Going-out

Okay I like cemetery books, and I received this as a present recently (THANK YOU AGAIN!!)and I gotta say, it's really nice. You get a nice selection of styles of monument and outstanding photography! I was also interested in the pictures of the Community Mausoleum at Mary Queen of Heaven and the name of those annoying little flies that live there (buy the book, or better yet, get it as a gift!).

This is the greatest book for people who are interested in cemeteries and sepulchral monuments. It specializes in mausoleums, mostly small family ones, but shows you what the larger ones are like, also. Doug Keister actually takes you inside a few mausoleums to see what they look like inside. The book also tells you a lot about the architecture of the tombs, so you can visit your local cemeteries and be more knowledgeable . The photos are outstandingly clear and crisp even in book form. If you get a chance to see Keister's travelling exhibit, you will be even more astounded at the large photos. I wish Mr. Keister would write more books, with Mr. Cronin's photos, about this subject. The statuary is just gorgeous, and so emotional. The information is so interesting.It is just a "must have" for anyone interested in these subjects.

I bought this book...sight unseen because of the reader reviewsand the description of the book. It is indeed a beautifullyphotographed book and is filled with fascinating (not just interesting) synopses of people who "went out in style". I was hoping for more pictures of cemetery statuary (as pictured on the cover of the book), but when I started reading about the masoleums, etc. I was enthralled. (The book "Saving Graces" is totally cemetery (female) statuary, but almost all from European cemeteries.) This is a new interest for me and is quite beautiful and interesting! Not at all morbid. One interesting note: all photos taken in the cemeteries photographed for this book have NO living people in them. I wonder how the photographer managed that? Or was it requested beforehand? END

These short stories are mostly hilarious, although some are tear-jerkers. It will make you appreciate your family a lot more, as you will probably see your own kin in some of these situations. It's the perfect sized book to pull out of your purse or briefcase when you have a few minutes in line, waiting at the doctor's office, or whenever you need a quick escape into someone else's reality.

My five year old niece loved the story "Twos and Teens." I read it to her while waiting for our food at a restaurant. She demanded to hear it again and again until our food arrived!

This book is a wonderful collection of short stories (in the genre of Erma Bombeck) from a busy mother's journal. Lots of laughs, and a few tears as well, as the author confronts the realities of life. It reminded me a lot of when I was growing up.

I am very happy with this program. In her warm and calming voice, Kathy Fettke begins by explaining the value of being centered and how it helps us to be more effective and creative. Then she shares five different exercises that help the listener apply the lessons she shares.

1. Basic Centering Process (5 minutes)
2. Heart Centering Process (7 minutes)
3. Morning Centering Process (11 minutes)
4. Evening Centering Process (7 minutes)
5. Basic Centering Process - Longer Version (7 minutes)

What I like about this, is that (because each process is a different track on the CD) you can choose the one that's most helpful for you in that moment. For example: If you're feeling stressed out about going into an important meeting, you can use the basic centering process before hand. Or, if you want to begin your day with clarity and focus, you can use the Morning Centering Process.

I use this program almost every day. It's one of those CD's that delivers value over and over and over. Highly recommended.

A friend of mine recommended that I read this book...I was so impressed by the info. provided that I read over half the book in less than a day..(book has over 500 pages)...I also ordered three other books written by Mr. Givens...His advise, even though written some time ago, is very do-a-ble and easy to follow...I thanked my friend and recommend this book other books written by Mr. Givens to anyone who's serious about getting their finances in order.

It was that quote and article in USA Today that prompted me to buy "Wealth Without Risk" way back in 1989 and I have never regretted it.

According to the article, Givens was making some powerful, almost unbelievable statements like "earn 20% safely on your investments"(this was 2 years after the huge stock market crash!), "Reduce your income tax by 50%", "Better Life Insurance for 80% less", "Send Your Kids to College for Free" and "Spend your way into wealth." Sounds too good to be true, right? Wrong.

I started following Givens strategies back in early 1989. I took money out of cd's and savings and started to invest in no load stock mutuals and a no load bond mutual fund. By October of 1989, my aggressive stock fund was up to a 34% gain. Remembering that October is a bad month for stocks plus that Allen Greenspan was lowering interest rates, I sold off most of my stock shares and rotated into bond funds. By the end of 1989, the bond fund that I had invested in early in 1989 The Scudder U.S. Zero 2000) was already up 25.7%. I was also earning 8 1/2% in my money market fund. I was investing with no commissions and no risk.

Next area was auto insurance. I followed Mr. Givens advice in Wealth Without Risk and reduced by insurance by $280. Now I knew this guy was for real.

I also pulled my credit report and found numerous errors. They even had me intermingled with someone with a similiar name who had moved into an apartment complex that I used to live in years earlier. Needless to say, I got it corrected but never would have thought about doing this if I hadn't read this book.

What really appealed to me is that "Wealth Without Risk" doesn't offer any pie-in-the-sky get rich quick schemes. Instead, iy gives you more than 250 savvy, instantly accessible money strategies--proven, powerful plans for accumating wealth through personal finance, tax reduction, and investing. Some of the other topics that appealed to me were:

* Cut the cost of borrowing money by 30%-50%

* Slash premiums by 50% on homeowners, mortgage, disability,
liability, and rental car insurance (we travel a lot)

* Make your vacations tax deductible (ditto)

* Shift assets between family members and turn family expences
into tax deductions

* Start a small business for fun, profit, and huge tax
deductions

* Create a million dollar retirement plan where you work

* Earn a safe 20% a year with mutual funds (we did that PLUS)

* Make 15%-20% government guaranteed interest with TLC's

* Realize over 20% a year in nontraditional IRA and KEOGH
Investments

* Recognize the 10 biggest investment mistakes

Another thing that impressed us was that Charles J. Givens had been named as one of the 20 most successful people in America and had dedicated his life to teaching people the practical wealth-building techniques that made him financially super successful. Givens was on a mission and was passionate about teaching people how to achieve "Wealth without Risk." Quite a departure from others.

Givens also exemplified the character qualities that Dr. Stephen Covey refers to in his groundbreaking book, "The 7 Habits of Effective People." Qualities like integrity, high values and human dignity.

I loaned my copy out and bought several more copies for friends and family members. More Wealth Without Risk is the updated version of this classic. I also recommend Financial Self-Defense and SuperSelf, all great books by Givens.

Back in January 1989, I purchased "Wealth without Risk" at our local bookstore. What a ride it has been!I was able to cut our family auto expences in half, increase my take home pay, reduce taxes to almost zero and start a investment plan.I also recommend Financial Self DeFense and Super Self.

Susan Seligson does a wonderful job of capturing two fun genres in one book-travel and food history. Going with the Grain is a bread lover's delight. The book is not about recipes although there are a few scattered here and there. Instead, Seligson uses bread as a quirky tour guide to take us all around the world. "In Arabic, the word for bread and life is the same, aysh" Seligson explains.

Going with the Grain takes us to Morocco, Saratoga Springs, NY, India, Ireland and many more places. The common thread running through all these travelogues is of course the bread Seligson seeks out in each adventure. Often times even the bread is only an incidental player in her travel tales (bread recipes it seems are a closely guarded secret in many places). Never mind. We warm up to Seligson's descriptions anyway and watch her chat away with the locals enviously.

Seligson is sometimes a little too eager to point out that she is not another shutter-happy tourist. While she disdains fellow Americans who drops names at the slightest excuse, she refers to herself as a "self-respecting subscriber of the New York Review of Books." Her language sometimes tries too hard to be funny. Sentences such as: "He can feel your pain" (get it!?) serve mostly just to annoy. I also felt that the narrative could have been well supplemented with the inclusion of photographs. It would have been nice for example to see pictures of the Pueblo horno ovens or the Ballymaloe in Ireland.

Despite these points, Seligson comes across as a warm person with a genuine interest in lives lived all around the world. I also appreciated the segments on the Wonder Bread factory and the army bread project in Natick, Massachusetts, aspects of bread not everyone would have spent the time researching.

Going with the Grain is a delicious romp all over the world. Be it a baguette, soda bread, matzo, or roti, Seligson proves that the stuff made with flour and water is but one more thing that the peoples of the world share.

This isn't just another travel book with a gimmick: as Seligson points out, bread is central to almost every culture in the world, so observing how people make their distinctive form of bread tells us a great deal about their approach to life in general. The author is curious, a good observer, and respectful of the people she visits; so not only are her stories fascinating, but she's able to take us into situations where tourists are rarely welcome. I was favorably impressed with her chapter on horno bread: when it turns out that the pueblos aren't eager to welcome yet one more travel writer, she respects their wishes and adopts a low-key approach rather than becoming invasive (or writing a whiny "my bad experiences with the Indians" piece, which seems to be a far too common practice!). (I should add that horno bread varies widely: the loaf she tried was uninteresting, but I recently got a loaf from San Felipe pueblo that's right up there with the boutique farm breads.) As a native of the San Francisco Bay Area, I was sorry that Seligson didn't explore sourdough in more depth, although, as she notes briefly, commercial starters have taken their toll (so it's not just cranky old age that makes me insist that "it doesn't taste as good as it used to"!). But that's just a quibble; in general, the book is fun to read and surprisingly informative, and I recommend it highly.

I had to keep reading tidbits to my wife, for fear she would steal the book away from me when I put it down. In reading Susan Seligson's book, "Going with the Grain", I learned a lot more about bread, than I thought I would be interested in. If someone would have suggested reading a book on bread, I would have turned it down," another cook book". I love cookbooks, but this is no cookbook. Although I have tried a few of the recipes at the end of each chapter, that were quite successful.
I love traveling, and have been to a number of the countries that Susan traveled to. I felt drawn into every location, by her descriptive and exhilarating style, and intrigued by the people she came in contact with. Each chapter would bring me to a very different culture, with people and their cuisines as diverse from each other, as their breads were.
Susan seems to have her own unique way of getting herself in and out of interesting situations. This makes for some very fun and upbeat reading. You really want to know what she will be up to next. I thoroughly enjoyed this delightful book.

Billy Bean really gives you the insight on what it's like to play baseball professionally. How hard the life is with all the moving around etc. How frustrating it is to be in the majors and then sent "back down". His love of the game really shines through.

It is a good "gay" book to show how hiding your identity and staying closeted really makes your life hard. How coming out is the only way to make your life complete.

However I felt like Billy did not share much of his personal life about his realtionship. I did not really feel like I knew the people in his life. This was very lacking.

When I was done I didn't really feel like I loved the book or would recommend it to others.

It wasn't bad (like the horrible self pitying Greg Louganis book) but it wasn't great either.

A professional baseball player who for years hid his homosexuality, Billy Bean recounts his story with an easygoing charm. From his childhood, up through the majors the first part of the book is about how he fell into the sport and how his passion for it consumed him. Once he begins to address his sexuality the book shifts focus and really becomes an exploration of gay athletes, and the prejudices they face or potentially face. It seemed by the end that Billy truly is happy, which is great, because at times it felt like he lived a alot of his life with regret, yet ultimately his courageous act may someday help someone else in a similar situation. And maybe one day his dream of players being able to play without fear of discrimination will be a reality.

Billy gives us a remarkable journey thru what goes on behind the scenes in baseball. I read it straight through on a weekend wanting to absorb every page. I think every guy who has played sports will more readily recognize the negative impact of homophobic commentary on both straight and gay athletes. It should be required reading for all coaches and a part of any classes on ethics in sport.

Interestingly, the author is trying to push the US born jewish people in a sort of a JEWISH MAFIA.
Let's be modest and treat all other religions and people as equal.
Otherwise bad things will happen to us.
The world and its people are not stupid to notice how disciminating and radical a lot of the Orthodox Jews have been towards others.
There is a difference between Isreali Jews and US born ones like me.
I do not feel that I should promote my Jewish brother, just becouse he is Jewish. I would promote the best person for the task. America has given us so much more than Isreal and I believe that we shall be gratefull and supportive of its people.
May all religions and people trive and be equal!!!

The author, Gil Mann, does not call Jews who are not committed "bad Jews." Instead he looks at whether someone is a "serious Jew." There are three interlocking circles (kind of like the interlocking Olympic circles) which represent different aspects of Judaism. The three are "ethics, spirituality and peoplehood" (remember the acronym ESP). Becoming more involved in any of the three will make someone a more serious Jew and, such involvement in that one sphere may lead to becoming more serious in either, or both, of the others.

Mann did interviews with individuals and with focus groups. Most of the chapters in this book are done as a dialogue between himself and an individual who is a composite. I bought this book for a teenager who thinks Judaism, or more specifically, religion in general, is a lot of nonsense. I hope this book will help this young person to see the richness in Judaism and the value of being a "serious Jew."

I read this book one year ago, and I still remember it as a perfect introduction to judaism. As a non religious jew, I always felt aside the society but also aside the jews. This book helped me to put religion and everyday life together, and more important, motivated me to read more about my religion. I would also recommend after this book the excellent "The Nine Questions People Ask about Judaism" by Dennis Prager.

Chloe Green is the pseudonym for one Suzanne Frank, authoress of a series of time-travel romance/suspense books, none of which I have read. Her debut mystery, Going Out in Style, is about as far away as one can get from time travel and ancient civilizations.

Anyway, Going Out concerns Dallas O'Connor, a local set designer who arranges and designs sets for catalog fashion shoots and similar projects; that is, Dallas would normally be doing these things if she were not in hiding. See, when she reports early to work one morning she happens upon the lifeless body of an up-and-coming model, not to mention the very life-filled body of a hunky Cuban artist named Raul who is holding the murder weapon. Sometimes the early bird gets more than the worm, sometimes she gets accused of wielding the knife herself for the final cut. Raul, naturally, asserts his own innocence as well, and Dallas is reluctantly made his partner in crime investigation. So, she blends into the city for which she was named, sneaking around to colleagues and friends conducting her own investigation in order to clear her name. It's not as easy as it sounds, however, as it seems somebody is usually one step ahead of her, planting traps and staging other crimes that have the police thinking Dallas is on some sort of spree, and Dallas must work quickly before she finds herself fashionably late to her own funeral.

Going Out is a nice, enjoyable read with moments of mirth and lunacy (particularly when Dallas and Raul are hashing out their plans and options); Dallas especially is likeable as a harried heroine who knows her priorities and still feels justified in bending the rules (it's not everyday somebody accepts a date with a stranger in a fancy restaurant when she's supposed to be running for her life). I suppose I also like this story because of its originality, since I do not recall having read a Texas-set mystery in years, much less anything with the fashion industry as a backdrop. If Suzanne/Chloe can tear herself away from her romances, I think she can continue to keep the Dallas O'Connor series in fashion.

Smart, fast paced, exciting, sexy and funny. Not funny because she tells jokes, but funny because of the heroine's outlook on life. She knows Dallas, Texas people and fashion industry folks to a 'T'. A real page-turner that you won't be able to put down.

Chloe Green, a welcome newcomer to the genre, has launched her mystery career with an intriguing, suspenseful package of dangerous fun. GOING OUT IN STYLE grabs you on page one and keeps you reading way into the night. This is a clever, well-written, fast-paced novel. Kudos to Chloe!

DEAR AUDIENCE-AT-LARGE:

While the 90's saw a new wave of body piercings, increasingly associated with alternative culture, I'd like to point out one significant exception...

I am Indian. I come from a culture of 5,000 years of recorded history. We've been wearing nose rings for literally thousands of years. It is as cultural as ear piercing is for the Western world.

While I understand the connotation here in the States, I wish people would realise that when an Indian woman wears a nose ring it takes on a much different, cultural and traditional meaning.

I definitely do NOT need to take out my nose ring when I visit my Grandma!! ;)

Thanks for hearing me.

If you are a parent of a teen and think you are alone, then think again. If you ever have humorous thoughts as you watch your teen and want to discover what others in your shoes see, then get this book.

Definately a good, positive read. Yep there are places in that are even funny and will make you chuckle. Only parents of teens can get the inside jokes. The funny side of life is also an inspiration.

Get this book and you will not feel alone. In fact you will see how normal you are.

I bought this book for my sister and brother, both of whom have boys on the verge of adolescence, but I read it before I gave it to them. Cooke and Kendrick have done a wonderful job of bringing us back to our own adolescence as a way of helping us cope with our childrens'. As a parent of a 31 year old, I remember the power of this connection as being critical to my working with my daughter's emotional ups and downs and managing to enjoy most of her teenage years. Cooke and Kendrick LIKE teenagers and understand them in a way that is bound to help all parents.

Dr. Lois Rudnick, Director, American Studies Program, UMass Boston

Murrary Tepper is a pretty normal 60-something year old. He works in the mail order business. He's still married. He dislikes his only daughter's husband. He adores his grandson. Yet, Tepper has one strange habit. He likes to read his newspaper...in his car, on the streets of New York City. He always parks in legal spots, and always pays if there's a meter. He's even perfected ways to get rid of the people asking him "You going out?" Tepper's life gets turned upside down when an innocent article about him is stuck into a small newspaper and the nitpicky mayor decides something MUST be done about him. The book flips from Tepper and his life to of a pollster, who tells the mayor's side. Some might wonder what they have to do with each other, but they do connect. You'll fall in love with Tepper, and the unique story and characters. Guaranteed.

Murray Tepper is either having a highly original late-midlife crisis, or he's just being a New Yorker; whichever, Calvin Trilling has written a highly amusing New York tale that may be the gentlest such to come out of the Big Applesauce.

Murray Tepper, moderately successful, devoted to family, easy-going, and easily misunderstood likes to spend his free time sitting in his car reading the paper. A life-long New Yorker, he knows the city's parking regulations, and best spots like the back of his hand. While exercising his right to park where it's legal, and his responsibility to feed the meter he manages to draw a considerable amount of unwanted attention from a host of fellow New Yorkers. Murray becomes a guru to some, a pain to others (especially the spot-on caricature of Mayor Guiliani,) and a puzzlement to friends and family.

"Tepper Isn't Going Out," is slight, but that doesn't make it less than delightful. Mr. Trilling is known as a food writer, and I don't think he'd mind someone using "Tepper..." as the sorbet between weightier courses.

A humorously acerbic novel that is as delicious as a "nice" whitefish. The critics have made a big tsimmis about this book -- rightly so. If you have your car in a space that is GFT, good for tomorrow, this book is worth leaving the space to purchase and read. Murray Tepper loves to park his car in Manhattan. He knows all the parking rules; he enjoys sitting in his parked car and signaling to other drivers that is not 'going out' of the space. Tepper's behavior sometimes irritates the people who covet his spot. Murray has perfected a flick of his hand, not too aggressive, to tell people he isn't moving. It is the same finger wag used by the city's vindictive mayor in a barricaded City Hall to admonish his critics. Tepper irritates the mayor, Frank Ducavelli (read as RUDY), known in tabloid headlines as Il Duce-who sees Murray Tepper as a harbinger of what His Honor always calls "the forces of disorder." Rudy, I mean Ducavelli has enforced an arcane rule that people cannot hail a taxi from the street, but must hail it from the sidewalk. He has also attempted to enforce a dress code for city parks. TRILLIN captures NYC so well, that it is hard to believe that the book is fiction. The book is filled with those observant nuggets, like food workers who wear gloves, but the gloves are dirty; or the cast of political entrepreneurs who take advantage of issues to promote their causes. After a story on Tepper in the post-modern East Village "Rag" weekly, fellow New Yorkers become aware of Tepper, a direct mail list maven. Counter men from Russ and Daughters and even Upper East-Siders come to sit and chat with Tepper in his car. This is the book that should be selected as the citywide read in 2002.