Authors Books

I really enjoyed reading this. It flowed really nice and I kept wanting more. I finished without ever getting bored.

The story about a young man dealing with becoming a father was good, but what blew me away was the incredible depiction of the life of a person with a minimal handicap. His epilepsy doesn't show immediately to others, but it haunts every moment of his life. He has completely educated himself to limit the disease as much as it can be limited and if he is control of his life he controls the disease. But none of us can control our lives and the conflict of this book seems to be, can he be heroic enough to risk imbalance and save his son? Can he take the steps to make others in his life recognize that he can handle the handicap and run his own life? I thought there were a couple of other issues - people testing your love by pulling away and how we manipulate our life stories to fit the truths we can handle about ourselves that resonated with truth. There seemed to be a great honesty in this book and I was deeply impressed.

Nobody builds a character like Garth Stein. Evan and Dean are real without being overdrawn, instantly likeable without being cloying or cute. Best of all this story of a relationship never turns the reader off with simple-minded parenting pap. This is the real deal between two imperfect people and all of us imperfect people should be able to relate.

Stein is also an excellent scene-builder. The depictions of the pop music scene in Seattle is instantly believeable-the reader feels like an insider immediately. The depictions of living with epilepsy were a revelation and very moving. I'm surprised, having read this book, that its inherent drama hasn't been used in fiction more often.

Lynn Hoffman, author of The New Short Course in Wine

Epilepsy has rarely been examined in fiction.
In How Even Broke his Head and Other Stories, Garth Stein puts an end to the silence.
With cool and measured precision, he introduces us to Evan Wallace, epileptic, and then forces us to watch Evan's ever-so-slow drift toward the inevitable seizure. Along the way, somehow, we find ourselves hoping Evan's efforts to ward it off, control his grip on consciousness, will succeed because at stake is the love of his son - a son he's only just learned exists.
Stein's depiction of their coming together is real, raw, gritty. Both father and boy are flawed. They feel their way, just like all of us.
The struggle begins the day they meet, and for Evan becomes his first real attempt to come to terms with the disorder that until now has ruled his existence.
Garth Stein knows this subject. His PBS documentary "When Your Head's Not a Head, It's a Nut?" is the story of his sister's preparations for surgery aimed at relieving her epilepsy. You owe yourself this read. It'll grow your head.
Art Tirrell - author of The Secret Ever Keeps - March 2007 from Kunati Book Publishers.

This novel is a brilliant and beautifully written meditation on the ever shifting nature of the truth. It is also an excellent portrayal of how Evan, the "black sheep" of his family, learns to take charge of his own story and stop letting others dictate it for him. Yes, he is a flawed character. He has secrets that he has kept from his family because he was too ashamed to reveal them. He has a 14 year old son he has never met, and he is an extremely talented musician who isn't getting anywhere with his music. And he has epilepsy.

The journey we take with Evan as he learns to grow up and become a father is immensely satisfying. The details, especially regarding the emotional lives of the characters, are beautifully described.

You have to be smart about reading this, though. While it is written in the third person, it is not an omniscient narrator. It is a very tight third person where everything is really coming straight from Evan's P.O.V. It is as close to being written in the first person as you can get while still being a third person narrative. I found this fascinating! And I loved the tone it set for the book. So if you find yourself complaining that Mica, for example, is too good to be true, you are not reading carefully! Of course she is too good to be true--everything we learn about her we learn from Evan, and he's fallen completely in love with her.

I honestly don't understand how more people haven't found their way to this book. How Evan Broke His Head--about family, truth, fatherhood, and being able to rewrite your own story--is an amazing read. I was transported instantly into the world of these characters and almost forgot that they were characters and not real people whose lives I cared about deeply.

The Hunting of the Snark is a whacky piece of poetical silliness by Lewis Caroll. Complete nonsense, no-one knows what a Snark is, or why Snark hunters hunt it, or why anyone would want to become a Snark hunter to start with. Anyway, the poem is definitely amusing at times with some of the humour he slips in.

The Hunting of the Snark seems to be a very, very short imitation of The Canterbury Tales. The first chapter (titled a fit) introduces all of the occupations of all the different people going on a journey. However, instead of going on a general pilgrimage and telling tales along the way, their trip is very specific to hunting.

The Baker actually attempts to tell a story, but the Bellman (who leads the group) says there's no time for storytelling. They have to catch the Snark before nightfall.

Along with the Bellman and Baker, a Banker, a Bonnet-maker, a Butcher, a Boots, a Billiard-maker, a Barrister, a Broker, and a Beaver tag along to hunt for the Snark. The Beaver is afraid of getting cut by the Butcher, so he puts on a dagger-proof coat and talks to the Banker about buying an insurance policy.

The Beaver is involved in a hilarious scene with the Butcher later, when the two attempt to compute sums. But perhaps the funniest scene of the entire book is in the Barrister's dream when the Snark declares sentence on a pig, only to find out the pig has been dead long before the trial even began.

I'd highly recommend this short poem for Carroll fans, even though it's not big enough to contain but a small portion of what's to be found in the Alice books.

I have read a great deal of nonsense in the past, but this was by far the best nonsense that I have ever read. There is no point, no meaning, no sense, and no boringness. It is a delightful poem (which is well written and very fun to read aloud) about a crew on a ship hunting a snark. The crew includes a captain who only rings a bell, a beaver, a cook who only cooks beavers (the beaver and the cook did not get along well), a man afraid that the snark would turn into a boojum and make him disappear, etc. As you can tell, this makes for an insanely silly poem. The subtitle is rather fitting, as my sides were definitely hurting from laughter when I was done. Well done Mr. Carroll.

Overall grade: A+

Nonsense poems can easily miss the mark
Yet, this masterpiece has that spark.

"How do you kill a _____?", you ask
To find the answer was the hunters' task.

"What was their fate?", you wonder
Did they ever catch their elusive plunder?

A paragon of haunting Carollian lore
Be in no doubt that you'll finish wanting more.

This poem is just great!

First, this one of the most delightful pieces of writing that ever appeared in (more or less) English. It succeeds as a sustained exercise in illogic. I am sure that only a mathematical logician like Dodgson could possibly have pulled it off - only someone with such deep understanding of reason could master unreason so completely.

Second, Martin Gardner's commentary adds depth and background to the reading. Gardner explains terms that are now obsolete, but also adds his own analysis and a rich history of the Snark phenomenon. It should be no surprise that Gardner is still best known as the long-time editor of Scientific American's column on Mathematical Games, a mathematician himself.

I can't add much to the scholarship or praise that already surrounds this incredible poem. I would like to point out, however, that most non-native English speakers are unfamiliar with this poem. Many of them have only ever seen the serious side of the English language, and have never seen English at play. I consider this short work to be the ideal introduction to the very best of English-language nonsense.

//wiredweird

The "Introducing..." series is quite uneven: there are some great books in it, but also some very dull ones. In general, books about authors are good, since they can combine the life of the writers with part of their stories. I love the one about Proust and the one about Camus; those about Joyce and Tolkien weren't so good on the other hand. The one about Kafka is one of the best, and this is due in no small part to the drawings of author Robert Crumb, who was able to bring to life (sorry about the cliche) Kafka's perverted imagination (yes, perverted is the right word) as probably few other artists would. Strongly recommended.

INTRODUCING KAFKA is a great way to enjoy R. Crumb artwork without feeling slimed by his unfortunate obsessions with perversity, and you will learn a lot about the life of the very famous author named Kafka, too.

Most of the pages have more space given to the artwork than the body text, drawn in the typical R. Crumb style, cute with edgy content.

Overall, after reading this book, I realized that I no longer am interested in the type of work done by Kafka, which is story writing that is VERY depressive and dreary, though imaginative.

I used to be a much more involved reader of R. Crumb, but I have since lost interest in his pornography overloads, so this INTRODUCING KAFKA book is a nice little souvenir of R. Crumb that I can safely keep in the house, without fear of upsetting anybody if they should ever find it.

There is very mild "adult" content in R. Crumb's artwork, especially mild compared to R. Crumb's independent, anything goes, usual work.

This book is a perfect fit for a biography of oddball author Kafka, presented and illustrated with R. Crumb work, doing a rare, non-offense project, for most mainstream readers' sensibilities.

Crumb was definitely the perfect illustrator for this book. Wow! The stories are "broken down" and visually interpreted, which really enriches the reading experience of the actual stories later (if you choose to do so). Overall, a very interesting look inside the life of a mysterious, dark-minded writer that most people don't know too much about. I'm really glad I read this book, I learned a lot!

For those who came to look at/buy this book via Ian Buruma's passing mention in the New York Review of Books (4/6/06), in which he states the "the book does [Crumb and Kafka] both a disservice": Don't believe it. As another reviewer said, I found this book strangely moving; and the Illustrated Classics reference is unfortunate. The enforcement - sometimes passive - of the high-low cultural dichotomy is very boring, very 20th-century, and not of much use in reading a book like this.

I dug this book and I recommend it to everyone out there. Fans of Kafka and/or Crumb should really enjoy this.

I recall the first time I read Kafka's "The Metamorphosis", I was in my early twenties. I really hated it. I didn't really get it, nor did I desire to spend any time and mental energy trying to get it. Then again, what do you expect from a twenty-five year old bachelor? Enlightment? Nah, think again. Come to think of it, the only reason I read it in the first place was to impress some girl I was dating at the time. Needless to say it was a challenge for me trying to stay awake while reading it. I mean for one thing, how in the hell are we supposed to get excited, let alone even interested, about some guy who wakes up one day only to find that he's transformed into a giant bug. YAWN! Anyway, I did finally finish the book, however that was the first and last time I dared to pick up a novel by Franz Kafka again. The guy was just too damn doleful and morose for my taste. If I want to be depressed I'll start watching daytime television.

So anyway, about three weeks ago I was checking out this used book store in San Luis Obispo and just so happened to come across this little book. Now I have to tell you up front that I have never been a huge fan of Mr. Crumb's salacious sketches. No doubt about it, the man is one talented artist, incredibly original and a unique innovator. However, like I said, he just doesn't quite do it for me personally. So the million dollar question is - 'why would I purchase this book if I am not a fan of either artist?' The answer is simply because I have been promising myself for a while now that I need to try and tackle Kafka one more time (after all, I am so much more enlightened, open-minded, & mature now than I was fifteen plus years ago. At least that's what I keep trying to convince myself, others, like my wife for example, may beg to differ with me). Ergo, I was hoping that this short, breezy bio would educate me a bit on this rather unconventional writer. Also, I enjoyed the fact that this book was designed to be a bit humorous as well (hence Crumb's irreverent illustrations). God knows that Kafka is depressing enough, so this bit of humor (the author David Mairowitz also deserves credit for this as well) certainly helps.

All in all, this turned out to be an excellent little read. It's not going to blow your mind. It's not abstract or esoteric by any stretch. However, it is interesting. It is a tad educational as well. To sum it all up in one cliche line - it's a clever, pithy, picturesque little bio that is sure to assist anyone who is brave and intelligent enough to tackle Franz Kafka.

Well written by David Zane Mairowitz. And of course the illustrations by Crumb are absolutely amazing and for him, very, very tame. PG-13 tame in fact. This is the first book of this introductory series I've read so far, I am definitely interested in checking out the others in the series real soon.

Enjoy!

This is one of the best memoirs I've read. Broyard is brilliant, an elegant writer, and his story is interesting. Anyone in love with New York, or just in love with good memoirs, should read it.

Returning from World War II, Anatole Broyard, a young man of New Orleans Creole stock who had grown up Brooklyn working class, took advantage of the GI Bill to jumpstart his fortunes. Manhattan beckoned across the river, and upon enrolling in The New School, he fell down the rabbit hole and into the Wonderland that was Greenwich Village. At The New School, he sat in the classes of the major intellectuals of the era, many of them from Europe. He had only just begun when he met artist Sheri Donatti, a protégé of Anais Nin, who instantly provided him with a place to live and a relationship that would come to define the entire mad scene, where everyone read Kafka and modern art was It. The old rules, whatever they were, were out the window and where Sheri was in command, the rules changed daily. Broyard, who paints himself as an outsider has enough access to the epicenter of the action and thinking of the place in this time frame to be its ideal interpreter.

This memoir covers just a couple of years, but that's enough to get down the Bohemian culture of Greenwich Village a few years before Keroauc appeared on the scene and nearly a couple of decades before the sixties would recast their own version. Broyard went on to become for 3 decades an admirable book critic for The New York Times and to live a happy, domesticated family life in the suburbs. His lucid, literate and witty style shines in KAFKA WAS THE RAGE. He was working on this memoir when he died of cancer in 1993.

My first reaction was, I wish I had been there too. As he said, the public was visually hungry at that time. Now the public is pretty much jaded in mho, but also, there are probably many more visual artists per capita than in 1947.
Other quotes I liked: pp129 On Delmore Schwartz, he was like the grammar-school bully who rips open your fly buttons. It was Delmore who helped me to understand what I came to think of as the malice of modern art.
pp134 The social history of the world is, in some ways, a history of censorship.

One brilliantly sunny day in July, I decided to head out to the lake to bask in the sun and read. Unforuntately, I realized halfway there that I hadn't bought anything to read. So, I trotted over to my local used bookstore and began browsing their recent acquisition table. This little volume immediately gained my attention. It looked like fun, it looked like it would be a quick read, and it was short enough that it wouldn't keep me from continuing in any of the other books that I was already reading. So, off to the lake with this book in hand I went.

KAFKA WAS THE RAGE was quite a nifty little read. I had read a fair amount about the Beats at one point, so this had some of the same post-WW II Manhattan atmosphere, but that was set more in the area of Columbia University, so this shifted the scene further south. There is no real story to tell here. Broyard merely recounts in a more or less anecdotal form a number of events and individuals from a particular moment in time. He has a gift for summoning up particular moments in vivid detail, and a talent for the brilliant line. An example of the former is his recounting of an adventure in which he took Delmore Schwartz, Clement Greenberg, and Dwight MacDonald to a Spanish Harlem nightclub. Another is his description of his art professor Meyer Schapiro.

Some great lines:

"I thought that being a Communist was a penalty you had to pay for being interested in politics."

[on Dylan Thomas] "To him, an American party was like being in a bad pub with the wrong people."

[on Delmore Schwartz] "Like Samuel Johnson, whom he resembled in many ways, Delmore was not interested in prospects, views, or landscape. He had looked at the city when he was young, and saw no need to do it again."

[on a painter friend] "His voice was soft, deep, and cultivated and his manners were a history of civilization."

As one might expect (and hope for) in a memoir set in such a vibrant era, the book is marvelous for its incessant name-dropping of famous individuals who pop up briefly as characters: figures as diverse as Erich Fromm, Maya Deren, Anais Nin, Caitlin and Dylan Thomas, W. H. Auden, Gregory Bateson, as well as the previously mentioned Schwartz, Greenberg, MacDonald, and Shapiro.

If you're expecting an overview of the 1940s Greenwich Village scene, adjust your expectations. This is for the most part an account of Anatole Broyard's life, as he lived in Greenwich Village in the 1940s. The focus is on Broyard's concerns of the time and his particular perceptions. It is a distinct difference.

That acknowledged, I'd like to say that I recommend the book anyway. Broyard's account is valuable for its loving criticism of the 1940s art world, for its honest recognition of the stupidity of youth, and for its meandering remembrances, repleat with similes and earnest attempts to find meaning in the past. The book is valuable because of its examination of life, an examination that is all the more interesting for the time period and the location of the subject.

I said that Broyard's account was more an account of his own life than of the times. But it is also an opinion of mine that one life tells a lot about a time period. The setting for the memoir is New York just after WWII--the whole city is glad to be alive and glad to be carefree for the first time since the beginning of the war. And Broyard's account of himself and others in the period is fascinating for that reason, for the way this made people act. Need another reason? Broyard's memoir is peppered with chance meetings with prestigious artists and writers of the time. He exposes the mentality they all lived with--the way they lived with art the way other young people live with football or pop music. He exposes the advantages and disadvantages that that presented. Most of all, he exposes your youth--your own youthful pretensions, and stupidity, and wisdom. It's the account you would write if you had the time... And the insight.

Karen Sommerfield receives news that she is being laid off, despite years of loyalty and the fact that she helped build the company to what it is today. She also receives bad news that a cancer that she thought she would not see again has returned. Her doctor has asked her to make an appointment as soon as possible, as he thinks that the initial test results are pointing towards the return of this disease, but he is not one-hundred percent sure.

Karen has not been home since the death of Grandmother Rose two years ago. Going home brings back many happy memories of a woman Karen had loved. While at home dealing with the emotional drama taking place in her life, Karen also becomes involved in a summer camp program called JUMP KIDS. As Karen's her outlook on life changes, her heart opens and she learns to love again.

THE LANGUAGE OF SYCAMORES is a beautifully written story about a woman who finds herself needing direction in her life. This book about family and the ties that come with them is a novel to be cherished. The central plot of this novel may center around Karen, but it is the secondary characters and the love that shines from the pages that make this an emotional read. Learning about her history Karen finds the things her Grandma Rose did and said all come from a past that she knew nothing about. As she learns about her ancestors, her life takes on a new direction and she grows as a person.

Lisa Wingate is definitely a talented writer. As the third novel in a four book series, THE LANGUAGE OF SYCAMORES can definitely stand alone, but having read and become enthralled with Karen, and her family, this reviewer definitely will be seeking out the previous (TENDING ROSES, GOOD HOPE ROAD) and the fourth novel, DRENCHED IN LIGHT. Having previously been released in 2005, luckily for this reader, all four novels are on bookshelves everywhere.

Review Courtesy of LoveRomancesandmore

This is the third of the "Tending Roses Series" It is just as wonderful as the previous two books of this warm series. Book 1:Tending Roses....Book 2:Good Hope Road.

I believe each book can be read on their own, but hope you can read each book in order because the wonderful characters or their decendants appear in the books that follow.

This book is a warm, heartfelt story, sometimes sad and sometimes quite humorous. A very entertaining story.

Lisa Wingate is one of my favorite writers whom I have recentlly discovered. Plan to read all she writes.

This was a great read in my opinion. It's one of those books that makes you rethink how you're living your life or how you plan to live it. It makes you think, maybe I should spend more time with my family since you never know when someones going to die or maybe you're going to die. You just never know. Anyways, I enjoyed reading this book very much.

Karen Sommerfield is facing great life challenges when her 23 year job at Lansing, a big company is laying off everyone including her department. She is also at a stale point in her marriage to James, her pilot husband who works all hours. Karen had a bad miscarriage when it was discovered she had cancer at that time-and things haven't been normal since. And then, returning to her doctor for a check-up, it was again discovered she had abnormal cells again and may have cancer. Karen chooses to turn her back though, and ignore all of it.

Her sister Kate, who is very well settled on their Grandmother Rose's farm, calls Kate and invites her one of these days to come for a weekend visit. So on the spur of the moment, without thinking, Karen decides to pack her bags right then, and get out of her turmoil-even though she has some misgivings. So she leaves a message for James, and takes off.

While on the plane, she meets Keiler, a young guy who is studying at college, and possibly seminary. Karen learns that he is counselor of the Jumpkids program-a summer length program to keep kids out of trouble, and help them develop their skills in the musical arts, other arts, and theater. At the time Karen has no idea how this will touch her life when Dell comes into it.

Once she reaches Missouri, Karen can't bear to tell Kate that she has lost her job. There was always such sibling rivalry there that the two women have trouble feeling close to each other. Kate was always the best at everything, while Karen was always second best no matter what. Karen also meets Dell, the impoverished girl across the lake from the farm who lives with her Grandma who is very sickly can't really watch her, and Uncle Bobby, who is nothing but a drunkard, and treats Dell shamefully, calling her a "nigger child," since she was born of both races.

Karen hits it off with Dell right away, and sees the potential in this poor child. She has special talents for music and the arts that no one has ever cared to recognize. So Karen really takes a deep interest in Dell, and pulling some strings, inquires into the Jumpkids program through the church minister. Dell was very very low in self-esteem, and afraid to try anything new-but with much coaxing on Karen's part, she decides to try. Karen made a promise that she would be there for her the first couple days-and what happens is that Karen falls in love with this program, and becomes one of the workers herself.

After a little time, Karen along with James decide to stay in Missouri and change their lives in a new direction. The authorities are called in for Dell finally after something strange happens in her broken home, and arrangements are made for Karen and James to become Dell's foster parents. It seems that Dell is the child they always needed-and from there the child will flourish and grow in many ways.

Karen really comes down to earth in this story, and giving up her high-powered job after being called back, decides that it is better to live with much less money, yet be happier helping youth talent develop. She and Kate also have a new beginning as sisters.

I love all of Lisa Wingate's books, but I particularly enjoyed this one. Her perfect mixture of faith and authentic life situations, not to mention characters who are as real as my next door neighbors, always make for an absorbing read. I've yet to be disappointed with one of her books and I recommend them to anyone who likes their fiction sincere, well-written and believable.

This is the first book I've read by this author. The story about the Chance family was excellent. I'm glad Keilah ended up with Ramsey as I felt she would because Michael was pushing too hard and I knew there had to be a reason for that. It was a good book that was hard to put down. The only problem I found was whoever proofed her book left out words in sentences and added words twice sometimes as well. This I noticed all throughout the book. It didn't make me not want to finish reading it, but it was noticeable.

THE LAST CHANCE WAS A VERY VERY GOOD BOOK THE AUTHOR DARRIEN LEE DID HER THING NEXT TO BEEN THERE DONE THAT THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE I LIKE HOW THE TWO MAIN CHARACTERS FALL IN LOVE WHEN THEY THEY WERE JUST HAVING FRIENDLY SEX. BUT OVERALL THE BOOK WORTH IT SO GO GET IT.

Darrien Lee does it again this book was so hot i loved it I read the book in 2 days if I didn't have work I would have read the book in a day I love Ramsey, and how her brother's loved thier baby sister. It's a must read.

I am a huge Darrien Lee fan and this book was off the chain like all her previous books. The Chance family are a amazing and loving family and they look after each other the way families should. Keilah is the only girl with 4 loving and handsome brothers plus a 1/2 brother that loves her too! The storyline is great from the beginning to the end and she may be the baby and only female but this sista is tough. Her business partner and lover Ramsey is not only handsome but tough as nails too and he and Keilah make the perfect couple as business partners and lovers. You will love this story and will not be able to put this book down until you finish it. The ending is amazing!

THIS BOOK WAS SO WELL WRITTEN, I ACTUALLY SAW IT AS A MOVIE!!!! I LOVED HOW THEY ACCEPTED KEYTONE AS A BROTHER !!! I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS BOOK!!!!! I FEEL THAT I SAID TOO MUCH,I DON'T LIKE TELLING THE STORY,BECAUSE I FEEL THAT YOU'LL GET BETTER ENJOYMENT IF YOU READ IT YOURSELF!!!!! BUY IT AND ENJOY!!!!!!!! DEFINITELY A MUST READ!!!!!!

I fell in love with Clark and Marty in the traggic but sweet Love Comes Softly movie, so I had to order the series, eight books in all. The plot thickened with each child born to Marty and Clark. I connected with Marty the wife, Marty the mother, and Marty the grandmother. Then when Belinda [Marty's baby girl] gave her inheritance away and went back home without one thing to assist her aging Mom and Dad, I was appauled. I just finished Like Refined Gold, the last novel in the saga of Marty and Clark's family, The Prairie Legacy, starring Virginia, their granddaughter, Belinda's daughter. I love the rock solid faith portrayed in this inspirational fiction and how true to life Janette Oke portrays the hearts of wives, daughters, and grandmothers. You don't want to miss Marty's granddaughter, Virginia, Belinda's daughter, and her search for Mr. Right,and the toughest battle of "true motherhood". I treasure all twelve of these novels.

I have enjoyed the whole series of books by Janette OKE. They are wonderful family reading and can be shared with all ages.

The last book in this series is by far the best of them all. It is sweet and sad. I think it is really cool that Mindy is willing to go see the mother who left her. Everyone should read this book.

Many fans of Janette Oke have asked her to bring back Clark and Marty Davis and she does so in this series. This series is about their granddaughter Virginia, Belinda's daughter.

Virginia lives on a farm with her husband, Jonathan, and their children. Jonathan works with his brother breeding and raising horses. Lots of changes happen for Virginia in a few short years.

Their daughter, Mindy, was left with them by her mother when she was very young. Mindy knows about her "real" mother because she still has some memories of her. But since she has lived with Virginia and Jonathan she's called them mother and father because they are the only real family she's known.

Mindy hopes her mother will soon come to Christ. She prays for her as often as possible.

Mindy's mother comes for a visit and requests something that Jonathan and Virginia won't agree to.

I really liked this book! I like the Love Comes Softly series better so far but maybe I need to finish this series before I compare them. But I do suggest this series, it does a great job of continuing the story of the Davis Family.

this book is so great. i loved it. i hope Janette oke
does write another series. or is there already ?

For anyone who loves good writing, THIS IS ESSENTIAL READING. It's a well-kept secret. If you want the real low-down, get a copy now.

If you ever had hopes of becoming an author, NEVER read this book. A look into how the technical process of writing works, all this book shows the reader is the various disappointments that an author will encounter while trying to get his book published.

Although it presents what I imagine to be a realistic view of the creative process, the author presents a plethora of examples of well-known authors and their experiences. The problem? He uses the exact same examples over and over again. The language that he uses is very colloquial and the laid back tone is quite surprising, considering it is a "scholarly" work.

The biggest problem I have with the book is this. How is it possible for an author that is clearly not a best-selling author know what exactly the best-selling process is like? If not for the examples of other authors, it would be impossible for him to talk about the process.

All in all, this book was a big disappointment, and all it shows is the negative aspect to book publishing.

This is a great book and I thought I'd say so. I found an interview with the author on the internet and bought the book. I wondered why I didn't see it interviewed in any of the publications I subscribe to--especially Writer's Digest. Do we really need another Harry Potter review? Everybody loves those books--they sell themselves. Hey reviewers--We want to hear about books like this one!

This book was lent to me by a University Professor who recommended it as the most comprehensive and thought-provoking study of the publishing industry he's read in years. I couldn't agree more. As a potential author, I found The Making of a Bestseller an encouraging and thought-provoking work. It offers a clear look into the world of publishing, therefore, demystifying the process for those of us just embarking on this sometimes frustrating journey. Insightful and uplifting, one cannot fail to come away without a great deal of encouragement. I, for one, found myself wondering, if F. Scott Fitzgerald faced similar adversity and prevailed, why can't I? One thing we writers must learn: A thick skin is required in this business. This book is not for the unrealistic or faint-hearted. But neither is a career in writing.

This hand-wringing book is about bestsellers; it does not (and can not) define how bestsellers are made. This celebration of creative writing is about writers paying their dues and being discovered. Vanderbilt discusses the effects titles, advertising, author name recognition, perseverance, bestseller lists, reviews, testimonials and blind, dumb luck had on books that made it to the charts. It is a well-written, scholarly study of successful literature with references and footnotes. This book makes a couple of references to nonfiction but is almost entirely about fiction. If you like this book, you will also like Seven Strategies in Every Bestseller by Tam Mossman. I liked them both. Dan Poynter, author of 82 books (nonfiction). DanPoynter@ParaPublishing.com

I was told by book seller, "Merlin-Books is doing "Annual Inventory Counting," and to order more books for their inventory, for the period Feb 12 to Feb 21 08, all potential books buyers...Please come back to Amazon after Feb 21, thanks."

The books flow so easily and have such a unique style that even the biggest of disbelievers in Time Travel, or any paranormal ability, will really enjoy this book. I have read the three throughout the exams and because of their sheer power they tore me from all the work I should have been doing! I had to force myself to not open this book again and again.

Get this book, before it is out of print, then it will be great human lost.

If you are trying to find time travel books, you will find none but those Science fictions book, this book is the first book on earth that teaches you how to do it yourself. It is precision and compact.

It is beautifully written from cover to cover, and it has records since the beginning of time. The Einstein and the German Nazi were not able to figure out what is Time Travel. But now, we do have the answers, this book reveals the greatest mystery of all human time.

Surprising enough, this book and "mastering remote viewing: third eye $ astral projection" are in the local library where I live, I borrowed them and like them. There are so many valuable information in these books, it is hard to put them down. And I am afraid these books might be "out of prints." I had to get them for my own collections.

When my friends visited me, I let them borrow them, and never got them returned. So, I have to buy them again, and THIS TIME I WILL NEVER LEND THEM TO ANYONE... YOU HAVE TO 'GET ONE ON YOUR OWN.'

If you like the movie "Pay Check" (Ben Affleck and Uma Thurman) then you will like this book too. The movie reminds me of this "Mastering time travel...," but in the movie, they built a time machine. It is all good theories, but in reality no man has ever figured out what is time machine.

Author stated, "there is no 'time machine,' but there is a similar device which human can use and travel between time," the answer is in this book.

This book takes billions of human years for author to be born, and the first human is ever to write a book with this subject, it is worth -- every penny to read it.

Highly recommend it.

One of the book catalogs that I occasionally get in the mail has been singing the praises of the late Beverley Nichols. Besides writing mystery novels, he also wrote about his adventures in renovating and resurrecting a home in the suburbs of London just after WWII. First published as a collection of magazine columns, he would later on assemble them into a trilogy of books.

The first of the trilogy, Merry Hall details his search, at times frustrating, for the perfect house and garden. Very soon he became aware of what land agents (realtors for us Yanks) really meant in their ads, and he started to see his hopes plummet as his hopes were continually dashed. But one listing caught his eye, and with a good friend, he took the journey out of London to look the place over.

The estate, spreading over five acres are a compendium of every gardening mistake. Ghastly ornaments litter the grounds -- the previous owner was very fond of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs). And the house, a lovely Georgian mansion, isn't much better. While it hasn't fallen down yet, there are 'additions' that are ugly and inappropriate, and decorating choices of colours that can be best left to the imagination. Not to mention the holly hedges, a stagnant stinking pond of unimaginable depths, and dire warnings from his friend that Nichols is about to step into a money pit that will sap his life and savings.

Undeterred by such gloomy words, Nichols falls head over heels in love with his find, especially when he discovers the kitchen garden. Not only is it beautifully kept, but along one wall is a collection of exquisite lilies. Soon, he discovers why there is such order in the midst of such chaos. For along with the house and land comes Oldfield, an ancient gardener of superb talents. Smitten, Nichols signs for the house on the spot, and soon starts on that most dreaded adventure that most home owners endure -- renovations.

With his 'valet,' Gaskin, and two cats, 'One' and 'Four' Nichols moves into Merry Hall, and starts the work with a great deal of gusto, and soon finds out that in his own little Eden, there's a few problems. For one, there are the neighbors, Miss Emily and Our Rose, forever scheming to get something out his prized gardens. And Oldfield, is quite another problem altogether. There are towering elm trees and their suckers, the dratted holly hedge (the solution to that one is not one that I would recommend!), and the question of what would you do if you could dream -- and dream big?

I loved reading this book. I found myself entranced with Nichols writing about everyday life, the perils and delights of gardening, and living with cats. At times I was helplessly laughing at Nichols' searing wit and lofty views on post-War taste in Britain. He, quite frankly, doesn't give a hoot as to what people will think of him (save Oldfield, for very sensible reasons).

Where this story shines, however, is not just in the language and Nichols' skills at writing. It's in his loving, vivid descriptions of flowers and plants, and I found my mouth watering, and desperate looks out at my own wilderness, wondering Could I do it too? The antics of his cats had me in nodding agreement, and plucking at my partner's sleeve and crying out, Listen to this --!

Along with Nichols' wonderful prose, there are illustrations by William McLaren in black and white, along with several photographs of Beverley Nichols (including one with 'Four' in his arms). For this new edition, there is also a forward by Ann Lovejoy and an index of all of the plants by Roy C. Dicks. The book itself is a facsimile of the original edition published by Jonathan Cape in 1951. This new edition, only available in hardbound, is published by Timber Press books, and they can be reached at [...] for more reprints of Beverley Nichols books.

In short, this is a book to delight any gardener, bibliophile or cat lover's soul. It's funny, at times sorrowful (I cried over 'Two' and 'Three's stories), and came away with a wistful hope that one day too, I would have a wee garden of my own. If you can't purchase this, do try to get your hands on this one at your local library. It is simply too good to miss.

Five stars overall, recommended.

I want to give my honest opinion of this book. I have never read anything else by this author. While it was entertaining, I found it to get just a little more drawn out than I would have liked. I also did not like his viewpoints on some of the different plants. I guess you just need to take it in stride, but when he characterizes some of your favorite plants as nuisances (or more), etc. it is a little irritating. I did enjoy it, but I don't think I'll read him again. I wanted to give this review, since everyone seems to have LOVED this book but me.

I first read Merry Hall over 30 years ago, and having recently re-read it I was impressed by how much an impression it had made on me. Many a time I have unknowingly quoted from the work, thinking the quote apocryphal!

You must read for yourself how to deal with an overgrown holly hedge, and how to plant hundreds of trees without buying them, and what berberis can do for you, and why you should cultivate periwinkle...

I'm sure you'll be delighted with the finely drawn sketches of the real people populating the story: the characters of gardeners, society ladies, and men who work for the government in a clearly covert and somewhat sinister capacity. You'll enjoy the cats, the lilies, and how to create an English country garden from a neglected and ill directed site.

The gentle humor reflects the gentler times before the horrors of World War 2 brought violence, destruction, and death into the hearts and homes of most of Britain.

This book is a keeper!

Just as Trollope passed the literary torch to Angela Thirkell, so did E. F. Benson pass his to this good fellow! Mr. Nichols' trilogy about Merry Hall is so entertaining, even though at times he comes across as a bit "twee". As you get to know him and his neighbors through the books, you come to realize that yes, some things are more important in your own blinkered surroundings than in the big wide world. I would recommend these books to anyone who loves gardening (on a grand scale), gossip, and the minutiae of life.

The first volume of a trilogy about the author's time at Merry Hall, this book is more humorous garden writing than strict autobiography. We know (primarily from the dust jacket) that Beverley Nichols was a widely-travelled journalist and prolific author, but aside from the occasional mention that he needs to keep working (hard) to pay the (very high) bills, Nichols doesn't mention his life outside of Merry Hall or, more specifically, its garden.

The book begins after WWII, when Mr. Nichols returns from "a job" in India to a ravaged London and develops an overwhelming urge to move to the country and get back to nature in the form of a hopefully large and preferably derelict garden that he can "rescue". After a daunting (and amusingly described) search he miraculously finds what he considers to be a dream property - a Georgian manor house on 5 acres of truly hideous landscaping.

With wry wit Nichols tells the story of acquiring the property against the better judgement of friends, and of what is involved in making a run-down manor house habitable, and in dismantling, re-ordering and re-planting 5 acres of gardens. Along the way we meet Oldfield, the very talented but taciturn and somewhat difficult gardener; Gaskin, the long-standing and nearly superhuman manservant; Miss Emily and Our Rose, nosy and perpetually disapproving neighbors; and the beloved cats One and Four.

Although avid gardeners will no doubt love this book as they mentally compare notes with the author, one need not have ever dirtied one's hands with compost to enjoy reading it. The narrative meanders like a leisurely stroll in the garden, and Mr. Nichols' faith in the therapeutic powers of gardening is reminiscent of that in The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett). The author's fond and poetic descriptions of the various aspects of his garden, intermingled with his sharp social observations and dry British humor make this a thoroughly enjoyable read. I have already ordered the other two books in the trilogy.

An additional note: this is a facsimile of the original 1951 edition; it contains lovely line drawings throughout, and is printed on the nicest paper I have encountered in a long time.