My wife and I are not empty nesters'. In fact, our family hasjust begun two years ago with the arrival of our daughter. However, Ilaughed until my sides ached imagining what my parents went through with me. I reprogrammed all the buttons on my parents' car radio and I will surely brace myself for when my daughter is of age and does the same. Mr. Levinson is a deep contemplater of life. In his book, he takes the fruit of his contemplation, mixes in a high dose of humor and reveals that profound transformation when the kids leave the nest. -- A message to my own mother and father: "Thank you for your patience. Mr. Levinson revealed to me what you went through AND how much you love me."

Thomas Sullivan provides a clear, consise, and easy to use reference guide for anyone to use. This book not only contains actual text of some major environmental laws, but it also sites case studies and court decisions, all in an easy to read format. This book is a must for anyone dealing in environmental matters, and is a good source of reference for anyone concerned with the environment and public policy.

I really liked the book. It is a great followup to False Conception. Greenleaf's focus character, John Marshall Tanner narrates the story, and it is fun to read a first person account by a guy tough enough to be a P.I who is also thoughtful and intelligent. I would even add that Tanner seems sensitive, but then you would think Tanner is another Spencer, which he isn't. Tanner is smart but not smart mouthed, nice to women but doesn't go around quoting love poetry. Tanner is world weary enough to be able to make great observations and asides on Seattle life and culture, which is the best part of the book

Forget Me Not, the 5th book in the Christian series Aloha Cove, follows the lives of two stepsisters, Cass and Tabitha. In this novel, their boyfriends both leave for college, and they are both left to complete their senior year on Kwaj. Cass must deal with her mother's pregnancy. A new boy, Sam Steele, comes to the island, and makes friends with Cass and Tabitha. One of them likes him, and who will it be? While Cass is filled with remorse at the departure of Logan, Tabitha is relieved that her boyfriend, Micah, has left. This book deals with the changes many girls encounter during their teen years. I enjoyed this book, even though the diction is not very good. It strongly enforces Christian views and moral behavior.

Animal lovers beware! Frogmouth equals terrific and highly original mystery, but the killer's horrid specialty is the slaughter of animals by the droves. In the Hong Bay district of Hong Kong (Marshall's lively fictional setting), a petting-zoo is massacred, no creature left alive. The descriptions of hoards of found-dead "dumb chums"--mainly birds--that occur early in the novel, and then again later as the hateful killing spree continues, are of course unpleasant, and I did not enjoy them; but Marshall goes only so far as he needs to go in describing the carnage, and moves on. I just know, however, that for dedicated animal lovers the scenes involving the murderer's work will be more stomach-turning than they may have been for me, and I was quite unsettled m'self.

The author is smart enough to run an over-the-top, supremely humourous subplot (as usual, really), where two of his stable of Yellowthread Street detectives stake out an automated banking machine, favourite spot for a run-and-grab thief who may simply be too fast for anyone to catch--his escape route, after snatching money out of bank patrons' hands, is up a steep hill that gave one pursuing cop a heart attack. Enter Detective Auden, who ends up running several impromptu races against the thief--apparently a cheery Tibetan who eggs on any intrepid pursuit so as to have some strong competition--while bigger and bigger crowds of people watch and wait for free money to be dropped during the action, and Auden's partner, Spencer, acts as "coach" for his fellow detective, but otherwise does nothing constructive. It is, typically, a very funny little subplot, not without its hidden puzzle (Spencer wracks his brain trying to figure out who is making any money out of this, if it ends up flying all over the street!).

There is a third, also successful, subplot: something is haunting the Yellowthread Street squadroom. Strange, frightening noises prompt Detectives O'Yee and Lim (naive greenhorn) to start tearing the place apart to find ghosts, maybe spectres of prisoners who were tortured in the holding cells (now which of these likeable cops would DO such a thing?). I felt sure that the explanation for the "haunting" would not be steeped in the supernatural--as weird as Marshall's incredile police procedurals get, he does not deal in spectres and such--but just when I convinced myself that there were no poltergeists infecting the cops' headquarters, Detective Feiffer, out at the scene of the second, terrible animal slaughter, thinks he sees a ghost, of an old man, sitting
sadly on a bench in the receding mist. Then, the man, or whatever he is, disappears...

Frogmouth is unique, even among other entries in this series. Ultimately, it is a sad, heart-rending story, with a final revelation that did bring a tear to my eye, because of the poor, dead animals, but also because of the pain a person is revealed to be feeling, which would cause him or her to harm so many harmless creatures. Frogmouth has an inherently disturbing plot, but it is hauntingly, powerfully effective.

This is another in the wonderful series of fictional mysteries set in Hong Kong in the last several decades of British rule. The continuing characters, Chief Inspector Harry Feiffer, Christopher O'Yee, and Detectives Auden and Spencer, once again are challenged to a series of baffling crimes. Marshall succeeds in blending the suspenseful with the humorous. "Zany" is the adjective that seems to describe his humor most accurately. In this adventure, someone is using gelignite to blow up citizens of Hong Bay, part of Feiffer et al's beat on Yellowthread Street. A secondary plotline has O'Yee hunting for a stuffed bird on behalf of a wealthy Hong Kong businessman.
I usually give these books 5 stars. However, the labyrinthine explanation at the end of the book went on a little longer than I thought was necessary. But I readily admit that those readers with a LeCarre bent will probably feel right at home.
I know of no other mystery writer who can combine the gruesome with the gross, the horrible with the humorous, and the suspenseful with the silly. I've already started another Marshall mystery, and hope to review it here shortly.

Picked the Good Dating Guide up at the airport on my way to France for a few days R&R. Based on good common sense, the author offers ground rules on most of the do's and dont's for succesful dating, for both males and females. I thought the section on how to handle rejection in a positive manner was excellent, and probably worthy of a chapter (if not a book) in its own right.

Easy to read, and interspersed with many anecdotes, it will proabably come off the shelf for a re-read before long.

Ulysses S. Grant had attended West Point but didn't exhibit any sterling qualities as a student. He served in the Army for a decade and ended up a clerk and alcoholic. For all intents and purposes Grant was an abject failure until March of 1861 which would change his life and make him one of the greatest generals of all time.

Grant As Military Commander is an thorough analysis of Grant as a commander from the perspectivd of Sir James Marshall-Cornwall, a general in the British Army. Sir James explored Grants background, early campaigns, achievements and failures. As someone who served in two world wars, Sir James took into consideration all aspects of Grants campaigns and personally visited the battle sites, studied Grants tactics and reports.

Many books about the Civil War and the tactics of the generals become boring pieces of literature particularly when dealing with the analysis of the strategic and tactical aspects of the battles. Sir James takes away this boredom and endowes it with life. You see and feel why Grant moved in a particular way and why he did a certain thing. You also find out that the conduct of the war was much more than winning battles. Dealing with personalities and the logistical side of the house was even more challenging in a war that tore a nation apart.

Grant is viewed as a man who was able to deal with the personalities of his superiors and able to get what his Army needed even in the most dire situation. As a commander, Grant exceeded all expectations even from his former West Point classmate Robert E. Lee.

This is a refreshing portrait of a military commander given from another perspective. The lessons learned from Grant's experiences are invaluabe in today's military as we deal with strategic, tactical and logistical problems not too far removed from this time.

"Grave Error" is the first novel in Stephen Greenleaf's fine but underrated John Marshall Tanner private Detective series. Tanner is neither as quick with his wits as Phillip Marlowe nor as eccentric as Matthew Scudder, but this novel contains the kind of hard boiled elements both would be comfortable with. When an old friend and fellow detective is murdered while investigating a case, Tanner drops his own case only to find that the two are somehow connected. Ultimately, the story becomes an elaborate whodunnit with plenty of twists and turns along the way. They violence is fast and ferocious and the mood is appropriately somber. If there is a drawback, its that because the plot is so thick, Tanner's personality is not as well defined as it should be. Nevertheless, as P.I. novels go, this entry is very worthwhile.

Written and illustrated by James Marshall, The Guest conveys the important message that although friendships are important, the bonds of family are stronger. When Maurice the Snail becomes a welcome guest in the home of Mona the Moose, the two newfound friends do everything together and become inseparable. One day, however, Mona wakes to find that her friend has left her alone again. The book ends happily when Maurice returns and brings Mona a special surprise. The Guest is a colorful picture book that tells a story and sends a positive message to the reader. Everyone who reads this book will be reminded of a time when family came before friends. Readers could just as well tell the story using the illustrations as by reading the text. That is what makes this book so special.