Slim Lambright debut novel The Justus Girls was a heartwarming and excellent read. The Justus Girls were four AA preteen friends who shared friendship and vowed never to grow apart. Some three decades later three of the friends reunite at the funeral of one of the Justus Girls who was murdered. The remaining friends rediscover the friendship that they shared years ago. Each making a vow to stay close and find out who murdered one of their friend. The story shifts back and forth in time and allows the reader to share in the women's experiences through life. Good novel filled with suspense, depth and memorable characters. The characters seem so real. If you are looking to read something besides girlfriend/boyfriend cheat, love drama pick up Justus Girls. I look forward to reading more work by this bright new author.

Peace and blessings to Slim.

I just finished this book today, and all I can say is "WHEW!!!" What a fantastic read!

Family means everything, and family doesn't always have to be those people who you were born and raised with. Such is the case with the 'Justus Girls.' Sally Mae (Mustang Sally), Jan, Rasheeda (aka, Rachel, aka Roach) and Peaches were the Justus Girls. Growing up on the mean streets of Philadelphia, they banded together in grade school and stayed friends until they were grown. As with a lot of friendships, they drifted apart, but when one of their own is killed they band back together again, without missing a beat.

In the time they have been apart, their lives have taken many surprising twists and turns, some good, some not so good. At the time of their mutual friend's death, all of them have some heavy baggage that they are dealing with. However, like in the days of old, they find that what seems impossible to overcome alone, is so much easier to deal with together.

This novel is about friendship, love, sisterhood and making a family where you find it. Ms. Lambright has done a brilliant job bringing these characters to life. If you are from Philly, in your 40s or 50s, AND grew up in SW or West Philly, you HAVE to read this book. If you are not from Philly, in your 40s or 50s, but just want a sho 'nuff GOOD read, then you STILL have to read this book. And when you find out who the killer is, you'll be as shocked as I was!!! LOL Well done, Ms. Lambright, well done. I eagerly await your next book.

I'm 52 and I truely enjoyed this book. It brought back memories of the old days when I grew up and girls were able to have friendships with other girls without all of the sterotypes attached. Ms. Lambight remembered very well of the time period of which she wrote. Her language was very fitting for the way we expressed ourseleves during that time (cursing and all). I loved it!!! Ms. Lambright's writing gave me a visual picture that jumped right out off the page. If anyone wants to visually see what it was like in the 60's, they should read this book. I loved how various real events were tied into the story.
This book demonstrats what love use to be among the Black Community, and since the "Sept. 11th" mishap, its finally returning.

I thank God that He gave me insight to have the women in our family to get together and meet once a month to discuss and pray for family situations and needs, just like the "JUSTUSGIRLS".
This book should be a required reading for all young girls and teens in our private and public schools, and community groups. Ms. Lambright keep on writing. You make me PROUD!

Terry Ryan's moving and inspirational tribute to her mother, "The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio," stresses several crucial truths. The first is that a proud and resourceful mother, using her intellectual abilities and indominable spirit, can find the personal resources to help her children prevail over material poverty. The next truth is that no person ought feel trapped by her circumstances; each human has the possibility of triumph through hope and sweat. The final, and perhaps most painful truth, is that a mother's love and devotion knows no boundaries, is not limited by a spouse's abusive alcholism, is not restricted by the prevalent sexism of mid-twentieth century Middle Ameica and is defiantly optimistic even in the face of insecurity and privation.

Indeed, this lilting biography's subtitle ("How My Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words or Less") pithily describes how Evelyn Ryan's devotion to prize-earning contests enables her to sustain her family of ten children through poverty and her husband's abusive alcoholism. As a "contester," Evelyn Ryan participates in a now-defunct symbiotic relationship between producers of consumer goods and advertisers. At full bloom in the late 1950s and early 1960s, thousands of women contribute poetry, jingles and slogans for their "favorite" household product; prizes range from small amounts of cash (which are crucial to help the Ryan family stay afloat) to grand-prizes of thousands of dollars, new cars and exotic trips. In the cacophony of the cramped Ryan household, Evelyn would compose while ironing, cooking and doctoring.

Her poverty arises from her alcohol-saturated husband, who, in addition to imbibing a third of the family income, would take out a secretive second mortgage on their home (which, incidentally, Evelyn is able to purchase as a result of a grand-prize victory) and drink away its proceeds. Evelyn refuses to stoop to washing others' clothes, perceiving that act to be an act of capitulation to poverty. With a genuinely unshaken belief in her "knack with words" and her own intellectual love of language, she teaches her children a symbolic lesson in rejecting victimization. "We watched her systematically pursue contests as if she were born to win." Rejoicing in her victories, the children absorbed the larger lesson: "At that moment [of victory], we knew as long as we used our brains, we were not victims. By striking out to write our own ticket, we wold grow up to be like our mother -- a winner."

One of the biography's strengths is the skillfully depicted relationship between Evelyn and her middle daugher, Terry. As Terry matures, she feels an occasional sense of outrage and anger at the injustice of her mother's failed attempts and permits this sour dejection to become a genralized indignation -- at her home's poverty, at her father's failures, at the terrible wrongness of her family's quiet desperation. Yet, Evelyn wisely insists that her daughter focus on life and living, to rejoice in "the feeling of being actively engaged" in an honorable pursuit of a goal. Through the adept chronicling of Terry Ryan, her mother emerges not only as an unusal, resourceful breadwinner, but as a moral model, a paradigm of purpose, cheer and courage.

Full of delightful anecdotes and marvelous commentary, "The Prize Winner" is not without its flaws. The biography surely could have used more judicious editing; there is little reason for the author to have included so many samples of her mother's contest entries. Though competent and direct, the author's style never reaches eloquence; some scenes appear repetitious and add no new insight into either the workings of the Ryan family or the motivation of its mother. Nevertheless, Terry Ryan has written a fine tribute, one which harkens back to an era long since disappeared from the American social landscape, yet one which is timeless in its respectful, even adoring, presentation of a mother whose values exemplify the best of the human condition.

It's rare that I would use the word "inspiring" to describe a book, finding most books that purport to be inspirational are in fact overly sentimental and predictable. But this book deserves that description.

Using clear, straightfoward prose, Terry Ryan tells the story of how her mother, married to an alcoholic who drank much of the family's small income, raised ten children in a small Ohio town. Advised at one point to take in laundry, Mrs. Ryan chose instead to earn much-needed extra income by entering jingle-writing contests, and writing humorous poems and short stories. She won frequently enough, and had enough of her poems and stories published, to keep the family afloat despite their financial difficulties. Important as the money was, it was also her emotional strength that kept the family going.

Her story would no doubt be worthy of respect no matter who told it, but in Terry Ryan's hands it has gone beyond the mundane and cliched to become something moving and memorable.

In a field crammed with memoirs of dysfunctional families, here's a book about a family that is able to be FUNCTIONAL because of an amazing woman.

This book is a loving memorial to Evelyn Ryan, but also a nostalgic remembrance of the glory days of jingle contests. I don't usually like this type of book, but its premise intrigued me, so I picked it up at a discount. I now feel guilty for that (and I'm notoriously cheap). Any book this good really should be paid for at full price. I have pushed this book on everyone that I know who reads. I can't say that it's inspirational, because a major point of the book is that you couldn't do this sort of thing today -- Evelyn's language skills allowed her to support her family, not luck.

I don't usually go for this type of work, but the love and admiration that Terry Ryan and her siblings have for her mother shines through this memoir. Ryan never falls into the dysfunctional family memoir trap of blaming everything on the alcoholic father. He's not evil, he's simply one more hurdle to overcome. There's no blame, just a celebration of the survival of this family, and their ability to overcome a situation that could have, and has, overwhelmed so many other people.

I had the pleasure of meeting the author at a Borders bookstore near my home. I purchased the book because the author seemed to be a very pleasant woman. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed with the book. I found the characterizations to be shallow, almost to the point of caricature. The book was riddled with cliches. It seems that the author tried very hard to paint a positive portrayal of African Americans living in Los Angeles. In the process, she sacrificed characters with any dimension or complexity.

GET THE SHOW ON THE ROADis indeed a delightful story. I was browsing in a local community bookstore last month and saw the book.At first, I was not sure as to wheter I should purchase it.But it kept calling me. Thank God I purchased it and completed it in two days.It has a wonderful simple story line but yet one that is so reaffirming.Quite refeeshing to read books that depict African Americans as we really are.Its a love story, its a family story and hope the author will continue to write stories that tell our truths.Such an uplifting story line.I have shared to date this book with three co-workers.Keep up the good work! We need your voice in print.

This was a great book that makes you believe dreams do come true. Africa was a hard worker that everyone loved. She took what was given and made it happen. This book makes you think about how you treat other because you will never know who is watching. She met the man that swepted her off her feet. It was a modren day fairly tale. People that emjoy romantic books should read it.

The recipes in this book are healthy but they are not neccessarily easy or quick to prepare. If you are cooking for others they may be fooled by the "sneak" ingredients but after all the shopping, chopping, & measuring entailed in preparing these dishes, the cook sure won't be fooled. Many recipes are very difficult to prepare without a food processor and some ingredients are not to be found in the average grocery store. I was hoping for recipes that required less preparation & simpler ingredients. The book was not a total dissappointment; the recipes were tasty but if you are looking for shortcuts to good nutrition, look elsewhere.

I have been wanting to purchase this book for a long time. However, I have been disappointed with other books that promised great tasting recipes for health and didn't want to waste more money. Finally,I decided to purchase Stealth Health through the used section of Amazon.com, which was a very good experience in itself. The good experience did not end there. Every recipe we have tried from this book has been delicious!!! My husband does not eat bran cereal, but did in The Date Nut Bran Muffins and didn't even know it(still doesn't know it). I used dates and nuts in half of the batch for my taste and raisins in the other half for his. I really dislike cauliflower, but couldn't even tell it was in the Twice-Baked Potatoes-and I was the one that prepared the potatoes.Both of us enjoy rice pudding. The Golden Rice Pudding and all of the recipes can be enjoyed without feeling quilty. As for the other Healthy Cook Books purchased in the past-they will be donated to make room for other books written by Evelyn Tribole.

This book is by far the best book on eating healthfully. Why? Because Evelyn teaches you how to sneak "good food" (veggies, fiber, even soy) into "normal food". Yeah, we all know we should eat cruciforous veggies, more fiber, some soy, fruits, etc. But we don't. Evelyn shows you ways to pump up the nutritional value of foods you like--in a way that you won't even notice. Adding black beans to brownies is one solution--and it works (adds fiber, phytochemicals) and the brownies taste good, not healthy. She teaches you to puree cauliflower into your potatoes, so that you get the boost of nutrition. (I HATE cauliflower, but I don't mind eating it this way). All in all, I can't wait for more Stealth Health recipes. If you have kids, doubting husbands, or just plain don't like the taste of healthy food, buy this book. :) If you do like healthy food, this book will amaze you with how good healthy eating can taste.

I really enjoy Ms. Nesbit's written works. It is quite a shame that she can't write anymore. Although I liked this one a lot, I was a little disappointed by it because it lacked the charming fairy tale sort of feel that many of her children's books have. However, the story was quite wonderful, and I particularly loved the realistic scene of the children that the reader is given. I highly recommend this book to Edith Nesbit's fans, as well as people that enjoy a touch of mystery, mixed with a child's view of life.

I remember in The Railway Children that Bobbie, Peter and Phylls had a dog named James. I was wondering, what ever happened to James? In the book Phyllis is the best person to me because she is accident prone. In the story the kids lives change a lot from the city to the country. They make new friends on the railway.It was a great book. I still wonder..."What happened to James...."

The Railway Children is a wonderful book. When the book begins, the three children, Roberta (Bobbie), Peter and Phyllis are living a lovely, secure life at Edgecomb Villa. Their father returns home after being away on business, two unknown men come to visit him in the evening after supper, and he simply disappears. Neither the reader nor the children know what has happened to him until Bobbie makes a chance discovery and learns the horrible truth.

In the intervening time, their mother, a capable and charming woman, takes her children to live in the country near a railway station, because they must "play at being poor for a while." The children handle their new situation with grace and wit, spending hours hanging about the railway station and generally keeping themselves busy, and in the process becoming fast friends with the porter, Perks, and the station master. They also become acquainted with their own old gentleman who lends a hand to help them time and again.

Bobbie is the oldest and sweetest of the children, with a longing to be truly good. Peter is the boy, who is madly in love with trains, stubbornly refuses to pushed around, and exhibits an extraordinary courage in the rescue of a baby and a young man in a train tunnel. Phyllis is the youngest, a funny, clumsy child with good intentions that often seem to go awry.

I read this book to my four year daughter. She loved it. As the adult, I enjoyed reading it. And, you'll be happy to know, it all comes out right in the end.

In this classic, Baum describes the tale of poor Dorothy, who is hurled by a cyclone away from her uncle and aunt in Kansas into a strange and magical world of wizards and witches. Fortunately Dorothy has the help of several companions that she meets in this new world - a stuffed scarecrow who wants brains, a tin woodsman who wants a heart, and a cowardly lion who wants courage. Together with Dorothy - who wants a return trip to Kansas - they travel to the emerald city where Oz is wizard, to ask him to make their wishes come true. Their journey is fraught with adventures, and when they finally meet Oz they discover a terrible truth, that leads them into even more challenges and adventures. The magical fantasy of this tale has pleased readers of all ages for a century, and it's not hard to see why. Baum spins a wonderfully enchanting tale that includes wicked witches, flying monkeys, talking mice, and other fantastic creatures.

Is this book more than just a fantasy thrill? Some literary critics have proposed that Baum - a strong believer in individualism and self-confidence - is working with themes about self-esteem and self-reliance. This is quite plausible, especially considering that the brains, heart and courage sought by the scarecrow, woodsman and lion are abilities that they clearly already possess - they just need to recognize them and use them. And Dorothy herself discovers that when the wizard can't help her, she must and can rely on herself. Other literary critics have claimed that "The Wizard of Oz" needs to be read as an elaborate political allegory where the various characters represent various social classes and financial structures - a not impossible suggestion, but one that's somewhat difficult to defend. Ultimately, however, "The Wizard of Oz" is best enjoyed as a wonderful story. That doesn't mean it is any less of a contribution to English literature, because when appreciated as a brilliant story, you're sure to come back to it again and again, as are your children and grandchildren. It's precisely this universal appeal that makes "The Wizard of Oz" a true classic.

The Wizard of Oz written by L. Frank Baum is a wonderful book about a young girl who goes on an adventure full of excitement and fun. Dorothy the main character lives on a small country farm in Kansas with her Aunt, Uncle, and small dog, Toto. One day a twister comes over their country farm and whisks Dorothy along with her little dog away to a make believe land called Oz. There she is greeted by the people who live there. She asks them how she can get home to Kansas. They tell her that the Great Oz will help get her home. But before she heads on her way to Oz the Good Witch of the North kisses her on the forehead and says that with that kiss no one can harm her. So she and Toto head on their way to Oz. On her way she meets The Scarecrow who wants a brain, a Woodman made of tin who wants a heart and a Cowardly Lion who wants courage. These four new friends eimbark on an adventure to the great city of Oz. Will they all get their wishes? Find out when you read the Wizard of Oz. I loved this book because not only did it have fantasy but it is a great book for all ages. I recomend it to anyone who loved being a child.

The Wizard of Oz is about a girl named Dorothy who is a farm girl from Kansas. One day Dorothy is carried away by a cyclone to a magical land called Oz. While she is there she meets a tlaking scarecrow, a man made of tin, and a cowardly lion afraid of his own shadow. Dorothy and her friends follow a yellow brick road to the Emerald City where they hope to find the famous wizard that can grant each of their wishes. But the wicked witch keeps trying to ruin their trip to the Emerald City.
The setting of the book is in a magicla land full of little people called Munchkins, flying monkeys, and a wicked witch that will melt if touched with water. The characters have their separate reasons for wanting to see the wizard. As the story goes on, the reader can not help but fall in love with them.
The text gives great detail as to what everything looks like and with those details the whole world of Oz can come to life in the readers imagination.

John Courteney Boot is a rising young British novelist, but after an affair gone sour he wants to get out of England for awhile. He approaches the well-connected Mrs. Algernon Stitch for assistance & she in turn recommends to Lord Copper, publisher of the Beast newspaper, that he send Boot to cover the war in Ishmaelia, Africa. Copper in turn orders Mr. Salter, his Foreign Editor, to get Boot and in short order a series of mix-ups leads to the Beast sending William Boot, their nature columnist and a man who loathes leaving his ancestral home, Boot Magna Hall, to Africa. In Ishmaelia, Boot stumbles into a couple of scoops and returns home a hero, "Boot of the Beast".

Evelyn Waugh is one of the great satirists of the century and he has never been funnier than he is here, skewering the Press.

GRADE: B+

In October 1935, Italy invaded the independent African nation of Ethiopia. The Italo-Ethiopian War lasted less than eight months, Emperor Haile Selassie's kingdom falling quickly before Italy's modern weaponry. It was a little war that, nonetheless, implicated the great powers of Europe and foreshadowed the much bigger war to follow.

Evelyn Waugh was in his early 30s, already the author of four remarkable comic novels, when he accepted an assignment to cover the Italo-Ethiopian War for a London newspaper. The enduring result of that assignment was Waugh's fifth novel, "Scoop," a scathing satirical assault on the ethos of Fleet Street and its war correspondents, as well as on Waugh's usual suspects, the British upper classes.

The time is the 1930s. There is a civil war in the obscure country of Ishmaelia and Lord Copper, the publisher of the Beast newspaper, a newspaper that "stands for strong, mutually antagonistic governments everywhere," believes coverage of the war is imperative:

"I am in consultation with my editors on the subject. We think it a very promising little war. A microcosm you might say of world drama. We propose to give it fullest publicity. We shall have our naval, military and air experts, our squad of photographers, our colour reporters, covering the war from every angle and on every front."

Through the influence of Mrs. Algernon Stitch, Lord Copper soon identifies John Courteney Booth, a best selling popular author, as the right man to cover the war in Ishmaelia. Neither Lord Copper nor his inscrutable editorial staff, however, is especially well read or familiar with the current socially respectable literati. Amidst the confusion, Mr. Salter, the foreign editor, mistakenly identifies William Booth, country bumpkin and staff writer for the Beast, as the "Booth" to whom Lord Copper was referring:

"At the back of the paper, ignominiously sandwiched between Pip and Pop, the Bedtime Pets, and the recipe for a dish named 'Waffle Scramble,' lay the bi-weekly column devoted to nature: --

Lush Places. Edited by William Boot, Countryman.

" 'Do you suppose that's the right one?' "

" 'Sure of it. The Prime Minister is nuts on rural England.' "

" 'He's supposed to have a particularly high-class style: 'Feather-footed through the plashy fen passes the questing vole' . . . would that be it?' "

" 'Yes,' said the Managing Editor. That must be good style. At least it doesn't sound like anything else to me.' "

Thus, William Boot, Countryman, soon finds himself on his way to Ishmaelia to cover the civil war for the Beast. Boot hooks up with an experienced wire reporter named Corker along the way. Corker teachers Boot the ins and outs of covering the war, a war in which reportage comes from little more than the imagination of the journalists sent to cover it and the editorial policies of their papers. The real nature of the war correspondent's profession is suggested when Boot and Corker go to the Ishmaelia Press Bureau to obtain their credentials: "Dr. Benito, the director, was away but his clerk entered their names in his ledger and gave them cards of identity. They were small orange documents, originally printed for the registration of prostitutes. The space for thumb-print was now filled with a passport photograph and at the head the word 'journalist' substituted in neat Ishmaelite characters."

Boot, despite his naivety and ignorance of the war correspondent's trade, inadvertently succeeds in trumping his more experienced journalistic competitors in reporting the war. Along the way, his adventures in Ishmaelia provide the perfect Waugh vehicle for a satiric dissection of the journalistic trade and of what passes as governance in the less developed parts of the world, where tribalism and nepotism more often than not underlie the veneer of ostensibly functioning political systems.

Boot, of course, returns to England, where he is now a household name. But one Boot is just as good as another, or so it seems. In the confusion of Boots, William, the real war correspondent, thankfully returns to his country home while his doddering, half-senile Uncle Theodore fulfills his role as the center of attention at the Beast and the prominent author John Courteney Booth (the man who started all this) mistakenly ends up with a knighthood intended for William.

"Scoop" is another brilliant Waugh comic send-up based on real-life experience, in this case his experience as a war correspondent in Ethiopia. It also is one of his best works, a little comic novel that will keep you in stitches from beginning to end.

In October 1935, Italy invaded the independent African nation of Ethiopia. The Italo-Ethiopian War lasted less than eight months, Emperor Haile Selassie's kingdom falling quickly before Italy's modern weaponry. It was a little war that, nonetheless, implicated the great powers of Europe and foreshadowed the much bigger war to follow.

Evelyn Waugh was in his early 30s, already the author of four remarkable comic novels, when he accepted an assignment to cover the Italo-Ethiopian War for a London newspaper. The enduring result of that assignment was Waugh's fifth novel, "Scoop," a scathing satirical assault on the ethos of Fleet Street and its war correspondents, as well as on Waugh's usual suspects, the British upper classes.

The time is the 1930s. There is a civil war in the obscure country of Ishmaelia and Lord Copper, the publisher of the Beast newspaper, a newspaper that "stands for strong, mutually antagonistic governments everywhere," believes coverage of the war is imperative:

"I am in consultation with my editors on the subject. We think it a very promising little war. A microcosm you might say of world drama. We propose to give it fullest publicity. We shall have our naval, military and air experts, our squad of photographers, our colour reporters, covering the war from every angle and on every front."

Through the influence of Mrs. Algernon Stitch, Lord Copper soon identifies John Courteney Booth, a best selling popular author, as the right man to cover the war in Ishmaelia. Neither Lord Copper nor his inscrutable editorial staff, however, is especially well read or familiar with the current socially respectable literati. Amidst the confusion, Mr. Salter, the foreign editor, mistakenly identifies William Booth, country bumpkin and staff writer for the Beast, as the "Booth" to whom Lord Copper was referring:

"At the back of the paper, ignominiously sandwiched between Pip and Pop, the Bedtime Pets, and the recipe for a dish named 'Waffle Scramble,' lay the bi-weekly column devoted to nature: --

Lush Places. Edited by William Boot, Countryman.

" 'Do you suppose that's the right one?' "

" 'Sure of it. The Prime Minister is nuts on rural England.' "

" 'He's supposed to have a particularly high-class style: 'Feather-footed through the plashy fen passes the questing vole' . . . would that be it?' "

" 'Yes,' said the Managing Editor. That must be good style. At least it doesn't sound like anything else to me.' "

Thus, William Boot, Countryman, soon finds himself on his way to Ishmaelia to cover the civil war for the Beast. Boot hooks up with an experienced wire reporter named Corker along the way. Corker teachers Boot the ins and outs of covering the war, a war in which reportage comes from little more than the imagination of the journalists sent to cover it and the editorial policies of their papers. The real nature of the war correspondent's profession is suggested when Boot and Corker go to the Ishmaelia Press Bureau to obtain their credentials: "Dr. Benito, the director, was away but his clerk entered their names in his ledger and gave them cards of identity. They were small orange documents, originally printed for the registration of prostitutes. The space for thumb-print was now filled with a passport photograph and at the head the word 'journalist' substituted in neat Ishmaelite characters."

Boot, despite his naivety and ignorance of the war correspondent's trade, inadvertently succeeds in trumping his more experienced journalistic competitors in reporting the war. Along the way, his adventures in Ishmaelia provide the perfect Waugh vehicle for a satiric dissection of the journalistic trade and of what passes as governance in the less developed parts of the world, where tribalism and nepotism more often than not underlie the veneer of ostensibly functioning political systems.

Boot, of course, returns to England, where he is now a household name. But one Boot is just as good as another, or so it seems. In the confusion of Boots, William, the real war correspondent, thankfully returns to his country home while his doddering, half-senile Uncle Theodore fulfills his role as the center of attention at the Beast and the prominent author John Courteney Booth (the man who started all this) mistakenly ends up with a knighthood intended for William.

"Scoop" is another brilliant Waugh comic send-up based on real-life experience, in this case his experience as a war correspondent in Ethiopia. It also is one of his best works, a little comic novel that will keep you in stitches from beginning to end.

While this was Waugh's least favourite of his own books, the one that he blamed for exposing him to the trials of fan mail and public recognition, it is in fact, a great and glorious book. Spanning the short adult life of Sebastian Flyte, it is told retrospectively through the eyes of his friend and former lover Charles, who goes on, once youthful experimentation is over, to carry on an equally passionate and hopeless love affair with Sebastian's sister. But in some ways, these themes are not the great story. The larger pictures are of the slackening grip of British aristocracy, the power of love and the power of Faith. Waugh paints a masterpiece of the sweet, desperate years between the wars, at Oxford, in London and Paris, with one generation lost and the next helplessly watching history lurching towards a repetition of the same madness.

Brideshead is a gloomy book but a must-read nonetheless. I am sometimes embarassed to say I liked it enough to read it twice and I'm sure that I'll read it again. I read mostly for the story- (not particularly postmodern of me) and for the pleasure of perceiving with some hard intimacy the lives and surroundings of a period and time that is no more and wouldn't have been mine anyway. The Catholic intensity would be meaningless to a younger lapsed soul, but even in my American youth, the religion as destiny- for better or worse- was certainly a part of my parents' top ten issues of life. As such, they were also for the younger me.
Waugh's own yearnings for lineage and the rest of inheritance and 'class' are transformed into a good story with details of snobbery and those horridly cold (British upperclass) childhoods. Those children became adults only having born consequences of World War, modernism and legacies of excess- religious and alcoholic. All of those were certainly bedeviling Waugh as much as any of his creations. No doubt the novel was chosen by a smart BBC producer for the very same details that made the book work for me. If you are a reader of Waugh or Nancy Mitford or any of the first half of the 20th century 'greats,' I cannot imagine that you would forego Brideshead- if only because it is certainly more serious, and in that, more silly. Even his lesser literary efforts- and God knows he had plenty of those-reflected his superstardom, his trajectory as one of the most multifaceted authors.

I had a friend who made it a point to read "Brideshead Revisited" once a year without fail. She considered it the finest book ever written. While I might quarrel with that hyperbole, I do in fact list it in my own personal top ten. I, too, re-read it, in my case, every few years. And of course I was riveted to the brilliant BBC production starring Jeremy Irons as Charles Ryder.

Imagine my delight, then, when I found this unabridged reading by Irons himself! My delight was rewarded. Irons' perfect reading of this book opened up a whole new world for me. This time, I heard and felt the absolute poetry of Waugh's words--his ability to take his reader from sultry ... summertime to the slums of the Casbah to a storm at sea that is the perfect metaphor for the turmoil to come. Waugh never wasted a word. Never said more than he had to say. Never helped the reader by sugarcoating the story. And the result was breathtaking.

Maybe because I was listening this time rather than reading, I paid much more attention this time to the book's main theme, religion versus humanity. Can one exist without the other? Does one destroy the other? How far can one stray when bound by the "invisible thread"? Waugh's very personal and moving tale of upper-class Catholics in a Protestant country is a brilliant affirmation of faith, and at the same time, a bitter acknowledgement of the price that faith can exact.

I cannot say enough about this recording, which brings all the best of Waugh to the fore even more so than the written word.

Poor Paul Pennyfeather! As the "hero" of Evelyn Waugh's first novel he is barely worth a cent and light as pillow stuffing. This flimsiness of character may cause concern unto lack of concern in the reader who wishes to strongly identify with the protagonist, but halfway through the book, Waugh's narrator assures us that Pennyfeather's hollowness is intentional:

"In fact, the whole of this book is really an account of the mysterious disappearance of Paul Pennyfeather, so that readers must not complain if the shadow which took his name does not amply fill the important part of hero for which he was originally cast."

Pennyfeather is someone who is acted upon more than he acts--perhaps it is better to say he is more sinned against than sinning--his story begins when he is attacked in an Oxford quad by a group of his snobbish bully classmates. They strip him naked from the waist down and before he knows it the university has expelled him for indecent behavior. He then loses his allowance and ends up teaching in a disreputable prep school in Wales where adventures continue to be inflicted upon him.

Waugh never allows Pennyfeather to defend himself, his satirical point being that an English gentleman wouldn't stoop to blame those who had wronged him, even if it means he goes to jail. After all, his irrepressible fellow teacher Grimes tells Paul, no matter how bad things get, there is "a blessed equity in the English social system that insures the public school man [public schools in England are actually private] against starvation." It's that social system that the young Waugh, twenty-five when this book was published, enjoys puffing up just to tear it down. Waugh maintains a light narrative touch though his subject matter is often serious and occasionally outrageous. He structures the book well and has a sharp appreciation for the absurdities of the English upper classes in the 1920s that is not inapplicable to many other time periods and cultures.

DECLINE AND FALL did not make me laugh as much as I thought it might. There are funnier English campus comedies out there, notably Kingsley Amis's LUCKY JIM and the first part of Waugh's own BRIDESHEAD REVISITED. Waugh was one of the twentieth century's great stylists, however, and I look forward to reading his second book, VILE BODIES.

Waugh's debut novel has the scattershot approach of a boy with his first bee-bee gun. The church, the gentry, public schools, the penal system, the judiciary, token blacks and the aristocracy. If he missed anything or anybody, that's the biggest accident of all.

Paul Pennyfather is the transparent vessel that is acted upon by all the howling winds of hypocrisy. I liked Paul and always expected him to muddle through with his excellent manners ("always a gentleman.") He is sent down from an Oxford look-alike under the cloud of "indecent behavior" when he is the victim of a hazing incident that leaves him trouserless on the common. His guardian cancels his allowance for the shame of it, and Paul is forced to take a position in sub-par boys school in Wales. The cast of characters is well used, whoever he meets always returns later in the story until Waugh settles them or kills them off, whichever suits his fancy. As wild as the ride is, the story ends tidily with Paul in exactly the same position as when he started.

There is an undertone of iron in this biting tale. I think Waugh already was getting his religious visions in place. "Decline and Fall" is brilliant, but moody. Your discomfort level might rise even while you are laughing. "Decline and Fall" is an excellent introduction to Evelyn Waugh's works. If all else fails, as another reviewer mentioned, pretend it's a Monty Python sketch.
-sweetmolly-Amazon Reviewer

Waugh's first novel is an outrageous satire that pokes fun at the British class system, religion, and education. If one does not take it at all seriously, then it is a howlingly funny book. His "hero," Paul Pennyfeather, and the other characters float in and out of various kinds of trouble without seeming to learn a single thing. Best moment - the casual, but horrifying fate of poor little Lord Tangent. The amusing illustrations drawn by Waugh himself are a delightful bonus. I highly recommend this book and look forward to reading more of Waugh.

In Austin, Texas, school principal Bobbie Strickland is a single mother who raised her twin children and for almost a decade her granddaughter, Monika "Monee" Strickland. Her daughter Darlene gave birth to the child when she was sixteen but never revealed the father's identity. Over the next few years, Darlene went deeper into the abyss, becoming a junkie. Now Darlene wants her daughter back, but Bobbie does not trust her to properly care and nurture Monee.

Retired military officer Ray Caldwell returns to his hometown of Austin. At church, he meets Bobbie and is immediately attracted to her. As Ray tries to court Bobbie, she feels that she has too much on her plate though she genuinely loves the ex soldier. Bobby knows she will face her own child in court, but is unaware that Darlene is trying to regain her life and respect.

EVERYTHING IN ITS PLACE is an entertaining African-American contemporary relationship drama that will touch the soul of every reader. The story line grips the audience as it focuses on the aftermath of everyone in the sphere of a baby having a baby. Evelyn Palfrey avoids turning the plot into a simplistic tear jerker by making her key cast seem real by filling each one with compassion yet struggling with distrust and a need to overcome flaws. Fans of modern day issue not tissue tale will relish this strong story.

Harriet Klausner

Ray, fresh out of the military attends church at the insistence of his mother. Meaning to make a quick exit, he hears the voice of Barbara, aka, Bobbie stops in his tracks and is immediately smitten by this woman. He makes it his business to get to know her.

Bobbie is a busy grandmother, school principal and is raising her granddaughter. The many distractions in her life makes it difficult for her to even think about establishing a relationship. Romance is the last thing on her mind, but Ray's persistence grows on her.

This book has a little of everything: romance, mystery, child custody, grandparents raising grandchildren, the aftermath of sexual exploitation, and substance abuse. It is another signature novel by Evelyn Palfrey featuring a trip taken in a RV, characters whose appearances are left to your imagination, and always the marvelously mature woman. It has all the components that makes one return to reading her work again and again.

Jeanette
APOOO BookClub

I read this book in a matter of hours.

Once you begin it you won't want to put it down.

You are introduced to Bobbie Strickland a devoted mother and grandmother. Bobbie has a daughter named Darlene that is causing havoc in her mother's life. After raising Darlene's daughter Monee, Darlene decides she wants her daughter back with her.

Bobbie then meets a handsome stranger by the name of Raymond Caldwell and they begin to date.

Ms. Caldwell has some of everything in this book. This was an enjoyable book and I would recommend it to others.