whatthedeuce's Reviews (1.39k)

Though I was looking forward to reading this book, I have to confess that I found it a bit tedious after the first fifty pages or so. It's not that it wasn't fun to learn about the scandals that rocked European courts or the crazy tactics some mistresses employed to keep kings under their spells, including black magic in one instance. Those were all quite fascinating and unexpected, to say the least. However, much of the book felt repetitive to me. I honestly didn't care about what fine furs or jewels yet another woman received during her tenure as royal mistress after reading what countless others had gained already. I understand that part of the purpose of the book was to detail the rewards mistresses reaped by playing their parts well, but I just got tired of that certain aspect of it early on. The power plays and appointing of officials and such never bored me, but the numerous run-downs of financial gains did. When it comes down to it though, I'd recommend this book to any gossipmongers out there looking for a fun read!

Goldstone provides a very in-depth look into the lives of the four daughters of the Count and Countess of Provence, three of whom (Marguerite, Eleanor, and Beatrice) were exceedingly ambitious. The book details the lengths to which the aforementioned ambitious women would go to gain international glory and respect, many times foiling one another's schemes to achieve their individual ends. What could've been a boring and dry account of medieval life is made vivid and exciting by Goldstone, and the daughters' lives are so interconnected by the royalty into which they all marry that their biographies weave in and out of one another to compose a lengthy and lavish tapestry. The account reads like a novel most of the way through, and I even found myself rooting for some family members and hoping for others' comeuppances!

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this book now that I'm done with it. It's a rather fast read, which is always great since I have tons of other novels on my plate, and I thought it did a rather fine job of capturing the frustrations and joys of teenage males exploring sex for the first time. Sure, the characters talk and act like first-rate jerks at times, esp. Dino, but that's what keeps the novel so grounded. As a female, I might not know firsthand what it's like to be a teenaged male with all the hormones going completely haywire, but I feel that this book paints an honest portrait of that confusing and exciting time in a guy's life when he's walking the thin line between being true to himself and fulfilling the part he knows others expect him to play. Actually, scratch what I just said. Burgess writes the character of Jackie honestly enough, too, that even female readers can find someone with whom they can relate. She acts as impetuously as the three boys, thanks to her hormonal urges, and she is shown to be just as bewildered and scared of her sexuality as any of them. Ultimately, I suppose I enjoyed the novel and appreciated what I felt to be accurate portrayals of three young blokes (and a young lady) blooming into adulthood.

If you've ever sat around musing on how poor and broke you are, you ain't seen nothing yet! Nissel recounts episodes at check-cashing joints, open-mike nights, and church cabarets that will make you glad for whatever little stash you've got in your bank account! Her trick of posing as a teacher's assistant to acquire teacher's edition books for free made me green with envy. I only wish I could've tried that even once during college! Nissel conveys a refreshing sense of true candor and wit, and her cringe-inducing tales are consistently hilarious and entertaining without the air of self-consciousness that stunk up most of Belle du Jour. I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good laugh and longs for (or remembers longing for) a bigger chunk of change to get some damn decent food!

The account begins with a rather tedious account of Wilson's acceptance into the CIA and her training to become a spy. Only when she delves into the details surrounding the leak of her covert status by journalist Robert Novak does the autobiography suddenly spring to life. Wilson's recollections of the disgust and hurt she endured for three years are vivid and eye-opening. Reading about how she and her husband were reduced to pawns in the Bush administration's game of warmongering angered and astonished me. What also threw me for a loop was seeing all the blacked out material that was censored by the CIA's publications review board. There are whole pages of Wilson's account excised from the final product, and it's for this reason that a long but informative afterword by Laura Rozen is necessary to tell the whole story. If you enjoy politics, suspense, and nonfiction, this is just the book for you!

Much to my dismay, I pretty much loathed this book. I'd been so psyched to read it since I watched the UK series based on it last year. However, the author comes off to me as trying extremely hard to be witty and clever when, in fact, she's trite and boring. The only entries in her journal that I truly enjoyed were those recounting work episodes. Unfortunately, the writer's personal love drama constitutes the majority of the book, and it never once drew me in. I just rolled my eyes when she'd blather on about her idiotic ex-boyfriends and her family, which happened far too often for my taste. That said, the short "Belle's A-Z of Sex Work" segments interspersed throughout the book allowed for a charming and insightful look into the world of call girls. I can appreciate the candor and openness with which the writer expresses her views on sex for pleasure and for financial gain, but in the end, I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone. Apparently, the material was collected straight from the author's blog so that if you feel so inclined, you may be bored and irritated for free!