Product Description
At the age of five, Michael Ryan was molested by a neighbor. Nearly 40 years later, he found himself methodically preparing to seduce a girl who was barely more than a child. As Ryan describes his free fall into sexual obsession, he creates an autobiography that is at once harrowing and redemptive, heartbreaking and profoundly moral. "By turns repelling and seductive . . . absorbing and disquieting."--New York Times Book Review. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

A nice autobiography
This book was tasteful and interesting.I bought and read this book because I saw that my english professor was reading it--I didn't even know what it was about.When I bought it and saw it was about an addiction tosex I felt a little embarrassed--but soon got over it because it's notabout sex, it's about a man with an addiction.I reccomend this as aliterary read if nothing else.Ryan has true talent.

The Stark Life of a Sex Addict
I never understood sexual addiction until I read this book. Ryan is incredible - he is able to completely convey what horrors this compulsive behavior meant for him. What said it all to me is when he explained hewould go into bars and pick up whomever - a man, a woman . . . it didn'tseem to matter! (He wasn't bisexual) Another shocker is that he had anincredible position at Princeton, but just couldn't keep his you-know-whataway from his students. All that mattered is that he HAD to have sex, thecompulsion was so incredibly intense, he just approached whomever washandy. In addition, this book, surprisingly enough, is amazingly funny (itreminds me of another memoir, "Permanent Midnight" in that way).Sometimes I found myself laughing out loud! It seemed that the humor was agreat healer for him. My only regret is that he didn't reveal histreatment, which I would have loved to have learned about, as hiscompulsion was so deeply engrained. Bravo to him for "coming out ofthe closet"on this issue, writing this book, and showing us whatthis compulsion took from him.

Great story about the suffering of a sex addict.
This is one of the very best books I have ever read about sex addiction.Not only does it present a powerful, gut-wrenching account of what it feels like to be such an addict, it also tells a moving, often tragic, but alsoinspiring story of growing up in the America of the '50s and '60s.

Theauthor wins you over early as he leads you slowly and painfully through hisearly childhood and molestation, his memories of his alcoholic father,academic and athletic struggles, peer conflicts, bottoming out in his sexaddiction, then seeking recovery through a 12-step program.

Must readingfor anyone affiliated in any way at all with any of the nearly half dozenprograms dealing with sex/lust addiction.Highly recommended for other12-step recovery people who might be tempted to snear at sex addiction. Ryan demonstrates that his disease was just as deadly as alcoholism anddrug addiction. After reading the book, one realizes it is no laughingmatter - regardless of what some sitcoms and commercials say.

Compareswell with "Asylum" by Patrick McGrath, also about sex addiction,but, unlike "Secret Life," a novel with the tone of a thriller. Ryan's story is so compelling, one almost feels sorry to put it down butwishes the author well at the end as he embarks on a hopeful journey ofrecovery.

Eye-opening, especially for parents and educators
I found Secret Life reveals many insights about human nature. Michael Ryan models a way to honestly face the worst aspects of oneself--right through adolescence--with humor, compassion, and therefore the capacity to change.

Judge not, that ye be not judged.
My Dad used to teach me that no one is "weird", but that we are all people of different backgrounds and experiences. This book shows that truth in the life story of Michael Ryan. It's a brilliant example of the experiences that shape each individual life, for better or worse or sometimes, eventually, both ... Read more

Product Description
This biography traces Hughes' life and artistic development, from his early years of isolation, which fostered his fierce independence, to his prolific life as a poet, playwright, lyricist, and journalist. Hughes' inspiring story is told through 21 engaging chapters, each providing a fascinating vignette of the artistic, personal, and political associations that shaped his life. Recounted are the pivotal developments in his literary career, with all its struggles and rewards, as well as his travel adventures to Africa, Europe, and Asia, and his political commitments to fight fascism as well as racism. ... Read more

Product Description
Though Walt Whitman's poetry is known for its unabashed physicality and sexual energy, few biographers have directly confronted the impact of Whitman's sexuality and his cherished fraternal relationships on his art. Gary Schmidgall's fresh, insightful readings and innovative biographical technique illuminate the vital connection between Whitman's life as a homosexual and his legacy as a landmark literary artist.Through careful examination of contemporary sources and Whitman's own writing, including his letters and personal journals, Schmidgall explores Whitman as artist, lover, and friend. What emerges is a fascinating portrait of a man of deeply sexual nature, ardently pursuing the objects of his desire in erotic encounters and love affairs that fueled his creative energy and inspired his seminal literary achievements.Candid, unapologetic, and deeply revealing, Walt Whitman: A Gay Lifeenriches our understanding of the father of American poetry.Amazon.com Review
Walt Whitman's place in U.S. letters is unchallenged: he isthe poet of America, democracy, and individual freedom. Yet Whitmanand his work have been misrepresented by scholars and critics duringthe 20th century, and it is only recently that they have begunadmitting the poet's homosexuality and examining its effect on hiswork. Gary Schmidgall's bold and well-researched Walt Whitman: AGay Life presents abundant and irrefutable evidence of the poet'svibrant sexuality and details Whitman's sexual and romanticaffairs. More important, however, he explains how Whitman's attractionto men was at the root of his poetic vision: in Whitman's work the"body electric" is more than a metaphor. Walt Whitman: AGay Life is a vital addition to Whitman studies and critical workon American literature. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

I... don't really think Whitman wanted us to ponder this
In a world where historical figures as prominant and as influential as Walt Whitman are thought to be Homosexual, its very unfortunate for people who study Modern American literature like myself that "Historians" jump to outrageous conclusions, spurred on by desire for fame and a savage media, as in this book.

Didn't Walt Whitman want his readers to be captivated by his beautiful use of the English language and criticize events such as the American Civil War? These overprivalaged "hisorians" need not take out frustrations on such great men. The fist of Satan on America and the rest of the world is tightening, especially with the reelection of an international terrorist in November and our little "War on Terrorism" which enters its 4th year in September. What we need is a War on Poverty, a War on Ignorance, and a War on Men such as Bush who do an excellent job of speeding up the decline of the American Empire. "Bread and Circuses" and constant warfare with people like the Carthaginians in the Punic Wars contributed to the fall of the Roman Empire. I think America will go out in a classical style and fear that another Middle Ages will haunt generations which will come a few hundred years after this is published.


Mr. Schmidgall, I must applaud you for trying to bring Whitman to another generation but I personally think you might've taken the words of Ginsberg a little too seriously...

Walt would love this...
One of the things that people often do is to take their heroes and try to see within that person themselves. It's only natural. It's through someone else's greatness that we experience it, and often, find our own. So it's not surprising that many Whitman biographers have passively denied Whitman's homosexuality, or out right refuted it. It's also not surprising that Gary Schmidgall takes a different view, and sees Whitman through the eyes of a gay man, writing an impressive, passioned look at Whitman's life called "Walt Whitman: A Gay Life".

Based on a look on Whitman's poetry, letters, and other sources, Schmidgall tells a tale of a gay Whitman. This isn't a biography, however, which Scmidgall admits right away. His book attempts to describe Whitman during different phases in his life, particularly important ones that would have shaped his gay identity. Therefore, the focus is not broad across the span of Whitman's many years, but very intensely focused specific times, for example, Whitman as an opera lover.

Schmidgall admits upfront the task before him which is enormous; being that in all of Whitman's known correspondances, interviews, archival evidence, details on his sexuality and sex life is scanity at best. We have no big true confessional, and when asked directly about the sexual content of "Leaves of Grass", his pat answer is to let the work speak for itself. However, Schmidgall does an awesome job reconstructing Whitman, looking at everything through the eyes of a gay man, bringing the poet alive much more than other biographies which I've read.Schmidgall liberally uses the words like "imagine, think, suppose" when talking about his points, but you forgive him. The task is daunting, but well done.

Whitman is alive in this book as he never has been before. Whereas more scholarly books fail to adequately persue Whitman's sexuality, this one brings it alive, and therefore, brings Whitman alive in a wonderful sense. You can almost hear the poet chuckling in the background as you read some of the passages. Whatever the effect, Whitman has been drawn closer to my heart because of this book, and I highly recommend it.

not the only book on whitman, but...
this is a great book to add to the growing collection of whitman biographies. don't make this the only one you read, however. that said, it does an amazing and passionate job that i think whitman would appreciate.

Finally, the Truth About Whitman
Undoubtedly, the most amazing thing about the many Whitman bio's (and there's certainly no shortage of them), is their denial of hishomosexuality.This is why Schmmidgall's work stands head and shouldersabove them all (including Jerome Loving's seemingly exhaustive bio thatdoesn't present Whitman as being gay).The trouble with Loving and therest who would deny Whitman's sexuality is that they are either terriblyhomophobic, or that they never read any of Whitman's poetry.The onlyreason I gave the book a three star rating, is because I don't feel it's agood first-Whitman-book to read for the uninitiated.Rather, I would startwith his actual poetry, maybe read a popular bio, and then end up withSchmidgall's "Gay Life". ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (14)

Lifesaving
This bookis a marvel...connecting each of us to our own sense of loss, even if we did not lose our parents tragically and suddenly.There is loss of parents, whether through death, or simply growing up and apart, loss of innocence, loss of youth...all is delved into with the keenest yet gentlest of inquiry and revelation.Beautifully written, for everyone to read.A solace to the soul.A place to lay your head down and just breathe into the pain and joy of being human.

Really? Maybe I am missing something. . .
I don't get all the glowing reviews written here. I am memoir obsessed at the moment and have been reading everything I can get my hands on. In other words, I am currently inclined to like a book just because it is a memoir.

Lifesaving, however, just frustrated and annoyed me. At the sentence level, the writing was fine. At the level of narrative, however, it seemed as though she was refusing to tell the story. . .which as far as I can tell (easier said than done, and I have a PhD in English) is about her transformation out of a state of refusing to let herself feel and into a more open and accepting state of mind. The most interesting bits (the part where the transformation occurs) are missing from the book, skipped over in a way that feels like a slap in this reader's face: you will not get what you came for, my story.

It left me wondering **why** did Barrington even bother telling her story? Any indication of this seemed conspicuously and painfully absent.

One of the most respectable traits of a strong memoirist is her ability to make the ordinary compelling and to find a story in her life that others really ought to experience. But Barrington's account of her experiences--as remarkable and extra-ordinary as the "facts" seem to be--was quite unremarkable at best and homophobic at worst. After 150 pages (3/4 of the book) I found myself wanting to shout, "Okay, I get it. You are avoiding feeling anything, so why are you telling your story?!"

Honestly, I just don't get what makes this memoir so highly ratable by others here. It's as if I read another book (so I checked--it's the same one ;-). Bleh.

Amazing story, lyrically written
This is my idea of how a memoir ought to be written: honest, engaging, revealing, but not at all self obsessed. At the heart of the story is a great loss: the death of the author's parents when she was nineteen, but surrounding that core is a story of a young woman in Spain. It evokes the place and time, it convinces on many levels, and I couldn't put it down. I plan to read it again...

Adrift on land
Winner of a Lambda Literary Award, Barrington's memoir chronicles the years after the deaths of her parents during a cruise ship tragedy. Running from her grief, as well as her emerging desires for women, Barrington travels to Spain to work as a tour guide for a winery. There, she submerges herself in her work and in nightly encounters with various men. It's not until many years pass, that Barrington is able to grapple with her grief and visit her parents' grave in Gibraltar. This autobiography is about the struggle to overcome past tragedies and pain, and to finally embrace the full emotional range of one's self in the journey to wholeness. I was rather enchanted with Barrington's style, yet I felt she didn't delve into the depths as much as the memoir warranted. She does address this in the narrative, where she remarks on how people reacted upon hearing of the deaths of her parents at sea. Everyone does deal with tragedy in different ways, and who's to say which is more appropriate?

A gorgeous, powerful read
This book is cause for celebration. Judith Barrington writes with refreshing honesty and emotion, and she doesn't take any shortcuts or easy-outs when it comes to dealing with grief, sexuality, and growing up.I came away from "Lifesaving" breathless and moved.A deeply compelling story, it dwells in grief at the same time that itcelebrates the life and growth found within it.The writing is subtle and raw.This book prompted me to take up my pen and write again.An underappreciated, relatively unknown gem that I hope more people discover. ... Read more

Product Description
Benjamin Britten and W.H. Auden were key figures of the 1930s, and here Donald Mitchell traces their lives during one crucial year, 1936. They worked hard to establish themselves, first through the GPO film unit, in a collaboration which flowered and spilled over into the theatre, and then radio - a new medium that the liveliest creative minds of the time were exploring and exploiting. Britten and Auden also joined forces in works destined for the recital room and concert hall, among them Our Hunting Fathers, the political symbolism of which Donald Mitchell examines in depth, and On the Island, settings of early Auden that comprised Britten's first important set of songs to English texts. Much use is made of Britten's private diaries, which he kept on a daily basis, and a revealing portrait emerges of the two men's relationship, of their work together in many different fields, and of the reflection within that work of political ideas current at the time. ... Read more

Product Description
Out of the frenzied pace of bustling New York, aspiring artist Michael Klein sets off for the racetracks of the Midwest in pursuit of his lover--and into the exotic, incomparable world of horse racing.Amazon.com Review
Pursuing a lover who fled because of his alcoholism, theauthor wound up as a racetrack groom in Cincinnati. His lyrical,episodic narrative chronicles five years in horse racing (1979-84),with flashbacks to a ghastly childhood. Michael Klein (now sober) is a poet,and it shows in his unerring use of just the right words to describe,precisely yet colorfully, an out-of-control life that climaxed withbeing fired just before his Kentucky Derby-winning colt ran thePreakness. A moving memoir and a loving depiction of the byzantinetrack world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Memorable Memoirs
Klein, Michael. "Track Conditions: A Memoir", University of Wisconsin Press, 2003.

Memorable Memoirs

Amos Lassen and Literary Pride

Michael Klein is an award winning poet and should win awards for his wonderful memoir "Track Conditions". It is both shameless and fascinating. After he followed his lover to an Ohio race track, Michael Klein began a three year career as a groom in the world of horse racing. He managed to bond with the 1984 Kentucky Derby winner, Swale. However he was plague with alcoholism and deeply concerned about his relationship with his lover which was on the skids as well as memories of having been abused as a child. His memoir is a story written from the heart and it is a tale of resilience. Using the race track as a metaphor for life, he shares his joys and his pain.
This is some of the most beautiful writing I have ever read but that does not mean that Klein does not get down and gritty. He holds nothing back as he illuminates his life. His life is not a pretty story--it is filled with excesses--but even so it is beautifully rendered. Here is an honest recreation of a life that is compelling.
We read as Klein succumbs to alcohol and enters a depressive state over lost love, dependency and casual random sex. It is never easy to read coming-of-age stories that are filled with pain but this is a coming-of-age story not to be missed.
It is likewise a story about horses and with the equestrian background we read about a relationship between tow men that are in the midst of deterioration.
The world of horse racing is a homophobic place but Klein managed to survive it and move up along the circuit as a groom. He discovered an affinity for horses and loved them as they loved him. We get to look into the world of horses and learn things that the average person never knows. He refers to the secrets of the world of horses as "racetrack society. The world of horse racing is a gritty and unreal world but it is not just that world that Klein tells us of. He writes of how little was available to a young homosexual with very limited means.
Written in the past tense, the memoir puts a distance between reader and writer from his beginnings until 1984 with quite a shocking ending. Klein makes no evaluations or judgments--he leaves that to the reader.
It is Klein's openness that makes this book so good. He defies the usual conventions of narrative and he is a writer to be cherished. The book is unique and very special and in no way follows the styles of other coming out stories. It is harrowing tale of redemption written by a poet in prose. The chapters are short and amazing and we realize early that there is little chance of resolution to be found. It is not a tell-all memoir--rather it is a half-told life and has something for everyone. It is not a book just for gays but rather a small life story that looms large.

A Different Kind of Horse Story: A Million Big Stars
Oprah, for a million little reasons, you chose the wrong memoir for your book club.

In an age where honesty in memoir seems to be a rare commodity, TRACK CONDITIONS is probably one of the most honest, compelling, and underrated books in print.

A fascinating glimpse into author Michael Klein's downward spiral into alcoholism, lost love, dependency, and casual sex, this lyrical memoir is not an easy read-never easy to read about another person's coming-of-age psychic pain. But this memoir is a must-read.

A real-life thoroughbred horse story, from a former groom's point of view, this memoir focuses on the deteriorating relationship between two young men in the midst of their own personal crises.

In 1979, Klein, a confirmed New Yorker, desperately followed his lover Richard Coatney into the homophobic underworld of thoroughbred racing, beginning his career as a horse walker at River Downs in Cincinnati and working his way up to groomer at Belmont, Churchill Downs, and Pimlico.

Among all the empty booze bottles and one-night stands, Klein discovered an aesthetic affinity for horses, in particular one special--and well-known--thoroughbred, precipitating the author's final downfall and then leading toward his eventual salvation--and this memoir.

Klein leads the reader into a world rarely ventured into by the average horse track bettor: vivid descriptions of lame horses being cruelly euthanized and the casual doping of horses for monetary gain. At the beginning of chapter three, the author summarizes, from his perspective, the visible and invisible aspects of "racetrack society":

"There are people you see all the time: the barn help, the trainers, the exercise crew, the men and women who deliver hay and straw and feed. And there are those you see only rarely, if at all: the jockeys, the parimutuel clerks, the owners, the starting-gate crew. Two worlds: the training world and the racing world."

Ironically, from the reader's perspective, the visibility/invisibility paradigm is directly the opposite from the author's.

And Klein offers insights into worlds which are largely invisible to most of us: in addition to the gritty side of thoroughbred racing, he also reveals the limited options available to an impoverished young homosexual, also a poet and rebel, of the late seventies and early eighties.

First published in 1997, the memoir's main narrative covers the author's racetrack life, from its inauspicious beginning to its shocking 1984 denouement, with some interspersed flashbacks to his abusive and incestuous childhood and Manhattan life with Richard.

While revealing vivid and harsh details about his life, the author maintains a psychic distance from the reader through his dispassionate use of the past tense; moreover, he does not editorialize from the perspective of the forty-something memoirist.

He simply unfolds his story, leaving judgments, analyses, and evaluations up to his readers.

The distance works well; the author never whines or asks his audience to feel sorry for him. He simply presents "in-your-face" statements and facts, like them or hate them.

It doesn't matter what the reader thinks; in the end, Klein, with a metaphorical kick from his equine friend, triumphs.

There is beauty and poignancy in Klein's spare prose, yet glimmers of humor add some comic relief, for example, when he describes some of the other grooms and other track people and recounts some his late mother's family stories.

I recommend this book for both gays and straights--anyone who appreciates a well-written life-story, no matter how down and gritty.

I own the 1997 hardcover edition, and it is worth every one of the twenty-two dollars that I paid for it.

Beautiful, simply beautiful
Being a straight nursing student who lives in small town america,I wasn't sure I would relate to this book. But the writing and the openess of the author surpasses any differences between our lives. An amazing book.

pure blues and bliss
Michael defies narrative convention while achieving its goals in his long prose poem/memoir/story.His is a story of triumph: whether found covered in ash and velvet and 100 dollar bills or perhaps in the spotlight of literary praise.Either way this story helped save me.Michael is a writer I respect and emulate.

donaldahearn@hotmail.com

The best gay memoir ever
This book is so unique and special -- not at all your typical gay coming out story.There are horses here and the tactile world of the racetrack and Klein's lyrical and spare prose adds just the right kind of music to a poignant and harrowing redemption tale. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (3)

Autobiographical Essays
Shurin, Aaron. "King of Shadows", City Lights, 2008.

Autobiographical Essays

Amos Lassen


"King of Shadows" is a book of personal essays written in the first person by Aaron Shurin and each is fascinating. They tell of Shurin's living in San Francisco and his reminiscences as a poet, The book is s a look at the life of a gay men who lives openly and who has no fear nor regard for homophobia. Shurin begins with an essay that is a meditation on his fear of birds and moves onto what it was like coming out in Berkeley during the radical 60s.
His meditations are what pulls the reader in and they are filled with literary and biographical details that show us a period of American history and a new idea of freedom. Shurin's style is full of passion and imagery and read poetically. His essay on the gay bars of San Francisco gay bars will make you remember your first time. Shurin is a poet but his prose is wonderful once you settle in.
Even though what Shurin writes is personal, it is also somewhat universal, He writes beautifully and he recreates an era that was torn apart with the advent of AIDS.This is the kind of book that can be read and reread and then read again and again. It is not only what he writes about but how he writes about that makes this book so special.

King and Country
KING OF SHADOWS shows that the "love child of Robert Duncan and Denise Levertov" hasn't lost any of his touch after decades of work as one of San Francisco's leading poets.His ease with prose is amazing, though it is not for everybody, and some of the measured, musical sentences are richer and slower than anything in the last ten or twenty City Lights Books, but otherwise it is an inspired match of poet and publisher.

The brilliant title piece takes the form of an autobiographical collage which sees our hero trying out for a production of A MIDSUMMERS NIGHT DREAM at Beverly Hills High in the spring of 1965; hoping to audition for Oberon, he is startled to find the director thinks of him as more the Puck type.In another panel he visits a newsstand and as casually as possible buys a few treasures: suggestive physique mags, posing straps strained to the last denier.What's startling is his description of himself as a 17 year old, and how closely it resembles his look today."If you look at me in photos of this period, my body is delicately thin, my impish nose turned-up, my cheekbones high, my Mongol eyes slanted upwards mischievously, my small ears bat-like and similarly alert."Well, he must have a picture of himself in the Anne Frank annex of his home, a portrait aging and crackling with affect, for he is famous for looking exactly as he did twenty, thirty years ago.

It is a book of personal essays, in which various aspects of the first person narrative are given a workout.Shurin had led such an interesting a diverse life that he can afford to shrink whole universes of experience in a single page, if that is the way the piece wants to go.In another writer's hands, the discovery that one's father has gambled away hundreds of thousands of dollars might have been swollen to a whole book; here it is the spur to a larger discovery about poetry's efficacy.No one has written better of the "sweet, communal" spirit that still abides in San Francisco, and no one has with more accuracy captured the horror of an era stabbed and mutilated by the spear of AIDS.And always he takes the long view, which is a gift beyond all others.Look at the beautiful cover of his book, all the glamour and electricity of a city teeming with mortals, and then above, the strange, older, haunted stars watching all our mistakes without judgment or moral.

A strong pick for any personal, academic, or community library gay studies collection
San Francisco is known for its large gay community, and "King of Shadows" is one gay man's reminiscence upon living in the city as a poet. With twenty one essays, each heartfelt, personal, and filled with emotion, "King of Shadows" is a clear look into a life lived out in the open, unafraid of society's homophobia. A strong pick for any personal, academic, or community library gay studies collection. ... Read more

Product Description
"In this first volume of Living Out, a new series of gay and lesbian autobiographies, poet Rickel (arreboles) offers 16 impressionistic, often sexually explicit essays that follow no particular chronological order. The hallmark of his style is his adaptation of poetic techniques and structures to the narrative memoir. In "Groud," for instance, a brief essay on the role of habit and repetition in grounding one's sense of selfhood, Rickel makes his point effectively by invoking seemingly disparate anecdotes about a bird's nest, a mirror, the momentary loss of a bike, his father's extreme discomfort with unknown sounds and a friend's calling attention to his habitually furrowed brow. While this fragmentation subverts the traditional autobiography, it can also nudge the reader toward greater insight and emotional response, though Rickel occasionally stops short of a deeper, more rewarding examination of some of the issues he raises. In other essays, Rickel recalls growing up in Arizona in the 1950s as the child of classical musicians; caring for his aging father; his childhood sexual experiences with other boys, which were divorced from any notions of homosexuality; his sexual preference in youth for Hispanic boys; and the passionate sense of meaning and identity he found on discovering literature. Rickel's smooth, accessible writing and his candor about such personal feelings as racism and, in one episode, latent pedophilia often elevate this account of an otherwise conventional gay life."-Publishers Weekly

An impressionistic memoir offers images of a life in progress, including scenes from Boyer Rickel's rural Tempe, Arizona, childhood in the 1950s; his relationship with a physically shrinking father; his eccentric teenage friendships; his growing awareness of his sexuality among young, Hispanic gays; and a trip through Italy with his lover. A personal book, but also wholly universal, Taboo investigates the way one breaks through taboos and becomes a self-realized adult.

"Like Bernard Cooper's Truth Serum and Donald Windham's Emblems of Conduct, Boyer Rickel's Taboo is a memoir that is poetic and almost fragmentary. His prose is delicate and sensuous. We watch him grow up through the episodes, and watch as his growing self-knowledge augments sense and memory. A beautiful book."-Brian Bouldrey, editor of Best American Gay Fiction and book editor of the San Francisco Bay Guardian

"Even if I hadn't known that Boyer Rickel is a poet, I might easily have surmised it, not only because of the direct, graceful, beautiful, and deeply felt writing in his memoir Taboo, but because of the book's uncommon structure, which eschews Proustian completeness and aims instead for a more scattershot effect. In this age of revenge-seeking, neurotic, self-aggrandizing memoirs, I don't know of anything quite like this sane and lovely book. I recommend it highly."-Felice Picano, author of Like People in History ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Prose Poem
This book of episodes in the life of Rickel is intimate and authentic to the ear.Reading through it, I was amazed at how he brought to life not only the Arizona of the 50's but the present day.I am not suprised tolearn Rickel is a poet; I feel like I just finished a book of verse.

Prose Poem
This book of episodes in the life of Rickel is intimate and authentic to the ear.Reading through it, I was amazed at how he brought to life not only the Arizona of the 50's but the present day.I am not suprised tolearn Rickel is a poet; I feel like I just finished a book of verse. ... Read more

Product Description
The author aims to show how Wallace Stevens was involved with contemporary art theory, artists, art dealers and artworks. The text argues that this interaction played a central role in his poetry, his poetic theory and the unusual character of his poetic development. ... Read more

Product Description
Biography. Giacomo Leopardi (1798 - 1837) is widelyconsidered the greatest Italian poet since Dante. He was a scholar andphilosopher whose outstanding scholarly and philosophical works andsuperb poetry place him in the pantheon of great 19th-centurywriters. Iris Origo's masterful biography is an incisive psychologicalportrait of the melancholy, semi-cloistered, hunchback poet whosegenius, pain, and frustrated hopes found their outlet in poetryadmired for its brilliance, intensity and seemingly effortlessmusicality. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

beautiful and sad book about a tragic but great figure
iris origo really has something here, and her poetic biography of the great giacomo leopardi is a classic in itself. the darkness and despair of leopardi's verse is probably one reason for leopardi's obscurity and little known philosophical works, but the overwhelming sense of nothingness and meaninglessness that his work conveys is no reason to put him aside.we do not necessarily have to agree with an author about everything to enjoy the aesthetic brilliance and the passion present in his essays and poetry. anyone who gets a dark thrill (as i do) from philosophy and poetry that focuses on the more shadowy and sad side of existence will devour leopardi's work. he would undoubtedly gotten along with and befriended the two other great literary prophets of doom, samuel beckett and arthur schopenhauer, and unconsciously shares their philosophy and really disturbing reflections about the emptiness of human life and it's accidental and contingent origin. leopardi was a quite genuine pessimist, unlike schopenhauer who betrayed through his lifestyle and even occasionally in his work itself a love and passion for life and art, and his gloom is not simply temperamental or tongue in cheek as it with arthur, but is very serious and profoundly felt.leopardi's work openly refers to the poetic imagination and man's feelings of divinity or supremacy in the universe as "beautiful illusions", which is all the more infuriating to those who have them because does not violently condemn them or even make an effort to disprove them objectively, but just dismisses them offhandedly as the obvious products of wishful thinking and fanciful self delusion.despite the depressing and sometimes unbearable bleakness of his work, i think giacomo leopardi is unjustly obscure and the best italian poet since dante.all of his work is a must read for students or lovers of philosophy and poetry.

The gods be thanked...
I am so grateful to this publisher for having reissued the books of Iris Origo. I first read this book a dozen years ago and it has continued to haunt me since.

Origo has created a masterpiece from her tale ofLeopardi's short and lonely life. This is a book where the atmosphere ismore important than the facts. No poet could object to coming to life,thus, between the lines setting forth Origo's appreciation of his art andsympathy for his suffering.

Leopardi can hope for no better chance ofliterary resurrection than that given to him by Iris Origo. If thisbiography sends you in search of his poetry it has done its job. ... Read more

Product Description
Favorite Sons explores Sir Philip Sidney's extraordinary poetic legacy, which is closely linked to the development of the early modern family in England, both by-products of new forms of affection and secrecy, both shaped equally by pride and projection. The reasons for such connections are writ small and large by the Sidney family of writers. If family history is driven by and experienced through the logic of culture, all families are poetic projects, too, as the work of Sidney, Robert Sidney, Mary Sidney Herbert, and Mary Wroth attests.
... Read more

Product Description
estselling recording artist Ashanti stormed the pop charts with her debut album Ashanti, going all the way to #1 and staying there for 10 weeks, garnering legions of loyal fans and earning her the nickname the 'Princess of Hip Hop.' In Foolish/Unfoolish, Ashanti explores the same themes that make her music so real for her fans-stories of falling head-over-heels in love, becoming broken-hearted or insanely jealous, getting over it, and loving life. Spirited, moving, and filled with Ashanti's unique sense of humor, this collection of poetry and reflections will entertain and surprise as it offers an intimate look into the life of one of today's most popular performers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (34)

Lacks Depth
I agree with all of you who take into account the fact that Ashanti wrote these poems when she was in High School, however, I was in high School when I read it and was apalled at her skills. How can such a great song writer be such a terrible poet? It didnt make sense to me because I equate both those processes to be one and the same. I found her skill at writing these poems minimal, most of her content childish and amateurish. They lacked not only alot of emotional depth, but maturity.

Granted Ashanti is no Maya Angelou, but she's not an elementary school kid either, that is, it is the level her work can be compared to. I felt like I was reading the work of a fourth grader, if it wasnt for the content.

I love Ashanti, but I dont love this work.It just seems like people in her PR dept thought it was a good idea to put out something like this to capitalize on her popularity. Nothing but a ploy to make more bucks! Don't waste your money or better yet, check it out from the library.

to Derek M.A. Alexander
In response to Derek M.A. Alexander, while you and other reviewers made good points about Ashanti's work reflecting her younger and current age, the samples I read were poor, and I have taken into account that she wrote them when she was younger.This has nothing to do with her literary or educational level or even or maturity.Frankly, I've written better poems when I was younger, and I write better poems now.[...]

It's not the worst poetry book I've ever read
"Foolish/Unfoolish" is very much like T-Boz's "Thoughts" in terms of structure: poetry is intertwined with antedotes and somewhat misguided advice for the consumer. Unlike "Thoughts," which dealt with T-Boz's ideas about things she didn't understand (like Marilyn Manson, in my opinion) and things she did (like her troubles with sickle-cell disease), this book deals with 1) Ashanti's poems, 2) what Ashanti thinks about love and 3) Ashanti's love life in high school, especially her proms.I have to admit to liking some of the poems--"Watch Me Glisten" and "To the Club" are my favorites--but one has to remember that she wrote all these poems in high school, meaning that they lack maturity and possibly a few good edits that professional poets would do before releasing poetry books.Every poem in Ashanti's book could be written by any junior high/high school girl in America (whether they're in a honors English class learning about "fancy-smancy" poets like Ashanti brags about or not); when I think of Ashanti's poems, I think of the girls in my 10th grade honors English class that still wrote sappy poems about love (and I wasn't one of them).There's nothing extremely special about most of these poems (unless you include the fact that parts of "Gotta Get Out" and "Us" were used as interludes on "Chapter II" and "Concrete Rose," respectfully).As for the antedotes, my favorite is when Ashanti forgets to pick up her sister to take her to a dance...to reveal the rest would be a spoiler.Otherwise Ashanti is either trying to provide good advice for teenagers in love or talking about her boyfriends.I couldn't care less about her boyfriends--she comes off as this preppy, popular, lovestricken teenager with fairly mundane adventures.If I grew up with her, I probably would be an outsider watchingAshanti maneuver her way through the popular crowd, not giving a damn about whether she would be homecoming queen or not. And since I am four years younger than Ashanti, practically her peer, I can't really take her ideas about romanceseriously since I feel she lacks the romantic experience and confidence to give good relationship advice.(I also feel that she has some hang-up about sex, since she never delves into the topic fully in this book or in several of her romantic songs.)I feel that Ashanti could possibly be a good writer (and, sadly, for you people hoping she should never write a book again, she's inked deals to write more books for children) if she were a bit wiser and confident in love.

Foolish/Unfoolish : Reflections on Love
If you see this book or audio cd in stores RUUUUUUN it stinks oh my god I read the book first and it was boring so I was like I'm going to hear her read the book since she wrote it I thought she was going to put personality into it but she failed If they had a rating that was 0 or -1 then she'll deserves that

This Book Is For DIE HARD Ashanti Fans Only!!
I don't think Ashanti really put this out to show that she was some great poet, I think she was told by her handlers to put out one more thing for fans to buy.Strike while the iron is hot.This books is for die-hard fans only because they'll be the only ones to really get something out of this.I found the entries to be redundant and wishy washy.In one "reflection" Ashanti is trying to tell young ladies they don't need a man, love yourself, and play hard to get.Then in the next "reflection" she's saying that she wants to be with her boyfriend constantly, it's ok to have a little jealousy in your relationship, she's sneaking out of the house and from school for a guy.Which examples do you want young ladies to follow?It's one thing for Ashanti to write about her experiences but if she's trying to pass on lessons at least lead by example.It sounds like she was doing big girl things at an early age, some girls are mature enough for that but many are not.I give this book 2 stars instead of 1 solely based on the strength of her fans.They'll love anything she does like a true fan would, so I can see how they'll eat this up.Maybe with a little more time and proper editing this would have been much better. ... Read more

Product Description
This work is a new printing of a guide and history of W.B. Yeats' tower, Thoor Ballylee. It includes skethes by Lady Gregory. ... Read more

Product Description
Michiyo Fukaya, a Japanese-American lesbian poet and activist, was also a single mother of a mixed-race daughter, living on welfare, a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and adult sexual assault, and a woman of color in an all white environment. This collection portrays her life and that of a concerned lesbian community which was deeply affected by her presence. Edited by L. Shervington and Winner of Best of Small Press. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A fire is burning in me
I'm still reading this book. It appears to have some good ideas for fiction writing for young people. This book isnt as good for resources as I thought it would be. Its not a book I would purchase again.

Nice.
I didn't read it, it was for a friend. But I heard it was good. ... Read more

Product Description
Thomas Moore (1779-1852), the pocket-sized tenor who was the darling of English aristocratic drawing rooms, as he sang 'the wild songs of his dear native plains', was a true patriot. A gifted minor poet, whose first published work was a version of the erotic odes of the Greek poet Anacreon, he managed to create lyrics that, matched to traditional Irish airs, made his name famous throughout the English-speaking world even in his own lifetime. In spite of adulation from society hostesses he never forgot his country, with its present distresses and former greatness. He taught the English that the despised Irish peasants came trailing clouds of glory and would one day have to be reckoned with. It is impossible that the Irish Melodies should ever be forgotten, as married so perfectly to their airs they recreate the beginnings of modern nationalism. And just as the words are bereft without the tune so even a compact life of Ireland's minstrel boy requires as accompaniment a selection of his deathless lyrics. ... Read more

Product Description
An introduction to Rimbaud's life and achievement in the context of his love affair with Verlaine; which has been the subject of many plays and novels and a film. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

excellent short introduction with perceptive original insights
I was very pleased to find in this book not just a reliable short introduction to Rimbaud's life and work but also some unknown (to me) details about the lives and works of Rimbaud's circle, as well as the writer's effect on later generations -- for a short, inexpensive book on the subject this is peerless.

Flawed summary of the life of a revolutionary poet
I wanted to like this book, dealing as it does with a poet who more than anyone else discovered the boundaries of language, and then redefined it in a way which has since been much imitated, but never equaled. This book is beautifully produced and written in a chatty and engaging, if a little defensive, style - Benjamin Ivry does seem too intent at times at forcing Rimbaud into the role of militant gay icon when this was only one aspect of his life - and the photos and bibliography are excellent.

However, there are several unforgivable errors, ranging from the glaring (Rimbaud had his right leg amputated, not the left) to the merely annoying (quotes from a couple of poems are misattributed). Also, Ivry seems at times so carried away with his subject that he relies too much on supposition to prove a point: for example, there is absolutely no evidence that Verlaine commissioned Rosman's famous painting of a bed-ridden, gunshot-wounded Rimbaud.

What I did like about this book was the final chapter, a fascinating collection of quotes from gay artists, poets, writers and film-makers through the years, proving that, as Eugene Borza once said about Alexander the Great, there are as many Rimbauds as there are those who profess a serious interest in him.

Flawed summary of the life of a revolutionary poet
I wanted to like this book, dealing as it does with a poet who more than anyone else discovered the boundaries of language, and then redefined it in a way which has since been much imitated, but never equaled. This book is beautifully produced and written in a chatty and engaging, if a little defensive, style - Benjamin Ivry does seem too intent at times at forcing Rimbaud into the role of militant gay icon when this was only one aspect of his life - and the photos and bibliography are excellent.

However, there are several unforgivable errors, ranging from the glaring (Rimbaud had his right leg amputated, not the left) to the merely annoying (quotes from a couple of poems are misattributed). Also, Ivry seems at times so carried away with his subject that he relies too much on supposition to prove a point: for example, there is absolutely no evidence that Verlaine commissioned Rosman's famous painting of a bed-ridden, gunshot-wounded Rimbaud.

What I did like about this book was the final chapter, a fascinating collection of quotes from gay artists, poets, writers and film-makers through the years, proving that, as Eugene Borza once said about Alexander the Great, there are as many Rimbauds as there are those who profess a serious interest in him.

Rimbaud as a Saint of Gay Culture
In the early 1950s, Rene Etiemble published a doctoral dissertation of monumental proportions, "Le Mythe de Rimbaud", which enumeratedthe numerous, variegated and, ultimately, misleading and false mythologieswhich had been propogated about Rimbaud in the decades following his deathin 1891.Etiemble devoted more than twenty years to researching andrefuting these myths, including the myths of Rimbaud the seer, theCatholic, the Communard, the homosexual, the scoundrel, and the martyr.AsEnid Starkie suggested in her definitive biography, Etiemble's work had asalutary effect on modern approaches to Rimbaud by showing that "nosingle one of these descriptions accurately fits him."The result,among other things, was to shift the focus of Rimbaud studies fromhagiography, on the one hand, and demonization, on the other, to anexploration of Rimbaud's revolutionary poetic language andexpression.

More than fifty years after Etiemble's watersheddissertation, Benjamin Ivry has written "Arthur Rimbaud", abrief, fascinating, but ultimately somewhat disingenuous biographical glosson Rimbaud's life.Ivry's book is the first in a series of books to bepublished by Absolute Press, books intended "to explore and portraythe various and often unexpected ways in which homosexuality has informedthe life and creative work of the influential gay and lesbian artists,writers, singers, dancers, composers, and actors of our time."It is,in other words, a book which has an agenda--an agenda which once againseeks to fit the enigmatic nature of Rimbaud's biography into a mythology,this time a mythology of Rimbaud as a founding saint of modern gay culture. Thus, Rimbaud's brilliant, complex and poetically difficult masterpieces,"Une Saison en Enfer" and "Illuminations", works whichare laden with symbol and mystery, with a radically innovative poeticvitality, are reduced by Ivry to the product of Rimbaud's erstwhilehomoerotic relationship with Paul Verlaine.Every aspect of Rimbaud'sbrief life as a poet, in Ivry's depiction, is driven by Rimbaud's"gayness", by his love for Verlaine, by his presumed disinterestin women.Never mind other aspects of Rimbaud's biography--his severemother, his absent father, his religious upbringing, his revolutionarypoetic work itself!Moreover, while the book contains a usefulbibliography, it is devoid of footnotes, so it is impossible to ascertainthe veracity of the speculations which permeate Ivry's text.

Havingsaid all of this, I also must say that Ivry is an outstanding writer--hisprose sparkles--and this little book is definitely worth reading if youhave an interest in Rimbaud because it provides fascinating details onRimbaud's relationship with Verlaine and others.In particular, the bookextensively discusses the gay aspects of Rimbaud's life and poetry andRimbaud's influence on subsequent writers from Cocteau to Kerouac to JimMorrison.These are aspects of Rimbaud's life which are not explored veryclosely by Starkie's definitive biography and, if you read Ivry's book withsome degree of skepticism, it provides a fascinating and provocativecomplement to the standard treatment of Rimbaud's life

PERSEPTIVE INFO-CRAMMED BIOGRAPHY OF CONTROVERSIAL RIMBAUD
Benjamin Ivry's short, but informative tome is a refreshing outline on one of France's most controversial poets. Rimbaud(1854-1891) was a L'enfant terrible, writing all his major works before the age of 20! In Ivry's illuminating biography, the reader gets to understand the motivatingfactors behind his wrenching verse. Unlike manyRimbaud books, Ivry's bookdelves into the torrid, temultuous affair the young poet had with the olderpoet, Paul Verlaine. Their stormy affair is one of the most renowned in gayliterary history. Ivry pulls no punches in his description of their nearfatal relationship and through this understanding, we see where the painand the power of his verse emanated from. He offers a fount of informationon this rarely understood young artist and the demimonde of French literarysociety at the turn of the century. He also deconstructs many of Rimbaud'smost infamous poems, so that even the novice can understand the power ofhis words. Stocked with rare photos and art, this wonderful little bookalso has an extensive bibliography! ... Read more

Product Description
These words of wisdom from the father of American environmentalism offer advice on preserving the beauty and integrity of our planet. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

a knowledgeable master of Wildness
When I was in a hospital for 6 months, all I did was read this book by Henry David Thoreau. I longed to get outside and walk in the forest and smell the fresh dung of deer, stings of arachnoids and odor of skunks. I couldn't figure out the cryptic meaning the book posits at all. It's my own belief that nature might be a "woman" and Walking might be copulation but he also mentions porcupines in it, so at times I am left clueless. Most of the animals he mentions are now extinct, he was writing in 1825 after Charles Robert Darwin (English naturalist) dropped him off in Maine. I'm not sure if Thoreau was 'lost' and couldn't get back to NYC or if he was just going around in circles. If you're a zoologist, it might be worth your while to try to guess what animals he writes about. Most of the forests he mentions are now developed or industrial swathes of land, forming bland suburban zones and polluting factories. Henry David Thoreau lived on the largest island of Elba where he was killed by the USA government for not paying his taxes on rum. A good read for people of any weight. Moby-Dick or, The Whale (Penguin Classics) ... Read more