Bridges Books

A Bridge of Time is a fast-paced adventure mystery. The story takes place in the area surrounding Virginia's Natural Bridge. This mystical natural wonder was a favorite place of Thomas Jefferson who once owned the land.

William, our introspective main character is magically transported to 19th century America where he is falsely accused of kidnapping a baby and forced to run for his life by the missing baby's family. Confused and desperate to get home to his own family, William narrowly escapes by crawling into a cave where he gets lost and stranded. Fortunately, William is rescued and taken in by a local landowner with whom he shares a stunning resemblance.

William's wife Kate, who witnesses his disappearance during a family picnic, is frantic with grief and desperate to find her husband. Kate recruits a professor of physics and natural science to solve the mystery of Williams' disappearance. Together they explore the historical record and uncover clues from the past. As the adventure unfolds, the reader is brought into a world where faith, family, love, friendship and self-discovery are important themes.

Given its strong plot and interesting characters, A Bridge of Time is an entertaining read. Although similar to the classic time travel adventure, this book has numerous additional elements that differentiate it from traditional science fiction. Whether you call it a historical drama, a mystery, or a time travel adventure, A Bridge of Time will captivate you.

This book is like Back to the Future, but it deals with 1896 and 1922 instead of the 1950's. There is some great time travel back and forth in this book which makes it alot like Back to the Future parts 2 and 3. The story line is fantastic. You will experience a wide range of emotions during this read. You will feel, love, lust, fear, frustration, dispair, triumph, and happiness!! A full circle of emotions all in one book! I have never read a book so fast in my life!

Lou Tortola's first novel is a triumph for the author. The story's opening grabs you and never lets you go, the pages were flying faster then the time was. I was able to read the whole book in 2 sittings and only because I started the first sitting too late at night and ended up reading until the wee hours of the morning. I did not want to go to sleep before I found out what happened next, but alas I had to put the book down in fear of not waking up for work the next morning.

The story and characters were top notch and made you feel emotions on many different levels. My only wish would of been to get to know some of the other characters that William met along the way back to his wife and kids. I'm sure there were many more intersting episodes along the way. Lou, what about a sequel? There is enough of a story left out there for one. If not, how about a prequel? Tell us Frank's story, sounded like he had an even better trip through time then Willaim did. With your gift for writing it would be just as enjoyable.

I have always enjoyed novels with a time travel theme and I find "A Bridge of Time" to rank right up there with the best of them.

Respectfully
Douglas McKay
Windsor, Ontartio

Lou.....great novel !!! I am so glad I picked it up and am very impressed with your first effort...can't wait for the next one !!

After reading Mr. Tortola's first novel "A Bridge of Time" I can give future readers one piece of advice... read this on night when you can afford to go to bed in the wee hours. Mr. Tortola, owes me a night of sleep!! I picked up the book hoping to read a chapter or two but ending up turning page after page until I read it in one sitting.

The plot gently intrigues the reader right from the beginiing with a lavish but brief opening.... a simple picnic in some unspecified period of time. A natural stone bridge, an uncle, a baby, and then an enigma... soon Mr. Tortola leads us in a world where time skips back and forth seamlessly.

His characters are easy to empathize with as he develops them effortlessly and quite sincerely. The storyline... simple on the surface quickly has the reader following several sub-plots of love, ambition, human emotion and down-right intrigue.

This book would definitely appeal to science fiction lovers but strangely enough also would do well for those with a love of mystery novels. It also would do nicely for those that require a few hours of escape from the everyday craziness of the modern world.

The novel reminds us how intertwined our current fate is with that of our ancestors and how even through a fantasy fiction window life and living in the present with our loved ones is the most important aspect of our lives.

Mr. Tortola definitely has a promising career if his first effort is any indication of his talent. On the whole an enjoyable experience even if it left me a bit tired the next day.

I look forward to more from this author.

This is an excellent book. Very easy to read with some great ideas for activities that you can immediately implement in your classroom with little preparation.

This book was suggested by fellow teachers. It's a great book for teachers that already have a handle on reading strategies. It gives great and easy to duplicate ideas.

This book provides teachers with a way to introduce the comprehension strategies. It has very orginal ways to get the kids thinking about thinking as they read. My third graders responded well to the langauge and activities provided in the book. It was a quick read, but described strategies I can use throuhgout the year in my classroom. I would recommend it to anyone teaching Harvey's and Keene's comprehension strategies.

I am an elementary teacher currently using Tanny's book to inform my small group reading instruction. It didn't take me long to realize what a goldmine of information she provides; and it all makes sense. Reading this book is what I'd imagine sitting down with the author at Starbucks to be like. She will begin your own inner conversation about the myriad ways to strengthen your students' comprehension skills, using concrete items for object lessons, wordless texts, art, music lyrics, and quotes. The examples of anchor charts Tanny shares are first-rate. If you don't own this book; get it :). You'll have it finished in less time than it took to arrive at your doorstep!

Great resource for all primary elementary teachers. Great ideas to develop schema for various comprehension strategies!

This book is wonderful if you are going to get a tattoo of a certain Kanji it has tons to choose from. I use this book almost everyday.. this is by far one of my best purchases.

What a great book! The presentation of multiple styles definitely caught my eye as I fanned through the book the first time; I was hooked! The introduction is very well written, and each page thereafter imparts a wealth of information that is simply a joy to read.

I love "power" words - single words that encompass my thoughts and feelings - and kanji characters are a beautiful way to express them. I found 'Designing with Kanji' in my effort to design my next tattoo. When I did not find exactly what I was looking for in the book, I contacted Leza and she promptly responded with the characters I needed. Great book - great woman!

I have been an admirer for Oriental Culture, and willing to understand Chinesse and Japanese writing. This book is an excellent source which explains a lot of Kanji symbols, and has several notes about interesting facts about it. I recommend it to all people looking to introduce themselves into this enigmatic and wonderful language.
Antonio Sobalvarro

Easy to read, follow, and use right away. Shows formal, modern, flowing, and stylish character sets. Describes the root, meaning, and nature of common Japanese words and phrases. The calligraphy is excellent. I only wish it was longer and more encompassing. Among other things I use this book as a supplement to Write Your Name in Kanji text by Nobuo Sato to write the characters more elegantly.

Lawrence Kane
Author of Surviving Armed Assaults, The Way of Kata, and Martial Arts Instruction

We had recently seen "The Last Samuri" so I was in the frame of mind to learn more about Japanese history and culture. I found this book on the Breakfast table one recent morning. The introduction and explanation of Kanji was clear and concise. This book provided a great beginning to the subject of how a culture influenced a language and how a language influenced a culture. I couldn't put it down for an hour or so. I'll refer to it often.

I purchased this book after serching for resources on mother - daughter abandonment. I was researching this subject to see if others has experiences such as mine. By reading this book I have come to understand it and grow. It made me feel as though I was not alone in my childhood experiences. I would highly recommened this book to anyone!!!

Don't Call Me Mother: Breaking the Chain of Mother-Daughter Abandonment is a poignant story on several different levels. It's such a compelling memoir, you have to keep reminding yourself that it isn't fiction. The raw emotions and the bare truth of the story pull you into a drama that no child should experience. It's a testimonial to Linda Joy's strength of character that she could survive such an experience let alone re-live it again to tell her story.

Her prose is so poetic, at times you think you're reading poetry. In addition to being a fine author, Linda Joy is a therapist illuminating the spiritual growth that comes from compassion, forgiveness, perseverance, and the courage that can be born of such a tragic childhood.

The driving force behind the book is the hope that the chain of abandonment cycling through the generations can finally be broken. Don't Call Me Mother should be read by anyone who has experienced abandonment, divorce, or living with mental illness; however, the book stands on its own as an unforgettable story.

I had the privilige of hearing Ms Myers speak recently and was touched by her incredible empathy and understanding for people who have suffered abandonment and abuse in their childhood. Though the memoir genre is overpopulated by stories of Hollywood stars and the like, regaling us with their secrets, Ms Myers' account of three generations of mother-daughter abandonment and her quest to heal the rupture in her family reads more like a lyrical and sensitive novel than a true-life story. Poetic and evocative in its depiction of Ms Myers' incarnations as a child struggling to withstand the tempestous damage of mental illness; a young woman seeking the truth buried amidst family secrets; and of a strong-willed mother and grandmother fighting to reshape the future out of the past, this is a book that touches all of us, whether or not we have suffered the same. Healing and powerful in its message while never being self-indulgent, "Don't Call Me Mother" is a testament to the resiliency and courage of those who seek to make peace with themselves and discover truth through their losses.

As a women's memoir writing teacher and coach, I read memoirs to find exemplars for my classes. I recently read the excellent Don't Call Me Mother: Breaking the Chain of Mother-Daughter Abandonment by Linda Joy Myers. Her compelling life story is written as a series of vignettes that reveal a multi-generational pattern of abandonment and eventual healing. Myers, a marriage and family therapist, writes in the voice of the first person speaking in the present tense. If you are writing, or interested in writing, your memoir, consult this book to understand the dramatic impact on the reader of this voice and tense combination. From the author's perspective, Myers says the choice "forced me to integrate the self that I was with the witness I have become." You'll also notice the importance of trains in her life, representing separations and reunions, new ventures and returning home. If you are working on your memoir, consider if there has been a thread running through your life that could be woven into your memoir. Myers, also an artist, creates vitality and vividness in the people and places she shares with us through the use of color descriptors. What passions do you have - gardening, sports, cooking, art, music - that might enhance the telling of your story?

I strongly recommend this book as a "good read" if you struggle with the mother-daughter relationship in your life. I also highly recommend this book for the insights it offers into writing your memoir.

This was not quite what I thought it was but it was enjoyable, if that is the appropriate term for a book that causes one to cry or reflect on familial relationships. I have been surprised to learn how many women end up in circumstances in which they have effectively, if not actually, been abandoned by their mothers. I gave a copy to my daughter and loaned mine to a friend who I learned had been placed for adoption because her mother didn't want more children.

An extraordinary and compact collection of unpredictable and disturbing characters, subtle relationships, and haunting situations. Fine storytelling! David Maizenberg is a true talent with a wry sense of humor and a keen sense of the painfully ridiculous. Plenty of hip, cool, refreshing (as a tonic) prose. Nuance galore.

I bought this book because I was interesting in Agony Press and wanted to see what they published. Invitations was supposed to be an introduction to a publisher. It turned out to be an introduction to a remarkable new voice in short fiction.

Maizenberg surprised me with his terse fiction stylings in the first story, "Smoking with Felix-the-Super." I didn't want to think it at first, because it's a dooming thought if tossed around hastily, but I was forced to relent and make the comparison--it's like Carver, only fresher than the thousands of other imitators out there. Honest. Real.

That's what Maizenberg is in all these stories: honest and real. And sometimes that gives us a queasy feeling, like in "Looking for Jojo," and sometimes it just washes over us in a tide of recognition, like in Play-Doh Pill/Lego Life"; we know these people--we are these people.

But he's versatile, too. The collection's best story is "Dotcomicon," a story I dreaded from the title. "Hip," I thought. "He's trying to be hip and 'Now'." And he is current, but what he's trying to do is write an allegory. He succeeds. This is one of the best modern allegories I've read in a while. And that title is one of the best titles I've seen, too, the kind that grows in depth each time you think about its connection to the story. A must-read.

Short, too-the-point but not in-your-face, Maizenberg hasn't redefined contemporary fiction, but he's certainly refreshed it. Keep an eye out for more by this author.

A fresh, new group of short stories from a young writer who can only be on his way up. Maizenberg combines insight into the human condition, excellent prose, and an acute sense of drama and wit. The stories' diversity of intent and plot show off both the range of talent and the originality of voice of this exciting new author. I look forward to reading his next wave of writings.

David Maizenberg's book is much more than a fine collection of short stories -- it's an unintentional treatise on what is wrong with the corporate book-publishing world. For every nonlinear leap and unpredictable twist of thought in these pages, there's a moment of genuine revelation. I don't want to call it spiritual, though it is. I don't want to call it redemptive, though I feel redeemed. I only want you to give this book a chance to change your life. Because it can do so, it is art in the truest sense. Don't say you weren't warned.

If you're looking for a familiar landmark to compare this book to, try George Saunders. Although Maizenberg's targets are more real and immediate than Saunders's, this author possesses a similar wit and dazzling capacity for self-revelation through seemingly mundane details. This book will haunt you.

A kneejerk reaction would be to compare "Invitations to a Bridge Burning" to "Generation X." Maizenburg's tone echoes the simple profoundness of Douglas Coupland's watershed novel, and like Coupland, firmly entrenches his characters in times and places familiar to young oh-so-hip college-educated readers -- coffee shops in SoHo, IPO parties in Palo Alto, flirtations in Rome. There are no universal sentiments here. With only a few exceptions, the prose is sleek and evocative, sometimes dancing with verse. This is a book for those looking for love and the Big Score in the 2000s.

But read the last two stories, and suddenly you are thrust deep within a character's spirit, where dreams are not empty but virile, and for better or worse take control. This collection yanks you on a bullet-train from dirty realism to surrealism in 137 pages flat. "Invitations to a Bridge Burning" will appeal to everyone who might feel his or her life is not quite settled -- not because Maizenburg reflects our yearning for more with a pandering wink and nod, but because he realizes our dreams exist to serve us, not vice versa. By the last page, you feel wrong has been made right.

This is by far the best collection of true New England ghost encounters available. The witnesses are all very credible and I like the fact that the author is a scientist (anthropologist) and knows how to interview people and separate fact from fiction. The accounts range from hair-raising to humorous, with some of them being quite poignant. You won't be able to put it down. Even if you're not from New England or particularly interested in this area, if you're a fan of ghost stories you'll love this book (if you're not a fan it may make you one!)

Around Halloween my husband and I invite friends over for dinner and ghost stories, and often read aloud from this book. It's great fun and stimulates interesting conversation, debate, and sharing of personal encounters with the "supernatural" (it's more common that you might think). Mr. Robinson, if you're reading this, please consider doing some more research and writing another book!

I do really recommend this book because it is a very good non- fiction horror book. I really like these kinds of books because I think they are really great books. What made me like this genre is everything in that book has really happened I like books like that. There were surprises in the book like during one storie I thought that the people would sell there house because it is haunted but instead they just deal with the ghost and ignore it and by doing this the people said the " ghost got the picture" and left and doesn't haunt them any more. Who would enjoy reading this would be people who like horror movies and books and people who like things that happen in real life not stuff authors make up for books.

simply the best most fritening book on earth! its great for scaring children and halloween

I definitly recomend this one!

This was THE most frightening book I have ever read - and I've been reading and studying the paranormal for 30 years. I can't sleep with this book in the same room.

I've loaned this book out so many times I had to buy a second copy. The stories are both interesting and believable. The author does his best to protect the privacy of some haunted home owners but there's plenty of descriptions of public places for those who want to do some investigating on their own. It's the most entertaining book on New England hauntings I've found yet.

One More Bridge to Cross is an inside look at the Noncommissioned Officers contributions to warfare. By providing direct insight to the Noncommissioned Officer, the author allows the reader to gain a great deal of in-depth knowledge in a short time. He provides the reader with real life experience as well as researched facts that build upon one another and enlighten the reader. A definite read for anyone interested in military tactics and training.

One More Bridge to Cross takes a truly unique approach to studying warfare and military reform. One More Bridge to Cross offers a close look at the moral factors of war that John Poole examines so insightfully in his other books. Most great military theorists (including Sun Tzu, Clausewitz and John Boyd) have emphasized the importance of moral factors. John Poole goes beyond theorizing about these moral factors and examines their importance in conflicts past and present. He shows how the United States has gained strength throughout its history by supporting worthy causes. He gives examples of how upholding moral standards in the conduct of war has contributed to ultimate victory. Finally, he shows how the United States has begun to loose the moral highground in recent times by practicing heavy-handed attrition style warfare. One More Bridge to Cross is particularly relevant to today's war against terrorism, where perceptions of values and morality can sway public opinion at home and rally new enemies abroad.

In this another excellent work from John Poole, the author has chosen to examine the moral aspects of good soldiering by focusing on their application on a tactical level (although his suggestions might be equally well applied on the strategic level.) Don't be mistaken, however. This is not simply a theological tract. The author, a Roman Catholic, probably has more first hand knowledge of good solid tactics than any other "expert" going. He knows how to kill another man, another unit, and/or another tank. His interest, however, is in the proper aim of maneuver warfare: winning the war with an eye on what Liddell-Hart called "a better peace."

It's been over twenty years since the U.S. military formally outlined their emphasis on maneuver warfare (hastily summed up as "achieving our objective(s)") rather than attrition (again, hastily summed up as "destroying the enemy"), and yet our forces still seem bogged down in no-win attrition style wars. Were they to pay closer to attention to the evaluations of gentlemen such as Poole, they'd have a much easier time winning those "hearts and minds" we're always hearing about.

There are, of course, a multitude of religious undertones here, but even the most atheistic amongst us will have to recognize the strategic pragmatism of Poole's suggestions. The bombardment of a city by air may win you some rubble, but it doesn't win you a war. A wake of bodies doesn't make for a victory, and it doesn't lay the groundwork for "peace-keeping." As we've seen, it only encourages resentment and an insurgency.

If there's an intruder in your neighbor's house, you seek out and remove the intruder. You don't blow up the building. If your goal is to show an eastern peoples that you've come to remove an indiscriminately violent dictator, you don't use indiscriminate violence.

One More Bridge to Cross addresses something that often gets forgotten- the training of our souls and establishing a natural moral compass when engaged in combat will instinctively take over as chaos ensues. Fight or flight instincts take over on the battlefield. If training is not effective and becomes a part of ones character, it's left behind in lieu to what already exists in one's moral fabric. This book is about avoiding killing when the opportunity exists in order to minimize loss of life and limb. It's about applying only the appropriate amount of force in order to meet mission requirements. Before going into combat we train mentally and physically with a quick skim over the morality of war, and the mental, physical and moral costs of war without ever realizing what war actually may entail.

So what happens when human beings ignore training of the compass? We have incidences like Abu Ghraib, WWII soldiers say they were only following orders when exterminating Jews, Serbs and Muslims of the Balkans revenge killing each other, Palestinians and Israelis going tit- for-tat, Special Forces Operators being accused of needlessly killing detainees, news reporters concerned about getting stories out without considering their uninformed or biased approaches. All of the above named actions contribute to the continuation of war.

Service members who are not mentally prepared for this reality may become susceptible to mental and emotional illnesses i.e. Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. They may feel guilt ridden for something they have actually done correctly, but do not realize that they had taken appropriate measures because faith in themselves and their training were not reinforced.

Again, war is the ultimate clash of HUMAN WILLS. The ultimate clash of wills is highly emotional for people on the front lines of a battle fields. Unless one has been in a combat environment, one will never truly understand and will attempt to subjugate the importance of the human in combat vice the machine. People die, friends die, and this causes anger, pain and the desire for revenge.

Poole's book stresses the importance of maintaining a moral compass in combat. He is training the subconscious to contend with a reality that some hi-tech supporters of weapon systems do not understand. Killing is killing whether one pushes a button, or the other pushes a trigger. One kills people and calls some collateral damage and perpetuates the fight by providing the enemy a battle cry and information operation tool, the other engages face to face and knows he truly killed a legitimate threat. This is the bridge combatants are forced to cross.

As much as anything, this is a "how to" manual for warriors in the 21st Century. While some things have changed since this book was written in 1999, it is my contention that these much needed changes in ground force organization, training, and tactics were influenced greatly by this book and John Poole's recommendations. There is still a lot more to be learned from the thoughts and ideas this book, and it should be read by more than just warriors. This book would help legislators, parents, teachers, potential recruits, and ordinary Americans (voters and supporters) to understand what has happened to our military forces in the past 50 years and where we have to go to address the wars we are now fighting and those of the future.

John Poole provides a challenge to America's conventional military philosophy - In 1999, America's military leaders were not preparing the military for the current nature of war which some call 4th Generation War and others Asymmetric War and still others Irregular Warfare. In many respects, the reforms that John Poole calls for in One More Bridge are still not in practice. The price for not understanding what Poole has to say will be excessive casualties, disruption of indigenous populations, and erosion of their support for our military objectives. This is the very frightening and realistic picture that John Poole (a retired Marine Lieutenant Colonel and former Gunnery Sergeant) paints in One More Bridge to Cross: Lowering the Cost of War. John Poole is a recognized and noted expert on small unit battlefield tactics. He is the author of Phantom Soldier, The Tiger's Way, Tactics of the Crescent Moon, and The Last 100 Yards and has spent twenty-eight years leading and training Marines in small unit tactics, serving two tours in Vietnam.

His thesis is based on the history of the last fifty years from past wars. Poole stresses the need for radically different small unit decentralized training to prepare U.S. soldiers and Marines to fight the wars of the future (remember, this is 1999 that he wrote this). Poole states that change is needed in three areas: implementing effective decentralized light-infantry training, returning the moral quotient to the destruction of war by minimizing disruption of civilian life, and understanding and respecting the enemies' philosophy of war. This requires our military strategists to change their focus from attrition warfare to a more balanced approach with maneuver and Stability and Support Operations (SASO) as the counter. This idea is something that the military-industrial complex has been trying hard to ignore. If one looks at the guidance given to the Quadrennial Defense Review in 2005, however, that guidance seems to reflect a change in the old ways of thinking about how we fight. It is a decided shift toward what Poole was trying to tell us before 9/11.

Poole states that, "Attrition Warfare has become as much a part of American military thinking as apple pie." Modern warfare dictates that the military must add a new philosophy that enables America to win in many different environments in which attrition warfare will lose.

As this review is being written, some 30 Army artillery battalions are being transitioned to more appropriate types of units such as military police, military intelligence, and light infantry in recognition of the fact that our new enemies have neutralized attrition warfare, as Poole suggested. We are learning to adapt, but is it enough?

Poole's new military philosophy was based upon analysis of a new and different enemy, who is not obliging enough to sit still and face the military in massed formations to slug it out, where America's overwhelming firepower would prevail. Instead, he is a phantom living in the hidden jungle vastnesses, treacherous mountains, and maze-like cities, where he organizes his military into decentralized, small mobile elements. America, therefore, cannot destroy the whole country to get him. The French learned this in their defeats in Vietnam and Algiers. Americans saw the effect in Vietnam, Lebanon, Somalia and now Afghanistan and Iraq, but we have been late to adapt.

Poole explains how eastern warfare and military thought is very different. In the East, the decision maker takes everything as a whole and then proceeds with a comprehensive and intuitive bringing together of its every aspect. In the West, the decision maker divides a complex matter into its component parts, and then deals with those parts one at a time with the emphasis on logical analysis. For ground combat, the Eastern way of thinking may have more utility. The Asian large-unit commander is a bottom-up, holistic thinker. He briefs every subordinate (no matter how low ranking) on his overall goals and then encourages them to either make a contribution or get out of the way. As a result, his unit can more quickly adapt to the fragmented and ever-changing nature of modern battle. He exploits what his subordinates accomplish rather than dictating their every move. Does this even vaguely remind anyone of Osama Bin Laden?

In the West, the emphasis was, and still is in some respects, on long-range warfare and large-unit training, i.e., battalion and above. In the East, the emphasis is on short-range warfare and small-unit training, most notably, the individual, fire team, and squad. This means that the Asian soldier generally acquires more of the basic field skills he will need to survive in close combat.

In this book, John Poole tells us that American Soldiers and Marines have always been expert at using their equipment and following orders. Unfortunately, one must know more than that to survive against a loosely controlled and arms-poor but woods-wise opponent. Poole goes on to enumerate those areas where we need to train our grunts and all those who would participate in this kind of war.

Former Gunny Poole reminds us that those best qualified to develop the prerequisite procedures will be the non-commissioned officers (NCOs). By allowing his 30-40 NCOs to collectively design their own portfolio of tactical techniques up to squad level, the company commander will not only give his small-unit leaders tactical decision-making experience, but also he can ensure their non-predictability in war.

Until we reform our military philosophy, these new wars will be costly to our soldiers and the civilians that we are trying to win over to our cause. Read this book!

I'm not a Quaker and I've never attended a Meeting. Although I consider any religion that calls its practitioners Friends a step in the right direction, my motivations in reading SBN were strictly secular. I was first drawn to the book because I have enormous respect for the publisher. The cover also spoke to me. The simplicity and purity of it. A single stand of snow covered trees. And I've always been intrigued by bridges as metaphors, so the title was perfect. There's no doubt that SBN is a book of the spirit in the sense that it's a look at the effects of Quakerism in the writer's life. And this is a strong theme of the book. To say otherwise would be misleading and disingenuous. But the book is so much more than that, too generous with its reach, too honest in its outpouring of contemplations, too bighearted and open-minded to be pigeonholed as a theological dogmatic text. It is indeed a soulful book, but it offers its deep solitude, silence and solace to all. For some unknown reason I dipped into the book haphazardly, rather than reading it linearly, which did not ruin the experience for me. Covering a rapid and transitional year in her life, it alternates between journal-type entries and short and long meditations on all things human: emotions, food, television, our education system, everyday life, and even the internet, which becomes another form of metaphysical uplifting for the author. It turns out she's met her new husband on the web. Some of their communications back and forth, via re-mail, are included in the book. That atypical love story is just one of the truly fine, honest - and surprising - things that the author reflects on. They all conjoin into the story of a lifechange. An intelligent, quietly passionate, appealing, and insightful story of the process of continuing to make oneself a better person through faith in life and in each other.

I'm Kate Maloy's ex-husband. She speaks about me in her good book, A Stone Bridge North, anonymously, because she was considerate enough to try to protect the guilty.

Because I figure in her book, but not in especially complementary terms, I figure that potential buyers or readers of her book might be interested in my take on it.

It's a captivating story of emotional venture and spiritual adventure, with author-centered but gifted, exquisite reflections on the meaning of the struggle - in terms with which anyone can empathize - to enrich a life, a marriage, a sense of self, one's soul.

It's also a guarranteed page-turner, a compelling story of the roles of reflective struggle and the mystery of grace in amazing turns of life.

The story of how Kate found the wonderful man who became her soul-mate and new husband is, simply, amazing by any standard.

Any person who ever wondered how - by concerted effort or by gentle grace - life can, indeed, take magnificent turns needs to read this book. And take heart.

I'm another reader of this book who is not a Quaker, nor do I play one on TV. That said, I was fascinated and moved by Ms. Maloy's memoir spanning 10 very significant months in her life. For readers contemplating any major life change, this book provides both inspiration and wisdom.

Kate Maloy has written a lovely and moving book. To attempt a memoir is one thing; to write it without me-me-me is a true art (not to mention a reflection on the selflessness of the writer). Not once during this read did I hear ego or judgment and I never had the feeling that the author was in therapy and was compelled to write this book. Instead, I felt as if the life she lived... and the discoveries she made perhaps moments before writing... were what she chronicled. She lived, she learned, and then she told us about it. The author spared us the angst, but not the profound revelations generated by that angst.

Kate Maloy has the life I want to live. We have similar backgrounds, including age, gender, past marriages, Quakerism and more. So perhaps I should seek that life -- it's out there, she proves so in this book.

This is not a light or superficial book -- it is rich and shines with deep thoughts and reflection. She includes all the wrinkles, twists and lines that real life brings to us. In this book she shares the kinds of things you might think about, but not speak, the contents of a personal journal, introspective and quite true.

She has managed to make the most of her life, and this book is a wonder to read. Her writing style is one that invites the reader along, and I felt (as you probably will) as if this was part of a conversation with a close friend, part with myself, part simply a life viewed through a warm and inviting window.

She writes about so much, this book is incredibly full -- I'm not done yet reading it again and again.

A quote I love, "Long before I ever met Alan, I wondered if any man of my generation could love a woman his own age, could feel passion (and compassion) for her aging, vulnerable flesh, could open himself to a soul-deep love even as he himself loses muscle tone, stamina and hair -- could well and truly stand naked in front of another and not be ashamed. Now I know there is at least one such man on the planet."

Sigh. This Friend speaks for me.

An uplifting, warming reading for cool nights and warm days, too.

Normally, I don't read many romances but I will definitely be looking for more of Kate Bridges' work after reading "The Surgeon."

The title of the book refers to the main character, 40-year-old John Calloway, a surgeon with Canada's Royal Mounted Police (which immediately reminded me of the actor Paul Gross from Due South). Apparently, the men under his command have set him up with 28-year-old Sarah O'Neill, a mail-order bride looking for change. Both John and Sarah carry emotional baggage with them: he is somewhat inflexible in dealing with people and she is looking for her estranged brother, who's on the wrong side of the law.

The story is based on a true life experience, and Bridges does her research well. Sarah and her brother are gunsmiths, and there's a great piece of dialogue near the end between smart, intelligent Sarah and the town blacksmith regarding the making of rifles. The last romance I read had a heroine who was dumber than dishwater, and it's refreshing to read about a woman who knows not only how to be a homemaker, but how to support herself by watchmaking or gunsmithing.

I also liked how the author made the characters question their relationship and themselves. Usually, it's true love conquers all after a romp in the bedroom, but here we have two wildly different personalities and backgrounds coming together, and the fact that they're not sure about each other until nearly the end of the book makes it all the more realistic.

highly entertaining Harlequin Historical. This book is chock full of unusual themes for a romance-a old west book but set in Canada. The heroine-a spunky, intelligent "spinster" of 28 who loves to fix clocks and is a excellent gunsmith, the hero-a 40 year old Mountie who is also the towns primary Doctor, who is in for a big surprise when Sarah shows up but handles that surprise very well.

I had heard many good reviews for this book-they were all correct. I look forward to reading more by Miss Bridges!
4.5 stars!

The Surgeon has everything one wants in a historical romance novel. From the first page to the last, it's smart, sassy, thoroughly entertaining and plain pleasurable to read!

Absolutely first rate!

Be sure to first read 1. The Surgeon 2. The Engagement and soon to be released 3. The Proposition. All three contain some of the same characters.

This was one of the best romance novels I have read in a long time. I could not put the book down. I kept saying I would read just one more chapter, but after that chapter I had to keep reading to see what would happen next.

I really liked that this story was set in the Canadian west. It was really nice to read a story which took place in the "old west" that didn't revolved around Indians and cattle drives.

I enjoyed that the male lead character wore two hats, of law officer and doctor. It created a multidimensional character that evolved independently of the main story.

This book is full of twists that I didn't expect. I rarely read books a second time, but this will be going on my shelf for a second viewing.

I liked this book but I didn't understand why the couple was arguing 4/5 of the book.

At the beginning of the book Sarah arrives in Calgary, Canada as a mail-order bride. She believes that she is there to become John Calloway's wife & what they discover is that John's men had been corresponding with Sarah as a prank. John offers to pay for Sarah to return home but she objects to that because of her other reason for wanting to come to Calgary. She believes her long lost brother is there.

After the town treats Sarah very badly because of some embarrassing information that got out he decides to do the right thing by marrying her. So they wed & consummate their marriage & then they practically separate themselves from each other until the end of the book. They don't even sleep in the same room. At the very end of the book they realize their love for one another but I really don't understand why it took so long. I just really couldn't understand what their conflict was all about. Seemed silly to me.

I also found many errors in the book. The author used the wrong name a few times in the book & it had you wondering what was going on. Also at the end of the book you hear John's friend Logan state that he heard John had helped make guns for the enemy & earlier when that whole part was taking place Logan was actually one of the only people that knew about it but he commented about it as if he heard it through the grapevine.

Other then those few errors & the lack of romance 4/5 of the book there was a good story line. It's a quick read & if you don't need the steamy romance they you should like this book.

If you need lots of perspectives, angles, definitions and reflections, plus over 24,000 hours of combined experience in healing folks with mental and emotional illness, you need to read this book. In the end, it is simplified for lay folks and we can all benefit and use it to help others through the rough spots of their journeys, no matter how big the problems seem. It thoroughly changed my counseling methods and kept me from being drained at the end of the day.

I read through this book a number of times and am still not too sure about some of the more "charismatic" things like dealing with the sins of parents, for one example.

But the material on depression was amazing for a fundamentalist preacher. Ground breaking and sensitive and balanced.

I cannot evaluate the parts of the book that I wonder about, but the other parts were very impressive to me.

This is the finest book I have ever read on human emotional development and healing. I have significantly highlited at least 50% of the pages of this book, and cannot stop promoting it to everyone I talk to. If you you want to be more whole than you ever dreamed you could be, READ THIS BOOK.

Somehow I recall reading this book in my late teens. It was a positive experience, guidance towards attaining fulfillment through realization of Truth/Essence.

I borrowed this book from a library about 15 years ago - maybe less. I was 40 or more years old and had read self-help books for 20 years. This was the last self-help book I read, because it was thoroughly therapeutic. The authors helped me recognize the pattern of anti-social thinking/behavior in one area of my life, the reasons for it being there, and the recognition of my anger. It was helpful to know that I could die to that old way of thinking because Christ went to the cross and paid for it before I was born. It took about 3 days to grieve the loss of the old way of thinking and on about the 4th day, to enter the new, unfamiliar freedom of right thoughts and feelings. It's been wonderful. I am so grateful.