Reds Books

Lorraine is probably the finest breeder and judge that I've ever had the pleasure of meeting -- she's a treasure. The book is excellent. I believe that is Lorraine's dog "Whistle" (the number one Borzoi in the US at that time) on the cover.

We considered buying a Borzoi years ago, but ended up buying some Whippets from her -- we were always very happy with them, and she always answered all of our questions wonderfully!

This is the book for the serious fancier. This is the one book to read to learn about Borzoi. It is not a pet book with just general information about dogs, it is a real, informed book written by an expert in the breed. It is a crime that this book is out of print as it should be available to all generations.

This is probably the best book on Borzoi I have ever had the pleasure of reading in my 20 plus years as a breeder/show home.

This is an outstanding book for anyone interested in the Borzoi breed. Mrs. Groshan's insight into Borzoi reveals her true love of this remarkable breed. Interpretations of several standards help the novice as well as the veteran exhibitor visualize the perfect Borzoi. Histories of many kennels are included, along with many invaluable photographs.

This book is fascinating in that it discusses the differences between the breed standards of several different countries that were in existence at the time the book was published. There is also a wealth of information for the breeders in the photos and histories of Borzoi kennels in the US. If you have Borzoi, you should really have this book.

Plenty of pictures and drawings. I got this to try to diagnose what was wrong with my roses. What I thought was a virus appears to be a lack of iron in the ground. Very helpful, more information than I need in regards to other rose types, but overall a very practical book.

This book contains both beautiful pictures and detailed information about growing roses. I purchased a new copy to replace the original one that I left out in the rain! I have referred to this book many times over the last few years in tending to over 100 roses in my garden...

I purchased this book, along with several rose bushes, for my Mother for Mother's Day. She has always wanted to build a rose garden and said that this book would definitely help her get there.

Whether you have roses and are having problems with them or wish to plan out a rose garden, Complete Guide to Roses is the item of choice, pairing color photos of roses and gardens with tips on transplanting, using fertilizers, and choosing the best roses for the climate. From how to prune to insights on and from the American Rose Society, COMPLETE GUIDE TO ROSES is more than a garden how-to book: it covers virtually everything having to do with roses.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

I've just started collecting books on rose growing and gardening. This is a great addition to the collection. Good advice on gardening basics and great pictures. I highly recommend.

Bombs exploding in Moscow and Saint Petersburg? Russian planes pouring Napalm on villages in Chechniya and Daghestan? If you wish to know why all this is happening all you need do is get a copy of Amir Taheri's book, already regarded as a classic. The book was written before the Soviet empire collapsed and clearly forecasts the disintegration of the USSR as " the last colonial empire of the 20th century." Narrating a history of over 1000 years, from the time that Islam arrived in the lands that later became Russia, the book provides a detailed study of numerous ethnic groups, languages, cultures and civilisations spread from the Ural mountains to the Far East and from the frozen steppes of the north to the Caspian Sea in the south. One of the first books to tackle this complex subject " Crescent in a Red Sky: The Future of Islam In The Soviet Union" may at first feel a bit heavy going for the uninitiated, especially because of the copious footnotes and addenda the author provides. But a little bit of patience and time would procure great rewards. The reader discoveres an entire world about which very little is known in the West. For example did you know the symbolic signficance of those strange domes in Saint Basil's church in Moscow? Taheri's book gives the unexpected answer. The chapters that deal with the Russian and then Soviet periods in the history of Muslims in that part of Eurasia are especially fascinating. They reveal an underground world that continued to exist side by side with the official Russian or Soviet society for almost two centuries. The book tears aside the masks of many Russian and Soviet leaders to show their exceptional brutality in dealing with the Muslim nations under their rule. Peter the Great and Cahterine the Great are revealed as barbarous conquerors who built their empires on hecatombs. Lenin, Stalin and Ferunze are presented as mass murderers who drew the map of the Soviet empire in blood. Even Mikhail Gorbachev, the darling of Western lberals, is shown ordering the use of force to crush revolts in Kazakhstan, Central Asia and the Caucasus. Taheri's book accurtaely forecast the wars in Chechniya and Daghestan which are now raging. Once you have read the book you will know that this is not the end of the story. More wars could come in Tatarstan, Bashkortstan, Ossetia, Ingushetia and other parts of northern Caucasus. Although the Soviet empire has collapsed, the Russian empire continues to cling to its bloody existence. Taheri's book shows that this empire, too, is sure to disintegrate. The time when one nation could rule over whole subject nations is gone. I wish Boris Yeltsin, the Russian President, would read this book to understand why.Western leaders, especially in the United States, also need to read this book to get a measure of the biggest problem that new Russia is facing as it tries to build itself a new future. A READER IN CASABLANCA

Although written before the fall of the Soviet empire, this books charts the course of relations between the Russian nation and Islam during the past 300 years or so.
At times this book is difficult for the average interested reader because it is so full of facts and unfamiliar names.
But those who persist will be amplyu rewarded, if only by the beauty of the wrtier's prose and his strong narrative sense which is closer to a literary novelist than a journalist.
R.B

As this review is being written, the attack by Chechen guerrillas against a theatre in Moscow is still going on.
The outside world is trying to understand why so many desperate men and women decided to risk their own lives by seizing hundreds of innocent people hostage in a Moscow theatre?
The answer comes in this book to which I return whenever there is something dramatic between the Russians and the Muslim peoples who live amongst them or are teir neighbours.
I wish Vladimir Putin had read this book before vowing to crush the Chechens who have been at war against Russia, and for their own independence, since trhe 18th century.
Believe me it is not enough to say "terrorism and repression" to understand.
A READER IN PARIS FRANCE

The liberation of Afghanistan from the Taleban last year has attracted international attention to a vast area the size of the United States and known as Central Asia.
It was there that the colonial empires of the 19th century played what is known as The Great Game.
The term Central Asia is misleading because the lands concerned resemble a secluded area rather than one that is at the centre of things.
The region may achieve centrality because of its oil and natural gas resources, and the rivarly it is generating among America, the European Union, Russia, China, India, Iran, and Pakistan.
This book by an Iranian author and journalist tells the story of Islam in the entire Soviet Union of which Central Asia was part until 1991.
Much research has gone into this volumnious study, one might even say too much research, and the torrent of details may prove tiresome to some readers.
But the prose is fast paced and journalistic in the best sense of the term, thus compensating for the heaviness of the facts, names, dates and figures.
The book appeared more than a year before the collapse of the USSR but clearly predicts that event.
One would have preferred more detailed maps with this volume.
The author should do a sequel to bring us up to date about developments in the region in the past decade or so.
A READER

Very little is known about the huge landmass that forms Central Asia and the Caucasian highlands with the Caspian Sea, the world's biggest inland body of water, in the middle.
This book tries to fill the gap by providing an exhaustive, and yet highly enjoyable, account of the history, geography and culture of the many different nations that inhabit the area.
The book was published a year before the fall of the Soviet Empire and clearly predicts the end of Communsim and the USSR.
But the chief interest of the book is the fact that it brings so many peoples out of obscurity.
In recent years such places as Chechnya have gained notoriety. We also know about the overspill of terrorism from Afghanistan into neighboring Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. But little material is available on the background of these conflicts. This scholarly book is, to my knoweldge, the most authoritative source available in English.
I receommend it to students and scholars as well as the intersted general reader. A READER

I've been a fan of Rawlings since I first read her as a teenager. Reading her biography many years ago, I learned of her pride in her cooking. I didn't even know she'd issued a cookbook until I came across this edition!

Upon reading the book I was immediately reminded of the "Alice B. Toklas" cookbook. The structure and literary emphasis are much the same. Thus, for the same reason, it's a joy to read even if one doesn't cook!

However, like "Toklas", the recipes are also a treasure. Many of the recipes contain ingredients too exotic for the average cook, but many more are easily prepared. This can also be a pleasurable and valuable resource for those, like me, who enjoy reading and preparing recipes from old cookbooks. Our eating styles have changed enormously in the nearly sixty years since Rawlings wrote this book.

If you are a fan of Rawlings, buy the book whether you ever plan to cook any of its recipes. Its reasonable cost is a further bonus!

It is evident from her cookbook that Marjorie tasted of nearly everything and learned to make delicious dishes out of some very odd things: Poke Weed (on toast), Pot Roast of Bear, Smother-Fried Squirrel, Gopher Stew, Coot Surprise, Jugged Rabbit, a host of Pilaus, and an infamous blackbird pie. Of course this book is not simply a culinary freak-show. There are dozens of recipes for desserts, seafood, meats-found-at-the-A&P, jams, and soups, featuring ingredients of which we are all familiar and unafraid. She was proud to share them and claimed each recipe was nothing short of first-rate. Included among these is her piece de resistance, Crab A La Newburg, and the best Strawberry Shortcake ever. Accompanied by anecdotes of Florida rural living in the 1930s and 1940s, this book is a delight and an excursion from a mundane kitchen

As the other reviewer has mentioned, this is a collection of recipes, filled with anecdotes of central Florida life in the 1930s and 1940s. The recipes are fantastic and one wants to try all of them (although it may be difficult to prepare alligator-tail steak). And, what a pleasure it is to read a cookbook written by an accomplished author. You just keep picking it up.

A great read... both for the recipes and for a large dose of Marjorie Rawlings' folksy humor. Loved it from cover to cover.

A big fan of MKR, I stumbled over this little book at a booksale several years ago----it's paperback and coming apart from use, and the pure pleasure of reading Ms. Rawlings' commentary and recollections of living at Cross Creek. Her biscuit and hoe-cake recipes are worth the price, as they evoked memories of my grandmothers kitchen where it wasn't a meal without fresh, hot bread.
Highly recommended---even if you're not a cook!

Mark Haddon is an author, a poet, and an artist who is best known for his book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. He has even won the Whitbread Book of the Year Award and Commonwealth Writers' Prize Overall Best First Book for this novel. Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is a moving look into the life of a 15-year-old boy with Asperger syndrome, a form of autism. Everyday is a challenge for him, but life gets even harder when Christopher, the protagonist of the story, discovers his neighbor's poodle, Wellington, stabbed to death in his neighbor's backyard. Christopher loved Wellington very much, and he decides to find out who murdered him. Even though Christopher is determined to solve the mystery, it is an extremely difficult task for him. Because of his autism, he hates to be touched. Being touched causes him to scream uncontrollably. Furthermore, Christopher cannot understand many basic emotions other than happy, sad, and mad. These personal challenges make his case a tough, frightening mystery. What all starts as an investigation of a friend's death turns into something much bigger, more than Christopher could ever imagine. One might even say that the story reveals something more than Christopher ever wanted to know.
I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone. To be honest, I am not much of a reader, but I could not put this book down. This just might be the best book I have ever read. It is an absolute must on your reading list. Mark Haddon's character, Christopher comes to life and shows what life with autism is like from a first person view. This book gives insight into the fact that every individual can view the world completely different. The author did a phenomenal job of telling the story as if he was an autistic himself. Even though I think this is more of a book for teenagers, I would definitely tell Oprah to put it on her list of books to read because this book is one you just can not miss out on.

This book is written in the point of view of Christopher, a boy with Asperger's Syndrome--a kind of autism. What is inside this book is really different than those fiction books I've ever read. Don't be surprised with the grammar and vocabulary used in this book as they are so simple and too detail. It is what on Christopher's mind. His left brain is dominant while his right brain, where the emotions are, is not well developed. As a result, he loves math, logic, and everything that is organized and in order. Meanwhile, he doesn't like being touched, can't understand facial expression, and emotionally numb.

Reading this novel gives you different point of view of this world. After reading this book, you will know how the information around us are being absorbed differently by the mind of an autism boy. You will also know better why they don't like visiting new places, don't like mixing up with people, and sometimes being cruel.

It's fun to read this book on your spare time.

The book portrays the point of view of a 15-year-old autistic boy, Christopher. It did it so well that I was tempted to rate the book lower just based on that. It leaves you feeling that you might just understand what autism really is and does it so well that it implies that the specific range of emotion that Christopher has and how he deals with it is what it is all about. My own experiences suggest that this boy's emotional range and response is just one vantage point.

In some cases the incidents that take place in the search for the dog are funny. At the same time the focus on emotion and feelings are so well done that, rather than funny, it might be said that it is chilling.

It took a long time for me to be willing to recommend this book to those in my life who are closer to autism. The book, if anything, is too powerful in getting a message across that is a hard message. No one would want to think that someone they loved really had to spend their life dealing with emotion in this way. On the other hand the more you read the more you want to read. The book was one I read from beginning to end in one sitting.

The author did a great job of using the story to teach us but what he taught us may have narrowed our previous points of view more than it expanded them.

In the second chapter of this book (actually labelled as "3" because this is the second prime number), we are introduced to Christopher, the narrator, who is writing a mystery novel as a class project. Christopher is an extremely intelligent 15-year old who just happens to be autistic. He begins his tale by relating his discovery of a neighbor's dog, which had been murdered with a garden fork. Because he likes both dogs and mysteries, Christopher sets off to find the killer, but what starts as a story about a dog becomes a story about Christopher's life. Not only do we learn about Christopher's many quirks, but also we learn the explanations for his seemingly irrational behavior, making it seem almost logical. The book is surprising funny, as Christopher, with his limited emotional range, makes the perfect straight man. As a psychologist, I found that the depiction of Christopher rang true, and overall, I found this novel to be a delightful, different, and quick little read.

Writing this first novel from the point of view of an autistic 15-year-old, Mark Haddon takes the reader into the chaos of autism and creates a character of such empathy that many readers will begin to feel for the first time what it is like to live a life in which there are no filters to eliminate or order the millions of pieces of information that come to us through our senses every instant of the day. For the autistic person, most stimuli register with equal impact, and Christopher's teacher Siobhan, at the special school he attends, has been trying to teach him to deal with the confusing outside world more effectively. At fifteen he is on the verge of gaining some tenuous control over the mass of stimuli which often sidetrack him.

When the dog across the street is stabbed and dies, Christopher decides to solve the mystery and write a book about it. His favorite novel, The Hound of the Baskervilles, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, becomes his model as he investigates the crime, uncovering many secrets involving his own family in the process. Innocent and honest, he sees things logically and interprets the spoken word literally, unable to recognize the clues which would tell him if someone is being dishonest, devious, or even facetious. As he tells his story in a simple subject-verb-object sentence pattern, Christopher tries to communicate and give order to his world, and the reader can easily see how desperate he is to find some pattern which will enable him to make sense of it.

Christopher's investigations eventually require him to make some remarkably brave decisions, and when he faces his fears and moves beyond his immediate neighborhood, the magnitude of this challenge is both dramatic and poignant. Strange places have always been traumatic for him, and he has difficulties with his emotions. "Feelings," he says, "are just having a picture on the screen in your head." He responds either with logic or with the anger which sometimes overwhelms him as result of fear or frustration, and the reader cannot help aching for him and empathizing with his family.

Christopher's coming-of-age story is most unusual, if not unique, and he ends the book a much more mature 15-year-old than he was when he started. With warmth and humor, Haddon creates a fascinating main character, allowing the reader to share in his world and experience his ups and downs, his trials and successes. In providing a vivid world in which the reader participates vicariously, Haddon fulfills the most important requirements of fiction, entertaining at the same time that he broadens the reader's perspective and allows him to gain knowledge. Mary Whipple

It is not often that a woman sees into the heart and mind of a young man. This is one of the gifts Holt brings us in this lovely little volume of stories. Young Jimmy, in 'A Day at the Ballpark', comes to grips with the adult failings of his parents, and his uncle JD. He also muses about his sister - in spare, unemotional language, Jimmy details the shocking and sad fate of Kate.

'Checkup' is more a prose poem than anything else. As such, it cuts to the core and with no wasted words shows us an unhappy relationship -- lies, deception, and despair. Three pages -- a moment in time that promises the years ahead for this couple.

I live on Cape Cod. I have seen Jimmy. I've seen those guys sleeping on the beaches. And Holt explains why they are there-- or at least why Jimmy is there. 'Outside' puts the reader into the head of this young man. It's not a comfortable place to be.

But the surprise is in the except from Holt's novel 'Realworld.com'. Peopled with movers and shakers of the online world, with high-tech geniuses, and assorted brainy types, the novel also introduces us to Willow, a young teen-age girl. Well, now. Willow comes alive on these pages. She is torn between independence and reliance on her mother. She is ambivalent about life and her inability to make decisions for her own future -- she is still young enough to do as her mother wishes. Willow is not a main character to this story, but she is so well drawn I wish she were. As she discovers her talent for basketball, and excels at the sport, we wonder about her parentage --- but I get ahead of things here. Holt stops the excerpt: a king-sized cliffhanger if I ever saw one! And there are no promises of when we get to read the rest of 'Realworld.com'!

There's more to look forward to in this novel than Willow. But this character was a surprise. Tucked in among some larger-than-life characters (well, I think I can guess upon whom they are modeled!) is this one young girl who shines and shows us without question the perception and sensitivity of Steve Holt. I'd like to see more of what Holt has to offer and am waiting for the rest of this book!

It is not often that a woman sees into the heart and mind of a young man. This is one of the gifts Holt brings us in this lovely little volume of stories. Young Jimmy, in 'A Day at the Ballpark', comes to grips with the adult failings of his parents, and his uncle JD. He also muses about his sister - in spare, unemotional language, Jimmy details the shocking and sad fate of Kate.

'Checkup' is more a prose poem than anything else. As such, it cuts to the core and with no wasted words shows us an unhappy relationship -- lies, deception, and despair. Three pages -- a moment in time that promises the years ahead for this couple.

I live on Cape Cod. I have seen Jimmy. I've seen those guys sleeping on the beaches. And Holt explains why they are there-- or at least why Jimmy is there. 'Outside' puts the reader into the head of this young man. It's not a comfortable place to be.

But the surprise is in the except from Holt's novel 'Realworld.com'. Peopled with movers and shakers of the online world, with high-tech geniuses, and assorted brainy types, the novel also introduces us to Willow, a young teen-age girl. Well, now. Willow comes alive on these pages. She is torn between independence and reliance on her mother. She is ambivalent about life and her inability to make decisions for her own future -- she is still young enough to do as her mother wishes. Willow is not a main character to this story, but she is so well drawn I wish she were. As she discovers her talent for basketball, and excels at the sport, we wonder about her parentage --- but I get ahead of things here. Holt stops the excerpt: a king-sized cliffhanger if I ever saw one! And there are no promises of when we get to read the rest of 'Realworld.com'!

There's more to look forward to in this novel than Willow. But this character was a surprise. Tucked in among some larger-than-life characters (well, I think I can guess upon whom they are modeled!) is this one young girl who shines and shows us without question the perception and sensitivity of Steve Holt. I'd like to see more of what Holt has to offer and am waiting for the rest of this book!

Funny, the Random House blurb says the short stories read like Richard Ford's writing, but I think the novel reads like Tourist Season by Carl Hiassen. It moves very easily from South Beach to rural Vermont to Harvard Square to backwoods Arkansas to an internet chat room, but each place is very real and so are the characters. When is the rest of the novel coming out? Has Bill Gates read this?

I heard about this from a friend in Chicago and I decided to give it a read. Kind of an amazing book. The narrator in the short stories seems to be the same guy, at different stages in the process of a difficult life, growing up on Cape Cod. The voice is very simple yet it registers a pretty powerful range of emotion, whether the scene is a baseball game, an exchange between father and son, an incident that occurs to the kid while hitchhiking, or whatever. You can feel the kid trying to hold onto important things in his life as he is losing his innocence and things are kind of breaking down all around him. Great stuff, and you don't often get it in guy fiction. I haven't seen other stuff by Holt, but he knows his baseball, among other things. Then there's a long excerpt from a novel, called Realworld.com, and that is totally different, almost slick in a way similar to Turn of the Century (Kurt Andersen), but with hilarious caricatures of day traders, a pretty scary Bill Gates-like character, etc. and a very likeable main character named Overtime Overton, who's a washed up pro basketball player. I recommend it, although I'll be kind of ticked off if I never get to read the rest of the novel.

I loved this book !!! Don't be fooled by its small size..it's filled with real life in all its pain, mystery, pathos and laughter. If the excerpt of Realworl.com is but a tease, bring it on, Steve !!!! I will try to wait patiently for the full text...

Wonderful book, if you like Hillerman, you will really enjoy this book. Anyone I recommended this book to loved it, and looked for more by this author.

I cannot fully express how much I enjoyed this book. Beautifully written, with a story that pulls you in and holds you to the very last page. I've read lots of "Indian" books, but this is the true deal. It's the heartbreaking story of a young Apache girl and her senseless death. It is at times dark, mystical, and even humorous. I've recommended it to all my friends and they have LOVED it. Please give it a read. You won't be disappointed.

Touching without being sentimental. Eery ghosts haunt the souls on the reservation. Wonderful feeling of something ominous lurking throughout. Great storytelling. Navajo people are portrayed as real, without stereotype. The pacing was effortless, the characters multi-faceted and believable. Loved this book.

First and foremost, this is a story which is not filled with stereotypes. The cultures of the Navajo, Hopi, and the Apache are well portrayed. I was most surprised at the topic of the book in light of the fact that it is considered taboo to the Navajo. I supposed that's why the author is not of that tribe. Nevertheless, it was thoroughly entertaining, educational, and just plain well written. It deserves all the awards and accolades it has received.

With "The Death of Bernadette Lefthand," Ron Querry demonstrates an amazing accuracy for detail. His understanding of subtle differences between two Nations - the Apache and the Navajo - bring his characters to life. The juxtaposition of these modern indigenous sub-cultures takes place within the confines of an equally contradictory landscape - the brutally beautiful American Southwest. If you are interested in the people, cultures, and landscape of the Southwest, you shouldn't miss this novel.

This book was written one year before the French Revolution, in 1788, in Beijing, China by a riches-to -rags nobleman called Cao Xue Quin. It is viewed by many as the greatest classical Chinese romantic novel ever written.

I read the original Chinese version of this book when I was in high school, many years ago. At that time, my impression was that it was a Chinese Romeo and Juliet type tragic love story, in which the main characters Bao-yu and his cousin Dai-yu (Black Jade) suffered the fate of unfulfilled love, and no ever after. There was more to it than that, but I could not figure out what.

Recently, I re-read the book (the current trans- lated version). This time it sounded like the Adven- tures of Tom Jones, in which the teen-aged playboy Bao-yu was dallying in the ranks of the female members of his household (his cousins and maids), longing after many but only truly loving Dai-yu.

It was also a bit similar to Upstairs Downstairs -- a big noble clan with all its ladies, young misses and maids, and their lives of adventures and tears. But something was still missing. There was a theme, a message, which draws me and others to this great work of literature.

I finally figured it out: Almost all the WOMEN in this book were described as elegant, sophisticated, intelligent, graceful, excellent decision makers, and above all, beautiful. Most MEN, however, were described as fools, red-necks, unfaithful, heart-breakers, nogooders, users of prostitutes and abusers of power!

What I am looking at is a book (or one-MAN crusade) of Early Feminism. It is all the more remarkable because in feudal China, women did not have equal status. "marrying for love" seldom existed. It was more like "married by parental arrangement". Poor girls were sold as maids into rich households, or worse, they were sold as second wives or concubines.

The confirmation of my theory came from the author Cao himself. In his introductory book review, he said, "Thus begins this book ... I have hidden the real events and substituted them with fiction ... There were real persons in the inner-chambers, and their stories must be told ..." (Modern translation: I have real women in my household).

This message would make this a truly revolutionary work, not only in feudal China, but even to-day.

Should have first read the book review by the author.

I really enjoyed this book, a part of my self-directed curriculum to understand China (all of which, by the way, has been incredible). Not only are the characterizations excellent and the period wonderfully evoked (at least to my knowledge), but there's all sorts of great maid sex and other bawdy hilarious stuff. The only question I have now is why does it seem like Volumes 2-4 are not available... although vol. 5 is? Maybe I'm overlooking something obvious, as persons with Chinese maid sex on the brain are wont to do.

I read the other reviews on this page, and I thought I should add something: this novel is unbelievably beautifully written, and the English translation is absolutely superb.

You cannot find any better example of novel-writing skill in any language.

I've read all parts of The Story of the Stone. It starts and ends in a mystical fashion; coming full circle in a traditional ying/yang way. Wonderful five volume story about two wealthy families closely connected to the throne. Although there's not much known about the true author, I suspect that it was written by a maid. There is incredible detail from the perspective of the servents working for their sometimes nutty employers. The family actually built a garden at one point in honor of a visit from a daughter who had been chosen to be a royal concubine. If you want to immerse yourself in the ups and downs, daily life, (warts and all) of 1750's Chinese culture don't miss The Story of the Stone et al.

The book gives us a complete picture of the feudal societ of China.It exposes the rot of the late Qing Dynasty of China.What makes people moved most is the tragic love story between Lin Daiyu and Jia Baoyu.Its exquisite style of writing and variegated description do great credit to its success.Some forfather has said that it was an encyclopaedia of the feudal society of China,and I do agree with it.I think that the most valuable point of this book,is that it denounces the cruel percecution which has been done to women by the feudalism--the feudal system,and it embodies the author's thoughts that women should be respecte and be equal to men.In that society,these are rare and valuable.

I'm a friend of Erin's, and I just love this book: her style is so fresh, fluid, and bright, and this story seems familiar even though set in an exotic location.

I wanted to let everyone know that the artist is still illustrating books under a new name: Erin Harris De La Cruz. She recently released "Frank is a Chihuahua," which features the same wonderful style you see in "Elephant on my Roof." Make sure you search for the new book on Amazon, and enjoy!

I was so impressed with both the story and the illustrations of this book that I have encouraged libraries and booksellers across the country to stock up. You won't be able to find this book anywhere after it catches on! My students want to hear it over and over. Can you imagine the possibilities for this young artist?

A highly gifted new artist is on the scene. Congratulations to Erin Harris on enriching the medium. We anxiously await her next work!

I love the warmth and joy of these illustrations. The illustrator also brings the distant setting of the story alive with her depictions of winding canals and water ways. If you like classic children's stories about animals like "Make Way for Ducklings" (Robert McCloskey) and "Curious George," you will enjoy this warm, sensitive tale.

Everyone has seminal books from their childhood that remain with them forever. For me, one of those books is "The Story About Ping" by Marjorie Flack and Kurt Wiese. So, when a new book comes along that evokes similar feelings, it can't be ignored. Erin Harris's wonderfully light, open style--a soothing palette washed by watercolor--and her sense of poetic composition make "Elephant On My Roof" an almost instant classic about cooperation, inventiveness, and the beauty of community.

Very written book. I found this one of the best books on golf history that I have read.Very interesting for golfers and perhaps the non golfer.

If you love golf and its history, this is the book.
Curt Sampson is once again great and meticulous with the details.
He loves the games and its immortal characters.
This is a great golf history book.
The coming about of the greatest rivalry in golf between Palmer and Nicklaus is well detailed here. Ben Hogan, already the greatest golfer of his generation, seemed to be reaching out for his last glory.
It seems that the sport is no longer as elegant as it once was because the characters are no longer as heroic as they once were.
Highly recommended and a very good book to read over and over.

Curt Sampson has ably resurrected the magic of golf in 1960, the famous year in which Palmer became King, Nicklaus loomed, and Hogan and Snead made last runs at majors. Reading this tale one is transported back to what seems to us nostalgically as a simpler time. For a golf nut it is so much fun to relive those dramatic events. I would have given this book 5 stars except John Feinstein has demonstrated what a 5-star golf book is really like (The Majors, A Good Walk Spoiled). Sampson does not quite write with the same level of detail and insight as Feinstein, and lapses a bit more into the rehashing of familiar stories, but he is still quite good.

Only on the fringe of my teenage years in 1960, Sampson marvelously chronicles this year in golf and society. Society we all know because of the revolution that was gaining momentum.

TV is growing and would play a major role in golf's history as well. Along with three individuals, Hogan, Palmer and Nicklaus.

The "y" in the road is the televised Open at Cherry Creek, when Palmer made the celebrated charge. Hogan tries but comes short, and Nicklaus, not knowing for sure his position, didn't really grind, or he likely would have tied. Palmer wins, the sport grows, and as fate seemed to dictate, the game is on the way to the marvelous heights we now see it occupy.

Reading this wonderful book, it gives one more insight and compassion into those early pioneers who made it what it is. Today's pros seemed so pampered, however, the stress is large and looming larger.

Sampson is articulate writer and delivers great insights: Hagen's saying to Sarazen before the shot heard round the world at Augusta: "Come on, hurry up, I've got a date tonight."; and Gary Player calls up Hogan for some advice on his swing, so Hogan asks, whose clubs do you play? When Player answers Dunlop, Hogan responds, "Ask Mr. Dunlop."

Empathy for those like Sampson who wrote passionately about the game and didn't really make a living, let alone get rich. Loved the story about Bob Drum being snubbed by his paper until they hear Palmer is leading The Open, then cable him to send a story. Upon receipt of telegram, Drum crumbles it into ball, and said: "Hope to hell you get it."

This is a must for any serious golf collection of books on the game.

I've read a lot of golf books. This is one of my favorites, and I'm glad to see it's finally back in print--there are a lot of golfers I need to recommend this to. It's more just plain fun to read than almost any one I can name. One of golf's great years, and one of the sport's all-time great cast of characters: Hogan, past his prime at 48 but trying to win one more major; Arnie, the greatest golfer of the 50s, trying to win the Grand Slam; 20-year-old Nicklaus, the chunky college kid; and plenty of other characters, like the irascible Charlie Sifford, the first black player on the tour; the legendary Sam Snead; Chi Chi Rodriguez, who weighed 118 pounds; party animal Doug Sanders; Gary Player, the Man in Black from South Africa; and several others. Reading about these guys is just fascinating, they come alive in this book, and the story of how several of them could have and should have won the Open is one of the best in golf. Sampson has a breezy, highly readable style and has a good sense of humor. I highly recommend this book to any fan of golf.