No comments about One of a Kind, Should We Tell?.

4 comments about One Small Candle: Sarah's Story.

1. This is a tremendous story of finding joy and up lift in a time of adversity. I think those who have dealt with terminal family members (as I have) will find solace, comfort, and new insights. The author helps us see how to deal with these situations and actually find joy in the time we have with our family members. I think this is a wonderful book, and a loving story.

   People who have had to help other deal with debilitating and life threatening illnesses will see themselves in this story and find way to deal with their feelings and those of the ill family members.




2. This is a tremendous story of finding joy and up lift in a time of adversity. I think those who have dealt with terminal family members (as I have) will find solace, comfort, and new insights. The author helps us see how to deal with these situations and actually find joy in the time we have with our family members. I think this is a wonderful book, and a loving story.

   People who have had to help other deal with debilitating and life threatening illnesses will see themselves in this story and find way to deal with their feelings and those of the ill family members.




3. Sarah teaches that with hope "Life is Good". Despite the struggles and trials she faced in life Sarah always found Hope; life was worth every second she could live on earth, no matter how long or short it could be.
   This is a great book for those trying to understand the thousands of deaths caused in the World Trade Center tradegym, why people have to suffer, and that death is as sacred and purposeful as life .
   A great book with how to deal with the loss of a Loved one.
   This is a great book for anyone who has a family member, Friend or loved one with a serious illiness.
   This book gives a deep understanding of the three most important questions we will ever ask:

   1. Where did we come from
   2. Why are we here on earth
   3. Where do we go when we die.

   What you learn from Sarah will change your life forever.




4. About a year after Sarah's death, I was asked to write a short screenplay about this young girl. It was for an assignment while I was a University student. I met with the family several times, saw videos of Sarah, spoke with her friends and what opened up to me was how incredible this young lady was. Do not judge the book on Debra McCarty's writing, rather judge it on who Sarah was and what she went through. She handled her life's limitations like it was her mission in life. Not for herself, but for us. Through her illness, she taught others to serve, to love, to be more brave for their own trials. Because of Sarah, I can never look at someone's illness or handicap without thinking about what Sarah's life taught me: To be positive through adversity, to have faith that we are all in God's hands, and that there is a purpose for all that we experience in life. I encouraged Debbie to write this book. She felt compelled to write it. Though the flame of Sarah's life did not burn long, it burned bright and the light it gave was like the light of heaven. It covered us with warmth and filled us with understanding. It is my hope that although I never knew Sarah in this earthly mortality that I should have the opportunity of befriending her in the eternities. This book will tell you about Sarah, what she went through, and the effect she had on others. It will be hard for you to sincerely read it and not come away with a different feeling about life and adversity. I am so grateful to have met her family and to know Sarah through her story.

No comments about Ryan's Story.

1 comments about Insulin Dependent Diabetes My First Fifty Years.

1. A candid account of one man's victory over diabetes. I especially liked how the author injected humor into his autobiography -- "Needles" and "Sticks" have been given a colorful new meaning to those of us with the disorder.

5 comments about Being Brett.

1. I have not read the book, out of fear. My daughter is age 24 and also has Hodgkin's Disease and is having relapse problems also. I wonder if you could send this to Mr. Hobbie and ask him to contact me by email. I need to talk to someone who went through this agony. I am hoping he can help me and my daughter with his past experience with this disease. I am truly saddened and sorry for his loss, and God knows, I know his pain...but am desperate for a letter or advice from him. Need to know if chemotherapy and radiation are advisable for the second time. First time, didn't work. PLEASE HELP!! I am so afraid to read the book.



2. I was deeply disappointed in this book. I thought it went on and on and on with out getting anywhere. While I was saddened over the writters daughter, he isnt the first to have a sick child nor, will he be the last. Way to much oh poor me. Do not waste your money on this one. I might check it out of the library if it was the only book available. On second thought I probably wouldnt.This author was totally self absorbed. PLEASE feel sorry for me.I hope he has a day job.



3. Douglas Hobbie has probably done the best job possible in conveying to another human being what the loss of a child is like. I shudder to think what the rest of his days are like, knowing his beautiful Brett will never be there with him face to face again. Even though I knew how the book would end, I found myself hoping again and again that the treatments would work, all their pain and suffering would be relieved. A heartbreaking tale, and yet one that must be shared, so more of the world can have a piece of Brett in it. For Mr. Hobbie, his family, or anyone out there that has lossed a loved one, I would just like to quote Flavia Weedn, "We can't feel saddened over the loss of those we love without first remembering the joy they brought us. The real loss would have been never having had them in our lives at all". Be happy for the time you had with her and the memories you will carry with you always. And kudos to Beth, who stayed with her through thick and mostly thin. Their love for each other shines throughout the book.



4. Overall I found this book somewhat difficult to read. The author refers to himself as "he." And he refers to every male from his son Nathaniel to various doctors as "he." Most of the time I had to guess who "he" was talking about! Wasn't this book edited?
   
   The more I read, the more disapointed I became. I found nothing to love about Brett. My impression, given the information in the book, was that she was a spoiled, willful, self-centered, selfish brat! I just have to be honest about this.
   
   I am a cancer survivor, but I had several young friends and family members who battled cancer and lost. None of these people acted like Brett. I have little use for people who call God as a witness (take his name in vain)repeatedly and never feel or show remorse and who ironically refuse to believe in God. It is so tragic that some folks wait for DEATH to open their eyes! And how wide their eyes will open!!!!
   
   There seems to be a lack of history. The reader never gets any kind of reason to like Brett. There is never any thing said about why she was a "good" person worth remembering. By the way she acted, I could only see a self-absorbed person. Her parents exhausted themselves mentally, physically, emotionally and FINANCIALLY to be there for their daughter...and yet Brett is constantly taking vacations around the world and having fun. When she gets her $5000 backpay from Social Security she doesn't give any of it to her parents but rather she spends it on a trip to Florence, Italy with her lover. Over and over again the reader is told by Brett that she doesn't want to suffer. And she is so rude to her family by telling them to "Get over it!" She offends her family by having a yard sale and selling family mementos such as a watch that her grandmother gave her and a figurine that her mother bought her overseas. She further offends her family by giving her lover Beth power of attorney. How can knowing someone for a couple of years equal the love and care from a family who has known you from birth? A family who isn't going to move on to another relationship?
   
   I got this book because I am a fan of Holly Hobbie and I enjoyed reading her book, "The Art of Holly Hobbie." I feel compassion for the family over the death of their firstborn child. However, I had hoped this book would be about an heroic death, but instead I found it to be an example of the self-centered generation and world that we live in. Are there no real heroes to write about anymore?



5. I must start by saying I couldn't put this book down... but at the same time, it was not a particularly rewarding read. The endless littany of hospital tests, misery and physical deterioration seem to be written more as a therapeutic exercise for the writer, rather than to tell the story of this young woman and her illness.
   
   I do believe this book offers wonderful and valuable lessons in dealing with terminal illness: how to mentally prepare; how to have rewarding, meaningful, poignant conversations; how a family and loved ones can begin to cope with the loss of someone dear to them. I lost my mother to cancer 15 years ago and wish, wish I had conversations with her as Brett did with her parents.
   
   But we as readers aren't given a whole lot to like about Brett. Her her fighting spirit, her smarts, her relationship with Beth, her ability to endure, yes. But for the most part she comes across as a self-indulgent, miserable, tormented artist, deep into her moody poetry, journals and bizarre drawings. More upsetting to me was my impression that she never seemed to show her parents -- who endured such terror alongside her, always giving her their undying love and commitment -- any genuine appreciation or gratitude. Her parents were always left feeling like they should have said it differently, should have done more, should have been more sensitive to her needs. She never told them, "You're doing it just right. I love you for the way you are dealing with this. I love you for going through this with me."
   
   And beware: The book relives in agonizing, neverending detail the hospitalizations, tests, misery, pain and setbacks that Brett endured(let me add that I have known several terminal cancer patients, none of whom suffered anywhere near what this poor young woman endured. I also know a 20-something gal who went through a bone marrow transplant in about 1996 with nothing that even remotely resembled the misery and suffering Brett experienced. Her setbacks are not the norm. I think this book could really alarm other cancer patients and their families... please know that it isn't always like this!).
   
   To me, the protagonist heroes of this book are Douglas, Holly and Beth, and Brett's younger brother and sister, all of whom I really loved, each of whom did an amazing, perfect job in dealing with such a terrible experience. I finished the book thinking so much more of them than of Brett.

1 comments about The Best of Both Worlds: (A Not-So-Silent Life).

1. I feel the same exact understandings and feelings of Deaf culture being a CODA. This book is excellent.

No comments about Every Loving Gift: How a Family's Courage Saved a Special Child.

5 comments about God Doesn't Make Trash.

1. I have never read a first chapter of a book that so moved me as this one did, about the author's friend who was the first person she knew who died of AIDS. After reading it I felt I knew this man, and I truly mourned his death, even though I never met him and he died over 15 years ago. That's how powerful a writer the author is. With every chapter, she uses the words of the person she is interviewing along with her own thoughts and feelings to tell their story. She writes with love and the artistry of a poet. This is a wonderful, moving, beautifully written book. I only wish this will be read beyond the gay/AIDS community. I only wish everyone in America would read this book, to see the suffering that ignorance and fear has created in far too many lives.



2. The skill with which Ms. Brooker weaves together the stories of the AIDS patients she is following with the growth of her own awarenesses and her own personal story is remarkable, and what makes this such a compelling read.



3. "God Doesnt Make Trash" is a masterpiece. It isn't just about AIDS, it's about humanity, about a heterosexual woman who finds herself in the middle of the AIDS holocaust and records the truth. I think I'd like to see this book in a film. It's like Philadelophia Story with a fresh approach.

   Bill Bowker-SF




4. This is an honest and sincere memoir of one heterosexual woman's spiritual growth through her experience in knowing these early victims of this devastating illness. Ms. Brooker has the gift of intimately telling her story as if she were sitting directly across from you. I, too, witnessed the loss of some remarkable souls to this illness and I always recommend this work to others whether they have been affected or not. Good read.



5. this book is NOT about AIDS, it's about humanity. I was very
   interested in the story of the heterosexual San Francisco reporter who found herself in the middle of the early eighties holocaust. This book reads like a novel and a social history. A book worth reading.

1 comments about Little Girl.

1. $50 for a paperback from a vanity publisher? What the &^%_?

No comments about Beyond Tears.