Mommieis a remarkable photographic portrait of three generations of women in the family of photographer Arlene Gottfried and an intimate story of the inevitable passage of time and aging. Pictured within, we are introduced to Gottfried's 100 year old immigrant grandmother, fragile mother, and reluctant sister over the breathtaking course of 35 years. An artist turning their eye on their own immediate family is a well explored theme, but Gottfried has achieved the sublime with a multi-decade long commitment to document the intimate lives of her nearest kin. Gottfried succeeds in creating a complete twentieth century portrait of four lives inextricably interwoven through relation, sickness, need, love, and the absence of her father-who passed away while Arlene was still young. Living as many mid-century Jewish New York families did, the Gottfrieds were not wealthy and lacked any trappings of luxury. Close examination of their world on Avenue A in Manhattan's Lower East Side reveals a dimly lit small apartment, cartons of budget saltines and groceries, chipped paint, damaged floor tiles, guarded loose change, and well worn clothes - details natural to the lives of many families of immigrants in New York. Mommieis testament to the passage of time, changes in the generations, losing loved ones and a familial experience at once both similar and unique to all.

The story of the tormented and glamorous star, Joan Crawford, struggling to survive in a cutthroat world, succumbing to a rage leading to alcoholism and child abuse.

The 40th anniversary edition of the “shocking” #1 New York Times bestseller with an exclusive new introduction by the author (Los Angeles Times). When Christina Crawford’s harrowing chronicle of child abuse was first published in 1978, it brought global attention to the previously closeted subject. It also shed light on the guarded world of Hollywood and stripped away the façade of Christina’s relentless, alcoholic abuser: her adoptive mother, movie star Joan Crawford. Christina was a young girl shown off to the world as a fortunate little princess. But at home, her lonely, controlling, even ruthless mother made her life a nightmare. A fierce battle of wills, their relationship could be characterized as an ultimately successful, for Christina, struggle for independence. She endured and survived, becoming the voice of so many other victims who suffered in silence, and giving them the courage to forge a productive life out of chaos. This ebook edition features an exclusive new introduction by the author, plus rare photographs from her personal collection and one hundred pages of revealing material not found in the original manuscript.

Together in one volume for the first time: The harrowing #1 New York Times bestseller with a new introduction, and its triumphant sequel. This volume includes two memoirs by Christina Crawford, recounting the abuse she endured as a child and her journey to recovery as an adult. Mommie Dearest: An unprecedented memoir of child abuse, Mommie Dearest also chipped away at the façade of Christina Crawford’s alcoholic abuser: her adoptive mother, movie star Joan Crawford. What transpired between a seemingly fortunate child of Hollywood and a controlling and desperate woman was an escalating nightmare and, for Christina, a fierce struggle for independence. This ebook features an exclusive new introduction by the author, plus rare photographs from her personal collection and a revealing one hundred pages of material not found in the original manuscript. “A horror story that goes beyond showbiz scandal-mongering . . . Delivers an unexpected charge.” —The New York Times “Probably the most chilling account of a mother-daughter relationship ever to be put on paper.” —Los Angeles Times Survivor: Mommie Dearest cast a spotlight on the unspoken horrors of family violence, but the years following its publication tested Christina Crawford’s resilience in unexpected ways: a backlash intended to shame her, a film adaptation that compounded the trauma, alcoholism, divorce, and a stroke that left her paralyzed. Staying true to her fighting spirit, the author made a remarkable comeback. Survivor is more than a memoir of triumph over tragedy. For anyone who has suffered challenging despair, it is a spiritual roadmap to recovery, finding peace, and celebrating a fulfilling life. “One closes this fine, moving read with great respect for Christina Crawford.” —Kirkus Reviews

A fragmented, lyrical essay on memory, identity, mourning, and the mother. Writing is how I attempt to repair myself, stitching back former selves, sentences. When I am brave enough I am never brave enough I unravel the tapestry of my life, my childhood. —from Book of Mutter Composed over thirteen years, Kate Zambreno's Book of Mutter is a tender and disquieting meditation on the ability of writing, photography, and memory to embrace shadows while in the throes—and dead calm—of grief. Book of Mutter is both primal and sculpted, shaped by the author's searching, indexical impulse to inventory family apocrypha in the wake of her mother's death. The text spirals out into a fractured anatomy of melancholy that includes critical reflections on the likes of Roland Barthes, Louise Bourgeois, Henry Darger, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Peter Handke, and others. Zambreno has modeled the book's formless form on Bourgeois's Cells sculptures—at once channeling the volatility of autobiography, pain, and childhood, yet hemmed by a solemn sense of entering ritualistic or sacred space. Neither memoir, essay, nor poetry, Book of Mutter is an uncategorizable text that draws upon a repertoire of genres to write into and against silence. It is a haunted text, an accumulative archive of myth and memory that seeks its own undoing, driven by crossed desires to resurrect and exorcise the past. Zambreno weaves a complex web of associations, relics, and references, elevating the prosaic scrapbook into a strange and intimate postmortem/postmodern theater.

The CATNIP DIARIES highlight Sparkles' progression from a kitten to a full-grown cat. It is done with word pictures describing plenty of cat adventures, a smattering of philosophy and lots of humor. My adoption of Sparkles from the local animal shelter was therapy for me when I put my husband in a nursing home and our dog died. My sister Helen has her own cat and when we compared notes, we decided we could probably write a book about their adventures. Most of the entries are fiction, but we believe they could happen. Other characters in the book are fictional, but they add depth and color to the diary entries. Anyone who is owned by a cat can visualize their own cats being just as naughty - or nice. When a year's worth of entries were on the books, Sparkles disappeared. In my heart of hearts, I believe Sparkles was an angel sent to get me out of my depression. Sparkles loves his Mommie!!

This is not a book for the faint- hearted. This topic effects every one of us whether we realize it or not- and it is one that the writer crafts with honor. It is an explosively heart-rendering "must read" that deals with the residuals of severe child abuse and the squalid monsters who commit such horrendous acts- monsters who hide among us all. Catherine's brutal honesty is commendably brave-She spares nothing in order to get her message across for her readers to get the full feeling of the story. With keen empathy and vibrancy, Catherine takes you on a journey of finalizing contingent and prevailing wisdom. The reader is taken into the lives and the sensations of such victims with specific ardor. Her handling of the topic sets the readers feet onto the very misbegotten path that these unfortunate people were unwillingly cast onto. And she does it with such openly harsh tact. She artfully commends all victims into their rightful place by giving validating insight into the makings of the deep scars and the mechanisms that protrude into their lives. Some might view this book as a type of thriller or horror tale by way of its purely raw depiction of a sincere truth. The horizon is drawn via a variety of delicately captured candidness. You will tingle and sensate from this depiction of human-ugliness at it's best. The words may rip through you, but you will undoubtedly reach a poignant climax by the travels you go on with her main character. Catherine has succeeded in outlining the nefarious nature that brings about the subject with colorful detail in this creative non-fiction novel. You will not be able to put it down.