It amazes me that Elisabeth Ogilvie's books are not more popular from coast to coast. Surely I'm not the only person in this particular region of Florida who enjoys a good read which takes place in Maine. Strawberries in the Sea takes us into Jamie Sorensen's adult life as Rosa Fleming moves onto Bennett's Island after taking off with her ex-husband's lobster boat to set up traps of her own. For those of you who know Joanna Bennett Sorensen, you recognize a woman who Joanna would find admirable and brave. As Rosa runs away from the demons of her first marriage, she faces them at the same time, dealing with issues of her weight, her tendency to love too much, and her success at lobstering. I love Bennett's Island and re-visit it often by reading these books again and again even when I have a new release by a current author sitting prettily on my bookcase. Elisabeth Ogilvie brings us into the world of her characters and lets us know them as well as she does. If you've never heard of the Bennetts and the Sorensens; if you've missed the early years of their lives and never imagined meeting Owen and Mark and Stevie Bennett or having a mug-up with one of them on a stormy afternoon, then it's time to change all that.

Elisabeth Brewer is a Medieval scholar and a White specialist. This work is chronologically arranged, so that she gives in depth infomation "by the book." Her research is impressive and illuminating. As a high school teacher, I find the work invaluable as a source of my lecture information. Her book is as much a psychological study of the author as an explanation of the text.

Once again, this collection of Elisabeth's writing has proven to be a fount of wisdom. I know I can always turn to Elisabeth's words for guidance in a tough situation - her beautiful words are often like fresh rain from God into my life. Taking Flight was given to me as a graduation gift, and it couldn't have been more appropriate. As I struggled to make major life changes, I was so glad to have Elisabeth walking with me via this book.

The book has wonderful illustrations and every month has its own chapter. This book is a great "map" for the area of Telluride, highlighting interesting things that can be found in each season. The chapter for June illustrates how to make dandelion wreaths, as dandelions are abundant during that time of year. There are also old recipes for mountain remedies, historical facts, ecological insights, and mentions of local festivals. This is a must have guide for newcomers and visitors to the Telluride region.

In this book, Ms. Ogilvie vividly imparts to the reader the beauty of the Maine countryside with rich imagery and detailed descriptions of the flora and fauna. She writes from experience, having spent a good portion of her life in and around Maine.

Her style is part botanical, part geographical, and part philosophical, which makes for a constantly changing perspective on the fictional events which unfold in the story. The characters are believable, intelligent and complex; the situations in which they find themselves, while not wholly unique, take on intriguing facets as they develop. The main character of Alexia undergoes such a gradual metamorphosis from tragic victim to strong, capable survivor that one is hardly aware of the journey's progression until the end of the book - that's how deft Ms. Ogilvie is at carrying a storyline.

I found this book to be totally engrossing, magical, and multi-layered - it made me want to travel to Maine and experience the world about which Ms. Ogilvie writes. The book is over thirty years old, but it still captures the imagination and the interest of the reader without seeming "dated." It's the perfect read for a rainy day, or any day.

Elizabeth Harbour captivates the reader with her illustrations - a delicious castle, rows of delightful topiary and a gorgeous palatte of colours. The book is beautifully printed and makes a perfect gift for a child or anyone who loves English formal gardens.

TIME AND THE GARDENER brings together Elisabeth Sheldon's unpublished writings, from the last 13-14 years, on flower gardening. The author begins by calling gardening "delightful, absorbing, intensely gratifying, maddening, and exhausting" digging, planting, weeding, working, and reading, reading, reading. It's also mind-changing, because of "lost plants and new ideas."

Sheldon once gardened properly, in white, silver and pale yellow or grey and pink, lavender and lime. Then she gardened flamboyantly, in hot-colors. Next, she border gardened, with purple flowers and leaves. That took her garden full circle. In fall, purple looked so good, with Lespedeza thunbergii 'Pink Fountain', 'Ballerina' rose and Dianthus; dwarf sage, grey 'Hidcote' lavender, and helianthemum; and white-leaved prickly poppy.

Just as with color combinations, plant dislikes and likes change. Hot-color gardening got Sheldon to plant dahlias, marigolds, petunias, and zinnias. Border gardening in sulphur and wine let in yellow-leaved plants.

So gardening might well leave the gardener with "nothing to hate." But it won't always grow better people or weed out curmudgeons. For example, on a cold winter night, nineteenth-century gardening know-it-all William Robinson opened windows and put out stoves in a hated former employer's greenhouses.

In large part, though, Sheldon finds gardeners "exceptionally" gentle, as students of humbling lessons. In the second part of her book, she therefore shares gardening trials and errors, in central New York. There, on a Cayuga Lake area farm, her garden shows its age. How can it do other than sicken and die along with, or shortly after, her? It's the only way, what with the three "b's" of bad weather, beasts and blunders.

It's blundering over trees Sheldon regrets. To her, they were thirsty rivals to plants for nutrients and water. Now in her 80s, she wishes that she had long ago set aside one of her fields as an arboretum. It's not just because of what trees do, for air and dirt. It's also for color and looks. What can beat the year-round "silky" grey bark of European beeches, the ruby red of sour gum in fall, and the flaming torch patterns of apricot-, crimson- and flame-colored Korean maple leaves against the sky?

Sheldon's practical lesson-learnings are helpful and well-written, with excellent examples. They cover all bases, from seed collecting and growing; through plant breeding; to shady and woodsy gardening and mixed shrub and tapestry bordering. But it's the ending sections, on favorite plants and history-making gardeners, that stay with me.

Plants that pass Sheldon's test of time are astilbe, border clematis, chrysanthemum, columbine, gaura, lysimachia, and nepeta. If she lived more southerly, she might favor the pale lemon or white marguerite. Up north, though, Dianthus caesius (gratianopolitanus) is where she hopes to end her days.

Finally, her five history-making gardeners are Gertrude Jekyll, Jane Loudon, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Alexander Pope and Horace Walpole. Not surprisingly, something Miss Jekyll once said perfectly sums up Sheldon's book and gardening. Never let an idea get in the way of beautiful plants and combinations.

Reading a book about confrontations with death and dying by the terminal ill and by their families and loved ones may not sound like anyone's idea of "escapist fare" or a good rainy day pick-me-up, but this large picture book is first and foremost about the value of life and living. Undoubtedly one of the most "important" books I have read, To Live Until We Say Good-Bye spotlights three personal stories: a New York City poet and model dying of cancer, a young girl suffering with a brain tumor, and an older woman who refuses treatment of her illness to lead the remainder of her life in her own home. The stories are remarkable because there is a touching sense of revelation to each--that none of them had perhaps lived so fully and completely until they learned time was running out. The young girl's story, "Jamie," is especially moving because it not only deals with her concerns and fears about her future, but also those of her single mother and her young brother--and, ultimately, although the process of losing a loved one is unimaginably painful, the family is able to find some peace in their ability to make the final days meaningful--and full of life. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross narrates the stories, and Mal Warshaw provides the photographs; together, they have assembled an unpretentious and dignified lesson about seeking the value in life--surely, a message that is beneficial to and yet overlooked very often by us all

This book integrates the experiences of lesbian and bisexual women with factual information about their lives. Health professionals (and others who would like to learn more about the lives of lesbians and bisexual women) will be better able to address their concerns after reading it.

the colors, once again justfantasti