J Books

I bought this volume of stories simply to get a copy of Fitzgerald's "May Day" which I'd read in one of my college texts and then could not find for years. I have always felt that "May Day" would make a superb film--and the screenwriter could lift most of the dialogue right out of the story. It is that good and simple and dramatic. Actually every one of the stories in this collection is first rate. Here is Fitzgerald, only in his 20's, writing of American aspirations before, during and after World War I. And no one wrote about this subject better than he did. The characters are rich and complex, all of them dissatisfied with the bones that life has thrown them, all of them desiring what others have. The reader sees their foibles and loves them anyway. These are not perfect people. They are real people in a time of trouble--fighting, most of them, simply to stay afloat in a world changing faster than anyone would have thought possible. I cannot recommend these brilliant stories highly enough. There is also a brief life and appreciation of Fitzgerald in this lovely Scribner edition.

The literary voice of the ninteen-twenties' "Jazz Age," F. Scott Fitzgerald was out of step with the grimmer thirties. Facing his wife's insanity, increasing alcoholism, and his own obsolesence as a writer, the stories collected here show Fitzgerald facing his demons in bracingly honest prose. If "Crazy Sunday" and the other tales of the adventures of Pat Hobby, down-and-out screenwriter, feel a bit like autobiographical wallow, and "Family In The Wind," about a doctor in the midst of a country tornado, is an interesting if uncharacteristic journey into Steinbeck country, it's the title story of the collection that's worth the price of admission.
Charlie Wales is an ex-broker, returned to Paris after all the good times have gone, with only the goal of regaining custody of his daughter after the death of his wife. A thinly veiled take on Fitzgerald's own troubled relations with daughter Scottie after wife Zelda's madness, it's at once a suspenseful, moving, and lyrical story. All his powers are at work here, as if he knew this was his last shot at literary immortality, and he was just about right.

The Book of Revelations in the New Testament is the most likely source from which F. Scott Fitzgerald draws his "Babylon Revisited". In Revelations, Babylon the Great (also an ancient Near Eastern city of materialism and sexual excess) is the `mother of whores' and the source of all evil in the Roman Empire. She is said to have been defeated by God and judged for her excessive sin. Upon her destruction, the saints rejoice while the merchants and hedonistic pleasure seekers morn. Symbolism abounds in this revision of the timeless tale and the choice of Fitzgerald's title could not be more appropriate.

Charlie himself is the regeneration of Babylon. During the economic boom of the 20's, Charlie and his wife lived life to its fullest and most shallow degree. They partied until sunup. They squandered wealth. We even get the impression that there was a significant amount of infidelity existing on both sides. As with Babylon, Charlie is punished: The stock market crash in 1929 liberates him of a fortune, "his child [is] taken from his control, [and] his wife escaped to a grave in Vermont."

As with Babylon, Charlie's fall had its rejoicers and mourners. Marion, his wife's bereaved sister, saw Charlie's fall as an opportunity to gain control of his child, and with sincere intentions rid her family of the sinner. Though she doesn't expressly rejoice in her brother-in-laws demise, she does blame him for her sister's death and understands why his life has turned out askew. Duncan and Lorraine, on the other hand, mourned the loss of their sinister partner in indulgence.

This story is complete with all of the historic reference and symbolism that has come to define F. Scott Fitzgerald. What a fantastic, unbelievably creative writer. It's amazing how timeless his writings are, and "Babylon Revisited" is the perfect example of that fact. It really makes you think about your own life.

The king of the 1920's Lit World wrote short stories for big money in Scribner's Magazine, Collier's, Esquire, and Saturday Evening Post. His first novel made him famous, This Side of Paradise, but his subsequent novels including The Great Gatsby sold meagerly. Zelda and Scott went through dough like drunken sailors, so Scott wrote short stories for a quick buck. This group of stories is among his best and though some or all were written commercially, Scott's talent was so huge that they rival his chief competitor's: Hemingway, Parker, Anderson, and Larder in charm and precision.

Above all, Fitzgerald is charming. The drunken rich boys of May Day are close to the authors experience and poignantly revealing. Scott was the son of a failed businessman. His mother's family was well to do and Scott associated with rich beauties that seemed always just beyond a snow covered golf course as in Winter Dreams. His experience with his future wife, Zelda Sear, an Alabama debutante is cloaked in fantasy in Ice Palace. Surely newlyweds are surprised to find they have married strangers. In that there is no secret, but Fitzgerald gives his bride a hysterical nightmare in a St Paul carnival ice maze. The reader loves Sally Carrol and is genuinely caught up in her dilemma of Minnesota in-laws and a suddenly stern husband.

Fitzgerald was a dreamer and The Diamond As Big As the Ritz is a parable about a family so rich, and so self-centered in their luxuries, they murder their guests less the secret of the their wealth be known. In an era where a million dollars could buy a country, Fitzgerald's fascination with success and the rich permeates his work.

F. Scott Fitzgerald is one of our greatest writers. He is best known today for his many wonderful novels, especially The Great Gatsby. As time has passed, his marvelous magazine stories have faded from sight . . . even though those were more widely read than his novels when they were written.

In Babylon Revisited: And Other Stories you will deepen your understanding of the novels . . . and of their author in these often semi-autobiographical tales. The best stories have as much impact as any of the novels in a spare exposition that adds to their power.

Each story deals with the same general theme: We live on hope which is based on illusions about reality. When faced with reality, we happily escape into new hopes based on different illusions. We are sort of like Peter Pan: We don't want to grow up.

The theme comes across with startling persuasiveness as Fitzgerald unpeels the many forms of hopeful illusions that will seem familiar to every reader.

The stories build chronologically across the backdrop of the United States after World War I in the 20's and 30's. That shift in authorship times also inadvertently adds the drama of seeing how the psychology of the young and educated changed as American went from mindless boom to seemingly unending bust.

Fitzgerald has a rich imagination to makes his world open up for readers so that you can feel both the physical sensations and the emotions of the characters . . . and become the characters while you are reading.

The stories themselves have that delightful quality of exaggeration that makes his points indelible.

The Ice Palace explores a Southern beauty's pursuit of an advantageous marriage in the frozen tundra of Minnesota in winter. May Day recounts the pursuit of pleasure and accomplishment by those of various social classes and beliefs. The Diamond as Big as the Ritz is a wild tale of a mythical place and the consequences of unlimited wealth. Winter Dreams deals with the painful consequences of acting on the illusions of romantic love. Absolution is an amazing story about how we can carelessly end up being untrue to God and ourselves. The Rich Boy considers how being rich and powerful can get in the way of being close to others. The Freshest Boy looks at being an awkward teenage boy and how he came to make peace with the world. Babylon Revisited shows how our mistakes can come home to roost after we believe we are invulnerable. Crazy Sunday is an astonishing look at the psychology of how we connect to one another through others. The Long Way Out is about a woman who suffers from a mental collapse and is now ready to return to her husband . . . when fate steps in.

My favorite stories in the book are May Day, The Diamond as Big as the Ritz, The Freshest Boy, Babylon Revisited and Crazy Sunday.

If you haven't read these stories before, you have a great treat ahead of you. If you can find a copy of George Guidall's narration for Recorded Books, your pleasure will be even greater.

I nominate J. T. McDaniel as the new Edward L. Beach. Bacalao is edge-of-the-seat military fiction at its page-turning finest.

Mr. McDaniel may not have served aboard an active-duty fleet boat but you certainly can't tell it from his book. He knows submarines and when you read "Bacalao" so will you! He entwines fiction with historical fact in a manner that is very similar to the way W.E.B. Griffin does. You very quickly begin to care about what happens to his characters. A "page-turner"! As a former Navy man, I'm pretty critical of the "technical stuff" in books of this nature and Mr. McDaniel has it right. I recommend it highly

There have been many excellent books written about WWII submarine warfare over the decades. One would think that this genre was over done and that nothing new or better could done with this theme--and you would be wrong! J. T. McDaniel has a great tale to tell through a fictional sub and its crew in his novel called "Bacalao." This one will eventually join the ranks of old naval classic submarine stories like "Run Silent, Run Deep" and a very short list of others that are considered classic war stories.

McDaniel has captured the emotions of the sub crews and what seems to me, as a technically accurate portrayal of what these subs were really like. He paints with his words visual images that are mixed into real historic back drops of time and place to create a feeling that this all could have happened. I believed in the story line and the people and the sub itself.

The writing is brilliant and the reader will have little trouble following the plot. The book takes you from the construction of the submarine in Connecticut, through Pearl Harbor and onto patrol in the Pacific. The author allows the story to unfold from the view point of Laurence Miller who rose from junior officer to the commanding officer of the Bacalao. This works very well for telling this story.

The book is a good read and will keep you interested from the first couple of pages to the ending. It is given the MWSA TOP RATING - FIVE STARS!

2005 Distinguished Honor Award from the MWSA!

We think of the submarine as a silent, deathly hunter. However, within seconds the sub can become the hunted. Only the skill and ingenuity of the commander, his officers' staff and each member of the crew will enable them to elude the determined enemy surface force bent upon destroying them. McDanels doesn't sugar coat things. Events happen quickly! Attention to duties is paramount! Your response must be instantaneous and correct.
Other options are not acceptable if you are to fight another day.
This is a must read!

Bacalao is the name of a fictional Gato class submarine. McDaniel brings us inside the sub. He gives look at what it must have been like to fight the war against the Imperial Japanese Navy, and the frustrations encountered.

This is a very credible read about a war that is fading into history for many these days.

This is a concise and easy to understand book on the catholic faith. Read it and know it better.

This book was recommended to me by my Spiritual Confessor as a book to be studied on a daily basis. He said that is should be well understood and memorized. What I really love about this book is that it's question and answer format along with commentary and Scriptural references makes our Catholic Traditions easily understandable. Since it is a question and answer format I can also take a couple of questions a day and memorize them. This is an ideal book for New Catholics as well as Cradle Catholics. This is a great investment for the price.

The Baltimore Catechism No. 3 with Mass, Father Connell's Confraternity Edition, is one of the best catechisms you'll ever find. Clear and concise, this book can be trusted to contain the fullness of the truth, the Catholic Faith, without adulteration. These aren't just dry questions and answers; rather, each answer is detailed, expounded upon, and exercises are provided at the end of each Chapter/Lesson. A must-have for every Catholic library!

We older Catholics have labored through countless liturgical and attitudinal changes in our churches' dogma since Vatican II. Recently, my daughter asked me if there were anything she could read that spelled out the basic tenets of the Catholic faith.

Being less than connected to the faith myself anymore, I remembered the Catechism I was forced to learn as a youth, along with the simplicity and surety it inspired. I ordered it and I am glad I did. Classical in its simplicity and earnestness, it is a return to the roots of the basic belief system that no one ever seems to discuss anymore.

I have seen all the catechisms out there, and this is the very best! It is the most complete and the most educational and also has beautiful artwork (with explanations) and a comprehensive prayer section added to the original edition. It is great for adults and young adults, including high school students.

I've read about 40 first-person books written by survivors of the Japanese POW camps and this is one of the best. When I began reading the book I didn't realize that I knew Lt. Boyt's family and when I did the story became even more compelling. Lt. Boyt and his biographer did an excellent job of telling his story, outlining what life was like for the young people during the 1930s and early 40s and how overcoming the hardships of that life was what made this the "Greatest Generation". Boyt's story tells how he used determination to overcome barrier after barrier to become a successful and useful citizen. Those traits did him well when he was suddenly thrust into the horror of prison camp under the brutal heel of the Japanese. He and his buddies withstood more than is hardly believable. Young Americans should be required to read this book so they can better understand that this is the "Home of the Free BECAUSE of the Brave!"

Pleased with the prompt delivery. Good doing business with you.

This is a fascinating, well-written account of the life of a man who symbolizes the best qualities of "the greatest generation." Men like Mr. Boyt endured unimaginable suffering and then came home to live quiet, decent lives without seeking the attention and respect they deserved. We need to hear their stories and learn from them before they pass away. This book is inspiring and easy to read. I highly recommend it.

Great read! Clear, concise, draws you in. Gene Boyt's outstanding character and his attitude about the horrible ordeal he is forced to endure comes through clearly as a big reason for his survival. Mr Boyt's story is one of true heroism, although he states he considered himself only a survivor. This excellent book shares a special place on my bookshelf next to other stories of Mr Boyt's great generation. -Forever Greatful

This is the story of my Grandpa. I hope you all enjoy this book! Now that my Pops is in a better place I can read this book and feel closer to him than ever. Through reading this book my family and I have learned so much that we never knew about our Pops. It shows the best and worst of the people of the Death March and the angels that helped my pops to survive so that I may be here today. I hope you enjoy this as much as we have! Thank you for reading it.
Shoni Boyt

It's a wonderful work. More information you will ever see anywhere. Beautiful and detailed photos that help a lot in identification. I'm enjoying so much reading it.

Like a few other military books Bayonets: An Illustrated History by great author Martin J. Brayley gives us an accurate descritpion and amazing, extensive photographic material to illustrate each and every example.
For collectors and simpatizers alike this is a book worth having in any military collection.

Written by a military photographer of 24 years' experience, Bayonets: An Illustrated History offers an in-depth examination of the role of the bayonet in military conflicts worldwide from 1650 to present. More than 500 photographs enhance Bayonets: An Illustrated History. 300 different types of bayonets are closely scrutinized; almost every photograph features a capsule of notes specific to its topic. The text, while intended more for serious military historian than the lay reader, is highly accessible as it traces the design evolutions and purposes of bayonets as history passed. A welcome contribution to military and weapon history shelves.

Written by a military photographer of 24 years' experience, Bayonets: An Illustrated History offers an in-depth examination of the role of the bayonet in military conflicts worldwide from 1650 to present. More than 500 photographs enhance Bayonets: An Illustrated History. 300 different types of bayonets are closely scrutinized; almost every photograph features a capsule of notes specific to its topic. The text, while intended more for serious military historian than the lay reader, is highly accessible as it traces the design evolutions and purposes of bayonets as history passed. A welcome contribution to military and weapon history shelves.

Photography in this book is excellent and sometimes the visuals are better than the text in aiding identification. The author points out some nuances in transitions that I had not encountered before. I felt it was worth the price and very handy as a quick reference.

I really enjoyed this book. The author obviously knows her way around Volkswagens. I'm so glad she made Daisy use the bible of Volkswagens - John Muir's "Idiot's Guide".

This was a cute love story, and an awesome story about a gal and her Beetle, but how many 15-yr-olds enjoy this? My critical eye says this book is too romancy for boys, and too technical for a lot of girls (Not all, however. There are those of us females who are mechanically-minded). As a 20-something VW enthusiast, however, I thought the book was fabulous.

I really enjoyed this book. It had everything from Volkswagons to love and it really showed that girls CAN be mechanics and that cars aren't just for guys. The author did a really great job describing how a fifteen year old acts and what it feels like to be in one's first real romance.

Daisy Pandolfi, the main character had strong will and tons of determination. She knew what she wanted, which was a 57' purple Volkswagon that had been her dads and was being neglected in the icehouse in their meadow. After Daisy begged her dad to let her have the Volksie, he finally gave in and she recieved the barely fixable old car. Daisy fixed it up all by herself without help from her family, all of whom are excellent mechanics. This book was really enjoyable and I reccomend it to everyone!

this was a great book, this is the first book i have read in a long time my dad asked if it was good and i said yes and he said it must be becuase i never read and i never put this one down. I found this book after asking the librarian what some good books are and he handed me this book i thought it was going to be dumb but it wasnt. This book is about a 15 year old girl who is becoming a freshmen and doesnt have a car everyone in her family are mechanics and she wants to rebuild her dads old puple VW bug and he doesnt think it is a great idea because it had been sitting in their ice house for so long but he gave in and let her take it out and work on it she spent her whole summer working on this car but then when the school year starts she and her friend billy take it out for a spin and something happens and there is oil everywhere and she doesnt know whats wrong and she doesnt want anyhelp from anyone so she finaly lets Billy look at it and he finds out that their is a crack in her crankcase and she will have to get a new one so for christmas her parents buy her a new one and the car is fine and runs so on christmas eve after church Billy comes over and she gives him the bug on loan till she turns 16 because when Billy was little his dad left them and doesnt send money so he cant go to college and works at his moms garden shop for christmas to sell trees. This was a great book and i would like to read more of her books...

This is a great book i dont like to read books and i love this one the author does a great job wrighting this book and does a great job keeping you hoked. This is the first book i have read in a long time my dad asked if it was good because he hasent seen me ever not put a book down i love this author and i am looking for more books by her. This book is about a young 15 year old girl who wants her dads old puple vw bug that he has put in the there ice house she works on it all summer and gets it up to shape to drive the one day her and her friend billy are driving it and and the find oil all over the ground she finds out later that there is a split in the crank case and it will have to be replaced so for christmas her parents and her buy a new one so now the beetle is all fine. Her friend Billy has graduated and doesnt have a car to drive and is in love with Daisy and wants to marry her but she doesnt know if she feels the same way and as a present the him she gives him the beetle on loan till she is 16 and can drive it, this is how the book ends and i am kinda wanting there to be another book after this one but thats just me.
sincerly Charity Summerlin

In simple, straightforward language, Karen Romano Young unfolds how a seemingly awkward yet strong and determined heroine comes to terms with her dreams, her family, and herself. Daisy Pandolfi is a believable heroine who makes no excuses for wanting what she wants. She doggedly restores their old VW Bug and discovers heartbreak, disappointment, and love in the process. Her strength was an inspiration to me -- and I'm 23! I wish I was like that when I was 15.

The book is a love story, true, but not in the mushy line of commercial teen flicks. The romance aspect develops slowly, surely, imperfectly. But at the heart of it all was how Daisy tackled her independence. In a quiet exchange that moved me to tears, Daisy tells her father not to tell her what to do, just to tell her when she's doing it wrong. In the end, it IS a love story -- of a girl for her dreams, of a girl for her family.

I sincerely enjoyed the different characters that Karen Romano Young painted in this book, and I look forward to reading her other works.

As a person with a conservative background, let me start off by telling you what this book is not. It is not liberal, despite what reviewer Kennedy of CA may believe. Yes, James Blanchard is a Democrat, but aside from mentioning select election results, there is no liberal or conservative ideology contained within this book. Further, James Blanchard does much to bolster his credibility through listing his own shortcomings and relaying some less than flattering views of the Clinton administration where warranted. I was surprised and impressed by his candor.

Lastly, reviewer Kennedy is just plain silly when implying that former congressman, governor, ambassador Blanchard (with a masters in business and a law degree) "...discovers Canada actually exists..." With the majority of Canadian/American trade flowing between Ontario and Michigan, and the fact that every handful of Michigan pocket change contains at least one Canadian coin, it is preposterous to assume any Michigan resident would be ignorant of the planet's second largest country.

The heart and soul of this book is a very human and relatable James Blanchard giving readers an inside look at what is like to be an American ambassador to Canada and how he may have played a humble, yet key role in the shaping of the two nation`s policies. The former ambassador's most lasting contributions may well lie within the Canadian/American Open Skies agreement and the results of the Quebec referendum.

No doubt, Canadians and Americans of all slants will enjoy learning more about the partner with whom they share the world's longest open border.

If only James Blanchard were still the US Ambassador to Canada! Relations between the two countries would not be in the sorry state they are now. But then the current Republican administration would never send someone like Blanchard to Ottawa. Blanchard made every attempt to get to understand Canada and Canadian issue before he even moved to the capital. He travelled to all ten provinces in the months prior to setting up shop across from the parliament buildings.
This book provides a powerful and insightful backdrop against which to view the current administration's constant harping about the war on drugs. Canada is trying to take a more European approach, treating the problem as a medical issue as opposed to a criminal matter - but that only enrages George Bush's gang. One would think that the US war on drugs was a series of resounding triumphs!
Blanchard also noted that Canada does not 'do inbvasions' but rather does peacekeeping, so advised Clinton not to even ask Canada to take part in an invasion of Haiti. He also noted that we like to do things as part of the United Nations, so that was the best way to approach us. Imagine!
This book should be read by all US ambassadors, in fact all US state department officials for that matter.

As the previous reviewers have said, Blanchard has written a key book for understanding US-Canadian relations. But this is also the most insightful book I have found about Clinton and the Clinton Administration in the areas in which Clinton was most successful, personal relations and trade policy.

...read this book. It is a decent primer for US residents who want to learn more about our oft-neglected neighbor. Warning: Mr. Blanchard is quite liberal, and liberal policies (US & Canadian) are treated matter-of-factly. His conservative successor as governor of Michigan (John Engler) has, in most people's opinions, done a better job. Interested conservatives will still enjoy the book--just keep a few grains of salt handy.

Canadians might get a kick out of a quintessential "American discovers Canada actually exists and is also pretty neato" story.

If you're Canadian, you really need to read this book. If you're American, you really need to read this book. James J. Blanchard has seen our Canadianisms and helped us to do the unthinkable, define ourselves. From coast to coast and beyond, the essence of what we are leaks out on these pages. It is fitting that an American should expose our mysteries and histories. Not that we are hidding them, we just seem to have a hard time accepting them. We remain the True North, Strong and Free. Thankyou James Blanchard.

Before I read Betrayal Trauma, I obsessed over the details of WHAT had been done to me, to protect myself from the deeper and more devastating knowledge that I was severely betrayed by people who were expected, by society, to protect and care about me. As I let go of my denial that their behaviors were the norm, and accepted that they had wilfully chosen to betray me, I felt and fully experienced the deep, foundational pain that I'd secretly feared might kill me. I was stunned to realize how their innumerable betrayals had kept me separated from the rest of society for DECADES. Armed with that knowledge, I was able to let go of my childishly unrealistic expectations, and emotionally disconnect from them. As I let go, I realized how lonely I was. Although I'd used my inner selves in the past decades for company, I now dared to reach out to external others. As I did - miracle of miracles - I began to fully integrate. (I've been tested recently, and no longer have DID, although I still struggle with PTSD from hell.) Some of the healthy people I've since chosen to trust, love, and bond with have become members of my new family of choice. I cannot, in words, sufficiently express the joy and happiness I now feel when I interact with them. I never would have experienced this marvelous part of ordinary life, had I not allowed Dr. Freyd's words to lead me through my foundational pain. By example, she blazed a brave path that I am fortunate to have found and followed.

Because of her parents attacks on Dr. Freyd, I'd expected to find some of her justifible anger in the pages of this book. I did not. Dr. Freyd is logical, objective, and professional in her handling of this sensitive subject. She adds a somewhat new perspective to the old story of sexual abuse and betrayal. An excellent addition to any therapist's or survivor's library.

I consider this book one of a small handful that really goes to the core of understanding trauma and its influence. Other such books include works by Alice Miller, Konrad Stettbacher, and Mortan Schatzman (Soul Murder; out of print; not the book by the same title by Leonard Schengold).

How could the huge betrayal of sexual abuse remain hidden in the back corners of my psyche for years and years? Can I really believe a memory that has been hidden so long?

Betrayal Trauma provides sensible, evidence-based answers to these questions. Freyd explains that forgetting is useful to the child because it enables her to remain in contact with the family that is essential for her survival. The closer the relationship with the abuser, the more important it is to forget the abuse in order to keep that relationship working, problematic though it is.

Freyd even found data showing that kids whose abuse was reported to authorities often "forgot" it for years, and the closer the relationship to the abuser (father vs. cousin, for example), the more likely the forgetting.

Isn't that stunning? Yet it makes total sense. I had to keep eating cornflakes every morning opposite my father and relying on him for food, learning, and yes, love. I could not allow myself to remember the abuse in the night.

This book is well written and well researched. I put it at the top of my list of good information and theory for any survivor.

I needed this book for my class and it was shipped to me within 4 days. Great response time and book was in excellent condition.

It's a biology text book, it is all I have ever dreamed it would be.

This book was a good deal because at my school they sell it for about $150. The book is hardcover and has a passcode that can be used online to study better.

it was the correct book and i got access to mybiology.com which is helping me a lot with my class. i saved over $50!

I received this book in a timely manner, and it was exactly what I needed for class. I was very happy to save money by ordering from Amazon

This is one of those "hmmmmm...interesting" books. George Rodrigue gives a compelling history about his roots and how Blue Dog came into creation. While I love the content of the book, I am even more facinated by the design. Inside you will find a "punch-out" blue dog mask, postcards and other little nifty interactive thing-a-ma-jigs that help make this book such a pleasure to enjoy.

This is a weighty (but not cumbersome) coffee table book that any thinking, feeling human being would be happy to own. Ever since I saw some original Blue Dog paintings in New Orleans, I've wanted to own one of them. Alas, I'm too poor. This book captures the spirit of the little alien-looking pooch and lets me borrow it for a price I can manage.

You just can't fully appreciate or understand the scope and delight of Blue Dog until you read this book. I adore Blue Dog. This silly, goofy blue dog provokes emotions in me that I have not experienced with art before...there is some strange, sad, beautiful, eerie, rapturous, haunting, joyful essence to this darn dog. This book is completely unique, fun, inspirational...I could go on and on. You just have to touch this book (the cover is fuzzy!) and open it...you will be hooked. The best coffee table book and a sure conversation starter, though that is hardly its value.

Any book with more of Blue Dog is great. This features more of the pop art world of Blue Dog than the previous books of Rodrigue's work. (I actually like the paintings of Blue Dog in cajun settings best.)

Teach an old dog new tricks? Absolutely, provided the pooch in question is Blue Dog, that colorful canine spawned from the mind of Cajun artist George Rodrigue. (For those no up to their four-legged friends fodder, the cobalt canine with the yellow eyes is based on three of the artist's now-dead dogs, and was first immortalized on slick papers back in 1994.) Who says a sleeping dog must lie? This babe is everywhere: portraits hang in the White House, on the set of "Friends" and in fan Whoopi Goldberg's abode; Blue Dog also stars in an Absolut ad. This volume boasts 60 gorgeous never-before-published paintings, along with commentary by Rodrigue on the birth of Blue Dog and its transformation into a pop culture icon. Tom Brokaw, an avid Blue Dog collector, wrote the book's forward. The cat's meow. Really.