Characters Books

This book is one of my favourites out the whole series. Unlike alot of readers, I really like Alisa - I think she adds a strange kind of innocence to the books that instead of being annoying is quite good - it adds some light for a change. Even though the way in which she finds out about being a half witch is very repeative and simliar (and a bit cheesy) to how Morgan found out she was an adopted blood witch, i still liked it because like I said, I like Alisa and the innocence and light she adds to the story. I think it was a very good idea to have Alisa save the day rather than Morgan for a change. I think that it was a good idea of Cate Tiernan's to have the spotlight shared by two characters because she has avoided the irritating predictable problem some books suffer from where there is always one heroic character who saves the day every time. This time, it is alot more varied.

So this book, eclipse, is really good! It shares the point of view with Morgan who is ususally the narrator, and Alisa, who you haven't heard from. Alisa's relationship with Morgan is that she is Morgan's little sister Mary K.'s best friend (getting a little Jerry Springer...) anyhow, Alisa is a blood witch. Mordan's killer father, Ciaran McEwan is trying to destroy Widows Vale with the *ominous music* DARK WAVE! Morgan finds Ciaran and her boyfriend, Hunter, stripps his magick. But the dark Wave is still coming! Will they be able to stop it in time? *FORESHADOWING*

I purchased the Sweep series for my 13 year old daughter in the hopes that maybe she would read. "She hated to read." Well I was amazed, and could not get her to go to sleep, as she would spend the whole night, with a night-light on reading these books. She enjoyed them so much, and could not stop talking first about Cal and then Hunter, that I had to see what all the fuss was about.
Well after two weeks, a book a day, for a girl who hated to read, it sparked my curiosity, so I started reading, and was surprised to find out how enjoyable a Teen book about Teen Witches could be. I am not really into Wicca, but these books are really enjoyable. I am on my fifth book, and my daughter read each twice, and is know on the Circle of Three Series. I have to highly recommend these books to those parents who can not get their daughters to read. These are excellent stories, full of fantasy, horror, and fun.

Morgan is back and so is Alisa. For those who don't remember, Alisa is the girl who is scared by Morgan because strange telekinetic things happen when they are together and she feels Morgan is unable to control her power.

One day, at practical magic, Morgan picks up a Book Of Shadows from the seventies. This is actually on we have seen excerpts from in a previous book. But when Alisa is visiting Mary K. (Morgans younger sister), she steals the book.

The book winds up revealing things about Alisa's family and just who Alisa is. As Alisa begins to deal with her situation, she gets caught up with Morgan, Hunter and Hunter's father as a new and serious danger threatens them and much of Widow's Vale.

The story switches back and forth from Morgan's point of view to Alisa's. There are no excerpts starting each chapter, but there are some interesting quotes. A good book that seems to really move the series towards a conclusion.

On a side note, does anyone else thing the town should change its name to Widowers Vale? Morgan, Alisa and Hunter are all missing mothers. Plenty of widowers and no widows.

over here in the uk sweep is called WICCA. i am a wiican and 14 and im a beginner and i do like these books. it is fantasy wicca but it is buult over fact.
if u want real wicca after u have read these books check out silver ravenwolf, starhawk, dorothy morisson etc.
These books are great 2 read even if ure not wiccan they are action packed.
this book in particular is probably one of the best and at the time of writing this is the latest one published in the UK but i know the other 2 plus super edition will be even better.

If there's one thing Bertie Wooster should never do, it's make elaborate plans to bring estranged lovebirds back together.

And he demonstrates just why in the second full-length Jeeves novel, a screwball disaster saga that sees Bertie confidently trying to fix people's lives. Of course, things go horribly wrong, and Wodehouse's arch, nutty look at what happens next is an absolute gem.

When Aunt Dahlia summons him to Brinkley Court for a prizegiving, Bertie sends his newt-fancying friend Gussie instead -- especially since Gussie is enamoured of a girl staying there, the soppy Madeleine Bassett. But when Bertie hears that his cousin Angela has broken off her engagement to Tuppy Glossop -- and his aunt is in need of money -- he rushes down to assist all his relatives and pals by advising them to feign such sorrow that they're unable to eat.

Unfortunately his plan falls through, and they manages to enrage the cook Anatole to the point where he storms out. Even worse, the prize-giving is a disaster and the wrong people end up engaged -- and pursued by homicidally angry exes. Only Jeeves' formidable brain can somehow save the day -- and Bertie's behind.

P.G. Wodehouse made a pretty good living off of spoofing the upper crust of England, and the subtlely intlligent servants who bail them out. "Right Ho Jeeves" is a prime example of his writing -- some small mistakes rapidly balloon out into a crazy tangled mess, which only an intelligent manservant can rescue Bertie from.

Much of the book's charm comes from its complex plot and series of disasters (such as Tuppy's homicidal rampage). And as usual, poor Bertie finds himself the object of young ladies' affections -- in this case, the appallingly goofy Madeleine thinks he's madly in love with her, when she's not rambling about fairies and bunnies. If there's a flaw, it's that Jeeves' final solution is a bit limp.

But Wodehouse's writing is what really makes the book timeless. It's arch and wry, whether he's describing basic actions ("He leaped like a lamb in springtime"), or goofy dialogue ("But if you were a male newt, Madeline Bassett wouldn't look at you. Not with the eye of love, I mean").

Jeeves and Bertie are the perfect comic team -- Bertie is proud, goofy, and not terribly bright, while the quiet Jeeves is a towering intellect with wry wit. And they're backed by a colourful, small cast of nutty aristocrats, schoolboys, sharp-tongued aunts and cousins, newt-fancying fish-faced men, and a girl who talks about how "every time a fairy sheds a tear, a wee bitty star is born." Yech.

"Right Ho Jeeves" is a hilarious, tangled farce of love, money, jealousy, dinner jackets and the mating rituals of newts. Absolutely priceless, from start to finish.

"Right Ho Jeeves" was first published in 1934 in the UK, though was first published in the US under the name "Brinkley Court". The book is set in England and features Wodehouse's best known creations : Bertie Wooster and his valet, Jeeves. Bertie is the book's wealthy, good-natured and rather dim narrator. He's a member of the "idle rich" and, rather than having to work for a living, lives off an allowance provided by his uncle. He spends much of his time in the bar-room of the Drones Club, is fond of the occasional wager and has an appalling dress sense. Luckily, Bertie has Jeeves, to look after him. Without Jeeves, Bertie's life would be a mess : he makes an excellent hangover cure, his bets usually win and is intelligent enough to rescue Bertie from nearly any situation. He disapproves of Bertie's more garish items of clothing, and will - occasionally - take it upon himself to deal with the offending item.

The book opens with Bertie's return from Cannes, having spent two months on holiday with his Aunt Dahlia, his cousin Angela and Madeline Basset - Angela's best friend. Arriving back at his flat, Bertie is surprised to learn that Gussie Fink-Nottle has been a frequent caller in his absence. Gussie, an old school-friend of Bertie's, is something of a reclusive character : he doesn't drink, looks rather like a fish, prefers country life to the city and is a noted newt-fancier. Gussie has apparently fallen in love, and has - wisely - taken to visiting Jeeves for his advice on how to win the young lady's heart. However, following a disagreement with Jeeves about a white mess jacket purchased in Cannes, Bertie decides to take over Gussie's case.

By sheer coincidence, the object of Gussie's desires is none other than Madeline Basset - who, after the trip to Cannes, has returned to Brinkley Court (Aunt Dahlia's stately home). Bertie sends Gussie off to the stately home in question - though his motives aren't entirely noble. As well as spending time with Madeline, Gussie will also be delivering a speech at the local grammar school's prizegiving day - a job Aunt Dahlia had intended for Bertie. However, when word comes through that Angela has brokern off her engagement with Tuppy Glossop, Bertie and Jeeves race off to the countryside to offer their support. Naturally, Bertie's attempts to ease smooth things over land everyone in a great deal of bother.

A very easy and enjoyable read.

got the blues? melancholia got you in its grip? the prospect of death got you down? jeeves to the rescue! nothing like a good wodehouse read to cheer one up. problem is, the man wrote just short of a million books, and not all of them are good. so where to start? right here, with this book. of all the wodehouse books i've read, this is my favorite, the most consistently entertaining. just what the doctor ordered to smash you in the funny bone and get a smile going on the old face.

If you love Monty Python, Faulty Towers, and the like, you'll love RHJ. The glowing reviews on this page are spot on. This is timeless stuff. And Cecil's reading (if you incline towards the recorded version) is terrific. Laugh out loud funny. I adored every moment!

It is rare that I derive such pleasure from a book, but Right Ho, Jeeves, gave me a delightful surprise. Not only does Wodehouse make an art of the satirical novel, but in the process wraps the reader up in the witty speech of Bertram Wooster and his strange arrangement of friends, family, and butler. Bertram, or "Bertie," as he is commonly known, stumbles through the entire novel with the idea that he alone must bear the weight of being the sole aid to his friends' problems. Despite several attempts at a kind reprimand from Jeeves, his personal servant, ("I beg your pardon sir... What I intended to say, since you press me, was that the action which you propose does seem to be somewhat injudicious."); Bertie continues to give it his best. Among other things, Wooster implements the best intentions while attempting a match between old friends, but with little success: "All he had to do was propose." "Yes, sir." "Well, didn't he?" "No, sir." "Then what the dickens did he talk about?" "Newts, sir."

Despite the playful banter, colorful characters (such as a sensitive French cook), an inept yet lovable narrative voice found in Wooster, and of course, Jeeves, behind all is an incredibly clever satire on the "upper crust," so to speak. Although, admittedly, many readers cannot associate directly with the early-middle twentieth century, one cannot help but feel the idle, privileged and somewhat clueless lives of the English aristocracy seep from the pages of Jeeves. Wodehouse does a wonderful job of capturing the lives of people who have nothing better to do then dabble about ridiculously in the lives of one another.

Indeed, Wodehouse does much to reflect the over-privileged lives to which Bertie and company cling to so humorously. However, what might have become a novel filled to overflowing with hilarity and drama is brought back down to a more substantial level with the constant subtle humor and patronization brought in by Jeeves. "Jeeves, don't keep saying `Indeed, sir?' No doubt nothing is further from your mind than to convey such a suggestion, but you have a way of stressing the `in' and then coming down with a thud on the `deed' which makes it virtually tantamount to `Oh, yeah?' Correct this, Jeeves." The nature in which Bertie and the rest are virtually ignorant to Jeeves' little jibes such as this shows clearly the statement of Wodehouse, how the aristocracy is too self absorbed to notice even the slightest. In short, this is a wonderfully clever novel, which keeps the pages turning with quick wit and snappy humor. I highly suggest it.

This book gives a different perspective on eternal truths. I couldn't read it fast enough although the title says it all!

You can just tell what this book will be from the title... I am not, but I know I AM. At first I thought it was just saying, yes you are... something to be a better person, but no, completely wrong. I know Jesus, the great I AM.
Through out this book you ever page just keeps reminding us how small we are and how great God is. One part to summarize this book best, and what stuck with me the most was when Giglio explained how big this universe is... the furthest thing from our earth, and how many billions light-years away it is, then he went on to explain how far a light-year is. And the God that holds this together cares enough to have a personal relationship with me. The ideas and lessons in this book are truly from the scripture and as you read you can just feel the love Giglio has for the Lord.
This book is definitely recommended for all believers who wish to grow closer to their savior. And recommended to anyone with questions of how great God really is, and how everything here on earth and the heavens above are His.

This book does an excellent job portraying the reality of how big God is and that we as humans cannot begin to compare with him or fall into the notion that the world revolves around us. It was very encouraging reading material and glorified God in His majesty, as He is.

It was very stimulating and refreshing!

This book is great!! It really puts you in your place and sets a perspective for your life. It's not about us and our stories...it's about God's even bigger and greater story!

i am not

I heard Louie speak at a Passion conference and decided to check out his books, and this one was excellent. I liked it better than The Air I Breathe, but they are definitely on different topics.

This book focuses on humility in the truest sense, coming to know who we are in relation to God. Louie does an excellent job of going through examples of how we try to make our story the center of the universe, turning God into a bit player instead of the star. He is a very relatable guy, and I think it helps to hear someone who could very easily think they are a big deal to seriously discuss how we have to conciously overcome that mentality to be servants of Christ.

Just like The Winter Child and The Faeries of Spring Cottage this is very lovely book. Both adults and children will enjoy the pictures and lovely story. This is a must have for all children and Froudians.

Wendy Froud is every bit the genius as her husband. This book is absolutly enchanting. Her dolls and her vision coupled with Terry Windling's adorable story create a world that young and old will want to escape to time and again. A must have for all fans of Frouds and faeries.

An excellent book for children. My daughter loved the heroic faery. The illustrations are first rate. After getting this book for my little girl, I tried out Terri Windling's "The Wood Wife" which is written for more adult readers. I am glad I stumbled onto Ms. Windling's work. Both books were excellent. She is a very good story teller.

The book refers all to faeries, the story is good but what I was interested on was the art. Wendy Froud created the dolls for the story and since my interest is doll making, this was a great book full of details. She has another book named "The Winter Child" in which she uses the same dolls but there is different story line. If you are interested in books with great pictures, this is the one or if you enjoy reading good stories to children you will greatly enjoy it. Wendy Froud is the wife of Bryan Froud the great illustrator of "Good Faeries, Bad Faeries" and "The Faeries' Oracle".

Sneezle, you ask? What exactly is a Sneezle? Well, Sneezle is our little root faery hero, that's who! This is a wonderful book with a very good lesson that teaches us that everyone in life has been put here for a reason. Sometimes it may seem that certain people in life have better luck, are more beautiful, are thinner, have a better voice, etc but this book shows us that there is something special in everyone, even when we least expect it. Sneezle shows us that the pure of heart will always prevail over the forces of evil.

The artwork in this book is also PHENOMINAL (please forgive me if my spelling is incorrect.) Every time I look at the pictures, I find something new. The creatures, the landscapes, the settings are all GLORIOUS! Although this is a "children's" book, I highly recommend it for both the young and old at heart.

I've worked my way through this entire series now, and while the first dozen or so (this is no. 23) were generally well done -- good, reasonably accurate descriptions of London of the 1880s, pointed contrast between Society's drawing rooms and the miserable existence of the laboring classes, vivid character development of both working cops and the elite -- the last few have shown a definite decline. Thomas Pitt, Inspector and then Superintendent at the Bow Street station, and a both very talented and highly empathic detective, has now been stripped of his position by the Forces of Evil (the entirely fictional and extremely melodramatic "Inner Circle") and dumped in the lap of Special Branch, where he's beginning to learn how to be a secret policeman instead of a public one. The "Seven Dials" area of London is a pretty minor player in this one, too; the author should have called it "Alexandria," because that's where Pitt is sent to gather information on a beautiful and patriotic Egyptian woman living in London who is caught red-handed wheeling a dead bottom through her back garden in a wheelbarrow. Also implicated is a high Foreign Office official, which is how Pitt and his "M"-like boss, Narraway, get involved. If the details of the motive for the murder become public, the government could fall, Egypt could erupt in revolt, and Suez might even be lost. Can't have that, right? The action is low-key, the plot development takes its time, and the reader will enjoy the scenery, both internal and external. At least The Inner Circle manages not to appear this time, and it's fun watching Pitt trying to deal with a totally foreign milieu -- even though Perry could have spent a lot more time painting its details.

I never really liked political anything, even in Anne Perry, but I could not put this one down. I finished it in one day. She did not disappoint me!!!! Thanks Anne

elizabeth cohen

Classic murder mysteries rely heavily for both their effectiveness and their appeal on a "slight of hands," and one of the tricks is a set of characters in whom one can become interested enough to relate to them in some way. Another is to create an ambiance that arrests the attention and keeps it. Anne Perry has a great knack for creating both memorable characters and an interesting stage on which they play out their roles in the story.

Her Seven Dials is an amazing recreation of Victorian England in the earlier days of the queen's reign. The era is young yet, and the political turmoil that will set the stage for World War I and the social changes it brings is just beginning. Some of the older characters can remember the Napoleon wars. Thomas and Charlotte Pitt are paradigms of lower middle class life in the period, with their fate in the hands of Thomas's mentor in the Secret Service, Victor Narroway, and their maid servant and her beau, Samuel Tellman, in theirs. The interactions among all of the characters gives as much a feeling for the period as does the mention of hansom cabs, harnesses, and horse manure in the streets. Even the yellow skies and the chocking, smog filled London streets is classic for the era.

Perry's characters are charming and detailed, each a work of art in them selves. The maidservant is spunky, savvy and sensitive, used to the school of hard knocks, and her friend Tellman is gruff, masculine in an "old fashioned" sort of way, and smarts under the unfairness of social inequality and the period's newly arising sense of social empowerment. The stiff, formal society in which Charlotte Pitt grew up and still has family is faced with an erosion of their privileges and with a growing sense that they are on the threshold of major change. They are like dinosaurs waiting for the asteroid to strike them.

All of this sets the background for a puzzling murder of a man who should not really have been where he was at all and certainly not dead. The central characters push forward in an attempt to make sense of the confusing, almost irrational facts. It is this irrationality that is part of the slight of hands. Eventually Pitt must go to Egypt to unravel the mystery by back tracking the murdered man and his alleged murderess.

The venue in Egypt is Alexandria, a city to which I have been about three or four times. The descriptions of Victorian Alexandria might still easily pass for today, although the city today is more Western than Cairo and much more so than Thebes. The description of the rug suq was definitely memorable. The quarrel that leads to a small riot in the book reminded me of the minor violence that occurred among men there and in Cairo in the few days before Sadat was assassinated. Like the brewing sense of political unrest in the book, here too, everyone felt the tension in the air; everyone knew that something was afoot, but no one knew what was about to happen. It was a very tense time, and so was Pitt's Egypt.

I can not for the life of me understand the author's description of malaquia, an Egyptian soup--which I refer to as "frog-pond"--made for special occasions, as "delicious." I found it slimy and green. The latter I could handle, the former I couldn't. The mention of the sound of what seemed like crickets to Pitt, also brings back memories. Actually the sound is not crickets but a similar one made by small frogs in the canals and on the banks of the Nile. It's very restful. All in all, Pitt's trip to Egypt was as memorable for me as for him.

A delightful mystery.

Anne Perry doesn't disappoint in this recorded book. Read well, and easily one for the bookshelf.

Very descriptive and historically accurate. You'll love her vivid pictures of Alexandria. Egypt comes alive. I'm a harsh critic but this work bowled me over.

Travelling for Thanksgiving last year, I picked this book up at a huge truck stop in Waco, TX. I literally couldn't put it down, & immediately went to the better dads website to order my husband the fathers book. For the first time, I finally felt more courageous & confident on how to raise a son to become a good man. In a society that no longer encourages raising boys to become men of character & integrity, I think this should be required reading to have a son! :) I can't recommend this great book enough.....I promise it is worth every penny to purchase it, & then some. Rick also does speaking events & is an amazing speaker. We were so touched by his books, we had him come to our church in Texas to do a few of his seminars, they were awesome! Truly such a blessing to our entire community. Thanks Rick!

Being an only child with a father who was raised with a strong mother and 3 sisters, I was not ready for the differences in raising a son. This is straight forward and real life information. No scientific studies or wordiness. The real deal. Some things I never thought of facing or being an issue. Helped me "love" (v) my son again and lessen the frustration which dominated my mind.

I have read a lot of books about raising boys, most of them written especially for fathers. This is the first book I have come across especially for moms. As a single mother with a son to raise I have been looking for a book like this.

I was having a lot of trouble with my relationship with my 9 yr. old son, so I bought this book (as well as The Mommy Manual by Barbara Curtis), and although I've only just read the first chapter, I've already learned a few things about boys (and men) that I didn't understand before, and I can look at my son with a little more understanding now. I recommend this book to all moms who have sons (or a husband for that matter!) :)

I really enjoyed this book. Although it is written to speak to mothers who raise their children by them selves, as a stay at home mom of a 2yo, I found the information in the book helpful. My biggest take away is to have a conversation with boys while you are moving, it registers in their brains better if you are active with them. What a great tip to help me be a better mom.

I luv Trixie Belden books. I started reading them when i was bored and now i read them all the time!! lol! Well anyway, trixie was gonna be bored all summer w/ out her older brothers. then some rich guy moves in next door and has a daughter. She and trixie become the best of friends. Then they find a runaway kid. And it gets way more interesting. so u better go and read what happens next!

I also read these books as a child and agree that they are engrossing and wonderful for a child to read. These books are hard to find since they are out of print now, but I have been lucky enough to purchase some, and my daughter loves them. What a great read. If you have kids, a great book for any pre-teen girl is the Belden series, or the Donna Parker series.

This book is the direct sequel to Trixie Belden and the Secret of the Mansion, which really must be read first. On the quest to find Jim -- on the lam from his evil stepfather Jonsey -- Trixie, Honey, and Miss Trask arrive in the Autoville trailer park, and the girls eventually find the dual mysteries of Jim's whereabouts and a stolen red trailer converging in one area of countryside. The Red Trailer Mystery does get confusing and could have used a map, but the author summarizes the action periodically, and it sounds natural and helps develop the reader's comprehension and critical thinking.

I think this series gave me an appreciation in my adult life for the benefits of family, community, and enduring friendships.

I was first introduced to the Trixie Belden series a couple of years ago with this book, and while I don't remember all the details of the books, I know it is an intriguing mystery! I have never enjoyed mysteries much, but the Trixie Belden books are a winner with me. My mom found this one at the library and I wouldn't touch it at first because of the ugly cover, but after a few peeks I was hooked! They're so fascinating anyone who loves to read anything will absolutely absorb these books, and I'm sure even someone who's not too excited about reading will have a hard time putting these down! They are so complete and realistic; not at all like some trashy incomplete books available that have no depth. Trixie and her friends are wonderful role models for all kids and even adults, and these books offer good, clean reading that are impossible to stay away from. My biggest problem is that they are no longer published and very difficult to get. I definitely would recommend these books and encourage any kids or teens to read them.

I read my first Trixie Belden book when I was 9 (37 years ago!) and I fell in love with the Belden clan, their farm, Honey, and Jim, and the horses! I can't believe this series is no longer in print. The kids are so normal, the dialogue natural, and the mysteries engrossing. When I read about Trixie, I became a "Bob-White" - these were my friends. Several years ago, I found my old collection in a box and re-read them. My husband thought I was nuts, but I had a ball remembering the plots and characters and feeling like a kid again---solving mysteries with Trixie!

Things are starting to get even more interesting. Ed's relationship with Heather is heating up; Heather broke up with Sam. And Gaia remains unaware about Loki's true identity...

Another great book in a great series.

Really, all of the Fearless books stink, but this one stinks the most....what does it smell like? BORING! I can't believe I started reading these books.....what ever you do DO NOT READ THIS BOOK! You'll hate it! TAKE MY WORD FOR IT!

Seventeen-year-old Gaia Moore has never really trusted anyone in her life. And it's pretty obvious why. Her father killed her mother - supposedly - then ran off into the night never to be seen again, and she's living with George and Ella, foster parents who aren't the greatest. Especially Ella, considering she's doing everything in her power to ruin Gaia's life, first by sleeping with Sam, and now by beating Gaia to a pulp - but Gaia got some good punches in as well. But now Uncle Oliver has come into the picture. Gaia's true Uncle. Sure, he may look like her father - after all, they are identical twins - but he's different. Gaia feels that she can truly trust him. Especially after he offers her an offer she can't refuse - freedom from George and Ella and the opportunity to travel the world with her Uncle, without school to bog her down. But maybe it's too good to be true...

As always, Francine Pascal has done a fabulous job of weaving another story starring Gaia Moore together perfectly. Gaia is her usual snippy, karate kid, complete with witty comebacks and enough crazy family members to make anyone's head spin. Readers will be excited to see how Gaia's relationship unfolds with Uncle Oliver - aka Loki - and will find themselves begging for the next installment in the series, KILLER. A must read book for all series fans.

Erika Sorocco
Book Review Columnist for The Community Bugle Newspaper

trust is the perfect name for this book. about every character that we have come to know starts reexaming their relationships and their lives. breakups and new relationships start. then gaia
and ella have a fight and low and behold she actually can fight.
of course this gets back to loki in an most unexpected way and
he is seeing red. this book was really good. not as good as number 9, but it comes in a close second. highly recomend.

"Trust" is the eleventh instalment in Francine Pascal's Fearless series. Gaia Moore, the girl without the ability to feel fear, is struggling to come to terms with the relationship between her thirty-something foster mother Ella and Sam Moon, the boy Gaia secretly loves. After a fight with Ella results in a shock defeat for the martial-arts expert, Gaia is soon wondering who her seemingly pathetic foster mother really is. With her friend Ed now involved with her worst enemy Heather Gannis, Gaia has no one to turn to but her mysterious `Uncle Oliver'. His offers of freedom and escape are extremely tempting, but are her Uncle's intentions really as innocent as they claim to be?

This was a fast-past, action-packed story that was both entertaining and exciting and will keep you on the edge of your seat until the end. I would recommend this book to any fans of the Fearless series. I also appreciated being allowed to glimpse a more naïve side to Gaia. The characters' relationships grow more and more complex with every book and as questions are answered, still more arise. I read #7 - Rebel and wasn't sure I really liked the Fearless books, but after reading Trust I've decided I love them. Gaia is such a complex, fascinating character although I initially dismissed her as cold and not very likeable. I can wait to read the remaining books in the series.

There is simply no better way to immerse yourself in the semifictional London Holmes' lives in. All the rich cultural refernces are listed, plus every minor inconsistency in a continuity line Doyle never did care about. Great reading; adds immensely to the already great stories of Holmes and Watson.

William S. Baring-Gould (1913-1967) was one of the greatest Sherlock Holmes scholars ever. Publishing several works on Holmes publically and privately, this two-volume annotation of the Holmes canon is perhaps his greatest work, and was his last. Published in 1967, the copyright inscription shows that it is held by his widow, Lucile M. Baring-Gould. Baring-Gould himself was a life-long devotee of Holmes in particular, and mysteries in general. He is also noted for the fictional biography of Nero Wolfe, in which he puts forward the idea that Nero Wolfe is the son of Sherlock Holmes, via THE woman, Irene Adler, of 'A Scandal in Bohemia'.

Sherlock Holmes is one of the best known detectives in the world -- so famous in fact, that 221B Baker Street in London continues to get mail adddressed to this fictional character almost a century after he would have died had he been a real person. There are groups of people -- Sherlockians and Holmesians, the distinction between which is rather subtle -- who delight in retelling the tales. There are forever questions and debates about the ordering of the stories; Baring-Gould is one authority often referred to in these debates, thanks to his work on the Chronology of Holmes, used as a framework for this annotated set.

Baring-Gould breaks the time frame into the follow divisions:

- The Early Holmes (1874 - 1879)
- The Partnership with Watson to Watson's first marriage (1881 - 1886)
- Watson marriage to his wife's death (1886 - 1887)
- Partnership until Watson's second marriage (1887- 1889)
- Watson's second marriage to Holmes' disappearance (1889 - 1891)
- Holmes' return to Watson's third marriage (1894 - 1902)
- The end of the Partnership (1903)
- Sherlock Holmes in Retirement (1909)
- An epilogue (1914)

Baring-Gould introduces the series with a 12-part series of essays that look at various aspects of the Sherlock Holmes legend, including foreign translations, translation into stage and screen, and highlights of particular personalities (Watson, Moriarty). He includes a wonderful brief essay by Edgar W. Smith, an early Sherlockian, which asks (and answers) the question, 'What is it that we love in Sherlock Holmes?' In the end, beyond the setting and the culture and the chase, it is the values 'implicit and eternal in ourselves' that we recognise as manifest in Holmes that keeps him an enduring character.

The volumes are the complete texts of all short stories and novels, backed up with an almost equivalent amount of textual annotation, richly accentuated with photographs, engravings, maps, and other graphics (diagrams, coats-of-arms), often taken from Holmesian sources such as journals, playbills, early editions, and even 'The Strand' magazine.

Sherlock Holmes introduces us to a world foreign yet familiar, past yet somehow present -- the stories are very contextually bound yet timeless in almost inexplicable ways, and present mysteries beyond the face-value plots. Baring-Gould's love for his subject is very apparent throughout the over 800 pages of these volumes. Some editions of this book come with a slip-cover.

This is my favourite of all my Holmes books. It is must for any fan of Holmes.

I hope I am not the only one who loves reading Sherlock Holmes but is really annoyed by "Sherlockians" - people who take their Sherlock far too literally - a lot like Trekkies, who take Star Trek just way to seriously. Baring-Gould, it seems, was the ultimate Sherlockian, and this is his masterpiece - a 1500 page annotated, illustrated, and interpreted edition of everything Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - I'm sorry, Dr. John Watson - ever wrote about the subject, plus a healthy dose of his own interpretations and those of others.

I can't remember a piece of fiction recieving as much love and attention as the works of Sherlock Holmes. This edition has illustrations, maps, definitions, references - everything. Anybody who checks the actual weather and train schedules from a piece of fiction just has too much time on his hands. It truly is a work of art, marred only by an annoying habit of Sherlockians to take their subject far, far too literally. The biggest problem I have with the tome is B-G's annoying habit of inserting his own opinions as fact. My other major peeve was his organization of the work, which put everything in the author's own chronology rather than in the order in which the books were published. This makes finding anything a bit of a chore.

As far as the new Leslie Klinger three(!) volume annotated edition of Sherlock goes, I have seen it but not purchased them. Again, shelf space seems to be the major problem here, not to mention the $125 price tag. From a brief look-over, it appears to be a more subdued, up to date, better quality edition, but less exuberant and less fun than Baring-Gould.

`The Annotated Sherlock Holmes' by William S Baring-Gould is easily one of the top two or three best examples of annotated popular literature, as good as, and possibly even better than the most famous annotation efforts by Martin Gardner on the major works of Lewis Carroll.

It is not immediately evident to me that the works of Sherlock Holmes need annotation. Unlike the works of Carroll, there are very few linguistic tricks or cleverly veiled allusions to his English contemporaries. On the other hand, over the course of the last 120 years, there has been an enormous body of work dedicated to the exegesis of Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. There has been probably more of this activity for works of popular fiction than for the next five cases put together. To my knowledge, there is virtually no similar activity on the mystery novels of, for example, either Agatha Christie or the mystery stories of Edgar Alan Poe, to take two authors who bracket Conan Doyle's' stories in time.

It is worth the effort to determine what it is which makes the Sherlock Holmes stories so popular. One of the easiest ways is to compare Holmes to the heroes of his greatest modern imitators, the lead characters of the CSI series, most especially Gil Grissom of the original CSI show, based in Las Vegas. Both characters are `amateur' scientists in that they apply scientific disciplines to solving crimes, and actually do original work in their respective sciences, in spite of the fact that their primary avocation is `consulting detective'. In Holmes case, this was a profession he invents out of whole cloth. In the case of Grissom and his colleagues, the `consulting detective' profession has become institutionalized in the discipline of forensics, where the crime scene investigators deal with things which are beyond the ken of the average detective.

There is an eerie similarity between Holmes and Grissom in that both are very detached from many normal human interactions. Holmes rationalizes this with his theory of the mind as an attic that can hold only so much information. To add new things, old things must be discarded. For this reason, Holmes is blissfully ignorant of the planets in the solar system, but he is an expert on over 100 different types of tobacco ash. Similarly, Grissom is very poor at office politics or romantic relations in favor of his dedication to the application of entomology (study of insects) to forensics, a subject on which he is a nationally recognized authority.

It should be no surprise if the popularity of Sherlock Holmes stories may actually be gaining in popularity, as the CSI shows go a long way to validating many of the scientific principles and techniques used by Holmes. The most famous may be his search for a very sensitive reagent for the detection of blood residues. This is what Holmes is doing when he and Dr. John Watson meet for the first time in the chemical laboratory of `Barts' (St. Bartholomew's Hospital). Holmes explanation of why such a reagent is important in the investigation of crime is verified on practically every episode of CSI, whether it be in Las Vegas, Miami, or New York City. So, not only are we taken by the fact that Conan Doyle had such a good grasp of criminal investigation, but that he was so astute as to realize that such a reagent was possible.

Holmes elevates intellectual competence almost to a level of magic, using that old chestnut that if the difference in the level of technology between two parties in an encounter is great enough, that higher technology becomes indistinguishable from magic. One major difference between Holmes and Grissom is that Holmes has no modesty about his abilities, demonstrated when he belittles' the deductive powers of Edgar Alan Poe's hero in his famous story, `Murders in the Rue Morgue'.

The value of this annotation also increases over time, as the world of Sherlock Holmes is rapidly slipping away from us. These stories were written when the sun literally never set on the great British Empire, stretching across Canada, hundreds of Pacific Islands, Hong Kong, southeast Asia, much of Africa, and that greatest `Jewel in the Crown', India, where Dr. Watson himself served as a surgeon in the British Army in India. Among other things, that meant that if anything could be found in the world at all, it could be found in London. London's scientific and intellectual centers were among the greatest in the world, so it should be no surprise that the world's greatest `consulting detective' should live in London. In many ways, Sherlock Holmes is a far more believable character than his later fictional colleague, James Bond, since England's fortunes as a mover and shaker on the world stage had fallen far between 1880 and 1950.

So, our pleasure is greatly enhanced by being given copious notes on Holmes' London as well as the science of the day. Also very satisfying are the notes that correlate events in various stories. The whole collection is laid out by the fictional chronological order of Holmes' cases.

The greatness of Holmes' character can be seen in the fact that he is probably the model for over half of the great fictional detectives of the last 100 years. While I am not a great fan of detective fiction, I am certain he was the inspiration for both Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot and Dorothy Sayers' detective, Lord Peter Whimsey. In fact, the greatness of Dashiell Hammett's and Raymond Chandler's detective writing may be in the fact that they escape the Sherlock Holmes prototype and create a new style of private detective.

This work of annotation is so good, I am hard pressed to appreciate how anyone can fully enjoy reading Sherlock Holmes without these notes. As with the commentary track on better DVD releases of movies, the notes literally double or more than double the pleasure and rereadability of the works.

Very highly recommended.

Awesome is the only word I can think of to describe this particular collection--there is all the novels and stories with amplifing info on particular items in the story/novel you are reading listed on the sides of the pages, ala footnotes (sidenotes?)--and the supplementary info is staggering, with bios of Doyle, Holmes, Watson AND Moriarty, the history of Holmes on stage, screen and in print, 221B Baker Street info, etc.--these sections take up at LEAST the front 3rd or 4th of the 1st volume alone! If you are a Holmes fan, you MUST find and buy this collection ASAP!

In this "Cat who" installment, LJB does a terrific job of introducing and maintaining tension. It starts out with a sunny premise -- Qwill decides he and the cats need some quiet time to reflect, so that's how he ends up in the bucolic Potato Mountains. The trip begins with Qwill getting lost on the mountain's long and winding roads. The house is bigger and more foreboding than he expected or wanted, and it turns out to be the site of a murder. It rains all the time, often accompanied by power outages. You get the idea. The mystery is intriguing and the story is filled with new, eccentric characters. Best of all, I thought I knew early on "whodunnit," and I was wrong.

James Qwilleran stayed the compulsory five years in Pickax to complete the requirements placed on his inheritance. He is now officially a billionaire. Now it is time to decide what to do with the rest of his life. He intends to go somewhere--a quiet island with a beach or a mountain hideaway--someplace where he can have seclusion and quiet to sort out his options and make plans.

Qwill (as his friends call him) decides on a whim to spend three months in Spudsboro, a small town in the Potato Mountains. It was recommended highly by some friends who camped there recently. Finding a house to rent is always difficult with two Siamese cats as roommates. The only thing he can find is a huge house on the very top of Big Potato Mountain. It was originally built as an exclusive lodge for well-to-do tourists. More recently it was the home of the area's most influential businessman--owner of the local newspaper. It didn't take long for Qwill to discover the house he rented had been the scene of a ghastly murder a year earlier.

I do admire Jim Qwilleran's ability to converse with everyone he meets. He is well practiced, of course, since he made his living for years as an investigative reporter for various newspapers. He knows just how to steer the conversation and just the right questions to ask. He makes people so comfortable that they usually tell him anything he wants to know. Of course, he has an uncanny ability to read people and know when he is being lied to. Within two days of arriving in town, he is sure that the wrong man is in prison for the murder.

The author does an amazing job of making us empathize with Qwill's frustration with the situation he has gotten himself into. He came to the mountains for solitude and a time of reflection. He had no desire to get mixed up in the politics of the region--environmentalists vs. developers. He really had no desire to get mixed up in the mystery surrounding the murder. But...being a reporter for so many years (and truly caring about the innocent man in prison), he just could not resist finding the truth. It doesn't take long. Qwill has learned to trust his instincts--and the instincts of his cat Koko. Together they follow the clues and confront the real murder.

I highly recommend that you get acquainted with Jim Qwilleran through the "Cat Who..." mystery series. You will like him.

This is a great book about a man and his to crime finding clue cat Koko and YumYum. There is a mystery on potatoe mountain on a death of a local well known man. Was the wrong person framed. This book is fantastic except kind of has a dissapointing end. But i loved it anyway. I hope you enjoy this book and look for my other reviews

In "'The Cat Who Moved a Mountain', Jim Qwilleran took a vacation to the Potato Mountains to have a much-needed rest away from it all. It was here he found he had rented a hotel that had been the site of a year old murder. The locals tell him that the man is now in jail. But Qwill finds out that they have the wrong guy! Then, with the help of Koko, he finds the real murderer and lures him into addmitting it was him. Then Qwill has a near-fatal run-in with the murderer. What will happen? I'll let you see for yourself! Enjoy the book!

If you love cats and the mountains, you will love this episode in, "The Cat Who..." books.

Qwill has lived in Pickax County the required five years to make his inheritance official. He doesn't know what to do next. Does he want to move? Does he want to take a job or start a business? He knows he has a lot of thinking to do so he decides to take a journey. He decides he wants to spend the summer on top of a mountain. So he and the cats rent a mountain house for three months.

While on the mountain he learns of a murder exactly one year before. He and Koko solve the murder and make new friends along the way.

I loved this book! You will too!