What a good move I made by purchasing this book FROM Amazon!!!
I will be traveling out to the Middle East this year and have been trying to catch up with my Persian language, better known as Farsi. I have been receiving some tutoring, which was very well received, but this book has put me right on to where I want to be.
You will find this Persian phrasebook suitable for travelers with all those important questions you will need to ask at the airport, in the market when purchasing items, finding your way around, almost anything for that matter. I highly recommend this book to those traveling to the East and please keep it on you for easy reference. It is such a handy book and can fit right into the smallest pocket book or jeans pocket. Well done!!!
[...]

"Then I glanced up and saw a pair of kites, red with long blue tails soaring into the sky. They danced high above the trees on the west end of the park, over the windmills, floating side by side like a pair of eyes looking down on San Francisco, the city I now called home. And suddenly Hassan's voice whispered in my head: For you a thousand times over. Hassan the harelipped kite runner."

Khaled Hosseini has made a name for himself with his popular first novel. His book cannot be put down for a long time because it is apt to rest in your thoughts until you get back to the fate and fortunes of these indelible characters.

We are introduced to Amir, and his playmate Hassan who are deep friends and spend their recreation time flying kites, playing games in the street, and getting up to the normal mischievous things boys get up to. Baba, Amir's father and Ali, Hassan's dad raises the boys themselves as they have both lost their mothers. Ali and Hassan work as servants for Baba's household but yet they are privileged to be treated just like family.

Mr. Hosseini shows us in this page-turner just how Afghanistan changes in a hurry from a place of some stability and wealth at least for Baba's household to a place of war as the Russians make they way into the country. We are made to see how the deepest of friendships can be betrayed all because of guilty consciences and convictions. The wealthy flee leaving everything included their lovely homes with their rich furniture and interiors, whilst the poor families have no choice but to remain in Afghanistan to be subjected to the wills and fancies of the Taliban.

After the war this country is unrecognizable. We see Amir leaving San Francisco where he has spent his adult years journeying back to his birthplace that holds all the memories he has carried with his all these years. These memories though disturbing have pulled him back but why? The answers are all the way through this well written first novel. May Mr. Hosseini continue to entertain us with his literary work. Bravo!!!

Reviewed by Heather Marshall Negahdar (SUGAR-CANE 27/02/05

"A neighbour said he'd risen at dawn each day to run on the beach.....on the table next to his bed was a gold wedding band."

Meet the three Kimble wives, all married at some point in time to Ken Kimble, an intangible man, vague and hard to pin down.

The story starts with an introduction to his first wife Birdie Kimble who bore him a son Charles and a daughter Jody, and whom he deserted like a passing breeze. Second wife Joan Kimble recovering from illness, is a woman of means, and though she sees his shortcomings and his lack of proper table etiquette, she keeps her vows for as long as she possibly can.

The last wife Dinah was my favourite wife, a trophy wife and a former babysitter for Birdie who became his wife after he had come into his own and made a name for himself.

There is nothing to jump out at you or to shock the living daylights out of you in this book, but, it is a great work of entertainment with real characters, and ocasionally along the way, your heart is touched in various ways.

Kudos to Jennifer Haigh on her first novel. It is a wonderful gift for any occasion.

Reviewed ny Heather Marshall Negahdar SUGAR-CANE 26/04/05

"Then I sat down on the floor of the closet and tried to think back hard, really concentrate, on the way he behaved the day he left. What he did. What he talked about. All of it had been sort of standard fare. All of it had been sort of Leo and sort of nuts."

Julieanne Steiner is a housewife who writes a column for a Wisconsin newspaper, giving out advice to those who need answers to intimate questions and situations. Little does Julieanne know that she too, in the very near future could do with some good advice as well, as her husband springs a horrrible surprise on her requesting a sabbatical- a leave of absence from her and the kids for a little while. He suggests that he is extremely stressed out and therefore needs the break. Julieanne does not realise the seriousness of this situation, until she allows her husband to ride off into the sunset, and she becomes ill. Things turn things topsy turvy in the Steiner household leaving the two older children no other alternative but to go in search of their absent dad, unknown to mum.
What they find is surprising and will not help the state of affairs in any form whatsoever. But time goes by and we see some intriguing events take place that brings alterations to the lives of all of the characters in this novel. I could not, not buy this book after reading The Deep End of The Ocean by this wonderful author, which was excellent. Ms. Mitchard will not let you down in her latest novel.
[...]

"Right in the middle of my forty-day fast, I was awakened one morning, very early, and felt such an urge to go to the family room. It was unlike anything I had ever experience before. Even as I pulled the covers back to slip out of bed, I was so overwhelmed with the presence of God that I fell to the floor, and I literally had to crawl my way into the family room."

We know that Judy Jacobs Tuttle is known for His Song Ministries, along with her husband Jamie Tuttle. What a wonderful Ministry!!!

I had the pleasure of seeing Judy in person when she visited the shores of Barbados in the Caribbean last year 2005 at the Garfield Sobers Gymnasium, and she had the whole congregation on their feet as we worshipped. That night I was suffering from a headache in the crown of my head, but when Judy Jacobs prayered for the sick, I was healed when I exited those doors that night to return home.

In her book, Take It by Force, Judy expounds on the fight and the force we should use to get what is truly ours; blessings and prosperity, the love of our family and off-spring, our jobs, our health, everything that is rightfully ours through Jesus Christ. We must claim the gifts stolen from us by Satan, and retrieve them back into our lives. She introduces us to Crazy Turnaround faith which we should act on immediately after receiving a word from God. Crazy Turnaround faith may look like silliness to others who are not under the anointing, but we must be obedient in order to make our claims.

We are encouraged to wake up and venture out, unafraid with God's great guidance.

Judy Jacobs gives us all the answers in her latest novel, which is a good teaching for Christians and those trying to find their way to the Throne of Grace, for there is indeed, no God like Jehovah. An ideal Birthday gift for a good friend.

Reviewed by Heather Marshall Negahdar (SUGAR-CANE 26/01/06)

This is the third in the trilogy of The Spoils of Time and this was one of the best by one my favourite writers Penny Vincenzi.

In this latest series everything is winding up as Lady Celia Lytton the family matriarch looks to settling down to a quieter life and retirement.

This wonderful family drama centres mostly on Barty Miller, adopted by Lady Celia as a girl. Barty Miller is now heading her own company in the New York and is wealthier than all the Lyttons, which must put some stress on all concerned members of that family as she is capable of calling all the shots. But will she? How will she finally treat this family that have taken her from the slums? Will she be a hard business women or will she do the right thing for Celia sake? You find out as you dig into this tale as old secrets are revealed, past secrets that will certainly affect their future in a serious way.

Reviewed by Heather Marshall Negahdar (SUGAR-CANE 28/06/06)

"When I got to the end of St. Matthias Gap, I would stand for a while and watch the drug store. The large bottles of glass that contained 'sweets' medicines and pills of all sorts of toughness and strength and sweetness."

Nobody does it better than Mr. Austin 'Tom' Clarke. Nobody can
take us back into those long ago times with literature so touching, so real, so magical, so painful, so peaceful and picturesque, and yet so lovely.

For Austin 'Tom' Clarke is a man for all seasons and beneath his humour and fun-poking there is a depth and intensity that makes his story so very arresting and captivating. I must say this book stimulated my mind to such an extent that it was not always easy to put it down just for a few moments. Giving an autobiographical account of his life as a youngster, we venture with him into his life at Combermere and how the school system worked at the time. Latin was a favourite with Clarke and his friends but unfortunately not having the money for the text books the information had to be handwritten from the textbooks of one of the privileged boys. Even for Scripture lessons when one would have thought that there would have been so many Bibles in the island, some guys had to write out Acts Of the Apostles in long hand. It was during wartime and things were terrible scarce and jobs hard to come by. Most of the people in the village worked for the Whites doing domestic work or at the Marine hotel in the same capacity. So it was the norm to emulate everything English.....studying English history, society and manners. After all the country was under Colonial control and Barbadians would have it no other way. They knew no other way.

Mr. Clarke doesn't fail to humour us as he recounts his days in the St. Michael's Cathedral or throw us into a fit of nostalgia as he reminisces of the Brilliantine shining on his hair the first day at Combermere......so real you can actually feel the broiling hot sun and smell the sweet hairdressing grease running down his youthful neck.

One of the things I loved about Austin Clarke's book came towards the end. He describes in detail his many walks on sunny afternoons along Hastings main road when the sun scorched the bottom of his feet leaving tar marks on the surface. He describes how quiet the area was in those days, with hardly anyone walking the streets or any vehicular traffic. He would always walk slowly as he approached the drug store for that was one of his favourite places where he stood outside and surveyed the place, looking at the sweets on display and inhaling the various potent medicines and of course the Lysol. The ever-faithful Lysol would always be wafting in the atmosphere; then as you extended your eyes towards the back of the store, there would be the druggist in white, and the sea gleaming in the background. Clarke embraced a kind of peace in these surroundings.....a peace real tangible to my mind.

I would encourage all literature lovers to read this book and compare those old time days to the times we're living in now. The diversity in the culture and the innocence of what it was really like living under British rule.

In fact, this is a book for everyone.

Reviewed by Heather Marshall Negahdar

We were always doing the skedaddle usually in the middle of the night. Dad was so sure a posse of Federal investigators was on our trail that he smoked his unfiltered cigarette from the wrong end. That way, he explained, he burned up the brand name, so that the people who were tracking them down would find unidentifiable butts,instead of Pall Malls which could be traced to him."

Jeanette Walls has written a most touching memorial of her life as a youngster. As a young girl along with her three siblings, Lori, Brain and Maureen live out a nomadic existence with their parents in Arizona and West Virginia. We see a lot on how the poor existed and still enjoyed some semblance of happiness, because of the deep love that held them together through thick and thin. And this love was evident in the Walls right through the novel, even when the girls got older and started to set their sights on another city, knowing deep inside that they could make sucessful lives with the greater opportunities elsewhere.

What I could not really grasp however was the financial resources of their mother, Rose Walls. Did she really have to live this way? Why did she choose this way when it seems that she was an educated woman; for she was indeed a talented artist and a school teacher, and had a lot to fall back on including property left to here by family. With all this and yet she chose this uncertain life for her lovely children.

This book gives a very interesting look at a dysfunctional family and was for me a smooth page-turner. This book should make an ideal gift for any occasion.

Reviewed by Heather Marshall Negahdar (SUGAR-CANE May 1st, 2006)

"The German soldier suddenly sighed. It almost stopped the Mechanik. It was a human thing, this soft, sad exhalation of air. The sound of a tired and homesick man who might be a normal man sighing in his loneliness.

The Mechanik was so close he could smell the soap that the German had bathed with; the smell of oil from stolen Polish sausages and a whiff of the vodka he drank with his lunch to keep of the damp and the cold."

I cannot believe that I had this book for so long waiting to be read.

The year is 1943 and Word War II is threatening. Meet Hansel and Gretel whose Jewish names are changed for their protection, as they are sent into the wintry forest by their parents to hide and get a head start, as the Germans begin to move in on their Polish turf. This is done in the childrens' best interests to avoid any confrontation or abuse, or even death at the hands of the Nazis officers, as World War II rears it's ugly head. I remained spell bounded as Hansel and Gretel, wandered cold and hungry through the forest in a somewhat oblivious and uncertainty state. They soon are able to breath a sigh of relief for a while as the come into a village and encounter kindness in the form of Madga, an old lady who is willing to guard them with her life as far as possible.

There are tremendous shocks throughout this book as the Germans presence and pressure is felt and seen by all the villagers. In the meanwhile Hansel and Gretel's family are worried about their safety as day after day passes, and the days darken into despair, lunacy, turmoil and thoughts of survival is all that is in the hearts and minds of the Jewish people.

This book was indeed a page-turner, and held my interest. Highly recommended!!! I give it five stars.

Heather Marshall Negahdar (SUGAR-CANE) 07/06/06

"Here they were in New York City.sitting in a beautiful and elegant suite with mauve silk on the walls, drinking hot French coffee from Italian coffeepots, and practically behaving as strangers."

This novel is well paced and I finished it in no time.

At the head of this story is Reginald Brooks the pretender. Reginald is able for many years to have two families, each unknown to the other. His wife Tracey and two daughters in Miami, and his mistress and daughter in Orlando. Reginald enjoys the best of both words greedily, until the day comes years after when guilt catches up with him and he wants to do away with his Orlando affair.

But how can a man after being seasoned into these relations for six years and making it work so effectively, suddenly pull the plug and let jack out of the box? It is going to be problematic and complex with many broken hearts, and so Reginald enlists the help of his good friend Franklyn. Is this a good idea? Read on and see how the sparks fly. A recommended page-turner!!!

Heather Marshall Negahdar ( SUGAR-CANE 19/06/06)