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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
>> Fascinating Story
Wow This book tells the true story of Henrietta Lacks and her family s attempts at understanding how her cells have impacted science It is part medical research history part human interest and part science lesson Civil rights and patient s medical rights are also woven in throughout the book I w

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Three Cups of Tea With Headphones Playaway Adult Nonfiction
Three Cups of Tea With Headphones Playaway Adult Nonfiction
>> A Treasure
There are few books in life that a person would forever keep at his side and of those select few I treasure this one most I find solace in the pages of this book especially in my most trying times and this is because those precious words contained within them remind me that difficulty is always

See More Detail >>> Three Cups of Tea With Headphones Playaway Adult Nonfiction

Liar s Poker
Liar s Poker
>> Terrific portrait of 1980s Wall Street before the MBAs arrived
If you want to know what the big Wall Street bond firms were like before the MBAs took over this is the book It s a great portrait of 1980s Wall Street the way that traders and investment bankers used to appear in the eyes of the young MBAs they hired and the ridiculous training that newcomer

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Courage and Consequence My Life as a Conservative in the Fight
Courage and Consequence My Life as a Conservative in the Fight
>> Setting Bush s record straight
A well written clarification of the President s accomplishments and yes some significant mistakes A book like this from an insider who was so close to the facts is much needed to counter the reporting by a media that on the whole tended to be politically biased against President Bush


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Saturday, April 17, 2010

Where to buyI Am Nujood Age 10 and Divorcedis the best

Author : Nujood Ali
Total Page : 192
Publisher : Three Rivers Press
Publication Date : 2010 03 02

I Am Nujood Age 10 and Divorced
>> Entertaining
This is an entertaining quick read You learn about Nujood s culture a bit Her father marries her off at 10 years old to an adult to pay a couple hundred dollars of debts If you love your daughter do you sell her like a used car Her new husband has sworn that he won t touch her until she is 13 Oops he lied He touches a 10 year old Nujood often and abuses her in other ways She is essentially a slave to her new husband and his family But Nujood fights back and seeks a divorce The book tells about the shock of a young Muslim girl seeking divorce in a male dominated society But she gets help from men and women who care about her
>> Great Cultural Read
Once I started this book I couldn t put it down until I was finished Both insightful and suspenseful it s written in a first person narrative talking about the events as if they were unfolding right before our eyes I found this a rather startling look into a culture I know little about through the eyes of a young brave girl fighting for her right to live out her childhood as any child should

Nujood s story encompasses her early childhood life in a small village with no electricity where they lived richly to a big city where they were reduced to provery her marriage to and divorce from the one she called the monster and her family life in general with her parents and siblings I learned a lot from reading this book and realized that there are a lot of things creature comforts in particular that I really take for granted

This book gives the reader a glimpse of what it s like in Nujood s part of the world both in her family and outside of her family Truly an inspiring autobiographical story It shows the similarities between the Yemen culture and us over here as well as major heartbreaking differences What I love most about this story is that even in the midst of hopelessness and cruelty and nightmares there is light in the form compassionate caring people more than willing to do everything they can to help a little girl get her life back
>> Review of I am Nujood
I was hesitant about giving this book a rating because I can t really say that I enjoyed it

There are a few things I appreciated about it I appreciated it s short to the point length Any more and I don t know that I could have handled it I appreciated that the book focused so intently on rehabilitation and didn t feel the need to go into massive amounts of detail with regards to Nujood s circumstances and the horror she dealt with

This is an important book It s written in a way that really brings out the confused girl woman s voice from Nujood She s 10 years old a child but the things she talks about should never have had to come out of a child s mouth

Important book and one that should be read Talk about this book get people reading it I intend to

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Where to buy The Pacific

Author : Hugh Ambrose
Total Page : 512
Publisher : NAL Hardcover
Publication Date : 2010 03 02

The Pacific
>> Some how manages to make a great story boring
I am so disappointed in this book and it s such a shame as it could have been so much better with even a little bit of editing Admittedly the bar was set pretty high as I just finished E B Sledge s riveting account of his experiences in the Pacific in With the Old Breed but this book doesn t even manage to come close a victim of just plain poor writing What should be a page turner based on it s subject matter is instead too painful to read and not because of what s happening in the story My advise is to pass this one up there are many much better books on the subject available
>> Accept This One For What It Is And Enjoy
There are many things to like about The Pacific The writing unfortunately is not one of them But do we always pick up a book about the Greatest Generation and their exploits during World War II and expect a literary masterpiece Not this reader Sure Stephen Ambrose moved us to tears as he wrote about the mighty Screaming Eagles of the 101st Airborne Division going toe to toe with Hitler s elite SS Armored units in Arnhem Ambrose gave life to the men of Easy Company 506th Infantry Regiment with passion and great clarity recounting their matchless courage in a way that few World War II historians have done before or since

His son Hugh deserves credit for attempting to do for the Pacific Theater what his father did for the European Theater making it real for those of us who were not there while trying to fill his father s considerable shoes Ambrose Jr certainly is not without colorful characters in Manila John Basilone Sidney Sid Phillips Eugene B Sledgehammer Sledge Austin Shifty Shofner and Vernon Mike Micheel to work with and help him tell the story These men are straight out of central casting and worth every bit of the legend attendant to their storied names Without perhaps the finesse of his father Ambrose knits together the compelling story of their service and how their trajectories intersect in a war that would know no parallels in its ferocity And he does so in a highly readable way Yes his writing style is a bit choppy and he does not always handle the transition from one character s experience to another s as seamlessly or as artfully as he might Yet there is believability in his writing

More important we can accept this book for what it is a companion reader to the HBO miniseries with reasonable entertainment value

An avid reader of military history and war stories alike I found The Pacific enjoyable for not only the realism but also the humorous anecdotes I received a glimpse into the experiences of this uncommon breed of men as if they were relating them to me themselves Many of their recollections ring true and are recounted as I believe these men would actually talk not through a lot of frilly prose but through honest frank and forthright accounts of a hellish existence on Bataan Guadalcanal Peleliu Iwo Jima Okinawa and in the middle of the Pacific Midway with plenty of torpedoes bombs and antiaircraft fire keeping their juices flowing Not just another day at the office to be sure From reading The Pacific I was able to totally get it and IT was sheer mayhem Fear was the only constant in their helter skelter lives

This is war as it really happens organized chaos For the Marines and naval aviators who went through the meat grinder that characterized MacArthur s and Nimitz s Pacific island hopping campaign this is life as they knew it Mosquitoes the size of hummingbirds and raindrops the size of silver dollars suicidal Japanese banzai charges and bombs shaped like planes falling determinedly from the sky on the helpless sailors below

From Micheel s white knuckled 60 degree dive in his Dauntless on an enemy aircraft carrier to Basilone s machine gun virtuoso in the face of hundreds of crazed marauding Imperial Japanese soldiers the reader sees it all unvarnished and as it really happened Ambrose s men plain spoken and salt of the earth Americans were heroes of the highest order

For me reading The Pacific was yet another reminder of the extraordinary sacrifice our grandparents made on our behalf The bouts with malaria and dengue fever in the Cabantuan POW camp the boxcar size artillery rounds launched from 16 inch guns installed on Imperial Japanese Navy battleships raining down on Marine fighting positions dug on Guadalcanal amidst the densest jungles conceived by God How did these men do it They did it simply because their buddies on either side were expecting them to do it Not because they were superhuman but because they were all too human and were young enough and foolish enough to believe they could

Island by island these great Americans fought their way to just miles from the Japanese mainland and within range of U S bombers Sometimes ingloriously but always with love of country in their hearts they avenged the cold blooded murder of their comrades at Pearl Harbor while reminding the world and any other would be hegemon that America remained the mightiest nation on earth that her spirit might be bowed but never broken

The Pacific is above all else instructive We learn that in the final analysis men learn to overcome unrelenting hardship perhaps most of all because of those they hold most dear their brothers in arms They are the closest kind of relative enduring whatever the elements or the enemy can throw at them and they derive immense strength from the bonds that are forged by fire It is not for the the unitiated to understand It is for those who have lived it to merely nod to one another in quiet acknowledgement

Accept this one for what it is and enjoy

>> A Good Book but Not a Real Companion to the Mini Series
My reading of this book was a first for me in a couple of ways This was the first of Hugh Ambrose s work I have read and my first experience with a Kindle Book or any type of e book for that matter It was not my first attempt at reading a book that was written to be a companion to a movie or TV mini series I willingly allowed myself to fall into that trap again I am as I almost always am disappointed that I read and completed the book before watching or in this case finished watching the visual production

Mr Ambrose s work in this book seemed very well researched and provided a real insight into the personal experiences of the main cast of characters His writing style is not my favorite however and his habit of shifting between third person story telling and first person quotes often in the middle of sentences and without any set up or notice was both distracting and confusing This habit often broke the rhythm of my reading and required me to stop and sort out what had happened to the words This reduced my enjoyment of the book I am certainly no expert in the history of the Second World War in the Pacific but I didn t come across anything in this book that struck me as incorrect This is a good read for those who wish to see and feel the war through the accounts of the men in the front lines I give it a solid 4 out of 5

The down side of reading this book while watching or before watching the mini series is that I am already disappointed with the producer s apparent choice to not include the naval aviation thread Trying not to throw down any spoilers here That thread was one of the best in the book and I think the mini series suffers for the lack of its inclusion The book and mini series part company within the first thirty minutes of the mini series and I do not see how the producers are going to drag their story line back into synch with the book at this point I ll watch episode 4 tomorrow night I loved Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers and I am not enjoying The Pacific mini series nearly as much But then again I didn t read a companion book prior to watching the visual productions of the other two My advice to everyone is to read this book but wait until you finish watching the mini series You ll enjoy both much more

Now to a short critique of the Kindle Version of this book I like the active links between the work and the footnotes and references It was really pleasant to be able to flip back and forth between them There were however at least two places in the book where a part of the text was just missing A paragraph would be going along and the words would just stop in the middle of a sentence and a new paragraph would start There did not appear to a great amount of text missing at least from what I could tell but it is frustrating to try and puzzle out what the author had to say based on what came before and after the AWOL text There was also an instance of a footnote being embedded in the text in the middle of a sentence as a matter of fact that clearly should have been represented by an active link and contained at the back of the book I hope that these problems are not representative of the quality control in Kindle Books especially the first run ones

There is another issue that makes me frustrated with people who think it is okay to treat customers this way The price of this book dropped by 4 00 between the time I bought it and now two or three weeks later when I returned to review it That tells me that it would pay everyone to let a new book age on the website for two or three weeks before you buy it Shame on you Amazon I think I going to read a couple more Kindle books using the freeware Kindle for PC to see if these are pandemic problems or just a one off problems with this particular book before laying out 350 00 or more for a Kindle and required accessories I give the Kindle version of this book a 3 out 5 for quality of production and pricing tricks


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Friday, April 16, 2010

Cheap price on The 8th Confession The Women s Murder Club order it now

Author : James Patterson
Total Page : 464
Publisher : Little Brown and Company
Publication Date : 2009 04 27

The 8th Confession The Women s Murder Club
>> The 8th Confession WMC
Another wonderful book by James Patterson As usual you do not know what the ending will be until the last page Keep them coming
>> Last Patterson Book I ll Ever Buy
Years ago when I first began reading James Patterson books he wrote his own works and they were top notch Now titles are mass produced under a myriad of different shadow authors under the Patterson Banter and the quality has gone down the sewer This work is yet another example The plot is weak the dialogue between the characters is lame and worse the book is filled with diction errors You would expect a competent editor to at least catch those The ending is a cookie cutter lame solution you ve seen in a dozen movies I would not expect a respected author to be so blatant about copying plots themes and endings This is the third Patterson book in a row I ve purchased and been disappointed with and it will be the last There are much better authors out there who truly do care about the product they produce and I will buy their books If I could have given this review zero stars I would have because that is what this book deserves But the system forces me to give it at least one star but just know it deserves a no star rating
>> It wasn t what I ordered
I ordered a hardback copy and a paperback copy was sent to me I even paid the hardbound copy price but it was a gift so I can t take it back so I plain to keep it But I m not very happy about being ripped off like that

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Cheapest price on Have a Little Faithorder it now

Total Page : 272
Publisher : Sphere

Have a Little Faith
>> Inspiring and Sensitive
In a world where it feels like divisions are more pronounced than ever this story reminds us we are all the same That who we were is not always who we are That revisiting long forgotten relationships can have the best and most inspiring and fulfilling consequences I simply loved this book
>> Search
Readers looking for a touching story about real people will enjoy Mitch Album s latest book Have a Little Faith He presents the lives of two men from different backgrounds different faiths and different places Albert Lewis was the rabbi from Album s hometown synagogue and Henry Covington is an African American minister of a church in Detroit What they share is hope and faith and a love of God and people These are inspiring lives that will lift the spirits of every reader

Rating Three star Recommended

>> Have a Little Faith
Have a Little Faith is the story of two men Albert Lewis Mitch Albom s childhood Rabbi from New Jersey and Henry Covington an inner city priest in Detroit Two men who really have nothing in common except for their faith and the inspiration they bring to their congregation and those who they are in contact with

Mitch no longer resides in Jersey and finds it rather odd that he is asked by his Rabbi Albert Lewis a/k/a The Reb to write his eulogy Firstly it s been years since Mitch has been in contact with him And secondly he isn t dying at least not anytime soon So Mitch makes it a point to spend time with The Reb to get to know him and thus begins an 8 year long friendship

Henry Covington preaches in a run down church with a gaping hole in the roof to the poorest and the homeless of Detroit He s a former drug dealer and spent almost a decade behind bars but has now turned his life over to God

This is the story of two men with different beliefs but who have common goals their faith their love of God and their congregations

As a fan of Mr Albom s previous works I was excited when I finally got the my hands on Have a Little Faith In its pages you will find everything that you would expect from a Mitch Albom book faith inspiration joy tears But for some reason and I m saddened to say this it fell a little flat for me Don t take me wrong I truly enjoyed reading about The Reb and Henry Covington their experiences and their anecdotes All in all I felt that it was missing something It didn t grip me in the way some of his previous books have In the end I m not sure exactly how much I got out of this book but it is a good story One that I think should be read and I can easily see that many will enjoy


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Thursday, April 15, 2010

Buy it now The Glass Castle A Memoir

Author : Jeannette Walls
Total Page : 288
Publisher : Scribner
Publication Date : 2006 01 09

The Glass Castle A Memoir
>> Still reeling
This book was heart rending frustrating enraging funny moving and a tour de force I listened to it on CD in my car and at times I found myself literally yelling at the CD player in fury at the latest outrage perpetrated by Walls s parents the two most feckless self centred and irresponsible people on the planet or almost weeping at her disappointment or the humiliation her father occasionally felt There were times I was tempted to just skip to the last disc as I couldn t bear to hear any more but I stuck with it and just loved the final chapters as Walls manages to create a loving and successful life for herself without the need for therapy or confronting her parents not that that would have helped much especially in the case of her mother who seems to live in an entirely different world to the rest of us and yet still has no resentment towards them I think at some point Walls just decided that they did the best they knew how I don t understand people who found this book negative or even boring and I certainly didn t get any sense of Walls writing this to blame or punish her parents if anything she is constantly forgiving and trying to help them Whilst we know from the beginning that Walls is successful we have to read the entire book to see how she gets to that point and what moulds her and her siblings I sincerely hope that the youngest Maureen is able to find her feet and not go the same way as the parents

Whilst I m sure Walls is not the only person to endure such a childhood she is the only one I know of who has written such a brutally honest memoir about her life her family her feelings and behaviour She doesn t shy away from her own mistakes or the times when she pretended not to know her parents One thing I m dying to know is whether her poli sci teacher at Barnard the one who accused her of knowing nothing about poverty has read the book and if so did she contact Walls

>> Gripping and amazing
The Glass Castle is Jeannette Walls memoir of growing up with an alcoholic father and a mother that was surely mentally ill The book opens when Jeannette is three and badly burns herself cooking hotdogs on the stove She spends six weeks in the hospital until her parents rescue her and sneak her back home This type of situation is repeated throughout the book Jeannette s parents are proud of their hands off approach to parenting and repeatedly help Jeannette and her brother and sisters by making them do things no children their ages should have to do

Jeannette retells the events of her childhood through the eyes of the child she was at the time and does a great job of keeping adult cynicism out of it She doesn t ask for pity she lets the horribleness of the events she relates speak for themselves Many times I wanted to reach through the book and strangle her parents I read Jeanette s gossip column on msnbc com for years to think that she was once the little girl in this book and not only survived but became very successful is amazing
>> A Book that is ever present in your mind
As a mother of two toddler s in suburbia this book was astounding to read I do so much to provide for my children and make sure they are given everything they need to succeed In contrast I don t doubt that the family in this book is not a loving family but the love is so completely different It s simple and complicated all at the same time and yet unencumbered by material things and societal pressures Their life growing up was horrifying and inspiring You can learn and be inspired by this book Definitely a must read

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Save price on The 48 Laws of Poweris the best

Author : Robert Greene
Total Page : 452
Publisher : Penguin Non Classics
Publication Date : 2000 09 01

The 48 Laws of Power
>> Satan is somewhere smiling
A friend handed me this book as a gift

After reading it I am wondering

What is this the devils companion manual

I don t know how this book became a bestseller it is the coldest most ruthless and evil piece of work I have ever read It should have been and should be banned but instead millions of people actually purchased this

Amazing the kind of world we live in

I don t recommend this book for power and I actually don t understand the purpose of its purchase What compacity does it serve so many readers

If you want power that bad then you don t need this book I cannot imagine someone saying After reading the 48 laws of power I am now on the forbes 400 list

How you get power is through good old fashion hard work perfect your craft and earn respect within your industry Read subjects related to your industry and seek advice from those within your industry That s how you gain power

I think I made my point clear about how I feel about this book Its only use is to make a bon fire

Good Luck in your endeavors
>> The Mother
Of all of Greene s books This is the rule setter the trend setter It is not for every man but applicable to those who want to get ahead especially by the old adage by any means necessary
>> Burn Baby Burn
Does anyone actually live like this The book does not describe what power is just how to obtain it It also supposes everyone you encounter is a total idiot and will not see beyond your deceptions lies and betrayals At first glance it looks like a weighty volume of carefully researched documentation but when you keep track the author pulls from a small pool of authors and repeatedly goes back and quotes from the same ones over and over again I bought this book not to practice what it preaches but to be more alert to when these things are tried on me OK I am more aware So now I have knowledge and a very expensive fire log

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Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Buy it now Helmet for My Pillow From Parris Island to the Pacificorder it now

Author : Robert Leckie
Publisher : Tantor Audio
Publication Date : 2010 05

Helmet for My Pillow From Parris Island to the Pacific
>> Not all combat all the time
I picked this up immediately upon hearing it was used as a basis for HBO s The Pacific miniseries I fully expected to see lots of commentary on combat but what I got turned out to be more than that Sure Leckie does talk about his harrowing experiences upon arriving on Guadalcanal and engaging the Japanese forces there but it is the time spent in between the fighting that reflects most on Leckie s memoir

The first third of the book concerns Leckie s enlistment and training in the marine corps in and around Parris Island We discover the trials he faces learning how to fight as well as how he comes to cherish his friends in the camp This definitely serves Leckie s humanity as he becomes a trained killer for the United States Marines prior to his deployment

Another very interesting piece is when Leckie and his mates are shipped to Australia for R R after the Guadalcanal campaign What ensues is nothing short of The Great Debauch as Leckie nicknames it

I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in World War II and especially the personal aspect of the Pacific conflict through a common man s eyes Those seeking detailed combat stories and analysis will be disappointed I m afraid It does get a little wordy in places but its nothing that detracts from the overall experience I suggest reading this along with With the Old Breed an excellent book in its own right Leckie s memoir is a treasure from someone who was there and graciously provides us with an eye opening and sometimes candid view of the world at war from where he stood and fought at that time in history
>> Didn t like writing style
Really didn t care for the style of narrative in this book it was really tedious and kind of annoying I stopped reading it about halfway through and I m not sure if I ll ever pick it back up to finish it It just wasn t that interesting to me
>> The human side to the marines of the Pacific War
Leckie s memoir of his time in WWII is certainly not a combat memoir Sure there is combat since he fought in Guadalcanal New Britain and Peleiu but right from the beginning you can see that Leckie s memoir is one of the marine itself and the institute that the marine must live in Not knowing this might lead to a false impression but once you know it lends a lot to the understanding of a marine in the Pacific

Leckie is very descriptive bringing the reader right in to the life and times of a marine entering WWII You feel as though you are there with him when he enlists and goes through 6 weeks of boot camp And again when he sets sail and finally lands at Guadalcanal We are shown the life of a marine his thoughts his fears his weaknesses and most certainly his experience as he fought the Japanese But the combat is quickly brushed over as Leckie focuses more on the human side of himself and his fellow marines This was very disappointing at first because I wanted to read about his battle experiences in detail not in everything but his combat experience

This is soon forgotten as we then move to Melbourne and shown the miriad ways that the marines humored themselves how they had to avoid the MPs and thus the brig and how on numerous occasions he was successful in avoiding the brig This to me showed the human side of the soldier and really showed how the soldier interacted and lived Without this bird s eye view then we would be left simply with a generic attempt by other marines to only discuss their combat experience Don t get me wrong I love reading about the combat experience but Leckie s account it so much more deep and in depth that it makes me see the marines in a whole different light A brighter light that shows you who they were

The downside is that sometimes he waxed poetically too much and there was very little combat Is this a recommend for the WWII enthusiast Certainly a must I would add as Leckie shows us what war is and why it was fought Most poignantly is his epilogue and the reader can t help but be touched at what he and other men have sacrificed for our country And then to have it turned and ask for forgiveness as he closes his memoir with forgive us for that awful cloud A recommend

4 5 stars

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More Blood More Sweat and Another Cup of Tea
More Blood More Sweat and Another Cup of Tea
>> Good thing it was free
I guess I didn t read the reviews well enough This is not so much a story as a bunch of diary entries Not impressed He doesn t seem like he enjoys his job very much

See More Detail >>> More Blood More Sweat and Another Cup of Tea

The Blind Side Evolution of a Game
The Blind Side Evolution of a Game
>> Casual football fans will love this book
What a great book Michael Lewis not only knows how to put together a captivating story he does so with subtle wit and plenty of insight His meticulous research is obvious he ll casually mention a former player and then go into detail about that player s career and its importance to the history o

See More Detail >>> The Blind Side Evolution of a Game

In Defense of Food An Eater s Manifesto
In Defense of Food An Eater s Manifesto
>> Pithy and Powerful
Eat food Not too much Mostly plants writes Pollan It s been a few weeks since I read the book and I still remember that Words to live by The book expands on those simple sentences in the subsequent chapters The book is short and well written and dare I say life changing I was already a f

See More Detail >>> In Defense of Food An Eater s Manifesto

Are You There Vodka It s Me Chelsea
Are You There Vodka It s Me Chelsea
>> just ok
first book best this one ok and chelsea chelsea bang bang borrow from a friend

See More Detail >>> Are You There Vodka It s Me Chelsea

With the Old Breed
With the Old Breed
>> Good read
Does a great job of putting you in the shoes of a grunt Didn t serve during WWII but have served in every conflict since Viet Nam and he nails some of the experiences HIs descriptions of what you see hear and smell are dead on Good book and it s on the list of required reading for Marines

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Eat Pray Love One Woman s Search for Everything Across Italy India and Indonesia
Eat Pray Love One Woman s Search for Everything Across Italy India and Indonesia
>> Another crazy divorcee writes a book How original
If I have to read one more mind numbingly insipid novel written by some pill popping neurotic woman who can t keep her life together I will scream
I am SO SICK of these women thinking they can write books I am just so tired of their pathetic attempts at humor They allll think they hav

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