V Books

I could only image what my two month old daughter thinks as she smiles at me,"I know this man; he is my father, who loves me and cherishes me, and he will protect me. I know his voice because before I was even born, he spoke to me and comforted me. I know that I already love him, even though I can only let him know this with my little smile." Phoebe is at peace with her mother and me because we used the Sleep Talk scripts. And, we are convinced that Phoebe sleeps all night because we continue to use Sleep Talk today.

How I wish I'd had this book when raising my children! It's now at the top of my list for new parents. Not only does the author give specific scripts to use with children as they sleep (with impressive results from clients), she offers wonderful little tidbits on dealing with issues that arise in all families. All of this is presented in a loving, thoughtful, intelligent and logical manner. One of my favorites is the "one-finger" technique. Instead of saying, "No, don't touch that!", she suggests, "You may touch that with one finger." When I'm fortunate enough to have grandchildren, much of what is presented in this gem of a book will be put to good use.

What this book does is provide words (scripts) of encouragement to read to your child while they sleep to help with problems they might be experiencing. For example, my son wouldn't go to sleep easy AND would wake up more that once during the night. Getting him back to sleep took some time. This went on for two years. We tried everything including the Ferber method. Within three days of using one of the scripts in the book it was easy to get him to sleep. If he did wake during the night he would go back to sleep on his own or be easy to sooth and fall asleep. This was using a script right from the book. Even more amazing was when we would fight with him to give nebulizer treatments. As I fought with him through a treatment I made sure he knew what the nebulizer was and it was good medicine. That night I read a script I wrote using the same words I used during his treatment. The next day he was calm and took the "good medicine." This book provides scripts for many situations and gives you the tools to write your own scripts. It is easy to understand and you can be using the method in short time.

I cannot say enough about this book! I, too, am an author and met the author of Sleep Talk through our work. I tried the techniques on my eight-year-old son because I was having trouble getting him ready for school in the mornings. He was always grumpy and would wait until the last minute to put his shoes on and get his backpack ready. I hated fighting in the morning and was desperate to have the harmony we used to enjoy before he started school.

Even though I believed in the book, I was shocked by the results. The first night I told my son (after he feel asleep) how proud his father and I were at his ability to wake up with a smile and get ready for school with a great attitude. Sure enough, the next morning he woke up smiling, got dressed right away and had his shoes and backpack on... an hour before we even had to leave! It was unbelievable. And, our mornings are still great, over a year later. I still use the techniques in Sleep Talk regularly and probably always will!

Using the techniques offered in this book can change your child's life! It clearly tells parents how, through the use of nightly Sleep talk, childern can receive messages of a parent's love and acceptance. The book contains numerous scripts and clear instructions on how to use this method to bond with your child and offer him or her age appropriate suggestions to assist in decision making and the development of self-confidence. A master index to the Sleep Talk scripts is found at the end of the book, making this book an easy-to-use resource throughout your child's development. It would be wonderful if every parent, grandparent and caregiver were given a copy of this book and used the techniques so respectully offered by the author. This is a simple and loving way to bond with your child and positively impact his or her development. This book will enrich your life and the life of your child.

In the little town of Wootton Major, they have a wonderful tradition where a special cake is baked every twenty four years, and eaten by twenty four good children. But, when a magical Faery star is slipped into this year's cake, it is eaten by the local smith's son. And so the life of the younger smith is changed beyond anyone's imagination - he is marked by beauty of face and voice, and (unbeknownst to anyone) he can even visit the land of Faery whenever he likes. It is a life of magic and giving.

I have long been familiar with J.R.R. Tolkein's famous books - The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings - but, this cute little book shows that just about everything that he put his hand to he did beautifully! This is a most wonderful little book, one that is sure to charm anyone who believes in beauty and wonder...and maybe hopes just a little that that land of Faery is a real place after all!

I read this book, Smith if Wooten Major, quite a while ago, but i still remember a lot about it. It was a very good book, but some parts did not seem clear to me.
It is about a baker who puts a star in a cake. And when a child eats it that star appears on his forehead. Then they enter another world when they desire to. This tells sbout one person who gets the star and then who has to let it go so someone else can get it.
Right now it is the only J.R.R. Tolkien book i have read, but i am eager to read his book the Hobbit and the Lord of the Ring Trilogy and i will do so soon.

This new extended edition, edited by the estimable Verlyn Flieger, is a must-have for students and admirers of Tolkien. Of course, most of you will already have Smith of Wootton Major on your bookshelves, either in its own volume or in one of the several collections in which it has been reprinted -- so why get another copy?

Because Verlyn Flieger has included several additional (and essential) pieces to the Smith puzzle that have never been available before. These include: Flieger's introduction and afterword on Smith; Tolkien's Note to Clyde Kilby on the Genesis of Smith; his draft preface to a proposed new edition of George MacDonald's The Golden Key, from which kindling the story of Smith was struck -- though the preface was abandoned and the edition of The Golden Key never published; a long essay by Tolkien on the internals of Smith; a timetable and cast of characters with never-before-published details; and most interestingly, the entire draft of Smith, in both typescript and manuscript, reproduced in facsimile.

This is invaluable material for anybody interested in the development and meaning of Smith of Wootton Major. Prior to this edition, Verlyn Flieger quoted from some of these unpublished pieces in her 1997 volume A Question of Time: J.R.R. Tolkien's Road to Faërie, and even Tom Shippey (in The Road to Middle-earth) acknowledged the advantage she had in having seen this material. Now, it's available to all of us.

My one complaint about the book is that it is poorly produced (by HarperCollins, Tolkien's British publisher). The production quality -- and sadly, this is typical of British-made books of the past several decades -- is rather low. The spine is glued, rather than sewn, and it creaks and cracks, threatening to break any time the book is opened. The paper is like stiff newsprint and has a tendency to smudge. Terrible. But unfortunately, this volume has not been printed in the U.S., and the content is important enough to overcome the lackluster production quality.

J.R.R. Tolkien's short work, "Smith of Wooten Major," which he wrote late in life, has already appeared in several fine editions, both by itself and in combination with other pieces by Tolkien, and most of us Tolkien enthusiasts already have it on our shelves. So why another one now, and why should we buy it? There are several compelling things about this book that make it highly attractive to those seeking a deeper understanding of Tolkien as a writer and thinker, and I'll only mention four here. First, this extended edition includes an important never-before-published essay by Tolkien on the story and on Tolkien's views of the nature of Faery, of its importance to him, of faery tales, and of the role of allegory in stories of this kind. It is a fascinating piece that provides new insight into Tolkien's thought as an artist trying to capture glimpses of Faery in his writing. The essay is in some ways an echoing companion piece for his famous earlier essay "On Fairy Stories," in which, among other things, Tolkien outlines his theory of sub-creation that he executed so successfully in "The Lord of the Rings." Second, the book contains never-before-published early notes and draft manuscripts for Smith, several pages of which are reproduced in the book itself in their original hand-written form with helpful transcriptions on the opposite page. These papers not only show Tolkien actively creating and revising his story and the history of its characters, but they also show Tolkien's working methods as a writer and so demonstrate, in a microcosm, the methods he used on such a large scale for "The Lord of the Rings." Third, Flieger's editorial contributions are very helpful. She provides an afterword that discusses the critical treatement of Smith, its genesis as a story, and outlines the new material which, as she says, allow the reader to follow "the authorial progression from explanation to inspiration to formulation to painstaking revision." Flieger's notes are also very helpful, for she points us to relevant matters in Tolkien's other works and illuminates puzzling aspects of Smith. And fourth, this is perhaps the first edition of Smith that takes Tolkien's statements that it is not a children's story seriously. He called Smith "an old man's book, already weighted with the presage of bereavement." Previous editions of Smith have ignored this statement and dressed the tale up as a children's book, presumably based on the unquestioned assumption (which Tolkien questioned very sharply in "On Fairy Stories") that because this is a faery tale, and because it is short, it must be for children. This edition honors Tolkien's view not only of Smith but of the importance of Faery and faery stories in general by beautifully reproducing the tale and the lovely Pauline Baynes illustrations, which were made for the first edition, and by setting them within a handsome hardcover text that Tolkien readers will prize very highly. This is a must have.

People who know anything about the mind of J.R.R. Tolkien know that he disliked allegory. That makes "Smith of Wootton Major" a bit of an oddity among his writings, but not an unwelcome one. It's a sweetly fantastical little fable that drips over with Tolkien's love of real, deep fairy tales.

It takes place in a little town "not very long ago for those with long memories, not very far away fro those with long legs." The Master Cook of that village takes a vacation, and returns with an apprentice in tow. But something odd happens at the Feast of the Cake -- the cook stirs in a "fay-star" with little trinkets in the cake, and it's accidently swallowed by a boy there.

The boy (later called Smith) is changed by the fay-star, which sparkles on his forehead. When he grows up Smith ventures into Faery itself, and even meets the Faery Queen herself. The message she gives him is for her mysterious, missing husband, the King -- who turns out to be the last person anybody in Wootton Major would have expected.

"Smith" is a fairy tale in the best sense. Don't expect cackling witches or convenient loopholes in spells here; Tolkien was too skilled for that. Instead we have majestic fey and sparkling magic, woven with a tidy medieval town. (Not to mention the custom of naming people after their jobs -- Smith, a smith, capisce?) Never once does it become precious or cutesy.

It's among Tolkien's simpler writings. In fact, it's so simple that it barely has a plot -- the vanishing King is the closest thing it has. But Tolkien's writing sparkles with little details of the fey, with only a minimum of description. His glimpses of Faerieland are too brief, but they're also reminiscent of a few passages from "Lord of the Rings."

A sweet, fantastical little story, this is one of Tolkien's lesser-known but still deserving stories. Charmingly symbolic.

A Deadly Little Christmas packed a big wallop. Something Wicked In The Air has as much of a wallop, if not more. The descriptions of the Renaissance Fair were so good that I felt like I was wearing the costumes with them and the story line had me in its grip from the first page to the last. I love both the familiar characters from the 1st book and the new ones introduced in this book, especially Maddie, the chiefs wife. I also loved the ladies at the Home for Gentle Women. I am waiting impatiently for the third book in the series and I feel certain that it will be going out of the park!! Mary write faster!!!!

I thoroughly enjoyed Ms. Welk's first novel, A DEADLY LITTLE CHRISTMAS. Her second book continues the adventures of Caroline Rhodes, RN, and Professor of History Carl Atwater in the town of Rhineburg, Illinois. Once again, Ms. Welk captures the essence of small town living with her descriptions of the place and the people. Anyone who has roots in rural America will recognize the pomposity of local politicians like Mayor Teddy Schoen, the reclusive lifestyle of characters like Branch the gardener, and the indomitable strength of elderly folks like Alexsa Stromberg Morgan. Chief of Police Jake Moeller, his antique dealer wife Madeline, and the little gypsy girl Bricole are welcome additions to the Rhineburg family, as are those wacky residents of the Rhineburg Boarding House and Home for Gentle Women. My only wish was that we could have heard more from the Archangels, those guardians of civilized behavior at Bruck University. Hopefully they will shine in Ms. Welk's next novel in the Caroline Rhodes series. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a cozy mystery with a strong plot and continuous action. For those who enjoy a taste of the past, the descriptions of the Renaissance Faire are an added treat to an already great story.

You've got to love a mystery where the prime suspect's name is Littlewort. Anyone who's attended college will recognize the type: an eccentric know-it-all professor who's despised by all his colleagues. Ms. Welk aptly describes the university setting and the various types of characters who work there. I enjoyed her description of the Renaissance Fair with all the pomp and pagentry surrounding the knighting ceremony. Most of all, I enjoyed how she wove a diverse group of characters into a fast paced plot that was both realistic and entertaining. Not having read Welk's first book, I now intend to do so.

Mary Welk does it again. SOMETHING WICKED IN THE AIR is a perfect follow-up to the explosive debut of Mary Welk and her fantastic characters (A DEADLY LITTLE CHRISTMAS, Kleworks, 1998. In this new adventure of Caroline Rhodes and her "sidekick" Carl Atwater, the tiny college town of Rhineburg loses its much-loved, but also much-underestimated postmistress to a murder over what? A runestone? Throw in the rantings of an eccentric literature professor, the antics of a spoiled rich kid, and the mystique of an ancient gypsy fortune teller, and you have the makings of another first-rate tale from this new voice to the mystery scene. Centered on the college's Renaisance Fair, the story is fast-paced, funny, and keeps the reader wanting to come back for more. Let's visit Rhineburg and good ole Bruck U. again soon!

Something Wicked in the Air is a wonderful and worthy successor to A Deadly Little Christmas. Nurse Caroline Rhodes is persuaded (or should that be railroaded?) to help investigate the death of Rhineburg's long-serving post-mistress. She calls on her good friend, Professor Carl Atwater of Bruck University, for assistance. Suspects are thick on the ground, including the obsessed and wonderfully named Professor Littlewort, taciturn gardener Charlie Branch, and handsome bad boy student Sid Burke. Throw in some of the colourful Rhineburg residents, especially the lovely ladies of the Rhineburg Boarding House and Home for Gentle Women, and mad Madeline, the Police Chief's wife, and you have a recipe for murder, mayhem and mirth. All this is set against Rhineburg's annual Renaissance Faire, the Festival of Knights, a medieval extravaganza that is so wonderfully described you want to join in the jousting and carousing. At any rate, I could almost smell that barbecue.

Caroline and Carl are such great characters, it's a pleasure to know them. If I was an accident victim, I would be relieved if Caroline were my ER nurse. If I were a murder victim, I would definitely want her to investigate my death. I'm already enrolling my children at Bruck University, and can't wait for my next dose of life in Rhineburg.

I discovered Daniel V. Gallery's books in the early 70's when I was in high school. Reading about the misadventures of BM1 Fatso Gianinni, CDR "Curly" Cue of the Blue Angels and his other characters, I promptly joined the Navy in 1973 and retired 23 years later. Gallery's books still make me laugh, no matter how many times I re-read them.

This delightful book contains many stories collected by the Admiral during his many years in the navy (from WWII to the 1960's). Adm. Gallery has an amazing war record -- including capturing a German U-Boat. While these stories (mostly about ex-Blue Angels pilot "Curly" Cue) are presented as fiction, many are actually true! I know because I have met one of the subjects involved in one of the stories and have heard a tape recording of the incident! So the names, dates, places, and ships have been changed to protect the guilty--but a lot of these stories have a basis in fact. I have read and re-read this book many times, and it just gets funnier. Read all of these books! You will treasure them.

Like another reviewer, I was introduced to the Admiral's cast of characters when I was in high school. The books that I re-read can be counted on one hand and this is at the top of that list. When I later served in the Navy I was always told, "The REAL Navy is not like this (station)." To me the "real" Navy is in the Admiral's stories and in real men like the Admiral, a REAL sailor. The world is a better place because of men like him.

I HAVE READ ALL OF ADM. GALLERY'S BOOKS AND I DO NOT HESITATE TO RECOMMEND ANY OF THEM

First read these back in flight training (Navy). Laughed so hard kept whole barracks awake all night - sides hurt for days. I've since read everything he's ever written, fiction & non. Definitely one of my top 5 all time favorite authors. Buying more for gifts - perfect for pilots or anyone nautically inclined.

I used this book in my strategic class for MBA, this is the single best book I've ever read in marketing; the professor of this class is not top-notch, but the book he recommended is top of the top!

It's so concise yet full of examples, it provides the best frame work to solve real business problems, I wish all the VP in marketing in big companies could read this book.

In my opinion the most clever chapter in the book discusses how brand equity can be built through secondary brand associations.

I used this book when I took a strategic marketing class in my MBA program. The author of this book did an excellent job in explaining strategic marketing concepts in a simple but practical way. The main strength of this book is it is very well-organized and easy to follow. The author also used many real-world samples to explain and support marketing concepts presented in the text. I recommend that any business student who has to take business policy class use this book as his or her reference.

The 5th edition is, in my view, disorganised, unnecessarily complicated and seems to have been hurriedly finished. This text book was required reading for my MBA (Warwick Business School)

This book was part of the required reading for my MBA program at UCI and so far it is the best strategic marketing text I have read. Prof. Aaker's writing style is both concise and eloquent, very well organized and easy to read. I will keep this book on my bookshelf for a long time, it is very "reusable" and goes way beyond the class room. A must-have for both corporate executives and enterpreneurs.

siempre son los mas lastimados por su enorme amor a los hijos

UNA QUEMADA...PERO EN EL ALMA!
Y este precioso libro es COMO METER EL DEDO QUEMADO EN AGUA FRIA !

también se fatigan y requieren descanso y rehabilitación para seguir adelante!

de tomar un trago de agua muy fresca en un día de calor insoportable!
MARAVILLOSO !

your heart's wounds...
A lovely reading for everybody, either hurt or not

Estuvimos cerca de terminar un larga repación.. y el remedio fue tan sencillo como analizarnos mutuamente con estas pruebas psicológicas !

ESTE LIBRO TE OFRECE LA MEJOR MEDICINA:
PRIMERO, DETECTAR EL PROBLEMA
Y LUEGO, RESOLVERLO.
ESPLÉNDIDOS TESTS PARA LA PAREJA !

matrimonio...
No nos entendiamos ni queríamos escuchar nuestros propios errores...
Estuvimos cerca de DESBARATAR UN LARGO AMOR... y el remedio fue tan sencillo como analizarnos mutuamente con estas pruebas psicológicas !

HABÍAMOS HABLADO Y DISCUTIDO NUESTRAS DIFERENCIAS MIL VECES.
FUIMOS CON UN PSICÓLOGO
NADA !
MIS HIJOS ADOLESCENTES TENÍAN ESTE LIBRO Y UN DÍA, LO TOMÉ Y ME SENTÉ CON MI ESPOSA A HACER LOS TESTS !
¡INCREÍBLE !
AQUI SI, VI MIS ERRORES... QUE LA MAYORÍA ERA MÍA !
Estos tests nos permitieropn determinar nuestras mutuas fallas y pulirlas..
TE LO RECOMIENDO MUCHO, AMIGO..SI TODAVÍA AMAS A TU ESPOSA PERO ANDAN COMO PERROS Y GATOS...
¡APLICA ESTOS TESTS !!

is the best way to spend a weekend with your hubby !
IT'S FUN AND...VERY USEFUL FOR THE RELATION !
It discovers and drives you both to solve any bothersome matters!

This review pertains to the 2004 hardcover "Phoenix Edition" reprint. I must also confess that at this moment I have only made my way through half of volume 1. I feel it necessary to give potential buyers a "heads up" about this set: it is, as described, a massive work of mid-1800s scholarship. It was assumed at that time that anyone who would be reading such a work would be able to read Latin as well as Old High German, Old Norse, Anglo-Saxon, and a smattering of other medeival languages.
The author spends most of his time NOT telling mythical stories as the curious dabbler might expect, but instead chasing down obscure linguistic clues imbedded in medeival texts, place names, and quaint figures of speech in an attempt to reconstruct some sort of Germanic mythology (for which documentation is lacking) from its hypothetical parallels in Norse mythology (for which documentation is abundant) and the mythologies / religious beliefs / superstitions of surrounding races such as the Saxons, the Gauls, even the Greeks and Romans. This process is dull, dry, tedious, and to someone not fluent in Classical and Germanic languages, incomprehensible. If you love philology you will love these books, but if you want to be thrilled by tales of the Old Gods, stay away!! Herr Grimm does not tell many stories; all the cool stuff is quoted from his sources, and whatever of that isn't in Old High German is in Latin. _Untranslated_ Latin. BEWARE!!
Don't get me wrong; I do not regret owning this set, and I have every intention of finishing it - I'm just saying it's going to be unexpectedly difficult for me, and I can only recommend it for those with a Serious Interest in the subject. The information Grimm presents here is dense and staggeringly thorough - and it is, in a way, a very enjoyable read: the book has its own soporific charm which provides an almost physical pleasure from reading it. An entire mysterious world of unknown language and dimly-comprehended episodes from Latin chroniclers yawns before me. Should be a fun trip.
Nevertheless, my review must bear a mere 3 stars as a warning to those who only want to be thrilled by the mighty adventures of Thor: look elsewhere. This is not the right book for you to start.

This is thoroughful and extremely good edition of the phenomenal book. Naturally, several scolars later made some corrections on some subjects. Nevertheless Jacob Grimm's work inspired H.Heine, R.Wagner and many other men of genius. One cannot overestimate the 'Teutonic Mythology' even now. In a way it's a monument of human imagination, of both oral and written creations made during the centuries by the individuals as well as by the folks. And it still be and will be an inexhaustible source for our both knowledge and imagination as well.
Only one thing I would dare to suggest. Many fragments J.Grimm quotes in Latin, Greek etc... For the future editions I would translate all of them even it could take much space - up to an additional small volume. So, this unique book would be understood by much wider circle of the readers.

Yes, a few years ago I plunked down the over a $100 cost for this recently put back in print four volume set. I don't regret spending the money. Criticisms I have you have to wade through a lot of linguistics/philology stuff and for whatever reason, even though this is supposed to be the English translation, there is still a fair amount of material in German and Latin. But there is all kinds of great stuff in this. Not for the beginner or someone with just a casual interest in the subject matter but this is a must have for any serious student of northern European culture, folklore or Odinsim. What is it about so many books written in the 1800's being superior to 99% of whats been published in the past 50 years?

This is required reading for the true student! Can be a difficult read at times, but the knowledge and world view contained therein make it a treasure!

So Dover Publications has now (2004) reprinted "Teutonic Mythology" under the "Phoenix" imprint, apparently in two formats (bindings). I look at my copies of the previous (1966) Dover paperback edition of James Stallybrass's 1883-1888 translation of Jakob Grimm's "Deutsche Mythologie," with the four volumes bound in different colors, and I feel terribly old.

They were purchased at less than a tenth of the publisher's current asking price (well, one volume was a gift, but I'm looking at the cover prices), and I feel grateful that I bought (three of) them in the early 1970s. At the time, that still seemed a lot of money for paperbacks, even trade paperbacks, but I have had decades of use out of the set, which is still holding up well. (Dover then still used signature-stitched bindings and high-quality paper; their claim that their paperback books would last as well as hardcover editions was well founded. If Dover does reissue them in paperback, they will probably be less durable and, inevitably, more expensive.)

Read with care, and with frequent reference to modern text editions, translations, and studies, the "Teutonic Mythology" is still a mine of information on the religious ideas, customs, and common metaphors and figures of speech (supposed to be fossilized beliefs) of the ancient and early medieval Germanic peoples (the continental Germans, the Dutch and Flemings, the Scandinavians, and the Anglo-Saxons), and much else in medieval literature. Everyone knows the Grimms from the fairy-tale collection, but individually and together they wrote and edited much more. (For some reason, Jakob Grimm [1785-1863] almost always appears in English as Jacob, but his brother Wilhelm [1786-1859] never seems to become William.)

The "Mythology" in particular is constantly cited in the older secondary literature, so it is nice to be able to find such references. On many occasion it has clarified for me an obscure argument carried out by long-dead scholars with page-references to Grimm's then-definitive treatment of the issue (although sometimes I have had to work out the relation of the pagination of an unseen German edition to the English text -- not fun).

More important, for my purposes, it was a handy reference for what would have been readily available knowledge in the latter part of the nineteenth century, and the early twentieth. They are very useful indeed, if you are interested in Richard Wagner's versions of Germanic myth and legend, or those of William Morris. Or, particularly since this is a translation, if you want to see what was available to the young E.R. Eddison, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, among many others.

(For that specific purpose, the only thing really comparable in scope they might have read was Benjamin Thorpe's three-volume "Northern Mythology" of 1851, which was briefly available in a one-volume omnibus paperback from Wordsworth a few years ago. In terms of information available to its learned author, Thorpe's book, which I have reviewed, was largely a less systematic English Grimm, with more extensive summaries of Norse sources, and some excellent additional evidence from folktales. It is not quite so dated, but mainly because it was not so ambitious; whole topics aren't even mentioned, so Thorpe couldn't have made any mistakes about them. For the intellectual and cultural background, Andew Wawn's recent (2000) "The Vikings and the Victorians: Inventing the Old North in 19th-Century Britain" may become the standard reference.)

Thomas Shippey in particular has pointed out several places where Tolkien invented Middle-earth "solutions" to passages where Grimm expressed confusion over contradictory data. Tolkien would eventually have gone directly to the German text; Lewis mentions reading Grimm in German, but seems to mean the Fairy Tales ("Kinder- und Hausmaerchen").

In addition, Grimm's appendices (in the fourth volume of the translation) assemble an extraordinary number of important non-literary medieval (and later) texts in one place; genealogies, spells, penitential guides, lists of superstitions, dialect terms. Although as editions they are antiquated, having them in one place proved convenient on a great many occasions. (For example, Valerie Flint's 1991 "The Rise of Magic in Early Medieval Europe" cites later editions of several of them, none readily accessible to me.)

Given the present price, although I'm delighted that Dover has brought the whole set back into print simultaneously for the first time in years, I'm not urging everyone interested in Germanic myth and folklore to rush to buy it. (Even with the current -- November 2004 -- Amazon discount.)

And not just because of the price. This is a monument of scholarship from the first half of the nineteenth century (1835; second edition 1844); almost everything in it has to be viewed with at least a little suspicion. Grimm already recognized that there were problems. A good part of volume four consists of additions and corrections to the text, which he had hoped to incorporate in a third, and fully revised, edition. (His publisher instead reprinted the three-volume second edition text in 1854, and called it the "Third Edition." A posthumous editor arranged the notes in order, to be printed as a supplement in a "Fourth Ediiton," and Stallybrass followed this practice, instead of tampering with the original.)

Throw in the expense, and there is reason for suggesting other places to start. I mention this age factor because the amount of antique misinformation I have seen gleaned from it, and presented as current, sometimes explicitly dated 1966, is a little frightening. And I expect to see more examples, with the 2004 date of the Dover Phoenix edition in the citation.

Stallybrass called his translation "Teutonic Mythology" to reflect that Grimm was using "Deutsche" in the widest possible sense, instead of a nationalistic one; the more recent term would be "Germanic." But for almost a century, beginning not long after after Jacob Grimm completed his work treating *all* the Germanic-speaking peoples as a continuum, the best surveys and handbooks, and almost all serious scholarship, carefully distinguished Northern (Scandinavian) from Southern (continental German) evidence. Surveys in particular were generally restricted to one or the other; usually "Norse Mythology," with a few citations from the continent. While some of Grimm's comparisons -- or the conclusions drawn from them -- were of dubious legitimacy, denying the validity of such comparisons *in advance* pre-determined the nature of the argument. Apparent exceptions generally quickly reveal themselves as second-hand Grimm. Those scholars who did survey the whole field were often concerned to prove that the medieval Scandinavian texts were late and unreliable compared to nineteenth-century German folklore. (If it looks "primitive" [crude], it must *be* primitive [early].)

The closest thing to a scholarly modern successor, the two-volume "Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte" by Jan de Vries, was severely criticized when it appeared in the mid-twentieth-century for returning to Grimm's comprehensive approach. (The author was under the influence of Dumezil's then-recent work on the original unity of Indo-European mythic and religious concepts, and the controversy has moderated with time and familiarity.) Unhappily, de Vries's "History of Old-Germanic Religion" is still not available in English. But there are substitutes in English which, taken together, are almost as comprehensive, as well as much more reliable than Grimm alone.

For the serious-minded beginner, John Lindow's "Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs" or Andy Orchard's "Cassell's Dictionary of Norse Myth & Legend" (and variant titles) are far better and more reliable guides to the Scandinavian evidence, with Rudolf Simek's "Dictionary of Northern Mythology" filling in some of the continental material, along with copious linguistic information reflecting an additional century and a half of research. I would strongly urge anyone new to the field to have at least one or two of these at hand whenever Grimm is being consulted; definitely Simek on matters linguistic, if possible (the book is currently out of print, although a reprinting of the paperback is scheduled for Spring 2006). All three (which I have reviewed separately; I call attention to some of Simek's shortcomings, but his book is mostly first-rate) have extensive bibliographies. Some of Lindow's extended articles come closest to Grimm's chapter-length treatises.

However, when all is said and done, there is something to be said for these four antiquated volumes. Like Aristotle, Jakob Grimm produced a "premature synthesis" of knowledge, and, as with Aristotle, even the errors of a first-class mind are worth pondering. And a lot of it *is* dead on right.

At some point "Teutonic Mythology" should be consulted by anyone interested in Germanic studies, or medieval literature, or folklore studies, or comparative mythology -- if only as an act of piety. Having hardcover and library-bound editions available may make this effort more likely than it has been in recent years. And maybe it will, sooner or later, be back in paperback form.

This book was an emotional journey with the author through her struggle to educate herself about the available testing and available treatments for "all possibilities" that were causing her to deliver pre-term and miscarry. Very informitive. A great read for husbands who need a little insight....

This is an amazing book. Darci Klein paints an extremely powerful and realistic portrait of the anxiety and anguish of pregnancy after miscarriage. She also writes about the strain of loss on relationships, especially between spouses, and how these strains can be repaired.

Her story is interwoven with medical information that makes it an essential guide for women who face the same problem: needing to know more than your doctor tells you and to be stronger enough to overcome the many obstacles to becoming a mother and building a family.

Very easy to read, but with a depth & heart that only someone who lived this pain could describe.

It is a great story that I think all women should read, especially moms. I had a fairly easy and smooth pregnancy with my little girl, i didn't realize how lucky i was until i read Darci's story. I admire her determination to complete her family, she is a brave woman.

This book really educated me and helped me to understand the struggles many women have in carrying a baby to term. Darci's story is heartbreaking at times but also empowering and uplifting, esp. when she educates us on how to better manage our obstetric care. I also enjoyed the style, which blended personal accounts with research and fact. A must read for anyone who has had a miscarriage and for those who have not, because chances are you know someone who has had one who could use your support and understanding.

This novel is a moving and powerful story of one woman's fight to bring her pregnancy "To Full Term". Even though the book is technically a memoir, it reads much more like a fast-paced thriller. I couldn't put the book down (despite knowing the ending from reading the back cover)! I found myself thinking about the book long after I had finished reading it. Bravo to Darci Klein for telling a story that so many women need to hear.

Ahh, how I love Tokyo Babylon. Its probably my favorite work by CLAMP (and one of their oldest). The story, the characters, its all just so wonderful. A bit bittersweet though, and some of the stories will bring a tear to your eye while others will turn your stomach..or maybe both. =) I find it to be an endearing story.......but maybe I'm just an evil tokyo babylon fangirl.

....but it really isn't. Actually, that is the last thing I would call this master work from the four woman powerhouse with the awesome stories and the drool-worthy men that is CLAMP. "A save Tokyo City Story" denotes that this would be a story full of giant robots and superheroes, rather than delicate men with supernatural powers and the secrets they hide. I'll summarize for you: Subaru is a naive(ish) sixteen year old boy who follows his family's profession as the Onmyouji (literally yin-yang magician)for Tokyo, where he sorts out the spirits of the dead and their (often multiple) problems. Along the way he is accompanied by sometimes shallow twin sister Hokuto and his crush, the older, mysterious Seishirou. And that's all I'm gonna say! Heh heh. Buy it, rent it from the library, borrow it from a friend or read it in the store, you won't be dissapointed by the fabulous artwork and dark atmosphere of this "Save Tokyo City Story".

A tale of good and evil, light and darkness, innocence and corruption, Tokyo Babylon is a powerful drama.

Subaru Sumeragi is a deeply compassionate sixteen year old medium/exorcist who uses his gift to aid lost spirits and the possessed. After a hard day or night's work, he comes home to his devoted, vivacious twin sister Hokuto, whose favorite hobby seems to be trying to hook Subaru up with their friend Seishirou - a veterinarian nine years their senior - in spite of reservations due to the fact that he belongs to a family with a reputation of being in the assassination business that they both choose to ignore.

The interaction between the three reaches it's climax in the final volume, with hints throughout the series about how things might ultimately turn out, but Subaru's interaction with the people he tries to help is interesting in itself. The series handles such topics as gang rape, child abuse, treatment of the elderly, and the ethics of organ transplantation - pretty heavy subject matter.

Subaru himself is a highly unique hero. Professional and competent but without a shred of conceit, he would prefer to lead a quiet life but cannot turn his back on the suffering. Not arrogant enough to believe he can change the world, all he knows how to do is unconditionally love everyone who comes his way, and he's one of those special people who make the world a better place just by being in it. But no one can fix everything, and the underlying question of the series is whether or not Subaru will break if and when he finally faces an evil that might be more than he can handle...

At a relatively short seven volumes, Tokyo Babylon is a manga any fan of either angst or the supernatural should have in their collection.

As the title says, this is my absolute favorite CLAMP manga, and i have the utmost faith that anyone who reads it will love at the very least one scene. me, i love it all....

From start to finish, this is an amazing and gripping manga. CLAMP does an amazing job with the illustrations, every character and scene thoroughly CLAMP. The story and characters are amazingly complex and human, making this very worth reading.

The summary on the back of Tokyopop's cover doesn't do it nearly justice. I love it thoroughly, but if I had just picked the first volume up and read the back cover, I probably wouldn't have read it. The back cover makes it seem slightly horror creepy-ish, and while that element is there, it is by no means the main focus of the manga. It's the story of Sumeragi Subaru, the 13th head of the Sumeragi clan, an onmyoji who does exorcise spirits, but it is his relationships with the rest of the characters that really make the story. These relationships range from sibling bonds, friendship, love, and everything inbetween. The manga is filled with almost every human emotion, especially CLAMP's early favorite, angst, which is very apparent in the last two volumes. *cries over vol. 7*

Tokyopop does an actually pretty good job with the translations. They leave in the oh-so-important honorifics, and leave the characters intact, with Subaru-kun's 16-year-old uber-cuteness, naivete, with all his blushing and stammering, and the adorable pull-the-hat-over-the-eyes trick *squee!!*, Hokuto-chan's "Ohohoho"'s, her attempts to set up Sei-chan and Subaru-kun, her outrageous outfits, and the ability to be goofy and seemingly shallow one scene and sweet and deeep the next, and Seishirou-san's seductions of Subaru-kun, the feeling that underneath the kind vetrinarian exterior, there's more....(*alter ego hits w/ fan to prevent spoilers*), and his speeches. All of the trio are as complex characters as to make them completely unforgettable, and all three of them have made a permananet spot in my heart. You really should go out and at the VERY least read the first volume.

It's an amazing series, and a lot of fun to read.

OH! and the sakura petals!!! ^_^ ...the sakurazukamori.....read and you'll find out...^_~

I absolutely loved this manga. It was the first time I'd read anything by Clamp, and I can't say that I was disappointed! Don't let the somewhat bland covers or common "Save Tokyo City" summary fool you - inside is an absolutely brilliant work of art.

You've read the summary already, so I won't bore you with the details on that. I will tell you, though, that it is definitely worth the read - and that shounen-ai, or boy love, plays a fairly large role in this. I would still recommend this to almost everyone, even if you're uncertain on whether to pick up a manga in which men love men.

Anyway.

The artwork is absolutely, positively beautiful - the characters are distinctive and wonderfully done, and the backgrounds and scenery are startlingly realistic. Some may not like the blacks, but I personally rather like the high contrast. It was quite a surprise to see that the twins were so similar in appearance but you could still tell them apart easily - something that can't be easy. And Subaru may be distinctly feminine, but Seishiro is definitely not - something that isn't extremely common in this type of manga. Panels with artwork in colour are on the inside of the front cover and are absolutely wonderful.

The plot is very nice. Subaru is an onmyoji who seeks to aid souls of the dead and the living. Doesn't seem too exciting yet? Throw in his overly exuberant twin sister, Hokuto, and his suitor, Seishiro (who happens to be the heir of the rival Sakurazuka Clan), and events in his past that he can't quite remember, and you've got quite an interesting story going on!

The characters are wonderful. Subaru is the innocent, almost naïve protagonist who is willing to do anything to help others; Hokuto is wonderfully different, loud and enthusiastic; and Seishiro is the one you can't be too certain about, for his family - for the Sakurazuka Clan is one of assassins - belies is kindly and amicable nature. When you take Seishiro's romantic advances, Hokuto's consistent attempts to get her brother and Seishiro together, and Subaru's embarrassment at the whole ordeal into consideration, you've got plenty of comic relief. And yet, the main plot - Subaru's attempts to ease wounded souls - overshadows a more serious and sinister secondary plot involving Subaru and Seishiro, their onmyoji powers, and that mysterious event that Subaru can't remember all too clearly and that is hinted at from volume to volume....

Left in its original, unflipped format, Tokyo Babylon is definitely quite a read. The translation doesn't seem to be all to bad, and suffixes and name order are left untouched, each of which is a definite plus. This series has, so far, gotten progressively darker, so be careful what you get into. The rating of 13+ is deserved, warranted by some violence, blood and gore, minor sexual references and dark themes, and while the first volume never gets too serious, these do show up in later volumes. You have been warned.

This is a manga that you definitely get into and can read over and over again; it's worth the money to buy it. Tokyo Babylon is definitely a manga to read.