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The translator deserves a nobel prize for rendering the Russian into an English poetry which stands on its own as first class literature.

Long hailed as the Russian Shakespeare, Pushkin's novel in verse is a tantalizing combination of never comedic irony and agonizingly unrequited love. Full of many now-obsolete references to works of his day, some verses serve to interrupt the story line by making obscure indications to the poet's own explots and experiences. Interesting; but were it not for the notes in the back matter, they would have been lost on most readers, as they were on this one. That said, once the poet returns to his plot - which, by the way, is so good that it could be read in one sitting save the repeated departures - one finds oneself hooked. The verse is never delicate, never gentle. It rips the heart out and confiscates the senses. The young, naive, and love-struck Tatyana sends a letter to Onegin (pronounced on-ye-gen). He does not return her feelings, and tells her as much. But by a classic twist of fate, Onegin finds himself much changed in his opinion, and Tatyana, while not changed in her own, is in circumstances so changed, that her feelings are no longer given the sway they once were. It appears that Onegin was the naive one after all. For its universal value to Russian literature and its excellent translation, I recommend it fully. Eugene Onegin is a work full of reality, harsh and true; as such, a love story becomes believable.

James Falen's stunning translation of Eugene Onegin is a paragon of grace and subtlety. Despite the formidable challenge of converting Russian verse into English, this edition conveys Pushkin's fluidity of language, varied spirit and love for the human heart with precision and artistry. Indeed, as I breezed through this staggering work of genius, I kept marveling at the beauty of an English translation made possible, of course, only through Falen's understanding of the writer's intentions.

So the translation is a technical tour de force: the diction, style and tone are sublime. But the novel itself - through frequent transitions between bliss and morbidity, through lively dialogue, and through a devilish combination of action and wit - is also a fully-riveting tale. When encountering such Russian literature, some Americans will dismiss it as hoary or pessimistic, but this is facile. Pushkin holds darkness and sadness in relief to a soaring, more soulful encomium of life, and in doing so, presents us with humanity's casual, and often unintentional, profundity.

My Titles
Shadow Fields
Snooker Glen

Eugene Onegin of Alexander Pushkin, 19th century Russian author who often has been considered his country's greatest poet and the founder of modern Russian literature, presents different kinds of characters whose personal traits have a great relation with the period's social structure. Their different and remarkable personalities are worked up so profoundly that it is possible to see the reflections of the characters in the literary works which they read throughout their developing and changing lives. Therefore, this gives the reader an excellent insight into the thoughts and beliefs regarding their different behaviours which can also be associated with the deep effects of the time's social life. Throughout the novel, Pushkin illustrates his characters via the three main figures; Eugene Onegin, Vladimir Lensky and Tatyana.
Pushkin starts to portray his main character, Eugene Onegin, at the very beginning of the novel by describing him since his childhood. Even in his descriptions of Onegin's childhood, Pushkin tries to express how extraordinary and different Eugene is although he seems as if he is an ideal figure of 19th century Russian society even from the very beginning of his life. That's why Pushkin remarks; " He was sweet natured, and yet wild," (Chapter 1, III). Then Pushkin goes on describing his main character with his youth by suggesting that he starts to be in with the social requirements of his time by following the Romantic fashion, taking care oof his appearance in a delicate way in terms of his clothes an hair, learning to speak and write in French, and becoming more and more witty and sweet. The Russian society he is living in has such a context that everything is based on affectation, dishonesty, jealousy and ostentation. In such a social context, one has to be intellectual, educated, cunning and witty enough to maintain his/her existence among those kinds of people. The thing Onegin does is just to be one of the successful player of that game by knowing about every theme and learning affectation and to hide his feelings. Yet, he is still different form the others in his youth's readings. To point out this difference, Pushkin suggests that "He cursed Theocritus and Homer, in Adam Smith was his diploma;" ( Chapter 1, VII). Theocritus, who is Hellenistic Greek poet, and Homer are prominent figures of classical period. And as already known, there is a great interest in classical works and a great respect for the ancients in 18th and 19th centuries. It is an indispensable feature for a 19th century cultivated person to read and adore classical works. However, Onegin, different form the others, prefers to read works of Adam Smith, instead of Homer and Theocritus. Adam Smith is Scottish political economist and philosopher of 18th century. He shows how self-interest guides the most efficient use of resources in a nation's economy, with public welfare coming as a by-product (www.britannica.com). 18th century Europe is in favor of clarity, simplicity, science and rational thinking as opposed to sentimentality of 19th century Romantic period. Therefore, Onegin's interest in Adam Smith makes him quite different from 19th century Russian people. This shows us that Onegin, in his youth, is more interested in political and rational thinking than the fancies and emotions of the Romantic age. Although he has a different taste of reading, he definitely leads a fashionable, comfortable life which is in quite in harmony with the lifestyles the other people around him. He is flirting with married women and successfully manages to make friendships with their husbands; it is possible to see Parisian taste in the furnishings of his room; he never rejects to join balls; and thus he is a "child of luxury and delight" (Chapter 1, XXXVI) as Pushkin remarks. But this does not leave Onegin satisfied. Pushkin suggests it with these lines; "He was bored with social noise" and "infidelity proved cloying and friends and friendship, soul-destroying" (Chapter 1, XXXVII). While describing his characters' and the changes in their lives; Pushkin, as apparently seen, is constantly criticizing the social defects of the period such as fake friendships. Because of his boredom, Eugene retreats himself and starts to live in idleness. In this idleness, he look for satisfaction from reading. But he does not manage to get rid of his boredom. Therefore, he gives up reading just like the habits of his past life. Even during the time when he is living in his uncle's house in the countryside upon his uncle's death, he can't escape from being a slave of boredom and idleness. That he is not appealed to reading romances and poetry accounts for his disbelief in real love, marriage and happiness. It is possible to see this in his first meeting with Tatyana after her letter for him when he says to her; "...wedlock for us would be abhorrent./ I'd love you, but inside a day, with custom, love would fade away;" (Chapter 4, XIV). As can be seen apparently, there is a remarkable parallelism between his thoughts and his readings. His thoughts are far from sentimentality of the time's romances and poetry. His views about a universal feeling called love give an impression of excessive strictness, a clear-cut and so-called "rationality" that refuses its permanency too pessimistically, almost in a prejudiced way. It should be discussed whether his views stem from his readings or his readings lead him to think this way. But things are not always as it seems. After Onegin has left the country house upon Lensky's death, Tatyana visits the house and finds a few books by "Don Juan's and the Giaour's creator" (Chapter 7, XXII); that is by Lord George Gordon Byron (1788-1824). Lord Byron creates the concept of the "Byronic hero"- a defiant, melancholy young man, brooding on some unforgivable event in his past. In this sense, Onegin can be associated with a Byronic hero, burned out and unhappy with life. And his rejection of Tatyana's love can be accepted as the unforgivable event in his pastwhich condemns him to an unhappy life forever; just like Pushkin remarks almost in a criticizing tone; "Onegin...with no past, no work, no wife;/ had nothing to employ his life" (Chapter 8, XII). And when he realizes that he is in love with Tatyana after seeing her in a ball as a wife of a prince, he starts reading different kinds of authors such as Gibbon, Rousseau, Manzoni, Chamfort, Madame de Stael, Bichat, Tissot and Bayle. Pushkin describes the situation with these lines; "One more he turned to book, unchoosing,/ devouring Gibbon and Rousseau..." (Chapter 8, XXXV). When looked at the authors he has read, it is possible to see that each of them is from different literary fields. For example, Edward Gibbon (1737-1794) is an 18th century British historian; Manzoni (1785-1873) is an Italian poet and novelist; Bayle is a skeptic especially about human knowledge, Jean Jacques Rousseau is both a political thinker and the creator of the modern genre of autobiography (www.britannica.com). So it is not quite possible to determine the definite effects of those writers on his views and behaviours. But it is possible to infer that along with his love for Tatyana, the idleness and the boredom of his previous life leaves its place for love and at the same time pain and sorrow. Although he suffers from his love for Tatyana, now he has something that makes his life more meaningful. So he starts reading again as he finally manages to get rid of his boredom and idleness.
Vladimir Lensky is entirely different from Eugene although they are close friends. Pushkin describes their friendship with these lines; "So verse and prose, they came together,/ no ice an flame, no storm weather and granite, were so far apart." (Chapter 2, XIII). Lensky is portrayed as a young, stereotypical poet. He is still ambitious and hopeful about the future, quite different from Onegin's world view. Pushkin describes him with these words; "Vladimir Lensky, whose creator was Gottingen...He brought back all the fruits of learning from German realms of mist and steam" (Chapter 2, VI). So we see that his background comjes from German. He reads Goethe and Schiller. It is impossible not to see the effects of these writers on the personality of Lensky. Goethe is 18th century German poet, novelist, playwright, courtier and natural philosopher. In his first novel, Die Leiden des Jungen Werthers (The Sorrow of Young Werther), he creates the prototype pf the Romantic hero. Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) is a German poet, philosopher, historian and dramatist. He is greatly influenced by Rousseau and Goethe (www.britannica.com). It is possible to infer that there are remarkable traces of his readings and German cultural background in Lensky's world view. Like Goethe's romantic hero, Werther's love for beautiful Charlotte, he is in deep love with Olga. As Pushkin remarks, he brings back "freedom's enthusiastic dream, a spirit strange, a spirit burning, an eloquence of fevered strength" (Chapter 2, VI). He is completely a traditional young poet who is burning with the flames of youth and who is a stereotypical romantic lover that can dare to die for his beloved's honour , which is suddenly lost in a dance.
Pushkin portrays Tatyana starting from her childhood just like Onegin's portrait. In her childhood, Tatyana is shy as a savage, silent, tearful, and "wild as a forest deer". As Pushkin suggests, "Reflection was her friend and pleasure," (Chapter 2, XXVI). That's why she has nothing to do with dolls in her childhood and later with needles and fashion like typical country women of the times whose only interests are gossiping, fashion and invitations. In this sense, she is also different from the people around her just like Eugene Onegin. However, although they are different personalities in their own social environment, they are different from each other, too. Tatyana is a completely romantic character full of passion and youth. She likes waking up early and watch the dawn; therefore, we can infer that she loves nature, which is a typical quality of Romantic poets such as William Wordsworth. She likes reading Rousseau and Richardson, Sophie Cuttin, Madame de Krudener and Madame de Stael. Richardson (1689-1701) is an English novelist. He is a verbose and sentimental story teller. Moreover, he emphasizes, in his works, psychological insights into women. While she is in a passionate love for Onegin, she relates him with the main characters of Richardson's novels. One of them is, for example, Grandison, the hero of History of Sir Charles Grandison (1754). Sir Charles, in the novel, is designed to redefine the virtues of the hero as both Christian and sentimental. So, this gives an idea about Tatyana's ideal lover. The other writer she likes reading is Rousseau. He is the first writer to attend closely to childhood and to the formation of his own sexuality. Later, he is adopted by the French Revolution as the martyr of virtue and by Romanticism as the hero of feeling. The most personal, and initially a source of embarrassment, is his epistolary novel Julie or The New Eloisa (1761). This is a story of passion redeemed by virtue. It is possible to infer that Tatyana sees Julie de Wolmar's passion closer to hers. Sophie Cuttin and Madame de Krudener are the French writers once read in Russia as French influence is great on Russian culture at that period. While she is in a passionate love with Onegin, she reads these witers' works and associates herself with the characters of these literary works. This is a sign of her naivety an her innocent and honest feelings unlike the other women of the society who are described best with Pushkin's own words; "Our terror is their (those women's) consolation" (Chapter 3, XXII). Unlike Onegin's rational thinking, Tatyana has a much more romantic, spiritual and sentimental world view so much so that she believes in "olden days in dreams and cards and their prediction" (Chapter 5, V). So as to interpret her dreams, she even reads Martin Zedaka, an interpreter of dreams. After her marriage, she gradually becomes like the ladies around her whom once she has detested; and from then on, Pushkin does not give any information about the books she reads. Most probably, she gives up reading just like Onegin as her life becomes dull and idle.

The book narrates beautifully the tragic love story between Tatyana and the cold, indifferent Eugene Onegin. It portrays the disenchantments, pain and suffering often caused by a one-way love, here represented by Tatyana's devotion and care for Onegin. Through Pushkin's rich descriptions, the intensity of the girl's passion is conveyed to the reader, as well as the pain and misery of his rejection and indifference to her confessions.

I loved this story. I hope Emily Wu writes more about her life and what led her to America. This was a beautiful story about how the cultural revolution in China robbed people of there childhoods and destroyed families. I intend to read more from this author.

Emily Wu and Larry Engelmann book "Feather in the Storm", an amazing openess of Emily Wu's life and history of China during the Cultural Revolution. The events that unfold carries the reader from youth to adulthood during a time of hardship and struggle which reminds us why hope and love is so neccessary and reasons to allow history to not repeat itself...

Feather in the Storm is a heart-wrenching and deeply moving story of a childhood lost in the terrors of Communist China. The story opens as three-year-old Mao, as she is known by family and friends, meets her father for the first time - in a concentration camp. Moved from family to family and from city to village, little Mao finds herself striving to learn who she is and where she belongs. Fed by her starving grandmother and protected by her outcast parents, Mao attends school and performs her daily chores at home without complaint, maintaining her hope for a brighter future.

Mao's father, a university professor who studied in America, has been labeled as an extreme rightist by the communist party in China. Cast out of the university apartments, Mao's family is sentenced to live in a tiny village so that they can "learn from the peasants," becoming better citizens. Here, Mao and her family live in a tiny mud house which melts away in storms, leaving the family exposed to the elements. Forced to leave home as a teenager after high school, Mao is sent to live in a remote village on the top of a mountain where she falls in love with a young man she is forbidden to marry.

Throughout all of the trials and tribulations Mao faces growing up, and in every village and town she lives in, she is able to make friends and gain the respect of her teachers and neighbors. With an undaunted courage to survive, Mao teaches the reader that hope can be found no matter what the circumstances. Surrounded by death and destruction, Mao creates a life for herself and embraces those who struggle by her side.

Author Emily Wu expertly captures the essence of what life was like during this tremulous age, and helps the reader experience the drama from a firsthand point-of-view.

Armchair Interviews says: Stunning read.

"Feather in the Storm" is a fantastic book. It is well written, and enthralling. I rarely get attached to a story, but I read it through cover to cover with only one break. I couldn't put it down. I am looking forward to the sequel! It is depressing but enlightening. People are really terrible to one another. There is a whole generation lost to the policies of Chairman Mao in the chaos. This comes to light in this true life story of Emily Wu's struggle to survive.

My wife and I met Emily Wu at SIUE while on her book tour. Her story was amazing, so we had to buy the book to get the details.

It normally takes me about a year to read a book, but this one I devoured in a matter of days. The perspective of the book grows as she grows. In the beginning it is written as though you are only a couple feet tall - the details are in the words she hears, people's feet and the underside of cribs and tables. Later on she gets taller and you start to experience more of the people around her. But, like the limitations put on a pre-teen, she can only see so much and know so much, therefore her story is limited to just what she could see and understand. You feel as though you are a child right alongside her.

Often I found myself trying to figure out what things meant (names of Mao's movements and doctrine), but that just muddled the story. At times you feel like more should be written about the backstory of the Red Guard, but if you think about the fact that she didn't know much about them at the time it leaves it all in that child-like perspective. She writes about what she saw and read and experienced as a child, especially her reactions to how it changed the people around her.

The tempo is well-paced and manages to catch you off-guard. It covers issues like capping and de-capping, the invasion of the Red Guard at the Anhui University campus in Hefei, book burning, cleansing of the "Old" ways, living conditions, food, suicide, female infanticide, arranged marriage, bound feet, class struggles, child-on-child violence and much more.

When you are finished, you will view your life through a new pair of glasses. You won't be able to go 5 feet without finding 100 things to be truly thankful for.

I loved all of these stories. They're so well-plotted and written, and Karin does such a great job of conveying laughter and tears. There was tenderness and anguish and just the whole range of emotions.

As a woman of increasing years, my favorite was "Hot Flash." Hate them during, but after...things can be good.

This wonderful book contains follow-up stories to Karin Kallmaker's first 10 novels and reads like a labor of love for all her readers, and probably the author too.

This book is worth the price of admission if only for one beautifully written story that I re-read on a regular basis. `Wild Things Are Free' is a jewel. It is the most perfect short story I have ever read (and I minored in English is college and have been reading for 30 years). Not to give any of the story away it takes place 5 years after the last page of `Wild Things'. Each paragraph and each sentence is perfect. The emotions are so strong it is as if the reader were in the bodies of the characters.

In Every Port's story starts 23 years after the novel ended and is a real delight, I picked up so many special moments when reading it a second time.

Touchwood is my favorite Kallmaker novel and the story takes up 5 months in Louisa and Rayann's most happy future.

Paperback Romance picks up 9 years after the novel ended , I enjoyed the short story more the second time I read it. I think I needed more Carolyn and Alison when I first read it.

Car Pool takes place 10 years later and gives a nice dose of the humor and love that is shared by Shay & Anthea.

Painted Moon picks up 8 years after the last page and gives the reader a nice POV from Lee.

Embrace in Motion takes place 3 months after that story closed and gives us all the payoff (laughs and all) that we knew these characters deserved.

Making Up for Lost Time's story I enjoyed reading more the second time, I don't know what my expectations were but the story was a surprise and I liked it tremendously when I read it again.

Watermark's story was terrific - a real WOW. It picks up one year after the close of the book and really packs a punch.

We get a double story for Unforgettable. Cinny and Natalie were very strong in my mind at the end of the novel. Their story is picked up from Natalie's POV and had tremendous impact for me. We also have Angel & Rett 2 years later showing how perfect they are for each other.

Sigh ... just a wonderful collection that can easily be read without re-reading the novels.

The stories are a delight and the prose wonderfully fulfilling, no surprise there, it had been like this at the first.

karin kallmaker could not have picked a more appropriate title. as a huge fan of hers this book just made me want to reread all her other wonderful books. if you are a fan of hers this book is a must have or must read.

For those of you out there who are fans of Kallmaker's, you MUST read this book. It's so much fun to see where your favorite characters end up. If you haven't read any of Kallmaker's books yet, read the other ones first and then get this one.

These stories are not really sequels, but continuations of and additions to all of Kallmaker's novels published to this point.

Most of them give more information about what happened to the lead characters in the novels. The first exception is Come Here
which expands on the characters of Judy and Dedric who are adjunct characters in Touchwood and Watermark. An excellent piece of erotica. The other is Unforgettable, That's What You Are which fills in and continues the stories of Cinny and Natalie from Unforgettable.

All of the stories give us information about events that follow the end of the novels.

A second piece of erotica (different from the well written sex scenes in most of the pieces) is Smudges which helps us explore the continuing physicality of the relationship between Lee and Jackie.

If you've ever wanted to know "What's next?" after you've finished a novel, this is a book for you.

You can't make this stuff up! Or can you? I laughed until I had tears running down my face and my stomach hurt. Richardson has captured southern humor or any kind of humor at that! Reading this book made my day better and thankful that someone like her can find the good in just about anything.

A great read. Perfect for the multi-tasking woman reading on the go or filling rarely vacant snippets of time. Quick, humorous stories that satisfy the need to read without bogging a girl down in a plot line. You'll love it!

Lucy Adams is the author of If Mama Don't Laugh, It Ain't Funny

If you want to forget your problems and just enter funny land...then read this book. I seldom laugh out loud while reading books;...this one, though, has made up for all the others. It's really truly spittin' chucklin' good.

I read a few chapters each night so I could guarantee that I would go to sleep laughing. Georgia Richardson (aka Queen Jaw Jaw) has been through it all and came out writing so we could laugh with her. You may recognize yourself and wonder why you weren't laughing when it happened to you. Thank you, Queenie, for your unique and Southern perspective.

It takes a southern person, a female southern person at that, to come up with the side-splitting situation Georgia Richardson relates to things which happen to us all, but which Georgia finds hilarity in it. And writes about it . . . hilariously. I read this book with tears in my eyes, because of such topics as "Dreaming of Elvis, Mel Gibson, Bob Villa." Because my wife has cataracts, I read it to her. She cried also. From laughing. You want to see how everyday things and everyday situations can bring a smile, then a snort, then a guffaw, then uncontrollable laughter? By this book and find out why

I would compare this book to a box of chocolates, dark, light, sensuously innocent but rich enough to enjoy one story at a time. A wonderful "what if" and imaginative take on the female characters of Shakespeare's plays. I would recommend this to any young apprentice to Shakespeare or actor who is interested in finding new viewpoints on major and minor characters within the scripts. Berkman definitely goes beyond the stereotype female and cultivates a beautiful bouquet of realistic, emotional, and flesh bound women. Yes, I loved this book. I would also recommend it to readers from late teens to adults.

I am a fan of historical fiction and I really enjoyed this. It has smatterings of all the women in Shakespeare's lives ~~ starting from his mother to his wife, Anne, and friends, daughters, characters from his plays, and lastly, the Queen Bess.

This is a well-written book of short stories. I normally don't care for short stories but I do enjoy these! There is a chapter devoted to Lady MacBeth and you'd see where her love for her husband shines through as well as her ambition. There is Juliet's mother who is in love with Romeo's father. There are letters between the playwright and his daughters and wife.

The stories focus on different aspects of women and Shakespeare's muse seems to be all the women in his life. There is his wife, a lusty woman who he left behind. There is a friend whom he has fallen in love with but never touched improperly except once. There are his daughters. There is his landlord's daughter who adored him from afar. All these women and Shakespeare borrowed from them to write his famous plays to make each character human.

It is an interesting book ~~ and easily readable! I found this by accident and now I am looking forward to reading more of this author's books.

12-18-03

This is a great theme for a collection of short stories, I,m surprised it hasn,t been attempted before. Both fictitious and real life characters are featured here. We are given interesting new perspectives on well known figures eg a much more pro-active Ophelia than we,re used to seeing and a Lady Macbeth motivated by other than greed and ambition alone. We,re also given much insight into Will himself, a socially ambitious single-minded figure though kindly and well-intentioned; he fails to grasp that his family would rather have him around than live in Stratford,s finest house. All the tales were involving and moving but particularly the wealthy and educated Jennet,s struggle with childlessness and Judith Shakespeare,s love for a man her family dislike, these are timeless dilemmas.

Charming, inventive, and fun. The prose was beautiful. The characters were rich. I did not want it to end.

To read *Her Infinite Variety* is to be dazzled by Pamela Berkman's imaginative capacity. From story to story, she displays a rare ability to intuit the gaps in our knowledge of Shakespeare's women--the ones in his life as well as the ones in his art--and then to fill in those gaps with the delicate filigree of her fiction. Yet while these stories display a delicately rigorous structure, the language holding them together is as vibrant and sexy as the women they depict. If you have never enjoyed Shakespeare, buy this book. Berkman's tart-tongued Titania, her haunted Ophelia, and her utterly down-to-earth Bard (rescued, finally, from both scholars and souvenir-sellers) will make you reconsider.

The author believes man is Justified byu Faith alone, but believes a Christian Faith is identified by its fruits. This is good, though I do think at times it may seem he believes otherwise. The book sometimes explains something in a thousand words that some may explain in two hundred. It is interesting read considering the book was written some hundred twenty years ago. He complains about easy conversersion without counting the cost of departing from your oldways (sins). That giving life to Christ is not a simple prayer but athoughtful process where you stand before God. He expresses the difference between having more Christians and having less Christians but more devoted. He also disdusses the visible and invisible Church. Those who are members of a local body of Christ but have not truly repented for sins and seek Jesus as God, Savior, and Lord. I found the exposition very interesting at times. A few times I wish he get to the point.

Excellent treatise on holiness and the Christian life. I would highly recommend it.

Though it is written in the style and framework of its day (the 19th century), Ryle's classic book is no less applicable to Christians entering the new millennium. It is divided into three sections. The first seven chapters set forth the doctrinal principles of holiness and what is involved in its attainment. Then Bishop Ryle turns to a number of examples of holiness as it is manifested in the Scriptures, both positive and negative. The last section of the book presents a number of chapters on the importance of holiness and includes warnings of what might result from a life without holiness as well as what blessings might be enjoyed as a result of pursuing a life of holiness. Though the chapters appear to have been originally composed as a series of unrelated sermons, they do contain the common thread of the importance of a Christianity that involves a transformed life. Nearly every chapter ends with a word of encouragement directed to the pursuer of holiness as well as a word of warning and exhortation to the one who has fallen short of such a pursuit. This format serves as an excellent example of a style of preaching that speaks to the needs of a spiritually diverse congregation.

I found my own personal interest level escalating as I came to the central chapters of the book where Bishop Ryle brings the Scriptures to life as he traces the careers of Moses, Mr. and Mrs. Lot, the penitent thief, and Christ's own works and teachings with regard to faith, hope and love. Indeed, these chapters could well present themselves as a separate volume unto themselves in their threefold call of those foundational qualities of Christianity. In the closing chapters, Bishop Ryle returns to the topic of holiness, though there is no doubt that the lessons in the central section of the book serve to illustrate this theme.

I found myself personally convicted by Ryle's exhortation to attention in the minor details of life. He reminded me that "he that despises little things shall fall little by little" (pg 93).

One principle which is often repeated throughout this work is the principle of the futility and valueless of a Christianity which stops only at profession and does not change the life of the believer. "A religion that costs nothing is worth nothing! A cheap Christianity, without a cross, will prove in the end a useless Christianity, without a crown" (Page 72).

This book is very detailed and covers the subject very well. It is not written in the easy to read style of modern books and demands concentration. Ryle backs up his thoughts with plenty of references to scripture. His thoughts would be in line with the Puritans. The book is both challenging and encouraging.

Holiness, by J. C. Ryle is the best book on Christian living I have read to date. In an age of easy-believism that talks of a gospel free from a commitment to God, this book shows what it takes to have a satisfying and saving relationship with Christ in the way that the Scriptures teach. As the work of sancitification is largely ignored on the bookshelves of Christian libraries, this is a much needed addition. With the debate over Lordship salvation still running its course, this book gives a perspective from over 100 years ago that easily fits our situation today. Ryle expounds the Scriptures in such a way that you can not put this book down without heartily agreeing with Hebrews 12:14 "holiness, without which no one will see the Lord."
Ryle has been called a theological vertebrae, and rightly so. This work will leave you examining your walk with Christ with a desire to live for Him like never before.

The only reason I did not give this book five stars is because I am REALLY careful about doing that with any book . . . BUT I loved this book! I loved the two women, Shelley and Mai, and wanted, especially, to know everything about Mai's former life in Vietnam and how she'd handle going back there after so many years. I also loved the way the author did Mai's dialogue in such a way that I could understand the limitations of her English and yet not not want to laugh at her. Mai simply fascinated me. Another aspect of this novel that I really respected was the way Sachs writes about children, especially 2-year Hai Auo. He is such a realistic picture of a child that age! Cute, but also capable of emitting a "scream that sounds like an electric drill." Sachs so expertly captures a toddler's personality (his fickleness, bouts of crying, clinginess, etc.) that I felt like that child was in the room with me. I wanted to adopt him myself! Finally, I loved reading about Vietnam (a country that's always fascinated me) and I have already purchased a copy of Sachs' memoir of living in that country. Can't wait to read and review that one, too!!!

If You Lived Here: A Novel
I was drawn to Dana Sachs' novel "If You Lived Here" because one of its settings is Wilmington, North Carolina, where my son lives. But the moment I picked up this wonderful book and started to read, I felt myself gently guided into a world much more complex than any locale. The two main characters, Shelley Marino, a mortician's wife who desperately longs for a child, and Mai, a Vietnamese entrepreneur who owns an Asian grocery in Wilmington and who fled Vietnam and carried a desperate secret with her, have become as real to me as my own family.
Both of these women and the other characters who people this novel walk off the pages and stand before me in flesh and blood. And the story Ms. Sachs tells exposes their hearts in a way that very few books ever have for me. And I am an avid reader who, at the age of 60, has a hard time finding anything new under the sun! Today, it takes a very rare and exceptional book to move me. Ms. Sachs is a wordsmith beyond compare. Not only did I love the path she carved for me, but I found myself savoring the way she used words to exactly tap and reveal her character's souls.
Shelley and Mai are two very strong women who, despite different cultures, forge a wonderful friendship which carries them both on a journey to Vietnam and on a journey of healing and discovery. I simply opened my own heart to them and, while reading their story, I felt suspended from my own life. That is how compelling this book is.
I also received a special bonus while immersed in this story. I am old enough to have lived through the years of our war with Vietnam, and I had a front row seat to its horrors on television newscasts. My myopic view of Vietnam hasn't changed since I was a teenager. In fact, I had put "Vietnam" aside as a memory and as a country which no longer plagues us.
Ms. Sachs, with her beautiful words and her heart's investment in her story, has changed my vision! Her story is so well told and so consuming that she has managed to draw me in another direction entirely.
I plumbed the depths of two women's lives. I struggled with Shelley's husband Martin until he finally opened up and told his story. And when Shelley and Mai and Martin and other characters forgave each other and themselves, I wept and forgave too.
But while doing so, I awoke to the story of Vietnam. The flickering black-and-white images of destruction and human pathos from my teen years have permanently been replaced. I have now discovered, through Ms. Sachs' eyes, a Vietnamese people with beautiful souls and a Vietnam of greens and reds and yellows and blues as palpable as the country right outside my own front door. What a gift! What a release!
Tonight I will settle down into my pillows and start reading Ms. Sachs' memoir of her time in Vietnam, "The House on Dream Street!" I am now hungry to hear more!

This is a must read for anyone who has adopted--or who has given a child up for adoption (trust me).

This author swept me up in her story from the beginning......twirled me around on her journey.....and put me down gently....all while keeping my heart and mind in the hearts and minds of all innvolved in the story. I loved this book!!!!! Sachs can certainly write...with knowledge, reality....and imagination! What more does a GOOD novel need!!! I need more from her!!!

Adoption is a special way of understanding feelings of other people. When you start this process you need support and help. The reactions of people around you make it clear who really cares for you who loves you
This is what happened to the two women in the novel

I often disagree with some things a writer chooses to share but those are small things that prove your thinking about what you've read and not just scanned the material. The one that stands out the most after 20 years is the piece on Cuba. Each piece however took me somewhere beyond my own thoughts. It is more than well written, it is thought provoking and at times peaceful.

and this is not exception. Her honesty, her heart and her story telling is excellent as ever. May she bless us with many, many more stories.

Alice Walker is insightful and thorough in her examination of literature. I especially enjoy her piece about Flannery O'Connor.

This book helped me gain my voice. I love it so much -- I have two copies of it and I would still not be willing to loan one out. Alice Walker is a powerful visual writer and a Gift to the Womanist Academy!

In her essay concerning post-Reconstruction African-American women, Alice Walker seeks to put a human face on what Americans may otherwise only remember as an unfortunate scar on our glorious history. She asks, "Who were the Saints? These crazy, loony, pitiful women?" And in answering herself, she replies in repetition, "our mothers and grandmothers." These are the human faces to which she has attributed all that is contemporary Black America.

"Moving to music not yet written," Walker's image of the former female slave is one, not necessarily of a battered laborer, nor of a heifer being kept only because of her ability to breed valuable livestock, but rather as an artist ahead of her time. These women made beauty while amidst horrible conditions. These women were not merely ex-slaves, but they were "Poets, Novelists, Essayists, and Short-Story Writers" whose potential was never met, and dreams were never realized. For this reason, Walker attempts to embolden and even mobilize African-American women with the responsibility of realizing the potential of black creativity denied their ancestors.

Walker asks, "Do you have a genius of a great-great-grandmother who died under some ignorant and depraved white overseers lash?" What an amazing question to ask. How many geniuses and artists were slain by the horror of slavery? Americans spend a lot of time and energy thinking about the economic, political, and social restrictions slavery imposed on African Americans, but I have never even heard elusions to the loss of black creativity due to slavery. I too have given more thought to the socioeconomic inequality within black America than I've ever given to the stifling of their creative ability. Perhaps, we should give this idea more thought, for it was the efforts of these "poets" in everyday life that transported black women to where they are today, and have arguably elevated the intellect, creativity, and soul of an entire nation.

Thought provoking; this is an essential read for anyone interested in understanding the effects of slavery, especially those effects that go beyond our typical understanding of oppression.

Lisa (LYE-ZA) Alther's latest, Kinfolks, falling off the family tree, is irresistible!

Kinfolks is the most humorous and entertaining book I have read in years! (And I've probably read 15,000 in my lifetime of 81 years.) It also introduces you to a very interesting woman who is unafraid to reveal her weaknesses and foibles. She is also a marvelous role model of openness and self-effacement for the young as well as a reassurance for all senior citizens.

Do not be fooled this is only about ancestors or genes. The genealogy and DNA searches provide the structure for very wise and unhurtful humor--a very rare quality.

Most Americans no longer live where they grew up. What they gained by living among strangers, what they lost by uprooting, and what they may profit from by accepting ALL their roots, traits, and history are hilariously illustrated.

The Melungeons, interesting as they may be, only provide a vehicle for Alther's search for more self-knowledge by a very gifted writer. The writing draws one on as Alther reminds us of cogent points through artful means: she contrasts northeast Appalachia church message boards' weekly quotes with Vermont bumper stickers to give us insights into two very different responses to extremes of the Appalachians. She teases her family who seem recognizably familiar, and she tantalizes us with the potential of what DNA may one day tell us about ourselves and others.

This was a great book. It is styled like an autobiography and tells the tale of the authors childhood through adult years, focusing on family, culture, and the things she learned about her family through the years.

Lisa Alther hasn't lost her sense of humour or her keen insight into human nature. This is a great book and I learned a lot about history of the Southeast of which I knew nothing before reading this. I found it very interesting and I also loved learning more about Lisa's life as she is a favorite author of mine.

Well written, easy reading. But if you are looking for the history of the Melungeons, take this book very lightly. Borders on "Cultural Genocide". As with the works of Brent Kennedy and Elizabeth Hirschman, a very poor attempt at rewritting the history of the Melungeons.

I had never heard the word 'Melungeon' before, so I had to go look it up on the web. It appears that no body else really knows what a Melungeon is either. Therefore, what a great thing to go searching for. You can find it if you wish. (662 people claimed to be Melungeon in the 2,000 census).

Ms. Alther's search among her family roots lead her to about as confused a family as, as, as, well most families. The particularly amusing aspect of her family, especially among the older members is the refusal to admit even the slightest possibility that there might be a small percentage of African American blood running through their veins.

Ms. Adler is able to take her investigation into the upper bounds of comedy. She reports a church sign, 'What did Noah do with the woodpeckers.' Upon her father finding out that he might have some Indian blood he tells a fund raiser who calls, 'Sorry, but I'm Cherokee, and I need to give my money to my own people.' I'm going to try to remember that line.

Philadelphia to be exact - in this case, the city of Sisterly love!

Oh My! what an erotic book! and yet it had just the sweetest love story!

From hospital corridors to not so private sex near the softball diamond this book has it all!

Thirty year old Bren is attractive, thoughtful and introspective, she has a fulfilling job directing the rare books department at Temple University but has never been in a long term relationship.

Twenty-seven year old Candace, a model pretty blonde, has a high stakes job as a self-employed commodities trader who lives and loves in the moment.

Thirty-five year old Liz Ramsey is a medical attorney who is lovely inside and out.

The three met during their college days and have been fast friends since. Totally supportive of each other but that doesn't mean that they know all each other's secrets.

And gorgeous thirty-one year old orthopedic surgeon Dr. Reilly Danvers is a joy to read.

As a bonus for her readers the author has nice appearances from characters from her excellent novel 'Love's Tender Warriors'.

If you liked this novel you will also enjoy these tiles by the author -
Fated Love
Tomorrow's Promise
When Dreams Tremble
Passion's Bright Fury
Turn Back Time
Love's Melody Lost
Love's Masquerade
shadowland

Once it ended. Friends thought I had disappeared for a day when I started reading this book and made other plans! Seriously though, great book, intriguing characters, sex-surprisingly not all that much, but enough to really keep you interested. Anyway, Radclyffe proves that whether weilding a pen or a scalpel, she can cut to the heart of a her readers and her characters alike.

This is another one of Radclyffe's that I couldn't put down. Excellent story. Excellent characters. Great portray of true genuine friendship. It was good that there were three different storylines going on all at the same time, yet all linked together.

I really liked Bren. The soft spoken friend (well it appeared that way at first). I hope there is a sequel to this one. I would like to read more about her character in the future.

As usual I am never disappointed when it comes to Radyclyffe.

Radclyffe does her best work when she writes her stand alone novels. Unlike her series, which sell books, but have gotten rather mundane, this book has a fresh concept. It's not often that a lesbian novel features a central figure who is pregnant and alone. While Liz and Reilly are the major focus of the book, the most interesting character might be Bren, who has a couple of secrets she's kept from her best friends. Any of these characters could have carried the book and that makes them stronger than is usually seen in this genre. This is what Radclyffe excels at when she writes her stand alone novels. She should stick with it. The Lonely Hearts Club is a good read.

I have to preface this review by saying I'm a HUGE fan of Radclyffe's books. I think I have only rated two of her books 4, while all the others have been 5. Her last several books have really teetered on the edge for me, but this one is a strong comeback for my favorite author.

Here, much in the style of Saxon Bennett, the author delivers a variety of different women in a single plot. Even with the large cast, all are well-developed and their individual stories are tied together with skill and artistry.

I won't take the time to rehash to story here because the back cover text is pretty descriptive. However, I will tell you just how happy I am to finally see a Radclyffe book that is worthy of her talent and capability. This one is a don't-miss, absolutely.