Non-fiction Books

Porter Osborne is an innocent Georgia farm boy who thinks his way right through the blind, sometimes cruel authority of the WW II Army Medical Core and the Normandy invasion. The characters in this book are plucked wiggling straight from red Georgia dirt, complete with Southern dialect, quaint attitudes, and raw wit that died when the first atomic bomb fell. If you love someone who grew up in the South during the 1940's, you'll understand them better after you laugh your way through this tale.

My favorite professor recently recommended Ferrol Sams's trilogy, though, for some reason, I had never heard of Sams or the books.

I don't remember the last time I didn't want novels to end. Each is beyond wonderful, tying with my all-time favorite--maybe even better--Sinclair Lewis's "Arrowsmith."
It's hard to pinpoint why I enjoyed these so much, but I could identify readily with the main character, though I grew up in metropolitan areas and am Jewish.

In fact, I'm inspired to write a novel! Part of it will deal with a nice Jewish boy teaching in a backwoods fourth-rate hick Baptist college. Autobiographical? I wonder.

If you loved Run with the Horsemen and The Whisper of the River, then you have to know what happens to Porter Osborne, Jr. This book completes the story excellently. Having lived in the same area of the country as Porter, and knowing the Georgia locations mentioned in the stories, I felt familiar with him and his experiences. Ferrol Sams is truly a wonderful storyteller.

I can say this much in praise of When All The World Was Young -- if you really enjoyed the first two installments of the trilogy, you will not be disappointed by the third. It has all the charm and innocent playfulness that Sams fans have come to love, plenty of adventure, and even some sex and violence for those of us who just can't take any more of this hokey, precocious, wide-eyed boy.

Count me in the latter group. I think I'm just tired of Porter Osborne, Jr. He's just too....uml....nice. And even when he shows a slightly nastier side, it's just not believable. Sams made an attempt at creating edgier dialog in this one -- after all, we're dealing with enlisted men in the army now -- but it just doesn't ring true. He hit the mark in the first novel, when Porter was a young boy. That's the voice that Sams writes best. Unfortunately, that voice is still with us in this book, even though Porter is now 22 years old. The character has supposedly matured, but the writing has not. And so it's impossible to picture anything other than an eight-year-old farmboy.

Read this book if you loved the first two. Otherwise, I think you can safely skip it.

Suggest you go ahead and buy this one as you will want to reread it, as you will the first two of this story. The writing is great and as with the first two books, quite refreshing. Sams consistant character developement and syntax are a wonder. There was very little I did not ejoy in this book and the first two of the series. Thank you again Mr. Sams.

Another great book from William Dalrymple. Still reading it and find it very engrossing (wish the font size was a bit bigger)

Received it in perfect condition and it arrived in record time too.

This is a fine book set in the period when India came under threat from Napoleon until Nelson intervened at the battle of The Nile. When young English boys were taken out to India for education prior to their careers there it is hadly surprising that some went native. But it was one thing to take a local mistress, quite another to marry a princess. A tragic love story results. The author is clearly more in sympathy with the old policy of The East India Company which banned Christian missionary activity. He regrets the changes brought about by Wilberforce and his Clapham Sect friends which changed official policy towards religion.

This is a beautiful book. A fascinating love story, a forgotten angle on the British in India, a human and historical tragedy. It's scholarly but warm, thoroughly researched but very readable, broad but not diffuse.
And in one sense it's also very much about the early 21st Century: with respect and good humour, cultures and religions can co-exist and complement each other. So much for the "clash of civilisations" theory.
The "moral of the story" right at the end could have been better placed in an author's preface, and I trust a second edition would pick up the small number of editing mistakes.
Read it.

This book is a complex many-faceted marvel! It is carefully researched history transformed into the story of an ultimately tragic romance. With its portrayal of Europeans astride two cultures, it offers a wonderful, and probably unintentional, counterpoint to the Clash of Civilizations. It is a swarm of all-seeing flies on the walls and writing desks of Hyderabad's elite, both British and Indian, two centuries ago - with their city, dress, festivals and habits brought vividly to life. It is a fascinating description of British and Mughal political intrigue in and around the Deccan as imperial control tightened. It is a sensitive reflection on the rapacious, self-indulgent and precarious lives lived by the British in insalubrious coastal cities like Calcutta and Madras. And as result of the unbelievably painstaking process of meticulous documentation we are convinced that we are seeing events exactly as participants did. It is a mind-blowing accomplishment.

This is a wonderful book about an oft-overlooked, yet fascinating topic--the mughal period in Hyderabad (or perhaps I should say the end of the Mughal period) and the role of Europeans in the late mughal period. It is sensitively written and thoroughly researched. While so many historical works prove rather dull reading, this book is well written accessible and engaging. I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in Indian history, the moghul period, and/or the Deccan region.

A mold garden? What a brilliant idea. As if mold isn't spreading fast enough already and ruining homes and wrecking lives and clogging the courts. Just Brilliant. The Book of MORON Craft: In Which the Apprentice Finds Kids, and makes them into MORONS.
http://www.mold-help.org/

Very cool book - my 10 year old loves it and wants to make everything in it. Neat padded cover - great for the Harry Potter generation. Wish this was around when I was 10!

I loved this book and it's has very interesting stories also! I love making all the things in this book and it's fun stuff to do on a rainy day. I am just adoring this book! I work on my projects from The Book of Wizard Craft all the time! I would definitly get this book for serious fun! And it's a great hobby!

This book is fantastic. We received the book today in the mail. My two children and I looked at the book from cover to cover. They told me they want to start tomorrow on making the crafts that are in the book.

This book is perfect for Harry Potter fans. From robes, to wands, potions, hiding boxes, crystal balls..you name it.

The way the author has written this book is funny. You can just feel the author enjoyed writing this book.

My children loved it as soon as I turned the first page.

I personally would recommend this book to anybody, Harry Potter fan or not. This is a great book, and it tells how to make two different kinds of wands, robes, cloaks, crystal balls, potions, a wizard's hat, turban, and more! It also tells how to make a wizard party, etc.

I got this book for my birthday about two years ago, and I've read it through at least ten times since then. If I have nothing to do, I just sit down and read it. It's got lots of stories, so if you just feel like reading, it's the right book.

I hope this was helpful!

I bought this book for one story but it turned out all of the stories were great.

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings always makes me cry. The other reviews of this book here describe it so eloquently and throughly that I don't feel the need to add to that aspect. The book has a strong emotional pull that made me cry and made long to go to Cross Creek and see it for myself. Rawlings is one of my all-time favorite writers, ever since my seventh-grade teacher read the newly published book The Yearling to her class, a chapter or two each day after lunch.

Wonderful view of an isolated place in FL (near Gainesville) circa 1930 written by a brave, independent woman.

Cross Creek is a series of entertaining if perhaps embellished anecdotes relating to Florida in the years preceding World War II told from the perspective of a educated emigré from the North. Some of the language, which was typical of the times, would no longer be considered politically correct and might be offensive to some. The book, however is totally delightful and gives some insight into life in rural Florida at the time. An excellent companion read is Tom Glisson's The Creek, which gives a native's view of the same time and area. Both books are a must read if you live or are interested in North Central FL.

Rawlings explores the lives and interations of the odd assortment of people living in Cross Creek, Florida in the early 1900s. It is often assigned reading for teens, but I doubt that most of them can appreciate it. Her accounts of neighbors feuding and subsistance living gives us many lessons in human behavior.
The lyrical descriptions of wildlife and the orange groves and wild landscape are very appealing. Your mouth waters as you read her essays on downhome foods like hush puppies. She turned those into a cookbook which I'll have to try out.
Modern readers squirm uncomfortably at her use of the N----- word and her characterization of blacks as irresponsible, drunken, immoral, etc. It is probably a faithful representation of common thinking at the time it was written, so recognize it as a snapshot of the times. Then move past that to luxuriate in the beautiful passages in the book. (I deducted 1 star for this)
The reader becomes absorbed in Rawlings' love of the land and the creation of a home. It gives much the same feelings as A Year in Provence or Under a Tuscan Sun.

Truly a classic collection, this exemplifies an excellent selection of stories from one of the true masters of the hardboiled detective fiction genre. Wonderful reads that I am reading for a fourth and fifth time since I first discovered them in the late 1960s.

This was the perfect vol for the survey of hard-boiled detective fiction I've been doing. A nicely formatted hardcover (nothing's sexier than a hardcover book) with good info on Hammett's life and times.

Complete Novels: Red Harvest / The Dain Curse / The Maltese Falcon / The Glass Key / The Thin Man (Library of America) What a great anthology of the works of the father of the modern detective novel. All of Hammett's novels in one book. It does not get any better than this.

An intriguing plot with just the right blend of wry humor, sex and secrets.

I do like these stories, though they are so rough! It is very helpful to be able to have them all together in this one good volume, I think. But it is dangerous to read them late at night, because you either get too excited to sleep, or you dream of bad men with their car headlamps switched off in the dark!

This is a great read-aloud book. The illustrations are wonderful and the story is a lot of fun. I love that the whale makes right his wrong in the end of the story! I hope Van Dusen writes more books, my kids just love them.

I first read the book, A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee. How much my 5 year old loved this book prompted me to look for others by this author. If I had to choose, I would pick Camping Spree over this one, but this book is just as cute and fun to read as the other.

We checked out one Chris Van Dusen book (A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee) at our local library and wanted more. We love his "retro" illustrations and his clever rhymes. Our kids ask to read this book over and over again. It is a cute story, told and illustrated well.

This is a beautiful book with Seussian rhyming text, and appeals to children of all ages, and young boys in particular. The rhyming text helps children who have difficulty reading stay engaged. There is so much to look at in the illustrations, and grownups interested in the color palette and trappings of the 1950s will find all of Van Dusens books welcome additions to their children's book library. This one will never go in the giveaway pile - you'll want to keep it forever.

This book is so much fun. The rhymes make it fun to read over and over, and the illustrations are absolutely incredible corner to corner. The story is so cute. Not too long, not too short. We love it and also purchased Camping Spree W/ Mr. Magee and that too is a must have! Chris Van Dusen did not disappoint!

Gabe just like the rest of the Buckhorn Brothers is worth buying! They are all awesome guys with really great stories. Each brother is different but they are all are hot, sexy and romantic. Anyone who reads these books will fall for them.

i loked but i wanted to go more into the ceily and gabe past it wouldve been better for the book and elizabeth wanted to know anyway

Oh my, Lori Foster manages to entertain me with another beefy "Buckhorn Brother" story and continues to further captivate me with this terrific series.

Gabe Kasper has always been a charmer. Women love him and he loves women and ain't life grand! Until Ms. Elizabeth Parks shows up and ties him into one big complicated knot! Suddenly, this carefree man finds he is confused and frustrated, for the "Uptight" Ms. Parks is everything he is not! Normally, Gabe Kasper is content to idle his life away, to enjoy his freedom robustly, to amuse all the ladies amorously. Yet, now . . . a certain little redhead is quickly redirecting Gabe's everyday thoughts into some unforgettable daydreams.

Elizabeth Parks reminds herself to savor this time. To enjoy every steamy hour with Gabe Kasper . . . thoroughly. After all, Gabe Kasper is quite a man. He is drop-dead gorgeous, strong, independent, and his heroism is well known. In fact, Gabe is everything she is not; Gabe Kasper is certainly not a feeble coward!

Reviewer's Comments:
Again, Lori Foster creates a page-turner. GABE is fun and easy to read. It is a tremendous way to waste an afternoon. It is breezy, easy, and light . . . a perfect vacation book! Lori Foster instantly replaces every troubling predicament with a dreamy, hot playfulness.

Hurrah! After I tracked down 3 out of 5 of Foster's big brawny series, I just learned Harlequin is reissuing the first 4 "Buckhorn Brothers" stories in March 2007! Hallelujah! Yet, sadly, they do not include CASEY (Book 5) in this much-anticipated publishing coup! Harlequin don't be cruel . . . my CASEY order is primed!

MaryGrace Meloche.

I stumbled across the Buckhorn Brothers books while looking for Erin McCarthy books (which are great, too, by the way). I ordered all four at one time, and for some reason they're taking several weeks to ship. But they shipped Gabe early, and am I ever glad! I debated waiting for the rest so I could read them in order, but after peaking inside, I had to read Gabe right away.
Even though I sometimes roll my eyes at the cheesy perfect-ness of the men in romance novels (and Gabe is pretty much perfect), I have to admit I'm a sucker for these stories. Gabe is really too good to be true. He's one of those super-charming men who really loves and appreciates women. I usually find men like that are raised in households with sisters or by single mothers or grandmas, not like the testosterone-filled Hudson/Kasper house.
Anyway, this story was just really sexy. I like that Gabe falls for a shy, bookish, average-looking girl like Lizzy, and not a bombshell. He even wonders himself why he's falling for someone so against his type. Of course by the end of the book, he thinks Lizzy is beautiful. Lizzy is a little unbelievable in her naiveté, but it makes for a good story when Gabe gets to introduce her to all sorts of new experiences.
The book doesn't really have a plot, and the romance happens in record time, but it doesn't matter. The story is written well enough that you just go with it. Even though these are re-issued older books, nothing in the Gabe book was at all dated. It could have been set today or any time in the past ten years. I'm looking forward to reading the other three brothers' stories, and then the new story about Casey that's coming out soon. I doubt they can top this one, though!

This series is fantastic you have four handsome, intelligent, real honest men who love women. The underline theme is that good men do exist. Each brother gets his own book and each fall in love even though they don't want to.... Buy the whole series, get glass of favorite beverage and they will leave with a smile! Buckhorn Brothers Series Sawyer (Book 1), Morgan (Book 2), Gabe (Book 3),Jordan (Book 4) and Casey (Book 5 published in 2002),

I took the book to the beach and couldn't put it down. I was riveted from the very first sentence. The author led us with such skill to the character Reb Michael Klimrod that you are hooked immediately.

Paul-Loup Sulitzer is a master storyteller. His skill and thought provoking insight into this complex character gave us an entirely different prospective into this tragic time. He lifts your soul and fires your imagination with imagery that has you holding your breath in anticipation of what comes next. This book will make you stop whining about your life and look outside yourself to the possibilities available. I'm not a person that likes to read a book more than once but with The Green King I find myself reading it once a year and feeling like it is the first time every time.

Do you have a teen that feels life is boring or that you know needs to be challenged? This book has the power to bring on a change in thinking. I read several novels weekly but this is a book you will want to read slowly and savor every word.

Movie Makers Take Notice - the world needs a thought provoking movie and this is it!

The green King is without any doubt one of the best tales ever told, about the life of a person with so much to give to the world, and so much to do and explore.For me it was amazing from the beginning, the tall blonde boy with the anger and pain of the concetration camp to the nearly end, Reb the one of the richest man alive fighting for a good cause. Read it love it, please someone do a movie about this extraordinary Man.

i read The Green King in its Russian translation 12 years ago and it remains my most favorite book... i still keep it and it is much beaten up by now... i can definetely say that the power of this Sulitzer musterpiece was a major factor in shaping my adolesent character... now i am grown up and unfortunately find it impossible to have a strong figure in my life who i would want to be like, but there is something in The Green King that will make you either rediscover the feeling or help find it for a first time....

I found a copy of the hardback English translation at a "friends of the library" sale. The tale of Reb Michael Klimrod is an improbable one, although riveting. With the start of the book with Klimrod rescued from Mauthausen concentration camps during the war, he survives amid a sea of bodies, pulling on some inner strength and self-image that allows himself to function in horrendous circumstances without letting it attack his spirit. He then goes on an adventure to find what happened to his family and their wealth, makes connections in cigarette black market trade that finance his eventual stalking down of the Nazi who tortured, filmed and killed his father.

From that tale of vengeance the book propels us into the Amazon, where Klimrod again survives a hostile environment and develops a bond with the natives in Amazonia. After emerging from there, he heads to New York where he again flourishes in the hostile environment of big business, using powers of persuasion and an incredible memory to create a number of businesses in a short amount of time and surround himself with loyal followers that become known as "the Black Dogs."

Klimrod falls in love with the unstable Charmian whose ups & downs captivate him. The scene on the boat where she actually shoots him is a profound chapter on the power of love.

Having amassed billions, Reb turns his attentions to Amazonia, creating a culture in the heart of the jungle. The secrecy and silent attraction of others to Reb make him an enigmatic lead character, one that holds our interest until the end. The ending at the United Nations where Reb, the unknown billionaire, is going to try to "come out" against boarders and nations is foiled and the novels seems to dissipate as much as climax. Denise Raab Jacobs' translation from the French reads and flows well. All in all, this is a memorable story, one that grabs you in the first few pages and takes you in numerous unpredictable directions. Enjoy!

The Green King is my all-time favorite book. I read it for the first time when on vacation in Aruba in '85 and have read it at least three times since. I found a first print in hardcover and it is the jewel of my book collection.

Reb Michael Klimrod's journey from a nazi death camp to the richest man in the world without anyone knowing him is remarkable. The detail that Sulitzer maintains in his book of the men that kept this secret is breath taking; the web of financial companies and transactions is exhilarating. This is a great book for anyone that enjoys high finance and a desire to fulfill a dream. 5 Stars are not enough for this book.

Not the most cleverly written book I've ever read, but a great premise and lots of details for horse lovers. Gloss doesn't subscribe much to the show-em-don't-tell-em rule of great fiction, but I enjoyed her characters and dialogue, and the historical rendering was quite atmospheric. Would I read it again? No. Would I recommend it to a few cowgirl-loving friends? Yes.

Molly Gloss's spare prose is just enough to provide deep insight into the lives, minds and hearts of her characters, two and four legged. Martha Lessen is the central point - the center of the circle, her horses' lives, and gradually, the community. If you love horses, the West, history or romance, you'll find much to enjoy here. The characters stay with you long after the last gentle word of this delightful novel. The last novel I enjoyed this much was Water for Elephants. Hearts of Horses deserves the same long slow jog to enduring popularity.

This is the story of a young woman who leaves home and takes a job taming horses for the farmers of a remote valley during World War I. It is a very sensitive portrayal of rural life from a woman's point of view and presents a good description of the gentling form of "breaking" wild or untamed horses.

This was my first exposure to the fiction of Molly Gloss. Wow! And I mean that in the most complimentary John-Denver-Rocky-Mountain-High kinda way. No, it's not the Colorado Rockies in the sixties, but the mountains of eastern Oregon in the teens, 1917-18 that is. Gloss's story, about a tomboy-ish young woman horse gentler, Martha Lessen, has such a light and sensitive touch in every way that it is hard to describe. I LOVED this book! I didn't want it to end, but when it does end it has a very right feeling, of something beautiful completed. I'm not going to summarize the story; look up top if you want that. Hearts of Horses brought to mind other books I've read - Winter Wheat, by Mildred Walker, which was another WWI homefront story with the same kind of peaceful beauty. And Gloss's heroine is re-reading Anna Sewell's classic Black Beauty. When Martha and Henry have what should be a very strange and awkward conversation (but it ISN'T) about what the lives of horses must be like, Black Beauty, of course comes immediately to mind; but so does Will James' western story of Smokey the Cowhorse. And there are similarities too to a more recent book I read and reviewed not long ago called Across Open Ground, by Heather Parkinson - another WWI novel.
This is such a gentle, lovely, calm, PEACEFUL tale set in the midst of a world at war that it seems almost fairy-tale surreal at times, but it's NOT. It is disturbingly real, the kind of real you'd like to walk into and get to know the people, to be their friend, to laugh with them and comfort them - THAT kind of real. I guess it's pretty obvious by now that Gloss's book has made me nearly inarticulate with admiration. Here's a typical sample that rendered me speechless; the book's title comes from this passage in which Martha and Henry talk about the horses shipped overseas to the front -

"... about the terrible plight of the horses over there - how they died on the transport ships from fear and trampling; how they pined with homesickness and consequently took cold or pneumonia and died at the remount depots before they ever got to the front; how they were often starved and thirsty to the point of eating harness or chewing their stablemate's blankets; how as many horses were invalided by war nerves as were killed in battle - their hearts and minds not able, any more than the men's, to bear the airplane bombs and grenades, falling fuses, the shrieks of wounded men and animals."

The Hearts of Horses has, I think, a kind of quiet Quaker sensibility, a plain people quality that cannot fail to touch your heart. I'm so glad I found it. What a book! - Tim Bazzett, author of Love, War & Polio (RatholeBooks.com)

Very enjoyable reading and was passed on to other family members to enjoy a good, relaxing story. Definately recommended.

I really loved the story. It's a very real story. Any one who's parents have ever fought will probably be able to relate.
This is the $25 hardcover edition. The book is dark green cloth. The title is on the front cover and side in gold. Cover seems well made. The print is usually okay, but maybe three or four times in the book one paragraph gets slaughtered. It's like the old ink-jet printers when the page jammed and you see part of the sentence which runs over another sentence and you can't read either, but the page isn't folded. It only ruins three or four paragraphs and you can read most of if. It's pretty annoying though at first. Other then that it seems like a sturdy book.
Still a worthwhile book to own if you like L.M. Montgomery.
Five stars for the story, three for the printing.

I enjoyed the Anne of Green Gables series of books. But, if you haven't read LMM's other books, you are missing out. I especially like "Jane of Lantern Hill". And my favorite "The Blue Castle" which is perfect romance.

Read these 2 books and her others. You may have to dig a bit but it'll be worth the trouble.

This was L.M. Montgomery's very last book that she's ever written during her lifetime. I own all of Montgomery's books, and after reading them over and over again, I have to say that this book is the best of her writings (right after the Anne of Green Gables series, of course...). I highly recommend this book, and encourage you to read it, for it shows what kind of inner strength and courage one can possess. Additionally, I recommend all of Montgomery's books to read, for being an avid fan, her books can teach us many lessons that we ourselves can apply during our lifetime.

As someone who spent many hours alone as a child, I found I could really relate to this book. I first discovered it when I was eleven or twelve. I loved reading about how Jane'e grandmother dominated her and made her feel out of place and about how people at school regarded Jane, because I was treated in the same way. If you've ever been pushed around as a child, or as an adult, read this book. I'm 21 and have been forced to grow up rather quickly in my life, still I enjoy this wonderful novel. I thought the character of the mother could have been more developed, otherwise it was absolutely a stunning work of art. Go SUPERIOR JANE! I can also relate to the way Montgomery portrays Jane's dad, and Jane's relationship with her dad. It's interesting how when Jane sees her father's picture in a magazine, even though she does not know it is him she cuts it out and keeps it, and it is heart-breaking how her grandmother takes it away from her. It is touching how Jane helps her poor orphaned friend and neighbor, and her grandmother's disdain for this makes one exceedingly angry. I also thought Jane's mother did not defend her daughter enough. Montgomery's own father made himself scarce to her when she was young, moving out West and remarrying. Montgomery seems to have never gotten over this, so when she describes characters like Emily's father, and Jane's father, she does a wonderful job of speaking of how intimate they are with their daughters. As a child of divorce I loved reading of how Jane played a role in getting her parents back together. .......

I read this in my early teens, after I had read most of the LMM books (the Anne series, the Emily series, etc.) I loved them all, especially the Emily series, but Jane of Lantern Hill is my favorite of them all. Jane Stuart is not, as many of LMM's other heroines are, obsessed with the idea of being a writer, storyteller, etc. There is no potential boyfriend/husband lurking in the story either. This book is more about the how understanding and love can transform an introverted, unhappy child into a confident, intelligent girl (the story ends when Jane is about age 14.) In that sense she's really one of the most understandable and likeable of LMM's heroines. She is also very modern. You can easily imagine her growing up to become a successful career woman, something you can't really say for many of LMM's other heroines, other than the at-home and time-flexible occupation of writing. If I had an early-teen daughter I would buy this book for her, especially if she has any self-confidence issues.

This is also one of the few books that deals with the subject of divorce or the separation of parents from the perspective of the child in an intelligent way. Given the time that it was written, divorce was a horrible taboo, and the resolution of the story is a bit unrealistic perhaps. That's the only quibble I have with the book.

Incidentally there was a television movie based on this book, by the same people who did the excellent Anne of Green Gables series (at least, the first two parts of that series were excellent). Don't bother with the Jane movie if you love the book..it only vaguely resembles it.