No comments about Prophetess of Health: Ellen G. White and the Origins of the Seventh-day Adventist Hearl Reform, 30th Anniversary Edition (Library of Religious Biography).

5 comments about Cottage for Sale, Must Be Moved: A Woman Moves a House to Make a Home.

1. Kate Whouley's "Cottage for Sale - must be moved" is one that I wished would never end, and have recommended her story over and over to my friends and family. I do hope there's another book on the way.



2. _Cottage for Sale* Must be Moved_ is a thoughtfully written book by a single woman who is "adding on" to her existing home with an existing cottage that has to be moved to her location. Whouley enthusiastically learns about all the operations involved. And Egypt, her cat, provides a humorous addition to the memoir. _Cottage for Sale*_ is a great, fun read, and the reader ends up feeling that Whouley deserves the best.



3. As somebody who moved into a 2 story house that had been moved (only about a mile, though) up a hill. The details of her cottage move and working with the contractors was very interesting to me. I think the book was well written and in between the details of the cottage move are details of the authors life and thoughts about her life, people around her and their lives. I thought it was a great read.
   I am looking for MORE! by this same author. So, hope that she writes some more stories.



4. I did enjoy this book, but I felt as though about 20% of it could have been deleted. There were way too many details. I found Kate to be very likable and interesting, but I can understand that her intensity would scare men away. I think she must have driven some of her friends crazy with her year long obsession because she didn't seem to understand why some family/friends weren't as excited by every facet of the process as she was.
   
   I would like to have known exactly how much more she spent than she expected to spend. She said something about twice as much which wouldn't surprise me at all--I thought $20,000 to $25,000 seemed incredibly low. She was counting her pennies through most of the entire project and then went for mahogany decking? I priced cedar recently for a project and was shocked at how expensive it is. I can't imagine what mahogany would cost--on Cape Cod?
   
   She ended-up with an even lovelier and more practical home and I applaud her for achieving her goals and dreams.



5. Whouley moved more than a cottage, she moved mountains of regulatory boards and commissions to get permission to patch a cottage onto her tiny house on Cape Cod. It took guts to get through the toughest wetlands regulations in the country. Here's how a pro did it.
   
   You can't help falling in love with this determined woman who loves her neighbors, fights for her chickens, listens to her cat and longs for a sweet, handy guy to fill that little extra space in her life.

5 comments about Bald in the Land of Big Hair: A True Story.

1. It's been five years this month (Feb 2006) since BLBH was published, and I still get email from readers every week. Thanks to everyone who's taken the time to post a review or drop me a line! Hope I get a chance to meet and greet many of you as I tour with my new novel, THE SECRET SISTERS. Be well, be joyful. ~ Joni



2. I read this book because I asked my fiance to bring me any book from the library and he picked this one because he thought I'd like it...and the reality is that YES I DID LIKE IT.
   
   "Bald in the land of big hair" is a very very good, inspiring and hilarious book. The mix is just perfect.
   
   Joni Rodgers tells us about her life and the huge impact on her life when she discovered she had non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. This book really touched me in many ways...I never thought someone could find a way to write about the combination of tragedy and humor like Rodgers did...she just makes us see her journey thorugh cancer and how she survived it.
   
   We all know (or at least have a idea) of how horrible chemo is.....Although nobody knows its effects that well as someone who has been through it...but at least we heard horrible things and Joni just found a way to express us how she suffered but in a sarcastic-funny way...which takes a lot of courage..especially when you talk about something as scary as having cancer.
   
   Joni Rodgers also tells us about the conflicts with her kids...the way they reacted toward their mom's condition; the feeling of being a bald woman that screams out cancer; the mental and physical strugle, the relationship with her husband, etc.
   
   This is a great book. I REALLY recommend it. This book has a meaning for cancer survivors, cancer victims and those who suffer with someone close who has cancer...my grandma has cancer but she chose not to have chemo because of the scary effects of it...
   
   Anyway get Bald in the land of big hair...even if you are neither of the people I said...get this book...it gives you a insight into what cancer victims deal with.
   
   vgxoxo@hotmail.com



3. This is one of the best books I have read lately. It's definitely not a cancer-as-slapstick memoir. Joni Rodgers got horribly sick, could have died, and she pulls no punches as this book surveys the physical, emotional and financial wreckage.
   
   Yet she weaves laugh-out-loud passages into her story, which also resonates with tough spirituality, honest frustrations and fears, and love. Lots of love.
   
   I'm buying an extra copy, to pass along when I think someone could benefit from reading it. I want to hang on to a copy, though. There are things I can learn from reading it again. Things I wish I wouldn't need to think about, but for the sad fact that someone I know is likely to be diagnosed with cancer in the future. Maybe with Joni Rodgers' book under my belt I can feel less helpless and find something useful to do for them.



4. Rodgers writes this book from a Christian perspective, but as a Christian I was offended by the language and explicit nature of this book. She explains love making early in her chemotherapy treatment, and discusses the smell and taste of body fluids in explicit detail. This part was at the beginning portion of the book; I finished the book, and found this to be the most offensive bit. Negative attitude and raw language were scattered throughout, however.
   
   This being said, Rodger's story is an honest, provoking one. Her story is interesting and useful. The reader just needs to understand that, as a Christian book, this has some very offensive, unnecessary language.



5. Perhaps I'm just very sensitive to the topic of cancer and general, and despite the fact I realize humor has it's place in cancer treatment, as well as treatment of the whole person, I did find offense to a few aspects of this book. The author obviously has dealt with this trial first hand and knows the importance of tactfulness in such situations, however I felt saddened by it at times and wonder if it would also sadden a newly diagnosed cancer victim.
   
   I would recommend this book for someone that has a good support group, knows the monster they are dealing with, and is strong enough and ready for humor.

5 comments about West of Then: A Mother, a Daughter, and a Journey Past Paradise.

1. What I liked most about this book is the author's ability in describing people's manerisms. You could easily visualize her mother's ways. How any of Karen's daughters survived to become responsible humans, is a miracle. I also loved the history in the book. The ending was very anticlimatic, but then Karen appears to be the toughest drug addict ever. Very sad that she wasn't considered sick enough for a psyciatric hospital, despite the suspected knowledge that she was injecting herself literally anywhere she could...her feet and possibly her face. I also found it touching that three sisters all by different fathers, where able to stay close when the one person they have in common is such a lost cause.



2. Book is well-researched - the history & descriptions of Hawaii. Overall, this book is a tribute to her mother, and I feel sorry for Tara, now in her early 30's. She has not ACCEPTED that her mother is a self-centered, immature, lying, thieving, irresponsible, promiscuous drug addict; Karen could care less about Tara and her sisters. Tara's own life is on hold - no husband or children - while she waits for Karen ("Still, I have hope for the living") to grow up. She needs to accept reality. I'm glad Tara gave us this peek into her world, and I hope she does well in her journalism career.



3. One can only hope that this is merely a hint of what is to come from the talented Tara Bray Smith. It's impossible not to be moved by Tara's struggles to connect with her estranged and wayward mother.
   
   As someone who has suffered great personal family tragedy, I can honestly say that Tara "Tells it like it is." The image she creates of Hawaiian paradise and its appearance vs. reality reflects her own inner journey; Tara hopes to reach the "paradise" where she has the mother she wants (and still believes she can have) rather than the imperfect and troubled mother she actually has.
   
   Ultimately, this story is unforgettable.



4. Karen Morgan came from an "old kamaaina family," the kind Maile Yardley used to write about in The Honolulu Advertiser, with teas on the lawn and parties at the beach house. Her daughter Tara Smith introduces her 21st century world on the first page of this memoir as "junkies like my mother."
   "West of Then" is out of the tourist zone.
   It is not entirely clear why Smith wrote this book. Early on, we are led to believe that her mother disappeared and this is the story of how her daughter came back to Oahu to look for her: "One day my mother is sleeping under cardboard (at a pocket park in downtown Honolulu), the next she's gone. Really, really gone."
   But that was 2002, and in the Acknowledgments, we discover that Smith has been researching the book since 1998. Also, we discover, to our surprise, that the disappearance was only temporary, that Morgan is "partying," and "still struggling" in Honolulu in 2004, as the book is published.
   It's a bit of a con, like finishing a murder mystery and discovering that the secret was that there was no murder.
   Or is this a public exploration of a daughter's double anguish? "I don't know why I think my mother is my responsibility, but I do."
   Or a family history with the family's most obvious failure as its pivot?
   Only alternate chapters are about her search for Karen. The others are about Smith's girlhood, the five generations of her family that founded and ran Kekaha plantation on Kauai and oddments of Hawaii history back to Captain Cook.
   Whichever reason -- or all three and more -- "West of Then" combines the allure of watching a train wreck developing with snooping into someone's diary with a detective yarn.
   The book is remarkably similar to the one James Ellroy wrote about his search for his murdered mom, "My Dark Places," and is also written in something close to Ellroy's Hemingway-parody style.
   Ellroy's hunt was far darker. His mother really was murdered and he ended on the streets as a child criminal and addict. Smith's mother was -- as of this book's publication in 2004 -- in good enough shape to be refused admittance to Queen's hospital because she wasn't psychotic; and Smith and her younger sisters had a
   tumultuous but successful upbringing. All, at least, got an education and are now functioning members of society, even if their mother isn't.
   Still, reading "West of Then" is no fun. The reader hesitates to turn the page for fear of what comes next, but cannot forgo finding out.
   Other than just being niele (one of the Hawaiian words defined in the glossary), a justification for reading somebody else's tale of misery could be for insight into the problem of addiction in Hawaii, of which we hear so frequently though not usually so frankly.
   It's a political issue, after all. We're told that more treatment is the answer. Not for the Karen Morgans of Hawaii, it isn't.
   She refuses treatment, preferring to live on the streets, supported by increasingly frustrated family, handouts, whoring and government handouts.
   Forty-three million Americans may not have health insurance, but Karen Morgan does. You pay.
   The kicker is that, although Morgan began using drugs as a teenager, and was so wasted she abandoned Smith when she was in her late 20s, she got clean for about 15 years while raising two younger children.
   Smith writes, "My mother kept things together while my sisters were young. Mouths to feed gave her purpose. Who needed her now?"
   
   
   `



5. EXTRAORDINARILY TRAGIC AND SAD BOOK ABOUT ONGOING AND PERSISTENT LOSS OF A FAMILY MEMBER TO DRUGS. MAKES YOU WANT TO CRY AND AT THE SAME TIME PRAY FOR PEACE FOR THE DAUGHTER.

No comments about Led By Faith: Rising from the Ashes of the Rwandan Genocide.

5 comments about Secrets of a Hollywood Super Madam.

1. The book contains plenty of juicy bits on the sexual habits of those famous Hollywood celebrities but it is poorly written, with plenty of grammatical and spelling errors. I was surprised that the author did not proof read or asked someone to edit the book for her first before publishing it. I just don't seem to understand why the author needed to add in the part on her love for the animals, especially in chapters which have no complete link to her love for her pets. Out of the blue, a short paragraph on her love for her animals just popped out of nowhere... and it can be quite "painful" (or rather irritating) to read at times.
   
   But I do marvel the courage of the author in writing this book. Salute!



2. really enjoyed reading about the life of a madame. told in detail what these men requested for their dates(and believe me... they were upfront with that!) the names of people involved were interesting also...yes names you will recognize. hope she writes super madame II. one of those guilty entertaining reads. couldnt put it down until i was finished.



3. I thought the book was very good. I have to say I'm appalled (though not shocked) at the names that floated across the pages. Why is it just the women are punished when it comes to prositution? If it's true Bruce Willis was a customer, why didn't Willis get jail time for paying for an illegal service? All the men should be held equally accountable by law. In Saudia Arabia if a woman is raped, she is held responsible and the men are set free. Or if a woman has sex out of marriage (actually; even if she's alone with man who is not who husband will suffice), she is the one who is accountable, not the man. The truth is, our legal system isn't a whole lot better then countries that penalize the woman for preceived sexual offenses and crimes. Prositution could not exist if men were not buying sexual favors. If you want to be fair in punishing individuals for participating in prositution, then the men need to be held accountable for their contribution. Every famous celebrity (and non-celebrity) should have faced the same jail time as the author. Only when all parties are made equally quilty will the rich, famous and over sexed stop purchasing sex for entertainment purposes.



4. A very interesting read about the paid sex life of the stars in Hollywood.
   It is written with a light humor that is enjoyable.
   I enjoyed it.



5. I wish I could get my money (and the time I managed to dedicate to reading, before I couldn't take it anymore) back for this book... At the very beginning of the acknowledgments, the author brags that she wrote the book by herself, with "no co-writer or ghost writer". I only had to read a few sentences further to realize that this would have become very clear without her having mentioned it. It was rare to read any sentence that wasn't a run-on, or in some other way grammatically incorrect... It was so distracting, I found myself wondering right away if I'd be able to get into the story, despite the bad writing skills. Unfortunately, I didn't even make it all the way the first chapter before I came across an embarrassing attempt at erotica (apparently the first of many, from what I read in another review), with the author's story of her first sexual experience. Already, the straw had fallen which would break the camel's back. So take this review with a grain of salt if you must, seeing as how I wasn't able to read much of the book before I had to stop the madness. I couldn't bring myself to waste any more time on something that seemed like it could just as easily have been written by a teenage boy in the throes of puberty. Sorry to be harsh; I'm just tellin' it like it is!

No comments about The Darkest Days of My Life: Stories of Postpartum Depression.

No comments about Last Days in Babylon: The Exile of Iraq's Jews, the Story of My Family.

5 comments about Early Graves.

1. I make it a habit to carry a book along with me whenever I go anywhere that may entail a long wait. In this case, I quickly grabbed a copy of this book, which I had purchased from my local library for twenty cents. It came in handy as the brake repair on my car took 4 hours. I started reading this book and time flew by.
   
   In my opinion, it grabs the attention from the first page. I liked the author's quick paragraph by paragraph review of the backgrounds of the killers. Then he launches the reader into the terrifying actions of this "Boney and Claude", as the killers later termed themselves. Some may feel his writing lacks depth, but if you are a true crime fan you will find his descriptive abilities help one to visualize, for instance, the huge canyon where the first victim was discovered. I could almost see the steep sides and enveloping darkness that marked the young victim's disposal site. One indeed sympathizes with the recruit who had to spend a night down in its depths with the body of the murdered teenager.
   
   Since I don't want to give away too much of the story, suffice it to say that if you are in the mood for a chilling and easily readable account of two sociopathic individuals, pick up a copy of this book. It emphasizes the sad truth that there are truly heartless monsters in our midst, and no one is truly "safe" in today's world.



2. my name is judy millican and im the sister of lisa ann millican , i myself have read this book and i can tell u every thing in this book is not true!!!!the part about the family life of lisa that is!!!!the other i dont know but thats judiths part



3. ...as did everyone else who read this book of Judith Neelley's vicious crimes against 13-year-old Lisa Ann Millican and 22-year-old Janice Kay Chapman. While focusing mainly on the rape, torture and horrific murder of Millican, it is easy to see why investigators and prosecutors were so intent on seeing this cold, calculating female put to death. And apparently the Judge agreed when he trumped a jury vote of 10 to 2 for life in prison without possibility of parole. (Readers should research Neelley after reading this book to see information on how this sentence was overturned in the late 90s and how she will soon be eligible for parole.)
   
   Living within miles of Judith's hometown, I found this book to very interesting as I recognized many landmarks and some of the people involved at her arrest in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Amazingly, Murfreesboro is no longer the seedy little town the author described but a thriving metropolitan that has almost merged with Nashville, the country music capital just 30 miles North.
   
   A bit outdated, but still an excellent read!



4. This is a well-written and disturbing book about Judith and Alvin Neelley. Judith grew up in a dysfunctional home, and Alvin, much older than Judith, was a petty criminal with no ambition or backbone. At first their offenses were, by comparison, minor - they stole money from their jobs or robbed gas stations, and were caught cashing stolen checks, for which Judith spent some time in a youth detention center. But Judith has a mean streak that seemed to escalate, and after her stint in the center, their crimes elevated to intimidation, homemade bombs, kidnapping, rape, torture and murder. They were partners, but it was Judith who masterminded and performed the crimes and cowed Alvin into participating. The murders were senseless and brutal and it's hard to think of the victims' last hours. The amazing part is the dramatic transformation Judith underwent after her capture - now she claimed she was the victim of her husband's controlling and violent temper and feared for her life if she didn't cooperate with him. I was engrossed in this story, and would recommend reading it.



5. This book was a attention getter from start for me simply because alot of the crime is in GA & Tn (Southern States ) .
   
   The detail in book is very graphic at times and it mostly does talk about the murder of 13 yr old McMillian girl , but there is so much MORE TO THIS BOOK . It also tells of the abuse that the killer went through with her husband or at least suppose to have went through , and for sure it gives the reader the feeling that Alvin was a controling husband but I am not sure to the point to where he drove the wife to kill . It also says that he (Alvin) had sex with the 13 yr old before his wife killed her , The wife cruises the street alone for her victims and when she picks up victim she gets on CB radio to her husband and they meet up .
   
   This book in away takes you inside the mind of a true cold blooded killer and a woman that would kill by any means whether injecting her victim with liquid drain opener over and over again ,or by shooting a person in back , or pushing victims over a cliff to a floor canyon .

1 comments about Conchita: A Mother's Spiritual Diary.

1. I very much like reading books by Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross. "Conchita" was recommended to me because she is in their category, and yet she was a wife and mother of eight children. To the eyes of those who knew her, she was devout, peaceful and ordinary, but no one was aware of the spiritual heights and intimacy with the Lord she was experiencing. At the end of the book there are many pages that give a glimpse into the depth of her mystical writings. This book is encouraging to those who live in the world and who may think that holiness is attained by only those who are hidden away in monasteries.