Clubs Books

I got a job for $24,000. Then I read the book. I quit the job and re-applied for it the correct way, as directed by this book. I got $32,000 from the very same company. Now, six months later I earn $38,000 with a written promise of $46,000 for this year. If this doesn't show that this book is good, then I don't know what will.

I found the book by Kate Wendleton of the "5 O'Clock Club" to have excellent recommendations for exploring my own interests, abilities, and talents and matching those with needs in the market place. A very down to earth, no nonsense book. Best $ I ever spent.

If you're casual about your career and personal fulfillment, this book is probably too much work for you. But when you are truly ready, this book is the most practical and thought-provoking exercise I've seen. Whether it be a promotion or a complete career change, this book takes nothing for granted. After the exercises which help you understand your own professional desires, it provides you the steps and resources to conduct an effective search. It teaches you how to organize a resume, get interviews, how to prepare for them, maximize them, get offers, negotiate them....and I'm brushing over details such as lessons on researching companies, using a job search library, networking.

"You don't have to be a wizard or a kid to apreciate the spell cast by Susan Lightwater."

-Sally Black And The Times

I felt as if the counselors were speaking directly with me! There is much wisdom and insight in these pages and Ms. Lightwater is the perfect recipient for passing on the counselor's words. There is magic and beauty in this book and I am grateful that it found it's way into my hands.

Susan Lightwater is a person who is definitely in tune with the spiritual power that is sweeping the world. The messages that her guides are sending to her are those same messages that are touching the consciousness of every spiritual seeker and meditator on the planet. The message is that we are One and that Love is at the core of all Life. Susan presents these messages with clarity and definition. She is truly in touch with Divine Spirit. Susan has achieved an enlightenment that most are not consciously aware of. Rodney Groves, author, Journey to Enlightenment, Jacaranda Press, Oct 1998.

I read this book about 10 years ago with my previous book club. I had a hard time following it. This time around, I enjoyed it. It is hard to follow, but if you split the names up. And think what they did, it may help.
The story is about mother's and daughter's relationships. Mostly, the asian mother's being able to relate to their daughter's which they did not seem to do well. The mother's did not understand them and the daughter's did not understand their mother. I would recommend this for anyone who has a book club.

This is the story of four Chinese families that centers on the Mothers and Daughters in each unit. It reminds you that you come from somewhere and the influences of culture and family and situations makes each of us who we are. It also speaks volumes to the fact that Mothers are human beings, and definitely worth getting to know better.

The writing is wonderful! Amy Tan is very witty and engaging. She creates very vivid pictures with her words. This is an amazingly real tale that I highly recommend. No wonder it spent 9 months on the NY Times Bestseller List! The only drawback is that I would have preferred to read in trade paperback format.

Words can't express how much I love this book. It is definitely a page turner. I read this for the first time 7 years ago, and I can't even remember how many times more after that. It is an easy read with a great story. Whenever I travel anywhere, have to wait for a meeting, or just have some time to kill, "The Joy Luck" club is book I always grab.

we recently had a speaker from this organization come to our MOPS group. It was VERY informative and I appreciated having a simplified version for our children to teach them in a loving manner how to stay safe in today's world. My oldest daughter loved the activities in the book and is now proud to be called a "safe kid" Believe me at 3 yrs old kids KNOW what is safe and what isn't.

Keeping Kids Safe is a book every parent should read. It teaches the very basics of child safety from teaching your child how to use a pay phone when they don't have money to teaching your children safety methods that instill the self confidence they need so they don't become victims. Child safety is an important issue in society today. This is an easy to use guide that every parent should take the time to read.

Fun interactive guide to an important topic...keeping our children safe.

Three dimensional characters with real life problems drive this heartwarming story from beginning to end. Readers can't help but falling in love, and desperately rooting for Kitty from page one. This author's dry sense of humor added light comedic relief to some of the more intense scenes, and this reader appreciated it. Be sure to keep a box of tissues on hand :)

Salon owner Kitty Murphy has poured years of blood, sweat and tears into her business. There's no way she's going to sit back and allow some developers to come in and destroy everything she worked so hard to build. That isn't the only problem she's having - her son, Josh, is fighting an uphill battle against drug addiction. When the handsome entrepreneur, Harrison Wentworth III, begins to court her, she's sure it's a ploy to get her to agree to sign away her business, but what if he's genuinely interested?

Harrison Wentworth III owns the vast majority of Wentworth Development Group. While he does need her to sign a contract which would deed her shop over to his company, that isn't his primary objective in courting her. He's drawn to her stubborn nature and warmhearted personality but convincing her of his sincerity is far more challenging then he anticipated.

Kittens which were left at Kitty's house are the catalyst that starts THE KITTEN CLUB. Kitty knows she can't keep them all but insists that the ones she adopts out go to good homes. Three of the kittens go to friends and Kitty opts to meet periodically so that the cats can `visit' and so that she can be sure they're receiving the care they deserve. Finding them good homes will be one less worry off her mind. Her real concern lies with her son Josh. He's just moved back in with her and he swears that he's quit using drugs. Kitty prays that he's telling the truth but she isn't about to take him at his word. What she doesn't know is that Josh has a girlfriend, Brooke, who's pregnant. What will happen to her and the baby if he resorts back to drug use?

Kitty doesn't deny her attraction to Harrison but she's realistic and knows that there could never be any chance of a serious relationship between them. Their backgrounds are just too different and don't mesh well. Getting involved in a relationship of any sort with a man who wants to destroy her business isn't a good idea, but Harrison is persistent and she may not be able to resist him for long. What will his reaction be when he learns about Josh's drug problem and that Kitty is singlehandedly doing everything in her power to save him?

Grab yourself a box of tissues before you start reading Dara Edmondson's THE KITTEN CLUB. With larger than life characters and realistic situations that will pull at your heartstrings this is one story you won't be able to put down until you've read every last word. Kitty and Harrison definitely make a wonderful couple. They're both strong willed and their battle over her salon is just the beginning of what turns out to be a relationship full of ups and downs. Josh's drug addiction plays a major role in this storyline with some very unexpected results. I felt so bad for Kitty - as a mother, you try to do everything possible to help your kids and always end up feeling like you failed. Josh's girlfriend and her pregnancy provided a fascinating twist to the story that I hadn't expected - but I really admired her. There is just so much that goes on in this story, from the members of THE KITTEN CLUB to the going ons in Kitty's life it's full of nonstop action that always has you wondering just what will happen next. Absolutely loved it!

Chrissy Dionne (courtesy of Romance Junkies)

Dara Edmondson gives us a great read with an unpredictable ending. Her story is sweet, funny and poignant, and I'm looking forward to her next book.

ISBN 0590691783 - First off, let's clear this up... I don't think our friendly reviewer the Book Addict actually reads the things he reviews, because no one is missing, least of all a child.

Kristy and Abby are trying to run baseball practice when Derek Masters, child star, rolls back into town. He hasn't forgotten his old friends and invites Nicky to come along on a 3-day train ride from Boston to Charleston to promote his new movie. Derek's father invites even more friends along to surprise him - including a few babysitters. Of course, things begin to happen almost right away as drama surrounds the adult stars of Derek's film. It's all small stuff, until Kristy witnesses a man pushed from the train. Now it looks like murder!

Who's behind this? And why? Can the killer be stopped before they kill again? Fun stuff, not the best BSC Mystery I've read, but they're all good. Martin, as usual, does a great job of remembering the history of her characters, which is one of the best reasons to read these books!

When Kristy heard that Derek is making a movie called "Mystery train" they think it's great. This book is connected to Kristy and the missing child. Because now Derek is missing. Now Nicky and Derek's friends have to find him.

This book was really really good! It was also very scary! Derek Masters has come back to Stoneybrook for a visit! He also just completed a new movie that takes place on a mystery train. For a special publicity the stars of the movie can take a trip on it with some guests. Kristy, Stacey, and Abby get to fo along with Nicky Pike and some of Derek's other friends. Then on the train some weird things start to happen and someone is even thrown overboard! The Baby-sitters have to solve this before something happens to Derek!

I absolutely love ALL of Ray Fraser's books and can honestly say I have never had a disappointing read. This also holds true for Labryinth: A Maze of Metaphysical Mysteries. The stories contained within will leave you wanting more! Ray Fraser has done it again!

It was worth the wait. I had heard for some time that Ray was going to release his collections of short stories. It was worth the wait. These stories would make a great television series. Each story made me want to read the next. Labyrinth was a great read. Very professionally and suspensefully done.

All I have to say is "WOW" I am completely enchanted by this writer's book and ideas. These short stories are so suspenseful and addicting, I want to read and read, keep turning the page after page and the next thing you know, you've read more than half the night away and you have to get up bright and early to tend to the kids. LOL Really, this is one talented writer and this is one great book and it has something in it for everybody. I don't want to give anything about it away but it is one of my new favorites, you'll love it.

This is quite an imaginitive story. League will take you places you have never been and you will meet characters like no others you have met. Arax Kermani has a knack for telling a story and this book will not disappoint the young reader.
There is plenty of action for any reader. I liked the character of Xerxes and felt sorry for him because he seems lost, but he has a lot of inner strengths and convictions and I like that in a character.
This has a surprise ending so keep a box of tissue nearby.

I loved this book. It is a story about a teenager Xerxes who is raised by an avil man, Sin (who you like later on) and Xerxes goes in hunt of evil spirits which he captures in a jeweled sword. I didn't understand some of the foreign language used in the book but it made the story more exotic.
I was facsinated by all of the places he visited and the myths about them. There is plenty of adventure but be prepared to cry in the end.
I loved League of the Spirit Hunters and I think any teen will tell you it is a great story!

I loved this book. It is about a teenager Xerxes who is raised by an evil man, Sin (who you like later on) and he goes in search of evil Spirits and captures them in jeweled swords. Some of the dialogue written in another language was hard for me to understand but it made the book more exotic.
I felt a lot of emotion for Xerxes as I followed him on his journey but all he really wanted to be was an ordinary kid. The ending will make you cry so be careful when you read it.
All in all it is a really good book that any teen will enjoy.

Whenever I hear talk of Walt Whitman, 90% of the time it has something to do with his homosexuality, and very little or nothing to do with his poetry. And when I do hear people talking about or reading writings on his poetry, it is the same cliched talk of the roistering, life-embracing, obscene (for the times) poet of democracy...Whatever exactly that may mean....This deathbed edition gives the lie to this absurdly one dimensional view of a poet who, as it turns out, is actually just as or more concerned with death as with life. Consider some of the following quotes: "And I will show that nothing can happen more beautiful than death"(p.16)..."And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier."(p.25)..."Has anyone supposed it lucky to be born? I hasten to inform him or her that it is just as lucky to die..."(p.25)..."What indeed is finally beautiful except death and love?"(p.87)..."O Soul....pondering the themes that thou lovest best, Night, sleep, death and the stars."(p.360)-These are but a few of the quotes that led me to appreciate Walt Whitman as a poet and not some sort of advertising agent for his own ego. The common conception based on a few lines of a few of his poems does him a serious injustice.-This deathbed edition gives us the full scope of his poetic gift. I recommend it to all who are willing to take the time to understand the multidimensional quality of Whitman and his poetry.

not only the greatest selling poet who has been dead for more than fifty years, not only the poet whose translations are regularly read abroad, not only the poet whose name has in-spired countless others, not only the poet who freed us from the manacles of rhyme and decapitated the tyranny of meter but also a man of enthusiasm, a titan, a man whose soul floods with belch, fume and quake, a man who confronts the ravenous centaurs of humdrum and blugeons them swiftly in a spasmo of frenzy-fire, a wanderer, a searcher, one whose mind travels vig-orously throughout the cosmimosa and embellishes it with jac-inths of thought and blooms of popy! not only a man of gargan-tuan passions, one who rages in the face of metallic storm but also a man whose depressions, fogs, glooms and sensitivity to flowers, softness and the defenseless bloom in stark heart-throb. no doubt he is a poet well worth a place beside such other titano-giants such as goethe, milton and homer, for he too sings the song of war, his book is a chanson of bellum for he sings of the battle of the passions, the climaximum of the emo-ceans, he challenges the raw specters of gash, their eyes oozing of slime-drab and rather than succumb to the oxen of indiffer-ence he instead triumphs over the gray and his book thus re-sounds in shinning claria! his is an adventure of thought sur-real in its gusto, jumping in its excitica and wild in its leap of ideas! thank celestium that he liberated us poets from the ab-surd manacles of rhyme and meter and we can now surge through horiza with countless new devices, metaphors and similies awaiting in our platoons! he is the cougar of innova-tion, the lion of spasmo and the giant of vision.

kyle foley, author of Lorelei Pursued and Wrestles with God

Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" took various forms during the poet's lifetime. The 1855 lst edition was a thin pamphlet of 12 poems; the great final edition encompassed more than 300. It is the 1892 edition of "Leaves of Grass" commonly called "the Deathbed Edition"-that remains the bard's definitive version of what is indisputably and American classic. This special edition of "Leaves of Grass has been prepared in observance of the 100th anniversary of Whitman's death (March 26, 1892) and contains the entire "Deathbed Edition."

In Leaves of Grass Witman abandoned traditonal Victorian poetic forms and language, handled decidedly unvonventional sujects & themes, and evoked so personal a tone and so candid a voice that in the book offended the few people who read it in the first voice that the book offended the few people who read it in the first edition. Only Ralph Waldo emerson hailed Whitman "at the beginning of a great careet." Today Whitman is revered for his accomplishment, and many of his poems are admired as among America's finest: the exquisite personal meditation of "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking"; the celebraton of the human body & spitit in song of Myself; the paeans to companionship of the Calamus poems; and the landmark elegy for Abraham Lincoln, "When Lilacs Last in the dooryard Bloom'd. Throughout Leaves of Grass we glimpse the sublime beauty of the natural world and fel Whitman's lovoing embrace of the common man.

This is a lovely story set in a town in Ohio during the '40s. Lentil learns to play a harmonica and there are sweet scenes of small town life as well as a marching band. My 3.5 year old son loves this book, along with all of McCloskey's books. What has been wonderful for us about this book is the character of "Old Sneep", who grumbles and does mean things. This has really hit home with my son regarding our teaching of having a joyful heart and not complaining. Great literature at its best.

As a retired preschool/ daycare administrator I never hesitate to say that McCloskey is one the all-time great writers . Lentil has always been one of the best books to read at story time . You can't go wrong with buying this story for your favorite 4 or 5 year old, but even my 9 year old grandsons love this tale, and it got them interested in playing a harmonica!

This is an excellent book for the musically inclined child whose singing voice is a little less than melodious. In the book, the vocally challenged Lentil finds his mantra through the harmonica and ends up saving the day with it. My father gave me this book along with a harmonica when I was seven years old in response to my wobbly warbling, and I've been playing harmonica and many other instruments ever since. I just can't 'harp' enough on how great of inspiration this book was to me and could be for other vocally vexed children. -stephen