Boyd Books

When I was ten I loved this book. Now I am almost forty, and I still find it entertaining and touching. I would love to read it to my children, but unfortunately, like most Astrid Lindgren's books, it is not in print.

When I was a kid it was one of my favorites. Now I am 27 and it still is. It's about a summer in a peaceful island where a Swedish family spend their vacation. I read this books every spring when I miss summer so much...

In this book you will discover an amazing spirit! Read all about the families who live on this little island, Tjorven, the maincharacter is so sweet! Astrid Lindgren made it again! She is the queen of children books all over the world!

The Shenandoah Spy stands one notch above other Civil War novels of recent years. It is especially remarkable that a male author is responsible for such a credible portrayal of the unequivocally feminine character of Belle Boyd. Furthermore, Francis Hamit has delivered a sympathetic heroine while withholding any such approval of the Confederate cause or Southern lifestyle. Given society's normally patriarchal perspective, this is no easy feat. Through historical verisimilitude and some fascinating relationship dynamics, the scenes of this novel were magnificently envisioned. The inclusion of alternate viewpoints such as those of David Strother (Belle's cousin who served as a Union army officer) was a clever way to define the tension of conflict-ridden communities as well as the divisive loyalties within each family during this tumultuous period. It would be interesting to read additional accounts of Antonia Ford or other female scouts and secret agents mentioned in the narrative. All of this leads one to wonder how the few recorded documents of these people and their deeds will continue to spark the imagination of Francis Hamit and inspire other future writers.

Although Women were not formally allowed to become soldiers until the late twentieth century, this doesn't mean they did not participate. "The Shenandoah Spy" is the story of Isabelle Boyd and her time as a confederate spy. Disguising her acts in public by appearing as a Union sympathizer, she uses many deceptive tactics to keep her identity under wraps as she does everything she can in order to give the Confederacy a leg up in the American Civil War. Hamit has done his research, and it shows in "The Shenandoah Spy", a riveting and recommended tale of women in the war where the most American lives were lost.

...of a fascinating woman.

Belle Boyd was an active spy for the Confederates during the Civil War. Motivated by love for her homeland and a fierce indignation at, not to say hatred of, the invaders (the Union Army), Belle at 17 became a spy and devoted herself to driving the invaders from the South. Most young women of her day and age devoted themselves to enhancing their looks in order to catch husbands, even with the War on. Most young women of that era practiced the alluring arts they learned at finishing schools to attract men.

Belle did, too, but in a greater cause -- freedom as she saw it.

In creating this character, author Francis Hamit has broken relatively new ground. First he has written about a nineteenth-century Southern woman, whom most writers dismiss as confined to the parlor and the bedchamber. Second, he has dared to present the Confederate side of the Civil War, when most writers dismiss the Confederacy as an evil conspiracy to prolong slavery. It may have been determined to prolong slavery, but many Southerners also viewed the Union Army as an illegal invader of their territory. In presenting Belle's opinions and feelings sympathetically, Hamit has shown the courage of a committed writer.

"Shenandoah Spy" is a book worth reading.

From simple stories, to valuable lessons, to an idea of what life was like in Rambam's time or how a holiday was celebrated in Russia, these folktales are brilliant in their simplicity. They can be read straight through, compared and contrasted, embellished upon, or edited for educational purposes. While younger readers may be daunted by the size of the book and the lack of pictures, they will enjoy being read these tales. While middle grade and juvenile readers may be put off by the idea of a folktale, they will find wisdom, humor and even intrigue in the stories. Adults will be enchanted by the brilliant ideas conveyed from these "simple" stories. REVIEWED BY KATHE PINCHUCK (BLOOMFIELD PUBLIC LIBRARY - BLOOMFIELD, NJ)

Perfect for read-alouds by parents is Sheldon Oberman's retellings of Jewish folktales in Solomon And The Ant And Other Jewish Folktales. Peninnah Schram introduces and provides commentary to these rich stories of over forty religious, wisdom and puzzle tales, each of which demonstrates wisdom and understanding as King Solomon learns lessons from birds and ants, and other protagonists receive valued wisdom. While large print will lend to reading for those who already have skills, it's the read-aloud experience which is so highly recommended here: the entire family can discuss and enjoy.

Much heart has gone into the creation of this handsome book, where 43 gently humorous, Jewish teaching folktales call to be shared aloud. Selections include religious stories, fables, and wisdom, trickster, and riddle tales, warmly retold by the late Sheldon Oberman, of The Always Prayer Shawl fame, and lovingly wrapped with expert commentary by Peninnah Schram, who prepared the manuscript for publication at his request. Lively dialogue refreshes traditional favorites and introduces many new tales less likely to be found in other modern collections. Character resourcefulness abounds. A merchant tricks a farmer into returning stolen money by letting him think he will be able to steal more. A girl learns how to face a bully by first collecting three hairs from a frightening dog. A discontented man comes to accept his own problems when he sees what is happening in other houses. Maimon wins a poisoning contest without using any real poison at all. King Solomon learns humility from an ant. Stories, some given new settings, take place through time in Holland, Morocco, America, and England, as well as Eastern Europe and Biblical lands. Oberman's notes set historical context for the tales, and Schram's expand what a particular story reveals about Jewish traditions and values. Both generously slide in other stories and delectable tidbits. Classic origins for the tales, along with selected sources and variants and motifs, complete each entry. The book ends with a glossary and comprehensive bibliography of approximately one hundred folklore collections. There is so much here. Attracted by Lloyd Bloom's arresting jacket art, readers will want to stay. Highly recommended for ages 8 and up. Reviewed by Sharon Elswit

"You got to learn to respect white people, boy.... You better talk to that boy, Ed. You better tell him to stay in his place or, by the Lord, other men will show him"--from the book.

In the face of bigotry and racial prejudice, the Williamses try to make it. But the tension is finally broken in violence.

[Realistic fiction suitable for junior high and high school.]

My daughter read this book as a "classic" in 6th grade. I read it, too, and we both thoroughly enjoyed the book. It is not a story about the inequities of segregation in the South and the difficulty of social change, but it brings those issues to life better than any other book I have read. The characters are very real - both my daughter and I were able to stand in the shoes of the protagonist, even though our lives and times are completely different. I strongly recommend this book for adults and young adults.

I first read this book as a freshman in high school, and I was touched by the characters who seem so like me and the people I know. Unlike many of the books that portray the prejudices in the south, this book enabled me to really sympathize with the characters. I would reccommend this book to anyone - young or old.

After having purchased almost all of Amazon's collection on sundials, I eagerly awaited this book's delivery. From the first page, I regretted not having bought it before as Sir Mark Lennox Boyd has produced a masterpiece. Anyone who has an appreciation for gnomonics should get this book. Although it contains technical information, it's the historical journey which is most engaging.

This is an excellent book for the layman as well as for an accomplished sundial expert. It shows the evolution of humankind's interest in the passage and the marking of time. And if you look on page 123 you will see photographs of Kate Pond's contemporary sun-aligned public sculptures.

You are used to seeing a sundial in the middle of a garden, and if you are like me, you look at the shadow, then compare the time to a wrist-borne chronometer, and note that the sundial is off by however many minutes. In _Sundials: History, Art, People, Science_ by Mark Lennox-Boyd I learned that this is at least doubly wrong. The author quotes Hilaire Belloc: "I am a sundial and I make a botch / Of what is done much better by a watch." He complements the wit of the couplet, and shows the errors. Firstly, he points out, sundials tell time perfectly well; they simply measure time differently than watches do, but neither of them is objectively "right". Secondly, sundials are not merely garden ornaments, and only one in this profusely illustrated and colorful book is from that category. The dials shown here are often scientific instruments and elaborate works of art that sometimes do not look like sundials at all. Not only are many styles of sundial illustrated here, but the science and history of making them is summarized; the reader will come away with a much better idea of how the solar system runs from the contemplation of these not-so-humble instruments.

Lennox-Boyd (or actually Sir Mark, since he has been, besides a Patron of the British Sundial Society, a Member of Parliament and a Foreign Office Minister), says that the association of the dial with the garden began in the Renaissance, not because the dials were ornaments, but because teachers of the time often used the garden as a place where lessons of science could be delivered. There are pictures here of artwork and architecture that one would not expect to be sundials at all. The Sundial Bridge across the Sacramento River in California is a suspension bridge, suspended on one side of the river from a huge, slanted support. The support just happens to be slanted at the correct angle to make it a gnomon, and its huge shadow sweeps along the ground beneath. The huge sundial at Jaipur in India has a gnomon that is big enough to walk up, fifty steep stairs. A Dutchman has designed beer glasses that you turn until the sunbeam through a circle on one side of the glass hits the date line on the other side; you can then tell if the time is after 5 p.m., the time when the inventor says the glass ought to be filled. There is a picture of a spherical sundial invented by Thomas Jefferson. The Disney World offices in Florida are "entertainment architecture", and part of the fun is that a central room is shaped like a truncated cone and has gigantic sundials visible on the outside and the inside, with quotations about time on marble plaques from such notables as Albert Einstein and Donald Duck. Sir Mark himself designs sundials, some of which are shown here. The most ambitious is one in Oliveto, Italy, within the stair tower of a house; a system of mirrors sends a sunbeam during different times of the day to different walls of the stairwell, each intricately crisscrossed with lines to read time, date, times of sunrise and sunset, and more.

Sir Mark points out that since we now have clocks accurate to more than one second in fifteen million years, sundials ought to be obsolete, but they are not. There has been a resurgence of interest in them, both in the historical forms and the modern ones which come in strange and undial-like shapes. "There is a particular symbolism in an object that does something helpful but requires no power and performs indefinitely," he writes. He is clearly fascinated with his subject, and this lovely and colorful book conveys the fascination perfectly.

I am not a big fan of the short story, unless the author is exceptionally good, but I really enjoyed the three stories/novellas Susie Bright has compiled in "Three The Hard Way." Although all three pieces contain erotic elements, I think it does the material a disservice to classify it as erotica, or to limit these particular stories to the erotic genre, therefore discouraging those who would not select a book based on its erotic content. Given the graphic material which appears in much of today's fiction, especially romance and fantasy novels, I found these novellas to be erotic, sensual, but not over-the-top, and much more focused on characters, their development and plot. The sexual content is not gratuitous, but an integral part of the storylines. In other words, these are excellent, well written and well crafted novellas. Sex takes a back seat here, although it is integral to all three plots. The connecting theme is the idea that one sexual moment, or experience, can change a person forever.

"The Motion of the Ocean" by Tsaurah Litsky is just plain terrific - and perhaps the rawest piece. It is funny, poignant, and a delightful read. However, of the three, it left me the most contemplative. Ms. Litsky writes of a young woman's coming of age, and takes her from her adolescence in the early 1960s, before the Sexual Revolution began, through the 1990s. The reader experiences the growth and changes of a spunky, yet vulnerable, heroine who absolutely captivates, while focusing on how the sexual mores have changed over the past half century. This is a beautifully crafted story with excellent descriptive passages and dialogue.

Greg Boyd's "The Widow" takes an entirely different tone. A husband discovers pages from a secret novel his wife is writing - pages which she mistakenly left on their printer. The novel is about the sexual liberation of a recently widowed woman. The author's style is quite unique and I found this to be the most sensual and intriguing of the three.

"Shadow of a Man," by Emmy Award-winning writer William Harrison, is set in South Africa during the period before Nelson Mandela was released from prison. A worldly and somewhat jaded American photographer is commissioned to do a portrait of a famous general. He becomes deeply involved, over a brief period, with the general's daughter with unexpected consequences. The political undertones here had a tremendous impact on me.

Overall, these are three novellas worthy of a wide readership. I say, "Bravo, Susie for compiling them." Just a note - I use the terms short story and novella interchangeably. The editor makes a point of calling the three pieces "novellas" - I think they are too short and therefore fit into the "short story" category.
JANA

Thoroughly enjoyed. I'm looking for more by each of these authors. The fiction is gripping, fun. The stories are very different from each other. But each is kind of amazing. Can't wait for the next one.

Wow! This is quality stuff for a connoisseor of literature and porn. These stories stir your thoughts with their meanings, and stir your libido with the beautiful erotica involved. I've read so much smut(yes, I admit) that this was the first book in a long time to linger in my mind. Way to go Susie - you always sort out the good ones.

A wonderful book for teaching kids the water cycle. It reads like a story and has great illustrations. Highly recommended.

Have you ever tried to explain the water cycle to little ones who ask where does the rain comes from? Kersten Hamilton has taken this sometimes confusing subject and made it easy for youngsters to understand, taking them through the process step by step. Her rhyming text, full of imagery and expressive detail, begins with the ocean and the bright sun that raises a mist to the sky and continues on to clouds and rain, explaining each step until the water from rivers and streams slips back into the ocean to begin the cycle all over again. Lorianne Siomades bold, colorful illustrations are charming and add just the right touch. Perfect for children 3-7, This is the Ocean is a fascinating and engaging picture book.

This is the Ocean is a readable fun journey through the water cycle. It is an excellant resource for anyone teaching the young about how water moves from the ocean to the clouds to the rivers and back to the ocean. It is written in lyric poetry, almost a song of water. The illustrations are simple, bright and engaging. I would recommend this book not only to school teachers but to all the other important teachers in a child's life.

An old story retold with a charming western flair. Our children are older now, but I still look for picture books to give as gifts. This is my most recent favorite. We keep a copy on the coffee table to read to young guests and have several stashed away.

Great story. Great illustrations. Great book!

A wonderful kids book. Engaging story, mine loved it. Wonderful illustrations, kids really enjoy all the visual activity. Fun to read with your kids - we all enjoyed how the story progressed from page to page and have read and re-read it. A nice picture into western, cowboy life and humour.

I love this book! It's a wonderful retelling of an old Jewish folktale placed in a Western setting. The story flows beautifully and the language is fun! Children I have read it to have loved all the western terms. There is even a glossary of some of the words and phrases to help with understanding.

The cowboy in the story is given a beautiful piece of leather which he makes into chaps for himself. As time goes by, the chaps wear out and are remade into something new. The cowboy's life also changes with time. The story is full of warmth and the beautiful illustrations fit it perfectly. They are warm and alive and full of action. A welcome change from many of the newer books today. It is a univeral story of life with a new twist.

Taking a familiar plot device--the search for a missing loved one that becomes a quest for the searcher's own soul--the author spins a tale about loss and living, reminding the reader how redemption may be borne out of wandering and restlessness. The novel is not a bildungsroman per se, yet it is revelatory--foremost about its protagonist, but also about sibling rivalry, the Australian middle class, and life in Central America after the devastating Hurricane Mitch. The novel succeds the most, I think, in its description. Don't let the prose fool you into thinking the book's observations are mundane or commonplace. Rather, it is that very crisp, deceptively plain langugage of the book that reveals the precise details of the characters and the places they inhabit, making the book a true joy to read. Highly recommended.

In the early years of the new millennium the war rhetoric is different to that which prevailed through much of the twentieth century. Talk of wars to end all wars, first strikes and nuclear holocausts is rarely heard in this day and age. The bombast we are inundated with today is as much about wars on as it is wars against a particular foe as such. These wars, so we are led to believe, are unlike those that have preceded it. No one can say how long they will go on. Nor when, if ever, peace might be declared.
Whether you are prepared to accept the pronouncements or not, one fact cannot be denied: the world is in desperate need of healing. But if the stimulus for this does not arise first at home, within oneself, can the process ever be more than token? Isn't the vital first step the recognition of the need to heal? Paradoxically, the catalyst might lie in the experience of a culture far from one's home.
The Unintentional Healing of Soul introduces us to Steve, a divorced Australian man in his middle years. He is, by his own admission, a reluctant party to an impending trip to Central America. We sense that his unwillingness stems from a variety of reasons, not just the ones stated. In the past few years he has made two trips to the same region in a futile attempt to resolve the mystery surrounding the disappearance of a younger brother who lived and worked there previously.
Such a quest would in all likelihood be a tall order for anyone, even an individual content with himself and his place in the world. It will be harder still for a person nursing unresolved hurt. Steve is a picture of discontent. He has no great love for his job as a builder and restorer of houses in Brisbane. His relationships with his younger siblings are, at best, perfunctory.
He is estranged from his son, Tim, despite having won custody of him at the time of the breakdown of his marriage. But by far his most virulent demon is his bitterness over the failure of his marriage to Carolin, the woman he fell in love with, sought to help, went on to entrap and then gave up on when she could not live up to his expectations of an ideal mate.
It is with this and more haunting him that he leaves for Central America one more time. Thinking of his mother, he senses the impossibility of returning home empty-handed on this occasion. He will bring her some news of her missing son Kenny, an admittedly cold comfort for a woman who has lived in a perpetual state of mourning since the untimely death of her firstborn years before.
Arriving in the region, Steve is all at sea, exactly as he was on his previous two trips, when at times he literally followed in the footsteps of Kenny in the hope that this might help him better understand what drove the younger man and how he might have felt on his quest.
There would not be a traveler in the world who has failed to realize that the habits of a lifetime remain in the baggage. They do not simply vanish in a new setting. Steve's rancor, his custom of falling back on his virility when all seems lost, and much else besides, are amplified in the vastly different Latin world. But that very difference provides a lifeline and the glimpses we have gained of the better side of the man are expanded and reveal him as more than what he has given himself credit for. As he sees himself more clearly, we see him more clearly.
Was this not Kenny's experience years before? Correspondence from the time, knowledge of the difficulties Kenny faced trying to readapt to life in Australia after his first spell living and working with Central America's poor, indicate that it was similar. Though Steve might be as far from his younger brother as he ever was in terms of physical distance when he follows up a vague lead and, like Kenny, undertakes Spanish language studies at a school in Guatemala prior to traveling around that country, we feel that he is edging closer to him psychically all the time.
This is a novel of rich hues and exemplary breadth and depth. In the compass of less than two hundred and fifty pages, the author treats themes as diverse as the difficulties an individual might face readapting to his native culture after a long period of immersion in something radically different, the value of voluntary work experience, the folklore of the Mayan people of Guatemala, points of similarity between indigenous spiritual thought and Eastern spirituality, the striking resilience of poor and oppressed people. Because they live among such people and savor the lesson of their unbreakable will to survive, an unexpected process in the journeys of both brothers is ignited.
Steve sets off in search of his younger brother only to begin a journey of self-discovery. But the missing Kenny's presence is palpable throughout. In a telling image near the end, the two appear to merge; in finding himself, Steve also discovers the one for whom he traveled to the other side of the world. Not before time he can find forgiveness in his heart that he was incapable of finding before. He can begin to heal. This compelling novel is nothing less than an invitation to the reader to open up and, if need be, face hurts and sadness that might have been suppressed. The world will be a better place as a result.

Very interesting and enjoyable book. You feel as if you are a part of the self-discovery journey with the main character, Steve. It's one of those books that keep coming back to you after you read it. The author writes with such clarity, yet he's very thought provoking. I was not able to put the book down for long as I had to find out the end search for a family member in Central America, a truly shocking and revelating end. The book exposes and penetrates your human psyche at all levels while continuously entertaining you. I would highly recommend this book for someone who is looking for depth and substance in a book. I am looking forward to more books from this author.

I've read all the Mary Wesley books I can find, and this one is my favorite. It's better if you have read her _The_Camomile_ Lawn_ first; but this is a very different book, lighter-hearted than some of her stories. It is funny, sometimes touching, and refuses to turn out the way you expect. Really delightful.

I've read all the Mary Wesley books I can find, and this one is my favorite. It's better if you have read her _The_Camomile_ Lawn_ first; but this is a very different book, lighter-hearted than some of her stories. It is funny, sometimes touching, and refuses to turn out the way you expect. Really delightful.

This book is full of charm, wit and excellent writing. The characters are richly drawn, quirky and entertaining. Wesley has a way of pinning down the fine details of human behavior and showing them in a sympathetic but humorous light. Poppy's vacillations are completely understandable and her struggles to get herself unstuck from a bad relationship are tragic yet funny. Wesley gives her characters the kind of dignity that makes us love them, even when they are not being very loveable. This is the mark of a great writer.