Companies Books

May Sarton is an author you must not miss. Not of you're a thinker (and do your own thinking).

This book was beautiful. I loved reading it. It felt delicate to me...the insights shared within the pages...but it was compelling. I picked it up and read a few pages whenever I had the chance. Loved it.

I've read most of Sarton's journals and this is by far the best. Her writing allows the reader to enter her mind. It's so honest, so raw. I've reread Journal of a Solitude a few times over the years; its one of those books to keep on your shelf, and read to get back in touch with the things that matter.

I read Journal of a Solitude shortly after giving birth to my first child. I was alone in a new neighborhood with few family and friends around me and felt completely estranged from my former life as a professional woman working in New York city. May Sarton's story - shared in such a real and heartfelt way - has always stayed with me. Where are the May Sarton's in today's world? She was an extraordinary woman who was able to connect with a broad audience of readers, through the authentic sharing of her thoughts, feelings and experiences. I miss her work but am thankful that she left behind a wonderful legacy.

If you're into reading memoirs, this is exceptional. Her clarity of thought and her ability to portray her feelings into words is unsurpassed, in my opinion. I enjoy her prose so very much. I can find myself relating to so many of her feelings and thoughts despite the difference of age and time. This is a great read.

This is one of my favorite Baldwin novels. Only someonle with Baldwin's background could so poignantly express who Arthur was and how he felt about his music. An excellent piece and a must read!

This book is the best book I have ever read in my life. Its emotionally naked grappling with what race and violence has done to our country is painfully acute and brutally honest. Every American should read this.

From the moment I read the first page, I have loved this novel. I have read it several times and each time the characters come to life and I find myself caring about them. Hall has to deal with so many issues--least of all, is Ruth the woman he truly loves or should he be with the evangelist? Arthur-the gay gospel singer who sometimes would just as well have a drink or a man than sing the gospel, but who sang it so well when he chose to. Then there are the complex lives of their friends and parents that seem so real and yet so tragic. Baldwin created a masterpiece!

Probably one of the more underappreciated novels in American literature. It is unfair to charecterize Baldwin as merely a social critic of the civil rights era. He stands alongside Dickens as one of the great writers of any era, with the ability to articualte an understanding of human nature that trancends any era and stands second to none.

This novel is a testament in a way, the testament of a man who has lived long and well, too much even and too hard, in the world. A testimony too. Every single event in this novel about a black man who became a gospel singer and then a blues singer is the crystalisation of the whole history of Afro-Americans in the USA, the whole history of each character that is living the event through, the whole past and future of a present that is both crooked and promising. That is the very dilemma of this book, a dilemma that we feel and sense everywhere, on every page. Each moment in the life of these characters is the condensation of the cosmic, historical and human past of the individual and the sublimation of all possible wishes, desires, potentialities that this individual has developed in his situation and with his heritage. The novel may appear as very pessimistic because one cannot evade their heritage. But it is tremendously optimistic because one can always choose to realize their dreams, even if the situation around limits the possibilities and the chances to succeed. The aim of life is not to succeed, but it is not to fail, hence to move forward a few steps, and that one can always do it, even if it entails a lot of suffering and a lot of pain. Baldwin is also very optimistic about the world, about human beings, about Afro-Americans because he believes and tries to demonstrate that this forward progress of the pilgrims we are is fuelled by the happiness one gets from life, and that happiness comes from one's effort to accept what may provide happiness, no matter what that is, and the first thing to accept is love, no matter what form it may take. Yet there is a limit for Afro-Americans, a limit and a contradiction : they have great difficulties thinking in other terms than racial terms. They have been the victims as a « race » of deportation, slavery, discrimination, in a word a holocaust, and they cannot differenciate between the whites who are responsible for that fate, those who have made a direct profit out of it, even if many others have been able to enjoy some improved conditions thanks to the exploitation of black slaves, and the whites who have no responsibility in this historical process. How can we put on the same level, in the same boat the slave owners, the slave traffickers on one side, and the serfs that could only survive between famines, and the workers who were exploited too in the factories, and still are ? How can we put in the same bag the pharmaceutical firms that let Africans die because they don't want generic drugs to be produced and the workers of these pharmaceutical firms who are exploited just the same, even if in another way : the research and the patents the bosses want the poor to pay at the highest price, and in this very case most of these firms are American in the world, have been produced by workers who should be considered as the owners of their work and are, too often, paid a pittance when compared with the riches their bosses get out of this work. That's James Baldwin's dilemma. He hardly can discriminate between the white corn and the white chaff, and the white chaff is the workers, those who create the riches of the white corn. Some chapters become extremely poignant when this issue is brought up here and there and when Black Arthur cannot accept to love and be loved by white Guy, just because Guy is white and considered by principle as an accomplice of what the lords of the white « race » have done in history. And one of James Baldwin's concluding thoughts is : « To undo the horror, we repeat it ». And not to repeat the horror of the killing of a black man by some whites (like Peanut for instance), Baldwin makes his Arthur die in London, in a pub where he is the only black man, and by falling in a state of amazed drunkness on the stairs leading to the restrooms in the basement, at a moment when love had been slightly roughened by life into a distance that could have been avoided if love had not gone through a storm in what appears like nothing but a glass of water, the glass of water of everyday life.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

I bought this book after using the 'New Real Book' for a while.
I quickly started building a sizable repitoire of standards at my performances. I play solo piano, but singers and bassists could follow it as well. There are E flat versions too for horn players. I especially liked the Cole Porter and George Gershwin selections.

This is exactly what I wanted. One page for each song. Chords large so the piano player can see. And the words included for the singer.

I just started playing piano for an oldies singer. 90% of the stuff we do comes out of this book. 250 songs can't possibly cover everything, but these songs were chosen VERY well. The chords are "interesting" (not just vanilla major/minor/7th that you get in some books), although a few songs have chords that are clearly wrong, so avoid sight-reading on the job if you can. My singer owns an extra copy of this book to share with his accompanists, but I liked it so much that I bought one for myself. I may even get my rock band to buy some copies so we can play dinner music before the party gets going. There's even Bb and Eb versions for the sax player. It doesn't get much better than that.

The "Just Jazz Real Book" was one of my favorites. Many of the songs include the verses, the chords (including alternates) are well thought out, the song selection is good, and I've found very few errors in notes or chords. I figured I'd love the "Just Standards Real Book" even more. There's a fair amount of overlap between the two books, but this one suits me even better, as it replaces famous Coltrane riffs, etc. with songs I can actually do justice to on the piano. I must have 20 or more fake books, but this one is quickly becoming my favorite.

Exactly as the cover of the book states. Many great standards for musicians and lovers of great tunes to perform at the keyboard. Standard chord changes have been replaced with substitute changes. Music is easy to read. Verses for some tunes that you've heard at shows are present. Lyrics are clear and easy to read. A job well done with the standards of old.

I bought this book because I am taking a medical terminology course online. I really like the way this book is laid out, how it teaches. You learn the roots and suffixes and prefixes of the words - not just the word itself. This way you can look at almost any word and figure out what it means because you know what each part of the word means. I would recommend this book, but you might want to build up your wrists first - my wrist is sore from lugging this HUGE book around - but it is worth it!

This book is very interesting and captures your attention to the point that it makes it interesting to memorize medical terms.

I highly recommend this book to anyone trying to enter the field of health or medicine!

This is an awesome book to help study for your CMT. I am finished with the study guide for work and using this book to keep me from forgetting what I need to know for this exam.

I purchased this book to help me study medical terminology. It is very useful and extremely informative. I especially like the illustrations. The book is easy to use, and I highly recommend it to anyone who needs to learn about the human body and all of its systems.

As mothers and daughters, we often fail each other along the way. Certainly that is the case in Last Seen Leaving. I could have done without the profanity...

Last Seen Leaving by Kelly Braffet begins with a car wreck and a death. Anne Cassidy, estranged from her daughter Miranda for quite some time, after one very bad day at work, decides to check up on her. One call turns into two, and then three, and then four...until the voice on the answering machine finally stops only to be replaced by another stating that the line is no longer in service. A strange worry and foreboding come upon Anne and the rest of the story is filled with her search, flashes into the distant past, and chapters alternating between characters.

First off, I'll say that any other person could have written this story, could have tried to, and it would have been nowhere near as good. I don't like when reviews give away crucial parts of the plot, as I have said many times, so I won't go any farther into the story.
For the past seven to eight years I have been pretty much reading nonstop, going through piles of books, most of which weren't worth the time it took to read them. In that amount of time, only one book comes to mind when I think of an amazing style of writing, and that is Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha. Kelly Braffet's novel has seriously surprised and impressed me enough to where I think that, in terms of powerful writing, both books, though dealing with entirely different circumstances, topics, and even time periods, can be put in a category together. This is the kind of book I go to the library for and only hope to find. So, even if you're not really partial to the storyline in itself, I would recommend reading this book just for the sake of the writing style. Kelly Braffet's words and scenes flow and fit the story so well it felt like I was watching everything happening instead of simply reading.

Overall: Last Seen Leaving is, put lightly, a great book full of secrets, murders, accidents, strange characters, and a satisfying ending that made me like the story even more. I don't recommend overlooking this book.

A unique story about a mother who goes looking for the missing daughter who does not want to be found...just yet. Braffet has a gift for lasering in on human emotion and creating distinct character voices. The mother and daughter were as different as...well, mothers and daughters often are. This is the touchstone of this well told story - the insight of two generations who are different, but not so different that they cannot love the other. And if that weren't enough, while the mother/daughter search and hide story is ongoing, there is yet another mystery unfolding in the background. One of the most satisfying novel endings I've read this year.

Ms. Braffet has crafted a family drama under the guise of a thriller. In the openning chapter Miranda Cassidy, a troubled 20 something young woman, goes missing when she accepts a ride from a stranger after a car accident on the a highway in Pennsylvania. Her mother Anne, who lives in Sedona Arizona, begins to get concerned when Miranda does not return her calls. Their estranged relationship plays out as she travels cross country to begin her search. There are interesting twists with alternating sections devoted to Anne and Miranda. Ms. Braffet's style is clear and consise. Her character development is solid. Her plot twists keep you guessing until the end. Four stars because it could have been either a little more thriller or a little more family drama. A very good, quick read.

Kelly Braffet captured me, involved me in the characters and held me to the end. She wove the story intricately thru time with rich descriptions that left me begging for more. Her first book, Josie & Jack, was also rich in descriptive phrases but more loosely wound & a bit surreal, leaving you with the strange feeling that you're not sure what you just read. But I believe that was the intent, making it a great first effort.
Last Seen Leaving is the perfect title because each of the characters IS Last Seen Leaving, by disappearance or as an escape, and possibly both. I will read this book again...soon!

The commentary is true to the text and serves the reader well.

This is a really great commentary on Ephesians. I went through it with a bible study and it was extremely helpful. It is thorough and academic (others are probably more qualified to talk about the scholarship) but also readable and devotional. O'Brien, of course, is solidly evangelical and very well respected in the academic world. If you are looking for a commentary on Ephesians for use in a Bible study or personal devotions, this is the one, provided your group is already fairly grounded in the scriptures and in theology and is willing to invest some time into their study. Other commentaries in this same series (Carson on John etc) are also excellent.

Peter O'Brien's outstanding commentary on Ephesians completes his trilogy on the Prison Epistles (see his commentary on Philippians in the NIGTC and Colossians-Philemon in the Word series) and, in my judgment, ranks as first among commentaries on Ephesians. Writing from a solid Evangelical stance, O'Brien defends Pauline authorship and wrestles honestly with Paul's majestic, but often complex, letter. While Harold Hoehner's commentary is broader in its coverage, O'Brien brings an amazing depth of insight to the table, and interprets Paul with skill and clarity. I especially appreciated O'Brien's keen eye for biblical-theological connections, which helped draw out many of the Old Testament references which lie behind Paul's letter. O'Brien is excellent with the Greek (though all Greek words are transliterated in the actual text of the book - actual Greek words are in the notes) and almost always has good reasons for his positions. Also, unlike Hoehner, O'Brien doesn't seem tied to a theological system (like Hoehner's dispensationalism, which occasionally slips in) and lets the text say what it says. I've read most of this book as I've preached expositionally through Ephesians over the course of nearly two years, and it is the main commentary I would recommend to others. Hoehner is a close second. The two commentaries together will serve an expositor well. But if you can only get one technical commentary on Ephesians, get O'Brien.

This commentary on Ephesians is a mainstay in my research on this letter by Paul. I am reading and researching Ephesians for the purpose of writing my own commentary for eventual use in a sermon series, and use this book as well as others as a check on my own exegesis. It is highly readable, very insightful, and contains enough detail without being overly simplistic on one hand and overly academic on the other. This was one of the first commentaries I picked up and just read, and found that it read well, unlike some commentaries that are great reference books but just plain hard to read. O'Brien rigorously defends Pauline authorship of Ephesians, and falls squarely within the conservative evangelical camp. The book is technical, with solid exegesis and transliteration of Greek words in the body text with actual Greek in the notes. I would highly recommend this book on Ephesians along with Hoehner and Stott and Bruce. If you can only get one commentary on Ephesians, O'Brien is a good balance of technical and pastoral insight.

Overall, this commentary is one of my favorites. (I'm a pastor who does exegetical sermons from the Greek text).

He interacts with many scholars on a variety of details without getting bogged down. It's easy to read yet gives substantive arguments that summarize well the opposing views as well as explaining his own view.

One issue I would take exception to is his exegesis in Ephesians 2:1 where he labels the phrase 'trespasses and sins' as a hendiadys. The term is probably simply a synonym use-not a hendiadys. I checked with a number of Greek experts who all concur that he is probably off on that point...not a biggie...but I did remember it for some reason.

One issue I really liked was his handling of Ephesians 5:18 ff. Some miss the linkage of the participles which follow 5:18...but O'Brien nails it. His explanations of the Household Table and it's header/title in 5:21 are more convincing than most I've read. I think coupled with FF Bruce on Ephesians and Stott for preaching/teaching phraseology this commentary ranks right up there as a top notch..ya gotta have it...commentary for the 'prince of epistles'. I highly recommend it and still use this book.

The binding on my copy was pretty cheap. The book started falling apart the first time I opened it...and I am seeking another copy. Hope that was just a fluke.

If you are a pastor or bible teacher who works through Ephesians I think you will find yourself referring to this book over and over. Buy it if you have the funds...you won't be sorry if you are a serious student of Ephesians.

This book provides all the technical knowledge that is need for busy executives to seriously ponder about how to integrate moble solutions into their company's operations. What is amazing is the simple language that is used.

My favourite chapter is the Art of Mobility (Chap. 10).

Buy this book and it will give you immediate ROI!

Authors and consultants Ravi Kalakota and Marcia Robinson emphasize that the mobility revolution is in its early stages and provide insights on its anticipated stages of development. This insightful and authoritative book is well written and well organized. We from getAbstract recommend it to executives, managers and information-technology specialists, though general readers with a jones for high tech also will be blown away.

This book presents an excellent executive overview of the mobile applications landscape. The strength of the book is the unique perspective of extending "E-business" investments to the "M-business" -- mobile/multichannel -- environment. It presents the business side of mobile - CRM, SCM, Mobile Office and Mobile portals - without getting mired in the alphabet soup of 3G, GPRS, UMTS etc.

I am a newbiew to the whole mobile world. I was intimidated by all the technical jargon that was being thrown around. This book helped cut through the fog and provide a business perspective of "why businesses should care?" and "what apps make sense". I highly recommend this book.

The landscape of mobile enterprise applications is covered extremely well in this book. Unlike other books that talk primarily about consumer applications, the authors focus on leveraging existing investments in E-business and extending them into the mobile arena. Highly recommend this book if your company is beginning to think about Mobile Applications and next generation IT investments.

I finished reading this book to my older children (12 and 14) today. We all loved it. The book operates on many levels. It's the Chronicles of the life of an adolescent boy around 1910. It's also the story of a family's struggles and will to not only survive, but to thrive and to stand up for their beliefs. This book has encouraged my children to contribute more in our family, and to set up their own families with good principles. I would give this book 10 stars if there were 10 to give, and I can't recommend it highly enough as a great family read!

Wow these books are great! And you know the later the books the thicker they are. I think its because he remembers more about like his teen years than in his childhood. Well over all I would highly recommend this book. Yet like in a prior review these books do have some language but it shrinks in the text more and more. Buy this book and you wont be disappointed!

Highly recommended series. I recommend as an alternative to the Little House series for boys. Well written.

A reviewer asked for help regarding the names and volumes in this series. Here it is...

1. Little Britches
2. Man of the Family
3. The Home Ranch
4. Mary Emma & Company
5. The Fields of Home
6. Shaking the Nickel
7. The Dry Divide
8. Horse of a Different Color

Mr. Moody shares adventures of his life in this series. It's wonderful, but there is some foul language. Therefore, I would recommend reading the books aloud with older children (not for the preschool/early elementary crowd).

When Ralph Moody's father dies in the early spring of 1910, he's eleven years old, the senior boy in a family of five, and determined to support his mother and siblings. It's a rocky road, for his mother, even though she declares she'll "depend on" him as "her man," is equally determined that he must stay in school--which means he's restricted to nickel-an-hour boy-jobs for most of the year. And so, despite the title, this book is less about Ralph's helming the family than about the family's pulling together to support itself. They start a "cookery route," selling Mrs. Moody's New England food to neighbors; the children pick fruit, and Ralph rides in match races, breeds rabbits, and hires schoolmates with horses to keep the cattle from the incoming trail herds out of the residential lanes, as well as discovering that it's possible to supply the family's entire need for coal simply by picking up what has fallen off the tenders of passing trains. Like his father before him, he proves to be a shrewd trader and a clever inventor who comes up with a device on which to dry and repair the lace curtains from Denver's Brown Palace Hotel when his mother gets the idea of offering her services as a contract launderer. And he and his brothers and sisters get a surprise when, six months after their father's death, their mother has a sixth baby.

Besides Mary Emma Moody, who stands solidly in the midst of her young family and exemplifies the best type of "widder woman," the two most unforgettable characters in the book are Sheriff McGrath, a widower who tries awkwardly to court Ralph's mother, and Jerry McEnerney, the Irish section boss who, for all his early bluster, soon becomes the boy's friend and quietly arranges for him to obtain over 100 used railroad ties to haul away and sell. And though there are setbacks and mishaps, such as the vividly described spillage of an entire wagonload of cookery, the Moodys soldier on, until it begins to look as if they will be able to stay indefinitely in Ralph's beloved Colorado. But then Mary Emma incautiously shares a secret with a neighbor, and is subpoenaed to testify before the Grand Jury. Fearing that she will end by sending an innocent man to the gallows, she decides there is only one thing to do: take her children and secretly flee out of state to live with her brother in New England. And so one phase of Ralph's life ends and another begins, to be told in subsequent books. But the West will call him back, and he will never be fully free of its spell.

This is a funny, warmhearted, inspiring tale of a family determined to make its way without seeking charity, of its friends and neighbors, and of the beautiful land it loves. It would make a splendid family readaloud, or a good book to curl up with alone if you love stories of the West and of people who don't give up.

Novela ganadora del prestigioso Premio Alfaguara (Madrid, 1998) cuyo jurado fue presidido por Carlos Fuentes. Sergio Ramírez se consagra como un gran escritor con esta documentada y entretenida novela que cuenta la historia de dos vidas tan contrarias como paralelas: la del príncipe poeta Rubén Darío y la del tirano Anastasio Somoza García. Espíe o hágase cómplice de los conspiradores del asesinato! Siga a Rigoberto López Pérez en su entrenamiento para convertirse, a un mismo tiempo, en mártir y asesino. Vea cómo "Tacho" Somoza bailaba al son de un rico mambo de Pérez Prado poco antes de ser tiroteado con balas envenenadas por un arrecho y cellinesco orfebre. Llore o ríase de la esperpéntica y triste historia de la Caimana, la lesbiana más famosa de Nicaragua. Conozca a Margarita, la niña inmortalizada en el célebre verso que da título a la novela. Admire o apártese del bisturí del Sabio Debayle, amigo de Darío y difícil suegro de Somoza. Lea cómo todos estos "dramatis personae" integran humorosa comedia o tragedia sangrienta. Sergio Ramírez, respetado político y escritor, conoce la espada, y conoce la pluma. En esta novela nos ha obsequiado con literatura seria, con gracia original, y con estilos y formas modernos y variantes. Creo que este hombre se ha merecido los ciento setenta y cinco mil dólares del Premio Alfaguara. En el 2004 fue publicada su MIL Y UNA MUERTES. Como siga así, siguiendo los pasos de García Márquez, Ramírez podría un día llegar a recibir el Nobel.

Whether you are Nicaraguan or not and whether you know or do not know about their history, this is something you definitely need to read. Ramirez wrote an excellent story from history's point of view with a great touch of imagination. Furthermore, there are touches of humor throughout the whole story that will suit the reader in the right moment. The author has succesfully written a story which contains history as well as fiction. I do not want to say more for it will be better for you to discover what a great story this. Yo will also enjoy the book for it is rich in culture ...

Esta novela es más de lo que dicen los demás lectores que la recomiendan y que por aquí han dejado sus comentarios. Es el ejemplo claro de cómo un autor como Sergio Ramírez utiliza su talento literario para narrar en forma novelada, artística y educativa, y con alturas universales, eventos históricos que a primera vista pueden parecer cansinos y efímeros relatos de provincia. Si, por otro lado, usted no es de los que siguen de cerca la literatura hispanoamericana -centroamericana en este caso,- y no necesariamente quiere añadir este tomo, materialmente más perdurable a su colección, le recomiendo la edición de bolsillo de Punto de Lectura, también de la editora Alfaguara, disponible a mitad de precio. Después de todo, es la misma novela, sólo que más barata.

Even if your native language is Spanish, this is a hard book to read and comprehend. But what an unforgettable experience it brings to the reader! This book will haunt you and impact you for a long time. It is one of the best books of modern Spanish literature. A must read!

The poetry is definitely missing from this novel. It is beyond me how Sergio Ramirez could portray Ruben Dario, the greatest Nicaraguan poet and one of the greatest Hispanic poets ever, as a womanizer and a drunkard. He is a disgusting character. To make things worse, Ramirez does not reveal Ruben Dario's brilliance as a poet, omitting the poem that gives the book its title (Sergio: not everybody reading the book knows the poem by heart). The good side of the book is the story relating to Somoza's assassination, though the sexual innunedoes are very strong here too. Whether or not the assassination plot is fact-based, it is interesting and sort of a cliffhanger. Rigoberto Lopez-Perez, the hero/assassin, has a poignant story; the description of Somoza's first lady is unforgettably humorous. Nevertheless, this could have been a better book.

My daughter and I loved this book! I can't wait to read more by Lori Z. Scott!! I am going to give this book as a gift to my daughters' friends!

I got both books for my nieces. Great caring characters with good christian values, in a very funny entertaining way. Highly recommend for chapter book readers or to read out loud to children!

Do you read the "Junie B. Jones" series? Do you like books that have lots of action and teach you cool activities you can do at home, too? Then you'll love the Meghan Rose series by Lori Z. Scott.

In the first book of the series, Meghan Rose On Stage!, Meghan, a bouncy and energetic first grader, decides to try out for the school talent show. Meghan finds out after announcing what her act is, a rock collection, that it isn't really a talent. Now signed up for an audition, Meghan needs to come up with a talent.

One of her friends, Ryan tries to help out by teaching Meghan how to blow bubbles. Instead of Meghan learning how, Ryan ends up with a wad of gum in his hair. At school, Meghan watches her classmates to get ideas. Meghan ends up getting jealous because she can't do the things her classmates can. And having piano player Lynette in her class, bragging about how good she is, just makes things worse. In the end, Meghan finds her talent and makes a new friend along the way.

Lori Z. Scott did a wonderful job mixing - learning not to be jealous of others, finding your talents, and just being yourself - with all of Meghan Rose's crazy behavior and antics. There are a few references to prayer and God. But it's done very tactfully. At the end of the book you'll also find a teacher/parent guide. This wonderful Q&A will have kids applying the lessons learned with Meghan Rose. Another bonus is the Activity Ideas. Kids will love doing the same activities Meghan Rose did herself.

Stories for Children Editor, VS Grenier

I loved reading this book, and I was very glad to have my 9 year old daughter read it. It is incredibly entertaining and it also teaches some wonderful lessons about friendship, jealousy, and other issues. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the characters in the book, and I even felt for a moment like I was back in grade school as I read it. What a joy to read!

I read this book by myself while my daughter was in school today. It was the best children's book I ever read. I love that Meghan Rose looks to God for help and guidance. I can't wait for my daughter to come home from school so we can read it together! Lori Scott, if you are reading these reviews, please keep writing these books. From now on, one of your books will be with every birthday gift my daughter gives.