E Books

My friend Mary Sue sent me Precious Bane when I was very ill, hoping it would get me reading again. She was right.

The time of the tale is not clear. It was written in 1926 but has a Hardy-like tone which would place it in the mid-to-late 19th century. The location is Shropshire, England. You can reference a Shropshire word list on the Internet, but after a while I preferred to let the dialect flow over me and learn some of the meanngs the way we first learn a language.

The premise is that it is customary in Shropshire to hire a sin-eater, usually someone poor, when someone dies, who will take over the sins of the dead person. The Sarn family is too poor even to do this when the father dies, so the son, Gideon, offers to be the sin-eater in return for taking ownership of the family farm. He works the farm with his sister Prue.

The second plot is a love story. Prue is a woman with a hare lip, a beautiful body and character above reproach, who is struck by lightning with love when she first sees Kester, an itinerant weaver.

Other scenes of interest take place during market which introduce various characters, reveal through gossip the attitudes about them and explain customs.

I read that Precious Bane is tobacco, but it seemed rather to refer to foxglove, which takes an important turn in the plot.

The writing is excellent. The characters are true. Some readers compared this book to Cold Comfort Farm. I have read Cold Comfort Farm, and although I enjoyed it didn't find it to be similar, as the heroine is a flapper in the 20's.

The only thing that might have perfected the book would be to liken Gideon's sins specifically(he had many) to the sins of his father, which she didn't do. The lack of detail didn't seem to detract much, as the point was explained at the beginning.



Thank you, Mary Sue.

This is one of those rare stories that seeps into your soul and leaves a lasting impression. The language itself, while a bit difficult at first becomes a song you want to sing and long to hear it spoken. The story, sometimes achingly sad and violent is ultimately triumphantly romantic - with a sequence of events that leaves the reader breathless and yearning for more. Shortly after reading Precious Bane, I was lucky enough to discover a small theatre group in Chicago performing the stage version. My husband and I were in a packed theatre of about 30 people, where I sat front and center with the actors not more than two feet in front of me. Knowing the story line as I did, I made a spectacle of myself sobbing through the second half of the play. I'm sure the actors were gratified that they had such a strong effect on their audience. Suffice it to say, no one who picks up this book will be disappointed, nor will they ever forget it.

The story is this: A young woman, Prudence Sarn, is born with a harelip, which makes her subject to superstition and ridicule from the small-minded country folk who surround her in early 20th-centry Shropshire, England. Because of her deformity, Prue is told again and again that she will never marry; her brother, Gideon, more or less conscripts Prue into serving him on the family farm, telling her that if she follows his plan that she will at least have money and respectability someday. Prue follows along with this plan, envisioning the day that she will have enough money to make herself "beautiful as a fairy" - a dream that takes on concentrated exigency in Prue's mind when she falls in love with the handsome weaver Kester Woodseaves. Prue thinks that no man could ever love her as she is, "cursed and hare-shotten," and when one tragedy after another strikes the Sarns, she wonders if true happiness will ever touch her life.

It's rare that a book moves me to tears, but in the course of reading this novel I grew so attached to Prue that I felt as if she were speaking to me as a sister. The delicate, simple distinctions of this story ring true in every word; it was as though the secrets, disappointments, and beauties of the English country were visible in the spaces between words on the page. At first the language, written in vernacular of the time, was hard to read, but once I grew accustomed to it I was transported to a remote and seemingly miraculous place where Prue discovered and treasured profound beauty in unlikely places. The same can be said of discovering Prue herself, whose compassion, wit, love, and faithfulness shine in everything she does. I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone - it is undoubtedly a story about love, but not in the conventional rom-com or Harlequin-paperback way that's so prevalent nowadays. This is a story about strength of spirit, about unconditional goodness in the face of cruelty, mockery, and calamity. If that's not a real "love story," I don't know what is.

Once in awhile, you run across a book that's like coming home, that places you in a persona and setting that is hazily familiar. Mary Webb's Precious Bane does that for me. Set in rural England in the early 19th century, it tells the story of Prudence Sarn, a young woman whose mother encountered a hare while she was pregnant with Prue. The baby was born with a harelip.
For those who knew her, it meant that Prue would never marry--what man, after all, would want to kiss her? For those who did not know her, it was an excuse to make up tales that she "roamed the country at night in the body of a hare" and that she could curse with a look. For Prue, it was reason to hide from the man she loved, the weaver Kester Woodseaves.
Prue worked like a slave for her brother Gideon's dream of wealth and power in exchange for his promise of money to have her affliction cured when they were rich. But Prue took moments to appreciate the lilies on the lake's edge, the molting of the dragonflies, and the heady scent of apples in the attic where she retreated to write in her diary.
Mary Webb (1881-1927) lived most of her life in Shropshire County, England, where she and her father wandered the hills and lanes, a pastime she continued after he died. Later, Webb--who was also a poet--enhanced her stories with the naturalism and mysticism she learned from her father and the land.
Shropshire English is heavily influenced by the Welsh language, creating a lively and colorful dialect that Webb has distilled in her novels. It takes some getting used to, but once you catch the rhythm, it's hard to let go. Webb's prose will sing in your mind days after the book is closed.
She also used local traditions such as telling the bees when someone has died, and the employment of a Sin Eater, who, for a fee, consumes the sins of the dead person in a glass of wine and a crust of bread. When Gideon's and Prue's father died, Gideon agreed to eat the sins of his father if his mother, who was upset because her husband "had died in his wrath, with all his sins upon him," turned the farm over to him.
But it was the people she met on her wanderings and trips to the market where she sold flowers and produce from her garden that proved Mary Webb's greatest resource. Her novels are enriched by minor characters like Isaiah in Seven for a Secret, who said little but "Ha!" That one syllable was enough to make him a wealthy farmer because people felt they had been found out and out of guilt gave him their best prices. Sarah, the housekeeper in The House in Dormer Forest, broke the favorite china and vases belonging to whomever she was angry with.
Mary Webb's protagonists make her novels shine. Hazel Woodus in Gone to Earth seems more animal than human; she is as wild as her beloved Foxy. Deborah Arden, in The Golden Arrow, loves deeply and totally with all her soul. Robert Rideout, in Seven for a Secret, composes music and poetry while he herds sheep. Prudence Sarn is Webb's greatest achievement as she brings the reader to care passionately about Prue .
The novelist was able to draw from within herself to create Prue Sarn because she suffered most of her life from the facial disfigurement brought on by Grave's Disease.
Precious Bane is a masterpiece. Mary Webb's other novels do not reach that pinnacle--they are too didactic and sometimes simplistic, but they are well worth reading as they poetically explore love, passion, and social norms.

This is an amazing book which should be read by all those who enjoy British literature. It is a touching, romantic story. The writing is sensual in that there are sounds, smells, sights, tastes and textures to be experienced in its textual descriptions. The natural setting almost becomes a "character" in and of itself because you could not take the story out of the beautiful, natural, country setting Webb creates.
Look at other reviews to understand the plot. However, it truly doesn't make sense to try to recount it. Be patient when waiting for the "hook", when you won't be able to put the book down, it will come. Also, allow yourself a bit of time to learn to read and hear in your mind the syntax and sound of the words. Mary Webb takes you to a different place and time and you come to understand what it would be like for a young woman with intelligence, family devotion, character and longings who happened to be born with an external defect.
May this book become one of your favorites as it has become one of mine. (If anyone knows how I might obtain a video/DVD of the Masterpiece Theatre version with Janet McTeer and Clive Owen, please let me know.)

This is a very useful book for will be speaker.
The book is very easy to read.
I'll recommend the book.

This is an informative and creative handbook aimed at the occasional to frequent presenter who may be nervous, unpolished, or just looking to improve. Kevin and Cyndi write colorfully, keeping your attention by using stories and short chapters devoted only to a narrow topic, intentionally making it easy to flip to what you need to know right now. The simple fact that they make the best of what could be dry material is enough to convince me that their suggestions have merit.

If your job includes speaking to audiences for the purpose of departing meaningful information, then you must add this book to your list. Every once in a while it is a great idea to polish your skills with the latest and greatest information. "Present like a Pro" is a well structured book that departs from clichés and goes into detail around the art of public speaking - from conquering the butterflies, to really impacting messages that stick!

I had the pleasure to meet Kevin a corporate training day a few week sbefore purchasing the book. I found him to be one of the most relevant, grounded and effective speakers I had ever attended. Once I found he had co-authored this book, I bought it within days.

This book is one of the finer books on public speaking I've ever reviewed. The beauty of it is in it's ability to be used in many ways. For instance, if you just want to hit key chapters relevent to your particular engagement it even offers which ones to read. It also offers a end-to-end approach which I think flows well for those who need a complete point of view in their speaking.

I would take issue with a previous review noting the lack of A\V embesshiments to speaking such as powerpoint... This is a book on building successfull tactics to speaking. It offers key strategies to prepare, connect and flow with your audience.

I have always dreaded speaking myself, not out of phobia, but out of a lack of confidance to think on my feet. This book really identifies why a good presenter has made themselves good and how we can use those same techniques.

I have attended a few "be a better speaker" workshops which focus on a few of the ideas presented here. The difference in this book is in it's completeness and relevence. I will bring it with me to every speach I make from now on.

I bought this book last year based on the reputation of one of the authors. I present about 25 times a year and I found the book very useful. I used a number of tips and techniques immediately with good results. The authors practice what they preach in their writing structure and style, proving the effectiveness of some of their techniques/points.

This book is a must have for anyone with the slightest interest of canning, drying or freezing food. Only problem is my book is missing pages 155 through 186. It looks like a binder error, so there may be more out there with the same problem. Check as soon as it arrives.

The value in this book is its coverage of techniques. That's very unlike, say, the Ball preservation book, which focuses on water bath and pressure canning. Putting Food By is as close to a preservation Bible as you will find. It's a staple among natural food folks, gardeners, home preparedness advocates, even survivalists. Please note that it is a technique book primarily, not a cookbook for canning, as so many food preserving books are. (There is, of course, extensive coverage of canning techniques.) That said, one reason I like Putting Food By so much is that there is detailed food item by food item advice as it relates to preservation you don't typically find in other books.

I wore out my old copy, was happy to see that it is still avalable in a updated version with all the old information still included.

Absolutely excellent and comprehensive, but if you're new to canning--a city girl like me or simply afraid of killing someone with your canned goods--start with something less scary.

Owned my first couple for years and gave it away to a relative. Had to buy another copy. It is the very best of the all-around food preservation books on the market. It is a must for the reference shelf.

Calligraphy and brush painting are not easy to learn WITH an instructor; learning from a book is daunting at best. Yolanda Mayhall's book is as close to having an instructor as any I have found - and I have tried many books. Her style is informative without being pedantic, guiding gently without drifting into boredom.

If you take nothing else away from reading her book, you will realize that art is not "taught", it must be appreciated, understood, to be learned. Like a foreign language, sumi-e demands inspection and appreciation before you can begin to replicate it! Even those who can read printed Japanese will have difficulty understanding how the strokes are created. Those impoverished by a lifetime of penmanship will find the basics of "brushmanship" as foreign as Japanese language!

Never fear! This book will lead you gently through the process. From preparing ink to holding the brush to creating those first tentative strokes, this teacher is at your side. She will guide you through the strokes of the "four gentlemen" at the core of brush art. Bamboo leaves will give way to the orchids, birds, mountains and waterfalls all illustrated s0 beautifully in her book.

Remember that brushwork requires practice. I have used many a fat Sunday newspaper as an inexpensive substitute for rice paper (a point worth remembering to all the "grasshoppers" out there). Practice makes perfect. Yolanda will inspire you to practice and lead you through the levels until you could paint bamboo in your sleep! I have yet to find a live teacher who can inspire me to improve my brushstrokes like Yolanda can in her book.

If you are new to Japanese brush art work and want to learn the technique, this is the book to start with!

Personally I am also interested in using colour in my sumi-e works, this guide only has black and white. But the images are just beautiful. Hope I reach that level soon!

If you're a beginning Sumi-e painter you might want to wait on purchasing this book until you're more comfortable with the basics of brush loading and color gradiation.

This book tends to avoid going into detail about the intricacies of brush loading and the importance of your paper quality and it's absorbency.

If you are a beginner looking for a solid book that explains in alot more detail the four gentlemen and the importance of your brushes quality and methods for loading the brush, buy "Japanese Ink Painting: Beginner's Guide to Sumi-E" (Paperback) by Susan Frame. It's a marvelous book with alot of great examples and step by step instruction as well as some history and excercises you can do to become more comfortable with your brushes.

After exactly two lessons in watercolor and an appetite to learn more precise brush strokes I purchased Sumi-E. I immediately was able to make headway using the carefully written examples shown in this lovely book even without purchasing the precise Japanese brushes. I highly recommend it.

I was going to give this book four stars, but I was going to be unfair with it. This is not a guide to create a lean enterprise, it was not meant to be one and I was going to judge it as if it was.

This is a great introduction to the Toyota Production System and lean philosophy, by nobody else but the architect of the system.

It had been a long time since I read such a dense book about any subject. If you are interested in getting started in the Lean methodologies then this book is a must read. If you work in a manufacturing plant or are in management then the insight on this book will be valuable for the rest of your life. I recommend it to my boss along with the Toyota Way because I think we need to start implementing all the techniques and management principles, specially when it comes to Human Resource management and policies, that made the Toyota the world leader it is.

A+.

The book is very good. But I am charged for an additional 10 euros by the mail delivery company for which I was not informed on the website.
So be careful when buying a book from here.

A "must read" for anyone in manufacturing. It is the basis for all modern manufacturing, and for any business process or flow. The author describes the two pillars of the Toyota production system as autonomation and just-in-time. He explaines the six rules associated with the kanban. He also describes the seven wastes and the value of asking "Why" five times. The book is very easy and quick reading, and provides a complete backgroung to the Toyota development and success.

Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production
Great tool for understanding basics and roots of TPS

"Toyota Production System" was published in 1979 in Japanese and, in English in 1988. It is the source material on the toyota production system and, in my view, it is often good to go back to the source. Sadly, I found this book disappointing. The writing style is clunky (perhaps a poor translation) and the book lacks structure; being more of a semi-random collection of points than a development of ideas. Nevertheless there is some interesting stuff in here. The honesty that this is a long slow process (taking Toyota 30+ years) is refreshing, and I hadn't realised that Mr Ohno ranked kanban (with quick changeovers) as the core of the system and essential to success. Often in lean kanban seems to be a bit of a side issue: here it is vital. Also there is an interesting analysis of some of Henry Ford's early writings compared to TPS. This would be good material for a student essay. However, for the philosophy of TPS you will get much more out of "The Toyota Way" or "The Toyota Way Fieldbook"; and for the tools of lean go to "Lean Production Simplified" or the many other books in this area. Overall this book is a bit of a let-down I am sad to say.

This is a very, very helpful book on travel! I love the fact that it is so up-to-date with web addresses and information-the athor has really done his work! I lost my Mother recently and before she got sick I tried to get her on a cruise. I could not convince to go. Your book is a Godsend! God Bless You!

With the thousands of Internet travel guidebooks to choose from it is very difficult to separate the good from the mediocre. You can literally devote days trying to figure out which guide will reveal the most useful information pertaining to the best air-fares, hotels, cars, lodging, student travel, medical resources, romantic vacations, unique lodging, National Parks, hideaways, things to do and see, shopping, restaurants, and many other essentials necessary to plan and enjoy your vacation.

The impetus that brought about the publication of the recent Internet travel guidebook, You Are Here Traveling with JohnnyJet.com, was the result of the many emails John E. DiScala had received from viewers of his Internet portal JohnnyJet.com.

Apparently, people were inquiring if there was a companion travel guidebook to compliment the portal.
As a result, DiScala and fellow co-author, Eric Leebow, decided to put together a innovative book that would be the ultimate Internet travel guide for people wanting quick and easy information, and at the same time to be used in conjunction with the web site.

Divided into 34 chapters, the guide effectively points its readers in the right direction in clearly summarizing and highlighting over 3000 travel Internet sites.
These sites provide a wealth of detailed information that makes life much easier for the traveler. Even the arm- chair traveler will find something of interest.

The guidebook not only focuses on the traditional topics as senior travel, restaurants and hotels, but also the non-traditional-where to find the best diving directories, adoption travel or family reunions, travel humor sites, religious travel, archaeological digs, zoos, and other topics you would not normally find in the "run of the mill" Internet guidebooks.

Also included are some interesting sidebars containing useful tidbits of advice.
For example, where is the best place to sit on a plane? We are advised that if you suffer from motion sickness, choose a seat towards the middle of the plane or near the wings.

What I found particularly useful about the book is the user- friendly format with its detailed Table of Contents, appendices and Index.
The reader is not forced to thumb through several pages before he or she can track down what they are seeking. Immediately, a glance to the table of contents or index will clearly point out the way, saving you a great deal of time and frustration.
In addition, you even have comprehensive appendices listing destination sites, automobile rental sites, major hotel and motel chains, US and International airlines, airfreight companies with phone numbers, and where to report stolen credit cards with phone numbers.

You Are Here Traveling with JohnnyJet.com is sure to prove to be an invaluable tool in covering the full range of queries travelers often ask and is a welcome addition to the spate of Internet travel books.

Whether you are surfing about online dreaming about your next vacation or seriously planning your next adventure, "You are Here" is the ultimate online travel portal.

Features:

More than 3,000 carefully researched Websites
Money saving travel bargains
Travel tips that make a difference
34 chapters filled with amazing information

Some of the main chapters:

Steals and Deals on Fares
Lodging
Airport Information
Food on the Road
Traveling with the Family
Seniors: Traveling in the Golden Years
Student Travel
25 Things to Do and See (Everything from Haunted Tours to the London Theatre)
Pets Can Travel Too

You are Here: Traveling with JohnnyJet dot com is encyclopedic and perhaps the most comprehensive book I've seen on online travel resources. If you travel, you need this book.

John E. DiScala's research will make your travel research easier and when you are actually traveling, you can visit the website. When you visit the site you can look up information with the "Jet Codes." For example: Johnny Jet Code: Boat Rides. You will then find links to various sites and can quickly click through and find the information you need. It was super fast and much easier than trying to look up boat rides in a regular search engine. Just look for the Code Index in this book. The regular index is also quite helpful.

So, whether you need a free language translator or want to avoid the world's most dangerous places, it is all here.

Eric Leebow is the founder of Yahbooks Publishing and is the author of various other You Are Here books. John E. DiScala, AKA Johnny Jet is a travel expert and the founder of the travel portal Johnny Jet dot com. He is known for his weekly newsletter and site and from what I can see he is passionate about traveling.

~The Rebecca Review

This incredible book is jam packed with everything you would ever need or want to know with over 3,000 websites, adventures, bed and breakfasts, mountain climbing, resorts and spas, tips on airline fares, hideaway destinations, and cultural ones, this book has it all!

Whether you want a long weekend getaway, a long vacation, or are planning a speaking tour and want to know where to stay, and what you can see and do at your destination, this book will make your life so much easier.
Highly recommended for its incredible resources no matter where you want to go, or what your interests are, it is covered in this fantastic book.

If you want to know how to find all the "insider" secrets to exciting, safe, and inexpensive travel, you can't do better than this great guide.

This book helps you navigate the deepest, darkest corners of the Web so that you can plan the best vacation ever.

Want to go hiking in Scotland, or scuba diving in the Carribean? You'll find where to look for vacation information here.

Need the best selection of luggage, at discount prices? You'll find the best places to shop online.

Want the best ways to stay in touch while on business travel? You got it -- the links are here.

I consider myself pretty Web savvy, and at first I was skeptical that a book could do better than a few minutes with Google. Well it can -- and now, I am a big believer.

Save yourself hours of frustration searching page after page in the search engines, jumping back and forth from site to site, as you try to find what you need among billions of search engine pages. Use that time, instead, enjoying the great vacation you were able to plan.

I think this book was very infomative and lightened my eyes to some drugs we take as causing some other problems that nobody is aware of you. I recommend this book for everyone.

Everyone should read this book if they want a clearer understanding of what prescription drugs do to us and what we can do about it.

This book is very enligthening and so very helpful. My daughter in law has already used it as a resource for herself and family. Easy to understand and well written. Thanks to the author and her husband/

I have been following Suzy Cohen's syndicated column for as long as it has run in my local paper. When I heard of her published book, I ordered it immediately from Amazon. I wasn't disappointed. The information superhighway is so filled with misinformation that it is refreshing to get some really down-to-earth advice from someone who has the knowledge and is willing to share it. Her online web site is also useful for those who want to get more up-to-date, in-depth, health-related information.

There was some useful information mixed in with some of the author's "opinions".
A lot of the information was facts that I've heard before and/or already knew about. But, it's nice to have a reference on hand instead of relying on memory. I didn't actually find any "amazing cures" - just some options in treatment.
What works for some doesn't necessarily work for others - but you can
always try to help yourself.

To prepare for my Biology exam, I bought three books. The Barron, the Princeton Review, and the Cliffs. Even though I only covered 1/2 of the Cliffs book, I ended up with a 4. Reason - because I used this book. The Princeton Review doesn't cover enough. The Barrons was written too much like a textbook. I found two advantages of this book: 1) I was able to answer all 4 essay questions fully, because it was material covered in the Cliffs. 2) The Cliffs is written in such a way that the material is easy to study. There is no unnecessary language. It is all only the important facts. 3) Lastly, the laboratory review was very useful. In class, we had been unable to cover all the labs. The Princeton Review and Barron don't cover the lab part well enough compared to the Cliffs. I reviewed the lab part the night before, and it was very easy to understand.

In some ways, I feel that I have learnt much more in my review during the past few days, than what I have learnt in class.

Had I covered the whole book, yes, a 5 would have been expected.

This book was one of my many test prep books for AP Biology. Its strengths and its weaknesses lie in its conciseness. The subject reviews are very brief and would probably not be helpful in teaching you the material; however, if you are using the book as a review tool, it is perfect. The subject reviews always stayed on topic and contained just the right amount of detail for the AP test. It also contained a review of the 12 labs of the AP Biology course, which are a big part of the exam. My biggest complaint is that there was only one full practice test, and there were very few practice quizzes throughout the book. This is where it falls behind the other AP Bio test preps. But for a quick (last-minute) review, this book is definitely your best bet.

Buy this book, borrow this book, steal this book. I don't care how you get this book, just get this book! There is no better book out there for the AP Biology test and I am living proof of that. The Princeton Review is a great book that helps you get all of the concepts nailed, but you won't get all the details from the Princeton alone. You will, however, from this book. I normally don't say this about prep books, but you really don't need a textbook. This book does not just offer you a review, but used properly, it can teach the material as well. The text book we used was horrible and unreadable(If you're using Biological Sciences by Keeton and Gould, know that I feel for you) and our teacher was not exactly much help either. Oh yeah, this book features a great review of the labs too. This was extremely helpful considering that out of the fourteen required labs, our class managed to do none of them. How did I get a five? The question baffles me too. But I certainly know where to start. This book and the Princeton Review, nothing more, nothing less.

I took an AP Biology class this year and it was a joke! We didn't learn anything, NOTHING the entire year. I used this book from the beginning of the year and, along with my textbook, which was horrible, and the Barron's Guide, managed to learn everything about AP Biology. No Joke! I taught myself biology out of this book. I even got a 5 on the AP test! Many of the questions in this book were almost exactly repeated on the AP exam. Another especially helpful thing was the Laboratory Review in the back. Even though our class didn't do the labs, I understood everything about them. If you need to learn biology. Get this Book. Today!1

A wonderful collection of the historical and the traditional songs. This is one of the best hymnbooks of any kind to be published in recent years. It took me back.

this is a wonderful book. It is full of new and old songs.

GIA, the publisher of this hymnal, is a Catholic publisher. This book is not a Catholic hymnal unlike "Lead Me, Guide Me", GIA's "turnkey solution" to gospel-style music for Catholic services. Also, the lyrics have a lot more "I", "Me", "My" and "Mine" in the lyrics than would be appropriate for Catholic litugies. This is not a quibble; just a bit of information for potential Catholic purchasers. Those matters aside, this is a fine product, packed with impressive new material and old favorites that will add much to spirited worship.

This hymnal has all my favorites in it. Even the responsive readings are biblically solid. I love it. My pastor does too. The pianist at our church loves to play these hymns.

This song book has wonderful spiritual, God-loving songs. It is a great source for getting your congregation in the spirit of 'singing praises to our King'. Introduce it to your choir or congregation and you will be forever greatful for the joy it will bring.

The stories in this collection have more in common with the novel, 'The Known World', than with the other collection of Edward P Jones short stories, 'Lost in the City', in that they tend to drift and ramble in time, the past frequently cutting across narration of the present. This is a part of the Jones art which presents an extra challenge to the reader. Nevertheless, nothing in this collection detracts from my opinion of Edward P Jones as a wonderful writer who paints a disturbing picture of the cyclical brutality of life. The stories in 'All Aunt Hagar's Children' have not made as deep an impression on me as those of 'Lost in the City', but I am glad they are in my library.

As for the production quality of the hardcover book, it is as cheap and nasty as any book I have handled. The pages, whose texture reminds me of blotting paper, seem to have been cut (torn?) by pre school children during a let's-play-with-blunt-scissors session just after morning nap. The front cover was dented and the first few pages crinkled - perhaps damaged in transit, but quite consistent with the substandard production quality. Not a book I would be proud to hand on to my children, (unless they be short of cleaning material). I must add, in fairness, that this is my first disappointment with any product ordered through Amazon.

All Aunt Hagar's Children is a collection of short stories by Washington D.C. native Edward P. Jones, it is his third book and the first since winning the Pulitzer Prize for The Known World (2003). The stories are about black Americans in Washington D.C. during the 20th century. Each story revolves around family, society and self, detailing experiences emblematic of southern blacks who migrated to northern cities from rural roots: some found salvation and others a living hell. In all the stories there are transformative turning points in peoples lives. As Jones shows, they are often not conscious of what happened - life-altering events can happen in the course of the banal every-day, setting in motion life patterns that can be hard to break when it's forgotten or not noticed how it started. In some cases the patterns are passed down unconsciously generation to generation - like the devil, cycles of violence, poverty, addiction, sickness and ignorance stalk many of the characters for seemingly mysterious reasons, bordering on the mystic in some stories.

The stories are beautifully original, Jones employs authentic southern expressions creating a time capsule reverberating with fading folkways. Like the characters he writes about, Jones grew up poor in Washington. He had a strong mother - whom he dedicates the book too - and it contains many of her colloquial sayings. This is not a book to be read quickly, like the pace of southern culture, each sentence demands respect for plot structure, character development and the unique southern way of putting words together. I read this hoping to learn more about the black culture of Washington (and Baltimore up the road) and was not disappointed, but what an extra treat to have a world-class writer with a deep sense of humanity, empathy (and sometimes sly humor) show the way.

This author has done it again with brilliant illustrations of a city and families that touch the core of our compassion. No wonder he won the Pulitzer-he is amazing, and this is an amazing piece of work with suspenseful endings quite similar to Toni Morrison.

In his highly-acclaimed volume of 14 stories, "All Aunt Hagar's Children", Edward P. Jones draws portraits of African Americans who have migrated from the South to Washington D.C. The stories are set from around the beginning of the 20th Century to the present day. The stories describe many types of people from young children to old men and women and from the poor and illiterate to the highly educated. They speak of loneliness and change, of the frustration, sexual and otherwise, that results from moving to a new urban place, of criminality and drugs, and of education. The stories are short but deeply textured, as in tapestries(the title of the final story). Characters, histories and sub-themes are realized in brief spaces.

The writing style in these stories is a major factor in their success. All but two of the stories are told in the third person by an all-knowing narrator. (The exceptions are "Spanish in the Morning" told in the voice of a precocious young girl and the title story "All Aunt Hagar's Children told in the voice of a young Korean War veteran who hopes to move to Alaska in search of fortune and women.) The writing is full of Biblical allusions. Hagar, of course, was the concubine of the patriarch Abraham who was sent into the desert after she mocked the childlesness of Sarah who then became jealous of her. God spared Hagar and her childen. The figure of Hagar is used her for the outsider and the outcast -- symbolizing the lives of the African American characters of the stories. The language of the stories in its richness, difficulty, and frequent elliptical character, particularly in its repetition and in its use of names, also owes a great deal to the Old Testament. There is also much in the stories that reminds me of the African American preacher of Jame's Weldon Johnson's poem "God's Trombones". The rich, narrative voice of the stories is complemented by the contrasting voice of many of the characters with its slang, dialect, and frequent use of obscenity.

The stories develop character and place. Jones shows the reader a Washington D.C separate from the world of national politics familiar to most Americans. I have lived in Washington D.C. for many years. Jones's depictions of neighborhoods, streets, landmarks, stores, and people had a deep sense of familiarity. They also helped me see the familiar aspects of my city in a new way. The characters are true and believable in their many responses to living in Washington.

The stories I especially enjoyed included the first story "In the Blink of God's Eye" and the final story "Tapestries". Both these stories are set both in the rural South and in Washington, D.C., the former at the turn of the 20th Century and the latter in the 1930s. They both show the difficulties young married couples encounter with the change of place.

The story "Old Boys Old Girls" describes the life of a young man who spends years in Lorton prison and his attempt to make a life for himself when he is released. Jones contrasts the life of his down-and-out protagonist with the lives of his wealthy and successful family. "A Poor Guatamalean Dreams of a Downtown in Peru" tells of a young poor girl who achieves great academic success but whose life has otherwise been filled with catastrophe and loss. "All Aunt Hagar's Children" is a complex story filled with themes of womanizing, murder, family, and wanderlust. It is a compelling portrait of African American life in the Washington D.C. of the early 1950s and it touches briefly as well upon African American -- Jewish relations.

My two favorite stories were "Root Worker" and "Bad Neighbors" both of which explore themes of the search for love and finding it in unexpected places. The main character in "Root Worker" is a young successful woman doctor who gives up a planned vacation to travel South to consult a root doctor for what ails her mother. In the process, she learns a great deal about herself. "Bad Neighbors" tells the story of a large, poor family that rents a home in a middle-class black neighborhood where they are shunned and feared by their more successful neighbors. There are many turns as the story progresses, as the main character, a young woman who has become a nurse, gains a deeper understanding of people, status, and love.

Jones' stories depict African American life in a loving, involved manner but without polemicizing or blatant social criticism. They are rooted in African American life but, in their treatment of love, sexuality, change, and character speak universally as well. The stories are dense and thoughtful and will reward careful reading. I am pleased that many of my fellow Amazon reviewers have enjoyed this outstanding book and written insightfully about it.

Robin Friedman

In his second book of short stories, Edward P. Jones does a wonderful job of chronicling the African-American experience in All Aunt Hagar' Children. Just as Lost in the City did, Jones brings to life a city that is hardly ever written about, Washington, D.C., and uses fourteen tales to describe circumstances that include life inside of homes full of love, and those without and those that are wealthy and those that are struggling.

Jones' depictions are as real as it gets, thoroughly describing life for Blacks fleeing an angry South to a new beginning in their first experience of living an "urban" American life from the early 1900's all the way to the mid-twentieth century and the loneliness it may sometimes bring. For example, "In the Blink of God's Eye" is about a newlywed couple that moves from Virginia to Washington, D.C. From the way Jones writes, the reader would assume that the couple traveled all the way to Washington State, because that is just how much home was missed for the young bride and how far away it seemed to her. In the title story, "All Aunt Hagar's Children", a hopeless young man aspires to go to Alaska to hunt for gold but in the meantime, spends his days helping a neighbor solve the mystery of how her son was murdered while also dodging an ex-girlfriend that he perceives to be angry.

Overall, this reader really enjoyed Jones' ability to tell a story but at times, wanted it to be longer and did not feel that the short story version could give these stories justice. At other times, the story was just long enough to get to know the characters and get a meaning out of the story that could resonate. Avid readers of Edward P. Jones will definitely want to add this collection to their libraries and will pick their favorites within All Aunt Hagar's Children.

Reviewed by Lena Willis
APOOO BookClub