K Books

From the beginning of the conclusion to the series I was excited and looking forward to what the pages would hold. Kale and her husband are going on a quest to help their friend, Regidor and his wife. They find the lost colony of Meech dragons. Regidor wants to find the colony because his wife is about to have an egg, and they want to leave the egg among their own kind.
When they find the colony. they must also deal with misleading teachings about ho to follow Wulder. Athere are also mysterious swarms of black dragons that seem desire to hurt Kale.

Wow!!! I have been looking forward to reading this book for a year, bought it a little more than a week ago, and just finished reading it today. I guess I will give you a brief look into it. Kale and Bardon are a happy couple living in their new castle, taking care of what needs to be taken care of. Bardon comes home from visiting some friends to relieve him of the stake's pains. He says that they are going on an adventure to help Regidor and Gilda find the meech colony before Gilda presents her egg. They start the adventure, and spend at least a month traveling North, getting attacked by tiny black dragons that sting and burn, stay at a village that has an earth quake and destroys the homes, and have to rescue Holt, the young marione who was in DragonKnight, from a prison in a village called Paladise, whose people there pretend to be followers of Paladin, but really lead people away from him, steal, and keep them from the joys of life, including children, entertainment, colorful clothes, and many other things. Join Kale, Bardon, Regidor, Gilda, Toopka, and the dragons as they go on another fantastic adventure that change the lives of the people in Amara!

This was a great ending to a great series! Very exciting, encouraging and captivating. I highly recommend the series.

This is the fifth book in the series Dragon Keeper Chronicles. I have not read the first four, and I was concerned about feeling lost. However, Dragon Light stands well alone.
The tiny dragons fascinated and enchanted me. There are subtle Christian overtones to the plot. Donita K. Paul's is an extremely talented author. She has created a world from her imagination and successfully managed to draw readers into her world.
I intend to read the whole series in order. Fans of fantasy will enjoy DragonLight. This book will interest both youth and adults alike.

This is the last book in the DragonKeeper series. The series started out with Kale finding out that she had the ability to find dragon eggs, and bond with the dragons once they hatched. She also found that she had the talent to be a wizard. The first four books chronicled her adventures as she learned to trust in Wulder(God), and all the various life lessons you learn when on fantastic quests. This series, unlike many others, actually has Kale grow up age wise. In the first book she is barely a teenager. In this one, she is in her twenties.

The basic storyline is of Kale and her husband of a few years, going on a quest to help their friend, Regidor and his wife, find the lost colony of Meech dragons. Regidor wants to find the colony because his wife is about to have an egg, and they want to leave the egg among their own kind.

Of course in addition to finding the colony, they have to figure out what is going on with a group of people claiming to teach a better way to follow Wulder. And then there is the mysterious swarms of black dragons that seem to have an mean desire to hurt Kale. Plus, Kale's ward Toopka, is acting strange.

So, there is lots of adventure to make the story enjoyable.

The DragonKeeper series does not seem to attempt to be a perfect allegory. Wulder is obviously God, but Paladin, the character most like Jesus, seems more like an Old Testament Judge. I think I'll have to reread the other books to see for sure.

Another thing that makes this series different is that Paul's writing doesn't focus on the action as much as the interaction. It most stories I have read, the focus is on how the characters beat the bad guy. In this story, the focus is on how the characters act while they beat the bad guy. As a result, it becomes very obvious that it is Wulder that has orchestrated the entire adventure. Just like God orchestrates our lives, even in times of trouble.

DragonLight is an excellent end to the series. It brings Kale's story to an good stopping point, and leaves room for new stories. I recommend DragonLight to anyone who has read the rest of the series. I also recommend the entire series to anyone who likes fantastic adventures. Young kids will enjoy them read out loud, older kids will enjoy reading them, and adults can enjoy reading them as well as long as they relax and be childlike for a while.

So, go out and pick up a copy, and then sit down and enjoy a good read.

Zooms with excitement from the first page to the last!!! I even bought a second copy, that's what friends are for :)

This book is so packed with action, and the characters are so engaging, you won't be able to put it down! The dialogue is truly laugh-out-loud funny. I loved it!

I had the pleasure of meeting E.K. in person at a booksigning. Her energy is amazing and I treasure my autographed copy. Keep up the good work, E.K., and keep these books coming. I can't wait to see what happens with Skye and Alex next. Count me among your biggest fans!

FROM LEESBURG FLORIDA: BIG FIVE STAR RATING FOR THIS BOOK!!!Just received my autographed copy of E.K. Barber's "Flight Into Danger" and I am recommending it to all my friends. It's chuck full of action and suspense. I can't wait to get to the end...and get her other books...YES the author is a woman of great talent!! She owns her own business, writes books, and is a professor at Edgewood College in Madison Wisconsin, to mention just a few of her talents. BUY THIS BOOK! The character of Skye Madison truly is E.K. Barber's alter ego: everything that the author is and some of what she is not and what Barber imagines and probably wishes to be is strung into the development of Skye Madison and the story of "Fight Into Danger". While Skye Madison may have some of E.K. Barber's heart and mind and soul, the character is totally imaginary, just as E.K. Barber is a pen name. Writing beyond themselves is something that only a few authors can do this well. I will leave it to others to research the real name of E.K. Barber. Let me just say that people who know the real E.K. Barber are delighted that she has taken a change in her multi-facited career to pen this book. WAY TO GO!

I couldn't put it down until it was finished! Flight Into Danger left me wanting there to be more pages in the book! I found the characters and the plot to be interesting and intelligent. In my opinion, E.K. Barber has written a truly enjoyable first book. I look forward to reading her upcoming books in this new series. I can't wait to find out more about these wonderful, sexy characters! I will continue to recommend this book to all of my friends.

If you've ever thought there wasn't enough adventure in a romance novel and not enough romance in an adventure novel then you should enjoy Flight into Danger. The main character is brainy , beautiful and accomplished, but still human, and finds a match worthy of her in Alex. The plot has enough twists to maintain interest, but not so convoluted, as with some spy novels, that it's tiring to keep track of and the ending has enough surprise to be fun but still within the realm of possibility. This novel is the perfect read to have on one's bedside table, to look forward to adding a new chapter each night, or to tuck into a beach bag for a pleasant escape from reality.

Very well written, thought out. He covers alot of area and does it very well. Everyone should be open minded and read this book slowly.

'The Gospel According to Moses: What my Jewish Friends Taught me About Jesus' is a unique and thoughtful auto-biographical journal of Athol Dickson's ongoing studies at a Reform Jewish temple's Chever Torah (Torah Group). The beauty of Dickson's study and reflection is not that he always reaches the most correct conclusion, sometimes I don't think that he does, but that his underlying attitude about recognizing and defining questions is exemplary. The author's attitude here is suggestive of that of Origen, the great early Christian thinker and student of the Torah (what Christians call the Pentateuch or 'Books of Moses') and the Tenach (what Christians call the Old Testament). More to be feared than a question without an easy answer is indifference to the question, or a smug delusion that all answers are well in hand. Dickson says, "God may answer my questions with silence because the answer is silence. In other words, sometimes my questions themselves are answer enough. . . When the Lord offers no clear answer to my questions, it may mean I will learn greater truths by continuing to ask the questions. Sometimes questions may have many possible answers, so God declines to point to a 'correct' one. The most common examples of this phenomenon are bound up in the many paradoxes of the Scriptures. . ."

Bumbling humans that we are, Christians and Jews too often misunderstand and misrepresent each other's views. Dickson tries to avoid the oversimplifications involved in these superficial dismissals, but without surrendering his essential Christian understanding. Many commentators on the Torah are cited; on the Christian side these include the New Testament writers, Augustine, and Kierkegaard, for example. But most of the expositors cited are the Talmudic rabbis (who, of course, were Pharisees, that group of Torah students whom Christians are typically anxious to simplistically vilify wholesale). Dickson says- "As has happened so often in my time with Chever Torah, the floor of my study is littered with fallen stereotypes." (p135)
". . . again it seems that Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity are far closer than I once thought. Christianity says if I love Jesus I will obey his teaching. Judaism says if I wish to follow I will be led along the road. In both cases, faith by the grace of God leads to obedience to God. . . I am free to choose the road I wish to follow and then I am led along it, either downward by my foolish pride or upward by the grace of God." (p142)

I read this book at the same time I was reading Philip Yancey's "The Jesus I Never Knew." Both books are excellent and both speak to some of the weaknesses of the other. The one aspect of Dickson's study that I thought came up short was his arguments regarding the Trinity. It's a challenging subject and I have seen others approach it as Dickson has, citing Torah references to the God who is One with occasional language of plurality, but, of itself, it is a difficult argument. I believe our best understanding of the Trinity must include the insights of Augustine and Anselm. Any weaknesses aside, Dickson has written an excellent book about how one's attitudes, including cognition of one's own ignorance, are of central importance, whether attempting to resolve the mysteries and paradoxes of the Torah or the mysteries and paradoxes of the luminous Jewish rabbi, Jesus.

This was a great read. Highly recommended.

The book reads smoothly, uses comfortable language, and flows in a logical way. Dickson employs several mini-stories throughout the book to introduce and illustrate the subject matter of that chapter.

Dickson touches an area of Christianity which is desperately needed. We embrace so much of our faith without having any knowledge of its roots or foundation in Judaism. Christianity and Judaism are not synonymous. They have significant differences, and Dickson does not ignore these differences, or try to homogenize the two faiths. But they ARE similar, and Dickson does a great job of showing just how so many of the themes in Christianity overlap with those of Judaism, even if that doesn't appear to be the case at first glance. Most of Dickson's focus is not on the minutiae differences of Christianity and Judaism, but is on the larger elements of our faiths, including the differences in how we approach our faith, and how we answer the hard-to-answer questions.

Allow me to share my favorite aspect of the book. Dickson discusses, in detail, the difference in the way Christians and Jews deal with difficult questions about our faith. I grew up in the church, Dickson is correct in characterizing the way most Christians answer those questions: we often try to make them seem less difficult than they really are, and look to some pre-fabricated answer found in our "ways to answer those questions" manual. Many questions are off-limits as quasi-heretical, meaning that we often never quite satisfactorily examine the things in our faith we struggle with. By Contrast, according to Dickson, no question is off-limits for Jews, and they embrace difficulties and questions concerning their faith. I believe more Christians should react like the latter. We should be willing to ask questions--the answers in our manual may be correct, but we should be willing to go and see.

One of the things that make this book so good is its ability to make you think-it encourages you to examine what you believe. You will find yourself pondering the things you read throughout the day. I cannot agree with everything that Dickson asserts in the book, and there are some areas in which I felt he could have elaborated and discussed more thoroughly. But the book DID make me think, and it did have an effect on what I think about a couple of issues. If you read this book, and consider the things discussed in it, there is a fair chance that your view on an issue or two will be tweaked in some way too.

The book is great. The book is easy to read, and enjoyable. While I still don't necessarily agree with everything Dickson says, those things are rather minute and mostly insignificant. People interested in the subject matter should definitely read the book. I am confident that you'll enjoy the book, and that you'll be glad you bought it.

This was neat. But in saying that, it was by no means at all, a light read. Athol Dickson made you think. A great writer of fiction, he writes great stories, with a message. But when he wrote, "The Gospel According to Moses," he is to be taken very seriously. Upon joining a Chever Torah group, his faith was challenged. And his faith was ultimately strengthened. He wasn't afraid to address difficult questions.

When I read this, Dickson wasn't afraid to to discuss what a Christian believes, opposed to what a Jew might think. And he wasn't afraid to apply Torah and Bible scripture. He takes examples in The Bible like Moses and Abraham, and events in their lives. He begins by stating, "Life's most important moments are often disguised as the commonplace." In this case, in the situation that Athol Dickson knowingly put himself into, that is most certainly true. Did he expect to be challenged? Possibly. He wasn't afraid to expose the differences. Or was he? Where does Jesus fit in this? You'll know soon enough.

So, if you want a few of the topics that Dickson addresses in a nut shell, I'll give a few. In the opening chapter, Dickson talks about dealing with doubts. He'll talk about why God lets us suffer. He'll discuss finding connections between obedience and grace. And in the final chapter, he'll ask a real tough one: Are Jews going to Hell? He discusses a lot of other stuff as well. The topics are 13 chapters total. I would dare to say, give this a try. If you have tough questions, then maybe this has the answer. Will it give you satisfying results? Only you can answer that.

Is this possibly a "Jesus Freak Among the Jews" account? Quite possibly, and a little more. It was awesome.

Based on insights gained from his experience as a Christian guest in a Reform Judaism Bible study, Dickson offers his thoughts about God, scripture, and interfaith misunderstandings--such as the relationship of faith to obedience, grace to works. 'The Gospel According to Moses,' one of the most refreshing books I've read in a while, has caused me to study the Jewishness of the Christian faith, which in turn has brought new depths of understanding of and awe for God and the Bible--and more questions to contemplate and explore.

This book was a revelation! I was curious, but had no idea, what really goes on in the intriguing world of the funeral industry. Ms. Mosca presents an unflinching look at the kinds of challenges and issues that those in this profession are confronted with. What's more, she also shows some fascinating glimpses of her life apart from her work. These facets include a stint with Playboy, acting roles in community theater, and writing assignments for popular funeral trade magazines. I am excited to see that these journalistic adventures have led Ms. Mosca to the writing of a new book, this time, about one of the most famous cemetaries in the country. I look foward to the book's publication later this summer. If it's as compelling as her first book, it is sure to be another hit. Can't wait to read it!

Grave Undertakings was a pleasant surprise to read! The author, Alexandra Mosca, comes across as so genuine, sensitive and caring, that it made me look at funeral directors in a whole different light. Before reading this book, I will admit, I did not have a high opinion of the funeral industry. But, Mosca conveys through her writing how difficult the job can be emotionally and what a special sort of person it takes to do this work. Perhaps, because of her own difficult childhood, the author has a particular empathy for people who are grieving and in pain.
I purchased this book because I recalled seeing Mosca on talk shows over the years, especially when she was a Playboy model (there is a chapter about this), wondering what she had to say about her funeral career. Frankly, I wasn't expecting to be this engrossed by what turned out to be a most sensitive and tasteful memoir. The book takes us through her beginnings as a naieve young woman starting out in a rather hostile environment, trying to learn her trade and do right by her clientele. Despite coming across some rather unpleasant colleagues, (what a bunch of losers) she is determined to succeed.. Along the way, she has many unusual experiences such as attending John Gotti's funeral (another reason I bought the book), as well as poignant ones like working on the charred bodies in the Flight 587 plane crash in NY, shortly after 9/11.
Mosca has guts She is not afraid to take chances and try her hand at different careers, while always remaining dedicated to her role as a funeral director. She has a good sense of humor and is not above poking fun at herself. She sounds like a lot of fun to hang out with.
I hope we hear more from her in another book. Maybe even a televison show with Mosca as the main character. She's a lot more interesting as a real funeral director than any "Six Feet Under" fictional character.
And, Amazon, I hope you will soon be restocking this book!

This book gives great insight into the funeral business. Alexandra has a terrific style and flair for writing. I am awaiting her next work.

From life as a wistful adopted child to her days gracing the pages of national magazines with her Italian-Greek beauty, Alexandra Mosca certainly has a story to tell. And tell it she does! She overcame alot of unhappy days to become a funeral director, model and actress. Her book is filled with stories about the struggles of a young woman trying to make it in a man's business. It is absorbing, funny, sad and poignant. Her sensitivity to the needs of the people and families she serves is evident from the stories that make up this great book. The photos of her as a child are touching and her later good looks radiates through them. This volume some eye opening details of the business as well. The author comes accross as a caring and sensitive funeral director. This book is certainly a must read for anyone interested in the funeral business or contemplating a career in that industry. The publisher should bring out a new edition and make it available as a current book. It is worth it and certainly has the potential to sell. Hopefully, we will see more books by Ms. Mosca!

This was a superb book! I bought this book while still a student of mortuary science, and I have re-read it dozens of times since. I turn to this book for comfort and inspiration when I find myself struggling in the business. I am also a young female funeral director and Alexandra's book is a true-to-life account of what we face. Any young woman hoping to break into the funeral industry must read this book!!!

The Grieving Garden is not only for those who have suffered the loss of a child, but also for the family and friends of grieving parents. The many contributors present their search for meaning, feelings and experiences during their grieving, and their quests to come to terms with, and live with their losses. Being long-time friends with one of the book's contributing families, my wife and I felt and saw their pain, but also felt our efforts of support and comfort fell short of what was needed. The Grieving Garden is an excellent and insightful book which deals with all aspects of the grieving process and it would have been very helpful to us if it had been available at that time.

This is a compilation of thoughtful questions asked by the two authors of 22 people who have lost their children (ranging in age from babies to middle age). No matter the age of the child, it is still devastating to have the child die before the parents. We all view tragedy through different perspectives. This book helps those who are directly involved, but it also helps their friends, relatives or even casual acquaintances who do not know how to respond to grief. We all fear saying the wrong thing, so we say nothing or simply avoid having to talk with the parents. Hearing the 22 parents' responses to the different questions helps us to be able to help others.

So many grief books ask parents to go to a place of acceptance and gratitude - long before they are ready. At least that was (and is!) true for me. This book tells it like it, this path of agony, is: challenging, painful, relentless, and far longer than anyone thinks. I especially appreciated the perspective of older parents, of which I am one, and parents who have one or no other children, without the possibility or choice to have another. The wisdom, the honesty, the application to my life....it took my breath away.

Nancy Levin, Ph.D.

The death of one's child - a crushing event no matter their age. "The Grieving Garden: Living with the Death of a Child" is a compilation of twenty two parents sharing their stories of tragic events, ranging from car accidents to suicide - and the process that they all must go through. Discovering the tragic event, seeking support from others, and finding hope after it all, all are discussed in "The Grieving Garden: Living with the Death of a Child", making it highly recommended for any parent seeking similar support for themselves.

My 18 year old son died suddenly 10 months ago. I have read many, many grief books since my world shattered. I found this book very helpful. Hearing from 22 other parents and how they dealt with their horrific loss somehow helped me deal with mine.

This book is GREAT! It was all I expected and better. I laughed out loud alot, and the pictures, although in black and white, are hysterical! A great touch is the pictures of Conan and Andy's reactions. This book is a great buy!

What are you waiting for? Go buy it!

Conan O'Brien is one of the funniest men alieve and this book proves that!This book evolved from a sketch on the show(one of the best, other than Pimpbot 5000). He and the Late Night Writers are amazing,they come up with so many diffrent sketches that its not even funny. If you have ever wondered what celebrities babies looked like this book is a must have.
HAIL CONAN!

heart,
ivy the barbarian

If They Mated is one of my favorite skits on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, so I just had to buy this book. I am glad I did, it is one of the funniest books I've ever read. Even if you never saw the show before, or this skit, I highly recommend getting this book, I guaranty you'll laugh! I would have rated it a 5 but the pictures in the book are grayscale, color would have been much better, but it is still a great book.

The book is funny with hilarious pictures and commentaary. In my opinion Conan O'Brien is the best show between the hours of 12:30 AM and 1:30 AM on nbc.

Ive always loved Conans humor. He is the king of couch humor. A classic comedian. In this book he showcases my favorite, and I think everyone elses too, jokes that he does. IF THEY MATED. Very funny book. Purchase this now.

This book is such a great read. I read it before and rarely do I read the same book more then once. This got me emotionally invested now as it did the first time around. I am reading book two of the series and I highly recomend these books.

This series is a fast page turner .you should read the first which is

In My Fathers House
A Thousand Shall fall
Say Tt To This Mountain
Shiloh Autumn.
The stories are so clear, you become a part of the story.You will fall in love and dislike some, just as the ones you are reading about. Thoene is a wonderful writer.It is history at its best.I learned more than I have ever known of how bad it was in the pass.Because of the wall street crash and the very hard times that followed.Each book should be read in turn .They are outstanding for young and old.It is a very good knowledge of our pass, that a lot of kids today have no idea.Boys will love the Shiloh Autumn. It is packed with fun .I laughted so hard I was crying. Great Books!

I read numerous books by numerous authors, and Theone is by far the best I have ever read. I have read her Zion Chronicles and Galway Chronicles and Shiloh Autumn. But the Shiloh Legacy is definantly the best one. Theone defines hisorical fiction and makes it real to life. She is a master in descriptive writting. Her characters come alive and you find yourself becoming a part of them and their joys and struggles. After reading one of her novels I learn and understand so much more the events and places in history that she is writting about. I haven't read the second book in this series but I know that it will be just as good as the first book or even better.

In My Father's House got me started on Thoene books. Then I read the whole series of Shiloh Legacy. After thatI read Shiloh Autumn (which I think is the best book I ever read.) I have kept going on Thoene books and never regretted buying one of their books. Anything the authors write is a cut above. No wonder they dominate all the awards for Christian writing.

The Shiloh series is the best of the Thoene's work, but all of it is excellent. What really stood out to me, reading this book, was the experience of the black soldier. He served many more hours on the front lines, fighting in the most dangerous positions. He was honored while overseas for his service. Then he went home, proudly wearing the uniform in which he served his country, and was condemned for being uppity. Who did he think he was?

These black men were beaten, accused of crimes they didn't commit, and lynched.

As a white woman, I could never live that experience. But I lived it vicariously along with Jefferson Canfield.

The characters are real, with strengths and flaws, just as the people we meet every day. They experience good things, but they also experience horrible, awful things too. That's life.

It isn't light reading, but it IS riviting. And it is educational, because you experience things along with the people in the books, things that really happened at the time. I loved the love story between Birch and Trudy and the biding friendship that developed between Jeff and Birch.

This ties in with the Zion books, too, because Max Meyer and Ellis Warne were the fathers of two of the main characters in the Zion Chronicles, I believe, David Meyer and Ellie Warne.

They are worth reading. The only drawback is that once you've read the first, you HAVE to read them all, and they are LONG books!

Everything runs smoothly in the Carraclough household when Lassie, their wonderful Collie, is around. But when desperate times takes desperate measures... it minuses Lassie out of the family. While everything is going hay-wire in the Carraclough home, the Collie is on a thousand-mile trek to get back with her family again. Lassie will come across many unbearable situations and obstacles, but the calling to get home overrides anything she may run into.

I loved everything about this book! The dedication of the homebound dog, to the quaint villages of England and Scotland, and all the characters within... I savored every word! It is one of my all time favorite books, and I'd recommend it to any dog or book lover!

Other than the language being like in ancient times, "Thy, thee" this book was excellent and a good savory book. It is not a fast read though.

Why has it taken me so long to read this excellent book! It is not just a "children's" book. One of the best books I have read in a long time!

Still an interesting, emotion-provoking and relevant read for the 21st century's jaded youth. It's about the most basic kind of friendship and loyalty, where an animal exhibits more of both than do the humans. Some of the Depression-era references and rigid class distinctions probably aren't as relevant today, but the core of the book, the love of and for an animal, remains. Highly recommended.

This is a wonderful reproduction of the original World War II edition of the classic Eric Knight story. I find it appalling that many Americans do not know that the original Lassie of the story was British because I read the original "Lassie Come Home" short story (published in the December 1938 issue of the Saturday Evening Post) in school. This original story is a well-written, haunting tale of a poor Yorkshire family forced by economic times to sell their son's beloved collie (a tricolor dog, not a sable as portrayed in the movies and on TV) and of the dog's long torturous journey home during which she meets kind people--a couple who nurse her after she swims the river Tweed, a kindly peddler--and cruel--callous dogcatchers, bullying boys--as well as farmers protecting their livestock. A classic in every sense of the word.

I'm a big fan of motivational literature. However, this book is a little tepid. It might be because the material is pretty old and the writing style and anecdotes reflect the era in which it was written.

It does have some classic principles and it's not a very long book so it's not a total waster of money. I would look for it at a flea market, though. In fact, I bought it used through an Amazon store and it came to me all yellowed and very old looking. It might not even be available new anymore. I'm not sure.

Excellent book, easy read, full of life lessons and wisdom. Great book to share with others.

This book is one of the most powerful, yet easy to read books on the market and it's principles are timeless! It's truly a "SIB KIS" work of art. I have had the pleasure of hearing the author speak and most recently a 90 minute private tour of his business where he personally directed me to classics by Oswald Chambers, Spurgeon and could quote passages and find their location from memory. This visit was unannounced and Charlie had just returned from a chemo treatment! Charlie is living proof of his claims and if any one doubts the connection he makes with our creator to these principles needs to spend just five minutes with him to understand their validity. Charlie is "suffering" with terminal prostate cancer. Yet to see him, be hugged by him and hear the energy in his soul would put most young people to shame. Charlie has no fear of his future and actually is looking forward to this next phase of his "journey". I have read many books that "tell" people how to live. Charlie actually lives his philosophy and tells them to stop trying to be perfect and enjoy the one who is! If you read this book years ago and found it helpful, read it again as odds are you situation in life has changed, but fortunately these principles have not. Even better purchase several books and share them with your friends, family and business associates, it's a great way to pass on the powerful message that can benefit anyone who dares to take them to heart.

I have heard Charlie Jones speak many times. His program designed to turn his kids into readers worked in my family too. This little book is a real gem. It can be a lifesaver on days when there seems no place to turn to for encouragement. His persaonal responsibility attitude is much needed today. Rather than looking for the most fulfilling job or purpose in life it is far more useful to be responsible and turn our lives into positive and purposful examples for others. Life truly can be tremendous if one has the right perspective. Charlie can help you there!

This is a great book that is simple, to the point, and something that you can pick up for a quick read almost every day. Highly recommend.

Master "helper" Travis keeps coming up with frightened damsels. And thankfully, Meyer is frequently there to offer advice and consent.

Before reading The Long Lavender Look, I would have argued that Bright Orange for the Shroud was the best Travis McGee book. After careful consideration, I have to admit that The Long Lavender Look steals the crown, even though they both remain extremely entertaining. Since MacDonald sets a high standard for hard-boiled detection, this should tell you that I liked this book very much indeed.

McGee swerves to avoid a nearly naked girl running across the road, and ends up in a swamp of more than one kind. In order to clear his name, he has to find his way to the center of a secret at the heart of a small town Florida police department.

Smart. Fair. Entertaining. Easy to find at used book stores for a small bit of change. What's not to like?

While I still find "Flash of Green" to be my favorite John D. MacDonald book, there's something so appealing about the Travis McGee series that it keeps me coming back to them. And "The Long Lavender Look" is just another addition to the spectrum of colors that his novels get their titles from. Also "The Long Lavender Look" has such a gripping opening sequence of events, and such an array of fascinating characters, that you cannot put this mystery down.

And while I know that MacDonald enjoyed popularity in his time, it seems that his popularity is running out of gas. I hope I am wrong because he is horribly overlooked.

Travis McGee and his friend Meyer are driving home on an abandoned road when a nude young woman races in front of their car. McGee and Meyer end up going off the road and rolling the car, but that's just the beginning of their troubles. Before long, they're shot at by someone in a beat-up pickup truck. As a final welcome to the area, they're arrested for murder and accused of being involved in a robbery some years earlier. Needless to say, McGee digs in and tries to get to the bottom of things.

Travis is loved by a legion of fans and he's at his best here. The supporting cast is interesting as we meet characters like Betsy Kapp, a waitress turned part-time call girl. King Sturnevan is a former boxing contender who is now a sheriff's deputy and befriends Travis. And Lilo Perris is a psycho who mixes freakish strength, extreme sadism, and raw sexuality to keep McGee on his toes. These few and more form a rich stew for Travis to work with as he tries to unravel the mystery of robbery and murder.

The mystery is interesting, and certainly had me guessing for a good while. My only complaint is that it dragged on for a bit too long. There is a climactic scene 50 pages before the book ends where MacDonald could have easily wrapped up the story. Instead, he went for another twist and the actual ending felt a bit anti-climactic and stretched out. It's not like it completely ruined the book, but it does keep it from being as tight as it might have been.

The Long Lavender Look is a solid entry in the Travis McGee series. Long time fans will probably appreciate that the story is a bit of a change of pace from the norm since it doesn't involve McGee performing one of his standard "salvage" operations for a reward. It's not a bad choice for first time readers either. While I did think the ending was a bit sub par, the book is certainly an entertaining read overall.

John D. MacDonald's mysteries are as tasty as the hamburgers of the same name! I love all the Magee books!