Montana Books

July 1999.

That summer was blistering hot and full of anticipation. Waiting for my beautiful son to arrive into our arms from Korea.

I had just finished up working full time in a children's Day Treatment program. I wanted the summer to "nest"...

to prepare for my son's arrival.

I spent the past two years of my social work career, day after day, listening to the stories of children.

Suffering.

And when permitted the children would allow me to enter their world and join them on their healing journey.

This work provided the daily miracles that can so easily be missed in any other setting.

Kids laugh, they pull pranks, they love to open gifts, they are still just kids in spite of the worst that humanity can toss at them.

Not even three weeks out from this counseling job, I picked up Angela's Ashes.

I don't know why... I just did.

In Frank McCourt's book, I found comfort. I found that optimism grows like a lotus flower out of the mud. I found the voice of an angel in the poverty stricken dirty streets of Limerick. I found the voices of all those kids who spilled their secrets behind my closed office door... lightening their load while I tried my best to make their world better... one kid at a time.

Frank McCourt is a ruddy angel with an acerbic wit and a gift for seeing things as they truly are.

I love ruddy angels.

This is a book that needs to be on everyone's to read list.

Yes, it is that good.

McCourt's child protagonist and his over-riding optimism, his natural-born inclination to make the best of things, makes an otherwise grim tale not only bearable but uplifting and heroic. Despite the daily, brutal grind of poverty, this child still manages to experience, wallow in, simple joys. Due to McCourt's honest voice, I felt every one of this kid's untidy, conflicted emotions. I LOVED this kid.

But after reading some of the criticism here, I think some people forget that this is first and foremost a MEMOIR. Memoirs are subjective by nature. So if McCourt's personal experience shows prejudice toward the Catholic Church, or if he seems to present a "stereotype" of the drunken, morose, Irish----that's HIS viewpoint----naturally. If you want a more balanced view don't read memoirs! Read academia! (It's like reading an autobiography of a politician and complaining that it's too political).

I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone who loves to read. The naysayers included. It's not a pretty story, but it IS heroic.

Definitely one of the best written books I have ever read. The stunning simplicity and humor he used to depict the heart-wrenching account of his childhood is just truly brilliant. This book would have you crying and laughing. I love it and would highly recommend it. I think its a masterpiece and a MUST read!

Theres a reason someone decided this was good enough to be a movie. Frank McCourt has an amazing voice on paper. Highly recommended for the "ponderers" of our generation. Please read his others-Well worth it!

The basic problem with it is that while McCourt's life of poverty in Ireland is interesting and there are a couple of dozen well written passages and anecdotes, the work is atrociously edited. All the more galling for the lack of good editing is that this was McCourt's first book- he needed the help. The book is about 450 pages long and the 1st 300 pages deal with his first 6 or so years of growing up. We get the same images of infant death, Irish blarney, drunken dad, suffering mom, stalwart Frankie, and colorful Eriniana. The problem is that early childhood is necessarily the least interesting part of a life because a) the percentage of real memories per year is very low and b) the remembered is rarely cogitated upon enough to produce any coherent thesis of its import or meaning to a life.

At describing these things McCourt is excellent. The scene of him and his brother getting bananas from a vendor in Brooklyn and his mom thinking he stole them is excellent, BUT such only works its charms once. After about 50 pages we get the idea already: McCourt's early life was bleak- it's as if he wants us to really, really know he suffered. The opening page or so at first read seems to poke fun at the Irish habit of bemoaning their woes, but it quickly becomes apparent that McCourt intended no irony in its felicitous prose. He truly wants the reader to know the Irish suffering is on par with that of Jews, blacks, and American Indians. By going on for 300 pages with this the reader starts to turn off about a third of the way though, then skimming between the Godotvian feeling anecdotes of misery.

Things only pick up when Frank reaches his teens- he gets various employment, has a falling out with his mom and her lover, rues his dad's departure, loses his virginity to a consumptive girl who dies, then heads off for America. There are many moving images and wonderfully non-stereotyped characters. The scenes with his tubercular lover are priceless, yet their whole affair is accorded a mere couple of pages vis-à-vis the dozens allotted the repetitious sufferings. A good editor would have told McCourt he had an intriguing 1st draft, but told him to cut the early years down to 100 pages, and double the teen tales to 300 pages. That 400 page edition of AA would have deserved all the acclaim the canonical edition has, while also being over 10% leaner.

This is the main reason why the film version of the book is actually better than the written version. That said, it's far from a great film, but it more judiciously accords the interesting portions of McCourt's life, with about ½ the film on the early years, and the rest on the teen years. As a writer I've often said that the poor practices of editors, publishers, and critics have had a disproportionately deleterious effect on contemporary literature. A bad editor either does not realize a gem that falls in their lap, passes on it, or butchers it, or they get a diamond in the rough, like AA, but have not the sense nor insight to demand the necessary revisions. Toni Morrison has made a career out of having her ill-edited novels published. Yes, she's gotten acclaim, but once dead her trip to the canon will be fruitless because the poor editing of her work will become ok to speak of. But, McCourt was not Morrison- he was a first time author- his editor should have done a better job.

I am not a mountain climber, spelunker or even a camper, but I loved this book. You don't need to have an outdoor passion to appreciate the incredible story. Being able to get a glimpse into what the human body and mind are capable of is fascinating. And, seeing how so many reacted under the most disastrous of circumstances was unbelievable. I could not put this book down. It was as good as any fictional mystery I've read and kept my undivided attention for the few nights it took me to devour it.

Krakauer's thrilling memoir about summitting Everest will give you a new perspective on what high altitude mountain climbing is all about. It's not so much about skill; it's about endurance -- the willingness to endure weeks of the greatest discomfort: food, oxygen and sleep deprivation while gale force winds blow in subzero temperatures. Krakauer's fast-moving book is both intelligent and visceral. His poignant portraits of his fellow climbers and his stories of their fates will move you. One warning: the captions in the photo section include spoilers, so avoid reading them unless you can't wait to find out what happens.

Into Thin Air is a true account of a fatal expedition to the summit of Mount Everest in 1996. Jon Krakauer, a journalist and hobby mountaineer, went with a group of climbers on their quest for the summit in order to document the effort for an American publication. Due to bad weather, some poor choices, and competition between summit guide companies, four of the five teammates in his climbing group never made it back down the mountain.

The book seems to be a way for Krakauer to purge some of the demons that have plagued him since Everest, but also a tangible way to factually account for how disaster struck the expedition. Krakauer takes great pains throughout the book to honor the memory of those climbers who perished during the descent.

I learned so much from this book. I never understood how risky climbing such a high peak was - the freezing cold, the unbelievably thin air, the tiny ridges which must be navigated, the crazy interdependence you must share with the other climbers on the mountain. Without bottled oxygen, most climbers would never make it to the top and back. The incredible lack of oxygen at high altitudes causes swelling in the brain, leads to fluid seepage into the lungs, etc. Combined with the freezing cold and the probability of bad weather, it's a miracle that anyone makes it up the mountain and back down in reasonably good health. The more I read this book, the more I understood how truly crazy you have to be to undertake climbing Everest.

I also found the commercialization of climbing Everest utterly mesmerizing. Experienced guides can charge clients $70,000 a pop to guide them to the summit, and competition among guides for business is cutthroat. So, in some cases, you may see guides who are taking risks to get clients to the summit because they've anted up the money AND because guides want a high success rate of getting clients to the top. (A success rate they can later emphasize in order to drum up new business.)

This would all be capitalism as usual, of course, if getting to the top of the mountain wasn't such a risk of life and limb. Krakauer mentions on more than one occasion that one could frequently see corpses on one's way up (or down) the mountain, a sad fact of how dangerous the endeavor can be.

Although this book isn't a pleasure to read (it's more of a clammy-hands, up all night kind of venture, as you are desperate to complete the book), the story is gripping and true. Krakauer goes to great pains to demonstrate the veracity of his account, with footnotes and a lengthy response to those who have criticized his documentation of events. At heart, the man is a journalist, and he fact-checks via exhaustive interviews with other climbers on the mountain and cites from interviews individuals have granted to other outlets to bolster his account.

I found it a fascinating tale of one of the deadliest seasons the mountain has ever seen. Not to be missed.

"..I hoped that something would be gained by spilling my soul in the calamity's immediate aftermath, in the roil and torment of the moment I wanted my account to have a raw, ruthless sort of honesty that seemed in danger of leaching away with the passage of time and the dissipation of anguish."

As an avid mountain climber in his youth, Jon had always wanted to climb the Everest. However, as he grew up his dreams faded away into the practicality of a family life. All that changed dramatically when Outside magazine, where he was a contributing editor, commissioned him to write a story about the commercialization of Everest, and agreed to fund him to go all the way to the top as part of Rob Hall's guided expedition of 1996.

The expedition ended in a disaster, when on summit day, a storm blew up out of nowhere and several members of Hall's expedition, as well as Scott Fischer's guided expedition got stuck on the slopes on the way back from the summit.

Five people from the 2 expeditions died as a direct result of the storm, including the two leaders Hall and Fischer. Of course, Jon and many others survived through that difficult day, and many (including Jon) successfully climbed the summit.

Into Thin Air is a chillingly personal and detailed account of this episode. Jon's book gives a detailed description of all the people who were on the peak at that time and the incidents leading upto the disaster and beyond. At times his too-honest approach doesn't hold back from questioning the judgments of several individuals, some of whom died, and many of whom are still alive.

Jon is equally critical of himself, and hasn't spared himself in his analysis of the events around the calamity. "My actions - or failure to act - played a direct role in the death of Andy Harris. And while Yasuko Namba lay dying on the South Col, I was a mere 350 yards away, huddled inside a tent, oblivious to her struggle, concerned only with my own safety."

Into Thin Air raises many difficult moral questions, wrapped inside the tortuous circumstances in which these individuals were coping with the effect of lack of oxygen to the brain. Instead of choosing to answer them in his own way and make judgments of right and wrong, Jon chooses to lay every fact in front of the reader to let them form their own conclusions.

Jon's book is a must read for those who aspire to challenge themselves physically, by going to the Everest or otherwise. But it's also a must read for many of us who encounter situations in our lives where we have to make instant and tough decisions in circumstances where our intellect and emotional control can be excused for failing itself, and where each action can significantly impact the lives of others. While Jon's book isn't a moral guide of any sort, it does force us to introspect by introducing us to an extreme situation which most us of would likely never encounter.

Into This Air is written in a fast paced narrative style, almost like a fiction thriller with some drama thrown in. Go read this book -it's guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seats.

P.S. : The title of this review is borrowed from the name of Scott Fischer's adventure company.

It's interesting to read all of the articles criticizing Jon Krakauer, saying he painted himself in a heroic light, that his book is a giant ego trip, and that Anatoli Boukreev's book is so much more accurate. Many of these so called experts seem to assume that the only way to believe Krakauer, is to NOT read "The Climb". How do any of these reviewers know which account is what really happened? They weren't there. Both books are well-researched. Although, "The Climb" is co-authored by someone other than an eyewitness. G. Weston DeWalt takes Boukreev's word as if it was gospel. He does interview others, but nowhere near as many people as Krakauer. Why is Boukreev more credible than Krakauer? As a matter of fact, in most recent printings of "Into Thin Air" Krakauer rebuts the claims that DeWalt/Boukreev make. There seems to be no response from DeWalt that I can find. And if you carefully read Krakauer's book, while sometimes critical of Boukreev, Krakauer also points out how heroic Boukreev was going back out in the storm. Armchair climbers need to stop and think before they jump to conclusions. Want an accurate account of who might be to blame for what happened that day? Ask someone who was on the mountain: Ed Viesturs. I did.

One thing is for sure: Pullman certainly has a gift for imagination, and that is what makes this book as wonderful as it is: mindblowing imagination that still manages to connect itself with real-world philosophy.

My heart pounds every time I read this. I'm simply stunned at the creative plot this has and the wild myriad of settings. It's chilling and beautiful all at once.

This book was pretty good, with some fairly imaginative parts to it, but I wouldn't consider it a classic by any means. Unfortunately, the other two books in the trilogy are not good at all. I would recommend either reading just this book, or not reading any of them. They only get worse from here.

What a very powerful boo,. Very well written. I was not prepared for the cruelty toward children nor for some of the graphic fights, but it was a brilliant book nonetheless.

Philip Pullman has done an excellent job of using a compelling and exciting story to expose the dark truth about an organization that continues murdering and torturing people to this day. Anyone who thinks the hidious actions of the Catholic Church happened only in the middle ages needs to look a little harder. In Central and South America millions of women are held in bondage by the mind control perpetrated by the church, telling them that birth control is a sin, resulting in untold numbers of children being born to women who are already living in poverty. Many of these children die an early death because medical care is not available to them. If this is not murder and torture for these women to see their children suffer, I don't know what is. In addition, for an untold number of years the church swept under the rug the plight of children being molested by priests, who were moved around to keep their incidious actions undisclosed. Is it not torture for a young boy to be raped by a person who he has trusted? Rape robs these children of their dignity and self respect. It was not the church, but the courage of the victims and actions of the courts that exposed what was going on. But what of the children in other countries that do not have the judicial system that the United States has? I applaud Philip Pullman for his resourcefulness.

My interest in the His Dark Materials series stemmed from watching the movie adaptation of the first book, The Golden Compass. And while I was biased because I saw the movie before reading the book, the book turned out to be far better than the movie ever was.

Pullman creates a fantasy world that instantly engages the reader, and keeps them wondering, What will happen (and what CAN happen) in a world like this? The story follows a young girl as she embarks on the adventure of a lifetime through a world full of unique creatures, intricate subplots, and enough mystery to keep the reader wanting more. Some might think that this book is just an extended child's fairy tale, but I disagree. The Golden Compass (along with The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass) delivers enough fantasy to entertain a child and enough philosophical food for thought to entertain an adult, making it an enticing story worthy of both audiences, large and small. While this book can stand on its own (without books 2 and 3), I highly suggest reading the entire trilogy - it's worth it.

One other item I would like to mention is the story's discussion of Dust, the Authority and religion. While the series does create a very strong distate for religion, this distate stems only so far as the religion defined in the book (the Magisterium). I'm sure many will argue that the His Dark Materials series insults and rebels against Christianity and other modern religions, but they are wrong. This book is a fictional fantasy tale that emphasizes a corrupt religious group solely for the purpose of the main character's difficult quest. Pullman has no intentions of turning readers against religion with his stories. The Golden Compass (along with the other His Dark Materials books) is nothing more than a unique fairy tale crafted up by the amazing and talented mind of Philp Pullman. Any reader who believes the books to be "blasphemous" is merely too insecure with their own religious beliefs to enjoy a good fairy tale.

I waited for almost 3 weeks to receive this book. The seller rated the book as very good and charged me about 5.00 plus 3.99 for shipping. All together my bill was 9.41; however, 3 weeks later I received a wrinkled covered and bent paged book with a charge of 1.00. The seller didn't apologize for the delay nor for the tattered book, and I never did see the missing four dollars. This was the first time I have ever been disappointed with buying used books through Amazon.

I purchased the 25th anniversary edition after ready an bit of the new introduction, and was really excited to read the book and didn't think that I would be left feeling disappointed. I was wrong - the book seemed to drag, I found it rather fragmented, and just as the story started to get "good", I was at the end of the book, and found myself wanting more, when there was nothing more.

It is written well, but, I would have to say, I really don't understand what all the hype is about.

I was hesitant to pick this up, but I am so glad I did. Plath beautifully wrote her story about a woman's undefinable mental battles combined with the demands of instant perfection from others (academically, socially, career-wise, and talent-wise), her own insecurities, and her own desires to be what she wanted on her own terms (something that didn't happen in her generation.) I could really relate to Esther in many ways, and I was swept away with the beauty in which it was written. It was interesting to be someone on the outside looking in on someone who was on the inside looking out. It was also interesting to get a glimpse of the struggle professional and intellectual women faced with the demands of 1950's housewife society. This was an amazing read.

Before I go into criticism of The Bell Jar, I will say that Sylvia Plath is an excellent writer but you can tell she's more of a poet than a novelist. That having been said, I felt absolutely no connection with any of the characters in this novel. Esther just seems unsatisfied 24/7 and never wants to connect with anyone. The whole premise of the book is just dark, depressing, and disturbing. It sounds like Sylvia Plath wrote this like a personal diary and replaced her name with Esther Greenwood. While reading this, I was asking myself, "What goes on in this woman's mind and what makes her think this is alright to show to the general public?" Nobody wants to relax by reading a book about suicide, cutting yourself, depression, etc. This book is out-dated because the teenage suicide rates in the 1950s weren't as high as the ones today which should give teachers a reason not to have students read this for an assignment. Plath tries to present suicide as a rational solution to any problem in "The Bell Jar." What if a person who has considered suicide read this book? This is NOT a classic at all. Classics have memorable stories and characters that we as the readers can connect to. "The Bell Jar" makes no connection at all to the reader. Sometimes authors have to know what their limits in writing are when it comes to what the general public wants to read. I don't recommend this book to anyone, especially those dealing with depression or any other similar problem.

One might think that a novel about a young college woman's experience with madness in the mid-20th century would come across as dated or even quaint. On the contrary, as I read I found myself nodding emphatically, and even calling up friends to tell them about passages I'd read that were particularly familiar. This reaction emphasizes The Bell Jar's staying power after half a century; any ambitious young woman who has struggled with anxiety about their future, or felt like a square peg in society's round hole, will find themselves identifying with this novel.

The story is heavy with the weight of the author's suicide; in fact, the novel is so close to Plath's own experiences that it wasn't published in the United States until after her death, as she was afraid of hurting the real-life people who were thinly veiled as characters in the novel. While the Bell Jar is an important novel in its own right, it will also give readers a more nuanced perspective on Plath's poetry.

The Bell Jar sheds light on psychiatric care in the 1950's, under the stifling expectations of a woman's role in post-war America. The novel explores themes of feminism and mental health without being didactic; Esther's insights feel relevant and real today, while revealing much about the society in which Plath herself came of age. Some find heroine Esther Greenwood's descent into mental illness to be depressing, but I found her story to be ultimately life-affirming; Plath avoids nihilism by not merely focusing on Esther's breakdown, but also her recovery.

You needn't have spent time under "the bell jar" (Plath's metaphor for the extreme anxiety and depression felt by the young protagonist) to appreciate this novel; Plath makes the workings of Esther's mind accessible and real. Plath's matter-of-fact style makes neurotic thoughts and suicide fantasies feel almost ordinary; Esther's struggles seem like a perfectly natural response to a world full of date hypocrites and phonies. Some readers may empathize more than others (a friend told me "it's like we all become our own version of Esther Greenwood while we're reading the book"), but it's difficult to be unaffected by what has become one of the most iconic novels about mental illness, feminism, and the youth experience.

I'm not squeamish. I've read and seen hundreds of horrors books and movies and have not really been bothered by them. However, there is one part in this one that disturbed me.

Because of that, I almost stopped reading the book less than half way through it. I'm sure it won't affect you the same way, but one of the other parts may. I am going to finish reading Intensity, but only so I can get to the happy ending. I can't wait to put it down so that I can hopefully forget it.

Somehow I feel cheated that the book only covers one day. The book jacket blurb even attempts to downplay this fact. It is an irrational feeling, but it persists. However, the book is really kind of short so that may explain some of it.

Because of the length of the book, the characters are really not `fleshed out' as much as they could be. However, they are described enough so that you do feel empathy for them. At least that holds true for the ones that die early on.

The main character almost reminds you of one of those dumb blondes in those movies that keep on doing stupid things that only gets her into further trouble. Koontz does however explain her actions so that you can see how it was only unfortunate circumstances that lead her deeper and deeper.

If you like unsettling feelings, then go ahead and read the book.

This was my first Koontz book and I listened to it on CD, so the narration may be playing a role in some of my negative opinions. Her voice was phony and grating when she spoke as Vess. I pictured her putting her index finger under her nose like a fake mustache for more "effect". Anyway, my comments.

The story was good enough to keep my going, but as many others have said, I think he spent far too much time on irrelevant details, such as the much talked about escape scene. Chyna's mother and lover were a little too thin and Vess became that way after the first few chapters. We knew who he was and what kept him going ("intensity"). Got it. And yeah, there were some bits of fate or luck that some considered unbelievable, but that adds to the suspense (e.g. narrow escapes in the house, etc). In my opinion, there wasn't anything that was over the top in that regard. Overall, the pacing was the biggest problem with the story.

I may be in the minority here, but I also had a problem with style. Misplaced and overused adverbs (how many things were done "ferociously"?), fancy words ("behemoth" was used to death), over the top metaphors, and descriptions of mechanical devices that seemed to have been pulled straight from technical manuals. Seriously, has anyone ever uttered the words "engaged my safety harness", let alone three or four times in a 24-hour period? What's wrong with "fastened my seat belt"? Or simply turning off a light instead of "extinguishing" it?

And the description of the door hinge was way too technical, as was the compare and contrast between a revolver and semi-automatic pistol and their respective ammunition capacities, which Chyna performed in her mind as bullets whizzed past her head. At times I was convinced he was trying to impress with his deep knowledge of a subject and it felt clumsy. There were many more instances of this that escape me now, but you'll know what I'm talking about when you read it.

Anyway, I'll try more Koontz books in the future, but I was somewhat disappointed in this one.

False Memory WAS my top Koontz book but Intensity takes the cake. There are twists and turns during the whole book and no fluff at all. It keeps you guessing up until the very end!

It's a must add to your list!

This is the 3rd Koontz book I read, and it was pretty good. The heroine of the story was excellent and compelling. I despised the villain, which is the goal of the author, so he succeeded. This book could easily be a movie (if it isn't yet).

Six Chilling Nightmares I love horror if it is believable. Intensity is everything you want for an entertaining evening during a snow storm and stormy nights. The beginning was well played and in proper text with the book and the ending was a shocker. A great book to read that is easy to understand with a plot that you might never forget. This story is close to the truth representing murder itself, with spine chilling moments that persuade you to stop reading to think for a minute. I loved this book and it deserves six stars. What more can you ask for in a chilling horror book? It has everything you need for a night alone next to a roaring fire or perhaps a nice corner in the basement. I love comedy horror but this book had no room for humor and the horror throughout the book was intense.

One of the best books I have read (listened to) in a long time. I read Bridge Jones' diary several years back and really enjoyed it, but this was even more fun than I remember.

I listened on audio and Barbara Roseblat does and amazing job bringing Bridget to live. Adored her at it.

It's got a nice mix of everything romance, career, friends and tons of humor. At the very end I found myself laughing histerically listening to what she wrote in her Christmas cards after having a few drinks. It's absolutely hillarious.

I will definetly give this one a listen to again. Probably on my top 10 list. Only down side and is I got out of library and would like my own copy. V. difficult to find. An absolute treasure that I hope to find. (Unabridged with Barbara Rosenblat)

Adore this book. Read it every year. It has gotten me through break ups, break downs, and life in general. Thank you Bridget.

Bridget Jones is a very memorable and enjoyable character. You never know what kind of antics are up her sleeve. It's alot of fun and will keep you smiling! It's pretty close to the movie but of course things are a little different and closer to the book version.

I read both this book and the first before I watched either movie. Both were great movies; even better books! It's the same old thing, the book is always much better than the movie. More of the plot reaches your eyes and is left to great imagination. I loved these books so much!! I'm so ready for more of Helen Fielding's books!

Bridget seems not to have grown since the first book and, frankly, sometimes seems very childish. The author relies heavily on characters failing to communicate their feelings in order to allow everything to fall apart and still be salvagable in the end. A common literary technique and nothing to be ashamed of, but nothing here really to be proud of either.

I enjoyed the reading, but I wouldn't read a second time.

This is a wonderful book. Thomas Harris writes with class and there are some sections of the novel that are just so realistic and chilling (Dolarhyde's childhood memories), that one must marvel at Harris's writing ability.

I would say that the first 80% of the novel is brilliance, and maybe the last 20% falls a little flat in comparison as the scenes have that feeling of "same old, same old" to them.

A very strong book, and nearly the same level as Silence.....

This is the book on which Harris' writing career was predicated, and I think his recognition is well-earned.

While hardly groundbreaking, this fast-paced suspense novel wraps up every chapter with a cliffhanger. The writing is leaner and more fast-paced than the later books in the series, and I think that's a good thing.

Dolarhyde, who is maybe a little cartoonish, is nonetheless entertaining to read about. He seems to develop a split personality, one of which is the bloodthirsty dragon, while the other is the socially awkward young man who finds himself falling in love.

Between Dolarhyde, the infamous Hannibal Lecter, and the emotionally vulnerable detective Will Graham, Harris has struck upon three strong characters, each of whom do the heavy lifting of entertaining the audience at times.

I would recommend this book as a page turner, and as an introduction to the character of Hannibal Lecter (although, after Silence, the series really goes downhill).

This was a fantastic book, better than the movie. It was in great shape for a great price.

Red Dragon is an excellent book. Thomas Harris is a master of creating suspenseful stories. The characters that Harris creates fit into the story perfectly. Thomas Harris takes the reader on a psychological rollercoaster ride for the entire novel. Overall, Red Dragon is a must read novel. A+ for Thomas Harris and Red Dragon.

Early Hannibal the Cannibal.


Much like the later Silence of the Lambs we have a serial killer to catch of the rather strange variety, FBI political machinations, and the need for the help of the very scary, even while in prison Lecter.

Not as good as the later book, but if you like that quite a bit you should find this quite good, too.

Phenomenal read! Very, very easy to get through. Superbly written. Kind of like an evil version of the Harry Potter world... except, well, not. I loved it. Proof that not all must be roses and fluff to be wonderful and magic! This book was part of a series that I just couldn't put down. Highly recommended when you want something entertaining and consuming with lots of Djinn.

At one of my summer camps I had noticed a young lady of 12 reading this book, during lunch. I make a habit of asking the children about camp; what they like most, and least - that sort of thing, for the sake of improving what, honestly, is very difficult, camp is that good. I asked about the book she was reading, and she provided the nicest positive thoughts: about the characters, the story, etc. Being a fan of this genre of book I decided, as a result of her recommendation, to read the book. Wow! Never underestimate children. Wow! A very excellent adventure indeed. No need for me to reveal any of it as the other reviewers have already accomplished that. True, there are demons, magicians, and ordinary people, a variety of good and bad. That's similar to what is real in this world of ours. Good usually wins - I like that. Mr. Stroud did good too.

Like some other series, Bartimaeus is not simply for the younger generation. A wonderful and addictive read, I found many sleep deprived nights to be a symptom. Not of the horror within the book, but because I couldn't put it down! I had to read just one more chapter; and then another, and so on.

I'll put it this way: I bought all three books less than a month ago. I'm finishing up the last book, as I write this. As much as I need more sleep than I've been allowing myself, I wish there were more to come!

Highly recommend to anyone from 10 years old, to a few decades, too!

This wasn't the best book that I have ever read, but it wasn't bad. The use of footnotes is annoying after the first few. I don't agree with the other reviewers that say this is better than the Harry Potter series. I feel that the HP characters were much more developed and much easier to care about and feel like we know them. Unlike a lot of reviewers, I actually did like Nathanial, and could understand his motives, but he still wasn't that well developed. I did not like Kitty however, and even in the 2nd and 3rd books, never feel a connection to her. It is an okay read if you LOVE fantasy and LOVED the Harry Potter books (although it is a very different story, and I have to give credit to Stroud for that, because I had initially thought that 'young wizard in London' would be a HP knock-off, but it's not.) But if you love stories about magic mixed with the everyday world, you will probably enjoy this series as a light read. I did think Bartimaeus was rather funny.

If parents are worried about Harry Potter's occultish undertones, they should not let their children near this book. It's basically about summoning demons.

One of the best books I've ever read. I've shared it with many, but it will remain in my library.

The depth, insight, and experience lacking in most books are found here. As an African-American woman, Lalita Tademy has the life experience that the majority lacks. Genuine empathy and insight is very hard to come by, but Tademy has it, and makes it come alive in her female ancestors. I actually felt depressed when I finished this book because I wanted to continue tagging along with her characters. Thank you for this amazing gift. BRAVO!

I am another reader, leery of "Oprah Books". I was pleasantly surprised with this one. This book was a fascinating history lesson for me! The project Lalita took on is something a lot of people have been doing lately especially with the help of the internet. Researching genelogy has always intrigued me. Lalita took this one step further and filled in the gaps of her research with a fictional story that was so good, it was hard to tell the difference between fact and fiction. Lalita began with Elisabeth who was born around the turn of the 19th century and progressed forward with Suzette, Philomene and Emily. Each woman felt the hardships of life as a slave in Louisiana but they also found a way to get what they needed to live as well as they could during their oppression. Tademy includes pictures, letters, bills of sale in her book that help give her people a voice to share their lives with us. Despite all the prejudices and oppression these women had to deal with, they still came through their hardships with their heads held high. I enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.

I purchased this book on a Friday and finished reading it on Sunday afternoon. I couldn't put it down. I banned my kids from my room and soaked in the tub for 2 hours just so that I could get some uninterrupted "me" time. This story was wonderfully told and had my imagination fired up. I felt like I was there. I'm looking forward to reading Red River.

The story of her family history is very interesting. I enjoyed the book, the character development could have been better.

Always heard about the man and the book but it was difficult trying to follow and understand. Gave up three quarters of the way through. Did learn a little something though.

Forget about Covey and the habits of highly effective people and any other book you have ever glanced at to try to pick yourself up and guide yourself out of the rat race and have a look at the greatest specimen ever conceived of the self-help genre. The Prince is a mysterious, multi-layered magnum opus with shocking and provocative insights into politics, psychology, religion, and life. Not for the lazy or shallow reader.

This review was submitted on the web page presenting Mansfield's translation.

I have been using Wootton's translation of The Prince in a university program where the texts are set by the faculty. This year we changed to the Mansfield translation and I've requested that we return to Wootton's.

In his attempt to provide an "accurate" translation of the Italian, Mansfield made the mistake of many translators in overlooking the clarity of his English prose.

For example, where Wootton writes, "he increased the strength of one of the most powerful Italian states," Mansfield writes, "he . . . increased the power of a power in Italy." (15) There are other odd uses of diction in Mansfield, for example, where Wootton speaks of a "founder," Mansfield uses the word "introducer." (23) And though concise in places, Mansfield has a tendency to write long sentences, perhaps in imitation of the Italian, where Wootton is more to the point.

If you're still not convinced, compare the following passages:

Wootton: "So, too, with those who, having been private citizens, were made emperors of Rome because they had corrupted the soldiers. Such rulers are entirely dependent on the goodwill and good fortune of whoever has given them power. Good will and good fortune are totally unreliable and capricious."

Mansfield: ". . . as also those emperors were made who from private individual [sic] attained the empire through corrupting soldiers. These persons rest simply on the will and fortune of whoever has given a state to them, which are two very inconstant and unstable things."

I ordered this book for a college class. It arrived on time and in great condition.

Machiavelli's "The Prince" is a guide of morality-void techniques for acquiring and maintaining political power and ultimately, political fortune. Written nearly 500 years ago, this blueprint for tyranny is just as relevant today. As his compass, Machiavelli uses history, both ancient and contemporary. In 500 years, no one has proven him wrong. Here's a flavor for you innocents out there: "For, in truth, there is no sure way of holding other than by destroying, and whoever becomes master of a City accustomed to live in freedom and does not destroy it, may reckon on being destoyed by it". War is Machiavelli's wet dream: "A Prince, therefore, should have no care or thought but for war, and for the regulations and training it requires, and should apply himself exclusively to this as his peculiar province; for war is the sole art looked for in one who rules". Espousing the virtues of the noble lie, Machiavelli follows up with, "men are so simple, and governed so absolutely by their present needs, that he who wishes to deceive will never fail in finding willing dupes". And with this quote, I now challenge anyone to dispute the Machiavellian nature of the American Corporate State as written about in Don't Weep for Me, America: How Democracy in America Became the Prince (While We Slept). All the parallels are brought to light, always through the eyes of George Orwell. Get informed. Your city (country) is being destroyed...