I have not read this book. Therefore, I have awarded it a Harriet Klausner 5. But any book, without exception, reviewed by Harriet Klausner is tripe. And without exception, any review written by Harriet Klausner is tripe. This lowbrow woman couldn't get past the opening page of an Iris Murdoch novel.

Don Francisco Coffee

Though she raises a toddler and is dealing with her teenage son arrested for shoplifting, Emma Price knows that her time in Brooklyn as a single mother feels like heaven compared to her current assignment as a New York City Capital Defender's Office investigator. Emma is to uncover anything that will enable Roland Everett to avoid the obvious death penalty. When his injury compensation claim was rejected Roland retaliated by killing three people.

While Emma struggles with finding anything to help her "client", her lover, Brooklyn Homicide Detective Laurence Solomon, is working on the execution of abortion-rights activist Dr. Eleanor Hammond. Emma knew Eleanor and the woman's family when she was a child, but found nothing redeeming in any of her relationships with any of the Hammond brood so she wonders why she thinks a friend was killed. Though an anti-abortion group claims the credit, Emma believes that this homicide is more domestic in nature and begins her own inquiries.

In some ways STEALING FOR A LIVING is a simplistic look at evil, yet paradoxically that is why the second Emma Price novel (see THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY) is a superb investigative tale as Naomi Rand focuses on the rationalization for murder justifiable in the killers' minds. Fans of urban mysteries will appreciate this novel as Emma struggles on all fronts, whether it is at home in Brooklyn, in her competition with her lover on the Hammond homicide, or failing to find a redeeming quality for a malevolent bigot who she believes deserves death.

Harriet Klausner

Naomi Rand has joined the small number of authors whose books I buy in hardback because I can't wait for the paperback edition. This is the second book in her series about Emma Price, an investigator for the Capitol Defender's Office. When we last left Emma, she was 40, pregnant, about to be divorced, and beginning a new relationship with a New York City detective, Lawrence Solomon. Over a year has passed and now Emma is dealing with a baby and a troubled pre-teen at home, a difficult boss at work, and building her relationship with Solomon. While Emma is busy trying to find mitigating circumstances so that her obviously guilty client can avoid the death penalty, Solomon is investigating a murder of a social activist who was an important person in Emma's past. Both cases are interesting and we learn more about Emma who is a richly drawn, complex character whom I like very much and am eager to encounter when the next book in the series is published.

This book may turn out to be my all-time favorite book of bilingual poetry. The frosting on the cake, so to speak, turns out to be the art work accompanying the poetry. Each time I read one of the poems I like it better than the last time. And these are carefully selected, excellent quality poems: with writers such as Octavio Paz, Alberto Blanco, Rosario Castellanos (and many more) how could they not be terrific? A lasting gift for any occasion, especially for someone interested in bilingual stories from Mexico.

Being a beginning self-taught student in Spanish with a special interest in Mexican Spanish by way of my residency in Texas, I took a chance on purchasing this bilingual book and was more than delighted by what I found inside. The convenient side-by-side text of the poems and short stories makes it easy to follow the translations and improve language skills. However, the real treasures in this book are discovered slowly, as one peruses the glowing artwork by various Mexican artists in conjunction with the inspiring words that seem to interweave themselves into the pictures. This is a book to sit back and savor during personal quiet time, or to read to your children. The melodic rhythms of both the Spanish and English texts rock the heart and sooth the soul.

This was a wonderful book with not only great poems but beautiful illustrations. It is a nice book for anyone who wants to get the feel for Mexican folk writing and art. The poems are simple enough that you can read them without having to know too much Spanish.

As far as I know, this is the first major anthology on Tu B'Shevat, which is the "Birthday of the Trees" on the Jewish calendar. The book begins with an excellent essay called "The Living Tree: A Festival's Growth through History" by Arthur Waskow. His essay traces the development of Tu B'Shevat from an agricultural tax-date associated with tithing in biblical times, to a mystical meal to renew the Tree of Life in the Middle Ages, to it's current focus on ecology and global survival.

Waskow's essay becomes the framework for arranging the rest of the book like a growing tree. After all, the Torah is called a "Tree of Life"! The "roots" of Tu B'Shevat are found in biblical Judaism, the strong "trunk" was formed in rabbinical Judaism, and the "branches" are various post-Talmudic movements such as Kabbalah and Hasidism, Zionism and the Land of Israel, modern Eco-Judaism, etc. Finally, there is a section on the Festival itself, which includes a variety of essays, songs, and other resources for celebrating the holiday.

Parts of this book are heavy on the "Jewish Renewal" POV, which is not surprising, since the "eco-kosher" movement began in that circle. Some of the material, such as the "Olamama" love song to Mother Earth by Hannah Tiferet, is a bit too neo-pagan for my Orthodox tastes. And while "The Bear in Me" is a nice idea for a song about nature waking up in the spring, the words "There's a bear hibernating in the crook of a tree" are not true to life -- unless the tree is meant to be a metaphor for Tu B'Shevat. Real bears do not hibernate in trees!

On the other hand, there's quite a bit of traditional material, too -- some of it never before published in English. Of special interest to me are a translation of the Ari's 16th-century kabbalistic version of the Tu B'Shevat seder, and a translation of a "lost" medieval poem called "Shemona Esrei of the Trees." The latter was unknown in modern times until it was re-discovered among the manuscripts that Solomon Schechter brought back from the Cairo genizah in 1896. It continued to languish in the obscurity of academe until Joyce Galaski fell in love with it and did this translation. The poem, which is believed to date to around the 10th or 11th century, is the oldest known liturgical piece based on this festival. Not only that, it's beautiful! (The Hebrew text of the poem is also included.)

The rabbinical "trunk" section has two excellent pieces on the halachic principle of "bal taschit" ("you shall not destroy") and how it was expanded from a biblical prohibition against cutting down fruit trees in times of war (Deut. 20:19-20) into a general prohibition against vandalism, wastefulness, conspicuous consumption, and any unnecessary destruction of resources.

These examples are only a tiny nibble of the many gourmet tastes of Torah to be sampled in "Trees, Earth, and Torah." Like all such anthologies, it's definitely a mixed bowl of fruit, some sweeter than others. Taken as a whole, however, the book is a wonderful feast! It should be in every Jewish library.

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Since Tu B'Shvat is arguably the most vegetarian of Jewish holidays because of its many connections to vegetarian themes and concepts, vegetarians should joyfully welcome the publication of this anthology with its abundance of material that should contribute to the increasing popularity of this mid-winter holiday. All who are looking for ways to apply new, creative approaches to ancient festivals should also be pleased.

Among the following valuable and interesting features the book contains are:
1) An introductory essay by Arthur Waskow that traces Tu B'Shvat's growth throughout history from its original status as a day that separated trees in terms of when tithings were due, through the establishment of the Tu B'Shvat seder by the kabbalists of Sefat in the sixteenth century, through the associations with tree-planting of nineteenth century Zionists, to recent adaptations by modern environmentalists;
2) Quotations related to trees and other Tu B'Shvat-related concepts from the Torah and other Jewish sources;
3) Material related to rabbinic dicussions related to Tu B'Shvat, including a recently discovered medieval prayer, "Shmoneh Esrei for the New Year for Trees," and insightful essays on bal tashchit, the mandate to not waste or unnecessarily destroy anything of value, based on a Torah verse not to destroy fruit-bearing trees in wartime, by Rabbi Norman Lamm, President of Yeshiva University, and by Eilon Schwartz, Director of the Heschel Center for Environmental Learning and Leadership in Israel.
4) Seven items relating kabbalah and hasidism to Tu B'Shvat, including a translation of "Peri Eitz Hadar," a kabbalistic Tu B'Shvat seder.
5) Five items relating Tu B'Shvat to Zionism and the land of Israel, including an extensive analysis of how the Jewish National Fund (Keren Kayemet le-Yisrael) used tree plantings on Tu B'Shvat to educate young Israelis on love of the land of Israel and nature.
6) Thirteen wide-ranging items on connections between Tu B'Shvat themes and "eco-Judaism' and current environmental problems, including essays relating the holiday to recent efforts to save the Redwood forests and an analysis of current environmental threats by Ismar Schorsch, Chancellor of the Jewish Theological seminaryt.
7) Much wonderful material to help celebrate Tu B'Shvat today, including blessings for the seder, suggestions for cooking up a Tu B'Shvat seder, suggestions to involve children in the Tu B'Shvat seder and other holiday-related activities, suggestions about planting and taking care of trees, suggestions about new Tu B'Shvat traditions, recipes, and songs.
8) An article co-authored by Jonathan Wolf and this author on "Judaism, Vegetarianism, and Tu B'Shvat," which discusses aspects of "the most vegetarian holiday".
9) Sources for Learning and Doing ("Seeds"), including a listing of "Environmental Organizations, Publications, and Videos," a discussion of several Tu B'Shvat seder Haggadot, and sources for information about tree planting.
This brief summary can only give a taste of the many "fruity" delights in this book, and I regret having to leave out mention of many significant themes and distinguished authors. Because of its many environmental and vegetarian connections, I hope that this wonderful anthology will be widely read and discussed so that it will meet its potential to play a major role in the expansion and enhancement of an increasingly popular Tu B'Shva

The quality and variety of the selections are amazing: poetry by Marge Piercy & Marcia Falk, songs by Shefa Gold & Hanna Tiferet Siegel, scholarly articles by Miles Krassen & Howard Eilberg-Schwartz, the original Kabbalistic Seder from Safed & Ellen Bernstein's seder for today, meditations on trees by Ismar Schorsch and Zalman Schachter, wonderful papercuts and a cartoon comix by Joel Lurie Grishaver, fruit-dish recipes from Iran and India, essays on tree-planting in Israel -- totally delicious, not only for preparing Tu B'Shvat celebrations but also browsing anytime of year.

A tremendous amount of information and statistics to beef up a paper or presentation. Lots of information on domestic violence, as well as legislation that affects women.

If you're doing research or have serious interest in the status of women in a large number of countries around the world, this book provides very useful and important statistics on a large number of countries around the world. It is well organized and, hence, easy for any reader to use.

Everything you ever wanted to know........! This is a wonderful resource for anyone interested in issues concerning women around the world. The material is thought provoking, well organized and easy to read. I highly recommend this book--use it for research, read it for pleasure or simply keep it on your bookshelf for answering some of those tough Trivial Pursuit questions!

"In lyrical,original language expressing anger, hope, optimism, and a fierce independence, Naomi Ayala explores being Puerto Rican on the mainland--displaying pride in her culture coupled with the pain of exclusion, vividly describing her encounters with racism and poverty, and the power of love in these difficult circumstances." --Hispancic Outlook in Higher Education

"Naomi Ayala writes poems like water; a clear strong current, sometimes tranquil, sometimes furious, but always swirling with life. There is a lyrical passion for justice here, an out-loud celebration of struggle and survival rooted in the Puerto Rican experience. Wild animals, indeed! These poems are wild, in the best sense of the word." --Martín Espada

"Ayala's poems are bold, surrealistic, freewheeling. She plays with placement on the page...Ayala's style contributes to the power of what she has to say." --Margaret Huntington, American Book Review

"Some women are silent--they worry about what they say and how they say it. But...Naomi Ayala will not be silenced in any language." --Teresa Cruz, Connecticut Post

Don't sell yourself short.Read it,feel it,dare to open your heart

There are few books that make you stop and think. This one does. Real hard.

I read this book in one day. I loved both Rafe and Mary Margaret. What great characters! I especially liked the fact that Meg wasn't a weak, wimpy "take care of me" type who couldn't function because of her rioting hormones. I've read too much of that sort of stuff lately. Want to slap those women up side the head! Mary Margaret and Rafe are fabulous together. Both in and out of bed!

Now that I know there is another book in this series, I'm going to check the library to see if I can read that one.

This book completely captured my imagination. What a wild, wonderful time I had reading it. Thank you, Naomi Horton. Romance as it should be! :o)

This was a continuation of her "Wild" books, and although I never got a chance to read the first one I thoroughly enjoyed this one. From the very first page, I was completely captivated by both characters. Naomi Horton really delves into both and makes you truly know them (and root for them every step of the way). I first read her in an anthology and loved her matter-of-fact, witty, and incredibly fun writing style. Unfortunately, none of her other books are in print--hopefully there will be some reprints soon. Anyway, this one definitely does not disappoint.

Although this book is centered on the subject of how writers use dreams in their work, it contains a great deal of fascinating anecdotal information about the process of writing in general. As a professional writer and a former writing teacher, I'm constantly amazed at the misconceptions people have about the writing process -- e.g., "good writers get it right the first time and never have to revise," or "there's one RIGHT way to write" -- and this book does a lot to dispel those misconceptions. It also implicitly points out that writing is a continual dialogue between the irrational, creative, dream-logic part of the mind and the rational, critical, linear part, and that the most successful writers are those who can balance the two. Epel has done a great job of shaping the authors' comments into easy-to-read essays, and I was impressed that she avoided the temptation of showcasing herself as the all-knowing interviewer. This is not only a fun book to read, but very informative too.

This book is awesome. It is one of the most interesting books I have read on both writing and the creative process. Perhaps because it provides some true insight into the way writers actually work. This is not your typical "Interview with the Author." Naomi Epel's interviewees reveal themselves to be human, and not "just" literary luminaries. They talk candidly about how they find inspiration; how they find solutions to obstacles in their writing; and how so many of these solutions or answers lie deep within themselves, often to be revealed through their dreams. The key is to be open enough to hear to what your subconscious is telling you.

Do you remember your dreams? Do you sometimes confuse them with waking reality? Do you incorporate images from your dreams into your writing? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you might find Naomi Epel's interviews with twenty-six writers both entertaining and insightful. Epel, who studied under dream interpreter Jeremy Taylor (Where People Fly and Water Runs Uphill), had the great good fortune to interview many of today's most popular writers while she worked at a public radio station. Since she was interested in dreams herself, she chose to interview them specifically about their dreams. The results are as varied and creative as the writers themselves. While some writers claim they use much material from their dreamwork, others swear they never dream at all. But the most interesting part of the book is that discussing dreams leads most of the writers to discuss their own creative process. The result is that we learn, for example, William Styron received the vision for Sophie's Choice in a sort of waking dream, and mystery writer Sue Grafton devised her first murder plot by fantasizing about revenge on her ex husband. Any writer will find comfort in the familiar ups and downs of the creative process described by these writers, and many will find inspiration as well. A fascinating look into the minds of twenty-six writers.

This collection is a perfect example of the ability of a gifted poet to communicate hard truths simply. Each piece is a work of art and sings in the voices of immigrants and immigrants' children and with the rhythms of life in the Middle East. Don't buy this book expecting to find a treatise on terrorism or the events of September 11. Buy it to see through another's eyes and sing in another's voice. This is a fantastic book in its own right and a great introduction to the talent and skill of Naomi Shihab Nye.

this book was recommended to me by a friend, so i wasn't sure what to expect. i am really glad to have bought it, the poems are like little stories someone tells you on the porch while it's getting dark. very vivid, i felt as if i knew these people...fathers, mothers, grandmothers, schoolchildren, old arab men selling crafts...

I stumbled upon this book while searching for another anthology. This book is outstanding! It's like a breath of fresh air on a topic that has received more heat than light. I'm tempted to buy another copy!

This collection fills a void in literature by placing in one volume praisesongs to the many Black men who rarely make the evening news: fathers, brothers, husbands, lovers--heroes who never stopped and who never will abandon their commitment to their women, families and communities. Without hypberole, these sister- poets celebrate the Black men who have graced their lives; in so doing, they provide a welcome opportunity for the rest of us to do the same. Whether I share Adam of Ife' with students or "celebrants" at a funeral, people are genuinely thrilled that such an anthology exists. Naomi Long Madgett is to be commended for editing such a powerful volume.

I got and read this book the year it came out, translated into Norwegian, well over ten years ago. It is the only book I have ever read more than once, as the story griped me and captivated me in a big way. We meet the happy boy Alan, as he one day stumbles over Naomi, who has moved in to the block of flats where he lives. We follow their friendship as it gradually evolves. Alan is to begin with much more interested in playing base ball in the street with the rest of the guys, but is told by his mother to look after the fragile and disturbed Naomi. Horrors from the WW II has scarred her mind and soul, but Alan finds a way of getting through to her. How it all goes and ends is quietly moving and gripping, written in a wonderful way. I have never forgotten it. I truely recommend this book for any person who likes to read, who has been told to read something by teachers or parents (and who will be surprised at how easy read this one is) or simply someone who is looking for a good story.

As an eleven year old girl, I wanted to read a book that involved characters with more problems than boyfriends and clothes, etc. ALAN AND NAOMI was definitely it! I thoroughly enjoyed it and highly recommend ALAN AND NAOMI!