This history text gives good data and fair inclusion of both a creationists and evolutionist theory of beginnings. The author treats the Bible as one reliable historical document to be included among all the rest. The reading is frequently dry. My older daughter consumed it, but my son has to be urged to get the reading done. This is a fine textbook.

A strikingly original book with some very unexpected, but cunningly planted plot twists and revelations. Not a word is wasted, as a number of moments that seem to be just character development turn out to be significant to the plot as well, from Selsey Firebone's name to Randall's job to Winola's allergies. The underrunners function both as an unusual setting and as a metaphor for the unseen depths and unpredictable turns in life and in people's characters. The characters are all three-dimensional, with the sort of believable quirks that people have in real life, and mostly quite likable. The plot is an almost Hitchcockian study in growing tension.

I love the idea of "wearable art" and one-of-a-kind fashion, and Mary Mashuta's book really fits into that niche.

Mashuta's book is a compendium of instructions and design ideas for creating clothing using the patchwork and piecing techniques normally associated with quilting. Her designs and methods (as photographed in the book) produce clothing a little funkier and "ethnic" than much of what I've seen; usually when quilting techniques are adapted to clothing, the results have a kind of "Little House on the Prairie" look to them, in my opinion.

Mashuta generally relies on simple geometric shapes and works her art in the folding, piecing and decorative stitching. Many of the clothing designs she has worked up for this book seem to be borrowed from classic Asian styles.

Although I like a lot of what's offered in this book, much of it is fairly complex; there are not a lot of smaller projects featured here. Theoretically, a crafter could adapt the techniques to smaller projects, but the novice might have trouble envisioning how to do this.

I do like the clothing pictured in the book, but many of the colors have gray or brown undertones and don't really excite the reader like some other more vividly photographed needlework books. While I find myself coming back to this book time and again for ideas (and I will continue to), it's not one of my favorites. I'd definitely recommend this for the serious crafter or creative sewer; I would not recomment this book for someone with little needlework experience.

This is a remarkable book. It is a primary account of a child's life growing up in Montana and Canada in the early part of the twentieth century. Margaret (Peggy) Bell's life spanned some 94 years, from 1888-1982, and her story is as exciting and troubling as any account one is likely to read, fiction or non-fiction. That the book is edited by Mary Clearman Blew makes it not only highly readable but lends it undeniable credibility.

Bell's account of growing up on the high plains of Montana and Canada is a rare, first person account of life on the frontier with it's numerous hardships, grinding poverty, and ultimate struggle to retain her mind and spirit that will break your heart and make you shout for joy...sometimes within a few paragraphs or pages. In a straight forward, honest, almost stoic manner she describes the many life lessons she learned and discusses a subject that is rarely seen in print in the literature of the period: the abuse, sexual and otherwise, she experienced at the hands of her uncle and stepfather. This is an amazing book that chronicles the life experiences of a resilient woman in a man's world that lived to understand who she was, where she came from, and what it all meant. That she could tell such a story without self pity or sentimental, touchy-feely themes is remarkable. Brutally frank, honest and ultimately uplifting.

This well-paced read narrates the immediate predicament of a drug-involved young man and his circle of friends. The reader begins to understand him and his distorted thinking as the tension builds and his problems increase. Nyman artfully manages to win the reader's sympathy for Corey while, at the same time, illuminating his misjudgment. The complex, disturbing world that can influence our kids is depicted for those adults who have not experienced this first hand. The chapters are short and suitable for many reading levels, thanks to the thoughtfully selected vocabulary and great dialogue. The book has a lot to offer the curious or worried parent, as well as any young person--involved with drugs or observing from a distance. There is much to be learned here, and the book can be instructive or simply appreciated as a well-written young adult novel. There should be more work published like this to be shared between young people and adults! Well done!

sorry but i haven't read your book yet.

This book was the most boring Mary Higgins Clark book I have ever read. I usually love her books and can't put them down, but I found myself struggling to finish this one. I mean, most of the story takes place in a NURSING HOME! Wooo, that's thrilling. I'm normally a huge fan of Clark's, but I have to say that this book disappointed me greatly. To anyone who's never read Clark's books before, I recommend "A Cry in the Night" or "Pretend You Don't See Her" and advise you to skip this one.

Photographer Maggie Holloway is reunited with her stepmom Nuala, who hasn't seen Maggie for a long time. Nuala then wants Maggie to stay with her for a couple of weeks in Newport. When Maggie arrives, she finds out that Nuala has been murdered. Maggie then finds out that Nuala's house is left in her name. Maggie wants to know who did this and why they did it to her stepmom. She also wants to know what the intruder was looking for when they trashed the house. Who was it and why her??

Maggie just wanted a peaceful, fun week with her stepmom that she hadn't seen for ever. This is the first book I have read by Mary Higgins Clark. Its a great book. The book hooked me at the beginning and I found every chance that I could to read it. I've never liked reading much until this book. I could read her books over and over again. The only confusing thing was there was a lot of character and I did get them mixed up from time to time. It's not really a gushy-mushy book. It's fairly easy to read. I do recommend this book to anyone who likes mysterys, and easy reading.

This Mary Higgins Clark book is an extremely suspenseful read. I liked this book because of the way Clark decided to let Maggie and Naula meet. It was a wonderful way to start the unpredictable novel. This book is so thrilling that it will have you reading day and night. Taking place in Rhode Island, this book is about Maggie Holloway, a successful fashion photographer. While accompanying Liam Moore, Maggie's good friend, to a Moore-Payne reunion, she is reunited with her once stepmother, Naula Moore. In order to "catch up on things", Naula invites Maggie down from her Massachusetts apartment to come to her home for a week. Upon arriving there, she finds out that a burglar on a random break-in had killed Naula. Desperate to find out whom the murder is; Maggie explores the world of Latham Manor, the wealthy nursing home Naula was supposed to live in, and the cemetery where Naula was buried. This book's ending is so suspenseful; you will be on the edge of your seat, reading until you come to the last page.

It's really not a bad book, but it's not good either. Like the guy who gave it no stars, he had pretty much the exact complaints I do. The author makes the book seem like the life of a few kids leading up to the murders. She seems to know what they were all saying at certain points in the 80's and early 90's. Like the past reviewer said-- she must have had a tape recorder on them all before the murders. Learning about the killer was fun, I will admit. Spending pages learning about the killer was good, but I'll admit halfway through the book, I was tired of learning about the characters and wanted to skip pages so I could learn about what the hell exactly happened as a whole during the time of the Gainesville murders. I thought I would be reading about the crime and punishment of Danny Rolling, what he did, how he did it, and what he's done afterwards. Maybe learn a little about him, too, which I did at the least. It just became tedious-- it dragged on and on, and you want to skip pages, but I didn't. I now wish I did so I could have gotten onto one of the other books I recently got. Over all, it's really not a terrible book, it just has some useless things that fill up the book rather than interest you. Learning about the killer and his life and why he could have done these terrible things was good. But reading little clips of what the future victims were doing at that moment that Danny Rolling was maybe robbing a grocery-- who cares? They were playing tennis, they were sleeping, etc. Yeah? Okay...
A lot of things are also repeated. The first thing you get into in the book, is the killings. That pulled me in right away. The beginning was good, then when it got into the life of the killer, that was also good. Then after about 200 pages of that, you want to put it down. I'll give this 3 stars because it wasn't trash but it wasn't a good read either.

Having read Rolling's book co-authored with Sondra London, there is no comparison. This book far outstrips the former in exploring the personalities of not only Rolling, but of the victims and those close to them. I lived in Gainesville and went to the University of Florida not long after the murders, and the shockwaves of these crimes still perpetuate through the town to this day. Ryzuk captures the environment of fear that enveloped the campus and surrounding area with razor-sharp accuracy.

Ryzuk also does a superb job of painting a complete picture of events from several different angles, having interviewed many of the victim's friends and relatives, as well as others involved in the investigation. Some of the events are repeated in the book, but it's for this purpose that I believe this approach was worthwhile. Her use of a timeline during the events leading up to the crimes builds suspense and takes the reader along on a fateful ride with doom.

I have driven by the 34th Street wall memorializing the victims hundreds of times, but only after reading this book do I feel like I have a sense of who the victims all were. They are no longer five semi-anonymous names painted on a wall, but clearly distinguishable lives with different goals that, sadly, will never be achieved. My only complaint is that the personalities of Sonja Larson and Christina Powell do not come off as vividly as did those of Christa Hoyt, Manny Taboada, and Tracy Paules, which may have to do with the willingness of those left behind to talk, but that's only my speculation. By walking us through the victims' relationships and daily events leading up to the killings, Ryzuk almost breathes life into the victims again. Friends and families of the victims are also explored, and their anguish is palpable.

The author does not neglect the killer, though. I came away with an even better sense of his motivations and the life events that led up to the events of August 1990 than I did after reading his own account, co-authored by Sondra London. This is saying something, as this book does a far more insightful job of exploring Rolling than does the killer's own account, which seems like a alter-ego-explaining manifesto scattered with a few short mentions of the killings in detailed, almost mechanical fashion. For those interested, the accounts in this book of the murders themselves are clearly and more fully explored, from Rolling's initial selection and stalking of the victims, to the commission of the heinous acts, to the discovery of the bodies, his subsequent events and beyond, including the arrest of a "red herring" suspect that left the city breathing a premature sigh of relief. I am left disgusted by Rolling's need to murderously dominate, then eliminate, to make up for his own inadequacies as a human being.

There are facts in the book regarding the killings and the investigation I have read elsewhere that were nowhere mentioned in London's account. Also, Ryzuk captures the essence of Gainesville and the University of Florida campus so clearly that it feels as if I were back there again myself. It is by comparing this lovely, generally serene southern town, once again filled with all the excitement of a new fall semester, to a living nightmare of horror at the events and fear of the unknown that even greater impact of the events are realized.

There are only a few small inconsistencies as far as references and places, but most would only be picked up by a native (e.g. the victims were not "five University of Florida students" but four UF students and one SFCC student, "Union Reitz" vs. the correct "Reitz Union," a lake that is not really in front of Marston Science Library, and things of this nature). Other than that - a full, multi-angled, incredible account. I couldn't put it down, and am filled with an even more profound sadness about the murders than I was when I actually lived across the street from where Manny and Tracy met their fates.

Truly tragic, and I hope that, if nothing else, readers get to know and remember the victims as extinguished bright young lights on the verge of their creating their own futures. For many in Florida, the healing will not begin until Rolling meets his fate.

While I can't say reading a book about the deaths of 5 young people with bright futures was enjoyable, I can say that the author did her best to allow the reader to get to know the victims. What I mean by that is, she didn't just write about the killer and his pathetic life. She crisscrossed between the victims and the killer to show just how promising their lives were, and what they were doing before this sick and vicious killer ended it for them. I was in Florida when this was happening and I can remember being scared and wanting to go home. The Author doesn't sympathize with the killer but she does allow us to see how his upbringing could have contributed to his diseased mind. I don't like true crime for its blood and gore, I like true crime for showing people that the world has alot of evil in it, and we should not always take people at face value. I think true crime books (especially those against women) should be mandatory reading in high schools and colleges. It really changes the way you think about situations that you might not ever have given thought to.

As the title says, this book is filled with cliches. From an unlikely boy hero to an unlikely familiar (a Skunk!) to Wizards taking apprentices like Blacksmiths, etc.

Its just all too familiar.

I will admit that I did not finish this book (it was too horrible) but what I did read was so-so.

The actual writing style of the author is great, but the plot stinks and the ideas are unoriginal. If you've read Jordan, Stanek, Goodkind, Tolkien, Brooks, etc, then I might recommend this book. But I would say only people that read every fantasy book on the market should read it.

Though not the most gripping or imaginative tale of wizardry, "Plague of Sorcerers" is a nice read with some decidedly cute moments, nice twists, and a mystery that will keep readers guessing till the end.

In a country of wizards ruled by a council of wizards, a boy Jermyn wants to become one more than anything else. An orphan living with his Aunt Merry, he struggles to perform magic and can't even attract a familiar. When a feud between his aunt and the snobby weather-wizard Fulke ends in a vicious curse, Jermyn sends Fulke back to his home, and by doing so attracts an animal. Except it isn't the cat that was expected, but a skunk. Jermyn reluctantly accepts the skunk Delia as his familiar.

But the curse from Fulke has rendered Aunt Merry unable to do magic. She sends Jermyn to be apprenticed to the Theoretician Eschar, and for a while things seem to be working out fine. But then wizards begin to fall into strange magical comas, hideous weather threatens to destroy the city, and a malevolent Marquis from an anti-wizardry land seems to be connected to it all. Jermyn and Delia must uncover the truth about the magical plague before it's too late.

Jermyn is the classic "bright kid who just doesn't work well under normal circumstances." He has a lot of power, but it works under peculiar circumstances, usually under stress. Aunt Merry, Fulke, Eschar, and Eschar's pretty ward Meggan are a little less developed, but they are easily recognizable with individual personalities. Unusually endearing is Delia, with her baby-talk thoughts and willingness to spray anyone that she sees as being a threat to "Je'm'n."

The only problem, perhaps, is the pacing. Zambreno keeps pretty much the same pace throughout the book, regardless of the situation. She also needs to work a little on atmosphere. The descriptions are pretty average, while the humorous situations and dialogue are excellent. And, of course, her idea about a country that wizards emigrated to from a repressive homeland is brilliant. The mystery is twisted and well-written, with hints sprinkled through the book as to who the guilty party is, but readers probably won't guess who it is until the climax.

A nice, suspenseful story for fans of wizards and mystery. Now, if only they'd bring "Journeyman Wizard" back into print...

This book is about Jermyn Greves. Coming from a magical family he is waiting for his familiar to appear so he can start his magical training. sometimes he doubts that he has magic at all, but his aunt isn't convinced. so she isn't surprised when his familiar finally appears. what she is surprised about is what type of animal Jermyn's familiar is - a skunk.

I liked this book allot and I can't see why it got such low ratings. The plot makes sense, it has humor and good characters. advice for 9-12 year olds who like fantasy: Read it.

Finally done with this book! Fiona Range is by far the worst book I've read by Morris. It was near torturous trying to finish this novel with its multitude of typos and grammatical errors. Whoever attempted to proof/edit this novel should be fired. I found the story boring and the characters lifeless. I couldn't wait for Fiona to slice her wrist or do something equally stupid given that her sole talent in this novel seems to be her ability to make one stupid decision after the other. The book's ending did not surprise me; I'd predicted it before halfway finishing the book. If you're interested in truly experiencing this author's talent read Vanished or Songs in Ordinary Time.

I used to be one of those readers who had to finish a book I had started, whether or not it was holding my interest. I am not capable of this these days. I'm sorry to say that I quit reading Fiona Range with less than 100 pages to go, choosing instead to skim the remainder just to find out what happened.

Mary McGarry Morris paints the picture of a 30-year-old waitress struggling to make something of her life, while repeatedly getting in her own way. Fiona's mother ran off when Fiona was still a little girl, leaving her to the care of her aunt and uncle, who raised her alongside their own children. Her father is assumed to be Patrick Grady, the violently angry loner who had loved Fiona's mother before he was shipped off to the Vietnam War, but who had returned a scarred and changed man who still denies any relationship to Fiona. When we first meet our heroine, she is dealing with a rat's nest of problems, including strained relationships with her aunt and uncle and her bizarre, persistent attempts to build a relationship with Patrick. Her biggest problems, however, seem to revolve around her cousin Elizabeth and Elizabeth's fiance, Rudy. Elizabeth doesn't seem to want to marry Rudy, but also can't let him go... which eventually pushes him toward Fiona, causing repercussions in every aspect of Fiona's messy life.

Sound interesting? It was, until about halfway, when all of the characters began to grate on my nerves. Fiona herself is hard to pin down- she does or says something horrible, then goes for long stretches of time acting pretty much like a normal human being, before doing something bad again. I couldn't decide if I liked her or found her irritating. The other characters, on the other hand, are so one-dimensional and repetitive that it's painful. In particular, I grew so weary of Elizabeth's hand-wringing and spinelessness that I felt no sympathy for her when her difficulty in breaking things off with Rudy pushed her closer and closer to emotional collapse. Throw in a few too many hushed conversations, family secrets that are constantly danced around (even long after the reader has guessed the truth), and angry phone conversations, and you have a book that eventually becomes unreadable.

I give "Fiona Range" three stars, because it could have been much worse. However, if you are new to this author, I would recommend "Songs in Ordinary Time" or "A Dangerous Woman" before I would suggest this novel.

Although Fiona Range, the title character of her fourth book is the main focus of this story, author Mary McGarry Morris ultimately paints the portrait of a flawed family trying to maintain its place in a very confusing and complex world. Fiona Range is a satisfying, if not always easy look into the world of a prominent New England family and its one wild child. When she is quite young, Fiona is abandoned by her mother; she is denied paternity by her father, Patrick Grady; she is raised by relatives who do not understand her petulant behavior and who are constantly puzzled by her absolute lack of judgment. Fiona is 30. For the past few years, she has worked as a waitress in Chester's Coffee Shop in Dearborn, Massachusetts. Her life is stuck in a constant cycle of rebellion, failed relationships, and an endless, empty horizon. As much as she yearns to be part of the family who raised her, she is repulsed by their shallow lives and their almost insatiable need to present a perfect face to the community. Her Uncle Charles Grady is a prominent judge. Her Aunt Arlene is the perfect wife and mother, volunteering in the community and taking care of those who cannot take care of themselves. To the world, the Grady family is a model of success. Their three children are educated, employed and functioning members of society. Jack is a computer whiz. Ginny runs a day care. Elizabeth, the schoolteacher, is engaged to a wonderful doctor from New York. Their lives are picture perfect, if you don't look too close. And then there's Fiona. The trouble with you, Fiona, is you don't think before you act. The trouble with you, Fiona, is you don't think. The trouble with you, Fiona, is you. The trouble with Fiona is you. The trouble. Fiona is the trouble. There are a lot of issues raised in this book. Not all of them are resolved, but they're out there for the reader's inspection. This is not a book you read in one night. You must pace yourself in order to endure Fiona's wild abandon, Elizabeth's neuroses, Patrick Grady's madness, and ultimately, the Grady family's undoing. I liked all the characters in this book. No one was perfect and there were no Hollywood endings, all neatly tied up with red ribbons. The people who make this story work are flawed and they all struggle with life's hardest questions. In other words, these people could be REAL. And, to me, that's what quality fiction should create: real people, flaws and all, dealing with life's triumphs and tragedies, while trying to make their way in the world without inflicting too much damage on themselves and those around them. Very Highly Recommended.

Terry H. Mathews Reviewer