Maya Angelou: A Glorious Celebration (ISBN 0385511086)

Somewhat disappointed:
I assumed that this book would include some of Maya Angelou's writings. It didn't. I enjoyed looking at the photos and reading about her, but I intended this as a gift to someone who had never read her writings.

Maya Angelou: A Glorious Celebration:
A Glorious Celebration makes a wonderful coffee table book. Everyone who comes to my house gravitates to the book. Also makes a great gift for book lovers. May Angelou is just phenomenal in her writings. I recommend this book wholeheartedly.

Life Changing!:
I've never read anything about or by Maya Angelou that I didn't love. This book is the feature on my bookshelf.... I need another copy to keep next to my nightstand!

A Glorious Doorstop:
This is indeed a glorious coffee table book. At present I've got a copy on my night table, on my kitchen counter, one in each of my bathrooms, and one for my patio table. The book store has ordered me a copy of the new water proof dust jacket so I can keep a copy down by the pool. I had been looking for a good picture book of my other favorite poets, Ezra Pound, Wallace Stevens, T.S. Eliot, and William Carlos Williams, but theirs were all out of print. I would keep my newest copy on my living room coffee table were it not for my copies of Hillary and Bill Clinton's autobiographies. This is really as extraordinary a book as one could wish for. Happy birthday, Maya. I hope to see you you at Barack's inauguration, again behind the podium, reciting another beautiful poem in that mellifluous voice.

The Glorious life of Maya Angelou:
I had the pleasure of being introduced to Maya's work when I was a junior in high school. After reading her debut memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, I quickly devoured the rest of her autobiographical series and her collection of poetry. This book, while revealing nothing new, goes a step further. It is told through the eyes of those closest to Maya from her sister/daughter/friend Oprah to her own son and niece, Maya's humaness is brought into the light. I loved seeing all the pictures from her personal collection (so that's what Martha Flowers aka Miss Fine Thing looked like). The picture of her as a little braided haired girl in Stamps, Arkansas was particualrly telling. Taken after her rape by her mother's boyfriend and return to her grandmother's home, it's easy to see the pain in her eyes. She stopped speaking after her rapist's murder for a number of years, but her eyes speak volumes. I would have liked to have seen pictures of Tosh, her first husband, but that's minor. The pictures and the words reaffirm a life that has been lived, but is no where being done.