I read this book many years ago.
It helped to ignite a love for
theology that continues today.
This is a very well-written
text from a conservative and
evangelical perspective. I
really enjoyed reading it and
if you can find a copy get it.

New Mexico, and the Taos area in particular, has to be one of the most beautiful places on earth. John Nichols captures this beauty perfectly in his first of the Taos series, "If Mountains Should Die." Accompanied by heart-grabbing photographs, this book describes his first few years in Taos as a transplanted East-Coaster. Nichols not only captures the raw beauty of the land, but also the people that occupy it. Along with this, he describes the disturbing and continous struggle to keep it alive and free from suburbanization. His personal and touching accounts of his own struggle with the place and the people bring it alive in unexpected ways. There is also plenty of respect here, along with a deep anger for what is being done to the land, the people, and the unique way of life found in Taos Valley. As this is a very special place in my heart, I found it easy to cry and laugh along with him.

Who would think that an unfinished autobiography could be so good? But despite its rough edges and the odd passage of interest only to the author, the Life of Henry Brulard is very good indeed, and as moving as The Red and the Black. Early in the Life, Stendhal describes the pleasure of reading Florentine goldsmith Benvenuto Cellini's memoirs, so fresh, he notes, that they seem to have been written yesterday. The same could be said for Stendhal's own autobiography.

This collection of pulp tales brilliantly shows just how different the meaning of a writer's work can differ between a fan and the writer. Editor John Stanley, host of the once popular San Francisco based late night horror movie television show Creature Features, put together many of Robert Bloch's 'famous' Lefty Feep stories. Each yarn involved a very contemporary (for the 1940's that is) con man named Lefty Feep who delighted in telling some long suffering schmuck in a coffee shop the wild tales about his failed get rich quick schemes. Written for the fantasy pulps of yore, each tale has a magical trapping of sorts (i.e. flying carpets, genie in a bottle, etc) that inevitably trip up our tireless, and quite clueless, fall guy of a hero. Not surprisingly Bloch barely remembered writing some of the stories (most were written at the request of the publisher and not out of any desire by Bloch to explore the character further) and this workmanlike attitude casts a humorous light on Stanley's obvious, and quite fanatical, love for the character in the interview segments with Bloch that bookend each story. The small press edition, from Stanley's own, and now defunct, Creatures at Large Press, was intended to be the first volume in a series, but none ever followed. Bloch, in his unauthorized autobiography, blamed the stories with his trademarked bemused self-deprecation. Highly recommended for both the silly stories and the probably unintended fan/writer insight.

I met the first edition 30 years ago in the U. of Illinois library, when I was in graduate school. Now, a full fledged medical and veterinary parasitologist, I had a second chance and . . . I just had to have it! Not because it was necessary to my work but because I remembered it as a jewel of a book. I hesitated a bit because the price was kind of steep for just a memento. Boy, but what a memento! The tight text and tiny letters are rarely interrupted by illustrations, and these are usually photographs; of only average quality, they are of exceptional content. It does not cover all the comon parasitic infections (the way they treat them, it would take an encyclopedia to do so!) but only the major ones. The survey of each infection, however, goes much farther than one would expect for a book on "wild mammals." It reviews (and references) a large part of the recent literature as it applies to any host; wild, domestic, or human. I found that it quickly gained a place among my favorite references. If you are interested in Parasitology at all, you MUST get it. You can't afford to wait another 30 years for the next edition.

The books gives a deep overview to understand the types of framework used for policy analysis. Its a very good book.

I really enjoyed all of the previous books in the Outlander series. They were well written with a definite sense of direction on the author's part. I enjoyed all the historical detail provided and truly looked forward to spending more time with Claire, Jamie, Brianna, and Roger. However, Ms. Gabaldon tries to address too many aspects of life in the 18th century American colonies. She constructs too many plot lines and leaves most of them with unanswered questions. Now, I realize that this leaves things open for the next book but I was distinctly unsatisfied when I finished this one. It is a device very similar to the "cliffhanger" scripts that one finds on TV. I don't like those either. Unfortunately, this book has several "cliffhangers." This book tries to go too many places and succeeds only fairly at most. Unanswered questions should be more subtle and there should not be very many of them. Also, unlike the previous books, I did not have much trouble putting the book down to do something else. If you have read the previous books in the series, this is interesting but not fantastic. If you have not read the previous books, you will probably regard this book as a waste of time.

While I have to agree with the other reviewer that Diana Gabaldon at her worst is still better than most writers at their best, this installment of the Outlander series does not live up to the first three for me. Nor did Drums of Autumn. Maybe it's just that I don't find colonial American history as interesting as European or the fact this I detest the Brianna character. There's just too much of her for me in these last two books and I just couldn't buy all her "inventions". It doesn't ring true to me. Also, as an animal lover I was tired of the detailed descriptions of killing and butchering of animals with Brianna as the goddess huntswoman. I suppose she'll single-handedly save the whole North Carolina colony in the revoulution in the next book. Like Claire, I couldn't wait to get on that horse and leave Fraser's Ridge and Brianna and Jemmy behind. The best part of this book for me was the Claire narrative. I didn't really even want to read this book as the first three were magic to me and I didn't want to break the spell. And that's what's happened in these last two installments. I might try to give the next one a miss but I doubt I'll be able to.

After reading all the negative reviews I can understand why many people didn't like this book. It is different from the others in the series. I however thoroughly enjoyed it.
It a was slow but rich read. If you were waiting for something big to happen then you would have been disappointed. If you were looking for hot steamy ... scenes then you would have been disappointed as well.
I liked the day to day stuff as well as Claire's medical adventures. The day to day tedium made it all feel very real in fact. The maturing romance between Jamie and Claire was brillantly weaved into the realities and harshness of living in such a time.
My husband and I are currently reading to our child the Laura Ingalls Little House on the Praire series. In these wonderful books there's not much of a plot going on but rather an ongoing account of what it was like to live at that time in those conditions. Fiery Cross sort of reminds me of that. More of a book to transport you to a different time period rather than a fast page turning romance novel.