Maryland Books

Priscilla Bond's diary is a wealth of tedious tidbits about her daily routine, spattered with rare introspective statements about herself and her views on the Civil War. Bond's diary is not an enthralling read. In keeping with the social restraints at the time, her views are clipped by her desire to be a good woman and the fact that her diary, although personal, was intended to be read by family. It is, therefore, a fairly accurate portrayal of women in her era.

Bond's diary is solely meant to be a historical source. In reading it, it's difficult to kindle any sort of feeling or sympathy for her, despite her difficult situation. Uprooted from her home and separated from her husband, Bond has to learn to live a life she was altogether unprepared for, while dealing with her consumption. I found her entries to be somewhat vapid, dealing largely with surface issues. However uninteresting she may have seemed, there was a real and troubled woman penning these words. The unspoken is what needs to be pieced together and understood.

It would undoubtedly have been more reader-friendly had the diary been abridged, but that would have robbed the document of it's historical value. I cannot say that I enjoyed the book, but I can appreciate its worth. Her diary has the advantage of beginning in the antebellum years and continuing throughout the war, so that we can see the changes that occurred in her. It also gives us an idea about women who were not overly passionate about the Cause. Bond considers herself a southerner, but does not exhibit the kind of zeal towards the Confederacy that we can see in other diaries.

A Maryland Bride in the Deep South is a painstakingly researched work that serves as a wonderful addition to Civil War women's studies. If that is your forte, plunge ahead. Otherwise, you may want to bypass this one.

Priscilla Bond's civil war diary is an excellent historical resource. That said, it is not trying to be anything more, nor is it a book that will warrant a second read-through unless of course you are examining the text as a scholar.

The diary starts off quite slow. Many of Bond's entries early on consist of whether or not it rained and which cousins `took tea' that day. These entries were deliberately not omitted, not only because a historical document should not have parts excluded (no matter how boring), but because it gives the reader an idea of how the war impacts Bond's life. It is a neat experience for even the most laymen of readers to watch her reports change from social reports almost exclusively to war reports, updates on the `Yankees', etc.

This isn't to say that her non-war related entries are all completely boring. Quite a number of them are incredibly well written and poetic. An example:

"The first of autumn - the last rays if the declining sun gives us somber feelings and remind us of the coming of winter, when at zenith, he stares at us with his big pale face, and tells us he is going to withhold from the world a portion of his heat for a season."

Another element of the diary that will keep the average reader trekking onward is Bond's relationship with fiancé Howard. In the first entries, Bond makes Howard out to be her romantic knight-in-shining-armor, but as months go by of the two being separated, she begins to become impatient and even wonder if she still loves him. Trudging through the lists of who went to what sermon will be worth it, as her feelings toward him develop and tend to be ever bit as interesting as something out of fiction.

Kimberly Harrison, the book's editor, provides an extensive introduction that helps to connect the dots, especially for readers who use the book for historic and gender study. Harrison includes sections on principal friends and family and frequently mentioned places referenced in the text. There's about an average of three footnotes per page, providing Harrison's own research to shed light on Bond's life. While her notes may prove invaluable to a historian, the casual reader might find himself skipping more and more of the denotations as he presses onward in his reading. Still, it is nice to have the footnotes, and anyone can appreciate the extra hundred miles Harrison took in providing this information.

'A Maryland Bride in the Deep South' is intended for scholarly reading versus beach reading. If you are a casual reader and are interested in the role of women in the Civil War, you might want to instead get a copy of Mary Chestnut's Diary, or Kate Stone's. If you are a historian (or a Civil War fanatic), this book then proves to be essential. Priscilla Bond's voice and, sometimes, humor and wit are a great representation of women's role in that era.

A Maryland Bride in the Deep South by Kimberly Harrison is a historic account of a young woman's diary during Civil War America. While true in its accuracy and well-researched the book was exceedingly dull and long-winded. The day-to-day entries of the diary's author, Pricilla Bond, consist of nothing more than weather reports and a monotonous list of "who visited whom". After meeting Ms. Harrison I learned that she had not intended the book for the general public but wrote it for a smaller, more scholarly group. Nevertheless, A diary should be a glance into one's soul, an opening into one's deepest thoughts and beliefs; yet Mrs. Bond's writings made her seem the most mundane creature to every put ink to paper. There are faint glimmers of hope that she may be more than what her entries make her seem, a few secret meetings with her fiancé, a wrestle with faith and religion; but those were few and far between. It is true that Mrs. Bond was very ill and was therefore often unable to write but this only serves to add to my ponderings as to why she would then use what little strength she did posses to write about the rain or who attended church that day.

I accept the face that I am not a historian, I do not understand the life and customs of women in the 19Th century. However, if Mrs. Bond's life is a good representaion of most women in that time then I cannot thank God enough that I live in the era that I do. On that note, I am grateful to Pricilla for aiding me in putting my life in perspective. I have freedom and opportunity to marry whom I want, to go where I want, to not have to `dress for dinner', to receive medical care for the condition that so abruptly ended Mrs. Bonds life and her writings.
Overall, I would only recommend this book to those who are truly interested in that time and place, and are resilient enough to search through the sea of dull truth, to find a few pearls of wisdom from Pricilla Bond.

Elya Franciscus
#2248241
ENG 11 A.M.

A Maryland Bride

Priscilla Bond begins her diary in a light fashion, offering subtle, at times too ordinary details of her daily life inside her parent's Maiden Lane home outside of Baltimore where she often receives guests for tea. This is to be expected as Bond grew up in a very prominent family household with numerous friends and relatives and lived in the nineteenth century South where women's identities were defined by their families both immediate and extended. Nevertheless, these activities are far too mundane to be found enjoyable. Too frequently, bond mentions these houseguests who stop in for tea and are gone just as quickly. "Nothing has occurred worthy of note, no one was here but cousin Howard P--he took tea with us and then left for Mr. Dallam's in Bel Air..." (Harrison, 69) One wishes for such entries to be over quickly as they are a strain on both the reader's patience and bladder.
Furthermore, such entries are frustrating as women in Bond's time often used their diaries to find means of escape from their subservient societal roles. With such freedom at one's literal fingertips, one wonders just why someone would spend so many entries recounting the painstaking activities of daily life. Nevertheless, these entries do not begin until the temporary, but drawn-out departure of Bond's potential suitor, Howard and one soon realizes that Bond's entries are merely a way of coming to terms with her newfound life and establishing her identity in his absence.
Once Bond is able to put aside her sadness and bask in her freedom, her entries become more involved and thought-provoking, allowing her wit, endearing personality, and charming prose to shine through. One of her more light-hearted entries finds her gazing up at the clouds, imagining them taking on the likeness of fairies. "...methinks I can see little fairies as they were skipping and chasing each other in frolicksome glee till they are lost in the distance..." (Harrison, 69) Her observations take a more elaborate turn after she notices the change in the clouds after a rainstorm. "They first looked like an army arrayed for battle. Some were on horseback, some walking and the flags flying as if it were flying in the breeze." (Harrison, 75)
Bond is at her literary best, however, when she is exploring more profound subject matter such as mortality which she does after the death of her aunt. "Oh! May we be prepared when ever the messenger comes, and have our lamps trimmed & brightly burning." (Harrison, 74) She boldly ponders the day when she too must meet death's door, doing so in a light-hearted, yet wistful fashion and then proceeds to discuss something as simple as the weather. This, at first, seems like an odd turn, but it is Bond's intention to state that death, like the weather is commonplace and not to be fretted over. One simply disregards it and moves on with the day.
It is this approach to life along with Bond's faith that carry her through the diary's duration. After her marriage to Howard, a man whom she cares for deeply, but is never quite sure if she truly loves, her health begins to deteriorate. This only makes the feats that follow all the more admirable, however, as her husband joins the Civil War effort and she finds herself alone and ailing.
It is a pleasure to witness Bond's growing strength which not only masks her illness but establishes her as a force to be reckoned with. This is no longer the woman who wrote of tea time and fairy-like clouds. When soldiers invade her Abbeville home, looking for enemies who may be hidden within, she boldly ushers them around, insisting that they look wherever they wish. Once more, she finally stands up to her unpleasant mother-in-law with whom she has long been in rival. Howard's long awaited return is greeted with joy, but the event is bittersweet as one knows that she will not be around to enjoy it much longer. Although Bond may have not been able to find love, she was, in fact, able to find herself.

As expected this book was not intended for the general public, therefore it does not arouse any significant interest in the average reader. Even though I did not find the book particularly interesting, I cannot deny or ignore the meticulous analysis, and research done by Harrison. The introduction not only demonstrates extensive research, but also provides enough background information to fill in the gaps in Priscilla's diary so that it presents a coherent narrative of her life during the war. The introduction also incorporates certain aspects and themes of society and culture in the mid 19th century, making it easier for the reader to understand Priscilla's personality and behavior as a product of her environment. By providing an overview of principal friends and family as well as frequently mentioned places, Harrison allows for a quick point of reference to the many characters mentioned. Overall the book is an extraordinary piece of research and undoubtedly an invaluable tool for historians as it gives direct insight into the mind of a civilian woman during the civil war. I think Harrison does a marvelous job incorporating the diary in its entirety for it reflects the changes in Priscilla's mood and personality before, during, and after the war. The diary provided a source of comfort to Priscilla and played a role in the formation of her identity. Priscilla struggled as she attempted to conform to what she believed was her duty as a wife in the turmoil of war, but also as she faced the differences in culture as she moved from her home in Maryland to that of her husband's family in Louisiana. The diary, and Harrison's further analysis explain how Priscilla uses her diary not only as her confidant but also as a means of easing or suppressing the cultural shock she experiences when she moves to Louisiana, and the sense of loneliness and isolation generated by the absence of her husband.
As I previously mentioned, the book is an extraordinary piece of research and will undoubtedly serve as a valuable scholarly tool, as well as an important source of historical reference. Unfortunately I am not a historian, nor am I overly interested in the monotonous life of a bourgeois 19th century girl. Although Harrison attempts to make the book as accessible as possible while maintaining its caliber as a scholarly tool, it is not quite enough to incite enough interest in the average reader.

It is a great 60's book as the name implies. Typical run of the mill story of young men and women coming of age during the Vietnam debacle, caught up in their own life's whirl-wind. It is a story of friendship, innocence lost, romance, ambition and lack of it. The most intriguing character, Neil, an iconoclast, goes his own way by enlisting in the army whereas his friends get out of it by producing doctor's letter. But soon he returns to his town wearing a soldier's uniform, AWOL. He never acknowledges why he wanted to enlist or why he came back, a deserter. He is an enigma, an aloof character, a thorn in his friend's side, a train wreck bound to happen.

There is an eerie parallel to the current Iraq war and the one which blazed for a decade in South East Asia almost 40 years ago. Politicians start wars on vague notions, send young men/women to fight and then sit back and rationalize. Ben, who is always popping pills, wonders out loud "Why are we concerned about Communism spreading in South East Asia now when we didn't do anything to prevent Eastern Europe fall in Communist hands after WWII." Ben's comment can easily apply to any decade; just replace the word communism with dictatorship.

More than anything it is a book of friendship, camaraderie among men, the kinship which is hard to describe.

It must be an autobiography.

When he talked a bout the PaperMate grey and pick retractable pen, he got me! So much is familiar. Born and bred in NYC, all of this is migratable. I sat by the pool and had it read to me and well, I just laughed and giggled. With the world in its way, the Republican convention underway ... terror threats on NYC bridges and public transportation ... it's remarkable to say this novel was "fantasy". But, there you have it in today's world. When my teenaged son gets his head out of online poker and IMing, I will encourage him to read through this coming of age story ... it is so wonderfully innocent!

Maybe it's the Baltimore nostalgia, or maybe it's the message that there's something awaiting everyone beyond what we see when we're young, but I really got into this story. Bobby Shine and his male "diner" buddies bring back the ambivilance we felt between our friends the soldiers and our friends the hippies during the Vietnam War years. The novel awakens long lost memories of such things as coddies, peppermint sticks in lemons, the Flower Mart, Read's drug stores, dates at Mandel's, hanging out in a diner. Having close buddies and a welcoming place such as the diner to discuss personal problems and accomplishments is basic to this story. Friendship reigns supreme. Nothing quite matches the freedom and exhuberance of being young. Even with its painful times. This story captures it all. Read it.

This is a novel about a group of young men during events that happened to them around 1966. It is told through the eyes of Bobby Shine, and we hear other tidbits from his life as well, but they all have a tie in to events that occur during the timeframe of the book. We assume the author is looking back at his life from a distance of about 40 years, because he has the gaps of memory, of which incidents are important, etc. We see how the sexual revolution, drugs, and the war all affect the men, and women that we meet.

I love the work of Barry Levinson on screen. On paper though is another story. THe characters in this book are one dimensional. They have no soul. And I never got their voice. THough what each character does is unique, they all sound like the same person. I never got to know anyone. Their is simply not enough dialogue in this book-we are told but never shown anything. I wanted to hear each character speak more, not the second hand version that is presented. I know Mr. Levinson can do dialogue- it is the most brilliant thing about his movies. I can't imagine why he didn't incorporate it here.

When I discovered this book in the library I was very excited. After all, I love Levinson movies, and Baltimore was my second home. I visited my father in Baltimore from my mother's home in NYC once a month for about 18 years. Of course, I came of age about half-a-generation after these characters.

Unfortunately, the book reads not like a novel, but like a memoir. As Neil quotes Twain in the book (and I paraphrase) "the difference between truth and fiction is that fiction has to be logical". Well this fiction is too logical, too crafted, too contrived. I guess I don't believe that, in a true novel, these characters would have all these unspectacular and predictable misadventures.

Some of this reaction stems, I'm sure from knowing Levinson's background and having seen his movies.

I look for spontanaiety in a book. This book has no surprises.

I give it 2 stars for the Baltimore nostalgia, but overall it is a disappointing read.

I recently moved to the Washington DC area so wanted to have a little bit of knowledge before diving right in. This book provides some great basic information about sights, sounds, and things to do. It won't bore you with a lot of details.

I recommend this book if you're wanting to breeze over some info and hit the ground running.

For all you hear about the benefit of living near a metro, I expected the metro locations to be shown on street maps. They weren't, and the other maps were of little use as well. For guidance on finding a safe area, they suggest asking local police.

If you don't care about either of those, most of the other info was okay.

This book is devoid of any of the information I really needed, like where to get my car inspetected (and the whole process of getting a DC driver license) or even where the good playgrounds are.

I moved to the DC area two years ago and found this book immensely helpful. It not only had information about fun things to do in the area but it also had answers to the most practical situations. I read one of the other reviews that said that it didn't tell him where to have his car inspected. It doesn't go into the minute detail but it will tell you what the requirements are and how to find out where you need to go. I now work in an HR office and we are giving this to new hires that we relocate to this area. All of them have really appreciated it and remarked on how helpful it has been. I would definitely recommend this book for anyone relocating here.

THE NEWCOMER'S HANDBOOK FOR MOVING TO AND LIVING IN WASHINGTON DC is a great book for people relocating to the area, but even people who are not moving there can enjoy it. It talks about where the best neighborhoods and schools are in the District itself, as well as in Maryland and Virginia, mentions where the shopping malls and other stores are, and it even goes into detail about the town of Columbia, Maryland, which other books about the Baltimore-Washington DC area fail to do. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is proud to say "I'm an American."

New to the Baltimore area....had been struggling to find good day hikes...looked online, etc. -could find references to parks, etc. but couldn't find a good source to tell me which places had trails and if they had trails which ones were the good ones. This book clearly explains what is out there and gives clear descriptions & directions.

I think both reviews above are correct. The book has absolutely inspired me to explore my own region. It's really changed my outlook and my health. However, there are times when the author's instructions are hard to grasp (especially when they seem to conflict with trail maps and signs -- and I think the map for the hike I took yesterday was just plain wrong.) I have already recommended (or bought) this book for several friends and all have been excited to know about it.

While this book does outline quite a few hikes around and in Baltimore, it is hard to follow the author's instructions. Too much narrative mixed in with the directions and turns. Would be nice for an outline of turn by turn directions without all the descriptions and narratives. Not so user friendly when trying to find your way.

First, I love the book 60 Hikes within 60 Miles of Washington DC and would highly recommend it. Based on my experience with that book, written by a different author, I was looking forward to trying out the hikes in this one. After trying out a few of the hikes, I must say that I cannot be more disappointed. The writers instructions for the hikes left out many critical details. One of the hikes I picked at random, was #55 in Patapsco Valley State Park. This hike, like the others, left out critical details to complete the hike as described successfully. My friends and I ended up forging our own path because of the uselessness of what the author wrote. Furthermore, hike #55 has the hikers cross not just one, but two bridges which are unsafe for pedestrians to cross. The description of hike #55 even uses the, unfortunately, accurate phrase 'admittedly, it isn't very pleasant' to describe one part of the hike. It is my opinion that if one has to use a phrase like this, that one should rethink the hike entirely as hikes are supposed to be pleasant.

Please, save your money and avoid this book.

Whether you like to take scenic strolls with your toddler or hike with the true pioneer spirit of the rugged individualist, 60 Hikes within 60 Miles: Baltimore, by Evan Balkan, is your new must-have pocket guide. From his first-hand hiking experiences, Balkan's guide offers a comprehensive compilation of short essays that lead the hiker down paths of delightful discovery through the widly trampled trails and hidden treasures found in and adjacent to "Charm City."

i rated this four out of five becouse i
didn't fully grssed the intoto of your information
about the issue bein discussed there from ma point of view
as a reader.

Sweet Redemption is the well-told story of how a very good and very dedicated coach and some very good and very dedicated players -- whom most other schools overlooked -- finally brought the NCAA Division I men's basketball championship to the University of Maryland. Like the movie Hoosiers, it should be of interest to all basketball fans -- indeed all sports fans. But it will be a special treasure to supporters of Maryland basketball who for years watched their generally quite good teams suffer one frustration after another. Maryland's 2002 basketball championship was indeed sweet redemption which all true sports fans should be able to savor.

Anyone who loves the underdog has to love Gary Williams. He has bounced back time and again over the course of his career and faced tremendous odds. Winning the National Championship was truly Sweet Redemption for him.

However, this is quite possibly one of THE WORST BOOKS I HAVE EVER READ. As a voracious sports biography reader, this book falls short of the mark made by even the lesser sports books out there. Vise did a TERRIBLE job of accounting the situation. This book is DEVOID of any passion on his part. It reads as if a high school journalism student slapped it together using a simple writing formula : "Here is what happened", , "Review what I just told you again."

You could get the ENTIRE contents of this book by reading newspaper clippings from Gary's career. That's basically all this book is, one big newspaper clipping.

Gary Williams deserves a much better book than this one.

This is the story behind the 2002 University of Maryland basketball championship season and also serves as mini-biographies of Gary Williams, Juan Dixon, and the University of Maryland basketball program. Very well written and organized, it will be interesting for sports fans, even those not U. of Maryland fans. The many tragedies suffered by the institution and individuals associated with the program are heart rending and compelling.

The Maryland championship season is a real life triumph over tragedy story. Regardless of where one's rooting interests lie, I dare say nobody can read Juan Dixon's story and not marvel at his perseverance and leadership. A true, shining example of heart and courage.

For all Maryland Terps, past and present, the 2001-2002 basketball season was a magical one to follow. It marked the culmination of years of hard work and overcoming almost insurmountable odds by both coach Gary Williams and star guard Juan Dixon. "Sweet Redemption" tells the tale of the separate, yet similar, journeys these two men took, along with the Maryland basketball program, to overcome tremendous hardships and reach the summit of excellence with the 2002 NCAA National Title. Gary Williams came from a broken home to become hard driven coach and successful coach at the expense of his own marriage and estrangement from his daughter. Williams returned to his alma mater, University of Maryland, to coach the men's basketball team in 1989, just in time for all the bad blood of Len Bias' death from cocaine and subsequent recruiting violations to cripple the Terrapin program in a way that made it impossible to win (or even get fan and university support) in those first few years. Juan Dixon came from a harsher background. His parents, while bright and intelligent people, were caught in the vice grip of heroin addiction. They were in and out of prison through most of Juan's young life and he was shuttled from family member to family member to be cared for (a role that mostly fell to his older brother Phil). Though his parents finally cleaned up, the damage was done and they died from HIV-related complications brought about by using dirty heroin needles. Prior to his death, Juan's father made saw to his that his brother looked after Juan and made sure he got his education. Basketball was an escape for both Juan Dixon and Gary Williams. So, it would make sense that the two would come together and help each other achieve the highest level of success possible.

"Sweet Redemption" does give some details into backgrounds of Williams and Dixon, but, at 252 pages, it is understandably superficial in its overall treatment of the subject. Additionally, the progress of the Maryland basketball program from a being nearly dismantled to winning the National Title over 13 seasons is given a perfunctory treatment. All things considered, though, this deficiency does not detract from the overall impact of the book. There is a list of sources in the back of the book that give reference to more in-depth material on which this book is based. "Sweet Redemption" is designed to be a quick study and companion piece of the championship season for fans to ready and enjoy while they get re-energized for the upcoming season.

this book was very interesting in that one could explore the eIvertyday goings on of a time that we're so far removed from.I would like to have seen many more photos. You can identify much more with the characters in this way. from a historical point of view it was quite enlightening to see how black americans took a hand in their own destiny what with all the odds staked against them. we can see the format that is used even to this day. another interesting point is that there is noting new under the sun. It seems some of the everyday occurencess still prevail today under different circumstances. Though at times the letters were a little boring and written without prpoer punctuation, it helped to bring out the true personality of the writer. All in all for me it was a trip back into time.

Farah Griffin, editor of last year's "A Stranger in the Village: Two Centuries of African-American Travel Writing" has done it again with "Beloved Sisters and Loving Friends." This wonderful collection of letters between Rebecca Primus and Addie Brown allows readers to enter the world of nineteenth-century black American life. Through the correspondence of these "ordinary" women, the reader gains invaluable perspective on the social, political,economic and religious concerns of blacks around the time of the Civil War. In addition, the correspondence between these two loving friends is a welcome addition to all the historical collections of letters, diaries, etc. that document so well the white American experience while neglecting the experiences of black Americans and others. This collection is important and timely and I applaud Professor Griffin's achievement of giving voice to these two women and the world in which they lived.

Very disappointing book. This is not "co"-respondence--it's two separate sets of letters that don't speak to each other; thus there's no dialogue. Further, the editor did not do her job of cleaning out the underbrush, so the letters are unflaggingly boring in their ungrammatical microdomesticity. Only now and then is there a flash of insight into the broader historical/sociological picture. This book is merely an assemblage of transcriptions interspersed with short bursts of mostly redundant editorial comment. With maps, historical timelines, sidebars, and incisive editing, this book could have been much more. As it is, it reads and feels like no more than a senior high school term paper. Shame on all concerned.

Baltimore is a hard city to get your hands around. It's the quintessential image of urban decay; poor, crime-ridden, but also surprisingly hospitable and absolutely crammed with exceptional historical architecture. Poverty, in this case, has proved to be the best preserver, and most of Baltimore's lovely old churches and public buildings are still with us in their somewhat decrepit state. Despite the public image, any enthusiast of American architectural history has to love Baltimore.

This book summarizes the history and significance of these sites. It largely ingores Baltimore's modern structures (Myerhoff, Harborplace, Eisenhower Library, etc...), and there are even some conspicuous gaps in the presentation of the historic ensemble. The Lyric Opera House, for example, is completely absent. Pimlico, ditto. Memorial Stadium? Also, this book was published in 1997, which makes it rather dated and downright ancient in the world of architectural surveys. Time for a new edition. And fill in those holes!

Those issues aside, this book is better than the vast majority of the urban architectural surveys out there. It includes a photograph of every structure, along with a concise essay describing its history and distinguishing features. It includes biographies of important Baltimore architects and and nice introductory chapter to set the historical context. It's well done.

Excellent, accessible book filled with quality information

This book has some significant gaps in its coverage of modern buildings in Baltimore. A partner in our firm (an FAIA) was going to visit the city, and had me call up the local AIA for some recommendations, particularly good recent projects and arts-related buildings. It didn't seem like that much had been going on recently in Baltimore, so they suggested I get this book. Imagine my surprise when I couldn't find any mention of the Lyric Theater or the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall anywhere! From what the AIA and some research on the web told me, these are major public buildings, worth seeing based on their architectural merit. One is older with some new work, the other 20 years old, so it's not as though they're too new to be included. Is it simply that the various authors of this book didn't like those buildings? If so, why couldn't they have included them, but with a critique so that others could make up their own minds? What other notable buildings were left out? The truly flabbergasting part was locating, on the maps provided, where the Lyric and Meyerhoff are, in blank areas among all kinds of churches and old houses. History is great, but it keeps going.

Aside from that, the information for those buildings included in this guide seemed thorough, and the designer bios at the back were a nice touch.

how can anyone say this was a great read? You all know the storyline so won't go into that again but with the exception of
the sex I found this book geared toward an adolescent. In the
book it states it's Dec 24th 7pm - almost two weeks of story and 50 pages go by then the next day it's Christmas morning. This happened several times and I could get past that - but the characters were just too unbelievable and naive. This could have been a good story but too many things just didn't add up.

Author Kirstin Hill gives a fast and funny read in Hot Under The Collar. Cassie, the leading lady, reminded me of a friend, and I can't wait for her to read this book. The style is easy to read and the story kept me guessing until the end. This hero and heroine were made for each other, but the heroine couldn't see it and didn't appreciate the hero for the great guy he was. I'd love to see this made into a movie. It's one I'll want to read again.

Cassandra "Cassie" Knight had always wanted to be a DJ. Her dream came true at WKDY in Baltimore, Maryland. Cassie led a double life. During the day Cassie was a brunette holding a part time job at a fitness club. From midnight until 4 a.m. she was blonde Sondra Lane, The Voice in the Night, with the sexy voice that enticed her audience. Sondra had a way that enthralled everyone who listened to her show, be they male OR female. As Sondra, Cassie was able to keep her private life just that - private.

Nathan "Nate" Taylor wrote an advice column for Baltimore Today. After hearing Sondra's show, he wrote an article about her that hit the front page. His editor told Nate that if he could get an interview with Sondra before any other reporter, he would get a promotion. But Sondra was elusive and would not grant interviews to anyone. To get close, Nate wore a disguise, acquired a phoney French accent, and moonlighted as a cab driver. Sondra remained elusive; however, he became close with another client, Cassie.

**** These two main characters played a fascinating game of Cat & Mouse with each other and did not even know it. It made for some spicy reading, believe me! Wonderful book for late night readings. ****

This is way more interesting than most history books. It's great for research or just a good read. Highly recommended.

Almost 60 years old when the Civil War began, Isaac Trimble was still a major force as a Confederate commander, participating in a number of campaigns in the eastern theatre, being severely wounded twice, and becoming a favorite of Stonewall Jackson's. Tucker's biography is scholarly and academic, which might discourage some readers; but I didn't find it numbingly so.

Trimble was born in 1802 in Pennsylvania. A West Point graduate, he served in the army until 1832, when he resigned to become superintendent of a number of East Coast railroads. Siding with the South at the outbreak of the war, he destroyed railroad bridges around Baltimore. He saw action at Winchester and Cross Keys during Jackson's Valley campaign, and was wounded severely at Second Bull Run. He recuperated in time to participate in the Gettysburg campaign, leading forces up the Cumberland Valley (this account by Tucker interested me the most). He lost a leg at Gettysburg and was captured; he remained a prisoner of war until 1865. After the war he was an engineer in Baltimore and died in 1888.

Tucker's biography is not written for a general audience; the book's very few illustrations might be the biggest clue to this fact. Tucker's style is also rudimentary. His annotations are excellent, however, and as I said earlier I didn't find his scholarly approach to be overwhelming. The biography is informative and straightforward, and not particularly stylistic. Civil War buffs will find much to appreciate here.

General Trimble merits a biography. He's a fascinating man. The author's efforts though reads more like a thesis written to submit both to the history and psychology departments rather than a biography meant for the reading public. I would've enjoyed more personal anecdotes relating to the General and would've liked to have see the constant references to Maslow's hierarchy of needs jettisoned completely. It seemed like an artificial appendage added to the book, and its insertion ranged from distracting to downright annoying. It made for a dull, pedantic read.

We recently bought our first free standing home on 1/4 acre in the Maryland suburbs of Washington. My original plan was to 'garden every inch', but I soon realized that was not a 'plan'. After going through several volumes and magazines in the library, I came across this book.

Its beauty lies in the fact that it helps the begginer to PLAN. The gorgeous pictures helped me decide which plants I like visually; the icons let me know immediately which plants do well in shade, sun or both; which are drought tolerant, which attract bees, which are scented, which are native; the list seemed endless. I also like the fact that the book includes water plants, trees, grasses and shrubs with the usual fare because we are fortunate enough to have dogwoods in our yards and now I know how to take care of them.

The reference guide includes contact information for area garden centers, including one about 15 minutes from where we live.

I hope readers can find a guide like this specific to the areas in which they live.

The best recommendation of all: after 3 renewals from the library, I finally decided to BUY the book - I'm definitely going to use it this spring and always.

Aside from providing a list and pictures of popular local plants, this book provides little useful information about individual species and their cultivation. Much of each one-page species description is pure boilerplate providing generic information on planting that is repeated over and over again throughout the book, rather than being stated once in a section on cultivation. Truly disappointing.

I like that this book is specifically about the area in which I live. There's lots of good info here. I wish there had been more flowers listed, though. I wanted to find a smorgasbord of pretty, interesting and different flowers from which to choose. (I'm not looking to plant trees, so I just skipped over that section.) I think this book is a pretty good resource for neophyte or relatively new gardeners in the Mid-Atlantic.