simply incredible information. leaves you with no need to read other books of this subject.

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This is a very touching book which gets you thinking and challenges you to walk in faith. I have never read In His Steps, but I liked this book, which I think is very similar except it is a contemporary version. In the novel, a pastor of a church challenges his congregation with the ulitmate question-- What Would Jesus Do? He challenges them to ask themselves this question before making any decision. This challenge also affects us as the reader because it also challenges us. It is a good challenge, to think of what Jesus would do before making any decision, and I think it is a challenge we all should take.

I'll admit, I saw this book in the bookstore several times and was put off by the title, Who Killed Marilyn Monroe, frankly who cares..Then the other day I was checking to see if the new Evanovich was in and actually picked the book up and read the jacket. This is when I discovered that the Marilyn in this book is actually a donkey,in my opinion any book with a male donkey called Marilyn Monroe, multiple murders and mayhem is worth a read.

This is the first book in the series featuring PI Grace Smith, Grace is tall, blonde and perpetually broke, she has as many problems and hangups as the rest of us and is very easy to identify with. The one-liners scattered through the text are brilliant, the dialogue is well written and fast paced with frequent oportunities for a laugh. I will definitely be buying the next three books to see what else Grace manages to get herself into.

The workbook is one of the first workbooks that I have found useful in the classroom. It is closely coordinated with the textbook and actually has some interesting exercises that require thinking and analysis on the part of the student. It is not simply a pencil-pusher type of workbook, and although it contains errors and typos, the overall quality is excellent.

For teachers looking for assistance in teaching writing to their students, this is a wonderful resource. This curriculum guide was prepared with the main purpose of using writing in ALL subject areas, at all grade levels. It offers writing tasks appropriate for each grade level as well as specific assignments. These assignments provide objectives, materials needed, time involved, and directions. Understanding that a lot of teachers are concerned about evaluating their students' writing, this curriculum product offers useful evaluation tools for both the teachers and the students.

Whether you believe that Marilyn herself or friend Ben Hecht wrote this book, it is a must-own for any collector. With short, charming chapters that you can almost hear being whispered to you in Marilyn's little girl voice, the book truly captures her persona. How awful to get to the end, knowing her troubles are barely beginning!

This book's charm results from the dialouge the reader seems to carry on with Marilyn herself. She writes frankly and honestly revealing a side of herself few actually acknowledge. The material is extremely touching as it is what she wanted known in her own language, an aspect no other book about her could convey. It does, however, end rather abruptly, but the keyhole peek into her life is a treasure every admirer should take advantage of. All in all, Marilyn, and even little Norma Jean speak directly from the pages in a candid and true voice.

"My Story" has generated controversy since its publication in
1974. After perusing the above reviews, it appears to continue this legacy. Milton Greene, Marilyn's former vice president of Marilyn Monroe Productions, claimed to have the original manuscript allegedly typed by Marilyn. Greene published it in hardcover for the first time twelve years after Marilyn's death. However, the roots of this project stemmed from serialized newspaper articles for London's The Empire News in 1954. Supposedly, the writing was ghosted by Ben Hecht as told to him by Marilyn in interviews. It reads as if Marilyn was speaking and is obviously edited to resemble an autobiographical account. Of course, Marilyn was given the byline in the newspaper. Marilyn's account of childhood sexual abuse is harrowing. When Marilyn's estate was auctioned by Christie's in NYC in 1999, excerpts from this book were used to illustrate and authenticate her white baby grand piano, a gift from her mother in childhood.
Gary Vitacco-Robles, author of "Cursum Perficio: Marilyn Monroe's Brentwood Hacienda

I bought the book as a gift for my daughter who is a huge Marilyn fan. I think she'll enjoy the pictures and insights on the actresses life. I had no idea there were so many Marilyn impersonators out there. Even though I'm not a Marilyn fan, it does help me understand what others found attractive about her.

For Marilyn fans, this book is a nice addition to a collection. I learned several neat facts and tid-bits about Marilyn's lifestyle, but it didn't focus on anything specific. It was more of a vague instruction manuel for impersonaters. It also focuses on the author's life just as much, if not more, as it does on Marilyn's. I was hoping to get a book on Marilyn's mannerisms and the like-- but I was disappointed. I'm glad it was a gift to me, and that I didn't have to pay for it myself.

Be Marilyn? Seems like one of my friends thought I should at least try when they bought me this book for my birthday this year. Let me first say, I have always loved Marilyn Monroe as a charasmatic actress - but have never been overly concerned with "Marilyn the Myth"...this book, however, initially intended as a "how to" from people who loved me, turned out to be more.

Intelligently crafted by Gailyn Addis, an unbelievably, almost uncanny Marilyn Look-a-like was clearly well researched, planned and written. The photographs of both the author (as Marilyn) and Marilyn herself, are worth the price of the book alone. And the "HOW TO" section...well let me tell you girls...instead of watching TV one night, get out your (eyemakeup) pencil sharpner and sit in front of a mirror with this book. You'll have fun, boost your image(blonds may not have more fun, but they sure can look like they are!)and maybe shake up your love life alittle. Okay, that's asking alot from a book called BE MARILYN -but give it a read, Marilyn would have!

This is an interesting book indeed. Unfortunately I find most of what's written very hard to believe. The way Pepitone describes Monroe goes against almost everything else that has ever been written about her. The book paints her as a lazy, dumb, immature and half crazy child. I kept an open mind while reading it but when the author claimed that Monroe had a child in her early teens I took the rest of the book with a grain of salt. If you don't really care about how accurate the content is then go ahead and read it to get a good chuckle if nothing else. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother.

I thought this is book was pretty good but I find some things in the book hard to belive. This is the first book I have read about Marilyn Monroe so I can't compare to any other book. But just like in the t.v. movie "Norma Jean and Marilyn", I don't think everything that they say is true.

This is certainly an interesting Book...painting marilyn as a neurotic,spoiled,champagne swilling slob...and also as a sweet, misunderstood and lonely woman.
At it's worst this book recounts marilyn's Life (standard stuff) and claims that marilyn gave birth to a baby boy....at it's best it gives a clear picture of marilyn's marriage to Arthur Miller, her apparent lack of real friendships and a look at the reality of marilyn's day to day Life.
There are also revealing glimpses of marilyn's thoughts about her career and herself.
This would make a hell of a movie!!

I'm amazed at the variety of reactions "Blonde" has sparked. I'm not sure whether most of them are reactions to Joyce Carol Oates (why are so many people furious at her? Is it jealousy because she may be the only human on earth who suffers from absolutely no writer's block and can crank out one thought-provoking novel after another?)or is it the cult of Marilyn Monroe, the unknowable icon? At any rate, let's look at the book.

It is grim. The writing is very fine, and Norma Jeane never, never gets a break. The result: a sad read, probably pretty much like her life. The question is, do you want to go through it with her? I did, but found "Blonde" terribly disturbing and terribly depressing. We learn nothing new about Norma Jeane or Marilyn Monroe, but do get an idea about how she put up with her life for as long as she did and why she finally brought it to an end.

Feminist? Gay-bashing? (see earlier reviews). Hardly. The pain on all sides in this book makes it very hard to take.

I have never read Joyce Carol Oates before. I have actually never read a Marilyn book, or seen a Marilyn miniseries, so I came to this a MM virgin.

I finished the book two day ago, and I was so impacted by this novel that I can't stop thinking about it. It drained me. I am left almost hurt, and I can't understand how seriously I connected with the Marilyn character. I hope to goodness that this was completely fiction, because I don't see how Norma Jean could have lived as long as she did, trapped in herself.

As a portrait of madness, this book is amazing. You know how it's going to end, but you are driven to read to the last sentence, with no hope that it will turn out well.

There is an amazing amount of reviewers who do not like this book at all. Maybe people's projections of Marilyn and her life are still too strong to allow her to be Norma Jean. Otherwise, I don't see how this book could get one star.

The powerful use of imagery, stream of consciousness, shifting points of view, and poetry make this beautiful book perhaps out of reach of the John Grisham crowd. That is not an insult, I also read John Grisham. However, this style of writing is measurably different than most NY Times Bestselling authors. I would recommend this book to those who can adapt to different styles and views in the same novel. Otherwise, if you are reading this only because you want to know about Marilyn Monroe, but have a short attention span, then look elsewhere for your information.

In BLONDE, this remarkable, epic new novel by Joyce Carol Oates, we come to understand the larger-than-life personality of Marilyn Monroe vis a vis the elusive, nearly invisible person of Norma Jeane Baker. Oates mediates between the dual consciousnesses of Marilyn/Norma Jeane, and renders a mesmerizing hybrid of public celebrity and private martyr. In the especially engrossing early sections of the book, Oates explores the devastating childhood and abandonment that Norma Jeane endured, and conjures old Hollywood in its lurid and fallen glory. Oates also offers new impressions of the men in Marilyn's life that shaped her vision of herself as a woman: Joe DiMaggio, Arthur Miller, and--to a lesser degree--JFK all feature in this book in ways that will surprise even Marilyn aficionados. What makes this book so exceptional is that Oates manages to breathe new, believable life into the technicolor figure that all of have come to know as nothing more than a celluloid fantasy. This book is truly exceptional, and is undoubtedly the crowning achievement of Oates's prolific career. I've read every one of her books, and I think her mastery is uniquely evident in BLONDE.