People Books

Mr. Presley has done an excellent job of telling his story from the onset of polio until present day.

Polio was a disease that I only "heard" about. I only had limited knowledge until reading this book. One can understand the fear and rage that a young person would suffer. Mr. Presley has presented his story in a well-written and comfortable read fashion. He has an excellent way of presenting to the reader. He wastes no time on extensive visual details, rather he helps the reader visualize the world he has seen with an economy of words.

I read this book in two days. I laughed at places and commiserated in others.

This book educates the reader without boring them. This book will hold an honored place on my shelf, one that I will most certainly re-read and recommend to others.

I've been a registered nurse for nearly 25 years, at the bedside and in front of the classroom. Presley's book gave me a renewed sense of the PERSON on the other side of my stethoscope. I am embarrassed to say I'd often forgotten that concept.


Told with a sometimes gruff, sometimes measured, but strikingly honest poignancy, this man's story should be REQUIRED reading for all nurses, physicians, nursing assistants and others employed in the care of the ill and disabled. Doing so will better equip them to walk -- or perhaps, roll a mile -- in their patients' shoes.

Well done, Gary.

Gary Presley has written a profound book of his interior dialogue with life. In "Seven Wheelchairs: A Life beyond Polio," Mr. Presley plops us flat on our back, constricts our breathing, and teaches us to move, breathe and see life anew through his eyes. The book is a gem.

I will never be the same.

At the age of seventeen, when most of us are just ready to start adulthood, find a career, relationships, sort out our connection to extended family, Gary Presley experienced a setback. One of the final casualties of the polio era, he had to adjust his world view from an athletic, fully empowered human being to a person with severely limited physical mobility.

This took a lot of rethinking and retooling. In fact, it took a lifetime. During that lifetime, Gary used the organs that were fully functioning to reorganize his take on life. He used his brain, with a healthy boost from his heart. Then by learning to write, and translate the experience of life into words, he recorded the feelings of his humanity. It turns out that those people in wheelchairs I've been passing all my life have complete hearts, souls, and minds.

Gary has taught me a lesson about the power of dignity to extend into every corner of human experience. And he was only able to teach me that lesson by learning it himself. Reading this book is like taking a journey to the crux of what it means to be human. Walking with Gary, or rather rolling with him, I feel a movement of my own spirit hoping I do at least half as good a job in my lifetime to discover a set of insights and inner strength and guidance that makes life worth living.

Gary Presley got polio at age 17, after receiving a Salk booster vaccine. Since then, he has been confined to a wheelchair, seven different wheelchairs over the course of 50 years.

This book started out as a series of essays answering the questions people often have when they see someone in a wheelchair. He was able to weave these into a seamless narrative, providing vivid images of his treatment, recovery and life as a paraplegic. This book, more than anything else I've read, has helped me to imagine fully the struggles that paralyzed people are faced with. From the scenes of his breathing tube disconnecting while in the iron lung and no one on the hospital staff noticing, to the trials of simply going to the bathroom or breathing or his recognition of to the need to find love, happiness and acceptance, regardless of one's physical capacities, I felt drawn into his life.

This is a raw and honest book that will appeal to those who seek realism and truth. I learned a lot from it.

We love this book. Our four children - 19, 16, 8 and 6 - have grown up hearing this story over and over again.

this is a sweet story about a relationship between a grandfather and his grandson. the grandfather makes his grandson a blanket and as the boy grows and destroys the blanket the grandfather makes something new out of the material. i have a close relationship with my grandparents and they do everything to make their grandchildren happy. this story was kind of a reminder of that for me, how they'll always be there for me, and will help me and teach me with whatever tools they may have, but most of all how they'll always love me. i get almost emotional when i read this book. its a good one. get it.

A Grandpa's Love

This is my favorite children's book. It is warm, charming, and fills one
with a generally good feeling. Something from Nothing is adapted from a
jewish folktale. You don't have to be jewish or a child to be thoroughly enchanted with the relationship between grandpa and Joseph . Joseph is a little boy who goes to his grandfather to fix his tattered blanket because "grandpa can
fix anything". The story takes you through the passage of time when grandpa
converts the blanket to a jacket, a tie, a handkerchief, and then a button.
What to do when the button is lost... The pieces of fabric left over from grandpa's
mending goes below to a family of mice who end up with bedcovers, curtains,
table cloths, etc. The text is absolutely delightful, the illustrations magnificent. I have given and read this book numerous times to young children, They always ask me to re-read it to them, while they gaze at these wonderful pictures, and giggle over the mice family's good fortune.

Something from Nothing is a classic folktale retold by Phoebe Gilman in a delightful, playful way. My children love repeating Grandfather's refrain "Hmm, he said as his scissors went snip, snip, snip and his needle flew in and out and in and out. There's just enough material here to make..." along with me as I read and they love discovering new things the mouse family are up to under the family's floorboards or out on the town. They find something new every time! Joseph Had a Little Overcoat tells the same story but we like Something from Nothing much, much better.

This is one of my favorite children's books. I love the artwork and the retelling of an old story. It is a wonderful gift for all your best beloved children.

Great book. Interesting characters and plot. Great book to read while cozying up at the fire on a winter night.

Souls of the North Wind is a coming of age story set in the Canadian artic just as traditional Inuit life was to be forever changed by White traders. Iksik accidentally makes an old woman angry and she curses the boy and his entire village. In order to end the community's suffering, Iksik must trek across the barrens and convince the old woman to lift the curse. His cousin, Kiviok accompanies him. Kiviok has his own problems, no one believes him when he says he can understand what his dog says. They all insist that only a Shaman would have such abilities.

Souls of the North Wind is remnant of the stories we all read as children about growing up, about being ourselves, and about questioning common stereotypes. I think this message is still just as valid today and just as important for children, young adults, and adults alike. A fairly slow pace but the story progresses smoothly and purposefully toward an inspirational and somewhat humorous end.

I've had this book longer than I care to admit, but various things in life prevented me from reading it. Being in the military, working on my own book, moves etc; That said, I picked it up the other day without any distractions and began reading it. I couldn't put it down!!! CHRISSY K. MCVAY is in a league of her own!!! The story is something I am sure teenagers would love but I would recommend this book to "ANYONE" without any reservations, because I can't imagine anyone of any age who can read not loving it! Much in the way that the "Harry Potter Stories" were originally aimed at children, but adults quickly fell in love with them as well, I sense the same bottled magic here. This story is filled with wisdom, humor, danger, sadness, struggles, magic, intrigue conflicting beliefs, and a sense of anticipation through out that makes you want to get to that next page! And although I don't want to give it all away, children making that right of passage to becoming adults. It is beautifully detailed to give one the feeling of being present and it leads you on to read more, as if you are caught in one of the currents of the rivers she so vividly describes. The amount of research she must have done must have been mind staggering but she weaves this all together in such a way that every page contains something that by its self, is worth the price of this book. Being part Indian myself, I was swept away by her ability to make me feel as if I was living in the Inuit world, traditions, culture, manner of belief, I was there! Anyone who has any love of the wilderness or a desire to know how things perhaps use to be should own this book! I classify this book having read it finally, because of all the beautiful thoughts it contains, and stories within stories, and life lessons as something I am greatful to own and blessed to have. I can easily see this as a movie that will hold it's own against any movie in this area currently out there or that has ever been made previously!

Chrissy K. McVay is the real deal! The praise you see for this book is genuine, because, this truly is a true literary master piece!!!

Buy it and I am confident not only will you love it. You will share it with friends you know love to read works that are bonafide classics!

The Call Of The Wild
Old Yeller
Big Red
Charlottes Web
Black Beauty
Are all recognized classics

And I beyond a shadow of a doubt believe...

'The Souls of the North Wind'

More than holds its own with all them!

Sincerely,
Chase von
The Last Panther Your Chance to Hear The Last Panther Speak

When Iksik returned from a trading trip to a Kabluna village in the midst of a late snowstorm he was hounded by a witch's curse, a curse that brought with it danger and death from an ancient predator. All except the lead sled dog, Kuiniq, died in the night and Iksik was left partially paralyzed and wandering the land of death before the Ihalmiut's shaman sang him back into life. Kiviok, Iksik's cousin, could hear Kuiniq's voice and words in his mind and Kuiniq told Kiviok something evil tracked them through the blizzard and killed the dogs.

The Ihalmiut people lost several more men during a hunt and blamed Iksik for their bad luck. The shaman who was to lead Iksik and Kiviok to the land by the sea fell ill and the cousins left their village alone before their people decided they must be killed to remove the curse Iksik brought back with him. Taking Kuiniq, Iksik's lead sled dog, and Atnaliki, Kiviok's pup, the two young Inuit men journeyed alone through unknown lands and people to ask the witch who cursed Iksik to remove her curse and stop the yellow-eyed demon that stalks them and all who help them. When they reach the sea they will have to face the demon and death before they can return home.

Although "Souls of the North Wind" is juvenile fiction, everyone will enjoy the story it tells. Chrissy K. McVay's adventure tale spans the difference between Inuit and the rest of the world, showing their way of life and their beliefs in a realistic and sympathetic light. The Inuit world of Iksik and Kiviok at first seems backward and simplistic, but through the main characters' eyes the reader sees an open honesty and lack of guile that is delightfully enchanting.

The language of the Inuit is strange and daunting to read but McVay presents these ancient traditions and beliefs in a way that makes them seem less foreign and almost familiar. Kiviok and Iksik's adaptability and simple acceptance of hardship are shown in simple, straightforward language that rings with truth. Although the story is simple one of adventure, change and growth McVay layers in deeper meanings with a deft hand. "Souls of the North Wind" is the kind of story that grows richer with each reading.

One-hundred-eighty-two pages of pure adventure, SOULS OF THE NORTH WIND captured me from the very beginning. I'm not surprised that it won the Silver in ForeWord Magazine's Book of the Year Award in the juvenile fiction category.

But don't let that "juvenile fiction" fool you! This entertaining, educational novel is as enthralling for adults as it is for children. It's a riveting coming-of-age tale of two Ihalmiut boys who have the adventures of their lives on the the rugged Canadian Tundra.

Your heart will go out to these youngsters as they set out on a quest to rid one of them of a curse. With the fate of their entire village depending on their success, will they be able to save him and lift the curse? Will they be in time to save their village? And what frightening experiences do they face along the way in this hair-raising tale?

Author Chrissy K. McVay apparently knows her subject matter; writing with vivid imagery she breathes life into each character in this fast-paced novel of a primitive culture that preceded our more civilized societies.

Readers of this book will be enlightened as they learn more about the fascinating customs and legends of the Ihalmiut people who inhabited this wild, yet breath-taking territory. Hopefully, they will find new beauty and significance in their own lives as they learn about these early people and their rich heritage.

McVay's writing is clear and crisp, with a gentleness of touch and a way with words that made me feel as though I were there--in the book--right beside the characters. This outstanding novel has won a treasured place on my library shelf, right along with some of the best wordsmiths of our time. I highly recommend it, and feel it would make an enthralling movie.

I look forward to reading more from Chrissy K. McVay, a bright new light in the literary world.

Review by: Betty Dravis, 2007

Although it's not like what I expected and it has marks in it, it's a great book to red.

With Faulkner, and especially with The Sound and the Fury, you're in one of Three camps. You love it, you get it and you hate it, or you don't get it and you hate it. For the purpose of this review, I suppose I should note I fall in the first catagory.
Yes, a lot of (most?) people read it the first time in an English class, some of us get the pleasure of reading twice in separate English classes, and you would be hard-pressed to find an English major anywhere in America who doesn't, at the very least, say they've read it.
The first time through ain't easy. The Norton Edition helps greatly with that... I can't imagine trying to read any other edition the first time. And it's one of those 2 bookmark books... one in the novel, another in the reference section. Basically, you need a decoder ring to read it. Norton provides said decoder ring. Well, in book form. (a Faulkner decoder ring... now wouldn't that be neat?)
And, trust me, once you've gotten through it once, provided you can crack the spine again without crying, it gets better and better with subsequent reads. It's one of those "change your life" books, but without being preachy or even motivational... it's an honest and disturbing and heartbreaking and headache-inducing picture of family, community, an era, and existence as a whole.

Faulkner seems to be one of those authors you either love or hate. His stream-of-consciousness style can be hard to follow at times, but his stories are spot-on as far as the human condition is concerned. I never really got into this novel until grad school; now I can't get enough of Faulkner! Read it even if you aren't an English major!

I tried to read this book as a freshman in college, and it was utterly lost on me, I'm sad to say. At the time, I was in denial about my status as a Southerner; I just wanted to get out and move to NYC and pretend I was living in Andy Warhol's factory.

Now, as an adult, and as a writer with a forthcoming memoir about growing up in the South, TSATF is far and away my favorite book. I took it with me on a recent trip to Mexico and read it on the beach, completely unable to put it down. It's not straightforward until the third of the four sections; Benjy's section (though the most beautiful thing I have ever read) and Quentin's are stream-of-consciousness and difficult. This is where the Norton Critical Edition is so handy. The pages and pages of biographical info and criticism are compelling and insightful, and make a great companion to the book. If you buy this book, buy this edition. It's very well compiled and makes me proud that Norton is my publisher.

This is perhaps the most difficult novel written that's worth the time to read. I'd STRONGLY suggest you buy Volpe's book on Faulkner's NovelsA Reader's Guide to William Faulkner: The Novels (Reader's Guides) to read along with it first. Volpe breaks down the points at which a different character takes over the narrative. After that, try it yourself, but Volpe is the best guide for the person new to Faulkner's harder(hardest)work. The Norton Edition has a great deal of helpful critical material which, though not in Volpe's ballpark, is very helpful. Buy this edition, but don't forget the Volpe on Faulkner's novel.

Jimmy Liao is my favourite illustrator and I was excited to find his book translated into English. I have seen the illustrations before in the Chinese book and enjoyed them on a visual level. However, having the text in English really brought the story to life.

The story is of a young woman who is going blind - it is an exploration of sight and how imagination can compensate for the loss of sight. The ending is inspiring.

This book would be excellent to expose children to a different perspective of the world and also would make a lovely gift for any adult who enjoys detailed and whimsical illustrations.

The reason I bought this book is I rented a movie called "The Sound of Color". It is a movie about a woman who is blind, strong, resourceful and full of joy. In the movie she teaches a man who becomes blind how to live and navigate around the city he once knew. The movie has drawings from the book and I became intrigued. The director of the movie told how he loved the book but it was hard to bring it to film. I disagree with him because his film and the book tells of one persons joy with the world around her even though she becomes blind and can't see it anymore. The beautiful ink and watercolor drawings with the powerful story will show you another way to look at your world and inspire your imagination.

This books is good in English, but I preferred the Chinese version much better. In English, things got a little over simplified, where as they were more complex in Chinese. I recently saw the Chinese version available for sale on the China Books website.
This book is age appropriate for older children to adults, not exactly children. I wouldn't buy it for anyone younger than 10.

Captivatingly colourful and creative illustrations combine with dreamy inner dialogue to carry us along on a journey of reflection, isolation, loss and hope. This book envelopes our whole family and sweeps us away.

With allusions to "The Wizard of Oz," "Alice in Wonderland," and psychologist/anthropologist C. G. Jung, "Color of Sounds" tells teh story of a blind young girl who rides a vast subway network because "I have a journey to go on. There are some thing I need to find." What follows is a remarkable narrative about internal and external discovery, with some of the most luscious and creative illustrations in recent memory.

The girl disembarks at various subway stops (subway illustrations are always panelled strips running across the middle of a two page spread), and climbs colorfully patterned stairs (often reminscent of M.C.Escher) and arrives at archtypal settings: An apple tree sitting Eden-like in a verdant forest, alongside dolphis and atop a whale, a topiary-adorned maze. Jimmy Liao presents his metaphors on both adult and children's levels. While adults may recognize the symbolic conflicts and issues presented by a maze; for example, children benefit from the explicit text: "Sometimes the street twist themselves into a maze.But if you look hard enough, there's always a way out. Other sections may benefit from discussion at an age-appropriate level. At one subway station, there are four trains going in both directions, all filled with people, and all colored differently. THe girl stands between them, "Which is the right one? It's easy to get lost underground."

At his point, she seems to take her own route, riding a kiddie train (decorated with motifs decorated a la Guaguin, Matisse, and others), then abandons the train to a white swan swimming against a cloudy yet luminescent background (a mystically beautiful and serene illustration). She slowly arrives at her answers. "HOme is the place where everything I've lost is waiting patiently for me to find my way back." She realizes that because she "went forward, step by step, into the dark," used her other sense (listening "for the sound of colors I can't see"; smelling the shapes and tasting "the light and dark," and hoping for someone "who'll sit beside me, sip tea, tell me her hopes for the future, and listen to mine." (Here, the two-page spread depicts her sitting on a green oval-shaped chair, surrounded by four rows of empty chairs in various colors, shapes, and sizes.

Towards the conclusion, the young girl encounters a butterfly, whom she believes may offer the answers to her hopes and dreams:

She'll tale me
to the friend I need to find.
She'll lead me to the place
where all the colors are.

she'll bring me back to the light that I lost,
still glowing here, in my heart.

An enormously colorful mosaic of birds, flowers, eyes, and other motifs surround the now smiling girl, when Liao write "in my heart." It's neither saccharine or precious. While the book may be read at many levels, and it simulatneously present many emotions and moods (fear, comfort, solitude, hope, wonder) the overall effect is an almost staggering visual and narrative display of poetry. The undertones can be dark and may even frighten some children (know your audience), but for othos who have begun their own journies of self- and other- discovery, for those who feel lost or have experienced pain, poor health, or disability, this book highlights the fact and ignites thought of possibility and transcendance.

I have loved this since I was a kid. I only have it on tape (I'm old). Once you get used to the actors and once you stop trying to compare it to the movie, you will like it.

The only scene I hate is the one where Vader is torturing Leia. It is laughable. Actually, you should listen to it because I guarantee you will laugh it is so poorly done.

I remembered listening to this production on NPR when I was a kid and now that my own children have discovered Star Wars I decided to share this version with them on a recent trip to visit grandma. We loved it! The Star Wars story is expanded and the writing and voice acting is so well done that it will keep the kids and adults entertained. Our trip seemed almost too short because we enjoyed listening so much.

Don't waste money on a DVD player in the car. Stories like this one are much more entertaining and leave the special f/x to the imagination.

In 1981, the phenomenally popular movie Star Wars was adapted into a radio drama. The series ran as 13 half-hour episodes. This being about three times as long as the movie, a lot of extra scenes were added, especially back stories for many of the characters. The only actors from the movie that reprised their roles from the movie were Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker and Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, but most of the actors taking over the other roles do a good job. Most Star Wars fans will probably enjoy this.

I recently wrote a review for the Return of the Jedi adaption on NPR which I gave a mere three stars. I cited poor directing, acting and lack of added material.

These complaints cannot be levelled against this, the first of the NPR dramatisations.
The acting is spot on, with Perry King providing a rougher verion of Solo that goes over well, as opposed to the next two adaptions where it begins to grate. Mark Hamil and Anthony Daniels are naturally perfect at the characters that defined them for a decade and more after the original trilogy finished. Bernard Behrens does a surprisingly good Ben Kenobi, and Brock Peters likewise with Vader. They are not Alec Guinness and James Earl Jones, but they're good enough not to cause problems.

The direction is great, and I never found myself noticing the obvious radio 'cues' which tell the listener what is happening. THe music and sound effects are good and the pacing is not rushed, unlike ROTJ.

And as for added material? Deducting front and end credits gives us roughly five and a half hours, nearly triple the length of the film. The vast wealth of extra material is great and never seems out of place.

In all I would recommend this to anyone with an interest in the Star Wars original trilogy.

I have fond memories of myself eagerly awaiting each installment of this fantastic radio drama adaptation of the original "Star Wars" film back when it aired originally in 1981. Brian Daley did an excellent job via his superb scripts giving us more details of the relationships between Luke Skywalker and his Tatooine friend Biggs Darklighter and between Princess Leia and her father on Alderaan. We also learn here how Princess Leia obtained the technical plans for the Death Star. Both Mark Hamill and Anthony Daniels give superb performances of their screen characters, Luke Skywalker and C3PO respectively. However, the rest of the cast is just as fine with a fine - if somewhat restrained - Darth Vader voiced by Brock Peters and Ann Sachs as Princess Leia. Both the sound effects by Ben Burtt and of course the original film score by John Williams are absolutely splendid. This is a spellbinding radio drama that should appeal to diehard fans of "Star Wars".

Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood is Ibtisam Barakat's memoir of her childhood growing up on the war-torn West Bank.

The story begins in 1981. 17-year-old Ibtisam is on a bus heading home to Ramallah when Israeli soldiers board the bus and order the driver to take the passengers to a nearby detention center. It is here when we first get a glimpse into the fear that has consumed Ibtisam's life for nearly 15 years since the 6-day war of 1967.

As Ibtisam is released unharmed and safely returns home, she takes us back to that day in 1967 when the war was declared. What was a normal day soon turns to terror as three-and-a-half year old Ibtisam, her family, and neighbors are forced to flee their homes. In the rush to get away, Ibtisam doesn't have time to put on both shoes and somehow loses her family and her other shoe. She miraculously finds her family after walking quite a distance barefoot. Her feet are injured, but they must continue onto Jordan where they've been granted refuge.

We see the next four years of Ibtisam's life through her eyes--the eyes of a child dealing with the realities of war. We see her parents struggle to protect their children, to keep their family together, and try to maintain some semblance of normalcy. They do have happy moments but are often reminded that the life they once led is gone, that Ramallah is occupied by Israeli soldiers, and that they must always be on guard.

A gripping and emotional story, I was drawn in from the beginning and had a difficult time putting the book down. As I was initially reading, I felt I wanted to know a bit more about the history of the war and what was going on politically, but then I realized that Ibtisam Barakat was intentionally leaving this information out because she was telling us the story from a child's point of view. It simply wouldn't have worked if she would have added more historical information aside from the brief note in the beginning. All we see is how a child tries to grip with what's going on around her, and she sticks to this point of view throughout the entire story.

It also helped me put a face to war and to the innocent people and children who live in war-torn countries. It also made me realize that regardless of where you're from or what happens in your life, we all have the same emotions. Kids will be able to relate to this book even though they may not have had the same experiences.

I recommend this book to everyone, not just children, and I hope it's not the last we hear from Ibtisam Barakat.

This beautifully written memoir by Ibtisam Barakat draws the reader into occupied Palestine through the unassuming, uncensored eyes and heart of a child. Family life and love, the core of the story, offers a warm and firm foundation to explore the frightening aspects of a country under siege. In our adult world of "good guys" and "bad guys", descendants of Palestinians have become a generation without a country, without a heritage. Barakat's early perspective (she begins her narrative at age 3 and a half) allows the reader to crack the imposing façade of the "I'm right, you're wrong" attitude common in our world. This book should be on the reading lists of all schools, for it helps to dispel the glaring illusions of the press and media. Rather, Tasting the Sky reveals the truth of the fabric of all society as simply and elegantly as a blade of green grass growing brightly and firmly from underneath a rock. A terrific choice for students who hunger to read a biography of a Muslim girl, although the emphasis is not on religion. One cannot help but marvel at the at the skill and grace put forth in the writing of this author--a hopeful story of epic proportion.

This novel is very special in a lot of ways, and part of what makes it so touching is that it is true. You will love and feel for the characters, and above all you will share in their humanity. If any reader looks at Palestine as some kind of bizarre foreign country they will never understand, they will be surprised to discover a place where they feel right at home and a family that is just like any other family in the world but has to struggle through hard times.

Ibtisam Barakat skillfully and meticulously described the typical life of a Palestinian child and the life of the Palestinian's living in the villages and towns of West Bank after the Israeli occupation.

If I wasn't sure Ibtisam is not one of my siblings, I would swear we grew up in the same house.

This book is simply magnificent. Thank you Ibtisam.

If you've lived a middle class existence, this book will make everything you've ever complained about seem very small and ridiculous. No car when you were 16? Sharing a bathroom with your siblings? Boo hoo. Ibtisam Barakat grew up with real problems. Violence, war and famine were never very far from her front door.

Despite this, Ibtisam Barakat is able to recount her childhood growing up in Ramallah without an ounce of self-pity. What could be a maudlin tale is told from the eyes of a child who simply knows nothing else. She plays up the street with her brothers, has pets, and finds comfort and whimsy in a piece of chalk.

Barakat is also largely able to sidestep the politics that infuse the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and present a simple story--growing up as a child, surrounded by war and uncertainty.

Being a Maryland girl but living far away, these poems brought me back home! I am a huge Bruce Hornsby fan too so it was fun finding the lines to the songs that I know here and there! The poems made me laugh, think and cry. Thanks for the trip back home!

I bought this book because I'm a big fan of Bruce Hornsby. Luckily I did! Trying to find each Hornsby lyric that the author placed in each one of his poems was certainly very fun and quite challenging!


If you're a fan of Bruce Hornsby.......and The Shawshank Redemption.......then you'll definitely like this book.

I received this book just recently as a Christmas gift and what more can be said about it that hasn't already been said by other Amazon reviewers? So many of the poems in Till The Dreaming's Done really do hit home.
I guess one of things that hasn't been touched on a whole lot in these reviews, is to mention the author's one of a kind sense of humor. This young man uses some pretty darn good analogies throughout his poems and seems like he'd be one heck of a fun guy to chat with over a cup of coffee.
In conclusion, I do believe that we haven't heard the last of this 20-something poet and I know that I'll be awaiting that second book release from him one day down the road.

This author is going to fly to the top. His poems are very unique. After reading his book of poems, I lost my mother to cancer. There is a poem that he wrote that I kept reading, that brought me comfort. He is an amazing writer and I hope he will be bringing out another one. I'll be waiting!

A groundbreaking new book and author who gives tribute: to musical artist Bruce Hornsby, drama movie The Shawshank Redemption, and a traditional taste of Robert Frost here and there throughout his poetry. This guy's good!

I just loved this book and was sorry to see it end, and I am a discriminating reader. The story is so incredibly well told and so well written. There is drama, personal stories, great environmental information. I read some of the paragraphs, which flowed just like the tide at Seadrift, over and over again. She writes just like Texans talk and I just enjoyed it so much. She fights the good fight. Right ON!

With the discovery that her "piddlin' little county on the Gulf Coast" led the nation in toxic emissions, Diane Wilson fought friends, family, local politicians, corrupt state regulators, legislators, senators, and the multi-billion dollar company Formosa Plastic. This leader of Taiwan's petrochemical industry had environmental practices so appalling that twenty thousand Taiwanese came out under threat of police violence to protest its proposed new $8 billion dollar complex. That's how Formosa decided to shift its operations to Texas. Texas was willing to give Formosa $200 million in subsides and to look the other way on environmental violations for it's proposed $1.3 billion expansion of its PVC manufacturing facility in Calhoun County, Texas.

Diane wanted to know why in her small community "a man could make the arrest column in the local newspaper any day of the week for running his truck with expired license plates or no insurance, but let a chemical company, half a mile wide and with a thousand unknown chemicals zipping through their pipes, release eighty tons of a baby-aborting chemical into his neighbor's backyard, and it would be lucky if it made a note in a report. The plant manager sounded startled over the phone. "Good God!" he said. "Of course we can't put that type of information in the paper. Do you want old Mister Weaver across the street to have a heart attack?" " (p. 250)

Vinyl chloride monomer is one of the worst cancer-causing chemicals in the world.
"It's so hazardous the government says you're in violation if a single pound is released. But here seventy-four tons of vinyl chloride was released within one mile of an elementary school right across the road from Point Comfort. And if that wasn't enough, Formosa, in the same breath they were polluting with, asked the state to permit a tenth reactor while the ninth was violating production permits. You tell me the state is getting it? You exceed permits and you're rewarded with more?" (p.186)

Maybe all this had something to do with Formosa giving campaign funds to U.S. Senator Gramm, who appointed his former campaign advisor to the head of EPA Region 6, and who was now the final authority on Formosa's penalty and all their permits.

"The commission decided that even though Formosa's fine warranted something in the seven-figure bracket, they would calculate it thirty times lower, and although Formosa continued to violate their wastewater permit on a daily basis into a body of water they had already degraded, the state would allow the waste water permit and violations to continue.
It wasn't the Water Commissions fault, Chairman Bucko said. The blame lay squarely with the federal agencies who prevented the Water Commission from dealing appropriately with the environmental issues at Formosa. Maybe now the agencies would back off their demand for a comprehensive environmental impact statement and let the state regulatory process work." (p. 208)

I found Diane's use of local dialect when "she" is talking, and standard prose elsewhere, a delightful aspect of this book. The local dialect is what one hears in the Texas Coast fishing communities, and it evokes an incredible feeling of time and place. The reader feels the salt spray right along with her.

Diane Wilson is not only an unreasonable woman she is an outstanding human being. She is a reluctant hero, the most authentic kind. She eventually stands up for her native waters, mother earth and the very survival of the human race.

Doing something doesn't necessarily mean you can write well about it. In this case, Diane writes in her own authentic and electrifying voice. Her story rings true and reads like the most exciting fiction. I recommend this book to anyone who loves nature, adventure or just plain good reading.

What a pleasure to read this story of an amazing and heroic woman, giving it all to take down giants. Ms Wilson's Marquez-like writing style and choice of words leaves me breathless and imagining I'm there with her as her mission lays itself at her feet and she picks it up and takes it on. Bravo! An absolutely wonderful read.

Social anthroplogist, Kate Fox, has observed the English (she is one) in in all seasons and conditions, and particularly in the places where they are most comfortable. Her books include PUB WATCHING with Desmond Morris, and PASSPORT TO THE PUB; The Tourist's Guide to Pub Etiquette. The book is witty in its analysis of the ways of English conversation and behaviour with its unwritten codes, and of weather-speak, reflex apology, ironic-gnome, money talk, and panaroid-pantomime rules which belie the underlying scholarship and serious study. It can be taken up at random, however, to delight the reader with its anecdotes and many acute observations.

In defining the characteristics of Englishness the core appears to be the Social Dis-ease, the short-hand term for all their social inhibitions and hang-ups. They can be over-polite, buttoned up and awkwardly restrained, or loud, crude or generally obnoxious. Humor, however, is the the most effective built-in antedote to the SD. They do not have a global monopoly on humor but it is the sheer pervasiveness and supreme importance of humor in English every day life and culture which is distinctive. When in doubt, joke, particularly when earnestness is threatened. Response to earnestness is cynicism, ironic detachment and a squeamish distaste for sentimentality.

She has it right in my book, speaking as a fellow Brit who is fearsome of all forms of political correctness. You really must read this eloquent and funny book on human behaviour

A pleasure to read and to smile at some of the most British ways of seeing life and smelling the weather!

I've only just begun reading, but so far, it's been quite enjoyable. The author writes with humor. I've some British online friends. I've been able to use tidbits from the book when joking around with them.

Although international industry analyst firms aim to use similar methods when writing their research, winning sales recommendations still means connecting with the `go-to' analysts in national markets. I tend to recommend Kate Fox's book, Watching the English, to those trying to cross the cultural divide when briefing industry analysts here.

Fox is an Oxford-based anthopologist who is better known for her studies of English behavior at the race course and in the pub. It is popularly written, well structured and thoroughly researched. Fox goes deeper than the usual observations about Britain being, like Japan and France, a rather high context culture. She picks up three sets of attributes which might especially hamper those from low context cultures, like the US and Germany, who try to build rapport with analysts in the UK.

1. Reflexes in British culture include humor, moderation and hypocrisy. The first two are easier to work around. Humor is always on, even in rather formal business settings, and most interactions will be peppered with tepid humorous gambits: it's quite unlike most other cultures. Moderation is also an obstacle: paradigm changes are seen as risky rather than bold; what is new is often untested. Hypocrisy is a key element of our `negative politeness', in which not making the other person uncomfortable is often more important than being honest.
2. The general outlook is empirical, and therefore seeks facts, proof and experience. Eeyore, Winnie the Pooh's downcast friend, is a role model when it comes to the pessimistic and doom-laden scepticism of many English folks: perfectly confident projections of the future tend to be discounted. Class consciousness pervades organisations. Especially in London, many cosmopolitian organisations might be staffed largely, or even principally, by foreigners. Even in those businesses, an invisible pecking order will exist the classify the English (and a few French, who meritocracy provides metadata for mapping on to British class structures).
3. The English value fair play, courtesy and modesty. Aggressive, winner-take-all, attitudes are often seen as blinkered, comic and dangerous. Courtesy is a major flaw of many visiting business people, especially in their assumption of hierarchies in analyst firms: I often see spokesmen ignoring women and younger analysts and addressing their comments to only the analyst they feel is most senior. Modesty is also likely to give rise to misunderstandings: because no-one likes a show off, the tendency here is to underplay one's hand with irony. One might say that one `knows a little about semiconductors', which could easily mean that the person is a leading authority on the subject. In the US, business people often open conversations by dropping names and terms to locate each other on a pecking order; because English analysts will often not spar in this way, and do not feel obliged to show what they know, US spokespeople might leave a meeting with a highly able analyst still unaware of that analyst's knowledge and perceptions.

I had read Barzini's well known works on the Europeans and thoroughly enjoyed this book on the English.

The approach is academic yet palatable, laden with insightful observations and well deserves consideration as a work of anthropological interest. The author maintains an objective distance and professional methodology which impart a delicious irony; we are conditioned to primitive cultures as the provenance of these studies, she turns the focus upon what some may argue as the bastion of civilization.

As a guidebook to a cultural understanding of the English this work is invaluable. The expose on class is penetrating and amuses as there are unexpected twists; such as decorating your home or garden with a modicum of lower class objects, the inside joke apparent only to the cognoscienti.