I read the first book in the trilogy and picked up A Place Called Sweet Shrub just because the author had killed off so many characters in the first and left much unanswered that I naively thought resolution would come in the sequel. I was wrong. Lucinda had so much going for her in the West Texas hardened by encounters with Christobel and Mrs. Sully that I thought her character would continue to grow. Instead, the book was a grandiose setup for the time displaced rehash of a race riot. The ribald humor was misplaced and characters are killed off haphazardly. I knew not to expect plot resolution, but some motivation would have been appreciated.

It has been three years since Lucy Richards returned from Estelline. Taking over the family hardware store and caring for family has taken her mind off her sister's betrayal and the man she had planned to marry, perhaps too well. Lucy feels that she may be too comfortable, and that life in Bonham may not hold much for her. When Josh Arnold visits Lucy on his way to Sweet Shrub, Arkansas(where he is to read law) he makes it clear in no uncertain terms that he is still interested in Lucy, and that he won't take no for an answer. Lucy discovery that her heart is once again willing to trust combined with Josh's insistance and the impending visit of Lucy's sister and former fiancee, propells Lucy to accept his proposal. Together they move to Sweet Shrub. Just as she had faced change and adversity when she left home to teach, Lucy is faced with a whole new life to claim. She is faced by the prejudices and fears of the townfolk, and must turn to Josh and an inner strength she did not realize she had to survive. This is the second in three books, and is told in a very different way than the first. The author is very skillful in including the events of the early 1900's, impending world war, friction between races and small town dynamics to weave a wonderful story of life in Texas.

"Sweet Shrub" was such a surprise. This book looked like dripy ole' southern novel. BUT...how wrong I was. This book was deep, emotional and I loved the characters. DEEPLY. This is such a great book.....it's clear, enjoyable, and such a pleasant surprise.

I found this book laborious, only slightly entertaining. Belongs in academia, but not necessarily for your reading pleasure on temping. If you liked this book, read Temporarily Yours by Wendy Perkins,an original, entertaining, provocative, self-published author/temp activist.

As a former rent-a-peon, I can attest to what Dr. Parker is talking about. Certainly the temporary-staffing industry does NOT want you to read this book.

I think this is a must-read for career counselors and those considering temping. The temp industry wants you to believe that the streets will be paved with gold after you sign on with them. Most of the temps interviewed for this book (and my temp coworkers) have similar views to mine. We've come to regard it as an easy way for companies to exploit workers and tell them they should be happy to have such a wonderful job. Just as Dr. Parker mentions, all too often temps literally are unable to afford searching for regular work. Time off usually means no pay, and there isn't a lot of money to spend on resume, proper interview attire, and the like.

Parker splendidly illustrates the disturbing increase in the proportion of the job market that consists of "contingent work" that has occurred during the past two decades. And he provides evidence that the temp-staffing industry is at least encouraging companies to use such staffing even more...

The downside to Flesh Peddlers is that it isn't for math phobes; there are a lot of numbers to go through and graphs would make it much easier to see what Parker is talking about. It also suffers from typographical errors throughout the text. Also recommended: "Just a Temp" by Kevin Daniel Henson. It is similar to "Flesh Peddlers," but actually is more reader-friendly.

Bottom line: Comic book grading is THE most difficult component of the comics collecting business side of the equation. Subjective interpretation lends disparity between any 2 people's grades, but the more experience that you have, the better equiped that you are to make qualified decisions about a book's grade. This book was much-updated from its previous version, so is an improvement. Bashing the book for not giving a "Cliff-notes" version of how to wave a magic wand, and "poof!" get a grade is a poor position to take. Yes, the book needs work in terms of pictures of defects and corresponding adjustments. One should also keep in mind that there is a functional aspect of grading that allows for a given defect to be (somewhat) offset by a strong characteristic in another are (e.g. stress marks bring book to FN, but stunning colors and/or supple white pages might boost it back to VF-, as a potential example). Given that there is NOT a lot of documented information on this subject, this book is helpful as a reference ONLY, and should be used in conjunction with other references (ComicBase, Wizard, Overstreet Guide), to make a good determination of a grade. Certainly times are better now than they were, say, 10 years ago, when only pros in the business for years could make an accurate estimate. Be thankful for that. CGC info, by design, is not going to be released - it's a Trade Secret for their business model, and if they gave it all away, they would not be in business. Does Proctor and Gamble give away its recipe for its products, or DuPont? - of course not. The discerning investigative researcher uses multiple sources. One such source (if you had bothered to read the Overstreet 33rd Edition) is that Metropolis Comics helped CGC develop the standards that they use. Also, many of the MAJOR comic dealers contribute heavily to the Advisory Board for CGC, so if you look at the sources, you could glean more information as well. Stop whining, and start learning ! This book is a valuable tool to be used with the other resources available to comics collectors, but it is not the de facto "guide" for grading. There will never be such a guide, so get over it.

This 2nd edition is an improvement over the 1992 edition and bolsters the viewpoint that Overstreet standards must be recognized as the primary source for grading decisions. While this guide does not provide specific CGC guidelines - which CGC refuses to publish - there is an overview of CGC by CGC Primary Grader Steve Borock and there are several examples of CGC-graded comics in various grades pictured. This, of course, merely provides examples of CGC grading and does not address the issue of CGC's well-documented inconsistencies.

In this guide, you will find advertising by some of the largest retailers in the nation, several interesting articles with topics ranging from comics history to restoration to shipping comics. Each grade has a fairly comprehensive one-page description of necessary qualities inherent to the grade, along with a full checklist of 21 grading considerations like spine roll, cover creases and staples. The pages following are filled with clear and illustrative examples of covers of books fitting the grade, with appropriate annotation of defects.

While there is still room for improvement in future editions, such as addressing the topic of grade "qualifiers" - a defect impacting the grade of an otherwise NM comic, it is the premier guide to comic book grading and is a must-have for any serious collector or dealer.

If you sell on EBAY or just want to track the condition/current value of your personal collection, this is the quintisential book to have.Every major player in the world of comics bases their grading on this book.A wonderful guide with picture representation to ensure accurate grading of individual comics.From the beginners to the experts,a true comic collectors "Must Have!"