Non-fiction Books

Many years ago, I read Winds of War and War and Remembrance. I enjoyed them very much, but for whatever reason, never pursued other Wouk works. After having read Youngblood Hawke, I will certainly remedy that mistake.

Youngblood Hawke is an outstanding period piece which weaves together many of the historical events of the 50s against the backdrop of the publishing and Hollywood entertainment industries. Hawke, from the small town coal country of Eastern Kentucky, rises from complete obscurity to the pinnacle of success in his field. Despite this success, Hawke is always on the razor's edge, financially, emotionally, physically and professionally. Numerous highly entertaining plot lines involving his business associates, his love interests and his family inject suspense and keep the story freash and moving in the right direction.

Two particular story lines were of particular interest to me; the Congressional hearings involving Communism in the entertainment industry and the confiscatory income tax policy prevalent during the period. Both were very effectively presented as major impediments to the artistic endeavors of Hawke and his literary compatriots. The gymnastics and gyrations undertaken by Hawke to avoid what was then a top tax rate of 90% provide some of the most interesting material in the novel.

All in all, an extremely entertaining and thought provoking novel. I highly recommend it.

After reading The Hope, The Glory and The Caine Mutiny, I was ready to be entertained. However, the extent of enjoyment I would receive from Youngblood Hawke was underestimated. Wouk's unique storytelling draws you into the book as if you are with Hawke when he is writing, visiting his hometown, wooing his women, or absorbing the glitter of Hollywood and New York. I was dreading the last page, I just didn't want the tale of this colorful writer to end. When I did close the book, I felt I was saying farewell to Hawke and his many close acquaintances. I knew them well - what they wore, how they talked and how they felt. Wouk is magnificent.

I read years ago Herman Wouk's Winds of War and War and Remembrance. I just loved those books. I came upon Youngbood Hawke by accident and thought I would give the big book a try. I wish the book were longer.

If you love to read, if you love the era of early 20th century America, if you love a great story, if you love intricate character development, New York and Hollywood this is the book for you.

This book is up there with Ayn Rand and Dorothy Sayers.

Having seen two screen adaptations of Wouk's novels,("Caine Mutiny"/"Youngblood Hawke") before reading him, I come to a review with mixed feelings. This is no Gatsby, but does rival "Peyton Place" in its graphic depiction of the Puritanical 50's. If you can imagine James Franciscus as Hawke,you will realize how far off Hollywood was in its early 60's treatment of this fine textbook to those who labor in the craft of writing. In my view, Hawke comes close to being a combination of Wolfe and Norman Mailer. Although not a masterpiece to me, it is valuable as a bible for aspiring writers. The warnings are there: the hangers-on, the barracudas and the crazies circle to swallow you whole. The proper attitude is to labor for the love of writing, the rest can follow.He had the talent, the courage and the stamina to produce enduring work. And against all odds, he achieved his dream. Like Wouk (or Hawke), they both spent considerable time with the classic novelists, before attempting to rise.As we've seen in the publishing empire recently, editors have thrown out guidelines, to anticipate the next "find." Next to the biography of "Max Perkins," I would place this book as most inspiring for writers.It slows in just a few places unnecessarily reaching for another foreign scrape that perhaps a Fitzgerald would have fallen into.Engrossing, informative and entertaining for the most part.

"Masterpiece" is not a word I use lightly. In fact, when it comes to literature, I reserve it for no more than four or five novels. YOUNGBLOOD HAWKE definitely belongs in the category of masterpieces---a masterpiece of writing by Wouk, a masterpiece of depicting the rise and fall of a country bumpkin who achieves the height of literary success in New York City, a masterpiece of secondary character development, a masterpiece of depicting America's artistic circle in the mid-twentieth century.

Arthur Youngblood Hawke hails from a small coal-mining town in Kentucky. Not content to become a part of the local industry, he recognizes his natural talent as a story-teller and, armed only with his boxes of typed manuscript, walks into a publishing house in New York City in 1946. From there the story follows his life as a writer and as a man who loves two women and is desired by three. If you are a writer or a person who likes to read about the writing experience, this book offers, like none other I have ever read, a searing picture of the blood, sweat, and tears it takes to become a writer and remain true to your craft. Wouk does not paint a pretty picture, but he does paint a realistic one. Youngblood Hawke sees his novels adapted to movies and Broadway plays, and the reader becomes privy to the inner workings of Hollywood agents and brokers.

This is also a love story---a story of a young man's adulterous fascination with a queen of New York society, his relationship with the husky-voiced editor he loves but can never possess, his love for his mother that never falters even when she is driving him to distraction with her real estate schemes.

And tying all this together is Herman Wouk writing at the top of his form, creating characters that make us love them, anguish with them, cry with them, and never forget them. In fact, the last 100 pages are perhaps the most riveting and heart-breaking I have ever read. This is truly a magnificent work of epic proportions, a work which some say is loosely based on the life of heralded writer Thomas Wolfe. Whether this is true or not, the one truth I took from this work came from the character of Jeanne Green when she says, ". . . there will never be another Youngblood Hawke,"

Interesting last novel in the Starbridge series by Susan Howatch. Would recommend it to anyone but particuarly to those who have read the previous five novels in series. Helps if you are an Anglican,Episcopalian or Roman Catholic. Starbridge series is both emotional and theological. Starbridge series is set in mid-twentieth century in southern England when theology was going thru some changes and allowing some more High Church thinking into general circulation, but with many battles on the subject. The series had mostly to do with Anglican clergy attempting to work out some theological/emotional conflicts.
Linda Sheean

Knowing that those likely to read this review may well already share my love for the series as a whole, I shall begin by saying that Susan's gift for characterisation, with a great honesty and much room for grace to do its work, is always superb, and here at a new peak. My general approach to her main figures in the series is to see Jonathan Darrow as someone I'd love to hear preach but might be nervous to meet (even if he tends to compress 40 years worth of direction into a week's retreat) - Neville Aysgarth as someone I'd like to shake by the shoulders - Nicholas Darrow as one I'd closet with a library of the first fifteen centuries of Christian thought before he'd be allowed out - and Charles Ashworth as the ultimate Christian intellectual with whom I'd love to share weekly four-hour lunches with the best claret on the table. In this volume, Charles is once again the key character, and the reader finds, as he himself gradually learns, that the old glittering image is still much alive and as troublesome as ever.

Watching this character struggle with bereavement and grief of all varieties, and finally face the long-hidden "demons" which lurked in shadows to affect his relationship with his children and with his old nemesis Aysgarth, is incredibly moving and insightful. Dramatic though the plot becomes, it is a marvellous work wherein a seasoned bishop comes to new self-knowledge, humility, compassion ... and, while I'll not give the ending away, ultimately a specific setting of happiness which some readers will have thought he should have snatched 30 years before.

I listened to what I wanted from a work called "Absolute Truths"-I who am desperately conservative in Christianity and most things. After Charles Ashworth's triumph in "Glittering Images," and his overall positive portrayal in the books between that and this, I didn't want to find out that the truth I thought he had found, and that Howatch suggested he had found, was a lie, another of the tragic misconceptions that Howatch regularly and regretfully demolishes in her characters ("Anti-Sex Ashworth" toppled by doubt and lust stronger than his convictions-what a depressing concept).

It wasn't. But in the interim between "Glittering Images" and "Absolute Truths," Ashworth's grip on the truth had shifted until he had become a false man holding a true thing, or, to put it another way, Ashworth had grown as much as he could during "Glittering Images," but he still had far to grow, and "Absolute Truths" pushed him farther.

Thus Howatch, as in the rest of this Starbridge series, follows a plot sequence of strength debilitating into weakness, then supernaturally resolved into strength (or truth to lies to truth, or any number of other ways may describe this spiritual falling and rising pattern). We cannot however assume that the characters will live happily ever after, that their lives are "solved," or even that the weakness resolved in the novel will never return in later years. Howatch's cruces do not involve perfect or perfectible people, but perfect moments of grace that make the rest of lives better or in some way bearable. In a sort of backhanded optimism, Ashworth writes in the midst of his revelations, "Dimly I realised that this state of companionable hell could be classified as a form of survival." At the end of "Absolute Truths," Howatch permits Ashworth an idyllically happy old age and a platform for reminiscence, a sort of sop to him and to her for six dramatically painful novels in the series, but we must not forget that after "Glittering Images" Ashworth needed "Absolute Truths" to correct him further. After receiving revelation that revolutionised his life, he needed more revelation. As such, these novels are some of the most true-to-life of any fiction I've read portraying the Christian way of living. They give hope, not for all things to turn out alright, but for all things to "intermingle," as Ashworth insists, for good-and for there to be moments, rising above the doubt and pain, in which we may see God and absolute truths as clearly as our eyes can function. We may live a long time, decades, in the strength vouchsafed by these moments. Then we may need another, as Ashworth did.

When we started out in Book #1, the narrator, Charles Ashworth, was still fairly young. In this novel, he is again the narrator but he is elderly and the bishop of Starbridge. Being this age, he can wind up everyone's story. There is his whole generation of people and their families in the Anglican Church plus his childrens' generation of people. Of all the books, I'd say this one you better read as #6 and not out of order. There are simply too many stories which are wrapped up here that won't have the same impact on you if you haven't read books 1-5. This novel has its share of worldly problems with: gay priests (2), the ghost of Jardine appearing in the cathederal, an exorcism of the cathedral, a possible embezzlement by Dean Aysgarth from cathedral funds, a suicide, death of a spouse and finding another spouse. It also has combined therapeutic-spiritual sessions again with Jon Darrow as spiritual director for both Ashworth and Aysgarth. Once I started any of the 6 books, I couldn't stop reading till the end and this one was no exception.

Although this is the last book in the Starbridge series it is actually set in time before its immediate prequel, Mystical Paths. Howatch obviously had good reasons for doing this; no other book could have rounded up the series so perfectly, and certainly it was a delight to return to Chares Ashworh as narrator, who began the whole series. This time Charles is at the evening of his life. He has been the Bishop of Salisbury for some years.. Some of those nearest and dearest to him have passed away and he has to come to terms not only with the sense of loss, doubt and lack of direction, but also with his wayward Dean, Neville Ayesgarth, who still insists on going off on a tangent in affairs of the Cathedral. As in Scandalous Risks, scandal seems only around the corner and Charles has to develop very strong spiritual muscles in order to bring matters to an outcome worthy of a Christian.
I must not forget to mention that in this novel Starbridge Cathedral itself - in the other books merely a background stat - becomes a major character, and a star player during the Grande Finale The climax of this book is not only deeply moving, it is also absolutely perfect. As is the entire series.

I agree with most of the reviews in that the story and illustrations are both excellent. My four year old, who typically wanders in and out of family story time, is the real test and she sat giving her full attention for the duration.

Of course my children immediately wanted to make the delicious recipe in the back - which sounded like a great plan to me. Therein lay the problem. My husband gave up looking for buttermilk powder at the store and I had never heard of it myself. I suffered sticker shock when I made a second trip only to discover the obscure ingredient had a hefty price tag of $6.50. If money is no object for you then that's wonderful. The bummer for us is that our budget does not allow for such a pricey item to be used once or twice then take its place on our shelves until I find it expired years later. Maybe it's a favorite family recipe? Otherwise I hope they substitute with a different cake on future editions. Meanwhile, we will have to make our own substitution as after reading the book you almost have to make cake. It is that good.

For me this book is about the values of sharing and kindness. For that reason I have a great esteem for "The Bake shop Ghost" . Another book that I very much recommend for the same reason is a new series by B. Nowiki titled "Why Some Cats are Rascals". I am very much impressed with the first book of that series.

For me this book is about the values of sharing and kindness. For that reason I have a great esteem for "The Bake shop Ghost" . Another book that I very much recommend for the same reason is a new series by B. Nowiki titled "Why Some Cats are Rascals". I am very much impressed with the first book of that series.

Great story. My daughter orginally brought a copy of the book home from the Library. I liked it so much I bought it for myself. The cake receipe is pretty darn good.

I have a two year old, a five year old, and a 37 year old (wife) who love listening to this story as much as I love reading it to them.

Miss Cora Lee Merriweather is the town baker extraordinaire. She passes away and the whole town cries knowing that her recipes are gone with her. "Corra Lee didn't have any family so the Merriweather Bake Shop was sold".

Several bakers eagerly attempt to set up their own shop on the old premises but are promptly scared away by the ghost of Cora Lee until several years later a feisty and determined young baker by the name of Annie Washington arrives to call the bake shop her new home.

This is a delightful warm story of friendship, and determination. The two characters don't budge an inch until Annie pleads to the ghost and asks what she can do so that she could have the place in peace. The challenge is on: "Make me a cake . . . like one I might have baked, but that no one ever made for me." Annie bakes and bakes never finding anything just right, until one day she finds something out about the ghost that leads her to make that one special cake that no one ever made for her.

The drawings and the colors are wonderful and they help give this story its warm glow. You will have lots of opportunities to make different voices from Cora Lee herself to Frederico Spinelli and all the other characters in between. There is nothing scary in this story and there is no stress on the death part. She just passes away one day. My five year old is into asking those questions but my two year old just loves the voices and the story in general right now.

Besides, if you are a dad, you can also get a Ghost Pleasing Chocolate cake out of the deal-recipe is included, and it turns out quite nicely.

Our daughter used this book as a resource when she did her own Search. I read it and was amazed at what a 'complete' book it is. It focuses on every aspect of an adoptee's search. There are chapters for the birthparents, the adoptee, the adoptive parents, etc. There are many, many 'testimonials' included, positive, neutral and negative, from adoptees, adoptive parents, birthparents, regarding searches.
I highly recommend this book to any adoptee who is considering doing their own Search, to any adoptive parent whose child is searching, to any adoptive parent whose child has already done their search, and to any birthparent in that situation.
There truly is something for everyone.
(I gave it 4 out of 5 stars because nothing's perfect.)

I found this book incredibly helpful in helping me deal with searching for and eventually reuniting with my birthmother. I bought it a year and a half ago, and I've referred back to it so many times that it looks like I've had it much longer. It gives very helpful advice for everyone involved in adoption and allows you to see all sides of the issue. Also, the testimonials and Jean Strauss's search and reunion story give the book a very personal feel. Overall, a great book for anyone connected to adoption.

I bought this book after reading "The Girls Who Went Away" by Ann Fessler and I'm glad I did. It really brings the subject of adoption full circle by telling the stories from all sides of the coin. But it also gives A Lot of starting points and next steps for people to use while doing their own search. My brother and I are both adoptees. I found my birth mother over 16 years ago but she had died in a car accident 6 months after I was born. Took me 15 more years to find my birth father. Both finding my birth mother and birth father were purely the grace of God because I had absolutely nothing to go on. My brother recently asked me to help him locate his birth parents and I'm so glad I purchased this book. Not only for the large quantity of resources it lists, but so I can also prepare him for the many different outcomes he may experience. I can also add, that by reading this book, it has been an emotional rollercoaster. Being able to relate to so many feelings, stories, dreams has really been healing in a lot of ways. Knowing there are so many people out there with similar emotions due to being adopted has been comforting in some strange way. I'd have to say one of my favorite parts of the book is when it talks about how society continues to view the adopted child as just that, a child. Society never took into account that we, as adopted children, would grow up to become contributing adults who have every right to know about ourselves, where we came from and everything pertaining to our lives. I guess if I had to pick one word to explain how this book made me feel it would be EMPOWERED.

Being adopted, my interest in finding books relating to my own thoughts and journey was quite a challenge. Interestingly, I found this book after finding my birthmother and two siblings. The book was a confirmation of every step and emotion I felt. I can't reccomend this book enough. It is written in a non-threatning and caring tone. Every adoptee or a parent that has relinguished a child should read it if for no other reason than to educate oneself.

To help someone not only understand why they are searching, but help in getting started in the search. This was a God send for me! I am now sharing my copy with my neighbor who is an adoptive mom. It's just wonderful. Everyone should read it.

Well maybe not, but it is over 450 pages of Blackadder! "This book, sir, contains every word in our beloved language." Just kidding, I just had to say that. What this book does contain is the complete scripts for all 24 episodes of the entire Blackadder series written by Richard Curtis & Ben Elton, who are both "as clever as a stick in a bucket of pig swill." and starring the "quite brilliant" comedic talents of Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson, Hugh Laurie, and Stephen Fry, among others. If you have not seen Blackadder, you have no idea what you're missing. However, if you have seen it and don't like it, then I hope you get an extremely itchy rash on "the soft dangly collection of objects in your trousers." There are plenty of other things besides the scripts but I'll leave it as a surprise (or you can just read one of the other reviews). Keep in mind that these are the original scripts, not word for word what you hear on the show. For the most part it is exactly the same, but every once and a while there are different words used in the book. Don't worry, it doesent take away from any humor and the only person that will notice it will be someone, like myself, who has watched Blackadder over and over. Seriously, I put Blackadder III in my DVD player before I go to sleep and sometimes the last thing I hear is "Once upon a time there was a lovely sausage called Baldrick and it lived happily ever after." Anyway the book is essential for the Blackadder fan who can't get enough of the hilarious and original writing. Here are some lines you can read continuously for the rest of your life once you buy this book:

"Population: three rather mangy cows, a dachshund named Colin, and a small hen, in its late forties."

"I took over for the original electorate after he very sadly accidentally brutally cut his head off while combing his hair."

"I am delighted to have been instrumental in keeping your bosom free of arses."

"...eternity in the company of Beelzebub and all his hellish instruments of death will be a picnic compared to five minutes with me and this pencil..."

By the way, all royalties from the sale of this book go to Comic Relief UK. So you're actually doing two good things: Donating to a worthwhile charity and owning a book "so cunning, you could stick a tail on it and call it a weasel."

"Blackadder" is one of the most brilliant television shows ever. The star, Rowan Atkinson, along with other series regulars such as Tony Robinson (as the perpetual dogsbody with a cunning plan,) Tim McInnerny, Stephen Fry, and Hugh Laurie carry this show through four distinct historical periods, with more laughs than could possibly be expected. Series one starts in the fifteenth century, with Atkinson as Prince Edmund, the illegitimate and despised son of the lunatic king, Richard IV. During this season Edmund adopted the moniker "The Black Adder" only after Baldrick advised him it was much more awe inspiring than his original choice "The Black Vegetable." (Note that while his name is spelled "Blackadder" in the scripts, when it is used as a title in season one, it is spelled "Black Adder.") This season sets the stage for Blackadder as a conniving and scheming con man, a reputation he and his Blackadder descendants live up to through the rest of the series.

Seasons two and three see a progression though history with Edmund first becoming Lord Edmund Blackadder, in the court of Elizabeth I (who is delightfully played by Miranda Richardson,) and later becoming the butler to Prince George, the Prince Regent, who is the idiot offspring of crazy King George III. These seasons provide the most laughs of the series for me, and I am particularly enthralled with the episode "Ink and Incapability" in which Baldrick burns Doctor Johnson's new dictionary. This episode is the ultimate in Blackadder humor, witty and urbane, yet full of madcap comedic moments as well, especially when Blackadder introduces new and confounding words for Dr. Johnson's considerations: "Contrafibularities, sir. It is a common word down our way....I am anaspeptic, phrasmotic, even compunctious to have caused you such pericombubulations." (Of course in true Blackadder fashion this only gets him in trouble, as Coleridge, the poet and Johnson ally threatens to thrust an Oriental disemboweling cutlass up his "ignoble behind.")

The forth season of Blackadder sees Atkinson as Captain Edmund Blackadder in the British army during the trench warfare of World War One France. This series also had a lot of laughs, with my favorite episode being "Private Plane," in which Blackadder and Baldrick join the Royal Air Force and are forced down behind enemy lines. They are subsequently interrogated and insulted by the Red Baron ("How lucky you English are to find the toilet so amusing, for us it is a mundane and functional item, for you it is the basis of an entire culture.") and sentenced to teach home economics to a convent of nuns for the duration of the war. One thing about this season (and two of the others) is that in the last episode of the season the entire cast dies, which elevates the series into a peculiar blend of black comedy and social commentary which I have still not grown fully accustomed to.

The book is a collection of scripts and has several extras germane to the time period being satirized which are also well done. I like the excerpt from "Dr. Johnson's Dictionary" provided on page 106, with definitions such as "left behind - part of the sitting apparatus of a personage," and "leek - a long, thin Welsh tomato." There are also helpful lists of the "Duties of the Prince Regent," "Duties of a Butler of a Royal Household" which includes "Commissioning moleskins (as and when necessary)," and "Duties of an Underscrogman." Baldrick, being the Underscrogman serving under Edmund is responsible for (among other things): "Removing and making good all squoles, whiffen-plugs, and blunters," "Cleaning the wulger-hole," "Quilping," "Cliving," "Groving," "Arranging the sheep droppings into neat little pyramids," "Frossiking the hounds," "Folding the glut-pile," and of course, "Making sandwiches."

This is a wonderful book, though if you are unfamiliar with the series, I recommend buying the DVD set and watching the shows first; a subsequent reading of this book will ensure many more laughs. As a side note, profits from this book go to the charity Comic Relief, a brief history of which appears in the last three pages of the book.

I recommend this book very highly for intelligent wit, and I likewise recommend the television series on DVD interphrastically.

The Blackadder series, begun in the 1980s, was a comedic masterpiece set forth by Rowan Atkinson and his comrades. From start to finish, the first series was a masterstroke of wit, irony and comedic styling that fits both the contemporary and medieval situations perfectly. The combination of slapstick and intellectual humour blended well, and the literary types will not miss the occasional credit of William Shakespeare as a collaborating writer on some episodes -- this might well be the kind of comedy Shakespeare would have produced today.

The first series was set in the pre-Tudor royal family, projecting that Richard III won at Bosworth Field, and Richard IV succeeded him, until after many adventures, the entire royal family was done in, and Henry Tudor reworte history thereafter. The first series starred Brian Blessed and Elspet Gray as the King and Queen, and Robert East as their eldest son, the Prince of Wales. Rowan Atkinson played the second son, who with companions Percy and Baldrick (Tim McInnerny and Tony Robinson) create most of the comic scenes. BlackAdder variously becomes the Archbishop of Canterbury, the betrothed of the Spanish Infanta, a witch on trial, and finally, however briefly, King of England.

The second series sees Percy and Baldrick following a descendent of Blackadder in Elizabethan times; as befits the period, the characters are more vibrant and saucy, particularly Blackadder, who still seeks his fortune as one of the Queen's suitors. Here he variously becomes the royal executioner, a sea-faring discoverer, a bankrupt noble, and finally a traitor to the crown, albeit not without a sense of humour. Miranda Richardson puts in a spectacular performance as Queen Elizabeth, with Stephen Fry and Patsy Byrne in attendance. Stephen Fry will recur throughout the series.

In the third series, Blackadder is still close to the crown, as the butler of the Prince Regent, a despised position to a despised person. Baldrick is still around, and the Prince is played by Hugh Laurie, who will recur in the final series. Done almost as a period comedy, the very titles and situations pay hommage to the day of the Scarlet Pimpernel, Dr. Johnson's dictionary, and the conflict with France. Through an interesting set of circumstances, butler and prince trade places, and the Blackadder finally becomes his intended goal, albeit in the name of someone else.

In the fourth and final series, Blackadder has fallen from a great height, and is an officer in the trenches of World War I. Baldrick is still there, and Percy and the Prince have transformed into fellow field officers, with Stephen Fry playing a bellicose general here as he did Wellington in the third series. The main device of this series is the effort by Blackadder to escape the trenches, by variously becoming an artist, a theatre producer, a chef, but to no avail finally, producing a sombre end to the dynasty.

The book is a fabulous companion piece to the series, as the BBC is known to do with television series of success. The six episodes of each of the four seasons is laid out in script-narrative form, with a generous collection of side offerings, such as the Blackadder family tree, the menu of Mrs. Miggins' pie shoppe, and other pieces of interest related to but not found in the actual series. The cast is included at the beginning of each series section. The book concludes with a partial collection of some of Blackadder's best insults.

This book was printed in aid of Comic Relief, who give a brief outline of their history of funding good causes in the last few pages.

This is a must-have for any Blackadder fan. Regretably, it does not contain the addition special features (such as the Victorian Christmas of Blackadder), but for any devotee of the series, this is a requirement.

1983 saw the airing of a hilariously funny new British television show, Blackadder. This show had four separate seasons that chronicled the lives of four members of the Blackadder family: Edmund Blackadder in 1484, son of Richard, Duke of York; Edmund Blackadder, favorite of Queen Elizabeth I; Edmund Blackadder, butler to Prince George, son of King George III; and, finally, Edmund Blackadder, Army captain during World War I. This book is a companion to that wonderful series, filling in the holes left in English history, giving all sort of useful information drawn from the Blackadder family archives, and the full scripts of each of the shows!

This is a great book, and a must-have for any fan of the Black Adder. The scripts are great to have, and the other information demonstrates the same great humor as the show. Having been created in 1998, the book does not contain any information on the Y2K special, Blackadder Back & Forth, which makes sense. What doesn't make sense is that it completely ignores the 1988 Christmas Special! But, that said, this is a nice book, one that I highly recommend to every Blackadder fan!

I stumbled upon the Black Adder comedy series one night in the 1980s while channel surfing. Something was weird, I thought--there's this sniveling coward, and this even more sniveling sycophant, and then the dogsbody who has dung all over him. Looks interesting. And as I watched, I found it extremely funny, as well. It required a knowledge of history (or Shakespeare, as you see fit), yet wasn't afraid to do the occasional fart joke. Puerile, yet intelligent. That described me at the time as well.

The successive series (Blackadder II, Blackadder the Third, and Blackadder Goes Forth) shifted over into the more intelligent realm (with the third series being the most so), although the running jokes about Baldrick (the dogsbody) being little better than the dung he came from remained. Blackadder II, set in the court of the virgin queen, starred Miranda Richardson, who was perfect in her cruelty towards the hapless Blackadder. The third series had Hugh Laurie as the Prince Regent, a befuddled German idiot who is being taken advantage of by Blackadder, the butler (think of a dark Wooster/Jeeves match, where the Jeeves character retains his aplomb but becomes extra greedy). I never got to see the fourth series on television, so my experience with it is through this book alone.

And what a great book it is. Published to benefit Comic Relief, the organization trying to aid the poor and destitute in England and Africa, it contains the scripts to each episode of the four series with faux historical documents and a running summary of the line of Blackadder. For an American, the scripts are almost a necessity to catch some of the more obscure language used in the series--especially the curses. The endpapers have color pictures of the main characters in each series, and there are some black and white stills with humorous captions included within the pages.

To say that Black Adder is my favorite TV show is true. I liked the 1970s American sitcom, SOAP, as well, but from its hilarious beginnings, it tapered off into pure silliness (as most American shows tend to do). The nice thing about the Blackadder series is the way that the British limit themselves to sets of shows, rather than endlessly milking the cash cow. Yes, I would like to see a fifth Black Adder (I've seen the Christmas Carol, which was wonderful), but only if it can be of the same quality as these. If not, let's not ruin a good thing, shall we?

It's been some time since I read a book this well written. I was hooked into the story from from the very first page. The comlexity of the characters make for a great story of deceit and lies.

The ending left me with several questions, so I re-read the first two chapters for answers. This is when I realized the genius of the way the story was told. I loved it!

If you liked Cane River (Lolita Tademy) and In Search of Satisfaction (J. California Cooper), you'll find that the characters in Bliss might have sprung from the same line in this saga of African-American women doing their best to survive and ensure success for future generations. It's a shorter read, but I appreciate the fact that Gabrielle made every word count - excluding all of the extra plot-dragging stuff that I usually just skim through anyway (excessive description, irrelevant sub-plots, etc). As a writer, I studied this work and was intrigued with how she crafted each chapter to lead into the next almost seamlessly. You won't be disappointed!
Encore, Ms. Pina!

I was so engrossed in the this tale of love, lies and revenge that I read it cover to cover in one night.

The author expertly balances drama and tragedy with healthy doses of wit and humor.

The characters are very clearly defined and their actions always serve to move the story forward. This is one of the best first novels I have read.

Although the story is, for the most part, tied up in the end, a few very minor questions remain unanswered.

Pick up this little gem today. You will not be disappointed.

As a writer it is a pleasure to have someone read your stories and receive some type of emotions from them. This book is a story that was enjoyable, right to the point of the telling and a writer who is now on my favarite author's list. Great story about believeable characters. Word of mouth whether it's about a book, movie or music,is how you know it's a good book etc.
Yo don't sleep on this book or this author she was readable.

Bliss is a beguiling story of love, protection, hatred, sacrifice and some of the selfish agendas of three generations of women. The story is primarily centered on two of the women but the cycle of pain is explained and understood through the first generation.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel because it is so well written and the characters are so well developed. The author craftily keeps you guessing and anxious to know what's going to happen next. I also enjoyed the fact that the author didn't keep you guessing that you lost interest nor leaving loose ends untied too long. The story line is refreshing as a different dynamic in relationships is explored.

My only criticism is that the ending is abrupt and disturbed the wonderful pacing of the story established early on.

The story of Jameson is a great finish to a fantastic series. The Twilight series is the best vampire series I have read in a long time the only series to equal to this series would be Linda Lael Millers vampire series. The Jameson Bryant story is compelling in the sense that the heroine Angelique has to struggle with the spiritual beliefs that she has dedicated her life to, with her new nature as a vampire. It is also great to catch up with all of Jamesons family of the night.

I originally submitted this review in 1997 (before Amazon created the About You Page) and am resubmitting it under my public account as directed by Amazon's Customer Service. The original review will be deleted via Amazon.

Maggie Shayne's newest addition to her fantastic vampire series is her most emotionally charged yet.

A week before she is about to take her final vows and become a nun Angelica ventures out alone at night to help the homeless. On the way to the shelter she is attacked by a ruthless vampire and transformed into one of the undead.

Jameson Bryant's life has been haunted by the evil DPI (Department of Paranormal Investigations/vampire killers ~ if you were wondering) because he has a rare blood type that will allow a vampire to transform him into a creature of the night. He escapes their clutches but during the last set of tests they happen to take more than just Jameson's blood. They've take his sperm (yikes!) in order to start their next phase of experiments.

Jameson finds Angelica near death suffering from self imposed starvation and although he knows she is dangerous something about her calls out to him and he is compelled to help her. Too hungry to resist what Jameson offers she drinks from him and cannot stop . . . Just as she realizes she's ended this beautiful, kind man's life a DPI agent shows up. In her fear and confusion she believes him when he says he can make her mortal again. The DPI fear vampires and it is their intent to exterminate the race. In their never-ending paranoia they discover it may be possible for a newly turned vampire to become impregnated. Angelica naively becomes their guinea pig in their newest and most heartless experiment to date.

Fortunately Jameson's vampire friends show up in time to transform him and when he learns of the results of the DPI's experiments he sets out to find Angelica. Although she thinks he's a monster and he despises her for cutting his mortal life short they must join forces if they are to save another innocent from the hellish clutches of the DPI.

BORN IN TWILIGHT is one of the best books I've read in a long time and the most original and emotional vampire novel I've ever read. The best thing about this story is the care Ms. Shayne takes to develop the love story and the characters. She didn't take the easy way out and let them fall into a silly love/hate relationship so prominent in many novels. The characters struggle and grow and slowly begin to like each other almost against their will. They were real people and when they fall in love you know it's for eternity. This romance is the stuff dreams are made of.

Ms. Shayne's amazing storytelling talent shines in BORN IN TWILIGHT. The ultimate page-turner, it is a not to be missed read for lovers of a fast paced, darkly sensual, deeply emotional, tear jerking stories. Although it is a spin-off of her popular Wings In The Night series (for the now defunct Silhouette Shadows line) it very easily stands alone

The only reason I didn't give this 5 stars is because I found Ms. Shayne's use of the 1st person confusing. This is Jamey's story. Here we see the whole gang of the 'Twilight' series deep in trouble again as they 'meddle' in Jamey's life.

I read Born In Twilight two years ago after a friend of mine suggested it to me. This book had such an interesting story, that I couldn't stop reading it! I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys exciting stories.

This is a must read for a Maggie Shayne's fan. First one was Wings in the night, then followed with At Twilight, Twilight Hunger. And she's thinking in making two more addition to the serie. Next one will be published in March 2003 by MIRA books, I'll be waiting! You'll love every installment of these serie. In Wings of the night those three stories are magnificent; the first one makes you fall in love with Eric Marquand & Tamara. In the second you start to understand why Rhiannon is that stubborn and proud, you'll love her cat pandora believe me, and remember she's the princess of egypt! And in the third you felt like dancing in a neverending walts of love with Damien, maybe the most old of the vampires, when he perform his magic. In Twilight Hunger, it moves my heart the love between Morgan and Dante is so beatiful, it almost makes you cry all what they had to fight to be together. And in At Twilight (Born in Twilight & Beyond Twilight) It's very interesting what happens to Angelica, her struggle between her belief and what she is, and Jameson with the fear of losing his child. In the second story you'll know sparkly vampire Cuyler and her strong spirit against Ramsey and his neverending fight with his past. And the truth that will let him be with Cuyler. Be sure to get all three books and even with that you'll not be satisfied with these romance books, you'll want more and more of the vampire gang. I will never grow tired of them.

Geoff Dyer's But Beautiful: A Book about Jazz is much more than an extended critical essay on a still-evolving, vital musical genre and a great deal more than fictional portrayals of Jazz legends. Here, Dyer focuses his considerable talents on creating a kind of Jazz-in-print, seeking to emulate the frenzied riffing, explosive spontaneity and creative interplay, which has given Jazz music so much more vitality than many other genres' created in the 20th century. Without question, one would have to agree that he has succeeded, totally to the readers' enrichment.

But Beautiful hits the reader on several levels; we are taken on a series of journeys into the lives, thoughts, conversations and seminal events of eight Jazz musicians. Between each chapter is inserted a fictional, road-tripping almost ghostly presence of Duke Ellington, a father figure of modern Jazz who may well have known, recorded and very likely influenced all eight men whom Dyer chose to write/riff about. What's real about the eight musicians are the bare-bones facts known to many Jazz fans; Lester Young court-martialed by the Army because of an inability to cope with a racist Drill Sergeant, Chet Baker's teeth knocked out by an angry drug dealer in a seedy, San Francisco diner, Art Pepper sentenced to five years in prison on a Heroin possession conviction and so on. What's possible, and perhaps no less real to the reader are the details of their lives, their anguish and the self-destructive passions which attend the day to day living of so many creative people. Dyer draws these details in part through listening to the music and inspiration gained by looking at photographs of some of the musicians. 'Not as they were but as they appear to me....' Dyer asks the reader to see the musicians as he sees them, to believe in the memory of what these photos inspired. The men and their lives are portrayed, much like Jazz itself, with a kind of heart-stopping intensity and a poignant, empathetic acknowledgement of lives spent creating and being swallowed whole by the gift that makes creation possible. On Thelonious Monk; "Whatever it was inside him was very delicate, he had to keep it very still, slow himself right down so that nothing affected it." On Ben Webster; "He carried his loneliness around with him like an instrument case. It never left his side."

Very little, insightful criticism or critical essays have been produced regarding Jazz and the people who play it and live it. Dyer has done more than write mere history or criticism in But Beautiful, he has written (and played) a genre-exploding, lyrical meditation on Jazz and on the terrifying, exhilarating possibilities of the music itself and what ought to be recognized as a new form of fictional riffing.

If you ever loved a jazz tune, you will love these pages. Not for anything else but for beauty in the art itself. Sobering, BUT BEAUTIFUL.

This book captures the essence of jazz. Every nuance from languid to livid, sad to sublime is etched out by Dyer's poetic and harmonious flow of prose. If you are familiar with these artists, his stories encourage you to say, put on your favorite album by Monk while you read about him -- or after you read about him, so you can reflect on how the writer has connected with the soul of the music. If you aren't familiar with the artists, this work will definitely urge you to acquire some of their music. This book is simply an extended poem, traced so delicately that it allows the experienced and the novice alike, the opportunity to peer through a window and into the soul of Jazz.

Picture this: "Onstage at Birdland, eyes shut, one arm hanging at his side....trumpet raised to his lips like a brandy bottle--not playing the horn but swigging from it, sipping it."

Geoff Dyer's employs his exquisite imagery as a starting point for his "imaginative criticism" of the celebrated and tragic lives of several iconic jazz musicians (including figures such as Chet Baker, Lester Young, Thelonious Monk, Ben Webster, Charles Mingus, and Bud Powell). While photographs are the inspiration, Dyer's writing is so precise and sensual that he need only describe the photographs (the book has only one small photo). And this is just right for a book about music, his writing is so lyrical that we almost hear the sounds while reading. (In fact. the least effective aspect of the book is the Duke Ellington "road trip" that introduces each chapter, perhaps because the narrative is not connected to any particular Ellington sound.)

Many of the scenes and dialogue (especially the inner dialogue) are necessarily fictions, "assume that what's here has been invented or altered rather than quoted." But Dyer's explains that while his version may veer from the truth, "it keeps faith with the improvisational prerogatives of the form." He mixes truth and fiction into portraits that illuminate what strictly factual history cannot always convey. (Think of Robert Graves' in his WWI memoir/fiction "Goodbye to All That."). Dyer explains that while a photo depicts only a "split second," its "felt duration" may include the unseen moments before and after that split second. "But Beautiful" invites us to improvise (as Dyer does) into that unseen time, and discover our own subjective relationship to the music.

Listen to this: "Chet put nothing of himself into his music and that's what lent his playing its pathos...Every time he played a note he waved it goodbye. Sometimes he didn't even wave."

The evocative word pictures are unusually perceptive and sensitive. Although personal and often imagined, it's really like an improvised solo that either feels "right" or not. I think "But Beautiful" hits the right notes and rhythms: his words evoke the music, and, after reading it, the music will evoke the words. Not without its flaws, it is still an astonishing feat.

This work, along with James Baldwin's short story, "Sonny's Blues," is as good as any I've read about the jazz life, its creators and innovators, and the high cost of such terrible beauty. I had the advantage of being present while Lester was lost on stage in an alcoholic stupor; Monk was dancing around the piano, knocking over cymbals, rather than playing the instrument; Chet Baker, unable to stand, was expending his last breaths on "The Thrill Is Gone"; and Duke was waiting for Harry Carney to swing by with the car to chauffeur him through the wintry night from Kenosha, Wisconsin to Kansas City. But how a young writer like Dyer managed to capture these moments before his time, freezing them unforgettably in a literary living moment, I can't imagine.

Dyer knows that the foremost responsibility of a music critic is not to critique but to verbalize his non-verbal subject, bringing it to life for the reader. He does so admirably, creating believable, recognizable, fascinating portraits in unlabored, unpretentious prose.

His portraits of the artist ring completely true to the ears of this fellow observer--penetrating glimpses of the creative child trapped in a man's body now reduced to fighting a losing battle against physical and mental entropy. Yet his faith in the living tradition of jazz is refreshing, as is his characterization of the jazz musician's struggle as a valiant contest with the precursor, not unlike that of the strong poet's.

Though there's an elegaic tone throughout the book, it's never ponderous or depressing. In fact, its human portraits are more likely to interest newcomers than the many text books that catalog styles and names.

This is not to say the book is without shortcomings. The author is much better at capturing the musicians for us than their music. And his appreciation and understanding of Duke Ellington's music seems somewhat limited. Too bad he didn't give at least as much attention to the colorful cast of characters on the band bus as to the private conveyance preferred by Duke.

Yet any listener who has the slightest interest in jazz and its makers simply cannot afford to pass this one up. And it goes a long way toward fleshing out some of the caricatures served up on the Ken Burns' television series.

I've used this runner's log for many years.....maybe 15+ and love it. I note my workouts even if it's not running. It's great!

Excellent running log - my husband and son have used none other for years. It's a must purchase each Christmas!

I love this log book. It provides me enough space to fill in my workout for the day. It has little sayings that are enlighting and helps me want to work out the next day again. It's a good log book and helps me continue meeting my goals.

This is a very good paper running log. It's set up Monday to Sunday, matching most long distance training programs. It has nice quotes, adequate space for Notes, time, distance, etc. The photos are a bit dated, but it's a nice construct. It would be nice if this were offered in an on-line (download) version that could be run from our computers at home.

I've been using "THE COMPLETE RUNNERS DAY BY DAY LOG AND CALANDER" since 1983. Each year it gets better. It has been the story of my life for the past 23 years....

I'm a huge fan of historical fiction and this is one of my favourite novels, on par with The Mists of Avalon and The Pillars Of The Earth, if not in scope (this one is only 500 pages long) then in literary experience.

Set in 13th century France, Daughters of the Grail tells the story of the Cathar faith, a spiritual movement of Christian origins that opposed the corruption, violence and materialism of the Catholic Church. As the Cathar movements gains momentum, the Catholic leaders organize a bloody crusade (now known as the Albigensian Crusade) to wipe out all "heretics".

Bridget, a powerful healer and psychic descended from Mary Magdalene, is at the heart of the story. Her role is to carry the on the spiritual blood lineage (the Holy Grail) and pass on her healing talents, while evading persecution by the Catholic Church. Other characters include Luke, a Templar Knight, Raoul, a noble Cathar sympathizer, Claire, his wife, Friar Bernard an over-zealous Catholic and Simon de Monford, the vicious crusade leader. All characters are intertwined in a delicious web of drama and adventure, sprinkled with a few romantic sub-plots.

On her website, Chadwick describes how she uses social re-enactment to immerse herself in a specific period of history - this is evident in her writing. The descriptions are so vivid, the characters so believable and the details so engrossing, you forget you are reading fiction.

Buy it second hand or order it from Amazon UK - it's so worth it!

I'm a huge fan of historical fiction and this is one of my favourite novels, on par with The Mists of Avalon and The Pillars Of The Earth, if not in scope (this one is only 500 pages long) then in literary experience.

Set in 13th century France, Daughters of the Grail tells the story of the Cathar faith, a spiritual movement of Christian origins that opposed the corruption, violence and materialism of the Catholic Church. As the Cathar movements gains momentum, the Catholic leaders organize a bloody crusade (now known as the Albigensian Crusade) to wipe out all "heretics".

Bridget, a powerful healer and psychic descended from Mary Magdalene, is at the heart of the story. Her role is to carry the on the spiritual blood lineage (the Holy Grail) and pass on her healing talents, while evading persecution by the Catholic Church. Other characters include Luke, a Templar Knight, Raoul, a noble Cathar sympathizer, Claire, his wife, Friar Bernard an over-zealous Catholic and Simon de Monford, the vicious crusade leader. All characters are intertwined in a delicious web of drama and adventure, sprinkled with a few romantic sub-plots.

On her website, Chadwick describes how she uses social re-enactment to immerse herself in a specific period of history - this is evident in her writing. The descriptions are so vivid, the characters so believable and the details so engrossing, you forget you are reading fiction.

Buy it second hand or order it from Amazon UK - it's so worth it!

This was an amazing tale of two female descendants of Mary Magdalene with special powers who are caught up in the Catholic crusade against the Cathars. This crusade was led by Simon de Montfort (Sr., the father of the one in Penman's Falls The Shadow). It's full of action, intrigue, mystical powers, and a sprinkling of romance. As usual with Chadwick's novels, the medieval background and minutia of daily life are vividly recreated so that you feel as if you have been transported back to another time. Another bullseye from Elizabeth Chadwick. Highly recommended!

I have no idea why this book is listed in two different places on Amazon. But it is, so here is my review, which can also be found on the other "Daughters of the Grail" page.

I maintain that Dan Brown, who wrote the Da Vinci Code, got all his ideas from this book. Not that's bad, since this a great book with many intriguing ideas. I just wish everyone who was so thrilled with the Da Vinci Code would read this for comparison...

This book tells the story of Bridget, who is a descendent of Mary Magdalene and Jesus' brother, and is living in southern France in the 1200's. Because she is constantly being sought and attacked by the Catholic Church she hides out with Templar nights and Cathers, a religious sect of the time who believe in a god of light. Bridget is a pagan worshiper of the goddess, but she believes in Cather ideals of being kind to one another.

Bridget knows she must have a daughter to carry on her line. She chooses a man, Raoul de Montvallant, who is all ready married to father her child. They have one night of passion and Bridget moves on to give birth to a girl, Magda. Meanwhile, Raoul's wife Claire is captured by Simon De Montfort (the elder, not the one who lived in England and rebelled against Henry III) and raped by him. She gives birth to a young boy who is raised by Montfort's spiteful wife and monks. He is named Dominic.

Dominic and Bridget's daughter Magda are meant to be together. But as the Crusade against the Cathers gathers strength and traps hundreds of faithful, among them Raoul, Clair, Bridget, Magda and Raoul's and Clair's son (from before she was raped) in a mountain stronghold. It's up to Dominic to save his beloved...and the bloodline that is the Holy Grail.

This book is thrilling, romantic, very intelligent and informative and by far the best of Chadwick's novels I have read to date. It was out of print, but has been reprinted which will definitely help more readers get to know this amazing novel. If reading this makes you interested in the Cathers, there are many other books out there (fiction and non) about this quite amazing, forgotten religion, which I've always seen as a little bit of a blend of the best parts of Christianity with paganism.

Read this, and then, if you must, read the Da Vinci code. I swear he got all of his ideas from this book.

Five stars.

This is really one of the best books I have ever read. It's not Gone With the Wind or the Far Pavilions, but it's pretty darn close. So much of the historical fiction I read is centered in England, Scotland and Wales, and I enjoyed reading about this period in history in southern France and about a religion I knew nothing about (having not yet read The DaVinci Code).

This was an exciting tale of Cathars, Knights Templar, evil priests, Bridget and her daughter Magda - descended from Mary Magdelene, all battling the Roman Catholic Church that is bent on destroying them, and finishes with a heart-stopping page turning, can't put it down until it's done finish. It always astounds me the evil that men will do in the name of "god", and that it continues to this day.

I had found this book used in the US last year, and the first time I read it I knew nothing about Simon DeMontfort (the second) and what he tried to accomplish for England before his tragic end. Although I know the part he plays in this novel, with his illegitimate half brother Dominic, is just a story, it was nice to see some glimpses of him in a minor role as a young boy and then a young man. To learn more about this incredible man, please read Sharon Kay Penman's Falls the Shadow.

As always with Chadwick's books, the way she brings the medieval period to life in such a graceful and effortless way, be it the sights, sounds, smells, food, clothes and battles is just awesome. Five stars.