Virginia Books

Blind Singer Joe's Blues is a novel set in the birthplace and time of modern American music. The complex and all-too human characters whose live play out against this backdrop are the musicians who create what we now call blues, rag-time and country music.

The author's deep knowledge of the music of that era is obvious throughout. It complements his ability to draw strong portraits of the characters and an engrossing story line.

I enjoyed this book immensely. Highly recommended.

I couldn't put this beautifully-crafted book down once I started it. Robert Love Taylor's masterful handling of perspective and dialogue, his insightful and sympathetic development of characters, and the precise perfection of the language throughout make this a rare gem. You won't find its match in evoking the feel of music. I loved it.

More truth in reviewing: I know the author too, and I knew he could make a fiddle sing like God's choir of spring-morning birds -- but I had no idea he could do the same thing with mere words of clay. Blind Singer Joe's Blues sings through hard-bitten characters and hard times; through soul-searching, generosity, orneriness and forgiveness; and through the greenbrier thicket of family ties.

Taylor eases the reader through viewpoint, time and place, just as a tune effortlessly weaves from chorus to verse and back again. The plot unfolds so sparely that you wonder at how he creates such a complex tapestry in such a small space.

His characters -- Hannah Ruth, Pink Miracle, Dudley Crider and his mama Pearlie, Mama Bayless, Emmett and Amelia Holt -- reveal themselves, their stations, their hopes and beliefs through their language, all of it sounding as true as a tuning fork, as when Dudley gives a piece of his mind to the toddler, Singer Joe: "We are Criders and don't have no fear, he told the boy, and he imagined some of O.T., some of Uncle Crockett and Uncle U.S., some of Daddy, some of himself, yes, and then all the Criders before them, grandaddies and grandmamas by the score, crowded up in Singer Joe's veins."

Religious passion and personal passion meet sorrow and self-denial and all of it makes up the blues that are the fabric of Singer Joe's life.

Start this book on Friday night; you'll want the weekend to finish it.

Truth in reviewing: I am acquainted with the author, but haven't seen him in ages. Years ago he promised another novel with the old-time fiddler character Pink Miracle from his earlier book, THE LOST SISTER, and he has finally delivered. It is well worth the wait: it is highly readable and atmospheric, filled with memorable people. It's about souls who may seem kind of marginal in global and universal schemes but who find a way to be heard, to matter in the middle of it all.

Taylor has drawn on family history and legend out of his ancestral territory of Oklahoma and the mountains of eastern Tennessee for his past books. In this new work, in which he is at the top of his powers as a storyteller and fiction stylist, he looks at the early 20th century country folks who poured their lives into the songs that became the modern bluegrass, jazz and folk traditions. The jazz musician of the title and his blues are the legacy of the stories that flow together in this narrative, swirling around a restless songbird teenage mother who deserts him as well as everyone else in her life.

I confess to having been haphazardly acquainted with bluegrass music through occasional street festivals and local arts events. Coincidentally, as I was reading BLIND SINGER JOE'S BLUES, an Alison Krauss concert video was brought into the house. Listening and reading at the same time, I realized just how much Taylor's novel is alive with the music and explains how it got that way; and Krauss, well, she and bluegrass have a new fan.

There are very few books on the market about this subject. Luckily, this one is excellent. The author covers all topics very extensively-- supplies, techniques, color theory. The variety of flowers is phenomenal, and the directions are easy to follow. Many of the illustrations are in black and white, but the color plates (there are 21 of them) are beautiful. If you are at all interested in creating lovely flowers from beads, you need this book.

This is a phenomenal book for the beginner or intermediate flower beader! I tried other "newer" booklets when I first started beading and was so confused. This book is very easy to understand with concise illustrations and instructions. This is a must have if you want to learn the beautiful Victorian craft of beaded flowers! Happy beading!

This book is a huge help with color, design and balance. Thanks.

Although it is dated from the 1960's nothing about this forgotten craft has changed. The instructions are clear and easy to follow. The pictures, although mostly in black and white, are large, and show what the flower is supposed to look like when you are done. Each and every phase of the process of making French Beaded Flowers is discussed in detail. There is a section on arrangement and the kinds of containers you can use. I bought this book to add to my collection of books on this subject and was pleasantly suprised by how good it was.

this good is so good. it's about a 16 year old girl name Kitty- Lee Carter who needs money, so she gets a summer job at DQ. Kitty Lee lives in a small not wealthy town and when a man w/ a nice car pulls up and askes for her to baby sit his 3 kids b/c the mother is ill. Kitty- Lee doesn't want to leave her friend but when he offers her dubble what she gets @ DQ she takes it. Then she finds out he likes her!! well u gotta read the book for the rest but it's so good!

This was the cutest book I have ever read! The author did a marvelous job at writing the story! It made me wanna keep on reading and readin! I thought this was a great book!!!!!!! The ending was really nice and I like the way the book was foreshadowing! I thought the cutest part was the love part at the end!

The novel The Brightest Light was a heartwarming book. It had its sad times like when Kitty's (main character) grandma was talking to her about how her mother died in a car accident.I love how the author kept me hanging at the end of each chapter. It made me want to read the book all at once. The author did an excellent job in describing the characters' feelings. This is a great love story. I recomend this book big time.

Have you ever faced confusion, disapointment, and excitment at the same time? In The Brightest Light by Colleen McKenna, a 16-year old tells her story of a time that her childhood friend is abandoning her, her "cousin" seems to hate her, and a very handsome, older man doesn't discourage her liking him (not to mention he has a wife and three small children). My discription may not impress you, but the book is just indescribable. I hope that you will purchace this wonderful and unexpensive book that you will enjoy over and over again.

A compelling and very well-written account of Jim Crow and minor league baseball in the American South. The book is a fascinating cultural and historical study. The author clearly devoted a great deal of time in researching this book. His presentation of the oral histories is fantastic.

This is a wonderful book, recounting a largely unknown story of American and baseball history - how the southern minors' integration was part of the larger civil rights movement. 20th century baseball integration began but did not end with Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby. Unitl now, no one had taken their legacy to the next step. Bruce Adelson now has in a powerful account of what it was like being on the front lines of baseball and civil rights in the Dixie of the 1950s and early 1960s.

The author does a great job of capturing both sides of the integration battlefields (ballparks) of the South. He effectively uses narratives of former players, both the famous (Felipe Alou, Billy Williams, etc.)and the not so famous (Joe Durham, Percy Miller Jr., etc.) to detail exactly what those pioneers had to endure. Those narratives are interwoven with clippings from various newspapers of the day to tie the intergration of minor league baseball in the South with the overall racial climate of those cities. This book, I believe, would prove to be an interesting and informative read, even for those who are not baseball fans. Adelson obviously did a lot of research and successfully shows how baseball "broke down the walls" for total integration in the South. Spend the money and the time on this book - it's worth it!

The author has done an excellent job documenting the experiences of Hank Aaron, Billy Williams, Felipe Alou and others who broke minor league baseball color lines down south in the years after Jackie Robinson opened up the major leagues. His book includes poignant and compelling interviews with these and other ballplayers who relate their painful experiences of enduring Jim Crow racial restrictions while playing baseball. The author also places their achievements within the historical context of the times, the 1950s and 1960s. These players were truly civil rights pioneers, helping to integrate a closed society. This is a must read!

Helen Konz has done a magnificent job of researching material for her novel. She then tapped her imaginative mind and wove a story of tragedy and triumph from that historical cloth. As well as learning some history I did not know I thoroughly enjoyed her fictional characters and their development. This book, and the other two in this series, would be a wonderful addition to any school library. The history of our nation's founding, told in such an entertaining and interesting way, is a story many would enjoy.

Helen Konz has the gift of telling a story and making you feel like you're there. The characters are very believeable.

I had so much fun adding my imagination to historical events that I've written and self-published two sequels. Young adult and adult readers tell me that the books have rekindled their interest in our nations's history. That makes me feel that I've written something worthwhile.

The book was interesting, exciting, gripping and fun to read. I love the way things worked out. Helen Konz has a great way of telling stories.

This encyclopedia is a wonderful source for reference material and provides itself as a valuable study aid aswell. For Catholics and non-Catholics alike the contents of this encyclopedia help to solve many questions about the faith. Everything in this encyclopedia is relevant to the Catechism and the Holy Scriptures. With this book you will be asking less questions and finding many answers.

I work at a Catholic Church - and I am constantly referring to Robert and Virginia Broderick's book for answers to questions that often baffle me. Not once have I had to turn a visitor or caller away. This is one of the best Catholic encyclopiedias around - written with lay-people in mind. It is easy to understand, and, literally, warms the hearts of the readers. There are 150 pen-and-ink (liturgical) drawings by Virginia Broderick - one of the greatest Catholic artists alive today - illustrating many of the entries her late husband explains. The drawings alone are worth much more than you'll be paying for the encyclopedia. My suggestion is to buy more than one copy --- and pass the extra one around. It will surely edify and entertain anyone who loves the Catholic Church. Once I pick the book up,I find it VERY difficult to put it back down! I especially love studying Virginia's art. She's a contemporary genius! (Dan Paulos, artist)

This is the third most must-have book (Behind the Bible and the Catechism of the Catholic Church)for any Catholic or person curious about Catholicism in general. It has the Imprimatur and the Nihl Obstat, the official "go-ahead" of the Catholic Church for books; in other words, nothing in this book misrepresents any of the official teachings or goes against matters of faith and morals. This book is a wonderful resource of knowledge that augments the Catechism in a way that is easy to understand. The Catechism lays down the blueprint of what Catholics believe, this book helps flesh it out. It explains in more detail things put forth by the Catechism. I use it all the time in my research and it has proven to be invaluable.

I would recommend this book to anybody who desires a reference book covering Catholic subjects. It is a superb companion to the Catholic Study Bible and/or the Catholic Catechism. The book clearly and thoroughly defines pertinent terms and concepts.

I am amazed that there are only 3 reviews of this wonderful book. I LOVE this book. It affirmed many of my beliefs regarding the celebration of femininity. So many wonderful suggestions for connecting to our daughters from infancy through adolescence -- remembering and reviving the ways women have honored their daughters for centuries. The simple gesture of brushing your daughter's hair will take on new meaning. When my daughter was younger (she is currently 17!), this book was a wonderful guide. I gave this as a baby shower gift a few years ago and recently crossed paths with the mother. She expressed how grateful she was to have the book -- how she wished HER mother had had such a resource. By the way, if you are thinking about a gift for a mother of an adolescent girl, buy the author's other book: Embracing Persephone -- a must-read for a mother of a middle school or high school girl.

I came upon this book by accident. I was searching the library shelves for books on adolescents for a reasearch paper on troubled youth, and all of a sudden a little pink and purple colored book came falling off the shelf. It turned out to be one of those little moments where you could sense destiny happening before your eyes.
What started out as a research paper for school, turned into a major life changing moment. I can't help wishing that my mother could have read this book before I was born...how different my journey into adulthood would have been!!!
This is an inspiring book that can help parents raise their daughters with dignity, and a sense of self, in a world where Brittney Spears seems to be of high influence, kids complain because they have only ONE pair of [expensive] shoes, and expect not only a [expensive] Nintendo Play Station, but other holiday/birthday gifts as well (what ever happened to begging for the simple pony)?
In fact, I would not only recommend this for parents, but for anyone who is looking to make peace, and mend relationships with their own parents. It helped me to understand myself and my childhood a whole lot better. It's a wonderful, wonderful book. Every young girl should be under its influence.

This book really gave me some insight into raising my daughter. It explores the differences in the way girls and women are raised in other cultures as well as our own. It helped me to really look to my daughters spirit and nurture her at the heart of it. I gave it to a friend and now I'm purchasing another copy!

Reviving Ophelia, while necessary and in my opinion accurate, was pretty discouraging. It talked all about the problems of how girls' self-esteem plummets during puberty. And it compares girls to a tree in a hurricane who need the support of others to survive. But Reviving Ophelia doesn't give much advice as to what a parent can do.

I really liked this book because it gave a lot of concrete examples of how to make your daughter proud of being a woman. From doing the hair of a toddler to coming of age ceremonies, this book had a lot of good suggestions. I also liked that it had examples of how things are done in other cultures such as certain Native American or African groups of people.

I would greatly appriciate it if you would contact Ms. Aronson for me and pass along my email address. There is a lady in need of her help, her son has unexplained scars since he was 4 years old and fears "the big eyes" he is now 17 and suicidal. Please help us he is her only child... Thank you, Hilda S. Rubio

You have to have an open mind to read this book and know that is all based on true stories from very serious people. I happen to believe that "we are not alone" and it's wonderful to hear that the ET are here to help, inspire and heal. You won't be able to put this book down. Thank you, Virginia.

VIRGINA has given us a wonderful gift in writing this book so that those beings that need our help can come to us. THANK YOU Virgina we bless you always.

Virginia Aronson has a wonderful knack for keeping the reader on the edge of her seat. I truthfully could not put this down. She has done a great job of investigating and research which really makes this great reading -- knowing how much work went into this book. There is more to healing than we realize and I feel this book will help to open the frontier to more information regarding celestrial healings. Keep up the great work Virginia.

As far I can say, this is one of the most charming and beautiful houses in the world. Is not that this is house is grant, or magnificent; Charleston is so special, because it's got character and lots of personality. I love this book.

i stumbled across this book on a beautiful indian summer sunday afternoon....it is a treasure for those unable to physically saunter through the rooms and out to the walled garden that is charleston. all photos in colour, all rooms as they were when vanessa bell, duncan grant, family and friends lived and worked there. inspirational.

I agree with the previous reader, this is it ... the definitive book on Charleston Farmhouse. Although I think this book is more than a glimpse of the house and garden for those unable to visit, it is a surperb reference for those of us that have visited and wish to recall the house, etc. The photography is stunning, the text is informative. A worthwhile addition to any Bloomsbury book collection.

For this genre of books, 5 stars. A nice gift for a Bloomsbury fan, but it is only "nice-to-have," not required for one's library.

This book is well-written non-fiction.

Poag tells of a fifty-year geological research project on the East Coast of North America. He tells us how the findings of several natural sciences have combined to demonstrate, beyond reasonable doubt, that a large meteor impacted Earth at Chesapeake Bay, some 35 million years ago. In doing so, Poag teaches the reader about undersea sonic surveying, about core drilling to determine the structures surrounding impact craters of various types, about fossils found in seabed (and former seabed) rocks, and about how those fossils permit approximate dating of sedimentary deposits back to life's origin on earth, some 4 billion years ago.

We now know that large meteor impacts have played a major role in the Earth's evolution. Striking only 35 million years back, Poag's "Chesapeake Invader" was a relatively recent such event. In its closing chapter, his book addresses the present NASA search for the NEXT one.

The book presents an interesting first-person study of how the 53 mile-wide Chesapeake impact structure was identified. The 40-million year-old feature is not apparent from surface observation, and its unmasking forms this classic tale of scientific detective work at is finest. The author is not hesitant in issuing praise to those who knew some atypical feature was present, but who lacked the means or opportunity to categorically identify the structure for what it was. In this respect, the narrative is delightfully free of much of the acrimony that has marked so many of the works about the Chixulub dinosaur killer.

The book's text is highly readable and explains in an unpatronizing manner many of the tools and concepts used in solving this great scientific puzzle. Also, the book's author doesn't allow himself to be bogged down in minutiae, an all-to-easy peril in a work of this nature.

The book is recommended to any teen or adult with a limited background in science, and to any and all persons with an interest in earth science or the scientific method in action. I liked it very much. Enjoy.

Geology is a fun science and part of the fun is due to the historical nature of much of geology - geology is all about solving ancient mysteries. Chesapeake Invader by C. Wylie Poag excellenty describes the solving of one such geological mystery. Starting in the middle of the 20th-Century, geologists began to find unusual rock formations in coastal Virginia that didn't have a garden variety geologic explanation. The plate tectonics revolution, which provided so many solutions to so many geologic conundrums, didn't unravel these weird East Coast rocks. This mystery had to wait until humans wrapped their minds around one of the last great discoveries of geology, the realization that asteroid and comet impacts are an important force in our Solar System and that the Earth is not immune from the devastation of these impacts. Poag gives the reader a good glimpse of how geologists [and scientists in general] go about solving problems. Folks who enjoy learning about impacts, but are tired of reading about the end of Cretaceous impact, should enjoy Chesapeake Invader as a welcome change of pace. [If you haven't read enough about the end of Cretaceous impact, I would highly recommend The End Of The Dinosaurs by Charles Frankel and Night Comes To The Cretaceous by James Lawrence Powell.] I enjoyed going along for the ride while C. Wylie Poag solved this great geological mystery and I recommend that you also take this ride.

For those interested in the effects of giant meteorites on the earth, this book is worth reading. It is not a novel, more like a documentary, but facinating just the same. The author details his efforts to prove the existance of a giant meteor crater under Chesapeake Bay. Along the way, he details the effects of the strike on the flora and fauna of the time. This is a real-life example of the scientific method applied to geology and paleontology tempered with human nature and a little good luck thrown in.