Atlantic Monthly Books

I began reading this to my daughter when she was just a few months old, and I have never tired of it. Now, my daughter is nearly 2-1/2 and she still loves hearing the tale over and over. The illustrations are clear and colorful, and it's fun to look for the egg in each one. The text (a la House that Jack Built) does a nice job in showing the progression of relationships: "This is the corn, that fed the hen, that laid the egg, that went into the cake that Mack ate. etc."

Here is the (well-earned!) praise from the back of the book:

Booklist said, "A rollicking cumulative tale...a perfect preschool read-aloud."

School Library Journal said, "Will delight audiences."

Los Angeles Times said, "If you want to share a hearty laugh with your preschooler, get your lap ready. [This is ] one of those rare picture books an adult won't mind reading thirty-seven times in one week."

This book is not only written well but gives great stories of true heroes we have unfortunately forgotten about. This is a must read for adults and teenagers. Get a true vision of real Heroes again.

This book relates the memoirs of an American woman who moved to a remote island in Fiji and married into a local family. Varawa, a nature author, decided that the area in which she lived in Hawaii was becoming too busy. Looking for a place where life moved at a saner pace, she set off for a vacation in Fiji. Shortly after Varawa landed in Fiji, a young woman asked her where her husband was. When Varawa replied that she was single, the woman concluded that she was in Fiji to find a husband. Varawa reflected that she was indeed tired of being alone, so she played along with her new acquaintance's efforts to find a husband for her. Before she knew it, she was staying with a family in a village on small island of Galoa, off of Vanua Levu. And shortly after her arrival there, a young man was brought before her whom she was told was determined to marry her. In this book, Varawa tells how she eventually came to marry this man and build a life with him and his family on Galoa.

In reading stories of cultures with arranged marriages, one often hears of young women being married off against their will to much older men for the financial well-being of the family. Occasionally, such stories are accompanied by tales of what happened to the young women. This is the first time I have ever heard of the tale being turned on its head-where the older spouse with the financial resources is a woman, and where the younger spouse being urged on by the family is a man. And to add to the novelty, the older spouse in this case happens to be a skilled observer and writer, capable of explaining some of the complex emotional turmoil that results. Here we read how Joana and Male, who start out with practically nothing in common, slowly learn to accommodate each other's needs, wishes, and cultures and gradually build the bonds of marriage.

Another unique aspect of this book is that as a college student, Varawa studied anthropology, so she is attuned to the kinds of observations that anthropologists consider vital for understanding an alien culture. In this book, Varawa describes many aspects of Fijian village life, from economics and division of labor, to house building, child-raising, marriages and funerals. The difference is, instead of being an "impartial" observer, Varawa is an active participant, struggling to pull her own weight as a family member. Although the information comes from an unexpected source, it provides a revealing glimpse into Fijian culture.

I loved this book because it was sooo interesting. it's about this girl named Aeriel. Aeriel is a servant to Eoduin. When Eoduin gets captured by the Dark Angel to become his eleventh wife, Aeriel trys to kill him but instead gets captured only to become the servant to all 11 of his souless wives. She is to weave clothing for them that is lighter than silk, with a golden needle. Without any thread, she uses her inner most feelings in some sort of magical way to make cloth. Then, she wishes to free the dark angels wives, free herself, and not kill the dark angel, to do it all. But to do so, she has to escape the castle without being killed. Will she make it, and be able to save everyone? Read The Dark-Angel and find out!

Jackson is a real find, and this is where to start. These novels, mostly police procedurals, are concisely and wittily written, and as the books continue, we really get to know Fang Mulheisen and his city, Detroit. Later, in books like "Hit on the House" and "Deadman," we meet recurring characters such as likeable assassin Joe Service and his on-again off-again love interest (and Mafia princess) Helen Sedlacek. These are "real" people with foibles and weaknesses-- some are unapologetic killers, but we get to know them and, yes, like them. Fang tracks them down, and sometimes even catches them. If you like Elmore Leonard, if you like Carl Hiaasen, if you like Thomas Perry-- read these too. You'll become a fan, I guarantee it.

I sat down at 8:00 last evening and finished this book in 2 1/2 hours, it was so fascinating and exciting! Mo Anthoine is a wonderful man who cares more about friendship and fellowship on a climb than he does about conquering the mountain. This ethos makes him most admirable. But, Mo Anthoine is more than admirable. His climbing exploits are riveting. Moreover, as a movie climbing double, camera man, and stunt man for movies like *The Mission*, and as the inventor and producer of much climbing equipment, we see Anthoine as a kind of mountaineering Michaelangelo, a true Renaissance man. The book's title, *Feeding the Rat*, refers to a phrase Anthoine uses to describe the mixture of pleasure and fear and pain that is fed in the climber, a feeding he can't get enough of.

The book's author, A. Alvarez, writes beautifully, giving his readers a loving portrait of Mo Anthoine, a visceral sense of being on a variety of climbs, and much sound and accesible philosophical material to think about.

Allen Lacy says the "gardener's eye" is comparable to a "gift of what Christians call grace--a gift that comes from outside, that is apart from one's own intentions." The gardener's eye is an artistic vision, an aesthetic experience, a recognition of beauty.

Sometimes art is created by humans, mostly it comes from nature. He begins his book in winter, writing at the desk in his study. Looking out the window he notes "even in winter there is always something to see." Birds are about and the paulawnia bark is grey and stained green from the algae growing on the trunk. He can see the color and texture of the blackish bark on the White pine.

In the next chapter, he remarks on the beauty of thistles, the bane of farmers and the emblem of Scotland. He says the Scottish thistle is impossible to ignore with it's outsized stem and leaves and it's ability to inflict pain. "My love affair with thistles has been going on for years. So have the visits from stangers who stop in the driveway and ask fo a closer look at these giants of the summer garden."

A few miles away from Lacy's home is a garden filled with tall bearded Irises (German Irises). Named for the Greek Goddess of the rainbow, the irises are many hued. The hybridzers have done their job and created a palette of every color. At the appropriate moment every year he drives to the neighbor's garden to see the Irises in bloom.

Page after page Lacy moves futher afield, past a cotton patch near Durham NC, to Middleton Place in South Carolina where the garden established in 1741 has become a point of horticultural pilgrimage for Americans and visitors overseas alike. Vita Sackville-West, she who built Sissinghurst, once traveled to this spot. "Stand I indeed in England? Do I dream?" she is reputed to have said.

Lacy notes the Arends nursery in Germany, now run by his granddaughter Ursula Maubach is the source of the wonderful Astilbes found in many American gardens. There's A. taquettii 'Superba' with it's "tight, dense spikes" as well as pink 'Cattleya' and plumey 'Ostrich Feather.' Some of the Astilbes are fragrant, smelling like Jasmine.

Lacy notes that every wise gardner should attend to Ms. Elizabeth Lawrence's works. Ms Lawrence gardened in Charlotte and Raleigh North Carolina, and was a trained horticulturist. Lacy himself has edited some of her material. He likens her writing to Henry David Toreau, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Lafcadio Hearn, Sarah Orne Jewett and Eudora Welty--another southerner and a friend.

Lacy visits many places and at the end of his book returns to his study, where the autumn leaves are falling, the new school semester is beginning (he taught philosophy at Richard Stockton College for years), and his travels are over for the summer.

This book is the best of its kind -- sharply adept in finding some of the funniest quotes by Ronald Reagan. Reagan's quick wit and gentle charm are brought before the reader's eyes in a way which reminds us of his inspiring leadership qualities as America's 40th President. Humorist, P.J. O'Rourke, writes a solid introduction which explains America's facination with Reagan as a leader, and Reagan's personality. If you're looking for a laugh, this book delivers

"Treasure depends." This lapidary phrase (a treasure in itself) comes from one of the short stories in I and Claudie written by the unknown (to me) Dillon Anderson, who ought to become instantly famous for this little jewel alone.

The small joys of a 1940's short story collection are a tough sale, but this one is worth the bandwidth. See, there's these two guys, Clint Hightower and Claudie Hughes (the titular I and Claudie) who flee legal entanglements in late 1940's New Orleans and go to Texas, where they get into the mildest, sweetest, tenderest scrapes ever, all narrated with crooked innocence by Clint himself.

My favorite two stories are "The Auction" and "Fixing Windmills" (these titles hint at the gentleness of their adventures). In the first one, Clint utterly fails to be an auctioneer, and in the second one, no windmills are fixed at all. The introduction to the 1999 edition points out that the key to writing about rascals is to have them never win, which is true of Clint and Claudie. However, in this book, the right side still always wins, and, now, in the year of Oh!Lord! 2006 there's something charmingly prelapsarian about having the good guys triumph.

I convey my highest recommendations.

I am an avid reader and have read thousands of books in the past 60 years. I would rate this book as one of the ten best books I have ever read, including War and Peace and Quiet Flows the Don.
In chapter two the first layer of the onion is revealed when a civil war soldier returns to New England with a brown wife from the south. The impact on his family and community is chronicled. Children are born. The second layer is revealed with a crushing impact on one's emotions.

The next generation follows. It is as if it is a different book with a different locale and tales of prohibition. . Near the end, when the third generation returns to the farm, more truths are revealed.
And finally, the third generation travels south to learn the truth about the former-slave, wife brought home by the soldier.

Very well written book by a first-time author. I shall hold my breath waiting for the next work.