A brave, honest, beautiful book.  I recommend it highly!
591636
Unearthing Venus is a must-read for every woman who is interested in self-discovery and her own growth.  In it, Cate Montana tells a very moving narrative of her own journey of discovering what woman actually means and how the feminine is missing from so much of our Western world today.  I was so touched by this book that I read it a second time aloud to my husband.  It gave us both much food for thought and inspired many heart-felt discussions that have lasted long beyond the actual reading of the book.  Cates voice is powerful - strong, yet vulnerable and always starkly authentic.  I so appreciate this author and her willingness to allow the reader an unfiltered view into her very personal story, one that is at the same time a universal story for all women today.
1308533
Charles Silverstein's memoir is a work of great courage and love. His stunning honesty will inspire readers to honor and champion the truth in their lives. The book intertwines the dramatic early years of the gay liberation movement in which Silverstein played a pivotal role, and a poignant memoir of his own life. In the latter, he unflinchingly describes the painful experiences of his youth, his anxious, awkward steps out of the closet, and his enduring love for William Bory, his beautiful, brilliant, enigmatic, doomed lover. Silverstein's personal story is the most generous part of this remarkable book, a gift to its readers that will enlighten and empower them, gay and straight .
933608
I finished Heartbroken Open last night. I am grateful for this beautiful book, written from the hand and heart of a wise woman. Kristine's journey is expressed with raw, authentic insight and self observation. Thank you for sharing with us, and congratulations on finishing this gift to Richard, your daughters, your grandson, yourself, and to us, your readers.
1031186
A beautifully written, brave book.  Jessica's writing reads like poetry.  Congratulating her on finding her voice and speaking out in this page-turning memoir.
587708
I found this book to be beautiful and inspiring.  It is a deeply spiritual book with lovely and moving photography. It conveys a complicated all-encompassing truth is a way that anyone can understand. I highly recommend this book. Enjoy!
2547433
Raw, painful, beautiful.  It is a book that sticks with you, that you want to discuss with others.  I highly recommend it!
4788153
'When Breath Becomes Air' is a book I will think about for the rest of my life. This book left me feeling almost jealous of this brave soul, in terms of how alive he was throughout his life and even facing imminent death. He is a true, visceral example of humanity, and I am so very grateful to him (and his family) for sharing his manuscript, because I believe it holds within it a beautiful guidepost for not only how to face death with integrity, but also how to face life. (This is the first (and maybe last) Amazon book review I've ever given.)
515925
What a gift! Arriving here I found your book. I find it wild, refreshing, frightening, creative, honest, soul searching, harsh, gentle, but mostly truly objective. What can I say...But honour your odyssey of extraordinary courage...You closed the book magnamiously and the only words that come to me now are: thanks for writing it!
3373240
It is 5AM, and I just finished this book. I could not put it down as I read the chapters on how the author experienced the deaths of her beloved parents. So I kept reading, then got to the closing poem, then read the acknowledgements, and was still inspired. On I went -- to amazon to read the reviews, most of which are positive. However when a few people wrote they thought it was sappy, I had to write my own review. This book is a lovely story of a woman's journey to know herself, her strengths and weaknesses, and  embrace her true self. We learn how to live authentically by accepting, forgiving and loving ourselves. We are reminded to fully experience this journey. Allow in love and generosity, and be loving, generous, and patient -- and the end result is  more happiness and fulfillment.

Agapi's story is not sappy: it's authentic, moving, heartfelt and wise.
724081
Just finished the book after ordering it on the Kindle two days ago. I needed to jump on here to share that: heartfelt sounds cliche and doesn't do this justice. Raw and gorgeous writing - Katherine shares so undeniably genuinely like she's speaking straight to your insides. So many achingly beautiful moments, hard and good, and shared through the lens of faith, but in a way that is accessible and still obviously thoughtful. This is a courageous work, and one that I will continue to mine through future reads. For me, she falls between greats like Anne Lamott and Mary Karr, with her own unique perspective of being clergy and a mother.

Would be wonderful for clergywomen support groups or book clubs.
3566837
A beautiful, harrowing book!

Brave. Honest. Funny.

To read through it felt like living another life, a wild ride packed into a couple of hours - I couldn't put it down! Amy has survived it all, seen it all, and lived to tell the tale. It was a journey to hell and back, but in the end she returned to the world of the living, savoring life with new found sweetness.

I was teary-eyed at the reunion of our heroine with her swift, four-legged friends... sometimes life hands you a little miracle against all odds.

So glad you survived, Amy! Keep writing!!! <3

~EAA
3076027
I loved this book!  What a brave, uncomplicated, emotionally- raw story of a woman who - thru her own instincts - put her unraveled  life back together by an incredible act of faith and hiked the better part of the PCT ALONE. I enjoyed every encounter, food craving, blister, description of beauty, triumph, failure, tantrum, tear, hardship, and step of Cheryl's emotional, physical, and spiritual journey. This book is not only a travelogue if her trip, but a heartbreakingly candid story of what led her there, and what she went thru to get to the other side to make herself whole again.
4045036
What a beautiful, simple, multi-layered, complex book!

My biggest fear, as I write this review, is that I might say something, in my own inadequacy, that would unintentionally underserve this wonderful writing.  On one level, it is the story of a womans growth, and her determination to wrest her life back to herself, as its rightful owner.  And it made me stop and think.this is itit is not a dress rehearsal.  And the book is a love storyof a person, of a place, of life, in all its manifestations.  Such keen powers of observation and description!

It is about the American West, and yet it is universal.  For me, this book has left me with a renewed and bigger sense of that which we might call the divine.  Not the imagined, limited concept of God as it has been handed down from one generation to another for a few thousand years now, unique to our particular species.  But that divinity of life, that preceded our species, and that will continue in its circle of beauty after we as a species are no more.  Well, there I go, probably saying it wrong!

Ill close by saying that as I read the book, [once without putting it down, and again putting it down for reflection between essays] I almost felt like I was hearing a response to Dylan Thomas in the far reaches of my mind, when he wrote And I rose, In the rainy autumn, And walked abroad in a shower of all my days.  The authors writing.which is really poetry riding under the protection of a prose oilskin duster.evokes that distant voice for me.

This book goes up on that special shelf, part of my literary survival kit!
3298071
It was beautifully written, with an ending for a beginning and a beginning for an ending.  It had the potential to be extremely depressing, and yet it remained honest, truthful, and insightful.  By the end of the book, I am left mourning for a boy named Pudding and rejoicing Gus.
The sincerity of the chapters--if that's what they were--was evident in McCracken's tribute to Pudding and everyone who helped her through the aftermath of losing a baby.  From her husband to the numerous friends she makes in Paris and England and the U.S., she shows just how much tragedy can unify anyone even remotely affected.
McCracken does not shy away from the more gritty details, either.  "I lost only one friend," she writes, "and possibly she doesn't even know it yet..."  Though the ex-friend is unnamed and briefly mentioned, McCracken clearly conveys the betrayal she felt in this woman trying to make her inattention to her friend's loss sound "noble."
I even felt as if she were giving advice, in telling what helped her own grief.  As if she were saying, Here is what you do to help a friend: do something.  Nothing is far, far worse.  Her grief is a journey that takes her from place to place--but she ends up at home, which I liked.
The language was what really captured me; it was poetic, at points, and beautiful.  The one chapter on the gothic image of a mother holding her dead child sticks out in my head, because that's something that really revealed the level of emotional trauma the author had to go through, and still manage to smile when she didn't think anything would ever be okay again.  At one point, when she becomes pregnant again, she stops saying "When we have a baby," and substitutes it with, "In the unlikely event that we have a baby."  The defense mechanisms, lowering expectations in case of being hurt yet again, are what make the whole process so heartbreaking.
I think this book really converted to memoirs.  Even though there was no suspense--she is completely upfront in the beginning what happens--you just have to take this journey to the end, to make sure everything turns out okay.
945482
This book touched me deeply on so many levels. Meg Flather's writing style is just lovely and so down to earth.  It feels straight from the heart.  It feels real.  It feels authentic. Her stories are so complex; funny, sweet, sad, adventurous, gritty, inspiring, uplifting, and wise; always positive and never preachy. Ms. Flather's poetry/lyrics are profound and also beautifully moving. Her life stories resonate on a very universal level.  Even if events are different, I related to so very much in this beautiful book.  After I finished reading, I lent the book to my sister.  Though we grew up in the same home, as with most siblings, our life paths have been wildly different, yet my sister also found the book totally relatable and inspiring.  Now that I have "Home Shopping Diva" back I want to re-read it and highlight many parts.  I don't want to loan it out again and I do want a number of people in my circle to read it, so I just bought two copies, along with one of Ms. Flather's CDs, Passages.  It will be a treat to gift forward HSDiva.
3220958
Janet's writing style is eloquent, beautiful and authentic. I was especially struck by the raw honesty in her storytelling. As a white upper middle class FTM, I was fortunate to not have to face many of the obstacles she did, but I could definitely relate to her journey even though it took her on a path very different from my own. I know the kind of courage and bravery it takes to go through something this monumental, but for Janet to bare her soul and share such personal details publicly with the world is what makes her truly exceptional.
3839823
An important and beautiful book whose flawed and courageous characters become a measure of our own humanity and willingness to see and act and love.  You will not be able to put it down. The best book I have read in years!