Turner Books

The third book in the Vicky Bliss series, this book unites Vicky and John with her old flame, Tony, and her boss, Schmidt, in the search for the lost gold of Troy.

This novel is excellent- it brings back the character of Tony from the first Vicky novel, and adds to the mix other historians. The suspense is great, and the relationship between Vicky and John reaches a new level.

This is an awesome book!

This is the book that I pick up whenever I need comfort. It's such a treat - funny with fabulous characters that you'll wish were part of your life. I've read this book many times and for ages, every time I started it again, I'd forget who the villain was. The mystery is fascinating with history and art mixed in and enough action and intrigue to keep you going. As good as the mystery is, it's the wonderful characters and their friendships and humorous carryings on that makes the story sing. And there's a fabulous romance to boot. Get ready to fall in love with the mysterious John Smithe!

If you like to read fiction set in the places you vacation, this would be a great book to take with you on a trip to southern Germany at Christmas time.

Art historian Vicky Bliss has been sent an interesting photo, a photo that at first appears to be the famous shot of Frau Schliemann wearing the gold jewelry from Troy. A second look shows Vicky that this is not yet another copy of that photo but a much more recent shot. The problem with that is that the treasure had disappeared during WWII. Soon Vicky was on the trail, accompanied by her boss, Schmidt, several of her collegues (returning from a previous adventure) and the mysterious John Smith.

This is an light hearted action adventure. The characters are well done, particularly the principals (Vicky, John and Schmidt) much of the situations and dialogue is hilarious.

The only complaints that I have are there are many German terms used with little translation - frustrating for those of us who don't know the language. The other issue is that this is definitely one of those series that needs to be read in order not starting with this the 4th installment (as I did).

I've read all the Vicky Bliss novels, and I can only say I wish Elizabeth Peters would write more. She has such a humorous touch with these novels that the characters are not only believeable, they're a downright likeable bunch. I like the way Peters uses humor to propel the story along, and the exchanges between Vicky and her sometimes lover, John Smythe, are hilarious. But don't leave out her boss, Herr Doktor Schmidt, who is a remarkably innocent man for one of his advanced years, and a wonderful co-conspirator (even if he does have a tendency to view desperate situations as some sort of wonderful adventure). For fans of this series, I heartily recommend this book, since it's about time that Vicki and John come clean about their feelings for one another. The avalanche scene is a real nailbiter, and in keeping with the adventure! Don't miss this one!

and I believe the best of the Vicky Bliss series thus far; I have not read the fifth one yet, preferring to read them in order.

Vicky Bliss is a beautiful buxom art historian, located in Germany, who would prefer to be taken seriously for her brains rather than her looks. In this entry, she receives a photo of a woman wearing the golden jewels that had disappeared during the Nazi reign in Germany known as the Trojan Gold. To make it interesting, however, it is not a photograph of the original finder's wife, Frau Schliemann, as Vicky first supposes, but a modern photograph, meaning the gold has been found.

Vicky figures out who has the gold and races with her boss Schmidt to a small ski resort town, also in Germany, to find the gold. Meeting here there are several other art historians with whom she had attended an art conference the previous year as well as, of course, her sometimes boyfriend, Sir John Smythe.

The action is fast paced enough to keep the book interesting while the romance between Vicki and John reaches new levels. And, making this a perfect mystery read, there is plenty of humor as well. This is an excellently written mystery with suspects to choose from and clues to help along the way.

I have already purchased the fifth and, at least until now, last of the Vicky Bliss series. I certainly wish that Elizabeth Peters would write a new one!

I love this calendar! I get it every year and it has not disappointed me yet.

I purchased this calendar a couple of months ago and couldn't wait to put it on my wall. Not only does it celebrate my favorite city, NYC, but some of the hardest working men out there, firefighters. And the proceeds from the calendar go to charity. You can't beat that.

My daughter outgrew her puppy calendars. This calendar of hero firefighters is done with class and makes for a nice gift while making a worthwhile donation.

My girlfrinds and I always look forward to the newest issue of the FDNY Calendar and all the hunky men!! (Woooser!!) A must have for any healthy red-blooded woman in my opinion! (Your husband does not have to view it - keep it at the office!LOL)

The Boys of NYC - Fire Department and Police Department all deserve the recognition they get. They are forever HEROES!!

I was very happy to receive the Calendar. I was impress with the range of ages of the firefighters. They are all true hunks and true heroes in my book. I LIKE IT.

If you are planning to sell your home, this book is a must. Lots of excellent suggestions laid out in a step by step process. This would be a great resource for real estate agents to give to their listing clients as well.

This book has well organized ideas for completely readying your home for selling indoors as well as out! Many are common sense, but the psychological reasons for potential buyers to buy your home over another are amazing! It would be a pain to live long-term in a home that has been completely staged for sale, but for that purpose the ideas are terrific! I highly reccommend this book for anyone thinking of placing a home on the market, or anyone that may someday, as the ideas for color and upgrades can be lived with long-term!

I always hear people talk about "staging" and wondered what it was. This is a good beginner's guide, and will hopefully give some ideas to sellers to help them in this slowing market. It had some things I hadn't heard on HGTV before, and some were more detailed instructions on following through with ideas I've seen on TV. It also gave you details on which tricks were still in use, which ones (like baking brownies right before someone shows up) were no longer fashionable and why.

This book is great! Especially in today's real estate market, your house has to stand out from the crowd, and this book gives you the tools to make that happen. The authors give you general tips for the whole house, then a room-by-room section helps you fix up each room to its best potential. Lots of before-and-after photos help you visualize what you need to do.

"De-clutter" is a regular drumbeat that goes through this whole book, and we seriously did that. The result was that nearly all of our potential buyers commented on how clean the house was. Well yes, it was clean, but the appearance from the de-cluttering was more important in causing the look of cleanliness.

A psychological plus for us: after the staging, the house was now just a house, no longer our beloved home. That may sound negative, but it helped us see a low offer for the house not as an insult, but just as a starting point in negotiating for this object. We could be much more objective in the selling process.

Was this book responsible for four offers on the house in one week? Can't know, but we're sure it helped. Also, We thought enough of this book that we recommended it to our real estate agent after the house sold, for her other clients who might need it.
- Bill McGann, Author of The Story of the Tour de France

I was very disappointed in the photos...they're all in BLACK N' WHITE!
I think that seeing things in color would have made this book more interesting and useful. One photo was describing a pink bedspread...I sure didn't get the whole picture at first and then tried to imagine what the rest of the room was like. And my Gosh! One photo displayed a black (I think it was black) sexy nightgown laying out on the bed as part of staging? Staging for what?!? I think that could embarass the buyer! And they were worried about offending someone with having a bottle of wine out! Save your money! There are plenty of other books out there where someone could afford to have it published in color.

I think this is a must have tool for any BBQ fan, regardless if you have a Weber grill or not.

I have all of the other weber grill books and I find this one even better. I really liked the begining of the book with the discussion of different types of charcoal and what to expect from them. It really is a grilling 101 course. I also loved the parts were they detail cooking right on or right next to the coals. Never used this technic and adds a great favor.

This is a nice informative book on charcoal grilling. Has alot of the basics, and also has a nice selection of recipes, and tips on how to get the best results. I would recommend this book to anyone with a new charcoal grill

I bought this book after acquiring a Weber Performer. Like the Art of the Grill, also put out by Weber and written by Jamie Purviance, this book is nicely illustrated and the recipes are great. The author really knows what he is talking about. This book falls slightly short of perfection for two reasons. First, it is difficult to navigate if the reader is looking for a specific recipe. A more complete table of contents would help. To illustrate, to find a recipe for a roast chicken the current table of contents sends you to a section on poultry, then you have to leaf through all of the chapter to find what you want. This format is fine for a lazy day, but not ideal for busy people who need to get dinner going.

The other shortfall has to do with the subject of when to cook with the lid on, versus when better results can be obtained with the lid off. Author Purviance seems to fall into the trap of recommending that the lid be on as much as possible. This might be the holy grail according to Saint Weber, but alas it is urban legend. The lid is fine, I use mine all the time, but there are many times when the food tastes better if the lid stays off. For a better treatment of this subject, I recommend Cook's Illustrated new grilling book.

Weber's Charcoal Grilling is a must have for the recipes. It also has contributions from people other than the author that make the book more fun and more varied. This is an excellent book and it is highly recommended.

This book is the bible of barbeque. The true definition of barbeque has been lost over time due to convenient changes in grilling technology. It is really defined as: "a rack to hold meat for cooking over hot charcoal usually out of doors." It is important to note that it says "charcoal" and not propane!

This book delves deep into the world of charcoal and cooking with it. I purchased this book as a source of recipes for my charcoal grill. I found the beginning of the book has absolutely no recipes in it, but is the most valuable section of the book. It deals with how to cook with various types of charcoal, how to regulate heat, different methods of cooking, smoking, and other tips that are crucial to barbeque success. Like the title suggests, cooking with charcoal is an art!

I have found over the years that what separates a casual preparer of food and a good cook is having a handful of tips and tricks in the kitchen. This book is packed with patio tips and tricks for the BBQ artist in training. Do you know how to deal with rubs that contain mostly sugar? What if the rub is completely dry? When do I apply my BBQ sauce? How can I avoid drying out my meat when cooking it? How can I get different temperatures on my charcoal grill? Am I marinating too long?

These are questions you may be asking or SHOULD be asking yourself. This book answers them all and much more. On to the other 90% of the book: the recipes. The recipes are complete, detailed, and mind-blowing. You will find that many great barbeque recipes are simple, but a couple gourmet touches and techniques set them apart. Each recipe will carefully tell you how to prepare the food and most importantly how to cook it. These recipes are not simply: "rub with these spices, throw on grill for 5 minutes per side." It tells you how to deal with different sized cuts of meat, temperature of the grill, and everything that goes into making it right. You will be even more impressed when you try some of the DESSERTS in this book!

The pictures in this book are amazing. Do not torture a loved one by purchasing this book for them to celebrate a winter holiday knowing they cannot possibly barbeque in that weather. You can't even get past the instructional section on how to arrange charcoal without firing up your grill and tasting one of these delicious looking recipes.

The only criticism of this book is that it may lack a volume of recipes. This is due to the full page color picture that normally accompanies a recipe. Personally, I feel this is the right amount of recipes. Barbeque is a specific cooking method which is the focus of this cookbook. This "art" is so well covered that any recipe you may already have for outdoor grilling will be enhanced by this book. This book has a section on rubs and sauces that can be applied to numerous meats, multiplying your possibilities. Even propane grillers can benefit from the recipes in the book. (Although, they may exchange their grilling equipment because of it.)

This book is a manual on barbeque that takes the form of a visually appealing cookbook.

Great, easy and riveting read with brilliant premise. Black Sea Affair draws attention to the potentially dangerous game of maritime terrorism, something that we apparently aren't all that equipped to deal with. Couldn't put the book down.

Don Brown's Black Sea Affair is a thrilling novel about a hydrogen bomb being built in the bowels of an ocean-going freighter loosed on the high seas. Can the U.S. Navy find it, track it, and stop it in the nick of time? Bonechilling, frightening, and highly entertaining!

Don Brown's Black Sea Affair is action, action and more action! From the start of the book to the end of it 320 pages later, Brown kept me up, kept me twisting and kept me unable to sleep because I couldn't put the darn book down. Great read!

Don Brown's Black Sea Affair gives him a breakout novel in the mold of Clancy or Baldacci. I love naval fiction, and this was perhaps the most tension-filled and action packed novel that I have ever read. Sub skipper Pete Miranda is a strong, yet complex hero in the tradition of Jack Ryan who voluntarily puts his life and his men on the line to try and avoid nuclear war. A great read!

Did you realize that the ports of the United States are virtually defenseless against some foreign ship sailing into port with a nuclear bomb in it's belly? Did you realize that the Navy and Coast Guard have virtually no way to stop it? I didn't either, until I read Don Brown's exhilarating novel Black Sea Affair. This novel exposes the bonechilling scenarios of rogue freighters at loose on the high sea with nuclear weapons being constructed on the inside. In the novel, a rogue Russian Freighter, financed by terrorists, is on the high seas with a hydrogen bomb in it's belly. Where will it wind up? Couldn't put this novel down!

When I sent away for this book I had no idea that it would be so beautifully illustrated in full colour. It is a real little treasure of cat stories told in a way that only James Herriott can. I loved it.

We loved this book so much, we named our two cats Olly and Ginny. 'Nuff said.

Goes quickly, but he writes well and if you're a cat owner, you'll really develop a rapport with the cat stories in here. Not just for "cat ladies" - my husband picked it up and couldn't put it down.

Look you haven't heard a story read until you've heard it read by Christopher Timothy!!!! This guy could make a phone book interesting to hear read! These stories are great! They'll have you laughing and crying! So becareful if you listen in your car ;0) I was driving my 18 wheeler down a rural road in Luisiana getting all teary eyed! Scary thought, right?

James Herriot writes of his veterinary experiences as no one else could. Full of humor,sometimes sadness but always spellbinding and interesting. I could not put this book down.

The Man Called Cash is a very good book. very informative.I think a child 11-12 years old could read it and beable to understand what they are reading.I think it gose behond some of the other books I have read on Johhny Cash.I would recomend it to any one who is interested in seeing where Johnny Cash were he came from and the legacey he left.

I am a legally blind man and and I usually get my books to listen to through the library, but after I saw the movie walk the line I felt I had to know more about the ledgend of Cash through an audiobook if I could find one. I was lucky to find this one. I love the way Kris Kristofferson reads the book. Since he was a friend of cash's, he put feeling into the reading like no other person can. Through the author's extensive research on Cash, I found out things I never knew about him. The Movie is good, but if you really want to know who Cash is, just by this and Listen to Kristofferson tell you about his friend. The man in black.

I learned a lot about Johnny Cash, as well as people like Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, and many others who were the ones that generated so much buzz about music in the 1950's. Toward the end of the book, I was sad because I knew that it would speak of his death. I found myself not wanting to hear about it, because I had loved learning about his life so much.

My favorite story in the whole book was about a prayer he prayed at dinner. His dinner guest recalled the story:

Cash prayed and said, "... and we thank you Lord for this food, and we ask that you would bless it to our body. We pray these things in Jesus' name, Amen. When he finished praying he winked at me and said, "I still miss the drugs though."

It is precisely that juxtaposition of piety and weakness that I think I love about him. It reminds me of another man who is known well for his writing when he said:

I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do ... What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

In case you didn't catch that, the other man to whom I referred is the Apostle Paul. He happened to be one of Cash's favorite people for obvious reasons. I have wondered why I am so enamored by people like Johnny Cash and Paul; these men of such conviction, but at the same time so open about their transgressions. I think it is because they knew themselves well, and they never allowed the good in them to elevate them to a place where they could look down at others. They knew the darkness, and that it was always waiting if they would just relent and turn to it.

Cash turned to it a lot. However, like Paul, he also said:

Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

At the end of his life, after June Carter died he hung around for a few months more. He could barely walk, was in massive pain, and was eighty percent blind. In this state, however, he still had the Bible enlarged big enough so he could read it. Others spoke about his love of Jesus, his kindness, his generosity, and his faithfulness to June.

So many want to be cynical about people who struggle, fall, get up, and fall again. They like to point and yell to expose someone else's flaws. I am more convinced that the ones who yell the loudest are the ones who are the most scared of having their flaws exposed.

One of my favorite lines in music comes from a song sung by Cash. It was written by Bono and performed with U2 (yeah, I know big surprise). The line goes:

I went out there,
In search of experience,
To taste and to touch,
And to feel as much,
As a man can,
Before he repents.

Isn't that all of our stories? I know it's mine. I also know that it is mine everyday. I walk around, and like a little kid test the boundaries of God's love. Some days, I may not go far, other days I may feel restless and I just want to run. Yet each time I return home to talk with God I find myself speaking the words of Paul:

Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

I usually don't read many biographies, but I received this one for Christmas one year since I am a huge Johnny Cash fan. I was glad to see that this book was very well written and also a very easy read. I knew it was going to be good when the first chapter was pretty emotional, as it starts off with June Carter Cash dying. The book also focuses well on some key moments in Johnny Cash's life that made the most significant difference - the first being the death of his brother, Jack, and the others that revolved around June. Like other reviewers have stated, Walk The Line used a lot of moments from the book and I would recommend reading the book as well as watching the movie. I think what was great about Johnny Cash, and what we can all relate too, is how open he was with how he was a sinner and how he had made a lot of mistakes (ie. drugs, affairs, etc.), but he changed his ways when he fully committed himself to Jesus and his faith. I think this book can be a great tool to those who have struggled and have difficult pasts because Cash showed that it doesn't matter what you have done, that you have forgiveness and that you can always start over. Great message and this book has a lot of interesting and funny stories that will want to make you laugh, smile, shake your head, or make you feel sad. Steve Turner has done a great job and had made me rethink biographies. If you're a Johnny Cash fan, this a must-have!

Before I read this book, THE MAN CALLED CASH, by Steve Turner, from 2004, I had also read the 1997 book called CASH: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY (with Patrick Carr). They both cover similar ground. The 1997 book seems more homey, like Johnny Cash is talking to you, but this book, by Steve Turner, seems more accurate.

Having know Johnny and his family for over a decade, author Steve Turner was actually hired to help write another autobiography, but June and Johnny died unexpectedly, and the book turned into an in-depth research research project, instead of just helping Johnny write with decent grammar, or whatever it takes two authors to do with an AUTObiography.

Both books seem to be equally long in content, though the page counts and page sizes differ between the hardcover of this book and the small paperback of THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY book that I read.

Though both books cover a lot of the same incidents from Johnny's life, this book, THE MAN CALLED CASH, features some highly interesting coverage of the last living days of June and Johnny, before they both passed on in 2003. There is also plenty of more in-depth coverage of events told in THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY, and there are also plenty of events from Johnny's life that are not mentioned in the 1997 autobiography. I recommend that you read both books, actually.

The author also points out that since he had to do research, instead of just typing out whatever Johnny told him, he has discovered that Johnny Cash never had trouble telling a good story, or making a good story even better! For example, Johnny Cash has written and talked about how rowdy he was in the Air Force, fighting with the military police, etc., but Steve Turner points out that the people who were in the Air Force with him don't remember any of that kind of rowdiness from Johnny, who never got into much trouble, and would have been widely known on the air base if he HAD fought with the guards, etc. This book also tells about how Johnny would play music with other airmen in his dorm, and Johnny was the worst of the bunch, learning a lot from the others!

There are many interesting b/w photos, although mostly small, but in high quantity! There is a photo of his brother Jack, whose childhood death affected Johnny for the rest of his life.

This book also has a chronology of major events in Johnny's life, and a discography of his primary releases, which is good to use as a shopping list, for me.

This book does have some distracting typos that I hope get fixed in future printings. On one page the same sentence appears twice in a row. In the Chronology, the death of his father, Ray Cash, appears twice on the list, in 1985 (correct), and then again in 1993 (incorrect). This is unfortunate, but these two are the worst distractions that I found without even trying.

It is also interesting to see how the movie WALK THE LINE compares to what is contained in both of these books! For instance, both books say that June Carter never really met or toured with Johnny until he was a big, established star, years into his music career, while the movie gives me the impression that they met on Johnny's first fledgling tour.

THE MAN CALLED CASH gives information about the the saw accident and his brother Jack. This book says that actually there was another 12 year old boy there, who witnessed the event, and Johnny suspected him of being involved in a bad way, though none of the adults thought so at the time, or ever! Both books mention how Johnny would see Jack appear in his dreams for the rest of his life, always a few years older than Johnny at whatever the age Johnny dreamed the appearance.

This book talks about Johnny's friendship with the evangelist, Billy Graham. I personally enjoy Johnny's Gospel albums and projects, but I am a little bit disappointed over the wasted years of drug abuse and family neglect from Johnny, who thought of himself often as a lost Christian, but a Christian none the less. What do you think about that?

The Bible says, "What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice." -- Philippians 1:18. Using this Bible verse as a model, it tells me that Johnny Cash's Gospel works, as good as they are, are also totally legitimate as long as they correctly preach the Word of God--regardless of the depths of sin and abuse that Johnny heaped upon himself and his loved ones.

As long as Jesus Christ is being preached correctly, the sins of the messenger do not negate the message itself (and we are all sinners, just not as extreme as Johnny was, I suspect)! I do not and cannot condone his sinful abuses, (though I have done most of them myself, before I got Saved 8 years ago), but I will let God judge his own servant, and I will continue to enjoy the many beautiful Gospel projects which Johnny Cash was always eager and happy to work on!

GOSPEL GLORY is my favorite Johnny Cash Gospel CD, so far. His movie, THE GOSPEL ROAD, is on DVD and is also really cool! My favorite Gospel project from Johnny Cash is his spoken word reading of the entire NEW TESTAMENT on 16 CDs, very affordably priced from amazon.com, and all three of these items come highly recommended by me!

I can recommend both of these books for anybody who enjoyed the WALK THE LINE film.

Bottom line: read CASH: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY for a fun time spent with Johnny Cash in his own words, then read this book, THE MAN CALLED CASH, for the REAL story on how many of those stories actually went down!

This is truly a heartwarming story of bringing hearts and destinies together through perseverance and dedication. The story of Marlee's adoption should be an encouragement for others seeking similar adoptions.

Informative, entertaining and inspirational. I highly recommend Shannon's book to anyone who is considering adoption or anyone who would enjoy a heart-warming story of a Mother's journey through the process of adoption. If you are interested in international adoption, especially the adoption of a child from China, you should read this book.

As a mother of a toddler, I have very little "extra" reading time. This book sat on my nightstand until I found an evening to dive into it. I was amazed at how quick a read it was for the thickness of the book. In just two evenings of reading I shared this author's heartache of infertility and her inspiring determination to have another child. I was awed at how she overcomes a multitude of obstacles in an effort to adopt. With a sense of being a traveling companion along on the journey to China, readers share Shannon and Marlee's intimate first days as mother and daughter. Anyone with a heart for children will laugh and cry at the interaction between Marlee and her best friend Chloe as they cling to the familiar in the face of the unknown. The emotional highs and lows kept me turning pages. I feel as though I have traveled across the world and back on this adoption adventure with the Turners. Like a personal journal that comes to a last entry on the last page, this book leaves the reader wanting to know "what happens tomorrow?..."

I recently finished reading Miracles for Marlee by Shannon G. Turner. What a well written book. If you want to know what it's like to adopt a baby from China, you have to read it. I was fascinated by her creative style of writing, and couldn't put her book down until I was done. If you have adopted before, you will find so many experiences that match your own, you find yourself reliving your adoption. If you have never adopted, you're going to want to! Her quest to get her little girl is inspiring and down to earth. You feel her pain, her frustration, and finally her joy in getting her Marlee. Shannon writes with such a sweet sense of humor, so even though I had tears sliding down my cheeks through most of the book, I loved chuckling with her at the circumstances that surrounded her adoption experience.

Our little girls are going to want to read this book when they grow up, so you have to have this one in your library.

julie w

A beautiful, heart-rendering story of a family's love and desire to bring a daughter into their life. The family's dedication to overcome medical and financial obstcales to achieve their dream of adopting a Chinese orphan is a remarkable journey.

Shannon Turner is united with an angel, Three year old Marlee. Marlee is a delightful girl whose precious love and devotion for Chloe, a fellow orphan being adopted by another family, will indelibly impress the reader with the emotions these girls feel.

Experience the love of this family.

I would have probably given this collection of essays 5 stars as the other reviewers did if not for the essay about Doug Peacock. Seeking to heal the psychic wounds of The Vietnam War, Peacock sought relief in the wild. An encounter at close range with a grizzly in which he seemed to come to an "understanding" with the bear brought such a catharsis that he began to actively seek them out. If Peacock was able to do this,good for him! But I am reminded of the gruesome fate of "Grizzly Man" Timothy Treadwell and his girlfriend who tried to be friends with bears. It seems mistaken to advocate this kind of do-it-yourself therapy with ferocious predators as exemplifying a reason for preserving the wild. It also seems to contradict the desired goal of setting aside territory where Nature can manifest itself in its own way without human interference. This episode and references to shamanism give a cultic cast to the book which doesn't seem to me to further the message of preservation. The writing is quite good,charged with an emotional appeal. I thought the final essay was the best.It was a thoughtful presentation of scientific and philosophical reasons why humans need to protect a large portion of the earth from themselves,where Nature can operate on its own terms.

This is a must read! A series of stimulating and well-written essays centering on a common theme: how wildness (once but no longer the essence of wilderness) has been mediated, micromanaged, and abstracted nearly out of existence. Turner's polemic focuses on the abstractions that divorce us from the natural world, which cause us to create pseudo-wild places like Yellowstone National Park and Grand Canyon, places that resemble nothing so much as a theme park.

This book is radical (read: essential) environmentalism at its best and effectively reconnects the modern perspective to the passionate roots of Henry David Thoreau. Anyone concerned with preserving (much less revitalizing) the wild and wilderness, particularly in these dire times, should take Turner's ideas into account.

By Kyle Gardner, author of Medicine Rock Reflections

Jack Turner sheds light on issues most people care too little about, in this most philosophical of his books. This is food for deep thought. Definitely worth reading more than once.

consider this fact about the USA - 13 (now 14)have reviewed this book in this forum - and all have declared that this book, against almost all other books regarding the environment, and specifically, wildness, comes the closest to expressing their own hearts, if not before reading it, then because of reading it - yet we are force fed through the mass media that americans are gluttonous and rapacious - well as it turns out, no - just a handful are- and that handful has all of the money and all of the guns.

the landlady, dear readers, IS strangling our cat.

This book hits the nail on the head regarding what we think we believe and with how we really live and work in this world. Chapter 2, "the Abstract Wild: a Rant" and chapter 4, "Economic Nature" are particularly valuable, but then so is the rest. This is a book that makes the reader face the reality of our world and what we are making of it on no uncertian terms. If you think that we can reconcile the comfort of modern life with the real world you need to read this book. The world we are loosing is very different from the "abstract wild" we believe we are "saving". The book makes the strongest justification and argument for the spiritual reality of the world over the "economic reality" that we seem to think we must compromise with.

The "Abstract Wild" belongs in every hand that hold such writings as Thoreau, Leopold and Abbey important. Much like Thoreau, it holds up a mirror that all of us, including the "mainstream" environmentalists should look on. It reveals an image that is difficult to rationalize away, showing some hard truths that we all must heed if we wish to truely change, both individually and as a culture. The "Wildness" that is the salvation of the world is more than a slogan, a momentary protest or a cause. It's Reality in the true meaning of the word.

I found this to be a very difficult book to read; perhaps because my views are different from those portrayed in the book. I did finish it and passed it on to a friend who said she could not finish the book and decided not to pass it further. Some people may identify with the author, but I was not one of them and neither was my friend.

Deeply moving, thought-provoking, and very moving. This novel has taught me different ways to view myself, as well as my life and my God. Wow...

Gabriel Black was sentenced to life in prison. He has all the time in the world to sit and think about things that the common person just overlooks or takes advantage of. He decided to search for God in prison. Each chapter is titled with what he believes is proof that God excists.

The one thing I loved about this book was how deep thoughts he was. I had to keep underlining stuff in the book that I really liked a lot. Really made you think a lot.

This is one of those books that I wish I wrote.

In THE PAINS OF APRIL, Frank Hollon insinuated himself into the mind of a man many years his senior and expressed thoughts, ideas, feelings and recollections that would seem to me to be collectively accumulated during a lifetime and, therefore, unavailable to a man as young as Hollon when he write his first novel.
In his most recent novel, THE GOD FILE, he has once again placed himself in the mind of a person whose experiences would appear to be profoundly foreign to his own and, once again, he provides a keenly focused, sensitive journey through the mind of Gabriel Black, a prisoner, who has self-imposed a search to chronicle events that reflect the existence of God. Hollon provides many varied thought-provoking instances in which the reader is challenged to consider his/her own views of the existence of God (and other philosophical questions) -- and, indeed they are powerful, substantive situations. I found myself at times absorbed in his descriptions of the inner-workings of the minds of the players; the who, what, when and where of the events, only to be intensely reminded by Gabriel Black at the end of each scenario of the WHY he started his file. This is a wonderful book.

Gabriel Black is the instrument of his own punishment, a young man who has taken the murder of his girlfriend's husband on his own shoulders, accepting the blame for a crime he has not committed. When his girlfriend, the only other witness, makes no effort in his defense, Gabriel is left alone behind prison bars. In this vast wasteland of personal pain and the struggle to account for a misspent life, he begins a lifelong search for deliverance.

Sentenced to life without parole, Black sets himself the task of finding God in the lowest of places, where the dregs of humanity endure endless days of mind-numbing boredom with only their twisted memories for company. Some spend the years reading, learning about a world they barely remember and may never see again, while others escape into monotonous drug-induced sleep or give free reign to the demons that have brought them to this place.

Walking a landscape of despair, Hollon treads familiar territory as his protagonist gathers the contents of the box that will define his life, piece by piece, assimilating The God File. There are soulful letters, mournful essays, remembrances of things past, questions about this terrible struggle, all arranged in a particular order of importance. All attempt to explain the inexplicable, to find a place where belief can coexist with despair.

Gabriel's quest is intensely spiritual; the years he spends gathering this ambiguous evidence are part of his evolution toward the answer he so desperately craves. It would be impossible for Gabriel to find God when he first comes into prison. He hasn't achieved the maturity to save himself, let alone determine the existence of God. Each particle of thought scribbled on a scrap of paper in The God File is necessary to the whole. Gabriel has been baptized Catholic and his journey is littered with the small rituals, pieties and beliefs that are wedged so deep in the soul they almost cease to exist, until they are needed. Then, in the never-quiet, never-quite-dark, they emerge, tiny hopeful prayers, begging for a response. From God.

For Gabriel to find an answer to his question and know peace, he must be willing to endure each step of the agonizing journey. After all the wasted years, all the unspoken entreaties, Gabriel must experience patience. He has nowhere else to go. It is his journey alone and his personal path is intimately marked by the struggles of his individual soul. Yet Gabriel finds the courage to make each fragile leap of faith, to surrender his haunting question: "If God gives me more than I can endure, how can I know?" Gabriel listens to the faint sound in the chambers of his tortured mind, hoping to understand. Perhaps, after all, he will find peace of mind. Luan Gaines/2003.