Authors Books

Having my own collection of "baseball letters" similar to Swirsky's thoroughly enjoyed this book. I even envied a few of his responses that I was never able to receive and was relieve to find that I was not the only baseball fan to journey into letter writing.

It is a collection of responses to letter's Swirsky sent to baseball players in a varied range of topics. Some answers are short and simple while others provide a more interserting response. Either way, if you are a baseball fans or have even written to a baseball player, past or present, you should enjoy this simple and enjoyable book.

. . . this would have to be it. I actually started getting jealous that HE was the one who wrote to all these players, and HE was the one who got letters back from them. But I got over it quickly and just shared in the joy and the fascinating discoveries. What a treasure trove, made even better by the author's showing us copies of the actual handwritten letters from the players! Also it's gutsy how he shares with us the story of how this project resulted from a period of emotional difficulty that he went through. The style is casual yet flawless -- as easy to read as anything you'll ever find.

I *love* this book. It's a great compilation of some of the most interesting questions one can ask his heroes. Mr. Swirsky doesn't just stick to the basics, he asks players who played in the 1930s what baseball was like in that era, he asks legends to put together their all time All-Star team, and asks players their impressions of up and coming (soon to be legendary) rookies! I was very impressed by Mr. Swirsky's knowledge of the game, and his ability to ask questions we wouldn't have thought of.

What's also interesting is that 99% of the responses are handwritten! In this day and age of email, it makes the book more intimate and personal!

This is a great coffee table book, too, as it's great for reading in small portions--when you want a slice of baseball history! The companion book, Every Pitcher Tells a Story, is also wonderful and features more great letters. I highly recommend!

This book is rich and full of exciting baseball history, as Swirsky writes to professional baseball players of all decades and teams and poses questions to them on their careers and reflections of America's Pastime. Not only is this book interesting in a historical prospective, but it's very fun to read and analzye. The work that went into this book is noticeable, and both the letter to the player and the response from the player (as well as many great pictures) make this book a timeless classic. Bravo to Seth Swirsky for such a job well-done.

I bought Mr. Swirsky's new book "Every Pitcher Tells A Story" and was so taken by its originality that I bought his first one "Baseball Letters". They are quite different and it's hard to tell which one I enjoyed more. I was glad he didn't write to the same players--every letter was a new 'experience'.Great reads.

A wonderful book. Helpful information for both newbies and experts alike. Written with a lot of humor and flair. And the pictures are lovely as well. Highly recommended!

I LOVED THE BEANIE INVASION. Your online reviews made me decide to purchase it, and I've never regreted it! This book is fun, informative and an easy read! I did not put it down until I read the whole thing! Mrs. Daniels stories are unique, and cleverly written. The poem on the back cover was a great tribute to TY. I hope she writes another book soon. I strongly encourage everyone to purchase this title. It's NOT a pricing guide, it's not negative, it's not boring or hard to read, it's WONDERFUL! It's a book full of stories which all of us can relate too that includes humor, love and passion. I could only give this title 5 stars but it deserves 10. When I received my copy it came signed. I felt so special and then learned that she signs all of her copies, something else that proves she is a people person who cares about us the collectors. Mrs. Daniels - YOU GO GIRL!

Ms. Janie has written the Beanie Invasion to inculde all of the collectors. Read this information packed book and laugh along as I did. This book will allow you to recall events you may have forgotten. I recently met Ms. Janie at a show, what a sweet woman. Not only was I impressed with her knowledge, I also loved her table setup which was geared towards children. I attend many shows and have never found any table to be packed with freebies for kids. Thanks Ms. Janie for remembering the kids are just as important! Keep writing and keep smiling, you are a beautiful person.

This is a great book! If you love beanies, you'll love this book! It's da bomb!

If you want first hand encounters of the Beanie world! If you want researched articles with humor and truth! If you want to read from an HONEST Beanie expert, then you need to read the Beanie Invasion. After purchasing The Beanie Invasion, my family reads all of Ms. Janies articles. Ms. Janie is well respected and loved by the Beanie community. She apears on many websites and is a inspiration to us all. I would guess the reason why Ms. Janie is so popular, is because she tells it like it is and still remains human and kind to all. Ms. Janie is a fair reporter and we love her.

If you are familiar with the English Lake District or just an Anglophile you will enjoy this wonderfully detailed book on the life of Beatrix Potter. I wizzed through it's over 400 pages. Potter was an amazing woman who lived an interesting life and left an extraordinary legacy both in literature and property. You will never see "Peter Rabbit" the same way again!

I think other reviewers nicely report the life of Beatrix Potter as very interesting. The categories included in the "Select Bibliography" show the breadth of further investigation that can be stimulated by the book: Biography and Criticism; Agriculture; Children's Literature, Art and Photography; Contemporaries; Environmental History; The Lake District; Mycology, Paleontology, and Archeology; Religion: Unitarians and Quakers; Science and Natural History; Women.

I have never read any of Beatrix Potters books and never really knew anything about her. One day I discovered the movie Miss Potter with my favourite actress and I felt I wanted to know more about Beatrix Potter. I bought this book and it was quite boring! I think to relly enjoy it you have to have a true interest in B.Potter. This book bored me. Personally I thought it was a 3-star but give it 4 since it written extremly well.

I'll have to admit that it took the movie Miss Potter to stir my interest in Beatrix Potter; once stirred however, I discovered that Miss Potter was truly a remarkable women. This book displays in a very well written manner the many facets of a life that went far beyond Peter Rabbit. My wife read it first, raved about it, and then turned it over to me. It didn't take long to see the source of her enthusiasm. The book gives a carefully documented look into the life of a young women in England during the first part of the 20th century.

Miss Potter was a most extraordinary young woman to say the least. The obstacles she had to overcome proved her to be a woman of great imagination and courage; her determination to be her own person, in spite of the societal challenges she faced shaped her into a woman of depth and devotion to her dreams and visions.

Over the course of her life, Beatrix Potter lived two greatly different lifestyles. First as an author and finally as a farmer; fortunately for her, her first life as an author helped her accomplish the dream of her second life, as Mrs. William Heelis, in the gift of thousands of acres of land in the English Lake District to the National Trust to be preserved for the people of England.

I would encourage all who have enjoyed Peter Rabbit to find out more about the exceptional woman who started it all.

This book is a worthy addition to anyone's library.

A highly detailed account of the entire family of this great writer/painter. Very complete and entertaining.

Bruce Maxwell was a passionate man that truly loved Neferti. He was determined to protect her and he did so without her knowledge. I enjoyed this book. It dealt with mental illness, love, fear and anger. Would love concur?

I just bought this book on Tuesday and I finished it in 3 days! Nefertiti was brutally attacked and left with scars on the outside and the inside. Bruce was abandoned by his mother who called him a "devil child". Because of his "blue moods", people who knew him called him a beast. Bruce loves his beauty unconditionally and Nefertiti loves Bruce despite his problems with controlling his rage. This story was interesting because these characters had to deal with mental illness and traumatic stress.....but that just made it more interesting!!! I couldn't put down.

Kudos to the author on a book well written...

Six months ago, Nefertiti Townes was viciously assaulted in her home. If it wasn't for her neighbor, Nefertiti knew she would have lost her life that night. Prior to the attack, Nefertiti was a vibrant, well-known artist with a loving fiancé named Dennis. But, now Nefertiti has limited hand movement and an ex-fiancé who ran out on her as she was recovering in the hospital because he couldn't phantom looking at her horrific facial scars. As a result from the brutal assailant, Nefertiti suffered thirty-six knife wounds from her head to waist and she almost lost her eye sight. Emotionally and physically hurt, Nefertiti turned to the only safe haven that she had known her entire life - Bruce Maxwell.

Bruce Maxwell, a successful and prominent business man, has a dark side which he refers to as the beast. With the aid of his beloved aunt and a special doctor, Bruce is able to maintain control over his beast. However, when Bruce learns that Nefertiti's brutal attacked might not have been a random event, his internal beast forcefully emerges with a vengeance.

Beauty and the Beast is an incredibly moving book. I loved Beauty and the Beast! Just like in the famous animated tale, the hero will do everything within his power to protect the woman he loves. I was deeply drawn to both Nefertiti and Bruce from the very beginning. After suffering a great tragedy, Nefertiti knew she could trust Bruce to keep her safe as she tried to cope with her emotional trauma. While Bruce was trying to break Nefertiti out of the cocoon that she had built around herself, he found it very difficult to ignore the life-long attraction that he has always felt towards her. Their connection as a couple, both in and out of bed, was simply amazing. The passion that flared between them was zealous and presented in a tastefully sensational manner. I found Beauty and the Beast to be a well thought out story that captured my heart. Thank you, Deatri King-Bey for creating such a wonderful recommended read!

Nikita
reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

This story is a must read for all. It proves that beauty is only skin deep and beauty and love does tame the most savage beast. I read this book in one afternoon because I couldn't put it down. Great love story with a lot of intrigue to boot. A must read for all!

This is the first novel I've read by Mrs. King-Bey and I must admit when I first read the books description, I thought who wants to read about a guy who suffers with a bipolar disorder and a woman that's been horribly disfigured, however, I must also admit I am definitely impressed, this novel was beautifully written. In BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, Deatri King-Bey brings to light a story about finding the true beauty within. This novel was so realistic and thought provoking. It had me crying and LOL at some of Bruce and Nefertiti's antics. The emotion and love that was portrayed throughout this novel between Bruce and Nefertiti was just overwhelming. Despite the 'flaws' Bruce and Nefertiti suffered, be it physical or emotional, they were able to see pass all that and open their hearts to one another to a deep and unconditional love. This novel raised awareness about the bipolar disorder, it had mystery, action, humor and definitely some HOT and steamy love scenes. A real page turner that I couldn't put down until I was finished. Definitely a novel for the hopeless romantic and those that believe in fairy tales. Thanks for a real eye-opener, Mrs. King-Bey!

I'm a history buff and the period I love the best is 1900-1930 which is why I love Betsy Tacy so much. This 'companion' book is a great source for anyone craving more B&T as well as those interested in the details of day to day life during this time. More people than dates and facts - how did people LIVE? This books shares a slice of that...

This book is a lot of fun to have around when you're reading or re-reading the Betsy-Tacy series! It tells the stories behind the stories, compares the events in the books to events in Maud's life, and includes wonderful pictures of the real people behind the fictional names.

It is not intended to be a straight-out biography of Maud but rather how her life paralleled Betsy's. The research is detailed and voluminous, and very well done. This kind of a book could have been very tedious and boring, but I didn't find it that way at all. The writing was sprightly and included some humor, and I just really enjoyed paging through it as I re-read the series this summer!

Any Maud or Betsy fan should own this book!

If you are like me, you always feel a bit melancholy as Betsy, Joe and their friends dance back into the mists of time on the last page of "Betsy's Wedding". It's like loosing touch with an old friend, and you are left to wonder what happened to Betsy, Joe and the gang? Why was "Betsy's Bettina" never published?
Did Joe come back from the war?

Thanks to what must have been a time consuming and massive effort by Sharla Scannel Whalen, you can find out. This very thick hardback is crammed full of every minute detail relating to Maud Hart Lovelace's series that the author could find.
The Betsy-Tacy Companion is divided into chapters that address each book in order. In each chapter she compares and contrasts characters and thier real life counterparts, as well as information about the homes and businesses in the real Deep Valley of Mankato where their adventures took place. There is an additional chapter that tells you what happened to as many main characters as possible after the series ended. The book includes photos, illustrations, and clippings in addition to the text.
The format struck me as more textbook than biography. It can at times, seem a very dry read. It's a chapter at a time sort of read for me, as opposed to a straight through read. It's obvious that when Whalen was researching this book that sources of information were becoming increasingly hard to find. Although some information may seem unimportant or unnecesary, it's inclusion is worthwhile in that it keeps those bits of history from being lost forever. You get the sense that was very important to Whalen, this isn't just a book, it's labor of love devoted to preserving as much of the Lovelace legacy as possible.
I may not sit down and read this through annually like I do the novels, but I will keep it and treasure it. More important, I hope someday my own daughters will appreciate having a book that will never be rivaled in detail and depth. If you are a die hard Betsy-Tacy fan, buy this book before it's gone for good. 20 years from now it may be a hard to find treasure that our next generation will appreciate as much as we do!

I recently ordered The Betsy-Tacy Companion, and I was quite unsure as to what I should expect. My hopes were high though, and I wasn't to be disappointed. The Betsy-Tacy series is a special one, and the companion goes deep into the magic of Deep Valley and Mankato without killing it altogether. Definitely a must have for anyone in love with Deep Valley.

Oh and I was pleasantly surprised to see chapters for Emily of Deep Valley and Carney's House Party.

This book is a treasure if only for the hundreds of photographs of Betsy and the Crowd. The perfect book to curl up with on a long winter's night or any other time of the year. As a lifelong Betsy-Tacy fan, you can't give me enough details about Maud Hart Lovelace. The writing is informative and often humorous -- it's obvious that the author understands who her audience is: true Betsy-Tacyites!

The life - project of Pessoa in his making of multiple poetic alter egos, reminds of the life - project of Kierkegaard who explored various aspects of the religious life through use of alter egos often representing different faculties, approaches and moods of life. But if Kierkegaard's aim is to bring the reader to realization of what it might be to be in true connection with God, Pessoa's seems to be more to dissipate the notion of unique identity completely out of existence. Thus the fragments he shores around his own ruin and attributes to alter ego , heteronym Bernard Soares have within them a strong nihilistic self- and - world denying element.
Yet and here is the contradiction and the deeper truth they also reveal a kind of beauty both in perception and in the varied motion of the mental life itself. Lonely solitary lost fragmented Pessoa knows no human sacrifice like that of Kierkegaard with Regina, knows no dedication to his father's task of doing God's duty in the most ultimate way. He instead seems to reveal hidden realities as he conceals that beyond them all may well lie an eternal nothing. Kierkegaard is the many- selved servant of God, and Pessoa the many - selved servant of nothing more holy than human poetry.

"If i think, it all seems absurd to me; if i feel, it all seems strange; if i desire, he who desires is something inside of me."
Sums up the book perfectly. Pessoa explores one of his many personalities. "The Book of Disquiet" explains, in complete depth and faith, the beauty of a lonely, existential, moment by moment life. He explains the beauty that people forget. He explains the world, his perception, as if every moment were the last.
"The book of disquiet" is one of the most insightful books a person can read, but only if one has imagination and an ability to let go. Bernardo Soars, Pessoa's personality who wrote the book, is extreme and eccentric. It isn't easy reading, and it won't affect you if you can't overlook the fact that life doesn't go on like Soars'; that there is more in thinking, dreaming, and desiring than Soars admits. What makes the book so special is how Soars can forget everything but the thought and the moment, and how he can analyze and critique and put into words something that most of us forget to remember. "The book of disquiet" reminds me, at least, of how to appreciate my own mind. It is the only philosophy-like book that i enjoy (as yet) because it is the real thing and encompasses a forgotten part of real life.

Fernando Pesoa's genius lies within who Pesoa was as nil and not. He wasn't anyone. Only somene who continually writes in "disquiet" his persona's variable exegesis. The writing is in the book but the author who wrote it, Fernando Pesoa does not "feel himself" as actually being who he is. So, maybe he's actually a different author, with a different name who begins to write a different book. There's all of the writing there, its genius evident in the mystery of the writing itself. All the writing invested with absolute revelation of numinous absence. The absence is that of the author's presence. Magic? Truly. The author is not there. But he must be "there" because he has no choice but to write. What's the answer for the author who is finds himself as absent? He must undertake the creation of the abent author's presence. How? By literally creating a utterly unique form of literature. A literature whose grammar is of being literal by making it possible to write of the absence of an author to himself into a presence to be known as the once absent identity. Writing through a textual hermeticism capable of transmutation through written words of the emanation of an author as "logos," or the Word. "In the beginning there was the Word." Through the Word as logos, all identity is created in the appearance, ex nilho, of the writer mediated solely through himself in this the new logos of writing itself. Pesoa is not himself. He's a man who achieves glimpses of a unmanifest self-referential identity only through his books. In the work of writing these books, this identity is made manifest as the author's anamnesis. Seemingly he finds out (remembers) he is, and always was, a certain author he now "remembers" as himself as a manifested presence. An absolute genius manifested as the author himself being (repeatedly) annihilated through radical self-doubt. Only later remembering who he was as absolute presence never to be lost again. Until this is accomplished all of the laborious, literal negotiations must of necessity begin anew, and are written as literature whose search arises from absence's discontent becomes the new discourse as the art and improvisation of real identity forged in the alchemy of narrative. This peculiar narative reaveals itself as a lived experience of self-discovery. One man of many parts dismembered in his own identity become self-inflicted and religious. Pesoa's own holy inquisition seeking and finding the indentity he is spurious, a phantasm of derealized personality perpetually guilty of having a persona found lacking, Wriiten out in texts as being found guilty of the "heresy" of having an identity. Never before Pesoa has an identity crisis of infinite magnitude been witnessed in Pesoa absence made real presence in some of the 2OTH century's finest writing and poetry. of the 20TH century in The writing of a man named Fernando Pesoa. A man lost to himself, in search of the "person" underneath the name. Personality and identity as reality grounded in a mystery only to be known by itself: self found through words that are the artifacts of the self discovered. A genius lost to himself and calling his absent identity into gradual existence by a person's absence fading into a personality that's presented in multiple, shifting Heteronyms, or cases of terminal identity lost and regained.

Poetry often speaks to us; we see something in it, something recognizable, and it's like we are shown a piece of ourselves that had been hidden for a lifetime before. Finding Pessoa's *Book of Disquiet* was like finding a piece of myself. In the pages of this poetic novel you will find honesty, often self-disparaging, and you will find beauty in the smallest observation. However, be forewarned, this is not a book that should be picked up with the idea of light reading in mind. In fact, you may find that you have to put it down, repeatedly, to get away from it, to think, but you will always, always come back to it. Keep it close to hand.

there are few poets able to assume so many diferent personalites as Fernando Pessoa. But Bernardo Soares is not a diferent personality, is just the other side of his personnal mirror, an escape to his tortured soul. Probably that is why The Book of Disquiet is so universal, a portait of the human fears, an example of a lonely man,travelling across his own mind, looking at the world through the most ironic eyes. Fernando Pessoa was able to understand dissapointment and regreat in a intemporal way, as a natural part of human nature. So, this book has the ability to make you look inside yourself, guide by one of the best poets of all times!

As a nurse working with cancer patients, their families & loved ones I often find myself at a place of wanting to say more to comfort or offer solace. Sometimes the emotions filling & spilling do not allow verbal sharing. This beautiful book fills that space. Sometimes weeks later I will get a note thanking me for the giving of this book...how much Maggie's words have meant to them...how connected to another human they felt while reading it...how sometimes they read it aloud to the dog or cat just to hear their own voice speaking such loving , tender words...my heart fills.

I received this book as a review copy from a small publisher, and was wary. Many of the review copies I've received have been books that were not what I'd normally chose to read (and in those cases, the books rarely get finished or reviewed.)

This book was a welcome exception. Often I've wished I could pass onto my children some of the insights I've had after years of living and experiencing life. Or be able to comfort a friend in troubled times with sage thoughts. This book offers me that opportunity, in a modest-sized, but nicely packaged offering.

Maggie Steincrohn Davis has woven her own reflections with those of well known and not so well known wisemen and women, and presents us with food for thought appropriate for many times -- joyfilled or troubled -- in our lives.

She says in the beginning, "I confess, I could have condensed this book into one sentence - 'See deeply the beauty and interconnectedness of all life; then think, speak and act from what you see.'"

I'm glad she didn't confine herself to a few words - this book makes a lovely bedside book to read in those moments when you feel blue. It makes a wonderful gift for a friend in a time of need. It is uplifting, yet simple; inspirational yet earthy. It gets added to my list of books to give as gifts.

CARING IN REMEMBERED WAYS is the kind of book I reach for when I crave nourishing insights during trying times in my life. Maggie Steincrohn Davis' book about loving and caring for ourselves and others is true food for the soul, written like poetry. Thirty-one graceful entries gently serve up tasty morsels of ancient wisdom (such as how to see from the heart, or face times when loved ones are dying) alongside a garnish of amusing and heart-warming personal anecdotes.

I love the way Maggie understands all the subtle nuances of care-giving, and the ways love can reach through any situation, when we imagine it can. She writes, "Only by reaching 'beyond-the-beyond' of people -- behind their eyes, back of their pain, beneath their blaming and irritation and fussing -- do we make a path to the best in them. Treating someone with compassion who does not treat us well in return might be our fullest offering of love, as well as our own greatest relief during the daily rounds of vigilance and giving."

In this book, every sentence feels like a prayer and a meditation on love and compassion. As I read each comforting entry, I find myself feeling like I'm back in the warm, sunny days of my childhood -- snugly wrapped by my mother in a fluffy towel after a warm bath. CARING IN REMEMBERED WAYS can help brighten and warm even the darkest, coldest days in one's life. It's the ideal pick-me-up for anyone who grows weary of caring for and nurturing others, and even oneself.

A personal, practical & tender book about honoring the heart - a deep-seeing that goes beyond courtesy, kindness & empathy to the living compassion. Especially fitting for health practitioners, teachers, parents & volunteers.

Maggie's philosophy is to see the beauty & interconnectedness of all life. Her goal is to strive, to think, to speak & to act from what we see. She has been listening to her own heart & the concerns of others for years.

There are books that you read & there are books you live by. Caring in Remembered Ways is just such a book, the kind you can read from cover to cover or leave on your nightstand for those final, meditative thoughts before sleep. The throne room is also a good place for such pondering in a moment of privacy & relaxation.

A simply beautiful inspirational book of verses, thoughts, stories & philosophies.

Maggie has written a beautiful book about taking care of our fellow man. Her words flow like a calming river, bathing our souls in caring consciousness. This book will teach you deeply and remind you we are all human. Maggie helps us hear the thoughts of the ill and dying. She takes us by the hand and leads us into their world. How do you handle a parents death, a friends illness, the loss of a pet? What do you say to a friend experiencing a loss? How do you feel about your own aging? These are issues we will all have to face in our life.

Her words inspire us to move beyond courtesy and kindness and realize empathy. She evokes this feeling through a montage of anecdotes, meditations, stories from her own life, collected quotes, eternal wisdom and rivers of thoughts which run deeply over the rocky river beds of life.

The philosophy is to see the beauty and interconnectedness of all life. The goal is to strive to think, speak and act from what we see. Maggie has been listening to her own heart and the concerns of others for years. She has absorbed this knowledge and wants to pass it on to us in a way that affirms the best a human can be. She reminds us: "...any life we care for well can remind us of all we are capable of giving."

I highly recommend this "drink for the soul" to nurses, doctors, hospice volunteers, families caring for their loved ones, and everyone who feels disconnected and wants to start learning how to care for others. How beautiful the world would be if we could all know what Maggie knows in her heart. How caring of her to share her knowledge with us.

By reading this book you will realize how the smallest deed can have a positive effect in your own neighborhood. If you nourish yourself with the attitude of compassion, at the same time you will leave attitudes of worry, self-doubt, blame, fear, resentment and pettiness to die without your care. Maggie started Neighborcare to provide hands-on-care, plant care, pet care, help with errands, meal preparation, housekeeping, help with outside chores and help with transportation to medical appointments.

Her vision for the future is to encourage others to serve the ill, dying, injured and heartsick. She applauds volunteer efforts and I believe she is going to succeed in bringing awareness to caring with this thoughtful book from her heart.

The lessons presented in "Caring in Remembered Ways" are your guides to compassion. Along the journey of collected thoughts you may not see the words through you own tears. This is when you will most clearly see the needs of your own soul and the needs of fellow souls traveling with you in life. If you plant the thoughts from this inspiring book in your soul, caring will grow.

~The Rebecca Review

An amazing look into Borderline Personality Disorder, recovered memories, and the impact of those memories on the patient, family, and physician. Highly recommended.

Stephanie Moulton Sarkis PhD NCC LMHC
Author and Psychotherapist

Dr. Moskovitz presents a great case study, and a great analysis of a malpractice case. He also gives an excellent presentation of a psychotherapy case. Dr. Moskovitz sets the stage carefully and then the blook takes off and goes flying. I particularly enjoyed the vivid descriptions of Boston. Dr. Moskovitz's book brings about intriguing speculation about repressed memories. I highly recommend this book.

This engrossing book is for anyone who is addicted to the court-room, Law and Order-type suspense genre. As the drama unfolds, the author provides a sometimes disturbing window into the minds and hearts of each of the characters with even-handed, reportial detail.

As a psychiatrist, I found Dr. Moskovitz's novel, "Carousel Music" both entertaining and believable. His treatment of the controversial repressed memories and confidentiality issues is sensitive and insightful. They are addressed in the context of a mystery story complete with a surprising twist at the end. The development of the intricate characters and their interactions is very realistic, and I found the most interesting dialogue occurring during the courtroom scenes.

The reader is challenged to predict the outcome not only of the trial, but also of the novel itself. This is a well-researched page-turner, which clearly shows the complex thought processes of a psychiatric patient, her relatives, the treating physician, and the attorneys who become involved. I look forward to Dr. Moskovitz's next book.

Fred Miley, M. D.
Immediate Past President, Florida Psychiatric Society

The author's easy writing style takes the reader through the trauma and drama of the abuse, the courtroom, and the anguish of mental illness. I read this novel from cover to cover in just one night which is no small feat considering my busy lifestyle, but I just had to know how it all turned out.

Richard Moskovitz develops his characters well and brings them to life with compassion, intelligence and skill. Having worked closely with victims of abuse I can say that this novel is right on the mark. Therapists and suvivors should read Carousel Music.

I was a student of Jess Moody at Palm Beach Atlantic and it thrills me to see him still at it in "Club Sandwich". His gift to tell meaningful stories in a memorable way shines through once again. He writes the way he preaches, short, succinct, and powerful. If you need a heart- warming lift I highly recommend you read "Club Sandwich".

I am Jess Moody's granddaughter,Jessica. Even if he wasn't in my family, I would always rate this book with 5 stars. It's a great book with wonderful stories about his life. Try reading it, it's awesome!

I have read all of Jess Moody's books. I think he has found his niche with "Club Sandwich." He is a superb spinner of stories! This is his best book to date, his personal Everest of human interest and insight. He dares to share himself with the reader in an audacious and attractive way that appeals to the voyeur in us that clamors for celebrity dope. Buy it, read it loan it, but get it back. Long summer afternoons are coming!

Jess Moody is a master storyteller. He writes with great wit and intellegence, and has the ability to touch your soul with truth and insight when you least expect it. Jess is really an American treasure and this book underlines that fact. I can't think of anyone quite like him. I hope he continues to write books in the future. His voice needs to be heard. For those familiar with his other books this is vintage Jess Moody. For those haven't had the opportunity to feast on his stories and the visual images they evoke, this is a great introduction to a master wordsmith.

Club Sandwich is so good, you'll be asking for seconds. Jess Moody is a masterful storyteller with a message of faith, hope and humor. You can tell he's related to Will Rogers, Jr. because he got the "story-telling" gene that captures audiences with rememberances of the rich and famous and common folk.

My husband and I have been reading Club Sandwich as a morning devotional and it's a wonderful way to start a new day. In fact, it's so wonderful, we just purchased 40 copies to give as gifts to our family and friends.

I recommend Club Sandwich to everyone.

"A late rose ravages the casual eye," writes Roethke in A Walk in Late Summer, "a blaze of being on a central stem." In such images we see the symbols of nature fully tapped in modern poetry -- and tapped in American English, in fresh, vivid language that overpowers the reader with its grace and presence. The poetry of Theodore Roethke is written by a man profoundly alive -- skirting the edge of suicide, losing his voice in the awe of love, reeling wildly in the throes of "the pure fury," and looking at last with calm eyes into infinity and his own undoing in the Far Field. Roethke was a true descendent of Whitman where the latter wrote "This is no book / Who touches this touches a man." But Roethke's poetry moves us as much by its lyrical language as by the power and wisdom of its experience. Roethke himself was, as represented by his art alone, a "blaze of being."

Among Roethke's contributions to literature are his poems that treat depression. Far from letting his manic episodes paralyze him, he used them to write some his most intense poetry. "In a Dark Time" is one of the immortal poems of the 20th century, worthy to be set aside a Van Gogh painting. Roethke was not alone in treating these subjects: two other Pulitzer Prize-winning poets of his time, Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton, learned from him and wrote about similar themes. But Roethke's writing stands out in two ways from these poets and other poets the 50's and 60's.

One is the unity of his work and vision -- this Collected Poems traces a single spiritual journey beginning with his childhood memories of the greenhouse, and ending somewhere among "the windy cliffs of forever", last visions tragically cut short by his early death. Between those points are rendered all of the experiences of his life -- as he wrote in his first poem, "my heart keeps open-house." But he never fails to interpret these experiences and understand their significance in the larger picture of his life and poetry. Unlike so much of the poetry of Sylvia Plath and other Confessional poets, Roethke never demands that you read his biography to understand his symbolism. Rather, his symbols develop among his poems to form a kind of mythology: his recurring symbols include stones, fire, light, "the small," and the spirit.

The other difference between Roethke and other poets of his time is his technique. Roethke is never obscure; he always writes in fresh language, avoiding cliches, although his symbols are indeed personal and take time to understand. Roethke's craft is "strict and pure," such that even the staunchest defenders of Sylvia Plath have confessed that Roethke's writing is more disciplined. The Deep Image movement of poets like Robert Bly and James Wright is influenced by the kind of symbolism found throughout Roethke's poetry, and those writers have acknowledged their debt to him. Roethke retained rhyme and meter in a time when all the conventions of poetry were being ripped apart; and he did so with a consummate technical skill not to be found in the Beatniks or in the Black Mountain poets. Roethke's ear for poetry is much more sensitive than that of other poets of his time. We are gagged by the lyricism in lines like

"She came toward me in the flowing air,
A shape of change, encircled by its fire."
("The Dream")

"When all
My waterfall
Fancies sway away
From me, in the sea's silence..."
("Her Time")

"O love, you who hear
The slow tick of time
In your sea-buried ear..."
("Song")


The most exhilarating of all these are Roethke's love poems in "Words for the Wind", which justly won the Bollingen Prize and the National Book Award. These poems are unmatched for eloquence and spiritual intensity -- and it's a damn shame that modern anthologies do not reprint them, aside from the famous "I Knew a Woman." For it is in these love poems that Roethke's soul soars, and his poetic power is fully realized.

"She knew the grammar of least motion."
("The Dream")

"Light listened when she sang."
("Light Listened")

"I measure time by how a body sways."
("I Knew a Woman").


Theodore Roethke achieved greatness in art by having the courage to confront the most intense human experiences and the skill to craft them into some of the most eloquent poems of his time. If there is ONE modern poet you will read, let it be Roethke. His "Collected Poems" is a must for every poet and every lover of poetry.

I relished Roethke when I first read him in high school, along with Hart Crane, e.e. cummings, and the Beats. I still admired him in college, when I wrote poetry myself, and regarded most other "living" poets with suspicious disdain. Many poets I loved then have lost some of their charm for me (my loss, not theirs) but, forty five years later, I still read Roethke. Does that speak to you?

To My Sister; The Heron; No Bird; Elegy for Jane; She; Her Reticence; The Meadow Mouse; and of course, My Papa's Waltz--these are all some of the great poems that Theodore Roethke wrote. Roethke is one of our American masters. I found that when he was on his game (as he was in the poems above, among others) his poetry was phenomenal, but when he wasn't, his poetry could be awful. His earlier work is better than his later work, though he seems to have gotten most of his recognition for his later work. Still, for the poetry lover this is pretty much a required volume for your shelves.

At first, I was heitant to delve into this author's work simply because I'd never heard of him in all my wide readings of poetry, both modern and old.

Don't make the same mistake I did. Roethke WILL NOT disappoint you. "The Lost Son" has become my new favourite poem, and this book goes with me perpetually, and will until I finish every line in it.

Exquisite.

I love Roethke and I can't stop loving him. His words, phrases, rhythms, thoughts, feelings and meditations stick with me. I will go a year or two without reading his work, but he is still there shaping the way I see the world. His poetry occupies the same space in my mind as Brian Eno's transcendent work On Land. It's meditative, quiet, and joyful and yet, sweaty, ominous, and alarming, all at the same time.

The Far Field (North American Sequence) incarnates this feeling for me. Roethke meditates on his own mortality (don't all poets?) and finds a vast encompassing love for life. A love not only for the "growing rose," but also, seemingly for the summer heat and the stench of dead buffalo, "their damp fur drying in the sun." He sees beauty in nature but also "redolent disorder" and he calls life "This ambush, this silence."

I agree with him.

Roethke proclaims a love for life which is similar to Nietzsche's concept of the Eternal Recurring. That is, he has learned to love life, the good and the evil, to such an extent that he would have it recur again and again, eternally. This kind of love is not a love for evil, rather it is a willingness to sit behind the window of one's pain and still look out and see the beauty. This takes great courage.

Roethke's influences are obvious. What American poet could escape Whitman and his lineage, Thoreau, Henry Miller, etc.? I'm sure he read his fair share of Nietzsche. I also note, Roethke's style seems to have changed drastically towards the end of his life. I believe this was probably partly in reaction to the Beats. However, in my opinion he swallows the Beats whole and makes something new of them. Roethke's verse also periodically has the ring of Wallace Stevens, and sometimes Robert Frost. Some of his verses sound like bad seventies self-help schtick; "I long for the imperishable quiet at the heart of form," etc.

I only go into these criticisms so I can make a larger point. Roethke's metaphors are sometimes, seemingly, larger than their implication, sometimes they are derivative, sometimes clunky. But, his work, for me, has an almost Biblical air to it. By this I mean his work resonates on a mythological level. His ideas are broad and go to the heart without ignoring the blood and stench of life. At the same time, yes, his ideas are broad, however, his details, while often being merely enumerative, are true. By this I mean, they come from a real eye roving across a real landscape. He is, at once, strange and familiar.

I would hope that Academia would catch up with Roethke. It seems that he is being unfairly ignored.