C Books

Lynn C. Lewis has entered new territory with Dissonance. Although it's classified as a mystery/thriller/suspense here in this contest, I would've thought otherwise if I hadn't read the synopsis and Publisher's Weekly review. Or glanced at the black and yellow box on the top left of her Amazon page!

Most genre fiction is plot driven, and what distinguishes literary fiction is that it's motivated by character(s). Ms. Lewis has accomplished both a plot- and character-driven masterpiece in only 5,000 words. As Randi Craig noted in her review, you can't help falling in love when you read that the main character, Dee Wrightsman, is "pissed off and also pissed." I know I'm not in the minority when I say that I'd take a dirty deed and a memorable one-liner from a charming character over an elaborate description of a beautiful landscape any day when choosing whether or not to continue reading a novel.

What also distinguishes literary fiction is its "Cliff's Notes" potential. Will it be a work that young and old students of literature alike can dismantle, analyze to pieces, and talk till the death in classrooms and creative writing workshops? And yet again, Ms. Lewis accomplishes this in her title alone, Dissonance, which actually refers to "cognitive dissonance." Dee Wrightsman explains it as "More the wish to believe you made the right choice, no matter what. So even if the choice you make isn't the right one, you convince yourself that it was. This generates certain effects when the next choice situation comes up. We don't tolerate dissonance well, so our choices become constricted."

Yet, Ms. Lewis keeps reminding us it's a murder mystery. Her character cleverly engages in a conversation with her colleagues about dissonance and has the gall to give them an example of a murderer planning "her" crime.

Then, when she finds Mr. Guinness's body, here is what she says:

"The back of his head was a mess of blood and brain matter. I grabbed hostess towels from the porcelain towel rack, dropped to my knees, and pressed them against the matted hair. They soaked through slowly, as if the blood had already all run out. His body did not move. Not a breath in him. I couldn't think what should come next and looked up to see Clifford Bacon, Jennings Pick, and a slew of other faculty staring in at me in horror. Bacon's eyes widened and when I turned my head I saw what I had missed at first. Sitting on the toilet tank was a small bottle of apricot brandy."

She manages to avoid overdoing the scene here, describing the back of his head as a "mess of blood and brain matter," and she cleverly ends it with a bottle of her favorite brandy sticking out like a sore thumb at the scene of the crime.

It's as if Ms. Lewis purposely created a new genre for everyone to eat up. She interweaves literary fiction and mystery/thriller elements with ease, making her readers actually care about the character, yet still being able to take them on the ride of their lives, hopefully closer to the conclusion of whodunit.

I was sorry to see this entry not among the top 100, but I am most certain it will be on many best-seller lists before you can say "I'm pissed off and also pissed." Thank you, Ms. Lewis, for having the courage to break new ground in the tough-as-nails world of writing. Success is just around the corner. My best to you.

I found this short to be compelling. The author throws us quickly into the quirky situation that has befallen our immediately likeable heroine and takes us on a fun (at least for awhile) journey. Then when she has provided much entertainment in the plight through which Dee Wrightsman leads us, she confronts us with a very dire situation - a situation that brings us to wonder about our heroine's unpredictable behavior. The first line gives us a clue to Dee's unusual mental processes. "Even for a social psychologist like me, predicting behavior is elusive.

For isn't "predicting behavior" what the "game" is all about for readers of this genre? Can anything complete the circle in Dee Wrightsman's own life and afford her some harmony?

The last part of this excerpt is set up wonderfully as we feel the tension as Dee enters the party. We wonder if we would have had the wherewithal to attend after the incidents of the previous night and how we would handle it. Also at the party-"It was Mags Grossenheimer, Sociology." Nice touch in describing how a person can be thought of by their discipline to the extent it almost becomes part of their name.

Another funny turn - the police chief who carries Jamaican Blue coffee in his work thermos.

I await the next chapter.

Dissonance promises many wonderfully witty insights into faculty life and politics in a liberal arts college (and I'm one who's been there). I don't read many mysteries but I found the blend of satire and murder mystery very compelling, reminding me of some of the classic British authors that blend social satire with their mystery plots. The character profiles leave the reader wondering and hoping for character development as the plot unfolds, and the dialogue and descriptions are very well crafted. On top of everything else this opening excerpt delivers, we get hints that we're in for some lessons in human psychology and why we tend to "wish to believe [we] made the right choice, no matter what." In short, there's something for everyone in this, and I'm sure a publisher will snap it up!

Dissonance by L.C. Lewis opens on Dee Wrightsman's worse month ever. After being denied tenure as an associate professor of Psychology at Southbury College, she lands up a couple weeks later on the lawn of committee lead, Karabelle Poker. She's drunk and spreading horse manure around.

This early portion of the excerpt does a lovely job of engaging the reader with the character. Though Dee is an intelligent and academic woman, she' prone to moody retaliation for perceived wrongdoings. Rather than paint Dee as plain old psycho, the author does a wonderful job of maintaining levity in the tone of the story as it moves forward.

Next we move on to the President's (Quincy Guinness) Summer Solstice Lawn Party (though a few lines later mentions a beautiful Vermont Spring evening). Despite Dee's hesitation to go, she lands up with a trusty bottle of peach brandy in her pocket. As Dee mingles, the reader meets other committee members and faculty with an array of colorful and fun names, though the characters aren't cartoonish.

I truly felt for Dee as she made strides to keep her chin up throughout the embarrassment of having to stick around. Then, as if things couldn't get any worse, President Guinness is found dead. A number of eyes turn to her.

This is a clever bit of foundation work for the overall mystery. Not only is the story appealing, but I actually care about the lead character. This latter element I find missing a fair bit in mystery stories. Overall, I'd love to read this book through and see how Dee's situation plays out.

"Dissonance" is a murder mystery with a sharp eye for the humor in human behavior. Dee Wrightsman is a social psychologist at Vermont's Southbury College. After being denied tenure, she got drunk and dumped manure on the lawn of the person she felt was responsible for that decision. The President's Solstice Lawn Party is an opportunity for Dee to rehabilitate her reputation -or not, so she attends, peach brandy in pocket. As she mingles, some colleagues imply a hidden motive in the tenure decision, then a murder victim is discovered, and Dee looks like a suspect.

Dee narrates her story with upbeat sarcasm toward her fellow academics. She drinks too much. She bears a grudge. She's an imperfect character with a sense of humor about her own foibles and those of the people around her. Her field of study is "dissonance", the desire people have to believe they have made the right choice, no matter what they must do to convince themselves. This might make Dee the perfect candidate to investigate a murder.

Dee's humor and directness endeared her to me. Real emotions that are implicit as much as explicit in her narration give Dee dimension beyond her quips and idiosyncrasies, as her state of mind turns from anger and annoyance to grief and fear in the course of these first pages. Skillful, polished prose moves the story along at a pleasant pace and grounds "Dissonance" firmly in the character of Dee. I expect she will have some funny things to say on the serious subject of murder -and the less serious subject of academic infighting.

Updated words/lyrics and instead of stressing materialism--"going to buy you a..." it speaks of experiences parent will share with child. So what if it's "mama" in the story. You can (and should!) easily substitute papa. The mama rabbit wears a bathrobe throughout the whole story, so for all your not-yet-reading-baby knows, it's a daddy rabbit wearing a slightly ruffly nightshirt under his bathrobe. This is my favorite gift book to new moms and dads.

Good concept, but still very old-fashioned---I don't know anyone, let alone a mom, who plays a banjo!

"If that lighning bug won't glow, Mama's going to play on her old banjo."

I thought it was going to be more up-to-date. One the plus-side, the board book seems good and sturdy...

Really well drawn and written - nice updated version of the nursery rhyme. Its a wonderful story to sing and definitely a favourite bedtime book.

I love this book- it is a great gift for a new mommy- Its a classic song but the words are changed to not be so materialistic which is wonderful in this day and age! You also cant help sining along as you read it to your little one!

My 2 yr old son loves this book. The story is a redo of the classic song set to a story. I like to sing it too him because it doesn't talk about buying him anything but rather spending time with him. He often asks for it before bed. I highly recommend it for anybody with a 0-4 yr old.

I thoroughly have enjoyed this book, looking at the people from around the world and their possessions and realizing how different I live from another. It was amazing to see each family so proud, of either how little they have or how much they have, and to have all that they own on display (from in the dead of winter to floating on a boat!).

This book is absolutely a wake-up call for many people out there who think they don't have enough! Beautifully put together. Outstanding.

Material World by Peter Menzel is one of the most exciting and informative books I have come across in a long time . No other book I have ever read has given me such in depth knowledge of the lives and circumstances of people living in other countries around the globe. The photographs are breathtakingly beautiful and the statistics are fascinating. Ursula Michelson, author of Alzheimers Patients in the Nursing Home: How Well Do Caregivers Meet Their Needs?

This book is a fascinating look at materialism, or the lack of it, around the world. Oddly enough, the American family was not the most obviously materialistic; there was a Saudi family with a 42 foot long couch! I have put this gorgeously photographed book in my classroom for independant reading time for my 9th graders. It is filled with statistics, information about the countries and the families and the stories of the photographers themselves. Also check out The Hungry Planet, a visual look at what people around the world eat, photographed and written by the same authors of Material World.

"Material World," written during the 1990 U.N. International Year of the Family, is a major achievement and, although it can seem dated in areas, is still timely and relevant for our world today.

Profiling 30 families from across a wide spectrum of the 183 U.N. member states, "Material World" depicts these families' struggles and triumphs in words, pictures, and statistics. Many of these vignettes are uplifting--the Cuban family holding on to each other as their nation suffers through communism--and many are very saddening--the three Carballo children sleeping in fear of being robbed each night. It is highly useful in perspective building and also a good way to see how others live elsewhere in the world. It is not going to make one "proud to be an American," but it is also not an "America-bashing" book. "Material World" demonstrates very powerfully the old proverb: 'It's not getting what you want, it's wanting what you've got.'

The Albanian family, with its minute amount of belongings; the Brazilian family, struggling to survive the slums; the Mexican sisters, window shopping before getting the very special treat of an ice cream bar--all exemplify this ideal. The children are in particular very inspiring, rising as they do above the conditions many sadly live in. This is their life, their daily bread--and in a powerful example, they make the most of it.

"Material World" is inspiring, beautiful, and still timely, even over ten years after its publication.

This book has been super helpful in preparing my husband for boot camp- physically and mentally. The only problem is that we've learned that after the publishing of this book a lot changed in army boot camp. At first my husband was interested in joining the national guard, but in order to go to a boot camp like what is described in this book, he has to choose a different branch of military.

My son will go to marine boot camp in July. I read this first and it was a great help for me to understand what will happen and what he needs to do before he goes. I highly recommend this not only for our "new" military but for their parents as well.

Get this book it has a world of knowledge in it. Are you to call a DS "yes sir or Yes Maam" ? What is a DS hat called? get the book it will HELP you.

This book was packed with info that will benefit anyone interested in going into the militry. My hubby went through boot camp a few years ago and said that all of the info would have made life a little easier then...lol.

This book has helped me in so many ways. I knew nothing about the military before I left for boot camp. Now, I feel I am completely ready. The book has an easy to understand fitness routine and told me what to expect mentally from a drill sergeant, even the other recruits. This book even contains a packing list so I know exactly what to pack for boot camp.
Before I was scared to leave for basic, now I cant wait.

Lieutenant Hornblower occurs second in the series by internal chronology, though it was the seventh-written book. Unlike every other book in the series, this one is related from the point of view of Lieutenant William Bush. This alternate point of view allows Hornblower to be presented as a legitimately heroic figure, though it does deprive the reader of the internal thought process of the series' protagonist. The text provides solid background on Hornblower's early career as a lieutenant. Written as a novel, it paces well and has an authentic texture. Indeed, the small-scale combat action is so gripping that in many ways the book eclipses volumes in the series which deal with Hornblower's later career.

Plot Summary (with spoilers):
The novel takes place from May 1800 to March 1803 aboard a cruise of HMS Renown, a 74-gun frigate. The ship's captain, Sawyer, is dangerously paranoid and believes the lieutenants and warrant officers are plotting mutiny against him. To circumvent their putative desire, Sawyer panders to the crew, encouraging them to be lazy and insolent, and issues additional rations of grog. The situation becomes untenable as Renown reaches its cruising grounds near Haiti. Even so, nobody will take the decision action of attempting to remove Sawyer from command.

Fortunately, Sawyer falls down a hatchway and receives a serious injury. There is intrigue surrounding his fall, but no actual witnesses to the accident. Upon Sawyer's physical recovery it is evident his mind is gone--he sobs hysterically and cringes away from everyone. Buckland, the senior lieutenant, takes ostensible command. The unimaginative Buckland botches the ship's primary mission, but disaster is averted when Hornblower proposes an audacious recovery.

From that point forward, it is Hornblower who guides the ship as he influences Buckland subtly but correctly. Indeed, the theme of Hornblower leading his superior officers is a dominant thread in the narrative. The ship carries out other duties with great success until Hornblower is placed aboard a prize--whereupon Renown is almost seized by prisoners. Hornblower once again comes to the rescue and recaptures the ship. The novel ends with Hornblower losing his job because of the Peace of Amiens. He takes up lodging in a public house, makes a meager living by playing whist, develops his friendship with Bush, and meets the young Marie Mason.

This is the sixth Hornblower book I've read, although it's only the second in terms of the chronology of Hornblower's naval career. And I must say, it's one of the better books. CS Forester could be a compelling writer, but some of the Hornblower novels feel a little disjointed. Not this one.

Lieutenant Hornblower is written from the point of view of Lieutenant Bush, whom Hornblower meets in this book. The result is that Hornblower is a more interesting character. It also, unlike some of the other books in the series, primarily covers a single plotline dealing with Hornblower's last mission as a lieutenant, so it hangs together very well. The result is a book that I had trouble putting down until I had read the whole thing. I wholeheartedly recommend this installment of the Hornblower series.

Forester's key book on the times...the made-for-tv series episode parallels this book very closely. And I am very picky when it comes to sea books. Definitely at the same level as the Bolitho series!

This is arguably the best book as "literary work" in the "Hornblower" series (although my personal favorite is the collection of short stories called "Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies.") This story has two aspects that make it unique:

1) it is told from the viewpoint of Hornblower's comrade Bush (who is senior to Hornblower) and provides a completely different view of Forester's diffident hero.

2) It shows how Hornblower functions and succeeds as subordinate while working through some thorny ethical dilemmas that stump Bush and the rest of the characters.

The story line is terrific, as always, with dramatic action "drawn from the files" of the Napoleonic Naval Gazette providing the backdrop to life at sea.

Like Forester's other books, this can be read by adults but it is for young male teens, and suitable for even younger ages. If you like Hornblower, and want a similar story by the same author, read the stand alone novel "The Captain from Connecticutt" which looks at the naval war of 1812 from the American point of view and, as a book, is better than most of the Hornblower series.

C.S. Forester created a superb naval drama that gave me an inside look at the life of a sailor serving in the Royal Navy on the wooden war ship Renown. With Hornblower, and his companion Bush dealing with their befuddled Captain and fighting off the attacks by the Spanish this book kept me reading page after page. I believe this is one of the best books in the Hornblower series and I would encourage anyone with an eye for historical novels to check this series out.

This is one of a handful of books I've read twice. Wonderful for introducing a young person to science fiction. I've also read the sequel, which I delightfully discovered in a second-hand store. It is also quite good.

It just doesn't get better than this. I had of course heard about this book all my life but somehow never got around to reading it. The terrific Bison series has reissued it, and so I finally got my chance. There are actually two books here, the second being "After Worlds Collide." Amazing but true: they are equally wonderful, each in its own way.

The first book delivers on its promise to depict the end of the world. That's not so easy to do! Furthermore, I found the underlying science to be surprisingly plausible and even timely, given our new understanding of how asteroids and comets have shaped Earth's history and could do it again. Yes, the characters are all two-dimensional, and of course various social details are dated. But the plot is so compelling that: who cares!

Anyway, the first book leaves you hankering for more, and the second book more than satisfies that hankering. Again there is edge-of-your-seat adventure. But for me the overriding pleasurable impression is of mystery. I won't give away the details, but suffice it to say: they are an excellent surprise, and I wish this had been a trilogy! Nevertheless, the book is actually more true-to-life in that some things remain unanswered and unknown. Really, the mysterious aura of the second book provides a kind of satisfaction in its own right.

Now I've got to find other books by Wylie!

I READ ALOT AND MOST BOOKS ARE ENTERTAINING. SOME BOOKS ARE MORE. THIS BOOK FITS IN THE LATTER. IT KEPT ME UP LATE SEVERAL NIGHTS. MANY CHAPTERS END IN SUSPENSE THEREFORE KEEPING YOU READING. A FEW THINGS I DID NOT LIKE BUT THEY WERE SMALL SO I DID NOT TAKE A STAR AWAY. THE BOOKS ENDS ABRUPTLY,LEAVING YOU FEELING A LITTLE UNSATISFIED. WITH ONLY A FEW PAGES LEFT AND THINGS UNRESOLVED, I KEPT THINKING THAT THERE WAS NO WAY THAT IT COULD END PROPERLY. THE ROMANCE IS A LITTLE IRRITATING. THIS WAS A BOOK THAT KEPT ME THINKING ABOUT IT LONG AFTER FINISHING IT.

I first read this back in the early 80's and because of it, fell in love with science fiction.

The book describes the death of the Earth in horrifying detail. The Noah's Ark theme is classic, where a group of survivors board rockets (arks) in order to escape the destruction of the planet. All in all, the authors give a good story, rich with adventure, emotion and incredible new worlds.

Not perfectly explainable in terms of science, but enjoyable even today.

I first read When Worlds Collide/After Worlds Collide in the 1960's, while in junior high school. They were my introduction into what I considered adult science fiction, and I was hooked! After thinking about them for years, I finally ordered them, hoping the books would not disapoint so years many later. The themes are just as current today, though the prejudices and some science are certainly outdated. I highly recommend this book for pleasurable reading as well as a look into science fiction writing from the 1930's. Note that this volumn contains BOTH books bound together.

If you are going to read one investment book, I hope you are lucky enough to read this one. Its the only investment book that you need. One of the thing I like about the book is the authors give actual advise and tell you a great approach to investing. They don't claim to be #1 but give time tested strategies to make smart investment descions and spend the rest of your time where you need to.

Also trying to beat there strategy may only work for a small lucky percentage. So read this book and you really do not need to read any further.

This book is a gem and eye opener for novice investors or people planning begin investing. Inherently it is biased as the title suggests for making a case about Vanguard and its product offerings though a bias that is useful, credible and most of all truthful. The essence of the investment advice is that you have an 80% chance of loosing your investment in the market if you are looking for a short-term bullish miracle and you have a 80% chance of growing your investment if you are looking for a long-term investment strategy and willing to stay immune from bad advice and impulse investing or as the books puts it Ivestment Pornography. It explains the different investment products offered on the market with the Pro's and Con's of each. Most advice is based on research studies of the market. Patterns that prove one investment strategy against another. If you are a novice investor you should feel confident about making your first investment after swimming through this book. Naturally you will make the conservative yet lucrative choice but thats exactly what the book teaches. If you cannot find enough detail about any one product, the book definitely leaves trails for further study and learning. It also discussed briefly about insurance and investment planning in the case of your death, absolutely read this information as it is just as important to know besides your investments because you could loose a great portion of your investments if not handled properly. It provided some very useful insight and left the ground open for more research. The book also covers tax implications of your investments, though a little more research to supplement what the book says should fill in gaps in understanding it.

One of the best capital gains you will come out with by having started your investment journey with this book is the Bogleheads forum.

What this book doesn't do is promote too many investment styles. For those people who buy this book, surely read all of it.

I considered myself somewhere between beginner and intermediate in terms of investing knowledge before reading this book. I feel it does a good job of highlighting most of the major investment principles and vehicles available and manages to get detailed without being too drawn out. It goes well beyond the typical cliches of 'max out your employer matched 401K' or 'fund a Roth IRA'. I found the areas of portfolio allocation and portfolio tax efficiency most beneficial to me. This book isn't going to help you get rich quick, but I feel it will help you increase your wealth and investing knowledge for the long haul.

The Bogleheads' Guide To Investing is a easy reading book on investing with no-load mutual funds. Whether saving for retirement,college or handling money in general, this book would be a good place to start learning the fundamentals on how to keep more money in your pocket and out of your advisor's or broker's. While some may need some financial help through a pro, if one has the desire to read and learn about investments and how they work, one can save themselves thousands of dollars in fees and other costs associated with investing. Learn about index funds,diversification,asset allocation and rebalancing. The authors show you how to tune out the noise of the media and stay the course! Been with Vanguard since the early 90's and have not regretted since.If you want to be a winner in investing,Vanguard is the place to be!!

Of all the books I've read on investing (and there've been many), none were as straight-forward and enjoyable as this one. It's an excellent book for new investors, longtime investors who want to invest with more confidence, and young adults just heading out into the world. I wish I'd had been given the advice in this book years ago.

It was shipped to me within 2 days, great service and great product.

I had to read this book for one of my Woman's Studies classes at Western Illinois University. I think this is a must read book for everyone (especially those who are in recovery or have been convicted of a violent crime of this nature). It is a bit graphic and I don't recomend that anyone under high school age read it. I had to set it down a couple of times due to that, but, it was nessessary to truely understand Ms. Raine's story. You don't truely understand what someone goes though after rape without going through it yourself.

A friend loaned this book to me but it is likely a book I will never forget. Nancy Venable Raine tells her important story in a very accessible way. As a nurse who took care of rape victims in the middle 80's and now a school nurse, I am aware that the secret of abuse and assault reverberates in too many lives. And while I would never say that my experiences as a young nurse were equivalent to those of my patients, I vividly remember hearing my victim-patients stories and identifying with them. Many of my victim-patients were not that different from me--young, single, living alone. During that time, I _usually_ slept with the lights on because I wanted to try to be able to identify my perpetrator, if that ever happened to me.

Raine shows us her story, how it echoes in her life. Coming back from and integrating the experience in life is not, cannot be easy but one cannot help but feel she is one of the minority of individuals who gets the needed help to do so.

Now, in year 2007, I was acutely aware that at times Raine paired the rape experience and the torture experience. It is a source of sadness to me that we, as a nation, are perpetuating that experience for so many. There is something profound about her description of the rape victim as a container for her perpetrator's anger. And that is far from the only profound idea.

Having also read "Lucky" by Alice Sebold, I would say they are both very important books but this book is a far better glimpse into the recovery aspect.

"Throw away the lights, the definitions
And say of what you see in the dark" - Wallace Stevens

"Speech is civilization itself. The word . . . preserves contact - it is silence which isolates." - Thomas Mann

Following her rape, this author became a completely different person, a person who lived "with sudden fear the way others live with cancer. The fear was always there." It took seven years before she could begin writing about her experience. She states that the anniversary of her rape "was more significant than my own birthday, and yet there was only silence . . . I had become, the one who marked her anniversaries in silence . . . Could I celebrate my survival in silence and alone? Not according to Webster's, which defines the verb "to celebrate" this way: "to perform (a sacrament or solemn ceremony) publicly and with appropriate rites" . . . It pained my family and friends to remember. To acknowledge my experience might bring up what they hoped I had forgotten . . . for me to remind them that I had not forgotten seemed unkind, even cruel, because I knew they needed to believe I had. Our rite was, therefore, silence."

"I thought about Wittgenstein's observation that the limits of language are the limits of reality. Was rape off limits to our most distinctly human attribute - language? . . . I could no longer consent to silence."

Another friend and rape victim asked her, "How do I tell people who don't know, people who might become close friends? If I don't tell them, it makes it a secret, like something to be ashamed of. When I do tell them, they make it worse. They never ask me about it. It'a a part of me, part of who I am now, but they don't want to know about it. It's no-win. Just no-win."

"But silence has the rusty taste of shame. The words 'shut up' are the most terrible words I know. I cannot hear them without feeling cold to the bone. The man who raped me spat those words out over and over during the hours of my attack - when I screamed when I tried to talk him out of what he was doing, when I protested . . . The real shame, as I have learned, is to consent to them."

So she wrote an essay "Returns of the Day" in The New York Times Magazine in 1994. In response "Without exception, all of the letters from survivors described the isolation of the aftermath of rape, its life-altering transfromations."

"The victims of rape must carry their memories with them for the rest of their lives. They must not also carry the burden of silence and shame."

If you have friend or family member dealing with these issues (and the odds are that you do), here are other books that are also excellent on this and related topics, "Lucky" & "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold, & "Siolence" edited by Susan McMaster - all written by women. Rape victims and victims of relationship violence and abuse often hide their experiences and the behaviors of their abusers, feeling ashamed for even being involved with the abusive patterns. All of these books suggest women become more free and mentally at ease when they realize there is nothing to be ashamed of about being victimized. And they suggest the causes of our silences and the things we hide probably deserve more attention, new perspectives, and reconsideration.

Ms. Raine describes the trauma and recovery of rape in clear and helpful terms and I appreciate the references to other works about rape recovery and feminism. Raine's AFTER SILENCE inspired me to read another landmark TRAUMA AND RECOVERY by Judith Herman, MD. It is hard to find books about rape recovery and people who can and will talk calmly, rationally, compassionately (or at all) about this subject. Raine's AFTER SILENCE should be required reading in high school for both boys and girls! Rape is so widespread that it should be addressed more often by family and friends; local, state, national, and world leaders; educators and news media. Raine also references I NEVER CALLED IT RAPE by Robin Morgan, another excellent source for raising awareness of the frequency and extent of rape in society. My own childhood incest and young adult rape were not known to my parents, siblings and doctors for decades even though the symptoms were so obvious that I was hospitalized for months. Can't praise Raine's work enough. My heartfelt gratitude goes out to Raine and all those who made her work possible. Healing may be slow in coming, but it does come, after the silence, with the help of authors like Raine.

I LOVE Jan Brett's books! I buy them anytime I see them whether on sale, old ones on Amazon as remainders, or new.. They make great gifts. I have a backup of many to give to children, particularly my granddaughters. The illustrations in this one are so beautiful it is really a keepsake to save as well as enjoy. Give it as a gift and you will make some child very happy and a parent happy,too.

Beautiful illustrations reprinted from over 40 sources. All illustrations are credited on last page. Book measures 9"X11.5" Only down side was that the price changes by the day. One day it's almost $11 another it's $8.97. But that's just the way Amazon works; something to be aware of. (It's worked in my favor often while shopping at midnight--price suddenly went down!)

it's a classic, so of course you can't go wrong, but as far as the best one being out there... well, I'm sure there are much better illustrated ones out there than this one

I bought this for my grandchildren last Christmas. The wording is traditional, and the illustrations are wonderful! This has become a part of the Christmas Eve tradition at my daughter's house.

These illustrations are the best ever for The Night Before Christmas...Stunning even! A worthy heirloom Christmas Book. The illustrations cover both sides of the page for a large panoramic view seldom seen in other books...

A series that absolutely HAS to be completed! One of the best fantasy reads ever--but not for children.

After the crazy carnage of the first book, the only hope for the forces of good is the superpowered Celtic earth warrior, the Morigu. Will even he be enough? Probably not, given how this is going.

It's been 20 years since I received this book to read. After two years of painful searching (longing really), I was able to purchase it. This is simply some of the best writting I have ever read. It holds its own with the best. For eighteen years I have faithfully read this book a least once (sometimes more) each year. It just never gets tired. It's the only book that I've read that I can now open ANY page and get totally taken up in the story. Even knowing what is going to happen doesn't deter the authors crisp, detailed, gut wrenching writting style, and raw emotions this book will pull out of you. I thank my friend Steve for allowing me to read the book for the first time so long ago. This is a MUST read for any fantasy fan.

I own both books. I hope for a third(and a fourth..?) This series presents a level of realism to an unreal universe. The characters, factions, events, and even the magic are presented in such a fashion that the story has a level of believability that is lacking in most titles of the genre. Without going into specifics, the characters and story undergo a large amount of change and development for such a short read. This is even more astounding considering the multitude of major players in the storyline. All in all, wonderful books. Just wish there were more (Hint, hint Mr. Perry)

I love this book, along with the sequel Morigu: The Dead. This was some fast paced, large scale fantasy. But be warned, the series was never completed. From what I have been able to gather, Mr. Perry's publisher dropped him after the second book, and he has found work in Hollywood. Given the length of time now, I seriously doubt he will finish the series even if he was willing. It is a shame, since those who have read these books love them.