Movies Books

I recently decided to start reading all of the BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER titles, and this was a great start to the series.

I really enjoyed being introduced to Buffy, Giles, Xander, and Willow, and I'm sure there will be much more to learn about these characters. I hate Cordelia already, and know that I'm going to love Angel, but I'm still really excited to keep reading.

A great start!

The Harvest is a retelling of the story told at the start of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer tv series. A novelisation of the tv show, if you want to put it like that, taken from the Whedon script. There is a master vampire in Sunnydale, and on one particular night he is able to open a portal and summon an army.

Buffy has a new Watcher, and meets some new friends at her new school, after being booted out of the last one, and has to come to terms with all this and deal with Head Vamp into the bargain.

Love it! Its fun to read somethings when you've already seen the movie or in this case the episode. Thanks Richie!

"Into every generation, a slayer is born. One girl, in all the world. . ." If these lines sound familiar, then you probably already know the plotline of this book.

For those of you without a clue to the Buffy saga, the story tells of a teenage girl whose destiny is to rid the world of vampires. Having been kicked out of her old school for burning down the gym (for more information on that, watch the BtVS movie starring Kristy Swanson), Buffy and her mother relocate to Sunnydale to start a new life. Well, surprise, surprise, Sunnydale happens to be situated on top of the Hellmouth, an ancient portal for all forms of evil. Buffy, with the help of her watcher Giles and new friends Xander and Willow must fight to destroy the vampire forces that want to open the portal and unleash hell.

The Harvest is the novelization of the first two episodes of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer tv series. The book offers no additional backstory or new information and will be appreciated mostly by die-hard fans of the series, especially if they haven't seen the opening episodes in a while. Speaking as a die-hard fan, it was fun to remember just how innocent the Scooby gang was when they started out and how much their characters developed by the end of the series.

"The Harvest" is the novelisation of the first two pilot episodes of Joss Whedon's incredibly popular television series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". Richie Tankersley Cusick does an adequate job of transcribing the events of "Welcome to the Hellmouth" and "The Harvest" into book form, representing the characters truthfully, and making the action and suspense - well, suspenseful.

Buffy Summers has just moved to Sunnydale, seeming to be just another beautiful, blonde teenager, but in fact harbouring a dark secret. She is the Vampire Slayer, the one girl in all the world imbued with the supernatural strength and skills in order to protect it from the spread of evil.

And her arrival in Sunnydale seems timely. After meeting her new Watcher (trainer and researcher) Rupert Giles, and two new friends Willow Rosenburg and Xander Harris, Buffy becomes aware of an evil rising in the small town. Trapped in a buried church awaits the Master, a vampire ruler, whose night of escape is drawing closer. When the Harvest comes, he can draw enough power to open the portal between our world and hell: the hellmouth that Sunnydale unknowingly rests upon. And only Buffy can stop him.

Along with introductions to Angel, Darla and Cordelia Chase, Cusick handles the material well, making this a short but sweet beginning to the realm of Buffy-based books.

Wow, that was the quickest, easiest review I've ever done!

This is the started you need to boost your confidence. Lots of tips and websites too.

Of course we all have different ways to write. Some of the techniques from this book will not work the same way for everyone. But this book is a great source of dos, don'ts and gotchas of the process of getting a movie made.

This is money well spent.
And not that much anyway, which is even better!

All of the real-world (how to get your script in front of the people who can buy it) advice is in this book. I've read 'em all and this is the best.

Just another spec monkey here in L.A. working on a few scripts. But I think the previous review by mobuli gets this wrong.

Last month I tore apart a script and was trying to figure out how to put it back together properly. Like many a writer I found myself in need of specific techniques. Didn't need anymore discussion about mythic structure or formatting or act breaks or character, etc. All that stuff is valuable and good, but I was really in desperate need of good solid methods for laying out my action more clearly, threading action down a page. Using ..., -- and descriptions like

ME

pulling my hair out.

And did you know I could not find one screenwriting book currently in print that deals with just that sort of thing? It wasn't until I picked up Crafty Screenwriting and got to page 99 that I had found what I needed. Bought it before I got to page 100. For 31 pages, this book gave what I used as a rewrite tutorial to help me put my script together in the manner God intended. It was so useful that I demanded that every member of my screenwriting group march out immediately and buy it themselves.

For any writer out there it isn't a mystery how many screenwriting, writing and writing for the screen books exist in the world today (please note my redundancy had a point).

Reading one book is usually like reading them all. The same message, means and delivery - mechanical, trite and simplistically frustrating as we all know writing isn't easy - on the page is only 1/5 of the battle.

4/5 of the battle comes once the screenplay has been written and for those of us who don't have a dad, uncle, aunt, sister, cousin or best friend "since we were three" in Hollywood our perceptions on that ratio may be less than what we would like to admit.

It is refreshing then to find a book that not only covers that 4/5, but does it in a way that allows the reader not to be overwhelmed by clearly such overwhelming odds and circumstances. Crafty Screenwriting is actually an exterior title, because the book goes much deeper than that to explore the world of screenwriting, on the page, off, before, during and after the process. What exists, what doesn't, what to do, what not, how to do it, how not, etc ...

Anyone looking to read a book simply about how to write a screenplay, look elsewhere - you aren't ready for this level yet. If you're looking for knowledge on how to write a screenplay, how to get an agent, what to say in Hollywood, the moves you should be making and how to seal the deal - then you've found the 5/5 right here.

Anything but mechanical, nothing but informative and here's how you should feel after:

INT. HOUSE, COMPUTER ROOM - AFTERNOON

Bob, an unemployed writer, closes the book Crafty Screenwriting and places it to his left, while sitting in front of his computer.

The cursor from his screenwriting software blinks on the blank screen in front of him - BEAT, BEAT, BEAT.

Bob begins to type.

BOB (v.o.)
"Now I'm finally ready."

My daughter truely enjoyed this book. Pretty much the same format as pigs n blanket.

I have purchased this great book before as a gift. Its on my list of gift books.

If You Take a Mouse to the Movies, then what happens? Your child will have fun finding how one thing leads to another. This book provides endless entertainment for all.

Reasoning: The first reason that someone should buy this book is it shows how to care and be responsible for pets. More then 50% of American families own pets but not many of them know how to treat them so many of them end up dieing. The next reason some one should buy this book is that cheery attitude of this book can help kids out with their problems and make them feel better. The next reason is that the many people can get good advice from this book and the pictures are easy to understand making this book fun for kid's worldwide.

This book's unexpected sequences of this book are loveable. The responsibility it takes to raise a pet is accurate. The cheerful pictures and vocabulary building is excellent for your child to excel socially and academically. This book is a must have!

My 5 year old son absolutely loves all of the books in this series. I have read them to him since he was 2, and now, he is reading them on his own. They are so clever and cute....it is fun to read them over and over again.

I have purchased the full set of Laura Numeroff books for all 4 of my children. They were the favorite books of my son who passed away at the age of 10 due to brain cancer a few years ago. I am now purchasing the books for my grandson due in December. I have pre-ordered her new books. These are the greatest books!!! Every child (family) should own them!!!!!
Pam Roundy

A monumental work for humanity and Salvation. Pope John Paul II answers the questions of an Italian journalist with alacrity and succinctness. He carefully expresses his opinions that lifts the shadows off the Truth, revealing it with philosophical expertise.

The Holy Spirit was surely using Pope John Paul II to spread the message of Jesus Christ and answer many of the questions that Christians and secularists may have concerning God, life and religion.

A major work of Faith defining the Catholic Church and Christianity as a whole. The Pope shows his superior intellect at work. Great book!

I have to say that I had much inspiration from this book. Not because I like JPII (RIP), but because of the way he approached religion and society. Every person has his own way of looking at the world, and it is illuminating to read what the leader of the Catholic Church has to say.

Many people believe that the former pope stood for the Word of God. If you read the book and honestly compare it's content with what the Bible says, you will find, that this was not true. Otherwise the book is a waist of time and it will be better spend if you read the Bible itself.

In this book, John Paul II has made a great effort to answer as efficiently all the questions presented in the book. Many of the theological concepts are explained in a simple fashion so that the average Catholic can easily understand the meaning of his words. If one has a good chunk of questions relating to the Church then this book is definitely worth being sought out.

Crossing the Threshold of Hope
by Pope John Paul II
THE BEST BOOK I EVER READ.

This book was a load of crap. It was nothing but a bunch of boring common knowledge. They name a subject then give you 1/4 of the info on it. And there was only a couple pics of the bond actors except for Pierce who there was a lot of pics of. I think the author is gay for Pierce. The book was written like someone watched the movies once and wrote down a few facts here and there. I love the bond films but I wouldn't pay a dollar for this book.

This book is done in typical DK style, a fabulous pictorial representation of the people and items associated with the James Bond series of films. If you want to know more about some of what you see on the screen, this is a good choice.

But I have a bone to pick with a couple of the reviewers on this page. First of all, Ray Walker (2/14/03) doesn't seem to realize that "Never Say Never Again" was NOT one of the "official" Bond films; the reason it resembles "Thunderball" is that that was the only Bond script in the public domain, and thus the only one available to another producer. Although not a bad film (thanks in part to Sean Connery), most Bond purists do not include it when discussing the Bond series, and neither the author nor publisher should be blamed for excluding it from this book.

And the reviewer on 5/7/03 needs to realize that this book is not intended to be an in-depth study along the lines of "The Essential Bond", which is another excellent book. The reviewer should have taken into account that this is essentially a picture book, and should be purchased in addition to, and not in place of, the type of book he claims to prefer.

This turned out to be a truly wonderful book!!!! Very detailed, very accurate(besides for a few mistakes in fight sequences). Great thing to read to become even more acquainted with James Bond.

I've been a Bond fan since my Dad used to take me to the public library so I could take out the hardback versions of Fleming's master spy.

I honestly like this book, although it IS for a younger audience. The cutaway views of the "Bondmobiles" and "Little Nellie" are well rendered and make for a detailed insight behind the sheetmetal.

I would have liked to have seen a newer edition, featuring Brosnan's last film as 007...DIE ANOTHER DAY. I think the VANQUISH and the Jaguar would have only added to the fun aspect of this book.

It's definitely NOT a wordy book, but does offer the missions (films) in a nice concise chronological order, complete with places in these movies of note such as Dr. No's island base, Blofeld's oil rig, Stromberg's "Atlantis", etc.

All in all, a nice addition for ANY Bondian library...or even a good starter book for the "next generation" of 007 fans!

((that's SHAKEN...not stirred))

This book was really amazing. It has almost every little detail of every Bond movie from Dr. No to The World Is Not Enough. Book also contains some spectacular large photos from the movies. For each section of the movies, it describes basically what it was about, and it gives some of the information about charcters, villains, settings, and the "gadgets" used in the movie. It also contains hand-drawn pictues of scenes and places from the movie. Labels are also on the pictures (pointing out what is what). Really amazing, and you might learn a thing or two as well which is nice. At the end of the book after it has discussed all of Bond's missions, it has info on the movies themselves like the cast and crew. Then there is the index. This is a MUST BUY for any true James Bond fanatic. It is a fun book to look at, and to this day, I look through it as well and it sparks many memories. If you are not too familar with Mr. Bond, then do not bother with this item. A tremendous book, definitly worth your hard earned money.

I love the movie, I'm sure I'll love the to. I read slow. This starts out in Queens. About the web-slinging before he was.

It begins with an orphan named Peter Parker, raised by his beloved Aunt May and Uncle Ben in Queens, New York. A quiet student, he works diligently at his studies and pines for the beautiful Mary-Jane Watson. But this ordinary teenage boy is about to have his life turned upside down, when he is bitten by a genetically altered spider. Suddenly, he finds himself in possesion of spectacular powers. He is now, and forever Spider-Man!

Follow Spider-Man's action-packed journey from his struggle to harness the extraodinary gifts that will prove to be both blessing and curse, to his fight to save innocent lives while the media tear him to pieces. It all leads to the dramatic battle high above the city streets, where the webslinger faces his archnemesis, the madman known as the Green Goblin. While the city watches breathlessly, Spider-Man confronts the greatest challenge, and the Goblin puts Peter Parker's vow to fight crime to the ultimate test.

The movie is exceptionally good - and even more so this novelization of the film by Peter David at some respect would even seem quite much better, sorta like reminding you the advantage of written format's merits and appeal to tell a story better than any other web-dusty format can.

I've first encountered a work by David from the WEB OF SPIDERMAN comic (mainly a stand-alone spidey story series which MARVEL started publication back in '85 or '86), in particular issue number 13 - with the story titled 'Point Of View', and from that point on I knew P. David is one of the most unsung outstanding writers out there not only in the comic book field - nearly to the level of comicbook writer vet Roy Thomas. Although I've commented that the movie's storyline would've been perfect if they haven't skipped some elements from the comics' plotline from where they were based from- on my review for the film - this noveliazation stands supremely quite alright.

However, it so happens that other reviews for this movie-tie-in book states the same thing about being a clever work from P. David, which i got from a MARVEL paperback boxed set with movie tie-ins for HULK (also rendered by Peter David - and the one I'm currently reading right now along with David's novelization for the sequel SPIDERMAN 2) and X-MEN 2, which is written by Chris Clearmont, who's works in comics I am quite familliar and am fond of, but at this point- the former writers for the first XMEN movie tie-in seems to've done a better job.

Going back to this work of Peter David for the Spidey movie -- it's just as good as reading 'em Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling. Twas one of the best re-renditions ever portrayed not only for the SPIDERMAN mythos that I have encountered , but for the overall conundrum of works for adaptations as well.

Spider-Man is one of my favorite comic superheros. I loved the movie and i loved the soundtrack and i definatley loved the book. the action and comedy of spider-man never stops. You gotta read it.



If you Liked This Book Read Spider-Man 2 & All The comics!

The long awaited arrival of the webslinger on the big screen. Peter David does a magnificent job spinning the story of Peter Parker/Spiderman. The minor changes from the comic book do not affect the story much, since the major events are told as the comic book portrays them. Definitely worth the wait.

I couldn't believe how many of the films listed in this book I had never heard of before, let alone never seen. Now, after going right down the list, I can't imagine not having seen them!

I love Ebert's reveiws for so many reasons. The reviews are well-written and literate. I'm not a film buff to any great degree, so I really don't have any deep opinions about including "The Searchers" or "Stagecoach." But Ebert explains his own opinions and perceptions enough I can usually understand how he feels and why, even if I disagree* (or don't care). He's interesting to read and I feel like I learn something not only about about movies but also about being a critic - the literature of movie reviews.

*I often think Ebert is too generous with the number of stars in his weekly reviews. New movies often get four stars but so does "Citizen Kane"? I don't think so.

Ebert is the most erudite of the film reviewers making money plying their understanding of the world.

I always think it's funny when video store clerks say they love movies, but haven't seen even one of the movies in this book.

While not the definitive collection of great essays on great movies, it's a hardy guidebook of films cinemaphiles should see, and why they are so great.

Everyone has their own ideas about what should be on the list, but Ebert is pretty much right on!

Nobody writes about film the way Roger Ebert does. Ebert's writing about film, like his TV reviews, are always fun and entertaining, not pretentious and stuffy, like other film critics are. This book is compiled from Ebert's long-running bi-weekly column "The Great Movies", in which he examines what makes certain movies enduring. This isn't designed to be a "100 best of all time" list. It simply happens to be which movies Roger chose to write about at that particular time.
Roger takes a look at classic and popular movies such as "Star Wars", "Casablanca", and "Gone With The Wind". But he also examines lesser known movies such as "Mr. Hulot's Holiday" and the "Up" documentaries (such as "28 Up", and so on). Comedies, dramas ,thrillers ,foreign films, all genres are represented.
One can see all the joy and passion Ebert has for the cinema in these pages. In writing about Fellini, for example, (in his discussion of the film "8 1/2") Ebert writes about how some veiwers have a problem with Fellini's emphasis of images over ideas. He writes,"I celebrate it", meaning that film is a medium for images and that sometimes the most memorable images are not necessarily linked to one defined purpose.
The collection also includes anecdotes about how some movies were rediscovered and/or restored years later. The Marx Brothers' "Duck Soup" was a flop until young people in the sixties responded to its anti-authority themes. The original negative of Renoir's masterpiece "The Grand Illusion" was thought to be destroyed during WWII. A muddy copy existed for years.Roger recounts how the negative surfaced and was used for restoration during the 1990s. The underrated thriller "Peeping Tom" was dismissed when it was released in 1960. Years later, Martin Scorsese helped revive the film, and it received great acclaim. The film's director, Michael Powell met Scorsese's editor, Thelma Schoonmaker, and later married her.
All of this is examined in an enjoyably readable fashion. After finishing it, you may find youself wanting to revisit old favorite movies, or discovering ones you have not seen before, but will want to rent. I certainly did. This book is indispensable for any film buff.

"A Question of Blood" is the 14th book in the John Rebus series and delivers an engaging storyline--two murdered schoolboys, a snuffed out stalker of Rebus' partner, the death of an ex-cop and assorted mayhem revolving, as ever, around Inspector Rebus and his mates. Author Ian Rankin puts his anti-hero through the usual physical punishment which at times seems only reasonable for someone so anti-social and contrary as Rebus is portrayed. A secondary and interesting theme explored by this book (although not in nearly enough depth) is a look at post-traumatic ailments suffered by various characters central to the plot, including Rebus' own piled up issues.
This is a better than average read, driven largely by compelling dialogue rather than narrative and well-worth the time of any crime/mystery reader.

This is the first Ian Rankin novel I've read, but I'll make a point of reading them now. A really well designed mystery/police procedural by a Scottish author set in Edinburgh. The story begins with a school shooting, unfortunately an all too common event today, and not limited to the U.S. There was an earlier shooting in Scotland by a man who burst into a school, similar to Rankin's book. The actual shooting, as well as the whole gun control debate, are brought up in A Question of Blood, as well as other current issues U.S. readers will be familiar with, such as teenage gangs, the drug trade, Internet pornography and Goth kids, who might have stepped out of Columbine. The action is continuous and although there are a lot of characters and various subplots, you don't feel they get in the way of the story. Although the Scottish criminal justice system is somewhat different from the American, police and other personnel face similar problems. I found the book fascinating (I really hate that pseudo-word unputdownable) and recommend it to anyone who likes the mystery genre. Also on the school shooting theme, Jodi Picoult's Nineteen Minutes, in a U.S. setting, is a good comparison read.

I took a long time to warm to this book, which is one of series of stories about Scottish Detective Inspector John Rebus, a hard drinking loner, as you might expect. The author states in the preface that, in exchange for a donation to charity, he has taken to naming some minor characters after people who donate. I found this a bit weird, and strangely stereotypical. I took a long time to get into the story line, which moves along via Rebus's interior narration, and that of his young, admiring assistant Siobhan Clarke, and mixes in some dialog between them.
I found the best bits were the descriptions of Scottish society, I live in Ireland, so don't know the full details, but I identified with the descriptions of the modern media, the sodden weather, the drinking etc. I thought some of the street-criminal characters were quite believable also.
The plot hinges around a helicopter crash off the Scottish coast which killed a significant number of Government spy-types, an event which actually did take place. However, Rankin fictionalises what they were up to, I thought this might be insulting to the relatives of those who died, however I guess he has licence to do so.
The main weakness, I felt, was the clichéd nature of the lone, hard drinking detective, useless at relationships, but obsessively brilliant at his work. This has been done so often, you have to wonder what more could we be expected to put up with. Rebus finally drops his guard when he `rescues' his assistant Clarke, after suspecting she was involved in another `plane crash and gives her a big hug. NO HE WOULDN't, and the plane crash was put in for the TV mini-series. This last chapter takes a meandering story and puts it into a tailspin [yes, I know] Overall I won't be back to Rebus anytime soon

The novel starts with a murder suicide; an ex-SAS serviceman walks into a posh private school and kills two students, wounds another and then turns the gun on himself. The Question is why would the killer walk pass all the other students on the Quad, and down a hall to this specific room?

So begins another John Rebus novel, but this one is a different presenta- tion: it's split into seven sections (each representing a day of the week) and follows Rebus and company as they methodically follow the clues to the culmination of the inquiry. One of the victims turn out to be the son of John's cousin, who he hasn't spoken to in years, another the son of a judge; and the wounded child is the son of the local MSP (Member of Scottish Parliament). Are there any connections?

Once again John is in hot-water and suspended, why? Seems that a "villian" who has been harassing Siobhan, had turned up dead in a fire. John was last seen leaving a bar with the victim, hours before the fire. John has turned up at St. Leonard's with his hands in bandages, that he says are the result of a "scalding". Things don't look good for our anti-hero.

But we know that in the end, all things will turn our right enough so that John will be able to stay on the force and go on his un-merry way. What makes the book so good, is that nothing that happens along the way is a turnabout, or a HUH? Everything that happens and the way all of the characters follow the clues are realistic and make for a believable chronology. Rankin is a master at developing a plausible story from beginning to end.

The strength of Rankin's works is the realistic outlook of John Rebus and Siobhan Clarke: in a society that operates by mechnical principle, they are purely organic and in fact feral, which is what keeps them devoted to truth (in a world where lies are publically rewarded) and allows them to solve mysteries with several layers of implication. Rankin's layering technique is flawless, and his mysteries relatively realistic and logical, which combined with actors who are likable characterizations of threads of thought required to find a balance between society and soul, make for a powerful and fun read. We the readers feel we could live in this world, and even more, we want to, since these characters fight the same quintessential adaptation-or-conflict seesaw we ourselves must undergo. For those who non-critically enjoy a solid mystery that feels as if it could happen in our newspapers, if not our world, Rankin has produced another treat.

The Angel chronicles books are adapatations of Buffy tv series episodes. The episodes done here are Halloween, where Ethan Rayne's costume shop makes you become what your costume represents, and the two What's My Line episodes, where Kendra the Slayer comes to town, and Spike manages to get the du Lac magic going for Drusilla. Buffy also has to deal with the Order of Taraka wanting to remove her live status.

I read all 3 of them. the frist one was my fav. but this onewas right up there!

ANGEL CHRONICLES VOL. 2
Richie Tankersley (1999), based on teleplays "Halloween" by Carl Ellsworth, "What's My Line, Part 1" by Howard Gordon & Marti Noxon, and "What's My Line, Part 2" by Marti Noxon

RATING: 3/5 Stakes

SETTING: Season Two

CAST APPEARANCES: Angel, Buffy, Cordelia, Spike, Xander, Willow, Giles, Principal Snyder, Larry, Ethan Rayne, Drusilla, Oz, Dalton, Kendra, Willy

BACK-OF-THE-BOOK SUMMARY: "The course of love in Sunnydale never runs smoothly, especially for Buffy Summers the Vampire Slayer and her boyfriend, Angel the vampire. They're going through the usual early stages of a romantic relationship--dressing to impress, going on coffee dates, and saving the world. When Buffy tries to be more like the girls from Angel's distant past, she succeeds a little too well--becoming helpless in the face of real evil.
Career week at school finds Buffy questioning her future as the Slayer--and all the relationship baggage that title comes with--until an unexpected ally gives new insight into her calling. And when Angel is taken hostage by an old aquaintance [sic] with sinister plans, Buffy realizes she must draw on all her passion to save the one she loves. Now, collected for the first time, are three stories from the hit-TV series chronicling Buffy and Angel's growing romantic relationship."

REVIEW

Volume 2 of the Angel Chronicles novelizes three strong Second Season episodes. The novelizations stick very close to the scripts, with the only original material being a new prologue and a new epilogue.

In "Halloween," Buffy and her friends are transformed into the people they've dressed up as for Halloween--thus, Willow becomes a real ghost, Xander becomes a soldier, and Buffy turns into a simpering eighteenth century noblewoman. A good example of how the show can be humorous without becoming stupid and silly (contrast some season four episodes) makes "Halloween" a good read.

"What's My Line" parts 1 and 2 introduce Kendra the Vampire Slayer and sees Buffy attempting to survive a trio of assassins while facing teen career-fair angst. These episodes have some fun action sequences, introduce a whole new dimension to Cordelia and Xander's relationship, and provide more insight into how Buffy views her life. Spike and Drusilla play a major role in part 2.

Much like Volume 1 of the Chronicles, Angel fans should note that their gel-haired favorite is mostly on the sideline in the first story, although "Halloween" does have a few touching scenes involving Buffy and Angel's failed first date.
The "What's My Line" stories contain more Angel, as his presence is a major plot point in Spike and Drusilla's plans.

Overall, Richie Tankersley delivers a smooth, straightforward adaptation of all three episodes with no surprises.

Whether or not you have seen the episodes "Halloween," and "What's My Line" parts 1 and 2, this book is a must have for all Buffy and Angel fans. Tankersley takes you into the minds of the characters, and gives you a glimpse of the motives for the action we see on television.

"Halloween" is one of the funiest episodes in the BTVS series. All hell breakes loose when the population of Sunnydale is transformed into their halloween costumes. And who is there to fight the children turned demons? Not the slayer, who unfortunately believes herself to be a noblewoman from the 18th century! There is a serious side to the episode, however. The appearance of an old friend reveals secrets Giles would rather have remain hidden.

"What's my Line" is an emportant episode in the Buffy mythology. Besides bringing up the possibility of there being two slayers in one time, we also see the beginings of a beautiful relationship between Willow and Oz!

A good read, and definately worth the buy!

This volume is the novelization of 3 excellent episodes: Halloween - Buffy wants to impress Angel by dressing as a 18th century lady. However Giles'old friend Ethan casts a spell which turns everyone into the character their costume represents. Buffy is helpless and Spike is on the move. What's My Line, Part one and two - Spike sends bounty hunters to kill Buffy. He captures Angel to use him in a ritual to cure Dru and there is a new slayer in town.

The three stories focus on Angel's love for Buffy. Also Buffy comes face to face with the problem of a slayer loving a vampire. Everyone wants Angel dead and Buffy is determined to stop them because as she says, "Nobody messes with my boyfriend."

While I enjoy the TV series episodes, I have come to equally enjoy the books because they focus on some of the psychological details of the characters. This particular story was an enjoyable one that kept me guessing and routing for the CSI team to bring all of the evidence together and stick it to the bad guy! As I have read a couple of the CSI books, I am becoming more and more riveted by the cool level-headed Grissom and the interesting and somewhat jaded Brass. It's a great story that is perfect for a stormy day.

*Double Dealer: CSI* was a fast-paced mystery that left you guessing who did these crimes. *Double Dealer* is an easy read that doesn't dwell forever on the technical aspects or jargon of forensic investigation.

A mummified body has been found at an abandoned building that used to be a casino. There are 2 bullet entries at the back of his head. Fingers are missing. This body had disappeared 15 years ago.

Another body has been found at a casino. 2 bullet entries are found at the back of his head.

Are the CSI dealing with a serial killer? The team seems to think so. However, Grissom, with his Vulcan-like mind and approach, tells the team to follow the evidence and leave out their feelings. The CSI finds more DNA than suspects. So, just how many people are involved?!?!

Meanwhile, the FBI are sniffing around for information. Just what exactly are their involvement with the case(s)?

Like I said, it's an easy read that will grip your attention to the end.

I didn't have high expectations when I first started this book. I had received it as par of a PC game package, and I thoroughly loved it.

Patricia Cornwell's novels are sometimes a bit tough to read. She starts getting all caught up in other things and eventually I get bored and wander off. The CSI novels, however, are fast paced, give you just enough to be interested, are easy to read, and give you good twists. It's not weighed down with a lot of complicated character development. There's just enough there to make you satisfied.

This particular novel gives a great story with some interesting plot twists. If you enjoy the series, like the books, and own a PC, I'd recommend any of the CSI PC games too.

I enjoyed this book. It was a good read and faithful to the shows. I have also enjoyed the rest in this series.

For all you fans of CSI
We give you now - The Book
With Gris and crew hot on the case
It's more than worth a look

Just like they do it on the show
they're tackling two cases
two murders at two different times
and in two different places

One gets popped in his hotel
the other's mummified
It's time to find out who they were
and why is it they died

Grissom, Sidle, Willows, Brown
Sanders, Brass and Stokes
They sort and sift the evidence
Not much gets past these folks

Two murders with one signature
Just watch them find out why
the hardest part's the dodging game
around the FBI



Amanda Richards, May 12, 2007