Woody Allen Books

I read this book when it first came out and have since tracked it down to keep on my shelf. I loved the story line, the characters were believable, and I found the universe fascinating. In some ways this book reminds me of the Flinx series by Alan Dean Foster. Though Braeth is more of a 'man in black' than Flinx could ever hope to be.

The author introduces us to Rikard Braeth, a young man in search of his father. On a strange planet, our hero becomes involved in ancient mysteries and forgotten races. Rikard makes new friends and enemies in his search for his father, ending the story in an unforseen direction. This is the first book in a trilogy which combines archeology, adventure and strange alien races in a futuristic "Indiana Jones." The next two books in the series, "Crown of the Serpent," and "Lair of the Cyclops" are also highly recommended.

Jewels of the Dragon is the begining of the Rikard Braeth saga. Our young hero is a university trained historian who is tracking down his father who abandoned him and his mother to return to his old life of adventuring, and seeking out the final fortune of all fortunes. For years Rikard has followed his fathers movements (though his father left over a decade ago, before Rikard was barely a teen). Rikard tracks his father to Kohltri, a sort of self-exiled penal planet, where the citizens cut you down in the middle of the street in broad daylight, if they think it's worth their while. Kohltri is not a planet for acedemic types, as Rikard soon discovers. He must learn either to blend in with the criminal element, be accepted as a tourist, or go home to the the safe halls of the university (providing he can find a way off-planet). While searching for his father on Kohltri, Rikard makes some unlikely allies, and quite a few enemies, as well as several amazing discoveries, that would seal his career as a historian and archaeologist, if he can survive Kohltri, and then find a way to leave the planet. There are several twists to the plot which keeps you glued to the book waiting to see what'll happen next.

The characters are engaging, and spirited. I really enjoyed this book and have re-read it several times. The whole atmosphere of the book was intriguing, and I found myself wishing for more details, or possibly spin-off novels about the Belshpaer, or Atreef (alien lifeforms). This book however, did not bog down with a lot of insignificant details, there was enough to keep interest up, mixed with enough action that I do not recall one dull moment. I truly recommend this book to anyone looking for a something a little different, than the traditional interstellar-war or futuristic styled spaceaged-monarchy common in so much main-stream sci-fi.

This is a great read! Kate Allen's mysteries have it all - suspense, sexual activity that's exciting but not too raw -and I love her characters.
All of her books are good, this one is especially excellent.
As a lover of lesbian mystery, I almost overlooked Kate Allen because her books aren't easy to find in stores etc...which is sad, because she's a good, solid, exciting author. I highly recommend you read this one -and you'll love and relate to Alison Kaine and her compadres! You'll want to read the whole series.

Kate Allen is outstanding as a crime writer and as an observer of lesbian life. This series (which sadly seems to be ending) is consistently excellent and I enjoyed the finale enormously. You owe it to yourself - it's better than chocolate, honestly

The fourth mystery about Denver Cop Alison, her lover Stacy and their various friends is also sizzling with dominatrix Stacy's efforts to run a Leather and S/M conference for lesbians. Unlike the previous novels which have all focused around murder, this one appears to be about blackmail. But where Alison is, as Stacy points out, the bodies will follow, even if they're not recognised as murder for most of the novel.

As ever the characterisation is excellent; the women really live off the page and you either love them or loathe them. The changing nature of Alison and Stacy's relationship also plays a large role seeming both tremendously strong and terribly fragile coping with Stacy's tantrums, Alison's fibromyalgia syndrome, flirtatious femmes and interfering friends. The issue of FMS is dealt with particularly well, as we not only see Alison's fears of being rejected by Stacy if she tells her, but also that Stacy is feeling rejected by Alison by keeping the FMS a secret from her.

As ever various lesbian taboos are raised; Leather and S/M are the base line for the community depicted in the novel and abusive relationships are as prevalent in the lesbian community as anywhere else.

While not as side-splittingly funny as "It takes one to know one" it felt great to hang out with Alison and the gals again; my only whine is that Michelle was barely in it! Star Trek:TNG and Kinsey references are spot on as usual, but aren't the girls enjoying Captain Janeway and Seven of Nine by now?

I was sad to read that Kate Allen is abandoning Alison and Co. for a while, but I'll happily read anything she puts in print, from her shopping list onwards!

This is a great book if you're looking for something to clear your mind and focus it on simplicity. I found it refreshing, and the larger print is easy on the eyes.

Just Two Words is a great tool to help clear our minds so we can let our creativity come thru. Can be used in many different areas of our lives.

This is a great book! This book is very easy to read and full of intellegent advice. Very creative thinking.

Unquestionably the best book I have ever read, or will read, in my entire life!

Historian Richard Allen Morton has accomplished a rare feat: while many thesis papers written by graduate students have been adapted for publication as books, few have been written with such brevity, conciseness and precision as to educate, entertain and inform readers who are not faculty members sitting on the dissertation committee. Too many dissertations seem to be compiled by writers who think that history is better if served by the pound and the heavier a book is, the better it is! Not so!

Edward F. Dunne has the distinction of being the only man to serve as the Mayor of Chicago and, later in his career, as the Governor of Illinois. To date, Dunne is the only Roman Catholic to have served as Illinois Governor. He was also an active leader in Chicago's Irish community. Dunne served as the first President of the influential Irish Fellowship Club. In his retirement, Dunne compiled a multivolume history of Illinois and its prominent citizens.

Dunne has been identified as a progressive politician and a supporter of Bryan Democracy. Morton documents how the Progressive political movement faltered in Illinois as political spoilsmen and party regulars such as Roger Sullivan (Democratic) and William Lorimer and his protege William Hale Thompson (Republican) ultimately prevailed over the reform minded progressives in their respective parties. This unfortunate trend has continued to the present day.

The Dunne family remained somewhat prominent in Cook County. Dunne's son and grandson followed in Edward F. Dunne's footsteps and served in the local judiciary. I actually met the late Arthur Dunne when he served in Chancery.

I bought this book as part of my research for my master's thesis on Midwestern progressivism. I expected the usual rather dull factual account. Instead I was pleasantly surprised by the comprehensive research, highly readable prose, and the profundity of the interpretation. Moreover, I learned far more about the realities of politics and society during the progressive period than I have from far more celebrated works. This is good history, and like all good history it focuses upon the past and not the personal saws of the writer. A bit pricey, I have never regretted the purchase. If you are looking for dynamic history at its best, check this out!

Allen L. Wold knows how to create exciting worlds that beg to be explored, which makes it very natural that his main characters are renegade archaeologists. A galaxy-spanning plot, a mystery involving a vanished civilization, and places that leap off the page make this book a real gem.

I mentioned in my review of Crown of the Serpent that Wold's characters are somewhat flat. While this is still mostly true, Lair of the Cyclops goes a little deeper into Rikard Braeth's mind and fills in his personality a little better. This, combined with even more of the world-building that made his previous book such a joy to read, means that Lair of the Cyclops is a worthy conclusion to the series.

In Rikards 3rd adventure he returns to the less legal aspects, of among other things, archaeology. Rikard who was the hero of both Jewels of the Dragon, and Crown of the Serpent, now has two new companions...Grayshard, a tathas type (fungal) life form, and Droagn, an Ahmear (a large serpent-like creature) who was 'rescued' by Rikard and Grayshard from the Tschagan, after being in stasis for a few million years (read Crown of the Serpent for the details on that story). In Lair of the Cyclops, Rikard and his crew head out to discover the secrets (and perhaps a few nice artifacts to sell on the black-market) of a race that changed the galaxy for the better, and then was wiped out of existence. Along the way Rikard and his friends run into another Gesta who creates much grief for all who encounter her. Ms. Toerson, cares nothing for anyone or anything, her ego is so great she would destroy acient and irreplaceable artifacts, just so no one else could ever see them. Unwittingly Rikard is her nemisis, even though he is also a gesta, like Ms. Toerson, Rikard has reverence for life and antiquities, and he must stop her rampage of destruction. Ms. Toerson's connections to wealthy and powerful people keep her immune from criminal prosecutions, and even to some degree Rikard. At every turn she is there to thwart and destroy every discovery Rikard and his friends make before they can be recorded for the scholars to study. It is truly a struggle of wills and prowess between the two gesta. Readers should definately check out the first two books in the saga, to get the full background in Rikard and his friends, but this book stands well on it's own which is good because the first two are hard to find. Mr. Wold has an incredibly vivid and fertile concept of of the universe these novels take place in, and I am definately looking forward to more adventures of Rikard Braeth, either in his home stellar region, or another such as the Anarchy of Raas, or the Abogarn Hegemony

In Rikards 3rd adventure he returns to the less legal aspects, of among other things, archaeology. Rikard who was the hero of both Jewels of the Dragon, and Crown of the Serpent, now has two new companions...Grayshard, a tathas type (fungal) life form, and Droagn, an Ahmear (a large serpent-like creature) who was 'rescued' by Rikard and Grayshard from the Tschagan, after being in stasis for a few million years (read Crown of the Serpent for the details on that story). In Lair of the Cyclops, Rikard and his crew head out to discover the secrets (and perhaps a few nice artifacts to sell on the black-market) of a race that changed the galaxy for the better, and then was wiped out of existence. Along the way Rikard and his friends run into another Gesta who creates much grief for all who encounter her. Ms. Toerson, cares nothing for anyone or anything, her ego is so great she would destroy acient and irreplaceable artifacts, just so no one else could ever see them. Unwittingly Rikard is her nemisis, even though he is also a gesta, like Ms. Toerson, Rikard has reverence for life and antiquities, and he must stop her rampage of destruction. Ms. Toerson's connections to wealthy and powerful people keep her immune from criminal prosecutions, and even to some degree Rikard. At every turn she is there to thwart and destroy every discovery Rikard and his friends make before they can be recorded for the scholars to study. It is truly a struggle of wills and prowess between the two gesta. Readers should definately check out the first two books in the saga, to get the full background in Rikard and his friends, but this book stands well on it's own which is good because the first two are hard to find. Mr. Wold has an incredibly vivid and fertile concept of of the universe these novels take place in, and I am definately looking forward to more adventures of Rikard Braeth, either in his home stellar region, or another such as the Anarchy of Raas, or the Abogarn Hegemony

Allen Say's watercolor illustrations are exceptional. It is worth buying the book for them alone. The story about relationship of the father and son and what they learn about themselves and each other is touching without being sentimental. It is a story with meaning that is both subtle and profound.

There is a lot happening in the periphery of "The Lost Lake," which is written and illustrated by Allen Say. A young boy comes to live with his dad in the city one summer. We assume that the boy's parents are divorced and that he is an only child, and we might even make assumptions as to what state or country is the setting for the story, but those are really mere guesses. What we do know is that the father in this story works in his room from morning to night and often on weekends. Not much of a talker in the first place, the boy's father does not talk at all when he gets busy. The boy says little either, spending all his time reading all of the books he brought and getting tired of watching television. Then one morning the boy starts cutting out pictures from old magazines, taking pictures of mountains and lakes, where people are fishing and canoeing, and pinning them up in his room. His father notices the display and when the young boy worries that he has marked up the wall, his father only comments that he was going to repaint the room anyway. But, again, there is more going on here than meets the eye.

On Saturday morning the dad wakes up the boy early in the morning and announces that they are going camping. With new hiking boots, a big backpack, and a knapsack, they head off on a long drive. The father announces that they are going to the Lost Lake, a special place that he went with his own father many years ago. For a whole week they are going to sleep outside and catch their own fish to eat. However, when they get to the lake they discover it is now the "Found" Lake because there are dozens of people camping, fishing, swimming, and doing other fun things. The little boy does not mind camping there with all those people around them, but the father does and they continue their quest for a new Lost Lake.

Of course finding the Lost Lake is but a metaphor for a parent and child who are seeking a way to reconnect. It is hard not to see the allegorical dimensions of Say's tale, especially for those of us who could not survive a single night sleeping under the stars let alone an entire week. The chief charm for Say's story and his watercolor illustrations is that he shows us rather than tells us this tale, and the silence that comes the end makes us realize how much things have changed from the silence that opened the story. Ultimately, this is a story not so much for children in such situations, but rather for their parents.

As a fan of Say's book "Grandfather's Journey", I am surprised that it took me so long to dip into Say's other wonderful books! "The Lost Lake" is a heartwarming tale of a father/son camping trip. Along the way the pair discover new things, both in nature and in one another. Say's well written story makes each of the son's emotions distinct and identifiable to readers of all ages: boredom, anticipation, excitement, disappointment, exhaustion and contentment. This book is an excellent read for children in the third grade and older. I plan to read it aloud to my fourth grade students to start an expedition-style math unit. I am certain it will become a popular book on our classroom book shelf!

One of the best self help books for a marriage that has gotten off on the wrong foot, causing unhappiness and misunderstanding. It is truely a "self"-help book, as it asks the reader to examine their own behavior in relation to their spouse, and shows how changing one's own behavior causes positive changes in the spouse's behavior. AND IT WORKS! The book is simple to read without being simplistic,and has easy to follow guidence. It is an excellent resource for a person whose spouse refuses to go to marriage counselling.

I was in a shaky monogamous relationship and was LOST as to if it was I that was responsible for what was going on! I didnt know where to turn,or what to do~ as my friends were telling me EXACTLY what WANTED to hear! NOT what I NEEDED to hear!
This book is like a WORKBOOK in GUIDING YOU to better COMMUNICATION....dealing with dissaprovement....criticism..blaming and self-justifying....and even being right!....being more attentive....double standards and soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much more!
IT helped ME tremendously to understand how everything I SAY or DO makes a tremendous difference in either having a GREAT relationship or one that left me feeling lost,alone and FRUSTRATED!!
I HIGHLY RECOMMENED THIS EASY TO READ book!

My feeling is that most "self help" books, in reality, are the authors helping themselves to the reader's money. With that as my overall opinion I decidedly was not excited when my girlfriend insisted I get a copy of "Making it as a Couple." I agreed to read it only to make her happy. However, after reading just the first dozen or so pages, I was really impressed. I stayed up and finished the book in one night.

It is spectacular!

Fay's insights, principals, and ideas are BRILLIANT! The book has no shrink-double talk and no Freudian bull**** or touchy-feelie filler. Instead each and every page has at least one very real, genuinely creative, unique, and practical ideas on what to do when there's problems in a relationship. I can't say Arlene (my girlfriend) and I now live in perfect relationship bliss. BUT this book did help uncover our major problems and (MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL) told us SPECIFICALLY how we could solve them! In fact, things are the best they have ever been with us. The shrink that wrote the book (Fay) helped us more (without ever meeting us) than a local psychiatrist/so-called relationship expert that I paid over $1,000.00 to for nine office visits. The book is an undiscovered gem. If I sound like I'm wild about this book--- that's true. I can't say enough good stuff about it.

With this book and a few hours I think any couple can solve their own problems ...or at least get a good idea if they are solvable. We spent two hours a week AS A COUPLE using the book's relationship tools. The techniques given might at first seem crazy. But upon reflection and use you'll see they work. In fact we have gone months without a fight (in the past ... every week had at least one big blowup). Now we seriously talking about getting married! I can't recommend this book highly enough. I know I sounds like one of those morons on Oprah-Jerry-Ricky ... but the truth is the book really changed my life! I can only say that about one other book (and that's my bankbook).

PWKane@Apexmail.com

this book alone with its companion cassettes tapes should be required study in every school and drama class in the u.s. the scope and depth of its humor and ideals are simply extrodinary. if there is anyone who 'thinks' history must be dull or doubts mr. allen's intellectual brilliance then this book is for you. you will not regret the experience. find the vhs tapes of these programs if you can.

This is a must hear for all Americans. Thought provoking, globally analytical, it is a positive tribute to the brilliance of Mr. Allen.

this book [alone with its companion cassette tapes or VHS-TAPES] should be required study in every school in america; and maybe drama classes as well. steve allen's take on history and great historical personalities and ideals is truly stunning in its humor, brilliance, scope and insight. you will not soon forget its impact. [get the cassette tapes if you can] if you are fortunate the vidio tapes even more so.

The Walker family is the cause of nine Americans and five Montagnards to die in Laos. Any one in SOG will find out why the NVA had top secret limdis Information that was used to ambush Recon Teams and Helicopter Air Studies people, here is the answer !

I was surprised by two things with the book. The first was the large number of spy's, or more accurately greedy unscrupulous people with high security jobs, that the book details. The second is just how dumb many of them were. The authors detail out the large number of spy's that have worked against the U.S., primarily during the 1970's and 1980's. The authors also give the reader a nice, but brief history of espionage against the U.S. and details of how many of the organizations that these people were part of. The reader also gets a nice look at the actual techniques that were used to both spy and catch the traitors. Again here I was surprised at just how lax the security procedures were that allowed so much damage. How people could walk out of the CIA and FBI daily with brief cases full of top secret documents is beyond me. Is there not a security guard that could be posted at the door?

I have read about many of the more notable spy's over the past 50 years, but I had not heard of maybe half of the people detailed in the book. You will be surprised at just how many people grab a few secret documents and head off to the local Russian embassy for the dirty version of lets make a deal. The fact that so many of these guys, yes most of them are men, get caught after only receiving a few thousand dollars speaks to the overall intelligence of these James Bond emulators. I mean these guys could have walked around with a blue wind breaker with yellow lettering that said SPY and they would have been less obvious then what many of them did. What concerned me was just how stupid many of the guys were, almost to the point of wondering how they even got their jobs in the first place. The reason this concerned me was if these are the guys getting caught maybe there are multitudes of competent spy's out there that we will never find out about. Also just how bad is our security that these intellectual duds were able to game the system and walk out of the building with the family treasures.

Overall I found the book well written and interesting. The authors were able to keep the pace of the book lively and limit the amount of dull overly detailed descriptions of legal proceedings. I found the book a rather large eye opener and would recommend it to anyone interested in national security or espionage. It also gave me more then one or two laughs at just how hapless these guys were. In some cases it was the key stone cops meet Tom Clancy.

Roughly 100 American traitors, most of them within the U.S. defense establishment, are itemized in this book, the only such over-all review I have encountered. As I have said on several occasions that I believe we have at least 500-750 additional cases of espionage to discover, at least half of them controlled by our "allies", this book is for me a helpful reminder of the true pervasiveness of betrayal in a Nation where opportunism and financial gain often outweigh loyalty and principle.

The Munched-Up Flower Garden is a humorous story about Liz,a little girl who grows beautiful flowers. She's hoping to win a blue ribbon for the best flower garden, but much to her dismay, another little girl, Sallie, comes by to brag about winning the blue ribbon the last four years. To make matters worse, a goat destroys Liz's garden. A twist to the ending keeping children turning the pages. This book extols the virtues of hard work in a fun-filled adventure that's sure to please. Richly-colored illustrations add to the delicious flavor of the book

What a great book! It's a charming story, well-illustrated, and it's impossible not to fall in love with young Lizzie the aspiring gardener. Her voice is really done well. Nancy Kelly Allen is really onto something with this book. Children will love it. I'm rating it 5 stars.

Thanks for a fun read.
-Jay

A Troublesome Creek Kids Story: The Munched-Up Flower Garden by Nancy Kelly Allen and featuring illustrations by K. Michael Crawford is the lively story of Liz Reilly and her seemingly endless attempts to build up an award winning garden for the Troublesome Creek Picnic. Carrying young readers through the tale of Lizzie and her young friends and rivals, The Munched-Up Flower Garden follows the young girl with her many efforts to maintain her garden despite relentless annoyances from goats, chickens, neighbors, and the evil Sallie Young. Original and entertaining, and available for school and community libraries in a hardcover edition (1933176-040, $16.95), The Munched-Up Flower Garden is very highly recommended as an inspiring example of persistence, bravery, and spirit for all young readers.