K Books

I loved this book through and through. The coverage of doctrine, policy from the U.S. leadership to the "in the trenches" view from the wing/squadron/flight level was amazing. The Titan family has been a stalwart throughout the Cold War - as ICBMs, Space Launch Vehicles, boosting Gemini capsules into orbit... and its cousins boosting national reconnaissance satellites in later decades.

I liked the fact that it was written as a historical study from a non-military source. If there is bias in the book it is from the historian perspective and not the party-line offered by the U.S. military. With today's Air Force missileers screwing up left and right, its nice to read a history of their figurative grandfathers and fathers doing the job correctly to keep the Russian Bear at bay.

Recommended: Disaster at Silo 7, Star Trek: First Contact (alternative uses for a Titan II???), The Day After (don't put a Titan II silo in your backyard...)

Very informative book chock full of all the information you could ever want to know about the missile and program.

Wow another wonderful cold war missile history book.This book is so imformative it get right down to the nuts and bolts that kept this mighty missile together.If you want to learn about what Titan was and what it did to protect us then get this book now trust me it's that good.

Compiled and written by David K. Stumpf (Associate Research Scientist, University of Arizona), Titan II: A History of a Cold War Missile Program is the informed and informative story of the intercontinental ballistic missile program developed by the United States military in the 1950s and 1960s. Each missile was designed to carry a single nuclear warhead, used liquid fuel propellants, and was stored (and launched from) hardened underground silos. The missile sites were based in Arkansas, Arizona, and Kansas facilities, and then were finally deactivated in the early 1980s. Based on a wide range of sources including engineer and airmen interviews and memoirs, declassified government documents, and other public materials, and enhanced with more than 170 drawings and photographs (most of which have never been previously published), Titan II is a definitive, strongly recommended, technological history of a deterrent weapons system that for more than 20 years successfully defended America from nuclear attack.

I admire the author for his undertaking. It is like he saw an important piece of history disappearing, and he decided to write a book to put together the source materials before they disappeared. He ended up with what must be the definitive book on the Titan II ballistic missile program from concept to design to installation to operation to retirement. He is to be applauded for this effort because even he probably does not know how much time it took him.

That being said, this book is probably overly technical except for the most detail-oriented student of history. One literally learns every serial number of every missile and the names and ranks of all military personnel down to every team member on every missile crew. I found that intimidating for someone with my level of interest, which is more than the average lay person and less than the professional historian.

The level of technical details is so exceptional that it almost reads like a military briefing book. I wish there had been more about the people, the mission, the Cold War, but perhaps the author thought those matters were better left for others.

For someone wanting to know just what Titan II was all about, this may not be the book. It can be, but it will require a lot of skipping over of the very detailed sections and possibly a second reading if the first one leaves a thirst for more detail. I did not mind the intense level of detail, but I give it four stars for this reason.

Sara, teaches how to turn your life from a Stone to a Gem. She motivates you to get rid of the debris in your life by coming out of the the Rock Pile and surrounding yourself with other Gems.

She tells about how she sat back and let God control her life. Sara Freeman Smith, is truly a GEM. A must read book!!!

After reading this powerful book,I was inspired, motivated and empowered, to seek my true God given purpose. This book offers practical and simple tools to aid in finding direction in every area of one's life.

Great job!!

This book is quite an inspiration to me for I am reminded of myself and the difficulties in life that befell me at an early age. I am greatful that the Love of God is displayed in the life of ordinary people.

I was moved and touched by the candidness of the author to share things that are quite senitive and kept close to the heart. That is something I want to do, yet the time is not right. To share how elderly people loved her enough to adopt her and rear her as their own child touched me in ways that are identifiable to my own situation.

It is my opinion that any oridnary person who is struggling to make their life worth while in the mist of difficulty would do well to read this book and discover that God knows how to intervene and provide you with what you need.

I must say that this is a very inspirational writing on what one could use to turn their life around and walk into a status of brillance. The author has explained in a clear format what it takes to accomplish the task of becoming a Gem...

Thought provoking questions are asked that will cause you to search your life and see where you've turned and maybe you should have walked straight or taken a step back and meditated for 15 minutes more. She realizes what the foundation should be in becoming a stronger person and uses sound doctrine to substantiate her findings.

She addresses throughout her writing expressions of possitive thinking and guidance on what process should be implemented to reach the next level in your life. You can not miss the mark once The Six P Process is setup and you are focused on obtaining change in your life.

As a writer and inspirational speaker, I can honestly say that this book inspired and motivated me! Sarah Freeman Smith does what few writers have the courage to do....she lets us see her as a person, not as a critical expert sitting up on a throne. After only a few pages, I found myself in awe of Sarah's life story. If anyone can tell us how to turn dull lives of stone into shimmering gems, it's Sarah. I put her in the league with Iyanla Van Zandt and Jewel Diamond Taylor!

In 1805 a young boy Sam and his uncle are pressed into the British navy. Meanwhile A girl named Molly moved to America from England because her father died and her mom fell in love with an American. One day Molly goes into a bookshop and buys a book with a piece of Sam's ship called HMS Victory and signed by is granddaughter. Sam's life is described very well and is very detailed and you always know what is going on. Molly's life is very dramatic and really draws the reader in. Toward the end Sam's story gets gory and if you don't like that kind of stuff you won't like that part. This book was so good I couldn't stop reading it.
This book was the perfect mix of history and modern day mysteriousness.

Jordan.

Victory by Susan Cooper is a tale of time. When two people are join together from different times. United by one person and a cloth both people come together. Both feel the same way as each other. Sam Robbins is a boy who's family was poor. He joins his uncle but is then press into the navy. Molly Jennings a girl who

Certain authors publish with an aura of definite mystique. Lloyd Alexander, for one, can still elicit a certain thrill when his books sit on a shelf. Ditto Philip Pullman. But of all these fellows, not a one of them can hold a candle to the majesty and plum good writing of Ms. Susan Cooper. Her "The Dark Is Rising" sequence is still the go to series when it comes to Celtic myth and Arthurian legend. It was with great shock that I discovered a couple years ago that not only had she written comic pieces (as with "The Boggart") and time travel ("King of Shadows") but that she was STILL WRITING. Somehow I'd assumed "The Dark Is Rising" books were written decades ago solely for my own enjoyment and that the author had long since passed on to another world. Hardly. It is fortunate indeed that "Victory" proves how wrong I was. Not quite a time travel book, but not quite realistic fiction either, this latest Cooper saga follows two children, inexplicably tied to one another. And while it's not the author's finest work, there's no denying the fine fabulous writing that has gone into it.

Molly's world has fallen totally and irreparably apart. A logical girl, she understands why she and her family have moved from London, England to Connecticut. She knows that her new stepfather and stepbrother are fine fellows and that her house and room are bigger and more beautiful than anything she's ever had before. She knows this. However, Molly is so homesick for England that she'll hold on to anything that might tie her to it as if it were a lifeline. When a book of the life of Lord Nelson falls into her possession, Molly starts finding herself connected to the life of a boy who lived hundreds of years before her own. Sam Robbins was, during the time of the Napoleonic wars, pressed into serving on Horatio Nelson's ship. Once he is on The Victory, Sam finds himself both horrified and awed by his experience as one of the crew's powder monkeys. Told in alternating chapters, the book charts Molly's journey back to her former home to visit The Victory today, and Sam's journey over the seas on the boat he would soon regard as his own.

Because the book is shifting continually between the present and the past, Cooper sometimes writes herself into an interesting predicament. On the one hand you have Molly, who's misery is palpable. Cleverly, Cooper allows the reader to feel the child's homesickness and sheer unhappiness just as if it were their own. We are utterly sympathetic. At the same time, though, Cooper has coupled this tale alongside Sam's story. There is a moment in the book where Sam has just been forced to wear an iron bar in his mouth for three days as punishment for something he mistakenly did. He cannot eat or drink or sleep and the bar cuts painfully into his skin, drawing blood. The chapter ends after the bolt is removed and suddenly we're back with Molly who's problems, let's face it, shrivel up and dry in the face of Sam's agony. As I read the book I wondered if Cooper was aware that the reader might not sympathize with Molly as keenly once they'd been introduced to Sam's torturous situation. I needn't have feared. I suspect that Cooper knew exactly what she was doing when she paired Sam's tale with that of Molly's because at that moment the reader starts to feel that the Molly dilemma can only be solved if she herself understands how small her problems really are. The climax comes when Molly does realize this in an almost violent but necessary fashion.

A co-worker of mine started reading the book, but stopped when she found it dull. I was fascinated by this reaction, especially since I've been wondering how kids would react to this story. Would they be bored? Thrilled? I think Molly's contemporary tale is definitely necessary. I suppose the first image of the funeral march for Lord Nelson might be a bit slow as beginnings go, but once Molly is thrown head over heels into the ocean as her step-brother and step-father sail, the tale definitely picks up. Of course, it's filled to brimming with ship terms. And there's quite a lot of discussion of how the ship is laid out. Interestingly enough I kept suddenly envisioning the layout of the ships found in "The Pirates of the Caribbean" movies. I suspect that if you wanted to make a reader reluctant to pick up this story, just explain to them that there are ship fights similar to those in the "Pirates" movies. I can't guarantee that that would work, but it's certainly worth a shot.

But you know, it's just all about the writing, isn't it? The little moments that separate the good books from the so-so ones. Cooper has a couple of those up her sleeve. One of the story's more touching details is the fact that Molly adores her new little baby step-brother, Donald. At one point the family is on the Tube in London and Donald is alarmed by the loud noises. Molly plays peek-a-boo with him to cheer him up. "All the surrounding grownups watch, with nostalgia soft in their faces, except one thin man in a tight dark suit, who retreats behind a newspaper with a disdainful sniff". I could never tell you why, but that's one of my favorite moments in the book. Cooper's writing never lightens the story's tough situations, by the way. Sam is pressed into service with the Navy against his will and the ship situation is gritty, gory, and thoroughly unpleasant. Just the same, you get a hint of why Sam felt that it should become his life's work, no matter what.

Boy, I sure hope that a huge swath of kids today are Anglophiles. Between "Endymion Spring" trying to convince them that Oxford is a hip youth hang-out and Ms. Cooper giving us a hearty heaping of Lord Nelson facts, the time has never been better to be enamored of all things English. With it's almost too tasteful cover and whopping great amounts of historical fiction ah-flowing through its gills, "Victory" is probably not going to be the first book the kids pick up when they walk into a library or bookstore. For those with a penchant for both history and realism, however, they may well find much to love here. Enjoyable indeed.

Suffering from severe homesickness for her former civilized life in London, eleven-year-old Molly Jennings is deeply unhappy. She has been transplanted to Connecticut into a new life and family by her mother's marriage. Forced into a sail with her stepfather and stepbrother, Molly is accidently knocked into the sea. Her terror, before she is pulled to safety, is so profound that it seems to set into play strange, psychic connections with a young British sailor from the past, Sam Robbins. Having been kidnapped into service in the Royal Navy, Sam ends up serving loyally on the HMS Victory with Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar.

The seemingly unrelated stories of present-day Molly and early nineteenth-century Sam are told in alternating episodes. The connection between the two is masterfully. gradually revealed. The excitng past infringes on Molly's present until it culminates in a frightning denoument aboard HMS
Victory, now a marine museum. The ending, which ties up the complex threads of the story with astute perceptions of history, is totally satisfying. Another victory for its author.

Sam Robbins is an 11-year-old ship's boy, forced from his home in England when he and his uncle are pressed into service in His Majesty's Navy in 1803. Sara Jennings is an 11-year-old girl, forced from her home in England when her mother remarries and moves the family to Connecticut in 2006.

Years and miles apart, the two youngsters share a bond, woven into the cloth of a tiny fragment from the flag that once flew over HMS Victory, the flagship of Admiral Lord Nelson at Trafalgar. The two children's lives couldn't be more different, yet author Susan Cooper weaves them together with the expert touch of a seasoned writer, best known for her landmark "The Dark is Rising" series. Cooper's research is impeccable; although Sara is an entirely fictional creation and Sam was nothing more than a name on a ship's register, Cooper has turned them into real, three-dimensional characters who feel, and consequently make readers feel, too.

Cooper's work is always readable and entertaining. Seasoning her story heavily with history from the exciting days of Nelson's Navy, there's enough detail about life aboard a naval flagship to make readers feel the wood beneath their feet, hear the wind in the rigging and knock their bread against the table, for fear of weevils. The juxtapositioning of Sam's and Sara's narratives -- Sam's in first-person past, Sara's in third-person present -- is completely natural, flowing easily across centuries as their stories unfold.

Written for young-adult readers, adults will find themselves equally captivated by this delightful novel.

by Tom Knapp, Rambles.NET editor

I purchased my copy of this book in the late seventies and it is the reference work that I have used most often since that time. Nearly all the areas of basic mathematics are covered and I used it when I was teaching mathematics full time in the eighties. I also found it invaluable when I was solving problems that appeared in math journals and now use it extensively in my role as co-editor of Journal of Recreational Mathematics.
This book, or a subsequent edition when this copy wears out, will always be within arms length on my reference shelf when I am doing mathematics.

I purchased this book new in 1980. It is one of the best math reference books I have seen and that I own. It's coverage is quite broad and rigorous and it treats each subject with care and often works from first principles and introduces the applications and often the historical context. I used it extensively during college and keep it here at work for reference when I need to get up to speed in a certain area of mathematics.

I was a double major in physics and mathematics as an undergraduate and kept this nearby at all times. Of course some texts provide more detail in specific areas, but this is definitely one of the best, if not the best reference review mathematics book available. Very few books or sets of books have the breadth or scope of this book and the technical depth and rigorousness without becoming pedantic or obtuse.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in mathematics or would like a good mathematics reference book that covers most topics that might be of interest. The only issue is that the book was written in 1977 and so does not cover some topics that have been expanded on and become popular since that time. Fractals, computational proofs of theorems, etc.

This is the math book I wish I had in high school or middle school, but I didn't get it until college and it wasn't out in print until late in my high school years anyway.

This is THE book that I use with my home schooled children for MATHEMATICS. It is well written and has clear and comprehensive coverage. Start at page one and go through the text in order. Highly recommended, and I hope that we will see it back in print soon.

If you can get your grubby hands on this book, DO IT.

This book is AMAZING. I really fell in love with it when I checked it out of my middle school library. It was dusty, and no one had checked it out for...TWENTY-FIVE YEARS. I checked it out...and ended up checking it out for the year. Sadly, they did not let me buy it from them. But, to my luck, I found one when I was on ... vacation! Though, it is in poor condition.

This book has so much information. It is very compact and dense. It uses about...hmm...three colors, and black. Each color means something different. For example, each thing in a blue background means it is a sample problem or example. The colors make it absolutely fantastic, and readable.

This has a pretty good overview of A LOT of mathematics up to about 1980. That is, there is no fractal geometry and stuff. And take the word 'overview' lightly...it can get pretty in-depth.

I wish they made these kind of books today, where content and quality is more important than eye-candy and superficial explanation.

Get this book if you can.

I have two editions of this text, both bought back in the 1980s, and it is one of the most amazing books I have ever owned. Over the years, time and again this book has delivered when I needed some quick facts and a refresher on material I may have learned elsewhere. The best part of it is that it is full of illustrations, important when one is trying to obtain intuition on a subject. Not much is missed here, at least as of the date of publishing. Facts that might require pages and pages to uncover in a more comprehensive title on a subject, e.g., differential calculus, are all packed within a few pages in this title, making it a good reference.

I was suprised to see this title is out of print. Hopefully it makes a comeback. So much information never took up so little shelf space as this book. For those who love mathematics, this is a must buy in my opinion.

If you have not read Ross Thomas before I envy you because you are in for a great treat and have a lot of books to chose from. Like many Ross Thomas books the plot is inventive but also incidental to the humor and flash of the characters. I recommend reading A Chinaman's Chance, and Out on the Rim before reading this book. They earlier books featuring Artie Wu and his partner Durant. It is not necessary to read them in order of publication, but it helps a little, and to be truthful I enjoyed the earlier books more.
St. Martins Press is to be congratulated for reprinting many of his books. He had gone out of print for awhile, but the more I read his books the more I wonder why. He is a great stylist with a edge of dark humor. Ross Thomas should be on anyone's reading list who wants to consider himelf or herself familiar with recent American mystery/thriller writers. He is one of the best.

I got the audio tape for my husband's Christmas in 2006. He really liked it, and I'm glad because he died in January'07.He enjoyed audio books because he was blind.

Ross Thomas could do just about anything he set his mind to, and fortunately for us, the readers, he set his mind to writing fast-paced, funny, complicated thrillers that are as much fun to read the second time around as they are the first.

By the way, VOODOO LTD is the third in the Artie Wu, Quincy Durant series, not the second. The first is CHINAMAN'S CHANCE. All three book, like Mr. Thomas's other books, are terrific.

Ross Thomas, the author of a long series of mystery/thrillers, reunites the shady team of Artie Wu and Quincy Durant in "Voodoo Ltd." Also returning from "Out on the Rim" are Georgia Blue, cashiered Secret Service agent, Booth Stallings, terrorism expert (and sometime Georgia Blue paramour) and the timeless Otherguy Overby. This novel sets up the team a bit differently from Out on the Rim, in which they straight-forwardly set out to "liberate" US$5 million of other people's money. In Voodoo, they are commissioned by a rich German who runs a rather sophisticated version of an employment agency, to track down two missing brother/sister hypnotists and figure out who really shot the billionaire boyfriend/fiancee of a Hollywood actress. As with most Thomas novels, the characters and their interplay are what carries this story. Each is a distinct personality playing the game by their own rules as they see fit, and sometimes it's difficult to figure out which side each is on. This is another fine Ross Thomas effort - I only wish he had lived long enough to write a 3rd Wu/Durant novel (as he was able to with Padillo and McCorkle).

The book's title, Voodoo, Ltd., derives from a mispronounciation of Wudu, Ltd., a London based detective agency run by two Americans, Artie Wu and Quincy Durant.
Early in the course of this smartly written dark comedy, a wealthy German businessman with the improbable name of Enno Glimm hires Wu and Durant to locate a pair of British hypnotists who have suddenly gone missing in Southern California. Glimm suspects that the hypnotists are about to blackmail Ione Gamble, a Hollywood actress-director, who has been charged with murdering her ex-fiance. Which is to say that Voodoo, Ltd. is the granddaddy of all shaggy dog stories. And what an entertaining one it is!
Before descending onto the Los Angeles scene, Wu and Durant hire three former colleagues to assist them. They are; Booth Stallings a 65 year old counterterrorism expert, Georgia Blue, a statuesque former Secret Service agent who has spent the last five years in a Manila prison, and Maurice Otherguy Overby, an adventurer with dubious ethical standards. Together, these five very colorful and supremely resourceful characters use every trick in the book to solve the mystery while at the same time making sure that one or more of them doesn't double cross the others.
This is a deliciously witty, irreverent novel. Believable? Not for a minute. It's not meant to be.
It is meant to be a hilariously funny, over the top, comedic novel. And by that standard, it is an overwhelming success. Read Voodoo, Ltd., you'll love it.

I have been a Druid for twenty-three years and I have recommended this book to my adult children and others who are interested in the Druid path. It is a thought provoking read - but it is not a book for reading in one sitting. I found myself going back, re-reading, and contemplating the intent of what was written. I enjoyed it a lot, and recommend it highly. It should be on every Druids book shelf. It represents the metaphysic principles of the Druid path that I have not found anywhere else. It defines and explains the essence of what a Druid should be in the here and now based off of historical evidence of the Celtic culture and the Druids. It briefly explains the past of the Celtic culture without becoming a boring thesis. This naturally sets up why Druids were Druids and how they interacted with the tribe.

It suggests doctrinal and theological principles that Druids likely taught in relation and perception to the Celtic way of life and perspective. Many of which we would do well to emulate and thus the title - it is very appropriately title for the contents of this book.

It does not have any rituals, but these are available from several other sources. It simply reflects what a Druid should be, steeped in Celtic lore of one living in our harried world of today. Good read - get it.

In addition to being the best book on Druidry that I've seen in the last few years, this author includes extensive information on Celtic history. Highly recommended reading for anyone interested in either of these two subjects.

This book is perfect for the established Druid or those who are just curious. It offers a lot of important background information that other books I have read leave out. After reading this book, I feel a renewal in my Celtic and Druid beliefs.

Seemingly effortless in it's portrayal of a complex subject, I agree with the other reviewers who consider this the best book on Druidry available. I only wish I had found it 15 years ago! Easy to understand, accurate, encompassing a wide variety of topics, practical, well organized & engrossing. Kudos to Graeme Talboys!

Graeme Talboys is to be congratulated on the writing of such an effortlessly readable yet intellectually satisfying account of the history, nature and practice of the modern Druidic tradition. This book is written for Druids and non-Druids alike and both will learn from it. The book begins with a succinct but useful history of the Celts and then proceeds through philosophy, cosmology, ritual and practice. One of the most difficult aspects in writing a book of this type is getting the structure right - taking the reader through the various aspects of Druidy in such a way that they receive the right information in the right quantity and in the right order; this is the book's strength. The writing at times seems to suggest a preference for solitary practice over the institutional. His section on modern organisations could have offered the reader more information on contemporary orders. It was interesting to note that the Bibliography contains no books by either Philip Carr Gomm or Emma Restall Orr, both leading figures in major contemporary Druid communities. The Way of The Druid is an excellent addition to contemporary writing on modern Druidry and I recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about its beliefs rituals and practice.

Matt Bourdoul joined a wagon train because the beautiful Jacquine Coyle and her family would be traveling on it. He knows there is something wrong because they are going to the gold country. Matt feels the danger and he must find out the plans of this wagon train before it is too late. Louis L'Amour is very descriptive of the setting and his characters. He paints a vivid story of danger, intrigue, and adventure. This is one of his best books. By Ruth Thompson author of "Natchez Above The River" and "The Bluegrass Dream

Writing as a Small BusinessQualifying Laps: A Brewster County NovelSins of the Fathers: A Brewster County NovelTravelersNatchez Above The River: A Family's Survival In The Civil WarThe Bluegrass Dream: A Wilderness Adventure of Early Settlers

L'Amour does it again. Not only a captivating, well-written story but he shares a bit of history from the physical location of the story. Much overlooked, L'Amour is a tremendous writer who can create character, plot and drama in an efficient and exciting way.

When a group of Outlaws devise a scheme to rob a wagon train of white settlers for over $300,000, it seems that nobody will be able to stop them. With the cunning Sim Boyne as their secret leader, their plan seems foolproof. But they never counted on a young, honest gunman named Matt Bardoul joining their wagon train. Bardoul is skeptical from the beginning, but his interest in a girl takes him into the action. All this takes place in the time of the Sioux troubles of America and some of this history is given along the way. It is a good book, but you'll have to read it to see if the Indians take the blame or not this time.

I rated the book,Westward the Tide by Louie L'amour to get four stars.In the beginning, they used a great way of describing characters and built foreshadowing at first opportunity. I also enjoyed how they explained some important events durinmg that period, and the relationships between white men and Indians.When there were fights, they described what happened very clearly, and drew an almost perfect picture in my head. Halfway through the story, an Indian comes to a man, and explains the Indian's entire point of view of white men, and told what they are doing to the land. I thought this was very clever of L'amour, and it was helpful for anyone reading it to further undertstand that time period. The battles made the book exciting, but some parts of it lacked interest and were too boring.

Just one look at the beautiful and spirited Jacquine Coyle and Matt Bardoul knew that she was the woman for him. So when he finds out that she and her father and brother are planning to go on a wagon train, he decides to go along too. When he first learns about the wagon train heading for the rich pasture of the Big Horns and the gold which would be plentiful there, he finds nothing wrong. But soon he starts getting an uneasy feeling that something is definitely wrong. The wagon train would be made up of strong and innocent men and their families but they would be lead by a pack of the worst murderers, thieves, and gunslingers. Though Bardoul gets and urgently whispered message telling him not to go, he is still determined to go on the train because of Jacquine and the land at Big Horns. Bardoul doesn't realize that he is getting involved in a very deadly plot where the bad guys would stop at nothing to make sure everything goes according to their plans. Will Bardoul be able to figure out their plans before it's too late?

I just love Louis L'Amour's westerns and "Westward the Tide" has got to be one of his bests ever! With plenty of intrigue, suspense, action, and romance, for any L'Amour fan this is a must read. One of the best things I like about this book are the characters which are portrayed. Characters like Matt Bardoul, Jacquine Coyle, Brian Coyle, Clive Massey, Buffalo Murphy, Logan Deane, Ban Hardy, Portugee Philips, and more, L'Amour wonderfully displays the different types of people who made up the American frontier.

Other L'Amour books I highly recommend are: All of the Sackett books, including my most favorites, "Jubal Sackett" and "Galloway, "North to the Rails", "Broken Gun", "Crossfire Trail", and "Comstock Lode".

Simply THE BEST. Every book by Lee K. Abbott reads like a chapter in a BIG AMERICAN NOVEL. I mean: each one of his short-stories is more nutritive than most novels published these days. I already wrote a review as a READER FROM BARCELONA, SPAIN but forget to put my e-mail there in case Mr. Abbott wants to send me the promised out-of-print-book (if you're there, Lee, knock three times). In a world where everybody seems to fall for minimalists, Mr. Abbott is a maximalist with a vengeance. Lucky us.

Simply THE BEST. Every book by Lee K. Abbott reads like a chapter in a BIG AMERICAN NOVEL. I mean: each one of his short-stories is more nutritive than most novels published these days. I already wrote a review as a READER FROM BARCELONA, SPAIN. In a world where everybody seems to fall for minimalists, Mr. Abbott is a maximalist with a vengeance. Lucky us.

Hi - I'm the illustrator that did the cover. Had to read the whole manuscript first - Lee's a sweetly demented fellow, his tales of full of sadness, regret and wicked observation.

Had to get a drunk a couple of times just to start work on the cover art.

Lee - you never said whether you liked the cover or not?

Lee K. Abbott is the King of Kings and the true heir to John Cheever's crown as the ruler of the short story as Big Art. I once phoned him while doing a stage at the University of Iowa International Writers Workshop and he promised to send me "The Heart Never Fits its Wanting" (his only title I didn't have); he never did but it's okay: still looking for it and proud to be his only fan born in Argentina.

Some of these stories are not in Abbott's newest collection, one of which is the humorous and unforgettable "A Creature Out of Palestine." The first two pages introduce us to the world Abbott has created, characters speaking with his strength and natural humor, the landscape and characters as unique as Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County, but in the desert of the American southwest. When I first read Abbott, I thought, "Wonderful. Who IS this guy?" Answer: an original, and per William Giraldi in "The Georgia Review", "Abbott fuses a poet's purpose with a fiction writer's, the lyrical with the narrative...[but it would be] impossible to sustain that level of stylistic fervor, those orgasms of language for more than twenty or twenty-five pages." The limitation of length in the short story challenges a writer to create a world peopled with three dimensional characters in conflict, and yet to make the story whole, with synergy. Abbott is the master, doing so with beauty, pathos, and most especially, humor.

Savannah Dawson worked in an advertising agency and had a rebellious fifteen, going-on-thirty, year old daughter named Emma. Savannah also told fortunes. It was a gift she had always possessed. So was her optimistic outlook on life. If an awful card turned up on a customer, like the card that predicts a loss, then Savannah would smile and tell the customer that she would probably only the ten extra pounds she had been exercising to get rid of in the first place. But when the cards showed Savannah bad news, she just knew it really was bad news. Her father was dying. So off she went to Arizona to be with him and a mother who hated her!

Emma saw the auras of people, but did not believe in magic and such like her mother did. She thought her mother was a dreamer and needed to wake up to reality. Emma could see her grandfather's dark aura, knew he did not have long, and therefore did not want to get to know him. She did not want to care for someone who was about to die, no matter how lovable he was. He was too much like Savannah.

Doug Dawson knew he was dying. He was in a hurry to finish his perfect garden before it happened though. He hired Jake Grey to build the perfect bench for it. Jake was thought of (by many) as a crazy man with even crazier dogs. Even Jake believed it! But one thing drove him even crazier, the thought of Savannah.

*** There is SO much that I am not telling. I got lost, not only in the lives of Savannah and Jake, but also in the lives of Emma and Eli, and Doug and Maggie. Then all of them must interchange to help each other pull through and learn hard lessons.

Author, Christy Yorke, had me shaking my head at Savannah's outlook on life, then at Emma's acting out for attention. I then found myself hopeful for Savannah, pulling for Jake, and weeping at the most tender of scenes. I cannot tell you what a marvel I believe this author to be! Highly recommended reading!

CHRISTY YORKE'S BOOKS TAKE YOU ON A JOURNEY, SO REAL AND MAGICAL. HER CHARACTERS COME ALIVE AND YOU FEEL INVITED INTO THE REALM OF HER STORY. I HATE WHEN A BOOK OF HERS ENDS, AS IN WISHING GARDEN, THE STORY IS REAL OF LIFE, HOPE, AND WONDERMENT. IT GIVES US THE ABILITY TO BELEIVE IN MAGIC AND THE REALM OF LIFE WE CAN FEEL AND NOT HAVE TO BE ACCOUNTABLE FOR LOGIC. IT HAS BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE AN AUTHOR ACTUALLY CAPTURED ME, WITH HER CAPTIVATING AND GREAT CHARACTERS ALL SO REAL, I FELT I KNEW THEM. I AM A FAN OF HERS FOREVER NOW! A MUST READ AND BE SWEPT AWAY WITH HER MAGICAL, LYRICAL WRITING AS I HAVE BEEN. HOPE THIS WRITER, KEEPS WRITING FOR YEARS AND YEARS!!

Savannah Dawson worked in an advertising agency and had a rebellious fifteen, going-on-thirty, year old daughter named Emma. Savannah also told fortunes. It was a gift she had always possessed. So was her optimistic outlook on life. If an awful card turned up on a customer, like the card that predicts a loss, then Savannah would smile and tell the customer that she would probably only the ten extra pounds she had been exercising to get rid of in the first place. But when the cards showed Savannah bad news, she just knew it really was bad news. Her father was dying. So off she went to Arizona to be with him and a mother who hated her!

Emma saw the auras of people, but did not believe in magic and such like her mother did. She thought her mother was a dreamer and needed to wake up to reality. Emma could see her grandfather's dark aura, knew he did not have long, and therefore did not want to get to know him. She did not want to care for someone who was about to die, no matter how lovable he was. He was too much like Savannah.

Doug Dawson knew he was dying. He was in a hurry to finish his perfect garden before it happened though. He hired Jake Grey to build the perfect bench for it. Jake was thought of (by many) as a crazy man with even crazier dogs. Even Jake believed it! But one thing drove him even crazier, the thought of Savannah.

*** There is SO much that I am not telling. I got lost, not only in the lives of Savannah and Jake, but also in the lives of Emma and Eli, and Doug and Maggie. Then all of them must interchange to help each other pull through and learn hard lessons.

Author, Christy Yorke, had me shaking my head at Savannah's outlook on life, then at Emma's acting out for attention. I then found myself hopeful for Savannah, pulling for Jake, and weeping at the most tender of scenes. I cannot tell you what a marvel I believe this author to be! Highly recommended reading!

The Wishing Garden by Christy York is one of the most immediately emotionally engaging novels that I have ever read. It is filled with a large cast of well written characters and while it revolves around the life of Savannah Dawson it also introduces us to a host of unforgettable characters who after reading this book I have come to care for.

Savannah Dawson, a divorced mother of a fifteen-year-old girl, ad agent, and part time tarot card reader is called home to say goodbye to her dying father. She is also one of the most unrelentingly cheerful people ever created. This causes problems between her and her reality based angry mother, her angst-ridden daughter and was partially the cause of her divorce.

This is a quick moving character driven novel that is a perfect summer beach read.

I stumbled upon Ms. Yorke's first book, "Magic Spells", in the library and picked it up merely because a blurb on the cover compared her writing to Alice Hoffman's. Well, Ms. Yorke has got Hoffman beat by a country mile! Her writing is fresh, passionate, sensitive and poignant. I enjoyed every page of this story, which is ultimately about mothers and daughters, and read it again when I got to the end, that's how good the story was. I'm looking forward to her next book with great anticipation.

I used this book with teens for a Bible study breakfast a few years back and have not found anything this GOOD!! wish there was another like it!

This was my first teen devotional, and I was impressed by the uniqueness of this book! This book really helped me a lot in my everyday life. I sensed God talk to me in the pages of this book. I belive it will help out a lot of teens, as it helped me. It features real day-to-day experiences that teens like me can relate. Once I started reading a page a day, I never stopped having my quiet time with the Lord!

What a blessing this book has been to me and my family. We have been using it for about a year in our devotions before we begin the day of homeschooling. A relative of mine who attends college, was looking for a devotional book for her Bible study group so we sent her one as well. I hope "the word has gotten out" on what a great book it is.

This is a great devotional for older youth. My kids were a bit young for some of the stories in there (like premarital sex, etc). When I realized it was too old for my 7 & 9 year olds, I gave it to my 12-year-old nephew.

I teach 8th grade English in a Christian Academy. Every morning I start off by reading a devotional from this book. I have no discipline problems, and I believe it to be because I start off each day with a devotional. I spent a lot of time searching for a book that I could use, and this one was by far the best.