Blake Books

I couldnt put this book down. Brilliantly written. This book made me feel I was living the life of the hitman (malcom Deakin). I was totally stoked on how graphic and detailed it was.I'd definately read it again.definately one of clarksons best fictional books.

This novel takes the reader through a hit, written in first person style through the eyes of a British hit man. The author uses a substantial amount of English street slang making it even more authentic. Malcolm Deakin (the hit man) meets an old acquaintance in a pub named Twiggy. Twiggy has no arms and has sworn to have Deakin killed for one of his former hits but those above him told him to be the go between for Malcolm and a job is a job in Malcolm Deakin's eyes. After accepting the job Deakin finds out that unlike his other targets his next victim is a man he grew up with named Kenny Marshall. He suspects Twiggy was well aware of this fact and as he trails his target establishing his movement patterns questions start to arise as to if Kenny is really doing the things that put the price on his head Twiggy said he does. Deakin starts to suspect it may in fact be him with the price on his head but there is no backing down from a hit.

I bought this book as an undergraduate when I first began studying the Romantics and it helped me immensely. I fell in love with them and after just completing a Masters Degree, I now feel very comfortable with their poetry. I would highly recommend this book for anyone struggling to understand Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, etc., for the first time. They can seem so intimidating in the beginning and this book can guide the student to a better understanding of what they were trying to say and why.

It's a slim little volume which begins with a chapter entitled "Understanding Romantic Poetry" and moves on to "Studying a Blake poem" with Blake being one of the more complex writers of the Romantic period. O'Flinn dedicates two chapters to Wordsworth, i.e., "Lyrical Ballads" and then "The Prelude Books I and II." In Chapter 5 he covers Coleridge and in Chapter 6 Keats. Percy Shelley and Lord Byron are discussed but not to the detail of the other poets. Chapter 7 the next to last chapter in the book is entitled "Working with women's poetry" which is one of the weaker chapters of the book.

Again, a good beginner's guide to reading and understanding the Romantic Period and their poetry.

This book provides a loose, but organic entry into the study of lyrical and narrative Romantic verse. The author does not neglect historical, political and biographical context. On the other hand, he does not overanalyze authors or apply any modern critical approaches to their work, though he refers to them and demonstrates awareness of them.

One of the strongest aspects of the author's approach is his development and rigorous application of a methodical "recipe" for working through difficult poems. Though the approach is limited - it serves as a useful launching point for student's who are intimidated and/or relatively disinterested in poetry. The method is refreshing when employed in the classroom setting, easily personalized by the student and is certainly consistant with basic critical approaches (especially the New School approach that is so popular with disciplined high school teachers). In short, it leaves students with little excuse to say "I didn't understand it" when they are called on.

The author surveys a poem or two by most of the major Romantic poets and includes useful chapters on romantic women poets and writing about poetry. The format of the book does not permit a teacher to overly rely on it "as a script" but can help a teacher (who has diligently researched the poems and poets they have assigned) tie together many of the important threads of Romantic poetry in a cohesive manner. I would especially recommend this book for teachers who do not have a strong background in this genre/era.

At times the style of the writing is a tad self-indulgent and irritatingly vernacular, but is generally clear and useful.

I read her mother's biography which was reiterated in the first many chapters of this book. It was somewhat entertaining, but not profound or too revealing. I ended the book with a sour taste for Ms. J. Aniston. She seems to lack a bit of class and loves the "f" word! It seems like she has grown immensely from her split with Pitt, but her growth was warped by such sudden fame. I think in many ways, she still seems lost.

This is a great book on Jen. Well-written and filled with plenty of color photos! Definitely highly recommended for Jen fans. You will be very satisfied.

Dennis Cooper, Jerk (Artspace, 1993)

Dennis Cooper's short story "Jerk" here gets the royal Artspace treatment, with odd puppet sculptures by Nayland Blake that perfectly complement the text. While it predates the obvious comparison, think of this as a really, really dark and twisted Being John Malkovich without the ear tunnel.

David Brooks was one of serial killer Dean Corll's two teenaged associates. As the book opens, Brooks has been in prison for some time, and has turned to puppetry as a form of art therapy. With the exception of a few closing pages, the entire story takes place at one of Brooks' puppet shows; Brooks has the audience (and us) read two pieces which he hasn't yet been able to conceptualize in puppetry yet, and plays out long scenes with the puppets at other times. (Note; don't take any of this, despite the historical accuracy of some of the characters, as accurate; it is Corll's other associate, Wayne Henley, who has become known for turning to art therapy in prison; his paintings are in demand on ebay.) Having now read a few of Cooper's novels, I have to say that the short form, I think, works somewhat better for him; "Jerk"'s brevity plays up the essential weirdness of the scenes Cooper creates, without ending up at an emotional state that comes off as overly world-weary.

Nicely done, and a pretty good intro to the weird world of Dennis Cooper.

Shocking and graphic... yet quite moving. Interesting style, from prose to drama to letter excerpt. And to make it even more gruesome and frightening, it's based on a real-life story.

I am a student intern working at the Special Collections department of Idaho State University in Pocatello, Idaho. One of our manuscript collections is the original manuscript for "Johnny Christmas" by Forrester Blake. It is pretty fascinating to see the writing process that Blake used. If you are ever in the area, come in to the University Library Special Collections and ask to look at it.

BLAKE WROTE OF THE WEST BECAUSE HE LIVED IT. JOHNNY CHRISTMAS WAS THE SAGA OF THE TRAIL, AUTHENTIC, AND IN A PURE WAY, UNIQUE, SINCE THAT PERIOD WRITTEN ABOUT SO MUCH ESSENTIALLY LASTED ONLY TWENTY YEARS. BLAKE WROTE A NON-FICTION BOOK OF HIS ADVENTURES ENTITLED "RIDING THE MUSTANG TRAIL" BOTH BOOKS GIVE A MUCH DIFFERENT VIEW OF THE WEST THAN THE USUAL FORMULA. A REFRESHING TWIST.

Este es un cuento de un niño que se llama Jorge y tiene que cuidar a su abuela odiosa y mentirosa. Cada día tenía que darle su medicina y un día decide darle una medicina que el inventa para cambiar su actitud. Unas partes del libro sí eran chistosas como cuando la abuela se siente que se va a quemar y explotar. Pero, por lo general el libro era aburrido. No lo debes de comprar porque te arrepentirás y perderás tu dinero y tu tiempo.

If you are an ancient, wicked, cracked grandmother with a thirty inch nose who thinks children are disgusting little creatures who should grow down, this book is not for you. If you are a young, lively child who thinks grannies should be kind old ladies who read to you and talk to you and love you and always give you cookies but are instead stuck with a horrible granny, you will love this book (but don't try the recipe at home - mummy could be upset!) George's life changes radically when he gives his granny a dose of a "marvellous medicine" which has some absurd, fantastic yet terribly funny results! A short book, but which will make anyone howl with laughter.

I own both her French and Italian vegetarian books, and while my cookbook library comprises about 150 volumes, they are in my top 5. I've never made anything from a Paola Gavin book which wasn't excellent! (My husband regularly requests the Leek Tart from the French book.)

Fellow vegetarians are familiar with the sorts of "ethnic" recipe variations which merely exclude the meat, or add some goofy substitute, like tempeh (sorry, tempeh fans), but these are nothing like that-- instead, Gavin has sought out GREAT recipes which are vegetarian from the outset. She gives all kinds of background on the various regions of France and Italy in the aforementioned 2 volumes; in "Mediterranean," she expands into Turkey, Greece, Spain, Croatia and North Africa, and gives similarly excellent info about the histories (and presents) of the various cuisines. You can't go wrong buying this for yourselves, my fellow vegetarians, esp. L/O, as there are are loads of great cheese and egg dishes (but quite a bit is vegan, too)! If you're looking for a gift for a vegetarian-curious person, this should be it. If you're looking for a cooking gift for a PERSON, period, this should be it! My only disappointment in my experience with Paola Gavin's books is that I haven't figured out how to contact her personally-- I would like to fall at her feet, weeping with gratitude. Perhaps she'll see this slavish tribute someday. Paola Gavin, you reign supreme!

The cookbook is exactly what it says it is: a vegetarian cookbook. In that regard it is excellent. We found that many of the ingredients were the same, or very similar, from recipe to recipe. I suspect, however, that is a function of what was/is available to rural Mediterraneans with limited financial means. Our main problem is that I am allergic to eggplant and my husband is sort of a picky eater and, therefore, there are few recipes that he is willing to try that are not potentially fatal to me. I would not have purchased this book if I had been able to look at it in a bookstore where I could have reviewed the recipes for ingredients.

I was glad to see she spent some time on Micah... I really like him as a 'person' and was glad to hear her tell his story finally.

I am sorry to say that I was quite disappointed by this novel. The summary on the back of the book made it sound like we would finally get to see Anita and Micah's relationship go to the next level. It seemed like a novel where we would get more insight into Micah's character (similar to Obsidian Butterfly's develop of Edwards character). But unfortunatly, I didn't feel it worked. I still love the series though and look forward to reading the newest installment....

I was going to give this book three stars because I didn't see much development in the beginning. As the story progressed however it started to take the shape of a story I liked. It was cute and the characters lovable. It wasn't a great, awe aspiring novel or anything, but it did lighten my heart by the time if finished it.

Write on, read on
N.M. Phillips

One of the things I have enjoyed about the shortie romances I've been reading lately is the way the authors have made history between the characters viable, so that the romance bringing the two together has enough back story to make it believable.

This story is a prime example.

Harry was Emma's brother's best mate. (this is Australian, folks, and you can practically hear the story being told with that brogue, as the terminology and slang is very not-American!) Harry is now a big web business winner.

Emma is an artist with an advertising firm. She's been in love with Harry forever, but he's always seen her as a little sister.

There's a mystery/tragedy in the past that the two must overcome. There's a burgeoning awareness on Harry's part that he struggles against - she's his little sister practically!

The plot is strong enough to carry the story, but doesn't intrude on the real meat of the romance.

The reason I've subtracted a star? It's so obviously one of a series. There are back stories hinted at that you'll have to read the other books to tie up the loose ends. Blah. I'm not doing that. But this story? Totally worth the read!

(*)>

Great book! After reading it I had to go buy another Richards book. It was the second that I read by Blake. Better than most movies.

I read this book in it's spanish edition, and I found it great, Jennifer Blake has always been one of my favorite authors and her works has been always good. The way she presents the characters has always been one of my favorite things about her work, because the regular guys are the ones that always do the right things, and then giving the highborns a lesson :).