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I thoroughly enjoyed part #4. It covers half the book (85 pages) and is called "horror stories". In that section, he writes about many of his real life experiences.
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This biography is another in the series of finely produced, copiously researched "Opera Biographies" by Amadeus Press. Tons of pictures, letters, reviews, apperance annals, and a discography make up this enjoyable book on the life of the ultimate prima donna of the 19th century. This book could, in fact, be subtitled "Everything you wanted to know about Dina."
However, like many prima donnas, Patti was probably a creature of the stage and song. She came alive the most when she was singing -- she even built a private theatre in her home to entertain guests with her singing. Her personal life, although much discussed, comes across as rather shallow and artificial. She married three times, the first time to a Marquis who flirted with Patti "lookalikes", the second to the tenor Nicolini (which caused a scandal in Victorian England) and the third time to a Baron half her age who both pampered and isolated her. There is no evidence she was ever in love though -- indeed she seemed mainly attracted to fawning eccentrics. Her last years seem to have been lonely. Thus, despite the research and well-written style of this biography, ultimately Patti is still a mystery. Her recordings, made when she was in her 60s, tell more of the story -- the charm, the emotional involvement, the uniquely haunting sound.
I greatly enjoyed this book because I had heard so much about Patti and wanted to 'know' her better. But as with most opera singers, really "hearing, one can believe."
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Battered & Bruised, should be required reading in every college and university in the country that have or DO NOt have Women and Gender Studies.
Arthur Ide has my deepest appreciation for stating out right what has been so cleverly distorted regarding the reality of women in the OT.
Thank you.
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One of the things I like about "Queen Zixi of Ix" is that it sounds like a traditional fairey tale adventures, even more so than the Oz books, in which Baum certainly created his own fantasy universe. More importantly, characters manage to get beyond the limits of their stereotypes with surprising results, which is certainly a laudable thing to do in telling stories to children. Of course, this only cements Baum's reputation in the realm of American children's literature, but then as anybody knows who has gotten beyond "The Wizard of Oz" Baum was deservedly known as Father Goose. Check out Baum's "The Sea Fairies" and "Sky Island" as well if you like this one, which has 90 illustrations on its 231 pages.
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P.S. The book "In The Palm of Your Hand" fits up against this one nicely.
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1. Get off his soapbox about the deficiencies in the Coast Guard Rescue services in lake Superior. I think it needed mentioning, but not in the detail he chose. He also ignores the Canadian rescue facilities.
2. Label the photographs instead of making the reader refer to other pages to determine what they are looking at.
Otherwise, the book is excellent and was well worth the money.
This is one of the most informative books about the Fitz I have ever read.
The only thing I can say is you will not be disapointed.
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Marks gets plus marks for othodoxy and fidelity to Church teaching. He does quite accurately represent Catholic teaching on marriage and sexuality. The questions at the back of the book are also quite well done, I think; this might be the one part of the book that I found really useful.
However, the book suffers from disorganization: it appears to skip around from one idea to an entirely unrelated idea. The writing style is not particularly polished, either, which isn't necessarily bad. But in this case, I also have questions about Marks' qualifications for writing this book. It's clear that he knows Church teaching, but has he done any exhaustive study on the many practical psychological, emotional, or sexual aspects of marriage which he covers? It appears that his only qualification for writing this book is that he himself has been married-- which doesn't exactly make him an expert! In summary, I didn't find this as helpful as other reviewers appear to have found it.