Journals Books

I got this book in 1996. In January I met a man whose name I entered, both first and last name, so I wouldn't forget him... little did I know this first date would turn into a second, a wedding and a baby. It's amazing to have the ability to look back and see how far I've come. How much my life has changed in the last 8 years. This is the best gift you can give, and my most precious material possession. I am so glad that it is still in print. It has a great section for new years resolutions and it's a great way to reflect and dream. Excellent!

I purchased this journal for my husband in December 1996. He has kept it faithfully since January 1997 and is now moving through the 8th year. It is absolutely fascinating to see what we were doing on the same date in each of the 8 years. We remember vacations, trips, family milestones, weather conditions, get-togethers with friends, crises at work, etc. If you are lucky enough to have a family member who will spend the 5 minutes per day, this is the PERFECT gift!

This is the third year I have been keeping this journal. I love to look up and see where I was those last two years....I gave three of these as Christmas gifts and the recipients are still telling me how much they enjoy theirs. I have ordered one for a baby gift that I know will be appreciated and just now I ordered one for a bridal shower gift for a very special couple. When you think of changes and events from a new baby or a new marriage....all recorded for 10 years and all so visible...these are really a treasure.

I started keeping this journal a few years ago, after my second child was born. Each page has 4 lines for the day's entry, and all entries for a given date are on the same page. That is, each page has four lines each for the years 2004 through 2014. So, when I make my entry for February 17, 2004, I can easily read the entries for 2002 and 2003 which are right above it. It's kind of confusing to explain, but it is a great idea. Four lines is about all I have time to write, anyway. I especially love it for recording cute moments or developmental milestones that my kids have reached, and seeing all the change that has occurred in the last year. There are also pages for "carryover", so if you want to make a long entry for a given day there is plenty of room. I've given several as baby shower gifts, and they have been well received. The moms have later said how fun it is to in the second year of the keeping the journal to read the previous year's entries. My husband now keeps one, and I am getting one today for my mother-in-law's birthday. She says she always regretted not keeping a journal, but never had the time.

I read this at the request of a friend from my mens group at church, his wife had read it and told him he should read it as well. I read it while on vacation last week. First off let me say that being a guy I have never been in to "romance" books. After I read the first chapter I was hooked and had to finish it. Lisa knows how to write a story that keeps you interested and her words paint pictures of the places they visit. A great romance novel with out all of the gritty, dirty "romance novel" stuff. It is great for the early teen on up because it is easy to identify with the characters and keeps you going.

This book gives me a renewed respect for mankind. A joy to follow a young girl's journey into the world of her grandmother only to receive a whole new life for herself. Not only is this a good read for anyone, but I would also recommend this book for young girls approaching adulthood.

I loved this book. Could not put it down. A story of trusting God even when things don't make sense, keeping the heart teder and forgiveness. I felt like I was there. I will be looking for more books from this author.

This was a very heart warming and realistic book about an emotional/self exploring journey that transended through generations. You are left with a feeling of having made the journey yourself, felt the believeable feelings the main character felt, and were left wanting to know what happened after the story ended. It was definitely a book I would recommend anyone to read, especially those people who need an uplifting and inspiring novel. It was a quick read and worth the time to read it.

I.R.King's Journal of a Superfluos Woman, is an interesting account of a part of one woman's journey along the curve of personal politics and societal history spanning the second half of the momentuous twentieth century. While many of the issues that the writer focuses echo universal themes, with its background of Caribbean reality, she brings additional voice to the necessary reasoning about class, race, gender, and intra-gender relationships often missing from 'polite conversations' among the more comfortable of Caribbean society. King's style is very readable, even humorous in parts, but that should not cause the reader to underestimating the import of this journal.

I read this book after a co-worker recommended it. I loved it! I was able to view my own growth and awareness of life around me through the author's experiences, which was delivered through humor and subtlety. It is a must read!

A Superflous Book
A delight to read! The author seductively captures the essence of self-development, self-discovery, self-awareness, self-serenity. While the book is comprised of a collection of essays, the essays flow together to give the book a sense of unity. Yet, each essay may be read in insolation to give each its own independent identity, but without sacrificing the book's flavor. I've read it once, i've read it twice, but three times would be a charm. Congratulations to the superflous author.

Insightful, inviting, entertaining, questioning, perceptive, honest!

All these and more describe Journal of a Superfluous Woman: A Collection of Essays. Not often do we get an open invitation to take a look at one life, up close and personal, and over time. To experience first-hand, not only events, but emotions that run deep and are held so close to the heart and mind that they are never seen by anyone else.

Journal of a Superfluous Woman is such an invitation. I could not put this book down! And more than seeing another's life, I was very quietly, yet insistently, nudged to stop and take a look at life and my life as past incidents surfaced. Journal of a Superfluous is a must read! The essay format is an easy read and left me hungry for more.

I'm eagerly looking forward to more from I. Rhonda King.

This is one of the first of dozens of journals, diaries, and recollections of the early west I've read over the years, and remains my favorite. I think this comes about as close as you can come to getting inside the head of an early Rocky Mountain fur trapper. In many you'll find bravado, truth-stretching, or the other end of spectrum - a recounting of the barest of facts. This is in between the two, and hints at times at what it actually felt like to be living those times. Three examples that come easily to mind are an encounter with a grizzly early in his career (and only luck saved that career from ending that day), his descrptions of the "sheep-eater" Indians and the place they lived on the Lamar River in the Yellowstone Park area, and his thoughts put to paper as he sat at the top of a high mountain and bid farewell to the trapping life and the virgin landscape that had been his home for 9 years.
The style of writing is different than today's and takes some getting used to initially. But I think it's worth it to read history straight from those that lived it rather than limiting yourself only to the digested product of later day historians.

A great book but hard to read at first because of the language that Russell uses. There are wonderful stories of indians and escape. This book leaves you wanting a continuation, but because it is a personal journal that is impossible. Haines does a wonderful job editing. A must have for the library of a mountain man.

This is the best description of the life of a trapper I have ever found. Most accounts deal more with the highlights of the Indian fights and other great challenges that these men faced. Russell deals with a number of these but also covers the day to day life of camping, riding, trapping, hunting food and cooking it as well as some of the day to day social interactions.

Fortunately many of the places he desribed are still intact and can be visited today. One can still see buffalo in the Lamar valley in Yellowstone or see the area where he crossed the Snake River in spring flood in bullboats. His careful accounting of the routes and locations make it possible to almost follow in his footsteps.

The author has done an excellent job of editing this information in his well annotated footnotes and his maps. A thoroughly fascinating volume.

Osborne Russell was never one of the elite of the Mountain Men. He spent most of his time in the mundane tasks of cooking, cleaning, and other camp chores while on trapping expeditions. But he wrote one of the best accounts -- certainly one of the most accurate -- of the peregrinations and the exciting events in the life of a Mountain Man. Osborne was in the Northern Rockies between 1834-1843 and was a participant in many expeditions of Bridger's and fights with the Blackfeet.

Editor Haines has compiled the routes of Russell's travel in 10 maps and added explanatory notes to his narrative. However, a lot more could be done to make this book more readable. First, there are no chapter and few paragraph divisions to ease the task of the reader. It's even hard to keep track of what year Russell is talking about. Secondly, there is room for many more footnotes and explanations of what Russell was doing and when and where.

We need a new edition of Russell's work which will make it more accessible to the reader. This old edition is invaluable if you are a student of the Mountain Man, but the casual reader may bog down.

Smallchief

I have read 4 books written by K. J. McWilliams and in my opinion this is the best one. I have read this book to several children and they are thrilled at the adventures of Darien, his friends and his family. Darien is portrayed as a lovable impish child that everyone, children and adults alike, can relate to.

The book is a great tool to teach family values.

Although this book is fiction all the facts are true. The language and pictures used make the book come alive. It serves as a good history book for that time period.

K.J. McWilliams' writing makes the book both humorous and informative for all ages to read.

The Journal of Darien Dexter Duff, an Emancipated Slave
by Karen McWilliams

The reader is introduced to a different view of slavery life thru the eyes of a slave child's journal. The family's freedom flight along the Mississippi River is reminiscent of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.
The confusion of sudden freedom and the unknown is shown by McWilliams as a refreshing excitement of the simplest of things for the whole family.
Freedom is a joy to the soul in spite of hardships---then as now.

Other journals and diaries by McWilliams presenting more insights into the lives of slave children are:
"The Journal of Leroy Jeremiah Jones, A Fugitive Slave"
"The Diary of A Slave Girl, Ruby Jo"
These well researched books belong with your books on US History.

Written in a believable dialect (and, fun to read out loud), Darien Dexter's journal takes young (and old) readers on a journey from a remote, slave-owner's plantation, to a bustling, post-Civil-War "NEW OR'LANS."

Although the journey is wrought with peril, K.J. treats each trial and tribulation in a manner suitable for youngsters.

I read the whole story to my wife, a little bit each night, just before falling off to sleep. It was a treat for both of us! Although the characters are fictional, the "Journal's" content, its epilogue and the detailed, historical photos of the era, make them seem as real as history.

I can't wait to read it to my grandkids!

This book begins in central Louisiana immediately after slaves are emancipated at the end of the Civil War. Darien Dexter Duff is Daneece and Doofy Doofus' older brother. Their Pappy and Mammy decide to seek a better life elsewhere, so they take their family and Auntie Sue and her six children, Cousin Ernie, Jenny & June, Baby Rose, Horace and Henry and trek across Ole Gassy Swamp where one of the boys almost gets eaten by a wild hog. After an adventurous time they eventually find work in the Great Piney Wood that the children believe is haunted by the Great Piney Wood Witches. When they lose their jobs, the family, who is now joined by Mammy Marie and her pretty gal, Solange, catches a paddleboat down the Mississippi to New Orleans where they live in Ramshackle Shack. But along the way the ten children manage to get in one hillarious scrape after another even though what they're going through is a very troublesome and turbulent time. This book is a fun adventure which teaches children a lot about American history in the late 1800's. I plan to read it at least one more time. And I recommend it to children over ten and their parents and teachers!!!!!!!! The Journal of DDD is one of the best books I've ever read. I also recommend The Diary of a Slave Girl, Ruby Jo that takes place in South Carolina and The Journal of Leroy Jeremiah Jones, a Fugitive Slave that takes place in Alabama. All the books have photos of real slaves and other things having to do with slavery.

This is an interesting story that is part fiction, part documentary (how much of each only the author knows) of a man who, through the course of his life, slowly travels West where he eventually escapes the clutches of a society he knows by association, but finds disenchanting and difficult to understand. His story takes you on a meandering path through the landscape of early America out into the little known, misunderstood Frontier land.

Jacob's story is different from most as he is an individual who holds few allegiances to the politics and prejudices of the time. This allows him a perspective on events that stand in stark contrast to the acquaintances he makes in his life journey. The author keeps you fully entertained as Jacob blunders his way through life and eventually becomes a respected figure with the people beyond the fringes of the known world.

I have been quite interested in the development of the old West and have extensively been reading all of this sort I can find, non-fiction and fiction. I found the book to be quite factual, in-depth interesting, and would recommend it to any person interested in following the history of development of the West.

Ronald Bowman has written a book that is a novel but is as carefully researched and detailed as a history of the Rocky Mountain pioneer man. The book is entertaining with the main charachter, Jacob Bowman, evolving into a man that the reader cares deeply about in his failures and successes. The story is rich with heroes, villains, rogues and memorable pioneers of the mountains.

This book is a must read for anyone who has ever dreamed of being an early exporer or learning more about the rich history of the Rocky Mountains. A delicious and rewarding read - buy it!

I really enjoyed this book! A young man's exciting encounters with the western frontier in the early eighteen hundreds unfold in his own words and in a very engaging style. This account brings the days of the Mountain Man vividly to life. We are also drawn into Jacob's personal struggles with vengeance, love and friendship. A very worthwhile read.

The author shares with us not only his pictures, but how the capture was accomplished. Well done.

This is the most beautiful visual book regarding Florida I've seen on the
market. The photography, by Jon Moran, is world class. Florida is my home
and when I want to send information and want to give a glimpse of this
lovely state that I live in, to friends around the world, this is the book
that I send to them. Everyone has appreciated the historical notes, the
factual information about the places where the pictures were taken, and
the visual memories of the authentic natural Florida, unfortunately
now not always seen by visitors.

I, too, am a Florida nature photographer: but my case is far different, as I'm a student with a limited budget and have only been shooting for two years. This book is especially close to my heart and experience, because, like Mr. Moran, I delight in travelling North and Central Florida in search of that perfect shot--it was great to turn the pages of a beautiful, glossy *professional* book and see all my old haunts, compare my experiences with Mr. Moran's (his passion for the state and the art is so evident), and, when I go back home to Colorado in a month, have someone else's take on Florida's beauty with me. I'll never tire of looking at this book.

"For 20 years Moran has traveled the Sunshine State with his cameras, capturing natural Florida as it must have appeared to Ponce de Leon and other early strangers in paradise. Narrating a slide show of his remarkable collection of landscape photography, Moran reflects on his quest to capture the soul of one of the most photographed states in the country." (review from the Florida Humanities Council)
Before moving to Florida, I only had a vague idea of its natural landscape gleaned from television documentaries on the Everglades. This book brings the wide range of Florida natural beauty into our living room. Enjoy!

Although fictional, "Journal" provides a somewhat historical bird's eye view into the tragedy of the plague that affected Londoners for a period of a year. The book is interesting and detailed, and qualifies itself as one of the earliest known Novels. DeFoe is most recognized for Robinson Crusoe, written in 1719.

Since Daniel Defoe was only four years old in 1664, A Journal of the Plague Year is a novel rather than a journal. It was written as a pamphlet to warn people of what to expect and how best to defend themselves should another plague strike. What makes any book written in the distant past interesting is the glimpse it affords into the mentality of the people of the time. This was the plague that caused Isaac Newton leave London for the country, where he purportedly started the work that led to the invention of calculus and the laws of gravity. We can see the struggle between clear thinking and self-destructive superstition in the thoughts of Defoe's character.

On the one hand he insists the plague is doubtless "stroke from Heaven, a messenger of His vengeance, and a loud call to repentance," but in the next paragraph he understands that the plague arises from natural causes, propagated by natural means." So he concludes that God is using natural causes to exact his vengeance, even though he also says he must be allowed to believe than all who got sick received it in the ordinary way of infection. So he speaks disparagingly of fatalistic Christians, and especially Moslems, who ignore simple safety precautions because they are convinced that only those whom God wishes to will get the plague. Though convinced that the plague is God's way of punishing the wicked, he acknowledges that it strikes the good and wicked alike, and the wicked were just as likely to survive as the good. When the plague finally ends, he is convinced that nothing but God could have ended it - not even the worst of people could have doubted this. He seems surprised by man's unthankfulness and the return of all manner of wickedness soon after the plague. Presumably, the average people of the time really felt that they deserved to die arbitrarily of an awful disease, and after living with the horror of seeing friends and family die agonizing deaths, that they should feel thankful that God had not done the same to them. Thankfully, science has put an end to this kind of superstition. True, some people still cling to this ugly notion of God, but while we can respect Defoe as an unusually intelligent man of his time, any writer with such ideas today would be happily dismissed as a crank.
(Peter Payne, author of CAPTAIN CALIFORNIA BATTLES THE BEELZEBUBIAN BEASTS OF THE BIBLE)

This edition restores Defoe's original punctuation, with capitals for nouns and colons for stops, so that the writing has recovered the vitality, weight and flexibility that Defoe intended when he wrote it.

To enjoy this book you need to read it as creative journalism rather than fiction otherwise it will seem dull, and Daniel Defoe is never dull. It can't satisfy as fiction because it isn't fiction. It doesn't have any of the benefits of fiction such as plot, author's whimsy, or character development. The Journal is based on the eyewitness experience of his uncle Henry Foe, which has been expanded by Defoe's own journalistic research after the event. He has simply taken the eyewitness experience of his uncle and created a masterpiece out of it for posterity.

This technique began with his first book, The Storm, except that in that book the eyewitness accounts - no doubt spruced up by himself - and his own work were separated. In the Journal of the Plague Year these are blended together so that his book has the vividness of the eyewitness view of the events as well as the talent and research that history would wish of an account of these events.

By misclassifying the book as fiction (and by modernizing the punctuation) we have been degrading the book's value to history and to readers.

I wish the print was bigger and blacker and this applies to the Modern Library edition too, as does the above review.

The Great Plague took place when Defoe was five years old. Therefore his account written many years afterwards is as much fiction as eye-witness reporting. Yet his first- person narrator collects statistics and provides a credible account of the horrifying effect of the plague upon the citizens of London.
He relates the effects of the 'Plague' on various parts of the population and traces its develoment in time. One can sense in it how much Camus in writing his great work , " The Plague" is indebted to this work.
In the concluding days as the Plague wanes Defoe reflects upon the citizens of the city and their new reality.
This is the concluding section of the work, and gives an excellent feel of Defoe's language and narrative stance.

"It was now, as I said before, the people had cast off all apprehensions, and that too fast; indeed we were no more afraid now to pass by a man with a white cap upon his head, or with a doth wrapt round his neck, or with his leg limping, occasioned by the sores in his groin, all which were frightful to the last degree, but the week before. But now the street was full of them, and these poor recovering creatures, give them their due, appeared very sensible of their unexpected deliverance; and I should wrong them very much if I should not acknowledge that I believe many of them were really thankful. But I must own that, for the generality of the people, it might too justly be said of them as was said of the children of Israel after their being delivered from the host of Pharaoh, when they passed the Red Sea, and looked back and saw the Egyptians overwhelmed in the water: viz., that they sang His praise, but they soon forgot His works.

I can go no farther here. I should be counted censorious, and perhaps unjust, if I should enter into the unpleasing work of reflecting, whatever cause there was for it, upon the unthankfulness and return of all manner of wickedness among us, which I was so much an eye-witness of myself. I shall conclude the account of this calamitous year therefore with a coarse but sincere stanza of my own, which I placed at the end of my ordinary memorandums the same year they were written:-

A dreadful plague in London was
In the year sixty-five,
Which swept an hundred thousand souls
Away; yet I alive!"

This is fantastic! I purchased this book mostly because of the cover (I know, don't judge a book...) This book has given me direction as a new parent on how to pray for my son. It takes different biblical characteristics ("loyalty", "humility", "patience", "love", etc.) and devotes a chapter to each one. The authors tell their own personal parenting stories, give prayers to pray, and questions you can ask/share with your child. This will be a great tool of communication for me and my son in the future. It also has places to journal your own prayers, thoughts, and stories (to share with your children as they get older?) I have also taken some lessons from this book for myself. This would make an excellent gift for new or "seasoned" parents! "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."~ Proverbs 22:6

It's so easy to lack focus in our prayers for our children.
This book takes 52 godly character traits and helps you pray
them for your child. I ordered one copy of this book and am ordering three more -- one for my husband and one for
each of the godparents. This book is most appropriate for
children age 2 and above.

My husband and I received this book as a gift from some good friends upon the birth of our first daughter and we truly feel it is the greatest gift we received. There are a ton of different topics (e.g. Paticnce, Having good friends, Having a heart for missions, etc.) about which the authors write. There is scripture for each topic or attribute and quotes from different authors or thinkers on the topic. There is a prayer to pray for your child and a place to record that prayer in a journal form. There are also some great ideas on pursuing these things with your family. Each time we read a chapter and pray together we are deeply impacted. We have decided to give this book to everyone of our friends who has kids. It is a gift with eternal impact.

This is a great prayer journal that you can use to chronicle the spiritual growth of your child. It's like a "baby book" for their spiritual lives. It makes a wonderful baby shower gift and will be priceless to your child when he is grown!

This is a great book for anyone who loves nostalgia and the way the old parks used to be. For those of us who grew up in the area and who have treasured memories of Kennywood, this is like having a family album around the house.

If you like Kennywood Park, and are a roller coaster fanatic, this book is for you.

This is the essential book for avid lovers of the park, visitors, or anyone. Pittsburghers especialy will like the old pictures and references to the days of old.

Any coaster enthusiest, history buff, or Pittsburgher will love this book. The pictures of the old rides, coasters, and swimming pool bring back fond memories of warm summer nights and afternoon thrills. A little dated since a lot has happened at Kennywood after 1982, but its a perfect companion for Jacques new book.