No comments about Marijuana/Cannabinoids: Neurophysiology and Neurobiology (Crc Series in Physiology of Drug Abuse).

2 comments about Journey to a True Self.

1. Just like the man, this book is open, frank, honest, genuine, and a true inspiration to any and all who search for peace and a path to finding their true self. In a sincere attempt to help others by giving of himself and sharing of his story, Curtis D. Wall reveals his innermost secrets, sins, overwhelming struggles, and invaluable advice as to how he continues to battle and overcome them even today. A real page turner, I highly recommend this book to all who long to overcome addiction, abuse, anxiety, fear, pain, depression, and the many other demons that plague millions. Thank-you Curtis! I choose to call you my friend. --Mary



2. If you are into self discovery and for thinkers, I got these recommendations from another writer, I read them and highly enjoyed them. These two books are easy to comprehend, and they are one of a kind, full of information for deep seekers. Check it out
   RUMI & SELF PSYCHOLOGY (PSYCHOLOGY OF TRANQUILITY)
   and
   SARA'S THERAY: THE WAY TO PURITY (A SESSION BY SESSION TALK OF AN ACTUAL THERAPY PROCESS OF SELF GROWTH).

No comments about Addictive Behaviors: Readings on Etiology, Prevention, and Treatment.

1 comments about Message in a Bottle: Stories of Men and Addiction.

1. Before reading this book I had never really thought about the existential implications of alcoholism. Now I see chronic addiction in a completely new light. This approach makes more sense the more one really looks at susbstance abuse and the reasons why so many people keep 'slipping' when they are well aware of the negative consequences.
   
   Very well written and not too academic for those familiar with college-level psychology texts.

5 comments about A Room on Lorelei Street (Golden Kite Awards (Awards)).

1. This is a gripping novel about a high school girl who leaves her alcoholic mother and rents her own room. I loved everything about it.
   
   The main character, Zoe, is so well drawn she seems almost real. She has flaws, but she has a big heart and a lot of drive. I really wanted her to make it on her own, and found it difficult to put down the book until I got to the end and discovered her fate.
   
   The language is gorgeous, but it's not one of those beautiful books where nothing happens. A lot happens, with page-turning suspense througout the novel.
   
   I also liked reading about the vivid supporting characters-- the mean yet realistic grandmother, people at Zoe's school, the creepy guy who Zoe sees at work.
   
   This is my favorite teen novel of 2005.



2. Mary E. Pearson's A Room on Lorelei Street is gripping and well-written, a bleak story with streaks of hope. A Room on Lorelei Street is the story of Zoe, a 17-year-old girl burdened by a difficult family. Her father is dead, under somewhat mysterious circumstances, and her mother pretty much lives inside the bottle. Her beloved younger brother has been sent away to live with a more stable aunt and uncle, who have no room for Zoe, while Zoe is left to care for her irresponsible and needy mother.
   
   One day Zoe sees a sign advertising a room for rent in a gracious home on Lorelei Street. She is unable to resist the lure of getting away from her mother, and of being in a place that's all her own, clean and quiet and safe. She rents the room (more of a studio apartment) from the quirky but kind Opal, and finds it everything she has dreamed of. However the ties of family and guilt are not so easy to break, and Zoe struggles with continuing demands from her family. She also struggles financially, not really able to afford living on her own while working part time while attending high school. But she's not willing to go back, either.
   
   This book made me think about all of the things that I took for granted growing up: clean clothes, abundant food, parents to attend any plays or recitals that I was in, siblings who lived in the same house. Zoe is painfully in need of someone to care about her, to put her needs first, to be what family is supposed to be. When Opal attends one of her tennis matches and cheers for her, it brings tears to Zoe's eyes. She considers it the nicest thing that anyone has ever done for her. How sad is that? How many kids are there who have no one to care about them?
   
   The ways in which Zoe acts out are not surprising, given her background, and are treated matter-of-factly by the author. The looming menace of what she will or won't do to earn money to afford her Lorelei Street haven is more disturbing. Toward the end of the book, things get increasingly difficult for Zoe, and the fragile ties tethering her to the community snap one by one. What keeps Zoe going are a few precious memories of her father's belief in her potential, and her own unquenchable sense of possibility.
   
   Zoe is a strong character, a teenage girl facing situations far beyond her years. Her landlady, Opal, is delightful, glowing with enthusiasm, despite the hardships in her life. The small, depressed town of Ruby, Texas is almost a character in the book, too. Ruby is beaten down and insular, without much economic potential, but the stars still shine overhead. And there are still beautiful rooms on Lorelei Street.
   
   This is a book that will make you think. About the connections between people. About what kids need from their parents. About what makes some people keep going, while others give up. About where responsibilities to family end, and responsibility to self beings. Mary Pearson's writing is spare and elegant, with just enough detail to make the scenes pictured painfully clear. I think that it will particularly resonate with teenagers, male or female, struggling to find their place in the world.
   
   A Room on Lorelei Street won the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Golden Kite Award for fiction published in 2005. This is the only major children's book award given by the writer's peers.
   
   This book review was originally published on my blog, Jen Robinson's Book Page, on July 18th, 2006.



3. No wonder this young adult novel by Mary Pearson was honored with SCBWI's prestigious Golden Kite. You're drawn to Zoe from her first inappropriate outburst in English class, then amazed by her resilience as you're swept deeper and deeper into her story. The characters could be people you know--their quirks, their messy personalities, their coping mechanisms. You want to reach into the pages and give this gritty girl some gasoline money. With an eye for detail, Pearson pulls many threads through this teen survival story--keep an eye on the bulldog! Clever, whole, moving. Makes any reader yearn for a room on Lorelei with a landlady like Opal.



4. Zoe is determined not to be like her mother. So she sets out on her own and rents a room in an attempt to get away from the things that drag her down...then she becomes that which she despises.
   
   This happens so often in families. Kids are always saying "I'm not going to be anything like my parents." Yet, that's what they know, so that's what they become. And most don't even know it.
   
   The real beauty of this story is that Zoe sees what she's become, acknowledges it, then takes steps to change. She's heading into the unknown, and has no idea whether she'll be okay. But she takes comfort in knowing that this is the right direction.
   
   Such a stunning and courageous message to send to kids. Well done, Ms. Pearson.



5. A Room on Lorelei Street by Mary E. Pearson was over all a worth while novel. It is based on the life of a teenage girl struggling to cope with a highly dysfunctional family. It finally comes to her moving into a rental room to escape the emotional abuse of her mother and grandmother. Barely making it by, some of her methods are a little less than honorable. The author does an amazing job with making the reader feel as if she or he is truly in the mind of a struggling teenage girl. The figurative language is captivating and voice is realistic. Characterization is well developed but some of their actions are very dishonorable and then never reconciled when the reader is led to believe that they will be. In the end the majority of the conflicts from the beginning are left hanging along with some new ones. This left me feeling like I wanted to keep flipping pages that weren't there. Other than the abrupt ending, A Room on Lorelei Street was a great source of entertainment.

No comments about Fifteen Hands (Jennifer Book, 7).

3 comments about Matt Talbot: His Struggle, His Victory over Alcoholism.

1. "Matt Talbot" is a short biography-inspirational life of an obscure Dublin workman who has become an inspiration for those who seek to rid themselves from addiction to alcohol. The fact that there is a story of Matt Talbot is a story in itself. Matt lived such an obscure life from 1856-1925 that no picture of him exists. It was only after his death that people began to collect memories of him and his sanctity began to be recognized. Talbot's problems began at the age of twelve when he tried to help his family by getting a job with a wine merchant. The sampling of the wine led to a sixteen year slavery to alcohol. In 1884, aware of what dirnk was doing to himself and his mother, Matt took the pledge to refrain from drink. He kept his pledge for the rest of his life. As he freed himself from alcoholism, Matt found, in Jesus and His Mother, someone in whose service he could gladly enslave himself. Most of the book contains memories related by those who knew Matt which display the degree of his dedication to religious devotion. In this book, Sister Susan Helen Wallace, FSP, has pemitted adults to enjoy he gift for religious biography which she had previously reserved for children



2. Does anyone out there know of a web site for Matt Talbot



3. "Matt Talbot" is a short biography-inspirational life of an obscure Dublin workman who has become an inspiration for those who seek to rid themselves from addiction to alcohol. The fact that there is a story of Matt Talbot is a story in itself. Matt lived such an obscure life from 1856-1925 that no picture of him exists. It was only after his death that people began to collect memories of him and his sanctity began to be recognized. Talbot's problems began at the age of twelve when he tried to help his family by getting a job with a wine merchant. The sampling of the wine led to a sixteen year slavery to alcohol. In 1884, aware of what dirnk was doing to himself and his mother, Matt took the pledge to refrain from drink. He kept his pledge for the rest of his life. As he freed himself from alcoholism, Matt found, in Jesus and His Mother, someone in whose service he could gladly enslave himself. Most of the book contains memories related by those who knew Matt which display the degree of his dedication to religious devotion. In this book, Sister Susan Helen Wallace, FSP, has pemitted adults to enjoy her gift for religious biography which she had previously reserved for children

2 comments about Jenny's Monster: A True Story of Grace.

1. Jenny's Monster is not an overstatement. Her Monster is real. This book is terrifyingly in-your-face. If you are like me, you will first hate her Monster, next you will hate Jenny, finally you will cry like a baby at this tragic true story.



2. This is the author's first book and is it ever a powerful book! Instead of telling her story in third person through a fictional character, she chose to tell her story in first person and reveals personal things that most people would keep to themselves. That took a lot of guts!
   
   
   Ms. Moran tells her own story of growing up with a physically and verbally abusive mother who is totally consumed by alcoholism. She describes her own descent in despair, self-loathing, drugs and alcohol...all by her early teens. Her parents divorced when she was a toddler; her oldest brother was the only worthy child of the three; she never knew what it meant to be loved as a person.
   
   Through AA, Ms. Moran was able to gain sobriety, learn to forgive her mother and find peace and love in her life. Her struggle to get to this point is incredible. If you are in an abusive relationship or know of someone who is, this is the book for them! They'll know they're not alone, that alcoholism really is a disease, and find sources of help...healing is possible!
   
   Ms. Moran lives in New Jersey with her husband and two children and proudly wears the title "Jersey Girl". She has a BS in Psychology from Montclair State College, is a successful sales executive, and enjoys running, and is passionate about the arts.

1 comments about A True Story of a Drunken Mother.

1. . Pay attention to detail and in that you might be quite amazed at the depth of Ms. Hall's pain of disclosure. Her gift of outright truthfull admissions is possibly the greatest gift for all who ever lived with anyone, with a skeleton in their closet. This is prevelant in almost all of our lives. This book does not go into a sensationalistic tabloid venue. It does give one a feeling of trueness, honesty and courage. Refreshing in this day and age. Ms. Hall is a woman with great insight, way before her time. I would love a sequel. How is life for her now. What does the "O", on the cover signify? As a Woman and Mother, I have my own ideas.

No comments about Al-Anon Faces Alcoholism.