Austin Books

A review from my teenage daughter:

"A Ring of Endless Light" is one of my favorite books!

I've read it five times since I first found it at the library last summer, and since then, I have also read "A Wrinkle in Time," "The Moon by Night,"and "An Acceptable Time".

What I really like about it is the characters. They are so interesting!

The movie, on the other hand, was nowhere near as good as the book. (Characters they left out: John, Leo, Grace, Binnie, Nancy Rodney, Jeb Nuttley, and probably somebody else, too...) And after I read the book, I was rather upset with the Disney Channel.

Although this is a wonderful novel, I would not recommend it to anyone under the age of thirteen because of some mature content.

Lastly, I want to include my frequent rant ( more of a whine, really) about that Zachary Gray person: I never understood why Ms. L'Engle kept putting him in her books. He never changes, and he's just as much of a jerk in "An Acceptable Time" as he was in this book. I don't know what Vicky sees in him. He kept saying that he "needed her" but she can't be his psychologist; Earth to Vicky, Earth to Vicky! Not a good reason to go out with him!

As always, Madeleine L'Engle delivers a stunning piece of fiction with `A Ring of Endless Light.' Although the main character, Vicky Austin, gives off a distinctive mary-sue air, the book (especially the guys!) are very enjoyable. Pieces of poetry found in this book are beautiful and elegant; they alone would be cause enough to read the book. `A Ring of Endless Light' also offers the reader an insight into the emotions and thoughts of a teenage girl in a fantastical setting. I would recommend this book for ages 13 and up. If you enjoyed this book, I would recommend Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume, Father Figure by Richard Peck and With You and Without You by Ann Martin as well as the rest of L'Engle's books.

Once again, Madeleine L'Engle has constructed a masterpiece. All her books are superb, but this one stands out to me as my absolute favorite. I understand its a Disney Channel movie now as well. I remember reading this book when I was about middle school aged and thoroughly enjoyed it. In fact, I took notes. There are several wonderful quotes that are worth remembering, and I think by the end I was left with some 10 pages of notes. I was a bit of a nerd as a kid, I guess. Still have all the papers filed away somewhere. Also memorized one of the poems to recite in my english class in about 7th grade. Fantastic book. I need to read it again.

In Madeline L'Enlgle's A Ring of Endless Light, 15-year old Vicky goes out to visit her sick grandfather to spend some time with him. During her stay, an old family friend, Commander Rodney, dies because he was trying to save another person from dying. On top of this, three young men are trying to get her adornment. Leo, Commander Rodney' son, is the nervous and puppy like young man who needs Vicky's attention. Although he may be nice, Vicky just wants to be his friend. Adam, a young man working at the marine biology center, confuses Vicky because he likes her, but pushes her away at the same time. Zachary, the rich, young man Commander Rodney died saving, wants Vicky back and claims that he needs her. Even though she has to deal with her love life, she has to help her grandfather, and other family members. During this vacation, she learns a lot about herself, death, life, her friends and family.

I really liked this book because it is very insightful. It gives me a lot of insight about living life. I want to live my lifelike Vicky and think like her because she lives her life to her fullest poetical and is moral, unlike me. She put phrases and lessons to heart and has a way of putting things into the right words. I liked how the author also wrote about death because I know that everyone is confused about tins subject. Some people firmly believe in one thing while other people are confused and wobbling. I remember what the Madeline L'engle writes about death whenever I come across one because her words sooth and help the soul.

I dislike the fact that the characters are a bit to perfect. The Austins are a bit like robots. There is the housewife mom that loves her husband and doesn't seem to have any arguments are all with him. The father is a strong man that supports his whole family. The oldest brother, like his father, is strong and smart. The youngest sister is beautiful and smart. The youngest brother is cute and innocent. Although Vicky seems more human than her family, she is still robotic. She always tries her hardest and it seems that everyone is drawn to her. Everyone trusts her with his or her secrets and everyone in the story has a longing to be with her. She is the person that people always want to be.

My favorite part of the book is hard to decide, but I think that my favorite part is when Vicky goes and visits the dolphins. I think that this is really interesting because Vicky learns that she can communicate with dolphins. In the beginning, she is really scared, but then she realizes that there is nothing to be afraid of. Soon, she feels comfortable with Basil. She can play with the dolphin and communicate freely. Even though people can't communicate with dolphins, Vicky can because her mind is somewhat childish, open, and free. I think that this is my favorite part because Vicky's relationship with Basil is much like my relationship with my friends. When I first made my friends, we were scared and shy, but once we knew each other, we had a lot of fun. When I am with my friends, I become childish, open and free, just like Vicky.

I loved this book and I would recommend it to girls from the ages 10 and up. This was a good story to connect to your life or the lives of the people around you. The things that happen to Vicky in A Ring of Endless Light might happen or may have happened to the reader. Therefore the plot of the story is believable. I would like to read another story by this author because I loved how thorough she was when describing Vicky's thoughts and feelings. When she was explaining how Vicky was seeing only darkness after a friend died in her arms, she painted a very vivid picture in my head. I thought that a Ring of Endless Light was truly a great book.

I really enjoyed listening to the stories from some of our classic baseball heros. They brough history to life. This audio book was one of the best purchases I've made. I truly enjoyed just listening to these remarkable men tell there own stories of baseball's past.

I have been an avid reader of baseball history for most of my life and I first purchased this book in the 80's and wore it out and purchased another copy. There isn't a season that goes by that I don't read it again. When you read the interviews of the ballplayers, recorded by Lawrence Ritter, it's as if you are a fly on the wall hearing the conversations first hand and the ghosts of seasons long past are brought back to life.

You get a first person account of some of the most famous moments in early baseball history through the fond recollections of some of the participants. Merkle's boner, Snodgrass' muff, Wambsgan's unassisted World Series Triple play are all recounted. The most entertaining parts of the book recount tales of Germany Schaefer stealing first base, the chronicles of Charles Victory Faust, and Wilbert Robinson attempting to catch a grapefruit dropped from an airplane. You get a glimpse of Ty Cobb from his teammates Davy Jones and Sam Crawford. You get several different takes on the great manager John McGraw from several different players who once played for him.

This is hands down the greatest sports book I have read. It's not only a great history of the early days of 20th century baseball but a wonderful piece of Americana. The book breaths humanity and paints a portrait of the ballplayers of the past who played for the love of the game unsullied by steroids and multimillion dollar contracts.

If you love the game of baseball as it once was and still should be this is a "must read"...some of the players interviewed by Ritter were unknown to me and I was fascinated to learn of their exploits...I ordered an additional three books and sent them to long time fans of the game...If I was a GM today in MLB I would have every member of the team read this book so that they might appreciate the game as it was in its infancy...the modern player (in most cases)doesn't realize how fortunate he is to wear a major league uniform and earn the money today for playing a "game"

This superb oral history of baseball circa 1900-1920's contains many priceless tales. After Ty Cobb died in 1961 author Lawrence Ritter (1922-2004) took his tape recorder and traveled the USA to interview 22 surviving players from that remarkable era. We hear from top stars and established players, including Ed Roush, Sam Crawford, Smokey Joe Wood, Chief Meyers, Sam Jones, Bill Wambsganss, etc. Each player reminisces in his own way, recounting games, teammates, owners, managers, crowds, ballparks, etc. Some talk at length while others are briefer, but each is articulate and illuminating. I particularly liked Rube Marquard's memory of visiting the Chicago firehouse where he'd once slept as a transient, Stan Coveleski's view that baseball kept him from the coal mines, and the remembrances of Davy Jones and Jimmy Austin. It was also interesting to see how these players viewed superstars Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson, Ty Cobb, and Babe Ruth. This book provides readers with a superb sense of baseball before night games, air travel, TV, radio (except after 1922), farm systems, and in some cities, Sunday baseball.

Ritter set a standard with this superb oral history. The players interviewed here have all departed (the last in 1988), but their memories live on in this superb book. Fans might also enjoy BASEBALL WHEN THE GRASS WAS REAL, a similar effort about a later era by Donald Honig.

Statistically, baseball back then couldn't be more at variance with the game now. Cy Young threw 511 career victories, and 750 complete games. In 1909, Ty Cobb led the majors both in batting average (.377) and home runs (9). Cobb's teammate Sam Crawford hit over 300 triples in his career.

What to make of such numbers? Lawrence S. Ritter's "The Glory Of Their Times" strips away the statistical confusion by getting to the heart of Major League Baseball's early days, the players themselves. An economics professor, Ritter invested his downtime from 1962-66 in interviewing elderly men, baseball players all who knew what it was like to face a Walter Johnson fastball, or have Ty Cobb slide into the base they were covering.

"People were more unique then, more unusual, more different from each other," says Davy Jones, who played on the Tigers with Cobb and Crawford. "Now people are all more or less alike, company men, security minded, conformity - that sort of stuff. In everything, not just baseball."

Transcriptions of Ritter's interviews with Jones and 21 other former players, including Crawford and two others then in the Hall of Fame, makes up the whole of "The Glory Of Their Times," published in 1966 and later extended with four more interviews in 1984. Nearly all the interviews offer both testimony and color for the game as it was then.

Bill Wambsganss tells us about his unassisted triple play in the 1920 World Series, and how Ring Lardner once used his last name to rhyme with "clam's chance" and "Ray Chapman's pants". Fred Snodgrass tells us about his famous muffed fly in the 1911 World Series, and how his New York Giants tried to psyche out the Philadelphia Athletics by sitting on the dugout bench, ostentatiously sharpening their spikes.

You hear so much about another famous World Series moment, the Merkle "boner" of 1908, that you feel like you were there on the field, too. There's a Rashomon-like quality to hearing various interviewees give their different takes on such things as the character of John McGraw and whether "Giant Killer" Harry Coveleski was run out of the league when he was caught chewing on bologna. (Snodgrass says so, while Harry's brother Stanley, a major-league pitcher himself, calls it "a lot of bull".

Not all the interviews are riveting. One wishes Ritter could have pushed some of the old players more, like the rumors that swirled around Smoky Joe Wood involving fixes. But allowing the subjects the reins probably drew more color out of them than a Grand Jury could have. I love how Crawford keeps telling Ritter he hasn't much time to talk, while giving Ritter one of the longest and most entertaining interviews in the book, describing how players would allow themselves to be rubbed down with "Go Fast," a noxious combination of Vaseline and Tabasco sauce that made them sweat like a sauna.

"I hope I haven't said anything I shouldn't," Crawford says at the end. "There are a lot of the old-timers still left,you know, and they're liable to say, 'That fathead, who the hell does he think he is, anyway, popping off like that!'"

If you like baseball even a little, you will enjoy "The Glory Of Their Times" quite a lot.

Received this book in a timely fashion, arrived as expected. A little used but nothing that would disuade me from buying again.

I was skeptical about this book at first...but the storyline pulled me in. And I must say I'm happy I was pulled in.

Kudos to the author for coming up with not only this storyline, but the strong character/heroine behind the story. I don't know if there are many women out there who could've endured "the price of passion"....

Compelling storyline...you'll be engrossed from the first chapter to the last!!!

Where do I start? Where do I begin? Well for one thing, don't be fooled by the title of this book(smile). Ms. Palfrey is an excellent writer, and excellent storyteller. I first read this book in the late 90's early 2000's, and I have to say that it's better the second time around. Ms. Palfrey's style of writing is so down to earth, it's like you can visualize what she has to say. "Walter" needed his"%&@" kicked for all that drama he put "Vivian" through, and she's a class act for just dealing with him. "Marc"....whatta man,whatta man!!! Chapter sixteen where they (Marc and Vivian) finally do the do was so spicy that I had to throw cold water on my face!!! All the other characters in the book are exceptional as well, and "Sondra" from "Three Perfect Men" was an added treat. This novel started my love for Evelyn Palfrey books.

Walter is a very Passionate man. Walter also feels the need to spread the love to other's, woman outside his marriage especially. Being a Politician he is labeled as a person with a lot of power. Woman fall for men with money and power, plus Passion made him iresistable. His wife Vivian of ninteen year's married him for all the same reason's. But what is Vivian suppose to do when Walter birngs home a baby out side of the marriage? Should she stay or should she leave? If you were in this situation what would you do?

This book was good. I couldn't stop reading the book! Walter, man, if I was Vivian he wouldn't be alive! This was an awesome book. 5 stars!

I LOVE Jan Brett's books! I buy them anytime I see them whether on sale, old ones on Amazon as remainders, or new.. They make great gifts. I have a backup of many to give to children, particularly my granddaughters. The illustrations in this one are so beautiful it is really a keepsake to save as well as enjoy. Give it as a gift and you will make some child very happy and a parent happy,too.

Beautiful illustrations reprinted from over 40 sources. All illustrations are credited on last page. Book measures 9"X11.5" Only down side was that the price changes by the day. One day it's almost $11 another it's $8.97. But that's just the way Amazon works; something to be aware of. (It's worked in my favor often while shopping at midnight--price suddenly went down!)

it's a classic, so of course you can't go wrong, but as far as the best one being out there... well, I'm sure there are much better illustrated ones out there than this one

I bought this for my grandchildren last Christmas. The wording is traditional, and the illustrations are wonderful! This has become a part of the Christmas Eve tradition at my daughter's house.

These illustrations are the best ever for The Night Before Christmas...Stunning even! A worthy heirloom Christmas Book. The illustrations cover both sides of the page for a large panoramic view seldom seen in other books...

I had moderate expectations for this book, but was really blown away with how good it ended up being.

It's exactly the right length and goes into just the right amount of detail.

I look forward to sharing this book with family and friends.

This is written by pretty much and unknown guy with an unknown publisher; yet it is head and shoulders better than more commercialized material.

This is a book that can help you in some way whether you're broke and jobless or a millionaire CEO. Hal's outlook on life, his courage, attitude, and strength were a huge inspiration to me. This book had me in tears in some parts, and ready to conquer the world in other parts. And the effectiveness of the tips on being successful are incredible.

Along with many people in the Vector/Cutco community, I was familiar with Hal and his story before I read his book. I got the chance to hear him speak last summer and about a month ago I got the chance to meet him at a conference. I can honestly say that I've never met anyone with the same positive attitude that Hal possesses. At Vector, representatives are taught that while there are certain things in life that are out of our control, it is how we respond that shapes our character. Hal takes it a step further by outlining 8 principles to leading an extraordinary life. I recommend this book to anyone who wishes to succeed beyond their wildest dreams!!!

I asked a friend if she knew of any speaking engagements for me, as I am a speaker. She pointed me to Hal, the Sacramento Coaches program coordinator. I had never heard of Hal, nor his story, even though we live in the same metro area. Hal was very responsive to my questions about the speaking event and then the day came for me to speak. After speaking, Hal provided me with a copy of his book. "What a nice surprise," I thought and placed the book in my large 'to read someday' pile.

About a week later I picked up his book and proceeded to read it from cover to cover. I can tell you that I typically read several books at a time and it takes me forever to get through them all. So, this was a real treat for me. I laughed, I cried and cheered him on while reading his story.

The part that clicked for me the most was how he seemed to keep smiling no matter what seemed to happen to him. I am much the same way, although, I must admit, I have pity party days now and again. When they're over, I get back in the game and keep moving forward.

I also noted when Hal was selfish as a teen toward his parents and loved ones, yet was so giving with others. That's when I decided to give the book to my 14 year-old daughter to read. : ) Maybe she'll learn from Hal's journey into becoming an outstanding and giving human being.

WOW!! Hal Elrod is an amazing example of what it takes to be successful in any area of your life! The book was educational AND inspirational! It's a must read for anyone in the sales industry and a should read for anyone that wants to improve as a human being!

This is a well needed book in todays society. I being raised by older parents sure benifitted from it. I am listening to it over and over to get it into my making. And really all it is is common sense. KAren

This book helped me to see that implementing scripture pricipals into parenting makes life so much easier. It was encouranging and convicting at the same time. First got it from the library and then had to buy it so I could reference it over and over.

This is another one of those books that I borrowed and read first. It was so good that I went back and bought a copy for myself for reference. The good doctors Thompson and Cloud give a very good framework for raising useful and productive adults. If you don't want to raise large children, this is the book for you. What I found particularly useful, coming from a fairly disfunctional family, was the amount of space devoted to empathy. If you have been disciplined harshly and unfairly, it can be hard to know how to discipline with kindness. This book devotes a fair amount of space to making your discipline empathetic so that your child understands that the discipline is neccesary, but that it isn't something you are doing just to make him/her miserable. They really help you to always keep the goal in front of yourself and your child, that is: the adult you want them to become, not the child they are now.

We got this to use as a study book for a church small group. It has been very practical and helpful, but the chapters sometimes seem long. However, the methods suggested are very proactive and easy to implement in any household.

I wish someone had loved me enough to give this to me at my baby shower. This is a great book and wonderfully easy to read. OK maybe the baby shower is a bit early, but I would definitely recommend it for parents of toddlers and older. I ordered a copy for my best friend. I had always heard about respecting your kids so they'll respect you, but never the real "how to's". This book gives what you need.

This was an excellent read as well as extremely informative as to what can go wrong with managed care. I highly recommend it to all those in the mental health field.

When George Orwell wrote 1984 in 1949 the free world had just destroyed two totalitarian regimes and still faced another. The idea of Big Brother was all too real, even though the technology that Orwell described was not. Michael Freeny, an American psychologist, has written a novel somewhat like 1984, but this time the technology is all too real, and the threat comes not from a political regime but from the marketplace. The reality of modern information technology makes this book terrifying.

Freeny addresses, enters, and redresses the real and virtual worlds of where confidentiality ends. . . and lives hang on the brink of extinction. Never before have I read such an intricate detail of the medical cyber-environment, at the same time understanding the technology described. Freeny has the ability to immerse the reader in a sphere of fascination with the direction technology can lead us if we lose track of the human element.

Terminal Consent is an easy but chilling read for a general audience. It is medically sophisticated enough to please physicians. (The author offers continuing medical education credits for health professionals.) As information systems are synthesised, it would be wise for political leaders to read this book, as well. Who, if anyone, do we trust to use information most judiciously for good?

Freeny achieves a balance between writing to those with a primary interest in health care delivery but with no background in computing, and those who are highly computer literate but not necessarily aware of current issues in managed care. By appealing to both ends of this spectrum, he greatly expands the audience for this book. Readers, who fall somewhere in the middle of this continuum, will find his illustrations all too realistic and hauntingly familiar.

Ostensibly this book is half biography of little-known long driver Mike Austin and half technical discussion of Austin's revolutionary swing, many aspects of which run counter to conventional PGA wisdom. But as the artfully written narrative progresses, a third element emerges as well -- the touching story of the friendship that develops between Austin and author Reed during the writing of the book.

No avid golfer could read this book and fail to feel inspired to work on his or her game (I finished it yesterday and headed straight for the driving range today); some might even want to try out Austin's unorthodox mechanics. Yet there is a human-interest story here as well, the story of a larger-than-life golfing god who smacked a 515-yard drive at age 64 but somehow couldn't putt to save his life; lived it up with Hollywood celebrities and was respected by the best golfers in the world; studied the human anatomy and wore a skeleton suit while giving golf lessons to demonstrate proper body movement; and forged an unlikely friendship with a journalist decades his junior who weathered Austin's steely gruffness until it gave way to genuine respect and affection.

Highly recommended -- not just for golfers, but also for anyone interested in a well-crafted feel-good story about a fascinating man and his iconoclastic genius.

I've just finished reading this book and I have to say it is a great read and is well worth buying.

It is a story of how the author, Philip Reed, sets off to document the world's longest ever drive in a tournament set in 1974 by Mike Austin, and along the way wants to learn enough about this swing so he can transform his own drive of 200 yards into a more manly 300 yards.

The books gets off to a shaky start but I stuck with it. And after a couple of chapters I could no longer put it down. He helped me get to know more about Mike Austin, his history and his achievements.

It made me want to be there in the place of the author since Mike seems like a real character and a throwback to a different age and a different world.

It even gave me a few tips, and some hope, on how I might possibly be able to improve my own swing to give 300 yard drives. Now that would be nice.

Read this and give yourself a pleasant break from all those golf instruction manuals out there while enjoying a good golfing story.

The other reviews say it all - that this is a wonderful book on many different levels. I trust that some day it will be recognized as a sports classic.

I just want to add that Reed's book is an invaluable companion to Dan Shauger's 'The 21st Century Golf Swing'. This latter book has such an odd and uncomfortable style (my opinion only, of course) that it was hard for me to know whether to take the technical parts of it seriously. After reading this fine book it became clear that, yes indeed, you can.

It would be great if Shauger and Reed could collaborate on a second edition of '21st Century...'. I'll put up some front money, if that would help.

Had a terrific time reading this book. It reaches out and grabs every weekend golfer by what they desire most... the Shangri-la of a long, monster drive by exploring the fascinating life of Mike Austin via the student/teacher relationship with the author.
Mike Austin's tales tend to come off as a bit hard to believe, sort of like the "Dos Equis's: World's Most Interesting Man," but Phil seems to bear out all as truth through what appears to be painstaking research.
It really didn't end up helping my swing but gave me inspired look at a the longest drive hitter, now off to get the dvd....

This book is absolutely wonderful. I picked it up out of curiosity after learning about Mike Austin's record-breaking achievement (longest drive in professional golf competition history), and ended up being completely drawn into the story. With a straightforward, honest writing style that moves at a nice pace and never gets bogged down, Philip Reed does a masterful job of portraying a complex man filled with both flaws and greatness, who not only achieved a stupendous feat that no one has ever topped, but also lived a fascinating life that plays like a great movie. Reed deftly weaves Austin's story together with his own journey by bringing the reader along with him as he describes his efforts to get to know Mike Austin and learn his swing secrets. He sets out not only to write about Austin, but also to experience for himself the power of Mike Austin's swing, hoping to harness it to achieve a personal goal of hitting the ball 300 yards. As we learn about Austin's amazing life and unmatched golf swing alongside the author, we are simultaneously drawn into a surprisingly touching story of how Reed came to develop a bond of friendship with Austin. Viewed through the lens of Reed's relationship with Austin, we come to understand and truly appreciate Mike Austin at a much deeper level, and also come away with important lessons about life. This is a magnificent book, and I can't recommend it highly enough.

Kathryn Casey might be the Ann Rule of Texas true crime. This book is a complicated web of interesting characters including a bisexual, sociopathic gold-digging monster in the form of a beautiful woman named Celeste Beard who has no conscious for her actions. She would do anything to get what she wanted which was easily lying, cheating, having sex with men and women, manipulating her lesbian lover Tracey Tarlton who comes across as sympathetic but disturbed character, her ex-husband Jimmy Martinez who was having an affair with her during her last marriage to millionaire Steven Beard who tried as hard as others to get away from the monster in his bedroom. Celeste manipulated people as easily as she breathed. She was worse than any hurricane or tornado to hit Austin high society on it's knees. Her first husband was so terrified of another nasty divorce that he committed suicide even though he was married to a different woman and far unlike as Celeste was even in her youth. She made outlandish claims of abuse by her own adoptive father. Worse, she was a mother to beautiful identical twin girls who wanted nothing more than to be loved by their mother. They were also victims of Celeste's abuse to the worst degree. She manipulated Kristina to cover up for most of her own crimes. Jennifer and Kristina's relationship were always strained by Kristina's loyalty and devotion to Celeste, their mother. At one point, they stopped calling her mom and referred to her as Celeste. In my opinion, Celeste is more terrifying than any monster as this book makes her out to be. I felt sorry for Tracey who got caught up in Celeste's web of lies and terror and that she shot an innocent older man who she believed was terrorizing Celeste and abusing her. She is serving 20 years in the same prison as Celeste but separately away from her.

Being a true crime sleuth, I used to think Ann Rule was the best true crime writer ever. This book wiped my thought on that completely away. This author had such an amazing way of telling a great story, kept the book flowing from one page to the other, had amazing details about all of the characters. It felt like I was actually there witnessing it all myself. And the courtesy photos were superb too. I like to check back and forth while reading who the main characters are while I'm on that certain chapter. And while I did say "characters" I do know these are true stories. Still after I read this story, I went online to find out more about everyone involved. I have recommended this book to all of my fellow true crime pals.

A great book. Could there ever have been a more accurate portrait of a true-blue gold digger? Why some women (and men) feel a sense of entitlement to the money/property of others simply because they are (or were) married to a financially successful person is beyond me! You want money? WORK for it! Some lazy people would rather marry for it -- or kill for it! Great book. I felt so bad for Steve's family. They were helpless and had to sit by while Celeste planned, plotted and executed her plan to murder Steve -- all for the money. What a shame. Kathryn Casey is a great writer. I used to be hooked on Ann Rule, but got tired of her "Series" books. Now, I'm going to be looking for more stories written by Ms. Casey. She did a wonderful job of showing what a shallow and callous gold-digger Celeste really was.

I had heard about this particular story before from t.v. shows, but it was great to get an even more in-depth view of all the events that surrounded the story of Celeste Beard and her involvement with the murder of her elderly husband. The story has all the benchmarks of a great Hollywood movie, and what's best?...It's a true story, filled with sex, lies, drugs, and murder.

Excellent read, and I definately recommend this book to anyone who enjoys true crime.

I had seen Celeste's story on Power Privilege and Justice and Snapped and had been curious to read more about this woman who struck me as vindictive, unredeeming and just plain evil.

She has absolutely no good qualities at all. She uses everyone around her for her needs only. Her own daughters are treated like servants. I didn't blame Tracey Tarleton for shooting Steve Beard. She was another of the countless victims that Celeste used for her selfish reasons only. True crime fans will not be disapointed with this great read.

All of Lynn Austin books are excellent. Caught my interest from the first page to last. Always well researched and inspirational. This is my last one to read. I hope she gets some more out because I find her the best christian fiction author today.

Eve's Daughters traces the history of a family of women from Germany to the United States. It is told from the perspective of 1980 by a German immigrant`s daughter, her daughter and granddaughter. The book opens with the story of the German immigrant and her battle to stay in Germany.

This is the first book by Lynn Austen that I have read and I really enjoyed it. She touches on World War I and II without becoming totally immersed in the war stories. The horrors of the depression were appalling and the author told the story very compassionately. Telling the stories of four women kept the book fresh. Each woman grew and changed as the story progressed.

I would highly recommend this book. It is absolutely such a sweet story-I could hardly put it down as I enjoyed reading about the lives of the various women in this book. It makes you think about your own ancestry and what we might have in common with our grandmothers and great-grandmothers. It has great Christian themes-but is not too overbearing in that sense.

If you're looking for a light read with an uplifting storyline based on Christian morales, look no further. This text keeps you thinking and engaged with our God.

Like "Israel, My Beloved," by Kay Arthur, "Eve's Daughters" is magnificent in its generational journey. It is a cut above some of the standard Christian fiction with its rich, real character development of women who could be me, my friends, my sisters. This is by far one of Ms. Austin's best works. Elizabeth: A Holy Land Pilgrimage, Israel, My Beloved