On-the-print

This last book in "The Dark is Rising" Sequence goes through the motions of being dark an mysterious, and does so effectively, but the feel is about what you'd expect to get rereading "The Dark is Rising" (book 2 in the sequence). It manages to wrap things up, and could be turned into a movie without some director mutilating the plot to slip in CGI shots. The final battle is pure CGI gold. Overall, I am satisfied, and do not feel cheated in any way by the latter four books of the series (although I hated the first one, and I'm glad I read the second one first, or I would have never continued).

I'm a twelve-year-old from KL and I first read this book when I was eleven, two years ago. Ever since then I have reread it about a million times. This book is the last in the series and one of the best. In the beginning Will begins to see shades of fleeing people. He calls a gathering of the Old Ones, only to find that the Lady is not present. He is drawn into an adventure with Bran Davies and the Drew children, ending in a struggle to cut the blossom from the midsummer tree on the Chiltern hills with the crystal sword, which will enable the Light to vanquish the Dark. This is one of the best books I have ever read. Susan Cooper shifts from time to time and place to place seamlessly. I loved the Lost Land and the climax at the midsummer tree. When I first read this book I was rather upset that Bran and the Drews had to forget their adventures completely. However, after rereading this book a few times, I began to think that the ending was, after all, quite appropriate. I did feel sorry for Will, though, because he had to bear this burden alone. I loved this book.

A couple months ago my very dear friend said "You have to read these books by Susan Cooper" Since she usually likes the same books I do, I checked out the first one. I was hooked! Just a few days ago I finally finished the last book, Silver On the Tree. Fantastic. Really, if any adult doesn't read this because they think it's a kid's book, think again. I know many kids my age (13) who wouldn't get the subtle hints that go throughout the series.

Susan Cooper is such an excellent writer. She can make totally realistic, everyday, family scenes, and then turn around and write about journeys through fantastic fantasy worlds. She is also really good about writing descriptive scenes that let you picture something so exactly.

I can't decide whether this ties with The Grey King as the best book in the sequence, or if Grey King is a bit better.

The ending wraps things up just right. Except, I don't think the Drews & Bran should have had to forget. That's was probably the only complaint I can think of.

I am filled with awe for a psychiatrist like Sacks, who takes personal interest in every special person he comes across in his professional life. He has the rare insight to recognise each individual as a unique, never-to-be-repeated creation of the Creator, and to accord the respect and awe due to each patient he comes across; even to observe, sometimes with a sense of humour, the relativity of our definitions of 'normaility'. The time Sacks takes to just be with each special person, and appreciate the uniqueness of each, is commendable, and goes way beyond a mere call of duty. When an autistic person, featured in this book, commended that she feels like "an anthropologist on Mars" because she has to study human behaviour and interactions to be socially adaptable, Sacks picked up on her standpoint, and recognised, with unusual humility, that as a psychiatrist of special persons, he too is like an anthropologist on Mars, not always understanding their world, but not being too quick to pronounce them stereotypically abnormal and himself normal...a sensitive, insightful work that reflects a sensitive, insightful author.

An Anthropologist On Mars sheds some light on the mind-brain relationship and the concept of one's self. Oliver Sacks, a neurologist, takes the reader through seven case studies of people with neurological disorders, exploring not only the particular disorders, but also his patients' individual personalities.

Read the seven amazing stories in this book, entitled "The Case of the Colorblind Painter", "The Last Hippie", "A Surgeon's Life", "To See and Not See", "The Landscape of His Dreams", "Prodigies", and "An Anthropologist on Mars". Oliver Sacks presents his seven case studies of neurological disorder in an intruiging manner, and I recommend An Anthropologist On Mars to anyone with an interest in the workings of the human mind.

What if a painter is color blind. Absolute color blindness is a rare condition. Sacks encountered a painter who had been injured. The color blindness experienced meant to the painter that everythin appeared wrong. He particularly missed the colors of spring. Things were leaden. The artist did derive pleasure from looking at drawings. He did start painting again, black and white paintings. As time passed there was evidenced in the painting a lessening of fear and depression.

Sacks describes a a surgeon with Tourette's syndrome. Writers on temporal lobe epilepsy have spoken of the doubling of consciousness. One of the subjects of the essays, Franco, has a prodigious memory and a gift for painting. He paints the town of his boyhood incessantly. His Pontito is minutely accurate. Returning to the town was not the intense experience Franco expected. Everything seemed small.

Sacks writes of the savant syndrome in a child called Stephen, an accomplished artist. He has extraordinary powers of visual perception. Savant talents seem to have a more autonomous even automatic quality than normal ones.

The anthropologist on Mars is Temple Grandin. Her work devising cattle chutes is described. She is constantly trying to understand her own autism.

Oliver Sack's medical stories are sui generis. Running into them is always a delight.

I am only half-way through this book, and I would recommend it whole-heartedly. I had never read anything by this author before, but the title intrigued me. Well, this book is right on target. With wit and wisdom, Pastor Ortberg walks you through each area, and helps to address why we don't get out of our boats and trust the Lord more. His writing style is as easy to read as if he was sitting across the kitchen table from you. Each chapter has questions after it to further help you address what was discussed to your particular situation. There is even a "Bob-Prayer Challenge" issued by the author! (If you want to know what that is, you will have to read the book!) You will not regret getting this one - if you are serious about your walk with the Lord. It brings to light things that have held us all back from our destiny, our callings and generally fulfilling all that God has planned for us. But..... we will have to get out of the boat!

With over 365 "fear not" verses in the Bible - one for everyday of the year - it is evident that God has something to say to us on the subject of fear.
In a passionate and engaging discussion of the biblical story of Matthew 14, Ortberg in his book If You Want to Walk on Water You Have to Get Out of the Boat, uses the example of Peter walking on the water to speak to the issues of how to face our fears and experience the power of God, as we trust Him to do things beyond what we could imagine.
Utilizing his skill as a storyteller, Ortberg weaves the truth of God's word into the fabric of our daily lives with humorous stories and clever insight. In fact don't be surprised if you often find yourself relating to quite a few of the stories and illustrations Ortberg uses to challenge his reader to get out of the boat and do what Jesus calls you to do even though you are very afraid.
Whatever your boat is, you will find this book delivers practical application and encouragement for the water-walker who chooses to step outside their comfort zone and trust God for great and mighty things. While this may sound grandiose, I believe Ortberg's approach is based in reality, noting that we should expect a few waves to slap us in the face, as he mentions, "failure comes with the territory - but so does the strong hand of Jesus pulling you up when the bottom drops out."
Wherever you are on your spiritual journey, this book is a must read. Not only will you meet Christ anew in the high sea where the footing is impossible, but you will be refreshed by truth of knowing that you are not alone in your journey.

A very inspiring and good plan for making a sucessful life. I really enjoyed this book. If you want to use sound biblical teachings to encourage your everyday personal growth this is a must read.

Readers who have never experienced one of Deborah Smith's novels will find On Bear Mountain an enjoyable trip into the myth, magic, lore, love, and loss of the Georgia mountains she obviously knows so well. Beyond the story of two lovers who struggle to imagine a future together, the book examines the ties that make a family, the iron chains of assumptions we hamper ourselves with, and the enriching importance of great art in everyday life. It is a wonderful book.

Those who have read other Smith novels, particularly from Blue Willow forward, will find imagery that is familiar here, including the transforming tornado, the photograph that links protagonists from childhood, and the sturdy chestnut beams of family tradition, as well as cigars and chop shops. I wished more than once that Smith would stretch her remarkable storytelling talent just a little further to find new images and symbols to lead us into her deep and delightful world. I recommend this book and look forward to her next one.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was not a story to hurridly skim through. It took some deep thought and visualization, especially to picture the bear. ...[And]the gun firing accidently ...I belive it can and does happen more than we know. For instance kids that play with guns and they go off...I was amazed to see people criticize this story and not even get the names right. The hero was Quentin, not Richard, that was his dad the original sculpter.

I have been reading everything by Deborah Smith for years and ask myself why she isn't better known. She should be on the best seller list and there should be movies made of her books. My favorite one is "A Place to Call Home," but I loved "On Bear Mountain." I usually don't like novels where the couple are introduced as children and don't meet for 100 pages, but in her novels, the characters are so wonderful that I keep reading, anyway. Both this novel and "Home" remind me of "To Kill a Mockingbird," not because they are about prejudice but because Smith writes about the pecularities of the south like Lee. I found myself laughing and crying at this novel which I read in one night. To heck with sleeping! It took me about six or seven pages to get into, an unusually long time for Smith. Her past books have concentrated on romance; this one is a story of two families and their future links with art, guilt, and redemption. However, it's center is a great romance. It is a novel that would appeal to people who like family stories, as well as those who love romances. It's a cliche that we know a book is good when we don't want to let the characters go. It was with a sigh that I finished the book and I wish that Smith had written it longer or had written a epilogue. I hope that Deborah Smith learns to write faster, as I always adore her novels. Get going, Deborah!

After reading this book a person can learn so much more about life and the appreciation of life. Jay Platt faced death and conquered the almost impossible by hiking the Appalachain Trail. Jay Platt is a very special person, and I was fortunate enough to actually meet him. I read his book through a college course and my professor invited him and he actually came to our class. Jay is that type of person, he is just a remarkable human being.
The book is wonderful and Jay captivates you through his visions of the AT and experiences. I recommend this book to everyone of all ages. It teaches life through all lessons and no matter how wise or experienced you are about life, you will learn through this book.

Jay began his journey with the difficulty of a forced career change along with a genetic disease that can devastate even the best of people if they allow it. His positive attitude is reflected by his inspirational writings that help us all to deal with both our real and unreal problems. Jay has a way of finding the words to inspire us to take charge of our lives and continue our walk on life's journey. Jay has written reflections of the trail in his book, inspiring us all to meet the challenges of life head on and to learn from the tough times. "A Time to Walk..." should be on everyone's reading list.

There's no excuse for not reading this one! It's fast and it's practical, and it is by far one of the most inspiring books I have ever read. You don't have to know anything about the Appalachian Trail to appreciate Jay's descriptions of the hardships, the friendships and the beauty he encountered along his thru-hike. You only have to be human to appreciate his insightfulness into how living life compares to hiking a trail that is 2160 miles long through some of the most rugged terrain in the U.S. You will learn how someone who has survived immeasurable suffering has made the best of life's gifts and promise. There is much to be learned here...don't be afraid to take this journey.

Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor and her brother, H. Alan Day, tell the story of growing up in the harsh yet beautiful land of the Lazy B Ranch in Arizona. The book is organized as a series of vignettes ranging from character sketches of the cowboys who spent their lives on the ranch to rain to the BLM.

I loved this book. I first became aware of it during a trip to southern Arizona. The authors describe a way of life -- on an isolated cattle ranch -- that is almost extinct. I knew that water was important in such a land, but I didn't know that the majority of the time of the owners and employees of the ranch was spent in maintaining the wells, windmills and pumps that provided that water.

Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor and her brother, H. Alan Day, tell the story of growing up in the harsh yet beautiful land of the Lazy B Ranch in Arizona. The book is organized as a series of vignettes ranging from character sketches of the cowboys who spent their lives on the ranch to rain to the BLM.

I loved this book. I first became aware of it during a trip to southern Arizona. The authors describe a way of life -- on an isolated cattle ranch -- that is almost extinct. I knew that water was important in such a land, but I didn't know that the majority of the time of the owners and employees of the ranch was spent in maintaining the wells, windmills and pumps that provided that water.

I also enjoyed comparing the book to Jimmy Carter's An Hour Before Daybreak, his memoir of his childhood in rural south Georgia during a similar time period.

Growing up in a city, I always wondered during car trips through ranchland how the people there lived. Was it a hard life? Lonely? Were they like us in the city?

I knew from movies and TV that calves in pastures were grown into large steers through a gradual process of fistfighting and gunslinging, with the cowboys taking frequent breaks to drink whiskey and play poker. But that was only part of the story. What role did the women and children play? Why the windmills? Who provided basic services?

All these questions and more have now been answered by a Supreme Court Justice, of all things. Lazy B is Sandra Day O'Connor's memoir of her girlhood on a ranch in the desert Southwest. The simple unaffected style of her writing is just right to convey the power of the story: a family living on a desolate ranch for 113 years--a happy family, a resourceful and persistent family.

The Day ranch had already been operating for 50 years when Sandra was born in 1930, and was still going strong when she was appointed to the high court 51 years later. The Days didn't have hot running water until 1937, but when they did it was from a solar heater designed by Sandra's father--40 years ahead of the solar energy craze of the 1970s.

That sort of self reliance and innovation is one of the main themes of the book: when they needed more water they built windmills to bring it up out of the ground. When the windmills broke, they fixed them. Before the windmills and solar heater, the limited hot water for bathing was used in sequence: first Sandra's mother, then her father, then the children, then the ranch hands, if they had any interest in the water that remained. Not a cushy life, but several of the cowboys liked it enough to stay at Lazy B for over 50 years.

The self-reliance in the area of first aid is even more striking: Sandra's father successfully mending the uterus of a cow with a wine bottle and some stitches; one of the cowhands giving himself a root canal with red hot baling wire, or taping his broken finger to a nail so he could keep working.

And while all of them--Mom,Dad,kids,cowhands--did whatever they had to do to keep working, O'Connor's memories are overwhelmingly happy ones of card games and wild animal pets and riding through the desert and, more than anything else, conversations. One gets the impression that no one ever had a better childhood.

O'Connor may or may not be a great justice--I don't know much about the law--but it seems to me that she was a part of something great long before she ever got a law degree. A happy family and a solvent ranch are two things which are hard to maintain for more than a dozen years. The Days did it for a dozen plus a year and a century. Looking at the picture on page 257, I see the very bedrock of the country.

Mary Alice (Sister) is excited when she bursts in on her sister Patricia Anne (Mouse) to announce that she's bought the Skoot 'n' Boot, a local dance bar she's been enjoying going to. But her excitement turns to horror the next day when the previous owner is found murdered in the establishment. Vowing to stay out of it, Mouse keeps getting drawn in by various people, including one of her former students. Things get personal when the killer starts making threats. Will these sisters be able to figure things out?

This is a fun, cozy book. The pace is slow and steady with plenty of time given to the sister's antics, yet I never got bored with the storyline. I often found myself chuckling at a line or scene, and a couple times laughed out loud. The two sisters are very different, but what could have been caricature was capably turned into character development by the author. The rest of the characters filled their rolls quite well.

I'm looking forward to getting to know these sisters and their family and friends better over the course of the series. This is a fun debut that promises great things in the books to come.

You've got to love the 60 & 65 year old sisters who are polar opposites, I particular think the dialogue and writing is way above the norm. "Mary Alice giggled. She's 65 years old but she still giggles like a young girl. And men still love it." .... "`Nice,' I said, feeling a slight slip in my personal reality cog." And the audio book a PERFECT marriage of reader and material - I couldn't wait to go to my car, and then didn't want to reach my destination. From the first lines of this story, which I listened to in unabridged format, I knew I'd found something special. Anne George manages to touch on just the right formula of family dynamics and occasional insanity, with sisters Patricia Ann and Mary Alice. The rather convoluted plot takes second stage to the wonderful personalities and characters and the craziness we all have in our families. From sperm bank babies to aging hippies, mother/daughter issues, and the lovably annoying spousal unit - I'm real excited there are more Southern Sisters books!

"Murder on a Girls' Night Out" is the first book in one of the most hilarious mystery series by Anne George. The series was recommended to me by my cousin who is in her 70's and I can see why it appeals especially to the older crowd. However, I can attest to the fact that readers of all ages will enjoy it equally as much. I mention that seniors will especially enjoy it as there seems to be only a handful of mystery series where the heroine is "advanced in age."

The series features siblings - Patricia Anne (short, sensible, petite, demure, reserved, retired schoolteacher) and Mary Alice (250 lbs + , flamboyant, impulsive, and bold) and the hilarious interactions of dialogue that transpire between the two. Anne George was an absolute MASTER at dialogue.

Mary Alice buys a Country Western bar and the following day, the prior owner dies of "overkill" - he's hanged, stabbed, and drown in the bar's wishing well.

Mary Alice and Patricia Anne are soon fearful that they may be next and work feverishly to discover why the previous owner was killed and more importantly .... by whom?

You will truly enjoy this light and funny series!

I have always loved Scott Hamilton. Maybe it is because he comes from Bowling Green, OH, and that is where my dad is from. Maybe it is because he has overcome so much adversity in his life. Or, maybe it is because he is a fantastic figure skater. I think, it is a little of all three.

I was living in Ohio (just a few miles down the road from Bowling Green) at the time when Scottie was making it big in professional skating. We were so excited to have a local boy in the Olympics. And we rallied around him even more as we were told the story of his ill-health as a child, an illness that stunted his growth.

Over the years, we all grew up. If there was ice skating on TV, I hoped that Scottie would be there too..in any capacity, commentating, or skating..but I preferred skating.

Then, a few years ago IT happened. Cancer. And once again, Scottie overcame the illness and came back on the ice.

This book is a wonderful look at what life was like for Scott Hamilton. About the work he put into figure skating, and what life is like on the road. He has bared his soul for this book, and brought himself into more hearts than ever before.

This is a highly recommended book for anyone who likes to read biographies, wants insight into life of a figure skater, or perhaps for someone living with cancer who wants inspiration!!

I laughed and cried when I read this book. Cried alot! I don't know that I could have handled myself with as much dignity as Scott did. I salute him!

This is by no means a self-serving autobiography, it is a journey that Scott Hamilton takes his readers through. Scott has somehow managed to be an objective spectator of his own experience and takes the reader on a tour that is both revealing and refreshing in its honesty.

Here is the history about a common, everyday person facing hardships, obstacles and losses juxtaposed with fame and fortune. This is a story about the yin and yang of tradegy and triumph.

In this book, Scott reveals some of the politics of the Olympics and his feelings about the rules governing figure skating. He wears his heart on his sleeve throughout the book. The emotions (good or bad) that he has experienced are all in there for you to read. He, also reveals some of his love interests. I was surprised by one of them!

This book is a MUST read for Scott Hamilton fans, friends and anyone facing challenges. This book is a MUST read for any figure skating fan! For Scott Hamilton to have authored this book must have taken a great deal of soul searching. I applaud him for this book, as I have everytime that he has taken the "ice" since I first saw him in 1979.

Kudos to you Scott, wherever you are!

Excellent Book for any fans of Scott's a well writen story about his life. Few pictures of himself and friends and family. Recommed to any one that likes to read. Ages around 12 and up.

I know that anybody who liked Cold Mountain will love Nowhere Else On Earth. The details here are even more finely written and complex. The wrenching plot builds on the history of a fascinating, underexplored corner of the East Coast--a mostly Lumbee Indian community in North Carolina--and a perspective on the Civil War I had never even pondered before. Surprising and very eye-opening. I just love Josephine Humphrey's knack for beautiful speech, especially the way it reflects the colors and metaphors of Southern talk. At the same time the characters she creates (esp. Rhoda Strong) are so astute about human nature, and so wise, I'm always wishing I could meet them. THose of you who enjoyed Dreams of Sleep and Fireman's Fair will go crazy over this one. I think the historical novel really shows off her strengths as a writer.

As I read the opening pages and started to get Rhoda Strong fixed in my mind, I realized early in the book that all the characters would stick with me through to the end. That is the gift that Josephine Humphreys has for story telling. You inhale and exhale every breath with the characters.

The story of Robeson County, North Carolina and the Lumbee people was opened up in a new light. The Lumbee, a closed subject to the world for countless generations, now are transformed and explained to us: from preferably non-existent in society to real people with real life experiences of happiness, pain, trauma, hardship, and monotony--just like everyone else. The book causes one to look at the heart of those we would rather ignore.

I was eagar to read this book after living amoung the Lumbee Indians for ten years (and marrying one). This book is wonderfully written and carefully researched. I found it to be so true to the way the " Old Timers" in Robeson County tell the tales of Henry Berry Lowrie and his gang. The discriptions of the area and the feelings of the Lumbee come through loud and clear as Humphreys tells the tale through the eyes of Rhoda Strong Lowrie.

Several years ago, I came across Captain Bligh's own account of the mutiny on the Bounty. Besides being awed by the skill of his seamanship, I was struck by his careful, affectionate descriptions of the people of Tahiti. How bad, I wondered, could this man be? Then I wondered, how good could somebody the self-important Marlon Brando chose to champion be?

Now Caroline Alexander has presented her meticulously researched record of the mutiny. I, for one, am happy to see somebody stand up for William Bligh. She explores facets of the journey, mutiny, and aftermath I had never considered, and pops quite a few myths along the way (Bligh's second breadfruit voyage did not end in mutiny).

The author supposes the reader to be familiar with the story. The students I teach English as a second language, knowing nothing of British maritime history, would have difficulty figuring out the course of events from this book.

Which brings up a rather serious complaint. If language is to have any meaning at all, we have to agree to the established meaning of words and structures, rather than set them adrift in a stormy sea of arbitrary usage (sorry, couldn't resist the metaphor). Naturally language changes, as a glance at the speech of eighteenth century sailors quickly shows. But there is rhyme and reason to the evolution of language, which we abuse at the risk of destroying our means of communication. For an author, Alexander has an appalling disdain for the meanings of some words, the blocks on which her work is built. Any educated person should know what fulsome means, and that it does not mean full. On page 271 (hardbound), I was confused to read that ¡§the mutineers prevaricated over whether to retain Purcell or McIntosh for his valuable carpentry skill.¡¨ After puzzling over this several times, I decided she must have meant 'vacillate.' What were the editors doing?

But I do not wish to end my review on such a negative note. I encourage readers to buy the hardbound version. I have noticed a trend. In bookstores here in Taiwan, sometimes you can buy the American edition, the English edition, and the Chinese translation of the same book. Local publishers pay great attention to not only the visual, but also the tactile appeal of books, so in such a case, the Chinese translation is often the one you want to pick up. The English edition is usually simply an effort to plunk the words on the page, good enough, never mind any sensory appeal (I am reminded of the differences between Chinese and English cuisine). The American edition usually lies somewhere in between. With The Bounty, the editors who were not checking the words were probably busy designing the book, and they have done a good job. The hardbound version is a pleasure to hold, a pleasure to read, and a pleasure to own.

Alexander's greatest achievement is the addition of a third protagonist to the Bounty's story, Peter Heywood, who made a bad choice before he was eighteen and spent a lifetime trying to excuse it or atone for it. In doing so she spends much more time on the court-martial than some might think necessary, but it's clear that she's done a great deal of research. It's also clear that Heywood spent a long life living in the shadow of his youthful crime.
In focusing so, Alexander has neglected parts of the story already well covered by previous authors, particularly Gavin Kennedy, whose work is in fact the last word on Bligh and Christian. She mentions Bligh's later career in passing; it was rare for a captain to fight in one of the great fleet actions of that age, much less distinguish himself in two. She dismisses Bligh's Australian career in terms of yet another mutiny, but his opposition to the Rum Corps and violent deposition by them has made him a hero in Australian history.
(A previous reviewer complained about the pernicious effect of Hollywood, but one of the most effective and insightful re-tellings of the story is Robert Bolt's screenplay for "The Bounty". He gets a few facts wrong and compresses characters, but gets the dynamic between Bligh and Christian exactly right, and synthesizes the reasons for Christian's mutiny; something that Alexander seems unwilling to attempt, other than to say that he was drunk.)

For anyone who has ever had spray in their hair or wind in their face this is a must read. The Bounty and her crew will live forever as one of the great sea stories.