New Books

This is the first book that any parent should buy for their child. It is more fun than any other book for the child, parent, grandparent or great grandparent.

This is a real cute story. Its just long enough to keep my two year olds interest before bed so that's a definite plus. Thanks.

We received this book as a gift when my oldest was a baby. It is an amazing little, quirky kind of book - and the song at the end I made up our own little tune too. Even my older children gather around when I read it to the youngest. It is very sweet, simple and beautiful. Great for very young children 0-5.

This is the sweetest little childrens book I have ever seen. I have bought several of them for my grandchildren and friend's grandhildren. And although I'm 81 I'm not ashamed to say that when I'm feeling sort of low I read it myself, too, and it just makes me feel better all over.

This has to got be one of the strangest, coolest, most out-there kids books ever.

I mean, what exactly ARE the little fur family? The dad looks like some kind of furry owl, the mom might be some sort of feminine echidna, the boy looks like a bear, and the grandpa I'm pretty sure is an airedale.

...Pretty sure.

Sometimes the book rhymes, sometimes it doesn't; sometimes the writing is odd and redundant--like living in a "wooden tree," sometimes it's lyrical and beautiful--like "the dark and sunny woods"; and always it's just bizarre.

...The fur family seems peaceful, but they all wear fur coats, evidently from some other animals that got skinned. ...The boy meets his grandfather and has the oddest and most non sequiter exchange about sneezing. ...The little fur boy captures a tiny little furry man, before kissing it and sending it on its way.

What on earth is going on here?

The pictures, by Garth Williams of "Little House on the Prairie" fame, are awesome, every one suitable for framing, and the text, by Margaret Wise Brown, author of "Good Night Moon," makes more sense than say, "The Color Kittens," but still seems somewhat drug-inspired. And the ending is terrific.

This is one of my favorite kids books that I've ever gotten for my daughter, and she seems to like it as well. It's just so incomprehensibly bizarre that I have to love it. Have to.

The Millenium Project is one of the best thrillers I have ever read. Fast paced, intelligent, edge of the seat stuff. I hope the author writes another one. I'm stuck reading Robert Ludlum books in anticipation of Massucci's next masterpiece.

I participated in UK classified autoland (automatic landing) projects during the sixties. Autoland is a system designed to completely control an aircraft from middle altitudes to precise touchdown on runway at a distant airport, with zero intellectual or physical input from pilots. Nowadays entire integrated aircraft systems are controlled by computers 1,000+ times more powerful than we had then.

It is 100% possible to take over the flight control computers of the 747, 757 and 767 if you have the right access codes and op frequency. The computers can also lock out radio communications including IFF transponders. Under these circumstances the pilots would be completely powerless, able only to look out of the window to see where they were being taken.

In the mid-nineties Lufthansa, appreciating the potentially catastrophic effect of "boffins" hijacking their Jumbos by remote control, and assisted by the Luftwaffe, stripped out the American computers and replaced them with classified German equipment. At the time I thought Lufthansa's investment extravagant and slightly paranoid. Now as I look at the video of those planes crashing into the World Trade Center, I marvel at the foresight of a few clever Germans.

I suggest you read The Millennium Project. Believe me when I say that what the author writes about is entirely possible, and far more beyond that. Think of radio controlled model planes and you might get close to the nature of the technology used.

When I read a review of this book that touted it as good as a Tom Clancy novel, I discounted the praise. How wrong I was! This book is better than Clancy. So exciting, it was hard to put down. The words flow and transform into brilliant pictures in your mind. Reading it is like watching an exciting movie. Massucci's military experience shows in the details, and the pacing is brilliant. A great read!

Another exciting book from Joseph Massucci. The subject matter is very believable and scary, and the demented, bankrupt bad guy is one of the creepiest I've read. Another awesome element of this story is the intriguing military hardware -- what great fun! The good guy (Marshall) and heroine (Julie) certainly add to the quality of this story. Massucci will have to do a sequel. An exciting read!

Massucci has given us a fascinating look at the possible downfall of western civilization should an evil cybergenius get loose.

In this many level story the, now happily past, Y2K issue is used as a mask for a much more insidious plan to gain boundless fortune and power. The main characters are that very evil genius, a 3 person highly trained and skillful special forces strike team, a number of top computer and biotech scientists, and Albert, the first functional biocomputer. In addition, there are a great number of tough and/or brilliant, good and/or evil players who are all blown away using various interesting and/or grotesque forms of military armament and/or civilian fatal devices.

Despite some truly grotesque concepts that still haunt me, I must proclaim this a captivating adventure, beautifully wrought with real characters involved in a fascinating struggle to the death to save themselves, their friends and US. It's a fast and consuming read.

Go for it!!!!

This monster book is fun, not scary at all. It tells about all the loving things Mama Monster does for her Monster children. When I was an elementary school librarian I used it for Story Time. And now my grandchildren--ages 2 and 4, love this book too!

My kids (ages 3-7) all love this book. It has a great rhythm and after reading it regularly for five years, they still giggle through the entire book. Because of that, we have given this book to many friends who have loved it as much as us.

I bought this because my son has been waking up scared of "things" in his room at night. He has been waking up a lot less lately, since we started reading this and another book. I really think this among other things has helped. It insinuates that monsters are scared of little boys and girls which is just what he needed to hear!! It is also very cute and makes monsters seem just like people!

My little boy is 19 months old and this is one of his favorite bedtime stories. The illustrations are bright and colorful and the story makes us laugh every time we read it!

I loved this book and read it to my precious grandson, Connor. The book is written in rhyme and it is very sweet and interesting to kids.

This is certainly a beautiful Bible. The calf skin feels just like a Bible should feel (it is no Highland Goatskin Allan, but nice nonetheless). I have no qualms about the margins, although it is not as wide as a Cambridge Wide Margin. It has adequate space for sermon outlines and notes. The biggest issue I have with this Bible, and the reason I can't give it 5 Stars, is because of a common complaint. The pages wrinkle far to much for a Bible at this price point. It's especially bad along the center of the page. It makes the Bible look already pre-beaten up before you've done anything to it. If you can overlook these things then you will be more than pleasantly surprised by this Bible. Especially the cover.

I purchased the black leather edition and I am very pleased with the Bible. The leather is very soft and I love the smell and feel of this very well made Bible. It compares very well with my Cambridge NASB Wide Margin Bible in feel and quality. I love the size and clarity of the print and the quality of the paper. I was expecting the paper to be stiffer, but if this paper is truly "bleed through" proof then I will be happy with the paper also. There is only one minor issue that I have with the paper; there is some crinkling of the paper at the bottom of many of the pages (closer to the binding) that is sligthly annoying to a perfectionist like myself. That aside, this is a wonderful representation of the NASB and ultimately of God's Word. I enjoy the NASB translation (even though I like the ESV translation better) for its clarity and ease of understanding. You won't be disappointed with this Bible unless you are the supreme perfectionist and cannot overlook the crinkled paper issue. Otherwise, buy it, read it, devour God's Word and "praise God, from whom all blessings flow". Amen

I have found the NASB update in touch ministries wide margin edition, top grain cowhide; blue bible to be one of the best made bibles I've seen. If you are looking for a top-quality bible that will last this is it. I enjoy the straight text, large print, and wide-margins; Along with the translation. The WORD is forever! Read it, Memorize it, Meditate on it, Obey it, Hold it dear to your heart! Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

This is a review of the NASB In Touch Wide Margin bible in Burgundy Calfskin, ISBN 1581350708.

PROS
The calfskin is absolutely gorgeous. I've handled the black and the blue calfskin editions of this bible but they do not compare to the feel and grain of the burgundy edition. Compared to the Crossway, Nelson, and Cambridge leather I also prefer this one in particular and it is worth owning nearly for this reason alone. The ribbon markers are of exceptional quality, wide, and long enough to use easily. The paper quality is very nice, and the binding is sewn so that the bible lays absolutely flat from the first use. Everything about the materials here is very high quality and among the finest that you can find. The translation is the Updated (1995) NASB which is very literal and excellent for study. Additionally, this is not a red letter edition which is a huge plus in my book. The concordance and maps are nice enough, and the layout of the pages is very pleasing and facilitates easy reading of the text. As others have mentioned, the only appearance in this bible of In Touch Ministries or Charles Stanley is in an elegant single-page dedication at the beginning of the bible.

CONS
Some of the pages are slightly wrinkled near the inside seam. For an expensive bible this is something that shouldn't be there, however it doesn't affect the ability to read the text or write down notes in the margins. Speaking of margins... The outside, upper, and lower margins are very generous and easy to mark in. However, the inside margin is not very wide and I find that I can only easily write in cross references and one or two words. I've started using the lower margin for notes on the inside column, and the outside margin for the outside column because of this. Also, there are no cross references in this bible. I would prefer to have them for convenience however I am hopeful that I will gain more by researching and writing them down for myself.

Summary
This is hands down the nicest bible I own and it is very pleasing to handle and use. I love the quality construction and hope that it will last for decades so that I can have a lasting bible to write down my notes as I study the word of God. If you are looking for a wide margin bible for note taking or a well crafted calfskin bible you can't go wrong with this bible.

I echo all the other reviews on the beauty of this bible. It is the perfect Bible for taking to church - soft, easy to read, lots of room to take notes and a joy to hold. It is also perfect for just reading the word. For bible study you would want a good study Bible such as The MacArthur Study Bible or Life Applications Bible. This bible if purely for reading and writing in and for that it is the greatest Bible I've ever owned.

Night of the Living Dummy is a Goosebumps book by R.L Stine. It's a great book because it's kind of scary, because a girl named Lindy and her sister Kris were walking around the block and they swear they saw a kid hanging out of the dumpster. As Lindy walked closer she realized that it was a dummy. So when she got home she named the dummy Slappy. That night it came to life and started to cause trouble. I recommend this book third through fifth grade, because it would be too frightening. I give this book 5 starS because I like scary fiction stories.

This book isn't to bad. it was very enjoyable. It's a good book for kids 12 and over. I love R.L. Stiens's books whaen i was a kid. I still will read goosebumps when i can't find nothing else. This is probably the best kid's sereis books out there. Night Of The Living Dummy was pretty intense. It Is a good book.

Wow, this book was awsome really awsome toatally triple awsome! I thought this was better than Night of the living dummy 2! I wonder why it shows Slappy on the cover of the book but the main ventriloquist dummy is Mr. Wood which on the other hand isn't as cool and evil as Slappy. YOU HAVE TO READ THIS BOOK!!!

The books in the Goosebumps series regularly seem to take the vein of a morality tale (of a twisted sort) where one virtue, evil, personality flaw, or issue is taken up as the focus of the story, and Night of the Living Dummy is no exception. The order of the day here is competition...in this volume we meet twins Lindy and Kris Powell who are constantly competing, arguing, trying out do, out wit, and one-up one another. Their parents are frazzled and fed up with these beautiful twins who seem to frequently cross the line into cruelty and viciousness, and often behaving without sympathy toward one another and others.

As we join them, the twins are exploring the house across the way from theirs when Lindy discovers a ventriloquist dummy in the construction dumpster...even better he appears to be in excellent shape. To Kris' horror, Lindy keeps the dummy, which Kris initially distains as stupid, gross, and boring. Shortly after finding him, Lindy manages to gain some skill and when her act becomes popular with their classmates...popular enough to get her some gigs doing birthday parties with her act, Kris decides that she too MUST have a dummy. Her parents initially rebuke her, dummies are expensive and try to get the girls to share which outrages Lindy...she becomes quite cruel toward her sister calling her a copy cat and really wanting this one thing for herself.

When their father manages to conveniently stumble upon a second dummy in a second hand shop for a good price, it seems like the problem is solved...but Lindy is still angry at her sister for trying to steal her thunder and begins to pose the dummy so that it appears to be alive, frightening her sister terribly...when the secret is revealed, Kris is crushed...but shortly after the dummy DOES come to life and the twins are left without their parents support (they are just fed up with talk and whining about the dummies to hear a single thing more about them). Will the girls be able to stop Mr. Wood? Will he make them his slaves? You'll have to read to find out...what you get is always different than what you expect with these stories, and Night of the Living Dummy is no exception, it does have a signature "got ya" moment at the end.

Overall, Night of the Living Dummy is well written and the characters are simple but adequately written. The girls are sympathetic in some instances and not in others...there are times in the story when you think they are getting what they deserve for the way they behaved...but in the end, you want them to pull out of it and save themselves from Mr. Wood. At the very end, just when you think it's all going to be ok, boo...an abrupt shock at the end and the story is over, leaving the reader wondering how the girls will get out of their predicament...this one reeks of sequel, which I understand there are several of. I give it five stars, this is much better written than some of the other books I've read in the series and for taking something that's already kind of creepy (the dummy) and making it horrific several times over.

Lindy and her sister Kris discover an old dummy in a dumpster walking home one day. The dummy is in perfectly good shape and they can't understand why somebody threw the dummy away. Lindy decides to keep it so she names it Slappy. Lindy tries Slappy out on two of the kids her and Kris babysit. Slappy is an instant success. Kris becomes extremly jealous so Lindy decides to keep him. Lindy and Kris's dad buys Kris a dummy of her own which upsets Lindy causing her to play a mean practical joke on Kris. But soon after Kris gets her dummy, strange things start happening. No way it could be Mr. Wood (Kris' dummy) right?

This book should be read by anyone not just girls. It teaches
people that if they are molested or abused it is not their fault
especially if they are kids. They didn't do anything wrong. I would recommend this book to anyone who can read.

Jesus, Nina sure wen't through alot! My blood ran cold when her uncle said they were going to adopt a child! Luckily, Nina spoke up. i would have been afraid to tell. Let's hope what Christopher was doing didn't mean any thing. Anyway, it was great!

Nina won't tell is an excellent book from the series Making Out, all written by Katherine Applegate.

It deals with 2 separate topics that Nina won't talk about:

1.) Her crush on her sister's ex, Ben. He happens to also be her best friend's brother.
2.) Her uncle molesting her when she was much younger.

With the help of her friends, Nina is able to confront her past and come out ten million times stronger. By the end of this book, you will be so proud of Nina, even though she is a fiction character.

Nina Won't Tell is basically 2 stories about Nina.

One is that Nina loves Ben, Claire's old boyfriend. Nina has loved him for the longest time, but she hasn't got the guts to tell him. She's afraid that if she tells Ben, he won't love her back and she'll be embarrassed and alone.

The other is a deeper problem that Nina experienced while staying with her Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle Mark in Minnesota after her mother died. The problem probably wouldn't have come to anyone's attention if her Aunt and Uncle wouldn't have come out to Maine to visit them. Nina lives in fear until the end of the book.

By the end of the book, you'll have laughed, cried, and mentally said, "You go, Nina!" millions of times!

Somebody should have told Christopher, if he is going to play the field. You do not do it on a small island wherer everything is accessible by foot. He should have kept that on the mainland. I was so glad when Nina blew the whistle on her slime ball Uncle, and when she finally told Ben how she really felt. I like Nina and Ben.

When I started out reading this book, I was very skeptical, and I did not want to read something, that was set in the 1800's. I was pleasantly surprised though, because of what I learned about those times. I loved the characters and thought that they just fit together, especially Lorna and Jens. The book was romantic, but definitely had tragic and horrible moments, as well. This was a great novel, with an expected ending, but I really did enjoy this book a lot.

and this book proves she is at the top! I enjoyed this book even though it was a tear jerker.

Levyrle Spencer can just make you feel what her characters are feeling so effortlessly that you laugh and cry with them and almost forget that they are not real.
Lorna and Jens are one of her most real characters and their situation is also so real. The way they are helpless against their attraction to each other even after knowing it would be disastrous was so beautifully written that you could feel the sexual tension yourself whenever they were together.
Lorna was a rich girl but not spoilt at all. And Jens was poor but too ambitious and proud to become one of the servents in house for Lorna. Their attraction, like it always happens in Levyrle Spencer's romances, grew with each of their meetings to an extent that it was almost unbearable for me(and i suppose all the readers). It became something too strong and inevitable to ignore anymore. I especially liked the scene when Lorna asked Jens if he was ever going to kiss her, "I have considered ordering you to, but it didn't work before." How sweet!
People like Lorna's parents could make something so beautiful and rare into something cheap and dirty. Her mother was so convincing that she made Lorna question her own feelings. Her mother used her shame and guilt as a weapon against her love for Jens and made her give up hope. Jens was angry with her for giving up and i don't blame him.
The ending was Great! It warmed my heart to see Lorna stand up for her love and her child without any shame or guilt.
This is one of those books that you have got to read again and i definately will.

I LOVED this book!!! It is the love story of Lorna, a rich girl (though not spoiled at all), living in the high society of Minnesota in the late 1800s, and Jens, the kitchen handyman, hired by her father to build him the fastest boat possible. The characters come to life in this book - LaVyrle Spencer at her best, so very well written that you can feel their pain, etc. Heartwrenching and very romantic. Reminds me of "Titanic" with the whole upper class/lower class theme. I can't say enough about this book. I just couldn't put it down, it is really that good!!! It is definitely one of my favorites and I recommend it to everyone!!!

The setting of November of the Heart is Minnesota, 1895. Lorna Barnett, the central figure, is the beautiful eighteen-year-old daughter of Commodore Gideon Barnett, a proud man who's a member of the White Bear Yacht Club. The Barnetts are high on the social ladder, and the Barnetts expect Lorna to marry the handsome, well-off Taylor DuVal. However, one summer at their lake house, Lorna unexpectedly falls in love with the kitchenhand, twenty-five-year-old Jens Harkens, the Norweigan, and they begin a passionate, risky relationship. They both know that if they are discovered, Jens will be banished from the lakehouse. Gideon Barnett is passionate about racing boats, and after bitterly losing a race, Jens suggests that he knows how to build a better boat (after all, he is a Norweigan), so he is commissioned to build a boat for the next race. However, his tenure is cut short as his and Lorna's relationship is exposed, and Lorna's life is almost ruined with scandal.

A poignant, passionate read that deals with love at its cruelest and at its heartwarming best, but a lot of times, I felt like the plot was too stagnant and uninteresting. There are not a lot of driving moments/action that make the plot move forward, and the ending is resolved a little too neatly. However, if one does not mind the verbiage and the intense sexual scenes (if one is not comfortable with these kinds of things), then one can enjoy this cute "coming of age" novel for Lorna Barnett and her undying love for her Norweigan.

I could not put the book down.....fast reading and great stories and lots of humor.....one heck of a story teller....

Marty Appel served in the Bronx Bombers' public-relations office for nearly nine years, and was the PR director during the tumultuous early George Steinbrenner years (from 1974 to 1977). Appel's "Now Pitching For the Yankees" recalls the turmoil of that period -- and Appel's ability to function under pressure --with wit, a keen eye for detail and sensitivity.

None of the long hours Appel spent at the ballpark, the turmoil he witnessed, or the high-pressure tactics of owner Steinbrenner have dimmed his appreciation for his colleagues and bosses. It comes through in the pages of this warm, often touching memoir.

The boldface names are there -- including Steinbrenner, Mickey Mantle, Billy Martin, Joe DiMaggio and Reggie Jackson -- along with less-famous but pivotal Yankee characters like clubhouse man Pete Sheehy, team execs Michael Burke and Gabe Paul, and Appel's mentor in public relations, Bob Fishel. (It even mentions the writers: Appel's anecdote about one scribe's losing battle with bladder control in Boston is priceless.)

Appel also reflects on his vibrant post-Yankees career, including a bittersweet period with the Atlanta Olympics and a still-thriving stint as a baseball author (subjects include early baseball star King Kelly, former Commissioner Bowie Kuhn and former Yankee captain Thurman Munson).

"Now Pitching for the Yankees" is a good find for anyone who loves baseball, cherishes its history and appreciates the people behind the scenes who make it happen.

As a Red Sox fan, I was ready to read this and get whacked in the face with the hubris usually shown by anything Yankee. I was surprised by the balance shown. Marty Appel knows more about baseball than a lot of people running the game now. He was born about 30 years too late as people like Epsteil, Beane and Riccardi get to run ballclubs, while Mr. Appel 30 years ago had to come up through the ranks with Steinbrenner's Yankees no less. Mr. Appel also wrote an excellent biography on one of the first superstarts of baseball back in the 1800's--King Kelly. I recommend both books highly.

Only if you really know your New York sports would you realize that Marty Appel's in a much more unique position to write a tell-all book about the 1970s Yankees than many other athletes. During his progression over 10 years from Yankees' fan-mail gopher during the Horace Clarke years, to PR director during the 1976 World Series, Appel had once-in-a-lifetime encounters (with the likes of Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Mike Burke, Gabe Paul, George Steinbrenner and ... Oscar Gamble) every single day.

"Now Pitching...", finally out in paperback, shows Appel's origins as a Yankees fan when everyone else was rooting for the Brooklyn Dodgers, and how he turned his love for the game into a career (when everyone else was watching the NFL). Most of the book covers the Yankees from 1968 to 1976, Appel's reign. Although many of the stories are familiar to baseball readers from what seems like 100 other books, only Appel is giving you the inside view. Nowhere else will you get such insider detail about Oscar Gamble's infamous haircut, Sparky Lyle's theme music, or George Steinbrenner's management style.

The book flags a little -- only a little -- when Appel leaves the Yankees and makes his mark in other ventures, such as team tennis and local NYC broadcasting. The most interesting part focusses on Appel's brief fish-out-of-water turn with the 1996 Atlanta Olympics organizers.

Marty Appel's been a very lucky guy -- who else gets to be friends with both Mickey Mantle and Billie Jean King? "Now Pitching for the Yankees" is several cuts above your standard baseball autobiography.

Posted 5:49 p.m., December 12, 2001 - Bruce M.
If I may add another book to the list. The best baseball book that I've read this calendar year is Marty Appel's Now Pitching for the Yankees. Marty worked in the Yankees' public relations department from 1968 to 1977, and shares loads of funny and insightful stories about the CBS Yankees and the Yankees of the Steinbrenner Era. The book is well-written, flows smoothly, and strikes me as honest without "hatcheting" people in and around baseball. I'd recommend the book to both Yankee and non-Yankee fans.

This autobiography was written very well. The author was committed to getting the facts out without glorifying himself. Done very well. I appreciated being told about the genocide in Rwanda without all the gore. I understood perfectly what he was describing without seeing it on screen. I learned so much from both his experience and his trials trying to get help from other nations. Great book!

My product arrived in time and in very good condition!

would definitely purchase again

Paul Rusesabagina is an ordinary man. He feels sadness and joy, fear and hope just like the rest of us. He is not a superhero in the ordinary sense of the word--he cannot fly, he does not have an agility belt, and he cannot scale walls. He is an ordinary man by all accounts, but in 1994 when the dark cloud of tense hatred between the Tutsis and the Hutus that had been brewing for decades in the small country of Rwanda erupted into a genocide that left eight hundred thousand dead, Paul Rusesabagina's actions as described in his biography An Ordinary Man were anything but ordinary.
Rusesabagina was born in a small village in the countryside in 1954. His mother was a Tutsi, and his father was a Hutu. According to Rwandan tradition of heritage passing through the father's bloodlines, Rusesabagina was considered a Hutu as well. Rusesabagina's father was his inspirational role model growing up, and his philosophy that "kindness and justice did not know ethnicity" was embedded in Rusesabagina's actions later in life (12).
Rusesabagina learned early on in life to fight with his words, not with his fists. He found that by speaking to people face to face, he could connect on some level, and convince them not to do him harm. This technique worked with schoolyard bullies, and later on with murderous, fanatical generals. Rusesabagina found work at the hotel Mille Collines, and eventually became manager of its sister hotel Diplomates.
After the plane carrying President Habyarimana was shot down, the extremist radio station RTLM began to use powerful diatribes to convince Hutus that it was their duty to murder the Tutsi "cockroaches." Rusesabagina, a moderate Hutu with a Tutsi wife, was able to negotiate, bribe, and flatter those carrying out the murders into sparing the lives of the 1,268 refugees that had fled to the hotel Mille Collines. The world turned a blind eye to the genocide and for a long seventy-six days, Rusesabagina had only himself and his words to save his family and the refugees from certain death. It is estimated that about five people were brutally murdered every minute. Rusesabagina managed to save approximately four hours worth of people. Eventually, he and the refugees were evacuated. Rusesabagina and his family moved to Belgium, where they reside to this day. In 1999, the movie Hotel Rwanda depicted his actions during this "dark bead" in Rwandan history.
This is one of the most remarkable books that I have ever had the pleasure of reading. It's so morbidly fascinating that even though at several times I felt physically ill, I was unable to put it down. Rusesabagina has a special skill as an author, and is able to paint an accurate and horrifying picture of the events that occurred, but at the same time is able to insert his whole-hearted and stubborn belief in the "triumph of common decency" over evil (203). Rusesabagina is able to argue this in the face of heartache and bloodshed. He is even able to provide concrete examples of people in the book that hacked their neighbors with machetes but still had a drop of human kindness desperate for an excuse to show itself.
Rusesabagina unapologetically criticizes all the nations that ignored the genocide for far too long. Rusesabagina not only provides criticism but also possible solutions that could have staunched the bloodshed quickly and effectively in the genocide's early stages. He also provides an excellent rhetoric on how extremists were able to convince rational, calm people to take up machetes and kill their neighbors and friends. Rusesabagina is able to counter the extremist rhetoric with words of his own, and uses this same skillful mastery of words that saved so many from slaughter to narrate this fantastic and moving book.
There are very few weaknesses in An Ordinary Man. Yes, the gore that is described twisted my stomach and left me feeling tainted and disgusted with mankind. After reading too much, I was almost unable to continue, but then again the mass genocide of men, women and children is not supposed to be neat and digestible. The descriptions are meant to shock and sicken. At the end of the novel, I felt ultimately dissatisfied and furious with the abject lack of justice. But this is a specific tactic used to irk the reader, because justice has not occurred in Rwanda and murderers still walk the streets. There is little justice to be found in that, and there is no reason why Rusesabagina should candy coat the issue to make the reader feel better.
Rusesabagina leaves the reader feeling hungry for more knowledge of the Rwandan genocide. His book inspired me to do outside research on the Rwandan genocide, and all of the other humanitarian crises that have occurred since then. Rusesabagina believes he is an ordinary man because to him saving all of these people seemed the most normal thing to do, something every man ought to have done. His message is a simple message of hope, a message that every man has the capability to give a "Rwandan no" to evil (203). His book serves not only a testimony to what happened in the dark days of the Rwandan massacre, but also serves as a means of getting people to care. He cautions that if the world cannot overcome apathy, then the phrase "never again" will be "one of the most abused phrases" and the "greatest lies" of the time. The book leaves the reader with a sense of hope that ordinary men like Rusesabagina will continue to say "no" to evil and do these extraordinary things as if they nothing more than ordinary.

This book was chosen by Middle Tennessee State University for their summer reading book, and being a student there I decided to jump in with all the freshmen and read it as well. I'm excited that he will be speaking at our convocation ( our program to start off the year.)

The thing that interested me most about this book is that he knew not to expect much from his country. He had pride, and he had hope for a better future, but he knew better than to expect anything more than the current situation.
This book is definitely something to be read by those who are very involved in world politics, sociology, and psychology. Rusesabagina delves into each one with vigor, and I very well believe he could be a professor in any one of these concentrations.
I am proud to say that I share the world with people such as Rusesabagina.

I purchased this book two months before I had the courage to read it. I feared it would be too upsetting and entirely depressing to engage myself in.

The book begins with a wonderful history of Paul's life. His vivid descriptions of The Land of A Thousand Hills, the banana beer, the family, his path to hotel management. It is an interesting story about a young man growing up in Africa.

The middle of the book approaches and details the horrific genocide of 800,000 people in as little as three months. The terror, the worry, the perseverence is all conveyed beautifully (if that word can be appropriate). I found inspiration in his ability to use words and intuition to communicate with people who could have taken his life. I felt connected to Paul's belief that nobody is 100% evil, and nobody is 100% good. I like his description of human nature, and felt he truly "gets" what being human is.

The ending of the book focused on his life in Belgium, among other Rwandan expatriates. And the decision to start a business in Africa. What a truly interesting person. I was fascinated by this story. It also shares much of the pre-1994 and post-1994 politics.

Whenever I gently give someone "the kindhearted blow-off" in my mind, I now think, "that was a Rwandan 'no'" I appreciate Paul's sharing of his culture and political environment.

I would enjoy seeing him speak. I appreciated his also sharing a little bit about how the movie came to be.

I really felt the storyteller is a person I could sit and have a beer with, and truly enjoy an afternoon chatting.

The last few pages of the book include a wonderful reference bibliography with information and suggestions on additional books to be read on Rwanda. I appreciated that, and plan to read several.

In my opinion its hard to grow up in the 80's and not know "Frog and Toad" it was so popular when I was a kid I don't know anyone that didn't read it and with that I had the name Arnold Lobel branded in my mind since. So when I saw this I had to give it a try. "Owl at home" is made up of a handful of little short stories which i find really useful at bedtime cause I can zip through them quickly yet they don't feel rushed and yet amazingly evoke alot of thought and questions afterward. My daughter is the type to pull out 15 books at bedtime so these are a great way to wrap up the night or read something light. "Tear water tea" is my favorite (I find it to be incredibly creative yet true to what you imagine little minds would find sad) cause the images he uses to make himself sad (in order to cry and collect enough tears in a pot for tea) are so cute like spoons that fell behind the stove and are to never be seen again and mornings nobody saw cause they were too busy sleeping! I just love it love it love it I couldn't recommend a beginner book more!

This Arnold Lobel classic should be a fixture on every child's bookshelf. Owl is a gentle soul with whom children can identify, even as they laugh at Owl's silly responses to mundane events in the world around him. Humor ensues when Owl goes too far in anthropomorphizing (tytomorphizing?) winter and the moon, and when he mistakes his own feet for scary bumps under the bed. These stories are a natural for bedtime on a cold winter night, cuddled up under the blankets just before drifting off to sleep.

I originally purchased this book when my children were young, and it was nearly worn out from the numerous readings. My children loved the "bumps" and I always used the "tear water tea" to remind my kids when everything seemed to be going wrong in their world. It is a great little book for children...and some of us adults as well.

My 2 1/2 yr old daughter loves Lobel books and when I moved "up" from the ones in the Easy Fiction area of the library to the Easy - Reader ones I was very pleased as was she. Very short, simple stories with a very clever and imaginative storyline. Like Mousesoup and Mousetails, the stories are just simply good reading stories that my daughter loves hearing over and over and I dont tire of reading.

This book is marvelous. All the stories in this book are so charming, innocent and beautiful. I dont believe my own eyes. Now, all the illustrations are also absolutely wonderful. They are incomparables. As I said, I dont believe my own eyes, because in today's book market (dominated by emptiness, futility and commercial [...]), it is like a glass of pure water in the desert. More, it is a miracle! I read it every night to my children, and cannot put it down myself. I am sad on only one point: I cannot give it 6 stars. Please, buy this beautiful little book to your children. It is a wonderful gift they wont forget. One of these few wonderful souvenirs we all love so much to remember from our childhood.