Riveting and Inspiring--be warned-- keep tissues handy
341341
Although not a twin, I was completely convinced of the possibility of a psychic connection such as the one which the author uses between Colette and Kristy by the power of Emma Darcy's writing. Her reference to a less tragic example of the twin connection in her own family was not necessary to make me a believer. Normally I prefer my romances sprinkled with more humor than pathos but this story kept me riveted from the very beginning. Unlike too many other works this story of a young American nurse in search of her roots after the death of her adoptive parents doesn't drag out its developments in the false hope of creating suspense that feels trite; instead the story moves rapidly and satisfyingly so that not only does the emotion build but climaxes just as the tension becomes almost unbearable. Tears, confusion, anger are expertly offset by joy, passion and resolution. When Armand and Kristy finally give in to the attraction they feel for one another their resulting union is not only believable but right. Many of the author's works have brought me to both happy and sad tears, but this story of a family found by a woman who feared herself alone in the world even though her twin is physically lost to her really resonated with me. My only complaint was that the story ended before I was ready to let Kristy, Armand and the two children go although their HEA seems guaranteed because he is a man who obviously learns from his mistakes.
2885618
I started reading this book "casually" and was completely riveted to the poignant story -- a small town midwest girl, Benita, groomed from childhood by a Catholic priest, raped and then captivated by him in a lengthy "relationship".
The author is a classmate who sees Benita's emerging identity collide with the still-tolerated corruption and deception of the institutional Catholic church. Benita's path, her escape and healing -- culminating in the two women's risky appearance at their 50th class reunion -- this passage above all moved me to tears -- remind us that overcoming abuse of power can take a lifetime. This is a top flight literary work, gritty, nuanced, nimbly and sensitively rendered, infused with redemptive courage. A wonderful read.
3381821
Once beginning to read this book, I could not put it down.  The author shares his deep pain and rejection at multiple times in his young life in a powerful and poignant manner, yet within the context of ultimate resolution to fulfillment and joy in his life throught the power of forgiveness.  He paints a picture as though in living color of the difficulty in arriving at that position, but the power of the process of doing so to release one from the bondage of woundedness.  This is one of the most compelling and inspiring books I have been privileged to read.  I intend to order copies to be able to give to hurting individuals who have suffered the pain of rejection.  A blessing to anyone who can appreciate a Godly perspective on life.

A pediatrician in private practice
3421421
Paul Connolly's story is simultaneously heartbreaking and uplifting. That's what makes it so difficult to put down.
It is unfathomable to imagine the kind of people Paul has encountered through his life's journey. From beginning to end, this story will make you feel the pain of a little boy without a family and the struggle of a man fighting (literally) to make a life for himself....it captures every emotion. Paul's writing is honest, real and authentic. His physical, mental and emotional challenges in life were many but his story leaves you with the feeling that it's really not about how many times we fall, but how well we rise. A must read...truly inspirational.
1165350
This piece of literature has it all: it's moving, riveting, gripping, and revealing; and it's very well written. The author's clearly a talented story teller, and he's very courageous to put this revealing story of his  family's tragic experiences in the public domain. Michael MacDonald(and Ma)  should be commended just for that courage, not even considering his  literary talents. I can't imagine the level of pain he endured writing it  because of the pain I felt just reading it. The book's emotional spectrum  runs the whole gamut from sadness, grief, and despair to sheer  hilartity...there's that Irish wit and humor throughout.
I strongly  recommend this book to anyone and everyone in our American society. The  story had to be told: it's poverty and class, folks, not race! Whites,  blacks, Hispanics, Asians, etc., whatever ethnic or racial group there is,  those at the poor end of the specrum will suffer until society  changes."All Souls" teaches us that. Hopefully we'll learn from  this marvelous work, and things will improve.
Like Michael, I'm someone  born and brought up in a Southie housing project(The Old Harbor Village),  albeit some 25 years earlier. I was luckier than Michael and his siblings  because I had two parents, and drugs and guns were virtually  nonexistent  in Southie's projects in the 40's, 50's, and early 60's when I was there.  However, I can identify with and testify to the existence of "Southie  Pride", and the insular nature of "The Town", that "us  versus the rest of the world" mentality. Combine that with the forced  busing saga produced by a self-serving state legislature which passed laws  to insure their lily-white towns wouldn't be affected by busing, and a  judge from Wellesley who didn't have a clue, along with extreme poverty,  organized crime controlling Southie ,an incompetent and/or corrupt police  force, a similarly corrupt local FBI contingent, guns, drugs, and booze  pouring in uninhibited by law enforcement, and lo and behold, you have the  perfect formula for the disaster that ensued, the anger, hate, despair,  misery, grief, the premature deaths, suicides, murders, ODs' etc, the  exacerbation of Southie's natural introversion!  Thanks to this wonderful  book, the story is out there,and the healing process has begun.
I really  hope all of America reads the book, especially those non-Southies who live  in Boston and its environs. I guarantee you will all change your  perspective of Southie afterwards. I would also recommend that "All  Souls" be mandatory in the high school English courses of the Boston  Public School system, as well as those across the country. There'a a major  lesson to be learned here.
Michael MacDonald..Thank you for your story,  and I'll be waiting for to write more!
3428159
Firstly, I urge you not to be put off reading this book by any preconceptions about the subject matter. There are certainly many moving moments throughout the book, but overall, it's a testament to the life of an extraordinary lady. Both her personal achievements and, perhaps more importantly, her philosophy of life. And this is very much a book about living. It's also a literary journey, with the illness of the author's mother providing a framework to explore so many incredible books.

The discussions about books don't include spoilers and very helpfully, there's an appendix which lists all titles discussed. This really is what I'd call a 'readers book'. There are so many literary references; a memory lane trip if you've already read the books and an exciting taster for titles unread. For many reasons, it's one of the most powerful and thought provoking books I've read. It describes heartbreak without being mawkish or over sentimental. It's an inspired and inspiring tribute to a selfless, unassuming individual and through her experiences, I've taken a number of very positive lessons about life. Will Schwalbe has every reason to be proud of this work and I feel certain his mother will look upon it with a smile.

Copy of review posted on Amazon.co.uk
1434820
A little slow to start; I found it difficult to get into the story and I considered putting it back on the shelf, probably because I don't usually go for this genre. But after about 75 pages, the story begins to form more vividly, and I delved right into it.

I have wept my way through this book, in public and in waiting rooms. It is as touching as it is revealing about your own vulnerabilities and insecurities, regardless of your faith. I just finished reading the last page and will need a few days to ponder the depth of this lesson (the many lessons!) before moving on to another story.

I tend to give books away after reading them, as a way to share the experience and support local libraries, but I'm finding it difficult imagining parting with this one. At least for now.
366787
Catherine shares the heartbreaking story of her life in a way that makes this book difficult to put down.  I finished it at 2:00 this morning and felt I was almost a life-time friend of Catherine and her siblings.  She does a wonderful job of portraying the personalities of each family member.  She describes her struggles so well that the reader finds herself pulling for her and cheering her on through seeming insurmountable odds.

Catherine's childhood home was dysfunctional, with a bi-polar father and alcoholic mother.  That would have been enough to cause issues with the children, such as PTSD.  Unfortunately her father also sexually abused her, a fact that Catherine only came to terms with when she was older and began having flashbacks.  Hypnotherapy confirmed her memories and her younger brother's eyewitness account gave additional validation.  As Catherine pieced her past together, the problems she had been having in every area of her life began to make sense.  Her childhood sweetheart/husband also struggled to understand Catherine's troubles and went through therapy with her to help her unlock the chains that kept her from living a happy life.

Throughout Catherine's life her faith, courage and strength are awe-inspiring to read about.  The fact that she entered the healing profession is proof of her grace and compassion for others.  Amazingly when her parents became aged and infirmed she took part in the process of making sure they were cared for.

Catherine's story touched a personal note because of an aunt/uncle in my own family who seem identical to her parents.  Having seen the havoc they created in so many lives enabled me to feel much empathy for Catherine and her siblings.

I recommend Catherine's book to all who suffer from any childhood trauma.  Those who have suffered sexual abuse may find the book triggering, but I feel that Catherine wrote the accounts of her abuse with finesse and sensitivity.  I think any person struggling with childhood abuse would find this book encouraging and touching, a true tribute to the perseverance of the human spirit's will to survive and flourish.

Thank you, Catherine, for sharing your story.

Patti Pott
3108114
With A Tortoise In The Road, Mr. Driggs has given us a fantastic read with a surprising ending, while astutely and extensively exploring the many issues surrounding the "death with dignity" issue. In the short pages of the story, he gives us philosophy, religion and moral conundrums that will keep you breathless as you rush to keep the pages turning. His character development will bring tears as your heart goes out to the many characters of the story and will leave you feeling as though you are saying "goodbye" to many new friends by the end of the book.
As a bonus, Mr. Driggs' years as a trial attorney gives us an inside look at the inner-workings of the legal system.
This is a must-read for anyone who has either watched a loved one struggle at the end of life or is currently struggling with the impending loss of a loved one as a result of any long-term illness.
567510
A wonderful uplifting story. Wow! Intensely emotional and inspiring. Well written with great characters and story, just make sure you grab some tissue before reading.  This story captures your attention along with your heartstrings.  I volunteered to leave a review after reading an Advanced Reader Copy.
1332092
WOW! This book is a roller coaster of emotions and the story of a special woman who surprises us on so many levels. Michelle takes us through many corridors of her character that reveals just how incredible she is. We glimpse through her story the tragedy of so many little ones born to a life of upheaval, sadness and struggle and how she reached out to provide stability, kindness and love and the eventual heartbreak of having to let go of those she bonded with. We are lifted by her courage and commitment to these little souls and excited when one of them becomes her own.

What moved me most, however, is how Michelle reached out to the Mother of her (adopted) Daughter and cared for her during the delivery of her Daughter's little sister. So touching and reveals so much about the character and compassion of an incredible woman. This book gave me chills! The book is great but the true "gift" is Michelle. Thanks for sharing this story, Michelle, and thanks for letting us glimpse the very best of humanity through your telling of it.

Carl Bozeman
Author: On Being God - Beyond Your Life's Purpose
4600377
The story of Loretta Goebel could be the story of any one of us--a seemingly innocuous event becomes a pivot point around which our whole lives change dramatically. In Loretta's case, that pivot point was simply knocking her hand against a railing in her own home while hurrying to answer the door. Within hours, her body was racked with the effects of an infection that would eventually claim both her legs, one hand, and several fingers on the other. And yet, though she had plenty of down days and shed plenty of tears, Loretta somehow maintained her indomitable spirit and her determination to not only survive the trauma of the illness and the amputations of her limbs, but to thrive and use her own experiences to help others.

I'm giving this book a 5-star rating because Loretta's life story is so inspirational and learning about her successes--and sorrows--will help anyone who is going through unexpected illness, loss, amputations, or any other tragedy. This book could especially help wounded warriors returning home to face a life with out some of their "parts". The story of this "glamour girl" housewife from Illinois and her determination to go on despite her loss will inspire even the most jaded of readers. If you or someone you know is going through a tough time, A LIFE IN PARTS will help you get back on your feet.

* In the interest of full disclosure, I do not know Loretta Goebel or the authors of this book, but I do know the publisher and was privileged to read an early version of the book.
4492538
Running with Tears is a great reminder to us all that we all have layers of complexity that can be hard to comprehend by the naked eye. I think the author does a great job of taking us on that journey of complexity, while maintaining a theme of hope and purpose. The way that the author rises to the occasion at some very heart shattering times is extremely inspiring. It was hard to put this book down. I recommend this book for anyone who enjoys a good read!
864438
I finished A Mighty Heart: The Brave Life And Death Of My Husband, Danny Pearl the other day. In some ways it reminds me of Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. Both take place mostly in Pakistan and both are so powerful that you reflect on them for days and even weeks to come. Both have some rough language but it was nearly transparent to me as the heart-wrenching frustrations in each story resulting in such words were so overwhelming that I hardly noticed the harsh and sometimes foul words, normally foreign to me.

I remember when this occurred as the world held it's breath for five long weeks, sending up prayers in many languages for Danny's safe return. He was a reporter and the South Asia Bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal. Danny put himself in harm's way to shed some light to the side of the news that might bring about world understanding. Instead, in this instance, it brought a type of horror that proved to be both universal and yet painfully personal for his wife, Mariane, who was pregnant with their first child, a son.

On January 23, 2002, on his way to what he thought was an interview at a village restaurant in Karachi, Pearl was kidnapped by the militant group, "The National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty." This group claimed Danny (of Jewish heritage and an American) was a CIA agent. Before he left for the interview, he told Mariane that he might be late for dinner. He never returned.

Mariane's riveting account of realizing her husband was missing and working to help the authorities piece it all together, leading up to Danny's eventual and brutal murder will leave you forever changed. Mariane is also an award-winning journalist and shares a very detailed step-by-step account of what took place. Surprisingly, interwoven throughout every page of the book, is a love story so intimate, intense and tender that you'll find often yourself smiling and feeling very privileged to "know" these remarkable people, including those surrounding Mariane... each with their own "mighty heart."

I listened to this as a "book on CD" which is read by Mariane. You really need to concentrate to understand her as she was born of an Afro-Chinese-Cuban mother and Dutch-Jewish father in France. Mariane was raised in Paris and with her interesting heritage she has a very unique accent, to me anyway. It's a good thing that you have to listen so carefully as you want to catch every detail and no one else would ever be able to tell the story as she does. It's a story I shall not soon forget. It makes you grateful and also sad but leaves you in awe of the courage of so many of our brothers and sisters half-way around the world, especially Mariane, whose heart is every bit as mighty as her husband's.
4423830
This book cannot be closed untill finished.  It is riveting and convicting.  It brings tears, as well as laughter.  It inspires and it convicts.  Many of us find our own family members in its pages, and grieve our losses as she grieves her own.  We discover a depth of love and fear and frustration that we have avoided or put away as she bares her own raw emotions to us with a vulnerability few of us have the courage to expose, even to ourselves.  This book should be read by all would be parents, counselors, justice workers, and voters.
2768813
Inspiring, honest, and deeply moving, by the end of Sara's story you'll love this lesbian, left-wing atheist as much as any of the other Christians of God's flock. It's hard to remember a book I enjoyed more.

On a whim one day, Sara walked into a church, ate a bit of bread, sipped a bit of wine, and underwent "a radical conversion." While never overcoming her skepticism about God, she nevertheless embraced the church ... but the Christianity she embraced had no use for angels or worship or dreams of eternity. It quickly came to mean real concern about real people. Take This Bread is about real hunger, and Sara's struggles to establish a food pantry to care for the poor, elderly, sick, deranged, and marginalized of San Francisco.

Both light-hearted and deeply meaningful, this is a book that will toy with the full range of your emotions.
2172856
The memoir WILD by Cheryl Strayed is heartbreaking and inspiring.  The author's writing is poetic and profound, and at other moments no-holds-barred frank and then even at turns educational, demonstrating Strayed possesses a writer's voice that is unique, refreshing and outright exquisite.

This story chronicles the author's hiking excursion--all 1,100 miles of it--along the Pacific Crest Trail, known as the "PCT."  This is a path that goes from the Mexico/California border all the way up to just past the Canadian border, and the trail crosses through numerous mountain ranges.

At the age of 26, Strayed resolved to hike the PCT without taking along a hiking partner and with a goal of finishing the trip in around 100 days--even though the amount of experience she had with overnight backpacking was ... zilch.

Strayed herself called this an "arguably unreasonable decision."  It came after a series of emotionally devastating events that caused the author to react with destructive behavior.  The inciting occurrence was four years prior when her mom died at a young age from cancer, which then led to the unraveling relationship between herself and the remaining family members, and the beginning of the end of her marriage.  Strayed's feelings of deep pain and emptiness drove her to sleep around--with several men and while she was married.  One of the lovers introduced her to shooting heroin and also impregnated her; the outcome of that was an elective abortion.

The author believed trekking solo through "the wild" on the Pacific Crest Trail would be a way to "save" her.

The "pre-PCT" upheavals are introduced at the beginning of the memoir to show the reasoning behind the "why" of the hike, and they are explored further in various chapters via short flashback scenes or sometimes by just one or two sentences.  Memories of these loved ones and incidents would be triggered when the author would come to a particular spot on the trail, either one of surreal serenity and beauty, or a destination that had required an extra-super physical challenge to get there.  Strayed would then endure the heartache, anger and regret from the previous years all over again, but she would also at times arrive at an "Ah-ha!" moment of understanding and acceptance about her life--which in the end did indeed lead to the author's "saving" as she had hoped.

Some of the passages in WILD that hit home on the author's discoveries during her hike or that highlight Strayed's fantastic writer's voice are:

"He broke her nose.  He broke her dishes. ... But he didn't break her."

"The loss of my family and home were my own private clear-cut.  What remained was only ugly evidence of a thing that was no more."

"He hadn't loved me well in the end, but he'd loved me well when it mattered."

"Now my backpack had a name: Monster. ... I was amazed that what I needed to survive could be carried on my back.  And, most surprising of all, that I could carry it.  That I could bear the unbearable.  These realizations about my physical, material life couldn't help but spill over into the emotional and spiritual realm.  That my complicated life could be made so simple was astounding."

"I went to the river and squatted down and splashed my face. ... Where was my mother? I wondered.  I'd carried her so long, staggering beneath her weight.  On the other side of the river, I let myself think.  And something inside of me released."

"Another toenail looked like it was finally going to come off.  I gave it a gentle tug and it was in my hand, my sixth.  I had only four intact toenails left.  The PCT and I weren't tied anymore.  The score was 4-6, advantage trail."

Strayed's memoir WILD is a book I'm definitely wild about and one that I will encourage all my friends and family to read.  Her writing style is truly wonderful, and I eagerly look forward to enjoying her novel TORCH.