News and Media Books

An excellent message and a good chapter book for those readers who are starting to gain confidence.

THIS BOOK IS AN EXCELLENT LEARNING TOOL. IT IS A CHRISTMAS PRESENT AND I AM SURE IT WILL BE READ AND EACH CHILD WILL LEARN FROM IT!

I just got this book yesterday for my son who just turned 3 years old. He really enjoyed it and after reading it, he kept asking me to read it over. He was very interested because he started asking questions at the end. He just started preschool and I wanted to introduce him to possible situations he might go through while in school. This story gives a great lesson on how to handle a situation when someone says something mean to you. My son also enjoyed it because the situation takes place in school and at a basketball court, which he can relate to because he started school and he loves to play basketball.

I was looking for a book to help my 9 year-old deal with other kids who say cruel and demeaning things. My son and I sat down and read the book together and then discussed how saying "so" when mean things are said takes away the bullies power. We decided that "so" was his new secret weapon.

My son was so excited when the very next day at school he used his secret weapon and it worked. He has also shared the book with a few of his classmates and it has helped them too.

GREAT BOOK!

The Meanest Thing To Say is not about saying mean things back to mean people. And it isn't even about mean people. What it IS about is children learning self-control, level-headedness and heart. When the new kid, Michael, calls Little Bill names, and says he has to think of the meanest things to say back the next day, Bill is frustrated and anxious. This comes up at home and his dad tells him to just say, "So?" to everything. Little Bill does this and it halts Michael. It takes two people to fight. But the moral of the story doesn't stop here. Bill observes Michael is a new student and maybe just needs a friend. So he invites him to play basketball with him and they become friends.

Unfortunately it is reality that children can be very mean and hurtful. As parents, we need to teach our children how to handle bullies and it's equally as important to teach them not to BE a bully. Also, just ignoring mean actions and words doesn't always work. Everyone has good in them and we all, ages 2-102 need to offer kindness instead of anger. Great job, Cosby! Thank you and please keep writing. Peace & Soar!o8E

Just as good as the movie!!! Great book! I recommend it for any reader!

The Perfect Man by Jenny Markas is an exhilarating story of friendship and romance.
The book takes place in a Brookland apartment. Two girls and their mom have been moving from one town to another since Holly, the oldest daughter, was born. When they end up in Brookland, they embark on a wild adventure. Jean (their mom) meets a guy named Lenny, who is a real ditz. When they go on their first date, Holly decides to make up the perfect man, Ben. Holly sends fake e-mails, IM's, letters, and even phone calls to Jean from Adam (her friend`s) house just to make Jean happy. When the plan comes crashing down, Holly has to go to drastic measures to set things right, that's where it gets exciting!
We give this book 4 **** .It was fantastic, and we would recommend it to all our friends.

If you like reading books about romance, then you should read
THE PERFECT MAN by Gina Wendklos.
A girl name Holly Hamilton is tired of moving every time her mom gets dumped. Holly has a perfect plan for her to get an imaginary secret admirer. She borrowed her friend Zoë's charming Uncle Ben. Does mom find out who her secret admirer? Do you think Jean finds out who it really is?
We recommend this books to all our friends because it could be one of your friends or your family that gets tired of moving.
BY Samantha and Devon

My favorite book is The Perfect Man. I think that girls should read it!
The ages i would give is 10-14 or maybe 8-14. I realy think that this book is really amazing and it shows alot about a girls life. I recomend this book to Only Girls!

I own this movie novel, the movie, and the soundtrack and I love them all. The movie is heartwarming and the movie novelization captures its beauty and wit and puts it all into one story. The Perfect Man is a wonderful Hilary Duff movie and will leave you disgusted or happy (depends on whether or not you like the movie). This movie novelization has every part of the movie in its pages, and has some scenes not seen in the movie. This is a quick read, me finishing it in about 3 hours (depends on how fast you read). This is a fun movie novel that will leave you the same way as you finished watching the movie (my grade: A-). If you haven't seen the movie, I would highly recommend it! Heather and Hilary are perfect mother-and-daughter in this heart warming movie.

Hope you Enjoy! If you liked this, you may like
1. Just My Luck movie novelization
2. A Cinderella Story movie novelization
AND
3. The Bend it Like Beckham movie novelization

Jordan
Overall grade* A
Oh, and if you saw the trailer and wondered what the song that is in it is called, it is "Waiting on the sun" performed by Sixpence none the richer. Great song!

ISBN 1570640777 - Barney's been around for a while now, and his first set of fans are now just about old enough to have their own kids - and pass on their childhood love of the big purple guy. This definitively moves Barney from a cute TV character to a childhood icon and makes him a great friend to learn from.

In short rhymes, Barney introduces young readers to Barney Says (not to be confused with Simon Says, because Barney doesn't start each "order" with "Barney says..."). Readers are told to tap their nose, march their feet and more, learning the parts of their body in a fun and interactive way.

The photographs by Dennis Fuller show Barney and four young children (not the same four on each page, oddly) on a gray background, leaving only the action to draw your attention. Since the idea is to do, as much as to read, it's a nice touch that the photos aren't too detailed. Also nice is that the children are a somewhat racially diverse group. Best of all, of course, your child can be a Barney fan without being a couch potato!

Let me begin with the fact that I am not a huge Barney fan. We do not spend TV on him. But, I love this book!

We bought our first copy for my oldest son 11 years ago. During the years and three more children, we have had to buy 3 or 4 replacement copies. The easy and fun way of learning body parts is wonderful.

My 17 month old twin girls love this book! They learned nose, toes, ears, and other body parts from this book. It is fun for them to play the game with Barney. And my favorite is that one of my daughters gives me a big hug when we get to the last page where Barney gives hugs.

My 15-month old has never watched the Barney show, but he loves this book! After reading it only a couple of times and doing the hand motions with him, he started doing some of them by himself! He loves to look at the pictures of the children doing the motions (pat your head, tap your nose, now bend down and touch your toes...). There's a different motion on each page.

My 20 month old and I LOVE this book. It teaches different parts of the body and my son knows the book by heart. Very good book. Would recommend it to anyone.

I had been looking for this book for a long time. Thrilled to find it in like new condition. Thanks again Amazon. Robert Martin

Jane Bee came to Europe for adventure, only to end up with the job is a lifetime--housemaid at Buckingham Palace. Now her greatest challenge is removing gum from State Room carpets--until she comes across a nasty accident right outside the Royal Apartments. The Queen herself has--literally--stumbled across the dead body of Jane's good friend, footman and aspiring actor Robin Tukes, in what appears to be a suicide. But why would handsome, impetuous Robin, having just toasted his engagement to a gorgeous housemaid, not to mention his impending fatherhood, want to die? Buck House buzzes, but only Jane--and the Royal Personage known belowstairs as "Mother"--suspects foul play. At Her Majesty's behest, Jane launches a discreet inquiry that takes her from Servants' Hall to the highest echelons of the Palace. Yet the more Jane uncovers, the more clear it becomes that this latest royal scandal is a real killer.

This is by far the best of the three-book series. (the other two being Death at Sandringham House and Death at Windsor Castle) I read it in three hours; I just could not put it down! The story is fast-paced, well-written, and combined with the author's uncanny attention to detail in terms of the rooms of Buckingham Palace, this book makes you feel as though you're right there with Jane and the Queen, trying to solve the mystery.

The book is humorous, full of that delightful British slang and cheekiness. It's also heart-pounding towards the end, when Jane has an *epiphany* (you'll know what I mean when you read the book) and she has to find the Queen.

Well done, C.C. Benison!

I myself am a monarchist, so I was already excited about a book that gives Her Majesty the Queen some credit for being a human being as well as the Sovereign.
And what a fun book it is! Jane Bee is a very likeable character, which is always important. I liked the way she had to keep correcting people that she was Canadian, not American, and the no-nonsense way she handled things. I liked the behind-the-scenes look at the Palace's inner workings (whether totally true or not-don't you wonder if HM reads these??!)
All in all, the mystery was exciting and kept me guessing, the characters were very well drawn, and I can't wait to get the next one!

This novel, along with its sequels, are among the very few mystery novels that I enjoy reading over and over. Perhaps this is because of the fresh, friendly voice of the narrator, Jane Bee, a smart and lively young woman from Prince Edward Island, who, while visiting Great Britain, happens into a housemaid position at Buckingham Palace, and very quickly stumbles (literally) upon a dead body, right at Her Majesty's sensible-shoe-clad feet...And perhaps it's because of the writing skills of C.C. Benison, who gives the reader the feeling of being a Palace insider, with all the good gossip, the pet names for the Royals, the unmentionable scourge of the corgis, even the secret of what the Queen actually keeps in her purse...Really excellent good fun, and I can only say that I wish that there were more of them to read and re-read and recommend.

You know when you read a finely crafted short story with vivid characters and incidents, and you wish it could go on and on? Well, this book is like that. It's written with the economy and attention to detail you find in a great short story, and instead of ending, it expands into a wonderful novel.

Long makes me think of both Chekhov and Anne Tyler. Here we have four sisters in a backwater town in northern Montana, each with a decidedly different character but still bound to each other in the way that families are. They emerge from girlhood, working in their father's restaurant, and one by one they take on their roles as adults. One marries a carpenter, fresh out of school. One marries an antique dealer. One goes off to San Francisco to live a kind of bohemian life; then returns; then leaves again. The youngest stays with her father, until he unexpectedly sells the restaurant.

It is 1952 when the novel starts. Then it jumps ahead to 1960, and the configuration of sisters takes a gradual turn as the young husband of one of them drifts into a relationship with another one. And when the inevitable revelation occurs, there is a bitter break-up, and a period of many months until things are patched up again.

The story is told mostly through the point of view of three characters - the young unfaithful husband, the youngest of the sisters, and her father, a widower whose days and nights are often warmly touched by memories of his dead wife. We meet several secondary characters, all sharply drawn and springing from the page in deftly told details of speech and behavior.

Long has a fine ability to capture characters and relationships in dialogue. He knows how people talk, how they use language to strike attitudes, pass judgments, reassure, humor each other. Meanwhile, the Montana seasons come and go - autumn, miserable winter, and early spring. Time passes, crises are resolved, lives move on. And after the pain of betrayal, separation, anger, and hurt, there is triumph over the forces that drive people apart.

I loved this book and happily recommend it to anyone who enjoys domestic comic-drama, memorable characters, and fine writing.

I picked up this book after reading Long's collection of stories "Blue Spruce" and feel sure I am going to be reading his other works as well. Long's story gives us an insight into smalltown America, totally different from what we see in Hollywood movies and such. It's simple and honest and explores the basic and fundamental intricacies in human relationships. I personally find the protrayal of the Stavros sisters interesting as one can see the mirror and similarities in the characteristics of the four of them. Although the main focus of the novel was on Mark and his marriage to Olivia, I think more enduring was the flashbacks of Nick's marriage to his long-dead wife, Grace. That is a bond that overcomes differences, difficulties, temptations and time -- gathering all the strands of the novel together and thereby providing a centre for the story. I would have liked to have the WHOLE TRUTH about Celia and Linny, Olivia and Linny, and all the other little mysteries peppered throughout in the novel, but that would just have detracted from the novel's purpose and might just have reduced it as a whole. I enjoyed this book which spoke to my heart and by the way, isn't Davey just adorable?

It would be an uninteresting world if no one made mistakes, wouldn't it? What would we write and read about? In this book, the path to error, and the path out of it, are shown with understanding, clarity, pain, and courage. As these four sisters pursue their lives, one sister's husband observes, intrudes, upsets and finally helps to restore family balance. The book gives us an interesting portrayal of the web woven by connected women--and gave me some empathy for the men who are enmeshed, and yet somehow excluded by the ties that bind us. A quiet, well-written novel of betrayal and forgiveness; read it for the characters, remember it for the lessons.

On many different levels, the Falling Boy is a joy to read. The story of Mark Singer and the family he marries into is a fairly simple one, but the reach of the novel is so much greater.

David Long invests the ordinary with so much meaning and life, without making his observations at all contrived. The Falling Boy will make you look at your own familiar surroundings in a new light.

A perfect read for a quiet day.

I have just finished reading this exquisite novel and I know it will be with me for days to come. Mr. Long has written a beautiful story, not just about marital infidelity but about the "messiness" of life in general. His characters are distinctly drawn without ever becoming archtypes, recognizable even if we have never met anyone exactly like them. There is so much here that strikes a chord of recognition not in a showy, lightning striking way but as gentle thoughts curling up in those many recesses our souls develop as we age and experience. The short story writer that Mr. Long is shows in the well-crafted but clean prose that is a hallmark of this novel. Thank you, Mr. Long. I look forward to reading your other work.

The Birth to Five Book: Confident Childrearing Right from the Start

Mr. Rogers was always a soothing voice on TV. My children watched and enjoyed his programs. Now I have the privilege of reading his books. You can almost hear his soothing, calm voice in each passage. I love the insights and candor of this man and recommend this book.

Just a great book to have to thumb through. Just neat thoughts from a great person.

I have been gripped recently, nearly 5 years after his death, with a wave of Mr. Rogers nostalgia. After reading Tim Madigan's wonderful "I'm Proud of You," about his friendship with Fred Rogers, I wanted more. It seems that this 1-CD tribute would do the trick, slaking my thirst for words of wisdom from this warm, sweet man, while perhaps not overdoing it. I was disappointed. The CD consists of a series of short snippets gathered from Fred's writings, read by Lily Tomlin and others. This sounds like a wonderful way to pay tribute to the man, but comes off wrong. Fred had a way of making even the most treacly saying seem profound. Then there was his stance of complete acceptance, non-judgment and kindness that made his words seem salving and utterly non-threatening. In the voices of others, these sayings lose their power and become simply "nice," and even trite.

The best parts of the CD were where Fred himself appeared, in recordings of music from his shows ("I'm Proud of You, "I'm Still Myself Inside") and in his words to the graduating class of his alma mater, Latrobe University. Here, in extended segments, Fred's warmth and humanity had time to take root.

Beautiful as the sentiment may have seemed to the participants, the essence of Fred Rogers cannot be removed from his slow, gentle delivery or his meek and inviting persona. I would NOT recommend this product for anyone who wants to experience the extraordinary person who was Fred Rogers. Madigan's book helps, but as for me, I am still seeking a relatively short volume or CD that lets me experience the affirming and healing grace of God that was Mr. Fred Rogers.

I was a bit apprehensive when I first picked this up at the library because I was afraid that Fred might concentrate more on the religious side of things.actually,he only mentioned god a few times in it and each of those times he mentioned god unforcefully,which was both smart and caring of him.I liked it so much I'm going to buy a copy!it was uncanny to see that his writing style(although compiled by others)in this book was very simmillar to that of david lynch in his "catching the big fish" book--short and to the point/abstract for a purpose:I love books which demand that the reader think things out themselves rather than have it served up american-style on a big silver platter!

Such joy in living simply. Mr. Rogers had a way of bringing people in with his ordinariness. His philosophy is one of love and positive thinking. He separates true happiness from temporary satisfactions. This is a must read.

I'm beginning to realize that George Gissing is an author who is relatively unknown by the general public but who is frequently studied/referenced by academics. The main reason why I think this is true (and this relates to the book at hand) is that Gissing himself had more of an academic temperament than a writing temperament. He was very adept at analyzing the world around him and commenting on it to a point of depressing realism, but he wasn't a storyteller. In fact, he struggled with creating enough storylines in order to support himself. Thus, while his books give impressive looks at Victorian life, they don't always leave a reader fully satisfied.

Why do I say this so confidently? Well, as Gissing was particularly self-aware and as he was particularly oppressed when writing "New Grub Street," in this novel he writes about what it's like to be a writer in London in the 1880's and 1890's. He essentially writes about his own life and those he find around him, all of whom are trying to make a living on writing.

Gissings seems to portray himself through the main character, Reardon. When the story opens, Reardon is struggling. His sophisticated wife is getting fed up with their impoverished lifestyle and with her husband's inability to write decent material. Reardon, a sensitive soul, is floundering under mounting pressure and stress. He is torn between his desire to write sophisticated, meaningful material and the public demand for "fluff." The more stressed laid on him, the less he is able to create and stick with any plausible fiction novel. He becomes more and more fererish and unable to work, and he is devastated as he loses his wife's love and respect.

Around this central character Reardon, Gissing builds a very full and weighty cast of characters. A small sampling of these characters are:
- The embittered, older column writer/reviewer, Yule, whose temperament has made so many enemies during his career that he is still laboring hard to support his small family at the end of his life.
- Yule's daugher, Marion, who is very clever but who is also very vulnerable. Her education has made her too good for many positions and marriages but her lack of money makes her a poor match for the educated class.
- Reardon's friend Milvain, who is an ambitious young man who has no problem writing exactly what the masses want. He knows his talents, he knows the market, and he knows his stuff won't last for posterity. But he is determined to live a comfortable life, make a strategic marriage and become a semi-respected man.
- Biffen, another friend of Reardon's, sympathizes most with Reardon's situation and condition. Two peas in a pod, these men spend long hours discuss meter, prose and ancient poetry.

I found myself continually amazed at Gissing's amazing ability to get into the head of many individuals in his large cast and to see how the world makes sense through each's eyes. Gissing also provides us with a wealth of information about the Victorian publishing scene. It was amazing to read that writers and publishers then were struggling with the same issues writers and publishers are struggling with today.

Additionally, Gissing gives you an unglorified look at poverty and the impoverished educated class of London at that time. While Dickens' works on the poor is idyllic and sentimental, Gissing simply relates the life he has known. There is nothing exceptional or amazing, and Gissing seems to argue that poverty takes character out of a man rather then build up a man's character.

Overall, I found this to be a fascinating piece...though perhaps a slow read. For those interested in publishing, writing, realistic portrayals of Victorian England, or other such topics, this is a fantastic work.

Poor Gissing! I suspect his miserable, self-destructive life fuelled his wonderful novels much as (we now know) Dickens's traumatic "blacking-factory" experience explains so much of the nightmare world of those gargantuan fictions. Gissing greatly admired Dickens, and like Dostoyevsky, seems to have appreciated the grim side of Dickens most. Not much humor in Gissing; but there is the same shabby poetry one used to see in Bloomsbury back in the 1960s. The same wonderful appreciation of futile, obsessive scholarly lives. Gissing is a great poet and sometimes a rather fine moralist. His pictures of London rival those of the Master (Dickens --and Dore). Don't miss him. Start with "Workers in the Dawn" and "The Nether World"--his passion more than compensates for his crudities. Remember: he was also a very accomplished classicist--more of a scholar than any other major Victorian novelist! A not insignificant fact.

George Gissing's 1891 novel, "New Grub Street," is likely one of the most depressing books I've ever read. Certainly, in its descriptions of literary life, be it in publishing, or in my own realm of graduate scholarship, the situations, truths, and lives Gissing portrays are still all too relevant. "New Grub Street" itself points to the timelessness of Gissing's portrayals - as Grub Street was synonymous, even in the eighteenth century with the disrepute of hack writing, and the ignominy of having to make a living by authorship. One of Gissing's primary laments throughout the novel is that the life of the mind is of necessity one which is socially isolating and potentially devastating to any kind of relationships, familial or otherwise. "New Grub Street" gives us a world where friendship is never far from enmity, where love is never far from the most bitter kinds of hatred.

The anti-heroes of "New Grub Street" are presented to us as the novel begins - Jasper Milvain is a young, if somewhat impoverished, but highly ambitious man, eager to be a figure of influence in literary society at whatever cost. His friend, Edwin Reardon, on the other hand, was brought up on the classics, and toils away in obscurity, determined to gain fame and reputation through meaningful, psychological, and strictly literary fiction. Family matters beset the two - Jasper has two younger sisters to look out for, and Edwin has a beautiful and intelligent wife, who has become expectant of Edwin's potential fame. Throw into the mix Miss Marian Yule, daughter of a declining author of criticism, whose own reputation was never fully realized, and who has indentured his daughter to literary servitude, and we have a pretty list of discontented and anxious people struggling in the cut-throat literary marketplace of London.

Money is of supreme importance in "New Grub Street," and it would be pointless to write a review without making note of it. As always, the literary life is one which is not remunerative for the mass of people who engage upon it, and this causes no end of strife in the novel. As Milvain points out, the paradox of making money in the literary world is that one must have a well-known reputation in order to make money from one's labours. At the same time, one must have money in order to move in circles where one's reputation may be made. This is the center of the novel's difficulties - should one or must one sacrifice principles of strictly literary fame and pander to a vulgar audience in order to simply survive? The question is one in which Reardon finds the greatest challenges to his marriage, his self-esteem, and even his very existence. For Jasper Milvain and his sisters, as well as for Alfred and Marian Yule, there is no question that the needs of subsistence outweigh most other considerations.

"New Grub Street" profoundly questions the relevance of classic literature and high culture to the great mass of people, and by proxy, to the nation itself. For England, which propagated its sense of international importance throughout the nineteenth century by encouraging the study of English literature in its colonial holdings, the matter becomes one of great significance. The careers of Miss Dora Milvain and Mr. Whelpdale, easily the novel's two most charming, endearing, and sympathetic characters, attempt to illustrate the ways in which modern literature may be profitable to both the individual who writes it and the audiences towards which they aim. They may be considered the moral centers of the novel, and redeem Gissing's work from being entirely fatalistic.

"New Grub Street" is a novel that will haunt me for quite some time. As a "man of letters" myself, I can only hope that the novel will serve as an object lesson, and one to which I may turn in hope and despair. The novel is well written, its characters and situations drawn in a very realistic and often sympathetic way. Like the ill-fated "ignobly decent" novel of Mr. Biffen's, "Mr. Bailey, Grocer," "New Grub Street" may seem less like a novel, and more like a series of rambling biographical sketches, but they are indelible and lasting sketches of literary lives as they were in the original Grub Street, still yet in Gissing's time, and as they continue to-day. Very highly recommended.

I found Jasper Milvain, the "alarmingly modern young man," to be the most interesting character in Gissing's New Grub Street for a number of reasons, the most significant of which is that he evinces what can only be considered a modernist's consciousness in his approach to writing. That is, while it soon becomes clear to the reader that Milvain represents the antithesis of what Edwin Reardon personifies-i.e., the work of literature as an emanation of author's native genius-and thus one of the intercalated plots of the novel involves the incremental success of Milvain as a modern man of letters, and the concomitant gradual abjection of Reardon. In a manner of speaking, then, Milvain and Reardon's fates emerge from a common source, namely some sea change in the reading public's (the consumer's) preferences and tendencies.

Milvain identifies as vulgar the most lucrative market for the product of the man of letter's labor. The vulgarians, or "quarter educated," drive the market (479), and since they have been determined to desire nothing more than chatty ephemera, they have successfully opened an insuperable gulf between material success in writing and artistic success. Reardon's psychologically penetrating novels just aren't in demand. Therefore, there emerges quite an interesting conceptual shift within the nascent hegemony of the quarter-educated as established by their purchasing power: what was once considered healthy artistic integrity has transmuted into a peculiar kind of petit bourgeois hubris, if, in the new paradigm, the writer is more an artisan than an artist. Therefore, Reardon's artistically-compromised and padded three-volume novel, written with no other end in mind than to pander to the vulgar reader, nonetheless achieves only modest success because, the fact that it is indistinguishable from countless other similar works glutting the market aside, his novel is infected from his irrepressible integrity, and thus his novel becomes a strange sort of counterfeit, a psychological narrative masquerading as a popular novel. Reardon thus becomes a sort of Coriolanus among writers.

Milvain, on the other hand, is a sort of Henry Ford among writers; he reveals his particular genius when offering advice to his sister Maud about how to write religious works for juveniles: "I tell you, writing is a business. Get together half-a-dozen fair specimens of the Sunday school prize; study them; discover the essential points of such a composition; hit upon new attractions; then go to work methodically, so many pages a day" (13). In other words, Jasper has managed to streamline and to mechanize the writing process. He studies previous works, abstracts formulae from them, isolates the elements of these formulae, and then deploys and rearranges these elements to give his own writing a patina of originality. By treating writing as an exercise in manipulating formulae, Jasper exchanges "authenticity" (whatever that word means anymore) for the convenience and efficiency of not having to grapple with his own potentially mutable and recalcitrant genius. Jasper did not invent writing, just as Ford did not invent the automobile. But like Ford did with automobile manufacture, Milvain discovers those aspects of writing that lend themselves to mechanical reproduction. Thus he is able to capitalize on his time and effort, and effectively becomes the very machine Reardon believes himself to be but never actually becomes because of his lingering notions of artistic integrity (352).

Also of interest is the fact that Albert Yule is a sort of synthesis of Milvain and Reardon. Like Milvain, Yule attempts to streamline his own literary production by delegating some of the labor to his daughter Marian. However, like Reardon, Yule clings to the superannuated notion of the necessary individuality of writing: "[h]is failings, obvious enough, were the results of a strong and somewhat pedantic individuality ceaselessly at conflict with unpropitious circumstances" (38). In other words, Yule fails to recognize the obsolescence of the lone, learned genius within the realm of literary production. A market of vulgarians who demand occasional literary confections simply does not expect Works of individual genius. Moreover, even if they were in demand, works of individual genius are too ponderously inefficient to keep pace with the rate at which they are consumed. Therefore, Yule straddles the either/or proposition personified by Reardon and Milvain: One may preserve his artistic integrity and write "for the ages"--hence Yule, Biffen, and Reardon's fetishization of Shakespeare, Coleridge and authors of classical antiquity--and starve in the process, or one may write "for the moment" and actually turn a respectable profit.

The shadow of Charles Darwin indeed looms large over the events and characters of New Grub Street. The growth market brought about by the advent of the "quarter-educated" vulgar class, and their discretionary income coupled with their callow aesthetic sensibilities and truncated attention spans, represents a nascent economic, if not ecological niche, for certain social creatures to occupy. However, it's not simply a matter of being able to adapt one's skills to the tastes of these consumers. One must also be a prodigious enough writer to keep pace with an equally prodigious rate of consumption. Individuals like Milvain and Whelpdale are adequately adapted to this niche in that they satisfy the demands of this niche in terms of both content and output. Reardon panders to the vulgar taste only grudgingly and after long resistance and thereby cannot meet the production demands of this niche. Biffen absolutely refuses to pander at all. Alfred Yule does attempt to pander, but his mode of literary production is too inefficient to meet production demands, and he is also largely ignorant of vulgar literary taste. While more in touch with the vulgar reader than her father, Marian Yule is as inefficient in her literary production as her father. Therefore, each of the characters named above are equally maladaptive, albeit for various reasons, and thus their extinction by the novel's end strikes the reader as somehow inevitable. Whereas Milvain and Reardon's widow Amy are left to come together as the triumphant niche occupants and thus reproduce themselves in their offspring, should they decide to produce any.

I recently read New Grub Street, and I must say I was stunned by how much I enjoyed it. Gissing's prose and characterization hold up remarkably well. He's sort of an urban Hardy, though far more accessible to today's reader. I'd recommend this to any serious reader. Oh, and this novel is ripe for adaptation. A BBC miniseries would be great.

It is the first real crafting book I have read. It was not a book that offered spells but open the door to the spells in me. It is must have for the crafter of spells.

I found this book to be very informative. There is good information for anyone to use to empower and enhance their life. I highly recommend this book to anyone that's in need of empowering their life for the better.

An outstanding work for a person new to the Craft as well as us old timers.This book could be used as a teaching text.I have placed it on my "must read" list I give to newcomers.

This book is well laid out and provides a huge amount of useful information in an easy to manage order. Great book to have in the practitioner's library. A very positive energy inspiring book. I highly recommend it.

this book is slightly different than most books on spellcraft / magic(k) / witchcraft i have read so far, and i have read many.
the author explains in a well researched and no-nonsense manner what spellcraft is, walks us thru spellcraft in history and geography (from ancient egypt to scandinavia to 19 century europe).
she explains differences between high (ceremonial) and "low" (natural) magic, talks of the art and ethics of spellcasting and the importance of timing and correspondences.
she also devotes quite a lot of space to "how to" of raising energy - in author's words "one of those mysterious steps that is often glossed over in spellbooks". included are not just explanations of the principle of raising energy but also some exercises that should attune the spellcaster to "sensing" the energy she will ultimetaly be using is casting spells.
the book also lists quite a number of spells, stup-by-step spell template, correspondences by component and by need, list of deities and extensive bibliography.
i guess the most significant difference from all other spellbooks is not so much WHAT is written but HOW it's written, explaining magic as natural principle outside any religion and not clouding it by religious worldview.
i love this book.
pergament-like rough-edged paper also add to its charm :)

"I've been unfaithful." With this sentence, most marriages will never be the same again, if they survive at all. Authors Rona B. Subotnik and Gloria G. Harris pledge to provide counsel to those who are hurt and reeling. getAbstract believes this book fulfills their promise. The authors thoroughly explore types of affairs; teach you how to cope with your pain, grief and anger; and advise you how to decide if you want the marriage to continue. Then they offer compassionate guidance on how to repair your relationship. With the knowledge drawn from their clinical practices, they also show you how to heal your wounds and emerge as a stronger, better person. If you're struggling to pick up the pieces of your life, your marriage and your heart, this book can help.

The insights, explanations and exercises in this book were comforting & helpful. My husband apprediated it as well.
It does not have the depth of "Just Friends" but is a great start on the road to understanding and dealing with the
conditons & turmoil surrounding affairs.

This may sound like a strange novel, but I bought this book the night I realized that my husband was having an affair. I could not put it down. It was so on-the-mark. Reading this helped me tremendously in a time in which all I wanted to do was sit on the couch and cry. It pushed me beyond the feelings of hurt and rejection to making decisions and start recovering.

Because of this book, over a long (not-so-business) business trip that my husband went on I was both angry and ready to do something about it. I bought protecting your financial security when getting a divorce, and cyber spying: finding out about your family's secret lives. Cyber spying helped me to gather evidence and proof of his affairs and to get a good state of the finances. I saved everything and took it to my lawyer. When confronted with the proof my husband had nothing to stand on. Without reading surviving infidelity I never would have gathered this kind of courage. Instead my husband would still be getting away with it, but instead not he is paying for what he did!

Well I just found out my wife of 2 yrs has been cheating on me, with a guy she met during our engagement. This taught me alot, and helped me face my insecurities I had afterwards. So we're still married, and much more in touch with each other right now.

Another book I bought, and I can't say if this was a good idea or not, was "Cyber Spying". I was able to track down and read most of her e-mail thanks to the tips in that dodgy book. Good for info, bad for my ego, I'm not sure if I would do it again.

Hoping you all never need these books, but they are good if you do.

Society has long cultivated the reaction of mostly women but also men to become outraged by the "affair," a sad and sorry mistake, because with so many going on, it is unrealistic to expect that they will stop, or that some magical cure is available. The sadness is that it is women who pay the price by sacrificing what they have been led to believe is their virtue while men ignore the whole problem and do what they want. No one must think in these overly confining straight jackets of the ill effects of monogamy that would isolate a couple in what most would suggest is an unrealistic, undesirable, prison of conscience. The deception and subsequent guilt is caused by society's attempt to place onto women the requirements of propriety while relaxing it upon males - a discriminatory plan, intent and effect. Women do not have to buy the garbage along with the marriage. What they must do is to alter the environment so that society, including their mates, do not attempt to force the price onto them of his infidelity, for example, or to prevent her rightful freedom of association that is a baseline critical element of freedom. Social constraints cannot create freedom, but they can modify it to create victims, and it is usually the weaker parties who get harmed. To prevent the "rages of man" who finds that his wife has been unfaithful, society sets up the obscene circumstance that it is only males who deserve the freedom or privilege of infidelity and the wife must carry the banner of fidelity as a show of her virtue. Nonsense! The syndrome is a religious perception that feeds from the Virgin Mary and the Madonna to create unrealistic attitudes from women, about women, and for women that males rarely are held accountable for. It also accomplishes the task of not having to prosecute males when they become enraged, and kill their spouses or the lovers, when infidelity occurs, a great convenience and cost-savings for the State and the nation. No betrayal is "done to a woman." In fact, males don't even think about their women to any great extent or they would not be doing it at all. The solution is to equalize the fidelity territory so that it is not only women who are supporting it, and force men to share in the benefits of monogamy, or not to have the assurance of it at all.

This book is brill as it is all about helping each other. In this story the real teen van comes to MK and A's school.Ashley thinks she is going to win the fashion shoot they shot(so 1 pupil can have a chance to be in the mag! When Ashley goes to winners board she realises it is not herself who won but someone totally different!What is she going to do?

I liked this book because it shows that you should never thinkthat you (Ashley) can win. But even though Mary Kate got picked shewas nice and shared the spotlight with her sister.

In another 2 of a Kind book that reminds me of Sweet Valley Twins,a scout visits Mary-Kate and Ashley's school to choose a one-time model to appear in Real Teen magazine.Ashley couldn't be more excited!She starts turning up at school in sparkly dresses and high-heels.Mary-Kate thinks modelling is silly and playfully teases Ashley over her love of it.There is surprise in both girls when it is Mary-Kate who is chosen as the new Real Teen.Ashley begs Mary-Kate to swap places with her,but after MAry-Kate is conjoled into agreeing ,she starts to regret it.

I would give this book 6 *s(stars) if I could. It is entrancing and funny at the same time.

TWO OF A KIND My sister the super model Reviewed By: Brenda Adams from Tennessee

I give this book five stars because it's a great book about two paternal twin girls. The twins and their best friend, Jennifer Dealber where interested in modeling. The twins both had different opinions on why they wanted to tryout for the modeling contest. With the help of their father, they were able to proceed in the contest. They encountered a few problems but over came them. The reader, will find themselves caught up in the story. Readers of all ages will really enjoy this very cool book!