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Good book but in bad condition. They definitely did not take care of this one whereever it was stored

This is a downer of a book. Though it is beautifully written and the concept of using "Mrs. Dalloway" by Virginia Woolf as the template for the novel is a brilliant idea, the novel is depressing and deeply upsetting to read. Two suicides and a wannabe suicide are not what you want to encounter when you are depressed. What could have been a life-affirming book was doomed from the start. It's a lesson in how to squeeze the joy out of life and living, although the author would argue otherwise.
The three main characters inhabit three parallel stories in different eras: Clarissa Vaughan who is giving a party for her writer friend, Virginia Woolf who is in the midst of writing "Mrs. Dalloway" while trying to fend off her mental anguish, and Laura Brown who is fighting to retain her sanity while preparing a birthday party for her husband. Cunningham, like Woolf, is obsessed by the passage of time and time's inner and external adumbrations.
The highlight of Woolf's novel is the party Clarissa Dalloway has been preparing for all day. In "The Hours" it is the aftermath of the aborted party for Richard that Cunningham highlights. Is the lesson of "The Hours" that a poet has to die so we, the living, value our own lives more?
The only character who is appealing in the book is Julia, Clarissa's lover. Most of the characters are selfish, self-absorbed, desperate people. Some of them fear the hours going by out of their own mental instability. It's almost a casebook in various types of insanity. We read about exasperating, annoying people teetering on the edge of mental instability. Sexual ambiguity is a constant theme in the book. Two events in the novel have great impact and make Virginia Woolf and Mrs. Brown really perk up--when they kiss another woman. And, of course, Clarissa is in a long-time relationship with her lover Julia. Two sexually equivocal women are toppling out of their nests (homes) like birds falling out of their nests. Paradoxically, Cunningham has created real, three-dimensional characters.
Writing about ravaged people is almost as bad as reading about them. Like Hickey in "The Iceman Cometh" Cunningham has taken the kick out of the booze. Where is redemption in the book? We can wallow in the mental states of the deranged only so long before we slip into an abyss of melancholy ourselves.
Nine Lives Too Many
The Daemon in Our Dreams
The Rice Queen Spy
Clawed Back from the Dead

This book makes it clear that perfect execution is not required in order to win a Pulitzer Prize. The editor in me cringed at all the parentheticals and head hopping, but the story-teller in me rejoiced at the vivid imagery and intricate, interwoven plot lines. It's an easy one-day read and well worth the investment regardless of familiarity with Virginia Woolf.

"Here, then, is the world (house, sky, a first tentative star)..." These words are not the words of Virginia Woolf, although readers could certainly be forgiven for thinking so, they so accurately catch her idiosyncratic cadence and her offhand thrilling shimmer; they are the words of an invented Woolf in The Hours--"The Hours" was Woolf's working title for Mrs. Dalloway--a novel in which the American writer Michael Cunningham imagines several episodes in Woolf's life over the course of a single day in 1923 (the year she was writing Mrs. Dalloway). He then sets these episodes against a single day in the life of a young married woman and her little boy in California in 1949 and, in alternating chapters, against a day in the life of a middle-aged New York editor and her (gay) circle of friends at the end of the twentieth century.

He also invents the afternoon of Woolf's suicide: "She hurries from the house wearing a coat too heavy for the weather. It is 1941. Another war has begun." But even on the way to her own drowning, the writer in Virginia (and the writer was all of her) is distracted by "a scattering of sheep, incandescent, tinged with a faint hint of sulphur..."

How accurate Cunningham's evocation of her subsequent drowning is we can never know, but it feels inspired and terrible, and there is even, at the heart of it, the kind of mad glee of a children's book: "She appears to be flying, a fantastic figure, arms outstretched, hair streaming, the tail of the fur coat billowing behind..."

A mother and her little boy, walking across a nearby bridge, just narrowly miss catching sight of her. They foreshadow another mother and little boy living in Los Angeles in 1949. Laura Brown (the other mother) is longing to stay in bed so she can finish reading Mrs. Dalloway--she reaches for it automatically "as if reading were the singular and obvious first task of the day, the only viable way to negotiate the transit from sleep to obligation"--but she forces herself to get up and have breakfast with her husband (who, when he takes a bath, boyishly floats in the tub, his "sex shrunk to a stub") along with their son Richie who makes her think "of a mouse singing amorous ballads under the window of a giantess."

Laura Brown later escapes to a hotel room for an illicit afternoon with her book, an escape that parallels Virginia's earlier attempt to escape suburban Richmond for the psychic dangers of London. But then there are so many parallels: Richie will grow up to be called Richard (the first name of Mr. Dalloway) and before he comes to accept the fact that he's gay he'll have an affair with a girl named Clarissa Vaughan (but the fact that her first name is Clarissa will lead Richard to call her Mrs. Dalloway) and Vanessa Bell will come to tea with Virginia, and Vanessa's children will find a dead bird in the Woolf garden and circle it with roses so that Virginia, looking down at its "modest circlet of thorns and flowers" will think, "It could be a kind of hat. It could be the missing link between millinery and death." Years later, back in New York City, Clarissa (the other Clarissa), on her way to buy flowers for a party for Richard--he's dying and is about to receive a major literary prize--will spot a famous face peeking out of a movie trailer and wonder if it belongs to Vanessa Redgrave (not only another Vanessa, but also the actress who played Clarissa in the movie version of Mrs. Dalloway).

There are non-Woolfian allusions as well: Clarissa Vaughan leaves a copy of Doris Lessing's The Golden Notebook on her nightstand, and at Laura Brown's hotel the desk clerk gives her the key to Room 19 ("To Room 19" being the title of one of Lessing's most anthologized stories) and the writer in The Golden Notebook is another sort of Woolf (Anna Wulf) and later still, Clarissa Vaughan concludes that Lessing has long been overshadowed by other writers. All of this might sound just too postmodernly coy for words, but in fact Cunningham is playing--just as Woolf did--not only with time and ideas about time, but also with ideas about how much we are not only part of one another but also ghosts of one another. He also quotes the part of Mrs. Dalloway in which Clarissa sees herself as part, "she was positive, of the trees at home; of the house there, ugly, rambling all to bits and pieces as it was; part of people she had never met; being laid out like a mist between people she knew best, who lifted her on their branches as she had seen the trees lift the mist, but it spread ever so far, her life, herself."

Even the typography of The Hours supports these death-in-life and life-beyond-death intensities via the ghostly aura given to the chapter headings, making use of the pale-grey names of the characters whose chapter it isn't to flank the name (in bold type) of the character whose chapter it is. But is this evocative and tender novel derivative? Only in the sense that it couldn't have been written if Mrs. Dalloway hadn't been written first; except for a very brief flat patch in the middle and a ho-hum ending, it's too inspired to ride on Woolf's coat tails. Its buoyant precision also catches Woolf's clarity and comedy, along with her clear-eyed ability to be critical of herself and her work. It's also an extremely intelligent novel that ends up feeling like an extended riff by a gifted jazz musician on the work of a genius of a classical composer: with its complex arrangements of literary reverberations and its memorable descriptions of regret and civilised squalor, with a woman's straw sandals making a "small, crisp sound when she walks" and "decapitated flowers floating in bowls of water", it has its own marvels.

And yet the movie made from this often fascinating book was pretty awful, in spite of the brilliant casting of Nicole Kidman to play Woolf (she was a revelation). Most of the other actors were extraordinary too. So was it the script? The direction? That turned it into a period piece that was also a soap opera? I can't remember it well enough at this point to hazard a guess.

After seeing the movie nearly two years ago, I read the Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Hours. I was intrigued with the story and eagerly anticipated certain scenes before starting the book. Even with the prior knowledge of the plot, I was not disappointed in the least. Michael Cunningham's sentences flow with ease, gracefully taking the reader through three stories. The set up of the story is simple: a day in the life of three women in three different locations and time periods. No one story or woman is more significant than the others; each is intertwined and dependant to the others.

As an avid fan of Virginia Woolf's work, including Mrs. Dalloway, I have come to love the stream of conscious writing style. Cunningham pays homage to Woolf, her distinct writing style, and, of course, to her seminal work Mrs. Dalloway. Cunningham takes Woolf's style and reinvents it to a modern day version. Unlike the modernist writers that started anew and broke from tradition like Woolf did, Cunningham reuses the famous story of Mrs. Dalloway and Woolf's brilliant writing style in a different and, in some respects, more profound way. I think Cunningham achieved this through the seemingly trivial details and other lesser known characters.

One particular that brought the story together is Lara Brown's son, Richard. Through Richard, Cunningham takes on the contentious Oedipus Complex and unearths the roots of older Richard's psychological instability. Richard's indefatigable desire to be loved by his mom is incredibly poignant and tragic. While I badly want Lara to love Richard back like the way he loves her, I understand Lara's inner dilemma and empathize with her. It's almost magic the way Cunningham makes it easy to sympathize with Lara, a monster of a mother. I know many other writers have accomplished this feat, but it's still amazing to me. Richard is seen as the aftermath, the destruction that is caused by a mother that thinks independently and, at times, selfishly. This is not to say that Cunningham advocates for the antithesis: a mother that avoids her inner voices for independence and freedom. His frequent reference to Woolf's opening line, 'Mrs Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself', makes that evident; it is a declaration for the rights of women in some sense. Nonetheless, Cunningham presents both sides without taking a stance on either one, leaving it up to the readers to make their own conclusion.

Overall, I'd highly recommend this book even if you've seen the movie. And if you have read The Hours, read Mrs. Dalloway and watch the movie!

I am a big fan of the city of Savannah and have been to visit numerous times. It is a beautiful city with a ton of history. I love the old south as I grew up in Wilmington, NC. So I only naturally looked forward to reading a book which has received so many great reviews about this beloved city. Boy was I shocked. I hated the book. IT was full of vulgarities and filth. It made the people of Savannah seem so shallow and immoral. While no doubt that element of society exists in every city, I just cant beleive people have been so quick to embrace this book. I found alot of it poorly written. I wish I had never read it as it paints Savannah so negatively. No doubt it has brought addtional fame and notoriety to Savannah, which Im sure has benefitted the tourism of the city - but at what cost?

If you are planning on taking a trip to Georgia and have time to stop in Savannah I suggest you read this book. I have passed it to three of my friends already and they loved it.

John Berendt does a fabulous job of describing his experiences in Savannah over an eight year period. The eccentrics he encounter paint a fascinating portrait of an isolated, contradictory environment. Berendt writes with an easy hand, rendering each event with vivid detail. The main plotline of the book follows Jim Williams, on trial for the murder of his young male lover. This main storyline is interwoven with the stories of a piano player/former lawyer who moves from house to house, generally living rent free, writing bad checks, and opening and closing various bars; an outrageous drag queen who loves being the center of attention wherever she goes;a voodoo priestess who communes with her dead husband; and a man who did chemical work for the government who carries a vial of poison powerful enough to kill the entire town, among other interesting people. If you've seen the movie, it is a condensed version of the events described in the book. The book takes place over a period of years and there is more than one trial for Mr. Williams. The author is a less central figure than in the movie, reporting on most of the events rather than actually participating in them. The people described are odd and entertaining. The book is less a true crime expose than a snapshot of a group of people over this period of time during which these murder trials were taking place. A fascinating study, highly recommended.

product arrived timely and in good condition. I would buy from this seller again.

I've never been to Savannah before, but after reading this book, I really want to go there! "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" is a fantastic book about the leaders of Savannah society in the early 1980's. It's actually a work of non-fiction (although it reads very much like a novel), and it chronicles the events in author John Berendt's life when he ventures out of his New York City home and discovers the town of Savannah, Georgia. Berendt was instantly smitten with the town, and he decided to live there on a part-time basis. The book is peppered with stories about the dozens of interesting characters Berendt encountered, including Jim Williams, a charismatic yet mysterious antique dealer; Danny Hansford; a troubled young man with a dangerous streak; and Chablis, an extremely outgoing transsexual entertainer. At first the book appears to be just a series of colorful anecdotes about Savannah and its quirky residents. However, eventually a murder is committed, which results in multiple trials and chaos that spans almost an entire decade.

I really enjoyed this book. Berendt is an excellent writer, and his vivid descriptions of Savannah and its inhabitants made me feel like I was right there with these people when all these crazy events transpired. It was hard to remember that "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" is actually based on a true story: All these characters are real and this murder mystery actually happened less than 30 years ago. If you're looking for a captivating murder mystery that is brilliantly written and will keep you up reading until the wee hours of the morning, this is definitely the book for you!

This memoir, I must admit is quite a boring read. I watched the movie first, which some say is a travesty, but honestly, I believe if I had read the book first, I would not have wanted to watch the movie. The book is dull and lifeless and jumps around too much.

Although, this is a mimick of the illness she faced during her stay, it can be annoying to the reader. There is no indication of how close she was to any of the girls she befriended during her stay, although at the end you witness some closeness between Susanna and one of the girls that managed to get out, there is not a powerful pull here.

This is not a very englightening read. I suggest you skip reading this book and read something like Prozac Nation instead. Or, just watch the movie for this book, it's definitely better even if the events are not true.

You know how people always say the book was better than the movie? White Oleander, Prozac Nation, Catch Me if You Can.... this is the first time that I've ever said the movie was better--- so so so much better--- than the book. It's a quick read: a little bit of text stretched out and the margins increased and the chapters are infantile. I never felt like we got that good of an understanding of anyone though, and through the whole book, it seemed like Susanna Kaysen didn't feel like she even needed to be there, and her writing makes it sound like she still doesn't think she needed to be there. I never understood what was wrong with her. Definitely watch the movie. If you must read the book, borrow it.

I tried reading this book three times and each time I disliked something else about it. So, now I have given up for sure.

Girl, Interrupted is a pretty basic book. The author did not delve too deeply into her own depression or accompanying emotions. The writing seemed very basic, and it did not force me to think. I think that the author left a lot of things out-too many things out. I loved the movie, though.

I don't knwo what all the fuss is about this book. I read it as an assignment and forced myself to finish it despite the overwhelming dullness present in this book. Funny parts? One. Cruelty the author is subject to? being forced to take pills. Maybe this book would be more interesting to a psychology student or such, but to an average reader it's a 160 page essay on mental illness. Boring, overinflated and melodramatic was how this book came through to me.

I watched the film long ago and have enjoyed reading the book as its own piece. The characters are humbling and facing true tragedy and change in life. I was drawn in by where their intermingling would take them.

This book was given to me on an airplane and I read it because I had nothing else to read. I had seen the movie and thought it was OK. The book however, I absolutly loved. The movie focused primarily on the English Patient, but the book was different in that you got to know each character quite intimately. They all were in the house for different reasons and each of them had very unique and intrieging backgrounds. I was sucked in immediately. Each charachter is developed and you are able to understand who they are and why. All of their strengths and weaknesses are revealed and they are quite vulnerable. If you are someone who likes to bond with a characters and watch them develop, this book is for you.

Before I start I have to say that I loved the English Patient film. Minghella (director) manages to capture the beautiful romance between the characters and the stark beauty of the desert like no other director has been able to.

This book however, doesn't. Don't get me wrong. Ondaatje isn't a terrible writer. He's just not great. He tries very hard to be different (speechmarks are obviously passe?) and it shows. The English Patient novel doesn't really have any of the elements that make the movie so likeable. For starters, the book isn't coherent. It jumps everywhere. Some of the jumps are clear. Others are not. One gets the feeling that they're in there just for kicks, not for any real story-driving purpose.

Secondly...a LOT of Ondaatje's metaphors just.don't.work.

For example you have the ones that almost work:

"I don't think (Clifton) he loved the desert, but he had an affection for it that grew out of awe at our stark order, into which he wanted to fit himself - like a joyous undergraduate who respects silent behaviour in a library."

The ones that seem very high school:

"He (caravaggio) rides the boat of morphine. It races in him, imploding time and geography the way maps compress the world onto a two-dimensional sheet."

And the bewildering:

"He (Kip) knew he was now a king...it was strange to him. As if he had been handed a large suit of clothes rhat he could roll around in and whose sleeves would drag behind him."

This is not so say that Ondaatje doesn't paint some beautiful imagery as well. He does. But those instances tend to be few and far between. He also has the infuriating tendency to marr prefectly stunning imagery. For example, at the beginning of the book, he gives you this fantastic image of a young boy dancing next to a fire. Next thing you know, semen is being picked up from the sand. ?!? He does this over and over again.

I have never said this about any book/movie, but honestly, watch the movie as it is an infinitely better interpretation of the the book, than the book itself. The characters in the movie are likeable, and the story is complex and beautiful. The same, strangely, cannot be said of the book.

English patient has some interesting characters and the plot does have some intrigue, but please, an astounding book? Not. Too many little-finger-in-the-air chardonnays for the book review set. The author's prose is like reading a college literature student's overdone ramblings, he tries way to hard to be artful with words, which is really an inconsideration to the reader. The author's ability to be creative should be secondary to his ability to communicate. A lot of the metaphors don't work, simply leaving you puzzled. This book is like going to dinner with people who can speak the same language as you, but decide they will talk in another, company be damned.

While I loved the movie, the book left me dry and perplexed. Normally I prefer the book to the movie, but in this case, it was the other way around. The story jumps around a great deal and you live in the heads of Hana, Caravagio and Kip, but only graze upon those of Catherine and Almasy. If you expect to read about that great romance, better just rent the video because it's not in the book.

Debt of Honor is the next book in the Jack Ryan series, after The Sum of All Fears, and it was so much better. The book has a faster pace and the suspense builds up nicely from the beginning. The book is pretty long, more than 900 pages, but the story moves along quickly and it was very hard to put down.

In this book, a wealthy Japanese industrialist decides it's time for Japan to be a superpower and bring America to her knees. He convinces a small group of his peers to his scheme for dominance and power for Japan, takes control of the Japanese government, and goes on the offensive, first economically and then militarily. For this man, crippling the United States as a superpower is a personal revenge (that goes back to World War II and his family's death on the Mariana Islands), and it's this debt of honor he feels obligated to deliver payment by sowing chaos in America.

I read some of the negative reviews and some complained about going into too much detail on the financial side of things, how Wall Street operates, and using Japan as the main (although not the only one, India and China play minor roles) enemy was incredulous.

I didn't find reading about the financial markets and how they worked to be tedious and dull, it was quite fascinating to read how complex and intertwined the global markets were and how a disaster in one country, in this case America, could lead to a snowball effect in Europe and elsewhere. That is all very realistic and Clancy being the type of writer he is, he goes into meticulous detail about how the financial markets work. I thought the background information was necessary, because it makes more sense when you later learn about how the Japanese were able to intentionally hurt the American economy.

Then there was Clancy's decision to use Japan as the enemy in this book. Of course, if one were to compare this fictional world to our own real world, it does sound pretty crazy that a staunch U.S. ally such as Japan, a major trading partner, would suddenly become America's number one enemy. Well, if we look at a few of America's allies today, Germany and Japan are good examples of how not too long ago both countries were enemies. So while I'll admit Clancy's premise sounds outrageous, a strong U.S. ally becoming an enemy later, it's naive thinking to think it could never happen. I thought Clancy did a superb job of showing a "what if" scenario. Something that could happen as the world is always changing, leaders come and go, and no one can accurately predict who will be an enemy or an ally tomorrow.

This was a highly entertaining political thriller and Clancy sets up the story for the next book, Executive Orders, very well (there are certain parts where I could see some minor players that were introduced in Debt of Honor playing a key role in the next book). The ending of Debt of Honor ends on a major cliff-hanger so you best have the next book handy.

I have read every Clancy book and this one has got to be one of my favorites. A complex tale that reads so quickly, it is an interesting, plausible tale of how one man's dedication and determination to right how he was wronged, or at least thinks so, can loose hell upon the owrld. Again, Clancy seems to know what is going to happen, or at least I think bad guys get their ideas from him.

I am a big fan of Clancy's novels, and although I have to say that he's had a lot of great ones, "Debt of Honor" is one of my favorites. Clancy's plot development is superb, always giving you just enough information to both keep your interest and pique your curiosity about what will happen next. As always, the tactical details and elements of setting (economic, political, etc.) are impeccable.

As to those readers who criticize Clancy for "picking on" Japanese culture or government, I've lived in Asia for several years and happen to think he's not that far from reality. But that discussion aside, keep in mind that this is a work of fiction, not a predictor of imminent political developments. The subject matter shouldn't be too much of a problem for anyone who's not a pedantic scholar of East Asian studies.

This is an awesome read! I disagree with any reader who claims it's length is imposing! This is typical of Clancy but his page count is always justified. His writing is so well-researched and dependent on finely crafted intricacies that it has to be this way!

I love that Clancy chose an unlikely enemy. It's extremely unsettling to think of Japan as an antagonist for many obvious reasons. Clancy is extremely bold and you have to love him for it!

If you like Clancy you will likely enjoy up and coming author Richard Friar's futurist vision, "The Keepers: WWIII." The Keepers: Part 1: WWIII

Years ago, my friend, a hard-boiled conservative militarist, suggested I read Debt of Honor after I made some Panglossian statement about what a safe comfy world we live in. The world is grown less safe, so several months ago, I finally took his suggestion.

Other reviewers poke holes in Clancy's logic, his understanding of East Asia, and his alleged stereotyping/racism. None of these things are unreasonable, but the truth is, we have a great book here.

'People don't always act rationally' is the theme, and it is borne out again and again, both in the book and in the real world. I saw the book not so much as a what-if attempt at being a crystal ball, but much more a character peice about induvidual failings that can lead to disaster.

One thing, though- Clancy, intentionally or not, paints his heroes as near flawless people of virtue, service and sacrifice. While I suppose such people are out there, it would make for better fiction of Jack Ryan and the other heroes had more personal problems, more moral failings, and generally, were more like the rest of the muddled lot of us. If I wanted superheroes, I could have them in capes.

The book is excellent in the first half, and a bit longwinded in the third quarter. Plot and subplots are sort of mashed together in the last quarter of the book, and, like so many novels, the climax doesn't quite deliver all one would expect given the buildup.

But be sure you read through to the very end. Clancy paints a lot of scenarios in the book, and some that can't be mentioned in a spoiler-free review are well worth considering.

I love Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme series, and in my view, nothing matches that in regard to criminalist forensics. Deaver's turned to forensics of a different kind with The Blue Nowhere: computers and cyberspace. Wyatt Gillette, a genius hacker, is imprisoned for the thing he does best, but finds himself on temporary pardon and part of an investigation into a sadistic hacker/killer named Phate. Phate has targeted Silicon Valley and seems to commit murder at random, but Gillette finds his pattern and the race begins to stop him before he murders his next victim.

This is a very intriguing book, filled with computer terminology easy enough for a computer dummy like me to understand. Gillette is an interesting character, a man who is no criminal yet is treated like one simply because he broke a federal code. The plot is fast-paced, and the premise one that holds interest.

Most of Deaver's best work has involved quadriplegic criminalist Lincoln Rhyme (superbly brought to the screen by Denzel Washington in The Bone Collector) but there's more to this author than that acclaimed series. The thing about Deaver is that he always knows his subject material in great detail, and there's no doubt about his knowledge of the world of cyberspace, HTML and hacking as displayed here in The Blue Nowhere. As another reviewer here suggested, there's an underlying impression that computers today (in the worst hands) can do what a .45 could do in a Western of 100 years earlier.......KILL.

Written around 2000/2001, I have a feeling that some of the pseudonyms used (like Phate, Trapdoor etc) will probably sound a bit dated five years on and indicative of a by-gone age (the technology bubble of the 1990's) but it was appropriate for that time I guess - things move so fast in the blue nowhere - anyway this book was the right story at the right time and still holds up five years on. The great news is that, good as it is, there are riches galore to be found in the still-growing Deaver library. Anyone who owns one of his books will be planning on buying another I'm sure; as for those who haven't taken the plunge, well you're very lucky as there are great things in store for you. Jeffrey Deaver is one of the very best psychological thriller writers of the present day.....end of story.

Generally I like Deaver's novels - and the premise of this one sounded interesting. But he's in over his head this time. Anyone who has spent more than a few hours online can see that the writer doesn't really understand what he's talking about. By the end of the book I was just reading it to finish it - and the end wasn't worth doing that.

If you have to read a Deaver novel, do yourself a favor and go re-read "The Coffin Dancer" instead.

All I have to say is that i regret the fact that this is my first Jeffery Deaver book because this book is so fun and entertaining that I'm sold on Deaver and am looking to read the rest of his books. I read this book in two sittings because I simply could not put it down because I was so involved and really wanted/needed to know what was next. This story isn't about the reader trying to figure out who the antagonist is (you actually learn is identity pretty early) but is instead about the mind/computer games the good guys play with the bad guys and who will be one step ahead, and are they really ahead, or far behind? There are so many twists and turns in this book that you'll read it just as quickly as I did. I'm officially a Deaver fan now, and I recommend you pick up this book.

Jeff Deaver is the king of plot twists and pace. (Some would argue Patterson is the pace king, but to me Deaver's got it just right). Typical of Deaver, there's no way you can guess the outcome of this marvelous thriller. Blue Nowhere is pure entertainment, as two dueling hackers "have it on." One hacker is a serial killer, the other is an ex-con helping the police. Don't expect more than fun, thrills, and surprises. It's a one-night read, only because you won't want to stop. I read mine on the porch in a rainstorm and I never left that porch until it was finished. Classic Deaver, but without Rhyme and Sachs (which is fine, I love them as characters, but I enjoyed the new characters). I suppose the computer technology is, or will soon be, out of date, but that's not fundamental to the story. If you look past the computers, you'll enjoy a non-stop thrill ride.

The author does a good job of covering all the bases of this case. I would definitely say it is worth your time to read if you are interested in the Laci Peterson disappearance. While most of the book is very compelling, there are some parts that clearly remind you that she is a former lawyer (think wordy and boring). The upside of this is that she can give insight that someone not in the legal profession would lack so it is worth plodding through the slow parts.

If I were on the jury and read this book before I listened to testimony in court, I would have convicted him right away. I read it right after the jury found him guilty, if you have followed this story, it's a good read. It did tell of things not reported by the media.

A Deadly Game: The Untold Story of the Scott Peterson InvestigationCatherine Crier, former CNN news personality, former Court TV anchor, former civil attorney, former assistant D.A., former judge and author of a half dozen books which all have their basis in the legal system has written an encyclopedic rendering of the infamous trial of Scott Peterson. Having worn all the hats she has and having occupied each legal eagle seat in a courtroom, I am shocked by her bias toward Scott Peterson. She freely admits that she had him pegged as a sociopath from the very beginning and cuts him no slack in a case that was, for all intents and purposes, circumstantial at best.

Crier disallows virtually every piece of "evidence" that might have shed a more illuminating or different light on the case and on Peterson. While the book itself covers the case like frosting covers a triple layer cake, the feeling I had while reading it was, without a doubt, that she approached this case with a presumption of guilt and not innocence. From a person with her credentials, I find that approach quite shameful and appalling. It would have been a better book, carried more weight and been more appropriate had Crier taken it from the presumption of innocence through to its end.

Crier, having worn her many hats, should be more than superficially familiar with the behavior of a sociopath and yet she professes the sophomoric views of a lay person with no legal knowledge. While Scott Peterson may very well be a sociopath, why does Crier expect normal reactions from Scott Peterson when she fully realizes that no such thing is possible from a true sociopath? The jump from sociopath to murderer, in this case, is nothing short of a giant stretch of a stunted imagination from a biased reporter who should know better, in my opinion.

You'll learn some new things in this book but nothing to further your overall knowledge or clarity of the case in this over-written book by Catherine Crier.

Circumstantial evidence can be strong in many cases. But it was not strong in this case. The prosecution proved that Scott was a jerk and a liar. But that is all they proved. There were no set of circumstances showing he killed his wife. This jury would have convicted any married guy who was having an affair and had bought a lot of life insurance---because that is all the prosecution had.

I was a die hard Scott Peterson supporter. Thought he was railroaded, thought there was no proof, thought the prosecution didnt prove its case. Then I read this book, and oh my have I changed my mind. If I were the cops in this investigation, I would have focused on only Scott Peterson as well. The way he acted through the investigation, and all his pathological lying (even about little things he didnt need to lie about)truly points to his guilt. I am so glad I read this book and realized what a true dirt ball this guy was. And to think I felt "sorry" for him for being on death row for something he "didnt do". This was a great book. What an eye opener !!

I have to admit I lost it early on, when the narrator of this "novel" claims that if the reader has not yet seen a certain movie they should put the book down and go rent it immediately. I can't believe this was even published. However I have no trouble believing it's being made into a Sarah Jessica Parker movie. The only reason I gave this one star is that zero wasn't an option. One is generous.

I thought this was an excellent first novel by de los Santos. The characters were well defined and I cared about them. The book was very well written and a good story. I would definitely recommend this book. it's fast to read and very interesting.

I really enjoyed the story. And the author had wonderful character development.....especially of the little girl.
Pacing of the story was excellent and it was a very enjoyable read.

I read many reviews before I purchased this book and thought maybe the bad reviews were wrong. This book is so confusing at the beginning, and goes from one movie star to the other. The story of Claire was the only one that interested me. I felt the death of Claire's father was awful the way he really had no part of the story. No one cared that he died. This book is not well written and makes the reader work way too hard for a story that is not that great. It is great for the Hollywood elitist. I read at least two or three books a week and the only reason I give this 3 stars, is for the story of Claire. I also liked that the main character Cornelia's parent are normal and still married and in love. There are too many wonderful books out there to waste your time on this one. This reader walked out.

Cornelia Brown, manager of the Dora Café in Philadelphia, views life as movie moments, old movies to be exact, classics, so when someone walks into the café looking more like Cary Grant then anybody has a right to, she is attracted, who wouldn't be? Eleven-year-old Clare reads more than anyone her age should, identifying with fictional orphans and the chapters in this book alternate between Cornelia's first person narrative and the third person point of view from Clare's perspective, both stories beautifully told. We know pretty quickly these two are going to get together.

Now as to that man who walked in. He's Martin Grace and he and Cornelia seem destined for each other, but Martin hasn't told Cornelia about his daughter who is, you guessed it, Clare, who has been taking care of her bi-polar mother, something no eleven year old should have to do. When mom goes missing, abandoning Clare, Martin brings her to meet Cornelia and the two bond. Cornelia is the mother Clare should have had and speaking of destiny, Clare seems destined to be Cornelia's daughter, but is Martin really destined for Cornelia?

Okay, there you have it. Do you want to read this story? You should, because it is beautifully written with characters as real as your next door neighbor, characters you care about. Maria de los Santos has put a movie into a book, so vivid are her images. I loved this book, so much so that I'm starting Ms. de los Santos's Belong to Me tomorrow and if it's half the story this is, then it's a winner.

Reviewed by Vesta Irene, Number One fan of Ken Douglas, writer of Tangerine Dream, Desperation Moon & Running Scared.

This is my first Austen novel, and I must say, I don't know what all the hype is about. I thought it was excruciatingly slow at times, and then all of a sudden it was fast and over. Some of the writing was beautiful and poetic, but that is like 5% of the book. The other 95% of the book was pretty boring to me. Maybe I am jaded by all the horror and mysteries I read where I am used to fast paced suspense, but seriously, I would read one chapter a day or maybe two with this book and that was all I could handle, because it would make me tired. I felt no connection with the main character Catherine, and I found myself not caring what happened to her, good or bad. I just wanted the book to be over.

Jane Austen wrote "Northanger Abbey" in the late 1790's, but it was not finally published until 1818, after her death. It is a broad satire of the Gothic Romance novels popular in her day. Its lead character, the innocent young Catherine Morland, is moderately attractive, good-hearted, and highly imaginative, but perhaps the least compelling of Austen's heroines. Nevertheless, Jane Austen's excellent writing gifts are on display in this short novel, which offers some superbly funny dialogue, witty commentary on social manners, and a sympathetic heroine.

Catherine is offered the opportunity to vacation in the resort town of Bath by family friends Mr. and Mrs. Allen. In Bath, she falls in with two people her own age, Isabella and John Thorpe. Isabella is to be engaged to Catherine's brother James, while John, a college friend of James, takes an interest in Catherine. The Thorpes involve the inexperienced Catherine in the social whirl of Bath. They will also provide her with some hard lessons in manners.

Catherine also meets Henry and Elinor Tilney, a brother and sister who introduce her to walks and intellectual discussion. Their father, the imposing General Tilney, invites Catherine to visit the family estate of Northanger Abbey. Catherine eagerly accepts the invitation, in part to stay close to Henry, on whom she has a crush, and in part to see the ancient abbey, sure to be the embodiment of her cherished Gothic Romances.

Catherine's willingness to see dark secrets in ordinary events leads her on a search of the Abbey for clues to the suspected murder of General Tilney's wife. In a gentle confrontation, Henry ends the search, but is not able to save her from the sudden wrath of the General, who banishes her from the Abbey. A heartbroken Catherine is separated from Henry and Catherine, and returned unceremoniously to her home. There, an unexpected visit by Henry Tilney will offer an explanation for what happened at Northanger Abbey and a chance to reunite with the Tilneys.

Readers expecting a story with the heft of "Pride and Prejudice" or "Mansfield Park" may be disappointed. However, "Northanger Abbey" is a fun book on its own terms, very much a Jane Austen product and likely to be enjoyed by her fans. It is highly recommended as an entertaining read.

As a lover of Austen novels, it is well worth reading "Northanger Abby", which was Austen's first (but last published) novel. As her first novel, her writing style is still rough and lacks some of the refinment of her later works, but she still brings her sharp eye for satire and examination of societal/marriage topics. Catherine Morland pales in comparison to later strong heronies like Elizabeth Bennet or Fanny Price, but she's delightful to read and chuckle about her naive outlook on life.

Northanger Abbey is a gem. Jane Austen (1775-1817)has written a charmiing little novel about a charming little lady named Catherine Moreland. Catherine is 15 as the novel begins in Wiltshire. She and the hilariously stupid Mrs. Allen go on a six week trip to nearby Bath to take the waters. Catherine meets the fashionable and fast Isabella Thorpe. Catherine dances with the clergyman Henry Tilney at a ball becoming infatuated with the clever young man. Henry and Catherine share a love for the Romantic Gothic novels of such authors as Ann Radcliff and Fanny Burney. Complications ensue but in the end the couple are wed.
The first half of the novel deals with doings in Bath; the second half is a trip taken by Catherine to the Tilney estate Northanger Abbey. Catherine thinks the house may contain a ghost as she is influenced in her thinking by a vivid imagination fueled by her sensational Gothic reading.
Minor characters are of interest: Captain Frederick Tilney the ladies man brother of Henry; old General Tilney the gruff father of Fred and Henry; Catherine's parents and Eleanor Tilney the kind and lovely sister of the two Tilney boys with whom Catherine forms a solid friendship.
The book includes a spirited defense of the art of novel writing by Miss Austen. It is a light and commonplace tale of young love told with the wit and wisdom of one of England's greatest authors. This less well known Austen novel is a delightful way to become an addict of the spinster from Hawton parsongage!

Northanger Abbey was one of Jane Austen's earlier works, and, reading it , you can definitely see her gift of writing in its infancy. While this work is not perfect by any means, it is a fine-tuned effort that any Austin fan will enjoy and appreciate. Basically it works as part comedy/drama of manners and part parody of Gothic literature, taking many of the elements of Ann Radcliffe's work The Mysteries of Udolfo, and slightly satirizing it. The ending's closure--where Austin ties everything together nicely--is something seen in many of her other, more popular works, where all loose ends are tied and questions are answered.

The first part of the novel focuses on Catherine Morland, her family, and her acquaintances. Catherine goes away from her family and stays with the Allen family. While there, she meets the Thorpe family, and becomes an acquaintance and friend of Isabella Thorpe. She has to fight off the advances of Isabella's brother. Later on, at a dance, she also meets Henry, a man who she will eventually fall in love with. She finally gets the opportunity to stay with the Tilney family at Northanger Abbey. Because of her love of novels, and her chance to become better acquainted with Henry and his sister, Catherine is excited to go. The second part of the novel begins with Catherine staying at Northanger Abbey.

One of the funnier aspects of the novel is the 2nd part, when Catherine goes to Northanger Abbey and immediately becomes entranced with the many Gothic elements she seems to have read about. This is when her knowledge and love of Gothic literature tales runs away with her imagination. At one point, she believes that Henry's father has murdered or imprisoned Henry's mother, or that he is keeping her stowed away and doing malicious and evil things. There is also a moment when Catherine is alone in her room late at night and sees a chest, and fears that it has something awful inside it--so naturally she goes to investigate. It seems that all her suppositions and fears are well-founded to her, but we see that she clearly has taken some things too far in her mind, and perhaps there is an anti-climax in her not finding anything noteworthy.

What makes Catherine a likeable heroine is that there are faults to her, so she is perfect by no means. For one thing, she is oblivious to many events that are seemingly obvious to others, namely the romance that begins with her brother and Isabella. She also has some trouble expressing herself in the earlier parts of the novel, but as time wears on she becomes more assertive and mature. Also, her love for novels can be seen as a weakness because she tends to over dramatize and fantasize about them--this seems to be Austen's way of lightly poking fun at reading novels, something you have to admire from a great writer. Over all though, she is a character that is fun to read about and follow around in her adventures.

While the story does have moments where it may drag a little, it still is a fun and adventurous read and is a must for Austen fans. This review is in reference to the Dover books version of the novel.

"Four Past Midnight" by Stephen King is a story of passengers on a red-eye flight that get stuck in a previous day. The story is well written with much attention to detail on the settings and the characters. The book does have flaws in the way the characters are developed and in my opinion it was a little over written when describing certain aspects of the characters. I also thought the book was too slow and showed very little progression from page to page. Although the book had problems in some areas it truly shined in others. The way King describes the characters and the settings was fantastic. The book also showed great progression in the later part of the first story as they were trying to get back to their own time. Overall the book was extremely well written but lacked in progression in the early parts of the stories.

This is a collection of 4 short stories by King and they are all pretty terrible. My least favourite would have to be "The Library Policeman". In this story we have the "Obligatory King Beautiful Loser" named Dave Duncan who is a career drunk but it is not his fault that he he became a wino bum after getting involved with an oversexed librarian named Ardelia. I have been going to my local Library for over 40 years and I have yet to meet a Librarian who I would want to chase through a cornfield. Read the book if you want to know what I am referring too. Anyway back to the story.This Insurance Salesman is coerced into giving a speech and he borrows a couple of books from the Library to help him write it but he loses the books and instead of just paying a Replacement Fine Ms. Ardelia sets The Library Policeman onto him who is a pretty big scary guy. Along the way the Insurance guy falls in love with his stenographer named Naomi and we have a very good loking woman named Naomi on our TV screens here in Oz and if Naomi in the book looked as good as her I would fall in love with her too.I do grow weary of King portraying lowlifes and losers in a Romanticized Light as King seems to do Ad Infinitum and Ad Nauseam in his books but I do give it 5 stars because I liked the front of the hardcover edition.

This book is 4 novellas by King and all of them are great. I have recently been going back and reading his books and I am glad to say I picked this one up again. The four stories (Langoliers, Secret Window Secret Garden, The Library Policeman and The Sun Dog) are all really creative and easy to read. I read the whole book (About 732 pages) in a week. As usual King tells us interesting tales, with rich and detailed characters, it is rare that I read a book of his that I can't visually picture his characters. My favorites were the Langoliers and Secret Window, both are fast paced and suspensful. Library Policemen was probably the oddest one, but very scary and I couldn't put it down b/c I wanted to know the ending. The Sun Dog was probably the one I like the least but it still is an excellent story. Overall I would highly reccomend this book for King fans and horror fans alike.

A criticism of Stephen King is he will try to make any object he sees into something spooky. "Family Guy" once had him pitching an idea about a possessed lamp, because he was all out of ideas and a lamp was the only thing in front of him at the moment. But usually he makes even threadbare ideas work, e.g. "Christine." Not always.

"Four Past Midnight" is a collection of four novellas, published in 1990. His previous novella collection, "Different Seasons," was one of his all-time best works, though all but one of its stories were not straight horror. "Four Past Midnight" is horror fiction, just not the most inspired kind. Three of the four, in fact, as so many reviewers point out here, carry the unwelcome tang of self-imitation, of King regurgitating ideas already explored in previous novels, perhaps pulling ideas discarded then as too lame or fanciful.

"Secret Window, Secret Garden" goes through the same paces as his novel "The Dark Half." King presents a writer accused of plagiarism over a long-ago short story by a strange, beady man who looks, King writes with atypical laziness, like someone out of a Faulkner novel. King draws what suspense he can from his unsteady protagonist and his accuser, but the story lapses into improbabilities and too-neat effects King would have shaken loose from one of his more disciplined efforts.

"The Library Policeman" is a variation on the theme King used in his novel "It" - man revisited by a dark specter from his past. I liked this novella more often than not; whether writing about Rotary Club dinners or drunken bums it has a real sense of life to it one enjoys with King, and the lost-in-time premise has its goofy-but-rich moments. The rape scene many complain of here is actually very realistic and honestly drawn, no mere cheap effect. It's still an "It" knockoff, but one I liked more than "It," if not as much as most of King's other work. My big caveat is it feels like a failed comedy that King gave up on because he didn't feel funny.

"The Sun Dog" is "Cujo" the mutt, weakest story by a wide chalk, about a boy with a Polaroid camera that only takes pictures of an angry dog. Yes, we get one vivid character in shifty Pop Merrill, but everything else in the story feels tired and forced, like the boy's man-to-man talks with his father, Pop's fascination for the strange camera, etc. King also runs on here; though "Sun Dog" is the shortest novella here it really should be much shorter. For several pages where we find ourselves in the mind of a store clerk selling Pop some film, King itemizing her mundane uneasiness as if he were cutting a diamond. The kid's send-off line to the dog will make any King fan groan.

Only the first story in this collection, "The Langoliers," comes off as original and focused. It lacks depth and has some dodgy moments, but the concept of the langoliers, termites of time, is one King really carries off despite any misgivings, and his lead-in to the horror itself, detailing an airline pilot's reaction to news of his ex-wife's death, shows why so many non-horror buffs love King, for the way he navigates the complexities of human emotion with surprising deftness.

I wouldn't give "Langoliers" five stars on its own, but its the one worthy addition here to his overall body of work, and together with the best moments of "Library Policeman" lift this book up to the level of a must for King fans and an okay read for everyone else.

Truth be told, I am not a great Stephen King fan. The first book I ever read from him was Desperation and, unfortunately, I did not like it. By nature, I am more into the Michael Crichton type of authors.

Nonetheless, about two or so years after reading Desperation, I was searching around for a book to read and came upon this by Stephen King, so I asked myself why not? I was pleasantly surprised by how well written and exciting the stories contained with this book are.

Let me break it down story by story.

1) The Langoliers - A fine story by any measure. I started reading this sometime in the afternoon and I simply couldn't put it down until I finished late in the evening

Not only is the premise of the story incredibly interesting, but the execution was well appreciated. The pace of the story and the character development (save for a few characters) left little to feel disappointed about, but the plot was especially deserving of praise.

Normally, it is advise that one saves the best for last but the Langoliers is hardly a small feat of story telling. Great story no matter how you look at it!


2) Secret Window, Secret Garden (SWSG) - Also a finely written story. Has a finely woven plot and I consider a great second read about finishing the Langoliers.

But as they say, even the best stories has its fair share of flaws. SGSW's most obvious flaws, at least for this reader, lies in the pacing of the given clues and the ending.

By the pacing of the clues, what I mean is how King spread out the clues to the final answer. SWSG contains an a very enjoyable mystery to solve and like any good mystery stories, the clues were given out accordingly. However, one of the most important clues in the entire story was not given (only slightly hinted at) until extremely late in the story. I felt this was a poor judgment

The other flaw was the ending. The ending, as some may say, was extremely obvious. I had correctly guessed it ¼ of the way through the story (lets just say it hit me as the answer). Nonetheless, King obviously didn't want readers to guess the answer too easily so he left a twist.

The twist, I felt, was another poor judgment. The twist, while not at all unpleasant, had a compromising effect on the rest of the story, I felt. The plot would have been a lot stronger and much more effective without it.


3) The Sun Dog - Let me tell you, the first time I read this story, I was terrified. It was an incredibly scary story.

Unfortunately, the same may not be said for everyone. The reason why it scared me so much was probably because it hit so close to home. I also recently purchased a camera and it is roughly the modern equivalent of what Kevin had. It almost even cost the same.

Despite this, however, I found that the story became increasingly silly near the end. Too illogical, so to say. Perhaps this was the story's greatest fault and, unfortunately, it made the story so much less appreciable than the previous two.

It may just be my opinion, but the ending words of the story was more comical than horror.


4) The Library Policeman - Sad to say, but I did not like this story at all.

To start off, I had thought the premise was interesting enough. Turning a library into a place of fear? Why not?

However, as I had suspected he would, King failed in succeeding in that task. It's not that making that library appear scary is difficult as I've seen some extraordinary storytellers done much more amazing things, but I suspected King would failed from his introduction.

From his intro, I had suspected King would attempt to make readers fear the librarian. As a person who have read many stories from many other authors who attempted to do the same, I can tell you that, for some reason or another, most can't seem to succeed in this task. Perhaps it's just me personally as I've been a fan of libraries and librarians for a long time, so perhaps I find it exceedingly difficult to imagine them in a frightening light, but nonetheless, I did not find it scary at all.

This one aspect ruined much of the story for me. Aside from that, however, I also find the protagonists very difficult to connect to. In the other stories, I was able to connect with many of the characters on some level if not a deep level, but in this story, I was not able to connect with anyone at all. Somehow, I see characters like Naomi and Sam to be more caricatures than actual humans. At so many points in this story, it became difficult for me to imagine them as real people and I was unable to immerse myself in the story like I did with the previous ones.

Finally, the last big complaint I have about the story is that I believe King placed too much trust in the shock value of one aspect of the story. Unfortunately, moreso for me, the subject matter is one in which I find little shock value in. King was obviously hoping this one aspect would make the readers uncomfortable and perhaps raise the terror value a notch or so, but I merely raised an eyebrow. I was surprise at the audacity alright, but shocked? Not so much.

It's a shame about this story as I had high hopes for it after reading the previous ones.


Anyway, concluding my review, I recommend this book to any readers looking for some stories to pass the time. I may not have liked one of the stories but the others were simply delightful!