News and Media Books

I loved this novel. It has a rocking narrative, a pace that never lets up. The author shows the denizens of old Brooklyn without every worrying about being politically correct or offending anyone. But in the end, the writer's love for the place and its people is overwhelmingly moving. A great summer read.

Just finished Tim McLoughlin's Heart of the Old Country and found it full of old friends and enemies. Being a displaced Brooklynite I thoroughly the read. There are characters that you'll love and characters you'll love to hate.I recommend it HIGHLY.

I am 52 years old and actually grew up on 68th and 12th, right across the street from the school yard where Nicky Shades was Namath everyday (I'm sure he was also a great stick ball player). I found Tim's book to be an accurate portrayal of many of the people from the neighborhood, conversely we did have doctors, lawyers, politicians and successfull business people graduate from 69th street and the schoolyard. I found the book's characters very life like and enjoyed mentions of New Corners and Regina Pacis(can you believe the schools closing). I've read several Jim Leher novels and if you enjoy reading Jim Leher, you will enjoy this book. May be it means more to someone who actually lived there that I enjoyed the book so much.

I thought this book was better than the highly praised 'Motherless Brooklyn' by Jonathan Lethem (I make the comparison because they have many similarities -- Brooklyn car service setting, fringe mob characters, coming-of-age subplot, etc.). McLaughlin certainly knows his South Brooklyn setting inside-out. And his writing is a lot less cutesy and gimmicky than Lethem's. My only complaint is that the dramatic payoff to the story -- the climax, if we can call it that -- really isn't very satisfying. By the time it arrives the stakes aren't really very high, all of the tension has already been resolved by then, so the ending falls flat. But I still think the characters are very well observed throughout the book. McLaughlin shows a lot of promise as a writer. I hope he has the staying power to follow this up with even more interesting work (a la Richard Price).

Heart of the Old Country by Tim McLoughlin resonates with the sights and sounds of south-west Brooklyn, the apparent result of Mr. McLoughlin's creative talents and knowledge of his subject. Like many excellent books, Heart of the Old Country can be read on more than one level. I have just finished my second reading and can report that I found it more enjoyable than the first. The book is remisinscent of "Carlito's Way" by Edwin Torres - and just as good. I would not be surprised to see in the near future a film version and a mass paperback edition of this truly remarkable work.

WHAT?fS THE NEWS? WHAT?fS THE NEWS? This distinctly human obsession apparently dates all the way back to our original acquisition of the use of language itself. But the Who? What? Where? When? How? Why? presentation of that news that we are so used to today took us a bit longer to develop -- say, not till the middle of the nineteenth century -- as Stephens shows in this highly readable book.

Taking on the task of relating the entire history of news telling from its very beginnings lost in the prehistoric past all the way up to the cable television and Internet of today seems impossible; yet Stephens certainly makes a good try. He recreates the prehistoric period with sociological accounts of the vocal exchange of news in illiterate societies by the constant pestering of visitors from outside the village with ?gWhat?fs the news??h He uses the letters of Cicero, among others, to demonstrate the spread of news during the Roman Empire. He then goes on to the show the slow spread of the printing press, the development of, first, weekly newspapers, then dailies, and so on up to the instantaneous reporting of the Gulf War via CNN.

As he tells his tale, he leaps us from ancient Rome to ancient China and right back again so smoothly we hardly notice. Along the way he points out the vast changes that have taken place from the days our ancestors bemoaned the almost total lack of reliable news up to the present state in which we are constantly deluged with so much, we can?ft begin to keep up.

Still, I would have liked to see a more thorough description of the impact the instantaneousness of the telegraph had on news reporting, particularly as Stephens himself points out that it was the great cost of sending a single word over those erratic wires that led to the very precise reporting of news as every word now literally counted?DThough the description of the development of the news reporter as a profession he gives us instead (including the origin of the term ?gbeat?h reporter) is quite enlightening, it is also a bit longwinded. And contrary to the worldwide scope he gives us for the ancient period, for all practical purposes, from the middle of the nineteenth century onwards the title should read A History of AMERICAN News. Yet, these are only minor complaints about what is otherwise a very fine read.

. . . . and that being said about the read itself and so rated . . . .

Why did this great read set me back a whopping $53.95 when the physical book it?fs been incarcerated in LITERALLY flops??? Hold it in one hand; FLOP!?@Grab it with both hands; FLOP! FLOP! Slam it to the floor in disgust; FLOP! FLOP! FLOP! Compared to this flopping flounder masquerading as a trade paperback, comic books are printed on vellum and bound in leather! And (FLOP!) believe (FLOP!) me (FLOP!) all (FLOP!) this (FLOP!) FLOP!ing (FLOP!) makes (FLOP!) it (FLOP!) very (FLOP!) difficult (FLOP!) to (FLOP!) con(FLOP!)cen(FLOP!)trate (FLOP!) on (FLOP!) the (FLOP!) read! FLOP! FLOP! FLOP!

If all this flopping were priced a reasonable ten to possibly twenty dollars, I could still have spent my hours reading it contentedly thinking, ?gYeah, this is just about the read I wanted, all right!?h But $53.95????@I angrily spent those hours fuming instead, ?gI paid THAT much for THIS????

So, to whoever decided on the flimsy packaging and ridiculous price of this fine read, I just want to say . . . (alas, all Ma Amazon?fs rules allow me is) . . . SHAME ON YOU!!!

Once you read this book, everything that the news media do will become clear to you. It turns out that, other than minor differences in grammar and presentation, the actual writing and distribution of news hasn't changed since the earliest days of news.

Telling example, from the book: arguably, the very first newspaper dates back to ancient Rome, where scribes copied it onto the back of the minutes of Senate meetings that were going to the various officals outside the city. Other than the mandatory government notices, what were the three "departments" of "Annals of the City of Rome"? Crime, sports, and celebrities.

Stephens gives example after example from over two thousand years of journalism to demonstrate what we mean when we call something "news," and why journalists write it up the way they do. The writing is a bit dry, and there were times when I was ready to concede his point but he kept hammering us with more examples, but it is seriously worth it to read this book.

If you want to understand the news that you read, and understand why and how it got to you looking like it does, you must read _A History of News_. (And then, while you're at it, go on to Noam Chomsky's _Manufacturing Consent_.)

Once you read this book, everything that the news media do will become clear to you. It turns out that, other than minor differences in grammar and presentation, the actual writing and distribution of news hasn't changed since the earliest days of news.

Telling example, from the book: arguably, the very first newspaper dates back to ancient Rome, where scribes copied it onto the back of the minutes of Senate meetings that were going to the various officals outside the city. Other than the mandatory government notices, what were the three "departments" of "Annals of the City of Rome"? Crime, sports, and celebrities.

Stephens gives example after example from over two thousand years of journalism to demonstrate what we mean when we call something "news," and why journalists write it up the way they do. The writing is a bit dry, and there were times when I was ready to concede his point but he kept hammering us with more examples, but it is seriously worth it to read this book.

If you want to understand the news that you read, and understand why and how it got to you looking like it does, you must read _A History of News_. (And then, while you're at it, go on to Noam Chomsky's _Manufacturing Consent_.)

But not in this case. This book is a fabulous journalistic quamire of slow witted old English types wondering why the news has been covering nothing but Joe Dimaggio and nothing about Stanley Kubrick's recent death.

My dog is named Coco. He likes to run away from home all the time. I keep a journal of his behavior. It is filled with instances of when I have given him dog biscuits and he ate them on my bed leaving crumbs all over the sheets.

Ralph Fletcher is a wonderful author with great ideas for teaching writing. His books are infinitely readable!

Similar to other Fletcher writing books
Excellent to use with writing lessons--esp. at the beginning of the school year

This charming little book offers a solid, user-friendly introduction to the fundamental steps of the writing process. Fletcher uses a clear and simple prose style to lead young readers through the creative writing process, from generating an idea and writing the first draft, to rereading and revising, to proofreading, editing, and publishing. Along the way, he discusses the importance of finding a suitable place to write, strategies for brainstorming, and methods of overcoming writer's block. Also included are several author interviews to provide alternative approaches to the writing process as well as a bibliography of recommended fiction and writing-related nonfiction. Beginning writers of any age may find inspiration in the practical strategies and encouraging sentiments set forth in this simple but elegant guide.

This book is unique in that it talks directly to kids about writing, in a personal rather than a "textbook" manner. I can't think of any other books for kids that do this (other than the others by Fletcher listed at the end), and it is so valuable! The book is also simply very interesting and well-written.

This book is not about the craft and mechanics of writing, but about how to establish that all-important *habit* of writing. It's about all the elements that enable and support a person to actually write. I don't know whether this book or "A Writer's Notebook" by Ralph Fletcher should be read first; they are both so important. I'm thinking of having my students read them concurrently.

I love the fact that Fletcher does not teach "the process," but rather encourages kids to find their own process. He cautions students not to "prewrite the life out of their topic" through excessive prewriting. It is also made clear, through the book's inspiring interviews with children's writers, that the processes that these successful writers use differ greatly from each other. One of the authors says she would never talk about her topic before writing about it, because "ideas bring with them an energy to write them. If I talk about them instead, I lose that initial energy that's crucial." I am a prolific writer, have almost never written an outline (before writing) in my life, and have always disagreed with requiring kids to do so (see Peter Elbow books for more on the process I use - freewriting).

Some of the topics this book goes into are where to write, finding an idea, brainstorming, getting started, amount to write, rereading, handwriting vs. using a computer, research, rough drafting, revision, and the proper place of grammar and spelling (definitely never "disturb the flow," when you're writing well, to deal with them). In all these topics, a variety of options are given, with liberal use of quotes from both kids and adult authors.

Fletcher makes it clear that "getting an idea" and "getting started" are two distinct activities, and not necessarily related. It's common to have a great idea that you never bring to fruition, and even more common to just start writing, with no ideas initially. In fact he goes into the value of writing "just a bunch of slop," and valuing it as a form of "exercising."

His overall message is that although some people are born or inspired writers, for most people, writing is hard work. You have to live a full life to have material; be conscientious in capturing those inspired thoughts and moments in your writer's notebook; do the tough work of writing something bad as a first draft; be open to "radical surgery" type revision; reread your own work incessantly; solicit feedback; be a careful editor; and look for appropriate places to publish.

Lastly, I read this book as a mother of three and a teacher who supervises homeschooling families. Since reading this (and Fletcher's other wonderful books: "A Writer's Notebook" and "Live Writing"), I haven't been able to stop writing poetry myself (which is not something I normally do)!

Mr. Fletcher wrote this book as a how-to for younger students, but anyone can get something from this book. It does a great job of walking the reader through a step-by-step process of how to be the best writer possible with an easy to follow format and many helpful ideas to accomplish the process. I think the point Mr. Fletcher is trying to convey to his reader is that writers are not mysticals who exist in a far off wonderland; they are everyday people, and anyone can be a writer-all it requires is releasing the energy of talking on paper. I think this book would be a beneficial part of any classroom library because it's a quick read and packed with ways to start out even the youngest of writers. The section of this book that is dedicated to expaining what students do when they are facing problems writing, will help other students relate to this book.

This is an excellent book; beautifully illustrated and wonderfully written. My daughter loves all the animal pictures and I never tire of reading it to her. Great for many ages!

Wonderful for young children, letting them see other babies in the animal kingdom. Beautiful illustrations also!

This book should appeal to many age levels. My 18 month old begs for it over and over again. The illustrations are beautiful- soft and detailed with the animals filling up the whole page. The text is one or two sentences per page and he knows the names of the animals. For the older child the facts about each animal provide an introduction to the fascinating diversity of the natural world and a reference point leading to a discussion of his or her own birth.

I read this beautifully illustrated book to my four-year-old son many times throughout my pregancy. The fact that he was born himself, just like the animals, pleased him immensely. I enjoyed reading it over and over because of the simple, charming words the author uses to describe birth. The whale mother nudges the baby whale up for its "first sip of air." The baby elephant wears "a halo of long, brown hair." And the human baby "rode curled beneath (its) mother's heart." What a wonderful, sweet way to explain the miracle of life to young children. It is also a great way to explain the different ways some animals are born. Daddy Seahorses give birth? Frogs have babies that don't look like them? It could lead to yet another trip to the library!

My son's baby sister is more than six months old, yet he still counts this book as one of his favorites. I highly recommend it!

With brief, but magical descriptions of the moments of birth for several animals, the author carries you into the special realization of the unique and magical love in human birth. The artist's fantastic pictures bring you into the world of each animal. A beautiful, and gentle introduction into the world of reproduction, without fear or discomfort. Complete innocence left unmarked, but with inspired appreciation for a true miracle.

Love lost and regained... maybe... at what price.

I quest for novels like this (The Bathsheba Deadline: An Original Novel was one, too), which are inspired and masterfully presented, but which do not leave the reader in the hopeless state of wanting to jump off a cliff, or off a skyscraper or high bridge, whichever arrives first.

Not only that, the story surged contemplations on various vital issues of life games... politics, religion, culture, all of what Engelhard ascribed to King David (the protagonist, Josh's man) as "lover, poet, warrior, sinner, king"... (I flipped instantly to page 61 when looking to verify that list, ha!)

Each character in this novel is precisely, profoundly, psychologically on target, with Joan, Josh, and Ibrahim being the prime trilogy in that observation:

--- Joan must have written her part, as the author accused of her in his introductory remarks, because her psychology of the feminine, as it is breaking down and rebuilding itself, are true to that psyche and hormonal balance which limits, defines, and elevates that gender, a gender which each human has within.

--- Ibrahim must also have written his part, because, as it appears to me, he is an embodiment of the pure strength and raw beauty of princely power, and of the potently rich addiction of profanity, both within his Amalekite blood.

--- Of course, Joshua, as bred by the author, constantly works the phenomenal growth potential inherent in his Jewish ancestral blood, as he relentlessly responds to the dynamic demand of consciousness shifting through the kaleidoscopic, mesmerizing, eternal process of thesis, antithesis, synthesis.

As I was reading somewhere in chapter 27 of INDECENT PROPOSAL, a thought came to mind:

"THIS IS A NOVEL."

I've never said that before, in that way, and in the most precise sense of the term "novel." For me, INDECENT PROPOSAL has delineated the term. Regarding that novel, I mean that term in the full, brightest sense of an inspired, artistic, structural accomplishment enhanced by the ability to entertain and enthrall a reader within the circular cohesion of a story format.

The complicated twists leading to the denouement of this story were awesome.

They had me fluctuating between seeing the book as a novel in the sense of bright-side brilliance...

... (especially during the reader's joy in experiencing the growing anticipation between Josh and Joan that the New York scene they had planned as a renewal of their love might work a healing magic for this pair of desert-crossed lovers)...

... then seeing the book as a novel of dark-side brilliance (on par with the literary classics, many of which I honestly can't condone as contributing to the mental health of the human race)...

... then flipping maybe a couple more times between the bright and dark... finally ending with the conclusion that INDECENT PROPOSAL has honored the grace of art and redemption of soul.

All of which brings me to noting how much I was impressed and edified by seeing parts from Escape from Mount Moriah: Memoirs of a Refugee Child's Triumph, Engelhard's childhood memoirs, bleeding, literally, into PROPOSAL. Now, of course, I see why ESCAPE stepped up to me to be read just prior to PROPOSAL, and why I was compelled to buy both in the same order on Amazon.

A question which remains after having read INDECENT PROPOSAL is:

Why did the movie move away from the intriguing, if discomforting, thematic landmine within the original novel.

Of course, the introductory essays to this original version of the novel made the opening reading of the first chapter all the more riveting, especially knowing ahead of time that this book contrasts so obviously with the movie.

As Englehard detailed generously in his intro remarks, the attempt to translate a novel into a movie is always limited by the forms of text Vs film. Also involved, as I know from my own perspective, is the fact that reading a novel aloud takes around 7 hours; whereas a movie's average run is under 2 hours. In any case, a balsamic touch for condensation is required for an honorable translation.

In this case, the movie script did not go balsamic with the essence of the original novel. It did ingeniously exploit one of the surface concepts of the book, while ignoring the deeper issues in the novel, eclipsing them with a concept of "every woman's fantasy." That fantasy may have been true for the screenwriter, but is not true for me, and not true for 90% of the female population, in my opinion.

Truly, the translation from novel to screenplay was confusing.

There was a reason that the female lead in the original novel was a high-spirited, gorgeous, blond Gentile. There were reasons that it was an Arab prince, an enormously wealthy Sheik, who tempted a Jewish man and his wife. There were reasons for the setting of the story being in Atlantic City's gambling cassinos, with the Jewish man being unlucky in his gambling addiction due to the intensity of his need, with the Arab prince owning the dark luck his wealth and ancient blood empowered. Where did all those reasons go.

As others have said, Engelhard has accomplished something timeless, eternal, and primal in this book. To acknowledge the publisher, Huberman's understatement, it holds universal messages.

Possibly, when this book was written on Engelhard's kitchen table, and later when it was made into a blockbuster movie, the human race was not ready to be entertained by the primitive sides of politics and truth. At that time, we were buying the romantic ideal, paying for redemption through rose-tints.

In the long run, truth designs a much bolder, richer story. Jack Engelhard has presented that story with literary finesse, with gritty depth and enthralling prose.

I love movies as well as books, yet I wonder if a movie could ever capture what this author can bring to life in an original novel.

Long may he write.

In some ways movie producers today have been getting away with politically and culturally adventurous plots. Maybe they're closer now to portraying the type of bold and rich which resides in the true novelist's soul.

Every minute of every day is a choice and a second chance (I said that).

Linda Shelnutt

Check out also Engelhard's Kindle novel, The Girls of Cincinnati
And see the works of John W. Cassell for novels of the same caliber which also embody the qualities praised in this review.

"After too many years looking for an answer, a man marries the most beutiful woman in the world, with her, he's got most of the things he's ever wanted in life. Except money"... Josh and Joan, a happily married couple, decided to take a week of and fly to Las Vegas. There, they met Ibraham, an Arab billionaire, which proposed Joan to spend a night with him, in exchange of a million dollars. Joan and Josh felt desperate and empty, they did not know what to do. Finally they both decided to accept the proposal. After that night, Josh and Joan werent the same, everything seemed to go wrong. They decided to separate, and Joan left with Ibraham.Later on, she realizes that the only man she belonged to was Josh,she discoverd how deeply in love she was with him, and returned to Josh. This novel shows how ambition can destroy your life. It taught me that everyone should be happy with what they have, and try to make the best out of it. Who cares if you have all the money in the world, all the cars you've ever wanted if you dont have love.Love is life, and it's free.

I am a fan of Robert Redford so I enjoyed the movie, but it was NOTHING compared to this book.

Jack Engelhard while telling an interesting story is super adept at weaving in moral dilemmas which make his readers THINK!!!

Bottom line...the book is better than the movie by far.

BTW...I have read ESCAPE FROM MOUNT MORIAH...I just wonder if it weren't for Adolf Hitler, Jack could well have become a rabbi...a very distinguished rabbi.

REALLY GREAT BOOK, Jack!! You and Cassell write about different Atlantic Citys. Yours is the Atlantic City of today:slick and tinseled...as opposed to Cassell's shabby but colorful.

Any review of a Jack Engelhard novel demands superlatives. My supply was exhausted reviewing BATHSHEBA DEADLINE, THE DEADLY DECEPTION, DAYS OF THE BITTER END, THE GIRLS OF CINNCINATI...

I just now got around to reading INDECENT PROPOSAL...A LEVIATHAN among best sellers.

Normally, I am not moved by best sellers. There is a lowest common denominator quality to them, too often nowadays propelled by hype. I'm exhausted enough as it is.

Then i stumbled over the tripwire that is INDECENT PROPOSAL...not the fifty or so shameless efforts to traffick on this book's name...but the original...the Engelhard book.

No...not the movie. it's hard for me to find fault with any cinema that would pair Robert Redford and Demi Moore...but while full of entertainment value...THE MOVIE IS NOWHERE CLOSE.

Forget The Proposal even...forget its superbly crafted tension and approach-avoidance and moral dilemmas...emotion Engelhard piques to perfection... forget even that....

This book is LIFE...and not just any life...but the life of a man hardly anyone alive nowadays can IMAGINE. Even the most succinct description I can field: "the Last of The Hemingways" sunders on the Reality.

In this book his name is Joshua Kane...his earliest memories being of a deadly journey across the Pyrenees...mouth stuffed to keep him from alerting the German patrols and their dogs. He rode camels in Sinai and tanks in Golan...and Zodiacs into Lebanon.

He writes speeches for other people at a PR firm, having once tried to become "a real writer". He drives an old Malibu that belches black smoke. He rides to work on a smelly, unsanitary SEPTA bus and then an el with little more to recommend it. He quests after the Faith of King David wearing a shabby blue suit with brown socks....all the while haunted by both quests and memories he couldn't possibly explain.

Except Jack Engelhard does such a good job of explaining as he propels this character and his gorgeous, brilliant and delightfully goofy blond Main Line Philadelphia wife Joan from the Empire State Building to Haifa to the casinos in Atlantic City with the lure they offer of dismal Fate cheated.

Peerless dialogue and graphic action that can and often does bring a tear...and can and often does make you laugh out loud are your constant companions as you travel this road map of the human condition, most likely devouring its wisdom and warning in only two sittings.

Arrogance, humility, hope, lust, hate, poetry, ambition, cynacism, devotion,jealousy.... high rollers and day trippers...true love and grudges from Time Out of Mind...all this is present and captivating within the pages of this fast paced adventure...BEFORE EVEN COMING to the "proposal" and its impact on both the story and true life American Culture.

The adjectives and verbs...the nomenclature of "the novel"...none of them as words and concepts able to contain the peerless story within.

Seek and experience what lies in store as you pass through the gates of this literary nirvanna...and be satiated in mind, body and spirit.

John W. Cassell is the author of seven books in a variety of genres on life during the American Cultural Revolution of the Late 1960's-Early 1970's, including that magnum opus on the Age of Aquarius, ODYSSEY: 1970 and the original 1976 novel SOLDIER OF AQUARIUS. He is currently writing his eighth, set for release in the early part of 2009.

Oh, boy! This book is really something else. Although the movie gets the general idea of the plot, the characters are totally different from the book. Woody Harleson is a dark, moody and sacrastic European Jew obsessed with his blonde trophy wife. He lives in Philadelphia that he so deliciously hates. When the twosome go to Atlantic City (Vegas would be too happy a place), they meet, Robert Redford? Nooo! An evil oil prince from some desert kingdom. And this time it's not about money...

This is probably going to sound crazy to most people out there, but I actually bought this book for my 38 year-old boss! He is an AVID Spongebob fan, even going as far as to tape new episodes and make sure to watch Spongebob marathons. He got into it with his 4 year-old son, and they can't get enough. This book was great to put a smile on everyone's face and poke fun at my child-like boss.

This joke book has perfectly innocent humor aimed at kids in the age range of 5 to 9. As a parent, it's refreshing to find material you feel comfortable in letting your kids read. I genuinely enjoyed participating in the humor with my 6 and 7 year old daughters. We also like to watch the nickelodeon show, Spongebob Squarepants, together as a family. It's one of the few shows I consider acceptable on network television.

This oddly titled book is a smash hit with my four year old daughter! She loves it so much, she begged me to take it to school and read it to her classmates. I did, and they all loved it. The jokes are content appropriate, and mix just the right level of complexity with the silly and offbeat. The jokes are almost all wihtin reach of the average four year old, and yet appeal to older kids as well. If you are looking to introduce your child to humor, jokes and riddles, this book is a great one to start with.

This little book (41 pages, not including title page, and so forth) was a great big hit with my son. Most pages contain one or two wonderful black-and-white drawings of SpongeBob or one of the other Bikini Bottom gang, and a couple of jokes. The reading level is right on for Ages 4-8, and the jokes are funny enough to entertain older SpongeBob fans! My son (a Spongebob fan, like his father!) bought this book with his own money, and he considers it money well spent. We both recommend this book to you.

I started watching the tv program with my children and got insteadly hooked. This is just plain 'ol don't-take-yourself-so-seriously humor. As you read, you'll find yourself laughing out loud. I bought it for my children but it's fun for grow-ups as well!

A book I read for review at work.

Sabrina ad Dreama have a bad time when Harvey and her school's Football team decided to stop cleaning themselves after they win a match, due to the silly superstition. Much to Sabrina's horror, Dreama had cast a dreadful spell that would turn any supertitions as real as possible and they no longer recognise the world they are in. They can't cast any spells cause any spells would have a reverse effect. Salem has it worse, since Black cats are pretty much bad luck to any supertitious being.

Great book. I've finished it all in one go. A page turner and fast pace. A book thta would pull you in as soon as you sit down and read it.

I loved this book, it was excelent, its almost like watching sabrina the teenage witch on TV, but you are reading the book. Especially that was my first sabrina the teenage witch book that i ever ready, and because i liked this book i want to try all the others. Its like the book gave me a passion for reading Sabrina the teenage witch books! Its great! i really recomend to order this book, because if i liked it, maybe you will too!!!

We Win! Thats whats happening in Westbridge High, the football team seems to be winning games all of a sudden. So Brad says that all the football players should not change underwear, take showers, or even change socks, and of course the football players do just that! But once Sabrina finds out she is determined to stop all this sill superstition and get the football players to take showers. Just then a spell is cast, superstitions start to really come true. So when someone walks under a lader or brakes a mirror they have bad luck! What will Sabrina do?

I loved this book, it was excelent, its almost like watching sabrina the teenage witch on TV, but you are reading the book. Especially that was my first sabrina the teenage witch book that i ever ready, and because i liked this book i want to try all the others. Its like the book gave me a passion for reading Sabrina the teenage witch books! Its great! i really recomend to order this book, because if i liked it, maybe you will too!!!

As an 8th grade teacher, I love any book that keeps my kids reading, and according to the girls in my class, this is a must read. So I tried it, and really enjoyed it, even though I'm a bit older than the target market. Very cute, and it reminds me of my kids at school!

Is someone trying to break you and your boyfriend up? Or is there a miss understanding? Well in this book MK and Ashely are having major boy problems. Will they get back together? Find out by buying this book right now, all you have to do is order.

Mary-kate and Ashley are going to a dance and there dates are dumping them. A boy Mary-Kate likes is going to the dance with her bestfriend Campbell. Ashleys (so called) boyfriend is getting fed up with her and took a date with Dana, Ashleys worst enemy. What will they do? They'll live with it, that is what they will do. They have to. They are on a commity and they have to live with there X boyfriends forever. Ashley is partners with her X boyfriend Ross and is misserable to go set up for the for the dance. Maary-Kate has to actually live with her so called "friend" Campbell since they share a dorm room. If you want to here about the rest of the book, borrow or buy the book!

Mary-Kate and Ashley go to school at White Oak Academy. They both have major crushes on two boys at Harrington School for Boys, which is down the street. This also makes them excited when the boys of their dreams are assigned to work with the two on remodeling a new Student Union. The first day goes great, but when day two rolls around, things don't go too well. Both of the guys are completely ignoring the girls. What did the two do? Well.....Let's just say both of the guys have their reasons. I really like this book, and to find out what happens next, read Likes Me, Likes Me Not

This book was really good book. It's about Mary-Kate and Ashley both like a boy. And there trying to ask them to the Spring Fling. But before they can the boy of Mary-Kate's dream's is going out with her roomate. (old). And Ashley's crush is going out with somebody else too! Should they find new dates?? Or get revenge!

This book was another great Two Of a Kind book. When you read the back of the book it says that Mary-kate and Ashley are going to get revenge on the boys (Ross and Grant). Grant dumped Mary-Kate for her best friend Campbell, and Ross dumped Ashley for Dana, the most popular stuck-up girl in first form. Could things get any worse? Yes!

How refreshing to read a book with information you can really use! Cathy's positive, down-to-earth style combined with her insights about everyday risk taking makes this book a real winner. Would love to see her speak!

Cathy Newton's book inspires the reader to take risks - on purpose! She challenges us to let go of negativity and embrace all the possibilities of life. The short chapters are enlivened with personal anecdotes; I especially liked the story of the 74-year-old lady and the zip line. Read Cathy's book to get a positive and upbeat take on living life to the fullest.

This is the one book to read if you have ever felt as if you want to take risks but always seem to be afraid. Cathy Newton teaches the reader to get out and live a more fulfilling life with her personal stories of triumph and her thought-provoking questions and exercises to teach you how to face your "snakes" and to celebrate your life. Read this book--and if you have the chance, go hear her speak!

"Living in Full Swing" asks the useful questions to guide us to a deeper awareness of our goals and what we are doing (or not doing) which is keeping us from reaching them. The chapter on "Corral your runaway mind" was particularly enlightening.

Living in Full Swing by Cathy Newton is an outstanding book! I am deeply impressed with her insights, ideas and presentation that give the reader a personal approach to authentic success. This is a wonderful book, with quick, to-the-point chapters. Ms. Newton gives us a well balanced, practical guide to making the most of life and rediscovering the adventure along the way.

This exquisite book of short essays is for you. She captures New York of the `60s in her highly focused vignettes. A long-time writer for The New Yorker, these sketches were featured in the "Talk of the Town" section of the magazine always beginning with "Our friend, the long-winded lady, has written us as follows:" I always looked forward to them and vaguely thought the author was likely to be a well-heeled matron of impressive family lineage with a flair for turning words. My impression was totally incorrect. Ms. Brennan emigrated from Ireland at age 17, never had much money or security and viewed herself as "a traveler in residence."

She gave personalities to streets, buildings, and stores as well as people. " Sixth Avenue possesses a quality that some people acquire, sometimes quite suddenly, which dooms it and them to be loved only at the moment they are being looked at for the very last time." Her focus is keen and unblinking, but she sometimes infuses the scene and the people with the magic of her imagination. Her word portraits are so incisive, I often felt that I was sitting beside her seeing a man "morose and dignified, as though humiliation had taken him unawares, but not unprepared."

There is a certain sadness and loneliness in Ms. Brennan's peripheral outsider remarks, but you never feel pity only admiration for an author that always looks outward to keep from looking inward.

Maeve Brennan was born in Dublin, which she wrote about in "Springs of Affection," a book that the editors at Amazon named one of the best of 1997. She came to the US when she was 17, and in her 30s hooked up with The New Yorker, for which she wrote the 50-odd sketches about daily life in Manhattan that are collected in "The Long-Winded Lady."

Where the Dublin stories are savage studies of failed marriages, these New York sketches are gentler in tone, more wistful and blue. Brennan, the "I" of all these pieces, eavesdrops on conversations in the bars, streets, and hotel lobbies of the seedier parts of Times Square and the Village. Her vivid, precise reports are then fleshed out with sepeculations, opinions, and little autobiographical details that reveal her own humorous, melancholy sensibility. The book ends up being not just an incomparable time capsule of the city of the 1950s and '60s, but also a self-portrait of one of its many silent "travellers in residence," a somewhat timid, ultra keen-eyed, super-sensitive exile trying to keep her bearings in an often inhuman metropolis. Brennan is never precious, never self-pitying. And there's not a dull or cloying or lame sentence in the book. "The Long-Winded Lady" is a small masterpiece, and both it and "Springs of Affection" are not to be missed.

I am so impressed with this book. Brennan's eye for detail, her descriptions of New York, her own loneliness are written in prose that any writer would envy. I have recommended this book to a couple of friends and also will suggest it for my bookclub. Brennan's writing sometimes reminds me of an Edward Hopper painting-the way she captures the light from a room across the way, her observations of situations in restaurants, hotel lobbies, and subways. I read somewhere that she had a terrible breakdown and her last column was written in the early 80's. After that she was seen wandering the streets of NY. I bought this book on a recommendation and never expected to be so moved. Also the book brings the reader back to the 60's.

Maeve Brennan's book is a collection of perfectly polished little gems. Writing just doesn't get any better than what you'll find here. "Howard's Apartment" is a piece that you won't just read; you'll also see, hear and feel it. Follow this wonderful writer as she leads you through a New York City that no longer exists.

She is a marvel, a gem. Each of these little expositions is so rich... You're walking down a street, when suddenly, gracefully, she turns a corner and glances into a window of our common soul, and describes what is reflected therein. Her observations are touching, without maudlin sentiment, dead-on accurate, and her language clear and hard. It is more a book about New Yorkers than New York; what I mean is that there is a certain approach to life that is genuinely cosmopolitan without being especially clever or reckless or cute, and we who love reading have a deep affinity for the well-tempered, understated observation that Maeve Brennan perfected. This is one of the two or three best reading experiences I've had all year.