Product Description
Louise's sensational new book is James Bond for girls - and it's UNPUTDOWNABLE!|A super-charged, irresistible tour de force about two people fighting their own feelings - and fighting for their lives...A failed marriage between Melissa Elmett and Will Hyde did a lot of damage. She was too young, he was hurt when she left him. Years later, Melissa becomes the target for a kidnap plot, a consequence of her father's ground-breaking energy-saving invention, and Will is the only man who can protect her. Now they're on the run, thrown together again by the pursuit of vengeance, will their passion for each other reignite?|'Part-thriller, part-love story, it's Bagshawe at her best' -- Sun'A thrilling mix of danger and lust, it's an addictive read that doesn't disappoint' -- Heat magazine'More than addictive... the perfect thing to get you over the end-of-summer blues' -- News of the World'...just what the doctor ordered. It reminded me of Jackie Collins and I couldn't put it down' -- Daily Mail|Top Ten bestseller Louise Bagshawe is the author of thirteen novels, published in more than eight languages, most recently the massive Sunday Times bestseller GLITZ. She is married with three children and lives in Northamptonshire. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Amazed.....
I got this book at an airport as something to read for a few hours on the plane ride. From the very first couple of pages it drags you in to this hurricane of different events and colourful emotions. The main character, a woman called Melissa is threatened after her fiance is shot in front of her. She quickly realizes that the bullet was ment for her. She is only an average british school teacher and is not really capable of doing anything to help herself. The things happening make her remember her ex husband to whom she got married at a very young age. They were married only for about a day but it was real love for both of them. While Melissa stayed in England, that cute boy she was married to went off to america and became rich and famous, before the money came to him he was ! A secret agent ! He rushes back to his home country in order to help Melissa. As
readers we already make our guesses at what is going to happen. But the now very hot Will, has a girlfriend, who he just got engaged to. This story is very fast-paced and has just enough romance and passion to balance out the mystery and violence. The reader is forced to guess about what will happen at the end, until the very last page! I read this book in just a few hours and was left wanting more books like that. I would reccommend this book to anyone, and i do mean anyone. If you do not read it then you are losing an opportunity to read one of the world's greatest books. ... Read more

Product Description
Would you like to be more at ease with yourself?Do you sometimes feel that you are your harshest judge?Would you like to incorporate more positive energy into your life?

If so, then this CD is for you! Louise L. Hay guides you through each of her ten steps to loving yourself. She discusses the concept of criticism, the power of meditation, being willing to change, what you believe you deserve, and much more. These ten steps are perfect for you if you’re looking for more realistic, practical ways to feel good about yourself. Louise closes the lecture with a beautiful and empowering meditation. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

Important
This is excellent information that leads to a happier you and is transferred to others. Excellent, a must have.

highly recommended
Iuse this cd in my car, I find it extremely helpful for reminding me often what I need to hear to replace old tapes in my mind.I recommend this to anyone whois considering it. The price is right and the informationin the cd ishealing.

Excellent!There is no better program on this subject.
I am a psychotherapist in Columbus, Ohio in private practice and I have been in the mental health field for almost twenty years.I have attended hundreds of seminars and trainings dealing with self-esteem and self-love.This program is by far the best, bar none.It is simple, clear, concise, and entertaining.Louise is a wonderful speaker.She also offers a post-religion metaphysical paradigm based on the goal of unconditional love that should be the gold standard for healthy spirituality in the new millenium.Thank you, Louise!You are a gift to the world, and I love you.Warmly, Craig Campbell, LISW, LICDC

Great Motivator
This is a great cd to listen to in the car in the morning to boost your self confidence for the rest of the day.Louise Hay provides great insight on how our minds think. I recommend this for everyone!

Surprisingly bad
I've really liked all the Louise Hay products I bought until this one. I wasted my money. Instead of a clear and useful talk, it contains a lot of sappy music and sound effects. When she is speaking, it's not a learning experience for the listener. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (6)

Great Tool
I am satisfied with this cd from Louise L Hay.It is really hard to find inner peace when you hate that much.Although this cd is not the magic thing to erase what has hurt you, it brings out through excercises another point of view and makes you want to have peace.Thank you for promoting real values and help us rescue ourselves.
I do recommend it.

Great CD Helpful Information
Thank you for this wonderful CD.I appreciate the help it will provide.
Sincerely
Lynn

This CD is apt to move you !!!
I was at a group Dec 11 where this CD was used. When done andthe lights raised at least half present had tears in thier eyes. It is a powerful excercise in letting go, forgiving the past and meeting the future. Louise Hays CD's and tapes have been helping people for almost two decades. They are the best of the best.If you can buy only one, start with " You can heal your life" ( The book that made her famous and helped millions.) Most likely if you are like the rest of us, you will soon therafter want to own her CD's and tapes.Don't hesitate to buy her products. You are worth it!

Forgiveness/Loving the Inner Child
Wonderfully inspiring, you can never go wrong with Louise Hay! Easy to listen to and promotes self-healing!! I highly recommend this to others that are interested in any type of self-help.

ONE OF LOUISE HAY'S BEST CD'S EVER! IT IS SO SOOTHING!
Since 1988, I have listened to Louise Hay and bought her books. This particular CD is one of Louise Hay's best work ever! This is a short CD only about 30 minutes (great to listen to in the morning before starting the day or on a break at work). This is a very soothing CD The sound quality is excellent and the message truly inspired me to think about:
1) How to love yourself and how to accept yourself. (Part One)
2) How to forgive yourself and others. (Part Two)
This CD I will listen to often because it has caused me to realize just how important it is to love yourself and forgive yourself for past mistakes and to forgive others. It it true freedom to do thse things! I highly recommend this to anyone in need of making a positive change to your life! It really works! ... Read more

Product Description
This sequel to "Assumed Engagement," a variation of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice," follows Mr. and Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy after their wedding. When they return to Pemberley after their wedding journey to Paris, they begin their lives anew. Darcy works to get the school for the deaf started and Elizabeth learns her role as Mistress of Pemberley. Kitty visits Pemberley as Georgiana's guest, and the two grow in their friendship while searching for love. This sequel also addresses the issue of how it came to be that Darcy visited Ramsgate in time to rescue Georgiana from Wickham's clutches. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Pam's take
I loved this book! I am on my second read. My only remark other than that this was a terrific book, was that it ended tooo soon!Kara, please give us more of the happy ending.I have purchased all of the authors' books. I can not say enough about this book. Darcy's character grew throughout the book. Georgiana's character evolved into a thoughtful, gentle young lady. What can I say about Elizabeth, but that she was wonderful with Darcy and Georgiana. She was right on the money regarding her sister, Lydia. I had hoped that Mr. Bennett would adopt Lydia's son as his own and prevented the take over of Longborn from Collins. It was good thatthat he was able to retire to Pemberly.I loved the ending with David, I thought that he was a wonderful character. Bringing in the segment regarding the school for the deaf, was a good idea. Just a great book!

Sequel Disappoints
Premise too farfetched to make for enjoyable reading.Georgiana Darcy with a gardener`s son? Difficulties in adopting an orphan in a country devasted by over a decade of war? Adopting during the early 19th century? Itstrayed too far from the historical realities of the time.

I Got Through It
Please read my review of Assumed Engagement. The "cheese" continues but with fewer grammatical errors. Still, it seems to me that this author has an unfortunate tendency to throw words into the text without sufficient deliberation as to their appropriateness to the context. She word-drops close, or similar, but not the right words. This along with frequently overlong cobbled-together sentences too often made me rear back my head impatient with the feeling that I had just been sucked-in by nonsensical clap-trap.
Married now, Fitzwilliam Darcy has become "Will" to her ("Darce" to his friends), and our dearest, loveliest Elizabeth Bennett, our beloved "Lizzy", has been dubbed "Lizbeth".
With a deep appreciation for the work and creativity any serious author must invest in production of a novel, I feel heartily sorry that such a gift would remain unpolished and thus not presented in a better form.
This would have been an interesting story had I not been so distracted by the way it was written.

Very enjoyable
I believe I've read all of Kara Louise's books, and have enjoyed them all.She's a talented writer, and keeps my interest when ever I read one of her stories.After uniting them in "Assumed Engagement," she continues their story in "Assumed Obligation" with their honeymoon to France, and their involvement in seeking help to start a school for the deaf near Pemberley.This story shows the compassion and kindness of Darcy, and how his character continued to improve.

My only critical remark would be that she doesn't always stay in the language of Regency England, and uses modern words which are a little distracting to me.

Really liked it and couldn't put book down
Really liked it and couldn't put book down.

Book 2 of 2 series (2nd is "Engagement"), both are great. A P&P variation sequel, where takes place after Darcys are married. They have honeymoon in Paris, open a deaf school, Kitty become close friends to Georgiana,Georgiana gets kidnapped by Wickham, Georgiana marries the gardener's son, Kitty marries the pastor, Lydia marries a different office (Carter) but questionable that she got married but has a child she neglects, Darcys have 3 kids. ... Read more

Product Description

For more than a half century, Father Damien Modeste has served his beloved people, the Ojibwe, on the remote reservation of Little No Horse. Now, nearing the end of his life, Father Damien dreads the discovery of his physical identity, for he is a woman who has lived as a man. To further complicate his quiet existence, a troubled colleague comes to the reservation to investigate the life of the perplexing, possibly false saint Sister Leopolda. Father Damien alone knows the strange truth of Leopolda's piety and is faced with the most difficult decision: Should he tell all and risk everything . . . or manufacture a protective history though he believes Leopolda's wonder-working is motivated solely by evil?

Erdrich's writing is at its best when she chronicles the bittersweet humorof reservation life. It's at its worst, sadly, when she cranks up the fogmachine and goes for the violins. ("He had the odd sensation that petalsdrifted in the air between them, petals of a fragrant and papery citrusvelvet," she tells us, telegraphing Father Jude's attraction to a woman.)But at least the book's sins are sins of ambition--this is a novelist whorevisits the same territory because the capaciousness of her vision demandsit. Readers may forgive Erdrich's vagueness about Father Damien's religiouscalling, but they will never forget her images, as lovely and surprising asfigures glimpsed in a dream: the devil in the shape of a black dog, his pawin a bowl of soup; freshly planted pansies, nodding at the priests' feet"like the faces of spoiled babies"; a woman in a billowing white nightdressriding a grand piano through the "gray soup" of a flood. Moments like theseare small miracles of their own. --Mary Park ... Read more

Customer Reviews (48)

A rich flow of almost musical storytelling
The novel begins with a genealogy chart to help keep track of the characters. Sure enough there are miracles (that the down to earth can explain) and a rich flow of almost musical storytelling.

Life on a midwest reservation in 1912
The incredible life of Father Damien is chronicled with very entertaining and humorous details as she manages to survive some incredible obstacles that lead her to the role of priest at a Native American village in Minnesota. The life that she inherits allows her to come very close to the native lifestyle of the village and the inhabitants are a group of brilliant and very humorous characters that have already created a very impelling saga of their own. This was the first book that I have read by Louise Erdrich, and I plan to read many more.Dancing on the Edge of an Endangered Planet

A trip into darkness worth taking.
I can only write this: if you are a fan of paranormal fiction and the strangeness of Catholicism, you will find this book has plenty of both. The words at times are spine chilling. The plot is detailed and at times confusing. Through it all the persona of Father Damien shines. A complex and weird individual, Agnes/Father Damienbrings to light all the hypocrisy of Christianity and all the good of the human soul especially when it comes to sexuality. Give this book chance, it's metaphors run deep.
The Angel Hunter

A Perfect Book
Last Report falls in the category of books for me that I would term 'perfect.' The characters are richly drawn, the writing is deft and lyrical, and the storyline itself is an amazing journey. Erdrich has proven herself again and again as an accomplished writer. This is the book (imho) that puts her solidly in the 'literature' category. She explores many of her favorite issues of faith, spirituality, doubt, regret and redemption. This is a book that resonated deep in my mind (dare I say soul?) with scenes that have revisited me long after I finished reading it. Beautiful, disturbing, at times funny, haunting. In short, a perfect book.

A delicate situation
This is the most marvelous story of a woman who felt she was needed as a man rather than as a man, so she became a Roman Catholic priest and missionary to a group of Ojibwehs (Native Americans) in northern Minnesota and North Dakota and in southern Manitoba.Curiously enough, most of the people she served knew she was a female who had a secret and compelling reason be their priest, and she was accepted by them as the priest she thought she had become.
Louise Erdich created a most unusual life with this book, one I will want to read several times. ... Read more

Product Description
Miss Bree Mallory has no time for the pampered aristocracy! She's too takenup with running the best coaching company on the roads. But an accidentalmeeting with an earl changes everything.... Soon, beautiful Bree has established herself in Society. She hopes no onewill discover that she once drove the stage coach from London to Newbury...orthat she returned unchaperoned with the rakishly attractive Max Dysart, Earl ofPenrith. Bree's independence is hard-won: she has no interest in marriage. But Max'skisses are powerfully--passionately--persuasive! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great Read
Love this author! Every book I have read of hers, was enjoyable till the last page! ... Read more

Product Description
For Georgia, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Just when she thought she was the official one-and-only girlfriend of Masimo, he's walked off into the night with the full hump, leaving Georgia all aloney on her owney-again. All because Dave the Laugh tried to do fisticuffs at dawn with him! Two boys fighting over Georgia? It's almost as romantic as Romeo and Juliet . . . though perhaps a touch less tragic. It's time for Georgia to get to the bottom (oo-er) of this Dave the Laugh spontaneous puckering business once and for all. It's like they always say: If you snog a mate in the forest of red bottomosity and no one is around to see it, is he still a mate? Or is he something more? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

Oh sacre bleu I miss Georgia already!
There's a saying that states "all good things come to an end." I knew the Georgia Nicholson series would have to come to an end one day and after 10 books it seems reasonable for it to happen now. But that doesn't mean I'm ready. Georgia has been the kind of character that when you put down the book and go about your life you think "darn, she's just a character, not really my friend." For years I've been entertained by her hilarious vocabulary and antics and for years my heart has hurt when hers hurt. I'm sad that she has now gone away laughing on a fast camel (with the right bloke of course) but Georgia Nicholson is the type of character who stays with you forever. For books that are rather simple and non-complex, there is a wit and charm to this series that raises them higher than many adult top fiction bestsellers. I honestly think that although the Georgia Nicholson series doesn't have anything supernatural like vampires and doesn't have complicated plots about who did what and who needs to be saved and how the characters actions change so much, this series is actually better then the Twilight series. Now that's just my opinion, but sometimes all we need a simple plot and a star character with tons of wit to be satisfied. Although Georgia doesn't have to think about giving up her mortality and Dave the Laugh isn't a werewolf and Massimo isn't a vampire and Robbie isn't a demon, I find that I enjoy Georgia's realistic dilemma with figuring out who she really likes and how she has to overcome dealing with the dumb and spiteful Wet Lindsay when she gets in her way. I also appreciate how all of Georgia's friends are so refreshingly unique. I love how Jas is fascinated by nature and how Rosie has turned into a bearded Viking woman. I also appreciate how Georgia's family is more then embarrassing. I enjoyed how Louise Rennison didn't use recycled cliches of friends and family. I love how she gave these characters legitimately different and unique personalities instead of leaving it a one friend is shy and nerdy, one is outgoing, and one is boy-crazy, while her parents say some embarrassing things and don't buy her enough clothes and don't give her enough privacy. Even though the plots alone of these books aren't incredibly sophisticated or innovative (teen girl and friends have crushes on boys and parents are embarrassing wasn't thought up yesterday), these characters are characters that were totally new to me when I first picked up Angus, Thongs and FFS and still to this day I've never seen characters so unique and dynamic with such distinct features. Even the teachers in this book are all something different and something more then the teacher who doesn't like you much and gives too much homework. So I really love how these characters can be totally interesting and captivating without having to be mythical creatures or dead or slutty and obnoxiously over the top or boring and there just for the main character to talk to. These characters are plausible and realistic and each one of them could stand on their own and be in their own book.

Now as for the writing in this book, although it's not that of Aristotle, Shakespeare, or a Bronte sister, it really needs no long elaboration and praise. Rennison uses such wit and charm in her writing that it makes these simple diary entries something that can hold it's own if it was put up on the shelf next to classics and the most anticipated top sellers. And the vocabulary. A huge part of why I read these books is because the words and phrases Rennison comes up with are absolutely fantastico and, as Georgia would say, vair vair full of wisdomosity. I'm sure everyone who has read these books has brought at least one of the words or phrases into their vocabulary. They're so addictive that it's hard not to. Such simple writing yet so perfect.


As for "Are Those My Basoomas I See Before Me?" I didn't want it to end. The whole book I was torn between Massimo and Dave the Laugh. I mean, here is this Italian love god who is very very interested in Georgia and would make any girl swoon. He really seemed to care for Georgia and I cannot believe he *SPOILERS* was possibly going to skip going to London to continue on with the band. He liked Georgia so much he would stay behind for her. But then when Dave the Laugh came around, I forgot all the sweet things Massimo would tell Georgia. When I read the interactions between Dave and Georgia, I could actually feel how much of this love that was between them too. I could feel, no matter how much they tried to think otherwise, how much they wanted to be together and how they knew they were right for each other. Plus, Georgia and Dave have this hilarious chemistry between them which makes me want to read a follow up novel set in the future detailing their lives as a couple/comedy/improv duo. We all knew that they were perfect for each other and it was actually kind of painful for me to read about how they denied it and would be around each other and you could feel the chemistry but they would be distracted by their current boyfriend or girlfriend. I would wait and hold on for those moments when Dave would share a little about how he felt about Georgia. I was scared that maybe in some sick world this chemistry would never get a chance to turn into a relationship.

I felt the end was very sudden though. I'm kind of torn by how the story ended. At first I was afraid there would be no room for Dave to come in and for them to be together. I got down to the last few pages and I thought it would end with Georgia deciding to be single for awhile or something annoying like that. Luckily, Dave comes charging on his fast camel to save Georgia (or walks across the stage from backstage, but I thought I would incorporate a title of a previous book to add some chivalry and kinghtiness to my summary). The last few pages leave us with Dave and Georgia finally being together like we all knew needed to happen. While some readers are disappointed that this union occurred within the last 2 or 3 pages of the book, I'm torn. I would love to have had a more elaborate scene of Georgia and Dave becoming a couple with tons of sweet nothings spoken to each other. But on the other hand, Georgia mixing up her words as she asked if they were a couple was so perfect and so Georgia. I felt that there was really nothing left to say without having to have a whole new plot twist and book come after it. Although the plot climaxed late and quickly, we were left with a really sweet and very Georgia/Dave ending. I feel like if we had anything come after the moment of them getting together in that way unique to them, that we would have had unnecessary information that took away from a classic Georgia/Dave moment, or we would have to have a whole new book which means the plot could lead to something happening between Georgia and Dave and we do not want that. So although I would have liked more of them saying sweet romantic things to each other, I'm glad it ended this way because it means my last image of Georgia was her in a completely happy ending getting the boy she and the readers always wanted. I think this is a very satisfactory last impression.


Although this series contains ten books, they are ten quick and delightful reads. I recommend them to anyone and everyone. They are much more appropriate then many YA books out there and they are so much more fun and engaging to read. The humor is perfect and readers will not be disappointed. Georgia Nicholson is the perfect character and everyone should have the chance to read the books and be her friend. I'll miss Georgia and her adventures but I'm so vair vair happy she got her happy ending.

Review of 'Are These My Basoomas I See Before Me?'
I really liked this book 10 of the Georgia Nicolson series.Am so glad that she didn't get stuck with Mazimo at the end.

One of my favorites!
So sad this is the last book in the series but it's been a great run. Louise Rennison has yet again made me smile & laugh my butt off throughout the entire book. Practically on every page. I rarely find so much ridiculous joy in a series. This final book is probably one of my favorites. Great ending for the series.

Amazing...Amazing...AMAZING!
The Georgia Nicolson books have hooked me from the very first page of the very first book, Each book so Intricatly- well not entirely -woven. Every ending of each book has had me craving for the next, barely able to think about anything but the book after I have read it. Unfourtunatly, The last book did the same thing to me. The ending of a series should most certainly not make the reader craving for more of the books. It should be a closure (sp?) To the book and the books prior to the last.

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Personaly for me, Dave FINALLY being with Georgia after Years of love and red bottomsy was not a good ending. Going with the idea that the book had ended like this, it should at least included and epiloge about how the relationship was going, with not only Dave, but Jas, Rosie, Sven, Emma, etc. The kiss between them on the very last page was rushed, and just after breaking up with her Italiano Cakey. This is the only part of the book that I find to not sufice, Everything else is all I and anybody could have asked for. I recommend this book and series to anybody looking for a laugh, These books are great and earned a prize center spot on my bookshelf.

Reviewer- Tohmi (Pronounced Toe-Me for your information)

Awesome
The book itself came very nicely packed and arrived on time and in one piece. The book was awesome and I am sad that it is the last one in the series. But it was great. ... Read more

Product Description
This closely observed and lyrically written exploration of the journey each baby makes from oneness with his mother to his "second birth" as a unique psychological being is being reissued to tie in with the release of Kaplan's No Voice Is Ever Wholly Lost. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Great Guide to Your Baby's Psychology
I have had plenty of mental health professionals tell me that Kaplan is out of date and somewhat obsolete. To some degree I can see this being true. Her writing clearly comes from an era where Mommy is THE caregiver and Dad must be off smoking cigars all day. Once I blocked out the rather single minded view of care giving that seemed to date the research to another era, it was an enjoyable read. Kaplan helps parents understand and empathize what your baby, who can't speak on their own, might be experiencing. I felt it gave me more patience because I could relate better to the frustration my son was sometimes exhibiting and it also gave some insight as to what he might need from me. Now I watch my son's crawling away and coming back to home base with a new appreciation and awe for the incredible developmental gains children have in those first years.

I have read some of Daniel Stern's more current work on infant psychology, but it didn't "speak" to me the way Kaplan does. This book is an easy read that doesn't feel too technical or to "out there".

Oneness and Separateness
This book is way out of date and just wrong in many factual areas in the same way that Freud was wrong.For example, it touts that poor mothering causes autism.This book makes it sound like a certain type of mothering accounts for all of a child's development and fails to take into consideration innate variability amongst children.Pass this book up.There are too many other great, well-researched books out there.

Oneness and Separateness
This book is an excellent distillation of Margaret Mahler's work on Separation/Individuation and every mother of a newborn will find it eye opening regarding the psychological development of her child. Easily understood by the non-professional.

Sorry, I didn't like it
To be honest, I didn't read it all from cover to cover.Of that which I read, I found it was a lot of psycho babble and I always found myself asking "How do you know that?" They did include references, but I found myself questioning the basic logic.Also, I didn't find this book helpful in being a better mother, which is the reason I bought it in the first place.

Helpful, but so mom-focused
As many other reviewers have stated, this is a helpful book.But I just wanted to note that it is very mom-focused.The author acts as if the bond with the mother is the only bond, and the father just happens to be hanging around.Since it was written in 1978, this could have something to do with it, but I would argue that, while the bond with the mother is very important, parents can do quite a lot to assure that the baby is bonding and close to both parents.Just something to keep in mind.(This isn't meant to be a review of the whole book, just a side note.) ... Read more

Product Description
This collection of stunningly beautiful poems encompasses the natural, human, and spiritual realms, and is bound together by the universal themes of time and mortality. With clarity and sureness of craft, Gluck's poetry questions, explores, and finally celebrates the ordeal of being alive. 1992 National Book Award finalist.Amazon.com Review
In an earlier set of poems, The Garden, Gluck retold the myth ofEden; in this sequence it is clear that paradise has been lost, and the poet,Eve-like, struggles to make sense of her place in the universe. For this oldand still post-modern theme, Gluck bravely takes the risk of adopting ahighly symbolic structure. She uses the conceit of parallel discoursesbetween the flowers of a garden and the gardener (the poet), and between thegardener/poet and an unnamed god. The reader shares the poet's humanpredicament of being caught between these material and spiritual worlds, eachlush and musical, drawing inspiration from both: from the flowers, a hymn tocommunality; from the god, a universal view of human suffering. Thecollection was awarded the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for poetry. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (22)

Beautiful Book of Poetry
The Wild Iris by Louise Gluck is a beautiful book of poetry that cannot be understood unless read as a whole. After reading and analyzing her work I am still not sure I understand the power and haunting messages hidden within her work. The Wild Iris is a dramatic monologue between the flowers in a garden, a higher entity, and the female human gardener. The three voices all contain the same "human" voice but with different tones ranging from commanding, to disappointed, to doubting. The voice of the higher being, or what many think of as God, is trying to help the gardeners see the beauty in the natural world and appreciate each other and the garden around them. The humans argue with the higher entity because either a flower in their garden dies or a fight rages within their family. The humans want the higher being to fix all their problems because they pray to him and worship him which is seen in the poem titles of "Matins" and "Vespers". The flowers are the observers of the humans and their behavior and relationship with the entity. The ending is a passionate realization between flower, human, and "God". The book of poems deals with themes of death, rebirth, time, change, and love. The book made me think and continues to make me think about death and what comes after death and if there really is a higher entity; or is it only our self conscious.

A Beautiful Journey
This book of poems brings notions of birth, death, and existence to life through nature imagery. The poems are easy to comprehend and deliver deep comfort beneath the moving poetic language! I strongly recommend this book to the reader who is curious about poetry as well as the experienced poet!

If winter comes, can spring be far behind?
If I love Louise Glück, I adore *The Wild Iris*. There is not a single poem in this book that does not move me, speak to me, elicit some sort of positive response. I've loved Glück for quite awhile, and I came back to her recently in an attempt to recover from the events of a particularly devastating week. I sought new life in *Vita Nova* and found merely a hint of what *The Wild Iris* gave me today. I read this book quite awhile ago, and my second coming to it now revitalized me, left me feeling fresh and new and able to move on with my life. Thanks, Ms. Glück.

The book is a poetic sequence, epitomizes the idea of a sequence, in fact. That is, this is not a novel-in-verse, like the stupendous, magnificent, unbelievable *Autobiography of Red* by Anne Carson. There is no real plot, no real characters, no real setting. (I emphasize the adjective 'real,' because there is a plot and a setting and there are characters, but not in the traditional sense.) Rather, the poems speak to each other, they converse. Literally, as the book takes the form of two parallel discourses: 1) between a female gardener and God and 2) between plants and the female gardener or, more generally, humanity. It is no mistake that the book abounds with flowers and gardens and God: the creation myth of Adam and Eve in the garden acts a sort of driving force behind the entire book, although the Paradise lost is not necessarily a physical location or even a proximity to any one particular deity. The plot, as far as there is a plot, chronicles disillusionment, frustration, despair, and yes, hope. Most interestingly, every single one of the characters -- the flowers, the gardener, and God itself -- feel the emotions I've listed, and this anthropomorphizing of everything is yet another thread that weaves its way through the poems, connecting them and braiding them into the Pulitzer-prize winning sequence that they are.

The book, however, is more than the sum of its parts: each poem, individually, is its own work of art, and if the poetry were subordinated to the book, most of Glück's genius would be lost. The tone of the poems is unique: distant yet not detached, chilled yet not cold. Critics have claimed that Glück is neither an intellectual poet (à la Eliot) or a Confessional poet (à la Plath) but somewhere in between, and I'd have to agree. Her poems lack the in-the-moment emotional tantrums of things like "Lady Lazarus" or "Daddy," but they are not the universalized ice sculptures of *The Waste-land*. They are not so easily understood (at least superficially) as a Robert Lowell poem -- specifically with *The Wild Iris*, for instance, a bit of background on some of the flowers that speak is required to unlock the poems -- and yet they are not as inscrutable as something Stevens or Eliot wrote earlier in the century. Many of the poems have the characteristic irony with which Glück captured my heart long ago, an almost bitter and yet still amused tinge of sarcasm that makes me crack a smile despite the usually negative thoughts it conveys. Although she writes in unrhymed free verse, Glück is a master of the line, and this book has some of the most powerful single lines I have read in contemporary poetry: "in the raw wind of the new world"; "of enduring? Blaze of the red cheek, glory"; "this one summer we have entered eternity."

An amazing, life-changing book that answers the age-old adage "If winter comes, can spring be far behind?" with a resounding, polyphonic YES.

Psalms from the Garden
Louise Glück explores the complex relationship between God, humans, and the natural world with startling emotional depth in The Wild Iris, her sixth collection. Far from the strained and occasionally awkward lines and language of her previous books, these poems strive for and usually master an elegant lyricism in the imagined voices of wildflowers; of God manifest in wind, light, and changing seasons; and of a woman who struggles to find evidence of God while laboring in a garden in a cold climate. In poems most often titled "Matins" and "Vespers," the human voice expresses fear, frustration, and love, while "checking / each clump for the symbolic / leaf" in the garden and entertaining the apprehension that God, the addressed "you" of these poems, "exist[s] / exclusively in warmer climates...." Plants, most often wildflowers, counter these prayers, presenting a view more eternal for the accelerated brevity of their lives. Glück's gift in these poems is a capacity for lyric eruption coupled with emotional restraint. The voices are passionate but never hysterical; plants and God chide humans, as in the poem above, for their apparently willful ignorance, but the criticism never reads as self-pity. These poems grapple honestly and successfully with questions of ultimate reality, not sheering away from critical self-assessment nor veering into a merely postured piety. They sing and praise and renew with successive readings.

Will I remember these lines?
The poetry we most love is the poetry we want to remember.
Reading here the title poem 'Wild Iris ' and another poem of the collection 'Red Poppy' I try to understand and feel if these lines will be read through once, or will call me back to them again.
I don't know.
They seem clear and strong in feeling. But they also seem abstract and distant.
They tell of a mind, a soul, a consciousness and even one which is shattered but I am not sure that their clear presentation will truly break the icy- sea within me.
These lines are lines of true poetry, but are they poetry enough to bring me back to them again and again? ... Read more

Product Description
A groundbreaking work, edited by Germano Celant in collaboration with the artist and her New York studio, which enriches our knowledge of Louise Bourgeois. Over a long career sheworked through most of the twentieth century's avant-garde artistic movements from abstraction to realism, yet always remained uniquely individual, powerfully inventive, and often at the forefront of contemporary art. She was one of the world’s most respected sculptors, best known for her public-space pieces, grand-scale sculptures of spiders so large they must rest outside. But beginning in the 1960s, she used her own clothing and that of her loved ones as components of her sculptures and designs: a reincarnation of her childhood and her past. Her art would expand into new realms in 2002 when she began to weave together scraps of iridescent-colored fabric, creating works that vary from figures of flowers to chromatic abstractions, constituting a repertoire of truly surprising interweaves. This set of images is collected here in its entirety for the first time, constituting the closest thing yet to a general catalog. ... Read more

Product Description
A groundbreaking work, edited by Germano Celant in collaboration with the artist and her New York studio, which enriches our knowledge of Louise Bourgeois. Over a long career sheworked through most of the twentieth century's avant-garde artistic movements from abstraction to realism, yet always remained uniquely individual, powerfully inventive, and often at the forefront of contemporary art. She was one of the world’s most respected sculptors, best known for her public-space pieces, grand-scale sculptures of spiders so large they must rest outside. But beginning in the 1960s, she used her own clothing and that of her loved ones as components of her sculptures and designs: a reincarnation of her childhood and her past. Her art would expand into new realms in 2002 when she began to weave together scraps of iridescent-colored fabric, creating works that vary from figures of flowers to chromatic abstractions, constituting a repertoire of truly surprising interweaves. This set of images is collected here in its entirety for the first time, constituting the closest thing yet to a general catalog. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (6)

Incredibly powerful.
Every person with cancer should have this. It puts the power in your hands, instead of relinquishing all personal power to Drs.

Great Attitude Changer!
I will be a 20 year cancer survivor in remission this Nov. '08.

My mom had gotten me this in cassette tape in '88 when I was diagnosed with brain cancer at the age of 15. The docs. gave me 6 months to live then.

At the time of finding out about the cancer and the life expectancy I had gone into a depression.

My parents gave me this cassette and told me to listen to it everyday. I even went to sleep with this playing.

After 3-4 weeks my attitude changed and I felt more positive and just felt good inside.

I do feel this had helped me recover. Attitude is part of the battle. If you don't care or too depressed you won't fight the disease.

Her soothing voice helped me sleep at night along with the music in the background.

I'm ordering a copy on cd to replace my cassette. I highly recommend this to anyone that is sick.

Amazing!
This is a must for anyone with health issues AND their loved ones. Louise Hay has a way of getting to the heart of things. I bought this for my husband, but after listening to it myself, I had an incredible sense of well being! What a wonderful gift into our lives.

How much credit do you give (unsigned) SCARE TACTICS?
Let's get a little perspective here...
CHEMOTHERAPY has PROVEN dangerous side effects!

Louise Hay presents ideas that may or may not change your way of looking at life, but I think anyone with enough intelligence to be reading this is able to listen to new ideas without being "potentially damaged."

My apologies if this is more vehement than the average customer review, but frankly I have had it up to HERE with the idea that because a person has cancer they are vulnerable to "damage" by listening to the experiences and ideas of people other than the members of the AMA.

Listen to and read everything you can get your hands on and consider ALL viewpoints. Louise Hay's tape is an excellent place to start.

This is EMPOWERMENT!
I have cancer. I was told by my medical practitioners that my cancer was beyond their treatments - full body bone marrow involvement, etc. This was SEVEN YEARS AGO (1995). I relate this only as a statement of my "credentials" to offer this opinion to those who may have recently been handed the "medical Whammy" (a term coined by Andrew Weil, M.D.) of a life-threatening or terminal diagnosis. I do not credit Louise Hay's work with my current health; I only recently was gifted with a copy of this tape, which reinforces conclusions drawn from my own experience and personal journey.

Louise Hay does not offer "miracle cures," she offers HEALING concepts. She most emphatically DOES NOT place BLAME for an illness of any kind on the person with the illness, or their parents!!! Quite the opposite, which she clearly states on this tape, repeatedly. Nor does she pretend to have all the answers, or suggest anyone discard the counsel of their medical professionals.

What she DOES do is provide a wonderful collection of affirmations for personal empowerment - a course of action that enables one to regain some measure of control over their life - which, as anyone who has received a cancer diagnosis can tell you, is the first thing to go!

If you are looking for a cure - something done to you from outside - then you will not find it here. (Of course not! Our cultural fear of cancer is rooted in its medical status as "incurable.")

If, however, you are seeking help in HEALING - that which originates within - and you are ready to assume responsibility for your own life and become an active partner with your physicians in regaining your health, then I believe you will find much inspiration and positive energy in the loving words of Louise Hay, who has faced her own cancer, put her "philosophy" to the ultimate test, and triumphed. ... Read more

Product Description

While appraising the estate of a New Hampshire family descended from a North Dakota Indian agent, Faye Travers is startled to discover a rare moose skin and cedar drum fashioned long ago by an Ojibwe artisan. And so begins an illuminating journey both backward and forward in time, following the strange passage of a powerful yet delicate instrument, and revealing the extraordinary lives it has touched and defined.

Customer Reviews (34)

A flash of insight...
Sometimes, it's worth reading a book for a single sentence. The Painted Drum was one of those books. Don't get me wrong, I love Louise Erdrich. Her books are beautifully written, and her characters stay with you for a long time. But, lately I've gotten the impression that Erdrich has become trapped in her own formulas. Her designation as a Native American author has essentially shackled her creativity and forced her to travel in time-worn ruts of her own making. As a consequence, the best part of this book took place in modern day New Hampshire, not in the Native American past. As long as Erdrich stayed in New England, the dialogue sparkled, the characters were vivid and the plot was engaging. Had Erdrich taken the plunge and left the Native American theme out entirely, this book would have been all the better for it.

That being said, there was one passage in the Native American section that caught my eye and held it. On page 118, the character remarks that he has always had a longing, a need to "pierce through" his existence. "I am a boundary to something else, but I don't know what," he says. I read that passage with the dawning realization that Erdrich was talking about herself. That elusive "something else" is what has led Erdrich to increasingly fall back on Native American stereotypes (the "shaman", the "drunkard", the "grandmother")rather than give her characters flesh and blood. The problem, so clearly stated by her character, is that she herself is liminal--someone who marks the border of two cultures but doesn't really belong in either. Her inability to "pierce through" is ultimately what gives Louise Erdrich's writing its strange dreamlike quality. It also makes Erdrich the remarkable, ineffable, haunting writer that she is.

The Painted Drum
Another excellent book by Louise Erdrich~!!My husband and I both enjoyed it, very much.

Keeps your interest from start to finish and is also very informative with regard to the American Indian and their customs.

I enjoyed it immensely and highly recommend it.

Contemporary Sections are Better
Painted Drum has compeling themes about the responsibility and shortcoming between mothers and daughters. I won't say more since this is an important part of the novel since it ties the three narratives together.

Divided into three narrative styles. The contemporary setting with the main character and her mother is best. The "Native" sections going back two generations are so-so. I know Louise says she's Native, but I worry that she contributes more to the stereotypes of us by these types of writing. It's has no focus, we're drunks, we're lost in our traditions mixed with mysticism. Frankly, that doesn't do anything for us. Some of us still know who we are, can speak our languages, and attend our ceremonies, WITHOUT the aid of alcohol. We don't have study books to find them and ourselves. That's how I see Louse's contemporary characters. I didn't care for the second setting with a mother with no motherly instinct leaving her children in a cold house without food. (Has this woman heard for foodstamps? Don't talk to me about dignity. She wanted to pawn herself for food, but instead she gets stuck in a bar. Louse, stay away from Native characters on the rez!) Set in a contemporary setting but on the reservation, her elder daughters saves her siblings and hears the beating of the drum. She makes these characters almost comical, no development, and the writing bares to a level that I had to flip pages to find out how long this narrative would last before the better writing style resurfaced.

I like the themes of the book, and I think Louise could have written it from a contemporary New Hampshire setting for the entire book, and she would have achieved a better paced, interesting plot. Mixing the the other two lowered the writing quality, hence the three stars.

The contemporary setting has the most poetic writing. It's pretty, and I ended up re-reading sections because of its beauty.I bought the book because a friend read a section of it (the contemporary setting), and I was intrigued. I was not in the least bit disappointed in this respect.

Most people will fall for the exact things that perturbed me about this novel. I was also bothered that Louise left a lot of a lot of unresolved issues with the main character. She steals a drum, returns it on the belief that "white men" steal from Natives all the time, and justifies her belief, and gets away with the crime. I wanted her to not sit in the evening with her aging mother and feel sure of herself of having returned the drum to its rightful owner. I wanted a more complex novel with conflict. I understand Louise often returns to her characters, so she might very well investigate this character for a future novel. Stay tuned, I guess.

Bittersweet and Joyous; The Painted Drum
The Painted Drum, by Louise Erdrich 10/10 (5/5)

I know I say this about many of the books I read, but I REALLY liked this book.I liked it so much that I intend to reread it sometime soon, after it has a chance to settle somewhat.Like many of Erdrich's books, this one is about Native Americans, and the voice feels authentic and human.It is divided in four parts.In the first, we meet a mother daughter team who deals with people's estates after they die, or go in a nursing home, etc.We also learn about their personal lives, and the personal and work intertwine in compelling ways.I hate reading reviews that give away the plot of the book or what's going to happen, but it is difficult to write about a book without mentioning an specifics.The daughter steals a painted drum, a Native American ceremonial drum, from an estate.She wants to return it to where it came from, to the Anishinabe people.In the second part, told by a native elder, we learn the story of the drum and all the events that lead up to the making of the drum and what happened to it afterwards.It's a multi-generational story with deep impact.The effect of the drum touches many people and their lives are enriched (or impoverished) as a result.The book is full of pain, tenderness and magic.Erdrich looks calmly at what it means to be human in all our imperfections, and raises our humanity up of few notches.It is melancholy in a bitterweet and somehow joyous way.I want to take nothing away from the telling of the story, all I can say is I hope anyone who might love it as I did will read it.

The Painted Drum:A Heather Pugh Review
Louise Erdrich paints a story beautifully around the lives separate people in her book entitled The Painted Drum.The book itself is actually split into four sections, each giving the stories of different people and their tragic situations which come together through one common denominator, a sacred drum. With a rich history involving betrayal, death, grief and renewal, we come to find that the drum beats with the spirit of a lost child and through her spirit the characters in the story eventually find peace within their own lives.

The Painted Drum is very insightful when trying to gain a greater understanding of the grieving and strength that is ever present within the human condition.Louise Erdrich's own rich native history resonates through every word and the overall outcome is a brilliantly constructed piece of authentic literature that would be found enjoyable, touching, and educational by any reader.

The issue of spirituality is ever present even though characters throughout the story do not come off as extremely "religious".In this way, Erdrich shows the ways in which the natural world and spirits of the deceased act as healers and spiritual guides for those living here on this earth.In this same sense, there is also a strong wisdom that is found from animals in the story.And, as many Indians joke, a story isn't an "Indian story" unless it incorporates a dog.Well, there are dogs, coyotes, and wolves that each have a lesson of their own to offer the reader, so in this way, the story certainly qualifies as truly native.Memory and the pain that comes from the past is a large component at work as well and the past constitutes as a building ground for each of the characters. The incorporation of Erdrich's native vocabulary from the Ojibwe Tribe also adds to the novel's authentic nature.

Overall one of the most touching stories I've read in a long time!
... Read more

Product Description

Omakayas was a dreamer who did not yet know her limits.

Customer Reviews (4)

Action packed!
Reviewed by Sara McGinn (age 9) for Reader Views (12/08)

"The Porcupine Year" by Louise Erdrich is a story about an Indian girl called "Omaykayas," which means Little Frog.Omaykayas is a girl from the Objibwe tribe. She and the rest of her family were exiled from their original home on the Island of the Golden-Breasted Woodpecker.She has many adventures!She and her brother were swept off-course when her brother was hunting by canoe.They soon landed on the other side of the island where they met a porcupine.That porcupine became her brother's medicine animal.On their way back to Omaykayas's family, she and her brother saw a memegwesi, which is a little person that only kids can see!

Also, Omaykayas once tricked an eagle and took two of its feathers! Because of this experience her dad dreamed her new name, Ogimabinesikwe or "Leading Thunderbird Woman."Later, she and her family were on their way to see Omaykayas's aunt, uncle and cousins when their uncle and two other men robbed them! It was really hard for them after that happened.Soon after, a tribe woman named Old Tallow died while killing a bear.Omaykayas was really close to Old Tallow so it was really hard for her.

This book was action-packed and wonderful!The author did a terrific job making me feel like I was in the book as one of Omaykayas's friends!My favorite part in this book is when Omaykayas and her brother find the porcupine. He tries to knock it off a tree but instead he gets quills all over his face!It was really funny!I also liked the Indian stories and I learned a lot of Ojibwe words.They are really cool!I would change nothing in this book because it rocked!!!

"The Porcupine Year" by Louise Erdrich is for 8 to 12-year-olds, which I think is perfect.I would definitely recommend this book to my friends!

A journey fraught with dangers and marked by growing responsibilities
In Louise Erdrich's third novel about the joys and sorrows of a family of Ojibwe during the mid-19th century, Omakayas, the heroine of the series, is 12 winters old and feels caught in an in-between place: "She was that creature somewhere between a child and a woman --- a person ready to test her intelligence, her hungers. A dreamer who did not yet know her limits. A hunter, like her brother, who was beginning to possess the knowledge of all that moved and breathed. A friend who did not know how far her love might extend. A daughter who still winced at her mother's commands and who loved and shyly feared her distant father. A girl who'd come to know something of her strength and who wanted challenge, and would get it."

Omakayas's in-betweenness is mirrored by the exile of her family. After being pushed off Lake Superior's Madeline Island (the Island of the Golden-Breasted Woodpecker) by the United States government in order to make room for white settlers, Omakayas's family is on the move, hoping to rejoin the rest of their extended family near the Lake of the Woods in northern Minnesota.

Their journey is fraught with dangers and marked by growing responsibilities for Omakayas and her younger brother, Pinch. The novel opens with an alternating harrowing and humorous episode, which begins with the siblings losing control of their canoe in a rapid-filled river and culminates with Pinch's painful encounter with a porcupine. The boy's connection to the porcupine, which becomes his close companion, also results in his renaming as Quill. With his new name seems to come a new, more mature personality, as Omakayas's bad-mouthed, troublemaking little brother continues to exhibit new thoughtfulness, maturity and skill as a hunter and trapper.

Omakayas also must discover new skills and strengths, particularly in the face of adversity. After a devastating robbery leaves her party without food or supplies just at the start of the long, cold winter, Omakayas is forced to call on all her resources to help her family avoid starvation. Dangers abound --- from the black bears who are just as hungry as the Ojibwe to the bands of Bwaanag (Lakota) whose plain hunting grounds the Ojibwe travel near. By the end of their journey, Omakayas is older, wiser, perhaps a bit sadder after several losses, but also many steps closer to being a woman and not a little girl.

Like Omakayas and her family, THE PORCUPINE YEAR spends time looking backwards --- to the idyllic days on the Island of the Golden-Breasted Woodpecker --- and forward. The emphasis, however, is on the future. The novel drops hints about the girl's spiritual callings and future loves and closes Omakayas's ceremony marking her physical maturity as a woman. Readers will look forward to participating in Omakayas's continued transformation into a woman and a respected, full member of her community.

--- Reviewed by Norah Piehl

Courtesy of Teens Read Too
Omakayas, or Little Frog, is now twelve winters old.Her family, members of the Ojibwe tribe, have been forced from their homes on the Island of the Golden-Breasted Woodpecker, and are now making the long journey to Lac Du Bois, where members of her extended family are living.

Omakayas and her family face many hardships throughout their journey.Omakayas and her brother, Quill, are almost killed in the rushing waters of a swollen river; their provisions for winter are stolen by an evil French trapper; and Old Tallow, Omakayas' elder, dies in a battle with a bear.Omakayas also becomes a woman during the hard winter they endure in the forest.

Through all of this, Omakayas discovers first love, the great power of storytelling, and her own inner strength.

THE PORCUPINE YEAR is the third installment in Erdrich's series of Omakayas and her family.Those who have read the first two novels will be happily reunited with the main character and follow her on new adventures.The chapters are short and flow well together.The illustrations also add to the humor and drama of the story.

Erdrich states in her author's note that Omakayas' story will continue into a fourth novel set in the 1860's.I am sure fans of the series will be excited to see what becomes of Omakayas as she continues her journey into adulthood.

Reviewed by:LadyJay

Not a bit prickly
Louise Erdrich writes The Birchbark House. It becomes a National Book Award Finalist. No surprises there. Louise Erdrich writesThe Game of Silence. It does slightly better than its predecessor and wins the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction. Very good, but still not surprising. Now the third book in Erdrich's "Birchbark House books" (surely there's a better name for them, right?) is present and accounted for. The Porcupine Year picks up where the last book left off without a glitch, hitch, or hiccup. Readers who have never read Erdrich's books in this series, or who haven't seen them in a very long time won't need much help in catching up and understanding Erdrich's magnificent world. How far will this latest installment in the chronicles of Omakayas and her family go? It remains to be seen. The only thing I can say with certainty is that The Porcupine Year does not disappoint. It gives the series a richness and fullness it might not have had before.

It's 1852 and 12-year-old Omakayas and her Ojibwe family are traveling west to escape the expansion of the white settlers encroaching on their land. In trying to decide where to go next, the family and their companions must choose a route. At last they decide to go north to be reunited with family there. All too soon the trip turns more perilous than anyone expected. There are other tribes to avoid, lost children to take care of, fires to escape, and a traitor whose actions bring about the death of a beloved character. Still, through it all Omakayas keeps a clear head and a loving heart. An Author's Note at the end offers additional information on the Ojibwe language and its many dialects. A glossary provides pronunciations and definitions of Ojibwe terms.

How do you recount a story about a people in dire peril of losing their way of life without making the book deeply, deathly, oppressively depressing? Some people would go the opposite direction and try to stuff the book full of false hopes and forced cheer. Credit Erdrich with indulging in none of this. Which is not to say that the book isn't often funny. As always, she has a sense of humor and what I liked most about The Porcupine Year was how that sense of the absurd filters in right from the start. At the beginning of the book Omakayas's brother Pinch gets a faceful of porcupine quills (the accompanying picture is worth the cover price alone). Then, when he and Omakayas return home to find their family convinced that the kids are dead, the boy has the audacity to suggest that it would be a perfect time for the siblings to cover themselves in flour and pretend that they are ghosts of themselves. That right there sets the tone for the rest of the book. On the one hand you have people dealing with very real issues and grief too huge to name. On the other hand, you have characters that key into the wonderful absurdity of life. You have people like Pinch who aren't afraid to get a little profane, even when people's hearts are panting on the floor (to steal a phrase). And an author who can strike that balance and strike it well is an author you should keep a close eye on. You never know where they're going to lead you next.

What also helps the book along is Erdrich's sense of how people really are and how they act when they're under stress. Sometimes you see the best in them, but more often than not you get all their insecurities and concerns on parade for everyone to see. There's a wonderful moment when Pinch (now Quill) is returned from a capture by his father Deydey that puts his mother's emotions on perfect display. Look at how Erdrich describes the scene. "Yellow Kettle always confused her affection with anger, and even as she put her head against Deydey's chest, she gave a furious shake of her hand at Quill and cuffed at him before he darted away." These little details make the book worth reading. I love the loving insults Omakayas and her brother throw at one another in the morning and how much she misses them when he gets distracted with other matters.

As with the Little House books (a series these books are often compared to), the characters in Erdrich's world learn and grow. I'm going to be sad indeed when Quill is too old to pull pranks and drive his sister nuts. Or when Two Strike isn't a headstrong hellion anymore. As with the previous books there's plenty of hardship, pain, and sorrow to this series. Yet there's always that tempering of the bleak with hope. The Porcupine Year serves to satisfy old fans and lure in new ones. Wherever Omakayas's journey takes her, we'll be poor indeed if we can't come along. A worthy companion piece. ... Read more

Product Description
Minerva Louise, the irrepressible little hen, sets out on an adventure on a cold, snowy day, but she soon discovers that she needs to find something to keep her warm. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

a resourceful, independent hen
The story of a resourceful, independent, persistent hen, told with a sense of humor. Nice short book with good illustrations.A perfect story to read on a snowy day. My 2.5 y.o loves to hear it again and again.

A Hat for Minerva Louise
This book serves two purposes.Young children love to have it read to them. Older children like the humor of Minerva Louise's judgement errors.It's a very enjoyable book, ages 2 to 10.

What a cute story!My Kdg students loved it!
I read this to my Kdg students.They noticed there weren't any quotaions marks in the text..yea for them!They wondered why and would like to write to the author!help!!what a great language activity!

Fall in love with a hen
Such a simple little story with a winsome little heroine.After meeting her in a bookstore I fell hopelessly in love.I will admit that visually she struck me to the heart and of course there is her name. My granddaughter reads about her adventures every night and she understands that even though she gets to hear the stories the books are still Grandma's.If she is properly respectful of Minerva Louise I will pass her along one day.Not yet.This charming little hen must stay with me for a while ... Read more

Product Description

Learn How You Can head off Depression and Mood Swings, Weight Shifts, Erratic Sleep, Memory Loss, and Other Changes Leading to Menopause

Take charge of your perimenopause simply, safely, and naturally! This breakthrough book details a gentle incremental program for understanding your own changes and offers a wide range of options for taking care of yourself. By following the author's proven techniques for controlling the symptoms of perimenopause, you can continue to feel great through this vital phase of your life.

With this essential do-it-yourself program, you can say good-bye to hormone havoc and sail through your perimenopause, the period of about ten years leading up to menopause, by understanding and controlling its symptoms.

Before the Change ...

• clearly explains the symptoms of perimenopause and offers a self-diagnosis quiz;
• details safe and natural alternatives to hormone therapy, including healing vitamins, minerals, herbs and natural hormones
• gives you a powerful Changing Diet, with tips and recipes for foods that prevent and alleviate symptoms

This revised and updated edition includes:

• an expanded section on the pros and cons of soy as a natural phytoestrogen;
• an expanded discussion of hypothyroidism and how this is connected to hormonal imbalances as well as the best natural treatments;
• a full discussion on the ramifications of the halted Women's Health Initiative HRT study in July of 2002, i.e., how to wean yourself off of the synethetic hormones and what other herbal, lifestyle, and diet options and modifications there are for women who have had a hysterectomy, have risk factors or a history of breast cancer, osteoporosis, or heart disease

Customer Reviews (63)

Great Book
Great Book!!!!!...The description was perfect.....Will buy from this seller again and again..

Thank you so very much......

good and bad
The advice on taking Magnesium, flaxseed oil, and other supplements is great. But the diet recommended is too high in protein. It gave me a mean stomachache every time I ate that wouldn't go away for months. A natural healer said it was from buildup in my stomach caused by protein and it was only after eating a diet with a lot of raw veggies and an apple a day that I got better. It's true you should cut back on carbs and definitely cut out sugar. But you don't need to eat this much protein. Eat a lot of veggies with oil on them, and a small amount of protein with each meal, plus a small amount of carbs and you will feel much better!

Info. basic
The author really tauts her other books in this one and it is a little offputting.She pushes natural remedies, which is great.However, I wanted more information. At this point, I'm just curious about perimenopause but my symptoms do not require solutions....I want info.This book didn't provide lots.

Her suggestions really work
I turned 38 a few months ago, and started experiencing upsetting symptoms (insomnia, severe PMS, terrible cramps, etc.) that all pointed to perimenopause.I picked up this book from Amazon since it had so many positive reviews, and immediately found it to be helpful.

Yes, Gittleman promotes the brand of supplements that she has a deal with, and, yes, the research she cites tends to be mostly articles published in mainstream magazines (as opposed to scientific, peer-reviewed journals).If you can set aside her plugs for that supplement company, however, you'll hopefully find -- as I did -- immediate relief from your perimenopause symptoms by using her Peri-Zappers.Since using a few of these, my more extreme symptoms have disappeared.

Most of Gittleman's suggestions are nutrition-based, and she advocates adding things like flaxseed and herbal supplements to your diet.The only real danger point is that she also advocates the use of natural progesterone cream, a supplement that could possibly raise your risk of breast cancer.

A really nice complement to this book is Dr. Susan Love's _Menopause and Hormone Book_ since Love's book provides more substantive research about issues pertaining to perimenopause and menopause.

A must have for women having physical changes
I heard about this book through another book and got it from our public library. There was so much information, such new easy but unknown things I could be taking, eating, drinking and doing to help my life changing symptoms in perimenopause that I needed to buy it. Filled with so many easy innovative things that no regular doctor would tell you. The Drs. just want to stuff you with prescription pills or tell you it's in your head, or it's life deal with it. No it's not like that. It's okay help yourself out by doing these changes and you will be happier, healthier and live through these years happy not in pain or depression ... Read more

Product Description
You know how it is. That special event just around the corner and you can’t fit into your designer jeans. You need a fool-proof, emergency weight-loss method that really works and works fast.So how do you safely and quickly lose those extra pounds?

Once again, renowned health pioneer and bestselling author Ann Louise Gittleman has a quick, no-strings-attached solution that is also good for you. She is always on the cutting edge of developing new methods to rejuvenate the body and facilitate weight loss and she’s done it again in The Fast Track One-Day Detox Diet. Gittleman takes the age-old method of fasting and incorporates it into a safe and healthy one-day plan that helps you lose weight fast, gets rid of toxins, and gives your body a cleansing boost to prepare it for even more weight loss down the road.

The plan itself is blissfully simple:

THE PREQUEL: Seven days of adding detox support foods to your diet to prepare your body for the one-day Fast

THE FAST: One day of sipping Gittleman’s “Miracle Juice,” a deliciously spiced mixture of herbs and spices specially designed to stave off hunger, balance blood sugar, boost metabolism, and replenish nutrients (no kidding, the juice is completely delicious)

THE SEQUEL: Three days of reintroducing supportive and immune-boosting foods into your diet to seal in the results

That’s all. There’s no need for a strict maintenance plan or more dieting because the Fast Track One-Day Detox Diet purges your body of fattening toxins so that you’ll keep losing weight once you’re finished. What’s more, if you can’t add those healthy foods to your diet in the Prequel and Sequel, Gittleman provides a list of replacement supplements that you can easily find in your local health food store or online.

So, use The Fast Track One-Day Detox Diet to jump start an over-40 metabolism, melt away vacation or holiday pounds, break a diet plateau, get in shape for that high school reunion or wedding, and even help heal a chronic illness. Even if you’ve been slow to lose weight in the past, the pounds will melt away quickly during your one-day fast. Inside there are recipes to prepare for the fast, shopping lists, and tips for sailing through the fast.
In addition, Ann Louise Gittleman shares the wisdom she’s gained from years of research on health, diet, and nutrition. You’ll find out about hidden toxins found in the environment and in everyday foods, and learn easy steps you can take to live healthier every day.

The perfect diet: simplicity, effortless weight loss, and obvious health benefits from a nutritionist with a proven tack record. You’ll feel so good after your first fast, you’ll want to incorporate the Fast Track’scleansing principles and periodic fasting into your life for good.

Don’t delay, it’s time to jump on the Fast Track to a lighter, healthier you.

Ready, Set, Glow

What if you could lose three to eight pounds in a single day?

What if that nearly instant weight loss made you feel lighter, freer, cleaner, and more energized?


What if that single day began a healing, cleansing, revitalizing process, raising your awareness of the poisons that pollute our environment and purging your body of the toxins that set you up for weight gain, fatigue, and a host of deadly, debilitating diseases

What if that one day of weight loss could help jump-start a long-term weight-loss plan?

Well, that single day is here. With Ann Louise Gittleman’s The Fast Track One-Day Detox Diet you can:

Cleanse your system back to health

Get rid of unhealthy, fattening toxins

Safely lose up to 8 pounds overnight and keep them off for good

The Fast Track One-Day Detox Dietis a whole new way to think about weight loss. This is the first crash diet that not only works in the long run, but is also good for you.


GET ON THE FAST TRACK
IT’S SAFE.IT FEELS TERRIFIC.AND IT WORKS. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (125)

This seems to be about the best diet for me
I've had remarkable success with this diet .I've lost anywhere from six to eight pounds during the course of the diet (with significant rewards in the first few days).But, I'm a rule breaker...I absolutely couldn't give up my coffee, but did postpone the ONE cup of 'organic' coffee I allowed myself to as late in the morning as possible and usually didn't didn't need a second cup.I also didn't obsess about everything being organic.I did the best I could (within reason) taking into consideration cost and effort to find it.I made a computer version of the daily schedules and filled them in each day.I found that by the end of the day, after it seemed like I was eating almost non-stop, I was still left with a few items I needed to 'find room' for.

I found it difficult to actually read most of the content of the book as it was a little strident for me regarding the requirements for detoxing the body.But still, with minimum reading, I got the gist of the diet, followed it fairly well, AND lost weight (that seemed like real weight loss as I was able to keep it off for a reasonable time after the diet was done -- though over the course of several months, those ten extra pounds that I fight every few years usually find their way back).

My biggest complaints would be the gassy, bloated feeling that I have on many days of the diet and the fact that I've NEVER lost a pound during the 'one day of fasting' (after getting my hopes up) in the three times I've done the diet (though usually I've lost five or more before that day actually arrives).And, I did wake up in the middle of the night quite hungry at times during the course of the diet.

Lastly, as at least one other reviewer commented -- I turn many of the ingredients into LOVELY soups which are VERY satisfying (AND, for the non-dieting members of the household, I add noodles, rice or potatoes to their portions and they seem to enjoy it as well).I also made lovely tasty omelets (minus cheese) that usually made me feel less like I was dieting.

book
I previewed this item before purchase. It is helpful to have reviews to read.I was pleased with the entire transaction.

Not so great the second time
The book was received quickly and in "like new" shape.This was the second time I did this diet and did not like the results I got.Inlike the first time when I felt cleansed this time I was constipated for about 6 days. I thought I followed all the necessary steps and ate all the recommended food and supplements.I made a daily schedule for breakfast, lunch, and dinner based mainly on the recipe's which were not always easy to prepare.I think cabbage may bind me up.

As good as any I suppose
I followed the suggested meal plan and lost several pounds.Whether that's because I was detoxed or because it drastically cut my calorie intake I don't know.I didn't care.It was a great healthy way to jump start a healthy diet and I learned some good principals to follow as well as some tasty recipes.

Follow this 11-day plan (7-1-3) and get results
Hi everyone,
I've been an Ann Louise Gittleman fan for about 25 years. In fact, some of the habits she suggested in "Beyond Pritikin" are still going strong--like drink room temperature water 20 minutes before a meal and none with the meal.
Dr. Anne Louise knows how to write these books in lay terms so I'm not feeling lost in the material.Last year I read and followed her, "Before the Change: Taking Charge of Perimenopause" and I am aleviated of those symptoms! In this book she offers all the "how and why" about the detox plus she offers the quick and easy method in Chapters 5-8.
Anyway, I got this detox diet book because I was trying to flush steriods from my system.What I got out of it was a cleaner overall feeling and reduced cellulite.
This plan is not difficult to follow, as there are plenty of food options--ingredients available in U.S. metropolitan stores, but here's the problem I encountered: the original shopping list did not detail the extra supplements for the last 3 days. Read ahead to see what you'll need on days 9-11.
The diet is 7 days of liver and colon cleansing foods and supplements followed by a 1-day liquid fast, concluding with 3 days of structured eating with more supplements.
ALG warns not to do the 1-day fast if you aren't going to finish per her instructions because the now-loose toxins will find new places to hide if they are not flushed out properly.My experience was on day 11 I was around a buffet of unhealthy sugary foods and nibbled a little, which became permission to eat more "detox detractors."I became bloated and uncomfortable for the next few days. Yucky.
So, if you are looking to drop 3-8 pounds and clean up your insides, this is a terrific way to do it.I did not feel hungry except for day 8, which I got through by sipping the "Miracle Juice" between hourly servings.
Her Web site Fast Track Detox forum was really helpful, too. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

I absolutely loved this book!
The main characters are sooo vivid and charming! I finished the book very fast as I found it hard to put my Kindle down. A very fast-paced, cute story from Louise Bagshawe, even though Venus Envy does not have the usual descriptive details of scenes and characters like Bagshawe's other books, it is so very heart-warming and is a real sweet treat.

More satisfying than Bridgit Jones
Reads like novel, not a diary, and is thoroughly entertaining and humorousenough for Bridgit Jones fans. You will find yourself wating to read otherbooks by Louise Bagshawe and perhaps fantasizing of moving to London...agreat read that you can really sink yur teeth into.

Absolutely loved it!
This is one of the funniest books I have read in awhile.While it is partof the whole single-girl-in-London-unlucky-in-love breed of books, LouiseBagshawe really creates an incredible character in Alex.She's someoneeverybody can relate to and you really want to see her succeed.She hasher whole life fall apart and her worst enemies are all there to witnessit.Alex has a biting wit and never loses her sense of humor througout thewhole book.Although it is a bit predictable, it definitely won'tdisappoint. ... Read more

Product Description
In the first part of this inspirational CD, Louise explains how we create our experiences as a result of our accepted thinking patterns, and how we can switch them to ones of love and success. In the second part, Louise presents a healing imagery visualization full of positive statements about who we are and what we can be. Soothing and peaceful, this deeply relaxing meditation gently calms every part of our bodies and is ideal for those who are having difficulty falling asleep. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Excellent Motivational / Self Help Tool
I really enjoyed listen to this CD. I put it on my MP3 and listen to it while walking for fitness.It makes me feel good and keeps me motivated to take care of myself.

I really like Louise Hay and I have a number of her CD's. She's helps you to focus on "Here & NOW", Forgive/Forget the Past, Love Yourself and Start Where You Are.... "Today is Your Present--- What Are You Going To Do With It? "...

This is a great CD for anyone on a journey to Self-Discovery and Self- Acceptance!!I Wish You WELL!!!!!

She's a Gem
This is most helpful to get yourself to sleep. Louise has helped so many but I cant help think how many more would benefit from this gentle meditation she gives. The only criticism would be with the quality of the sound could be better, but it works so dont hesitate to buy.

Peaceful and Relaxing
You have to listen to this with an open-mind. It really is a great way to begin to retrain old, negative thinking.

10 years and I still love it
I've listened to this tape for 10 years and it STILL holds wisdom and deep relaxation for me.Louise's voice is so soothing, sometimes I just listen for that alone.The guided relaxation is like having a Mom or Grandma sit with me and soothe me to sleep.Even though I could probably recite it by heart, often I will hear something "new" each time I listen.She reminds me that I am worthwhile, helps me relax my mind and body and then affirms for me that I am healthy, prosperous, and in the right place in my life.Very helpful.I will never return it to my sister (whom I borrowed it from)!! ... Read more

Product Description

A Tale of Uncharted Love on the Open Seas

Customer Reviews (10)

Cute and Sweet
This book was a fun re-imagining of Pride and Prejudice, with all the same characters we love and hate. I loved that original quotes from the book were used, but sometimes in entirely new contexts. I laughed out loud and adored our Lizzy and Darcy all over again as I stayed up until 3 am reading.

Great Read
Pride and Prejudice is my favorite book, so I can never get enough of Darcy and Elizabeth; however, I am quite picky about the ones variations and sequels I enjoy. This is far and away one of the better ones I've read. The story is interesting, the idea original, and the characters charming.
While I take my red pen to most P&P variations to correct what I feel to be errors or faulty characterization, this volume remains ink-free!
I highly recommend this to all Austen fans as well as fans of historical fiction in general. I enjoyed the temporary relocation of the characters to America as well.
Miss Louise's other P&P variations are also highly entertaining with very interesting story lines. I recommend them all.

Best variation ever!!
If you gave Pemberley's Promise five stars, you should do the same with this book - they are identical, except for title and cover. Very original plot, great development of true emotions and no exaggerations, mysteries, murders and all such things that don't belong in a Pride and Prejudice adaptation. Kara Louise always stays true to Austen's original characters which cannot be said of all authors.

Ingenious and Original Retelling of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
DARCY'S VOYAGE by Kara Louise is an ingenious and original retelling of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE with Darcy and Elizabeth meeting on a ship bound for America.

Ah, a sea voyage--crisp, fresh salty breezes, a time far away from the cares of everyday life, and the ship's best private cabin, which provides desired solitude.

Ah, a sea voyage--stale steerage air, cramped quarters much worse than those at home, giving up your narrow cot to a sick child and sleeping on the floor.

Such are the opposite experiences of Darcy and Elizabeth as they embark on PEMBERLEY'S PROMISE. Darcy, crossing the ocean to escort his sister Georgiana home, is the owner of the ship, and occupies the best cabin. Elizabeth, on her way to visit her Uncle and Aunt Gardiner in New York, insisted her father secure the cheapest berth and sleeps in steerage.

As fate would have it, they meet on early morning walks on the upper decks. There attraction is instant, but something niggles at their memories. Did they meet two years ago on a short carriage ride neither forgot? And where neither asked the other's name?

Elizabeth thinks the reserved Darcy is proud, and Darcy thinks he should have nothing to do with a lady so far beneath his social level. But when Elizabeth falls ill, Darcy comes to her aid. By the time they disembark, they are madly in love. But neither has told the other and so they separate, causing themselves no end of avoidable trouble.

I like a book that sweeps me along wondering what the ending will be, even when I know the ending. Ms. Louise has succeeded in writing just such a story, proving yet again PRIDE AND PREJUDICE'S enduring appeal.

For the Regency purists out there, there are errors. Forget them and enjoy this delightful retelling of reluctant love triumphing.

ARC provided by Sourcebooks

Darcy's Voyage
This Jane Austen sequel is yet another variation of Pride and Prejudice with the original storyline being followed to a certain degree with a lot of the same characters. There is a difference though as the author takes the story to the open sea's. Elizabeth is traveling alone to New York to her Aunt and Uncle who are residing there while Elizabeth's uncle does some business. On the ship is Fitzwilliam Darcy, who is traveling to America to bring back his sister Georgiana. Two years, Elizabeth and Darcymet and shared a carriage but did not know each others names. Elizabeth is traveling on Pemberly's Promise, the ship owned by Darcy, and is staying below decks. As in all travel on ships at that time, people get sick from sea sickness and other ailments contracted in the close quarters of a ship. While Elizabeth cares for some of the people that are sick, she becomes ill herself. Elizabeth and Mr.Darcy meet on deck and after a time they take the air on deck in the form of a daily walk. When Darcy realizes that Elizabeth is ill he has her share his cabin, which has the only other available bed.

Of course such a thing is frowned upon in polite society, so the only way that they can get by with this is to have the ship's captain marry them. This is what they do with the stipulation that the marriage be annulled once they dock.

So Darcy nurses Elizabeth back to health and as they dock in New York, Elizabeth leaves the ship before Darcy. As they do not know alot about each other Darcy is unable to find her. So Elizabeth goes onto her family and Darcy goes to fetch Georgiana. I will say no more about what happens at the end of course and just say, I enjoyed this book because it was just a bit different than the original and some of the other sequels. I am sure if you are a Jane Austen fan you will love this book.

... Read more