommon candor and lets us see all things big and small that make trying to get some human connection (and a little action) in this world so difficult. And worthy.
Oh, and her lubricious descriptions of Thai brothels will send anyone to 0rbitz...
Average customer rating:
- Lone Humorist v. United States of America = Humor triumphs!
- WHORRIBLY HUMOROUS!
- When I home school my kids, I'll have them read this for Social Studies and Government Today.
- a liberal who enjoys PJ - why not!?
- A statement that stuck in my mind and craw
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Parliament of Whores: A Lone Humorist Attempts to Explain the Entire U.S. Government
P. J. O'Rourke
Manufacturer: Grove Press
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ASIN: 0802139701 |
Amazon.com
If satirists are at their best when tussling with something they hate, then this is P.J. O'Rourke's masterpiece. He clearly hates government--and has hated it since before it was cool to do so--and for all the right reasons, too: it's clumsy, inefficient, hypocritical, greedy, and arrogant. In other words, it magnifies the faults of the poor saps who staff it. Parliament of Whores is the humorist's howl of bitter laughter at the entire bloated, numskulled mess. As befits an ex-editor of National Lampoon, nothing is out of bounds for O'Rourke. Speaking of the fabled "football"--that satchel that follows the president around 24/7--the author doubts there are really launch codes in there at all--nothing but "a copy of Penthouse and a pint bottle of Hiram Walker--a Penthouse from back in the seventies, when Penthouse was really dirty, I'll bet."
Parliament of Whores is perfect for anyone who longs to cultivate an entertaining brand of cynicism, to be "a lone voice--not crying in the wilderness, thank you, but chortling in the rec room." O'Rourke is a master at making you laugh in spite of the better angels of your nature, and the only negative thing to be said about this tour de force is that his flamethrower brand of satire leaves nothing in its wake--certainly not the suggestion of an improvement. --Michael Gerber
Book Description
Called "an everyman's guide to Washington" (The New York Times), P. J. O'Rourke's savagely funny and national best-seller Parliament of Whores has become a classic in understanding the workings of the American political system. Originally written at the end of the Reagan era, this new edition includes an extensive foreword by the renowned political writer Andrew Ferguson -- showing us that although the names and the players have changed, the game is still the same. Parliament of Whores is an exuberant, broken-field run through the ethical foibles, pork-barrel flimflam, and bureaucratic bullrorfle inside the Beltway that leaves no sacred cow unskewered and no politically correct sensitivities unscorched. "Highly pungent and wickedly accurate observations ... [from a] boisterous, pedal-to-the-floor humorist." -- The New York Times Book Review "Outrageous ... It is insulting, inflammatory, profane, and absolutely great reading." -- The Washington Post Book World "A gonzo civics book ... O'Rourke is like a trophy hunter let loose in an unguarded zoo." -- Chicago Tribune
Customer Reviews:
Lone Humorist v. United States of America = Humor triumphs!.......2007-07-03
"Enlighten the people, generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like spirits at the dawn of day." Thomas Jefferson, April 24, 1816
If the title of "Parliament of Whores" collects unease beneath your conscience, I suggest a better title: "The Voter's Guide to Understanding American Government." P.J.'s book can happily replace the millions of other texts which `say' they include the most accurate analysis concerning the present federal system, but really don't. Indeed, if I myself were book publisher, I would not hesitate to pass out millions of O'Rourke's "Whores" to every single man, woman, and child in the United States of America, because it encompasses a great deal into the most lovely way.
He possesses a gift valuable enough to store in the pockets of only the wisest and wittiest satirists, which is the ability to scope out the absurdity of nearly all the issues and problems corresponding to the topic he skewers. In this case, it includes the numerous problems that confronted and dealt with in the country back when he published the book in 1991. Although the book is sixteen years old, "Parliament" is even more relevant now than it was, despite whatever odds lie against a sequel. I consider P.J. a modern day cicerone, choking back giggles as he leavens the tour with the most appropriate quips.
In addition, P.J. balances the budget! Bring out the bubbly, let's party! Nevertheless, how did he do it? According to him, "Since I'm temporarily in charge of the federal budget, I don't mind squeezing the bejeebers out of the people who pay them." I guess he's going to raise taxes! However, isn't good old P.J. a conservative? What gives, P.J.? Alas, he tells us: "The problem isn't a Congress that won't cut spending or a president who won't raise taxes, but Americans with a sense of entitlement to federal money." The conclusion of the book, therefore, is not far off to predict. We, the American people, are the parliament of whores. Have we inadvertently used our money to pursue Marxist goals? By O'Rourke's assessment, the problem is a public drunk with an insatiable appetite for everything, like national health care, yet stubborn and vicious on taking everybody else's bucks to pay for it all. Why think this way, says O'Rourke? "Is it wise to put the awesome power of such spending to such a silly government? Do you really want Teddy Kennedy OR Newt Gingrich to run your life?"
In a chapter about poverty, P.J. concludes that...there is no poverty in America. How? After closely scrutinizing the 1991 federal budget, and various policy institute analyses, P.J. discovered a $50.3 billion income deficit saddled with poor people becomes feckless inasmuch as there was $98 billion used federally for low-income persons. He also checked the Congressional Research Service, which took into account combined federal, state, and local spending for the poor: $126 billion a year, which averaged out to roughly $3,816.92 for each poor person, not to mention charity. What is the rush, Mr. John Edwards? You talk about limiting poverty; but there is no poverty, even less likely now! P.J. proved it! No worries, correct?
Well, no, of course not. There is poverty in the country. O'Rourke's poverty chapter coincides nicely with his chapter on federal housing, where he visited a Newark housing project creaking on the edge of disaster. So, why is there poverty? O'Rourke says, well, no one knows, and the federal government certainly does not.
Equally informative and outrageous, hysterical and harrowing, "Parliament of Whores" captures and reveals to us the craziest behemoth this side of Frankenstein and the Loch Ness Monster except that the monster is real but, as O'Rourke says in the introduction, "We must laugh at it, because it belongs precisely to the humorous imagination." This would be a depressing read, even more so for O'Rourke to put himself through an inhospitable position, trying to make sense of how terribly wrong everything has gotten. P.J., however, is an excellent physician, agile and quick-witted enough to alleviate the pain we watch unfold. Read the book if you love your country, and although P.J. pens from a more libertarian point of view, there is a good chance you will leave every position P.J. touches with a smile, or perhaps with a hearty laugh with tears, if you're lucky.
WHORRIBLY HUMOROUS!.......2006-11-20
"It is a popular delusion that the government wastes vast amounts of money through inefficiency and sloth. Enormous effort and elaborate planning are required to waste this much money." ~ P.J. O'Rourke
Once upon a time, oh, about a year ago, I was on the john with my P.J. bottoms loitering around my ankles, and minding my own "business." I had one of my Uncle John's Bathroom Readers in my lap (Uncle John and the john were just made for each other) and I was reading a page that contained a lot of funny remarks related to politics. I noticed that the several excerpts that had been penned by one P.J. O'ROURKE elicited the greatest laughs from me, so I determined to find out just who this P.J. was and where he'd been my whole life. After a little Ammyland surfing, I purchased his book, PARLIAMENT OF WHORES.
Just last week, I was on an America West flight to Northern Nevada. At the airport, after taking everything from me that one could never commandeer an airplane with, and making me remove my belt and shoes and self-respect, the powers that be somehow let me waltz onto the plane with PARLIAMENT OF WHORES - a very dangerous book. I mean, had I begun reading aloud, I could have convulsed the pilots, the flight crew, and the air marshal with laughter and taken control of Flight #522.
Instead, I read silently to myself, and laughed out loud every thirty seconds or so. This aroused the curiosity of the woman sitting next to me who asked what I was reading. I said, "Parliament Of Whores by P.J. O'Rourke" but somehow what she heard was, "Will you tell me your life story?" So she proceeded to tell me how she had gotten married at Lake Tahoe and bred dogs for a living. Or maybe it was that she earned her bread at Lake Tahoe and had married a dog. To be honest, I wasn't paying that much attention, but merely trying to nod and smile when I thought it was appropriate, and stealing another sentence or two from O'Rourke's book every time she paused between chapters in her oral autobiography. (She did offer me her little bag of pretzels, so at least I got something from her besides an earache.)
PALIAMENT OF WHORES is P.J.'s 1991 account of a journalist's inside look at politics and how it affects American Life. And trust me, it's no laughing matter, which is exactly why we must laught at it. It's laugh or go postal, but since the postal service is tied to the federal government, it's better that we laugh. P.J. says, "I have tried to present a factual - data-filled, at any rate - account of how this government works. Which is complicated by the fact that it doesn't." But if you think a journalist should instead be writing about things that are more relevant and of greater interest to most Americans, P.J. did promise in the Acknowledgments that his next book was going to be about "Madonna's Illegitimate UFO Diet To Cure AIDS And Find Elvis."
On page 103, O'Rourke confesses that he is "a real Republican" but then adds, "unlike some current presidents of the United States I could name." That unnamed "presidents" he referred to was, of course, George H. W. Bush. Now it's his equally un-Republican son, George W. Bush who occupies The White House, proving that the apple doesn't fall far from the Bush.
But don't let the fact that P.J. is a Republican dissuade you from reading PARLIAMENT OF WHORES if you happen to be a Democrat because Ol' P.J. absolutely grills EVERYONE in this laugh-out-loud book. And why not? The federal government has taken it upon itself to warn the nation that undercooked eggs and meat are unhealthy. And is raw government any better for us? It too deserves a good grilling, and P.J. is just the chef to do it!
Now, I can't say that P.J. never misses the nail's head and hits his own thumb. For example, on page 78 he states that the Supreme Court opening a session with "God save the United States and this Honorable Court" is a clear violation of the First Amendment to the Constitution. This is surprisingly sloppy reporting coming from a man who makes his living with words. The First Amendment says, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." And that's what the Constitution, in its entirety, has to say about religion. So, when did the Supreme Court become Congress? And since when is stating, "God save the United States and this Honorable Court" the establishment of a law? (And has anybody informed God that He is now bound by law to do these things?)
On page 119, P.J. questions the wisdom of the illegality of recreational drugs. I think keeping these chemicals out of the hands (and arms, and lungs) of as many people as possible is indeed wise. The only exception being those funny smelling "cigarettes" which my buddy at work, The Great L.C., and I agree should be treated in like manner as alcohol, for they have, if anything, even less potential for harm: Put 10 guys into a room with loud music and bottles and bottles of booze, and it's sure that before the evening is over, one (or more) of those guys will get roughed up. But put the same 10 guys into the same room with the same loud music, and replace the booze with "wacky weed" and the only things that are gonna get roughed up are bags of potato chips.
But other than these rare disagreements, I found PALIAMENT OF WHORES to be wickedly accurate and whorribly humorous. Wait'll you read the suggestions the author makes for reducing federal expenditures (O'Rourke's Circumcision and Budget Liposuction), and the way he dissects the Special Interest Groups (The Original Barrel Of Monkeys That Nothing Is More Fun Than). This thing is simply a howl from one end to the other; the funniest book I've read in a very long time. Heck, one of the funniest books I've ever read at ANY time! It's "seriously funny" like Mark Twain. And I am no more ashamed to have PARLIAMENT OF WHORES standing in my bookcase between The Declaration Of Independence and The Heritage Guide To The Constitution than I am to have Twain's ROUGHING IT standing between Saloons Of The Old West and I Married Wyatt Earp. Aw, well, you know what I mean.
In the final analysis - after his study of how our government works [sic] - O'Rourke concludes that what we suspected all along is true: "Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys." Nevertheless, watching P.J. T.P. the U.S. is the best cry you'll ever laugh. I'll be voting P.J. for President in 2008, even though he's too smart to run... except away.
When I home school my kids, I'll have them read this for Social Studies and Government Today........2006-04-03
Now pj is an avowed republican and though I consider myself a libritarian (however it's spelled) many of the ideas in his book ring true.
From page 14:
"The mystery of government is not how Washington works but how to make it stop."- and that's why I'm Liberatarian and also why my party is nolonger a party (atleast in North Carolina as of winter of 2005). And strangly I'm happy it's not a party anymore; what do parties do other than spout retorict while handing out pay-raises from my [our] money.
From page 26:
"I don't agree with the democrats? What's to disagree with? They believe everything. And what they don't believe, the Republicans do. Neither of them stands for anything they believe in, anyway.
And from this, weve built a great nation," - and this is why I have love for no party. Oh and also:
From page 19:
"Democrats are also the party of government activism, the party that says government can make you richer, smarter, taller and get the chickweed out of you lawn. Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work, and then they get elected and prove it. One philosophy is not necessarily and improvement on the other, but if you want the tooth fairy to come, you've got to have some teeth under your pillow."- Governemnt being the toothfairy while the teeth are our dollars. I suppose this fairy leaves programs that work in exchange for our money. Taxes are up to 30%+ for most (more than double what we left Great Britan for) some day people are going to realize that they have no teeth left and the fairy is taking a flying sht on their heads.
In the section entitled "The Three Branches of Govenment: Money, Television and Bllsht", page 72:
A day at the Whitehouse, "...the president signed the Americans with Disabilities Act. Two tousand of the disabled and their family members were invited to attend in the briolling summer heat. People in wheelchairs were yelling at the deaf to sit down and the blind were bumping the palsied with their dogs. In a crueler age some onlookers might have laughed, but we never laugh at misfortune today. In fact, we're all trying to get in on it. A White House press release claimed that forty-three million Americans 'have some form of disability.' [and that was in 1991!, when this book was published] That is one out of five people, and it can't be true unless disability to balance checkbooks is being counted. A number of other things about this legislation can't be true either. Under the new law, 'public accommodations are prohibited from discrimiation on the basis of disability in the full and equal enjoyment of goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages or accommodations.' But people with disabilities, by definition, do not have full and equal enjoyment of goods, services, facilities and so forth. Otherwise, what disability do they have? And the bill also guarantees that there will be no discrimination in employment. Does this mean one-legged firemen [I don't necessarily agree with his use of hyperbole in argument- but it is funny]? Don't worry, the question will be equitably settled in the courts [bye bye more money, I should have been a lawyer]. Meanwhile, ill health and bad luck have been made against the law."- the handicapped that I know always want to be treated normally.
This bill should have been seen as a giant slap in the face. However, it was veiwed by the fat (yes it is a disability) the lazy (oh, my back hurts. No, I won't get a desk job or try to make money another way) and stupid (who would'a thought smoking would cause lung problems or that being an alcoholic could hamper my job skills). That is what the law did and that is who benefits the most.
In "Doing the Most Important Kind of Nothing" page 77:
"We americans are an unprincipled nation, when you come down to it. Not that we're bad or anything. It's just that it's hard for us to pay attention to abstract matters when we have so many concrete matters--cellular phones, ski boats, salad shooters, trail bikes, StairMasters, snow boards, pasta making machines, four-door sport utility wehicles, palmcorders, rollerblade skates and CD players for our cars--to occupy us. No wonder all the great intellectual concepts such as monotheism and using the zero in arithmentic come from pastoral societies where herdsmen sit around all night with nothing to do except think thing up. (Though it is a wonder more cosmologies aren't founded on scrwing sheep.)"- haha, we are a nation perpetually amused. Or in fear:
The title of one section and the quote that follows, page 107, "OUR GOVERNMENT: WHAT THE FK DO THEY DO ALL DAY AND WHY DOES IT COST SO GDDMNED MUCH MONEY?"
"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamourous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."- H. L. Mencken--I need to read more of his stuff (sorry I'm new to this whole thinking thing). For hobgoblins see: generic term terrorist, see Iran, see illegal immegrants, see "the poor", see Drug users and sellers, see innercity minorities, see hippies, see conservatives, see you, see me.
On that note, page 119 "If a drug-free Ameica is such a good idea, why aren't members of the House of Representatives taking drug tests? Why isn't the U.S. Senate pissing into jars on C-Span? "Get serious" is the phrase I heard a hundred time from cops, DEA men, customs agents and people living in drug-soaked neighborhoods. I'd be talking to them and thy'd just start yelling, not at me, but just yelling."-Hate to bring up good'ol Rush L. but drugs and pills taken illegally are still "illegal drugs". However, old white men don't seem to see it that way.
"Personally, I don't think all drugs-of-pleasure should be illegal. I'm not even sure if it's much use making any of them agiangst the law. But it is one more measure of our lack of seriousness that we won't dispassionatly investigate or rationly debate which drugs do what damage and whether or how much of that damage is the result of criminalization. We'd rather work ourselves into a screaming fit of puritanism and then go home and take a pill." Righ Rush? Righ mom?
Frankly, all of them are true, especially the last chaper.
a liberal who enjoys PJ - why not!?.......2006-01-29
YES he takes some easy pot-shots at liberals and YES THIS book is about 15 years old now - but it's funny.
IT's a bit too funny. IN FACT, while laughing out loud at some of his criticims you might wonder what's so funny.
He has a few misfires, one at the USDA's number of employees being far over that of the number of american farmers - but that shouldn't surprise anyone who knows what the USDA does - especially those of us who are entomologists!
And his idea of balancing the budget is damned near something like Pol Pot might come up with - but PJ will excuse himself - he'll be the first to tell you he doesn't know anything - and that does come across rather clearly.
JUST THE SAME READ PJ - he's very good, very witty, and very acerbic. Sort of a much smarter ... well, I'm not going to invoke those idiotic radio conservatives, most of which PJ would have no use for anyway. HE jabs just as hard at dumb republicans as he does elsewhere -- and I prefer some of his other writings - especially some of his excellent foreign journalism.
In fact, his Age Wisdom beats Youth and goodlooks (or whatever) book is great. I learned to love automobile writing from him.
A statement that stuck in my mind and craw.......2005-11-20
I read O'Rourk's "A Parliment of Whores" when it first came out in hardcover in 1992.
In the latter part of the book O'Rourk made a prophetic if not profound statement that I instantly committed to memory.
Until the last five years I couldn't figure out whether the statement was a direct slap in the faces of all us whores out here or a warning of things to come, which when taken into account amounts to a slap in the face.
O'Rourk said: "Any likeminded group, acting in concert, can steal anything they want, and get away with it."
Considering this current administration and congress I now find that O'Rourk's 1992 statement was indeed a warning of things to come.
I just added in paraphase: Any likeminded group, like crooked president and congress, acting in concert, can steal anything they want, and get away with it, including taking a nation over internally."
Every expert in the field knows that the only way the United States of America can be defeated is through internal takeover.
We now have an adminizstration and congress that is so overtly and absolutely corrupt that they actually flaunt their wrongdoing in the faces of the citizenry. However "they" are begining to find out that the "get way with it" part is not quite as easy as they thought.
Thomas D. Pearson-Author:
OSAMA-His Loathing of Infidels ISBN 1-4137-3400-6
I wrote my book as an awakening for our people and our government leaders, and as a warning to terror organizations letting them know that at least a few people here in the USA knew something about how they will act and to beware treading on America.
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Actresses and Whores: On Stage and in Society
Kirsten Pullen
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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Binding: Hardcover
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Actresses as Working Women (Gender and Performance Series)
ASIN: 0521833418 |
Book Description
The categories of "whore" and "actress" have overlapped over centuries. Actresses are assumed to be sexually available and promiscuous, and prostitutes are assumed to perform for their clients. Employing historical biographies as well as interviews with contemporary sex workers, this book compares actresses and prostitutes from Nell Gwynne to Mae West. Ranging from the seventeenth century to the present, Kirsten Pullen offers many new insights to theater historians and scholars of cultural, social and gender studies.
Book Description
The girls of Sacred Heart Holy Angels eye the good dancers at the all-ages club Metropolis. They waste afternoons at the mall, check out parties on the lake, burn through candid, casual sex.
Everybody calls them the Whores on the Hill, but they don't care.
It is the mid-'80s and they go to the last all-girls' school in Milwaukee, where innocence is scarce and happiness is something to grabbed at in the backseat of a fast car.
Meet exuberant, uninhibited Astrid, her nervy, troubled friend Juli and Thisbe, the shy, ascetic newcomer. They are fifteen years old. And they believe they can take on the world, no matter what it calls them.
But when euphoric promiscuity mixes with a series of dangerous, deadly pranks, their world at Sacred Heart Holy Angels can never be the same.
Customer Reviews:
Another good 80s flashback book.......2007-08-10
I was blown away by this book. The whole "good girl gone bad" thing is an enjoyable topic to read about. If you like THE BITCH POSSE and CONFESSIONS OF A CATHOLIC SCHOOLGIRLConfessions of a Catholic Schoolgirl you will love this book!
Not what I expected.......2007-07-01
This book wasn't what I expected it to be, but it was still somewhat interesting. Not one of my favorites, but regardless, I'm glad I read it.
proper representation????.......2007-05-07
I always laugh when my friends talk about this book. especially the ones who go to the school that is "represented" by the story. Those friends are always insisting that "nothing bad ever happens at their school" and "everyone, with out execption is nice" and "its like the only school that i have ever heard of that isn't trashy". so when I dropped this book off at one of their houses, she got a little mad at me.
My friends that go to (alright, I'm not going to say the name of the actual school) keep telling me that absolutly nothing in the plot is true and the plot in its entirety is made up, but i have to admit, some of the stuff in it is true, even if people at that school are unaware of it.
Finally!.......2007-03-17
Finally a good book! I loved this thing. The girls weren't one dimentional like I was afraid they might be. I could understand why a lot of people might not like this book (or even hate it) but I think a lot of young people would see a little, tiny bit of themselves in this book. Hopefully they weren't as crazy as these girls were! Anyways, I'd recomend this book to any slightly open-minded person who doesn't freak out over little things.
Understated prose, Larger than life characters.......2006-07-21
Colleen Curran's novel about life at the last all-girls' Catholic school in Milwaukee is a disturbing, yet eloquent read. The tale of three high school girls- Astrid, Juli, and Thisbe- beautifully depicts the lives of three rebel girls in the 80s who call themselves the "Whores on the Hill." They try to live up to their reputation, and we see most of the girls' school and social lives through the bewildered Thisbe's point of view. Through Thisbe, we learn of Juli's suicide attempts and Astrid's self-destruction. We learn of the disconnection she feels between herself and her divorced parents. We learn how dangerous the search for identity can be.
Luckily for readers, Curran doesn't turn this into a literary train wreck- Instead, we are treated to some rather extreme, but believable twists and turns. I read this book in one sitting, drinking in the characters and the stunning prose of this must-read novel.
Book Description
"The first general treatment of women in the ancient world to reflect the critical insights of modern feminism. Though much debated, its position as the basic textbook on women's history in Greece and Rome has hardly been challenged."--Mary Beard, Times Literary Supplement. Illustrations.
Customer Reviews:
Good information but some bad theories.......2006-07-15
The author does provide good information on the status of women in the ancient world, but has some completely baseless theories. She tries to juxtapose the masculine Persian god Mithras with the feminine god Isis, claiming Isis was supressed and Mithras welcomed. The problem is, Mithrism, after Christianity and Judaism, was persecuted heaviest because it was though to indicate loyalty to Persia, Rome's enemy. Isis, on the other hand, after some early initial efforts to ban all foreign religions, was fully tolerated. It saw nothing like the persecution the other three religions saw. Also, she overstates Isis as a feminist figure. Most papyrus quotes from ancient Egypt have her worshiped as a traditional wife and mother goddess. All she has as proof of her contention that wasn't so is one Oxyrhyncus papyrus quote and a quote from the always unreliable Diodorus.
Outstanding Overview.......2006-02-01
I first read this book in highschool(Latin Class) back in 1985, and to this day, I still find it to be one of the best overviews on the lives of Classical Women ever. While there are some other good works out there, theya re few and far between, and many are not translated into English-which is a shame.
I realize that there may some material for scholars to pick at, but I do feel that the author has sourced her material well, and does offer alternative viewpoints, as well as mention when there are difficulties in proving certian theories. The fact that she is apparently a feminist as some sort of come down for the book doesn't hold water with me. The same could be said for many male historians, as the roles of women and their significance is often ignored.
The book does cover a very large time period-about 1500 years, but I feel does an excellent job in looking at the social, cultural, and legal expectations for women, and how those roles changed over time, and between societies. In some ways it is darker than imagined, and others far more hopeful, as demonstrated by some of her focus on the women of Pompeii, and the evidence of their wealth, independence, and individuality. Some of the more famous women are covered, and their activites placed into context.
Perosnally, if there was a book that belong in all Ancient Civ/Western Civ surveys or introductory classes, I beleiev unequivocally that this is one of them. I felt that way in highschool, and I feel that way today.
Impressive Work.......2005-10-20
I got in touch with Pomeroy work when I was a History student in 1993. It marked me because she was not interested in just repeat what authors just say about women in Greece and Rome. It's necessary to point that as a feminist she want to put in evidence contradictions about women roles and places. It's a very interesting feminist investigation.
Impressive portrait........2002-09-29
Grim picture of the status of women in Greek and Roman society. A scientific exploration based on classical marriage contracts, legal and medical texts, demographic data (on female infanticide) and philosophical and literary works (Plato, Aristoteles, Homeros and others).
The status of Aspasia (Pericles' hetaera) was an exception. Women were confined to the domestic sphere, totally inferior to men and the subject of systematic misogyny by poets and philosophers.
The author also elucidates why the Isis cult was persecuted by emperor Tiberius.
This is a model study. A necessary work not to be missed by readers interested in classical history. It is a look at that section of ancient culture that didn't take part in philosophical discussions or political decision making, but that composed the majority on which the first democracy - for a minority - was built. Work by Catherine Salles and Bettina Eva Stumpp on the same subject is also a compelling read.
Very good introductory survey!.......2001-09-21
I think this book opens up a lot of questions for further discussion. Pomeroy's mastery of the sources is unquestionable. More slanted toward Athens than I would prefer to use in my university course on womena and family in the pre-modern west, but still the best general book around after a quarter century!
Book Description
A scathing expose of the fraud inherent in the use of "expert" psychological testimony in the courtroom.
From the high-profile murder trials of the Menendez brothers and Jeffrey Dahmer to personal injury, product liability and child custody cases, lawyers across the country have increasingly turned to "expert" testimony from psychologists, psychiatrists and social workers to influence the decisions of judges and juries.
Psychologist Margaret Hagen, a professor and medical industry insider, details the very real danger of this booming business. In every state, a child can be taken away from a parent on the strength of five minutes of "neutral" testimony from a social worker. A criminal suspect's freedom or incarceration can depend on a superficial psychological examination performed by an incompetent, overworked, or, at worst, paid-off psychologist. Parole hearings hinge on the testimony of similarly incomplete or fraudulent evaluations, allowing "rehabilitated" violent criminals back onto the street to commit more heinous crimes, with no accountability for the reviewing "expert." Unmasking some legal psycho-expertise as a total fraud, Dr. Hagen instructs readers to protect themselves and their families from being victimized by psychological testimony in the courtroom. In today's frenzied legal climate, her insight and wisdom make for provocative, compelling and invaluable reading.
Customer Reviews:
For an important topic, a disappointment .......2007-06-13
The topic is an important one, but unfortunately this book doesn't do it justice. It is relatively incoherent and sprinkled with anachronisms about modern clinical psychology. There are no well-thought through arguments explaining why psychology should not be used in its current form in the courtroom, because the information presented about such psychology is so simplistic and biased that it is a straw man's argument to refute. Find other literature on this important issue.
Great reading.......2007-06-12
This was a great book. However, the writing style made it difficult to read sometimes. There were some sentences with more than 80 or so words in them. This book does point out just how limited and how wrong psychologists and psychiatrists can be in providing 'expert' opinion.
On the Death of Souls ..........2004-04-23
The alliance between the psychiatric and legal establishments is a dangerous one that may pose a threat to the civil liberties of everyone in society. The author alleges that much of the standard psychiatric testimony is incoherent and that many of the so-called "experts" are not competent.
R.D. Laing has said: "Doctors in all ages have made fortunes by killing their patients by means of their cures. The difference in psychiatry is that it is the death of the soul." The growing number of victims of psychiatric torture have formed several organizations that provide assistance and solidarity.
It is important to realize that this situation can be changed, that it is not "for anyone's good" to be so treated.
If YOU are a survivor of such experiences, then please believe that you are not alone and there is help available.
A Must Have for ANYONE dealing with Psychs and legal battles.......1999-10-02
SEND A COPY TO EVERY JUDGE IN YOUR COMMUNITY!! Ms. Hagen has done an OUTSTANDING job of exposing the fallacies of the Psych communities involvement in the legal system. If you are attempting to refute bad "science" this book will help you to understand how to go about it. It will not give you step by step instructions but the understanding of how and WHERE the flaws are will help to create questions and arguments against "SNAKE OIL SALESMEN" (might make a good follow up title?). I am buying a box and sending one to ALL of our judges. They ALL need to know what they are dealing with!
Interesting, important and essentially true.......1998-09-24
Margaret Hagen is an experimental psychologist who studies human activities. She is very much aware how little we know or can predict about human behavior, and that we know virtually nothing about how the brain works in everyday life. Clinical psychologists, the people who decide about mental illness, treatment, prison confinement, and guilt and innocence in court do not draw on this meager knowledge. Rather, clinical psychology depends on speculations about human behavior going back to Sigmund Freud, and on the intuition of the psychotherapist. In other words, clinical psychology is neither science, nor does it rely on firm knowledge. She refers to therapy and assessment as ineffective, a waste of time. We, the public, the courts, various welfare and other institutions, desperately need to assess and to know what to do with persons, including children, who are emotionally damaged, who commit criminal acts, or are just generally behaving weirdly. Society has empowered the clinical psychologist to make these determinations, to say who is sick, who is guilty, who needs treatment, and how to dispose of the case. The clinical psychologist has no, absolutely no, no kind, of science to base his or her judgement on. We simply do not know how people will behave in future, nor do we understand the working of the brain. "I have said it before, and I will say it again, there are no reliable valid, mental or `behavioral' tests for suspected child abuse worth a damn In this mythology, the individual is an impotent pawn of his environment and upbringing, and the family is more likely pathological, dysfunctional, and damaging. In contrast, "the ideas of free will and moral choice have vanished from the landscape." (p. 306) Clinical psychologists confidently assert that memories of trauma may be repressed, and will cheerfully help a client or witness in a criminal case excavate these repressed memories. This, despite that fact there is no evidence of repression anywhere in the large experimental literature on the subject. People can forget, they can avoid thinking of the unpleasant past, they may scramble memory, but they will not repress it. In clinical psychology children are fragile and have to be protected from the court, from their parents, and from unhappy experiences lest they be damaged forever. Yet, what we know about the brain, is that children heal more, better, and faster than adults, are more resilient, and can cope with adversity better than adults. This is a very interesting book, and, I think, essentially true as well.
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- Review of Perry Ferrell's "Whores"
- not easy reading.
- Life in the Fast Lane
- Hard to put down
- Great bio of a classic band
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Whores: An Oral Biography of Perry Farrell And Jane's Addiction
Brendan Mullen
Manufacturer: Perseus Books Group
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Binding: Paperback
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Don't Try This At Home
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Jane's Addiction
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Best of Jane's Addiction
ASIN: 0306814781 |
Book Description
"[Whores] masterfully recaptures the manic energy and ruined glory of a brilliant, bombastic era fueled by sex, drugs, and groundbreaking rock 'n' roll." (Boston Globe)
"Whores acts as a fine alt-rock companion to Motley Crue's similarly narco-fueled, quote-based The Dirt." (Blender)
Jane's Addiction's 1988 breakthrough album, Nothing's Shocking, had a seismic impact. With a bracing combination of metal, punk, and psychedelia, coupled with lead singer Perry Farrell's banshee-ina- wind-tunnel vocals, Jane's Addiction helped put alternative music on the map. The band helped pave the way for the mainstream success of bands like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Nirvana. Along the way, Jane's Addiction released another classic album, Ritual de lo Habitual (with the hit "Been Caught Stealing"), founded the Lollapalooza festival, and openly celebrated a bacchanalian lifestyle that blurred all lines of gender and sexuality.
Drawn from original interviews with the band, their friends, and their musical colleagues, Whores takes readers through Farrell's early sonic experiments with Psi-Com and the formative days of Jane's Addiction to their drug-addled break-up and controversial reunion with 2003's Strays. Along the way it provides a candid, often disturbing glimpse into the dynamic alternative rock scene of Los Angeles in the '80s and '90s.
Customer Reviews:
Review of Perry Ferrell's "Whores".......2007-08-04
I read Dave Navarro's book first, and then Perry's book, and I loved them both, just as I love and respect both guys, as artists and as people. I personally wouldn't write a book in the style/format that Perry used, but that certainly took nothing away from it's overall charm and entertainment. Dave didn't mentioned Jane's, as much, and Perry brought out a lot more information I didn't know, and I really enjoyed reading this book, and then watching his videos is almost too much for me. I laughed so hard at him - he is so crazy (a good crazy), sounds like a fun guy you would like to know, and gave a good insight into what all happened during the reign of the once "all time great legends" of a band, "Janes's Addiction." There isn't a day that goes by that I don't play Kettle Whistle, a partial Jane's Addiction collaboration CD, and I will never get tired of them. I think Perry wants to put the band back together. I think if they can't do some things together just in the studio in the old Jane's style, that's a shame. Perry has played with Dave in Camp Freddy, but I just miss these guys so much. I've bought all the Jane CDs I can find, 3/4 of Perry "on his own" CDs, the Panic Channel, Trust No One CD by DN, and plan to try to get my hands on a whole entire collection to put together, if anybody knows the best way to find the websites, etc. They broke up - they took a piece of me. I don't blame them - it's just sad. Maybe we're being selfish. Has Perry written anything else, or Dave?? I am now watching Spread Entertainment, Dave Navarro's Mania TV, and a lot of the videos are on there, and I was glad to see that. I really enjoy Mania TV.
not easy reading. .......2007-01-07
More of a list of opinions and comment than a true story line. Did not finish this book.
Life in the Fast Lane.......2006-10-05
For anyone who wants to really understand the underground scene of the eighties in Los Angeles, this book is for you. The book fills in alot of gaps as to who the creative geniuses behind Jane's Addiction were. I grew up in Los Angeles and appreciate the vivid detail the book takes in what the music scene (goth, grunge, punk, hippy) was all about. I also appreciate the mention of Michael Ozair who was a legendary figure at the time - a Ken Kesey of his day with the Shroomsville Family as a sort of Merry Pranksters of the eighties. I had the opportunity to experience the legendary gatherings, parties and events that Ozair put together. Dave Navarro was definitely part of that scene as I remember, seeing him and Ozair together at the gatherings, and Grateful Dead shows. (I also know that both Perry Farrel and Ozair were involved in the Kabbalah scene, and have crossed paths in the late 90's). I recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand the musical youth culture in which this music grew out of. I was also very happy to see the mention of the early gigs at "Scream", since that is where Jane's Addiction got their earliest cult following. However, I have only rated it with four stars because there was not enough information about what inspired the songs themselves. I would have loved to have seen more about what inspired the songs, lyrics and musical content. Other than that, it was a book that was hard to put down....
Hard to put down.......2006-04-24
As a new fan to Jane's Addiction, it's usually in my blood to have to know more and more about a band I'm getting into.
So this looked like a first, and great choice. I figured it'd be in a sense like "The Dirt", the Motley Crue oral biography that had tons upon tons of info about the band.
After getting into this book, it seems it should have been titled "Jane's Addiction and their drug addictions." 60% of the book seems to be about the members drug intake, and really almost nothing else. And there's hardly anything noted at all, about what matters, the music. We don't get any stories or info about how songs came to fruition, how music came together. In the sections where it's covering the time in their career when they're doing an album, you're lucky to get 2 or 3 pages on the entire studio course.
Over all, as a new fan, this book seems to raise more questions than answers. Hardly anything at all is talked about of the Relapse '97 reunion, except the parts of Flea joining the band for it.
If you're a new fan, curious about the band, I would honestly pass this one up. It has nothing that interviews won't tell you so far, I seemed to learn more by searching the web and finding my own info.
If you're interested in Jane's music, this book won't tell you much. If you're interesed in how much Jane's Addiction loved drugs, then you'll enjoy this book.
Great bio of a classic band.......2006-02-24
As someone who refused to even listen to the latest Jane's album (i'll only acknoledge the first 3!), didn't know what to expect from this book, a cheap attempt to wring some cash from an ever-diminishing fan-base? But Jane's is one of those bands... true innovators, and this book is a terrifically detailed account of their story. I was really impressed by the vast amount of interviewees the author was able to bring together in a very coherent manner, including Casey Niccoli and Eric Avery. A must for true fans.
Books:
- My Life So Far
- Natural Hormone Balance for Women: Look Younger, Feel Stronger, and Live Life with Exuberance
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- Once Upon a Time: Walt Disney: The Sources of Inspiration for the Disney Studios
- Playboy Interviews with John Lennon & Yoko Ono: The Final Testament
- Principles of Marketing (Principles of Marketing)
- Restoring Broken Things
- ROOM FULL OF MIRRORS: A BIOGRAPHY OF JIMI HENDRIX
- Sense and Sensibility
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