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This was a bone-chillingly great book, and I consider it number one on my recommended summer reading list. The plot moved at a great pace and just when I thought I knew "who done it," there were more surprises in store for me. For those who love suspense fiction, this book will leave you very satified. Wendy DeVere Austin's book is also written under the title "Leave the Killing to Me." I was so gripped by this book that it left me with a nervous butterfly feeling hours after I finished, wishing there was more to read! To be continued...I hope!

"Still Waters Run Deep" is an outstanding novel not just because it is Wendy deVere-Austin's first publication or because of the detailed characterisation, not even perhaps because it was the first time I brought through Amazon.

Part of the appeal of this novel is the unusual but easy transition between different crim genre. Wendy uses an intelligent combination of professional experience in putting her characters on paper. Her book is engaging,looking at a broad spectrum of fear, she draws the reader along in this fast paced exciting tale.

The intricacies of the plot is forever unfolding, Wendy kept us all in suspense till the very end. Little details about characters and settings created a vivid picture in the readers' mind. The entire book strike me as a carefully woven tapestry with an immensely complicated pattern. Hay Hardy

A very suspenseful book from the beginning to end. I found it hard to put down. The story is fast moving and exciting. A good first from Wendy DeVere-Austin. I'm a fan.

This is a first for deVere-Austin and very good. Hoping this lady keeps up the good work. Good luck Wendy.

James Asal's comic genius has given us ADAM AND ANDY. It is about two gay men in a long term relationship and now marriage. It is simply irrisistable. James is a sweet and kind guy too.

I love gay comic strips. I love Adam and Andy because it is just like what a real gay couple are like. Thank you for creating a book and strip that helps gay people have pride in themselves.

Mr. Asal I heartily recommend your book. You are a genius and we your fans love you. God bless.

Oy vey! James Asal's Adam And Andy is too cool! I love it! Buy it please.

The only flaw I find in this volume is that it is too thin.

As for the rest we have an artist with a personal, essential drawing style depicting with humour the very "normal" life of a very "normal" long term gay couple. Adam and Andy are just adorable, funny, fun loving, witty and honest.
Mr Asal has created two full rounded characters and manages a very wry humour out of everyday situations.

There is no explicit sex. This volume can be safely read by teenagers too.

I have ample reason to be concerned about my health largely because of four ex-wives and the crazyness currently going on in my house between my bulldog (Colonel) and my current wife's annoying tabby (Bobo!). It doesn't help that I'm a beerswilling carnivore and largely a lazy couchloaf. Also complicating matters is the undeniable fact that my brooding spouse is a horrible cook and routinely serves beef-oriented t.v. dinners or worse (greaseburgers from the local fast food joint).

That's where this handy tome comes in. One of the girls from the bar I've been seeing on the sly has been trying to get me to start incorporating more vegetables in our relationship (in addition to the meat) and suggested several books (not this one) to help me get started. While those books had some value, this book really told me what I needed to know about the nutritional values of various vegetarian diets and how to make up for the nutirtion I would be losing by giving up meat.

It's very informative, well-written, easy to understand, but somewhat short on recipes. As I've mentioned, Bessie isn't a very good cook--even when she has cook-by-numbers recipes (which basically means, even if this book had recipes it wouldn't be of much value to her) and that's too bad. Nevertheless, this is a very informative book and has surprisingly convinced me that it is possible to maintain nutrition while maintaining an all-vegie diet. Unfortunately, the recipes in this book (and those I found in several others) have failed to convince me that any of these vegie diets taste any better than the leaves and grass in my backyard.

As a result, I've scrapped the vegetarian route, started cooking for myself, stopped worrying about my health, and I'm staying away from the girls at the bar.

This is an excellent book. I decided to become vegetarian a few years ago both for health and ethical reasons and this one one of the first books I bought - its remained the one I turn to over and over again - especially when friends or relatives questions how healthy a vegetarian diet is and I need to educate them. Some of the most fascinating parts of this book talk about the history of the current meat-based diet and how the government pushed it and helped market meats of all sorts to get people to buy more (to help farmers out). Also though there is great info on how much protien a person actually needs and where you can get it from - its actually pretty easy to get all the protien you need over the course of a day. Since becoming vegetarian (really almost vegan except for the eggs I get from a lady down the street who really takes wonderful care of her chickens) I've never felt better. My husband has even voluntarily made the switch as well (spurred on by a few episodes of food poisoning at the local sandwich shop). Vegetarian is the way to go and this book will give you ALL the info you need to get rolling and keep others quiet when they criticize. Bon sante and Bon appetit!

This book is an excellent resource for beginning vegetarians who are dealing with a lot of new questions -- will this diet be adequate for me nutritionally? do I need to take supplements? what will I tell mom (hee hee)? This book tries to answer all the big questions, and does so quite admirably. It does have a few recipes at the back, which are not bad, but certainly, this is not a cookbook per se. For those looking for a ton of recipes instead of advice, I'd be more likely to recommend The Essential Vegetarian Cookbook (by Diana Shaw), a wonderful book full of tips, tricks, ingredients, glossaries, and 600 low fat recipes, many of which are adaptations of old favourites. Getting both these books would be an excellent beginning to any new vegetarian's bookshelf.

I thought this book was very thorough, yet easy to follow. Every recipe I've made has been very delicious. I was a vegetarian for 6 years before I became pregnant and began to eat meat for fear I wouldn't get enough protein my babe needed. I wish I had this book then, as the authors lay out precisely what you need for nourishment. My son and I now have a great reference so we can be healthy lacto-ovo vegetarians, and possibly convert my husband as well!

Easy to read and a good book to use as a jump-off point for more specific readings catering to your individual vegetarian interests.

A cute story about how children see their dolls and dolls see their children. Perfection is in the eye of the child. And the most worn are often the most loved. Any one with a passion for dolls would love this story.

Absolutely love this book for girls ages 0 to 12 -but most compelling for ages 6-10. This was a favorite of mine when i was young. My 8 year old daughter is so enamoured wtih the story she wants to have a Best Loved Doll birthday. Don't hesitate - buy this book!

This wonderful book captivated me as a child. It is probably my most favorite book from my childhood and I loved it so! I remember so much how I wished I could have owned the best loved doll, and how it made me tear up after my mother read it to me for the first time. I cannot wait to read it one day to my daughter(s)!

"The Best Loved Doll" was the first book I fell in love with as a little girl. Even after I grew up I still remembered this book. When I got pregnant and found out I was having a little girl, I knew I had to find this book. And to my astonishment, I found it and didn't think twice of purchasing it. I can only hope that my little girl will love it as much as I did. A true treasure for all little girls with a good meaning: just because something looks old and is in tatters, it doesn't mean it can't be loved or give love.

I have loved this book my whole life. I think it is a great reminder for today's materialistic youth.

I'm like the rest of the reviews in that I too read the book in junior high. I came from a family of alcoholic, drug addicted parents, and was raised by my grandparents. This book has stuck in my memory for almost 2 decades, and now, in my 30's with a 12 year old daughter, I find myself longing to read it again. With my mother deceased and my father in prison, I want my daughter to read it when she's a little older to understand a lot of the feelings I had as a child. This book is amazing and I'm looking forward to owning it!

This fiction book by Charolette Culin is really good. Claire hates her mother because she won't let her go see her father. Claire loved her father, both of them had the same interests, to paint. I liked Claire because she was very determined.

I liked the paragraph on page #179. I liked it because it shows that Claire is very determined and it really shows that she really like to paint, and she really wanted to show that. Cages of Glass, Flowers of Time is a really great book and I am sure anyone would love it.

After reading this book my question is that, does Claire persue her dream in drawing? I really liked this book because it is very interesting.

I'm 26 years old now and I was in middle school when I read this book I moved away from the state I lived in but for some reason that book has haunted me ever since. I've gone everywhere Borders, Books A Million, you name it I've looked for it there and asked if they could order it. No one could ever locate it. Well I've finally found it and I feel like I've been reunited with an old friend! That book made such an influence on me as a young teen, my parents weren't even alcholic's. But now I have a son going on 9 and I will be sure he will read it when he gets alittle older. And any of my friends that love to read. It may be a youth teen book but I'm quite sure it will touch anyone that has a heart. Good luck finding it, but it is well worth the effort! Happy reading!!!

I guess I'm like alot of others in that I first read this book when I was about in the 7th grade...having come from an alcoholic parent....well let's just say this story has never left my mind.....I stuggled through many years of my own addictions and now after being 4 years sober....I still can't seem to get this story very far a way from my mind....my daughter is 12 and I have searched for the book to give to her with no luck yet...but I am far done from trying! Charlotte Culin did a genious job of putting into words the kind of horror that so many young children and teenagers live with, when living with an addicted parent........it's a hard pill to swallow.....but it does it's work once you get it down....

I was in JR. High school in upstate NY, when this book first touched me. And it did touch me so very deeply. I had been removed from my parents' care and placed in a private school mainly for abused girls. This book was like a lifeline to me. In it's pages, I found courage and a willingness to survive even the worst of my inner turmoil. Sadly, when I left the school, I was unable to take the book with me as I had only borrowed it from the school's library. The story, with all the characters, stayed with me in the years and hardships to come. Last year, for my brithday, a friend mailed me a package. When I opened my present, all I could do was cry and say a prayer of thanks that an old friend had been found. After one long night of reading in bed, I came to the last page of the book. As I turned that page to the back cover, I noticed something written, almost hidden by the inside of the spine. I noticed
M. N. 1988. These, of course, are my initials. As it turns out, this book was THE VERY SAME BOOK I had read as a lonely child. As odd as it sounds, I can remember writing my initials in the book fully believing that the book would be mine when I was ready to leave the school. Of course, I simply thought they would let me have it, since I was the only one who wanted to read it so much. Well, I guess that even the universe agreed that this was to be my book, whether the school liked it or not. The book holds a place of honour next to my Bible on my nightstand, and I still read it often. Thanks to Ms. Culin, who showed such a wealth of understanding into a broken girl's dream of becoming something more. I, too, had that dream. I'm now a mother, a social worker, and a happy woman. This will be a hard day for Americans to deal with. Today is our country's anniversary of Ground Zero. God bless the families of the victims. Please, remember, there is hope in the world. There is hapiness, and some of us find it in the most unlikely places. Like a book about a simple girl who only wanted to create art, find love, and finally find some peace. Don't we all?

I know at first the writing style of the text in the book may throw some people off... but it is what gives the story the actual feel of being there and exploring the crazy chaotic world of meth... great book, wish it was a bit longer, i read it in 6hrs

If you read Crank. The first of this two book series or any other of this authors book. You know how amazing she is. This is just another amazing book to add to this wonderful authors collection.

Yet another excellent book that makes me hate and love Ellen Hopkins. The continuation of Crank which tells the story of a young woman with a baby and her continued fight with her drug addiction with another unexpected and unhappy ending.

this book has taught me a lot of things that will keep me away from this drug and how it can effect people life. Its more life learning and shows tough love. I known people that do durgs and reading this book it remindes me that, we need to help people that do this. Living life like that it really hard and this book shows ratltie. there is nothing fake about this book!

I loved this book , a very good sequel to Crank. It keeps you on the edge of your seat.

This is an excellent book. It really shows you how being a Christian makes sense.

Mr. Colson gives an excellent argument on his experience with the Watergate scandal. He illustrates how if Jesus Christ were just a scandal, then Christianity would have caved-in with the apostles and the first believers long ago.

Neat book.

It is a must for christian reader. Very moving and crystal clear message of what constitute Christian message.

Inspirational writer, Chuck Colson, delivers a heartfelt and moving book about loving God. He refers to R.C. Sprouls "Holiness of God" dvd series, which is a class I'm taking at my church right now. I couldn't put the book down & read it in two days.

This is a wonderful book whether you are Christian or not. It really depicts what Loving God really is. This book has helped me make my decision for Christ. There are many stories inside that really depicts the foundations for loving God. Chuck Colson has incorporated many wonderful testimonies that truly depicts how wonderful this God is.

I appreciate Colson's heart and where he has been in his life. This book is chock-full of stories of his life and ways we can learn to love God. There were a few chapters that seemed to bog down, but overall it's a good read and worth the time.

This is a remarkable fictionalized story of Pan Yuliang, a famous painter. What makes this book unique is the writing style that draws you into the bittersweet life of Pan Yuliang. Yes, she was sold into a brothel at the tender age of 14, but her resilance and luck of united with Pan Zunhua changes her life dramatically. He takes her in as his concubine, and then later as his second wife.

This story does not end there, which could have been a happy ending. Pan Yuliang would go onto study art, and become a famous painter despite her special view of life. She was fiercy independent, painting nudes, and being accepted into universities where a woman had never previously completed a program. She would go to Paris to continue her studies, and live in poverty. Yet, the story does not end there. She would go back to China.

Her life continues, her uniqueness, her resilience shines through this book. You can get a feel for what her life was like, and you can understand her as a person. She goes from the one being rescued, to the rescuer. This is much more realistic than the Memories of a Geisha, and leaves with such a warm affection for Pan Yuliang that you simply must pick up this book and read.

Reviewed by Debra Gaynor for ReviewYourBook.com
The Painter From Shanghai is a fictional account of the life of Pan Yuliang. She was born Xiuqing in 1895, orphaned at five, and raised by an opium-addicted uncle. At fourteen, he sold her to a brothel, The Hall of Eternal Splendor, where her name was changed to Yuliang.
Jinling becomes her mentor, friend, and lover, helping her to adjust to her new life. A government official, Pan Zanhua, buys her contract and makes her his second wife. It was during her marriage that she began painting. The influence of her younger life was a factor in her art. The culture she lived in did not appreciate her great talent for painting female nudes. Her work was considered shameless and pornographic. She was forced to move to France where she resided until the time of her death.
The details in Painter From Shanghai are amazing. Jennifer Cody Epstein uses words to paint a stunning portrait of Yuliang and the China she lived in. Written with beauty and intelligence, Painter From Shanghai will mesmerize readers. In this novel, her husband deeply loves her, but Yuliang was never truly capable of returning that love. Painter From Shanghai is a work of epic proportions.

I have been transported, which is, in my opinion, the best thing you can feel at the end of a novel, especially historical fiction. THE PAINTER FROM SHANGHAI is a captivating journey to an unfamiliar land, culture and time; a fascinating introduction to a remarkable woman. The amazing bonus here is that the main character, Pan Yuliang, child-prostitute-turned-acclaimed-artist, really did exist.

Pan Yuliang was born in China in the early years of the 20th century. Orphaned at a young age, she lived with her opium-addicted uncle, who sold her to a brothel at age 14, for drug money. Unlike the vast majority of women sold into sexual slavery, Yuliang was able to escape. Through sheer force of will and an undeniable, irrepressible artistic talent, she ultimately transformed herself into one of China's most pioneering modern painters.

Not without controversy and challenge: Unable to find models to pose nude for her in China's Confucian-based society in the 20's and 30's, she often resorted to painting herself nude -- gorgeous, lush and provocative paintings that evoke Cezanne and Matisse, and led to fame and infamy both at home and abroad. Ultimately clashing with the neo-Conservative movement in China, just prior to the revolution of 1949, she left China and lived the rest of her life in relative obscurity in Paris.

I was a little skeptical about this book, in the early chapters. How authentic and accurate could all of this be? It certainly read well, but I wondered: Is the author Chinese? (Jennifer Cody Epstein? Chinese heritage doubtful, at best.) Did she live or visit China extensively? Study Chinese history and culture? Art?

These questions were an issue only very early on. As the story unfolded, THE PAINTER FROM SHANGHAI, became an epic novel of place and time, with glimpses of politics and history, and world-changing events in the background of this unconventional woman's incredible personal and artistic struggle to survive and create, to fulfill her own destiny.

THE PAINTER FROM SHANGHAI is thoroughly-researched and richly-imagined by a very talented writer. Turns out, Jennifer Cody Epstein has a BA in Asian Studies; a Masters in International Relations; lived seven years in Asia; and researched extensively for this book during her MFA program at Columbia University.

Enjoy THE PAINTER FROM SHANGHAI as a fictional biography, based on a real life. Allow yourself to submerge in a re-imagined masterpiece, rich with accurate detail and authenticity.

To learn more about Jennifer Cody Epstein and THE PAINTER FROM SHANGHAI, don't miss the Focus on the Author feature interview on [...].

-- Sherri Caldwell, Humor Columnist & Reviewer at [...]
Co-Author, The Rebel Housewife Rules: To Heck With Domestic Bliss!

Xiuqing grew up believing that she was destined to become an artist, the next great female poet or perhaps a talented painter. When her mother died, little Xiu was taken in by her uncle. While he fanned her dreams, his own opium addiction would take the young girl on a very different path. Thus, at fourteen, Xiuqing became Yuliang, one of the girls working at The Hall of Eternal Splendor.

For several years, Yuliang's existence was dictated by the whims of the Godmother who ran The Hall and the men who frequently the establishment. However, after the murder of her best friend, Yuliang's life suddenly changed. She met a man who appreciated and encouraged her natural curiosity and love of learning so that Pan Yuliang's true talents could eventually surface.

If you liked Memoirs of a Geisha, you'll love The Painter of Shanghai. Both stories share the stories of young girls thrown into a world beyond their comprehension who rise above their circumstances. However, I have to admit that I actually preferred The Painter of Shanghai. In life, Pan Yuliang was a courageous woman who followed her truth no matter what the consequences. Her strength and perseverance is an inspiration to us all.

Jennifer Cody Epstein steps into the pantheon of fine contemporary writers with her first book THE PAINTER FROM SHANGHAI, a work of 'historical fiction' so polished in research, so rich in detail not only of the turbulent period in China during the first half of the 20th century, but also in the mysterious social customs of that country, and a source of insight into the changes in the manner in which the visual world was captured by artists as East and West met and married in the art capital of the world - Paris. Yet overriding all of this fascinating information is Epstein's gift for delivering a story of passion and love with a poetic prose style that comes together in this novel in a manner not unlike creating the painting technique that this novel's heroine describes her world. It is a grand feat and a work worth repeated readings.

Westerners may not be familiar with the name Pan Yuliang, one of the more important Chinese artists who influenced the Post-Impressionist art movement, but in Epstein's eloquent novel we grow to know this gifted artist from her birth as Xiuqing in 1895, and her early years as an orphan protected by her opium-addicted uncle who sold her into a brothel at age fourteen. Enough space is allotted in this tale to allow us to learn the traditions of the 'flower houses' and the brutalities and consequences of life as a prostitute, but Epstein is careful to balance the sad with the radiant in the relationship between the newly renamed Yuliang and her beautiful 'teacher' Jinling with whom she has her first love affair, and Yuliang's subsequent rescue from the brothel through the kindness and concern showered upon her by a handsome gentleman Pan Zanhua - the man with whom she not only enters into the relationship of being his concubine, but also benefits from his support of her position as a woman and as an artist.

The story spans Pan Yuliang's life from these early beginnings to her death in 1977, a life that brought her exposure to the West, with awards from the schools of art in China, Italy and France resulting in renown as a gifted artist who just happened to be a woman with a past, the many private and public pains she endured as her native country moved from the reign of the Emperors through the rise and fall of Chiang Kai-shek, the invasion by the Japanese, and the new order of Communism, and the influence of the world perception of art that included defeat of some of the finest artists as the battle of the sexes altered the perception of painting the nude figure as an acceptable subject matter in a climate of global turmoil.

Epstein manages to write as intricately about history and Chinese tradition as well as luminously about the act of creativity. Few writers can match the descriptive language of the emergence of the visual: 'But true art must contain an emotional range that speaks to the viewer. Speaks...not by lulling them into a false sense of complacency, but by probing. Challenging. Even hurting, if need be. Anything to force us beyond life's easier thoughts.' 'Has it ever occurred to you that our wounds are what drive us to create?...What if those who've lost something compensate for it in their work? In that case the damage helps them. It's what compels them to create...And it might explain why the best artists tend to be the poorest.'

THE PAINTER FROM SHANGHAI begs to become a film. But until that happens, this elegant and passionate book is one to treasure repeatedly. It is a work of art. Grady Harp, July 08

I love Pearl Buck's books. She is so adept at taking the reader right into a foreign world and making it understandable. One begins to see how we are all really the same underneath our outward appearances and social customs. In this book, wealtlhy Madame Wu changes the course of her entire family's lives because of her strong desires to ultimately satisfy self. At first, her actions appear to be somewhat self-sacrificing in a certain way. Some readers may find her attitudes and actions quite modern, but there are far-reaching consequences to those actions and one wonders how selfless those actions really are in the end. I found the surprise turn in Madame Wu's relationship/feelings for the exiled priest to be a bit far-fetched for a wealthy Chinese woman of her time, but life can take odd twists and turns. To me this book is a moral tale of actions and consequences. I do not belive she or her family were better off in the end in spite of her taking over the care of the priest's orphans. Very interesting reading...food for thought.

The movie was good but it doesn't follow the book and the book is much better.

I would have never picked this book up if it weren't for my book club. Once I picked it up, I couldn't put it down till I was finished with this book. It is a very moving and thoughtful book ~~ opening my eyes to something else that I would have never thought of reading.

This book is about Madame Wu, who decided to retire from married life at the age of 40. She suggested a concubine for her husband as she believes very strongly that his needs need to be met ~~ just not by her. Her excuse is that she didn't want to bear any more children, but that is just a public excuse, one she offered to everyone who asked. The truth is, she didn't love her husband and wanted to retire from that part of her marriage. Needless to say, it unsettled the entire family ~~ even the concubine was unsettled. It reverberated throughout the entire book till the very end, when everyone seems to have moved onto their own problems.

This is a book on a busy wealthy Chinese family. It is about traditions and ideas, non-traditions, love and finding purpose in life. It is about family relationships between father, son, mother, son, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, friendships, and even between mistress and servant.

Madame Wu never thought she'd find peace and happiness till one of her sons' instructors came along. He was a Jesuit priest and they struck up a friendship based on conversations (which she remembered after his death). He literally changed her life and thought process. From being a woman who always did what she was told, she was liberated to being a free-thinking woman who strove to find peace in her soul.

It is a book that I would recommend to all readers ~~ and it is definitely a book for a book club to discuss! It is a timeless classic novel ~~ and definitely a great introduction to an author that I have heard about but never have read. I can't wait to read her other books!

3-30-07

Wow. I find Pearl Buck to be an author that really holds my attention, and write about complex characters that I don't really always like, but in the end, because of the author's writing and vision, I come to see them as really complex human beings.

This book, in particular, I think is really spiritual. I really wish that I had a book group to discuss this book with. At the beginning, I didn't really care for or understand the main character, Madame Wu. She decides after her 40th birthday party, that her husband can have a concubine and that she can turn inward. In the beginning, this is really quite a difficult concept for me, but in a way, it's also very liberating. It's a form of birth control for her, and also a way to keep her husband satisfied. In the end, Pearl Buck, as an author, really shows this woman to be very multidimensional, and I feel, quite spiritual and not so superficial as I think she starts out to be.

In the background, there are daughter in laws who are more liberated than Madam Wu, and the chafe at the idea of a concubine. They are too modern for that and would not stand for having a concubine in the house. Some of this is quite historical fand relates gently to the communist revolution. Also it is showing generational differences and lack of understanding between generations. In the end, Madame Wu, I feel , is far more liberated than her daughter in laws, no matter how modern they are.

There is also a DVD of this story, and I think the DVD cover is on the book cover that I read. If it shows a white man in an embrace with a Chinese woman, as if they were about to kiss, I want to warn you that this Hollywood image is not really the book at all. And in fact, that picture does not occur in the book either. Really, that image is an abomination of the book.

I do know, by reading Pearl Buck, why she is a Nobel prize winner in writing. For me, it's this. She helps you to see characters (people) that you might really hate or disagree with in real life as real, very multifacted people. And though I might not always come to agree or fully care about her characteres, through her writing, I will learn to understand and respect them more than I would have if I had not read the book. And more than that, Buck weaves in real history and fact and makes is very interesting.

Please read her books. You won't be disappointed.

After reading and thoroughly enjoying her novel, "Pavilion of Women" (written in 1948), it was not difficult for me to understand why Pearl S. Buck earned the Nobel Peace Prize for Literature in 1938. As a natural storyteller, Buck allows one to enter the heart and mind of her main character, the beautiful and accomplished Madame Wu, so fully and painlessly by using simple explanations that seem so effortlessly illumined that they transcend the cultural differences of a mid 20th century China and allow this magnificent multi-dimensional creation to speak as a fully flesh and blood universal woman.

As the title suggests, the plot revolves around the day to day happenstances of the oppressed `pavilion of women' that provides a wealthy Chinese gentleman's `happiness' in the form of siring future generations and keeping him pleasured as befits his rank as lord and master. Madame Wu, the one and only wife, on the day of her fortieth birthday decides quite calculatingly to acquire a concubine for this husband whom she has never loved, allowing her to rid herself within the complicated etiquette of the Chinese upper class of the burden of servicing her husband conjugally. As the mother of four sons, in her eyes and in the eyes of society, she fulfilled her duty as a wife. Fully knowing that she will continue to oversee the management of all who live under her domain, she nevertheless anticipates her retirement with relish, planning to read and self-educate herself within the confines of her father-in-law's well-stocked library. As a mother and mother-in-law, she must tactfully and eloquently steer her sons and daughters-in-law towards a rich and satisfying future in a newer less understood world while still buttressing the Chinese family infrastructure to continue what she herself withholds as traditionally correct.

As China plummets towards modern thinking and communism, Madame Wu discovers that she must make concessions. Thinking to arrange the marriage of her broader-minded third son, she hires an unconventional Italian priest, Brother Andre, to teach languages and the known sciences to better endow her Fengmo with the intellectual assets he now needs to captivate a more progressive bride.

Instead, the self-disciplined Madame Wu finds that she is mesmerized by the foreigner's gentle persuasiveness. With him she explores the idea of the soul and its ever pressing quest for freedom and realizes that throughout her life thus far she played the role of a wise albeit voyeuristic manipulator rather than that of thinking and feeling woman. Her gentle yet intense spiritual love for Andre reinforces Madame Wu's innate strength and enables her to make free, wise and joyous decisions that bring a warm happiness to the inhabitants under her domain.

Bottom line: While the storyline moves along nicely, what makes "Pavilion of Women" an absolute pleasure to read is the clarity of Madame Wu's portrait that Buck allows us to form first from the inner workings of Madame Wu's mind and then from the soaring aspirations of her soul as it communes with that of Brother Andre. Buck's language flows from one `pavilion' event to the next; her style is relaxed and easy to read, the development of Madame Wu's identity both believable and beautiful. Highly recommended for its ability to entertain and depict an alien culture.

Diana F. Von Behren
"reneofc"

This book is very detailed and to the point. It covers all areas of the restaurant business. Then menu planning section is great. It gives so much foresight.

Doug Brown's Handbook is a must-have for all restaurant managers and prospective owners. I wish I'd had this when I first started out, but you can be sure it will be required reading for all my managers!

Ordering directly from his Atlantic Publishing Group is the way to go - it arrived quickly and in perfect condition.

Thanks, Doug.

Now in a completely revised and thoroughly updated third edition, The Restaurant Manager's Handbook: How To Set Up, Operate And Manage A Financially Successful Food Service Operation by Douglas Robert Brown is a solid, no-nonsense, all-encompassing curriculum to teaching oneself the basics of the restaurant business. An exhaustive compendium of step-by-step instructions, advice, checklists, legal issues, as well as encompassing an extensive listing of state restaurant associations (and so much more!) fill the pages of this "must-have" reference for anyone with a serious and dedicated interest in the dynamics of food service oriented small business ownership. A companion CD-ROM with printable versions of all the handy and useful sample forms is included.

this is a solid, almost academic, handbook. it's points you toward the things you need to figure out but you'll still need to get additional information on your local regulations. personnaly, it discouraged me from opening a buisness at this time.

The Restaurant Manager's Handbook is a no-nonsense, coverall manual for the food establishment industry. It's the essence of a successful handbook-no jokes, parables, and preachy lectures, just the facts. If you delve into the heal-thy index for fault, you'll abruptly bump into a page number for an answer, and if you're currently running a restaurant and afraid to appear inadequate, you can load the handy CD-ROM and pretend you're checking your e-mail while figur-ing out the monthly audit procedures or why the beer is flat. I'm not kidding. The next time your favorite kitchen runs short of the daily special or closes down for a lack of permit, serve them a copy of this great reference book.