Blake Books

This work contains 'The Songs of Innocence' 'The Songs of Experience' a selection from Blake's manuscripts, and from the longer Prophetic Books.
For the complicated Blake so loved by Northrop Frye and other literary critics this small edition of his work will of course, not do. But for the common reader, the one who loves the memorable short lines, the striking rhymes this edition is fine.
Great Blake seems so simple and makes myths in short lines and stanzas.
This is a very good collection for those who love the most popular Blake of all.

Blake is both a great mystic and a great poet. If you enjoy either poetry or mysticism or both you will like his poems. He tends to work on a large scale. For example all of the poems in Songs of Innocence fit a scheme and have a counterpart in Songs of Experience. I like this edition because it is very handsome with nice binding, and includes the major works of Blake. Now all you need is a book of his engravings and paintings.

This collector oriented book is well researched and more than adequately rounded out with photos. A worthwhile book for arms collectors.

Mr. Stevens put a complete history of this important pistol into an excellent book. It is detailed, but the story is there and the pictures are excellent.

From one who appreciates suspence, action, and drama without the obligatory sex, violence, mayhem and vulgarity, I say Bravo Mr. Blake. Please give us more of Carolina South! Trust me folks, this is a real page turner -- great characters, great story!

This novel is interesting and exciting without the use of profanity and explicitness. Large type and the writing style make for easy reading. The cultural, geographic and professional descriptions are very informative. It has an unusual ending and is highlighted by uplifting thoughts and messages.

LOVE IT!!! MY SON READ THIS BOOK OVER & OVER AGAIN.

It was a good book. Like all of Roald Dahl books of course! After having read Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, this is a must read for fans!

Cops N Robbers is a fun inside look at what goes on inside the British police force. Various police officers have submitted humorous stories of dealings with the public, pranks between officers gone wrong, mistakes made by themselves, mistakes made by criminals and other funny stuff. The book is divided into chapters.

1 Coppers and Villains
2 Traffic
3 New Recruits
4 The Public
5 Interviews
6 Court
7 Death
8 A-Z of Police Jargon

The first chapter is probably the weakest with some of the tales being urban legends you've no doubt heard before. The authenticity seems to come on in force with Traffic and the subsequent chapters. Plus they are a lot funnier. This book also gives a percentage of its profits to the Victims of Crime Trust which may sway your decision to buy it if you balancing yes or no.

There is some average stuff in here and some really hilarious stuff too. What happened to one police officer's shirts as he slept as a result of his colleagues who had to get up early for the morning shift's unexpected follow through while passing wind after a big night celebrating a result, well you've just go to read it. The backfiring of a prankster trying to scare a newbie officer in the morgue is also classic stuff.

If you want more the editors say on the last pages they are putting together a sequel. Meanwhile you could also check out Wasting Police Time: The Crazy World of the War on Crime by David Copperfield, it's not quite as good but still a worthwhile read on the same subject.

For a really great inside and hilarious look at the lives of front line emergency service workers you've got to check out Blood, Sweat & Tea: Real-Life Adventures in an Inner-City Ambulance. One of the best books I've read in a while.

I am not a great reader of books, in fact the last one i was supposed to read was called PACE !!! (for those of you who have an interest in this book) but knowing one of the authors I thought i had better support a mate and buy it and see what he made of his project. Well i was astounded that i got the book the next morning in the post and i opened it and read a couple of extracts then a couple more and then i couldnt put it down and finished it the same day without any problems at all (until the wife came back and wondered why i hadnt done anything around the house) so i told her to read it and she is worst than me on books and from a non police background and she couldnt put it down either. some of the old war stories literally make you laugh so much the tears run down your legs. I know I am bias but if you want a bloody good laugh then i doubt there is much better and I cannot wait for a second instalment. Thoroughly reccommended. Whats more I know a couple of the stories are factual !!!!!

Easy to understand and lots of information that you don't find anywhere else. The author is an expert in the field and the book is affordable.

Like everybody else, I've got my hobbies. For some reason, many of them are traditional "something-from-nothing" crafts--patchwork, cooking from scratch, and rag rugs. To me, there's something almost viscerally satisfying about creating useful, beautiful objects from "throwaway" materials. ("Blessed rage for order," maybe?)

The most common first method a novice uses to construct a rag rug is fabric crochet. Most people have a crochet hook or two rattling around in the junk drawer, and there are numerous leaflets, booklets and online directions which claim to teach how to make a crocheted rug. The trouble is, most of them don't work. Square and rectangular crochet patterns are relatively foolproof, but be primed for hair-tearing frustration if you plan on working a round or oval rug. It's a real chore to create quality round rugs that lie flat. Half the time, your rug squinches up in the middle and around the edges, looking more like a sombrero than a floor covering.

If you've ever set out to make a rug and ended up with a hat, you'll want to know about Diana Blake Gray of Rafter-four Designs. Ms. Gray has spent years researching the history and construction of numerous types of rag rugs. In the process, she's come up with a method for constructing fabric crochet rugs which are guaranteed to lie flat every time. This information and a wealth of other goodies can be found in Crocheted & Fabric Tapestry Rugs, the third book in Rafter-four's Rugmaker's Handbook series.

In addition to the basic pattern for a circular rug, the book gives directions for creating ovals, squares, rectangles, heart-shaped and heelprint rugs, and numerous other shapes. It shows how to double-fold your rag strip in order to create rugs with a smooth, professional-looking finish. If you're not quite ready to tackle a whole rug, the patterns can be easily adapted to create small projects such as hot pads, placemats and baskets.

Once you've mastered the basics of fabric crochet, the book also explains how to do fabric tapestry--crocheting patterns in several colors into the rug. It's almost as simple as doing regular fabric crochet, and the results are spectacular. There are also instructions on string crochet (a method which produces rugs that look loom-woven), "one-way" crochet, and a number of assorted stitches that will change the appearance of your finished rug.

If you have the earlier, self-printed copy of Ms. Gray's book, this new and professionally-printed paperback version is worth your consideration, though it does have some trade-offs. It has the same hand-drawn illustrations as the original, but the text has been copy-edited for smoother reading and there is a greatly expanded introduction with helpful tips on the process of crocheting rag strip. I find that I miss the original comb binding--this book is perfect-bound, which is a problem when you're using two hands to crochet and you need the book to lie open and flat so you can follow directions.

Other companies produce slick, polished, inexpensive directions for crocheting rugs from fabric strip. You could purchase them and try to make a rug in hit-or-miss fashion from their untested directions. Or you could save yourself the bother, buy Crocheted & Fabric Tapestry Rugs and do it right the first time.

(Originally published in altered form on the author's website, piratereview.com)

Reviewed by Ben Weldon (age 10) for Reader Views (2/08)

"D is for Dahl: A gloriumptious A-Z guide to the world of Roald Dahl," by Roald Dahl and Wendy Cooling, is not a kindergartner's A-B-C book but a quirky alphabetized biography. This book is full of fun, humorous, eclectic and even inspirational facts about Roald Dahl.

Despite its unusual format, the reader will be entertained and learn a lot about one of the world's best children's authors. The entries are brief but meaty. For example, under F there is an entry for "Freezer." The paragraph describes how Roald Dahl stretched his shoes by filling his shoes with plastic bags full of water and then putting the shoes in the freezer. Making the book even more appealing are funny illustrations by Quentin Blake, who illustrated most of Roald Dahl's books. There are also photos, a copy of his report card, and a few recipes.

Roald Dahl (1916-1990) was born in Great Britain to Norwegian parents. He wrote twenty-seven children's books, including the well-loved "Fantastic Mr. Fox," "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," "The Witches" and "James and the Giant Peach." He was very critical of his own work and was only truly pleased with Matilda. He had an excellent sense of humor and said that his funniest moment was being born.

My favorite part of the book was learning that Roald Dahl loved chocolate so much and the fact that he thought that kids should learn the dates of when all the greatest candies were made instead of dates in history. He once said "If I were a headmaster I would get rid of the history teacher and get a chocolate teacher instead."

I would recommend this book to fans of Roald Dahl's books. People who want to be writers would also enjoy this book because it talks about how he got his ideas for books and how he planned his daily routine to get his writing done. "D is for Dahl" was a great book, and I hope that every one who reads it likes it as much as I did.

This is a great review of Dahl's life and career in a really fun format that will make it fun for kids. By making it an "alphabet book" his life and times are peppered with bits from his books, funny words he invented, and lots of great illustration from Blake. I've been reading it just a bit at a time in order to savor it, because it's worth it. This is a must have for Dahl fans of any age.

Daley B has become one of our favourite children's story characters. It's about a rabbit with an identity crisis: he doesn't know why his feet are so big, what he is supposed to eat, and where he is supposed to live. Because he's so mixed up he asks lots of naive questions to a hungry weasel named Jazzy D. We especially like reading the questions out loud and pretending to be Daley or Jazzy. Jazzy's intentions are frustrated when Daley discovers his true identity at the end of the book.

Daley B.[unny] doesn't know what he is - and he looks at all sorts of animals to decide what to be - my daughter loves to talk about what sort of animals might live in the places he thinks of, or eat what he thinks of eating etc. Its funny and cute, although I have to edit the scary part where the weasel tries to eat him up for my 2 year old daughter, but I think older children would be able to read it themselves without being upset. Its got cute drawings and lots of room for talking about the different animals!

I did not buy this book for the recipes. I thought, and was correct, that perhaps this book might offer photographs of the Royal Family I had never seen in print before. The story of how this book came about is a wonderful story by itself. Read it and find out who the man was behind it's creation. There are private photos of the Queen Mother, the Queen, and a young Prince Charles that are ready for framing. And that is what I plan on doing this weekend. While I must purchase another copy to keep, I am going through my copy to remove the wonderful shots and frame them. My kitchen is decorated with numerous photos of the Royal Family. And yes, I have Union Jack rugs on the floors as well. The recipes are wonderful, but the photographs and stories are worth buying the book for. If you are an Anglophile as I am, or a huge fan of the Royals, this is the book for you.

This is a wonderful book, full of history from Queen Victoria to the present, with lovely photos of the Royal Family- A MUST for Anglophiles, and cooks alike! Included are dinner services for Royal Formal dinners, and all the dishes served. There is also a food glossary- very helpful.
This book is from the diaries of a former Butler, a man who grew up in service with his father under the reign of Queen Victoria. A very interesting read- I loved it!

Dog Training is a lucrative business, and "The Dog Trainer's Resource 2: The APDT Chronicle of the Dog Collection" is a solid reference for dog trainers who want an encyclopedia reference available for them. With theories touching upon dog psychology, socialization, and more, it also touches on the business model suggestions for this business. With additional asides on training not just the dog, but the dog owner, "The Dog Trainer's Resource 2" is a must for any dog trainer looking to turn it into business.

The first Dog Trainer's Resource was greatly oriented toward running a dog training business. This book, however, mostly addresses actually training, rather than business issues. This book consists of the best articles from the American Pet Dog Trainer's magazine "Chronicle of the Dog." It covers some of the most up-to-date, newly conceived ideas in dog training. Much food for thought. More for the serious dog training person (such as obedience competitor) than the pet owner.