English Books

I'm Kenneth Scott. Indeed you are correct concerning what you have written on the perfect passive tense of the Greek verb. You also brought up MATT. 16:19 as an example. Truly, just as the Greek verb emphasizes "kind of action" (called "aspect") more than time of action, you are correct in saying that the perfect passive verb indicates a completed action with results that continue into the present. Also, the passive voice in Greek (as well as in English)indicates action done to or upon the subject of a verb, not by or from the subject.

However, in Matt. 16:19 it is the Greek participles that must be analyzed; not the main verbs (bind or loose). Therefore, since the Greek participle is more involved than the verb it must be further elaborated. The participle "participates" in the modification of another part of speech: The participle is a modifier with verbal qualities. Hence it can be a verbal adjective, substantive or adverb while maintaining an active verbal quality. This means that as an adjective it will modify a noun with an attribute that is contemporaneous, simultaneous or habitual depending upon the nature of the noun; and the scope of it's modifying extends along with the scope of the noun (ex.: "the shepherds, SEEING the star, rejoiced."). Also a particple can stand alone as a substantive (ex."THE ONES SAYING these things are the disciples."). Finally, the participle can modify the main verb (ex."But you beloved,BUILDING UP yourselves on your most holy faith, PRAYING in the HOLY Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God, AWAITING the mercy of our LORD Jesus Christ unto eternal life." JUDE 1:20- [here, "keep" is the main verb and the participles modify it adverbally by denoting the circumstances, means, manner or the "how,when" etc.. depending on context]). Here also, it's modifying extends in step with the scope of the main verb.

To determine the participle's function (adj. subst. adv.)involves three main things: 1) of course, context. 2)whether or not it is precede by a Greek article. 3) it's position in reference to the word, phrase or clause in which it modifies. POSITION: If attributive, it will conjoin with a noun that has a definite article(the), Greek doesn't have an indefinite article(a,an), and the participle may also have the article (if not, it must immediately follow the noun). If substantive, it will not immediately follow a noun with an article, although it will have the article. If adverbial, the participle must be in the predicate and it will not have the article.

Therefore, since in MATT.16:19 each participle is in the predicate position of it's respective sentences, each modifies it's respective main verb (bind or loose); thus,it is adverbial. Futhermore, since the PARTICIPLES here are in the perfect passive and there is a contrast between WHERE this binding and loosing occurs- earth in contrast to Heaven: the beginning of the participle occurance will be in the past with it's results effecting the full scope of the main verb's occurance; and since it's in the passive voice, it CANNOT be caused by the subject of the verb (Christ's disciples-apostles to whom He was speaking). for when the subject of the verb is the cause of an occurance or action then it is represented by the ACTIVE voice (not the passive). Finally, since the authority of Heaven is irrefutably sovereign over, and thus preceeds, earthly authority (ROM.13:1) and church authority (EPH.1:22-23;5:22-23) and since the participle is passive; the participle's modification of the main verbs (bind and loose) must represent the occurance of these verbs as NOT being caused by those on earth who bind and loose (the subjects of these verbs) but must be caused from Heaven beforehand with it's results influencing the binding and loosing actions (verbs) by those on earth. For this can be the only true interpretation of a participle with the passive voice and a perfect tense. So, i affirm that the translation of MATT. 16:19 in the LITV by MR. Green is accurate.

Each page has the source language word, and over each source word is the Strong's number. Below each source word is a literal English equivalent. Because the Hebrew reads from right to left, English readers can observe the syntax and flow of the original words as well as a severely literal translation into English below each original language word. This literal translation is so literal that it frequently does not make sense to the English ear and mind, but absorbing the differences and style is very informative and educational. A second literal English translation is placed in normal English left-to-right style in the far left margin of each page, written in beautiful, lean, precise, words. This left-margin translation is as arguably close as English can get to the source language and still make English sense, and reading it together with the severely literal translation below the Hebrew words gives the reader an appreciation for the interpretation that is necessary for even the most literal translations.

I am not a King James Only-ite, but I have come to appreciate the King James Bible as a highly accurate and beautiful translation written in the blood of martyrs. This interlinear uses the same manuscript family and thus has no troubling deletions.

The print quality is dark and even and the thick, opaque pages have no sheen under incandescent light.

The translation in the left margin alone is worth the price.

The publisher/translator of this version thinks he has a better solution to Mt 16:19 namely:
And I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of Heaven. And whatever you bind on earth shall occur, having been bound in Heaven. And whatever you may loose on the earth shall be, having been loosed in Heaven.

The explanation they gave:

For centuries this verse has been misunderstood as giving power to the clergy over the laity with eternal consequences. The misunderstanding is fostered by the disregard for translating the exact tense of the verbs dedemenon and lelumenon. These are perfect passive participles and should be translated "having been bound" and "having been loosed", respectively. Both the NIV and the KJV translate these words as if they were in the future tense. The consequences of this common mistranslation have been disastrous throughout Church history.

However this is a misunderstanding of the Greek perfect passive meaning the same as the english perfect passive expression -- it doesn't!!! [note: following references can be found at www.textkit.com] The Gree perfect means an action finished in the present time, or expressing a present meaning [for a past action] [Goodwin,1900]; or an action completed in the past the results of which still remain or a present existing state [Nunn 1913]; denotes a completed action the effects of which still continue in the present or marks an enduring result often translated by the present [Smyth, 1920], or a past action of which the consequences remain [Green, 1911]. Thus the correct translations, respectively, for the verbs dedemenon and lelumenon, are "remain bound" (or "still be bound" or "(still) have been bound") and "remain loosened" (or "(still) be loosened" or "still have been loosened.") Thus the correct translation is :

doso soi tas kleidas tes basileias ton ouranon,
I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of the heavens,
kai ho ean deses epi tes ges estai dedemenon en tois ouranois,
and whom if thou shouldst bind on the earth will remain bound in the heavens
kai ho ean luses epi tes ges estai lelumenon en tois ouranois.
and whom if thou shouldst loose on the earth will remain loosened in the heavens

I will give to thee, the Heavenly Kingdom's keys. And whom if thou shouldst bind on Earth, will remain bound in Heaven. And whom if thou shouldst loosen on Earth, will remain loosened in Heaven.

Compare:
Douay Rheims (Catholic):

And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.

Even the Lithuanian with its more than sufficient participles gives just about the same translation:
Lithuanian (Protestant):
Tau duosiu dangaus karalystės raktus;
to thee I will give heaven's kingdom's keys;
ką tu surisi zemėje, bus surista ir danguje,
whom thou wilt bind on earth, will be bound also in heaven,
ir ką tu atrisi zemėje, bus atrista ir danguje".
And whom thou wilt untie on earth, will be untied also in heaven

I will give to thee heaven's kingdom's keys; who thou wilt bind on earth, will be bound also in heaven, And who thou wilt untie on earth, will be untied also in heaven.

The translator needs to go to school on his Greek. The emphasis in the Greek perfect isn't on what happened in the past, it is on the current result.

I own many different bible versions: the NIV, NASB, KJV, NKJV, NWT, WEB, YLT, the LITV Interlinear, and the ISR and JPS versions, along with many more digital versions on computer. The Literal Translation of the Holy Bible by J.P. Green Sr. is without a doubt my absolute favorite. I read it online and in the margins of my gigantic LITV Interlinear. It is rendered from the Masoretic Hebrew and the Textus Receptus Greek, two of the most reliable compilations of manuscripts and also the foundations of the beloved King James Version.

Another reviewer was correct in stating that word-for-word renderings are not hard to understand. They may be a little awkward when speaking aloud, but that is a small trade off for accuracy. After all, the holy bible was given to mankind for intense study, not for poetic repetition. That said, the words have been rearranged so as to provide proper english sentence structure and flow of thought, so the awkwardness is practically nonexistent. See for yourself at www.litvonline.com

There is bad news, though. I have not received my copy from Amazon, yet. And it has been about a year since I first tried. The book is out of stock, and I let my order expire after a few months of waiting. I ordered used copies twice, both to the same end. All the book dealers are waiting on the same printer, Sovereign Grace Publishing (owned and operated by Mr Green and his family), to spit out some copies.

It appears the family has run into dire circumstances for a few years now. Green Sr. is 87 years old, and his health and that of his wife is declining. He continues to proofread the "KJ3" (new name for LITV) and his son, Green Jr., and his two granddaughters do the printing work.

Green Jr.'s wife tends to their four grandkids (16/19/19/29 months) and works full-time. Two of their grandkids are twins, Jayda and Nidra. Both twins suffer from cerebral palsy. One twin though, Nidra, also suffers arm and spine deformities, disjointed hip, and a head disease of some sort. The kids also require up to four doctor visits per week. Read the announcements at this link:

http://chrlitworld.com/KJ3Update_020204.htm

Please pray the Father for this family. They are still trying desperately to publish this most accurate version of His word. After many vendor complications, and production costs, and attempting to outsource over seas to both India and China, they found a more affordable American printer/binder. But, the upfront cost to start printing the first run is $15,000. They are waiting on pre-orders, donations, and layman's income to reach this amount before any copies can be printed.

If you are hoping to acheive a copy of this version, you will have to preorder through Sovereign Grace Publishers (www.sovgracepub.com) or Christian Literature World (www.chrlitworld.com) and then sit and wait for others to do the same. That is what I finally did, and I wish I could afford to donate some extra cash. Maybe soon, who know?

Peace and love.

I have been following this work since 1976 when I purchase the book of Job in paperback for $1. Brother Green's work through the Holy Spirit has been nothing short of magnificent. This work is the actual translated words from the Hebrew-Greek texts all in one volume. With this translation, who can dispute the true and living God's word? This work is the answer to many prayers!

_Lost in the City_ (1992) - a collection of short stories - is Edward P. Jones' first book, followed by the Pulitzer Price winning novel The Known World (2003), and All Aunt Hagar's Children (2006), a second collection of short stories. Both Lost and Aunt Hagar are about blacks in Washington, DC where Jones grew up in the neighborhoods he writes about. His stories are like mini novels with lush detail, multiple fully evolved characters and densely colloquial prose.

The stories have a common theme surrounding an old colloquial saying "Don't get lost in the city". The word "lost" means having no direction, aimless, with no intention, and the stories are about people in that sort of state of mind, simply doing time with no direction home. It also means alienation, being lost is the opposite of family and compassion, the stories involve broken and dysfunctional families, coldness. Charles Dickens wrote about London and the poor of the 19th century, but his stories were the opposite of Jones. Instead of that "coming home to family" Christmas time spirit of Dickens, Jones invokes coldness, alienation, purposelessness. I hesitate to call Jones "anthropological" because it is also very aesthetically pleasing, but like Balzac did for Paris in the early 19th century and Dickens for London, Jones invokes the spirit of a time and place that, while not full of good feelings and happy endings, does speak truthfully. The last story of the book, "Marie", ends with an old woman listening to an audio oral-history and I think Jones is telling the reader how he sees his own work, a history of a people and place.

My favorite story is in the middle of the book, "The Store", it is the most uplifting and optimistic surrounded by stories of tragedy and sadness. It is about a poor boy done good by hard work and honesty. Other stories I thought were excellent include "The Sunday Following Mother's Day" about a husband who kills his wife for no reason, and the resulting years of failed relationships with his son and daughter. It's epic scope crosses generations of multiple people, but it is also grassroots, concerning people who are invisible to society. "His Mother's House" is about a street drug dealer and his relations with his family, it helped me better understand how families (mothers, fathers, sons) and the drug culture can intermingle ."A New Man" is a heartbreaking story of a 15 year-old girl who runs away from home and is never heard from again. Overall I think the stories in _Aunt Hagar_ are better - more fully realized, longer - however these are still excellent, Jones is one of my favorite authors.

Truman Capote in his masterpiece In Cold Blood (1960) has the following quote (an actual quote from a sister to her brother who is in jail) which I think sums up Jones' stories:

"Your confinement is nothing to be proud of.. You are a human being with a free will. Which puts you above the animal level. But if you live your life without feeling and compassion for your fellowman - you are as an animal - "an eye for eye, a tooth for a tooth" & happiness & peace of mind is not attained by living thus."

Synchronicity is, more or less, a random event that seems to have more than a random meaning. Such it was when I read Edward P. Jones' short story collection Lost In The City directly after having read Sherman Alexie's Ten Little Indians. The reason was that Alexie's book showed off everything that's wrong with PC Elitist art and literature, coming from a person in an ethnic minority, while Jones' book- a 1992 National Book Award finalist, reprinted after the great success of his 2003 NBA and Pulitzer prize winning novel The Known World- showed off almost everything that minority writers can do to `fight the stereotype', as Alexie preaches, but does not practice. Both men's books deal with specific peoples in specific locals- Alexie's with Spokane Indians in Washington state, while Jones' with blacks in Washington, D.C. Jones, unlike Alexie, has quality writing in all fourteen of his stories, because his characters are fully realized, and nor caricatures nor stereotypes, and the situations that they have to deal with flow naturally out of predicaments of their proscribed lives. Are there some stereotypically `black' characters? A few, but they are minor characters, and in the background of the tales, as are most walking stereotypes you or I know. And there are seeming stereotypes- such as young hoodlums and drug dealers, that are revealed to have nuances and depths. Alexie does not undermine and nuance his characters in any way in his worst stories, while his best tale- one on the life cycle of a marriage between Indians, is his best tale precisely for the fact that its focus is on the marriage, not that it is an `Indian marriage'. Race and bigotry and pain are the reason for many Alexie tales, and they quickly devolve into screeds. Jones is a much more mature writer, and his worst tales, which are merely solid stories, are so not because of predictability, screeding, nor stereotyping, but simply because they go on too long, or the conversations do not serve the tale well. Those are minor ills, though, as this is a book that well should be praised. In comparison, especially, to the pap that's published nowadays, it's a great book....Why is it so difficult to find great writers and stories? Why does not the publishing industry find and promote more Edward P. Joneses? Well, first off, there are not that many, but, these stories may not be `moneymakers' because they do not offer pat solutions, nor are the characters caricatures, and they do not skim along the mere surfaces of things. It also takes an effort for readers to fully appreciate the multi-hued, and deeply textured tales and portraits Jones relates, and most people suffer from video game or MTV languor. Yet, is there, or has there ever been, a better virtual reality machine than a great piece of writing? A great poem puts you in a moment, and a great story can arc you through events that you can feel, almost as if experiencing them for yourself.

I loathe the cheapening of thought and conversation and striving for insight. That is why I love this book, and the relative handful of other works like it that are out there. Instead of the shot at a quick, cheap, moneymaker, publishers should seek quality, and promote it, to develop careers, rather than get one hit wonders, whose one hit was dependent upon things other than the writing quality- which is usually sorely lacking. Accept lesser profits in the short term, but greater in the long run, while also contributing to literature. It then forces an upward spiral of writing, where people can look to an Edward Jones, or William Kennedy, or Charles Johnson, and say, `I want to write like them, because they're good, and I want to contribute to my culture,', rather than this several decades long downward spiral where bad writers see a Mary Gaitskill or Yann Martell or Stephen Elliott or (fill in the Oprah-type writer) being published, and say, `I want to write like them, because it's easy, and I can write better than that crap, and I want to be famous.'

It is not enough to merely say why a writer is good, but show it, praise it, and honor it as among the best an individual can do, and the highest that human beings can achieve. On that note I will close with the terrific end of The Night Rhonda Ferguson Was Killed:

She made a pallet for her daughter beside the bed and turned out the light when she left the room. Occasionally, Cassandra would drift into what Anita thought was sleep. All the while Cassandra gritted her teeth. Sometime, way late in the night, Cassandra spoke out, and at first Anita thought she was talking in her sleep: She asked Anita to sing that song she sung in the car on the way home. Anita sang; long after her parents had gone to bed, long after she stopped wondering if Cassandra was listening, Anita sang. She sang on into the night for herself alone, her voice pushing back everything she did not yet understand.
Understand yet?

An artist whose prose and narrative arcs generate irresistible pull and evoke in readers a genuine sense of entire worlds, Edward P. Jones has written two books. The first, Lost in the City, garnered the PEN/Hemingway award. The second, The Known World, won the Pulitzer Prize. African American, a luminary of American letters, Jones affirms that which is humble and human, and does so with startling power. In the words of MLK he has a "heart full of grace, a soul generated by love."

This collection, first published in 1992, was considered Jones's first literary effort. I find this idea of firsts interesting and would like to look at it briefly before I move on to a few of the craft elements in his stories that I would most like to steal.

This collection of short stories was published a decade before Jones won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for his novel "The Known World." Some of the stories in the collection were first published in the 1980s in literary magazines like Ploughshares and Callaloo. One of the stories "Marie" also appeared in the Paris Review in 1992. The thing that I find interesting is that these publications do not seem to register with the general public or even reviewers. Instead, his books are presented as sudden, award winning events. Instead of a writing career spanning 25 years of craft and respectable publications, we are presented with the image of a of sudden event, a spectacular storm, a writer whose first novel won the Pulitzer Prize.

In any event, the first thing I did when I opened "Lost in the City" was to read the opening lines of each story. I wanted to see how and where he began his stories. I was thinking of an essay by Debra Spark called "Getting In and Getting Out." The essay appears in "Bringing the Devil to His Knees: The Craft of Fiction and the Writing Life." There is an anecdote in the essay about a friend the author who is screening stories for the Iowa Short Fiction Prize. She says, "If I have to read another story that begins `The alarm clock rang,' I'll shoot myself."

Although I have never started a story with this particular phrase, I do tend to begin a story at the beginning. So as I read through the Jones collection I paid particular attention to the places he began his stories.

In "The Girl Who Raised Pigeons," Jones begins the narrative at some undefined future moment when the crisis of the story has already forced the characters' world to change. "Her father would say years later that she had dreamed that part of it, that she had never gone through the kitchen window...." The story never travels completely forward into the world from which these first lines are described. However, the story does end with a certain inevitability--a sort of narrative arc that points forward so that we understand how the characters arrive to the point we find them in the opening of the story.

"The Girl Who Raised Pigeons" covers a lot of ground in twenty-five pages. It outlines the decay of a Black, D.C. neighborhood and shows us how that decay affects the community. On one level it is a story about a father's coming to fatherhood as well as his young daughter's coming of age. It is about the place and the power of the natural world even in the urban environment. It is about an urban Black community on the edge of change.

The narrative is carried along by the story of the young girl and her pigeons. The story is usually told through a close third person narrator; however, the point of view does shift at times from the young girl, Betsy Ann Morgan, to other characters. These shifts offer insight into the community in which Betsy and her father live. But these shifts seldom last for more than a line or two and then quickly move back to Betsy.

I paid close attention to these shifts in point of view. But before I discuss them I would like to think a bit more about where these stories begin.

Another story that begins post-crisis is "The First Day." The story opens with the line: "On an otherwise unremarkable September morning, long before I learned to be ashamed of my mother, she takes my hand and..." This is the story about a child's first day of school. The story is short, only 5 pages, but it has taken a common event, a child's first day of school, and uses it to point out the divisions between social classes in the Black community. One of the interesting things about this story is that it is told in the first person. The protagonist never reaches the crisis described in the first line within the span of the story. The narrator shows nothing but love and admiration for her mother throughout the course of the story. We are lead by that single clause, "long before I learned to be ashamed of my mother," and the trajectory of the story to understand that the protagonists shame is inevitable.

I find it fascinating that he entire story hinges on this single clause. We never see a hint of shame in the narrator aside from her opening line. If that clause were deleted we would not necessarily know that the narrator would ever come to be ashamed of her mother. But knowing this first line and following the trajectory of the story we know that the crisis and the change are inevitable.

Jones also opens his stories from the middle. The narrator then takes the story back to that middle before moving farther forward. He does this in the story "A New Man."

"A New Man" begins with the lines, "One day in late October, Woodrow L. Cunningham came home early with his bad heart and found his daughter with two boys." The narrative eventually makes its way back to explain exactly how Woodrow came to find his daughter with two boys, but it does not stop there. The narrative continues. It carries the story farther. We come to understand exactly what this event means in the life of Woodrow and how it comes to define his essential character.

Now, rather than continue with this idea of how or where Jones begins his stories, I would like to move on to two other divices Jones uses: point of view, and the idea of epiphany and change within a character.

As I mentioned earlier, Jones does not shy away from changing the narrative point of view if it serves the story. But the places where he shifts point of view seem to be dependent on a few things. He only ever shifts in a third person narrative. The point of view never shifts for more than three or four sentences. The point of view only shifts in stories that are 20 pages in length or longer. He always quickly brings the point of view back to its original place.

It is the brevity in the shift that I find most interesting. It is like one of those little flashes of insight that Woolf wrote about--matches struck unexpectedly in the dark--or the mirror in Joyce's "The Dead." The shift lets us see for a moment how the character looks within their world. For example the title story of the collection, "Lost in the City," is told by a close third person narrator. However, there are two moments in the story where the focus shifts from the protagonist, Lydia Walsh, to her taxi driver. The first shift occurs about two thirds through the story: "He thought that maybe she had been born elsewhere, that she did not know Washington, would not know the streets beyond what the white people called the federal enclave." This shift in point of view ends quickly. The narrator brings our focus back to Lydia. "But in fact, the farther north he went, the more she knew about where they were going."

At the end of "Lost in the City," the point of view again shifts for a moment. "The cab driver thought that her crying meant that maybe it had finally hit her that her mother had died and that soon his passenger would be coming to herself."

I suspect that it is the brevity of these shifts that make them work. Another aspect of these shifts is the fact that they are subtly revealing--not deeply or overtly revealing--and they are always revealing something in the protagonist. These shifts in point of view seem to stress the importance of community in these stories. They show, however briefly, that these characters do not live in isolation, that on some level they are always aware of themselves within the context of others--or perhaps it is that we should always be aware of them within the context of a greater community.

The final aspect of this collection of stories that I would like to look at relates to an issue raised in an essay by Jim Shepard titled, "I Know Myself Real Well. That's the Problem." In this essay, Shepard criticizes the tendency for novice fiction to create characters who are "whooshing along the conveyor belts" of narrative toward some kind of epiphany. Given that my stories have this tendency, I am curious how Jones creates a sense of movement and revelation without allowing his characters to fall into that whooshing conveyor belt.

One way that Jones avoids this narrative conveyor belt is by beginning the story someplace other than the beginning and ending the story in a place that points to the inevitability of change or crisis, but he does not necessarily show us that change or crisis. This can also be seen in the story, "The First Day." We do not experience the moment when the narrator becomes ashamed of her mother. We are told in the opening line that the narrator will indeed one day be ashamed of her mother. We are lift at the end of the story with the inevitability that, despite the strength and character of the mother, the child will one day become as ashamed of her as other members of the community.

Often in this collection of stories the narrator is not even aware of his or her change. The reader senses that something is in fact permanently altered, but it is difficult to say exactly what that thing is. At the close of the story "My Mother's House," we do not find the protagonist, a mother whose biological son has just murdered by her godson over a dispute involving drugs and money, in the throws of some sort of epiphany.

Her husband, who is not the father of either child, works as a bodyguard for her biological son. Her husband skulks away from the scene of the crime, leaving her in the street to comfort her dieing godson. She has always known that her husband was a weak man. At the close of this story we find the protagonist drinking a fifth of vodka and walking from room to room in the house her drug-dealing son purchased for her. She unlocks all the doors and windows, "for Santiago (her son) had no key to her house. And outside that house there was a very cruel would and she did not like to think that her child was out there without a place to come to."

The protagonist knows throughout the story that the world is indeed cruel. The cruelty is not a revelation. Nor does she necessarily seem poised to make some sort of change. In fact, she opens her house in a rough neighborhood so that her son, who has just murdered her godson and pointed a gun at her face, may come into the house for comfort.

Perhaps the real change at the end of this story takes place in the reader. After we have experienced this world, we can never view these characters or their world in the same light--we will never be able to read this story in the same way again.

In the end, there are still many more aspects of this collection that will occupy me throughout the coming months. I have marked my copy of the book with many notes. I find myself referring back to them often.

Edward P. Jones's stories about Washington D.C. are unconventional in that some don't have endings. Often they just come to a stop. You are forced to reflect back on what you just read.

Some are better than others. "The First Day" is about an illiterate mother taking her daughter to register for kindergarten. She has to pay another woman to fill out the registration papers for her. If that one doesn't get to you, you don't have a heart.


Many of the other stories are quite long, some as many as thirty pages. My favorite was "The Store," about a boy who takes a "make work" job at a neighborhood grocery and ends up managing the place. The store becomes more important than his personal life and he loses a woman he loved because of it. "Young Lions" is about a violent young man who doesn't hesitate to shoot a clerk during a hold-up. In the end, his violent lifestyle impinges on his personal life, and he starts slapping around the woman he really loves.

Washington D.C. is definitely a character in the stories. The streets are Alphabetical and the Avenues are named after states, but this the Washington of the sixties and deterioration is only just beginning to envelope the black section of town. There are stories about how involvement in drugs debases the characters and their family members. There are stories about characters who emigrated from the South. I can't think of one that didn't touch me in some way, and that doesn't usually happen in a collection of short stories.

Edward P. Jones should be a better known author than he is.

This was the first deck I ever had and I learned on this deck when I was 16. I totally agree that the back of the deck is a bit mundane and drab, but that is not where the power of the cards lay. The Morgan-Greer cards are the most intuitive and informative deck I have used. I have several other decks, but this one will always be my favorite. The R/W is nice, but this one, I feel is superior in several ways as far as detail and symbolism. Even in the reverse, M/G deck is easier to read. Get it, try it. I think you will love it as I.
Merry met.

Wow, loooove how the pictures are so vivid and deep in color, and that there are no borders!

Since getting this deck, nearly EVERY reading I have given becomes VERY detailed and usually pleasantly surprises the person being Read.

These are now one of my 'standard' decks I grab when someone wants a Reading! (And I'm a beginner!).

I've been reading Tarot and teaching Tarot for 25 years and probably own a dozen different Tarot decks. The Morgan-Greer is my all-time favorite. No matter how many other decks I try to work with, this is the one I always return to. The colors are so vibrant and the artwork so beautiful, this deck truly speaks to me. The people illustrated on these cards are handsome, extremely appealing, and reflect each aspect of life clearly. If your intuitive or psychic abilities are stimulated by visuals, this is the perfect deck for you!

This deck was the one I learned to read with. The graphics on the cards are bold and tend to jump out to your eye. I went from this deck to the Thoth deck but end up using this one regularly as I have a rapport with it. I don't think the cards look dated at all.

This is a great deck. The cards are vivd and the people are memorable in the cards. The lack of a border gives the cards expansiveness and the bright, deep, and rich colors pop out at you. The cards also give great readings.

My 2 1/2 year old toddler loves this book since she was less than a year old. The rhyming captures her attention when she was younger, and now she loves to count with us. It's catchy, and cute with wonderful illustration; fun read for mom and dad too. The board book ironically has lasted through her teething phase, so it will need to be replaced for her little sister.

My almost-three year-old can't go to sleep without having this book read to him at least twice. Not only does it teach you numbers and how to count, it shows you not to be afraid of silly monsters! The rhymes are clever and the illustrations so fun and detailed you'll find something new to point out almost every time--and it's always good for a laugh. This is one of the few books that I can stand to read to my son as often as he wants to hear it.

After reading this board book edition and then comparing the board book to the paper edition that has been much loved, I verified that the current board book edition is incomplete. Thus, I would recommend purchasing the paperback edition as the board book edition stops short and is not fulfilling in its prose. This incomplete board book printed edition is especially irritating when reading to intelligent children who have memorized the complete story and expect that the adult regurgitate it completely.

Me and my 2 1/2 year old boy just LOVED this book. He is very much into numbers and has been counting for a few months, so I got this book for him. It's one of the few books he sits for through the whole story. He especially loves the page for "four" ;).

It is also good for his older brother, who is in kindergarden and learning how to read / spell the number words.

Our toddler loved this book for months-- and I never tired of reading it. The pictures are terrific, the rhyme fun and it also helps encourage counting and number sense skills. We give it a thumbs-up!

The Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus is an invaluable authority for writers! I have just completed my first book, and I would not be as proud of the finished work were it not for the help I received from this volume.Not only does it help in selecting the "perfect" word for a particular phrase or sentence,it provides tips and other valuable information on the word so that you will remember it if you need it again,but since there are so many words to express your creative ideas as a writer,it is unlikely that you will have to use the same word repeatedly.
I love this volume!I would not think of writing anything of substance without referring to it, now that I have found it.

Super cool. Super useful. I just wish I had enough room left in my suitcase to take it back to the USA with me. I guess i'll have to buy another.

The new edition of the Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus is superior for several reasons...several of which were left out of the editorial review listed above.

1. I noticed the listing of the words have been updated. The listing of words are now printed in a slightly bolder typeface - making it easier to pick out the meaning.

2. The word headings themselves are slightly larger...again making it simpler to locate definitions on the page.

3. The page layout seems to be cleaner. When you open up any page...you'll quickly notice how much nicer the structured plan is for showing words.

There is one more caveat I'd like to mention. I believe this new version, although labeled "Second Edition", should be considered a revision to the first one and not realistically a new printing. I say this because the jacket description mentions the same number of words are incorporated, namely the listing of 300,000 synonyms. There is no mention of "new" synonyms added to this "Second" printing. Otherwise the editors of this edition would have mentioned the addition of newer synonyms added to this edition. Remember, The Synonym Finder, another good resource, has a much higher listing of synonyms than the Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus...about 1.2 million.

Overall, the Second Edition to the Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus is a much cleaner, easier version to use.

I have used a number of Thesaurus versions in the past, but have never encounterd one so complete and helpful. Since my first published book, I have been studying a number of books to improve my writing skills. Too often prose becomes boring to editors, agents and readers alike. The Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus has helped me keep my work fresh and non-repetitive. I would have paid twice the price. Every writer should own one.Tommie & Grope

This thesaurus contains a plethora of useful synonyms.However it is not a replacement for a good unabridged dictionary.Inclusion of spelling aid would upgrade it to five stars category.

Whenever we have guests over who are willing to read books to our kids (relatives and close friends!) we always put this one in the stack. It's such a fun book to read outloud, and fun to listen to others read it for the first time as they can't help but laugh as they turn through it.

We'll save it for our kids to read to their own some day.

My 6 yr old and 4 yr old boys think that this story is HILARIOUS! They love it!

Helen Lester has such a wonderful way of writing for children. The illustrations by Lyn M. Munsinger are so captivating that children want to see them again and again. So do adults!
This book teaches us all to accept ourselves for who we are. Trying to be someone we are not just doesn't work.

I don't have any kids, but this book has actually been around for a long time. I was born in 82, and this book was by far my favorite. The illustrations are great and the message is even better. It's a really witty way to tell children that labels don't matter. The illustrations also make the book even better, my personal favorite as a child being when Fluffy sticks marshmallows all over his quills to make himself more fluffy.

I bought this book because I'm going to school to become a teacher. It teaches kids that it is ok to be your self. Kids will laugh and so will parents.

Most of the comments there already says all - it's definitely a mega weapon in sales manager hands, what author gives, and book can be read and re-read again, there are lot of examples, situations analyzed - just great.
Just one thing I wanted specially note: THANK YOU, to author, who were the first (at least I saw), who explained how to react on the answer: Yeah, buddy all's great with ya offer, but your price is 2 times higher than all other vendors"
Thanks!

I have written 3 sales books and I believe Paul Cherry has written as good a book on questioning as I have ever seen. He takes asking questions to a new level and we recommend it to all of our clients. I have read it twice and I plan to read it over and over. If you believe that by asking better questions you will be more effective in selling then this book you have to read. You won't get one idea about a great question you will get 20. We believe that effective selling demands that as sales people we provoke thought when we interact with our customers or prospects and questioning is the best way to do that. Paul Cherry shows you exactly how to ask questions that engender thinking. An absolute terrific sales book.

Very affordable. Quick read. Great help in training new sales people. It's always a challenge to get my sales staff to really connect with customers and close a sale. This simple book helps them figure out what to say, or what to ask.

Finally, a sales guide that gets right to the point. I've read so many of these sales and marketing texts that lead the reader through a series of generalized statement such as "get to understand your clients needs" or "know who buys your products". These are pretty obvious statements in my mind. Of course, getting to know my customer's needs are going to help my business. It only makes sense that I will sell more if people actually need what I am selling. But how do I find out who my customers are, what is really important to them, and most importantly how do I get them to buy from me rather than from my competitors?

Questions That Sell is the answer. This book gives detailed examples of real questions to use to engage a potential client so that you can actually find out what they need, what their current problems with your competitor are, and how willing they would be to buy your product. I particularly liked the sections on how to determine whether the individual talking to you really wants you to phone back tomorrow or if he or she is just trying to let you down easy, how to determine if you are talking to someone who can actually make a buying decision, and ways to move along clients wanting to sit on the fence.

Skillful questioning is a key to high-level selling. This well known truth that caused me to buy this book hoping it would further my knowledge base.

I found it poorly organized and very very hard to read. At the end of the day it wasn't worth the money I spent.

Laughed so much reading the first Tantamoq book that I started reading parts to my family--then we all realized this author reads better out loud anyway. Ordered the whole series from Amazon, but unfortunately they seem to be sold out of the 3rd in the series (another printing? hint hint). May have to go on to the 4th skipping the 3rd.

Cute adventure/mystery featuring the watchmaker turned amateur sleuth mouse, Hermux Tantamoq. Very lively story with plenty of action, suspense, and humor. This would be a great read-aloud. Although obviously the second book in the series, it wasn't too difficult to jump right in and follow Hermux on his adventures. I didn't feel like I was missing too much by not reading the first one yet. Recommended.

This was a cool book about the watch fixing mouse, Hermux Tantamoq! It is the second in a series about him, but it's just as good as the first book(which doesn't happen very much)and I loved it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It all starts when Mirrin Stentrill, puts on an artshow in the museum. When Mirrin was blind, she saw many visions and so when she recovered from her blindness, she decides to paint pictures of what she saw when she was blind. But it turns out that the pictures she paints are cats- a word no one likes to use in the city of mice and rodents. Then along comes Birch Tentintrotter, an old chipmunk, a friend of Hermux's father. He tells a secret to Hermux; a secret no one knows about, and about a map he had found in a library years ago. Birch believes that cats really did exist. To prove that, Hermux, Birch, and their friend, Linka Perflinger, set off on a journey to the Kingdom of Cats. On their journey, Hermux and his friends uncover the evidence that cats once had mice as slaves. Now, Hermux doesn't know if he's doing the right thing to find the whole truth about them.
Michael Hoeye describes all his characters and the scene very carefully and really well. I like the way he gives a personality to a character and he sticks with it. He doesn't mix Hermux and Mirrin's personality together. It's just Hermux. And it's just Mirrin.
I really enjoyed this book because of the great journey that Hermux and his friends went on. It was so exciting and I really loved how Michael Hoeye made me want to keep reading more and more!

Hermux Tantamoq, a distinguished mouse who lives in the heavily populated city of Pinchester, is sailing through life day in and day out, in his watchmaking shop, until one day, an old, weather worn chipmunk missing an ear stops by, says his name is Birch Tentintrotter, and he would like to speak to Mr. Tantamoq seinor. Hermux's father had passed away five months ago, and no friend of his from college would look like that old wreck!
Meanwhile, Hermux's friend Mirrin Stentril's first art show is causing tremendous uproar. She's been painting CATS!!! Everyone (the hamsters, mice, ferrets, squirrels etc.) knows they're not real, right? Well Hermux, Birch and aviatrix Linka Perflinger are out to prove those art critics wrong!
Michael Hoeye combines detail, vocabulary and suspense in this stunning sequel to Time Stops For No Mouse, proving never to overlook history, even if you are afraid.

Susan Cooper is best known for her epic "Dark is Rising Sequence," with all its Celtic legends and sense of mystery. But she tries a different tack in "Seaward," an atmospheric little story that is just a little darker, more complex, and full of symbols and hints.

West's mother was killed by some armed thugs, just as he escaped through a door into a strange land. Cally watched her parents waste away with a strange illness, before slipping through a mirror to the same land. When she encounters West, he's trying to escape from the ruthless, cold-hearted Lady Taranis.

A kindly stranger named Lugan seems to be their best hope for escaping Taranis. As the two travellers cross the world that is an echo of our own, they encounter strange creatures such as the selkies, a talking insect that guides them over a desert, creatures made of stone, and the haunting specters of their own pasts and destinies...

"Seaward" seems like a pretty simple story at first -- two kids travelling across a bleak land. But in that simple storyline Cooper tackles questions about death and life, about grief, loss, love, about good and evil and how sometimes you can't easily classify anyone.

Probably the biggest stumbling block in "Seaward" is the slightly dreamy tone of it all. Unlike Cooper's other books, there is no grounded "homey" base -- it's all like a legend right from the beginning. As a result, it takes awhile for the story to really get going, and there are long stretches where the characters are just walking.

Though the setting is another world, it has hints of Celtic myth. The mysterious Lugan and Taranis aren't fully identifiable until the ending, but they seem like characters out of a legend. And mythic creatures like selkies are linked to the characters, by virtue of the thickened skin on Cally's hands.

Cally and West are very richly drawn, confused and saddled with grief over their parents. It makes it all the more poignant as West overcomes his guilt, and Cally is tempted to find a new family. The only problem is that their romantic feelings seem to come out of left field.

After the mass appeal of the "Dark is Rising" books, Susan Cooper tackles a more oblique, fantastical approach in "Seaward." Deceptively simple, and richly evocative.

The first time I read "Seaward" I was in middle school. I found it to be an easy fantasy read by the genius behind "The Dark Is Rising", but even at the age of 12 I could see that there was a deeper level to the story than I was - at the time - capable of understanding. Over the years I have re-read "Seaward" over and over, and each time am amazed at the depth and profundity of her final concepts. While it is a children's book on the surface, many adults can appreciate the moral dilemma of the Peter Pan type, and the dichotomy of sorrows and joys that come with death, life, and most importantly, love.

In the first chapter of "Seaward," we find a young man hurrying over wild moorland from possible distant, unidentified pursuers. He pauses to catch a small fish from a stream for his supper, and afterwards:

"...he took the glistening white skeleton, tipped still with head and tail-fin, and laid it across the blackened twigs pointing back the way he had come. He took out his knife and raised it high, stabbing the blade down into the ground behind the white bone-arrow's tail, and hesitantly, trying to remember, he said some words under his breath.
And the skeleton of the fish called out, in a thin high scream shrilling like a cicada, and Westerly knew that there was danger, that he must go on."

If the first chapter does not draw you irresistibly in, you have no magic in your soul. Well, OK, maybe that's too strong - but certainly every created "presence" in the book is a wonder of imagination, from the two-sided Life and Death images of the ice-cold Lady Taranis, to scary Stonecutter and his huge, ominous boulders that come heavily alive and mobile in a ray of sunlight, "...suddenly there was no boulder at all but two huge figures, standing, turning to her."

Is it a myth? a fantasy? a parable? outside the world of logic? a meditation on accepting Death? Yes to all of the above, and more. I see it is not to everyone's taste, but if you fall under its spell you will not escape.

I am not sure what it is about this book; I cannot stop reading it. Every so often, it beckons to me from the shelf. I drop everything that I am currently involved in and devour it, front to back.

Perhaps it is the simplicity and complexity of the story, the dreamlike quality of the writing, the characterizations that arise from only the barest sketch. I feel like I have known West and Cally all my life; I have been waiting for another book like this one for all my life. If I have a favorite book, this is it. But I can't articulate the reason. Seaward must be experienced for itself.

I loved this book as a child and continue to enjoy it as an adult. It is haunting and full of rich imaginative detail. It spurs many daydreams. Like all her books, it deals with the struggle between good and evil, in a very unique way.

Very good and revealing book for partents on how to keep things simple for preschool homeschool to help with reading, writing and 'rithmatic. By using this KISS method our girls are now competant readers in just 3 weeks!

Such a small book, yet packed with awesome wisdom. Very simple for first-third grade, yet very complete for basic academics. I wish I had found this book before I committed to a curriculum. It would have saved me quite a bit of money.

I refer to this book often to help me stay on track. Its contents offer straight forward advice on teaching in the early grades. You'll even find it beneficial to read this book when you have a preschooler, to get an idea of what lies ahead and what to do when your child is ready. In addition, reading this book will help the homeschooling parent in choosing curriculum, not with specific suggestions, but by general ideas offered.

The included wall chart of phonics and numbers has been helpful, but leaves something to be desired in the way it was printed in only blue and yellow ink. It's just bonus material. The book is your investment.

This book is a well written, easy to use guide. It includes a handy phonics chart, and a math chart on the reverse side. You certainly get a lot of bang for your buck. The only downside, is that you need to have some familiarity with phonetic sounds, (i.e. the actual sound) that the dipthongs, digraphs, phonograms, etc. make. Otherwise, this book is spectacular.

It seems like the most effective ways to teach children are often the most easy to overlook. This wonderful book shows parents and teachers how to utilize simple, low-cost means to give their young children a strong start in learning.

This book has been most helpful in our homeschooling adventure and was key in pulling this over-achieving, by-the-book teaching mother away from the need to keep to a rigid schedule and actually enjoy teaching and learning with my children.

Highly recommended.