this book is great because it includes all the things we need to know no matter which plan we are following. It has calories, carbs, fats as well as sugars. I have not seen it in any other book. It is highly recommended by my counselor at Lindora.

Robin Hood is one of the books I enjoyed reading. It has action, and adventure and a few historical facts. Robin Hood takes place a long time ago, probably in the middle ages. Robin Hood is the main character. He is handsome, brave and he has a bood heart and he steals from the rich and gives to the poor. Robin Hood has a little romance. For example when Robin says "I will win the archer competition and take the gold arrow and give it to the princess to be mine!" I would recommend this book to people who like action and adventure.

I have always been entranced by the heroic feats and daring adventures of this legendary outlaw. He braved prison and the rope to so cunningly outwit the Sherrif and defy the tyrant, Prince John, and brought protection and hope to the people of 12th century England. This book is a great intro to the tales of this timeless hero and I would recommend it to anyone with a passion for adventure. Books are the gateways to the universe. Take the journey...

Robin Hood
By Ann McGovern
...9-19-02

Over the summer I read the book Robin Hood. It was about a boy named Robin Hood that went hunting with his father. The book was set in the mid-evil times. Robin Hood is a man who doesn't give up. He has black hair and brown eyes. Since Robin Hood and his father were peasants they weren't allowed to hunt the king's deer. When they were hunting the sheriff's men caught them. They took Robin Hood's father, and a man chased after Robin Hood. Robin Hood had a knife in his hand. He threw it back at him, and it killed him. Robin Hood was found by the Outcasts of Sherwood Forest. He met a girl named Marion. Marion is a careful girl who looks out for Robin Hood. She is an albino person with white skin, pink eyes, and blonde hair. If you want to see what happens to Robin Hood and what adventures he has get Robin Hood.

My favorite part is when Robin Hood was running from the Sheriff's Men because there was a lot of action. For example, when he kills one of the men, and he runs through the forest and gets away. I also like the part when he is at the archery contest. I liked it because I like to read about people shooting bow and arrows. It was cool when he won the gold arrow. The gold arrow has something to do at the end of the book. The person who I didn't like was the sheriff. I didn't like him because he was always trying to get Robin Hood. He wasn't very smart either.

In my opinion this book was very good. I liked it because there was a lot of action and adventure. Like when Robin Hood and his men try to get treated equally and start attacking trade caravans. Or when they sneak into the castle to get someone. I think that a person who likes action and adventure would like this book. I would also recommend this to someone who likes history because there is a lot of historical facts like Prince John and Richard the Lion Heart.

I had a hard time extrapolating the author's experiences into a useful context. She is a talented writer, and her prose is easy to follow. But her accounts are a bit too personal, and at times i felt almost like i was reading her diary. I was most disappointed at the end, when her search for explanations to her father's death takes her around Europe. For one thing, how could she pretend to find answers for faith? What really killed me was the episode with the contact lens: "If you believe it is there, you will find it". I couldn't help but think about Kevin Costner: "If you build it, they will come".

I met Ann Hood one November night at Baker Books in Dartmouth, MA, when she came to give a reading of "Do Not Go Gentle". It was enjoyable. As an Italian, I could identify with Mama Rose, and her methods to ward off the effects of "mal'occhio" (evil eye) for my grandmother did the same thing, only with drops of olive oil. Nonna passed away last April, but the memory lingers. As a religious priest, I could identify with her Catholicism, and I am sure the Franciscan brothers also present had much to share with her that evening in that regard. I regret that I didn't spend some time with her. After her dialogue with the Franciscans, I just stepped up, asked her to dedicate the brand new book to me, and left. I had not read the book yet. Feeling dumb, I did not pursue a conversation. I enjoyed the work. It reads smoothly, like a river. The text is not taxing to the reader, but is easy to follow, taking the reader to many places, stories and ideas. The story is the faith journey of a woman, who is trying to square the death of her father with her faith system. Faith is more than a packaged set of beliefs. Faith is that sometimes. Dogmatic faith. Other times faith is dynamic. Ann Hood's faith journey is to answer the question about how her father's death relates to her sense of meaning. And journey she does to many places, externally and internally. It is a human journey, maybe at times a little wrapped up in a sentiment, or in magic, or superstition. Still it is a human journey. And a theological journey, if we can remember that the classical definition of theology is "fides quarens intellectum" (faith seeking understanding). I finished the book hoping that she would at some point visit her Catholicism again. I am grateful for her portrait of Italian life. I like her sense of humor. I would have liked to read more about her mother. While I am taking basic Italian classes on Federal Hill every Saturday morning until June, I hope to run into her at Tony's, or Dolce Vita or Venda Ravioli. Now I have a few questions to raise. They would go well with some bruschetta and red wine.

Hood's prose is haunting and lyrical. Readers are easily swept up into her story -- a story of searching for meaning in the modern world. Through an exploration of family, Hood discovers the real meaning of faith. At the heart of it all, faith is about love. While some of the trappings are caught up in the traditionally religious, faith is a matter of the heart. Ann Hood finds her faith when she returns to her roots. Her message is uplifting and gentle; her love true and strong.

Ann Hood's novel about a pregnant teenager and a mourning widow was full of shallow characters and a jumbled plot. The conversations were simple and provided little insight into what each character was feeling. I forced myself to finish this book and was not surprised when the end was exactly what I had expected.

I bought this book with great anticipation, as it had been highly recommended by a friend. I have to say, I was more than a little disappointed. I couldn't bring myself to like Ruby or Olivia, and by the end of the book was hoping that NEITHER of them got to keep the baby. Olivia was shallow, self centered, and only seemed to want the baby to fill the void left by her husband's death. Ruby was rude, obnoxiously naive, and only seemed to want the baby to force her boyfriend to stay with her. If this is a true sampling of Ms. Hood's writing, you can bet I won't be reading anymore!

Olivia and Ruby meet under very unusual circumstances. Olivia is staying at a beach house that she and her husband planned to live in together. He was tragically killed and she is trying to come to terms with her grief. She finds Ruby in her kitchen drinking a glass of water. Ruby is 15, pregnant, and has no place to go. Although suspicious of her, Olivia lets her stay in her house and gradually they form a bond.

Olivia decides that the best thing for everyone is for her to adopt Ruby's baby. But will Ruby keep her word? Even tho she's only 15, there are times when she seems to think that it will be possible for her to keep her baby.

Their relationship goes through many stages from the distrust in the beginning to true friendship at the end. It is a marvelous book.

Though not deep literture by any stretch of the imagination, this book made me fall in love with Ann Hood. The themes explored here (the sixties, lost idealism, familial relations, the complexity of romantic relations) are frequent themes in her novels. so much so, that they become fairly redundant after awhile. this, however, is her best outing. Rather than probing deeply into the pysches of her characters, Hood instead takes the reader on an entertaining skim of thier surafaces, which are interesting enough to make the read a pleasant one. this book is kind of like a well made tv movie: insubstantial but entertaining, impossible to turn away from once you're hooked. an earlier reviewer compared the style to those of Ann Tyler or Alice Hoffman. I think thats an accurate comparison, although Hood may even be a little more accesible due to the fact that the novel is zippier and less bogged down in ulitmately irrevelent detail.

Though it's not my favorite book of this year, but it was a pleasant, quick read. I wish that Ms. Hood had written in depth about her characters ~~ instead, I got a fuzzy image of each one of them, which is disappointing because she could write more about Claudia, Elizabeth, Suzanne, Sparrow and Rebekah. They are the kind of women that I'd be interested in knowing a little better than the sketch that I was given in this book.

Claudia, Elizabeth and Suzanne were friends in college during the 1960s. Then one summer, each of them fell in love and got pregnant for the first time. Claudia and Elizabeth remained friends, while Suzanne moved to Boston to raise her daughter Sparrow alone. Claudia and Elizabeth married their respective lovers and raised families on a gorgeous farm ~~ with crabapple trees and daisies on that farm. Suzanne left her lover Abel because she refused to have an abortion ~~ and in turn became a hard, brittle woman whose daughter could never understand. Elizabeth also had a daughter Rebekah ~~ that she tried to understand but it wasn't till she was diagnosed with cancer that she was able to finally reach out to her daughter.

There is a thin story line here ~~ and that alone is disappointing. Ms. Hood could have written more about Elizabeth and Rebekah, Suzanne and Sparrow, and Claudia's inability to let go of her son who drowned. The ending leaves a lot of questions unanswered.

If you're looking for a quick read and something light, then I would recommend this book. It is well-written, but there isn't enough substance there to hold your imagination like a good author tries to do. It quite doesn't match up to my expectations of what a good book should do. It is sufficient enough if you need something light to read.

I read this book a LONG time ago, and I have been searching for and reading Ann Hood ever since! Maybe it was my age and maturity - whatever - when I read it, but I LOVED it! I'd highly recommend this or any Ann Hood to everyone. For me, it was an eye-opening look into the woman's side of things. It made me think, and changed my point of view in a big way.

Hood can be a terrific writer, fleshing out her plot lines with telling details and little twists that make the reader gasp. She can also be shallow and boring. In this book, which is pretty much a family saga in a doggedly Realistic vein, Hood pits her two personalities against each other, undercutting an otherwise intruiging narrative with a wash of falsely "quirky" particulars and grating platitudes. Her suburban landscape, rendered with a slavish attention to detail, is so credible as to be dull as dirt. Her characters, freshly appealing at first, become tiresome as she endlessly loads them up with ridiculously idiosyncratic tics. In the end, the momentum of the story line does carry the day, but only by a slim margin. Rarely does one find so much powerful prose and skillful insight amdist such amateurish "bells and whistles" within the confines of the same novel. Sadly, Hood, who once showed so much promise, has made a habit of this sort of self-sabotage. Her most recent novel, the similarly schizophrenic "Ruby", reveals no discernible advancement and, in its first few grossly sentimental chapters, is utterly wretched. Maybe she needs a new editor.

Places To Stay The Night is the story of the several residents of a small town in Massachusetts. Renata, who escaped her small town for New York just after high school, returns to her hometown in search of a miracle cure (in the form of clean air and quiet living) for her terminally ill child. The reader is introduced to Renata's former school mates, none of which have faired any better than Renata. The story was written with such insight and compassion. I recommend it highly!

Ann Hood did a great job. pick any emotion you need, and read how to develop it. 36, emotions targeted in independent chapters. This is a super reference book for any writer. Sooner or later, every writer will need this book, or one like it. This kind of research, will prevent flat characters.

Creating Character Emotions is broken up into different sections like Anger, Happiness and Love.

It's easy to flip to the section you want and read that particular chapter. Ann Hood offers a "GOOD" and "BAD" example of writing on that particular subject. There are even exercises at the end of each chapter so you can try your own hand at creating emotions.

However, the sections are short and don't offer a complete explanation to give you the writing edge. It really just touches base with the emotion and how to write about it without offering a deeper sense of "creating character emotions."

This is a nice, quick reference to depicting several emotional states without getting bogged down in deep psychological discussion. Though the "bad" examples seem obvious (as they should to those who enjoy good reading), the good examples are excellent. The exercises at the end of each chapter are also a nice touch.

I was decidedly unimpressed with this novel. The characters are not real people, but cartoons. Living in Rhode Island I had hoped to see more of the character of the state come through-- since so much effort is made to difine the setting as RI-- but was disappointed there as well. The writing was fair to good. Some images and some dialogue were impressive, but overall the book is mediocre.