Some interesting facts and photos to be found. Otherwise it's just as campy, self-conscious and quotable as the Material Girl herself - but without her sex appeal or charisma

Quotes have an intriguing quality to them; They offer new and often differing viewpoints on any and every aspect of life. This book claims to have a 'collection of over 3000 quotes.' Seeing its daunting size, there is little doubt to the accuracy of that statement. While mostly about love, the quotes vary in genre from 'Wrinkles' to 'Safe Sex,' from 'Gossip' to 'Lingerie.' The quotes have a vast range of emotion behind them... humor, spite, truth, and independence included. Examples include: "I am tired of all this nonsense of beauty being only skin deep. That's deep enough. What do you want- an adorable pancreas?" (Jean Kerr, page 32) "At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet." (Plato, page 248) "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth/For thy love is better than wine." (Song of Songs, page (212) There are a variety of authors, as the book says, though it tends mostly to have many lines from the 1800's-early 1900s. For anyone who loves romance (or lack thereof) and quotes, this book is definately a good buy.

I read this as a Madonna fan--not a rabid, love-everything-she-is fan, but an fairly discerning, admiring fan. And all I have to say is this: if you don't really get Madonna, and want one woman's opinion on her impact, this book might be alright for you. But if you have any opinion on her at all, or are any kind of fan, this lady (the author) is probably going to get under your skin. I found myself cringing continually at what she said about Madonna's body of work. She obviously hadn't understood what Madonna was trying to do with many of the career moves she made, an understanding that I think is pretty easy to reach if you read the interviews, watch/listen to the work and take the public reaction into account. She overanalyzed the simple moves and brushed over the motives and purposes behind the most important ones, and this drove me crazy. By the end of the book I felt that I was no better or worse for reading it, though I felt a little inclined to do my own Madonna commentary, the right way this time--by disagreeing with her, I formed some of my own opinions more fully, but to be honest, this book does not take any huge stands to disagree with. The author just simply doesn't get Madonna. Perhaps she'd do a better study of Cher or Barbara Streisand.

I thought this book would have been much better if the author had approached it as a sort of long, personal essay about Madonna's effect on her life. I would have been able to accept that. But an in-depth study of Madonna...she simply isn't qualified.

On a more complimentary note, the title and cover art are wonderful.

Ok, i bought this book because it was the only title available at the bookstore. I find that this book is for one certain type of fan. If you want to look at Madonna on a global, cultural scale, this book is for you. It's purpose, in my opinion, is to situate Madonna, explain her and compare her to others. But it seems like there is soooo much talk about other people, there's no Madonna. The author throws in her name here and there, but, if you're like me, it won't be enough. If you're the kind of fan that wants to read about Madonna, and no one else, you just want info on her, this book isn't for you. Let's be honest- all we want to know about is Madonna. I don't care about other actors or singers or 1950's radio. Get to Madonna!

Iam civil engineer I live in germany and continue my postgradute studie

Madonna deserves better than this paltry biographer, whose chief sources of information are the National Enquirer and People Magazine. Madonna is an interesting performer in search of a true biographer.

This book starts from her grandparants to Madonnas life up to about 1991.It tells you everything about almost.

Okay, I can't imagine who'd want to read this book, but let's hypothetically say that you do. I see used copies everywhere--no doubt because it was thrust upon the members of the Academy of American Poets, who then relegated it to their "recycle" pile. So if you're intent on getting it, visit a thrift store, where discounted copies abound.

who isn't happy to be a killing machine?,

joshua clover's meditation on small-town violence meeting today's tough issues is a profound meditation on small-town...

no matter how far we back away from ourselves this scene will not reveal itself as a movie set.

clover tails stephen wright on the going native episode, plucking observations about the state of words from the world of fin de siecle or whatever wherever with something like glee, but not glee, exactly, but without the staid proprietary stare of big time talkers in verse.

I am trying to invent a way for you to buy me back--

quote marks are so 20th c. clover's what poetry reads to itself late this afternoon.

There is much that is surprisingly warm in this theoried and avant aesthetically conscious amalgamation. And while it surges with elitist-hip pretensions, it grooves to a back-beat of pop and populist rhythms, with many-hued chops against a background of blue. It is a cartoon philosopher and the future of anarchism railing against the bars with a baby bottle. Worth many reads. You can definitely learn from it.

This book was indeed quite a challenge to finish and would have been greatly improved by a more rigorous editing job. The writer's transitions between ideas were practically non-existent -- a frequent tactic of the author's was to describe an anecdote and then "analyze" it, but the analysis often left me totally baffled, since the writer did not take the time to explain why she came to her conclusions -- as if describing the anecdote was enough to make its (apparently one-and-only) "meaning" obvious. And I deeply distrust any biography that describes what the subject was thinking when she was alone, especially when the subject did not cooperate with or directly contribute to the writing of the book. And Ms. Victor got several of her facts wrong, which does not lend credence to her speculations -- "You Must Love Me," for example, was written for Madonna in Evita, and so it sounds silly for the writer to say Madonna made it her own, since she was the only one who has performed it so far. The writer also defines "los descamisados" as "the shiftless ones," when it actually means "the shirtless ones," although that could have been a typo -- again, something that careful editing would have caught. Evita, in fact, is referred to on almost every page and the writer's comparisons of Madonna to Eva Peron run the gamut from tedious to unintentionally hilarious.

I also bought Andrew Morton's book, and it will be interesting to read the two biographies back-to-back.

For any Madonna fan, or anyone fascinated by the phenomenon.
I loved this book. It is filled with insights and details from
Madonna's life that the other books missed or simply left out because they only
want to praise the Material Girl. The information from Madonna's family is worth the price of the book alone. Victor also draws amazing parallels between
Madonna's life and Evita's, but she adds many more helpful
comparisons and critiques that make this book the one to read. It's the best of both worlds--dishy and smart.

This is one of the most unusual show business biographies I've ever read. I loved it. Somehow this writer makes you understand how a phenomenon like Madonna happens, and then makes you feel as if you really are inside Madonna's head, experiencing her life as she lived it. The book has lots of gossip, but it has something I liked even more, which is a bigger picture of how Madonna reflects what's happening in the world around her, which made me understand completely the loyalty of her fans. The personal story is really moving. I especially liked the section about how the loss of Madonna's mother affected her and the direction of her life. Most books about stars don't really tell you much about the star, or how we relate to them. This one does both. It's fun to read and when I finished it I felt like every second had been worth it.

I read the book in German and I was kind of surprised since I had actually expected it to be a Shadowrun book. Well - it's not, at least in my opinion. There are not, as the authors themselves state at one point, any actual shadowrunners in it (apart from the Elf mage, who doesn't really behave like a Shadowrunner). The best part in it is Streak - his comments are definitely the most enjoyable parts of the story! Also, the atmosphere is all kind of wrong - Shadowrunners do not live in the posh part of London. Besides, the book has no real ending - it doesn't explain how it is possible for Leonardo to be an Elf although there weren't any Elves in the Middle Ages. I think the fact that Leonardo is an Elf proves about anything else stated in any other Shadowrun book wrong. So, if you're particularly interested in Leonardo da Vinci or Religion and if you don't mind a Shadowrun book without any Shadowrunners in it, you might enjoy it. Otherwise - look out for the Secrets of Power trilogy (or anything else that has Dodger in it).

Short and sweet:

Read the book just because of the character Streak - I ain't kidding, he makes the book worth reading.

Character descriptions are vague. Interactions between main chars and 'enemies' are poor and confusing. The concept of 'shadowrunners' (which these guys definitely are NOT) living in luxury is a refreshing change from the 'live-in-squallor' standard of most runner-types. I hate the Vatican so I took some pleasure in the idea that they would flex their muscle in the world of SR just to prevent the masses from learning something OTHER than what has been spoon-fed to them by Christianity. The writing style conveys the sense of the dark and gritty world of London. This book would have rated a Five had the descriptions and interactions been better.

As part of the Shadowrun-series, this book continues the adventures of some great characters who actually have brains instead of "absolute power". It is indicative of the rapidly increasing number of crossovers between Shadowrun and Earthdawn, but can still be read without insight into Earthdawn.
One of the authors - Carl Sargent - is a professor at Cambrigde Univ. and clearly invested a lot of time and energy in investigating the plot ... which, no matter how far-reaching, is not just a figment of his imagination. For those who like to take an idea further, they should ckeck out non-fiction books like "The Templar Revelation" an "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" ... to get enough foor-for-thought to last months.

This book has information in it, but it's a bit outdated. It was published back in 1986. Plus, it's all before her album "True Blue." That's the outdated part. A good read for really die-hARD FANS LIKE ME. Pretty good, but not great really. Check it out at the library, please, before you use the put-of-print service. And the pictures aren't wonderful, but seriously just "OK."

Madonna's book is bland but somewhat entertaining still. I would not recommend this.

I only found a few bits of things that were interesting in this book. But most of the things written in this book are things that any Madonna fan will already be well aware of, and it's telling that the things I found interesting in this book were largely chunks of Madonna interviews that Mr. Morton had just re-published (note: they were not interviews the Mr. Morton had conducted with Madonna, rather they were interviews from magazines, etc.), as well as bits from others' articles about Madonna. That's the problem with unauthorized biographies, they have to resort to a lot of "gleaning" from other sources. I would suggest just going to the sources themselves, which any Madonna fan can do by buying magazines with her interviews, etc.

Andrew Morton's writing is rather uninteresting and dry. In his biographies of Lady Di and Monica Lewinsky, he at least had the cooperation of the subjects. Madonna was in no way affiliated with this book's preparation. Maybe some day she will write her own autobiography. Until then, we will probably have to endure many misinterpretations of Madonna, as I believe this book really misinterprets her.

Andrew Morton's approach to describing the Madonna phenomenon is interesting in that he attempts to uncover what are the motivations that drive Madonna. I think he succeeds in that -- talking about her drive and insecurity. The book is an interesting read, however it falls short of puting Madonna in a broader perspective -- as a fascinating creation of American culture, as an entrepreneur and one of the notable pop music stars of the late 20th century. Other than her earnings and desire for control, Morton spends little time on the business aspects of Madona's success, which is no less fascinating than her musical accomplishments.

Madonna... Queen of Pop
This was an interesting read about the Queen of Pop, Madonna. Obviously, Mr. Morton is a fan of Maddy's, as he treats her with relative kid gloves, as opposed to some other recent biographies. I enjoyed the book, but it's not Mr. Morton's best by a long shot! I would recommend Madonna fans to also purchase Matthew Rettenmund's "Encyclopedia Madonnica" and Michael D. Craig's "Who's That Girl? The Ultimate Madonna Trivia Book" for the real low-down on the Material Girl.