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Profound and thought-provoking book
Ashes, ashes, we all fall down
Sure to be Classic
McCarthys artistic prose gives us a chilling account of an apocalypse,
terrifying and profound

The Road (Oprah's Book Club)
Cormac McCarthy
Manufacturer: Vintage Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0307387895
Release Date: 2007-03-28

Amazon.com

Best known for his Border Trilogy, hailed in the San Francisco Chronicle as "an American classic to stand with the finest literary achievements of the century," Cormac McCarthy has written ten rich and often brutal novels, including the bestselling No Country for Old Men, and The Road. Profoundly dark, told in spare, searing prose, The Road is a post-apocalyptic masterpiece, one of the best books we've read this year, but in case you need a second (and expert) opinion, we asked Dennis Lehane, author of equally rich, occasionally bleak and brutal novels, to read it and give us his take. Read his glowing review below. --Daphne Durham

Guest Reviewer: Dennis Lehane

Dennis Lehane, master of the hard-boiled thriller, generated a cult following with his series about private investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro, wowed readers with the intense and gut-wrenching Mystic River, blew fans all away with the mind-bending Shutter Island, and switches gears with Coronado, his new collection of gritty short stories (and one play).

Cormac McCarthy sets his new novel, The Road, in a post-apocalyptic blight of gray skies that drizzle ash, a world in which all matter of wildlife is extinct, starvation is not only prevalent but nearly all-encompassing, and marauding bands of cannibals roam the environment with pieces of human flesh stuck between their teeth. If this sounds oppressive and dispiriting, it is. McCarthy may have just set to paper the definitive vision of the world after nuclear war, and in this recent age of relentless saber-rattling by the global powers, it's not much of a leap to feel his vision could be not far off the mark nor, sadly, right around the corner. Stealing across this horrific (and that's the only word for it) landscape are an unnamed man and his emaciated son, a boy probably around the age of ten. It is the love the father feels for his son, a love as deep and acute as his grief, that could surprise readers of McCarthy's previous work. McCarthy's Gnostic impressions of mankind have left very little place for love. In fact that greatest love affair in any of his novels, I would argue, occurs between the Billy Parham and the wolf in The Crossing. But here the love of a desperate father for his sickly son transcends all else. McCarthy has always written about the battle between light and darkness; the darkness usually comprises 99.9% of the world, while any illumination is the weak shaft thrown by a penlight running low on batteries. In The Road, those batteries are almost out--the entire world is, quite literally, dying--so the final affirmation of hope in the novel's closing pages is all the more shocking and maybe all the more enduring as the boy takes all of his father's (and McCarthy's) rage at the hopeless folly of man and lays it down, lifting up, in its place, the oddest of all things: faith. --Dennis Lehane

Book Description

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

PULITZER PRIZE WINNER
National Book Critic's Circle Award Finalist

A New York Times Notable Book
One of the Best Books of the Year
The Boston Globe, The Christian Science Monitor, The Denver Post, The Kansas City Star, Los Angeles Times, New York, People, Rocky Mountain News, Time, The Village Voice, The Washington Post

The searing, postapocalyptic novel destined to become Cormac McCarthy's masterpiece.

A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food-—and each other.

The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, "each the other's world entire," are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, it is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation.

Customer Reviews:

Profound and thought-provoking book.......2007-07-01

Cormac McCarthy writes an intensely haunting vision of the future, similar to what Jainism has predicted of our civilization. I found it hard to put down once I started. It made me appreciate the small things we take for granted in our civilization that much more.

Ashes, ashes, we all fall down.......2007-07-01

A desperate father,sick and dying,struggling through a post apocalyptic landscape with his frail and sensitive son, whose safety and security is the only remaining reason for the father to live. Everything ashen, black and gray, presumably scorched by nuclear conflagration. The classic post atomic warfare world, where the lucky ones were at ground zero. The only people remaining are starving pagans, diseased, paranoid, murderous,cannibalistic, and it is the father's task to steer clear of the survivors while pushing ever southward on "the road" with hopes of finding warmth and safety for the child. It is a depressing yet compelling saga that I could not walk away from until the last page.

Sure to be Classic .......2007-06-30

Great Book. Have you ever wondered what the end of the world will be like? This book makes a compelling read of what may be humanities future. It is really a simple story but its implications are profound. The world has been turned into a living hell of dark gray ash. The road through this world is traveled by a man and his son as they try and escape to the sea. The journey is about more than just their survival, its about good and evil, and the meaning of existence. Mr. McCarthy proves again why he is an American literary treasure.

McCarthys artistic prose gives us a chilling account of an apocalypse,.......2007-06-30

Is is essentially a simple book. There is no complicated philosophical narrative or profundity of thought, the key lies in the descriptive prose. It tells of a Father and Son in an apocalypic time period with little or no hope left in the world. Its tells us of their journey along a road to find it. It gives us a believable account of the two opposing sides of human nature and how they react to the extremes of desolation. On the one side cruelty and wretchedness, on the other forbearance and humanity. Marvellously written, an excellent book. If I was to offer one small criticism, its the book's end. Knowing McCarthy's obvious talent I expected it to be stupefying. Unfortunatley ithe inertia ended with a small pop rather than a loud bang

terrifying and profound.......2007-06-29

This is the most intense book I have ever read. I was on the edge of my seat and I cried and cried at the end. This book should be required reading in all high schools. It's just as scary and more timely than "The Jungle." Truly incredible.

Average customer rating:

I read this book again even after high school requirement!
A well written book, but a Classic?
Certainly Well Written
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I HAVE EVER READ
The Mockingbird will survive

To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee
Manufacturer: Grand Central Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0446310786

Amazon.com

"When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.... When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident. I maintain that the Ewells started it all, but Jem, who was four years my senior, said it started long before that. He said it began the summer Dill came to us, when Dill first gave us the idea of making Boo Radley come out."

Set in the small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the Depression, To Kill a Mockingbird follows three years in the life of 8-year-old Scout Finch, her brother, Jem, and their father, Atticus--three years punctuated by the arrest and eventual trial of a young black man accused of raping a white woman. Though her story explores big themes, Harper Lee chooses to tell it through the eyes of a child. The result is a tough and tender novel of race, class, justice, and the pain of growing up.

Like the slow-moving occupants of her fictional town, Lee takes her time getting to the heart of her tale; we first meet the Finches the summer before Scout's first year at school. She, her brother, and Dill Harris, a boy who spends the summers with his aunt in Maycomb, while away the hours reenacting scenes from Dracula and plotting ways to get a peek at the town bogeyman, Boo Radley. At first the circumstances surrounding the alleged rape of Mayella Ewell, the daughter of a drunk and violent white farmer, barely penetrate the children's consciousness. Then Atticus is called on to defend the accused, Tom Robinson, and soon Scout and Jem find themselves caught up in events beyond their understanding. During the trial, the town exhibits its ugly side, but Lee offers plenty of counterbalance as well--in the struggle of an elderly woman to overcome her morphine habit before she dies; in the heroism of Atticus Finch, standing up for what he knows is right; and finally in Scout's hard-won understanding that most people are essentially kind "when you really see them." By turns funny, wise, and heartbreaking, To Kill a Mockingbird is one classic that continues to speak to new generations, and deserves to be reread often. --Alix Wilber

Book Description

Lawyer Atticus Finch defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee's classic, Puliter Prize-winning novel--a black man charged with the rape of a white woman. Through the eyes of Atticus's children, Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with rich humor and unanswering honesty the irrationality of adult attitudes toward race and class in the Deep South of the 1930's.

Customer Reviews:

I read this book again even after high school requirement!.......2007-06-30

Of all the books in high school that were ever required, this was one of the only two I actually did enjoy and ever read again, years after high school... This book is captivating!

A well written book, but a Classic?.......2007-06-27

Well, because this is a "classic", I will not bore anyone with details of the story within.

But, I do have a few things to say about this book. The first is that To Kill a Mockingbird is very well written. It holds your attention even at the lowest points in the book. It keeps you hungry for what is to come.

The second thing is that the actual story is terribly dull. While the writing keeps you going looking for what is going to happen, the story refuses to let anything happen. I can see where people could find action, but to me it is weak. After I finished the book, only then did I realize how pointless the whole experience was.

It was like riding a roller coaster, but not a usual roller coaster. You patiently wait for the chain to pull you to the top of the slope (chain=writing in this metaphor). Then when you get to the top the ride is over and everyone gets out (story=depressing end to ride). You realize that there was no point to going up the hill. The ride was a waste of time. Sure, there were some neat sights to see from that height (interesting sights=minor interesting action), but who needs the sights when I wanted a ride?

I just wonder why this book is a classic.

Certainly Well Written.......2007-06-22

This is a classic that most of us read back when we were in High School. I read it way back "in the day" as my husband says, then just re-read it as a book club selection this month. And while I enjoyed the story, sadly it just didn't live up to my expectations.

I enjoyed reading about this time period. The novel is set during the depression in Alabama. I liked Scout, the narrator's, voice, and the way she tells her story. I thought her father, Atticus (what a great name), their cook Calpurnia and the neighbor Miss Maudie Atkinson were wonderful and endearing characters.

There are many good lessons, some great symbolism and good topics for discussion...there is much to enjoy in this book. But as I've said with another book I recently read, I think that I am not the intended audience for this novel.

I really think that this book should be read by young people who are figuring out the world and the complexities of class structure, discrimination and moral values and who may still be able to think that most things in life are black and white. I think it will have a greater impact for them than for more mature readers who already see things in shades of gray.

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I HAVE EVER READ.......2007-06-18

Before I read this book, I thought it was just another boring, old-fashioned 'classic' book. I read it when I was 14, and I couldn't put the book down.

This book is so unique and captivating. It 'took me away' so I could pracitcally see myself alongside Jem and Scout as their father shot a rabid dog, or ran past the mean lady's house so she wouldn't have time to yell at them.

A great read for all ages!

The Mockingbird will survive.......2007-06-12

Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird is a beautiful tale that exposes the harsh realities of African-Americans in a pre Civil Rights Era, and brings into question the effectiveness of the jury system even today. Through the eyes of an innocent 8-year-old girl, we can vividly see the lives of all people living in the south. Lee makes sure that this novel does not strictly focus on segregation de facto; in other words, Lee shifts the novel away from typical stories of segregation in public areas and private vicinities. What I particularly loved about this novel is the way Lee moves towards society's psychological response to plights facing African Americans at the time period.

The plot's narrator, Scout, informs the reader of the south's complexity in many forms. From a hypocritical northern teacher, to the racism that destroyed an innocent man, Scout asks the reader to release all shallow misinterpretations of the south and judge it from a more complex viewpoint. The novel's hero is by far Atticus Finch, who even today has come to represent all that is just and right in our nation's justice system. Lee also utilizes his strength to portray what Scout sees as true strength in society. Finch is the archetypal man who, despite all the negative influences surrounding him, he manages to come up on top on a moral ground against the small town.

Yet of course, the novel's true theme revolves around society's negative judgment on social outcasts and how these judgments reflect the nature of society itself. Scout illustrates two victims of society: Boo Radley and Tom Robinson. Boo Radley is a recluse who is the subject of town legends that depict him as a typical monster. This envokes fear within the children, who must eventually learn how to accept and understand people from all backgrounds despite what others spread. This idea is tested in a more major form, as Tom Robinson, a black man, is put on trial for raping a young white woman. Reoccuring themes of acceptance and understanding truly take form when Atticus Finch represents Robinson, despite hostile behavior of the town.

Lee's writing is beautiful as it is simple, yet at the same time it is simply powerful as it brilliantly portrays the way humanity struggles to release prejudice. I urge everyone whose schools that were too misguide to assign this book to read it in their spare time for they too will be inspired.

Average customer rating:

A Brit Lit classic
A "Regular People" Review
A Great Read: Compelling and Entertaining
Three Brilliant Bronte Masterpieces In One Edition - Worth Its Weight In Gold!
I've read worse

Jane Eyre (Oxford World's Classics)
Charlotte Bronte
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0192839659

Book Description

'Such a strange book! Imagine a novel with a little swarthy governess for heroine, and a middle-aged ruffian for hero.' Sharpe's London Magazine (June 1855) Jane Eyre is an orphan grown up under the harsh regime first of her aunt and then as a pupil at Lowood Institution. She leaves to become a governess to the daughter of the mysterious Mr Rochester; gradually their relationship deepens, but Jane's passionate nature has yet to endure its deepest blows. In this new edition Sally Shuttleworth explores the power of a narrative that questions the rights of women, the nature of servitude and madness, martyrdom and rebellion in a story whose emotional charge is a strong today as it was more than 150 years ago.

Customer Reviews:

A Brit Lit classic.......2007-05-07

Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre" was never one of my favorite British novels. However, I finally revisited the book after many years and enjoyed it much more this time around.

Jane Eyre is a young, determined girl who is determined to find her proper place in the world. As an orphan who was brought up by her cruel aunt, Jane is sent away to boarding school at a young age, where she and the other students suffer under the hand of an evil headmaster. Things improve at the school when the institution's poor conditions are brought to light following a typhus epidemic, and Jane finishes her schooling and then remains at the facility as a teacher for several years.

Although she's content working at the school, Jane still thinks that life has something else in store for her. She accepts a governess position at Thornfield Manor, where she is employed by the dark, brooding Mr. Rochester. Despite his rather surly disposition, Jane finds herself falling in love with Rochester, and is stunned when he returns her affections and proposes marriage. Unfortunately, the wedding never takes place due to a massive secret that Rochester unsuccessfully tries to keep hidden. Jane ultimately flees Thornfield and arrives at another manor called Marsh End, where many surprises await her. Another man eventually proposes marriage to Jane, but she must listen to her heart and return to the one place where she's ever truly felt at home.

Jane possesses great strength, self-worth and personal dignity. She's a woman who stays true to her principles throughout her entire life, regardless of the many challenges thrown into her path. Also, "Jane Eyre" is a love story of sorts, and it has a very romantic ending, which I always enjoy.

I still think there are parts of this novel that really drag, but I appreciate it a lot more than I did when I was younger. "Jane Eyre" doesn't come close to "Wuthering Heights," in my opinion (Emily was SO the better Bronte!), but it definitely stands on its own as one of the first truly feminist novels ever written.

A "Regular People" Review.......2006-11-22

OK, I'm no smarter than you are, and I read Jane Eyre and thought it was great. The book has so many themes to it, its not just about love, or money, or whatever- a lot of things are touched on. The main character is someone you'll never forget, just as I write this I'm mentally going over the book and I have that warm feeling in my stomach, thats how I know its a great book, so read it..... and keep me updated!

A Great Read: Compelling and Entertaining.......2006-10-26

Just to correct some other comments, the present book is only "Jane Eyre." It is not a collection of books by the Bronte sisters as implied in the spotlight comments above.

This is a great read. I bought this Oxford Classic after reading some very negative comments by Virginia Woolf in her polemic "A Room of One's Own." There she thought that Charlotte Bronte had gone overboard mixing fiction with her own conservative views of feminism. So, I was eager to see how bad this book was.

This is a great read and I read the book almost non-stop for two days. It is hard to put down. This was Charlotte Bronte's first successful book and it is her best. I am reading her next book written after "Jane Eyre", "Shirley," and it is not as clearly structured. The present book is similar in some ways to that great classic "Madame Bovary" in that it is compact, concise, and consists of a well formulated plot; and, it has one strong central protagonist. It is a clear and compelling read. By the way, the character is almost the complete opposite of Madame Bovary in terms of morals.

One can quibble about parts of the story since it relies to some extent on coincidence and luck. Those parts lack realism.

The book was attacked by Christians at the time of publication almost 160 years ago and later by feminists. But that is secondary.

This Oxford version has a good analysis. It has a biography of Charlotte Bronte and comments on her sisters. The Oxford introduction by Sally Shuttleworth places the book in histrical context. Also, extra notes are included on the text. I read the comments after reading the book, and the less you know about the plot before reading the book better off you will be.

This is simply a great read.

Three Brilliant Bronte Masterpieces In One Edition - Worth Its Weight In Gold!.......2005-08-08

Three authors who greatly influenced the direction of the English novel also happened to be sisters, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte. Charlotte's "Jane Eyre," Emily's "Wuthering Heights, and Anne's "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall," extraordinary novels all, comprise this Oxford University Press edition. The people, events and settings which marked these young women's lives, as well as their vivid imaginations, impacted their writing significantly.

Charlotte Brontë consciously tried to achieve financial success from the family's literary efforts. She wanted to make her living as a writer, and her goals were the most professional of the three. Her novel "Jane Eyre," a dark gothic romance, is the story of a governess and her passionate love for her Byronic employer, Mr. Rochester. It is ranked among the great English novels. There are many recurring themes here, some of which are repeated in other works by Charlotte Bronte: relationships between men and women and their different roles and limitations in society; relations between social classes; religion and morality; the need to fulfill the desires of others versus the necessity to maintain one's personal integrity; the conflict between reason and passion, and, of course, Jane's deep need to love and be loved. However, primary to the tale is the magnificent, complex character of Jane herself.

Long before the women's suffrage movement, Miss Bronte created, in the character of Jane, an intelligent, independent, strong-willed female, determined to make her place in the world. Equality between the sexes is not brought up in the novel, neither legally nor politically. What the persona of Jane addresses here is obvious in the following very famous lines: "Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and it is narrow-minded in their more privileged fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags. It is thoughtless to condemn them, or laugh at them, if they seek to do more or learn more than custom has pronounced necessary for their sex."

Emily Bronte is said, by many literary critics, to be the undisputed genius of the family. An uncompromising, enigmatic, almost reclusive personality, she produced only one novel and a few poems, yet she is ranked among the giants of English literature. "Wuthering Heights," her masterpiece, is the wild, passionate story of the intense love between Catherine Earnshaw, another intelligent, independent, strong-willed heroine, and the gypsy-like foundling Heathcliff. This novel, however, is much more than a love story. "Wuthering Heights" is about hatred, cruelty, delusion, frustrated yearning, deep despair and vengeance. At times its very darkness is depressing and painful. Yet love and faithfulness, which endure beyond death, bring hope and much needed light to this tale; as does a second love story, born from the seeds of the first. The author also addresses the issues of social class here. Emily's powerful prose, its very beauty and energy, make the book such a literary classic. Charlotte published "A Biographical Notice of Ellis and Acton Bell" in 1850, in which she explained the morbidity of Emily's work by referring to the "horror of great darkness" in her life.

Of the three extraordinarily gifted Brontë sisters, Anne has been judged the least talented. I say, look at her competition, and her short lifespan. I also think her novel "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall," about a young woman's marriage to a dissipated, villainous rake, is brilliant. Some of the behavior described in the narrative is apparently taken from events which Anne witnessed when she worked as a governess. She openly stated that in "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" she, "wished to tell the truth, for truth always conveys its own moral to those who are able to receive it." This well written, extraordinary tale can most definitely hold its own against the works of her sisters, and those of other noted authors of the period. Both "Agnes Grey" and "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" have been wildly praised for their realism and integrity.

All three girls were born in Thornton, England in the early 1800s. Their father Patrick, was a poor Anglican clergyman. He and his wife had six children. The two oldest daughters, Maria and Elizabeth died before reaching adulthood. Their brother Patrick Branwell, was just a year older than Emily. Shortly after Anne's birth their father accepted a position in Haworth, located within the Yorkshire moors, a wide, wild, vast, uninhabited wilderness which was to have a major effect on all three women's writing. Emily loved walking the moorlands with her dogs, so much so, in fact, that she became desperately unhappy when away from home. She was extremely introspective, and preferred the outdoors to the company of her peers. Thus she made few friends. Her intensity of character is evident in "Wuthering Heights."

When Mrs. Bronte died, soon after reaching Haworth, the children were cared for by their maternal aunt. Charlotte and Emily were sent to Clergy Daughters' School at Cowan Bridge in Lancashire but they returned within a year. The treatment at Cowan Bridge was very harsh, and Charlotte later modeled Lowood School, ("Jane Eyre"), after it. "The food was poor and insufficient and they were treated with inhuman severity." The two oldest sisters, Maria and Elizabeth, actually died as a result of the conditions and the sickness contracted there. Charlotte's fiction is full of motherless and orphaned heroines whose loneliness is frequently the driving force behind their search for a place of belonging

For the next several years, the Bronte children were taught at home. They were extremely inventive and creative with their games and imaginary stories. Charlotte attended Miss Wooler's school at Roe Head for one year in 1831, then returned home and taught her sisters. She went back to the Wooler's school to teach in 1835, but after bouts of depression and poor health, she resigned from her position. Again, Charlotte draws material from this experience to use in Jane Eyre.

Charlotte, Emily and Jane collaborated on a book of poems, published at their own expense, entitled "Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell." The pseudonyms were chosen to match the first letter of their names. In 1847 Anne's "Agnes Grey" and Emily's "Wuthering Heights" were published together in three volumes. Although her first novel, "The Professor" was rejected, Charlotte's "Jane Eyre: An Autobiography" was an immediate success. Oddly, Currer Bell was identified as the editor rather than the author. The subtitle was dropped in subsequent editions.The popularity of the Bronte novels allowed Anne's "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" to be published shortly thereafter. The sisters' identity as authors was at first unknown, even to their publishers. It was not until after the publication of Charlotte's "Shirley" in 1849 that the truth was made public. By the date of this last publication, the Bronte's family life was to be tragically destroyed.

Branwell Bronte, an unstable man with a history of alcohol and opium use died in September 1848. Emily then fell ill and died of tuberculosis December 19, 1848. Anne soon followed, contracting tuberculosis that same year and dying May 28, 1949. Charlotte continued to live virtually alone at Haworth. The three sisters are almost as famous for their short, tragic lives as for their novels.

Charlotte published "Villette" in 1853. During this period, Charlotte also accepted an offer of marriage from her father's curate Arthur Bell Nicholls and on June 29, 1854, she and Nicholls were wed. She became quite ill with toxemia during pregnancy, complicated by the Brontë susceptibility to tuberculosis. She died March 31, 1855. Her first novel "The Professor "was published posthumously in 1857, and a fragment from an unfinished work entitled "Emma" was published in 1860.

Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte were writers destined to have a tremendous impact on English literature. I cannot recommend their novels highly enough.
JANA

I've read worse.......2005-05-16

This is a good book depending on your maturity level. The less mature among us find it dull and boring, while the more mature find it inspiring and a literary masterpiece. I am somewhere in the middle. Some of the story was uninteresting to me, but for the most part it had a good storyline and was fairly unpredictable.

Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance

Average customer rating:

Great reading and informative
More style than substance
Not what I expected - in a good way
The Personal Side of Barack Obama
I wonderful story and definite read

Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance
Barack Obama
Manufacturer: Three Rivers Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1400082773
Release Date: 2004-08-10

Book Description

In this lyrical, unsentimental, and compelling memoir, the son of a black African father and a white American mother searches for a workable meaning to his life as a black American. It begins in New York, where Barack Obama learns that his father—a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man—has been killed in a car accident. This sudden death inspires an emotional odyssey—first to a small town in Kansas, from which he retraces the migration of his mother’s family to Hawaii, and then to Kenya, where he meets the African side of his family, confronts the bitter truth of his father’s life, and at last reconciles his divided inheritance.

Customer Reviews:

Great reading and informative.......2007-06-12

This is a good insight into Mr. Obama who is a candidate for the presidency. This is an inside view of him in his words. I enjoyed reading the autobiography. He is candid and forthcoming about what has shaped him as a person. I recommend the book to anyone who would like to get to know the candidate.

More style than substance.......2007-06-08

I was impressed by Barack's incredible personal history and early life expereinces. He is also a strong narrator for the audio tapes. In the end, however, I felt like I was missing any key takeaways or lessons beyond understanding what impact his upbringing might have on the way he views the world.

Not what I expected - in a good way.......2007-06-03

I picked this book up because I try to read the books written by presidential candidates, and because I was curious as to what all the hype about Obama was about. I expected a typical "presidential candidate" book, written in clear but uninspired prose and carrying a pandering message wiped of anything that anyone might possibly find objectionable. To my pleasant surprise, this book was neither. This is probably in part because it was written a decade ago, before his political career - but mostly, I believe, it is because of the type of person Obama appears to be.

One surprise is that the book is extremely well-written (and it wasn't ghost-written, either). There are parts where you can tell that it's his first book -- an overwrought phrase here or there, a bit of meandering -- but overall, the writing quality is astounding -- better than the writing of many professional authors. Obama is clear without being boring and has the ability to capture a situation or a feeling with a rare degree of simplicity and evocativeness.

The main reason I like the book is that it is honest -- it serves honesty in great heaping bucketfuls, in fact. Obama does not try to make himself look good in this book (which, ironically, makes him look even better). It is about his journey as a biracial American, and as a result is chock-full of his mistakes and missteps as much as his gains. The people in the book are treated with compassion and empathy, and every experience is framed and weighed by an incisive intellect that never loses its sympathy for the people involved. I am most struck by the obvious intelligence and intellectual independence of the narrator: he really THINKS about things, and has the courage to draw his own conclusions. That is a tremendously unusual thing to find in a person -- an even more unusual thing in a politician.

I'm aware that this review may look like it was written by an Obama shill, but I couldn't find much to dislike. [Though I would have liked to see more about his mother and her role in his life.] Truth be told, I'm still not sure who I'll vote for for President -- I'm not going to decide this early -- though I'm leaning Obama, in no small part due to this book. But regardless of what sort of president he would make, I have to think that anyone who could write this book must be a pretty amazing person.

The Personal Side of Barack Obama.......2007-05-20

When I purchased "Dreams from My Father" I was looking for more political firepower from the US Senator. At the time of my purchase I did not realize it was written over ten years ago.

While the book fails to provide what I was looking for in making a selection in regard to the presidential elections, it did give excellent background to this accomplished man. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) tells his story with such eloquence and passion, and provided excellent reading material.

"The Audacity of Hope" helps to solidify the Senator's political positions, but his storytelling technique makes "Dreams from My Father" the better of his two books and one of my personal favorites.

I wonderful story and definite read.......2007-05-20

In Dreams from my Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, Senator Barack Obama talks about his life growing up and the numerous challenges he faces. The book begins in the 1960's when Barack is a young boy living in Hawaii. He lives with his white mother and grandparents after his father, a Kenyan prince, has returned to Kenya to work. Later on in the memoir, his mother meets an Indonesian man whom she marries. Barack and his mom then move to Indonesia with the man and they all start a life together. In Indonesia, Barack is faced with the challenges of learning a new culture. A culture that was dark and dangerous, one he says would "quickly make a child into a man." After a while, Barack's mother begins to see what this environment is doing to her son. He is becoming a man, but one that is scared to share his feeling because he wants to seem tough and supportive of other people. His mother then sends him home to Hawaii, so he will know what it is like to grow up as an American. There, he faces another challenge. He is one of only two black people in his class. After graduating from high school at the Punahou School in Hawaii and Occidental College in California, Barack then moves to Chicago. In the windy city, he becomes a community organizer where he works to help makes neighborhoods safer in Chicago's Southside. He works with many people that have the same beliefs and goals as him. Unlike Barack, his Chicago colleagues have grown up knowing about their black heritage. They have also experienced more of the hardship they are trying to fight against. One day while he is working in Chicago, he gets a phone call from his sister in Kenya informing him that their father has died. After spending his entire life trying to figure himself out and understand his culture and heritage, Barack sees this as a good opportunity to learn about the man most like him, his father, and the place in which his father lived.
Throughout the book, we watch a young boy grow into a man and face the struggles of growing up, finding out his true identity, learning about his black heritage, and adapting to the different cultures in which he lived.
With his thoughtful, powerful, and poignant writing style Barack is able to portray the true facts: "I realized that who I was, what I cared about, was no longer just a matter of intellect or obligation, no longer a construct of words. I saw that my life in America - the black life, the white life, the sense of abandonment I'd felt as a boy, the frustration and hope I witnessed in Chicago - all of it was connected with this small plot of earth an ocean away, connected by more than the accident of a name or the color of my skin. The pain I felt was my father's pain. My questions were my brother's questions. Their struggles, my birthright."
This book is a definite read. Barack Obama is able to capture his reader and keep them wanting more. Once I began reading it, I was not able to put the book down. You become captivated by all the hardships that he faces in his life and the way that he learns to fight through them and find himself in the end. This is a wonderful story because Barack is not afraid to hide anything. He is willing to tell people all about his life and let them know what made him the type of person he is today. I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to everyone.

Average customer rating:

What More Can One Say?
its ok
To the moon and back-- what's not to love???
Beautiful
The first book I ever bought for my daughter...

Guess How Much I Love You
Sam McBratney
Manufacturer: Candlewick
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Board book

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ASIN: 076360013X
Release Date: 1996-03-06

Amazon.com

Based on the popular bedtime story Guess How Much I Love You, My Baby Book is a delightful way to record and cherish the important events of your baby's first two years. Big Nutbrown Hare and Little Nutbrown Hare return to scamper through the pages, adding just the right touch of whimsy to this charming scrapbook. Divided into sections such as "Up and About" and "On Vacation," the book is enhanced by the well-known declarations of Little Nutbrown Hare. "Guess how often I fell over! Oops-a-daisy!" he says, balancing himself on a tree stump under "My First Step." Anita Jeram's soft watercolors and expressive line drawings are truly heartwarming without ever being saccharine, and the baby-book section ideas are refreshingly innovative. With ample room to record everything from baby's height and weight to the price of a newspaper on the date of baby's birth, and plenty of space to add photographs, My Baby Book is one of the best available. --Aimee Damann

Book Description

The American Booksellers Book of the Year nominee is available as a sturdy board book for the youngest of children. Little Nutbrown Hare wants to show Big Nutbrown Hare how very much he loves him - but love as big as his is very hard to measure!

Customer Reviews:

What More Can One Say?.......2007-06-29

A delightfully illustrated board book with a lovely reminder for all of us who love children. Children can not hear "I love you" too often. The board book formats allows some abuse while passing on an appreciation of books. The illustrations capture the imagination and are an ideal accompaniment to a lovely book.

its ok.......2007-06-06

this is a cute book, but my son isn't really interested in it and its kind of long for him. i don't think we ever get though the whole thing, he loses interest and we move on to another book.

To the moon and back-- what's not to love???.......2007-06-02

We love this book!! When I tell my (now 5 1/2 y/o) son I love him to the moon and back- he replies that he loves me to PLUTO and back. He loves space and science, and he loves reading at nighttime especially. If you can find the LARGE size board book get it- they're fabulous keepsakes. Kids learn to enjoy reading when you read to them every night- make it a tradition in your family!

Beautiful.......2007-05-24

That's the most beautiful book for a young child that I know of. It perfectly expresses the mother's love. I enjoy reading it every night before my daughter goes to bed. I started to read it to her over a year ago when she was only two years old, and now she can read it with me. It has created a special bond between us. I highly recommend this book to any loving mother. In addition to that I also recommend a book series titled "Why Some Cats are Rascals ( Book 3)" containing lovely and inspiring stories for older children. My other recommendations go to:
Love You Forever
The Giving Tree
Corduroy

The first book I ever bought for my daughter..........2007-04-23

My daughter loves this book, and I must admit I love reading it to her before bed time. The illustrations are beautiful as well. I usually get a little misty eyed at the end, but I am a big softy after all...

St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologica (translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province) (5 Volume Set)

Average customer rating:

Summa is supreme
Good Theology, Good Philosophy
Great Work, Good Translation
St. Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologica (5 volume set)
A True Classic

St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologica (translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province) (5 Volume Set)
Thomas Aquinas
Manufacturer: Christian Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0870610635

Book Description

Thomas Aquinas' best-known work is the Summa Theologica. As the title indicates, the Summa is a "summing up" of all that can be known about Christian theology.

Customer Reviews:

Summa is supreme.......2007-05-13

Probably the best sys theo work ever. Oh, that more fellow Protestants would pour over this text!

Good Theology, Good Philosophy.......2007-01-12

These volumes have withstood the test of time in the worlds of religion and philosophy. Reading the words of one of the greatest minds in history is both entertaining and educational. This set is a must have for anyone who likes to study philosophy. For a beginner, it may be beneficial to get one of the many Aquinas readers or help texts, but it doesn't take very long to catch on and soon you will find yourself just reading at your own pace, making your own ideas about what Aquinas is all about.

Great Work, Good Translation.......2006-11-08

The Summa Theologica of Saint Thomas is without doubt one of the greatest works in the history of the Christian faith. The logical order and progression is simply amazing and the scope of the work monumental.

This translation is generally very close to the sense of the Latin original, although in a few cases I have noticed some strange differences. For example, in Pt. 1 Q.1 A. 4. The Dominican Fathers translate the Latin (which reads "Magis tamen est speculativa quam practica") as ". . . speculative rather than practical" although the Latin reads ". . . speculative MORE than practical." This is a substantial change in the meaning which ends up creating confusion in the next article when Thomas says that theology is ". . . partly speculative and partly practical". There are other variations from the Latin throughout the rest of the work, some more and less important.

I urge those who are interested in a serious study of Saint Thomas to use this text as an aid to a deeper study with the Latin. If this is not possible for you, this translation will nevertheless give you a good introduction and tool for an introductory and intermediate understanding of Saint Thomas's thought.

St. Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologica (5 volume set) .......2006-11-05

This set of books is very good for religious studies majors or anyone pursuing a higher education in theological studies. This series addresses in detail, the myriad questions pertaining to Christian theological doctrines through philosophical reasoning.

A True Classic.......2006-04-25

I knew about this book, of course, because I'm an academic, but hadn't read in it since it's out of my field and I'm not religious.
BUT I needed to look up a reference, started reading, and I am impressed. Aquinas is really bright and knowledgeable, and it is a pleasure just to watch his mind work. The book is, of course, also a great window on the worldview of its time, and not all of what it has to say is outdated. It's a great experience to read from the sources...

Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters: 10 Secrets Every Father Should Know

Average customer rating:

Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters: 10 Secrects Every Father Should Know
A must have for current father's; great info for any girl's parent.
A wake-up call for all fathers
Good book to add to your arsenal - some facts, some opinions.
Dads Need This Book

Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters: 10 Secrets Every Father Should Know
Meg Meeker
Manufacturer: Regnery Publishing, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Dads and Daughters: How to Inspire, Understand, and Support Your Daughter When She's Growing Up So Fast

ASIN: 1596980125

Book Description

Using the best medical research, experience from her own practice, and numerous interviews, Dr. Meeker shows why Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters is not a slogan-it's a necessity.

Customer Reviews:

Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters: 10 Secrects Every Father Should Know.......2007-06-13

A must read for all men with daughters. Highly informative and very well written. It is also reassurring to the point where you can see the things that you are already doing that are good.

A must have for current father's; great info for any girl's parent........2007-06-08

If your daughter is 2, or in my case 16; or if you're considering having kids (and therefore have the possibility of haveing a daughter), this book will lay the framework on what it is your daughter is looking for in a father, a man, and possibly your future son-in law. I'm not saying it will take all of the mystery out of being a Dad to your girl, but it unraveled years of questions I had about being a father, and helped me lay down better boundaries without feeling like I was being unfair. It in no way had me locking up my young teen daughter, but it opened my eyes to what I needed to be looking for, and how to better protect her even from a distance. I'm much more comfortable with my girl, and what I say yes and no to after reading this book.

A wake-up call for all fathers.......2007-06-02

Dr. Meeker doesn't pull any punches with this book. The first chapter was like a slap in the face, a wake-up call. Most importantly, be there.

Good book to add to your arsenal - some facts, some opinions........2007-05-30

I have a three-year-old daughter and thought this would be a good Doctor's guide about raising a daughter. I found it to be interesting and Dr. Meeker makes some geniune points about the psychological make-up of young women and girls (although she is Family M.D. and not a Psychiatrist or Psychologist).

Some of the end tends to get a little preachy about God and the like, which you see coming over the horizon about midway through the book. Nevertheless, if there's one thing we know about people who are religious and those who are not, it's unlikely that a child-rearing book is going to convert you one way or the other; so, if you don't agree, that section won't kill you. I'm living proof.

In my opinion, this is an enjoyable book with some very relatable anecdotes and a lot of food for thought about the oversexualized nature of pop culture and the dangers facing our daughters every day.

As a father who tends to see things left of center in most cases, when it comes to youth (especially our daughters), I couldn't agree more.

Dads Need This Book.......2007-05-14

As the father of two young daughters this book was an eye-opener. It is a shame that the world is full of so many pitfalls for girls as they grow up. Sex, drugs, depression, struggling to fit in, fashion, body image, media messages, etc.... Way more than I ever thought about growing up as a boy in the 1970s and 1980s.

The world my daughters are going to face is full of tough stuff, and this book did an amazing job of reminding me of my important role in getting them safely to the otherside of their teenage years.

The book is disturbing in many ways, as it makes you think about stuff that you would prefer to ignore...but that is what makes this book so important for every dad of a daughter.

My Boys Can Swim!: The Official Guy's Guide to Pregnancy

Average customer rating:

Fun Prep for Expectant Dads
Help Hubby feel included
My husband loved this!!!
Funny but not a great source of info
Very Elementary

My Boys Can Swim!: The Official Guy's Guide to Pregnancy
Ian Davis
Manufacturer: Three Rivers Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Accessories:

Health o Meter HDC100-01 "Grow with Me" Teddy Bear Scale for Babies and Toddlers
Braun IRT 4020 ThermoScan Ear Thermometer

ASIN: 0761521674
Release Date: 1999-09-22

Book Description

Finally—A Pregnancy Book That Won't Put Men to Sleep
My Boys Can Swim! tells real men everything they really want to know about pregnancy, such as: How much is it going to cost? Why does your wife primp before seeing her doctor when she hasn't put a stitch of make-up on for you in months? And, most important, what's it going to do to your sex life?
This rollicking, laugh-out-loud book is for expectant dads in search of bottom-line pregnancy information, without all that boring touchy-feely stuff you find in those books written for women. Inside you'll discover helpful—and hilarious—information and insights on such topics as:
The Maternity Wardrobe: "A key part of the maternity wardrobe is maternity underwear—parachute-like undies big enough to fit an NFL defensive lineman."
Baby Names: "Don't give your kids mockable names like Thaddeus, which is Greek for 'I'm a dork and should be beaten up.'"
The Birth: "No one told me it's normal that babies' heads can be misshapen at birth. I was convinced that my wife gave birth to Veldar, the conehead."

Customer Reviews:

Fun Prep for Expectant Dads.......2007-06-25

With this book, Ian Davis did a great job of relating material to his target audience with a humorous and informative delivery. It was never boring, and his insights were amusing and insightful.

Bear in mind, this is not a reference book for expecting fathers. If you're looking to this book to thoroughly guide you through the rigors of pregnancy and parenthood, this isn't the right book. You might want to try The Expectant Father: Facts, Tips and Advice for Dads-to-Be, Second Edition, which is a good thorough reference guide that helps to prepare you for the realistic responsibilities that lie ahead. Instead, this is a humorous glossy overview of some of the things you might expect over the next 9 months.

My only gripes are that the book is VERY short, and that it's pricey for what it is. I finished the book in one day during my daily commute, which is a 35 minute bus ride each way. And considering it's basically about the size and length of a pocket pamphlet, it's somewhat overpriced at $10.

However, these are the only things holding it back from being a 5-star review. It's a fun read, and it does accomplish what it sets out to do... to give expectant fathers some perspective on the rigors they are about to face during their introduction to fatherhood.

Help Hubby feel included.......2007-06-18

This is not the most informative book for men about the fine details of pregnancy, but it's a great way to help husbands feel involved. I left this book in the bathroom for my husband, and he loved it. He was constantly sharing the cartoons and stories with me (like pointing out that I looked just like the cartoon of the morning-sick wife with disheveled hair). It's very hard to get my husband to read books, so the fact that he actually read this entire book in a week is impressive.

My husband loved this!!!.......2007-06-15

My husband absolutely loved this book. It kept him interested, entertained, and was still informative. He said that he would recommend this book to anyone.

Funny but not a great source of info.......2007-06-08

This little ditty is funny - which is good because by now, my partner needs some humor after all the sickness, mood swings, and complaints!!
However, it doesn't have a lot of solid advice. The illustrations are hilarious - but truly - it's my suggestion that if you want a book that has great information for your partner, What to Expect When You're Expecting is the one. Written for women, true, but has nothing that would be offensive to some sensitive men and is just great info.

Very Elementary.......2007-06-01

It is funny if you happen to be a guy's guy and have strict gender roles. The jokes seemed like statements that have all been heard before. However, there was helpful information about the hospital experience and insurance from the Guy's perspective.

Average customer rating:

The Tenth Circle
Needs a disclaimer
Dante as an Existentialist--What is truth?
Wanted so much to like this
Just an okay book

The Tenth Circle: A Novel
Jodi Picoult
Manufacturer: Washington Square Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 074349671X
Release Date: 2006-10-24

Amazon.com

Bestselling author Jodi Picoult's The Tenth Circle is a metaphorical journey through Dante's Inferno, told through the eyes of a small Maine family whose hidden demons haunt every aspect of their seemingly peaceful existence. Woven throughout the novel are a series of dramatic illustrations that pay homage to the family's patriarch (comic book artist Daniel Stone), and add a unique twist to this gripping, yet somewhat rhetorical tale.

Trixie Stone is an imaginative, perceptive 14 year old whose life begins to unravel when Jason Underhill, Bethel High's star hockey player, breaks up with her, leaving a void that can only be filled by the blood spilled during shameful self-mutilations in the girls' bathroom. While Trixie's dad Daniel notices his daughter's recent change in demeanor, he turns a blind eye, just as he does to the obvious affair his wife Laura, a college professor, is barely trying to conceal. When Trixie gets raped at a friend's party, Daniel and Laura are forced to deal not only with the consequences of their daughter's physical and emotional trauma, but with their own transgressions as well. For Daniel, that means reflecting on a childhood spent as the only white kid in a native Alaskan village, where isolation and loneliness turned him into a recluse, only to be born again after falling in love with his wife. Laura, who blames her family's unraveling on her selfish affair, must decide how to reconcile her personal desires with her loved ones' needs.

The Tenth Circle is chock full of symbolism and allegory that at times can seem oppresive. Still, Picoult's fans will welcome this skillfully told story of betrayal and its many negative, and positive consequences. --Gisele Toueg

Book Description

Fourteen-year-old Trixie Stone is in love for the first time. She's also the light of her father, Daniel's life -- a straight-A student; a pretty, popular freshman in high school; a girl who's always seen her father as a hero. That is, until her world is turned upside down with a single act of violence. Suddenly everything Trixie has believed about her family -- and herself -- seems to be a lie. Could the boyfriend who once made Trixie wild with happiness have been the one to end her childhood forever? She says that he is, and that is all it takes to make Daniel, a seemingly mild-mannered comic book artist with a secret tumultuous past he has hidden even from his family, venture to hell and back to protect his daughter.

With The Tenth Circle, Jodi Picoult offers her most powerful chronicle yet as she explores the unbreakable bond between parent and child, and questions whether you can reinvent yourself in the course of a lifetime -- or if your mistakes are carried forever.

Download Description

Jodi Picoult, the New York Times bestselling author of Vanishing Acts, offers her most powerful chronicle yet of an American family with a story that probes the unbreakable bond between parent and child -- and the dangerous repercussions of trying to play the hero. Trixie Stone is fourteen years old and in love for the first time. She's also the light of her father's life -- a straight-A student; a freshman in high school who is pretty and popular; a girl who's always looked up to Daniel Stone as a hero. Until, that is, her world is turned upside down with a single act of violence. . . and suddenly everything Trixie has believed about her family -- and herself -- seems to be a lie. The Tenth Circle looks at that delicate moment when a child learns that her parents don't know all of the answers and when being a good parent means letting go of your child. It asks whether you can reinvent yourself in the course of a lifetime or if your mistakes are carried forever -- if life is, as in any good comic book, a struggle to control good and evil, or if good and evil control you.

Customer Reviews:

The Tenth Circle.......2007-07-01

Jodi Picoult is an amazing author. However, I wouldn't say this is her best. I've only read two other books by her (My Sister's Keeper and Nineteen Minutes) and I know that this book hardly compares to those. The writing style is the same, the story is intriguing, I just didn't like the main character much. It was hard to feel sorry for her. I found myself more sympathetic to the guy that raped her, for some reason.

Well, I don't want to spoil the book. I suppose it was worth the read, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it. I would recommend My Sister's Keeper and Nineteen Minutes, however.

Needs a disclaimer.......2007-06-28

The publisher should state that this is a novel for adolescents. As a Dante scholar, I thought that either the content or form of this work would benefit from the work of the master. However, the prose is so pedestrian and the content so boring that I gave up on about page 60.
What's all the hoopla about--marketing skills?

Dante as an Existentialist--What is truth?.......2007-06-24

This was my first exposure to Jodi Picoult--so I came to this novel with no prior expectations. Thus, I can't comment on all those reviews which downgraded the book because it was not what they expected. I can state, however, without reservation, that The Tenth Circle was well worth the read.

The basic plot is simple. Young teen gets drunk, passes out, and awakes with her ex-boyfriend having sex with her. She charges rape; he claims consent, and the justice system begins to process both victim and accused.

Picoult takes this simple story line and uses it to examine the "tenth" circle of hell--the one Dante forgot--the lies we tell ourselves. As the "case" progresses, we learn that each protagonist--cop, victim, mom and dad, all have complex back stories, which they have subjugated to try and live "normal" lives. Affairs, violent childhood, death of child, etc. The idea of using a graphic novel interspersed with the text works really well. I do not like/read graphic novels--but since one of the themes of the story is that dad is a graphic artist who is able to sublimate his childhood into his drawings, it works well here.

As the case at first unravels, and then twists in new directions, each of the characters constructed selves also begins to unravel. The tension--aside from the multiple "who don its"--is whether they will find themselves among the debris--and be able to constrict a life from the remains once the facades they have constructed are stripped away.

Can you ever know a person, or can you just get glimpses at specific static points of time? Can one start over? Start again? What is the difference? And is lying to oneself really deserving of the status of being the Tenth (and thus worst) Circle of Hell, or is it merely a survival tool?

To her credit, Jodi Picoult does not give us answers to any of these questions--or even to the fundamental "was she raped" issue. Instead, she provides us with a great story which lets the reader insert his or her own answers to these questions.

Highly recommended.

Wanted so much to like this.......2007-06-23

I read this on holiday, straight after reading Nineteen Minutes, which I really enjoyed. This was about teen rape, not a subject I can identify with, but a subject that I thought the author could handle in a good way.

I was sadly disappointed. The only good point about the book was the fact there was no court case, and the Hell/Snow parrallels, imagery that I've never picked up on before but the bad points far outweigh the good. For starters, the comic "strips" included throughout the book. I've never been one for reading comics, I could have got my boyfriend to make sense of it, but I'm sure I wouldn't have been the best girlfriend in the world if I'd done that. It was just pointless, and I skipped it all, as it seemed to bear little relation to the novel - only to discover at the end that there were "clues" hidden throughout the comic strips. Why?! I wasn't about to go back and find these clues once I've finished the book.

There are other flaws to the book, particularly the ending. As I have a feeling I've had the same problem with other novels, the ending is far too abrupt for my liking. And I saw who the murderer was within a couple of pages of the actual murder happening. I desperately hoped that I was wrong, and seeing things, but with such clear signposting (hello?! It's supposed to be a mystery, yes?), it's glaringly obvious. The character of Daniel has apparently a shady past, which is hinted at throughout the book, and the reader thinks this will get explained at the end - but it doesn't. An entire subplot dropped? And the implication that rape victims are all better once they find a new boyfriend? I don't think so.

Going back to the underlying theme of Hell, what it means to one person, and what it means to another, runs very well throughout the book, the imagery stretching out throughout the simplest description, and I quite enjoyed this in the book. Not something Jodi does very often.

I wouldn't suggest recommend this for a first time reader of Jodi's work - I would certainly start of with one of her earlier books, or certainly Nineteen Minutes. Not this. It fails to live up to my high expectations after Nineteen Minutes.

Just an okay book.......2007-06-13

I was looking for a new author to become obsessed with and a friend recommended Jodi Picoult. I read one of her books called Perfect Match and I greatly enjoyed it. So, I bought this book along with the Pact. So far, I am disappointed. This book was a bit boring and without the wow factor I got from her other novel. It seemed as if the whole comic book theme was not integrated well into the story and you had to keep going back and forth between the two. Also, the characters you end up not caring much about. I will try one more of her books hoping that this was the only disappointment in the bunch.

American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation

Average customer rating:

An essential American character
A Useful Resource But Deeply Biased
Good but nothing new to offer
I needed this in High School.
A resourceful read about religion in America's past

American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation
Jon Meacham
Manufacturer: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Church & State | Religious Studies | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

History | Religious Studies | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0812976665
Release Date: 2007-03-20

Book Description

The American Gospel–literally, the good news about America–is that religion shapes our public life without controlling it. In this vivid book, New York Times bestselling author Jon Meacham tells the human story of how the Founding Fathers viewed faith, and how they ultimately created a nation in which belief in God is a matter of choice.

At a time when our country seems divided by extremism, American Gospel draws on the past to offer a new perspective. Meacham re-creates the fascinating history of a nation grappling with religion and politics–from John Winthrop’s “city on a hill” sermon to Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence; from the Revolution to the Civil War; from a proposed nineteenth-century Christian Amendment to the Constitution to Martin Luther King, Jr.’s call for civil rights; from George Washington to Ronald Reagan.

Debates about religion and politics are often more divisive than illuminating. Secularists point to a “wall of separation between church and state,” while many conservatives act as though the Founding Fathers were apostles in knee britches. As Meacham shows in this brisk narrative, neither extreme has it right. At the heart of the American experiment lies the God of what Benjamin Franklin called “public religion,” a God who invests all human beings with inalienable rights while protecting private religion from government interference. It is a great American balancing act, and it has served us well.

Meacham has written and spoken extensively about religion and politics, and he brings historical authority and a sense of hope to the issue. American Gospel makes it compellingly clear that the nation’s best chance of summoning what Lincoln called “the better angels of our nature” lies in recovering the spirit and sense of the Founding. In looking back, we may find the light to lead us forward.

“In his American Gospel, Jon Meacham provides a refreshingly clear, balanced, and wise historical portrait of religion and American politics at exactly the moment when such fairness and understanding are much needed. Anyone who doubts the relevance of history to our own time has only to read this exceptional book.”–David McCullough, author of 1776

“Jon Meacham has given us an insightful and eloquent account of the spiritual foundation of the early days of the American republic. It is especially instructive reading at a time when the nation is at once engaged in and deeply divided on the question of religion and its place in public life.”–Tom Brokaw, author of The Greatest Generation

“An absorbing narrative full of vivid characters and fresh thinking, American Gospel tells how the Founding Fathers–and their successors–struggled with their own religious and political convictions to work out the basic structure for freedom of religion. For me this book was nonstop reading.”–Elaine Pagels, professor of religion, Princeton University, author of Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas

“Jon Meacham is one of our country’s most brilliant thinkers about religion’s impact on American society. In this scintillating and provocative book, Meacham reveals the often-hidden influence of religious belief on the Founding Fathers and on later generations of American citizens and leaders up to our own. Today, as we argue more strenuously than ever about the proper place of religion in our politics and the rest of American life, Meacham’s important book should serve as the touchstone of the debate.”
–Michael Beschloss, author of The Conquerors

“At a time when faith and freedom seem increasingly polarized, American Gospel recovers our vital center–the middle ground where, historically, religion and public life strike a delicate balance. Well researched, well written, inspiring, and persuasive, this is a welcome addition to the literature.”–Jonathan D. Sarna, Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History, Brandeis University, author of American Judaism: A History

From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews:

An essential American character.......2007-05-31

Jon Meachum's book has gotten accolades from a wide variety of readers. His research is outstanding in the many quotes he comes up with which detail comments and thoughts various ones of our "founding fathers" had about God. He believes that "the God who is spoken of and called on and prayed to in the public sphere is an essential character in the American drama." Washington called him "the almighty being who rules over the universe", but didn't believe in kneeling to pray. Jefferson took a razor blade during his lifetime and cut out portions of the New Testament, for he didn't believe Jesus was divine. At the end of his life he expected after death to be with friends, family and associates in some kind of resurrection or revival after his decease. Reagan believed in the "end of the age" and questioned during his lifetime if we were not near the return of Christ and the end of the age. Lincoln spoke as if the civil war resulted from the judgments of God upon the country and anyone who denied the state of affairs facing the nation "is to deny that there is a God governing the world."

Meachum's approach in his book states that "God" is critical to our national consciousness. It reminds me of the point of Jack Miles in "God-- a Biography", where he says that God is the "protagonist of the Old Testament." It appears that God is the protagonist of our national heritage.

You will be amazed at some of the quotes he comes up with of former presidents and statesmen.

The only question we face is whether the institutionalized God of our country will continue to serve us as faithfully as Meachum says he has served us in the past. Somewhere the real God must show up.

A Useful Resource But Deeply Biased.......2007-05-15

I recommend reading this book to supplement your understanding, but not relying on it to give you an unbiased account. The book's strength is that it contains many interesting quotes by important public figures on the subject of religion and government. Many of these will be eye-opening for those who have been fed the view that the founders wanted the government to endorse Christianity or the view that the founders were largely unmoved by religion.

As an argument, though, the book fails badly. Meacham's central thesis is that a "public religion" should have a place in government, but that no particular denomination should be endorsed. (He also thinks that religious leaders should and should not involve themselves in politics, depending on whether he agrees with their views or not).

To support his thesis, he gives us a long list of anecdotes in which great Americans said religious things without specifically endorsing any religious sect (while noting that sometimes, religion has been used to support bad views too). Obviously, this is not enough. After all, it would be easy to give a long list of anecdotes in which great Americans were wealthy white males, but this does not demonstrate that our government should be composed of wealthy white males. What Meacham needs to demonstrate, but does not, is that these great Americans would not have been as great if they were not religious. To do that, you need to compare more and less religious individuals to see if religion made a difference. Such a comparison needs to be taken not just between American political figures but between political figures in different nations - are countries with more or less "public religion" any more or less likely to produce great persons? The question simply doesn't arise in Meacham's book.

Another question that does not arise is whether the religious Americans that Meacham lavishes attention on are representative of great Americans in general - after all, the point at issue is not that you can be both religious and great, but that religion has a positive effect. Another question that does not arise is whether the religious statements made by great Americans in public speeches might have been rhetorical devices rather than signs of deep personal commitment. We are all familiar with politicians playing to the crowd by talking about God, after all.

Lastly, Meacham freely applies double standards regarding religious tolerance towards atheists, sometimes hilariously so. He praises the inclusion of "In God We Trust" on the currency for tolerantly failing to support any particular sect, but ignores the fact that the motto excludes atheists just as much as "In Jesus We Trust" would exclude Jews. He praises Roosevelt for saying "In the dim past [my ancestors] may have been Jews or Catholics or Protestants. What I am more interested in is whether they were good citizens and believers in God. I hope they were both". It is hard to imagine that he would offer Roosevelt similar praise if the president had said "In the dim past [my ancestors] may have been Jews or Atheists or Protestants. What I am more interested in is whether they were good citizens and not Catholics". Similarly, the addition of "under God" to the pledge is praised on the grounds that it is all-inclusive - "A Christian's mind may summon God the Father; a Jew's, Yahweh; a Muslim's, Allah; an atheist's, no one or no thing". It would be hard to imagine him offering similar praise if the pledge said "under Jesus", on the grounds that a non-Christian can just happily imagine "no one or no thing" when they come to that bit.

All up, a useful resource, but badly argued and hopelessly biased.

Good but nothing new to offer .......2007-05-13

Recently, the "Religious right" has gone on the offensive and has tried to construct a new mythology of American as a "Christian nation" by painting the founding fathers as pious Christians and claiming that there really is no separation of church and state in the constitution. Jon Meacham offers "American Gospel" to hopefully remind his audience of what our constitution says about the role of religion, how the founding fathers really viewed religion, and a sketch of how different presidents have evoked "public religion" throughout the years. While the book is mainly correct in what it has to say, it is very skimpy in terms of information, not critical enough, and offers very little new insight into the role of religion in American political life.

The biggest problem with Jon Meacham's book is how it deals with huge subjects (such as the Civil War) in a mere five to ten pages. He basically quotes a few speeches by Lincoln and discusses the theology of them. When discussing the justification for slavery by the South using the bible, he only quotes the story of Ham and Noah (and fails to mention that Ham is claimed in the Bible to have sprung from Africa making a supposed justification for the enslavement of Africans, when he is cursed by Noah) but never mentions that the Hebrew Bible is full of justification of slavery and that while the New Testament doesn't command slavery, it recognizes it without protest. Furthermore, Meacham never talks about the reconstruction era and the roots of what one could call the "proto-evangelical" Baptists. When discussing each president's use of faith, Meacham never takes any critical views of them. For instance, Reagan believed that the "end of times" were imminent within his life, invited Jerry Falwell to a foreign policy cabinet meeting, and was actively engaged in the Middle East at the same time. This all begs to be further analyzed. Also why did he stop with Reagan? Meacham wrote this book in response to the current political climate and then doesn't discuss George W. Bush? However one feels about junior Bush, he will most certainly go down in history as one of the most openly religious U.S. presidents. I could go on further but I hope this criticism simply show how little depth there is in this book.

I gave this book three stars because what it has to say about the founding fathers and religion is true, and if you don't know much about that then this book could serve as a good introduction. However, if you've studied the various founding fathers and are aware of U.S. founding documents then you already know everything this book has to offer.

I needed this in High School........2007-05-13

Jon Meacham tell us more in this book than I received in 4 years of High School and 4 Years of College. A Must read for anyone interested in who formed this great country.

A resourceful read about religion in America's past .......2007-05-13

The plus side of this book is that it makes an admirable attempt to reveal religious and political perspectives of America's Founding Fathers - including quotes from presidents, politicians, writers, spiritual leaders, plantation owners, and journalists. The quotes from early American historical documents, letters, manuscripts, books, and sermons, reflect a young America that was born among people with a variety of strong religious convictions, who put secular government before religion, in the name of God, the one that Jefferson referred to as 'Nature's God' or the 'Creator' (p.22). We see strong evidence of the Founding Fathers wish for religious tolerance in a free secular nation, and are reminded that the Founding Fathers were influenced by European Enlightenment, and that the 'mind of man' has the ability to reason - also about scripture and religion.

In an attempt to show how religion separated the nation prior to the Civil War, readers are shown that neither Northerners or Southerners were godless, but rather that the Bible was interpreted in