Virginia Books

This really useful field guide has great drawings of over 100 species found in neighborhoods in US and Canada. Has a simple system to instantly tell you the region and feeding preferences of birds, in other words, where you are most likely to find them. The drawings are beautiful, colorful and accurate, clearly showing the difference between male and female, and defining markings. I've enjoyed mine thoroughly!

My girls and I love this book! What a pleasure to be able to look out our window and now be able to identify the types of birds that live among us. We even now can recognize a bird by sound.

This book includes wonderful pictures with easy to read descriptions of the birds and their habits.

What a great way to spend time with each other having fun exploring and learning.

A book that can be enjoyed at any age.

Excellent photographs of Midwest Birds that will allow you to identify the bird that you see....quickly.

The Peterson guides are a well established in the birding world. I was looking for a good basic introductory book for my young daughter who, like me, enjoys bird watching. This book has a list of the most common birds that we're likely to see in our backyard. I like the way it's divided by feather coloration rather than by species or group of species. This makes it easier for a child to learn to identify the birds in a non-overwhelming way. I plan to buy the rest of the series for our family's field library.

While this is a must-read book for the health care and emergency response fields, everyone who works in any office environment should have this book on hand. In the legal field, I work daily with clients who are under pressure. This book gives clear, concise and easy-to-access advice for dealing with individuals who are in stressful situations or dealing with a crisis. And you can apply the information/advice not only in the office environment, but when dealing with individuals in any daily situations, anywhere you go. Keep this book handy!

I thought this book was great - have been an RN for 33 years (an ER RN for 29 of those years) and I found this book right to the point!! Even asked my director to order some!!!

This book provides basic information on crisis intervention. Unfortunately it does not seem to provide any new information for experienced mental health professionals. For those who are not well versed in mental health issues this book might be very helpful. A good addition to disaster planning or in preparing to deal with a mental health crisis.

As a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner, I found this book to be an excellent resource for emergency personnel.

This book was displayed in the Welcome Center at the Virginia State line.
I looked through it and decided it was one I HAD to have. I made note of it in my little "black" book and when I returned home to the Northwest I knew I could count on Amazon.com to get it to me.

This is a wonderful book loaded with recipes, pictures and Virginia history.I ahve tried many of the recipes and they are delicious. This is a great book to give as a gift to everyone you know.

I rarely buy cookbooks, and I was glad to have purchased this one. Not only are there a variety of recipes, but there is also lots of Virginia-related history and information to read as well. I think this will be the first cookbook that I actually read cover to cover!
If you are familiar with Virginia restaurants, there are recipes from places like Baliwick Inn and Shields Tavern.
The one thing I wish was different about this book is the way it's organized. For example, there is a chapter on cheese and eggs. There could be a variety of recipes in this chapter, from quiche to creme brulee.

Much more than a cookbook, The Best of Virginia Farms contains intriguing automobile tours to plantations and historic farm sites in the Old Dominion, some I didn't know existed and most I hadn't visited but will now. There are 8 (36 by 12-inch) full color foldout panoramic photos of Virginia, interesting interviews of Virginians who had a great impact on agriculture, and so many interesting facts I didn't know -- either about food, agriculture or Virginia history. Best of all, the recipes are delicious and easy to make with clear directions and background information about the Virginians who created them. Anyone who likes good food and likes to learn will really enjoy this book about America's first farm state.

The best book I read in 2007 was originally published in 1925. And, as a bonus, it was actually read for me. The plot of Beyond the Outposts is unlike any I have encountered before: young Lew Dorset runs away from his uncle (looking after him since Lew's father went to prison) in search of his father.

Along the way, he makes a great friend in Chuck Morris (and that's Morris, not Norris, in case you weren't really paying attention yet), and fights Indians, later befriending them. There's a lot more that happens, but I don't want to ruin this epic experience for you. This is one of author Max Brand's most ambitious plots and he handles it deftly. Also, the complexity of the father-son relationship (even in the absence of the father) is dealt with especially well, giving Lew a depth that is not found in many characters.

As for the audiobook of Beyond the Outposts, let me begin by saying that it is a special occasion when an actor you were previously unaware of makes an impression -- and to do so twice is extraordinary -- but that is just what happened to me with an actor with the distinctive name of Kristoffer Tabori.

The first time I saw Tabori, he was truly inhabiting the usually thankless role of Henry Baskerville to Jeremy Brett's Sherlock Holmes in The Hound of the Baskervilles. (In fact, I defy you to name anyone you who has ever played that role memorably.) His portrayal, I wrote at the time, "offers up a sympathetic rendition of the lord of the manor that actually makes the viewer care about his safety (and his heart)."

Fast-forward a year. I came across this audio of Beyond the Outposts (Brand is one of my favorite authors, and one whose audiobooks, for some reason, I have a good deal of trouble tracking down through the library) -- read by Kristoffer Tabori. Well, I knew the name rang a bell and looked up the Holmes review to reread it. Interesting, I thought, a Briton reading a Western, but I decided to give it a go anyway. (It turns out Tabori is actually an American, and the son of director Don Siegel and actress Viveca Lindfors, but I was ignorant of this at the time. Thanks, Wikipedia!)

The voice that came from my car's speakers was so different from that of Henry Baskerville that I had to do some Googling to confirm that it was in fact the same person. Tabori's reading reeks of the Old West. His personification of narrator Lew Dorset surpassed even my expectations for a Max Brand character. And his voice never falters as he gives each character a voice distinct enough to be different, yet similar enough to remind us they are all from the same area. Tabori makes these people live in a way they simply cannot on paper. And anyone who can actually improve on a Brand story gets high marks in my book.

Wow! This story is char-broiled!

I'm not sure how accurate the portrayals of the Sioux and Pawnees are, but the white Virginian who narrates his life story winds up living with the Sioux to his delight, and being a captive of the Pawnee. It's a real rip-snorter. Fleeing from an abusive uncle, searching for his father, he meets up with a colorful cast of characters from the pre-Civil war West. Initially it has tones of Huck Finn (abusive parental figure, misguided racism from the South) but becomes a dramatic, rip-snorter of a tale, fighting and living with Native Americans, hunting an almost mythical white horse, and telling a tale of great friendship and disaster.

The reader of the CD audio book is a perfect match - one of the best I have heard. It's like you are sitting at the campfire with him.

Reading Max Brand will spoil you for the insipid pop fiction being written today. Here was a guy who knew how to tell a story! What a craftsman! Kristoffer Tabori -- who won an Audie Award last year for his version of J Eugenenides' "Middlesex" -- does a nuanced, exciting rendition of this vintage Western.

Best western I've ever read from any author.

Blind Singer Joe's Blues is a novel set in the birthplace and time of modern American music. The complex and all-too human characters whose live play out against this backdrop are the musicians who create what we now call blues, rag-time and country music.

The author's deep knowledge of the music of that era is obvious throughout. It complements his ability to draw strong portraits of the characters and an engrossing story line.

I enjoyed this book immensely. Highly recommended.

I couldn't put this beautifully-crafted book down once I started it. Robert Love Taylor's masterful handling of perspective and dialogue, his insightful and sympathetic development of characters, and the precise perfection of the language throughout make this a rare gem. You won't find its match in evoking the feel of music. I loved it.

More truth in reviewing: I know the author too, and I knew he could make a fiddle sing like God's choir of spring-morning birds -- but I had no idea he could do the same thing with mere words of clay. Blind Singer Joe's Blues sings through hard-bitten characters and hard times; through soul-searching, generosity, orneriness and forgiveness; and through the greenbrier thicket of family ties.

Taylor eases the reader through viewpoint, time and place, just as a tune effortlessly weaves from chorus to verse and back again. The plot unfolds so sparely that you wonder at how he creates such a complex tapestry in such a small space.

His characters -- Hannah Ruth, Pink Miracle, Dudley Crider and his mama Pearlie, Mama Bayless, Emmett and Amelia Holt -- reveal themselves, their stations, their hopes and beliefs through their language, all of it sounding as true as a tuning fork, as when Dudley gives a piece of his mind to the toddler, Singer Joe: "We are Criders and don't have no fear, he told the boy, and he imagined some of O.T., some of Uncle Crockett and Uncle U.S., some of Daddy, some of himself, yes, and then all the Criders before them, grandaddies and grandmamas by the score, crowded up in Singer Joe's veins."

Religious passion and personal passion meet sorrow and self-denial and all of it makes up the blues that are the fabric of Singer Joe's life.

Start this book on Friday night; you'll want the weekend to finish it.

Truth in reviewing: I am acquainted with the author, but haven't seen him in ages. Years ago he promised another novel with the old-time fiddler character Pink Miracle from his earlier book, THE LOST SISTER, and he has finally delivered. It is well worth the wait: it is highly readable and atmospheric, filled with memorable people. It's about souls who may seem kind of marginal in global and universal schemes but who find a way to be heard, to matter in the middle of it all.

Taylor has drawn on family history and legend out of his ancestral territory of Oklahoma and the mountains of eastern Tennessee for his past books. In this new work, in which he is at the top of his powers as a storyteller and fiction stylist, he looks at the early 20th century country folks who poured their lives into the songs that became the modern bluegrass, jazz and folk traditions. The jazz musician of the title and his blues are the legacy of the stories that flow together in this narrative, swirling around a restless songbird teenage mother who deserts him as well as everyone else in her life.

I confess to having been haphazardly acquainted with bluegrass music through occasional street festivals and local arts events. Coincidentally, as I was reading BLIND SINGER JOE'S BLUES, an Alison Krauss concert video was brought into the house. Listening and reading at the same time, I realized just how much Taylor's novel is alive with the music and explains how it got that way; and Krauss, well, she and bluegrass have a new fan.

There are very few books on the market about this subject. Luckily, this one is excellent. The author covers all topics very extensively-- supplies, techniques, color theory. The variety of flowers is phenomenal, and the directions are easy to follow. Many of the illustrations are in black and white, but the color plates (there are 21 of them) are beautiful. If you are at all interested in creating lovely flowers from beads, you need this book.

This is a phenomenal book for the beginner or intermediate flower beader! I tried other "newer" booklets when I first started beading and was so confused. This book is very easy to understand with concise illustrations and instructions. This is a must have if you want to learn the beautiful Victorian craft of beaded flowers! Happy beading!

This book is a huge help with color, design and balance. Thanks.

Although it is dated from the 1960's nothing about this forgotten craft has changed. The instructions are clear and easy to follow. The pictures, although mostly in black and white, are large, and show what the flower is supposed to look like when you are done. Each and every phase of the process of making French Beaded Flowers is discussed in detail. There is a section on arrangement and the kinds of containers you can use. I bought this book to add to my collection of books on this subject and was pleasantly suprised by how good it was.

this good is so good. it's about a 16 year old girl name Kitty- Lee Carter who needs money, so she gets a summer job at DQ. Kitty Lee lives in a small not wealthy town and when a man w/ a nice car pulls up and askes for her to baby sit his 3 kids b/c the mother is ill. Kitty- Lee doesn't want to leave her friend but when he offers her dubble what she gets @ DQ she takes it. Then she finds out he likes her!! well u gotta read the book for the rest but it's so good!

This was the cutest book I have ever read! The author did a marvelous job at writing the story! It made me wanna keep on reading and readin! I thought this was a great book!!!!!!! The ending was really nice and I like the way the book was foreshadowing! I thought the cutest part was the love part at the end!

The novel The Brightest Light was a heartwarming book. It had its sad times like when Kitty's (main character) grandma was talking to her about how her mother died in a car accident.I love how the author kept me hanging at the end of each chapter. It made me want to read the book all at once. The author did an excellent job in describing the characters' feelings. This is a great love story. I recomend this book big time.

Have you ever faced confusion, disapointment, and excitment at the same time? In The Brightest Light by Colleen McKenna, a 16-year old tells her story of a time that her childhood friend is abandoning her, her "cousin" seems to hate her, and a very handsome, older man doesn't discourage her liking him (not to mention he has a wife and three small children). My discription may not impress you, but the book is just indescribable. I hope that you will purchace this wonderful and unexpensive book that you will enjoy over and over again.

A compelling and very well-written account of Jim Crow and minor league baseball in the American South. The book is a fascinating cultural and historical study. The author clearly devoted a great deal of time in researching this book. His presentation of the oral histories is fantastic.

This is a wonderful book, recounting a largely unknown story of American and baseball history - how the southern minors' integration was part of the larger civil rights movement. 20th century baseball integration began but did not end with Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby. Unitl now, no one had taken their legacy to the next step. Bruce Adelson now has in a powerful account of what it was like being on the front lines of baseball and civil rights in the Dixie of the 1950s and early 1960s.

The author does a great job of capturing both sides of the integration battlefields (ballparks) of the South. He effectively uses narratives of former players, both the famous (Felipe Alou, Billy Williams, etc.)and the not so famous (Joe Durham, Percy Miller Jr., etc.) to detail exactly what those pioneers had to endure. Those narratives are interwoven with clippings from various newspapers of the day to tie the intergration of minor league baseball in the South with the overall racial climate of those cities. This book, I believe, would prove to be an interesting and informative read, even for those who are not baseball fans. Adelson obviously did a lot of research and successfully shows how baseball "broke down the walls" for total integration in the South. Spend the money and the time on this book - it's worth it!

The author has done an excellent job documenting the experiences of Hank Aaron, Billy Williams, Felipe Alou and others who broke minor league baseball color lines down south in the years after Jackie Robinson opened up the major leagues. His book includes poignant and compelling interviews with these and other ballplayers who relate their painful experiences of enduring Jim Crow racial restrictions while playing baseball. The author also places their achievements within the historical context of the times, the 1950s and 1960s. These players were truly civil rights pioneers, helping to integrate a closed society. This is a must read!

Helen Konz has done a magnificent job of researching material for her novel. She then tapped her imaginative mind and wove a story of tragedy and triumph from that historical cloth. As well as learning some history I did not know I thoroughly enjoyed her fictional characters and their development. This book, and the other two in this series, would be a wonderful addition to any school library. The history of our nation's founding, told in such an entertaining and interesting way, is a story many would enjoy.

Helen Konz has the gift of telling a story and making you feel like you're there. The characters are very believeable.

I had so much fun adding my imagination to historical events that I've written and self-published two sequels. Young adult and adult readers tell me that the books have rekindled their interest in our nations's history. That makes me feel that I've written something worthwhile.

The book was interesting, exciting, gripping and fun to read. I love the way things worked out. Helen Konz has a great way of telling stories.

As a single person, I think this book gives great perspective to what really will be required of me in marriage. It provides a practical application to what it looks like to love your spouse the way God calls us to - which will transform your concept marriage. The author uses her experiences in counseling and marriage and does a wonderful job of taking a scriptural premise of love and fleshing out what that really looks like in the forum of every day married life. A tremendous resource for married couples, engaged couples and even singles hoping to be married at some point.

Excellent! Filled with Bible-based, valuable insights for practical application. Perfect for a pastor's pre-marital counselling, as a course of study for adult CE, or as a wedding gift that, if used, will be worth more than any other.

A quick read loaded with wisdom to digest on your own or with your partner. Dr. Cadle couples her professional and personal experience creating an honest look at what it takes to develop and build on the foundation of your relationship. "Building Blocks for a Beautiful Marriage" provides poignant questions at the end of each chapter to assist with personal application of knowledge. Dr. Cadle examines the familiar verse of "love is patient..." in an innovative way that challenges growth as an indvidual, as a couple, and enriches your faith. I highly reccomend this book to couples at any stage.

"Building Blocks for a Beautiful Marriage"...this exceptional book provides an exciting opportunity to renew your relationship with your spouse from God's perspective. Married over 30 years, we have experienced joy and inspiration while sharing the wisdom of Dr. Virginia Cadle. Dr. Cadle speaks truth from both personal experiences and more than 20 years of marital counseling. Our recently engaged son shared this book with his finacee providing a wonderful foundation for their forthcoming marriage. We highly recommend "Building Blocks for a Beautiful Marriage" for all couples of all ages to include those dating, engaged, newlyweds and longtime married. Sally and Rob Townsend