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With fresh ingredients, a few good pans, a stove that works and Joan Campbell's sure-fire recipes for everyday food, you'll have great food on the table in less time than it takes to wait for the take-away. ... Read more

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Reta has enjoyed a loving family, good friends, and success as a novel writer. Suddenly, her beloved daughter drops out of life to sit on a gritty street corner, silent. Reta's search for the cause becomes a funny meditation on where we find meaning and hope. ... Read more

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Very Tall Board Book. Put your fingers through the holes in the back of each page so they stick out the front. Then wiggle them and see the pictures come alive! ... Read more

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The book can be assembled into a 3-d schoolhouse, instructions inside cover, doors open ... Read more

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Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Hurricane Lili, Hurricane Joan-miriam, Hurricane Allen, Hurricane Klaus, Hurricane Joyce, Hurricane Janet, 1831 Barbados Hurricane, 1898 Windward Islands Hurricane. Excerpt:Category 4 hurricane (SSHS ) item Lowest pressure : Unknown item Fatalities : c. 2,500 item Damage : $7 million (1831 USD ) $142.52 million (2010 USD) item Areas affected : Barbados , Puerto Rico , Cuba , Louisiana item Part of the 1831 Atlantic hurricane season The Great Barbados hurricane was an intense Category 4 hurricane that left cataclysmic damage across the Caribbean and Louisiana in 1831. A possible Cape Verde hurricane, the storm slammed into Barbados , leveling the capital of Bridgetown on August 10. Some 1,500 people perished, either drowned by the 17-foot (5.2 m) storm surge that the hurricane brought or crushed beneath collapsed buildings (including the St. John's Parish Church, Barbados ). It produced great damage in Saint Vincent and Saint Lucia , and slightly touched Martinique . On August 12, it arrived Puerto Rico . Moving past Haiti and Cuba , it nearly destroyed the town of Les Cayes and damaged Santiago de Cuba , and then crossed the entire length of Cuba , passing Havannah at August 14 (Hurricane Georges of 1998 had a similar track). Its estimated Category 4 winds brought ships ashore at Guantanamo Bay , causing mudslides, and resulted in major structural damage. It turned to the northwest, where it made landfall near Last Island, Louisiana as a Category 3 hurricane on August 17. There it flooded parts of New Orleans from its 7-to-10-foot (2.1 to 3.0 m) storm surge in Lake Pontchartrain and also causing hail. The back part of the city of New Orleans was completely inundated. It was simultaneously felt at Pensacola, Florida and Mobile, Alabama , and extended to Natchez, Mississippi 300... ... Read more

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Unequalled Teacher Support! Complete methodology section for teaching communicatively with Summit. Estimated teaching times that allow you to tailor Summit to your course. Free Teacher's Resource Disk with printable extension activities. Corpus notes on native speaker usage and common learner errors from the Longman Corpus Network. ... Read more

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This comprehensive text offers a stimulating introduction to the political systems of post-World War II Europe. The Sixth Edition uses a region-by-region approach, focusing in turn on Great Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Russia, Eastern Europe, and the European Union. Four themes unify the text and illustrate the concept of politics in transition within each region on a global level: economic management; the relationships between countries; the challenges of democracy; and the political impact of social diversity. Standard, in-depth treatment of each region is organized around five topics: the making of the modern state; political economy and development; governance and policy-making; representation and participation; and politics in transition. Within these topical areas, highly relevant issues from politics today include the impact of Muslim immigrants on European society, Europe's socioeconomic malaise, global warming, the war on terror, and the continuing evolution of European-American relations since 9/11, among other pertinent matters. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent Textbook
I used the 3rd edition of this one for a pol sci course a few years ago. Excellent textbook goes into the nitty gritty of postwar European domestic policies. Well organized and clearly written. For self study, use in conjunction with a good general history of postwar Western Europe by Philip Thody or William Hitchcock or Robert Paxton. ... Read more

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This powerful new novel by the bestselling author of Black and Blue, One True Thing, Object Lessons, and A Short Guide to a Happy Life begins when a teenage couple drives up, late at night, headlights out, to Blessings, the estate owned by Lydia Blessing. They leave a box and drive away, and in this instant, the world of Blessings is changed forever. Richly written, deeply moving, beautifully crafted, Blessings tells the story of Skip Cuddy, caretaker of the estate, who finds a baby asleep in that box and decides he wants to keep her, and of matriarch Lydia Blessing, who, for her own reasons, decides to help him. The secrets of the past, how they affect the decisions and lives of people in the present; what makes a person, a life, legitimate or illegitimate, and who decides; the unique resources people find in themselves and in a community—these are at the center of this wonderful novel of love, redemption, and personal change by the writer about whom The Washington Post Book World said, “Quindlen knows that all the things we ever will be can be found in some forgotten fragment of family.”


From the Hardcover edition.Amazon.com Review
The plot of Anna Quindlen's novel Blessings is constructed onthe same model as E.T.: adorable orphaned creature is foundby unlikely caregiver who against his or her better judgment falls in lovewith the little beast, while all the while, the authorities loom in thebackground, threatening to take the foundling away. In Quindlen's book, however, the foundling in question isn't an alien, but a squalling baby left atBlessings, a vast estate owned by an ancient, crabby matriarch named LydiaBlessing. By a fluke, the baby's parents abandon her by the garage ratherthan at the front door, and so she is discovered by Skip Cuddy, LydiaBlessing's newly hired handyman, who happens to be an ex-con. The plotproceeds from there in fairly E.T.-like fashion, minus the Reese'sPieces and flying bicycles. Skip, Lydia, and the baby they name Faithform a surprisingly loving and sustaining, albeit temporary, family unit.

Quindlen wrings a remarkable amount of pathos from this somewhatsimple setup. One of her strengths as a writer is the quietness she brings toher story; family secrets of paternity and lost love are buried deep in thenarrative, hidden in descriptive paragraphs where they subtly zing us withtheir news. Her ear is good, too: we believe Skip and his bad-boy friendswhen they're shooting the breeze. Best of all is her flair for observation.The book wouldn't work at all if she couldn't make us feel Skip and Lydia'samazement at the small joys of a baby ("The deep pleat in the fat at herelbow made her arms look muscled"). Here is a book that lives up to itstitle. --Claire Dederer ... Read more

Customer Reviews (136)

I am now an Anna Quindlen fan (audio book version)
I had never read Anna Quindlen before.Whenever I had heard about her work, or heard her interviewed, it sounded like her work was too sappy for me.I picked up the audio book because I was in a hurry and it was the first one at the library that caught my eye. I am so happy I did.

Quindlen herself reads the book, and reads it quite well.Most authors do not have the ability to read their own work, but she does.This appeals to me because the author can read the work as she heard it in her own head.

Loved the subject matter, loved the characters, loved the gentle unfolding of the story.I couldn't wait to get back in my car to hear what happened next.

books
I wasn't sure about this book at first but I ended up really liking it

Okay, but ultimately forgettable
Blessings is the second Anna Quindlen book I've read with the first being Black and Blue. Since I thought Black and Blue was so great, my expectations of Blessings were fairly high. Unfortunately, those expectations weren't necessarily met.

Don't get me wrong, I liked the premise: a baby is abandoned outside of a caretaker's garage and he then decides to keep it while simultaneously keeping it a secret. The premise is great. However, there were just so many other things mentioned that I really didn't care about. Case in point: Mrs. Blessings early life. I seriously didn't care about how she got to be that way she was. And the character of Jennifer was so unnecessary. I really couldn't get the point of her at all. My main interest were of Skip, Faith, and Mrs. Blessing (her current life, not her past one). So, the parts of the book that had these three characters together were naturally my favorite parts of the book and the ones that went by more quickly.

Another issue that I had with the book was that for a 230 page novel, this moved way to slowly. While I enjoyed the book while I was reading it, the slowness of it really didn't have me anxious to pick it back up once I put it down. However, I was anxious to finish it. So, this book was just okay. Nothing ground-breaking and wholely forgettable.

Wake me up when it's over
I had to read this for book club or I would have never made it past page 40.Nothing happens except for endless paragraphs of torturously detailed descriptions of things I could care less about, which did not advance the story at all.I had no affinity for any of the characters.It felt like a short story written by an earnest high school student that somehow morphed into a full length novel.

A simple tale, lovingly told
The hick with a heart of gold - you've surely met him before in other novels, but Skip Cuddy is one of the best such illustrations I've read. I was expecting an excessive parody of the poor rural white guy from the wrong side of the tracks, because that's what we usually get. But it turns out that Anna Quindlen has a knack for subtlety and nuance in character development, and Skip is a remarkably accomplished character sketch. Lydia Blessing IS a bit more of a parody of the rich old lady with a sordid past, but still a reasonably believable one. It all makes for one of those novels where not all that much actually happens, but you don't mind because you're having such a great time getting to know the characters and thinking about how they deal with what does happen. Because the prose is fairly thick, it might take longer to wade through than you expect, but I never found it boring.

If you've read any of Quindlen's other novels, you know to expect a fairly bleak tale. This one, however, is also somewhat uplifting in that the reader sees the changes in Skip's life and his outlook, and they're mostly for the better. If I were to boil the story down to one line, it would be: "you can do more than you think you can, and it's never too late to start". Nothing bleak about that. I'm ready for the sequel! ... Read more

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From the bestselling author of "Unnatural Exposure" and "Cause of Death" comes a white-hot new Kay Scarpetta novel that pits Virginia's Chief Medical Examiner against an audacious and wily killer who uses fire to mask his crimes.P. Putnam's Sons.Amazon.com Review
When your everyday life is filled with death it's easy to findyourself a little edgy. The audio version of Patricia Cornwell'sPoint of Origin gives fans of her familiar heroine, Dr. KayScarpetta, a little something extra, a chance to hear the deep hurtand burning cynicism of the chief medical examiner's bitingwords. "You don't put your hands inside their ruined bodies and touchand measure their wounds.... You see clean case files and glossyphotos and cold crime scenes. You spend more time with the killersthan with those they ripped from life. And maybe you sleep better thanI do, too. Maybe you still dream because you aren't afraid to."

Perhaps because Kate Reading has also narrated Cornwell's Unnatural Exposureand Cause ofDeath, her voice conveys experience and the history of whathas come before, allowing listeners to hear between the lines. Using asubtle but effective range of vocal inflections, Reading lifts thecharacters off the page and carries them along as the plot spins everfaster, tangling Scarpetta in a snarl of arson, deceit, andpsychopathic murder. With her arch nemesis making threats andsuspicious fires leaving calcified corpses, Dr. Scarpetta'slong-overdue romantic getaway has gone up in smoke. It's just one moreday at the morgue, and Point of Origin, another hit in thepopular series of Scarpetta mysteries, finds the good doctor'sattitude honed razor sharp. (Running time: 11 hours, eight cassettes)--George Laney ... Read more

Customer Reviews (515)

Important turning point in the Scarpetta series.
After totally losing the plot with 'Cause Of Death', Cornwell got the Scarpetta series sort-of back on track with 'Unnatural Exposure', and it's pleasing to see that 'Point Of Origin' continues the trend. An investigation into a fire at the home of media personality Kenneth Sparkes turns up the dead body of a young woman, and immediately raises many puzzling questions. Accident or homicide? Is Sparkes the killer or victim? Is there a connection to other unsolved arson deaths? What about the baffling trace evidence adhering to the body? And is Carrie Grethen, who continues to torment Scarpetta and Co from behind the walls of her asylum, involved in some way?

The best thing about 'Point Of Origin' is that there's a strong focus on the forensic science, in particular key trace evidence such as metal particles adhering to open wounds, a silicone substance on the head, and odd cuts on the skull. There is also quite a detailed investigation into the fire itself, trying to unravel the mystery of how such a ferocious blaze could be started in a low-fuel area such as a bathroom. Woven through the book are investigations into previous and subsequent blazes, plus the continuing story of Carrie.

There are also some very strong character developments. At the time, I felt the series "reboot" that occurred with 'Last Precinct' and 'Blow Fly' was jarringly abrupt, but looking back, it is clear that Cornwell is laying the foundations as early as this book. Scarpetta laments how the FBI is no longer calling on her services, Lucy gets shunted sideways into ATF, and a resigned, worn-out Marino ruminates on retirement from the force. There is of course also a gut-punch of a twist involving Benton, which gives this book a considerable emotional pull, despite that fact that Cornwell undid it in later books.

`Point Of Origin' is an important book in the series, both for its own sake and because it concludes storylines from earlier books (`From Potters Field' and `Unnatural Exposure'), so it's essential for all Scarpetta fans. Fortunately, it's also one of the stronger books in the series as well.

Scarpetta Continues to Intrigue
The life of Dr Kay Scarpetta is never dull. Point of Origin takes you deeper into her character and personal relationships. Her niece Lucy begins to show more maturity in dealing with the hardships that come her way.Mariono continues to be both father and son to Kay.I can't wait for the next adventures with these characters.

patricia cornwellpoint of origin
I am collecting the series of patricia cornwell's kay scarpetta character. So far I have about half of the series.I wish I would have read a little better that this particular book came without a dust jacket.Other than that, the book itself is in fantastic shape.I will definately continue to buy from amazon.com

Thanks for the book...love the fiction by Patricia Cornwell!
Thanks for sending the book I ordered in a timely manner!

You rock!

Point of Origin to Last Precinct
From "Point of Origin" to "Last Precinct" is a wonderful ride.However, I view "Last Precinct" as the last Sharpetta novel worth reading.After that she stops writing in first person, the plot takes an unbelieveable twist, and everything just seems "turning out books to get paid."
NOT to take away from Point of Origin, Black Notice and Last Precinct, a three book trilogy not to be missed!Highly recommended. ... Read more