Novels Books

This is it, the original manga that started a worldwide franchise. Before the anime, before the card game, before the video games, there was this.

Actually, this first volume is actually Volume 8 of Kazuki Takahashi's manga-meaning that readers will learn as much about Yugi's beginnings as they do from watching the first few episodes of the anime. The source material for the first season of Yu-Gi-Oh!, the manga follows Yugi and his friends from their first encounter with Maximillion J. Pegasus to their arrival on Duelist Kingdom (Yugi's first duel with Kaiba is left out). Those familiar with the anime will also be pleased to know that characters like Insector Haga (Weevil) and Mai Kujaku/Valentine will make appearances. Also featured is a rundown on the Duel Monsters cards used in the current storyline. While those who have watched the anime may not find much to talk about here, it's worth a look for those who want to know what all the buzz is about. But if you're a diehard fan who's got to have Yugi on the go, this is good place to start.

This book is rated T for Teen: Violence, Adult Situations

Ummm...Hello? Why are you people talking about volumes 2, 3, and 5 of the regular YGO manga series? This is Yu-Gi-Oh: Duelist, the original story line of the Duelist Kingdom tournament. It is rated teen...that's been established by my fellow YGO fans. Seriously, if you're a parent, don't get this book for your 7-year-old kid who thinks he knows everything about YGO...these are the mangas that you read backwards, so good luck explaining that to your child, and then there are some (...) situations in the other YGO books (there aren't really any in this one, that I remember). Actually, Mai Kujaku (Mai Valentine for all you dubbies) is very, VERY clad...her (...) are practically falling out of her "shirt." But anyway, I wasn't too enthusiastic about reading this because I own three versions of Duelist Kingdom including this, so I know what happens already. It's kind of hard for me to read through all the duels because I have practically memorized every duel in the DK saga. I am usually very tempted to skip the duels the first time I read this, but I didn't skip them, but now I only read through entire duels every once in a while...but I do really like this book!

i would give this book a A+ cuz its so cool to no the character's origins. as some of the other pple mentioned Seto Kiaba doesnt look to good though that doesnt matter to me since i like yami more. anyway the plot of this story sorta sounds like the episode where kiaba tore up Yugi's granfather's bwd(blue eyes white dragon). The only difference with that is that yugi doesn't duel kiaba right off the bat. i'm not gonna tell more cuz that's 4 u to find out.

another thing is that if ur under 12 u shouldn't read this. someone i no read this when he/she was 10 and wouldn't stop asking questions about it. It has a little bit of perverteness cuz of tristan/honda's nephew jojhi. dont get me mad if ur 7 years old and say u like yu gi oh cuz u dont even no the 1/2 of it.

anzu(tea 2 u unkwoning freaks) is not that bad in this manga. but she does draw the smiley face as the friendship sign and makes the litle speech. actually its the only speech she makes on friendship in the entire series. it's still a great book and i would recomend this book to all my friends if they read yu gi oh.

From the title of the item, I would have to say that this is the new Yu-Gi-Oh! manga, Yu-Gi-Oh!: Duelist. The Duelist series is supposed to be based on what American viewers saw, Duelist Kingdom, Battle City, those things, without the annoyance of fillers like Noa's Arc and DOOM. This manga shows the first introduction of Pegasus, how Yugi-tachi got to the island, and the introduction of Mai and Insector Haga (Weevil Underwood for the American fans.) This is a lot more violent, though, as such, you should obey the "Teen" rating on the series.
Other than that, great book, great series, and help in the cause of getting pictures of the thing onto the Amazon.com site, so people will stop giving reviews for manga 2 and 5!

I really like this book. Well, I'm a big fan of Yugioh, so duh! This is the book in which we first see the Duel Monsters cards and meet the young CEO (though at the time we don't know he is one) Seto Kaiba and the mysterious Shadi.

Beware though, Seto, who usually looks all hot and sexy, doesn't look too spectacular. I'm not sure why, but some of the images of him look rather awkward, so if you are used to watching the anime, this is the manga, note the change. It's not like it matters to anyone but me anyway. (I'm an absessive Seto fangirl).

Also, if you are some silly little kid who's under ten and "thinks" he/she likes Yugioh, back away before I get angry. Don't even READ this if you're under 12.

I'm fourteen, and when I see f'ggin FIVE YEAR OLDS saying they like Yugioh I get real pissed...... So, if you are some baby, this book is too sophisticated for you. It is rated TEEN, whatever it says up there, and includes a lot of (minor) swears and violence and drugs and alcohol and more mature stuff.

Joey and Yugi and Honda (Tristen, to all you unknowing twerps) are known to pull perverted pranks. Once, they watched a movie that mentioned "censoured" girls and Joey trying to see through the censoring....O.O...... but that wasn't in this book, so don't worry about Yugi wanting to watch digitized porn.

Yugioh as a whole is awsome. It's my favorite anime for many reasons. It includes hot guys (SETO KAIBA!!! & Malik, Bakura, Yami), Millenium magic, dueling action (I love action/violence, I don't know why) and everyone else that makes it so unique and awsome.

Buy, or at least READ this book, (if you like Yugioh) because it is NOT some cheesy kid's book like the dubbed TV show has become. Now I'm going to get angry at 4kids and the dubbers..... *throws computer at dubbers, they scream and run, I follow them laughing like Yami Marik swinging the Millenium Rod DAGGER!!! (which, to all you unknowing dub-following YGO babies, DOES exist.... but any true Yugioh fan knows that, right?)*

The book is over sized with with a removable box dust cover. The binding is gorgeous and cryptic. Truly inspired by Gaimans work. The pages are thick and colorful... filled with beautiful art and Gaimans amazing stories of his Endless characters.

Well, I was expecting quite a bit after reading the first Absolute Sandman, and this one delivers on all accounts. The stories are amazing (somehow, A Game of You, the one I thought I'd hate, I loved the most) and this book overall was even better than the first.

The price here is magnificent, way cheaper than store price and the price is a very small price to pay for the content. Veteran readers will, I think, be pleased with the extra content.

They took some great stories and provided them a proper packaging. A great way to read and reread the series.

If you like sandman, just a little, so you MUST have this absolute, its needless to say that it is unworldly beautyful, the kind of item that any sandman fan have (they don't have the option: "not to have", if (s)he don't have, (s)he isn't a real fan). It's full with Extras more than 100 pages of mindblowing Sandman's extras.
Really a Top "Must Have" I already have garanteed tne other 2.

I always love Mr Gaiman;'s work. Sandman is probably his opus given the size and the eclectic nature of the themes. The Endless as interpreted by a Master like Gaiman represent an amazing world that weaves the deepest recesses of the collective consciousness, mythology, history and keep it living enough to be interesting. Aesthetically, the books are great and the artwork is just as eclectic as the are the themes. I wish I was exposed to this stuff as a kid...

Always and forever is an amazing story and I reccommened anyone to read it. THis story is about Melissa Austin, a beautiful girl with a great family and a great life. Her best friend Jory and her brother Micheal were her two most favorite people she knew although Micheal disliked Jory. All Melissa wanted was for Jory and Micheal to get along. Then Melissa received the most shocking news of her life, she was diagnosed with leukemia. This news was very devastating to her family and friends. Her family and friends watched as Melissa went through this ongoing battle with leukemia and all the could do was support her. After Melissa had a relapse at the age of seventeen she died of LEukemia. After Melissa's death Micheal decided to fufill her dream of Jory and Micheal getting along. So Micheal took Jory up with him into his hot air balloon.
This book has taught me that life is short and you should make the best of it because you never know what is going to happen next. It has taught me that even if a persons life seems great things can still go horribly wrong. This book has influenced me to live my life differently and to stop complaining about things because there are people out there who have it worse than I do. Before I read this book I did not think it was going to teach as much as it did, but now that I have read it I am glad I did.

Always and Forever by Lurlene McDaniel is an very inspiring story and I reccommened anyone to read it. This book is about melissa Austin, a beautiful girl who has everything she could want in life. Jory, her best friend, and Micheal, her brother, are her two most favorite people but Micheal, Jory's crush, shows a dislike towards her. All Melissa wants is for them to get along. When everything seems to be going well Melissa is faced the most shocking news of her life. She waqs diagnosed with leukemia. The news was devastating to her family and friends. Her family and friends had to watch Melissa battle leukemia and all they could do was support her. After a long time of struggling, and a relapse, Melissa Austin died of leukemia at age seventeen. After her death micheal decided to fufill Melissa's wish of him and Jory getting along. So Micheal takes Jory up with him in his hot air balloon.
This book has taught me that life is short and that you should live it to the fullest because you never know what is going to happen next. It has taught me that even if a person seems to have the perfect life something can still go horribly wrong. This book has influenced me to not complain as much because there are people out there who have it worse than I do. Before I read this book I didn't think it was going to teach me as much as it did. This book as influenced me in so many ways and I am glad I read it.

Always and Forever by Lurlene McDaniel is such a great book and I reccommened anyone to read it. This book is about Melissa Austin, a beautiful girl who has everything. Her best freind Jory and her brother Micheal are her two most favorite people but Micheal has a dislike towards Jory. The only thing Melissa ever wanted was for them to get along. She was having a great life until the most shocking thing of her life happened. She was diagonosed with leukemia at sixteen years old. Her family and friends had to watch Melissa go through this ongoing battle with cancer. After battling cancer for a while, having a relapse, and being diagnosed again, Melissa Austin died of leukemia at sixteen years old. After she died Micheal decided to fufill Melissa's wish that Jory and Micheal would get along. So Micheal took Jory up with him in his hot air baloon.
This book has taught me that life is short and it has inspired me to live life to the fullest because you never know whats going to happen next. This book has taught me that even if a person has a great life somrthing can still go horribly wrong. When I started reading this book I didn't think it was going to teach me as much as it did. This book has influenced me in so many ways and I am very glad I read it.

this book is one of my absolute favorites books written by lurlene mcdaniel. If you by this book you wont be sorry!

this book was amazing. I picked it up off the school library shelf because all of my friends had said it was an awesome book. they weren't exagerating.

This book tells about a young girl, in her junior year of high school, who is dignosed with lymphocytic leukemia. Melissa is very smart, she is working hard to get the merit scholorship for college. Her best friend Jory, it always there for her, and always working by her side. Jory isn't as "smart" as Melissa, and keeps telling her friend she should get a better social life. Melissa doesn't care about boys, or partying, she just wants to study.

About four months into her junior year Melissa is feeling sick, and gets these bruises on her legs. So the gym teacher reports them to the guidence cousular. She thinks Melissa is getting abused at home. Melissa freaks out, her mother and older brother Micheal have always been supportive...and loving to her. So her mother takes her to the doctor to get checked out. they take a few tests, draw a little blood...and boom. Melissa has lymphocytic leukimia.

This book really shows the hardships of cancer. The chemotherapy Melissa has to go through, makes her get sick almost every five minutes. She is always drowsy, and feels like crap. The way Lurlene McDaniel captures Jory's, and Micheal's and Melissa's feelings is amazing. I cried through half of the book. Its amazing...I recomend this book to anyone. Its more of a girly book, but hey...guys if you like this type of stuff...its an awesome book!

There is simply no better way to immerse yourself in the semifictional London Holmes' lives in. All the rich cultural refernces are listed, plus every minor inconsistency in a continuity line Doyle never did care about. Great reading; adds immensely to the already great stories of Holmes and Watson.

William S. Baring-Gould (1913-1967) was one of the greatest Sherlock Holmes scholars ever. Publishing several works on Holmes publically and privately, this two-volume annotation of the Holmes canon is perhaps his greatest work, and was his last. Published in 1967, the copyright inscription shows that it is held by his widow, Lucile M. Baring-Gould. Baring-Gould himself was a life-long devotee of Holmes in particular, and mysteries in general. He is also noted for the fictional biography of Nero Wolfe, in which he puts forward the idea that Nero Wolfe is the son of Sherlock Holmes, via THE woman, Irene Adler, of 'A Scandal in Bohemia'.

Sherlock Holmes is one of the best known detectives in the world -- so famous in fact, that 221B Baker Street in London continues to get mail adddressed to this fictional character almost a century after he would have died had he been a real person. There are groups of people -- Sherlockians and Holmesians, the distinction between which is rather subtle -- who delight in retelling the tales. There are forever questions and debates about the ordering of the stories; Baring-Gould is one authority often referred to in these debates, thanks to his work on the Chronology of Holmes, used as a framework for this annotated set.

Baring-Gould breaks the time frame into the follow divisions:

- The Early Holmes (1874 - 1879)
- The Partnership with Watson to Watson's first marriage (1881 - 1886)
- Watson marriage to his wife's death (1886 - 1887)
- Partnership until Watson's second marriage (1887- 1889)
- Watson's second marriage to Holmes' disappearance (1889 - 1891)
- Holmes' return to Watson's third marriage (1894 - 1902)
- The end of the Partnership (1903)
- Sherlock Holmes in Retirement (1909)
- An epilogue (1914)

Baring-Gould introduces the series with a 12-part series of essays that look at various aspects of the Sherlock Holmes legend, including foreign translations, translation into stage and screen, and highlights of particular personalities (Watson, Moriarty). He includes a wonderful brief essay by Edgar W. Smith, an early Sherlockian, which asks (and answers) the question, 'What is it that we love in Sherlock Holmes?' In the end, beyond the setting and the culture and the chase, it is the values 'implicit and eternal in ourselves' that we recognise as manifest in Holmes that keeps him an enduring character.

The volumes are the complete texts of all short stories and novels, backed up with an almost equivalent amount of textual annotation, richly accentuated with photographs, engravings, maps, and other graphics (diagrams, coats-of-arms), often taken from Holmesian sources such as journals, playbills, early editions, and even 'The Strand' magazine.

Sherlock Holmes introduces us to a world foreign yet familiar, past yet somehow present -- the stories are very contextually bound yet timeless in almost inexplicable ways, and present mysteries beyond the face-value plots. Baring-Gould's love for his subject is very apparent throughout the over 800 pages of these volumes. Some editions of this book come with a slip-cover.

This is my favourite of all my Holmes books. It is must for any fan of Holmes.

I hope I am not the only one who loves reading Sherlock Holmes but is really annoyed by "Sherlockians" - people who take their Sherlock far too literally - a lot like Trekkies, who take Star Trek just way to seriously. Baring-Gould, it seems, was the ultimate Sherlockian, and this is his masterpiece - a 1500 page annotated, illustrated, and interpreted edition of everything Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - I'm sorry, Dr. John Watson - ever wrote about the subject, plus a healthy dose of his own interpretations and those of others.

I can't remember a piece of fiction recieving as much love and attention as the works of Sherlock Holmes. This edition has illustrations, maps, definitions, references - everything. Anybody who checks the actual weather and train schedules from a piece of fiction just has too much time on his hands. It truly is a work of art, marred only by an annoying habit of Sherlockians to take their subject far, far too literally. The biggest problem I have with the tome is B-G's annoying habit of inserting his own opinions as fact. My other major peeve was his organization of the work, which put everything in the author's own chronology rather than in the order in which the books were published. This makes finding anything a bit of a chore.

As far as the new Leslie Klinger three(!) volume annotated edition of Sherlock goes, I have seen it but not purchased them. Again, shelf space seems to be the major problem here, not to mention the $125 price tag. From a brief look-over, it appears to be a more subdued, up to date, better quality edition, but less exuberant and less fun than Baring-Gould.

`The Annotated Sherlock Holmes' by William S Baring-Gould is easily one of the top two or three best examples of annotated popular literature, as good as, and possibly even better than the most famous annotation efforts by Martin Gardner on the major works of Lewis Carroll.

It is not immediately evident to me that the works of Sherlock Holmes need annotation. Unlike the works of Carroll, there are very few linguistic tricks or cleverly veiled allusions to his English contemporaries. On the other hand, over the course of the last 120 years, there has been an enormous body of work dedicated to the exegesis of Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. There has been probably more of this activity for works of popular fiction than for the next five cases put together. To my knowledge, there is virtually no similar activity on the mystery novels of, for example, either Agatha Christie or the mystery stories of Edgar Alan Poe, to take two authors who bracket Conan Doyle's' stories in time.

It is worth the effort to determine what it is which makes the Sherlock Holmes stories so popular. One of the easiest ways is to compare Holmes to the heroes of his greatest modern imitators, the lead characters of the CSI series, most especially Gil Grissom of the original CSI show, based in Las Vegas. Both characters are `amateur' scientists in that they apply scientific disciplines to solving crimes, and actually do original work in their respective sciences, in spite of the fact that their primary avocation is `consulting detective'. In Holmes case, this was a profession he invents out of whole cloth. In the case of Grissom and his colleagues, the `consulting detective' profession has become institutionalized in the discipline of forensics, where the crime scene investigators deal with things which are beyond the ken of the average detective.

There is an eerie similarity between Holmes and Grissom in that both are very detached from many normal human interactions. Holmes rationalizes this with his theory of the mind as an attic that can hold only so much information. To add new things, old things must be discarded. For this reason, Holmes is blissfully ignorant of the planets in the solar system, but he is an expert on over 100 different types of tobacco ash. Similarly, Grissom is very poor at office politics or romantic relations in favor of his dedication to the application of entomology (study of insects) to forensics, a subject on which he is a nationally recognized authority.

It should be no surprise if the popularity of Sherlock Holmes stories may actually be gaining in popularity, as the CSI shows go a long way to validating many of the scientific principles and techniques used by Holmes. The most famous may be his search for a very sensitive reagent for the detection of blood residues. This is what Holmes is doing when he and Dr. John Watson meet for the first time in the chemical laboratory of `Barts' (St. Bartholomew's Hospital). Holmes explanation of why such a reagent is important in the investigation of crime is verified on practically every episode of CSI, whether it be in Las Vegas, Miami, or New York City. So, not only are we taken by the fact that Conan Doyle had such a good grasp of criminal investigation, but that he was so astute as to realize that such a reagent was possible.

Holmes elevates intellectual competence almost to a level of magic, using that old chestnut that if the difference in the level of technology between two parties in an encounter is great enough, that higher technology becomes indistinguishable from magic. One major difference between Holmes and Grissom is that Holmes has no modesty about his abilities, demonstrated when he belittles' the deductive powers of Edgar Alan Poe's hero in his famous story, `Murders in the Rue Morgue'.

The value of this annotation also increases over time, as the world of Sherlock Holmes is rapidly slipping away from us. These stories were written when the sun literally never set on the great British Empire, stretching across Canada, hundreds of Pacific Islands, Hong Kong, southeast Asia, much of Africa, and that greatest `Jewel in the Crown', India, where Dr. Watson himself served as a surgeon in the British Army in India. Among other things, that meant that if anything could be found in the world at all, it could be found in London. London's scientific and intellectual centers were among the greatest in the world, so it should be no surprise that the world's greatest `consulting detective' should live in London. In many ways, Sherlock Holmes is a far more believable character than his later fictional colleague, James Bond, since England's fortunes as a mover and shaker on the world stage had fallen far between 1880 and 1950.

So, our pleasure is greatly enhanced by being given copious notes on Holmes' London as well as the science of the day. Also very satisfying are the notes that correlate events in various stories. The whole collection is laid out by the fictional chronological order of Holmes' cases.

The greatness of Holmes' character can be seen in the fact that he is probably the model for over half of the great fictional detectives of the last 100 years. While I am not a great fan of detective fiction, I am certain he was the inspiration for both Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot and Dorothy Sayers' detective, Lord Peter Whimsey. In fact, the greatness of Dashiell Hammett's and Raymond Chandler's detective writing may be in the fact that they escape the Sherlock Holmes prototype and create a new style of private detective.

This work of annotation is so good, I am hard pressed to appreciate how anyone can fully enjoy reading Sherlock Holmes without these notes. As with the commentary track on better DVD releases of movies, the notes literally double or more than double the pleasure and rereadability of the works.

Very highly recommended.

Awesome is the only word I can think of to describe this particular collection--there is all the novels and stories with amplifing info on particular items in the story/novel you are reading listed on the sides of the pages, ala footnotes (sidenotes?)--and the supplementary info is staggering, with bios of Doyle, Holmes, Watson AND Moriarty, the history of Holmes on stage, screen and in print, 221B Baker Street info, etc.--these sections take up at LEAST the front 3rd or 4th of the 1st volume alone! If you are a Holmes fan, you MUST find and buy this collection ASAP!

A Sensible Match
Arabella is all you want a girl to be--spunky, smart and full of life. She masquarades as an heiress so that she won't be accused of matrimonial fortune hunting. The person she most tries to fool is the one who knows her secret. As a joke he helps convince all of polite society that she has a fortune as great as his own. She now has to endure fortune hunters of her own while she is strangely draw to the person who caused this absurd misadventure. Beaumaris is a wealthy, hardened cynic who learns from a poor vicar's daughter how to love and how to collect more than one kind of charity case. This is a must read, a humorous match of wits with more than one surprising twist!

Georgette Heyer at her best! If you want to read a good Regancy story filled with perfect characterizations, dialogue, humor, charm and wit, with no anachronisms or modern-day mentalities, look no further than 'Arabella'. You will laugh all through the book and fall in love with the two main characters, the adorable Arabella and the mischevious, yet big hearted Mr. Beaumaris.

There are so many things I loved in this book that it's hard to mention it all, but what makes this book specially good and sets it way higher than any modern 'romance' stories is the way in which the hero, Mr Beaumaris, falls in love with Arabella. I loved the fact that he doesn't fall for her beauty, nor for her innocence, nor for her intelligence (though Arabella certainly has all of that and more), but for her strength of character and her big hearted generosity towards those who are scorned by society. Arabella is one of the very few heroines out there who not only cares for the poor and the weak, but is willing to go to any lengths to help them, however much people try to convince her that it would make her a laughingstock among the 'ton'.

Mr. Beaumaris is quite simply a dream. Heroes that are confident, rich and handsome are plenty, but how many of them have his sense of humor and his willingness to please Arabella by doing things as demeaning to somebody of his status as adopting a stray dog? His conversations with 'Ulysses' were simply priceless, well worth the price of the book alone. Highly reccommended!

I'm a big Heyer fan, and I have to say the last third of the book had me laughing hard every few pages. Extremely witty book.

The story was an entertaining, light read innocent enough for a young girl to enjoy (despite the fact that the main character annoyed me thoroughly on more than one occasion). However, the skeleton plot was so reminicent of Pride and Prejudice, I could not help but make continual comparisons to the authentic Regency masterpiece and find Heyer's work lacking in Miss Austen's depth.

Another Heyer favorite of mine (of which I have many!LOL), this story chronicles the escapades of Arabella. She is the eldest daughter of a vicar in the countryside, with 7 other siblings, and she has just received notice from her godmother in London that she will be sponsoring her coming out into polite society. She is one of Heyer's younger heroines, being only 17, but she is a very delightful heroine! She has beauty, intelligence, and a mind of her own.

While on her way to London, her carriage breaks down outside the estate of the hero, Mr. Robert Beaumaris. Mr. Beaumaris, called the "Nonpareil" by his peers, is THE gentlemen to emulate by those around him. Wealthy, handsome, fashionable, and above all, very cynical and bored. He has little trust for those of the more delicate gender, as so many chase after him for his money, so when Arabella and her chaperone seek shelter at his home he thinks Arabella is another scheming female only after his wealth.

When Arabella overhears Mr. Beaumaris saying this to his friend, she becomes incensed that he could think she's dangling after him and in a fit of temper she tells him she's a wealthy heiress. This little lie sets in motion a chain of events, many hilarious, that naturally culminates in a happy ending!

Of course, this being a Heyer book you will find wonderful secondary characters and very detailed descriptions of Regency England. And lots of humour and laugh-out-loud moments!

Even tho I enjoyed Unforgettable more, this is still a good story on the 'best friends become lovers (at last)' plot.
For some reason I never empathised with the heroine I thought she could not see the obvious and the hero well what took him so long? But as always it all worked out in the end. There were some funny characters Selma, Uncle Willy and Jonas, (hope he hooks up with Toni Wright), deserve their own stories.

Ms. Byrd has done it, AGAIN! "The Beautiful Ones" is a brilliantly written sequel to "Unforgettable". I can't believe Solomon loved Ophelia for 25 years and she NEVER knew how he felt, talk about an unrequited love! Solomon learns of Ophelia's engagement to Jonas Hilton, another wonderful man, but is he the "Right Man"?!!!. As her lifelong friend, Solomon should be happy for her, but, how can he be happy when the ONLY woman he's ever loved is marrying another? Solomon wishes desperately that he had revealed his feelings for Ophelia long ago, but now he fears it is too late. And Ophelia should be thrilled, she is engaged to a wonderful man. So, why can't she stop thinking about Solomon? Does his feelings for her run deeper than friendship? More importantly, does hers? I thought Jonas was a good man and he was truly in love with Ophelia, but could he compete with her so-called best friend, Solomon?!!!! A wonderful love story.

The story of Ophelia and Simon is heartwrenching and real. How many people has this happened to? Sometimes the best things are right there in front of us and it takes almost losing them to realize what they truly mean.

The Beautiful Ones is Ophelia and Solomon's story. In this brilliantly written sequel to Unforgettable, Solomon learns of Ophelia's engagement to Jonas Hilton. As her lifelong friend, he should be happy for her. Yet, how can he be happy when the woman he loves is marrying another? Solomon wishes desperately that he had revealed his feelings for Ophelia, but now fears it is too late.

Ophelia should be thrilled. She is engaged to a wonderful man. Why can't she stop thinking about Solomon? Do his feelings for her run deeper than friendship? More importantly, do hers?

I highly recommend The Beautiful Ones. Adrianne Byrd has delicately woven a moving and compelling story. It is breathtaking, and leaves us to remember that you sometimes find love where you least expect it... right in front of you.

I absolutely love this author's writing style. I laughed, I cried, and I laughed some more. This is an emotionally charged love story about two friends who nearly miss out on a love of a lifetime to stick to what's safe. Bravo, Ms. Byrd.

In the first paragraph of McMahon's novel Chloroquine Dreams, we can already feel our clothing stick to our skin in the heat of the El Salvador sun. This novel, marking McMahon's thunderous debut to the literary stage, keenly juxtaposes the beauty of a Graham Greene travel narrative with the darkness and grit of a Denis Johnson novel. We meet Jeff, the narrator, at the epicenter of depression where his family life unravels back in the states while he has committed himself to improve the lives of strangers a thousand miles away. Like Alice in Wonderland, McMahon introduces us to a world where the rules are known only by the locals and outsiders like Jeff learn the rules as they go. With carefully constructed sentences that come off the page as effortless, McMahon splits open the heart of narrator Jeff and allow us to explore the various caverns where redemption and destruction wrestle like Jacob and the angel.

I seem to have come a little late to this, and there is little for me to add to what better and more eloquent reviewers have already said, other than this-Not only does this excerpt make me want to keep reading, it makes me want to keep thinking. As entertained as I am by the narrator and the narrative, I am just as entranced by the ideas sitting below the surface. I see here the beginning of a fine novel, one I hope to soon have the pleasure of reading in its entirety.

In Chloroquine Dreams the protagonist, Jeff, reads and rereads a book about Ernest Shackleton's Arctic voyage. McMahon writes: "He (Shakleton) and his men all faced death for the sake of walking somewhere nobody else had walked before, and they didn't even accomplish that. They didn't come close. They never even reached land. Now they're remembered as heroes, just for suffering as much as they did--for putting themselves close to death, but never too close." Throughout the novel, McMahon writes of Jeff's own heroic failures: in grieving for his brother's death; in relating to his love interest, Lucy; in knowing where he belongs and how to relate to his family and the world at large; and in following through as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Jeff gets close, but never too close to giving away his grief, anger or heart, and his biggest struggle is within himself and the decisions he does or doesn't make. McMahon depicts Jeff's emotional paralysis and anguished periods of uncertain self-exploration with clarity and unsentimentally. His gift for restrained yet elegant prose is evident. Jeff doesn't always make the right decisions, but they're his decisions and McMahon has written a heartbreaking and endearing narrator who wants to do good, but isn't quite sure how to go about it. I love this new writer, Tyler McMahon. I hope we get to see how the story ends.

"You can be rude to strangers, ignore your friends, destroy yourself--and the world will chalk it up to whatever it is you're grieving for." Jeff is young to have made this discovery, but his situation as a Peace Corps volunteer in a rural El Salvador still suffering from the civil war, mourning the suicide of his younger brother, confused by his parents' reaction to the death and his colleague Lucy's ill-timed overtures has given him cynical insight. McMahon plunges us into Jeff's world and the surreality he experiences as a man suddenly bereft of his idealism in a tropical environment nothing like paradise. The authority of the narrative voice is particularly compelling in this excerpt, and we've been pulled into a story that promises much more revelation. In only a few pages we've been made to care about Jeff--like Lucy, we're worried about him--and I look forward to reading the rest of this extraordinary novel.

Jeff with no last name narrates this tale of the hard scrabble life of farmers in the town of Carasercia, San Salvador where he serves as a peace corp volunteer. He begins with an account of holy week where dogs are run over routinely by rich folks on their return from a week of beaching. Jeff has lost his idealism in this second year of building a water pipeline to the town. He has also lost his goth brother to suicide. In the four months since his brother's death, Jeff has listened repeatedly to the music his brother loved as he reads and rereads the account of Shakletons Artic mid-adventure.

The one light spot in these killing fields --dogs, brothers, fire ants, snakes -- is Fredy, the young boy who shadows Jeff and prods him onward with a stubborness born of need. Fredy accepts everything that life hasn't offered and condenses all, including speech, to basic necessities. He keeps Jeff grounded in the same way that Jeff, despite alcohol and hard labor, grounds himself against the modern world and its puny acceptance of grief.

This is one of those books that doesn't deserve just one read. It must be perused again and again to understand and savor the wisdom and tight writing contained within sparse lines. I'm not sure what pipeline-building in South America has in store for these two amazing young men, but I definitely want to read on and find out.

These heirloom quality, hardbound books are well received by my middle school aged son. Peanuts has a timeless feel, and the complete run in these books are a great tribute to this comic. I am buying all of the books in sequence for my son, and I think they will be enjoyed forever.

These are beautiful reproductions, bringing the joys of my youth back with full vigor and force. To be able to share them with my 6-year old daughter, listening to her playing out the parts as we read them together is all the more rewarding. Spectacular acheivement. I hope someday to amass the entire collection. The prices on Amazon are without parallel.

My wife is getting each one of these, couldn't wish for a better result from a gift.

All Peanuts Box Sets are worth to collect. Each book is well edited with a beautiful cover and package. Due to the long history of the story, it should be quite expensive to collect them all. However, they're still worth to try.

Like many others I grew up with Charlie Brown & gang. I bought some of Peanuts comic books when I was a kid. But with my meager allowance I missed out many of them. Now, even though I'm a mom with 2 kids, I was so excited when the box sets were released. I've bought the 1st 3 box sets and can't wait for the next. My son loves it too. It's wonderful going through the strips with my son on Sunday afternoons.

I used to read all these strips when they were in paperback form. I remember being around 12 or 13 and pouring over them again and again, with the added luxury of checking out the action every day in the daily paper. It's very gratifying, now that my six-year old daughter is reading, to share these volumes with her and watch her lose herself among the pages, and then ask to be quizzed on the many special characteristics of the kids in Charlie Brown's neighborhood. The printing quality is extremely high, the panels are crystal clear and the detail is really sumptuous.

My favorite so far is the Sunday strip where Charlie Brown is attempting to fly a kite in heavy wind and his cap keeps getting blown off, which he doggedly replaces atop his head every time. In the end Linus posits this classic: "I have a suggestion. Why don't you wear the kite and fly your hat?" I long for the day when we will have the collected volumes, and the prices on Amazon reallyl cannot be beat. But I must say, I miss those cheap little paper back volumes from my early youth. Rats!

If you already bought the previous releases of this collection, you know exactly what you'll find inside: intelligence, emotion and depth of the human relations.

Here you will get some of the Peanuts smartest movements, just like when Snoopy is locked under an ice piece and starts a reflection of his own life or when Linus sees himself without the safety of his blanket.

Even if you prefer the "modern version" of the strips (with Spike, Woodstock, the Red Baron, school scenes and stuff which would appear later, more precisely in the 70's), in this issue, you may find some of the roots and the reasons for the diamond that Charles M. Schulz carved on his life.

Thank you Charles, you really changed my life with these "guys" and "The Complete Peanuts 1961-1962" is another jewel from the master.

I bought all the items in the series and found them simply irresistible.
The strips are the integral version by the great master himself, Charles M. Schulz, and the edition is very, very good, with a robust hardcover and classy paper.

A special note for Italian speaking people: these are the "integral" strips, not the censored ones published for many years in Italy, where the religious quotations and remarks were systematically erased.

I gave this book to my dad who really enjoyed going through all of the comics. This is a very nice hard cover edition and is a good value.

This volume of The Complete Peanuts cover the years 1961 and 1962 in their entireties. The most noteworthy event of this book is the introduction of Frieda, the girl with the "naturally curly hair". Soon after her debut, the running gag where Frieda tries to get Snoopy to chase rabbits is used for the first time. Also introduced at this time was Frieda's cat Faron, who only made a few appearances before disappearing. Many of the jokes from this volume were later used in Peanuts television specials, most notably the Christmas and Halloween specials. Peanuts was one of the greatest comic strips of all time, and 1961 and 1962 are certainly among it's best years. Highly recommended.

A good addition to this series. The only let-down is that we're seeing more and more strips that have already been collected in other Peanuts books. It was bound to happen though, so I'm not knocking off a star for this.

There are two real gems to this book.
One is the story where Linus (my absolute favorite Peanuts character) runs for class president. I'm betting Schultz had a lot of fun with this. He lampoons the entire election process. This includes the speeches and promises, the press coverage, the polling, and everything else.

The other gem is even more important to me. This is where the title of my review comes into play. They had the great Bill Melendez write the foreward for this book.

Mister Melendez was an animator who wound up directing every single Peanuts movie and special ever made. In addition to this, he also did the voices of Snoopy and Woodstock on most of them (the exceptions being those few specials where Snoopy actually talked). Considering his close association with Schultz and his creation, he really should have been the one to write the foreward back in book 1 when this series started. Instead, throughout this series, we'd get nothing but celebrity endorsement after celebrity endorsement.

I was actually afraid that they'd do this entire series without so much as mentioning the man. Thankfully, these fears came to naught with the release of this book. Like I said, "they finally got it right".

The foreward itself is only 3 pages, but the quality makes up for it. Melendez talks about the events that led up to him meeting Schultz, his first impressions of the man, and how they went from a car commecial to a Peabody Award-winning special ("A Charlie Brown Christmas"), and then to a long and enjoyable career making other animated Peanuts titles (some great; some not so great). This is a story that certainly merits more than 3 pages, but Melendez takes the space he's given and manages both to inform and to satisfy.

If you're a Peanuts fan (especially if you're a Linus fan), click on that buy button. Trust me, you won't regret it.

This book, along with the rest of the collection, is simply marvelous. The complete work of Schulz is nicely presented. It reads itself so fast that we can't keep up buying the next one!

Much of this was more of the same, the continued development of the characters. There is a set of new characters (Five, with Four and Three coming later) but they turn out to be little more than props, good for a week or two and afterwards for when Schulz needed a generic male for Charlie Brown (Shermy now only shows up for group strips). Three and Four look like little Peppermint Patties, and since Peppermint Patty ends up coming from a single-parent family (father only) one wonders if this is sort of backstory for that.

Foreshadowing some of the changes coming up on the next volume are a couple of developments. The baseball mound has become a scene itself, where the characters come up to chat on various things. As for this volume (1963-64), it's just a couple of characters coming up with things to talk about.

As for the red-headed girl, she has changed from a merely distant figure (distant implying "out of Charlie Brown's League) to a seemingly active source of shame and humiliation. Not that Charlie Brown needs her to humiliate him (as some of the baseball groups show, he could do that all by himself), but it definitely adds an accent point to what's going on around him with those he talks to.

One of the most interesting comics has Charlie Brown actually coming on top, although it's more his father than him. Violet spends a few panels bragging about her Father, which Charlie Brown doesn't so much parry but amplifies by explanation. However, CB stops Violet short and explains that his father makes an honorable living and always has a minute for him no matter what he's doing. The last panel has Violet walking with a slight downward tilt of her head and a seeming sadness in her eyes, as if she had finally been devastatingly bested.

In the end, this is worth getting, although I'd get the 1959-1960 and 1961-1962 before this one.

This edition of The Complete Peanuts covers the years 1963 and 1964. Probably the most significant event during this time period was the introduction of "5", along with his sisters "3" and "4". 5 may not be well remembered, but he is still a pretty interesting character. These are classic comic strips from one of the masters of the medium. Great stuff, highly recommended.

I came to peanuts cartoons late in my life, but for the past five years I have bought every book available. Luckily for me as I have been a customer of amazon both in america and england and bringing out yearly books has been marvelous. Whenever I feel down I just read a few pages and I'm fine. The trouble is Im' going to be around 80 years old before this complete series is printed!!!! Is there anyway we can move this along? Doreen uk