Literature Books

This book was so inspring when I first read it when it litteraly first came out and it always lifted my spirits, I still use it while i'm in the teen yars.

We all know where 'Real Beauty' comes from. Why not start your young lady out early in learning that beauty is more than skin deep? Help the preteen in your life be more selfconfident and beautiful by knowing how to accomplish this elusive trait.

If you have a young girl in your family circle, I urge you to give her a copy of Real Beauty: 101 Ways to Feel Great About You (American Girl Library.) I promise you that the benefits will be of lifelong value! If more girls had this sense of self-worth, we would have fewer eating disorders, schoolyard bullying, distorted body images, and other issues that plague the lives of teens -- and adults.

Simply put, this book is worth its weight in gold.

I read it first, and I am looking forward to reading it again with my granddaughter.

Whenever I feel bad about myself, hating myself, etc, I pick up this book and start reading it. Then I feel good about myself. Of course, though, I don't really need braces yet but I will when I'm 12! The book gives you lots of information on how to eat healthy, exercise, and if you are maybe 10-15, it tells you what to put in your back pack if you get pimples, your period starts, etc. I DEFINITELY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK! P.S I am ten years old.

I discovered Betty MacDonald when I was about twelve years old, after checking The Egg and I out of the Carmichael Branch library here in Sacramento, about 22 years after it was first published. My parents had mentioned that the egg ranch Betty lived on with her first husband in the 1920s, which she writes about in The Egg and I, was located some miles from the place where we lived in Washington state, in the late 1950s. Furthermore, they had actually taken a day trip with friends to look at the old place, sometime after the book and the movie of the same name came out in the 1940s.

This familial connection, however faint, to an old, famous book and the movies it inspired, piqued my childish mind, and I eagerly started reading about life on a chicken ranch on the Olympic Penninsula. I fell in love with Betty's easy, friendly, hysterically funny, down-to-earth yet somehow elegant prose, and immediately checked out her other autobiographical books: The Plague and I, Anybody Can Do Anything, and Onions In The Stew.

In all of her autobiographical books save Onions In The Stew, Betty uses the first chapter to presage her theme by describing her experiences as a child in a large, boisterous family, in loving and extremely funny detail. In Anybody Can Do Anything, Betty describes life with her family and her two young daughters, Anne and Joan, in Seattle after she has left her husband and the egg ranch behind. The Depression is on, and Betty, now a single mother, struggles with her large and interesting clan to make ends meet, somehow finding a lot of laughs and funny adventures, often with her exuberant sister Mary, the inspiration for the book, along the way. Anyone who is interested in what life was like in Seattle in the 1930s, in witty character descriptions, and in a personal glimpse of how families coped with the "Great Depression", will find this book fascinating, not to mention frequently hilarious.

Betty, I miss you and the way you used to make me laugh out loud--I was sad when I finished reading Onions In The Stew for the first time and then realized it was the last autobiographical book you wrote: the tuberculosis finally caught up with you in 1958, when I was only four years old, still living in Washington, not far from your home on Vashon Island. I re-read your books many times as I grew up, even visited Vashon Island, and often wished I could have met you and your family. It's silly, but I've always felt a sense of loss at never having known you, because I am sure you must have been a marvelous friend. Your sense of humor had a profound effect on me, and inspired me in my earliest writing attempts. It's been many years since I've read your books, but I've never forgotten your irrepressible, bona-fide funniness. Wherever you are, thank you!

My husband is one of Betty's nephews.All of the sisters had an incredible wit about them - probably because of their mother Sidney Bard. She did a wonderful job raising her children with out her beloved husband Darcy. It's too bad the children and grandchildren didn't learn lessons from Betty's books. She would be sad to see the way the family turned out.

It's just so heartening to know that others love Betty MacDonald's books as much as I do. I've been giving Anybody Can Do Anything as my female gift book of this year.

we get the story of what she and the children did with themselves.

Her father had been a mining engineer, and although he died fairly young he had been able to save quite a bit; her mother had come from a 'good' East Coast family--not REALLY rich, but apparently quite well off. Betty and her siblings had grown up in large houses with music and dance lessons. However, the Great Depression reduced the family's portfolio to wastepaper. The children had never been taught to actually *do* anything, and actually going out to work for a living was something that they (especially the daughters) had never thought that they would have to do.

The story of how they scrambled to make ends meet during the 1930s would have been grim, but the Bard family despises self-pity above all other faults, and Betty is able to find humor in any situation.

After women having to work to survive during the 1930s, and having to work in the 1940s when all the men were off to war, is it any wonder that the women of this generation and their daughters wanted to retreat into domesticity during the 1950s?

This book is hard to find, so if you get the chance, snap it up!
This is a hilarious account of the author's life post-"Egg & I."
Betty moves from the chicken ranch back to her family's home in Seattle.
Sister Mary, undaunted by the fact that Betty has no experience, eagerly launches Betty's business career and social life.
The mishaps that ensue are absolutely hilarious.
Skillfully written, this book makes the Depression a laugh riot.
BUY IT!
I only wish that Betty had written more books.

This book was exactly what I was looking for. It is great for a intermediate beader (which is what I consider myself). It goes briefly through the basics of many stitches (chevron, spiral rope, crochet rope, herringbone, peyote, and more), and then proceeds to show variations on each one. For each stitch there are several step-by-step projects, beginning with the simple to the advanced. It also shows galleries of works by otehr beaders. Also, there is an entire section on beaded beads. All in all, this book is fantastic, and I would highly reccomend it to anyone who wants to move beyond the basics and advance their beadweaving.

One of the best beading books I have seen to date. Wonderful beaded beads featured which I have already made. Well presented with lots of detailed descriptions to follow. Extremely happy with purchase.

This book is absolutely inspiring! It is wonderful what sophisticated designs can be created with these techniques and simple beads. The author is a woman after my own heart (she asks, "Can any one person own too many beads?"), and her knowledge and passion show in her writing. I think this book may overwhelm someone who is an absolute beginner, someone who has never done any beadwork before. To get the most from this book, I think you need a little experience. But her illustrations are the best I have ever seen, and her instructions are very clear. This book is worth the price just for the gorgeous color photos of projects. Another thing I like about the book is the fact that she gives many pointers for variations in the techniques, and encourages you to take off on your own. If you like seed beads and want to get beyond stringing, this book is essential.

There is only 1 other book at this level and that is the author's Creative Bead Weaving. Buy either one or even better both. Not only are the instructions excellent but the pictures and the projects are creative and inspiring. Please - when is your next book coming out.

Great book for instructions for all types of bead weaving. The beads are numbered so you have exact directions on where to go next. A "must have" book for any beader.

Ayn Rand is one of the foremost communicators of our time. Her ability to communicate complex issues cogently, logically and passionately means that, decades later, her works are still being sited as `the text' to read, in politics, philosophy or morality. Clarity, integration and style are thoroughly discussed. The advice given here applies to all non-fiction writing (see also her book on fiction writing The Art of Fiction: A Guide for Writers and Readers) and it's not the usual recycled blurb. Rand's method of thinking, led to her method of writing and style. This book lets you into some of those secrets and allows anybody to improve their writing skills.

I was rather impressed with what Rand had to say about writing and style. As the authoress of the second-most influential book ("Atlas Shrugged"), she has a lot to say on the matter. And, as always, you cannot stop a bandersnatch.

There are some preliminaries. First, as with all of her writings, this book's ideas are outgrowths of her philosophy of Objectivism. For Rand aficionados, you know that it keeps cropping up with everything that she writes. So if you either agree with her, or are willing to plow around it, then get this book.

Second, this book is really edited selections from a longer seminar she had on writing. If the discussion seems out of joint at times, it is due to the selecting/editing process. To help round out here ideas, I suggest reading "The Art of Writing Fiction" and "The Romanic Manifesto," all of which were extracted from this same meeting.

Rand is one of the finest systematic thinkers ever, and this book shows it. She is able to take something apart, separate, correlate, and analyze the parts, and then put it back together again.

By being so analytical, she gets the writing process right. The first five chapters are really the basting cap essential in explosive writing. Writing can be simplified by preparation, organization, and thinking, which is the message of these chapters.

Chapters 5 through 8 cover the more traditional nuts and bolts of writing. Chapter 5, on creating an outline, is the key link between thinking and writing. She is right when suggesting that everyone writing nonfiction should use an outline. It organizes both the mind and the writing. I was glad that the editors included some sample outlines of Rand's writing, to watch how the process proceeds from outline to full article.

I think out of all of the chapters, "Writing the Draft" was the most helpful. The editor subtitled it "The primacy of the subconscious." This highlights Rand's point that writing is really something that comes spontaneously form a disciplined mind. Furthermore, the chapter contains several subsections on "The Squirms," helpful mulling, euthanizing pet sentences, and handling interruptions.

This last point cannot be emphasized too much: writing is a job, and it takes concentration. Rand likens it to heating a blast furnace--you work up to a high temperature, and that temperature must be maintained for weeks to get the desired results. While writing "Atlas Shrugged," she had to sequester herself for thirteen years.

I have a similar experience while writing. People visibly see you clacking on the computer, but what they do not see is the amount of focus inside your head, invisible to your eyes. So they want you to answer the phone, run this errand, baby-sit, chat, paint a house, watch some idiotizing program on TV, or come in on your day off because so-and-so called in sick so they could stay home watching some idiotizing program on TV. You need to be as harsh with writing as you would with your bill-paying job. Indeed, a good writer sees writing AS A SECOND JOB!

The last chapters are a potpourri of topics that did not fit in either "The Romantic Manifesto" or "The Art of Fiction." They are helpful for what they are, but seem a bit out of place and curt. They serve as surveys to the topics.

The only critique I have would be rearranging the chapters. Move chapter 12 ("Acquiring Ideas For Writing") up between chapters 1 and 2, since the thinking process--the process of reverie and listening to the unconscious percolate--precedes the choice of a subject and theme. I would also move chapter 11 ("Selecting a title") to go after chapter 7 ("Editing"), and moved chapter 8 ("Style") between the chapters on writing the draft and editing. Since this book was edited posthumously, this organizational error is not hers.

Here is my ideal order:

1. Preliminary remarks
2. Acquiring Ideas for Writing
3. Choosing a Subject and Theme
4. Judging one's Audience
5. Applying Philosophy
6. Creating an Outline
7. Writing the Draft
8. Style
9. Editing
10. Selecting a Title
11. Book Reviews
12. Writing a Book
Appendix: Outlines

For a second or third reading, it may be helpful to use this order, since it follows the process of thinking-writing-rewriting.

*

I have put this book in my mix of style guides, and will read it along with Strunk and White, Trimble's "Writing With Style," The Chicago Manual, and "The Little, Brown Handbook."

(I would rate it five stars, but the disordered chapter organization talked me out of it.)

This book offers guidance on a variety of topics and problems that a writer of non-fiction, whether articles or books, might encounter. The advice is never formulaic, but rather gives the reader methods by which to improve his own writing process and style. Highly recommended.

It starts slow and plods along for a few chapters but eventually Rand strikes a resonant chord and the writing comes to life. Ayn Rand will get your mind 'right' about writing and get your mental tool-box organized, to handle odd-jobs or the magnum-opus.

As with so much of Ayn Rand's writing, she takes on an issue (in this case, nonfiction writing) that seems hopelessly complex, and then explains it with such clarity that you're left wondering what all the confusion was about in the first place. If you're stuck in your writing, even if you've never read anything by Rand before, this book is priceless.

I am currently taking an Old English class. This semester we are translating Beowulf. This book is very helpful because on the opposite side of the Old English page is the translation into modern English. This is most helpful because some of the grammar when translating is tricky. This book would be interesting if you were reading Beowulf, but wanted to see how it was originally written. The translation by Chickering is usually spot on, although he does use poetic license and adds a few of his own words to make it more clear to the reader. I would have given this 5 stars, but there is no glossary in the back and for anyone who has ever tried translating Old English, a glossary is a must!

I am happy to report that buying this book has been one of those rare occasions when I have enjoyed the pleasant surprise of actually receiving MORE for my money than what I had been expecting.

I bought this book because of its containing the full text of Beowulf plus the running modern English translation on facing pages. In addition to this, I expected perhaps the usual brief introduction which such works are frequently accompanied by.

But instead, the book turned out to be about twice as thick as what I had anticipated. Yes, the first 50 pages or so are indeed the type of introduction and pronunciation guide I had expected, followed by the 200 pages containing the actual text and translation. But above and beyond this there is also an additional almost 200 pages to the book, and it is this portion which has made me doubly happy with my purchase.

Included in the second half of the book is a very helpful chart of the royal genealogies dealt with in the work. This is then followed by literally page after page of absolutely wonderful and extensive background material and analysis which deal with everything from the history of the manuscript and theories as to its authorship and dating, to broader background material on Anglo-Saxon society, its way of life and traditions. I found hours of fascinating and rewarding reading here which I never expected. It's almost like getting an extra book!

And as if this was not enough, to top it all off they have concluded the book with a section which gives full glosses for all the words in the 8 most key sections of the text. -- No need to spend hours frantically flipping in the dictionary, it's all here done for you!

Being a newcomer to the field of Old English, this book has been everything I have been looking for. And considering the modest price of this volume, I feel I have gotten a real bargain and am happy to give this book my highest recommendation to all.

I had to read this book for school and let me tell you...I adored it. It brings to life picturesque characters and mysterious beings that are truly fantastic. Reading this book I felt a true excitement in my heart, which I don't get with many other books. I suggest that people read this book, because its not only for the older generation its for us younger generation as well.

Brittanie Chisum

I fell in love with Beowulf when I read Seamus Heany's facing page translation. I also fell in love with Anglo-Saxon Old English and decided to teach it to myself. I then bought John Porter's word for word facing page translation, which is good for learning Anglo-Saxon, but not for enjoying Beowulf as a rip-roaring adventure. I wanted to read another translation, to see how someone else would handle it, and the variety of translations available is amazing. Prose translations I hated. Even a modern poem turned into prose sounds wrong. Translations that ignor the alliteration and poem structure also bother me. I liked Howell Chickering's version. It's close to original feel of the poem. But the best thing about this book is Chickering's Commentary in the back. All the extra explanations were very helpful in understanding the poem. Questions that I had thought of are brought up and discussed. There are not always answers, but a thorough discussions of all the various theories. I thoroughly recommend this version.

If you read the Penguin edition (or any other modern translation) and wondered what all the fuss was about, this is your answer in a form accessible to the motivated reader. This monk-produced epic in an age when Christ challenged the devil at every turn and monsters and witchcraft were accepted as fact was crafted in language that rolls like a viking boat in stormy seas and cracks like lightning splintering a glacier. Here is a nuanced tale of life in a remote Germanic outpost haunted by a trinity of monsters and blessed by an able if flawed and mortal savior, a princeling knight errent compiling a couple of resume stuffers on his way to kinghood and then capping a great career with a final, defining epic deed.

The reader is provided with an intralinear translation, old english verse on one page, modern verse translation on the other. Vocabulary, pronunciation guides, and annotations are all provided. The sounds of this poetry are raw and powerful in a way that can only be weakly imitated in modern English, rich with wry, textured prosody. I found this book based on an offhand mention by a professor when I was in college, a two year search of university and second-hand bookstores without result, followed up over ten years later with an Amazon alert entry that finally bore fruit many years after that. A luminous accomplishment.

I bought this book and another for my father. He was on the USS Enterprise during his time in the navy and has recently started reading old war books. Great price and arrived very quickly. My dad was happily surprised when he opened this gift. I don't expect he'll ever read the whole book but he's read bits and pieces of it since Christmas.

This is one of the best books ever wrote on WWII. I wish it could have gone more into the actual deck operations but you cannot really fault the auther. What astonishes me most is the number of times pilots understood that they had no fuel and would have to ditch into the ocean but still pushed on watching there friends and squadron mates go down in battle. I recommend to everyone.

Two sections in this book stand out in my mind. One was the section talking about the crew as they enter Pearl Harbor immediately after the attack. You could feel the emotions as you read about them and you could imagine how they felt as they saw the destruction. The other is the ending. It was almost as if the author were writing about the death of a person instead of a ship.

This is a very well writen book about a very important ship in our history. There are not too many ships that have the record of the Enterprise and there probably will not be too many more like her. The book reads like a novel instead of a historical book and it breathes life into the ship and her valiant crew.

If you enjoy WW2 History. Specifically US Navy genre, it can't get any better than a book about a ship whose name will live forever(and deservedly so). Got an old 2nd hand book years ago and it remains my prized book.

I absolutely adore this book, and am on at least the third copy I've owned, having worn the others out.

CDR Staffor has written an absolutely magnificient tome. He covers both the scope of the War in the Pacific, and the exploits of the Enterprise herself very thoroghly and in incredible detail.

I've always been interested in the Enterprise, especially considering that my dad was a pilot in the last Air Group ever assigned to the ship.

Her story is the story of the pacific, and the coming of age years of naval aviation. The early giants of naval aviation commanded her, and the greats of this horrible war flew from her decks, and helped to build her legend.

This book is one of the pillars that must be read in order to develop a thorough understanding and appreciation of the war in the Pacific.

It's just a great shame that the campaign to save her from the scrapper's torch failed. It's ironic that the ship that the enemy could never destroy ended up losing her life to a torch a few hundred miles from her birth place.

Bill Pete started out as a daydreaming, doodling boy, and made it all the way to Walt Disney! Bill was born in Grandview and was raised in Indianapolis. He lived happily with his Mother, two brothers, and grandmother. His father was a traveling salesman, and didn't really come into his life until later. Ever since Bill was young, he loved to draw. During class, he would doodle in between the margins, and his books were a big favorite amongst the other kids when he sold them as second-hand. His childhood was fun filled, and he had some big hopes and dreams. First of all, he wanted to go on a safari and sketch the animals, but most of all, he wanted to be an artist. One day, in the summer of 1928, Bill's father returned "home" broke, travel weary, and demanding money. After arguing for many days, Bills mother gave in and paid his father. With that, his father drove away. Not long after that, Bill's grandmother tragically died, which put the family in complete shambles. They had to move, and everything changed. The Great Depression started, and Bills father kept taking money, so he kept them poor. Bill went through school well as a student, graduated, and went to college. That was when the work became harder. Bill was facing flunking some of his classes. One night, he ran into an old friend from school, and was persuaded to start taking some arts classes. Bill began painting, and it is there that he met his beautiful wife Margaret Brunst with which he eventually had two sons. He graduated with flying colors, and took a job as a painter. Finally, he realized he didn't have a steady income, and applied for Walt Disney Productions. He became a good friend of Walt Disney himself! Bill helped create many classics starting with Snow White, and going all the way to Jungle book. As time went by, Bill decided that after 27 years, it was time to leave. Bill had become attached to the company and his job, but mostly Walt. It was hard to say "good bye." About one year later, Walt Disney died. Bill went on to writing stories and illustrating them for children of all ages. They all relate to him in one way or another, but the one that felt the most connected to him was "Chester the Worldly Pig". Chester was who he was, and he had always been so. And like Chester, Pete "had grown beyond his expectations."

I can see myself in Pete sometimes. He never gave up and kept dreaming and kept his spirit alive. He has an easy flow to his writing that makes you feel relaxed and know that you're in for one heck of a good story. I loved his book for the truth that it told, and for the wonder that makes up Bill Pete. Keep dreaming, if you strive, you can reach the stars and soar beyond.

The book that introduced me to Bill Peet as a child and helped in inspiring me to push my art and chase my dreams. A must have for any lover of original Disney art or aspiring artist.

Wonderful book. A must for any Bill Peet fan. He captures himself in Bill Peet style - with words and illustrations - just as I would expect. The book is simple and direct, with life lessons woven between the pages.

This Book is about my favorite author Bill Peet. This book tells about his life starting his career at Walt Disney, then going to wright his own books.
Bill Peet was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, he started drawing when he was around 6 or 7. He dreamed of being a author one day. When he got into college he was in different art classes, during going to college he entered painting compititions and one most of them for extra money.
When he was asked work at Disney Annex he gladly accepted, this was around the mid 30s. After working there for a few years he was asked to work on Pinnochio. During his time at Disney he had many arguments with walt himself. He drew Dumbo, and drew the rats and the cat in Cinderella.
After he quit working for disney, Bill realized that he was a good writer too.His first book was Huberts Hair Raising Adventure, which I own along with acouple more of his books, my favorite is The Wingdingdile.
Bill Peet a tall thin man that had a dream, and made it come true wrote about 30 to 50 books, retired win 1989 after he wrote this book.This book is excellent and it will make you want to keep on reading.

I nevertheless found it quite fascinating and engrossing.

Peet is a self-professed reluctant student, especially of English classes, but he is nonetheless quite the good writer. Peet's illustrations add a lot to the pace and feel of the book and are a joy in their own right. His stories of life in Indianapolis before World War II will be interesting to any native Hoosier (as am I).

However, the most interesting part details his jobs at Walt Disney studios. His descriptions of how they made movies in the old days as well as the insider's look at Walt Disney himself are fascinating. Peet worked on several Disney movies, including Pinnochio, Fantasia, Cinderella (he created the lovable mice) and the original 101 Dalmations.

Peet brushes over his life after he left Disney a little too quickly. I would have liked to have read his descriptions of life in the publishing world as well. Also lacking is much history of his family life.

That being said, it was still fascinating, entertaining and totally worth the reader's time.

I give this one a grade of A-

In Dr Dana Armstrong's world, as the director of a sanctuary for chimpanzees in South Carolina, she is doing the best she can for those chimpanzees damaged or exploited by their interaction with humans. Unfortunately, the sanctuary is vandalised, chimpanzees are set free and the resulting publicity threatens to destroy everything that Dana has worked towards. In addition, echoes from Dana's own childhood are threatening to place her career in jeopardy.

In this moving novel, Ms Wesselmann gives life to an engaging cast of characters, include chimpanzees and their carers as well as activists, academics and villains. In confronting her past, Dana also learns to face a different future. This story is both heart warming and heart wrenching. It invites readers to think beyond the fiction. Deftly written, without extraneous verbiage, Ms Wesselmann writes a powerful novel where not everything is as it seems. Family secrets, power struggles, romance are issues in the human and chimpanzee worlds as well. I finished this novel some days ago but will continue to think about the messages and their ramifications for some time to come. And that, for me, is usually the difference between a 4 and 5 star novel.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

I gave this book four stars because it's not Pulitzer material. But it's an excellent novel. The story unfolds with enough background to allow us to begin immediately to feel involved, and builds on the basic information with just the right amount of well-timed exposition. Each character "unfolds" exceptionally well so that the reader definitely experiences "getting to know" them moments. It's a skill to be able to do that well, and Debbie Lee Wesselmann is a skilled story-teller.

The basics of the story have been outlined well by other reviewers so I won't recap those. What I will say is that the book is one to be savored because the themes the author offers us are worthy of careful consideration. As I savored this book, I realized that it's not just about the "captivity" of the primates... or, rather, it IS about the captivity of ALL of the primates, including the human ones. And the careful reader will be fascinated by how each handles their "imprisonment" and if or how each escapes.

And, in the meantime, reading about ape behavior is fascinating and great fun. And you may also enjoy the irony of learning about how university boards and funding committees can behave.

Good book. I recommend it.

Debbie Lee Wesselmann provides a spell binding novel which sheds light on the precarious plight of chimpanzees which are raised in captivity and after having served the purpose of humans ... their lives are left in limbo. In a world concerned with saving our planet by going green, decreasing carbon dioxide emissions from gas-guzzling automobiles to keep our air cleaner and prevent global warming from destroying everything - here is another cause which deserves our attention and support with economic resources. The book is written with sensitivity, compassion, and knowledge about the lives of chimpanzees in captivity. It is a superbly written highly original novel which combines adventure, romance, and human interest, maintaining the reader's attention from start to finish.

Essentially, the book is about the scientist, Dr. Dana Armstrong, Director of the South Carolina Primate Project and her attempts to keep afloat the sanctuary which serves as home to chimpanzees who have been discarded after being involuntary participants in scientific experiments at labs or residents at zoos which have closed. The major problem she is facing is how to convince the Unviersity president and a major donor that her facility is a safe place for the animals and is not a threat to the neighborhood. Unfortunately, there was a break-in at the sanctuary and the animals were freed ... someone obtained a key and simply opened up the cages, letting the animals roam about the offices, sanctuary and beyond, into the nearby family neighborhood.

Dana, Andy, the vet for the animals, Mary one of the research associates and graduate students helped round up the missing animals - all except one - the most dangerous, named Benji. Benji had been owned by a cruel animal trainer and had unpredicatable behavior as a result. Dana had to call the local sheriff to help find him and she had to admit Benji could be dangerous. Sadly, when Benji was found - he was dead, having been hit by a car. It caused Dana much grief because it reminded her of Annie, a chimp with whom she was raised as a child. The chimp came into their household as an experiment by her psychologist father, who wanted it treated as a family member. Annie was taken away after an unfortunate incident occurred to Dana ... Annie was supposed to have gone to a lab for experiments but the trail as to what really happened to her led to a dead-end. No one knows whether Annie was alive or dead. No one knows what kind of experiments were performed on Annie. This incident haunted Dana ...

Unexpectedly, a free lance reporter Sam Wendt entered Dana's life. He threw her world upside down. Initially, he asked questions about the experiment led by her father, regarding teaching chimps the use of language. Later, after learning about the break-in and delving deeply into the politics of animal research and competition for funding, Sam became a willing accomplice in her quest to save the chimps and discover who was behind this disastrous event. The author deftly connects a haunting past event in Dana's life to her present predicament, where her qualifications to lead and direct this sanctuary are being seriously questioned ... The reader will learn much about the sad circumstances which surround the lives of these most endearing animals, chimpanzees. Most readers will empathize with their condition and be hooked on this story where the goal is to keep this non-threatening primate sanctuary thriving and maintain the safety of its residents. Erika Borsos [pepper flower]

"There are no boring stories. There are only boring writers."

These were the words of my first newspaper editor, words conveyed to me after I had turned in an excrutiatingly dull story about a mechanical engineering conference. A good writer can take any subject, no matter how mundane, and make it an exceptional read. Take primatology, for example; while certainly a topic of interest to some, it's not a theme one would expect for a novel. My interest in primate studies/behavior was nominal, which is why I picked up Debbie Lee Wesselmann's latest novel with some trepidation. My fears were for naught; Wesselmann delivers a fast-paced, informative tale of intrigue and political posturing in her novel CAPTIVITY.

Make no mistake: This is a novel far removed from Wesselmann's earlier title, "Trudor & The Balloonist." CAPTIVITY demonstrates how much the author has progressed as a novelist; the descriptions of primate captivity and behavior and human interaction were fascinating, and indicative this author really did her homework. Furthermore, the narrative was strong, compelling, and thoroughly character-driven. Here's but one example:

"He followed her gaze and found he, too, was mesmerized by the proximity of the drug. The lull of it. The scratch of it that now clawed inside his veins, begging for release. The happiness that lay there, if only brief and illusory. The duality of freedom and enslavement. This he could share with Becca; they could fall down the abyss together and enjoy the free fall like kids on a roller coaster who did not know the track would end suddenly, midair.
Yes, he thought. Yes."

That's good stuff.

This is a novel that examines the dynamic of trying to keep a university primate sanctuary afloat (amidst never-ending political posturing) while Dana Armstrong, the protagonist, tries to juggle a relationship with a most dysfunctional brother. I had no idea of the politics involved--all the behind the scenes machinations--in the field of primatology, so this novel informs as it entertains. Plus, a freelance journalist, for once, is presented in a favorable light, and that's a good thing. Primatology may not be your cup of tea, but Debbie Lee Wesselmann definitely makes it palatable; CAPTIVITY is a page-turner, an enlightening and pleasurable read.
--D. Mikels, Author, The Reckoning

Born to a middle-class academic family, Dana Armstrong might have expected to lead a sedate life. She had loving parents, a younger brother, Zack, and a "sister" - Annie. Interacting with loving care to each other, they seemed the ideal family. But there was a discontinuity - Annie was a chimpanzee. The trio was part of an experiment by Dana's father Reginald. Primate researchers in the 1960s were eager to learn if human-chimp communications could be achieved. Living with a human family continuously instead of in a labatory facility seemed the best opportunity. Wesselmann, in a finely wrought tale of the experiment and its consequences has provided us with a stirring, yet sensitive tale.

She opens with Dana well along in her life. She's gained a PhD in Primatology, following her father's path, and operates a sanctuary for chimps that have been subjected to a range of medical experiments, including being given AIDS. Her South Carolina site seems ideal, isolated, well protected to reduce outsider concerns, and supplied by caring donors. She's on the local university staff, keeping her academic foundation sound. Yet, somebody has gained access to the site, releasing the chimps. In the course of recovering them, one of the chimps is struck by a car and killed. The facility is hardly a secret, but the community rises in protest. It also garners the attention of somebody Dana had been trying to forget - Prof. Richard Lamier. Complicating her circumstances yet further, a new element enters her life in the person of Sam Wendt. Just what she doesn't need now is a critical journalist writing to an already hostile community. But Sam says magic words about her childhood with Annie. He's not to be summarily dismissed.

Wesselmann builds her story and her characters with seemingly effortless grace. It is only as event progress and interaction builds that the power of her prose emerges. The pace is swift and furious - this is not a book easily set aside - but nothing is forced or contrived. Dana is beset by many foils - Lamier emerges with increasing presence from the background, but it's her own brother Zack on whom much of this story hinges. He's a wastrel, an emotional nomad, and a constant pressure on her goodwill and energy. There's a hint that he may have had something to do with releasing the chimps, although motivation seems lacking. The chimp release leads to widespread implications with the future of the sanctuary and Dana's own career hanging over an abyss. She has little but her own resources of strength and cunning to draw on. Can that possibly be enough with all that's arrayed against her?

The author's account goes beyond prose skills. Clearly this work rests on a solid research base. It's easy to believe Wesselmann was at the side of more than one primatologist, likely in a refuge such as the one depicted here. Chimp behaviours - including one young one obviously brought up among humans, who insists on clothes and a potty, are too vividly depicted and explained to be fabricated. Her research points up the underlying importance of the subjects in this tale - can we justify what we do in experimenting on animals. Especially our closest living cousins [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

I really love books like this that give me an interesting story that keeps me turning pages while at the same time informs me, teaches me so many nuances of another culture. I felt the author wrote with great insight and also with wisdom in her characterizations. She looks at these people like a Sherlock Holmesian Freud or Jung and does a good job of it too.

I also loved the way she included the eccentric folks that lived across the street. Iran has known so much tragedy. More than a few times I thanked my lucky stars that I was born in the United States while I was reading this book. Yet at the same time so many personal dynamics were mirrors of exactly what people experience anywhere and everywhere. It was enlightening for me as well as educational and entertaining.

With lush prose and surgical precision, Nahai examines pre-revolutionary Iran, a country hobbled by a social system so oppressive it crushes every one within it. Muslims and Jews live side by side, and each of their worlds is as socially stratified as the other. The novel is narrated by the young daughter of a wealthy Jew and her penniless mother, and she details their increasing desperation as her father falls in love with a Muslim woman. His abandonment of them leaves them emotionally bereft and socially isolated in a world that has no place for them. Brilliant and affecting. You will think about this novel for days after reading it.

Gina Nahai is one the most creative and literate authors working today and should find a regular place on the bestseller lists for her impressive storytelling talent. Her exquisite writing and character development never fails to keep me coming back for more.

Once I started reading "Caspian Rain" I couldn't put it down. Without giving away too much of the story, all I can say is that Ms. Nahai captures your interest with her complex and fascinating characters examined and described in her exquisite prose. You feel the heart and soul of the characters and every moment and situations resonates that much more deeply. I love to read anything Ms. Nahai writes and look forward to her next novel. I highly recommend "Caspian Rain" to anyone who loves to be drawn into a story that takes you to a place about universal themes dealing with real human emotions of loss and acceptance.

"Caspian Rain" by Gina Nahai is a true literary masterpiece and one of the most beautifully written, insightful, touching, and stirring novels of our time. Set in pre-revolutionary Iran, Nahai tells the story of a young girl named Yaas, who faces the tragedy of slowly going deaf at the age of ten and watches in silence and fear while her parents marriage falls apart at the seams. Nahai captures the character of Yaas, who narrates the story, and manages beautifully to express Yaas' sadness, desperation, and incredible wisdom. Nahai's writing style is not only magical and poetic, but she manages to be straightforward in her plot scheme and make the readers feel as if they are sitting in Yaas' bedroom as she whispers her tales into their ears. Nahai's "Caspian Rain" is one of the rare novels one will find that has the power to change lives, touch hearts, and make a difference. This novel hardly falls short of perfection and should be read by all.

Reading Caspian Rain, by Gina Nahai, is like opening a golden treasure chest. Inside it, you will find all kinds of intriguing and fascinating objects. There are several interconnected stories being told . First there is the heartbreaking story of an innocent little girl, Yaas, who desperately longs for the love of her parents. In reading the book, the reader can feel her anguish, as she tries every which way to be noticed and loved. There is the story of the intelligent and ambitious Bahar, Yaas's mother, a story in which the reader can actually taste the bitterness that Bahar is left with, when she realizes that she cannot conquer any of the barriers that will forever keep her from realizing any of her dreams. There is the story of Omid, an emotionally stunted man who, while being the son of privilege, has come from a community which, as a result of being faced with deep prejudices, has had to downplay its' ethnicity and become self loathing . Finally, there are the very rich descriptions of the sounds, sights and smells of Tehran, a fourth character in the novel; a bustling city where the contradictions between the old and the new are funny, tragic and endless. The book was truly unforgettable.

I have an inexplicable attraction to the Modern Library hardbacks. Inevitably, if a Modern Library hardback version of some book that I want exists, I'll end up buying it. I really don't know why. Anyway, case and point: Edgar Allan Poe.

The benefits of this edition are evident:

a) All the short stories--yes, even the uproariously funny ones that most paperbacks leave out, as well as Poe's bizarre "hoaxes" and inexplicably contrived "articles" that don't really pass very well as stories

b) All the poems--including poetry written in childhood as well as posthumously discovered

c) ...and a couple of essays--most importantly, "The Rationale of Verse."


However, the book still lacks most of Poe's criticism and other essays. I suggest you purchase Dover's little paperback _Edgar Allan Poe: Literary Theory and Criticism_ (kind of a "Greatest Hits" collection of Poe's critical work which, in reality, spans over 1500 pages) to complete your library. There you will find the great classic "The Philosophy of Composition" accompanied by dozens of ingenius (and at times ascerbic) reviews of books you may know from elsewhere. It's an invaluable resource.


Moreover, the same Modern Library problems afflict this edition--thus, herein lies another reason I cannot explain why I must keep on buying and reading Modern Library hardbacks:

A) There is no textual or intertextual editing, nor are there any critical footnotes. Moreover, there is no critical introduction by a Poe scholar. This bytes.

B) There is no margin room. There never is in a Modern Library hardback. This gets really annoying when you're reading "The Fall of the House of Usher," and you're trying to tie together pieces of evidence (all part of Poe's perfect conceived "totality" of content) to form a of cohesive, critical interpretation of the story with about a centimeter of margin room in which to write! Your handwriting will quickly show itself illegible, and your hand mercilessly cramped.

C) Modern Library hardbacks are customarily printed on cheap (although smooth and aesthetically pleasing) paper. Thus, when you write in your book, the ink is very likely to bleed over onto the converse page. Also quite annoying.


However, however, however--I must not forget that the goal of Modern Library is not to print the best book possible, but the best _affordable_ book possible. And at $18.00, this 1000 page hardback is hard to beat.

So, if you have the money, do actually buy _the best_ edition: the Library of America edition. ISBN 0940450186. It's over 1400 pages, is printed on paper that will last forever, and is edited by a prominent Poe scholar--but it's almost $40.00!


But, more importantly for those of us on budgets: This edition is in direct competition with both the DoubleDay and Castle editions of Poe's collected stories and poems. Under no circumstances would I recommend the other two editions due to their typesettings. I know that may sound ridiculous, but a humane typesetting has a lot to do with the pleasure and utility that a book can and will proffer its reader. The print on the other two editions is inordinately overloaded (too much packed on each page) and serves to burden the eyes. For sooth, the Modern Library version is packed too--but it's a huge improvement on the other two editions.

If you've got $40, get the Library of America edition. If you've only got $20, get this one.

I've always had a liking for Edgar Allan Poe, with his tales of horror, mystery and suspense, done in the atmospheric prose of a master writer. Since I live close enough, I've even made some trips to his gravesite, a place that is always surrounded by a sense of sadness.

Poe was a tormented genius who died young, under mysterious circumstances, and at the time of his death he wasn't deservingly popular. Certainly his work was not cute romances for the masses -- he explored the darkness of the human heart, love, satire, and the earliest whodunnit stories. And "Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe" brings together all of his poetry and writings in one book.

Poe's fiction writings include short stories and novellas, which tend to be rather weird -- a treasure-hunt and a golden insect, a ship caught in a whirlpool, a hypnotized man talks about the universe, and stories of despair, madness, and occasionally beauty. There is also his trilogy of Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin stories, which were the first to feature a brilliant detective solving an impossible crime.

Most people know about "The Raven" (which even has the Baltimore Ravens named after it) but Poe actually wrote a lot of poetry, most of which readers never heard of. Sometimes dark, or whimsical, or even both. "By a route obscure and lonely/Haunted by ill angels only/Where an Eidolon, named NIGHT/On a black throne reigns upright..."

And, of course, the horror. This is what Poe is best known for, including such well-known stories as "The Fall Of The House Of Usher." But there are also lesser-known gems -- tales of a plague invading a party, being buried alive, a portrait that siphoned the life out of its subject, and a nightly visit to an Italian crypt leading to madness.

Don't read "Complete Stories and Poems" all at once. It's too intense. It's better to soak it in a little at a time, so that you can get a better feel for the different kinds of writing that Poe did, and how he excelled at pretty much everything he put down on paper. Most great writers can't boast of that much.

Poe's writing is what makes even his least story or poem come alive -- he brought a gothic, misty vibrancy to his stories, and could make his quiet dialogue seem utterly chilling (" "I have no name in the regions which I inhabit. I was mortal, but am fiend..."). It's not hard to see why he was an influence on authors such as Fyodor Dostoevsky, Oscar Wilde, Arthur Conan Doyle and Franz Kafka.

"Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe" is a must-have for anyone with an appreciation for great literature and beautiful, dark writing.

Poe is one of the world's finest writers and this collection of stories is what he's all about. This book contains the best of his tales, with many others for you to explore on your own. It has his poems and short stores. Its contents is very close to being unabridged except, for it missing a few poems and stories that aren't very good anyway.

Poe's tales contain all the excitement of a novel, in around 10 pages. I recommend this collection because it offers hours of enjoyment. The only thing you might need is a large vocabulary because he tends to have an advanced word choice. Get this book and have fun!

'Horror,' as it is broadly understood, is defined by two essential elements: the active presence of decay, some 'abnormal' manifestation of nature, or a combination of both.

One hundred and fifty-seven years after his early death, Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), who made horror the dominant theme of his creative work, remains the American master of the weird tale. Poe's work has had enormous worldwide influence: French poet Charles Baudelaire was an early champion and translator, Poe's 'William Wilson' (1839) haunts the pages of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890), and several stories look presciently ahead to work of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung.

The Collected Tales and Poems of Edgar Allen Poe (1992), which also includes humorous pieces ('The Devil in the Belfry' is a hilarious tribute to the father of American literature, Washington Irving), detective fiction (Irving's 1838 story-cycle 'The Money-Diggers' stirs fluidly beneath 'The Gold Bug'), and early examples of what would come to be known as science fiction, brings together most of the author's important work.

Two general narrator (or protagonist/character) types emerge. The first is meticulously rational, calm, and 'objective'--like Dupin, the amateur sleuth who coolly solves the mystery of 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue.' The second, best represented by Roderick Usher in 'The Fall of the House of Usher,' is psychically haunted, deeply subjective, acutely sensitive in every pore, and barely able to repress the hysteria--at best--simmering just beneath the surface of his consciousness.

Both general types are isolated and obsessive in their own way--the first perhaps imagines he has found salvation by holding the world at a kind of hard cerebral remove, while the second surrenders his will in increments and sinks obliquely into emotional, spiritual, psychic, and physical fragmentation. The second type (found in 'The Fall of the House of Usher,' 'Berenice,' 'The Black Cat,' 'The Pit and the Pendulum,' and 'William Wilson,' among others) dominates and defines Poe's work.

Poe occasionally offers readers a combination of both types, as in 'The Imp of the Perverse,' in which the narrator, after a lengthy, meditative, and 'objective' discourse on the self-destructive aspects of human nature, briefly tells his own story: compelled to commit a pointless murder, he then finds himself equally compelled to publicly confess it.

Fatalism and perdition are key characteristics of the author's work: death may await everyone, but, in Poe, death impatiently reaches forward into men's lives, sickening, exhausting, and corrupting them, thus hastening fragile humanity's end. Poe's protagonists are once healthy, now dire, everymen surrounded on every side by hostile, malevolent, and destructive forces which dominate every plateau, division, and category of existence that man has methodically--and rather naively--mapped out. Human instinct proves to be 'red in tooth and claw'; the senses betray; the mind collapses; the borders and boundaries of civilization are violently breached; the natural world reveals a harsh, predatory, and incomprehensible face; physical laws prove unreliable; loving relationships sicken and fester; all agents of stability prove false and slip away.

Most of Poe's work suggests that there is no escape for anyone (--"dead to the World, to Heaven, and to Hope!"), and, as several of the tales underscore, including 'The Fall of the House of Usher' and 'Ms. Found in a Bottle,' even the cessation of life may bring no solace for some. However, reprieves are possible: the narrator barbarically tortured by the Spanish Inquisition is freed by the arriving French army at the conclusion of 'The Pit and the Pendulum,' the sailor who experiences 'A Descent Into the Maelstrom' survives to tell of his ordeal, and the vengeful dwarves in 'Hop Frog' apparently escape at that story's conclusion.

Remarkably, because of the skill with which he illustrates his view of man's utter lack of genuine choice or ability for self-determination, Poe manages to make most of his characters likeably human, despite their illnesses, eccentricities, and perversions. Though the tales team with toxic bloodlines, incestuous relationships, premature burials, rioting lunatics, marauding plagues, 'tormenting' doppelgangers, parasitic spirits of the dead, animated corpses, "ghoul-haunted woodlands," and a fair variety of additional supernatural tableaus, Poe remains is a remarkably rational, balanced, and economic storyteller, since the ultimate horror lies not in the external threat, but in the narrator's realization that what he is experiencing is the genuine nature of life itself.

Poe's tales suggest that, if all of mankind lives within a perpetually collapsing, cannibalizing universe, the most one can hope for is that, in the present, it is collapsing on someone else.

Poe is one of the best horror writers ever to have lived. I have read all of his works. Some of his best stories are The Fall of the House of Usher, The Masque of Red Death, The Black Cat, The Cask of Amontaiado, The Pit and the Pendelum, and The Tell-Tale Heart. His great poems include-The Raven and The Bells. Poe is a fantastic author, and his creepy tales of the dark side of life should be read over and over.