Claire Berlinski's First Book was a terrific read with a fast moving, highly entertaining plot, witty dialogue and insights and observations about the CIA that are so detailed they sound autobiographical. ... Looking forward to the movie.

Claire Berlinski's novel Loose Lips will keep you glued to your chair until the bitter end. The CIA training information is so true to life, you wonder how high her security clearances go. However, it's the interwoven love story that will make you shake your head, remembering all your exes who seemed so right AT THE TIME, until you discovered otherwise. I couldn't put it down. Highly recommended!

I'm not a veteran of the CIA's clandestine service, but I've read about them and have been around Intelligence Community for over a decade. My feeling is that Berlinski really did capture what it is like to be a case officer for the CIA, i.e. one of the people who makes a living by persuading others to become traitors.

The bottom line is that what the author writes seems to me to be real enough that I'm left wondering who she might have talked to in order to get the insight that she displays in the book. I find myself thinking that this book might be a thinly disguised autobiographical account since the dust jacket is a little bit skimpy on details about where she's worked.

In any case, if anyone wants to know what the classic type of intelligence officer (not "spies") does for a living and what it takes, "Loose Lips" is the book to read. I wouldn't be surprised if I see it show up at the CIA giftshop. I've seen other novels there.

My only gripe is that the book was so good I wanted the story to last longer than it did and show the heroine in the field. If Berlinski wrote like Tom Clancy or Stephen King, a five or six hundred page long book would be way too long. But given her outstanding writing at under 300 pages, "Loose Lips" is too short. But then again, perhaps that's an application of the principal of always leaving your audience wanting more.

I had the pleasure of meeting Kathy and Neal Heskin many years ago when my husband and I made a Marriage Encounter Weekend. They are a wonderful couple and I am inspired by her book. I plan on purchasing the book for my 3 married children as part of their Christmas gift.

It is refreshing to hear how Kathy and Neil handled different circumstances, many which were so similar to what we have experienced in our 26 years of marriage. Truly their faith guided them along the way. The fact that I know Kathy and have met Neil and some other family members made this all the more interesting. I laughed, I cried and I learned.
This was such a great read that I have shared the book with two of my children who are engaged to be married within the year. Kathy's "words of wisdom" are a welcome resource.

My fiance and I read this book together and used the questions at the end of each chapter to start deep discussions about our ideas for our future together. Some of the questions don't apply to us right now (because we aren't yet married and don't have kids) but we look forward to reading the book many more times, at different stages of our life journey. I enjoyed the book's conversational style and humor which make it easy to identify with the author.

The monks of the middle ages can be heard singing Ave Maria, Ave Maria from the glossy, A. Joseph Barrish, S. M. illustrated pages of the St. Martha Parish-Wide Bulletin Book Club December Selection. Barrish, working with Schoenstatt Sister of Mary, M. Jean Frisk, has created a brilliant reminiscence of the time of incense and flowers in the Roman Catholic Church. Frisk, who holds a masters in Theology with Marian Concentration and a Licentiate in Sacred Theology, gives us legends and meditations to ponder as we look at Barrish's stunning, full-page illustrations of dozens of flowers that bear a name or a mythical relationship to the Mother of Christ.
This selection leads us through our shared Christian spirituality in the natural beauty around us through a history of flower legends and names using flowers of the Annunciation, Visitation, Nativity, Presentation, Flight into Egypt, Maternity of Mary, Mary as Homemaker, Mary at the Cross, and Devotion Rewarded.
Among the legends told in mystery plays of the medieval times is that of Madelon who having nothing to give the Babe Jesus was led by the Angel Gabriel to roses blooming at the girl's feet. "The French poet, Emile Blemont, ended his story of Madelon with this quotation: Though thou art poor and hast no gold to bring, Though ice-bound earth no Heaven-sent flowers bestows, Yet give thy heart this Noel to thy King. This is the Legend of the Christmas Rose." (p. 48)
In addition to an excellent appendix, index, and bibliography of gardens and plant listings, this book also is a personal Mary Garden planner. Just in time for Chistmas gift exchanges to allow you to give more knowledge of Faith in a vibrant, beautiful, and interesting way. This quality publication gives artistically, as Christian art has, to those who enjoy studying the nobility of the world around them, as well as to those who plant gardens! (St. Martha, Okemos, Michigan Foundations in Adult Education, Fr. Jon Wehrle, Pastor)

why cant you make this book cheeper or at the same price this book is called mary's flowers, please if you want more people to by your books make them cheeper!

An inspiring book for gardeners who til their soil this spring. I plan to replant a section of my garden because of this book. I will devote this land to Mary and St. Francis...

This book is really excellent and helpful.
Sr. Mckenna make us see her devotional life in every pages and it's incredible the way we can feel God's presence....

Sr. Briege McKenna's simple style and her faith make me feel that I am having a conversation with the author. She appeals to faith and simple logics, instead of theology and doctrine, to bring Christ to us.

I grew up with a lot of Catholic educational background, but it was only after reading Sr. McKenna's book that I really appreciated the Sacrament of the Eucharist and of Confession. Her language is simple but her words are powerful. You can really feel Christ's healing presence just by reading the book....

If you're looking for a book that will free you to think for yourself independent of church rules, this is the one.

I first read the book in 1969 and have re-read it many times over the years. It helped tremendously with guilt I felt from being raised in a strict religion and freed me to find my own spiritual path. An honest and exceptional book.

Poet and former priest James Kavanaugh continues to write and publish poetry that changes lives, encourages souls, inspires unfettered spirituality, and helps us embrace the love that is loose in the world and beyond. This title, one of his earliest, and the many more that he's written since, have sold over 16 million copies, and every poetry reading he gives is sold out. This quiet man writes prose and poetry that sings of the love of God that we return to God and share with each other, and it helps us recognize the sacred in our lives.

I read this at the age of 14.....I have read better books over the years but to me, it was as influential a book as I have ever read. I am a former Catholic clergyperson hoping to be ordained in the United Church of Christ. If anyone reading this knows how to contact James Kavanaugh, please thank him for me. If you know his email, please get it to me!

The best book about the institution founded by St. Escrivà de Balaguer. Messori, a well know italian journalist, explores with no subtilities the world of the first Prelature of the Catholic Church. The book discloses all the so called secrets of Opus Dei and presents a scenario that can be understood only from the perspective of the faith. Reading these pages one can approach both the goals and the structure of Opus Dei from the catholic perspective. A perception that can change everybody attitude towards this institution and its members.
Messori guides the readers into the daily life of both the governement and the common people of this institution. Rich of episodes and stories, the book is very easy to read and amusing. A perfect purchaise.

Finally..someone who openly explores the upoholders of orthodoxy in the Catholic Church today. A good book to bury the false assaults on Opus Dei.

I found this to be a fascinating book simply because it manages to circumvent, while yet explaining, much of the the hysteria often associated with writings critical of Opus Dei. The author is a highly respected Italian journalist who is NOT a member of "the Work". He looks at the roots of the movement in the 1920's and shows how its theology of the laity both pre-dated and clearly influenced the Second Vatican Council's "universal call to holiness." One is struck by the inspired founder and his vision of a lay-spirituality that is as fresh as it is ancient. Further, one is reminded of the zealous excesses of the early Jesuits or Franciscans and how a movement of this type reaches a maturation only after several decades. If you want to know why Opus Dei's membership continued to grow while that of almost all religious orders was declining during the turbulent 60's and 70's, read this book. Clearly, a chord has been struck in the hearts of tens of thousands of Catholics on every continent who are seeking a deeper life in Christ.

Reading about the life of Bl. Escriva is definitely inspirational. A must read for those who seek to practice their faith in their ordinary lives.

Excellent Book, Very interesting and lost of historical facts. It is worth a look.

Deep and intelligent. Not only anecdotical. Historical perspective very interesting. results very easy to understand the reason for the popes of the catholic church sponsorizes the personal prelature of opus dei: it serves people to sanctify and makes the christian life at hand.

Mike Aquilina shows how the Mass of the early Church is substantively the same as the Mass that you attended the last time you went to Church. A great feature of this book is not only the work of the Church Fathers but toward the end of the book Aquilina recreates the Sunday Mass of the early Church based on the Fathers.

By opening up the works of the early Church Fathers on the Mass, Mike Aquilina demonstrates the astounding continuity of the Mass celebrated today and the Mass of the early Christians. The extensive excerpts from the Church Fathers also show us the tenacity of the Catholic belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. By reading this book, Catholics will view their attendance at Mass in a different light as they realize how they are in direct continuity with our ancient ancestors in the faith. Non-Catholics will see how the Mass celebrated today is the direct legacy of those early Christians.

What I find fascinating is Scriptural typology for the Mass based on Old Testament foreshadowings or prefigurements. This book's early chapters discuss some interesting typology and the corresponding antitypes, which are relevant for understanding the Eucharist. Moreover, the excerpts from early Christian writers are an excellent resource or reference.
But Old Testament symbolic connections with the Holy Eucharist (centering on wheat and gold) are explored at even greater depth in the book "Why Matter Matters: Philosophical and Scriptural Reflections on the Sacraments" (authored by David P. Lang and published also by Our Sunday Visitor). Chapter 2 titled "Why Wheat Bread?" is especially relevant for the Eucharist, but also Chapter 3 ("Why Grape Wine?") and Chapter 4, part of which treats the association between wheat and olive oil (signifying the Holy Spirit), are pertinent to this whole topic.

This book might truly change your view of life because it leads you to examine the deepest parts of your soul. In plain language that's very easy to follow, Merton describes how we can abandon our self-absorbed lives and then discover again our true selves in Jesus Christ. It is a book about the transforming power of God, and although it is deeply spiritual in tone and theme, it is highly logical and straightforward in style and structure. Merton hopes to lead us to transformation and salvation not through fear or blind hope, but by persuasion.

This is without question the best account of the Fall that I have ever read. Merton drops the reality of faith and the believing Christian's responsibility right in our laps. It's a sobering and challenging read.

The monk does an excellent job in fleshing out the scripture 2Cor5:17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (NIV)

I loved this book. Absolutely excellent story telling, and explains perfectly well the historical context of the Blessed Mother's famous appearance in Mexico.

The riveting history of a great man, Hernan Cortes, who with 300 men conquered the demonic empire of 14 million Aztecs who had ritualistic human sacrifices of ripping out live human hearts on top of their pyramid in Mexico City. Naturally he had circumstantial Divine help and great courage. What man destroys his own means of escape (he sank his vessels) and turns to face odds of 46,000 to 1? Then a few years later the miraculous appearance of Our Lady and huge conversions. Some were still carrying on human sacrifices in secret til Our Lady came. Greatest book I've found in years, excellent for young men to read about heroism and faith. Some ladies may be turned off by the barbaric cruelty and cannibalism of the Aztecs, but it gives great perspective as to the evil that had to be conquered. It is also one of my wife's favorite books and we have gone through 4 as I continue to give it to others.

This book represents a refreshing departure from the polically correct historical revisionism that passes for history, especially regarding the Age of Discovery and the conquest of the Americas. Since the 60's we've been inundated with an alternative historical view that enobles the native peoples of America at the expense of their humanity, which likewise demonizes anything or anyone of European origin.

This book does not tip toe around the fact that the Aztecs practiced human sacrifice on a massive scale to the tune of 50,000 victims per year; and that the Aztecs conducted wars against their neighbors aggressively, for the sole purpose of of obtaining sacrificial victims to their God. Unlike many histories of that era and place, Dr. Carroll does not waste space attempting to 'get inside the minds' of the Aztec hierarchy. His purpose is not to be an apolgist for Montezuma et. al., but to relate the facts. Nor does he let the conquistadors off the hook. We hear in excruciating detail of the cruel and brutal treatment accorded the natives by the likes of the four commissioners appointed by king Charles to govern Mexico. Dr. Carol, likewise faults the Spanish for not allowing the natives to study for the priesthood and for oppressive policies kept the natives poor.

He doles out praise and blame to individuals, both native and Spanish without prejudice and with a committment to the truth. He states unabashedly that his loyalty is to the Christian world view.

If I could give this book 10 stars, I would!!