Living in Maniototo
Janet Frame
Random House
9781741666069 AU$23.95
Ann Skea, Reviewer
http://ann.skea.com
Nothing in this story is what is seems. Mavis Furness, Mavis Barwell, Mavis Halleton, a woman who has buried two husbands (which, she believes, entitles her to special attention in neighbourly conversations at the bus-stop) is also Alice Thumb or Aurelia Lokinia, or Maui's sister...or, even, Violet Pansy Proudlock, ventriloquist. She tells us from the start that she is "twice removed from the real world". And, indeed, we would do well not to trust the stories she tells us, except that she tells them so well and so convincingly.
Like her creator, Janet Frame, Mavis is a New Zealander, a successful author, and a some-time inhabitant of mental hospitals. She teases us with details of her life, her likes, her dislikes, her beliefs and ideas, all of which could equally well be those of Janet Frame. She tells us about her marriages, her children, her friends, and, in particular, about the bizarre, totally unexpected inheritance of a house in America in which she had expected to be only a temporary house-sitter.
In the process of complying with the Will of the former owners of the house, neither of whom she had met, Mavis agrees to allow two couples to visit. Under the impulse of what she describes as 'Californian confession', each of Mavis's house-guests tells their life story - or, rather, a potted version, imagined and verbalized by Mavis herself in her alternative identity of Violet Pansy Proudlock, ventriloquist.
Throughout the book, Mavis's story-telling is imaginative, poetic, reflective, intelligent and gossipy. And, like the neighbours at the bus-stop, we pay due attention to her. But built into her tale, there is also a continuous reflection on (and of) the whole process of imaginative writing, on the boundaries between fact and fiction, on identity, on what is real, solid, reliable and what is not.
Janet Frame, who was once diagnosed as schizophrenic, perhaps knew better than most writers the unreliability of the boundaries between the world of physical and historical reality and the fluid, a-temporal world of the imagination. In this book, she played with this unreliability with considerable psychological insight and, ultimately, to great effect. Only occasionally do the meanderings of her story-teller, Mavis, become obscure or out of hand. Only occasionally does Mavis's ability to draw us into her world falter. So believable is she as a character, that we are drawn into her world, and trust her even as we disagree with some of her actions and views. So, when she pulls the rug from beneath our feet, we are totally unprepared.
Living in Maniototo is a strange, eccentric and often unpredictable book but in it Janet Frame imaginatively, interestingly and provocatively demonstrated just how unreliable our own judgement of others can be.
Janet Frame was born in Dunedin, New Zealand in 1924. She won numerous awards for her writing, including a CBE in 1983 for services to literature, a New Zealand Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement, and honorary foreign membership of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She died in Jan. 2004. A brief biography on Wikipedia outlines her life, her several involuntary and voluntary internments in mental hospitals, and her narrow escape (as a young woman) from a scheduled lobotomy.
Embrace Ultra-Ability! Wisdom, Insight & Motivation From the Blind Who Sees Far and Wide
Shirley Cheng
Dance With Your Heart Publishing
PO Box 146 Wappingers Falls, New York
9780615155227 $14.97 www.shirleycheng.com
Christina Francine Whitcher, Reviewer
http://www.CFrancine.bizland.com
Need words of wisdom, something profound? Prepare to be surprised at the insightfulness which comes from an unexpected place. Shirley Cheng's recommendations will motivate and impress you. Her thoughts will challenge you to question and rethink your assumptions, and she'll offer an elusive yet meaningful alternative order to the dubious skepticism you carry around.
Shirley will humble you as she displays her philosophy for a happy existence. Although she is blind, in a wheel-chair, suffers from severe juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, has limited mobility, and endures physical pain, she is positive. The cup is half full to her. Through her optimism and wise outlook, you will find hope. In spite of the fact that Shirley has suffered her whole twenty-four years of life, she describes herself as ultra-abled.
Shirley's positive outlooks, in spite of her physical disabilities, grace the pages of this book, as well as her other five and the ones she's contributed to. Each one inspires. Each sets examples of how to view our abilities and the world around us. Shirley also works hard for parental rights - something we're losing here in America. She asks you to please sign the Parental Rights in Children's Medical Care: Give Parents the
Right to Say No Petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/parentr7/petition.html
Find zeal for life's quests and embrace your ultra-abilities. As you open your mind, you'll be challenged to be the best you can be, and reminded of life's enchantments. Recommended for anyone who needs a lift to the brighter side of life.
Comeback Season: How I Learned to Play the Game of Love
Cathy Day
Free Press
Simon & Schuster, Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
9781416557104 $24.00
Dawn Papuga
Reviewer
Any time a woman writes a book about dating and relationships the market assumes it will be a trendy "how to" manual, a fluffy Chick Lit novel, or, worse yet, an insincere combination of the two genres. Most serious scholars wouldn't look twice at books in this category. For many serious critics and readers, the thought of a book about football and the agony of traversing the dating world couldn't possibly hold any literary value. For this reason, Cathy Day's memoir Comeback Season: How I Learned to Play the Game of Love, is not only unable to be easily categorized, it shakes up notions of where and how about social theory and commentary can take place.
Comeback Season chronicles Cathy Day's experience jumping back into the dating game over the course of the 2006 Indianapolis Colts season. A lover of both football and "locker room speeches," Day uses the tenacity of Peyton Manning and the Colts as an inspiration to make a genuine effort to overcome dating obstacles in her career, a new city renowned for dating difficulty for professional women, and her own patterns of unsuccessful partner choices. She bravely reveals her foray into the online dating world, and single-handedly fights a predatory scam dating service. At times Day's emotional admissions are all too painfully familiar to many professional women, but she manages to keep things in perspective with a sharp wit and outright laugh-out-loud humor. Day employs an imaginary female sports reporter to inject both self deprecating humor and social commentary, and it quickly becomes clear that the reporter embodies the traditional expectations that Day has to fight against throughout her dating season.
More importantly, Comeback Season is a commentary about the unexpected results of the feminist movement. It is now far more common for women to put off getting married out of high school or an undergrad program in order to pursue a career and education. This is, unquestionably, a success for the feminist movement, but it doesn't take into consideration the disparity between developing personal relationships and professional success that so many of those independent women, such as Day, face. When young girls were told that they can be whatever they wanted, all too often their attentions turned to career aspirations woefully devoid of female role models. Logically, then, those same young girls looked to male heroes to pattern their career paths after. Decades later it is no wonder that daughters of the early feminist movement are the ones left with the task of figuring out how to navigate between domestic desires and professional aspirations without crumbling under pressure to abandon one or the other. Couple this with the high personal and professional expectations of university English departments, and Day captures the complex lives of many female academics today.
From Comeback Season: How I Learned to Play the Game of Love:
…The ivory tower is full of single professional women, but in my experience, they very rarely talk about the similarity of their situations.
I was feeling mighty down the day of the exit interview. When Hattie asked me why I was leaving the college, I paused for a second and said, "Deep, soul-crushing loneliness."
For a second, I thought we both might start crying. Hattie looked deflated, like I'd knocked the wind out of her with those words. "I know what you mean," she offered. But then she recovered herself. She stood up from her chair, smoothed her blue skirt, and gave me a firm, businesslike handshake. "Good luck, Cathy." (109)
To dismiss Comeback Season as merely a dating memoir is a mistake. Too often "serious" social commentaries are expected to be dry, boring, emotionless, and full of jargon. Because Day writes with an accessible, often humorous, style and does so without masking the core issues of her journey behind opaque symbolism, the questions her experience raises will reach more women, and generate more constructive discussion about road blocks women face, but are ashamed to discuss for fear of being perceived as weak. After all, the problems that intelligent, professional women face aren't trapped inside the ivory tower. Cathy Day brings those issues to the streets in a way anyone can understand.
The Little Candy Breathing Dragons
Gloria Clark
Outskirts Press, Inc.
10940 S. Parker Rd. - 515, Parker, Colorado 80134
9781432715106 $12.95 www.outskirtspress.com/littlecandybreathingdragons
Deltareviewer
Reviewer
What a delightful book to read with your kids…Nay-Nay and Maj are sweet sisters that love to help their neighbors. These little dragons are inseparable. They fill their day with fun-filled adventures of meeting new friends and helping others find their way. The lessons they learn - appreciating differences, understanding disabilities, assisting those in distress, and knowing exactly where home is - are core Christian values.
Clark does an exceptional job keeping high levels of excitement and creating new challenges throughout the story. The illustrations are amazing and truly follow the storyline. The occasional rhyme in the narrative, long paragraphs and mid-range vocabulary make this a challenging read for younger children. My girls loved the caring nature of the dragons and identified with the love shared between them. They have read the book numerous times always finding something new to discuss with each other.
College Admissions Together: It Takes A Family
Steven Roy Goodman and Andrea Leiman
Capital Books, Inc.
22841 Quicksilver Drive, Sterling, VA 20166
9781933102542 $17.95
David Denman
Reviewer
Thank you for your consideration.
Along with this, I'm submitting an attached review of a distinctive book.
Doing College Admissions En Famille
I read with trepidation the request to review of what I inferred would be merely another book of hot tips about how to pry open the doors of selective colleges. Enough of those, I sighed. Thankfully, however, College Admissions Together by Steven Roy Goodman and Andrea Leiman is significantly different.
Aimed at parents, but clearly for the entire family, the book presents the journey through high school and the transition to college as a family matter to be shared. The authors allude delightfully in the subtitle to a work we are all aware of, whether or not we've read it. As they say, "It takes a family." Perhaps the family dynamics have to be reasonably good in order to follow the admonitions in the book, but any family which does will emerge stronger. In each chapter the embedded strategies are well interwoven with the discussion about college admission. One could almost approach the book as an extended interactional "game" designed to promote family harmony, with college admission being merely the topic that gives the exercise meaning!
The book brings to mind The Parents Guide by Don Dinkmeyer & Gary D. McKay, my favorite parental handbook. Steven Goodman and Andrea Leiman's book is somewhat like that -- with checklists, interpersonal exercises and provocative questions for discussion. While College Admissions Together is definitely a "how to" book, it is, happily, so much more. Ideally, the book would first be read by all the members of a family as a child enters the high school years, and then intermittently discussed over the next few years. That approach might help preempt later controversy related to family dynamics, fear of failure, peer group challenges, etc. These and similar issues are discussed succinctly and anecdotally in the book. Although such topics may seem only tangential to college admission, the authors remind us that adequately resolving them is crucial in adolescent development and thus germane to college admission. And, of course, to success in college.
The opening chapter, "A Safe Passage to Adulthood," acknowledges the inherent stress for families as young people progress, and includes the first of the book's novel exercises, this one to address family disagreements and conflicting preferences and opinions. The authors remind us that ideally parents give children roots and wings, and the essence of the book is about recognizing and constructively using the inevitable tension of relating with college bound adolescents. Subsequent chapters deal with potential domestic mine fields such as "Objectively Assessing Your Child," "Peer and Social Pressure," "Shifts in Family Control," "Establishing Realistic Expectations," "Enhancing Your Family's Communication" and "Family Member Responsibilities."
One could argue with a point here and there. For instance, shouldn't it be the aspiring adolescent who keeps track of application deadlines? One would like to think so, and to think of this competency as a test of readiness for college. We repeatedly assess academic preparation -- lest some child be left behind! Yet we overlook readiness. But perhaps the authors are being necessarily realistic: best not to entrust the adolescent with that crucial responsibility. Wisely, they advise parents, "You must keep careful track of admissions deadlines." (Emphasis mine.)
The book is tidy. Unlike other bloated volumes, College Admissions Together is a mere 174 pages. Easily skimmable in an evening. Yet it doesn't skimp on the essential details. The helpful chapter, "Key Aspects of College Applications" succinctly discusses where and when to apply, standardized tests, essays, financial aid and other related topics. In "The long Wait for Decisions" is the only discussion that I've ever seen in a college guide book regarding the emotional vulnerability of many young people at this time, including a cautionary few paragraphs about about the possibility of depression. The authors are thorough.
Incidentally, it is sobering to realize that according to a recent survey, 32% of American young people live in single parent families, most of them highly stressed with every day survival. (In Kansas it's 42%! No wonder a contemporary book title asks, "What's the matter with Kansas?") And since many children live in foster homes or with grandparents, uncles, aunts, or older siblings, far fewer than the remaining 68% live in two parent families. Sadly, those young people are unlikely to reap the benefits of the family interactions proposed in the book. Also, like most American youngsters, they are less likely to be in private schools or in SAT prep courses or have educational consultants or essay tutors. No doubt about it: there's no level playing field. But the disheartening statistics should not distract us from the value of this unique book. The model of cooperative effort presented in College Admission Together is superb. If I were to recommend only one book to parents of college bound young people it would be this one.
My friend Bill Coffin used to say regarding life, "It's about finding a transcendent purpose." For college counselors and college admissions officers, this yeasty book reminds us that there is one aspect of our college admissions work that is transcendent: the strengthening and enriching of the bonds of families. That -- and the writing of such a book as College Admissions Together -- is noble work.
Jesus Coyote
Harold Jaffe
Raw Dog Screaming Press
5103 72nd place, Hyattsville, MD 20784
9781933293554 $24.95 (hc) 9781933293639 $13.95 (pb)
Dustin LaValley
Reviewer
Following the success of 15 Serial Killers, Harold Jaffe brings to his readers a first rate, one-sit read with the docufiction Jesus Coyote. Based on the murders of the Manson cult, we are introduced to key figures such as Soul (Charles Manson), Kyle Sean Embry (Charles "Tex" Watson) and Jaroslav Hora (Roman Polanski) among many others, and witness details and stories from the aforementioned. Unlike the average novel, Jaffe's docufiction style provides witness testimonies, phone transcripts, interrogations, and press conferences. The violence is bloody and brutal; the author's voice is solid and smooth, reeling in the reader and keeping their eyes focused and their fingers turning the pages.
Jesus Coyote was the first novel of its kind for this reviewer, and although I was uncomfortable at first with its fashion, I found it easily comprehendible and a fun, exciting book.
How to Read the Bible: A Guide to Scripture, Then and Now
James L. Kugel
Free Press
New York
9780743235860 $35.00
Fred Reiss
Reviewer
The Bible is the holiest of books for 2.1 billion Christians and 14 million Jews. More than 1.5 billion Muslims deem the holy Koran to be a continuation of the Old and New Testaments. Jewish tradition says that Moses, at God's direction, wrote the Pentateuch, the Five Books of Moses, no later than about 1400 B.C.E. The authors of the books of the prophets and the various scrolls that make up the Writings composed them between 1400 B.C.E. and 450 B.C.E. Yet, James L. Kugel in his newest book, How to Read the Bible, would have us believe that the Bible is not divinely inspired and the books of the prophets are not even written by the authors who bear their names.
Kugel presents a well-written and comprehensive analysis of many biblical stories; covering nearly every book of the Bible and though highly footnoted, it is comprehensible to both scholar and layman alike. How to Read the Bible begins by drawing on the work of mid-nineteenth century German theologian, Julius Wellhausen, who proposed that the Pentateuch had more that one writer. After extensive linguistic analysis, Wellhausen concluded that there were at least four different authors. Author J consistently used the Hebrew letters that correspond to the English letters Y-H-V-H (Y is spelled in German with a J) for the name of God. Author E preferred another Hebrew name for God, Elohim. P's style showed that he wrote the sections that emphasized chronology and laws, and D wrote the Book of Deuteronomy.
In addition to using the word YHVH for God's name, author J calls Sinai God's mountain and stresses Southern Israel. In contrast, E uses Elohim (a word that means god or gods, lower case), calls Mt. Horeb God's mountain and highlights Northern Israel. Among other things, author P emphasizes Southern Israel and focuses on genealogy and laws. Finally, author D refers to God as YHVH and accentuates the centrality of prayer in Jerusalem. An unknown redactor, about 500 B.C.E., united all the material written by J, E, P, and D. This is why, according to Wellhausen's hypothesis, the Bible has two creation stories (Genesis 1:1 - 2:4 and 2:4 - 2:25), two stories of the flood (Genesis 6:5-8:22 and 6:9-8:19, the two accounts are intertwined), two versions of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-14 and Deuteronomy 5:6-18), and so on. Wellhausen's theory became known as the Documentary Hypothesis, which has survived scholarly scrutiny over the last 150 years, and is generally accepted by all but the most ardent literalists, such as Orthodox Jews and Fundamentalist and Evangelical Christians.
Kugel insists that these anonymous authors, as well as those who wrote after the Israelites settled Canaan, drew on and adopted folklore known from the distant past, including both Jewish oral history, narratives that were common knowledge in the Middle/Near East and historical material preserved by both kings and priests. The biblical stories were written, he asserts, in order to explain the authors'/editors' present based on past events (etiological narratives) or to make specific points (schematic narratives).
These anonymous authors used etiological narratives to explain to their contemporaries, for example, why different groups of Semites spoke different languages (Tower of Babel), to explain why the Israelites (fathered by Jacob) and the Edomites (fathered by Esau) were closely related by often at war with each other, to explain why Rahab's (the prostitute who sheltered Joshua and his men when they spied on Jericho) relatives (foreigners) stilled lived in Canaan, and why the tribe of Jacob's eldest son, Reuben, produced no King (see Genesis 49:3-4). Likewise, they used schematic narratives to tell what happens if you disobey God's command (Adam and Eve, Lot's wife), murder (Cain and Abel), or display general wickedness (Noah and the flood, Sodom and Gomorrah). The authors, Kugel asserts, never intended to predict the future; this idea surfaces later with another group of editors.
According to Kugel, between 300 B.C.E. and 200 C.E., mostly unknown "ancient interpreters" construed biblical stories in ways the original authors never intended. They mistakenly read the Bible with four assumptions: (1) the Bible is essentially cryptic, (2) the Bible is a book of lessons aimed at readers in their own day, (3) the Bible contains no contradictions, and (4) the Bible was given by God. In addition, after the death of Jesus, early Christian interpreters, using typological narratives, that is, reinterpreting the Old Testament to predict future events, showed that many of its verses predicted Jesus as the Messiah. For example, based on assumption 3, why would God test Abraham when He knew the outcome in advance? To eliminate the contradiction, the interpreters made an analogy between Abraham and Job. They said that God knew the outcome, but He had to demonstrate to Satan Abraham's loyalty to God through a variety of tests. Based on assumption 2, the ancient interpreters changed the story of Dinah's rape and the subsequent revenge by her brothers to be as an admonition to the Jewish nation not to intermarry.
In addition, the ancient interpreters saw biblical characters as either all good or all bad. They considered Jacob "good" although he stole his brother's birthright and lied to his father. They saw King David as a "good" person, brushing aside his adultery and other wrong doings, but considered Balaam "bad," even though he spoke God's words and blessed the Israelites. They altered the original meaning of the Song of Songs from a love story between a man and woman to God's love for Israel.
Kugel, by his own admission, is a practicing Orthodox Jew; so one would expect him to fall squarely on the side of the ancient interpreters, the message that congregants and parishioners receive at sermons during Sabbath services. This is not the case. In each chapter, he gives the reader a balanced approach between the original authors, ancient interpreters and modern biblical scholarship, but he clearly sides with modern scholarship. In the chapter titled "Moses in Egypt," Kugel begins by faithfully retelling the narrative of Moses' exploits while living in the Pharaoh's palace. He then follows this with stories that arose from ancient interpreters, such as Josephus, Philo and book of Acts. From here he moves into biblical scholarship by digressing into the fascinating birth of Egyptology and telling the story of the discovery and translation of the Rosetta stone, the archeology revealing the authenticity of the Exodus, the 'Apiru, an enslaved people in Egypt and an analogy between the birth of Moses and the legend, written in cuneiform, of the birth of Sargon I of Agade.
Kugel did not write this book to make fundamentalists become atheists, or turn believers into disbelievers. From his own admission, he is well aware that the human mind has the capacity to compartmentalize science and religion. He also knows that over time religion assimilates scientific ideas. Neither the Copernican revolution, which contradicts biblical cosmology, nor the publication of the Origin of the Species, which powerfully explains the evolution of life on earth without God, brought an end to religion. Instead, Kugel wants his readers to come away with a greater appreciation for the Bible. He believes that by understanding what the ancient interpreters wrote, we will be able to peel away the newer and transient meanings found in the Bible and come to understand its books at a deeper level, the level of what the original authors were communicating to the reader, "How to serve God."
Unicorn Races
Stephen J. Brooks, Illustration: Linda Crockett
Purple Sky Publishing
P.O. Box 12013, Parkville, MO 64152
9780976901730 $16.95 www.purpleskypublishing.com
Joyce P. Hale
Reviewer
I've always loved books on unicorns, fairies, etc. It gives me a place in which to retire, relax and lose my stress. Unicorn Races is a beautifully written book by Stephen J. Brooks, Unicorn Races impresses as soon as you pick it up, with the illustrations of Linda Crockett, and the design and publication. Then, of course, you read the story..... This grandmother read it aloud, enjoying the mystery, beauty and adventure. From the hidden glade, down and up around the path of the race, and back to the festivities with the elves and fairies. The main character, Abigail, is a lovely and regal princess. Truly, children will lose themselves in its magic.
"There in the window, in the moon's soft light, was a most magnificent unicorn of noble descent. 'I am here Your Highness,' said the unicorn, bowing his head."
The Chalice of Life
Karen Anne Webb
Dragon Moon Press
PO Box 1126, Norcross, GA 30091
1896944337 $19.95 dragonmoonpress.com
Kim Rapier
Reviewer
Welcome to a universe where ancient and modern worlds collide. Where strangers are gathered together to go on a quest.
Karen Anne Webb's fantasy, THE CHALICE OF LIFE, is the first book in the Adventures of The Carotian Union series.
Seven individuals from five different races set out on a quest of the Lost Prince Eliander. Included in this group are a passionate Bard, a Lemurian thief, a priest, a shape shifter, a black Tigroid talking cat, a princess, a holy knight, and a shape shifter. All share one thing in common--the mark of the goddess Minissa.
Each of them is given tokens to help on the quest. They meet at a rendezvous point in the enchanted world of Tuhl. An ill dragon blocks a portal to their next destination. They must find the jeweled chalice of healing to cure the dragon before they can move on to their next mission. On the way they meet a human archaeologist who helps them on their quest. Throughout the journey they must learn to set their differences aside and work together. But this shouldn't be a problem for true heroes.
This book is sure to appeal to lovers of Tolkien. The author creates an interesting universe complete with different societies and belief systems. Each of the characters must work together in order to complete the first part of their mission. My favorite character, Habie, had a Tamora Pierce feel to her; feistiness and spunk. I wanted to read more about her.
The pacing picks up after the first one hundred pages. The author spends a lot of time describing the worlds, characters, societies, and belief systems. Though necessary, I felt this slowed down the story. Some of the philosophical discussions between the characters felt speech like and slowed down the action. I got confused with all the different characters as most of them sounded the same. Also some of the modern terms were jarring and took me out of an otherwise fascinating story.
This intriguing fantasy is sure to appeal to those who enjoy Tolkien. This story will not disappoint readers who like to discover different worlds and people.
The Truth, Because My Wife Said I Could Tell It
Alexander Roderick
Alex Max Publishing
5656 Jonesboro Road, Suite 111 #336, Lake City, GA 30260
9780979664304 $19.99
Alexander Roderick's "The Truth, Because My Wife Said I Could Tell It" is a refreshing, honest look at how men deal when they approach potential relationships.
Told from his perspective, "The Truth …" delves into the complexities of the male psyche while pointing out mistakes women make when they attempt to make men love them. He candidly calls out men by exposing the unwritten "code", reasons men are really snakes, and other common sense tactics that women often overlook.
The writing is humorous and may invoke feelings of happiness, anger, and the dreaded: wow, I fell for that. Men may lose a little of their game because Roderick has definitely published the cheat codes to assist women everywhere from falling prey to their premeditated, calculating wiles.
Now, instead of relying on information from girlfriends and sisters women finally have a handbook, written by a man, to help them avoid wasting time with losers, players, and cheaters. After reading "The Truth, Because My Wife Said I Could Tell It", women will view men in a totally new light - one where every man has an illuminated tattoo stating, "Let the Woman Beware", on his forehead.
No Experts Needed: The Meaning of Life According to You!
Louise Lewis
iUniverse
2021 Pine Lake Road, Suite100, Lincoln, NE 68512
9780595429714 $18.95
Mark Nash
Reviewer
Louise Lewis' new book is those looking for main stream advice from everyday people on the meaning of life, and how to deal with the curve balls placed in our path along the way. Purposely void of pundits, commentators and Dr. Phil, Ms. Lewis brings us a variety of in-the-trenches perspectives on many issues, that trouble all of us at ne point or another. Written in a clear, methodical style, No Experts Needed is an easy book to put down and pick up, without losing the point.
Chapter titles are: A Book is Born, Spirit's First Words, The Conception and the Oprah Connection, The Answer Revealed, Deliver Us From, A Tropical Paradise, Teachers on our Path, Free Spirits All Around, Musical Souls, My Love Life Is a Zit, The "Tired of Dating" Club, How Would Daddy Answer?, To Be Blessed With Sisters, And Then There's Momma, Queen Mary Mates, Climbing the Family Tree, God Bless the Child, Bella Italia, Momma Cries Out, The Best Job in the World, Boy Meets Girl, A Man-Made Lake, A God-Given Blessing, Work Pals, G'day Mates, Ceerizini Pals, If We Never Meet Again, A Slice of a Dream, Gifts from Above, Canyon Bliss, Marty's Story, Mu Southern Crawl, I Promise...This Will Be My Last Trip, Ok, I Lied, Rejection City, Me? A Celebrity Stalker?, The Ripple Effect, The Neighborhood of 9/11, A Slice Is a Slice, Right?, Ask and Ye Shall Receive, The Last Ripple?, Katrina...A Terrible Lady, Now It's Your Turn, and an introduction.
No Expert's Needed is good book to use as a spiritual reference guide when you have those moments when live overwhelms you. The author's anecdotes in a multitude of different situations brought a smile or an ah-ha to my lips. Just when I didn't think I need an uplift from my life, reading this book reawoke in me my need to give in order to get. Plus give with pleasure and have no expectations in the favor being returned. This book is a breath of fresh air, one that you should keep close at hand, to keep your emotional life focused.
Three Novellas
Sandra Shwayder Sanchez
Wessex Collective
P.O. Box 1088, Nederland CO 80466-1088
9780979751608 $15.00 www.wessexcollective.com
Mayra Calvani
Reviewer
Sandra Shwayder Sanchez continues to prove herself as a powerful voice in the serious, literary scene. Her latest book, a collection of three novellas, is a darkly compelling work filled with complex characters, vibrant images, and sparklingly insightful prose.
Each novella depicts the lives of various characters and their connections to one another. Sometimes the connections are because of family ties, sometimes because fate ironically brings their lives together. The novellas are about the journeys, either conscious or unconscious, that the characters take, while seemingly they roam aimlessly, lost in a vastness that's too large for them to figure out.
In The Last Long Walk of Noah Brown, we meet Noah, a kind, innocent soul in a world of evil. Though he's not aware of it, Noah is developmentally disabled. In other words, a person who is "too innocent for the guilty world." (29) Noah is the product of incest, a fact he learns from his mother later in life. He begins his journey in Annapolis in 1965 and we go through his ups and downs (a lot more downs than ups) all the way to New Orleans in 2007. During his journey he meets many people, some good, other evil. He learns and experiences many things, including the carnal love of a woman. He develops a close, warm relationship with his mother, whom he had always believed to be his sister. Most intriguing of all, Noah has an ambitious dream - to build an ark (he sees this as his destiny, having being named 'Noah') and save people and animals from a flood. And, in New Orleans, he finally lives to see his dream come true.
The Last Long Walk of Noah Brown is filled with vivid images, at times touching, at times dark. All throughout, however, there is a quiet atmosphere of sadness and doom, of helplessness. The story has the tone of a fable and some segments are dream-like and sparkle with beautiful, sensuous writing.
"Noah started walking to the water, watching its oily darkness, the soft sound of it lapping up against the sides of the boat. The moon glimmered on the water, a mother watching him, and he stared at it for hours mesmerized and soothed. Eventually he had to leave, go back home, he couldn't stay here forever, watching the moon's reflection on the water…unless… he did nothing that first night by the water. He returned every night and stared at the moon until it had grown from a silver crescent to a large full round moon and it was simply too lovely to leave so he looked for a way into the water, and finally jumped, shocked by the coldness of it, the breath knocked out of him and he let himself sink, stopped breathing even before he was completely under and passed out." (34-35)
Sanchez accomplishes a marvelous rhythm and cadence by combining short sentences with very long, run-on ones. At times her paragraphs are made up of only one long sentence, a la Garcia Marquez. Although this can be annoying with some writers, Sanchez seems to have a talent for it.
In The King and the Clockmaker, the author examines the origins of evil and the meaning of time. The story itself is a nightmarish dream, a dream the narrator consciously has in order to avoid the pain of loss, and the random, senseless violence of the real world. In this dream, which reads like a sinister fairytale, there are two main characters - the king and the clockmaker. The clockmaker builds the most magnificent clock for the king, who's always been obsessed with time. Afterwards, however, the king sears the clockmaker's eyes with molten iron. Thus begins their disturbing relationship, for the kind clockmaker is set on getting his revenge, and the terrible king, in some ill way, seeks his forgiveness. As they come to know each other, bonded by the infamous clock, truths emerge about the king, his childhood, and his gruesome nature. They become oddly dependant on one another until the king's demise. Afterwards the clockmaker's journey continues, a journey that takes him through many pathways.
This novella in particular is filled with complex metaphors and allegories, and some scenes shine with vivid, haunting imagery. More poignant segments include the king killing a bird, then impaling it to bury it; or another even more lingering, the king happily lying under the bleeding body of his servant, whom he has just stabbed to death, and afterwards needing three bronze tubs of fresh water to cleanse himself of all the blood.
Sanchez also uses elements of magical realism to add intricacy and symbolism to the writing, like in the scene where a woman is turned into a stone and later on, when someone splits the stone, the woman's heart is found inside it. She also gives forest animals preternatural attributes, as in the case of the buck and the mountain lion, thus adding to the magical realism effect.
The dream in this novella is an allegory of the perverse cruelty of the world, of "the accumulation of violence that is everywhere around us." (109) " However vast the expanse of time and space that surrounds us," reflects the narrator, "every soul entrapped in a human body is trapped in a cell with the poisonous snake of violence coiled in a corner ready to strike." (109)
In the last novella, The Vast Darkness, we meet Sara, a young student of anthropology who, temporarily, takes residence in the mountains to study the influence of isolated mountain living upon its residents. She soon becomes acquainted with Robert, a sinister young man who arouses fear in people and who enjoys manipulating them into committing 'evil' acts. In fact, he's like the devil himself, whispering words into the characters' ears, tempting, gently provoking, until murder and violence ensue. Without meaning to, Sara causes a man - a good man who's committed murder to avenge the crime committed against his young, innocent daughter - to go to prison. Afterwards, Robert softly coaxes this man to take revenge against Sara.
As with the other novellas, this one also deals with the concepts of evil and violence and how they are inherent in all of us, a theme that often surfaces in Sanchez's works. "I think God made us in his image and God has a mean streak a mile wide is what I think," (131) says Robert to Sara.
Dreams, often violent, are always an element used by this author to add insight and symbolism to the writing. Sanchez also enjoys including wild animals in the story, not only as tools for magical realism, but to somehow show the paradox of the beauty and brutality that is nature - another one of her recurrent themes.
Three Novellas isn't an easy read. For the average reader, it is a challenge. For the sophisticated booklover, it is a tasty morsel to be savored slowly and patiently in order to absorb all it has to offer. What stands out, above all, is the purity and splendor of the writing. Sanchez's works are rare delicacies.
Free Lunch: How The Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves At Government Expense (And Stick You With The Bill)
David Cay Johnson
The Penguin Group
375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
9781591841913 $24.95
Peter Hupalo
Reviewer
Free Lunch: How The Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves At Government Expense by David Cay Johnson will outrage the average American by showing how the super affluent publicly profess "free market" economics while covertly using government policy to insulate their companies from competition and pocket taxpayer dollars as subsidies.
Johnson explains that taxpayer subsidies steal from honest entrepreneurs to benefit the greedy who manipulate the government. He calls this "corporate socialism" and says: "Corporate socialism makes it possible for Wal-Mart to grab market share by undercutting the competition that did not get subsidies, while appearing to win because it was just more efficient."
Surprisingly, Johnson says a bigger recipient of direct corporate welfare than Wal-Mart (per company size) is Cabela's, the outdoor-sporting-goods store. Cabela's convinces local governments that its stores are "destinations" which will benefit the local economy by serving as tourist attractions (a claim Johnson smashes). Cabela's then seeks tax benefits and other compensation to build its stores.
Johnson writes: "The tribute Cabela's demanded from Hamburg [Pennsylvania] amounted to roughly $8,000 for each man, woman, and child in town." Johnson points out that between 2004 and 2006, Cabela's earned $223.4 million. During those years, it collected at least $293.7 million in subsidies, more than its reported profits. Meanwhile a family business selling fishing and hunting gear was driven out of business in Hamburg.
Success didn't go to the best competitor, but to the most skilled at getting government handouts. Johnson says it's morally unfair to use tax dollars paid by a small business to fund its rival, a larger corporation. Johnson says such subsidies are inefficient and place a drag on the American economy.
To explain how subsidy economics work, Johnson quotes Cabela's annual report: "Historically, we have been able to negotiate economic development arrangements relating to the construction of a number of our new destination retail stores, including free land, monetary grants and the recapture of incremental sales, property or other taxes through economic development bonds, with many local and state governments…"
Johnson tells us the consequences of America's economic policy favoring the exploitation of the middle class for the benefit of the super rich has very negative long-term economic consequences. For example, Johnson writes about how the Chinese got neodymium magnet research and manufacture moved out of the United States. These magnets are used in precision guided missiles. Johnson says that in the coming years, Americans could see 40 million jobs move overseas, because of the availability of low cost labor overseas and government policies designed to protect corporations, not American workers, nor even America's national security. Johnson says this could lead to an American economic plight that rivals the Great Depression. He asks us to contemplate a future where the great majority of Americans are reduced to "servant-level wages and jobs."
What about that hallmark of Americanism, pro sports? Unprofitable without subsidies, Johnson says. Of course, just taking other people's property is the simplest way for the politically powerful to enrich themselves at the expense of others.
Johnson explains how George W. Bush used eminent domain to seize land held by other Texans to build a new sports stadium and entertainment complex for his Texas Rangers investment. Taxpayers, via stadium bonds and an increase in the sales tax, paid for enriching Bush and his cronies. Bush's group got the right to purchase the stadium for less than one-third of the cost to build it. And, they got a rent-to-own deal, where every dollar paid in rent applied to the purchase price of the stadium. As Johnson observes, try getting that kind of rent-to-own deal from your local appliance store! These deals only occur because those negotiating for the government are really bought and paid for by the special interests negotiating on the other side.
Meanwhile, Texans were subjected to Enron's promotion of "market" electricity prices, which drove up electric energy prices by fifty percent in four years. Consumers will be shocked to learn how (in many states) they are now ripped off by electric companies. Free Lunch: How The Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves At Government Expense explains that while the costs to produce electricity haven't increased significantly, policies now allow energy companies to artificially bid up the cost consumers must pay for their electricity.
Enron's new "market" economics went to work in other states, where Johnson tells us consumers in those states paid $48 billion more in average energy costs in 2007 than consumers in states which retained traditional regulated utility rates. Johnson says this change in how utilities are allowed to price is a major reason legendary investor Warren Buffett has invested in more utilities.
These changes in electricity pricing are the direct result of large corporations buying political influence and lobbying to benefit themselves at the expense of citizens. One of the biggest supporters of this new government policy of transferring wealth from citizens to energy companies is Vice President Dick Cheney. When confronted with how California energy prices were artificially driven up because many producers were intentionally offline, Cheney quipped, "You know what? You just don't understand economics."
Johnson tells us America's high health care and exorbitant drug costs also stem from government policies designed to benefit HMOs and drug companies and to help them maximize their profits by soaking American citizens.
I think every American who wants to understand America's present economic plight should read Free Lunch: How The Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves At Government Expense by David Cay Johnson.
26 Gorgeous Hikes on the Western Cote d'Azur
Florence Chatzigianis
AzurAlive
9780979279621 $16.95 www.amazon.com
Shirley Roe
Reviewer
Seeing the countryside by foot is one of the most exhilarating, enriching and healthy ways to travel. Hikers and walkers will see scenery, historical sites and wildlife that auto travelers will never see. As an avid hiker, this book is one that I will treasure.
Author Florence Chatzigianis takes travelers on several half day hikes in the Cote d'Azur region of France. Her descriptions of the area, concise and accurate directions and detailed information will make hiking easy for anyone. Each hike is vividly described and accompanied by beautiful photos of the region. Difficulty, distance and hiking times are given to aid the traveler in his or her plans.
Glossy pages, complete with contact information, maps and even the small size of the book make this a huge asset to hikers considering France as their destination. The book is well laid out, easy to read and educational. The back of the book includes a list of local sporting goods stores for supplies as well as a list of tourist information offices. Pick up a copy, put it in your backpack and set off on an exciting journey in France as a well-informed hiker.
Highly recommended for hikers and travelers. Available through your local bookstore or from Amazon.com
Darwin's Gift to Science and Religion
Francisco J. Ayala
John Henry Press
9780309102315 $24.95
David Roemer
Reviewer
The following quote from Francisco J. Ayala shows people of faith in the 19th century were right to be concerned about the discovery of evolution and parents are right today to be concerned about what their children are being taught in biology classes:
Two major puzzles of human evolution remain. One puzzle is the genetic basis of the ape-to-human transformation…The other puzzle is the brain-to-mind transformation. We know that the 30 billion neurons in our brains communicate between themselves and with other nerve cells by chemical and electrical signals. How do these signals become transformed into perceptions, feelings, ideas, critical arguments, aesthetic emotions, and ethical and religious values? And how, out of this diversity of experiences, does a unitary reality emerge, the mind or self? The soul created by God, you might say, accounts for both transformations: ape to human and brain to mind. This religious answer may be satisfactory for believers, but it is not scientifically satisfactory. I still want to know how the anatomical and behavioral traits that differentiate us from apes emerge out of our genetic differences; I also want to know the biological correlates that account for mental experiences. (p. 10)
What Professor Ayala, a chief witness in the trial in Arkansas against creationism in 1981, calls the "brain-to-mind transformation" is usually described as the mind-body dichotomy or problem. The problem gives rise to a personal question touching on our experience of guilt and blame: What is the relationship between ourselves and our bodies? This question arises because we have the ability to transcend ourselves and become the subject of own knowledge. It also gives us an experience of God as the infinite abyss surrounding ourselves when we contemplate our own existence. That we have free will and conscious knowledge is an existential truth, not a scientific truth, coming from this transcendence.
Two other ways to express this transcendental knowledge is to say that we are rational animals and that we have souls. These statements are true because human beings are indefinabilties that become conscious of their own existence. A statement with more content is that human beings are embodied spirits. Anyone denying our immateriality can be confronted with the unanswerable existential questions: What is free will? What is conscious knowledge? What are ideas and other mental constructs?
Ayala mentions the mysteries existentialism invites us to inquire about, but he does not choose to ask existential questions. He asks only scientific questions: How do signals from nerve cells transform into ideas, the mind, and the self? He rejects existentialism and a transcendental level of knowledge, perhaps, because of a fear of mystery and a fear of the infinite. Or, he might derive satisfaction from the simplification that the scientific method can render the universe intelligible. In any case, his scientism is nothing but a superstition that places a barrier between himself and the incomprehensible and infinite One.
The "religious answer" to the question of whether human beings evolved from apes can be found in Humani generis by Pope Pius XII. This 1950 encyclical says that the evolution of human beings refers only to our bodies and that our souls are created by God. The pope also said that regardless of what evolutionary theories there are about polygenism, the Roman Catholic Church knows from the Bible that all human beings descended from Adam. That the whole man - body and soul - did not evolve from apes was considered by the Holy Father to be a scientific and existential truth knowable by reason alone.
Luckily for the Roman Catholic Church, recent research indicates Homo sapiens entered history in Africa, which means monogenism and the doctrine of original sin are safe. The pope's idea that evolution only applies to the bodies of human beings is supported by any textbook about evolution. Biology textbooks are concerned with science, not existentialism. Biology textbooks don't say, as does Ayala, that the existence of the human soul is a matter of religious belief.
The next quote shows that Ayala does not understand Christian existentialism and fundamental dogmas of the Christian faith:
Similarly, at the personal level of the individual, I can believe that I am Gods creature without denying that I developed from a single cell in my mother's womb by natural processes. (p. 175)
The Christian faith rejects any kind of dualism between the soul and body of human beings. The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (three persons and one nature) and the Incarnation (one person and two natures) assumes the history of the universe is the same as the history of human beings. According to the doctrine of original sin, human beings inherit the guilt of Adam's and Eve's sin through sexual generation. The idea that when a human being is conceived a miracle is performed is not based on Christian beliefs. The birth and death of a human being are natural processes. In fundamental theology, unnatural processes are called miracles and miracles are historical signs that a prophet has been sent by God. The salvation of human beings and faith in revelation, being gifts from God, can be considered supernatural processes.
What this means is that Ayala should not be teaching children biology. He misrepresents what evolution says to deceive others or to deceive himself. If apes are spiritual beings it may be true that they have the potential to become human beings. However, the concept of potential is an existential concept, not a scientific concept. Lest there be any doubt from the title of the book that Ayala is a materialist and an atheist:
Pope Pius XII…acknowledged that biological evolution was compatible with the Christian faith, although he argued that Gods intervention was necessary for the creation of the human soul. (p. 164, emphasis added)
I do not believe that the mysteries of the mind are unfathomable; rather, they are puzzles that humans can solve with the methods of science and illuminate with philosophical analysis and reflection. (p. 115)
The reason God's "intervention" is necessary for the creation of human beings is that human beings are finite and finite beings need a cause. The spirituality of human beings means that human beings are unified with respect to themselves and are finite beings in the court of conscience and reason. Ayala thinks science can explicate the existential unity of human beings in terms of the electrical, chemical, and biological signals between neurons and thereby reveal that our transcendental existence is an illusion. If God exists, according to Ayala, all He did was create electrical, chemical, and biological signals.
As can be expected, Ayala argues that the theory of intelligent design (ID) is not a scientific alternative to Darwinian evolution. The latest explanation of ID is by Michael J. Behe (The Edge of Evolution: The Search for the Limits of Darwinism. Free Press: New York, 2007). Behe renders moot Ayala's point that ID is not science by not spending much time on the theory and presenting it in a humble and tentative way. He is not tentative about Darwinian evolution, saying it can destroy biological machinery, but can't build it up. Behe argues that the recently discovered mechanism for transporting cellular material in the tail of a single-celled organism (the website www.yale.edu/rosenbaum/rosen_research.html shows a film of this) is irreducibly complex and cant be explained by Darwinian evolution. To illustrate Darwinian destructiveness he cites sickle cell hemoglobin, an adaptation that protects against malaria. Behe likened the acceptance of Darwinian evolution by biologists with the belief of 19th century physicists that light travels, not in a vacuum, but in an invisible substance, highly rigid but having a low density, that permeates all of space.
Joke: Professor Behe, Professor Ayala, and Jean-Paul Sartre (atheisitic existentialist) were stranded on an island and were discussing the Big Bang. Behe said the Big Bang was created ex nihilo by an angel. Ayala said the Big Bang was a vacuum fluctuation. Sartre said there was no angel and no vacuum.
As to the reason why Darwinian evolution is a gift to religion, Ayala says:
Indeed, a major burden was removed from the shoulders of believers when convincing evidence was advanced that the design of organisms need not be attributed to the immediate agency of the Creator, but rather is an outcome of natural processes. (p. 159)
Believers are sure that the eternal rewards of the next world will more than compensate for the suffering and injustices of this world. Nor is there any burden on those trying to decide whether or not the Creator has communicated himself to mankind through the Bible, the Koran, or the scriptures of the Eastern religions. Indeed, someone making what is the most important decision in every person's life will be led to make a positive decision for God by the possibility that God makes us suffer in order to help us develop character, just like good parents are not overprotective of their children.
David Hume, who Ayala quoted in full, said a good and omnipotent God would not let human beings suffer. Since people suffer, the reasoning goes, God is not omnipotent and good.
As to God's goodness, this reasoning is fallacious because we should let our fellow man suffer, even if we have the power to prevent it, if a higher good is thereby achieved. Physicians, for example, will not prescribe morphine in many cases because of the higher good of preventing addiction to the drug. It is true that we don't know what higher good God serves by giving us our freedom in this evolutionary world. However, we cannot conclude from our lack of knowledge that there is no higher good and that God is not good.
As to God's omnipotence, this reasoning is fallacious because God is not a finite being. If God was a finite being, it would be some kind of spirit without a body and its existence would not make our own finite existence intelligible.
I am licensed by the State of New York to teach biology to children and would tell them evolution applies only to the bodies of Homo sapiens. Either I am wrong or Ayala is.
Nexus: A Neo Novel
Deborah Morrison and Arvind Singh
Manor House Publishing
9780978107000 $14.95
Scott North
Reviewer
Nexus offers an engaging and insightful journey of an odd mix of people drawn together to a spiritual retreat to overcome personal pain. This book will please readers of spiritual, new age, inspirational, self-help and visionary fiction books. It weaves insights within the narrative like The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield and The Peaceful Warrior series by Dan Millman. While editing errors occurred in the first printing, those shortcomings have been removed in the second printing.
Starting with a dramatic suicide scene through intimate details of the struggle of Logan Andrews with depression and despair, we are brought on a journey of inner struggle and personal transformation. The reader is transported to a spiritual retreat learns where the experiences of people at the retreat provide illuminating life lessons. The tone of book creates an authentic journey that is both exploratory and insightful. The overriding theme in Nexus is mystical in its nature, narrating experiences of deeper connection felt with one another and all of life. This is poignantly highlighted in key passages, including Logan's empathy for a dying fish in Chapter 6.
The authors, Deborah Morrison and Arvind Singh, draw upon their experiences in their practice as therapists and as relaxation educators. Their interest in spirituality, healing and personal transformation and empowerment is reflected in the co-authored book. It is rare to find a collaborative novel with a coherent and succinct voice, yet the authors of Nexus have succeeded on both counts.
As you follow Logan and the journey of other characters, you question your own attitudes to life. Logan follows his dream that guides him to the retreat in search of finding his inner peace. Logan is not presented as a perfect human being with heroic qualities, rather he is an anti-hero figure, who is a troubled individual filled with fears. This creates realism to his character that is often missing in many self-help books without this depth.
This is a different kind of book and it is worth reading on many levels. It starts off by revealing the problem faced by each individual, then it shows their capacity to transform their life. When you read Nexus, the wisdom resonates deeply within you, not always consciously but at a soulful level. Anyone interested in an insightful, original story would want to read this book.
Bethany's Bookshelf
Dear First Lady
Dwight Young & Margaret Johnson
National Geographic Society
1145 - 17th Street, NW. Washington, DC 20036-4688
9781426200878, $25.00 www.ngs.org
The wives of American presidents have been impressively diverse in personality and their interpretations of the role of 'First Lady' of the nation. Now for the first time in our political history we have a former First Lady actively seeking to become president in her own right -- which would make her husband, a former president, our unprecedented 'First Gentleman'. "Dear First Lady: Letters To The White House From The Collections Of The Library Of Congress & National Archives" is the collaborative work of Dwight Young (Senior Communications Associate, national Trust for Historic Preservation) and Margaret Johnson (researcher, editor, and author of four previous titles for the National Geographic Society). Profusely illustrated with historic photos and full-size facsimiles of the original correspondences, readers are treated to an informative, intimate 'window' into the lives and concerns of these women and the people who wrote them letters that range from the amusing, to the tragic, to the heartwarming. From British artist John Trumbull informing Martha Washington that is he sending her an engraving of one of his portraits of her husband (which engraving still hangs in Mount Vernon today), to Queen Victoria offering consolation to Mary Todd Lincoln, to a girl with a pen pal in India asking Jacqueline Kennedy if she can accompany the first lady on a trip to that country, to Laura Bush writing a letter to the children of American after 9/11 to reassure them that people love and care about them and are looking out for their safety, "Letters To The White House" is a compendium of bits of heretofore obscure White House history that spans two hundred years. Simply stated, every school and community library should have on their shelves for the benefit of their students and patrons a copy of "Letters To The White House.
Landscapes Of Minnesota
John Fraser Hart & Susy Svatek Ziegler
Minnesota Historical Society Press
345 Kellogg Boulevard, West, St. Paul, MN 55102-1906
9780873515917, $24.95 www.mnhs.org/mhspress 1-800-647-7827
The geography of a land is as important as its climate in determining the kind of ecosystems it will support, the growth patterns of the human populace and their activities, the sort of lives and livelihoods that will be fostered. To understand a state's history, it is always useful to understand its geography. The collaborative work of John Fraser Hart (Professor of Geography, University of Minnesota) and Susy Svatek Ziegler (Assistant Professor of Geography, University of Minnesota), "Landscapes Of Minnesota" is a comprehensive survey of this upper Midwest state's geography, including its impact upon the people, the land, and the Minnesota economy. The informed and informative text is enhanced for the reader with the added inclusion of 110 color photographs, 100 maps, 30 graphs, 10 line drawings, tables, extensive notes, a glossary, and an index. Also available in a hardcover edition (9780873516112, $34.95), "Landscapes Of Minnesota" is a work of impressive scholarship and ideal as a textbook. While highly recommended for personal, academic and community library reference collections, "Landscapes of Minnesota" would also serve as an ideal template and example for similar studies of other states.
My Heart It Is Delicious
Biloine W. Young
Afton Historical Society Press
PO Box 100, Afton, MN 55001
9781890434762, $35.00 www.aftonpress.com 1-800-436-8443
All that is necessary to address the ills of our world is for men and women of good intention to become involved. "My Heart It Is Delicious: Setting the Course for Cross-Cultural Health Care" is the story and history of the Center for International Health and a small group of Minnesota citizens who felt the need to form the American Refugee Committee of Minneapolis respond to an international health crisis in the form of starving and sick refugees on the war-torn Thai-Cambodian border in 1979 by sending a small medical team to their assistance. During the ensuing three decades a great many lessons were learned, including the necessity to adapt western medicine to southeast Asian cultures so that when non-English-speaking refugees came to American they could hope for improved health care. A compilation of illustrative stories, "My Heart It Is Delicious" is profusely illustrated throughout with both black-and-white as well as color photography, enhancing the text and the reader's appreciation for what has been accomplished against seemingly insurmountable odds. A heartwarming account of the good that can be done, the changes that can be made, the successes represented by shattered lives made whole again, and the never ending need for men and women of good conscience like Dr. Patricia Walker (directory of the Center for International health in St. Paul), "My Heart It Is Delicious" is very encouraging and occasionally inspiring reading.
Tiny Toes
Kelly K. Damron
Twin Peas LLC
PO Box 50486, Phoenix, AZ 85076
9780979374302, $14.95 www.TinyToesBook.com
There is a drive within the genetic code of human beings that can be as urgent as the need for food, water, or sleep. It is the urge to procreate. When Kelly Damron and her husband tried to have children in 2001 she had to deal with the problem of infertility. She was finally able to conceive only to have her twin daughters born prematurely in 2004. Then after their troubled birth, Kelly found herself experiencing postpartum depression. She went on to join the march of Dimes as an active volunteer in 2006 and became the co-chair of the Family Teams Committee for the March for Babies (formerly known as WalkAmerica). She was the Mission Family presenter for the March of Dimes WalkAmerica event on May 17, 2007, and has become involved with RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association, assisting in their Marketing and Events Committees. In "Tiny Toes: A Couple's Journey Through Infertility, Prematurity, And Depression" Kelly candidly records her personal story, drawing upon both her experience and subsequent hard-won expertise. Now the mother of two happy and healthy little girls, Kelly has written "Tiny Toes" for the benefit of the thousands of others who every year must deal with what she's had to cope with -- infertility and premature births, and sometimes a combination of both. Strongly recommended reading, especially for the one in eight couples encountering infertility and the 12.5% of women whose babies are born prematurely, "Tiny Toes" is as informed and informative as it is inspired and inspiring.
Susan Bethany
Reviewer
Bob's Bookshelf
Thinking Out Loud on Paper: The Student Daybook as a Toll to Foster Learning
Lil Brannon, Sally Griffin, Karen Haag, Tony Iannone, Cynthia Urbanski and Shana Woodward
Heinemann
361 Hanover Street, Portsmouth, NH 03801-3912
9780325012292 $18.00 www.heinmann.com
"Thinking Out Loud on Paper: The Student Daybook as a Tool to Foster Learning" offers a program that will help learners build lasting connections between reflection and application.
In other words, the idea here is make a connection between in-school content and out-of-school life as well as link what was taught last week with what is happening now.
Not to be confused with a daily planner that organizes time, this daybook helps organize thoughts. It is not just a place to jot down ideas, but a place where real learning happens.
Offering ready-to-use lessons that will help you get started, you'll find strategies for helping students get started with daybooks and ideas for how to sustain the process through meaningful instruction. "Theory Connection Boxes", broken out by grade level, connect the theory behind the daybook concept to effective classroom practices. Abundant examples from real daybooks show you what kind of results you can expect to achieve.
The Sweet Potato Queens' Guide to Raising Children for Fun & Profit
Jill Conner Browne
Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020
9780743278362 $22.95
According to Jill Conner Browne, every parent needs to cultivate his or her own version of The Look, and this is something you absolutely must acquire before you have children.
In her new book, "The Sweet Potato Queens' Guide to Raising Children for Fun & Profit", Browne not only explains how to cultivate The Look but she also shares plenty of other insights and proffers advice on how to navigate through the tempestuous seas of child rearing. (Note: You raise corn; you rear children!)
Whether she is tackling such parenting essentials as breast-feeding, toilet training and the Tooth Fairy or more nitty-gritty subjects like discipline, cussing, manners (good and bad) and the dreaded sex talk, Browne's vast accumulation of knowledge will enlighten and delight the new parent as much as the "old pro".
The tips you'll discover here aren't found in more traditional parenting books. For example, the author makes it clear that when dealing with picky eaters "a good mother is always adept at subterfuge". When you scan Browne's list of things you wouldn't think you would have to tell kids not to do, you'll realize that although it's humorous, the things she mentions are also absolutely correct.
All of this parenting wisdom (and wit) wouldn't really be complete without a slight detour into the kitchen for a food break. So naturally Browne shares a few of her kid-friendly recipes. You'll discover how to whip-up some "Alpha Mom Stuff in a Pumpkin", "Beta Moms' Fabulous Beanie Sammiches" and "Carrots a Kid Could Love".
The Sweet Potato Queen series of books have been immensely popular. The author's hilarious, plain-talking, idiosyncratic primers on subjects like wedding planning and divorce, cooking and financial planning, and her field guide to men had her readers grinning and giggling from start to finish. It was just a matter of time before Her Royal Highness unleashed her acerbic pen on this subject.
Also, Browne does make it clear from the very outset that that her title is meant to be funny. Setting the record straight she says, "Anyone who's ever had a kid or even known one knows that the experience is neither fun nor profitable."
Nameless Night
G.M. Ford
William Morrow
10 East 53rd Street, New York, New York 10022
9780060874421 $23.95 www.harpercollins.com
This first stand-alone novel from G.M. Ford is an explosive thriller the author's many fans won't want to miss.
Found near death in a railroad car and speech impaired, Paul Hardy has spent seven years in a home for disabled adults. In all that time he has never spoken a word. Then, after a car accident, he awakens in the hospital as a new man. Now, with only a vaguely remembered phrase to guide him, Hardy leaves the hospital and begins a cross-country trip to uncover his real identity.
As the search begins Hardy becomes the focus of an army of pursuers who don't want him to discover who he really is and why he was left for dead in the rail car.
The author of six highly well-received Leo Waterman novels, Oregon resident G.M. Ford has created a masterful thriller that will keep the reader guessing right up to the final page.
The Abyssinian Proof
Jenny White
W.W. Norton & Co.
500 Fifth Ave., New York, New York 10110
9780393062052 $23.95 www.wwnorton.com
If Kamil Pasha, a magistrate who presides over Istanbul's Lower Beyoglu and the Old City, doesn't have enough problems on his hands with refugees arriving from the war torn Balkan provinces, he now has been instructed to investigate the thefts of a number of valuable objects from the city's churches, mosques and synagogues.
In "The Abyssinian Proof", the second novel in her Kamil Pasha series, Jenny White pits her protagonist not only against a ring of clever antiquities thieves but she also places him at the center of a volatile situation concerning one of the stolen reliquaries. A missing, rather nondescript, silver box reputedly contains a relic of unparalleled power and significance, the Proof of God. The retrieval of the box sparks a brutal struggle between those who are sworn to protect it and those who will stop at nothing to gain its explosive contents.
As Kamil uncovers the secrets of the sect sworn to guard the reliquary and its mysteries he not only endangers his own life but the magistrate jeopardizes his most cherished beliefs about his family and past.
White's debut, "The Sultan's Seal", was selected as a Booklist Top Ten Historical and Top Ten First Novel and was named a finalist for the Ellis Peters Historical Crime Award. This second multi-layered thriller is as intriguing as its predecessor and features the same painstaking historical detail that made "The Sultan's Seal" such a fascinating read.
Bob Walch
Reviewer
Brenda's Bookshelf
On, Off
Colleen McCullough
Harper Collins, London
0007231660 $7.99
On, Off is set in the town of Holloman, Connecticut and opens with the gruesome discovery of human body parts in the fridge of a neuroscience research centre, known as the "Hug". Lieutenant Carmine Delmonico begins questioning each of the Hug's employees in turn as more and more headless bodies, all 16-year-old girls, turn up in different places. The text is littered with scientific jargon which I found a little irritating as it slowed the pace somewhat and a romance between Delmonico and a Hug employee seems a little shallow and obligatory. That said, On, Off is an enjoyable and easy read and the reader is kept guessing right until the end.
A Quiet Vendetta
Roger Jon Ellory
Orion, London
0752860607 $20.00
A Quiet Vendetta is a different matter altogether. Although not complex in plot, the subject matter is far more serious and digs deep into the protagonist's life and thoughts. Catherine Ducane, daughter of a Louisiana governor disappears. Ernesto Perez, the so-called kidnapper, hands himself over to police and requests that Inspector Ray Hartman hear out his life story. Perez spends hours talking to Hartman about his life as a hitman for the Italian mob in the USA and openly admits to the murders of 19 people. Despite an exhaustive police search Catherine Ducane remains elusive. Several characters are well developed and the text is dense with information to guide the reader. The ending provides a superb twist and is particularly well executed by author Roger Jon Ellory. I recommend A Quiet Vendetta as an excellent read.
Brenda Daniels
Reviewer
Buhle's Bookshelf
Outlaws & Desperados
Ann Lacy and Anne Valley-Fox, editors
Sunstone Press
PO Box 2321, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87504-2321
9780865346338, $34.95 www.sunstonepress.com
Outlaws & Desperados: A New Mexico Federal Writers' Project Book is an anthology of vignette essays, biographical sketches, and fascinating true tales about outlaws and desperados of the New Mexico Territory in the American West. Colorful figures featured include Black Jack Ketchum, the Apache Kid, Curly Bill, Devil Dick, Billy the Kid, the Dalton Brothers, and much more. They robbed stagecoaches, trains, prospectors, and settlers; their often murderous exploits were feared by many and glamorized by a few. Between 1936 and 1940, field workers in the Federal Writers' Project (part of the government-funded Works Progress Administration, or WPA) collected and wrote down numerous testimonies to provide an authentic account of outlaws in New Mexico. Now the original documents are published for the first time. A candid portrayal of New Mexico's unruly condition, as plagued by banditry and retaliatory hangings, as invaluable a primary source today as it was over six decades ago. Highly recommended especially for college and university libraries.
Robert F. Kennedy and the 1968 Indiana Primary
Ray E. Boomhower
Indiana University Press
601 North Morton Street, Bloomington, IN 47404-3797
9780253350893, $21.95 www.iupress.indiana.edu 1-800-842-6796
On April 4, 1968, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. came to Indiana to campaign for the Indiana Democratic presidential primary. En route, Kennedy learned that civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had been shot and had died. Despite the Indianapolis police department's warning that they could not guarantee his safety, Kennedy chose to address an outdoor rally amid the city's African American community. Kennedy delivered one of history's great speeches, breaking the news of King's death and stressing the need for compassion amid violence. Robert F. Kennedy and the 1968 Indiana Primary commemorates the fortieth anniversary of Kennedy's passionate speech, and examines the characters and events of the 1968 primary, in which Kennedy rose from underdog to victor. A fascinating close study of a great leader's power to console and inspire.
Cannibalism, Headhunting and Human Sacrifice in North America
George Franklin Feldman
Alan C. Hood & Company, Inc.
PO Box 775, Chambersburg, PA 17201-0775
9780911469332, $20.00 www.hoodbooks.com 1-888-844-9433
Cannibalism, Headhunting and Human Sacrifice in North America is an in-depth, scholarly study of the more gruesome practices of native peoples of North America (and European colonists). Dispelling the veil of modern sanitization and revisionist history, Cannibalism, Headhunting and Human Sacrifice in North America scrutinizes cruel and unusual punishment or aggression among the Iroquois, Anasazi, Comanche, Apache, Chippewa, Nootka, Kwakiutl, and other tribes, as well as the impact of white scalp hunters. Though decidedly not for the faint of heart, Cannibalism, Headhunting and Human Sacrifice in North America is not a lurid true-crime tell-all, but rather a solid a work of scholarship and anthropology, grounded firmly in archaeological evidence. A singularly important addition to Native American history reference shelves, as it covers on a topic all too often avoided by other, more squeamish texts.
The Natural World of Lewis and Clark
David A. Dalton
University of Missouri Press
2910 LeMone Boulevard, Columbia, MO 65201
9780826217660, $29.95 www.umsystem.edu/upress 1-800-828-1894
Printed on high quality paper and interspersed with full color photography, The Natural World of Lewis and Clark is an amazing interpretation of Lewis and Clark's famous exploratory expedition to the New World from a modern point of view. The latest cutting edge advances such as DNA research, understanding of proteins, and new laboratory techniques are applied to the expedition's observations in plain terms. Readily accessible to readers of all backgrounds, The Natural World of Lewis and Clark includes in-depth discussion of flora and fauna species mentioned in the expedition's writings, as well as comments on the expedition's interactions with Native Americans. A bibliography and index round out this thoughtful and welcome fresh perspective on one of the greatest voyages of discovery in American history.
Willis M. Buhle
Reviewer
Burroughs' Bookshelf
The Narrative Pulse of Beowulf
John M. Hill
University of Toronto Press
10 St. Mary Street, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M4Y 2W8
9780802093295, $40.00 www.utppublishing.com 1-800-565-9523
Written by John M. Hill (professor of the English department, U.S. Naval Academy), The Narrative Pulse of Beowulf is a literary study of the classic Old English epic poem. Scrutinizing Beowulf as a social drama with palpable forward narrative momentum, The Narrative Pulse of Beowulf views a rhythm in the poem's numerous scenes of arrival and departure. Suggesting that such scenes are socially dramatic and crucial to understanding the poem's structure, density, and flow, The Narrative Pulse of Beowulf supports its position in part through comparing Beowulf to other epics such as The Odyssey and The Illiad. "Beowulf's move to call out the dragon and fight him alone, as we have seen, has been motivated by concern for the safety of his retainers as much as by a hero's turning of grief into martial rage and a hope for the luck of singular combats such as those he undertook and survived in the past. His is not a simple mood or a simple motive: in the course of his account, what I have called his apologia, he explains his decision in effect to his retainers in such a way as to minimize any sense they might have that he thinks little of them." A welcome contribution to literary studies shelves, especially recommended for college and university libraries.
American Sports, 1970
Tod Papageorge
Aperture
547 West 27th Street, 4th Floor, NY, NY 10001
9781597110501, $50.00, www.aperture.org
Founded in 1952 by Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange, Barbara Morgan, Minor White, Beaumont Newhall, and Nancy Newhall, Apeture (a non-profit foundation dedicated to advancing photography in all of its forms and formats) has been a premier publisher in the field of photography and photographic studies. Their newest coffee table compendium showcases the black-and-white photographic skills of Tod Papageorge in "American Sports, 1970: Or How We Spend The War In Vietnam". A compilation of photographs taken over the course of 1970 while American men and women were fighting and dying in the jungles of Vietnam, the American homefront was plunged into political chaos, campus violence, and a rapidly diminishing enthusiasm for the war. At the same time, Americans were attending their usual rounds of sporting events and it is these that were captured by the photographic lens of Tod Papageorge. In a time of political turbulence and social unrest, nothing was to stand between the fans and their favorite pastimes. "American Sports, 1970" is a unique and highly recommended addition to personal, academic, and community library American 20th Century Photographic Studies" reference collections.
Wild Birds
Rosalie Winard
Welcome Books
6 West 18 Street, New York, NY 10011
9781599620343, $39.95, www.welcomebooks.com 1-800-733-3000
Birds have been a favorite subject for painters and photographers for as long as their have been canvases and cameras. "Wild Birds Of The American Wetlands" is a coffee table photography book published to accompany a planned touring exhibition which is scheduled to debut at the Utah Museum of Natural History (November 1, 2008 - March 2009) and then tour nationally. A visually impressive collection of black-and-white photographs of wetland and marshland birds taken by Rosalie Windard as she traveled the country from Florida, to California, to Louisiana, to North Dakota, by foot, canoe, airboat, and ATV. The individual images run the gamut from meditative and abstract to energetic and literal. Each photograph translates and transforms an avian image into a work of conceptual art. Enhanced with an informed foreword by Temple Grandin and an informative essay by Terry Tempest Williams, "Wild Birds" is a welcome and enthusiastically recommended addition to personal, academic, and community library Photography and Wildlife reference collections.
Smoke Firing
Jane Perryman
University of Pennsylvania Press
3905 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-4112
9780812240894, $49.95, www.upenn.edu/pennpress 1-800-537-5487
The practice of firing clay and ceramic pots are as old as human civilization itself. A truly ancient technique which is still carried out today, the use of fire to turn raw clay into durable ceramic and decorating it with smoke designs has been adapted and adopted by present day artists to create truly memorable works of enduring art. "Smoke Firing: Contemporary Artists And Approaches" by internationally recognized ceramicist and smoke firing expert Jane Perryman provides an informative and illustrated survey of smoke firing techniques using bonfires, diverse containers, earth pits, saggars, and kilns. Of special note is the unique chapter on how smoke firing can be employed as an educational tool in group settings such as workshops. Illustratively featuring works by twenty-nine artists drawn from seventeen countries, "Smoke Firing" is a seminal, articulate, scholarly, deftly organized and superbly presented descriptive history and commentary which is especially recommended for personal, professional, academic, art school, and community library reference collections and supplemental reading lists.
John Burroughs
Reviewer
Carson's Bookshelf
A Legacy Of Art
Carol Lowrey
Hudson Hills Press
PO Box 205, 74-2 Union Street, Manchester, VT 05254
9780615154992, $60.00, www.hudsonhills.com
In the study of western art, the influence of artist's clubs, groups, associations, and organizations is often overlooked and under appreciated. Founded in 1906, the National Arts Club (located on the south side of New York's Gramercy Park) showcased the paintings and sculptures of its members during the late nineteenth and early- to mid-twentieth century. "A Legacy Of Art" is an illustrated catalog providing a kind of tour of the collection, along with biographical information and anecdotal stories for some of the more notable of the club members. Featuring a letter from the club's board of directors, a list of abbreviations, and a roster of 'Artist Life Members of the National Club: Painter and Sculpture Class', readers are treated next to an informed and informative introduction by Carol Lowrey, a 'Catalogue of Selected Paintings and Sculptures by Artist Life Members' which provides the majority of the illustrated text. Concluding with an appendix (Checklist of Work by Artist Life members, Painter and Sculptor Class) and a selected bibliography, "A Legacy Of Art" admirably serves as an historical overview and survey of this remarkable and enduring institution with each individual artist given his or her dates and places of birth and death, and each painting it's title, medium, dimensions, signature placement, and 'Diploma Presentation' date. "A Legacy Of Art" truly lives up to its title and is a strongly recommended addition to personal, academic, and community library American Art History reference collections and reading lists.
Courbet
Segolene Le Men
Abbeville Press
137 Varick Street, Suite 504, New York, NY 10019-1105
9780789209771, $135.00 www.abbeville.com 1-800-343-4499
Gustave Courbet was one of the acknowledged founders of the realist style of painting. His 19th century legacy is represented in an enormous body of work. His ideas and iconoclastic paintings served to influence the course of European art from the Impressionists to the Modernists, and continues to encourage new generations of painters to challenge and stretch the artistic and social boundaries of contemporary art. Now a seminal compendium of his work has been compiled and made available for personal, professional, academic, and community Art History collections. "Courbet" is a four-hundred page showcase for 309 flawlessly reproduced, full-color reproductions and the first truly definitive study of the man who almost singlehandedly redefined and redirected the course of western art. Compiled, organized, edited, and enhanced with an informed and informative essay by Segolene Le Men on Gustave Courbet and his work, "Courbet" is a fitting memorial and testament to one of the world's most influential and accomplished artists.
Let's Get Real About Money
Eric Tyson
FT Press
c/o Pearson Technology Group
801 East 96h Street, #300, Indianapolis, IN 46240-3759
9780132341615, $19.99 www.mcp.com 1-800-428-5331
Written by syndicated columnist and best-selling financial author Eric Tyson, Let's Get Real About Money: Profit from the Habits of the Best Personal Finance Managers is a no-nonsense guide to putting a personal financial action plan tailored to one's needs and goals. Starting off with simple personal finance quizzes ideal for evaluating ones' money savvy, chapters address how to get motivated, how to assess and overcome negative money beliefs and practices, basic net worth calculation, money issues involved in relationships/marriage/divorce, why people tend to have trouble saving enough and when one might be saving too much, right and wrong reasons to borrow money, investing and insurance plans, when to hire financial help, and much more. A broad-ranging guide packed cover to cover with "must-know" information for everyone financially responsible for themselves and others, Let's Get Real About Money deserves the absolute highest recommendation as a crucial survival aid in today's modern world.
Six Degrees
Mark Lynas
National Geographic Books
1145 - 17th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036-4688
9781426202131, $26.00 www.ngs.org
Journalist and environmental activist Mark Lynas presents Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet, a resounding wake-up call about the very real threat of global warming. The evidence is incontrovertible that the world is getting warmer, from the snows disappearing from Mt. Kilimanjaro to the dramatic rockfalls of the previously icebound Matterhorn boulders. Even a few more degrees of climate change could result in nations being eradicated due to rising floodwaters or increased desertification. Yet Six Degrees is far more than an alarm-ringer book; Lynas emphasizes how catastrophe can be avoided, though there may be less than ten years to do so. The key lies in not relying on any one alternative to fossil fuels, but rather drawing upon them all - wind power, solar power, recycling, public transportation, energy conservation, fuel efficience, simply adopting a less consumer-oriented lifestyle, and more. "An outdated view still prevails that a low-carbon lifestyle requires immense personal suffering and sacrifice. In my view, nothing could be farther from the truth. All the evidence shows that people who do not drive, do not fly on planes, do shop locally, do grow their own food, and do get to know other members of their community have a much higher quality of life than their compatriots who remain addicted to high-fossil-fuel-consuming lifestyles." Of particular interest is a look at biofuels that reveals their ineffectiveness in reducing global carbon emissions, not only because of the laborious expense in refining biofuel, but also because using food products to create fuel makes food scarcer and drives up its cost. A deeply needed, resounding call for collective global improvement before it's too late.
Michael J. Carson
Reviewer
Cheri's Bookshelf
The Heir
Paul Robertson
Bethany House
11400 Hampshire Avenue South Bloomington, Minnesota 55438
9780764204692 $13.99 www.bethanyhouse.com
Melvin Boyer ruthless, underhanded and a very powerful man has been murdered after changing his will to leave his entire estate to his oldest son Jason only leaving provision for his wife and second son Eric. Jason is taken totally by surprise and doesn't want it. It was originally to go to Melvin's foundation but Jason can't understand why his father changed his will. Jason sets out to destroy what his father built against the wishes of his dad's lawyer, his wife and his brother. The only one it seems to be on his side is Nathan Kern the head of his father's foundation. He claims he had Melvin change his will because he didn't want all that power. Of course destroying it all won't be easy as the roots run deep and the money hungry politicians and business partners are crawling out of the walls. Than the bodies begin to stack up as more murders take place and all fingers point to Jason, so he sets out to find the real killer. Even his wife who has turned greedy turns against him and sues for divorce demanding the house they just bought and 20 million dollars. The corruption and greed run deep than his wife is murdered…….
Jason finds himself on the run not knowing who to trust, still questioning since he was a little boy as to why he is here, what's the point and now the added question why did his father leave him everything? While running Jason knows he has to get back to Nathan as he seems to have all the answers…….
What an awesome read this political suspense will have you spellbound. Just who is behind all the murders and does Jason find the answers to his questions only time will tell. Author Paul Robertson has done an amazing job in this his first novel. The underscore teaching from God is amazing! At first you may wonder if God is involved but believe this reviewer God is all over this novel! Believe me don't miss "The Heir" as it is destined to be one of the great reads and Paul Robertson is definitely a new writer to watch!
Death of a Six-Foot Teddy Bear: Bargain Hunters Mysteries No. 2
Sharon Dunn
Multnomah a division of Random House Inc
12265 Oracle Boulevard Suite 200 Colorado Springs, Colorado 80921
9781590526903 $12.99 www.mpbooks.com
The Bargain Hunters Network or BHN for short consists of Ginger, Suzanne, Kindra and Arleta who seem to find a mystery wherever they go and this time is no exception!
They're off to Calamity, Nevada for the Inventor's Expo where Ginger's husband Earl hopes to be discovered. The girls want to hit the outlet mall and the world's largest garage sale.
From day one nothing but trouble seems to be in the cards for our gals, they're luggage was delayed so Earl stays behind to wait for it. At the Wind- Up hotel the air conditioning doesn't work and rooms have been overbooked due to the Squirrel Lover's convention and a greedy hotel owner. The owner changes things on the girls first Earl's table is cancelled at the expo due to someone willing to pay more for it and instead of the two rooms originally reserved they are only given one for the five of them. Disgruntled employees seem to be everywhere seems the owner is good at making promises he never keeps. Kindra falls for the good looking man in the bear suit who turns out to be the owner's son but is as unhappy as everyone else. The clerk turns out to be the second ex-wife and the first is also staying at the hotel along with the current girlfriend and Ginger seems to have a cyberstalker from the BHN blog.
Than the mascot for the Squirrel Lover's convention and Ginger's cat disappear. The squirrel turns up dead in the mouth of the dead hotel owner who is wearing the bear suit!
Ginger and Earl are suspects by the two female detectives who are just as funny as our BHN team. Ginger threatened the hotel owner right before he died and poor Earl seems to be guilty by association. But than it seems as everyone at the hotel are on the suspect list. The girls wonder will there be any bargain hunting on this trip than Ginger disappears…
Laughter will fill your heart as you read "Death of a Six-Foot Teddy Bear" as the author Sharon Dunn leaves you in stitches from the first page with her amazing sense of humor and totally awesome characters. But don't be surprised if you learn a thing or two along the way as God has a teaching as well between the pages!
Ruby Among Us
Tina Ann Forkner
WaterBrook Press a division of Random House
12265 Oracle drive, Suite 200, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80921
9781400073580 $9.99 www.waterbrookpress.com
Lucy DiCamillo is desperate to unlock her past a past that her grandmother holds the very key to. It seems to have been a life long quest since the day she was eight years old and her mother Ruby died from an asthma attack. First she has always blamed herself for Ruby's death as her mother had sent her for her inhaler and Lucy took too long to get it for her, she seems to have forgotten all memories of her mother and being raised by her grandmother Kitty in Ruby's house who seems to want to keep the past a secret.
Lucy has been sheltered by Kitty being home schooled and into books, music and art just as her mother was until she started attending the university being younger than the other students and never having friends except Kitty she struggles to fit in. Than one day she has an asthma attack in class and Suzanne and Max come to her aid and the three become fast friends. Suzanne is married with an adopted little girl and Max is a youth pastor and Lucy and he begin to date. With their encouragement she begins to pressure Kitty even more about the secrets that Kitty has been hiding.
Slowly like peeling an onion the barriers start coming down and Lucy learns her grandfather Blake is still married to her grandmother and the reasons why Kitty feels she cannot go back to him. But Lucy can't understand any of this she feels her grandmother has cheated her out of knowing her family to protect herself. She finds out that nice Dr Larimer who treated her and Ruby both for their asthma was actually a childhood friend of her mother's and later they were sweethearts. Is it possible that Dr Larimer could be her father or some other man Kitty doesn't want her to know about? She learns of God's faith a faith that was a strong part of her family.
Lucy knows she must go to Frances-DiCamillo her family's home to fill in the missing pieces wanting the memories back so badly but will her grandmother give her consent and can she possibly convince Kitty to go with her only time will tell……
This book is absolutely amazing! In this her debut novel author Tina Ann Forkner has done an outstanding job of capturing the very essence of her characters as they become alive and jump off the very page and become a part of your own life! You'll laugh, you'll cry as your emotions come alive. She writes as one who is well established and this is only the beginning definitely a new comer to watch for a long time to come.
Cheri Clay
Reviewer
Christy's Bookshelf
Dragonfly in Amber
Diana Gabaldon
Dell Publishing
0385335970 $15.00
The second installment in the Outlander series is just as much a rollicking adventure as the first, albeit this one is told in flashbacks from time traveler Claire Beauchamp's memory. The first of the book may be confusing to readers, as the end of Outlander left Claire with Scottish Highlander Jamie Fraser in the 1740s, yet the beginning of this book finds Claire in Scotland in 1968, where she has returned with her daughter Brianna, intending to tell Brianna who her true biological father is. Frank, Claire's present-day husband, is dead and Claire hopes to learn what happened to Jamie some 200 years earlier. She asks historian Roger Wakefield to help with her search and relates to Brianna and Roger her history with Jamie, laird of Lallybroch.
Claire picks up her story when she and Jamie escape to France, where Jamie is to be interpreter for Prince Charles. Aware history shows that the bonnie prince's failed attempt to reclaim the English throne caused massive devastation to the clans of Scotland at the battle of Culloden, Claire and Jamie are intent on thwarting Prince Charles' efforts to accumulate the funds necessary to stage such a war. While in Paris, Claire and Jamie enjoy a lifestyle of luxury, but it seems that no matter what they do, they cannot stop the tide of history, and the battle takes place. But beforehand, Jamie is forced to kill his uncle Dougal, who tries to murder Claire. Knowing he must face punishment for killing his chieftain, Jamie tells Claire she must go back to the future, as it is his intent to die on the battlefield of Culloden. Claire goes back, but she takes a part of Jamie with her: his unborn child.
This series is a fascinating read, filled with historical facts, interesting information about medicines from the 18th century, nonstop action and nail-biting suspense. Claire and Jamie's committed love for one another shines through the book and adds hot spice to a galvanizing read.
The third in the Outlander series finds time traveler Claire Beauchamp Randall Fraser in the twentieth century, making preparations to travel back in time to the eighteenth century to find the love of her life, Highlander James Fraser. Claire has learned from historian Roger Wakefield that Jamie did not die at Culloden, as she has thought for twenty years. Claire is anxious to return to Jamie, though reluctant to leave Brianna, her daughter. Brianna, however, senses her mother's need to be with her biological father and encourages her to go.
Claire steps through the stones and finds Jamie living in Edinburgh, where he is a printer known as A. Malcolm who prints seditious material, and a smuggler known as Roy James. Claire is relieved to find their love as strong and passionate as ever, but this love will be tried in the days ahead, as she finds out that Jamie is now married to the woman who tried to kill Claire twenty years earlier, with two stepchildren. If that isn't bad enough, Jamie has an illegitimate son.
During a smuggling operation, Jamie's nephew Ian is kidnapped by pirates and Jamie and Claire begin a grueling journey to find young Ian and return him to Lallybroch. Their travels take them across the ocean to the West Indies, and on to America. Through their trials and tribulations, their love continues to grow, and this time, Claire is determined never to leave Jamie.
Once more Gabaldon provides her readers with a fast-paced, exciting adventure wrapped around one of the best romances written, with plenty of historical information provided regarding the eighteenth century, from the Scottish uprising at Culloden to smuggling operations, voodoo in the West Indies, and best of all, medical facts of the time period.
Christy Tillery French
Reviewer
Daniel's Bookshelf
Speaks the Nightbird
Robert McCammon
Pocket Books
A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
9781416552505 $16.00 1-800-456-6798
I have read all of Robert McCammon's previous novels, and he began writing again with a different genre. I chose this novel to continue reading his work, and I am glad I did. He wrote this novel into two separate novels, and recently he combined these novels into one with this edition. I considered his earlier work some of the best in horror and Science Fiction. This book is the first in a longer planned historical fiction series. Speaks the Nightbird depicts a period of over 300 years ago.
The story begins immediately with vivid scenes rich in atmosphere in the historic American Colonial period, and keeps the reader interested and engaged. The time is 1699 with a traveling Magistrate Isaac Woodward and his city clerk, Matthew Corbett, are on their way to a small town named Fount Royal located in the Carolinas. Their purpose is to put a woman named Rachael Howarth to trial for witchcraft and then to execute her for crimes of cursing a town with unexplainable events. Matthew Corbett emerges as an intelligent and worthy adversary for the people of the town who are dead set on the woman's extermination. His inquisitive nature helps him in the questioning and exploring of the facts. It is his effort that helps to unravel the hidden secrets of the truth in this town. This is a first rate mystery, totally entertaining for the reader. McCammon's descriptive prose shows another case for his efforts as a world-class storyteller.
Without revealing too much plot detail, McCammon does a masterful style of setting the feel of the period and description of people, and their clothing along with dialogue. He word imagery projects the events and his choice of passages which helps the reader feel like he is seeing the views of a very early time in America's history. His plot makes good use of his strong character Matthew learning from each new discovery. The story drives through from the first time the magistrate and city clerk begin on their journey until the end by McCammon's storytelling keeping the reader page turning to be captured by a tale that will continue on with each new installment of the series.
The Queen of Bedlam
Robert McCammon
Pocket Books
A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
9781416551119 $16.00 1-800-456-6798
Robert McCammon continues with his second installment of this historical fiction series novel, where I was anxious to find out where this story continues after Speaks the Nightbird. He is a master storyteller, and he proved that with many fine novels in his previous horror genres and fiction.
Matthew Corbett has left the town of Fount Royal, and now lives in 1702 New York City. He has a similar job, only he now works in an office with the Magistrate Nathaniel Powers. This book delves into as story about a serial killer brutally killing three people. The young city clerk is lured into forensic clues, and he investigates with his observant detective powers. Matthew is inflamed for justice and the truth of the twist that ties the killer into all the murders of the town. The key to unmasking the killer leads the clerk to seek the reason for what is behind these murders.
Robert McCammon writes a very good follow-up in his epic historical series, and keeps the reader hungry and devouring all the written pages with quick page turning. The author moves to a smashing climax with a tour de-force. His young hero Matthew character is not left unscathed or unaffected by the events that form him into a stronger character by his quest for seeking retribution and justice. McCammon makes that clear by what ever answers Matthew seeks and the eventual truths which he must face in the end. This book just recently has been selected by the International Thriller Writers as a nominee in the Best Paperback Original for 2008. The winners of three categories which also included Best Novel and Best First Novel, will be announced at Thrillerfest 2008 at the Grand Hyatt in New York City on July 12th. It was selected from over five hundred titles. Robert McCammon's next book in the series, Mr. Slaughter, is due out perhaps later in 2008 or 2009.
Daniel Allen
Reviewer
Debra's Bookshelf
The Good Liar
Laura Caldwell
Mira
9780778325017 $6.99
Two pairs of old friends anchor Laura Caldwell's thriller The Good Liar. Thirty-something Kate, despondent after her divorce, is introduced by her friend Liza to Michael Waller, who's smart and fit and fifty-five and almost too good to be true. Kate winds up marrying Michael before she notices anything disquieting about his personality or habits: his secrecy about his job, his occasional jumpiness, his over-familiarity with Liza, with whom he was allegedly only slightly acquainted before she fixed the newlyweds up. Caldwell tells her story from multiple perspectives, mostly in the third person. We learn, before Kate does, the truth about Michael's relationship with Liza and about his job: he's an operative with a pro-American counterintelligence unit, the Trust, and he's sworn to secrecy about his missions as well as the very existence of the organization. We also meet the book's bad guy, Michael's long-time friend Roger Leiland, the Trust's new honcho and the fourth member of the book's quartet of principals. Roger has developed a lust for power and isn't about to let friendship stand in the way of his acquiring it. Kate, ignorant of these truths, is living in a very different world from the rest of the characters. This is reflected on the page: the chapters told from Kate's perspective are written in the first person. We get to watch as she slowly comes to suspect that her husband is not what he seems. We already know what she wants to know, but it's still fun to watch her put the clues together.
The Good Liar is a really good read. The plot is tight. The prose is transparent and the chapters short. Caldwell doesn't leave us hanging at the end of every chapter quite as successfully as, say, Ken Follett does: it is possible to put the book down, that is, but you won't want to if you don't have to. I love the book's spy stuff--secret drops and faux personas and the operatives' uber-competence. What prevents the book from being as successful as it might be is Caldwell's villain, who is too unrelentingly evil to be quite credible: Roger wants power because Roger wants power. The personal loss and character flaws feeding that monomania don't amount to sufficient motivation.
But I quite enjoyed the book. I'll definitely be reading more from Caldwell.
Admit One
Emmett James
Fizzypop Productions
c/o Wheatmark,
610 East Delano Street, Suite 104, Tucson, Arizona 85705
97811587369131 $17.95
Emmett James was born in 1972 in South London, where he grew up watching a lot of movies with his family at the local theater. He was seduced by the cinema, eventually studied acting, and moved to Hollywood in the early 90's to try to make it as an actor. He did make it, finally, becoming a successful working actor if not a household name, most significantly landing a small part in the biggest movie of all time, Titanic. James tells the story of his life in Admit One in chapters that are named after and loosely organized around movies--films that influenced him during the period described or whose plots mirrored his own experiences, or films he appeared in. But while the pictures he selects for each chapter heading provide a framework for James's book, it's not really about the movies.
Nor is Admit One, as the above summary might suggest, an insipid story about a boy who pursued and finally achieved his dream. The author is too acerbic to have written such a book. Here he is early on, for example, describing Croydon, the borough of London in which he grew up:
"The streets were lined with filth, the people were bitter and miserable and a fantastic night out meant a large kebab rather than the regular size, which of course went hand-in-hand proportionally with the amount you would subsequently vomit later that evening."
And again:
"Unfortunately, it was that type of town, inhabited by those types of people, living that type of crap life."
James's familial relationships meet with similar criticisms. His mother had a "permanent melancholy demeanor." His maternal grandparents were an overbearing couple whose home "was always rich with the smell of old people," a smell that "left a thick, pungent coating in the fibers of your clothes.... They were," he says, "much less benign in the days of my mother's childhood." Of his brother he writes:
"My older brother was a weaselly boy named Cymon (pronounced Simon, just spelled wanky to give him some added torment in school), and for as long as memory serves we have loathed one another."
It's unfortunate that the author's experiences weren't more positive-- though this is not the sort of book that leaves you feeling sorry for him. On the other hand, it's quite refreshing to see such candor on the page.
Admit One is divided into two parts. The first concerns the author's childhood in England. It has universal appeal but will probably be enjoyed particularly by readers who grew up around the same time, and who will remember BMX bikes and Star Wars tie-in merchandise as fondly as does the author. In the second half James moves to America to make his way in Hollywood. This part of the book is less personal, yet it's interesting for its depiction of the life of a struggling actor. Also fascinating is the behind-the-scenes story of his work on Titanic: whatever you're thinking that might entail, you're wrong. Coming away from the book I'm not entirely sure that I like the author. But that's a testament to his honesty. He's not only not afraid to look stupid, but he reveals some quite unflattering truths about himself--from an ill-conceived instance of, well, something approaching stalking (in tights!), to his willingness to participate in activities both legally and morally sketchy. (He's also due for a whomping from Steven Seagal, whom he sucker punches in an open letter at the beginning of the book.)
If nothing else, James is by no means a run-of-the-mill guy. Having been given this glimpse into his history and character, it will be interesting to watch his career unfold on screen.
Mr. Monk and the Two Assistants
Lee Goldberg
New American Library
9780451222800 $6.99
Adrian Monk is up there with Lieutenant Columbo as one of my favorite television characters of all time. Like Columbo, Monk is a quirky detective whose irritating eccentricities contribute to his efficacy at sniffing out wrongdoers. While Columbo hides his acumen behind feigned incompetence, Monk's genius for solving crimes is a byproduct of his nearly crippling obsessive compulsive disorder. Monk is a tortured soul who can solve any crime except the one that matters most, the murder of his wife Trudy. Her death exacerbated his OCD tendencies, so that he functions in the world only with difficulty, and only with the help of an assistant. But his obsessiveness makes Monk a better detective. Because he is peculiarly sensitive to disorder, he notices things that other investigators miss. Monk's solution of a crime is his way of reestablishing some order in a universe that is, for him, heart-breakingly out of order.
Mr. Monk and the Two Assistants is the fourth installment in Lee Goldberg's series of tie-in novels. (See my reviews of Mr. Monk Goes to the Firehouse, Mr. Monk Goes to Hawaii, and Mr. Monk and the Blue Flu.) As the title suggests, Monk and his current assistant--Natalie Teeger, the narrator of the series--run into Monk's first assistant, Sharona, who gave Monk his life back after Trudy died by helping him become functional again. And then she left him, without saying goodbye, to get back together with her nogoodnik husband. Sharona's reintroduction into the series is interesting because it allows Goldberg to explore Monk's relationships with both Sharona and Natalie. Sharona also pulls Monk, however unwillingly, into the book's principal investigation: her husband has been arrested for murder.
"'What he did was unforgiveable,' Monk said. 'Luring you away to New Jersey with his smooth talk and false promises, forcing you to abandon the people who needed you most, plunging them into the impenetrable darkness and despair that lies in the pitiful depths of their tormented souls.'
"Monk noticed us both staring at him and then hastily added, 'And Trevor murdered someone, which is also very bad.'"
While working on the case other crimes vie for Monk's attention, one of which--a bizarre murder on a nude beach--proves to be more than just a distraction.
I love this series. Sure, Monk is an unrealistic character, and some of his feats prove a little harder to swallow than others. (The book opens, for example, with Monk solving a murder at a kids' soccer game. The murderer, a caricature of a too-competitive soccer coach, betrays his guilt with the pattern of steps in his victory dance.) But they're good light mysteries, and more intricate than you'd expect. (This one, in fact, was so intricate that it became a little confusing at the end.) What makes the books shine, however, is Monk's dialogue, which is spot on and often hilarious.
"As we filed in, the old lady dabbed her fingers in the bowl of holy water at the doorway and crossed herself and kissed her fingers afterward.
"Monk gasped and motioned to me for a wipe. I gave it to him and he held it out to the woman.
"'Take this,' Monk said. 'Quick.'
"'What for?' she said.
"'The water, of course,' he said. 'Didn't you see all the people who stuck their filthy hands in it?'
"'It's okay, young man,' she said. 'It's blessed.'
"'But it isn't disinfected,' Monk said.
"'God has cleansed it,' she said.
"'You're old and your resistance to infection is weak,' Monk said. 'You should gargle immediately with a strong mouthwash before the deadly germs you slathered on your lips invade your aged body.'"
My advice: suspend your disbelief and enjoy the escapist fun.
Mr. Fooster Traveling on a Whim
Tom Corwin
Doubleday/Flying Dolphin Press
9780385523400 $14.95
Tom Corwin's Mr. Fooster Traveling on a Whim is the quickest of reads, a hundred odd pages, half of them full-page illustrations, the other half light on text. It's a sort of fable. The eponymous Mr. Fooster goes for a series of walks in what feels like a dream. Strange things happen to him that don't quite make sense, in the way of dreams. He befriends a giant bug, for example, and blows a big bubble that turns into a drivable car. Along the way he ponders questions like Why is yawning contagious? and How come you never see baby pigeons? The moral of the story is banal: basically, one shouldn't lose one's open-mindedness or sense of wonder lest one become rigid and miss out on life's bounty. Unless I'm missing something. Perhaps I'm just too old and embittered to appreciate the book. Probably in final form (I read an advance copy) it will be a pretty book: you can see the quality of the illustrations and hear selections of the text at the book's accompanying web site. But while the short text is trying to be meaningful, to me it seems not deep, but merely precious.
Walt Fleming is a small-town sheriff, but Quantico-trained and unusually competent. We're given to understand this in the prologue to Killer Weekend, when Walt pieces together clues anyone else might have overlooked and saves the life of Liz Shaler, the Attorney General of New York State, who maintains a second home in Idaho's Sun Valley. Eight years later Shaler is set to announce her candidacy for the presidency at a conference at the Sun Valley Inn. The event would be a logistical nightmare for Walt and his staff under the best of conditions. But he has reason to believe that Shaler is being targeted by an assassin who will make his move when she makes her announcement.
Pearson tells his story from Walt's perspective as well as the assassin's. Milav Trevalian is himself supremely competent at his job. One admires, despite the nature of the task, his painstaking preparations for the kill. Interestingly, he turns out to be a relatively likable character, both because of his professionalism and because, despite his resume, he shows moments of humanity. Indeed, his humanity turns out to be his Achilles heel.
Unfortunately, Trevalian's motivation is never explored. We never learn why Shaler is in his crosshairs or what the stakes are for him personally. There are other loose ends. Walt's brother is dead, for example, and Pearson hints at deeper issues connected with his death, but we're never told the story. Finally, the book's prologue--in which Walt saves Shaler's life for the first time--makes promises that are never fulfilled. Pearson puts the proverbial gun on the mantle in act one when he describes the means by which that night's intruder enters Shaler's home. Readers expecting that gun to go off by the book's end, however, will wait in vain.
Pearson's principal characters, both good guys and bad, are interesting enough to make us want to read on. The story becomes more complex the deeper into the book we get. The writing doesn't distract from the plot. And the short chapters go by fast enough. Killer Weekend never quite becomes an edge-of-your-seat thriller. But it's a near miss.
Timmy's in the Well
Jon Provost and Laurie Jacobson
Cumberland House Publishing
431 Harding Industrial Drive, Nashville, TN 37211
9781581826197 $26.95 www.jonprovost.com www.cumberlandhouse.com
For seven seasons viewers were treated to the adventures of Timmy and Lassie on the CBS network. The shows were wholesome entertainment with a message at the end for other kids to learn from. Provost starred as Timmy for all seven seasons. "Timmy's in the Well" is Provost's telling of his time in and out of the entertainment world. A veteran actor from the age of 2, he tells about his life from the beginning through the Lassie show and its aftermath. He talks about his choice to leave the show and his life afterwards. Provost compares his to former actor Tommy Rettig who played Jeff before him on the show. Rettig's existence was much different after Lassie than Provost's. Provost to make his points after Lassie, also uses his fellow kid actors to reinforce different aspects after a show ends. Some of them are Paul Petersen, Stan Livingston, Angela Cartwright, and Bill Mumy who shares a trait with Provost. I will let readers find that one out. Provost's book is a very positive account of one child actor who turned out okay unlike so many other child actors. I think part of that was due to the strong family unit Provost has had all through his life. That's not to say that he has not done some negative things. He has, but because he has had a strong sense of family he was able to steer his life in the right direction. One thing I found very interesting was that it was his sister who competed for the role of "Gidget" against Sally Field. We know who won that one. I also liked that (Laurie Jacobson) his present wife comments about many different things as well. "Timmy's in the Well" is a positive message to any present kid actor. "You can make or break your life after stardom; it's your choice how you do it."
Beyond Lois Lane
Larry Thomas Ward
Nicholas Lawrence Books
932 Clover Avenue, Canon City CO 81212
9780972946612 $24.95 1-800-574-7438
For so many of us who have watched an episode or two of the classic "Superman" TV show we knew that Noel Neil was Lois Lane but what we didn't know was that she was also in so many movies throughout the 1940s and 1950s. Now Larry Thomas Ward relives her career through pictures and words. He also shows that she was in the Christopher Reeve "Superman" film and the most recent one as well in the opening sequence. The book is a lavish coffee table book no fan of "Superman" movies and TV shows can afford to miss. Unlike most books this is one you can only purchase at conventions where Neil is appearing.
Sally Shields has written a long overdue fresh resource for newlyweds to calm things with the new in-laws and overcome the hurdles they all face. This book is in the box information that is lighthearted and fun to read for anyone who wants to know about relationships and how they work. Unlike the two ditsy women who wrote the book "The Rules" and its sequel, these really work.
Brick
Jalal Ghavami
Infinity Publishing.com
1094 New DeHaven Street Suite 100, West Conshohocken, Pa 19428-2713
0741440814 $9.95 www.buybooksontheweb.com 1 877 BUYBOOK
I have to admit I have no clue what this book of poetry is about. Usually I can figure out something. This time I got nothing at all from it. Ghavami puts words together but for me there is no meaning behind them. It is a longer version that tries to be some kind of haiku or something. In all my years I have never seen poems like this. The author is on a plane I could never figure out. Maybe other readers will have much better luck.
The Best of Hometown Heroes Florida
Thomas Routzong & Steven Skelley
Sunny Harbor Publishing
P O Box 580318, Rockledge, Fl 32956
9780979965814 $20.00 www.SunnyHarborPublishing.org
The authors tell the remarkable stories of ten Floridians who have overcome great odds to help others. A policeman who was very close to death who somehow survived and turned his life to God to help others, an author who was an inspiration for others, a teacher who was the driving force behind so many who became successful in their chosen professions, these are just a few of the people the authors reveal. The book is a powerful positive account of what everyday people can do to make such a difference in others' lives. This would be a great series of state-by-state
