New Hampshire Books

I can only conclude after finishing `Affliction' that Russell Banks is our greatest American author. Those were my feelings after reading this for the first time, but after my second time through the book my feelings are confirmed. I remember reading `The Sweet Hereafter' (probably Banks' finest novel) and feeling this overwhelming connection to the material, the characters and the author himself, but `Affliction' takes you even deeper into Banks' soul and offers a disturbing glimpse into the haunting reality of abuse, neglect and dire frustration.

`Affliction' tells the story of Wade Whitehouse; narrated by Wade's younger, more educated brother Rolfe. The Whitehouse family was one of violence and pain, of dread and tears, yelling and screaming and this environment molded Wade into the man he now stands to be. Wade is a broken man, wearing his anguish on his worn face. He has suffered at the hands of an abusive father, a frail mother, a childish wife and now a confused daughter. He struggles to remain stable in a town he loathes around people he doesn't understand and amidst a face that is growing all too familiar. Wade is becoming a man he vowed never to become; but fact remains that he has been this man all along.

The novel's main focal point of action has to do with the accidental (or is it) hunting death of Evan Twombley. When Wade begins to dissect the events surrounding this death he concocts a story in his head he presumes fact and begins to act on his story, alienating him from the rest of the town.

Of course `Affliction' is not a story about a hunting accident; it is a story about the deterioration (the gradual deterioration) of a single mans sanity. `Affliction' follows Whitehouse as he slips further under the covers of frustration and desperation; whether he's fighting for custody of his daughter or trying to uncover what he suspects is murder. Wade is obviously a troubled man, there is no denying that fact, but `Affliction' doesn't just merely tell us his troubles but it fleshes them out, making them real and honest and in the end making them our problems. When we begin to understand Wade's childhood, his pain and suffering and confusion, then we begin to understand his adulthood. We begin to sympathize with Wade and grieve for him.

One reviewer stated that none of the male characters are likable here, but I disagree. Wade is a tormented man who has no one to support him. His father is an abusive wreck; his sister is a religious fanatic who believes that Wade is going strait to Hades; his brother is a reclusive outsider who has pretty much shut him off and takes minimal interest in his life; his ex-wife is harsh and judgmental; his daughter is conditioned and confused; his boss is hardheaded and manipulative. Wade has no one, and this leaves him to wallow in his own misery and thus formulate the violence that corrupts his soul. In fact, the only person in Wade's life that seems to care is Margie Fogg, his girlfriend, but she could never, nor would ever want to, understand all that makes Wade who he is.

`Affliction', much like `The Sweet Hereafter', is a very slowly paced novel. This could turn away some, but that would be unfortunate. What I admire about Banks' writing style is that he uses the effortlessly graceful flow of his words to create a false sense of serenity. His words are beautifully strung together to lead you along as the story unfolds. He brings you into these characters, into their lives, and makes you a part of them. You feel each and every emotion expressed and welcome each and every sequence with open arms. Russell Banks is a flawless writer, an author who knows full well how to work with words. The story as a whole is heartbreaking and at times even frustrating (I found myself anxious, irritated and even angry in parts; which is a true testament to the flawless writing, having the ability to bring the reader that many emotional connectives) but Banks flow is peaceful and inviting.

A stirring and strange tale that turns a philosophial microscope on a troubled man waging battle against his community, his self and his painful past.

This book is spellbinding in its story but also in its character description. It is another father beats son story but its OK because Banks handles the material with such skill and the story is about so much else as well. It is set in northern New Hampshire and the cold, snowy scenery comes alive along with the deer hunters and town folk going no where.

Russell Banks has crafted a strong story about the effects of alcoholism on children. The story follows Wade, a divorced father of a single pre-teen daughter. The mother, however - his high school sweetheart, whom he had married, and divorced, on two separate occasions - has custody and has since moved to another town; Wade only gets to see her once a month, and on Halloween. Wade goes about his life as the local policeman all the while longing for the good old days, and wondering what could have been, and how he can get them back. Eventually, he hatches a scheme, and talks to a lawyer. Slowly, events unfold which shape the future in different ways: a funeral which brings the family together again; the accidental death of a visiting hunter, which Wade thinks is suspicious; a looming marriage which threatens to bring back his old ways; etc. Through everything, the reader is getting a look into Wade's past, the abuse he and his brothers and sister suffered at the hands of their father, and how eerily close Wade seemed to be getting to following in his own father's footsteps.

Affliction is a very strong look at alcoholism and behavioral similarities through generations - the effects which are transmitted from father to son without even realizing it. We do as we have had done to us, not what we wish would have been done to us, or so it seems. The relationship between Wade and his family is clearly defined, and the interactions between them are always revealing, especially when his sister and family comes back for the funeral. The family interaction is some of the best I've read.

There are little trouble points: the novel is long, and several chapters feel unnecessarily slow; the point of view the story is told from (Wade's brother) is awkward at points, especially when he has to explain how he knows things about the story he's telling - it would have been easier just to tell it from a third person point of view; and then ending a little unresolved - I don't know why, but I wanted a little more resolution.

Overall, though, Affliction is still a powerful look at family life and the long-term effects of poor parenting. It's a vicious cycle, but Banks would have us believe there is some hope, as the story is told from the point of view of a brother who continually asks why Wade had to be the failure in the family rather than him. Why had he been able to break the cycle? Why wasn't he in Wade's position, or Wade in his?

The novel offers no clear answers.

Matty J

This is a tough book. It is the last years of a family that has lived in the miseries of violence and addiction. These are always complicated sooner or later by poverty and loss of soul. The very landscape has been beaten up and bought up and drilled to make it little more than a ghost of nature. Twisted and tortuous is the path of the lives and the land. The buildings are erected similarly, no beauty and not much comfort. The people who have the money are not at all nice to the ones who haven't. Corruption, exploitation and every now and then somebody gets brave enough to take off. Wade, our everyman, has a friend who made it, and he wonders after a certain amount of booze, on certain nights, if he might be able to do the same. But he knows he won't. This is a land of trailer parks perched on concrete slabs, where people fight and love in bars, with half working neon signs casting eery shadows over treacherous, icy roads.
Wade Whitehouse is a large man, with strength, sex appeal and a wound racing through him like the Mississippi and all its tributaries. His tale is told through his brother, the questionable survivor, who went to college, got out, has a career, and isn't a blackout drunk. There is the sister turned evangelical Christian, with her own frightening, crazy children. There are the ghosts of the two other brothers, dead together in some offensive in Nam. They too, haunt the bizarre story, a mystery, a murder, and the climax of a legacy.
My friends in Maine were simply out of their minds over Banks, and out of respect from these Chicagoan, Wisconsin transplants whose art awakenings I had shared, I entered into these readings seriously. While I recognize the brilliance, it just isn't my geography, just as I suppose I miss so much in Southern writers, but somehow, I can relate more, I feel, to the Welty's and Faulkners and Flannery O'Connors and so many others.
The symbolism is intense. A mother who is frozen to death and the nagging, break-through pain of a long-decayed tooth. Throbbing, heart breaking and cold.
Check it out, everyone should sample Banks. He is most assuredly, we are told, Wade with a miracle. His talent is indeed miraculous, I just don't worship there.

I loved this book the first time I read it to my three year old son. It is a quality story and the language is wonderful.

It is one we purchased in hardcover because I wanted it to be more durable since we read it several times per week.

This is a wonderful book about earlier and simpler days when a family wasted nothing and supported themselves off the land. Each member of the family contributes and their activities change as the seasons do. It's wonderful!

This is one of my family's all-time favorite children's books, with lovely, quiet pictures and a calm tone in the text. We love the feeling of the "circle of seasons" that it gives, as well as a glimpse back into a simpler era. The story also portrays the ethic of working hard and being rewarded for it. I read it to all five of our children as they were growing up. This Christmas I bought it for our 23 year-old daughter, who had asked for it. She doesn't have children yet; she just loves the book and wanted it for her own library. I was pleased to see Donald Hall's poem, "Ox-Cart Man"-- almost identical to the words in the children's book-- in Garrison Keillor's book called Good Poems, an anthology of poems he selected and arranged.

Gave this account of a year in the life of a farm family to my 2-1/2 year old grandson. Worked, because the first time he asked his father to "read it again." Appealed to me, since it shows a natural cycle of growing/making things, selling them, and starting over. We may not operate quite this way, but it may still provide understanding of the world to a youngster. Appealing pictures, peaceful telling - perhaps the most "exciting" event is the farmer kissing his ox good-bye at market. Maybe a good bedtime story.

This picture book superbly illustrated by Barbara Cooney is 37 pages, of which 22 are illustrations with or without text. The text is provided by Donald Hall and teaches the law of the harvest by showing how a New Englander filled a cart with surplus harvest and handmade items to sell at Portsmouth market, which was a ten-day journey. The reader learns that in March the maples were tapped for their syrup and that in April the sheep were sheared. Their fields and gardens yielded potatoes, turnips, and cabbages, while their orchard gave apples. All these things were put into the ox-cart and taken to market. At market, everything was sold including the cart and the ox.

Then the New Englander went shopping for manufactured goods, some imported from England, as well as for sweets. Carrying everything in a newly-purchased kettle tied to a pole slung over his shoulder, he trekked back to his farm. The family received their practical gifts and went right to work with their new tools by sewing, whittling, cooking, stitching, carving, sawing, splitting, weaving, embroidering, tapping, shearing, and knitting all of winter. When Spring arrived, they planted their fields. By caring for their tools and fields with diligence, the result will no doubt be another bountiful harvest.

Elizabeth Marshall Thomas is not only a genius; she IS the original animal whisperer! An Animal Shaman! Marshall Thomas has taken the reader deep into the minds of the canine companion and showed the reader very openly their emotional relationships with their family counterparts. Marshall Thomas proves there is no divide among species by using her brilliantly insightful observations of our companion friends detailing the secret of their order based on her own interactions and in depth study of her wonderful family---A very large family which includes a cast of character canines who just so happen to love to share a lick at an ice cream cone with the Patriarch of the family. On the humorous side, one gets the sense of a virtual animal soap opera as we read about Marshall Thomas' canines... some of who lost loves, gained friends, were refused entry into the mature girl (dog) clique and who rightfully pouted from a bruised ego over a bowl of popcorn. This part alone will teach the reader to weigh their words and actions when dealing with their companion animals. You will never look at your pet the same way again after reading this delightful book. More importantly, this book will definitely help you to not only better understand your furry friend, but allow them to PROPERLY train YOU! If you want Elizabeth Marshall Thomas to read it to you, try the audio book, too. SUPERB!

Brilliantly insightful and full of wisdom.
Elizabeth Marshall Thomas is the Jane Goodall of dogs.

This is one woman's story of living with (besides her family) a houseful of canines, cats, and other assorted critters and how they managed to co-exist peacefully (most of the time). Basically, it is a series of revealing anecdotes and stories, most of them heartwarming, a few heartbreaking or even astonishing (including two very different accounts of encounters with large wild cats). As with Lorenz's MAN MEETS DOG or Masson's DOGS NEVER LIE ABOUT LOVE, read this for the stories and not the science.

I never thouht I would like a book on dogs but Elizabeth Marshall Thomas is a good writer, a careful observer with intelligent unique views that are entertaining and sometimes heartwarming.

The book centers primarily around Thomas' home, full of dogs, cats, a parrot and macaws, and an amazingly tolerant husband. Her primary method is that of an anthropologist, observing and interpreting her own animals. Whereas some in the scientific community would have problems with her method, we must remember that the great child psychologist, Jean Piaget, developed his theories of child development by carefully watching his own children.

She challenges the scientific dogma against anthropomorphism. This is an interesting argument. Thomas argues that as human beings we interpret through a subjective perspective even though we strive for objectivity. She seems to argue for the need to increase our everyday lived understanding of animals, not obtain perfect scientific understanding of animals. There is a difference.

For anyone considering buying a parrot or other large exotic bird, the chapter on parrots should be required reading. I never realized all the problems and complications of owning a large bird.

Thomas' three most controversial essays in the book involve her belief that most dogs are "slaves"; her stand against euthanasia; and her belief that male dogs should be given a vasectomy rather than castration.

My dog, Jasmine, is in love with the boy dog next door, Walter. Every time we let her out she runs to see if Walter is home and she loves to play with him inside his backyard. When I bring her back home she seems heartbroken, like a teenager in love. I always think of Thomas' assertion that we control our dogs and don't allow them to bond and remain with the other dogs with whom they have fallen in love. (I am a victim of anthropomorphism as you can tell). It makes me sad to think that we deprive dogs of loving relationships with each other to meet our needs.

Another controversial essay is on euthanasia. She tells the story of an aged and sick dog that she euthanized. Later she greatly regrets her actions and comes to the conclusion that if an animal can still eat food they should not be euthanized. I am still not convinced. I think she makes a strong argument that when an animal is in too much pain and agony they will stop eating and naturally die, but the thought of an animal in constant agony is greatly disturbing to me and therefore I am not totally convinced by her concepts.

Her argument that male dogs should be given a vasectomy rather than castration was fascinating. She argues that vasectomy allows the male dog to have adequate testosterone in the bloodstream to allow the dog to adequately compete with other males and to be treated with respect by female and male dogs. I never realized that castration changes the smell of their urine and leaves other dogs perplexed as to the gender of the castrated male. However we also have to remember that humans have dogs castrated to stop aggressive fighting, excessive marking with their urine, neighborhood roaming, and mounting behaviors on other dogs. Vasectomy makes them infertile but does not change any of the male dog behavior patterns.

Finally, I found her essay on the development of dogs from wolves to be very interesting, especially her idea that we can still observe the early man-dog social patterns in remote rural third world villages. In these villages, dogs live on the border/boundaries of the village. They alert the village to intruders. They sometimes accompany a hunt for a large animal. They survive by eating scraps and human feces (which contains undigested protein). This is certainly far from the lives of dogs in the United States with the exceptions of wild or runaway dogs which must revert to these patterns just to survive.

The book is short and can be finished on a plane ride. It is thoughtful entertainment - the best kind.

This is not a book to buy if you want to train a puppy or work out a behavior problem, however, for insights into animal behavior written by an anthropologist, using her training on some of the other sentient species around us, this is a wonderful book. This one is much more "light" and anecdotal than her famous "The Hidden Lives of Dogs". She describes the household full of pets (that is to say, "companion animals") she and her husband live with, from a trained scientistific point of view. All of the behaviors, the jockeying for position in the group, the alpha dog position, pack leader and so on, are explained, and how they got that way, over several years and as the cast of characters changes as different animals come and some go (due to death). Much of it, due to her writing style, is very humorous, some is laugh out loud funny. Some is touching and sad. Thoroughly enjoyable.
The dog Sundog, a major character whom I would have loved to have met, was a throwaway stray, who became the alpha dog in their home. A calm, intelligent leader, who was almost psychic when it comes to his chosen pack leader, Thomas' husband Steve, as several anecdotes show.
Really a good book for any animal lover, or for those whom you wish to try to convince that animals, dogs especially, are more than a bundle of pavlovian responses to the food bowl!

We read the book "Going to Heaven: The Life and Election of Bishop Gene Robinson" written about him and were impressed by this man. Reading the book BY him, makes you wonder why we didn't hear about him sooner.

His life and his values are something for anyone to try to live up to, straight of LGBT!

Gene Robinson's book is a must read for people of all circumstances. He compassionately tells his story and that of his Biblical understanding with regard to the love Jesus came to tell of and asked us to live out.
Before you draw conclusions or are held back by preconceived notions about this subject, please read the "human" side of this devout, deeply Christian man.
Robinson lives out his faith and accepts the challenges he has been given as a child of God. This is a call for us to make our way into a more compassionate response to this and others who seek to live out their faith as God has called them and us to do.

Bishop Robinson has written a book that is filled with faith, hope and joy! The day I recieved it, I read it cover to cover. I reread it 3 times before I lent it to my Mom.
He covers the subject of homophobic behavior by the Anglican Church and other's by reminding us, of Jesus's constant reminders "to love one another and to forgive each other, not 7x7,but 70x7".

Even if you're not Anglican/Episcopalian, or not even Christian this book is definately an important read. At it's heart is the real life experience of what it's like to be a person who has integrated sex, intimacy and love facing down institutions led by people who can't even imagine sex, intimacy and love together. Gene Robinson stumbles into an age old conflict in the church. Celebacy, amputating one's sexuality to achieve holiness vs. the idea that God (being love) is always present in the love between sexually bonded couples. Is Christianity an anti-sex cult that holds that love making can not exist in human sexuality and only reproduction can justify it? Or will Christians embrace the idea that God IS love and all love comes from God including sexual intimacy? Gene's story puts the reader in a very interesting place to view the question of whether making love is holy, God filled and inspired or whether it's vile, the enemy of holy love and only the possibility of reproduction make it acceptable for people trying to live good lives.

In every interview I've ever heard, and in the documentary, "For the Bible Tells Me So," Gene Robinson comes across as a grounded, prayerful, thoughtful man. I appreciate his courage and, as an Episcopal priest, continue to rejoice at his 2003 consecration. I had looked forward to reading his book.

Yet I've found it disappointing and haven't been able to finish it. I think this is because, in the words of the book's subtitle, Gene has been "swept to the center." Probably this is an inevitable destination for the first openly gay bishop of our time, but I longed to hear a more radical theology, one that takes the experience of the sexually marginalized as a starting point for a strong, yet loving critique of Christianity.

What I found instead was a nice, moderate theology that makes this a great book for a teen just coming out to give her or his parents, but breaks little new ground.

I was quite upset after receiving this book to find I have had read it years before. This should be stated in the ad about the book. Although , I love Mrs. Delinsky's books, I have found her and her publishers to make this a habit! Plus I was charged to return it......

What a wonderful story of an adoptee and her struggle to find her birth heritage. When her adoptive mother dies, Chelsea Kane begins to commute between her position as a partner in a lucrative Baltimore architectural firm and her new position as a partner in a granite company in the small New Hampshire town of Norwich Notch where she was born. Her adoptive father strains against her doing this. He cannot understand her need to find her heritage.

Trying to please her father, she has a one-night stand with her long time friend and business partner which her father also wants her to marry. Unfortunately, they are better friends than lovers but Chelsea becomes pregnant. The day she plans to tell him is the day she finds out he is going to marry a former girlfriend.

Without telling him she is pregnant, she throws herself into the granite business and renovates a farmhouse in her birth town. But all is not well. There are those who don't want an outsider in their town. But Chelsea is determined to find her heritage. In the process, she finds a half of her she never knew existed and a man who is willing to stand beside her through it all.

One of the only books I truly love, I have read my copy so much it is falling apart and I have to buy a new one. I have read other books by Barbara Delinsky, but this one, in my opinion, is one of her best.

Of course, author Barbara Delinsky, started her writing career with Harlequin; so, obviously there are going to be sex scenes in her novels. This was one of the older novels, which came out in 1992 as a paperback, perhaps before she began writing mainstream hard-cover fiction. For this reason, I can make some allowances, owing to the genre of that time, and the title of course, "Passions of Chelsea Kane" is certainly not going to be about a nun in a convent.

However, it gets irritating after awhile. Central character Chelsea Kane casually sleeps with her childhood friend, just to see if they are compatible. They are not. Oh well. Chelsea then moves to a small town in New England where the whole rest of the novel seems to be pre-occupied with Chelsea's lusty thoughts for one of the granite workers at the town quarry she has just bought. Scene after scene of gratuitous sex, even during Chelsea's pregnancy, yuck. And, even hints at sex during her breast-feeding, double yuck. Chelsea had arrived in the small New England town pregnant, and doesn't even bother having her new lover take an AIDs test, which could have injured her unborn child, I would think. There was AIDs in 1992, so I feel author, Barbara Delinsky was very irresponsible making pregnant Chelsea Kane so promiscuous, whether it serves the plot or not.

Why did Chelsea purchase a granite factory in a small-town of New England? Chelsea was adopted as a child and she is now looking for her birth-parents who came out of that town. She is an architect and granite gives her a reason to get involved with the small town to see if she can find her parents amongst the townspeople.

All the quarrying for granite stuff is about as interesting as the maple-sugaring stuff in Delinsky's "Accidental Woman" novel. The problem with writing so technical about these crafts is that if the reader is simply not interested in maple syrup, gardening, grape-growing, or quarrying........the whole novel will be a big bore.

Delinsky is not so great at suspense and mystery either. The reader can easily guess who Chelsea's surprise parents will be. The ending of this long-drawn out novel is pretty lackluster as too many clues were handed out long before and there really aren't much surprises.

What is good here is the narrow-mindedness of the small-town attitudes. Delinsky is an expert at capturing the feel of small New England towns and the petty and small attitudes of the townspeople towards urbane Chelsea Kane. There are some great scenes of the long-time denizens of small-town Norwitch Notch arguing with city-dweller, Chelsea, as the townspeople simply do not want her there and try to run her out of town. In fact, I would go so far as to say that author Barbara Delinsky's small town "Norwich Notch" in this novel, which she custom-created, is about as expertly defined as "Empire Falls" was in Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Richard Russo's "Empire Falls" novel----which won the Pulitzer in 2001.

Both Richard Russo "Empire Falls" and Barbara Delinsky are perhaps the best in all of fiction at creating accurate New England small towns.

However, I'm still going to take one star off for the bizarre sex scenes. And, one star off for all the boring stuff about granite and quarrying.

Chelsea Kane always realizes that she was adopted but her family didn't want her to know anything about her biological parents. They destroyed all the records. When her mother dies, her lawyer gives to Chelsea an envelope postmarked Norwich Notch, New Hampshire. Before she makes the decision to go to the town of her birth, she makes love with her best friend and business partner Carl Harper.

She becomes pregnant but before she can tell Carl, he informs her he is marrying the woman who is carrying his twins. Needing a place to escape to and wanting to find out about her biological roots, Chelsea moves to the small conservative village of her birth, buys into a business and meets Judd Streeter who is Chelsea's foreman on the quarry site. While the two fight their growing feelings for one another, someone in town attempts to scare her into leaving, going so far as to trying to run her over and burning down her home.

It has been over eleven years since THE PASSIONS OF CHELSEA KANE was published but classics such as this stand the test of time and remain a strong read when reprinted. The relationship between the heroine and her love is so dynamic and explosive, sparks fly off the pages. The townsfolk are an interesting group who give color and atmosphere to the plot and demonstrate that even in a small hamlet, there remains a huge gap between the classes.

Harriet Klausner

Contrary to the way the books are written, you should read Brian Kelly Route one first. It lays out the background for Maggie May's diary and makes this book more enjoyable. This book started out strong. I was so intriqued by the character of Maggie. Faced with a pregnancy at 15, she moved on and made a great life for herself. The love story is classic and will make anyone believe in true love. The one disappointment of this book was the ending. I feel like Coughlin was in a rush to finish the book and rushed the ending with a forced epilogue. I hope that Obscene Bliss carries on in the same fashion as Brian Kelly and Maggie May's Diary. A great love story to follow through to the end.

My family has vacationed in Wells for years. I picked this book up last summer and loved it. I am reading it for a second time now and loving it all over again. I would highly recomend it.

Thomas Coughlin is a outstanding auther. Take the journey to Brian Kelley route 1 and Maggie May's diary and you will be lost in a world you won't want to end.The first chapters grab you and there is no putting the book down.You will feel like your there in lowell, maine and all the places this book will take you. Thanks Thomas and please write some more.

I picked up Maggie May's Diary ... The storyline caught me quickly and was a pleasent and page turning read. Would highly recommend to everyone and have just ordered the companion book. Hope more books keep coming as the characters grow on you. Great Book !!!

I have never read any of Thomas E Couglin books,but when we were vacationing in York Maine, I saw in a book store, they had him listed as a local author,I have since read the book when I returned to florida,Mr Coughlin made you feel like you were part of Maggie Mays life,and his writeing is so efficient I actually could picture the different areas of Maine he was writeing about.
From the minute I purchased the book,I was so intrigued by it I couldnt put it down,trust me this book was worth every penny.I cant wait to read Route 1.
Thank-You :-)

The author did a lot of research and glad to have seen the interviews this Chris. I was a coworker of Jeanne and her murder/death was very shocking to all of us at Oxford who knew her. She loved her children very much and spoke of them constantly. Her desk was not disturbed for almost two months. Cards, flowers and photos of her appeared in her work space nearly every day. Even if bill sullivan gets another trial I sincerely hope that the verdict is the same and he stays permanently in jail. I don't think he'll every change.

When murder unexpectedly strikes a small New England town, hitting a single mother and affecting a teen daughter and her older internet lover, a tangled web of psychological drama ensues in this powerful investigative mystery, narrated by J. Charles - who has 50 years background in professional theatre - and perfect for any lending library strong in suspense audios.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Phelps really explores the characters involved in this human tragedy. Jeanne, the victim, was a struggling single mother working three jobs to support her two children. Her two teenage children could barely be brought to help with household chores. Jeanne was a loving person who reached out and tried to help others, even though her lot in life seemed terribly difficult.

The most chilling part of the story is that it was her daughter and her daughter's teenage boyfriend who planned the violent, sickening murder. The author explains the thought processes of the teenagers involved and they will make your flesh crawl.

One thing not covered was what I wondered about most, though. What was the moral background of the teenage daughter, and did she ever have any religion classes? There is a hint that she was into the occult, but that is not enough. The book was so good that I still want to know more!

Because You Loved Me is a case study of different sorts of love, platonic, parental, romantic, and obsessive. It's easy to predict which type will go wrong. The High Queen of the drama queens, Nicole, falls in a twisted sort of love with macho manipulator Billy, and in a metter of days, she is blind to all the good things in her life. Her mom, her friends, her education, her home - Nicole no longer sees value in any of this, and when Billy enters the picture, purely by chance, her daily existence changes from normal to, in her estimation, a living hell. And suddenly, she cannot fathom how she can possibly live without this guy whom she barely knows. Together, Nicole and Billy make fateful choices that will ensure that they will have to live without each other, forever and ever. What is surprising is that they were so blind to the fact that their actions would have irreversible, devastating consequences.

M. William Phelps is a skilled researcher who knows how to delve for facts and nuances, and page by page, he uncovers the details, delineating the story of this young couple's disastrous obsession from its inception to its miserable conclusion. He approaches this murder from three angles, that of the victim and her fiance, that of the besotted, daughter and her maladjusted suitor, and that of the legal system. This is no mystery story; rather, it is a dissection of the anatomy of a crime committed by two terribly misguided, hysterical teens. It is nothing less than chilling, another example about what can happen when children are improperly parented. Highly recommended.

I LOVE TRUE CRIME AND THIS AUTHOR IS A GOOD ONE. HE DID A GOOD JOB BRINGING THE VICTIM BACK TO LIFE. I FELT, AT TIMES, LIKE I'D KNOWN HER. SOMETIMES HE WENT A LITTLE OVERBOARD WITH THE FIANCE AND HIS FEELINGS.IT WAS A TRAGIC STORY TO TELL BUT HE HANDLED IT WELL.

this book strays from the inhuman, demonic from hell type of thinking. it goes into quantom physics, and the rip in time, big bang way of thinking.the only thing imight question is his photos of ghosts. ir lights give off a host of lightrefraction, dust e.t.c. all in all a good read. not for your pop ghost hunter. i book that gives one pause to think.

I enjoyed most of the book and the author had some good ideas and interesting tales on the paranormal and combating negative energy. However, I could have done without the anti-liberal tirade near the end.

The writer could have gotten his point across without this sort of commentary, especially when "liberals" are more inclined to be open-minded about subjects like the paranormal and not treat the believer as is he/she is a crackpot. This was the first book I have read by Mr. Eno, but I will never read another because of these comments. If you want to sell a book or want the reader to read more, don't insult them.

This book was better than faces in the window, although it was good too, This is a book I will keep in my library.

While the stories in "Footsteps in the Attic" weren't anything shocking or amazing in most cases, I found them more believable because of it. Eno's simple, no-nonsense style presented the facts of each investigation in logically order.

I was struck by the way Eno would attempt to explain any paranormal activity in non-paranormal terms. This approach gave quiet credence to everything from his personal written accounts to the photographs in the book.

Furthermore, I enjoyed Eno's scientific approach to explaining the existence of ghosts. I found it very plausible, and supported much more strongly than previous explanations I had heard. Eno laid evidence as he saw it on the table repeatedly throughout the book, but always in what I felt were appropriate moments.

If you enjoy ghost stories, paranormal events, or even speculating on the afterlife this is the book for you.

I ripped through this book in a couple of sittings, and literally could not put it down. Paul Eno offers up some fascinating and, what I would call, groundbreaking theories about what exactly ghosts are, and where a lot of those strange little occurrences we have come from. His quantum mechanics approach may set any preconceived notion you have about why we see ghosts on its ear. Be prepared to consider a completely new perspective. The theories are not "dumbed-down" for those of us who have not made a study of quantum physics. They are explained in clear, thoughtful, and concise terms that any lay-person can understand.

The theories he poses go a long way in explaining the extreme and persistent déjà vu I have experienced all my life. The chapter on parasites gave me much insight into what that shadowy little wisp I had in my benign little middle-class house was, why it gained strength over the course of almost two years, and then turned not-so-nice after all. A trusted psychic told me at the time that the thing I had was not human, and that I had picked it up through Tarot cards, both of which Mr. Eno verifies with his explanations.

This is paranormal investigation at its finest. Paul Eno has set himself apart as a top-notch investigator of the paranormal. He and his team investigate, with methodical precision, each of these ghosts, poltergeists/parasites, and "tortured souls" with intellect and compassion. After reading this book, I will NEVER touch a Ouija Board again. Much information is here for the taking - highly recommended for anyone seeking an alternative explanation which is not afraid to deviate from the norm.

Reviewing classics is always an iffy proposition. I've certainly learned more about the land tax from other sources than from this book. The book also can't give you any idea of how his ideas are being applied today, and the fact that modern Georgists talk about taxing pollution and other "economic bads", in a natural outgrowth from George's ideas. Similarly, reading John Locke won't give you an idea of what the United States government is like. Still it's worth reading for seeing where the ideas come from. And on that basis, this is a great book.

Although the point of this book is the ideas, and I think it's besides the point to criticize writing style when discussing nonfiction, George's florid prose and tendency to offer a dozen analogies to drive home each point make currently available abridgements of Progress and Poverty a reasonable alternative.

I won't go into too much detail - the other reviewers have said it so eloquently and accurately. I believe this is one of the best books ever written and ranks up there with Shakespeare, the bible and Mozart in the sense that it is almost perfect in both artistic and literary form, yet it is a book aimed at solving the economic woes faced by modern civiliasations. For anyone under the opinion that political economy is the dismal science, no doubt in part due to cynics such as Maynard Keynes, Marx etc., and the modern econimc rationalist outlook, this book will be enlightening and uplifting. if you read this book it will change your life.

Progress & Poverty is the missing puzzle piece for those of us who look around at the combination of magnificent and accelerating technological progress and the increasingly distorted distribution of income and wealth in America, with many people lacking sufficient income to meet their most basic needs, and wonder what went wrong in a country which professes to be dedicated to the proposition that we're all created equal.

The book's subtitle -- An Inquiry in the Cause of Industrial Depressions and of Increase of Want with Increase of Wealth... The Remedy -- describes it beautifully: why we have the ups and downs of our economy, which cause incredible human misery, and why we have increasing poverty at the same time that there is hugely increasing wealth.

And Henry George provides a logical and workable -- even elegant -- remedy, one which will untangle many of the perverse incentives we cope with today: we say we value work, but we tax it. We say we want to promote sales, but we tax them. We say we want to encourage entrepreneurial effort, but we allow huge barriers designed to discourage the person with an idea from being able to execute it. We say we want a society that naturally creates more jobs, but we allow a relative few of us to pocket the funds which would create those jobs. We say we value initiative, but we reward the "dog in the manger" far more than we reward the laborer. We say that urban blight is a bad thing, but our tax code encourages it. We say we dislike urban sprawl, and long commutes, and low wages -- but we've failed to implement the simple tax reform that will correct these ills. We work longer hours than our counterparts in other countries, and have less to show for it. We allow a relative few to own our airwaves, and resell them at higher and higher prices, collecting advertising revenues from all who would run for public office or advertise their products.

If we truly mean to end poverty, to reward initiative, to ensure that the next child born in America is truly the equal of all who are here today, to ensure that our environment is protected for the common good, George's framework for understanding provides the missing puzzle piece.

And as we consider what sort of country we'd like Iraq to be, it is worth considering that if we only give them a constitution without giving them an economic system that considers all people equal, truly equal, we've not accomplished much with the American lives we've lost there.

If we can figure it out for Iraq, with all its oil wealth, maybe we can figure out how to share America justly among Americans, too.

George lays out simply and elegantly what the underlying problem is and how to solve it.

He dedicates the book "To those who, seeing the vice and misery that spring from the unequal distribution of wealth and privilege, feel the possibility of a higher social state and would strive for its attainment." Might you be among those who see and feel, and would strive, if only you could see the source of the problem?

Churchill, Twain, Huxley, Shaw and many others came to see what George was pointing out. Will you?

This one is worth your time!

Get a copy for yourself, and send one to your favorite legislator, be he/she local, state or federal. Then start looking for other Georgists, also known as Geoists. You'll find them a lively group with a vision that might inspire you, too. And it is refreshing to be with people who seek a finer society, not more advantage or privilege -- "private law" -- for their own benefit!

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about this book, written over a hundred years ago, is the accuracy of the predictions that Henry George made on what would happen if solutions other than the one he proposed would be followed. The only alternative to his sollution which he said would also work to reduce the difference between rich and poor was the use of government regulation. This has to some extent been taken up in all countries of the world, and while it has indeed slowed the processes which Henry George described, it has led to exactly the problem he predicted. "For instance, to take one of the simplest and mildest of the class of measures...--a graduated tax on incomes. The object at which it aims is good; but this means involves the employment of a large number of officials clothed with inquisitorial powers; temptations to bribery, and perjury, and all other means of evasion, which beget a demoralization of opinion, and ptu a premium upon unscrupulousness and a tax upon conscience..." That seems to be a pretty good descrition of civic life today.

When I have mentioned Henry George, the usual answer has been "Who?" Those who had heard of him mostly thought that his ideas only applied to agrarian societies. In fact, he recognized that land was only one (though the most fundamental) form of monopoly, and he makes it clear that he included all monopolies, not just land, into the realm of the rights of the community rather than a private owner. In this day, he would certainly hhave comments about how the airwaves have been distributed, for example.

The main surprise to me about this book is how completely unknown it has become. Anyone who reads this with an open mind will be convinced by Henry George's arguments.

People do not argue with the teaching of George, they simply do not know it. And it is impossible to do otherwise with his teaching, for he who becomes acquainted with it cannot but agree.

As someone who grew up listening to my Irish Grandmother tell tales of her Father sneaking out in the middle of the night to catch fish to feed the family which was illegal in enslaved Ireland at that time, I've always been a sucker for a good yarn. (Sorry for the run on)

Spiked Boots is like sitting on the front porch of some old timer who is telling stories to pass the time. In this case however, the listener must have dashed inside to jot everything down every 15 minutes or so. Wow the stories and information never cease. It's wonderful but sometimes the conversation is a little long, hence the 4 stars.

It's a lot of Northern NH and Maine logging stories but really it's all the interesting stories in an area whose main income came from trees at that time. Admittedly, a lot of my enjoyment of this book came from my life long connection to NH and Maine, 2 states I love. There is woods lore, ghost stories and a little ichthyology thrown in for good measure for the fisherman.

Worth your time if these things are of interest to you. I will read Tall Trees, Tough Men" next.

Robert Pike's Spiked Boots is a rare sort of history book, one that a reader loves to come across in the arid sea of historical work out that chokes the shelves of book stores. Presented as a series of vignettes on subjects ranging from haunted hunting camps to Ginseng Willard and his homemade coffin, Pike provides an important insight into the history and society of the northern reaches of Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. It is a presentation of a world that is now gone, pushed through the chutes in the style of the great logging rushes that Old Vern, the cagey ex walking boss and Pike's guide through this world, once worked. The presentation of this world is not of a Hesiodic Golden Age, when men were men and trees were more plentiful. It is a presentation of a world where some men worked hard, some women harder, and some not at all. It is a memoir of hard working lumbermen and guides -- how they worked, how they played, and for some of them, the mistakes that they made that took their lives. Pike was a fortunate man to have encountered Vern, for the history that was handed to him is beyond value as a vision into a bygone age and an area that is sometimes forgotten. And the characters are unforgetable also.