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English Books sorted by Average customer review: high to low .

English
The Beginner's Bible: Timeless Children's Stories
Published in Hardcover by Zonderkidz (2005-02-01)
Author:
List price: $16.99
New price: $9.14
Used price: $7.94
Collectible price: $16.99

Average review score:

Just Wonderful - Really 5 stars
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-11-20
This is a wonderful Bible for small children or new readers to introduce them to the Bible stories. The language is age-appropriate and the illustrations are great - not scary like some children's Bibles. This has been the 'textbook' for my Sunday School class (ages infant-2yrs) for 6 years and I make sure that all of my sweet little students have one to read at home also. It is comprehensive enough to cover most all of the lessons that we cover each year. This book is broken up into Bible 'stories' which are just the right length for a Bible lesson or bed-time story. I have seen many children's Bibles and this is my favorite. (I tried to go back and rate this 5 stars, but couldn't change it)

love it
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-11-10
I love this book and so do my children 7 and 3. We have also taken it to church and used it in our sunday school class. Very well done.

Brand New and Great
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-10-28
The kids in my Sunday School class love the book and its vibrant photos. I was a relief to know that the book was great condition and appeals to all ages.

strong variety from both the Old and New Testaments
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-10-18
Not only does this children's Bible include stories often skipped over in other publications of the type, it is also compellingly illustrated with well-written and longer stories. My (almost) 3 year old loves it and will listen fully captivated for substantial blocks of time (we've read the entire Old Testament section in one sitting on a few occasions!). We have several children's Bibles, but this is, by far, her favorite! My 1 year old, however, does not stay engaged with the longer story format and seems to prefer the very basic board-book Bibles. So if you have very young children, this Bible is still a must-have, but consider it one to "grow into."

simple stories, easy for little ones to comprehend
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-10-14
I bought this to enhance my daughters Lutheran Kindergarden education since this is the same bible they use in class.
The stories are very simple and easy for the little ones to wrap ther minds around.
The illustrations are very colorful.
My daughter actually enjoys these bible stories!

English
Fate is the Hunter
Published in Paperback by Simon & Schuster (1986-07-02)
Author: Ernest K. Gann
List price: $15.00
New price: $7.50
Used price: $3.80

Average review score:

Fate Above All.
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-05-24
Flight possesses a seductive mystique and "Fate is the Hunter" is one of the few books that has ever really truly captured flight's essence.

It is not only pilots that look skyward at the sound of an aircraft or slow down a little as they drive past an airfield. Similarly, Gann captures what is almost intangible and presents it to the reader with an immaculate style that will engross all who read it.

Gann carefully blends the worlds of the philosophical and aeronautical. In this mix, the reader looks out from the cockpit to at times see better within themselves.

A true classic.

Owen Zupp. Author: "Down to Earth"

www.owenzupp.com
DOWN TO EARTH: A Fighter Pilot's Experiences of Surviving Dunkirk, The Battle of Britain, Dieppe and D-Day



Excellent Read
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-29
This is the memoir of one of the first 300 airline pilots in America. It tells the story of the development of the airline industry and the Air Transport Command during World War II. It is well-written with wit and pathos. I enjoyed the read.

One of the Classics of aviation writing
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-12-10
One will see why this was and remains one of the best works of fiction in any genre, but especially aviation. A great book that every pilot has in the bookcase. I also highly recommend, Flying North South East and West,
a non-fiction book that I think is destined to become an aviation classic.
Flying North South East and West: Arctic to the Sahara,

Bored By Fate
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 9 total.
Review Date: 2008-05-30
This book reads about as exiting as the monotone drone of a window box fan on a hot sweaty summer night. Gann's style seems didactic to say the least. Muddling through the first chapter I fell asleep and woke up just in time to learn of a near miss in the plane Gann was flying. However in all fairness, most books are written like this, full of details and tangents before coming to the point. Who can get through Moby Dick or Les Miserables without wondering where the authors are going? One should only read books like these if he has a bad case of insomia.

If one is looking for the plot to the movie: Fate Is The Hunter, forget it. This book has almost nothing in common with the excellent screenplay written by Harold Maud except for the title and some flashbacks. Of course it is always a disappointment when the movies don't follow the books, which are usually better than the movies; this case being one of the exceptions.

The paperback book is not an abridged version of the hardcover. So don't try searching for a used copy as I did. It's just a waste of time and money. Quite frankly, I'm sorry I bought the book.

Read through in few sittings - -
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2008-02-17
This is one of those books that has a sneak ending - best appreciated by reading through at a steady rate (which only makes sense once the climax of the book is revealed). The stories, anecdotes and tales seem almost trite and mundane - but build to the showdown, for me a life lesson. Flying is revealed for the joy it is, for its wonder, the thrill of a good landing when one has fought the good fight aloft in peril of ending badly. Gann wrote the thing with a purpose - and it wasn't to entertain you. He is like a grandfather with good advice, and he hits you with a zinger to make the point. You will be grateful, either gender, any station, rich or poor.

English
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Published in School & Library Binding by Topeka Bindery (1999-10)
Author: Dr. Seuss
List price: $24.55
New price: $19.15
Used price: $16.95
Collectible price: $44.95

Average review score:

A Holiday Classic
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-11-11
This was one of my favorite holiday stories when I was a child. Now I share that classic with my children, and I hope someday they will pass that along to theirs.

It's a wonderful, funny, and heartwarming story.

An ageless classic, a lifetime favorite!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-10-16
My mother read it to her kids, I read it mine, and I've even shared it with those who'd never heard of it. What? Never heard of it? Shame...but that was resolved.

No Christmas should go by without revisiting one of the finest classic Christmas tales of the ages. And it's so convicingly Seuss, you just have love it. How could we not love all the Whos down in Whoville! While my kids are beyond reading this story now in the off-season, they still like to have their dad pull it out and read the story while assuming the appropriate voices for the characters.
Quite simply, every household that celebrates Christmas should have this story as part of the holiday traditions...whether the kids are 2 or 20 or 40.

"His heart grew two sizes that day"
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-10-11
Can you imagine growing up without the Grinch? In my country we collectively had never heard of this funny little fellow until the advent of the film. Fortunately I was introduced to him the Christmas of 1990 (still way past childhood, of course) and have enjoyed the story every year since. My children were so taken with the story that at one point we read it daily, no matter the hot summer sun beaming through the windows and there being no Christmas tree in sight.The easy, typically Zeuss-ian rhyme meant that we could recite it off by heart, without the need to actually read. Since, we have widened our library of Zeuss-material to include many other favourites.
There are plenty of reviews detailing what happens in the tale, for me it is important to share the sentiment that accompanies it, especially with the advent of Christmas. The sentiment of Christmas being about sharing, about having peple around you who matter, about enjoying togetherness and being happy.
Final note: I wonder if anyone has explored thematic and plot- similarities between Zeuss' story and Dickens' classic 'A Christmas Carol'. To what extent was Zeuss influenced by Dickens?

Classic
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-09-25
A classic story that everyone who even slightly appreciates Christmas. Dr. Seuss tells a convincing story of the true meaning of Christmas and gives us a surprisingly complex character at the same time, someone who discovers he hates Christmas for all the right reasons. The illustrations are Sessian-wonderland, and the lyrical read is an artistic blast.

A Holiday Classic
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2008-11-20
The holiday season would be incomplete without the annual reading of this delightful tale that introduces the little ones and many of the big ones too, to the residents of Whoville. A timeless tale where one will meet Little Cindy Lou Who, Max the Dog, and the Grinch, whose heart is two sizes too small. In the end, the Grinch is not the only one that discovers the true meaning of the holiday. Another Dr. Seuss classic.

English
The 2000 Percent Solution: Free Your Organization from "Stalled" Thinking to Achieve Exponential Success
Published in Hardcover by AMACOM (1999-02-09)
Authors: Donald Mitchell, Carol Coles, and Robert Metz
List price: $24.95
New price: $4.66
Used price: $0.24
Collectible price: $36.44

Average review score:

Measurement Meets the Stall
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-12-01
To 'stall' is human, to measure divine, is the key message from this book that highlights the tendency of us humans to resist change and thus accept less than perfection from our selves or our organizations. By naming `stalled' performance drivers - tradition holds you back, disbelief of new possibilities based on past experience stops you, misconception of actual facts, perceived unattractiveness of other options, poor communications, bureaucracy or just plain procrastination stalls things - the authors supply motivational materials so the reader will consider their eight-step process for 'stall-busting'.

1. Understand the importance of measuring performance
2. Choose an important process to measure
3. Find best practice for that process
4. Move beyond best practice
5. Imagine the world if perfection of the practice were possible
6. Act on this perfection now
7. Match people and rewards to induce perfection
8. Repeat steps 1 thru 7

As the authors say, most everyone talks about continuous improvement, but talk is not action. If it gets measured, it gets done, the saying goes. For the authors, if it gets measured, it gets improved. I should measure the time taken to read books and write reviews; well, maybe tomorrow.

Dennis DeWilde, author of
"The Performance Connection"

Free yourself and your organization from the stalls!
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-07-20
The 2000 Percent Solution is not merely a strategic business thinking book but something more. It is a book that can lead you to find your personal stalls and eliminate them so that free from them, it will be easier to discover and eliminate the organizational stalls. These steps are essential in the effort to apply the author's suggestions for obtaining the 2000 percent solution and finally achieve exponential business success. The book is very comprehensive, it contains sixteen chapters. In the 1-8 chapters the authors explain the various kinds of personal and organizational stalls and propose an effective busting method, while in the rest chapters, there are various techniques for achieving the 2000 percent solution. It a great book!

Out Getting out of the stall into the gate and the race is on!
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-03-17
How fast? Lots of tools to retread wheels of enterprise to increase productivity are in The 2000% Solution. This is not a one read book, but a series of valuable clear disciplines to habituate. Thank God for humor- the spoon full of sugar.

Don Mitchell makes a point, illustration from a wide range of business vignettes threaded with the funny sides of life. The flow of information is linear to me, one point connecting to the next. Some business reads are jumpy and harder for me to follow. I became self employed in 1973, (not knowing the term!) by 1979 hired my first employee. When recognizing I was in `business' I joined the local Chamber of Commerce and began reading business books. Some helped me sleep, not this one!

The 2000% Solution is the first book that has given me a quantum leap thinking process, to think in big significant moves forward. Dr. Mitchell gives simple methods to `do' these processes. One action I took was to chart my actions by the hour for several days to review what I am doing and what actions move me forward. This uncomfortable process is powerful.

Most traditional reads are usually from one person's view of one business or industry. The 2000% Solution malleable big leap `thinking process' alone is worth the read. The value of real stories of real people in real company activities- well - that makes it real to me.

The best thing reading this is FUN- the humor! Some are deliberate jokes and cartoons strengthening points made- then there are the funny real stories happening in business. Many times I laughed out loud. Humor is the no-calorie whipped cream on this delight!

The 2000% solution
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2006-01-12
I found this book a great help and have read it several times. It defines in simple terms how to unstall your life and business. It sets out a plan to find and eliminate various types of obstacles or stalls that impede the success in your business or personal life. The book has helped me reorient and remove the obstacles that are a hindress to the exponential growth that is possible within any business. I recommend this book to anyone looking for a way to get out of a rut and start moving forward and upward again

My 2000 Percent Solution - A Whole New Life
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2006-01-12
I first read "The 2000 Percent Solution" as part of a course for a Rushmore University doctoral program. It sparked in me the desire and determination to get more "bang for the buck" from my efforts, and provided a clear 8-step guide for doing so.

The guide to creating 2000 Percent solutions essentially helps you to see differently, and acknowledge the reality of your personal and organisational biases. It helps you undertake a wider search than you normally would in the quest for a solution. And it doesn't leave you content with the best solution you may have found, but has you project into the future to "see" what the future best practice is likely to be, and then begin now to implement it.

Applying the authors' ideas to my personal circumstances helped free my mind (an ongoing, never ending process) of a number of personal stalls and led directly to the creation of a management training and consulting company. And in spite of limited capital, the momentum of my take-off amazes acquaintances.

I keep my copy of "The 2000 Percent Solution" in my office, within easy reach, because I intend to read it over and over, to create an upward spiral of exponential gains in my life and work.

The skill of creating 2000 Percent solutions is a valuable one. Combined with the ability to engage in continual business model innovation (as taught in "The Ultimate Competitive Advantage" by Mitchell and Coles), it will guarantee business success long into the future.

English
The Gashlycrumb tinies
Published in Unknown Binding by H. Hutter (1979)
Author: Edward Gorey
List price:

Average review score:

Gashlycrumb Tinies is Great!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-06-09
I bought three of these books as gifts for three retiring teachers -- they are so funny. An ABC book of odd outcomes for students. Love them.

Just so darned funny...
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-05-28
This book has made me cry with laughter. I work with kids and THEY think it's funny.

The Gashleycrumb Tinies
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-05-12
The Gashleycrumb Tinies is macabre yet hilarious. It's about children meeting untimely absurd demise but with a sense of dark humor. it needs to be taken the way it is meant. It really is quite clever with the wording and causes of death It is done by alphabetical names. examples are S in for Susan who perished of fits, L is for Leo who swallowed some tacks and N is for Neville who died of ennui(boredome). See very clever. By the way I am a 38 year old mother of two and find this hilarious. My kids don't really get it though. Oh well I geuss their sense of humor is not as developed as mine:)

Hilarious for ages 11+!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-24
Hahahha I actually read this online because its so short... if you want to take a break from the stress of life for 10 minutes its great fun. The illustrations are very well done and the rhymes are genuis! i think my favorite kid is Basil who was assaulted by bears.. \hahhahhahha... that makes me burst into laughter again! seriously, if you like macabre hilarity, take a few minutes off and ENJOY THIS BOOK! (There is no graphic or adult images but the ideas would be very frightening for young children. I say 11+ because theres a girl with an axe in her head and some blood thats cartoonish but gross.)

Wonderfuly Twisted And Sick!!!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-12-15
This book is great! No matter how many people tell you how horribly sick it is. Read this book.They only say that because they dont have a sense of humor. So any way read this book! Its both sickining,funny, and tasteful.

English
Iron Coffins: A Personal Account of the German U-Boat Battles of World War II
Published in Paperback by Da Capo Press (2002-06)
Author: Herbert A. Werner
List price: $17.50
New price: $9.87
Used price: $3.19
Collectible price: $18.57

Average review score:

Emotionally Wrenching Account of War at Sea
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-11-15
Revolutions of religious faith excepted, no set of events ever resulted in greater changes to human civilization than did those of the Second World War. Within the context of the war, the Battle of the Atlantic was among the most important of those events. Had the allies lost that campaign, the very outcome of the war might have been different.

That battle was waged primarily by the German U-boat (submarine) fleet against Allied freighters, carrying men and materiel to Britain, and their protective escort ships and planes.

Mr. Werner, a mid-level German field officer for most of the events described in the book, offers an historical perspective of that conflict that no academic could hope to match or even approximate. The most remarkable part of the book to me was not the numerous descriptions of sea battles, (although these certainly were riveting) but of the social dynamics between Werner and those around him as he does what he can to prevail in the War. Some of his activities described strike a 21st century person such as myself as mildly ignoble and inappropriate. Later in the story, however, insights are discovered as to how the impossible pressures of combat danger make these proclivities understandable, even admirable. I was initially critical of Mr. Werner because I had no conception of the life he faced during the years chronicled here. Coming to even a limited understanding of this man via his book was a remarkable epiphany, and I was well rebuked in hindsight.

Most of the WWII veterans have passed on now. My own father, who fought in the Pacific theater, is now 87. We often see surveys that show younger Americans cannot identify the USA's allies and enemies during the conflict, nor when it was fought. For any parents concerned about this trend, put this book in your children's hands. Once they start, they'll want to finish, and maybe a generation's grasp of a vital history will endure at least a little longer.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

Best WW2 from German Viewpoint.
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-10-04
And there are alot out there. This is superb, I could not put it down. I will read it again someday. Sledge's "With the Old Breed" is slightly better, but that is splitting hairs. If you have to buy 2 books on WW2, get these 2.

Addicting
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-09-02
This book will take you on a wonderful journey from the innocence of a young german sailor to the plagued life of a U-Boat captain. Every encounter will draw you deeper into the stress and emotions of the men inside the "Iron Coffin." Before, the germans may have been viewed as the enemy but from this book your paradigm will shift and the similarities of the Allied and Axis forces will become closer that ever could have been imagined.

A Very Personal and Accurate Account of the U-Boat War
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-07-06
If I could give this book more than 5 stars, I would - it is absolutely excellent. Herbert Werner was born in 1920, and served active duty aboard German submarines from 1941 until the very end of the war in May 1945. He survived the war, which is no small accomplishment. Of 40,000 World War 2 German submariners, 30,000 never returned home alive. But on a personal level, he suffered tremendous losses. More than 90% of his comrades did not survive, and even worse - his parents and only sister were killed in an Allied fire-bombing raid over the German city of Darmstadt. His lovely Blonde girlfriend and her parents were killed in an earlier Allied air raid over the German capital city of Berlin. It is hard to think of real stories more tragic or more sad than this. As a naval officer, this young man (age 25 at the end of the war) was incredibly well-experienced, proficient, and even somewhat lucky. But I would give far more weight to experience and proficiency than to luck. If more young German submarine commanders had Herbert Werner's on-the-job training and experience, many more would have survived. Their senior commanders and above all their senior national leadership (under Hitler) were reckless men who ruined them, their country (Germany) and many other unfortunate people of their tragic time.

THRILLING
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-07-11
This book is great. After viewing the movie DAS BOOT I had to learn more about the glory and tragedy of the U-boats of WWII. This book is an edge of the seat thriller. I've bought several more books on the U-boats and if they're half as good as this one I'll consider it money well spent.

English
The Synonym Finder
Published in Paperback by Grand Central Publishing (1986)
Authors: J. I. Rodale and Nancy LaRoche
List price: $16.95
New price: $10.13
Used price: $3.11
Collectible price: $17.50

Average review score:

Best synonym resource period!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-10-31
I have own a number of thesauruses in my day, but no one compares with the Synonym Finder by Rodale. The invaluable resource not only gives you dozens of alternative words, it also includes archaic and rare usages, too.

Simply the best!

Although I rarely use these types of books when I'm writing my first draft, The Synonym Finder and it's companion, published by the same author, Word Finder, is never far from my reach during the re-writes. My only complaint would be that I haven't yet found it in software form.

excellent help for writing classes
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-09-30
Although Mr Rodale is known for his studies in the area of organic gardening, his synonym finder is excellent. Easy to use, without having to do cross referencing, the book has numerous words to choose from.

An Invaluable Resource!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-08-27
This is an amazing book which is the last word in Thesauruses. It is over 1,350 pages. I have written three books using this Synonym finder and have found it to be invaluable! My copy has so many dog ears I probably need to open a kennel.

The Re-Discovery of Common Sense: A Guide to: The Lost Art of Critical Thinking

A necessity for any writer
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-05-20
Although this is an older title I still use it quite frequently. If you do any kind of writing, whether academic/legal/leisure I highly recommend this book. Sometimes I just can't find the right word to convey the intended message so I open this up and 9 times out of 10 I come away with the word I'm looking for.

Writing Aid
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-05
This book is a must if you are thinking of writing anything. Great buy, great condition - Thanks for the fast and honest transaction!

English
Love Comes Softly/Love's Enduring Promise/Love's Long Journey/Love's Abiding Joy (Love Comes Softly Series 1-4)
Published in Paperback by Bethany House Publishers (2003-12-01)
Author: Janette Oke
List price: $51.99
New price: $29.68
Used price: $28.50
Collectible price: $125.00

Average review score:

I like the movie better.
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-08-16
My only real complaint about the book is that the author chose to provide the characters with an unintelligent sounding dialect, making them sound like the Beverly Hillbillies. Perhaps the writer, as a Canadian, felt that it would add to the rural sense of the location, but I feel that it detracted from the characters. The movie portrayed Marty as a very well read woman and both Marty and Clark were portrayed in a more intelligent light. I also feel that the God/Christian theme of the book was heavy handed, and was handled better in the movie version. Although the book is good in it's own way, it is very different from the movie.

Great!!!!!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-06-13
I thought that the books where wonderful!!! I loved them, great story line, and plot. Love it!!!

Excellent Reading
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-05-30
I've loved the Hallmark Movies and now am reading the books. The print size makes them easy reading and who would not enjoy a Janette Oake story. Amazon pricing also makes them a excellent value.

awesome
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-07
these books are so wonderful, and makes you feel like you are in the book itself.

Sigh!
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-09-26
I have no qaulms about admitting that I am a hopeless romantic. I'm also the type of person that likes pretty landscapes, good old fashioned values, and all the light and love inbetween. These books really hit the spot, and the first few of this collection are divine.

The story begins with two unlucky partners who wed for convenience: a pregnant widow and a widower trying to raise a daughter on his own. They're out in the plains struggling to survive, so why not get married for the security?

But alas, in comes the romance and this little family grows closer and closer.

The series continues as the family grows, with a variety of well-rounded characters and plots that get at that slightly dramatic spot I can't help but love.

They're quietly written with beautiful, simple descriptions and lots of reference to God, faith, and spirituality.

English
Mindfulness in Plain English
Published in Paperback by Wisdom Publications (1994-01-25)
Author: Henepola Gunaratana
List price: $14.95
New price: $14.98
Used price: $1.06
Collectible price: $15.00

Average review score:

Gunaratana Mindfulness
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-10-16
I have read this book three times and will probably continue to re-read it for the rest of my life. If you are interested in meditation, this is THE book. It is deceptively simple and brilliantly clear. There are lots of well-meaning but not so well written books out there on the topic. This is the one to help a newbie or a seasoned practitioner find the navigational aids and roadmap to meaningful and authentic meditation, and it will help the dabblers decide if this is really the path they want to tred.

Zen and Wonderful
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-09-07
A very zen approach to becoming more mindful and thereby becoming more meditative and spiritual about every day miracles. This book hit all the high notes with me.

Recent purchase, A book "Mindfulness"
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-08-19
Easy inexpensive purchase!
Very quick delivery!
I love it when it's like that!

Two copies (One for a friend)

Mindfulness in Plain English, Updated and Expanded Edition

ekcg
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-08-15
Not quite as easy a read as I was lead to believe in the reviews. But definitely an excellent overview of mindfulness. I liked how it pointed out the pitfalls some beginners run into. I liked how they outlined the variety of ways meditation can be practiced. I would recommend this book to other beginners.

informative, thorough, eye-opening
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-08-15
I purchased this book because I was interested in learning about the concept of mindfulness. I wasn't exactly looking to develop a serious meditation habit, but during my reading of the book I began to embrace the idea. I read the book and wanted to re-read it fairly soon after finishing, but I loaned it out to someone. I'm eager to get it back and read it again, but I've told someone else they can borrow it! I may have to buy another copy. The book is well-laid-out, covers the subject matter very well, and opened my eyes to a new way of thinking. I'm trying to become a more regular meditator; currently I do it in ten-minute increments a couple of times a week at minimum, but I'm hoping to build from there. Also: I'm currently reading the "sequel" to this book, called "Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness: Walking the Buddha's Path." I'm only in the beginning but I'm finding it on par with "Mindfulness in Plain English" -- informative and eye-opening, and teaching me things that I feel can impact my everyday thinking (and hopefully result in an overall healthier mind).

English
Emily of New Moon
Published in Paperback by New Canadian Library (2007-12-04)
Author: L.M. Montgomery
List price: $11.95
New price: $92.78
Used price: $14.45

Average review score:

One of Montgomery's BEST!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-01-24
"I think I shall be a great poetess or a distinguished novelist."
That is Emily Starr talking, the young blossoming writer, that will touch your heart, with her creative and interesting, ways and ideas.

Within just the first chapter of the book, you'll already be intrigued by Emily's charm, and her topsy-turvy imagination. All through the story, Emily meets new people and friends. Some will help her on her way to becoming a writer, "a painter that uses words". Others will shoot her dreams down, as if they were nothing but mere dust. Just watch her take on all the distressing incidents that she overcomes with an intellect beyond her years.

She's always on a new enchanting romp, that'll keep you guessing. From giving up her beloved cat, to clashing with Miss Brownell (her unjust schoolteacher), to unraveling an age-old puzzle with her whimsical mind, you'll stay right by Emily's side the whole time.

Here's a small excerpt that I especially enjoyed:
"But there is a destiny which shapes the ends of young misses who are born with the itch for writing tingling in their baby fingertips, and in the fullness of time this destiny gave to Emily the desire of her heart---gave it to her, too, on the very day when she most needed it."

Personally, I have to state that this book is very inspirational for anyone endeavoring a priceless dream. I have read the entire set of the "Anne of Green Gables" books (that are written by the same author), but in my opinion, "Emily of New Moon" is much more enthralling! It is at the top of my list of my favorite books.

Classic and More Complex Than "Anne"
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-01-18
It is difficult for me to write an objective review about this beloved classic. Emily is like a childhood friend to me. Created by the author of Anne of Green Gables, she is a more complex character than Anne - introspective, determined, and deeply sensitive to life's joys and shadows. Her love for writing, or her need to write, defines her; indeed, much of the story is told through her writing. And yet this first book of the Emily trilogy is mostly lighthearted, though not without its passages of intense experience. Emily is orphaned in the beginning of the book, and moves to the farm of New Moon to live with two estranged aunts and one uncle, their brother. She thrives and flourishes in the beautifully prosaic, quaint world of New Moon and Blair Water on Prince Edward Island. Though she is a private and secretive person, she gives lavishly of herself in her closest friendships.

Montgomery's writing is at times indulgently over-descriptive, but not without vividity, wryness, feeling, and rich character development. Perhaps the most eloquent aspect of Emily of New Moon is its flavorful honesty about life both light and dark. Emily is a complex character, full of both faults and virtues, neither of which are expressed simplistically. The reader's sympathies are always with her. Montgomery's indirect insights into the writing life are also very valuable. Emily has writing in her blood, sees it as something intrinsically personal and sacred but wants to share it, does it with abandon yet later throws it away, and yearns to climb the ladder of fame. In this sense, I feel more kinship with her than with her more popular sister Anne Shirley.

A great, honest, straight forward book.
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2008-08-12
Emily Starr is a daughter of a faith-confused father that her mother's family has shunned for his poverty. Her mother, Juliet Murray, died when she was five, and then when she is older, her father dies of consumption, leaving her an orphan.

Her mother's family takes her in, and teaches her all their traditions and strict codes of honor and pride.

Emily makes new friends, grows, and even has a few love intrests, despite her young age.

The only problem I had with this book was her father way of thinking of God. He says everyone has their own God, and that Emily shouldn't worship their housekeeper's God.

That is very untrute. Every one has their own PERSEPTION of God.

Get it right L.M. :)

An intriguing heroine...
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-12-26
Sheltered by her loving father, 10-year-old Emily Byrd Starr has never minded her isolated life. What child notices poverty and a lack of playmates when her intelligence and imagination make each day special and exciting?

Then one terrible day, Emily finds herself an orphan. A mass of never-before-met aunts and uncles descend upon Emily, criticizing and making plain the fact that whoever takes the child is only doing so out of their sense of duty.

Still reeling from the loss of her father, Emily must also leave her beloved little home and pets for New Moon, her mother's childhood home, where unmarried aunts Elizabeth and Laura currently reside. It is with stern matriarch Elizabeth, gentle, loving Laura and "simple-minded" Cousin Jimmy that Emily must now learn to form a family.

Despite the hardships, Emily's new life is quickly filled with many joys, as she makes friends at the village school and develops her interest for writing. Emily also experiences -- at the most unexpected moments -- "the flash," her word for the brief startling glimpses of other-worldliness, which has the power to change both her life and the lives of others around her.

Ask most people what they associate with L.M. Montgomery, and they'll likely say Anne of Green Gables. Yet despite the fame of Montgomery's "other orphan," the Emily books are quite possibly even more memorable and beautifully written. Like Anne, Emily is thrust into an unfamiliar world, where she must make the best of circumstances; but unlike Anne, Emily is possessed of a strangely adult maturity even at the tender age of ten, a glimpse of darkness which will accompany her through the years. This streak makes readers both more concerned for her well-being and perhaps more able to relate, as she is not nearly as happy-go-lucky and childlike as Anne in her early years.

If you enjoy this book, be sure to read "Emily Climbs" and "Emily's Quest," which follow the girl through her years at high school, through romantic relationships and her writing career as a young woman.

Don't expect Anne
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-06-07
It's a shame that most people like either Anne or Emily; I've avoided the whole question by loving them both. The Emily books give a picture of a girl with lights and darks, reacting naturally (and therefore not always cheerfully) to the events of her life. She is far from perfect, but as L.M. Montgomery says about her, you may like her, you may hate her, but you'll never forget her.

If what you love about Anne is the sparkling, bubbly world she creates around herself, then you probably won't like Emily. But if you like L.M. Montgomery and would like to see her go a different route, the Emily trilogy is a great read!!


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