Clubs Books

Cheetah Files was a great escape, with the perfect mix of action and character development. I love to read but have limited time, and I am constantly frustrated by the lack of quality action/intrigue books there are out there. Cheetah Files was quite a breath of fresh air amid so many canned storylines, kudos to Mr. Walker - I can't wait for the next one!

I really enjoyed this book. Being an avid reader I can tell by reading the first few pages if I am going to enjoy a book and this one interested me from the start. I would definitedly like to see some more "Cheetah Files". The characters were intersting and believeable. Just the right kind of action and intrigue.

This is one of the best books I've ever read. As long as Walker keeps churning them out, I'll keep adding more logs to the fire.

Excellent writing. Good plot and well organized. I look forward to the next one.

This was an excellent "spy" novel. Not your usual thriller, this one takes you right to the thick of things and gives you all the details you need to paint your own picture. The characters are brilliant. This would indeed make a great movie. Hector is the hero we all need right now, a man of character, honesty, and he can take care of business. Every nuance of the story pulls you in and takes you somewhere relevant to the story. A must read.

This book helped me realize my negative behavior and take steps to begin healthly relationships, instead of addictive ones.

This book is for men and women because both sexes suffer from this problem. For along time, I had become obsesse over a man to the point that I couldn't work or even think straight. This book made me feel like I wasn't alone. It also helped to explain why I had become obsessed and what I could do to deal with it. I have no doubt this book will help millions.

People often think that only women become obsessed with someone. It's good to see that someone has written a book for both women and men about the very real problem of obsessive, controlling relationships. John Moore's book cuts through all of the psychological mumbo jumbo and gets right to the heart of why a person becomes so obsessed with a love interest that stalking is the result. Thank you Mr. Moore for offering us all a book that is sure to become a classic.

I recently got found out about this book from a friend and all I can say is God Bless you John Moore. For years I had been caught up in a very controlling, abusive relationship with my husband. I never understood why he treated me the way he did until I read several of the case studies from your book. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to find out more about why control happens in relationships. I will treasure this book always and forever!

I read Moore's book and was very impressed with each of the case studies. In some way, each person's story spoke to my own situation in a controlling relationship. There were many times that I had to put the book aside because it hurt too much to keep reading. As I kept turning the pages, I saw all of the patterns in my own life and then the lightbulb went off and I thought, "That's me!" If you are in a controlling relationship or are obsessed with someone else, you have to get this book. It will change your life forever.

The Friday Afternoon Club is a group of women who get together for some R&R from their busy lives. Liz is a stay-at-home mom who is in the club. She also writes a newspaper column.

One of their members doesn't come to meetings for a few weeks, so they seek her out to discover the problem. Lucy is recovering from the deaths of her husband and mother in the past year and has gone into depression. Her aunt recently left her a Civil War style home in a nearby town.

The club decides to have a get-away weekend to decorate and restore the home. Lucy isn't too sure at first.

Once there, they have some startling discoveries including a diary.

This is a very good book, but it is not your normal mystery with a death to be investigated. Once you understand that, you can relax and really enjoy the camaraderie of the club and how they rally around Lucy to help her out of her depression. This is a great book and I recommend it!

This series is a good read. It's considered Christian lit. but it's not too churchy. I really enjoyed it!

Dying to Decorate by author Cyndy Salzmann, is the first in the Friday Afternoon Club Series. The narrator of the story is a woman named Liz, a stay-at-home mom who writes a newspaper column (think Martha Stewart meets Flylady). The friends in the Friday Afternoon Club, or FAC, get together weekly to get a little R&R from their all-too busy lives. They support each other with fierce devotion, and when one of the members goes AWOL from the club for a few weeks, they go on a rescue mission. The group learns that their friend Lucy, recovering from the deaths in the past year of both her husband and her mother, has slid into a depression. She has also recently inherited an old Civil War style home from an elderly aunt, and the FAC thinks it will be the perfect diversion to nudge Lucy away from her slump. The group determines to have a decorating party/get-away weekend to help restore the lovely old house. Startling discoveries and a secret diary found hidden in the house from Civil War times raise serious questions about the history of Lucy's past relatives. With help from the diary and Lucy's Aunt Bette, the group learns about true strength of character and sacrificial heroism that begins at home.

While the novel isn't a `mystery' in the classic sense, it has great sense of suspense as the story unfolds. Add to that a wonderfully refreshing humor intertwined in a very satisfying story. If that isn't enough, the book includes many wonderful recipes that tie into each chapter. To a book-loving foodie, it's the ultimate in reading. With recipes like Melt-In-Your-Mouth Pot Roast, I'm So Sorry Snickerdoodles, and Liz's Triple Chocolate Pecan Brownies, it's a struggle to decide whether to finish reading or to hit the kitchen to whip up some of the goodies laced throughout the book.

It's a fantastic read all around, and I can't wait for the next installment in the series. Her next book, Crime and Clutter (A Friday Afternoon Club Mystery) is scheduled to be released in April 2007.

Though author Cyndy Salzmann claims to be domestically challenged, my mouth was watering from the very first chapter of her debut novel. When I read her recipes for "I'm-So-Sorry Snickerdoodles" and "Double Mocha Frappuccino," I knew I was in good company with the "Friday Afternoon Club!"

This group of six ladies gets together every week to share their ups and downs and bond over faith, motherhood, and chocolate.

One group member, Lucy, has been in a slump of depression, while grieving the recent losses of both her husband and mother. She discovers that she's inherited an old family homeplace, Locust Hill, which was built before the Civil War. Yet the empty mansion is rumored to be haunted and echoes with mystery.

To cheer Lucy's spirits, the FAC girls plan a field trip to spruce the place up. While there, they unlock secrets from Lucy's ancestry, taking readers on a fascinating journey through American history.

Packed with recipes, this book will remind you of the joys of friendship and laughter. I'm ready for the sequel!

-- Christian Women Online Book Buzz

I've said before, I love reading books about food. Reading a novel that has the recipes it mentions is even better. As soon as I'm done with the book, I want to start making the food. What's even better is when the recipes are super easy for non cooks like me.

Dying to Decorate has all this and more. I really want to be able to find friends like the ladies in the Friday Afternoon Club when I reach that age. The friends meet every Friday (hence the name) for a time of fellowship, fun and food. Each woman has a very different personality that meshes well and doesn't clash with other. One of the members inherits a Civil War era house from her great aunt and the FAC goes to help her renovate it. During their stay, they discover the history of the house and how it will eventually change their own outlook of life. I enjoyed the book tremendously. My favorite scene was when John and Liz go out to dinner and stop by a coffeehouse. They order their coffee and John thinks he is splurging by ordering a grande. His reaction to the actual size of his cup as compared to Liz's venti is hilarious. I've been in Starbucks lots of times to hear people get confused and complain about the sizes. Sooooo relatable.

I'd recommend this book for fans of The Potluck Club or The Yada Yada Prayer Group. I really related to this book even though I'm the same age of the characters' kids! This book has it all: food, mystery, fun and even a history lesson! I am definitely looking forward to the next FAC adventure. I'm thinking about making that coconut cream pie or the baked potato soup...although i think i might pass on the pioneer mush :)

If you like to curl up with volume of beautiful, rambling prose, then this is the book for you.

If you grow impatient with an author who takes 9 pages to discuss an idea that could comfortably fit into 2 - 3 paragraphs, then you should look for a different book. The writing style reminded me of Charles Dickens, who reportedly was paid by the word.

Yes, the book is beautifully written, but I simply lost patience with it. I also found it to be a bit preachy, as if the author believes herself to be the only one who knows the joy of simply being in a garden, observing all of its wonders, and must teach it to the rest of us morons. (I'm a bit sensitive to preachiness, however, and the average reader might disagree!)
It all depends on your personality.

I just finished reading this lovely book over a two day period while sitting in my garden. Joyce McGreevy's advice about living in the moment and appreciating even the smallest living thing should become words to live by for all of us hurtling through the beginning of this new century. She encourages her readers to establish and maintain contact with nature, even if it is just being aware of the new sprouts on our pepperomia. She offers receipes, practical advice and unique ideas about how to engage even a recalcitrant child or a grumpy crumudgeon in the wonders of the natural world.
This is a MUST read for all gardeners no matter what your experience!

This book is a jewel, a profound pleasure to read. From the first page, one enters a world of flowers and tendriled plants, Earth with its seasons and cycles, touching memories, wisdom, and wit. The book uses this material to present a rich philosophy for living life.

The author not only recounts delightful anecdotes, but also offers abstract ideas with precision clarity, utilizing graceful and wonderfully chosen vocabulary. Her metaphors and similes sometimes make you gasp, they are so fresh and original. They are also beautifully couched within the overall garden theme.

This book puts the reader in touch with the richness, depth, and beauty of life. It is true writing by a gifted writer.

Dear Sister,
We have a new best friend.

Joy! Today is Book Club day, and Joyce McGreevy, the author of "Gardening by Heart" is coming to talk to/with our group. We just finished her book and I loved it. It isn't a novel. It is not a self-help book. It isn't a gardening book. It isn't a poetry book. It is a poetic story about nurturing our hearts, our gardens. Hmm, is it a story? No, actually. There is no story-story, just a string of anecdotes and remembrances involving the author's mother and siblings and friends and jobs.

Her writing is the thing.

She writes like a poet, but it isn't poetry per se. Well, I'll go upstairs and get the book and excerpt it for you...hold on...

Without looking, I just opened the book to this page:

Strawberries at Dawn

"The first pale amber rays of sun have backlit the somber mountains. A coastal live oak rustles. The birds are stirring. In my garden, the poppies are rolled up tightly like saffron scrolls. I'm on my knees, coffee within easy reach, as I set a blue salvia into the ground the way a parent might ease a sleepy child back into bed."

Dawn is the best time of day to do almost anything. The phone holds its tongue and there are no appointments. One's mind is fertile with dreams whose meanings flower best in a hushed world."

[Isn't that wonderful?] more...

"In the garden, time itself seems to expand. Later in the day I may fret about getting to this appointment or achieving that task "on time", but early in the morning I seem to have all the time in the world. The killing frost of anxiety is held at bay, letting ideas and insights establish strong roots."

She starts each chapter with a quote from another author or poet.

"Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace."--May Sarton, Journals

She advocates keeping a nature journal...at the office.

"...it consisted of a burgeoning collection of index cards, each of which bore a hastily penciled sentence or two about something I had observed, whether on the way to work, from my window, or during a lunch break....The French say of good gardeners not that they have a green thumb but that they have un main vert, a green hand. With every entry I penciled in I was keeping my hand green and subsequently nurturing the heart, even in the midst of computers, stark white partitions, and fluorescent lighting."

Don't you just love her? I can't wait to meet our new best friend.

Love,
Your sister

I'm free, free, at last! Emancipated from a gardener's work ethic--weeding, deadheading, fertilizing etc. Joyce McGreevy goes literally to the heart of gardening and nourishes the soul with her grace and wit and exquisite writing. McGreevy's descriptions of her mother's gardens as a place for relating to people, for celebrating the spirit of the day or season, help the gardener to not only grow the roses, but wake up and smell them and share all that with others. Just BE in the garden. Of course, there won't be a garden without some routine work, but this inspirational little book shows us how to use our gardens or other people's gardens to renew our connection to the earth, to all creation, and to heal from modern day busy sickness. I hope to hear more from this talented writer.

Excellent, quick read...wide range of quotes both poetry and proes...pics are breathtaking...these two young men have infected me with their philosophy of life.

What a treasure to find that On The Loose is still around. This book is full of wonder and joy on every page. On The Loose found me in 1967 when I was an undergraduate student. It is still with me. I was wandering and On The Loose spoke to me of the wilderness as something full of awe. This is truly a beautiful book. It continues to remind me over and over that, as I can see I will keep looking and as long as I can walk, I will keep moving. I am so happy that with the reprinting of On The Loose it will now find its way into my grown children's hands as they continue to make their way and look beyond the light and dark.

There are so many wonderful and amazing photographs and quotes in this book. This book is truly an invitation towards insights gained by looking outward and beyond. Let yourself go beyond where you can barely see. Buy this book. Always ride for the high points! This is the book to take with you.

D. Budd
Edmonton, AB Canada

If I had to choose 10 books that I would bring with me to a desert island, this would be one of them.

This book is a treasure...golden and important. It is a primer of sorts for living a good and authentic and adventurous life...the bible with a small b for so many of my friends who discovered at some point how big the world is...and how much we can experience if we widen our perspective. "Take shelter under the cloud...while others flee to carts and sheds" I probably am misquoting from memory but there are so many great quotes in this small but vital book. One of my favorites for so many reasons...to be shared with friends and family.

This is an enjoyable little book full of photos taken by two brothers in the 1960s. The photos are all from the brothers' road trips across the U.S., but the stories of these trips aren't really here. Instead, the brothers pair each photos with a quote, in the classic Sierra Club style. Many of the quotes are from famous works, many are from the brothers themselves. Some don't make sense at all, such as a quote from a deer that's somehow multiple millennia old. Hmmm.
The book does have a GREAT photo of a girl looking sadly at a rising Lake Powell/flooding Glen Canyon, and a good section on Glen Canyon in general. However, I wish the book had more on the brothers' actual story, as the photos of them look intriguing, and the book's afterward mentions that one of the brothers died shortly before the book's initial publication.
I recommend this for Glen Canyon scholars, those interested in the Sierra Club and this century's environmenal movement and grainy sixties imagery, but I don't see how it's the life changing book that some people say it is. It didn't strike me that way.

Though Disney hasn't released the DVD yet, it has been released through affiliates who have links to disney.com. Search "Song of the South" on your web browser and you should come up with it. I think Disney is afraid to release it under their name, but are doing so undercover. I got one. The live scenes are a bit fuzzy, but not bad. The cartoon characters are clear and apparently were digitized. I doubt it will be on amazon for awhile as the sellers are few and want to maintain a higher price.

I am so glad I found this. Does anyone else think it's ironic that they changed the tar baby to a tar bunny?

What a treasure! Please release this wonderful film on DVD. It makes many important social comments & is very entertaining. This is one of Walt Disney's hidden treasures.

Please release Song of the South for all of us who remember seeing this movie as a child. I would love to share this movie with my child. It will always be one of my favorite movies. My mother, my sisters and myself going to see this movie is one childhood memory that I will always cherish. Please consider making this excellent movie available to us. Thank you!!

Song of the South is one of the most influential movies that I saw as a child. It shows us how to be happy in a lot of different situations. To have a positive attitude. The minority group should be very proud of this movie because the stories Uncle Remus told were positive reflections of life.
This day and age we need more old stories of being happy in tough times. Please release this movie. It is a part of history that should not be hidden.

My two older daughters and I have recently watched the first two Lord of the Rings movies. This was the first time for them. While watching "Two Towers" this last Saturday I commented a couple times how it was important to attack where an enemy is weak. It is best to aim for the Achilles' heel. After the movie we talked some more about how in battle you don't want to throw your strength at the enemy's strong defenses.

One of my favorite Science Fiction authors is Eric Frank Russell. He served in the RAF during World War II, and many of his stories have a military setting and with the clever hero destroying much larger opponents. The hero always finds the Achilles' Heel. "Wasp" is the first Eric Frank Russell story I ever read. I go back and reread it every couple years. I just reread it, probably for the fifteenth time.

The background for the story is Humanity is fighting for its life. We've expanded out to the stars and settled several colonies. We bumped into Sirian Empire. We got along with them for awhile, but they then decided to try and conquer us. Earth has more advanced technology, while the Sirian Empire has about ten times the number of people.

Our hero, James Mowry, is recruited to be a "Wasp." James is told a story of a small wasp that stung a driver. In trying to kill the wasp, the driver wreaked the car, killing three people, including himself. After months of training James Mowery is sent to a Sirian colony with the goal of destabilizing the colony, single handedly, to be a wasp!

This is a funny story. Eric Frank Russell does a great job of telling an interesting story while weaving in humor.

If you like classic Science Fiction from the 1950s, check out Wasp, or "Entities" which includes several of his novels. A couple dozen short stories by Eric Frank Russell's collected were put together in "Major Ingredients."

As a young girl, I borrowed this book from my father's paperback collection. With time, it disappeared from my life, and I have missed it. Every so often, I have tried to re-locate it, and imagine my joy at finding it again.

What can you say about a book that has haunted you for over 45 years? It is great. An entertaining and enjoyable combination of spy and sci fi.

This is a terrible book. It is the first science fiction book I ever read and I have been addicted ever since. It produced the typical symptoms of science fiction addiction: boundless enthusiasm for individual initiative, a ridiculous optimism for the future, starry eyed idealism, and weekend reading marathons. I should have never read this book. Now I'm going to get a copy for my son. Better that than those darn computer games!

Decades before the Pentagon coined "assymetric warfare", Russell literally wrote the book on it. This is thus a classic, kept in print I suspect by orders from young officers at our service academies. Oh, and it also happens to be a great read.

Eric Frank Russell has long been my favourite sci-fi author. He creates fascinating characters who win out through intellect and logic, rather than brawn, usually, and WASP is no exception.

The book is set in the future, with the Earth up against the Sirian Combine - a galactic conglomeration of planets intent on conquering the Earth. While the Terrans (read: Earthlings) have superior weapons and technology, the Sirians have vastly superior numbers. As the war drags on, the Terrans feel the best way to defeat the Sirians is through propaganda. The theory is that if a wasp can distract the driver of a car, destroying the vehicle and all 4 adults, causing havoc, death and destruction grossly disproportionate to the insect's size, that one man, armed with the right tools, can also cause havoc to a whole planet. So they recruit James Mowry to land on the Sirian planet of Jaimec, to effect such disruption. In theory, with enough distraction, more attention and resources will be concentrating on the internal strife, enabling the Terrans to launch a quick and successful attack on the planet.

To effect this goal, Mowry creates a fictitious underground rebellion called DAG, making the authorities believe that there's a whole group set against the overthrow of the government, when in reality it's just one man.

The book can be seen as a how-to in propaganda, playing into the fears of the enemy, forcing over-reaction and panic with minimal effort and maximum results. Some of the technology doesn't seem that advanced. Granted, there's space ships that can travel between planets, but there are also cars and telephones. However, considering that it was first published in 1957 - 50 years ago - it's hardly surprising. With the brilliance of the story, it is also unsurprising that the book is still in demand - the copy I have is out of print, but there are new anthologies of the author's works being brought out.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

My almost three year old friend Harrison just loves this book. He waits on the edge of his seat for the NOPE! from the littlest piggie. He fell asleep cuddling this book two naps in a row. This is a child that could not be torn away from books about trucks, especiallly trash trucks. The rhyming rythms of Charlotte Pomerantz saved Auntie Dawn from the rumble and roar of another front end loader!

This is a great book! I initially borrowed it from our local library. Our kids loved it. It's a great oratory book. I read it for a PreSchool class, in a Kindergarten Class, and for First Graders the book was loved by all who heard it. It has great rhythms, it's funny, it's cute, and the kids enjoy being a part of the story. When the smallest piggy mocks her parents and her brother by saying, "Nope!" in all of the circumstances there has been great participation by the children. It has quickly become one our favorite stories.

Crackling with lipsmackingly silly rhyme and hilarious James Marshall illustrations, this book is like read aloud popcorn -- I bet you can't stop after just one page.

my 19 yr olds favorite book as a baby...now she has a good copy for her kids(she is a preschool teacher)

This is my favorite book for storytime reading. Mainly preschool - but I've also had adults keep asking me to read one more page, too.

Charlotte Pomerantz has created a work of art - the ending and internal rhymes, the way she plays and puts words together, the right amount of repetition. This is why people think it's So Easy to write a children's book. This is a deceptively simple title, but if it were easy there would be more books out there like this one. This one of the few books I truly look forward to and love reading aloud - the words taste delicious!!

If you like this one check out "How many trucks can a tow truck tow" also by her.

WOW!!! I JUST CAN'T BELIEVE IT!! I STARTED READING THIS SERIES WHEN I WAS ABOUT TEN... I OWE A COUPLE OFF THEM AND I JUST WISHED I HAD THE WHOLE COLLECTION... I BELIEVE THAT EVERYONE SHOULD READ THESE BOOKS BECAUSE THEY TEACH YOU ABOUT A FRIENDSHIP THAT GROWS THROUGHOUT TIME... AND REMEMBER... BSC RULZ!!!!

I loved the babysitters club and i own every single one. It is creative and fun to read. The baby sitters club are good books for girls 3rd grade and up.

When I was younger, I loved these stories. They're cute little stories about 12 year olds who start a club to Babysit. They meet Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays in Claudia's bedroom. You get to read about the main character of the book's big trouble in the book and you get to read about any other character who gets passed the notebook. These are definitely great books for kids 8 and up.

I began reading these books when I was in 5th grade and remember continuing to read them through Jr. High School. Now, I am 24 years old, pregnant with my first baby (a girl) and have pulled out those books to dust off and pass onto my daughter. These books are light-hearted, fun and still teach a good lesson about friendship, handling jobs, money, etc. I think these are fabulous books and recommend them to all!

I read these books when I was 7 and did not enjoy them very much. They were hard to get out of at the time but I found them extraordinarily boring. I am now 12 and live in Australia. I have the entire series because I got them ordered and they kept coming!They are alright stories but the language is unacceptable!The stories are set for older children but younger children are reading them because the language is so simple!

Celeste is about to undertake an intriguing adventure. I'm also curious about Margaret McCade. Who is she and why did she choose not to connect with Celeste while she was alive? Did she harbor some secret about Celeste's parents that she didn't want to explain? Very creative writing and an interesting plot full of suspense. This is going to be a good read.

The excerpt from Julia Weller's, THE LADIES HELL FIRE CLUB, grabbed my interest right away and the end of chapter two left me wishing for more.
The characters were "comfortable" without being boring and it was easy to care about what was going to happen to the main character, Celeste.
Celeste knows her own mind and although she is a small-town girl she seems neither naive nor retiring. We know that she does not mind asking other people for advice, as she does with her older friend, her employer Emily, but she is also independent. When she gets the mysterious letter in the mail telling her about an inheritance from a relative she never knew existed, we know that Celeste is in for a great adventure to New York and I for one am eager to go along for the ride.

Reading the first two chapters felt like eating potato chips, I couldn't stop and wanted more! I could hear, see, smell everything in Celeste's world. Not many writers can pull that off. Julia Weller is one of them. Celeste is a character I'm in step with, and I am eager to join her on her journey to the Big Apple where the mystery unfolds for both of us.

From page one, we love our protagonist, Celeste. She's been through hardships and heartbreak, and we're pulling for her to feel better. Yet, she's a thoughtful and caring young woman, not hardened by how life has treated her. Her stroke of luck -- an unexpected inheritance -- is cheering, and the mystery behind it draws on my protectiveness. Celeste seems like one of those exotic Japanese pears that cannot be displayed in the produce section without a cushioning basket of plastic. I don't want her to get hurt on this big adventure.

Julia Weller's supporting characters are well defined and all seem important to the story's progress. I lookd forward to the plot complexities that the author's synopsis and these two chapters promise. Somehow I'm sure Celeste will come out fine, and I look forward to seeing how she grows along the way. The book should be a satisfying read.

Celeste is just the greatest character - full of emotion but not silly or sentimental. She's courageous and smart, cautious and willing to take a chance. Julia Weller says so much about this character with short descriptive phrases. I am looking forward to reading the whole novel and passing it along to my adolescent grandchildren.