Books and Authors Books

Two months after reading this collection, many of the stories are still vivid in my mind. I feel like I've stumbled across a modern classic, with fresh storylines, strong characters, and original language.

My favorites include Aunt Frank's Legacy, Remember Us, The Seal Man, and Nave Nave Mahana, but to be honest it's hard to pick any one story out. It's rare to read a book of short fiction where the standard stays so high throughout, but the diversity and richness of this bunch of stories kept me hooked. I read some to my husband as we drove cross-country, and he loved them too.

Saunders is a bold stylist, not afraid of examining both the dark and the tender sides of life. The mood is sometimes funny, sometimes bittersweet, sometimes hauntingly scary. He shows good insight into the ridiculous aspect of human nature and doesn't hesitate to point that up. In some stories I snorted out loud at the witty observations, in others I was scared for what would happen next. Often I was just deeply moved.

I'm looking forward to re-reading soon, and for anyone who enjoys entertaining and literary short fiction, I'd say that Brother is a no-brainer.

In the title story, successful composer Griffin Curzon attempts suicide and his inventor brother tries to resurrect him from his rapid mental decline to the man he once was. In the heart of his illness, Griffin writes in a letter to his brother this apt metaphor for life:

" `Brother,
We see merit in numbers, in sequences. We search for the infinite in variety. We are imbeciles. Every note of music is a whole, deep symphony of sound. Play it soft, than softer still, breath on it, then strike it hard, harder, hit it so it rings on and on, the texture wavering and changing. Then add rhythm, slow, slower, a little bit faster, build it up, rat-ta-tat. There is staccato, legato, on and on and on. One note, one beautiful, indivisible note.'"

In "Aerobatics," a father must face the inevitable changes in his relationship with his adult daughter, and in "The Seal Man," a lonely woman sees hope for herself in the arrival of a stranger to her island. The characters in these pages don't just make do, they transcend their circumstances. And the reader will find a variety of people here: transients who move into an abandoned zoo; an eccentric patron of the arts; a man coming back to his grandmother's house after her death; an infirm man bracing himself for death.

From "Sweet Mercy Leads Me On:"

"Now I'm lying awake trying to think of when I was at my happiest. Because of the drugs I've been given it's difficult to focus on anything but the present. My thoughts zigzag back and forth like a dog let loose in a park, picking up a scent only to discard it when a better one comes along."

Intelligent and sophisticated, these stories showcase Saunders' ability to render imaginative lives and settings in exquisite detail. Each story in the collection is a unique and lively world, yet each carries the mark of a sure hand, and the cohesive glue that binds them together is Saunders' understated brilliance and compassion for his characters.

If you have not already done so, I suggest you purchase a copy of this superb collection. You'll be glad you did.

Tom Saunders has tuned into the deep dark secrets of our world, of happiness and sadness, and has articulated them in the stories collected in "Brother, what strange place is this?".

The title story with the brother Griffin jumping out of a window only to survive and end up in an institution for the insane addresses the title question in an emotional and philosophical way, but really, all the stories in this collection are studies of the same question.

"Aerobatics" is the one that most got to me, the one I can't forget: A father tells his daughter about the time, when he was a boy, that he came home from school to see to his mother crying, "breaking her heart". He explains that up until that moment he was happy and then "suddenly I was landed with this knowledge about my mother...I wasn't prepared for what I saw...I wasn't prepared for a world where that sort of sadness was possible."

You have to be prepared to read this collection. You won't be, of course. Like the little boy who is suddenly faced with the shock of his mother in tears, one can never be prepared to face the depth of the world's sadness (for the boy) or strangeness (for the brother, Griffin).

Yes, I recommend this collection of stories. Tom Saunders is a sensitive and intelligent writer who is concerned with the truth of the human condition.

A Compeling Exploration

Tom Saunders' collection is the work of a true artist.
His writing leads you through a range of human interaction and emotion. In stories like THE RED TRAIN, Saunders tackles subjects that are delicate, controversial at best and with great sensitivity lays it out for the reader to advance conclusions. Without pretense or presumption he offers the reader the opportunity to explore. A true gift Brother, What Strange Place Is This? is a remarkable collection by a remarkable writer.

After decades of minimalism, modernism, postmodernism, and batty maunderings, Saunders' careful, credible storytelling is as an oasis to the parched mind. My own personal favorite in this varied collection, The Calle de Obra Pia, will sit you down on a piano bench next to a man who is hopelessly in love. You may like him--and this is true of all of Saunders' characters--or you may not, but I tell you that you will care about him, you will know him, you will very likely find in him yourself.

And this is the truth that infects Saunders' stories, and draws the reader into them: he does not write about Everyman; instead, he continues to show us variations on the species. None is wholly good nor entirely sympathetic. Each is as imperfect, as yearning, and as capable of greatness in small spaces as are you, as am I.

This collection is clean air. Do yourself a favor.

This book is one of the ultimate companions to the blockbuster show of the same title.

In a day and age when show creators and producers have gotten into the habit of talking down to their ausiences, Whedon again breaks the mold by sharing the direct scripts with us, the loyal fans.

I remember how happy I was when I heard that BTVS was going to be a television series and this book brought back the early euhphoria that I experienced with the revival. Thank you again Joss for everything.

Of course it's not all in the dialogue. You've got great acting, directing, editing, costuming, etc. HOWEVER, the Buffy writers obviously not only love what they do, but are also very good at it.

The pop culture references mingle freely with the historical. Renaissance Poetry class was never so much fun.

These scripts give you a chance to catch anything you might have missed the first time around. It's peppy. Is Poppy a word? Well, I know it's a word, but is it a word the way I mean it? Anyhow, I would recommend this book for any Buffy fan.

Watching "Buffy" T.V. series or cassettes is huge enjoyment already. Reading this script brought pure delight: sharp wit, self-derogatory under-/overstatements, punch and speed - this script is, quite definitely, for lovers of language. Stage directions, as indicated between parts of dialogue,are about as savoury as dialogue itself. I've just one reservation:I suppose, to really relish this book as it should be relished, one should obviously have seen related episodes on either TV or cassette. One then remembers Charisma Carpenter's studied drawl, Sarah Gellar's brisk deadpan humour, and Nicholas Brendon's fantastic "fool's faces". Only then does one realize, not just how good the writing is, but also, how brilliantly the whole cast has done its job. Yes, this definitely does show just how brilliant the whole "Buffy" act was - and still is. Can we PLEASE have scriptbooks of what follows?!...

The good news is that original shooting scripts of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" are available, as in this volume offering up the first six episodes of Season One. But the bad news, relatively speaking, is that we just get the scripts without any extras. The pages are your traditional Courier style font (including the title page), and while the pages are not in blue, pink, green, yellow, goldenrod and salmon to reflect the various revisions, if you follow the revision dates on the top of the pages you can figure that part out. Therefore, while I appreciate having the original scripts in front of my while watching the episodes so I can see what has been deleted/added/changed (these are not transcripts; big difference), I would have really liked to have a bit more such as introductions by the writers talking about the genesis of the script ideas or problems they had to overcoming in putting the script into production, beyond the production notes and stage directions. Certainly some of what I am looking for can be found in "The Watcher's Guide," which covers the show's first two seasons, but given how first-rate the BtVS companion volumes have been I am rather surprised this is a comparatively bare bones effort.

Included in this volume for those of you who do not have the first 100 episodes totally memorized are "Welcome to the Hellmouth" and "The Harvest," both written by series creator Joss Whedon, "Witch" by Dana Reston, "Teacher's Pet" by David Greenwalt, "Never Kill a Boy on the First Date" by Rob Des Hotel and Dean Batali, and "The Pack" by Matt Kiene and Joe Reinkemeyer. After the two-part pilot these other episodes reflect a time when the Buffy mythos was just starting to get organized. After all, Buffy has yet to find out about Angel's true nature and the emphasis is on how high school is a living hell if you are a teenager, but even more so when you are perched on the Hellmouth. Besides, once you get the first half of Season One you have to pick up the second half as well. Then there is Season Two...

It's valuable for fans of Buffy, full of hints and descriptions that make the tv episodes even more enjoyable; it's also a very cool book for anyone interested in writing tv scripts who're curious about the format, or looking for insight into how to blend comedy and suspense and juggle an excellent ensemble cast without shortchanging anyone.

The Burning Plain is about fifteen emotional stories. The stories give the reader a lot to think about. Many of these stories are short interesting stories that give the reader what to think about, action, sad parts, and contains nasty events when people are killed. We recommend the book to the readers because it is a very interesting book because the way many short stories are put into one book. The book will make the reader feel grossed out because in the ways some people are killed. All of these stories take place in a rural place. For, example Talpa takes place in a village as well as Luvina. In the story Macario the setting is in a house.

One regrettable consequence of Garcia Marquez's fame is that Latin American literature has come to be identified exclusively with "magical realism". Everything has to be extraordinary, epic, full of tropical lust, palms, jaguars, people having sex in every corner, flying to the sky with a pineapple on their heads. But Latin America is a vast continent producing artist of universal stature, even if the rest of the world decides (to their disadvantage) to ignore all but the folkloric.

Well, Juan Rulfo is a master of the highest sort and this book is NOT magical realism, but pure, hard realism. He only wrote two books, this one and "Pedro Paramo", another masterpiece which I also don't count as magical realism, although some do, as well as a few lesser works. He didn't need to write much. His is a literature worked and reworked restlessly, until reaching perfection. Every single word fits perfectly with the rest. There are no digressions, no philosophy, no theories or grand landscapes. All his tales develop in Southern Jalisco, in a poor, dry, vast, sunburned and sad land. The prose is also dry, precise, economical and to the point. The characters are ignorant, miserable, but conscious and courageous. The titles say much: "It's because we are so poor" is one of them. However, you will not find self-pity or corny sad tales. Only bits of human misery perfectly narrated. By the way, this is the first review I write for Amazon in which I use the word "perfect". Probably it won't happen again, with one or two exceptions.

The Burning Plains is a compilation of short stories that Juan Rulfo published on diferent publications at different times. it's also at the moment, besides his masterpiece Pedro Paramo, the only material available.
The shorts stories are chilling, incledibly well written. It's superb, and the english translation more than acceptable.
To me the highlights of the book are "Talpa" and "they have given us the land" (the opener on the spanish version, but some reason is not on this english edition)but the whole book is amazing.
I bought this book for my girfriend as an exorsism from jennifer Wiener's "Good in Bed" I was worried about the translation but it didn't dissapoint me.
the ideal way to read The Burning Plain is in spanish, but since this book is not that surreal as pedro paramo is, this tranlation works just fine.
I hope this brief note helps you to choose a good book.

Rulfo's style, like his stories, is sparse, quiet, and often harsh. He offers disturbing tales of miserable people in barren places; yet there is also a strange beauty to be found in his work. I can think of few, if any, examples of such perfect prose. The characters--though they suffer--seem close at hand and perfectly real, and he gives the most incredible descriptions of landscapes that I have ever read in my life. It is easy to see his connection to "magical realism"--it is largely in the way he sets the tone of the stories, and in those unbelievably vivid descriptions--but his work does not fall into that category. There is no escaping the terribly blunt reality he creates.

Whether you are interested in Latin American literature or not, if you are at all interested in prose, you should read this book.

ANGST. This is the best word to describe the human landscape that Rulfo has portrayed in this collection of short stories. A lanscape of extreme sorrow that blossoms over the arid plain, where poverty, opression and ignorance intermingle with faith to shape the tragedy of the post-revolutionary rural Mexico. A tragedy that has lived over 70 years and that may help explaining the nature of the mexican people, their doings and fears. But moreover its social meanings, Juan Rulfo, has created a masterpiece of storytelling, not only at the Latin-american level, but rather as an universal gift. This is not magic realism alà Garcia Marquez or Isabel Allende. This is bare boned reality, told with the beauty and the ease that just a master can reach, in which the words mix perfectly for creating short bursts of narrative, perfectly solved stories, that will fill the mind, the mouth and the eyes of the reader with the burnt sand of the plains, with the ashes of the dead, with the tears of the desperate. If you're ready to follow Tanilo's bloody footsteps toward Talpa, to hunt toads with Macario, or to fall under the spell of Niño Anacleto's preaching, or under the spell of misterious rural Mexico, dive into the pages of this collection of short stories, and compare it with any other you have already read, and you will understand why Rulfo never writed any further. Because he almost reached perfection.

This book has become on of my favorites in my poetry collection. Manguso's intelligent, moving poetry is full of dark, fall-on-your-knees humor. Her work almost casually walks the line between dispair and hope, even lending the reader a smile and a curtsey. The collection is stunning, utterly beautiful. She is a bright new talent and I look forward to seeing her work evolve.

It's not often in the world of Amazonia that one finds a work of art that has received five star reviews from every reviewer. But Sarah Manguso truly deserves the accolades. Her poems are sinewy and funny and unpredictable (until you memorize them). What a deft hand she has in crafting these gems. I agree with the reviewer who lamented so much of modern poetry's self-seriousness. Well, you won't find that here. And yet, for me she is a poet to be taken very seriously, if you know what I mean.

I mostly read novels but was very glad to discover Sarah Manguso's poetry. Her writing is an unexpected combination of dream and epigram -- you wouldn't believe that it'd work, but it does, beautifully. Instead of treating the self as a sump to maunder through, Magnuso tweezes it off the bone bit by bit and eyes it with a loupe, with the reader looking over her shoulder. She obviously loves langauge but is no show-off; nor does she ever become cryptic or precious. Her poetry is clear, serious, and lancingly funny. And sad. "That's a lot of dead bear" -- that line gets me every time.

Manguso's voice is conversational and declaratory, seeking--and finding--truth in luminous, mysterious metaphors. "Sometimes I think I understand the way things work/ and then I find out that on Neptune it rains diamonds," Manguso writes in "Beautiful Things." She has learned much about the way things work, and she has much to teach us. She is unafraid to make the important discoveries. Reading her poems is traveling on an important, sometimes frightening, journey with a trusted guide.

Manguso uses words like lasers to clear away the gunk on the coffin door of your whole soul, so you can finally lift the lid and see that the only thing inside are a few charcoal drawings. She plummets into the abyss confident she'll have time to finish her note before she hits bottom, translating every indecipherable obscenity on the ancient cave walls as she falls into perfect English. This is poetry as flashlight, it's only when you turn it on you realize you were alone in cobwebbed darkness all this time.

I am from England and have bought all of Deric Longden's books there. I am surpries to find that they are all out of print here - he has an amazing way with words that left me laughing out loud. The tale of a small white kitten called Thermal (for reasons which I will not go into here) is one that as well being incredibly funny also has moments of sadness init as well. The books "Diana's story" and "Lost for words" are also not to be missed, although I can guarentee tears as well as laughter with these books.

American readers who enjoy authors such as Cleveland Armory are really deprived of the British author Derick Longden's classics. "The Cat Who Came In From the Cold" was the first of his books I read, but was able to read more only because I have a friend who orders them from the UK. Longden imparts personality and (imagined) dialogues and thoughts from his cats, which will have you chuckling and nodding in agreement with his knowledge of our feline favorites. GET HIS BOOKS!

I listened to this book on audio cassette while I cleaned my barn. It was so much fun to listen to, I cleaned more and more each day because I didn't want to turn off the tape. My barn is now immaculate, and I was sorry to come to the end of the story!

I first picked up the audio version of "The Cat Who Came in From the Cold" from our library while preparing for a marathon car trip with my husband (not a man who thinks highly of cats) and sons (ages 23, 20 and 14). I was pretty skeptical that the male majority would really 'let' me listen to a book with a cute little kitten on the cover, but I added it to my stack anyway (it's good to be Queen!). After having had my fill of "Tom Clancy" and his friends, I plugged in "The Cat Who Came in From the Cold" and soon ALL of us were all laughing the miles away. On our return leg of our trip, all these big guys (and their mom AND DAD) wanted to hear the "Thermal" tapes again (listening to a story a second time through is unheard of around here!) Along with most of Deric Longden's other books, we now own our own set of tapes to share with family, and the book version (which my 14 year old son, who hates to read, read cover to cover in about a day). Cheeky Thermal is an oft quoted cat around here. It is also nice to find a book that appeals to everyone in the family without any objectionable material. This is just great, light-hearted fare.

Having read Deric Longden's first five books (the others include Diana's Story, Lost For Words, I'm a Stranger Here Myself & Enough to Make a Cat Laugh), I can confidentally say that this is when the author is at his best. He delivers enough comedy (something to be expanded upon in subsequent books), but mixed with a subtle version of his own blend of tragedy (already established in previous books). Whilst many thought that his characterization of his mother's mental decline in Lost For Words was distasteful, I would think that even the harshest of critics would fail not to find the story of a lost kitten a least a little endearing.

Although it may be easy enough to dismiss this as simply a children's novel, I would say that, given enough suspension of disbelief & a little imagination, this can be a thoroughly enjoying read, and (cliche) a book that you will want to keep coming back to, time & again, even if only for some of the amusing anecdottes presented by Thermal.

Philip Daughtry is a lyrical Shaman. His humanism is filled with magic, healing and joy, just what the world needs now!

Ever hear someone say, "I don't know how to describe it..."
Wel, it wasn't Philip Daughtry, because this is one author who has the chops to lay out a story with such eloquence and richness that you very well may end up seeing places you thought you knew, as if for the first time.

In his book, The Centaurs' Son, the author takes us on a whirlwind tour through parts of Europe, Mexico, the Western United States, and a handful of other destinations where we meet memorable and authentic characters all along the way.

We hack our path through the bush of Belize where we have a Shamanistic exchange with a jungle cat. In Ireland, we are a party to the distribution of a special sort of contraband bound to piss off the Pope.
We witness a funeral service for a mouse in Finland and we have a voyeuristic front row seat as our hero loses it in Paris to an enchanting Gallic Siren.

For those destinations new to the reader, Daughtry lends us his sharpened senses and artistic sensibilities, emersing us in the local flavors and customs with a ripping narrative style that keeps us fully engaged throughout.

This is great fun but not of the frivolous kind. It is a volume I intend to visit often for its beauty and stirring insights.

I began reading Philip Daughtry's "The Centaur's Son: Stories" on a plane from LA to New York and I soon became upset that I would be landing before I finished it. Having read it now I can say that I recommend it highly. Daughtry writes easily and meditatively in a voice that few writers are able- a first person who rarely breaks the (oft-ignored) basic rule of writing- show, don't tell. With the exception of a few wonderful third person stories most are told in this powerful fashion, and the effect as a reader is to be drawn in- to share the body of the storyteller, so that what he sees, you see, and what he feels, you feel. I felt cold, awed, lonely, and grateful watching a line of moose cross a foreign road in the snow. I felt an adrenalized fear as one narrator successfully approached an unbroken horse in the wild. It is because Daughtry's prose reflect the gait required to accomplish such a storied feat that he is so captivating. His sentences are at once careful and bold, both quiet and uninterrupted.

Out of many, these two eidetic images also reveal the insatiable desire in nearly all of Daughtry's characters (and I would assume, in Daughtry himself): that is, the desire to obliterate one's Self and be one with Nature. This human impossibility is discovered and experienced by the narrators (and reader) in ways comedic and tragic. For example, the innocent adventurer who approaches the horse is laughed at for his bravery, but the poet on the snowy road is humbled. All the same Daughtry's characters are immersed in their mission, they become their mission, just as his writing immerses me, becomes me, even many miles in the air. And even if a plane lands, or a writer must come home from his world explorations to find plastic red, white and blue cutlery (one of my favorite short-story-endings of all time) we are grateful for the trip, and grateful that Philip Daughtry is still trying to be immerse himself. I loved the book.

This book is filled with many great short stories but more importantly it's writing offers the reader an ability to see what the writer in this case Phillip Daughtry is writing and actually be there. When he writes about dust you feel the dust when he writes about a woman's curves you see them. It is really well done.

This book is one of storytelling's finest. Each short is a voyage that does not last long enough. I travel to each place Daughtry has been to - Ireland, Brazil, Belize, among many - and I return reluctantly. Days later, an image from one of his stories manifests in my head, and, having become so much a part of me, I can't remember if it is one of my own, if I was the one who made that trip, who nursed the dove back to life, who communed with wild horses, and who surrendered to the jaguar within. It can't be someone else's story, I think, it must be my own, because reading Philip Daughtry's work is like looking inward to a place where everything real and human and eternal is kept - safe. And when you find that safe place, you are grateful that it is there, and that he is its keeper. He is vulnerable, he is strong, he is everything we all are, unabashedly human, and loving, and seeking to be loved. Read this book and taste the salt in a soft ocean breeze.

I don't care about your lousy internal mistakes, give me the ENTIRE book series of 'Crest of the stars'! I not seen a lick out of you since the last one! I love this work and I demand to buy the rest!!!

For years, I have loved the anime. I was hoping someone would translate the books, and was happy to stumble across them in a bookstore. The books are better than the anime, and fill in some great details that the anime left out. It was also nice to see the artist's Ahb language that he created for the books. Though it can take a little getting used to the new words for things, I thought it added a nice, original element to the books. (The anime only used the true Ahb language for a couple words/phrases.) If you love the anime, you should read these books!

A group of bored teenage girls, who all have problems they wish to run away from, enter the anonymous world of online RPGs only to find themselves in a more terrifying situation than their previous ones.
Although the ending was a little too...unpredictable for my taste, the story was engaging throughout and kept me squirming at the edge of my seat. The translations were pretty accurate as well and did a good job of maintaining the original author's voice. Overall, a thrilling, original, and startlingly realistic work.

I have not read the book yet so I cannot honestly review it.
My rating is based on the Anime which is absolutely awesome.
It is clear though that neither the editorial review abowe nor the other reviews on this page refer to the novel "Crest of the Stars II"!

Sawako, an overachieving junior high school student, is extremely lonely. Her mother is gone, her father distant, and her friends are non-existant. When she receives an email on her cell phone inviting her to be a part of an interactive story, she jumps at the chance to belong - even though the message came from someone she does not know.

Two other junior high girls receive similar emails on their phones: Mayumi, who lives in the shadow of her intelligent and athletic best friend, and Mai, who would rather go clubbing (for the music, not necessarily the scene) than deal with the high expectations of diplomat family.

They develop a story about a young girl, her tutor, her stalker, and a detective. Each girl writes for a certain character and posts their chapters at the website. The mysterious Yukari, the girl who started it all, writes the role of the stalker. As the story's suspense escalates, life begins to imitate art. Suddenly, Sawako goes missing in both stories, leaving the other girls to wonder what happened to her - and if it will happen to them next.

Chain Mail: Addicted to You by Hiroshi Ishizaki embraces the story-within-a-story format from the very beginning, and keeps raising the stakes until the vey end. Cell phones are ever-present, making this cautionary tale ultra-contemporary. While racing through the book to find out who done it, American readers will subconsciously learn about Japanese culture and schooling.

Chain Mail comes courtesy of Pop Fiction, a new teen fiction imprint from TokyoPop.

I love all of the Cape Light Books. I hope there will be more than 8. They are so relaxing to read, and they make you feel like you really know all the people. They bring in the Christian parts of the book and make you feel so much closer to God. I love the books so much.

Once again, visiting the fictional Cape Light for Christmas is almost like going home for Christmas! The familiar characters are like family, and the story is always interesting, uplifting, and believable. Kinkade and Spencer are truly a team of authors that bring fiction to life and build a fan-base of people, like me, who are looking for good, clean reads that have a posative Christian message.

As with all of the Cape Light novels Thomas Kinkade brings the characters to light for a teary, jaw dropping, happy loving novel. All of the past characters are brought into this book so you don't forget anyone and we even meet a new one...who is painted perfectly, you just want to tell her to go home! A book you'll want to keep reading, then when it's over, you just want MORE! I can't wait to read the next one "A Christmas to Remember"

The book is written a bit like the Mitford Series in that it is a small united community with all the ups and downs of life. There are personality clashes, misunderstandings, discouragement and all the other negatives in human relations. However, the journey to learning to love and accept others and ourselves is full of interesting thought provoking experiences.

I have read each book in this collection in a day I can never put them down..He writes with hope just like he paints the light in his pictures..I don't know how he does it but he captured my heart with this uplifting story ..we hear of so many disturbing stories and so much trash in books these days it was just awesome to read a book that made me feel good about the world and to give me hope .I love these books waiting for the next book.

"City Heat" is an eclectic mix of skilled prose, thought-provoking poetry, and wonderful illustrations. The collection is a masterpiece from one the South's best humorists and storytellers. Each piece is a gold nugget in its on right. This is a "must buy."

William Park has the talent, sense of humor and noogies to tie together some wonderful writing that constantly leaves you wondering what's fiction and what's real, with marvelous illustrations, poetry and memoirs. Sometimes subtle, sometimes outrageous, this book will take you on a fascinating journey through this guy's yearnings, fascinations and oddities.

"The Duck Hunter" and "Florida Bound" are beautifully written stories about the South. The accents and remarks of the men on the front porch of the hotel in "Florida Bound" are funny, yet ring true. The ending of that story is terrifying and yet almost poetic.

A good read. I especially liked "The Third Game." I don't play chess, but could easily follow what the author was saying about the game, and about the dangers of success. I liked the way the story dropped back into history for the key, then roared into the climax.

A lover of both variety AND substance, I frequently growl over ingredients missing in many popular literary genres. Short stories vary, scene to scene, but lack the novel's gravitas. Humor and art seem perpetually oil and H2O. Where are those sytheses of prose, poetry, reflections, evocative art that stir my heart? City Heat is surely one.
Following Norman Mailer and Truman Capote (inventors of the "factoid" and the "non-fiction novel" respectively), Will Park has crafted one swell "book-pie," tasty and relevant and personal and poignant. This savory dish melds all that stuff I love, tossed in with some art for relish, a taste of memoir (listen up, Oprah!), a dash of Everyman and several cups of imagination in a melange so rich and compelling as to solicit a swoon if inhaled too fast.
Yet the prospect of reading straight-through is inviting. Each selection is a wonder, reviving new interest while transporting the reader light-years from the previous selection (though City Heat is NOT a work of science fiction--or porn, either, despite the tittilating title).
I was thoroughly satisfied to have touched and been touched by the psyches of kids, warriors, concubines found unexpectedly in swamps, foxholes, asphalt jungles. Wow.

This was so real! If you are part of a family with any hint of dysfunction, you will be able to relate to Lydia. I chuckled at the conversations she had with God and her cat. I cried when she discovered family secrets that had been kept from her. I wanted to begin again when I got to the end. I hope Susan writes a sequel so we know what happens to the Calypso's!

I could not put this book down at times....it just reads so well and tells a story that some of us have lived. It really had some twists and turns I love that as a surprise in books. I agree with someone who wrote it could be an Oprah Pick! A MUST READ.

Cleaning Closets

Susan DeBow is an extremely creative and quirky author. Her unique style of writing takes you on a journey of insights and surprises. You never know what may come next.

It took me several tries to begin the book because my friends kept walking off with it before I was even able to pick it up on my own. I purchased five copies before I finally managed to get one home and sit down and read it from cover to cover.

Cleaning Closets is one of those books that gets picked up for an entertaining read, and ends up being so much more. The story of Lydia, her attempts to get her life together after her husband's death, the well meaning actions of her children, and all the day-by-day occurrences that help Lydia to find herself by cleaning her lifetime's closets, ends up being a "can't put it down" special treat.

Susan DeBow is a wonderful sensitive writer whose prose clearly is able to take us on a wild safari through our personal closets and examine our own lives as a result of examining Lydia's.

Lydia Calypso is Everywoman of a certain age who takes you into her family closet in a delicious romp and rant that leads you to the comforting realization that, after all, it is family 'dysfunction' that makes us all who we are. Ms. DeBow draws you into the Calypso closet early on with startling revelations such as her metaphor for feeding children with self esteem "candy" that rots their teeth with entitlement. And she never lets you go until the closet is cleaned with self-discovery, hers and yours. No wonder that Amazon has paired this novel with the non-fictional "Eat, Pray, Love", a memoir of another woman's self-seeking journey. Beautifully and intelligently written, you'll find yourself dog-earing many pages for their wisdom while sharing Lydia's giggles and sobs, sometimes in the same breath. "Cleaning Closets" is an "aha!" book deserving of Oprah's attention!