I love the Southern Sisters Mystery series by Anne George. Murder Carries a Torch is the seventh serving of this wonderful series. Sister and Mouse encounter a missing cousin, snake-handlers and two murders on this latest romp thru Birmingham and places nearby. Most authors get stale after writing about the same characters, but not Anne George. The seventh book is as fresh as the first. My only regret is that I'll have to wait another year before another Southern Sister Mystery comes out. I don't know if I can stand the suspense. If you are looking for a lighthearted good read with a heart, you need to read Murder Carries A Torch.

Have you ever had your two favourite aunts go away for a year on an adventure....then have them return to share with you the trouble they got themselves into. This is what reading an Anne George Southern Sisters mystery is like. These books make me laugh until I can't breath, bring tears to my eyes and keep me on the edge of my chair until the last tale has been told. Murder Carries a Torch is indeed a visit with those whacky relatives. You've got dead snake-charmers, purple boots, angel-sightings, pukey cousins, disappearing wives and the most loveable sisters in mystery today. The fact that one of the the ladies is now 'wired' is a bonus...the part describing Patricia Anne's experience with e-mail 'spam' is hilarious, and I was smart enough this time round not to have a mouthfull of anything when I read it. Like the rest of the books in this series, Torch is pure heaven. The only downside here is the wait for the next one!

Murder Carries A Torch proves what I've been claiming loudly for years: Anne Carroll George is one of the country's best writers, whether she bends her talents to literary novels like This One and Magic Life, or her Southern Sisters mysteries. Whatever world she decides to inhabit, you can bet she will bring that world alive for her readers.

In Murder Carries a Torch, Patricia Anne and Mary Alice are again drawn most plausibly into the most implausible circumstances, chasing a murderer through a snake-handling church in northern Alabama. The unusual religious characters are treated respectfully, the snakes are genuinely scary, Mary Alice gets a new boyfriend, and Patricia Anne is... well, the lovable and slightly acerbic Patricia Anne.

The best thing about reading all of Anne Carroll George's books is that you become part of a wonderful family universe. Visiting with Patricia Anne and Mary Alice is like joining a funny, interesting, eccentric family. George parcels out personal information much the same way you would get to know friends in real life. With each new novel, the joy of small discoveries draws you more and more easily into a warm, familiar environment.

For myself, I'm too impatient to wait for the paperback. If like me, you need your prescription of Anne Carroll George right now, add Murder Carries a Torch to your shopping cart. I guarantee you'll love this book.

Having lost my son, Adam, to a car accident almost two years ago, I appreciate the messages of love, hope, and support that George Anderson shares in this book. I am still desparately trying to make sense out of the loss of a child, and found this book extremely helpful on my path toward understanding. It is very well-written, enjoyable, and has so many messages to absorb that I will be re-reading it over and over again. It would make a wonderful gift for anyone who has experienced the loss of a loved one.

I have read all the books written about and by George Anderson and have found this one to be the most helpful by far. I have met people who have had readings with him, who testify to his ability, and have attended one of his seminars. He is an incredible man with an incredible gift.

What a lovely book! The title feels welcoming, and comforting, and explains from George Anderson's whole lives experience....profound wonderful things! "Walking in the Garden of Souls" is a very worthy book, worthy of our time and attention.I wanted to read it all at once, and was interested in every word! As things suddenly became apparent, this gift was given to George just for this moment in time, so he could counsel and educate us on different realms of being, all natural and real, to help soothe our souls and heal our hearts!This is a wonderful and thoughtful walk to happiness...a beautiful place that exists for all of us.

George Anderson and Andrew Barone, who is executive director of the George Anderson Grief Support program, and a co-founder of the Foundation for Hope are two names I had never heard of until now but two names I will remember forever for their kindness in this moment! ...

The author comes to the topic of the afterlife from the perspective of a medium who is bringing messages from recently dead people to their loved ones. So the focus is on dealing with the grief of losing a loved one.

One of the unique issues that he deals with is that suffering, whether physical or emotional, is worth going through, because of the rewards it brings in the afterlife. I wish he went into some detail about what those rewards are.

He is also the first author I've read who makes the point that the souls want very much to communicate with us. And he brings a unique interpretation of suicide, which is the most humane and gentle interpretation I've seen.

This is a very compassionate and uplifting book. I give him credit for taking on the religious right squarely, with a right cross, by saying flat out that there is no devil. Many Americans, particularly in the south, believe strongly in the existence of the devil, and George Anderson doesn't mince words when he tells them that they are dead wrong.

There are so many books dealing with subjects of marginal interest. This one deals with what will happen to you after you die. And George Anderson definitely seems on the level.

Only if you really know your New York sports would you realize that Marty Appel's in a much more unique position to write a tell-all book about the 1970s Yankees than many other athletes. During his progression over 10 years from Yankees' fan-mail gopher during the Horace Clarke years, to PR director during the 1976 World Series, Appel had once-in-a-lifetime encounters (with the likes of Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Mike Burke, Gabe Paul, George Steinbrenner and ... Oscar Gamble) every single day.

"Now Pitching...", finally out in paperback, shows Appel's origins as a Yankees fan when everyone else was rooting for the Brooklyn Dodgers, and how he turned his love for the game into a career (when everyone else was watching the NFL). Most of the book covers the Yankees from 1968 to 1976, Appel's reign. Although many of the stories are familiar to baseball readers from what seems like 100 other books, only Appel is giving you the inside view. Nowhere else will you get such insider detail about Oscar Gamble's infamous haircut, Sparky Lyle's theme music, or George Steinbrenner's management style.

The book flags a little -- only a little -- when Appel leaves the Yankees and makes his mark in other ventures, such as team tennis and local NYC broadcasting. The most interesting part focusses on Appel's brief fish-out-of-water turn with the 1996 Atlanta Olympics organizers.

Marty Appel's been a very lucky guy -- who else gets to be friends with both Mickey Mantle and Billie Jean King? "Now Pitching for the Yankees" is several cuts above your standard baseball autobiography.

"What's the toughest job to have in the Yankees' front office? General manager? Piece of cake. Assistant to the traveling secretary? Seinfeld's George Costanza filled that post admirably for years. Try being the public relations director under George Steinbrenner's reign of terror. Marty Appel worked for the Yankees in that capacity from 1974 to 1977, and lived to write about it in "Now Pitching for the Yankees: Spinning the News for Mickey, Billy and George" ...

About his first spring training with the Yankees, Appel writes, "A remarkable moment came one evening when a few of us, Mantle included, decided to walk a few hundred yards from Schrafft's Hotel to the local theater. They were showing The Last Picture Show, a study of life in a small Texas town in the 1950's. Whatever the reason, when the film ended and the lights went on, there he (Mantle) was, wiping tears from his eyes."

This is not a tell-all, behind-the-scenes look at the Yankees. Rather, it's a poignant account of a fan turned public relations executive working for baseball's most glamorized team.

Marty Appel's New Book Proves Irresistible Reading By MAURY ALLEN of TheColumnists.com

MARTY APPEL, former publicity director of the New York Yankees, was sitting around one evening in 1999 with old Yankee pal Yogi Berra as Joe DiMaggio lay dying in Florida.

Appel was listening to Yogi talk about what a great player DiMaggio was and how much he enjoyed playing with him from 1947 through 1951. Appel mentioned Marilyn Monroe.

"I had dinner with him and Marilyn in Florida once, during spring training, " Berra said.

"You did? With Marilyn? Yogi, I have to know every detail about this. Tell me everything about that evening," Appel said.

"Well," Yogi said, "you know how when you order a shrimp cocktail they usually bring out four or five of them? That night we got eight."

Appel lays out dozens and dozens of these hilarious, intimate, warm, wonderful stories in his 16th book, the recently published, "Now Pitching for the Yankees: Spinning the News for Mickey, Billy and George" (Total Sports Illustrated) in a most rare intimate look at baseball's most famous team from inside their sanctum.

Appel started his career with the Yankees at age 19, answering Mickey Mantle's fan mail, stayed 10 years, moved through jobs in Bowie Kuhn's office and the Atlanta Olympic Committee, opened his own PR business and stayed loyal and loving to the Yankees forever.

Now he has a chance to look back and flesh out the memories and the moments of Yankee history through the team's ugliest decade into its resurrection. Do you know the Yankees finished tenth in 1966 just before Appel arrived and he wouldn't leave until they became the Yankees again with their first World Series win in 15 years in 1977?

Appel's book is about the best thing ever written by an insider about outside the Yankee lines. It is not about home runs and strikeouts, Hall of Fame hitters and knockdown pitchers.

It is about cocky players like Willie Randolph and Thurman Munson, about cheap executives like Gabe Paul and Lee MacPhail, about goofy pitchers such as Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich and drunken bums like Mickey Mantle and Billy Martin. It is about the megalomania of George Steinbrenner and the paranoia of Billy Martin. If a 50 buck ticket gets you a good seat today behind home plate for a look at Roger Clemens at his meanest and Bernie Williams at his finest, just 25 bucks for this book will get you in the movies with Mantle.

Appel described Mantle crying at the filming of "The Last Picture Show," a Peter Bogdanovich study of life in a small Texas town.

"That reminded you of home?" Appel asked the bawling Bomber.

"Hell, we even had a village idiot like that one," said Mantle, the pride of Commerce, Oklahoma.

At 52, at the top of his writing game, Appel can still roll back the years for wonderful anecdotes about the young and the restless among even current Yankees. Willie Randolph came to the Yankees in 1976. He is the third base coach now under Joe Torre and heir apparent to the managerial job if Torre ever gives it up.

Appel describes how the kid from Brooklyn, after 30 big league games with Pittsburgh where he wore uniform number 30, wanted that number with the Yankees. Clubhouse legend Pete Sheehy, who went back in uniforms to Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, offered number 34. Mel Stottlemyre had worn number 30 and had been a World Series star in 1964 and team pitching leader for a decade. It had been unused out of respect to Stottlemyre's Yankee standing.

Randolph insisted he didn't know Stottlemyre's name, that no one had the uniform now and that he wore 30 in Pittsburgh and wanted it in New York.

"Give it to him," advised Appel, as any good PR man would.

Take a look at the Yankees as they line up for their next World Series picture. Pitching coach Stottlemyre wears 34 and Randolph still hangs on to 30. Only an insider like Appel could make that kind of gossip breathe.

There was an old sportswriting legend about Ty Cobb. Jack Mann of New York's Newsday was called to write Cobb's obituary when the game's highest average hitter died in 1961.

Mann told his editor, "The only difference now is he is a dead prick."

The line stayed in my head and rose to the surface like a rescued swimmer in 1979 when Yankee catcher Thurman Munson died at age 32 in a plane crash. You could count Munson's friends among the press on one finger.

Appel was his PR man, his pal and his biographer. He wrote a damn good book about Thurman and portrayed him as a misunderstood guy. Father problems, you know. Anyway, Appel became a carrier of the Munson legend through the book and his activities with a charity started in Munson's name.

Appel moderated a memorial tribute to Munson at Yogi's Museum, August 2, 1999, the 20th anniversary of his death, caused in John Kennedy style by flying a plane he really couldn't handle.

Louder cheers are never heard in the Stadium than when Munson's Yankee time is captured on the ball park's huge screen. Appel made it happen. He made Thurman Munson into a lovable guy.

You know what? A tear usually runs down my cheek when I watch the damn thing and I hated the guy. Get inside Appel's book for a hundred laughs and just enough tears.

© 2001 by Maury Allen.

In clear, concise writing, best-selling author Bob George captures the heart of the Gospel. With humor, wit and incredible insight, Bob shares his struggles and conclusions about what it means to be a Christian. The reader quickly grasps how simple living the Christian life is and how man has made it complex. The information in this book has the capability to change a person and his or her thoughts about God. If you are interested in finally being able to comprehend what true Christianity is all about, I highly recommend you read this book

... Bob George doesn't have exclusive access to the truths he illustrates in his book. A Christian doesn't have to read this book to realize the abundant life he or she has in Christ Jesus.

So why do I recommend this book so highly? Mainly because I believe that God has blessed Bob with an incredible ability to communicate spiritual messages to others. He certainly communicated those messages to me. Classic Christianity had a major impact on my life. Before reading this book, I was steeped in religion. I was brought up to believe that "God helps those who help themselves." Only later in life did I learn that the Bible never actually said that, Benjamin Franklin did. So everything I did as a Christian I did out of my own effort, trying to repay God a little for what He did for me by sending His Son to die on the cross. Oh sure, I sometimes asked God to help me when things were going a little rough, but I never considered asking anything of Him when situations were going well or my problems seemed manageable.

I certainly didn't ask for God's help when I read the Bible, and this is why I never came to the conclusions Bob did until after reading Classic Christianity. Bob consistently returns to the scriptures while making his points. He helped me to realize the importance, rather the necessity of relying upon the Holy Spirit for guidance through ALL parts of my life. Once I started to let the Holy Spirit take control of my life, I began to see the Bible from an entirely new vantage point. Everything started to make sense.

Bob's book does exactly what every Christian book should. It leads us back to our relationship with Jesus. Once there, we can receive truth right from the source of truth. Having reread most of the New Testament after reading Classic Christianity, I truly believe that the points made in Classic Christianity are valid. But don't take Bob George's word for it and certainly don't take mine. Read this book and then compare it to the Bible yourself. See if it doesn't have as big of an impact on your relationship with Jesus as it had on mine.

Bob George has explained the true essence of the Gospel in such a way that you'll wonder how you ever missed it in the first place. The words of the Bible have not changed, but after reading Classic Christianity, the way you see those words will. Through wonderfully relevent analogies and the author's own true-to-life stories, you will come to an understanding of how much the Christian life is identity, not behavior -- being, not doing.

Though having grown up in the church, I turned away from God as I entered college. Before I graduated, however, I came back to Him because of the Gospel message as taught to me by Bob George. That was five years ago and I'm still plugging along with the full realization that His grace means everything. I've read Classic Christianity countless times in the 5 years since first picking it up and it never gets old, it only gets better. This book is rarely on my bookshelf, though. I seem to keep giving it away.

When I first read this mystery, it was the second of a 3-volume series, the last of which had appeared in 1968. Only with the 4th book, _The Cat Who Saw Red_ (1986), did the series take off into its at-least-1-book-a-year mode, and only with the 5th, _TCW Played Brahms_, did Braun introduce Qwill to Moose County.

_TCW Ate Danish Modern_ was the first Qwilleran book I ever read, and although it's best to begin with book 1, _TCW Could Read Backwards_, I can testify that you won't be lost if you pick this up first instead, nor will you spoil the solution of the previous book.

Qwill is the type who'd probably think of himself as a dog person if he weren't a city dweller, but after the death of his landlord, he acquired custody of his landlord's closest companion: Kao K'o Kung, a Siamese familiarly known as Koko. (The original hardcover dustjacket was graced with a photograph of his namesake: the author's feline companion.) The other consequences of his landlord's death led to one of Qwill's 4 problems at the opening of the story: 1) he has to find a new place to live, 2) he wants to be in the Daily Fluxion's city room rather than on the art beat, 3) no current girlfriend, and 4) moths are eating up all his ties - so he runs the risk of being homeless, jobless, womanless, and tieless all at once. (Hey, I didn't say this was Shakespearean tragedy.)

Before Qwill can request a transfer from the managing editor, he's informed that a change of assignment is already lined up: the Fluxion is trying to divert advertising revenue from magazines to their own coffers, and so a new Sunday supplement is coming online, and Qwill will be in charge of its features. The catch? The home furnishing industry is making the advertising experiment - so the Sunday magazine, Gracious Abodes, covers the interior decorating beat. Qwill's horrified reaction is softened since the transfer includes a promotion and raise. Odd Bunsen, the Flux's daredevil photographer, is slower to overcome his resentment at his own transfer.

Up through book 4, this was the standard opening move in a Qwill story: transfer the poor devil from his current assignment to some weird beat as far from the City Room as a veteran crime reporter could imagine, and throw him in at the deep end. As with his previous assignment to the art beat, he finds the professional rivalries unexpectedly interesting.

Consider Lyke and Starkweather, for instance - Starkweather (a rather bland middle-aged executive) handles the business end while Lyke handles clients and the actual decoration jobs. Lyke's charismatic, but the depths beneath his surface charm are somewhat murky. He butters people up left and right, then sneers at them for taking him seriously. His childhood friendship - back before he moved uptown and changed his name - with Jack Baker ended acrimoniously after Jack saved his pennies, went to the Sorbonne, then returned to town as "Jacques Boulonger", the Duxburys' decorator "from Paris". (Jack's background isn't really secret, but his society clients wouldn't like to admit that far from being an exotic novelty, he's a self-made African-American from their own city.) Jack even rubbed in his success at having taken away Lyke's old money clients by moving into the Villa Verandah, where Lyke lives, but in a nicer apartment on a higher floor. :) Lyke does well enough, though, with the new money clients out in Lost Lake Hills.

By chance, Qwill starts with Lyke when seeking a big society name for the cover of Gracious Abodes' first issue, and thus draws the Taits. At first Mrs. Tait's sharp tongue seems the worst feature of the household, and Tait's obsession with his jade collection the oddest. Then the morning after the first issue of Gracious Abodes hits the street, Tait's jade collection is stolen, his wife is dead of a heart attack, and the police - and the Fluxion's competitor, the Morning Rampage - are asking why the Flux seems to be printing blueprints for burglary. (One of the elements dating the story is the Fluxion's policy of always printing names and addresses, but as you can see, its logical consequences come home to roost.)

Each of the first few editions of _Gracious Abodes_ is plagued by a different catastrophe, and Qwill faces reassignment to the church editor's beat if he can't break the jinx. Are some or all of the incidents related - and if so, who's behind them?

I recommend the unabridged audio read by George Guidall over the book on its own, although I enjoy that too. Scenes like Odd Bunsen's drunken pursuit of Koko across the balconies of the Villa Verandah must be heard to be appreciated fully. :)

After reading Braun's first book in the Cat Who...Series (The Cat Who Could Read Backwards) I found myself longing for more Koko and Qwill. I recently obtained this book and I loved every minute it took to complete. I never miss the David Letterman show on weeknights but I skipped Fridays show to read the book. It is wonderful and ties with the first in my book. I have also purchased the next two, The Cat Who Turned On and Off, and The Cat Who Saw Red. I also found two hardbacks for a dollar less than the paperbacks. The Cat Who Tailed a Theif and The Cat Who Sang for the Birds. Those are numbers 19 and 20 but I picked them up because of the great deal. Tommorrow I will be getting numbers 5,6,7,and 8. This is truly a great series and I wish it enjoyed more publicity, like all of those Harry Potter books. They are good book in their own right but this is my favorite series hands down. Trust me and read the series in order. Hope this review persuades some of you skeptics to give the series a chance. The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern is a great book, although I don't really look at them as individual books, more like volumes.

This is an overall good book, but I like the 1st one better, but that's just because I am interested in art. This is the book in which Yum Yum joined them, who was owned by the family in which the house was robbed. Who robbed the house? Well, you'll just have to find out for yourself. In this mystery, Koko devoloped a habit of eating furniture and Qwill's ties, and helps Qwill find whodunit by clawing clues in the dictionary. Yes, it's true Qwill has to write a magazine on interior decorating, which is not my favourite subject, yet that only, to me, makes the story more interesting. Buy this now, but only if you read the 1st book before.

Gurdjieff represents one of the most important metaphysicians of the 20th Century. His philosophy and system of development is hard to pin down. It contains austerities, rituals, magic and astrology as well as a melange of theoretical and rational teachings designed to awaken the individual from a mechanistic state that we are all unwittingly embroiled in. Ouspensky was one of Gurdjieff's foremost pupils and this book is a succinct presentation of all of Gudjieff's major teachings.

The book should be a revelation to the receptive beginner by which is meant someone not satisfied with conventional modes of knowing and understanding and above all conventional solutions to what are ultimately unconventional problems. His teachings apparently have their roots in Sufism and other magical systems but have a very close parallel to Buddhism, notably mindfulness or "Self remembrance" as a method of waking up. People familiar with esoteric methods will find much to celebrate in this book.

The book is also biographic and traces Gurdjieff and his students' departure from the old Russian Empire at the time of the revolution during the First World War. A time of crisis that adds to his teachings. The book finally marks a point of departure between G and Ouspensky.

Gurdjieff was not a great writer and his teachings are best represented by his pupils except for the specialists who could actually wade through G's own writings like Beelzebub's Tails which is rather complex and abstruse. He approved Ouspensky's primary rendition which this book represents. Whereas Ouspensky does not possibly convey the great warmth that G possessed, this book is the best starting point for a beginner compared to more modern biographic commentaries. Further interest can be added to by an excellent series of books summarising G's teachings in the form of collected talks (by his students) published by Arkarna Penguin (e.g. Meetings with remarkable men on G's formative years).

This book basically consists of the conversations Ouspensky had with Gurdjieff (referred to only as "G." throughout the book) and G.'s presentation of his system, the Fourth Way.

First. I don't want to make to much of this as there is an enormous amount of material presented in this book, but I must confess that honestly this book left me more confused than I was before I read it. I don't understand what happened between Ouspensky and G., why there is so much obfuscation of this on the part of Ouspensky, and whether or not this undermines the credibility of the whole system presented. Ouspensky simply refuses to discuss his break with his teacher and I find this troublesome because throughout the book he has chosen to include personal details of his relationship with G. but at the end he simply refuses to do so. Also, I don't understand what happened to Ouspensky during the period of time when he allegedly "woke up" and was given telepathic communications from G. Ouspensky has muddied the waters here again, making it difficult to assess his claims. Furthermore, I don't know what he means by the "transfiguration of G.", how G.'s appearance changed. Finally, I don't know if Ouspensky is being objective when he presents G. as a somewhat authoritarian individual. How much of this "authoritarianism" is simply necessary to maintain the proper discipline in working on oneself. These questions troubled me when I read the book.

Now that that's over with, I can get to the content of the book proper. The Fourth Way presented by G. is a method for man to liberate himself from his "mechanicalness". This way is distinct from other ways of liberation: the way of the fakir, the way of the monk, and the way of the yogi. G. has some very interesting ideas about the nature of man, his perpetual slumber in mechanicalness, and how he must strive to overcome this slumber. He also provides explanations for the order in the universe, life on Earth, the causes of wars, the nature of esotericism, the nature and degrees of consciousness, and much else besides. He presents a kind of alchemy and a mathematical procedure making use of the law of octaves to understand these phenomena. Ouspensky goes into a lot of detail about this; however, it is difficult to get at what is really going on in a cursory reading. Also, Ouspensky leaves much out (since these are reconstructions of conversations and lectures given by G.). G. presents this system and then attempts to construct his school - a group of individuals united with a common purpose of working on themselves. It is very interesting to see how he does this, and it gives a good picture of G.'s resourcefulness. Much of what took place in this book took place during the turbulent period of the Russian revolution and there is much discussion of the meaning of what were then current events. That said, I do not really know how to evaluate this system presented by G. because for me the book leaves open too many questions (which I have alluded to above). The book is interesting and thought provoking though and certainly merits the attention of any person who seeks spiritual liberation and freedom from mechanicalness.

Ouspensky named his book 'Fragments of an Unknown Teaching', but when the book was published in 1950, after his own and Gurdjieff's death, the name was changed due to its similarity to 'Fragments of a Faith Forgotten' by G.R.S. Mead.

Gurdjieff's lectures and answers are recorded in the 'Fragments' so exactly that when Madame Ouspensky showed the book to Gurdjieff he said: 'I can hear myself speaking' and gave permission to publish the book, but insisted that his own book 'Beelzebub's Tales' must come out first. 'Beelzebub's Tales' was eventually also published first time in 1950.

The contents of the 'Fragments' were delivered in meetings in Moscow and Petrograd (earlier St. Petersburg, later Leningrad and now again St. Petersburg) in 1915 - 1918, in other words just before, during and just after the October revolution, in conditions G. described as favourable for 'picking up ideas'.

The 'Fragments' has the whole theory of Gurdjieff's teaching, often known as the Fourth Way, and moreover presented in such clear way that the book is easy reading taking into account the difficulty of the subject.

To get to know what Gurdjieff's teaching is can be found out by reading the book. To put it in just a few words is not really possible, but Ouspensky writes about it like this:

"G. began the next talk as follows:
"Man's possibilities are very great. You cannot conceive even a shadow of what man is capable of attaining. But nothing can be attained in sleep. In the consiousness of a sleeping man his illusions, his 'dreams' are mixed with reality. He lives in a subjective world and he can never escape from it. An this is the reason why he can never make use of all the powers he possesses and why he always lives in only a small part of himself."

Lilith is typical MacDonald. It is often tedious. It can leave you guessing as to what exactly is going on. It can leave you downright frustrated with the man. Yet it has moments of brilliance that make the whole endeavor more than worth the struggle. Lilith is one of MacDonald's most mature books. It is much darker than works such as The Princess and the Goblin or At the Back of the North Wind. It has some affinity with the works of MacDonald's friend, Lewis Carroll. At its core, it is an allegory for MacDonald's anti-Calvinist notions of Universalism. For all its obtuseness and periodical preachiness, it is a fine story in the end (I liken it to Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter, which, for me, was a pain to read--but when it was over I loved the story). Just an aside--you should really read this book and then go on to C.S. Lewis' The Great Divorce. The two books go very well together.

A few people have rejected Lilith because they have assumed that George MacDonald does not believe there is such a place as hell. A few have refered to C.S. Lewis book "The Great Divorce" in which Lewis says MacDonald was a universalist.

I guess you could say that MacDonald was a universalist in the sense that he believed that God loves all people and his love is eternal. I guess you could say that MacDonald was a universalist in the sense that though God's patience may end with a person it does not mean that God has stopped loving that person (a loving parent warns a child because they don't want the child to suffer, but when their patience does run out and they do finally punish the child, Do they punish because of love or hate? When they didn't punish, they didn't punish because of love, and when they do punish, they also punish because of love. This is the kind of character, the God of MacDonald possesses).

MacDonald is perhaps one of the most misunderstood characters in modern Christian history.

From what I've read of MacDonald's discriptions of hell they are far more frightening than any other picture painted by any author that I have ever read. According to MacDonald God's wrath burns because of his love and there is no escaping his love. He hates the sin because he loves the sinner. He will destroy that which destroys those he loves. And he loves everyone. Sin will not reign for ever even in Hell. God's punishment is purposeful for the person being punished according to MacDonald ("love always hopes, love always perserveres...").

Lewis' book "The Great Divorce" is excellent. However, it is a shame that Lewis has a fatal flaw in his imaginary discussion with MacDonald (in "The Great Divorce") about heaven and hell (his argument sounds good but it is misleading). In Lewis' "A grief observed" he comes closer to a true picture of the true God.

Lewis, while disagreing with MacDonald about God loving all men for all eternity, cannot escape the conviction that MacDonald was a very godly man who knew God better than he did.

One of the rules of good hermenutics (interpretation) is that the majority of verses interpret the minority of verses when there seems to be a contradiction. How many verses are there in the Bible which say God loves all people? How many verses are there which say that his love is eternal? How many verses are there which say he shows no favouritism? And how many verses are there which say that God's love ends for anyone? (None. Some people just twist a few verses to try and obtain that meaning).

Here are a few mysteries which Biblical scholars need to try and understand if they are to grasp the nature of God's love and what this means regarding heaven and hell.

I was eternally dead yet I live (while I remained as I was I was eternally dead).

All men have to die twice (a death to selfishness and a physical death, there is no escaping either death. The death to selfishness must be eternal).

A certain kind of person can not enter heaven and no one can help him in because of who s/he is (thank God he can change hearts, he can change a person so they can enter into his presence).

Unless we forgive we will not be forgiven (there are hundreds of verses which talk about our behaviour and where it will lead to).

God's love cannot be earnt, even by believing the right things.

Thank God for MacDonald, he opened my eyes up to the fact that I should not place my confidence in my imagined position with God or where I think I'm going. I put my confidence in God's eternal and unchanging love, which does not depend on what I do or believe. (How I respond to his love will determine what form his love takes, maybe I will have to be punished. But the punishment will be at the hands of one who loves me and knows that it is necessary because I wouldn't listen any other way. So the sooner I listen the better.)

Without trust and obedience to perfect righteouness, who is Jesus, there is no salvation. No where will you find MacDonald disagreeing with that statement.

There is no escaping God's love.

Don't be too quick to judge MacDonald. It is not wise to be quick to judge godly men. That is why the crucified Jesus and killed the prophets.

I don't think I even know how many times I've read this novel as it is truely my favorite. Each and every time I do, however, I see something I missed or understand something about the world I didn't understand or see previously. I am an avid fantasy reader but no author of the hundreds of fantasy novels I've read can even touch the world that George MacDonald creates in Lilith. The fact that it was written in the 1800's boggles the mind considering the depth that the author goes into theory of parallel universe and basic perception of "who" you are. From a Christian perspective, I think the word "pure" is what comes to mind often when reading this novel or Phantasies. George MacDonald also has several childrens stories which my nephews love, The Light Princess for instance. Whether your reading for spiritual reasons or strictly for a wonderous journey in the world of fantasy George MacDonald is, as C.S. Lewis said, "The Master".

There are times that I think my life was or still is hard. Well, I'm a black female who grew up in a middle-class home with two teachers as parents. College was as automatic as sleeping and eating. But, for these young men in the book "The Pact", college was as uncertain as winning the lottery. I always knew that our young black boys growing up in the inner-city had it super hard, but this book allowed me to see another side of our young brothas. They all have dreams as little kids, even though they don't see anyone in their neighborhood to emulate. Somehow, someway, Sampson Davis, Rameck Hunt and George Jenkins all found the determination to succeed and become doctors. Their positive story is proof that just one person can make a difference in a kid's life. Everyone needs someone to look up to; someone to follow.

We all have gifts we can share. Read this book and feel blessed that someone in your life took the time to mentor you and be there for you; not everyone has that in their lives. I am so proud of these young men! Not only are they smart and positive, but they are cute too! What a great combination! God has truly blessed them and their family.

What a refreshing book. Thanks to Tavis Smiley for recommending it on the Tom Joyner Show.

"The Pact" is an incredible book! I just finished reading the remarkable journey completed by Drs. Sam Davis, George Jenkins, and Rameck Hunt. It's an easy, quick read ~250 pages.

If you're not familiar with their story, they are 3 young, African-American men from Newark that establish a pact at 17-years old to become doctors. Over the years, they run into many obstacles (peer pressure, arrest, finances, and family issues) that tend to dissuade so many young people from pursuing their dream. With the "I got your back" support of each other, mentors they encountered throughout their journey, and God they become doctors despite how many people had presumed their future would turn out.

Dr. George Jenkins, probably the most focused in the group, knew at a very young age that he wanted to be a dentist. In high school, the three friends attend a college presentation offering full scholarships to minority students interested in the medical field. Knowing that neither he nor his friends could afford college THIS OFFER would be their ONLY way to attend college...the formation of the pact.

Surprisingly, after completing college and med school, Sam and Rameck were still unsure if they wanted to be doctors. Sam saw business/management as his future and Rameck wanted to be an actor (he'll settle on being a rapper). (If I didn't know the outcome, I would have been in suspense until the bitter end waiting to learn if they became doctors.) The death of an important person in each of their lives confirmed that medically helping others is what they were meant to do in life.

If you're in the education field or work closely with children in your community this is an excellent book to pick up when you...

- feel like what can I do to get through to this person
- need a testimony that success is not by luck but achieved through faith, perseverance, and support from others
- need a roadmap to better mentor a person in need

"The Pact" is an amazing story of inspiration and motivation to get (primarily) black teens to see beyond their environment, current situation, and look ahead with a plan for tomorrow. "The Pact" also displays the need for adults to begin mentoring children before they reach their teens. The book concludes with the doctors providing the "how-to's" to make a pact work.

This book is a must read for ALL ADOLESCENT MALES!! It is a strong testimony to the power of friendship and perseverance despite circumstances. Each young man had someone in their family who directly or indirectly motivated them to persevere. They had to make some very uncomfortable choices, but were able to keep their "eyes on the prize." Affirmative Action programs continue to serve a real purpose in our society. This book has become a mandatory read in my classes. To the one who still holds to the "...because I'm Black" statement. My question to you is "How long are you going to be Black?"

After years without picking up a novel by Dickens (memories of starchy classes at school), I decided to plunge into "Bleak House", a novel that had been sitting on my bookshelf for about ten years, waiting to be read. Although I found it heavy going at first, mainly because the style is so unfamiliar to modern readers, after about ten pages I was swept up and carried off, unable to put the hefty tome down until I had finished it. This book is a definite classic. The sheer scope of the tale, the wit of the satire (which could still be applied to many legal proceedings today) and the believable characters gripped me up until the magnificent conclusion. One particularly striking thing is the "cinematic" aspect of certain chapters as they switch between different angles, building up to a pitch that leaves the reader breathless. I can't recommend "Bleak House" too highly. And I won't wait so long before reading more Dickens novels.

This is the second book by Dickens I have read so far, but it will not be the last. "Bleak House" is long, tightly plotted, wonderfully descriptive, and full of memorable characters. Dickens has written a vast story centered on the Jarndyce inheritance, and masterly manages the switches between third person omniscient narrator and first person limited narrator. His main character Esther never quite convinces me of her all-around goodness, but the novel is so well-written that I just took Esther as she was described and ran along with the story. In this book a poor boy (Jo) will be literally chased from places of refuge and thus provide Dickens with one of his most powerful ways to indict a system that was particularly cruel to children. Mr. Skimpole, pretending not to be interested in money; Mr. Jarndyce, generous and good; Richard, stupid and blind; the memorable Dedlocks, and My Lady Dedlock's secret being uncovered by the sinister Mr. Tulkinghorn; Mrs. Jellyby and her telescopic philanthropy; the Ironmaster described in Chapter 28, presenting quite a different view of industralization than that shown by Dickens in his next work, "Hard Times." Here is a veritable cosmos of people, neighbors, friends, enemies, lovers, rivals, sinners, and saints, and Dickens proves himself a true master at describing their lives and the environment they dwell in. There are landmark chapters: Chapter One must be the best description of a dismal city under attack by dismal weather and tightly tied by perfectly dismal laws, where the Lord Chancellor sits eternally in Lincoln's Inn Hall. Chapter 32 has one of the eeriest scenes ever written, with suspicious smoke, greasy and reeking, as a prelude to a grisly discovery. Chapter 47 is when Jo cannot "move along" anymore. This Norton Critical is perhaps the best edition of "Bleak House" so far: the footnotes help a lot, and the two Introductions are key to understanding the Law system at the time the action takes place, plus Dickens' interest in this particular topic. To round everything off, read also the criticism of our contemporaries, as well as that of Dickens' time. "Bleak House" is a long, complex novel that opens a window for us to another world. It is never boring and, appearances to the contrary, is not bleak. Enjoy.

"There is little to be satisfied in reading this book"?? I couldn't disagree more. Bleak House left a profound impression on me, and was so utterly satisfying a reading experience that I wanted it never to end. I've read it twice over the years and look forward to reading it again. Definitely my favorite novel.

I don't know what the previous reviewer's demands are when reading a novel, but mine are these: the story must create its world - whatever and wherever that world might be - and make me BELIEVE it. If the novelist cannot create that world in my mind, and convince me of its truths, they've wasted my time (style doesn't matter - it can be clean and spare like Orwell or verbose like Dickens, because any style can work in the hands of someone who knows how to use it). Many novels fail this test, but Bleak House is not one of them.

Bleak House succeeds in creating a wonderfully dark and complex spider web of a world. On the surface it's unfamiliar: Victorian London and the court of Chancery - obviously no one alive today knows that world first hand. And yet as you read it you know it to be real: the deviousness, the longing, the secrets, the bureaucracy, the overblown egos, the unfairness of it all. Wait a minute... could that be because all those things still exist today?

But it's not all doom and gloom. It also has Dickens's many shades of humor: silliness, word play, comic dialogue, preposterous characters with mocking names, and of course a constant satirical edge. It also has anger and passion and tenderness.

I will grant one thing: if you don't love reading enough to get into the flow of Dickens's sentences, you'll probably feel like the previous reviewer that "...it goes on and on, in interminable detail and description...". It's a different dance rhythm folks, but well worth getting used to. If you have to, work your way up to it. Don't start with a biggie like Bleak House, start with one of his wonderful short pieces such as A Christmas Carol.

Dickens was a gifted storyteller and Bleak House is his masterpiece. If you love to dive into a book, read and enjoy this gem!

Georges Perec loved language, and it shows. _Life_ is clearly a labor of love. There are times when maybe the descriptions ramble, and you may well find yourself into the fifth page of a description of some piece of furniture, but if you don't keep track, you'll never notice. This is a difficult book to describe simply because it is so dense. At one level, it's a logic game; at another, it's an exercise in linguistics; at another, it's simply poetry. The translator, too, deserves kudos. Although I haven't read the original, the translation, I suspect, has remained faithful to the spirit of the book. Please read this book.

I just wanted to move into this apartment complex here at Amazon and put my name on the list of roommates who love this book. I finished the book today and find myself exhilerated at it's genius. Perec, along with Queneau and Calvino, prove that Oulipo isn't just a gimmick but a viable workshop in which great art can be produced that is both equally humorous and emotionally moving. Perec's prose is rich. There's more than enough humor and pathos in the book for anyone who's willing to carefully read a book that's not just rushing to tell a story, but to occupy it with some beautiful philosophy. It's as great as anything else I've read, including Faulkner, Joyce, Calvino, Balzac, etc. Top-drawer!

The book presents a richly interwoven series of stories with complex, mind boggling intertwinings. The novel resembles a giant jigsaw puzzle with each piece bringing more insight into the one master jigsaw puzzle which is life itself.

The novel describes the life of the residents of a Paris apartment building. It is densely packed with very fine details about the people and places, making it a slow reading. Also, it behooves the reader to remember as much as possible of whatever he reads so that he can correlate the various pieces of the puzzle (i.e., the novel). Which is also a reason to read the novel again and again (probably once every year) to enjoy it thoroughly. It resembles Tolstoy's War and Peace in this regard.

In short, one can rarely expect to come across another novel like this. A must read for everyone who wants to try new things.