Lady Books

One of three fascinating books on Furs in Fashion (the other two in the series are Men in Fur and Ladies in Furs 1940-1980). Highly recommended for its wonderful illustrations...as well as for the backstory on society and fashionable fur wearers--from royalty to movie stars. You have to admire the ingenuity of a style that in the face of WWII deprivations managed to make style out of skunk and invented fur spats to help keep ladies cozy.

OK, I'm biased, I love this book. This is the Old Testament from the woman's point of view. I always give these poems when a little girl is born. Some serious, some funny, some will make you say "I didn't know that story" A very special collection

Enstad takes U.S. women's history in important new directions because she understands how young working-class women created their own class-conscious identity in terms made available by consumer culture. In this context hats, shoes and pulp-fiction gave working-class women fun, spunky ways to of asserting themselves and their interests. Alas, at the time, neither male union activists nor middle-class women allies understood these young girls' politics, and the union movement suffered for its misunderstanding. But Enstad understands these girls perfectly. In Enstad's analysis movies and fashion become political--as they in fact were. And thanks to her explanation I finally understand why my feisty Jewish grandmothers insisted on calling themselves and their friends "ladies." A must-read for anybody who loves the new women's history.

I listened to this as an MP3 audio download (available through Amazon) which is a faster and cheaper way to buy this than on cassette.

Vera and Irene are two old age pensioners who live in different towns and met through some sort of social function. They now exchange letters full of news about their own lives and their childrens' and grandchildrens' adventures. Sound typical and maybe boring? It isn't! These two ladies are hilariously funny, particularly in the aftermath of each disastrous attempt to spend time together in person, which usually ends in some sort of physical injury and months of icily polite letters in which recriminations and suggestions of alcoholism or senility rage.

These letters are read by two wonderful actresses plus infrequent guest appearances by children or neighbors adding their 2 cents. The humor is sometimes gentle, as in their frequent malapropisms (they believe an elderly man of their acquaintance died of a heart attack brought on by taking "Niagara"), sometimes farcical and frequently laugh out loud funny. I thoroughly enjoyed the 3 hours of listening to this first segment of Vera and Irene's saga and look forward to more.

If you are the sort of person who likes the PBS "Brit-coms" like Keeping Up Appearances, you will probably enjoy the Ladies of Letters!

This is an amazing book! Rhonda Eggleston is an amazing writer with a brilliant mind. Her idea for "Ladies of the Ironhorse" was truly genius. The stories are touching and give you a clear picture of the war in Iraq from the eyes of the women back home. I was lucky enough to meet Rhonda Eggleston at a book signing with her dear friend Bob Babcok! They are awesome. Buy his books too!
I hope she writes more books, everbody should buy them!!!!

The first of Clary's books. If you have any interest in the history of ships of the Great Lakes, this book is a must.

This delightful book provides a thorough examination of what it was like to be an upper class female in Victorian England. Starting with birth, and delving into childhood, education, adolescence, marriage, and motherhood, it really covers just about everything. I've never seen a book which covered all of these stages so fully: usually they concentrate on adolescence or adulthood without giving the reader a firm background of the formative years.

Although the book is out of print, I bought it in England only a few years ago. It might still be available there, if you go to amazon.co.uk

This book gives an insightful look at our modern society and shows how the changing rules of behavior and morals has affected all of us. The middle aged women in this story were raised with very strict Christian and Victorian morals. They were expected to be virgins on their wedding nights, to marry and to live 'happily ever after' with their husbands and children. Sadly, this was not the reality.

Ms. Kern's novel tells the stories of four women. Linda, the epitome of the 'cute little blond,' discovers her husband in an affair and decides to divorce him.

Natalie, a chocolate loving, slightly overweight, but very moral woman, breaks her marriage vows when she is swept off her feet by a handsome stranger only to be disillusioned by him later.

Bridgette, a hot little brunette divorcee, is determined to marry a wealthy man so she can re-enter Rolling Hills society from which she was thrown out after her husband divorced her.

Rebecca alone is living the life that all the other women would have liked to live. She is happily married with grown children who are busy making her and her husband grandparents.

Ms. Kern's novel is humorous as well as sensitive to the emotional trials these women are going through.

This novel is better than "First Wives Club" and much more realistic than the series, "Desperate Housewives." It should be compared to Edith Wharton's, "The Age of Innocence." Ms. Wharton rallied against the strict Victorian rules of behavior and morals but Ms. Kern's novel shows what happens to people when those rules break down as they have in our modern world.

I receive this cook book in excellent condition and in a short period of time.
S. Ryan

THE LADIES' HOME JOURNAL began as a column by Louise Knapp in her husband's publication, TRIBUNE AND FARMER. Mrs. Knapp's writings quickly became so popular, she was given her own periodical in 1883: THE LADIES' HOME JOURNAL AND PRACTICAL HOUSEKEEPER. The "Journal" has been in print continuously since then. The format and look of LHJ and even its name underwent changes over the years. The current glossy color magazine bears little editorial or content resemblance to its early-20th Century antecedent.

The articles in THE LADIES' HOME JOURNAL TREASURY (published 1956) are an excellent window into America's and the world's past: Rudyard Kipling tells of a famine in India in the 1890s and Admiral Byrd, just back from the North Pole, gives his thoughts on what a "hero" is. Benjamin Harrison describes life in the White House, Grover Cleveland opines why Woman Suffrage would be a bad thing, Teddy Roosevelt contributes an essay on mothers and Woodrow Wilson weighs in on the Monroe Doctrine.

There's works by Helen Keller, Eleanor Roosevelt and Margaret Mead. A woman gives insight into domestic life in Nazi Germany while a man predicts in 1931 what the world would be like 10 years later. Also included are superb fiction and poetry by some most famous authors and bards. Another highlight are the many color and b&w illustrations of vintage covers and advertisements. And that's just scratching the surface of this 580 page oversized anthology. It's all quite fascinating, and highly recommended to everyone!

For a complete CONTENTS LIST, see COMMENT #1
(link to this is located directly below review)