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What a pleasure to read Buckeye Girls. Margaret Adams voice rings through with sensibility, abandon and true voice for its central figures. I found myself wanting more all the while appreciating the gift written. Until we have more I will venture off into imagining the futures of the Buckeye Girls ...

The Buckeye Girls certainly left me wanting more, can't wait to read the entire novel. Great care of what was shared in the excerpt, set the stage and desire to say, get on with this contest so I can buy this book.

The writing style of this author was fresh, new and very enjoyable. I felt absorbed in the characters of Arden and Sealy and hanging on every word written so as not to miss the very witty use of common, kids mispronunciations and the inferences that vividly detailed their emotions.I measure the skill of an author by that ability to take you into the their characters world and Margaret Adams certainly accomplished that for me. Buckeye Girls - Official ABNA Entrant

A delightful foray into the adolescent world of discovery and remembrance of the mid-century heart of America and the every-girl of that time and place. The phrasing is sometimes comical, sometimes revealing, but always to the point and fitting.

BUCKEYE GIRLS is a tender, moving story told by two sisters growing up in the 1950s. Their quirky voices ring true as they candidly and often hilariously reveal secrets about themselves and their family. Hidden beneath their humor and youthful revelations, however, is the hint of some deeper trouble in their lives. In this grabber of an opening, Margaret Adams skillfully draws us into the world of these two endearing characters and makes us care what happens to them.

Margaret Adams really gets the interior lives of children -- the meandering thought-paths, the hilarious confusions and false conclusions. She writes TRUE, making you feel lucky to be allowed inside this world, where everything is fresh and new and also a little bit terrifying... just like life. Adams has created not only one, but two distinctly original, endearing young girls, who you can't help but cheer on. When you read "Buckeye Girls" you'll find yourself remembering things from your own childhood that you haven't thought about in years; you'll wonder how it is that Adams has gotten inside your head, too.

Reviewed by Vicky Burkholder
on 07/13/2008

Who has not been to summer camp, even if only for a day? And as an adult, who has not sat in his or her industrial beige/grey cubicle on a clear, beautiful summer day and wished they were once again that carefree youngster jumping into a frigid lake or pounding initials into a piece of leather?

Josh Wolk, a senior writer for Entertainment Weekly, decided to spend part of the summer before his wedding doing just that. He returned to his old haunt as a counselor, hoping to find his boyhood before stepping solidly into adulthood. His lighthearted look at the goings on at camp will keep you laughing. But, just as in life, all is not high-jinks and pratfalls. He is looking back at this from the perspective of twenty years beyond most of the people there. But he gives even the serious stuff a humorous edge.

If you've ever been to summer camp, or even if you haven't, you'll enjoy this book. It's both funny and nostalgic, a perfect blend of entertainment. So grab your gorp and bug juice and come along for the ride. You'll be glad you did.

I enjoyed this book from line one. Josh Wolk is a wonderfully funny story teller. Even if you never spent any time in summer camp, you will love the stories and characters. I didn't want it to end!

I am never at all sure why I like reading camp books. I hated the actual camp experience, due to overwhelming homesickness and general dislike of being in groups! But I love reading about camp, and this is probably the best book about it I've ever read. Josh Wolk spends the summer before getting married working as a counselor at the camp he attended for many summers as a boy. The best part of this book is that it really doesn't romantize the experience. Josh feels like a misfit much of the time, the 14 year old boys in his cabin can be very, very hard to deal with, the other counselor in the cabin doesn't pull his weight at all...but still, he has many moments of remembering what he loves about the camp. It sounds like a great camp. I have 13 and 10 year old boys, and I wish now that overnight camp wasn't out of our price range, as it sounds like it could be a wonderful experience.

I hope Wolk writes more books. I'd love to hear about his life as a parent, as he seems like someone with real insights.

Even though it's been 35 years since the first time I was a counselor, every year around Fathers Day I have the urge to grab my sleeping bag and head up to camp for staff orientation. This book reminded me of why that urge is still so strong - why I spent six summers of my life as summer camp staff, working 14 hours a day most days and making less than I could have working a virtually anywhere else.

In the summer before he married and entered a new phase of life, the author chose to relive part of his childhood by becoming a camp counselor at the same camp he'd attended as an adolescent. Although older than the typical counselor and with a fiance waiting at home for him to finish his adventure, the authors experiences of feeling like he didn't quite fit in with the staff, his struggles with trying to stay upbeat after weeks of little sleep and hard physicial work and the silliness he shared with his campers mirror the experience of every counselor, whatever age. His story rang so true - although I worked at two coed YMCA camps rather than an all boys camp, the songs, jokes, activities and adolescent angst are universal.

For those who were campers, it's a window into the mysterious life that counselors led. For those of us who staffed camps, it's a sometimes funny, sometimes touching reminder of why we chose spend our summers without creature comforts of home, making little money while living with other people's children.

I take that title from a Frank Black song, which I think is a pretty accurate way of describing the nervous step you take into full-fledged adulthood. "Cabin Pressure" details Josh Wolk's step.

I first took notice of Wolk through his terrific writing at "Entertainment Weekly." He wrote day-after commentary on the "Real World" that was so gut-bustingly hilarious my friends and I used to E-mail the highlights to each other. After a while, the writing was so good and the show so bad, we stopped watching the show and just read the wrap-ups.

Wolk's best skill as a writer is his gift of observation. Give him any scenario and he can instantly break it down, expose each player's motivation, and end it all with a hilarious analogy.

He brings that keen observation to "Cabin Pressure," his tale of heading back to camp as a counselor on the brink of his wedding day. Having remembered camp as a kind of innocent oasis, Josh wants to reexperience it one more time before he becomes, gulp, a husband and a father.

Wolk fills us in on summer-camp life -- what he remembered from his day, what has changed, and what hasn't. The best part of the book is Wolk's interaction with the kids in his cabin. He does an amazing job of letting you know each one, whether they are charming, maddening, or depressingly and prematurely stressed-out and miserable.

I don't necessarily think I bought into Josh's overall theme here -- this whole nostalgic innocence trip -- but it doesn't matter because "Cabin Pressure" is often hilarious and reading this book is like a well-spoken, really funny friend telling you his best summer-camp stories.

The tone can shift from body-odor humor to some strong emotional connections with the boys, and all the while Wolk's razor-sharp observation and pitch-perfect punchlines remain.

After reading Wolk in "Entertainment Weekly" all those years, and laughing my butt off, this book lives up to all of my expectations. Funny and insightful, "Cabin Pressure" is a wonderful debut book.

The Children of the Lens are the culmination of the Arisian breeding program, and are to be their weapons in the final assault on Eddore.

Kimball Kinnison and Clarissa MacDougall have had four children. Born with the abilities Kim possesses, these kids will become the 'third stage' with an ability to join their minds in an all-powerful gestalt.

They are talented enough that they can shadow the Second Stage Lensmen without them knowing, and help them out. Each of the four has a favorite among the Second Stage Lensmen, even if they won't admit it.

This book has a different feel, in that it is a tiny bit focused on family, and the mental war part of it means the insane space battles are a much smaller part of the whole thing.

The end is the final battle between the Arisians and the Eddorians, with the third-stage Kinnison gestalt as an important part of the assault.

Afterwards, what the Arisians tells the Children comes as a bit of a surprise.

All six books went fast and furious...but what reading!!! Terrific stuff! Smith definitely had the jets to tell one of the best yarns in all of science fiction. All the other reviewers citing how later movies, series, and stories were influenced by these books...WERE RIGHT!!! One of the best science fiction series you will ever read. Period.

Galaxies wide adventure. This is the last book of the Lensman series. While the book can stand alone, the earlier Lensman books lead up to this conclusion where the combined mind powers of the Lensman children, together with super science manage to defeat the super villains for the victory of good over evil.
E.E. Smith wrote these books around the middle of the century, and some of the writing style appears less sophisticated than current authors. However, I enjoyed the extremely positive depiction of the human nature and future - similarly to what the author did this in the Skylark series. Highly recommended..

Having started the six book series with Triplanetary and ending here, I thought the series started to trail off after Galactic Patrol. Triplanetary has been heavily criticized as giving away too much of the series and of the pro- and antagonists too soon. However when the Eddorians are finally confronted here I didn't feel as much as a build up to their powers as Triplanetary instilled. In Triplanetary you really felt that the Eddorians were almost omnipotent beings and the task before the Arisians in seeding planets, including Earth, preparing for the eventual confrontation to save Civilization. Galactic Patrol really carried on the beginning of the series with Kimball Kinnison, but I thought the quality dwindled starting with Gray Lensman and the dated 50's slang really picked up then. It's not just because it's written in the 50's, I've recently read several works by Alfred Bester, Arthur C. Clarke, and others written in the 50's and they have no where near this level of 50's slang.

Another thing I started to find unappealing is Smith's heavy regard for the `wide girth' of Kinnison and of his space-ax swinging cohorts. In reality, strong ambition comes often from those that have not been so physically gifted in life and so have to fight their entire lives against people's initial reactions to their appearance. Lois McMaster Bujold's Mountains of Mourning of a diminutive protagonist's personal battle against his grandfather's attitude, and possible disgust, of his physical stature comes to mind. So it is with irony that I can picture some skinny kid sitting outside in the 50's reading this book and `barrel-shaped chests" as the big neighbor kids come up to him and say `hey poindexter, whatcha reading...' or something.

However, the originality, and impact this series had upon science fiction cannot be understated and is why I am giving it a respectable four stars. Several reviewers have mentioned that they can see scenes from Star Wars lifted from this series. What I see even more so is what Star Trek lifted from this series. Even down to small details such as a ship having to lower shields in order to fire a weapon against an enemy. And many other movies, tv shows, and books influenced comes to mind including Alien, The 5th Element, Heinlein, certainly the original Star Trek as well as the Next Generation and Deep
Space 9, Wing Commander and others.

255 Pages, Publ 1954.

I have read this series at least 4 times. If you like SCIFI, you will cherish these books and buy the whole collection (as I did).

Let me just begin by saying that this book is brilliant. Augustine is one of the greatest thinkers that the world has ever known, and it shines through in this book. In this book, Augustine manages to cover an amazing number of topics, and does so in a beautiful way, filled with prayers to God.

I am not sure what the reviewer from June 10, 2005 is talking about. I think that they were reviewing the wrong book. This book is 400 some pages, not 90, and it is the complete version, not an introduction or abridgement.

Normally when I read books I underline quotes or passages that I think are especially good, or that I think I will be able to use in papers in the future. I then write the page numbers of the pages that have underlining on the back page. In this book, however, I ended up writing the pages numbers of pages I DIDN'T underline in on the back, since I underlined something on nearly every page. This book is absolutely filled with wisdom and knowledge of God and how He and the world He created works. This book inspired me to find a copy of The City of God, which I am now just beginning. If it is one-tenth as good as the Confessions, it will be well worth the money.

In The Confessions of Saint Augustine, Augustine concentrates on his powerful and zealous ongoing spiritual questions. His dairy- type book tells of the history of one man's struggle to obtain and maintain a close spiritual walk with God. John K. Ryan translated the book in an attempt to make Augustine's work more reader friendly.
John K. Ryan's translation of "The Confessions of Saint Augustine" is a very easy book to read. His 22-page introduction and notes with Bible scriptures at the back of the book help the reader understand and tie together St. Augustine's work. The scriptures that Ryan provided the reader appeared to come from the King James Bible. With this in mind, I examined the possibility that Ryan was Protestant and not Catholic in his own spiritual ideology. I than questioned if that had tainted his translation. Therefore, I read parts of other translations of the Confession found on the Internet and discovered them all to be like-minded. I concluded that Ryan's translation didn't show any bias, but tried to relay to the reader that Saint Augustine's true desire was to understand God's "Will". Therefore, Augustine was portrayed as a sinner turned saint. The book was organized in a chronological manner, taking the reader from the beginning of Augustine's spiritual journey to being known as a saint and a church father. Ryan's approach to translating "The Confession of Saint Augustine" was a social history because his translations were geared toward the aspects of civil society that show the evolution of social norms, behaviors, and more.
"The Confessions of Saint Augustine" is a valuable read because it offers a first hand look at how Augustine struggled to understand God's divine power and aspiration for his life, and to be of assistance to others in the future. He raised questions that men and women since time began have questioned during their sacred walk with the Supreme Being known as God. His personal thirst for righteousness consumed his life, and he is known as one of the great Christian thinkers.
The Confession was not what I thought it would be. I truly thought it would be a book full of confessions from a saint that was "suppose" to be a prefect person that had fallen by the spiritual wayside. Instead, the Confession was like an autobiographical journal, which did included doctrine, scriptures, studies, praise, memories, and confessions. I was impressed by his ability to swing from scriptures to his own thoughts, but had you not read the scriptures prior to reading the book you may not have realized the source of this information.
Augustine was a wonderful philosopher/thinker and his writings have been the subject of many discussions throughout history since it was written in 397 A.D. However, the Confession was written in a prayer-like manner addressing various issues making it difficult to focus on the subject for long periods of time.
Some of the things Augustine questioned to the "simple-minded" or should I say "non-philosopher type" is somewhat of a given. For example: in The Infant Augustine, he wrote, "I myself do not remember this. Therefore, the comfort of human milk nourished me, but neither my mother nor my nurse filled their own breast. Rather, through them you gave me as an infant's food in accordance with your law and out of the riches that you have distributed even down to the lowest level of thing." (7) Why did he question such things? Female animals of all types feed their young from the breast. This is natural. He apparently was so far above me as a thinker that where he was going with this is beyond my comprehension, unless, he was just saying, "Thank you Lord for supplying my needs even as a child, when I knew you not." He almost said these same words in the next few sentences but to go back so far and question every aspect is as I said before, beyond my comprehension.
As you can tell I have never read a book of this nature before unless you count the King James Bible, but I did try to keep an open mind. I was surprised that he didn't appear to be a happy Christian in all his efforts to be "Christ like". This disappointed me. However, there were times while reading the book I could relate to Augustine and many of his questions. This book reminded me that no matter what God a person chooses to serve, as human beings we want to become the best we can be spiritually.
During my reading I realized that Augustine through his quest for righteousness must have gone through many of the same stages that persons in earlier cultures and time periods have. For example: he questioned what pleased God, how should he praise and show his thankfulness to God, and in what way did he want to serve God. Throughout world history these same questions have been asked at one time or another.
Ryan did a wonderful job of translating the Confession. Augustine's book written like a diary made the confessions more personal. He was one of the greatest thinkers and Christian fathers of his era. His spiritual struggles were genuine; his desire for righteousness was obvious in his writing. I sit in awe at his wisdom and his pursuit of knowledge. This book was a good read and I will study it again someday. It gave me insight to what other cultures throughout history underwent to comprehend and to determine what path of Christianity they would embrace.

Any edition of Confessions of Saint Augustine is "must" reading for anyone who has traveled a road of self-examination about right/wrong, good/evil and finding truth. Augustine surely dissected his own belief system and came to terms with the meaning and purpose of life. I have read several translations of Confessions and have found them all worthwhile reading. I shall yet, read them again.

This is a beautiful book even if you aren't familiar with the Saints. It opens like a flower as you read. It is completely about this wonderful man's own thoughtful analysis of his own emotional experiences. He reflects on his early life when he was actually a pagan worshipper, and then focuses on his conversion to the Christian faith. Once he converted Saint Augustine returned to Africa and set up a monastic community. What makes this book so special is that is told with the utmost candor and he holds nothing back. It is also a beautiful book in praise of God and how he changed Saint Augustine's life. Although religious in tenure, this is not a totally religious work. So many observations and thoughts that this man had in his lifetime (354 AD is when he was born). It is a book about friendships (both true and false), faith, celibacy and love.

This book is a Roman Empire era classic, but not for the reader in a hurry. The translation appears to attempt to faithfully follow the original Latin long sentences and has therefore had to deploy advanced literary English to deal with the frequent multiple midsentence clauses. This is one of the reasons I found it slow going from a time perspective, but worth persisting with. One really good addition to the book is the notes section with all the Bible references; this is where having a cleric as the translator is clearly a bonus.

As other reviewers have pointed out, the book is a combination of St Augustine's personal life and his discussion of theology and philosophy. His personal life details include petty theft of fruit from an orchard, sitting around unemployed, youthful indiscretions, living a few years with his girlfriend until they split up, and his personal spiritual realignment from a heretical sect to the Catholic tradition. The Biblical references are mainly letters from the Apostle Paul, the Genesis story of the creation, and the Psalms, and there is nothing much from the Gospels or the Prophets. The philosophy component includes a review of his personal experiences with sense of time and memory which was no doubt drawn from his experience as a professional teacher of rhetoric and philosophy.

What one gains from all this is a great snapshot of what someone of religious conviction in the fading days of the Roman Empire saw and thought, including the experience of just scraping by to make a living. Overall, recommended for the patient reader!

What kid hasn't listened in on the telephone? Bill Davidson's children did just that, but didn't realize they hold the key to their father's killer.
Alan York loves racing and left home in South Africa to follow his dream. When he emerged from the fog of a steeple chase race he didn't find his friend a winner, but dead in a manner that was no accident.
Greed and fixed races were behind Bill's death and leave Allan the owner of Admiral and fighting for his own life.
Dead Cert is one of the riveting reads of a long career. Enjoy!
Nash Black, author of SINS OF THE FATHERS and QUALIFYING LAPS.

I never know what to expect when I begin a new Dick Francis novel - but I always enjoy the ride. This one is no exception.

This is the first Dick Francis mystery and I like it the second best. I like "Nerve" slightly better, but only slightly. This "Dead Cert" contains several impressive scenes. The most impressive is the climax in which the star horse "Admiral" plays an unexpectedly spectacular role. It is definitely THE MOST SPECTACULAR scene in ALL Francis mysteries. Highly Recommended.

I was amazed to learn after reading this one that it was Dick Francis' first novel. Francis was a very successful jockey--racing for the Queen Mother in the 1950's--and after a career-ending injury, he penned his memoirs. Following that success, he developed and incredibly successful second act as a novelist.

I discovered Francis' work last summer--and I have plans to read everything he's done. In the 3 books I've read, his heroes are all gentleman sleuths--full of character, empathy, and wits. In Dead Cert, the trend continues with Alan York, a young amateur jockey trying to uncover the mystery of why a copper wire was intentionally hung to trip his fellow jockey. York is on his own resolving this caper, having failed to fully convince the police that this was anything more than an accidental death.

The writing is of a high caliber, the characters are wonderfully drawn, and I always learn a thing or two about horses--and England--when I read Dick Francis. There's also something quaint about reading a book set in an age before computers, cell phones, and DNA evidence. Grade: A-

In yet another gripping story of mystery, murder and British steeplechasing, Dick Francis continues his amazing streak of hit novels.

His real appeal is not racing or mystery however, it is his ability to create characters who are admirable, honorable and self-reliant. If you're looking for troubled, self-loathers who "somehow" overcome their weakness and become unwilling and unwitting heroes, don't look here. Francis' heroes revel in their abilities to withstand evil, overcome it, and end up smiling in spite of it all.

Kudos once again for Dick Francis and Dead Cert!

These books are great fun. the move very fast with great action.
I have read all of them and do not know how many books the series will have and i do not like this! The web site does not have it and the books read very fast so now I am waiting for Mouse but starting to tire of this.
B

I'm a librarian and I started purchasing this series for my grandson about 3 years ago. Everytime I asked him, he hadn't read them yet. I was sure if he started them, he would like them. This fall he had to have a book to read in school that represented his interests so he took the first one, reluctantly (hates to read). He was about halfway through the book when he called me and said,"Grammy, would you mind getting me the rest of the Five Ancestors books? They're awesome!" He's now reading the second one and looking forward to the rest of the series. He's 11, turning 12 in May. I would reccomend this series any time for boys who think they don't like to read.

I think the book was better than hope for. You need to read the frist book first than you will get the story.

The Five Ancestors series by Jeff Stone is an exciting series about five young monks from an ancient Chinese temple called Canghzen, or, literally, Hidden Temple. The books are the same story, but from different views, because they split up. I think these books are a great adventure, and I also liked Tiger.

Book 2 of Jeff Stone's 'Five Ancestors' series, Monkey really deserves a reading of Book 1 for a smooth transition - and be aware, this is a projected seven-book series - but the action- packed martial-arts story set in 17th century China will win fans wherever they begin. Five young, orphaned monks specializes in a different style of kung-fu reflecting his personality: here Malao faces his temple's destruction and an encounter with a band of wood monkeys who save him and introduce him to a wilder side of his soul.

Stone is one of those authors capable of inspiring an almost religious fervor among his admirers. This book made me see why. Not since Dostoevsky's The Possessed has an author stared so deeply, and so unflinchingly, into the dark - the dark around us and the dark within. Stone excels at depicting both. He portrays the third world as it was, and for the most part still is - a place without justice, where ideals run into reality with generally fatal results. The sense of simmering tensions always on the verge of violent eruption - omnipresent in such places - is made palpable. It is a place to test even the strongest faith. And into this Hobbesian jungle he throws characters already haunted by demons of their own. Not since Malcolm Lowry has spiritual torment been laid out so hauntingly. Stone tackles the great topic of our times - the disparity between haves and have nots - and transcends it. He makes it clear that the comfort and security we enjoy in America depends in part on maintaining order, however oppressive, in countries like Tecan. But he also shows that, far from a case of immorality, this state of affairs is necessitated by the brutal nature of reality. Ultimately, the moral outrage that stews just underneath the surface throughout is left with no object - it isn't the fault of men or nations, or even of human nature, so much as the fault of reality itself.

stone writes a thinking person's adventure in this novel set in central america in the 1970's [80s?]. you can find elements here of Conrad [Heart of Darkness], Hemingway and others as Stone's characters navigate the moral, spiritual, political and physical dilemmas of a third world country on the verge of revolution. he does it all while firmly rooted in the nitty gritty of the physical world with sometimes stunning description. i would guess that stone has traveled extensively in central america given the strength and detail of his scenery.

only a few criticisms here. i found the beginning somewhat slow/opaque as stone establishes his characters & plot in the book's first half. the pace quickens in the second half once he's dispensed with this work. additionally, there are not a lot of sympathetic characters here. that makes stone a realist, which i appreciate, but also makes it a little harder sometimes to empathize. Having said that, by midpoint you do develop empathy for Justin, and to an extent for Pablo and Holliwell, though both the latter are flawed characters.

nonetheless stone is a master, one of the greatest novelists plying his trade today.

The incendiary hint of Revolution simmers on the surface of a South American country beset by poverty and the all-consuming appetite of corporate gluttony. The rolling green hills and sparkling beaches of Tecan are perfect for exploitation. The land is already littered with an assortment of "investors" jockeying for inside information. Revolution spells opportunity, out with the old regime, in with the new, and a tidy profit to be made along the way. The only question is whether to "run with the Rabbit or hunt with the Hare?"

Saints and sinners compete in this Third World nightmare, each with a different agenda. It's an ideological train wreck and the ultimate victims are the disenfranchised. The name of the game is greed and the players are the usual: privately owned corporations, interested governments, a militia trained to fight insurrection, various criminals, religious zealots and a panoply of hired spies and assorted operatives. Our personal guide is Frank Holliwell, an American anthropologist with "Company" ties from his days in Vietnam, visiting the region ostensibly to give a lecture. Holliwell becomes one more pawn in a dangerous game with incredibly high stakes.

In the final act, no one is who he seems in this Darwinian struggle for dominance. The common people are disposable, the cause is mutable and the quality of civilization a casualty of events. Enter at your own risk, this is Robert Stone at his best. But know this: you step into chaos in this novel (with no separate chapters) that jolts from one state of anxiety to another, watching over your shoulder at every turn.

In its setting and background a Flag for Sunrise rests firmly in Graham Greene and Ernest Hemmingway territory - a fictional Central American country run by a right wing military regime. The cast of characters holds few suprises - the whisky priest, the idealistic nun, the american abroad, the sadistic secret policeman, various members of the world intelligence services.

What struck me about a Flag for Sunrise was its uncomprimisingly dark view of the world and the politics that makes it function. A world where all that is important is power and strength and your ability to harness these forces for your own self interest. A world where morals have no place, in fact a place where morals will get you killed, often slowly and painfully.

Yet somehow the book remains rivetting. You know that it is going to end badly for those characters that you like, at times it is difficult to turn the page, but you do anyhow and what happens is often worse than your darkest imaginings. But it is also honest.

This is the second Robert Stone novel that I have read and I am certain that it will not be the last.

The problem with political thrillers is that they often become clliche and predictable. There is often a desire, either by the author or the industry, to paint these as modern westerns with well-defined good guys and bad guys. Rarely do we get a novel of more disturbing complexity which challenges our notions of morality and suggest a social structure which lead to corruption of values and moral virtue. Only the best take this opportunity for developing a sense of noir, protraying the darkness of human ambition and petty venal sins, that is often missed. John Le Carre is a notable exception who has remained dedicated to his genre. Rarely do novels produces the types of characters that strive to overcome those structures or achieve some victory, or reach a pivitol moment of epiphany. Such greats include Conrad's The Secret Agent, or Greene's Quiet American. To these one should add Stone's A Flag for Sunrise. There is genre fiction, and there is fiction that transcends genre and which stands distinctive as a work of literature. This definitely falls in the later category.

A Flag for Sunrise brings us back to the 1970s and 1980s, where America is fighting a war against communism along it's southern periphery, the backyard of Central America. It is a period often forgotten or glossed over by modern Americans who think of this period as that time when Reagan won his war against Communism. Stone brings us back and cuts out a small story within a bigger story- of a pair of missionaries holding out on a small beach in some fictional South American country, as the world around them falls to the chaos of revolution and a coming apocalypse.

One of Stone's strengths is capturing the sense of hollowness of the Post Vietnam Era. This is a time of pessimism, when the potential for evil in foreign policy is very apparent, and where Americans are suffering an identity crisis about their place in the world. This is a powerful theme in Stone's work, seen espeically in The Dog Soldiers, but here it is especially powerful.

This is a thriller with a powerful set of characters: disillusioned American vets from the Vietnam War, an idealistic nun, well intentioned journalists, manipulative revolutionaries, despotic policemen, aging pirates and smugglers, political manipulators, spies and hired guns. These people collide with intense drama and tragedy. At the heart of the story are three characters, a disillusioned veteran of Vietnam, the idealistic nun and a military deserter whose vacuous nature becomes a cause of destruction. They remind us that in the turbulence of political change, individuals exist and struggle to survive in these tidal forces. There is a horror here, of structure and character, of vice and ambition, and of the dark side of the human heart and perhaps those aspects of our humanity that finally may redeem us. What is achieved is a work of art that stands far and above most political fiction you will likely read in a long time.

Highly recommended. This is another story which begs Americans to reconsider the price of empire and one of the landmarks of 20th Century Literature. Dog Soldiers has often been criticially acclaimed, but a Flag for Sunrise is probably Stone's best.

I picked up this book because I realized that I knew next to nothing about the human genome--one of the most significant scientific accomplishments of the century. Shreeve's explanation of what it is and why it matters while describing the dramatic intellectual, technical and commercial competition between the academic community and private venture capitalists--most notably Craig Ventor-- is spellbinding. The most painless way to familiarize yourself with recent human genome research. An outstandiing read.

You don't need to be a scientist to be captivated by this book. This is a riveting story of the intersection of vision, ego, politics and the battle between commercial interests and publicly funded efforts to do nothing less than lay the foundation for the technology that will likely define this century.

This is not a dry chronicle of the scientific methods, technological and computational breakthroughs that made this great accomplishment possible. Rather, Shreeve manages to guide the layman through the intricacies of all of the above, while never loosing site of the more interesting story of the personalities and interactions among the key players in this story. There are lessons here for anyone - integrity, vision, politics, business, perception and the law of unintended consequences.

The best book I've read this year.

This book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the future of science, medicine, and technology. Though I have been intrigued with the human genome project and the mapping of other life forms, I had never understood the process or knew the key players in the epic search to do so. James Shreeves' masterful account of this landmark achievement brings the complex and compelling venture into sharp focus. His narrative includes not only colorful and insightful quotes from those involved on all levels, but also offers cogent explanations of the technical and scientific issues in breakthrough biological data-processing that will eventually change all our lives.

Firstly, I haven't even finished this book at the time of my writing this review, but I could no longer wait to comment on it.

The distinguished feature of this book is its style of writing. It is incredibly simple and straight forward, without any unncessary twist of language or logic. Although this is a depiction of the whole story behind the Human Genome Project, it reads like an epic tale of a breathtaking journey.

James Shreeve gives a close account of all the events that led up to sequencing of human genome, including politics, science, business, legal matters and personal relations. What's more, is that a lay reader who understands nothing about gene or molecular biology can learn a whole lot of things he didn't know before. While the book is not technical in biological and other scientific explanations, it is sufficient to explain to the lay reader about genes, their importance as well as their pharamaceutical value.

This book, like other reviewers have mentioned, is truly hard to put down. Highly recommended to everyone!!

I could not put this book down. This is an engrossingly written glimpse into the people, politics and science of the Human Genome project(s). Extraordinarily well done. Uplifting.
Exciting. At times depressing. Full of real people at war with real problems and real results.

A MUST READ for any beginner. If you're looking for your first book on Stocks, look no more, just buy this one.

This book is highly reccomended for all beginners. This book will give you the basis for everyting you want to know about the stock market. Period!

I loved this book. It talked about every facet of the stock market, but didn't go overboard with jargon. I knew absolutely nothing about stocks and after reading this book I am ready to learn more. It was well written, interesting, and, unlike some investing books, the author was not trying to sell anything. This is the perfect book for anyone who wants to invest but has no knowledge of the subject. I really enjoyed this book.

This well written book gives the beginner investor the information needed to understand investing in stocks.

The book goes through setting your goals, assesing your risks and rewards. It teaches you about common and preferred stocks and the basics of buying and selling stocks.

There is a chapter on different investment strategies and then the book takes you into fundamental and technical analysis of a stock.

Finally the book touches on mutual funds, rights, warrants, and options.

All in all this is an excellent book and is one that any beginner investor will learn a lot from.

This book was an easy read to learn the basic terminology. And it's a nice reference book with a good "stock" glossary at the back of the book. After this, you'll be ready to read something a little for philosophical like Peter Lynch's masterpiece "One Up On Wall Street".

Millennium Trilogy has or will publish three novels that encapsulate the characters in the first novel 'The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo' by Stieg Larson. And, Tattoo is one of those novels that will stick with me as the one that started it all- the love of Larson's writing.

Flowers, framed and sent every year from a different city in the world. Sent to an unnamed person, signifying an unnamed crime, perhaps? A mystery about to become undone. A journalist, Blomqvist, disgraced after losing a libel case. He understood that this case was his to lose and the repercussions he thought he was prepared to take. He brings us back to how this all began, and then the mystery deepens. He is hired by that unnamed man to investigate the mystery that has encompassed his entire life. Harriet Vanger disappeared forty years ago- she was simply gone and there was no trace of her, none at all. This unnamed man, that we will come to know, is confident that she was murdered. Blomquist follows the leads and then they come to a stop. It is not until an angry young punk girl who is also one of the most able computer hackers joins his team that the story starts to come together.

This first part of the trilogy is a love story of sorts. As the mystery is solved we get to know Lisbeth, the tattooed young hacker, and Blomqvist, the journalist ex-con, Their relationship is beginning, isn't it? This may be the start of something big!


Stieg Larson unfortunately died of a heart attack. However, his last two novels of the trilogy are yet to be read. 'The Girl Who Played With Fire' won a Swedish Academy for Detective Novels award. And, the third part of the trilogy,' Castles in the Sky', will be out soon. "Larson," says, Margo Johnson, "is a leading expert on right-wing extremists and neo-Nazi organisations, was editor of Expo, the magazine for a project he had set up to combat racism. He began writing the trilogy after work each evening in 2001. He claimed he enjoyed it so much that he was partway through the third before he even considered sending anything to a publisher."

Highly Recommended. prisrob 09-07-08

With meticulous detail and artful descriptions of characters and action, the late Stieg Larsson has penned a truly special mystery novel that elevates the genre to an amazing level.

The first work in the "Millennium Trilogy," Larsson - through a translation from Swedish by Reg Keeland - masterfully envelopes the reader into the lives of the three major players, who have been successful in their professional fields, but are in different dimensions of struggling with the harsh shadows of life.

Peeling back the layers of secrets that makes functioning on the public stage tolerable, there is a maverick journalist who has seen his career shattered by being convicted of libel against a businessman who has friends in high places and an elderly industrialist who is watching his life's work shattered by a dysfunctional family and is seeking real answers to the disappearance (murder?) nearly 40 years ago of a granddaughter of a brother.

Their lives intersect to desperately try and solve the possible crime, receive absolution from the journalistic implosion and unveil the sordid truth of the Teflon-coated businessman.

And operating within the shadows is a young - mid-20s - free-lance private investigator, who searches for secrets in the most efficient and unique ways, but has demons from her past that would shatter the strongest of souls.

With the issues of lazy and bought journalists, moral bankruptcy that traces back generations and the heinous violence against women, Larsson - who died in 2004, soon after delivering the trilogy manuscripts to Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. - demonstrates the tenuousness of freedom when the brass ring may just be a vicious mirage.

The novel is really rich in detail and quick paced -- And incredibly moving in depicting the struggles faced by its female protagonist. This novel somehow brings off having two really well drawn protagonists, one male, one female that one can empathize with. A middle aged journalist, and a troubled but incredibly talented young woman who works as a PI intersect to solve a labyrinthine plot. Lisbet's story would have made an incredible novel on its own. She has Aspergers and is trapped in an awful school /social system with no advocates and non-existent mental health services. It is really dark in its themes somewhat like the Kite Runner. The complex mystery, thriller aspects are really good, and then the whole other aspects of the novel which is also a social comment on society in Sweden, journalistic ethics, misogyny, and gut-wrenching sexual violence. So prepare to be disturbed by the darkness it depicts.

The only thing that bothered me a little, though the incredible characterizations and plotting made up for it totally was the out of time technology -- It seemed like the novel was set in the 90s, but all of the technology action seemed to be happening in the late 2000s. So the technology used in the plot time lines seemed a decade out of whack sometimes. I will go back and read it and see if its something I misunderstood.

All in all, its one of the best mystery /thrillers I've read from the last decade. In fact comparing it to the Da Vinci Code, the characters are not simplistic one dimensional cut outs at all. The rich characterizations and explorations of dark behaviour remind me of Elizabeth George. I'm waiting for the two final books of this trilogy. It is so sad that the author has passed away and we won't be meeting the characters for more than just 3 books.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a layered and nuanced mystery with so many different plot threads and intrigues that it's a shame to ruin any of the twists and turns. The novel opens with Swedish industrialist Henrik Vanger reluctantly opening a package on his 82nd birthday. It's another anonymously-posted pressed flower, the same gift he has received every year since his beloved grand-niece Harriet disappeared back in 1966. He believes that her murderer is tormenting him.

Elsewhere, financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist is being handed down his sentence in criminal court. He has been convicted of libeling the wealthy and powerful Hans-Erik Wennerstrom, and it seems they take libel rather seriously in Sweden. It carries a steep fine and jail time. His career in shambles, Mikael is offered an unusual freelance job. Henrik Vanger wants him to move out to the country, ostensibly to write a history of the Vanger family. In reality, Mikael is being hired to investigate Harriet's disappearance 36 years prior--one last time with fresh eyes. Vanger has been obsessively investigating the crime for decades and has never been able to move on with his life.

As much as he doesn't want the job, Mikael is coerced into accepting the proverbial offer he can't refuse. It's a fascinating writing project, an enormous paycheck when he most needs it, and one more thing...Vanger promises to give Mikael dirt on Wennerstrom that will stick when the end of his one-year contract is up.

Where, you may be asking, is this eponymous girl with the dragon tattoo? She is Lisbeth Salander, a 24-year-old private investigator who enters the story gradually. She is hired by Vanger's lawyer to investigate Mikael Blomkvist before the job offer is made. After that early introduction, we follow her exploits occasionally, and it is no surprise when she eventually gets dragged further into the heart of the story. Lisbeth is a very different sort of literary character. Warm and fuzzy she's not. In fact, there seems to be something... wrong with her. But we only get tantalizing bits of information about her background, and how she has come to be in the position that she's in. Nonetheless, Lisbeth, with her many gifts and many flaws is the perfect counterpoint to nice guy Mikael. (I literally lost count of how many times he proclaimed to someone, "I want to be your friend.")

This novel had a long dénouement, as there were so many different storylines to wrap up. Naturally, there was far more to the case of Harriet, the goings-on of the Vanger family, and even the libel case with Wennerstrom than immediately meet the eye. The novel is deftly plotted, and the conclusions are deeply satisfying, all the while paving the way for the two sequels Larsson wrote before his untimely death. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has been a monster bestseller in Europe, and is likely to become one here as well. It has no literary pretensions, but it's a well-written, fast-paced story with richly imagined characters. If that's your cup of tea, by all means, dive right in.

I enjoyed reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and I thought it was a solidly good read. The novel reminded me of works by Val McDermid, and indeed there were a few tongue in cheek references to her in this novel. Yet for all the publisher's hype, or more likely because of it, I was expecting a book that was more distinctive and unique. I honestly don't feel that this book stands out as clearly superior than other mysteries I've read by Nesbo, Indridason, McDermid, or the slew of other European mystery novelists who are penning wonderful and literate mysteries. In other words this is a darn good book, worth reading, and I'll definitely read the other two novels by Larsson when they are released here in the States, but I feel the marketing campaign is a little over the top.

The book covers two potagonists, Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander. Mikael is a forty-something financial journalist, who finds himself on the losing end of a libel lawsuit after publishing an expose on a nasty financial tycoon. Mikael is invited to Hedeby Island to meet with Henrik Vanger, another industrialist after losing his lawsuit. Vanger wants Mikael to solve the 40 year old secret of his missing niece.

Lisbeth, who is the girl with the dragon tattoo, plus several other tattoos and a few facial piercings as well, is a 25 year old emotionally troubled girl who has a court appointed guardian and a slew of emotional issues. She also is the best computer hacker in Sweden and one tough cookie. In fact, she is such an interesting character that I wish the book had spent more time on her than it did. I'm certainly looking forward to reading more about her if she figures into either of Larsson's other two novels.

Mikael and Lisbeth are drawn together in solving the historical mystery of the missing Vanger niece and also collaborate on putting the fix in on the industrialist who got Mikael sent to prison for the libel case. The mystery in the book is very done very well and the characterization and plotting are excellent. The novel had much more of a British than American feel to it; there was less violence, lots of polite conversation, and a phlegmatic approach to the mystery that felt very Swedish. Except for when Lisbeth enters the scene. She was both wicked clever and decisively violent and the book is worth reading for just one particular scene when she turns the tables on her sexually predatory guardian.

All in all this was a solid read, a first-class murder mystery, and I liked it very much, but what I appreciated the most were the several gem-like secnes studded throughout the book wherein Lisbeth, with blow-torch intensity, turns the tables on the bad guys in delicious ways that I will continue to savor long after the other details of this book fade away.