Bean Books

What fun to go back in time and relive the Beanie Baby craze. This book has everything: pricing, detailed information, cool pics and great nostalgia value. This is one terrificly talented writer who goes into all the necessary detail for us collectors out here. She uses creative yet comfortable language and is obviously in tune with her reading public. I loved reliving those fun times through this neato book!

While it is impossible to keep prices current, as a starter beanie collector, I found this guide a useful resource. I still refer to it as I make my way through the mountain of plush with beans out there. I'm happy with it.. though the picture quality for some of the beanies could have been significantly improved.. Its worth the $15 I paid. (:o)

Frankly, I was disappointed in this book. It has some good information, but the quality of the pictures is very poor. Many of them are out of focus or too far away and look very amateurish. Also, the prices for the Beanies seem out of date. I wish I could get Righty for $110.00.

It has every thing you want.even prices.

All in all, this book was just plain good. I was disappointed with it though. The prices were very inaccurate for the time. I urge you to look at other books.

Why didn't I like it? Her character development was incomplete. Her characters were very transparent and did not change much throughout this "thriller/mystery". The plot, although creative, did not seem very realistic. I know it's only fiction, but, even the end was not all that it was built up to be. You'll wait and wait for an exciting ending and not get one. Her discriptions of things/events was on par with that of a real writer, but the rest of it seemed like anyone with an interest in creative writing could have written it.

Absolutely a delicious read! From beginning to end, Woman Without A Past grabbed the reader into a suspense filled, mystery personified read that could not be put down. From adoption to murder, this novel portrayed the feeling of needing to connect to the biological past that anyone that was adopted would feel, and intertwined between all the chaotic emotions associated with that quest alone, were unsolved murders and mayhem, a little madness, and a touch of romance.

Romantic Suspense at its best!

I couldn't believe everyone else has rated this book 5 stars!
I thought the plot weak and not well thought out at all. All-in-all very dissapointing. Don't waste your time with this one.

WOMAN WITHOUT A PAST takes place in Charleston, South Carolina, where the heroine of the book, Molly Hunt, finds out about her past. Molly was given away for adoption as an infant, and has only known her adoptive parents. However, sheer chance brings her into contact with the man who is about to marry her twin sister, whom she never knew to exist. Filled with doubt, Molly follows Charles Landry to South Carolina to meet the family she never knew.

As the story progresses, Molly learns about her biological family, and finds that there are some deep secrets that may have eventually led to her adoption years ago. The big shocking secret is that her adoption may have been a result of a kidnapping, and for some reason the family seems to know about the crime but refuses to shed light on it.

As she learns about these family secrets, her life starts to take a turn for the worse, as she finds herself in danger and a target for murder.

I really enjoyed this novel by Phyllis Whitney. I've been a fan of hers for over 20 years now, and her novels still have the same impact they had on me way back when. She hasn't lost her touch. Ms Whitney knows how to write a good romance mystery and is probably the best in the genre.

A review by Heather
This story is about a woman named Molly who writes woman's mysteries. Her parents told her when she was young that she was adopted, and that they didn't know who her parents were. So Molly always accepted this and went on with life, when one day a man named Charles shows up at her work and says that she is identical to the woman that he was engaged to who lives down in Charleston, south Carolina on a huge plantation. So Molly goes with him and meets her twin sister Amelia and some other interesting characters who seem to not want her their. Then Molly finds out about a family murder, and about her dad that had a heart attack, and about her being stolen as a baby, and she is intrigued to figure out all of it.

Molly in this story is very curios, and very trusting. Molly would always believe what everyone else would say. When her crazy mother took her in the middle of the night Molly believed that she was going to take her somewhere nice, but she didn't. And even after that Molly trusted her when she took her backstage of an old theatre. This book is a good mystery, but Molly didn't really know what was going on so the reader doesn't know either. Most of the excitement happened when she was in the theatre at the end of the book. But the book isn't very exciting in the middle and beginning. The author doesn't give you that much information about the deaths, so it can be boring.

I would recommend this book for people who like mysteries without a lot of action. This is mostly a mystery book that makes you think about what happened and you have to examine the events in the book carefully to completely understand it.

Leah Hager Cohen ends this books with the words: everywhere you rest your eyes, invisible stories blossom. Well, in this book it is her intention to tell you every possible story about every possible thing and person that relates to every possible other thing and person, starting from her having a cup of coffee and readin the Sunday paper. This is "world in a grain of sand" gone mad. The premise is a good one, and was in fact why I bought the book in the first place. But how much is enough? Cohen doesn't appear to even care to ask the question; her editor, if there was one on the project, was probably cowering in a corner, subject to Cohen's steadfast refusal to edit out one precious word. Precious. That is the main word that comes to mind to describe this. While Cohen on the surface has intentions of getting to the root of things, to the connectedness of things, she writes in a way that calls more attention to her style of writing than to what she is trying to describe. She is a very talented writer. What comes to mind is the most talented girl in high-school, doing her best to show off and please the teacher, and get the best boy. But only now after a degree in writing.

An example, her description of fog in Mexico: "Everyone knows that the mist nourishes the coffee plants, caresses them like handmaidens with damp, cool fingers, cradles them in a moist pellicle all through the dry months." Never mind that the person she is observing only made it to the 12th grade. Never mind that I don't even know what the heck "pellicle" means, let alone him. And handmaidens in Mexico? Give me a break.

For paper, she follows a guy with a state of the art tree harvester that slices through trees like butter. Well, sure, that is the source of paper, but this is hardly a getting to know where paper is made or even one person who has their hands in the pulp.

The descriptions are rather lop-sized, weighted toward the fellow in Mexico for some inexplicible reason. And, that in and of itself could have made for an interesting study. But so many pages devoted to him, and so fewer to the lady at the glass factory (and all sorts of nonsense about her time off work) as well as that guy cutting down trees (for both lumber and paper)... well, maybe you get the idea. Cohen had an epiphany in a cafe, presumably had an editor that she could sweetalk into approving her airfare to Canada, Ohio and Mexico, and then ran (and ran) with the idea. And ran on with the sentences.

If you really want to know about glass paper or beans, you'd be better off buying seperate histories of them. And, while you will come away from this book with three portraits, of varying degrees of intimacy, you will likely also be saying to yourself.... get on with it Cohen. What does Ruth's arthritis have to do with the price of eggs?

And you know what? She could probably write you a whole book to answer that question.

This is one of those books that resonates with me yearsafter having read it. The book's starting point is the author sitting in a cafe drinking coffee in a glass mug, reading a paper. She realizes that she has no idea where the stuff she is surrounded by comes from. This book answers the question in the beautiful prose I have come to expect from this gifted writer. The story of each item is told from historic and personal viewpoints. This is an essential book!

Glass, Paper, Beans is one of the best non-fiction books I have ever read. I have just completed it for the second time. Each time I read it, it opens my eyes a little more to the idea that to everything, there is a story. We as adults are often like little children who think milk comes from a store, having little or no concept of the work it took to get it there. It is comforting in a way to know that I am connected to so many people through the ordinary things of life, and those people lives are complex, creative, and hold a beauty all their own. I enjoyed Cohen's insight into three lives and how they interacted with initial stages of each product, bringing details of their private lives into play, weaving the two together. Cohen's book brings with it a greater appreciation for the ordinary things in my life. I know that people are behind them, not a new revelation, but now brought to life.

and finally gave it away. While I think it's a great concept, I don't find it a page turner, or enough to make me care about any of the three characters Ms. Hager Cohen follows throughout the book.

I loved this book! The author starts with a simple train of thought and follows it on a sort of quest to investigate the "stories" behind everyday objects. In the course of her investigations she examines myths, histories and philosophies surrounding these things. The book is kept from becoming dry by the vivid pictures she makes of the people she meets in her investigations. Beautifully, almost poetically written, she uses simple language to convey some very complex ideas. ...A book to make you think.

. . .as in his first novel, Bean crafts another psychological murder mystery -- but, like his first two, with some serious flaws.

Again set in Southeastern Wisconsin, it is clear that Bean is reasonably familiar with the area. That is a plus. There are not many other plusses.

The first victim? The mentor of his main character. Other victims? Like in his previous books, young children. Many readers may well have a difficulty with this aspect of the book. His ultimate villian was completely unbelievable, the motive was weak and the resolution non-existent.

The sub-plot involving the gambling difficulties of the main character's husband never did make sense to me, and did not significantly add to the overall development.

Certainly not the worst mystery writer I've encountered -- but certainly not the best either.

This is a very good book. It is well written and will leave you unable to put it down. This is another hit for C.N. Bean!

The continuing saga of investigator Rita Trible (from A Soul To Take) only gets better. Like a slow moving freight train you are gathered up into the encredibly real life of Rita. Then it picks up speed and never lets you off until the stunning last stop. Hold your breath!

it was good but a soul to take was much better. it has a good story to it. I woul like to see more books by C.N.BEAN. Hes a good writer.

I gave this book more of a chance than it deserved. I actually finished it. I read 100's of books a year, and this has to be one of the top 10 losers.

The story line had potential, but there was little, if any, continuity. There are many questions left unanswered at the end, which is unsurprising as the author tried to sum it all up in 1 page. It actually feels as if the story DIDN'T end.

I haven't read anything else by C. N. Bean, and I admit it's possible his other works would be more to my liking - but this story read like a Dick and Jane book. This guy needs to read Stephen King's "On Writing" for a few tips. I doubt his other books read any better.

Do yourself a favor and try J. D. Robb's "In Death" series. You won't be sorry.

Really takes you through each essay and asks you various questions about it. It's covering pretty much everything about writing. I recommend it.

The university where I teach allows us to choose our own composition text. After much research and personal experience with several composition texts, I use this guide. While I agree that the selected essays do have a liberal slant I do not agree that the writing is too difficult for a freshman to understand.

There is no way that I would assign the entire textbook, cover to cover, for one semester. Even the authors do not suggest this. I use the chapters on reading and writing rhetoric, research, critical data analysis, and writer conferencing with all of my composition classes. Then I pick and choose which specific writing projects/chapters I will use for different levels.

I highly recommend this textbook. It has a lot of acurate and useful information and is a great source for a composition course.

To counterbalance the liberal essays, I add in several others from many different perspectives and fields to allow students to have a wider understanding of the world.

The book contains good up to date information and it has helped me with my College writing class.

I have been required to use this text at one school where I teach, and it is a dismal experience. Most of the other instructors feel the same way, but we are overruled by a minority opinion.

The authors do not have a clue that they are writing this book for a freshman college audience. You need advanced reading skills in order to be able to understand some of the chapters in this book. For example, they overly complicate the chapter on writing evaluations.

The readings are also dry and have a noticeably liberal slant. Although, there are a couple of interesting ones, such as the essay about Sesame Street being sexist. However, there are not enough readings to provide good examples for students to use as models.

If I was not forced to use the book, I would not. This is too much money to spend on a book that is not especially useful.

I think it sounds great. Good research for directors or theatres looking at producing WORKING. Modern touches are good.

While I like the original 1978 soundtrack, the songs in it are a little dated at this point. This recording not only is an update of the original show, but is the complete play, spoken and song, which I think works better. I think you get more from the music, when you hear the dialogue that was written to be spoken with it as well, and the performances are very good.

I bought both this and the original at the same time. I think I will probably be listening to this version while the other will end up in the CD collection.

While I agree that this double CD is pretty poorly presented and packaged (which is unfortunate given the cost), it does have some different songs than the original Bway cast (e.g. the reprise of "Hey Somebody") and the cast includes folks like Harry Groener (best known for "Dear John" but also an experienced Bway singer/actor). There is absolutely no question that the original Bway cast is better performed, better packaged, and a better value -- BUT if you like that CD and want to explore the show more, you will find something of interest here.

No reason to get this with the OCR back in print (with bonus tracks). These discs include dialogue (I guess that is the only plus). No liner notes, lyrics etc. Cheesy presentation.

I was very disappointed with this purchase. Since several pages were missing and there has been a lot of highlighting going on, I don't think that the description of the book as "like new" was truthful. Would not recommend that you purchase anything from this seller.

PRODUST WAS SHIPPED AS PROMISED. BOOK WAS IN GREAT SHAPE, PRATICALLY NEW. WILL DO BUISNESS AGAIN

The Mappes/Zembaty reader has everything one would want in an introductory primer on ethics and social policy. The editors have collected well-argued and important essays by philosophers, jurists and laymen on most of the politically charged topics of today, from abortion to pornography to environmentalism. Unfortunately, the book has not been updated to include any treatment of behaviors made newly possible by the Internet; perhaps a newer edition will accommodate this angle.

Bruce Dessau has written two books on the life and career of British comedian Rowan Atkinson. The first one that I read (simply titled ROWAN ATKINSON) was a three hundred and fifty page biography -- a detailed and concise history of the man's television, film, and theatre work. This volume, BEAN THERE DONE THAT, covers the same material in coffee-table form, but only taking one hundred and twelve pages to do so. What this book lacks in content, it makes up for in large, glossy, color photographs of the clown himself. It's a fairly good summary of Atkinson's career, though after reading the more in-depth tome, this slimmer volume can't help but feel watered down.

Like Dessau's other biography, this volume has a lot to say about the various characters that Atkinson has created over the years, but very little about his private life. This omission is more forgivable here, since one probably isn't looking for an enormous amount of insight in a book of this type. It does do quite a good job at following Atkinson's career and will especially be enjoyed by anyone who isn't overly familiar with some of the television shows he has appeared in that haven't sustained the amount of international exposure as MR BEAN.

While BEAN THERE DONE THAT suffers from many of the same flaws as the other Dessau biography, this volume should be recommended to people new to Atkinson's work. There are some excellent photographs and the text is quite adequate at the task of describing all of Rowan Atkinson's work (up to the MR. BEAN movie). It may be a bit too superficial for the Atkinson fans, however, as most of the information included is available in other forms.

This book is in the words of Bart Simpson is," Fab-U-Lus! "

While Dessau's book does cover the talented British comic's meteoric rise to success, the frantic pace and "press-bio" approach ultimately ruin what true fans await. Admirers of Atkinson's work will find themselves asking, "and then what?" on every page. We learn of his childhood surroundings, but very little of his family life. His impressive body of work is listed chronologically with no discussion of the blood, sweat and tears behind it. His classic influences are mentioned in passing, save his British similiarities to Stan Laurel. Left with very little insight into the creative process, Dessau's book reads like a coffee-table version of an Entertainment Weekly article with great photos.

I bought this book after reading several great reviews. I had high hopes, but was very disappointed. I do not like the stories at all. Not to mention, they are long and the pictures are almost non-existant. It's just not my kind of book.

My boys did not enjoy it either. They are 2.5 and almost 3.5 years old and love to be read to. They're not picky, but they really dislike this one. I've tried to read it to them several times (despite my not liking it) and they are running to the bookshelf to get different books the second they see it.

It "might" be a good choice for older children (I would say no younger than 8 years), but definitely not for younger ones.

I ordered this book for my newly adopted son, my partner and I read it to him almost every night! He absolutely loves it! Despite a few editing errors, it is a fabulous book with wonderful fairy tales including families of all different types.
I am going to purchase this book for my sons school, it is a must have for any family!

My son loved these stories. They are fairy tales with magic boots, kings, queens, etc. but with various family constellations presented very matter-of-factly. They are not preachy but convey values that (...) (such as, being different does not mean you're bad) in a fun way.

A pretty good western story, set on the border of Arkansas and the Indian Territory in the 1890s. It is a good read, however, it is pure fiction. If you are looking to actually learn about the historic characters portrayed in the book, go to the library and check out a history book. This novel strays from the truth in a pretty wide manner.

All in all, it is a fun story!

This book was the first in the series that I purchased, but I definitely intend to buy the other two. The main characters, Leo and Jacque are well developed, the historical personalities they run into are represented accurately (having read biographies of Judge Parker and the real Dr. Lemat, who is presented as a relative of Leo in this book) and the details (food, tack, firearms, locations) are accurate. This is a pleasurable way for someone to learn about Ft. Smith and Indian Territory history without having to locate several of the hard-to-find books that the author's obviously studied to create this book.

Highly recommended and definitely a cut above many of the Western genre series.

How many authors of Westerns use a 15-year-old orphan as the central figure who tells the story and pairs him with a dyslexic girl? That setup alone might be enough to interest some readers of this new Western. There's plenty of action, too. The author does a fairly good job of developing the story though much of the rest of it is more traditional. A wealthy and influential rancher whose sons make trouble for any who get in their way controls the town. A stranger from New York City happens to be in town when trouble is brewing for young Nate, the orphan. Jake, the stranger, ends up sticking around to see what he can do to even the odds. The struggle between these two sides, as in many Westerns, becomes the struggle between good and evil. Perhaps this might be one of the book's weaker points. It may be a little too black and white for some. Also the dialogue occasionally sounds a little unnatural. But with the setup the way it is and the interaction that occurs, this is a book worth reading.