THAT TAKES OVARIES: Bold Females and Their Brazen Acts edited by RIVKA SOLOMON Three Rivers Press $13 (paperback) reviewed by Annette Young   I have a shameful confession to make. Many books claiming to be "women-focused" make me cringe when I first hear about them. "Great, yet another message about how we’re all victims," is what jumps to mind. Thankfully, Solomon’s book That Takes Ovaries is every bit the feisty and funny endeavor its title suggests. By the time I finished the book, it had sent me through the gamut of human emotion, from sympathetic anger to stunned amazement. That Takes Ovaries is a collection of true short stories compiled and edited by Rivka Solomon, a feminist, freelance writer, and self-appointed "rabble rouser." The idea started when she mentioned her trademark phrase — a playful rearrangement of the more commonplace "that takes balls!" — at a party and got quite the response. Some were shocked; others were tickled, and this mixed reaction set her to thinking about women and courage. Solomon knew that she had done some pretty gutsy things in her life — her humorous story about hawking pieces of the Berlin wall is one of the book’s stories — there had to be more stories to tell. So she sent out a call on the Web, and before she knew it, she had three hundred stories in her possession. All of those stories did not make it into the book, but even so, Solomon has collected an impressive variety. The accounts are organized by types of courage, such as the quiet, internal strength a woman calls on to make a life change, the tender courage required to embrace one’s self and body image, or the adrenaline-driven spirit that motivates the most impulsive of acts. One moment freedom fighters and border-crossers had me shaking my head, thinking, "I could never do that!" The next I was wanting to hop out of bed and join a group of women who had shut down a porn store in the seediest part of town or had painted peaceful messages on anti-Semitic graffiti. This book truly brought home the fact that there as many ways for a woman to show bravery as there are types of women in the world. However, does the phrase, "that takes ovaries" merely appropriate a masculine attribute or does it represent a woman’s unique experience? This book answers the latter question with a resounding "yes!" After all, would a man have to conceive a plan not to get raped as he was snuck out of his homeland? Do men have to convince their fathers that they are capable of using power tools and fixing a roof? Truly, there are experiences that women alone have had to face and overcome. Other harrowing events in the book, which also could have challenged men, take on a different significance with a woman in the hero’s role. Some of these women stand out because they handle a situation differently than a man might have; others are remarkable solely because you don’t hear of many women who accomplish such feats. At least I don’t know many female windsurfers! Solomon has also shown "ovarian" chutzpah in her unique approach to marketing her book. Due to a physical disability, she has been unable to take up the rigorous tours that book promotion demands. Instead, in her book she offers tips for creating reading circles and open mike events where people can both read from the book and also talk about their own experiences with courage. With the help of her Web site (www.thattakesovaries.org), where group leaders can register their reading events, she brings world-of-mouth advertising to a whole new level. In an era where women cavorting across the stage in a hanky’s worth of clothing are set up as "role models," this book sets the record straight by revealing the true female showstoppers. They’re your friend, your mother, your sister, your partner — and if you’re of the gender who has ovaries, they might even be you!