Biography Books

When I first picked up this book, I was a little unsure about it. I am here to tell you that this book is worth reading. It shows a family dealing not only with cancer, but living with past lapses in judgment that sometimes come back in the middle of the night to haunt them.
It made me realize how short life is, and that we should all take a little more time and enjoy the people who are in our lives. We never know when something could happen to them.

This is simply one of the finest memoirs I've read in years; and an important book on serious topics - marriage, divorce, adoption, alcohol, and illness. Armstrong has a lot of wisdom to impart, and does so in a simple yet affecting style that will often break your heart.
Do not miss this book...it's a work of art.

I thank the author. As we all know, there are, at times, difficult decisions to be made in life. When our choices seem both right and wrong simultaneously, the measure of our worth can possibly be revealed. This is a true story, a memoir, of deep human connections. Make a point of reading this one. Then you, too, will be thanking Campbell Armstrong, also for his wonderfully emotionally uplifting writings.

I want to thank the author for following his ambitions, listening to his heart and sharing his writings with us. As we all know, there are, at times, difficult decisions to be made in life. When our choices seem both right and wrong simultaneously, the measure of our worth can possibly be revealed. This is a true story, a memoir, of deep human connections. Make a point of reading this one. You will be thanking Campbell Armstrong, also.

I just read All That Really Matters the UK version of I Hope You Have A Good Life. What a wonderful book! I would definately give more than 5 stars if I could. The book is a true story of a woman who gave up her baby girl years ago. Well she gets married, to who else, Campbell Armstrong an aspiring writer, and has kids, 3 boys, of her own. After they move to Phoenix, they end up getting divorced and Campbell moves back to Ireland where they are originally from, while Eileen stays with the boys in Phoenix. Years later Eileen finds out she has cancer. Across the world, a woman named Barbara also finds out she has cancer. She has been looking for her real mother for a long time. When she finally finds her mother and they both discover they both have cancer, the illness doesn't matter anymore because they have found each other. This is a story of loves lost and found along with lifes ups and downs. What a magnificent story. I have also read Concert of Ghosts by Campbell Armstrong. Also a descriptive book!!!

Thomas Henderson tells it straight up . If you want to know how a man can right himself after falling from grace then you need to read this book . From the top of the mountain , fame , money , prestige , all pro line backer with the Cowboys to a destitute , strung out crack head . Want to learn how this man dealt with his demons ? He takes one day at a time , just like the rest of us . But Thomas makes a pledge to take one day at a time " sober " . It's an option , you gotta suit up every day !

God bless you Thomas . Keep fighting the good fight

I Really enjoyed reading In Control, Years ago I read Thomas's other book Out of Control and while I enjoyed it also. This one is different -- his first one told how he got sober, but this new one tells HOW TO STAY SOBER!!! While he tells us how to stay sober he also entertains the heck out of the reader. It is a book I am going to find myself rereading every couple years or so, and there are not very many books that are like that for me.

This book really made me re-think about my sobriety.Thomas Henderson helped me understand better about the 12-steps.About being able to better my life while dealing with my addictions.I really recommend this book for anybody who is going through a recovery process or knows somebody who is,to help them understand what that person is going through in their head.

This book is the straightforward, easy to read, incredible story of one mans trip to hell and back. Cowboy fans and anyone interested in reading a testimony to the human spirit will enjoy In Control. It is also an excellent heads-up to anyone thinking of dabbling in the world of alcohol and drugs. For those who can identify with Thomases plight, it is an excellent companion to the Big Book of A.A. For those who cant, let it serve as a warning to any who think addiction is a problem "other people" have to worry about.

I just spent the weekend reading this book and couldn't put it down.

Thomas Henderson has written a book about addiction and recovery, but his message is actually a universal statement of how to identify challenges, find solutions, produce results and to live a more meaningful life. I think its message has meaning to everyone.

If you (or a family member, friend, or associate) is challenged by addiction, you will learn and find inspiration.

If you are concerned about public policy issues and the burdens of our criminal justice system, you should read this book to understand more about addiction as a foundational problem that produces crime and recidivism.

If you are the leader of a company, of your household, of your kids, or of your peers, this book has important messages that can help you look at problems differently, consider new solutions, and to make better decisions.

While the narrative involves the recovery of Thomas Henderson, reading this book will help you be a more effective CEO, a better parent, or a more enlightened leader. Every thinking adult should read this book.

I am a huge Jeff Gordon fan and I will be the first to tell you that this is a wonderful book! I have been a fan for a little over 4 years and this book goes into detail about everything that you would ever want to know! Very well written...if you are a Jeff Gordon fan this is the book for you!

I enjoyed the book very much but not as much as my 18 month old grandson whould have if he could read. He is all Jeff even looks like him. This is not only my opinion but a lot of other people as well. Everything in his room is Jeff Gordan. He even has a Jeff uniform and wore it for hallowween. Took Third. If I had an address I would send a picture of my grandson Levi. He watches just about all your races with his mother as he doesn't have a male role model, just me. A race car enthusiast from Sioux Falls, SD

This is a great book not only for the pictures but the text is also very great. It's just an all around great book!

this was one of the best books that i have read on Jeff and i'm reading it over and over. I only wish it was bigger and that i was in it.

I am a big fan of Gordon i have mostly ever thing of Gordon. If you are a racing fan these sould be your first book!

I have to admit I did not expect to find this book as interesting as it turned out to be. I was only interested in identifying some species within my yard and discovered quite a bit about ants. This book won't make you an expert, but it has made me see ants from a whole new perspective, so much so that I have come to like them instead of disliking them. I can also see why it is possible to kill a colony so easily. Never knew that once the queen is gone, there is no colony. I think if ants had atom bombs they would have destroyed the earth by now - killing each other. I had no idea they were so aggressive towards one another. Anyway, great book to read.

Apart from being a great book for all kind of reader, it was, for me (eight years ago!), a start point and it was probably the cause I focus my career nowadays in these small insects. It's quite nice for a child (then better with adult, not to read alone) or young people interested in natural sciences.

I loved this book. After reading it I spent the next night telling my wife all I'd managed to remember.

Journey to the Ants is a shorter version of the authors' monumental The Ants (1990), a 732-page tome aimed at professional biologists with a lot of technical language and a clear encyclopedic intent. This book, as Holldobler and Wilson explain in the Preface, is of "a more manageable length, with less technical language and with an admitted and unavoidable bias toward those topics and species on which we have personally worked."

It is a terrific book, lavishly illustrated with many color plates, line drawings, black and white drawings, photos, etc. Especially wonderful are the color prints of paintings by John D. Dawson showing ants in various activities. His style reminds me a bit of M.C. Esher. Also notable are the many photos taken by Holldobler and Wilson during their many travels and studies. They are both renowned experts on ants around the world.

The text is both informative and entertaining. Wilson in particular is a world class science writer as well as a great scientist, and his clarity of expression and enthusiasm show through. The chapters examine and illustrate how ants live in their colonies, how they hunt prey, tend aphid "cattle," cultivate fungi, raid other ant colonies; how they fight and how they reproduce. Other chapters focus on particular species, like army ants or leaf cutter ants, or "strange" ants. Still other chapters show how ants communicate especially through pheromones and touch. There is some theory on ant origins (about 100-120 million years ago) and their evolution and present distribution. I was particularly interested in and appalled by both the way some ants are parasites and how they themselves are exploited by parasites. Our esteemed authors show how ants, for all their power and evolutionary success, can be the most naive victims of beetles, flies, butterfly larva, etc. simply because they can be fooled by smells that mimic those of the colony and/or because they can be given irresistible concoctions of food or what might be called "drugs" that make them passive and acceptive of insects that will eat their eggs and larva. They are also tricked into feeding strangers on the trail and alien larva in the colony nest!

I purposely first read a couple of other books on ants (The World of Ants: A Science-Fiction Universe (1970) by Remy Chauvin, and Ants (1977) by M.V. Brian), written by myrmecologists of an earlier generation so as to be able to better appreciate this famous work. But you need not do that. Journey to the Ants is eminently accessible to just about any literate person.

While reading I had some thoughts (as Wilson famously has had) on the differences and similarities between ant societies and human ones. Ants are not governed as we are (and as was once thought) in any way by a central authority. (They are influenced by the queen's pheromones and her behavior.) Instead ants are examples of "swarm intelligence," that is purposeful and coordinated behavior that arises from each individual doing what comes naturally to that individual. This sort of intelligence was just beginning to be appreciated when Holldobler and Wilson wrote this book. The phrase "swarm intelligence" does not appear anywhere in the book, and yet it is clear that our present understanding of how this intelligence works was gleaned in part from the work of biologists and ethologists like Holldobler and Wilson.

Ants are famous for doing human-like things that no other animals or few can do, such as gardening, tending herds, making war, and constructing elaborate living spaces. It is usually said that ants do it from pure instinct whereas we use our intelligence and the experience. Humans and ants cannot be defined independently of their respective cultures. What I wonder is, is it an artificiality to say that their intelligence, spread out as it is among the individuals and their genetic endowments, is fundamentally different from our own? Clearly ants are limited in what they can construct, what they can understand, and what tools they can make and use. I read somewhere that ants never developed fire because no ant could get close enough to a sustainable fire to tend it.

A striking conclusion is that perhaps the real difference between us comes from our ability to grow a million times bigger in size which allows us not only to tend fires, but to develop brains large enough to handle abstract thought such as in language, which further allows us to develop and share ideas, concepts, practices, and all the other aspects of our culture in a way that is impossible for ants, whose brain size is limited by their anatomy.

So, although ants were here long before we arrived, and although they probably will be here long after we are gone, it is impossible to say which life form is the more successful. We do have at present the capability, which ants do not, of enhancing our ability to survive through genetic engineering and the development of biologically friendly machines, and even the ability to migrate away from this earth so that our genes and ourselves are not in one basket, so to speak. Should a planet-sterilizing event hit the earth, we could be on Mars and still survive.

But then there is this insidious thought: perhaps the ants, like our resident microbes, will find a way to come with us!

Don't miss this book. You are in for a treat.

There is few to say that has not been said. It is very well written and the information is mind-boggling.

No need to add any reviews, just the best british legion book. Plays
in the same league like "Par le sang verse'" (Through the blood wich was
shed) by Paul Bonnecarrere.

For men who have served in a similar capacity (airborne infantry), great read. Easy to say now that I'm no longer eligible, but I wish I'd joined 20 years ago. It's the kind of adventure I was looking for then. Some of my personal experiences parallel Mr. Murray's, but not in intensity and duration. Deepest respect.

I greatly enjoyed Legionnaire, though it does bog down in places, it is a great telling of life in the Legion. The author is a very intelligent and educated man and it shows in his writing. The entire book is a collection from his extensive diaries during his time in the Legion.

The story is a classic Foreign Legion story of a young educated British boy seeking adventure and excitement. What he finds is that the Legion is not what he expected from reading Beau Geste and he is thrust into one of the most brutal and psychologically exhausting experience of his life. But you can see the transformation from the boy who entered the Legion to the hardened and weathered man who left it five years later.

Though the story might seem somewhat cliche the art is in the telling and the author does a magnificent job, a great read and well worth the time spent.

I've read this book at least four times over the past twenty years (yes, I bought it when it first came out) and lent it out to at least that many friends. If you are interested in the Legion, the military, history or just feeling adventurous - this is the book for you.

I had the old version of the book and at first the pace is slow and the diary format wasn't exciting. Later on, the action picks up and I came to like Murray as he is a very good lad and makes me sympathize with him. It is a wonderful account of 5 years in such a tough environment, although I would never join the Legion unless I really messed myself up somewhere in life...the reasons not to join are plentiful and I'm not sure Murray had any good reason to join the Legion other than for adventure, at a time when youths could take time off and worry less about the rat-race as it is today.

This book will help anyone who has ever lost a loved one. It made me value the grieving process in a new way. It is beautifully written and will be treasured by anyone who knows what it is to suffer a loss.

I really connected with everything that Lorraine Ash wrote. Reading this book after my daughter Abigail died helped me realize that I am not alone and that the emotions that I am experiencing are normal.

Having lost my only child to stillbirth at the time of delivery, I was attracted to the author's story due to our similar timelines. The book provides many situations and experiences that are sadly common for parents of stillborn children - the loss of the dreams of parenthood; the questions about guilt and cause; the deep sadness that accompanies grieving a loss that few can identify with. I find the author's recovery inspiring and believe that she and her husband have found meaningful ways to honor their beloved child. I would recommend this book for others who want to understand what it is like to go through a tragedy such as this, or are going through it and need to know that they are not alone in their feelings.

I read this right after I gave birth to a baby girl born still one month before her due date. This book helped me to understand what was going on with me and it helped me know that I wasn't going crazy I was having normal feelings as I moved through this horrible experience. I sent Lorraine an email to tell her how much her sharing her own experience helped me and she emailed me back! What a wonderful lady honoring her daughter Victoria in such a caring way!

DO NOT PURCAHSE IF YOU ARE RECENTLY BEREAVED.

My child was stillborn on June 5th, 2008 - just 5 weeks ago. I am desperate for spiritual guidance and for some direction from women who have experienced stillbirth and who have managed to regain their will to live. How can we accept this? How can we go on living after such a tragic loss of our baby and our futures??? Please offer some insight!
Lorriane Ash begins her story with the heartbreaking account of the day of the stillbirth. However, she instantly & miraculously finds hope within weeks after the death of Victoria, her child. She vascillates between time frames without being specific - is she in the 6th month? Is she in the 1st month? Lorrain Ash also cites 'pearls of wisdom' from numerous religions including Buddism, Shamanism, American Indian Spirituality, Christianity and Judiasm - without fully investing in any one of them. She tells stories of how she's helped others by interviewing them and feels a new 'kindness' towards them - but no insight on how to cope with the loss of your baby.

Lorraine Ash is obviously writing this book from a perspective of many years past the event. There is 'magic'in everything she does and in the very air she breathes. At this point in my grieving process - this is certainly not the case. This is a book for much, much later in the journey of grief.

The Marley books are just wonderful. I really enjoy reading about Marley. Cute, funny, & lively, this book is a page turner. Wonderful for all ages & a perfect gift for a dog lover! You can't go wrong with this book-great choice, lots of laughs!

Reviewed by Avery Largent (age 9) for Reader Views (11/08)

"Marley: A Dog Like No Other" by John Grogan is a true story about a very wild dog that does many insane and odd things. This book is very enjoyable; it's funny and a quick-read. I felt like I really got to see Marley's personality, and by the end, I felt like I had really gotten attached to him.

This book was funny and mostly easy to read. There are jokes at the dog's crazy antics, insane things the dog does that you couldn't help but laugh at. At one point, it showed something funny the dog had learned. If the owner shouted "INCOMING!," the dog would throw itself on the ground, legs widely splayed! Also there was a story told about him going to Dog Beach, and what trouble he got into there! I had a fit of laughter as I read that one. However, at a few points, it was harder to read because the scenes would become a blur. I think this was caused because each chapter is a story, and sometimes the scenes would switch so fast you would be left confused.

Through these hilarious stories, this book really lets you see the dog's personality. After reading it, I knew what would happen if Marley moved into our house and how he would react to our family. I even know what would happen if a thunderstorm came and what types of dogs he liked. Also, there are pictures in the middle of the book that are not only funny, but let you know the dog a little better. One showed him darting around the house as a puppy after grabbing his water bowl and splashing all over the house. Others showed when he dove into the pool and when he was at the beach, all showing a bit his personality and funny things he would do. I also got to know the owner pretty well; I could see he had faith in the dog. Even when Marley did crazy things, even when it seemed the rest of his family might be ready to get rid of him, he kept him.

All in all, "Marley: A Dog Like No Other" by John Grogan is a very good book. It is humorous and easy to read, despite a few scenes that switch rather fast. I really liked how much you got to see the dog's personality and the owner's faith in the dog. I would recommend this book to my friends, and hope they enjoy it just as much as I did.

While my 11 year old daughter would have been able to read the original book Marley and Me: Life and Love With the World's Worst Dog, some parts were not age appropriate for her. Luckily this version was written for kids to read on their own and retains all the humor of the original. It is a fun read for any kid who loves dogs and loves to laugh! This book is guaranteed to leave you laughing out loud, and reading passages to everyone nearby.

My 13 yr old son really enjoyed this book, and I am glad this version is available. Unfortunately they have not included all the footnotes that were in the adult version, I felt they added closure to the story.

You don't have to be a kid 9-12 years old to giggle, shake your head in disbelief, and cry while you read this book--an adaptation of MARLEY AND ME. This is a testament to author Grogan's writing skill.

Grogan never underestimates his readers' vocabulary and comprehension of complex ideas. He doesn't "sugar coat" anything; kids and adults appreciate that. He relates his story through a full range of emotions--frustration over Marley's destructive behavior, worry when Marley is sick, and awe every time Marely does the un-doable.

I challenge newbie juvenile writers to craft their books as well as Grogan has.

Note: If you don't have time to read the longer MARLEY AND ME, read MARLEY: A DOG LIKE NO OTHER instead. You'll be glad you did.

Man's inhumanity to man never ceases to amaze me. The story is at once tragic then hopeful, despairing then spiritual. Oni has captured the essence of one of the 20th century's worst travesties in a simple almost childlike manner. Perhaps not brilliantly written, it is brilliantly told. This is the first Killing Fields book I've read (avoided for obvious reasons of personal discomfort, although I've read books on Armenian genocide, Holocaust and Dharfur) and I will now join those who work to build on the strengths of Cambodia and its people. I especially appreciated the brief history of Cambodia at the end of the book, and the sweet and simple photos. I felt this strong sense of peace at the end of reading, as if in fact Oni will achieve her goals and be part of a larger vital improvement for the lives of so many Khmer, both in America and in Cambodia.

This is one of the most fascinating books I have ever read. From the beginning of her life in a cave to the constant struggle for suvival, Oni describes her ordeal, an ordeal no one would have dreamed could ever actually happen. Her life could have ended many times if it were not for the caring people around her and for her own perseverance. Oni is one strong, determined lady and her story needs to be told to the world. If you only read one book a year, this should be the one!

"And a child shall lead them" -- Oni Vitandham begins her real life story as a child, of resilience and survival surrounded by constant death, destruction, danger, and unimaginable horror. Although dealing with a conflict over 30 years removed, this book could not have arrived at a more poignant time. At its core, the political themes are as relevant today as they were then in stemming the flow of innocent blood.

This book should further resonate with recently honed political sensibilities (per Abu Graib, Iraq, etc) and serve as inspiration to us all not only as citizens but as human beings to stand up for justice and equality (even in the face of dire political rhetoric).

Oni's story reminds us how truly blessed we all are and of our universal responsibility to prevent these horrors from re-occurring.

"Evil prospers because good men do nothing." Edmund Burke

This is a wonderful book and easy reading. I would recommend it to anyone and I am going to refer it to my friends. Take the time to read it, it's definitely worth your while.

A reading of Oni Vitandham's "On the Wings of a White Horse" is an inspiring experience to say the least. It is a tale of immense pain and suffering, yet courage in the face of failure and despair. It is the story of a life that may never have been but for the love of family and friends. A theme that seems often lacking in our world today. It is not an easy book to read. Indeed, it is often violently confronting. However, it is certain, that the reader will leave with a greater sense of compassion, love and hope for the future of humanity

Oni's is a powerful, at times confronting and terrifying story that delves into the subjects that have all too often been left to the back pages of history. From the fall of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, to the Communist movements in Laos and Vietnam, and beyond to a new life in America, Oni's journey often reads like a political history of South-East Asia during the 1970s. For one young girl to be at the centre of some of the most desperate struggles of the decade, and to emerge not only alive, but also so incredibly empowered, seems almost beyond comprehension.

Yet this is what makes Oni, and her story, so enthralling. To quote the saying, "whatever doesn't kill us, makes us stronger" seems almost inadequate to describe this story. Indeed Oni tells her life as it is, with little attempt to shield use from the intense pain and suffering that she herself has had to endure. At first this seems almost to hard to bear. However as even Oni herself tells us at the start of the book; these are her childhood memories. It is this thought enough that inspires the reader to continue on.

Indeed Oni stands for an idea that is greater than her own personal story and even greater than her desire to see a prosperous and peaceful Cambodia. She believes in the right of all people to have the chance to grow up in peace and happiness. She believes in the power of the individual and the immense capacity that humans have for spreading happiness in their world.

A reading of Oni's "On the Wings of a White Horse" will leave the reader inspired. Indeed it is a story that enters through the heart and leaves through the head. One cannot read it and not be inspired to get up and care about the plight of the millions of people who are so less fortunate than ourselves.

I must have said "Oh my Goodness" or it's equivalent at least 10 times throughout this book. Once I started reading it I couldn't put it down and read it straight through without stopping for any reason. It took me one hour. This is a horrifying book. It appalles me that anything like what happened to this boy could happen to anyone, let alone tons of kids in orphanages. I'm glad things are a little better now a days but we still have more work to do. This book is NOT for children and only select teens who are ready for something as horrifying and sickening as this story.

I commend Roger for living through what he did, I probably would have just given up.

Orphan is a testament to good triumphing over evil and how one boy grew up to be adopted by the world. Author Roger Dean Kiser is a 54 year old, happily married father and grandfather who now calls Brunswick, Georgia home, but he once was a beautiful child longing for love and attention, a hug or a pat on the back; a prayer or a kiss goodnight. Things too many of us take for granted.

Little Roger also had beautiful eyes and wonderfully original ears that made him truly unique. Unfortunately he didn't know that and no one ever told him when he needed to hear it the most. What he did hear and on a daily basis was that he was unwanted, unloved, crazy and wouldn't amount to anything. That's pretty much what every child raised in the orphanage in Jacksonville Florida was told. But because of Roger's wilful spirit, uncommon wit and boundless curiosity, his guardians punished him with particularly cruel and unusual punishments. In a nutshell, they tortured him.

From beatings for trying to free butterflies to being forced to eat a personal letter that Kiser found that was hidden from him under the head matron's bed, there was no rhyme or reason to the punishments. Yet, within Roger's small frame of reference, this behavior seemed normal. And instead of spouting 'poor me', the young boy kept searching for, if not love, small doses of recognition, kindness and compassion.

Like so many children lost in the system, Roger had to find his own way to freedom. Although Orphan promises us he eventually does (no doubt, there will be a follow-up memoir) Kiser mostly deals with his years at the orphanage and ends with his experiences in Juvenile Hall at the age of 13.

I'm a tough cookie, but tears definitely dotted the pages of my copy of this memoir. I also heard myself laugh. Kiser has a way with words and knows how to spin his tales for maximum effect. Besides the obvious joy at his surviving such a brutal childhood, I suggest Kiser's gift is short story telling. The book is actually made up of short stories in chapter form. Because they are chronologically laid out, the result is a success.

Orphan was a roller coaster ride with all the expected hills and bumps you would expect, but a few less bumps would have made for a more satisfying story. Human nature, I guess. We want, no, we need to know people we care about are all right. And care about Roger you will. Reading Orphan, I wished that I could have entered Roger's little world, hug him, and tell him he was beautiful and that God loved him even when everyone around him didn't! The most satisfying part of reading Orphan is the knowledge that in writing his memoir, Roger Dean Kiser, Sr., has been rewarded ten-fold, with large doses of recognition, kindness and compassion. He deserves it

I had read some of Roger Dean Kiser's work on Heartwarmer's. Reading about his entire childhood in this book filled me with such a deep sadness. I can't imagine enduring the kind of physical and emotional torment that he grew up with. Roger is such a fine example of the triumph of the human spirit. It amazes me that after surviving his childhood that he could become a loving husband, father and grandfather. He's not filled with hate, rather he's determined to wake us up to prevent more children from suffering the same abuse. We can all learn a very important lesson from his life.

In the style of A Child Called It (the bestseller by Dave Peltzer), Orphan is told from the viewpoint of a child who endured nearly unspeakable horrors in a Florida orphanage and somehow emerged, spirit intact, to not only survive but tell his story with unflinchable honesty. The book is divided into three sections: Before, During and After,with the majority of the book (the During section) devoted to memories of the orphanage. With no one to love him and with repeated beatings, abuse and pain to love forward to, I find it miraculous that the author, Roger Dean Kiser, Sr, actually managed to make a life for himself after enduring the indignities of orphanage life. His memoir reveals in vivid detail how orphans were seen as societal rejects and throwaways and treated as objects, not people. While he was often beaten severely till he passed out, Kiser emphasizes that "it is not the physical pain that endangers orphans the most. It is the mental pain caused by stress from years and years of being neglected, pushed aside, disregarded, unloved and made to feel undeserving..." While I'd recommend this book as an eye-opening, even inspiring, read, I do wish there had been more detail in the After section of this book, the part that dealt with Kiser's life after he left the orphanage. This section seems rushed and abbreviated and there is little explanation of the life he made for himself as an adult - or how he got the courage to rise above his painful past to do so. He notes in the book's introduction that he has a wife, son and daughter-in-law and yet he doesn't note how he met his wife, how she felt about his past and if it affected his present life. After learning so much about his early life in the orphanage, I was left with plenty of unanswered questions like: How does a person who suffers so many blows to his self-esteen find the confidence to make a new life? Did he/does he suffer from painful flashbacks or memories today? Would he describe himself as happy or at peace now?

I have read many non-fiction books in the course of my life. This is the only book that has actually made me cry, and I am not exactly sure why. I am not talking about the crying of normal tears. I am speaking of the type of tears that (slowly) glass over the eye until a tear falls out onto the page. You stop for a just a moment and realize that your hand is now covering your mouth, and a almost whimpering sound is now coming from deep in your throat. If there was ever a book written that makes the reader feel that they are the child that is actually being abused; This is the one!

This was an amazingly good read, and I'm not a fan of love stories. OK, I did read "The Bridges of Madison County" and it was good. However, this book was better, and told a story that is more important in many ways. Tim Anders is a magnificent No Limit Texas Holdem poker player, who has taken all my chips on more than one occassion, but as an author, he has made me a richer man.

5 Stars, Bravo!!! I could not put the book down. It is a must read, a page turner. The story is a compelling love story between a very special lady that is full of life, love and her head on her shoulders kind of gal to a man of the church, Hughie. Their love conquered all time and forever lasts. The story is about the challenges of their love through the church and many obstacles that life throws at us. Thanks Tim for sharing your life with us.

If you love biographies as I do, this is an easy, fast read. It engages you from the beginning and entices you to keep turning pages and finish the story. Super passionate love story, peppered with the realities of life in the 40'sand 50's. Sobering to realize the prejudices against single motherhood and the lack of freedom that dedication to a religion can bring. Life is always about choice and consequence and how we handle all of it. Enjoyable read. Good book!

This book is inter-twined with so much love and sadness at the same time. It is beautifully written and difficult to put down. I am an ex-catholic and against the celebacy rule and reading this story reinforces my conviction. How sad for both Hughie and Boo. It's true that he made a vow to the church, but human, God given emotions are so strong for all of us.
Thank you Tim for writing this story so well that it haunts my heart. Yes, this would make a great movie and I would love to see it.

Please write a sequal so that we can know about your life with your mother and sister in California.

The story grabs you from the moment you open the book and holds on tight all the way through! It is a roller coaster ride of emotions from beginning to end. The love story of Boo and Hughie is universal and powerful. Sometimes life is more painful than we care to admit and I applaud the author for writing about such a deep personal story. I hope that it will help others to face obstacles in their lives with the sense of optimism that the characters in this story portray. It would make an excellent movie!