No comments about My Journey of Healing from Cancer.

2 comments about I Promised God: A Diary.

1. "I Promised God" was a moving and heartfelt journey for me. The author's visually descriptive and intelligent writing style kept me riveted and yearning to experience more of her story.
   
   My partner and I were reading the book at the same time, and for several days it was our main topic of discussion. The book definitely initiated significant inner contemplation as I joined the author and her family in this turbulent, tragic, tender, and inevitably uplifting and soulful tale.



2. I love this book. Well written, soulful, and passionate, this is a true story of a beautiful and talented woman and her equally remarkable eldest son as they heroically navigate their way through challenging and devastating family and life dynamics. A love story of the highest order, this is an important chronicle of a young man's shaken world and the love and faith that ultimately bring him back to a second life. This book makes me want to be kind to all those who are lost and scared in the hopes that they,too--just like Dan through the help of his mother--can find their way home, again.

3 comments about To Catch the Snowflakes: Memoir of a Polio Survivor, an Adoptive Parent, a Teacher, a School Principal, and the Father of an Addict.

1. To Catch The Snowflakes is one of the best books I've ever read and I've read plenty. I must say "Thank you" to the author. He's lived quite a life...and he tells quite a story. In the game of life, he's a winner...even though polio tried real hard to defeat him. He didn't allow that to happen.



2. The story that Mr. Schulenberg tells is one of hope, humor and acts as a constant reminder of the blessings in our lives. Though stricken with challenges, the author explains that each challenge was a stepping stone to greatness and fullfillment.
   This story is a heartwarming tale of the strength of family and the endurance of family. It is a must-have and a must-read.



3. I am amazed that anyone could pack so much into a little over 100 pages. I laughed. I cried. I was inspired. The next time I'm down and feel as though life is winning, I'll take this book from the shelf. Every high school in the country should require this book to be read by seniors before they are allowed to graduate and enter the world. Hollywood: pay attention. This book would make a terrific, a beautiful, an inspiring movie.

4 comments about You Were Here Today.

1. Mollie Swope's "You Were Here Today" is reassuring that we are not alone in our experience of a life making the transition to the beyond. This book is a wealth of information on what happens when a loved one leaves us for the LIGHT and returns to us to lift our spirits. As I read the chapters it became clear to me of the great love between Mollie and her daughter Susie. It has been said that love transcends and it does!!!! Thank you Mollie and Susie for teaching such valuable lessons of strength, courage, wisdom and gentle peace. Sheila Jack Crabill



2. I grew up with Susie and the Swope Family. Susie went through some incredibly tough times during her bout with cancer. She remains a strong and beautiful spirit today because of the love she experienced from her family and friends. If you have ever experienced the loss of a loved one--this book is a MUST READ!



3. "Thank you Mollie. Everything you share (in your book) is so real and true. I could feel Susie hugging me again. Words are never enough but your love was...and is! Bless you." Bernie Siegel, M.D., Author of "Love, Medicine & Miracles"



4. Mollie Swope has written a book about transition. The learning process that we go through when we are forced to let go of someone dear...and the realization that we gain in knowing that nothing is ever lost...or gone, it has only changed form. This book is a celebration of Mollie's daughter, Susie, and a journey beyond the physical...into the realm of Love. This is a book about life and the life beyond the physical life. It is a healing tool, very inspirational.

   Mollie shared their families intimate story of the trials and tribulations of their personal fight against Susie's cancer. Through this process, a deep understanding of life's purpose and meaning emerges...a meaning that goes way beyond the physical. A relationship that began at birth...continues today as a legacy from the other side. This is a very inspirational book, that I would highly recommend to anyone.

2 comments about No Finish Line.

1. One can never truly understand a piece of literature, much less an autobiography, without actually becoming that person. In this case, one may "understand" that Ms. Runyan had a painful and frustrating past, but since we are not that ones that experienced it, we do not truly understand. Being blind takes away from you just as much as it gives. You take on a completely unique perspective on life; you take nothing for granted, and take great pleasure in the small things that make life worth living. Ms. Runyan, you will win a gold medal in the Olympics.



2. I'm not legally blind, but I could really understand it and identify with the struggles she endured in being different throughout most of her life. The writing style is so engaging and easy to read that it feels almost like conversation. Just when you have a question, the answer appears. Marla's dry wit is refreshing and intelligent. There is no pity party here!

   Marla has really struggled in life and sport. She continues to learn and perservere as a person and athlete and that is what makes a champion in life and on the track. I can't wait to see her medal in Athens at the next summer olympics. I'm a better person and athlete after reading her story.

1 comments about Movie Stars and Sensuous Scars: Essays on the Journey from Disability Shame to Disability Pride.

1. As an author and PhD student I take seriously the area of disability studies. This thought provoking book is an excellent way to consider those whom society deems different and the limitations we place which blocks an individual more than any physical disability could. I found the writing exemplary and the content utterly compelling.
   I would recommend this book not only to educators but to authors and writers who wish to add depth to their characterizations and develop an understanding of disability culture.

3 comments about I Can't Hear You Laughing . . . Anymore: Based on a True Story.

1. I have read a lot of real life stories in my time, but to have someone tell about becoming deaf over night and telling it in a posative way really beats other writers hands down. I read it cover to cover and although I was tired and want to say the tears were from that, I know differently. The tears were of laughter and pain. All of which Elizabeth felt many times. Her contrast to the story was a woman named Kiley, boy if Kiley only knew that she was in such good hands all along.



2. This story is of a woman named Elizabeth with a career and family, that is changed drastically. I enjoyed reading "I Can't Hear You Laughing...Anymore". It put knots in my stomach as I read it chapter for chapter. I think it is a book that everyone should read if you like books based on true stories. I can't wait to see what she comes out with next!



3. I have not read a book that made me really feel emotions like this one has. Elizabeth AnderHowrad is my new favorite author. She not only told a great story of overcoming her deafness when it was literally overnight. I love the poems she uses in her wroks. The CPR scene started a dramatic beginning and the book never once lets you down.

   Truly amazing, I hope to meet her one dya

4 comments about Signs of Life: A Memoir of Dying and Discovery.

1. My beloved father passed away on March 3, 2005 after living for 2 years with Stage IV lung cancer. I was his caretaker for the last 6 weeks of his life whe I moved to New York to care for him. This book is a beautiful heartfelt story of the author's experience with his own's mother's illness and death. I found it to be very cathartic and appreciated the beauty of his words. i even found things within to adapt when writing my dad's eulogy. If only i could write so well to write something beautiful for my father. Thank you Tim Brookes, bless your family and your mother, may she live though you all who loved her so. Lori



2. Tim Brookes offers a well written, engaging account of the dying and death process. My father was diagnosed with a brain tumor a few weeks ago and a dear friend put this book in my hands. It is a tribute to life and dignity in dying. As I write this we are still in the middle of searching for treatment and I find the words of this book comforting and a guide of sorts to the process of living, essentially with a death sentence. The author shines a light on a process we are all engaged in, as we all eventually face the dying process. This book would be helpful for family members as well as professionls...and not only those dealing with cancer.



3. When my grandmother was diagnosed terminally ill(suffering from COPD), the family chose hospice care instead of a nursing home. I went to the library to get a book on hospice and this is the book that carried me through the heartbreaking yet beautiful last week of my beloved Nany's life. I know that every dying experience is different, but there were similarities between the author's mother and my grandmother's. It gave me great comfort to read Mr. Brookes words as I sat beside my grandmother's bedside. Many thanks for putting into words what my family and I were observing and feeling.



4. Tim Brookes very eloquently voiced some of my own thoughts, feelings and struggles as I experienced my mother's death from cancer 2 months ago. It is a time of great intimacy and discovery about the very meaning of life. Our culture's beliefs and fears around death are interwoven with his very personal story, which he shares with great poignancy. This book is NOT a downer but a tribute to life. It is HIGHLY recommended for everyone, as death is a part of everyone's life

1 comments about Objects in Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear: Inside Brain Injury.

1. Seven months post injury I met Sol Mongerman and was just barely able to communicate a complete sentence to him. I tried to tell him how grateful I was for his gut wrenching dialogue. I passed this gem around my Trauma Recovery Group, and all 15 of us devoured his words within the next 6 months. Sol's story reads like a bad dream, an adventure novel and the proverbial Fairy Tale. Not unlike our own stories. We could relate to his ordeal completely. The second section gives the reader a psychological analysis of the recovery stages of MTBI. This information was huge for me. It became the foundation of my understanding of the new me.

No comments about Pain in the Arms of Joy: Thoughts of a Borderline Personality.