5 Steps to a 5 on the Advanced Placement Examinations: Biology (5 Steps to a 5 on the Advanced Placement Examinations Series)

Book Description

An exciting new series of study guides that lets each student design a course of study pitched to his or her individual needs and learning style

Each year, more than one million U.S. high school students take one or more advanced placement (AP) exams, and, according to official projections, that number will continue to rise in the years ahead. That is because AP exams confer important benefits on those who do well on them. High AP scores are indispensable to gaining admission to most elite colleges. They provide students with a competitive edge when competing for grants and scholarships. And they allow students to bypass required university survey courses, saving on skyrocketing tuition fees.

Designed to coincide perfectly with the most current
AP exams, Five Steps to a 5 on the Advanced Placement Examinations guides contain several advanced features that set them above all competitors. Each guide is structured around an ingenious Five-Step Plan. The first step is to develop a study plan, the second builds knowledge, the third and fourth hone test-taking skills and strategies, and the fifth fosters the confidence students need to ace the tests. This flexible study tool is also tailored to three types of students. For the more structured student there is a "Month-by-Month" approach that follows the school year and a "Calendar Countdown" approach that begins with the new year. For students who leave studying to the last minute "Basic Training" covers the basics in just four weeks.

Other outstanding features include:

Sample tests that closely simulate real exams
Review material based on the contents of the most recent tests
Icons highlighting important facts, vocabulary, and frequently-asked questions
Boxed quotes offering advice from students who have aced the exams and from AP teachers and college professors
Websites and links to valuable online test resources, along with author e-mail addresses for students with follow-up questions
Authors who are either AP course instructors or exam developers

Customer Reviews:

Concise, excellent format, very easy to read.......2007-09-12

With efforts, 5 steps to a 5 does what it claims to do. That being said, students need to thoroughly go through this guide and go back and read the parts that they don't understand clearly in the textbook. This book is excellent if you're short on time (say, a week to two weeks to review for the AP Exam). The AP Exam does not include too much details (what Barron's would always do), so 5 steps to a 5 is great at generalizing the big picture. It also has exclamation marks whenever there are very important concepts to remember, and also offers where the essays would usually fall on. I used this book and got a 5 on the AP Bio exam, but I also read my textbook and used this book as a last minute review. The Cliffs AP Bio review book is excellent as well. I find their questions the closest to the actual test.

Very Helpful.......2007-03-18

Bought this for my son who is struggling with AP Biology. He wasn't happy about it at first, but has really enjoyed this author's presentation and practical explanations. He says the book presents the information in an easy to understand and remember format. Now, we just have to see how he does on the test!

the best book to review with .......2007-02-13

this book is really good. it covers all the topics in the AP EXAM.
IT HAS A STUDY PLAN FOR EVERY KIND OF STUDENT.
I REALLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK FOR ALL THE STUDENTS TAKING AP BIOLOGY.
LAST YEAR, I WAS TAKING AP BIOLOGY. AND THANKS TO THIS GREAT STUDY GUIDE I PASSED THE AP EXAM.

This book got me a 5!.......2006-10-30

No kidding! This book is seriously the best out there. Trust me- I took the class and the test, and I got a five. It's very readable and actually pretty fun to read! I did some research on the author and he's a great guy- and this shows through his book! I seriously did not study beyond this book for any of the tests after I started using it- and I (am not kidding when I say that I) got 111% on about 85% of my tests in total- this figure is including the several ones beforehand- meaning that I was well above the class average- and typically thats not the case.

Trust me when I say that you do NOT need anything else than this book (regardless of what others say0- well, besides your text book. If you do what I did and you do ALL the homework in this class, than you are almost guaranteed a nice plump 5 on the test and an "A" in the class- remember how its weighted? Thats a 5.0 people!

The key features that you might want to be aware of: The end of each chapter has a very in depth, but none too long, summary. The strategies work well- especially the "bottom hour glass" ones. And... Fun to read! It really feels like the author.. his name escapes me... is speaking to you with a fun tone, rather than just a book making you sleep. Trust me here too- I know those books. Too well.

You will learn from it.......2006-09-26

Though this probably isn't the only book you'll need, whatever your teacher gives you throughout the year will fill in the missing gaps. I read this entire book and got a 5 on the exam.

This book does give a good general review of everything, your teacher should help you with the details. In some cases it will teach you some things you'll be happy to know. In general, it will organize everything you need to know and probably already have learned. This book is a must for review.

I should mention I took AP Environmental Science at the same time as Bio. These two classes overlapped very much. I used a lot of my APES info on the Bio test. For those of you not taking APES at the same time, this book does tell you the things you need to know about ecology and behavior type things. That's what's nice about this book.

This book has a lot of good features and will help you do your best on the test and in the class!

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Reaching in, Reaching out

Grace Notes
Alexandra Stoddard
Manufacturer: Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0061284637
Release Date: 2007-04-03

Book Description

Throughout her life, Alexandra Stoddard has sought inspiration from writers, poets, and people she has met. In Grace Notes, she shares this wisdom and her own learnings, beautifully captured in brief, motivating observations, in 365 daily meditations of warmth, affirmation, encouragement, and optimism. Season by season, day by day, you'll explore different themes: joy, love, loss, risk, courage, wholeness, growth, play, and success. In addition to offering inspirational quotes from many cultures and two "grace notes," each page provides space to write down your own sacred inspirations. With courage and confidence, Grace Notes takes you on a spiritual journey every day of your life—and whenever you feel the need to be transported to serenity and grace.

Customer Reviews:

Reaching in, Reaching out.......2000-04-20

"Grace Notes" is a wonderful, pocket-sized book that urges you to reach in to your inner-self and out to others. Each day list a thoughtful quote, two 'grace notes' and a spot for you to jot down your own ideas. I usually can't help myself and skip ahead to future days. The size is perfect and I can stash the book in my purse or briefcase so I'm never without some helpful encouragement. The only thing I didn't like was the book is a little drab. Everything in the book is black-and-white but I think for such a feel-good book some color is in order.

Grace Notes: Embracing the Joy of Christ in a Broken World

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A must read...
A gentle conversation with a friend
A Delightful and Thought Provoking Read
Allowing Christ to love us in our imperfection
Thank God for more enlightened and compassionate Catholics

Grace Notes: Embracing the Joy of Christ in a Broken World
Lorraine V. Murray
Manufacturer: Resurrection Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 187871869X

Customer Reviews:

A must read..........2006-04-21

Grace Notes is a book that will touch your heart and soul. It's obvious that the author is a very devout Catholic and has an awesome gift for writing and uses it well.

Many stories will have readers cringing, laughing, crying and smiling as they relate to her honest words of wisdom and truth.

The title of this book says it all..."Embracing the Joy of Christ in a Broken World." Readers will identify and be moved with many of the short stories. As the writer states in her introduction...."I pray this book will give you insights into the ordinary moments that reveal Christ's grace in your life. I pray that it will sustain you in bitter moments of sorrow and pain."

I first read this book three years ago and reread it recently because it was a selection for my Catholic Church's April book club discussion. There are several pages of questions for reflection and discussion sprinked throughout the book.

The resounding theme of God's love and salvation is abundant in every page...We are accepted in the Beloved. We are redeemed in the Blood of Jesus. We are saved by his Grace. My bet is once you read this book, you will buy many more copies to share with loved ones. Enjoy!! :

P.S. The author, Lorraine Murray is a guest columnist with The Georgia Bulletin and The Atlanta Journal Constitution. I have been avidly clipping her articles for years and sharing them with friends across the country. If you are not in the Atlanta area, you might want to check out her bi-weekly articles for the above organizations on the web.

A gentle conversation with a friend.......2006-04-20

"Grace Notes" is a sweet, quick read. I love that the chapters are short, so when I need a little pick-me-up -- a reminder of God's grace, that it's REAL and alive every day -- I can just open the book. Lorraine's stories are everyone's stories. She describes how she learned of "God in the details," sometimes as her faith matured from childhood to adulthood, sometimes as a lightning flash moment, and sometimes the hard way, as she chose the winding path like we all do. None of us is perfect, but as the book reminds us, Jesus "can't resist" caring for us, all through our lives.

This one brings tears to my eyes frequently. You can't help being moved -- the author's sharing of her stories is a gesture of kindness. You feel like it's a gift from a friend.

A Delightful and Thought Provoking Read.......2006-04-20

This book is an absolute joy. Lorraine Murray's wonderful message of hope permeates her essays. In her heartwarming stories she offers gentle reminders that Christ loves us and is with us on every step of our journey even though, in our struggles, we may not notice Him. This book is also a fantastic reminder of how easy it is to find God in His glorious creation if we just take the time to look. I highly recommend this book.

Allowing Christ to love us in our imperfection.......2006-04-20

I had purchased and read Grace Notes long before I saw the email from a study group at my church, recommending this as a "must read." Lorraine Murray has a gift for meeting the reader where she is in her faith journey, for "touching a chord." Every chapter/vignette presents an opportunity to recognize past or present struggles in one's personal walk with our Lord. There are those who are fortunate to have never wavered from or questioned God's presence in their lives. Then there are those of us who experience conversion - metanoia - an ongoing, lifetime process. God isn't finished yet with any one of us. This book gently depicts real-life evidence of how intimately involved God is in our lives, our stuggles, our hopes and our joys. Ms. Murray is as deeply honest and human as one can get in sharing her personal faith journey. Her book is a good example of the verse from Scripture (John 21:7) when John, recognizing Jesus on the shore, was contemplative (he knew Jesus with his heart) while Peter, jumping in the water, was conquering (he was action in his imperfect humanness). Exactly what we're called to through Baptism: contemplative and conquering. Thank you, Lorraine Murray, for a sweet walk with our Lord.

Thank God for more enlightened and compassionate Catholics.......2006-04-20

The day I began reading Lorraine Murray was the day I knew I had found a soul mate. Raised Catholic in very Catholic St. Louis, attending Catholic schools for 18 years, spending 1 year in the Convent, married to a Catholic for 40 years, raising 2 sons and working in social services taught me that the greatest commandment is LOVE. The compassion of Christ in the evolution of the Catholic Church over the past 50 years, and especially since Vatican II and even in the light of recent scandals has demonstrated to me the that the Holy Spirit is alive and well, moving in very mysterious ways but guiding and gracing His Church. As I become more and more proud of being a Catholic, thank you Lorraine for helping to restore my faith in the human condition, in the power of grace in helping us to love one another.

Field Notes: The Grace Note of the Canyon Wren

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Numinous
Grace notes.
Rich in images and introspection
Environmentalism through story
Wonderful stories.. each with richness of mood

Field Notes: The Grace Note of the Canyon Wren
Barry Lopez
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1400075122
Release Date: 2004-06-08

Book Description

In this collection of twelve stories, Barry Lopez—the National Book Award–winning author of Arctic Dreams and one of our most admired writers—evokes the longing we feel for beauty in our relationships with one another, with the past, and with nature.

An anthropologist traveling with an aboriginal people finds that, because of his aggressive desire to understand them, they remain always disturbingly unknowable. A successful financial consultant, failing to discover his roots in Africa, jogs from Connecticut to the Pacific Ocean in order to forge an indigenous connection to the American landscape. A paleontologist is haunted by visions of wildlife in a vacant lot in Manhattan. In simple, crystalline prose, Lopez evokes a sense of the magic and marvelous strangeness of the world, and a deep compassion for the human predicament.

Customer Reviews:

Numinous.......2006-06-04

As another reviewer noted, Lopez's fiction is difficult to describe or summarize; I'd call it terse but imagistic. The stories in "Field Notes" are beautiful and poignant. The settings are wonderfully described, but many of his characters have some kind of barrier--real or imagined--that prevents them from getting the "big picture", and alienation abounds on every page. Don't let this discourage you, though; there is always a ray of hope. In short, I see this book as a lucid argument for living in a state of pure being, as humans on a vibrant planet. *Higly recommended.*

Addendum: This was the first Lopez book I read, before going on to "Desert Notes" and "River Notes." In my op, "Field Notes" is better than both of them, exemplary of a writer ever more fully matured in his craft.

Grace notes........2000-11-30

Barry Lopez's short stories are challenging in their simplicity. They are also challenging to describe to anyone who has never read any Lopez. Deceptively sparse, they are at the same time heavy with meaning, and rich with imagery from the natural world. This twelve-story collection opens with "the burbling call" (p. 10) of a cactus wren resonating through "the stony, cactus-strewn land" (p. 4) of desert arroyos, and ends with a run down the "really old trails, the Anasazi trails" (p. 154) of the Grand Canyon. In "Teal Creek," Lopez's narrator curiously witnesses a hermit living beside a creek in "complete stillness, a silence such as I had never heard out of another living thing, an unbbroken grace" (p. 22). In another story, a paleontologist discovers "phantoms" (p. 41), a black bear, a herd of deer, and a "tawny panther hunkered in the tawny grass" (p. 47) in an empty, city lot. I was even surprised to find a reference to my small hometown, Bisbee, Arizona in this collection.

Although some are stronger than others, each of these stories offers its protagonist a sacred encounter with the natural world we too often ignore. Each story has its own unique grace note that will leave you with a sense of wonder.

G. Merritt

Rich in images and introspection.......2000-06-08

Barry Lopez brings a unique voice to his work that is rich in observation of surroundings and living forms as well as a deeply sacred intellectual perspective. Each story in this book brings Lopez' voice to the ear of the reader as a deep intimation of experience. A writer who gives the reader a feeling of desire to listen to the storyteller as if he were speaking to you in the tradition of storytellers has transcended the special bridge from oral discourse or history to the written word. It makes me want to read all of Lopez books of which I now have four.

Environmentalism through story.......1999-10-31

In this book Barry Lopez uses a novel approach to many of his stories: the short story written in the form if nature essays. Other nature writers--Edward Abbey, for example--have been known to take liberties with the exact details of the stories they tell, but Lopez actually creates new worlds in this collection of short fiction pieces. At his best, in stories such as "Teal Creek" and "Sonora," Lopez lets the story itself convey whatever larger purposes he might have. In his less successful pieces ("Conversation"), he beats the reader over the head with political psychobabble, almost to the point of sounding like propaganda. However, his ability to tell a story is undeniable, and it would be hard to argue with his place-based approach to environmentalism. And Lopez himself would be the first to say that it is the story itself, and not the moral of the story, that mattters.

Wonderful stories.. each with richness of mood.......1999-07-02

I found this book in a second hand bookstore without knowing anything about Barry Lopez and passed it over twice before buying it on the hint of finding something of meaning. Each story is a wonderful capsule of situation and mood and mystery leaving the reader with their own deep reflections on existence and being. It is the kind of writing that makes writers want to write. Deeply personal, but intellectually universal.

CCEL Classics CD: works by Saint Augustine, John Calvin, John Donne, Julian of Norwich, Brother Lawrence, Martin Luther, Saint Teresa of Avila, Thomas Aquinas, Thomas a Kempis, John Wesley, and more!

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CCEL Classics CD: works by Saint Augustine, John Calvin, John Donne, Julian of Norwich, Brother Lawrence, Martin Luther, Saint Teresa of Avila, Thomas Aquinas, Thomas a Kempis, John Wesley, and more!
Dr. W. Harry Plantinga
Manufacturer: Christian Classics Ethereal Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: CD-ROM

General | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Product Description

The most important spiritual writings of Christian history are available on this Classics CD by the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) at Calvin College. It contains 118 Christian classics, including three versions of the Bible, several commentaries, Bible dictionaries, readings, spiritual guides, sermons, poems and journals -- all in a convenient, searchable form. Books are available in HTML and PDF formats. The easy-to-use CCEL Desktop software powering the CD enables users to browse and print books and install additional books from the Web. The top-of-class search engine can search for words or phrases in books, in authors works or in the whole library. In addition, it can search for dictionary definitions of words and commentary or references to scripture passages. The interface is a Web browser. The CD is compatible with Windows 2000+, Macintosh 10.3+, and most Linux versions.

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Surgery At a Glance by Grace & Borley

Surgery at a Glance (Glance Series)
Neil Borley , and Pierce Grace
Manufacturer: Blackwell Publishing Limited
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 140513187X

Book Description

Surgery at a Glance provides a concise and accessible introduction and revision aid for medical students undertaking their surgical attachment. Following the familiar, easy-to-use at a Glance format, each topic is presented as a double-page spread with key facts accompanied by clear diagrams and photographs encapsulating all that the students need to know.This new edition of Surgery at a Glance:Is THE book for surgical finals.Focuses on the core principles and the important diseases appropriate to the current curriculum.Is divided into clinical presentations followed by major surgical conditions.Contains 5 new chapters on:-stomas and incisions-anaesthesia-surgical infections-lymphoedema-solid organ transplantation.Features a new tinted box for the cancer chapters that provides the 2-week-wait referral criteria.Surgery at a Glance will appeal to all clinical medical students, junior doctors on the Foundation Program and surgical nurses.Reviews of last edition"This book is ideal for finals as diagrams help the revision numbed mind to retain information. It is extremely quick and easy to read and the list-based information is an ideal basis for short-answer questions. "Barts and the London Chronicle"Delightful book ...the quality of the diagrams is such that for the majority of topics the text is almost superfluous. "British Journal of Surgery

Customer Reviews:

Surgery At a Glance by Grace & Borley.......2006-05-19

Three major strengths of this book: 1:Excellent diagrams- present key points in very memorable and manageable form. 2:Disease descriptions are crystal clear, so there's no chance of you getting confused between different diseases. 3:Right amount of emphasis on symptoms, tests and diagnosis, very handy when preparing for surgery rotation.

Overall very readable. Works both as an introductory text and a revision aid. Fills you in on stuff you might have missed in lectures. Once you get used to sifting around the short chapters, you will learn a great deal from it. Wide array of subjects covered with imaginative use of tables and box diagrams. Authors know which topics are more difficult to understand and they take care in explaining them effectively. For example, in the section on surgical infection where there is a lot of detail to take in. Authoritative instructions given in brief but helpful summaries at end of each chapter.

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Lyrical and Poignant.
A luminous and transforming memoir
Horribly tedious and boring.
pathetic
An eloquent story of an examined life

Grace Notes
Heidi Hart
Manufacturer: University of Utah Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0874807875

Customer Reviews:

Lyrical and Poignant........2006-02-05

In Grace Notes we are invited to view the painful but ultimately healing journey that Hart has taken to find her voice, reclaim her body, and to live a more authentic spiritual life. She carefully traces the personal history of each of her spiritual and emotional maladies, sometimes tracking its roots back several generations. She finds healing by coming to terms with the constraining voices of authority, tradition, religion, and family.

Grace Notes explores a variety of themes and weaves them together masterfully. For example, Hart struggles with accepting her body. She traces the source of her ambivalent and sometimes hateful attitude towards her body back to her grandmother, who hides her "disgusting" body under perfumes, and to her mother, whose "body was a diary of shame and fear" and who taught her daughter to hide her body under a thick mask of makeup. She uses her newfound voice to reclaim her body: "I could 'word' my way back to my body. I could try to see from inside my own skin, not as I'd viewed it from the outside since I was ten, as a bleeding burden or as church property or as my husband's private treasure...[then] I came to the poem I knew I had to write. Revisit the moment of your most passive silence, came a whisper inside of me. Give the girl you were a voice." Hart then launches into a harrowing account of her pre-marriage hymenotomy, the violent taking of her virginity by a patronizing physician. By giving voice to this girl, long silent and long silenced, Hart grants others a voice-she says the things that others may lack the courage to say.

Grace Notes poses important questions to those who find security in a structured, hierarchical religion like Mormonism. Does the institution sometimes do more harm than good to the spiritual development of some of its members? Is it possible for someone like Heidi Hart-especially women-to find a place within the Church without sacrificing authenticity? Or is silence part of the price that one who disagrees (or doubts) must pay for membership? Is there a valued place for non-conformists in the Church?

In spite of her struggles with Mormonism and the traditions of her family, I found Hart's critical treatment of family members and Mormonism even-handed and even humble. Quaker author Muriel Bishop wrote, "How can we in truth and lovingly help one another in this? Because we must remember that truth without love is violence. And love without truth is sentimentality. We do need both." Heidi Hart has followed this principle in her writing. While Hart is not afraid to be critical of authoritarian and constraining tendencies of the LDS Church, she also carefully acknowledges how she values her Mormon friends, neighbors and even (former) religious leaders. Her reflective and even introspective criticism is a refreshing departure from angrier and more violent attacks that seem to make up the bulk of other personal memoirs by those who have left the Church.

There is so much more that Hart weaves into her narrative that I could discuss: her journey across the country to find her voice; her description of the shining shards of God's spirit, shattered and scattered throughout creation for humans to discover; her discussion of female friendship and intimacy. All of this, and much more, is contained in a scant 230 pages, in beautiful but accessible lyrical language. Because of its rich layering and interweaving of themes, because of its vulnerable honesty, because of its treatment of issues of institutional religion versus personal spirituality, Grace Notes is valuable reading for a wide range of thoughtful readers.

A luminous and transforming memoir.......2005-02-15

One of the most interesting things about memoirs as splendid as this one is the way they act as a looking glass for their readers. In gazing into such a book, readers often see a reflection of themselves and their lives that awakens and stimulates (as _Grace Notes_ did for me) a deeper, compassionate, and enlightened "reflection" upon themselves and on the human condition. Other readers unfortunately (such as some reviewing Hart's book on this website) see a less pleasing reflection of themselves and then project their discomfort outward, blaming the book for causing them to see (or to feel or to encounter) what they may not wish to or be ready to. Indeed, in my opinion, what seems most apparent in violently negative reviews of brilliantly wrought memoirs like _Grace Notes_ is the rocky psychological terrain of the reader-reviewers themselves; an internal emotional landscape that I have to assume is characterized by a good deal of fear, insecurity, shame, and anger. The most we can do with reviews of this "projective" kind, really, is send their writers (usually anonymous, no surprise) thoughts of lovingkindness.

In this luminous memoir we meet a woman on the verge of several passaggi--"passaggio," being a term drawn from the formal training of the voice, the place where a singer moves from one register to another--a pivotal place, a place of difficulty, challenge, and potential growth. Author Hart, in her early thirties, is at that "breaking point" where, just as a voice must learn make its passaggio, a person must learn to make his or her passage toward seemingly contradictory destinations: toward private personal truth and authenticity by making that truth manifest in the world; toward greater intimacy and connection by expanding one's sense of self and well-being to embrace others.

Part feminist rite-of-passage narrative, part spiritual autobiography, _Grace Notes_ traces the path of its author, the descendant of a General Authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, toward a new religious identity as a Quaker, while negotiating and supporting her husband's decision to remain with their children in the Mormon church. The story follows Hart through an assay of her childhood and youth and through an exploration of her familial relationships--particularly her relationship with her mother, a woman who like her daughter, is a professional singer and performer; who like her daughter is a ironically "victim" of "silences," struggling to free herself from that sad inheritance passed between women across generations. It is a text richly and seamlessly interwoven with literary, classical music, and religious referents, the "mentors" that Hart discovers on her journey: Zuni mythology, Jewish traditions and Cabbalistic writings, and Benedictine monastic ritual; Emily Dickinson, Charlotte Brontë, Adrienne Rich, composer Ruth Crawford, Saint Hildegard of Bingen, and a mute,19th-century ancestor named Catherine whose diary Hart discovers in a Connecticut library.

Horribly tedious and boring........2004-11-30

This is a waste of time. Going through all the psychological defects of a backwards girl are not that appealing to me. The plot essentially is this: anorexic, depressed young mother looks back on her life and blames others for her life. Whatever happened to personal responsibility? The author clearly needs prozac. The author clearly needs to cease writing as well.

pathetic.......2004-11-30

I cannot think of a book that is MORE BORING than this.

First we read about her spoiled childhood with voice lessons, private school, educated parents, piano lessons, etc. Then we hear her criticize her parents for being so awful to her. She whines and whines and whines until I felt nauseated. Maybe they should have beaten her with a stick instead. To top it off she goes off an becomes a voice teacher who spends all her time with her friends instead of her children (doing exactly what she criticizes her mother for doing).

There are parts of this book that are JUST PAINFUL TO READ: like when she quotes from a book she wrote as a teenager and never published as if it's an authoratative outside opinion. It's not just a short quote either: it's like 3 straight pages of a dumb childhood story. Then in every chapter there are several pages of her singing. She quotes herself thus: "Ah" and tries to describe how her singing is more or less like her true inner self. It's like trying to describe the color brown in a 35-page essay: just not that interesting. Then there's her "research" consisting of reading a journal of a woman who lived 200 years ago. The journal exerpts are also painfully boing. I can see what type of feeling the author wants us to feel, but she fails at it.

The GOOD PARTS of the book are quotes from Emily Dickenson. The BAD PARTS are everything between the Dickenson quotes.

Thank goodness I checked it out from the library instead of wasting money on this garbage.

An eloquent story of an examined life.......2004-09-07

Socrates said that the unexamined life is not worth living. This book is a memoir from a woman who has thoroughly examined her life, her passions, and her spirituality. Reading her story has reawakened my desire to make music and to become more aware of how I'm leading my own life.

Before I go further, I want to tell you that it is not a chronological memoir. I heard the author speak in a panel here in Salt Lake City, and she told us why she wrote non-chronologically: to show what memories were brought back to her at different times and how they helped her on her journey. Knowing that helped me forget about timelines and really enjoy experiencing the author's thought process as she describes her search for her voice.

Although this book is in prose, the writing reads like poetry or music, both of which are passions of the author. She sets scenes, goes backward to memories and forward to the future, and speaks in metaphor to guide us through the process that took her on her journey from a Mormon wife and mother, questioning her religion, lost and alone, with no voice (literally and figuratively) to a vibrant, questioning, alive woman who sings with a genuine voice, repairs broken relationships, and reconciles her need to leave the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints with her family's need to remain in it.

Along the way, Ms Hart provides us music nerds with all sorts of tantalizing tidbits of trivia. For extra credit, watch Cold Mountain, or at least listen to the soundtrack.

This book touched me on many levels. It'll touch you, too.

Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace: A Reader's Guide (Continuum Contemporaries)

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Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace: A Reader's Guide (Continuum Contemporaries)
Gina Wisker
Manufacturer: Continuum International Publishing Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Alias Grace: A Novel

ASIN: 0826457061

Book Description

This is part of a new series of guides to contemporary novels. The aim of the series is to give readers accessible and informative introductions to some of the most popular, most acclaimed and most influential novels of recent years - from `The Remains of the Day' to `White Teeth'. A team of contemporary fiction scholars from both sides of the Atlantic has been assembled to provide a thorough and readable analysis of each of the novels in question.

Average customer rating:

A convincing work of fiction
A rare achievement
The notes between the notes
Subtle and insightful.
Wonderful, touching read!

Grace Notes
Bernard MacLaverty
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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What Are You Like?: A Novel
One by One in the Darkness
Cal
EVERYTHING IN THIS COUNTRY MUST
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ASIN: 0393318419

Amazon.com

Composer Catherine McKenna has more of a gift for music than happiness, but she has long been driven beyond harmonies (musical and personal) that her Belfast family can understand. Bernard MacLaverty renders both sides of the equation: Catherine's feminist and aesthetic striving and her mother's more traditional grasp; it's hard not to sympathize with Mrs. McKenna's impatient rejoinder, "You don't cope with music, you listen to it."

Grace Notes, MacLaverty's first novel since Cal, is as much about Irish identity--and possibility--as it is about art. Catherine's newest piece, a mass, includes the huge drums Protestants play in parades. "It was a scary sound--like thunder. Like the town was under a canopy of dark noise." Though her fellow Catholics see the drums as instruments of threat, Catherine is determined to integrate them into her composition.

Her return to Belfast for her father's funeral brings back several ghosts, among them an influential professor who spoke of grace notes--"the notes between the notes." This novel is full of such instances, wry snatches of conversation and unforgettable observations: the new Chinese restaurant that has had to offer chips to stay in business, or the pub that's "on a slight hill. When dogs pissed at the door the dark lines ran diagonally to the gutter." These transcend the occasional passage in which MacLaverty tries too hard to see into the life and rhythms of a female artist. The final section, however, a live radio concert of Catherine's piece, is a triumph for both woman composer and male author.

Book Description

The luminous novel by one of the finest living Irish writers, which Brian Moore has praised as "in every sense a triumph ... moving throughout and ending triumphantly and joyously in its own special music." Shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Whitbread Prize and winner of the Saltire Scottish Book of the Year Award, Grace Notes is a compact and altogether masterful portrait of a woman composer and the complex interplay between her life and her art. With superb artistry and startling intimacy, it brings us into the life of Catherine McKenna-estranged daughter, vexed lover, new mother, and musician making her mark in a male-dominated field. It is a book that the Virginia Woolf of A Room of One's Own would instantly understand.

Customer Reviews:

A convincing work of fiction.......2007-02-01

Catherine McKenna is a composer and a music teacher. She flies back home to Northern Ireland to attend her father's funeral. She is about to spend a few difficult days with her mother and sisters, a strictly catholic family, who run a pub. This is the occasion for Catherine to remember her childhood, her Granny Boyd, her first piano lesson with Miss Bingham, her musical studies in Belfast and the award she won for the excellence of her work which allowed her to travel to Kiev to visit the famous composer Melnichuck.
She remembers how she met Dave, the father of her daughter Anna aged 18 months, a charming man who became a violent alcoholic. Catherine had to leave him and take refuge with her friend Liz in Glasgow.
Catherine's sad and depressed existence is described with a very elegant delicacy. The 30 or so pages devoted to the way Catherine had to travel to the mainland to give birth to her daughter in the absence of Dave are of exceptional literary quality. Another strength of this novel are the numerous references to famous composers and musicians which are highly instructive without adding any weight to the plot. A highly recommended book.

A rare achievement.......2006-11-09

This book did something I never encountered before: it allowed me to experience the genesis and creation of a musical composition. The fact that the composer is a woman dealing with estrangement, depression, an abusive relationship, and motherhood, makes her accomplishment even more moving. MacLaverty draws the reader along, using a style that is part narrative, part stream of consciousness. The passages about music taught me things I didn't know, and the description of Catherine's creative process is nothing short of miraculous.

The notes between the notes.......2002-05-20

This book is a short read, but not as easy at is seems at the first sight.

Catherine McKenna is a young girl, an only child struggeling to be free from the bounds the her Northern Irish parents. She has a very special talent for music, and her music teacher from childhood becomes a very special person in her life. She teaches her to read the notes between the notes, the Grace Notes, and this gives special meaning to Catherine's life and music. And also special meaning to the book. The book can be read as words within words, which makes the book full of grace notes.

What fascinates me most with the book is the way Bernard MacLaverty shows us how to read or look at music just like we read or look at paintings. Having read several books about the stories behind Vermeers painting, MacLaverty also uses a Vermeer painting to show music.

I can fully agree with a the reviewer Tobias Hill from The Times: "The strongest impression left by Grace Notes is that of its central image-og the 'notes between the notes' which seem to compose themselves - of a life happening while it's heroine is busy making other plans...If architecture is frozen music, Grace Notes is the literary equivalnt, full of its own powerful rhythm.

Britt Arnhild Lindland

Subtle and insightful........2002-01-31

This book is not what it seems. First: the subject matter is gloomy: composer Catherine McKenna, recovering from a postnatal depression, is returning to violence stricken Northern Ireland for the funeral of her father. Not a glimmer of humour in sight. Seems depressing, but does not leave you depressed. I find that remarkable.

Second: it may also seem a simple little book, with not much happening. But go to the trouble to read between the lines, and you will get a lot in return. Because grace notes are the unobtrusive notes that seemingly hardly have a function, but that in some subtle and undefinable way make a piece of music into something special. MacLaverty writes in this way. His book has the same effect that a beautiful piece music has: you can't tell exactly why, but you are deeply moved by it.

What does happen in this novel is that Catherine must try to reconcile the Northern-Irish heritage she has tried to leave behind with the motherhood she can hardly cope with and reconcile both with her work. In the end it is the music that makes her whole again. In a beautiful finale we are shown the healing effect of art. Not a book for those who want a page-turner, but warmly recommended for those who like a deeply felt and subtle insight into a woman's soul. It is amazing that it was written by a man.

Wonderful, touching read!.......2001-05-12

Grace Notes was gracefully written and an interesting tender story. It was a delightful read and I highly recommend it!

Grace Notes: Insights, Reflections, Inspirations, and Quests for Every Day of the Year

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Alexandra delivers the goods

Grace Notes: Insights, Reflections, Inspirations, and Quests for Every Day of the Year
Alexandra Stoddard
Manufacturer: William Morrow & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0688129145

Customer Reviews:

Alexandra delivers the goods.......2007-01-19

This book is exactly what the title says: it has insights, reflections, inspirations, and quests. And did I say 'thoughtful' and 'thought provoking'? It's one of my all time favorites and I will treasure it always. I like to use it to inspire my creative thought process. It nudges my spirituality. Great as a gift.

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