Rated of 5
by Leslie W. (Burlingame, CA) Making Toast
Wonderfully written story of how a family deals with the untimely loss of a loved one. Making Toast shares all of the emotions and difficulties that a family must go through in order to go on with life after the tragedy of death.
This book is a must read for all. It will inspire you to look at life differently.
Rated of 5
by Marissa P. (Tarrytown, NY) Heartbreaking & Endearing
I thoroughly enjoyed this book from cover to cover. The author who lost his daughter to a rare heart disorder chronicles his and his wife's journey with their late daughter's children and her husband. The grandparents move in with Harris, Amy's husband and James, Sammy and Jessica, their children. Although Amy is gone in a physical sense she never leaves their lives and her parent's thoughts. They struggle with helping to raise the children and find comfort and joy in the process. It is a bittersweet tale that leaves you laughing and crying. Although happiness abounds in this book you are always bought back to the reality of the profound loss and it's meaning to each of the characters.
Rated of 5
by Beth M. (Scarsdale, NY) A tragedy told with restraint
Roger Rosenblatt's memoir of the months following his daughter's sudden death is told with great simplicity and restraint. Unfortunately, for me that didn't work. I wanted to read more of the emotional pain and less of the day-to-day details of caring for his 3 young grandchildren. I did appreciate the sense of wonder as a new family structure is created. It was remarkable to see how Roger and his wife changed their lives to be there for their grandchildren and son-in-law. In a time when families are so fractured, it's inspiring to read about one that bonded with love following a great tragedy.
Rated of 5
by Susan S. (Lakeville, MA) This book is meant to be read more than once.
I started reading this book on Friday night and finished it on Sunday morning. I couldn't put it down. It is a short, sweet story of a family dealing with the sudden death of a young daughter who left behind three small children. The book is equally heartbreaking and heartwarming. The reader will laugh out loud and cry at the same time. This is a book that I will recommend to all my friends and will buy for my own daughter -- I'm keeping this copy. I was not familiar with this author, but will now search out and read his other books.
Rated of 5
by Mary G. (River Forest, IL) No answers - I love it!
Finally - a self help book that doesn't offer answers. No preaching, yoga, religious practices, emotional dietary props, no deep breathing. Rosenblatt tells it like it is - and is helpful in spite of himself.
Having lost a daughter, survived by a daughter of her own in mid-teens, I have empathy for the author's sudden transformation from grandparent to parent in the midst of untold grief. And his message is one it took me longer to discover, but which I've found to be true. His book is deeply personal, telling the day after day meaningful moments (like "making toast!") that make surviving grief possible. My daily circumstances - and yours - are different from his, but it doesn't matter. His own "moments" somehow blend with my own, and they make me smile.
Having read "Making Toast," I feel better about death - and I can still eat chocolate and don't have to go to the gym to do it!
A bold, mesmerizing novel about the woman known as "Typhoid Mary," the first known healthy carrier of typhoid fever in the burgeoning metropolis of early twentieth century New York.
Z, the novel about the life of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald is at points charming and; like another reviewer, I kept thinking of the movie, "Midnight...
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Although heavy on the scientific details, which slowed down the story for me (OK, I admit, I was one of those liberal arts majors who skipped out on...
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Loved this book. Magical, quirky, enchanting I could go on. All books do not have to be literary fiction, sometimes it is just so comforting to read...
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British Parliament asks Amazon to clarify why it pays $9 million in income tax on $23 billion of UK sales.(May 20 2013) Amazon will be called back to give further evidence to members of the British Parliament "to clarify how its activities in the U.K. justify its low corporate...
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