A Young Girl's Diary

A Young Girl's Diary Review

It's me, D. Green once again. I read this book, or in this case, this e-book, out of sheer curiosity; which is probably why youre looking at this review. This non-fiction book was like nothing I have read before...

It was written by a real girl who lived in Austria, pre-World War One Austria. As mentioned above, this diary is presented by the great Sigmund Freud. The diary starts off with a preface written by Freud in which he explains the reason why this particular diary is given to us; to follow the girl's personal development from a young girl into a young woman . That reason may sound a little strange, but keep in mind that not too long ago a lot of people thought that what Freud did was also a little strange.

Originally written in German, the translators did a good job of keeping the girl's writing style and syntax pretty close to the way it might have been . As I said, her story, Gretel's story, takes place in pre-World War One Austria, where there is still an Emperor, when America was still minding her own business, and hints of anti-Semitism where there and blatant at times but still under the old man's top hat. Besides all of those potential dormant volcano-like problems, the diary provided an interesting look into the Austrian culture of the early 1900s. As I was reading it, I could almost here the joyfully jolly like quartets and symphonies of J. Haydn playing in the background.

As I said before. the translators, I felt, did a good job of keeping the girl's writing style close to what the original probably was; which was pretty good and very engaging. The diary, written over four years, does what every diary does, in telling the reader what the writer feels and experiences. And boy does Gretel go through a lot of things and feel a lot of emotions. This description here may sound cut and dry, but that is where her diary excels to the point of excellence.

For her age she is a very good writer. From the beginning, where her story starts on the first year when she is ten, it is clear that she is quite handy with the pen; expressive and fluid, much more so then a lot of us were when we were ten. And us she gets older by the year, her descriptions become that much more expressive. Because of this, I really felt that I was apart of her conscience and one of her friends. If not that, then like an angel watching over her as she hang out with her best friend, Hella, as she and her family went an vacations in the Austrian countryside, and as she dealt with her feelings for the young men that she idolized- through the bad times and the good.

Though it was originally presented by Freud as a specimen to analyze and observe the development of a young female during the important years of personal growth, from a liberal arts perspective it is a work of art printed by the hand of a young artist.

Since this diary was written by a young girl, parents should give this book a look. Because this diary was written by a young girl from pre-World War One, students of culture and history should give this book a reading. On account of the fact that this diary was written by a young girl, who goes through the trials of life, students of life should take notice to this book. Heck, anyone whom has the opportunity to look at it, should do so...

On a quick note this book can be downloaded for no exchange of money (free) at the Project Gutenberg E-text website. I would like to give the website address but this one won't let me, so please highlight and use Yahoo.

Gretel's story is a very good one, rich in expression and emotionally moving, especially the ending. GOOD READING

A Young Girl's Diary Overview

This diary is a gem. Never before, I believe, has anything been written enabling us to see so clearly into the soul of a young girl, belonging to our social and cultural stratum, during the years of puberal development. We are shown how the sentiments pass from the simple egoism of childhood to attain maturity; how the relationships to parents and other members of the family first shape themselves, and how they gradually become more serious and more intimate; how friendships are formed and broken. We are shown the dawn of love, feeling out towards its first objects. Above all, we are shown how the mystery of the sexual life first presses itself vaguely on the attention, and then takes entire possession of the growing intelligence, so that the child suffers under the load of secret knowledge but gradually becomes enabled to shoulder the burden. Of all these things we have a description at once so charming, so serious, and so artless, that it cannot fail to be of supreme interest to educationists and psychologists.

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Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone

Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone Review

This is an interesting and well presented history of the African adventure of Henry Morton Stanley's search for Dr. Livingstone in the latter half of the 1800's in and around Lake Tanganika and Lake Victoria. Stanley is a interesting character often understood to be an all -American news reporter when in fact he was born an Englishman, came to America, fought on "both sides" in the Civil War, chased the news across the American West and only when 'bank rolled" by Bennet of the New York Herald did he seize the opportunity to undertake the search for Livingstone in what was then wild Africa. This is a worthwhile presentation of the story of Livingstone and Stanley and a book that can set the record straight for those of us who only know of a version of the story of Livingstone and Stanley through a Spencer Tracy Hollywood movie made more than half a century ago.

Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone Feature

• ISBN13: 9780767910743
• Condition: New
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Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone Overview

With the utterance of a single line—“Doctor Livingstone, I presume?”—a remote meeting in the heart of Africa was transformed into one of the most famous encounters in exploration history. But the true story behind Dr. David Livingstone and journalist Henry Morton Stanley is one that has escaped telling. Into Africa is an extraordinarily researched account of a thrilling adventure—defined by alarming foolishness, intense courage, and raw human achievement.

In the mid-1860s, exploration had reached a plateau. The seas and continents had been mapped, the globe circumnavigated. Yet one vexing puzzle remained unsolved: what was the source of the mighty Nile river? Aiming to settle the mystery once and for all, Great Britain called upon its legendary explorer, Dr. David Livingstone, who had spent years in Africa as a missionary. In March 1866, Livingstone steered a massive expedition into the heart of Africa. In his path lay nearly impenetrable, uncharted terrain, hostile cannibals, and deadly predators. Within weeks, the explorer had vanished without a trace. Years passed with no word.

While debate raged in England over whether Livingstone could be found—or rescued—from a place as daunting as Africa, James Gordon Bennett, Jr., the brash American newspaper tycoon, hatched a plan to capitalize on the world’s fascination with the missing legend. He would send a young journalist, Henry Morton Stanley, into Africa to search for Livingstone. A drifter with great ambition, but little success to show for it, Stanley undertook his assignment with gusto, filing reports that would one day captivate readers and dominate the front page of the New York Herald.

Tracing the amazing journeys of Livingstone and Stanley in alternating chapters, author Martin Dugard captures with breathtaking immediacy the perils and challenges these men faced. Woven into the narrative, Dugard tells an equally compelling story of the remarkable transformation that occurred over the course of nine years, as Stanley rose in power and prominence and Livingstone found himself alone and in mortal danger. The first book to draw on modern research and to explore the combination of adventure, politics, and larger-than-life personalities involved, Into Africa is a riveting read.

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Phineas Redux

Phineas Redux Review

I'm slowly rereading Trollope's political novels and just finished #4, Phineas Redux. In the first Phineas book the likeable (maybe one of Trollope's most likeable characters) Irishman wins a seat in Parliament and makes his way quickly into the homes and political circles of the Liberal Party. He falls in love--almost immediately--with Laura Standish who's the daughter of an Earl. She should have been male--she's that interested in politics and undertakes to make Phineas' career, but she marries an elderly rich man, Robert Kennedy (a calculated move because she didn't love him). Phineas is heart-broken but immediately finds another woman to love (who also marries someone else). He gets involved in a political issue, though, where he has to act on his conscience which means he has to leave the government and he can't afford to be only an MP (no salary). So he goes back to Ireland and marries his childhood sweetheart who rather quickly dies in childbirth.

Phineas Redux is about his second foray into politics. Likeable as ever, he still has limited means and, though, elected to Parliament, has to have a government post to make enough money to survive. But the gods are against him. Laura Kennedy has left her husband--who's tormenting her with his extreme religious practices--and he blames Phineas Finn whom Laura has discovered she really loves. Phineas is over that but kind and compassionate and mets her whenever she requests to give the support and advice of a friend. But the salacious press gets wind of the story when Robert Kennedy makes public his efforts to "get his wife back" and blames Phineas Finn for her leaving, implying an affair. Laura has to leave the country with her father to avoid the law compelling her to go back to her husband. Phineas, the good friend as ever, acts as go between and is attacked by friend and foe, even to the extent that the leaders of the Party avoid picking him for government office, to say nothing of nearly getting shot by Kennedy.

The political insights in this book, apart from the dated but lively prose, could be written by today's political pundits. It's both amusing and horrifying to realize that very little has changed.... Amusing too that Plantagenet Palliser (sort of the central character--well his wife is maybe more central) is angling all the time to convince Parliament to adopt a decimal currency--Trollope never knew it would ever be accomplished--in fact the first time I went to London I counted out 10 pennies for some tourist attraction that cost a shilling, but the ticket taker just glared at me and held out his hand until I sheepishly remembered there were 12 pennies in a shilling.....

Phineas quarrels with one of the party hacks who's most critical (on moral grounds) of his supposed affair with Lady Laura and the next thing we know Phineas is in Newgate accused of murder and in danger of being hung with only circumstantial evidence against him. (Very frustrating--one wants finger prints, blood types, DNA....) And I haven't even mentioned Madam Goesler (rich, dark-haired, young and somewhat mysterious Viennese widow) who's taken up by Glencora Palliser and becomes a fixture in Liberal political circles...who is Phineas' friend and had even proposed to him in the first book, though he'd refused, not wanting to be seen as a poor man angling for a rich wife.

Trollope's world is simple compared to ours but his analysis is far from simple. It's psychologically convincing. His political insights are perfect. And Phineas is a most delightful character.

Phineas Redux Overview

The fourth novel in Trollope's Palliser series, Phineas Redux stands on its own as a compelling work of political intrigue, personal crisis, and romantic jealousy. Phineas Finn lives quietly in Dublin, resigned to the fact that his political career is over and coming to terms with the death of his wife. He receives an unexpected invitation to return to Parliament, and jumps at the chance, whereupon old romances and rivalries are revived. When his adversary, Mr. Bonteen, is murdered, suspicion immediately falls on Finn, and his former friends and lovers seem only to add to his shame.

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Historic China, and other sketches

Historic China, and other sketches Review

Historic China, and other sketches Overview

The following _Sketches_ owe their existence chiefly to frequent peregrinations in Chinese cities, with pencil and note-book in hand. Some of them were written for my friend Mr. F. H. Balfour of Shanghai, and by him published in the columns of the _Celestial Empire_. These have been revised and partly re-written; others appear now for the first time.

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Merle's Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog

Merle's Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog Review

The book is about the lives of a man, Ted and a canine, Merle. A story of their relationship and their lives as individuals as well. This book is about the both of them - and how they age together and get through life's trials and tribulations, loves and losses.

Dogs do think and communicate - something that I've experienced myself (not an imagined ideal). I liked the author's approach of treating Merle as a true companion rather than a "pet".

The book made me think of my own dogs' lack of stimulation - is two walks per day along the exact same route stimulating? Of course not.

To find a safe and secure place for one's dog to run off leash and thrive in that freedom was an important reminder this book gave to me about truly giving them a happy life.

Merle's Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog Overview

While on a camping trip, Ted Kerasote met a dog—a Labrador mix—who was living on his own in the wild. They became attached to each other, and Kerasote decided to name the dog Merle and bring him home. There, he realized that Merle’s native intelligence would be diminished by living exclusively in the human world. He put a dog door in his house so Merle could live both outside and in.

A deeply touching portrait of a remarkable dog and his relationship with the author, Merle’s Door explores the issues that all animals and their human companions face as their lives intertwine, bringing to bear the latest research into animal consciousness and behavior as well as insights into the origins and evolution of the human-dog partnership. Merle showed Kerasote how dogs might live if they were allowed to make more of their own decisions, and Kerasote suggests how these lessons can be applied universally.

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The Tennis Partner

The Tennis Partner Review

The Tennis Partner was an incredible read--honest, lovely and raw that deals with friendship, loss and letting go and the painful destruction of addiction. I am an avid reader and decided to read it after reading Verghese's Cutting for Stone. Verghese is a writer like no other. While this review was initially to say The Tennis Partner is a must read, I will go on to say don't miss the beautifully written novel--Cutting for Stone.

I would rate Cutting for Stone as one of the top ten books I have ever read. Verghese's every word captured on paper are a true gift to the world of readers. It was a timeless, beautiful novel that will penetrate your soul in many ways and whose characters you will love and remember long after you have finished the book. I am about to read My Own Country and cannot wait to savor every written word of Verghese. Never stop writing for us Mr. Verghese. You are one of the best writers of all time!

The Tennis Partner Overview

When Abraham Verghese, a physician whose marriage is unraveling, relocates to El Paso, Texas, he hopes to make a fresh start as a staff member at the county hospital.There he meets David Smith, a medical student recovering from drug addition, and the two men begin a tennis ritual that allows them to shed their inhibitions and find security in the sport they love and with each other. This friendship between doctor and intern grows increasingly rich and complex, more intimate than two men usually allow. And just when it seems nothing more can go wrong, the dark beast from David's past emerges once again. As David spirals out of control, almost everything Verghese has come to trust and believe in is threatened. Compassionate and moving, The Tennis Partner is a unforgettable, illuminating story of how men live, and how they survive.

The Tennis Partner Specifications

What is it about sports that makes some men wax as mystical as a Castanedan Yaqui? In the hands of writers such as David James Duncan and Norman Maclean, the simple, repetitive motions of baseball, fly-fishing, and golf have acquired almost numinous significance. In The Tennis Partner, Dr. Abraham Verghese takes on his own fascination with tennis and comes up with as good an explanation as any: "In the way we controlled the movement of a yellow ball in space, we were imposing order on a world that was fickle and capricious. Each ball that we put into play, for as long as it went back and forth between us, felt like a charm to be added to a necklace full of spells, talismans, and fetishes, which one day add up to an Aaron's rod, an Aladdin's lamp, a magic carpet. Each time we played, this feeling of restoring order, of mastery, was awakened."

For both Verghese and his tennis partner, a fourth-year medical student named David Smith, the game is a much-needed island of order in the midst of personal chaos. Both men are struggling to rebuild their lives, Verghese undergoing a painful divorce, Smith struggling with an intravenous cocaine addiction. For a brief, idyllic period, their friendship flourishes; Verghese mentors Smith in the examining room, while Smith, an Australian who competed briefly on the pro circuit, ends up Verghese's teacher on the court. But there are dark corners to David's personality, and under the mounting pressures of medical school and his increasingly complicated love life, these come to the fore. Even as he learns how to inhabit his new life, Verghese watches with horror as his friend relapses, dries out, then relapses again. The author of the powerful My Own Country, a chronicle of caring for AIDS patients in rural Tennessee, Verghese once again proves that the skills of a good doctor are strikingly similar to those of a good writer. Careful observation, compassion, restraint: these are the instruments Verghese uses to stunning effect in The Tennis Partner. A paean to the healing powers of tennis, this book is also a moving meditation on friendship, fatherhood, love, addiction, and the particular loneliness of physicians. --Mary Park

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Josephus (Large Print Edition)

Josephus (Large Print Edition) Review

Gave me a new perspective on Jospehus. I never thought about Josephus as the traitor/Roman loyalist. I could not finish the book because it got way too redundant for me.
Otherwise it was very informative.

Josephus (Large Print Edition) Overview

Josephus hardly merits a place on his own account in a series of Jewish Worthies since neither as man of action nor as man of letters did he deserve particularly well of his nation. It is not his personal worthiness but the worth of his work that recommends him to the attention of the Jewish people.

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