When I picked up The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax, I was expecting a story about another Miss Marple, with the difference being in that Miss Marple was a detective of sorts and Mrs. Pollifax was a spy. Was I ever wrong! From the first sentence, the story of the depressed widow turned secret agent had me spellbound. A light and airy style makes the book a joy to read. Mrs.Pollifax is a terribly amusing and resourceful character, although she seems at first to be a little eccentric. After all, who in their right mind would walk into CIA headquarters and volunteer as a spy? But when her first mission goes disastrously wrong, her wits are proven to be extroardinary. The story, which is full of action and adventure, reminded me of one of my favorite movies, The African Queen. There is the well-bred Mrs. Pollifax, alone in a foreign country,just like Katherine Hepburn as Rosie. Then we are introduced to Johnny Farrel, who is a lot like Bogart's character in The African Queen. At first Mrs. P dislikes Farrel, but soon she becomes very fond of the man, who calls her "Duchess" with great awe. If you like stories of epic proportions with violence that isn't graphic, The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax is your cup of tea. I can't wait to find the next book in the series!

I thoroughly enjoyed my first adventure with Mrs. Pollifax. What a quirky character for a CIA spy: plucky but demure, shrewd yet totally trusting, a little rebellious and always polite. The middle lagged a little bit, but the rest of book zipped by effortlessly. Ms. Gilman's prose is interlaced with funny, unexpected revelations about how humans deal with precarious situations. And I liked how her sinister rogues seemed like humans, rather than caricatures. I can't wait to read the next in the series.

The first book in the beloved Mrs. Pollifax series gives the background as to how this elderly, yet irrepressible grandmother joins the CIA. Bored and disillusioned with her life, she decides to volunteer to be a spy with the CIA. She dresses herself up (hat and all), shows up on the doorstep of the CIA building, and waits to meet with the director. A mix-up occurs, and she finds herself on a whirlwind adventure that sends her around the globe and tests her patience, strength, and determination. Only Mrs. Pollifax could find her way out of prison in Albania, and helping other prisoners, she proves to herself and the CIA that she is an invaluable resource.

Having read the entire Mrs. Pollifax series, I was hooked by this charming debut. Mrs. Pollifax was vulnerable in the beginning (she contemplates suicide when she feels that she is not needed) but finds inner strength to overcome all of the ordeals she faces while on her mission for the CIA. The book was also an introduction to another wonderful character, Farrell, who plays a large part in this and future books in the series. If you are looking for something a bit unexpected and like adventure, try this series. Enjoy!

A Cozy Mystery Lover

I LOVE this book! I loved it even more when my 2 1/2 year old "read" it to me.

The book tells a story of what Mom will do with her baby when she comes home from work. Like "Dance down the hall" and "make a cup of tea and give baby a sip". My daughter tries to re-inact the scenes. One of the scenes is of Mommy leaving on a small light at bedtime. My daughter asked about her "small light". We don't normally read books in my rocking chair, but she saw that in the book and wanted to start. We now dance (or fly) down the hall.

This is an all time favorite of myself and my three year old daughter. The gentel reassurance of all the great things parent and child will do together when mama comes home tonight. This book helps calm children after a busy day and shows them all the things that they can look forward to doing with mama. A touching and beautiful book!

When Mama Comes Home Tonight may retell a day's events for working moms but the message is not exclusive to working women's children. This is a fantastic book because of its literary gift to children. The rhythmic, repetitive text encourages even young toddlers to chime in. I am a huge fan of illustrator Jane Dyer, who's illustrations contribute to the calming mood of the story. This book is a winner FOR ALL FAMILIES OF ALL MAKE UPS AND OCCUPATIONS. (It is a book that children of working parents can greatly relate to as well!) It is definitely a book that will be reread each night since it's message rings true to all children-- a parent's love and time is inmeasurable.

Nearly everyone who's had a brush with American lit knows the story of Emily Dickinson - her poetry unpublished in her lifetime, and then even after her death, her verses seeing the light of day only after having been "improved" on by an editor who found her rhymes imperfect and her meter "spasmodic." He even went so far as to make her metaphors "sensible." The fact is, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, to whom Dickinson had sent her poems, was a representative of the poetic establishment, and as with all artistic establishments then and now, was too rigid in his thinking and too impoverished in his imagination to comprehend a new voice of genius. As Editor Thomas H. Johnson writes in his terse but very instructive Introduction, "He was trying to measure a cube by the rules of plane geometry."

Of course other women of literature suffered something similar during the nineteenth century. What I wonder is, who is being misread, ignored or denied today?

Anyway, suffice it to say that this IS the definitive one-volume collection of the poetry of Emily Dickinson. It includes all the 1,775 poems that she wrote in her lifetime, and they are presented here just as she wrote them with only some minor corrections of obvious misspellings or misplaced apostrophes. Johnson has retained the sometimes "capricious" capitalization, and preserved the famous dashes.

There is a subject index, which I found useful, and an index of first lines, which is invaluable.

Dickinson can be playful...

I'm Nobody! Who are you?
Are you - Nobody - too?
Then there's a pair of us!
Don't tell! they'd advertise - you know!

...she can be sarcastic...

"Faith" is a fine invention
When Gentlemen can see -
But Microscopes are prudent
In an Emergency.

[Alas, the Amazon.com editor does not support italics. The words "see" and "Microscopes" are italicized above, and it really does make a difference!]

...and grave...

I heard a Fly buzz - when I died -
The Stillness in the Room
Was like the Stillness in the Air -
Between the Heaves of Storm -

...and observant...

I like a look of Agony,
Because I know it's true -
Men do not sham Convulsion,
Nor simulate, a Throe -

...and profound...

Love reckons by itself - alone -
"As large as I" - relate the Sun
to One who never felt it blaze -
Itself is all the like it has -

..and desperate...

"Hope" is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -

And never stops - at all -

...and self aware...

I meant to have but modest needs -
Such as Content - and Heaven -
Within my income - these could lie
And Life and I - keep even -

...and even radical...

Much Madness is divinest Sense -
To a discerning Eye -
Much Sense - the starkest Madness -
'Tis the Majority
In this, as All, prevail -
Assent - and you are sane -
Demur - you're straightway dangerous -
And handled with a Chain -

...and much more.

She is a poet of strikingly apt and totally original phrases imbued with a deep resonance of thought and observation, especially on her favorite subjects, life, death and love. She can be cryptic and her references and allusions are sometimes too private for us to catch. She can also be amazingly terse. But the intensity of her experience and the "Zero at the Bone" emotion displayed in this, her "letter to the World/That never wrote to me -" are second to none in the world of letters. Unlike Shakespeare, who mastered the psychology of people in places high and low, Dickinson mastered only her own psychology, and yet through that we can see, as in a mirror, ourselves.

This is the standard and authoritative collected edition of Emily Dickinson's poems. It is a book that will stay with you for the rest of your life. I can think of no finer writer of poetry in English who manages to invest so short and simple a construction - no more than a couple of lines in some cases - with such emotional force. I say 'simple', but her poems are simple only in a deceptive sense. An unfinished poem like "A letter is a joy of earth/ It is denied the gods -" (that's the whole poem) says more about the joy of constructing prose than any number of effusive efforts from the Romantics.

Miss Dickinson has suffered from having been appropriated by the rather dreary crowd of 'cultural critics' who cannot grasp that a work of art tells us primarily not about the social mores of the time it was written in but about the human spirit. She is especially vulnerable to this sort of irrelevant sophistry, having lived as a recluse for much of her life and thus being ripe for 'interpretation' that is nothing more than a recitation of modern political sensibilities. That's a shame, and it certainly shouldn't put you off reading her. So far as I'm concerned, there is no one - not even Shakespeare, not even Jane Austen or Dickens - whom I read more frequently, and with greater pleasure and benefit.

As a few have stated already, a lot of Emily Dickinson's poems appear simple on the surface. Don't let the simplicity or brevity fool you, boiling underneath the metaphors of Dickinson's poems are some of the most beautiful visions I've ever read. Intelligent, thoughtful..haunting are all words I'd use to describe her poems. She has quickly vaulted to the top of the list of my favorite poets along with William Blake and Edgar Allan Poe.

And speaking of her poems, there are plenty. All of them in fact, in chronological order allowing the reader to see the progession in her poems. This is a great book at a great price to be able to own all she has written.

Since her poems have no titles, there are two invaluable features included at the back to help aid the search for the desired poem. One is an alphabetical subject index, with words and lines linked to poems with which they belong. The other index includes the first lines of all 1775 poems.

An excellent all around souce for all your Emily Dickinson needs. Enjoy.

When I finished the last page of this book, I had this huge goofy, satisfied grin on my face. Mrs. Pollifax is hi-lair-i-ous. She's such an endearing blend of demure primness and gung-ho recklessness. She's a great role model not only for senior citizens, but for us young'uns as well. As I read through this series, I keep realizing how well Ms. Gilmore researches her locales. I've never travelled to Turkey, so I can't gauge her descriptions' accuracy--but she brought the landscape to life for me. And Ms. Gilmore captures the people quite well--their temperament, generosity, and language. At one point in the story, Mrs. Pollifax rhapsodizes about "the astonishing strangers who become friends." I feel the same way about Emily.

Mrs. Pollifax is back and better than ever in the second book of the series. The mild-mannered widow who becomes an unlikely CIA agent is called again by her contact Mr. Carstairs. This time she is asked to go to Turkey where she will be in contact with Magda Ferenci-Sabo, a Russian spy who is defecting to the Free World. She is to give Magda money and a passport which will enable her to leave Turkey. Carstairs gives Mrs. Pollifax only 30 minutes to get ready, but the plucky widow is ready for another adventure. She flies to Turkey and sees Magda, but
she is unable to make contact before Magda flees. Thus, Mrs. Pollifax embarks on a wild ride, matching wits with a diabolical
double agent and surviving imprisonment, but along the way she makes friends with some unlikely allies. This book is delightful
ride from beginning to end and should be pleasing to "cozy" fans.

Intrigue in distant places is a mark of Dorothy Gilman's Mrs. Pollifax series. In this one, she captures the flavor of Turkey beautifully. In addition to well developed characters, there is a lot of action packed into this little book. Mrs. Pollifax is truly amazing.

After my sister insisted that I read this book. I wrote this note about my sisters gift to my friends with a copy of this book.... "My sister gave a gift to me, It is simple as you will see. She's given me many things, as I've grown under her wings. I can't say there is any special one, all wonderful when they're done. Some I enjoy everyday, some only when needed today. She gives me gifts; some big, some small. I truly love them all. Thank you for the book you see, The name is "Letters For Emily" To all my friends; I will share this book, Please spend some time to take a look." I bought 40 copies of this book to send to my friends with my poem about my sister's gift. IT'S WONDERFUL...

This is by far the best book I have ever read. I consider myself an avid reader. However I have never been touched by a novel as I have by Letters for Emily. This book is a quick read and you will not want to put it down. The tears will come so naturally because of the heart-felt emotions expressed by the grandfather who wrote the letters, and the reactions by his family members. After completing this book, I immediately looked for other books by Cameron Wright, but was unable to find others. I am eagerly awaiting the author's next novel. If you ever want to understand forgiveness and family love, this book will give you that experience. I would recommend this book to EVERYONE.

What an amazing book!!!! Recommended to me by a member of my Church, I was a bit skeptical about cracking the cover. To my delight, I fell in love with the book and the characters. Your heart begins to ache for poor Harry. You begin to well up with tears for Laura. You start getting angry at Bob. And you are excited for little Emily.

It starts out as a book about Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and its cruelty to those who are inflicted with it. AD is one of the worst because you watch your loved one wither away before you. AD steals the most important part of life...your memories -- then your body. It is, however, a book just about AD because as you are engrossed with the characters and the story, another problem begins to surface. What is it? Read the book and find out.

I highly recommended this book to all readers! As a Pastor, it will certainly have a place of prominence on my bookshelf. Truly a delight to read as well as a challenge to our lives. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

...

Readers of Delotora quest, and just plain fantasy readers, would love this book. It is a tale of how even the weakest man or woman can prevail when stronger heroes cannot. The water suply in Rin is running low, and it's members will run low on life unless they can retrieve the water. They know the problem is up the mountain somewhere, but the mountain is treacherous. A mad old lady named Sheba gives them little clues of how to get up the mountain safely, and six of the strongest heroes are chosen, but the weakest child[or teenager,the book never realy told his age]had to come beacause only he could revele the map. In the end all six heroes are deafeted by their greatest fear and only Rowan, the weak one, is left to save Rin. "This book was great!" says me. But my word is good enough for me. It gets a little predictable but sometimes your own thoughts may wrong....

P.S. I apalogize for my bad spelig and grammer,

All of the children in the village of Rin are expected to be strong and brave, for the life the villagers lead is a hard one. And all of the children meet this expectation except for one - weak, timid Rowan. His father died to save him, and ever since then Rowan has been scared of his own shadow. When the water source that the village depends on suddenly and mysteriously dries up, fate choses Rowan to be one of the seven heroes that must climb the forbidding mountain in order to save Rin. Rowan would like nothing more than to run and hide - but his shame forces him to make the journey. Along the way, Rowan and the other six travelers face countless dangers that would test the courage of even the very bravest person - and one by one, the others all desert, leaving Rowan alone to complete the quest and save his village. But can this one small boy reach into his heart and find the courage to succeed? This was an inspiring fantasy about a young boy who discovers strength within himself that he never knew existed.

As the stream that is the only water the bukshah drink, on which the people of Rin depend on for life, stops running, the people of Rin know that something has to be done. They send six of the strongest people of Rin, but when they discover that the medicine woman, whom many of them think are crazy, has sent them a valuable item: A map of the Mountain. Then they discover that only in the hands of weakest and most cowardly boy in Rin does it show itself, they find no other answer than to send him along. A bit of the poem also given by Shiva:
Seven hearts the Journey make
Seven ways the heart will break
Bravest heart will carry on.
A surprise awaits them as each of them strong men and woman turn aside from the quest in shame. That Bravest Heart is none other than Rowan. Cowardly he may be, but he faced his fears, and that is real bravery.

I, like the reader below, from Michigan, usually don't hit the Romance Section when looking for reading material. However, I am glad that I "mistakenly" bought this book, not knowing it's category.

Of course it's not "deep", I don't think it is meant to be anything other than what it is--a really fun, entertaining read. Actually it IS a bit thought provoking, makes one wonder what really goes on in the afterlife!

I couldn't wait to find out the "secret", and also, (blushing a bit here) really enjoyed the love scenes!

If you want to just get away from it all, have fun and laugh out loud, this is the book for you! Some of the best lines are from "Miss Piggy" the dog, so suspend your disbelief and just go with it!

If you have personally known a Corgi, you HAVE to read this. The story had all the makings of a very nice romance (plot, characters, setting, good guy/bad guy, tension) but Lydia/Miss Piggy is what put this story into the VERY GOOD class. Ms. Carmichael took a whole new approach--a dog's eye view--at romance and our ideas of life-after-death and pulled it off hilariously well. I've always been a dog and cat lover, yet I know that not every dog could have the "attitude" Miss Piggy does. It works!!! If you're not a dog lover, maybe you should read this book to find out what THEY really think of YOU! A very fun read.

This book is thoroughly enjoyable and a great read. The human characters are fascinating and very well-developed, and "Miss Piggy" is the star of the show with her insightful comments about viewing life and people from the body of a corgi dog. Once I started reading this book I could not put it down, and I was laughing out loud at many places. I highly recommend this book, and I vote for the author to write a sequel about the further adventures of "Miss Piggy".

Emily Toth's book is hilarious and witty, while at the same time offering practical, sensible advice for women in academia--whether they are in graduate school (like I), on the market (this phrase always strikes me as funny--and after reading this book, I find it even more amusing), or already working at a university. Definitely a book worth every cent. I've already purchased two more books for friends who've found it just as useful as I have. The third-person Miss Manners imitation works especially well for this subject, without being irritatingly derivative (as an ardent Judith Martin fan, I was prepared to feel a bit affronted). I wonder what Miss Manners would think? I highly recommend this book, and am already finding myself anxious for a sequel. Ms. Mentor--are you listening out there? Get busy on a sequel!

As one who has already "succeeded" by Toth's criteria (I have tenure at a major university--whew!), I've bought several copies of this book already to give to all my female grad students and teaching assistants. It's must reading for any woman in academia--and I'd recommend it to men, as well (much of the advice could apply to them, and the rest should be read as guidance as to what they should *avoid*!).

As a beginning grad student who has been away from academia for several years, I found this book not only a kick to read but full of refreshingly straightforward information. I plan to follow Ms. Mentor's advice to the letter. But this isn't just a guidebook for academia. Any woman (or man!) who wants succeed -- and survive -- as a professional should read this book.

Laura Catherine Brown writes a vivid tale of a young girl coming of age. Mandy Boyle has had a tough time of it. Her mother is a hypochondriac who treats Mandy terribly by constantly putting her down as well as sexually abusing her as a young girl. Her father truly loved his little girl but he was an out of work man who drank heavily. All of this has had serious consequences for Mandy.

She leaves home for college and has to try to make her own way in the world. She faces a lot of difficult choices and almost never chooses wisely. She turns her back on her one true friend and finds comfort with Booner, a guy she barely knows who tries to possess her. Mandy is "grateful" for love from anyone who is willing to show her attention or affection.

I have to admit though that while I enjoyed the story to the extent that I had to see how Mandy ends up, it was a little sad and depressing to read. The circumstances in her life were sometimes heart wrenching. Overall however it is worth a read.

Quickening is one of the most powerful down-to-earth novels I've read this year. Mandy is a struggling young woman dealing with a difficult childhood and attending college for the first time. She, like many of us, is trying to figure out who she is and where she belongs. Unfortunately, circumstances out of her control lead her down the wrong path. Mandy's father dies, and she is left with a very ill, very abusive mother. Mandy turns to drugs and a promiscuous lifestyle to hide her pain and ends up quitting school and moving in with a guy she barely knows. This story could be about any college freshman with a little bad luck, and the story is definitely addictive. I look forward to reading other books by Ms. Brown.

This is a beautifully rendered story of one young woman's journey to discover her true self. Ms. Brown has a wonderful grasp of metaphorical language which she puts to fine use in this book. Mandy Boyle, her heroine is tender, vulnerable and painfully self-aware. Bent on escaping her mother's claustrophobic universe, Mandy goes happily off to college but is suddenly stopped in her tracks when she receives the news that her father has unexpectedly died. Without her father as a ballast, Mandy loses her tentative hold on the world, and is forced -- in spite of her best efforts otherwise -- to finally face and confront her own demons. Ms. Brown explores this difficult emotional terrain with honesty and a sure hand. Her evocative language, well-paced scenes and true to life characters lend poignancy and reality to Mandy's dilemmas. You will root for this character from beginning to end. This is a fine debut.

When Jason Adrian is injured during soccer tryouts, he is devastated that he cannot go to soccer camp with his best friend. He was certain that he was doomed to spending summer eating Jell-O with his grandmother. But his English teacher unexpectedly comes to his rescue and he is off to Camp Ravenwyng. His overprotective stepmother cannot really find anything wrong with a camp for creative and imaginative students, so Jason finds himself on a funky little bus with a small group of kids and two weird-looking counselors. This bus ride is Jason's first tip-off that Ravenwyng isn't an ordinary camp - not when they suddenly went from nowhere to somewhere and night and day became totally confused in the process. Jason quickly finds that this is just the beginning. All of the children at camp were chosen because of their magicial potential and they are being trained to use that magic. As if that wasn't enough, he has to deal with a shape-shifting fellow camp kid, a disappearing best friend and a traitor in their midst. For he discovers that Camp Ravenwyng is the new battleground between the Camp Ravenwyng Magickers and their ancient enemy, the Dark Hand of Brennard and that a member of the Dark Hand is at camp plotting evil deeds...

I resisted buying this book for quite some time because I thought it was a total Harry Potter .... and it both is and it isn't. Jason and Harry have many similarities: their age; they are both being raised by someone other than their parents: Harry an aunt/uncle, Jason a stepmother/stepfather; they both know nothing about magic until they go to school/camp; they both have two best friends: Hermoine/Bailey and Ron/Trent; a klutzy boy in camp: Neville Longbottom and Henry Squibb; they are both sorted into their areas: Harry by the sorting hat and Jason by the wishing well; both have weird scars: Harry the famous lighting bolt on his forehead and Jason a weird moon shaped scar on his hand; both are mysterious targets for evil beings; both have the power to work miraculous things and end up saving the day, etc. This is really too bad because once Susan Drake got past the whole "be as close to Harry Potter as possible without plagarizing" at the beginning of the book, she was able to create a delightful fantasy book. There are some differences, the main one being the way magic works and what it is used for. The evil characters are also different and include both animals and humans. There are also some unexpected surprises in the book. The book is well-written and the reader empathizes with the characters almost immediately. The plot is pretty fast paced and there are plenty of little details to keep the reader amused with sub-plots while they wait for the serious action to occur. If you enjoyed Harry Potter, you will like this book, but I still feel bad that she "borrowed" so many ideas from J.K. Rowling.

I thought it was a wonderful book. It was along the lines of Harry Potter but different. It's about a boy who goes to camp but the camp is not what it seems. They drop little hints in the story about things not quite right. Like a counselor whose hieight keeps on changing. I thought it was inspiring and I can't wait untill the next book comes out because of the cliff-hanger ending!

When I started reading The Magickers I thought that Emily Drake was a good author with a practical idea; to cash in on the Harry Potter craze. The more I read, though, the more I realized how untrue this thought was. While there are certainly similar elements between the two - a lonely young boy finds out that he can use magic in a hidden world that operates within our own - Drake's story is fresh and compelling. Her characters show the complexity and personality that you'd want in a friend (or an enemy), the plot is full of entertaining twists, and Drake skillfully manages to deal with the concepts of good and evil both subtly and realistically.

This book is a great read for both children and adults, and I highly recommend it to anyone who loved the Harry Potter series.