Ball Books

"The Sweet Side of the Ropes" by Kiernan Kelly

Famous country singer Travis Steel has had enough of the spotlight and the paparazzi. The things that tie him to his hectic life are making him feel bad, so Travis goes back home to Tennessee where his old friend Booger shows him that his ropes can make him feel real good.

Booger is very sweet. What he does to and with Travis is very hot. The storyline in "The Sweet Side of the Ropes" is a very good one.

"Cobalt Dynamus" by H.B. Kurtzwilde

Alous is a performer. With his rope he twists and turns moving gracefully and artfully high above the crowds. Charon and Tonio are looking for a third for their act and they think Alous is the right man for the job. They'll have to convince Alous though.

The things Alous, Charon and Tonio can do tied up in mid air are pretty amazing and erotic. "Cobalt Dynamus" is entertaining and fun.

"A Little Trust" By James Buchanan.

There is an intruder in Brandon's home, so he pulls out his gun and prepares to defend himself against the threat. Then he discovers who it is. What's Nicky doing there?

Fans of Nicky and Brandon from James Buchanan's Cheating Chance will love "A Little Trust". Nicky and Brandon are great characters. I love how they interact with each other. The sex in "A Little Trust" is incredibly hot, which is par for the course for Nicky and Brandon!

Toy Box: Rope is great. Three very different stories with one common theme make it a very entertaining and erotic anthology.

Nannette
reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

Tavernier was noted for the beautiful way he described natural pearls. Several of his notions like "water", "orient", and "mirror" are still in common usage in the pearl world

This book was written in 1555 and it is the earliest surviving book dedicated to tennis - or to any sport, for that matter. Its Italian title is Trattato del Giuoco della Palla, which translates literally as "Treatise on the Game of the Ball". It is a good title because the book is not really about tennis or real tennis, but rather, as the title suggests, "the game of the ball", from which real tennis evolved.

Antonio Scaino da Salò (1524-1612) was a priest in the service of Alfonso II d'Este, the 5th and last Duke of Ferrara. Alfonso (1533-95) was the grandson of Louis XII on his mother's side and Lucrezia Borgia on his father's side.

In the introduction Scaino gives virtuous reasons for undertaking the work, but the real purpose of the book appears to have been the resolution of a dispute relating to scoring which arose between Alfonso and another player. As it was common to wager on tennis matches, the dispute may not have been academic. Not surprisingly Scaino comes down on the side of his prince.

To the modern reader, the book contains an awful lot of waffle and it is not recommended reading to anyone other than an enthusiast. Scaino gives the impression of an earnest student of the game but one who has not played the game and, consequently, some of his information, reasoning and conclusions appear to be mistaken.

But there is much useful historical information on the game as it was played in 1555, which makes it an invaluable historical tool.

There is also some advice which the modern player may find a bit odd, such as what happens when

... the ball bounces off a doorstep (it doesn't count as touching the ground as long as the doorstep is a hand width from the ground and the ball bounces a hand width from the doorstep).

... the ball hits a spectator and bounces back into play (play on, unless it is thrown back by the spectator).

... the ball comes to rest on a roof (it is out if it cannot be reached and in play if it can be reached).

... the ball goes in one window and out another window (it is out if the window is out of reach and a chase where it goes in if the window is in reach).

... the ball lands on a passing cart (the ball can be hit as long as it is still moving on the cart, but if has stopped moving a chase is marked where it hit the cart).

You learn something every day.

Books on houseplants normally give a nice picture a short description of the plant with some cultural hints. I've always been disappointed with the limited information available on these common plants. In my opinion, lack of proper information is why so many people think they have a "brown thumb." Recently, while scanning through the Ball Publishing Catalog, I discovered a wonderful book on houseplants.

Lynn P. Griffith, Jr. Tropical Foliage Plants: A Grower's Guide. Ball Publishing. 1998.

Lynn Griffith, the author, is President of the A&L Southern Agricultural Laboratories, Inc. that does agricultural testing and consulting work for clients in Florida, Latin America and the Caribbean. He has written many articles for technical journals about growing plants based on his trial and error learning and results of the testing he does for clients. This book pulls together his knowledge on the most common foliage plants.

Tropical Foliage Plants: A Grower's Guide is actually written for the grower producing foliage plants for local greenhouses, florist shops, and other stores. Since it is written in easy to understand language, it is also suitable for the hobbyist grower. Griffith provides information on habitat (where the plant originated), uses, varieties, propagation, culture, nutrition, diseases, insect and mite pests, disorders, tricks, and interior care of each plant covered.

The book is organized using the scientific name with the common name given also in the titles. Here is a complete list of the plants discussed:
Aglaonema (Chinese evergreen)
Anthurium
Aphelandra (Zebra plant)
Aralia/Polyscias
Araucaria (Norfolk Island pine)
Asparagus
Bromeliads: Aechmea, Billbergia, Guzmania, Neoregelia, Nidularium, Tillandsia, Vriesa
Caladium
Calathea
Chamaedorea (Parlor/Bamboo Palms)
Chlorophytum (Spider plants)
Chrysalidocarpus (Areca palms)
Cissus (Grape Ivy)
Codiaeum (Croton)
Cordelier (Ti plant)
Dieffenbachia (Dumb cane)
Dizygotheca (False Aralia)
Dracaena deremensis (Janet Craig, Warneckii)
Dracaena fragrans (Corn plant)
Dracaena marginata (Dragon tree)
Epipremnum (Pothos)
Fatsia
Ferns: Adiantum, Asplenium, Davallia, Nephrolepis, Platycerium, Pteris
Ficus benjamina and Ficus retusa (weeping figs)
Ficus lyrata (Fiddle-leaf fig), Ficus elastica (Rubber plant), Ficus maclellandii (Alii)
Gardenia
Hedera (English ivy)
Heliconia
Hibiscus
Howea (Kentia palm)
Maranta (prayer plant)
Peperomia

Philodendron
Phoenix (Date palm)
Ravenea (Majesty palm)
Rhapis (Lady Palm)
Schefflera actinophylla (Umbrella tree)
Schefflera arboricola (Dwarf Schefflera)
Spathiphyllum (Peace Lily)
Succulents: Beaucarnea, Crassula, Euphorbia, Hoya, Sansevieria
Succulents: Cacti
Sygonium (Nephthytis)
Yucca
Other foliage varieties: Acalypha (Copper leaf and Chenille plants), Aeschynanthus (Lipstick plant), Ardisia, Aspidistra (Cast iron plant), Bambusa (Bamboo), Begonia, Caryota (Fishtail palm), Fittonia (Nerve plant), Homalomena (Emerald Gem), Pilea, Plectranthus (Swedish ivy), Radermachera (China doll), Saintpaulia (African Violet), Sinningia (Gloxinia), Strelitzia (Bird of paradise, Tolmiea (Piggyback plant), Zebrina (Wandering Jew).

Strengths

Information is presented in an easy-to-read and well organized format. If necessary, the information is presented in two ways. Example: Temperature is expressed both in Fahrenheit and Centigrade.
Growers will find the technical information needed to grow these plants in a greenhouse setting.
A photographic section shows common problems.
Information is presented on using the plants in interior settings so the hobbyist has enough information to grow them well. This includes giving fertilizer information in terms of "teaspoons per gallon" and light levels needed expressed as foot candles and klux.
References for each plant are included so the grower or hobbyist will have an easier time finding additional information.

Weaknesses
Colored pictures for each plant would eliminate the need of looking up the plant in other identification books.
This book would be even more valuable to the hobbyist grower if a page of abbreviations and their meaning had been provided.
I strongly feel the plants listed under Other Foliage Varieties should have been given more attention. These plants are common in my local florist shops and garden centers.

General Comments

This book will remain on my bookshelves for as long as I grow houseplants! I learned why my effort at growing so many foliage plants has left me less than satisfied with the results. I didn't realize how many plants were sensitive to fluoride in the water or that they were sensitive to alkaline water. As a result of reading this book, I will either select different plant species to grow inside or I will invest in a distilling system. I also learned that most common houseplants need an acidic (low Ph) potting media. Since my local water is very alkaline, all my plants wind up in media with a high Ph. This is something else I must address in order to do my best at growing many common foliage plants.

Those houseplant lovers who collect all the plant species possible will find this book an absolute necessity. It will be one of your most used houseplant books.

This book was perfect for my son last yr when he lost his first tooth and even more perfect for my daughter this year when she lost her first tooth. Their eyes open wide and full of magic of the fairy coming to leave a coin under their pillow. My third child (the three year old) sat and listened in amazement as what may come to her soon. When my son lost his tooth he actually swallowed it but the pouch was perfect for a small note to the tooth fairy about how he lost it. I highly recommend.

Following the death of Pope Leo XIII in 1903, the Cardinal Secretary of State Mariano Rampolla was about to be elected by the conclave, but, invoking a long forgotten privilege of the Holy Roman Emperor, the Cardinal Patriarch of Krakow Poland, Cardinal Jan Puzyna de Kosielko, arose to nullify the election on behalf of the successor to the Holy Roman Emperor, the Austro-Hungarian Hapsburg Emperor Franz Josef. The Cardinal Patriarch provided the astonished conclave with a dossier compiled by Msgr. Jouin, a Vatican archivist. The dossier proved that Rampolla was a Freemason, an enemy actively engaged in the destruction of the Church. By the grace of God, Pope St. Pius X ascended to the Chair of Peter and the faithful Cardinal Merry del Val became Cardinal Secretary of State. Sadly, Rampolla's influence continued through much of the 20th century due to the influence of Rampolla's proteges, della Chiesa (Benedict XV), Pacelli (Pius XII), Roncalli (John XXIII), Montini (Paul VI), and Pietro Gasparri (Cardinal Secretary of Sate 1914-1930). Instead of the usual school and seminary training, both Pacelli and Montini were tutored under the personal direction of Rampolla (until their last two years before ordination). The banking families of Pacelli and Montini were also connected to the Rothschilds. These and more disturbing details of the liturgical and theological shifts setting the stage for the Vatican II revolution are documented in Mary Ball Martinez's back-in-print "The Undermining of the Catholic Church," available from the Omni Christian Book Club bookstore at www.omnicbc.com . Mary Ball Martinez was a Vatican correspondent during the decades before that tragic Second Vatican Council. Unless you read her book, you cannot begin to understand what happened to the Church in the 20th century.

While you are at the OmniCBC bookstore, you should also buy Viscount Leon de Poncins's "Judaism and the Vatican." It too is essential to understanding the horned and fork-tailed "Spirit of Vatican II."

This book is a well-written and highly detailed review of the law enforcement situation in the Southwestern frontier. It enlightens the reader about the levels of pioneer law enforcement (city, county, territorial) and their intertwined responsibilities or lack thereof. The background has been researched almost to a fault. If you are an 'early western' afficionado and/or the kind of person who likes to pour over microfiche reals of old newspapers and other minutiae at the local library, then is a must read. Larry Ball brings just enough western outlawry and criminal intrigue to his writing to keep it entertaining, although there are areas that bog down, especially when it comes to reporting on expense reimbursements and political appointments. However, the author demonstrates how these aspects are examples of the necessary evils in fighting crime on the frontier. The notes and references guide the casual reader and the scholar to their respective areas of interest and further reading. 315 pp., Univ. of New Mexico Press (1978).

Urs is a peddler. He travels alone with only two horses, Lord and Lady, like friends. He is a good man, big and sturdy like the name leaves intended, a big Bear. But now one of his horses, Lady, needs cure, and he decides to stop to a rom gathering.

He is welcomed by Lightfood, a young rom. From the first moment they meet, both Urs than Lightfood feel attraction and they simple decide to share some happy moments before Urs take the road again. But an old fortune teller says they maybe are fated to stay together and so, the young rom will decide to join Urs on his travel?

Urs is the classical big man with a big body and also a big heart. He is gentle with everyone, men and animals. He respects the elders and is gentle with the kids the women. But he is a vagabond soul and he will not be happy to restrain himself. Light food is open and friendly, and he knows what he wants: he wants Urs, even if only for one night. He knows the road law and knows better to try to cage a bear.

A short story with two interesting characters. Maybe worthy to develop a little more: I will be interested in reading more about this two.

How many books are there that can brag about being two people's reason for addiction to a genre? Well, this book is given that honor. My younger sister and I were both suffering from a Dickensian gloom when we spied this book at a book sale. Throwing caution to the wind, we swooped it up, took it home, and were utterly entranced. The lovely romance is at the same time sweet, exciting, and utterly charming. And there is also the added bonus of several appropriate quotations from Oliver Goldsmith's play "She Stoops to Conquer", which prompted us to devour that as well. So here we have a book that prompted two people to inhale not one, but TWO genres: 18th century theatre and Regency romance. What more could one want?

This book is a must for any serious ball knob collectors. The pictures are outstanding. The text is clear and concise. I would urge ball knob collectors to invest in this book