Andrea Thompson Books

It was very bizarre how many EXACT conversations I found in this book that I had had with my husband (now ex-husband, of course) - this book is the best thing to read when you are dumped! I carried it around with me for months in case I needed a pick-me-up.

This book is probably the best self-help text available on this topic & applicable to anyone going through this mess called "getting dumped" - irregardless of even sexual orientation (my dumper was a woman). It really helped a LOT and my copy is dogeared, tearstained, in my purse to stay along with my lipstick & brush, well loved and STILL used. Do NOT miss this book! It has been INVALUABLE in my healing process.

For the first time in my life, I found myself being the "Dumpee". Somehow, in the fog of hurt I found the book Dumped! I began reading the preface and immediately found three things that had happened to me that are "classic" in being dumped. I was hooked and rapidly read this wonderful book. It was of great help in my realizing what had happened, what I could do to pull myself out of the slump I was in, and to realize that I am still a likeable person. I have since passed Dumped! on to friends who have been dumped...seems to be an epidemic lately. Buy it...you'll like it!

A friend gave me a copy of this book "Dumped" and it has been like finally having a friend who understands what I have been through. Six months ago,my husband left me for another woman after 16 years of marriage. I didn't know that there was Hell on earth until that happend. When you are dumped, it is really hard for other people to understand the trauma and emotion. While I got sympathy at first, after the first few weeks, people don't want to talk about it anymore and yet I couldn't seem to control my own emotions and began to feel like a pariah. While I understood that, I really didn't understand a lot of my own emotions and trauma. Ms. Warren has put it all in perspective for me and really made it easier to cope with this dramatic change in my life. I just hope that many other women ( and men) will have the chance to read this book. I would suggest that it would be useful to read it before you may be faced with a breakup as it would really help you to understand the signs and perhaps deal with them without so much pain and trauma. Thanks for your help Sally.

This book is a bunch of trite cliches and not worth much in terms of trying to understand what's happening to you when you go through something so devastating. It's all about buying yourself lattes and getting massages. It is really a recycled version of "The Rules" applied to a breakup and it is not worth your money.

This book has some really good information and wonderful tips for preparing for the marathon of labor and delivery. Once you learn the basic moves they can be easily incorporated into your daily routine. I have not been able to make myself do it every day but I can see how important it is. My lack of motivation is certainly not the book's fault! Now if I can just get off the couch...

I liked this book, because you dont go straight to the exercises. It tells you what youll be working on and why. You dont get to the exercises until chapter 8 or 9 I believe, but it shows you how to properly breath and other things, it was a great find for me.

I started reading Julie Tupler's book at the end of my 2nd trimester and started with her BAKS Basics workout for a week or so while on business travel. I can't say my back pain went away but it certainly helped.

I've also been doing her maternal fitness workout (takes longer - about an hour +) and it's a tough workout that you can do at your own pace - with just a few things, at home. (Need some light weights and a resistance band).

I love that she offers pages you can photocopy to have on hand with you - makes it easy to follow once you know the routine or if you have to travel like me.

I like the explanations and exercises this book offers. However, the time commitment it expects is not realistic for those who aren't home all day. Its not possible to squeeze in many sets of kegels, abdominal exercises, pelvic tilts etc. that each can take 5-10 minutes while working, commuting, b/c they require concentration to do correctly. Instead I've decided to pick and choose a few things from the book and hope it'll be enough... That said, I think these are the right exercises to be doing.

This has been the best pregnancy book I have gotten (and I have about 8!). The exercises make sense and while I've only been using it for a few weeks, I can already feel a difference in my lower back. Before getting pregnant, I had minor lower back pain. After doing these exercises, my back already feels better and my abs feel stronger. The exercises are not hard, but you are supposed to do them every day so it can get a little tedious. But I have to think it's worth it. Very practical book.

Drs. Cantor et. al. have provided an incredibly useful approach for women to allow themselves to listen to their inner voices, rather than be influenced by the messages of myths, men and media. Women reading this book will finally be at peace with the difficult decisions that continue to plague us all (i.e., to work or not to work) and will have the tools (through movement strategies) to change those aspects of their lives that need adjustment. (With a section at the end for this specific purpose,) what a great book for a book club, or any group committed to harnessing the power of women to effect positive change in their personal and professional lives!

This is a jewel of a book, which identifies some of the most common sources of difficulty for women as they live their lives out in our culture(s). If offers, in readable, understandable, jargon-less language, ideas and examples of how to identify what your own voice is saying to you, about what expectations you and others have of you, in relation to a variety of life situations, and how to plan and make behavior changes that will reflect your own wishes and values.

This book was both helpful and extremely readable. The short vignettes, clear instructions and examples, and warm tone made it an excellent read. I recommend it to anyone who is having trouble getting through to their teenager.

This book is absolutely amazing. Andi is so insightful and passionate about teaching. She gives specific examples and classroom approaches throughout the book. It's a must have for all teachers!!!

Any thought that humans are top species on this planet must go out of the window with this excellent series of cat-assisted crime novels. Without the felines, where would the humans be? Carole Nelson Douglas' writing is very witty. Characterisation is fascinating and I love the way there is a running thread of mystery all the way through this series. I hope that all will be revealed when we finally reach Z and Temple sorts her love life out!

I'm a cat lover to begin with, so this might come out sounding more than a touch biased. My first exposure to ML was Cat in a Jeweled Jumpsuit. I enthusiastically recommend it, it's got the King, it's got Las Vegas, it's a mystery and most of all it's got Midnight Louie! I have since gone on to read Catnap, Pussyfoot, Cat on a Blue Monday and Cat in a Flamingo Fedora, which is notable for the climactic abduction and forced vasectomy of our hero ML. A damn shame that, since in her debut in Cat on a Blue Monday, Louie's long-lost daughter Midnight Louise alias Caviar, revealed her lack of desire for motherhood and breeding. If only the family line could be continued! we all need more such cats as Midnight Louie, to say nothing of Temple Barr's need as well as that of Las Vegas in general. My basic point, do yourself a big favor and start collecting the ML series today!! Talk about being worth every penny. I'd gladly grab up every title myself if I ever hit the Lotto jackpot!

I'm a cat lover to bgin with, so this might come out sounding more than a touch biased. My first exposure to ML was Cat in a Jeweled Jumpsuit. I enthusiastically reccomend it, it's got the King, it's got Las Vegas, it's a mystery and most of all it's got Midnight Louie! I have since gone on to read Catnap, Pussyfoot, Cat on a Blue Monday and Cat in a Flamingo Fedora, which is notable for the climactic abduction and forced vasectomy of our hero ML. A damn shame that, since in her debut in Cat on a Blue Monday, Louie's long-lost daughter Midnight Louise alias Caviar, revealed her lack of desire for motherhood and breeding. If only the family line could be contiuned! we all need more such cats as Midnight Louie, to say nothing of Temble Barr's need as well as that of Las Vegas in general. My basic point, do yourself a big favor and start collecting the ML series today!! Talk about being worth every penny. I'd gladly grab up every title myself if I ever hit the Lotto jackpot!

If you read mystery stories, as I do, to provide logic in an often illogical world, Cat in an Indigo Mood isn't going to meet that demand. Douglas' books are clever and quirky, fun and fantastic--but never filled with logic and deduction in the traditional 'mystery novel' sense. The characters themselves are an odd mixture of strange traits and exotic behaviors. Many of them don't really fit into the plot line, and have no reason for being in the novel, other than being delightfully flamboyant and unusual. The reader must accept this and admire them for what they are in and of themselves. But don't expect these creatures to further the plot, or even reappear again in this novel. And expect some of the characters to be dogs and cats who are smarter and more believable than their human counterparts. When I am in Las Vegas, I am always aware that the city I see is a total amusement, built for that reason only. There are gondolas through shopping malls and volcanos atop buildings, garnished with neon and feather exotica. The Midnight Louie mystery series is a lot like that: a lot of enjoyable fuss and floss, an amusement that defies reality.

Three murders with 3 different, yet interconnected victims, a more humanizing look at Det. Molina, an exciting and fresh detour for Matt, and a new beguiling addition to the cast help this latest Midnite Louie outing succeed where the preceding book felt off-kilter. The mystery itself is engrossing and kept me guessing as to whodunit. I'm tempted to recommend it to the beginner in the series because it is such a well-rounded story, but one should probably still stick with starting at the beginning to understand character backgrounds, etc. Good to see Temple and Matt working together as friends to solve the mystery, and Molina soliciting Max's help (on the romantic side, one wonders exactly who is going to end up with whom?) One element I *really* appreciated was that, by this 10th book, Molina 'gets' and even appreciates the feline detecting connection!

Dr. Cantor has written a brilliant analysis of the fears of facing retirement, and how to plan for a meaningful life after work ends. I keep giving this book to friends who are looking for more for their anticipated leisure than bridge and golf. Dr Cantor outlines practical ways to figure out our strengths and interests to craft together a blueprint for the last third of our lives.

The book "What Do You Want to Do When You Grow Up?" by Dorothy Cantor starts off with some promise. Early she says, "What we are going to talk about can be summed up as the capacity to grow and the need to choose....We will look at what went on before, in order to find some clues for the future." Later in the first section, she adds, "I'll show you how to pull those pieces together to sketch a plan for the next part of your life- the time in which there will be few rules, the time in which the choices will be up to you....Don't just leave the future to chance; do not assume that after you stop working, all will fall comfortably in place....design the years ahead, not wait for them to happen....you have within you, as we all have, the gift for endless self-renewal."

This is good stuff; we are off to a good start. But, in my opinion, the book does not deliver on its promises. Instead, we find that the author, who is a practicing psychologist, builds her book like a therapist who is trying to help someone solve a personal problem, in this case the prospect or experience of an unfulfilling retirement phase of life. This theme is exposed when she tells us, "Many people who have entered the after-the-job stage of their lives find themselves asking if there isn't supposed to be more to it....many such people come to my office for counseling."

So, the author presents four men and four women, "who sketched their journeys for me." My problem with what happens next is that the next 120 pages dwell on the childhood, educational, personal and vocational phases of these people's lives. Five of the eight still work, one retired one year ago, another two years back, and the other 12 years ago. So, a basic problem can be seen here: only one of those profiled has much of any experience with and in retirement!

I'm a firm believer that life, for the most part, only makes sense when you look at it in reverse. The variables along the way are endless: who we end up with as a spouse, what career we end up with, where we end up living, whether we are "successful" or not, etc. I also believe that the variables in the retirement phase can be endless, and, for the most part, are not controllable any more than the variables in our earlier phases were. The point here is that, for me, this lengthy exercise to learn who these working people are now and who they were earlier in their lives does little for me as a guide to my personal success in retirement. I just don't see these people as having much to say that is knowledgeable about the subject of retirement.

What I think the author may be on to is to open the door to the area of specialized retirement counseling for those who might need some "special" help. Folks who enter retirement with histories of having problems making decisions, following through on things, and being comfortable with themselves outside of their jobs might, indeed, need to look at their past to better understand who they can become in retirement. But I firmly believe that most folks do not need to go to the psychologist's couch as an essential step into retirement. So, in that sense, the essence of this book, in my opinion, is not valuable to most pre-retirees or those in their early transition.

Surely there are those who could use such help finding themselves in retirement. Willie Lowman, the central character in "Death of a Salesman" might be a candidate. After his death, one of his sons says of his salesman father, "He never knew who he was." Another candidate would be Mr. Schmidt of the "About Schmidt" movie fame. Talk about a guy that is ill-prepared for retirement! He came into it a mess, and he makes an early mess of it. He didn't know who he was, what he was supposed to be doing, or where he was headed. If someone is a mess before retirement, how could he or she not be expected to be a mess in retirement. And surely some people find success in the workplace in ways that will be difficult to find outside of the workplace. These folks could use some help.

Back to the book, the last 30 or so pages have some tidbits that are worthwhile, like breaking the transition into retirement into three phases: honeymooning, testing new waters, and the second wind. And on the final pages, she says, "Life keeps happening, and transitions are part of it....After all, growing up is never done." Sounds like good advice, but doesn't that mean that we've come full-circle in the book? At the end she tells us that we never grow up? If so, what was the point of the book?

In the end, I found the eight people profiled to be too few and with too little to say about the realities of successful retirement. As for advice about what one might want to do with extra leisure time in retirement, I'd point readers to the Activity Tree in "The Joy of Not Working," by Ernie Zelinski, as a much more practical way to build and to "pull" meaningful activity ideas for an individual retiree.

As a counsellor, I have found many individuals discover "anticipating retirement" and "living in retirement" are two very different things. In the next ten years, I, too, will be "growing up" and facing this new chapter of my life. However, there are so many plans for my future, I only hope my health, financial resources and stamina will allow me to fulfill these ambitions. To me, retirement is like planting and tending a garden. First, one must plan carefully (you do not want to waste your precious years on activities that do not bring you joy and fulfillment.) Then, one should decide what plants (projects, hobbies, activities) to sow, not only to keep you physically active, but metally alert. Finally, one must lovingly tend that garden (nourish the soul, maintain physical health, and weed the emotional clutter from the past.) If you have lost a spouse, partner or soul-mate during this planting season, it is important to grieve, but it is equally important to know when to let go and when it is time to plant a new garden. Remember, time waits for no one. Only then, will one be prepared to start the next chapter of their life. We all need to have hopes, goals and dreams, no matter what our age.

In this book, the author points out the positive ways of dealing with change and how to plan and approach this new period in the lifecycle. Anyone approaching mid-life can certainly benefit from this book; it is never to soon to plan for the future. If you are already into your retirement years, this book may be just the inspiration you need if the years are not as challenging and fulfilling as you anticipated. The author has a lot to say on the subject and it is a great book based on sound advice.

As a mid-sixties professional who retired about five years ago from my own business,and then found myself in a true depression until I sought help, I found this book remarkably acute regarding the questions that I should have thought to ask myself, the planning I should have done, and the problems that would arise for me when I no longer had the structure of my working life to support me. Doctor Cantor's amazing understanding of the dynamics of retirement has helped me immeasurably to understand myself in what is an exciting but very complicated period, and her practical advice is advice I wish I had had before I retired!! I cannot imagine anyone approaching the later stages of life who would not benefit enormously from Dr. Cantor's insights and help. GET THIS BOOK!

"What Do You Want to Do When You Grow Up?" is a must book for those who are "in-transition," thinking about retirement, or uncertain about their present career path (the desert experience). For four years, I have been serving as a co-ministry head in my Church assisting those who are either "in-transition" or contemplating it. This has been my number one reading recommendation to all participants, as this book handily addresses the first step to be taken before one moves-on, the step of self-awareness. Without knowing you are and where you want to go, you are doomed to a very empty existence.

Dorothy Cantor shares her twenty-five years of experience as a psychologist working with those who are seeking "what to do next" with key questions and real-life stories. While some, like me, may find the stories of little use, the questions she raises are the guts of the book and make this an excellent purchase. Some of these include:

What will I be doing when I am no longer spending most of my time at the work I am doing now?
What are the fifteen good things (besides money) that I get from job now?
What was it that I first longed to be when I grew up?
What are my obsession and reigning passions?
Who are my heroes, my favorite or most unforgettable people?

These and a host of other questions she raises will get one to think about their lives, their dreams, their gifts, their passions, and, ultimately, their direction. This is not a book to read quickly as this book requires the hard work of reflection and introspection to maximize its value.

Cantor has authored a very readable and useful book in helping those who are searching to start the next chapter in their lives - possibly the most fruitful and meaningful

This ultimate treatise on painting technique, together with the perception and insight of the artist Cenninni opens a wonderful new window into the realities of art and craftsmanship in this fascinating period. One also gets an idea of just how skilled these people are and how hard they worked to achieve the perfection in their works. A MUST-have for anyone interested in Renaissance painting, or painting technique - from the horse's mouth. I'm thrilled to possess this book!

Learn how to paint like medieval artists, right down to the colors and techniques they used.

Art, genuine art, is a pleasure not only in the thrill of color and line but in its procedure and materials. In fifteenth-century Florence, an artist named Cennino d'Andrea Cennini compiled a handbook for contemporary and future painters to consult in their drawing and painting from the beginning, in choosing their ingredients, mixing their paints and preparing their paper or cloth for painting on.

Unlike the making of sausage, the elements of creating art are a delight. Here are some how-to's excerpted from this wonderful little book (translated by Daniel V. Thompson, Jr., 1933, reprinted numerous times by Dover), still vibrant five hundred years after it was composed. The details also unwittingly reveal something of contemporary everyday life, where the art came from.

To paint on a panel, you start with a little boxwood panel nine inches square, washed with clear water and rubbed and smoothed down. "And when this little panel is thoroughly dry, take enough bone, ground diligently for two hours, to serve . . . take less than half a bean of this bone, or even less. And stir this bone up with saliva. Spread it all over the little panel with your fingers; and, before it gets dry, hold the little panel in your left hand, and tap over the panel with the finger tip of your right hand [presumably Cennino was right-handed] until you see that it is quite dry. And it will get coated with bone as evenly in one place as in another."

Wondering where to find the bone? "You must know what bone is good. Take bone from the second joints and wings of fowls, or of a capon; and the older they are the better. Just as you find them under the dining-table, put them into the fire; and when you see that they have turned whiter than ashes, draw them out, and grind them well on the porphyry."

Parchment comes from sheep or goats; to draw on sheep parchment, the artist lightly inscribes the background of bone with a sharp point. "On the parchment you may draw or sketch with this [stylus] of yours if you first put some of that bone . . . all over the parchment . . . dusting it off with a hare's foot." To add ink, "shade the folds with washes of ink; that is, as much water as a nutshell would hold, with two drops of ink in it; and shade with a brush made of minever tails . . ."

"And if you ever make a slip, so that you want to remove some stroke made by this little lead, take a bit of the crumb of some bread, and rub it over the paper, and you will remove whatever you wish."

The artist gives equally clear and detailed instructions for whittling goose quills to get a sharp point for ink drawing, to tempering paper with several coats of glue (tempera), to making clear tracing paper by scraping kid parchment and treating it with linseed oil. White lead is a basic ingredient, so is saliva. (Saliva combined with lead poses a health hazard; painters often died young.) Colors come largely from minerals, and the author explains how to pulverize and mix minerals to produce the paints desired.

Cennino explains every procedure in gessoing, stamping on gold, working on cloth, painting on velvet (yes, it goes way back), gilding saints' haloes, designing brocades, and embellishing with gold or tin. Much of a loss for art history, his instructions for mosaics are regrettably long since gone.

The author also makes some opening remarks designed to put art in context in creation. Much as he loves art, Cennino subordinates it to thinking, and he never loses sight of the fact that it is work. After the fall, "Man . . . pursued many useful occupations, differing from each other," some "more theoretical than others; they could not all be alike, since theory is the most worthy." Art is a "labor of love," but it is still labor.

Still, his praise for art, being genuine, is as strong as any I have ever read: "Close to [theory], man pursued . . . an occupation known as painting, which calls for imagination, and skill of hand, in order to discover things not seen, hiding themselves under the shadow of natural objects, and to fix them with the hand, presenting to plain sight what does not actually exist. And it justly deserves to be enthroned next to theory, and to be crowned with poetry."

This little gem contains a great deal of use for anyone trying to duplicate authentic, medieval /rennaisance painting techniques. The instructions on making egg tempera paints, for example, are extremely clear. This book may as well have "required reading" on the cover for anyone who is interested in painting, calligraphy, illumination or related fields in history and practice.

Please be aware! many techniques, pigments, and methods used in history were hazardous. many pigments in use in proffessional art workshops today are hazardous as well, but the Medeival artist did not have OSHA regulations and disclaimers. Please investigate the safety of ANY procedure or pigment before use.

This book is referenced by many other authors and webpages for their instructions, and can be used as Primary Documentation for most living history groups

When you open this little book you are in for a shock. Or, shall I say - a jolt back to a reality show from a florentine painting workshop circa 1400?

It is a completely unrefined(even quite raw to some tastes)step by step manual on the nitty-gritty of paint and medium preparation which can generally attract two types of readers - the professional painter who has heard of this little collection(and its mysterious "painting secrets") from word of mouth; or else, the seeker of bizzare and obscure literature of times past - in both cases you will go through this book alternating between bouts of disbelief and hysterical laughter...
Great entertainment, and perhaps even a thing or two to learn about how renaissance artists saw themselves and their work.

If you thought Parker was good, you don't know how good he is until you read this one. The confrontation in the restaurant is the best scene I have read in a mystery. Hold your breath!

This is the first book I have read by Robert B. Parker so I cannot compare his newly minted heroine, Sunny Randall, to his previous protagonists or previous books.

Sonja "Sunny" Randall is a 35-year-old chip off the old block. Like her father, she was a cop, but then left to become a private detective. She's tough and beautiful, but frankly there is little about her disposition that seems to evoke her nickname. She's actually a rather abrupt individual who is a little too much of a smart alec to be truly endearing. Her wit is clever, but often a bit abrasive and she prefers witty one liners to deep thought. After a while, the one-liners become tiresome and seem to be mostly a way for Sunny to cover up her own issues with a fiesty shell. She's a loner - in fact, it's what led her to leave the police department for private practice, and it's a large part of what led her to divorce her husband of 9 years, Richie, with whom she remains good friends. Her constant companion is Rosie, a miniature bull terrier who Sunny seems to like much better than most people, particularly children.

The plot of this book centers around Millicent Patton, the 15-year-old daughter of a wealthy Boston banker and his socialite wife. When Millie runs away from home, Sunny is hired by Millie's parents to find her and bring her back home. It isn't long before Sunny catches up with Mille, but when she finds out what drove Millie out of the house in the first place, she has a decision to make: should she return Millie to her parents or not? The plot weaves the lives of Millie, Millie's parents, and Sunny directly into the middle of Boston's organized crime, and what starts out as finding a runaway teen ends up being an elusive contest to keep them both from getting killed.

I still haven't decided if I really like Sunny Randall. She's just a little too fearless and flippant for my tastes. Also, Parker's writing style is rather terse. He seems to prefer language that spurts rather than flows, with prose that is often truncated. In fact, I don't think I've ever read a novel in which so many sentences had less than 10 words in them. It's OK for periodic busts of dialog, but as a steady diet in narrative and dialog, it isn't really my cup of tea. I often found myself feeling as though two or three sentences should have been joined by commas or some other punctuation besides periods.

There isn't generally a whole lot of suspense here, as Parker reveals the answers slowly throughout the book rather than taking us breathlessly to the final few pages for the climax and resolution.

Although it's nice to have discovered a new author in this genre, I'm not sure I can count him among my favorites. I will say this: he certainly beats James Patterson, but that isn't saying a whole lot these days with Patterson churning out mediocre books like a drive through window.

If I were to award a letter grade, I'd give this book a B-. I'd also recommend starting with this book since it is the first in the Sunny Randall series, and the other books sort of build chronologically with many of the same characters appearing over and over again, such as Sunny's friend Spike, her ex-husband Ritchie, her sister Elizabeth, and her friend Julie, not to mention several repeat appearances by member's of Boston's underworld. If you like this book, continue on in the Sunny Randall series. If not, you'll probably want to pick something else since I'm now on my 3rd Sunny Randall book and have found the style of each to be essentially the same.

Sonya (Sunny) Randall is the daughter of a retired cop, ex-wife of Richie who is the son of a mobster, beautiful, yet capable of deadly force and a private investigator in the Boston area. She is also a painter and pursuing a degree in the fine arts. The parents of Millicent Patton, a fifteen-year-old girl who has run away from home, hire her. Sunny immediately realizes that all is not well in the Patton household, as there seems to be no great concern or passion in her parents regarding her disappearance. It is also clear that Millicent is probably hooking to stay alive, as there is very little else that she can do.
Although she is reluctant to seek his aid, Sunny asks Richie to help her locate Millicent, which turns out to be rather easy. Once Millicent is found, Sunny finds herself becoming a parent to Millicent and when two men arrive at Sunny's apartment, she blows one away with a shotgun while dressed in nothing but a silk robe that flows in awkward and revealing ways. There are many characters in the story, Spike the gay man who dresses like a dandy but is as deadly as a venomous snake. Mobsters and vicious killers are everywhere, and she actively seeks out their assistance, talking with then as an equal. Sunny also makes friends with cops, eventually having intimate relations with one.
While she is female, Sunny shares many characteristics with Spenser; one of Parker's other great P. I. characters. She is sentimental and emotionally entangled much beyond what her job requires. Spike is very similar to Hawk of the Spenser series, a dear friend who stands by her even in the face of danger and without pay. Nevertheless, the combination of similarities and differences makes it a great story worthy of the Parker tradition of deadly sentimentalists.

FAMILY HONOR lived up to its title as the pilot for this delightful series which felt at first like Spenser was toning himself into a female roar heard round the literary arena, while extending his slant on gangster Vs cop family backgrounds (in which neither is all bad or all good) in this Juliet and Romeo romance.

I hadn't thought I'd be able to get into a female private eye series by Parker, especially after having become addicted to his 34 Spenser novels. But FAMILY HONOR was a perfect appetizer with appealing percolation. I don't doubt that Parker can carry both his new series (see my review of NIGHT PASSAGE, Jesse Stone # 1).

It didn't take more than a few chapters for Sunny to split off from the long-wrought, well-writ Spenser mystique and into her own, as a full character... maybe with Spenser speaking into her ear as an angel from an alternate reality, for a while. I enjoyed the slips connecting to Spenser, i.e., how Sunny might deal with a particular hairy situation if she were a 200 pound, male boxer. In humorous yet realistic contrast to Spenser and Hawk types, Parker dramatized what a small female can do to compensate for not being a testy, taut, towering gorilla-with-gonads, in a plot which will had me smiling. I'm excited about this series; I enjoyed the upbeat feeling of this first offering in it. I relished hearing Randall use Spenser's trademark words in dialogue, like "some more" and "eek."

Reading the first few chapters of FAMILY HONOR I kept seeing Spenser in high heels, noting how uncomfortable they were, and wondering where/how to effectively house a big enough gun on a 115 lb, 5'4" body... as he seemed to be having great fun adapting to this recent female incarnation, shaking out the form and personality. Of course, that image alone got me grinning. By the time the intense ending called up, I was liking Sunny Randall every bit as much as Kinsey Millhone (Sue Grafton's P. I.).

For this unique pilot, Parker designed a stylish, italicized prologue in third person observation of Sunny and Rosie, accomplishing an artistic, literary feel, giving a light-touch, sensitive contrast to chapter one opening into a first person narrative style with Sunny telling her own story in the classic private eye genre mode.

The included cultural icons of cooking, dress, habits, and thinking were precisely on target with the copyright date of 1999, when the Great Chefs TV episodes were running hot and heavy, with their long-handled saute pans being shook (contents were no longer stirred on TV) above gas-lit burners on commercial grade stoves, featuring Spike, Sunny's gay, tough-guy chef friend.

The plot here gave hints of EARLY AUTUMN (# 7 Spenser) and CEREMONY (# 9 Spenser) as Sunny took in a young teen, Millicent Patton, runaway, hooking daughter of her clients. Enlightening entertainment was easily obtained through Sunny's ways of dealing with and drawing out this young human lost in the sump and shrug of a lack of love.

A few quirky questions came to mind as I began reading this novel:

What might Rachel Wallace (# 6 SPENSER, Looking for Rachel Wallace) say about Spenser's (Parker's) ability to understand being female, if she were to read FAMILY HONOR. And what would she think about macho if she had read all 34 Spenser novels. Can novels help us understand that which we would have to stretch outside our bodies and into another form to get? I'd say they can, especially if penned by Parker.

Rachel Wallace may have to give the gauntlet on this one. Spenser understands.

Yet... can testosterone ever fully comprehend powerlessness...

Maybe any person who has ever been depressed, grieved loss of a loved one, or desperately wanted something he couldn't have, for whatever reason, has the capacity to comprehend the initial feeling of hopelessness which sometimes comes at those times of leached strength and slow coming answers. We each have a spirit, though, which seems to believe that morning comes daily. Parker has made a good case that sunny weather can dog the footsteps of storms.

Linda Shelnutt

Family Honor by Robert B. Parker is the first in his Sunny Randall series, and like all of Parker's books, it's sharp, witty and entertaining.

Sunny Randall is a young and pretty cop-turned-private eye who is just getting over a divorce. Her former husband, Richie Burke, comes from a Boston mob family. Although they still love each other, the cop-mob conflict got in the way (Sunny's cop father kept trying to put Richie's father in jail). Sunny is hired by a prominent Boston couple whose 15 year old daughter has run away. The father has political aspirations but when Sunny starts digging, it turns out that the daughter has many reasons to not wish to return home. Sunny finds herself in the middle of a mob war that involves the Italian Mafia trying to move in on the Irish Mob.

I don't think that anyone writes dialogue as sharp as Parker. Sunny is actually a female Spenser, and while Spenser has one sidekick (Hawk), Sunny is surrounded by a host of oddball characters. In addition to Richie, there is Spike (her gay bodybuilding friend), her therapist/friend Julie and her dog, Rosie. Sunny needs the assistant of all her friends while trying to solve this mystery and stay alive at the same time.

As a Spenser fan, I'm not sure how close Parker comes to the success of his Spenser series with Sunny Randall. However, I definitely plan to read more.

I will tell you up front that the vast majority of disaster movies have a hard time holding my interest. Most are so soaped down with romances I could care less about, that I shut them off after about fifteen minutes. This movie does not suffer from that movie killer affliction and in fact it is one of the few I actually like. Tommy Lee Jones is a great part of the reason. Cast in the lead as the FEMA Director trying to control a Volcano that has erupted in the city, it is well handled and with the normal available resources. Nothing over the top and therefore it earned my respect. Granted they probably could not have handled the real deal as well as they do here, but it didn't seem so outrageously ridiculous as most disaster movies. The action mainly involves Jones, Anne Heche, and their assistants trying to predict the path and scout areas to see if they have been hit and change the flow when necessary. I found the movie moved at a good pace without the undue buildup found in so many disaster movies. This one felt like it moved along from beginning to end. If you enjoyed this be sure to catch "Dante's Peak" and "Twister". Good quality DVD with decent replayability.

I have seen this movie more than once.Everyone in my family likes this movie.It keeps you watching.

i think this movie is seat gripping, filled with action -drama-down to earth kind of movie

Sure it is cool to see the filthy city of Los Angeles get cleaned up by some hot molten lava, but c'mon now this is too far fetched. You got these Chevys driving around on asphalt that is melting from heat but the tires don't pop...yeah right.

Tommy Lee Jones is running around like he is Carl Lewis on a bad day, yet is never out of breath...yeah right.

Some kid shows bravery and actually minds his dad, instead of telling his dad and the co-workers to take a hike while he goes joy riding in the suburban...yeah right.

Fun disaster film but you know...yeah right.

You know what I am talking about. Twister Volcano Hurricane Tsunami Earthquake you know they did like every single one now so there cannot be another. oh wait...Tornado? Yeah right.

In 1997 there were two eagerly anticipated volcano movies released. Dante's Peak was more of a blockbuster hit, but not very accurate from a geologist's standpoint. Volcano was more realistic and accurate. It was nice to see a disaster movie depicted as it would naturally happen.

Tommy Lee Jones and Anne Heche were wonderful to watch!