Beck Books

I found this book to be an interesting read. I'm not sure I buy into their thesis that the gamer generation is different, due to growing up with electronic games, but they did make a good case for it.

The book was well written and engaging. As a gamer myself, it was interesting to read how they feel gaming changes how players view the world. As an older gamer, however, I supposedly have not experienced the full impact as much as those to who video games were a ubiquitous part of childhood.

I work in the video game industry and so have an awful lot of experience with people whose lives have been shaped by video games - they develop them for a living. This book purports to describe the thought processes of a generation that has had its lives and thoughts shaped by video games. If the insights in this book are true, then I should be working at Ground Zero. This puts me in a good position for negative proof of this book: if I don't see the personality traits in this book represented in the people with whom I work, then there's a good chance that the book isn't totally accurate.

I don't see most of these personality traits in the people with whom I work. Some yes, but not all. That makes this book a bit suspect.

That said there are a couple of good thoughts in this book. For example, the idea that people who have grown up with games might believe that they can solve any problem themselves (and that there is a solution out there) is something I haven't seen anywhere else. And certainly the people with whom I work are able to form themselves into teams and do teamwork. But the book is so devoid of actual data that I can't tell whether the authors' conclusions in this or any other regard are based upon solid foundations or pure conjecture.

I read this just after Grand Theft Childhood. Buy that first. Buy this to round out the library if you still need.

While there are some good points made in this book, it was hard to get past the outdated nature of the examples and data that is included. References to consoles stop at the Gamecube/Xbox/PS2, and EverQuest is the "big MMORPG" they explain to the non-gamers. I think it would be very interesting to see how the data in this book may have changed with the Nintendo DS and Wii causing a larger amount on traditional non-gamers to get involved. Overall there are some good conclusions drawn that can be helpful for the non-gamer to understand their counterparts better, but a refresh is definitely in order.

It is profoundly dishonest to have published this book under a different title--with no warning in the book--than Got Game. It is the same book. This is simply an unethical publishing practice. Got Game was a good book and it is sad to see a business press and two authors engage in this level of deceit. It simply entices people to buy the book again, thinking it a new book--based on what was respect for the author previous work.

This book had me from the beginning with the Socrates quote. I really like how the authors broke the generation down to how they think. The authors are part of another generation (as I am) and the comparisons are right on the money. While the entire reason the young adults (those under 30) are the way they are cannot be attributed to video games (IMHO), it does account for a lot of their thought process. They talk about this generation's "acclimation to failure" - as in video games, when game is over, no problem - just start another game! If this generation seems arrogant, it is just their reality - they may over estimate their talents, but they will work to meet their expectations. To just name a few.
While I thought the book was good, it failed to be great for several reasons. One, the print seemed big - like they were trying to fill space. This thought was confirmed about 3/4 through the book, where it seemed they were repeating themselves. I recommend the book, but not as a stand alone. It is a good introduction and it appears to be backed by data. (All data was obtained by survey. Authors provide an appendix and bibliograpy.) If you want to know how the younger generation thinks - this is a great first book on the subject.

If you rely on the written or spoken word to sway the opinion of others, this is a must have for your reference resources.

While there are a number of online resources, they do not compare to having a hard copy on your desk. There are a number of problems with many of the online quote sources. The attribution is often questionable. Bartlett's is the authority on attribution.

The collection is in chronological order, alphabetical by author. There is an extensive index by subject matter. You should be able to find just the quote you are searching for in a matter of minutes.

I have found this to be an invaluabe resource.

I have also discovered many authors and philisophers that I wanted to learn more about from simply browsing through this collection.

There is nothing like the appropriate quotationn to give credibility to your speaking or writing. If you are serious about your work, you really should add this to your collection of resources.

Bartlett's is where I go if I want to see exactly who said what, when, and in precisely what context. John Bartlett started his work about 150 years ago with approximately 250 people, and now in its current version, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations has more than 25,000 quotes from 2,500 people. The chronological layout also makes this very appealing and accessible, and moreso a book one can easily sit down with on a rainy day to peruse.

One thing I take issue with is the fact that several quotes from notable people I have picked up from reading elsewhere (perhaps even earlier versions of Bartlett's!) are not listed in the current book, among them:

"We were given two ears and one mouth that we may hear the more and speak the less." -Zeno

"We are what we repeatedly do; excellence then, is not an act, but a habit." -Aristotle

"I have nothing, yet have everything; and although I possess nothing, still of nothing am I in want." - Menander

The quotes above are not listed, while others are, such as "show me the money" from the movie Jerry Maguire in 1996! Somehow I think the former quotes will hold the test of time while that inane quote from the Hollywood movie will probably not even make it into the Bartlett's version two iterations down the line.

In my opinion, the only thing lacking is a proper gravitas; not enough emphasis is given to timeless figures such as Aristotle or Zeno in favor of contemporary quotes which in truth, possess very little meaning or truth, or in some cases, none at all.

That being given as a proviso, this is still the de facto source for quotations.

**** 1/2 Stars.

A really cool book that no one thinks of reading. Most of the phrase used in today's world can be located here, and their origins reviewed.

I've used a hard-copy of Bartlett's Familiar Quotations for years as a reference. I was disappointed that this current edition for the Kindle does not have all the content of the book.

Abraham Lincoln, for example, is missing. Sir Winston Spencer Churchill... missing. Grover Cleveland, Christopher Columbus, Confucius; all missing. I would be a much happier Customer if this were a full-reference version.

This review is for the book, not the CD ROM or any other Bartlett's related electronic media.
If you consider yourself well read, it will not take you long to find out where "Bartlett's Familiar Quotations" fails and be somewhat disappointed. If you don't read a lot, and need the book for school or reference, it will probably be adequate.
Certainly no book of quotations can be exhaustive and Bartlett's never claims to be, their are; however, some vital literary idioms that are noticeably missing.
Having covered the book's shortcomings, I cannot point out that as a resource and reference this book can be not only helpful, but indispensable for college students.
"Bartlett's Familiar Quotations" is like the King of the Cliff's Notes research, and just like Cliff's Notes, His Majesty should never be used to replace the material it summarizes. A basic understanding of the context of the book's quotations is far more valuable then the quotes themselves.
REVIEW EVERY BOOK YOU READ! OR AT LEAST REFERENCE REGULARLY.

TDD "By Example" is a book that tries to persuade you to write tests before writing the code the tests test. In the first six chapters, the author takes you through an example of generating code through this method. Along the way, he makes several pertinent points:

1. His method has never been empirically studied to see if it helps or severely hurts the efficiency of the software development process (though the author is very interested to hear from anyone who finally DOES study his method, since he didn't have the time to do so himself, being too busy dreaming up new development processes to inflict on us).

2. His tedious, non-linear, haphazard, time-wasting (ed: my words) method is not meant to be followed precisely, but only meant to allow you to say you CAN do it that way. He makes this point numerous times. Fantastic dude, thanks. :/

I predict that this book will be purchased by software project managers both actual and wanna-be all throughout the software industry, and inflicted as a requirement on otherwise productive and smart engineers for several years to come. The final result will be projects woefully behind schedule, leading to inevitable 24-hour/7 day crunches, thereby twice punishing the engineers, and resulting in the whole silly process being dropped in the end.

Having said all this, I give the book two full stars: the english grammar is correct, and the punctuation well placed. The book is easy to understand, making it quite simple to dislike the content thereof.

Excellent book, well paced and informative. You should really go through the examples as you read those sections (part 2), even if they feel a little obvious, because if you are new to TDD you will pick up some insights. I particularly liked the Patterns section (Part 3), as it introduced some new patterns as well as talked about familiar patterns in the light of TDD.

If you are a software developer, you must put this powerful tool (TDD) in your toolbox.

The book's scope is well-defined and its methodology (including a running "task list" that is updated at the end of each chapter with strikeouts and new items) is innovative. But it falls sadly short in execution.

The text is overloaded with cutesy digressions that only serve to obscure the topic at hand and irritate the reader. No "Head First" title, this. To read this book is to wish over and over that its author had had the humility to submit it to another editor's series rather than launching it under his own.

Still, there is no other book quite like it on this subject, and I can certainly recommend it for extended bookstore browsing. You may find you are less sensitive than me to Beck's assaults on clarity, in which case by all means go forth and buy.

Overall, this was a great read. I love books with tiny chapters, giving you good stopping points where you can meditate on what you just read while you're busy with life's other challenges. Beck goes into TDD as well as design concepts such as you might find in Scott Bain's Emergent Design book. Patterns are also lightly discussed.


I also love Kent Beck's casual writing style. For those of us who don't have 16 hours a day to devote to our computer, it's nice to have some humor and casual speaking happening in a book which only a hardcore reader will read -- like myself.

I give the book 4 stars, but there are a few *glaring* question marks.

First, there is no introductory chapter on using JUnit or any other *Unit.
Kent wouldn't have even had to write such a chapter himself - maybe one of the tech reviewers! You have to give the reader something to go on, even if you just merely assume the reader will use JUnit in a CLI dev environment. Or discuss all the assert calls. I dunno. Weird. But not a huge deal, and I knew how it worked already, anyway.

Second, and this is a biggie, why on Earth Kent would choose as an example writing xUnit for the second section is so beyond me I have no words. He hints later that he likes to write a *Unit library for each new language he learns, as an exercise. But, good lord, it's so hard to wrap your brain around incestuous "writing yourself" concept -- couldn't he just written something else? We're trying to learn TDD here. Geez. I mostly skimmed the whole section as it was too hard to follow.

Third, in that same section, Kent decides he will move away from Java, a language most of us already know and, if not, looks like a whole host of other languages so it's easy to follow and fairly verbose. Right, he decides to use -- ready? -- PYTHON! A language very few people know and has some strange idioms. This would be akin to writing the chapter using arcane Ruby or Perl structures. The whole second section has you trying to catch up on the language and the recursive xUnit example so much that it completely distracts from the TDD lessons.

OK, here's a fourth. Two very good examples for TDD are practically side notes. I used his late-book example of a Triangle class to do TDD for real for the first time and it was an excellent example! I did it all and only when I completed it did I read his tests. It was great, and I look forward to trying out the Fibonacci Sequence which is an *appendix*.

Why not put these in the book and explain them?

But it's still a good read. Try to avoid buying it for $40 - $50 though. I read it in 2 days without much effort, so not sure it's worth the price. But it's still very good despite all this.

This book is good, IF you haven't read the Martin Fowlers refactoring the code ( not back to design patterns, but just refactoring ), other than that it has some cool insights ...


Ok to buy and keep it for reference sake ...

Helpful for all XPrs out there

Regards,
Vyas, Anirudh

This is a terrific little book with delightful pictures. Besides the traditional story we learned as children, it also includes several other cute and endearing stories. Highly recommended for children from 1 to 100.

Little Black Sambo was one of my favorite stories when I was a child. It is nice to be able to share it with my children.

It saddens me to not have this book available to little children as it was to me. I never thought of it as a prejudice statement. I was not brought up to thing that way. Just that everyone has there own way of living and differences. I loved that book and wish I had my original. I can still picture it.

there is no better children's book than this. My family would laugh and laugh when we read this book. It makes every child smile and learn important truths of our culture.

I don't undestand why this book would be considered rascist. Some say the pictures are the reason. If no one were to tell me, I would have never known. If some people think this is a story that relates to the author's rascism, then that is their small-minded problem.

If you like 'Sambo', then you'll like Why the Sun and the Moon Live in the Sky. ( From what I've read of it, Julius Lester's version has no substancee)

Using a very objective and simple approach, the book presents the xp way of planning in a very easy and enjoyable way. It does not contain much practical advice, but it is an excellent starting point for someone who is not familiar with xp and its practices. After reading this book one should definitely look for "Agile Estimating And Planning" from Mike Cohn. It contains a more thorough approach on the subject.

Well, I had been tentative about spending time investigating the meaning of "Extreme Programming", based primarily on what I consider to be a name that smacks of jargon, and because I thought that the audience for this development approach was young hip gamer-types who wanted to develop business applications! I now appologize to those who synthesized the techniques (although I still consider the name to be unfortunate, sorry). I am optimistic that this approach to development will solve many of the problems that I have faced over the years, and that this solution is much simpler than I could have dreamed of! This book is just 130 pages, and the techniques are clearly, succinctly, and I think expertly described by Kent and Martin. The level of humor is good, and the practicality of the solution is clear.

This book lays out the point of planning, the approach taken, and the steps to do.

This book has a lot of content not found in any other XP book that I own. The gold nuggets in here are useful for project management for years to come. It's a 5 star for sure.

This book is very valuable if you already started to practice Extreme Programming. It contains a very encouraging foreword by Tom DeMarco. The first nine chapters are introductory, and you may skip them if you read the XP Manifesto "Extreme Programming Explained" by Kent Beck. Chapters from ten to twenty three contain valuable information not found in any other XP-related book.

- How exactly to plan releases? What if frequent releases aren't appropriate and marketing demands to release once a year?

- How exactly to write user stories, and how to handle them? Although the reader may find some sample stories in "Extreme Programming Installed" by Ron Jeffries, Ann Anderson and Chet Hendrickson, the stories in the "Planning Extreme Programming" are used as core elements in the whole planning process, shown as example.

- How exactly to build the iteration plan and the release plan? How to track an iteration?

I would also like to recommend "Extreme Programming Applied: Playing to Win" by Ken Auer, Roy Miller, Ward Cunningham. I think this is the most practical book on XP ever written.

I would also like to recommend the titles about individual XP aspects:
- Design Improvement: "Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code " by Martin Fowler;
- Test-Driven Development: "Test Driven Development: By Example " by Kent Beck;
- Sustainable Pace: "Slack: Getting Past Burnout, Busywork, and the Myth of Total Efficiency" by Tom DeMarco;
- Pair Programming: "Pair Programming Illuminated" by Laurie Williams and Robert Kessler;
- Whole Team: "Agile Software Development" by Alistair Cockburn;
- Planning Game: "Planning Extreme Programming" by Kent Beck, Martin Fowler;
- Small Releases: "Software Project Survival Guide" by Steve C McConnell.

Kent Beck and Martin Fowler have to be something of a "dream team" for a computer book. Not only was this book informative and interesting, but I actually enjoyed reading it. The book crackles with ideas and sparkles with a subtle wit.

The content of the book covers all aspects of planning, managing and tracking progress on an XP (Extreme Programming) project and is a worthy companion to Kent Beck's anthemic XP Explained. Hard stuff missed out from the earlier work such as how to estimate how long things will take, how to write user stories and how to organize the details of iterations and releases is explained in a straightforward way. It also introduces a few new key XP concepts, showing that this radical methodology didn't spring fully formed into the mind of Beck, but is still evolving. One such key is "Yesterdays Weather", the idea that you can't go far wrong by using past performance as an initial guess for future results.

If you are at all intrigued by the new "agile" methodologies, read XP Explained and then this one. Then buy a few more copies for your management.

Ok after much thinking and soul searching I had to drop a star from the rest of the books. This being the team of Timothy James Beck's first book (team of 4 writers) the flow did not match book 2 or 3. That being said this was not a bad book. It is a good book to read but read it FIRST. I read book 2 first without knowing it was a series and LOVE #2 but going back and reading book 1 was kind of strange as I was peering into the past.

All of the bad being said I just LOVE the characters and how developed the writers make them. They are not just characters in a book but they become like your friends. You just know how they are feeling as they discover themselves and finally admit to their own being and sexuality. If you read this book then be sure to pick up the rest. You will love where the stories take you.

So, I admit to being a bit of a snob. Not that I am in to high art, but I always liked to think of myself as above the new glut of mass market gay paperbacks. This series of books, and you should read all three, proves me wrong. They are well written and highly entertaining. I was compelled to move on from one book to the next, and was disappointed when I hit the end of the series.

Then came the real mindblower. It turns out that the author of the book is actually authorS! Four of them who write together via mail. I wish I had known this before hand, as I would have looked for changes in voice - in retrospect, it all feels seamless. I found it really funny when some reviewers commented that the 'author' was authentic and must have lived this life himself.

Go for it, and have a good time. The story steps out of stereotypes - these are not the drag queens you have heard about before. But you will recognize the pining for 'that' man, whether you pine for men or women, gay or straight. And pay attention to all the characters, as they come up in the rest of the series - again, read all of them!

It could be said that the three things you need for a sucessful life in today's modern world are Job, Love and Friends..
Daniel's going through some major life changes. His live-in love just cheated on him and is now living in with another guy.. both of whom now seem more interested in Daniel then each other! His career is ending, along with his fame, his identity and maybe even his close friendships! Daniel is a man trying to redefine himself and going through a good amount of hell in the process.. when he looks up from his little piece of sanity in a changing world, his precious garden and sees Him. With fantasies of this mystery man in the apartment across from his the highlight of Daniel's otherwise torturous days can he take a chance and meet him? Meeting him, can he create a new life around him?
Daniel makes new friends, gets a new job and unfortunatley lies about his old life as he works through his issues and trys to get his man.
I loved all the flash backs to Daniel's female impersonator past Very fun and colorful!
This is actaully the first book in a 3 book series, all three books are very well written and worth reading! Something for everyone!
Enjoy these treasures!

I really love this book. I have a best friend who does drag and was thinking about giving it all up. This book made me understand what she was going through. PLUS I think everyone can feel like Daniel. We also all want a Blaine in our life. This is the first in a series I would suggest them to everyone.

If you are looking for a fun book to read, one that will conjur up images of the tart, sassy, quick, sharp, and edgy comedy of a Tracy-Hepburn movie, then this book is for you. Daniel and Blaine, the heroes of this delightful book, are as different as night and day. If you are at all familar with the movie ADAM'S RIB, you will have an understanding of how IT HAD TO BE YOU develops as a story. Wit, angst, miscommunication, secrets large and small add to the joy in reading this book. This one is a winner. Read and enjoy!!

I love it but not as much as i loved tokyo mew mew.is it woth buying,to me yes.

this book is .....i can't think of a word beside terrible, really really bad!!! ok, i liked tokyo mew mew, like other fans when i heard that there was tokyo mew mew a la mode coming out, i was happy! but..wow save your money, ..... i hated the new character, berry was so annoying!(like my spelling)

Okay, Tokyo Mew Mew A La Mode is cool, but NOT as cool as Tokyo Mew Mew!!! Berry is a TOTAL copy-cat of Ichigo, only girlier!!! AND she's the leader now!!! Ichigo is a better leader!!! I like Berry, but Ichigo's SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much cooler!!!

While I went to the bookfair in school,I found this book in a shelf in the back of the library.When I read it,it didn't make sense,but it was a good book.Next time I'll go to Borders,I'm going to get vol.1

Tokyo Mew Mew A La Mode is a good book. But I was very disapointed when I finished this series cause it wasn't as good as Tokyo Mew Mew. There were no aliens, no Kish.Also, it seemed liked Mint, Lettuce, Pudding, Ichigo, and Zakuro were not important characters of the book. There were a lot of things missing in the Tokyo Mew Mew A La Mode series that I liked in Tokyo Mew Mew.

-Chibi

The book is very interesting, couldn't put it down. Fast delivery. Needed a little more editing.

I just finished Cornplanter Chronicles and was overwhelmed by the insight the author showed, as well as his understanding of the early Native American mind. This is the birth of our nation through the eyes of one of its greastest enemies and somehow the author was able to capture the mindset of this great and totally ignored man. I noticed the slanderous reviews and the unkind words about the author. I find the comments unwarranted and totally groundless. This is a fine piece of Literature and worthy of all ages. This is a fine read.

I can't help it. I am a fan of Harold Thomas Beck.

First I read "The First Terrorist Act" and loved it. Then it was "Tyrannus Bush?". Now I find Cornplanter and I have never heard of the man until this book. I find out he is a real man who really did fight the United States to a standstill and negotiate peace on his terms. Wow!

This is an excellent book. I am going to give it as Christmas presents to my nieces and nephews. It is American History told through the eyes of perhaps the greatest war chief of all times. It holds your attention and you end up knowing more about our history than you did before you picked up the book. I loved it.

I have not yet read this book, but it would be wrong to say that Cornplanter was one of the "greatest enemies of our nation." It is much more complicated than that. Although he fought with the British during the revolutionary war, after the war he was a peacful moderate, a negotiator, a.k.a a sellout. He was a friend to the US Government. Why do you think he was awarded the Cornplanter grant? An enemy would have taken up arms, not discouraged his own people and other Indian tribes from doing so. Yes, the Seneca have a reservation today whereas many Indian tribes are not so lucky, but we cannot really know the outcome had they truly fought against the whites rather than ceded 99% of their land for almost nothing in return with Cornplanters help. Would they have ended up with nothing? Would they have ended up with more land? Would they have been able to drive the white men off of this continent? Many other indian tribes made the same types of peaceful deals and still lost all of their land in the end. Although for a while Cornplanter lauded white inventions and helped introduce education, plows, and sawmills to his people, in the end of his life he once again became suspicious of the whites as they continued to enroach on Seneca land. At this time he rejected their tools and their ways and burned his awards and medals from George Washington. Since the death of Cornplanter whites have continuted to break promises to Senecas and take away more of their land by building dams, roads, railways, powerlines, not paying leases, and threatening to take away their tax-free status. What would Cornplanter have to say about that? I look forward to reading this book, but to others I would say be wary of one-sided portaryals. This is an incredibly complex situation. Other Seneca figures such as Red Jacket were much more resistant and hateful towards whites, but even he can be seen as a moderate compared to more militant Indian chiefs throughout history who accused both Cornplanter and Red Jacket of being cowards.

I take serious issue with the two morons who rated this book as one star.

Cornplanter Chronicles is one of the finest historical pieces I have ever read. It is the fictionalized account of one of the greatest war chiefs of all time and being a Cornplanter desendent, I appreciate the history and the attention to detail the writer took in his creation.

This is a book for all ages and it is indictitive of the great talent of this relatively unknown writer.

It is a very interesting tale. I was surprised and disappointed in the ending, though. However, I really did enjoy reading the book. I am anxious to reat "The Altruist" about Mary McGreevy's grandaughter.

This is an charming tale about the title character, who leaves the convent and takes over the running of a farm left by her late father. The characters are an eccentric group, each with their own idiosyncracies. Outside of marriage, Mary becomes intentionally pregnant, with no desire for a husband. The main story line stems from the townspeople's natural desire to know who the father is, and the ensuing gossip and irrational behaviors that will accompany emotion.
Unfortunately, the characters largely are too: good, forgiving, generous, honest, hateful, selfish, etc. Frequent marriage proposals fly without benefit of courting, forgiveness comes without a description of the angst of deep hurt, men are driven easily to distraction by the sight of a pretty ankle or the vision of a mother nursing her baby. In a day when the Catholic church is in such turmoil, the book stirs up more questions than answers. Some may see this as the mark of a good tale. Rather, I find little empathy for the main character who is made to capture the reader's heart, all the while causing much pain in her small Irish town.

This is an charming tale about the title character, who leaves the convent and takes over the running of a farm left by her late father. The characters are an eccentric group, each with their own idiosyncracies. Outside of marriage, Mary becomes intentionally pregnant, with no desire for a husband. The main story line stems from the townspeople's natural desire to know who the father is, and the ensuing gossip and irrational behaviors that will accompany emotion.
Unfortunately, the characters largely are too: good, forgiving, generous, honest, hateful, selfish, etc. Frequent marriage proposals fly without benefit of courting, forgiveness comes without a description of the angst of deep hurt, men are driven easily to distraction by the sight of a pretty ankle or the vision of a mother nursing her baby. In a day when the Catholic church is in such turmoil, the book stirs up more questions than answers. Some may see this as the mark of a good tale. Rather, I find little empathy for the main character who is made to capture the reader's heart, all the while causing much pain in her small Irish town.

Let me state first of all that this novel was a good read - I wouldn't put it in the same class as some other Irish writers I admire (such as William Trevor and Sebastian Barry), but Keady seems to have a knack for a good, interesting story, peopled with an array of (mostly) likeable, idiosyncratic characters. The questions that naturally arise from the storyline - a nun leaving her convent and giving up her vows to take over the farm left to her by her recently-deceased father, then intentionally getting pregnant out of wedlock, with no intention of getting married - are important and valid ones. Set in 1950, in rural Ireland, one doesn't have to imagine very far to understand that the Church frowned mightily at such goings-on - and even within the Church itself, the reactions to Mary McGreevy's 'scandalous' behavior vary a great deal. Some of the Clergy are sympathetic and understanding - some are livid and vindictive.

The character of Mary herself is an admirable one - many years ahead of her time, so to speak. She's a strong-willed, intelligent woman, bound and determined to do everything her own way. She's also possessed of a kind heart - and those of her neighbors who can see past her non-traditional path to motherhood recognize her as a good person, and do their best to be her friend. Again, given the time and place, that's not always easy to do.

Keady draws the characters well, but after a while, their 'Irishness' seems to be laid on a little thick - and the story, as heartwarming and thought-provoking as it is, tends to run in a rut as predictable as you might find in a rural Irish lane. Maybe I just 'got lucky', but I saw the revelation at the end coming a mile away. These are admittedly relatively minor complaints - and they certainly won't keep me from recommending this novel. Try it - I'll wager you'll find yourself smiling a good bit of the while...

After reading the terrific review here by "a top 10 reviewer",I find that there is not much more to be said about this charming book.

But I will try....

Mary McGreevy upsets the proverbial apple cart when she returns to her Irish village in the 50s and withdraws from the convent where she has been for many years. Soon she is further scandalizing the town by becoming pregnant (was it a coincidence that Keady named this character "Mary"?) without the benefit of marriage.

Much of the rest of the book involves the efforts of the townsfolk to discover who is the father. There are several suspects and Keady made me fel like I knew each of them very well, but not well enough to figure out who the father was!

To the author's credit, although he raises many questions about the Catholic faith and its doctrines, he never makes fun of it. Nor does he make caricatures of its practitioners or its priests.

Glad I read this book....in addition to being Mary's story, it was a charming depiction of Irish village life 50 years ago.

The novel 'Butterfield 8' is nothing like its film adaptation. The book is a rather gritty account of a confused and trashy socialite who has a fling with a wealthy man which, ultimately, brings them both down. The story itself doesn't cover new ground, and the characterizations, while realistic, are not particularly engaging (or likable). However I found the realism of the dialogue and the capturing of the essence of New York City during the early Depression years to be utterly fascinating. I got far more out of it than any sort of movie during that era could deliver. For example, the entire underworld of speakeasies and how they operate is something rarely told about. But in 'Butterfield 8' the author goes into expert detail whilst combing it into the narrative.


Bottom line: forget the story, read it for the historical perspective

Forget the candy-colored 60's film with Elizabeth Taylor and Lawrence Harvey entirely -- this novel positively exhales the smoky, bathtub ginny black-and-white breath of the 30's. This is a gritty slice of The Depression, micro and macro, as lived by a little group of formerly comfortably well-off New Yorkers involved with an unfortunate girl named Gloria Wandrous. Too young to have been a flapper, Gloria has spent nearly every waking and sleeping hour of her teens in speakeasies, getting drunk and sleeping with men old enough to be her father. The sad tragectory of the sexually abused is detailed here, as the 12 year old Gloria is obscurely molested by a family friend, then seduced at 15 by an ether-sniffing school teacher. The novel begins with Gloria waking in a man's apartment after having been practically raped by him the night before. Her dress is torn, and she takes a fur coat from his wife's closet to wear home. She also takes the money he leaves her (while Elizabeth Taylor proudly wrote "No Sale" in lipstick on the mirror, yeah, sure). She buys a bottle of booze to share with her friend Eddie, a former rich college boy whom she met when he was working as an elevator operator in a whorehouse. Fear of venereal disease enables him to remain "just friends" with the lovely Gloria, while the dress-render, a sour rich middle-aged serial adulterer who gets frequent check-ups from his doctor, becomes obsessed. He follows Gloria to a speakeasy, where they swap some shrug-shouldered 30's slang, get drunk, and end up in a screaming fight. Of course, it's true love. Believe me this all does not end well. It's interesting enough as a literary artifact of the times, but I found these people unpleasant and kind of stupid, in spite of the earnest breeziness John O'Hara's writing. Fran Leibowitz's foreward calls it a "guy's book" and it's true. Gloria's psychic wounds are vivid, yet the rest of her life is poorly realized. She exists as a sad example of something, not as a whole person, and that's a drag. On second thought, maybe I'd rather watch the movie.

Of course, John O'Hara did not picture Liz Taylor in 1935 as Gloria in the Butterfield 8 movie, the wild young lady in Depression America, but certainly someone like her, intense, stylish, bosomy and oh-so-clever with men.

But, then, Gloria had been molested, and carefully taught, and O'Hara must have known a few these girls back when he was 29 and starting out with his writing, his cataloguing, of facts, steamships, cabbies, bars, bar stools and men hang-dogging around, stifled by marriage, and almost as angry as Bill Maher now, in one of his stand-up harrangues against the cages we call marriage in 2008.

And O'Hara saw it all, the dalliances, the provocative banter, the mink coats, the anger and revenge, and more.

But accidental death catches up to many, particularly those who imbibe too much, love too much, and expect a happy ending in their lives, when "whoof" it's gone totally.

But who speaks up for those wives who trap husbands so unsuitable for much, and who braves the rancid air of speakeasies to "shoosh" these erring men home to wives who sit or nap or practice their bridge games?

Who, indeed, but John O'Hara, himself coming home from a roaring drunk to insult his wife and have another drink.

I can't add much to the wonderful customer reviews that come before mine, except to say that I highly recommend this riveting book. I just reread my copy (I first read it when I was 16 [!] and I'm 56 now) and my life experiences have tremendously enhanced my appreciation for the work of that brilliant word-spinner, John O'Hara. Forget the Oscar-winning Elizabeth Taylor movie, which was not filmed as a period piece, but in contemporary 1960 surroundings. This book simply reeks of 1930s New York atmosphere (not that I was there, but I'm a native New Yorker) and the movie makers did the novel a disservice by not retaining the speakeasy flavor of the original. If you're thinking about buying this book, do so immediately; it's a real treat!

Those who have found John O'Hara through "Appointment in Samarra" and simply felt in love with his work -- just like me -- won't be disappointed with his "BUtterfield 8". This time around, this magnificent writer touches the same issues of this debut but from another focus. And this time the protagonist is a girl, Gloria Wandrous.

"BUtterfield 8" was inspired by a real incident. The body of a beautiful and young woman was found in a Long Island beach. Nobody ever knew whether this was an accident, a murder or a suicide. O'Hara ignites from this news to tell this story of a girl who leads an erratic life filled with booze, love and fun. Gloria is this young woman. The writer unveils her existence from the beginning.

In the first paragraphs we meet Gloria in the apartment of a `strange' men -- strange meaning she doesn't know a lot of him. She is alone there and has time to walk around and examine his house. While she does it, O'Hara smartly introduces to his reader not only Gloria but also the apartment's owner, Liggett, is discovered. As the text moves, we can learn about the couple and what had happened that led them to this morning. As Gloria leaves his apartment, she takes something with her. This item will be in the center of the action until the end of the novel.

In the next few paragraphs, O'Hara introduces a couple of characters that however not important to the central narrative, they make an appealing and large mural of the middle upper class in New York City in the 30s. His descriptions are full of life and energy. The form one character run into each other is casual and smart.

As the narrative moves forward, we learn more about Gloria and her friends. But we also discover about Liggett and his family. Nevertheless, she is the main character and the one who has more background. The use of flashbacks is quite useful to show what lead Gloria to become what she is. At the same time, O'Hara doesn't `psychologize' his character. He doesn't try to find psychotic explanations to who she is. Neither social reason is brought up. Gloria is what she is -- period.

This device enhances the narrative, and brings the character closer to the reader. Gloria and her friends -- and lovers, as well -- are regular human beings, leading a complex existence, just like everyone else. This is exactly what O'Hara did in his "Appointment in Samarra", bring to real existence people that in the hand of lesser talented writers would like just like book characters.

Their dramas, fears, anxieties and joys are just like everybody else's. The fact that they have a `different' life is just a detail. O'Hara's creation moves in a real world, what he does is to show them to us. Judging these people or not is up to any reader -- not to the writer.