Blake Books

I have read all three of the Max Blake books now, and this is the best by far. That's saying something because I like all three books a whole bunch. But this one is just excellent. Max finally gets to the bottom of a mystery that started in the first book, The Killing Trail. But there sure are some surprises on the way. If you haven't tried one of the Max books, do yourself a favor and take a chance. As for me, I can't wait for the next one.

Bill's third book in the Max Blake series takes several unexpected turns in Trail to Redemption, with a stronger sense of realism than Books 1 and 2. Part of that realism is an unexpected ending, leaving one mystery unsolved but opening the door to entirely new adventures. It will be interesting to see where Bill takes this adventure if he continues the series.

Beautifully illustrated and full of interesting stories, recipies and photographs, this book is perfect for reading on a cold or rainy day. Set in Gipsy House, the Dahl family home in England, the book lets you glimpse upper middle class life in that country. It's honesty makes it all the more enjoyable. The recipies are simple, yet interesting. They tempt you to experiment as they are very straight forward. This well written book is ideal for reading time and time again. It is full of SUNSHINE.

I'm a huge fan of Roald Dahl's books for children. Have read most of them over and over again for my own kids. It was a joy though to find a book about Roald Dahl and his family and life, seen through his kitchen. And the many parties he always gave.

Roald Dahl loved food, and in his middle class home in England he loved to gather family and friends around the huge dining room table. On the table there is always delicious food from around the world, also from Norway - the home country of Dahl's mother, the home country of myself.

The book is a perfect mixture of anecdotes from Roald Dahl's life and recipes from his kitchen, and all through it is filled with pictures and photos, both to illustrate the cooking and to illustrate the house and the kitchen. The book also has illustrations by Quentin Blake, the illustrator who has worked with Dahl on so many of his books. For me his drawings are perfectly "Dahlish".

The recipes are all simple though quite chick :-) And following them you will have ideas for an uncountable numbers of parties ahead of you.

Britt Arnhild Lindland

A great story that my 2 1/2 daughter LOVES. She can virtually recite the entire book and really enjoys the characters. Breakspear is a great addition too, especially when he's towed behind her long board!

This book cleverly builds suspense and fun with each page. Ms. Armitage is not your stereotypical surfer by any means, and the more unusual she becomes, the more you like her. The illustrations are delightful, too.

Tom and His Aunt Bundlejoy Cozysweet have an adventure in his frog and Aunt Fidget Wonkham Strong Najork arm wrestles the Headmistress for good Captain Najork.
This is indeed a very fun and visually enjoyable book to read either quietly to yourself or out loud. I brought it in to share with my preschool group, and those that loved the story, love to hear it over and over again or to just sit and look at the pictures. I've shared both this book and How Tom Beat Captain Najork and his hired sportsmen with the children several times and will need to purchase a new copy, this one is falling apart now from the love.
Highly recommended for it's unique enjoyable and fun flare.

The infamous Captain Najork, now married to Tom's hideous Aunt Fidget, is in trouble. Aunt Fidget believes that he is canoodling with the strong-armed headmistress of the local girls' school. Tom, his new aunt Bundlejoy Cosysweet, and the jam-powered frog are instrumental in the clash-of-the-titans arm wrestling contest which decides the Captain's fate -- one of the most heart-wrenching scenes in children's literature.
As good as it is for silent reading, this book is a delirious treat to read out loud.

In one week, this little book has become the one begged for nightly by our children. With Mr Morpurgo's recrafting of the Christmas story from the p-o-v of a shepherd boy, we are transported, too, on angel wings and reminded that God cares for all of us and is with us right where we are. On Angel Wings is charming, and will be one excitedly pulled down from the shelf year after year.

There have been countless retellings of the Christmas story but few as tender and touching as this. While intended for young readers it will appeal to all ages with its unique narrative and irresistible illustrations by Quentin Blake.

Few of Grandpa's relatives really believe his story but they always look forward to hearing it on Christmas Eve. He tells it in the same way each time, beginning with "When I was very little....."

As a boy he tended sheep with his father, uncle, and older brothers. One cold, starry night they were visited by the angel Gabriel who told them of an amazing birth, and invited them to come and see the baby for themselves. Well, of course, someone had to stay with the sheep while the other shepherds went over the hill to Bethlehem. Since Grandpa was the youngest he was left behind.

Oh, how he cried and wailed as he watched the others disappear into the night. He shouted, "It's not fair!" And then Gabriel made a return visit, offering to carry the boy to Bethlehem.

Young readers will be delighted with the outcome of this story, and adults may wish they could believe it. Whatever the case, "On Angel Wings" is sure to become a family Christmas favorite.

- Gail Cooke

If there are people who know less about William Blake than I did, I have not met them yet. However, I'm a bit more informed now, thanks to Warner's very insightful and intense novel, written primarily in the voice of Wm.'s wife, Kate. I found myself thinking as I read this that Janet Warner may have been channeling Kate Blake, I felt that much in the presence of this wonderful, caring and intelligent woman. It was such a perfect way (for me, anyway) to begin a study of Blake, who is such a towering and often obscure figure, and one so very singular as to make me nervous at times. But Kate's there, mob cap on her head, running the press beside William, considering finances when William can't be bothered. In Warner's telling, theirs seems a marriage of Air and Earth.

I was saddened to learn that Janet Warner passed away last year, but was comforted at the thought of her being able to enjoy the satisfaction of having produced this fine and original work, in addition to all her other accomplishments. It is a wonderful book, she got what feels like just the right tone for Kate, and wove in all the things large and small, about her life and his, and theirs together. I am so glad I found this book.

The poet-prophet Blake casts such an intense blaze, it's all too easy to forget his wife Catherine, who stood beside him, supported & aided in his work, and provided a home & haven for his visions. This fine novel rectifies that omission, letting Catherine tell her own story in warm, sympathetic, but clear-eyed prose. She gives us a wonderfully detailed, day-by-day look at the world Blake moved in -- its politics, its fads, its intrigues. And she also makes us realize that being the wife of such a man is often no easy task! Yes, Blake was a truly remarkable figure ... but Catherine was no less remarkable, as the reader will certainly come to agree. For those who love Blake's work, it's a welcome addition to the Blake bookshelf. But even for those who know nothing about him, it's both an introduction to the man & an excellent novel about a unique marriage in its own right. Well worth seeking out!

This novel is not only about Arabs, it is about Life whether you being a American, Israeli, iraqi or Arabian national, its about loving one another, you never know your enemy who you always try to fight could end up being a long lost Son, Brother, Cousin or Uncle.
A jewish man gave up his son to an Arab man due to circumstances beyond his control, that son becomes one of the most powerful man in the arabian community not knowing that he is jewish, he is persuaded to finance a terrorist group against jews which he refuses , mean while his daughter joins these terrorist Organization
At the end Father and son meet together again to save Grand Daughter and fight terrorism , one as a Jewish General and the other as a Rich Arab Prince
One fact remains at the end "Allahu Akbar"--> There is only One God

Harold Robins has master minded a fiction on Arab legacy. He has protrayed Arab culture, their love for lust and style of life in sea, so truely that I was unable to go to bed with unfinished book. The author's vision and sense of imagination is amazing and probably intutive. Library must have such books.

Poet Prophets Blake & Wordsworth: The Definitive Guide To The Two Greatest Visionaries Of The Romantic Age collects 50 poetic works each from visionary Romance Generation authors Blake and Wordsworth, both of whom conveyed profound spiritual messages in the writings. Award-winning author Joseph Vogel provides an introduction to each poem, as well as a passionate introductory essay, and a list of famous quotes for easy reference. A welcome addition to classical and spiritual poetry shelves. "Preludium to the First Book of Urizen": Of the primeval Priests assum'd power, / When Eternals spurn'd back his religion; / And gave him a place in the north, / Obscure, shadowy, void, solitary. // Eternals I hear your call gladly. / Dictate swift winged words, & fear not / To unfold your dark visions of torment.

I came across this book while looking for a text to introduce my students to the British Romantics. If you're like me and don't have time to survey every major poet, Blake and Wordsworth serve as an excellent introduction to the period--thus the value of this book, which is the only one of its kind as far as I know.

The book is apparently written by a graduate student, and while perhaps not to the scholarly level of a Harold Bloom or Northrop Frye, the overall product is quite impressive. The book includes all of the poets' major works, with brief notes accompanying each poem (or letter or essay) to provide context and historical background. The introduction is a superb look into the poets lives and psyches. I'm not quite sure I would label them as prophets (maybe visionaries or mystics), but the author makes a solid and insightful case nonetheless.

I suppose this book could be considered an anthology, and will probably find its greatest use in the classroom, though I would hope the casual reader would find it just as useful as a substantive collection of work from two remarkable and radical visionaries.

The best of William Blake (and then some!), taken off the shelf, dusted off and propped up for the rest of eternity to consider. From the aphorisms of "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell" (required reading) to the later prophetic books, it's Blake in all of his...Blakeness. And let's give a hand to Kazin for his fantastic Introduction to one of the heavy-hitters of the Western tradition.

Francis Bacon, David Hume, Bishop Berkeley, John Locke, Edmund Burke; just a few of British philososphers. Some, like Burke and to some extant Hume are very tiresome and repulsive if one were to view them in a Nietzschean light. Other philosophers like Bertrand Russell, I loathe. Adam Smith and Thomas Carlyle: the former a crafty swindler who discovered clever ways to exploit the massess and cheat an honest man, the latter an insipid moron who boasted to the world that he was an atheist liberal who supported slavery.

British philososphy is not very exciting with such hum drum guys like the Locke who have a tiresome system of rationalizing every aspect of existence and smug bitter atheist[..]like Russell. It seems that British philosophy is dryer than dust.

Until one discoveres Blake...

William Blake (1757 - 1827), at once the purest philosopher, the most facinating figure, the greatest painter and most perfect poets ever set forth from Britain. Blake almost in the immense impressivness of his art and poetry to not be British, yet he is. Really the only true poet in the English language, the only true philosopher from Britain, for all true philosophers are poets and all true poets, philosophers. Blake is truly a noble soul

I read The Marriage of Heaven and Hell about a month ago. I am certain that it is one of those rare pieces of art that appears in literature; a beautiful work of art that appears so before its time (we seem only to begin to catch up to Blake in English) so before its time like the novels of Dostoevsky, especially Notes from Underground, lyrically Dostoevsky at his best, but my great Russian Brother is not the subject of this.

William Blake is the perfect embodiment of the Dionysian in art and literature. His works, such as the illustrations of Milton and especially Dante are the most beautiful paintings by an British hand. Particularly in the case of his illustration of the gates of Hell. This perfect haunting beauty is my ideal. Haunting in its depth of artistry, haunting in its appearence with Vergil looking at Dante in an ominous and yet celebratory way. One simply does not know. The mystery is half of Blake's magnificence and perfection.

Blake understands that many questions are left unanswered and that is my stand. I agree with him and Nietzsche when he is against the neo-classical ideal of rational explanations of every aspect of existence. I loathe many philosophers. Silence all who dare to cheapen our beautiful illusions.

I am currently studying Social Anthropology at the University of Kent. Thus this book was a refreshing change for me - instead of reading about far away, bizarre locations - it was something I could actaully connect with and properly understand. I am also doing a dissertation this year on the topic of Foxhunting: A Rural Ritual - and I would be very interested to somehow contact Kate Fox and maybe get some input from her on the topic. Does anyone know how I might be able to get in touch with her? Her approach to the Racing Tribe is similar to my project - participant observation and interviewing a group of people withing the England - with an equine theme.

If Sally Baker would care to get in touch with me (my e-mail address is richardson@tote.co.uk) I would be happy to help her make contact with Kate Fox, the author of The Racing Tribe. I commissioned the original research project undertaken by Kate whilst I was marketing director at the British Horseracing Board, and from which the book came to be written. I can't, therefore, review with any real objectivity this book, as I am naturally biaised(!); safe to say it is a truly fascinating read, and successfully debunks various myths associated with horseracing and it's participants.