American Books

The most charming Regency romance I've ever read, effervescent, witty, ridiculous, and lovable.

The five children of the late rake Frank Merrivale may be orphans, but as long as the oldest of the brood, the intelligent, competent, humorous and delightful Frederica has her way, they will lack for nothing. Frederica's goal is to launch her jaw-droppingly beautiful, sweet, but empty-headed sister Charis into the ton to make an eligible marriage. Without closer family on whom she can rely, she descends on the unsuspecting Marquis of Alverstoke, a very distant cousin, and applies to him for help. The extremely wealthy Lord Alverstoke, an older and experienced man of the world, whose life consists solely of the social round, and whose chief fear is boredom, decides to assist Frederica and her family, largely to annoy his sisters. As he comes to know the Merrivales, especially Frederica and her younger brothers Jessamy and Felix, he is not only never bored, as they get into one scrape after another, but he begins to feel an unfamiliar soft emotion...

Not to be missed--a meringue of a book.

Frederica is one of my favourite Georgette Heyers. The love that develops between Alverstoke and Frederica is very moving partly because it seems so unlikely at the outset. He starts out bored and cynical and the description of his increasing involvement with Frederica's delightful but unpredictable family is wonderful, funny and realistic. There is lots of humour and wit, loads of brilliant detail of the sights of London, new fangled inventions such as hot air balloons, steam engines, bicycles. All the characters are believable, very individual and fantastically well described. My favourite funny bit is the Baluchistan Hound bit - read it!

I read and reread Heyer, pick her up when I'm feeling blue or dismayed by the quality of some of the current Regencies I find at the library, and use her literary genius to restore my faith in the historical romance. Over time Frederica has become my favorite for its wonderfully drawn characters and its peek into London of the time. The novel is filled with fascinating historical accuracies that Heyer weaves seamlessly into the story. Heyer's intelligent and laugh-out-loud dialogue and situations never, never fail. Who else could have an entire key scene rise and fall on restorative pig jelly? The novel Frederica is the best of the best! It's fun and touching and entertaining and hilarious - and without a single sex scene Heyer still creates a wonderfully engrossing love story. (Is there some kind of publishing rule against that now? There is such a thing as too much information, you know.) Anyway, read Frederica, then Arabella, then Venetia. Then, because I favor the more mature heroines (and those quirky, socially-ambivalent heroes,) try The Nonesuch and Lady of Quality and Black Sheep. Oh, what the heck. Read any of Heyer's regencies. It's her genre. Bless her. Lily's Sister

Frederica is one of Heyer's older heroines (not one of the silly ingenues, who of course can also be fun to read about). Frederica and the other characters in this book are very well developed and easy to love. Frederica is a wonderful, unselfish sister to two younger brothers. Alverstoke is a good man who has- up until now- led a selfish life in which he has never gone out of his way to help anyone. Can he learn something from her and her family (including the Baluchistan hound)?

Frederica is a funny book, but it is also a very romantic book. A satisfying read, a gentle comedy, and a book you will enjoy reading many times.

Never read or heard of G. Heyer until recently and Frederica was my introduction to this most talented author. This a sweet and fun story about finding unexpected love in the midst of family upheveal. The dialouge is hysterical. I laughed out loud on several occasions. Buy this book...you will not be disappointed!

An essential for vegetarians who live in the south and love southern style cooking but need a veggie alternative. Great Buy.

I love this book!! comfort food at it's finest...the grit gravy and the grit tofu are just amazing.

This cookbook is absolutely fantastic! I used to live in Athens, Ga and this cookbook gives the recipe for my old favorites at the real restaurant, The Grit! I could NOT be happier- as a beginning vegetarian, this book is priceless because it helps prove that as a vegetarian you do not have to miss out on great tastes, new great tastes are DEFINATELY out there!

My son bought me this book for Mother's Day. He told me to bookmark the book I wanted. I didn't, but had left the page up with the Grit Cookbook on it and left the room. I had wanted another cookbook, looking forward to receiving the other cookbook, and to my surprise, received this book instead. What a wonderful accident. I have enjoyed reading the book. It's so fun; it makes you want to visit the Grit. I have, also, enjoyed the recipes. So far, we have tried the salsa, famous vegan ranch dressing, tabouli, spinach and lentil soup, and my husband's two favorites: cream of tomato soup and mock cream of chicken soup. Everything has been excellent! Thank you son for such a wonderful surprise!!

I never been to the restaurant before but from this book I can imagine their food is great. Its full of interesting, tasting, and quality recipes. Also these recipes are made to feed large families which is good with me because I have one. My absoultey favorite recipe is the BBQ Tofu Sandwiches oh my goodness it is the best bbq sauce I have ever made and the ingredients are so simple(I must note this recipe calls for honey but I use agave and it is still good). I must add that this book is not 100% vegan some of the recipes call for cheese, butter and milk but that can be easily substituted with its vegan counterpart. All of the vegan recipes have a little V by them to make them recognizable on site. So if you are looking for good vegan food for a big family, then check this book out.

This was my first Kwan book and I really enjoyed it. Fast paced and a lot of action which kept me interested. Now I'm going to check out his others. Hope I like them just as much!

Street Great sequel! I hated that Gutter had to die like Loc, however, those are the streets! K'Wan keep on writing. I would love to see what happens with the little cousin.

Before reading "Gutter" I had to read "Gangsta" again because it came out so long ago.A lot of sequels are not worth the wait it takes for them to come out & hit the streets.Not "Gutter" it's a sequel well worth the wait it took for it to come out,K'wan as always has done it again because his book game cant be touched.Good story line combined with strong character developement are the 2 things that a lot of these other urban authors are lacking but not K'wan as always he brings that fire and gives it to you raw.Lou-loc can rest in peace because his boy Gutter and the mighty crip nation settled the score big time.For all of you who have read "Gangsta" you owe it to yourself & K'wan to read the sequel "Gutter" you wont be disapointed,Don B from "Hood Rat & Still Hood" made a small cameo appearance to proove this.That's it for now,I just started reading "Bitch 3" so many books so little time.

Gutter; what more can I say; K'Wan really out did himself; I was upset to see Gutter perish at the end, however Lou-Loc would have done the same for Gutter's seed! Peace and Blessings...

GUTTER is by one of the rawest Urban Lit books that's representing Street Lit and wrapped up 2008 w/out a doubt. With Gutter comes a true life education in the world of the Crips and Bloods. Drama, suspense, pain, danger, shouting, smiling, crying.....is sure to shake up these emotions and combine true hard reality. Gutter comes back in this sequel and puts in what he does best "work" but now he's on the West Coast getting things in order and taking care of "bidnezz". The East Coast is up in shambles and it's raining Major Blood and he's bringing the heat and keeping it gangsta and repping for the West Coast bloods. If you haven't read Gangsta, I would highly recommend you do and then pick up the sequel Gutter, because the drama continues and you don't won't to miss a beat. I promise you will get a valid glimpse of East Coast vs. West Coast and the way each coast represent, it becomes incredibly frightening that the gang life is captured in true form. I'm sorry to say if this one goes to the big screen, it should be thought out w/a serious decision w/estreem caution, because it sure will rock america and stir up controversy in each coast for years to come. This is a book that establishes Kwan as an author to follow, applaud, rank him as a high professional w/the pen game, and stripe him as one of the kings of Street Lit. Take your stand, Kwan is here!!!

This book is wonderful. Easy receipes and most items always on hand.....made the cajan sweet potato frys and they were wonderful. My husband marked all the receipes one evening and we have been trying them nightly....every receipe is wonderful. You can't go wrong buying this book!! Rate it 5 stars.

I love this product! This book is wonderful for planning meals for whole days, weeks and months! Easy to follow recipes.

I just started cooking for my father who is a diabetic. This cookbook is great. It has a weekly list of ingredients so you can get a weeks worth at one time or you can shop day to day. I also like how it lists the number of starches, sugars, etc. for each recipe. It is a great help to someone who is new to diabetic cooking.Healthy Calendar Diabetic Cooking

I've used this recipe book for 5 weeks, and used the grocery list each time. I love making my grocery shopping trips quick and easy with this cookbook! I am also diabetic, and found that these recipes were low to moderate in carbohydrates, and offered the nutritional information I need. The recipes are also low in sodium and fat, which are other things I watch for. The down-side though, is that though most of the recipes said 25 minutes to prepare, most took 60 minutes (getting on the long side for me). I'd love to see these recipes updated to incorporate time-saving techniques.

I have had this book for a couple of years now, and I use it two or more times a week. Very Good recipes. HIGHLY RECOMENED

A Heart of Devotion by Tia McCollors is a story filled with many twists and turns. It is a journey into the lives of two friends...their struggles and triumphs in relationships with God, men, family, and each other.

This page-turner delves into issues that many Christians face in their daily lives, but are not often discussed openly. It is refreshing to see them addressed in this book. What type of issues? ...issues of celibacy, dating and Christianity, unplanned pregnancy, friendship and accountability, trust in others and and faith in God.

A Heart of Devotion is an easy read and you will find it hard to put down.
Each character, major and minor, is well rounded and you will not be able to wait to find out what is going to happen with them next.

A Heart of Devotion is a compelling story of the many spiritual battles women face today in a world full of temptation. The author did a great job developing the different characters.

It's a must read for anyone needing encouragement. It spoke to me in so many ways. This is a spiritually powerful book and I highly recommend it.

I just finished reading A Heart of Devotion. This book is causing me to take a 2nd look at my relationship with the Lord! There are times we get so caught up in being a "good Christian" we forget about the human side of us. It is often easier to judge instead of understanding others'dilemmas/issues. It's a book that makes you think, reflect and decide what has been working in your life and what hasn't. If you want to be uplifted and inspired read this book. It is a testament to falling down, getting back up and thriving!

This is the BEST fiction novel that I have ever read!!! Tia McCollors did an outstanding job! As a young Atlantan woman, I felt a deep emotional connection with the main character, Anisha, who like me, can sense a deep calling towards entreprenuerial endeavors. I love that McCollors connected common life situations in the novel with it's corresponding scriptures in the Bible without being over-the-top religious (it was a classy approach and smooth enough not to scare anyone away). This book gave me hope and inspired me to keep being the Christian I am, no matter what life throws at you, even through the pains of love, heartbreak and torn relationships. I recommend this book to all single, God-fearing, Christian women who inspire to follow the perfect will of God while battling the many obstacles that this un-so perfect world throws us each day.

This book gave me the healing i needed....i'm in the same situation. It is so ironic how great this book is, i am in love with this book, and recommend it to every single woman...

This is a book that whets the appetite for more light-hearted takes on American society, status and snobbery.
Pure entertainment, although I'm sure there will be those who take it as gospel.

I send it as a gift to my friends in Europe.

When I contacted the author at his email address listed in the earlier review, he answered and said the book was guaranteed to work and if it doesn't he buys the disgruntled reader a new Cadillac. How To Marry Money is full of the same wry humor.

It took a while to get past the first few pages, but I kept reading and the remaining chapters had helpful pointers about life in general,love,work and self image. I called the author's publicist and received his email address kevindoyle42@earthlin.net and have been exchanging dialog since.

An easy, fun read, but the reviewer SOCIAL CLIMBER from Sonoma CA listed the author's email address incorrectly. It's kevindoyle42@earthlink.net. Doyle answered me with a list of other titles when I contacted him. HOW TO MEET BEAUTIFUL WOMEN and DATING YOUNGER WOMEN are also written with tongue firmly in cheek.

It was annoying to find my wife reading a book with a title like this but, after picking it up and reading it, I found it to be a lot of fun.
Now I take the advice of another reviewer (who found as "entertaining as it is instructional") and often give HOW TO MARRY MONEY as a light-hearted gift for clients, graduates & hostesses.

this is a very heart felt book i like how close they were as father and son and know how far to go with each other as friend

I love eddie levert as well as gerald levert I enjoyed the read and realize they shared a special relationship I will proudly add this book to my biography collection

I just received this book on Monday, December 17, 2007 and I finished it today. This is a lovely book to give to anyone as a gift. Regardless of how famous Eddie & Gerald Levert became as music artist. The family bond is powerful. The relationship of father and son is awesome. The mother of Eddie's children is given the utmost respect of how she held this family together with her love and strength. I'm a single mom and I learned so much about my own relationship that I had with my father when he was alive and the relationship I'm developing with my daughter.

I thought this was a very poignant novel it's goes through the ups and downs of their relationship and also what it's like to be in the music business. Although Gerald Levert will be missed his memory will carry on thru. Put it on your miss read list.

This is a MUST READ for everyone. It is so compelling that once you start reading, you can't put it down. I was deeply moved by lessons learned by Eddie Levert, and I was enlightened by Gerald Levert. This sheds a positive light on the black male figure in the household. Through all of this, Eddie always continuously puts his first wife on a pedestal. There was no ill feelings in this book directed against anyone. This book told the history of the O'Jays, and life on the road. It also displayed that Gerald was still looking for his future Mrs. Gerald Levert. All I can say is the Gerald died too young, but the Levert legacy lives on. The comments made by others regarding the O'Jays, Eddie and Gerald Levert are worth savoring.

Excellent book. I read this book a few months ago (yes I am very late lol) but I really enjoyed it. I have almost all of her books and a lot of them give the same story but this one told it all. It was real deep, and.... whew. If you can get a hold of this book (I got mines on eBay) then definently do so. I highly recommend it. This book is real deep.

...with Ms. Vanzant was that she was under a bit of contractual pressure to write this book. She really wasn't ready to release it and wasn't in a good "place" in her life when she wrote it, but had to. At the time of the interview, I believe she said she'd even asked for it to be pulled from bookstores. The season wasn't right (at the time of the release of the book) to tell about this portion of her life. I haven't read it, although I own it, up until this point out of respect for her request. I even considered returning it to her. However, if the previous reviews are true, it may be a book in due season for me right now.

I could NOT put this book down! What a wonderful insight into the life of a woman and what courage and healing she has had to endure. I have great respect for anyone who can overcome the odds stacked against them, and I have a better understanding on what it takes to do that.

This is arguably the best of Iylana's books! This book touched me as it was a combination of Ms. Vanzant's personal anguish, trial and tribulations as well as her own victories coupled with the thought-provoking inspiration for which she is famous. INTERIORS is a story of one woman's personal journey through some of life's darkest valleys and in facing these demons, she rises like a phoenix into the realm of self-actualization, self-love and most importantly, self-respect.

Although INTERIORS is an autobiographical journey of Iylanla Vanzant's life, it can be applicable to anyone who has experienced pain in their own life. It is guaranteed to touch some aspect of each reader in an intimately close manner. Through her pain and suffering, Ms. Vanzant opens up a path of nurturing and healing like none other!

Reviewed by Nedine Hunter
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

This is probably the best book Ms Vanzant has wriiten. It allows you to understand the person before she knew what to do. She is real, damaged and fresh. This book allows you to grow with her, and please know after you read her story you will be alright. All black women should have this book. I'm so sad it's out of print- though the search is well worth the knowledge

Thanks for your book. Very raw and honest writing. I recommend it to male clients who are looking
to get real with the grief, turmoil and longing beneath the surface of their lives...
things that your poems speak so forcefully about.

Keith Thompson, editor of To Be a Man: In Search of the Deep Masculine, asked me in the mid 1990's where I thought the Men's Movement had ended. Up to my ears in running men's groups, I felt slighted that someone so "in the know" would feel this way. But as I pondered this comment and watched the men I was working with over a period of time, I came to understand what he meant. Men, it seemed to me, liked figuring out the psychology of what makes us the way we are. But when it came to healing our wounds, that's an emotional issue many men are still unable or unwilling to dive into. Rick Belden jumps with both feet into the male emotional pool, baring his soul and path as he, like so many of us, tries to come to grips with who we are and how we are programmed. Iron Man Family Outing helps men show that it is not impossible to tap into our emotional resources, and while it may not be pretty, it is critical we do so. Thanks to Rick for being so bold....

If you are a male survivor of childhood abuse or in conversation with survivors, buy this book. This book is a brave account of resistance and refusal to surrender to cruelty. It answers a question that is often neglected in the victim literature: What are the ways in which you stood up to oppression and struggled to hold on to the truth?

Rick Belden's poetry is his liberation, but his triumph is hardly bloodless. Expect to be enraged and demoralized as well as empowered and filled with hope by his honesty. The author reached very fully and deeply into his experience to construct one of the most complex and effective descriptions of child abuse survival in print.
Marsha McDonough, Psychologist, Austin, Texas

I don't read much but this is a book that I can't put down. Throughout my journey in life, often times I've felt alone. As a man in his mid-thirties, it often seems that no one is eager to empathize with your struggles in life. Often times, I find myself in a sad place where I feel uncared for and misunderstood.

This book is a real eye opener. It's very rare to find someone like Rick who can articulate his emotion in such a way that it really moves you. Like many of the other reviewers have stated, be prepared. I don't allow myself to "feel" much, but as I read along with the "Iron Man" I can feel myself opening up to someone who is showing empathy for themselves, and in a way, for me.

To say I was able to identify with this book is an understatement. I feel as though I do the book a disservice by calling it a "tool" in my theraputic arsenal, but that's the best way to describe it. The collection of poems is such an easy read -- read one and you will be immediately absorbed to where you can't put it down. Whenever I'm feeling low, and feel that no one empathizes with me, I pick up the "Iron Man" and realize that my struggles aren't always unique, and that I'm not alone in how I feel.

This book sits in the top drawer of my desk, there whenever I need it.

Thanks Rick.

This volume of poetry is nothing less than an express route to a powerful experiential understanding of a large sector of men - especially white men who grew up in "mainstream," "conventional," "middle class" families in the U.S. It is a courageous exposé, revealing the eerie reality lurking beneath what routinely passes for normality in contemporary Western society.

Kabbalah: A Love Story:
Novel Mystical Approach and Mystical Novel


Reviewed by Arthur L. Finkle

I have used this gem in a serous study group on mysticism. What is arcane, Kushner explains simply. Like the Zohar, its explanation involves becoming part of the cosmos; not looking from the outside.

Providing the ambience and involving the reader with the word, this novel provides the flavor of mysticism, which tastes delicious and will endure longer tan reading complicated texts.

This lyrical and sometimes poetic novel involves the reader in exploring the stories of love and of being a part of a larger being

Rabbi Kalman Stern is such a treasure of a character. The reader follows him through his mystical journey of meaning. Kalman, a modern day Rabbi has his old volume of Zohar, the master text of Kabbalah which he picked up in Israel years ago. The story is an overlay of his loneliness and the interest he has with the astronomer Isabel Benveniste, (a woman who stirs his soul),and that of the Zohar author Don Moshe in 13th century Spain. Don Moshe has taken on a tutoring assignment for the wife of a prominent businessman to teach her Hebrew. Both Stern and Moshe are teachers that discover that they are also students of the mystical insight that links heaven and earth, and in the end it wraps up with the aha! the discovery..of course "you can only have it if you give it away". Love...as it was spoken by God to his people..."You have stolen my heart with one glance". He says that all this talk about ultimate truth is just a silly intellectual game, a diversion. The self attains its apotheosis not in filling itself with yet another new and titillating insight, but in the moment it surrenders itself to its lover. What a great story.

I have read a few books of Rabbi Kushner that explore Jewish spirituality, and liked them very match. So I was intrigued by his exploration of a new, to my knowledge, genre. It started somewhat slowly, but quickly accelerated into a wonderful ride through the time and space, which only true mystic can create. I gained some new incites into kabbalistic concept of multiple universes, which escaped me for a long time. What a joy! Thank you Rabbi.

This is a terrific story. The story is a little complex, but difficult to leave once you get into it. I found it very thought provoking and satisfying. I loved it!

A wonderful connection between the teachings of Kabbalah and a modern love story. The book makes the complex easier to understand. Our book group has decided to make this book our topic of discussion at our next meeting.