Stone Books

Where do I begin? How do I begin? Those questions often fly through my mind when I confront a blank page or an empty computer screen. I am not alone.

Joyce Murray Boatright knows the feeling. In Telling Your Story, she shares a professional writer's secret: "Even today, forty-plus years since my first published byline, the hardest part of writing still, for me, is to begin."

Hard it may be, but this Story Circle member and Circle leader offers a great deal of help, not only in getting started but in suggesting what to do after you get started and even what to do with your work after you finish. And she manages to do it in just a little over fifty pages.

Boatright draws on her experience not only as a professional writer and a teacher of writing, but also as a memoirist. She recounts how she began a family memoir as a Christmas gift for her parents who had "arrived at that point in their lives where they had everything they wanted." In that first effort in 1991, she recounted familiar family stories. Through the years the project grew as other family members' mother, brother, son and more contributed their stories. An inspiration for all of us!

After guidance on getting started, Boatright offers some interesting and fun suggestions on how to keep on going and how to break through blocks. Particularly enjoyable (and a little risky) is the game she has developed using writing prompts--The Luck of the Draw. She offers great advice about how to craft a memory, a recollection into a real story with a beginning, middle and end.

When you are finished? Boatright has suggestions for personal uses, such s "make a family album or a cookbook," and clear advice on how to go about preparing your manuscript for a wider audience.

This book will have wide appeal. I'm giving it to some friends who are only beginning to write their stories. However, I'm not giving away my copy. I'll use it to help out with my own writing. It is full of good suggestions I can use as I co-lead a Story Circle Network OWL (Older Women's Legacy) Circle.

by Patricia Nordyke Pando
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

Don't read this book unless you are ready to get inspired and excited about writing! This was a fun, easy read, full of practical advice. The writer really opened up my mind to the vast possibilities of memoir writing. She covers everything from getting started to the best format to use based on your intended audience. I highly recommend this book!

An excellent descriptive survey of megalithic monuments and neolithic tombs of Ireland. Whether amateur or professional, or you simply possess a curiosity regarding ancient Irish culture, this book will be highly informative and enjoyable. There is wonderful detail about ancient sites in all counties, as well as a handy "finders guide" included in the book to help locate tombs and sites that are off the beaten path. Though the neolithic 'celebrity' sites are included, the many details on the lesser-known passage graves and wedge tombs sets this book apart. Beautifully written, both professionals and everyday enthusiasts will gain much from it. Excellent photos, diagrams, and I appreciated that the author focused on the significance and role that the surrounding landscape may have played in how the sites for these monuments may have been chosen. If you have an interest in this time period and want to be inspired further, I highly recommend Temples of Stone. Now, If Amazon would just correct the typo in the subtitle...

This lavishly-illustrated book details the history, distribution, form and content of Irish megalithic monuments, most of which contain some human remains, and are therefore classed as tombs. But as archeologist author Carleton Jones makes clear, these were much more than tombs. By studying them, we can learn a great deal about the people who built them: their social structure, worldview, and something of their beliefs and rituals as well. Don't expect gauzy twaddle about ancient goddesses and magic here. Jones is a serious archeologist; his work is theoretically informed by the processual and post-processual schools (groups of scholars who look at archeological remains for what they can tell us about the social origins of cultural change, and groups of scholars who use archeological data to hypothesize about ancient beliefs, rituals and human experiences). It is very clear when the author is laying out facts, and when he is hypothesizing or offering interpretations. What I liked is that he is also honest about what we DON'T know about the peoples who built these monuments. Still, it's fascinating to speculate about these ancient humans whose beliefs and practices were so different from our own -- and who, as humans, shared many of our own concerns and experiences, from creating and maintaining group identities to memorializing their dead. Gorgeous color photographs, black-and-white diagrams, tables and road maps enhance this book. The author provides detailed directions for locating each monument, including driving maps and indications of whether you will need Wellies (rubber boots) to visit the site. If you plan to travel to Ireland, photocopy the section in the back with the maps and locations of the monuments so you can make sure to visit some (the book itself is rather heavy and impractical to pack in luggage).

This book is a hymnal to Texas golf, chapter-and-verse on everything from the finest resorts to the dustiest backroads 9-holers. Much more than just a dry recitation of course info, the Texas Golf Bible provides colorful comments on almost every one of the state's 1,000 golf courses. The perfect bathroom book, which is meant as a major compliment.

What a great book even for me, a golfer spouse! I love the fact that it includes details about the cities where the golf courses are, like shopping, dinning, and lodging. Excellent book for traveling the state (easy to follow directions) as well as for the golf information. I read one review on the website which was obviously written by someone who does not play or understand golf or enjoy traveling Texas. Mr. Stone has a terrific sense of humor displayed in this book. I would highly recommend it!

It's obvious - John Hedges knows his topic. In this book, he brings together an enormous amount of information on Neolithic Orkney and gives it summary and scholarly analysis. If you're looking for a book on life during the Neolithic, this is a definite! Worth every penny.

The distant human past is visible in the Orkneys, the low green islands in the sea north of Scotland. People who lived there five thousand years ago built fine stone tombs and henges older than the Pyramids.

They watched the sky and kept calendars. And they used the right triangle of Pythagoras two thousand years before Pythagoras was born.

It used to be thought that culture slowly radiated north from the Mediterranean to ignorant savages in northern Europe.

But the people of the Orkneys turned our ideas about cultural diffusion upside down.

Tomb of the Eagles is their enthralling story.

Very good and easily to read book about a very interesting subject. With lots af images that makes things clear.

Travel & Village Rugs is a full-color, in-depth, coffee-table sized identification guide to the motifs, designs, and patterns that can be found upon rugs and carpets crafted according to the rich weaving traditions of the Near East and Central Asia. Divided into six major regional and tribal groupings, covering Anatolian, Baluchi, Caucasian, Kurdish, Persian and Turkman motifs, the segments rely on explict, plain-terms description, colorful diagrams, close-up zooms of sample repeating patterns, and more to clarify its points about subtle nuances of design. Travel & Village Rugs is an invaluable reference and resource for any dedicated hobbyist or professional textile dealer who needs to familiarize themselves with the distinct designs of Central Asian regions, or have the information ready for easy access.

I'm originally from Salt Lake and half the things in this book I didn't know about. After reading it, I made plans to visit some of them (like the sculpture in the middle of the dessert and the Joseph Smith Sphynx). I brought my family along and we all had a blast playing "tourist" seeing all these cool things right near home.

If you're planning a trip to Salt Lake City, get this book along with a traditional "where should I stay and eat" travel guide. You'll use that to book the mundane stuff and this to discover what to explore.

Just like the other True Secrets of books they have a great map on their website ([...]) with all the addresses of things found in the book.

I bought a copy of this book primarily as a challenge. I've lived in Utah all my life and thought there's nothing a guidebook can teach me. Boy was I wrong! I learned something and I had fun reading it.
Something I think that's nice too is they put pictures of a lot of things they talk about. This is a really cool book.

Mr. Boyer tells a lively story and weaves his interest throughout this work. The tragedies of days gone by are beautifully written in this highly entertaining book.

As one who enjoys sailing on Lake Erie as often as possible, I can only hope I never succumb to the horrors of those since past! These stories are both captivating and thought provoking.

Dwight brings the history of Great Lakes shipping to life in this book. His reseach has uncovered many long-forgotten adventures and tragedies of an earlier era. The author is also a great story teller, so the reading is entertaining aswell as being historically based.

This is a book I have given to my three children (ages 16, 18, and 21)along with the wish that I had the wisdom and courage to write and speak so forthrightly with them about issues and challenges that face them and us as a family. Chuck Meyer tackles the tough topics like sex and alcohol in a way that guides and empowers his readers--and, of course, catches their interest, but he also writes engagingly about friendships and career choices and parents. As the mother of two daughters, I found his words to his daughter about the difficult dance that daughters and mothers do so they can separate from one another beautiful--and helpful.

Don't wait for a graduation-gift opportunity. This is a book of comfort, wisdom, humor, and help for parents and teenagers.

Another marvelous work from Mr. Meyer. Unfortunately there may be no further publications from this gifted lecturer, author and spiritual leader. Chuck Meyer died in a traffic accident on November 13,2000. I had the opportunity to hear Chuck lecture on many occasions and found him to be always inspiring, as well as personable and humorous. Hopefully his wonderful work and writings will continue to live on as a testimony to this man's spirit.

My boyfriend and I have been together for about 4 months. I've definetly heard of U2 before, but I never really got into them until my boyfriend introduced me to their amazing compilation of songs. Ever since, I have been a die hard fan of U2 just like my boyfriend. I was searching for a christmas gift for my boyfriend, and I came across this book. I orderd it and intended to give it to my boyfriend, but I liked it so much I had to keep it for myself. The book has great and vibrant images and very conclusive articles. This book is a must for and die-hard fan!

If you are a reader of Rolling Stone magazine and a fan of U2, then you should pick up this book. It compiles all the articles, concert reviews, album reviews, random notes, interviews, etc. that have appeared in the magazine on the band. It is interesting to read the earlier stuff before the band became superstars. A great compilation.

The Ultimate Book of Sports Lists is the ultimate book of sports lists!!!

If you like sports, you will absolutely love this listing
of sports anecdotes, quotations, statistics, reocrds, etc. -
it is an absolute masterpiece for the sports aficionado!!!

It is a book you will find overwhelmingly impressive for
all the categorizations which appropriately list relevant facts
and statistics for the most popular to the most obscure sports
known to man - the listings will leave you breathless and
speechless, and cause you to wonder how such a compendium could
have been collected and presented in such a readable way.

Like the Book of Lists that first astounded the American
public when it was published several years ago, this book of
sports lists is the sports fans' Book of Lists, and that's
putting it mildly.

So, if you love sports, do yourself a favor and get yourself
a copy of this book and enjoy how entertaining sports listings
and sports trivia can be - it's a masterpiece!

This is an updated version of the original Ultimate Book of Sports Lists, published more than 10 years ago. Fortunately, the authors have changed little, since the old book was the best sports book I have ever read. Don't be fooled by the title; this is no mere reference book. Instead, it contains hundreds of anecdotes -- the longest-lasting tennis volley ever recorded, the soccer game that sparked an international armed conflict, the first gay football player to come out, etc., all grouped into categories. I cannot imagine anyone being disappointed by this book.