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Poetry by Scotland's leading lesbian poet. ... Read more

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In the OUT LINES series, a biography of blues singer Bessie Smith which examines her artistic success and personal tragedies, provides information about her lesbian affairs and unhappy marriage and considers how these factors influenced her music. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Lyrical and Thoughtful
A beautiful melody of a book, Bessie Smith by Jackie Kay evokes the life of the great blueswoman through a provocative interweaving of fact, poetry, blues lyrics, and imaginings. It is also about the awakening of a young girl's (the author's) sense of herself as female and black. If you prefer dry facts only, or are doing serious research, look to another biography. If there's a bit of repetition in this book, well, think about the blues. If you want to immerse yourself in Bessie's blues, read this book in one sitting, and read it out loud. Then get
out your old vinyls and a bottle of gin, and read it again.

Problem Child
If you want to know about Bessie Smith's life, check out the Chris Albertson book.If you want a thumb-nail sketch of her life, check any descent Blues Enclyclopedia (even Encarta isn't half bad.)If you want afictional account of a blues legend, try August Wilson's "Ma Rainey'sBlack Bottom."Trouble is, Kay tries to accomplish all three in thespace of less than 200 pages.Smith's life was bigger than fiction, andFUN to read about.At best, this book will whet the appetite.But read itfast and move on...

A solid Bessie Smith primer but a lot of old news
For the person looking to just scratch the surface in understanding the Empress of the Blues, "Bessie Smith (Outlines)" hits the mark, giving the highlights and lowlights of her life and career. Perhaps,"Outline", the name of this book series, is an appropriate namegiven the length and depth of the book.For the Bessie diehards or thosethat want real depth, the book doesn't offer anything new or particularlyinsightful.Read the Chris Albertson book if you want the best bio onBessie.Also, Kay annoyingly interjects fictional passages into the story,making it difficult to determine fact from fiction.I found that aspect irratating, particularly in a book so short.The back cover presents theOutline series as exploring the impact homosexual life has had on certainaritsts.Kay misses this point entirely.She actually avoids Smith'salleged homosexuality. It is a short (150 small size pages, large font)andeasy read though. ... Read more

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"How do you know my name?" Maybe asked Strawgirl. She was thrilled out of her tiny mind. The pleasure she felt was so intense, the roof of her head could have flown open and three beautiful birds soared out. Molly 'Maybe' MacPherson has always felt that she doesn't quite fit in. Her dad is from Nigeria, which makes Maybe different to everyone else in her Scottish farming community. If only she could forget about her embarassing roots. If only she could stop getting bullied. Then Maybe's father is killed in a car accident. Struggling with grief and loneliness, she must fight to keep the farm she loves. But a strange magic is at work, and when Maybe most needs a friend, her wish comes true in a way she could never imagined..."An out of the ordinary tale of enchantment" - "Daily Telegraph". ... Read more

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Collection of Vietnam and Thailand War Stories. ... Read more

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Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Carol Ann Duffy, Alan Cumming, Edwin Morgan, Gavin Maxwell, Jackie Kay, Ali Smith, Val Mcdermid, John Henry Mackay, Ricardo Pinto, Hal Duncan, Ellen Galford. Excerpt:Alan Cumming Alan Cumming , OBE (born 27 January 1965) is a Scottish stage, television and film actor , writer , director, producer and author . His roles have included the Emcee in Cabaret, Boris Grishenko in GoldenEye , Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler in X2: X-Men United , and Fegan Floop in the Spy Kids trilogy. He has also appeared in independent films like The Anniversary Party , which he co-wrote, co-directed and co-starred in; and Ali Selim's Sweet Land , for which he won an Independent Spirit award as producer. His London stage appearances include Hamlet , Madman in Dario Fo's Accidental Death of an Anarchist , for which he received an Olivier award, the lead in Martin Sherman's Bent , and as Dionysus in The National Theatre of Scotland's The Bacchae . On Broadway he has appeared as Mac the Knife in The Threepenny Opera , the Emcee in Cabaret , for which he won the Tony in 1998, and "Design for Living". Cumming also introduces "Masterpiece Mystery" for PBS. He has also written a novel, Tommy's Tale , had a cable talk show ("Eavesdropping with Alan Cumming") and produced a line of perfumed products labeled "Cumming". He has contributed opinion pieces to many publications and performed a cabaret show I Bought A Blue Car Today . Retaining his British citizenship , Cumming also became a U.S. citizen in November 2008. Early life Cumming was born in Aberfeldy , in Perthshire , Scotland, the son of Mary, an insurance company secretary, and Alex Cumming, a forester. He has one older brother, Tom. Brought up in Angus , Cumming attended Monikie Primary School and Carnoustie High School and originally aspired to a career in... ... Read more

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This novel has a fast pace plot, that takes the reader from California to Vietnam and back. The main character is an Air police Investigator, who is investigating a desertion case (Cold case).His Investigation quickly reveals the possibility that the Airmen did not desert, but in fact, was probably murdered. As an Air Police Investigator and later as a San Bernardino County Sheriff's detective, the pursuit of this suspect becomes an obsession. This story is based on several true events. Some of the names of the characters are real (used with the permission of the individual).If you like intrigue, the battle against injustice, murder, war stories, and surprises, then you will not be able to put this novel down! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Pretty good.
I purchased this book because my ex-boss is in it.
He was the air force personel mentioned in the Flare Kicker chapter with the broken arm due to the airplane crash.
This is a pretty good all around novel.
Although there are a TON of spelling errors.
I guess the publisher couldn't afford to have it spell checked.
Other than that it was very intertaining.
It reads more like someone telling a story than most books read which is refreshing. All in all a nice read.

To Die Alone
This is a great follow up to The Stone Throwers. Jackie keeps you interested in the action. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Palaestra, published by Challenge Publications Limited on March 22, 2004. The length of the article is 2741 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: When dreams became reality--sailing solo.
Author: Jackie Kay
Publication: Palaestra (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 22, 2004
Publisher: Challenge Publications Limited
Volume: 20Issue: 2Page: 30(6)

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more