Connecticut Books

Justin Long introduces his rascally hero, real estate entrepreneur Ben Abbott in this tightly wound if somewhat convoluted thriller.
Abbott is hired by a wealthy businessman to photograph his wife and her handsome lover. Abbott needs the money so he reluctantly agrees, but when he sees how happy the wife and her lover are, he changes his mind. Next day, however, loverboy is found murdered on the rich lady's vast estate and Ben's cousin is also found murdered in a downed airplane rife with cocaine. How these two seemingly unrelated murders come together is plotted well by Mr. Long, and although there is a little too much padding at times, it's otherwise an ingratiating debut.

I was really suprised to see no review for Hardscape. Justin Scott has written an excellent mystery. What made it stand out for me is the protagonist Ben Abbott, a very likeable, believable, if flawed character. If you like your mysteries with some solid writing and excellent characterization, give this series a try.

Ben Abbott is a fiesty, resourceful, (innocent) ex-con realtor who is a great observer of people and a real sucker for the ladies. Financial and emotional needs land him inadvertantly in the middle of a murder mystery in a (usually) quiet get-away town north of NYC. Ben is personally vested in one of the victims (his cousin), and would like to be with one of the suspects (a lovely, lonely woman).

Justin Scott's writing was truly refreshing, like the New England autumn in which his wonderfully woven story takes place. His characters' dialogue is sharp and character-consistent enough that the reader doesn't need constant reminding who is speaking (unlike so many modern mystery writers whose characters are completely flat). Scott's discriptions of action and settings blend seamlessly into the story, and often are contributing factors. He addresses all sorts of folks, from NYC big-time business brokers to backwoods bumpkins, and he writes them all very well.

This is not a book to be "skimmed" -- if you do, you'll miss a number of Justin Scott's wonderful little additions. Scott has such superbly gentle command of his storytelling in HARDSCAPE that there is a great deal of depth to his characters that can be read between the lines. For instance, the hero, Ben Abbott, has many great traits, but his internal dialogue is also humorously honest about his flaws. Being a single man who loves female companionship, what Ben notices and thus describes about other characters he encounters is different: he talks about the men according to their physical size and strength (just what an ex-con would notice and evaluate - can I take him?), and he takes note of other characteristics of the fairer sex - their clothes, hair, smiles, etc... It's a really brilliantly executed character development device. Scott paints such a pretty picture of the New England countryside that one can almost smell the sweet smoke of the wood-burning stoves.

While the plot is not extraordinary and the conclusion a little too Matlock-neat to fit the rest of the lush tale, everything else IS extraordinary. HARDSCAPE is the most smartly written, engrossing, and enjoyable fiction I've read in the past year. I'm looking forward a great deal to Scott's second entry into the Ben Abbott series, STONEDUST. I highly recommend HARDSCAPE for those seeking a clever, fun mystery to get wrapped up in.

Bringing back this series was a great idea. Poison Pen has put out a wonderful looking version of this great book.

Ben Abbot is a character not to be missed. This is written with a deft style and sense of plotting that draws the reader right into the book. Scott is a must read for mystery lovers

Mark Twain's 1892 novel THE AMERICAN CLAIMANT is neither notably long nor notably short. It has the "middle-weight" (or at least middle length) feel of a Graham Greene novel. THE AMERICAN CLAIMANT's 25 chapters make it, however, too long to be called a novella. On the other hand, it also lacks the heft of an unhurried whopper by Fenimore Cooper or Sir Walter Scott. As for content: it resembles a zany anticipation of P. G. Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster, both authors delighting in bird-brained but kind-hearted aristocrats of both England and America.

The Earl of Rossmore has an annual income of 200,000 pounds and only one heir, his flighty, nearly 30 year old son Viscount Berkeley, whose full name is Kirkcudbright Llanover Marjoribanks Sellers. The heir-apparent to the Sellers family name, title and wealth is, alas, influenced by leveling ideas among his smart set. He therefore resolves to renounce his inheritance and go to America, find work and rise to the heights by his own unaided efforts.

But wait: there is an "American claimant" to the English Earl's title. A century and a half ago, a Sellers viscount went off with the noble Fairfaxes (who later befriended the young George Washington) to "the wilds of Virginia, got married, and began to breed savages for the Claimant market" (Ch. 1). Back in England the then viscount was presumed to have died in America and his younger brother quietly assumed the title. But every generation of American Sellerses has since protested the cadet line's usurpation.

The newest American Claimant is the polymath, exuberantly fecund but financially unsuccessful inventor, Colonel Mulberry Sellers. He, his amused, admiring and loyal wife and their beautiful air-headed daughter Sally (recently restyled the Lady Gwendolyn) live in a ramshackle house in Washington, D.C. named Rossmore Towers. Sally/Gwendolyn attends fashionable Rowena-Ivanhoe College. The American Claimant sings that academy's praises to a visiting chum from the Cherokee Strip in Indian Territory:

"Rowena-Ivanhoe College is the selectest and most aristocratic seat of learning for young ladies in our country. Under no circumstances can a girl get in there unless she is either very rich and fashionable or can prove four generations of what may be called American nobility. Castellated college-buildings--towers and turrets and an imitation moat--and everything about the place named out of Sir Walter Scott's books and redolent of royalty and state and style ; and all the richest girls keep phaetons, and coachmen in livery, and riding-horses, with English grooms in plug hats and tight-buttoned coats, and top-boots, and a whip-handle without any whip to it, to ride sixty-three feet behind them-- And they don't learn a blessed thing, Washington Hawkins, not a single blessed thing but showy rubbish and un-American pretentiousness." (Ch. 4)

There are very few additional characters in THE AMERICAN CLAIMANT. Much of your fun in reading this romantic spoof will be to watch their sometimes harum-scarum interactions. What if the Viscount (disguised as commoner Howard Tracy, and taken by Colonel Sellers for an American cowboy bank robber) were to fall in love with Lady Gwendolyn? Their marriage might go a long way to settling the trans-Atlantic family feud. But what if Sally/Gwendolyn indignantly thinks Tracy/Sellers (he keeps his title secret) wants to marry her only for her title? What if the English Earl will not permit the wedding? Read on and enjoy an amusing little yarn.

In other novels Mark Twain also makes use of rich people in disguise (not necessarily freely chosen), mistakenly identified or wanting to pretend to be common: THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER and PUDD'NHEAD WILSON spring to mind. This motif has echoes leading back through Sir Walter Scott to William Shakespeare. -OOO-

He's said it all already, but I'll repeat: don't overlook this book! It's funny, it's clever, it's astute, and it's weatherless.

No. Nothing by Mark Twain can qualify as his 'best'. The breadth of his writing career cuts too wide a swath for such a statement. However, The American Claimant, obscure though it is, is certainly among his best.

The American Claimant is about Americans, the way they view themselves, the way they are viewed by others through the eyes of a British nobleman. Even though a century has passed since the book was written, most of the acute observations are as true today as when it was written.

A family of Americans descended from an eldest son of a British Earl, Lord Rossmore, has been claiming the title for many generations. The actual young Earl, filled with idealism, decides to abdicate, to change places with the American claimant. He travels to the US with the intention of contacting Colonel Mulberry Sellers, the claimant, to exchange places. Sellers is an American dreamer, always down on his luck, an inventor, a philanthropist of sorts.

Through a series of Keystone Kops misfortunes the Earl loses his letters of credit, assumes the clothing of bank robber from the west, takes up life in a boarding house of workmen, determined to make a life on his own and abandon the wealth of his past.

This is the setting for The American Claimant. The Earl discovers the American dream isn't quite as it is cracked up to be, discovers his taste for the common man is far less palatable in close proximity. Every attempt to find employment is thwarted until he discovers himself to be a worthy hack as an artist.

Fate takes a hand in the lives of the young Earl and the heir of the claimant, leading to a zesty, if predictable wrap-up.

As with every book by Mark Twain, this one is fun. It is astute. It is thought provoking. It is well written, the characters sympathetic and mostly believable, the plot, circuitous in the best Mark Twain tradition. It also contains an element of subtle wisdom and tongue-in-cheek observation more finely honed than in many of the earlier writings.

The author declared in the beginning that this would be a story without weather. He held to his promise, but in the end provided weather for the story in an appendix, for those who must have it.

I don't know why this book has fallen by the wayside. It shouldn't have done so.

I recommend it for any reader, but especially for American ones.

What we have here is an American (Mulberry Sellers) infatuated with English peerage who believes he is the rightful heir to the Earl of Rossmore and the real Earl who decides to throw over his title, come to America, and try out good old American egalitarianism where titles don't mean a hoot. So Lord Berkeley comes to America, is mistakenly thought burned to ashes in a hotel fire, but has in the meanwhile donned the cowboy outfit of One Armed Pete, a western outlaw and bank robber with a $5,000 award on his head. Desperate to find work but unable to, Berkeley begins to doubt the wisdom of his experiment in America, but then gets a job as a painter's assistant (Twain makes fun of the limitations of artists here and it's hilarious). Sellers is an inventor and schemer and is always coming up with a new contraption (the "Cursing Phonograph") or crazy idea (shifting the tropics to the arctic); Berkeley meets his daughter Sally and they instantly fall in love. Mistaken identity and misunderstandings hamper their relationship, though it's always more funny than serious. Everything gets straightened out, of course, by the end. Twain's humor here is more farcical than satirical, and he knows how to pour it on thick and keep the laughter flowing. The best scene is where Sally dismisses Berkeley (who by that time is going by the name of Howard) because she thinks he's only after her father's earldom. Not only is the whole scene ridiculously wacky, but her despair at not being kissed by him after she tells him to leave is only the rich icing on the cake. The book is a lot of fun, though not among the very first rank of Twain's work.

"The book...is full of tales of extraordinary people, events and places that make up Connecticut's surprisingly rich tradition."
--The New York Times

"Nutmeggers are fortunate to have nuggets of Connecticut's rich New England lore preserved and artfully served up by a master storyteller, David Philips." --The Hartford Courant

"LEGENDARY CONNECTICUT is lovely, and it is loving. Philips has a way with words, and he likes to tell a story. It's evident, and his appreciation for history is strong. Any Connecticut resident, ardent New Englander, sometime-weekender, history buff, or folklore buff will appreciate Philips effort." --The Lakeville Journal

As a native Connecticut resident, I found this collection of tales especially interesting since I've encountered many of the places featured. The author, a former professor at Eastern Connecticut University, complied this book with the help of students from his folklore class. Since folklore is passed down orally, some of the tales read unevenly in textual format, and I think would have came across better had I heard them from an actual storyteller. However, I liked how there was a variety of tales, from stories of famous Connecticut residents, to supernatural stories, to explanations on how towns, lakes, and other landmarks got their unusual names. Overall, a pretty good collection that spans the state.

"The book...is full of tales of extraordinary people, events and places that make up Connecticut's surprisingly rich tradition."
--The New York Times

"Nutmeggers are fortunate to have nuggets of Connecticut's rich New England lore preserved and artfully served up by a master storyteller, David Philips." --The Hartford Courant

"LEGENDARY CONNECTICUT is lovely, and it is loving. Philips has a way with words, and he likes to tell a story. It's evident, and his appreciation for history is strong. Any Connecticut resident, ardent New Englander, sometime-weekender, history buff, or folklore buff will appreciate Philips effort." --The Lakeville Journal

Fun to browse collection of the unusual, spooky, eccentric, amazing, and incredible people and events that helped shape the state of CT. From Lorenzo Dow, fire and brimstone preacher from my own home town who "raised the devil", to the Moodus Noises, to the cursed and haunted village of Dudleytown, there is plenty here to satisfy the curiosity of lovers of folklore, history, ghost stories, and tall tales. This book is easy to pick up and peruse for short chunks of time, as every chapter is self-contained and unrelated in the narrative sense. Most enjoyable.

The Lost Diaries of Iris Weed is a well-written page turner with one of the most unlikeable characters I have encountered for awhile. Professor Jason (Lars) Larson is a smug, arrogant, self-serving womanizer, with a semester worth of new conquests awaiting him each year. His long-suffering wife tolerates this behavior for her own reasons, and the couple is blessed with a young daughter whom they adore. When Lars encounters student Iris Weed, his world begins to turn upside down. Lars finds himself obsessed and lustful over this unusual, headstrong, young woman, who does not play into his hands as he expects. When Iris turns up dead, the police begin to focus their suspicions on Lars, who knows much more than he is revealing. The ending takes a nice twist and the story is suspenseful and satisfying. It would rate 5 stars if only for one thing; Lars' character is so unrepentant that I found myself wishing bad things to befall him too.

Janice Law's latest thriller is perhaps her most accomplished to date. As a longtime fan of her Anna Peters series I was prepared for a fast-paced thrill-ride; what I wasn't prepared for is Ms. Law's newfound depth of characterization. Her "hero," Lars, is charmingly odious; and the namesake of the novel isn't entirely what she appears to be. I don't want to give away the central plot twist, but readers who devote 20 pages to this book are in for a nasty shock -- and just wait until the ending. This one would make a great movie.

If you're looking to read a spooky, psychological suspense novel, look no further than "The Lost Diaries Of Iris Weed." Janice Law has written a thriller with this unusual book. Although not action-packed, (slow at times), it is riveting in its own way, and gathers lots of speed before it reaches a stunning conclusion. Her complex characters, their development and quirkiness, are a treat to read about.

Professor Jason (Lars) Larson is a charismatic scholar of Romantic and Victorian literature at an upscale Connecticut university. To say he is frivolous is to put it mildly. I, personally, would evaluate him as terminally narcissistic. He adores teaching and is as romantic as the subject he specializes in. Occasionally, he also finds himself adoring one of the inevitable female students who swoon over him. He believes he does no harm with his infidelities. He is sophisticated, he thinks, like the Europeans. "Flirtation, romance, discreet affairs; these were his metier, his gift." There is no doubt that Lars cherishes his family - his wife, the beautiful and understanding Emma, and precocious Cookie, his daughter, now on the cusp of adolescence. Unfortunately, Emma aids and abets him in his extra-curricular activities by indulging him more than he deserves, and remaining silent. Although he is discreet, he does have quite a reputation around campus. Students line up in droves to take his creative, dynamic classes. Particularly sought after are the few spots he has allotted each semester for independent study.

The whimsical, eccentric Iris Weed enters Larson's life and the impact she is to have on him and his family will last forever. Iris is an attractive young woman, though quite complex, with an extraordinary gift for writing and a particular penchant for Blake, Byron and Shelly. Her talent is truly unusual. Lars recognizes this almost immediately and offers to supervise her in independent study. Iris is living in a truck for the semester - sleeping in the back, without running water or other modern conveniences. Fortunately she has a swimming class in the morning, which she has specifically taken to use the showers. Iris thinks of herself as a modern day Thoreau and is keeping diaries to document her experience for her senior project. Lars finds himself falling for Iris, even obsessing about her, a new experience for him.

When Iris is brutally murdered in a parking lot, near her truck, Professor Jason Larson is thrust into the middle of a criminal investigation. He becomes prime suspect numero uno when the police discover his intense interest in the victim. To make matters worse, Lars had been seen arguing with Iris near the murder scene just before the crime was committed. His heretofore successful life spirals out of control as he himself loses control. He makes frantic efforts to cover up any potentially damaging evidence that would link him to his former student. This time, however, he is not able to use his charm to make things better.

Although Larson is not the most likeable of fictional characters, the author ultimately treats him with sympathy and manages to win over her readers - at least she won me over. Her use of satire is very effective when depicting the smug world of academia. Ms. Lawson dramatically weaves her narrative along with Iris' diary entries to provide a thrilling read.
JANA

At a highly regarded Connecticut university, Professor Jason "Lars" Larson teaches literature. Because of his antics in the classroom, students enjoy Lars' classes and anyone fortunate to attend his seminars is considered lucky. Some of the prettier females go so far as to share a bit more than just his professional time. Because she believes he loves her, Lars' spouse Emma quietly accepts his trysts and the emotional ups and downs of his extracurricular activities.

However, Emma begins having doubts about Lars feelings when Iris Weed becomes his latest student involvement though she rejects his advances. Iris has obtained Lars' permission to write a journal about living in a truck with no other modern convenience. However, Lars feels like a moth to Iris' flame as her élan pull him into her sphere. When someone murders Iris, Lars hides her diary from the police. Though it can help capture her murderer, it provides insight into the darker elements of the charming Lit Professor that Lars prefers buried for now even if the police feel he committed homicide.

If you have not read a Janice Law novel, you are missing out on one of the better writers of psychological mystery on the market today. The story line allows the audience to get inside the heads of the key cast members so that each individual is quite understandable on how they behave following the homicide. This deep character development enables the powerful plot to gain incredible speed and suspense until the tale is finished. THE LOST DIARIES OF IRIS WEED is another triumph from a strong author.

Harriet Klausner

Rich and vibrant characters and wonderful story telling make this book a hard one to put down. Rosemary Matteson writes a beautiful story of love and life. One that touches your heart and stirs your soul. I was absolutely taken in by these characters and their journeys. Just wonderful!

Dianna Shaeffer had what other people would say was the perfect marriage, but she found that happiness was not included. Here in Lake Placid she falls in love with a bobsledder named Jim Manning, who lives an average life, completely the opposite from what she is accustomed to. She has choices to make - give up her marriage to a successful lawyer, and start a new life, one full of excitement and fun. She gives all this up and finds happiness with Jim Manning for a while. The book is beautifully written. The author's visual description of the Lake Placid region captures your attention. If you have read Nicholas Sparks "The Notebook" and liked it, you will be even more pleased with this book. Rosemary Matteson is a very talented writer. Looking forward to another book from her.

"Nothing Gold Can Stay", written by Rosemary Matteson, is a richly textured novel of life in beautiful Lake Placid, New York. At the top of this sensational story is Dianna Shaeffer, who did not believe her comfortable marriage to Jeff Shaeffer would ever be threatened. It was an Olympic bobsled champion, Jim Manning, who changed her life. Her attorney husband tried in vain to rejuvenate their union. Diana left the social life of Southport Connecticut to marry Jim. Olympic events and life in this beautiful lake region will keep the reader intrigued from the beginning to the end. The author's description of the land of "merciless cold and eternal snow", and the beauty of the great Adirondacks was done exceptionally well. After her marriage to Jim, Diana experienced the thrill of passion again, with the love of her life. However, this thrill does not endure. She realizes that "Nothing Gold Can Stay". A very exciting novel. Be sure and read it. The title of the book is very appropriate; it was taken from one of Robert Frost's great poems. His poem reads, in part: "So dawn goes down to day, nothing gold can stay."

As the 2001 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City approaches, the world's attention will be diverted to athletes like Jim Manning, a U.S. Olympic bobsledder, who face death daily in a sport of blurring speed, ice and steel. Most of us will never experience the rigors of Olympic training nor appreciate the intense dedication that athletes possess. Through Diana Shaeffer, who escapes a privileged life and comfortably-secured marriage for a relationship with Manning, the reader better understands about living "life on the edge." Although the setting for the romance is the Adirondack mountain resort of Lake Placid, which hosted the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics, and international sports competitions, this is not just a novel about bobsledding or the Olympics. "Nothing Gold Can Stay" is a tale of self-realization and fulfillment. Told in a writing style reminiscient of Nicholas Sparks' "The Notebook" and "Message in a Bottle", the emotionally-charged novel involves a woman making choices and taking control of her own destiny. It leaves a reader with an appreciation that love can be as treasured as winning the Olympic gold.

An award-winning author, radio essayist for National Public Radio, scholar (in the true sense of the word), retired professor, and humorist, David Bouchier has written yet another delightful book that offers the astute reader a rare gift. With his inimitable brand of dry wit and keen insight, Bouchier skillfully satirizes all things suburban. He takes a seemingly trivial topic and turns it into a hilarious "read." What's more, he makes us look at each topic or situation in a way we never have before.

In The Song of Suburbia, the author deftly handles topics as diverse as the cacophony of lawn machines in spring, the cornucopia of vegetables in summer, and the home-alone panic without a car. Like all outstanding humorists, Bouchier does not hesitate to satirize self, and in so doing, puts himself in the same seat as the reader. Song of Suburbia is a happy melody that resonates, a suburban world that entices, an anthology that delights. Its songs will echo long after the book is closed.

Other than the author's obvious traits: wry observations, wit and wisdom, and injection of humors here and there, I enjoy reading the book because of the fact that the author often speaks for many of us (for example, what he says about the mission statement - Mission Impossible) and his words made me think (for example, when he talks about how those glossy "Country" magazines seem to take it for granted that ordinary Americans dwell in antique-filled, historic houses on hundred acre estates, in the depths of the country - Suburban Life.) This book not only brings me smiles but also helps me shape my own thoughts.

Bouchier's short essays on suburban life hit just the right note. The topics are ones with which we are all familiar - sights encountered while we walk, American holidays, garage sales, sports, vacations and lawn care - to name a few. What keeps us reading is the author's fresh obsverations on cultural events and routines that suburbanites take for granted. Bouchier's writing resonates with dry humor. These well-tuned pieces are entertaining and insightful.

Once again in an effort to be humourous about the foibles of America, an author has dragged out the tired and predictable. It's not that this work isn't occasionaly amusing, it's simply that the writing is stale and formulaic. Perhaps it's a function of his radio persona, writing to fill a certain time slot, but each essay has precisely the same rhythm and pace. It's like repetitively humming the same tune; it's tiresome at best. As for substance, Bill Bryson and many others got there first in contemporary times, and Mr. Bouchier is certainly no H.L. Mencken. The former is a pale imitation of the latter with respect to incisive observation and is vastly Mencken's inferior regarding the bon mot. I'd borrow this and other works of the author's from the library; I certainly don't recommend owning them.

I LOVED this book! Gladys Taber writes the most charming books, filled with stories from her daily life. Gladys brings to her books a deep love of nature and the world around her, and her simple lifestyle seems enviable. I found Gladys Taber through my favorite writer Susan Branch, and I'm SO thankful for the discovery! Reading books like "Stillmeadow Daybook" brings a little slice of peace and repose to my day.

The Stillmeadow books are not primers on how to live in the country. They are not truly biographies, nor are they meant to be political treatises, which I appreciate because it means they are not as dated as they could be.
They are journals, well written, contemplative, and meditative. They bring a quiet sense of peace and rest in a busy day. The writing is lovely. The author has a gentle way with words and descriptions. These are books you can read a few pages here, and a few pages there, as you have time, without losing a thread of plot or missing vital details to a story.
Those who enjoy nature writing, descriptions of country-life and a writer's inner thought processes will enjoy these books. I love sitting down in a busy day and spending a few minutes reading passages like "I look out past the great sugar maples that overshadow the little house, and on to the meadow and the hill where we planted the Christmas trees. The bottom of the meadow is a wild tangled thicket, half swampy, and there grow the wild cranberries and the dark wild iris and at the edge the wild red grapes with their sweet musky flavor."
If this sort of thing makes you impatient, the Stillmeadow books are not for you. If you enjoy reading about the way 'now and then a secret otter follows the course of the hidden brook,' then you just might have found a home in Stillmeadow.

After 45 years of dusting and reshelving Glydes Taber's books on my mother's livingroom bookshelf, I finally pulled one out to see what made them so great. After reading Stillmeadow Daybook, I have to say, I am not impressed. I give Mrs. Taber a lot of credit for being a selling author and bringing home an income I hope led to continued support of her country lifestyle, but that lifestyle is not enough to carry a reader.

Time wise, a daybook it is not; it is more of a glorified, condensed monthly organizer of random impressions of her old house, growing vegtables and show dogs, her parents and children, neighbors, friends, and co-habitant Jill. Jill leaks through the pages like a shadow yet it is only with Jill that the author seems to do anything outside Stillmeadow. She never really explains who Jill is: a friend, yes, who once lived like her with a husband and kids in a New York City apartment, right, until one day a 40 acre farm in Connecticut captured their hearts, gotcha. Hearts bruised possibly due to the loss of their respective husbands of whom the reader learns nothing.

What is interesting are the intermitent references to current events. Written in the fifties, Mrs. Taber adds thoughts of good will toward men in her commentaries about education for every child of every color, trust in our government and democracy, and ending the world's problems "if only we could persuade a few power-mad dictators...." All this against the growing dangers of comics, eminent domain, atom bombs, and dope rings. She even mentions the late, great radio host Mary Margaret McBride and popular books of the time, most notably Rachel Carson's The Sea Around Us.

If Gladys Taber's "current events" were my current events maybe Stillmeadow Daybook would appeal to me as much as it did my mother and grandmother. They were drawn to the series by a love for dogs who received the same verbal affection and household designation as Mrs. Taber bestowed on her animals - common I'm told among former mothers. I too like dogs, vegtable gardens, and changing skies, but the endless and aimless commentary that made Gladys Taber a prolific writer leads me back to the livingroom bookshelf maybe this time to read Rachel Carson instead.

In this book, Taber is successful in taking us through the year one month at a time, season by season. One can imagine themselves living at Stillmeadow in the quiet, country atmosphere.

Throughout the book, Taber muses on different subjects such as wildlife, cooking, bird watching, pets, flower arranging, weather, and other country items of interest.

This is a book for anyone who enjoys living in the country or who desires to live in the country. It is a book to read at leisure so that you can savor it page by page.

As a former country dweller and a now-reluctant city dweller, it brings back many fond memories of my childhood growing up in the country.

I finished this book in just a few hours. I couldn't put it down. It is the story of Leslie who had just had a miscarriage and begins to remember things from her past yet is forgetting present day names and feelings. Leslie finds a story about a little girl that was kidnapped when she was 5 years old and the more she delves into the story the more similarities she finds in her own vague life.

She visits the "Aunt" who raised her and gets some answers somewhat and ends up going to meet this family that she believes may be hers. She is now 30 years old with a life in Florida but travels to Conneticut to get answers and hopefully find out if this could be her family or if she just wants it so badly has imagined it so.

This is a haunting story of lies and maistakes made by every day people and discovering what love and family really represents.

Loved this book!

Recovering from a miscarriage, Florida reporter Leslie Austin starts recalling people and places that seem so real yet has no seeming link to her. Feeling haunted by the strange fleeting memories, Leslie becomes shook to her core when she reads a wire story on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the unsolved Connecticut abduction of three years old Ruth Eden.

Leslie begins questioning why she remembers nothing before her fifth birthday and why she has no photos of her pre-school self or for that matter her parents whom her Aunt Flo and Uncle Mac insisted were dead. Leslie confronts her widowed aunt who reluctantly confesses that her mentally ill brother abducted a young child and gave the girl to them to raise. Believing she must be Ruth Eden, Leslie locates her biological father who explains that he believed her mother cheated on him so he sexually assaulted her. When Ruth was born, her mother went into a deep depression that turned worse when the child was kidnapped. Leslie wonders who is her dad?

Though the mystery of who is Leslie is well written and will hook the audience, the theme of VOICES is much deeper as the audience receives a powerful character study focusing on Leslie whose life is based on an initial lie. The prime protagonist knows that she was raised in love by her "aunt" and "uncle", but upon learning how the hiding of her past sent her down a different path, she forsakes her trust in people. Janice Law is at her best in this tale in which the first domino is ignored with the push starting at the second tile.

Harriet Klausner

This book was marked as "suspense" by the library and several other places have also insinuated that this is a suspenseful story. I don't know why.

The book starts out shortly after Leslie has a miscarriage. A mishap with anesthesia causes her memory to be poor. She discovers an article about a little girl that was kidnapped 25 years ago and she's convinced it is her.

She finds the family and tries to make herself a part of their lives.

Okay, the storyline was interesting, but I'm not sure why some elements were thrown in. For instance, her miscarriage is fairly important, but her sudden memory problems were not at all relevant. At no point in time did I believe she even remotely had a memory problem and the fact was just thrown out at me time and time again only until it was no longer a convenient excuse for the author to explain Leslie's weirdness.

And suspense? Don't get me started. I figured out the ending after Part One. The plot was entirely too predictable and the characters completely lacked emotion or conviction.

I wouldn't classify this as a bad book, but there are too many flaws in it for me to say it was good.

Another excellent work by Janice Law that will surely delight her legion of fans. Oddly enough, this was Law's first book, written before The Big Payoff (Houghton Mifflin; now available through iuniverse) was published in 1976. It sat in the author's drawer until Forge Press got fine reviews for what may still stand as the author's best work, The Lost Diaries of Iris Weed (Forge), and as is with such things, all of a sudden Law had a buyer.

Continuing the author's fascination with memory and "quiet" cases -- such as the disappearance The Night Bus (Forge) was based upon -- this is a thriller that slowly builds to a tight crescendo. Don't look for bold thrills or techno-angst; this story, like many that take place in Law's novels, is one that delights in its subtlety and suckers the reader in until the awful truth is finally revealed.

Small details will delight knowing Law fans: As some know, she went to college in Syracuse, NY in the 1960s and of course makes her current home in rural Connecticut (she is a professor at the University of Connecticut, though Googlers should be told that "Janice Law" is something of a wry nom de plume) where a number of her books have been set.

After reading this book I was so greatful for the excellent care hospitals now give.I am also thankful for all this family has done.

It is an excellent resource which can help us all to deal with the difficulties of life and use them to create a better world where the wounded are cared for with heart, not just hands.

I read with intererst the story of the Del Buono family as they fought for services for their son/brother. Barbara obviously has tremendous faith courage and strength. Her husband and children, esp. Mary, are also amazing. As the mother of a brain injured son I also am caught in the maze of TBI--and it is not pretty. Barbara has done a good job describing nursing home situations. Even though Nick's nursing home experience was years ago conditions in these homes, at least in Indiana, for TBI survivors has not changed enough. Reading this book has helped give me the strength to continue to fight for services for my TBI son.

A book mixing a variety of topics on the hot subject of child labor, it combines all the right elements to attract the reader. Though the lengh of the book is a little long its great ideas and intriguing subject keep you reading. This is an enjoyable book to read on a lazy day.

This book contains information about numerous human rights concerns from all around the world. In addition, it contains numerous articles and many documents. It is a wonderful research took that can be used by persons first learning about human rights, as well as by those persons who are working on post-undergraduate degrees

This is a really good human rights textbook. It covers a wide range of human rights issues, and has a lot of interesting articles. However I found some of the chapters rather difficult because of the legal jargon. Some of the things you have to read over more than once. The questions in the text focus on your personal opinions, so doing homework from this book is not so bad once you understand the questions (which for my slow brain was a challenge.) It is also very useful as a doorstop. :)