Blair Books

I enjoyed the first two books in this series, but I think that Walker has really hit his stride with this one. The protagonist, Darryl Billup, has a full personal life as well as a mystery to solve. Billup is sympathetic and interesting, without be a superman, possessed of human faults without being unlikable. The supporting characters are well-drawn and vivid. I like the way that Walker handles minor characters. Usually in a series, there is an ensemble cast, and then there are characters who appear only in one story. Walker uses a natural progression in moving characters in and out. Some charactors are in a couple of books and then disappear. This adds to the suspense: one cannot assume that a character who has been in several books will return, nor can one assume that a character is gone forever.

Anne Taylor and Laura Lippman are famous for their portrayals of Baltimore. (For the record, I'm white and I grew up in Baltimore County.) I find Lippman particularly evocative, but from the novels that I have read by these two authors (I have by no means read all), one would never guess that Baltimore is a predominantly Black city. So it is particularly interesting to read this view from a middle-class Black man. Not that Walker is monotonously obsessed with race. He explores a lot of the divisions between people: class, sex, personality, appearance, etc.

I hope to see many more in this series.

Susan & Christine Pratt take a vacation on Seagull Island. Both twins decide to get summer jobs on the island to help pay for college. The summer is filled with mystery as the twins find out someone is polluting the local beach. Things continue to trouble the girls when Christine meets a mysterious stranger at the ice cream parlor where where she works, and Susan takes a babysitting job in a mansion with a forbidden wing. The twins switch places to solve each mystery. This is a great book which teaches kids to stand up for what is right and it is told in such a delightful way that they will want to read it again and again.

I had never heard of the author or the book when I picked up a British edition at a used bookstore. I had hoped that anyone writing a novel on Orwell would possess Orwell's virtues of directness, frankness, and lucidity while offering up some ideas. Caute succeeds on all fronts, and in some matters of technique he is clearly Orwell's superior. He also has a sense of humor and his characters - including Orwell himself - are more nuanced than any Orwell character.

The book's story is about Orwell researching Animal Farm. He finds the book's narrator - a boy named Alex - hanging on at the family farm after his Mum and Dad have both abandoned it. There are pigs and other animals whose names will be familiar to the reader. Alex fills us in on his contributions to both Animal Farm and 1984 and his continuing relationship with Orwell. The last page of Alex's narrative contains a surprise which is perhaps intended to show that - as Orwell says in the novel - Orwell is often wrong.

Caute himself has written 8 other novels and 10 non-fiction books, including several on the left, communism and fellow travellers.

Eastern cop Sean O'Reily takes a leave of absence from his duties in New York to pursue the killer of his foster father into Oklahoma Territory. Thus begins one of the most entertaining stories of what happens when eastern dudes go west. Sean is accompanied by his service-issue revolver and his oaken, lead-filled nightstick. Blair's description of Sean's skill with this stick in a bar fight ranks with the best of any western author's writing. As the villain, Denton Ludlow is despicable. Then Sean meets the singer Nancy Penner, hired by Ludlow to bring a little class to his saloon, and knows her father died with his own and at Ludlow's hands. The rest of the book is about trying to get the evidence to prove Ludlow's guilt so that he can be extradited to New York to stand trial. Along the way, we are introduced to Chris Madsen and other well-known well-known frontier lawmen. This is a rousing tale and well worth your locating a copy for your own.

Existen muchos aspectos que se consideran obvios a la hora de enlazar nuestro equipo. Excelente libro, sencillo y al punto.

I've loved this book since I was a very little girl, partly b/c my name is Alexandra and partly b/c the Alexandra is not content with the stereotypical dainty princess's role in life so she set out for adventure. she meets a witch with lots of cats, saves seven princes from a sorceror (who has done the swan lake deal on them such that they turn into rabbits), she saves her kingdom from certain doom by defeating a dragon, and in the end she falls in love and goes home to take the throne. It is a wonderful book that captured the hearts of both myself and my family. Another great aspect of this book is the illustrations, which are exquisite. The magic, exitement, sorrow, wonder, and all other essences of each part of this mystical epic are captured in each full page, b/w elaboritely detailed illustration. This story is such a wonderful experience for any child and their parents to have together. I highly recommend this book to all who wish to embark on a magical adventure before you, and/or your child(ren), drift of to sleep.

My son loves mazes, gross stuff and facts about gross stuff, so this book was right up his alley. He was certainly not disappointed! The mazes were a decent difficulty level for him - easy, but not too easy. He reads lots about lovely yucky things, and still found plenty here he didn't know, which was a nice bonus. The pictures were also pleasingly disgusting. Solutions are provided, though unnecessary. They also do take up some of the page count, if you're wondering if this book is a good deal for this price. There are 106 mazes, and many of them take less than a minute. So I'm not sure if he will get "hours" of fun out of this, but I am sure that he's enjoying it!

To make a long story short, I work with the sister of the author Beth Blair. And, Ms. Blair visited my child's second grade class and described what life is like being an illustrator and an author and researching gross things. The kids were fascinated. Ms. Blair obviously enjoys children and certainly relates to them on their level. I had purchased copies of this book for the class ... we handed it out after Beth's short talk. Every pencil came out and every head went down. The kids immediately went to town working in the book. It was perfect for the 7-8 year old bunch. They then wrote very cute notes to Ms. Blair about how much they loved the gross book and how they were looking forward to doing the rest of the activities this summer. Twenty kids don't lie. They liked it, read it, and used it right away. I will certainly purchase more of these Activity Books by Beth Blair for my kid.

This is a review on Ingmar Bergman's film "Face to Face" (1976) which had earned two Academy Award Nominations - for Best Directing (Ingmar Bergman) and Best Leading Actress (Liv Ullmann). For some unknown and strange reasons, the movie is not available on DVD or even on tape.

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

As every one of Ingmar Bergman's films, "Face to Face" (1976) deals with Life, Love and Death. The Bergman's alter ego in the film is "a well-adjusted, capable and disciplined person, a highly qualified professional woman with a career, comfortably married to a gifted colleague and surrounded by what is called "the good things of life." It is this admirable character's shockingly quick breakdown and agonizing rebirth that I have tried to describe. I have also, on the basis of the material at my disposal, shown the causes of the disaster as well as the possibilities available to this woman in the future." (Ingmar Bergman)

This seemingly successful woman who would attempt a suicide is played by Liv Ullmann and whatever has been said about her in this film as a psychiatrist who faces and struggles with her own nervous breakdown, still can not describe how she did it. For almost two hours, she is in every scene of the film, "lonely, ashamed", and facing unbearable nightmares of her past, struggling for her sanity. She gave, perhaps, the most powerful and unforgettable performance by any actress on the screen. She literally transforms herself in several different persons - her voice, facial expressions, the manner of speech, emotions - change with such a rapid speed and so effortlessly in front of you - it would take your breath away.

I've never been as moved and fascinated by any performance on the screen as by Liv's in the film and I think the second time even more than the first one. Sure, it was a Bergman's film, his ideas, his anxieties; his "toothache" in the heart but it was Liv who lived through them and showed them with such powerful depth, honesty and selflessness that the film will always belong to her. This is one performance never to forget.

"YES" - to the movie and YES!!! to Liv Ullmann

People are naive about the benefits of failure. Wrongly founded assumptions about failure replace potentially accurate assessments of what is necessary to achieve success. Failure, which spends much of its life in the gulag of public perception, is, by all measures, essential to success. It is failure's peculiar fate that its reputation is routinely reinforced by negative perceptions.

Gary Ryan Blair explained to me that failure does have an ulterior motive... not to get you to quit, but to stop you long enough so that you may learn something, re-strategize, and re-launch again more prepared for success.

This single insight was one of the most important thoughts I'd come across in years. This little book packs a powerful message!