Collecting Books

Tom Heaton's book is an excellent resource for Marx collectors or those who used to play with Marx toys in their childhood. It is packed with clear and colorful photos of the toys, packaging, accessories, etc...

For many years, Santa left me a Best of the West figure under the tree. Being able to flip through the pages and remember the toys and all the neat stuff they came with is a wonderful walk down memory lane.

Although I still have most of my childhood collection, they are in a terrible state of repair. It is comforting to know there are current versions being made (details in this book).

A must have addition to your library if you collect, or used to collect, Marx Action Figures.

Tom Heaton's Encyclopedia of Marx Action Figures is an invaluable tool for any Marx collector. It includes more in-depth coverage of Marx's action figures than any other book to date.

This is the most outstanding collection guide I have ever read! The author seems to have put unlimited hours into research to come up with such a thorough history of Marx action figures. The photos are fabulous! I've never seen such a variety of great pictures. This book will inspire many others to become new collectors and relive their childhood with Johnny West! A totally awesome book! Many thanks to the author, Tom Heaton, for finally putting a book like this together for us diehards! Cheri Basham

Tom helps us reclaim out youth, it is great to be able to pick this book and feel like a kid again. My 8 year daughter and I use the book for a guide as we search through the thrift stores and antique stores for the best of the west toys.

This is a must have book if you are a Marx Action Figure collector or even a fan. I have never seen so many excellent pictures that can really help a collector. Since owning this book I have used it on a daily basis.

This is the first book I have read by Spear Morgan. I felt connected with the characters in his novel, as if I was there. I ejoyed the excitement of the mystery and danger. It is full of plot twists and turns, which keeps the reader inspired.

Halfway through the book it became very suspenseful, a page turner. I just couldn't stop reading. I was even late for my Thanksgiving dinner at a friends house.

Thank you for the excellent ending. There is nothing more frustrating than a good book with an unsatisfying ending. I'm looking forward to reading more of Spear Morgans books.

Buy it, you will love the adventure he takes you on.

This book is entertaining, well-written, informative, well-plotted, sexy, and with an intrigueing cast of characters. As an anthropologist who once lived in Oklahoma, I appreciate how well it captures both the ethos of the area, and the issues of contemporary cultural interactions and archaeology that it deals with. In addition to all this, one of the best things about The Freshour Cylinders is the author's gentle and perceptive portrayals of human, especially male/female, interaction. It is rare to find a book that is so enjoyable on so many levels. It's fun to share a good thing: I want this book to be read.

Speer Morgan has created a well-balanced novel; the plot is intense, the characters are well-fleshed out and the writing is superb. This is a book that one will give a repeat-read. It has all the essentials of entertainment as well as a beautiful display of history. Morgan's sense of place is extraordinary.

The Freshour Cylinders by Speer Morgan is an exciting and authentic picture of western Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma in the thirties. It combines authentic information about the famous Spiro Indian Mounds with a suspenseful story about murder, love, and the Native American experience in "Indian Territory." It is as gripping a thriller as you'll find on the shelves, and it has the added attraction of believable characters and an unusually keen sense of place and time.

What a fine book The Freshour Cylinders is! It was the kind of reading experience that peopled my daydreams and nightdreams with vivid characters in exquisite detail. I felt like a time-traveller, transported to an exotic location, immersed in a time and place that, before this book, had little clarity to me. I have nothing but praise for this book -- it was thoroughly enjoyable and having to put it down put me in a bad mood. It's a book to savor for its splendid characters, dead-on dialogue, cinemascope descriptions of place and atmosphere, and driving plot. It's the kind of unbelieveable story that becomes completely believeable in the expert telling. I couldn't predict where I was being taken, like being driven through the Winding Stair Mountains in heavy fog, and I was thankful that a writer with unerring skill was at the wheel. Speer Morgan has an unfailing and incredible sense of historical accuracy. I was completely convinced that these characters were real. In addition to the pleasures of pure storytelling and exotic place, Freshour provided an even deeper satisfaction. It's such a powerful and harrowing book about the past: about the way our cultural past affects us collectively and the way we are each affected by our individual past. Tom Freshour, being half white, half Indian, is such a good character for this unfolding. And what a stunning indictment of white greed and American justice!

I am the devoted owner of a gorgeous white sheepdog with blue blue eyes (with eyelashes no less..) and I just had to have this book. I adore Carolyne Roehm and the chapter on her homes and dogs were an added reason for me to own this one. I highly recommend this one for a gift.

I loved this book. The beautiful photos were a delight and the stories heart-warming. Every dog lover would love to have this book on their cocktail table!

I am an avid collector of dog memorabilia and motif items and this book was an inspiration! My husband just thought I was obsessive about dog objects! Your book gave me new ideas for old dog items that I never would have thought of. The photography is beautiful and the subjects are warm and true. I know that I am not alone in my endeavor to collect and display what I love!

I have read several other books with the same theme, however this book surpasses them all. Our copy is well loved and our guests tend to migrate toward it at our home. The book contains the stories of several people and how dogs have touched their lives. It is a glimpse into personal collections of avid dog lovers and collectors.

I've always had an affinity for dogs and the people who love them, which is probably why this book now occupies the premier spot on my coffee table. After reading the introduction by Larry Sheehan, in which he shares hilarious and endearing tales about his dog, Buster, I knew I'd found someone who truly understood what it means to live with and love dogs. Even bad ones. The book is a celebration of hardcore dog enthusiasm. It's fun to learn about other people's passion for various breeds. What's more, the pages are filled with pictures of beautiful dogs, beautiful homes, and beautiful places. I got tons of inspiration for decorating my home and incorporating my love of dogs into my life. This book would make a wonderful gift.

This compendium of quotes is divided into 20 chapters (some more vaguely defined than others), each with a short introduction, including:

The Pleasures of Reading
The Pleasures of Buying and Owning Books
Bibliomania
How to Read
Lending and Borrowing Books
What Books Can -- and Cannot -- Teach Us
Collector and Collecting
The Book Trade
The Enemies of Books
Libraries
Good Books and Bad
Books and the Young
Authors and Their Readers

Quotes range in length from one sentence to paragraphs, and are by authors and readers, most pro some con. Unfortunately, not all are dated or sourced. An author index can help you locate musings by particular people.

The font is large and clear, and the book format makes this a pleasure to read.

Fun browsing material for book lovers.

The editors have collected many powerful sayings and arranged them under twenty different topics to create a very useful compendium. It is a wonderful reference for anybody especially writers, readers, speakers, collectors, and people who love books in general. The mixture of funny quotes, inspirational sayings, and aggressive thoughts would surely challenge the readers' thought processes about each adage. An index of authors is provided at the end of the compilation for easy search. Although it is supposed to be a reference book, reading it from start to finish is pretty exciting.

A great effort by the editors of another great book "A Passion for Books".As a lover of books and reading I am attracted to books on books.It takes a pair like Rabinowitz and Kaplan to do a real good job of producing such good results.Books on books and books of quotes seem to be topics that edited book producers and publishers seem to believe are a snap to produce.I haven't checked ,but I would suspect R&K could but wouldn't crank out a book on some other subject ie.Birdwtching even if prompted by a publisher.I think this is why these two books are so good.I find editors that pump out books on a variety of subjects produce mediocre results and fall in the same realm as those referred to by Francis M Cornford on page 209 "University printing presses exist,and are subsidized by the Government for the purpose of producing books which no one can read;and they are true to their high calling".These kind of books can often be identified as having received a grant by a government or other body that believes that they,rather than the buyer, should decide what is worth publishing.
as having received some sort of

1) There are more good books than any single person can ever read in their lifetime
2) A sick child at home may in reading a book have a true adventure in mind
3) Not all books are good ones. There are bad books in the world- there are Evil ones that have brought great disaster and suffering.
4) A book can tell us more about strangers than we can ever know about people close to us
5) Each of us is a book or many books. And perhaps one day in the Great Library of the Future there will be a book for each of us that tells our life story.
6) The greatest book there is is the Book of Books-and the author is G-d.
7) Shakespeare did not write his plays to be books- and yet what greater books are there than Lear and Hamlet and Macbeth and Julius Caeasar?
8) A book a day keeps the Alzheimer's at bay.
9) A book about books is a booklover's delight
10) Let us all praise our favorite books.

Books are one of the most precious possessions we humans can have; they are our history, our knowledge, our culture, and the largest record that we exist. And, in Speaking of Books, the reader will find page after page of the words we have used throughout recent history to lovingly (and at times not so lovingly) talk about our books.

Whether you are a biblioholic/bibliomaniac or you just love to read the books in your local library ("No place affords a more striking conviction of the vanity of human hopes than a public library" -Dr. Samuel Johnson), this book will entertain and enlighten you about our love affair with the bound written word. From the well known such as Edgar Allen Poe and Ralph Waldo Emerson to the obscure, people have been writing and talking about books since the book was first published.

"The trouble with this book is that its covers are too close together." - Christopher Lehmann-Haupt

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A Guide to my Book Rating System:

1 star = The wood pulp would have been better utilized as toilet paper.
2 stars = Don't bother, clean your bathroom instead.
3 stars = Wasn't a waste of time, but it was time wasted.
4 stars = Good book, but not life altering.
5 stars = This book changed my world in at least some small way.

This is an excellent reference work. The layout of the book is easy to use and the pictures are first class. This book surpasses many of the standard reference works available. Makes a great addition to a reference library on Lionel Trains.

this is the only book you will ever need if you collect older lionel trains it covers all the bases and lets me remember everything I forgot many years ago when I got my first train set extremely informative thanks I only wish there was a book to cover later years

Excellent amount of information on post Lionel trains. The catalog contains the highest amount of information on Lionel trains, the value and rarity for each model. Plenty of photos to provide visual reference for your research.

Now in a newly expanded and updated second edition, David Doylle's "Standard Catalog of Lionel Trains' showcases Lionel toy trains made from 1945 through 1969. Surveyed in an authoritative collector's reference this new edition packs over a thousand color photos with its expanded catalog , which includes variations on Lionel cars and accessories. Many collectors of Lionels will find come to consider this a major 'must have' bible of information, packing in color photos and charts of values for Lionel trains in all conditions.

The best or one of the best Lionel guides to postwar Lionel trains. The only guide that authoritatively lists all production variations over the years covered.

Excellent book - unfortunately I didn't buy the british version right away - which comes with an extraodinary CD. So I bought the british version as well and offered the american one to a friend. LONG LIVE OLD EUROPE

This is among the best car books I've ever seen. The photography is all new - no recycled press photos you've seen over and over. The writing style is clear and evocative of the best story telling. It could have been published as 21 monthly articles in Road & Track. The tone is friendly without being silly. It contains technical information without getting hopelessly bogged down in minutiae. HOWEVER - as I was reflecting how cool it would be to download audio recordings of these cars in action (imagining a website) I read that the UK version comes with a CD! Why isn't this in the US version? As the Buddhists say, all suffering stems from desire... Now if I could only buy (and maintain!) my fantasy Chaparral and Ford GT-40 and Ferrari Daytona and Mini-Cooper S and Lotus 21 and Jaguar D Type and supercharged Bugatti and Porsche 911 and Cobra and Buell superbike...

It can be ordered through Amazon UK; It's called "Into The Red" and the engine sounds on the CD are awesome.

This book is outstanding. Nick Mason's brief account of each car's history and how he came to buy it is interesting and often humorous and Mark Hales' account of the driving experience conveys great feeling. The photography is also of very high quality. BUT you must buy one that comes with the CD, the book is titled 'Into the Red' outside the USA. Listening to the CD (loud!) while reading the book is an awesome experience which should not be missed. Particularly track 5, the V16 BRM, the sound of which will make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck!

Recently I bought the UK-version of this book. It is called 'Into the Red' and comes with a CD with sounds of the sportscars described in the books. I agree with all other reviewers: this CD plus book is a must-have. The pictures in the book are beautiful, the text by Mason and Hales is technically, humorously and very interesting to read. Even if you are not full into racingcars, this is still a very nice book to have in your bookcase !

Here's a little time travel for you. I first got my hands on this book when I was a little baseball-loving kid, back in 1974. This book scared the hell out of me back then.

Thirty years later it turned up again, and this time it blew my mind. It's one of the most creative, touching, thoughtful, mildly mean-spirited works of literature I've ever come across (And I read books for a living.)

Here's the backstory on the book. It's the early 1970's in Boston, and two witty, profound, slightly geeky local bookstore employees decide to rummage through their childhood baseball-card collections and write a book about their love of the game. Please note: this book **isn't** about baseball or even about baseball cards (here I'm citing the authors in their preface), it's a book about childhood as recalled through the prism of baseball cards.

This book isn't for everyone. It's for grown-up men who loved baseball as boys, weren't very good at it (as the authors admit about themselves), and were probably picked near the end in gym class when teams were being chosen.

This book is probably best (and most mind-blowing) for people who grew up during the late 1950's and early 1960's, as the authors did. But the generations of childhood baseball fans ever since will also find great pleasure in this entirely irreverent and clever book.

"GOOD NIGHT, SIBBI SISTI, WHEREVER YOU ARE." When I read this line in the book back in 1974, it gave me the willies. Now I just grin.

Beautiful, brilliant and witty. Once you have the book, you'll never forget it, and you'll probably keep wanting to show parts of it to fellow fans. However, in the name of humor, the book is a little cruel to some players -- for example, "Hal Griggs was to pitching as Wayne Causey was to hitting -- that is to say, nothing." Even as a kid I was made uncomfortable by things like that. But, some of those things, I just LOVED, like the teasing about how ugly Don Mossi was and about how lousy a hitter Hank Aguirre was ("...I mean to tell you, he couldn't even come close..."). So, where should they have drawn the line? Heck if I know. Also, the book seems to show a bias toward players from Boston and Philadelphia, giving them more space than they deserve, and a lot more kindness. But actually I enjoyed that, since, as a New Yorker, I've always been embarrassed about the disproportionate attention that is usually given to the Yanks and Mets. It's nice to see a couple of other towns getting their turn.

I received this as a Christmas gift one year and was initially disappointed. I had only heard of a few of the guys that were showed on the cards and I set it aside, figuring on sticking it up on my bookshelf with the other boring books that I had and never bothered with. Several days after Christmas we went on the annual family gift return, a day I truly hated. In desperation I grabbed this book off of my pile and took my accustomed place in the back of the station wagon. For the rest of that day and night the only time I put the book down was to eat, and then only briefly. This is a completely irreverent look at baseball as a whole, and the thing that really sealed the deal for me was the card of Whammy Douglas and the comments made by the author. I tried to get my dad to read it because I figured he would get more out of it than I did, (I'm 41 and consider myself to be on the trailing edge of those who might "get it",) but he wasn't interested. Maybe I'll try again. This book might have a limited range of interest, but if you have fond memories of baseball in the 50's and 60's, I think you'll fall right into that range.

This book is a treasure. I think if I had to pack one bag of books for a long stay on a desert island, this would be one of the first ones included. Like one of the other reviewers, I have worn out more than one copy and find myself puzzled why it's been allowed to go out of print.

"The Great American Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Card Book" has three principal sections. The first, "Where Have You Gone VINCE DiMaggio" is a warm and very witty recollection of the co-author's childhoods in the 1950s and the central role that baseball cards played in them. Part two, "This Kid Is Going To Make It," is a look at how the baseball card business operated circa 1973, the date of the book's original publication.

As entertaining as these openers are, the best (and largest) part of the book is the one simply called "Profiles." Reproduced in full color are hundreds of cards from the early 1950s to the late 1960s, accompanied by the author's observations about the players immortalized on them. You'll find greats on these pages, like Richie Ashburn, Stan Musial and Ted Williams...but the real joy is the rediscovery of the men on the fringes of the game's glory...."immortals" like Chris Cannizzaro, Frank Leja, Foster Castleman, Clyde Kluttz and Coot Veal. It's tempting to quote from the book at length, but that would spoil the fun. Just to give you a sense of the flavor though, I opened at random to the page featuring Hector Lopez, poor-fielding third baseman for the Yankees and Kansas City A's. After judging Lopez not to be just a bad fielding third baseman for a baseball player, but for a human being, they declare, he did not "simply field a ground ball, he attacked it. Like a farmer trying to kill a snake with a stick."

This is a wonderful book for any baseball fan, and should especially be treasured on those short, cold winter days when the crack of the bat and the warm blue skies and green grass of summer seem oh-so-far away.--William C. Hall

Each of us occasionally has experiences that are so vivid that they make immediate and permanent imprints upon the memory. For example, I can still remember my excited first day of kindergarten, as well as my first glimpse of Three Rivers stadium, as our family car approached it along the jumbled, congested streets of the North Side.

Believe it or not, I can similarly remember my first experiences reading this book, as though they were yesterday. I was in grad school in California, and a friend was visiting me with this book in tow. As he spread out a sleeping bag and nodded off to sleep, I curled up with his magnificent book. I can still picture that entire scene, my old apartment as it was then, and even one particular page on which I lingered in fascination (the Joe Fornieles profile.) The feeling of reading it was that electric, that hyper-engaging.

A book has got to be good if reading it is remembered as a formative experience.

Let me try another way to explain how much I loved this book. When I couldn't find this book anywhere (it being out of print), I directed a nationwide book search to try to find it for me. They did, a flawless hardback edition that I still treasure, and still maintain in carefully guarded, pristine condition. Mind you, I was a starving grad student when I did this, and could hardly afford such luxuries.

As you can see from the other reviews below, this book takes that type of hold on those who love it.

There are three major sections in this book; one covering the sensory atmosphere of a 1950s suburban childhood, one on the baseball card industry as it existed in 1973, and one a series of profiles of players as depicted on samples from the authors' baseball card collection. The first and third of these are the great ones.

I adore the opening chapter, which brought childhood back to me even though I didn't grow up in the same era as the authors. But some things are universal I guess, including the way that childhood memories exist as scraps and floating debris of the odd popular cultures through which we guide our children.

Boyd and Harris's childhood world will be recognizable to anyone who grew up in America -- a world of advertising jingles, cap guns, yo-yos, Pez, and of course, baseball cards. A time cycle in which the kids learn to break down the interminable flow of their school year according to the changing weather, the holidays and favorite activities of each mini-season. And even those of us whose childhoods weren't so innocent nevertheless cling to those small fragments of memory of a time when we had no responsibilities and the world was a fascinating and wondrous place. I once wrote a newspaper review of this book in which I referred to this opening chapter as Marcel Proust in Levittown, and I think it still fits.

But the real core of the book is the "Profiles" section. This is a procession of baseball cards, one after another, two per page, each of which triggers a particular set of memories from the authors. Many of these, if not most, are really funny. But others are poignant.

Not all of the little capsule profiles are about the players themselves. Sometimes the authors take the opportunity to laugh over the baseball card itself -- a goofy pose, a bad airbrushing job, an inexplicable caption, an ill-considered description on the back.

It's an exquisite feeling, thumbing through their card collection with them. You feel the pang of reverence for the Ted Williams card. You snicker over Choo-Choo Coleman and the lousy catchers collected by the New York Mets. You ponder how it could be that Charlie Smith was traded straight up for Roger Maris. You nod knowingly over the author's continual confusion of Mike de la Hoz and Bob del Greco.

The visual design of the book is central to its power, which is why I particularly treasure my hardback edition. One page of umpire cards has a colored backround on which is stamped,simply, "Boo, Boo, Boo, Boo. . ." A page with the cards of Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente contains no commentary, just a respectful black background (each had recently passed at the time of the book's original publication.)

Somehow it all seems to mean something, even without seeming to try to mean anything. And therein lies the book's genius.

I know of no other baseball book like this one. It defies categorization, and despite my poor effort above, it really defies description. Buy it, hide it, shut the door and turn out the world, savor it, ponder it, laugh at it, love it.

Have a good time. It's meant to be fun, you know. Let's play two.

This book is a must have for African Americans who are collectors of fine African American art. Gives great information regarding the artists and on what to look for in fine art.

Although filled with very valuable information for anyone interested in collecting African American Art, I was looking for info on particular artist. I/E: James Denmark, Kadir Nelson, Alix Beaujour, Leroy Campbell,etc. These are just a few to give you an idea of what I was looking for. The book had great detailed info. I recommend this book to anyone...

If you have ever thought about purchasing a piece of art by an African American artist you should read this book. It is a rare gem. I met Ms. Taha at an opening some years ago at which time she told me she would be releasing this book, I had no idea it would be the treasure that it is. It is insightful, informative, beautifully illustrated, and gives you all the information needed to begin collecting art or to continue adding to your collection. Having a passion for art and the history of African American artist in this country, I want to thank Ms. Taha for encouring me to continue my pursuit for collecting and sharing much needed tools that will help me as I continue in this endeavor.

Ms Taha hit the nail on the head. Anyone with an interest in African American Art, this book is a must buy. The Author, takes the reader step by step through the African American art Market. Any work presented in the work is a fine example of the work that a collector and or an art lover should own. Too often, collecting african american art is thought of as buying $50.00 posters and placing a $500.00 frame around the work. Ms Taha describes how African American Art is here for all and how one can begin the road to sucessful lover affair with ART. Please support this Author.

This book is a wonderful addition to the library of African American Art History and a tremendous resource for both artist and collector. What an opportunity for the expansion of our work. Thanks, Halima. -Nadine LaFond, fine artist, Art Lives

If I could have just one book on map collecting this would be it. The book is an enjoyable read, and written in a crystal clear fashion. The book contains much essential information for collectors: map terminology, printing methods, translation of common phrases into English, how to judge condition, and blunt advice on the workings of the marketplace. All of this plus great reference material on map makers, styles, and periods. I've had this book for several years now and find myself reaching for it time and again. Thank you Dr. Manasek!

Got this book for Christmas and read the whole thing through. Unlike other map reference books in my collection, I actually read this one cover to cover! It is a remarkable book and the author shares what is a vast knowledge with us in a very unusual and direct way. The illustrations are really great and there are lots of them. Where else, for example, can you learn the names of the different parts of a folding map, with each part illustrated with real examples? Every page seems to have several. It is a big and very beautiful book. I will now go and re-read it.

A book of substance. "Collecting Old Maps" really deals with the subject and is not a watered-down survey of old maps someone thinks we should collect. This book breaks with the old way map books were written and is a refreshing "out of the box" way to look at old map collecting. There is no other book like it and I don't know where else one can get the information that is in here. Very well written, a delight to read and not dumbed-down. There is even some sly humor in here! I agree with the earlier reviews so there is no point in repeating everything they said.

Love the book! Well written and very informative. I agree with the previous reviewers. I thank the autor.

This is truly an outstanding book. It is exceptionally well-written and the number of illustrations is exceptional. Unlike most map books, this one uses illustrations to make specific points about maps, as well as to show what the map looks like. There is a huge amount of information in here - including such things as illustrated details about pocket map construciton, microscope pictures of paper, information about acids (for the non-chemist!) and a wonderful section of over a hundred maps, one per page, arranged chronologically. I found the CollectingOldMaps website a very valuable collateral since it shows up-to-date prices for all the maps in the book. The readability and info in this book make it a bargain - it is beautiful, also!

Naturally, everyone's a suspect. And, naturally, Claire announces the solution when all the suspects are gathered in one spot. And, naturally, she's right, even though there is no real evidence. I'm soooo tired of that sort of thing.

Of course, I know authors have a hard time letting you get to know someone and then having that person be the murderer, but I am also tired of the culprit being some very fringe character who was barely around for the first 90% of the book.

Craft's book is best when he is talking about the characters' relationships, and, boy, are there a bunch. All May-December, too! (So why can't I find a toy boy?)

And I really enjoyed the fact that Claire is directing a production of Laura, a favorite of mine, though I'd far rather Craft describe the plot in a footnote than have the Claire say things about it to the actors and others who ought to know already. Here she is talking to one of the actors (who is also her lover): "And Scott's just wonderful as the effete Waldo Lydecker, a perfect foil to your hard-boiled but sensitive portrayal of Detective McPherson. Even Thad . . . [has] taken the minor role of Danny and polished it into one of the show's special highlights." She sounds like a critic, not a director!

Oh, and Mark Manning makes a guest appearance.

Having enjoyed the first Claire Gray mystery, of course I was looking forward to this second novel in the series. This installment fleshes out the characters introduced in the first novel, and I enjoyed it even more than the debut. The mystery is first class! The ending will suprise you!

Mark Manning & Thad "guest star", and it is great to see them interact with the characters in this series. I hope Thad hangs around!

Michael Craft does an amazing job of charachter and place description. I feel that I know these charachters. And they are all quite likeable. As is the 2nd Claire Gray mystery. I found it to be better than the first with its twists and turns that keep one guessing to the end. I highly suggest you read this one!

This is the second novel in the Claire Gray Series. I really like this one better than the first book. Not to say that the first one is bad or anything. The first one is a first rate mystery novel as well. But the second one adds more depth and dimension. Read it! You'll love it as much as I do.

Graham Greene, C. S. Lewis, and Tolkien are writers who divide their work between "serious" and "entertaining" literature. My time constraints are such that I normally limit my focus to the former category, which has already expanded beyond the reading capabilities of any mortal in the course of a single lifetime (thank goodness, the amount of guilt does not grow in proportion to the books remaining to be read). Books from the latter category, I've always consoled myself, are primarily escapist narratives that can be enjoyed equally, and certainly more efficiently, in the medium of film.

In spite of my principles, I found myself alone in a room with Michael Craft's "Desert Winter" and enough time to read the first page. Bad mistake--especially for addictive personalities such as mine. The theme of murder hits you in the first sentence with cinematic forcefulness, then quickly yields to a POV that would be impossible to capture in a movie: a Christmas ornament in the form of a meticulously described, watchful cherub blowing a trumpet. On whom? I immediately ask myself. The narrator plays with this motif through the end of the chapter, employing it in comical and suggestive ways that could never be translated to film. And the narrative, moreover, practically makes a case for its own integrity when, still in the first chapter, an allusion to "Laura," both the film classic and its literary antecedents, calls attention to the more realistic but also more obvious and less playful status of the film version.

By this point I'm hooked. Normally, reading for me is a form of "work," with chapter endings representing welcome respites. Not so this backstage mystery story. With its colorful cast of characters, sharply observed descriptions, and playful plotting, I found it hard not to get ahead of the author's game. My advice: Don't try to match wits with Claire Gray unless you're absolutely assured you have the self-discipline not to peek ahead.