Blanc Books

Crossword editor Annabelle Graham--nicknamed AnnaGram in some quarters--and her sleuth of a fiancé Rosco Polycrates are back and ready to tie the knot in this third installment in the crossword mystery series by (the pseudonymous) Nero Blanc. This time around, two people are dead and a dog's gone missing, and someone is harassing Belle with threatening, home-made crosswords. As usual, readers get to solve the puzzles along with Belle (there are six of them), though most of us will not have the facility with words that our heroine enjoys. She can dash off a handful of eight-letter words for "criminal" without pausing to think.

The Nero Blanc books are good little mysteries and fast reads. What makes them particularly appealing, however, for those of us who like puzzles, is the incorporation of crosswords into the stories and the occasional focus on Belle Graham's admirable verbal gymnastics.

Reviewed by Debra Hamel, author of Trying Neaira: The True Story of a Courtesan's Scandalous Life in Ancient Greece

P.I. Rosco Polycrates is marrying crossword editor Belle Graham. Before their marriage, a homeless man is found dead with a crossword puzzle under him. He was hit in the head with a stone and has dog food in his pocket. The police think he had turned to eating dog food. Rosco knows him and that he had a puppy.

Sara, a matriarch in the community, asks Rosco to begin looking for the puppy. Then a homeless woman is found dead also with a crossword puzzle under her. They try to find the connection between the two.

Rosco goes missing. Belle starts receiving anonymous crossword puzzles with clues. Lieutenant Al Lever, Rosco's former partner, tries to keep Belle safe and find Rosco. But, Belle keeps alluding him as she is trying to follow the clues and find Rosco herself. She is constantly reminded to not include the police. There are many twists before you get to the end.

This is a very enjoyable series. I enjoy trying to complete the crosswords even though I am not very good at them. There are always clues in them. I like when Belle tries to complete the crosswords and gives some of the crossword answers in the book.

The characters are very believable and well developed. Rosco is believable as a P.I. He used to be a detective so he has connections in the police department. I like the character Carlyle who is the medical examiner. He and Rosco do not get along but he likes Belle.

Recently we vacationed in New England so I like books set in New England. I feel the plot is very well developed and the setting is very realistic.

I highly recommend this book and the whole series.

This book had been buried in my to-be-read pile. Sometimes, when I dig out a book that's been in there for a long time, I kick myself for not reading it sooner. That's not the case with this one.

Crossword puzzle writer Belle and P.I. Rosco are on the trail of whoever killed two homeless people and a missing puppy. Then Rosco disappears, and Belle starts receiving cryptic crossword puzzles that she has to solve to find him.

The good:
The puzzles are clever and fun to solve.
The premise is cute.

The bad:
Stilted dialogue--heck, all the writing is stilted.
The characters act weirdly--without motivation to do so.
Gratuitous use of italics.
The cryptic crossword puzzles were just tedious.
While I understand that people will kill over just about anything, the motive was hard to believe.
And a bunch of nits too minor to mention.


The verdict:
My impression is that this was about the 6 crossword puzzles contained in the book. The story, such as it was, was just filler.

I was stuck in Bar Harbor in the rain. The Inn had no TV and I had already finished the New York Magazine crossword. What to do? I went to the local bookstore and found this one. I finished the book quickly - a sign of boredom or a good read. Because there are 2 authors, I think the series lacks a real individual personality - I sense the duo had to make compromises in the writing style. They should take turns writing each book and let the chips fall where they may. Anyway, the idea that the CEO of a huge corporation would: 1) - accept an interview from an unknown director and meet on short notice and 2) that the CEO of said corporation would kill someone over ground water contamination from one gas station is laughable. Embarassing, actually. I work for a medium sized corporation and couldn't get to see the "big guy" if my life depended on it. But I don't want to be too negative. Afterall, the book helped me get through a bad couple of rainy days in Maine so how bad could it be?

Following on the heels of other mystery writers who run out of ideas before their publishers stop paying advances (Rita Mae Brown's Harry Haristeen series, for example), the husband and wife team of Nero Blanc have turned in a third episode in their series. The characters are okay, but most of the book is taken up with a nonsensical diversion that has nothing to do with the real murders and the actual solution comes out of left field, which to me is the cardinal sin of mysteries. If crosswords are your thing, I'd go for the first couple of books in the Puzzle Lady sequence by Parnell Hall, instead.

The gardens themselves are obviously quite beautiful, but the book is like a parody of fashion, graphic design, and garden making.
If you want to see patrick blanck with green hair laying in a waterfall, or have a penchant for gold lettering and oversaturated images, then buy the book. If you want to learn something, dont bother, unless you are making a book about yourself and are wondering which vacation photos to include to make yourself look foolish.

Saw him live. Funny man and a genius in his own rights. The book is a bit of a dry read and the design is disappointing. Not user friendly in regards to extract the "know how" to create your own vertical garden. If you're patient, it's content heavy. I would've liked more technical information on how to make it myself.

A different type of garden, designed for an area where real estate is invaluable, "The Vertical Garden: The Nature of the City" is Patrick Blanc's look at these creations that can be created in almost any urban setting. To the city they bring a visually pleasing image in an area where people only ever see is asphalt and concrete. The gardens can range from any height, from half a story tall to slowly growing up the sides of skyscrapers. Covering the history and skills involved in creating such gardens, "The Vertical Garden" is a must for anyone who wants to create a magnificent arrangement of plant life and doesn't have much horizontal to work with.

This is probably the worst written book I have ever read. The author has no sense of paragraphing, coherence, or development. He also lacks the most basic knowledge of grammar or style. The text is laden with errors in agreement, dangling modifiers, errors in usage, repetitions, and so on and so forth. The content is at best supeficial, and what useful information there is, is clouded by the aforementiones flaws. Didn't somebody edit the thing?; or is this really some slapdash vanity press production where the so-called publisher took the author's money and ran?

The author takes care not only of writing a solid work on generic aspects of the episodes directly connected with the operations of the American Expeditionary Force, that fought in Europe at the end of World War I, he includes important documentation that helps to understand the episodes surrounding the period pre-American declaration of war too. Is a book that becomes an extremely valuable tool for those who are beginning to acquire a taste for history and for those that are interested in learning more about the American military and its European campaign during the "Great War."

I strongly recommend this book, truly a work of love for history by a talented author, Van Lee.

I found this book to be well-researched and filled with interesting facts about the major units in the American Expeditionary Force in France during World War One. The author details out unit actions, the large scale battles, profiles of the various major characters and the impact America had on the conflict. This book would be vital to anyone's collection on this war as well as a superb reference source for further research and or reading.

Neville Shulman is one of the last of the great British adventurers. He has tackled Kilamanjoro, the Borneo jungle and the south pole -- often going it alone in extremely adverse circumstances to raise money for worthy British charities. His Zen practice keeps him in good stead under often grueling and unexpected circumctances and when he -finally- returns to the comforts of home he manages to capture the excitement, adventure, beauty, and above all the sense of personal challenge -- one man against the elements - that has almost disappeared from out post-modern consciousness. His books are admirable reminders of what the human heart, mind and soul are capable of.

Shulman's book is all together not very good. He relates a story on climbing Mont Blanc with an obviously 'vacation type' climbing group. A vacation package much like one would book to vacation in the Bahamas. He tries to make it seem like it was such a harrowing experience and although it was probably exhilarating to him, most mountaineers would consider it a 'yak' trip. The climbing inaccuracies were astounding. He describes abseiling (rappelling) as the most difficult of tasks where to any climber, it's simply a mode of transportation. Then to find out from the description, he was probably lowered down or rappelled with a top-rope belay. Give me a break! Although Shulman says that Buddhism and Zen mediation helped him with the 'ordeal,' I hardly consider almost getting lost trying to find the tram a situation where one has to dig deep to find the strength to go on. I've had more nerve-racking experiences getting lost in the inner city. He also relates nothing about his teammates, they don't even rate names. It was like he was traveling alone with ghosts in the background. Having what his teammates thought and did would have improved the story. A totally uninteresting book for climber/mountaineers and not much to offer on the philosophy of Buddhism. The only reason I give it a two is because it has two of my most favorite subjects, climbing and Buddhism. If you really want to know what it takes to climb a mountain, read "Beyond Risk : Conversations With Climbers" by Nicholas O'Connell. There are climbers in there that relate Buddhism to climbing such as Reinhold Messner.

What a superb brief description of an awful book. My 5 stars are for the "Gumby" review. I recognize the profile: melodramatist with regretably easy access to word processor gets scared in the woods. Oh, brother.

For the author the working class for its own wellbeing must be unified against the predations and exploitations of employers. The book focuses on the historical existence and effectiveness of worker solidarity as primarily exercised through unions.

The need for working class solidarity arose as formerly independent craftsmen were forced into a factory system producing for an expansive capitalistic market and in the process lost control of their economic lives. Worker organizations such as the Knights of Labor, the Wobblies, and craft-based unions attempted to address this transformation and the accompanying brutal working conditions. Le Blanc clearly outlines their struggles: the extreme cyclic nature of late 19th century capitalism undercut worker militancy; racial, ethnic, religious, gender and skill differences undermined solidarity; employers mounted intense and often violent opposition with state support.

A main theme of the book is the effect on worker solidarity when union bureaucrats seek accommodation with business or rely on the state for survival. Gompers, first president of the AFL, eschewed worker militance in cooperating with the National Civic Federation and then the Wilson administration during WWI. Later, New Deal labor legislation as elaborated and implemented by the War Labor Board of WWII essentially prohibited workers from any exercise of power on shop-floors. Union leaders demonstrated a willingness to purge dissidents, pandering to red-scare mania, and to enforce contracts that traded economic gains for union members in exchange for unchallenged management control of workplaces - an unspoken social compact that has been shredded in the era of globalization.

The author points to some recent developments within and outside the labor movement as a result of the recognition of the poverty of post-WWII labor leadership. But a weakness of the book, since it purports to discuss the working class, is any real feel for the general citizenry's views on the need for worker activism. What have been the effects of consumerism and of the stunted and stilted information provided by media giants on the American public? Overall the book is a reasonably good introduction as to how the working class has fared over the last 150 years. Though not a fault of the author, the future of the working class emerges from this book as a very precarious project.

As a grad student in American History, I hoped this book would give me a brief but useful overview of the role of labor in history. While this is definitely a "short" work, it highlights late 19th and early 20th century labor movements at the expense of early material. Indeed, he only devotes 20 pages for the colonial period, Revolution, and all pre-Civil War developments! How stingy!

My disappointment is partially a measure of my interest in Revolutionary history and the shift from artisans to wage laborers. This early material is both fascinating and relevant for all sorts of later trends. If you share my interests, I recommend you run an Amazon search on authors such as Bruce Laurie, Merritt Roe Smith (a bit later but really interesting), Charles Dew, and Gordon Wood, to name a few. If you are interested in post-Civil War developments, this book may be just right for you: it is concise and easy to read, in spite of more than a few small errors. This is no more than an introduction and survey, but it can bring you up to speed on basic concepts very quickly.

I was very pleasantly surprised by Le Blanc's 22 page bibliographic essay and 19 page glossary. (He also includes a timeline and chronology, if you're into that sort of thing.) These sections are very useful as a quick reference while reading the book and afterward. The bibliographic essay points you to a broad spectrum of movies, documentaries, and books that should satisfy anyone's interests and needs (I can't wait to rent "On the Waterfront" and "Roger and Me" -- they sound great).

To comprehend Kieslowski the film-maker is an intellectually arduous task, and those who are interested in how his Polish identity manifested itself in his non-Polish films might make better use of Emma Wilson's 'Memory and Survival: the French Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski' (Oxford, 2000). It is fairly correct to say that Geoff Andrew was not interested in that. Publishing his book for the first time in 1998, only two years after Kieslowski's death, Andrew's main purpose was to offer his insight, as a film critic, to Kieslowski's tour-de-force, especially in the light of uneven critical reception of the trilogy.

Andrew's fascination with `Three Colours' definitely makes his book an engaging and illuminating reading. At the same time, this book cannot be passed for yet another summary of the films' plots, simply because it goes well beyond that. It is probably useful to remind oneself of the difference between a plot and a story and of the fact that the story (i.e. what happens) tells relatively little about its author's potential; it is the plot ('how' the story is happening), together with authorial structure and style that does. Taking `Three Colours: Blue' for example, its story is very simple: a woman who lost her husband and child in a car crash, is trying to rebuild her life. The work begins when we ask, who the woman is, who her husband was, how she may rebuild her life, how she is actually rebuilding it, etc. The fact that all this is told in connection with ideas of liberation and freedom (because the French 'liberte' carries both meanings) adds further complexity to the story.

As one knows, most films reviews seldom answer questions like these, simply because they require attention to detail that 500 words do not allow for. This, however, is possible in a book. Andrew painstakingly collects scattered details, to tell us, what sort of character Julie is. He also studies the dead husband, whose character is easy to ignore altogether. We are told early on that Julie's husband was a famous composer, but when I was watching the film I noticed the same point, upon which Andrew remarks in his study: it looks kind of strange that a classical composer so effortlessly produces a marketable piece of music, commemorating the unification of Europe. If anything, it does raise questions as to how serious a composer he is; and a suggestion that he could have been helped in writing his music seems therefore all the more valid. Andrew pays attention to this episode, which in a way is pivotal for Julie's `awakening'. This very detail, however, continues to elude some critics, despite its overall importance. Without it, Julie's own musical talent is hugely underplayed, whereas the theme of love as liberation and a creative source (but also as a realm of delusion) does not resonate as much, as Kieslowski certainly intended.

What Andrew is doing therefore is plucking out these `elusive' details, in order to show us, how truly genuine were Kieslowski's last films. One may say, of course, that such purpose did not require a book, but one should also admit that most viewers will only pick upon the majority of details, if they sit through the films at least three times. And since we are discussing a film, then the story evidently unravels not only in words, but in frames, colours and sounds, which further complicate its grasping. In the chapter on `White', Andrew studies the different and often ambiguous use of the white colour, to illustrate how it corresponds with different ideas that Kieslowski communicated in this film. The use of music is central for `Blue', while `Red' is visually and intellectually impressive for its camerawork and direction of photography, which does require a viewer to check on their attention. Andrew rightly suggests that `Red' is the sum total of all three films, which is why it is both so remarkable and so complex.

This book is indeed a summary, but of a kind that many films could only wish to have. It is intelligent, fairly easy to read (especially if the reader has seen the films) and helps to systematise Kieslowski's technique and ideas, as they emerged for the last time in his career. As Andrew indicated in the Preface, his was `an "auteurist" study', and not an investigation into prices and individuals, let alone into the "politics" of `Three Colours'. This is one of the reasons for why he draws continuous parallels between this trilogy and `Decalogue', as there are many recurrent topics, ideas and even techniques that make `Three Colours' belong to the realm of ethics, rather than politics. Andrew also specifies that Kieslowski himself was adamant that his understanding of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity must be seen as personal, and not politically infused. What we have, therefore, is an indispensable systematisation of one the greatest works in film history, a gateway for further research into Kieslowski's work, as well as a good example of an in-depth, yet concise, film study.

Even at the time of its release (1993-94), Kieslowski's 'Three Colours' trilogy (in which the ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity embodied in the French flag are ironically applied to such dilemmas in modern life as grief, communication in a media-saturated culture and post-communist capitalism) was seen as the last gasp of a 'world cinema' auteur tradition that had flourished in the 1950s and 60s, but had become virtually moribund by the 1980s. At the time, however, reviews were mixed: some critics were in raptures at the rare, spiritual power of these films, treasuring their exploration of inner lives, and holding them as a Fine Art stick with which to beat the commercial inanities of modern Hollywood; others decried Kieslowski's rejection of a political cinema, his retreat into a self-indulgent, decorative, bourgeois-currying aesthetic of the individual.

Geoff Andrew was, from the start, one of Kieslowski's most ardent acolytes, but his study of the trilogy is wholly inadequate as an analysis of Kieslowski's complex art. Film editor for listings rag Time Out, Andrew doesn't progress beyond the insights offered in original newspaper/magazine reviews, and his prose is littered with the kind of quotable hyperbole designed for snipping from articles and pasting on blurbs and posters: 'an extraordinarily affecting triptych', 'deft black comedy', 'Kieslowski's greatest achievement'. The whole point of this BFI Classics/Modern Classics series was surely to go beyond the platitudes of contemporary opinion, and put the works in some kind of context or framework.

Andrew's study is the kind of bland, untheoretical fanzine that used to pass for film criticism in the 60s - the films are treated as simply the poetic inspirations of a great auteur. There is no attempt, for instance, to see how issues such as finance might affect certain aesthetic decisions (casting, location etc.), or what the contributions of other personnel might be. Kieslowski's intellectual and cultural heritage as a Pole, a reader and a film-maker is ignored as if he was a singular genius who emanated from the ether, untouched by environment, circumstance or influence.

After a brief sketch of Kieslowski's pre-'Three Colours' career (which is extraordinarily reduced to the level of films anticipating the trilogy, rather than major works in their own right), the 'analyses' of the 3 movies are actually mere synopses, while the 'critical' chapters, charting thematic and formal connections, and links with Kieslowski's previous features, never gets beyond mere listing, never coheres into anything resembling an interpretation. The density of these playful, ambiguous, deeply ironic films is reduced to the trite, touchy-feely Disneyesque message 'Love conquers all'. Worse, the films themselves are discussed as if they were mere screenplays, in terms of plot and character, as if they were books; anyone who has seen a Kieslowski picture will know that these are the least interesting elements (or, at least, that they are undermined by various formal and narrative procedures), and to properly interpet Kieslowski, a detailed, informed account of his style is needed. On the DVDs of the films there are interviews with his editor Jacques Witta, and masterclasses from Kieslowski. These interviews show how profoundly meaning derived not from plot or character, but from complex decisions about editing, timing, rhythm, colour, texture, framing, sound etc., about how material that was shot but didn't work in the editing suite could be abandoned or rearranged. Anyone who wants to gain a greater understanding of these elusive films would do better to skip this book and get the DVDs instead.

First, beware the cybershopper: this is an *extremely* slim volume. The contents make up a scant 80 pages. Thick, glossy paper quality, which showcases film stills extremely well, and a six-page interview with Kieslowski at the end, but the writing is less than satisfying. Andrew tends to run to extremes - most of the time his "analysis" consists of painstakingly assembled narrative details from the three films (expounded at length over individual synopses of the three films), and when he does take a shot at analysis, he tends to draw grand and general conclusions for which the evidence is found wanting. The author prefers to rhapsodize about the role of chance and destiny in the Trilogy, when an introductory discussion regarding the precise meaning of the *title* and how it is expressed in the film might have seemed more proper. In a sense he can't be blamed for this, since this is his own take on the trilogy and he is free to think whatever he thinks - in fact, he apologizes early on that this tome represents a non-definitive (meaning personal) take on the trilogy from the viewpoint of an "unrepentant admirer". However, in this sense each and every passionate viewer of Kieslowski could have written his or her own book, with no more and no less merit for publication than Andrew's. In sum, if you are already initiated into Kieslowski, there is nothing in this book that a good second (or third or fourth) viewing of the films will not give you (but to be on par with this author be prepared to hit the"pause" button every five minutes - gotta spot that portrait of Van Den Budenmayer's on the judge's desk!), and if you are a novice, this is not the book to start with. Watch the films again, carefully, and let your mind draw its own conclusions.

If anyone has reservations about delving into the "What does it mean...?", this book is a great safety net, or better yet, a guide. There are very thoughtful analyses of the movies on an individual basis as well as a single trilgoy.

The bio on Kieslowski is very brief, and there are few mentions about the actors and actresses themselves. But a small trifle...

Mainly, this book is a critique on all Jackie's films. There is a short intro essay, which is a good analysis of WHY Jackie and his films appeal to such a wide range of people. (But read Jackie's own autobiography for a real insight into the reasons for who, why and how). I see the film critiques as a personal opinion only of the authors. As with all Jackie's films, individual opinions differ - everyone seems to have different concepts of them from their own points of view and likes and dislikes. This is great, as it shows that Jackie's films appeal to a wide range of people of different nationalities and gender. It is wrong to accept one person's opinion as the be all and end all and I hope the authors don't expect this. For example, they rate Half a Loaf of Kung Fu below Spiritual Kung Fu. In my opinion (& only mine, mind you!) Spiritual Kung Fu is awful - a waste of Jackie's comedic talents. Half a Loaf of Kung Fu on the other hand shows a glimmer of Jackie's future mastery of comedy in action. The authors are also fairly harsh about Rush Hour (I do however accept most of their criticisms of Chris Tucker!) Jackie was very restricted in what he could do on this American film. Strangely, they rate Rumble in the Bronx on a par with the incomparable Police Story and Project A!! No comparison! Notwithstanding the above, this book is a very good read with some interesting insights on his films (even if you don't agree). It is not very big and has no pictures.

Just received my copy of this book, amazon service was as good as usual, but the book... I'm afraid i'm quite dissapointed with it. Maybe I was wrong with my expectations, but the book is mostly a compilation of his film reviews and little more. I thought other info and a few pictures could be listed within an essential guide about him. That's all. Appart from that the book is well structured and has some funny points of view here and there.

As a collector of anything Jackie Chan I can get my hands on, I thought this book was a great addition to my collection. It may be small, but had some gems I'd never managed to find elsewhere. It's also just one in a great series of books on related topics that I'd recommend to anyone. Short and sweet, a good pocket companion

This book is not detail or very descriptive as a how-to guide, but there are some good creative ideas, if you can see ahead and personally know how to expand on them. I was slightly disappointed after reading the Penny Whistle party planner and birthday planner, and the Family Fun Parties. But since I bought at a discount bookstore online for $..., it was adequate. I use it for coming up with ideas and expand from there to other resources are the internet.

This is a collection of more than 30 party themes submitted by parents throughout the US with party tips, recipes and suggestions by the authors.The themes vary in originality from "Barney" to a "Make-It and Bake-It Party" with some themes being repeated in subtly different forms (Beachless Beach Party, Splash Party, and Backyard Seashore Party). This is not a book for the mom who needs specific directions (try the Penny Whistle series) but, for the creative mom, this book has several original themes. The Mystery Party is especially well thought out and has a realistic number of activity descriptions (at least four). Others such as the Dump Truck Party for a 7-year-old had only one activity description - "Pin the Wheel on the Truck" game. Not for everyone, but a parent with imagination and time, can turn many of these themes into a their child's "best party ever."

The 'cliffhanger' serials of the early French cinema are the inspiration for celebrated French illustrator Jacques Tardi's graphic novels. Beginning with "Adieu Brindavoine" in 1972 Tardi depicts a world combining Jules Verne with Emile Zola.

This 5th album of the Adele Blanc-Sec series revives the plucky French journalist last seen in the bizarre adventure "Momies en Folie" (This is the original, untranslated French version.)

The former Edwardian photographer Brindavoine is now a miserable conscript in the trenches of WWI. During a bombardment he stumbles across a talking statue, actually a kind of wireless set for the psychic powers of Adele's retired mummy! The mummy is trying to direct Brindavoine to Adele, lost in suspended animation in the laboratory of a dead scientist. Unfortunately rescue will have to wait as Brindavoine is badly wounded. Meanwhile Brindavoine's former boss, American millionaire Otto Lindberg, joins forces with the Mafia in a plot to take over the world.

I thought this was marginally better than the preceding album but not nearly as good as the first two. Sadly, the simplistic view of WWI and the cliched capitalist conspiracy are too humorlessly treated to be viewed as satire. However Tardi's marvellous attention to period detail is always fun to see.

This is a translation and commentary of chapter 6 of the Huainanzi. LeBlanc does a good job, however, it would only be of interest 2 those REALLY interested in the Huainanzi. The footnotes often take up the entire page! Deals with the topic of Ganying - resonance/stimulus and response. Has an interesting chart documenting all the quotations used in the Huainanzi from other texts such as the Laozi, Zhuangzi, the Hanfeizi, etc.