1 comments about First in the Family: Your High School Years: Advice About College from First-Generation Students.

1. This book is a bible for college preparatory services! All of our Americorps VISTA members took this book home for the holidays as part of their ongoing training as college access facilitators. There is really nothing else like this out there--there are tons of reports, but nothing else with faces, names, and the emotional resonance of First in the Family.
   
   Emily Steinberg, Grant Coordinator
   Admission Control
   www.admissioncontrol.org

1 comments about Oraciones / Prayers: Una Comunion Con Nuestro Creador / A Communion With Our Creator.

1. Muy bien... gracias!
   
   It's the English prayer book that I use all the time, but in Spanish. If you read Spanish, this is the Cat's pajamas.

4 comments about Love Notes on His Pillow: And Other Everyday Ways to Keep Your Love Alive.

1. I recently acquired the beautiful book, Love Notes on His Pillow, by Linda Gilden. I am truly enjoying the heartwarming love stories and ideas--what a wonderful way to add new bursting sparks to anyone's romance! I showed my husband only two stories in the book. He teased, "Isn't that sweet?" As mentioned in one of the stories, my husband has started squeezing my hand. The story tells of a couple using three hand squeezes for "I love you" and four squeezes back for "I love you, too." The book is already working with my husband having read only two pages! Of course, I will share more of the stories with him!



2. Over the years, many how-to books have been written instructing men on how to love women. But women are just as responsible for keeping a love relationship alive. In Love Notes on His Pillow, Linda Gilden provides wonderful insights into the importance of continuous, intimate communication in marriage. She challenges spouses to creatively show their love for each other with the written word, but also with actions. Like a fruitful garden needs tending, love relationships require time, effort, and thoughtful expression. Love Notes on His Pillow is a great resource of fun, practical, meaningful ways to romance your spouse.



3. This was a great find and a great help in our relationship. My husband just loved the surprises.



4. What is a love note? Sometimes it's just a sweet little note that says "I love you, Sweetheart", but it could be quite different. Linda Gilden describes lots of other ways to say "I love you" on paper and by other means. She also explores many other places to leave a love than a pillow. There are many stories in each chapter of couples who communicated a message of love in various tender and meaningful ways.
   
   Although the author is a Christian, this is not a book about Christianity or the Christian marriage; it rather deals with a fun and practical side of marriage. There is a chapter on using Scripture in love notes, which I consider very helpful. A few verses are sprinkled through the pages, but even so, I believe any couple, Christian or not, would enjoy this book.
   
   This is a book not to read through in one sitting, but rather to read a little, mark with a little flag, and try a suggestion before reading on. I enjoyed this book very much, and it has helped to enrich our marriage by giving both of us new ideas of expressing thoughtfulness and love. I recommend it to every couple, whether newlyweds or grandparents!

5 comments about Breathing on Your Own.

1. This collection was obviously collected with love... the table of contents will lead you to something you desire or you can randomly have a good time just flipping to any page.... I found it remarkable when looking for a quote to express my thoughts after September 11th. Highly recommend to writers and lovers of great quotes.



2. Need a new perspective? Thumb through this delicious collection of quotes. This book is my new I Ching. Close your eyes, pick a page and stumble across another fresh idea. Even if you hate books of quotations you might very well love this one. I did. It's sort of a jump start for your brain. Great present too.



3. Wherever you dip your mind in this one-of-kind collection -- and you are, after the first taste, tempted to dip it often and at length, you find words and ideas from memorable figures, from poets to philosophers, that move you, move your heart or soul or intellect in myriad directions; quotations that intrigue, inspire, provoke, stimulate, delight, encourage. For anyone with a desire to light some sparks in their own mind's eye, this is definitely a book worth having on the shelf and savoring. I own many books of quotations, and this is far and away my favorite.



4. I received this as a birthday gift and just love it! It's about as far as you can get from the familiar books of quotation - wonderfully artful and quirky. I enjoy opening the pages randomly and never fail to find something unique and memorable.



5. As an avid quotes collector, I really appreciate that this is Richard Kehl's personal collection culled from various areas of his life, instead of a trite regurgitation of the same old tired quotes that appear in every anthology. And as with all collections, I loved some parts more than others. Some of the quotes were fabulous; others seemed weak and somewhat baffling when printed out of context. A line severed from the conversation in which it took place doesn't always make sense. Sometimes you need the framework of the conversation, either in part or in full, in order to understand what that line means--or to better understand its impact.
   
   My biggest gripe with this book is that Kehl cited only the quotees' names and gave no additional information about where the quotes came from. And some of the quotes had no citations at all! I was thinking, "Okay, great, so this line was said/written by WS Merwin, but where? In one of his poems? If so, which one? Or was it something he said in an interview? Did he write it in a letter to a friend? And this next quote has no name or source affixed to it; where did it come from?"
   
   On one hand, this is just a personal pet peeve of mine: I hate partial citations. Sometimes they can't be avoided, especially if quotes are obtained from secondhand sources. I myself unfortunately have a few such quotes in my collection. But the problem is that Kehl's entire collection is set up this way.
   
   On the other hand, pet peeves aside, I think Kehl missed a great opportunity to open readers' eyes to literature and poetry that they might not have otherwise discovered. For example, maybe a reader will see in this book a quote that he absolutely loves, and it will spark a desire to read the entire poem/book in which the quote appeared. But if no poem/book is cited, how will he find it? Maybe he doesn't have the time or energy needed to read everything ever written by Rainer Maria Rilke in order to find the excellent work in which that one particular quote appeared. Googling the quote sometimes solves the mystery, but not always.
   
   Aside from the citation issue, I did enjoy this book. I think it contains a fresh collection scattered throughout a wide array of subject categories--some of which are delightfully unconventional.

No comments about Solo Para Mujeres/only for Women.

3 comments about Inside Islam: The Faith, the People and the Conflicts of the World's Fastest Growing Reliigion.

1. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the articles were both dignified and for the most part objective. A novice in my study of the Muslim faith, I found this book to be enlightening and informative.

   However, I found what I believe to be crucial questions about the foundations of Islam to be unanswered, (for those of us who want to think the best of the Islamic faith). First, if (according to the Quaran and the Nation of Islam,) all White men are evil, how is it that we are "redeemable" at all? Does this explain the fundamentalist position that we are the infidel that needs to be destroyed? Of course, I realize that not all practicing Muslims believe this, but I would question my faith if such a system supported a notion so extreme. Is there a New Testament of sorts in the Q'ran that clarifies this, or are we all doomed?

   Secondly, I would find it insulting to be called a nominal Christian, or a moderate. I am either a follower of Christ, or I am not. Recently, Muslims seem to want to be identified as "moderates". Is this a political position for fear of persecution, or to disquise a higher goal, which many fear?

   Furthermore, the sensationalist rehetoric of the lead minister of the Nation of Islam does not go unnoticed, any more than that of other extremists who claim to want peace and equality. Many misguided souls blindly trusted Hitler, Lenin, and Jim Jones. Unfortunately such cases, the threat of death always follows the apostate. Who would choose such an oppressive life? How does the average Muslim account for such atrocious human rights violations supported by their holy book? A person's life must be consistent with his or her faith, or it is not true faith at all. Constantine smeered the Christian faith by forcing it upon his constituants. Islam punishes lack of loyalty with death. If your faith is inconsistent with your values and lifestyle, then perhaps your faith is misguided, but the Muslim religion tolerates no such disloyalty. Out of necessity it seems, moderate cells are cropping up all over the place. This is the part that many do not understand. To this day, all over the world, people are converted at the point of the sword. If one's faith is true, shouldn't he trust God to bring about a person's salvation in spirit and in truth? Political correctness will never address these problems.

   There is a conflict that arises as the values of one's faith are juxtaposed against that of another, and underlying principles (such as true respect for women as God's creation, and Salvation through God's love and grace, and not merely anything we have done or can do to earn it)that we are asked not only to narrow our thinking, but to comprimise our values.

   Personally, I have found that learning about other faiths and cultures solidifies and/or challenges my own. This is a good thing. "Inside Islam" does a fine job of contributing to such a goal. I'm just not sure that the world is ready to be as sympathetic with a militant religion as it is with the people who seem to be suffering so much under it-one that is notoriously cruel to it's most vulnerable people, the women and children.

   Is it the capitalist's fault for the poverty of entire nations, or the greed of the few at the top who refuse to share their bounty with the rest? This issue was covered nicely in Inside Islam, "Why they hate us". People of all faiths have been guilty of using and abusing others in the name of their God. The crucial point is what the foundations of the religion are.
   
   My goal in reading this book was to discover just what those foundations are. I discovered a complexity of philosohic thought about the Muslim faith and the culture of Islam, some of which bordered on justification of human rights violations based upon the secular idea of cultural relativism, and sympathy for the victims of abuse in the name of Islam. I share in the sympathy.

   Another no less informative resource worth reading is "Behind the Veil...Unmasking Islam",written by Abd El Schafi.
   This book directly quotes the Quran and through interviews with the most respected Islamic Scholars, builds consensus for what the real "creed" of the Islamic religion is, concerning women, "apostates", slavery (sexual and otherwise), marriage, prostitution, and divorce, attitudes toward nonmuslims, and the militant nature of the religion as the method by which fundamentalists (such as the Taliban)spread their faith. This book is not politically correct, but no less compassionate as a result.




2. Inside Islam is edited by John Miller and Aaron Kenedi and provides fourteen accessible, insightful essays by many of the world's prominent writers and historians, each of whom address the subject of Islam and its beliefs. Essential to an understanding of the region's sentiments and conflicts and especially recommended for young adult readers.



3. I think the intro by Akbar Ahmed articulates best that there will always be a debate as to why certain authors works were included in this book. I personally like the sections from Huston Smith, Akbar Ahmed, Thomas Cleary and Michael Wolfe.
   The sections I find the most problematic were Women in Islam by Geraldine Brooks and to some degree "Why they hate us" by Fareed Zakaria. Ms. Brooks's essay deals with a family conflict which ends up in murder. For someone who want's know about Islam this is hardly the place to start. Similarly Mr. Zakaria is obective and presents some good information of "why they hate us", but there is a big problem in how eg he refers to the Quran. I will not even repeat what he says, but this is nothing but poisonous.

   If someone does not know too much about Islam I would say tread with caution. If you want to get a sampling and decide which books to read further then obviously this is a one way to do it.

3 comments about Leaving Home: Survival of the Hippest.

1. I enjoy collecting works by Lynn Johnson. However, this is NOT a yearly collection or a "Best of..." book. Having said that, it is a book with some practical, but fun advice for those who are leaving home. Since I've been on my own for over 10 years, this was not a very interesting read. Instead, I gave it to a high school graduate in hopes that he would learn a few things through the chuckles. Overall, it's a good book, but not one worth keeping in my collection.



2. Another Great book to visit the Patterson's with. "For Better / For Worse" has to be one of the best comic strips of all time. It really makes you think, "They are just like my family", and if you do not have kids, read the books so you know what to prepare for.



3. I, too, am a fan of Lynn Johnston's comic strip, but it at no time conjures up the word "hip." Much of its charm is that it conveys an "unhip" feeling, even while addressing modern situations. Wholesomeness, humor, warm family ties and loyal friendships, yes. Hip? No, I don't think so. That does not mean that I don't recommend the book. It just doesn't scream "hip." The Hipster Handbook illustrates in great detail the hippest of the hip. If you want to read a book on leaving home that would appeal to the young and the hip, try 50 Ways to Leave Your Mother.
   That said, I still would recommend Leaving Home: Survival of the Hippest for its humorous take on the pitfalls of kids living on their own for the first time. The author has done a nice job of putting forth life lessons of the young and the clueless with her wonderful sense of humor.

1 comments about Philosophy for Polar Explorers: What They Don't Teach You In School.

1. This book is terrible. Poorly written, poorly conceived. Please don't waste your money or your time.
   
   Zero stars.
   
   I trusted the publishers--who seem in general to have very good taste. I highly recommend all of Antal Szerb's books.

4 comments about Sopa de pollo para el alma: relatos que conmueven el corazón y ponen fuego en el espíritu.

1. Y no solo en sus casas, llevenlo al trabajo en la cajuela del coche. Un buen consejero es muy dificil de encontrar en estos dias - sin magnificar-. Es de esos libros que nos invitan a subrayar, y que despues de un tiempo terminan todo subrayado. Algo importante antes de terminar, "sentido comun solo eso, nada mas ni nada menos Sentido Comun".Dificil Nooo!!! leanlo! y despues me cuentan.



2. esto es lo ultimo, se supone que debes ser tocado por estas historias, casi vomito al leer cosas tan cursis e insipidas y me pongo a pensar en todo el dinero que se estan ganando los que se dedican a recopilar esta clase de cuentecitos para gente debil y sonsa, y pienso como traman uno, dos, tres y creo que ya van por la parte seis y sigo pensando en la estupidez de la gente o es tal vez falta de comunicacion o que se yo. lei la primera copia y lo regale inmediatamente antes de que me vieran con el. es uno de esos libros que me avergonzaria de tener, como las novelitas rosas o las historias de corin tellado. pero que le vamos a hacer mientras haya mundo existira mercado para esta basura ideologica...

   LUIS MENDEZ luismendez@codetel.net.do




3. Aunque, ya se ha vuelto muy comercial, se pueden sacar historias de éxito tremendas para degustar y compartir...



4. This book has one or two very good articles but the rest are not worth the expense.

No comments about Chicken Soup for the Woman Golfer's Soul: Stories About Trailblazing Women Who've Changed the Game Forever (Chicken Soup for the Soul).