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On Grief and Grieving - Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss

5 stars (ON GRIEF AND GRIEVING) - A profoundly wise, helpful and comforting book -- a magnificent achievement -- The best book I have read on the subject of loss. ON GRIEF AND GRIEVING provided greater understanding and meaning at an especially difficult time. This is a heartfelt rave and sincere recommendation. 5 stars (Excellent Book) - Elisabeth Kubler-Ross and David Kessler do an excellent job of taking a very difficult subject and breaking it down into its component parts. This book has been giving me a better understanding of what grief is, why we must go through it, how to do it, what is healthy, and what is not. This book will be on my list to give to close friends and family members when they go through a loss of a loved one. I cannot praise this book enough. All I can say is that I am very grateful that somebody wrote it and did an excellent job at that. 5 stars (THE PERFECT GIFT FOR DIFFICULT TIMES) - I have never known what to do when someone I care about has do deal with the unfortunate reality of death. Sending flowers that will die in a few days doesn't feel right. And they often have flowers from the funeral anyway. This book is so tenderly written and so easy to read that it makes the perfect gift when a card is too little for a family member, friend or co-worker you care about. ...
Scribner :: Self-Help & General :: Self-Help :: Psychological aspects :: Psychological Aspects Of Bereavement :: Loss (Psychology) :: Grief :: General :: Death :: Grief :: Bereavem :: On Grief and Grieving - Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss

 

The Glass Castle - A Memoir

5 stars (Excellent) - This book was excellent. Recently i have started to get into "memoirs" and Jeannette Walls memoirs was one of the best! Her parents...they give new definition to the word crazy! Jeanette cooked her own hotdogs at the tender age of 3 she was also caught fire by cooking those very same hotdogs at the age of 3...her family was always doing the "ske-daddle" from bill collectors so they were constantly on the move. Jeannete has two sisters and one brother. Her mom is a very eccentric woman who loves to paint and teaches her children to always be "self-sufficient" her father is a drunk but she loves him deeply. They move from town to town all over the mid-west to the west coast. They go from rats being on their kitchen counters and in their sugar bowls to eating "lard sandwiches" at her grandmother Erma's house. This is a book that will keep you interested from start to finish. Never a dull moment. I highly recommend it. 5 stars (Shocking Yet Truly Charming) - I loved this book. The author writes in such a style that enables the reader to absorb the harshness of her tale - without being angry. Her childhood was what it was. As adults, we cannot do anything about a tough or neglectful childhood. I applaud the author for telling it like she remembers it. Best book I have read in a while. 3 stars (Horrifying if True) - There seems to be some doubt as to the veracity of Walls's memoir. It does seem as though certain situations are far too detailed to be credible rememberances of a 3-year-old or even a slightly older child. However, the book is an absorbing read, which is why I gave it three stars. No stars, even as birthday gifts, for the self-absorbed, sick parents who brought their children up in such a lazy, dangerous way (if Walls's account is true). A mother who hides candy from her starving children? Refuses treatment for her burned, blistered daughter? A father who throws the family cat out of a moving car but protests when a mountain lion is...
Scribner :: Biography & Autobiography & Literary :: West Virginia :: Welch :: Walls :: Jeannette :: United States :: Problem families :: Personal Memoirs :: Literary :: Family Deve :: The Glass Castle - A Memoir

 

Embers Falling on Dry Grass- Prologue to Knife of Dreams

4 stars (A good start to Knife of Dreams. We'll see if it holds up) - Embers Falling on Dry Grass is probably the best prologue to the Wheel of Time since perhaps the scenes with the Dark One in Lord of Chaos. While it lacks the drama of some of the other prologues, it does advance plot nicely. Without ruining things, in this prologue we have Galad (identical to the publicly available free preview), Rodel Ituralde carrying out an attack, Suroth playing Seanchan high politics, Red and Black Ajah intrigues in the White Tower, Perrin plotting strategy, and last but not least Egwene. At 140 pages this more of a couple of chapters than a prologue, but in larger text it is far less of a burden than that of Crossroads. It's hard to tell if this is more than just a good start for Knife of Dreams, but at least Jordan hasn't made the mistake as in previous books of introducing substantial new characters and plotlines in the prologue (although if Ituralde's plotline only appears in prologues one wonders why Jordan even bothered.) Is it worth $3.50? Arguably, and at least with Amazon you can download it as many times as you want as opposed to other sources. I do take a star off for the fact this is discounted elsewhere where Amazon is asking full retail. Also keep in mind you can't save this on a local hard drive or print it, so make sure you have a good solid internet connection and plenty of time to read before downloading. Still, we'll see if the trend advancing plots in the prologue holds up for KoD. Certainly better edited than the past, which makes me hope for the rest of the book. 5 stars (Finally, a Great Prologue!) - I finished up the prologue in a few days and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by how focused the story was. I felt as if the story lines are finally weaving their way back into final thread. The prologue is broken up into little stories and I was happy to see some of them involved major characters such as Egwene and Perrin. Embers ...
Scribner :: Fiction-General :: Computer Bks - Languages & Programming :: Robert Jordan :: :: Embers Falling on Dry Grass- Prologue to Knife of Dreams

 

Home Comforts - The Art and Science of Keeping House

5 stars (Domestic Goddess of Domestic Tranquility) - Thoroughly up-to-date, this handbook of household management addresses all the issues of keeping the modern house, including the "why" of keeping house. We keep house because there is a basic need to be clean and well-ordered in our homes. Our health and safety depend on knowing how to keep the foodstuffs safe, how to clean our living areas, and how to help keep our homes safe from outsiders. There is also great mental comfort in doing these tasks. The role of Goddess of Domestic Tranquility is a worthy one, and one might as well be a well-informed GDT. The topics are well-researched and the advice on how to keep one's goods in good condition is superior. Besides the material condition of the house, the paperwork condition is also addressed, with thorough explanations of the hows and whys of various insurances, contracts, and employing others to assist in household maintenance. I keep this book where I can reach it easily as it gets as much use as my Yellow Pages and favorite cook book. 5 stars (From 'cleaning' to 'housekeeping'.) - I'm a messy person. My mother would tell you this. My mother is, like her mother, an obsessive-compulsive cleaner, but not especially organized. I rebelled against the cleaning, which left me with nothing. No, this book isn't a miracle worker. It didn't magically turn me into Martha Stewart. However, I'm not atypical. I was born in 1981. My mother never taught me how to make hospital corners and make up the bed so that I was comfortable, fold clothing so that it actually fit well in the drawers, how to do laundry other than 'wash light stuff and dark stuff separate' and her idea of the hardiness of leftover food is still very optimistic. Home Comforts can't replace learning from a loved family member. For the many of us who didn't have that option, it's invaluable. It's not just the how, but the why; not just about being immaculate but about being comfortable at home....
Scribner :: House & Home & Repair :: Repair :: House & Home :: Home economics :: Home Improvement & Construction :: Do-It-Yourself :: Cleaning & Caretaking - Household Hints :: :: Home Comforts - The Art and Science of Keeping House

 

The Big House - A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home

4 stars (Great reading) - Owning a summer home that has been purchased from an extended family, the story is so familiar, but I could never tell it as George Colt has told it. I gave it four stars because I think you have to have lived the experience to appreciate the subtle touches in the story. 5 stars (The Big House - A Bigger Book) - If you have ever had a "summer place" - large or not so large - and people to take there whom you love, this is your book, assuming you are still able to read. Rich and sensitive, loving and intelligent, it takes you back to re-savor those days when the world was younger, better and hopeful. 3 stars (House is Interesting. WASPS: not so much.) - Both of my parents are from New England, and I've spent some time in both Cape Cod and Connecticut. I expected to enjoy this much more than I did. It's written well and impeccably researched. But the forward motion really meanders, with only the question "will the house stay in the family or be sold?" to keep you reading. It makes sense that the author then tries to describe his family, to keep you invested. But, though the author clearly adores his extended family, they never became vivid to me. He keeps telling us how charming and "attractive" (the highest WASP compliment) they are, but I keep saying people who are cold, antisemitic (a section where a mother refuses to let a duaghter who's married a Jewish man stay at the house is glossed over as if the genteel antisemitism is just another trait of a vanishing society). The house itself does fascinate. Colt is most interesting when he writes about himself-- my favorite section was the section where he describes the books in the house. I think the book will mean a lot more to you if you either are from that area (try as he might Colt never succeeded in making Wings Neck sound appealing to me-- full of rocks, poison ivy, weeds, and inscrutable people)... or know the world he's writing about. Somehow Colt does NOT succeed in evo...
Scribner :: Biography & Autobiography & General :: United States - State & Local - New England :: Sociology :: Social Science :: Reference :: Personal Memoirs :: Customs & Tr :: The Big House - A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home

 

Wrecking Crew - The Really Bad News Griffith Park Pirates

5 stars (Junkies, wino's, pimps and whores.... and baseball) - I've never done hard jail time, and I've also never slept with a stripper, but this book opened a window into a life many of us have chosen to either forget or never look through. It really forces one to think about the realization of dreams and ambitions in ones life versus the things that we do to get there and the lessons we are willing to forget in order to keep those dying dreams alive... there are simple joys in life, like baseball, good sex, and good friends, this book shows that despite our failures as human beings, we are still capable of redemption to some degree and some realization of happiness. 5 stars (THIS SHOULD BE REQUIRED READING!) - This book really does have it all. John Albert invites you into a world filled with drugs, sex, personal demons, and what we all want in our lives, some sort of purpose. This is Less Than Zero with a conscience. 5 stars (Now THIS is baseball!) - This book was totally cool. Baseball, sex, drugs and punk rock. Finally a book about what makes American great! This is a book about me and MY friends. Old punks, bad tattoos, weak livers, the usual. ...
Scribner :: Sports & Recreation & Baseball & General :: Sports - General :: Griffith Park Pirates (Baseball team) :: Griffith Park Pirates (Basebal :: Composers & Musicia :: Wrecking Crew - The Really Bad News Griffith Park Pirates