D-A Books

_Lost in the City_ (1992) - a collection of short stories - is Edward P. Jones' first book, followed by the Pulitzer Price winning novel The Known World (2003), and All Aunt Hagar's Children (2006), a second collection of short stories. Both Lost and Aunt Hagar are about blacks in Washington, DC where Jones grew up in the neighborhoods he writes about. His stories are like mini novels with lush detail, multiple fully evolved characters and densely colloquial prose.

The stories have a common theme surrounding an old colloquial saying "Don't get lost in the city". The word "lost" means having no direction, aimless, with no intention, and the stories are about people in that sort of state of mind, simply doing time with no direction home. It also means alienation, being lost is the opposite of family and compassion, the stories involve broken and dysfunctional families, coldness. Charles Dickens wrote about London and the poor of the 19th century, but his stories were the opposite of Jones. Instead of that "coming home to family" Christmas time spirit of Dickens, Jones invokes coldness, alienation, purposelessness. I hesitate to call Jones "anthropological" because it is also very aesthetically pleasing, but like Balzac did for Paris in the early 19th century and Dickens for London, Jones invokes the spirit of a time and place that, while not full of good feelings and happy endings, does speak truthfully. The last story of the book, "Marie", ends with an old woman listening to an audio oral-history and I think Jones is telling the reader how he sees his own work, a history of a people and place.

My favorite story is in the middle of the book, "The Store", it is the most uplifting and optimistic surrounded by stories of tragedy and sadness. It is about a poor boy done good by hard work and honesty. Other stories I thought were excellent include "The Sunday Following Mother's Day" about a husband who kills his wife for no reason, and the resulting years of failed relationships with his son and daughter. It's epic scope crosses generations of multiple people, but it is also grassroots, concerning people who are invisible to society. "His Mother's House" is about a street drug dealer and his relations with his family, it helped me better understand how families (mothers, fathers, sons) and the drug culture can intermingle ."A New Man" is a heartbreaking story of a 15 year-old girl who runs away from home and is never heard from again. Overall I think the stories in _Aunt Hagar_ are better - more fully realized, longer - however these are still excellent, Jones is one of my favorite authors.

Truman Capote in his masterpiece In Cold Blood (1960) has the following quote (an actual quote from a sister to her brother who is in jail) which I think sums up Jones' stories:

"Your confinement is nothing to be proud of.. You are a human being with a free will. Which puts you above the animal level. But if you live your life without feeling and compassion for your fellowman - you are as an animal - "an eye for eye, a tooth for a tooth" & happiness & peace of mind is not attained by living thus."

Synchronicity is, more or less, a random event that seems to have more than a random meaning. Such it was when I read Edward P. Jones' short story collection Lost In The City directly after having read Sherman Alexie's Ten Little Indians. The reason was that Alexie's book showed off everything that's wrong with PC Elitist art and literature, coming from a person in an ethnic minority, while Jones' book- a 1992 National Book Award finalist, reprinted after the great success of his 2003 NBA and Pulitzer prize winning novel The Known World- showed off almost everything that minority writers can do to `fight the stereotype', as Alexie preaches, but does not practice. Both men's books deal with specific peoples in specific locals- Alexie's with Spokane Indians in Washington state, while Jones' with blacks in Washington, D.C. Jones, unlike Alexie, has quality writing in all fourteen of his stories, because his characters are fully realized, and nor caricatures nor stereotypes, and the situations that they have to deal with flow naturally out of predicaments of their proscribed lives. Are there some stereotypically `black' characters? A few, but they are minor characters, and in the background of the tales, as are most walking stereotypes you or I know. And there are seeming stereotypes- such as young hoodlums and drug dealers, that are revealed to have nuances and depths. Alexie does not undermine and nuance his characters in any way in his worst stories, while his best tale- one on the life cycle of a marriage between Indians, is his best tale precisely for the fact that its focus is on the marriage, not that it is an `Indian marriage'. Race and bigotry and pain are the reason for many Alexie tales, and they quickly devolve into screeds. Jones is a much more mature writer, and his worst tales, which are merely solid stories, are so not because of predictability, screeding, nor stereotyping, but simply because they go on too long, or the conversations do not serve the tale well. Those are minor ills, though, as this is a book that well should be praised. In comparison, especially, to the pap that's published nowadays, it's a great book....Why is it so difficult to find great writers and stories? Why does not the publishing industry find and promote more Edward P. Joneses? Well, first off, there are not that many, but, these stories may not be `moneymakers' because they do not offer pat solutions, nor are the characters caricatures, and they do not skim along the mere surfaces of things. It also takes an effort for readers to fully appreciate the multi-hued, and deeply textured tales and portraits Jones relates, and most people suffer from video game or MTV languor. Yet, is there, or has there ever been, a better virtual reality machine than a great piece of writing? A great poem puts you in a moment, and a great story can arc you through events that you can feel, almost as if experiencing them for yourself.

I loathe the cheapening of thought and conversation and striving for insight. That is why I love this book, and the relative handful of other works like it that are out there. Instead of the shot at a quick, cheap, moneymaker, publishers should seek quality, and promote it, to develop careers, rather than get one hit wonders, whose one hit was dependent upon things other than the writing quality- which is usually sorely lacking. Accept lesser profits in the short term, but greater in the long run, while also contributing to literature. It then forces an upward spiral of writing, where people can look to an Edward Jones, or William Kennedy, or Charles Johnson, and say, `I want to write like them, because they're good, and I want to contribute to my culture,', rather than this several decades long downward spiral where bad writers see a Mary Gaitskill or Yann Martell or Stephen Elliott or (fill in the Oprah-type writer) being published, and say, `I want to write like them, because it's easy, and I can write better than that crap, and I want to be famous.'

It is not enough to merely say why a writer is good, but show it, praise it, and honor it as among the best an individual can do, and the highest that human beings can achieve. On that note I will close with the terrific end of The Night Rhonda Ferguson Was Killed:

She made a pallet for her daughter beside the bed and turned out the light when she left the room. Occasionally, Cassandra would drift into what Anita thought was sleep. All the while Cassandra gritted her teeth. Sometime, way late in the night, Cassandra spoke out, and at first Anita thought she was talking in her sleep: She asked Anita to sing that song she sung in the car on the way home. Anita sang; long after her parents had gone to bed, long after she stopped wondering if Cassandra was listening, Anita sang. She sang on into the night for herself alone, her voice pushing back everything she did not yet understand.
Understand yet?

An artist whose prose and narrative arcs generate irresistible pull and evoke in readers a genuine sense of entire worlds, Edward P. Jones has written two books. The first, Lost in the City, garnered the PEN/Hemingway award. The second, The Known World, won the Pulitzer Prize. African American, a luminary of American letters, Jones affirms that which is humble and human, and does so with startling power. In the words of MLK he has a "heart full of grace, a soul generated by love."

This collection, first published in 1992, was considered Jones's first literary effort. I find this idea of firsts interesting and would like to look at it briefly before I move on to a few of the craft elements in his stories that I would most like to steal.

This collection of short stories was published a decade before Jones won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for his novel "The Known World." Some of the stories in the collection were first published in the 1980s in literary magazines like Ploughshares and Callaloo. One of the stories "Marie" also appeared in the Paris Review in 1992. The thing that I find interesting is that these publications do not seem to register with the general public or even reviewers. Instead, his books are presented as sudden, award winning events. Instead of a writing career spanning 25 years of craft and respectable publications, we are presented with the image of a of sudden event, a spectacular storm, a writer whose first novel won the Pulitzer Prize.

In any event, the first thing I did when I opened "Lost in the City" was to read the opening lines of each story. I wanted to see how and where he began his stories. I was thinking of an essay by Debra Spark called "Getting In and Getting Out." The essay appears in "Bringing the Devil to His Knees: The Craft of Fiction and the Writing Life." There is an anecdote in the essay about a friend the author who is screening stories for the Iowa Short Fiction Prize. She says, "If I have to read another story that begins `The alarm clock rang,' I'll shoot myself."

Although I have never started a story with this particular phrase, I do tend to begin a story at the beginning. So as I read through the Jones collection I paid particular attention to the places he began his stories.

In "The Girl Who Raised Pigeons," Jones begins the narrative at some undefined future moment when the crisis of the story has already forced the characters' world to change. "Her father would say years later that she had dreamed that part of it, that she had never gone through the kitchen window...." The story never travels completely forward into the world from which these first lines are described. However, the story does end with a certain inevitability--a sort of narrative arc that points forward so that we understand how the characters arrive to the point we find them in the opening of the story.

"The Girl Who Raised Pigeons" covers a lot of ground in twenty-five pages. It outlines the decay of a Black, D.C. neighborhood and shows us how that decay affects the community. On one level it is a story about a father's coming to fatherhood as well as his young daughter's coming of age. It is about the place and the power of the natural world even in the urban environment. It is about an urban Black community on the edge of change.

The narrative is carried along by the story of the young girl and her pigeons. The story is usually told through a close third person narrator; however, the point of view does shift at times from the young girl, Betsy Ann Morgan, to other characters. These shifts offer insight into the community in which Betsy and her father live. But these shifts seldom last for more than a line or two and then quickly move back to Betsy.

I paid close attention to these shifts in point of view. But before I discuss them I would like to think a bit more about where these stories begin.

Another story that begins post-crisis is "The First Day." The story opens with the line: "On an otherwise unremarkable September morning, long before I learned to be ashamed of my mother, she takes my hand and..." This is the story about a child's first day of school. The story is short, only 5 pages, but it has taken a common event, a child's first day of school, and uses it to point out the divisions between social classes in the Black community. One of the interesting things about this story is that it is told in the first person. The protagonist never reaches the crisis described in the first line within the span of the story. The narrator shows nothing but love and admiration for her mother throughout the course of the story. We are lead by that single clause, "long before I learned to be ashamed of my mother," and the trajectory of the story to understand that the protagonists shame is inevitable.

I find it fascinating that he entire story hinges on this single clause. We never see a hint of shame in the narrator aside from her opening line. If that clause were deleted we would not necessarily know that the narrator would ever come to be ashamed of her mother. But knowing this first line and following the trajectory of the story we know that the crisis and the change are inevitable.

Jones also opens his stories from the middle. The narrator then takes the story back to that middle before moving farther forward. He does this in the story "A New Man."

"A New Man" begins with the lines, "One day in late October, Woodrow L. Cunningham came home early with his bad heart and found his daughter with two boys." The narrative eventually makes its way back to explain exactly how Woodrow came to find his daughter with two boys, but it does not stop there. The narrative continues. It carries the story farther. We come to understand exactly what this event means in the life of Woodrow and how it comes to define his essential character.

Now, rather than continue with this idea of how or where Jones begins his stories, I would like to move on to two other divices Jones uses: point of view, and the idea of epiphany and change within a character.

As I mentioned earlier, Jones does not shy away from changing the narrative point of view if it serves the story. But the places where he shifts point of view seem to be dependent on a few things. He only ever shifts in a third person narrative. The point of view never shifts for more than three or four sentences. The point of view only shifts in stories that are 20 pages in length or longer. He always quickly brings the point of view back to its original place.

It is the brevity in the shift that I find most interesting. It is like one of those little flashes of insight that Woolf wrote about--matches struck unexpectedly in the dark--or the mirror in Joyce's "The Dead." The shift lets us see for a moment how the character looks within their world. For example the title story of the collection, "Lost in the City," is told by a close third person narrator. However, there are two moments in the story where the focus shifts from the protagonist, Lydia Walsh, to her taxi driver. The first shift occurs about two thirds through the story: "He thought that maybe she had been born elsewhere, that she did not know Washington, would not know the streets beyond what the white people called the federal enclave." This shift in point of view ends quickly. The narrator brings our focus back to Lydia. "But in fact, the farther north he went, the more she knew about where they were going."

At the end of "Lost in the City," the point of view again shifts for a moment. "The cab driver thought that her crying meant that maybe it had finally hit her that her mother had died and that soon his passenger would be coming to herself."

I suspect that it is the brevity of these shifts that make them work. Another aspect of these shifts is the fact that they are subtly revealing--not deeply or overtly revealing--and they are always revealing something in the protagonist. These shifts in point of view seem to stress the importance of community in these stories. They show, however briefly, that these characters do not live in isolation, that on some level they are always aware of themselves within the context of others--or perhaps it is that we should always be aware of them within the context of a greater community.

The final aspect of this collection of stories that I would like to look at relates to an issue raised in an essay by Jim Shepard titled, "I Know Myself Real Well. That's the Problem." In this essay, Shepard criticizes the tendency for novice fiction to create characters who are "whooshing along the conveyor belts" of narrative toward some kind of epiphany. Given that my stories have this tendency, I am curious how Jones creates a sense of movement and revelation without allowing his characters to fall into that whooshing conveyor belt.

One way that Jones avoids this narrative conveyor belt is by beginning the story someplace other than the beginning and ending the story in a place that points to the inevitability of change or crisis, but he does not necessarily show us that change or crisis. This can also be seen in the story, "The First Day." We do not experience the moment when the narrator becomes ashamed of her mother. We are told in the opening line that the narrator will indeed one day be ashamed of her mother. We are lift at the end of the story with the inevitability that, despite the strength and character of the mother, the child will one day become as ashamed of her as other members of the community.

Often in this collection of stories the narrator is not even aware of his or her change. The reader senses that something is in fact permanently altered, but it is difficult to say exactly what that thing is. At the close of the story "My Mother's House," we do not find the protagonist, a mother whose biological son has just murdered by her godson over a dispute involving drugs and money, in the throws of some sort of epiphany.

Her husband, who is not the father of either child, works as a bodyguard for her biological son. Her husband skulks away from the scene of the crime, leaving her in the street to comfort her dieing godson. She has always known that her husband was a weak man. At the close of this story we find the protagonist drinking a fifth of vodka and walking from room to room in the house her drug-dealing son purchased for her. She unlocks all the doors and windows, "for Santiago (her son) had no key to her house. And outside that house there was a very cruel would and she did not like to think that her child was out there without a place to come to."

The protagonist knows throughout the story that the world is indeed cruel. The cruelty is not a revelation. Nor does she necessarily seem poised to make some sort of change. In fact, she opens her house in a rough neighborhood so that her son, who has just murdered her godson and pointed a gun at her face, may come into the house for comfort.

Perhaps the real change at the end of this story takes place in the reader. After we have experienced this world, we can never view these characters or their world in the same light--we will never be able to read this story in the same way again.

In the end, there are still many more aspects of this collection that will occupy me throughout the coming months. I have marked my copy of the book with many notes. I find myself referring back to them often.

Edward P. Jones's stories about Washington D.C. are unconventional in that some don't have endings. Often they just come to a stop. You are forced to reflect back on what you just read.

Some are better than others. "The First Day" is about an illiterate mother taking her daughter to register for kindergarten. She has to pay another woman to fill out the registration papers for her. If that one doesn't get to you, you don't have a heart.


Many of the other stories are quite long, some as many as thirty pages. My favorite was "The Store," about a boy who takes a "make work" job at a neighborhood grocery and ends up managing the place. The store becomes more important than his personal life and he loses a woman he loved because of it. "Young Lions" is about a violent young man who doesn't hesitate to shoot a clerk during a hold-up. In the end, his violent lifestyle impinges on his personal life, and he starts slapping around the woman he really loves.

Washington D.C. is definitely a character in the stories. The streets are Alphabetical and the Avenues are named after states, but this the Washington of the sixties and deterioration is only just beginning to envelope the black section of town. There are stories about how involvement in drugs debases the characters and their family members. There are stories about characters who emigrated from the South. I can't think of one that didn't touch me in some way, and that doesn't usually happen in a collection of short stories.

Edward P. Jones should be a better known author than he is.

This is an important book for anyone who has or suspects they have Lyme's Disease. Easy to understand and full of information. It has a very helpful section on vitamins and foods that are helpful in conquering Lyme's Disease. It has a medical basis and a holistic approach. This makes sense to me.

I have been an RN for 35 years and haven't felt really well for the past 20 years. I sought the advice of a multitude of physicians and specialists only to finally somehow be lead to an integrative physician, who happens to be a LLMD, who took the time to read my history, look at past test results and listen to the many strange and everchanging multi-system problems I have had. He then ordered proper testing. I have late stage Lyme Disease.

As an RN I know only too well the closed mindedness of the mainstream medical profession. I was labeled a "difficult" patient because I questioned and chose to disagree with the assessment that my illness was emotionally based.

This book reinforces my decision to use mostly alternative methods on the recommendation of my LLMD and also reinforces the fact that antibiotics are usually necessary.
The anti inflammatory diet does really help to lessen the pain this disease can cause. When you follow it and feel much better the "sacrifice" of giving up sugars, sweets, caffeine,etc is really worth the effort.

The book doesn't read like a death sentence and made me feel that I have some control over how this disease progresses.

The Lyme Disease Solution Singleton has an ability to breakdown complex pieces of information into understandable parts, bringing together his experience as a lyme patient with medical and wholistic understandings. He includes the reactions to be expected with particular courses of antibiotic treatment, supplements to support healing, and a four stage diet plan. Helpful for both lyme patients and their caregivers.

Very good general book for someone just beginning to learn about lyme. Easy to read and has much good information that most doctor's are not even aware of.

If I were to recommend a single book with all of the informtion one would need to know about Lyme disease and related co-infections, this would be it. It is hands down the most concise yet comprehensive reference out there for lyme patients today. Dr. Singleton's book is beautifully written, informative, and infused with such a positive and caring tone, that my family and I find reading it to be as emotionally uplifting as it is medically therapeutic in its treatment suggestions. I am especially impressed by his willingness to utilize the best of both traditional and integrative medicine, always offered in combination with plenty of practical common sense. In addition, Dr. Singleton addresses other, more commonly overlooked aspects of this illness, including the emotional, psychological, and spiritual needs of a patient suffering from what can be a very debilitating disease. Every practicing physician treating lyme disease today could also benefit greatly from this book.

reprint the book . it is one of the best i have read. i still have my paperback from years ago. now i may have to buy a new one

This is the one book that stayed with me since the day I read it back in the 70's. A beautiful story of survival and love. I would love to see it reprinted. If you're looking for a great read this is it. As a person who spends most of his free time in a book I will tell you this is in my top five favorites of all time.

This is my all-time favorite book. I've read it many times and never fail to find this magnificent survival story enthralling. When my paperback version grew tattered, I searched out and found a hardcover edition that I treasure. It's heartening to see the other reviews of this classic and one can only hope it will be put back into print. I did try several other of Robert Merle's books but none are as good as Malevil. It is his masterpiece.

This was the first post-apocalyptic novel I had ever read. I was 15 years old, looking for a book to read during summer vacation from my parents bookshelf, and I think it changed my reading habits forever. The beauty of the writing style and the images have stayed with me all these years. One image in particular, that of a character immersing himself in a large sink full of water during the blast, is still vivid in my mind. Sixteen years later, I am looking for this book, and my parents have deselected it from their shelves. For those who are interested in post-apocalyptic literature, this is part of the core collection.

For years there have been 2 Reader's Digest Condensed Books sitting on a shelve, untouched and unread. Only recently did I flip through one, straight to Malevil, and decided to read it. I love horses but had not the slightest clue what Malevil was about so there were a few surprises that delt directly with myself. That was the first post-end-of-the-world book I've ever read and it will NOT be my last! I was intrigued enough by it that it took me two days to finish it all. If ever there was a book I think almost anyone can enjoy, it would more than likely be Malevil.

Dr. Hale's work has saved so many breastfeeding relationships from well-meaning but uninformed medical advice. As a nursing mama, I can't tell you how many times I've encountered the old "pump & dump" instructions, or even been told outright to wean my children. Thanks to Hale's guide, which fits perfectly in a diaper bag or vehicle glove box, I can do my own research right on the spot during medical appointments, and show doctors firsthand that a medication is either safe or can be substituted with a breastfeeding-friendly replacement with equal healing value.

Medications are listed in easy-to-find alphabetical order, including a quick index of common/generic/brand names. A classification system will show at a glance any warnings and allow the mother to see specific risks (with clinical studies referenced) during both pregnancy and breastfeeding. There is a risk-based rating which allows mothers to see to what extreme a medication may be at risk - you might not choose a specific drug if you are pregnant or nursing an infant, but it would fall into a safer category for a nursing toddler, for example.

Not only is Hale's guide invaluable when it comes to prescription medication, but he includes hefty sections on common OTC medications and even herbals. The OTC (Over the Counter/non-prescription) section includes just about everything imaginable for colds and flu, allergies and more. I am SO grateful for the years of nursing we've been blessed with that Dr. Hale has helped make possible, without having to rely on outside advice but instead going straight to the most respected expert in this field.

So grab a copy for yourself or someone you love, as early in pregnancy as possible. Bring it to your birth, every medical appointment, and keep it handy during travel. Let your friends know you have a copy and can help look up medications if they ever need help. When you're done with your copy, please pass it on to a LaLeche League leader or hospital Lactation Center in your area and it will be helpful to hundreds of other families, too! :)

It's a very good book for use as Lactation consultunts, MD and everyone else that works with breastfeeding mothers.

AWESOME book!!! I use it constantly. I've also compared the info in the book with what my pediatrician and a lactation consultant recommend and found that the info in the book corresponds with both.

This book should be a required book for breastfeeding mothers. In our world of unedicuated medical professionals regarding breastfeeding, all mothers should be armed with this book before they see a doctor- that way you KNOW for sure if the medication really is safe, or isn't. Too many doctors will tell a mother to stop breastfeeding during medication, or to pump and dump- and that is bad advice all around. There are TONS of medications that are safe for use during breastfeeding and we need to arm ourselves and teach our doctors so that we ALL get the best treatment. GET THIS BOOK!!!!

As a pharmacist, this is absolutely the first book I turn to for any question about medication and breastfeeding. It's very readable, and has both the quick, "bottom-line" recommendation and an explanation of the quality and quantity of research that led to that conclusion. I recommend it to anyone in the medical field who might encounter a breastfeeding patient as well as any woman who is currently breastfeeding or plans to in the near future. The author's website ([...]) is also useful.

If the answers you're looking for aren't here, or if you're looking for detailed recommendations about medications in pregnancy, try your local teratology information service (www.otispregnancy.org). Most of them accept calls from both the public and health care professionals, many of them handle both lactation and pregnancy questions, and it's free to call and get information. I'm not affiliated with them in any way, but I've found them a very useful resource that doesn't seem to be very well publicized.

You felt as if you were a part of the crew in this lovely book of a summer on the Mediterranean.

You don't have to be a sailor or chef to enjoy this book. David Shalleck firmly placed me in the galley and on the deck of this sailing yacht. I could taste the salt air and the wonderful meals he prepared. A wonderful summer read!

I loved this book! Perfect summer read. Plan to cook a lot after reading! The recipes are easy, but amazing. Will not disappoint! Ten years ago my husband and I sailed the west coast of Corsica. This was such a nice reminder of the trip of a lifetime. We did all our own cooking on that trip, but it was nice to see exactly what was going on on all those huge yachts that passed us by!

I have been to most of the places David mentions in the book. Last year in Portofino I watched a yacht like the Serenity dock and noticed the activity that took place in order for the owners and guests to come ashore for their lunch. They were seated next to me at the restaurant and, eavesdropping, I wondered what life on that yacht would be like.

I ran across this book on another Amazon book search and it looked so interesting that I bought it without knowing anything about the author. David brings the international food scene and the yachting scene to life in a down to earth and warm way. I traveled in my mind right along with him.

It is one of those books that I read slowly towards the end in order to savor the last pages before I finish reading. I highly recommond this book.

I felt like I was right there on the yacht, in the Med and tasting all of the wonderful meals. Once I picked up the book, I couldn't put it down. I have made a couple of the recipes in the back of the book and they were wonderful. A must read, especially if you like traveling, the beach, boating and cooking. Wonderful, Wonderful, Wonderful. I just can't say it enough.

This is an awesome book. I laughed and cried. It's heartbreaking and uplifting. I highly reccommend this for all US citizens - whether you are associated with the military or not. It gives an understanding of what the military members and their families deal with, and who they are.

This book really gives you a taste for how it is in Iraq...I think everyone should read it...especially Pres. Bush.

This book was very moving. I laughed and I cried. There were sad stories and poignant stories and many positive stories. I recommend this book to anyone wanting a real look at how the military and their families feel about going through these deployments. I also recomment it for families going through the deployments now. I have learned a lot about what my son may be going through and may not be willing to share with us right now.

I am a military wife. My young daughter and I survived 12 months while my husband served in Iraq. This book was absolutely amazing. I cannot come up with the words to describe how much this book meant to me. I don't know about other spouses, but no matter how much my husband and I talk, it is not easy for him to communicate his thoughts or feelings on his service in Iraq. It was even difficult for him to describe his life over there when asked directly. I think a lot of it is him trying to protect me, but also, his brain does not work that way. He was there, he did what he had to do as a soldier, end of story. This book brought me insight into my husband. It made me laugh. It made me cry. It made me sick. It made me angry. It made me happy. It made me joyful. It made me all of these things at the same time. I am so thankful to the organization(whose name escapes me right now) that made this book possible. It is a book that touched my heart and soul. I will never be the same, and I am greatful for that. It is in know way a "light" read. I read it quickly, as I do everything, but because I was hungry to read more, to know more, to feel more. Do not read it without a box of tissues next to you.

I am a NCO in the army and have been to Iraq 4 times and this book sent chills through my bodie many times with the pure honest look at war. Most of the stories are reflections of events that any service member will identifie with. Then there are some events told in this book only a select few will truely grasp. This is a must read if you would like a insight into the mind of a Military member who has been deployed. I cant recomend this book more then just get it read it and prepair to get choked up. I know i did

I love this textbook (as much as you can love a textbook). This is the bible for your cardiology block. I've read it cover to cover and think it's probably the best textbook (by far) I own. Not only does it provide information in a concise fashion, but it explains it very well too.

I am a first year medical student in the middle of my cardiac module and have really enjoyed using this book. It is easy to read, high yield, and very clinical. I would recommend this book to any student trying to really nail down cardiology.

If you are in medical school this book is the greatest thing you will ever buy. For our cardiology block I read this cover to cover and made the highest grade I have ever gotten on an exam.
Get it right now!!

I picked this book up at Barnes and Nobles while studying for the boards. It is excellent, both concise and thought provoking. My only regret is that the faculty and students have not written these books to cover every topic in medical school.

I read this book cover to cover for my cardio theme. It was clear and well written. I would recommend it highly to anyone in medical school who wants a clear easy read. It has all the detail you need to know, without extraneous material.

Wow. I received an autographed copy as a birthday gift and hadn't got around to reading it. My interest was sparked after stumbling across Leonard's MySpace page http://www.myspace.com/deimosfactor.

I pulled the book and settled in for a planned short read before moving on to other responsibilities. I finished the book at 3:17 in the morning. Typically only Stephen King, Dean Koontz & James Patterson draw me into a story so much that I can't manage to draw myself out of the story.

I am drawn onto the rooftop with Daniel immediately and feel the emotions that are so brilliantly expressed for each character.

I have just ordered the next in the series, Beyond the Darkness, and cannot wait until it arrives!

Bravo!

This book starts off slow, but after you get past chapter 1 it really heats up. It's alot of fun and kept me up reading into the wee hours of the night. Highly entertaining. It's kinda like a zombie movie but instead of being zombies-it's shape shifters. I think this book would make an excellent movie.

The very first sentence in this book really grabs your interest and just escalates from there. It is an amazing read about events that, given the scientific efforts of today, could become more real that we would like to imagine. I only put the book down when I absolutely had to do so. It has captured my imagination so well that I have ordered Mr. Hilley's next book in the series, "Beyond the Darkness" and am really looking forward to it and the rest of the series. I highly recommend this author's work.

When my daughter began raving about an amazing author that I must read,
I doubted that her glowing review could be as good as she said. Wow,
was I wrong. Leonard Hilley's writing is absolutely riveting. From page
one, I found it nearly impossible to put down the book. Storyline and
characters are brilliant. You will love this author's way of mixing a
touch of science fiction, heroes that you really love and villains that you
really love to hate. This is a thriller you will not want to miss.

I am always looking for a new author who can transport me to another world, and Mr. Hilley definitely succeeded! The trials and tribulations that the characters go through captivate you from the start! And the changes from the different characters veiwpoints are smoothly done, a hard feat in itself! If you are looking for a series that is an intense read, and one you won't want to put down, you simply MUST order this series! It won't dissappoint you, it will enthrall you and make you think what would you do if you were in the characters place! It will stay with you long after you put the book down!

....on today's society. A woman who blames herself for all the shortcomings in her marriage, a man whose indiscretions destroy his marriage and scar for life his family, a teenage daughter who is disrespectful and deceitful, a mother who doesn't have the backbone to discipline her daughter or the inclination to even parent her. All that wrapped around the girl-meets-guy, girl-dumps-guy, girl-gets-guy-back storyline, laced with acceptance of immorality and distorted Christian views. Disappointing.

Wonderful story and mystery, realistic characters. Thank You Ms Richards

What a great book, and having lived in Dupont Circle several years ago, the images painted of Georgetown, DC, Booeymonger's, etc brought back vivid and accurate images. I'll bet I can even guess the name of the restaurant from which Pavel brought curry, rice and daal to Faith's home! Enjoyed every page immensely!

I loved the characters, the plot, and the mysteries. I feel like I've just been to Georgetown for a brief holiday. This book is going on my "favorite books" shelf. Thank you, Emilie Richards, for a wonderful read.

I haven't written a review in a while but I was so excited to have found a new author (to me)whose writing I really loved, I couldn't let the opportunity pass to offer encouragement to Ms.Richards to keep writing and to readers who are wondering whether to delve into this latest novel.
I thoroughly enjoyed the character development and sublte mystery in this novel. The issues addressed by the author were sensitively probed with an expert understanding and depth of
prose. There was no gratuitous sex or distasteful language. The author writes with feeling about a family in trouble; their needs, secrets and the people who enter into their lives to help.
You finish the read realizing that everyone has a story and truth and love and doing the right thing is the only way to live a life. Wrongs can be set right and forgiveness is possible.
I found the insight particularly helpful since the author worked in the counseling profession and knows the nuances of charter human beings are capable of displaying and the deep reasons for their actions. Read it! It's like being in therapy without even knowing it!!

I took the Microsoft exam 70-216 for network infrastructure today and all I can say is AMAZING! How did the writers know what was on the exam? There is so much obscure stuff on the exam that no other book I read covered the questons on the exam. But this one did. So much of the test was troubleshooting the network, so I guess a TCP/IP troubleshooting book would be the right one. But the similarity of this book to the test is amazing.

This book was good to read too and I am using it at my job and fixing some of the problems we've had with WINS and VPN based on what I learned. Great book and best study guide for the test.

This book is heads and tails above any other TCP/IP book I've read or own. Finally understand how DNS works, the RAS section helped me put together my Win2k VPN. Get this is you wnat to understand some of the weird stuff in Win2k TCP/IP.

We are in the process of moving from NT to Win2k and my boss made me the project manager. I had to get on top of Win2k networking fast. I bought this book on the recommendation of several of my co workers. Glad I got it. The book is informative and detailed in explanations and examples. A must have for the busy guy like me.

OK, I admit it. I learned my TCP/IP for Windows NT exams from reading Exam Cram. Needless to say, I passed the Windows NT TCP/IP test, but couldn't tell a subnet from a supernet. Now I have a job in the industry and I needed to actually learn TCP/IP, especially since we are moving up to Windows 2000 in our shop.

This book is unreal in how good things are explained. Great detail in describing RRAS, WINS, DNS, and the TCP stack. Using the information in the book I am now up to speed on TCP/IP. Enough to pass the 70-216 test! Not bad for a NT MCSE!

For Real, this book helped a lot. I owe the author's a beer on this one.

This book is fresh air to someone like myself who has read at least a dozen Windows 2000 books. I get the impression that a lot of the Windows 2000 books were written by people who write books and don't work with the technology. This book doesn't fall into that class. It was great to read this book, because it renewed my faith that a tech book could be written in a way that doesn't put me to sleep.

They cover Windows 2000 TCP/IP from top to bottom. WINS, DNS, DHCP, RRAS, IIS, routing and network devices. Its all there, and its filled with little known factoids that makes me want to keep reading and have another "aha!" experience.

This book also was the major reason I passed the Microsoft 216 exam so easily. Although I didn't buy it to pass the exam, they seem to cover all the material that the exam covered. A nice bonus. I wish they made the book longer, because I'm sure they could have said a lot more that I would like to read about.

This book isn't for beginners, but neither is Windows 2000. I think once the reader is ready to manage Windows 2000, they'll be ready to get the most out of this exceptional book.