Genres Books

Our daughter was very happy to receive the book. It was what she wanted for Christmas.

He loves it. Said it had enough fresh-take or new info that it kept him interested and reading all the way through.

My added comment is he read it through a time of having to work 80-hr weeks, so it must be good.

Having spent much time in Kingston in the mid 1970s, this book accurately reflects the politics and gestalt of the time . Ms. Goldman's attention to geographical detail is one of the strong points of the book. The book is right on in terms of its intellectual context, as well as its more anecdotal style.Relly, this is one of the better books on Marley, Reggae, and Jamaica.

It is convincingly argued that the pop album has become an effectively arcane form. But even in a digital age, certain albums continue to both define and transcend their creators. Sgt. Pepper, What's Going On, Astral Weeks, Blood On the Tracks... the list invites nerdish debate. But one title can never be excluded; Bob Marley and The Wailers' Exodus was the product of a specific time and place and remains the most extraordinary single work of the Third World's most extraordinary musical voice.

Vivien Goldman was one of the key writers during the Golden Age of British music journalism when the punk explosion inspired the intense gut-intellectual talents of the first post-sixties generation. Unlike many of her colleagues her love and understanding of black music has continually defined her work and The Book Of Exodus is perhaps the best thing she has done.

This is at once memoir, critical analysis and history. Vivien Goldman takes the reader into the studio as Exodus was created. A palpable sense of the immediacy of that process, the atmosphere (well fumigated with the herbsman's wares) and personalities involved come vividly to life through the eyes of the young fan-reporter. Most movingly, Goldman's own ability to connect her life as the North London-raised daughter of German-Jewish refugees from the Holocaust with the Trench Town experience that formed Bob Marley is at the heart of the book. This is no falsely crafted analogy. It is above all a spiritual link, the "Flash Of The Spirit" which has made the core African musical experience one of the world's most unifying cultural forces.

For anyone who wants to understand something of Marley's greatness and gentle charisma, Vivien Goldman shares her privileged experience of hanging with the man and his colleagues in both Jamaica and London. This was an artist whose words and music have inspired more people worldwide than maybe any other pop musician and yet the man who emerges here is a very real person living in a very real time. Goldman gives us a vivid sense of both.

Everyone with more than a passing interest in Marley and The Wailers should read this book. It will send you back to the music, reggae's shining hour, with renewed love and understanding.

Simply put, this is a book full of indispensable knowledge. Vivien Goldman again (Soul Rebel-Natural Mystic)has put out a truly remarkable book about the great Bob Marley. This era in Bob's life has not been written about too much and Vivian recounts it with such fine details and first hand accounts that the reader can't help but to be extrememly thankful that she finally put it all on paper. The cover price alone is well worth it for the rare rare RARE picture of Bob with Claudie Massop, Tony Welch and Earl Wadley as they talked to Bob about the One Love Peace Concert.

Of all the books out there about Bob (and I have read just about every single one of them) this is without a doubt a true must have. Of the 50+ books written about Bob there are 7 must haves and this is one of them.

This book covers the top 100 singles which means you won't find much local stuff (get bubbling under for that) but if yo want to know song titles, artists and the date of popularity this book is the bible. I have been a fan of this book since 1972 and buy each new edition.

no matter what anyone says they look at the Pop charts.Cross-Over on the Big Chart was Pay dirt.i miss the old days of hearing and watching Casey Kasem's Americas Top ten.keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars.the Pop top ten is like the tabloids if you admit it or not you watch to see what's going on.everybody knows the hits.

THIS BOOK IS A FAN'S DREAM COME TRUE.HUNDREDS OF PAGES OF PURE CHART FOOD.BUY IT NOW!

This book has proven to be an extremely valuable tool for me... I own a Bay Area DJ company, and while I'd love to tell you I know the name and artist of every song realeased, it's just not true. With this book, the info is at my fingertips. If a song has "charted" in the Hot 100 singles chart from '55 - '96, it's in the book. I'm anxious for the author to update the book to the present day. I seriously use this book all the time, and if you're "in to" music at all, it's great to have around. Songs are listed by name in the back of the book, or you can look songs up by the Artist(s) who released them. You can learn when it charted, how high it reached on the charts, and what an artists biggest hits have been. At the risk of being sacreligious, this book is known as the "DJ's Bible".

I have always been a fan of pop music trivia, and have followed the pop charts since 1982 (when I was 8 years old), back when I used to listen to Casey Kasem every week. I cannot believe how thoroughly researched this book is -- there is biographical info on the majority of artists listed, even many who were "one hit wonders." Dates of an artist's birth and/or death, lineup changes in bands, etc. are often included and it adds depth to the chart info that is already so fascinating. This book is the ultimate pop music reference.

Classical, jazz, and pop singer Eileen Farrell comes across as a down-to-earth, generous, happy, and satisfied person in this book. What's not to like?

Like another reviewer I found the biography too short. Surely Miss Farrell could divulge with her writer's help more anecdotes. And SURELY Sony/CBS could re-release more of her albums, particulary the Puccini Arias. Thank God there are historical recordings available, for which, unfortunately, Miss Farrell doesn't get royalties. I would happily send her a check anytime.

Do not confuse this witty, sparkling memoir with the stilted, egocentric ("I" this and "I" that) memoirs you may have encountered. Farrell, one of the Met's most underused artists - yet one of its greatest, writes with charm and style that enthrall the reader making us wish she had easily written a book twice as long. Brava! Highly recommended to anyone who enjoys a great read and "meeting" a great lady.

Thank you, Eileen Farrell, for a wonderful career and for your candor in telling your very personal and inspiring story. I couldn't put the book down! As a professional singer myself, I found your experiences from your innocence at the first audition to your regular radio show moving and encouraging. Your book is as honest and refreshing as your performances and a must-read for even those with no interest in opera.

Eileen Farrell is one of the most gifted and celebrated American singers of the twentieth century. She is both a classically trained dramatic soprano and a talented songstress of pop songs and the blues. Can't Help Singing: The Life Of Eileen Farrell is a superbly crafted memoir in which she shares candid reminiscences about her professional career and her personal life. With humor and affection she surveys her New England childhood, her sudden success at the age of twenty starring in her own CBS radio show, dubbing for Eleanor Parker in the MGM movie "Interrupted Melody", her many guest appearances on television, and her operatic work, including an historic debut at the Metropolitan Opera in Alceste in 1960. Eileen also recollects her sometimes troubled marriage of forty years to New York police officer Robert Reagan and her frustrating tenure as a faculty member at Indiana University. In this wonderful memoir we meet the famous figures of music who were her contemporaries, fellow performers, and associates from Leonard Bernstein to Maria Callas, from Ethel Merman to Carol Burnett. Can't Help Singing is a marvelous biography that will hold great interest and appeal for her many fans and for students of 20th Century American music.

another ciaphas cain novel that is a very exciting read. ciaphas, jurgen, and the 597th finally journey to an ice world to face off against an ork army that is threatening a promethium production facility. ciaphas discovers the 'chilling' secret that caused the facility to be placed in it's precise location. this book is one of the best of the series.

CAVES OF ICE is the second in the Ciaphas Cain series. I feel that it is another worthy addition to both the 40K Universe and the Ciaphas Cain lore.

In this outing, the self-deprecating Commissar Cain & the 597th are fighting both Orks and a surprise. I won't say who, read the book & find out.

I'm currently reading the 3rd volume: Traitor's Hand and I have volume 4, Death or Glory waiting in the wings. I just recently ordered 3 more Black Library books, all anthologies: What Price Victory?; Crucible of War; and Bringers of Death. All three have short stories featuring Ciaphas Cain.

What a cool book. The action is great and the story never looses its pace. A must read for people who love interesting characters. Ciaphas is one of the most entertaining characters out there. I hope that Sandy Michaels keep writing novels about Ciaphas.

Caves of Ice, Sandy Mitchell's second novel in the Ciaphas Cain series, was a very good read. Mitchell does a great job in putting the reader right in the middle of Cain and his Valhallan regiment's latest adventure without backtracking too much to explain the events of the previous book. Mitchell's handle on his main character is much stronger and he continues to make Commissar Ciaphas Cain believable both as a rogue whose self-preservation is first and foremost, but also as a true heroic figure in the Imperium. It's amusing to read through his attempt at self-preservation which backfires to making him very heroic in front of his regiment and thus feeding the accidental legend that he's become.

Even though the story was being told chosen passages from Cain's memoirs, Inquisitor Amberley Vail still continues to make her presence known through amusing and insightive footnotes scattered amongst the pages. Her footnotes makes Cain a much more complicated character than his memoirs would tell about the man. Her footnotes also reinforce the fact that Cain and herself shared more than professional courtesies throughout their time together.

Caves of Ice was a very good follow-up to For The Emperor for seemlessly continuing the growing characters of Cain and his Valhallans. The action still doesn't compare to Abnett's Gaunt novels, but they're well-done when needed to propel the story along. I'm glad to put the Cain series on my list of must-read novels rom the Black Library.

Commissar Ciaphas Cain and his regiment of Valhallan Guardsmen are deployed to the ice world of Simia Orichalcae. The orks intend to overtake the precious promethium plant and use the current mine workers as slaves. When Cain arrives, he has only a single day to set up the defenses before the orks reach the plant.

As Cain well knows, if it sounds too easy it normally means chaos follows. Five mine workers have mysteriously disappeared in the underground tunnels. Cain, having been a born and bred tunnel rat, is best suited to investigate (even though he wishes otherwise). The creature he finds is worse than the ork problem. Unfortunately, something worse than either of those is dormant in the ice caves and it is beginning to stir.

**** The only thing I hate is the fact that there are footnotes on most of the pages. The story is supposed to be an extract from the Cain archive that Amberley Vail has prepared and annotated for her fellow inquisitors. The author does this in order to insert comments from others present at the plant, so readers know what is happening elsewhere from Cain. Those inserts from other characters are great. They are often as exciting as Cain's archives. But I could do without the many interruptions that tell only where a certain word originated and such. As for the adventures of Commissar Cain, his gunner, Jurgen, and his people have - FANTASTIC! I look forward to the rest of the Ciaphas Cain series! ****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

This was a gift to my son who is a musician. He calls it the absolute best gift I could have given him.

This has transcriptions of Mingus's best and most popular songs. The transcriptions seem to be accurate, though the nature of Mingus' music means that sometimes the transcription is the average of two or three versions. Some of the songs have a paragraph of two written about them. Also interspersed throughout the book are various writings and blurbs from Mr. Mingus himself. All in all an excellent book for a musical Mingus fan, or someone intent on playing his music.

While the book is supposedly a fake book for musicians, it includes trio and quartet recordings by key members of the Mingus big band including Seamus Blake, the outstanding Thelonius Monk Award-winning saxophonist who doesn't yet have his own CD out. The two CDs is an excellent introduction to the music of Monk and holds up well on its own. Listen and enjoy and don't worry if you are NOT a musician.

As an avid fan of Charles Mingus, naturally this book is a must have. The compositions featured are very accurate and precise, it is always a treat to not only be able to see the music, but to know its origins. Even those who are not fortunate enough to be a musician can pick up this book and enjoy the commentarys and the other fun tidbits(i.e the Mingus Cat-alog and the comic stip). I highly recommend this to anyone who is a fan of Mr.Charles Mingus. Anybody (musician or not) can enjoy this product.

I'm a big fan of Mingus and this book have a nice collection of transcriptions of his songs. But for we the bassplayers there's a lack of info about his bassplaying and his way of play each song...

Author Ted Anthony admits cheerfully at one point in recounting his pursuit of a song that the chase became an obsession for him. It is one that a reader can easily fall victim to also, listening to Anthony describe the search for his personal Holy Grail.
Where did "House of the Rising Sun" come from? England? Appalachia? From an imaginary place Anthony terms "The Village"? Perhaps it takes one to raise a really memorable song.
In his fascinating, world-wide search, Anthony meets about as many people as you could imagine, all different, but with one similarity: All of them have performed the song, or know someone who did, or collected recordings of people who did, or were transfixed by it just as Ted Anthony was.
This book originated as a lengthy feature story Anthony wrote for the Associated Press, his employer, in 2000. I was still a newspaper man in those days, and in 39 and one-half years of reporting, I never read a feature story as fascinating, detailed or inspiring. I'm glad that Anthony expanded the feature to full-length book form. It was obviously too good to stop relating the story of his quest with just a feature. If one is determined to have an obsession, I can't think of a better object than "House of the Rising Sun."

Ted Anthony's tireless chase for one simple answer soon becomes our chase, too. He's driving the words, but we're riding shotgun, so stay awake because it's a fascinating trip narrated for our pleasure by Anthony's perceptive views of the cultural scenery.

He effortlessly detours to times long gone and often to places barely on the map, and it's the rich, often-wrinkled characters we meet along the way who make all the switchbacks so worthwhile. They are the sometimes-successful, sometimes-desperate, but always-colorful folks and folk songs that in some way hitched their own rides on "House of the Rising Sun."

You can almost hear Joe Brussard in his basement of old 78s. Stop just a moment to meet Paul "Frank Sumatra" Meskill. And, go ahead, shed a tear as Georgia Turner's family finally hears their mother's teen-age voice from so long ago. Don't go, tell us more.

It's the details of the journey, theirs and ours, that really count, of course, and even before Anthony calls it "our song," we already know it is. Where to next?

Anthony traces the song "House of the Rising Sun" to and from its historical, geographical, cultural, and musical roots in this entertaining tale.

Anthony started his search, in New Orleans before finding that this song, about a woman's (or man's) life ruined in a whorehouse (or prison or roadhouse or gambling den) in New Orleans (or Lowestoft, England or Baxter Springs, Kansas or "yondos" town or "the strip club out on Old 87") is really about an outsider's warning to those who might hop a train and end up down and out in the Rising Sun.

Anthony might have traced the ultimate roots of the story back to the prodigal son of the Bible, but does find the first recorded versions arising out of "The Village", his name for the culturally-consistent and distinct intersection of Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia in the Appalachian mountains. Folk musicologist Alan Lomax recorded Georgia Turner, a 16-year-old miner's daughter in Middlesboro, Kentucky singing the song in 1937. Anthony unearths other obscure versions (Clarence Ashley from Tennessee recorded in 1933, Homer and Walter Callahan from North Carolina, recorded in 1934) that bubbled up around the same time and place, suggesting common folk sources. While Ashley references family history tracing the song back to the turn of the century or beyond, Anthony never comes up with a genesis document.

But the journey takes him all over the US and even to China and Thailand during career-driven stays in those far flung outposts of Appalachian roots music. But more interesting than the places are the people Anthony meets and introduces to us during the journey. He is able to interview some of those there at the beginning in The Village in the 1930s, a first-hand resource fast disappearing as age and hard times and hard living claim that generation. Sadly, Georgia Turner died young in 1969, but her voice on Lomax's Library of Congress recordings and in the voice of seven of her surviving children sharing laughter, tears, and songs around the tape player replaying that old song that now reverberates through the popular culture.

Anthony has traced down over 200 different recorded versions of the song that came from those roots, and spread around the world. Most famous, of course, is The Animals seminal version from 1964, that defined the song for the Baby Boomer generation that dominated and defined (then and now) the popular culture. His descriptions and list of superlatives (oddest, most danceable, and so on) from his collection are enough to make the reader perhaps wish for a CD set of selected versions from his collection.

The only thing that keeps this book from a five-star rating is Anthony's occasional tendency to overwrite his emotion. While his sincerity comes through the writing, one suspects he is unsure of both his ability to deal with the book form (as a career journalist) and with the strength of his material. When he relaxes and lets the places, people, and music speak through his abilities, this is a five-star book.

--which could provide a good model for Greil Marcus to rewrite and reintegrate his groundbreaking historical and literary review Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock 'n' Roll: Fifth Edition, which I also reviewed.

Ted Anthony, a journalist and foreign correspondent with the Associated Press, has crafted the story of the song "House of the Rising Sun" as carefully and as artfully as did the original songwriter. He weaves his own personal relationship with the tune, revealing a clear eye for detail in his travelogue of discovery, and in the process produces an insightful portrait of the song and its interesting and entertaining role in American pop culture history. This book is a fine read for anyone interested in well-crafted creative non-fiction that is as artful -- and tuneful -- as its All-American subject matter.

There is a book on Amazon
"Chasing the Rising Sun"
And it's been enriching for many a poor boy
And God I know I'm one

Anthony is the Author
he was a midnight oil burner
He drove around and researched hard
to tell the story of Georgia Turner

the only thing the reader needs
is Ted Anthony's book
He takes you with him on his journey
and permits you to take a look

------ organ solo ------

Oh mother, tell your children,
to do what I have done,
be touched by the characters the author meets
In "Chasing the Rising Sun"

The observations are profound
The variations of the song fascinating
There are so many great aspects of this book
I found myself vacillating

There is a book on Amazon
"Chasing the Rising Sun"
And it's been enriching for many a poor boy
And God I know I'm one

wow at first i thought this book sucked but after i looked at the tabs and listened to some of the songs again i realized it caught alotta notes that i never even heard before. good tabs

Besides being a bargain price; this book, The Latter Day Of Led Zeppilin
and you basically have all of their best songs in a set. Being a collector of thousands of guitar tab books, I've learned the difference between professional quality and someone doing a quick job. If you're on a budget and can't buy each songbook indiviually this one save you money, by buying the 5 book set. It's like getting one free..and most importantly the tabs are accurate!

This is without a doubt the most complete, most accurate set of Zeppelin tab I have ever seen. Comes w/ bound books(not stapled), & a sturdy slip case, every bit worth the price. If you're a Zep fan & a guitarist, you're not yet a man (or woman) until you own this set!

WOW! This book is amazing. If you own a guitar, buy this collection right away. If you don't have the money then steal some. This collection has every guitar part, including those immortal solo's, in detail, for the first five Zeppelin albums. It contains all the correct turnings for the song's. It is broken up into five seperate books for easier use. The books give a brief synopsis on how the song's came about and some explainations to how Jimmy played them. This collection shows you what great guitar playing is really about. Don't delay, buy it now for your own good.

This set comes with 5 books with accurate transcriptions of the first 5 Led Zeppelin albums. All of the solos, fills, mandolin, alternate guitar tunings, and in some cases organ/synth parts are transcribed as well. From album III - V there are detailed notes on each song in the beginning of the books that give insight into how the band recorded the song and sometimes some pointers on how to play the song when there are guitar parts being played through several tracks at once. All of this collection comes in a sturdy box that holds the 5 books together nicely. This set should keep one challenged for years, and will provide great insight into one of the greatest bands ever. Highly recommended.

Absolutely beautiful color photos taken all over the world and used as cover art for the popular CTI jazz label in the 70's. Landscapes, nature, travel shots, creative concoctions and the occasional portrait, all manipulated with color, create a stunning photo album and art book.

I'm a professional jazz pianist, and a former pro photographer, and this book is just terrific. If you are a jazz fan, you already own some of these covers, and if you're interested in photography, you've probably been influenced by Turner's incredible color sense. This big collection, with his notes on the pictures and beautiful printing, is just a "must buy." I'm going to a dinner next week with a bunch of musicians, and I'm taking this book along to share. It will probably be more popular than the food.....

It's fascinating to me how the energy and freedom of jazz is reflected in Turner's approach to photography. Intensity, unusual color, surprising juxtapositions.....an inspiring blend. And he photographed the top players, the masters of jazz (with some pop in the mix, too).

This is great: all of the best Pete Turner jazz record covers in one place. Many of these covers I saw for the first time as new releases in record stores by some of the best jazz musicians around; Milt Jackson, Paul Desmond, Freddy Hubbard, Wes Montgomery and so many others. To have a compendium of them in one beautifully designed and superbly printed book is an event worth celebrating.

The covers, by the confirmed master of color photography, Pete Turner, were always certain to grab my eye - and not let go. I don't know what I enjoyed more: looking at the covers or listening to the records. Fortunately it wasn't a mutually exclusive choice.

It is these photographs that inspired me to choose a career as a photographer, the best career in existence. I have Pete Turner to thank for that.

This is a great book. A big book with clear pictures. I love the way Pete reviews his photos. He's a great artist!

For me just one minor point. Some pictures are printed over two pages. This brakes the picture in two and is a little distraction because the book doesn't fold open all the way.

But certainly value for the money, a recommendation!

In the sixties and seventies I bought some of the LPs featured in these pages and I can remember being mightily impressed with Pete Turner's stunning color work. I had seen some of this, during the sixties, in the Twen, the German magazine that specialized in powerful photography and graphics to illustrate features.

Turner reveals in the book that A&M's Art Director Bob Ciano decided to treat the LP cover like a magazine spread and run the graphics across the front and back and I think this is why some of Turner's photos have such impact: stunning, very graphic color images frequently presented twenty-four inches wide. Shown in this kind of format no wonder his work is difficult to forget.

I've looked through this book a lot and the work still impresses but I would query the connection to jazz. So many of these photos are surely interchangeable with many of the covers. On pages twenty-two and three there is the famous red giraffe as used on a Antonio Carlos Jobim LP, great photo which, when it was reissued four years later, ended up as a green giraffe because of a printers gaffe. Red or green it really doesn't matter and it could just have easily been on a cover for Wes Montgomery or Milt Jackson. I think Bill Claxton for Pacific and Contemporary records and especially Francis Wolff for Blue Note produced much stronger jazz cover photos.

Pete Turner will probably be remembered best for his almost abstract photos that appeared on lots of LP covers. The book is well printed in 175 screen with a very clean and elegant layout and it's a suitable celebration for a photographer with a unique color style.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

this is a great practical theory primer, and the practice CDs are great!

Useful material here, with plenty to keep you going for a long time. Steve gives you lots of examples on how to use triads and extentions and not just a bunch of theory. The CD's are very helpful in hearing the applications. After all, it is music and having an opportunity to hear what the material should sound like was a great aid in helping me understand the ideas.

This book gave me so mouch to chew on it will be years, if ever, before I put it down. I have played and performed on guitar for 30+ years and studied music in college and I still have discovered that the more I know, the less I know. I felt that I had hit a brick wall in playing and performing and this book gave me so many ideas and options that I had not considered. I emailed Steve Khan to thank him and got a personal response a day later. Not only does he have a lot to give in this book he is truly a nice guy. Buy the book, work at it everyday, utilize the things that work for you and become a better guitarist.

If you already know your basic chord theory, know all your barre chords and jazz chords, play well from lead sheets, etc... then you are ready for this book. Kahn discusses the use of leading tones and the basic triad as tools for playing guitar in a combo setting. He does a good job of covering the no-man's land between rhythm guitar and lead guitar. The book is well written, in an easily accessible style, by someone who really knows what he is talking about. There are many gems sprinkled throughout these pages. If you are a beginner or weaker intermediate player, pass on this book for now and come back to it later.

First of all, let me qualify my review by saying that I am 40 years old and have been playing since I was 11, mostly classic rock, blues, and rockabilly (with a bit of jazz). This book, in my opinion, is geared toward the intermediate to advanced jazz guitarist as the text references focus on upper 4 strings to be played over a bass guitar. Cool concepts and useful stuff if you're in a jazz band. Me, I play 99% of the time as solo (fingerpicking rythyms, chord-melody solos, etc), therefore I didn't gain a lot of insite out of this book. There is a nice discussion on triads, but I already knew this concept, plus the author never tied any of it the CAGED system.

This novel was enchanting. The author was able to put into words those feelings that we all have, but can never describe. The historical and geographical trails in the story made it interesting, but getting inside the minds of the characters made it compelling. The connections and conflicts the characters had with family, church, and politics added another dimension to this already riveting love story.

I can't remember the last time that a story moved me so deeply. I received Croft as gift, with an apologia about its being a "chick's book." While the novel's chief protagonist is a woman, the male characters spoke to my deepest uncertainties and confusions about loving and being loved. And while it is a story of private human relationships, they illuminate the world and serve as analogs for the public relationships that shape it. Gilkes' prose is both vivid and elegant, transporting the reader through war, revolution, famine, geography, and the lives of compelling characters, all by conveyance of the human heart. Croft is a pleasure to read, and its characters' "voices enter that ghostly inner ear so that we shall hear them ten years later in an empty room at dusk."

Croft is a novel that resonates for a long time after the final page is turned. The author entices the reader to follow him through five decades and across continents, from the horror of the Nazi occupation in Holland, to the realities of life in modern day politics; and from the stark beauty of the Kalahari desert in Africa, to the soft light of an autumn day in Cape Cod. The characters are richly defined, drawing in the reader to sympathize with their losses and to celebrate their joys, to care about them deeply. Each represents a microcosm of human suffering, each struggling with a personal crisis that changes them forever. Even as we feel again the despair of lives torn apart by the war in Europe and confront the senseless waste of lives through disease and famine in Ethopia, we feel as deeply for the men and women at the centre of this novel, as they struggle with passion, guilt, bitterness and betrayal. Only love can transform them, however briefly, into the people they truly want to be. A sense of sadness permeates this book, but the message is hopeful - that love is worth finding and preserving, whatever the cost.

bournepaul@hotmail.com, associate director Center Stage from New York , 26 March, 2001

As a theatre director I am constantly being reviewed so it is nice for once to be able to review. I loved this book. Especially its scale. At once both epic and minute. It is a gentle journey that manages to touch upon the huge issues we face in our daily lives. Culturally stimulating and with incredible detail the story is one essentially of passion, angst and honesty. The characters are well drawn and amusingly recognisable. As I read this book it felt as if a mirror was being held up to my own life and that of my family. The style of correspondance mixed with traditional narrative maintained my interest throughout by constantly intriguing me with very detailed personal insights. I read it in one plane journey!

In a hectic world, novel reading has become a fragmented experience, snatching opportunities to read a page here, a chapter there. Few books stand up to this abuse, but with Croft it's easy to re-immerse yourself in the narrative. Croft is a hugely ambitious book, spanning almost a lifetime, and taking you right across the world. For this scale to work, you'd expect a novel of Dickensian proportions, yet Gilkes pulls it all together in only 217 pages, without falling into the trap of cardboard characters and clichéd situations its brevity would imply. The book's African sequences remind me of Doris Lessing's early work, capturing a real sense of place, people and chaos. Gilkes has managed to bring to life, in a way few authors ever have, the emotionally blocked English male, and the torture this causes for him, and those around him. The novel revels in falling between any number of genres - a book marketer's nightmare, but a reader's daydream.