Any book that can give voice to the voiceless should be celebrated. No one feels this more strongly than Wally Lamb, editor of Couldn t Keep It to Myself, a collection of stories by 11 women imprisoned in the York Correctional Institution in Connecticut. Teacher and novelist Lamb was invited to head a writing workshop at York Correctional Institution in 1999. His somewhat reluctant acceptance soon turned into steadfast advocacy once the women in his charge began to tell their stories. Lamb maintains that there are things we need to know about prison and prisoners: There are misconceptions to be abandoned, biases to be dropped. However, as heartfelt as his appeal is, nothing speaks more convincingly in this book than the stories themselves.Those collected here are disturbing and horrific. They reveal, often in graphic detail, the worst kind of abuse: incest, drug addiction, spousal violence, parental neglect, or incompetence. They re also testimony to what social workers and health care...

#A Look Inside... (2008-07-23) This is a fantastic book. For women who are not authors by trade, they did a great job getting their stories across. And what stories they have to tell. This book makes you see beyond the bars. These women are people first, victims themselves second, and criminals third. There is humanity in correctional institutions, not just monsters as we would all like to believe.

#Leg of Lamb (2004-10-21) Wally Lamb s book, COULDN T KEEP IT TO MYSELF, is just one leg of the journey in his never-ending cascade of colorful and probing books. His workshop at York Correctional Facility for Women inspired eleven inmates to commit their memories of childhood to paper. Journeys of trauma are nothing new (think of the memoir SICKENED or the fiction/memoir BARK OF THE DOGWOOD) but what Lamb has achieved here is a healing process for these women, and at the same time given us a remarkable gift. The collection rings true and it reads both on an entertainment level, a...

#close to home-literally (2004-05-08) I live about fifteen minutes from York and work at a halfway house for drug addicted women trying to get their lives back on track and many of our clients come from this prison. . . point being I obviously could not wait to read this book. I was not disappointed-it is uplifting and heartwrenching- it teaches compassion and shows these are women are HUMAN BEINGS not just criminals. I am glad Mr. Lamb started this writing program at the prison and that despite the efforts of some to shut it down it continues to thrive. For those who didn t like ...

#Interesting but.. (2004-01-17) The book held my attention for the most part and I had it finished in 2 days. I have mixed emotions, however. My curiosity about the reality of prison life is what made me buy this book. This book portrayed prison life as a lot LESS harsh than I had imagined. In this book the prison seemed like a social club for wayward women. Being in prison seemed to actually improve the lives of some of them who had been used to harsh street life, abuse and a daily battle with society but now have three warm meals a day, shelter, clothing, social time, schooling ...

#Couldn t Keep It To Myself (2003-12-01) Love Wally lamb. . . Hated this book! The intro was good (because it was written by Lamb) but the rest of the book read like a junior high school writting class project. I know Lamb wanted to dispel any rumors that prison is a fun place to spend a relaxing 10-12 but I believe he accomplished that in the intro without dragging us through chapter after chapter of abuse. (ours and theirs)Sorry, I wouldn t recommend this to anyone.

Composition teachers throughout the English-speaking world have been pushing this book on their students since it was first published in 1957. Co-author White later revised it, and it remains the most compact and lucid handbook we have for matters of basic principles of composition, grammar, word usage and misusage, and writing style.

#Timeless - Clear and Direct (2006-06-12) Roughly 80 years ago, William Strunk wrote a small textbook for students in his English Composition class. He wrote it with the intention of creation a short and accessible reference for his students, one of whom - E. B. White, author of the children s classic Charlotte s Web - would revise it almost thirty years later for publication to the general college market. Since its inception, The Elements of Style has been the definitive text on clear written communication. It contains explicit guidelines that can easily be followed by anyone, and...

#Most Clear, Concise, & Informative on Correct Writing Style (2006-03-13) This is the most precious book I have ever read. I have learned from it in few hours what I could not learn in more than 12 years of schooling. In particular, it is a little book about how everyone must write in English, and I emphasize on the words ‘,little’, and ‘,must’, for reasons you will know as soon as you start reading the book. The book contains 11 elementary rules of usage, 11 elementary principles of composition, a few matters of form, and a list of words and expressions commonly m...

#A great guide! (2006-02-23) I first encountered Strunk and White s Elements of Style when I was an undergraduate, and I have been a fan of this book ever sense. Perhaps it is because of the excellent teamwork that is apparent on the pages between the master of language, William Strunk, and the master of narrative, E. B. White. How can you go wrong learning grammar from the likes of the author of such wonderful tales as Stuart Little? During my English composition class as an undergraduate, we had to read this book twice, once at the beginning of the term, and again at the end. I ...

#Useful book for writers and editors (2004-06-14) For writers and those who work in publishing this little book contains a lot of matters worthy of consideration. It s not the most useful book I have on the subject (that honour goes to ",Style Book", by Derek Wallace and Janet Hughes published in 1995) and I don t agree with everything the authors have to say, but it does contain a lot of useful tips, pointers and ways of polishing your text. You can t go wrong by giving it a careful read.

#Your ticket to becoming a better writer (2004-06-02) Few things can make you as self-conscious about your writing as reviewing a book that you feel has improved your writing. And few things are as silly as terribly written reviews praising such books. Hopefully, what I learned from this book will lead me to be able to write a review that will convince you to buy it. Many years ago I decided that I wanted to be able to write better, but I didn t really know where to begin. I d taken classes, but I was unsatisfied with what I had learned. I d learned how to assemble different kin...