Thomas Books

The fact that the book was written by Zig Ziglar was enough for me to buy it, however the fact that it is full of sound, timeless, tested and proven advice on child rearing is why I recommend it. In a world that seems to have gone mad this book is reassuring. It gives you hope that your children can and will thrive if the advice is taken and put into action. As an added bonus, parents get a "check up, from the neck up" to ensure that we're on the right path and doing what it takes to lead by example.

Pick up a copy of the audio series as well! The New Raising Positive Kids in a Negative World

I read this book a few years ago and find it a great parenting guide!
Above all it's written by someone that practices what he preaches and is a great example for the world.

If we want a better world we need stronger families and that starts with better relationships between husbands & wives.

This book has been a tremendous encouragement and help to me as a parent. There are so many books out there on parenting and at times the advice contradicts and confuses. Reading this book has taken me back to the basics. I was reminded of what an awesome responsibility and privilege I have being a parent! I can strongly recommend this book to any parent!

I was given this book when I was carrying my now 20 year old son. 3 kids later, I still consider this book a bible. I give it to any friend that is becoming a parent. My kids are the most awesome kids you will ever meet. They are sweet, positive, caring, hard workers,etc (Man, I sound like a mom!). I really get compliments of a great job done when someone meets my boys.
Buy and read it. Things will click!

Craig Shirley has written a first class narrative of recent history in Reagan's Revolution.

It covers the 1976 Republican primary campaign, in which former California Governor Reagan challenged Republican incumbent Gerald R. Ford-- the only man to serve as American President who was never elected President or Vice-President.

Shirley does a good job of telling the story from each side of the the face-off, including the presence of current Bush administration members Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, who were members of the Ford administration.

A great work that provides insight into an important event in American history that is not often covered in such depth.

Shirley's work is also easily readable, often reading like a good novel.

Craig Shirley's publication "Reagan Revolution" is a wealth for those who are seeking even even more information on Ronald Wilson Reagan. I remember thinking there needed to be a definitive account of the 1976 Republican primaries, and was glad to run across this account.

I enjoyed this book because there is so much new information about the 76 campaign and the inner workings of the Ford and Reagan teams. I felt like I learned much more about the Reagan team in 76 and really the great odds he faced in trying to unseat an incumbent president. It was especially neat to see how amazing Reagan was even without hardly any of the Republican Party establishment behind him. I think Reagan receives so much credit for his political skill, discipline, charisma, and intelligence just from this campaign.

Shirley is absolutely right in that he displays and unwraps the transformation of the GOP within this race. He understands the depth of the conservative moment, it helped since the author was a part of that movement. He also explains just how 76 was the launching ground for 1980. He understands that Ronald Reagan's political career was in many ways providential and revolutionary. Shirley's account is an exciting read and a descriptive and triumphant look at the greatest leader of the 20th Century.

I worked for the Illinois primary committee through the full 1976 primary campaign and then attended the convention with the Illinois delegation.
I worked with Reagan's California people during the primary and Charlie Black and Roger Stone during the Illinois primary. Shirley has captured the essence of that campaign and written a book that should be a primer for any young gun that seeks to influence national politics. Well done Craig! A+.

Whether you agreed or disagreed with his policies, there's no denying that Ronald Reagan casts a long shadow over modern American politics. His landslide victory in the 1980 presidential election made conservatism the dominant theme of American politics - a theme which is running strong even today. When most people today think of Republicans, they automatically think "conservative". Yet, as Craig Shirley notes, until Reagan's victory that was not always the case. In "Reagan's Revolution", Shirley offers an engrossing account of a campaign that he (and many political historians) believe changed the face of the Republican Party, and ultimately, the nation. And it's not the 1980 campaign that Shirley is writing about. Instead, he describes Reagan's hard-fought, near-miss 1976 primary battle to unseat President Gerald Ford and capture the GOP presidential nomination. Without this losing effort, Shirley argues, Reagan would never have been nominated and elected President in 1980.

Shirley offers an excellent account of the sad state of the Republican Party in the mid-1970's. TIME magazine did a cover story in 1976 on "The Plight Of The GOP", and even hinted that the Republicans were on their way to extinction, like the Whig Party of the mid-1800's. At the grassroots level the "Grand" Old Party was outnumbered two-to-one or more by the Democrats in many parts of the country, and at the congressional level many Republicans seemed resigned to a permanent minority status. Shirley argues that the GOP's plight was mainly a result of the fact that the party had no clear agenda or direction. What passed for the GOP Establishment consisted mainly of moderate-to-slightly liberal Republicans from the Northeast, such as Nelson Rockefeller of New York, Ford's Vice-President, and Pennsylvania Senator Richard Schweiker. Reagan, the leader of the GOP's conservative wing, became increasingly disgusted with what he believed was President Ford's complacent "me too" attitude towards the Democrats.

When Reagan announced his challenge to Ford in late 1975, he was promptly opposed by most of the "Rockefeller" Republicans who still controlled the party's finances and organization. Running with only his own resources and fellow conservative insurgents, he mounted one of the strongest challenges to an incumbent President in American history. Shirley, who interviewed plenty of former aides and campaign associates for both Reagan and Ford, gives a breathless account of the fierce primary battles throughout the spring and summer of 1976. Early on it looked as if Ford would win easily, as he defeated Reagan in New Hampshire, Florida, and Illinois. After each defeat the pressure mounted on Reagan to quit the race and "join the team" for Ford. Yet Reagan refused to quit, and his persistence paid off with a stunning upset of Ford in the North Carolina primary (with some help from then-Senator Jesse Helms). After that the two men engaged in an increasingly bitter nip-and-tuck battle for delegates that lasted until August 1976, when the Republican Convention opened in Kansas City. Only then did Ford finally manage to nail down enough delegates to narrowly win the nomination, thus making 1976 the last time that a presidential nomination would still be undecided before a political convention started. Yet even in defeat, Shirley notes, Reagan "stole" the moment from Ford with a stirring and eloquent concession speech that left even many pro-Ford delegates in tears. It was at that moment, Shirley believes, that the modern "Conservative Revolution" in American politics began.

I do have one problem with the book, and that is Shirley's obvious bias towards Reagan. Shirley is a conservative activist who supported Reagan in 1976 and 1980, and while he does try to be fair to Ford and his team, it's pretty clear which side Shirley supported. Even so, the bias is not so blatant that it seriously affects the pace or flow of the story. Interestingly, neither Dick Cheney nor (especially) Donald Rumsfeld come off looking very good in Shirley's account (perhaps surprisingly, they both supported Ford instead of Reagan). Shirley describes the 1976 campaign as a good sportswriter might describe a classic World Series or Super Bowl. If you're a political junkie and have read such classics as Theodore White's "Making of the President 1960", then you should definitely enjoy this book. Recommended!

Let's face it, history is effervescent with little, silent victories. The biggest victories (Waterloo, Gen. Washington, Robert Evans) always receive the press, the notoriety, and the Mucollough books (or novels, in her Lady Partisan's eyes). Now look at those little victories that receive so sparse a note. This is one of them. Now I am not a Reagan fan, I am not a conservative (I am not a Shirley of the same blood, for that matter, interestingly, I share my first name with one of whom the book is dedicated. Don't worry, I beith no rock a'tall).


Mister Shirley frankly just does a delightful job of allowing this little victory to finally breathe the air, the life it deserves. I was moved by the passages. The premise of this entire book has served as a footnote struck down by editors galore, which really allows Shirley to stretch out his pen and write as if this was a synopsis for a film based off of "Trivial Persuit." I'll explain: because this entire premise begins with so...trivial...a piece of tedium, that he has to work, to actually researce and write. His laurels lie within Washington, but in the Historical Nonfiction realm of popularity or even making a return on the original investment, Mr. Shirley is the one who must make the Book-Reader relationship work. In fact, Mr. Shirley has an even farther way to go than any other author and his or her piece, for while '76 is not chronicled (much), Reagan most certainly is, probably moreso than any other President of the 20th century. And handily, he places his name right in the top ranks of authors of these types of works. He does a fine job. He...persues...this silent victory right to its very last interesting note, and keeps the reader along the whole time. A worthy read, and a point made (double entendre if anyone's keeping score).


Note: For one of the reviews above, as far as factual errors, this book contains them only if the 150+ sources researched contain them. It seems based upon the 51 pages of bibliography that Mr. Shirley did not want to be wrong (and Rocky was simply a reference of the times, of the atmosphere, not a direct reference to any single item occuring on the stump in '76.

I bought this book the first day it came out and enjoyed it tremendously. There's even the speech Homer Hickam made at the memorial to the Sago miners in the back of the book. I got to meet him at a book signing and he is a gracious man. There were a lot of people at the book signing who enjoyed Mr. Hickam's writing as much as me. He is without a doubt West Virginia's favorite author.

Most of the mining descriptions are accurate. The rescue I have some questions with, however, it is very intertaining.

I have sat and digested this book the best that I can. First off it is not by any stretch my favorite Hickam book I like all the Thurlow and Coalwood books better, with that being said though this book was still a very interesting read. I did not particualrly like either main character maybe thats my own fault just didn't like the personality of either Song or Cable. This book starts off with almost strictly a love story through roughly the first 10 chapters then it gets interesting. This is when Hickam saves this book, the suspense makes you want to finish the book in one sitting. I reccomend this book for anybody but Hickam fans should not open this book expecting another Coalwood book it is much different in both good ways and bad ways.

For those who enjoyed Homer Hickam's previous "tales" of life in Coalwood, West Virginia, you will not be disappointed in this latest work. The conflict between two recently-marrieds, in concert with the drama in the coal mines, makes for a fast-moving story that is dificult to put down. The author's best work, I think, has always been when he's writing about his beloved mountains and people of West Virginia. And though I enjoy Hickam's Josh Thurlow series, I thoroughly get involved with what he really knows best--life in a coal mine community! And one needs to know nothing of coal mining to enjoy the story because Hickam does a masterful job of explaining what goes on "down there." Order this book and enjoy the ride with Song and Cable and all the other colorful characters as they find out many things about themselves and each other in an exciting conclusion to a wonderful story. If this is a first-time read of Homer Hickam, I would certainly recommend going back to Rocket Boys, The Coalwood Way, and Sky of Stone. Those are all non-fiction, but they serve as a good background for Red Helmet, making it all the more enjoyable.

Homer Hickam, in "Red Helmet", transports us to the small mining communities of West Virginia. With characters that make us love them, laugh with them, wipe away a tear or two, and become a part of their lives, struggles, and mysteries, "Red Helmet" is a great read. Curl up on your sofa with a hot cup of tea and a blanket and be carried away to West Virginia!

This book has been uniquely encouraging for me through recent difficulties. I have given away several copies to friends who are facing different types of trials. They, too are finding encouragement and passing copies of this valuable book along. I originally heard of the book in Chondra Pierce's book about battling depression, Laughing in The Dark. God used the book to help her through difficult times. This book is easily digestible in devotional-like paragraphs and chapters. It's not as intimidating or heavy as many books that seek to encourage, but tend to overwhelm, seem to be.

i liked: these 10 promises can be lived by during both challenging times and good times. author does an excellent work of outlining god's desire of moving us out of weakness away from him to boldness near him through his promises. each chapter begins with a red sea rule, a promise, then quotes a bible passage from exodus as its foundation. then through the chapter and sub-chapters you are taken on a journey of experiences and stories to illustrate the meaning of each promise. every chapter and sub-chapter is filled with scripture quotes and quotes from historical persons. a wonderful little book packed with great reading. i disliked: none found.

God used this book to bring me thru a hard time in my life. God showed me that,when there seems to be no way thru or around a problem, He will make a way. He did just that for me. I have given about 2 dozen "Red Sea Rules" books away, most of the people I give them to come back and say "God did a wonderful work in my life thru this book" Jackie Wolf

This is a wonderful book. Following the biblical pattern of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea the author helps you look at life's difficult problems in a new light and gives you guidelines for "getting thought" tough times.

I keep this book by my bedside and read it whenever I am troubled.

I shared this book with a couple that were going through a crisis. They liked it so much they gave my book back and bought their own!

It's a must read for any christian.

Let me start by saying that I'm a 13 year old boy and that Reggie White is my hero. I bought this book looking to learn more about my hero's life and I really struck gold.

Reggie White tells you about his entire life in this autobiography. He starts with an Introduction called "Promise Kept", which I particularly enjoyed. He then tells about his childhood, College days with the University of Tennessee, his Memphis Showboat Days, the USFL's fold and his move to the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles (my favorite team), and then his move to the Packers.

In between that though he tells stories of God and his miracles on the football field and about Buddy Ryan and the players he would go into the trenches with any day.

He also writes about the death of Jerome Brown, stories of God, how he didnt want to leave his teammates of the Eagles but had to because of the ignorance of Norman Braman, and much much more.

This is perhaps my favorite book I've read so far, and I enjoy reading.
I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of the NFL in general. Reggie White is a true NFL Legend and my hero.

I don't know where I'd be today without the witness of the late Reggie White. I suppose the answer is that God would have used someone or something else to crack open my hard heart, but I will still be eternally grateful to Reggie - not only for writing this excellent football book, but more important for always wearing his heart for the Lord on his sleeve, in plain sight for any observant fan.

THIS IS THE STORY OF REGGIE WHITE FORMER NFL GREAT. THIS IS A GOOD READ FOR EVERYONE, NOT JUST FOOTBALL FANS. REGGIE TELLS US OF HIS LIFE AND CAREER WITH THE EAGLES AND PACKERS, ALONG THE WAY HE HAS SOME GREAT STORIES ABOUT FORMER COACHES AND TEAMATES. BUT THE MOST IMPORTANT MESSAGE IN THIS BOOK IS HOW TO LIVE A CHRISTIAN LIFE. REGGIE WAS A DEVOUT CHRISTIAN AND SPREAD THE WORD. HE NOT ONLY TALKED THE TALK BUT WALKED THE WALK. THE LESSONS AND MESSAGES IN THIS BOOK ARE WELL WORTH READING AND USING IN EVERYDAY LIFE. I WAS VERY SHOCKED TO LEARN OF REGGIE'S DEATH. HE WAS A GREAT ROLE MODEL FOR EVERYONE. I RECOMMEND THIS ANYONE AND EVERYONE TO READ. THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH REGGIE WHITES IN THIS WORLD.

"I've never seen any conflict between Christianity and football. I don't see football as a violent sport; I see it as aggressive. And I see Christianity as an aggressive faith." (pg. 189).

IN THE TRENCHES spends tons of time talking about what made Reggie White famous, FOOTBALL, and what he thinks is most important for him to do with his football success, use it to promote JESUS!

"...three words--IN THE TRENCHES--sum it all up for me. I live my life in the trenches. I do my work in the trenches. I serve my God in the trenches. I go to war against evil, poverty, racism, and injustice in the trenches." (pg. 22)

Reggie talks about how he grew up. He was the second son of a teenage mother, who seldom saw his father. He was always much larger than other kids his age, and they called him names like "Bigfoot" and "Land of the Giants." He got saved when he was 13, and he would point out what the Bible said to bad kids who were doing things like always telling lies.

He claims O.J. Simpson as his childhood inspiration and main reason that he wanted to play football, even though this book was written after the famous murders?

He toughened himself up for football, to prove wrong the folks who said he couldn't handle it because he's a Christian!

He talks about playing in the USFL and the NFL, for the Showboats, Eagles and Packers. This book was written before he won the Super Bowl with the Packers. He spends plenty of pages giving many details about many different games. Sometimes it gets a little too long for me, so if you are interested in hearing about his football career, then this is the book for you! "Sacks are fun, man. There's nothing like throwing a quarterback down for a big loss." (pg. 83). He also talks about being one of the first really big stars to go into Free Agency, which was not popular with the team owners of the time! "The owners who screamed the loudest about free agency were the owners of the notoriously tightwad teams--the Eagles, the Bengals, the Steelers." (pg. 127).

He details the times when God pulled off public miracles to heal him to play. He also discusses how God used his football fame to bring to the public eye the problem of church arsons in the South, by having Reggie's church get burned down, which brought national media attention, and plenty of extra love and support from Green Bay fans, and from across the nation.

There are many b/w photos in the middle of the book, so you get to see many of the family and friends discussed.

This book is better than Reggie White's later book, BROKEN PROMISES, BLINDED DREAMS, which is mostly about his thoughts concerning African-Americans in the USA. BROKEN PROMISES focuses mainly on what's wrong with the immoral US culture, these days, so you should read BROKEN PROMISES if you are interested in social activism and the African-American experience, from Reggie White's perspective.

He only briefly touches on the culture wars in this book, IN THE TRENCHES, "Nobody's preaching abstinence today because nobody's figured out how to get rich off of other people's abstinence--but there's plenty of money to be made from other people's sexual activity...[...]..sexually transmitted diseases...aborting unwanted babies...Much of the money spent on various aspects of people's sexual behavior is TAX money--money you and I shell out to the government, money that is spent without our say-so!" (pg. 217).

At the end of the book he give tips on how to be a good role model.

I am a Reggie White fan, because I like what he did with his football fame, using it to promote Christianity throughout his entire career, and way before and after his pro football days, as well!

I think this is the best Reggie White book that I have read, though I can also recommend BROKEN PROMISES for anybody who is intrigued by the activist aspect of Reggie White's life.

There is also a pretty decent book of photos called REGGIE WHITE: A CELEBRATION OF LIFE, 1961-2004. This is slim on text, but has many interesting photos of his pro football years.

"When I face the final judgment, God isn't going to ask me how many Pro Bowls I played in or ask me to recite my stats. He's going to ask me if I knew Jesus, and if I helped to bind up the wounds of people." (pg. 195, IN THE TRENCHES).

I found this book very interesting I learned a lot about Reggie White. I wish that he was still with the Green Bay Packers. I am a huge Green Bay Packer fan. This book had a lot of interesting stuff in it. For example I never knew that one of his favorite players growing up was O.J. Simpson. Reggie said in the book that O.J. Simpson was like a moving target for defensive linemen; he said, that was one of the reasons that he wanted to play defensive end. I also learned that he really liked his coach Buddy Ryan when he played with the Philadelphia Eagles ,and when Buddy Ryan got fired Reggie couldn't figure out why he got fired; he said Buddy Ryan was a good coach. Reggie also talked about his church getting burned. He also talked about his friend and teammate Jerome Brown who was killed a car accident and he thought he was a really great person and he said he misses him. I learned a lot from reading this book. This book is one of my favorite books that I read. I would recommend this book to every Green Bay Packer fan.

I am not particularly well versed in English literature, but this CD is read by Alan Rickman and his voice is mesmerizing. Thomas Hardy's characters and settings are wonderfully descriptive and colorful. I listen and relisten to the first chapters and don't tire of them, because listening to it is so pleasurable! I found the book in my collection, and sometimes I follow along with the CDs. I'm going to enjoy this for a long, long time!

Had the audio tapes from the library and listened so many times I wore it out. Thought the reader was wondeful and will buy it on CD to add to my collection.

I am so glad this has been re-issued on CD. 15 hours of Alan Rickman's voice. Excellent value for money. An ideal gift for any fan of this actor.

Return Of The NativeThe Return of the Native Now the book is on cd and it's a must have. Now that the book is on cd there is no more issues with chewed tape. Mr. Rickman gives the book life and makes any long trip on the road go by fast and eases the mind. Great stuff wish he read more.

As a lover of descriptive, old English this book is a delight. Hardy writes such beautiful prose in describing the wilds of Egdon Heath and its occupants. I have loved Hardy's writing since first reading, 'Far From the Madding Crowd', as he rung my heart for Shepard Oak. How much more would I have enjoyed it if it was read, I can not tell but 'Return of the Native' is so much the richer for being read and heard. It's the difference between enjoying the story and being in the story; walking with the characters across the heath, willing them to take a different path or hoping they tread their way to a beloved or to avoid another. I laughed out loud at poor Christian and cried and the fates of some. Alan Rickman, (I am very biased on anything to do with him and his voice) does a fantastic job in developing these characters into distinct personalities with their own sound and feeling, a truly skilled actor.

It was certainly not any love for country music that made me pick up The Road to Eden's Ridge -- the only singers named in it that I recognized were Willie Nelson and Roy Acuff. Instead, I was interested in the Maine angle. So often we natives are portrayed as stereotypical bumpkins who can't put together a complete sentence, but not in Eden's Ridge. The characters are distinct individuals so realistically drawn that I feel I've already met them. Lily, my favorite character, is the woman I want to be. Strong, independent, capable of dealing with whatever life throws at her, and yet deeply passionate.

The Western Maine setting, almost another character, is equally well-drawn. I certainly understand why Lindsay wanted to leave for a different life. Snow storms like the one that isolated Lily and Ben, allowing them to express their love for each other, really do happen -- frequently. But the book also captures the beauty of our summer sunsets, apple orchards, fields of wildflowers, lakes and mountains.

What I like best about the book are the many contrasts. It has urban Nashville and rural Maine, Grand Ole Opry and Frederic Chopin, blizzards and heat waves and love stories set fifty years apart. Somehow all these dichotomies come together like the warp and weft to make an intricately woven novel.

Oh, and one more thing. The lyrics of "If I Ever Write a Song," written by Lily for Ben, just might make me a convert to country music.

By all means, Take the Road to Eden's Ridge. The novel, by ML Rose, traces two compelling love stories over the course of generations, finding common lyrical themes in country/western and classical music. As a result its sympathetic characters have broad appeal for performers, songwriters, and fans (like me). It's got plenty of location appeal as well, from Maine to Tennessee: I can see a film in its future. Who can resist a story about second chances to fulfill youthful dreams that's crafted with such virtuoso flair? The Road to Eden's Ridge ends, of course, but its songs resonate.

A Customer

This book has just been released in trade paperback by Turner Publishing. It's a captivating book that kept me up all night until the last page. It's the story of a girl from the Northeast with an Ivy League education who chucks it all for a new adventure in Nashville that brings her life, her family's and those she meets along the way full-circle.

"The most talked about local book of the season. Lindsey Briggs leaves her husband to be in Maine to move to Nashville and causes quite a commotion while learning valuable lessons about love, life and people."

The road less travelled means that you delay gratification and tend to the tasks before you in life. It can also mean unrequited love. Love that is oh so close, yet so far from being fulfilled. That is how I see the novel THE ROAD TO EDEN'S RIDGE. M.L. Rose who wrote this love story is a pseudonym for Myra McLary and Linda Weeks, two friends and writing teachers. They have a knack for using words to portray human emotions. It is a love story over several generations. It is about country music and probably is a true story of a famous person in that venue. It took me several boxes of tissue to get through the novel in one night. A country song kept going through my mind the next day. Willie Nelson's song "To All the Girls I've Loved Before" could be the theme of this romantic novel. Academia on the East Coast and country music in Nashville are twin characters in the story. The ending is classic. You won't want to put the book down. These two writers are brilliant and deserve more exposure to the reading public. I love this tear-jerking,heart-warming romp in the snow, ride on a horse, intimate tale of passion and music set to both classical and country rhythms.

A fictional account about a goalie of French Canadian ancestry and who plays in the NHL, Saved borders on non-fiction. It's no serendipitous coincidence that Jean Pierre Savard plays goalie for Jack's favorite team, the Bruins. It's no surprise then, that Jack was also a netminder, and that like his protagonist, Falla's family tree is partly rooted in French-speaking territory. Falla's description of the on-ice action and insights into how players deal with the media, and what happens in a player's private life--as well as what he's thinking--all read true. The novel also contains characters, names that Bruins and/or AMHL fans will recognize: Cam, Rancourt...even a cameo by a Dwyer. Other characters' names sound more cartoon-like--"Flipside, "the Mad Hatter," and "Rinky"--but add color to Falla's commentary. And like any good book, conflict, sadness, doubt, compassion, faith, and redemption make this a keeper.

I write this review with bittersweet feelings, as Jack Falla's recent passing has left a void in the hockey community. I don't know of many authors more qualified to touch on the subjects covered in "Saved" than the esteemed Boston University journalism professor, who touched so many lives with his professional writing skills and love of the sport. Although I met him only briefly a few years ago, he made my year when he recognized my name and acknowledged my own meager contributions to sports journalism.

"Saved" is the tale of a veteran NHL goaltender who is still trying to find his balance several years after losing his wife, an aging talent who realizes that his opportunities to win the coveted Stanley Cup are dwindling. Throughout the course of this fictional season, JP Savard will have his world turned upside down both on and off the ice, as he deals with positive changes in his life (a new love) along with challenges he never really seriously considered (an unexpected trade to a bitter rival).

Falla's intricate knowledge of the sport, the position (he was a goalie) and its real-life characters serve him well in this tale of modern athletes who are in many ways, still reflective of the old time hockey pro hockey players Falla grew up admiring/folllowing and later covering as Sports Illustrated's NHL correspondent. As a kid growing up near Boston in the 70's and 80's, I was a fanatical devotee of the Boston Bruins and can readily identify with so many of the themes and storylines surrounding the team in Falla's fictional yarn (the bottom-line conscious billionaire owner, the curmudgeonly, set-in-his-ways GM, the heart-and-soul captain who has never won a championship and desperately wants to before he can no longer play, the team that always comes up short to the hated Montreal Canadiens [sorry Habs fans]). I was (and am still) a hockey goalie, so Falla's book is especially meaningful to me, as I have quite a bit in common with JP Savard from a playing standpoint.

I wasn't good enough to pursue a professional hockey career, but my love of the game never subsided. Through Jack Falla's timeless hockey classic, I got to live vicariously through JP Savard and thoroughly enjoyed his quirky, yet honest NHL journey as if it had been my own.

RIP, Professor. You are dearly missed, but your spirit lives on this great book.

I loved this book! Parts of it are laugh-out-loud funny and all of it gives great insight into the minds and hearts of hockey players. Lots of good stuff that you know had to happen to someone, although I know names and locations have been changed. Also, a lot of interesting and informative bits of hockey lore. But, above all, the story is great and the characters are all three-dimensional ones. You care about them and want to know what happens next. I hope to see more hockey fiction from Mr Falla.

This book is a MUST for any hockey fan.Anybody looking for any behind the scenes expose of life in the Nhl should go elsewhere. The book took me two days to read.JP Savard is a goalie determined to hang on to his job and continue playing in the Nhl.Throughout one season we follow him through the highs and lows and how he deals with them. Jp is a very likeable protagonist as well as the rest of the characters. I really liked the way Falla includes hockey history throughout the book without bogging the story down.

The summer season is rapidly approaching and many travelers will be compiling a list of books to read while on vacation. The hockey fan should consider Saved, by Jack Falla. It follows the season of Jean Pierre Savard, a goalie for the Bruins and his quest to win the Cup as his career is winding down. There are no surprises here but the book is loaded with hockey history and behind the scenes looks at the life of a professional hockey player. Falla covered the NHL for many years for Sports Illustrated and he brings the reader into the locker room, the rink and lives of these fictional characters.
At first Jean Pierre (JP) appears to be the main character as the first thirty pages focus on his background information, how he became a goalie and his college career then launches into present day. We are introduced to his best friend and teammate Cam Carter, get a glimpse of JP's personal life which includes a Ferrari and a lot of sex, which should entice the male reader to pick up the book. However, as the book progresses the real main character becomes evident, the hockey culture and game. Hockey is all JP has ever known and as the end of his career looms, he is terrified by the prospect of not knowing what to do with the rest of his life. Three concussions during the season cannot deter him from his need to keep playing, even with a warning from his fiancée Faith McNeil, a former college classmate and hotshot basketball player, now a dotcom millionaire and doctor.
My husband obviously has done a good job over the past eight years because I was familiar with the majority of the names, terms and events mentioned in the book and some basic hockey knowledge does make the book more pleasurable. Falla does provide a lot of detail, so that the new hockey fan will not be completely lost while reading this book. An example is the description of the Vezina Trophy. The reader learns for whom the trophy is named and why, and the details about Vezina's final game and untimely death. Sports metaphors run amuck in the book, which at times was cumbersome to this reader. It may be a gender difference, as the book is told from a male point of view, because while a sports fan I certainly don't answer every question directed to me with a sports reference.
As JP moves through his season and a trade from the Bruins, he gives details about the games he playing, what they mean during the different points of the season, what needs to happen for his Cup run to continue and how it feels to have someone else gunning for his job the entire time. Most readers cannot identify with being a professional athlete and being paid millions of dollars a year. But they can relate to being in their thirties, not knowing what to do next in their lives and struggling to hold onto their youth. This, coupled with the hockey history woven throughout the book makes it an enjoyable and quick read. (Provided the reader does not have a four year old and six month old vying for his or her attention.) As you pack your bags for the beach, mountains and beyond make sure you include Saved.

David Jeremiah is a gifted teacher and author. This book elaborates on his sermon series of the same name. The book presents very illustrative details on what and how those how are and want to be better folowers can exhibit the "signs"

Even though salvation is by grace, this book will really challenge you to make your Christian walk alive.

This book is a must read. I have purchased two others and given them as gifts and have plans to order more. The information that has been shared is so enlightening. I never knew the history about the Salvation Army. I will look at the volunteers with a deeper appreciation from now on. I am starting to read it all over again as I feel the need to do so. I've shared segments with so many. David Jeremiah is a great author.

fran bradman

Christians, while there are mnany good and Godly people in this country, have by and large become soft and self-serving. This book will help cure us all of that. I have been inspired to get up out of the pew, out or my comfort zone, and out of my little holy huddle, and start some SERIOUS serving. If we serve, we will be more attractive to people and more pleasing to God and this book really helps show the way. David Jeremiah hits at the heart of the issue from a postive, encouraging point of view, rather than accusing, belittling, pointing fingers and making us feel guilty (isn't that Satan's job?). Great book, but don't just read it, DO IT!! We need to stop squabbling and start serving, and thereby show people that God is indeed alive in us!

I saw Dr. Jeremiah preach the introductory message for this book and immediately knew that I wanted it. This book is assembled into 40 daily devotionals in Dr. Jeremiah's "get to the point" style. These 40 lessons support the five "signs of life" of a Christian: Dusty shoes, worn out knees, rolled up sleeves, open hands and outstretched arms. llustrations really add to the discussion of the point he is making.

We have just finished this book as a Sunday School study. Response was just wonderful.

Hannah Ives is an entirely believable character who has had an unimaginable string of bad luck: breast cancer, job layoff, and a husband accused of sexual harrassment. She toughs it out, solving an old mystery in the process. I do have a criticism. Her husband seems beyond saintly when she disbelieves his side of the sexual harassment problem (although, of course, her run of bad luck gives her a good excuse.) Since every other thing about the book makes a good mystery with great main characters I accept the fact Hannah has an absolutely perfect loving husband. That kind of good fortune transcends all her recent bad luck.

I worry that the next books in the series can't be as good.

Marcia Talley, editor, discovers a link with that first collaboration and declares, "We have come full circle." The Phonenix, contrary to the one located on Gay Street, is an upscale spa for the rich and famous. The scene of five murders, this time the characters are all interrelated, which is uncovered in the final chapter. It was all rather convoluted, being the artistic endeavors of thirteen prominent writers, each for one chapter. This is the result of a project to copy the serial novels of the Thirties in which Agatha Cristie was involved. In 'Agatha,' the movie, she was incognito "shadowing" her nemesis in a steam room in England about the same time she was writing such (living a dream). Our Phoenix building downtown has been renovated into high priced condos for strange folks who moved here and think it is novel to live on the main street of this town. No Spa there, however, you have to go to Powell to the Fitness Center to find the hot tub and steam room.

The Phoenix in this story in segments is a place of myster with drugs, adoptions, murders all involved until the Chapter 13 which explains all in detail to the survivors who are all family, interrelated in a weird way. "A family, rising phoenixlike from the ashes." Caroline thanked God for bringint this man into her life; Tennessee congressman Doug Blessing with some secrets of his own. She hadd not "forced her way to freedom" because of an anticipated "need for Doug's more delicate plumbing." This written by a mystery writer as opposed to a romance novelist who would be more explicit. Just a slightly different way of phrasing, which I always used in the book reviews I gave to the literary club -- it was fun to confuse those who weren't napping. The Phoenix had a mud room with its own secret stash.

Some of the gathering of strong personalities include the beautiful made model (Adonis), the kinky actress, the green-haired rock star who went through N.A., the detective Toscana who sometimes acted like God ("and Toscana saw that it was good."), Dante, t he masseur, and Geoff, the assitant pastry chef. The sociopathic personality responsible for the deaths had no conscience, and was evil with no sense of honor. Knowledge was her weapon. A person can only ask, to be granted a wish for anything.

Led by Nevada Barr based this confusing story showing how a character can be killed in a spa. I review another book wherin the pivotal chatacter was killed in the steam room of the notel spa shortly before his scheduled assignation with the main person. So, this premise is nothing new, nor the format. What is different is t he freedom of each of these authors to develop their own characters and circumstances leading to the next sequence of unusual, never-thought-of-before things a client could do at this exclusive Phoenix Spa. This serial format started in 1931 with 'The Floating Admiral' which was serialized in England.

I found this first novel by Ms. Talley quite refreshing, not the same old murder mystery. Her involvement and subsequent investigation don't seem too far removed from reality. Hannah's experiences with surviving cancer, and the recovery ring true and add a different dimension to her ruminations. Good read, would highly recommend it to anyone!

This is an excellent first novel by the author, and the first novel in the Hannah Ives series. I purchased the novel after reading "I'd Kill for That," a round robin mystery edited by the author.

The plot is set in a small town in Maryland. Hannah Ives has gone to stay with her sister-in-law. When a body is discovered, an old case is reopened, and suspicion falls on a number of people. Everyone is not as they seem. A lot of information was covered up eight years earlier, and things are going on in the small town. Hannah finds her own life in danger as she opens up a can of worms.

The author is from the area used for the setting. It can be assumed some portions of the plot are drawn from her own experience. The story is well crafted.

Marcia Talley was the winner of the 1998 Malice Domestic Grant.

I am certain when you open the cover and read the excerpt titled, Swan Song, you will instantly take a liking to Hannah Ives. She comes across as an honest, witty, and courageous character.

After surviving surgery and treatment for breast cancer, and a job lay-off, Hannah goes to stay with her sister-in-law, Connie, at the family farm near Pearson's Corner, an old fishing community on the Truxton River in Southern Maryland. While there she discovers a body in a well. Being the person she is, Hannah feels since she is the one who discovered the body, she has an obligation to the victim to solve the murder. This is one obligation that leads her and Connie in to some dangerous waters....

Marcia Talley is coming out of the chute strong with her first mystery. I understand this is to be a series and I'm glad to hear it. I'd like to see more about her husband, daughter and son-in-law. IMHO, Hannah Ives is going to be one of our favorite protagonists and Marcia Talley will be one of our most talked about writers.