Blogcritics Author: Lynda Lippin

Book Review: The 99th Monkey - A Spiritual Journalist's Misadventures with Gurus, Messiahs, Sex, Psychedelics, and Other Consciousness-Raising Experiments by Eliezer Sobel

Lynda Lippin — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 19:51:16 EDT

With Sobel as our guide we laugh, scream, cry, vomit, and refuse to drink the water used to cleanse the guru's sandals.
"I am the 99th Monkey. If you don't get me, you don't get your critical mass, and it screws up the whole works. I seem to be single-handedly holding back the Great Paradigm Shift of the Golden Age simply through my continuing to be a resistant little putz." Most people of the hippie/new age/spiritual enlightenment seeking ilk...

Book Review: A Woman's Guide to Saving Her Own Life by Mellanie True Hills

Lynda Lippin — Sat, 31 May 2008 16:53:11 EDT

Heart disease kills more women each year than men. Read this book even if you think you are healthy!
For 20 years now, heart disease has killed more women each year than men. Statistically, 40 percent of women will have a cardiovascular problem in her lifetime, and heart disease kills more women than every type of cancer combined. Women have different heart symptoms than men, and yet most of us, including physicians, do not know...

Book Review: Immortal by Traci L. Slatton

Lynda Lippin — Sat, 31 May 2008 15:49:53 EDT

Impeccable history, interesting narrative, and enough fantasy to make it fun.
It's a been quite a while since I read a novel that I absolutely adored. Immortal sucked me in at page one and even after over 500 pages of reading I could have read more. In Immortal, Traci L. Slatton follows the 180 year life story of Luca Bastardi, a Florentian citizen and son of Seth who writes his autobiography from his Inquisition cell...

Book Review: A Life In Secrets - Vera Atkins and the Missing Agents of WWII by Sarah Helm

Lynda Lippin — Sat, 31 May 2008 10:26:49 EDT

This book is like reading the best mystery, spy novel, espionage thriller, and personal WWII history all in one.
I loved every second of A Life In Secrets. It was like reading the best mystery, spy novel, espionage thriller, personal history, and WWII fact-finding book all in one volume. In it Sarah Helm tells several stories and unravels many mysteries. The obvious story is that of Vera Atkins and her "missing agents", the women (mostly) and men...

Book Review: Bad Faith by Carmen Callil

Lynda Lippin — Fri, 30 May 2008 17:31:17 EDT

Louis Darquier is yet another stupid idiot who floated to the top of the heap when idiots ruled the world.
Bad Faith chronicles the life and times of Louis Darquier de Pellepoix, one of the most vile, base, and idiotic Nazi collaborators in Vichy, France. While Carmen Callil's connection to Darquier (who added "de Pellepoix" himself to make his name sound more regal) via his daughter should make the book more interesting, it instead...

Book Review: Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner

Lynda Lippin — Fri, 9 May 2008 07:29:17 EDT

This is a book about life and living. Parts are laugh out loud hysterically funny and parts will just make you cry.
I love all things Jennifer Weiner. I am Jewish, in my early 40s, lived much of my adult life in Philadelphia and its suburbs, write for part of my living, and have had my share of failed and often comical relationships - culminating in my current 15 year marriage to a man who I cannot imagine being without. Weiner's first novel, Good In Bed,...

Book Review: Hours of Devotion - Fanny Neuda's Book of Prayers for Jewish Women by Dinah Berland

Lynda Lippin — Thu, 8 May 2008 19:45:37 EDT

This is a beautiful book full of solace and understanding for Jewish women of all backgrounds and levels of faith.
As an avid reader of Judaica, I have a special liking for women's prayer books. Poet Dinah Berland happened upon an unknown author's Hours of Devotion in a used book store in LA. Having just been estranged from her son, Berland connected to "A Mother's Prayer Whose Child Is Abroad" and bought the book. She loved the book,...

Book Review: Madison Avenue Maxi by Elke Gazzara

Lynda Lippin — Thu, 8 May 2008 19:20:03 EDT

While sappy at times, this book appeals to the best in human (and canine) nature.
Having a dog is no easy task. They require a lot of work and personal interaction -- talking, walking, bathing, grooming, and just plain old loving -- dogs need their people as much as people need their dogs. I always considered myself a cat person. I grew up with Mittens, our family tabby who died at the old age of 12, and since then have...

Book Review: The Fattening of America - How the Economy Makes Us Fat, If It Matters, and What to Do About It by Eric A. Finkelstein and Laurie Zuckerman

Lynda Lippin — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 04:18:30 EDT

If you are concerned about the costs of obesity and wonder what to do about it, read this book.
I was discussing obesity with a Pilates client of mine today. She had just returned from a trip to Disney World with her children and grandchildren, and had some interesting observations on that state of weight in America. Her first remark was that she had never seen so many morbidly obese people in her life. Then she went on to give me some...

Book Review: French Women Don't Get Fat - The Secret of Eating for Pleasure by Mireille Guiliano

Lynda Lippin — Thu, 6 Mar 2008 20:21:05 EST

Guiliano believes, and I have to agree, that even in America we can lose weight and enjoy ourselves as the French do.
While not a new book, French Women Don't Get Fat is such a cultural phenomenon in the US that I was very excited to have the chance to review the newly slimmed down paperback version with added recipes. Many of my recent diet articles have focused on simply eating less. Instead of deprivation or weird food restrictions (no bread, no fat, no...