Outstanding! One of the best book club reads ever! : Perfect Peace by Daniel Black

Perfect Peace [Hardcover]

By

Daniel Black

"The heartbreaking portrait of a large, rural southern family’s attempt to grapple with their mother’s desperate decision to make her newborn son into the daughter she will never have."

When the seventh child of the Peace family, named Perfect, turns eight, her mother Emma Jean tells her bewildered daughter, “You was born a boy. I made you a girl. But that ain’t what you was supposed to be. So, from now on, you gon’ be a boy. It’ll be a little strange at first, but you’ll get used to it, and this’ll be over after while.” From this point forward, his life becomes a bizarre kaleidoscope of events. Meanwhile, the Peace family is forced to question everything they thought they knew about gender, sexuality, unconditional love, and fulfillment.

When Emma Jean was a child, she was abused mentally and physically by her mean-spirited mother. She couldn't understand why her mother went to such great lengths to hate her but shamelessly showered her two older sisters with the love and the attention she craved.

Emma Jean marries Gustavus "Gus" Peace and from their union six sons are born. Pregnant with number seven, Emma Jean feels deep in her heart she will be blessed with a girl; a daughter she will love and cherish, unlike the way she was treated as a child. As fate will have it, she gives birth to a son; a beautiful son she will easily disguise as a girl and name Perfect. For eight years, sweet, adorable Perfect was the apple of her brothers' eyes and her parents' pride and joy. However, Emma Jean and Perfect's world is shattered when Perfect's true identity is discovered. Perfect's name is changed to Paul and he is forced to start living his life as a boy.



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Review

Undeniably the most creative writing I've ever read in this genre. The characterization and story line are amazing! Particularly amazing is the setting for this book -- that is what made it possible for Emma Jean to create a "Perfect." Daniel Black is an extremely talented writer -- I wait on the edge of my seat for his next book.

Reviewed by: Pat Black

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About the author

Daniel Black is a native of Kansas City, Kansas, yet spent the majority of his childhood years in Blackwell, Arkansas. He is an associate professor at his alma mater, Clark Atlanta University, where he now aims to provide an example to young Americans of the importance of self-knowledge and communal committment. He is the author ofThey Tell Me of a Home and The Sacred Place.

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If you ever thought of propagating a plant, this is the book for you : American Horticultural Society Plant Propagation by Alan Toogood

American Horticultural Society Plant Propagation: The Fully Illustrated Plant-by-Plant Manual of Practical Techniques[Hardcover]

By

Alan Toogood

"The unrivaled priatical guide to the successful propagation of all garden plants -- from trees and shrubs to culinary herbs."

Expert Guidance On The Propagation Of More Than 1,500 Plants. Whether you want to increase your plants by the easiest or most reliable methods of propagation, or experiment with more unusual or advanced techniques, or use specialized techniques for a favorite plant group, AHS Plant Propagation contains all the techniques you need in easy-to-follow, step-by-step explanations such as:

What is is the best way to propogate a plant?
Each entry in the A-Z section of Plant Propagation tells you, plant by plant, which method of propagation to use, when to do it, and what degree of skill each method requires.

How can you improve germination of seeds?
AHS Plant Propagation tells you which seeds need special treatment before sowing and how to provide the conditions to ensure a good rate of germination.

How long does it take to obtain a flowering plant?
AHS Plant Propagation gives guidelines on the average success rate for each plant, how big a yield you can expect, and how long it should take to get a mature or flowering plant.

How do you make sure cuttings won't fail?
AHS Plant Propagation tells you how to take appropriate cuttings from each type of plant and how to make sure they root successfully.

Destined to become the standard work on the subject, AHS Plant Propagation is the practical handbook gardeners have been waiting for.

Amazon.com Review
The American Horticultural Society's Plant Propagation is one of those stuck-on-a-desert-island books. All the information you could ever possibly want in order to propagate virtually any plant or tree or cactus or succulent that might be growing on said desert island is to be found somewhere between the covers of this marvelous, informative book. If you're tired of buying many pots of expensive perennials, tuck a copy of Plant Propagation under your arm and buy one good specimen. From that specimen, following the simple directions, make many plants. It's the kind of skill that all grandmothers of a more distant generation seemed to have.

Still mixed up about hypogeal and epigeal germination? Can't tell a bulbil from a cormel? The very first section covers all the basics of plant biology as well as the history and basic how-to of propagation. The body of the book is divided into "Garden Trees," "Shrubs and Climbing Plants," "Perennials, Annuals and Biennials," "Cacti and Other Succulents," "Bulbous Plants," and "Vegetables." Each section begins with an overview of appropriate propagation techniques: the many styles of grafting, seed saving, taking cuttings, and bulb and root division. Individual plants within each section are addressed alphabetically. With Plant Propagation in hand, you can hybridize your own rose and name it after yourself. The text is written to an intelligent, somewhat experienced gardening reader, and the lush illustrations are accurate and effective. --Schuyler Ingle


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Review

Just as advertised. The book is easy to use, loaded with descriptions, both technical and practical, and lots of figures and pictures. My wife loved it.

Reviewed by: BABALOO (Edwardsville, IL)

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About the author

Alan Toogood (Editor-in-Chief) trained at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. He has worked as a horticultural journalist on Gardener's Chronicle and Amateur Gardening, lectured in Horticulture and was editor of Greenhouse magazine. He is now a freelance horticultural journalist and consultant, Horticulture Correspondant for The Times and Features Coordinator for The Garden. Alan resides in Hampshire.

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A critical book for living a better life! : Put Your Mindset to Work by James Reed and Paul G. Stoltz

Put Your Mindset to Work: The One Asset You Really Need to Win and Keep the Job You Love [Paperback]

By

James Reed and Paul G. Stoltz

"The right mindset can make you three times more likely to get the job you want-and even less likely to lose it later. . . ."

What does it take to get and keep the job you want? Ninety-six percent of employers argue that it's not just about having the right skills for the position- it's all about the right mindset.

As two leading experts on the subject, Reed and Stoltz know what employers really want from the people they hire and keep. According to their extensive and globally acclaimed research, there is a specific set of mental traits that will make you exponentially more desirable to potential employers, and more likely to succeed and enjoy your job once you're hired.
This "3G Mindset" is:

• Global-the openness and big-picture perspective to compete on a global scale in any job
• Good-a positive force with an unwavering moral compass
• Grit-the tenacity and resilience to thrive on adversity

The authors reveal why employers are three times more likely to hire people with the right mindset over those who are more qualified on paper. This book provides an actionable approach for both assessing and developing these essential traits.


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Review

I've known Paul Stoltz and his work for at least 17 years, read every book he's written, am a big fan and my personal job search story from 20 years ago is shared in his new work's pages. I share this information for the cynics so that it's clear I'm close to the source and ask you consider purchasing the book not because I think Stoltz is a great guy but because if you're checking it out, you or someone else will benefit from it.

Why? Well..it's that dang good. Period.

I have known of Paul's work since I started my business with a friend and he consulted to us long ago. Paul's AQ Work is legendary and has been vetted by the world's best organizations including Harvard. That said, I personally have always felt like something was missing...how could Adversity be the only thing that mattered. And..boom...in this quick read, Paul shares what's missing...Good and Global thinking.

I have read the book cover to cover. I didn't intend to write a review until I ran into a good friend who is getting transferred and wants to stay in our city. As I heard him talk, I heard the missing "G" in his language. At first, I was going to just give him my copy...then I realized for under $12 I could give one to him delivered..CHEAP! Not a chance he was getting my copy...I may need it again! So..I came on to buy a book and thought...why wouldn't I be recommending this to everyone, I'm buying multiple copies and giving them out!

Actually, I've looked at the concepts and have begun recommending the work to corporations so that they understand what to look for in difference making employees.

We're all adults and have to make a decision. As for me, this is my favorite Stoltz book and the most impactful. My only critical thought is that I would rather have seen a company version of the 3 G's that was written for selecting talent, not getting a job. I'm giving this book to corporate clients because the ideas are so powerful, it's worth taking the ideas aimed at job hunters and reading them inside out to describe what company's should seek.

Buy the book and Paul, get a new book out asap for us hirers that explains why we need to look for people who have this Mindset!

Reviewed by: Tom Schaff (Edwardsville, IL)

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About the author

Dr. Paul G. Stoltz, is the world's leading expert on measuring and strengthening human resilience. He is author of four international bestselling books on the subject -- printed in 14 languages -- and was voted by Executive Excellence as "One of the 100 Most Influential Thinkers of Our Time." Dr. Stoltz is a guest lecturer for the Harvard Business School Executive Education program. HBS incorporates Dr. Stoltz's AQ theory and methods into its prestigious executive development and MBA programs. The Harvard Business Review featured an article (January-February 2010) co-authored by Dr. Paul G. Stoltz and Dr.Joshua Margolis (Harvard Business School professor), titled "How to Bounce Back from Adversity."

Today, AQ is the most widely adopted resilience building method in the world, currently in use by industry-leading companies and many governments across the globe. In 1987, Dr. Stoltz founded PEAK Learning, Inc., a global research and consulting firm,through which he coaches, consults, teaches, and collaborates with top leaders, thinkers, and influencers within a broad range of organizations from start-ups and NGO's to the Young Presidents' Organization and the Fortune 100 on six continents.

As a highly sought-after thought leader, presenter, and teacher, Dr. Stoltz combines inspiration with application, delivering a compelling and practical message to audiences of 10 to 10,000 people. As PEAK's global reach grows, Dr. Stoltz remains highly active in the classroom, teaching AQ to groups of all levels and sizes in a broad range of indoor and outdoor settings, including some of the largest venues in the world.

As Director of the Global Resilience Institute, Dr. Stoltz oversees a research agenda in 21 countries dedicated to exploring, expanding, and advancing the applications of AQ to strengthen people and their organizations. His research partners include top thinkers at Yale University, Stanford University, and more than a dozen universities overseas.

He has been a member of Stanford University's Distinguished Leaders Lecture Series, was selected as the Millennial Thinker for Singapore, "Thought Leader of the Year" in Hong Kong, is a top-rated international faculty member for the Young Presidents' Organization, and is a frequently sought after resource for the world's top media including CNN, CNBC, Business News Network, NBC Nightly News, Public Broadcast Service (PBS), the Today Show, Sky News, and the Oprah Winfrey Show. You will also find Dr. Stoltz quoted in Wall Street Journal, Harvard Management Update, Investor's Business Daily, Asia 21, Inc., Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Singapore Straits Times, The Australian Financial Review, Success Magazine, Entrepreneur Magazine, Boss Magazine, The Drucker Foundation's prestigious Leader to Leader and other publications.

Dr. Stoltz received his bachelor's degree in Organizational Communication and Economics from the University of California, as well as his business and social sciences interdisciplinary master's and Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota.

PEAK Learning's international headquarters is situated in the coastal mountains of San Luis Obispo, California, where Dr. Stoltz resides with his family, who were honored by USA Today as "America's Most Creative Family."

James Reed is the chairman of Reed Global and the top U.K. authority on recruitment. He lives in London.

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Amazon Best Books of the Month, June 2011 : Before I Go to Sleep: A Novel by S.J. Watson

Before I Go to Sleep: A Novel [Hardcover]

By

S. J. Watson

"As I sleep, my mind will erase everything I did today. I will wake up tomorrow as I did this morning. Thinking I’m still a child. Thinking I have a whole lifetime of choice ahead of me. . . ."

Memories define us.

So what if you lost yours every time you went to sleep?

Your name, your identity, your past, even the people you love—all forgotten overnight.

And the one person you trust may be telling you only half the story.

Welcome to Christine's life.

Every day Christine wakes up not knowing where she is. Her memories disappear every time she falls asleep.

Her husband, Ben, is a stranger to her, and he's obligated to explain their life together on a daily basis--all the result of a mysterious accident that made Christine an amnesiac.

With the encouragement of her doctor, Christine starts a journal to help jog her memory every day. One morning, she opens it and sees that she's written three unexpected and terrifying words: "Don't trust Ben."

Suddenly everything her husband has told her falls under suspicion. What kind of accident caused her condition?

Who can she trust? Why is Ben lying to her? And, for the reader: Can Christine’s story be trusted?

At the heart of S. J. Watson's Before I Go To Sleep is the petrifying question: How can anyone function when they can't even trust themselves?

Suspenseful from start to finish, the strength of Watson's writing allows Before I Go to Sleep to transcend the basic premise and present profound questions about memory and identity.

One of the best debut literary thrillers in recent years, Before I Go to Sleep deserves to be one of the major blockbusters of the summer. --Miriam Landis


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Review

This is one of those books that you open just to glance at the first page and see whether you will like it only to discover yourself five hours later still glued to the book, desperate to find out what happens next. Writing a novel whose main character and narrator suffers from amnesia and doesn't remember most of her life when she wakes up in the morning carries a risk of creating a book that is repetitive. S. J. Watson, however, made Before I Go to Sleep so fascinating, full of surprises, mysteries and revelations that there isn't a single boring page in the entire novel.

Christine, the main character of Before I Go to Sleep, wakes up one morning only to realize that she recognizes neither the man who sleeps next to her nor the house she is in. Even her body is alien to her because her most recent memory is that of being a twenty-year-old student and now she is a woman in her forties. Christine discovers that she lost her memory many years ago and now has to find out who she is anew every single morning of her life. When she finds a diary she has been keeping to remind herself of what she has been doing every day, Christine begins a complex and painful journey to self-discovery.

Before I Go to Sleep is not only a fascinating suspense thriller. It also makes you think about what constitutes the nature of human identity. What makes our personalities? What are we without our memories? How does one go about reconstructing a life that has been shattered by a horrible tragedy that has robbed you of everything you cherished and lived for?

The novel is so professionally structured and so meticulously plotted that I was really surprised to find out that Before I Go to Sleep is S.J. Watson's debut novel. I am extremely glad that I discovered this promising new writer through the Amazon Vine program and will now be eagerly awaiting new books from him. If you like psychological suspense novels, make sure you get this book. It is masterfully written and very believable. I visited the author's website and learned that movie rights to the book have been acquired and the filming will start this year. That is one movie I will definitely be watching.

Reviewed by: Olga Bezhanova (Edwardsville, IL)

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About the author

S. J. Watson lives in London and worked in the National Health Service for a number of years. In 2009 Watson was accepted into the first Faber Academy Writing a Novel course, a rigorous and selective program that covers all aspects of the novel-writing process. Before I Go to Sleep is the result.


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Also available in Kindle Edition