Renaissance Books

This children's book is about a King who is very reluctant to get out of the bathtub. His court makes several unsuccessful attempts throughout the course of the day to lure him out of the tub. Instead of getting him out of his bubble bath they end up joining him in the bath partaking in the activity they requested. It takes a creative thought from an unlikely source to figure out how to get King Bidgood to finally get out.

The story line is humorous, repetitive, and entertaining. You can't help but chuckle or at least smile when you turn the page after a failed character has left the bathtub and are standing in the court dripping wet from head to toe. The simple text has a repetitive pattern that is easy for children to catch on to and join in with. The repetition pattern has minor changes from time to time that keep the story progressing. For instance, the line "come in cried the king" is repeated throughout the book but is followed by a different word repeated three times depending on the activity requested; "yum yum yum", "jig jig jig".

The incredibly detailed life like illustrations will keep your attention long after the text on the page has been read. From the small delicate bubbles that float out of the King's bathroom to the elaborate and accurate period clothing of the court. The color use throughout the book changes gradually with each turn of the page. At the beginning of the book "when the sun came up" the general color of the page is yellow then fades into light blue during the day, pink and red in the evening, and finally purple and navy blue "when the night got dark".

I enjoyed this book as a child just as much as I do now as an adult. It's one of those books that every time you read it you'll find something different that wasn't previously noticed. I recommend it for everyone but in particularly grades 1-3 who will comprehend and enjoy this masterpiece.

This is my all-time favorite childrens picture book! The story is simple and delightful. The pictures are fantastic! My kids have studied the details in these pages. Reading it always made them want to go play in the tub for hours. We have worn out our copy and I most recently bought this for a grandchild. If only all childrens picture books were this lovely.

King Bidgood's in the bathtub and he won't get out! This book has been a favorite in my household for years. The illustrations are exquisite and the meter of the verse makes it fun to read. The Wood team have done another wonderful job with this book.

I bought this book many years ago when my now 25 year old daughter was a baby. It is extraordinary. The illustrations are breathtaking, and I remember getting lost in them - much to the disappointment of my children who wanted to get on with the story. I still have the book and still enjoy getting lost in King Bidgood's world.

"Help, help cried the Page" is the captivating beginning of Audrey and Don Wood's picture book King Bidgood's in the Bathtub. The good old King has climbed into the tub and now refuses to get out. This story is a wonderful experience for children of all ages, especially the ones disguised as adults. The simple rhyme and diction coupled with the amazing illustrations allow your young readers to relate to the issues so cleverly addressed in this work of art.

RHYME:
The entire book is written with a simple, repetitive rhyme scheme. There are many benefits to this style. First of all, it works very well for those children who are just developing their reading skills. Children generally, like things that they can repeat and follow even anticipate easily. Wood's repetitions make this easy for many children while her small variations keep the story interesting. Every child will soon be able to sing out "come in" with the king and then wait anxiously for the "boom, boom, boom" the "trout," or even the "jig." The small variations also allow the child to follow the timeline of the story easily which encourages their ability to do `tell backs,' where the child reaches an age when then can relate and retell the story with the appropriate order of events. The simple references that Wood includes to the sun going up, getting hot, growing dim, and the moon shining bright are very clear references that the child can use. The interactions that the child participates in while developing these skills help to keep a child with the shortest attention span involved. Also the excitement that learning will create will keep your parental senses from getting tired of reading the same book again and again because it will never be quite the same to your child.

The repetition of the rhymes can also be connected to repetition of simple acts in both of your lives. There are generally two types of children, one that really hates the bathtub and the other that never want to get out. The bathtub represents a constant, repeating battle in your life either way. Children who do not like to bathe are encouraged to enjoy it by all of the fun things that can be done in the tub. You can do everything from "battle in the tub" to "dance in the tub." What child can say no to that? For the rest of you, the book is about getting out of the tub after all and a simple telling of the story and then an enactment of the end where mom "pulled the plug" can be a wonderful and stress free way to get that very hygiene oriented child out of the bath and into their bed.

DICTION:
Once again the simple text is very beneficial for the new reader. There are no big words to be asked about and worried over, accept maybe "masquerade ball" and the pictures define that one so well that it really isn't a problem. Any child can understand that the page is calling for help and that everyone else is trying and failing. This simple understanding of what seem like big concepts can really help the child to develop a love and excitement for learning. The contrast between the direct call for "help" by the page and the round about reasons to "get out" offered by the members of the court shows how they want the king to get out of the water but are afraid to tell him what to do. They may offend his kinglyness. This is similar to the classic story of the Emperor's New Clothes where while everyone knows that the kind looks ridiculous it takes a poor fool to tell him so. Except in this case the king is in the bathtub and the only one willing to be direct enough and to take affirmative action to get him out is the page.

The very simple diction that Wood employs is in direct contrast to the very elaborate ways that the court members try to remove King Bidgood from the bathtub. In the end it is a simple action by a simple boy that confounds all of their extravagant attempts. This really boosts a child's self esteem. They are able to understand through this very primitive text that their small ideas can make a huge difference because they can see things that the adults in their world miss.

ILLUSTRATIONS:
The amazing illustrations give the child another chance to see things that you, as parents are missing. There are many ways to measure art work that could easily be applied to Wood's illustrations but by name they do not matter to a child at all. What matters is their ability to be incredibly realistic and to bring to life a fantastical story about a king who refuses to get out of the bathtub and all of the fun he has battling, feasting, fishing, and dancing in his bathroom. The illustrations are vibrant and very busy. They immediately capture the child's attention and can keep them entertained finding new details for years to come. When Wood is asked about how she comes up with the ideas for her stories she says that they are a mix of her life, her son's life, and her day dreams. This is clearly represented in the contrast between the simple fanciful text and the complex and realistic pictures. It also relates very well to the child whose mind's reality can be very different from the world that you live in. This book can provide a very productive outlet for the erratic idea's prominent in the life of a young child. The final pages of the book also reinforce a child's confidence in his own ideas. The simple text "glub, glub, glub" is contrasted with the very smug looking page triumphantly holding the plug while the king runs from the room in nothing but his towel and crown. To a child with ideas that seem simple and perhaps even irrational to the general adult world this is the perfect picture of all of the success they can yet achieve.

Children of all ages and even the daring adult can experience the wonder of Audrey Wood's world through the simplicity of the rhyme and diction when it is contrasted with the amazing complexity of the illustrations in King Bidgood's in the Bathtub. Once in this world it is no trouble to learn and grow with the characters. For children it is especially rewarding to relate to the transformation from an overworked and stressed page to a triumphant one.

I could not put this one down....Heart racing....PASSION!!! Oh my god!! Loved it and will re-read it again and again!

The medical world is the backdrop of this story, which is about a surgeon who buries herself in her work, but ends up falling for a filmmaker.

I wish Radclyffe would write more novels with medicine, her second profession, as a backdrop. There are thousands of fans of this genre out there who also have a fascination with the medical arena who, like myself, would jump at the chance to plunge into the lives of more characters in that setting. Like the character Tory in The Provincetown Series, these doctors are interesting as Radclyffe defines them by their professional as well as their personal lives

This book rocks! As soon as I got into it I said "this author MUST be a doctor...and so she is. I enjoy and am interested in books with a medical setting, and this is by far the most authentic I have ever read, no matter how famous the author. This book deserves a wide readership and a place on best seller lists. I don't usually read romance fiction (especially straight) finding it to be formulaic, predictable and silly. I do read some lesbian romance, just so I can read something I can relate to, but this book elevates the genre to a literate and realistic level. Strong characters are well developed, and I thought the "secrets" that shaped each woman were brilliant, original, and fascinating. The love scenes are moving and believable, but never uncomfortabe. To me they represent exactly the essence of sex between women, neither too graphic and crude nor too gauzy. Three thousand cheers for Radclyffe!!!!!!!!!!!

Once again, Radclyffe has written absolutely beautiful, and brilliant prose. This woman must have a vivid imagination, or has lived each of these experiences. I am sufficiently addicted! In this book, Saxon Sinclair is a surgeon, much like the character of Tory King, in the Provincetown Tales. Saxon is totally focused on her work, and hates intrusion. Then Jude Castle, a film-maker commissioned to film a documentary, invades the hospital where Saxon works and immediately sets up shop with her cameras and spotlights. Dr. Sinclair protests and thinks that cameras have no place in a trauma unit. Jude thinks Dr. Sinclair is the most arrogant witch she has ever metand just wants to do her job and get out of there. With the sparks, comes attraction and as Jude watches the skillful and graceful Dr. Sinclair in action, she becomes attracted to her and the sexual tension builds until you can't stand it. (Radclyffe is good at building sexual tension) Finally they hook up and the way Radclyffe writes the sex scenes-Whoa! I loved this book and I love the way Radclyffe writes. I am hooked!

I thought this book offered some different ways in the effort to learn more about myself. The exercises are thought provoking and easy to do and provide a good insight into my own thoughts, habits and self. I don't think it is ground breaking or the answer to the million dollar question "Who am I?" but it does offer exercises to learn more about self and I think it is an excellent read and book.

Wishcraft is divided into 2 parts: the wishing part and the 'crafting' part. The premise of the book is that you cannot get what you want unless you have done the wishing you need. So the first part of the book takes you through a series of exercises designed to get you to dream your wildest dreams about your life and what it could be. It is both powerful and freeing to do this. Barbara Sher also gives you ways to distinguish between 'real' dreams (the ones you really truly want) and fantasies (things you just think you want).

Once you have some clear ideas about what your dreams are, the second part of the book gives you great approaches to achieving them. One of the most fantastic aspects of this section is the focus on the problems list. barbara says that your list of problems are like gold. in the beginning i did not realize what she meant but once you have clearly articulated what problems you have then you can start attacking them one at a time. So the problems lead you to the dream.

Don't get me wrong, this book will require you to work hard but the exercises are great and her writing is fantastic. Having a dream (or 20 perhaps) is something I had forgotten about as I make my way through a busy and complex life. Now I feel like I am taking control of where I am going with the aid of her wisdom and direction.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants to make life changes, career shifts, or just wants more from their lives.

This was Barbara Sher's first book, but until now I'd only read (and loved) her follow-up books. I've read alot of other books on positive affirmations and projecting to the Universe what you want and was stunned to see that this "oldie, but goody" was really one of the most simple and straight-forward approaches to that concept.

Even if you've read lots of other self-help books, this classic is still one everyone should read.

I got the 1979 copy of this book about 4 years ago on a recommendation from a therapist who saw that I was drifting along with no real goals. I had tried college twice before (by this time I was in my late 30's) and each time quit because I didn't know what I wanted to do or to be. The "college career center" was no help whatsoever. The test I took there had me taking courses for industrial engineering, which I had zero interest in, but I figured maybe the test saw some hidden talent that I didn't know I had. Wrong. I started reading this book and doing the exercises and slowly discovered what it was that I wanted to be....an interior designer! I would have never thought of it in a million years without this book changing my way of thinking. I felt like it was a huge revelation! It was a relief to finally know, at the age of 38, what it was that I wanted to do! I started college again and had to quit after a year and a half due to a pay cut at my job. The old me, the pre-Wishcraft-reading me, would have just given up right then. Actually, I DID freak out for about a week. But the new me sat down and brainstormed like in the book and thought long and hard about what needed to be done to be able to stay in school and follow my dream. I'm happy to say that I only took a year off of school and am actually now in a better school. I've also been so inspired by the other reviews for this book. I have recommended this book to friends and will always keep my copy no matter where I go in life.

Growing up Asian without knowing I was an ADD scanner, I really struggled with "why am I so different?!" Reading Wishcraft in college was my first and best ray of hope towards creating a life I love, finding ways to learn and live that really work for me, and also coming to appreciate all of who I am.

In 8th grade, I thought that I had No Talent whatsoever and had no idea "what to do with my life", now I'm amazed at all the talents that keep showing up now that I know how to find what works for me!

I currently love teaching voice lessons 5 days a week, performing with my Global Jazz band, and I'm creating my first full 2-hour musical theater production with a Persian Iranian jazz singer friend of mine called "Memories & Media Myths of Iran & North Korea" -- for which we received a Minnesota State Arts Board / National Endowment for the Arts grant!

THANK YOU BARBARA!

When I was first introduced to this book by a close friend, I read it. Then I ordered 3 more just so I could share it with my other friends. Of all the books I have read about love, relationships, and life, this is easily the most significant and I'd urge anyone looking for self improvement to read this at least once.

I purchased this book first in the mid 80's while I was laid up after an injury. I was deeply impacted by it and the messages about the levels of consciousness. I have to admit that I have not yet finished it. I continue to work my way through the first 5 levels, over and over again. This book impacts my life in how I interact and whenever I find that I am in "pain" I recognize this, look to where I am stuck and accept myself. I was amazed to find this book cited in one of my Graduate school classes. Apparently Ken was a quadriplegia, nothing in the book talked about this, and these messages of acceptance are important to those who work to overcome the impact of a disability on their life. I have purchased and given away numerous copies of this book. A must read!!

I had this book for about 10 years.I didn't really read it until aboout a year ago.The methods in this book has helped me out emotionaly,spiritaly,with my work and family life.

I found this book in my friend's car. I had a broken leg and he was taking me along on his chores one day. I thought it looked hokey but got hooked fast. I liked his ideas about reprogramming the mind--a bit like reframing and NLP He talks about the different centers of consciousness from which we are coming from at any time. He teaches us how to be aware where we are at any time. This is the awareness I needed when I was sitting there with my broken leg I learned about the centers that produce unhappiness---security, sensation and power--which produces fear of loss In my life i have read over 20,000 books This is in the top 10

This is a pragmatic book. I first got this book back in the 70s. I didn't realize what a treasure this book is.

This book will simply teach you how to be successful and happy always. Successful as in let go of the emotional junk that keeps you held back, keeps you sleepy, and all that. Sounds hokey? Well, that's why I didn't read it for about 20 to 30 years. I skimmed it, saw one line in there which sounded "hokey" and didn't read it. However, I kept it; a feeling told me to keep it. Now that I have had major things happen in my life, new career, new kid, and new challenges, this book came to the rescue.

Let's be clear. Had I read this book 30 years ago, I would have saved myself a lifetime of different moments of pain and suffering.

I suggest you read it all the way through as fast as possible, reread it and apply what you learn while reading it the second time.

[...].

I thought this was a really great book. It was very encouraging. I usually thought of myself as scattered and thought each unfinished project was just another failure. I always have too many interests and too many projects, and reading this book gave me great ideas about how to organize my priorities and interests effectively. If nothing else, it helped me feel better about my varied interests. I no longer think of myself as just a flake with too many unfinished projects.

This is a nice piece of work. The book does spend far more time than I wanted justifying the multitude-of-interests person. But it was quick reading at the beginning so not much of a burden.

There are some exceptional insights here, and some wonderful tactics for dealing with your range of interests.

The introductory exercises (Five from Fifty = prioritizing, Many Circles = weighting, Birthday Party = accomplishments) can help clarify things for those caught in the mire of doing. Clarifying your interest, no matter how many there are, is an important aspect of this work.

I particularly like the idea of Focal Points - temporary assignments you give yourself in order to have the freedom to learn or accomplish.

Reverse flowcharts are great in that they force you to see what you are doing that gets in your way. Basically think of how you can ensure something will not happen - there you go, many times that's what you're doing.

I think the concept of Four Frames - which is applied to volunteering - can be used in a far greater sense as well. Not simply limited to convincing a potential volunteering opportunity, but if you look at your larger goals, and your place in your journey - this approach can be used to convince your spiritual self what it is you want to contribute, and why that would be a good thing for all.

The crux of the entire message of the book is "I'd love to help you feel fulfilled rather than overwhelmed."

The author states "Renaissance Souls work best when we can match our activities to our energy flow." I think this is true for everyone, but it isn't something we value in the US all that much (instead we're told to bang our heads for 14 hours and meet that deadline, many times producing a lower quality result). So, without having a specific prescription for each moment of your day, the approach here allows you flexiblity in choice based on your motivations at that time. Yes, balanced planning - I've been waiting for someone else to say it.

My favorite story in the entire book is the one on Mozart, and his pursuing his purpose, becoming what he could be in the midst of all else going on. The author weaves an intricate connection about how this benefited so many others than if he were to try and be something he were not. Very nice... "One of the best things you can do for other Renaissance Souls is to keep growing." And I would add, the best thing we can do for all beings.

Toward the end of the book I felt the work there was less inspired. It focused on examples, whereas I think a book works much better if at the end it brings us back up to that higher-purpose and leaves us with lofty placement. We end on a real high then.

I could not be happier that I ordered this book! I'm 26 years old, and so far the only thing I've partially identified with is the "Twenty-Something" feeling, kind of lost, but full of potential. When I got this book, I read the first hundred or so pages right away, I was just hooked immediately. I really loved the tests and used them and now I do feel much more clear about my (current) focus. I'm definitely a Renaissance Soul (18 out of 20 on the Quiz in the book). I have done everything from Retail to Real Estate to Banking to Social Work to starting businesses, etc. I just got married, so that took up a lot of time and energy for a while, but now I have new goals and clarity. I really loved her example of the ice cream shop, likening the choice of ice cream, etc. to the choices of things we're interested in. She says it would be just as hard and paralyzing to try and choose one for the rest of your life as it would be to try and choose them all, that's why you need a "sampler", which is free to change, but that will give you focus. So, my current sampler is: Studying for and taking the GRE and applying to Grad School, writing a business plan for the business I want to start, spending time with my new husband, learning how to make soup (I just want to learn how to make soup!), and making healthier choices regarding food and activity. So, Thank You, Margaret! I think you are right on with your idea of a Renaissance Soul, and I'm so happy you wrote this book. It was my pleasure to read it! =)

It was the subtitle that drew me in...urged me to pick up the book... begged me to take more than a glance at it. Life Design for People with Too Many Passions to Pick Just One. Hmmmm, someone must be writing about ME! I discovered this book while browsing at the local library on a day that had me grappling with a way to explain to my husband that which is almost inexplainable to me: I have so many creative interests, and I am so passionate about them, that I allow them to absorb me (his words, not mine). I don't know why that is. I don't know how that is. I don't know when that started. And I don't know how to change that, or if I even want to change that. Why should I have to? To a person who isn't so inclined, I guess it seems more than a little odd that I can't "pick one thing and be the best at it."

And so it was that Lobenstine happened into my life with important information and answers to unspoken questions at just the right time. As she so wisely points out, our society tends to foster the idea of becoming an expert in one area and sticking to it. Society tends to look negatively on the concept of the "Jack of all trades and master of none" life. But Lobenstine contends that line of thinking is exactly the reason it is hard to undertand some creative souls and their passions for so many different avenues.

In an easily readable, most enjoyable format, Lobenstine offers hope to the creative souls who hope to be able to "have it all." She contends that it is possible to incorporate those passions and a paying job and be happy. Simple quizzes allow readers to identify what their individual values are and where those values can lead. Case studies of actual creatives offer guideposts and encouragement to those of us who struggle with the expectations of others vs the expectations we hold for ourselves.

The Renaissance Soul is divided into four very interesting, practical and engaging sections. Part I, Claiming Your Renaissance Soul, provides readers with characteristics of the renaissance soul personality: defining success by mastered challenges rather than how far up the ladder a person has climbed, casting aside single-minded focus in favor of variety. Lobenstine also includes a section that dispells myths about what a creative soul is and is not... Renaissance souls are not superior to others, nor do they fall into that diagnosis of Attention Deficit Disorder personalities. While some may be, not all renaissance souls are geniuses. They do not use their many and varied interests to avoid the realities of life, and they are NOT job-hoppers!

To substantiate her theories, Lobenstine offers examples of well-known individuals who fit her definitions for a renaissance soul--Ben Franklin, Leonardo da Vinci, Sir Thomas More and Maya Angelou, to name a few.

Part II, Thriving on Many Interests Without Feeling Scattered, was perhaps one of the most valuable sections for me personally. Digging into the heart of what drives creatives, Lobenstine challenges us to take a good hard look at ourselves and to clearly identify our personal value systems. She offers several revealing quizzes for her readers, including choosing five out of a list of fifty values and identifying the five values that are most important at the particular moment, or writing not the well-known self obituary but writing toasts to one's self by four individuals who know the creative person best. Scrutinizing personal values even more closely, Lobenstine asks her readers to consider how their own life meshes (or not) with the lives of those other individuals who are part of the creative's inner circle. She stresses the importance of identifying whether an individual's activities are reflecting personal values or the values of others. She offers practical ways to not only evaluate this but to move closer to a place where personal values take precedence over the values of others.

Part III, Practical Realities: Career Design for Pursuing You Passions, is the nitty-gritty for those creatives who want to give up their day jobs but just can't. The author points out that, while it is not always possible to give up the day job, it sometimes is easier than one may think to secure a day job that will help the creative soul move closer to realizing their passions and dreams. How would you like to get "paid for your passion?" How would you like to be able to focus on your passions, sell yourself, find non-traditional ways to indulge your creative side without compromising self? All of these areas are presented in a revealing way that caused this reader to experience several ah-ha moments along the way.

Part IV, Successful Life Design for Renaissance Souls, takes the creative spirit one step closer to realizing goals and dreams by helping readers make a commitment. Lobenstine offers a unique and comfortable way to put desires into action--the PRISM test. As she explains, "The PRISM test puts your current set of Focal Points through a rigorous evaluation. Just as light bursts into color as it passes through a prism, this test allows you to examine your Focal Points from new angles, therby clarifying and confirming your eventual selections." PRISM is an anacronym for Price (How much will it cost you to get to your Focal Point?), Reality (What will the day-to-day, nitty-gritty of engaging in this Focal Point really involve?), Integrity (Why does this particular Focal Point seem particularly worthwhile to you?), Specificity (When you are specific about constitutes success, you can articulate your desires to yourself and others), and Measurability (Setting specific dates for attainment of your goals allows you to map out a plan and take specific steps toward passionate productivity).

Margaret Lobenstine is the perfect person to walk creative Renaissance Souls through the process because she, too, is a Renaissance Soul. Not only is she a motivational speaker, writer and life-coach, she has been a successful bed-and-breakfast owner, a family business consultant, and a literary specialist. She encourages renaissance souls to be role models to others. To learn more about the author and her work, visit her website.

by Lee Ambrose
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

I consider myself the very model of a Renaissance Soul: I love to read about lots of subjects; I used to garden quite fanatically; I'm in a knitting/crocheting phase right now; music is a big part of my life; and I've been doing agility and other training with our dog. Oh, and I have a day job, too! My answer to "what do you want to be when you grow up" changed so often when I was younger that it made my head spin! So I was hoping this book would help me sort out how to feel fulfilled and yet not too diluted pursuing my many interests.

And indeed it did. Here are just a few helpful tidbits I took from the book: You do have to choose a few interests at any given time, based on the things you value most, but those choices don't have to be forever. You should quit doing things that don't fit with the values you hold most dear. You can combine interests (for example, I like to write and cook -- maybe I should write about food?). You need to block time for your interests, but not be inflexible about which interest you pursue at a given time. There are lots of creative ways to get where you want to go, even if you pursue many different careers over time, without starting at Square One each time.

And so much of what the author said validated the way I approach life, even toward the end helping me understand why I sometimes feel unmotivated to do anything at all.

My only complaint is that the book starts to sound branded or jargony, with its Renaissance Soul Way and Focus Points Notebook -- kind of like the Chicken Soup series or the Finish Rich series. This Renaissance Soul finds that stuff kind of annoying. But the content was so rich and sensible that the annoyance was minor. This book has really gotten me thinking about what I need to do to more fully enjoy my many interests.

This is the best most spectacular book on leonardo to date.What can i say that hasnt already been said in the reviews above except that i cant believe that a couple of reviews gave 3 outof5 stars for this book. I think the book deserves 10 out of 10. The book is a masterpiece in itself. Keep up the great work.

I first saw this outstanding book at the Palm Springs Air Museum's Da Vinci exhibit last month. It is a comprehensive and beautiful tribute to Da Vinci's genius that young and old alike can enjoy for decades. Spending an hour glancing through its pages is a visual treat; reading it to more deeply appreciate his multiple talents will take years. Though the price of the book may seem high, it is an unique volume and worth the price.

without studying Leonardo da Vinci, one of the greatest Italian Renaissance artist and would-be inventor of all time. He left us a legacy of paintings, drawings, diagrams, inventions, and even sculpture for all to see. He's known more than the Mona Lisa painting, he's an inventor of sorts as well as a very fine draughtsman.

This book should be a required course for art students everywhere.

this book is a daily source of admiration, exposed on our table and we change the page practically every day to have a new work of wonder to admire every day. combined with more and deeper information on leonardo da Vinci the true art becomes clear.

The massive size of this book is only dwarfed by the enormous amount of information it contains. Did you know Leonardo Da Vinci conceptualized the helicopter...or the x-ray machine...or even the engine???? He did indeed and it's all in this comprehensive anthem. I highly recommend this book for the Da Vinci neophyte as well as the most avid "Leo scholar" as both will be awed and amazed.

I have had this tiny little book for 20 years. I treasure it as one of the greatest books filled with a cutting wisdom that reminds me of the simple and profound truths of God's Wisdom. Not written in religious tones, but carrying such deep spiritual healing wisdoms. Big Truths are simple, and we humans do seem to have an addiction to complicating life, and creating chaos when quiet reflection would reveal the simple nature of truths so well revealed in "The Book of Qualities". It has a centering quality about it, making one go, "Ah yes, that's the truth of it".....after reading a one page passage on anything from "COURAGE" to
"GREED", to "AMBIVILENCE", to "GUILT", to "POWER" and too many more to list here. Give yourself one of the greatest books you will ever own. I expect that you will put it in a special place,easily accessible, and always quitely waiting for that moment when you might need to remember what "truly matters" about being human in this life we create. As soon as I post this review I am heading straight to Amazon again, and purchasing 2 more copies to keep tucked away as I have worn the pages of this wonderful little book over 20 years of re-reading it.

I was given this book several years ago by a dear friend. As is always the case when someone gives me something, it sat untouched for almost a year.

When I finally picked it up... I devoured it. I plotted the relationships within the "community" and also used it to journal, hanging out with the characters in the book for a day or so and seeing how they lived in my life. Ultimately it made my understand just how life and time can affect us all. It's helped me be more tolerant of others... and myself.

This year I was the person who gave it away... It's funny the look on some people face... "Oh... GREAT... Yeah, thanks!..." When they actually open the BoQ and spend some time with the characters, they'll understand.

It took me longer than it should have, but it was there waiting for me when I was ready. I LOVE THIS BOOK! I wish I'd written it.

I owned this book for many years often quoting from it to friends. I either lent it or lost it in a move. I missed it. An old friend returned.

I absolutely love this book, and everyone I show it to falls in love with it too. Gendler had the idea to take qualities such as anger, complacency, joy, and contentment and write about them as if they were people. In so doing, she has captured their essence in a poetic and powerful way. Once in awhile you encounter a writer who reveals things that were right in front of you but went unnoticed for years, and in so doing enriches your vision and your world. Gendler is one of those writers. Every time I read it I experience the same sense of wonder and discovery. If I were stranded on a desert island, I'd want this book with me. I don't usually seek autographs but I am honored to have an autographed copy. Gendler is also a visual artist and has illustrated her own work.

April is National Poetry Month. Yeah, I know: there's a national month, or special week, or weird celebratory day, for every topic and group in the universe now. There's even a book up at WNBT that lists, by month, everything from "National Dental Health Care Week" to "International Talk-Like-A-Pirate Day". (Although those two topics might not be so unrelated as they first appear, har har.)

But I actually look forward to National Poetry Month. I love poetry. Poetry challenges me, feeds me, shocks me, makes me giggle, soothes me in songs, comes to me from sacred texts and coffeeshops and in emails from friends. And, unlike many genres of literature, I believe there is a poetry book for everyone. There may not be a story from the thriller group that you'd like, or a biography, or a book on investing. But I'm fairly certain if we looked, and probably not even for that long, we could find a poem or two that you would love.

I told Kevin I was prepared to write two or three columns for National Poetry Month, or even do the entire month of reviews. He gave me a look. He thought one column would be enough. "People just don't like poetry all that much," he told me, gently but firmly - although he writes fine poetry himself.

So how do I choose one book to focus on? Actually, it was a clear and easy choice. There is one poetry book that fits all of us.

When I had to be in the hospital for a while during my college years, a friend brought me this special book - J. Ruth Gendler's "The Book of Qualities". Since then, I have turned around and given copies of this book to all different people in my life. I've shared this beautiful little book as a gift for graduations, wedding showers, birthdays, major illnesses, surgeries, and as a thank-you note. I've read selections from it at open mike nights, support groups, and memorial services.

In "The Book of Qualities", poet and artist Ruth Gendler dedicates one page to each of almost one hundred human characteristics and feelings. These are the Qualities. With playful and insightful words, she describes each Quality as though he or she were a person you know. Change becomes your unwelcome houseguest; Honor could be your grandfather; Courage may be the woman who befriended you as you faced your divorce. Each of the Qualities has a favorite color, or a hobby. They have faces and hair and cars and clothes and jobs. And in those characteristics, in each Quality, you will recognize yourself and those you know - often in delightful and startling new ways. This little book is truly a classic: one of those books that you will find yourself revisiting time and again, once it has become a part of your life. Every time you re-read it, you'll find something new.

Editor,"Of A Predatory Heart"

I kept reading reviews by Lori Lake and I knew she had written some books, but I never got around to making the purchase. Well, I now have two and "Gun Shy" is awesome.

Dez Reilly answers a 911 call and interrupts a double rape. As the first attacker holds one victim, Sarah, while the other rapist tries to nab the second victim, Jaylynn, Dez comes storming thru the door. The second rapist breaks her arm with the bat he's carrying and she loses her gun. With a little help from Jaylynn, she's able to down both rapist cuff them together ankle to wrist.

Dez made such an impression on Jaylynn, she decides to go to the academy to become a police officer. As Jaylynn and her rookie class join the force they are joined up with different officers on different shifts. Jaylynn finally get her turn with Dez and they are a good team. Naturally, there are some rifts, i.e., who's in charge? is there only one way to handle each situation?

Dez is still a little gun shy after her partner, Ryan was killed during a call and she wasn't able to save him. She's afraid to let herself have a partner or to let anyone get close to her.

Well, Dez's rule...no dating cops, is keeping these two from coming to terms with each other. Dez's landlady, Luella is a charming and loving character in this book. She and Dez have a good relationship and they take care of each other. I love the pounding on the ceiling with the broom in order to get Dez's attention.

The kind and caring shown throughout the story shows from all the characters is something you don't usually see in a police/action novel. It's refreshing.

This was an intense book which awesome characterization and great detail to plot. You could feel the electricity between the two main characters.

Am I the last person on earth NOT to have read Lori Lake's lesbian action/drama novel, GUN SHY, already out long enough to have its sequel UNDER THE GUN? If I'm not, those of you yet to give the book a read should head right on down to your local bookstore and pick it up for one heck of an interesting experience.

My reading of GUN SHY brought to mind a couple of things:

Firstly, whenever a couple of us old-timers, from the heydays of pulp fiction, get together (actually, there are only a couple of us left "to" get together!), to discuss the days before lesbian "literature", we have to admit that in those early days a lot of the gal-gal books were written by us men, writing not reality but merely our male fantasies (and the male fantasies of our male readers) of lesbian relationships. Obviously, we didn't have a clue. Obviously, most of us men still don't have a clue, although a few of us have become enlightened enough, over the years, to admit to our ignorance. GUN SHY is not in the least like the books I, and my male friends used to write, and would likely still write. Anyone looking for a lot of heavy-breathing naked sexual nymphos mud-wrestling up a storm, should steer clear of Lake's book which actually has two mature, intelligent women spending a good deal of time thinking through and discussing their relationship with each other and with others, and just getting on with the nitty-gritty reality of life. Particularly nitty-gritty, in this instance, in that both women are members of a metro-Minneapolis police force.

Secondly, when my German-language short story "Doppelmörder" was published in Lisa Kuppler's anthology QUEER CRIME, and I had critics deeming me "A Master of the Mystery Genre", the latter was for, among other things, apparently my NOT having tackled a tale that incorporated police procedure, because so many of my fellow authors who did go that route got "it" all wrong. The reason I had purposely "not" attempted a story involving police procedure was just because I had sense enough to know beforehand that I didn't have enough of a clue to get it right; it simply required far more diligence in research and time and effort than I figured (and rightly so) I could properly muster. Lake, though, in GUN SHY, has obviously devoted the time and effort to get right the ins-and-outs ups-and-downs of cops on the job. It - from the uniforms, to the locker-room conversations, to the chatter of police-radio broadcasts, to the personality clashes, et al - just reads "right-on" this-is-the-way-it-is.

If I might have preferred one major crime to have infused this novel from beginning to a satisfactory guns-a-blazing-bad-guys-dying conclusion (probably "a guy" thing), I know from what little I've gleaned, by way of research, that most police work is mainly a long series of routine incidents that get reported in the back pages of local newspapers if they get reported at all, with only a very few in-the-spotlight major incidents. So, it would seem, Lake's GUN SHY gets that right, too.

I DO think that if I even thought of eating as much as rookie Jaylynn Savage does (I'm talking food, here), I suspect I'd look like the Goodyear blimp; then, again, I spend all of my day sitting on my fat-getting-fatter rear while Jaylynn is up-and-at-it, making the city safe for one and all. Go Jaylynn! Go Lori Lake! Go to your local bookstore and put down your hard-won cash for this one!

Gun Shy is an excellent book! I couldn't put it down... All the characters in this book are wonderfully writen! Jaylynn and Des are strong and amazing women. I fell in love with LouElla. She is the little sweet neighbor lady that everyone would love to have! This book was a roller coaster ride that I didn't want to end! Thanks goodness for sequels! This book offers a lot to a reader: Romance, thrill, humor and we can't forget the sex! It also show the power of friendship and taking a chance with your heart. Lori Lake is a very talented writer. I am glad I bought this book! This is a must read and one to keep in your collection. I know I will...

In high school, my friends and I were hooked on the Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice. We lived an hour's drive from New Orleans and spent many weekends scouring the city to see if Rice's settings were real. They were very real and made the stories jump off the page for us. I mention this because I now live in the suburbs of St. Paul, MN, and have visited many of the locales mentioned in Lori Lake's `Gun Shy.' She writes about real places such as the Como Park area, making this series much more real for me.

Lake brings two Uber characters into a modern-day story of a Xena-ish cop, Dez Reilly, and Jaylynn Savage, the young blonde woman she saves from attempted rape. Following in the tradition of the Warrior Princess and her companion, Jay joins the police department in hopes of befriending Dez. Little does she know the `gun shy' Dez has sworn off love and has no intention of being swayed by a rookie. Of course, Dez doesn't realize Jay has many skills of her own.

A wonderful story of two women who come together in the face of adversity, `Gun Shy' is truly a cornerstone of lesbian literature. Thankfully, Lake follows it with two equally enjoyable sequels (Under the Gun; Have Gun, We'll Travel). If not a must own, this is at least a must read and comes highly recommended from this reader.

Officer Desiree "Dez" Reilly is a veteran cop extraordinaire with the St. Paul Police Department in Lori L. Lake's police action/drama Gun Shy. This reticent Amazon beauty with long black hair, smooth ivory skin, electric blue eyes, and a muscular build is an adept daredevil at police work, but she is extremely cautious (gun shy) when it comes to matters of the heart. While Dez is on the job, she rescues and meets a "whirling bundle of energy," Jaylynn "Jay" Savage, a sharp pre-law student. Jaylynn could not be more different from Dez in stature, appearance, and personality. Jay is a talkative, vivacious, shorthaired, curvaceous blonde, who wears her heart on her sleeve. Dez is in complete control of her emotions...most of the time. Jaylynn falls in love with the tall, mysterious cop, her "hero," at first sight.

Carefully guarding her emotions, Dez is very careful whom she trusts. Estranged from her mother, her father gone, her mentor avoiding her since he found out she was gay, and feeling like a loser at love, she keeps her distance from others to protect herself from any further pain and sorrow. She has also been living with a thick black cloud over her head because of a shooting that left her partner and close friend, Ryan Michaelson, a married father of two young children, dead. Dez deals with his death the only way she knows how-by shutting down her emotions and refusing psychological treatment. The department can make her see a shrink, but they can't make her accept help.

After assisting an officer apprehend the men who broke into her house, witnessing police work first hand, and meeting the woman of her dreams, Jaylynn decides to apply for the Police Academy rather than apply to law school as planned. She feels she can always go back to it after she sees what police work is all about. The rookie excels at the academy and lands a rotation with the veteran cop, who actually requests to be Jaylynn's Field Training Officer. The two women ride together as teacher/student and work extremely well together. They form a friendship in the process, but much to Dez's chagrin, Jaylynn wants more than a working relationship. Jay feels that she has finally found her soul mate even though Dez can be a moody, tough nut to crack. Meanwhile, Dez, scared to death of commitment, pushes the rookie away. Everyone who knows the two, from Luella Williams, Dez's landlady, cook, uniform washer, and surrogate mother, to Jaylynn's best friend and housemate, Sara, can tell there is electricity in the air between the two cops.

Gun Shy is an exciting look at police work through the eyes of police officers who also happen to be lesbians. Lori L. Lake has set a fine precedent with her endearing, witty, action packed story that has plenty of police activity, longing, and romance. It brings to mind one of my favorite TV shows, Cagney and Lacey, a classic 1980's hit about two straight female cops. Gun Shy would be a great model for a contemporary version-two female officers, Reilly and Savage, who not only fight crime, but also have the hots for each other. It would be a big hit too.


Before reading Gun Shy, Ricochet in Time was my favorite book by Lori L. Lake. Her heroines are real, believable, and interesting. What I like most about Lake's writing is that I identify with the characters, even though I lead a different lifestyle. She uses phrases and expressions that I use in daily life. Curling up in bed with a Lake novel is like pulling an all-nighter...laughing, sharing, and gabbing with an old friend. Lake has a way of making the reader fall in love with her characters and really care about them. The reader longs for Dez and Jay to become lovers. I also like how Lake uses the contrary features of her characters to emphasize a point. For example, the dichotomy of Dez: she has white skin and black hair; she is a lion on the outside, and a lamb on the inside; she often comes across as cold hearted on the outside, but she's a warm toasty marshmallow on the inside. Dez is the epitome of the tough cop when she informs Jaylynn that cops don't cry. Jaylynn teaches her that sometimes cops need to cry in order to heal, and that it's ok.

Luella is another great character who is funny, sassy, and provides Dez with more than an affordable place to live-she looks out for her, and treats her like a daughter. She can also whip up a complete hot meal in twenty minutes. Luella is Lake's idea of a "fantasy woman-my own personal chef." If I had a landlady, I'd want her to be just like Luella. Dez reciprocates by doing yard work and repairs around the house, but more ironically, by allowing the older woman to boss her around, when it seems that Dez only takes orders from senior officers. Dez keeps her heart under lock and key, but not with Luella. You can't help but love the reserved cop, especially when you're privy to her vulnerable side. I'm straight and I fell in love with Dez, so I can certainly understand why Jaylynn feels the way she does. Will Dez unlock her heart for Jay? You'll have to read this book to find out.

To say that I enjoyed Gun Shy is an understatement; I loved it. Lori Lake has repeatedly proven herself a noteworthy writer, who I feel will soon find herself in the mainstream market. Currently, she is working on a third book in the Gun series, Have Gun We'll Travel, plus a series of non-gay themed mystery novels. Under the Gun is the sequel to Gun Shy, and I recommend not missing either selection. With an unlimited supply of ideas for novels floating around in her head, Lake's fans will have plenty to read for years to come.

It is difficult to praise "The Discarded Image" too highly. It can be read with profit many times. Other reviewers have told you why.

That said, I would like to say something to those who have read and enjoyed the Space Trilogy, especially "Out of the Silent Planet" and "Perelandra." In writing those excellent stories, Lewis decided that the medieval outlook on cosmology, however incorrect from the scientific standpoint, would provide a marvelous-and to most of us-unfamiliar backdrop for tales of imaginative fiction. I promise you that once you have finished "The Discarded Image," you will reread the fictional works pleasantly fascinated by how the medieval image informs the novels.

This book explained and gave amazing and insightful information about the development of the medieval worldview and mindset.

To begin with, it must be acknowledged that the subtitle of this work is apt to be misinterpreted. Lewis's last book of his own initiative, which but for some late corrections would have been published in the final months of his life, might be better understood as a 'preface' to mediaeval and Renaissance literature than as what is now most often meant by an 'introduction'. For his stated purpose is not one of identifying, summarizing, and expounding major works, but of explaining the world-view or Model of the universe which informed any educated writer or reader of the time.

Lewis is concerned that a student may succeed in achieving a semblance of comprehension yet be wholly mistaken in his or her grasp of mediaeval literature through projecting onto it either very modern ideas or, perhaps worse, modern misconceptions of what our ancestors believed. While he does touch on authors and writings familiar from the average undergraduate survey course, he dwells far more on, and digs more deeply into, somewhat obscure examples which he feels better represent the mindset of the era. Boethius and his THE CONSOLATION OF PHILOSOPHY get particular attention and are alluded to repeatedly throughout. Lewis then proceeds to outline the mediaeval picture of the universe's structure; of the inhabitants it held; and of the psychological, philosophical, and metaphysical aspects which integrated the whole system.

All of this gradually reveals a cosmology far more sophisticated and a civilisation rather better informed than they are often credited with being. Understanding of the nature of the universe was not so erroneous as is now generally supposed; and where it was indeed wrong, it was nonetheless remarkably insightful as well as internally consistent. The mediaeval era emerges as the vital and extraordinary world it was, and as a fertile ground in which the so-called 'Renaissance' took root and flourished.

Lewis concludes with a cautionary reminder that our own notions of the universe and of 'Reality' itself remain comparatively incomplete and are certain to be superseded one day, not merely by new discoveries but by the ever-shifting philosophies and tastes which determine what questions are asked and thus what answers are found.

This is a book I genuinely hope to read again. Parts of it, I confess, were a bit beyond me, if chiefly because I had too little acquaintance with what was under discussion. Even so, Lewis's characteristic wit, conversational style, and contagious enthusiasm succeeded in making me wish to improve my familiarity with his subject. And to inspire such interest is surely a teacher's purpose even more than the mere passing on of information.

C.S. Lewis is just such a pleasure to read. And this book is simply a joy. I am a PhD student in medieval history and have read an awful lot of books on the medieval mind and this is by far the best. There is a slight tendency in Lewis' writing to see philosophy as the sole motor of history--but this is to be expected from his generation and it doesn't detract from the picture he paints. The best part about this book is that when I was finished reading it, I loaned it to my mother, who has absolutely no formal medieval training, and she loved it too! It's such a relief to escape the arrogant jargon of academics, that just masks their ignorance and inane analysis, and explore the world of ideas with such a master of clear and honest language.

Highly recommended for students of history as well as literature. A product of C. S. Lewis's day job at Cambridge, this volume helps the reader get inside the mind of both the common man and the writers of this period. They had a different view of reality and the world than modern man. To understand, let alone appreciate their history and literatue, you need to know how they saw things.

Broader and more scholarly that Lewis' "Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Literature" (Canto, 1966), I recommend "The Discarded Image" over it.

By the way, though not intended as such, it's also a great source of trivia on the origins of names and expressions.

Kate Milburn writes like no other modern day poet. When I slip into her first book, I feel as though I have landed in another time. A subtle phrase reminds me that she is modern, living in the same world we do, but her sensitive soul sees so much more than the rest of us. She responds, and conveys passionate depth through art, this is truly her greatest talent.

I loved the poetry found within the passages of this book. She guides us into her own spiritual journey, a generous artist indeed. Each verse is richly romantic, but I especially loved "Journey Beyond the Trees" and "Innocent Rosebuds." How sweet this poet is, how she carries grace to heights beyond a very successful life. I can't wait for her second book, I'm sure she will shine even brighter!

In her first book, Ms Milburn presents a delightful, sweet respite from a huried world. I really enjoyed this book. I was reminded of many of the romantics - Millay, Yeates and Byron as I journeyed through 70 unique poems. How generous of the author to invite us along.

Kate Milburn is blessed with many gifts,as evident in her poetry and her successful life. She possesses a true neo-renaissance spirtit! I can't imagine what she will do for an encore.

I recently received this book as a birthday present. I loved all the poems, especially those about nature. I found them to be very soothing, inspiring introspection. During the winter months "down under" we could use a little introspection. It is a great addition to my poetry library.

My ancestors were Irish, sent to Australia as punishment in the 1800s,we never looked back. So, knowing that Ms Milburn's next book will center on her Celtic roots has me (anxiously)waiting in the aisles.We Irish love our poets! Thank you for including this wonderful book at amazon.com. I'm planning to order copies for my cousins in Ireland and Scotland.

I really enjoyed reading this book. All the poems were unique, it was a wonderful read. I believe it will endure because the verse is so profound, without being too wordy.

My favorite part of the book was the introduction. Ms Milburn does not issue some introspective analysis for her work. She lends credit for her love of literture to her mother. As a child, through observation, she would watch as her mother with children in tow would find solace in reading by the sea. Any mother would be proud.

I had the pleasure of attending the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC in May. I had the opportunity to meet many writers from around the world. But my most lasting memory is of Kate Milburn. She spoke with such passion for her love of literture, art and beauty, that I was brought to tears of joy. She read from her first book and the audience was so taken with her, she ran out of books at the book signing table.

So I'm here at amazon.com to order some copies for friends and family. We Welsh love poetry and appreciate soul-searching verse. I shall place my copy of "I Only Ask For Yesterday's Encore" next to my copy of Dylan Thomas.

I know that Kate Milburn is a special poet, because I have committed many of her lines to my memory. I remember my English professor in college telling our class, that this is the sign of a poet for the times.

I relished reading this book, not only for the unique verse that captured my heart, but because it told a story. The story of a young woman, who seemed to write from a time long ago. A time when romance was imbued in everything and touched everyone on a grand and small scale. The surprising thing is that she is from a generation that seemed destined to remove all of that from the world. Fortunately, that did not happen, and Ms. Milburn spins hope for us all in her beautiful poetry.