Characters Books

I purchased this book for my son, a high school student who was assigned HUCKLEBERRY FINN in an American Studies class, and promptly fell in love with it. The commentary is delightful, and the many illustrations (many taken from the original edition,) photographs, prints, cartoons, and maps give a real sense of time and place. Homey details that might not be familiar to the modern reader are explained in some detail, as are customs of the time. The author includes material from Twain's notes and details about his life, always in a manner that illuminates the passage.

HUCKLEBERRY FINN frequently turns up on lists of banned books, and it's interesting to read of the controversy that dogged this story from the beginning. The particulars of readers' outraged sensibilities might change, but the response this book has always engendered suggests the timelessness of Twain's targets: ignorance, cruelty, hypocracy, racism. The story is a clear-eyed yet subversive look at a society in transition, and a relentless skewering of treasured myths concerning childhood. These themes remain as troubling today as they were in the 1840s, the supposed setting of the novel.

This book is an excellent resource for students and teachers, as well as for those of us who love Mark Twain's stories. The book itself is beautiful, with high quality paper and binding. A worthy addition to every library!

The greatest American novel, still. The country it sees is still in front of our eyes. The Americans it shows, we still are, though we live nearer to highways now than rivers. Twain's tale can be read both intellectually (yuck) as symbolic of the American quest for masterlessness (see Studies in Classic American Literature by D.H. Lawrence) and as a kid-on-a-raft-let's-see-what-happens story. Art and fun. Not an easy achievement to tie those two rascals together with one rope. Master of structure and flinger of fun though he be, the most exciting reason to read Twain is the language. The book is a hundred and sixteen years old, the writing ain't --"Steamboat captains is always rich, and get sixty dollars a month, and they don't care a cent what a thing costs, you know, long as they want it. Stick a candle in your pocket; I can't rest, Jim, till we give her a rummaging. Do you reckon Tom Sawyer would ever go by this thing? Not for pie, he wouldn't. He'd call it an adventure-that's what he'd call it; and he'd land on that wreck if it was his last act. And wouldn't he throw style into it?" --One caveat: Be careful the illustrations don't mess up the pictures the author can put in your head with his sentences.

Mark Twain at his best...great pictures and annotation...that are first rate. Due to time restraints, I have only skimmed the book. What I have read is great. It is a Norton book...always-great editions. If weight means anything, then this is a heavy-duty book. I look forward to reading the entire book after graduation in the spring. In addition, it even looks good on the shelf....

No repeats of the due praise by previous reviewers. If you have never read Huck Finn before, do not start here, the annotations would make it difficult to read with a curious eye to the margin notes breaking up the flow, like watching a DVD movie with the director comments turned on. But do come back when your done a non-annotated version (or even audio); travel down the river again with the annotations by your side, here as lengthy as the book over again, a whole new magical worlds awaits in the margins; you will discover the hidden depths and meanings of one of the most important literary works about America ever written. An amazing book lovingly produced.

Mark Twain opined that a classic is a book everyone wants to own but nobody reads!
However if you want to read Twain's best book with a full
critical apparatus, an introduction over 100 pages and excellent
illustrations this is the volume for you!
Anyone teaching Huckleberry Finn in high school or college should make use of Michael Patrick Hearn's well researched notes
which make this volume required reading.
I have read all of the Norton Annotated Classics and found this one (along with the Sherlock Holmes volume) the best.
Huckleberry Finn deals with the tragedy of 19th century slavery as Finn helps the black slave Jim escape down the mighty Mississippi river. In Huck's odyssey down the river he also travels from boyhood to manhood.
Twain's use of dialects is amazing as is his dissection of prebellum southern/southwest society rife with violence, bigotry, child abuse and cruelty.
Norton is to be commended for their series of classics opening up new ground for all students of Mark Twain. Excellent!

Our sub six year old children enjoy Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on the Disney Channel, so we purchased this DVD for road trips. The TV show and DVD compliment one another like you would expect.

I ordered this for my son who is 21 months old. He loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and knows all the characters. The book is very short and keeps his attention long enough for us to practice counting. He loves this book.

As a homeschooling mother, I have a difficult time finding readers for my 4 year old. He is eager to learn, but there isn't much available reading at his level. Dick and Jane are horrible, but these books, featuring his favorite Disney characters are perfect. There is a great deal of repetition, and pictures that give clues to what the words say. No, at this point it isn't really "reading", but kids need this kind of book to encourage a love of reading. Otherwise they get bogged down in the nuts and bolts of phonics, and "learn" that reading is all work and no play. As it is, my little guy brings me these books every few hours, and reads them to me. He reads them to everyone he meets. He is excited to read, and even feels ready to tackle harder books.
My older son never had any of this type of book. At the age of 6, he is well advanced in phonics, and can read any word you put in front of him. However, he is intimidated by books. He doesn't enjoy reading them at all. He is catching on, as I have been introducing him to these readers however, since they are so easy, they guarantee success.

I highly recommend these to parents whose children are "ready to read" but need easier texts than most early readers (or easy readers) provide.

My son LOVES Mickey Mouse and loves this book! It's a fun counting book with great, colorful pictures!Plus they learn about locations as well.
"Are we at the beach yet? No, not yet!" Then they show pictures of the desert, a rain forest, a regular forest, Antarctica, etc. Perfect for the Disney fan!

I bought this book for my 3 year old daughter who is a fan of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse t.v. show. This book did not grip her attention in the slightest, and she has not wanted me to read it again. It is not a bad book in terms of early reading skills, but it does not follow the pattern of the t.v. show. I find "Over the River" in the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Early Readers to be a better book.

Like the first 'Zits' treasury, this book will provide you with a lot of laughs, and you will probably want to return to reread the strips again in the future. I enjoyed this book immensely and plowed right through it in two sittings, even though I had planned to stretch it out over a week.

My one quibble with the book is that several of the strips are exact duplicates of strips from the first treasury.

If you have or have had teenagers, you need to red Zits. The adventures of all the characters will keep you laughing. They even manage to capture the angst of both parents and teens.

I evaluate funnies by the drawings, and, of course, is it funny or not? With that said, here we go.

In some ways, I think this comic is influenced by Calvin and Hobbes, one of the most memorable and classic strips. This comic strip is drowned in sarcasm and irony. The drawings have a sort of sketchy quality about them, something that makes them loose and very cool-looking. They have shading and scribbly detail, but are still very clear and easy to understand.

It has more than 4 characters, allowing the cartoonist to come up with many interesting character traits. Exploring these personalities is very fun to read. A boy and a girl never seen not hugging each other, a mom, a dad, a big brother, and a boy with a guitar are just some of the characters. I think this strip has about the right amount of characters.

This book is my first encounter with the comic and it is very appealing. I won't tell you to buy it, because I'm not a salesperson. I'm merely telling you why I like it.

In Big Honkin Zits (hey, it's named after ME when I was 16..or 26) you can clearly see WHY this strip by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman is one of the fastest growing and most popular strips EVER.

The best way to explain it is: it's on the same quality level as Bill Watterson's Calvin & Hobbes at it's funniest, most irony-laced and visually comedic BEST. Once again we have Jeremy...the self-absorbed 15-year-old who is constantly (in his view) humiliated by his parents' mere existance (except when he lowers the posture and briefly show he really cares). The strip shows things from the adult point of view but ALSO does a good job of pointing out how a teen might view the parents (his parents ARE dorky).

There are several reasons why this strip is such great COMEDY, and holds up so well in a treasury form such as this. The artists use a story-line of sorts (akin to the story-line Watterson would use where a given daily strip would stand alone but is part of a group with a theme). The shorter strips work as well as the longer ones. As in Calvin & Hobbes we often see things from the teen or parental view in the form of a fantasy (his father dressed like a clown; Jeremy with huge ears after his girlfriend mentions his ears are big).It's a strip that shows character evolution: his girlfriend finally gets her braces off; he goes to his first real rock concert; sneaks into his first teen porn film etc.

But above all it's the world-class visual comedy, character facial expressions and actual irony-heavy comedy that makes this strip among the best EVER. Since there are tons of strips I'll share one that is my favorite. Jeremy's mother reads an article that says "the average teenage boy thinks about sex once every eight minutes." They look at each other and each says "Wow." She thinks: "That much?" He thinks: "That's all?"

You're going to want to read Big Honkin' Zits again and again and each time you're going to laugh as much as the first time. SUPERB selection of a SUPERB strip that happily continues to quickly grow in circulation, artistically and comedically.

Jeremy returns in his second treasury, combining strips from the books "Don't Roll Your Eyes at Me, Young Man!" and "Are We an Us?" Not much has changed since the first treasury. He still wishes his parents would get off his back, he still doesn't understand women, and he still dreams of making it big in music. But whether he's trying to decide what to do about the upcoming Gingivitis concert, win back Sara from a sophomore, support a friend's mom who has cancer, or sneak over to his girlfriend's babysitting job, he's sure to find the humor in any situation.

Unfortunately, I don't get the strip in my local paper, so I have to wait for these books to enjoy it. But I can certainly see why it has become such a popular strip. Everyone can appreciate the humor in the storylines, which poke fun at everyone equally. The visual gages are some of the best in the papers today and make for some of the best strips in the book as well. And it's easy to like these characters because they really do have good hearts just beneath the surface. My only complaint with this book is that the strips don't appear to be in order. It makes for a little confusion when a character is first introduced after we've already met him or her, but over all, it really is minor.

This is a wonderful collection that should win new fans and satisfy the old. Buy it today and enjoy the laughs.

My 2 year old is crazy about Bing Bunny and the adorable Flop! The stories are so appropriate and appeal directly to the toddler mind; calling to attention all the things that toddlers' notice. The crisis concerning the loss of Flop in Bing Bed Time is especially important: one cannot go to bed without Flop! (or in our case, Dee). We plan to purchase all the books. Great quality and excellent illustrations!

I wish Bing were as popular in America as Barney is. These books are a hoot and my son just can't get enough of them. I checked all 8 out from the library and had to end up buying them.

Bing is a bunny who interacts with his stuffed animal Flop. The books show Bing learning colors, foods, potty training, etc., all in the course of a day.

Adults will enjoy the '60s vibe of the cars, houses and furniture in the books.

Maybe an animated Bing show in America will make these books as popular as they deserve to be.

my son loves reading the Bing and Flop books. His favorite is the night time book. teaching him our bedtime routine is so much easier. the colors and shapes are simple and easy to understand.

My daughter Kylie, now 2 1/2...LOVES! LOVES! LOVES! the Bing series! She now "reads" the stories to us since she has memorized them all!

The Bing Bunny books appeal to both my 4-year-old and my 1-year-old. They're simple in format and style but manage to ably relay the oh-so-important-for-kids message that it's okay to make mistakes. "Paint Day" is held together by the repeated refrain of, "Don't spill the water, Bing!" Of course, he does eventually spill that water, but it's okay - it's a Bing thing. In "Bing Gets Dressed", Bing labors to get himself all dressed and then wets his pants. It's a sweet and accepting message for little kids who do make mistakes and need to hear that these things happen. We all love Bing - one read and you just can't help it.

Once this book is opened it cannot be put down. Jennifer Rardin puts some kind of voodoo into her books so that I can't do any work until I've found out what happens to Jaz and Vayl. :)

This is another excellent one from Rardin. I'd suggest starting with the first one (this is the 3rd), but otherwise excellent. Jaz and her companions go after the Wizard who has infiltrated her brother's military team. This is a face paced book. Jaz is incredibly strong, but still human. I'd highly recommend this book and the others in the series.

Very quick read, just as good as the other two.. the only thing was, I ordered it from Amazon, not a seller, and the spine arrived damaged. I didn't want to send it back b/c I wanted to read it so badly! Can't wait for the fourth book!

If you like suspense and well written fantasy together, this is the series for you. Each book is a stand-alone, but since I have strong prejudices about reading series in order, I highly recommend that this one comes third. The relationships between our major players continue to develop, as do several of the characters. None of these people are stupid, and they ring true in their situation. There's not a lot I can say that would not be a spoiler, but suffice to mention that the ongoing effort to stop the Big Bad Guy goes on, and Jaz's family are a delight (mostly). I found Jaz shopping mid-story and finding a sale rather endearing, since in reality one does have to stop the adventure now and then to do something non-adventurous. I'm already looking forward to #4 & 5. NOTE: whoever designed these books and thought to put the # of the book in the series on the spine should be celebrated. This is so sensible, and so rare that it is truly frightening.

Jaz Parks is at it again, this time her brother Dave tags along and well isn't the nicest of all the brothers out there. The whole gang is back adding Dave's team, they are on a mission to assassinate an out of control wizard who is making zombies attack. Jaz has to find out who the mole in their team is, because until then she has to lie to most of the them about the plan to stop the wizard, since he's the one controling the mole, except she wont lie to Vayl of course. Speaking of Vayl Jaz has to convince him that the new psychic is using him for his power. Will Vayl and Jaz's relationship hit a rocky place, Can Jaz stop the Wizard before he hits to close to her?, and what happens when the mole is discovered in the group?

Overall this latest book is full of action packed adventure,zombies who are just plan scary and doesn't dissapoint in romance, magic, and whole lot of Jaz sarcasm. Rardin does a great job in her third book and now I want more!

Too often we lack the humility to let God be God. Our thinking about God becomes a projection of our own limited beliefs and prejudices. This short book puts the issue into perspective.

Anne Robertson, a United Methodist minister in New England, writes, 'There are few things more upsetting than a God who refuses to stay put...'

Anne Robertson gives a wonderful, personal development of the idea of God being bigger and broader than one can possibly imagine. I've often used the example in my preaching that God is more than any idea we could ever have of God; this is rather difficult for many people to grasp, but Robertson has a wonderful way of exploring this aspect of God. It can be challenging and disconcerting, because it is far from the norm in our everyday, quantifiable and measurable world. The modern world is uncomfortable with ambiguity, and often terrified of the unknown. Speaking of the women who went to the tomb on the first Easter morning, Robertson writes, 'The very thing that frightened the women - the unknown and the unexpected - is that same thing that frightens us today when we consider that God might be larger and more complex than our particular experience of God.'

Robertson does her writing in confessional style (this is a literary/theological designation, rather than a penitential or 'just-the-facts, maam' kind of admission of guilt); she goes through her experiences both conservative and liberal, both within and outside the church, and casts her ideas for God's reality and God's presence with us in terms that many readers will find very familiar and easy to relate to.

Her central cipher is that of the God-box. A box is a container (even when it is empty). Most of us (if not all of us) have a container of sorts, into which we pour our ideas of what and who God is. Even professional theologians (or perhaps most especially professional systematic theologians) do not escape the trap of trying to define God so precisely as to render God less than who God truly is, and can be. One crucial element Robertson identifies for the God-box is keeping it open in the context of community - what is in the box needs to be valuable and recognised as such by members of the community, and what other community members have in their God-boxes can be shared and used to enrich one's own. Careful not to make community a panacea for all ills, she nonetheless highlights the advantages, and shows the disadvantages of the 'go-it-alone' approach.

The book continues with a look at common and uncommon images of God, the way in which we think about God both in scripture and tradition, the use and misuse of institutional religion and community, and finishes with a chapter that develops her device of the God-box in context of creedal statements familiar to many Christians through the centuries.

This is a wonderful book to use for private and group study. Well-written and engaging both personally and spiritually, it is uplifting and thought-provoking in many ways.

United Methodist minister, Anne Robertson, has contributed a challenging work, inspiring Christians to examine their beliefs and prejudices. Using a humble approach, she describes her opinion that believers, young or old, new to the faith or "old timers," risk the danger of isolating God by reducing Him to
stereotypes and defining Him through holding to the expected, the norm, the safe. She points out the ways in which we limit God and ourselves by confining ourselves to traditional and habitual responses and practices, and suggests we examine our individual and collective "boxes" in which we place a God too large to be contained. Whether you fall into the category of liberal or conservative, Republican or Democrat, Baptist or Episcopalian, this book will stretch your mind and heart. An easy read, it is a profound work.

Theologians and writers like Leslie Weatherhead, J.B. Phillips, Marcus Borg, Jon Dominic Crossan, Elaine Pagels, and Barbara Brown Taylor have long been helping us to expand our experiencing of God to counteract what seems to be human nature to pin God down to be within our capacity to understand. Anne Robertson throws her hat in the ring with this wonderful little book and encourages us to not only be open to our experience of God but to the experience others have of God as well. She reminds us, through both her personal sharing as well as her teaching and preaching, that our challenge is to keep our minds open as we live, breathe, walk and talk our life in the spirit, allowing God to light our path. As the motto for our denomination has been this past year, "Don't put a period where God has put a comma," our faith journey can be much more vital and life-giving when we don't assume we know all there is to know about God. Thank you, Anne, for sharing your thinking with such clarity and grace.

In her beautifully flowing and extraordinarily insightful first publication, Anne Robertson brings her expansive and Jesus-centered Belief to her readers, challenging us not to allow Faith to become a mere reflection of our own, privatized and sometimes very convenient religious beliefs..or to cut it out if we already have. In beautiful, short chapters, she calls on each of us to allow God to be the One doing the defining. Calling on Scripture, as well as personal and professional experience, she is at once serious and light-hearted, many times using her wonderful gift of "getting to the point" in unique, thought-provoking and often humorous ways. She tackles difficult moral dilemmas and human frailties, and gives us a new, more open way to look at them. She throws the gauntlet down to those who co-op God for their own private advancement, for the "my way or the highway" type of sectioning that modern religions can break down into..leading to personal and sometimes national wars: if both sides fervently believe God is on their side, one side (or both) has placed God in a box. This book will help each person of Faith blow off the lid to see the bigger picture, and help prevent one from closing off to many of God's Creation's wondrous aspects. As she says in discussing the tensions caused by different types of services (organ music; drums and guitars; skits, etc.), "Recognize that your way of worship isn't the sum total of worship itself." The Prelude alone will make your realize you are dealing with a writer and thinker of the first order in Anne Roberston..a fresh, new and most welcome voice in Christian letters. You'll be wanting to continue on immediately! As you proceed, you'll think you can hear God saying, "Finally, someone gets it!" Blowing the Lid off the God-box is a delightful read, and Anne's fervent belief in Love as the basic building block of all existence wafts across the pages like the scents of blossoms in the spring winds. When you finish this book, you'll realize that by offering it, she is telling you she loves the reflection of God in you, too.

This book is a shortened version of the TV episode, "Blue's Big Birthday." It's interactive, as well as has the clue game of, "What does Blue want for her birthday?" Like the show, it features Steve, Blue, and the gang, and introduces Blue's turtle, Turquoise--although Blue doesn't name her in the book.

This is pure "Blues Clues," pure and simple. Blue is having a birthday and we are asked to give a hand. The format is like that of the excellent TV show. The art work is quite well done, the text simple and easy for the little ones to follow. This is a fun book to read with your preschooler. This entire series is quite good and I do recommend them quite highly.

It's party-time for Blue --- it's her birthday! The "Blue's Clues" house is fully decorated, with plenty of balloons, confetti and more. We arrive just a little early, so we help to get everything ready for the party. And there's a game of Blue's Clues as well --- Blue needs a present.

This is a good story --- it's a lot like the TV show and the text is readable, but sufficiently complex that it should keep kids that are used to the level of the TV show engaged. Kids will also enjoy seeing Steve, Blue and all the fun party stuff.

This a great book. If you kids love Blue's Clue. They will love this book.

There is also a wonderful video that goes along with this book. It is wonderful. Blue's Clues - Blue's Birthday

I got this for my little boy's 3rd birthday. He loves Blue, and loved this book. We read it every night, and every night he loves to find Blue's clues and show me all the things he remembered about the story.
Great buy!!!

If you want to find facts fast, this is the book. Indices of every story. Clarkson has done an admirable job!

THE CANONICAL COMPENDIUM will become a Sherlockian's constant companion. It's a gold mine for the Canonically inclined, but certainly not just for those Sherlockian wizards who know the saga backwards and forwards, upside down and downside up. Any reader who wants to know more about the Sherlock Holmes stories will be helped by the compendium because of the way Stephan Clarkson has structured his presentation of all things Holmesian. I was especially impressed by the story indexes, one for each of the sixty wonderful tales.

Calabash Press has produced a beautiful book that's big enough to contain a staggering amount of research but still not cumbersome to just pick up and browse; the compendium is a handsome volume that's bound -- by the publisher -- to last a lifetime.

Behold the fruit of pensive nights and laborious days (Or vice-versa). This is a helpful, splendidly accessible, and thoughtful compilation of Canonical people, places and things by a second-generation Baker Street Irregular of impeccable pedigree. Although the alphabetical lists are as individual and quirky as Sherlock Holmes's own, Clarkson has a genius for minutiae and a brain of the first water. Never get caught in a trivia contest with this man! Highly recommended.

"The Canonical Compendium" is the answer to a maiden's prayer! (provided, of course, that the maiden is a Sherlockian) With this book in hand, you will be able to answer any questions you might ever have about the Canon. Buy it!

There are many wonderful features to the Canonical Compendium, but four in particular set it apart from other index tools I have used. The first is its indexes to the indexes, which makes it easy to find the various categories and subcategories. The second is that the references are given in context, so that the researcher can find out immediately how the name or word is actually used in the story. This arrangement also spares the researcher from having to know the context in order to find the item in the first place. A third feature is the page layout and size of the book. The spacious two-column format allows the eye to scan the page quickly and accurately, and the book stays open to the page you are working on - no trivial matter on a crowded work table! The book's size also prevents concealment by any Gilchrists who might be tempted to use the Compendium to cheat on Sherlockian quizzes! But the greatest feature of the Compendium is Steve Clarkson's sense of humor. Take this reference item, for example: "Dog, Lady Brackenstall's, ignited by Sir Eustace. This is the only mention of a hot dog in the Canon." The Canonical Compendium is loaded with these little gems, making it the reference volume you will use with a grin on your face. How did I ever function as a Sherlockian without this book!

I first read this book back in 1975. I read the entire series (in order), and couldn't wait to get my hands on the next one. It took tremendous fortitude not to read one in hand while searching for the next in line. C. S. Forrester also wrote a book named "The Captan from Conneticutt" which is equally good reading fun. Five stars??? I think not!!! I rate the entire series of Hornblower books seven stars!!!

This is a great book and definately one of the best Hornblower books ever. All the ingredients for a great adventure story. Exotic locations, a mad dictator, romance, hardship, friendhsip and the big ship to ship dual with the Natividad is one of the best action scenes I've ever read (and I read a lot of Action/Adventure).

The whole Hornblower series is brilliant and I would recommend them to anyone who enjoys good rattling yarns.

I can't believe that there are not more reviews here for these books, since they are among the best popular novels ever written. I first read them in my dim and far away past, lead to them by my love of historical novels. I believe these three were written in the late 1930s while England was under the shadow of the Nazi march to dominance. Naturally tales of the war against Napoleon would resonate, but the books have lasted because of the quality of the plotting and the characters. Forester excelled at setting up unsolvable problems for Hornblower with clever solutions that keep suspense high and satisfy the intellectual needs of the reader. The interplay of the characters is excellent. When I was reading these books, my father told me that some of the stories appeared in the Saturday Evening Post, and that he remembered people talking about them all over town. These are great books if you like history and a good plot. I doubt they will ever go completely out of fashion. (Note: These books are much better than the video series about Hornblower. While interesting, that series has some laughable period details and has elevated Hornblower to almost superhuman status. It's the Hollywood version. Compare that to the production value and details in the movie Master and Commander and you will see what I mean.)

Captain Horatio Hornblower is a collection of three short novels originally published in 1937 and 1938 as "Beat To Quarters", "Ship of the Line" and "Flying Colours". All are set during the Napoleonic wars roughly between 1807 and 1811. The great success of these stories led Forester to write a number of Hornblower prequels and sequels, all of which are still read widely. It also spawned a long list of successors, some of which are excellent although none fully measure up to Forester in my opinion.

Beat To Quarters introduces Hornblower taking HMS Lydia into the Pacific Ocean to insight a rebellion against the Spanish. The story takes a number of twists including Hornblower finding his ally is a madman, a change in the political situation and the introduction of Lady Barbara Wellesley, the fictional sister of the Duke of Wellington.

Ship of the Line finds Hornblower commanding HMS Sutherland for a cruise in the Mediterranean. Hornblower not only must face the French but he must deal with a superior officer who would like to see him fail.

Flying Colours begins where Ship of the Line ends. Hornblower is a prisoner in France and must find a way to escape.

I thought that I knew these stories fairly well having seen the 1951 film Captain Horatio Hornblower staring Gregory Peck. However the novel is quite different in several areas. Perhaps what surprised me the most was the level of violence, sex and swearing that was included in the novel. I hadn't expected the violence to be as graphic, the sex to be as obvious or the swearing to be present at all. The novel has a gritty realism that was not matched in the genre until the 70s.

Captain Horatio Hornblower was written when Forester was in his thirties and before he had thoroughly polished his craft. While it might have a few rough edges it is a tremendously powerful, action-filled novel. The shy, self-doubting, self-deprecating but outwardly implacable Hornblower is one of the great characters of adventure stories. If one were restricted to reading only one novel of "wooden ships and iron men" then that novel should be Captain Horatio Hornblower.

"Captain Horatio Hormblower" was first published as "The Happy Return" in 1937. It was then renamed "Beat to Quarters." These books, unfortunately, stop on the return to England. But "Beat to Quarters" is available on Amazon.com. There are more reviews there.

Another great book from Roberta Gellis in the Magdaline La Batarde series. She manages to keep you on the edge of your seat. I recommend this series to anyone who enjoys historical mysteries.

Certain that I will enjoy this book as much as the other Madalene La Batarde series once I check it out of the library. Advise anyone who wants to read it to check it out at their local library. $87.88 is outrageous and stupid. My recommendation, Amazon should reign in booksellers who are trying to artificially inflate prices. Sure they deserve a mark-up, but get real. I laughed when I saw these prices. May the booksellers have a well stocked and dusty shelf of nonsellers.

This is a mystery novel set in the Middle Ages, part of Roberta Gellis' series with Madeleine la Batarde and a worthy addition to the series. As a mystery it is enjoyable both in terms of the puzzle presented and in terms of solution without the scientific evidence we are accustomed to accepting. (No fingerprints, much less DNA) However, it is also well worth reading for the glimpse into life as it was lived in the Middle Ages, which can be surprisingly modern in some ways and just as surprisingly incomprehensible in others. Ms. Gellis has a truly fine grasp of what the dry history must have meant to the people who were living it and a talent for conveying the feel of it so that the reader feels he or she has had a chance to visit the era rather than be lecturec about it. For instance, she can convey both the insanitary conditions and the people's total acceptance of those conditions as "ordinary" life. That is a talent in the writing that is extremely enjoyable.

This is Roberta Gellis at her best. It has an intriguing plot with many surprises. The Magdalene La Batarde series are generally very good, but this is possibly the best yet. The historical setting is as enthralling as ever, and the fix the Bishop of Winchester finds himself in can only be solved by the genius of Magdalene and her women and her faithful Bell. If you like a very entertaining mystery this is great.

Gellis' books in this historical series, of which this is the most recent, are all enjoyable reads. While one gets a bit tired of the female protagonist continually reminding everyone in sight that she is a prostitute/whore, nevertheless, the implications of Chains of Folly advance the story through the increasingly intricate machinations and intrigue going on around her to the questions posed in the first volume, and played with intermittently in the subquent ones: Can Madelaine continue to develop her menage of interesting people to provide a semi-respectable and secure place of resort? Or, will the secret in her past be discovered? What will then happen to her? Will her noble protector help or abandon her? What will her jealous, difficult lover do? Because of these questions, in one sense, this particular book in the series is a filler; in its own right, it is a fascinating account of the political and military situation in medieval England and how the leading characters in the story schemed and battled for position and security. Buy it, but look forward to the next volume also.