Part of the "Voices of the South" series published by Louisiana State University, "Come Back Lolly Ray" is an elegantly-crafted psychological exploration of the secrets, hopes, failures and sterility of small-town Southern life in the 1950s. The author, Beverly Lowry, writes with extraordinary precision and care; she creates both mental and physical landscapes so precisely etched and meticulously envisioned that the reader often will take pause to reflect on the numerous possibilities engendered by these emotional and environmental landscapes. This novel deserves a very wide audience.

Darwing on several established literary traditions, Ms. Lowry uses a central character (Lolly Ray Lasswell) to permit us to examine the texture of life in the ironically-named small town of Eunola. Reminiscent of Sherwood Anderson's "Winesburg, Ohio" and of William Faulkner's Southern charcterizations, "Come Back Lolly Ray" mercilessly dissects the lives of the citizens of this emotionally barren city. Lolly Ray, virginal and untouchable, comes to represent, unwillingly and unknowingly, the ultimate symbol of white Southern purity. Her "abandonment" of an unspoken compact with the town propels the plot of the novel. Her parents, Frank and Lucille, symbolize the terrible tensions and unresolved conflicts not only particular to the white South in the 1950s but to unfulfilling marriages regardless of time or place. Other characters, whether they be the town abortionist or the village idiot, the elegant-gone-to-seed cotton aristocrat or the slightly-touched matriarch living in isolation with happy abandon, are sketched with evocative detail and unusual empathy.

Above all else, however, "Come Back Lolly Ray" is a writer's novel. Now a professor at George Mason University, Beverly Lowry demonstraters, on every page, a profound respect for the written word. Lush with visual and emotional imagery, her novel requires patience. For those who can afford a provocative and disturbing view of small-town life and who do not feel the need to rush through a novel whose themes have been explored countless times in our national literature, "Come Back Lolly Ray" will remain in their memories long after having read the book.

The three (3) most important areas of any book are its content, writing style, and organization. Weltman's book is superb on all three counts. It is a detailed, succinct, point-by-point introduction to a growing and popular topic in today's fast-paced, changing society.

Each chapter begins by explaining what you will learn, then explains key concepts at least twice in the middle, and finally summarizes the least you need to know about each aspect of the home business.

The book itself is divided into six useful parts, plus appendices filled with helpful information. Each part focuses on a particular aspect of running a home business, such as: your reasons for wanting your own business, the types of businesses you can run (franchises, ready-made businesses, existing businesses, or your own pet project), financing the home business, setting up the home office, running the home office, and finally common personal issues unique to running the home office and scaling up.

Broadly speaking, Weltman devotes an equal amount of space to each topic. However, some topics, such as taxation (any advanced student should keep a copy of that particular info very close by) receive a lot of attention, while others, such as planning and budgeting the start-up, are clearly de-emphasized. The book also includes a lot of useful information in little boxes on every other page such as entrepreneurial statistics, key business terminology, added information (based on experience) to help perform a particular aspect of your business better, and things to avoid while in business.

In terms of content, the book is packed with plenty of information to get you started. Though the book is very comprehensive, more advanced readers may find it to be a bit redundant at times. Key terms, concepts, and absolutely need to know information are repeated often ( for the quick learner, ad nauseum) in each chapter. This use of repetition, however, does not weaken the book, as repetition is a proven method of learning new concepts.

The book is heavily laden with useful contact information and resources. Weltman presents the essentials, the absolute bare bones structural framework for the typical home-based business. The book's major strength is its presentation of key issues in very general, easy to understand terms. You are not inundated with a lot of excess, useless resources and you are slowly and casually guided through each phase of your start-up. Weltman also thoughtfully includes good federal and state resources one can actually use.

For the initiate, everything is discussed simply and clearly, as if the author is sitting right in front of you chatting over a delicious cup of Seattle's Best Coffee (sorry folks, but Starbuck's just doesn't cut it), but the more clever may find the book a slow and plodding read (this is a thick book, folks). Now, the book's major weaknesses lie in its utter lack of information on selling methods, management techniques (classic, coordinator, or craftsman), structuring employment contracts (especially for independent contractors), scheduling, getting and keeping customers, and operating a global business (my personal interest) from home.

Weltman skillfully introduces all the things one should consider when starting a home based business. It is the approach I would take with those who want to start a business but have no idea as to how to start. Those who are really serious about starting their own home business should not stop with Weltman's book. Look to other books to present you with the meat on such topics as contracts, selling, and managing employees. More advanced readers can skip this book and start with Karen Cheney and Lesley Alderman's How to Start a Successful Home Business.

This is a wonderful cookbook that I am using to lead a weekly kindergarten cooking class. It has easy to understand pictures, so that the kids can "read" the recipes. The recipes are from around the world with at least 100 recipes. A detailed table of contents makes recipes easy to find.

I bought the first book in this series last April for my then 6 year old daughter, and in the past 5 months she has managed to read almost the whole series. She wants to stay up late reading them, because she doesn't want to put them down. I would highly recomend these books to anyone looking for very entertaining and morally sound books.

Crabdance is no relaxing bath tub read, but it is worth the pain! Simons is a challenging writer who has no fear of causing discomfort and exposing social ills. Her play is unusual in its structure and imagery, but unusual in the best way: it is original, shocking, and, I think, freeing. The main character is a woman just past middle age. She is struggling to find her place (and sanity) in her world after the departure of her children and death of her husband. She is a woman living alone in the late 1960s with a ravaged sense of self and sexuality. The play explores her life with incredible honesty and love. This isn't the sort of work one would see on the Oprah Book Club list, but it is a liberating play about women, sexuality, and discovery of self in a time when women did not have so many options... I am VERY glad to have read it.

Anticipation is often not rewarded. But in the case of obtaining "The Life of a Day" a year after I heard it read on Garrison Keiler's Writer's Almanac,as a selection from CRAWLING OUT THE WINDOW by Tom Hennen, not only was the original excerpt as good as anticipated; but there were 50 more of these wonderful prose poems. Tom Hennen's haiku-like descriptions of the mid-west prairie are universal and can be related to any natural setting. The thoughts and feelings behind these descriptions need to be heard in this era of increasing alienation from Nature.

My eight-year-old is required to do three book reports each week and that can be overwhelming. But the Cul-de-Sac Kids series is a great way to overcome that. The books are entertaining to my child. They do a great service by bridging that gap between easy, babyish books with no real plot and longer, harder books, like Harry Potter. They are easy to understand and read without being simplistic and boring. We have really enjoyed them!

It all begins when Eric wants to find a present for his grandfather. Erics granddad had been living with them every sinceEric's father died. Eric knows what his grandfather knows best.Before he does that he goes to an art classs with a girl named Stacy.(Eric really likes her but doesn't tell her.)Eric trys to make an Egale but he's not to happy about take and gets made. Later the art teacher calls and asked Eric to come back for classes and it worked out!(Here the other part i was telling you about.)Pickle pizza but the problem is that Dee-Dee Winter Trys the pizza and almost [throws up]!Eric is about to give up and giive the Pizza to the birds and then Grandfather eats it and likes it and they all had a great father"s day

As a Latina bride-to-be born in Dominican Republic and raised in the US it was hard to find a book that contained what I believe are essentials in a wedding where the hispanic culture reigns.

After buying four different wedding organizers, this one helped me the most (especially after I threw out the rest) because it has everything I needed in one place. From what to write in the invitations to the Thank-you cards. It was easy to follow and I didn't have to translate it to my mother because it is in Spanish!

I recommend this book for any Spanish speaking bride-to-be. It's more than a wedding organizer, it's peace of mind!

This book has over 100 training tips for you and your Dalmation. It tells you how much to feed it, what to give it,and how to train it. It will help you out by giving you tips on how to handle your puppie(s)/dog(s) without being harmful or over active with your Dalmation. It gives you tips on how you should play with your Dalmation. Weather it is being rough or being gentle.It gives you tips on how to teach it not to bite people or objects. If your puppie is teething you should give your Dalmation some soft chew toys and some hard chew toys. Just make sure that the toy your giving your puppie isn't to hard because their puppie teeth can fall out and you will have a big problem there. This book is worth the money. So take my advice you should by this book while it is on sale!