Squares Books

I loved this book more than the first one. I love Due's writing style. The Living Blood had been on the edge of my seat the entire time. I love the fact that David and Jessica have to work together to save their little Fana. The ending was great. If I didn't know that there was a third book, this one would have summed it up for me but left me wanting a third one.

I have one word for this book, wordy! It could have been 300 pages, instead of the 700 it was. Due goes into all kinds of lengthy explanations of feelings and emotions that are just so much blah, blah, blah. The story kept promising to get interesting but never really did, and the ending was down right hokey. I read reveiw after reveiw that said this book was really scary......NOT! It was scary diappointing.

"The Living Blood" by Tananarive Due is a riveting and supernatural suspense novel that will hold your interest from chapter to chapter. She introduces her characters through their minds as well as their actions. While parents Jessica, a mortal turned immortal, and David/Dawit, an immortal, are the main characters, for me, four-year old Fana steals the story. The parents are bewildered trying to understand and raise their gifted child, who has inherited her father's living blood. The Creator of the Life Colony says he has allowed Fana to be born, has given her "the power to stand between mortal and immortal, the two races of man. The child is both salvation and destruction."

As in Tananarive Due's other book, "My Soul To Keep," the theme--the blood of Christ--continues in "The Living Blood," proving in her stories that it is more precious than gold.

What happens when the ability to heal the ills of the world with one drop of the living blood? Human beings are honored, hated, misunderstood and frightened out of your wits. This well constructed novel highlights the admirable, reprehensible and greed in mortals. Immortals, who received the blood through the Life Brothers, declare a life or death battle to keep it within the colony, pitting powerful forces against powerful forces.

I could go on but I'll stop here. I could not put this excellently written book down. I am in awe of Tananarive Due. Onward to "Blood Colony." I'm a committed fan.

I found this book less engaging but more fullfilling than My Soul To Keep.
The Living Blood gave a few characters a chance to redeem themselves in what was a dire situation from the first book.

Minimum Maturity Level - Adult
Strong Language. Violence. Adult Situations.

Previous Reading Required - Minor
This is a sequel to "My Soul to Keep". After reading this, I find that you don't really need to read the first one because many events that happened in the first book are summarized in this book. But, it does give a false pretense on a few facts if you have skipped the first book. So, I would recommend reading the first book before proceeding with this one.

Reading Level - Average
Easy to follow. Very good detail in descriptions.

Rate of Development - Moderate to Slow
The book is 515 pages and the events feel like they been stretched out a bit too long. But that is just the author's way of getting you more involved with the characters. As an event takes place, you will sometimes get a description of why this character feels the way he/she does. This in turn creates more pages than necessary but again, it draws you into the character a bit more.

The Story - Thriller
Jessica Jacobs-Wolde survives the ordeal from the first book "My Soul to Keep" with her daughter and has developed a healing clinic in South Africa. Her daughter, Fana, has been given the gift of her fathers healing blood and some unusual effects come along with that. Her daughter has developed great mental powers and abilities in such a short time that she has become dangerous to herself and to others. Meanwhile, Dr. Lucas Shepard is in search of Jessica's healing skills to save his son's life. But he runs into a group of fortune hunters in search of the clinic for the healing "drug" for their own gains. At this time, Fana's powers are unleashed and the fate of humanity is at stake as the Bee Lady attempts to possess Fana for her own purpose.

My Suggestion - Recommended
This book was kinda slow at first but the ending was quite good. The places you are taken to are quite wonderous and intriging to read about. The characters are quite believable which makes the book all that more great.

This is one of the most harrowing films I have ever seen. Based on real situations, and written by a man who lived through them (as Lockhart), the film, and of course more so the book, depict the Battle of the Atlantic from a relatively unspectacular viewpoint.

Having read the book before seeing the film undoubtedly helps, but the level of acting and direction really portrays the situations, and latent fear inherent amongst the battle's participants. My wife has only seen the film, and she effected by it.

If the object of art is to elicit an emotion, then this is art at its very best.

Anyone looking for mindless Hollywood violence need not bother with this film, but if someone is looking for a true depiction of war, then this is definitely it.

Unsexy, unglamorous; Brilliant!

The Cruel Sea, is one of the best sea/war stories that I have ever read. I was interested to see how well the movie followed the book. Naturally, the film had to condense the book, but it did follow the sequences of the story faithfully.

Written by someone who experienced WWII in convoy escort duty, The Cruel Sea is quite realistic in a double sense: You get the drama of the war as well as the times when war is dull or frustrating, for example when an officer dumps paperwork onto subordinates. Realistic without being cynical is a good combination.

And if you'd like to read another book on this theme but with more of the immediacy of the war, try C. S. Forester's, The Good Shepherd, the classic account of a single convoy at the height of the war with U-boats as told by the captain of a US destroyer. Unfortunately, new it seems to be available only in an overpriced but ugly reprint, so you might want to find a used copy. I have a paperback version that I reread every few years.

--Michael W. Perry, editor of Chesterton on War and Peace: Battling the Ideas and Movements that Led to Nazism and World War II

Written by someone who experienced WWII in convoy escort duty, The Cruel Sea is quite realistic in a double sense: You get the drama of the war as well as the times when war is dull or frustrating, for example when an officer dumps paperwork onto subordinates. Realistic without being cynical is a good combination.

And if you'd like to read another book on this theme but with more of the immediacy of the war, try C. S. Forester's, The Good Shepherd, the classic account of a single convoy at the height of the war with U-boats as told by the captain of a US destroyer. Unfortunately, new it seems to be available only in an overpriced but ugly reprint, so you might want to find a used copy. I have a paperback version that I reread every few years.

--Michael W. Perry, editor of Chesterton on War and Peace: Battling the Ideas and Movements that Led to Nazism and World War II

The unrelenting echo of the sonar punctuates this understated J. Arthur Rank film with a taut atmosphere of suspense. Novelist Eric Ambler's intelligent script remains faithful to Nicholas Monserrat's novel about the last voyage of HMS Compass Rose and all who sailed on her. The splendid performances of Jack Hawkins as her captain and Donald Sinden as his First Mate bring the novel to life, as do the performances of the entire ensemble cast, which includes Denholm Elliott. One of the best aspects of the Rank organization films of this era is the devotion that went into the delineation of even the minor characters.

Some viewers (an example being my son) may shun this picture because it was filmed in black and white. This is a shame, because "The Cruel Sea" is so absorbing that such details as lack of color become totally irrelevant. Simply put, "The Cruel Sea" is a masterpiece of cinematic art.

It cost me about $200 to fill my raised bed with the planting mix recommended. It was a complete waste of money, as the water runs right out of the mix. It is far too light. He's right, you cannot overwater, but it also does not hold the water. In areas where water costs money or is scarce, this soil mix is a very bad idea.

This book is very helpful to learn a new way of gardening for higer yields in small areas. It has very helpful advice and good graphics to follow. It is easy to read and understand.

I guess I was looking for the quick answer version. Here's your square, now plant this....Not a book for the average gardener. Unless, of course, you are a botonist.

Have bought several Square Foot Gardening books since they are used so much. Now the second and third generation are reading it in our family. Full of clear, simple solutions and ideas which makes gardening easy and profitable.

I liked the idea of a well-planned garden and this book had it all. I set my 10X15 foot garden up according to the illustrations and made tomato trellises using metal posts and wire. I have to say that by the end of the season there was a lot of die-off from fungus. Frankly, 1 foot square is not enough room for the average tomato plant, even on its nifty trellis. My melons and zucchini caught the fungus, too. I'd recommend using this book as a guide and spacing the plants further apart. It did keep everything neat and easier to weed. Overall good system.

I have bought more than fifty copies of Knowing God for use in teaching the subject. Packer does an excellent job of helping us to have a relationship with the God of the universe rather than just knowing something about Him. I have never found another book that does as good a job of teaching meaningful theology to people who really want to know God.

Next to the Bible this is my favorite book. I have read it several times and each time I learn something new. It will definately increase your knowlege of the true nature and character of God. You will not only learn more about God but you will truely know God better..Tell me what you think of my Christain fiction novel The Palace Theatre..The Palace Theatre

I enjoyed the book Knowing God by J. I. Packer, it was thought provoking and very insightful. This book was part of a New Testament class and I usually sell my books after reading them but I am going to add Knowing God to my personal library.

This is one of the great Christian classics that is a must read for every generation. It is not heady theology though it is thoroughly rooted in Scripture. It's underlying theme is the love of God for human kind expressed through his character. I felt very loved!

Wow........ When I first saw the book cover I thought; " No Way am I gonna waste my time reading this!" But when I opened the book and read the first page, I could'nt stop! I read three to five chapters a day! When my youth Pastor mentioned this book, I was a little hesitant to purchase it. Now that I am heading toward the deep end, I have no regrets for purchasing it. I recommend that anyone who is reading this to buy the book. Trust me you won't have any regrets.

I bought this book due to the highly rated feedback that it received and have not been disappointed. I am in the market for my very first horse and was looking for any training information that I could get my hands on. Clinton's book gives actual exercises that can be done and shows what to expect when done correctly. He took 2 people and their horses and worked with them and documented the results. This is excellent for a beginner and I will purchase any other books that Clinton writes.

I consistently rely on the reviews of others on Amazon, so I decided to place a review on this book, and other Clinton Anderson items. I am considered a "green rider". I also fit the demographic for the growing horse industry - woman, over 35, etc. More importantly, I have a PASSION for horses. I had researched several other clinicians in the area of Natural Horsemanship. It appears they all have something to offer. However, the three key elements that drew me to Clinton are is abiliy to communicate, his focus on safety, and gaining RESPECT from your horse. I am not opposed to Pat Parelli, but for a green rider like me, I do not think the focus should be on playing games.
Through this book, I have learned very critical basics, like where to stand with a horse, how humans act as predators, and horses are prey animals, that horses have "two brains", and most important, the one rein stop.
I have a fifteen year old quarter horse that had one speed GO. Truthfully, with being a green rider, I was afraid to ride her. So, I decided to follow the steps in the book...from square one. We focused on Backing Up, Yielding the Hindquarters, and a lot of Desensitizing...all stuff I had NO IDEA about - I just thought I could improve my riding and she would be a better horse. Well, now I wiggle the rope and she backs up! I can throw the rope around her, over her, you name it and she stands there. And she does the one rein stop! So now, my horse that had only one speed of go, is doing great on the trail - walking.
I would encourage this book, as well as other items by Clinton if you are new to riding, have been riding all of your life, or maybe returning to riding. You will find Clinton very easy to understand, he does not make his techniques complicated. Instead, he will say, "Pull the rope to the seam of your jeans." Yes, I get that!
I think this book would also make a great gift for anyone who has a horse, or is interested in buying a horse. Happy Trails!

Clinton Anderson has a way of making things easy to follow and explains the reasoning behind the ground work that he does. I like his no nonsense approach in working with horses. He takes you step by step through the lesson, answers what if questions, and talks you through other problems that may arise from the horse and the person working with it. I found his book to be simple, easy to understand, and once you get the hang of the basic concepts of what you're working towards, quite effective.

This book is great at illustration. I have a new horse that is only 5 yrs old and these techniques are working great. The book is very easy to follow and it totally helps to read each section over and over until you get it down. He gives do's and don't's and classic mistakes etc which help you to fine tune your technique because you know what mistakes to watch for in yourself.

I just received the book and am still reading it. I really like how he explains the lesson then has 2 students add their comments after their training session with Clinton. I find this helpful as it gives me insite how I might come across a problem similiar to theirs when I start my program.

Very rarely does a chiller rise to literary genius as this book does...the descriptions of this threatened wife/actress are beautiful, the psychological nuances brilliant. I especially appreciate the portrait of the big city actress caught in small town family court. When that strange man comes to fix her vacuum, I got goosebumps. The scenes with her cleaning person were good too -- This touched nerve for me! My book club is debvouring it!

Every marriage is a mystery but Juliana (the heroine) has a more mysterious marriage than most -- She has played women in peril on film, and now in a Gaslight mode, her husband seems to terrorize her. Or is she too suggestive? Who will believe an actress in court? Especially when the scenes she describes are so close to her movie roles? This is a smart exciting book, and addresses the secrets of many husbands and wives, in a rich atmosphere of a gothic resort. My book club is reading and we have never been so on the edge!

Who doesn't dream of rescue? I identified whole heartedly with the miserably married actress Julianna, who is or is not being threatened by her husband. Filled with fascinating nuance, this book kept me up to the wee hours and ran chills up my spine, also elicited the wry laughs...Sheerest brilliance, and cinema verite re the secrets of a marriage.

WONDROUS ACCOUNT OF BATTERED BRIDE/MOVIE STAR WHO FIGHTS BACK. SMART AND CLEVERLY WRITTEN --ANY WOMAN WHO HAS EXPERIENCED THIS WILL RECOGNIZE THE ACCURACY OF THE MIND GAMES, THE DANGERS OF LOVING THE WRONG MAN, THE SUBTLETY OF REAL ABUSE. THE WEDDING CAKE FROZEN HOUSE & HISTORICAL SUB PLOT ARE ICINGS ON A DELICIOUS CAKE. I DEVOURED IT AND IT INCREASED MY SENSE OF SELF WORTH!

Laura Shaine Cunningham read at the West Side YMCA's Writer's Voice on May 14, 2004. This is from my introduction to the event.

Laura Shaine Cunningham's wonderful novel "Dreams of Rescue" is a fun-house mirror of a book: Is what we perceive accurate? Are our allies really on our side? Family, friends, lawyers, employees, strangers all revolve around Julianna, as she attempts to extricate herself from a marriage that has turned violent.

Laura Shaine Cunningham expertly explores the interior and exterior landscape of a "woman in jeopardy." A woman who knows she is telling the truth, but continually finds her version of events reflected back at her twisted. Juliana's wrenching attempts to somehow will herself through the difficult days between her husband's attack on a New Year's Eve, and the eventual resolution of her quest take the reader on a journey whose ending we never quite can suss. The very real pain of seeing the man who was her life turn against her provides a powerful emotional core in this taut, tense book The suspense, throughout, is what keeps the pages turning, and the reader rooting for Juliana to be able to have her life back.

Setting the Table by Danny Meyer provides lots of value for business leaders. I ranked this book five stars based on the value alone. The reader should be apprised that the book is written as a memoir of Mr. Meyer's experience in the restaurant business.

As a business leader you should study excellence in your industry and outside of your industry and there are numerous take-aways in Setting the Table that can be applied to any business. Here are ten excellent points I took away from Mr. Meyer's book.

1. The Excellence Reflex - "A natural reaction to fix something that isn't right, or to improve something that could be better." The excellent reflex is a natural reaction that some people have and cannot be taught. Meyer trains his leaders how hire those that have it.

2. Employees can be categorized as Overwhelmers, Whelmers, and Underwhelmers. It is easy to identify Underwhelmers and get rid of them. The most dangerous employees are the Whelmers because "they infuse an organization and its staff with mediocrity...and send a dangerous message to your staff and guests that "average" is acceptable."

3. Coaching is correcting with dignity.

4. You obtain valuable leadership skills while managing volunteers. It requires you to consistently motivate employees beyond their earnings.

5. Create a sense of "shared ownership" with your customers by taking an interest in them and making them feel important. They will view you as a partner instead of a provider.

6. ABCD - Always Be Collecting Dots. You should aggressively collect lots of little information about your customer (dots) as they interact with your product or service. Then make the connection between the dots as a mechanism to improve your product or service to all customers.

7. Customers may love your product or service but the relationship that they have with you or your employees is what builds loyalty. Therefore you should take every opportunity to exceed expectations to create a lasting relationship.

8. Enlightened Hospitality - "We would define our successes and our failures in terms of the degree to which we had championed, first, one another and then our guests, community, suppliers and investors." This is an extremely powerful concept and is rooted in the integrity theme Meyer has throughout the book. You can't expect employees that don't treat each other with respect, who can't be hospitable with one another to then turn around and treat the customer with respect and high levels of hospitality a customer deserves. Poor relationships internal to the organization migrate to poor relationships external to the organization. Ultimately being last on the list benefits the investor by long term organizational success.

9. Judge your staff on 51 percent emotional job performance and 49 percent technical job performance. You can always teach technical while emotional is much harder if not impossible to develop. Lack of emotional job performance skills destroys teams and alienates customers.

10. "The road to success is paved with mistakes well handled" and "the worst mistake is not to figure out some way to end up in a better place after having made a mistake."

The ten points above are obviously more powerful in the context of the book when illustrated with Mr. Meyer's stories and experiences.


Dr. James T. Brown PMP PE CSP
Author, The Handbook of Program Management

Danny Meyer is now one of my new heroes. I'm at a point where I will be opening a new restaurant in the coming year and I plan to buy a copy of Setting the Table for all of my employees and all of my investors. I can't wait to have the time to visit all his restaurants one by one. This book or cd should be required listening or reading for anyone going into the restaurant business. Thanks for stocking this amazing informative book.
All the best,
Danny Quinn

The restaurant business begins with a vision well founded on food knowledge. Having had great and many good meals helps. But the lessons of this book are many: the best is his order of priorities....first the employees, then the customers, then the suppliers and last the investors. Brilliant.

One of the best business books I've ever read. Danny really "gets it" as far as treating his employees and customers like family and VERY important people. THIS is why he is so successful with the top restaurants in NYC. A MUST read for anyone in sales or who deals with customers and employees on a daily basis

A great book that describes how to create customers for life, with "enlightened hospitality", creating an outstanding customer experience, based on a dialog with the customer. As he puts it "picking up the rocks" (to find the info) and "connecting the dots", a process that could and should be copied for every business.

His passion for food comes across the written page, its contagious.
I'm not a wine drinker but his passion made me want to give it a try.

I never been to one of his restaurants but I now see a trip to New York to visit his restaurants.

Highly recommended not only for restaurateurs, but for every business that has contact with customers.

This children's book is a great gift for anyone with a heart who loves to garden. The little girl in the story must go to live with her uncle during hard times. He is a gruff baker but his little niece brightens his world with her loving charm and amazing gardening skills.

This is a book is written as a series in letters and has a lot of great pictures. It is about a little girl whose mother and father don't have jobs. She also has a grandmother who gave her, her love for gardening. Lynda-Grace (the girl) has to go live with her uncle who never smiles. When she gets there she finds out that her uncle own a bakery and has helpers. One of the helpers name's is Emma. Emma and Lynda-Grace and Emma have a scheme to make Uncle Jim smile! Read the book to find out what happens!

This is a really good picture book. As I said before, it is in teh form of letters from Lynda-Grace to her parent's and grandmother. It is a fantastic book for all ages!


Give "The Gardener" a try!

My mom bought this book last year for my daughter, now 6. My daughter loves gardening and "old-fashioned" books, and really enjoys the story and the pictures. She focuses mostly on Lydia's garden and cat. I cry every time I read it, because I focus on the little girl leaving her parents. My mom used to read this at a parenting group she ran at a women's prison. She said all the women were touched by it, as they had the experience of sending their kids away to live with other people. My mom pointed out that while Lydia's letters are very brave and positive, the pictures often show the sadness and loneliness of Lydia's situation in the first half of the book. So this is a very complex and thoughtful book, but still simple enough to be enjoyed by young children.

This is one of those books that I call a real book--not for kids, not for adults, not for girls...just a good, well-written and illustrated book that is brilliantly designed to reach you where you are at. It did have the added bonus of making me cry on the last page, in a bittersweet sort of way.

This is a beautiful book that can easily grow up with a child, and also something a whole family can read together and connect to.

The time of this story takes place in the mid 1930s and the family of the little girl of the story has had some hard times as so many families did during those horrible years. Briefly, the little girl is sent to live with her uncle Jim in the city until her father can find work and get the family back on thier feet. The author has chosen to tell this story via letter written back home to the little girl's family, by the girl herself. The story is through her eyes. The story is excellent, as it points out just what one person, even a little one, can do to change people lives. The running theme throughout of course is the little girls love for gardening. I certainly will not go into a blow by blow account of the plot, etc. as that has been done here several times, and done quite well. The text though, is quite readable and the illustrations are great. One other theme, other than the gardening, that runs through the story, is the fact that the little girl seems to be quite concerned over the fact that uncle Jim never smiles. In the end....well, you will have to read the story yourself, does he or does he not smile...you figure it out! Love this book and recommend it highly.

Absolutely marvelous! This simple story induces you to think about morals, existence, and adventure. By having virtue, anyone can lead a life filled with wonderful encounters and a way of life that can only lead you to a good future.

I loved this book a kid and bought it for my own children. Each of the three joined my enthusiasm for our dear friend, Dominic.

My son is in the Army and now has a son of his own. I used to read "Dominic" at bedtime, until I knew the story by heart. If I tried to skip a line or a paragraph, my son would interrupt and tell me I had missed a part! Recently, he asked if I would get the book for my grandson. Now my son is reading to his son. I love it! Christina

Throughout my life, I'd always remembered the "first book I ever read" as about some dog who played the piccolo and traveled around with his possessions in a sack on a stick. I remembered it so fondly, like one of those few, golden memories you hold onto from childhood, when you still believed in the tooth faerie and unicorns.

I never remembered the title, though, and the book had long since disappeared from my parent's house. One day I did an extensive Google search with only the words "dog," "piccolo" and "traveler" and managed to stumble across William Steig's website.

I just bought myself a new copy of "the first book I ever read" and can't wait to read it again. It really is a book that has stayed with me my entire life. I just found it astonishing that so many other people wrote the exact same thing in their reviews. How can it be that one book has been the "first book" for so many people? I don't know, but I do know that if you can let it be your kid's first book, they will cherish it forever. I sure did.

This was the first "real book" I remember reading as a little boy. I suppose I was about 6 or 7. I read and re-read Dominic many times and loved it more each time. I suppose it has be something like 35 years since I first read this book and I still remember it fondly. How many things can you say that about?

I recently purchased Jane Savoie's book Cross train your horse. I have read it through twice now and I highly recommend this to anyone wanting to learn to be a better rider and partner with your horse. It is well written and breaks down learning dressage in bite sized pieces for anyone new to the sport.

I spent much of my life as a cowgirl. Back then, no one considered dressage for basic training. Now that I am learning dressage, I needed someone to visually explain the maneuvers and the reason for how to execute them. This ol' cowgirl needed plain basic instructions and this book is the only one I consider easy to understand. That's a mouthful when it comes to dressage, but the book delivers. Within a year, we are working on 3 rd level, and I have much to thank the book that backs up what my trainer tries to explain.
the author of: Roses and Locoweed: The Life of a Cowboy's Wife and The Winter Years of World War II

Every horse person can benefit from Jane Savoie's "Cross Train Your Horse: Book One:Simple Dressage for Every Horse, Every Sport. This a clearly written "guide" for any discipline. I am planning on using it as one of the text books for a college course: Dressage for the Competition Horse

This book was exactly what I wanted. I've ridden hunters for all of my life but am starting to train in dressage. Though this cover basic dressage work such as turn-on-the-forehand, leg yielding, etc, it gives you details from a dressage point of view. I recommend it for anyone(English or Western) that has a stiff horse in need of suppling work through basic dressage.

I really enjoyed this book for it's easy to follow exercises and well thoughtout training plan. I can actually see what the author is talking about in my own horses.