Bats Books

Nina Leen's bat photos, lushly displayed in this coffee-table book, are the best I've ever seen. The text covers a wide variety of bats, from flying foxes with six-foot wingspans to tiny nectar bats, but it's the superb color pictures that grab and hold your attention. If you're interested in bats, you'll LOVE this book! If you don't know much about them, it will open your eyes. Don't miss it!

If you are into bats this is the book to own. Mainly about the bats of Europe, although bats from further afield are mentioned, this book deals with every aspect of the life of bats. It is explained in depth without scientific jargon. The best thing of all are the photographs, the reproduction is second to none, high gloss pictures and illustrations make it look as though the authors have stuck their own personal photos in it. When I first saw this book I just had to have it for the pictures alone. The quality text was just a bonus.

The Yosemite Adventure of Spotty Bat is an allegorical fable for young readers ages eight and up. Spotty, a rare bat, lives comfortably but is searching for something more, when a mysterious and mystical crow teaches her the secret of soaring flight, and shows her the way to Yosemite Valley, where she meets the Spirits of Rock, Water, Air and Fire, who work tirelessly to shape the valley to the present day. Absorbing the values of persistence and conviction from the spirits, Spotty undergoes a change within herself and learns that she has what it takes to be a leader and a teacher among her bat community. The charming pen drawings add a unique visual touch to this delightful story about fulfilling one's potential.

"The 13th Valley" by John Del Vecchio
Among the best novels ever written on the Vietnam War.
Reviews: The 13th Valley

Del Vecchio followed with the equally poignant "Carry Me Home."
Reviews: Carry Me Home

Joe and General Moore narrate a precisely written, no frills account of the first major action between two excellent commanders and their superbly trained troops. The work does not describe battle as glamorous or noble; it recounts the horror, the pain, chaos, acts of courage, and of sacrifice that is part and parcel of the fog of battle. Utterly straight forward with no holds barred. If you want confirmation of my review please read General Moore's AAR (after action report). You find the matter of fact narrative and analysis of the battle in General Moore's report. I consider it an honor to know Joe personally and consider him one of the most acute correspondents and journalists of this century. Essential reading for anyone hoping to make sense of the Vietnam War.

Jim Payne

This was the first military history book I ever read, it was written well and so interesting I have read a few others. It is a must read book.

I admit I am a war movie buff. I bought the book after watching the movie version several times. I knew the book should be more detailed and it is! Great read.

After seeing the movie version starring Mel Gibson based on this book, I wanted to read the historical account of the battle. Lt Gen Moore and Joseph Galloway do an excellent job describing the details in sequence of the two phases of the Ia Drang battle in the Viet Nam war (the movie covers the first phase only) including both facts and personal accounts of the battle. Lt Gen Moore's introductory chapter is an excellent commentary about our entry into the war especially concerning the mindset of those who first fought in this first big American battle in Viet Nam. The book presents stories of the individuals who fought in both phases of the battle in their own words, which is a strong point of the book. Lt Gen Moore's descriptions and comments are interspersed with these personal accounts of the battle, and a number of pictures of these individuals are included.

The last part of the book is most excellent. Here, the authors set up the second phase of the battle at LZ Albany and describe it from the viewpoint of those who were involved. The reader can anticipate the assault that follows. I also appreciate the chapter that follows up with the families of those who died in battle concerning how they have dealt with the loss of their loved one since then. It is very moving.

I strongly recommend this book for people who have seen the movie version and want to read what actually happened in this battle. It is also good for students of history (this is an excellent military history) and political science (Lt. Gen. Moore's comments about our involvement in Vietnam are very insightful).

I had no choice when it came to reading this book. It was after all, required in my college english class in order to survive the masses of quizzes and essays. But I will say that although I did not want to read this book at first, once I read the first couple pages I was hooked. I no longer wanted to read it just because it was required, now I was reading it for pleasure. Although the book is strongly graphic especially on the sex parts, it is done in a most tasteful manner. As a young latina born and raised in America, I was very touched by what my people had gone through in the past, and it is knowledge I had ignored taking the liberty I have now for granted. I really recommend this book if you're up to take a good dose of eye opener.

What more is needed to say about this memoir? This is singlehandedly one of the most powerful memoirs I have ever read and that goes without saying. I was born and raised in the San Gabriel Valley, the same one that Rodriguez builds and describes and I can honestly say he is completely spot on. About? Everything. The racial, identity, and sexual struggle that Rodriguez weaves in this story is compelling and really grabbed me and immersed me into his life. This memoir says what there is to be said, and it says a lot.

this os the best book i have ever read next to tommyland very different but bolth very good books

I suppose one of the editorial reviews summed it up nicely.

"...Mexican funerals, rapes and arrests, but his writing style renders much of that rich material forgettable."
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

I was very much interested in the topic, yet the rambling, writing style of Luis Rodriguez
made for a disappointing experience.

I heard this book was good, but didn't know how good it actually was until I read it. There isn't a dull page.

What's most alarming about the book is not necessarily the events that take place, as many movies about this lifestyle have been made since the book's first publishing, sort of numbing the harsh realities of gang life to even outsiders who grew up in secluded suburbs, but the age that Luis Rodriguez actually is when the events are taking place. Some of the day to day drama described in the book is so adult like that you can only picture the subjects of these tales being 18 to 25 years old, yet the reader is often reminded that the author was as young as 14 when some of them took place.

What may also separate the stories told in this book from the stories told in typical 1990s west coast gang folklore, from hip hop to film to books like 'Monster', is the sexual situations Mr. Rodriguez describes that he took part in and witnesses, again, in some cases as young as 14. Some are romantic, and almost remind the reader of a time when romance was first discovered in their lives, yet there are some that are so disturbing that the reader is quickly brought down to earth, reminded that love and romance in a violent, drug infested environment is far different from the kind most Americans have grown to know, that is dictated by Hollywood fairy tales.

Luis Rodriguez finding his outlet from the gang life through art and writing could give hope to any current gang member who happens upon this book. It's one thing for a suburban high school teacher to tell a 'homeboy' that he can express his views through art, it's another for an older 'homeboy' himself to tell him.

A must read for everyone, from suburbanites with little knowledge of the gang life who would like another version than that given by media outlets and law enforcement agencies, where the knowledge tends to be limited to crime reporting and identification of territories and monikers, to kids and adults wrapped up in the gang life, and just looking for any story that can inspire them or give them some kind of direction to a better life.

This is an incredible book. Mr. Clancy has managed to weave an extremely complex story of drugs, betrayal, murder, honor and ultimately justice. Woven throughout this book's pages are many great moral values, creating a truly positive reading experience.
QUICK NOTE
This book has high levels of violence (hey it's a military novel) and not a little swearing. (Comprable every two hours of reading to a rated R war film.

Drug spy morals.


Jack Ryan is promoted, and not pleased to find out about very dodgy drug operations being run in Colombia.

He and a military officer work together when revenge is taken on the CIA for interfering in the drug business to try and salvage a dangerous situation.

A pretty standard Clancy book.

Being someone that is not really into reading books, this book totally took me away. I really felt like I was living the fight with the story. Great book, highly recomend it.

This is the best Clancy book I've read. It doesnt have much of Jack ryan but it does have a bit more about the military than some of his other books. It also has Mr. Clark in some action in the end.

In my teenager years, I loved reading Tom Clancy's novel. `Red Storm Rising', `The Hunt for Red October', `The Cardinal of the Kremlin' are stories engraved in my adolescent mind. Spies, technology, drama, heroic actions, people being proud of serving their country--not something I could learn from my upbringing in Spain. Later on, when I needed a break in college, I used to keep reading Tom Clancy: `Executive Orders', `The Bear and the Dragon'. I just loved it.
So I thought that reading an old novel starred by one of my heroes, Jack Ryan, would be an excellent company for my week vacation in South Carolina. And it was. But I realized that, this time, I didn't enjoy it that much. Maybe it was the low value ascribed to human life, maybe it was the parallelism I could draw with the present situation in the US and my current distaste with the old adagio `the end justifies the means', maybe I am tired from war, violence and terrorism from everyday news.
Anyway, if your conscience is so hardened that you don't care about this anymore, go for it. You'll have fun.
By the way, South Carolina was great: friendly people, warm and sunny weather, tasty food, nice beaches, and lots of history.

This is one of the most amazing books i've ever read. it leaves you thinking and feeling the emotions and leaves you feeling lost in your own verson of it

If you start reading Block's stories about Weetzie Bat and her friends, you're going to want to read them all. Don't mess around with the individual books, or the two-book collections that are also on offer; get them all together (except the new Weetzie at middle age story, Necklace of Kisses) at a bargain price.

All five novels are truly exceptional. Francesca Lia Block has a wonderful mind and a very unique writing style that is so welcome in this world of the normal traditional authors of today. I recommend the Wheetzie Bat books to anyone who wants to read something captivating and perhaps even a bit 'out there' (but in the best of ways.)

Generations of young women and their lovers and friends grow up surrounded by genies, by love, and by the magical world of urban Los Angeles. Dangerous Angels is a compilation of the original Weetzie Bat book series, five novels that make up stories two generations--their love stories, deaths, births, and artistic adventures. The text is vivid, rich with sensual description and the hipster-cool slang that surrounds Weetzie's family. The magical-realist style intertwines angels, genies, and spirits with real-world issues of finding and nurturing love, having sex, creating identity and independence, being gay, and coping with death. The result is a remarkably engrossing, readable, and magical writing style that brings to life both Los Angeles and the characters, and deals with difficult, even controversial issues, that are rarely found in other young-adult books. I very highly recommend it.

It is difficult to do a plot summary of the Dangerous Angels books because the compilation contains so many books and the plot of each book is secondary to all the other factors that make up the text. In one story, Weetzie finds love for herself and for her best friend when a genie grants her wishes. In others, Weetzie's daughters struggle with their own identity and the power and music of their group of friends. In another, Weetzie's best friend comes to terms with his homosexuality. The plots are important, but what matters more is what character growth they prompt, what issues they deal with, and what text surrounds them.

The primary theme of the book is love--the most beautiful and most dangerous angel. Love, however, is mixed in with themes of personal identity, family, independence, and sexuality. The author does not skate over difficult and controversial issues, but neither does she subject them to lengthy angsting. Instead, life difficulties, like its genies, are presented as facts and are treated with the same open acceptance. In my opinion, this makes the book a wonderful and eye-opening read for young adults that is still relevant to grown-ups.

Finally, the delight of Dangerous Angels is the writing style. It is urban magical-realistic and richly, sensually detailed. Action, both of the characters and of the overall plot, is presented in short direct sentences. Description is also presented in short direct sentences. But in both cases, characters act and the world appears in ways that are distinctly magical. The end effect is a quickly-paced, no-nonsense style that nonetheless makes the books sing with lush description and very real magic. It makes very little sense to discuss the style when it so easy to simply quote it. One example: "Fifi's house was a Hollywood cottage with one of those fairy-tale roofs that looked like someone has spilled silly sand. There were roses and lemon trees in the garden and two bedrooms inside the house--one painted rose and the other aqua. The house was filled with plaster Jesus statues, glass butterfly ashtrays, paintings of clowns, and may kinds of coasters. Weetzie and Dirk had always loved the house." The writing style is a joy to read and sweeps the reader into the magical world of Weetzie and her family, bringing to life their stories and their challenges. It is unlike any other book you'll read, and I highly recommend it to all readers of all age groups.

When I first started reading Block's books over ten years ago, I easily fell under her spell. I was in her perfect demographic: a teenage girl who was awkward and insecure, but who felt that she was bursting with deeply spiritual, almost celestial beauty and Really Important Ideas about the world around us.

For a few of my most key formative years, Block's books made me feel mature, wise, soulful, and complex. All things teenagers want to feel, but achievements that really only come with age and experience. I don't even presume to have any of those qualities at age 27.

Now that I flip through these books again, the nostalgia is a strong, thickly-brewed tea, but the taste is bittersweet. The prose is as purple as the book covers and the characters' nail polish. It is not particularly fine literature. Yes, Block's voice is strong and unique, but it is also repetitive and even jejune. The themes, though powerful, and the lessons, though useful, are revisited again and again so often that almost every book seems the same.

However, I will say that the themes and lessons are just as relevant today as they were when Weetzie Bat was published almost 20 years ago.

But for all I've said, I still think teenage girls everywhere would love the world that Block creates. It's a slinkster-cool extension of the world most teenage girls already live in, and they'll feel right at home and well-loved.

This was my first Mary Higgins Clark book. I got this with 4 others stories by Clark and this was my least favorite of the four. I listen to them on CD while I walk.

What I didn't like about this story is that the characters weren't developed enough for me. I frankly didn't care too much. The first murder was of Darcy's character and I really didn't feel anything other than curious about how Erin would catch him. When Erin's character was in trouble my only emotion was that the outcome I predicted happened and I was a disappointed.

This book did hold my attention but it was predictable and the characters were not developed. I almost wasn't going to read the other books I got by Mary Higgins Clark based on Loves Music, Loves to Dance.

I really enjoy Mary Higgins Clark, and finally got around to reading this one.

Darcy Scott and Erin Kelley were always the best of friends. They each had a great career. Darcy was a decorator and Erin a wonderful jewelry designer. As part of a project, they were helping their friend Nona research the kinds of people who place personal ads in magazines trying to find their lucky match. Erin answered an ad, "Loves Music,Loves to Dance." That was the worst fate of all. When Darcy was going to meet Erin up for dinner one evening, she never showed up. This was totally unlike Erin, and Darcy knew something was wrong. Later when her body turns up, Darcy is horror-struck. After this happens, Darcy is determined to find out just what happened to Erin. So she manages to retrieve the ads her friend answered, and arranges to meet each of these guys in a safe place.

Darcy better watch out though. One of those ads was the killer's, and Darcy may end up dead. But the gentlemen who seem the most likely suspects are not the one. And the person Darcy believes she is the safest with, may be the biggest killer of all. And the whole time, he has been watching Darcy, and has BIG plans especially for her.

very good novel, not my fav one but it was very good, it was kinda boring in the middle but the end of course as USUAL it was the best!!!!

If you're looking for a fun, exciting, fast moving story with a lot of twists and turns,this is the book for you. One of the best I've read in a long long time.

Darcy and Erin are doing research on the kind of people who place personal ads by answering some personals and going out on dates. Erin chooses one where the man signs himself, "Loves music, loves to dance" and he does - but he's also a serial killer.

This book follows the same old formula that all of Mary Higgins Clarke's books do: A beautiful heroine is stalked by a perverted psycho. She meets a lot of red herrings who could all be the baddie and we won't know the villain's true identity until the minute when our damsel is rescued by Prince Charming. There's no suspense or excitement.

Clark's books are quick reads, good for the beach or a plane trip, but too predictable and poorly written for me to read anymore of them. There are too many characters to keep track of, we're given way too much useless information about them, the dialog is full of grandiose words and phrases that aren't realistic, and we know the heroine will solve the mystery in the end. I like this book's title and the idea of a killer finding his victims through personals, but it didn't hold my interest.

When Shade and the rest or his bat colony have a migration, he gets lost in a storm. Then he finds Marina. Before you know it there on a journey. Silverwing by Kenneth Oppel was a brillinant book because it made me realize that respect should be an important thing to people and that taking risks is sometimes not a bad thing. I would rate the book a 4 out of a 5 because I didn't get "into the book" like I do others. I think if I really liked bats as much as Kenneth did I would rate it higher.I recomend this book to the people of ages 8-15 or 16.

I had watched the cartoon series and was interested in the book. Came fast and was in perfect condition.

My 10 year old daughter loves this entire series and this is every but as good as the others.

This is a story about a young runt Silverwing Bat and his colony setting out on a migration. The young main character "Shade" was brave, full of life, but had some learning to do. It was his experience of a lifetime. The story had a great beginning and very strong ending but the middle part of the book a was soft. It left me a bit bored at times. However the characters that Shade met were extremely interesting. Many times very funny. It's a good story how life is so big around such a small main character. Bigger than life through small eyes. :)

I want very badly to give this book a 5 star but i just can't do that. silverwing is a very good book and i still like to read it some times
but you get bored of it. but i strongly reccomend you read this and also try the warriors series.

Disclaimer: it's been many years since I read this book. But I still recall it as a vividly painted, unpredictable love story/mystery that was very satisfying. I've also read Polar Star and Gorky Park: both wonderful, detailed, rich, as well. But I liked this one more. I concur with the reviews that call some of the plot twists a tad too fantastic, but I was willing to go along for the ride. For one thing, the love story is juicy, naughty, teasing -- delicious. I suppose this is a chick flick of a novel, and yet many of the details were shockingly grotesque and violent. Anyway, give it a try. If it's too slow for you, try an Arkady Renko book instead. Or, just let it sink into you and enjoy it!

Rose is one of the most evocative, beautifully written historical novels I've ever read. Smith picks you up and puts you down in a Victorian-era mining village where you can feel the coal dust in the air, as well as an undercurrent of danger. His descriptions are palpable and very sensuous, and you really crawl into the skin of his protagonist.

I give this five stars despite a major "Say what???" moment during the resolution, alluded to by some other reviewers. Yes, the plot turns in a completely unbelievable direction. It's a testament to Mr. Smith's writing that I still think of this novel as absolutely exquisite. It's the kind of book you find yourself picking up and opening at random every once in a while, just for the pleasure of returning to the world he created.

What a tedious slog through rainy, dim Wigan. Many years ago I had the pleasure of listening to Martin Cruz Smith discuss how Gorky Park, his most recent book, was fertilized by his reading about how faces could be reconstructed from bones and muscles. He liked the idea and wanted to write a book around that thought. He did, and a compelling book and fascinating book was eventually born. I've read several others of his, and enjoyed them all. This one has been on my shelf for a number of years before I dusted it off and plowed in. Oh, how much better if it had remained upright.

I cannot for the life of me understand all the 4 and 5 star reviews. As a sociological study of a coal mining town, it is interesting. I've read many books about this time, and this certainly added to my knowledge. But as a novel...sheesh! I'd guess the spark for this book was Smith's reading of a 19th Century memoir of a pit girl's life. He then researched extensively, and managed to write a story without leaving out any of the innumerable tidbits he learned. Details pile up like a 100 car crash, heaped and splattered in that annoying manner so common in historical novels. No one writing a contemporary tale would include these details, as they would be extraneous, self-evident, and slow the action. But here, in a foreign world, we need to be told just how much reading the author did. And the characters seem mighty modern. No overt anachronisms, but speech and attitudes that sound way too current for the setting. So we learn a lot about 19th Century coal mining, and the lives of miners, but the tale itself gets repeatedly stuck.

Or so I thought. Clearly, many folks believe otherwise. But this started unconvincingly, and never improved.

"Rose" is a novel that without question, I would never have seen or heard of without Amazon's listamania system. But as it happened, someone liked this book and listed it and made it sound interesting enough for me to read it.

Blaire is a mining engineer desperate-for person reasons-to get back to the gold coast of Africa, which, although he was born English and raised American is as much his home as anywhere. But with no money and no good reputation he is at the mercy of the Bishop Hannay who will fiancé Blaire's return if-and only if-he will return to the town of Wigan (where he and the Bishop share a birthplace if nothing of the same history) and find Hannay's daughter's missing fiancé, who was the towns curate, John Maypole.

Blaire isn't a happy but he takes the gig, only to find a town of coal blackened and unfriendly miners who seem to have no interest in finding the missing reverend-a sentiment his fiancée Charlotte seems to share. Quickly building enemies with miners and local nobility and at the same time a strange and poignant relationship with Rose, a pit girl who according Maypole's cryptic and coded journal seems to be at the center of the mystery, Blaire finds that the deeper he digs into the mess, the more likely he is to be the one missing.

This isn't the kind of novel I would have gotten into normally but thanks to the recommendation I did read it. While I can't say the first half was especially engaging (I had to keep returning to previous pages to recheck names and facts) the second picked up a bit and the ending was really pretty great. Maybe if I had more familiarity with the author I would have enjoyed it more because there was nothing with the plot, only the execution, which was as dim as the coal dust covered skies above Wigan.

But if you like mysteries this is a good one, even if it is a bit slow.

Three stars.

And if you're looking for something else about coal mining, I suggest A Place Called Freedomby Ken Follett, the first half of which has a lot to do with Scottish coal pits.

A complete change of focus from the gritty Arkady Renko mysteries set in Russia, this Martin Cruz Smith novel takes place in Wigam, a mining village in Victorian England. Jonathan Blair, formerly of Wigam but more recently of Africa, has been charged by the local bishop with the task of finding John Maypole, the curate to whom the bishop's daughter Charlotte is engaged. Blair is anxious to return to Africa, a place he'd found so comfortable in comparison to the staid and class-conscious place of his birth, that he'd been accused by others of having "gone native." The bishop will send him back to Africa only if he can find Maypole.

Though the setting and time are completely different from Cruz Smith's more familiar Russian novels, his sense of place and his ability to create vibrant settings, rich with details, are in full play here. The terrible contrasts between the rich landowners and the poor miners and the belief that this is the way God has intended the world to be create a bleak picture of life and a brooding sense of misery throughout the novel. The lives of the women, both rich and poor, examined in detail, are shown to be at least as miserable as those of the men.

As Blair conducts the search for Maypole, the author takes us into the mines, shows us how they are constructed, the dangers they pose, the methods the miners use to avoid methane explosions, the horrific working conditions, the cruelty of the most powerful pit workers toward the weaker, and the acceptance of these conditions by the mine owners, in this case, the bishop. Blair becomes acquainted with a pit boss who "teaches" him a local "game," in which miners wearing nail-studded clogs fight each other in a deadly combination of wrestling and boxing, and he befriends the mysterious Rose, a pit girl who, surprisingly, has books at her place of residence. The fact that she is also the girlfriend of the most powerful pit boss adds to the complexities of the action.

The conditions and motivations of the characters are fully revealed within the brutal social conditions of the day, as the mystery develops. Blair, thought "anonymous," to some extent, because he is not part of any of the social systems in Wigam, learns more than he wants to know about its way of life and its people. (In its gorier details, the reader, too, may learn more than s/he wants to know.) Intensely involving and grimly depicted, and filled with elements of social conscience and even romance, this novel is the equal of the Renko novels with which Cruz Smith readers may be more familiar. n Mary Whipple

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