Praying with a Passionate Heart by Bridget Mary Meehan and Regina Madonna Oliver (Ligouri Press,1999) is a practical guide to prayer,meditation,and scripture.Using examples from everyday life and experience,the authors help us realize that praying and living go hand in hand and can and should be a "passionate" experience. The book gives us instructions on how to pray and provides exercises to get us going.It also helps us carry over our prayer life into our daily life and our relationship with those we love -and those we dont love!Each author takes a turn letting us enter into their lives of prayer and good works.Readers will be glad they read the book and will be able to use it as a "textbook" for union with God and neighbor.Highly recommended.

What an amazing book The Diva herself fully unclothed - including some outrageous and stunning photographs of her in full-on group sex. After waiting many years to get the book I bought it through Amazon and I am absolutely delighted with it.

i never really read this book , but i know the woman who wrote it, shes a friend of my grandma's, u'd never think that she went through what she went through, cause shes old now ,i guess. anywho, read it , bye, emily g.

If you just read one book on Medjugorje, this is the one. Mary Craig writes from an objective point of view on the apparitions in Medjugorje. Originally there to produce a documentry for BBC television, she ended up believing the events (after witnessing the sun dance )and writing a book. This book is the most factual, informative and realiable book written yet on Medjugorje. This book takes the reader back to the early 1980's when six teenagers saw the Mother of God on their village hill and the events that flowed from it. It tells of their questioning by the communist officials, their encounters with the local bishop and their perserverence in proclaiming the apparitions in the face of so much adversity. No other Medjugorje writing comes close to this book. While others try to turn the events into a class on theology, this book tells the facts. Whatever one feels about God or Mary, one cannot ignore the facts. This book will enlighten all who read it.

I used this to do a report about Yasir Arafat. It was a great book! Good photos and information. Also, it was easy to read. I learned that Yasir means "easy going." Pretty cool. I can't wait to read more books by Colleen Madonna Flood Williams. Her name is long, but it's still a nice name.

If you collect photos of Madonna...this is full of nice ones. As far as content it is not too extensive..but it fits its title! The style book has a lot of it!

The one and only regret of purchasing this book is that I should have purchase it the time when it first came out. If I'm ever given a chance I would have rated it 10 STARS **********. It's not that I do not know everything about Madge after years of being a fan(I believe I'm not just 'some' fan), but after reading this book it gives me a revision of insightful aspect of what she has been doing to the(my) world and the kind of impact that she has had on me. All in all, it's an eye-opener only that it opens up my heart as well. (...)

Awesome pictures, awesome text, AWESOME Madonna. The most famous woman on the planet...love her or hate her, you cannot deny her influence on pop culture. She is a TRUE ARTIST. If you're a Madonna fan, you must have this book!!!!

There are few books out there that capture almost everything Madonna's done. Well, this book pretty much covers it. This is the finest of the field, and an absolute treasure to anyone who appreciates the Madonna persona.

Truth be known, it is horrendously out of date (1995) and features a few noteworthy "laugh-at-it-now" opinions: Madonna's "Evita" film that may never make it off the shelf. Well, she sorta won the Golden Globe; Madonna never winning a Grammy for work she's produced (Blonde Ambition does not count; she didn't produce). Well, she sorta got five Grammy's for RAY OF LIGHT.

Regardless, this book 1950's to 1994 is perfect for its time period. I've seen few compare, and THEY'VE been written quite recently.

Matthew Rettenmund certainly has done his research. Encyclopedia Madonnica is the most informative book about the Material Girl that has ever been published. After reading this book, you will truly know everything there is to know about the most famous woman in the world. Well-written and organized, it's also chock full of often hilarious tid bits and witty rejoinders. Mr. Rettenmund should do an updated version of this book, to cover the years 1995 to the present. If you love Madonna, then you simply must own this book, along with Michael D. Craig's "Who's That Girl? The Ultimate Madonna Trivia Book!

Hey Madonna freaks and fans! Do you often find yourself in the shower humming "Like A Virgin," when God knows you haven't been one in years? Have you memorized all of the moves to the dance Madonna does in the "Lucky Star" video (and actually perform them in your living room when you think no one is looking)? Are the names Queerdonna and Ingrid Casares as familiar to you as your own? If you've ever had a hankering to own a black patent leather outfit like the one M wears in the "Human Nature" video, then this book is definitely for you! It is the ultimate bible for Madonna lovers everywhere. I got mine for Christmas about four years ago, and I still can't get enough of it. No matter how trivial, this book has all the information you've been seeking regarding the Great One. Matthew Rettenmund is a humorous, knowledgeable writer whose collection of Madonnabilia is enough to make you drool with envy if you are a true fan. Five stars and more go out to Encyclopedia Madonnica!

Now out-of-print, Madonna's "Sex," book was one of the 1990's greatest hypes due to its' graphic depiction of sex. Where else can you see Madonna strutting down Miami Beach with Vanilla Ice naked, or see her making out with such celebrities as Isabella Rossellini and Naomi Campbell?

The book, which was bounded in an orginal format involving two sheets of metal, each numbered, and sealed in a Mylar plastic sleeve is genius. Although it is a book that is highly likely to cause airport security to open your bags, Madonna must have had a reason to do something so creative, yet so risque.

Truly, "Sex" remains a classic due to its main goal of reopening the sexual revolution in the evangelicalism the 1990's brought. Homosexuality, lesbianism, and fetishes were all somewhat taboos to be discussed or shown in public, however nowadays attitudes have changed. In some ways, Madonna was a pioneer, and as so, she deserves credit for being the most outrageous, daring woman of the 20th century.

What a team....Madonna & Stephen Meisel. Who would have thought that putting the most famous woman in the world together with one of the top photographers in the country would bring forth a phenomenal, gratifying, "sexsational" picture book. Madonna plays various roles as she is dominating, being dominated and just having a ball with exploring the world of fantasy and pleasure. In this book Madonna brings forward all types of fantasies that the general public would rather put under the rug and not talk about. That's the key to Madonna's success with this book. Madonna wants you to see what goes on and what exists, she's not afraid and rises above. Madonna puts herself in vulnerable and steamy situations as part of her fantasy. The letters she writes as the narrator of the book, "Dita Parlow" are eye-catching and satisfying. Madonna falls into the character and delivers a sensational literary work. The CD is also very erotic and sex-drenched to go along with the theme

The 1990's saw a rise in strong and prominent roles for women in movies. Actresses - I use the term generically - in Hollywood have strived for recognition for their Art since movies began. Contirbuting to this phenomenon Queen of Pop and ambiguity, Madonna made her mark (and contribution) as only she could, never to be forgotten. Sex is an excellent effort in which Pop's Virgin Queen expresses herself, her art and basically shakes her thang (all over the USA - apologies to the folks in Florida for walking the streets in her Birthday Suit!). Controversial, sexy, mysterious and fun.Following the trials and tribulations of narrator(ess), Dita who certainly knows how to entertain others and herself, when the mood takes her. Delve into the world of this complex character and I'm sure you'll let yourself go wild...let your mouth go where it wants to! This book should not be forgotten, a must for all Madonna fans both past and more importantly, present.

I found this book at my Jewish boyfriend's mother's house. She checked it out of the library as part of a Sephardic reading group. I started skimming through it and couldn't put it down, had to buy my own copy here on Amazon! Trudi Alexy and her family fled Czechoslovakia to escape the Germans and were chased through France and finally Spain before they felt safe. Spain, in spite of its history of ultra-conservative Catholicism, Inquisition, expulsion of the Jews, etc., was one of the few safe havens for Jews fleeing the Germans during WWII. I was surpised to find this out, since Franco was a part of the Axis powers, a rigid ultra-Catholic, a dictator, and a Fascist. But I guess he wasn't an anti-Semite, because he basically looked the other way when Jews began pouring into Spain illegally to escape being killed in the concentration camps of Occupied Europe, especially Vichy-controlled France, which practically did all they could to deliver the Jews over to the Germans, nasty anti-Semites that the French are. In contrast, Spain not only looked the other way when Jews came pouring over the border, in many cases Spanish diplomats would demand that arrested Jews in other countries be released to them as Spanish citizens, even in cases where the Jews were Ashkenaz, not even Sephardic! The Spanish Red Cross also made a great effort to get food, clothing and letters shipped to Jews in concentration camps in the rest of Europe, even as the International Red Cross did absolutely nothing to help. There are horrific stories from the survivors themselves, tales of fleeing the Nazis with only the clothes on their backs, of escaping concentration camps and struggling over the Pyrenees in mid-winter without even a proper coat. Tales of getting to Spain and turning themselves in to the police to find warm beds, food and even money provided for them by kind hearted Spaniards from all walks of life. Then there are stories from the people who smuggled them into Spain, the risks they took to save thousands upon thousands of people from certain death. And tales of the Secret Jews, or Marranos, or Crypto-Jews, who were forced to convert during the Inquisition, or who were expelled from Spain, and the constant threats that they faced. Many of them continued practicing their Jewish rituals in absolute secrecy, in most cases not even letting their children know that they were of Jewish blood until age 12, when they were less likely to slip and give the secret away to outsiders. Many Crypto-Jews live in Mexico and New Mexico today, their ancestors having arrived in the 1500's after the expulsion from Spain. The Inquisition follwed them to the New World, however, so they continued practicing the most minimal Jewish traditions, such as ritual prayer, in absolute secrecy. Trudi interviewed some people who only identified as Catholics, but had listened to an NPR show on the Crypto-Jews and identified ancient and distorted Jewish traditions that their own family practiced! These people were utterly shocked to find out that they were of Jewish ancestry. I don't personally see the big deal, but I guess if you're a major Christian, then you might think it's a bad thing. In most cases though, the families were not only aware of their Jewish ancestry, but fostered it in secret while living a public life of Catholicism. They would intermarry only amongst one another and kept to fairly tight-knit communities. I liked the stories of the people who escaped to Spain during WWII best, since they were so full of heroism and drama, but really the whole book was fascinating.

This is a good book, all the stories gathered and told really paint the picture of what people went through trying to escape the Holocust, and how Spain really did help them.

Once you read this book,the title makes sense. The author was a holocust survivor and was so grateful and impressed with Spain that she felt compelled to go back to see if others felt the same. Lot's of interviews in this book regarding that perticular era. What a twist for Spain!

Excellent Read!

Madonna is the ultimate emperor in new clothes (all pomp, no circumstance), but these Rolling Stone Files collections are well organized, easy to follow, and fascinating in their ability to let us follow a career via some of the best writing in the business. Madonna is a fascinating anomaly because of her almost freakish ambition combined with an appalling lack of real talent. That makes this a very readable collection, even if I never listen to the music or see the godawful movies.

Great if you love Madonna, as I do. Also, good if you are just interested in reading about her. She is fascinating....always has been, always will be. Madonna is a living legend! Also recommend, Encyclopedia Madonnica.....Madonna is absolutely fabulous!

1. This one (Rolling Stone Files) 2. Encyclopedia Madonnica (Matthew Rettenmund) 3. Madonna Unauthorized (Christopher Anderson)

With these 3 books you will learn more about Madonna then she even knows about herself.

Mandatory for any fanatic who wants to know more about this show-biz lady, other then what they see and hear on radio, TV, onstage, and onscreen.

Viva Ciccone!