Product: Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life Sale-$10.20!

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A step-by-step guide to writing and managing the writer’s life covers each portion of a written project, addresses such concerns as writer’s block and getting published, and offers awareness and survival tips. Reprint. Tour. K. NYT.

• Amazon Sales Rank: #806 in Books
• Published on: 1995-09-01
• Released on: 1995-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 239 pages

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• ISBN13: 9780385480017
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Laughs and Lifelines!
This is not a how-to book. This is not a New Age manual for freeing your creativity in ethereal ways. This is Anne Lamott, for heaven’s sake…and that means it’s funny! As in, laugh- till-you-can’t-read-the-words-through-the-tears-in-your-eyes funny. (Some call this therapy, and I’m inclined to agree.)

Though aimed at writers, this book is full of sage advice and razor-edged honesty for the average joe. If you’re a writer–and I claim to be one–it’s more than a few anecdotes and good advice; it’s a lifeline in the thrashing seas of rough-draftdom, a foothold on the sands of jealousy and vain ambition. Anne makes it clear that writing must be pursued for something other than mere publication. (Though, to be honest, I know she’s just trying to let the majority of us down easy.) Writing is about letting go, growing, facing truths, and holding on.

I’m hooked on Lamott. She slaps me in the face with her startling revelations, nudges me in the ribs with her unpredictable humor, and prods my frozen little writer’s hands back into action with warm compassion. This book won’t solve the mechanical aspects of my writing, or lead me on the path of structural excellence, but it will spark my creativity, free my characters to be true to themselves, and, ultimately, shake me from my doldrums back into the writing mode.

In a society addicted to mindless facts and information, “Bird by Bird” reminds us–writers or otherwise–that it’s all about heart. Heart and mind and soul dancing together, even if they step all over each other’s feet.

Funny, inspiring, & wise–but get your craft elsewhere
If there’s a better book to read when you’re doubting yourselfand your writing ability, I don’t know what it is. IF YOU WANT TOWRITE by Brenda Ueland may be more profound, but it’s not as funny… I don’t think Lamott copied Ueland at all. Both books are wonders, Ueland’s more spiritual or mystical–i.e. how to express your own unique self and write your truth–and Lamott’s more worldy–how to get your rear in gear and start producing copy. Lamott’s chapter on crumby first drafts lets you know you must start somewhere and can’t do that if you’re constantly criticizng and editing yourself. And she is so right–once you have a beginning, you can make it better..and better…and better. She doesn’t really tell you how to do that in very specific terms, but for that there’s great sourcebooks like SELF EDITING FOR FICTON WRITERS and ON WRITING WELL, which more than cover the job. Bird by Bird may be short on craft, but it’s long on motivation, humor, and practical ways to get yourself writing.

Expert writing advice with a funny and easy style.
This author is a new find for me, but I will surely read much more of her. She is fabulously funny, incredibly informative, and absolutely generous with her thoughts and feelings and expertise on writing. The book warmed me, and made me feel that I could continue my writing with a stronger and better perspective. For aspiring writer’s everywhere, and for writers published and not, this book will take you on a journey and offer invaluable advice for your hard work. It will help you revive that natural urge to write and keep you plugging away at the keyboard during the very worst of slumps. You will also laugh with Anne Lamott, the author, who is hilarious and honest and very witty. The practical and real life advice will stay with you as you struggle to become the writer you already are.

Product: The Lightning Thief Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1-Retail —-! Sale Only $7.99!

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Percy Jackson is a good kid, but he can’t seem to focus on his schoolwork or control his temper. And lately, being away at boarding school is only getting worse—Percy could have sworn his pre-algebra teacher turned into a monster and tried to kill him. When Percy’s mom finds out, she knows it’s time that he knew the truth about where he came from, and that he go to the one place he’ll be safe. She sends Percy to Camp Half-Blood, a summer camp for demigods (on Long Island), where he learns that the father he never knew is Poseidon, God of the Sea. Soon a mystery unfolds and together with his friends—one a satyr and the other the demigod daughter of Athena—Percy sets out on a quest across the United States to reach the gates of the Underworld (located in a recording studio in Hollywood) and prevent a catastrophic war between the gods.

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1544 in Books
• Published on: 2006-04-01
• Released on: 2006-03-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

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• ISBN13: 9780786838653
• Condition: USED – ACCEPTABLE
• Notes:

Like a Hipper Harry Potter
There’s always the “what to read while waiting for the next HP” question for some of us, but…now don’t get upset folks – I like Harry Potter as much as you do – “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” has a modern, hip, even urban style that people weary of Harry’s earnest heroism may actually PREFER.

Plus, people with an interest in legends and myths will bug their eyes out with excitement, because the premise of “Percy Jackson” is that there are a handful of kids who are in fact the children of Greek gods and goddesses, who had come down to dally with modern Americans. These kids, called “half-bloods” in the book, grow up not knowing their origins, alienated by their disjointed lives and absent parents. (A nice conceit of the book is that many half-bloods have dyslexia, but only because their minds are wired for ancient Greek, and ADHD, but only because their minds are wired for hunting, a notion that should give a lot of comfort to real kids with these real problems.) But there are forces of darkness – monsters – whose aim it is to destroy such kids. They are only protected at a special camp – “Camp Half-Blood.” Percy, who turns out to be a son of Poseidon, lands at this camp, but must eventually leave it and risk the monsters, to fulfill a Quest.

Even on the basis of this short description you can see there are a lot of superficial similarities to the Potter books – an orphan, with supernatural powers, who has two friends (one brainy girl and one geeky sidekick), several envious rival students. He goes to a special school and learns he is highly skilled at the school’s favorite sport (in this case chariot racing). He is personally charged with a quest that, should he fail, will result in the ruin of the world.

Author Rick Riordan almost seems to be teasing the audience with these similarities – but he’s having fun with it, and his style and humor are refreshing, humorous, and quite different from Rowling’s. (He gets to the point MUCH faster – the action starts on page 1 and never stops!) My 12-year-old son, to be honest, prefers this, and identifies with it more readily. It’s a clever enough read for adults to enjoy. Highly, highly recommended.

Fantastic Thrill Ride
I held off buying THE LIGHTNING THIEF for a couple years. The market seems glutted with YA fantasy at the moment, and I read quite a bit of it with my 9-year-old. We’ve discovered several good series, but THE LIGHTNING THIEF seemed too long to hold his attention when it first came out.

This year we noticed it in the book fair at school, then saw that it was an Accelerated Reader book. So I picked it up and read a couple chapters to try it out. I was 50 pages into it when I realized I needed to be reading this to my son.

I did read it to him. We FLEW through the book (375 pages!) in 6 days because he kept pestering me to read it to him. We finished it up in a 5-hour marathon yesterday, hanging onto every page as Percy and his friends tried to save the world and put things to rights in their own lives.

THE LIGHTNING THIEF is a great book for adults and kids. I’ve already recommended it to a couple of adult friends who experienced the same kind of can’t-put-it-down pull that I did.

Percy Jackson, the hero of the book, comes across as every kid you’d ever meet or ever would. He’s no brainiac (he has dyslexia and ADHD) but he has friends who are. But he is courageous and clever, stubborn and loyal. He is the best he can be, and he’s getting even better.

Riordan works in many of the Greek myths in the novel. There was a time when knowing Greek mythology was a pre-requisite for having a “classical” education. Many morals and philosophies are presented in the tales.

From the very beginning of the novel, we find out Percy is different when he ends up fighting a harpy in the museum while on a school trip. He’s been kicked out of 6 schools in 6 years, lives with his mom and step-dad, Smelly Gabe, an evil guy who deliberately makes Percy’s life hard.

Then, when he’s on a well-deserved vacation with his mom, he finds out he’s a Half-Blood, the son of one of the Greek gods. But his mom doesn’t know who his dad was and that’s just one of the mysteries Percy ends up solving.

The cool part of the book is peeling away all the mysteries of Percy’s life and who really took Zeus’s magic thunderbolt. Along the way he gains powers that set my son’s head to spinning with hope and delight. Percy’s a superhero without the costume, and there are plenty of villains in his world.

Riordan is a teacher who obviously loves kids as well as the subject matter. The Greek gods were a cantankerous lot, and Riordan delivers them well. Not only does he give his readers the stories, but he also brings the gods on stage and gives them personalities.

The series is supposed to run for 5 books. I think it will go on longer. I hope so. I’ve already ordered books 2 and 3, and my son and I are looking forward to them. The books take a while to read outloud to younger readers, but the effort is well rewarded. The story is rich and deep, and will keep your child’s attention. In addition, you’d be surprised how much you can talk about even when you’re not reading. And your child may just want to wander around the internet learning more interesting facts about Greek mythology.

THE LIGHTNING THIEF is well worth reading and is probably in most public and school libraries.

Pretty Good
When I started I expected a pretty good book, and that’s what I got.

Negatives:
-The Harry Potter resemblance is evident. It’s not as bad as I’d heard, but the influence is clearly there.
-Percy’s ‘colloquial’ narration is sometimes over the top. It just sounds like he’s trying way too hard to sound casual.
-For the middle 50% of the book, the plot moves in a pretty episodic way(one monster encounter and then another). It’s not necessarily bad, but it does interrupt the central storyline.
-Lots of unrealistically and unstylishly simplified stuff, most especially with some very fortunate coincidences when the characters need them, and some adults who just act like idiots. The worst part is that most of these little plotting slipups are covered up with lame jokes. The main plot is setup uber dramatic. The subplots mostly involve one or two silly escapes, not quite meshing well with the main one.

Positives:
-Good pacing, decent characterization, interesting ideas, and a good overall balance to the novel. It starts and ends on similar notes, resolving the most important issues.
-Easy reading. It’s never ponderous.
-Exciting reading. Despite the Harry Potter discipleship, this book has a lot of good things purely of its own. It’s engaging from the very start.

Overall:
Worth reading, and good enough to be read again. A solid 3.5 stars.

Product: Prescription for Nutritional Healing, 4th Edition Sale-$19.77!

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Natural health’s number-one bestseller for more than twenty years, completely revised and updated.

With more than five million copies sold, Prescription for Nutritional Healing is the most trusted, comprehensive source on dietary supplements, vitamins, minerals, and herbs. A pioneer in the field of nutritional healing, Phyllis Balch passionately and meticulously researched and compiled this groundbreaking book. Now, a generation later, her message has more relevance than ever: consume fresh foods, avoid processed foods and those high in saturated fat, and optimize your intake of essential nutrients with the right supplements. Today’s well-stocked vitamin and natural-health stores can be confusing, and people need Balch’s clear, concise, landmark guide.

To help them make sense of the mind-numbing array of choices that are available, readers of Prescription for Nutritional Healing will:

– learn the basics of good nutrition;
– find out how to balance vitamins and minerals so that the body can properly absorb both;
– determine how best to treat 250 problems-from abscesses to wrinkles-using herbs, nutrition, and supplements; and
– get the facts on other complementary therapies, like ayurveda, biofeedback, chiropractic care, and more. Prescription for Nutritional Healing is an essential resource for every health-minded consumer.

• Amazon Sales Rank: #898 in Books
• Brand: Now Foods
• Published on: 2006-10-19
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 896 pages

Features

• A comprehensive reference guide for all-natural remedies
• Aids the reader in designing their own nutritional program
• Authored by James and Phyllis Balch, a medical doctor and a nutritionist, respectively

Comprehensive
With over five million copies sold, this book is one of the most read texts on nutritional health. I say “text” because it measures in at a good inch and three-quarters thick. Written by a certified nutritionist and a bona-fide MD, it is neatly divided up into three parts.

Part I, a quarter-inch thick discusses the basic principles of health and nutrition. This section lists and explains the various kinds of nutrients and food supplements.

Part II, by far the biggest section of the book measuring in at an inch and a quarter, provides the reader with an A-Z listing of many common disorders (such as backache or diabetes) and what you can do about them from a nutritional point of view.

The book ends with Part III, the last quarter-inch of the book, which is devoted to traditional therapies and conventional treatments that can be used along with a nutritional support. Here you’ll find info on treatments such as chiropractic, massage therapy, color therapy, and so on.

I have to say, I was pretty impressed with the amount of info contained in this book and I can definitely recommend it to anyone who is looking for a good nutritional reference book to put on their shelf when questions arise. Additionally, is also might give readers ideas of other types of therapies they could try for various medical problems. Other health titles I can recommend also include The 5-Minute Plantar Fasciitis Solution for people who have trouble with chronic plantar fasciitis.

Be careful, and do your own research before following some of these prescriptions
This is an excellent book in that it contains, in one place, an enormous amount of information about supplements and their use in treating various medical conditions. It also goes through all of the vitamins and minerals, amino acids, digestive enzymes, herbs, etc., explaining their function.

But do your own homework after consulting this book. Under AIDS, St. John’s Wort is noted as containing “two substances, hypericin and pseudohypericin, that inhibit retroviral infections and could be useful in the treatment of AIDS.” This is bad advice, because one of the most widely known herbal/drug interactions–and widely known since about 1997–is that St. John’s Wort and protease inhibitors don’t mix. This might actually be THE most widely known and infamous interaction. If you’re a person living with HIV/AIDS, and you’re taking a protease inhibitor, you should not take St. John’s Wort UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. It is proven fact that St. John’s Wort decreases the levels of the PIs in your blood, making them less effective. Meaning that if you have AIDS, are taking a protease inhibitor and St. John’s Wort, you could very well be shortening your life expectancy. This is serious stuff, and not to be taken lightly.

Glutathione is also mentioned throughout this book. When introduced, the book does say that “the effectiveness of oral formulas [of glutathione] is questionable. To raise glutathione levels, it is better to supply the body with the raw materials it uses to make this compound: cysteine, glutamic acid…glycine…and N-acetylcysteine”. But when this is recommended for use in “The Disorders” section of the book, little mention is made of the ineffectiveness of oral glutathione, and indeed recommends specific amounts of glutathione one should take.

Let me be clearer than this book has been: oral glutathione is worthless. If you’re using it, you’re not getting any benefit, and the companies that sell oral glutathione know this well. It’s frustrating to see reputable companies produce a product just to make money when they know *for a fact* that it has zero benefit. If they really wanted to make money, they should instead put sugar pills in the glutathione bottles. That would be cost-effective! Interestingly enough, my partner is in pharmacy school and they just had a lecture on glutathione yesterday. I won’t try to translate the medical techy stuff, but the gist of it is this: it won’t be absorbed by the cells.

So why does this book recommend glutathione (by itself, with no disclaimer) throughout? That’s a good question, and I’d love to know the answer.

Still, the book has its uses. As I noted, nowhere else will you find such a wealth of information in one place, and so easily accessible and understood. Just be prepared to do your homework.

This book saved my life
In 1989, I was working Medical Intensive Care, U.C.I. Hospital. I was a widowed mother with three children in college & high school. My health was great, I loved my career and the security it gave us and my life revolved around my career and children. I worked circles around younger nurses, when I SUDDENLY became so exhausted that I couldn’t push myself out of a chair. My doctor & friend, ran tests that revealed Acute Hepatitis B. Long story short, after 3 months – I remained bed ridden and my liver specialist gave me 1 to 2 month life expectancy. My life and my childrens lives had turned upside down. Out of desparation, (the medical field could not help me as the acute hepatitis became chronic), my oldest daughter bought this book. She bought all the vit., mineral, dietary supplements, etc. listed under “esential” and “very important” and started force feeding me. I felt like I was being tortured these last days of my life as I already battled nausea/vomiting/diarrhea and a type of exhaustion beyond explaination. It took all my concentration to force an eyelid open or to ask my tongue to move in order to speak. I knew she and the book were nuts but I saw the desparation in her eyes as she would beg me to swallow the beet juice, alevea juice or some capsule. Never-the-less, she continued to insist, three weeks later – I was out of the bed. Three months later I was able to work one night a week and soon a full week. 13 years later – the good news – I am health, happy, active and alive. The bad news – the Acute Hepatitis B became chronic, (which happens in a low % of cases and though I FELT like I overcame the disease, my doctor says the liver is still being destroyed. I truely believe this book saved my life. I have 30 years in the health field as a nurse, and a teacher but this is the book I most frequently use for information. It lists diseases and disorders from “Acme” to serious diseases like “Cancer”. They are listed in alphebetical order, making them fast to find. First a very accurate describtion of the disease is given. Then a simple and consice list of things to use. I have bought copies for friends and families and lent my copies to many. Happy ending: Shortly after my close to death experience, I changed jobs, for fewer hours, leaving time for more activities: hiking, biking, swiming, working out, learned ballroom dancing, and I continued the recommended changes in nutritional eating. I met a wonderful man, we married, and I kept cutting back my work hours till I reluctantly retired from my wonderful position at the hospital last year because our travels, projects, hobbies and activities just didn’t leave me time to work. We share an absultely fantastic lifestyle. My health is very dependent on how I eat and drink – even now. I have learned to really “listen” to my body and I can enjoy perfect health if I avoid the foods and drinks that do not leave me feeling well. Pepsi, fats in moderation and sugars are my challenge. I gave out my last copy of this book and am buying another because I fractured my ankle while hiking near our home in Southern Baja, Mexico, last week. Again, I will do EVERYTHING Dr. Balch and Phyllis Balch reccommends and heal rapidly.

Product: Mom: A Celebration of Mothers from StoryCorps Lowest Price!

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“What I want to say to you is that sometimes life catches you by surprise and you feel unequipped to handle what it brings you, but every bit of life you’ve lived before that moment equips you to live through it. That’s what I would give to you.” -Fanni Victoria Green-Lemons, in conversation with her daughter, Danyealah Green-Lemons

In Mom, Dave Isay-StoryCorps’s founder and the editor of the project’s bestselling collection, Listening Is an Act of Love-presents a celebration of American mothers. Featuring StoryCorps’s most revelatory stories on the subject, Mom looks across a diversity of experience to present an entirely original portrait of motherhood.

Through conversations between parents and children, husbands and wives, siblings and friends, the life of the American mother unfolds. In stories that take us from the woods of New Hampshire to urban Detroit and beyond, we meet mothers and children from all walks of life-an immigrant mother instilling in her children the importance of education, adult children caring for an elderly parent, a woman remembering the sound of her mother’s laugh, and mothers and children of all ages learning to grow into new roles over time. Visiting families in moments of profound joy and sadness, courage and despair, struggle and triumph, we learn new truths about that most primal and sacred of bonds-the relationship between mother and child.

With this vital contribution to the American storybook, StoryCorps has created a tribute to mothers that honors the wealth of our national experience. An appreciation of the wisdom and generosity passed between mothers and children, this generation to the next, Mom offers powerful lessons in the meaning of family and the expansiveness of the human heart.

• Amazon Sales Rank: #75 in Books
• Published on: 2010-04-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 208 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781594202612
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

We love our moms…
StoryCorps is a fabulous notion. Ordinary people interview other ordinary people. Over the past seven years thousands of us have told our stories for the StoryCorps project. Every interview is recorded for posterity. One copy goes to the participants. The other copy will be preserved as part of our oral history. David Isay, the founder of StoryCorps had a brilliant notion and it just keeps growing.

We all have stories to tell. This latest collection comes out just in time for Mother’s Day. These are excerpts from interviews about mothers. These stories about moms will touch your heart. Some are told by moms. Some are told by spouses, others by children. Every story is unique.

As Isay closes this collection he talks about the time he interviewed his own mother. Going into it he assumed he knew all about her, that there would not be any new revelations. Boy, was he wrong. Something about the StoryCorps Project brings out the best in participants. They remember. They reflect. They give honor. They show their grit in the face of life’s obstacles. These stories are magical. Isay’s mom told stories that blew him away. He was amazed.

Prepare to be delighted and amazed by this fabulous, tender collection of stories about MOM. You gotta love it~ya gotta love your mom. Happy Mother’s Day.

Compare & Purchase Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health Vintage at Amazon by clicking here!

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Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health Vintage Description:

For decades we have been taught that fat is bad for us, carbohydrates better, and that the key to a healthy weight is eating less and exercising more. Yet despite this advice, we have seen unprecedented epidemics of obesity and diabetes. Taubes argues that the problem lies in refined carbohydrates, like white flour, easily digested starches, and sugars, and that the key to good health is the kind of calories we take in, not the number. In this groundbreaking book, award-winning science writer Gary Taubes shows us that almost everything we believe about the nature of a healthy diet is wrong.

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1244 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-23
• Released on: 2008-09-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 640 pages

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• ISBN13: 9781400033461
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Customer Reviews:

Your Mother Was Right And So Is Taubes
Gary Taubes reviews the medical research of the past 50 years to establish that the connections between fat and cholesterol and heart disease have never been proven and that, on the contrary, the case that unrefined carbohydrates are responsible for obesity and the so-called “diseases of civilization” has been made by the very studies that have been used to defend the “fat” hypothesis. His review of the research is exhaustive. He does not claim that exercise does not improve muscle tone and overall health. Rather, he argues that exercise is not a a “cure” for obesity, and may even make some people fatter, because they eat more of the wrong foods after exercising.

Taubes writes that the rule to follow is the same one that your mother taught you: starch and sweets make you fat. The solution is to center your diet around protein and non-starchy carbs such as green vegetables and berries, and not to worry about fat so much as unrefined flour, rice and other processed foods. (As one reviewer below points out, “bad” calories may include meat, fish and poultry that has been fed a diet of highly-processed grain. Buy grass-fed, and read labels: much of the canned and prepared food that you buy, including some yogurts, contains sugar and food additives made from corn (corn syrup, citric acid, etc.))

Anecdotally, after reading Taubes’s 2002 article in the NYT, I realized that I had started gaining weight — put on twelve pounds, and gone from a size 6 to an 8 or 10 — precisely when I had changed my diet in the late 1970s to conform to the “new wisdom” regarding fats and carbohydrates. Exercise — running and yoga — had helped me to hold the line at 12 pounds, but could not take off the added weight. My husband, for whom I had assiduously prepared low-fat, high-carb meals for years, was 25 pounds overweight, despite daily exercise. Although I had tried The Zone, and lost weight, I was scared to switch permanently to what my doctor warned me was a dangerous diet. So I’d switched back to low fat/high carb, and back came the 12 pounds.

Then, last year, we began cooking with Julia Child’s “Art of French Cooking” and, rather than getting fatter, I actually lost — yes, lost — weight eating all those butter-sauteed veggies and creamy quiches. When I once again became concerned about eating too much fat, and returned to a low-fat/high carb diet, back came the weight.

Finally, 8 weeks ago — before reading Taube’s book — I decided that low carb (meaning low starch) had proven itself to me twice over, and that I was going to do what worked. So I ate protein (eggs, fish, chicken, dairy), organic greens and other low-starch veggies, and tossed the rice, bread, potatoes, and sugar. I didn’t worry about the fat and cholesterol in eggs, swiss cheese, whole-milk yogurt or almonds; that fat kept me full, and I wasn’t eating tons of such foods (who could?), just enough to feel satisfied.

I have lost 8 pounds since July. I feel great. I am not hungry. I no longer have the digestive problems that I used to describe as a “sensitive stomach.” Moreover, having recently bullied my husband into giving up sugar, white rice, potatoes and all but multi-grain bread, I am certain that his weight will soon come down as well.

In short, my mother (who was not sick a day in her life until she died — still trim — at age ninety, and whose cooking kept my father alive until the same age) was right, and so is Gary. Listen to your stomach, watch your scale — and read this book.

Great info, fascinating history, a new view on why we gain weight over time
This book is an impressive review of the science and the politics behind our ideas about good nutrition and healthy diets. Taubes took 5 years to write this, and says it wouldn’t have been possible without the ready access to original resources that the Internet makes possible. It does indeed have an incredible amount of information about the subject.

One of the sad and infuriating themes of this book is that much of the currently accepted wisdom about healthy diets has a political basis, that recommendations were made and marketed before the science was solid, or in many cases before the science was even done. The people pushing their ideas strongly believed that they were doing the right thing, that their recommendations would save lives and wouldn’t hurt anyone. Unfortunately, as the science gets better and better, it looks like they were wrong — they may have helped a small percentage of people, but at the expense of greatly increased risk of diabetes, heart attacks, strokes, and cancer for large numbers of us.

Taubes opens his book by reminding us of the “diseases of Western civilization”, that diabetes, high blood pressure, heart attacks, and cancer were relatively unknown in the third world until they adopted a more Western diet. Albert Schweitzer didn’t treat many cases with these problems when he started practicing in Africa, but at the end of his service was seeing a lot of them, as local diets changed during his practice.

One hypothesis for why a typical Western diet is so unhealthy is that we eat a high level of refined carbohydrates: sugars, white flour, polished white rice. Taubes does an excellent job of supporting this hypothesis.

The basic model is that refined carbohydrates are absorbed very quickly by the gut and result in large blood sugar (glucose) spikes that require large insulin surges to keep blood sugar in a healthy range. Over time, many people develop metabolic problems and are not able to cope with these repeated glucose surges and keep their blood sugar under control. As average blood sugar and insulin level levels go up, they cause a cascade of increasing metabolic problems, leading to higher weight or obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, inflamation, and increased risk of heart attack, stroke, cancer, and dementia.

Taubes looks at a number of other explanations for “Western diseases”.

* Cholesterol and saturated fat. This theory was championed by Dr Ancel Keys, who succeeding in turning it into dogma. The idea was that people with extremely high total cholesterol (265 and up) had higher risks of heart attacks, so lower cholesterol must be good for everyone, even though only a very small percentage of people have total cholesterol over 265. Eating saturated fat increases total cholesterol, so it must be bad. Eating polyunsaturated fat reduces total cholesterol so it must be good. Eating less saturated fat means that you need to make up the calories that were coming from it, so you needed to eat more polyunsaturated fat or reduce fat and eat more carbohydrate (e.g. a “low fat” diet).

The problem with Keys’ theory is that further research did not support it: the epidemiological studies showed a modest risk of increased heart attack for men with total cholesterol over 240, and no increased risk for women. Low levels of cholesterol, under 160, are associated with increased risk of cancer, so you don’t want to get too low. High levels of polyunsaturated fat are associated with increased risk of cancer, so you don’t want to eat too much polyunsaturated fat.

Cholesterol is carried around in your blood in small globules of fat and cholesterol with a protein backbone, known as “lipoproteins”. These globules range in size from very large (VLDL for very low-density lipoprotein) to medium sized (LDL for low-density lipoprotein) to small (HDL for high-density lipoprotein). When you get a blood test for total cholesterol, what is really measured is the cholesterol carried in all of these different sized globules.

It turns out that lipoprotein globule size is correlated with heart attack risk. Having more HDL is good (so your total cholesterol can go up and you have a lower risk of heart attack, if the increase comes from HDL). For LDL, there is a wide range of sizes, and the large ones are innocuous (e.g. “pillows floating around in your blood”). The smaller LDL particles are indeed correlated with an increased risk of heart attack. So if your total cholesterol goes up but it is because you have more large LDL globules, that is fine. If it goes up because you have more small LDL globlues, that is bad. But when you get a total cholesterol number, you have no way to tell which is which.

Eating saturated fat does increase total cholesterol, but it increases the large LDL particles, which appears to be harmless. Eating more carbohydrate increases the small LDL particles, which is likely dangerous. So saturated fat doesn’t appear to increase risk of heart attack, but eating high carb diets might.

* Fiber. The theory that low fiber was the problem with Western diets was advanced by Dr Denis Burkitt, and held sway for quite a while. It was gradually disproved, and today the science is that fiber helps with constipation, but that’s it.

* Overabundance and lack of willpower. This theory is that the various problems of a Western diet stem from an overabundance of good things, and our lack of willpower to resist them. As a result of our gluttony and overeating over time, we gradually put on weight, leading to the various Western health problems.

This theory is also called the “a calorie is a calorie is a calorie” theory of weight gain and resulting metabolic dysfunction.

Taubes makes an overwhelming case that weight problems are due to metabolic dysfunction, not the other way around. The obvious cases are people with diabetes type I, whose pancreas doesn’t make insulin at all. These people cannot put on weight without insulin injections. On the other side of the spectrum, heavier people have higher-than-average insulin levels. People who eat diets that lower their average insulin levels lose weight without being hungry (e.g. low-glycemic index diets or extremly-low carb ketogenic diets such as Dr Atkins).

Also, eating high-carb diets makes you hungry, and makes you want to eat more, and makes it very hard to lose weight or stay at a lower weight. Eating a low-glycemic-index diet, you lose weight and are not hungry (where most people go wrong is to gradually add back in more refined carbs, which are literally addictive, increasing dopamine levels in the brain, and give you a craving for more and more once you eat any). It is also interesting that the only way to get normal rats to put on weight is to feed them more carbs, less fat and protein.

So, all in all, it looks like it is the highly refined sugars and carbs that cause us to gain weight.

The book has a lot of useful information about where the current science stands, and led to a lot of new threads for me, to try to figure out how to be healthier and feel better.

I did have some issues with it, however.

* Taubes doesn’t discuss one of the major difference between Western and other diets, which is the level of omega-3 polyunsaturated fats. The Western diet is significantly deficient in omega-3s, with too much omega-6 fats. Research shows that DHA (an omega-3 fat) is a critical part of having insulin work as it should, so over time the typical Western DHA deficiency could be the mechanism that starts the cascade of damage from insulin resistance to higher average levels of insulin, higher average blood sugar, higher levels of damage with time, etc.

* There is recent research that shows extremely low carb (ketogenic) diets such as Dr Atkins increase methylglyoxal levels. Methylglyoxal is extremely reactive, and could cause much more rapid aging on a long-term ketogenic diet than on a glucose-based metabolism. So my take is that you shouldn’t be in ketosis by choice.

* I think Taubes is too hard on some of the people involved in this story, and doesn’t appreciate how hard it is to recognize bias at the time. From our vantage point, it is easy to point fingers. I think a lot of the people he talks about had reasonable, defensible perspectives at the time. Where I do think Taubes is right is when he protests that they shouldn’t have been so sure that their recommendations would do no harm. Recommending major changes in everyone’s diet is not something that should be done without stronger evidence!

* Taubes doesn’t seem to appreciate some of the value of epidemiological studies, and overrates the value of controlled studies, which have their own risks and errors.

* I would have liked the history and the current science to be more clearly separated. As it is, you have to wade through a lot of history to get a clear picture of where we are today.

All in all, though, it is absolutely outstanding, fascinating and highly recommended!

Sorely needed because it finally puts low-fat vs. low-carb to rest.
I’m a researcher by trade. Not a medical researcher, but an analyst nonetheless and I have been waiting for a very long time for this kind of work to come out. This isn’t advocacy whatsoever. It’s a look at what everyone says, and what the science says, and the politics that led us to ignore the science. The research level is staggering and evidence so overwhelming that portions of the book are downright infuriating.

I personally found reading the one-star reviews here interesting because there is not a single, negative review here that remotely suggests the reviewer actually read the material.

On to my own rating, here’s what I think you should know when considering this purchase:

This is unlike any book you’ve ever read on the subject of diets. It is not a diet book. It is not a lifestyle book. It is not an advocacy book. It is a look at the science that has been ignored as our country has rolled toward the low-fat religion and what the consequences of this have been. It is a look at how and why overwhelming science and evidence was ignored.

Society has needed someone to do what Taubes did here — to strip away what is popular, to dig into claims and recommendations, and see what the EVIDENCE shows us for claims on both sides of the diet argument. It will give you clarity where there has never been any, while explaining why it has been absent.

If you are looking for a book that lays out a diet plan and recipes and sample meals and such, this is not for you. This is a work of scientific journalism, not a diet plan.

On a final note, it is noteworthy that there have been no real rebuttals to this work whatsoever from the “experts” and “authorities” who have, because of politics and money and cowardice, advocated dietary guidelines that have driven our society into our miserable states of health and obesity.

That silence is shame.

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Taubes’s eye-opening challenge to widely accepted ideas on nutrition and weight loss is as provocative as was his 2001 NewYork Times Magazine article, What if It’s All a Big Fat Lie? Taubes (Bad Science), a writer for Science magazine, begins by showing how public health data has been misinterpreted to mark dietary fat and cholesterol as the primary causes of coronary heart disease. Deeper examination, he says, shows that heart disease and other diseases of civilization appear to result from increased consumption of refined carbohydrates: sugar, white flour and white rice. When researcher John Yudkin announced these results in the 1950s, however, he was drowned out by the conventional wisdom. Taubes cites clinical evidence showing that elevated triglyceride levels, rather than high total cholesterol, are associated with increased risk of heart disease-but measuring triglycerides is more difficult than measuring cholesterol. Taubes says that the current U.S. obesity epidemic actually consists of a very small increase in the average body mass index. Taube’s arguments are lucid and well supported by lengthy notes and bibliography. His call for dietary advice that is based on rigorous science, not century-old preconceptions about the penalties of gluttony and sloth is bound to be echoed loudly by many readers. Illus. (Oct. 2)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From The Washington Post

In 2002, science journalist Gary Taubes published an article entitled “What if It’s All Been a Big Fat Lie?” He argued that reputable scientists were coming around to the idea, advanced by diet gurus like Dr. Robert Atkins, that carbohydrates, not fat, are the ultimate dietary villain. If so, he wrote, “the ongoing epidemic of obesity in America and elsewhere is not, as we are constantly told, due simply to a collective lack of will power and a failure to exercise. Rather it occurred . . . because the public health authorities told us unwittingly, but with the best of intentions, to eat precisely those foods that would make us fat, and we did.”

The article helped revive the low-carb craze. Bread vanished from restaurant tables, and “dieters” began ordering steaks with a side of bacon. Many lost weight and became believers, but many did not, and the conventional wisdom on how to lose weight shifted only slightly.

In Good Calories, Bad Calories, Taubes tries to bury the idea that a low-fat diet promotes weight loss and better health. Obesity is caused, he argues, not by the quantity of calories you eat but by the quality. Carbohydrates, particularly refined ones like white bread and pasta, raise insulin levels, promoting the storage of fat.

Taubes is a relentless researcher, shining a light on flaws in the scientific literature. For example, he charges that when scientists figured out how to measure cholesterol in the blood, they became “fixated on the accumulation of cholesterol in the arteries as the cause of heart disease, despite considerable evidence to the contrary.”

He also reveals how charismatic personalities can force the acceptance of unproven theories. For instance, nutritionist Jean Mayer persuaded Americans that exercise leads to weight loss when in fact, writes Taubes, exercising may increase hunger and calorie intake. According to a 2000 review of the medical literature, “some studies imply that physical activity might inhibit weight gain . . . some that it might accelerate weight gain; and some that it has no effect whatsoever.” Yet the latest government dietary guidelines, released in 2005, recommend 60 to 90 minutes a day of moderately intense exercise and a low-calorie diet to achieve weight loss. Once again, Taubes shows, conventional wisdom wins out.

Good Calories, Bad Calories goes a long way toward breaking the link between obesity, gluttony and sloth by demonstrating that genes, hormones and chemistry play as much of a role in weight gain as behavior does. Taubes’s tales of lame science and flawed laboratory tests are at times brilliant and enlightening. But they can also become repetitive and wearying. In the end, the most compelling case Taubes builds is one against stark dietary advice of any kind; nothing simple can capture the complex reasons for the epidemic rise in obesity. H.L. Mencken once said, “There is always an easy solution to every human problem — neat, plausible, and wrong.” Taubes cites this quote in his book; he, and all of us, would do well to remember it.

Copyright 2008, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.

From Booklist
Noted science journalist Taubes probes the state of what is currently known and what is simply conjectured about the relationship among nutrition, weight loss, health, and disease. What Taubes discovers is that much of what passes for irrefutable scientific knowledge is in fact supposition and that many reputable scientists doubt the validity of nutritional advice currently promoted by the government and public health industry. Beginning with the history of Ancel Keys’ research into the relationship between elevated blood-cholesterol levels and coronary heart disease, Taubes demonstrates that a close reading of studies has shown that a low-cholesterol diet scarcely changes blood-cholesterol levels. Low-fat diets, moreover, apparently do little to lengthen life span. He does find encouragement in research tracking the positive effects of eliminating excessive refined carbohydrates and thus addressing pernicious diseases such as diabetes. Taubes’ transparent prose brings drama, excitement, and tension to even the most abstruse and clinically reserved accounts of scientific research. He is careful to distinguish the oft-confused goals of weight loss and good health. Given America’s current obsession with these issues, Taubes’ challenge to current nutritional conventional wisdom will generate heated controversy and create popular demand for this deeply researched and equally deeply engaging treatise. Knoblauch, Mark

Product: Nick of Time Lowest Price!

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The setting is England, 1939, on the eve of war. Nick and his sister, Kate, begin gathering vital information for Winston Churchill as he tries to warn England of the imminent Nazi invasion. But the Nazis become the least of Nick’s problems after he discovers a time machine hidden in a cove. Unfortunately, the evil pirate Captain Billy Blood, who travels through time capturing little children and holding them for ransom, will stop at nothing to possess the priceless machine. With the help of Lord Hawke, whose children have been taken by Blood, Nick must fight the ruthless pirate on land and sea in two different centuries in a desperate attempt to save his home and his family from being utterly destroyed.

• Amazon Sales Rank: #201 in Books
• Published on: 2009-09-01
• Released on: 2009-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 464 pages

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• ISBN13: 9780312581435
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Swashbuckling for Juniors
Twelve-year-old Nick McIver loves his idyllic life on Greybeard Island, the smallest of England’s Channel Islands. He spends his days on his little sloop, the Stormy Petrel, exploring the coastline and mapping reefs with his little sister Katie. Their father is the lighthouse keeper at Greybeard Light, and their happy family lives there. Nick’s father Angus has a secret hobby, though. He’s a “birdwatcher,” scouting the Channel for German U-boats and airplanes, and reporting to Winston Churchill, in direct violation of orders from the government.

One day while out exploring in the Stormy Petrel, Nick and Katie come upon a sea chest in the sand, bearing the name Nicholas McIver, which was also the name of an ancestor of theirs. A mean red parrot sitting on the chest bites Katie and flies off, and Nick hides the chest in a cave for exploring later because the weather is getting ugly. On the way home, the storm drives Nick and Katie to stop in a nearby pub where the owner, Gunner, will give them hot tea. The red parrot is there, sitting with a menacing pair, Billy Blood and Snake, a thug with red snakes tattooed on his face. After frightening Gunner and the children, they disappear. When Nick’s dog Jip is kidnapped by Billy Blood the same day his parents are called to London, they ask Gunner to watch the children, and Nick convinces him to go with him to the cave to collect the sea chest, Blood’s ransom for his dog. Once they retrieve the chest and begin sailing for the rendezvous with Blood, an encounter with a German U-boat leads them to mysterious Hawke Castle, where they defy security measures and gain an audience with Lord Hawke, the castle’s reclusive owner, whose own children have also been kidnapped by Billy Blood. They open the sea chest with the help of Hawke’s close friend Hobbes, a high-ranking British admiral, to find a time machine and a note from Nick’s ancestor, Captain Nicholas McIver, who needs help in a sea battle against Billy Blood 130 years earlier.

While Nick, Gunner, and Lord Hawke travel back in time to battle Billy Blood, Hobbes and Katie sail for London to deliver the information Nick collected on the German U-boat to Winston Churchill, and they soon find themselves captured by the Germans. Both Hobbes and little Katie have to use their wits to not only survive, but outsmart the Germans, while Nick, Lord Hawke, and Gunner combine their abilities to assist Captain McIver in his battle against Billy Blood, as well as rescuing Jip, Hawke’s children, and a whole brig full of kidnapped children and pets.

Though enjoyable for all readers, this book would be an excellent choice for a preteen. The violence and language are mild, and its protagonist is 12 years old. The story is told mostly from a kid’s perspective, too. I liked the dual adventures against fearsome adversaries in both 1939 and the distant past. Though not as globe-hoppingly exciting as his Alex Hawke adventures, this was a pretty good page turner a kid could especially love.

“This adventure story has it all!” – Writer’s Digest
From its striking dust cover art to its beautiful binding and print, this middle-grade adventure story has it all: boats and the sea, pirates, castles, Nazis, and time travel. It has everything a young reader could want. The writing is crisp, clear, and practically flawless. Description and scene setting put the reader in the middle of things where he or she is immediately drawn into the adventure with the leading characters, Nick and Kate. As the story progresses, more and more actors are sprinkled in until a full host are moving the story faster and faster forward toward a roaring climax. Action never stops in the great novel which rivals Robert Lewis Stevenson’s Treasure Island in size and scope. The author covers this book’s sometimes rapid point of view changes with seamless transition and skill seldom seen in a beginning writer.

Excellent book!
I am a 13 year old with a love of adventure and an interest in history. This book was excellent at meeting both of those needs. The great plot and vivid imagery kept me up many a long night. Highly recommended for all ages.

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MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers 7th Edition

Product: MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers 7th Edition-Retail $22.00! Sale Only $18.04!

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Widely adopted by universities, colleges, and secondary schools, the MLA Handbook gives step-by-step advice on every aspect of writing research papers, from selecting a topic to submitting the completed paper. For over half a century, the MLA Handbook is the guide millions of writers have relied on.

The seventh edition is a comprehensive, up-to-date guide to research and writing in the online environment. It provides an authoritative update of MLA documentation style for use in student writing, including simplified guidelines for citing works published on the Web and new recommendations for citing several kinds of works, such as digital files and graphic narratives.

Every copy of the seventh edition of the MLA Handbook comes with a code for accessing the accompanying Web site. New to this edition, the Web site provides

- the full text of the print volume of the MLA Handbook
- over two hundred additional examples
- several research-project narratives–stories, with sample papers, that illustrate the steps successful students take in researching and writing papers
- searching of the entire site, including the full text of the MLA Handbook
- continuous access throughout the life of the seventh edition of the MLA Handbook

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1599 in Books
• Published on: 2009-03-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 292 pages

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• ISBN13: 9781603290241
• Condition: USED – LIKE NEW
• Notes:

An essential book for college students
With his MLA HANDBOOK, Gibaldi has written one of the best stylebooks for college students. Accessible yet detailed enough to help students navigate tricky issues of citations and format, this book offers excellent advice for writing term papers. The electronic citation section is especially helpful since many style manuals have not been properly updated to embrace contemporary research practices.

This book should be on every college student’s shelf. For those already well-versed in MLA style, consider Gibaldi’s more advanced MLA STYLE MANUAL AND GUIDE TO SCHOLARLY PUBLISHING.

A necessity for writers of college research papers.
Knowledge of MLA formatting is a necessity for writing college research papers these days. As an older, part-time college student, I found myself lacking the skills to properly cite information in my papers. Not having time to take an entry level English class, to learn the MLA style, I turned to the MLA Handbook for guidance.

This easy to use book has been a lifesaver! The book is well organized and provides plenty of examples. The table of contents is broken down so well, something that is not common enough in textbooks, that within minutes of picking up the book, you have a concrete example of what you need.

Each section starts with the most basic example of citing from a particular type of work and builds, step-by-step, to a complete citation. The applicable example for entry into the Works Cited Page can be found with ease as well.

If you will be writing research papers, or currently find yourself having difficulty citing, this is a tool you should strongly consider.

“Tight Lines!”
~..~..~.. >

The MLA Handbook is indispensible for research authors.
Easily the most useful book any college student could own, the MLA Handbookis full of information on how to correctly cite almost any source. It helpsto please any professors who insist on 100% accurate citations. A must have for anyone who writes any number of research articles, it is definitely a sound investment. If you don’t have the MLA Handbook, you’re left guessing on new citation standards such as CD-ROMs, Online postings, speeches, television shows, radio addresses, etc. The book has bailed me out on a number of occasions, especially when I have been forced to go to ‘unorthodox’ sources for information.

]]> http://free-travelblog.com/tyree1703071/2010/12/23/mla-handbook-for-writers-of-research-papers-7th-edition-retail-22-00-sale-only-18-04/feed/ 0 http://free-travelblog.com/tyree1703071/2010/12/23/just-let-me-lie-down-necessary-terms-for-the-half-insane-working-mom-lowest-price/ http://free-travelblog.com/tyree1703071/2010/12/23/just-let-me-lie-down-necessary-terms-for-the-half-insane-working-mom-lowest-price/#comments Thu, 23 Dec 2010 12:01:58 +0000 tyree1703071 http://free-travelblog.com/tyree1703071/2010/12/23/just-let-me-lie-down-necessary-terms-for-the-half-insane-working-mom-lowest-price/

Just Let Me Lie Down: Necessary Terms for the Half-Insane Working Mom

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Kristin van Ogtrop knows she’s lucky–fulfilling career, great husband, three healthy kids, and, depending on the hamster count, an impressive roster of pets. She also knows she is tired. Always.

Using stories and insights from her own life, she provides a lexicon for the half-insane working mom. Anyone who has left a meeting to race to the Halloween parade immediately understands van Ogtrop’s definition of “Kill the messenger”as“The action you must take in order to forget about the office for a time–that is, to remove your Blackberry/Treo/iPhone/whatever from your person and store it as far away as your neurotic self will allow.” Filled with essays, lists, and resonant observations, JUST LET ME LIE DOWN establishes van Ogtrop as the Erma Bombeck of the new millennium.

• Amazon Sales Rank: #574 in Books
• Published on: 2010-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 272 pages

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• ISBN13: 9780316068284
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Laugh out loud fun
In the time since I became a mother seven years ago I have both worked and stayed home. I worked for the first year and a half of motherhood. After adding a second child to our family and trying a job sharing plan that didn’t end up working out as planned which coincided with a decision to relocate across the country and sell our house (which meant I wouldn’t be able to stay at that job anyway) I started staying home and I have been home now for a number of years. I know that the clock is starting to wind down to my going back to work outside of the home, but I also know in my heart that right now I am not ready to do that. This book works well for both working outside of the home moms and stay at home moms. I hate the fact that stay at home moms are viewed as not working, as if every day is a day off, but that is a whole different topic.

Kristin van Ogtrop is the editor at Real Simple Magazine and has been working since before her first child was born. Her writing is funny and easy to read. I got through the book in just a few days mostly while I was nursing my son or winding down before bed. Each chapter is arranged with a letter and alphabetical listings of terms for moms. Some examples are “accounting error” when you accidentally have one more child than you can handle, “boredom fantasy” when you remember back to when you were much younger and actually had enough free time to be bored, “ignore the tray” where you must act like a waiter and not look at all that is on your plate otherwise it will all tip- just keep you head up and keep going and you will be fine, and “that-sounds-like-fun-I’ll-try it!” where you end up thinking you can do more than you can and end up in a situation that may be uncomfortable or just a pain like having your house renovated while you are still living in it.

Van Ogtrop is really funny, it is nice to read about other mothers who don’t feel like they have it all together all the time. I really enjoyed the alphabetical nature of the book, it made it feel organized. Earlier this year I read a book called Mother Daze and this reminded me of that one. It was also written by a working mother who had three children and they both did a good job with relating to the reader and using humor. For all mothers and maybe even all women, there is such a balancing act going on in our lives with how much time to give to our jobs, our families and ourselves and it is so hard to achieve what feels just right for all of those areas and really, sometimes if we just managed to get a bit more sleep it would go smoother but it feels like there isn’t enough time to get that rest since so much needs to be done and we just keep going around on this treadmill.

I requested this book for review from Hatchette Books

Great Mother’s Day Gift!
Hilarious, brutally honest, and totally non-judgemental. Finally someone has put into words what most of us raising children, whether working outside of the home or not, are thinking and feeling.

Just Let Me Lie Down
van Ogtrop has done what most working mothers don’t take the time to do: She has thoughtfully created a memory bytes, recollections and anecdotes about the angst, the love, the joy, the failure and the occasional triumphs that occur in the lives of working parents. Moreover, she has taken time to celebrate each one. All the while with wry and intelligent humor and appreciation for the working family team; the spouse whose support if often underappreciated, the children who take on responsibility early, the nannies who keep the household and schedule in check and the pets who glue the whole mess together. This is a book to keep on the kitchen bookshelf, to dip into in times of stress or in those rare, quiet moments we all cherish.

]]> http://free-travelblog.com/tyree1703071/2010/12/23/just-let-me-lie-down-necessary-terms-for-the-half-insane-working-mom-lowest-price/feed/ 0 http://free-travelblog.com/tyree1703071/2010/12/22/elegy-for-april-a-novel-discount/ http://free-travelblog.com/tyree1703071/2010/12/22/elegy-for-april-a-novel-discount/#comments Wed, 22 Dec 2010 22:32:36 +0000 tyree1703071 http://free-travelblog.com/tyree1703071/2010/12/22/elegy-for-april-a-novel-discount/

Elegy for April: A Novel

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Quirke—the hard-drinking, insatiably curious Dublin pathologist—is back, and he’s determined to find his daughter’s best friend, a well-connected young doctor

April Latimer has vanished. A junior doctor at a local hospital, she is something of a scandal in the conservative and highly patriarchal society of 1950s Dublin. Though her family is one of the most respected in the city, she is known for being independent-minded; her taste in men, for instance, is decidedly unconventional.

Now April has disappeared, and her friend Phoebe Griffin suspects the worst. Frantic, Phoebe seeks out Quirke, her brilliant but erratic father, and asks him for help. Sober again after intensive treatment for alcoholism, Quirke enlists his old sparring partner, Detective Inspector Hackett, in the search for the missing young woman. In their separate ways the two men follow April’s trail through some of the darker byways of the city to uncover crucial information on her whereabouts. And as Quirke becomes deeply involved in April’s murky story, he encounters complicated and ugly truths about family savagery, Catholic ruthlessness, and race hatred.

Both an absorbing crime novel and a brilliant portrait of the difficult and relentless love between a father and his daughter, this is Benjamin Black at his sparkling best.

• Amazon Sales Rank: #667 in Books
• Published on: 2010-04-13
• Released on: 2010-04-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780805090918
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Narrative Strong Enough to Keep the Pages Turning
“Elegy for April” is a new mystery novel by Benjamin Black: a none too mysterious pen name for award-winning Irish author John Banville. Under this pseudonym, he has penned Christine Falls: A Novel and The Silver Swan: A Novel. “Christine” was nominated for both the Edgar and the Macavity awards for Best Novel, and was a New York Times Best Seller.

“Elegy,” like “Christine,” (I’ve not read “Silver Swan”), is set in 1950’s Dublin, the author’s home town, presumably the better to continue beating it up for its stultifying social life, deeply conservative patriarchal mores, and oligarchy by the Catholic Church and select prominent families. It centers again on Quirke, the hard-drinking pathologist, adopted himself into a prominent family, who gets involved in helping his only recently acknowledged daughter Phoebe search for a friend of hers who has just mysteriously disappeared. That would be April Lavery, also of a locally prominent family, a junior doctor at the same hospital in which Quirke, and his stepbrother/brother-in-law Malachy work. April is her family’s black sheep; for example, she’s currently been seeing Patrick, a handsome, charismatic Nigerian student of surgery.

Fortunately, in “Elegy,” Black tends to restrict his ever so Irish `literary’ writing to the description of Dublin’s winter, which comes out sounding so bone-chilling I was reminded of the old joke that you wouldn’t want to move to/live in Ireland unless they put a roof on it. The writing overall is quite good, dialog, narrative, descriptive, and the plot is reasonably complex. The author also tells us quite a lot about an Alvis, a beautiful, pricey car Quirke decides to buy, without knowing how to drive. Furthermore, in “Elegy,” Black does do better by his mystery elements than he did in “Christine,” at least to my taste. The mystery is much better paced and developed, and does not rely, as did “Christine,” on confusing the reader. Now, I frequently joke with friends that any mystery that fails to throw up a body in the first ten pages is one I will not finish, and when you finish “Elegy” no body has yet been found, more’s the pity. But I found the narrative of this book was strong enough to keep me turning the pages.

Dear and dirty… but also drab
The fourth of John Banville’s noir mystery novels written under the pseudonym Benjamin Black, ELEGY FOR APRIL proves that any hope that Banville would get the real hang of the genre has by this point pretty much evaporated. Although Banville is an excellent prose stylist no matter what kind of fiction he writes, this novel, the third of his mysteries set in 1950s Dubin starring pathologist Garret Quirke (whom the other Benjamin Black novel, THE LEMUR, does not feature as its protagonist), just doesn’t seem to come very naturally to him: he seems to be repeating a lot of the cliches of hardboiled mystery fiction yet while producing none of the frissons usually associated with reading them.

Quirke’s adult daughter Phoebe is here involved with the disappearance of a close friend, a scion of one of the wealthy and unlikable families that often populate the Benjamin Black novels: here it’s the Latimers, a clan of well-to-do Dublin physicians, who (as per usual) are snobbish and cruel and harboring secrets. When the secrets are unraveled by novel’s end, they don’t really much seem worth it: Banville does little to generate much suspense beforehand, and almost none of the characters are very interesting to begin with. Despite his name, Quirke is yet again less quirky than you might hope: he still seems pretty flat, despite his attempt at alcoholism recovery and at buying a fancy new car, and his sweet daughter Phoebe doesn’t seem very three-dimensional either. Banville seems convinced atmosphere and fine prose alone can substitute for narrative suspense or for intriguing characters (usually the staples of the genre). Alas, they do not: and as a result this book really seemed to plod along.

“To belong to a family…is like being a member of a secret society…a secret tribe…[with] its own customs, its own gods.”
Booker Prize-winning author John Banville, writing under the pen name of “Benjamin Black,” brings back Quirke, the alcoholic pathologist who has been the main character of two previous novels in this series. Elegy for April is the most sophisticated of the Quirke books so far, and readers who have read Christine Falls and The Silver Swan will be at a decided advantage in understanding Quirke’s complex family background and the problems that dog his life as a result. Quirke’s estranged daughter Phoebe contacts him for help because her best friend, April Latimer, a junior doctor, has vanished. Phoebe, to whom she usually spoke once a day; Patrick Ojukwu, an attractive Nigerian doctor, whom people suspect of being April’s lover; Isabel Galloway, an actress rehearsing for a major role in a play; and Jimmy Minor, a hyperactive newspaper reporter–all these friends are in the dark regarding her whereabouts.

Quirke has been in rehab at the House of St. John of the Cross for the past six weeks, but now, feeling more in control of his life, he has suddenly checked himself out to help Phoebe with her problems while also reclaiming his pathology job at Holy Family Hospital. Whether he can maintain his self control long enough to find April becomes the major question here. As some of the characters from past novels reappear here–Inspector Hackett, Rose Crawford, and members of the Griffin and Latimer families–Banville creates a vibrant portrait of life in Dublin in the 1950s. The importance of family, the need to protect the church and its wealthiest supporters from negative publicity, and the country’s attitudes toward sex, unwed pregnancy, and all forms of sexual abuse are all revealed within the context of this story.

Though the plot is well developed, the author’s main emphasis here is on character, and he sets a high bar for future novels involving Quirke. Phoebe becomes a particularly sympathetic character, and Quirke himself becomes more understandable as he tries to stay off alcohol, even when it seems to be the only outlet for relieving his lifelong frustrations. Black’s unique and memorable descriptions add to the color of the novel. One character has “pale, poached eyes”; bad coffee makes Quirke think unpleasantly of “a monkey’s pelt.”

The jarring grand finale consists of several unexpectedly sensational revelations, which do explain the motivation behind April’s disappearance but lack the same elegance and sensitivity that Black has shown in his character development until this point–the final few scenes revealing the darkest and most repulsive underside of human nature. Ultimately, Black leaves a number of questions tantalizingly unanswered, allowing for more development to come, perhaps, in future novels. Of the three Quirke novels, this one is the most sophisticated in creating a plot which develops intrinsically from the novel’s characters, their motivations and frustrations, and further novels suggest that Quirke will continue to evolve as an intriguing, though imperfect, “hero.” Mary Whipple

Christine Falls: A Novel
The Silver Swan: A Novel
The Lemur

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Don’t Blink

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The good

New York’s Lombardo’s Steak House is famous for three reasons–the menu, the clientele, and now, the gruesome murder of an infamous mob lawyer. Effortlessly, the assassin slips through the police’s fingers, and his absence sparks a blaze of accusations about who ordered the hit.

The bad

Seated at a nearby table, reporter Nick Daniels is conducting a once-in-a-lifetime interview with a legendary baseball bad-boy. In the chaos, he accidentally captures a key piece of evidence that lands him in the middle of an all-out war between Italian and Russian mafia forces. NYPD captains, district attorneys, mayoral candidates, media kingpins, and one shockingly beautiful magazine editor are all pushing their own agendas–on both sides of the law.

And the dead

Back off–or die–is the clear message Nick receives as he investigates for a story of his own.Heedless, and perhaps in love with his beautiful editor, Nick endures humiliation, threats, violence, and worse in a thriller that overturns every expectation and finishes with the kind of flourish only James Patterson knows.

• Amazon Sales Rank: #388 in Books
• Published on: 2010-09-27
• Released on: 2010-09-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 384 pages

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