Washington Books

A great collection of Rumi's poetry from 7 different translators, some with a very literal, scholarly style of translation and some with a more free-verse style. This is a great introduction to Rumi and will also be well-loved by those of us more familiar with his poetry. Has some great footnotes about Sufi mysticism and teachings. I love the beauty of this little book, from the calligraphry on the cover to its sewn-in ribbon bookmark. The compact size of the book makes it easy to carry into coffeehouses for inspirational reading.

This poetry book is among my top favorites. The poetry of Rumi gleams and sparkles with meaning for modern times ... amazing as it was written in the 1240s A.D. The natural imagery used is always surprising. He never fails to capture human emotions and the human condition, using original and sometimes highly provocative but very 'on-target' terms.

The subject matter of each poem is varied, although the theme of the book is 'work' ... it really is about much, much more than work. I can not praise the themes of the poems and contents of this book enough. One outstanding poem uses "grapes" as imagery. Rumi describes for the reader, "How It Is with Grapes". When they are immature they jostle competetively in the bunch ... after maturing, the grapes soften, the skin rips open and become one juice. Rumi reassures us, it is just the same with humans. We are also told some grapes grow stone-hard but the secret to that sour tightness remains hidden. What is more important is ... that we grow ... with each breath ... through the help of the heart master.

Another poetic masterpiece is "Die Before You Die". We are told about a riddle, that the opener and that which is opened are the same ... Rumi states, "The day and the daily bread that comes are not to be worshiped for themselves. ... That it is the ocean inside the fish that bears it along, not the riverwater. ... The time-river spreads and disappears into the ocean with the fish." "Be one of G-d's fish who receives what it needs directly from the ocean around it - food, shelter, sleep, medicine." In conclusion, "A seed breaks into the ground. Only then does a new fig tree come into being. *That's* *the* *meaning* *of* *die* *before* *you* *die*." This is truly phenomenal poetry that has been tested over time. It is 800 years strong and still filled with enlightenment and human insight into the phenomenon called "Life".
Erika Borsos (erikab93)

This was a wonderful read on poetry, and I especially enjoyed the creative imagery, the recognition of the meaning and value of work and the subtle weaving metaphors as the author worked to uncover the underlying truths of all of our lives.

Scissors, Paper, Rock is an unusual novel. On one level it is about dying - from AIDS, cancer, heart failure, war. Death comes in so many different ways, yet it results in loss, both of the deceased and of the memories that lived with that person. Death changes people in unique and complicated ways. Johnson explores this theme with tenderness and grace.

He also explores the role of myth in history. Are those things that we know as true really fact, or are they those things that we believe are true because they define who we are. Are our parents really who we believe them to be or is our understanding of them based on the stories that they choose to tell? Does this lessen the power of the stories or lessen the veracity of the story tellers? Johnson very adeptly addresses this theme.

Among these deep levels, there is a story of a family in rural Kentucky and their lives together and separately. The characters are well portrayed and the background is very true to life.

This is not an easy book, but it is well worth your time.

No other book has ever moved me the way this one did. Picture this: me, 20, working at a mall kiosk on Christmas Eve, and crying as I read this beautiful, moving work. It was not my finest public moment, but the book should not be faulted. The story of Raphael and his difficult relationship with his distant father is one that you can feel. This is the best work of gay-themed fiction that I have ever had the pleasure of owning. It is a must buy!

Author Fenton Johnson tells a moving story peopled with colorful, believable characters. Raphael, the gay son of Tom Hardin, returns home to his dying father. Each chapter is a complete and satisfying story. The stories are told from perspectives of various family members at different points in their lives. The chronology is not linear, engaging the reader's attention in interesting ways. Johnson convincingly presents the emotions of human relations, against the detailed backdrop of one southern family. He transports the reader into the world of a son striving to come to terms with his father before it is too late.

Setting out on a journey to Europe, Ms. Jin and Dr. Hahn, who loved with each other a great deal were in search of heroes, and finally a real cowboy hero just like a Shane who had overcome the wicked ones once and for all.
Really moving and somewhat philosopical novel, I think.

To me, this novel is so romantic and moving indeed. Dr.Hahn and Ms. Jin love with each other so devotedly. Ms Jin seems like a 'blue bird' who is pretty and pure-hearted, dressed in blue at all times. In a close pair, they travel around Europe in search of a hero, finally seeking for a real cowboy hero in the United States.

I read this novel, and thought that it is such a pure-hearted love story between Ms. Jin and Dr. Hahn. Amid their sublime love affair, they are in search of a hero on the old continent of Europe, and finally in the USA, just like a Shane who overcame the wicked evils single-handedly. I'd like to present my friends with this novel.

On the train to work in Manhattan, the Brooklyn Dodger runs into Hummer Fish from high school. They discuss how friends and relatives are doing like her dead grandfather of three decades. Finally Queenie informs Hummer that she will be fired from her proofing job at a calendar making company for missing that the start of daylight savings was placed on the wrong Sunday. Hummer hires Queenie to find his girlfriend, stripper Trigger Happy.

Queenie locates Trigger in her apartment, but wonders if she can collect a fee since the stripper is dead. NYPD Detective Olds suspects Queenie killed Trigger. Though she sasses the cops at every moment, someone stalks her while she makes the rounds (food and drink that is, not amateur sleuthing) of the two boroughs. On her trek to not smoke, not stay up all night, and not get laid, she meets a private detective who appreciates a woman with a New York mouth and willing to prove her innocence though Queenie knows not getting laid seems impossible.

This offbeat crime thriller is a delightful satirical slice of New York starring a tough-ass female who uses profanity as a greeting and symbolically rides the F-train. The story line never takes itself seriously as Queenie prefers bar hopping in Coney Island, but knows she must find the killer before either Olds arrests her or the culprit gives her a permanent home in the ground where she will stay out late forever. Louisa Luna provides a fun wild New York joy ride starring a BRAVE NEW GIRL.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Leslie Van Newkirk for Small Spiral Notebook

If she wore the latest couture instead of three dollar flip flops, she could be a fashionista. If she ordered Cosmos instead of "red eyes" and whiskey shots, she could be a sophisticated spy. And if she were beautiful, she'd have a shot at being a Bond-girl bombshell. But Queenie Sells is not any of these. She's an aging, dysfunctional, not-quite-hipster from Burning Grounds, Brooklyn, and courtesy of Louisa Luna in Serious As a Heart Attack, she's one of the most refreshing heroines to shamble into the mystery genre. Queenie drinks, smokes, passes out, and wears clothing pulled from a festering laundry bag. But Luna manages to make Queenie endearing, rather than annoying; and although occasionally Queenie's internal philosophies border on the naïve, it's satisfying to follow a protagonist that has such confidence, yet still manages to do everything wrong (the antithesis would be the chick-lit heroine in so many novels today, who, despite her insecurity and bumbling foibles, somehow secures her own rightful position at the top of the career heap).

Luna's third novel showcases Sells's unique ability to sniff out trouble wherever it brews. As Queenie says, "Sometimes people told Queenie things. She noticed it when she was in high school, even after she started going to Boston for day school with the rich kids; the kids in the neighborhood, the mill kids, would still find her, not ask for anything, just talk themselves hoarse, tell her all their secrets." And of course, this characteristic makes her a perfect candidate for a reluctant private eye. But before Queenie can get her sleuth on, she's got other messes to make - getting fired, getting home, and getting wasted in that order. However, a happenstance meeting with her old friend Hummer gives her a second chance at making a few extra bucks. Her mission is to find out what has happened to his mistress, Paper Doll stripper Trigger Happy, who had disappeared the week before. As with the "mill kids," Queenie's in her element at the Paper Doll and is able to wrangle some information from another stripper, Baby. But in Luna's words, "It was a little after ten, and Queenie made a professional decision that if she was going to do any more research for the night, she would have to be drunk." This description sums up Sells's character throughout most of the novel, although her diversions into inebriation give Queenie, a kind of lucidity and purpose for her task, like Popeye when he eats his spinach to fight the bully Bluto.

Written in the same sparse style as her previous endeavor, Crooked, Luna has a knack for characterizing the marginal - lost, deluded, crazy, and criminal people hovering on the fringes, bumming cigarettes from the rest of us. But whereas Crooked was engaging, if somewhat humorless, Queenie's comedic witticisms keep Serious As a Heart Attack from becoming too staid. Furthermore, like Jonathan Lethem and Collin Harrison's city nocturnes, Luna takes us on a Manhattan-Brooklyn detour, dragging us through neighborhood joints that we would not likely venture into without our literary guide. Yet this Brooklyn balladist doesn't philosophize. Her main character tells it like it is and most of it ain't pretty.

At times, Ms. Luna's prose is repetitive. And occasionally, the reader may wish that there were a little more to the plot or that some of Queenie's unraveling threads actually turned into secondary storylines, instead of meandering and then fading away. But these are insignificant criticisms in light of a very entertaining book. I'm willing to bet that more than a few fans will follow Queenie's progress, if only to sit on the sidelines and hope that she gets her life together. Which begs the question for the future: if Queenie Sells ever cleaned up her act and became a more traditional protagonist, would she be nearly as much fun?

Anyone interested in the human condition -- anyone who has been on a bus or subway at 10 o'clock on a Wednesday morning and observed a young woman, though seemingly not deranged but clearly drunk, sloven and discombobulated, and wondered to yourself: "what's her story?" -- this book is for you. They say there are some 14 million stories in the naked city, and while Louisa Luna only has room to give us one example in "Serious as a Heart Attack," it is clear from her sensitive attention to detail and the poignancy with which she shares her characters with the reader that she has the guts and talent to tackle the next 13,999,999. In her third novel, Ms. Luna proves once and for all that not only is her talent serious, but her intensity is indeed like a myocardial infarction.

The book is thorough and very good to assist you in running the SibShop program.

With this book, you can easily set up and run a sibshop for siblings of kids with special needs. Think of the lives you can change with this book! It has great examples and encouragement, and references.

This book provides a much needed platform for people who have siblings with special needs. It also serves as a manifesto for how you, too can set up such a workshop for people to share their experiences.

This is an excellent and empowering book that helps address the needs of siblings. I recommend this one together with Donald J. Meyers' book, "Views From Our Shoes."

My sons girlfriend brought this cookbook to my home. I love this cookbook, every receipe that I have made has been wonderful. Memees waffles are light and fun. My son said the best waffle he ever had. Some receipes are so simple, but the results are fantastic. I have bought alot of cookbooks that are so so this one is a keeper and a good gift to others. I am told a second book is on its way, I cannot wait. Thank you!!!

Find a comfortable and well worn leather chair, settle back with a warm cup of coffee and read Simply Whidbey. Nestled between the pages you'll find yourself captivated by the soft songs of Whidbey Island's history merging with the flavors of the Pacific Northwest. Simply Whidbey is more than just another cookbook, it's a collection of adventures in food shared by real Northwesterners.

I have made many of the recipies in this cookbook and have not come across a bad one yet. The seafood one are particularly good. I highly recommend making the Chocolate Lover's cake.

The Skeleton in the Smithsonian is an exciting book to read because KC and Marshall have to solve lots of clues to save the Smithsonian. I like it when the kids figure out Leonard Fisher's real job because it leads them to the real skeleton. This book has a lot of action!

My two daughters ages 9 and 7 absolutely love the Capital Mysteries series including this book. We were surprised that we weren't able to find them in the shelves in any bookstore along side their other favorites like A to Z Mysteries,

This book is the third in the Capital Mysteries series. K.C. and her friend Marshal go to dinner with the president and find out that someone claims to be in heir to James Smithson. (The person that built the smithsonion institution.) When Marshal sugests they compare DNA to see if the person is related to James Smithson, The Heir Smiles, what is he up to??? Is he really an heir to James Smithson?? Or is he a fake?? Find out in Skeleton in the Smithsonion!! I reccomend this book to kids 5 and up.

I first heard RMP read at an outdoor conference in the late 1990s. Late that evening some of us shared single malt with him around a small table in a little trailer. I was hooked.

First I read his Sasquatch book, which is not about sasquatch, except for a little bit. Then there is his beautiful western butterfly book, a book to be studied and treasured. It opened my eyes to much I had never seen in my many years of wandering the hills.

Enough; this volume is near poetry.

But in it, you will find RMP a bit whimsically professorial. For instance when RMP walks through thistles in his shorts, he remarks on itchy scratches.

Incidently, Gray's River is in SW Washington across the Columbia River northeast of Astoria, Oregon.

Of all Mr. Pyle's books this one is the most lyrical and delicious. Just read a page before you go to sleep and you will dream of lush forest and lovely creatures on land and in the sky. Every sentence is filled with wonderful images of nature. It would make a nature lover out of any reader.

An imapssioned life, observing and enjoying all around him. A great read for those interested in people and nature, the interconnected web of a rural world. We can all learn something from this book. Thanks Bob!

Soldiers of Misfortune, covering World War II, the Korean war, and Vietnam, is a profoundly shocking insight as to what has become of thousands of U.S. POW's during these wars. According to the authors, years of investigative work went into the formulation of the book and it is clearly evident in the text.

Painstaking attention has been given and recorded to remove anyone's doubts of this books authenticity. The authors list a staggering record of POW's forever lost to our enemies, the names of prison camps and gulags where they were held, intricate dates and timelines of events, and eyewitness accounts of vital information pertaining to U.S. soldiers forgotten by our govenment.

In the years following World War II, the Korean war, and Vietnam, the actions by our govenment to conceal data concerning our POW's and it's campaigns to silence anyone investigating the issue is absolutely apalling. This book will define for the reader the gross misuses of power, illegal tactics to manipulate and humiliate citizens seeking honest answers, and the use of outright threats and intimidation to bury the subject forever.

Great credit is due to the authors of this book for their courage and perseverance to expose the plight of our lost U.S. servicemen. This book is very highly recommended to everyone who would like an untainted and factual look into the heartbreaking saga of missing U.S. soldiers.

Readers may also be interested in "Kiss the Boys Goodbye: How the United States betrayed its own POW's in Vietnam" by Monica Jensen-Stevenson and William Stevenson. Excellent source material here that reiterates much information found in Soldiers of Misfortune.

Absolutely, this is the most riveting and explosive book I have ever read. I served 2 tours of combat duty in the Korean WAR; futhermore, had I been privy to this read, you could never have gotten me back to Korea- never -. The Big Lie, spawned out of the Beltway since 1945 to the present, is inconcievable, that the DoD, State Dept, Pentagon and Joint Chiefs of Staff [all], deny the existense of American GI"s languishing in Siberia, Red China, North Korea and North Vietnam . Imagine, former POW"s readily admit, they had seen American POW"s herded off to the Soviet Union and to Red China. Whose hearts go out to our MIA/POW families whom have been grossly and deliberately LIED to by government officials ?? Whereas, our Presidents [all] since 1945, turned their backs on all captured American POW"s. I pray, from this hurt, that one American staggers out of the Soviet Union to corroborate all, in this vale of tears- maybe, just maybe - the apathetic American populace will wake up to being had by a devious lot in our nation"s capital, as they go about THEIR business as usual. If this read doesn"t make your blood boil, then you aren"t alive; however, the assertions, send an ambigious message to any teenager who may be thinking about enlisting: "I wonder, will my President and countrymen come to my rescue if I am captured by the enemy"?? It is your call youngsters. Sayonara.

....Absolutely, this is the most riveting and explosive book I ever read!!...I served two [2] combat tours in the Korean War; furthermore, had I been privvy to this read, you could never have gotten me back to Korea--never!....The Big Lie, spawned out of the Beltway since 1945 to the present is inconceivable that the DoD, State Dept, Pentagon and the Joint Chiefs of Staff [all] deny the existence of any American GIs languishing in: Siberia-Red China-North Korea-Vietnam...imagine, former POWs readily admit, they had seen American POWs herded off to the Soviet Union [1945-1953] and off to Red China/North Korea [1950-1953] and off to Vietnam [1962-1973]...whose hearts go out to our MIA-POW families, whom have been grossly and deliberately ...LIED...to by our government and military officials; whereas, all of our Presidents since 1945 have turned their backs to our tormented American POWs...I, pray from this hurt, that one American straggles out of the Soviet Union to corroborate all, in this vale of tears....maybe, just maybe, the apathetic American populace will finally wake up to being had by a devious lot in our nation's capitol, as they just go about business as usual...if this clarion expose doesn't make your blood boil then you are not alive; in addition, these assertions send an ambiguous message to any teenagers who are thinking of joining up...I wonder, will my President and countrymen come to my rescue, in the event I am captured by the enemy??...it is your call, youngsters!!...sayonara...SSGT CHRIS SARNO-USMC FMF

I am a former English student of the author of "South of Seattle," and not only is this man an exceptional teacher, but he is the only writer of my acquaintance to so vibrantly capture the spirit of life in the ever-growing Pacific Northwest--roots, leaves, rain, et al. If you want to experience a small lumber town and are unfourtunate enough not to have been born and raised there, then take your next best option as an outsider and read this book. This journey through time and terrain is all the more meaningful due to the obvious love the author feels for his topic. Don't miss this one...

Henry David Thoreau wrote, "It matters not how far you travel, but how much you are alive," and Jim LeMonds, a former English teacher of mine in the small "mill-town" city of Longview, WA embodies this phrase in his tight, solid prose and compassionate understanding of the area and it's people. For anybody to understand the psyche of this area, the Pacific Northwest, I recommend not only living here and listening, but also a cold plunge into the severely deprived art scene and it's few vibrant sectors. Jim LeMonds, in South of Seattle, provides us with one of these. My favorite essay was Scripture For The Land, for it's sheer intensity and truths.

Jim has captured the life of small town America. More precisely small town Pacific Northwest where the largest employer is the lumber companies and the county fair still attracks the whole town. Jim brings to light some of the hardships and personal obstacles that impede the daily lives of even the most simple lives. The memories that Jim shares will most definitely make you laugh and may even bring you to tears. An intimate exploration of a great geographical area.