IT’S ABOUT TIME!
Four or five years ago, TONI WEINGARTEN wrote a feature story for “Cruising World,” a sailing magazine. They paid her for it but she never saw it in print until….she opened the October 2005 issue of the magazine and saw her story! Now, that’s being in the writing game for the long haul!

Gail Tsukiyama
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
ISBN#: 0312316089
Price:
PB/HC: PB
Distribution:
A short blurb:
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Tess Uriza Holthe
Publisher: Penguin Group(PB)/ Crow/Random House (HC)
ISBN#: 0142002887
Price: $14.00
PB/HC: PB/HC
Distribution: Penguin Group
A short blurb: Once in a great while comes a storyteller who can illuminate worlds large and small, magical and true to life. When the Elephants Dance introduces us to the incandescent voice of Tess Uriza Holthe, who sets her remarkable first novel in the waning days of World War II, as the Japanese and the Americans engage in a fierce battle for possession of the Philippine Islands. The Karangalan family and their neighbors huddle for survival in the cellar of a house a few miles from Manila. Outside the safety of their little refuge the war rages on—fiery bombs torch the beautiful Filipino countryside, Japanese soldiers round up and interrogate innocent people, and from the hills guerillas wage a desperate campaign against the enemy. Inside the cellar, these men, women, and children put their hopes and dreams on hold as they wait out the war, only emerging to look for food, water, and medicine.

Through the eyes of three narrators, thirteen-year-old Alejandro Karangalan, his spirited older sister Isabelle, and Domingo, a passionate guerilla commander, we see how ordinary people must learn to live in the midst of extraordinary uncertainty, how they must find hope for survival where none seems to exist. They find this hope in the dramatic history of the Philippine Islands and the passion and bravery of its people. Crowded together in the cellar, the Karangalans and their friends and neighbors tell magical stories to one another based on Filipino myth and legend to fuel their courage, pass the time, and teach important lessons. The group is held spellbound by these stories, which feature a dazzling array of ghosts, witches, supernatural creatures, and courageous Filipinos who changed the course of history with their actions. These profoundly moving stories transport the listeners from the chaos of the war around them and give them new resolve to fight on.

With When the Elephants Dance Holthe has not only written a gripping narrative of how Alejandro, Isabelle, Domingo and their community fight for survival, but a loving tribute to the magical realism that infuses Filipino culture. The stories shared by her characters are based on the same tales handed down to Holthe from her Filipino father and lola, her grandmother. This stunning debut novel is the first to celebrate in such richness and depth the spirit of the Filipino people and their fascinating story and marks the introduction of a talented new author who will join the ranks of writers such as Arundhati Roy, Manil Suri, and Amy Tan.
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Firoozeh Dumas
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ISBN#: 0812968379
Price:
PB/HC: PB
Distribution:
A short blurb: In 1972, when she was seven, Firoozeh Dumas and her family moved from Iran to Southern California, arriving with no firsthand knowledge of this country beyond her father’s glowing memories of his graduate school years here. More family soon followed, and the clan has been here ever since.

Funny in Farsi chronicles the American journey of Dumas’s wonderfully engaging family: her engineer father, a sweetly quixotic dreamer who first sought riches on Bowling for Dollars and in Las Vegas, and later lost his job during the Iranian revolution; her elegant mother, who never fully mastered English (nor cared to); her uncle, who combated the effects of American fast food with an army of miraculous American weight-loss gadgets; and Firoozeh herself, who as a girl changed her name to Julie, and who encountered a second wave of culture shock when she met and married a Frenchman, becoming part of a one-couple melting pot.

In a series of deftly drawn scenes, we watch the family grapple with American English (hot dogs and hush puppies?—a complete mystery), American traditions (Thanksgiving turkey?—an even greater mystery, since it tastes like nothing), and American culture (Firoozeh’s parents laugh uproariously at Bob Hope on television, although they don’t get the jokes even when she translates them into Farsi).

Above all, this is an unforgettable story of identity, discovery, and the power of family love. It is a book that will leave us all laughing—without an accent.
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Author Name: Jane Strauss
Cover Art: Yes
Book Title(s): Enough is Enough! Stop Enduring and Start Living Your Extraordinary Life
Publisher: Jossey-Bass
ISBN#: 0787979880
Price: $22.95
PB/HC:
Distribution: amazon.com, Barnes & Nobles
A short blurb: Are you hindered by fearful, limiting thoughts?: I’m not smart enough . . . It’s too late for me . . . I can’t do this alone. Do you long for more joy, challenge, or fulfillment? Does life just feel too difficult? When you merely endure life, you are surviving, not thriving. You feel resigned rather than inspired. And chances are you know something is missing . . . but you don’t know what to do about it.

Using Enough Is Enough! as your guide, you will discover how your unique symptoms of endurance came to be and how they are holding you back. And you will learn how to calm your fears and let go of the self-judgments that keep you stuck in your rut. By aligning with your deepest personal truths instead of repeating fear-based patterns, you will be released from needless suffering. In fact, you will be inspired to manifest the extraordinary life you were meant to live.

Enough Is Enough! takes you on a compelling spiritual, emotional, and intellectual journey toward a rewarding life that is truly worth celebrating.

In this remarkable book, Jane Straus tells her own transformative story with vulnerability and humor, and shares experiences from clients, friends, and seminar participants who have broken free from the shackles of endurance. Enough Is Enough! offers encouragement, insights, and powerful exercises to ensure that the next chapter of your life story is about celebrating life and thriving joyfully as the unique person you have always been . . . and the extraordinary one you are still becoming.
Your website/links: www.stopenduring.com