Nevada Books

Of all places, I found this little gem in an old book store in Manila, way back on a dusty shelf. With the spider webs and disarray, it seemed appropriate that I would discover an historical novel with a memorable beauty Lily and a good plot. I read it on a trip to Cebu and found it well-written, exciting and wonderful characterization. I passed it on to an Australian so it has likely ended up in a book shop in Melbourne. Good job...I liked it. Will have to read "Railroad Schemes" to catch up on the whole story.

Cecelia Holland has written a great sequel to her book RAILROAD SCHEMES!! This books has very lovalbe characters, a great story line and is full of real San Francisco history!!

This was a very good novel continueing the story of Lily Viner, the heroine we met in Railroad Schemes. In this sequel Lily is now 20 years old and has joined up with a theatre. Lily has been searching the news papers for any sign that her mother, who left her and her father when Lily was only a toddler. The only thing that Lily nows about her mother is her name, but she won't give up.

The Railroad Dective, Brand, is now on the trail of a man, who was formerly a part of the theatre. The man, whose name he finds out from Eva Green (Lily's friend and roommate), has supposedly sent a threatenig letter to the governer of California. When Brand finds them (the theatre) he finds out that Lily is traveling with them. This sets Brand on a whole new quest to steal Lily's heart, while still searching for the man that is plotting against the governor.

After reading RAILROAD SCHEMES I was enthalled with Cecelia Holland's heroine, Lily Viner, and couldn't wait to see how her life would unfold in LILY NEVADA. Though not entirely disappointed in the sequel, I didn't find it as satisfying or captivating as the RAILROAD SCHEMES. The winsome young daredevil we met in RS seemed to have become a angry, cold, distant woman in LN. The historical narratives are interesting but I feel that character development & interaction were sacrificed to make room for the history. I hope that Ms. Holland takes us into Lily's world at least one more time and possibly resolves Lily's obvious ties to Brand and her link to her new-found mother.

It's been five years since the close of Railroad Schemes and Lily Viner, now known as Lily Nevada is a member of a theatre group en route from Virginia City to San Francisco. On the way she briefly meets up again with the despicable (in her eyes) Railroad detective Brand. In San Francisco the acting troop reaches the heights of success in their version of Hamlet as the flames of anger from the depressed railroad working class swirl around them, and Lily also searches for true love and her long lost mother.

Sound interesting? Actually it's not, at least for this reader. Without the endearing innocence of Lily in the first novel, along with the absence of her beloved books, Lily was rather bland and I didn't find much in the rest of the story or characters to interest me much either, especially the railroad strikers and the riots. It all just fell flat and thankfully was over quickly at just over 200 pages. Three stars, not great but not really bad either. For those who want a thumping good read about 19C San Francisco I highly recommend Gwen Bristow's Calico Palace. Out of print but well worth taking the time to search out.

The best guide I have found so far, for anyone wanting to move to Las Vegas. As a Nevadan of 30 years I have to agree with a lot Mr. Smith says about our state -- it is a different world. People from out of state can really get an insight into the true city. Even a longtime Northern Nevadan can learn a few of the differences between North & South.

Yes, it is a bit dated, but things change so fast in this state it would be impossible for any book not to be dated. Map books can not even keep up with all the streets ... North or South.

This book cuts through the hype of coming to Las Vegas and gives newcomers a chance to see the place for what it really is. It's a land of opportunity and of opportunism. It's not an easy place to get settled and the book gives the straight story and also offers the usual list of clubs, relocation companies and so forth.

Despite a review to the contrary, this is an honest little book that gives people moving to the city an accurate background on how to survive there. It warns newcomers to stay away from casinos if they want to thrive in Las Vegas. Given that fact, it might be the best Las Vegas guide available.

I read the older edition of this book, but the newer one caught my eye and I gave it a try. It's a lot different and contains more helpful iinformation. I especially appreciated the inside information on schools and how locals live and what they do for fun here. I keep the book with me--it even helps me shop. It helped me choose a good neighborhood too. I would highly recommend this book to anyone considering a move or extended visit to Las Vegas.

I gave this to a friend who was moving. I borrowed it back from her and read it...it is a great comprehensive book about moving to las vegas with everything the new las vegan would need to know including how to register your car and get your driver's license, how to get a job quickly and information on all the schools in las vegas. It seems very comprehensive to me.

The only persons I would recommend this book to are those who may be moving to Utah from out of state and want to better understand the unique (bizarre?) Utah culture. This is what the book is good at: describing the differences between Utah and Nevada cultures. The fact that I had to fight to finish it should be telling enough. The writing is alright but the characters are not compelling. It's not a great book but may be of use to some people.

This remarkable book betrays a genius for language in a variety of places. Poetic and fast paced, it is as if keats had sat down to write king.

The language is fast but takes on an emptiness that reflects the Nevada desert. The story is an interesting one with sudden twists (making crop circles, drag racing on the salt flats)and takes on a slightly religious tone towards the end, but not overly so that the author becomes self-indulgent. Funny, interesting, great characters, vivid descriptions. I highly recommend it.

I couldn't disagree more with the Kirkus review. This book breaks many conventions of fiction writing and sparkles because of it. From the moment those snakes are shocked out of their holes, this novel barrels forward with the breathless passion of its narrator, the old blackjack dealer. Anyone who knows writing knows from the richness and power in his voice that his love for Charlotte, though unexpected and selfish--as love often is--is real. I read the book in two rapt sittings. When the old man's mind's eye follows Charlotte and Keith through Las Vegas and the Nevada desert, I AM there with them, happily, sometimes eerily and in luscious discomfort. The novel's ending was entirly unsuspected and at once inevitable, which is perhaps a novel's highest praise; it takes an artist. But it's the passion and complexity of the old man's consciousness that makes this book the work of art it is, a book I would love to say that I had written. Rock is the man.

I gave this book to my mother, and she was reading it in her car while stopped at red lights. The book's philosophical and racy passages are equally engaging; the descriptions of the landscape open spaces in your mind.

Nevada Barr, Carole Nelson Douglas, Marcia Muller and other top names provide engrossing short stories of murder and mystery centering around the psyche of the housewife in a mystery gathering of new stories by big names. Anticipate stories which excel in strong characters and absorbing plots with plenty of mystery paired with women's issues and concerns as a side-dish.

On television the housewives are desperate, but in this page-turner collection of short stories by award-winning women mystery-suspense writers, the housewives are deadly.

Anyone who knows the mystery genre knows the authors in this anthology: Nevada Barr, Barbara Collins, Carole Nelson Douglas, Eileen Dreyer, Vicki Hendricks, Suzann Ledbetter, Elizabeth Massie, Christina Matthews, Denise Mina, Marcia Muller, Sara Paretsky, Nancy Pickard, S. J. Rozan, and Julie Smith.

Resist any temptation to ignore the introduction and head straight for the stories because the introduction sets the tone for the rest of the housewives you'll meet in the pages that follow.

Some of the housewives are bored, others are disgruntled, but all discover nasty ways to respond to what irritates them. I tried to choose a favorite tale, but couldn't. I recommend you read them all, just not necessarily in the order they appear in the book. "Trailer Trashed" makes reality television worse than you thought. "Joy Ride" gives prudent insight on knowing who you're dealing with. "The Next-Door Collector" makes anyone look at the new neighbors a bit differently. "Lawn and Order" shows new ideas about plants and pets-two things that are supposed to help reduce stress. Ten more stories await you, so make sure you block enough time to enjoy them all.

After you've finished the stories, you'll want to read the "little black book" containing extra entries of comments and recipes supplied by the authors. After seeing how these ladies think, however, I don't know if I'd actually allow anything from the recipes into my mouth without a food taster trying it first.

You're in for a real treat as you move from story to story. Be on the lookout for haunting humor, precious pets, hurtful husbands, naughty neighbors, and generation gaps. Enjoy the ride.

Armchair Interviews says: Wow, sounds like a fun read.

I have listened to many audio books and I must say that this is absolutely the worst. If I can really choose, I would rate this with negative infinity stars!! I am glad that this was not my first audio book; otherwise, I would have given up on audio books altogether. There are two stories in a single disc. The first story was read at a way too fast pace. Moreover, the lady sounded half drunk! I couldn't catch most of what she read. The lady who read the second story sounded like she was trying to outdo the first in terms of speed! There were no proper pauses (e.g. at the end of a sentence), intonations were wrong, and both stories were read in a dreadful monotone that almost put me to sleep. If you ever think of trying this CD, don't do it when you are driving. It almost drove me nuts trying to keep up with the stories. There was simply no pleasure in listening to their voices. Maybe it was because the producer was trying to squeeze everything into a single disk. So were the stories good? Guess what? I don't know. The readings were so bad that I simply could not concentrate on the story enough to truly appreciate them.

The Introduction sets the tone for this strong anthology. DEADLY HOUSEWIVES opens with letters asking for sage advice on spousal removal including a request from a woman who apparently killed her husband with his bowling trophy, but nonchalantly wants to know how to remove the bloodstains. Fourteen tales later complete what is one of the better compilations in several years. The authors are a female who's who going deep into what makes motivates the gentler sex to turn criminal and is some cases lethal. Each tale is well written as some of the best women mystery-suspense authors on the market provide their insight filled with twists. After reading this superb often amusing short story collection, the secret is out as to who dominates relationships especially family for estrogen rules.

Harriet Klausner

Fifteen authors band together to make one of the most deadly mystery anthologies ever! These are not unknown names either. Oh no! All fifteen are known in the mystery genre and all the tales are new, never-before-published.

**** Do not skip reading the book's humorous Introduction. Just by reading it I knew this was going to be a fun book. Many women have considered killing off someone, but these housewives follow through with their thoughts. A few of these stories have unexpected twists or surprise endings. This fun read is perfect for your mountain or beach vacation. ****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

I found this book to be extremely information about life in the 1860s as I am into Civil War Re-enacting. There were so many interesting facts of everyday life, etc. that it was as if I had been transported back nearly 150 years.

A great book for students studying the Civil War (like myself). Gives amazing insight to the lives of people during the Reconstrucion era after the war. Pages of great information about soldiers' lives, homes, churches, schools, rites of passage, working life, daily woes, and enjoying life in the late 19th century. However, the info somewhat dry, and gets a little tedious at times, but the amount of details and great facts evens it out a bit.

This broad-ranging text covers daily life, customs, and technology in a variety of American settings during the Civil War and post-war periods. Inevitably, it doesn't give a whole lot of detail on each topic, but this is a very good place for general readers to start. The descriptions of farm life are particularly detailed and helpful. One complaint I do have is that the author does not footnote his quotes from primary sources, making it impossible to follow a reference up. Like most histories of daily life, this volume is short on information about mentalities and beliefs. Also, probably deliberately, it contains little information on political events and almost none on events in the South during Reconstruction. The effects of the Civil War on daily life and thought get rather short shrift. Nevertheless, this book does cover a lot of information and does so in a clear, useful fashion.

I bought this book because I had read "The Reshaping of Everyday Life : 1790-1840" by Jack Larkin. Both books were originally published in the 'Everyday Life in America' series. I really enjoyed "Reshaping" and hoped that "Expansion" would be of similar caliber.

Given the page constraints (170 pages of text) this book does a good job. However, given the vast increase in the size of the USA between 1840 and 1876, the coverage is necessarily thinner. Everything from the frontier to the South, to New York tenements to established rural districts is covered, the only exception being the extremely rich (who are well covered in other books).

The main problem is that so much is covered that a reader might feel that he knows all about living in the US during this time period, and that would not be accurate. Some areas are left out almost entirely. For example, the West Coast is almost completely ignored except for Virginia City. Unfortunately, the only solution I see is either a much bigger book, or several books covering each of the subtopics.

That is the reason this book only gets three stars: the coverage is broad but shallow. It is a good introduction to the time period, but that is all.

I think this is, perhaps, the finest book I have ever read on social history. I'm not kidding. After reading this "encyclopedia" (for that is what it truly is) on every aspect of life as it was during and just after the Civil War era, I actually feel as if I went back in time and visited the past first hand. Forget about "Everyday Life During the Civil War" and the other writer's guide books out there. "Expansion of Everyday Life 1860 - 1876" leaves no stone unturned, covering topics extensively such as the role of religion in the daily lives of the people, courtship, death, birth, clothing, prescription drugs of the era, what was eaten for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, bathing, and schooling. Life in the city, in a town, and on the farm is covered pretty equally where the differences occur. The lives of the (freed) blacks is also mentioned throughout the text. Other topics covered include such taboo subjects as sex and abortion, homosexuality, as well as women's rights. But it is done not in the typical 21st century liberal PC style so prominent in current history books. One gets the impression that author, Daniel Sutherland, has a true passion for truth in social history and is not out to promote a political agenda. He does get a bit tedious at times (which I absolutely love - every detail of life is here!) but never dry, as another reviewer wrote. If you are a student of history, which I am, then I am sure you will feel the same as I.
There is not another history book of this era that I would recommend higher than this.

This fabulous book concentrated on the history and glitz of old Las Vegas, and I loved it! Very informative, and very exciting! I'm only 25 years old, so I especially loved comparing the glamour of old Las Vegas with the city that I know today. I gave this book to my dad to read after me, and he loved it for completely different reasons... mostly because he remembers those fabulous days from the 1950s. The photos and stories are unbelievable, including the Rat Pack, Mae West, and my personal favorite: Elvis performing with Liberace! This is a great book for anyone who loves Las Vegas, who wants to know the history of sin city, appreciates good entertainment, or who just likes to travel. The whole book is fun, and I even learned something from reading it! I'm telling everyone, young and old alike, to buy this book.

I've been to Vegas a dozen times, but the stores are always sold out of this fabulous book. So I was glad to get it here. It's a great, visual tour of old Las Vegas--the place my mom and dad used to go and bring me souvenirs. I like the pictures very much, as well as the artwork from the period, and the brief captions were enough to whet my appetite for more. I want to collect poker chips now! The fabulous shot of Elvis and Liberace, as well as the shots of Sinatra and Mae West are all unbelievable treasures. I don't know how these guys found all this stuff, but my hat is off to them. And actually reading Keely Smith's words after listening to her music for years was a great honor. I recommend this book whole heartedly

I'm sorry to be negative--I'm a big fan of some of Mr. Basten's other books--but this was a disappointment. I expected more (or at least some) text. Hardcover, but only 127 pages, and many of the photos are blown up so that their pixels or scanner artifacts show. The book's graphic style is "Annoying Fifties," which is appropriate, but the caption text is rendered in brush script. Another reviewer said that the first half was all about the early history of the first casinos--would that this were true.

There are lots of "mood" photos, and Charles Phoenix' collection of matchbooks and swizzle sticks are amply presented, but the text is filled with "mid-fifties" and "late 1940s." Call me obsessive, but I like a bit more precision in my history. The book starts with a mention of "Helldorado Day," a tradition that evolved into a four-day annual celebration. Wonder what time of year it occured or whether or not it is still occurring? Me, too.

So, if you'd like to see several dozen historical photos with reasonably good captions, here's your book. Keely Smith's introduction is entertaining. But as another reviewer mentioned, Alan Hess' Viva Las Vegas is better for a real history with actual, um, facts.

I was attracted to this book because it covers a period in American life that fascinates me. The text (basically captions to the photos) provides a superficial but exuberant look at Vegas. The first half of the book covers the origins of the major hotels and casinos, plenty of color photos, match book covers, postcards, menus etc presented in breezy layouts. The section on the entertainers I found dull as these people, looking at the photos, could have been performing anywhere. For what ia really a fun book it does have an index.

A far better coverage of Las Vegas can be found in 'Viva Las Vegas: after-hours architecture' by Alan Hess. This book is almost the oppposite of 'Fabulous Las Vegas', essentially text and some color photos but Hess has done a tremendous amount of research. The really keen could plough through 'Learning From Las Vegas' by the architectual team Venturi, Scott-Brown and Izenour, their controversial view was that Vegas, because of its popularity, should influence building design elsewhere...I think I would agrre with that.

Great Book. Many old pictures of Vegas. Shows some awsome old Casino Chips Pictured. Talks about the behind scences life of vegas. One of the best books out there.

For several years I've been using the Fodor's published books when going on vacation and wouldn't consider another product. When planning my visit to Las Vegas (having never been there) it was very helpful and detailed. The book is organized very well and now contains comments that have been submitted by other travelers. There are a lot of things to do in Vegas and this book tells you all you would need to know.

I have been visiting Vegas every year or two for about 20 years. I try to get as much new information as I can about it before I leave. Fodor's guide helped me considerably because it lets me know what's new so I can go right to it.
I especially like the maps in the book. I'm going to take the pullout map with me.
This book answered all my questions and answered them well.

I didn't like this book very much. The Fodors New York was very useful for me, so I decided to buy Fodors again for Las Vegas. The text style has changed. I guess Fodors is trying to be more hip and cool to attract readers from Lonely Planet and Rough Guides, but seems pathetic. The guide tells which hotel has the best groovy pool for you to see and been seen. Rubbish. And I must say that only some hotels are listed. I wanted to know their opinion about Signature by MGM Grand, cause it's very well quoted in Trip Advisor, but it's not mentioned. Well, it was very disappointing.

When I receive the fodor's (Los angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas) I ordered month ago, I honestly didn't expercted to be so good, it has been an incredible help when planning my next vacations. Thanks for been such as good tool for us (internet buyers). Pao

I purchase guidebooks for two reasons: first, to have a handy resource guide I can use to for its maps, phone numbers, and addresses, and, second, for a chance to find overlooked, new, or hole-in-the-wall places to go that I might not think of or discover on my own.
Fodor's 2008 guide does an okay job on both these points, but not exceptional. Perhaps Las Vegas just has too many hotels, restaurants, and other attractions for the guide to list even their most basic information, but it can be frustrating to look up a fairly well-known attraction (for a needed phone number and address) and not find it. It's less frustrating, but also less worthwhile, to sit back on the plane and flip through the guide looking for something new to do in a familiar place and not find anything ... and that happened, too.
The guide hits many of the high points and does appear to try to spend time looking for a few "secret hideaways," but I think it does only an adequate job in each area. Perhaps the handy-but-somewhat-unnecessary gambler's guide could be shortened. Yes, the information there is cool and understandable, but there are dozens of better-written and easily available guides to gambling ... most of which can be found in the Las Vegas Airport or a casino gift shop. Maybe the guide could excise a few pages from the "around Las Vegas" sections, where it talks about attractions a good hour or two drive from the city. Still, those ARE things you aren't likely to find out about on your own. Maybe the guide simply needs to be longer.
Anyway, I think the Fodor's Guide to Las Vegas is about as good a guide as I've seen ... but that's just not saying a lot.

If I could only purchase one book on Vegas, this would be the one I'd choose. It was much more helpful then Las Vegas for Dummies and Fodor's Vegas.

I have found this book to be full of great information! I look forward to utilizing it while we are in Vegas to do things that we normally wouldn't know about or would be less likely to find. Sometimes it's hard to remember where you read about something but I'm excited about checking out some of things I've found while reading the guide.

Good book, although I felt some of the reviews were not accurate. Some things you just need to do to experience all that Vegas has to offer. Definitely recommended to find about about the places you have yet to discover.

Despite having been to Vegas a dozen times over the past ten years, it had been three years since my last trip. Knowing how much changes, I bought this guide to help sort out what was different for better or worse.

For the most part, its packed with solid advice. The narration takes a very skeptical voice, which is exactly what a place like Vegas needs. Its great to see hyper-advertised shows and hotels laid bare, such as with the very balanced review of Danny Gans and the honest perceptions of The Palms. Its also good to see off strip non-gaming destinations get some print, even all the way out to an Area 51 guide! Everything that's worth seeing gets mentioned.

However, that same skeptical narration is also too self aware. Rather than accepting that a person who has paid money for a guide book of Vegas probably has some idea of what they're getting into, the narration belabors the obvious to the point of mocking the reader for drinking the Vegas Kool-Aid. Stating that the décor is "giggle inducing" or that certain shows are simply so overrated that they're unreviewable is about as cynical as reminding us that Mickey Mouse is really just a guy in a suit, so be sure to look with scorn on children lining up to see him. I don't think anyone is going to select a hotel because of a plaster sphinx, but that's part of why you pick Vegas over Atlantic City or Orlando. Above all, a guide book should respect the reader's decision to go to a destination and perhaps future editions will remember that.

The guide spends copious amounts of text describing how things used to be. While the reflections of a veteran casino dealer are interesting, the discourse continues in the hotel reviews. Many of the hotels seem to be judged relative to how they were in the past; not against comparable properties as they are today. Its useful when used to accentuate something that has changed recently, but extraneous when belaboring how things were decades ago. New properties raise the bar, older properties lose their luster. We got it.

Another frustration is the lack of relative comparison between hotels. While the star ratings are accurate, the reasons why you would stay at one property over another with the same rating aren't spelled out very well. Since a wide range of price and quality are available, the nuances are what make an informed decision. With a lot of that glossed over, it would be easy to select a hotel that you weren't happy with because of a detail you felt misinformed about, say pool size or the general demographics the hotel is trying to attract.

Its easy to get disillusioned with Vegas and focus on what's different today as opposed to what makes a trip to Vegas different than a trip anywhere else. If anything, that's what this guide suffers from. Its like that one member of your family that finds fault with everything while you're on vacation; you wish they would just appreciate the fact that you're there and not somewhere else.

I bought Frommer's Las Vegas 2008 even though last year I'd previously purchased and read the 2007 edition. This years is a good update that builds off of last years work. There is updated information- after all everything changes constantly in Vegas. Having never been there I wanted to make sure I was getting the absolute best deal for when I and my friends go.

The hotel I was interested in wasn't even worth mentioning, room wise, last year. but now it's considered one of the best rooms on the strip and I'm greedily content with the good deal I'm getting. Last years book covered the $$$$ hotels a little too much, glorifying them when most of us that are buying the book can't afford to spend $500 per night to stay in them a few days. This year's, I'm happy to say, covers the rooms the rest of us can temporarily call home.

It can't cover every single restaurant and bar, but it does give a decent break down from the ultra trendy and expensive to Crispy Kreme's. Also there is a little more mention of the various hotels spa's, though it's still pretty skimpy and that's one of the areas I wanted more on. But this really is a good over view. Now I just can't wait to go!

This book was graphic at times and sick and sad, all at the same time. How a father could do what he did to his son is way beyond me. What they both did to a 10 yr. old girl is beyond even my imagination. It was hard to read this book for me. I am glad that I only have about 10 more pages to go.

This book, is like other reviewers have said, horrifying. It deviates so far from the norm that it shows what happens when human beings have been degraded to the level of ignorant animals.

Thomas Soria Sr, is a complete and total monster, who comes from a family of violent criminals. He shows us what happens when a father ignores everything society has taught him and degrades himself to the level of a dumb, immoral animal. The things he did were beyond humane, and so incredibly perverse that I have to claim that he is the worst criminal that I've ever read about, including books like "Cellar Of Horror" which details the exploits of the cannabalistic Gary Heidnik and "Suffer the little children" the story of Jesse Cummings, the polygamist who put his two wives through Hell every single day and ended up raping and murdering his eleven year old niece and his sister.

The situation goes beyond ludicrous. It includes sodomy, father-son incest, and Thomas Soria Sr. even goes so far as to eat his son TJ's feces and then force his son to do the same. He eventually goes so far that he kidnaps a 9 year old girl, rapes her and murders her, leaving his son to dispose of the body.

I found no sympathy for him, but felt a flicker of pity for his son TJ, whose life has been so far beyond the norm for so long that he didn't know any better.

This book is very disturbing, but it's also so incredibly gross that it's difficult to read.

All I can say is that it makes me angry that that repulsive bastard was able to cheat justice by committing suicide before he could be executed. I completely agree with the death penalty this time, because this guy is beyond help and needed to be put out of his misery.

I don't know what else to say except "buyer beware". This book is very graphic and it will probably make you very angry.

This book was very good, but it was also very disturbing. I personally didn't mind it much, but if you don't like violence and gore, I wouldn't recommend this book to you. However, if you think you can handle it, it is a great book and it would be worth your while to read it.

The story itself was an interesting one and thats the only reason I continued to read the book. Many times I would read a passage and have to stop to make sure I wasn't reading a 7th grader's "current events" paper. There is way too much repetition in the book, almost word for word describing the actual events of the murder. WE GOT IT THE FIRST TIME! Also, in my humble opinion, I believe that there were alot of "fillers" being used. I mean, come on, there is no reason to write 2 chapters about Soria Sr's Uncle's crimes. Touch base on it, but don't dwell on it.
Bottom line is, it's a good story to write/read about, its just too bad it's grade school writing.

This story is truly heartbreaking, and if you can't take explicit details, don't read it. Although the book does not linger too long on the actual crimes, it is very explicit. This is a story of a man who sexually abused his son from a very early age. The man had come from a family of psychos -- his mother was brutally raped and murdered by another relative. As a teenager and young man, the son obtained young girls for his father's sexual pleasure, including his own girl friends. This young man, who worked with children in an after school program, had become acquainted with kids in the neighborhood and lured one of their friends into his apartment where the father sexually tortured her and then murdered her. The book tells of the frantic search for the little girl -- to the point where her mother was just a room away but did not know it. The investigative story is very interesting, including the tip by a passer-by that put the investigation into high gear. This story made me cry several times, and it made me sick to my stomach to think that a man could be so cruel to his own son and to innocent children. It will make you afraid to let your kids play outside.

I was enthralled by this book from the very first sentence. The writing is so beautiful that, even though the vast majority of the action takes place in the mind and there are many purely descriptive passages,the story seemed full of action.
I appreciated the water imagery, which was consistent throughout, lending a unity to the narrative. Kitchen is not the first to use this potent imagery ( "Those are pearls that were his eyes"; "I should have been a pair of ragged claws . . .") but that's because water is so elemental to everyone.
I must confess that, like Molly, I am a 50-plus married woman with a passion for music, so I found lots to relate to in the book. Unlike Molly, however, I do not enjoy the works of Edna O'Brien.
One quibble: I thought the portrait of the husband as a deracinated, disaffected Jewish academic was more than a little trite.

I would have rated one star if it were an option. If you can finish this book, chalk it up to boredom...that's the only reason I finished it. If you can finish this book and tell a good friend that you enjoyed it, I don't even know what to say. If you suggest this book to a good friend, you're just plain mean. Every single time I began to read this book, I fell asleep within thirty minutes. I was sure something was going to happen any time. It never did. The lack of dialog may have been the main reason it didn't grab my attention, but seriously...the most uninteresting book i've read in a very long time.

The House on Eccles Road pulls off a small miracle. It's the story of one anniversary day in a troubled long term marriage--a day filled with recognizable "petty offenses" by the couple against one another, and with the possibility of reconciliation. It's realistic. It's also written in a fluid internal style, ranging from character to character, and centering on one woman's longings. It's colored by sadness and memory but brilliantly intense about the present. It's a passionate, lyrical book. And for those who can recognize this, it plays off amazingly against James Joyce's mammoth Ulysses, answering that mammoth mythic masterpiece with a woman's point of view, a woman's feelings, a woman's truth. It is a moving book, maybe unforgettable.

This book surprised me- it slows you down. The entire book takes place in one day. How two married people can so easily live within their own heads and rarely intersect at good conversation. I found the writing beautiful and very true to life. a simple snapshot. a magnifying glass into the mind.

This book came as a gift from my college-age son. A "story" it is not, verging more on the poetry of daily life. It is succinct, well edited, and the writing is exquisitely crafted to give life to the personal voices of Molly and those family members and others who touch into her life. The 51-year-old Molly is close to my age - her thoughts, insecurities, and relationships feel so authentic. This is a book to share and savor with your women friends. I find myself looking to see what else is available from Judith Kitchen.