Thomas Books

My wife and I have gone through the first chapter and answered all the study questions. We both loved it! After doing the first chapter I feel that the principles so far are very biblical. The way Gary Thomas explains marriage helping us become more Christ like is very comparable to the way the Bible explains how trials and tribulations are used to strengthen us, if we allow it. If you are married then you will definately relate to the examples he gives. I already started to think about my selfishness in my marriage. I know this is something I need to work on, and im just thankful that this book is helping my wife and I to talk more about issues that we both think about but haven't really vocalized yet. Im excited to see how this book will help me focus on being more Christ like so i can also be a better husband and father.

Good for any Christian's library. Good material even if one is not married. Relationally on all levels this can be applied.

This book has a great idea. God created marraige to help us grow as Christians even if it is painful and hard. So Practice your Christian values in your marraige. It is the best place to grow toward Christ. I just saved you from reading a long boring book where he goes on and on and on and on and on!! Save your money.
Gabrielle

This is the best book I've read about marriage. It is very true, straightforward and practical, it cuts through the nonsense. Infinitely more revelatory and helpful than other books I've read on the subject.

I became a Christian just a few years ago after a strong dissatisfaction with Catholicism. I held lifelong fears and anxieties about marriage--I thought it was an institution to condemn women--but I thought this was an interesting approach to the subject so I picked up the book. Thanks to the author, I now feel worse. Not only is the book perpetuating the rampant sexism that exists in the church but every "Christian man" he talks about is a misogynist. The book itself is nothing but his bickers about his wife's "girlie problems" and he tries to-stupidly- generalize the experiences of all women. He even flat out declares that the genders are not and will never be equals! He also makes the idiot mistake of thinking motherhood is a peachy-keen walk in the park. This book went in the trash. God forbid I ever end up with a man like that--I'd rather stay single and go back to being secular where people are actually embracing the notion that men are supposed to be a part of the child rearing process (gasp!).

C. S. Lewis is not only one of the 20th century's finest minds, he's also amazingly perceptive of human behavior. This well-written description explains so clearly the four kinds of love and with such accessible illustrations from real life. Most eye-opening for me was the chapter on "affection" where I began to understand for the first time why we moms think we are so misunderstood; in actuality, our "affection" (storge) for our family has gotten out of hand! You'll need to read in order to understand. I highly recommend this book.

This is in my opinion C.S. Lewis's best nonfiction work. The premise has been done before, but rarely with the sort of insight given here. His overviews of Affection and Friendship are much too often overlooked and glossed over as unimportant, but here they're given a status they really deserve.

The section on friendship, and the idea that people are bonded through mutual passions, and his grim statement that people who are just looking for a friend will never find one, was spot on. Friendships are formed as an extension of a passion for something bigger than the individual. A mutual cause drives people, whether they be sports fanatics, a tribe pining for survival, or art critics.

The pitfalls he explains for the loves such as lust, bigotry, elitism, etc. are self explanatory, but it's also practical. Friendships are exclusive by their very nature, and there's nothing intrinsically wrong with such a thing. Eros is most certainly exclusive. He emphasizes that we can't be friends with everyone, love everyone with Eros, but we can love everyone with Charity, the final section of the book.

One could write a book three times longer and not come close to the depth portrayed in this little book. Strongly recommended.

CS Lewis does a wonderful job defining the four Greek words for Love. I would recommend this book most highly to the man (women are less likely to make this error) who thinks he needs no friends. Lewis shows the importance of friendship to a good life.

It Is One of those books that should be sitting on a coffee table. It defines the various types of pure love: agape, venus, and storge to name some. It truly defines where the 'heart' is and perhaps defining the brotherly love, the parental love, or the true love...



Susan Saige

Within this work, Mr. Lewis is quick to point out the inherent difficulty with regard to the concept of love facing individuals whose native tongue is English. That is, it is easily recognized that there exists an extreme deficit when one applies the same word to describe the sentiment shared with one's spouse, as well as their favorite food. In such extreme cases of difference in terms of the word's application, clarification is hardly needed and might be written off as an embellishment about that which one feels about, say, strawberries or chocolate. However, other instances are more difficult to write off as a poor choice of words; such as, love for friends, family, a spouse, and God. One must surely agree that the sentiment in each of these instances of love can exist and be experienced in significantly different ways. While love is the umbrella under which all of these sentiments rest, they are, as far as most people can tell, very different things. That being said, it is lucky for the reader that Mr. Lewis, almost immediately, circumvents the language barrier and begins to illustrate the foundational understanding which must be apparent for further exploration of the concepts of love to proceed. For those who have struggled with this, even the simplest concept of love's significance, as this reviewer has, the first chapter alone is worth the price of this work's purchase.

Building upon a necessary base of knowledge, Lewis begins to explore the nature of love beginning with that love which might be the gray area between the words love and like, or either of the two, as spoken in the English language. Lewis continues his endeavor by tackling what people often consider the more significant forms of love such as friendship, erotic love, and the love of and for God. While no attempt will be made here to convey the significance of the final chapter regarding actual Love in fear of diluting a brilliant message, each of the chapters leading up to that point share common threads. That is, Mr. Lewis illustrates the difficulty which can be had with love in any form if left to our own devices. This illustration is achieved in the author's typical fashion of profound analogies and appeals to common experiences. One can be certain that while this recognition of the volatility of human love is of extreme importance, it is the overriding concept that only by surrendering these loves to Love that one can achieve happiness, solace, and purity in Love which makes this work unquestionably valuable to those that are fortunate enough to read it.

Perdita Miggs, seventeen years out of university, considers herself "not unhappy" and looks on her absent-minded professor husband, Perry, with a mixture of love and despair. Perry, who has barely achieved tenure at a small college, has--amazingly--obtained a major grant to study the fauna of Loch Ness in Scotland. And so, the couple pack their things and prepare to go. Then, by further amazing coincidence, the guide he hires for their explorations turns out to be Andrew Macgruer, Perdita's old flame and one true love from her university days. Andrew was once a promising academic but has left wife and career to roam about the highlands, taking yankee "monster hunters" on memorable tours. Well, that's the apparent plot, but there is another, hidden plot, which I won't reveal, of course. You'll have to read the book. Let's just say that nothing is as it seems.

As the apparent plot and the real plot unfold, many more characters are introduced including the Loch Ness "monster" herself--the dinosaurian creature who lives below the surface of the loch and who makes brief appearances but only to those who are prepared to see her. All the characters have their own painful dilemmas to resolve, their own struggles with love and loss, and the reader must suffer with all of them as they work out their own redemption, or at least, resolution.

I wanted to love this book. I really tried. I must confess it was a difficult read. Author Corrigan writes in a high-flown literary style with long, rambling sentences, basketfuls of adjectives, stilted dialogue and a smattering of Scots dialect--all obstacles to easy reading. The characters talk to each other in long acadmic speeches about the nature of love, loss, memory and the possibility of redemption. It took me the first half of the book to get hooked into the story. Still, it's a profound book and worth reading. Don't consider it a romance novel, but an extended meditation on the real meaning of love. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber.

I tried real hard to get through this slow and meandering story but was not able to get past the half way point. The book starts out promising, the story appeared intriguing and the characters also seemed interesting. I think the problem I found with the book is that it had way too many characters with their own side-line stories going on in the background. If the author had stuck to the story of Perdita and Perry, bringing in the love triangle twist with Andrew and for added fun the loch ness monster quest, it would have been plenty. But to add in all the other stories of the other smaller characters, it made it too busy and meandering. Some parts were interesting, some parts written very beautifully and these points made you want to continue, then a slow part or a lot of little boring parts came and they seemed to overwhelm and take over the rest. I felt the book was losing focus by the time I got midway. At the halfway mark I was so bored and I felt that I simply didnt care about any of the characters, they were lifeless and very flat, and I found the story going so slow it wasnt going to be worth the journey. Plus you'd think that a Loch Ness monster story would be a little riveting and exciting...sorry folks. this book falls short of the mark and falls rather quickly.

Did I read the same book as everyone else? Five solid stars? This book alone has made me rethink my reliance on the review system. The only reason I even finished it was to find out if I was right about the husband's motives. I was. This book was predictable, and I never cared much for Perry or Perdita, and only mildly for the other characters. I wanted to care about these relationships, I just didn't. It was flat, and boring, and another reviewer was right when they said there was too much literary fluff. Towards the end when I was only skimming for the important parts, I could skip pages at a time. Scotland is pretty and "home" for Perdita, we get it. I was excited to read this book, it just didn't pan out the way I wanted. It was NOT similar to Outlander, which is one of my favorite books. It did not have the intricacy of storyline, nor did it evoke the same response with its characters. I believed the love in Outlander, and while I can appreciate what the author here was trying to do, he just didn't really make any of it believable. I will say the writing was pretty, but that only counts for so much. Somewhere in there should be a plot and characters that the reader cares about.

The Poet of Lochness was an absorbing read, with rich prose, romance, and several layers of mystery underlying the basic love story. To fully appreciate the outcome, it is necessary to "suspend disbelief" regarding several plot lines along the way. If you can do that, I think you will be best able to appreciate the heartwrenching beauty in the message of this novel.

Now you know -- I write comments in the margins of books. The books I like, that is. My copy of THE POET OF LOCH NESS is filled with jottings that I wrote the second time I read it. The first time I was far too engrossed to waste time writing "Exquisite" (page 94), "Integrity, simply stated" (page 112), an exclamation point on page 158 (next to the underlined phrase "with the dour disapproval of two Presbyterians watching a church burn").

Brian Corrigan shows an uncanny ability to get into the mind of a woman. If you don't believe me, see Chapter 32. When Perdita admits to never having tried to understand men, Meg repies, "I consider that verra wise. It's a bit like making up your mind no' to disembowel yourself."

Wit tempered with compassion. Insight peppered with humor. Corrigan is a real winner.

All stories from Richard Paul Evans are wonderful and this is no exeption.Read the trilogy is forth it.

The reviews were uniformly quite good for this novel, so I decided to give it a try. The story starts out slowly and takes some time to work up a bit of interest. The central character is a twenties-something working in a nursing home. Not typically the setting for a compelling plot.
A quick read-not one of my favorites.

The old lady is one of the strongest female characters in modern literature. Evans is a very capable writer.

With The Locket, Richard Paul Evans proves once again that when it comes to feel good, sentimental stories that tug at your heartstrings, he has no equal. As with his previous books The Christmas Box and The Letter, he utilizes his unique blend of fiction and inspirational writing to convey valuable messages of love, faith, forgiveness and redemption. His words take us on an emotional journey that leaves us reaching for the kleenex box as well as motivated to incorporate these precepts into our daily lives.

After the death of his mother, Michael Keddington takes a job at the Arcadia nursing home, where he meets parient Esther Huish, a woman who is instrumental in teaching Michael many valuable life lessons concerning forgiveness, overcoming insecurities, second chances and never putting things off until tomorrow.

The Locket of the title is Esthers gift to Michael. It serves as a symbol of the missed opportunities in her life and for Michael represents an opportunity to overcome a myriad of obstacles and begin his life anew.

This warm and beautiful story should kindle the flame of hope that burns in each of us. 4 1/2 stars

This was an excellent book! It wasn't just a typical romance, instead, it focused on what comes after falling in love. Devotion, kindness, and respect were themes in this novel. It was well-written, and kept my attention until the end.

I for one grabbed this book because I heard Dr. Nick on "Focus on the family" in an interview and again on another radio interview and held him to be a Christian based diet author with personal experience and a wealth of knowledge about the medical side of getting thin. However, the book came across to me as an attempt to appeal to the masses and sort of put the credit to God on the back burner or off to the side or in the shadows and I can't be as inspired by that as a christian or for that matter, before my salvation. I did learn some great insights from Dr. Nick but I am a believer in the power of God to do everything and that just didn't come accross in this book. So with regret I say this book is a testament to Dr. Nicks' great triumph over the "Idolotry" of food as he said in his interview, but it just didn't get me to go along. I hope he will in the future let his faith be more prominent in his story telling and trust in our Lord for the results more than his publisher. If you would like a good hepful book as a compliment to this one may I suggest,Body for Life: 12 Weeks to Mental and Physical Strength

Not only entertaining but encouraging for anyone who wants to lose weight.
Very good suggestions for anyone no matter what age or genter.

I found the book at a local second hand store on their free pile one morning while taking my walk. I felt drawn to the book and promply picked it up and took it home .As I read I felt a kinship with the author. He knew/knows the heartache of being overweight. I could identify with him and the trials that he has experienced. I found too that the book made me feel that I too could accomplish great things, as the author had done. I too so appreciated the fact that he turned his life over the to Lord and knew from where his success really came. I am sharing the book with a friend and when I get it back I am rereading it.

Well done, good and faithful servant.

motivation, desire, drive, push, ambition,
all are needed in abundance to lose weight. the more you are overweight the more you need them. constantly as your companions for the process of getting your body in good shape to do life.

It is not a diet book. it is not a how to do it book. it is a how i did it and why i did it fast paced, quick fun read.

being fat is sin. it stops you from being that good and faithful servant that the faith requires and God expects. the author leads the way, walks the path, is a real leader for this important insight.

thanks.

This isn't a typical "diet" book, which I like. I've read enough diet books in my life to understand the basic concepts. Instead, this book chronicles one person's journey, including the heartache associated with being obese as well as the triumphs of losing signficant amounts of weight. It has been surprisingly motivational - I find myself thinking of the story throughout the day when I struggle with something, telling myself that if he did it, I can certainly do it too. I would definitely recommend this book to others.

This book is deeply moving, inspiring and challenging. Thomas a Kempis lays out what it means to be an authentic follower of Jesus, not just an adherent or a church-goer. The simulated conversations with Christ in the book are especially powerful. Aside from the Bible, no other book has touched and moved me like this. Highly recommended reading.

Why claim trinkets when you can read one of the best devotionals on the market. I use it to keep my daily life in check, to remember to have the right focus and to live what I believe. This is the top of the charts for a "Christian" work. Brother A'Kempis was a great instructor and a wise disciple. So much of todays mediocre fluff is twisted by society, self centeredness and lazy Christianity where the thinking is done for those who don't see the value in meditation and self examination. Next to the Bible, this is my favorite work.

This wonderful book was written by the priest Thomas a Kempis in the 1400's and is very reminecient of the Apostle Paul's writings by encouraging readers to live a simple spiritual life. It recommends that peace is found in the heart of the humble and that in overcoming the ego you overcome the world. Joy is found in a quiet conscience and you are only happy when you have done what is right. This may also be the original source of the advice to choose the less of two evils. It also warns that pleasure and desire carry the seeds of sorrow. This book is spiritual focusing on living the inner life and not getting entangled with the world. A must read for all Christians or anyone on a spiritual path.

This is one of the best books I've ever read. It's a slow read, but not difficult - there's so much packed into these 280 pages that you'll have to take your time to get it all.

This is not a review of the book per se (just got it, have not read it yet), but thought I needed to share this. Book arrived with another book (a textbook) in the usual Amazon box, each laying side by side. It was left out in the rain for most of the day by the local carrier until I brought it inside. The entire box was soaked and ruined, tape fallen off and box literally gaping open, all of the paperwork inside was falling apart in pieces and soaked, my textbook was completely ruined (soaked through, wavy wet pages etc - got returned), yet this book was absolutely dry - not a trace of even a microdrop of water - perfect condition. Take away whatever message you want...

Orwell's 1984 is a novel that is truly frightening for those who cherish free expression and the power of individual thought. Dystopia literature owes it all to this classic of the genre. I managed to get through all my formal education without having read this text. However, picking it up now I am glad that I waited until I was a little older to read it.
The first thing one must marvel at is the brilliant construction of the novel. Orwell as an artist is at the top of his form and the structure of the novel is wound so tightly that readers would be wise to annotate the text as there is an almost cyclical nature to many of the themes and ideas presented. Orwell weaves the same ideas throughout the text, and each time he revisits them he shows them through the lenses of a different ideology or character and thus emphasizes for the reader how precarious (and precious) are the mores and ideals of the individual mind.
The idea of governments who yearn for power for power's sake is not so foreign to our early 21st century world, and although the text ends on a nihilistic note, the reader walks away from 1984 with the renewed impetus to revere and respect our individual thoughts, as these, and these alone, give us unique value. Read this text, not so you can fear "big brother", but rather so you can be reminded to respect yourself enough to think and form intellectual thoughts. It is Winston's loss of the self that should frighten the readers of 1984, not the dreary world that Orwell creates. We don't need totalitarian governments to become Winston Smiths. We can do it to ourselves if we are not careful!

Today's American is mentally incomplete if he/she has not read this book. If you haven't read it, please do so. If you have read it, please read it again. And keep in mind that reading it is not the goal. Knowing it is the goal.

The distinction is important because Orwell so masterfully describes the loss of truth, the loss of individuality, the loss of freedom so subtely and so effortlessly, that the crucial points are missed if the reader has a lack of focus.

with uncanny brilliance, Orwell describes the tactics used by a totalitarian state against its own people to gain submission and cooperation. The submission is so complete that the proles (the masses) no longer have ownership over their own thought! It is a subtle and painless process and only Alexis De Tocqueville, in his monumental work, "Democracy in America" has come close in the past 175 years of describing it, but even Tocqueville admits that he can't give it a name.

"In fact there will be no thought...Orthodoxy means not thinking-not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness" writes Owell. Orwell later writes that "orthodoxy is stupidity". What the reader needs to understand with this point is that "orthodoxy" is the "news" we get from our mainstream media, our establishment press. Because our mainstream media is government controlled, as explained in the book: U.S. Television News and Cold War Propaganda, 1947-1960 (Cambridge Studies in the History of Mass Communication), naturally only government orthodoxy will be espoused.

In the novel, Orwell writes, "There is no possibility that any perceptible change will happen within our own lifetime".

There are so many unbelievably essential tactics described in this book that I can't do much justice to them in this review, but the reader needs to connect with Orwell's cleverness and understand how important it is to Big Brother to control the language and rewrite the history, in fact, write the history before it even happens. This, the torture to get confessions, attacking an ally and blaming an enemy (false flag terrorism) is all here and Orwell wrote this masterpiece 60 years ago!

This book, Nineteen Eighty-Four, is drawn from heavily in the book, Don't Weep for Me, America: How Democracy in America Became the Prince (While We Slept). Here, the relevancy of "Nineteen Eighty-Four" will blow a lot of minds...

I think this is my favorite novel about a dystopia. So far, I have read "We", "A Handmaid's Tale", "Brave New World", "Anthem", and "A Clockwork Orange", and though I have thoroughly enjoyed quite a few of the novels that I've listed, 1984 is my absolute favorite. How is it different? The main character, Winston, if not entirely likable, is very relatable. What I like most about him is that he doesn't assume to be anything or know anything, but rather, he feels instinctively that something is wrong with how the world is set up. He is not especially intelligent (although he's not exactly stupid either) or strong-willed or moral or handsome. And as if to emphasize Winston's relatable mediocrity, Orwell gave him an exceedingly boring office job! In some novels about dystopias, the protagonist can be overly heroic (as in Anthem) or tragic (as in a Handmaid's Tale), and thus more admirable but also a lot less relatable.

Another thing that is different . . . this book gives you different perspectives. Orwell's theme of government control over language is pretty common in this genre, but because he took his thesis a little farther than merely saying that government control is bad, the book is an interesting read. He even gets a little into metaphysics. As a reader, you also get the perspectives of different characters in the book, and thus, the perspectives of both the government and of rebels. Often, books in this genre can be very straight-foward, but 1984, with its many twists, is a very worthwhile read.

When I read this book I saw a snapshot of what is actually happening today. How ironic someone would have know this was going to happen so many years ahead of time.Excellent reading and I don't normally read fiction.

Imagine, for a second, that tomorrow a large Atomic War starts, and the world is divided into three states. You are under the command of a leader called "Big Brother". Constantly on government surveillance, you try to escape Big Brother's listening and viewing devices, but, of course, you can't. Nobody can really escape.

In the year 1984, bombs invade the city of London. On the Malabar Front a war starts, in another state of the world, called Eastasia. The Ministry of Truth, a government organization, broadcasts to the population via a network of telescreens. These devices, which intrude on all aspects of people's lives, are also capable of monitoring their every word and action. They form part of an immense surveillance system used by the Ministry of Love -another government organization- and its dreaded agents called Thought Police, to serve their singular goal: the elimination of "thought crime". Winston Smith is a Party worker; Part of the social party known as the Outer Party, the pity of the intrusive government. Winston works in the Records Department of the Ministry of Truth - the government organization in charge of modifying historical news for consistency. When Winston finds proof that the Party is lying, he starts off on a journey of self-questioning. In doing so, he becomes a thought-criminal. Winston begins to notice that a young Party member, Julia, is watching him. She wears the special sash of the ultra-zealous Anti Sex League and Winston fears that she is an informant. However, to his surprise, she reveals herself as a subversive, and they begin a dangerous relationship. This inspires Winston to explore deeper the difference between propaganda and reality. Ultimately, it leads him to O'Brien - a member of the Inner Party who sets Winston on the beginning of an amazing discovery.

The book 1984 is a perfect read for anyone that is willing to see the world in a whole new aspect. Not written to a specific group of people, this book can be perceived from any point of view, and from any part of a modern-day- society. One reason people should read this book is because it sees the government from a whole new perspective. The book, 1984 was published in 1949. It predicts the way that a slightly communist government, would function in the future. What I find completely surprising, is that many of the futuristic devices in the book 1948 have become true to this day. When you put a good amount of thought into it, it all becomes reality. Today the government watches our every move through computer, phone, and ever video surveillance. It's scary to think that even now, as you read this, someone could be watching you. Also, the government still hides secrets through propaganda press. Another reason why this book should be read, is because it has a large array of quotes, such as: "War is peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength" (Orwell, 1949, p.27). It provides the reader with a complete set of wisdom and knowledge through its quotation and lessons. The last reason that I will share, why someone should read this book, is because it keeps your interest. Even though the book isn't exactly a fast read, it's completely addicting the entire way through. Keeping your hands off of it is an almost impossible task to accomplish. It contains the ability to keep the attention of a monkey, and yet can relate to someone with the intelligence of Einstein.

In conclusion everyone, and I mean everyone, should read this book. With its perspective of government conspiracy, relation to modern day life, knowledgeable quotes, ability to contain attention, and its intelligent relation; I am positive it will keep you, and anyone else, on the edge of their seat.

-Jonathan Lightcap

This novel brings you to the late 1700's and offers the drama of a modern romance with all the trials of war while in another era and country.
Twists and turns along with an easy/quick history of early Poland will keep the pages turning. Quickly went to buy the sequel before starting a new book b/c I was up in arms to find out the happenings of these compelling characters.

This book is a page-turner right from the beginning. I loved reading in this time period when men spoke to women like this (from page 23):

"See the two meadow flowers, the yellow and the violet? One is as different from the other as day from night. Yet who will say that one is more beautiful? Oh, a fool might. But only a fool... But do you know what may determine the desirability of one over the other?... The fragrance!"

Be still my heart! If you love that kind of subtle romance, you will love this book.

Anna shows such strength despite the overwhelming tragedies (one after the other) she faces in her young life. And even though she is a Countess, she is very down-to-earth and sensitive to those "under her" although it was a no-no for those of such high society. Her tenderness and innocense makes her so very likable.

The book goes back and forth between family life and what's politically going on in Poland during the late 1700s with the underlying romance throughout. You're always wondering about what will finally happen with Jan Stelnicki. At no point was this book boring!!!

I loved it.

I loved this book. There are so few novels on the market about Poland and Polish history (I don't know of any others!). This is indeed a rare find. The characters are well developed, the descriptions of locations and activities are wonderfully detailed and passionately written. The setting and content about the significant historical moments are woven in expertly. It really is a history lesson embedded in a very fast-moving and dramatic story. Yes, sometimes it may be a bit overly dramatic, but I really enjoy that rich, gossipy style. So cool that it is based on REAL journal entries. These characters come alive and will stay with you well after you are done reading. Great ending, too.

Looking forward to reading Chrimson Sky.

I found this historical fiction text to be absolutely enthralling! It has not only provided me with hours of enjoyable, page-turning reading, but has also given me great insight into my Polish ancestry and heritage. The strength, spirit, and heart of the Polish people--MY people--is wonderfully portrayed within the pages of this book. I'm so looking forward to receiving Mr. Martin's sequel, Against a Crimson Sky. I'm sure I'll not be disappointed!

I found the book very engaging. I loved the characters and can't wait to find out what happens next.

I watched the excellent TV movie made of this book when I was around 8 and then read the book over and over, until it fell apart. It absolutely broke my heart. When I was in high school and I met my first husband, I found out that he had lost a stepbrother to cystic fibrosis, who made it to the age of 18 before he died. Years later, my first husband still had the things Scotty willed to him, a poster and all of his Weird Al tapes (the Make a Wish Foundation helped Scotty to meet Weird Al at a concert and got to go backstage, shortly before he died). His remaining stepbrother, shortly after we married, married a woman with three children. Her youngest, a daughter, had severe CF. We loved her dearly, and was devastated when she died, like Alex, at the age of 8.
This is a heartbreaking book, but it's worth it. After you're done reading the book, donate money to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
Another heartbreaking story on their site explains why they use roses on a lot of their promotional materials. A mother on the Board of Directors who had several kids with cystic fibrosis, was overheard by her toddler son on a phone call. He was too young to understand what she was saying, and too young to know he had a fatal disease, so he asked his mother what "sixty-five roses" meant. Many children now call CF "sixty five roses" and that's why the CF Foundation uses rose imagery.

excellent service. book received in excellent condition, just as described. would definitely order through bookrescue again.

As the father of an 8 year old daughter with CF (who even sorta looks like Alex), you can imagine that this is not an easy read for me. I read it once 8 years ago, when she was diagnosed, and it was bad....I have tried to re-read it again 8 years later and it's even harder to get through. Not a day goes by where I don't think about that I most likely will have to go thru what Frank did.
I"m not sure i'll be able to handle it. My optimism that there will be a cure in time has dwindled to stark reality that it's not likely to happen soon enough. Thank you Frank for writing this, at least I know i'm not alone.

After supporting Cystic Fibrosis as one of my personal charities for many years, I saw this book in a used book store and bought it. I didn't read it for some time. In fact, it was after I met a family who had a son with CF. I became friends with him - and only a few months later, close to his 21st birthday, he was gone. Then I read the book.. I must say, this is a heartbreaker - but Alex is such an amazing young girl! Written from the experiences of a father watching this terrible disease take his little girl. I strongly recommend reading - and then reaching out to your local Cystic Fibrosis Chapter.

My daughter was diagnosed with CF 4 months ago at the age of 2.5 yrs. I was immediately drawn to books written from the parent perspective (it seems most are written by young adults who have it), and I first read "From a Taste of Salt" and then "Alex".

I mostly loved this book; I love how well Deford delves into the psychological aspects (of ALL the family) of having a child in the house with this disease. I can easily picture in my dealings with my own daughter many of the conversations with Alex he relates.

There are two things I disliked. One is that he really over-makes Alex to be a saint. Everyone says my daughter is so sweet and so good at taking her medicines and therapy and yadda yadda, but would you ever say the OPPOSITE to a parent with a sick child? My daughter is still a toddler and no saint, but Deford leaves out most of the day-to-day "normal" parts of her life that would show her regular humanity instead of her sainthood.

Secondly, It became obvious at times that Deford was, unfortunately, projecting some of his own thoughts, feelings, and memories onto Alex's actions. I do not blame him for this one bit, considering the great devistation it is to lose a child and then try to write about it. But for some reason it really annoyed me.

Overall an excellent book, and I recommend it to any parent with a newly diagnosed child struggling through the emotional and psychological steps of accepting CF. You find out that you are not alone in your many confusing thoughts. I only wish he had perhaps been a more religious man, and touched on the acceptance of this disease from God.

This book is a great gift, especially to those enterring new exciting chapters in their lives. It could as a result of death, illness, or just starting a new chapter. Life is hard but enjoy gain strengh from that around you.

This book is very inspirational and can be used a a motivator for young people embarking on their life journey. The accompanying cd is excellent as well.

I felt so connected to this and cried , I gave it to my daughter , who had just found out she had cancer . goldenyrs43

Leeann Womack does a fantastic job at describing how the song came about and how to apply it to every day life.

Being a lover of this song and of gift books, I naturally couldn't resist ordering this book the minute I saw it in a store. The lyrics of Leann Womack's classic song is featured throughout the book, along with inspirational messages and beautiful photography from those who put the book together.

I did dock a star because the messages in the book that accompanied the song occasionally came off as a little too..mushy. I'm really not that harsh a critic, not of books like these, but the beautiful words of inspiration were, a couple of times, replaced by words that were definetly too syrupy for my taste. I prefer truly moving messages and stories to speak for themselves, but it occassionally seemed like the authors wanted to hammer the point home, overdo the sentimentality, and even make their message serious and cheerfully bouncy at the exact same time (trust me, that doesn't work.) For ex: throughout the book, the lyrics of the song are printed in large bold letters in order to differentiate them from the authors' separate words of inspiration. Usually, the pages featuring the lyrics had no other words on them, but at one point, right above the words of Womack's moving song, the authors' placed a bulletin that said, "Attention! This is BIG stuff!" Considering the fact that Leann's song more than speaks for itself and doesn't need any extra emotional boosting, I found those additional words annoying and almost jarring to the flow of the song and its message.

Elsewhere in the book, as I mentioned before, the sentimentality goes into overdrive. One page is dedicated entirely to love and begins with the words, "Love, love, love. You have to love." Again, I got that idea the first time. It's nice to compliment the song with additional words of motivation, but we don't need an interpretive page with every selection of the song. In another part of the book, while speaking of youth, the narrator says, "Ah, youth..new skin, wide smiles, clear eyes..the future so bright. If only we could bottle it up, sip it now and again.." This sounded more to me like a bad commercial for a fountain of youth than a motivational speech. I don't mean to sound cynical, I usually love gift books, but the tone in this one was sometimes just too sweet for my taste.

I also didn't particularly care for the version of the song in the bonus CD. There's a mainstream version with soft rock music and female voices in the background (which I prefer) and there's a country version with male voices in the background and the occassional awful twangy instruments; this one's the latter. If you like country music, good for you, but I don't like the country version of this song.

There are plenty of good points of this book to make up for the disappointments, of course. The song is wonderful, whether you hear it or read it, and some of the separate words in the book were lovely to read. My favorite part of the book's text, other than the song, was a beautiful little haiku that the authors wrote called "You", celebrating every individual. The photographs are also gorgeous, from grinning children to nature scenery. A beautiful package, altogether.

Now, if they'd only make a gift book celebrating the beautiful song "Private Malone"..