Non-fiction Books

this is a very charming tale of this mean girl who adopts this boys cat when his dad develops an allergy.he misses the cat so much he goes over to thier house all the time.one day dinky hockers[WHAT A NAME!]cousin same over and the boy and her fall in love.her name is natalia line.shes a schizophrennic who rhymes all her sentences and words when under stress.its a wonderful story that has a "to kill a mockingbird" like charm to it.not the bad stuff but the parts where the kids are just bein g kids.i fell in love with this story right away.it will always have a place in my heart.

It has been seven years since I was assigned to read this book for my eighth grade class and I stll think about it to this day. The book has a way of drawing you in to their everyday routine. I am sure I still have the book somewhere in my room, but I just can't find it.

I read this book when I was in junior high school. That was over 30 years ago and I still remember it and how well I could relate to the struggles of teen life. If you are a teenager considering this book or a parent considering buying it for your child, do not hesitate. After all, though I am a pretty smart and well educated person, this is the only book (I'm serious here) that left a lasting impression on me from the K-12 years. It's gotta be special.

Books written by adults for adults that talk about politics usually want you to pigeonhole them. Once you understand the gist of the bookýs take on life and liberty you can decide whether or not its politics are the same as yours, thereby allowing you to instantly love it or hate it without even reading it. Books written by adults for children or teens that talk about politics also usually want you to pigeonhole them. So went my thinking until I read "Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack!". Ladies and gentlemen, I have just changed my worldview on politics in childrenýs books. And itýs all thanks to this little number.

A plot synopsis. This is a story about Tucker Woolf, his family, his friends, and his friendsý families. In New York city, Tucker is fifteen years old and for the first time in his life heýs seriously interested in a girl. This interest isnýt without its complications. The girl, Natalia, attends a school for the mentally imbalanced. And her cousin, Dinky Hocker, has issues of her own. Dinky is overweight, an unsurprising fact when you consider her negligent, often cruel, parents. From this unlikely set of characters comes a story about dealing with the problems of others, as well as yourself. Kerr could have easily taken the easy route with this book. How simple it would be to turn this plot into an After School Special, complete with everyone a little older and wiser at the end. Instead, the author meets such ooey-gooey sentiments head on, challenging the hypocrisy people exhibit every day. Along the way, other issues are brought up as well. Originally conceived and published in 1972, the book deals with politics. Everyoneýs parent is a liberal of the 60s, though how they display this political leaning differs per person. When we meet the radical P. John, Dinkyýs brief beau, the reader is suddenly shown a human being that doesnýt fit neatly into any real category. P. John is conservative, racist, intolerant, and honest. To read his character is to question everything the book is saying about the political climate of this country. But if you really read this book, really examine whatýs itýs saying, itýs clear as crystal that there is no single political stance taken in this story. People are not all one thing or another. Not all liberals are whining wimps waiting for a handout. Not all conservatives remain unchanging and unsympathetic. I can see how people would love this book and how people would hate this book. All I ask of you is that you find yourself intrigued by this review and decide to actually read this book. Draw your own conclusions. Decide Iým insanely wrong or absolutely correct. The point is, this book should never be forgotten. It is so well written, so interesting and full of great points that I canýt even give you a glimpse of what it really means. Youýll just have to find out for yourself.

This book starts out as being the story of Tucker Woolf, self-apointed expert on libraries, and cronicler of strange existences. But it soon turns out that it is actually the story of four young teenagers, and, on a broader scale, their parents and their entire society.
Tucker has to deal with having a faher who cares too much about apearances, and drills Tucker into only revealing parts of the truth when dealing with strangers. Tucker is feels somewhat out of place wherever he is, and when he finds a stray cat he imediately bonds with it. When his dad turns out to be allergic, he has to give the cat away. It is this cat who, directly and inderectly, brings him into contact with the other characters. It is adopted by Dinky Hocker, a tragically overweight girl, whose parents completely ignore their daughters problems, in favour of helping drug-addicts and othe worthy causes. Her cousin Natalie, and a boy who shares Dinkys rather enormous problem, together form the core of the story.

The book is funny, the characters quirky and the situations somwhat absurd, but the real fascination of this book comes from seeing how the parents of these children forget them in favour of either their own problems or the problems of strangers. The thing that struck me most is that Dinkys charity-mom is actually one of the most selfish people in the world. I would recomend this book to anyone, even though it is technically a YA-novel. Its a good read, all the same.

This is the best book to read to young children, fantastic story and lovely pictures. My favourite children's book and still amazing. A moral tale

Every family with small children should have this book. The story and illustrations are out of this world.

This is a lovely, lovely story with very good illustrations. My little girl knew the book off by heart by the time she she was 18 months old. I would say it's a must have for all children.

I hadn't read this book since childhood, but recently my girlfriend and I started trading and reading books from our childhoods. I bought a copy of Dogger for her and she read it out loud to me. I started crying, and just couldn't stop. I can remember feeling just like Dave when I was younger and losing something, it was a horrible feeling. If only we could all have a sister like Bella. The wonderful story and pictures will touch you, and stay with you forever.

I have given over 15 copies of Dogger to friends and family when they have an arrival of a second child. Every one of them...every.one.of.them has loved it and weeks/months/years later, I still get glowing feedback on this book.

The way the older child (Bella) helps out her little brother (Dave) when he looses Dogger makes me and anyone I've ever given the story to sniffle at the beauty and kindness of text and illustrations.

Face it, when you were little and you miss placed your favorite toy/lovey, you basically went to DEFCON 5 alert status and nothing was right until your lovey was found. Now as a parent, you know if your child loses their lovey, nothing in your house will be settled until it is found and you would do anything ( beg, bribe and possibly liquidate your IRA to make your child happy (and sleep through the night) again. Bella is every mother's heroine.

She teaches the selfless act of helping and giving better than I ever could.

This book is getting harder to find, so buy it right now to help keep it in print. I need more copies for the next round of friends having children.

This book has some of my favourite illustrations (in stiff competition with 'Everyone Knows What a Dragon Looks Like' also by Mayer).
It is perplexing to me why we don't see more works like this from him. Instead, we are apparently meant to suffer thru such works as 'Little Critter: Merry Christmas, Little Critter!.' It's not that they are so bad, but when you have books like the former, they seem like kind of a waste.

As a child, this book was my favorite. At the time, I was too young to realize that among all its virtues as a storybook (a mythologically-gripping plot and breathtaking illustrations) was a finely woven thread that spoke of the bravery it takes to right a wrong, how adversity reveals character, and how perserverance, fearlessness, and strength are characteristics valued in girls, as well as boys.

Like any great fairytale, the morality is subtext and wrapped in beauty and magic. If I had to choose only one fairytale to give my daughter, this would be it.

This was a book that I received at a very young age and has been treasured for many years. Now that I am shortly going to be a mother I can't help but want to pass this magical book down to my daughter. Today, I purchased as many books illustrated by Mercer Mayer that I could and hope that his works are never forgotten and live on, at least in my family.

This is a telling of love and promises. You will be transported to a place of beauty and harsh reality. i read this story to my daughter for many years. The excellent drawings set a picture in the mind. I have told this story as a spoken tale to rapt audiences, at such diverse settings as an extended family thanksgiving dinner, to an on the job construction crew ( having to use a very loud voice ) none of whom ever would let me not finish the entire telling.
This story transcends the boundaries of child-adult prose.

Hi! My name is Elizabeth. East of the sun and west of the moon is a very sad but wonderful book. THis book is about a faird maiden whom is so beautiful but yet so intellegent. All of the men would like to be wed to her. later on her life takes some sad twists and turns and now she must travel east of the sun and west of the moon. When she gets there she already knows that she will not find a warm welcome within. But soon everything changes and she meets the man of her dreams! And now any traveler wil know that " Eaast of the sun and west of the moon... where you will find a warm welcome within!"

The world of Ferdydurke seems at first to be concocted out of equal parts of Kafka and Swift. There is the absurdity of Kakfa: events occur for no apparent reason, and the main character seems to be under some mysterious hypnotic spell. And there is the savage humor of Swift. Violent conflict erupts between the followers of two opposed and equally absurd and ridiculous systems of belief. But as the book progresses, it becomes clear that Gombrowicz has put his own special stamp on this world, and created a type of fiction that is totally unique.

The plot line is simple: a man of about 30 years of age is abducted by a priggish professor and finds himself, for reasons unexplained, transformed into an adolescent schoolboy. The novel consists of the "adventures" of this anti-hero in the world of adolescence, which he views with both fascination and disgust, and from which he remains detached, and yet at the same time with which he becomes intensely involved. (Ferdydurke is above all else a novel of unresolved contradictions.) Although the narrator is subjected to all the humiliations of an adolescent schoolboy (patronized by adults, frustrated by hopeless desire for a girl who disdains him, etc.), he also retains an adult outlook. In fact, it may be said that he is the only character who is adult (in the psychological sense of being self-aware) and who struggles, not always with success, to remain sane. Part of the genius of the book is that the adults in it seem crazy from the narrator's perspective as a youth, and the adolescents seem crazy from the narrator's perspective as an adult. In spite of its simple plot, Ferdydurke bursts with a dazzling exuberance of incidents, contradictions, characters, and digressions. Readers who demand strict linear plot development in a novel should probably look elsewhere.

Ferdydurke can be read at many levels. It is not surprising that a novel which features conflicts between two equally absurd systems should come out of 1930s Poland, beset as it was by two powerful opposed enemies, Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. Ferdydurke can also be read as an exploration of the fragility of the adult ego, of the fine line between "maturity" and "immaturity". The violent schoolboy quarrels which so fascinate and repel the narrator seem like absurdist, distorted parodies of very serious adult matters. And this novel is also about hidden, dark passageways in the human psyche. The narrator confesses to thoughts and behavior that most of us would never want to allow into the daylight of consciousness, much less to own up to.

Ferdydurke is not a difficult read, but it is quite digressive and very different from what most English-speakers expect a novel to be. Until this new translation, the first directly into English, it was effectively unavailable. This book is not for everyone. But it is a fascinating read for those who are seeking a multi-faceted, complex, and uncompromising (one noted critic has called it "Nietzchean") exploration of what it means to be a "mature adult", and who are not looking for easy answers or Hollywood endings.

Among the great works of Central Europe litterature, Ferdydurke had a profound influence in my life and my writings.

"Ferdydurke" by Witold Gombrowicz has finally been properly translated into English. Not that this is an event worth mentioning in general, but the point to be made is that the world of translation offers room for all kinds of mischief and sloppiness. Who would have thought that it were perfectly acceptable for publishers to allow translation from a second, and not native tongue? Imagine, for purposes of illustration, that a work of a classic British author translated into German not directly, but from Suahili, for this was the language the book was first translated into. Would you be satisfied with a product of this type? This was the fate of Gombrowicz, his native tongue was done away with, and the Anglo-Saxon world of bibliophiles had had no other choice but to read a lemon. Perhaps this is the revenge of the Heavens on the author himself, for never was there any other Polish author who had his native country in such a low regard as he did. In his "Trans-Atlantyk", Gombrowicz dared to ridicule everything a Pole holds dear, together with the whole idea of a nation as such. Were he to live today, he would embrace the idea of convergence and the global village of consumptionism, as opposed to Europe of Nations. That was one of the main reasons for Gombrowicz's emigration to Argentina, where he spent almost all of his literary career.

"Ferdydurke" is an early novel by this author, and it's never as crass as the aforementioned "Trans-Atlantyk". In fact, it constitutes part of a literary canon in Poland to this very day, and there is no educated Pole who hasn't read or at least heard of "Ferdydurke". Scenes from this book, gestures, and neologisms entered the mass vocabulary, and once you learn some of these expressions, you cannot unlearn them, for then there is no better way to express yourself, but to use the phrases coined by Gombrowicz. Whatever issues Poles have with this author, one thing is certain: we are grateful to him for augmenting our language. Gombrowicz created an archetype of a confused man, whose karma is to move back in time, back to school, with the mentality of an adult. I will even risk a claim that this fact alone lies at the very heart of science fiction - for how might that be possible, and what would happen if such occurence took place? How would that affect the object in queestion? Perhaps my perception of this problem is a bit skewed due to my occupational hazard of a scientist, but for me, "Ferdydurke" is a laboratory novel, where with a literary set of tools we analyze both the situation, and the object, in the vein of the medieval alchemist. This novel, hardly known in the English-speaking world, will be an exhilarating reading experience for you, provided that you will trust me and pick it up. The amusing analysis of the immature world the protagonist found himself in, mixed with elements from all literary forms, from plain mystery, via comedy, to sophisticated analysis of society, makes Ferdydurke an experimental novel of potential interest for all bibliophiles and lovers of the nonstandard.

You may well ask the above question, but you will never discover the answer, for there is no character, or thing, in this darkly comic masterpiece named Ferdydurke. It just appears to be some play on words, or a nonsense title to intrigue the potential reader. This book, written in Polish between the two world wars, is extremely capably translated, with a good use of slang and diminuitive terms which must have caused endless hours of trouble and frustration for the translator. It appears to be an indictment of the state of society as it existed in Poland in the 1930's, and may appear a bit dated since must of what is excoriated by the author no longer exists. There is particular emphasis upon the type of relationship which existed between the nobility (of a sort) and the peanant and serving classes. There is a lot about the threat of modernity in the country, and a great emphasis upon infantilism and immaturity. The work takes some getting used to by the reader, but read in the context of its time it is very well done, and should be read to be appreciated for what it has to say about the human condition.

Witold gombrowicz's "alice in wonderland"-like trip takes the protagonist, who is 30 years old, back to his school days. There he battles again with the challenges of a teenager-alliances and cliques in the 1st part and sexual awakenings in the second. One thing is clear however; he has learned nothing from his earlier passing.

The story's underlying theme is one of maturity. What is it? Is it part of the aging process? Is it developed through life experiences? I never felt gombrowicz ever answers any of the questions unless the conclusion is that there is no maturity. None of the characters ever shows any level of it. That includes professors, school teachers, the landed gentry, or their peasants. Everyone is just simply self-destructive.

To further complicate things, the author throws in two somewhat unrelated short stories into the middle of the novel. They are just as silly as the novel itself, but are simply a distraction and really add nothing to it.

I also had problems with one aspect of the translation. The translators left in the polish word "pupa" which literally means buttocks. The author uses it in many different ways as you can imagine english would use the word ass. But I could not always follow his references. This made for frustrating reading since I knew something was there but couldn't get it.

The author himself probably puts it most succinctly at the very end of the novel when he says:

"It's the end, what a gas,
And who's read it is an ass!"

I have read all three Rumpole Omnibuses several times. I ordered an additional set for my mother, a former probate judge. What I find remarkable about John Mortimer's work, is that Rumpole is as engaging at the end of the series as at the beginning. I have also enjoyed Mortimer's three autobiographical books. I read and reread these stories, not as mysteries, but as a series of one act plays, where the dramas are spun out of the interaction of stock characters in the style of commedia dell'arte. Rumpole himself plays the part of the buffoon as barrister: fat, vain, self-centered, addicted to greasy food and cheap wine; but also extremely intelligent, perceptive, and compassionate. As I read more of the stories, Rumpole became less of a stock character and more of actual human being. Unlike Perry Mason, Rumpole does not necessarily win all of his cases. When Rumpole loses, we get to see him go down to cells beneath the Old Bailey, with all of the sounds and smells of prison life, to say goodbye to his former client. The stories are often very funny, but occasionally poignant and even sad.

Finally, John Mortimer is one of the masters of modern English prose. Just read a few paragraphs of any airplane novel (preferably one that has "Code" in the title), and then read a few paragraphs of any Rumpole story, and you will see what I mean. And nobody, including Raymond Chandler, does dialog better than John Mortimer.

Horace Rumpole presents himself as just an Old Bailey hack doing run-of-the-mill burglary defenses and the odd car-heist case. In reality he defends the best in the Anglo-American legal traditions against modern forces (for example, the presumption of innocence) - and this was written 20+ years ago!

Rumpole is the lovable defender of the average man and foe to all stick-in-the-muds. His motto "Never plead guilty." It could just as well be comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. Hilarious, warm, human, touching, self-effacing and ever-ready to pierce the pompous gasbag - that's Rumpole of the Bailey. Start with the First Rumpole Omnibus and work your way through the rest.

Guaranteed to tickle your funny bone and warm your heart.

John Mortimer's Rumpole is so satisfying that this is my second copy - I wore the covers off the first SET of the three omnibuses (or is it omnibusi?) I've read every Rumpole story in existence, as far as I know. While there are tiny inconsistencies in the names of characters and small subplot variations from story to story (that only a committed Rumpolean would notice), Rumpole remains a literary sustaining gulp of claret and a warm and fuzzy blanket on a cold foggy night. Long after the belly laughs passed and every crime and misdemeanor was committed to memory, I've still enjoyed the comfortable reek of Rumpole's small cigars and the warm memory of Leo McKern in the title role of "Rumpole of the Bailey."

The First Rumpole Omnibus gathers the material from Rumpole of the Bailey, The Trials of Rumpole (six short stories each), and Rumpole's Return, a novella. All of those books are now out of print and can only be purchased in this Omnibus form. The first several short stories establish some of the long-term status quo for the series. Characters such as Phyllida Trant join the Chambers while others such as Rumpole's old friend George Frobisher leave. Unlike most series, however, the status quo is much more fluid in the world of Rumpole and people marry, have children, move on to become judges, etc.

The writing in this compilation was a bit uneven. The first group of short stories are reasonably entertaining, but nothing that would cause me to become a true fan. The second group of six short stories rounded into form nicely, though, and the humor was much sharper. I found myself chuckling or laughing out loud fairly often at Rumpole's little asides. Basically, it just took Mortimer a few stories to truly find Rumpole's voice.

Unfortunately, the Omnibus is topped off with a novella that is roughly five times the length of the short stories and the quality drops once again. I don't want to overstate the case, it's not a bad read. But it's pretty clear that Mortimer was used to the tighter plotting of the short stories and things wander a bit as he essentially takes plots that would have made up two or three shorts and spreads them out into one novella.

This was my first experience with Rumpole. I had never seen the TV show or read any of the books. While I may not have become his number one fan, I can say that the best stories are truly excellent and the worst are still pretty good. I find myself curious to read the The Second Rumpole Omnibus (Rumpole) and even more so to try the TV adaptation with Leo McKern. I would recommend the book to others, not as rapturously as the most devoted fans, but earnestly nonetheless.

I certainly don't need to review "Rumpole of the Bailey." You know all about it. So, I'll just mention that he's especially good company when you fly. You can read a well-crafted story in what, 30 minutes? Ideal for airports and airplanes. Do this, sit for an hour, do that, sit for another hour, etc.

i really like this book. touching stories that open your brain to different dilemmas in medical ethics, a subject i enjoy reading about. i lent it to several friends, all of whom loved the book.

I enjoyed the book. Makes you think about ethics a bit and the reality of financial constraints on the practice of medicine.

Despite the major advances in knowledge, skills, and technology in the field of medicine, this book shows that ultimately life and death fall back on the human touch. Following the workings of an Ethics Committee in a major urban hospital over several months, Belkin clearly shows that medicine continues to be as much an art as a science and in many cases there are no "right" answers, even when decisions can affect whether a patient lives or dies.
This is not a dry, mechanical review of how ethical decisions are made. Quite the opposite, the book captures your full attention from the very first page. You become fully involved in the heart-wrenching lives of actual hospital patients, as well as the no-win situations health care professionals and family members find themselves in when struggling with decisions that literally have life or death consequences.
For example, when she describes the process in which the life support devices are withdrawn from a young patient you feel you are there in the room witnessing the tragedy. Some readers might scream within their minds not to do it - perhaps there is something else can be done? Others may feel a sense of loving compassion over the ending of someone's suffering. Both types will feel incredible compassion for those who had to make the actual decision and hopefully will never have to make such a choice in their own lives.

Lisa Belkin has created an amazing book here - she definitely did her research. The book consists of a few case studies of patients who pose ethical dilemas. Belkin takes you inside meetings of the ethics committee at the hospital, she takes you to the patient's bedside to see what the patient actually wants. Some of the patients she follows are a young kid who has been hospitalized for 15 years with a terminal condition, beating all odds by staying alive that long, several premature babies, and a man who was paralyzed almost completely after getting shot in the spine. It's a great look at medical ethics - Lisa Belkin's book asks all the right questions.

The book is in a very easy-to-read format - the stories of the patients she follows are all intertwined throughout the book. For example, you'll read about Patrick for 30-or-so pages, and then she'll switch over to update you on Taylor's story. She does this because you are reading the stories in "real time" as they happened; all of this took place in a certain time span in the hospital. It's exciting and fast-paced non-fiction - I read it in two days and didn't put it down.

It will break your heart, because often the ethics committee has to bring money into the discussion, as much as they would like to treat every patient as if money was not an issue. This book is SO worth reading, for anyone who is interested in medicine and healthcare at all.

This book will keep you wanting to turn the page and make it hard to put down the book. This is a great explanation of real life situations that patients and hospitals face everyday. Some of the situations that are hard for some people to understand why hospitals are concerned with matters like money and certain treatments of patients can be explained.

Stone is one of those authors capable of inspiring an almost religious fervor among his admirers. This book made me see why. Not since Dostoevsky's The Possessed has an author stared so deeply, and so unflinchingly, into the dark - the dark around us and the dark within. Stone excels at depicting both. He portrays the third world as it was, and for the most part still is - a place without justice, where ideals run into reality with generally fatal results. The sense of simmering tensions always on the verge of violent eruption - omnipresent in such places - is made palpable. It is a place to test even the strongest faith. And into this Hobbesian jungle he throws characters already haunted by demons of their own. Not since Malcolm Lowry has spiritual torment been laid out so hauntingly. Stone tackles the great topic of our times - the disparity between haves and have nots - and transcends it. He makes it clear that the comfort and security we enjoy in America depends in part on maintaining order, however oppressive, in countries like Tecan. But he also shows that, far from a case of immorality, this state of affairs is necessitated by the brutal nature of reality. Ultimately, the moral outrage that stews just underneath the surface throughout is left with no object - it isn't the fault of men or nations, or even of human nature, so much as the fault of reality itself.

stone writes a thinking person's adventure in this novel set in central america in the 1970's [80s?]. you can find elements here of Conrad [Heart of Darkness], Hemingway and others as Stone's characters navigate the moral, spiritual, political and physical dilemmas of a third world country on the verge of revolution. he does it all while firmly rooted in the nitty gritty of the physical world with sometimes stunning description. i would guess that stone has traveled extensively in central america given the strength and detail of his scenery.

only a few criticisms here. i found the beginning somewhat slow/opaque as stone establishes his characters & plot in the book's first half. the pace quickens in the second half once he's dispensed with this work. additionally, there are not a lot of sympathetic characters here. that makes stone a realist, which i appreciate, but also makes it a little harder sometimes to empathize. Having said that, by midpoint you do develop empathy for Justin, and to an extent for Pablo and Holliwell, though both the latter are flawed characters.

nonetheless stone is a master, one of the greatest novelists plying his trade today.

The incendiary hint of Revolution simmers on the surface of a South American country beset by poverty and the all-consuming appetite of corporate gluttony. The rolling green hills and sparkling beaches of Tecan are perfect for exploitation. The land is already littered with an assortment of "investors" jockeying for inside information. Revolution spells opportunity, out with the old regime, in with the new, and a tidy profit to be made along the way. The only question is whether to "run with the Rabbit or hunt with the Hare?"

Saints and sinners compete in this Third World nightmare, each with a different agenda. It's an ideological train wreck and the ultimate victims are the disenfranchised. The name of the game is greed and the players are the usual: privately owned corporations, interested governments, a militia trained to fight insurrection, various criminals, religious zealots and a panoply of hired spies and assorted operatives. Our personal guide is Frank Holliwell, an American anthropologist with "Company" ties from his days in Vietnam, visiting the region ostensibly to give a lecture. Holliwell becomes one more pawn in a dangerous game with incredibly high stakes.

In the final act, no one is who he seems in this Darwinian struggle for dominance. The common people are disposable, the cause is mutable and the quality of civilization a casualty of events. Enter at your own risk, this is Robert Stone at his best. But know this: you step into chaos in this novel (with no separate chapters) that jolts from one state of anxiety to another, watching over your shoulder at every turn.

In its setting and background a Flag for Sunrise rests firmly in Graham Greene and Ernest Hemmingway territory - a fictional Central American country run by a right wing military regime. The cast of characters holds few suprises - the whisky priest, the idealistic nun, the american abroad, the sadistic secret policeman, various members of the world intelligence services.

What struck me about a Flag for Sunrise was its uncomprimisingly dark view of the world and the politics that makes it function. A world where all that is important is power and strength and your ability to harness these forces for your own self interest. A world where morals have no place, in fact a place where morals will get you killed, often slowly and painfully.

Yet somehow the book remains rivetting. You know that it is going to end badly for those characters that you like, at times it is difficult to turn the page, but you do anyhow and what happens is often worse than your darkest imaginings. But it is also honest.

This is the second Robert Stone novel that I have read and I am certain that it will not be the last.

The problem with political thrillers is that they often become clliche and predictable. There is often a desire, either by the author or the industry, to paint these as modern westerns with well-defined good guys and bad guys. Rarely do we get a novel of more disturbing complexity which challenges our notions of morality and suggest a social structure which lead to corruption of values and moral virtue. Only the best take this opportunity for developing a sense of noir, protraying the darkness of human ambition and petty venal sins, that is often missed. John Le Carre is a notable exception who has remained dedicated to his genre. Rarely do novels produces the types of characters that strive to overcome those structures or achieve some victory, or reach a pivitol moment of epiphany. Such greats include Conrad's The Secret Agent, or Greene's Quiet American. To these one should add Stone's A Flag for Sunrise. There is genre fiction, and there is fiction that transcends genre and which stands distinctive as a work of literature. This definitely falls in the later category.

A Flag for Sunrise brings us back to the 1970s and 1980s, where America is fighting a war against communism along it's southern periphery, the backyard of Central America. It is a period often forgotten or glossed over by modern Americans who think of this period as that time when Reagan won his war against Communism. Stone brings us back and cuts out a small story within a bigger story- of a pair of missionaries holding out on a small beach in some fictional South American country, as the world around them falls to the chaos of revolution and a coming apocalypse.

One of Stone's strengths is capturing the sense of hollowness of the Post Vietnam Era. This is a time of pessimism, when the potential for evil in foreign policy is very apparent, and where Americans are suffering an identity crisis about their place in the world. This is a powerful theme in Stone's work, seen espeically in The Dog Soldiers, but here it is especially powerful.

This is a thriller with a powerful set of characters: disillusioned American vets from the Vietnam War, an idealistic nun, well intentioned journalists, manipulative revolutionaries, despotic policemen, aging pirates and smugglers, political manipulators, spies and hired guns. These people collide with intense drama and tragedy. At the heart of the story are three characters, a disillusioned veteran of Vietnam, the idealistic nun and a military deserter whose vacuous nature becomes a cause of destruction. They remind us that in the turbulence of political change, individuals exist and struggle to survive in these tidal forces. There is a horror here, of structure and character, of vice and ambition, and of the dark side of the human heart and perhaps those aspects of our humanity that finally may redeem us. What is achieved is a work of art that stands far and above most political fiction you will likely read in a long time.

Highly recommended. This is another story which begs Americans to reconsider the price of empire and one of the landmarks of 20th Century Literature. Dog Soldiers has often been criticially acclaimed, but a Flag for Sunrise is probably Stone's best.

Another entertaining, stimulating and vibrant work from the inimitable Wodehouse. This book of short golf stories is the perfect gift for everyone who is a golfer, or aspires to be one. That is, if you can bear to part with such a brilliant piece of literature! Wodehouse rules!

It`s a nice hole in one , for all the 36 handicaps ! . Enjoy , read this book and your slices and hooks will be painless . Evem if you play with your wife/husband !!!

If you or someone you know likes golf,OR if you or someone you know likes P.G.Wodehouse,I promise you cant go wrong with this book. All of his golfing stories are here and they are all top notch. A keeper.

The manner in which Wodehouse has developed the characters in the stories is indeed amazing. One hilarius feature I noticed in many of the stories is the attempt made by the victim (listener) to escape from the oldest member's clutches whenever he begins to narrate a story.

Wodehouse is at the top of his form in this one. Die hard Wodehouse fans should not die without reading this one.

Great literature is supposed to bring you an appreciation of something you hadn't considered before. Wodehouse's golf stories did it for me like few others. None are terribly subtle--most are told by the Oldest Member, who on the first half-page collars a helpless younger golfer and tells him a story that turns out to be worth staying for. The narration is slightly sarcastic, and there are only two types of stories at heart: guy and girl made for each other get married because of golf, or guy uses golf to avoid girl unfit for him. There's always a subplot of a bad golfer breaking 100 or two longtime rivals in an 18 hole match, but nothing seems to get reused.

Despite using upper-crust characters in his stories, Wodehouse's work exhibits only a fake pretension. Plus there are cool names and recurring characters such as the golf champ Sandy McHoots. It's a bit more comprehensible than some Yoknapathawpa nonsense. A love triangle through three stories features a poet who(gasp) recites his poetry while people focus loses a golferess to a golfer, almost regains her, and then tries to learn golf courting her sister. Nobody is evil, although some people deserve--and get--a good comic socking.

But what makes Wodehouse appealing is how his characters are comically obsessed with golf. I have better things to be obsessed with, but I was able to connect with this and recognize how Wodehouse laughs at them. After I stopped laughing.

I've never read a collection of stories more insightful, easy to follow and enjoyable.

I never cease to be amazed at how simple this author makes it easy to improve a persons life.

Pray it Forward: Daily Meditations

What a special person! This is someone who changed peoples lives by what he wrote! He was a brilliant author and person. I believe Og Mandino will live forever in our hearts, minds and spirits! This book as well as anything he wrote would be very much worth your time to own in your library.

If you've never read one of Og Mandino's books, you should. They are inspiring for success minded people. I find that reading these types of books often, keeps my thoughts focussed where they should be. Most of his books reiterate the same principles, with a new idea here or there. You've probably heard these principles before, but they are presented nicely here. Great value for the cost of this book.

It will take your breath away and bring you back from just going thru the motions to living in happiness. Truly touched by the hand of God, as with all of Mandino's work, a true gem.

The original Greatest Salesman in the World follows the great salesman Hafid's life before and after he reads the 10 scrolls of selling success. In this quite similar sequel, the scrolls of success are lost in a shipwreck, and Hafid is divinely called to write 10 new scrolls in order to replace the old ones.

The new scrolls emphasize these main points:
-Never again will I belittle myself
-I won't start the day without a map
-I will be enthusiastic
-I will never be unpleasant to others
-I will look for triumph in adversity
-I will do my best on every task
-I will focus completely on the task at hand
-I will never wait for opportunity, instead I will seek it
-Each night, I will reflect on what I did, and think about how I can improve
-I will pray to the creator in success and failure

Some of these points look VERY similar to the points made in the first book, so much that I was tempted to give this book 3 stars, but the new scroll emphasizing the foolishness of waiting for opportunity was much needed. Also, the last scroll about prayer was needed, even though it is essentially a repeat of the tenth scroll in the first book. I am very glad that this author puts so much emphasis on prayer.

Aside from repetition, the only thing I didn't like about this book is that the scrolls are treated so majestically, being just a hair under Biblical scripture itself - almost as if to suggest that the ingredients necessary for any kind of success are both the Word of God AND ten extra scrolls. I'm not so sure Paul would agree. The scrolls are helpful for success, but not necessary.

But yeah, I have to agree. Sitting around and waiting for opportunity to come to you is really the worst thing you can do.

If you like the Harry Potter movies, you will love this calendar! It has most of the famous movie posters and is just plain excellent for any HP fan. I cannot wait for the 2008 one!

This is a wonderful calendar with great pictures from all of the films. I keep this one at work and I get compliments on it all of the time!

This calendar is nice because it features all of the Harry Potter characters, not just Harry. I preferred the 2006 calendar, but this one is still cool.

It captures the characters and events of the movies. As a rule, the Potter merchandise is a great buy and a fun gift for any Harry Potter fan.

It has a lot of other country's holidays marked. That's a plus or minus depending on where you are from!

I bought this calendar for a Harry Potter fan. It is on her wall and well loved.