Berry Books

I read this book to my 4 and 5 year old boys, and they loved it. It really gives the flavor of market day in an Irish village. What makes it so much better is the touching story of Tess' 7 year ol friend, Wee Boy, who has not grown since age 4. He looks into a rabbit hutch and sadly wonders if he will be able to live in such a tiny house himself when he is grown up. Tess feels sorry for him and takes him to a Fortune Teller, even though her mother told her people are only told what they want to hear. Wee Boy's spirits soar after he hears his fortune and he and Tess spend the rest of the magical day together. In fine Market Day fashion they make a deal to meet again next Market Day. A delightful read for young and old!

Market Day is a lively, colorful picture book set in Ireland. The main character is a spunky girl who joins her best friend, Wee Boy, at the town's market place. They peruse the peddlers' wares and enjoy the animals and performances by local characters. Lots of local color and authentic cultural details in text and illustrations. My three year old daughter loves it, and so do I!

This book has amazing recipes and super helpful tips and ideas. Anyone with an Aga needs this book!!!

Although most Americans have never seen an AGA range,cooking is a joy. Because there are no knobs or other controls, you learn to cook by moving items among the 4 ovens you find in many AGA ranges. This cookbook is structured so you can plan a dinner party for 10 and still have time to spend with your guests before the meal. Many people in England would surrender their Jaguar or Range Rover before their AGA Range.

Nathan Coulter is the second best book by Wendell Berry. The best is "A Place on Earth" but you have to read this one as an introduction. This series of fictional works revolves around the Port William community. Wendell Berry is also known for his essays on the decline of community and the resulting cost. I find his fictional works communicate his ideas on community better than his essays. The sense of place is wonderfully communicated and the even the most noble character is kept plausible with imperfections none of us can wholly escape.

This, Berry's first novel and the first to introduce his fictional Kentucky community Port William, displays the skill Berry shows as a poet. Not a word is wasted here; every one of them counts toward the whole. As with good poetry,as much is implied as stated outright here.

This is a story of initiation, of a young boy's coming to grips with his family and community and his own place in them. The book's final image, of the boy Nathan carrying his dying grandfather home, serves to sum up this theme perfectly.

This is a gentle novel and an auspicious beginning to an important saga of place and people.

Great reference guide as well as cookbook. More for the novice or average cook, though those with more culinary expertise will find recipes enjoyable.

Just what new cooks and those of us who need a gentle reminder now and then need. The recipes are simple and easy to follow without being boring, and the techniques section is excellent: easy to use and beautifully presented. If you've ever been disappointed with the results of a recipe this is the book you need: guaranteed to help you cook like a pro.

I love Pricilla Hauser! Anything she writes, I buy. Great information .I'll keep my copy.

I found it easy to use. It has very basic instructions, loaded with black and white drawings to help you. It also contains color pictures to show you what the finished product should look like. It also covers materials to use and how to transfer images. It made the process very easy to learn.

RISE UP SINGING is a collection of short stories, poetry, and essays that encompass the many defining roles of black mothers. Cecelie Berry has pulled together a dazzling array of noteworthy writers for this collection, and the result is a read that is as diverse as it is satisfying. The book includes such contributors as Maxine Clair, Rita Dove, Maya Angelou, Edwidge Danticat and June Jordon. Among my favorites was Tananarive Due's piece that described both her relationship with her mother and the journey the two of them took together in an effort to say goodbye to her grandmother and settle her affairs. Reverend Dr. Suzan Johnson's piece highlights the need for mothers to juggle their various roles and responsibilities and was one I related to in spite of the fact that I am presently a stay-at-home mother rather than a mom who works outside of the house. Faith Ringgold's "My Daughters and Me" speaks to the difficulties involved with getting through the teen and young adulthood years as a parent. And Alice Walker's "Everyday Use" is sure to remind children to appreciate their mothers and to avoid taking them for granted.

All in all, this was an enjoyable collection. While readers may not be able to relate to every piece, there are sure to be several that will call to them loud and clear. I found a couple of the contributions a bit laborious to read, but overall, I enjoyed this collection. The purpose of this book was to pay homage to black mothers, and it not only achieved this goal but went several steps further, by highlighting many of the issues with which mothers contend. Fans of poetry, prose, and short fiction alike, will find something that speaks to their specific reading tastes.

Reviewed by Stacey Seay
of The RAWSISTAZ™ Reviewers

Rise Up Singing , with its storied list of contributors such as Maya Angelou, Alice Walker and Maxine Clair and with the foreword written by Marian Wright Edelman, seems well-intended to serve as a celebration of black motherhood, with all of its triumphal victories as well as its copious and devastating defeats. Serving as a brutally honest look at mothering and motherhood, Rise Up Singing's collection of poems, essays and fiction reveal not only a celebration of mothers, but even more so an overwhelming tinge of sadness about motherhood that is incomprehensibly balanced by an ever-present notion of the strict ability to overcome.

With its rich stories and superb writing, Rising Up Singing proves to have the weight and breadth of a true classic anthology that deserves recognition notably for its pioneering role in addressing the need for black women to write about motherhood but primarily for its unapologetic candidness.

I have been a Nurse Practitioner and Diabetes Educator for over 30 years. There have been many meal planning books brought to my attention over that time but this is the first one that I really feel comfortable recommending to everyone! The author not only makes it simple to learn how to eat healthier, but she also provides all the tools to do so in a simple to understand format. In spite of my profession, I don't like to cook. Even I now look forward to shopping, chopping and watch my inept cooking skills turn out a beautiful and healhtful meal! Thanks Connie Gutterson for writing The Senoma Diet. It is the "diet" we all need...a complete change in choices about what we eat with instructions on how to accomplish those changes. Anyone can achieve their health goals by following Dr. Guttersen's recommendations. We truely are what we eat when it comes to our health. This "diet" can help reverse our current epidemics of diabetes and obesity!

I love this book. Lots of different and interesting, healthy tasty recipes. What more could you ask for! Great for those who want to lose weight and still have an excellent choice of recipes to work with.

This is a marvelous collection of stories about spiritually well developed individuals who represent a variety of religious teachings. As the title suggests, if you are physically fit, you are only half done concerning being in "great shape"!

....destined to save the world.

I have been attempting to gather the right words to titilate you to read this book. And this time, like many other times I say that I'm 'trying to push myself', I find my words lacking and feeble. It is a well done collection of some famous and some lesser known people of the inner journey--not just Jesus or Mohommed--but spiritualists and philosophers like Rabi'a, Meister Eckhart and Sojourner Truth. Like Brother Lawrence and the Baal Shem Tov. Like Thoreau and Rampersaud. Each person highlighted has a fine illustration done by Niclas Berry which is followed by a brief biography and quotes that are uplifting and enlightening. It is a book you can start in the middle, start at the end or wherever and read and get a great deal from.
It has been a great addition to my library and I think it will be a treasured book in your library, also.

This book examines court-martial charges filed against unlikely defendants - a group of professional and dedicated Green Berets during the Vietnam War. The first part of the book profiles the defense counsel. The second, the legal maneuvering for the courts-martial. The author, one of those Defense Counsel, adroitly portrays the frustrations, fears and foibles associated with defending a professional soldier on murder charges. Some might and did say that the victim - a North Vietnamese double agent - deserved to die, afterall this was war and GI's were dying in droves. The intensity of command and prosecution efforts to "break" the defendants, where evidence was weak and circumstantial at best, was shamefull. Berry's ability to capture the feelings that every defense counsel knows, is uncanny. He coins the memorable phrase, "Black Robe Fever" to describe the intellectual regression trial attorneys who become judges go through upon assuming the Bench. Famous personalities appear, the Press gets excited, and yet, who remembers this case? The verdict (you'll have to read the book) spawned the title, "Those Gallant Men" refers equally to the courageous Defense counsel, as well as their clients.

Wow, I can not express what this book means to me, I laughed and cried because the author really made you read this book as if you were seeing it through her eyes. I felt as if I was there with her through out the entire story. This is a book that I feel should be in every household. Every teenager and parent in America will benefit from this true story as a matter of fact a move should be made about this story. This book lets me know if I didn't already know, that there is truly an Great Big GOD up in heaven who forgives sin! And will then bless you to move forward again. singed, Truetolife

This books tells about the different obstacles which the author has overcome,but yet she don't forget the heartache and pain of these trials.The author makes it so you can relate if you are going or been through something similiar,especially for the teens now. I feel this took alot of courage and prayer for the author to release some of her innermost secrets, and she wants to stress to our youth to remember to always seek GOD first.