you must

get this important book, if you don't already have it. i could hardly put it down!! maila nurmi, as described sensitively & skillfully by her remote but adoring niece, was glamorous, frustrating, tempestuous, wildly innovative, amazing. the story ultimately is touching as told by talented niemi: indelibly humane & memorable. orson welles, marlon brando: both were her boyfriends? the streets & insider scenes of hollywood in the '40s & '50s? that's just the start: in between bouts of poverty & deprivation, both self- & other-inflicted, maila's life unfolds, enabling readers to enjoy maximum shivery fly-on-the-wall thrills & chills. willful, eccentric, difficult, she also was stubbornly admirable, gifted, prodigiously creative: a bona fide iconoclast. thank you, phil s, for getting this for james, who lent it to me... & now i'm keeping it! it has a special spot now in my bedroom bookshelf, where the most cherished titles go. sometimes when i'm resting, i look over at those most precious tomes & feel so happy to be alive to have read them... i'm not kidding -- READ THIS BOOK NOW!! (the link is to abe books, but it's also on thrift books & elsewhere online.) i hope sandra niemi, maila's niece, has written more, for she is a certain talent!