Elizabeth got polio at the height of her career, and she did whatever she needed to succeed. Since she could no longer dance, she formed a ballet company and taught. Since she could no longer use her hands, she learned to paint beautiful ballerinas and angels with a paint brush in her mouth. The book is wonderful to read and has many of her beautiful pictures and drawings in it. Elizabeth, who was totally paralysed by the poliovirus, says: "I am often asked what it feels like to be paralysed. Apart from being unable to move...and the non-stop battle to breathe, my body feels normal. If I could be granted three wishes I would choose the return of my diaphram, my hands and my arms." She enjoyed her work, and was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1977. Elizabeth was dealt a difficult hand, but she managed to deal with it. When asked what her ultimate goal was she answered, "I should think a nice little dance in heaven." And so, the dance does go on...

This is a very nice story about a guy who was a victim of envy first of his brothers, and then other people at emperor's court but in the end he manages to get the beautiful princess for himself with the help of a little hump-backed horse. This was my favourite fairy-tale when I was little, and recently I read it again to my baby brother, and he loved it also.

Sometimes is the truth is stranger than fiction! This is certainly the case with Notorious Woman: The Celebrated Case of Myra Clark Gaines. This book had everything I wanted -- scandalous family secrets, an heir fighting for legitimacy, a struggle through the courts, even a murder -- AND, it's all true! The author re-tells the drama as it unfolded in the courtroom and lets you come to your own conclusion: Was Myra Clark Gaines the true heir to a New Orleans real estate fortune worth millions? You decide.

The book, the Venus Hottentot, by Elizabeth Alexander, is a powerful conflation of what it means to be an african-american woman artist in a space that is dominated by the aestheticized science of the white male patriarchy. Within her writing, Alexander combines beautiful imagery with potent politics. Much of Alexander's poetry involves a renaming. The poems titled with names involve an elaboration of those names into a series of images, a collage of interconnected senses, places and objects. The poet's active role as historian reawakens the components of history, allowing them to shape and be shaped by the poetic encounter. Through the restructuring of names within history, Alexander renames herself. History becomes a menagerie of colors rather than the juxtaposition of black lettering on blank paper, making her poetry a sensual compilation of rhythms, colors and rescripted historical themes.

"All changed, changed utterly: A terrible beauty is born." --W.B. Yeats, "Easter 1916"

"a terrible beau- ty a terrible beauty a terrible beauty a horn" --Elizabeth Alexander, "John Col"

The parallel of Ireland's War for Independence to John Coltrane's jazz at first may strike some readers as a stretch. However, through the pen of Elizabeth Alexander, an African-American poet who manages to discuss at once important issues of race and myriad topics within history, art and music, any connection is elucidated with eloquence and power. In "The Venus Hottentot," Alexander's first book of poems, the subjects range from personal memory to entire cultural memories to human subjects: John Coltrane, Romare Bearden, Claude Monet, a rare black cowboy. In the fourth section of her book, Alexander's essential message is one of unity in difference. "I could go to any city/ and write a poem" she states in "Miami Footnote." And she does, writing out of Boston, Philadelphia, Brooklyn. Her subjects are black, Hispanic, and the eye with which she paints them has its own form of the Monet's xanthopsia in "Monet at Giverny." Colors fade from the black and vivid blue of Bearden's collages into "yellow freesia," "red notes." In "Today's News", she states that "blackness is" is a poem she does not want to write, because "we are not one or ten or ten thousand things." The reader stands looking up and around at the montage, a Diego Rivera mural surrounding one with "walls and walls of scenes of work." The "Painting" is effusive, so why not include the Irish? Out of the clashes of culture, the curious, though ignorant, manipulation of a race in "The Venus Hottentot," a "terrible beauty is born." Alexander sees this beauty in all its colors and musical shadings, none of which alone can describe a situation. Shading her vision with Irish green or Monet's blue, she lives true to the words of "Today's News": "Elizabeth,/ this is your life. Get up and look for color,/ look for color everywhere." Perceptive readers would do well to join Alexander in her search; they just might find something unexpected and lovely.

If you're looking for an energetic, political, feminist poet who calls it like it is - you've got to read this book. It is beautifully provocative, and tightly written - very exciting stuff.

I was mesmerised by this book. Of course, one often takes biographies with a grain of salt, but I was most impressed with the way that Taylor handled her career like a man -- how she was able to go on despite the pressures of her situation. The love story between Burton and Taylor shines through, and I think I understand a little more about love, even though theirs was a tumultuous one. She is a role model for people in the performing arts who turn their attention toward great and needy causes, and I respect her immensely. Also, the photographs in this book illustrate the fact that Liz was -- and still is -- the most luminous raven-haired beauty in Hollywood. Long may she rule as the last star of Hollywood.

In the book The Life of Elizabeth Taylor, Alexander Walker captures the extraordinary beauty's life in every way. Fans will absolutely love this book. It is a thorough in depth biography filled with more than 30 amazing photos of Elizabeth throughout the years.
It starts from the beginning of her life in London where her mother's strong willed attitude pushes Elizabeth forward. Alexander focuses on her success in many movies such as National Velvet, A Place in the Sun, and Cleopatra. The Oscar winning performance she gave in Butterfield 8 and the two academy awards that made her a legend are depicted.
Along with all the positive aspects of her life also came the long downfalls that have intrigued us over the years. Elizabeth's eight marriages are uncovered along with her conniving personality that broke apart other people's marriages. Her obsessions of jewelry, clothing, and sex are exposed. The truth behind her ongoing drug and alcohol abuse is revealed. Elizabeth's suicide attempt at age 29 along with the 73 total hospitalizations throughout her life is publicized. This book shows us the real Elizabeth outside of the glamour. The dramatic experiences with facing the public with the on going scandals and personal tragedies is drawn out for the readers.
This book gives a true insight in Elizabeth Taylor's life. From the high points to downfalls, her life is captured by Alexander Walker to its fullest. Elizabeth's life has been an often-tragic fairytale that people have followed throughout the past 50 years.

Reading this book about Calder's work makes me want to bend a wire clothes hangar into nifty loops and spirals ... just for the fun of it.

Calder's art is BIG TIME fun, on every scale from immense graceful outdoor sculptures to strikingly elegant necklaces and pins. The book shows the variety of his creations...tapestry motifs, silver and brass cutlery, campaign posters. Check out his clever pull toy for a toddler.

Mobiles is probably Calder's most familiar category of work, but his playful menagerie, including a kangaroo, an elephant, a giraffe, a big bird and a flock of origami-size birds is his most endearing.

Photos and narrative, together, convey the wit and warmth of the sculptor. They offer opportunity to meet Calder, his wife, and their circle of friends.

Calder, by fine example, inspires one to lighten up and love it. This book is written permission to do exactly that, be it, high brow, low brow or no-brow.

Being a fan of Scott and his writings, I expected much more from this book than it was able to offer. Although the actual writing of the book is excellent, conveying wonderfully the flavor and character of the times as well as the vanity of the monarchs and suitors, the plot ends abruptly with a tragic ending. Aside from altogether disliking tragedies, I found this ending a surprising disappointment because the book gave very little indication of the horrific climax which was to come. After finishing the last page, I almost felt as though I had finished reading two separate books - a romance and a tragedy

I like Sir Walter Scott. I like his heroic characters, his idealistic heroes and his romantic (in the 19th century sense)ideals. "Ivanhoe" is one of my all time favorites (moviegoers, don't get the Robert Taylor verson, hold out for the one with Anthony Andrews!) Scott was to the romantic novel what Errol Flynn was to the 1930's swashbuckler: he defined it! Waverley is one of his real "Scottish" novels, and I liked that a lot. But I have always had a hard time with "Kenilworth." It drags on too long, the plot moves at snail's pace, and darn it, there ain't no action! Maybe I wasn't in the mood for it, but I have to say, I expected more. I don't know why this book has had such notoriety, and I hate to say this about a "classic," but I'm sorry, this book was really a disappointment. But I will say this: the Penguin (or what I like to call "Harlequin for Nerds") edition was very attractively packaged. But alas, I have to admit, I still judge a book by its cover!

As a ardent reader of medieval England stories, this is one book which I found as entertaining and romantic as any other book I have read. It has everything from castles and Knights in horses to damsels in distress. Scott is magnificent in the portrayal of Amy as well as Sir Walter Raleigh and Elizabeth is the crown of his characterisation. A book worth reading..

When compiling a list of the worst books ever written, this one should place somewhere near the top. I am not sure whether to blame the initial author or the translator. The prose is sometimes readable, but mostly flowery romance-novel type fare with little redeemable value. Some passages caused me real pain to read through, as filled with luxuriously long descriptions of the Countess' skin and hair, facts I'm sure the author cannot possible glean from portraits or contemporary records. but fictionalized to add pages to the book.

The speculation the author engages in constantly seems to be the biggest problem. The book's publishers proclaim on the back cover that The Bloody Countess is a work of 'History/Decadence.' I don't know if the 'History' part of the description actually applies, as the book seems to be very reliant on extemporaneous guesses about individual motives and very thin on citing documents or any form of historical data. One of the most glaring and irritating flaws of this book comes from the author's constant quoting of letters and journals with single quote marks' ' ' and not explain who or where such information came from. I suspect this is because the letters are a product of the author's mind. Either way, it would be nice to see where these items came from, and where one might verify the source. Sadly, we get none of this; instead, we get minimal fact and maximum fantasy from the mind of the author.

Lack of documentation could be forgivable in a work of 'Historical Fiction,' but for a book to get published as 'History' and then translated without the slightest attention to research standards is unforgivable. Even in an undergraduate paper one expects sources to be properly cited and acknowledged. This book seems to be using the 'based on a true story' method of citation so common for television and movies, which is simply deplorable in a work of serious history.

More than anything, while reading The Bloody Countess I felt as if the author were trying to stretch 30 pages worth of (bad, undocumented) material into a 200-page book. This book is sloppy, pedestrian, and a complete waste of time, beyond being poorly written and painful to read.

a quick interesting read,its too bad there isnt more available about this bizzare subject.

I loved this book. I only gave it 4 outta 5 due to very detailed Hungarian history. It was hard to keep all the names of all the towns and castles in order. The story itself was great and full of delicious gore and I have recommended this book to many friends.