Yes indeed, author Vicki M Taylor has breached the generation gap, meaning, although I am an older woman, almost from a different galaxy, she has made me understand and care about the teenage characters in the novel. Ms. Taylor's writing style is clear, without frills, and so streamlined that her story flows and flows and flows, without taking a break, to its satisfying conclusion. It's strongest point is that NOT WITHOUT ANNA is a no-nonsense wake-up call for mothers! Fast-paced enough to be a beach-book (or a pool-side book), nevertheless NOT WITHOUT ANNA is an eye-opener (for parents and children-alike), presented in a straight-forward manner. I cared about all of her characters, from Anna, to Jessie, to Katherine ... especially Katherine, who has lost the two most important people in her life, her husband and her daughter, and manages to pick herself up with such courage, such admirable purpose! I wondered about her choices for the future, even long after I turned over the last page.

One night of drugs and booze at a pool party shatters countless lives. Anna, the current darling of the in crowd dies of an apparent overdose/drowning leaving behind her devasted friends, especially her boyfriend, Mike, and mother, Katherine. Katherine finds purpose in life by trying to put a stop to drug abuse among teens and also by trying to see that Mike, who she views as responsible for her daughter's death, pays for her loss. This puts her in direct conflict with Mike's father, a vitriolic newspaper columnist. Then, a second trajedy dramatically alters all of this, bringing former enemies together as allies and causing new grief, even though answers are revealed by a new terrible loss.

***** This dramatic, moving story shows the depths of grief and how deeply death touches all those around it. No one who reads this will be unmoved by the story of these people united by pain. *****

The Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute is a world renowned center for the fine arts. Ably edited by Anna Tobin D'Ambrosio, the Curator of Decorative Arts at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute Museum of Art has compiled essays by herself and other decorative arts scholars on more than 65 finely crafted examples of American furniture encompassing nearly every 19th century style and explores the careers of America's most influential cabinetmakers and shops of the era in Masterpieces of American Furniture From the Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute. Her introductory essays traces the evolution of the museum's decorative arts holdings. The informative text is superbly illustrated with more than 90 color plates, plus detail images from period sources and labels. The outstanding and scholarly presentation is highly recommended for students of 19th century American furniture, cabinetmaking, and home decorative fashions.

Hello! I am medical student. I bought Sobotta a couple of months ago and I found this book very helpfull in my studies. It contains very much information, and the material is easy to understand. This atlas really helps you to study human anatomy!

In the style of the Footprint Series the Thailand Handbook is an exhaustive source for even the most ambitious of travellers. It is the best source for practical information on hotels, transportation etc. It is not, however, as easy to use or as visually pleasing as many others. For those who want to have all the information with them on their trip, this will be the book that makes it into the luggage. Not for those who have trouble with fine print.

When I left for Thailand, I was uncertain that this book would provide the information I needed to navigate Thailand. I quickly discovered this book had a wealth of information. The book led me to many relatively undiscovered towns, hotels, and restaurants, all of which provided a truly rich traveling experience. As for its practicality, the book is lightwieght, durable, using small fonts to pack data in. When in the company of those carrying Lonely Planet, I found others consistently closing their books in favor of the recommendations in my Footprint guide.

Forget Insight, Travel Bug and even Lonely Planet. They are all too heavy to carry on your destination. Leave them behind next to the armchair. Real travellers will want any book from this series: They are small, written on thin tissue paper, and print tightly spaced. The Thail book, which I am updating every two years has so much practical information, from hotels and fax numbers, to suggested itineraries, and maps. Indispensible to the travelling traveller.

With this CD-Rom you can easily learn the most important concepts of human anatomy without having to read much, it's all a visual process. Then you test yourself on the same picture. It takes no time at all to learn anatomy with Sobotta's. It's a "must have" for every "student" of any age.

Awesome!! I highly recommend Sobotta (Book/CD-ROM) whether used alone or as a supplement to Netter's Atlas of Human Anatomy. I am a physician assistant graduate student at Marquette University and I find the illustrations & references to be very useful when studying for my gross anatomy lecture & lab. Sobotta provides modern imaging diagnostics, endoscopic images, color photographs of surgical views, etc. not found in Netter's. The CD-ROM has all the plates found in the book, but gives you the option to quiz yourself which is very useful. It also allows you to display/hide markers on illustrations, also useful for study purposes. Indexs, tables etc are cross-referenced. If you are looking for a tool to help you maximize your anatomy study/review & you have easy access to a computer/laptop with a CD-ROM, get the Sobotta CD-ROM. You'll find it a great resource!!!

This atlas is among the finest I have ever seen. I have seen other atlases.. Netter's, Grant's..etc. But Sobotta's is the best. Its illustration is excellently detailed, beautiful, clear, vivid,.. It has more illustrations than Netter's and than Grant's And it is devided in two volumes.. so, it is more portable than another. If you want to get the best anatomy atlas, choose Sobotta's!

A member of our book club read this. She loved it and understood Fran's decisions. Most of us didn't. As one woman said, "I thought I would cry and I didn't." I personally didn't get Fran: why didn't she follow the advice of the underground's leader? She endangered her child's life as well as her own (because she had been in a previous controlling relationship and needed to call the shots? What a dumb way to take control! Also, having researched the underground while in law school, I thought it irresponsible of Ms. Quinlan to almost glorify Fran's disobedience since there are strong legal consequences in being connected with the underground.) Her love for her son was almost overly evident (I found myself skimming some of the passages where Fran waxes on about her child), yet I didn't understand her decision to withhold the truth about his father even after she saw abusive tendencies in the boy when, after all, he was aware of the abuse. In the end, these two seemingly incomprehensible and illogical decisions resulted in the book's rather tragic ending. Many abused women come from similar backgrounds of abuse; apparently, Fran did not. So why did she stay? Was it all sexual? That's hard to buy -- many people have relationships which are harmful and part of maturing is realizing that no one should be allowed to treat you badly regardless of sexual attraction. (This led into an interesting discussion -- amazing how many women have had such relationships in their younger years). We all agreed that we couldn't put the book down, wanting to know what happens to Fran. The end is surprising and we agree that a sequel is a good idea if only to see if her second husband could handle the odd role he has!

After reading this novel I discovered the severity of Domestic abuse and the effect it has on the family. Anna Quindlen used extremely vivid detail in describing the way that Fran Benedetto's husband Bobby beats her. Quindlen continusly is using the most vivid detail in all of her memories of her husband. This book is similiar to most books that I have read in the way that this author goes deep into the life of the characters and portrays their life in detail for all to understand. This topic of domestic abuse is a common topic especailly in this day and age. Too many couples are getting involved in abuse, Anna Quindlen realizes this and shows one woman who escaped the horror and moved her son to Florida under protection. The trials that mother and son go through are very challenging. Suspense is the key to this novel, the fear of Bobby Bendetto finding them and what he would do, even in her memories there is suspense because the detail is so real, "...after he'd grabbed me by the hair, and another time he's pushed me down, and another time, and another." The voice of the character is very strong, Quindlen portrays Fran Bendetto as a weak woman in the beginning and then her courage and strength is built up and by the end she is fearless and capable of anything. I liked this because it showed strong character and showed that Bobby didn't take everything away from her when he beat her. This story is very realistic, it's as I have mentioned, vivid. This makes the novel more powerful and leaves the reader feeling the impact of the abuse. This novel shows the inner spirit in the characters as they grow and change making this a well rounded book for all to enjoy. There is a setting change and is not only a physical relocation but and emotional relocation, this adds to the emotions felt by the characters and even the author's thoughts and feelings are revealed. This novel may be a little too emotional or feeling orientned for some readers. Overall this is an excellent novel.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. I kept wondering what was keeping my attention when in actuality nothing was really happening throughout most of the book. The truth is the happening part was great writing by Ms. Quindlen. She really portrayed Beth Crenshaw (who by the way is the one I wish to relate to) in such a way that you couldn't wait to turn the page to find out what would happened next. She kept you wondering just when Bobby would appear and we all knew he would come for Robert at some point. I did agree with another reviewer in that I thought the ending was a bit abrupt. Also, I thought she could have done more to find her son (like going to the press and becoming more public with her issues). I think she could have developed that part of the story more for those women who might be contemplating a move such as Beth's, it wasn't particularly reassuring. However, the writing was wonderful and I thoroughly enjoyed the story. I hated leaving Beth and Mike at the end. Thanks for a engrossing read.