Best book I've read in years!! I couldn't put it down from start to finish. It was both thought provoking and thrilling. It would be a great book for the summer!!

Sacred Ashes places on the American literary landscape a new author. Elizabeth Griffin Dost does a commendable job of putting forth a novel that combines fiction, spirituality, and utter thrill in a beautifully woven web. Her novel grabs the attention of the reader from the very first page, and she does a magnificent job of holding you captive until the very end. With each page turn the reader becomes more and more involved in the lives and journey of these fantastic characters. A definite summer read that I highly recommend!

You know you've read an excellent book when the only difficulty in writing a review is keeping yourself from revealing major plot points. Limiting myself to very general terms, however, I can only agree with the previous reviews in saying that this book is fascinating; the concept alone provokes discussion. The author deals deftly and delicately with the religious implications of cloning (see? giving away plot points already, but I promise I'll stop there) while managing to avoid the temptation to adopt a preachy tone. She keeps ethical considerations and dramatic development in a balance that engages the reader until the end. Too much modern fiction strives for style as opposed to substance; usually, it achieves neither. "Sacred Ashes" is a rare exception.

The day that i started reading this book i couldn't put it down because it was teaching me about my depresion. Now that i have completed it i feel that i know more about depression then i knew before.I shared it with my mom who is also depressed and she wants a copy of her own. iI think it is a very good book and i would defently recommend this book for depressed teens that want to learn more about depression. Even a teen without depression that wants to learn more about depression should read it. Thanks bev for writing this wondreful book.

This book extends a compassionate, knowledgeable, hand to teens trying to understand the complex and frustrating dynamics of living with depression. Author Bev Cobain demystifies mental health terminology with staightforward explanations about the various kinds of depression and the difference between "the blues" and more serious kinds of depression that need attention.

This is an interactive book where teens are shown how to take an active role in doing things to help themselves stay healthy. Young readers will find themselves in one or more of the stories told by eleven teens from many walks of life as they describe their struggles with depression. The stories demonstrate that young people can do something about depression and have hope for the future.

Parnts, school counselors, mental health providers, physicians and others who work with depressed teens, will find useful, practical, information in this book. Any depressed teen luckly enough to receive this book from a caring, concerned adult will find comfort. Indeed, it may save a life.

A great starting point for teens who are going through unipolar or bipolar disorders (whether they are currently receiving treatment or not), Bev Cobain presents the complex issues at hand in very understandable terms and constantly reiterates the important points that depressed teenagers or teenagers who know friends who suffer from depression must take to heart. The little footnotes at the bottom of most pages are very helpful, just in case the reader decides to skim through or jump around the pages so that every necessary information is readily accessible. The useful diagrams and tips also give depressed adolescents a great way to take action immediately and perhaps feel some sense of accomplishment and progress (in fact the mood chart was something two of my past therapists used). The anecdotes, which represent teenagers each coping with different circumstances, put real faces to the more clinical aspects of the book and serve as examples of points made in the previous pages. There are a few holes in the book, however. Perhaps more information on the specific medications will have a reassuring effect on teens who will be taking them. Also, the issue of hospitalization was covered, but more facts about what actually goes on in them may have helped (although, yes, the experience differs with the quality of the hospital itself). Finally, a small section on the various personality disorders may help those teens who suffer from them because they share similar symptoms. Despite these questions, however, the book is an excellent aid for teens who go through what is often described as the "downward spiral."

In Seattle, Ivy Raymond owns and operates an antique store, ENCHANTED TIME. She normally sees sellers by appointment or in bulk lots, but to rid herself of the pesky elderly woman, she agrees to look at the package. Inside is a book from the sixteenth century that obviously is worth a lot, but the woman insists on $100 or she will sell it to the nearby bookstore owner. A stunned Ivy feels some sort of weird inexplicable connection to the names inside the tome and buys the book.

Ivy reads some of the incantations only to find the spells work though she remains skeptical. However, the last spell she cites sends her back to the drafty abode of a seventeenth century gentleman, Julian Ramsden. As they fall in love, he wonders if she is a spy working for his enemy trying to stop Julian from regaining all he lost. Then there is the Witch Hunter General who will hang female family members of Julian including his beloved Ivy if he is not stopped in time.

This is a reprint of an enchanting mid 90s time travel romance that is one of the sub-genre's best. The story line is exciting due to a tremendous cast who will make moving back and forth in the time stream seem possible. Ivy is a wonderful heroine and her beloved is a delightful hunk struggling between love and desire vs. trust. The secondary characters provide depth to the mid-seventh century especially the Witch Hunter General. Readers will have an ENCHANTED TIME perusing Amy Elizabeth Saunders' appealing tale.

Harriet Klausner

Wonderful time-travel. Ivy is sent back in time by reading a book sold to her by an old lady. She arrives in England at the time of the Commonwealth, witch-hunting & Cromwell from her home & business Enchanted Time in Seattle.

My one hope is that Amy will write a sequel to it for Daisy & Suzanna. I'd love to see them in the 21st. century with their grandmother & Winston. And what about poor Josiah Feake (the witchfinder general) lost in the future. I loved the ending with Josiah ending up in a mental institution & the picture was perfect. Please Amy write us a sequel.

This is the second romance novel that I ever read. Not that this release is a rerelease, I read the book in 1995, or 96. Despite the fact I first read it so many years ago, I reread it many times.
The historical settings of the novel are done really well. By the end of the book you have grown to love the characters. The way Ivy travels back in time is when someone gives her a book and she reads a spell from it. The person who gives her the book is her future love's grandmother who is searching for her own love. The book ends with Margarethe (Julian's grandmother) finding her love and a happily ever after for everyone except the witch hunter general who most likely ends up in Bedlam because of his foray into the future.

Well structured, as it must be, Hale's guide presents both the nuts and bolts of grammar and the considerations of style that cannot exist without a sound grasp of grammar. The book begins each section simply, with the "bones" of the part of speech being explained, puts on the "flesh," and elucidates the "cardinal sins" and the "carnal pleasures" of nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, and so on. Even when the going gets heavy, as in her discussions of attributive nouns or appositive phrases, her clear, conversational tone smooths the way. She concludes with reflections about voice, lyricism, melody, and rhythm. One of the best features of her book is a glut of choice passages from the likes of Nabokov, Joan Didion, George Orwell, Jamaica Kincaid, and many others. Her well-read reach extends to rap lyrics and the wine labels written by the flip, clever copywriters at Bonny Doon Vineyards. The collection of quotations alone makes this book worth owning. At times the tone is slightly uneven, as when she follows a serious discussion of rules with the casual use of words like "gonna" and "wimps" (apparently she has a reputation for being hip to uphold), and she includes sentence diagrams without really explaining how they operate. Her advice to "go ahead and be ungrammatical if it feels right" may make some sticklers swoon. But these are minor flaws in a manual that is useful for beginners and seasoned writers alike. You close the book understanding how the rich inventiveness of English is rooted in its complex grammar and vocabulary, which are the reasons it can be so flexible, so magical -- the reason, in fact, that language creates reality. Includes a helpful appendix describing other grammar guides.

SIN AND SYNTAX should be a text in high school English classes. A generation of enthusiastic grammarians might rise up and wipe out the scourge of dangling modifiers. The mystery of lay and lie would be be solved at last. I teach adults how to turn their great ideas into the novels they've always wanted to write; and while the refinements of plot and character and theme are fairly simple to explain, grammar and syntax bedevil student and (this) teacher alike. But no more. With humor, clarity and excellent contemporary examples, this book helps me explain to my students why, after half a dozen rewrites, their sentences still sing off key, why I nag them about details, why some adjectives work and others just take up space on the page. A great resource book.

This book is a basic grammar guide for those of us who may have been out of school for a while, but it's as much about writing style as it is about grammar. The reason I like this book so much is because it is filled with a range of writing examples, from remarkable to awful. The examples of bad grammar, many taken from students papers, had me laughing out loud. The only thing this book is lacking is a reference section where you can easily look up grammatical terms, although the index is thorough. I personally didn't miss a reference section though. This is the sort of light, readable book I wanted.

I LOVE this book. It seriously helped me through a rough breakup. I guess I should be grateful that the breakup happened around Valentines Day because that is the only reason I found this book. It was on a table full of other mushy poetry books, but I was drawn to the 'little black book' with the candy hearts on the cover. It hooked me from the beginning.

The book is broken up into different sections (anger, moving on, false hope, and eventually real hope)... feelings you actually go through during a breakup. And they are perfect. The poems for the ANGER section were exactly what I needed when I was so mad at the world.... and my ex.

The sections at the end, the real healing chapters, truly helped me. To know that someone else (and great poets at that!) has felt what I was feeling and that there is hope even when it does not seem like it, comforted me.

I really believe this book helped me through one of the hardest times of my life. I have recommended it to many friends who have also enjoyed it. Buy this book if you or someone you know needs help through a breakup or divorce!

This book is hilarious, profound, accessible, and absolutely perfect. Esselman and Velez break down break-ups into all of the stages you've experienced but never had the guts (or the sanity, at any given moment) to name--stages like rage, self-hatred, relapse, and moving on. Their commentary for the poems in each section is as intelligent and down-to-earth as the poems they choose. Read this, if you've ever even THOUGHT about being in--or out of--love. You'll find yourself entranced by the good poetry and comforted by the fact that no matter how you are trying to deal with a love lost, you aren't alone, or crazy: William Shakespeare, John Donne, Lucilie Clifton, and Billy Collins have all been members of the same lonely hearts club at one time or another...and, it seems, they've all come out laughing on the other side.

A charming collection whose only problem is the title. The title implies that the authors are angry and loveless when in fact they demonstrate a depth of understanding the full gamut of emotions surrounding the commitments people make to one another. My 20-year-old daughter (who knows less about poetry than I do) handed me me this book with the off-putting caveat "You probably won't get it, but I loved this!" I loved it too -- for the breath of the collection of poems, the witty and incisive commentary before each chapter, and mostly its affirmation of the beauty and bounty of finding love at any age and at any cost. I highly recommend that mothers give this to their daughters, fathers to their sons for Valentine's Day, but tell them first that this nifty book is, despite the cautionary title, a wise and witty book about how careful they should be to find and keep someone to love.

Required to read Henry for my AP English Language class, I came into the play with a bias. I honestly felt that it would be a boring political play. I was utterly wrong! A huge fan of Shakespeare, I found Henry V to be a formidable match for the Bard's more critically acclaimed plays, such as Hamlet and Macbeth. Henry has it all! Shakespeare's attitude toward Henry the King is certainly one of admiration. By communicating the fact that an effective monarch must have a complete understanding of the common subjects (Pistol and Bardolph and Quickly), Shakespeare sets up Henry to be the ideal Christian king. The controlled language of Henry's speeches, particularly his response to the Dauphin's idiotic insult, also glorifies Henry. I certainly recommend this play to anyone, fan of Shakespeare or not.

I looked long and hard (and asked many a scholar) for the "perfect" Shakespeare publication that I might purchase to study "King Henry V" (for a experiential education requirement, I had undertaken the translation of Henry V into American Sign Language). The Arden Shakespeare came highly recommended by everyone, and has lived up entirely to all its rave reviews.

I will never buy Shakespeare from another publisher. While these books may be slightly more expensive than a "mass market" edition, I believe that if you are going to take the time to read and understand Shakespeare, it is well worth the extra dollar or two. The Introduction, the images, and plethora of footnotes are irreplaceable and nearly neccessary for a full understanding of the play (for those of us who are not scholars already). The photocopy of the original Quatro text in the appendix is also very interesting.

All in all, well worth it! I recommend that you buy ALL of Shakespeare's work from Arden's critical editions.

Written by Shakespeare for Queen Elizabeth I amidst a time of Irish rebellion, Henry V more than adequately serves its intended purpose of galvanizing nationalistic fervor. It proved itself to be an unwavering and unfaltering impetus of patriotism in Shakespeare's day, during WWII, and still today it continues to resonate and reverberate this provocatively telling tale of the most gloriously revered monarch in English history.

Henry V's stirring orations prior to the victorious battles of Harfleur("Once more unto the breach") and Agincourt("We few, we happy few, we band of brothers") astonish and inspire me every time I read them. Simply amazing. Having read Henry IV Parts I&II beforehand, I was surprised Shakespeare failed to live up to his word in the Epilogue of Part II in which he promised to "continue the story, with Sir John in it." The continuing follies of the conniving Bardolph, Nym, & Pistol and their ignominious thieving prove to be somewhat of a depricating underplot which nevertheless proves to act as a succinct metaphor for King Harry's "taking" of France.

Powerful and vibrant, the character of Henry V evokes passion and unadulterated admiration through his incredible valor & strength of conviction in a time of utter despondency. It is this conviction and passion which transcends time, and moreover, the very pages that Shakespeare's words are written upon. I find it impossible to overstate the absolute and impregnable puissance of Henry V, a play which I undoubtedly rate as the obligatory cream of the crop of Shakespeare's Histories. I recommend reading Henry IV I&II prior to Henry V as well as viewing Kenneth Branagh's masterpiece film subsequent to reading the equally moving work.

This book is terrific, I loved it when I was little and I remember forcing my brother to read it to me over and over before I could read. It's an enchanting story, delightful for girls all over, it was the first book I thought of when looking for a book for my neice. Our local book store at the time was able to special order it for me, which was about 8 years ago. I have to admit my 5 yr. old son doesn't seem to be as enthusiastic about it as I was (we borrowed his cousin's book), which makes me think it is definately more appealing to girls. Anyone who was a fan of "Bewitched" or the current "Sabrina..." will like this book.

This was a favorite book of mine in grade school, and I was so happy to find a copy of it online for [price]. Reading it again has been awesome! The story of Minx, the good witch who doesn't want to be bad despite the urgings of the terrible Madame Snickasee who she is forced to live with. Minx's courage and determination help her in her journey to find out who she is. A very happy ending, along with meeting some interesting characters on the way make this a magical story I highly recommend if you can find it!!

I wanted this book so badly, I paid about $70 to get a copy! Harry Potter mania has reminded me once again of this wonderful story. As a child I read a first edition signed by the author. It was given to me by a Great Aunt who told me that Ms. Bennet was a second cousin to me. I gifted the book to my neice who will soon be reading it to her first child. Some 30 plus years after I first read it, I still remember the wonder of the story -- can't wait to read it again.

Excellent book! Well written and superbly done. This book takes you from the very beginning user all the way through to being able to find problems. The most helpful areas are the ideas and links to products. Great tips and shortcut ideas. Super for both the beginner and the expert. A must have for anyone who plans on using the MAC. Easy to read and follow, this book is not "boring" like so many computer books. I would recommend this to anyone.

A great reference and entertaining read for any Mac user, from beginner to advanced. I'm a voracious reader of books about Mac hardware and software, and I still picked up some great tips and insights. Best of all, the book is written in a lively, friendly style. Highly recommended.

The Macintosh Bible series has been excellent, but this edition is wonderful. So much so that I had to buy a 2nd copy; it's heavy to take to work every day and then home every night. But the detail is what even experienced Mac users need to deal with almost every relevant topic, day after day.

Virtually all facets of Macintosh operation are covered sufficiently to overcome some of the (alas) now-expected roadblocks even in my favorite computers; for example, Ms. Aker and I agree that when it comes to providing a trustworthy, loyal, helpful, accurate, obedient, friendly, and kind installer for a new operating system, the folks at Apple Computer have, as is the nicest way to put it, have made progress, but there's lots of room for growth. She ably steers you around the icebergs.

The book is quite thorough for people using up to Mac OS 8.0 or 8.1; also, there's more on OS 8.5 than I'd have expected, given the publication date. Many thanks to Apple for assisting this, providing enough material on the newer OS to let her deal effectively with it.

This book is not only elegant in terms of describing the use of an excellent computer; it is also written beautifully. If the author had shown it to our former College English Composition Board, she'd have scored at an enviable level. Making technically complex procedures easy is very difficult, but she succeeds admirably.

The jokes, brief historical anecdotes, and other details make it a pleasure to read and use. It sets a standard, in my opinion, not only for the present present but for the future.

I read The Four-Story Mistake many times as a child, as I did all Enright's books abut the Melendy family. These are grand books about kids' adventures growing up immediately before and during World War II. (Kids shouldn't pick up on the time period though, and should just enjoy them as stories well told.) I am delighted to see that the books are coming back into print, and I look forward to reading them to my son

This is a book about the Melendy children-Mona, Rush, Randy and Oliver-who have lived in the city all their lives. Now they must move to an old mansion in the countryside, "The Four-Story Mistake." The house got its name because when built it was meant to be four stories, but was only built three stories high. The owners of the house built a cupola on top to make up for the missing fourth story. The house is full of places to hide and more adventures than anyone could imagine. I found the Melendy children very entertaining and their adventures quite humorous. I enjoyed this book a lot, and think it would be a very good book for other fifth-grade girls.

I got *The Saturdays*, the first book in the Melendy series, as my first selection from the Calling All Girls Book Club. I was an 8-year old Air Force Brat in Honduras ["own-doo-rahs"] and that book club was a lifeline. I hoped the club would send me more books about the Melendy family, but it didn't. I thought there were no more and was disappointed. Then the revolution of 1963 sent us back to the states and I was able to go public libraries. How wonderful it was to discover there were *three* more Melendy books! I fell in love with the Four-Story Mistake from the start. I wanted to live there then and I wouldn't mind living there now. What a wonderful place! What a great family! I hope I'll never be too cynical or jaded for these books. If you last read this series as a child, it's more than time to reacquaint yourself. Ann E. Nichols

I finished this book in 2 sittings; I found it riveting and touching without being the least bit maudlin or far-fetched. The heroine, Marie, still subjected to the torturous memories of her past, has the chance to make a difference in the life of a young child; her determined actions force the plot to move as rapid and dangerously as whitewater and simultaneously flood hope into her own life and that of an interested young police officer. Quite good!

Reserve this one for an otherwise quiet evening!

Marie Kenning, while sitting innocently in a cafe having her morning coffee, witnesses the brutal kidnapping of a little, red-headed girl. The experience recalls all too vividly memories of Marie's own tragic loss of husband and child. Determined to get away and try to forget her nightmares, Marie accidentally stumbles on the kidnapper. Without hesitation she determinedly puts her own life on the line in an attempt to rescue the little girl. Elizabeth Delisi has crafted a truly compelling novel. The characters are well-crafted and multi-layered. The plot is realistic and fast-paced. I literally could not put the book down. I recommend Since All Is Passing to anyone who wants a thrilling, unforgetable read.

If you're looking for a fast-paced read that will engage your heart as much as your mind, then Elizabeth Delisi's Since All Is Passing is the book for you! Marie is a heroine to cry for, cheer for, and bite your nails to the quick for. Rebecca, the little girl whose kidnapping hurtles the story into overdrive, seizes your heart and won't let go. As for the kidnapper, he is terrible in the very banality of his villainy. Unlike so many of the overblown and poorly motivated bad guys that appear in thrillers today, this monster is both understandable and all too human. And that makes him all the more terrifying.

Since All Is Passing is an exciting and emotionally-satisfying read.