I first read this superb book in 1989. It took me from the dreariness of Seasonal Affective Disorder, overweight, and dreadful eating habits into a vibrant health. Within weeks, I found myself eating real food, running 2-3 miles a day, and losing about 40 pounds.

This is not just another diet book, but a very holistic approach to the pinnacle of well-being. As well as a low-fat diet, the authors stress aerobic exercises such as swimming, walking or jogging, yoga postures and breathing, and visualization exercises.

The book is exceptionally well-written. The authors are a husband-and-wife team, and have a warm, personal story-telling approach to the subject matter, with a great sense of humor. It's a joy to read. It is superb in information as well, with an analysis of the dietary and lifestyle habits which deplete energy, an overview of their remedy, a crash course in nutrition, a survey of aerobic exercises, a mini-course in yoga, and about 40 excellent receipes. Scattered throughout are visualizations and meditations designed to create an immediate experience with the energy you'll be cultivating physically.

One cannot over-emphasize the importance of physical exercise to this program. Low-fat diets absolutely depend on exercise to increase metabolism to utilize the carbohydrates properly. Drs. Gardner and Beatty have a unique approach to jump-start the metabolism, which depending on how much fatigue there is, can be two to three aerobic workouts a day(!) for the first seven days of the program. It works.

I was on this program for about two years, and have only myself to blame for leaving it. Too lazy to cook, to busy to run. This year I have found myself reaching a weight far beyond my ideal, but I also got the determination to do something about it. I tried Metabolife (didn't like the side effects), and then the Atkins plan (lasted only 10 days, and besides, I really like to eat fruits). I find myself back to my old friends Gardner and Beatty, wondering why I ever left them. And the energy is back!

The only reason I didn't award the book 5 stars is because of the nearly ridiculous obsession with all fat calories. I'm now modifying their plan to allow plenty of cheese and olive oil and wine, (basically the "Mediterreanean diet"), and I also now prefer tai chi to yoga.

This book was a life-saver for me. The combination of yoga, breathing, and diet plans/menus helped me to regain my life. Suffering from chronic fatigue after the birth of my first child, I was hospitalized for postpartum depression. I took this book into the hospital with me, and read it cover to cover. After I was released I began to follow the 7-day plan religously. Within 4 months I had lost 30 pounds, and I felt great! I would recommend it to anyone who wants a healthier lifestyle!

This book has helped me make the transition to gardening in the Central Valley. Besides being a new gardener, I'm also new to the Sacramento area. Northern California Gardening explains plant care clearly and includes a lot of recommendations for plants that thrive in the different NorCal micro-climates.

Because there's a limit to how much the book can cover, some subjects aren't explained as thoroughly as a beginner (like me) needs, but it provides me with a good starting point.

I love that the book is divided up by the different months of the year, specifying what tasks I need to consider during each month. It gets me excited about what gardening I will be doing in a few months' time.

While there are many guides to Bay Area Gardening, those of us in Zone 14 (Sacramento) are usually busy trying to translate instructions for a dramatically different climate to our own gardening needs.

This book is an indispensable guide for ALL Northern Californians. Month-by-month the author tells us what all gardeners should be doing, then has specific recommendations for Central Valley, Mountain, and Coastal gardeners. Each month also includes great advice on pest control (she favors gentle methods), planting, pruning, and what is usually available at local nurseries.

This guide is especially good for people who are new to Northern CA, and are in garden shock. When I moved from Zone 4 to Zone 14 it was the first book I purchased and it was a real life saver (the plants's lives, that is!)

While a book by Deborah Grace Winer reads as smoothly as a beach novel, it also offers enough information for the reader to come away knowing and caring about the subject. "On The Sunny Side of the Street: The Life and Lyrics of Dorothy Fields", is no different, except her song lyrics tell as much about Ms. Fields as does the book. This was a savvy, sexy lady, a 1920's well-bred lady who could get away with writing-- "I've never mussed the crease in your blue serge pants. I never get the chance. This is a fine romance." Reading the lyrics themselves is one of the best things about this book. As familiar as they are, many hidden gems of wit and craftsmanwhip are discovered. Learning the stories about these songs came to be written, and why, and with whom, is all gravy. The meat is in the perfection: Could you get more precise about a relationship than, "Close As Pages In A Book"? More poignant than "Remind Me"? Fields was the only female lyricist who reached the plateau right up front with all those guys -- Hart, Hammerstein, Mercer, Porter. Her songs are catchy, colloquial, and cut to the bone. Dorothy Fields wrote with 18 collaborators, but her biggest hits came with Jimmy McHugh, Jerome Kern, and Cy Coleman. For the 1973 Broadway show, "SeeSaw", music by Cy Coleman, Ms. Fields wrote in, "Nobody Does It Like Me": "If there's a wrong way to do it, A right way to screw it up, Nobody does it like me." The song is perfect for the character singing it, but not for Ms. Fields. When she had a lyric to write, Dorothy Fields didn't screw it up. Nobody wrote it like her, right on the money. -Elizabeth Ahlfors

When the Smithsonian issued a recording in honor of Dorothy Fields, the 22 selections that boasted her lyrics included "I Can't Give You Anything But Love," "I'm in the Mood For Love," "Never Gonna Dance," "On the Sunny Side of the Street," "Big Spender," and "If My Friends Could See Me Now." Even those few titles reveal (1) how many familiar lyrics she wrote, (2) how long a time period she was artistically active, (3) for how many media she wrote. Her first datable work is from1926, her last from 1973. A remarkable woman in what was after all a man's craft.

Equally fascinating were her co-workers: Jimmy McHugh, Jerome Kern, Arthur Schwartz, Sigmund Romberg. And they are all here in Deborah Grace Winer's (Schirmer Books, 1997).

I did enjoy this book immensely and found it easy reading. What I missed was a sense of the personality around which this book is centered. Read about Dorothy Parker, for example, and you have a sense of what drove this artist. No such feeling comes from this book, in which the author has taken an objective view of the life and times of Fields and made little attempt to get "under the skin," so to speak. Perhaps I ask for the impossible since the author was not privy to any personal writings of her subject. But there are always friends who could have been mined for such information. Dorothy also tends to get a little lost for pages at a time as the personalities of other luminaries of the time are discussed. As fascinating as they all are, our interest wanders too often from the main character.

Still I give this book 5 stars for what it does and not subtract for what I personally think it lacks. The illustrations are quite good, by the way, and the inclusion of many of her lyrics is a good thing.

"Partners" is a story about a man and a woman who only know each other from passing each other on the stairs at the decrepit boarding house where they both live. One night, the man finds a baby lying on the boarding house doorstep and nearly frozen to death. Together he and the compassionate young woman fight for the baby's life, and fall in love in the process. It's a little bit simpler than a lot of Hill's books, but it's still a sweet story with a message of faith at the core.

This is a very quiet and lovely story that I dismissed at first reading but have learned to love and can now read over and over. The heroine's future looks very bleak indeed, but her hard circumstances lead her to look for God. There are some very profound spiritual truths here having to do with God's care for us when life is difficult -- not everyone comes out unscathed -- and the main characters come to know God during the course of the book.

This book offers good pictures of several European draft breeds. In fact, it concentrates on Europe, rather than the U.S. The author is primarily a photographer, and the selection and quality of the pictures is uniformly excellent. Most pictures are in work situations. There are excellent shots of government stud farms. There are a few minor errors in the text, but not enough to detract. This is one I've picked up again and again. One of the better horse picture books that are all too common.

Power and Grace is a remarkable - and beautiful - look at draft horses. The focus on European animals puts an intelligent perspective on horses which in America are now being used to correct (they call it "enhance") lighter breeds that have become difficult to manage or physically fragile.

For those of us with drafts of our own, the book also brings home where the breeds came from and what the drafts should be. Sadly, in America, the focus has been on "bigger is better" or painful extremes like exaggerated "platter feet." Mr. Alvermann brings it all back to where it should be - Power and Grace.

(Not part of the review - please if possible forward to the author or publisher - I donated my copy of this book to the veterinary students at Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine - Large Animal Hospital. They do not see very many drafts come through, and appreciated it. My hope is that the publisher will consider another printing - my Percherons would appreciate it!)

In "Recreations" GLH paints vivid pictures of life in the early part of this century.

This is the story of Cornelia and her family. Cornelia has been sent away to college and while in school, she has been sheltered from the illness and poverty that have plagued the rest of her family. When circumstances require her to return to her home, she is shocked by the reality facing her. Her mother is in the hospital, her father has been reduced to take a menial low paying job and her elder brother is drinking and smoking cigarettes! Overwhelmed by the daunting tasks ahead, Cornelia initially reacts with selfish disdain, but in true GLH fashion, she rises to the occasion. She takes a firm hand in bringing beauty back into the lives of those who mean the most to her. She does this by cleaning the house from top to bottom, restoring the pantry and setting elegant tables for dinner. A quiet unassuming heroine, Cornelia breathes new life into her family and as she does; she of course draws the attention of a wealthy young suitor.

I read these stories and I can almost see all of those old black and white photos of my grandparents spring to life. I feel more connected to my older relatives. I can see why homemaking was and continues to be so important. As I read GLH I sometimes feel feminist angst at the thought of some male protector sheltering the dear sweet little woman, but here as in so many of her books, Ms. Hill displays the subtle power that the woman used to impact her environment.

"Re-Creations" by Grace Livingston Hill is a wonderful book about disappointment, perseverance,and creativity. Cornellia Copley thought her world had ended when she left her college studies in Interior Design. However God had another plan for her, one that was much better. When she applied her talents where she WAS at, she found happiness beyond her wildest imagination, and true love besides. This book was very enjoyable reading and I highly recommend it.

I have to admit I'm not quite finished reading this, but wanted to let readers know that I've been enjoying it. I always wonder what was going on with people beyond what we read in the scriptures. Johnson has created an interesting story for Barabbas and why the people of Jerusalem would have chosen to release him and crucify Jesus. (I don't quite agree with her reasoning, but for the sake of the story I can accept it). Parts of the story seemed to be reaching, for example, his "romance" with Martha, but I veiwed this as a hook to get women readers involved and to balance the scenes of desert rebels plotting insurection. I was very impressed that she picked up the pun on Barabbas' name and found it interesting that she in many ways tries to set up parallels between him and Christ, both with his name, the fact that he lost his father fairly young, was a carpenter, was supposed to be a deliverer for his people, should have gone to the cross, etc. Many of these are dramatic license, but add to the interest of the story.

I'm eager to finish the book and see what she's done with the rest of the story.

This book is one you can read over time and again and it is well written so that the reader is hooked from the very beginning! It portrays the story of Jesus in a whole new light, from a new perspective - it would be a very good resource for those just coming to know Christ! It's an awesome way of letting people know the realities of what Jesus' death on the Cross means and how God can be a part of their lives. Plus, it's good book for those who have known God for years - I highly recommend this book for yourself or as a gift. . . or both!!!

In this excellent book by Randy Maddox, we encounter perhaps the finest attempt to systematically portray John Wesley's unsystematized theology. Maddox is suitably humble in his attempt, not claiming to be completely authoritative concerning Wesley, but recognizing that there is a real need to make an honest attempt at the project. Indeed, the greatest praise goes to the author for even attempting such a daunting project. Any portrayal of Wesley's theology must navigate the shoals of innumerable contradictions in Wesley himself, as well as the simple fact that Wesley expressed his theological convictions in writings that addressed specific situations and circumstances. He never wrote a treatise in line with the theological conventions that dominate the Academy.

All the praise I have for Maddox must be tempered, however, by the observation that he was not able to avoid the inevitable -- a Wesleyan systematic theology that spoke as much about him as it did about Wesley. Maddox over does it when he stresses the importance of Wesley's 'connection' to Eastern Church Fathers whose ideas of theosis are said to have shaped Wesley. This is doubtful to the degree that Maddox portrays it. Wesley was shaped more fundamentally, I think, by Pietist notions of holy living (which resemble in many ways Eastern notions of theosis). Likewise, Wesley was well acquainted with other Western writers who shared an interest in finding the 'way to heaven.' To place as much of the weight of his argument on an Eastern connection is not justified by the evidence that the author gives.

All in all, however, this is an excellent resource for those studying Wesley and his theology. But the reader needs to know that they still need to do more reading elsewhere -- though they would want to make sure not to miss this book along the way!

Randy Maddox has done a great service for all those seeking to have a more comprehensive understanding of John Wesley's practical theology. He uses the key interpretive lense of "responsible grace," meaning that while grace comes to us as a gift from God, we are the ones who must respond in order to fully incorporate it into our lives. Maddox is a superb student of Wesley, demonstrating the ways that Wesley has drawn on both Eastern and Western Christian traditions in arriving at his theological sythesis. He helps us to understand Wesley's various historical periods in relation to his evolving theology and gives rich citations and footnotes to aid the reader in learning more. As a United Methodist pastor, I return to this book again and again, deeply grateful for the insights Maddox offers into a wholistic understanding of John Wesley's theology. This book is so well-written that it is also accessible to the educated layperson. I highly recommend it!

In this all-girl version of the Chinese tall tale "The Seven Chinese Brothers," the sisters pool their amazing talents in order to save the seventh sister from a hungry dragon. First sister can "ride a scooter, fast as the wind," second sister knows karate, third sister can count to a high number...and so on. The story moves along quickly and works nicely for reading aloud.

As always, Grace Lin's illustrations are a visual treat--from the sisters' azure dresses to the bright red dragon to the textured background of green grasses and light blue sky. Her style is simple, yet rich with Chinese patterning and design.

There is a lot to like in this book with its model of strong can-do girls who use their heads, even in the face of a terrible dragon.

However, any update will invariably be compared to the original story, and here I find the "sisters" story seems a little more diluted and lacking in dramatic tension than its "brother" counterpart. In The Seven Chinese Brothers (by Margaret Mahy) the brothers use their superhuman powers to continuously outwit their would-be executioners. The pleasure in this book comes from being able to predict how each brother will outwit the adversary.

Though the sisters' talents complement each other nicely, the story is not as tightly crafted & the sense of anticipation is not as strong.

That said, both books are well reading to your children, as evidenced by my four-year-old daughter who asked me to read it over and over the first two days we had the book.

Note: If you liked the illustrations in this book, Grace Lin has illustrated several other excellent books for the 4-8 year-old set. Among them are Red is a Dragon, Round is a Mooncake, Dim Sum for Everyone and Kite Flying.

The Seven Chinese Sisters is a merry rendition by Kathy Tucker of a classic Chinese folk tale. Seven sisters must unite and each use her own special talent when the youngest of them is taken away by a hungry dragon. Simple and colorful artwork by Grace Lin embellishes this adventurous story. The Seven Chinese Sisters will prove to be a popular and entertaining addition to any family, school, or community library children's folktale picture book collection.

Social Graces was a big help in knowing how to tip waitresses, bell boys, ect... Working in a tourist town and knowing who to tip or not can sometimes be a concern for most people. Especially for those of us that don't get out of the hills much, so the book was very helpful. I would like to see more manner books on social conversation and answering gracefully in difficult situations. So keep writing Aunts! (You will understand that statement when you read the book!) Buy it today.

Once upon a time, children learned social skills around the family dining table. With today's busy schedules and often so many mothers working, families find less time for such traditions. Experts on hospitality and warm sociability, Ann Platz and Susan Wales provide readers with an easy-to-follow how-to manual of social graces. Learning the rules of etiquette is possible with Social Graces. This charming book makes life easier and more fun, and also helps instill a sense of self-confidence. Life is like a game, if you don't know the rules, you can't succeed in life. It's important to remember, however, that the rules of etiquette are of the book; manners are of the heart.