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Another gem from Mary Balogh
I am currently reading Balogh's old books and finding some real gems amongst them, and this is one of them. It is a heart-rending tale of two people brought together in distrust and coldness but ends up a lovely romance and 'happy ever after'. I loved it - a keeper for me. | 1positive
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Great information!!
Very good workshop manual, recommended for owners. I have had much use already and I only recived it couple of months ago... | 1positive
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Phenomenal book on a Great Person
This is truly a phenomenal book about a great individual. Lou Gehrig is someone that we all can aspire to and emulate. The book relates it all: his reserved character, his great baseball records and clutch hitting, and his experience with ALS. It is all here. Although I've read and seen and heard many examples of the "luckiest man" speech, this book does the best job that I've seen of sharing it - the background leading up to the day, Lou's humility during the speech and the results. (He received more letters from fans reacting to that speech than ever before.) Being a New York Yankee fan from way back in my youngster years, I was interested in reading about this great baseball hero. And heroic he was - the number of times that he won World Series games and his clutch hitting resulted in World Series wins which are related in some detail, even on a batter by batter basis. The fact that he was one of the best clutch hitters of all time (just look at his number of RBIs and grand slam home runs). This book is worth the read. It is great to read about such a great man so that we can all try to emulate him. After reading this book, I can truly say that Lou Gehrig was the greatest New York Yankee of all time. | 1positive
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A delightfully unpredictable experience
Starred Wire is a collection of poetry written to the beat of a different drummer. Taking liberties with rhymes, anagrams, puns, palindromes, free-verse, stream-of-consciousness, and other techniques, each work has a different natural rhythm, and all leave a vibrant imprint on the senses. Poems to provoke impetuous inspiration, Starred Wire is a delightfully unpredictable experience. Everything's Carousing: Even the Baroque gets lost in it. / Grass vests the dirt lest wind, twanging the skyscrapers // that merely sleeve the elevators, as we go sleeveless / except for the atmosphere, file it under "oceans." // Recalling the equations derived for ballistics- / aiming cannonballs is not like squaring lintels, // and skyscrapers are all lintel. / There isn't a straight line amidst all these that never meet; // I will write away for it. A sound that breaks / "the record and the tie with the most singles in a season." // Sparrows petulantly, like petals, adding subtracting / to crumb-strewn cafe tables, then boarding the ferries. | 1positive
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Family History
This is basically the family history, and the story of the Landsverks and how they came to America. It's a rather thorough genealogy book for anyone who is a Landsverk. I know that the family attempts to keep this updated and tries to publish newer versions every few years as many of the clan have children and others pass away. | 1positive
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dead-on.
i'm a stripper, too, and i loved this book. very few books about stripping manage to be intelligent without being preachy or mopey or self-righteous or all three, but this one managed to do it.so many things in this book (the reflection on stage names, the anatomy of the french manicure, her take on the word "honey") are strikingly similar to the memories that i will take with me when i eventually leave the business.cheers to lily burana / barbie faust for finally getting it right! | 1positive
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So Sorry to Say...Boring
I was intrigued by this book, but each chapter was less engaging than the one before. The descriptions of potentially interesting characters were one dimensional. I didn't even feel like I got to know the author any better through the story. This was a waste of my free prime book. | 0negative
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Even the abridgement is a yawner; narrative ooze rather than drive
You might like this if you did not know that Muslims and Christians fought for centuries through the Balkans. But you would also need to be fascinated by silly characters plodding towards a nothing climax.No matter how much the publisher hypes this book it amounts to faux literature and fizzled pulp. | 0negative
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helliconia trilogy : mind-blowing!!
Superb! Captivating, subtle, forceful, multi-dimensional.UNBELIEVABLE!! Why is this trilogy so hard to get in one volume in the US? (you can get the one volume in Europe), but, really, they should all be read together. Beyond anything ordinary. Listing separate elements (Wutra worm, phagors, etc.) does not even begin to describe the impact of these books. Highly recommend to anyone who has any imagination/curiosity whatsoever | 1positive
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Some of the most manipulative dreck I've read in a long time
History repeats itself with this one. Robert James Waller's precipitous decline after Bridges of Madison County has now been equalled or surpassed with this next book of Nicholas Sparks. Perhaps if it were marketed as a Romance title, it would keep the unsuspecting lover of good fiction from mistakenly picking it up. Cliches abound, the dialogue limps...I felt used. | 0negative
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Ghosts?
I didn't like the concept of this book, consequently didn't like the book. Sorry about that. | 0negative
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Very good book about Plants in the Caribbean
My sister who also lives here in St. Thomas is a big time gardener but could not find anything to expand her knowledge of the horticulture here until I found this for her birthday. She has been very happy with it so I recommend it. | 1positive
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Fahrenheit 451 Audiobook
Some Authors should NOT read their books for the audio format. This is by far the worst I have heard. I found it extremely difficult to follow the story which sounded like it was being read by my great grandfather! | 0negative
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Great book!
Seems silly, but I couldn't put it down!The book is very well written, easy and interesting to read.Very helpful, useful, and clear-cut information.I highly recommend it! | 1positive
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A Little Disappointed!
This book could have been better if the author would have spent more time on her two main characters and trying to get them together. What I really liked most about Eugenia was that she wasn't one of those great beauties that I usally read about but her fun-loving personality is what made her attractive. Sir Peter seemed a little weak to me I guess it's because he really didn't get his fair share of attention. I really don't see how they fell in love since they really didn't spend that much time together throughout the entire book. In my opinion I really think too much attention was being spent on the description of the scenery and other non-important character than on the main characters themselves. By the end of the book I got the feeling that it was written in a rush which is too bad because given a little more time on the two main characters (Eugenia and Sir Peter)it could have been a pretty good book. | 0negative
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I can't believe I read the whole thing!
I understand that this is supposedly based on real people and real experiences, names and likenesses changed, etc., and that only furthers my opinion that this is a self indulgent exercise in journal writing. Rule number one: not everything that happens that is interesting to you will translate into interesting reading. It just tries too hard. I could not help but to imagine the authors as disgruntled sorority girls with martyr complexes, which I might have overlooked had I at least been able to laugh, but I could only feel annoyed. I want a refund. | 0negative
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Very Disappointed
I was hoping this book would be a page turner from the reviews I read but I had to force myself to finish it. The lead female character was all over the place and the 4 guys were really not even that important to the story. Having steamy sexual scenes does not make a book better. Even in the end it didn't tie together. I would have rather gotten this from the library. | 0negative
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Weak and rushed
I'd seen this book around, thought about getting it, and finally did. I love fantasy and thought because Brooks was a best-seller and all that, that this would be a delightful book. Boy was I wrong. Okay, it's a very neat idea, and the plot was tight, but that's about where my compliments end. There's virtually NO character development. I didn't care in the least about Holiday. I could not relate to him, or to any of the characters. I could not get into Holiday's mind. I didn't feel welcome. It felt like the story was rushed and happened way too quickly and easily. There were no guts to this story; it's superficial. It was silly--not in a good way--trite, and paper thin.If you want to read a story about a real-world person entering a land of fantasy and having adventures there, read "The Woods Out Back" by RA Salvatore! THAT book is absolutely fabulous! It's witty, well constructed, believable, honest, meaningful, engaging--everything that "Magic Kingdom..." isn't. I heartily recommend it instead! | 0negative
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Hale Dowoskin adds little value to the work of Levenson
This book gives the impression that it is co-authored or at least collaborated by both Hale Dwoskin and the late Lester Levenson.In fact, the book consists mainly of the ideas and work of Lester Levenson and with maybe a section added by Hale Dwoskin.While it is worthwhile to publicize the work of Levenson, it is bothersome to me that an early disciple has given the false impression of being a co-author or co-collaborator. Other than my criticism of the entrepreneurial intent of Dowskin, the book will give the reader a good overview of the ideas of Levenson that developed into what is now called the Sedona Method.For me it did not earn the oft-used cliche of "Change Your Live", but it is a good introduction. | 0negative
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One Very Simple Man
I would certainly rank John Stuart Mill as the most overrated philosophical windbag of all time. I don't find it a coincidence that Mill was described as a "very ladylike person." That seems to explain a great deal of his writing style, which bespeaks a certain dizziness of the mind.Roger Kimball summed up Mill well:Together with Rousseau, John Stuart Mill (1806-73) supplied nearly all of the arguments and most of the emotional weather - the texture of sentiment - that have gone into defining the Left-liberal vision of the world.Mill's peculiar brand of utilitarianism - a cake of Benthamite hedonism glazed with Wordsworthian sentimentality - accounts for part of his appeal: it provides a perfect recipe for embellishing programmatic shallowness with a cosmetic patina of spirituality. It is a recipe that has proven irresistible to those infatuated with the spectacle of their own virtue.Another large part of Mill's appeal rests on his "feminism" - his conviction, put forward in The Subjection of Women, that differences between the sexes were accidental and that, as Leslie Stephen put it, "women could be turned into men by trifling changes in the law". Both are indispensable elements in the intoxicating potion that constitutes Mill's appeal and makes much of his thinking seem so contemporary.Mill's arguments and pronouncements about man as a "progressive being", the extent of individual autonomy, the limits of acceptable moral and legal censure, the importance of innovation and (perhaps his most famous phrase) "experiments in living" are all familiar to the point of invisibility. Likewise his corollary insistence on the poverty of custom, prejudice and tradition. Mill's contentions on these subjects are nowadays less objects of debate than of reverence. But the public success of Mill's teaching (especially in his manifesto On Liberty) says nothing about the cogency of his arguments. In fact, Mill's central arguments are open to - and have from the beginning been subjected to - serious criticism. Yet they have raged like wildfire through the Western world, consuming everything that stands in their path. Which means, among other things, that they exert an appeal quite distinct from any intellectual merit they may possess.As for the nature of Mill's arguments, consider, for example, his famous plea on behalf of moral, social and intellectual "experiments". Throughout history, Mill argues, the authors of such innovations have been objects of ridicule, persecution and oppression; they have been ignored, silenced, exiled, imprisoned, even killed. But (Mill continues) we owe every step of progress, intellectual as well as moral, to the daring of innovators. "Without them," he writes, "human life would become a stagnant pool. Not only is it they who introduce good things which did not before exist; it is they who keep the life in those which already exist." Ergo, innovators - "developed human beings" is one phrase Mill uses for such paragons - should not merely be tolerated but positively be encouraged.The philosopher David Stove called this the "They All Laughed at Christopher Columbus" argument. The amazing thing about the success of the Columbus argument is that it depends on premises that are so obviously faulty. Indeed, as Stove observes, a moment's reflection reveals that the Columbus argument is undermined by a downright glaring weakness.Granted that every change for the better has depended on someone embarking on a new departure: well, so too has every change for the worse. And surely, Stove writes, there have been at least as many proposed innovations which "were or would have been for the worse as ones which were or would have been for the better". This means that we have at least as much reason to discourage innovators as to encourage them, especially when their innovations bear on things as immensely complex as the organisation of society. In On Liberty, Mill presented himself as a prophet of individual liberty. But if liberty was always on Mill's lips, a new orthodoxy was ever in his heart. There is an important sense in which the libertarian streak in On Liberty is little more than a prophylactic against the coerciveness that its assumption of virtuous rationality presupposes. Mill hoped that liberty would replace the reign of prejudice with the reign of reason. In fact, it has had the effect of camouflaging prejudices with rational-sounding rhetoric. The effort to unseat customary practice and belief has resulted not, as Mill predicted, in encouraging a drift towards unanimity but in increasing chaos.Nor is this surprising. As Mill's great critic James Fitzjames Stephen noted, "the notorious result of unlimited freedom of thought and discussion is to produce general scepticism on many subjects in the vast majority of minds". Such "paradoxes" (to put it politely) show themselves wherever the constructive part of Mill's doctrine is glimpsed through his cheerleading for freedom and eccentricity.Mill claimed a monopoly on the word "rational". So long as that monopoly remains unchallenged our paralysis will be complete. The antidote to the moral helplessness that Mill's liberalism generates is not to be found by digging deeper in the trench of liberal rationalisation. On the contrary, it begins with the recognition that no "one very simple principle" can relieve us of the duties we owe to the inhabited world that we, for this brief while, share with many others.See Kimball's excellent November 1998 article in The New Criterion entitled "One very simple principle" | 0negative
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Bad - Good - Bad
That is how i felt about the book. the beginning was slow and not interesting. the middle of the book was great! and then the ending sucked. i might have not been in the mood to read a whimsical book such as this but i just did not like the way it ended. Currently reading Love, Rosie which is MUCH BETTER. | 0negative
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OUTSTANDING ADVENTURE
This book will have you climbing the riggings and hauling the mains in no time. A brilliant tale of a family and their trials and tribulations. This book has it all, boys coming of age, pirates, love of a father, rivalry of siblings, and much more. If you don't read much make sure you don't pass this one! | 1positive
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Rand's second most important fictional work
The followers of Rand are a rowdy bunch. In her books they find justification for behaving in an anti-social manner that is slowly destroying the fabric of the societies of the Western World. This egoism is supposedly derived from "reason". In the real world however there is no reason for people not to find fulfillment and meaning from helping others and caring for their family and friends. The accusation that "altruism", i.e. decency and goodness, leads to tyranny is nothing but products of a very paranoid mind. The craziest thing about this though is the fact that Ayn Rand has been raised to a saint-like status by her followers. No disagreement with her writings is ever accepted and if you disagree you are an evil communist/collectivist. To be a true individualist you must agree with everything she has ever written. Isn't this collectivism in a true sense? No, says her followers, those views are derived by reason and must therefore be share by all intelligent human beings. Pretty scary!! Note that Objectivism, like Marxism, Freudianism and Jungianism, is a closed system of thought in the sense that any critisism of the system is automatically seen as a symptom of unreason. This is what makes Objectivism a religion rather than a philosophy or scientific method. And this is also the reason for the fanatical behavior of her disciples. At best her books are useful self help guides, but this is also true of for example the Bible or the writings of Jung. | 0negative
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Fabulous
Loved every story, adored the originality and creativity. Really sorry it came to an end! This author never disappoints me. | 1positive
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Emotional violation of a child
The story is brilliant. It is about how a woman (the mother, Gertrude) takes her son (Paul) as her lover instead of choosing her husband. She did not have the will to love the husband, and instead turned that will on a child. The title is not "Fathers and Lovers" or "Husbands and Lovers." The father is capable of being loved, but in Gertrude's mind, she is too good for the husband. Therefore, she turns her lover's heart towards a child ("Sons and Lovers"). In modern psychobabble, Gertrude doesn't recognize boundaries. The child is defenseless to the emotional power which penetrates him. He is absorbed and becomes one with the mother's heart and goals. It is similar to molestation but instead of a physical penetration, there is an emotional penetration. When the boy starts to grow up and should, rightly, begin to become whole with a woman, he is not free to take that step. His sexuality drives him towards an appropriate lover, and seemingly makes him appear available, but his emotional heart cannot take another woman into himself. There is already a lover who has penetrated his heart (i.e. his mother). For a man to be complete in love, he has to be able to enter a woman physically at the same time he takes her into himself emotionally. Paul can't allow another woman in emotionally because his mother is already there. Hence, even though he is able to enter a woman physically, the whole experience is deeply unsatisfying to both Paul and all the women in his life. The mother is not really satisfied because she can't have her lover completely (i.e. physically and as her life's mate), and the other women in Paul's life (with whom he could have a physical relationship) are left unsatisfied because he wills not to take them into himself emotionally, and thereby deprives these women of the experience of wholeness which accompanies surrender in love. Hence, the women he should be able to complete himself with (i.e. those with whom he can complete the physical act), he eventually wears out. They give up because he is not available. His heart belongs to another. E.g. Claire goes back to her husband even though Claire's husband is less refined, because Claire would rather have all of a working man, than only part of an artist. There are scads of women today who are throwing themselves at this inpenetrable wall of the mother's inappropriate molestation of her son's emotions, not really understanding why and how to work with it. Lawrence sheds insight into that process. The cure is to exchange the will to love the mother for the will to love the lover. Go for it! | 1positive
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Good book
Good book, but didnt expect it to have more of a religious aspect to it, which to me is a little biased, but definitely helps nonetheless. Its small enough to where I can fit it in my pocket and need to meditate somewhere other than home. | 1positive
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Encounters with a bad book
This book is not very interesting. It is very jumpy and hard to understand. There are many enviormental issues that are barely if at all touched on by the author. Characters are over developed and there is to much background information on unimportant characters. Brower is just on big whinner. Overall it is not that good of a book. | 0negative
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Another splendid addition to Angelou's memoir collection!
A Song Flung Up To Heaven is a continuation of the experiences of Maya Angelou. If you've read any of her previous memoirs, you will know that Dr. Angelou has lead and continues to led a rich and full life - something that cannot be covered in one or two books.This sixth memoir starts with Dr. Angelou's return to the U.S. from Ghana, West Africa. It ends with the time she was about to write her first memoir, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings. In between, the book is filled with her encounters with various people and her experience during some disturbing times in American history - the murder of Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King, and the Watts riots in California.I most enjoyed reading about my favorite personalities from Dr. Angelou's past memoirs - Vus Make, her handsome, intelligent, charismatic African husband; Bailey Johnson, her older, caring big brother; Guy Johnson, her intelligent, independent son and Vivian Baxter, her smart mother.Reading Dr. Angelou's continued memoir is like sitting with an old, trusted and respected friend; there's a treasured feeling as you listen to her stories as they come one after the other.Fafa Demasio | 1positive
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Eye Candy!
For those of us who love makeup, this is fun and inspires one to try something different! I wish I had time, patience, and the vision of Kevin Aucoin to do some of these transformations, even if just for fun. Along with demonstrating various "looks," he takes (mostly) famous faces and transforms them into others with makeup--for example, he turns Martha Stewart (!) into Veronica Lake, Amber Valetta becomes Clark Gable AND Carole Lombard, and Gina Gershon morphs into Sophia Loren.There are a few black women and fewer Asians, so if you are looking for a lot of diversity in this book, you may be disappointed.Still, I love this book, even though I don't actually wear as much makeup as is shown here. Some of never grow out of playing dress-up!Rest in peace, dear Kevin. You are missed. | 1positive
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Heresy
The real tragedy behind the drama surrounding Jeffrey Kripal is that the British Christian missionaries were ultimately successful. The Victorianism imposed on the subcontinent has perhaps permanently alienated urban, Westernized Hindus from their own cultural heritage. This is why the madly tantric Ramakrishna must be re-imagined by the Ramakrishna Mission as a virginal, Victorian, Christ-like saint. This is why any scholar who tells the truth about Ramakrishna must be condemned to the contemporary equivalent of being burned at the stake. Scholars who are simply mistaken about things, or who make errors in translation are not publicly condemned or ritually executed. Only those who are guilty of heresy are. And that is what we have here, in the case of Jeffrey Kripal --- someone who is guilty of heresy, and therefore, in true Maoist fashion, must be vigorously denounced by each righteous person in order to enter the Neo-Vedantist Kingdom of Heaven.See also: ''Ramakrishna Kathamrta'' Volume IV, Section XXIII, Chapter IX, "His earlier story - practicing Tantra under the bel tree - Brahmani procured the articles" | 1positive
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Meh, quite boring...
Now, I understand that this was indeed a good piece of literature. It has some good writing in it. I enjoyed reading the great, vivid descriptions used for many objects and areas. Though all of this is true, there is one thing that ruined this book for me, it's boring. I almost fell asleep reading this. I would rather watch paint dry than read this boring book. This isn't worth the buy unless you're interested in hearing some old lady write a story about the Revolution. This book is mediocre at best. If I were to write a book, I would put the readers interests first. | 0negative
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Disappointing unless you knew some of the characters involved
I knew some of the people at this firm and couldn't wait to learn "the backstory". But I was disappointed.The reporting was good, I guess, but there was no drama, no story arc, and not a lot of interest. This happened, that happened, then something else happened. Like that. All the way through.If you knew some of the people involved, then this book *might* be interesting. If not, I'd skip it. | 0negative
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Makes no sense...
Normally, if I don't like the first line of a book, I don't bother with the rest. I know that sounds harsh, but authors put everything into their first lines. The first line of The Magician's Assistant was terrible, but I read the rest of the book anyhow (against my better judgment) and was suitably punished.The premise of this book was so bizarre I simply could not make sense of it. A gorgeous young woman, Sabine, falls in love with a gay magician. He makes her his assistant and they live happily ever after for eighteen years--without sex, of course--in an odd threesome with Parsifal's sweet lover, Phan. Phan dies. Sabine and Parsifal marrry. Parsifal dies, and Sabine inherits everything. Now wealthy, she discovers that Parsifal, who had said he had no family, has a mother and a sister living somewhere in the midwest. She seeks them out. We expect something to happen.What happens is so out in left field, so absurd, that the previously flimsy story literally falls apart. Sabine, who had no inkling of her sexual preference for her entire adult life, suddenly discovers that she is lesbian! (Hence her love for a gay magician?) Parsifal's sister discovers that she is lesbian, too! They fall in love! Everything works out just fine!HUH?As far as patched-together, nonsensical plots featuring two-dimensional, unconvincing characters are concerned this book takes the cake. The Magician's Assistant was dead. That is the end of the story. | 0negative
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Awesome Edition
The Hobbit is a great book all by itself, but this nice edition makes it even better. It has a nice leather cover, good paper, and drawings by Tolkien himself! When I look at it, I want to read it again and again! I really advise you to buy this edition. | 1positive
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Contrivance par excellance
Horn is clearly not guided by life experience but is using the novel to try to make herself look like a work of erudition, worldliness, & intrigue. Another in the Allegra Goodman genre.Recommended for those who know little about Jewish history and various forms of Jewish religion. | 0negative
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Not a good textbook
IMO, this is not a good textbook. On one hand, it never explains the purpose of the materials. I know it elaborates on the random variables and different distributions and a lot of materials in detail, but I don't know where can I use these things. On the other hand, it omits the mathematical details, too. So when I read this book, I found unclear points everywhere. Someone else recommended this book as a good engineer reference. I think that might be true if there were less errors. I find errors in the equations every two or three pages. Engineers may not need to know the details, and they know what they need to model their designs. But they need the "correct" thing to do that. Maybe that is not the author's fault but McGraw-Hill's, but to me, a reader of the textbook, it is the same. No recommendation of this book. | 0negative
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Good Gawd what a boring book!!!
One thing I will say about this book is the author has some great imagination and this book seemed to be an excuse for him to get the fantastical creatures out of his system and onto paper. The "hero" is boring, passive, and only gets semi interesting when he is trying to reach his mother. The shapeshifters are creepy and virtually the only highlight in this dull dull book. There is a seamless blend of magic, medeval lifestyle, and advance technology, I just wish the author convince me to acutally care about the characters. If my brothers kept getting killed I would have ditched Valentine after couple chapters, I mean, what does it take for these people to get a freaking clue!?!? | 0negative
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Perhaps the worst written books I've ever attempted.
"It was a dark and stormy night". If Morris had written that line it would have been more like:"During the winter soltice a memory flooded back from his miserable childhood in which the evening was damply cold, unsettlingly gloomy, with wind-shattering, rain-driven clouds darkening the stormy night."At least 50% of this book could have been eliminated and the descriptive phrases would have still been overbearing. | 0negative
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The Hobbit - On Kindle
For our anniversary my wife bought me a Kindle and a gift card. The Hobbit was one of the first books I downloaded and I loved it. I read the book many years ago and I listened to the unabridged version on CD, and I loved reading it on Kindle. It is a great story and one I like to read or listen to from time to time. As one who enjoys the pleasures of being home, I can relate to Bilbo as he ventures forth on this great quest. While many of us are comfortable with things we know and are familiar with, I think Bilbo's story is good for all of us to read and enjoy. Life is too short to not get out and try new things, and I remember this lesson everytime I read the story.Recently downloaded the Lord of The Rings trilogy and I am now about half way through them. Great reading for one and all. | 1positive
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Review of Core C++ by Victor Shtern
I recently purchased this book via Amazon.com after reading first couple chapters in a book store. Prior to reading this book i've taken a few c++ introduction classes and read part of another book assigned in this class. From a beginner's standpoint this book is awesome. It helps you to thoroughly understand the true concepts of c++ which help you build a strong back round in object oriented programming. I forgot to mention, i go to a univerisity in california. ALthough i strongly believe most of the professors teaching this subject are intelligent, they cannot or have failed to give me insight this book has given me. | 1positive
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stationed in italy
I am currently stationed in Italy and I am taking Italian lessons through an Italian instructor. She advised me not to get this book because it has alot of words that are misspelled. Other than that the book is okay. But when you are learning a new language it is important to be able to pronounce them correctly. One letter off could mean something different for example casa is house, cassa is case or box, and caso is chance. | 0negative
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El Sermon del Monte
It is an excellent book, that shows the really meaning of God and the word of Jesus. It really helps people trying to improve their spirituality. | 1positive
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Map-Eaters of Kumaon
The book is about as insightful as reading an Englishman's take on tea. I found it to be laborious and bloated, almost to the point of self idiocy for the hunter, who was nothing but a murdering colonialist who had everything carried for him by Punjabi jungle slaves and used large caliber hunting rifles.If you really want to hunt "man eaters", then you track into the wild alone with your own gear and you use a spear or other primitive weapon. Some blathering and arrogant Englishman who shoots a defenseless beast with a 50 caliber long range rifle is hardly "brave". If you want a bragging book from someone who lied about his "feats", then pick this up.As George Bernard Shaw said, "when a man wants to murder a tiger, he calls it sport; when the tiger wants to murder him, he calls it ferocity." | 0negative
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Martin for Jordan fans
George R.R. Martin's "Song of Ice and Fire" is similar to Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" only in the number of characters, depth of back-story, and shear bulk. With regard to plot and narrative, they take a totally different tack.Jordan pulls in hundreds of deliberately classical elements, and applies his own distinctive twists and turns, but the result still fits solidly within the expected behavior of standard fantasy. Rand is the protagonist-hero, the Dark One is the archetypical evil presence, and the obvious outcome is that the boy gets the girl(s) and finally defeats the minions of evil in a final climactic battle.That's not really the way SoIaF is working out. Where Jordan takes standard elements and then customizes them somewhat, Martin sets up all of the standard characters, roles, and props, and then he kills them. Gruesomely. This leaves the author with a nicely blank canvas on which to develop his own, utterly unpredictable plotlines, and leaves the reader in a state of numbed shock such that any preconceptions and expectations are forcibly suspended.What Martin then chose to populate his tabula rasa would make a Nazi stormtrooper squirm. Rape, incest, fratricide, pedophilia, rape, infanticide, cannibalism, vivisection, and more rape are bandied about in SoIaF like "channel" and "ta'veren" are in WOT. In other words, it's a rare chapter that does NOT contain some combination of these and other colorful activities.Had Martin written the Wheel of Time, by the third book, most of the Emond Fielders would be dead, Egwene would be married to Couladin, and the reader would be surprised to find himself in the uncomfortable position of rooting for Eliada in the fight against Shai'tan.I guess I'm suggesting that it's not really a children's fantasy. Structurally, it made me think of Raymond Feist's extended Riftwar series with a strong "R" rating. With regard to overall tone, it left a bitter aftertaste reminiscent of Stephen R. Donaldson's Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (which was a great and powerful series, mind you).About halfway through the second book, I decided that if something cheerful didn't happen soon, I was just going to quit reading. Well, a few interesting things did happen, and I suppose I shall pre-order each new volume as well, just to find out where the heck Martin is going with this plot. But I'm not sure I'll like the answer. | 1positive
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Good book, bad digital edition because of errors
The books is actually quite good, but the copy I purchased had many errors and since the book relies on close textual analysis, this can be a problem. I notified Amazon, and they may have made changes. | 0negative
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Loved the movie had to read the book!
I had not read this book and recently re-connected with the movie after the untimely passing of Mr. Duncan-Clark. Just such a moving story - reaches across the ages. | 1positive
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I wanted to love this book
and I very nearly did.For the first half to three quarters I was utterly and completely amazed. The character of Miss Havisham is genius, and a character like none I have ever met before in literature. The images of her sitting corpse like in her decaying house will stick with me for all time. Everyone should read this book for this fascinating character.While the first part of the book delighted me with wicked satire, and dark humor, the last quarter of the book was too morally right for me. Every character saw the error of his ways, and strove to be a better person, and here the book lost much of the original feel it had going for it. I suppose maybe in Dickens' time, he couldn't get away with a book that did not have a morally uplifting ending.However, I say this is a must-read for the characters of Miss Havisham and the beautiful Estella alone. Also the lawyer Jaggers is a great character. | 1positive
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Great book!
I think this is a wonderful book for all ages. Diane Les Becquets is a great author. The Stones of Mourning Creek is about a white girl named Francie who becomes best friends with a black girl named Ruthie during the 1960's in the South. After Francie's mother dies...Francie became unhappy and really lonely since her father seemed to never be there for her. Francie's mother didn't really die in an accident, she stopped a man from raping a girl and so the man killed her. You quickly find out in a couple of pages who the evil man is and who he was going to rape. Francie became friends with Ruthie, after Ruthie saves her by getting help when she found her knocked out from a snakebite. Francie and Ruthie cherished their friendship and let nothing come between them. Francie falls for a boy named Earnest :O) Their town is full of secrets....people they know are not all they seem to be. Francie and Ruthie end up finding out the answers to the mystery of Francie's mother's so-called accident. The ending was........hmm......dunno what to really say about it but you just have to read this wonderful story for yourself to find out the ending... | 1positive
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Under The Spell
The three sister island series was amazing. It took me to another world away from everyday hassles. These three woman are people I would love to be friends with. It made me feel powerful and extremely happy. | 1positive
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sweet
Found this book while brousing the authors' other books.I was on edge wondering how it would end? The art is just beautiful and storyserendipitous!Bought if as a little gift for newlyweds I met once through my daughter. | 1positive
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how to ruin a great story
Apparently the author was unaware of the word brevity or minutiae. I am major fan of baseball and sports. This read felt like I was reading a daily diary. What a boring book. It was a hard read. I can read Walter Johnson's pitching records in any baseball encyclopedia. The grandson became bogged down in details that didn't move the story along. I didn't need to read about which minor league team had good fly fishing nearby or which had good food.I sure hope that The Big Train wasn't as boring in real life as he was in the book! | 0negative
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One of LMM's best!
This is a delightful book! In some ways, it is like Anne of Green Gables--Emily is a orphan who goes to live with strict guardian--but it has its own special charm. The characters are more developed, though I LOVED Marilla, Matthew, and the rest of Avonlea, Cousin Jimmy, Aunt Nancy, Aunt Elizabeth, Dr.Burnley, and Mrs.Kent(Teddy's mother) is even more interesting. The Murray clan is absolutely hilarious! And Emily's friends are pretty special too. They are all unique--hot-tempered Ilse, crude but lovable Perry, and Teddy(my favorite!) Each episode is a work of art--and the adventures are even more delightful looking through Emily's eyes in her letters to her Father. Emily gives a special tang to everything--she isn't as sweet as Anne or as lovable as Pat, but there is something about her--mysterious, passionate, ambitious--which makes her just as delightful, or even more so. | 1positive
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Dry dissertation of romantic drivel
Although I hate to douse such a highly acclaimed story with a lowly single star rating, I can say with certainty that "Jane Eyre" was by far the worst novel I have ever read.I can see how followers of Romantic love stories would find this legnthy tome a lovely and engaging read. However when it is forced down the throats of unwilling English students, Bronte's ultra-quixotic plot, and seemingly incessant need to detail the most superficial minutia only add to the painful legnth of the novel.By page 400, I had become so tired of Jane's apathetic nature, I was indifferent to the outcome, so long as it came swiftly. | 0negative
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it is the first book talking about Content Management.
It is more for Unix/Perl systems, but the ideas behind are great.. | 1positive
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Financial Management y Schaum's
This work is a good supplement to the class text. It has hundredsof solved problems depicted. In addition, the Schaum's coversinternational financial management problems which are not alwaysfound in the standard texts. This is a good practiceworkbook to reinforce the current text and class notes.Complex cash flow problems, present value and return on investment problems are shown with accompanying diagrams to aidin the visual presentation. This text is excellent in order toprepare for formal licensing exams and other comprehensivetests . | 1positive
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Nope!
This book is even more disappointing than "Conversations With J.K. Rowling". This book is filled with inaccuracies about the Harrry Potter series, even though the author claims that he is a devoted fan of Harry Potter and enjoys the series, but that's hard to believe because this book wouldn't have so much wrong info! Plus, this book is unauthorized, and most of the material was from interviews, websites, and books. Don't forget that Rowling did not put 1 word into this biography herself! I thought the part about her life before Harry Potter was released was kind of interesting, but he keeps trying to relate this to Harry Potter. For example, he says how so many names of people Rowling has met have been "inspiration" for names for the Harry Potter books. That got really annoying! It seems like the author thinks that the only thing in Rowling's life is Harry Potter. But in Rowling's story after the books were released, this book really went downhill. It kept on telling about the Harry Potter books, their summaries, and things like that. All of it is iformation that Harry Potter fans already know, and they most likely want to find out about Rowling, not Harry Potter! I would say this is definitely a bio you should skip. Come on, would you really want to read a book with so many inaccuracies and boring info?! Think about it. Just wait until we get a decent biography of J.K. Rowling | 0negative
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A dissapointment and not the great conclusion I'd hoped for.
I was looking forward to a conclustion of this series with this book. My heart sank when I saw how thick the book was and when I then saw there was a 4th book coming...Then I started reading the book. With this installment the author seems to have lost her sense of balance with story telling. Most of this book (3/4) seems to be about Mikhyel and his tangled relationships. In the end I gave up on this book. I got sick of reading about the great Mikheyl, because what I actually enjoyed about the first 2 books was the sense of balance and growth of all the three brothers Mikheyl, Deymoran and Nikki.I won't be reading any more of this series. It's been a real dissapointment because it started out so well and now it's just rambling. What ever happended to a well written TRILOGY?? It's a rare beast these days. | 0negative
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The Real Deal
Fiction can't come close to telling what Mr. Prater experienced. Having served my country in the US ARMY, it was easy to put myself into the story. I felt the anger, fear and frustration the author describes at every turn. The book is not about a gung ho super soldier who single handedly defeats the evil enemy...(that's fiction), it's about what war is really like and what effects it has on a human being. | 1positive
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Disappointed
I bought this book primarily because of the high marks it received from other readers. I was bored with it almost from the beginning but stuck with it to see how the author would tie up the loose ends. I was very disappointed. There were so many things just did not sit right with me. And I would be very interested to know what drug is available out there that would cause such permanent and severe memory loss, if such a drug exists. So needless to say, I do not recommend this book to other readers. | 0negative
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LOTS OF ANGST; LITTLE PLOT
I've enjoyed other MH Clark books, but this one was a bore. The internal angst of the characters was te-e-e-d-i-o-u-s and basically repeated and repeated (did I mention repeated?) things the reader already knew or understood and didn't contribute to understanding or caring more for the characters. I kept fast forwarding my audio book version hoping that EVENTUALLY I'd get to some plot development. When I did bump into the occasional sentence moving the plot along, it wasn't very interesting. | 0negative
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Wells' imaginative tale of a Victorian lunar expedition
While the work is sadly dated by modern sensibilities(the moon has an atmosphere, among other problems) "Fromthe Earth to the Moon" remains one his more imaginativeworks, mostly in his clever depictions of the Selenitesand their culture, which differs markedly from the movieadaption by George Pal. Prof. Cavor and Mr.Bedford findthemselves deep in the bowels of the moon attempting toelude the Selenites and launch their sphere to return toEarth once again. Wonderful appendix on Selenite civilization. | 1positive
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Overrated Pretentious Trash
This novel is widely regarded as overrated. The plot is not that interesting, the writing style is torturous,the plot twists are predictable. It's a typical example of pre-20th century bad writing. Not to say that any book from that era is crap, but this book certainly is. | 0negative
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classroom favorite for 20 years
This wonderful books gives beginner quilting students all the basics of tools and projects, patterns both by template and by rotary cutting, and progresses with the students through to the completion of their project. We have used this for our Beginner Quilting classes for years with great success! | 1positive
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Odd Woman Out
I was ready to put this book down after reading 25 pages. It was depressing as all get out. It was just one negative behavior after the other. I know part of my dislike for the book and all the characters is that I am not smypathetic (sp) towards self destructive people. However, since the book got so many reviews I decided to give it one more try and I began reading from the very last page forward. I managed to get through the book. Unfortunately, I still did not care for it. Sonny and his cohorts were predators in the neighborhood. I am a Black woman and I vaguely familiar with how a few people can wreck havoc on a neighborhood and cause they good people to want to flee.There were a few things that stuck with me out of all the violence and self destruction. One was Sonny's attitude towards his parents. He ridiculed them because of their southern ways. Did he expect them to leave North Carolina and move to New York City and act as though they had a lobotomy and forget their past? New York City and Sonny's criminal past will be a part of him till he dies no matter where he lives.I did understand Sonny's frustation at times to communicate with his parents when he became older. Sometimes talking with your parents can be just like talking to a wall. It is a useless and painful effort.His assessment of the Muslims, their behavior, and origins was really interesting. I already knew what type of folks where generally a part of the group. I agree with his assessment.If Manchild was published today it would definitely be under the urban/hood genre. What I got out of this book is "thanky Lord I wasn't raised in that environment!" Would I recommend this book? My answer is to go with the majority of readers who loved it. As you can see, I am the odd woman out. | 0negative
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Discover or Rediscover Your Purpose with this Expanded Version
Since its original publication in the early 2000s, The Purpose Driven Life has guided those on a quest to discover their true purpose. Readers worked through 40 days of insights and exercises with five overriding purposes to become closer to God and thus understand their own purpose more distinctly. This concept holds true for the expanded edition, with a unique exception, the new bonus features, which deliver a more in-depth experience.The re-release of this hugely popular non-fiction title is anything but run-of-the-mill. Readers will be drawn in immediately by the gorgeous black and white cover with pops of color - including bright red inside cover pages, which encourage an exciting journey ahead. After the table of contents, a quick section on "Getting the Most from This Book" offers tips and insights on completing the 40-day plan, the biblical significance of the timeframe, and how to engage with the features in each chapter for an ideal outcome. Warren then explains the new edition in another brief chapter and readers/participants are asked to sign a personal covenant dedicating themselves to the process.The bonus features really take this to the next level - with two extra days of lessons for a total of 42, daily QR codes featuring audio messages that expand the messages (40-50 minutes each), and even some QR-coded video messages. Finally, discussion questions, resources, and research notes round-out the updated book. For those searching for their true purpose and even those who believe they've already found it, this re-tooled version of The Purpose Driven Life has something for everyone. We can always grow closer in our relationship with God and others and get deeper insight into who we are and why we were created.The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? (Purpose Driven Life, The)Daily Inspiration for the Purpose Driven Life: Scriptures and Reflections from the 40 Days of PurposeThe Purpose Driven Life By Rick Warren | 1positive
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Things the dark and sysadmins are afraid of
This isn't the first attempt at mixing mathematics and magic. James Gunn's "Sine of the Magus", Poul Anderson's "Operation Chaos", and Rick Cook's "Wizard's Bane" books all spring to mind.But Mr. Stross has truly carved out a new, terrifying, and terrifyingly humorous niche in this particular sub-sub-genre of science fiction and fantasy.It's not so much a novel, per se, as a series of closely connected novelets dealing with one "Bob Howard" (Robert E. Howard, by chance?) and his growing awareness that The Things Are Out There, and they're *hungry*. And so, he has no choice but to pick up his PDA and his copy of Knuth's suppressed Volume 4 and do battle.Stross carries the stories along smoothly, with dashes of humor (wave if you get some of the more esoteric computer science/physics/mathematics jokes), and cold, horrifying nightmares to make even Lovecraft shiver. By the end of the book, you're not sure whether you've laughed your way through a horror novel, or shivered your way through a comedy.This was massively worth the time I took to read it. Stross has a sequel in the works, as well, and there's another Bob Howard story coming out in the first issue of Baen Books' new E-magazine "Universe," that I'm waiting for.I hope Bob Howard has a long future, because if he doesn't... (shiver)More, please! | 1positive
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Agravating Details
I thought the book was well written and funny at the beginning, but at the end it became a little agravating. His humor used at the end came at the wrong times and kind of made your stomach turn. The book began as a light and funny comedy, but turned a touch revolting. The ending and beginning made up for it though so I gave it a 4 out of 5. | 1positive
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Not Just For Women
The fictional storyline was only moderately interesting, but it served very well to demonstrate the wisdom of the book. Telling stories is an age-old way of teaching, and it happens twice with this book: Once for the character Karen Trevini who learns through the stories and lessons from the lovable "grandmother figure" Claudia Lambert, and once again for the reader by simply reading this book.Written entirely from a woman's perspective, this book uses a model describing the phases that every man naturally goes through in his life, and also describes the motivation for these phases. By "not" taking a perfectly good Prince and turning him into a Frog, it helps women to understand men better, as the perhaps strange but ultimately loving creatures they are based on each life phase a man must pass through. It also gives the male reader a way to understand more about himself and the phase of life he is currently in.But it does not stop there. It also explains by example of the storyline how men tend to think differently than women about things. For women, it is invaluable to know as a tool to understanding relations with men, and for men it is a positive affirmation for the tendencies that come so naturally.Let me tell you about my favorite example in the book. To me as a man, it was perfectly clear and obvious. It made me wonder why anyone would need to learn it, until I realized some basic differences between men and women. For example, when you ask a man a question, there may be pauses and silences before the true answer comes out. This is only because he is not finished processing the answer to completion. From several books I've read, women's brains are "generally" more efficient in emotional and linguistic processing than men's brains are. It actually takes longer for a man to process such things. So rather than interrupting and changing his course of thought because you want the answers "now, now, now" (which incidentally could make a man think you aren't really interested in his answer), simply remain silent for a while and listen to all he has to say. Your patience -- and silence -- is usually well rewarded with a complete answer that for once, tells you what a man could be thinking. He only needed the time to figure it out for himself.I do indeed recommend this book. As a man, I have been able to correlate the concepts presented in the book with actual areas of my life's progress. The author Alison A. Armstrong is clearly knowledgeable and wonderfully talented; and for once, a book has been written for both men and women alike, such that no one is offended and everyone learns something valuable. | 1positive
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An all-time favorite. I keep "lender copies."
A sensual story. The book is written so each "scene" is presented/related, then followed by a chapter analyzing the "light" of the scene, and another chapter analyzing the "weight" of the scene. Multi-level book that you know the movie could never capture. To compare it to the movie: of the 400+ pages in the book, the movie maybe covers about 100 pages worth. An excellent book to read with a "significant other" | 1positive
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Masterful history through the lives of 3 great men
Peterson tells the history of early American politics through the intertwined lives of Clay, Webster, and Calhoun. He highlights several major trends in the country, illustrated by these politicians--the increasing opportunity for non-elites to rise to prominence in national politics, the change of the burning issue of the day from the tariff to slavery, and the increasing discipline and organization of political parties.The story is compelling as he tells the lives of these men and their continued interactions in crisp prose that is guaranteed to improve your vocabulary. His descriptions of the personalities, portraiture, and oratorical styles of the men are fascinating.One question looms over the tale--if these were the three of the four most powerful politicians between Jefferson and Lincoln (Jackson would be the fourth), why did none of them get elected president? Peterson answers the question by referring to their individual characters and to their public perceptions. His last chapter and epilogue also contain an insightful discussion of the impact of each of the men on the looming Civil War and history's vindication or indictment of each for their roles (or lack thereof) in contributing to it.This book is not an easy read, which is why I would have given this book a 4 1/2, if possible (yes, I'm stingy with 5's). Another possible drawback is the limited discussion of the formation of the Whig party, in which all three played at least something of a role. | 1positive
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Keep Up the One-Star Reviews Everyone!
God willing, perhaps our words will reach the Board of Education and they'll FINALLY see how bad and useless this book really is! It doesn't matter that many of us are high school students, a bad book is a bad book no matter who you hear it from. Who cares if this books is a so-called "classic?" It has more worth as fuel for the fire of Olympus. | 0negative
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P&P Bethany House Publishers
I love this publishers collection of Jane Austen books, with all the facts, and side notes throughout the story it makes for a great read! | 1positive
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Brooks creates Fantasy how it should be
First, I 'd like to say I have not yet read Lord of the Rings, and I started The Little Hobbit when I was 7 or 8 , but unfortunately the book disappeared, but what I have read left a bad taste, maybe I was too young, nevertheless what I wanted to say is that I don't like all the comparison between Brooks and Tolkien. A heard some things and my opinion is that Hhe (T.B.) may copied a few things and changed then, but I don't think what he wrote was awful. Tolkien should be pleased that someone changed his ideas in such a wonderful way. And Brooks is not a story copier at all. What he wrote in Elfstones is so terrific that words cannot describe. I have always loved Brooks and his stories. As a kid I loved the film Hook and got the book according to the film which was written by Brooks. Okay, I must admit that the film adaption was bad, but so I found the way to Shannara and my library when I was 9 or 10. I read the first 3 triologys and loved them. Short before my 15th birthday I rembered Brooks. I saw one of his books in a catalogue and my memerories told me how much I adored his stories. A part of my memerories returned to the books and I wanted to read the whole series again and what I had not read yet. So I got Sword of Shannara for birthday and I must say the Magic of his books stayed and didn't left although it had become more wiser. Elfstones is the best, I guess, the characters are marvellous described (especially I liked Andor) and the story is unique. Life has to be restored, not to destroyed. The battles are wonderful done, Brooks is a writer, Tolkien is a writer, but really writer has its own style and maybe I will read Tolkiens books one day and I am sure I will say Brooks is very different and it might be I say I like Tolkiens books, but I don't love them. I love Brooks stories. | 1positive
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This almost deserves the label "fraudulent"
Like many other people who were taken in, I was shocked to discover that the entire Introduction had vanished "somewhere" --- terminated halfway down the first page with a question mark.The rest of the book is set in an awful font (think Courier 10) and riddled with typos --- to such an extent that you actually wonder whether you are getting Chesterton's thoughts. What does it mean for something to be called "mook?" Is that the OCR software going crazy over "meek" or "moo?"Obviously the book was never edited at all; no editor could have possibly overlooked the missing Introduction.DO NOT BUY THIS MISERABLE THING. | 0negative
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One of my first favorites!
I read this book when I was still in grade school. I loved it and remember reading it over and over again. It was one of my favorites. I lost track of my copy but thanks to Amazon I was able to find a copy a few years ago and buy it with the same cover that I remembered. I read it as soon as I got it and I still like it, nearly 30 years later. My daughter is reading it now and she loves it so far too. | 1positive
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Biased, and agenda-ridden
I believe Amazon does a disservice to customers by failing to note that this is a Shambhala Dragon Edition by Shambhala Press. Noted for their New Age and leftist interpretations, "Mastering The Art Of War" will not fail to disappoint those seeking a biased interpretation of the Sun Tzu classic, with the leftist agenda of Thomas Cleary showing throughout the work.In its purest form, TAOW is a brilliant distillation of martial strategies for resolution of physical and non-physical conflict. In contrast to seminal examples such as S.B. Griffith's translation (Oxford Press) which is insightful yet objective, Cleary begins almost immediately pursuing a pacifist interpretation; initial chapters find him calling upon social justice perspectives from Mozi, Mencius, and Cheng Yi.Later chapters show less ecidence of Cleary's political bias, owing perhaps to the inability to spin and interpret Sun's work without obvious modification. In the end however, this interpretation disappoints and the reader would be better served by seeking a more academic and objective translation. | 0negative
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Living and Dying in 4/4 Time
Like most people, I've lost friends to AIDS. Living and Dying in 4/4 Time addresses the issues of living with and dying from AIDS in the very real terms of everyday living. That Paul Gallotta has brought the light of his wry and often self-abasing humor to shine upon this dark topic adds a humane element to this inhumane killer.The socio-economic impact of AIDS is brought home in terms of pain. The socio-political impact of AIDS spotlights how poorly our politicians have handled this crisis.This inside view of Paul Gallotta's battles with his own demons while fighting to help those who live with the sands of their life's clocks rapidly pouring away will touch upon your soul.A book for all people, a book for the ages.By the way - for those who do not recognize the reference to "4/4 Time", Mr. Gallotta was a journalist, of no small repute, who specialized in Rock and Roll, Hard Rock and Heavy Metal music. His transition to care giver was a loss to one world and a giant gain to another. | 1positive
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The Red Stairway to Heaven....
When I was much younger I stumbled across a book of his with mostly black and white reproductions. I instantly loved his ability of filling up a composition in odd but logical ways. This book shows most of Mr. Shahn's paintings in color. I consider him a subtle yet sometimes bold colorist. Especially those reds. Now i can fully marvel at his work. Also grab the book "Common man, mythic vision". By all means, also check out Jack levine, Philip Evergood, Rico Lebrun and the rest of the American Expressionists/ Social Realists. So they won't be forgotten in time. | 1positive
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Required reading for anyone interested in Kabbalah or Judaism
While I have read part one (the english text), and have almost finished part 2 (the commentary), It is very clear to me that this authentic book is extremly powerful. The Authors commentary is very helpful.Part 3 (the aramaic or hebrew text) could have been printed in a larger more clear font. However this is one book that I have not been able to put down. I find that it is required reading d\for anyone truly interested in Kabbalah or Judaism. | 1positive
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A Real Classic
My opinion has changed about this book my second time around. I was astonished at how enjoyable this book really is. After I started reading it again, I couldn't put it down. The author really accurately depicts how unfair the South treated the Negroes at that time period. I liked how Harper Lee uses Scout's perspective to tell the story. Children often see more things than adults do. The title fits the story very well; the comparison of an innocent mockingbird to an innocent black man. I would recommend this book to anyone! It will be one of the best classics you will ever read. I promise!! | 1positive
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Wonderful, extremely well-written, witty book!
ONCE AN ANGEL was the first book I ever read by Teresa Medeiros. She is a master of her craft. An example: read each of the chapter headings as they are. They form a letter that's connected to the heroinne. Ingenious, I say. :) I won't give anything away, but a girl beating at a dragon with a broom is enough to make you fall off the couch from laughter. :) And, of course, this book (and the rest of her novels that follow) are full of humor and laughter. Be prepared to laugh with her characters. They are charming and a lot of fun to read. | 1positive
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The Giver
Have you seen in black and white? Probably not, Jonas is a regular boy who lives in some kind of a world where everything is same. Everybody doesn't have any memories.Such as pains, sadness, love... So Jonas and the `Giver' tries to give his community back their memories by leaving the community. So the giver and Jonas make some plans to leave the community. But giver wouldn't leave with Jonas. Why the giver doesn't wants to leave? Will Jonas run away by himself? Find out by reading this book! | 1positive
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Dated Dated Dated
For the 3rd time, I've tried to read this book. I can't. It's unreadable. Outdated, trite, and doesn't speak to me, here in the 21st century. Burn all your income bridges to reach a goal? How does that work in a recession? NOT. | 0negative
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ebg
This is one of the VERY BEST BOOKS I have read in along time. It is fascinating to go back to the Old Testament Bible stories and have them put into historical fiction. I could not put this book down. I am reading the last book #5 now. And each book is awesome. Another series I have ordered that is great historical fiction is Candle in the Darkness. About war and slavery. Same author. Enjoy the reading of Lynn Austins historical fiction books. Educational. | 1positive
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the literary equivalent of watching grass grow
This book wins my award for the most unreadable novel ever written: English twits talking endless twaddle. Thats all there is. No plot, no suspense, no conflict, no characterization, no development of anything--you could shuffle the chapters and it would make no difference in either the novel's outcome or rampant boredom. It is simply a litany of shallow upper class stereotypes making prissy comments about the insignificant concerns in their lives--i.e. a character's "confusingly firm buttocks ... set off by his tight Fred Perry shorts." That's about the depth of character insight one gets in this novel. Read it at your peril. | 0negative
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The first and third of the Mario Balzic mystery novels
"The Rocksburg Railroad Murders" is the first volume in the series Mario Balzic series of K. C. Constantine. Balzic is described as "a hokey, untypical detective who works from a bedrock of compassion and shrewd common sense." But do not let this bit of endpiece hyperbole dissuade you from checking out this mystery. Yes, there are some stereotypical elements in this novel--the chief hates the pompous district attorney Milt Weigh and the overly inquisitive reporter Dick Deitz, but this is also a chief of police who does not like his cops running around with guns (thing "Destry"). Mario has teenager daughters who are trying to tolerate his eccentricities, an elderly mother who remembers basically everything anybody has ever done in this town, and is friends with Father Marazzo, who is willing to listen to anything the chief wants to get off his chest.A man Mario has known since childhood is found bludgeoned to death with a Coke bottle on the platform of the Rocksburg railroad station. The damage is so bad Mario has to be told the name of the victim. From his initial investigation Mario becomes convinced that the man's stepson is the guilty party, but proving it is going to prove rather difficult for a lot of reasons. As the title indicates, this is only the first murder in the book and the tension builds as we wait for the second victim to drop. For Constantine characterization assumes more of an importance than the detective work in this novel, because Mario pays as much attention to the need for compassion as he does for the search for clues.This is a nice start. We get a good sense of the lay of the land, not only of Rocksburg but more importantly of the way Mario Balzic thinks and the way he feels. For me, this was enough to motivate me to move directly to the next story in the series, "The Man Who Like to Look at Himself." Except for the Spenser for Hire series I have never really a lot of mysteries per se, and when I do it is character more than story that grabs my interest. Warning: Constantine does not divide his novles into chapters, so if you settle down to read this book intending to finish the first chapter before you go to sleep, you are going to by up all night."The Blank Page," the third novel in the series, begins when Chief Balzic receives a phone call from Miss Cynthia Summers who reports that she has not seen one of her student roomers for several days. Paying a courtesy call sounds a lot better to Balzic than working on the budget report until he finds the body of Janet Pisula on the floor of her room. The young woman has been strangled with her brassiere, wearing only her panties, with a blank sheet of paper resting on top of her body. The murder had happened sometime the previous week and nobody in the rooming house or on campus had noticed Janet had suddenly disappeared.By this point Constantine has clearly settled on a specific literary modus operandi. Lt. Harry Minyon, the blundering blowhard who was in charge of the local State Police barracks in the previous mystery "The Man Who Like to Look at Himself" has been temporarily replaced by Lt. Walker Johnson, who is more in the mold of Lt. Phil Moyer from "The Rocksburg Railroad Murders" in terms of providing support for Balzic rather than an constant impediment in the search for the murderer. By removing the set of stereotypical clowns getting in the way of Balzic's investigation, Constantine is able to keep the story's focus on the chief's interrogative skills.In the current dichotomy represented by television's "Law & Order" and "C.S.I." franchises, Constantine's Balzic is clearly in the camp of the former. The focus here is not on forensic science or the ability to beat and/or shoot up bad guys, but rather on asking the right questions in order to gather the necessary information. Reading these books is waiting for the key piece of the puzzle to show up so that everything can fall into place, at which point Balzic can go bring in the murderer. These novels are not so much about police procedure as they are the lost art of interrogation. Of course, in Constantine's hands these interrogations rarely take place in a special room at the police station."The Blank Page" is the best of the first three Mario Balzic novels, although readers who are captivated by some of the more colorful characters in Rocksburg may well wish Father Mazzo and Mo Vulcanas were more involved in the story as they were respectively in the first two books. Personally, I would like to see a bit more of Balzic's family, since they tend to provide nice counterpoints to the crime being investigated. But the most important other character in these novels to this point in the series clearly ends up being the murderer. I would not go so far a to say Balzic shows compassion for the murderers he catches (with the exception being what happened in the second novel), but there is certainly a strong sense of empathy and understanding towards the story they have to tell. But then, it is that ability to look at things from the perspective of others that is Balzic's greatest asset when it comes to solving crimes. | 1positive
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Ways of Sunlight
It is a shame that this book is no longer in print. I first taught it in Barbados where it was part of the CXC curriculum, but I have been able to teach selected short stories from it to high school students in British Columbia, New Brunswick, and now Ontario. There are particular stories, such as the first - "Johnson and the Cascadura" and the last - "My Girl and the City" which stand against any short story, anywhere. The latter story is a stream-of-consciousness piece which is accessible for adolescent readers (far more than Joyce!). The collection is divided into two parts - Trinidad and London. If you can get a copy of this book, and are interested in the Caribbean experience, you will not be disappointed with your purchase. | 1positive
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Buyer beware...
People should read this book just so that they are aware of what a hoax looks like. Before the controversy erupted about this book, I'll bet many politically correct people read it and marveled at the truth of it all. This book points out that you can't believe everything you see in print. Things are not always what they seem to be. Aside from all that, I don't think the book is well written either. Read it just so that you can take a reasonable point of view when your friends discuss the controversy. | 0negative
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Thank You, Amazon, for sample pages
I don't know if a reader of sample pages only is allowed to write a review, but that's all it took for me to see that this author is of no use to someone on the lookout for coping advice in my situation -- the terrific pain that results from finally having to end an abusive family relationship to save my own sanity. Le Bey starts right off by making it clear she sees family estrangements as the "down side" of the 20th century's movement toward individual rights, and characterizes sibling splits as "arguments over who got grandmother's silver."If a writer on this subject wants to be taken seriously, her first few pages had better acknowledge that some people's family relationships, even without beatings or incest, are made hellish by forms of mental cruelty and disordered behavior that would be considered grounds for divorce (and possibly court-ordered therapy) in a marriage situation. I cut off all relations with a relative after years of bearing with such behavior, for the last seven of them insisting fruitlessly that my relative agree to try professional counseling before we met again face to face. This has been indescribably painful, and I am sure I am not the only person who has struggled for years to understand and cope with horrible behavior before deciding to separate from it. (I can only imagine what is endured by relatives of people who repeatedly tax their family relationships with criminal, addictive or similar catastrophe-creating conduct.)I have gotten much comfort from books that help me gain perspective on the causes of the behavior I endured and I can always use advice on how to cope with the experience of having no family. What I don't need is to start reading a book on estrangement that all but accuses me and other "leavers" of being selfish on the first few pages. I hope my estranged family member never gets hold of this book -- I can hear the crows of self-vindication already. | 0negative
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Good book - new roads with great photography
I am impressed with the book - lots of new roads to discover, many of which I would not tend to take on my own. Good book, worth the cost - also check out Destination Highways Washington (expensive but excellent) | 1positive
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Wonderful
Both as a writer and a reader, I loved this book. At first, I was dubious that the subject could support such a lengthy work. Indeed, the writer in me kept looking for scenes that could be cut. However, the author's skillful prose more than justifies the length, as he throughly explores the repercussions of the event that drives the books action.As the father of a daughter, I felt brought into the protaganist's world, feeling his anguish and fear. Some readers complain that the main character is unlikable, but I found his honest portrayal, flaws and all, quite refereshing. One of the books strengths is its dutiful avoidance of saintish heroes and dasterdly villians, instead showing how every character experiences the story through the lens of his or her own shortcomings.Many other reviewers have written the basic outline of the story, so I won't repeat them. Sufice to say that Goodwin's well polished prose and excellent use of the first person offers readers a moving and evocative view of loss, grief, and recovery. | 1positive
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very boring
This has to be the worst book I've ever read. It's only somewhat interesting at times but the majority of the book is him rambling on. I can't recommend this book to anyone under the age of 40. | 0negative
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Good Short Story
This would have made a good short story or,better yet, the last chapter of book #2 or the first chapter of book #3. I had looked forward to the next Mitford book, but was disappointed. Her publishers must have made her publish a new book before she was ready. Her previous book finished with sort of a cliffhanger, and I had assumed the next book would pick up there. Hopefully, Ms. Karon will spend more time on her next book. | 0negative
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Book good but different from film
This book was a good read. I read it expecting it to be exactly like the film but was pleasantly surprised to find a compelling, thought provoking plot that left me satisfied with an unexpected ending. | 1positive
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Hits the spot
I'm very new to Photoshop but an experienced web developer. I was looking for a source to get me into Photoshop because every time I loaded the software I just shut it down because I was so intimidated ...No online tutorials made me comfortable enough with the software but I always really wanted to learn. I said enough is enough and thought I would get training straight from someone who knew their stuff.This Tutorial is EXACTLY what I was looking for! It's straight skill based but does not lack the concept-explanation approach. You work with Start and End examples off the CD to learn. This is perfect. This method is very intuitive.And what's more is that the tutorials aren't tutorials on how to do various tricks that leave you in the dark about the essentals. Somehow the class is set up so that the tutorials teach you the essential concepts of Photoshop through doing tricks!So you learn the concepts that enable you to really use the software as it's truly needed while learning some cool tricks.For the first time I'm actually using Photoshop doing things I thought I would never be able to.The class is well thought out and put together. You will get every penny's worth out of it. If you are new to photoshop then please get this class. | 1positive
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Get to the point
There's nothing wrong with giving background on a subject, but Mr. Winchester abuses the privilege. There's no digression too minute, no reference too arcane, no place where one word can't be replaced with 100. When he does finally get to a set of pertinent points, the writing is excellent. That's what kept me from giving it a worse review. Too bad those excellent parts are as rare as cashews in a tub of economy-brand mixed nuts.If you're prepared to work your way through the innumerable detractions and root out the nuggets, the book is worth your time. Otherwise, pass on it. | 0negative
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Boring!
This is a boring novel about boring people in a boring town doing boring things. No excitement. The main character is very stupid and can't do anything interesting, even if he'd bother to try. | 0negative
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Forget About CNN and Fox and Read This
This book is a breath of fresh air, non-partisan reporting for a change. And even if it's not all completely accurate, it speaks volumes above and beyond CNN and the rest of the "most trusted news" media. While the majority of the world exists in poverty and unimaginable suffering, the corporate giants and governments of the developed world are working deals in partisan and monetary interests in a league outside from the working masses. And the real truth behind the visage, who reports this stuff? The corporate controlled media? Of course not. What they report is always bias, snippets of truth sandwiched between slanted stories of corporate and government controlled media.For years now I've been watching the media and have given up in the bourgeois mind melt of the believing public in a news media that falsely claims to report truth as their main objective. And Palast's book is worth the read. This version is an updated one from the 2002 edition, and was apparently a New York Times bestseller. It's amazing how this book was not prevented from publishing. I mean the amount of weight the many parties involved in the book carry, you would think this book would get lost somewhere, never to be found. But since it's not, I'm glad for the opportunity to read it. It's really a very educational book, to say the leastIn this Palast exposes both Republicans, Democrats and many Corporate giants in areas from environmental, pharmaceutical, financial (of course), evangelical and etc. Good information on the 2000 presidential election, the WTO, the World Bank and IMF, Bush, Gore, Robertson and Blair, nuclear waste, oil spills, Wallmart, OPEC and Chavez, BST hormone & etc. Really, you'll get a good education with this book. Of course, there's no use arguing this stuff with the partisan views and fundamentalists, which is like driving a car into a brick wall. And really, if you open your eyes and mind, you'll know that our so-called democracy only lives in a misused, misguided word, which definition radically changes from year to year, while the real meaning resides in the history books.One thing I do get out of this book, whether it's the WTO, IMF, World Bank and all the Corporations, is that it's the LLM's manifesto on page 283, which states that "leaders who lead today are antique creatures of the Passing World. Today, markets lead. Industry CEOs lead. In the Emerging World, prime ministers and presidents merely 'listen.'" It's as though the new "Popes," with the power of the medieval Popes, are emerging as the new leaders, the corporate giants, who through the market and partisan monetary ventures that only benefit the elites, will rule the world in an unethical, authoritarian structure. Only this time around, with technology, both the environment and extreme totalitarianism are the stakes. | 1positive
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An entertaining, if short, book
Protector is fairly entertaining. If you're looking for a quick, fun read, or if you want to pursue other Known Space books (especially the Ringworld series), go ahead and pick up Protector. If you're looking for high drama and/or deep characters that you can care for, Protector probably isn't for you. One of the things I like about this book, and other Niven books, for that matter, is that *most* of the science is solid. The descriptions of certain technologies are detailed enough to be intriguing and enjoyable for anyone. | 1positive
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One of the most inspirational books I've ever read
The whimsical yet down to earth worldview of Brazillian Paulo Coelho is one of the most fascinating and beautiful I've ever read about. The tale of the shepherd Santiago and his search fof his destiny will lift your spirits and restore your faith in your dream, garunteed! | 1positive
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