Southern Books

One of the best first hand accounts of the civil rights movement I have read. There were things in this book you will not find in the history books. A must read

A wonderful piece of work, Raines merely interviews the people from the wide and varied perspectives of the movement and gives them free rein to tell "their story" "their way" managing within this framework to lace a compelling and interesting plot around some states and some history that time and justice seemed to have forgotten.

Seven years Raines' junior, I grew up white and a carpetbagger (from the North. . .)in Augusta, GA and I now have context for stories I was told. One among many, I knew the Hamilton Holmes' car story told by the KA frat guys when they were adults, still bragging but also, "they didn't really mean it."

I am still quite mystified how a Birmin'ham boy, bragging that his Alabama ancestors fought for the Union, lived to tell about it.

I highly recommend "Fly Fishing . . ." as well. IT's NOT ABOUT THE FISH. Great read.

He thought it was tough being the baby brother; I can only suggest that he try getting fishing privileges as the Irish twin younger sister.

This book is on the list of 100 best or most influential books I've ever read--mainly because it is observant, honest, humble and direct, with no political agendas and no effete overtones. This is a title well worth re-examining some 20 years after publication. It can be browzed through at random, with something startling jumping at you on virtually every page. Or, it can be read straight through. It's quite a white-knuckle event. Many books have been written on the subject, but there's something quietly compelling about this one. Raines is one of our great journalists. This is a good way to become acquainted with him, in the days before he became elevated to one of the most prestigious newspaper jobs in the world.

--Jim Reed, author, DAD'S TWEED COAT: SMALL WISDOMS HIDDEN COMFORTS UNEXPECTED JOYS jimreedbooks.com

It was difficult to stop reading the book, once I started. This collection of interviews with the idealists, the activists, the real "fighters" in the civil rights movement in the 50s and 60s -- and the people who stood against them -- is an empowering, educational read. Truly, this book is a must for those interested in learning more about the civil rights struggle (a struggle that continues until today), and about movements for peace and social justice in general.

Howell Raines is the new executive editor for "The New York Times," but he is at heart a writer. Both strengths come to the fore in this excellent book on the American civil rights movement. As an oral history, it necessarily contains first-hand accounts of dozens and dozens of the main (and not-so-important) players in the movement. Raines does a fine and fair job of putting their stories into essentially chronological order and editing or moving bits and pieces only where necessary to ensure good flow for the reader. There were a few names I had heard of before, but many were new to me. There are surprises in this book. While we mostly associate the civil rights movement with the deep south in the mid-1960s, it actually got its start in Chicago in the 1940s when groups of people protested with the first lunch-counter sit-ins (when a manager came out to scold one of these groups with the flat, "We don't serve colored folks here," one quick-witted participant fired back, "That's OK, we don't eat 'em!"). Another revelation was the tensions between the older blacks and the younger black student generation. The older blacks, while not happy with segregation, sometimes felt that at least everyone knew where they stood with it--while the younger generation was champing at the bit to get out there and change the world overnight. Finally, it was interesting to read that many of the original founders of the movement were inspired far more by Gandhi than by Martin Luther King, Jr. A number of them express their opinion that King--while undoubtedly important and absolutely essential once the movement got underway--was not himself so convinced as to the value of a) the movement itself and b) non-violent protest--many of this friends and co-workers say here that he continued to espouse it only because eventually, he felt he had been thoroughly and unmistakeably identified with it. Although I was surprised that neither Coretta Scott King nor the Reverend Jesse Jackson were inteviewed for Mr. Raines' book, their absence is my only quibble with what is otherwise an enormously valuable and terrifically readable history.

This is a great book and everygirl would love it! It is about girls from all parts of the southern united states! They all come together and create wonderful friendships and go through tuff situations but no matter what stick together! In the end may the best gurl win!

I think its cool how so many girls with different personalities and backgrounds could band together but still compete agianst each other.

This is an excellent, totally awesome book! I couldn't put it down! I don't know who my fave character;each of them has a totally different personality. The main characters are cool but the book also focuses on the other pageant girls. Read it, you'll see!

I bought this book on my vacation, and when I started to read it, I couldn't put it down! I read it three times in almost one week. My absolute favorite character has got to be Scarlett-Caress.

I loved it listening to all the girls home lives! My favorite girl in this book was Dawn. I envy her courage. And its great how the author puts in The Virus. I mean how could it be good without a bad guy. If you haven't read it you have to. All the girls have problems and secrets to hide. It fun to listen to them all!

After months of struggling with Atkins, a friend suggested I try Play Your Carbs Right! Now, I can eat sensibly and smartly and stop feeling horrible about myself after one slip! The Brennans offer delicious and easy to prepare recipes, as well as a realistic approach to losing weight. Suddenly that New Year's Resolution doesn't seem so far-fetched after all!

I loved this approach to eating right! It is much easier to follow in real life than other diets, because it promotes a lifestyle change that is attainable for the average person. I find that with extremely strict diets such as Atkins' even the slightest deviation is never mentioned and that leads to dieter's guilt, which can change one "lapse" into a total failure of the program. I liked "Play Your Carbs Right!" because it acknowledges that we all have our weak moments, but that is to be expected on a limited basis and does not mean a failure in one's efforts to become a healthier person. Finally a plan that anyone can truly follow!

My wife and I are avid fans of the Brennans' other diet cookbooks, Sugar Bust For Life! Parts I. and II. However, I, with little self-restraint, found myself eating Sugarbuster friendly, but eating too much. I was ecstatic to hear about the Brennans' new book, Play Your Carbs Right! The concept was exactly what I was looking for. A diet that helps big eaters, like myself, enjoy good food, using a simple and realistic daily carb intake formula. I had no doubt that the recipes the Brennans offered would be as delicious as those in their previous books - and to top it all off - for each recipe, the Brennans have done all of the carb counting for you!

As a big fan and visitor of New Orleans, I jumped for joy when I saw the Brennans had written a low carb cookbook. About 80% of the recipes in this book are sure-fire successes -- they're easy to make, bursting with restaurant quality flavor, and most are quite low in carbs. I'd have to even say this is the best of the four low carb cookbooks I own. But here are my problems with the book:
1. All the desserts use Sweet and Low, not Splenda. A dessert made with Sweet and Low is more like a punishment than a treat -- sorry, Brennans.

2. A good editor could have made the book so much better by eliminating phrases like "bake until soft" by replacing it with "bake for ____ minutes." There are lots of little sloppy lapses like this throughout the book. There are also recipes where ingredients will be mentioned in the steps of the recipe that aren't listed in the ingredient list -- so you have no idea how much to use or even if it's a typo.

3. The Brennans are not health professionals and should really spare the diet advice and just give us more recipes. Anybody cooking with this book has undoubtedly done his or her homework on the low carb lifestyle and doesn't need a couple of gourmands instructing them on how to eat to be healthy.

I wish the Brennans would put out a second edition of this book and fix the errors in it. It has the potential to be a superb book! I do recommend it now -- heartily -- but think it could be so much better than it is.

This is the BEST DIET EVER! It is better than Atkins and the "new" South Beach Diet. Play Your Carbs Right!...With The Brennans is so easy to follow. I lost 20 pounds in only 9 weeks by eating delicious food and following delicious recipes. Plus, even when I cheated, the diet wasn't ruined - I just had to account for it. Truly, this is a realistic way to lose weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle!

Ron Rash's Raising the Dead focuses on the theme of loss, both on a personal and on a community wide scale. The poems read like chapters within a longer work of fiction, telling the story of the Jocassee Valley community which is set to be flooded by the power company. These poems deal with the land itself, the connection of the people to their homes, and with the horrible situation of having to "raise the dead" from their original graves to relocate them before the valley is completely flooded. These poems are haunting and wonderfully written, but the most powerful poems in the collection deal with Rash's own personal grief over the death of his cousin. These bittersweet poems simultaneously reminisce about carefree days spent with his cousin and mourn his loss. I am sure that everyone who reads this collection will find at least one poem they cannot forget; for me, that poem is "The Debt." My first reading of this poem brought me to tears, and I am still haunted by the imagery and emotion bound within its slight 20-line frame. Focusing on Rash's aunt and uncle as they select the coffin for their son's funeral, this poem chronicles the sacrifices parents make for their children. One of the most heartbreaking things anyone can imagine is the death of a child, and the willingness of this couple to break their backs in their fields for years to pay for the best possible coffin for their son is an amazing testimony to love which knows no bounds. Rash is an amazing author, whether he is writing fiction or poetry. His ability to focus on complex emotions within the tight confines of his favored seven-syllable line poetry makes him a true master of his craft. Although largely defined as an Appalachian author, this collection of Rash's poetry speaks to everyone who has experienced loss and is truly a treasure of modern poetry.

Ron Rash crafts his work carefully, and a tight, lyric rhythm is the result. Each poem is a masterpiece and rings with honesty and clarity. Because he is a poet, Rash's prose also rings with a rhythmic lilt. He is a fantastic writer, whatever genre of his you choose to read. Gathering Stones

Ron Rash is an up-and-coming Southern writer. Content and language captures the South of today and yesterday. Quick reading with both the humorous and serious mixed in such a fashion that the reader wants to get to the next page, the next scenerio, the outcome. I have several of his works and they are all terrific.

Raising the Dead, Ron Rash

This book, both inside and out, is a work of art, equal to and even surpassing the others Iris has done. I opened it as soon as it arrived, knowing Ron Rash and Iris and knowing that this would be a once-in-a lifetime experience, and it was--and is.
To begin with, the book is physically beautiful, the cover design an invitation, even an enticement into the poems themselves. After reading the poems, one is drawn back to the cover, realizing the profound implications of the photo. Even the colors chosen complement the content of the book.
Ron's poems are so provocative and so keenly crafted that one reading is never enough. The images are so strong that they take the reader by the throat and heart right through the experience and emotion of the poem, and then the image echoes like a song repeating and repeating itself both awake and in dreams. I will never get over "Under Jocassee" and "Whippoorwill" and "Speckled Trout" and "Brightleaf" and "At Reid Hartley's Junkyard" and ....
Ron's poems are so moving that one can read only one or two poems at a time. Almost every piece is so rich with implication and surprise that it's like reading a powerful short story, like having lightning strike right in your own backyard.
I will be using many of the poems in Raising the Dead not only in poetry workshops as examples of the BEST in contemporary poetry but also in my bereavement counseling and medical ethics group sessions.
Wow! What a treasure!
In short, this book not only enriches but deeply affects--changes--the reader's life. What more could a poet or a publisher or a reader desire?

In RAISING THE DEAD, Ron Rash not only raises the bar for himself but also for anyone else that chooses to write Appalachain-based verse. As in AMONG THE BELIEVERS, this poet demonstrates an uncanny ability to create rhythmic short lines (seven syllables).

Rash closes a poem as well as anyone writing today. As a result, the ghosts in these poems, of the Jocassee Valley and its aqua-burial and of the revisited ancestors and historical figures will haunt the reader beyond the pages of the book.

Finally, what sets Rash apart from many of his contemporaries is his ability to recognize and to develop valid poetic topics. There is nothing superficial, superfluous, or forced in the pages of this volume. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Thank you Linda Busby Parker for writing the life of Brewster McAtee, an Alabama African-American. I met Brewster as a boy in Low Ridge, Alabama in 1956. I watched this very determined and focused young man grow into a wonderful husband, father and furniture maker. I rejoiced in his many accomplishments and shared his pride in his talented son Laurel. I was awed how he overcome the obstacles of the segragated south with dignity. I traveled with him from hope, through tragedy, and back to hope again. I loved this story because it spoke to my heart and was filled with many positive values. I felt Brewster's family's tragedy did not belong to just them, but to the world.

Winner of the James Jones First Novel Award, Seven Laurels is the story of a black man, Brewster McAtee, and his daily effort to earn a living as a skilled carpenter in 1950's Alabama - an era that saw the beginning of the end of legal segregation in America, as well as a change in long-standing American assumptions and prejudices about race. A tense, story of having to deal with changes, tension, and murderous hositility that is far greater than the will of any one individual, Seven Laurels is a real page-turner of a novel that keeps the reader hooked to the end.

This is a novel about all the travails and joys of life, the fragility of human nature, and a family's love that spans decades. Parker has succeeded in capturing life in the troubled South; she has also managed to render a realistic picture of all the levels of racial tensions still rife here. But SEVEN LAURELS is primarily a personal and riveting story about a man we readers come to love: Brewster McAtee. I felt I was there with Brewster, I KNOW this man. I could not put the novel down. Perhaps it was Parker's beautiful, decorous language, her masterfully wrought characters or maybe it was the hard subject matter. However she did it, one thing is for sure: Parker is an ALCHEMIST. Buy and read this book. You will not be disappointed!

The newest novel from the Southeast University Press, Linda Busby Parker's Seven Laurels, is an exceptional story of life, trial, joy, devastation and hope. Parker creates memorable characters the reader can identify with and care about. Her beautiful use of language moves readers to feel the boundless joy of new life, and the crushing shock of life cruelly cut short.
Seven Laurels is an emotional and compelling tale that traverses the life of Brewster McAtee, a strong and gifted African-American living and surviving in Alabama through the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and into the 1980s. Flashbacks reveal Brewster's childhood and adolescence, and all the obstacles he overcomes to develop into a land-owning master carpenter raising a family in the South.
Readers follow Brewster as works to save enough money to buy land and build a home. We meet the girl of his dreams and watch as he tries to win her love and measure up to her father's expectations. We see him become a father, then a grandfather, all in a hostile time and place that seems to actively work against him on occasion.
The breadth and depth of human emotion and potential are displayed by various characters in the novel. The love and support of family contrast an irrational hated and separation by skin color. The kindness and compassion of an elderly Dutch immigrant are juxtaposed with the blind prejudice and hatred of a poor, ignorant white man who lives in a tiny shack near Brewster's land.
Race and prejudice are key themes in the novel. Brewster works every minute of his life to overcome the stereotypes surrounding black men. Scene after scene portrays the unjust practices perpetuated by white people. Decent education, voter registration, buying land, a home, even a car were privileges not readily extended to blacks. Major civil rights events-the bus boycott, Malcolm X's speeches and murder, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s speeches and murder, formation of the NAACP and many more-affect Brewster and his family in a variety of ways.
This novel is not just about race and prejudice, however. It's about family, growth and life. It's about church suppers, birthday cakes, piano lessons, wood carving. It's about perseverance through adversity, patience and understanding, pride in the accomplishments of people you care about.
That is not to say the novel is always rosy or that things work out all the time. They don't. As much as this is a story of triumph, it is also one of defeat. Deaths and accidents occur. Things don't always work out as they should. The point of this whole experience, however, is to realize what can be accomplished in spite of destruction and tragedy. The novel is complex and full, but the straightforward description and conversational tone make the beautiful language easy to read.
The novel has won the James Jones First Novel Award, and deservedly so. I encourage everyone to put it on their summer reading lists.

In this remarkable novel, Linda Busby Parker takes us on a journey of a black man's life in rural Alabama during the Civil Rights era. Over and over we admire Brewster McAtee as he deals with an abusive father, poverty, and the degrading insults of living in the pivotal time of enforced equality by law and citizen agreement. We delight in Brewster's determination to own land, build a home, and raise a family with the cultured woman of his dreams. We mourn his losses and exult in his triumphs while fulfilling the American dream.

Noted as "extraordinary" by the author Tee A. Corinne in her book `Courting Pleasure' and as `...exquisite, memorable erotic work...".

This was the most intense reading I have done in a long time. This should be recommended reading in all colleges and universities.

Tremendous titles from the author are - Bastard Out of Carolina, Trash, and The Women Who Hate Me. More information can be found at the author's web page dorothyallison dot net

From the back of the book - A compelling collection of essays, autobiographical narratives, and performance pieces combines updated versions of earlier groundbreaking material with provocative new work. The author probes her experience of being a lifelong feminist activist, controversial sex radical, and a Southern expatriate writer with an attitude.. With humor, passion and enormous conviction, she addresses what it means to be queer and happy about it in a world that is still arguing about what it means to be queer.

"Skin" is a book of essays by the amazingly talented writer and activist, Dorothy Allison. I remember reading [...] Out of Carolina many years ago and thinking I might not get through it because of its gruesome and hideous portrayal of a poverty-stricken, incestuous family living in the South. Turns out that book was Allison's fictionalized account of her childhood. Skin, however, is a finely crafted series of essays with titles ranging from "Gun Crazy" to "The Theory and Practice of the Strap-on Dildo" to "Believing in Literature". She likes to talk about everything people aren't supposed to talk about, including masturbating to science fiction novels, the pain of catching a venereal disease from her stepfather when she was a child (a disease that went untreated, rendering her sterile), the thrill of S & M, butch/femme strap-on sex, and much more just as juicy. Allison's style is fearlessly intimate and unashamed. Her long struggle to escape poverty and find a voice is evident in every page, and in every page her voice is beautiful, loud, and resiliant.

An opportunity to get thinking about a few "difficult" subjects, while enjoying a few refreshing lines of thought as well as a no-nonense yet witty style.Being a woman, gay or poor not a requisite, although it might help. If you're neither of the three, buy the book anyway, you might learn something (I did).

Not since Andrea Dworkin's "Woman Hating" (that I read in 1978) have I been so moved by the truth of another writer that I would want to emulate it. In sharing Harris's vision of writing as an "uncompromising revolutionary act" the point is made that the mainstream literary world as well as the "so-called avant-garde and burgeoning feminist critical aristocracy" will not appreciate the lesbian writer who "refuses to obey the rules." To both women, nothing is more important than telling the truth, "refusing all categories, all who would shape your writing to their own use."

"Yes!" I cried, " The End.

The extraordinary Dorothy Allison can write fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and essays. Skin is her contribution to the essay genre, a collection of two dozen bits of astute rambling across a crazy quilt of subjects stitched together by the fierce honesty her readers have come to expect from all of her writing. Coming from a poor white trash family in South Carolina, she traveled beyond her origins thanks to a rampant intelligence that nothing could dull. A feminist before the word was invented, Allison is also a proud card-carrying lesbian, a writer, mentor, teacher, lecturer, and a woman who is always generous to other writers. Skin deals more explicitly and in greater depth with erotica and sexuality than her other works, so readers would do well to be forewarned. But if you're a Dorothy Allison fan, this is NOT a book to be missed.

In keeping with the great Junior League tradition of fabulous cookbooks, the Junior League of the Palm Beaches has managed to live up to its reputation. A Slice of Paradise is a great example of Junior League excellence. A great holiday gift idea!

Junior League cookbooks tend to be very good, and this is the best one I've ever seen. The recipes aren't the same tired potluck recipes that have made the rounds for decades; these are exciting, yet easy-to-make recipes, many with a tropical twist. There are helpful guides to Florida's fish and to tropical fruits.
The Picadillo recipe has become a family (and company) favorite, and the Veal Escallops with Tomato Basil Cream Sauce (I substitute chicken) is a luciously elegant entre in the time it takes to cook a burger. This book is a winner!

What a nice surprise! I purchased this book expecting recipes that would be great for Florida. What I found was a book full of terrific recipes that are for anyone living anywhere. There are traditional favorites with unique twists and fresh recipes using creative combinations of readily available ingredients. I particulary like the selection in skill and prep time. There are quick and easy recipes for last minute plans. There are also more involved creations for an enjoyable rainy Saturday afternoon. The use of fresh ingredients and emphasis on healthy recipes was an added bonus. It's true; Junior Leagues really know how to collect the best recipes. I would recommend this book to anyone (it makes a great gift too!).

I am continually suprised at the fun recipes that I keep finding in this book. I read cookbooks cover to cover and I cannot keep a copy of this one in my house. I show them to my girlfriends and off they go with my latest copy. I am on number four at this time. The seafood and pasta sections have delightful recipes for a dinner party, and the salads are to die for!!! The Palm Beach Pasta Salad is my personal favorite. Hats off to the Junior League of the Palm Beaches. You have outdone yourself!!!

This cookbook is not only great, but it is beautiful as well. It does a wonderful job of featuring Florida's exotic fruits and seafoods with unique receipes and easy preparation. Some great receipes I have tried are the Key Lime Danish, Mango Nut Bread, and Mahi Mahi with Mango Salsa!!! I highly recommend this cookbook to anyone who enjoys cooking and is looking for some interesting new receipes.

I was so happy to come across this book. I first found it at the library. It's everything I could ever want in a snake book and more. Fantastic picture quality and detail!! Great illustration and resource guide.

The book is well research, well written, beatifully illustrated.
Knowing what's in your immediate enviroment is important.
I would recommend this book to anyone.

As many Herp books as I have read through, this book covers all the information provided by most other field guides on snakes in this region, and then some! It has great photos of all the snakes throughout this region and the info on each species is organized in a descriptive, yet reader-friendly fashion. The other contents in this book are very informative and covers everything from the biology of snakes to their predators and defenses, and everything in-between. The final section on "People and Snakes" is AWESOME!! It is important that people will be better informed about snakes and see that they do not live up to their unwarrented reputation. This section of the book does a great job in communicating this message to the reader and also how benificial snakes are to our ecosystems. At the least, this book is a fascinating read and should be accessible to anyone living in this region. The Southeast region is one of the best places, in my opinion, for finding some of the most unique and beautiful snakes in the country. If anything, there is much more to learn from this book than there is from "People" magazine by a long shot!! The only snakes you'll see in those magazines is their skins formed into purses and clothes :( If only idividuals of that sort were not so ignorant. Its a Great Book!!

A worthy successor to Snakes of Georgia & South Carolina, also co-authored by Whit Gibbons. This earlier volume, now out of print, was superb as well...though brief and exorbitantly priced.

The current work is logically organized, user-friendly yet comprehensive. The color photos are tack-sharp. For the amateur naturalist, teacher or student alike, or for the common sojourner this is the perfect reference--liberally illustrated but detailed as well. Plus--the price is right.

This book has everything a child and/or adult needs to know about the snakes that can be found in any given area of the Southeast. Even down to the parish/county you may live in. It gives you hints that let you know which snake is which (enormously helpful for venomous ones). It also shows a way, with only 1 exception (the coral snake), to determine if a snake is venomous by looking at it's shed skin. Now how many times have you or your child come across a snake skin and wondered if it could have been a harmful snake? I bought this book for my 6 year old son who, like his mother, has an interest in snakes and curiosity. I recently noticed my hubby perusing through it & he despises them. Matter of fact, my neighbor has already borrowed it for identification. He then decided to read through it the rest of the way...it's just that insightful!

This is an itty bitty book about a big subject, Southerners and their dogs. It's different from a lot of the other dog books out now, in that it's every bit as much about dog-lovers as dogs. The pictures are great. In one, a little Chihuahua peeks out of a macho guy's shirt front. You can't not love them both. There is humor and dignity and love in these photos. I salute the authors. In addition it's a compliment to the American South, for there are folks of all ages, colors, and economic strata co-existing between this book's covers. A great little book.

This book is THE most popular I've ever given as a gift. Everyone likes it, people of all ages. Even cat people like it! Everybody has had a favorite dog and this book reminds them of happy times. The price is right, and this little book is welcome for all occasions. Gerry Morgan

Excellent book!! This is high praise considering I am a cat person. The photographs and the verses are wonderful and fit well together. If you don't at least like this book, you do not have a warm spot in your entire body.

I love this book, and have given it to several people as a gift. Everyone has enjoyed it and always has their own stories to tell about their favorite dogs. Now if Priscilla and Bobbie would only write a book about favorite cats....!

The photography in this book is truly outstanding in capturing the "spirit of the south". The quotations of southern authors merely underscore the feelings evoked by the poignant photos. This book is perfect for canine lovers in every region of the U.S; but especially for those of us whose family members include the 4 legged ones.

I purchased this book after reading reviews of it on amazon.com and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS BOOK. It is everything previously said and more. First, her dinnerware is beautiful - from the simple to the extravagant. All of her table arrangements are fresh and new ideas - not the same old stuff seen in other tabletop books I own. And, even though she may use expensive things (not all are), her ideas and design can easily be duplicated with what you may own. I am a dish fanatic not a cook. But, I was even interested in checking out the recipes and the beautifully displayed food. Then, near the end of the book, she has added beautiful and quaint drawings of the different types of dinnerware, explaining what each piece/shape is used for, e.g. cream soup cup and saucer...bouillon cup and saucer...luncheon plate...fruit saucer, etc. The next bonus is a section on artful flowers - again, designs that can easily be imitated/duplicated. Everything in the book has that "welcoming" feeling - even the formal table settings. If you are a dinnerware aficionado, you must have this book. I love it and know I will reference it frequently.

Absolutely Fabulous!!! It's really difficult to choose what I love the most, the tablescapes or the recipes. A must have for anyone who loves to cook or entertain.

Highly recommended if you love china and setting the table. I find myself pulling this one out of the bookshelf whether I'm planning a dinner party or not...

I have been collecting books for many years about table settings and have a modest but respectable collection of this genre in my personal library. I have reviewed several table setting books of recent publication and nothing compares with the style, taste and elegance this book has! Mrs. Hoffman knows table setting basics and adds her own classy twist to her table tops. I am very impressed and would recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn about the art of table setting or to those who already know how to properly set a table but are seeking new ideas.

Mrs. Hoffman has set the finest example on how to set the table, and her's is the one to follow, and not those that are featured on television who gaudy up their tables with unnecessary clutter and junk.

I'm proud to own this book and have it grace my library table.

This book, in my opinion, captures it all. There is not one disappointment on any page. Mrs. Hoffman provides a complete package and does so in the most beautiful way possible. You will be graced with breathtaking china and glass, encounter exquisite rooms with tasteful decor, treated with fabulous recipes and get a glimpse of the joy and sincerity that the author radiates in each chapter. This is a real gem and a real keeper, a blessing in binding. You will rob yourself of a real treat if you don't welcome this book into your own home.